The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 122: what you’re looking at

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

THE VAULT IN THE CHURCH 103 his wearied limbs for a few hours ere pursuing his journey again. The path which he was threading through the fields brought him to the gate of the churchyard, and as he sat to rest himself there for a few minutes, he fancied that he beheld a light glimmering through a small window, or loophole, at the very bottom of the wall of the church. The Burker was little prone to superstitious fears, and his curiosity was there- fore excited. He entered the churchyard, he advanced toward the little window whence, as he had fancied, the light was really glimmering. This window was more than half-way below the actual level of the churchyard, but the earth had been cut away in a sloping manner toward it, so as to admit the air, if not the light of day, into the place to which it belonged. The Burker, passing amongst the tomb- stones, and trampling recklessly upon the graves, advanced nearer toward the little window, stooped down, and peeped in. There was aniron grating, but no glass to the window, — if a window it could therefore be thus denominated; and the Burker could obtain a full view of the interior of the vault, for a vault it was. <A short but massive pillar rose in the centre, supporting the arched ceiling, which was the floor of the church; several coffins were there, an immense lantern hung to an iron nail fixed in the wall, and an old man in a very plain garb was seated on a block of stone at the foot of the pillar. On the ground were several implements such as might have been used in raising the stone which covered the vault, and which therefore belonged to the pave- ment of the church. The glare of the lantern, which com- pletely filled the vault, prevented Jonathan Carnabie — for he the old man was — from observing that the argentine beams of the night’s splendour were now intercepted at the loophole by the form of an observer. He sat upon that stone, gazing slowly around on the coffins which were ranged against the sides of the vault, and though merely musing with himself, he nevertheless said loud enough to be over- heard by the Burker, “‘ Well, there’s room sufficient, to be sure, but then the question is, which is its most appropriate place? ” The coffins upon which the old man thus slowly bent his gaze exhibited the proofs that they had been at very different periods consigned to that last resting-place of the shrouded dead whom they enclosed. There were coffins that were so CORNICLOOKS (CO)