THE DOG NURSE 11 AN UNWELCOME VISITOR 16 A SPEECH FROM THE BARROW 28 DRUNKEN SAMMY 32 SANITARY SUCCESS 37 UPON THE HOUSETOP 59 INFIDEL CLUB 88 BEFORE THE BAR 131 THE BACK ATTIC 162 CARD FOR PUBLIC-ROOMS 180 THE MIDNIGHT VISITOR 199 DARK ARCHES 205 IN DANGER 223 ALONE IN THE CITY 231 THE COFFEE STALL 240 OUTSIDE PASSENGERS 248 THE MONKEY BOARD 252 SABBATH OUTCASTS 257 THE MACHINERY MAN 273 The Book in the Court: ITS INTRODUCTION. "High up a dark and winding stair, From floor to floor I went, And heard sometimes a woman swear, Or beaten child lament. "Upon the topmost flight I found A close and wretched room; Alas, that any human soul Should call such place a home! "No fire was burning in the grate, The walls were damp and bare; The window-panes were stuffed with rags, No furniture was there." _Mrs. Sewell._ CHAPTER I. DESCRIPTION--THE STRANGE VISITOR--TRANSLATORS--THE CHANTER AND DOG-NURSE--THIEVES--BEGGARS--PRIZE-FIGHTER--A WIDOW INDEED--THE POWER OF PRAYER. THE BOOK IN THE COURT: ITS INTRODUCTION. "He that hath my Word, let him speak my Word faithfully." JER. xxiii. 28. Why the inhabitants called their place of residence Paradise Court was never clearly understood. The parochial authorities substituted for the name of the garden of primeval beauty that of a lovely southern county of old England, and on their official papers styled it Devonshire Place. Many would question the propriety of the Court bearing either name, as it forms the centre of a labyrinth of dirty overcrowded streets. It is not a blind alley, as it is of elbow shape with two entrances connecting streets, though only used by persons of profound local knowledge. The houses are so ill-shaped and dilapidated as to prejudice the mind against London of the past generation; while the murky atmosphere--the cloud of ragged yellowish garments suspended from the upper windows by pole and line--the narrowness of the passage-way, which increases the thick darkness of night--the constant noise made by the drunken and quarrelsome, render it a place to be avoided by the respectable, however poor.