"And still they seem'd, though shorn of many a ray, Not less than some arch dandy in decay." "A very pretty _bit of true life_," said Bob; and out came the sketch book to note them down, which, as we loitered forward, was effected in his usual rapid manner, portraying one or two well-known characters; but for their cognomens, misfortune claims exemption:--to them we say, "Thou seest thou neither art mark'd out or named, And therefore only to thyself art shamed." _J. Withers's Abuses strict and whipt_. ~363~~ [Illustration: page363] To be brief, we found Echo, by the aid of the crier, safely tiled in at ten in twelve, happy to all appearance, and perfectly domiciled, with two other equally fresh associates. The creditor and his solicitor chose to wait the issue of our proposition in the lobby; a precaution, as I afterwards found, to be essentially necessary to their own safety; for, "He whom just laws imprison still is free Beyond the proudest slaves of tyranny." Although I must confess the exhibition we had of _freedom in Banco Regis_ was rather a rough specimen; a poor little limb of the law, who had formerly been a leg himself, had, like other great lawyers, ratted, and commenced a furious warfare upon some old cronies, for divers penalties and perjuries, arising out of Greek prosecutions: too eager to draw the blunt, he had been inveigled into the interior of the prison, and there, after undergoing a most delightful pumping upon, ~364~~was _rough-dried_ by being tossed in a blanket (see plate). [Illustration: page364] This entertainment we had the honour of witnessing from Echo's room window; and unless the Marshal and his officers had interfered, I know not what might have been the result. A very few words sufficed to convince Tom of the necessity of yielding to his creditor's wishes. A letter of licence was immediately produced and signed, and the gay-hearted Echo left once more at liberty to wing his flight wherever his fancy might direct. On our road home, it was no trifling amusement to hear him relate "The customs of the place, The manners of its mingled populace, The lavish waste, the riot, and excess, Neighbour'd by famine, and the worst distress; The decent few, that keep their own respect, And the contagion of the place reject; The many, who, when once the lobby's pass'd, Away for ever all decorum cast, And think the walls too solid and too high, To let the world behold their infamy."