Besides the spectators in our windows, he had a little
crowd on the sidewalk, to whom he went round for contributions, but I did
not observe that anybody gave him so much as a halfpenny. It is strange
to see how many people are aiming at the small change in your pocket. In
every square a beggar-woman meets you, and turns back to follow your steps
with her miserable murmur. At the street-crossings there are old men or
little girls with their brooms; urchins propose to brush your boots; and
if you get into a cab, a man runs to open the door for you, and touches
his hat for a fee, as he closes it again.
September 15th.--It was raining yesterday, and I kept within doors till
after four o'clock, when J----- and I took a walk into the city. Seeing
the entrance to Clement's Inn, we went through it, and saw the garden,
with a kneeling bronze figure in it; and when just in the midst of the
Inn, I remembered that Justice Shallow was of old a student there. I do
not well understand these Inns of Court, or how they differ from other
places. Anybody seems to be free to reside in them, and a residence does
not seem to involve any obligation to study law, or to have any
connection therewith. Clement's Inn consists of large brick houses,
accessible by narrow lanes and passages, but, by some peculiar privilege
or enchantment, enjoying a certain quiet and repose, though in close
vicinity to the noisiest part of the city.
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