Mornings at Bow Street: A Selection of the Most Humorous and Entertaining Reports which Have Appeared in the 'Morning Herald'Wight, J. (John)
General
Mornings at Bow Street: A Selection of the Most Humorous and Entertaining Reports which Have Appeared in the 'Morning Herald'
Wight, J. (John)
Crime -- England -- London
Miss Julia Cob made a multitude of complaints, by which it appeared that
whilst she was living, a gay and happy spinster, with her friends in
Dublin, she was courted by Mr. Robert M'Gillies, whose card bore the
initials "M. P." after his name: and she, conceiving that M. P. meant
"Member of Parliament," lent a willing ear to his honied words. That she
afterwards discovered his profession was the taking of likenesses, and
that the M. P. meant _Miniature-Painter_. That notwithstanding the
disappointment of this discovery, she continued her affections towards
him, and eventually consented to come with him to England--not as his
wife, but as his friend _pro tempore_; for she could not think of taking
up with a miniature-painter for life. That they did come to England
accordingly, and took up their rest in London; but from that period Mr.
Robert M'Gillies became an altered man; he relinquished his M. P.
profession, and lived entirely upon her means, spending almost his whole
time in smoking and drinking, lying in bed with his clothes on, and
amusing himself between whiles with tearing his and her garments in shreds
and tatters. That at length her affection for him began to evaporate, and,
being much impoverished by these vagaries of his, she determined "To
whistle him off, and let him down the wind to prey on fortune," as Othello
talked of doing by the gentle Desdemona. That in consequence of this
determination she "got herself acquainted" with another lover--not a
Scottish and sottish _soi-disant_ M. P., but a real, unadulterated, and
genuine Irish Mem. Par.--one who had taken a house for her in
Norfolk-street, Strand, furnished it fit for a princess to live in, and
provided her with all things fitting for a lady in her situation. That Mr.
Robert M'Gillies felt himself so dissatisfied at this new arrangement,
that he forced his way into her new abode in Norfolk-street, turned her
char-woman out of doors, broke her glasses, tore her clothes to ribbons,
spat in her face seventeen times, and swore he loved her so that she
should never live with any other _jontleman_ till she was _completely_
dead and done with.--Nay more--having done all this, he laid himself
down on the best bed in the house, and, taking out his pipe, began smoking
away as he used to do at home; though she told him her new lover "couldn't
abide the smell of _baccah_."
[Illustration: MR. ROBERT M'GILLIES.]
Under these circumstances, Miss Julia Cob begged the magistrates to
interpose the strong arm of the law between her and Mr. Robert M'Gillies.
He was a strong, powerful man, she said, and she verily believed he would
never let her go to her grave alive--a figure of speech which she
afterwards explained to mean--that she verily believed be intended to do
her some grievous bodily harm--or, in other words, he intended to prevent
her going to her grave in the natural way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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