Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day PeopleDickens, Charles
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Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day People
Dickens, Charles
London (England) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; London (England) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
It was with some such thoughts as these that we determined, not many
weeks since, to visit the interior of Newgate—in an amateur capacity,
of course; and, having carried our intention into effect, we proceed to
lay its results before our readers, in the hope—founded more upon the
nature of the subject, than on any presumptuous confidence in our own
descriptive powers—that this paper may not be found wholly devoid of
interest. We have only to premise, that we do not intend to fatigue the
reader with any statistical accounts of the prison; they will be found
at length in numerous reports of numerous committees, and a variety of
authorities of equal weight. We took no notes, made no memoranda,
measured none of the yards, ascertained the exact number of inches in
no particular room: are unable even to report of how many apartments
the gaol is composed.
We saw the prison, and saw the prisoners; and what we did see, and what
we thought, we will tell at once in our own way.
Having delivered our credentials to the servant who answered our knock
at the door of the governor’s house, we were ushered into the ‘office;’
a little room, on the right-hand side as you enter, with two windows
looking into the Old Bailey: fitted up like an ordinary attorney’s
office, or merchant’s counting-house, with the usual fixtures—a
wainscoted partition, a shelf or two, a desk, a couple of stools, a
pair of clerks, an almanack, a clock, and a few maps. After a little
delay, occasioned by sending into the interior of the prison for the
officer whose duty it was to conduct us, that functionary arrived; a
respectable-looking man of about two or three and fifty, in a
broad-brimmed hat, and full suit of black, who, but for his keys, would
have looked quite as much like a clergyman as a turnkey. We were
disappointed; he had not even top-boots on. Following our conductor by
a door opposite to that at which we had entered, we arrived at a small
room, without any other furniture than a little desk, with a book for
visitors’ autographs, and a shelf, on which were a few boxes for
papers, and casts of the heads and faces of the two notorious
murderers, Bishop and Williams; the former, in particular, exhibiting a
style of head and set of features, which might have afforded sufficient
moral grounds for his instant execution at any time, even had there
been no other evidence against him. Leaving this room also, by an
opposite door, we found ourself in the lodge which opens on the Old
Bailey; one side of which is plentifully garnished with a choice
collection of heavy sets of irons, including those worn by the
redoubtable Jack Sheppard—genuine; and those _said_ to have been graced
by the sturdy limbs of the no less celebrated Dick Turpin—doubtful.
From this lodge, a heavy oaken gate, bound with iron, studded with
nails of the same material, and guarded by another turnkey, opens on a
few steps, if we remember right, which terminate in a narrow and dismal
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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