Twice round the clock; or, The hours of the day and night in London . of gravity, at the back of theirheads ; squat, squarely-built fellows, using strange and occasionallynot very polite language, much given to skylarking with one an-other, but full of a simple, manly courtesy to all the females, andmarvellously kind to the babies and little children ; gaunt Americansailors in red worsted shirts, with case-knives suspended to theirbelts, taciturn men expectorating freely, and when they do condescendto address themselves to speech, using the most astounding combi-nation of adjective adjurations
Twice round the clock; or, The hours of the day and night in London . of gravity, at the back of theirheads ; squat, squarely-built fellows, using strange and occasionallynot very polite language, much given to skylarking with one an-other, but full of a simple, manly courtesy to all the females, andmarvellously kind to the babies and little children ; gaunt Americansailors in red worsted shirts, with case-knives suspended to theirbelts, taciturn men expectorating freely, and when they do condescendto address themselves to speech, using the most astounding combi-nation of adjective adjurations, relating chiefly to their limbs andtheir organs of vision ; railway navvies going to work at someplace down the line, and obligingly franked thither for that purposeby the company; pretty servant-maids going to see their relatives ;Jew pedlars ; Irish labourers in swarms; soldiers on furlough, with thebreast of their scarlet coatees open, and disclosing beneath linen ofan elaborate coarseness of texture—one might fancy so many military 64 TWICE ROUKB THE EIGHT 0 CLOCK — SAINT JAMES S PAKK—THE MALL. 65 penitents wearing hair tunics ; other soldiers in full uniform, withtheir knapsacks laid across their knees, and their muskets—prudentlydivested of the transfixing bayonets—which the old women in thecarriage are marvellously afraid will go off/ disposed beside them,proceeding to Weedon barracks under the command of a staid Scotchcorporal, who reads a tract, Grace for Grenadiers or Powder andPiety, and takes snuff: journeymen mechanics with their tool-baskets;charwomen, servants out of place, stablemen, bricklayers labourers,and shopboys. Ay, and there are, I am afraid, not a few bad characters amongthe crowd: certain dubiously-attired, flash-looking, ragged dan-dies, with cheap pins in their foul cravats, and long greasy hairfloating over their coat-collars, impress me most unfavourably, anddispose me to augur ill for the benefit which Manchester or Liverp
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Keywords: ., bookauthormcconnel, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookyear1859
