The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 381: what you’re looking at

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

SHOOTER’S HILL 359 Sir Douglas Huntingdon accordingly secured the letter; and having duly addressed it to Mrs. Baines, his house- keeper in London, he gave it into the hands of the Buttoner. This individual once more hurried up the narrow rickety staircase, at the top of which was a bedroom, if a place with a quantity of dirty flock scattered upon the floor, a wretched coverlid, a rudely constructed table, a chipped basin, and a cracked ewer deserves such an appellation. In this wretched apartment Nell Gibson was seated. A bottle of spirits and a glass stood upon the table; and as the light of the solitary candle played flickeringly upon her countenance, it showed that her features were slightly flushed with drinking.. Her apparel was in striking contrast with the miserable aspect of the place. She wore gold ear- rings; a silk bodice, fitting close to her shape, displayed the luxuriant proportions of her figure; her arms were bare to the shoulder, and the short skirts of her dress revealed her well-formed ankles up to the swell of the leg. A handsome bonnet and scarf lay upon the bench where she was seated; and when the Buttoner reappeared this second time in the chamber, she was counting a few guineas which she had taken from a new silk purse. We have already informed our readers that there had been a grand steeplechaise in the neighbourhood that morning; and great numbers of persons had been attracted to the vicinage of Shooter’s Hill, not only from the adjacent towns of Dartford, Woolwich, and Greenwich, but also from the metropolis. To take advantage of this opportunity of displaying their particular genius and exercising their crait, Bencull, the Durrynacker, the Buttoner, and Nell Gibson had appeared upon the scene; while the Hangman, Sally Melmoth, and Jack the Foundling had likewise paid a visit to the same neighbourhood and for the same purpose. Of course the two parties had thus met in pursuance of previous arrangement; but we shall not pause to describe the various ways in which all these worthies, male and female, turned the proceedings of the day and the presence of a large concourse of people to their own special advantage. Suffice it to say that they managed to reap a very tolerable harvest; and when evening came the two parties took a very friendly leave of each other. On the one hand, Daniel Coffin, Sally Melmoth, and Jack the Foundling repaired to (COMMU 0)(6)() (CO) mM