The String of Pearls; or, The Barber of Fleet Street — page 103: what you’re looking at

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

7 y- = = Si iat cence # - ae eka J? re A ng —————— me ee a om Spize3 g A = & S 5 ion ebebes EEE ———E—————eee =. & ——+ -- = Aat =s & es THE STRING OF PEARLS. o flavour, instead of one most peculiarly and decidedly the reverse. At last there | || was a confirmation to be held at St. Dunstan’s church, and a great concourse of || '| persons assembled, for a sermon was to be preached by the bishop after the con. || '| firmation; and a very great fuss indeed was to be made about really nobody knew | 1! exactly what. Preparations, as newspapers say, upon an extensive scale, and | || regardless of expense, were made for the purpose of adding lustre to the ceremony, | and surprismg the bishop, when he came, with a good idea that the people who | |; attended St. Dunstan’s church were somebodies, and really worth confirming. | || The confirmation was to take place at twelve o’clock, and the bells ushered in the | ‘| morning with their most pious tones, for it was not every day that the authorities || | of St. Dunstan succeeded in catching a bishop, and when they did so, they || || were determined to make the most of; him, 1 the numerous authorities, | '| including churchwardens, and even the very beadle, were in an uncommon fluster, || 1} and running about, and impeding each other, as authorities always do upoa public || occasions. But, to those who only look to the surface of things, and who came to || | admire what was grand and magnificent in the preparations, the beadle certainly | | carried away the palm, for that functionary was attired im a completely new cocked || hat and coat, and certainly looked very splendid and showy upon the occasion. || 1} Moreover, that beadle had been well and judiciously selected, and the parish || | authorities made no secret of it, when there was an election for beadle, that they || | threw all their influence into the scale of that candidate who happened to be the || | biggest, and, consequently, who was calculated to wear the official costume with || ‘| an air that no smaller man could have possibly aspired to on any account. At || | half-past eleven o’clock the bishop made his gracious appearance, and was duly |, |} ushered into the vestry, where there was a comfortable fire, and on the table in || | which, likewise, were certain cold chickens and bottles of rare wines; for confirming || || a number of people, and preaching a sermon besides, was considered no joke, and || 1} might, for all they knew, be provocative of a great appetite in the bishop. And || '| with what a bland and courtly air the bishop smiled as he ascended the steps of || 1! St. Dunstan’s Church. How affable he was to the churchwardens, and he actually || 1} smiled upon a poor miserable charity boy, who, his eyes glaring wide open, and his || | muffin cap in his hand, was taking his first stare at a real live bishop. ‘To be sure, || | the beadle knocked him down directly the bishop had passed, for having the pre- || sumption to look at such a great personage, but then that was to be expected fully || '| and completely, and only proved that the proverb, which permits a cat to look ata || | king, is not equally applicable to charity boys and bishops. When the bishop got || | to the vestry, some very complimentary words were uttered to him by the usual | | officiating clergyman, but, somehow or other, the bland smile had left the lips of |, | the great personage, and, interrupting the vicar in the midst of a fine flowing speech, || | De Said | | _ * That?s all very well, but what a terrible stink there is here !” I | The churchwardens gave a groan, for they had flattered themselves that perhaps || | the bishop would not notice the dreadful smeil, or that, if he did, he would think it |, i] was accidental, and say nothing about it ; but now, when he really did mention it, || they found all their hopes scattered to the winds, and that it was necessary to say | | something. = “Ts this horrid charnel-house sort of smell always here ?” ‘7 am afraid it is,” said one of the churchwardens. a | $ Afraid ! said the bishop, “surely you know; you seem fo me to have a |} }} nose.” at | Yes. said the churchwarden, in great confusion, “I have that honour, and I | | have the pleasure of informing you, my Lord Bishop==I mean I have the honour of || | informing you that this smell is always here.” |] | The bishop sniffed several times, and then he said— iT] “Ttis very dreadful; and ¥ hope that by the next time [cometo St. Dunstan’s, |, | you will have the pleasure and the honour, both, of informing me that 1 has gone || away.” = | Whe churchwarden bowed, and got into an extreme corner, saying to himself ~ comicbooks.com