Page:The London Guide and Stranger's Safeguard.djvu/17



people come up to town by coaches and waggons, a few on foot, and fewer still by water; therefore the inns at which the former put up, are places of especial resort for thieves and cheats of a better sort. The little public houses on the outskirts, as well as those along shore, are frequented by a very ordinary and more desperate set. All are upon the sharp look-out for dupes; the innocent, the artless, and the unwary, are alike their prey. The very sight of a countryman sharpens their appetite, especially if he brings his wife with him, because she embarrasses his movements. I cannot then compare