It
was
the
best
of
times
,
it
was
the
worst
of
times
,
it
was
the
age
of
wisdom
,
it
was
the
age
of
foolishness
,
it
was
the
epoch
of
belief
,
it
was
the
epoch
of
incredulity
,
it
was
the
season
of
Light
,
it
was
the
season
of
Darkness
,
it
was
the
spring
of
hope
,
it
was
the
winter
of
despair
,
we
had
everything
before
us
,
we
had
nothing
before
us
,
we
were
all
going
direct
to
Heaven
,
we
were
all
going
direct
the
other
way--in
short
,
the
period
was
so
far
like
the
present
period
,
that
some
of
its
noisiest
authorities
insisted
on
its
being
received
,
for
good
or
for
evil
,
in
the
superlative
degree
of
comparison
only
.
There
were
a
king
with
a
large
jaw
and
a
queen
with
a
plain
face
,
on
the
throne
of
England
;
there
were
a
king
with
a
large
jaw
and
a
queen
with
a
fair
face
,
on
the
throne
of
France
.
In
both
countries
it
was
clearer
than
crystal
to
the
lords
of
the
State
preserves
of
loaves
and
fishes
,
that
things
in
general
were
settled
for
ever
.
It
was
the
year
of
Our
Lord
one
thousand
seven
hundred
and
seventy-five
.
Spiritual
revelations
were
conceded
to
England
at
that
favoured
period
,
as
at
this
.
Mrs
.
Southcott
had
recently
attained
her
five-and-twentieth
blessed
birthday
,
of
whom
a
prophetic
private
in
the
Life
Guards
had
heralded
the
sublime
appearance
by
announcing
that
arrangements
were
made
for
the
swallowing
up
of
London
and
Westminster
.
Even
the
Cock-lane
ghost
had
been
laid
only
a
round
dozen
of
years
,
after
rapping
out
its
messages
,
as
the
spirits
of
this
very
year
last
past
(
supernaturally
deficient
in
originality
)
rapped
out
theirs
.
Mere
messages
in
the
earthly
order
of
events
had
lately
come
to
the
English
Crown
and
People
,
from
a
congress
of
British
subjects
in
America
:
which
,
strange
to
relate
,
have
proved
more
important
to
the
human
race
than
any
communications
yet
received
through
any
of
the
chickens
of
the
Cock-lane
brood
.
France
,
less
favoured
on
the
whole
as
to
matters
spiritual
than
her
sister
of
the
shield
and
trident
,
rolled
with
exceeding
smoothness
down
hill
,
making
paper
money
and
spending
it
.
Under
the
guidance
of
her
Christian
pastors
,
she
entertained
herself
,
besides
,
with
such
humane
achievements
as
sentencing
a
youth
to
have
his
hands
cut
off
,
his
tongue
torn
out
with
pincers
,
and
his
body
burned
alive
,
because
he
had
not
kneeled
down
in
the
rain
to
do
honour
to
a
dirty
procession
of
monks
which
passed
within
his
view
,
at
a
distance
of
some
fifty
or
sixty
yards
.
It
is
likely
enough
that
,
rooted
in
the
woods
of
France
and
Norway
,
there
were
growing
trees
,
when
that
sufferer
was
put
to
death
,
already
marked
by
the
Woodman
,
Fate
,
to
come
down
and
be
sawn
into
boards
,
to
make
a
certain
movable
framework
with
a
sack
and
a
knife
in
it
,
terrible
in
history
.
It
is
likely
enough
that
in
the
rough
outhouses
of
some
tillers
of
the
heavy
lands
adjacent
to
Paris
,
there
were
sheltered
from
the
weather
that
very
day
,
rude
carts
,
bespattered
with
rustic
mire
,
snuffed
about
by
pigs
,
and
roosted
in
by
poultry
,
which
the
Farmer
,
Death
,
had
already
set
apart
to
be
his
tumbrils
of
the
Revolution
.
But
that
Woodman
and
that
Farmer
,
though
they
work
unceasingly
,
work
silently
,
and
no
one
heard
them
as
they
went
about
with
muffled
tread
:
the
rather
,
forasmuch
as
to
entertain
any
suspicion
that
they
were
awake
,
was
to
be
atheistical
and
traitorous
.
In
England
,
there
was
scarcely
an
amount
of
order
and
protection
to
justify
much
national
boasting
.
Daring
burglaries
by
armed
men
,
and
highway
robberies
,
took
place
in
the
capital
itself
every
night
;
families
were
publicly
cautioned
not
to
go
out
of
town
without
removing
their
furniture
to
upholsterers
'
warehouses
for
security
;
the
highwayman
in
the
dark
was
a
City
tradesman
in
the
light
,
and
,
being
recognised
and
challenged
by
his
fellow
-
tradesman
whom
he
stopped
in
his
character
of
"
the
Captain
,
"
gallantly
shot
him
through
the
head
and
rode
away
;
the
mail
was
waylaid
by
seven
robbers
,
and
the
guard
shot
three
dead
,
and
then
got
shot
dead
himself
by
the
other
four
,
"
in
consequence
of
the
failure
of
his
ammunition
:
"
after
which
the
mail
was
robbed
in
peace
;
that
magnificent
potentate
,
the
Lord
Mayor
of
London
,
was
made
to
stand
and
deliver
on
Turnham
Green
,
by
one
highwayman
,
who
despoiled
the
illustrious
creature
in
sight
of
all
his
retinue
;
prisoners
in
London
gaols
fought
battles
with
their
turnkeys
,
and
the
majesty
of
the
law
fired
blunderbusses
in
among
them
,
loaded
with
rounds
of
shot
and
ball
;
thieves
snipped
off
diamond
crosses
from
the
necks
of
noble
lords
at
Court
drawing-rooms
;
musketeers
went
into
St
.
Giles's
,
to
search
for
contraband
goods
,
and
the
mob
fired
on
the
musketeers
,
and
the
musketeers
fired
on
the
mob
,
and
nobody
thought
any
of
these
occurrences
much
out
of
the
common
way
.
In
the
midst
of
them
,
the
hangman
,
ever
busy
and
ever
worse
than
useless
,
was
in
constant
requisition
;
now
,
stringing
up
long
rows
of
miscellaneous
criminals
;
now
,
hanging
a
housebreaker
on
Saturday
who
had
been
taken
on
Tuesday
;
now
,
burning
people
in
the
hand
at
Newgate
by
the
dozen
,
and
now
burning
pamphlets
at
the
door
of
Westminster
Hall
;
to-day
,
taking
the
life
of
an
atrocious
murderer
,
and
to-morrow
of
a
wretched
pilferer
who
had
robbed
a
farmer
's
boy
of
sixpence
.
All
these
things
,
and
a
thousand
like
them
,
came
to
pass
in
and
close
upon
the
dear
old
year
one
thousand
seven
hundred
and
seventy-five
.
Environed
by
them
,
while
the
Woodman
and
the
Farmer
worked
unheeded
,
those
two
of
the
large
jaws
,
and
those
other
two
of
the
plain
and
the
fair
faces
,
trod
with
stir
enough
,
and
carried
their
divine
rights
with
a
high
hand
.
Thus
did
the
year
one
thousand
seven
hundred
and
seventy-five
conduct
their
Greatnesses
,
and
myriads
of
small
creatures--the
creatures
of
this
chronicle
among
the
rest--along
the
roads
that
lay
before
them
.