there was a minister supposed to be one of the greatest orators of
the day. We had much difficulty in finding standing room. Just as
we entered we heard him say, "My friends, I appeal to those of you
who are parents. You know that if you say to a child 'go,' he goeth,
and if you say 'come,' he cometh. So the Lord"--But at this point
M'Kay, who had children, nudged me to come out; and out we went. Why
does this little scene remain with me? I can hardly say, but here it
stands. It is remembered, not so much by reason of the preacher as
by reason of the apparent acquiescence and admiration of the
audience, who seemed to be perfectly willing to take over an
experience from their pastor--if indeed it was really an experience--
which was not their own. Our usual haunts on Sunday were naturally
the parks and Kensington Gardens; but artificial limited enclosures
are apt to become wearisome after a time, and we longed for a little
more freedom if a little less trim. So we would stroll towards
Hampstead or Highgate, the only drawback to these regions being the
squalid, ragged, half town, half suburb, through which it was
necessary to pass. The skirts of London when the air is filled with
north-easterly soot, grit, and filth, are cheerless, and the least
cheerful part of the scene is the inability of the vast wandering
masses of people to find any way of amusing themselves. At the
corner of one of the fields in Kentish Town, just about to be
devoured, stood a public-house, and opposite the door was generally
encamped a man who sold nothing but Brazil nuts. Swarms of people
lazily wandered past him, most of them waiting for the public-house
to open. Brazil nuts on a cold black Sunday morning are not
exhilarating, but the costermonger found many customers who bought
his nuts, and ate them, merely because they had nothing better to do.
We went two or three times to a freethinking hall, where we were
entertained with demonstrations of the immorality of the patriarchs