Each of these branchlets was a gas burner,
which was covered by a semi-opaque glass globe, the intent being,
evidently, to suggest a cluster of growing fruits. Some of the same
pattern were placed in the Church of the Saviour when it was first
opened, but they, as well as those at the Town Hall, were in a
few years removed, greatly to the relief of many who thought them
inexpressibly ugly.
Nearly opposite the Town Hall was a lame attempt to convert an ugly
chapel into a Grecian temple. It was a wretched architectural failure.
It was "The School of Medicine," and, as I know from a personal visit
at the time, contained, even then, a very various and most extensive
collection of anatomical preparations, and other matters connected
with the noble profession to whose use it was dedicated. From the Town
Hall to Easy Row the pathway was three or four feet higher than the
road, and an ugly iron fence was there, to prevent passengers from
tumbling over. On this elevated walk stood the offices of a celebrated
character, "Old"--for I never heard him called by any other name--"Old
Spurrier," the hard, unbending, crafty lawyer, who, being permanently
retained by the Mint to prosecute all coiners in the district, had a
busy time of it, and gained for himself a large fortune and an evil
reputation.
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