The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life — page 74: what you’re looking at

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

— — ————- — EE ————————— eee ee eee CONMIE DOO <Syareroy ia am Sennen IS 66 THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON. — —_ — -—-—_———~ the slumber of the inmates. And when, in defiance | with a firm determination, as Mr. Chuckers said, of of the brief fragment of a short six, left by Mrs. | going in and making a night of it. Marrables in his flat candlestick, he would throw open| After mature deliberation as to the characters that the narrow casement of his bed-room on a summer | should be chosen for the occasion, and much anxious evening, and practise by moonlight the serenade from | reflection had been bestowed upon the easiest and “Don Pasquale,” with his instruction-boek propped | least expensive method of obtaining the requisite up against the window ledge, the effect would have | costumes, it was finally settled that Thornton should been doubtless highly pleasing and creditable, only | assume the simple dress of a countryman, and thac that the faint illumination generally misled him as to | Chuckers should present himself under the more fero- the right notes, and the cats upon the opposite tiles | cious aspect of a brigand, such dresses being attain- would congregate in alarming numbers, and contribute | able “for a consideration” from the wardrobe of a a dismal chorus for the accompaniment, under the | private theatre to which the latter had belonged in disparaging impreasion that they were hearing the cry | the days of his amateur enthusiasm. of a feline creature in distress, and were bound torush| These arrangements having been satisfactorily con- to the rescue accordingly. cluded, and the dresses haying been conveyed in Yet, notwithstanding all these eccentricities in | readiness to the apartment of a friend, who had placed which he was wont to indulge, and which either the | his domicile at their disposal for the evening, it was landlady’s broad hints or his own narrow income com- | agreed that, to prevent needless apprehensions, Emma pelled him to gradually abandon, Bob Chuckers was | should be kept for the present in ignorance of their acknowledged, by all who knew him, to be a good | destination; and, with sanguine expectations of the hearted fellow, and his yisits were far from being | mirthful hours in store, the two sallied forth to the discouraged by the Thorntons, lodging of the accommodating intanee, who lived With “ Master Frederick,” as he called him, Bob | jm one of the quiet atreets leading out of became an especial favourite, for rarely did he return] Come along, my boy,” said Chuckers, as they home without bringing some present to beguile the | walked briskly off towards the spot where the change leisure of his juvenile acquaintance. In this way he contrived to accumulate remarkable specimens of Dutch toys, bought at some vast depot in Great Turn- masque can be? stile, through which he went on his road home from} Thornton acknowledged with all humility of spirit Chancery Lane; and when this collection was duly | that, though he had heard a great dual about displayed in its immensity, it gaye the appearance of | his conceptions on that point were by ne means yery the stock haying been removed to his own dressing- | clear and definite, a table, where it suggested an intention of going into tne same line of business, Boxes of soldiers that shot out inte fierce combinations when fixed upon a machine, like an expanding gridiron; miniature colonies, of primitive construction, where the houses were full of dotted windows, and the trees were frizzled at the top like the filagree paper ornament that decorates the knuckle of ham at evening parties ; Noahb’s arks, crammed with zoological monsters caryed in wood, and so highly coloured, after original con- ceptions, that the “Blue Boars” and “Red Lions” found upon the tavern signs were reproduced in the dancing, joking, love-making, and all that sort of thing. Nobody can form the least notion of what it’s like, excepting those that have been. At least so I am told, for 1 never went to a regular one myself,” “ Then it will be a scene quite new to you?” * Yes, partly,” rejoined Chuckers, with some confu- sion; “ partly it will, But then I have been an acior, you know; that is, an amateur actor. I have played the servants in nearly all the old comedies; and a masquerade is just the same as acting, only that you society of pink elephants and unquestionably yellow j have no occasion to study your part, which is 9 great horses; and besides all these, he had collected a variety | bother, and aint always easy to learn.” of pictures, chiefly of the “ penny plain, and twopence|* “ So I suppose,” quietly observed Thornton, “ you coloured” school of design, and which, glittering with | must have frequently found it 20?” is patches of blue and golden tinsel, were supposed, at} “Got any country cousins coming up to town?” some remote distance, to render up a faithful likeness | inquired Chuckers, wanting to change the subjects of Mr. Macready as Alonzo the Brave, or Mr. T. P.| “I could tell you a good joke to play upon them if Cooke as Rolla—characters that, from the authority of | you had.” the printed description below, were to be credulously| Henry regretted his deficiency in that respect, but believed as their most popular personations, desired to learn the joke notwithstanding. | These little gifts, trifles though they were, strength- “Oh, its famous,” rattled on his loquacious com- ened the.intimacy that arose between Thornton and | panion; “I had one once—a regular north-country his erratic acquaintance ; and when the time arrived : farmer—came up from Yorkshire to see the lions—he for the former to make his débét “upon town,” under | could only stop one night, so what do you think the efficient escort of his fellow-lodger, there was a I did?” mutual regard established that considerably relieved} “Impossible to imagine,” answered Thornton. Emma of the anxiety she had felt concerning an expe-| “Why, he wanted to see the Cosmorama, so I dition that was, in her opinion, only to be exceeded in | boasted I could get him in free, and I took him by peril by one to the interior of Africa. ; Two circumstances had contributed to fix the period resolved upon for this initiation, One was the sudden transfer into the pocket of Bob Chuckers of a small prize that had turned up to his advantage in one of the racing lotteries; and the other was the presen- tation by a fellow-clerk of two admissions to a Bal Masque at Vauxhall Gardens, to the attractions of which place they ,resolyed to devote their evening, and told him to look throngh the glazed bull’s eyes was capital sport to see him rubbing away at the glass, as if he thought he could see something, and a man with a bundle came slinking ont.” “ And you then got detected, of course?” “Not a bit of it, I told him the man was the the side entrance into one of our pawnbroker’s shops, | over the little doors, and he would be delighted. It | rare fun to watch his surprise as the door opened, and | ee ss