Stretching from St. George's Church in the borough, into the high road which leads to the cast-iron bridge of Southwark, there are no end of narrow courts and dilapidated houses, which even a bold-hearted man would hesitate to thread after night-fall. Here stand scores of houses, which are uninhabited, unroofed, and in ruins; years ago it was resolved to pull them down, and build up a wide open street; years may yet pass away before this intention is fulfilled. There is no place like this in the neighbourhood of London,-no spot that looks so murderous, so melancholy, and so miserable. Many of these houses are very large, and very old; many of these courts stand just as they were when Cromwell sent out his spies to hunt up the Cavaliers, and they in return again, after the Restoration, threaded their way through them, with sword and pistol in hand, to drag forth the fallen RoundHeads. There is a smell of past ages about these places, not unlike that which arises from the decay of old coffins, and moth-eaten velvets,—as if the old winds which blew up them in the time of the civil wars, had remained there, and stagnated, amid the smells of murder, rapine, and ruin. The place looks as if its foundations were built upon old human bones, some of which had been used in rearing up the walls that are around it; so bleached, marrowless, and dead, look the naked timbers which peep through the fallen brick-work. Many of these houses contain large hollow-sounding decayed staircases, which lead into huge ruinous rooms, that now only echo to the shriekings of big black-eyed rats, which eat through the carved ceilings and the oaken floors, and live for years, and grow grey, without being once startled by a human voice; the flapping of the old wainscot, the chattering of the decayed windows, and grating of the massive rusty hinges, which a single nail now holds to the ponderous worm-eaten door, are all the sounds they hear on a windy night to alarm them; so they run and shriek on, uninjured. And the poor ignorant inhabitants who live around, believe that all these large desolate houses are haunted, and that the sounds they hear on a windy and tempestuous night, are raised by the ghosts of the departed; and sometimes they fancy they see lights flitting from room to room; men in armour, and women in white garments with their hair hanging loose, carrying torches in their hands; and ever as the wind rings out aloud, they hear funeral chaunts, and mournful requiems, and all the solemn sounds of departed devilry,-minglements of lewd songs, holy hymns, pistol-shots, and dying groans, swelling into curses, shrieks, and oaths, that make the very flesh creep,-then vanish to the chaunt of solemn music, not unlike that which follows the falling

of the curtain at a theatre after a tragedy. And many a deed, if tradition rumours aright, has been perpetrated in these decayed and desolate buildings, which has been attributed to supernatural hands; many a shriek has died away upon the surrounding silence, for no one had courage enough to venture forth to see from whence it came; and so years have gathered over this gloomy spot, blackening the steep roofs, and leaving them in all the decay and solitude of silence and neglect. Some of them have slumbered in Chancery, until the very moths have eaten away the names of the original possessors,-until the title-deeds can no longer be deciphered; for there is now no living being to be found, either to claim the titles, or pay the costs.

Into this forbidding neighbourhood, through innumerable dark turnings, Hopkins followed his companions to play out the longcontested game of whist. The house into which they entered was large, old, and ruinous. The front door stood wide open; and as there was no light in the passage, they blundered upstairs in the best manner they could. Bill, however, warning them from time to time to keep on the wall-side, as there were several large holes on the staircase, into which they might slip their legs, much easier than they would get them out. Dick came up the last, he having lingered behind to secure the outer door. To the left, the wide landing-place opened into a large old-fashioned room, at the end of which a fire was still burning, though now barely emitting light enough to reveal the figure of some one seated asleep beside the hearth.

"Come, old girl, stir your stumps, and get a light," said Bill, arousing the old woman from her seat. "I wonder you are not afraid of the devil fetching you while you are sitting all alone in the dark! Get a light, and let us have some supper as quick as you can. You'll sit here until you are sinew-grown!'"

"Hey!" said the old woman, grumbling as she arose, and with difficulty lit the candle at the fire,-"it's get me this, and get me that now; and run here, and run there, as if I were a dog, only born to fetch and carry. Your father treated me very differently, Bill; but woe to the day I ever knew him!"

"Did you ever hear such a grumbling old thief?" replied Bill, turning round to his companions as he spoke. "But all old mother-inlaws are alike. I am afraid I shall have to send her to the workhouse after all, for she gets too lazy to live. Look here," added he, pointing to a large oak table thickly covered with dust; "we might keep

count a whole night long of our game, without once using chalk, by

only scoring the marks with our fingers on the dust. She's a dirty old ! But what say you to a drop of gin neat, after our walk?" continued he, approaching an old-fashioned buffet, and reaching out a black bottle and glass.

Hopkins stood beside the table, while his companions approached the cupboard, with their backs towards him, as they drank off the proffered glass; when the old woman, who held the candle in one hand, and a duster in the other, lifted up her dim, grey, deep-sunken eyes, and looking fixedly at Hopkins, pressed the tip of her long bony finger to her skinny lips. Then setting down the candlestick, traced with her finger on the dust of the table the word 'Beware!' and in an instant obliterated every mark with the cloth, as she wiped off the dust.

Hopkins was at a loss to comprehend the old woman's meaning; when she made him another sign, by raising her hand to her lips as if in the act of drinking, shaking her head, and throwing the duster upon the floor. "She means I must not drink!" thought Hopkins to himself, who was already a little sobered; "I will take her advice."

Hopkins was no stranger to the old woman, and had on several occasions taken her part, when her son-in-law had quarrelled with her in his drink.

"Come, old fellow," said Bill, holding out the glass of gin, and offering it to Hopkins; "you seem as dull as the devil at his devotions! Drink, man, and look lively, here, toss it off."

But Hopkins declined, said it was growing late, and he must think about going home; and that he would come some other night, and play out the game.

"Nonsense!" replied Bill;

have had supper, and played another hand or two?" "If he does," added Dick, "I wonder what the devil he ever came for! Come, old girl, throw on the steak Bill promised us.

means going."

He none

Hopkins again pleaded the lateness of the hour,-said that he had no appetite for supper; and was making towards the door, as if he intended going home, when the old woman (who saw by the glances exchanged between her son-in-law and his two companions, that they meditated mischief,) stepped forward with a bundle of wood in her hand, and entreated Hopkins to stay, promising that the steak should be ready in a few minutes.

Hopkins was now well aware that his companions had some design

upon him; and as the old woman made him a sign to be seated, he obeyed her.

Wood was now piled on the fire-the gridiron dragged out from among the coals, covered with dirt as it was, and the steak thrown upon it. The old woman then handed out the plates, placed them upon the table, and put a huge blue cracked dish before the fire ready for the steak. Then reaching a large jug from the cupboard, said, "You will want some beer, I reckon. I had better fetch it before it gets too late, as they may be shut in."

"I care nothing about beer myself," said Bill; "do you, Dick? Hopkins, I know, would prefer a glass of gin-and-water!”

"Then I must fetch in some more gin," continued the old woman; "for the bottle is nearly empty."

"No! I dare not trust you out at this hour," answered her son-inlaw; "somebody or another might run away with you.”

"I will go with her, and see her safe back," said Hopkins.

Bill gave him a look of deep meaning, and said, "You have grown dev'lish kind to the old woman all at once. Many thanks to you-I will go myself."

"Then I shall go, too," replied the old woman; then added, in a tone of more authority, "Bill, beware how you cross me! I know why you wish to keep me in-doors to-night!"

The three men again exchanged glances with each other; and Dick at last remembered that there was a large stone bottle of rum in the cellar, which he fetched up-stairs, while Bill ordered his mother-in-law off to bed. The old woman obeyed; but before her departure she called Bill to the door, and whispered something to him, to which he replied, "All nonsense! you'll see in the morning." She then made answer aloud, and said, "Remember, I shall be within hearing !" and closed the door.

When she had gone, Bill said, "Draw up! we shall have our supper in peace now-the old devil is as suspicious as hell itself."

"I will stay no longer!" said Hopkins, rising angrily from his seat; "it is now late, and time I was at home."

"You are not going home, yet," replied Bill; "don't think, old fellow, we shall let you sneak off when you like-no! no!-You must have a little consideration for your old friends!"

"You shall not dictate to me when I shall go !" answered Hopkins. "What right have you to keep me here against my will?"

"As to right!" answered Bill, rising up, and locking the door, and

putting the key into his pocket-"As to right! go, if you can get out."

why you may

"If you mean that!" said Hopkins, seizing the poker in an instant, "I must try for it!-Unlock the door, or in another moment, I will fell you to the floor!"

There was something startling in the appearance of Hopkins, as he stood with the heavy poker clutched in his hand, his finger pointed towards the door, his brow furrowed, and his chest thrown out, which caused his companions to quail before him, as they looked from one to another; and it was not until Bill had opened the door, and declared he was but jesting, that Hopkins altered his defensive position and at the solicitation of Dick, put down the poker, and shook hands with them.

"D-n it!" said Bill, "you get as touchy as a Scotch-terrier! If one but speaks a word, you bristle up and show your teeth in an instant! I don't know what's possessed you of late;-you used to be the first to propose sitting down to a quiet game at cards, and the last to get up. Come, come, it's a folly for old friends to quarrel for nothing."

Hopkins at length sat down; and, in an instant, was seized by Sam and Dick, and by the aid of Bill, bound fast to the chairs.

"We shall be able to cry quits with you, now," said Bill, as he bound a thick handkerchief over his arms, while his ruffianly companions held him; "and we'll know how you came to set up in yon fine house in Lock's-fields, before we have done with you! You've been dev'lish sly, old fellow-but we have you at last! Dick, he's all safe now!"

Secured hand and foot, Hopkins sat in sullen silence, nor once replied to the jeers of his assailants, as they ate their supper, and from time to time drank his health,- -now offering him a morsel to eat, then touching his lips with the glass, and again withdrawing it; until, by degrees, they got drunk, and began to quarrel amongst themselves.

"He shall drink!" said Dick, approaching with a large glass of rum-and-water, and an unsteady step. "I say, Bill, you keep the secret of this affair too snug to yourself. Here am I set to watch him from day to day, and you keep telling me it's all right, and we shall roll in money, and such like, but the devil of a farthing have I ever seen, saving one five-pound note, and that you won from me again before morning. Here Hopkins, drink, old fellow :-d-n you! I'll stick to