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the Time of Queen Elizabeth, who died from pricking her finger in
consequence of working upon a Sunday. Observe the blood which is
trickling from her finger; also the gold-eyed needle of the period, with
which she is at work.'
All this, Nell repeated twice or thrice: pointing to the finger and the
needle at the right times: and then passed on to the next.
'
That, ladies and gentlemen,' said Mrs Jarley, 'is jasper Packlemerton
of atrocious memory, who courted and married fourteen wives, and
destroyed them all, by tickling the soles of their feet when they were
sleeping in the consciousness of innocence and virtue. On being
brought to the scaffold and asked if he was sorry for what he had
done, he replied yes, he was sorry for having let 'em off so easy, and
hoped all Christian husbands would pardon him the offence. Let this
be a warning to all young ladies to be particular in the character of
the gentlemen of their choice. Observe that his fingers are curled as if
in the act of tickling, and that his face is represented with a wink, as
he appeared when committing his barbarous murders.'
When Nell knew all about Mr Packlemerton, and could say it without
faltering, Mrs Jarley passed on to the fat man, and then to the thin
man, the tall man, the short man, the old lady who died of dancing at
a hundred and thirty-two, the wild boy of the woods, the woman who
poisoned fourteen families with pickled walnuts, and other historical
characters and interesting but misguided individuals. And so well did
Nell profit by her instructions, and so apt was she to remember them,
that by the time they had been shut up together for a couple of hours,
she was in full possession of the history of the whole establishment,
and perfectly competent to the enlightenment of visitors.
Mrs Jarley was not slow to express her admiration at this happy
result, and carried her young friend and pupil to inspect the
remaining arrangements within doors, by virtue of which the passage
had been already converted into a grove of green-baize hung with the
inscription she had already seen (Mr Slum's productions), and a
highly ornamented table placed at the upper end for Mrs Jarley
herself, at which she was to preside and take the money, in company
with his Majesty King George the Third, Mr Grimaldi as clown, Mary
Queen of Scots, an anonymous gentleman of the Quaker persuasion,
and Mr Pitt holding in his hand a correct model of the bill for the
imposition of the window duty. The preparations without doors had
not been neglected either; a nun of great personal attractions was
telling her beads on the little portico over the door; and a brigand with
the blackest possible head of hair, and the clearest possible
complexion, was at that moment going round the town in a cart,
consulting the miniature of a lady.
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