The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves - Tobias Smollett
His first fears now gave way to another suggestion, that Anthony, in
order to intimidate her into a compliance with his proposals, had trumped
up a spurious claim against her, and, by virtue of a writ, confined her
in some prison or spunging-house. Possessed with this idea, he desired
Mr. Clarke to search the sheriff's office in the morning, that he might
know whether any such writ had been granted; and he himself resolved to
make a tour of the great prisons belonging to the metropolis, to inquire,
if perchance she might not be confined under a borrowed name. Finally,
he determined, if possible, to apprise her of his place of abode, by a
paragraph in all the daily papers, signifying that Sir Launcelot Greaves
had arrived at his house near Golden Square.
All these resolutions were punctually executed. No such writ had been
taken out in the sheriff's office; and therefore our hero set out on his
jail expedition, accompanied by Mr. Clarke, who had contracted some
acquaintance with the commanding officers in these garrisons, in the
course of his clerkship and practice as an attorney. The first day they
spent in prosecuting their inquiry through the Gate House, Fleet, and
Marshalsea; the next day they allotted to the King's Bench, where they
understood there was a great variety of prisoners. There they proposed
to make a minute scrutiny, by the help of Mr. Norton, the deputy-marshal,
who was Mr. Clarke's intimate friend, and had nothing at all of the
jailor, either in his appearance or in his disposition, which was
remarkably humane and benevolent towards all his fellow-creatures.
The knight having bespoke dinner at a tavern in the Borough, was,
together with Captain Crowe, conducted to the prison of the King's Bench,
which is situated in St. George's Fields, about a mile from the end of
Westminster Bridge, and appears like a neat little regular town,
consisting of one street, surrounded by a very high wall, including an
open piece of ground, which may be termed a garden, where the prisoners
take the air, and amuse themselves with a variety of diversions. Except
the entrance, where the turnkeys keep watch and ward, there is nothing in
the place that looks like a jail, or bears the least colour of restraint.
The street is crowded with passengers. Tradesmen of all kinds here
exercise their different professions. Hawkers of all sorts are admitted
to call and vend their wares as in any open street of London. Here are
butchers' stands, chandlers' shops, a surgery, a tap-house, well
frequented, and a public kitchen, in which provisions are dressed for all
the prisoners gratis, at the expense of the publican. Here the voice of
misery never complains; and, indeed, little else is to be heard but the
sounds of mirth and jollity.
At the farther end of the street, on the right hand, is a little paved
court, leading to a separate building, consisting of twelve large
apartments, called state rooms, well furnished and fitted up for the
reception of the better sort of Crown prisoners; and, on the other side
of the street, facing a separate division of ground, called the common
side, is a range of rooms occupied by prisoners of the lowest order, who
share the profits of a begging-box, and are maintained by this practice,
and some established funds of charity. We ought also to observe, that
the jail is provided with a neat chapel, in which a clergyman, in
consideration of a certain salary, performs divine service every Sunday.
Our adventurer, having searched the books, and perused the description of
all the female prisoners who had been for some weeks admitted into the
jail, obtained not the least intelligence of his concealed charmer, but
resolved to alleviate his disappointment by the gratification of his
curiosity.
Under the auspices of Mr. Norton, he made a tour of the prison, and, in
particular, visited the kitchen, where he saw a number of spits loaded
with a variety of provision, consisting of butchers' meat, poultry, and
game. He could not help expressing his astonishment, with uplifted
hands, and congratulating himself in secret upon his being a member of
that community which had provided such a comfortable asylum for the
unfortunate. His ejaculation was interrupted by a tumultuous noise in
the street; and Mr. Norton declaring he was sent for to the lodge,
consigned our hero to the care of one Mr. Felton, a prisoner of a very
decent appearance, who paid his compliments with a good grace, and
invited the company to repose themselves in his apartment, which was
large, commodious, and well furnished. When Sir Launcelot asked the
cause of that uproar, he told him that it was the prelude to a boxing
match between two of the prisoners, to be decided in the ground or garden
of the place.
Captain Crowe, expressing an eager curiosity to see the battle, Mr.
Felton assured him there would be no sport, as the combatants were both
reckoned dunghills; "but, in half an hour," said he, "there will be a
battle of some consequence between two of the demagogues of the place,
Dr. Crabclaw and Mr. Tapley, the first a physician and the other a
brewer. You must know, gentlemen, that this microcosm, or republic inn
miniature, is like the great world, split into factions. Crabclaw is the
leader of one party, and the other is headed by Tapley; both are men of
warm and impetuous tempers, and their intrigues have embroiled the whole
place, insomuch that it was dangerous to walk the street on account of
the continual skirmishes of their partisans. At length, some of the more
sedate inhabitants having met and deliberated upon some remedy for these
growing disorders, proposed that the dispute should be at once decided by
single combat between the two chiefs, who readily agreed to the proposal.
The match was accordingly made for five guineas, and this very day and
hour appointed for the trial, on which considerable sums of money are
depending. As for Mr. Norton, it is not proper that he should be
present, or seem to countenance such violent proceedings, which, however,
it is necessary to connive at, as convenient vents for the evaporation of
those humours, which, being confined, might accumulate and break out with
greater fury in conspiracy and rebellion."
The knight owned he could not conceive by what means such a number of
licentious people, amounting, with their dependants, to above five
hundred, were restrained within the bounds of any tolerable discipline,
or prevented from making their escape, which they might at any time
accomplish, either by stealth or open violence; as it could not be
supposed that one or two turnkeys, continually employed in opening and
shutting the door, could resist the efforts of a whole multitude.
"Your wonder, good sir," said Mr. Felton, "will vanish, when you consider
it is hardly possible that the multitude should co-operate in the
execution of such a scheme; and that the keeper perfectly well
understands the maxim divide et impera. Many prisoners are restrained by
the dictates of gratitude towards the deputy-marshal, whose friendship
and good offices they have experienced; some no doubt are actuated by
motives of discretion. One party is an effectual check upon the other;
and I am firmly persuaded that there are not ten prisoners within the
place that would make their escape, if the doors were laid open. This is
a step which no man would take, unless his fortune was altogether
desperate; because it would oblige him to leave his country for life, and
expose him to the most imminent risk of being retaken and treated with
the utmost severity. The majority of the prisoners live in the most
lively hope of being released by the assistance of their friends, the
compassion of their creditors, or the favour of the legislature. Some
who are cut off from all these proposals are become naturalised to the
place, knowing they cannot subsist in any other situation. I myself am
one of these. After having resigned all my effects for the benefit of my
creditors, I have been detained these nine years in prison, because one
person refuses to sign my certificate. I have long outlived all my
friends from whom I could expect the least countenance or favour. I am
grown old in confinement, and lay my account with ending my days in jail,
as the mercy of the legislature in favour of insolvent debtors is never
extended to uncertified bankrupts taken in execution. By dint of
industry and the most rigid economy, I make shift to live independent in
this retreat. To this scene my faculty of subsisting, as well as my
body, is peculiarly confined. Had I an opportunity to escape, where
should I go? All my views of fortune have been long blasted. I have no
friends nor connexions in the world. I must, therefore, starve in some
sequestered corner, or be recaptivated and confined for ever to close
prison, deprived of the indulgences which I now enjoy."
Here the conversation was broke off by another uproar, which was the
signal to battle between the doctor and his antagonist. The company
immediately adjourned to the field, where the combatants were already
undressed, and the stakes deposited. The doctor seemed of the middle age
and middle stature, active and alert, with an atrabilarious aspect, and a
mixture of rage and disdain expressed in his countenance. The brewer was
large, raw-boned, and round as a butt of beer, but very fat, unwieldy,
short-winded, and phlegmatic. Our adventurer was not a little surprised
when he beheld, in the character of seconds, a male and female stripped
naked from the waist upwards, the latter ranging on the side of the
physician; but the commencement of the battle prevented his demanding of
his guide an explanation of this phenomenon. The doctor retiring some
paces backwards, threw himself into the attitude of a battering-ram, and
rushed upon his antagonist with great impetuosity, foreseeing, that,
should he have the good fortune to overturn him in the first assault, it
would not be an easy task to raise him up again, and put him in a
capacity of offence. But the momentum of Crabclaw's head, and the
concomitant efforts of his knuckles, had no effect upon the ribs of
Tapley, who stood firm as the Acroceraunian promontory; and stepping
forward with his projected fist, something smaller and softer than a
sledge-hammer, struck the physician to the ground.
In a trice, however, by the assistance of his female second, he was on
his legs again, and grappling with his antagonist, endeavoured to tip
him a fall, but instead of accomplishing his purpose, he received a
cross-buttock, and the brewer throwing himself upon him as he fell, had
well-nigh smothered him on the spot. The amazon flew to his assistance,
and Tapley showing no inclination to get up, she smote him on the temple
till he roared. The male second hastening to the relief of his
principal, made application to the eyes of the female, which were
immediately surrounded with black circles; and she returned the salute
with a blow, which brought a double stream of blood from his nostrils,
greeting him at the same time with the opprobrious appellation of a lousy
son of a b---h. A combat more furious than the first would now have
ensued, had not Felton interposed with an air of authority, and insisted
on the man's leaving the field, an injunction which he forthwith obeyed,
saying, "Well, damme, Felton, you're my friend and commander; I'll obey
your order--but the b---h will be foul of me before we sleep."--Then
Felton advancing to his opponent, "Madam," said he, "I'm very sorry to
see a lady of your rank and qualifications expose yourself in this manner
--for God's sake, behave with a little more decorum, if not for the sake
of your own family, at least for the credit of your sex in general."--
"Hark ye, Felton," said she, "decorum is founded upon a delicacy of
sentiment and deportment, which cannot consist with the disgraces of a
jail, and the miseries of indigence.--But I see the dispute is now
terminated, and the money is to be drank; if you'll dine with us you
shall be welcome; if not, you may die in your sobriety, and be d--ned."
By this time the doctor had given out, and allowed the brewer to be the
better man; yet he would not honour the festival with his presence, but
retired to his chamber, exceedingly mortified at his defeat. Our hero was
reconducted to Mr. Felton's apartment, where he sat some time without
opening his mouth, so astonished he was at what he had seen and heard.
"I perceive, sir," said the prisoner, "you are surprised at the manner in
which I accosted that unhappy woman; and perhaps you will be more
surprised when you hear that within these eighteen months she was
actually a person of fashion, and her opponent, who by the bye is her
husband, universally respected as a man of honour and a brave officer."--
"I am, indeed," cried our hero, "overwhelmed with amazement and concern,
as well as stimulated by an eager curiosity to know the fatal causes
which have produced such a reverse of character and fortune. But I will
rein my curiosity till the afternoon, if you will favour me with your
company at a tavern in the neighbourhood, where I have bespoke dinner, a
favour which I hope Mr. Norton will have no objection to your granting,
as he himself is to be of the party."--The prisoner thanked him for his
kind invitation, and they adjourned immediately to the place, taking up
the deputy-marshal in their passage through the lodge or entrance of the
prison.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CONTAINING FURTHER ANECDOTES RELATING TO THE CHILDREN ON WRETCHEDNESS.
Dinner being cheerfully discussed, and our adventurer expressing an eager
desire to know the history of the male and female who had acted as
squires or seconds to the champions of the King's Bench, Felton gratified
his curiosity to this effect:
"All that I know of Captain Clewline, previous to his commitment, is,
that he was a commander of a sloop of war, and bore the reputation of a
gallant officer; that he married the daughter of a rich merchant in the
city of London, against the inclination and without the knowledge of her
father, who renounced her for this act of disobedience; that the captain
consoled himself for the rigour of the parent, with the possession of the
lady, who was not only remarkably beautiful in person, but highly
accomplished in her mind, and amiable in her disposition. Such, a few
months ago, were those two persons whom you saw acting in such a vulgar
capacity. When they first entered the prison, they were undoubtedly the
handsomest couple mine eyes ever beheld, and their appearance won
universal respect even from the most brutal inhabitants of the jail.
"The captain, having unwarily involved himself as a security for a man to
whom he had lain under obligations, became liable for a considerable sum,
and his own father-in-law being the sole creditor of the bankrupt, took
this opportunity of wreaking vengeance upon him for having espoused his
daughter. He watched an opportunity until the captain had actually
stepped into the post-chaise with his lady for Portsmouth, where his ship
lay, and caused him to be arrested in the most public and shameful
manner. Mrs. Clewline had like to have sunk under the first transports
of her grief and mortification; but these subsiding, she had recourse to
personal solicitation. She went with her only child in her arms, a
lovely boy, to her father's door, and, being denied admittance, kneeled
down in the street, imploring his compassion in the most pathetic strain;
but this hard-hearted citizen, instead of recognising his child, and
taking the poor mourner to his bosom, insulted her from the window with
the most bitter reproach, saying, among other shocking expressions,
'Strumpet, take yourself away with your brat, otherwise I shall send for
the beadle, and have you to Bridewell.'
"The unfortunate lady was cut to the heart by this usage, and fainted in
the street, from whence she was conveyed to a public-house by the charity
of some passengers. She afterwards attempted to soften the barbarity of
her father by repeated letters, and by interesting some of his friends to
intercede with him in her behalf; but all her endeavours proving
ineffectual, she accompanied her husband to the prison of the King's
Bench, where she must have felt, in the severest manner, the fatal
reverse of circumstance to which she was exposed.
"The captain being disabled from going to sea, was superseded, and he saw
all his hopes blasted in the midst of an active war, at a time when he
had the fairest prospects of fame and fortune. He saw himself reduced to
extreme poverty, cooped up with the tender partner of his heart in a
wretched hovel, amidst the refuse of mankind, and on the brink of wanting
the common necessaries of life. The mind of man is ever ingenious in
finding resources. He comforted his lady with vain hopes of having
friends who would effect his deliverance, and repeated assurances of this
kind so long, that he at length began to think they were not altogether
void of foundation.
"Mrs. Clewline, from a principle of duty, recollected all her fortitude,
that she might not only bear her fate with patience, but even contribute
to alleviate the woes of her husband, whom her affection had ruined. She
affected to believe the suggestions of his pretended hope; she
interchanged with him assurances of better fortune; her appearance
exhibited a calm, while her heart was torn with anguish. She assisted
him in writing letters to former friends, the last consolation of the
wretched prisoner; she delivered these letters with her own hand, and
underwent a thousand mortifying repulses, the most shocking circumstances
of which she concealed from her husband. She performed all the menial
offices in her own little family, which was maintained by pawning her
apparel; and both the husband and wife, in some measure, sweetened their
cares by prattling and toying with their charming little boy, on whom
they doated with an enthusiasm of fondness. Yet even this pleasure was
mingled with the most tender and melancholy regret. I have seen the
mother hang over him, with the most affecting expression of this kind in
her aspect, the tears contending with the smiles upon her countenance,
while she exclaimed, 'Alas! my poor prisoner, little did your mother once
think she should be obliged to nurse you in a jail.' The captain's
paternal love was dashed with impatience; he would snatch up the boy in a
transport of grief, press him to his breast, devour him as it were with
kisses, throw up his eyes to heaven in the most emphatic silence, then
convey the child hastily to his mother's arms, pull his hat over his
eyes, stalk out into the common walk, and, finding himself alone, break
out into tears and lamentation.
"Ah! little did this unhappy couple know what further griefs awaited
them! The smallpox broke out in the prison, and poor Tommy Clewline was
infected. As the eruption appeared unfavourable, you may conceive the
consternation with which they were overwhelmed. Their distress was
rendered inconceivable by indigence; for by this time they were so
destitute, that they could neither pay for common attendance, nor procure
proper advice. I did on that occasion what I thought my duty towards my
fellow-creatures. I wrote to a physician of my acquaintance, who was
humane enough to visit the poor little patient; I engaged a careful
woman-prisoner as a nurse, and Mr. Norton supplied them with money and
necessaries. These helps were barely sufficient to preserve them from
the horrors of despair, when they saw their little darling panting under
the rage of a loathsome pestilential malady, during the excessive heat of
the dog-days, and struggling for breath in the noxious atmosphere of a
confined cabin, where they scarce had room to turn on the most necessary
occasions. The eager curiosity with which the mother eyed the doctor's
looks as often as he visited the boy; the terror and trepidation of the
father, while he desired to know his opinion; in a word, the whole tenor
of their distress baffled all description.
"At length the physician, for the sake of his own character, was obliged
to be explicit; and, returning with the captain to the common walk, told
him, in my hearing, that the child could not possibly recover. This
sentence seemed to have petrified the unfortunate parent, who stood
motionless, and seemingly bereft of sense. I led him to my apartment,
where he sat a full hour in that state of stupefaction; then he began to
groan hideously, a shower of tears burst from his eyes, he threw himself
on the floor, and uttered the most piteous lamentation that ever was
heard. Meanwhile, Mrs. Norton being made acquainted with the doctor's
prognostic, visited Mrs. Clewline, and invited her to the lodge. Her
prophetic fears immediately took the alarm. 'What!' cried she, starting
up with a frantic wildness in her looks, 'then our case is desperate--I
shall lose my dear Tommy!--the poor prisoner will be released by the hand
of Heaven!--Death will convey him to the cold grave!' The dying innocent
hearing this exclamation, pronounced these words, 'Tommy won't leave you,
my dear mamma; if death comes to take Tommy, papa shall drive him away
with his sword.' This address deprived the wretched mother of all
resignation to the will of Providence. She tore her hair, dashed herself
on the pavement, shrieked aloud, and was carried off in a deplorable
state of distraction.
"That same evening the lovely babe expired, and the father grew frantic.
He made an attempt on his own life; and, being with difficulty
restrained, his agitation sunk into a kind of sullen insensibility, which
seemed to absorb all sentiment, and gradually vulgarised his faculty of
thinking. In order to dissipate the violence of his sorrow, he
continually shifted the scene from one company to another, contracted
abundance of low connexions, and drowned his cares in repeated
intoxication. The unhappy lady underwent a long series of hysterical
fits and other complaints, which seemed to have a fatal effect on her
brain as well as constitution. Cordials were administered to keep up her
spirits; and she found it necessary to protract the use of them to blunt
the edge of grief, by overwhelming reflection, and remove the sense of
uneasiness arising from a disorder in her stomach. In a word, she became
an habitual dram-drinker; and this practice exposed her to such
communication as debauched her reason, and perverted her sense of decorum
and propriety. She and her husband gave a loose to vulgar excess, in
which they were enabled to indulge by the charity and interest of some
friends, who obtained half-pay for the captain.
"They are now metamorphosed into the shocking creatures you have seen; he
into a riotous plebeian, and she into a ragged trull. They are both
drunk every day, quarrel and fight one with another, and often insult
their fellow-prisoners. Yet they are not wholly abandoned by virtue and
humanity. The captain is scrupulously honest in all his dealings, and
pays off his debts punctually every quarter, as soon as he receives his
half-pay. Every prisoner in distress is welcome to share his money while
it lasts; and his wife never fails, while it is in her power, to relieve
the wretched; so that their generosity, even in this miserable disguise,
is universally respected by their neighbours. Sometimes the recollection
of their former rank comes over them like a qualm, which they dispel with
brandy, and then humorously rally one another on their mutual degeneracy.
She often stops me in the walk, and, pointing to the captain, says, 'My
husband, though he is become a blackguard jail-bird, must be allowed to
be a handsome fellow still.'--On the other hand, he will frequently
desire me to take notice of his rib, as she chances to pass.--'Mind that
draggle-tailed drunken drab,' he will say; 'what an antidote it is--yet,
for all that, Felton, she was a fine woman when I married her--Poor Bess,
I have been the ruin of her, that is certain, and deserve to be d--ned
for bringing her to this pass.'
"Thus they accommodate themselves to each other's infirmities, and pass
their time not without some taste of plebeian enjoyment--but, name their
child, they never fail to burst into tears, and still feel a return of
the most poignant sorrow."
Sir Launcelot Greaves did not hear this story unmoved. Tom Clarke's
cheeks were bedewed with the drops of sympathy, while, with much sobbing,
he declared his opinion, that an action should lie against the lady's
father.
Captain Crowe having listened to the story with uncommon attention,
expressed his concern that an honest seaman should be so taken in stays;
but he imputed all his calamities to the wife. "For why?" said he; "a
seafaring man may have a sweetheart in every port; but he should steer
clear of a wife, as he would avoid a quicksand.--You see, brother, how
this here Clewline lags astern in the wake of a snivelling b---h;
otherwise he would never make a weft in his ensign for the loss of a
child--odds heart! he could have done no more if he had sprung a
top-mast, or started a timber."