London (England) -- History -- 18th century -- Fiction
She took up a third picture. It represented a public-house. Over the
door swung the sign of a Black Jack: the first story projected over the
ground-floor, and the second story over the first: beside the
public-house stood a tall church.
'This,' I told my Lord, 'is the Black Jack tavern. It is the House of
Call for most of the rogues and thieves of Soho. The church is St.
Giles's Church. As for my own interest in the house, I was born there:
my mother and sister still keep the place between them: it is in good
repute among the gentry who frequent it for its kitchen, where there is
always a fire for those who cook their own suppers, and for the drinks,
which are excellent, if not cheap. What is the use of keeping cheap
things for thieves? Lightly got, lightly spent. There is nothing cheap
at that House. My mother enjoys a reputation for being a Receiver of
Stolen Goods--a reputation well deserved, as I have reason to believe.
The Goods are all stowed away in a stone vault or cellar once belonging
to some kind of house--I know not what.'
I groaned.
'That is how my Lord behaved. Then he kissed my hand again. "Jenny," he
said, "it is not the landlady of the Black Jack that I am marrying, but
Jenny Wilmot." He asked me to tell him more. Will you hear more?'
'I will hear all you desire to tell me, Jenny.'
'Once I had a father. He was a gipsy, but since he had fair hair and
blue eyes, he was not a proper gipsy. I do not know how he got into the
caravan with the gipsies. Perhaps he was stolen in infancy: or picked up
on a doorstep. However, I do not remember him. My mother speaks of him
with pride, but I do not know why. By profession he was a footpad
and--and'--she faltered for a moment--'he met the fate that belongs to
that calling. See!' She showed me a drawing representing the Triumphal
March to Tyburn. 'My mother speaks of it as if it was the fitting end of
a noble career. I have never been quite able to think so too, and Will,
if I must confess, I would rather that my father had not been----'
'Not formed the leading figure in that procession,' I interposed. 'But
go on, Jenny.'
She took up another picture and handed it to me. It was a spirited
sketch representing a small crowd; a pump; and a boy held under the
pump.
'I had two brothers. This was one. He was a pickpocket. What could be
expected? He was caught in the act and held under a pump. But they kept
him so long that it brought on a chill and he died. The other brother is
now in the Plantations of Jamaica.'
She produced another picture. It represented an Orange Girl at Drury
Lane. She carried her basket of oranges on her arm: she had a white
kerchief over her neck and shoulders and another over her head: her face
was full of impudence, cleverness and wit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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