The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 46: what you’re looking at

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

THE I LIT RL I LE LEE ELE LE CTI GLE LN TI ELL CELE LO I I IE CC DEG A TE LS NEA IE OCTET MYSTERIES. 31 mighty Babylon are covered with a plague-mist of demoralisation, misery, ignorance, wretchedness, squalor, and crime. And yeta thousand towers, pinnacles, and spires point up to heaven, and in- dicate the houses of God and the temples of worship. Oh! what have the myriad fatand bloated pastors done for the population that swarms in those frightful neighbourhoods ?—who can trace in those scenes of depravity the influence of the pulpit, or in those sinks of destitution the beneficence of pa- ternal Government? If a missionary of Religion be ever encountered in such places, be well assured that he belongs not to the Established Church, which is so extravagantly paid by compulsion, but to the sphere of Dissent, which is sustained by vo- luntary contributions. And, again, if the votary of Education be seen amongst the swarming regions of the poor, rest assured that he is no paid emissary of a National System of Instruction, but a philan- thropist who seeks to impart knowledge on an eleemosynary principle! # At the time of which we are writing, there were numerous public-houses and boozing-kens of the vilest description in Grub Street: but none was more notorious, with an evil renown, than a certain flash crib denominated the Kinchin-Ken.* As its name implied, it was a resort for juveniles of both sexes, — boy-thieves and prostitutes of the most tender age; and no phase of human depravity was exhibited in more appalling hues even at the Beg- gar’s Staff than at the sink of profligacy of which we are speaking. Let the reader picture to himself a small room, filled with rude tables andruder forms,—then, aninner- chamber of smaller dimensions still, and with the door of communication removed so as to aflord unin- terrupted egress and ingress between the two,—the ceilings blackened with smoke, and the walls stained with innumerable spots of grease,—and about three dozen boys and girls enjoying themselves in a variety of ways by the light of two or three pitiful candles, The atmosphere of the den was rendered pestiferous with the odour of strong onions, the smell of tobacco, and the fcetid exhalations from the filthy garments and persons of the profligate horde. The ages of the inmates of these rooms averaged from ten to sixteen ; and the boys all belonged to an organisation having a captain at its head, and bear- ing the name of the Kinchin-Prigs.+ This chief was present on the occasion which we are now especially describing. He was lolling on a form, with a short pipe in his mouth, his right arm round the waist of a dirty drab of a girl who was his avowed mistress, and his left hand grasping a chairman’s hammer which he rapped energetically upon the table when- ever he considered the noise to be erowing too clamor- ous. Great deference was paid to the Kinchin- Grand, as this youth of sixteen was denominated ;— and certainly if the most hang-dog countenance ever seen, uniting in all its lineaments every sign of dissipation with inveterate profligacy, low cr»iing, and a certain expression of yillanous shrewduess,— if such were the qualifications necessary for the chief of this pestiferous society, then did the Kinchin- Grand well deserve the “ bad eminence” to which he had risen. We may as well observe that his paramour was about his own age: her face was pale and sickly with * Literally “ Children’s-house,” + Children- Thieves. rr es ee the vicious courses which she led, though her form was bloated aud precociously matured from the same cause ;—and her features indicated a compound of low cunning and brazen assurance. She was known amongst her associates as Shickster Sal*—the titular portion of the name being acquired from the fact that this wretched young girl had been well and even tenderly brought up until about the age of twelve, when she was enticed away from her home and parents by some vile old woman; and ever since she had clung to the life of dissipation and profligacy which we now find her pursuing. It wanted about twenty minutes to the midnight hour, when Mr. Page, dressed in the shabbiest suit of clothes which the porter at Hodson and Morley’s had to lend him, and with his face and hands pur- posely smeared over with dirt, entered the Kinchin- Ken. But scarcely had he reached the threshold of the door opening into the front room, when the scene that burst upon his sight produced such a poignant sensation of loathing, that he stood for a few mo- ments almost motionless with mingled surprise, horror, and disgust, For simultaneously as his eyes were seared by the spectacle of half-naked girls and wretched boys wrapped in rags, all engaged in a hideous orgie—his ears were assailed by the jabber of many tongues, all enunciating language of the most obscene, filthy, and profane description. In fact, the Beggar’s Staff was a perfect paradise compared with this pandemonium that now broke upon his view; and the society he had seen at the former place appeared angels of light in contrast with the juvenile specimens of brutalized humanity that were huddled together in the Kinchin- Ken. “Oh! I say, Bill—here’s a feller a-comin’ whose face is quite unbeknown,” exclaimed one of the thieves, catching sight of Mr. Page: “we'll make him stand a pot or two, or I’m jiggered! Come in, old feiler—don’t stand on nothink like ceremony— we'll make room for yer.” Page, recovering his self-possession, instantly ac- cepted the invitation thus blurted forth at the top of a voice which sounded like an asthmatic bag-pipe; and immediately three or four little wretches of boys and girls made a place for him at their table—gig- eling heartily amongst themselves while he was taking his seat, as if it were excellent fun. “Now then, old feller, wot’ll yer stand?” de- manded the youth who had already addressed him. “Our lush is heavy vet, yer see,” he continued, turning a pewter pot upside down to prove that it was empty. “T shall be very glad to stand a few quarts of beer for this good company,” said Page, throwing into his manner and yoice as much coarseness as he could, and at the same time flinging two or three shillings down upon the table. “Brayvo!” ejaculated several voices: “ brayyo— bray-ay-vo—oh!” shouted the rest, taking up the chorus ; and when order was restored by the rapping of the Kinchin-Grand’s hammer upon the table, the landlord of the place made his appearance from some back premises. “Well—what is it now?’ demanded that indivi- dual, who was a short, thin, dirty old man, with a very wrinkled and cadaverous countenance and sarly looks. “ Tere’s a feller as is game to stand heavy vet for © Shickster means “ Ladg.’ Com Clooolkks. con