Page:A Sketch of the Life of George Wilson, the Blackheath Pedestrian.djvu/16

 interruption, whose avowed trade it is to attract popular curiosity, and who whenever, and wherever, they take the field, are sure to collect by hundreds and thousands the good-natured progeny of Mr. John Bull; and who, on this occasion, at least, seem not to have been considered as giving any offence by their powerful influence in convening and amusing the daily multitudes who appeared there. I had no means of attraction for crowds. The most perfect solitude would have much better answered my purposes and freed me from the pressure, embarrassment, and interruption, which continually annoyed me, and more than doubled the difficulties of my undertaking. But, to my knowledge, were any way interested in the result; and, if persons wholly indifferent to me were pleased to lay wagers with each other on the issue, it was no more than they would have done upon any other subject—a poney-race, a dog-fight, a bruising-match, or any of the innumerable occasions that continually occur to excite amongst the sporting world the spirit of betting. But with this difference, in my case; that I was in no secret with the knowing ones, had no concern in the mysteries of the turf, or the boxing schools; no privity or connection with any of the, black or white, but my own; nor any solid ground of expectation, beyond mere hope, of deriving any remuneration for my labours, above what a two-penny postman, it' he were competent to my task, would have thought a miserable payment for his trouble. Had I been the Bottle Conjurer, the Cock-Lane Ghost, the Invisible Girl, the Learned Pig, the Prize Ox, General Jackoo, or any other of those public characters, who, in their turns, have attracted multitudes, and extracted thousands