De cipier (turnkey) mr.Roker brengt mr.Pickwick naar diens slaapplaats. Hiervoor
werd reeds vermeld, dat de beschrijving van de galerijen overeenstemt met de
werkelijkheid.
Mr. Tom Roker, he gentleman who had accompanied Mr. Pickwick info the
prison, turned sharp round to the right when he got to the bottom of the little
flight of steps, and led the way, throug an iron gate which stood open, and up
another short flight of steps, Onto a long narrow gallery, dirt/ and low, paved with
stone, and very dimly lighted by a window at each remote end.
The Bafolomew Fair bespraken wij in deel 1 van de schuldgevangenissen.
Mr. Roker then proceeded to mount another staircase, as dirty as that which led
to the place which had just been the subject of discussion, in which ascent he
was closely followed by Mr. Pickwick and Sam.
"There," said Mr.Roker, pausing for breath when they reached another gallery
of the same dimensions as the one below, "this is the coffee-room flight; the one
above's the third, and the one above that's the top; and the room where you're
a-going to sleep to-night is the warden's room, arid it's this way come on."
Having said all this in a breath, Mr. Roker mounted another flight of stairs, with
Mr. Pickwick and Sam Weller following at his heels.
These staircases received light from sundry windows placed at some distance
above the floor, and looking into a gravelled area bounded by a high brick
wall, with iron chevaux-de-frise at the top, This area, if appeared from Mr.
Roker's statement, was the racket-ground; and it further appeared, on the
testimony of the same gentleman, that there was a smaller area in that portion
of the prison called "The Painted Ground", from the fact of its walls having once
displayed by the semblances of various men-of-war in full sail, and other
artisfical effects achieved in bygone time by some imprisoned draughtsman in
his leisure hours.
The Turnkey.
The Pickwick Papers:
