The Man of the Crowd

by Edgar Allan Poe

As he proceeded, the company grew more scattered, and his old uneasiness and vacillation were resumed. For some time he followed closely a party of some ten or twelve roisterers; but from this number one by one dropped off, until three only remained together, in a narrow and gloomy lane little frequented. The stranger paused, and, for a moment, seemed lost in thought; then, with every mark of agitation, pursued rapidly a route which brought us to the verge of the city, amid regions very different from those we had hitherto traversed. It was the most noisome quarter of London where everything wore the worst impress of the most deplorable poverty, and of the most desperate crime. By the dim light of an accidental lamp, tall, antique, worm-eaten, wooden tenements were seen tottering to their fall, in directions so many and capricious that scarce the semblance of a passage was discernible between them. The paving stones lay at ran­dom, displaced from their beds by the rankly growing grass. Horrible filth festered in the dammed-up gutters. The whole atmosphere teemed with desolation. Yet, as we proceeded, the sounds of human life revived by sure degrees, and at length large bands of the most abandoned of a London populace were seen reeling to and fro. The spirits of the old man again flickered up, as a lamp which is near to its death hour. Once more he strode onward with elastic tread. Suddenly a cor­ner was turned, a blaze of light burst upon our sight, and we stood before one of the huge subur­ban temples of Intemperance—one of the palaces of the fiend, Gin.

                It was now nearly daybreak; but a number of wretched inebriates still pressed in and out of the flaunting entrance. With a half shriek of joy the old man forced a passage within, resumed at once his original bearing, and stalked backward and forward, without apparent object, among the throng. He had not been thus long occupied, however, before a rush to the doors gave token that the host was closing them for the night. It was something even more intense than despair that I then observed upon the countenance of the singular being whom I had watched so pertinaciously. Yet he did not hesitate in his career, but, with a mad energy retraced his steps at once, to the heart of the mighty London.

Notes and exercises:

1.            Supply the appropriate form of the verb “lie” or the verb “lay”:

þ      The paving stones . . . at random.

þ      Before answering the telephone he . . . down the book that he had been reading.

þ      I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t know the story of the man who killed the goose that . . . golden eggs.

þ      Do you want my help in . . . the table for dinner?

þ      She . . . in bed the whole day, too weak to get up.

þ      The child . . . her head on my shoulder and was soon asleep.

þ      I’ve seen the book . . . around somewhere here.

þ      She had just . . . down when there was a knock at the door.

þ      The things she was to wear at the party were . . . out on the bed.

2.            Spell the words given in phonetic transcription:

þ      What are the [´prins¶p¶l] characters of this novel?

þ      He makes it a [´prins¶p¶l] to read the latest magazines every week.

þ      He that once [di´si:vz] is ever suspected.

þ      Irene [s¶k´si:did] in finding the newspaper she needed so badly.

þ      The novel is [pri´si:did] by an introduction giving a short description of the historical background.

þ      Many large areas in [´dez¶:(r)ts] are covered by drifting sands.

þ      In Britain [di´z¶:(r)t] means fruit and nuts; in America they call pie, cake, puddings, and ice-cream [di´z¶:(r)ts].

þ      The [mo:´ra:l] of the Roman army after the battle was very low.

þ      The [´mour(¶)l] of the story is obvious.

3.     Say which of the following words belonging to the right- and left-hand columns are near synonyms. Memorize their spelling.

A.

þ    contemptible      paltry

þ    pale                  parched

þ    arid                  wan

þ    unfair               chief

þ    paramount         unjust

B.

þ    persuasive         bad-tempered

þ    irritable                        tranquil

þ    reckless             convincing

þ    annoying           daring

þ    peaceful                        irritating

C.

þ    aristocratic        passive

þ    biased               noble

þ    pathetic            prejudiced

þ    particular          touching

þ    apathetic           fussy

D.

þ    touchy               unknown

þ    famous              peerless

þ    infamous                       irritable

þ    unrivalled         renowned

þ    obscure             wicked

E.

þ    astute               spotless

þ    judicious           unemotional

þ    immaculate        prudent

þ    legal                 penetrating

þ    phlegmatic        judicial

F.

þ    magnificent       excruciating

þ    outstanding       downcast

þ    overcast                        eminent

þ    miserable          splendid

þ    agonising          cloudy

4.     Word study:

vacillate                    to waver; to be uncertain: to vacillate between hope and fear

noisome                    offensive; disgusting (especially of smell)

rank                           growing too luxuriantly, with too much leaf

intemperance          addiction to drinking

pertinacious             not easily giving up what has been started; determined

5.            Translate the following expressions and use them in sentences of your own:

the company grew more scattered, to grow to maturity, to grow in favour, it’s growing dark, he grew to be a great man, I’ve grown to think that . . ., to grow into fashion, to grow out of fashion, his troubles grow out of his bad temper, smoking is apt to grow on you, to let one’s hair grow, my difficulties are growing, to grow out of one’s clothes, to grow out of a bad habit;

a narrow gloomy lane, to form a lane, lanes and alleys, safety lanes, a high-speed lane, it’s a long lane that has no turning;

from this number one by one dropped off, to drop a tear over, to drop at the nose, drop it, to drop anchor, to drop from the clouds (to come out of the blue), to drop into a chair, to work till one drops, I’m ready to drop with fatigue (sleep), to drop on one’s knees, to drop like hot potato (chestnut), to drop a subject, the correspondence dropped, the affair was allowed to drop, drop me a few lines, to drop a hint, to drop an observation (remark), to drop a word in someone’s ear, a drop in the bucket, to take drop too much, the curtain drops, eyedrops