Within The Shadow Of The Shaft.

and her 'Arry on 'Ampsteacl 'Eath on her ' oliclay , or refreshes Tom the shoeblack when he indulges in threopeim ' orth of moral drama in the gallery of the " Vie . " That noble , eminent , ancl intelligent Peer , Lord Dundreary , you will remember , failed to trace any association betAveen COAVS ancl shrimps . ( Don't , now ! I knoAV it is easy enough to pun and say shrimps are good at Oowes . ) Wellat first sightRobin Hood ancl " Keeling & Hunt " . seem as

, , unanalogous . But , clear reader , I will tell you IIOAV , Avhen standing within the shadow of the shaft , Sherwood glades ancl Fish Street Hill flag stones dissolve ancl blend one into the other . I remember Avhen I was a boy I heard something of a debtor of one of the big fruit firms here being made an outlaw . They did very wonderful things Avhen I Avas a boy . I belieA'e that in the flesh the defaulter AVUS smoking a cigar on the ier at Boulogne-sur-Mer

p , like Mr . Gvissell the other clay , the while bis legal simulacrum or constructive presence was " put to the horn , " as they call it in Scotland , ancl denounced at market crosses , ancl " proclaimed " b y the sheriffs , or their officers , here , there , and everywhere . Jack Cade in the play laments " that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment ; that parchments , being scribbled over , should undo a man . " Why , when I was a boy , they scribbled over

parchment certain mystic words , ancl impressed a big black , dirty seal upon it , gritty with absorbing sand , ancl pounce , as it was termed , ancl called it a " capias utlagatum , " and sent it to the sheriff , and then he figuratively tortured the absent victim b y horning him , and proclaiming him , ancl announcing that be was without the law , which some would call a blessed state , ancl I think it was generally believed that everybody might kill him if they could catch him , and

I know 1 pictured him striking clown the reel deer beneath the boughs of the Nottinghamshire beeches , ancl sitting " under the greenwood tree , " with a Maid Marian on his knee , " dipping bis beak in the Gascon wine , " as Thackeray sings , and carolling merrily the praises of an outlaw ' s life ; Avhereas , in reality , he was lounging in Mr . Merridew ' s library at the corner of the Rue de l'Ecuburying his nose in yesterday ' s Timesor turning a quietif not

, , , strictly honest , penny , by a little punting at billiards in that well-known estaminet in the A'ery small ancl very shady by-street behind the Tintelleries , in the ancient cit y of Boulogne-upon-the-Sea , which we all know is at least as far as Sherwood Forest from Monument Yard .

I like Monument Yard . I relish the smell of the " green fruit . " Icontemplate with never failing enjoyment the stalwart men in white frocks , with cords round their waists like Capuchin friars , and silver gorgets on their breasts , representing , I believe , Avine tuns , like the army officers of a past generation , and adorned capitally , or endorsed , AA'ith great masses called porters ' knots , giants , Avho sometimes lumber heavily up the steep tributary lanes , Atlas-likewith a ton or two of oranges iu frail buling boxes on their heads

, g ancl backs , ancl sometimes stroll up in quite a der / age manner , chatting Avith each other , and with their knots hanging behind , between their shoulders , like the " bags " of the Lord Mayor ' s footmen . These Herculean individuals are called Fellowship Porters , I am given to understand . Is it from the good fellowship they appear invariably to display towards each other , I wonder ? Their employment is to unload the fruit cli from the

ppers Mediterranean l ying at the adjacent quays ; ancl to see them drink beer is an abiding pleasure . I look up , as I stand here , and wonder which was the window of Mrs . Todgers ' s establishment for commercial gentlemen ; AA'here were the leads where the incorrigible little Bailey terrified onlookers by cleaning the lodger ' s boots with acrobatic accompaniments ? That is the door—that dungeon-looking

portal—where Mr . Moddle vanished with Miss Cherry on their expedition aloft ; and , surely , the man collecting the three-pennies there to-clay must be the same cynic who chuckled behind his visitors' backs at the reflection that " they didn't know what was afore ' era , or how many stairs they had to go up ; "