The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 238: what you’re looking at

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ee Ee ° Pad 227 rant or so wilfully criminal as to demoralise the peo- | gra led, it did them harm to contemplato this awful ple by means of these avsnrsed exhibitions of public | spe stacle of public strangulation. In a fow minutos, however, this and that etrangulation. feeling But suddenly a dead silence fell upon the vast | impression appeared to have lost all their effect: for, mass of spectators; and all eyes were fixed, as if| a0 soon as the Ordinary, the governor of Newgate, spell-bound, upon the ominous the executioner, and the Sheriffs had re-entered the Slowly came forth the funeral procession from the | prison, the practical jokes, the obsoene jests, the bon- debtors’ door: first the Ordinary made his appear- ance, with open prayer-book in bis hands. and read- ing the service for the dead ;—elose behind followed the governor of Newgate ;—then Martin and Ram- sey, both pinioned in the usual manner, ascended the steps of the platform, accompanied by the exegu- tioner;—and Jastly, the Sheriffs issued fram the gaol. The countenances of the doomed men were ghastly pale: but their liu..inents were convulsed with no hideous workings. Rigid, as if the cold hand of the Destroyer lay already upon them, were those fea- tares. No tears fell from their eyes: the appaliing constemation which was upon them had frozen na- ture’s relieving fountain at its very source. Their senses were enchained as if under the influence of a frightful dream. Stiffened with dread horror, they could scarcely drag their limbs up the steps to the sable platform, in the middie of which were marked the outlines of the trap-door that opened downward beneath the fatal croes-beam. Their brains were seared and their feelings were blasted as if with lightnings. There was a tingling in their ears as if evil spirits were whisperiag awful things: the incan- tation of a black despair was upon them. An awful terror had paralysed all their faculties: it was a fear- ful stupefaction, combined with a perfect conecious- ness of all that was passing—s species of night-mars neting, and the larking began all over again—while hawkers bawled out, “ The last Dying Speeches aad. Confessiona of Martin and Ramsey !” ‘ And these printed lies were eagerly caught up by those who had a halfpenny to give for them, al though the well knew that no Dying Speeches had been made at all, and bad read the Confessions in the newspapers of the preceding day. But then those narratives had a rough and rudely executed wood-cut of s scaffold at the top—and this was the main attraction. At nine o'clock the bodies were cut dewn and con- veyed into the gaol, where it was understood that the corpee of Martin would be interred at midnight; buf the remains of Ramsey had been claimed by some friends who were desirous to bury them elsewhera The ctowds dispersed—and all the public-houses in the neighbourhood were soon filled; the scaffuld was rolled away into the press-yard of Newgate— the Ordinary and the Sherifls sate down to an ex- cellent breakfast with the governor—and thus ended the aecursed scene. CHAPTER LXIV. THE PORTRAIT AND THE DREAM which they could not shake off, and which held them ; Ir was about seven o'clock in the evening of that dumb! day on which Martin and Ramsey were executed ; Placed beneath the fatal beam—there they stood | and we again find Mrs, Brace seated alore in her transfixed, sustaining themselves on their legs by a/| elegantly furnished parlour. kind of mechanical instinct, and not because they sought to meet their doom with fifmness. The exe- cutioner fastened the ropes round their necks: and then, for the first time, they appeared to start from their automaton condition. For over the counte- nance of each did an indescribable expression of an- suish pass: horror glared in their eyes—the spas- tiodic writhing which swept through their frames convulsed their featuree—-and their ashy lips were suddenly @& apressed as if to keep down the ory of mortal aga, that rose to the tips of their tongues. But, in zsother moment, the white cotton cape were drawn over those countenances now cally hideous — and the executioner, leaping down the steps, entered the vast wooden box which formed the pedesta] to that ominous gibbet above, The Ordinary continued the funeral service—-the nultitudes, still maintaining a profound silence, kept Aeir looks rivetted on the scene of horribte interest and fearful attraction. Down came the trap-door—down fell the two doomed men: but, Oh! their fall was suddenly stopped short by the ropes to which they hung;— and there they dangled in the air, dread spasms shooting through their frames—lightnings pouring up into their brain— their hands moving rapidly ap and down with the convulsions of dying agony. And as if the galvanism of that mortal anguish But a visitor was speedily announsed: and this was the Prince of Wales, “ My dear Fanny,” he said, flinging himself upon a seat as soon as he had removed his cloak,—“ I have been anxious to see you for three or four days past: but [ could not possibly find an opportunity. Oo- tavia will however be here presently; and therefore I resolved to bave half-an-hour’s chat with you bee fore her arrival.” “ She believes, then, that you have just returned to town?” remarked Mrs, Brace, inquiringly. “Yes: I longed to see the sweet girl again—and [ wrote her a note this morning, stating that I cany. back to London last night, and that [ hoped sh. would bless me with an interview here this evening. She is sure to keep the appointment,” added his Roya) Highness. “ And pray, have you ever thought how this amou is to end t”’ asked the milliner, who had latterly be- gun to reflect that if an explosion should.take place in that respect, her own establishment would be ruined. “To tell you the truth,” she continued, “I look upon it as far more serious than any other love- affiir in which you were ever engaged —at. least within my knowledge. For here is 3 young crea- ture, tender and confiding, and who believea you & be plait Mr. Harley, with a country-seat somewhere, and Jiving at an hotel whea in town; and it must | were suddenly wafted throughout the denso assem- | blage of spectators, a shudder swept over the entire ' mass; and, even with the most brutalised and de- ep =a=@=== @ happen, sooner or later, that accident will reveal to her your real rank, Then, in the first feeling of anguish, she will betray all—everything ——”* no CONN GOGO