The Young Apprentice; or, The Watch-Words of Old London — page 266: what you’re looking at

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

THE WATCHWORDS OF OLD LONDON. BOOh IY. THE FIRST HOURS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAPTER I. THE OLD INN-THE SENSELESS SLEEPER~—THE ATTACK OF THE RUFFIANS—A SECOND ALSATIA—HAROLD IN A NEW CHARACTER— ALICIA LESLIE UNMASKED—THE ARREST —THE MURDER—THE SOLITARY ONE~-THE MIDNIGHT VISION. IT was three days after the execution of Charles the First that Blacklock and one or two friends proceeded to the inn where Dennis had been in- duced to go by Floretta on the night of the mysterious meeting at the ruins, He had disguised himself in the dress of a cavalier ; and he advanced boldly to the door. Now that the king was dead the anger of the Commons had in some measure subsided against his partizans. — Against the heads of the Royalist party the Roundheads were most inveterate. On the day of the king’s execution, the Inde- pendents constituting House of Commons passed an Act prohibiting, under pain of high treason, the proclamation of the Prince of Wales, or any other, to the king or chief magis- trate of England or Ireland without the con- sent of Parliament. On the same day Dake Hamilton, who knew that his life was aimed at, escaped, with the Lord Loughborough, out of Windsor Castle ; and Sir Lewis Davis broke from his prison in London, The of these ns hastened the doom of three of the Royalists, for the House imme- diately debated the question of bringing some of the chief delinquenta to a speedy trial, ap- pointed a committee to constitute a court, and ordered the vacillating and unprincipled Earl of Holland to be removed to London. Hamilton was retaken the day after his flight, by some troopers, who found him knocking at an inn door in Southwark, and who re d him in spite of his humble disguise. On the Ist of February it was ordered that Hamilton and Holland, with Lord Goring, Lord Capel, and Colonel Owen, should be the next persons to be proceeded against for justice, Lord Capel, who was eventually one of the victims, escaped by a desperate attempt out of the Tower over the moat, but was apprehended two days after by two London watermen in a house at Lambeth, In the meantime Blacklock concealed him- self in the old inn. Warned by the Man WITHOUT A NAME, who, true to his generous nature, would not allow even an enemy to sacrifice himself un- necessarily, he kept himself quiet, and only on the dark evening he ventured to pr in search of Dennis, During the preceding two days he had been -$ -——_- On the third, however, it seemed as if matters had either quieted down, or that they suspected him to have escaped. At abont ten o’clock at night, therefore, he quitted the inn by a backway, and proceeded at & rapid pace towards a shop in the precincts of Blackfriars. This shop was kept by a Jew, named Bal- thazzar. It was a place where any kind of clothing might be bought, from a first-class uniform to the habiliments of a clergyman. The Jew himself was a little old man, who was well known and less respected, People—superstitious and easily led in those days—set him down as one who lived not only by cheating, but also by murdering victims Certainly, his face was one which did not in any way belie his reputation. His nose was long and hooked, his eyes round and twinkling, his mouth large, heavy, and sensual His hair was long and white, the only re- spectable thing about him, while his figure, bent, and thin, and spare, showed that his criminal career had not succeeded in making his bodily happiness better if it had made him capable of doing without the assistance of his friends. Despite his money, in fact, he had the aspect of one who had to earn his living by hard and painful labour. “Ha! Mr. Blacklock,” he cried. “ I’m glad to see you, Have you any leetle thing in my way ?” “TI have. I wan't a disguise—a good and complete one,” “¢ kind of one f” “ The dress of a cavalier.” “Oh! the very thing. I have a leetle drers here, one grand beanty that will just suit you. It will fit you, I am sure, just as if it had been made for you,” “ Very well, let me see it, I am in haste,” said Blacklock. . The Jew, who kept glancing round as if fear- ful of being observed, or as if some one waa in concealment in his place, passed into an adjoin- ing room, and after remaining there in earnest conversation with some one, issued forth once more with a suit of clothes under his arm. ‘Here is the very thing, my dear sir,” said the Jew. And so saying, he brought forward a very good cavalier’s tei wig with long curls, and a plumed hat, top-boota and spurs. Blacklock soon dressed himself, and havi seen that all was right, he paid the Jew, an proceeded on his way. On reaching the edge of the river, he ap- proached the by creeping along a narrow h 2) . CeAOy-7 path, which led from the road to the inn. COMMGCISO O1GSe watched. CO)