place was full of stir. Old women sat with baskets of rosaries and
little crosses, or images of saints, on the steps of the cathedral,
while in the open space beyond, more than one horse was displaying
his paces for the benefit of some undecided purchaser, who had been
chaffering for hours in Paul's Walk. Merchants in the costume of
their countries, Lombard, Spanish, Dutch, or French, were walking
away in pairs, attended by servants, from their Exchange, likewise
in the nave. Women, some alone, some protected by serving-men or
apprentices, were returning from their orisons, or, it might be,
from their gossipings. Priests and friars, as usual, pervaded
everything, and round the open space were galleried buildings with
stalls beneath them, whence the holders were removing their wares
for the night. The great octagonal structure of Paul's Cross stood
in the centre, and just beneath the stone pulpit, where the sermons
were wont to be preached, stood a man with a throng round him,
declaiming a ballad at the top of his sing-song voice, and causing
much loud laughter by some ribaldry about monks and friars.

Master Headley turned aside as quickly as he could, through
Paternoster Row, which was full of stalls, where little black books,
and larger sheets printed in black-letter, seemed the staple
commodities, and thence the burgess, keeping a heedful eye on his
young companions among all his greetings, entered the broader space
of Cheapside, where numerous prentice lads seemed to be playing at
different sports after the labours of the day.

Passing under an archway surmounted by a dragon with shining scales,
Master Headley entered a paved courtyard, where the lads started at
the figures of two knights in full armour, their lances in rest, and
their horses with housings down to their hoofs, apparently about to