The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 354: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE MYSTERIES. S39 which he was quite old and experienced enough to doubt in the blank bitterness of his ewn despair ! And, leaning against the wall—pressing her hand to her throbbing, burning brow—Rose Foster was endeavouring to steady those thoughts which were excited te an agonising pitch by the contemplation of the appalling scene ef misery that was before her eyes, and in which she also shared! Misery '—merciful God, every one and everything in that garret bore the impress of misery the direst —the acutest—the most poignant that ever entered the habitations of the oppressed millions of these realms! It was a misery which knew no compunc- tion—no remorse : a misery that was as unsparing as atax-collector—as relentless as an overseer—as cold and implacable as a poor-law guardian. Although the weather was as chill as if that garret were sur- rounded by Spitzbergen ice, yet not a spark glim- mered in the grate, which was black and cheerless. A candle stuck in a bottle gave forth light enough to being into relief all the most appalling details of this scene of woe. The flickering beams, playing upon the countenances of the famished family, showed all that ghastliness of feature the wanness and anguish of which they could not possibly enhance. A few articles hung to dry upon a line stretching across the room; and the exhalation of the danipness sent a keener and more piercing chill to the marrow of those bones which had so little flesh upon them to cerve as a natural barrier to the icy atmosphere, Oh! that some great artist could have transferred to his canvass this spectacle the harrowing outlines @f which no language can depict with an appropriate vividness,—that he could have drawn Misery eating Into the flesh, and sucking the blood, and making its way to the very hearts of those parents and their famishing ring,—and that, when his work was accomplished, he could have exhibited it to the as- sembled Royalty and Aristocracy of the country, exclaiming, “Behold a life-like representation of that appalling wretchedness and woe which emanate from your selfishness — your tyranny—your ab- horrent cruelty 1” Almighty God ! what have the millions done that they should be doomed to endure such hideous suf- fering in their passage from the cradle to the tomb f ~and what have the favoured few done that they should revel mnceasingly in all the enjoyments, luxuries, and elegances of lifef — But let us continue the thread of our narrative. The man whom we have already represented as being seated in an attitude of despair, was the head of this starving family whom we have described. The emaciated woman was his wife—the famishing children were his own. His name was Melmoth ; band he was by trade a journeyman hatter. But having, at a public meeting of operatives, dared to express his political opinions with a frankness dis- pleasing to the upholders of all the atrocious abuses which render this country a shame and a scandal in the history of civilisation, he was immediately Ggnalised as a victim. The clergyman of the perish denounced him as a “ seditious fellow ”—and his employer turned him adrift at a short notice. Vainly did he apply for work elsewhere: his name was known in connexion with demoeratic sentiments —and, because he was independent enough to express what he thought and felt, starvation e his doom in this land which boasts its freedom, its in- telligence, and its charity. Such was the origin of Melmoth’s misfortunes. Months had passed since the ban of a selfish and Vitiated society had thus been placed upon him; and, although bearmg an unblemished character for sobriety, honesty, and ability in his craft, he was unable to obtain employment. At first the Kittle savings made by his frugal and excellent wife were encroached upon: these soon went—and then the superfluous raiment began to disappear, Next, the furniture was rendered available to supply the means of sustaining life ;—and the little articles of comfort having been converted into bread, the necessaries followed. Day after day was the shop of the pawn- broker visited by either Melmoth or his wife; and on each occasion the barrier between their family and utter destitution grew less and less. In proportion as their worldly possessions disappeared, gaunt misery became more clearly developed in al] its hideous outlines to their view. Every time a coat, or & gown, or a chair was removed from the decreasing stock, poverty grew more plainly visible. The spectral form of famine took larger proportions, in order to fill up each successive gap which the exigences of the day and the assistance of the pawn- broker made in the apparel and the furniture of this doomed family. And every mouthfn] of bread thus procured, was eaten with a sharper pang and moist- ened with more plenteous tears. At length the dreaded moment arrived,—that mo- ment when the four bare walls had “ destitution” written in unmistakable letters upon their otherwise blank surface—when the cupboard was empty— when the bedding had all disappeared, and the shivering children slept upon a sack filled with straw —and when only a broken chair, an old chest, and a few poor rags of clothing were left! Yes—this awful moment came,—that crisis whose approach had been marked with shuddering looks with eyes that could not be averted ;—it had come—this fatal phase in‘the history of poverty and suffering,—and, terrible even in the distance as it had appeared, there was in its presence a reality so stern, so remorseless, 80 ¢x- cruciating, and so thoroughly maddening, that God alone can tell what hope now sustained the wretched parents as they felt starvation themselves and beheld their children dying by inches before their eyes ! It was evening—nine o’clock in the evening, when we thus introduce the Melmoth family to our readers. The man and his wife had not tasted food for forty- eight hours: the boy of thirteen had fasted for twenty- four hours;—and the last crust—stale and scanty, heaven knows—had been divided inther = — tween the younger lad and the girl. | had passed as long a period as Melmoth : without eating ;—and thus every soul in was hungering unto death. The man and —the young lady—the three children— fant,—seven human beings in all,—were perishing through famine—wasting away And yet these seven hnman beings we in a land teeming with wealtb,—in a cil bosom the commercial navies of the world produce of the fairest climes of the oa dwelling in this London where the luxuries wy uf abounded as amply as the necessaries, and where the granaries, the provision-shops, and the markets were stored with a profusion which the promptitude of mpply, produce, and import, ren inexhaustible! ese thoughts swept through the reeling, rocki maddening brain of Melmoth, as he cast'a ra lv RBRWET uw on & oe QOLAPTKE jayre)(o) S COMM