The Chapel.
Situated at the upper part of the south-east angle of the jail, the
chapel of Old Newgate was divided on the north side into three grated
compartments, or pens as they were termed, allotted to the common
debtors and felons. In the north-west angle, there was a small pen for
female offenders, and, on the south, a more commodious enclosure
appropriated to the master-debtors and strangers. Immediately beneath
the pulpit stood a large circular pew where malefactors under sentence
of death sat to hear the condemned sermon delivered to them, and where
they formed a public spectacle to the crowds, which curiosity generally
attracted on those occasions.
To return. Jack had got into one of the pens at the north side of the
chapel. The enclosure by which it was surrounded was about twelve feet
high; the under part being composed of taken planks, the upper of a
strong iron grating, surmounted by sharp iron spikes. In the middle
there was a gate. It was locked. But Jack speedily burst it open with
the iron bar.
Clearing the few impediments in his way, he soon reached the condemned
pew, where it had once been his fate to sit; and extending himself on
the seat endeavoured to snatch a moment's repose. It was denied him, for
as he closed his eyes--though but for an instant--the whole scene of his
former visit to the place rose before him. There he sat as before, with
the heavy fetters on his limbs, and beside him sat his three companions,
who had since expiated their offences on the gibbet. The chapel was
again crowded with visitors, and every eye--even that of Jonathan Wild
who had come thither to deride him,--was fixed upon him. So perfect was
the illusion, that he could almost fancy he heard the solemn voice of
the ordinary warning him that his race was nearly run, and imploring him
to prepare for eternity. From this perturbed state he was roused by
thoughts of his mother, and fancying he heard her gentle voice urging
him on to fresh exertion, he started up.
On one side of the chapel there was a large grated window, but, as it
looked upon the interior of the jail, Jack preferred following the
course he had originally decided upon to making any attempt in this
quarter.
Accordingly, he proceeded to a gate which stood upon the south, and
guarded the passage communicating with the leads. It was grated and
crested with spikes, like that he had just burst open, and thinking it a
needless waste of time to force it, he broke off one of the spikes,
which he carried with him for further purposes, and then climbed over
it.
A short flight of steps brought him to a dark passage, into which he
plunged. Here he found another strong door, making the fifth he had
encountered. Well aware that the doors in this passage were much
stronger than those in the entry he had just quitted he was neither
surprised nor dismayed to find it fastened by a lock of unusual size.
After repeatedly trying to remove the plate, which was so firmly screwed
down that it resisted all his efforts, and vainly attempting to pick it
with the spike and nail; he, at length, after half an hour's ineffectual
labour, wrenched off the box by means of the iron bar, and the door, as
he laughingly expressed it, "became his humble servant."
But this difficulty was only overcome to be succeeded by one still
greater. Hastening along the passage he came to the sixth door. For this
he was prepared; but he was not prepared for the almost insurmountable
obstacles which it presented. Running his hand hastily over it, he was
startled to find it one complicated mass of bolts and bars. It seemed as
if all the precautions previously taken were here accumulated. Any one
less courageous than himself would have abandoned the attempt from a
conviction of its utter hopelessness; but, though it might for a moment
damp his ardour, it could not deter him.
Once again, he passed his hand over the surface and carefully noted all
the obstacles. There was a lock, apparently more than a foot wide,
strongly plated, and girded to the door with thick iron hoops. Below it
a prodigiously large bolt was shot into the socket, and, in order to
keep it there, was fastened by a hasp, and further protected by an
immense padlock. Besides this, the door was crossed and recrossed by
iron bars, clenched by broad-headed nails. An iron fillet secured the
socket of the bolt and the box of the lock to the main post of the
doorway.
Nothing disheartened by this survey, Jack set to work upon the lock,
which he attacked with all his implements;--now attempting to pick it
with the nail;--now to wrench it off with the bar: but all without
effect. He not only failed in making any impression, but seemed to
increase the difficulties, for after an hour's toil he had broken the
nail and slightly bent the iron bar.
Completely overcome by fatigue, with strained muscles, and bruised
hands; streaming with perspiration, and with lips so parched that he
would gladly have parted with a treasure if he had possessed it for a
draught of water; he sank against the wall, and while in this state was
seized with, a sudden and strange alarm. He fancied that the turnkeys
had discovered his flight and were in pursuit of him,--that they had
climbed up the chimney,--entered the Red Room,--tracked him from door to
door, and were now only detained by the gate which he had left unbroken
in the chapel. He even thought he could detect the voice of Jonathan,
urging and directing them.
So strongly was he impressed with this idea, that grasping the iron bar
with both hands, he dashed it furiously against the door, making the
passage echo with the blows.
By degrees, his fears vanished, and hearing nothing, he grew calmer. His
spirits revived, and encouraging himself with the idea that the present
impediment, though the greatest, was the last, he set himself seriously
to consider how it might best be overcome.
On reflection, it occurred to him that he might, perhaps, be able to
loosen the iron fillet; a notion no sooner conceived than executed. With
incredible labour, and by the aid of both spike and nail, he succeeded
in getting the point of the bar beneath the fillet. Exerting all his
energies, and using the bar as a lever, he forced off the iron band,
which was full seven feet high, seven inches wide, and two thick, and
which brought with it in its fall the box of the lock and the socket of
the bolt, leaving no further hinderance.
Overjoyed beyond measure at having vanquished this
apparently-insurmountable obstacle, Jack darted through the door.