i do not mean that any beggar in the streets of london could earn £ 700 a year—which is less than my average takings—but i had exceptional advantages in my power of making up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by practice and made me quite a recognised character in the city. all day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, and it was a very bad day in which i failed to take £ 2.