After grinding for twelve or
fourteen hours a day for four or five years, they become perfect
abominations; and luckless is the fate of the poor little stranger
condemned to perpetual companionship with a villainous machine, whose
every tone is the cause of offence to those whose charity he must
awaken into exercise, or go without a meal. These instruments are
known to be the property of certain extensive proprietors in the city,
some of whom have hundreds of them grinding daily in every quarter of
the town. Some few are let out on hire--the best at a shilling a day;
the old and worn-out ones as low as two or three pence; but the great
majority of them are ground by young Italians shipped to this country
for the especial purpose by the owners of the instruments. These
descendants of the ancient Romans figure in Britain in a very
different plight from that of their renowned ancestors. They may be
encountered in troops sallying forth from the filthy purlieus of
Leather Lane, at about nine or ten in the morning, each with his
awkward burden strapped to his back, and supporting his steps with a
stout staff, which also serves to support the instrument when playing.
Each one has his appointed beat, and he is bound to bring home a
certain prescribed sum to entitle him to a share in the hot supper
prepared for the evening meal.
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