MATED FROM THE MORGUE
A TALE OF THE SECOND EMPIRE
BY
JOHN AUGUSTUS O'SHEA
AUTHOR OF
'LEAVES FROM THE LIFE OF A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,' 'AN
IRON-BOUND CITY,' 'ROMANTIC SPAIN,' 'MILITARY
MOSAICS,' ETC.
'La Ville de Paris a son grand mât tout de bronze, sculpté de
victoires, et pour vigie Napoléon.'—DE BALZAC.
LONDON
SPENCER BLACKETT
[Successor to J. & R. Maxwell]
MILTON HOUSE, 35, ST. BRIDE STREET, E.C.
1889
[All rights reserved]
APOLOGETIC.
———
THIS tale, such as it is, has one merit. It is a study of manners,mainly made on the spot, not evolved from the shelves of the BritishMuseum. There is in it, at least, a crude attempt at photography, aprocess in which sunlight and air have some part, and, therefore, likerto nature than the adumbrations of the reading-room. The localities arefaithfully drawn, the persons are not dolls with stuffing of sawdust,but human animals who might have lived—and, mayhap, did live. If thevolume does not kill an hour, the writer is murderer only in thought.
TO MY FRIEND,
COLONEL THE BARON CRAIGNISH,
EQUERRY TO
HIS HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA,
This Little Book,
IN TARDY THANK-OFFERING FOR THAT LARGE
LEG OF MUTTON.
| CONTENTS | ||
|---|---|---|
| ——— | ||
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | A HOUSELESS DOG | 1 |
| II. | A CRUSH AT THE MORGUE | 8 |
| III. | LE VRAI N'EST PAS TOUJOURS VRAISEMBLABLE | 20 |
| IV. | THE SONG-BIRD'S NEST | 30 |
| V. | NAPOLEONIC IDEAS | 40 |
| VI. | THE OLD BONAPARTIST'S STORY | 52 |
| VII. | FRIEZECOAT AT HOME | 65 |