is hoarse, cracked, and discordant; perhaps
by some street-cry. He has a large projecting
nose, red pulpy lips, a long chin, and a long
throat, uncovered. No collar—indeed, now I
look again, no shirt; and he wears a greasy
jacket and trowsers, both much too small for
him; so that his large red hands and wrists,
swollen with chilblains, hang listlessly far
below the end of his sleeves; and his long,
thin ankles, and large unshapely feet are so
far below the end of his trowsers as to give
the appearance of the legs and feet of a bird.
He is whistling a sort of jig tune, and beating
time with one of his heels. Poor boy!—I
dare say he would be very glad to work if he
had an opportunity. A girl, of about twelve,
stands on one side of him. She is so scantily
clad as to be scarcely decent. Her shoulder-
blades stick up, she is so meagre, and she
shivers with the cold. But I do not like the
expression of her face; for, though I pity her
eager, hungry look, and evidently bad state of
health, I cannot help seeing that she has very
much the look of a sickly rat. On the other
side of the elder boy, stands a younger one—
of some ten years of age. He is very pale,
and has fair hair, a rueful mouth, rather
dropping at the corners, large sad eyes, with
very long lashes, and an expression at once
timid, yet indifferent—innocent, and guilty.
Guilty!—of what can such a child be guilty?
They slowly walk away, all three—perhaps
in consequence of my observing them so
attentively. They quicken their pace as they
turn the corner. Why was I so tardy to
relieve them? It would have become me, as
a Christian, to have thought of relieving their
necessities, even for the night, far better than
to have speculated upon their physiognomies
as a philosopher. But it is time for me to
return home. Sad addition to my experience.
My wife waiting tea for —— bless my so——
where?—it can't be?—yes, it can—my watch
is gone! Slipt down through my pocket—
no doubt—there's a hole in it—no—or it fell
out while I was stooping to fasten my gaiter-
button, in Pall Mall. Most vexatious. A
family watch! Gold chain, and seals, too!
Well—it can't be helped. In these cases a
pinch of snuff often—often—pshaw!—often
relieves—relieves one—hillo!—have I been
relieved of that, also! Perhaps it's in my
side pocket, with my purse—purse! why, my
purse is gone! I really begin to think I must
have been robbed!

It was but too true. I had been robbed.
Nor have I recounted the extent; for, on
arriving at home, I found that I had also lost
a white cambric handkerchief, and a silk snuff
handkerchief; and my wife, making a further
examination, discovered that I had lost my
gold spectacles and case, a diamond shirt-pin,
a box of Tolu lozenges, which I had purchased
in the morning, and a handsomely bound
edition of Izaak Walton's delightful "Treatise
on Angling." But where, and when, I could
have lost all these things—by what means,
and by whom I could have been robbed—I
was utterly at a loss to conjecture.

I remained in this condition of perfect
innocence and bewilderment as to the nimble
fingers that had picked my pockets, till this
morning, when, casually looking over a
newspaper, of a week or two back, I alighted upon
the following Police Report:—

PRECOCIOUS CRIME AND IMPUDENCE.—At the
Mansion House, three boys, the eldest only eleven,
and the two others under nine years of age, were
charged with picking pockets. A lad had, to his
surprise, seen one of them slide a small stick into
the pocket of a gentleman, and open it for inspection;
and he had seen the process repeated on
several succeeding customers, but, as it chanced,
without disclosing any prospect of spoil. The
two companions kept close, covering their leader's
operations, and ready to receive his booty and
make off.

"On this statement being made, the smallest of
the boys exclaimed, 'Don't you believe a word he
says, my Lord; it's all nothing but out-and-out
lies.'

"Lord Mayor. 'What did you carry that stick
for?'

"Boy. 'What for? why, to keep away any boys
that might want to whack me, to be sure.'

"The other urchin, looking the Lord Mayor
full in the face, assured him that their accuser was
a regular liar, and he would nap it some day for
what he said against innocent people. The eldest
of the boys said he had neither father nor mother;
that he lived with a woman in Mint Street, to
whom he paid a penny a-night for his bed; and
that he grubbed about for his victuals in the day.

"Lord Mayor. 'I shall cause inquiries to be
made about you, and send you to the House of
Occupation.'

"Boy. 'Don't do that. If you let me go, you
shan't have me any more, I 'll promise you.'

''Lord Mayor. 'No; you shall have some
protection. As for the other two, they shall be
whipped in the presence of their parents, who are
here, and discharged.'

A light—a lurid beam, but still a light—
broke upon me, as I laid down the paper, and
snatched off my spectacles. The children!—
the little objects looking in at the print-shop
in Cockspur Street—looking in at Sir Robert
Peel—and the Madonna—and lurking round
about, behind me!—those were the poor
innocents who had so adroitly dipped into my
pockets, and relieved me of the contents.
Those were the London Sparrows, who
"grubbed about" the streets for their victuals
in the day, and picked up whatever they could
find by night! To think of a gentleman at my
time of life, being robbed by infants of eight
or nine years of age!—and to think of a wise
and paternal government being able to devise
no better remedy for so shocking an employment
for infants, than that of giving them a
whipping!

Discoursing on these matters last night at
my club, there happened to be present a
gentleman (Mr. Joseph Tweezer), a member of
the Statistical Society, who had paid much