The Mysteries of London, v. 3/4Reynolds, George W. M. (George William MacArthur)
General
The Mysteries of London, v. 3/4
Reynolds, George W. M. (George William MacArthur)
London (England) -- Fiction; Penny dreadfuls
Another individual whom we must mention, was an elderly man, who in his
youth had been apprenticed to a chemist. He obtained his living by
displaying a fearfully ulcerated arm, having himself originally produced
the sores by means of corrosive acids and by the juices of various
plants—such as the ranunculus acris and sceleratus, the sponge-laurel,
euphorbium, arum maculatum, &c. He regularly revived and aggravated the
ulcers every time they began to heal, and his arm was really shocking to
contemplate. He would take his stand before a window, and, raising his
shirt-sleeve, display the ulcers, so that the ladies or gentlemen at the
casement sent him out a sixpence or a shilling as much for the purpose
of getting rid of so loathsome a spectacle as through motives of
charity. It was this man's boast that three hours in a fashionable
street or square would produce him seven or eight shillings.
Another impostor present on this occasion was a man of about forty, who
was a perfect adept in disguising his person, and who feigned a
different malady for every change in his attire and outward appearance.
At one time he was suffering from ophthalmia, produced by the
application of irritants—such as snuff, pepper, tobacco, blue vitriol,
salt, alum, &c. At another he would actually produce blindness for a
time by the application of belladonna, henbane, or sponge-laurel; and
then he was led about by a little boy. Again, he would appear as a
miserable creature afflicted with a horrible jaundice—the yellow colour
being produced by a dye. He was also perfect in the counterfeit of
spasmodic complaints, paralysis, and convulsions. His earnings were
usually considerable: but on one occasion, "when things were very bad,"
he obtained admission into a hospital as an epileptic patient; and so
well did he assume the dreadful attacks at particular intervals, that he
remained in the institution for several weeks.
Lying on one of the beds, in a filthy state of intoxication, was a
miserable object who was accustomed to go about the streets on his hands
and knees, holding iron grapnels. His spine was bent upwards—rounded
like that of a cat in a passion; and his legs were moreover deformed.
His supine position was no counterfeit: he could not walk on his feet
like other human beings. Thus far he certainly was an object of
compassion: but in his character he was a worthless fellow—abusive,
insolent, drunken, and addicted to thieving.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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