red labourer, from some wharf at
Bankside, and a painter who has left his scaffolding in the
neighbourhood during his dinner hour. Next come several widows--some
florid, stout, and young; some lean, yellow, and careworn, followed by a
gay-looking lady, in a showy dress, who may have obtained her share of
the national debt in another way. An old man, attired in a stained,
rusty, black suit, crawls in, supported by a long staff, like a weary
pilgrim who has at last reached the golden Mecca. Those who are drawing
money from the accumulation of their hard industry, or their patient
self-denial, can be distinguished at a glance from those who are
receiving the proceeds of unexpected and unearned legacies. The first
have a faded, anxious, almost disappointed look, while the second are
sprightly, laughing, and observant of their companions.

[Illustration: "JONATHAN'S." _From an Old Sketch._]

"Towards the hour of noon, on the first day of the quarterly payment,
the crowd of national creditors becomes more dense, and is mixed up with
substantial capitalists in high check neckties, double-breasted
waistcoats, curly-rimmed hats, narrow trousers, and round-toed boots.
Parties of thin, limp, damp-smelling women, come in with mouldy
umbrellas and long, chimney-cowl-shaped bonnets, made of greasy black
silk, or threadbare black velvet--the worn-out fashions of a past
generation. Some go about their business in confidential pairs; some in
company with a trusted maid-servant as fossilised as themselves; some
under the guidance of eager, ancient-looking girl-children; while some
stand alone in corners, suspicious of help or observation. One national
creditor is unwilling, not only that the visitors shall know what amount
her country owes her, but also what particular funds she holds as
security. She stands carelessly in the centre of the Warrant Office,
privately scanning the letters and figures nailed all round the walls,
which direct the applicant at what desk to apply; her long tunnel of a
bonnet, while it conceals her face, moves with the guarded action of her
head, like the tube of a telescope when the astronomer is searching for
a lost planet. Some of these timid female creditors, when their little
claim has been satisfied (for L1,000 in the Consols only produces L7
10s. a quarter), retire to an archway in the Rotunda, where there are
two high-backed leathern chairs, behind the shelter of which, with a
needle and thread, they st