Page:The London Guide and Stranger's Safeguard.djvu/31

Rh wonder at every thing they see. Such men attract the attention of passers-by of every degree; and, it would be surprising indeed, if the knavish part of the community did not endeavour to profit by the want of knowledge apparent in Johnny Newcome, or Johnny Raw, as such men are aptly called. He is followed for miles, sometimes for an entire day or more, by a string of pickpockets or highwaymen, until they can find an opportunity to do him. It came out on the examination of Sethard, for robbing A. Anderson, that he and his companions had followed their victim from the waterside to Mincing Lane, thence to the Hercules, in Leadenhall Street, where the foolish man counted over his money; thence to Snow Hill, and back again to the corner of St. Martin's le-Grand, where they hustled and robbed him of near sev-tuty pounds, the hard earnings of twenty years at sea; and all this by broad day-light!

Walking the streets has been reduced to a system in London; every one taking the right hand of another, whereby confusion is avoided; thus, if you walk from St, Paul's towards the Royal Exchange, you will be entitled to the wall of those you meet all the way; whereas, if you cross over, you must walk upon the kirb stone. The contrary mode is a sure indication of a person