From the strange and unwarrantable influence exercised by Sir Giles and the promoter in the prison, they came at length to be considered as part of it; and matters were as frequently referred to them by the subordinate officers as to the warden.  It was even supposed by some of the prisoners that a secret means of communication must exist between Sir Giles’s habitation and the jail; but as both he and Lanyere possessed keys of the wicket, such a contrivance was obviously unnecessary, and would have been dangerous, as it must have been found out at some time by those interested in the discovery.

It has been shown, however, that, in one way or other, Sir Giles had nearly as much to do with the management of the Fleet Prison as those to whom its governance was ostensibly committed, and that he could, if he thought proper, aggravate the sufferings of its unfortunate occupants without incurring any responsibility for his treatment of them.  He looked upon the Star-Chamber and the Fleet as the means by which he could plunder society and stifle the cry of the oppressed; and it was his business to see that both machines were kept in good order, and worked well.

But to return to his habitation.  Its internal appearance corresponded with its forbidding exterior.  The apartments were large, but cold and comfortless, and, with two or three exceptions, scantily furnished.  Sumptuously decorated, these exceptional rooms presented a striking contrast to the rest of the house; but they were never opened, except on the occasion of some grand entertainment—­a circumstance of rare occurrence.  There was a large hall of entrance, where Sir Giles’s myrmidons were wont to assemble, with a great table in the midst of it, on which no victuals were ever placed—­at least at the extortioner’s expense—­and a great fire-place, where no fire ever burnt.  From this a broad stone staircase mounted to the upper part of the house, and communicated by means of dusky corridors and narrow passages with the various apartments.  A turnpike staircase connected the turret to which Sir Giles used to resort to reconnoitre the Fleet Prison, with the lower part of the habitation, and similar corkscrew stairs existed in the other angles of the structure.  When stationed at the loophole, little recked Sir Giles of the mighty cathedral that frowned upon him like the offended eye of heaven.  His gaze was seldom raised towards Saint Paul’s, or if it were, he had no perception of the beauty or majesty of the ancient cathedral.  The object of interest was immediately below him.  The sternest realities of life were what he dealt with.  He had no taste for the sublime or the beautiful.