d circulated
only among the lawyers' clerks and choice spirits of the place. When
this had been done, and Mrs Jarley had waited upon the boarding-schools
in person, with a handbill composed expressly for them, in which it was
distinctly proved that wax-work refined the mind, cultivated the taste,
and enlarged the sphere of the human understanding, that indefatigable
lady sat down to dinner, and drank out of the suspicious bottle to a
flourishing campaign.

CHAPTER 29

Unquestionably Mrs Jarley had an inventive genius. In the midst of the
various devices for attracting visitors to the exhibition, little Nell
was not forgotten. The light cart in which the Brigand usually made
his perambulations being gaily dressed with flags and streamers, and
the Brigand placed therein, contemplating the miniature of his beloved
as usual, Nell was accommodated with a seat beside him, decorated with
artificial flowers, and in this state and ceremony rode slowly through
the town every morning, dispersing handbills from a basket, to the
sound of drum and trumpet. The beauty of the child, coupled with her
gentle and timid bearing, produced quite a sensation in the little
country place. The Brigand, heretofore a source of exclusive interest
in the streets, became a mere secondary consideration, and to be
important only as a part of the show of which she was the chief
attraction. Grown-up folks began to be interested in the bright-eyed
girl, and some score of little boys fell desperately in love, and
constantly left enclosures of nuts and apples, directed in small-text,
at the wax-work door.

This desirable impression was not lost on Mrs Jarley, who, lest Nell
should become too cheap, soon sent the Brigand out alone again, and
kept her in the exhibition room, where she described the figures every
half-hour to the great satisfaction of admiring audiences. And these
audiences were of a very superior description, including a great many
young ladies' boarding-schools, whose favour Mrs Jarley had been at
great pains to conciliate, by altering the face and costume of Mr
Grimaldi as clown to represent Mr Lindley Murray as he appeared when
engaged in the composition of his English Grammar, and turning a
murderess of great renown into Mrs Hannah More--both of which
likenesses were admitted by Miss Monflathers, who was at the head of
the head Boarding and Day Establishment in the town, and who
condescended to take a Private View with ei