Part 64 (1/2)
Gazing with enquiring eyes upon this world-within-walls,{1} they scarcely heeded the variety of salutations with which they were greeted on entering, such as nods, winks, and touches on the shoulder from one who appeared as unconscious of such familiarity as if he had for some time been wholly absorbed in the solution of a mathematical problem, or the horse-laugh of the ignorant and vulgar, by whom they found themselves surrounded. Struggling through the throng, Dashall impelled his Cousin forward, repeating as he proceeded,
”How many o'er this threshold pa.s.s that mouru, Wanting our power at pleasure to return; A moment let us pause ere we ascend The gallery that leads us to our friend; Survey the place, where all that meets your view, Is full of interest, and strangely new.
Could we but hide those grinning spikes awhile, Borne s.p.a.cious barrack we might think the pile.”
”However,” continued he, ”I perceive we are quizzed, we will just take a turn round, and probably we may meet Merrywell, if not, we will soon find him out by enquiry. You perceive, they have the accommodation of a butcher's shop, and a baker's, besides green stalls, fish stalls, and chandlers' shops, which give the place the appearance of a public market, while the racquet players and others amusing themselves in various ways, resemble that of a fair.”
”Indeed,” said Tallyho, ”your description is just, for I have as yet seen but few sorrowful faces, every one seems to have some object in view, either of business or pleasure, almost as attractive as those without the walls.”
~48~~ ”And in many instances,” continued Dashall, ”of as much, nay, more interest. However, you perceive the
1 The walls of the King's Bench are about thirty feet high, sur-mounted by a _chevaux de frieze_, and as a place of confinement, it is of great though uncertain antiquity.
accommodation of the inmates has been studied by the founders of the College. Water is well supplied from four pumps, and were it not that the walls intercept the views, a man here might almost consider himself in his own habitation, with only one drawback.”
”And what is that?” enquired Tallyho.
”Merely, that like the starling, he can't get out.”
”How now,” said Merry well, who had espied the entrance of his friends from the window of his apartment, and immediately descended to greet them--touching the Honourable Tom Dashall on the shoulder, while he seized Bob by the opposite arm.
”What are you a'ter, exploring the secrets of the prison-house?”
Mutual congratulations having pa.s.sed, Merrywell welcomed them to his habitation, significantly informing them at the same time, that notwithstanding his powers of entertainment were just then not what he could wish, all was right, the trick was done, that he was arranging for a house in the Rules, _pro tempore_, and that it would not be long before he should have the honour of meeting them in a way that would be more agreeable to all parties. ”However,” continued he, ”if you can bear a confined apartment, I promise you shall have nothing else to complain of. Can you put up with pot-luck in a prison?”
”Certainly,” was the reply, ”our object was to spend a convivial hour with you, to wile away a little of the time, to see and learn, to take a peep at things as they are, and to form our judgments upon their existence.”
”Then,” replied Merrywell, ”you have arrived _en bon heure_, for in this place a volume of information may be obtained, which, if judiciously applied, must prove beneficial; and while dinner is preparing, I can afford you abundance of amus.e.m.e.nt; so come along, we must move round this way to the gate again, in order to take any thing like an accurate survey, and I can furnish some anecdotes of the paraders, the players, the officers of the Court, and the visitors, which cannot fail to prove interesting. This, however, must be done with caution, for suspicion is ever active, and jealousy constantly awake within these walls; and as I mean to give you sketches of individual characters, rather than a general view of ~49~~ the society with which I am now in a.s.sociation, a little discretion may be well made use of.”
”Now let us a.n.a.lyse, but not too loud, If wise, the composition of this crowd; Made up from native soil and foreign clime, Of waste and folly, accident and crime.
Here join the Speculator and the Fool, Greybeards, and youngsters rather t.i.t for school, (At least for any school but this alone, Where College vices in the shade are thrown.) Of pugilists, of haberdashers, jugglers, Horse jockeys, swindlers, Bond Street beaux, and smugglers, By hollow friends.h.i.+p some in prison thrown, By others' follies some--more by their own.”
By this time they had traversed round the open walk of the prison, and on arriving at the place of entrance--
”Do you observe that small building on the right? it is called the State House, and contains the largest and most convenient rooms; it is usually devoted to the accommodation of such as are best enabled to pay; and there are persons residing here, who live as well, and in as das.h.i.+ng a style as those without the walls, or at least pay as much for their living. On the left hand you may also perceive the chapel, for the spiritual wants of those confined are not to be forgotten.”
”There, in the centre, is the chapel door, With ever changing notices spread o'er: Whatever doctrines may within be taught, With words of peace that door is rarely fraught: For there, mid notices of beds for hire, Of concerts in the state-house by desire, Some ill-spelt scrawl demands the mighty debt Of half a crown, with a ferocious threat; Some traitorous agent is denounced; some spy, That blabb'd of gin, is hung in effigy; Here angry fools proclaim the petty jar, And clumsy pasquinades provoke to war.”
By this time they had reached the door of the Chapel, which, by the various placards pasted against it, fully confirmed the description of Merrywell.
Bob, casting his eyes around him, discovered much for enquiry. ”Who are those in the corner in close conversation together?”
”The farthest from us,” replied Merrywell, ”is a Jew attorney, well acquainted with all the shuffling arts of the ~50~~ place; one who can explain the whole game, from raising the wind, down to the White-was.h.i.+ng Act, for the knowledge and experience of gentlemen in these days are astonis.h.i.+ng. You would scarcely believe it, but such is the fact, there are rakes of quality and of fas.h.i.+on, who are their own farriers, horse dealers, who know every trick upon the cards and dice--cutting, shuffling, slipping, cogging, securing; who have cards and dice always at hand, and ready made to their hand; who, although they are awake to a good thing, know the odds to a nicety, and can give or take according as it may best suit their purpose, yet are not properly initiated in all requisite mysteries, till a sort of finish is given to their education, by a temporary retirement here; where they learn a sufficiency of the law to give information on all the quirks and quibbles of the arrest laws, of bailing, demurring, justifying bail, putting in bail above, of writs of error, county and Marshalsea writs, of letters of licence, the laws against usury, the bankrupt laws, and finally of acts of grace; perhaps the last and only one in their lives bearing that name: but we must walk on, or we may be overheard.”
”Then,” said Dashall, ”you are by this time pretty well acquainted with the characters of your companions, and expect to leave the College with more information than you previously possessed.”
”No doubt of it,” was the reply; ”but as my case was not desperate, I have not sought desperate remedies. I am at this moment supposed by certain friends of mine to be in the gay city of Paris, enjoying all the luxuries of the Thuilleries, the Louvre, the Palais Royal, and the Elysian Fields; and I doubt not I shall be able to convince an old rich uncle of mine of the fact. And as my expectations chiefly rest on him, and he cannot last long, I shall upon liberation make my approaches to him with a little of the French polish I am preparing while here. This, however, is selfish conversation.”
”Yet perfectly in point,” continued Dashall.
”And equally interesting too,” said Bob.
”Do you see,” said Merrywell, ”that young man b.u.t.toned up to the chin, in what has been a blue great coat? He is one of the lecturers.”