Custom. To make him better!
Common Sense. How do you punish young offenders1 who are (from their youth) peculiarly alive to example, and whom it is therefore more easy either to ruin or reform than the matured?
Custom. We send them to the House of Correction, to associate with the d — dest rascals2 in the country!
Dialogue between Common Sense and Custom. — Very scarce.
As it was rather late in the day when Paul made his first entree4 at Bridewell, he passed that night in the “receiving-room.” The next morning, as soon as he had been examined by the surgeon and clothed in the customary uniform, he was ushered5, according to his classification, among the good company who had been considered guilty of that compendious6 offence, “a misdemeanour.” Here a tall gentleman marched up to him, and addressed him in a certain language, which might be called the freemasonry of flash, and which Paul, though he did not comprehend verbatim, rightly understood to be an inquiry7 whether he was a thorough rogue8 and an entire rascal3. He answered half in confusion, half in anger; and his reply was so detrimental9 to any favourable10 influence he might otherwise have exercised over the interrogator11, that the latter personage, giving him a pinch in the ear, shouted out, “Ramp12, ramp!” and at that significant and awful word, Paul found himself surrounded in a trice by a whole host of ingenious tormentors. One pulled this member, another pinched that; one cuffed13 him before, and another thrashed him behind. By way of interlude to this pleasing occupation, they stripped him of the very few things that in his change of dress he had retained. One carried off his handkerchief, a second his neckcloth, and a third, luckier than either, possessed14 himself of a pair of carnelian shirt-buttons, given to Paul as a gage15 d’amour by a young lady who sold oranges near the Tower. Happily, before this initiatory16 process — technically17 termed “ramping,” and exercised upon all new-comers who seem to have a spark of decency18 in them — had reduced the bones of Paul, who fought tooth and nail in his defence, to the state of magnesia, a man of a grave aspect, who had hitherto plucked his oakum in quiet, suddenly rose, thrust himself between the victim and the assailants, and desired the latter, like one having authority, to leave the lad alone, and go and be d — d.
This proposal to resort to another place for amusement, though uttered in a very grave and tranquil19 manner, produced that instantaneous effect which admonitions from great rogues20 generally work upon little. Messieurs the ravmpers ceased from their amusements; and the ringleader of the gang, thumping21 Paul heartily22 on the back, declared he was a capital fellow, and it was only a bit of a spree like, which he hoped had not given any offence.
Paul, still clenching23 his fist, was about to answer in no pacific mood, when a turnkey, who did not care in the least how many men he locked up for an offence, but who did not at all like the trouble of looking after any one of his flock to see that the offence was not committed, now suddenly appeared among the set; and after scolding them for the excessive plague they were to him, carried off two of the poorest of the mob to solitary24 confinement25. It happened, of course, that these two had not taken the smallest share in the disturbance26. This scene over, the company returned to picking oakum; the tread-mill, that admirably just invention by which a strong man suffers no fatigue27 and a weak one loses his health for life, not having been then introduced into our excellent establishments for correcting crime. Bitterly and with many dark and wrathful feelings, in which the sense of injustice28 at punishment alone bore him up against the humiliations to which he was subjected — bitterly and with a swelling29 heart, in which the thoughts that lead to crime were already forcing their way through a soil suddenly warmed for their growth, did Paul bend over his employment. He felt himself touched on the arm; he turned, and saw that the gentleman who had so kindly30 delivered him from his tormentors was now sitting next to him. Paul gazed long and earnestly upon his neighbour, struggling with the thought that he had beheld31 that sagacious countenance32 in happier times, although now, alas33! it was altered not only by time and vicissitudes34 but by that air of gravity which the cares of manhood spread gradually over the face of the most thoughtless — until all doubt melted away, and he exclaimed —
“Is that you, Mr. Tomlinson? How glad I am to see you here!”
“And I,” returned the quondam murderer for the newspapers, with a nasal twang, “should be very glad to see myself anywhere else.”
Paul made no answer; and Augustus continued —
“‘To a wise man all places are the same,’— so it has been said. I don’t believe it, Paul — I don’t believe it. But a truce35 to reflection! I remembered you the moment I saw you, though you are surprisingly grown. How is my friend MacGrawler? — still hard at work for ‘The Asinaeum’?”
“I believe so,” said Paul, sullenly36, and hastening to change the conversation; “but tell me, Mr. Tomlinson, how came you hither? I heard you had gone down to the North of England to fulfil a lucrative37 employment.”
“Possibly! The world always misrepresents the actions of those who are constantly before it.”
“It is very true,” said Paul; “and I have said the same thing myself a hundred times in ‘The Asinaeum,’ for we were never too lavish38 of our truths in that magnificent journal. ‘T is astonishing what a way we made three ideas go.”
“You remind me of myself and my newspaper labours,” rejoined Augustus Tomlinson. “I am not quite sure that I had so many as three ideas to spare; for, as you say, it is astonishing how far that number may go, properly managed. It is with writers as with strolling players — the same three ideas that did for Turks in one scene do for Highlanders in the next; but you must tell me your history one of these days, and you shall hear mine.”
“I should be excessively obliged to you for your confidence,” said Paul, “and I doubt not but your life must be excessively entertaining. Mine, as yet, has been but insipid39. The lives of literary men are not fraught40 with adventure; and I question whether every writer in ‘The Asinaeum’ has not led pretty nearly the same existence as that which I have sustained myself.”
In conversation of this sort our newly restored friends passed the remainder of the day, until the hour of half-past four, when the prisoners are to suppose night has begun, and be locked up in their bedrooms. Tomlinson then, who was glad to re-find a person who had known him in his beaux jours, spoke41 privately42 to the turnkey; and the result of the conversation was the coupling Paul and Augustus in the same chamber43, which was a sort of stone box, that generally accommodated three, and was — for we have measured it, as we would have measured the cell of the prisoner of Chillon — just eight feet by six.
We do not intend, reader, to indicate, by broad colours and in long detail, the moral deterioration44 of our hero; because we have found, by experience, that such pains on our part do little more than make thee blame our stupidity instead of lauding45 our intention. We shall therefore only work out our moral by subtle hints and brief comments; and we shall now content ourselves with reminding thee that hitherto thou hast seen Paul honest in the teeth of circumstances. Despite the contagion46 of the Mug, despite his associates in Fish Lane, despite his intimacy47 with Long Ned, thou hast seen him brave temptation, and look forward to some other career than that of robbery or fraud. Nay48, even in his destitution49, when driven from the abode50 of his childhood, thou hast observed how, instead of resorting to some more pleasurable or libertine51 road of life, he betook himself at once to the dull roof and insipid employments of MacGrawler, and preferred honestly earning his subsistence by the sweat of his brain to recurring52 to any of the numerous ways of living on others with which his experience among the worst part of society must have teemed53, and which, to say the least of them, are more alluring54 to the young and the adventurous55 than the barren paths of literary labour. Indeed, to let thee into a secret, it had been Paul’s daring ambition to raise himself into a worthy56 member of the community. His present circumstances, it may hereafter be seen, made the cause of a great change in his desires; and the conversation he held that night with the ingenious and skilful57 Augustus went more towards fitting him for the hero of this work than all the habits of his childhood or the scenes of his earlier youth. Young people are apt, erroneously, to believe that it is a bad thing to be exceedingly wicked. The House of Correction is so called, because it is a place where so ridiculous a notion is invariably corrected. The next day Paul was surprised by a visit from Mrs. Lobkins, who had heard of his situation and its causes from the friendly Dummie, and who had managed to obtain from Justice Burnflat an order of admission. They met, Pyramus and Thisbe like, with a wall, or rather an iron gate, between them; and Mrs. Lobkins, after an ejaculation of despair at the obstacle, burst weepingly into the pathetic reproach —
“O Paul, thou hast brought thy pigs to a fine market!”
“‘T is a market proper for pigs, dear dame58,” said Paul, who, though with a tear in his eye, did not refuse a joke as bitter as it was inelegant; “for, of all others, it is the spot where a man learns to take care of his bacon.”
“Hold your tongue!” cried the dame, angrily. “What business has you to gabble on so while you are in limbo59?”
“Ah, dear dame,” said Paul, “we can’t help these rubs and stumbles on our road to preferment!”
“Road to the scragging-post!” cried the dame. “I tells you, child, you’ll live to be hanged in spite of all my care and ‘tention to you, though I hedicated you as a scholard, and always hoped as how you would grow up to be an honour to your —”
“King and country,” interrupted Paul. “We always say, honour to king and country, which means getting rich and paying taxes. ‘The more taxes a man pays, the greater honour he is to both,’ as Augustus says. Well, dear dame, all in good time.”
“What! you is merry, is you? Why does not you weep? Your heart is as hard as a brickbat. It looks quite unnatural60 and hyena-like to be so devil-me-careish!” So saying, the good dame’s tears gushed61 forth62 with the bitterness of a despairing Parisina.
“Nay, nay,” said Paul, who, though he suffered far more intensely, bore the suffering far more easily than his patroness, “we cannot mend the matter by crying. Suppose you see what can be done for me. I dare say you may manage to soften63 the justice’s sentence by a little ‘oil of palms;’ and if you can get me out before I am quite corrupted64 — a day or two longer in this infernal place will do the business — I promise you that I will not only live honestly myself, but with people who live in the same manner.”
“Buss me, Paul,” said the tender Mrs. Lobkins, “buss me — Oh! but I forgits the gate. I’ll see what can be done. And here, my lad, here’s summat for you in the mean while — a drop o’ the cretur, to preach comfort to your poor stomach. Hush65! smuggle66 it through, or they’ll see you.”
Here the dame endeavoured to push a stone bottle through the bars of the gate; but, alas! though the neck passed through, the body refused, and the dame was forced to retract67 the “cretur.” Upon this, the kind-hearted woman renewed her sobbings; and so absorbed was she in her grief that seemingly quite forgetting for what purpose she had brought the bottle, she applied68 it to her own mouth, and consoled herself with that elixir69 vitae which she had originally designed for Paul.
This somewhat restored her; and after a most affecting scene the dame reeled off with the vacillating steps natural to woe70, promising71, as she went, that if love or money could shorten Paul’s confinement, neither should be wanting. We are rather at a loss to conjecture72 the exact influence which the former of these arguments, urged by the lovely Margaret, might have had upon Justice Burnflat.
When the good dame had departed, Paul hastened to repick his oakum and rejoin his friend. He found the worthy Augustus privately selling little elegant luxuries, such as tobacco, gin, and rations73 of daintier viands74 than the prison allowed; for Augustus, having more money than the rest of his companions, managed, through the friendship of the turnkey, to purchase secretly, and to resell at about four hundred per cent, such comforts as the prisoners especially coveted75.
[A very common practice at the Bridewell. The Governor at the Coldbath–Fields, apparently76 a very intelligent and active man, every way fitted for a most arduous77 undertaking78, informed us, in the only conversation we have had the honour to hold with him, that he thought he had nearly or quite destroyed in his jurisdiction79 this illegal method of commerce.]
“A proof,” said Augustus, dryly, to Paul, “that by prudence80 and exertion81 even in those places where a man cannot turn himself he may manage to turn a penny.”
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1
offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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entree
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| n.入场权，进入权 | |
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ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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compendious
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| adj.简要的，精简的 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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detrimental
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| adj.损害的，造成伤害的 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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interrogator
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| n.讯问者；审问者；质问者；询问器 | |
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ramp
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| n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速 | |
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cuffed
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| v.掌打，拳打( cuff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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gage
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| n.标准尺寸，规格；量规，量表 [=gauge] | |
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initiatory
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| adj.开始的；创始的；入会的；入社的 | |
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technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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rogues
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| 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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21
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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clenching
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的现在分词 ) | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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lucrative
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| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
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lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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insipid
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| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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fraught
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| adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的 | |
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41
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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42
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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43
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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44
deterioration
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| n.退化；恶化；变坏 | |
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45
lauding
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| v.称赞，赞美( laud的现在分词 ) | |
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46
contagion
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| n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延 | |
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47
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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48
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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49
destitution
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| n.穷困，缺乏，贫穷 | |
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50
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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51
libertine
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| n.淫荡者；adj.放荡的，自由思想的 | |
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52
recurring
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| adj.往复的，再次发生的 | |
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53
teemed
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| v.充满( teem的过去式和过去分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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54
alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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55
adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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56
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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57
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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58
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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limbo
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| n.地狱的边缘；监狱 | |
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unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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61
gushed
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| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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62
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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63
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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64
corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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65
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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66
smuggle
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| vt.私运；vi.走私 | |
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67
retract
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| vt.缩回，撤回收回，取消 | |
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68
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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elixir
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| n.长生不老药，万能药 | |
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70
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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71
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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72
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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73
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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74
viands
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| n.食品，食物 | |
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75
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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76
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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77
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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78
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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80
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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81
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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