And still his desire to look just once upon a real prince, in the flesh, grew upon him, day by day, and week by week, until at last it absorbed all other desires, and became the one passion of his life.
One January day, on his usual begging tour, he tramped despondently up and down the region round about Mincing Lane and Little East Cheap, hour after hour, barefooted and cold, looking in at cook-shop windows and longing for the dreadful pork-pies and other deadly inventions displayed there for to him these were dainties fit for the angels; that is, judging by the smell, they were for it had never been his good luck to own and eat one. There was a cold drizzle of rain; the atmosphere was murky; it was a melancholy day. At night Tom reached home so wet and tired and hungry that it was not possible for his father and grandmother to observe his forlorn condition and not be moved after their fashion; wherefore they gave him a brisk cuffing at once and sent him to bed. For a long time his pain and hunger, and the swearing and fighting going on in the building, kept him awake; but at last his thoughts drifted away to far, romantic lands, and he fell asleep in the company of jeweled and gilded princelings who lived in vast palaces, and had servants salaaming before them or flying to execute their orders. And then, as usual, he dreamed that he was a princeling himself.
and the other signs and symbols of English royalty (и его блистательным рядом колоссальных гранитных львов, и другие знаки и символы английской королевской власти). Was the desire of his soul to be satisfied at last (суждено ли было желанию его души: «было ли желание его души» быть удовлетворенным в конце концов)? Here, indeed (здесь, в самом деле), was a king's palace (был королевский дворец). Might he not hope (не мог (ли) он надеяться) to see a prince now (увидеть принца теперь) a prince of flesh and blood (принца из плоти и крови), if Heaven were willing (если небеса пожелали бы; willing желающий)?
At each side of the gilded gate stood a living statue (с каждой стороны золоченых ворот стояла живая статуя), that is to say (то есть: «то есть чтобы сказать»), an erect and stately and motionless man-at-arms (вытянувшийся и статный и бездвижный воин), clad from head to heel in shining steel armor (одетый с головы до пят в блестящую стальную броню; heel каблук). At a respectful distance (на почтительном расстоянии) were many country-folk (было много деревенского люда; country страна, деревня; folk народ, люди), and people from the city (и людей из города), waiting for (ожидающих) any glimpse of royalty that might offer (любого проблеска = появления члена королевской фамилии, который мог бы представиться). Splendid carriages (великолепные экипажи), with splendid people in them (с великолепными людьми в них) and splendid servants outside (и великолепными слугами снаружи), were arriving and departing (прибывали и отъезжали) by several other noble gateways (через несколько других благородных = предназначенных для дворян ворот) that pierced the royal inclosure (которые пронизывали королевскую ограду).
rough [rAf], satisfy [`sætısfaı], inclosure [ın`klquZə]
TOM got up hungry, and sauntered hungry away, but with his thoughts busy with the shadowy splendors of his night's dreams. He wandered here and there in the city, hardly noticing where he was going, or what was happening around him. People jostled him and some gave him rough speech; but it was all lost on the musing boy. By and by he found himself at Temple Bar, the farthest from home he had ever traveled in that direction. He stopped and considered a moment, then fell into his imaginings again, and passed on outside the walls of London. The Strand had ceased to be a country-road then, and regarded itself as a street, but by a strained construction; for, though there was a tolerably compact row of houses on one side of it, there were only some scattering great buildings on the other, these being palaces of rich nobles, with ample and beautiful grounds stretching to the river grounds that are now closely packed with grim acres of brick and stone.
Tom discovered Charing Village presently, and rested himself at the beautiful cross built there by a bereaved king of earlier days; then idled down a quiet, lovely road, past the great cardinal's stately palace, toward a far more mighty and majestic palace beyond Westminster. Tom stared in glad wonder at the vast pile of masonry, the wide-spreading wings, the frowning bastions and turrets, the huge stone gateways, with its gilded bars and its magnificent array of colossal granite lions, and the other signs and symbols of English royalty. Was the desire of his soul to be satisfied at last? Here, indeed, was a king's palace. Might he not hope to see a prince now a prince of flesh and blood, if Heaven were willing?
At each side of the gilded gate stood a living statue, that is to say, an erect and stately and motionless man-at-arms, clad from head to heel in shining steel armor. At a respectful distance were many country-folk, and people from the city, waiting for any chance glimpse of royalty that might offer. Splendid carriages, with splendid people in them and splendid servants outside, were arriving and departing by several other noble gateways that pierced the royal inclosure.