Initial "H"--Rout out of a Robber's Den. (original) (raw)

Here is the inventory as published by the Moniteur, of the naval and military goods and chattels left behind by the Russians at bastopol [sic]:

"Cannon, 4,000: Ditto Balls, 50, 000; Hollow Projectiles, a few; Grape, a large quantity; Gunpowder, a great amount; Copper, 25,000 kilogrammes [sic]; Steam engines, 36-horse power, two; Blindages, a considerable number.

As the items above enumerated are to pistols, pistol-bullets, bullet-moulds, slugs, jemmy, centre-bit, picklocks, lucifer-matches, and black vizards, so is Sebastopol to the den of a burglar, and so is the EMPEROR OF ALL THE RUSSIAS to BILL SIKES [an unflattering allusion to the thuggish housebreaker and villain of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist.]

Last modified 3 April 2004