Chapter 63
During the whole of this day, every regiment in or near the metropoliswas on duty in one or other part of the town; and the regulars andmilitia, in obedience to the orders which were sent to every barrack andstation within twenty-four hours' journey, began to pour in by all theroads. But the disturbance had attained to such a formidable height, andthe rioters had grown, with impunity, to be so audacious, that the sightof this great force, continually augmented by new arrivals, instead ofoperating as a check, stimulated them to outrages of greater hardihoodthan any they had yet committed; and helped to kindle a flame inLondon, the like of which had never been beheld, even in its ancient andrebellious times.
All yesterday, and on this day likewise, the commander-in-chiefendeavoured to arouse the magistrates to a sense of their duty, and inparticular the Lord Mayor, who was the faintest-hearted and most timidof them all. With this object, large bodies of the soldiery were severaltimes despatched to the Mansion House to await his orders: but as hecould, by no threats or persuasions, be induced to give any, and as themen remained in the open street, fruitlessly for any good purpose, andthrivingly for a very bad one; these laudable attempts did harm ratherthan good. For the crowd, becoming speedily acquainted with the LordMayor's temper, did not fail to take advantage of it by boasting thateven the civil authorities were opposed to the Papists, and could notfind it in their hearts to molest those who were guilty of no otheroffence. These vaunts they took care to make within the hearing of thesoldiers; and they, being naturally loth to quarrel with the people,received their advances kindly enough: answering, when they were askedif they desired to fire upon their countrymen, 'No, they would be damnedif they did;' and showing much honest simplicity and good nature.The feeling that the military were No-Popery men, and were ripe fordisobeying orders and joining the mob, soon became very prevalent inconsequence. Rumours of their disaffection, and of their leaning towardsthe popular cause, spread from mouth to mouth with astonishing rapidity;and whenever they were drawn up idly in the streets or squares, therewas sure to be a crowd about them, cheering and shaking hands, andtreating them with a great show of confidence and affection.
By this time, the crowd was everywhere; all concealment and disguisewere laid aside, and they pervaded the whole town. If any man among themwanted money, he had but to knock at the door of a dwelling-house, orwalk into a shop, and demand it in the rioters name; and his demandwas instantly complied with. The peaceable citizens being afraid to layhands upon them, singly and alone, it may be easily supposed thatwhen gathered together in bodies, they were perfectly secure frominterruption. They assembled in the streets, traversed them at theirwill and pleasure, and publicly concerted their plans. Business wasquite suspended; the greater part of the shops were closed; most of thehouses displayed a blue flag in token of their adherence to the popularside; and even the Jews in Houndsditch, Whitechapel, and those quarters,wrote upon their doors or window-shutters, 'This House is a TrueProtestant.' The crowd was the law, and never was the law held ingreater dread, or more implicitly obeyed.
It was about six o'clock in the evening, when a vast mob pouredinto Lincoln's Inn Fields by every avenue, and divided--evidently inpursuance of a previous design--into several parties. It must not beunderstood that this arrangement was known to the whole crowd, but thatit was the work of a few leaders; who, mingling with the men as theycame upon the ground, and calling to them to fall into this or thatparry, effected it as rapidly as if it had been determined on by acouncil of the whole number, and every man had known his place.
It was perfectly notorious to the assemblage that the largest body,which comprehended about two-thirds of the whole, was designed forthe attack on Newgate. It comprehended all the rioters who had beenconspicuous in any of their former proceedings; all those whom theyrecommended as daring hands and fit for the work; all those whosecompanions had been taken in the riots; and a great number of peoplewho were relatives or friends of felons in the jail. This last classincluded, not only the most desperate and utterly abandoned villains inLondon, but some who were comparatively innocent. There was more thanone woman there, disguised in man's attire, and bent upon the rescueof a child or brother. There were the two sons of a man who lay undersentence of death, and who was to be executed along with threeothers, on the next day but one. There was a great party of boys whosefellow-pickpockets were in the prison; and at the skirts of all, a scoreof miserable women, outcasts from the world, seeking to release someother fallen creature as miserable as themselves, or moved by a generalsympathy perhaps--God knows--with all who were without hope, andwretched.
Old swords, and pistols without ball or powder; sledge-hammers, knives,axes, saws, and weapons pillaged from the butchers' shops; a forest ofiron bars and wooden clubs; long ladders for scaling the walls, eachcarried on the shoulders of a dozen men; lighted torches; tow smearedwith pitch, and tar, and brimstone; staves roughly plucked from fenceand paling; and even crutches taken from crippled beggars in thestreets; composed their arms. When all was ready, Hugh and Dennis, withSimon Tappertit between them, led the way. Roaring and chafing like anangry sea, the crowd pressed after them.
Instead of going straight down Holborn to the jail, as all expected,their leaders took the way to Clerkenwell, and pouring down a quietstreet, halted before a locksmith's house--the Golden Key.
'Beat at the door,' cried Hugh to the men about him. 'We want one of hiscraft to-night. Beat it in, if no one answers.'
The shop was shut. Both door and shutters were of a strong and sturdykind, and they knocked without effect. But the impatient crowd raisinga cry of 'Set fire to the house!' and torches being passed to the front,an upper window was thrown open, and the stout old locksmith stoodbefore them.
'What now, you villains!' he demanded. 'Where is my daughter?'
'Ask no questions of us, old man,' retorted Hugh, waving his comradesto be silent, 'but come down, and bring the tools of your trade. We wantyou.'
'Want me!' cried the locksmith, glancing at the regimental dress hewore: 'Ay, and if some that I could name possessed the hearts of mice,ye should have had me long ago. Mark me, my lad--and you about him dothe same. There are a score among ye whom I see now and know, who aredead men from this hour. Begone! and rob an undertaker's while you can!You'll want some coffins before long.'
'Will you come down?' cried Hugh.
'Will you give me my daughter, ruffian?' cried the locksmith.
'I know nothing of her,' Hugh rejoined. 'Burn the door!'
'Stop!' cried the locksmith, in a voice that made themfalter--presenting, as he spoke, a gun. 'Let an old man do that. You canspare him better.'
The young fellow who held the light, and who was stooping down beforethe door, rose hastily at these words, and fell back. The locksmith ranhis eye along the upturned faces, and kept the weapon levelled at thethreshold of his house. It had no other rest than his shoulder, but wasas steady as the house itself.
'Let the man who does it, take heed to his prayers,' he said firmly; 'Iwarn him.'
Snatching a torch from one who stood near him, Hugh was stepping forwardwith an oath, when he was arrested by a shrill and piercing shriek, and,looking upward, saw a fluttering garment on the house-top.
There was another shriek, and another, and then a shrill voice cried,'Is Simmun below!' At the same moment a lean neck was stretched overthe parapet, and Miss Miggs, indistinctly seen in the gathering gloomof evening, screeched in a frenzied manner, 'Oh! dear gentlemen, let mehear Simmuns's answer from his own lips. Speak to me, Simmun. Speak tome!'
Mr Tappertit, who was not at all flattered by this compliment, lookedup, and bidding her hold her peace, ordered her to come down and openthe door, for they wanted her master, and would take no denial.
'Oh good gentlemen!' cried Miss Miggs. 'Oh my own precious, preciousSimmun--'
'Hold your nonsense, will you!' retorted Mr Tappertit; 'and come downand open the door.--G. Varden, drop that gun, or it will be worse foryou.'
&
nbsp; 'Don't mind his gun,' screamed Miggs. 'Simmun and gentlemen, I poured amug of table-beer right down the barrel.'
The crowd gave a loud shout, which was followed by a roar of laughter.
'It wouldn't go off, not if you was to load it up to the muzzle,'screamed Miggs. 'Simmun and gentlemen, I'm locked up in the front attic,through the little door on the right hand when you think you've got tothe very top of the stairs--and up the flight of corner steps, beingcareful not to knock your heads against the rafters, and not to tread onone side in case you should fall into the two-pair bedroom through thelath and plasture, which do not bear, but the contrairy. Simmun andgentlemen, I've been locked up here for safety, but my endeavours hasalways been, and always will be, to be on the right side--the blessedside and to prenounce the Pope of Babylon, and all her inward andher outward workings, which is Pagin. My sentiments is of littleconsequences, I know,' cried Miggs, with additional shrillness, 'for mypositions is but a servant, and as sich, of humilities, still I givesexpressions to my feelings, and places my reliances on them whichentertains my own opinions!'
Without taking much notice of these outpourings of Miss Miggs after shehad made her first announcement in relation to the gun, the crowdraised a ladder against the window where the locksmith stood, andnotwithstanding that he closed, and fastened, and defended it manfully,soon forced an entrance by shivering the glass and breaking in theframes. After dealing a few stout blows about him, he found himselfdefenceless, in the midst of a furious crowd, which overflowed the roomand softened off in a confused heap of faces at the door and window.
They were very wrathful with him (for he had wounded two men), andeven called out to those in front, to bring him forth and hang him ona lamp-post. But Gabriel was quite undaunted, and looked from Hugh andDennis, who held him by either arm, to Simon Tappertit, who confrontedhim.
'You have robbed me of my daughter,' said the locksmith, 'who is fardearer to me than my life; and you may take my life, if you will. Ibless God that I have been enabled to keep my wife free of this scene;and that He has made me a man who will not ask mercy at such hands asyours.'
'And a wery game old gentleman you are,' said Mr Dennis, approvingly;'and you express yourself like a man. What's the odds, brother, whetherit's a lamp-post to-night, or a feather-bed ten year to come, eh?'
The locksmith glanced at him disdainfully, but returned no other answer.
'For my part,' said the hangman, who particularly favoured the lamp-postsuggestion, 'I honour your principles. They're mine exactly. In suchsentiments as them,' and here he emphasised his discourse with an oath,'I'm ready to meet you or any man halfway.--Have you got a bit of cordanywheres handy? Don't put yourself out of the way, if you haven't. Ahandkecher will do.'
'Don't be a fool, master,' whispered Hugh, seizing Varden roughly bythe shoulder; 'but do as you're bid. You'll soon hear what you're wantedfor. Do it!'
'I'll do nothing at your request, or that of any scoundrel here,'returned the locksmith. 'If you want any service from me, you may spareyourselves the pains of telling me what it is. I tell you, beforehand,I'll do nothing for you.'
Mr Dennis was so affected by this constancy on the part of the staunchold man, that he protested--almost with tears in his eyes--that to baulkhis inclinations would be an act of cruelty and hard dealing to whichhe, for one, never could reconcile his conscience. The gentleman, hesaid, had avowed in so many words that he was ready for working off;such being the case, he considered it their duty, as a civilised andenlightened crowd, to work him off. It was not often, he observed, thatthey had it in their power to accommodate themselves to the wishes ofthose from whom they had the misfortune to differ. Having now found anindividual who expressed a desire which they could reasonably indulge(and for himself he was free to confess that in his opinion that desiredid honour to his feelings), he hoped they would decide to accede tohis proposition before going any further. It was an experiment which,skilfully and dexterously performed, would be over in five minutes, withgreat comfort and satisfaction to all parties; and though it did notbecome him (Mr Dennis) to speak well of himself he trusted he mightbe allowed to say that he had practical knowledge of the subject, and,being naturally of an obliging and friendly disposition, would work thegentleman off with a deal of pleasure.
These remarks, which were addressed in the midst of a frightful din andturmoil to those immediately about him, were received with great favour;not so much, perhaps, because of the hangman's eloquence, as on accountof the locksmith's obstinacy. Gabriel was in imminent peril, and he knewit; but he preserved a steady silence; and would have done so, if theyhad been debating whether they should roast him at a slow fire.
As the hangman spoke, there was some stir and confusion on the ladder;and directly he was silent--so immediately upon his holding his peace,that the crowd below had no time to learn what he had been saying, or toshout in response--some one at the window cried:
'He has a grey head. He is an old man: Don't hurt him!'
The locksmith turned, with a start, towards the place from which thewords had come, and looked hurriedly at the people who were hanging onthe ladder and clinging to each other.
'Pay no respect to my grey hair, young man,' he said, answering thevoice and not any one he saw. 'I don't ask it. My heart is green enoughto scorn and despise every man among you, band of robbers that you are!'
This incautious speech by no means tended to appease the ferocity of thecrowd. They cried again to have him brought out; and it would have gonehard with the honest locksmith, but that Hugh reminded them, in answer,that they wanted his services, and must have them.
'So, tell him what we want,' he said to Simon Tappertit, 'and quickly.And open your ears, master, if you would ever use them after to-night.'
Gabriel folded his arms, which were now at liberty, and eyed his old'prentice in silence.
'Lookye, Varden,' said Sim, 'we're bound for Newgate.'
'I know you are,' returned the locksmith. 'You never said a truer wordthan that.'
'To burn it down, I mean,' said Simon, 'and force the gates, and set theprisoners at liberty. You helped to make the lock of the great door.'
'I did,' said the locksmith. 'You owe me no thanks for that--as you'llfind before long.'
'Maybe,' returned his journeyman, 'but you must show us how to forceit.'
'Must I!'
'Yes; for you know, and I don't. You must come along with us, and pickit with your own hands.'
'When I do,' said the locksmith quietly, 'my hands shall drop off at thewrists, and you shall wear them, Simon Tappertit, on your shoulders forepaulettes.'
'We'll see that,' cried Hugh, interposing, as the indignation of thecrowd again burst forth. 'You fill a basket with the tools he'll want,while I bring him downstairs. Open the doors below, some of you. Andlight the great captain, others! Is there no business afoot, my lads,that you can do nothing but stand and grumble?'
They looked at one another, and quickly dispersing, swarmed over thehouse, plundering and breaking, according to their custom, and carryingoff such articles of value as happened to please their fancy. They hadno great length of time for these proceedings, for the basket of toolswas soon prepared and slung over a man's shoulders. The preparationsbeing now completed, and everything ready for the attack, those whowere pillaging and destroying in the other rooms were called down to theworkshop. They were about to issue forth, when the man who had been lastupstairs, stepped forward, and asked if the young woman in the garret(who was making a terrible noise, he said, and kept on screaming withoutthe least cessation) was to be released?
For his own part, Simon Tappertit would certainly have replied in thenegative, but the mass of his companions, mindful of the good serviceshe had done in the matter of the gun, being of a different opinion, hehad nothing for it but to answer, Yes. The man, accordingly, went backagain to the rescue, and presently returned with Miss Miggs, limp anddoubled up, and very damp from much weeping.
As the young lady had gi
ven no tokens of consciousness on their waydownstairs, the bearer reported her either dead or dying; and being atsome loss what to do with her, was looking round for a convenient benchor heap of ashes on which to place her senseless form, when she suddenlycame upon her feet by some mysterious means, thrust back her hair,stared wildly at Mr Tappertit, cried, 'My Simmuns's life is not awictim!' and dropped into his arms with such promptitude that hestaggered and reeled some paces back, beneath his lovely burden.
'Oh bother!' said Mr Tappertit. 'Here. Catch hold of her, somebody. Lockher up again; she never ought to have been let out.'
'My Simmun!' cried Miss Miggs, in tears, and faintly. 'My for ever, everblessed Simmun!'
'Hold up, will you,' said Mr Tappertit, in a very unresponsive tone,'I'll let you fall if you don't. What are you sliding your feet off theground for?'
'My angel Simmuns!' murmured Miggs--'he promised--'
'Promised! Well, and I'll keep my promise,' answered Simon, testily. 'Imean to provide for you, don't I? Stand up!'
'Where am I to go? What is to become of me after my actions of thisnight!' cried Miggs. 'What resting-places now remains but in the silenttombses!'
'I wish you was in the silent tombses, I do,' cried Mr Tappertit, 'andboxed up tight, in a good strong one. Here,' he cried to one of thebystanders, in whose ear he whispered for a moment: 'Take her off, willyou. You understand where?'
The fellow nodded; and taking her in his arms, notwithstanding herbroken protestations, and her struggles (which latter species ofopposition, involving scratches, was much more difficult of resistance),carried her away. They who were in the house poured out into the street;the locksmith was taken to the head of the crowd, and required to walkbetween his two conductors; the whole body was put in rapid motion;and without any shouts or noise they bore down straight on Newgate, andhalted in a dense mass before the prison-gate.