Page:Confessions of an English opium-eater (IA confessionsofeng00dequrich).pdf/91

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

CONFESSIONS

OF AN

ENGLISH OPIUM-EATER.


PART II.


So then, Oxford-street, stony-hearted stepmother! thou that listenest to the sighs of orphans, and drinkest the tears of children, at length I was dismissed from thee: the time was come at last that I no more should pace in anguish thy never-ending terraces; no more should dream, and wake in captivity to the pangs of hunger. Successors, too many, to myself and Ann, have, doubtless, since trodden in our footsteps,—inheritors of our calamities: other orphans than Ann have sighed: tears have been shed by other children: and thou, Oxford-street, hast since,

E5