142
now nearly dusk, at my request, we all three returned to the White Swan, as I was curious to know more of the various characters I had seen assembled there.
The seasonable relief my finances had experienced by this adventure, without any exertion or risk on my part, gave me much satisfaction; and I thought, to use the words of Mrs. Peachum, in the Beggar's Opera, that this was "pretty encouragement for a young beginner."
It was no sooner dark and the candles lighted, than the room began to fill apace, and my friend Bromley gave me a description of each person as he entered, explaining the various branches of sprigging, &c., in which they excelled, as well as their good or bad dispositions towards each other. I recognised among them several faces which I remembered to have seen at different public places, and even at coffee-houses and ordinaries, where they intermixed with the best company, and were treated with every respect.
From this time Bromley and myself became inseparable. This young man was the son of a respectable master-tailor, and was himself bred to the same trade. Having formed bad connexions, (the usual root of all evil,) he had quitted his father's house about a year before I first knew him, and associating with "family people" had since supported himself by depredation; he was two years older than myself, and his father considering him irreclaimable, had long since given him up.
