[The Resurrection Man pretends to be a ghost] — illustration for G. W. M. Reynolds’s “The Mysteries of London” by G. Stiff

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The Resurrection Man pretending to be a ghost

The Resurrection Man pretends to be a ghost

G. Stiff

1846

Wood engraving

Source: The Project Gutenberg version of G. W. M. Reynolds’s The Mysteries of London

This plate, which like the others in the book, has no caption, and appears in Chapter 244, “The History of a Gamester” but illustrates a passage in Chapter 245.

Click on image to enlarge it and see see passage illustrated below.

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Passage illustrated

"My dear aunt," said Egerton, in reply to the observation which his relative had addressed to him, "I am not so silly as to be frightened by tales of ghosts and spirits; and I would as soon sleep in this room as in any other throughout the mansion."

"No, you wouldn't, young man—no, indeed, you wouldn't!" exclaimed the gardener, in so earnest and impressive a manner that the young ladies huddled together like terrified lambs, and even the gentlemen now began to listen to the old man with more attention than they had hitherto shown: "I say, sir, that you would not like to sleep in this room—for, as sure as there is a God above us, have me and my wife seen the sperret of Gilbert Vernon standing at dusk in that very balcony which he throwed his-self from." . . .

"And what was he like?" asked Mrs. Bustard.

"Why, ma'am," returned the gardener, "he was dressed all in deep black; but his face were as pale as a corpse's; and when the moonbeams fell on it, me and my wife could see that it was the face of a dead man as well as I can see e'er a one of you at this present speaking." [Chapter 245, “The Excursion”]

Bibliography

Reynolds, George W. M. The Mysteries of London. vol 2. London: George Vickers, 1846. Project Gutenberg EBook #51294. Produced by Richard Tonsing, Chuck Greif, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. Web. 3 October 2016.

Last modified 5 October 2016