The Mysteries of London; or, Revelations of the British Metropolis — page 290: what you’re looking at

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

283 MYSTERIES of a vast administration, and exercised upon an immense scale, These were my reflections, Brian, and my gratitude was infinite. But the follow- ing day, precisely twenty four hours after I had entered the walls of this establishment, one of the officers opened the door to me and requested me to leave the house. Twenty-four hours, such is the respite afforded by the charity of London to mi- serable creatures who are about to die! Such is the regulation of thisassociation. Youare young and strong, said they to me; you must work, How happy should I have been to work, Briar ; but what could ido? I was almost ignorant of the meaning of the word, work. I had worked to learn languages—worked at learning to play upon the piano-forte, and on the harp. Was not this what the man of the House of Refuge meant? One day passed on and then another. Hunger again assailed me, and more severely than before. Oh, Brian! in the midst of these miserable recollections, one delightful remem- brance serves to throw a ray of light upon them. On the evening of the second day, I was walk-. ing, faint and exhausted, upon the foot pave- ment in Cheapside, for I did not wander far from the centre of the city. Hunger had begun to produce upon me its usual effects—those effects which I had so often endured. My head was heavy, and seemed turning round; a mist ap- peared to obscure my sight, and I only perceived the gas lights through the medium of a thick haze, which gave them a thousand shades of co- lour. My forehead seemed to be splitting from the sharp pains I endured. I felt that I could are 7 comicbooks: (eCoyn) , Li at,