In the 'Fortunes of Nigel' we are made acquainted with the Alsatia of Fleet Street. There were other places equally secure for rogues, besides Alsatia. Such were Whetstone Park in Lincoln's Inn Fields; Fullwood's Rents, Holborn; Milford Lane, Strand15; Montagu Close, Southwark; and others. All these were gradually extinguished; not by any summary procedure; not by turning out the rogues and forcing them to scatter16; not by marching off the whole population to prison; but by the slower and more gradual process of transformation17. This process began when the parts and places around became respectable. There is something chilling and repellent to the common rogue about the proximity18 of respectability: he does not like to be in its neighbourhood: in this way these degenerate19 and unlawful sanctuaries gradually fell into decay. One alone remained, when all the others had disappeared. It was in that part of Southwark—that part which is still a slum—called Mint Street, nearly opposite St. George's Church in the High Street. This street, with its alleys20 and courts, was inhabited by as villainous a collection as even the eighteenth century, which in point of villains was rich beyond its predecessors21, could not equal. They had retreated here from their former{243} haunt in Montagu Close, as to a last fortress22, which was not yet besieged23. They lived in perfect safety here: no writ24 could be served on them: no arrest could be made: the only person they had to fear was, as said above, the thief-taker.
The annals of this Sanctuary were never, unfortunately, kept; it is impossible to ascertain25 what illustrious criminals were here housed and for how long. There are, however, one or two little histories of the Mint which will serve to show us at once the public spirit, the courage, and the immunity26 with which the people of the later Sanctuary lived and acted.
The first story belongs to the year 1715. The case of Dormer v. Dormer and Jones came on for hearing at Westminster Hall. It was a divorce case, in which the co-respondent had been a footman in the plaintiff's house. There seems to have been no defence, practically. The verdict of the Jury was for the plaintiff, with 5,000l. damages. Now, consider for a moment what that verdict meant. In these days, when a defendant27 without any private means at all is mulcted in damages and costs, whether of 5,000l. or of 100l., he simply smiles. He is not in the least degree affected28. Nothing worse than bankruptcy29 can happen to him, and when a man has nothing bankruptcy presents few terrors. In Portugal Street subridet vacuus viator—the insolvent30 pilgrim smiles cheerfully. But in those days it was very different. To inflict31 damages of 5,000l. meant simply that the Jury considered the case one in which the defendant, who could not be tried in the criminal courts, could only be adequately punished by being locked up for the whole of his remaining days in a debtor's prison, where, since he was only a footman whose relations were probably unable to assist him and certainly unable to maintain him, he would speedily take his place on the common side, and there he would be slowly done to death by insufficient32 food and insufficient clothing, by privation, cold, fever and misery33.{244}
The Jury therefore gave this verdict with deliberate intention. It meant prison and slow starvation and insufficient warmth, and so everybody instantly understood, including Mr. Jones himself. In a moment the officers would have laid hands upon the unhappy but undeserving footman. But he was too quick for them: he turned: he fled: he hurled34 himself down Westminster Hall through the crowd of lawyers, witnesses, booksellers, glovesellers, and visitors: he tore across New Palace Yard, now pursued by the officers: he made for the 'Bridge,' that is, the pier35 so called, for as yet there was no Bridge: he jumped into the first boat and shoved off. When the bailiffs arrived breathless at the Stairs, they saw their prisoner already half way across the river. They too jumped into a boat: for some reason or other—one knows not why—it was most unlucky—their boat took a long time to get off: something was wrong with the painter: the ropes were knotted: the stretchers wanted to be set right: the oars36 were on the wrong sides: the men were slow in getting off their coats: finally, when she was cast loose the boat proved to be another Noah's Ark for creeping slowly over the face of the waters. Jones therefore got safely ashore37 on the other side, and the bailiffs turned back with a good deal of cursing. Once ashore, the fugitive38 made straight to Mint Street, as to a Levitical City which was also a City of Refuge. I know not what became of him afterwards. It was a hive where all the bees were busy. Jones could not eat the bread of idleness: he therefore, one may certainly conclude, became a rogue by profession and in due course met his fate bravely with white ribbons round his cap, an orange in one hand, a Prayer-book in the other, and a large nosegay in his shirt front.
Here is another story of the same Eighteenth Century Sanctuary. It will seem incredible that the Executive should have been so incapable39, but the story is literally40 true.
MINT STREET, BOROUGH41 MINT STREET, BOROUGH
Things being in so satisfactory and settled a condition,{245} the Law being so triumphantly42 defied, at the Mint in Southwark, some of the residents or collegians naturally desired to go farther afield, and to establish more Sanctuaries or Law-defying{246} colonies on the other side of the river, which was reported to be ripe for these settlements. No reports of Meetings, Proceedings44, and Resolutions held and passed on the subject have come down to us. However, that matters very little. Every great movement, we know, is the work of one man. Therefore there arose a Prophet—the Prophet as Rogue. He perceived, understood, and presently began to preach that a 'long felt want'—call it rather a 'need'—existed, which it was his duty to supply. The old Sanctuaries of North London, he pointed45 out, had fallen into decay. Alsatia was deplorably respectable: bailiffs had been seen in Milford Lane: the trade of counterfeit rings was no longer carried on in St. Martin's. And, though there were certainly taverns46 in Clerkenwell which bailiffs regarded with a useful respect, it could not be denied that London needed a new Sanctuary. This need he called upon his friends and fellow-residents in the Mint to supply. He set before his hearers with burning eloquence—I am sure it was burning—a Vision of a New London, Purged47; Purified; without honesty; without morals; without law; with neither gallows48, pillory49, whipping post, or stocks: a City entirely50 in the hands of Rogues who would compel all the conquered City to work for them: would seize on all property and would live triumphantly happy with complete control over all the Prisons. To make a beginning of this Millennium51, he proposed, by means of colonies from the Mint, to plant all London with Sanctuaries until, in fulness of time, the City should become one huge Sanctuary, where debts would never be collected, and robbery and murder would never be punished.
They chose for their new settlement a piece of ground on the east of Tower Hill, where Cable Street is now. They laid down their boundaries: they called the place the New Mint: they said, 'Within these limits there shall be no arrest.' This new law they communicated fairly and plainly, because everything was above board, to all the catchpoles. They then sat{247} down as in an impregnable fortress. Remember, that if there were no police, such as we now understand by the word, they were close to the soldiers of the Tower, who might have been called in to disperse52 this lawless establishment. However, nothing at all was done. They sat down triumphant43. Presently—I know not how long afterwards—a bailiff was actually found to disregard the warning. You will hardly believe that this rash and audacious person ventured to arrest a New Minter within the Precincts!
Then the colonists53 arose and formed into column: they called for music: preceded by a band of what used to be called the Whifflers, they marched in a procession, four abreast54, quietly, calmly, but with settled purpose in their gallant55 and resolute56 faces: they carried a banner, yea, the Flag of Unrighteousness: they marched straight to the house of the offender57, who, for his part, was so foolish as not to run away. It is, however, a weakness common to Catchpoles that they always put their trust in the Law. They arrested that Catchpole: they led him to the place where he had offended: and there they made an example of him. They tore away every shred58 of clothing from him: they flogged him all over with brooms and thorny59 brambles: they gave him a thousand lashes60, so that there was not a whole inch of skin left upon him: they dragged him through filthy62 ponds and laystalls: they took him out and flogged him again: they tried to flog the life out of the poor wretch63 but failed, for he survived: then they dragged him again through the filth61: at last they suffered him, bleeding and naked, to crawl home as best he might. I am sorry to say that I have no information as to the end of the New Mint adventure; but it certainly appears that no one was punished for this outrage64, and that no attempt even was made to punish anyone. Perhaps the memory of that gallant deed still lingers in Cable Lane: but I have not ventured to inquire of the still rude and independent freemen, its present residents.
点击收听单词发音
1 sanctuary | |
n.圣所,圣堂,寺庙;禁猎区,保护区 | |
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2 rogue | |
n.流氓;v.游手好闲 | |
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3 habitual | |
adj.习惯性的;通常的,惯常的 | |
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4 impunity | |
n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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5 counterfeit | |
vt.伪造,仿造;adj.伪造的,假冒的 | |
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6 rogues | |
n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 );无赖;调皮捣蛋的人;离群的野兽 | |
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7 repentance | |
n.懊悔 | |
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8 outlaw | |
n.歹徒,亡命之徒;vt.宣布…为不合法 | |
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9 sanctuaries | |
n.避难所( sanctuary的名词复数 );庇护;圣所;庇护所 | |
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10 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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11 villains | |
n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 );罪犯;(小说、戏剧等中的)反面人物;淘气鬼 | |
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12 functionary | |
n.官员;公职人员 | |
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13 expended | |
v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 );使用(钱等)做某事;用光;耗尽 | |
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14 asylum | |
n.避难所,庇护所,避难 | |
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15 strand | |
vt.使(船)搁浅,使(某人)困于(某地) | |
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16 scatter | |
vt.撒,驱散,散开;散布/播;vi.分散,消散 | |
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17 transformation | |
n.变化;改造;转变 | |
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18 proximity | |
n.接近,邻近 | |
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19 degenerate | |
v.退步,堕落;adj.退步的,堕落的;n.堕落者 | |
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20 alleys | |
胡同,小巷( alley的名词复数 ); 小径 | |
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21 predecessors | |
n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 );前辈;(被取代的)原有事物;前身 | |
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22 fortress | |
n.堡垒,防御工事 | |
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23 besieged | |
包围,围困,围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24 writ | |
n.命令状,书面命令 | |
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25 ascertain | |
vt.发现,确定,查明,弄清 | |
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26 immunity | |
n.优惠;免除;豁免,豁免权 | |
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27 defendant | |
n.被告;adj.处于被告地位的 | |
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28 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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29 bankruptcy | |
n.破产;无偿付能力 | |
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30 insolvent | |
adj.破产的,无偿还能力的 | |
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31 inflict | |
vt.(on)把…强加给,使遭受,使承担 | |
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32 insufficient | |
adj.(for,of)不足的,不够的 | |
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33 misery | |
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦 | |
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34 hurled | |
v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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35 pier | |
n.码头;桥墩,桥柱;[建]窗间壁,支柱 | |
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36 oars | |
n.桨,橹( oar的名词复数 );划手v.划(行)( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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37 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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38 fugitive | |
adj.逃亡的,易逝的;n.逃犯,逃亡者 | |
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39 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
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40 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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41 borough | |
n.享有自治权的市镇;(英)自治市镇 | |
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42 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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43 triumphant | |
adj.胜利的,成功的;狂欢的,喜悦的 | |
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44 proceedings | |
n.进程,过程,议程;诉讼(程序);公报 | |
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45 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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46 taverns | |
n.小旅馆,客栈,酒馆( tavern的名词复数 ) | |
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47 purged | |
清除(政敌等)( purge的过去式和过去分词 ); 涤除(罪恶等); 净化(心灵、风气等); 消除(错事等)的不良影响 | |
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48 gallows | |
n.绞刑架,绞台 | |
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49 pillory | |
n.嘲弄;v.使受公众嘲笑;将…示众 | |
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50 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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51 millennium | |
n.一千年,千禧年;太平盛世 | |
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52 disperse | |
vi.使分散;使消失;vt.分散;驱散 | |
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53 colonists | |
n.殖民地开拓者,移民,殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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54 abreast | |
adv.并排地;跟上(时代)的步伐,与…并进地 | |
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55 gallant | |
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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56 resolute | |
adj.坚决的,果敢的 | |
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57 offender | |
n.冒犯者,违反者,犯罪者 | |
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58 shred | |
v.撕成碎片,变成碎片;n.碎布条,细片,些少 | |
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59 thorny | |
adj.多刺的,棘手的 | |
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60 lashes | |
n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 );鞭子;突然猛烈的一击;急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 );煽动;紧系;怒斥 | |
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61 filth | |
n.肮脏,污物,污秽;淫猥 | |
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62 filthy | |
adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的 | |
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63 wretch | |
n.可怜的人,不幸的人;卑鄙的人 | |
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64 outrage | |
n.暴行,侮辱,愤怒;vt.凌辱,激怒 | |
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