The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 102: what you’re looking at

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

° epee eee Eee ES - pr eps energy eteeen THE wWYCrRui xs. Om, and where old woeden things are mouldering with the process of decay. To the walls were sus- pended bunches of herbs of various kinds, hung there tu dry; and amongst them was a considera- bie quantity of savin, the detestable use of which fn such hands as those of Mrs. Lind'ey, was to preduce abortion. Bat of this fact Caroline Walters was happily ignorant : otherwise, it would onty have increased the sentiment of aversion which she already experienced with regard to the midwife. Nevertheless, if the sight of those hait3 produced no unpleasant effect apon the young girl, she was speedily horrified and startled by other speetacies which this room presented. For, ranged upon a shelf stood several giass jars, each containing the diminu- hive corpse of an infant preserved in spirits of wine. Yielding to an invincible impalse of curiosity, but with acold tremor of the frame, Caroline advanced to scan these objects nearer ; and as she gazed with mingied loathing and fearful mterest, she discovered something connected with each tiny body that en- hanced the poignancy of those feelinyzs. Four they _ were monsters— human monsters—whieh were pre- served in those bottles, and on which the eyes of the youny girl were thus fixed ! That those infants had died at thelr birth, was probable : that some, if not all, had been murdered, either by stifling or poison, was not very aulikely; —but this latter idea did not for a moment strike Caroline Walters. All her thoughts were absorbed in the loathsome monstrosities which she was con- templating. For in one jar was an infant with an enormous protuberance, having the appearance of an immense wen, upon one side of its little head: another contained a child of hidsous features and without any arms;—a third displayed the horrid spectacle of twin bodies with one head—the revolt- mg production of nature thus having four arms and four legs;—and a fourth vase contained an infant eorpse that had neither arms nor legs atal]. In _ One, these specimens of the terrible eceentricities which occasionally come within the cognizance of those who practise midwifery, were amongst the most revolting which the annals of the art have ever recorded. Turning away at length from the disgusting exhi- bites, and with such a sickening vensation at the heart that she was forced to place the candle-stick " gpon a table for fear she should drop it and be left ' nthe dark amidst ‘those horrors, Caroline ‘leant against the wall for support. While thus sustaining herself, and wondering what sentiment of curiosity could have originally prompted her to enter the room at all, she cast her eyes around as if fearful jest ! come terrific spectre should suddenly mse from ' amidst the pile of amber or appear upon the thres- hold of the door,—when: her looks settled upon a oon black wooden case, standing upright against the L Again she shuddered with a cold trembling from | head to foot: for this box at fret atrnck her as being a coffin that was planted there! But a sevond and | more searching glance showed her that it had not that angular projection of the sides which marks the | Ginieter shape of the reeeptacie for the dead. And now that same myestesions and .invincible ec 2a ———— —— —_ -— =<: «- G? by means of a small latch, she was prompeed to open it. The door swung back: but no pen can dcsearibe the terror which seized upon the vuuny: woman: when the nleacned bones ot a skeleton were suddenly revealed to her view. The constern:tion which fell upon hey, stifled the cry that rose to her lips: and fornearly a minute ah, was held as it were motionless—petrified—statue- like,—and yet with her very flesh creeping. Horror seized upon her brain: the offict was as if the Me- dusa’s head had thus abruptly met her eyes— turning her to stone. While this appalling influence lasted, hy no human effort couid she have averted her gaze: from the anatomy : a supernal power appeared to rivet her looks on the whitened skeleton ! And that skeleton !—it appeared to be standing upright in its case—for it was fastened by the head to the top thereof: its long fingers were slightly bent—its toes pointed downward ;—it seemed to erm horribly with its two rows of white and perfect teeth,—and Caroline thought that with its eycless sockets it looked with a stony and death-like yaze upon her. At thesame moment that this appalling spectacse was displayed to her view,—appalling we say, cone sidering her state of mind,—the wind came roaring, rushing, and bellowing dowa upon the house with © such fury that it shook to its very foundation;— } and for an instant the thought flashed to the girl’, imugination that the day of judgment was at hand. A drauzht swept through the chamber in spite of the well-closed windows with their shutters inside and their large wooden shades without,—for this room looked into the street,—and, agitated by that piercing, penetrating gust, the herbs rustled against the wall like the garments of some being approach- ing the young woman from behind—and the bones rattled slightly in the upright box. A vertigo seized upon the unfortunate Caroline; anil, staggering back—but uttering no cry, for her lips were scaled by the feeling that was now pas-ing over her—she aank on a chair that happened to stand near, Willy she cast her eyes around: objects of terror, conjured up by her excited imagination, met them un every side ;—and, she felt as it she were about to go raving mad, when a bell was suddeuly run: with violence in the house. Caroline started trom her seat; and all the appa- ritions which her fancy had depicted, van she! in an instant. one was up and stirring in the dwellinz; and the sensation of utter loneliness abandoned her. It seemed as if something like life and animation had awakened beneath that roof: the certainty ex:ang up in her mind that should she call ent for assist- ance, succour would co:mne;—and it was even witha courageous feeling that she closed ‘the door cf the skeleton’s case. Scarcely had she done this, when the bel) was ruse furiously a second time;:—and Miss Walters hut rie? back to her own chamber. Shutting the door as noteelessly as peesil-e, Sic placed the candle upon the mantel-pieee, and scuted herself to listen: for she knew that -he summons csme trom one of the chambers téenanind by ths mtd. giriosity which had already inftuenced her on this | wife’e lodgera Then the thought etruck her tang eentful evening, once more impelled her.to ap- proach the odj.ct of her attention: and observing Mra Liwtley, who slept in 4 ruem beww, wolc be hurrying up-staires co answer that bell: sac it Wag The thought flashed to her that s.::ne ; + ——atetetetoreliegs | that the case had a door hung on hinges and fastened | prepabie tnat sne would sce the light ir, Caroline ani, oummawe = «am fo - . me Tw ms me COMIC ODOOKS.ECO