George Barnwell

“ George was affected, and Mental perceived the emotions he had caused. "Nay. nay," said he, "I meant not to sinuate that I am peculiarly wretched; it is the common lot, the destiny of man.— If the detail would not be thought tiresome, there are particulars in my own experience, that might perhaps, afford you a lessen. I have not for years talked of myself to others; but if you would like to listen to my tale, nor hold your time ill spent—"
"I should ill deserve so great a favour,' interrupted Barnwell, "if I could estimate its worth no better." ”

“ No sooner did he behold the dreadful effects of his crime, than he sunk, overpowered by the violence of his feelings. The shock, however, was temporary, and he recovered himself sufficiently to escape before any person appeared in sight: after having rested himself a little while, he called a coach, and in a short time was with Milwood.—From the moment of his departure on the dreadful errand, Milwood had been in a continual state of trepidation, both of body and mind. ”

“ Eliza imagined that she had just entered the haunted Aisle when a tomb that stood at the entrance, appeared to rock at her approach. It then became enveloped in an ascending vapour! the Abbey-ruins echoed the groans of one, as if in the agonies of death! and as the vapour dispersed there appeared, kneeling on a tomb a most beautiful female! Her eyes swelled with weeping her hair dishevelled, and blood trickling from her wounded breast, while her hands in vain attempted to remove a dagger whose point was buried in her bosom. ”

“ The burlesque of George Barnwell is the last of the poetical extracts that need be quoted from The Rejected Addresses. Those already given in this collection consist of the imitations of W. T. Fitzgerald, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Thomas Moore, Robert Southey, Walter Scott, M. G. Lewis, S. T. Coleridge and George Crabbe. Those not given consist of a few prose imitations (William Cobbett and Dr. Johnson) , and two or three parodies of second-rate and almost forgotten authors. ”

“ The rope ain’t twisted thet’ll swing George Barnwell. Why, boys, he’s as slippery as a Greaser horse-thief, and a derned sight luckier. Look at him over in Au- rora; didn’t he slip through there on an alibi? And not three days ago, in Mammoth City, he and that_other old thief, Fogle, put up a habeas corpus job, and he got clear as slick as oil, when they thought they had him dead in the door. Hang! No, sir. ‘Chaparral George’ knows a trick worth two of that, you bet. It’s two to one that he plays the Peterson game on you, and walks the streets of Montezuma a free man in twenty-four hours. ”

“ Indeed that lady is the most affected creature that ever I knew, she and Lady True-wit think no one can equal them; they have taken a fancy to set up the author of George Barnwell for a writer, though certainly he writes the worst language in the world: there is a little thing of his, called, The Fatal Curiosity, which, for my part, I know not what to make of; and they run about crying it up, as if Shakespeare himself might have wrote it. Certainly that fellow must be something very low, for his distresses always arise from poverty ”

“ George Barnwell in the ‘London Merchant.’ Lovewell in the ‘Clandestine Marriage,’ Moneses in ‘Tamerlane,’ King Edward in the ‘Earl of Warwick,’ Etan, Castalio in the ‘Orphan,’ Raymond in the ‘Countess of Warwick,’ Heartley in the ‘Guardian,’ Fainall in the ‘Way of the World,’ Orlando in ‘As you like it,’ Richard III (for his benefit) , Antonio in the ‘Merchant of Venice,’ Macduff to the Macbeth of Garrick, Edgar in ‘Lear,’ Theodosius in the piece so named were given during his first season ”

“ Eliza dropt her intention of visiting the Abbey alone; but unburthened her mind to her beloved brother.
"There is (said George) a singular concidence in your dream with the music you heard; we will take a ramble to the Abbey this evening and should there be in the old Aisle a tomb resembling that in your dream, I think we should relate the whole circumstance to Sir James. Murder (added the youth) is a crime beyond all other offensive to God; and if, in our drys, he display a miracle, I can conceive nothing more likely to occasion his interference than the detection of so foul a crime." ”

“ It is also collated with another copy in the Ashmole Collection at Oxford, which is thus intitled, "An excellent ballad of George Barnwell, an apprentice of London, who ... thrice robbed his master and murdered his uncle in Ludlow." The tune is The Merchant. ”

“ This, finally, was the answer he despatched:—
“Mr George Barnwell” (the name occurred to him somehow, without suggesting any associations) “presents his compliments to Mr Winsom Wyllie, and, having noticed that gentleman’s advertisement in the Daily Post, begs to offer himself as a candidate for the post in question. Mr G. B. thinks that he may lay claim to the qualifications desired. He has been well educated; he has seen something of life; he has learnt from his Montaigne that Silence and Modesty are qualities very serviceable in conversation. ”

“ Mental appeared less and less disgusting in the eyes of George, and George delighted old Mental, who expressed a wish that this might not be the last of their conversation. "You are an inmate of Sir James's, I presume," said he "For the present, replied Barnwell; but in a few weeks I shall quit this place for London." —— "London! (cried Mental) What takes you to that focus of corruption and folly?" —— "My uncle has most generously entered into a treaty with a merchant there, a share of whose concern is to become mine after the usual initiation." —— "A merchant! ”

“ Eliza grew impatient, at length she heard footsteps approaching!—She left her retreat, thinking to meet her brother when a form muffled in a long black cloak, and masked, met her at the entrance of the Aisle. She screamed !—In an instant George was at her elbow; but the cause of her alarm had vanished. "Surely I cannot be deceived, (said Barnwell,) it was a man; I saw him distinctly; a black cloak and mask were lying on the tomb, which you described from your dream ”

“ Spit the feathers from your mouth, and munch roast beef;
Iago he may go and be toss'd in the coverlid
That smother'd you, because you pawn'd my handkerchief. George Barnwell.
Why, neger, so eager about your rib immaculate?
Milwood shows for hanging us they've got an ugly knack o' late;
If on beauty 'stead of duty but one peeper bent he sees,
Satan waits with Dolly baits to hook in us apprentices. Omnes.
Round let us bound, for this is Punch's holiday,
Glory to Tomfoolery, huzza! huzza! Hamlet.
I'm Hamlet in camlet, my ap and perihelia
The moon can fix, which lunatics makes sharp or flat. ”

“ She left her bed and opening the casement she heard them more distinctly, and was convinced they came from the Abbey.———In a few moments all was silent, and she beheld a lighted torch borne along the ruins! but the night was too dark to discern the person that carried it. That music was not imaginary, she was convinced; but for what purpose any one would ramble among the mouldering tombs, she had yet to learn. In the morning, terrified by the events of the night. ”

“ Eliza, with a palpitating heart, accompanied her brother to the Abbey. They were at the entrance of the Aisle; Eliza trembled.———"Stay, (said George,) it is dark, and we are far from the house; I have little dread of ghosts, but it is not impossible that this retreat may be the rendezvous of beings less merciful, and more powerful than mere spectres.———Do you wait a moment behind this old column, and listen attentively: I will go on, should there be any danger, you will hear my cries; then run as fast as possible to the house and procure assistance." ”

“ Linmore, and he seemed to receive an equal satisfaction in ours. His paintings were the ornaments of our room, and the marks of his favour in our company. We passed a year in the utmost bliss I ever saw on earth.—In the course of this period, Mr Nutting died, and smitten with the injustice of possessing a fortune which Ellinor's conduct had bestowed on him, on his death bed made a Will, by which she regained her right, and we became completely independant. My little Elinor was now three years old, and my happiness appeared complete.— But clouds soon darkened the Sunshine of prosperity. ”

“ The grief of this aimiable family for their irreparable loss, is better felt than discribed. Sir James was the first to call the attention of his sister in law from the tomb, which held her affections, to the duties she owed herself, her children, aud society. "I am a lone man, (said the Knight) and with the blessing of Heaven, have acquired by my honest endeavours more riches than shall ever spend.———My brother, I know, accumulated in another way ”

“ The story, the original of which is to be found in the Percy Reliques, tells how George, an apprentice, robs his master and kills his uncle at the instigation of Millwood, an adventuress. Lamb's footnote (page 118) refers to the custom, which was of long endurance, of playing "George Barnwell" in the Christmas and Easter holidays as an object-lesson to apprentices.
Page 121, line 25. The Hills and the Murphys and the Browns. Dr. John Hill (1716?-1775) , the herbalist, controversialist, and miscellaneous writer, who quarrelled with Garrick. In The Reflector Lamb had written the Hooles. ”

“ But thy ingratitude tears my wounded soul, 'tis worse ten thousand times than death with torture!" 'I care not,' said Milwood: "I am willing to live, and live secure, which nothing but your death can warrant." The servant, with two officers, now entered the room. 'Sir,' said she to one of them, 'take this youth into your custody; I accuse him of murder, and will appear to make good my charge;' Barnwell was seized and hurried to prison. ”

“ Christmas arrived, and the liberality of his uncle and his master enabled Barnwell to make handsome presents to his mistress, which rendered her more loving and attentive than ever.
Soon after this Milwood proposed to give up the lodgings, and make her own house the scene of their future affection, as, she said much expence would be saved. She then continued to urge for more money, which the infatuated youth complied with; having received a considerable sum, which he should not have to account for for some time, he took two hundred pounds, to Milwood. ”

“ This error could only have escaped from Lessing in the keenness of his hostility to the French conventional tone. For in truth it is necessary to keep Lillo's honest views constantly in mind, to prevent us from finding George Barnwell as laughable as it is certainly trivial. Whoever possesses so little, or rather, no knowledge of men and of the world, ought not to set up for a public lecturer on morals. ”

“ Barnwell's uncle, mother, and the tender-hearted Eliza, to whom he eommunicated the melancholy tale, united in commiserating the sufferings of a man, whose life, almost from his infancy, had been marked with disappointment and sorrow.
In a few days George quitted his uncle's hospitable roof, which still remained the asylum of his mother and Eliza. Sir James had given his nephew three thousand pounds, and a further seven thousand was to be given at the expiration of the time for which he was articled, on condition of his being admitted into a share of the concern. ”

“ George asked the name of the owner? "Mr. Mental, the cynic whom you saw yesterday at my house. What do you start at, nephew?"———"Nothing Sir. (replied the youth, hesitating.) but Mr Mental is a strange man."———"Ah! God forgive him, (said Joseph,) if all that people say be true."———"God cannot forgive him, (rejoined the Chaplain) he is an Atheist." "He is undoubted a singular being, (said the Knight,) and people will talk, although nobody, it secms, knows who or what he is. But I have heard old men. who remember his first coming to reside here, whisper strange stories." ”

“ And chop and change ribs, à-la-mode Germanorum,
And high diddle ho diddle, pop tweedle dee. Case No. III.
GEORGE BARNWELL.
George Barnwell stood at the shop-door,
A customer hoping to find, sir;
His apron was hanging before,
But the tail of his coat was behind, sir. [74]
A lady, so painted and smart,
Cried, Sir, I've exhausted my stock o' late ”

“ Was she not faithless as fair? —— O. Physician! omnipotent Physician! —— Mental art thou turning Monk —— Can intercession prevail with the All-powerful more than his own benevolence?" —— Not a syllable uttered by this miserable man, was lost to George. Three hours passed away, during which Mental broke out in similar ejaculations or played on the harp As soon as a distant bell announced three he removed a large stone which lay at some distance from the tomb, a kind of grave appeared, in which he placed the harp lamp, and the stool; then masked himself, and left the Aisle. ”

“ Milwood exclaimed, "In this madness you will discover all, and involve me in your ruin." After pausing awhile, she said, "To preserve myself, I must hand him over to justice," and immediately called in a servant, requesting an officer to be brought to seize Barnwell; 'for,' said she, 'if I suffer the villain to escape, I may be thought as bad as he.' The servant having left the room, Barnwell begged Milwood to stop the messenger, exclaiming: "'Tis fit I die, indeed, but not by you.—I will this instant throw myself into the hands of justice; for death is all I wish. ”

“ The rogue of a Millwood has come back every day to the grocer's shop in Chepe, wanting some sugar, or some nutmeg, or some figs, half a dozen times in the week.
She and George de Barnwell have vowed to each other an eternal attachment.
This flame acts violently upon George. His bosom swells with ambition. His genius breaks out prodigiously. ”