We are already a far way from the days when powdered heads were plentiful in these alleys, with jolly, port-wine faces underneath.

Even in the chief thoroughfares Irish washings flutter at the windows, and the pavements are encumbered with loiterers.
[Picture: Old Bow-Head, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh] These loiterers are a true character of the scene.

Some shrewd Scotch workmen may have paused on their way to a job, debating Church affairs and politics with their tools upon their arm.

But the most part are of a different order--skulking jail-birds; unkempt, bare-foot children; big-mouthed, robust women, in a sort of uniform of striped flannel petticoat and short tartan shawl; among these, a few surpervising constables and a dismal sprinkling of mutineers and broken men from higher ranks in society, with some mark of better days upon them, like a brand.

In a place no larger than Edinburgh, and where the traffic is mostly centred in five or six chief streets, the same face comes often under the notice of an idle stroller.