Ralph walked from St.
Leonard's Gate by a back lane to the Dam Side.

The river as well as the old town was illuminated.

Every boat bore lamps to the masthead.
Lamps, too, of many colors, hung downwards from the bridge, and were reflected in their completed circle in the waters beneath them.
The night was growing apace, and the streets were thronged with people, some laughing, some singing, some wrangling, and some fighting.

Every tavern and coffee-house, as Ralph went by, sent out into the night its babel of voices.

Loyal Lancasterians were within, doing honor to the royal message of that day by observing the spirit while violating the letter of it.
Ralph had walked up the Dam Side near to that point at which the Covel Cross lies to the left, when a couple of drunken men came reeling out of a tavern in front of him.