The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 281: what you’re looking at

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

REVELATIONS OF THE MONSTER-MAN 251 repaired to one of the low lodging-houses which abound in all the vile neighbourhoods and pauper districts of London, and there I rested for many hours. In the evening I heard the frequenters of the place talking of the hideous deed of sacrilege that had been committed on the previous night in Old St. Pancras Churchyard; and I learned that the whole vicinage of the scene of my fearful exploit was struck with consternation, horror, and disgust. ‘Oh, then, oh, then, how my heart bounded within me, as if a source of enjoyment at once the most savage and the most ecstatic were now open to my comprehension! I had longed, — nay, more, — I had resolved to strike terror into the heart of society, to startle it with stupendous alarms, to dig the pit of hell at its very feet, to outrage all its de- cencies and violate all its proprieties. Such was my determi- nation, and now I had discovered the means of carrying that resolve into execution. War, war, to the knife against that society which turns men into monsters and goads the best intentioned individuals to desperation; war, war to the death against that society which is composed of selfishness, heartlessness, and injustice! Such was my motto; and all my veins thrilled with delight as, one after another, innumer- able means of carrying on that war presented themselves to my imagination. It was the war of one poor outcast against the whole aggregate of society; but I vowed that the war should be terrible nevertheless. And the means to which I have alluded, the ideas which suggested themselves to my brain, — that brain which hell seemed to fertilize at the moment! Qh, these means, I say, were ample, and I laughed inwardly with a savage triumph as I recapitulated them in detail! There was the desecration of the graves of the dead, there was incendiarism in the country, there was the assassination of solitary wayfarers in lonely parts, there was the throwing of vitriol in the faces of passers-by, there was —”’ ““ Enough, enough!” cried Meagles, starting from his seat; “I can hear no more;” but almost instantaneously resuming his place, he said in a tone so altered that it showed how powerful was the effect which a second thought had produced upon his mind, “‘ And yet I will hear you to the end. Proceed, and once more I demand your pardon for this interruption.”’ | CONMUC 0)(0)6) “eS mn