“ . . . Privately,
after a while, Tom organised a royal court!
He was the prince; his special comrades were guards, chamberlains,
equerries, lords and ladies in waiting, and the royal family. Daily the mock prince was received with
elaborate ceremonials borrowed by Tom from his romantic readings; daily the
great affairs of the mimic kingdom were discussed in the royal council, and
daily his mimic highness issued decrees to his imaginary armies, navies, and
viceroyalties.
After which, he
would go forth in his rags and beg a few farthings, eat his poor crust, take
his customary cuffs and abuse, and then stretch himself upon his handful of
foul straw, and resume his empty grandeurs in his dreams.
And still his
desire to look just once upon a real prince, in the flesh, grew upon him, day
by day, and week by week, until at last it absorbed all other desires, and
became the one passion of his life.
One January day,
on his usual begging tour, he tramped despondently up and down the region round
about Mincing Lane and Little East Cheap,
hour after hour, bare-footed and cold, looking in at cook-shop windows and
longing for the dreadful pork-pies and other deadly inventions displayed
there—for to him these were dainties fit for the angels; that is, judging by
the smell, they were—for it had never been his good luck to own and eat one.
There was a cold drizzle of rain; the atmosphere was murky; it was a melancholy
day. At night Tom reached home so wet
and tired and hungry that it was not possible for his father and grandmother to
observe his forlorn condition and not be moved—after their fashion; wherefore
they gave him a brisk cuffing at once and sent him to bed. For a long time his pain and hunger, and the
swearing and fighting going on in the building, kept him awake; but at last his
thoughts drifted away to far, romantic lands, and he fell asleep in the company
of jewelled and gilded princelings who live in vast palaces, and had servants
salaaming before them or flying to execute their orders. And then, as usual, he dreamed that he was a
princeling himself.
All night long
the glories of his royal estate shone upon him; he moved among great lords and
ladies, in a blaze of light, breathing perfumes, drinking in delicious music,
and answering the reverent obeisances of the glittering throng as it parted to
make way for him, with here a smile, and there a nod of his princely head.
And when he
awoke in the morning and looked upon the wretchedness about him, his dream had
had its usual effect—it had intensified the sordidness of his surroundings a
thousandfold. Then came bitterness, and
heart-break, and tears. . . .”
Did these places
exist or do they still exist? Mincing Lane and Little East Cheap.
Apparently Mincing
Lane and Little East Cheap were commercial areas in London where Tom Canty
wandered and wished the dishes and offers the stores displayed to the passers-by
on their windows.
Does anyone want
to comment about these places? . . .
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