Charles Dickens: Fiction
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23 Treats of the Company of Mr. Vincent Crummles, and of his Affairs, Domestic and Theatrical As Mr. Crummles had a strange four-legged animal in the inn stables, which he called a pony, and a vehicle of unknown design, on which he bestowed the appellation of a four-wheeled phaeton, Nicholas proceeded on his journey
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22 Nicholas, accompanied by Smike, sallies forth to seek his Fortune. He encounters Mr. Vincent Crummles; and who he was, is herein made manifest The whole capital which Nicholas found himself entitled to, either in possession, reversion, remainder, or expectancy, after paying his rent and settling with the broker from whom he had hired
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21 Madam Mantalini finds herself in a Situation of some Difficulty, and Miss Nickleby finds herself in no Situation at all The agitation she had undergone, rendered Kate Nickleby unable to resume her duties at the dressmaker’s for three days, at the expiration of which interval she betook herself at the accustomed hour, and
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20 Wherein Nicholas at length encounters his Uncle, to whom he expresses his Sentiments with much Candour. His Resolution. Little Miss La Creevy trotted briskly through divers streets at the west end of the town, early on Monday morning—the day after the dinner—charged with the important commission of acquainting Madame Mantalini that Miss Nickleby
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19 Descriptive of a Dinner at Mr. Ralph Nickleby’s, and of the Manner in which the Company entertained themselves, before Dinner, at Dinner, and after Dinner. The bile and rancour of the worthy Miss Knag undergoing no diminution during the remainder of the week, but rather augmenting with every successive hour; and the honest
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18 Miss Knag, after doting on Kate Nickleby for three whole Days, makes up her Mind to hate her for evermore. The Causes which led Miss Knag to form this Resolution There are many lives of much pain, hardship, and suffering, which, having no stirring interest for any but those who lead them, are
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17 Follows the Fortunes of Miss Nickleby It was with a heavy heart, and many sad forebodings which no effort could banish, that Kate Nickleby, on the morning appointed for the commencement of her engagement with Madame Mantalini, left the city when its clocks yet wanted a quarter of an hour of eight, and
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16 Nicholas seeks to employ himself in a New Capacity, and being unsuccessful, accepts an engagement as Tutor in a Private Family The first care of Nicholas, next morning, was, to look after some room in which, until better times dawned upon him, he could contrive to exist, without trenching upon the hospitality of
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15 Acquaints the Reader with the Cause and Origin of the Interruption described in the last Chapter, and with some other Matters necessary to be known Newman Noggs scrambled in violent haste upstairs with the steaming beverage, which he had so unceremoniously snatched from the table of Mr Kenwigs, and indeed from the very
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14 Having the Misfortune to treat of none but Common People, is necessarily of a Mean and Vulgar Character In that quarter of London in which Golden Square is situated, there is a bygone, faded, tumble-down street, with two irregular rows of tall meagre houses, which seem to have stared each other out of
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 13
CHAPTER 13 Nicholas varies the Monotony of Dothebys Hall by a most vigorous and remarkable proceeding, which leads to Consequences of some Importance The cold, feeble dawn of a January morning was stealing in at the windows of the common sleeping-room, when Nicholas, raising himself on his arm, looked among the prostrate forms which on
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12 Whereby the Reader will be enabled to trace the further course of Miss Fanny Squeer’s Love, and to ascertain whether it ran smooth or otherwise. It was a fortunate circumstance for Miss Fanny Squeers, that when her worthy papa returned home on the night of the small tea-party, he was what the initiated
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11 Newman Noggs inducts Mrs. and Miss Nickleby into their New Dwelling in the City Miss Nickleby’s reflections, as she wended her way homewards, were of that desponding nature which the occurrences of the morning had been sufficiently calculated to awaken. Her uncle’s was not a manner likely to dispel any doubts or apprehensions
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10 How Mr. Ralph Nickleby provided for his Niece and Sister-in-Law On the second morning after the departure of Nicholas for Yorkshire, Kate Nickleby sat in a very faded chair raised upon a very dusty throne in Miss La Creevy’s room, giving that lady a sitting for the portrait upon which she was engaged;
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9 Of Miss Squeers, Mrs. Squeers, Master Squeers, and Mr. Squeers; and of various Matters and Persons connected no less with the Squeerses than Nicholas Nickleby When Mr. Squeers left the schoolroom for the night, he betook himself, as has been before remarked, to his own fireside, which was situated—not in the room in
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8 Of the Internal Economy of Dotheboys Hall A ride of two hundred and odd miles in severe weather, is one of the best softeners of a hard bed that ingenuity can devise. Perhaps it is even a sweetener of dreams, for those which hovered over the rough couch of Nicholas, and whispered their
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7 Mr. and Mrs. Squeers at Home Mr. Squeers, being safely landed, left Nicholas and the boys standing with the luggage in the road, to amuse themselves by looking at the coach as it changed horses, while he ran into the tavern and went through the leg-stretching process at the bar. After some minutes,
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6 In which the Occurrence of the Accident mentioned in the last Chapter, affords an Opportunity to a couple of Gentlemen to tell Stories against each other ‘Wo ho!’ cried the guard, on his legs in a minute, and running to the leaders’ heads. ‘Is there ony genelmen there as can len’ a hond
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5 Nicholas starts for Yorkshire. Of his Leave-taking and his Fellow-Travellers, and what befell them on the Road If tears dropped into a trunk were charms to preserve its owner from sorrow and misfortune, Nicholas Nickleby would have commenced his expedition under most happy auspices. There was so much to be done, and so
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4 Nicholas and his Uncle (to secure the Fortune without loss of time) wait upon Mr. Wackford Squeers, the Yorkshire Schoolmaster Snow Hill! What kind of place can the quiet townspeople who see the words emblazoned, in all the legibility of gilt letters and dark shading, on the north-country coaches, take Snow Hill to
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3 Mr. Ralph Nickleby receives Sad Tidings of his Brother, but bears up nobly against the Intelligence communicated to him. The Reader is informed how he liked Nicholas, who is herein introduced, and how kindly he proposed to make his Fortune at once. Having rendered his zealous assistance towards dispatching the lunch, with all
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2 Of Mr. Ralph Nickleby, and his Establishments, and his Undertakings, and of a great Joint Stock Company of vast national Importance Mr. Ralph Nickleby was not, strictly speaking, what you would call a merchant, neither was he a banker, nor an attorney, nor a special pleader, nor a notary. He was certainly not
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1 Introduces all the Rest There once lived, in a sequestered part of the county of Devonshire, one Mr. Godfrey Nickleby: a worthy gentleman, who, taking it into his head rather late in life that he must get married, and not being young enough or rich enough to aspire to the hand of a
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Nicholas Nickleby: PREFACE
AUTHOR’S PREFACE This story was begun, within a few months after the publication of the completed “Pickwick Papers.” There were, then, a good many cheap Yorkshire schools in existence. There are very few now. Of the monstrous neglect of education in England, and the disregard of it by the State as a means of forming
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Nicholas Nickleby: Cover
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OFNICHOLAS NICKLEBY, Containing a Faithful Account of the Fortunes, Misfortunes,Uprisings, Downfallings and Complete Career of the Nickelby Family by Charles Dickens
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Master Humphrey’s Clock: Closing Notes
TO THE READERS OF “MASTER HUMPHREY’S CLOCK” Dear Friends, Next November we shall have finished the tale of which we are at present engaged, and shall have travelled together through twenty monthly parts and eighty-seven weekly numbers. It is my design when we have gone so far, to close this work. Let me tell you
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Master Humphrey’s Clock: Chapter VI
CHAPTER VI MASTER HUMPHREY, FROM HIS CLOCK-SIDE IN THE CHIMNEY CORNER Two or three evenings after the institution of Mr. Weller’s Watch, I thought I heard, as I walked in the garden, the voice of Mr. Weller himself at no great distance; and stopping once or twice to listen more attentively, I found that the sounds
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Master Humphrey’s Clock: Chapter V
CHAPTER V MR. WELLER’S WATCH It seems that the housekeeper and the two Mr. Wellers were no sooner left together on the occasion of their first becoming acquainted, than the housekeeper called to her assistance Mr. Slithers the barber, who had been lurking in the kitchen in expectation of her summons; and with many smiles and
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Master Humphrey’s Clock: Chapter IV
CHAPTER IV THE CLOCK As we were going up-stairs, Mr. Pickwick put on his spectacles, which he had held in his hand hitherto; arranged his neckerchief, smoothed down his waistcoat, and made many other little preparations of that kind which men are accustomed to be mindful of, when they are going among strangers for the first
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Master Humphrey’s Clock: Chapter III
CHAPTER III MASTER HUMPHREY’S VISITOR When I am in a thoughtful mood, I often succeed in diverting the current of some mournful reflections, by conjuring up a number of fanciful associations with the objects that surround me, and dwelling upon the scenes and characters they suggest. I have been led by this habit to assign to
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Master Humphrey’s Clock: Chapter II
MASTER HUMPHREY, FROM HIS CLOCK-SIDE IN THE CHIMNEY-CORNER My old companion tells me it is midnight. The fire glows brightly, crackling with a sharp and cheerful sound, as if it loved to burn. The merry cricket on the hearth (my constant visitor), this ruddy blaze, my clock, and I, seem to share the world among us,
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Master Humphrey’s Clock: Chapter I
CHAPTER I MASTER HUMPHREY, FROM HIS CLOCK-SIDE IN THE CHIMNEY CORNER The reader must not expect to know where I live. At present, it is true, my abode may be a question of little or no import to anybody; but if I should carry my readers with me, as I hope to do, and there should
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Master Humphrey’s Clock: PREFACES
PREFACE TO THE FIRST VOLUME When the Author commenced this Work, he proposed to himself three objects— First. To establish a periodical, which should enable him to present, under one general head, and not as separate and distinct publications, certain fictions that he had it in contemplation to write. Secondly. To produce these Tales in weekly
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Master Humphrey’s Clock: Cover
DEDICATION OF“MASTER HUMPHREY’S CLOCK” TOSAMUEL ROGERS, ESQUIRE. My Dear Sir, Let me have my Pleasures of Memory in connection with this book, by dedicating it to a Poet whose writings (as all the world knows) are replete with generous and earnest feeling; and to a man whose daily life (as all the world does not know) is one
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Fifty-Four
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR GIVES THE AUTHOR GREAT CONCERN. FOR IT IS THE LAST IN THE BOOK Todger’s was in high feather, and mighty preparations for a late breakfast were astir in its commercial bowers. The blissful morning had arrived when Miss Pecksniff was to be united in holy matrimony, to Augustus. Miss Pecksniff was in a
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Fifty-Three
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE WHAT JOHN WESTLOCK SAID TO TOM PINCH’S SISTER; WHAT TOM PINCH’S SISTER SAID TO JOHN WESTLOCK; WHAT TOM PINCH SAID TO BOTH OF THEM; AND HOW THEY ALL PASSED THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY Brilliantly the Temple Fountain sparkled in the sun, and laughingly its liquid music played, and merrily the idle drops
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Fifty-Two
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO IN WHICH THE TABLES ARE TURNED, COMPLETELY UPSIDE DOWN Old Martin’s cherished projects, so long hidden in his own breast, so frequently in danger of abrupt disclosure through the bursting forth of the indignation he had hoarded up during his residence with Mr Pecksniff, were retarded, but not beyond a few hours, by
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Fifty-One
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE SHEDS NEW AND BRIGHTER LIGHT UPON THE VERY DARK PLACE; AND CONTAINS THE SEQUEL OF THE ENTERPRISE OF MR JONAS AND HIS FRIEND The night had now come, when the old clerk was to be delivered over to his keepers. In the midst of his guilty distractions, Jonas had not forgotten it. It
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Fifty
CHAPTER FIFTY SURPRISES TOM PINCH VERY MUCH, AND SHOWS HOW CERTAIN CONFIDENCES PASSED BETWEEN HIM AND HIS SISTER It was the next evening; and Tom and his sister were sitting together before tea, talking, in their usual quiet way, about a great many things, but not at all about Lewsome’s story or anything connected with
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Forty-Nine
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE IN WHICH MRS HARRIS ASSISTED BY A TEAPOT, IS THE CAUSE OF A DIVISION BETWEEN FRIENDS Mrs Gamp’s apartment in Kingsgate Street, High Holborn, wore, metaphorically speaking, a robe of state. It was swept and garnished for the reception of a visitor. That visitor was Betsey Prig; Mrs Prig, of Bartlemy’s; or as
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Forty-Eight
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT BEARS TIDINGS OF MARTIN AND OF MARK, AS WELL AS OF A THIRD PERSON NOT QUITE UNKNOWN TO THE READER. EXHIBITS FILIAL PIETY IN AN UGLY ASPECT; AND CASTS A DOUBTFUL RAY OF LIGHT UPON A VERY DARK PLACE Tom Pinch and Ruth were sitting at their early breakfast, with the window open,
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Forty-Seven
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN CONCLUSION OF THE ENTERPRISE OF MR JONAS AND HIS FRIEND Did no men passing through the dim streets shrink without knowing why, when he came stealing up behind them? As he glided on, had no child in its sleep an indistinct perception of a guilty shadow falling on its bed, that troubled its
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Forty-Six
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX IN WHICH MISS PECKSNIFF MAKES LOVE, MR JONAS MAKES WRATH, MRS GAMP MAKES TEA, AND MR CHUFFEY MAKES BUSINESS On the next day’s official duties coming to a close, Tom hurried home without losing any time by the way; and after dinner and a short rest sallied out again, accompanied by Ruth, to
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Forty-Five
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE IN WHICH TOM PINCH AND HIS SISTER TAKE A LITTLE PLEASURE; BUT QUITE IN A DOMESTIC WAY, AND WITH NO CEREMONY ABOUT IT Tom Pinch and his sister having to part, for the dispatch of the morning’s business, immediately after the dispersion of the other actors in the scene upon the wharf with
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Forty-Four
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR FURTHER CONTINUATION OF THE ENTERPRISE OF MR JONAS AND HIS FRIEND It was a special quality, among the many admirable qualities possessed by Mr Pecksniff, that the more he was found out, the more hypocrisy he practised. Let him be discomfited in one quarter, and he refreshed and recompensed himself by carrying the
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Forty-Three
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE HAS AN INFLUENCE ON THE FORTUNES OF SEVERAL PEOPLE. MR PECKSNIFF IS EXHIBITED IN THE PLENITUDE OF POWER; AND WIELDS THE SAME WITH FORTITUDE AND MAGNANIMITY On the night of the storm, Mrs Lupin, hostess of the Blue Dragon, sat by herself in her little bar. Her solitary condition, or the bad weather,
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Forty-Two
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO CONTINUATION OF THE ENTERPRISE OF MR JONAS AND HIS FRIEND The doctor’s prognostication in reference to the weather was speedily verified. Although the weather was not a patient of his, and no third party had required him to give an opinion on the case, the quick fulfilment of his prophecy may be taken
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Forty-One
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE MR JONAS AND HIS FRIEND, ARRIVING AT A PLEASANT UNDERSTANDING, SET FORTH UPON AN ENTERPRISE The office of the Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company being near at hand, and Mr Montague driving Jonas straight there, they had very little way to go. But the journey might have been one of several
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Forty
CHAPTER FORTY THE PINCHES MAKE A NEW ACQUAINTANCE, AND HAVE FRESH OCCASION FOR SURPRISE AND WONDER There was a ghostly air about these uninhabited chambers in the Temple, and attending every circumstance of Tom’s employment there, which had a strange charm in it. Every morning when he shut his door at Islington, he turned his
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Thirty-Nine
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE CONTAINING SOME FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PINCHES; WITH STRANGE NEWS FROM THE CITY, NARROWLY CONCERNING TOM Pleasant little Ruth! Cheerful, tidy, bustling, quiet little Ruth! No doll’s house ever yielded greater delight to its young mistress, than little Ruth derived from her glorious dominion over the triangular parlour and
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Thirty-Eight
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT SECRET SERVICE In walking from the city with his sentimental friend, Tom Pinch had looked into the face, and brushed against the threadbare sleeve, of Mr Nadgett, man of mystery to the Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company. Mr Nadgett naturally passed away from Tom’s remembrance as he passed out of his
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Thirty-Seven
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN TOM PINCH, GOING ASTRAY, FINDS THAT HE IS NOT THE ONLY PERSON IN THAT PREDICAMENT. HE RETALIATES UPON A FALLEN FOE Tom’s evil genius did not lead him into the dens of any of those preparers of cannibalic pastry, who are represented in many standard country legends as doing a lively retail business
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Thirty-Six
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX TOM PINCH DEPARTS TO SEEK HIS FORTUNE. WHAT HE FINDS AT STARTING Oh! What a different town Salisbury was in Tom Pinch’s eyes to be sure, when the substantial Pecksniff of his heart melted away into an idle dream! He possessed the same faith in the wonderful shops, the same intensified appreciation of
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Thirty-Five
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE ARRIVING IN ENGLAND, MARTIN WITNESSES A CEREMONY, FROM WHICH HE DERIVES THE CHEERING INFORMATION THAT HE HAS NOT BEEN FORGOTTEN IN HIS ABSENCE It was mid-day, and high water in the English port for which the Screw was bound, when, borne in gallantly upon the fullness of the tide, she let go her
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Thirty-Four
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR IN WHICH THE TRAVELLERS MOVE HOMEWARD, AND ENCOUNTER SOME DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS UPON THE WAY Among the passengers on board the steamboat, there was a faint gentleman sitting on a low camp-stool, with his legs on a high barrel of flour, as if he were looking at the prospect with his ankles, who attracted
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Thirty-Three
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE FURTHER PROCEEDINGS IN EDEN, AND A PROCEEDING OUT OF IT. MARTIN MAKES A DISCOVERY OF SOME IMPORTANCE From Mr Moddle to Eden is an easy and natural transition. Mr Moddle, living in the atmosphere of Miss Pecksniff’s love, dwelt (if he had but known it) in a terrestrial Paradise. The thriving city of
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Thirty-Two
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO TREATS OF TODGER’S AGAIN; AND OF ANOTHER BLIGHTED PLANT BESIDES THE PLANTS UPON THE LEADS Early on the day next after that on which she bade adieu to the halls of her youth and the scenes of her childhood, Miss Pecksniff, arriving safely at the coach-office in London, was there received, and conducted
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Thirty-One
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE MR PINCH IS DISCHARGED OF A DUTY WHICH HE NEVER OWED TO ANYBODY, AND MR PECKSNIFF DISCHARGES A DUTY WHICH HE OWES TO SOCIETY The closing words of the last chapter lead naturally to the commencement of this, its successor; for it has to do with a church. With the church, so often
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Thirty
CHAPTER THIRTY PROVES THAT CHANGES MAY BE RUNG IN THE BEST-REGULATED FAMILIES, AND THAT MR PECKNIFF WAS A SPECIAL HAND AT A TRIPLE-BOB-MAJOR As the surgeon’s first care after amputating a limb, is to take up the arteries the cruel knife has severed, so it is the duty of this history, which in its remorseless
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Twenty-Nine
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE IN WHICH SOME PEOPLE ARE PRECOCIOUS, OTHERS PROFESSIONAL, AND OTHERS MYSTERIOUS; ALL IN THEIR SEVERAL WAYS It may have been the restless remembrance of what he had seen and heard overnight, or it may have been no deeper mental operation than the discovery that he had nothing to do, which caused Mr Bailey,
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Twenty-Eight
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT MR. MONTAGUE AT HOME. AND MR. JONAS CHUZZLEWIT AT HOME There were many powerful reasons for Jonas Chuzzlewit being strongly prepossessed in favour of the scheme which its great originator had so boldly laid open to him; but three among them stood prominently forward. Firstly, there was money to be made by it.
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Twenty-Seven
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN SHOWING THAT OLD FRIENDS MAY NOT ONLY APPEAR WITH NEW FACES, BUT IN FALSE COLOURS. THAT PEOPLE ARE PRONE TO BITE, AND THAT BITERS MAY SOMETIMES BE BITTEN. Mr Bailey, Junior—for the sporting character, whilom of general utility at Todgers’s, had now regularly set up in life under that name, without troubling himself
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Twenty-Six
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX AN UNEXPECTED MEETING, AND A PROMISING PROSPECT The laws of sympathy between beards and birds, and the secret source of that attraction which frequently impels a shaver of the one to be a dealer in the other, are questions for the subtle reasoning of scientific bodies; not the less so, because their investigation
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Twenty-Five
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE IS IN PART PROFESSIONAL, AND FURNISHES THE READER WITH SOME VALUABLE HINTS IN RELATION TO THE MANAGEMENT OF A SICK CHAMBER Mr Mould was surrounded by his household gods. He was enjoying the sweets of domestic repose, and gazing on them with a calm delight. The day being sultry, and the window open,
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Twenty-Four
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR REPORTS PROGRESS IN CERTAIN HOMELY MATTERS OF LOVE, HATRED, JEALOUSY, AND REVENGE ‘Hallo, Pecksniff!’ cried Mr Jonas from the parlour. ‘Isn’t somebody a-going to open that precious old door of yours?’ ‘Immediately, Mr Jonas. Immediately.’ ‘Ecod,’ muttered the orphan, ‘not before it’s time neither. Whoever it is, has knocked three times, and each
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Twenty-Three
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE MARTIN AND HIS PARTNER TAKE POSSESSION OF THEIR ESTATE. THE JOYFUL OCCASION INVOLVES SOME FURTHER ACCOUNT OF EDEN There happened to be on board the steamboat several gentlemen passengers, of the same stamp as Martin’s New York friend Mr Bevan; and in their society he was cheerful and happy. They released him as
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Twenty-Two
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO FROM WHICH IT WILL BE SEEN THAT MARTIN BECAME A LION OF HIS OWN ACCOUNT. TOGETHER WITH THE REASON WHY As soon as it was generally known in the National Hotel, that the young Englishman, Mr Chuzzlewit, had purchased a ‘lo-cation’ in the Valley of Eden, and intended to betake himself to that
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Twenty-One
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE MORE AMERICAN EXPERIENCES, MARTIN TAKES A PARTNER, AND MAKES A PURCHASE. SOME ACCOUNT OF EDEN, AS IT APPEARED ON PAPER. ALSO OF THE BRITISH LION. ALSO OF THE KIND OF SYMPATHY PROFESSED AND ENTERTAINED BY THE WATERTOAST ASSOCIATION OF UNITED SYMPATHISERS The knocking at Mr Pecksniff’s door, though loud enough, bore no resemblance
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Twenty
CHAPTER TWENTY IS A CHAPTER OF LOVE ‘Pecksniff,’ said Jonas, taking off his hat, to see that the black crape band was all right; and finding that it was, putting it on again, complacently; ‘what do you mean to give your daughters when they marry?’ ‘My dear Mr Jonas,’ cried the affectionate parent, with an
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Nineteen
CHAPTER NINETEEN THE READER IS BROUGHT INTO COMMUNICATION WITH SOME PROFESSIONAL PERSONS, AND SHEDS A TEAR OVER THE FILIAL PIETY OF GOOD MR JONAS Mr Pecksniff was in a hackney cabriolet, for Jonas Chuzzlewit had said ‘Spare no expense.’ Mankind is evil in its thoughts and in its base constructions, and Jonas was resolved it
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Eighteen
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN DOES BUSINESS WITH THE HOUSE OF ANTHONY CHUZZLEWIT AND SON, FROM WHICH ONE OF THE PARTNERS RETIRES UNEXPECTEDLY Change begets change. Nothing propagates so fast. If a man habituated to a narrow circle of cares and pleasures, out of which he seldom travels, step beyond it, though for never so brief a space,
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Seventeen
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN MARTIN ENLARGES HIS CIRCLE OF AQUAINTANCE; INCREASES HIS STOCK OF WISDOM; AND HAS AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY OF COMPARING HIS OWN EXPERIENCES WITH THOSE OF LUMMY NED OF THE LIGHT SALISBURY, AS RELATED BY HIS FRIEND MR WILLIAM SIMMONS It was characteristic of Martin, that all this while he had either forgotten Mark Tapley
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Sixteen
CHAPTER SIXTEEN MARTIN DISEMBARKS FROM THAT NOBLE AND FAST-SAILING LINE-OF-PACKET SHIP, ‘THE SCREW’, AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK, IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. HE MAKES SOME ACQUAINTANCES, AND DINES AT A BOARDING-HOUSE. THE PARTICULARS OF THOSE TRANSACTIONS Some trifling excitement prevailed upon the very brink and margin of the land of liberty; for
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Fifteen
CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE BURDEN WHEREOF, IS HAIL COLUMBIA! A dark and dreary night; people nestling in their beds or circling late about the fire; Want, colder than Charity, shivering at the street corners; church-towers humming with the faint vibration of their own tongues, but newly resting from the ghostly preachment ‘One!’ The earth covered with
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Fourteen
CHAPTER FOURTEEN IN WHICH MARTIN BIDS ADIEU TO THE LADY OF HIS LOVE; AND HONOURS AN OBSCURE INDIVIDUAL WHOSE FORTUNE HE INTENDS TO MAKE BY COMMENDING HER TO HIS PROTECTION The letter being duly signed, sealed, and delivered, was handed to Mark Tapley, for immediate conveyance if possible. And he succeeded so well in his
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Thirteen
CHAPTER THIRTEEN SHOWING WHAT BECAME OF MARTIN AND HIS DESPARATE RESOLVE, AFTER HE LEFT MR PECKSNIFF’S HOUSE; WHAT PERSONS HE ENCOUNTERED; WHAT ANXIETIES HE SUFFERED; AND WHAT NEWS HE HEARD Carrying Tom Pinch’s book quite unconsciously under his arm, and not even buttoning his coat as a protection against the heavy rain, Martin went doggedly
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Twelve
CHAPTER TWELVE WILL BE SEEN IN THE LONG RUN, IF NOT IN THE SHORT ONE, TO CONCERN MR PINCH AND OTHERS, NEARLY. MR PECKSNIFF ASSERTS THE DIGNITY OF OUTRAGED VIRTUE. YOUNG MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT FORMS A DESPERATE RESOLUTION Mr Pinch and Martin, little dreaming of the stormy weather that impended, made themselves very comfortable in the
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Eleven
CHAPTER ELEVEN WHEREIN A CERTAIN GENTLEMAN BECOMES PARTICULAR IN HIS ATTENTIONS TO A CERTAIN LADY; AND MORE COMING EVENTS THAN ONE, CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE The family were within two or three days of their departure from Mrs Todgers’s, and the commercial gentlemen were to a man despondent and not to be comforted, because of
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Ten
CHAPTER TEN CONTAINING STRANGE MATTER, ON WHICH MANY EVENTS IN THIS HISTORY MAY, FOR THEIR GOOD OR EVIL INFLUENCE, CHIEFLY DEPEND But Mr Pecksniff came to town on business. Had he forgotten that? Was he always taking his pleasure with Todgers’s jovial brood, unmindful of the serious demands, whatever they might be, upon his calm
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Nine
CHAPTER NINE TOWN AND TODGER’S Surely there never was, in any other borough, city, or hamlet in the world, such a singular sort of a place as Todgers’s. And surely London, to judge from that part of it which hemmed Todgers’s round and hustled it, and crushed it, and stuck its brick-and-mortar elbows into it,
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Eight
CHAPTER EIGHT ACCOMPANIES MR PECKSNIFF AND HIS CHARMING DAUGHTERS TO THE CITY OF LONDON; AND RELATES WHAT FELL OUT UPON THEIR WAY THITHER When Mr Pecksniff and the two young ladies got into the heavy coach at the end of the lane, they found it empty, which was a great comfort; particularly as the outside
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Seven
CHAPTER SEVEN IN WHICH MR CHEVY SLYME ASSERTS THE INDEPENDENCE OF HIS SPIRIT, AND THE BLUE DRAGON LOSES A LIMB Martin began to work at the grammar-school next morning, with so much vigour and expedition, that Mr Pinch had new reason to do homage to the natural endowments of that young gentleman, and to acknowledge
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Six
CHAPTER SIX COMPRISES, AMONG OTHER IMPORTANT MATTERS, PECKSNIFFIAN AND ARCHITECTURAL, AND EXACT RELATION OF THE PROGRESS MADE BY MR PINCH IN THE CONFIDENCE AND FRIENDSHIP OF THE NEW PUPIL It was morning; and the beautiful Aurora, of whom so much hath been written, said, and sung, did, with her rosy fingers, nip and tweak Miss
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Five
CHAPTER FIVE CONTAINING A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE INSTALLATION OF MR PECKSNIFF’S NEW PUPIL INTO THE BOSOM OF MR PECKSNIFF’S FAMILY. WITH ALL THE FESTIVITIES HELD ON THAT OCCASION, AND THE GREAT ENJOYMENT OF MR PINCH The best of architects and land surveyors kept a horse, in whom the enemies already mentioned more than once
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Four
CHAPTER FOUR FROM WHICH IT WILL APPEAR THAT IF UNION BE STRENGTH, AND FAMILY AFFECTION BE PLEASANT TO CONTEMPLATE, THE CHUZZLEWITS WERE THE STRONGEST AND MOST AGREEABLE FAMILY IN THE WORLD That worthy man Mr Pecksniff having taken leave of his cousin in the solemn terms recited in the last chapter, withdrew to his own
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Three
CHAPTER THREE IN WHICH CERTAIN OTHER PERSONS ARE INTRODUCED; ON THE SAME TERMS AS IN THE LAST CHAPTER Mention has been already made more than once, of a certain Dragon who swung and creaked complainingly before the village alehouse door. A faded, and an ancient dragon he was; and many a wintry storm of rain,
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter Two
CHAPTER TWO WHEREIN CERTAIN PERSONS ARE PRESENTED TO THE READER, WITH WHOM HE MAY, IF HE PLEASE, BECOME BETTER ACQUAINTED It was pretty late in the autumn of the year, when the declining sun struggling through the mist which had obscured it all day, looked brightly down upon a little Wiltshire village, within an easy
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Chapter One
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTORY, CONCERNING THE PEDIGREE OF THE CHUZZLEWIT FAMILY As no lady or gentleman, with any claims to polite breeding, can possibly sympathize with the Chuzzlewit Family without being first assured of the extreme antiquity of the race, it is a great satisfaction to know that it undoubtedly descended in a direct line from
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Martin Chuzzlewit: POSTSCRIPT
POSTSCRIPT At a Public Dinner given to me on Saturday the 18th of April, 1868, in the city of New York, by two hundred representatives of the Press of the United States of America, I made the following observations, among others:— “So much of my voice has lately been heard in the land, that I
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Martin Chuzzlewit: PREFACE
PREFACE What is exaggeration to one class of minds and perceptions, is plain truth to another. That which is commonly called a long-sight, perceives in a prospect innumerable features and bearings non-existent to a short-sighted person. I sometimes ask myself whether there may occasionally be a difference of this kind between some writers and some
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Martin Chuzzlewit: Cover Art
LIFE AND ADVENTURESOF MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT by Charles Dickens
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Little Dorrit: Book the Second – Chapter 34
CHAPTER 34. Gone On a healthy autumn day, the Marshalsea prisoner, weak but otherwise restored, sat listening to a voice that read to him. On a healthy autumn day; when the golden fields had been reaped and ploughed again, when the summer fruits had ripened and waned, when the green perspectives of hops had been
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Little Dorrit: Book the Second – Chapter 33
CHAPTER 33. Going! The changes of a fevered room are slow and fluctuating; but the changes of the fevered world are rapid and irrevocable. It was Little Dorrit’s lot to wait upon both kinds of change. The Marshalsea walls, during a portion of every day, again embraced her in their shadows as their child, while
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Little Dorrit: Book the Second – Chapter 32
CHAPTER 32. Going Arthur continuing to lie very ill in the Marshalsea, and Mr Rugg descrying no break in the legal sky affording a hope of his enlargement, Mr Pancks suffered desperately from self-reproaches. If it had not been for those infallible figures which proved that Arthur, instead of pining in imprisonment, ought to be
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Little Dorrit: Book the Second – Chapter 31
CHAPTER 31. Closed The sun had set, and the streets were dim in the dusty twilight, when the figure so long unused to them hurried on its way. In the immediate neighbourhood of the old house it attracted little attention, for there were only a few straggling people to notice it; but, ascending from the
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Little Dorrit: Book the Second – Chapter 30
CHAPTER 30. Closing in The last day of the appointed week touched the bars of the Marshalsea gate. Black, all night, since the gate had clashed upon Little Dorrit, its iron stripes were turned by the early-glowing sun into stripes of gold. Far aslant across the city, over its jumbled roofs, and through the open
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Little Dorrit: Book the Second – Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29. A Plea in the Marshalsea Haggard anxiety and remorse are bad companions to be barred up with. Brooding all day, and resting very little indeed at night, will not arm a man against misery. Next morning, Clennam felt that his health was sinking, as his spirits had already sunk and that the weight
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Little Dorrit: Book the Second – Chapter 28
CHAPTER 28. An Appearance in the Marshalsea The opinion of the community outside the prison gates bore hard on Clennam as time went on, and he made no friends among the community within. Too depressed to associate with the herd in the yard, who got together to forget their cares; too retiring and too unhappy
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Little Dorrit: Book the Second – Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27. The Pupil of the Marshalsea The day was sunny, and the Marshalsea, with the hot noon striking upon it, was unwontedly quiet. Arthur Clennam dropped into a solitary arm-chair, itself as faded as any debtor in the jail, and yielded himself to his thoughts. In the unnatural peace of having gone through the
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Little Dorrit: Book the Second – Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26. Reaping the Whirlwind With a precursory sound of hurried breath and hurried feet, Mr Pancks rushed into Arthur Clennam’s Counting-house. The Inquest was over, the letter was public, the Bank was broken, the other model structures of straw had taken fire and were turned to smoke. The admired piratical ship had blown up,