Then I hied me into East-chepe, One cries ribs of beef, and many a pie; Pewter pots they clattered on a heap; There was harp, pipe, and minstrelsy; "Yea by Cock! Nay by Cock!" some began cry; Some sung of Jenkin and Julian for their meed; But, for lack of money, I might not speed. Eastcheap, this ancient thoroughfare, originally extended from Tower-street westward to the south end of Clement's-lane, where Cannon-street begins. It was the Eastern Cheap or Market, as distinguished from Westcheap, now Cheapside. The site of the Boar's Head Tavern, first mentioned _temp._ Richard II., the scene of the revels of Falstaff and Henry V., when Prince of Wales, is very nearly that of the statue of King William IV. _Lackpenny_ had presented to him several of the real Signs of the Times and of Life in London with "_ribs of beef_--_many a pie_--_pewter pots_--_music and singing_"--_strange oaths_, "_Yea by Cock_" being a vulgar corruption for a profane oath. Our own taverns still supply us with ballad-singers--"_Buskers_"--who will sing of "_Jenkin and Julian_"--Ben Block; or, She Wore a Wreath of Roses, "_for their meed_." Then into Cornhill anon I _yode_, [went] Where was much stolen gear among; I saw where hung mine own hood That I had lost among the throng; To buy my own hood I thought it wrong; I knew it well, as I did my creed; But, for lack of money, I could not speed. The manners and customs of the dwellers in Cornhill in the time of John Lydgate, when a stranger could have his hood stolen at one end of the town and see it exposed for sale at the other, forcibly reminds us of Field-lane and the Jew Fagin, so faithfully sketched in pen and ink by Charles Dickens of our day. Where "a young man from the country" would run the risk of meeting with an Artful Dodger, to pick his pocket of his silk handkerchief at the entrance of the Lane, and it would be offered him for sale by a Jew fence at the end, not only "Once a Week" but "All the Year Round." However, when Charles Dickens and Oliver Twist came in, Field-lane and Fagin went out. At length the Kentish man being wearied, falls a prey to the invitation of a taverner, who with a cringing bow, and taking him by the sleeve:--"_Sir_," saith he, "_will you our wine assay?_" Whereupon _Lackpenny_, coming to the safe conclusion that "_a penny can do no more than it may_," enters the tempting and hospitable house of entertainment, and there spends his only penny, for which he is supplied with a pint of wine:-- The taverner took me by the sleeve, "Sir," saith he, "will you our wine assay?" I answered "That cannot be much grieve, A penny can do no more than it may;" I drank a pint, and for it did pay; Yet, sore a-hungered from hence I _yode_, [went] And, wanting money, I could not speed.