There were many other characteristics--not quite so disagreeable--about
the thoroughfares of London then, with which they had been long
familiar. Some of the shops, especially those to the eastward of Temple
Bar, still adhered to the old practice of hanging out a sign; and the
creaking and swinging of these boards in their iron frames on windy
nights, formed a strange and mournful concert for the ears of those
who lay awake in bed or hurried through the streets. Long stands of
hackney-chairs and groups of chairmen, compared with whom the coachmen
of our day are gentle and polite, obstructed the way and filled the
air with clamour; night-cellars, indicated by a little stream of light
crossing the pavement, and stretching out half-way into the road, and
by the stifled roar of voices from below, yawned for the reception and
entertainment of the most abandoned of both sexes; under every shed and
bulk small groups of link-boys gamed away the earnings of the day; or
one more weary than the rest, gave way to sleep, and let the fragment of
his torch fall hissing on the puddled ground.
Then there was the watch with staff and lantern crying the hour, and
the kind of weather; and those who woke up at his voice and turned them
round in bed, were glad to hear it rained, or snowed, or blew, or froze,
for very comfort's sake.
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