Dipping in to The Prelude

from The Prelude: Book VII
William Wordsworth

Private courts,
Gloomy as coffins, and unsightly lanes
Thrilled by some female vendor's scream, belike
The very shrillest of all London cries,
May then entangle our impatient steps;
Conducted through those labyrinths, unawares,
To privileged regions and inviolate,
Where from their airy lodges studious lawyers
Look out on waters, walks, and gardens green.

The picture Wordsworth paints of life in London streets is priceless.  Go and see it out (c. lines 190).