Sweeney Todd
By Anonymous
()
About this ebook
What a scampering of feet is there, what a laughing and talking, what a jostling to be first; and what an immense number of manoeuvres are resorted to by some of the strong to distance others!
And mostly from Lincoln's Inn come these persons, young and old, but most certainly a majority of the former, although from neighbouring legal establishments likewise there came not a few; the Temple contributes its numbers, and from the more distant Gray's Inn came a goodly lot.
Is it a fire? is it a fight? or anything else sufficiently alarming or extraordinary, to excite the junior members of the legal profession to such a species of madness? No, it is none of these, nor is there a fat cause to be run for, which in the hands of some clever practitioner might become a vested interest. No, the enjoyment is purely one of a physical character, and all the pacing and racing--all this turmoil and trouble--all this pushing, jostling, laughing, and shouting, is to see who will get first at Mrs. Lovett's pie shop.
Read more from Anonymous
Forbidden Fruit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sleeping Beauty Picture Book: [Illustrated Edition] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete: With Annotations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhite Magic Spells Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Epic of Gilgamesh Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Invisible Parent: The Dark Art of Parental Alienation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Power of Mesmerism A Highly Erotic Narrative of Voluptuous Facts and Fancies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLaura Middleton: Her Brother and her Lover Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Secret Life, Volumes I to III Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Romance of Lust: A Classic Victorian Erotic Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHypnotism Spells Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTales Of Humour, Gallantry and Romance: New from the Italian Tales (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ladies Delight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, 1914-1915 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spring-Heeled Jack: The Terror Of London Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForbidden Fruit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Power of Mesmerism - A Highly Erotic Narrative of Voluptuous Facts and Fancies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Song of Roland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Circles: [Tales and Legends of Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites and Hobgoblins] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secret Tour Caddy: A Year in the Life of a Professional Caddy on the European and PGA Golf Tours Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of a Strange Career Being the Autobiography of a Convict; an Authentic Document Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Children's Book of Thanksgiving Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBoyhood of Jesus: Illustrated Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe love letters of Abelard and Heloise Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeowulf Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarry's Ladder to Learning: "[With Two Hundred Thirty Illustrations" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Sweeney Todd
Related ebooks
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFIVE CHILDREN AND IT - a Children's Adventure Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Loot of Cities: Detective Mysteries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBarnaby Rudge (Illustrated Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlice's Adventures in Wonderland: Including "Alice Through the Looking-Glass Alice in Wonderland" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe String of Pearls: Tale of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMen's Wives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRichard Carvel (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Servant of the Public Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Servant of the Public (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Trip to Scarborough; and, The Critic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Conquest of Canaan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFanny's First Play Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFanny's First Play Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe O'Ruddy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rock Ahead Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Barber of Paris Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShadow Mountain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove's bitterest cup Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLast Essays of Maurice Hewlett Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSinclair Lewis – The Major Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe O’Ruddy: A Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSweethearts at Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIdonia: A Romance of Old London Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Flight of Georgiana: A Story of Love and Peril in England in 1746 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHesba Stretton – The Complete Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStories of Authors, British and American Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwelfth Night Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Classics For You
The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5East of Eden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Farm: A Fairy Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sun Also Rises: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn French! Apprends l'Anglais! THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: In French and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilgamesh: A New English Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count of Monte Cristo (abridged) (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master and Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lathe Of Heaven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights (with an Introduction by Mary Augusta Ward) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The New Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sense and Sensibility (Centaur Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Titus Groan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Sweeney Todd
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Sweeney Todd - Anonymous
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
Copyright
Sweeney Todd
Anonymous
CHAPTER I.
HARK! twelve o'clock is proclaimed by old St. Dunstan's church, and scarcely have the sounds done echoing throughout the neighbourhood, and scarce has the clock of Lincoln's Inn done chiming in its announcement of the same hour when Bell-yard, Temple Bar, becomes a scene of commotion.
What a scampering of feet is there, what a laughing and talking, what a jostling to be first; and what an immense number of manoeuvres are resorted to by some of the strong to distance others!
And mostly from Lincoln's Inn come these persons, young and old, but most certainly a majority of the former, although from neighbouring legal establishments likewise there came not a few; the Temple contributes its numbers, and from the more distant Gray's Inn came a goodly lot.
Is it a fire? is it a fight? or anything else sufficiently alarming or extraordinary, to excite the junior members of the legal profession to such a species of madness? No, it is none of these, nor is there a fat cause to be run for, which in the hands of some clever practitioner might become a vested interest. No, the enjoyment is purely one of a physical character, and all the pacing and racing--all this turmoil and trouble--all this pushing, jostling, laughing, and shouting, is to see who will get first at Mrs. Lovett's pie shop.
Yes, on the left hand side of Bell-yard, going down from Carey-street was, at the time we write of, one of the most celebrated shops for the sale of veal and pork pies that ever London produced. High and low, rich and poor, resorted to it; its fame had spread far and wide; it was because the first batch of these pies came up at twelve o'clock that there was such a rush of the legal profession to obtain them.
Their fame had spread to great distances. Oh--those delicious pies! there was about them a flavour never surpassed, and rarely equalled; the paste was of the most delicate construction, and impregnated with the aroma of a delicious gravy that defies description; the fat and the lean so artistically mixed up.
The counter in Lovett's shop was in the shape of a horse shoe, and it was the custom of the young bloods from the Temple and Lincoln's Inn to sit in a row at its edge, while, they partook of the pies, and chatted gaily about one thing and another.
There was a Mistress Lovett; but possibly our reader guessed as much, for what but a female hand, and that female buxom, young, and good-looking, could have ventured upon the production of those pies. Yes, Mrs. Lovett was all that; and every enamoured young scion of the law, as he devoured his pie, pleased himself with the idea that the charming Miss Lovett had made that pie especially for him, and that fate or predestination had placed it in his hands.
And it was astonishing to see with what impartiality and with what tact the fair pastrycook bestowed her smiles upon her admirers, so that none could say he was neglected, while it was extremely difficult for any one to say he was preferred.
This was pleasant, but at the same time it was provoking to all except Mrs. Lovett, in whose favour it got up a kind of excitement that paid extraordinarily well, because some of the young fellows thought that he who consumed the most pies, would be in the most likely, way to receive the greatest number of smiles from the lady.
Acting upon this supposition, some of her more enthusiastic admirers, went on consuming the pies until they were almost ready to burst. But there were others again, of a more philosophic turn of mind, who went for the pies only, and did not care one jot for Mrs. Lovett.
These declare that her smile was cold and uncomfortable--that it was upon her lips, but had no place in her heart--that it was the set smile of a ballet-dancer, which is about one of the most unmirthful things in existence.
Then there were some who went even beyond this, and while they admitted the excellence of the pies, and went every day to partake of them, swore that Mrs. Lovett had quite a sinister aspect, and that they could see what a merely superficial affair her blandishments were, and that there was A lurking devil in her eye,
that, if once roused, would be capable of achieving some serious things, and might not be so easily quelled again.
By five minutes past twelve Mrs. Lovett's counter was full, and the savoury steam of the hot pies went out in fragrant clouds into Bellyard, being sniffed up by many a poor wretch passing by.
Why, Tobias Ragg,
said a young man, with his mouth full of pie, where have you been since you left Mr. Show's in Paper-buildings? I haven't seen you for some days.
No,
--said Tobias, I have gone into another line; instead of being a lawyer and helping to shave the clients I am going to shave the lawyers. A penny pork, if you please, Mrs. Lovett. Ah! who would go without who could get pies like these?--eh, Master Clift?
Well, they are good; of course we know that, Tobias. So you are going to be a barber?
Yes, I am with Sweeney Todd, the barber of Fleet-street, opposite St. Dunstan's.
The deuce you are! Well, I am going to a party tonight. I must be dressed and shaved. I'll patronise your master.
Tobias put his mouth close to the ear of the young lawyer and whispered the one word---Don't.
Tobias placed his fingers to his lips and left, and was about to enter his master's shop when he thought he heard from within a strange, shrieking sort of sound. On the impulse of the moment he recoiled a step or two and then, from some other impulse, he dashed forward at once, and entered the shop.
The first object that presented itself to his attention, lying upon a side table, was a hat with a handsome gold-headed walking-cane lying across it.
The arm-chair in which customers usually sat to be shaved was vacant, and Sweeney Todd's face was just projected into the shop from the back Parlour, and wearing a most singular and hideous expression.
Well, Tobias,
he said as he advanced, rubbing his great hands together, well, Tobias! so you could not resist the pie-shop?
How does he know?
thought Tobias. Yes, sir, I have been to the pie-shop, but I didn't stay a minute.
Hark ye, Tobias! theonly thing I can excuse in the way of delay upon an errand is for you to get one of Mrs. Lovett's pies; that I look over, so think no more about it. Are they not delicious, Tobias?
Yes, sir, they are; but some gentleman seems to have left his hat and stick.
Yes,
said Sweeney Todd, he has;
and lifting the stick he struck Tobias a blow with it that felled him to the ground. Lesson the second to Tobias Ragg, which teaches him to make no remarks about what does not concern him. You may think what you like, Tobias Ragg, but you shall say only what I like.
I won't endure it,
cried the boy; I won't be knocked about in this way, I tell you, Sweeney Todd, I won't.
You won't? Have you forgotten your mother?
"You say you have power over my mother; but I don't know what it is, and I cannot and will not believe