The Prima Donna Classic Reprint

Author : William Gilmore Simms
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781330699645
Total Pages : 30 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (996 download)

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Download or read book The Prima Donna written by William Gilmore Simms and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-07-04 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Prima Donna: A Passage From City Life I saw the outgoings and incomings of their motley population, and acquired, after a moderate period, a certain degree of interest, in some few of the several inhabitants. There was one old woman, a sturdy Meg Merrilies sort of body, who carried out, empty, a sack some five feet in length, which I am sure she always brought home full. What she brought, and what use she made of the commodity, I never troubled myself to inquire or even to conjecture. The simple appearance of the old dame at her departure and return, was enough for my curiosity. In going forth, her tongue sounded an alarum to the whole neighbourhood, which sufficiently apprised it of that important event. Very different was the manner of her return. She entered without beat of drum. Her tongue was most singularly silent, and the fierce, consequential air with which she sallied forth, was exchanged for that of the most quiet, meek and cautious of all humble adventurers. She was not my only acquaintance among the inhabitants of this motley settlement. There was a great, hulking, heavily built person most like a sailor in appearance, but one, evidently too well fed to relish a frequent journey to the cross-trees, who also secured some portion of my daily consideration. He, too, presented himself under different aspects, at his diurnal periods of egress and return. In the first case, he went forth, feeble, tottering, slightly lamed, and, I think, irrecoverably blind; - a decided improvement, however, always followed his morning visit to the city. He evidently met with Brandreth, the pill dealer, and Williams, the oculist, by the way. His eye-sight left him in no doubt about his "homeward bound" course; and his legs were then better able to pursue it. This was the more remarkable, as, at such periods, his arms were usually filled with stuffs, clothes, food and fragments of one description or another, in such quantity and weight as might have given a more vigorous person reason to stagger beneath the burden. He evidently pursued his craft with a success which convinced me that he might have arrived, in other days, at a post of high command even in Alsatia. There were other persons in this community, who, in their places and periods, also provoked, though in a far less degree, my observation and inquiry; and it would not, perhaps, be a very difficult matter, were I so minded, to awaken a similar interest in most of my readers in behalf of one or more individuals of its population, quite as mysterious as that of the "Stout Gentleman," of one of our most graceful writers, whom all are pleased to honour. Certainly, there were physical allotments among my friends of the 'rookery, ' which, alone, were sufficient to impress the spectator with heedful deference. Brawny arms of Hibernian vigour brandished the broom, and flourished in the suds. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.