The sexton was a meek, acquiescing little man, of a bowing, lowly
habit, yet he had a pleasant twinkling in his eye, and if
encouraged, would now and then hazard a small pleasantry, such as
a man of his low estate might venture to make in the company of
high churchwardens and other mighty men of the earth. I found him
in company with the deputy organist, seated apart, like Milton's
angels, discoursing, no doubt, on high doctrinal points, and
settling the affairs of the church over a friendly pot of ale;
for the lower classes of English seldom deliberate on any weighty
matter without the assistance of a cool tankard to clear their
understandings. I arrived at the moment when they had finished
their ale and their argument, and were about to repair to the
church to put it in order; so, having made known my wishes, I
received their gracious permission to accompany them.
The church of St. Michael's, Crooked Lane, standing a short
distance from Billingsgate, is enriched with the tombs of many
fishmongers of renown; and as every profession has its galaxy of
glory and its constellation of great men, I presume the monument
of a mighty fishmonger of the olden time is regarded with as much
reverence by succeeding generations of the craft, as poets feel
on contemplating the tomb of Virgil or soldiers the monument of a
Marlborough or Turenne.
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