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95 - Mysteries of London Vol II by George W M Reynolds · Mysteries of London Vol. II

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Speaker 1: What contrasts does mortal existence present to view? While some
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Speaker 1: are joyous and happy in one place, others are overwhelmed
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Speaker 1: with sorrow and affliction elsewhere. At the same moment that
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Speaker 1: the surgeon ushers a new being into life, the hand
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Speaker 1: of the executioner cuts short the days of another. Here
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Speaker 1: the goblet sparkles with the ruby wine. There the lip
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Speaker 1: touches the poisoned glass of suicide. In this abode, a
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Speaker 1: luxurious banquet is spread upon the table, in that the
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Speaker 1: wretched inmate has not a crust to stay the cravings
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Speaker 1: of famine. Thus was it that, while the hostess and
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Speaker 1: the guests were blithe and happy in the villa near Clapton,
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Speaker 1: a painful scene was in process of enactment elsewhere. It
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Speaker 1: was about five o'clock on that same evening when a
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Speaker 1: cab stopped at the prisoner's gate of Newgate, and from
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Speaker 1: the vehicle stepped a tall, powerfully built and rather good
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Speaker 1: looking man dressed in plain clothes. He was accompanied by
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Speaker 1: a superintendent and sergeant of police. They were immediately admitted
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Speaker 1: into the lobby of the jail, and the turnkey, after
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Speaker 1: bestowing upon them a nod of recognition, said you needn't
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Speaker 1: tell me to guess what you're come about. So the
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Speaker 1: youngster is to go over then, after all, yes, replied
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Speaker 1: the tall man in plain clothes. The Secretary of State's
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Speaker 1: warrant was sent down here about an hour ago. I
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Speaker 1: suppose cope is in step into the office, mister Busby,
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Speaker 1: and see, answered the turnkey. The tall man, who responded
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Speaker 1: to the name of Busby, accordingly passed from the lobby
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Speaker 1: into the Governor's office. Anything you asked the turnkey, rubbing
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Speaker 1: his nose with the end of the massive emblem of
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Speaker 1: his office, and accosting the two police authorities, who had
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Speaker 1: seated themselves on the bench facing the gate, Not that
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Speaker 1: I know, on, returned the sergeant. Leastways, no thing particular,
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Speaker 1: unless it is that my superintendent here is doing some
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Speaker 1: in the literary line and writing a book about great
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Speaker 1: criminals and police and prisons and all that there kind
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Speaker 1: of thing you don't say, so, ejaculated the turnkey. Yes, sir,
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Speaker 1: mister Crisp is quite right, said the superintendent pompously. I
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Speaker 1: am getting up a work on them subjects, but my
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Speaker 1: official position will compel me to publish it anonymously, as
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Speaker 1: they say. And while we're here, Crisp, we may as
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Speaker 1: well take down a few notes, for I must inform you,
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Speaker 1: continued the Superintendent, addressing himself once more to the turnkey.
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Speaker 1: But my friend and subordinate, mister Crisp, is helping me
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Speaker 1: in this here labor of love. Well, sir, returned the
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Speaker 1: jail fi functionary. Any information that I can give you
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Speaker 1: I shall be most happy to furnish you with. I'm sure, thank'e, kindly,
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Speaker 1: said the superintendent. Now, Crisp, how if you know book
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Speaker 1: in four two buzz B will be off an hour
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Speaker 1: or so in the office. Pray sir, what may be
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Speaker 1: the annimal average prisoners male and female in Newgate? About
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Speaker 1: three thousand males and eight hundred females, answered the turnkey.
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Speaker 1: Put that down, Crisp. I suppose in the males you
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Speaker 1: includes boys, and in the females you comprises gals. Certainly,
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Speaker 1: was the reply. Put that down, Crisp. Now what's the
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Speaker 1: state of discipline here, asked the superintendent. I've heard a
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Speaker 1: good deal about it, in course, but I'd rather have
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Speaker 1: it direct from official source. Why there isn't much to
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Speaker 1: say on that point, returned the functionary. Thus appealed to
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Speaker 1: we let the prisoners have pretty much their own way.
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Speaker 1: They gamble, play at ball, fight, swear, sing, and lark
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Speaker 1: in the wards just as they like. Put that down, Crisp.
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Speaker 1: It's a blessing to think of the state of freedom
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Speaker 1: one enjoys even in the jails of this enlightened and
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Speaker 1: liberal nation. To be sure, it is said the Turnkey.
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Speaker 1: The young thieves consider Newgate to be a capital school
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Speaker 1: for improvement in their profession. When they're at chapel, they're
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Speaker 1: always practicing pickpocketing on each other. What's bred in the
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Speaker 1: bone will never go out of the flesh, observed the Superintendent.
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Speaker 1: But the poor creaturs must have some diversion. Put that down, Crisp. Ah,
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Speaker 1: Newgate has seen some rum things in its time, moralized
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Speaker 1: the Turnkey. It has been a felon's jail for well
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Speaker 1: nigh seven hundred years, as it though, cried the superintendent.
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Speaker 1: Now then, Crisp, put that down. And ever since I
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Speaker 1: first come here, continued the Turnkey. There have been constant
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Speaker 1: reports drawn up about the state of discipline, but I
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Speaker 1: never see that any change follows. Put that down, Crisp.
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Speaker 1: When my book is published, my good fellow, you'll just
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Speaker 1: see what the world will say about a change, there's
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Speaker 1: no need of change, and that I'll undertake to prove.
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Speaker 1: Newgate is the very palace of prisons, Lord bless us.
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Speaker 1: It would do half the aldermen themselves good to pass
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Speaker 1: a few days in such a pleasant place. Sometimes we
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Speaker 1: have a few discontented fellows here that don't like to
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Speaker 1: associate with the rest, proceeded the turnkey, and then they
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Speaker 1: ask to be thrown into solitary cells. Put that down, crisp.
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Speaker 1: I suppose they're always gratified in their wishes, asked the superintendent. Oh, always,
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Speaker 1: replied the turnkey. But the the worst of all is
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Speaker 1: that the chaplain here is nothing more or less than
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Speaker 1: a regular spy upon the Governor and the officials, and
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Speaker 1: constantly reports to the Home Office everything that occurs. Put
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Speaker 1: that down, crisp. Such conduct is shameful, and I wonder
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Speaker 1: the jail committee of aldermen don't take the matter up,
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Speaker 1: so they will rejoined the turnkey. But here comes Busby,
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Speaker 1: and as he spoke, the tall man in plain clothes
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Speaker 1: re entered the lobby. All right, asked the superintendent. Yes,
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Speaker 1: we'll take him over at once, was the reply. The
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Speaker 1: turnkey stepped into a passage leading to the interior of
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Speaker 1: the jail, and gave some instructions to a colleague who
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Speaker 1: was stationed there. A few minutes afterwards, Henry Holford, dressed
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Speaker 1: in his own clothes and not in the prison garb,
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Speaker 1: was led into the lobby by the official to whom
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Speaker 1: the turnkey had spoken. The youth was well in health,
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Speaker 1: and by no means cast down in spirits. His face,
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Speaker 1: at no period remarkable for freshness of color, was less
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Speaker 1: pallid than it ever before had been. There were, however,
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Speaker 1: a certain apathy and indifference in his manner, which might
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Speaker 1: have induced a superficial observer to conclude that his reason
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Speaker 1: was in reality affected. But a careful examination of the
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Speaker 1: expression of his countenance, and a few minutes study of
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Speaker 1: his intelligent, dark eyes would have served to convince even
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Speaker 1: the most skeptical that, however morbid his mind might, for
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Speaker 1: an interval have become that excitement or disease had passed away,
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Speaker 1: and he was now as far removed from insanity as
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Speaker 1: the most rational of God's creatures. Come, young man, said
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Speaker 1: mister Busby, with great kindness of manner, as if he
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Speaker 1: were endeavoring to conciliate an individual whom he actually deemed
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Speaker 1: to be of disturbed intellects. You are going along with me,
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Speaker 1: and I'll take you to a nice house with a
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Speaker 1: pleasant garden, and where you'll be well treated. I am
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Speaker 1: at no loss to imagine the place to which you allude,
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Speaker 1: said Holford, an expression of slyness, curling his lip. Better
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Speaker 1: Bedlam than Newgate. He's no more mad than me, Crisp,
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Speaker 1: whispered the Superintendent to the sergeant. Not a bit, sir,
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Speaker 1: was the reply. You may put that down, Crisp, continued
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Speaker 1: the Superintendent, still speaking aside to his subordinate. It will
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Speaker 1: all do to go into our report to the Home Secretary.
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Speaker 1: How capital that turnkey allowed himself to be pumped by
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Speaker 1: me to be sure? Don't you think I did it
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Speaker 1: very well? Very well, sir? Indeed, returned Crisp. But I
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Speaker 1: introduced the subject for you by saying that you was
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Speaker 1: occupied in writing a book. Good Hi, dear that Crisp
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Speaker 1: rejoined the Superintendent. The turnkey little thought we were spies
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Speaker 1: while he blowed up about the chaplain. In course you'll
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Speaker 1: make out Newgate a horrid place, suh, said Crisp. In
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Speaker 1: course I shall, answered the Superintendent emphatically, coss ill, please
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Speaker 1: the Home Secretary. But there's Busby a callin after us.
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Speaker 1: This was indeed the case, for while the two police
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Speaker 1: officers were thus engaged in the interchange of their own
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Speaker 1: little private sentiments, mister Busby had conducted Holford to the
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Speaker 1: cab and had esconced himself therein by the side of
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Speaker 1: the prisoner. The Superintendent followed them into the vehicle, and,
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Speaker 1: at the suggestion of Busby, who declared in a whisper
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Speaker 1: to that functionary that three men were not needed to
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Speaker 1: take care of one boy, the farther services of Crisp
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Speaker 1: were dispensed with, And now the cab rolled rapidly along
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Speaker 1: the Old Bailey, turned down Ludgate Hill, thence into Bridge
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Speaker 1: Street and over Blackfriar's Bridge in its way to Bethlehem.
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Speaker 1: How strange to Holford appeared the busy, bustling streets, and
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Speaker 1: that river, the silent highway on whose breast all was
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Speaker 1: life and animation. After the seclusion of several weeks in Newgate,
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Speaker 1: But ah, did he not now behold those scenes for
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Speaker 1: the last time? Would not he thenceforth become dead to
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Speaker 1: the world? Was he not about to be immured in
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Speaker 1: a living tomb. Never, never more would the echoes of
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Speaker 1: the myriad voices of the great city meet his ears.
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Speaker 1: He was on his way to the sepulcher of all
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Speaker 1: earthly hopes, all mundane enjoyments, all human interests. Henceforth, must
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Speaker 1: that bright sun, which now steeped pinnacle, dome, tower, and
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Speaker 1: river in a flood of golden luster, visit him with
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Speaker 1: its rays only through the grated window of a madhouse.
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Speaker 1: For the last time? Was he crossing that bridge for
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Speaker 1: the last time? Did he behold that crowded thoroughfare leading
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Speaker 1: to the obelisk, on the gay shops, the rapid vehicles,
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Speaker 1: and the moving multitudes. Was he also now gazing for
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Speaker 1: the last time? The last time? Oh? Those three monosyllables
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Speaker 1: formed a terrible prelude, an awful introduction to an existence
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Speaker 1: of monotony, gloom, and eternal confinement. Ah, could he recall
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Speaker 1: the events of the last few weeks? But no, it
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Speaker 1: was impossible. The die was cast, the deed was done,
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Speaker 1: and justice had settled his destiny the last time. And
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Speaker 1: he was so young, so very young, to be compelled
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Speaker 1: to murmur those words to himself. The sky was so bright,
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Speaker 1: the air of the river was so refreshing. The scene
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Speaker 1: viewed from the bridge was so attractive that he could
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Speaker 1: scarcely believe he was really doomed never to enjoy them more.
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Speaker 1: And there was a band of music playing in the
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Speaker 1: road at the door of a public house. What was
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Speaker 1: the air? Britons never shall be slaves, Merciful God. He
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Speaker 1: was now a slave of the most abject description. The
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Speaker 1: convict in the hulks knew that the day of release
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Speaker 1: must come. The transported felon might enjoy the open air
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Speaker 1: and the glorious sun and the cheering breeze. But for him,
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Speaker 1: for Henry Holford, eternal confinement within four walls. The last time, oh,
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Speaker 1: for the pleasures of life that were now to be
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Speaker 1: abandoned forever. For the last time did his eyes behold
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Speaker 1: those play bills in the shop windows, and he was
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Speaker 1: so fond of the theater. For the last time did
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Speaker 1: he see that omnibus on its way to the zoological gardens,
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Speaker 1: and he was so fond of those gardens. Ah. It
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Speaker 1: was a crushing, a stifling, a suffocating sensation to know
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Speaker 1: that in a few minutes more huge doors and grated
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Speaker 1: windows and formidable bolts and bars must separate him from
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Speaker 1: that world which had so many attractions for one of
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Speaker 1: his age. Yes, he now beheld those houses, those shops,
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Speaker 1: those streets, those crowds, those vehicles for the last time.
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Speaker 1: And now the cab has reached the iron gate in
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Speaker 1: front of Bethlem Hospital. There was a temporary delay while
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Speaker 1: the porter opened that gate. Holford looked hastily from the windows,
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Speaker 1: and his lips were compressed, as if to subdue his feelings. Again,
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Speaker 1: the vehicle rolled onward, and in a few moments stopped
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Speaker 1: at the entrance of the huge madhouse. The superintendent alighted,
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Speaker 1: Holford was directed to follow, and Busby came close after him.
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Speaker 1: The great folding doors leading into the handsome hall of
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Speaker 1: the establishment stood open. Holford paused on the threshold for
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Speaker 1: an instant, cast one rapid but longing look behind him,
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Speaker 1: a last look, and then walked with firm steps to
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Speaker 1: a waiting room commanding a view of the grounds at
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Speaker 1: the back of the building. On the table lay a
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Speaker 1: book in which visitors to the Institution are compelled to
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Speaker 1: enter their names and places of abode. Halford turned over
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Speaker 1: the leaves carelessly at first, but when he caught sight
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Speaker 1: of several great names, he experienced a momentary glow of
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Speaker 1: pride and triumph as he murmured to himself, how many
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Speaker 1: will come hither on purpose to feast their eyes on me. Busby,
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Speaker 1: who was one of the principal officers connected with the
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Speaker 1: establishment of which Sir Peter Lorry is the intelligent and
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Speaker 1: justly honored President, left the room for a short time,
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Speaker 1: Alford remaining in the charge of the superintendent. When the
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Speaker 1: first mentioned functionary returned, it was to conduct the youth
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Speaker 1: to his future place of abode. Busby led the way
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Speaker 1: through a long and well ventilated passage in which about
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Speaker 1: a dozen missers looking men were lounging about. Holford cast
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Speaker 1: a glance of ill concealed terror upon their countenances, and
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Speaker 1: read madness in their wild eyes. But to his astonishment,
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Speaker 1: he beheld no horrifying and revolting sights, no wretches writhing
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Speaker 1: in chains, no maniacs crowning themselves with straws, no unhappy
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Speaker 1: beings raging in the fury of insanity. He had hitherto
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Speaker 1: imagined that madhouses were shocking places, and Bethlem worse than
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Speaker 1: all but distressing. Though the spectacle of human reason dethroned
16:41
Speaker 1: and cast down must, ever be, it was still a
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Speaker 1: great relief to the young man to find, upon inquiry
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Speaker 1: of the officer, that there were no scenes throughout the
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Speaker 1: vast establishment one tittle worse than that which he now beheld.
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Speaker 1: On one side of that long passage, where the cells,
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Speaker 1: or rather little rooms, in which the inmates of that
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Speaker 1: department of the asylum slept, each being allowed a separate chamber.
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Speaker 1: The beds were comfortable and scrupulously cleanly in appearance, and
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Speaker 1: the officer informed Holford that the linen was changed very frequently.
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Speaker 1: From the other side of the passage or wide corridor
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Speaker 1: opened the rooms in which the meals were served up,
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Speaker 1: and here we may observe that the food allowed the
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Speaker 1: inmates of Bethleem Hospital is both excellent in quality and
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Speaker 1: abundant in quantity. There was a very tall officer. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: all the male keepers throughout the institution are tall, strong
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Speaker 1: and well built men, walking slowly up and down the
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Speaker 1: passage of which we are speaking, And when any of
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Speaker 1: the unhappy lunatics addressed him, he replied to them in
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Speaker 1: a kind and conciliatory manner, or else good naturedly humored
17:59
Speaker 1: them by listening with apparent interest and attention to the
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Speaker 1: lamentable outpourings of their erratic intellects. It is delightful to
18:08
Speaker 1: turn from those descriptions of ill disciplined prisons and of
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Speaker 1: vicious or tyrannical institutions, which it has been our duty
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Speaker 1: to record in this work. It is delightful to turn
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Speaker 1: from such pictures to an establishment which, though awakening many
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Speaker 1: melancholy thoughts, nevertheless excites our admiration and demands our unbounded
18:31
Speaker 1: praise as a just tribute to the benevolence, the wisdom,
18:35
Speaker 1: and the humanity which constitute the principles of its administration. Oh,
18:41
Speaker 1: could the great, the philanthropic Pennel rise from the cold
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Speaker 1: tomb and visit this institution of which we are speaking,
18:50
Speaker 1: he would see ample proof to convince him that while
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Speaker 1: on earth, he had not lived nor toiled in vain.
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Speaker 1: Connected with the Male Department of Bethleem, there are a
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Speaker 1: library and a billiard room for the use of those
19:05
Speaker 1: who are sufficiently sane to enjoy the mental pleasures of
19:09
Speaker 1: the one or the innocent recreation of the other. The
19:13
Speaker 1: books in the library are well selected. They consist chiefly
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Speaker 1: of the works of travelers and Voyagers, naval and military
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Speaker 1: histories and biographies, and the leading cheap periodicals such as
19:27
Speaker 1: the London Journal, Chambers, Information for the People, Knights is
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Speaker 1: Penny Magazine, etc. Communicating with the female department of the
19:39
Speaker 1: asylum is a music room, small but elegantly fitted up
19:44
Speaker 1: and affording a delightful means of amusement and solace to
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Speaker 1: many of the inmates of that division of the building.
19:52
Speaker 1: When these attentions to the comforts and even happiness for
19:56
Speaker 1: Bethleem Hospital exhibits many examples where ignorance bliss of those
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Speaker 1: who are doomed to dwell within its walls are contrasted
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Speaker 1: with the awful and soul harrowing spectacle which its interior
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Speaker 1: presented not very many years ago. It is impossible to
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Speaker 1: feel otherwise than astonished and enraptured at the vast improvements
20:19
Speaker 1: which civilization has introduced into the modern management of the insane.
20:25
Speaker 1: But let us return to Henry Holford. We left him
20:30
Speaker 1: threading the long passage which formed a portion of his
20:33
Speaker 1: way towards the criminal department of the hospital, that department
20:37
Speaker 1: which was thenceforth to be his abode. It may be
20:41
Speaker 1: readily imagined that he gazed anxiously and intently on all
20:45
Speaker 1: he saw that not a single object of such new,
20:50
Speaker 1: strange and yet mournful interest to him escaped his observation.
20:56
Speaker 1: Suddenly he beheld a man leaning against the wall and
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Speaker 1: staring at him as he passed, in a wild and
21:03
Speaker 1: almost ferocious manner. There seemed to be something peculiar in
21:08
Speaker 1: that poor creature's garb. Holford looked again, and that second
21:13
Speaker 1: glance made him shudder fearfully. The man had on a
21:18
Speaker 1: straight waistcoat, a strong garment made of bed ticking and
21:23
Speaker 1: resembling a smock that was too small for him. The
21:27
Speaker 1: sleeves were beneath instead of outside, and were sown to
21:32
Speaker 1: the waistcoat, a contrivance by which the arms of the
21:36
Speaker 1: unhappy wretch were held in a necessary restraint, but without
21:41
Speaker 1: the infliction of pain. Merciful God, thought Holford within himself.
21:48
Speaker 1: If a residence within these walls should drive me really mad, Oh,
21:54
Speaker 1: if I should ever come to such an abject state
21:56
Speaker 1: as that his miserable reflection were strangely interrupted, One of
22:03
Speaker 1: the lunatics abruptly drew near and addressed him in a
22:06
Speaker 1: wild and incoherent tone. The nation is falling, he said,
22:12
Speaker 1: And the worst of it is that it does not
22:13
Speaker 1: know that it is falling. It is going down as
22:17
Speaker 1: rapidly as it can, and I only can save it. Yes,
22:20
Speaker 1: the nation is falling, falling. Alford felt a cold and
22:26
Speaker 1: shuddering sensation creep over him, for these manifestations of a
22:30
Speaker 1: ruined intellect struck him forcibly, fearfully, as if they were
22:36
Speaker 1: an omen a warning, a presage of the condition to
22:40
Speaker 1: which he himself must speedily come. He was relieved from
22:45
Speaker 1: the farther importunities of the poor lunatic by the sudden
22:48
Speaker 1: opening of a door, by which Busby admitted him into
22:52
Speaker 1: a narrow passage with two gratings, having a small space
22:56
Speaker 1: between them. The inner grating was at the bottom of
23:00
Speaker 1: a stone staircase, down which another keeper speedily came in
23:04
Speaker 1: obedience to a summons from Busby's lips. This second keeper
23:09
Speaker 1: now took charge of Henry Holford, whom he conducted up
23:13
Speaker 1: the stairs to a gallery entered by a wicket in
23:16
Speaker 1: an iron grating, and divided by a similar defense into
23:20
Speaker 1: two compartments. One of these compartments was much larger than
23:25
Speaker 1: the other, and contained many inmates and many rooms. The
23:30
Speaker 1: smaller division had but six chambers opening from it. The
23:35
Speaker 1: entire gallery was, however, devoted to those persons who, having
23:39
Speaker 1: committed dread deeds, had been acquitted on the ground of insanity.
23:45
Speaker 1: It was to the lesser compartment that Holford was assigned.
23:50
Speaker 1: And now he was an inmate of the criminal Division
23:53
Speaker 1: of Bethlehem Hospital. He who was as sane as his keeper,
23:58
Speaker 1: and who could therefore the more keenly feel, the more
24:02
Speaker 1: bitterly appreciate the dread circumstances of his present condition. And
24:08
Speaker 1: who were his companions, men that had perpetrated appalling deeds,
24:15
Speaker 1: horrible murders in the aberration of their intellects? Was this
24:20
Speaker 1: the triumph that he had achieved by his regicide attempt?
24:25
Speaker 1: Had he earned that living tomb as the sacrifice to
24:28
Speaker 1: be paid for the infamous notoriety which he had acquired?
24:33
Speaker 1: Oh to return to his pot boy existence, to wait
24:37
Speaker 1: on the vulgar and the low, to become once more
24:41
Speaker 1: a menial unto menials, rather than stay in that terrible place,
24:47
Speaker 1: or else to be confined for life in a jail
24:50
Speaker 1: where no presence of madness might tend to drive him mad. Also, yes,
24:55
Speaker 1: that were preferable, oh far preferable, to the soul harrowing
25:00
Speaker 1: scene where man appeared more degraded and yet more formidable
25:06
Speaker 1: than the brutes. Yes, yes, transportation chains, the horrors of
25:13
Speaker 1: Norfolk Island, anything, anything rather than immurement in the criminal
25:19
Speaker 1: wards of Bethlehem, vain and useless regrets for the past,
25:25
Speaker 1: futile and ineffective aspirations for the future. End of section
25:32
Speaker 1: ninety five. Recording by Linda Johnson,