The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 291: what you’re looking at

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

260 REYNOLDS’ WORKS ‘choicest and most savoury vessels.’”’ He was a man of about eight and thirty, with a mean, insignificant coun- tenance, in the expression of which it was difficult to find an index of his real character or disposition. A very close observer, if experienced in reading the human heart, would have had some misgivings relative to the sincerity of Mr. Smedley’s religious devotion, and might perhaps have caught the glitter of hypocritical cunning underneath the gloss of sanctimoniousness which he habitually wore. His wife was a tall and rather well-made woman, with large features, and a look that indicated decision of character. She had dark hair and eyes, and somewhat a gipsy cast of countenance, which was enhanced by her olive complexion. She gen- erally wore her hair floating over her shoulders, and though there was a certain bold hardihood in her looks, yet the neighbours were acquainted with nothing prejudicial to her reputation as a wife. She was three or four years younger than her husband, but kept him under the completest control. The Smedleys had no children, but they had a companion and an assistant in the person of Mrs. Smedley’s mother. She was a woman of about sixty, with the same style of features as her daughter, though more angular and prom- inent with the effects of age, and there was certainly some- thing sinister, if not actually repulsive, in her looks. She aided her daughter in the household work, and especially attended upon the lodger who occupied the apartments on the first floor. It was rumoured that Mrs. Webber — for that was the old woman’s name — possessed some little means of her own, and this opinion appeared to be confirmed from the fact that the Smedleys were tolerably comfortable in their circumstances, and lived in a better style than either the gold-beating avocation or that of letting a portion of their house to a lodger could possibly warrant. Indeed, John Smedley did not appear to be overburdened with work, for he was often sauntering about the neighbourhood, either for his recreation or else to distribute tracts amongst those whom he denominated his ‘“‘ benighted brethren and sisters.”” As for Mrs. Smedley and the mother they seldom stirred out of the house, except on a Sunday, when they sometimes accompanied the gold-beater to chapel, but they were not by any means so regular in their attendance as he himself was. : Gomichbooks (E(0)