THE RESURRECTION MAN'S HISTORY.
"I was born thirty-eight years ago, near the village of Walmer, in Kent.
My father and mother occupied a small cottage--or rather hovel, made of
the wreck of a ship, upon the sea-coast. Their ostensible employment was
that of fishing: but it would appear that smuggling and body-snatching
also formed a portion of my father's avocations. The rich inhabitants of
Walmer and Deal encouraged him in his contraband pursuits, by purchasing
French silks, gloves, and scents of him: the gentlemen, moreover, were
excellent customers for French brandy, and the ladies for dresses and
perfumes. The clergyman of Walmer and his wife were our best patrons in
this way; and in consequence of the frequent visits they paid our
cottage, they took a sort of liking to me. The parson made me attend the
national school regularly every Sunday; and when I was nine years old he
took me into his service to clean the boots and knives, brush the
clothes, and so forth. I was then very fond of reading, and used to pass
all my leisure time in studying books which he allowed me to take out of
his library. This lasted till I was twelve years old, when my father was
one morning arrested on a charge of smuggling, and taken to Dover
Castle. The whole neighbourhood expressed their surprise that a man who
appeared to be so respectable, should turn out such a villain. The
gentlemen who used to buy brandy of him talked loudly of the necessity
of making an example of him: the ladies, who were accustomed to purchase
gloves, silks, and _eau-de-cologne_, wondered that such a desperate
ruffian should have allowed them to sleep safe in their beds; and of
course the clergyman and his wife kicked me ignominiously out of doors.
As all things of this nature create a sensation in a small community,
the parson preached a sermon upon the subject on the following Sunday,
choosing for his text '_Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's,
and unto God the things that are God's_,' and earnestly enjoining all
his congregation to unite in deprecating the conduct of a man who had
brought disgrace upon a neighbourhood till then famed for its loyalty,
its morality, and its devotion to the laws of the country.
"My father was acquitted for want of evidence, and returned home after
having been in prison six months waiting for his trial. In the mean time
my mother and myself were compelled to receive parish relief: not one of
the fine ladies and gentlemen who had been the indirect means of getting
my father into a scrape by encouraging him in his illegal pursuits,
would notice us. My mother called upon several; but their doors were
banged in her face. When I appeared at the Sunday School, the parson
expelled me, declaring that I was only calculated to pollute honest and
good boys; and the beadle thrashed me soundly for daring to attempt to
enter the church. All this gave me a very strange idea of human nature,
and set me a-thinking upon the state of society. Just at that period a
baronet in the neighbourhood was proved to be the owner of a smuggling
vessel, and to be pretty deep in the contraband business himself. He was
compelled to run away: an Exchequer process, I think they call it,
issued against his property; and every thing he possessed was swept
away. It appeared that he had been smuggling for years, and had
defrauded the revenue to an immense amount. He was a widower: but he had
three children--two boys and a girl, at school in the neighbourhood. Oh!
then what sympathy was created for these '_poor dear bereaved little
ones_,' as the parson called them in a charity sermon which he preached
for their benefit. And there they were, marshalled into the parson's own
pew, by the beadle; and the parson's wife wept over them. Subscriptions
were got up for them;--the mayor of Deal took one boy, the banker
another, and the clergyman's wife took charge of the girl; and never was
seen so much weeping, and consoling, and compassion before!
"Well, at that time my mother had got so thin, and weak, and ill,
through want and affliction, that her neighbours gave her the name of
the _Mummy_, which she has kept ever since. My father came home, and was
shunned by every body. The baronet's uncle happened to die at that
period, and left his nephew an immense fortune:--the baronet paid all
the fines, settled the Exchequer matters, and returned to Walmer. A
triumphal reception awaited him: balls, parties, concerts, and routs
took place in honour of the event;--and the mayor, the banker and the
clergyman and his wife were held up as the patterns of philanthropy and
humanity. Of course the baronet rewarded them liberally for having taken
care of his children in the hour of need.
"This business again set me a-thinking; and I began to comprehend that
birth and station made an immense difference in the views that the world
adopted of men's actions. My father, who had only higgled and fiddled
with smuggling affairs upon a miserably small scale, was set down as the
most atrocious monster unhung, because he was one of the common herd;
but the baronet, who had carried on a systematic contraband trade to an
immense amount, was looked upon as a martyr to tyrannical laws, because
he was one of the upper classes and possessed a title. So my disposition
was soured by these proofs of human injustice, at my very entrance upon
life.
"Up to this period, in spite of the contemplation of the lawless trade
carried on by my father, I had been a regular attendant at church and at
the Sunday-school; and I declare most solemnly that I never went to
sleep at night, nor commenced my morning's avocations, without saying my
prayers. But when my father got into trouble, the beadle kicked me out
of church, and the parson drove me out of the school; and so I began to
think that if my religion was only serviceable and available as long as
my father remained unharmed by the law, it could not be worth much. From
that moment I never said another prayer, and never opened a bible or
prayer-book. Still I was inclined to labour to obtain an honest
livelihood; and I implored my father, upon my knees, not to force me to
assist in his proceedings of smuggling and body-snatching, to both which
he was compelled by dire necessity to return the moment he was released
from gaol. He told me I was a fool to think of living honestly, as the
world would not let me; but he added that I might make the trial.
"Pleased with this permission, and sincerely hoping that I might obtain
some occupation, however menial, which would enable me to eat the bread
of honest toil, I went round to all the farmers in the neighbourhood,
and offered to enter their service as a plough-boy or a stable-boy. The
moment they found out who I was, they one and all turned me away from
their doors. One said, '_Like father, like son_;'--another asked if I
was mad, to think that I could thus thrust myself into an honest
family;--a third laughed in my face;--a fourth threatened to have me
taken up for wanting to get into his house to commit a felony;--a fifth
swore that there was gallows written upon my countenance;--a sixth
ordered his men to loosen the bulldog at me;--and a seventh would have
had me ducked in his horse-pond, if I had not run away.
"Dispirited, but not altogether despairing, I returned home. On the
following day, I walked into Deal, (which almost joins Walmer) and
called at several tradesmen's shops to inquire if they wanted an
errand-boy. My reception by these individuals was worse than that which
I had met with at the hands of the farmers. One asked me if I thought he
would run the risk of having his house indicted as the receptacle for
thieves and vagabonds;--a second pointed to his children, and said, '_Do
you suppose I want to bring them up in the road to the gallows?_'--a
third locked up his till in affright, and threatened to call a
constable;--and a fourth lashed me severely with a horse-whip.
"Still I was not totally disheartened. I determined to call upon some of
those ladies and gentlemen who had been my father's best customers for
his contraband articles. One lady upon hearing my business, seized hold
of the poker with one hand and her salts-bottle with the other;--a
second was also nearly fainting, and rang the bell for her maid to bring
her some _eau-de-cologne_--the very _eau-de-cologne_ which my father had
smuggled for her;--a third begged me with tears in her eyes to retire,
or my very suspicions appearance would frighten her lap-dog into
fits;--and a fourth (an old lady, who was my father's best customer for
French brandy), held up her hands to heaven, and implored the Lord to
protect her from all sabbath-breakers, profane swearers, and drunkards.
"Finding that I had nothing to expect from the ladies, I tried the
gentlemen who had been accustomed to patronise my father previous to his
_misfortune_. The first swore at me like a trooper, and assured me that
he had always prophesied I should go wrong:--the second spoke civilly,
and regretted that his excellent advice had been all thrown away upon my
father, whom he had vainly endeavered to avert from his wicked courses
(it was for smuggling things for this gentleman that my father had been
arrested);--and the third made no direct answer, but shook his head
solemnly, and wondered what the world was coming to.
"I was now really reduced to despair. I, however, resolved to try some
of the very poorest tradesmen in the town. By these miserable creatures
I was received with compassionate interest; and my case was fully
comprehended by them. Some even gave me a few halfpence; and one made me
sit down and dine with him, his wife, and his children. They, however,
one and all declared _that they could not take me into their service,
for, if they did, they would be sure to offend all their customers_.
Thus was it that the overbearing conduct and atrocious tyranny of the
more wealthy part of the community, compelled the poorer portion to
smother all sympathy in my behalf.
[Illustration]
"A sudden thought now struck me. I resolved to call next day upon the
very baronet who had himself suffered so much in consequence of the
customs-laws. Exhilarated by the new hope awakened within me, I repaired
on the following morning to the splendid mansion which he now inhabited.
I was shown into a magnificent room, where he received me, lounging
before a cheerful fire. He listened very patiently to my tale, and then
spoke, as nearly as I can recollect, as follows:--'My good lad, I have
not the slightest doubt that you are anxious to eat the bread of
honesty, as you very properly express it. But that bread is not within
the reach of every body; and if we were all to pick and choose in this
world, my God! what would become of us? My dear young man, I occupy a
prominent position amidst the gentry of these parts, and I have also a
duty to fulfil towards society. Society has condemned you--unheard, I
grant you: nevertheless, society _has_ condemned you. Under these
circumstances I have no alternative, but to decline taking you into my
service; and I must moreover request you to remember that if you are
ever found loitering upon my grounds, I shall have you put in the
stocks. I regret that my duty to society compels me thus to act.'
"You may conceive with what feelings I heard this long tirade. I was
literally confounded, and retired without venturing upon a remonstrance.
I knew not what course to adopt. To return home and inform my parents
that I could obtain no work, was to lay myself under the necessity of
becoming a smuggler and a body-snatcher at once. As a desperate resource
I thought of calling upon the clergyman, and explaining all my
sentiments to him. I hoped to be able to convince him that although my
father was bad, or supposed to be bad, yet I abhorred vice in all its
shapes, and was anxious only to pursue honest courses. As a Christian
minister, he could not, I imagined, be so uncharitable as to infer my
guilt in consequence of that of my parent; and, accordingly, to him did
I repair. He had just returned to his own house from a funeral, and was
in a hurry to be off on a shooting excursion, for he had on his
sporting-garb beneath his surplice. He listened to me with great
impatience, and asked if my father still pursued his contraband trade.
Seeing that I hesitated how to reply, he exclaimed, turning his eyes up
to heaven, '_Speak the truth, young man, and shame the devil!_' I
answered in the affirmative; and he then said carelessly, 'Well, go and
speak to my wife; she will act in the matter as she chooses.' Rejoiced
at this hopeful turn in the proceeding, I sought his lady, as I was
desired. She heard all that I had to say, and then observed, 'Not for
worlds could I receive you into my house again; but if your father has
any silks and gloves, very cheap and very good, I do not mind purchasing
them. And remember,' she added, as I was about to depart, 'I do not want
these things; I only offer to take them for the purpose of doing you a
service. My motive is purely a Christian one.'
"I returned home. 'Well,' said my father, 'what luck this
morning?'--'None,' I replied.--'And what do you mean to do, lad?'--'To
become a smuggler, a body-snatcher, or any thing else that you choose,'
was my reply; 'and the sooner we begin, the better, for I am sick and
tired of being good.'
"So I became a smuggler and a resurrection man.
"You have heard, perhaps, that Deal is famous for its boatmen and
pilots. It is also renowned for the beauty of the sailors' daughters.
One of those lovely creatures captivated my heart--for I can even talk
sentimentally when I think of those times; and she seemed to like me in
return. Her name was Katharine Price--Kate Price, as she was called by
her acquaintance; and a prettier creature the sun never shone upon. She
was good and virtuous, too--and she alone understood my real
disposition, which, even now that I had embarked in lawless pursuits,
still panted to be good and virtuous also. At this time I was nineteen,
and she was one year younger. We loved in secret--and we met in secret;
for her parents would not for one moment have listened to the idea of
our union. My hope was to obtain a good sum of money by one desperate
venture in the contraband line, and run away with Kate to some distant
part of the country, where we could enter upon some way of business that
would produce us an honest livelihood. This hope sustained us!
"At this time there were a great many sick sailors in Deal Hospital, and
numerous funerals took place in the burial-ground of that establishment.
My father and I determined to have up a few of the corpses, for we
always knew where to dispose of as many _subjects_ as we could obtain.
By these means I proposed to raise enough money to purchase in France
the articles that I meant to smuggle into England and thereby obtain the
necessary funds for carrying out the plans upon which Kate and myself
were resolved.
"Good luck attended upon my father and myself in respect to the
body-snatching business. We raised thirty pounds; and with that we set
sail for France in the boat which we always hired for our smuggling
expeditions. We landed at Calais, and made our purchases. We bought an
immense quantity of brandy at tenpence a quart; gloves at eightpence a
pair; three watches at two pound ten each; and some _eau-de-cologne_,
proportionately cheap. Our thirty pounds we calculated would produce us
a hundred and twenty. We put out to sea again at about ten o'clock at
night. The wind was blowing stiff from the nor'-east; and by the time we
had been an hour at sea it increased to a perfect hurricane. Never shall
I forget that awful night. The entire ocean was white with foam; but the
sky above was as black as pitch. We weathered the tempest until we
reached the shore about a mile to the south'ard of Walmer, at a place
called Kingsdown. We touched the beach--I thought every thing was safe.
A huge billow broke over the stem of the lugger; and in a moment the
boat was a complete wreck. My father leapt on shore from the bow at the
instant this catastrophe took place: I was swallowed up along with the
ill-fated bark. I was, however, an excellent swimmer; and I combated,
and fought, and struggled with the ocean, as a man would wrestle with a
savage animal that held him in his grasp. I succeeded in gaining the
beach; but so weak and enfeebled was I that my father was compelled to
carry me to our hovel, close by.
"I was put to bed: a violent fever seized upon me--I became
delirious--and for six weeks I lay tossing upon a bed of sickness.
"At length I got well. But what hope remained for me? We were totally
ruined--so was the poor fisherman whose boat was wrecked upon that
eventful night. I wrote a note to Kate to tell her all that had
happened, and to make an appointment for the following Sunday evening,
that we might meet and talk over the altered aspect of affairs. Scarcely
had I despatched this letter to the care of Kate's sister-in-law, who
was in our secret, and managed our little correspondence, when my father
came in and asked me if I felt myself well enough to accompany him on a
little expedition that evening. I replied in the affirmative. He then
told me that a certain surgeon for whom we did business, and who resided
in Deal, required a particular subject which had been buried that
morning in Walmer Churchyard. I did not ask my father any more
questions; but that night I accompanied him to the burial-ground between
eleven and twelve o'clock. The surgeon had shown my father the grave in
the afternoon; and we had a cart waiting in a lane close by. The church
is in a secluded part, surrounded by trees, and at some little distance
from any habitations. There was no danger of being meddled
with:--moreover, we had often operated in the same ground before.
"To work we went in the usual manner. We shovelled out the soil, broke
open the coffin, thrust the corpse into a sack, filled up the grave once
more, and carried our prize safe off to the cart. We then set off at a
round pace towards Deal, and arrived at the back door of the surgeon's
house by two o'clock. He was up and waiting for us. We carried the
corpse into the surgery, and laid it upon a table. 'You are sure it is
the right one?' said the surgeon.--'It is the body from the grave that
you pointed out,' answered my father.--'The fact is,' resumed the
surgeon, 'that this is a very peculiar case. Six days ago, a young
female rose in the morning in perfect health; that evening she was a
corpse. I opened her, and found no traces of poison; but her family
would not permit me to carry the examination any further. They did not
wish her to be hacked about. Since her death some love-letters have been
found in her drawer; but there is no name attached to any of them.'--I
began to feel interested, I scarcely knew why; but this was the manner
in which I was accustomed to write to Kate. The surgeon continued: 'I am
therefore anxious to make another and more searching investigation than
on the former occasion, into the cause of death. But I will soon satisfy
myself that this is indeed the corpse I mean.'--With these words the
surgeon tore away the shroud from the face of the corpse. I cast an
anxious glance upon the pale, cold, marble countenance. My blood ran
cold--my legs trembled--my strength seemed to have failed me. Was I
mistaken? could it be the beloved of my heart?--'Yes; that is Miss
Price,' said the surgeon, coolly. All doubt on my part was now removed.
I had exhumed the body of her whom a thousand times I had pressed to my
sorrowful breast--whom I had clasped to my aching heart. I felt as if I
had committed some horrible crime--a murder, or other deadly deed!
"The surgeon and my father did not notice my emotions, but settled their
accounts. The medical man then offered us each a glass of brandy. I
drank mine with avidity, and then accompanied my father from the
spot--uncertain whether to rush back and claim the body, or not. But I
did not do so.
"For some days I wandered about scarcely knowing what I did--and
certainly not caring what became of me. One morning I was roving amidst
the fields, when I heard a loud voice exclaim, 'I say, you fellow there,
open the gate, will you?' I turned round, and recognised the baronet on
horseback. He had a large hunting whip in his hand.--'Open the gate!'
said I; 'and whom for?' 'Whom for!' repeated the baronet; 'why, for me,
to be sure, fellow.'--'Then open it yourself,' said I. The baronet was
near enough to me to reach me with his whip; and he dealt me a stinging
blow across the face. Maddened with pain, and soured with vexation, I
leapt over the gate and attacked the baronet with a stout ash stick
which I carried in my hand. I dragged him from his horse, and thrashed
him without mercy. When I was tired, I walked quietly away, he roaring
after me that he would be revenged upon me as sure as I was born.
"Next day I was arrested and taken before a magistrate. The baronet
appeared against me, and--to my surprise--swore that I had assaulted him
with a view to rob him, and that he had the greatest difficulty in
protecting his purse and watch. I told my story and showed the mark of
the baronet's whip across my face. The justice asked me if I could bring
forward my witnesses to character. The baronet exclaimed, 'How can he?
he has been in Dover Castle for smuggling.'--'Never!' I cried
emphatically.--'Well, your father has, then,' said the baronet. This I
could not deny.--'Oh! that's just the same thing!' cried the magistrate;
and I was committed to gaol for trial at the next Maidstone assizes.
"For three months I lay in prison. I was not, however, completely
hardened yet; nor did I associate with those who drank, and sang, and
swore. I detested vice in all its shapes; and I longed for an
opportunity to be good. It may seem strange to you, who know me _now_,
to hear me speak thus;--but you are not aware what I was _then_!
"I was tried, and found guilty. The next two years of my life I passed
at the hulks at Woolwich, dressed in dark grey, and wearing a chain
round my leg. Even there I did not grow so corrupted, but that I sought
for work the moment I was set at liberty again. I resolved not to return
home to my parents, for I detested the ways into which they had led me.
Turned away from the hulks one fine morning at ten o'clock, without a
farthing in my pocket nor the means of obtaining a morsel of bread, my
prospects were miserable enough. I could not obtain any employment in
Woolwich: evening was coming on--and I was hungry. Suddenly I thought of
enlisting. Pleased with this idea, I went to the barracks, and offered
myself as a recruit. The regiment stationed there was about to embark
for the East Indies in a few days and wanted men. Although certain of
being banished, as it were, to a most unhealthy climate for twenty-one
years, I preferred that to the life of a vagabond or a criminal in
England. The sergeant was delighted with me, because I could read and
write well; but the surgeon would not pass me. He said to me, 'You have
either been half-starved for a length of time, or you have undergone a
long imprisonment, for your flesh is as flabby as possible.' Thus was
this hope destroyed.
"Now what pains had the law taken to make me good--even supposing, that
I was really bad at the time of my condemnation? The law locked me up
for two years, half-starved me, and yet exacted from me as much labour
as a strong, healthy, man could have performed: then the law turned me
out into the wide world, so weak, reduced, and feeble, that even the
last resource of the most wretched--namely, enlisting in a regiment
bound for India--was closed against me!
"Well--that night I wandered into the country and slept under a hedge.
On the following morning I was compelled to satisfy the ravenous
cravings of my hunger with Swedish turnips plucked from the fields. This
food lay so cold upon my stomach that I felt ready to drop with illness,
misery, and fatigue. And yet, in this Christian land, even that morsel,
against which my heart literally heaved, was begrudged me. I was not
permitted to satisfy my hunger with the food of beasts. A constable came
up and took me into custody for robbing the turnip field. I was
conducted before a neighbouring justice of the peace. He asked me what I
meant by stealing the turnips? I told him that I had fasted for
twenty-four hours, and was hungry. 'Nonsense, hungry!' he exclaimed;
'I'd give five pounds to know what hunger is! you kind of fellows eat
turnips by way of luxury, you do--and not because you're hungry.' I
assured him that I spoke the truth.--'Well, why don't you go to work?'
he demanded.--'So I will, sir, with pleasure, if you will give me
employment,' I replied.--'Me give you employment,' he shouted; 'I
wouldn't have such a fellow about me, if he'd work for nothing. Where
did you sleep last night?'--'Under a hedge, sir,' was my answer.--'Ah! I
thought so,' he exclaimed: 'a rogue and vagabond evidently.' And this
excellent specimen of the 'Great unpaid' committed me forthwith to the
treadmill for one month _as a rogue and vagabond_.
"The treadmill is a horrible punishment: it is too bad even for those
that are really rogues and vagabonds. The weak and the strong take the
same turn, without any distinction; and I have seen men fall down
fainting upon the platform, with the risk of having their legs or arms
smashed by the wheel, through sheer exhaustion. Then the miserable fare
that one receives in prison renders him more fit for an hospital than
for the violent labour of the treadmill.
"I had been two years at the hulks, and was not hardened: I had been a
smuggler and a body-snatcher, and was not hardened:--but this one
month's imprisonment and spell at the treadmill _did_ harden me--and
hardened me completely! I could not see any advantage in being good. I
could not find out any inducement to be honest. As for a desire to lead
an honourable life, that was absurd. I now laughed the idea to scorn;
and I swore within myself that whenever I _did_ commence a course of
crime, I would be an unsparing demon at my work. Oh! how I then detested
the very name of virtue. 'The rich look upon the poor as degraded
reptiles that are born in infamy and that cannot possibly possess a good
instinct,' I reasoned within myself. 'Let a rich man accuse a poor man
before a justice, a jury, or a judge, and see how quick the poor wretch
is condemned! The aristocracy hold the lower classes in horror and
abhorrence. The legislature thinks that if it does not make the most
grinding laws to keep down the poor, the poor will rise up and commit
the most unheard-of atrocities. In fact the rich are prepared to
believe any infamy which is imputed to the poor.' It was thus that I
reasoned; and I looked forward to the day of my release with a
burning--maddening--drunken joy!
"That day came. I was turned adrift, as before, without a shilling and
without a crust. That alone was as bad as branding the words _rogue and
vagabond_ upon my forehead. How could I remain honest, even if I had any
longer been inclined to do so, when I could not get work and had no
money--no bread--no lodging? The legislature does not think of all this.
It fancies that all its duty consists in punishing men for crimes, and
never dreams of adopting measures to prevent them from committing crimes
at all. But I now no more thought of honesty: I went out of prison a
confirmed ruffian. I had no money--no conscience--no fear--no hope--no
love--no friendship--no sympathy--no kindly feeling of any sort. My soul
had turned to the blackness of hell!
"The very first thing I did was to cut myself a good tough ash stick
with a heavy knob at one end. The next thing I did was to break into the
house of the very justice who had sentenced me to the treadmill for
eating a raw turnip; and I feasted jovially upon the cold fowl and ham
which I found in his larder. I also drank success to my new career in a
bumper of his fine old wine. This compliment was due to him: he had made
me what I was!
"I carried off a small quantity of plate--all that I could find, you may
be sure--and took my departure from the house of the justice. As I was
hurrying away from this scene of my first exploit, I passed by a fine
large barn, also belonging to my friend the magistrate. I did not
hesitate a moment what to do. I owed him a recompense for my month at
the treadmill; and I thought I might as well add _Incendiary_ to my
other titles of _Rogue_ and _Vagabond_. Besides, I longed for
mischief--the world had persecuted me quite long enough, the hour of
retaliation had arrived. I fired the barn and scampered away as hard as
I could. I halted at a distance of about half a mile, and turned to
look. A bright column of flame was shooting up to heaven! Oh! how happy
did I feel at that moment. Happy! this is not the word! I was
mad--intoxicated--delirious with joy. I literally danced as I saw the
barn burning. I was avenged on the man who would not allow me to eat a
cold turnip to save me from starving:--that one cold turnip cost him
dear! The fire spread, and communicated with his dwelling-house; and
there was no adequate supply of water. The barn--the stacks--the
out-houses--the mansion were all destroyed. But that was not all. The
only daughter of the justice--a lovely girl of nineteen--was burnt to
death. I read the entire account in the newspapers a few days
afterwards!
"And the upper classes wonder that there are so many incendiary fires:
my only surprise is, that there are so few! Ah! the Lucifer-match is a
fearful weapon in the hands of the man whom the laws, the aristocracy,
and the present state of society have ground down to the very dust. I
felt all my power--I knew all my strength--I was aware of all my
importance as a man, when I read of the awful extent of misery and
desolation which I had thus caused. Oh! I was signally avenged!
"I now bethought me of punishing the baronet in the same manner. He had
been the means of sending me for two years to the hulks at Woolwich.
Pleased with this idea, I jogged merrily on towards Walmer. It was late
at night when I reached home. I found my mother watching by my father's
death-bed, and arrived just in time to behold him breathe his last. My
mother spoke to me about a decent interment for him. I laughed in her
face. Had he ever allowed any one to sleep quietly in his grave? No. How
could _he_ then hope for repose in the tomb? My mother remonstrated: I
threatened to dash out her brains with my stout ash stick; and on the
following night I sold my father's body to the surgeon who had
anatomised poor Kate Price! This was another vengeance on my part.
"Not many hours elapsed before I set fire to the largest barn upon the
baronet's estate. I waited in the neighbourhood and glutted myself with
a view of the conflagration. The damage was immense. The next day I
composed a song upon the subject, which I have never since forgotten.
You may laugh at the idea of me becoming a poet; but you know well
enough that I received some trifle of education--that I was not a fool
by nature--and that in early life I was food of reading. The lines were
these:--
"THE INCENDIARY'S SONG.
"The Lucifer-match! the Lucifer-match!
'Tis the weapon for us to wield.
How bonnily burns up rick and thatch,
And the crop just housed from the field!
The proud may oppress and the rich distress,
And drive us from their door;--
But they cannot snatch the Lucifer-match
From the hand of the desperate poor!
"The purse-proud squire and the tyrant peer
May keep their Game Laws still;
And the very glance of the overseer
May continue to freeze and kill.
The wealthy and great, and the chiefs of the state,
May tyrannise more and more;--
But they cannot snatch the Lucifer-match
From the hand of the desperate poor!
"'_Oh! give us bread!_' is the piteous wail
That is murmured far and wide;
And echo takes up and repeats the tale--
But the rich man turns aside.
The Justice of Peace may send his Police
To scour the country o'er;
But they cannot snatch the Lucifer-match
From the hand of the desperate poor!
"Then, hurrah! hurrah! for the Lucifer-match;
'Tis the weapon of despair:--
How bonnily blaze up barn and thatch--
The poor man's revenge is there!
For the _worm_ will turn on the feet that spurn--
And surely a _man_ is more?--
Oh! none can e'er snatch the Lucifer-match
From the hand of the desperate poor!
"The baronet suspected that I was the cause of the fire, as I had just
returned to the neighbourhood; and he had me arrested and taken before a
justice; but there was not a shadow of proof against me, nor a pretence
to keep me in custody. I was accordingly discharged, with an admonition
'_to take care of myself_'--which was as much as to say, '_If I can find
an opportunity of sending you to prison, I will_.'
"Walmer and its neighbourhood grew loathsome to me. The image of Kate
Price constantly haunted me; and I was moreover shunned by every one who
knew that I had been at the hulks. I accordingly sold off all the
fishing tackle, and other traps, and came up to London with the old
Mummy.
"I need say no more."
"And there's enough in your history to set a man a-thinking," exclaimed
the waiter of the boozing-ken; "there is indeed."
"Ah! I b'lieve you, there is," observed the Cracksman, draining the pot
which had contained the egg-flip.
The clock struck mid-day when Holford entered the parlour of the
boozing-ken.