been
music in Jonathan's ears, so much pains did he take to subject himself
to such sounds. The scanty furniture of the rooms corresponded with
their dungeon-like aspect. The walls were bare, and painted in
stone-colour; the floors, devoid of carpet; the beds, of hangings; the
windows, of blinds; and, excepting in the thief-taker's own
audience-chamber, there was not a chair or a table about the premises;
the place of these conveniences being elsewhere supplied by benches, and
deal-boards laid across joint-stools. Great stone staircases leading no
one knew whither, and long gloomy passages, impressed the occasional
visitor with the idea that he was traversing a building of vast extent;
and, though this was not the case in reality, the deception was so
cleverly contrived that it seldom failed of producing the intended
effect. Scarcely any one entered Mr. Wild's dwelling without
apprehension, or quitted it without satisfaction. More strange stories
were told of it than of any other house in London. The garrets were said
to be tenanted by coiners, and artists employed in altering watches and
jewelry; the cellars to be used as a magazine for stolen goods. By some
it was affirmed that a subterranean communication existed between the
thief-taker's abode and Newgate, by means of which he was enabled to
maintain a secret correspondence with the imprisoned felons: by others,
that an under-ground passage led to extensive vaults, where such
malefactors as he chose to screen from justice might lie concealed till
the danger was blown over. Nothing, in short, was too extravagant to be
related of it; and Jonathan, who delighted in investing himself and his
residence with mystery, encouraged, and perhaps originated, these
marvellous tales. However this may be, such was the ill report of the
place that few passed along the Old Bailey without bestowing a glance of
fearful curiosity at its dingy walls, and wondering what was going on
inside them; while fewer still, of those who paused at the door, read,
without some internal trepidation, the formidable name--inscribed in
large letters on its bright brass-plate--of JONATHAN WILD.

Arrived at his habitation, Jonathan knocked in a peculiar manner at the
door, which was instantly opened by the grim-visaged porter just alluded
to. No sooner had Trenchard crossed the threshold than a fierce barking
was heard at the farther extremity of the passage, and, the next moment,
a couple of mastiffs of