{"id":"01KG8AM5C78TTGQPADDMY47YVC","cid":"bafkreiaodtiwkfpgt6hjk2xxxujmoe5ksfnth7esmdv5qy5evl6rkp2zty","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6387,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.985Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 12","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":6319,"text":"‘Poor Man’s Pudding,’ a sea voyage was recommended to me by my\r\nphysician. The battle of Waterloo having closed the long drama of\r\nNapoleon’s wars, many strangers were visiting Europe. I arrived in\r\nLondon at the time the victorious princes were there assembled enjoying\r\nthe Arabian Nights’ hospitalities of a grateful and gorgeous\r\naristocracy, and the courtliest of gentlemen and kings--George the\r\nPrince Regent.\r\n\r\nI had declined all letters but one to my banker. I wandered about for\r\nthe best reception an adventurous traveller can have--the reception, I\r\nmean, which unsolicited chance and accident throw in his venturous way.\r\n\r\nBut I omit all else to recount one hour’s hap under the lead of a very\r\nfriendly man, whose acquaintance I made in the open street of Cheapside.\r\nHe wore a uniform, and was some sort of a civic subordinate; I forget\r\nexactly what. He was off duty that day. His discourse was chiefly of the\r\nnoble charities of London. He took me to two or three, and made admiring\r\nmention of many more.\r\n\r\n‘But,’ said he, as we turned into Cheapside again, ‘if you are at all\r\ncurious about such things, let me take you--if it be not too late--to\r\none of the most interesting of all--our Lord Mayor’s Charities, sir;\r\nnay, the charities not only of a Lord Mayor, but, I may truly say, in\r\nthis one instance, of emperors, regents, and kings. You remember the\r\nevent of yesterday?’\r\n\r\n‘That sad fire on the river-side, you mean, unhousing so many of the\r\npoor?’\r\n\r\n‘No. The grand Guildhall Banquet to the princes. Who can forget it? Sir,\r\nthe dinner was served on nothing but solid silver and gold plate, worth\r\nat the least £200,000--that is, 1,000,000 of your dollars; while the\r\nmere expenditure of meats, wines, attendance, and upholstery, etc.,\r\ncannot be footed under £25,000--125,000 dollars of your hard cash.’\r\n\r\n‘But, surely, my friend, you do not call that charity--feeding kings at\r\nthat rate?’\r\n\r\n‘No. The feast came first--yesterday; and the charity after--to-day. How\r\nelse would you have it, where princes are concerned? But I think we\r\nshall be quite in time--come; here we are at King Street, and down there\r\nis Guildhall. Will you go?’\r\n\r\n‘Gladly, my good friend. Take me where you will. I come but to roam and\r\nsee.’\r\n\r\nAvoiding the main entrance of the hall, which was barred, he took me\r\nthrough some private way, and we found ourselves in a rear blind-walled\r\nplace in the open air. I looked round amazed. The spot was grimy as a\r\nbackyard in the Five Points. It was packed with a mass of lean,\r\nfamished, ferocious creatures, struggling and fighting for some\r\nmysterious precedency, and all holding soiled blue tickets in their\r\nhands.\r\n\r\n‘There is no other way,’ said my guide; ‘we can only get in with the\r\ncrowd. Will you try it? I hope you have not on your drawing-room suit?\r\nWhat do you say? It will be well worth your sight. So noble a charity\r\ndoes not often offer. The one following the annual banquet of Lord\r\nMayor’s day--fine a charity as that certainly is--is not to be mentioned\r\nwith what will be seen to-day. Is it, ay?’\r\n\r\nAs he spoke, a basement door in the distance was thrown open, and the\r\nsqualid mass made a rush for the dark vault beyond.\r\n\r\nI nodded to my guide, and sideways we joined in with the rest. Ere long\r\nwe found our retreat cut off by the yelping crowd behind, and I could\r\nnot but congratulate myself on having a civic, as well as civil guide;\r\none, too, whose uniform made evident his authority.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 12"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVQ8D7NW8GVW8QE4DYG9","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM4QVDWEH4MM4J44A73HQ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM5CP9MMCRKZFT6ADSVG8","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.039Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:41.299Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}