author - "Charles Dickens"
Description
Like many of Dickens’ works, David Copperfield was published serially, then as a complete novel for the first time in 1850. Dickens himself thought of it as his favorite novel, writing in the preface that of all his works Copperfield was his favorite child. This isn’t surprising, considering that many of the events in the novel are semi-autobiographical accounts from Dickens’ own life.
In David Copperfield we follow the life of the titular character as he makes a life for himself in England. He finds himself in the care of a cold stepfather who sends him to boarding school, and from there embarks on a journey filled with characters and events that can only be called “Dickensian” in their colorful and just-barely-probable portrayals.
the spinster aunt--she would enjoy it! But there was no help for it. It must be faced.
Naturally Mr. Pickwick felt uncomfortable, and his first idea was to arrange the matter. This was a sensible course, and he ought at once to have put the matter into the hands of his friend Perker, with full powers to treat. But no. Mr. Pickwick's vanity and indiscretion made him meddle in the business behind his solicitor's back, as it where, and with damaging results to himself--a warning to all such amateurs. It must be said that Dodson and Fogg's behaviour at the extraordinary visit which he paid them was marked by a certain propriety. Mr. Pickwick insisted on knowing what were the grounds of action--that is, the details of the evidence against him--in short, their case. They, very correctly, refused to tell him. "The case may be false or it may be true--it may be credible it may be incredible." But all the same it was a strong case. This was as much as they could tell. Mr. Pickwick could only urge that
sary labours to the officers of the ship, and the soldiers,who had made uncommon exertions. Roused by a sense of theirdanger, the same seamen, at this moment, in frantic exclamations,demanded of heaven and their fellow-sufferers that succour whichtheir own efforts, timely made, might possibly have procured.
'The ship continued to beat on the rocks; and soon bilging, fellwith her broadside towards the shore. When she struck, a number ofthe men climbed up the ensign-staff, under an apprehension of herimmediately going to pieces.
'Mr. Meriton, at this crisis, offered to these unhappy beings thebest advice which could be given; he recommended that all shouldcome to the side of the ship lying lowest on the rocks, and singlyto take the opportunities which might then offer, of escaping tothe shore.
'Having thus provided, to the utmost of his power, for the safetyof the desponding crew, he returned to the round-house, where, bythis time, all the passengers and most of the officers hadassemble
o hear from Mrs. Belltott, that his sister, the beautifulunmarried young English lady, was Miss Maryon. The novelty was, that herchristian-name was Marion too. Marion Maryon. Many a time I have runoff those two names in my thoughts, like a bit of verse. Oh many, andmany, and many a time!
We saw out all the drink that was produced, like good men and true, andthen took our leaves, and went down to the beach. The weather wasbeautiful; the wind steady, low, and gentle; the island, a picture; thesea, a picture; the sky, a picture. In that country there are two rainyseasons in the year. One sets in at about our English Midsummer; theother, about a fortnight after our English Michaelmas. It was thebeginning of August at that time; the first of these rainy seasons waswell over; and everything was in its most beautiful growth, and had itsloveliest look upon it.
"They enjoy themselves here," I says to Charker, turning surly again."This is better than private-soldiering."
We had come down t
riends, or anywhere else.
But that is not the question now. It is conspired against; and wehave given a few proofs of the conspiracy, as they shine out ofvarious classes engaged in it. An indictment against the wholemanufacturing interest need not be longer, surely, than theindictment in the case of the Crown against O'Connell and others.Mr. Cobden may be taken as its representative--as indeed he is, byone consent already. There may be no evidence; but that is notrequired. A judge and jury are all that is needed. And theGovernment know where to find them, or they gain experience tolittle purpose.
THREATENING LETTERTO THOMAS HOODFROM AN ANCIENT GENTLEMANMR. HOOD. SIR,--The Constitution is going at last! You needn'tlaugh, Mr. Hood. I am aware that it has been going, two or threetimes before; perhaps four times; but it is on the move now, sir,and no mistake.I beg to say, that I use those last expressions advisedly, sir, andnot in the sense in which they are now used by Ja
eave the farm! Rose. }
Rose. If he leaves it, he dies.
Edmunds. This base act, proud man, you shall rue.
Young Benson. Turn him from the farm! From his home will you cast, The old man who has tilled it for years? Ev'ry tree, ev'ry flower, is linked with the past, And a friend of his childhood appears!
Squire. Yes, yes, leave the farm! From his home I will cast The old man who has tilled it for years; Though each tree and flower is linked with the past, And a friend of his childhood appears.
Chorus.
He has turned from his farm! From his home he has cast The old man who has tilled it for years; Though each tree and flower is linked with the past, And a friend of his childhood appears.
QUARTET
Squire. Hear me, when I swear that the farm is your own Through all changes Fortune may make; The base charge of falsehood I never have known; This promise I never will break.
Rose and } He
edwells rather oftener in alleys and by-ways than she does in courtsand palaces, and that it is good, and pleasant, and profitable totrack her out, and follow her. I believe that to lay one's handupon some of those rejected ones whom the world has too longforgotten, and too often misused, and to say to the proudest andmost thoughtless--"These creatures have the same elements andcapacities of goodness as yourselves, they are moulded in the sameform, and made of the same clay; and though ten times worse thanyou, may, in having retained anything of their original natureamidst the trials and distresses of their condition, be really tentimes better;" I believe that to do this is to pursue a worthy andnot useless vocation. Gentlemen, that you think so too, yourfervent greeting sufficiently assures me. That this feeling isalive in the Old World as well as in the New, no man should knowbetter than I--I, who have found such wide and ready sympathy in myown dear land. That in expressing it, we are b
ceiving that it is something unusually lively, kicksand crows most lustily, to the unspeakable delight of all thechildren and both the parents: and the dinner is borne into thehouse amidst a shouting of small voices, and jumping of fat legs,which would fill Sir Andrew Agnew with astonishment; as well itmight, seeing that Baronets, generally speaking, eat prettycomfortable dinners all the week through, and cannot be expected tounderstand what people feel, who only have a meat dinner on one dayout of every seven.
The bakings being all duly consigned to their respective owners,and the beer-man having gone his rounds, the church bells ring forafternoon service, the shops are again closed, and the streets aremore than ever thronged with people; some who have not been tochurch in the morning, going to it now; others who have been tochurch, going out for a walk; and others--let us admit the fullmeasure of their guilt--going for a walk, who have not been tochurch at all. I am afraid the smart serv
d after exchanging his rough coat forsome more suitable attire (in which however he loses nothing of theout-and-outer), gets into the coach and grumbles all the way at hisown good nature: his bitter reflections aggravated by therecollection, that Tom Smith has taken the chair at a littleimpromptu dinner at a fighting man's, and that a set-to was to takeplace on a dining-table, between the fighting man and his brother-in-law, which is probably 'coming off' at that very instant.
As the out-and-out young gentleman is by no means at his ease inladies' society, he shrinks into a corner of the drawing-room whenthey reach the friend's, and unless one of his sisters is kindenough to talk to him, remains there without being much troubled bythe attentions of other people, until he espies, lingering outsidethe door, another gentleman, whom he at once knows, by his air andmanner (for there is a kind of free-masonry in the craft), to be abrother out-and-outer, and towards whom he accordingly makes hiswa
u came out, which made you very careful how you left it about afterwards because people were turned so red and uncomfortable by mostly guessing it was somebody else quite different, and there was once a certain person that had put his money in a hop business that came in one morning to pay his rent and his respects being the second floor that would have taken it down from its hook and put it in his breast-pocket--you understand my dear--for the L, he says of the original--only there was no mellowness in HIS voice and I wouldn't let him, but his opinion of it you may gather from his saying to it "Speak to me Emma!" which was far from a rational observation no doubt but still a tribute to its being a likeness, and I think myself it WAS like me when I was young and wore that sort of stays.
But it was about the Lodgings that I was intending to hold forth and certainly I ought to know something of the business having been in it so long, for it was early in the second year of my married life that I lost my p
Description
Like many of Dickens’ works, David Copperfield was published serially, then as a complete novel for the first time in 1850. Dickens himself thought of it as his favorite novel, writing in the preface that of all his works Copperfield was his favorite child. This isn’t surprising, considering that many of the events in the novel are semi-autobiographical accounts from Dickens’ own life.
In David Copperfield we follow the life of the titular character as he makes a life for himself in England. He finds himself in the care of a cold stepfather who sends him to boarding school, and from there embarks on a journey filled with characters and events that can only be called “Dickensian” in their colorful and just-barely-probable portrayals.
the spinster aunt--she would enjoy it! But there was no help for it. It must be faced.
Naturally Mr. Pickwick felt uncomfortable, and his first idea was to arrange the matter. This was a sensible course, and he ought at once to have put the matter into the hands of his friend Perker, with full powers to treat. But no. Mr. Pickwick's vanity and indiscretion made him meddle in the business behind his solicitor's back, as it where, and with damaging results to himself--a warning to all such amateurs. It must be said that Dodson and Fogg's behaviour at the extraordinary visit which he paid them was marked by a certain propriety. Mr. Pickwick insisted on knowing what were the grounds of action--that is, the details of the evidence against him--in short, their case. They, very correctly, refused to tell him. "The case may be false or it may be true--it may be credible it may be incredible." But all the same it was a strong case. This was as much as they could tell. Mr. Pickwick could only urge that
sary labours to the officers of the ship, and the soldiers,who had made uncommon exertions. Roused by a sense of theirdanger, the same seamen, at this moment, in frantic exclamations,demanded of heaven and their fellow-sufferers that succour whichtheir own efforts, timely made, might possibly have procured.
'The ship continued to beat on the rocks; and soon bilging, fellwith her broadside towards the shore. When she struck, a number ofthe men climbed up the ensign-staff, under an apprehension of herimmediately going to pieces.
'Mr. Meriton, at this crisis, offered to these unhappy beings thebest advice which could be given; he recommended that all shouldcome to the side of the ship lying lowest on the rocks, and singlyto take the opportunities which might then offer, of escaping tothe shore.
'Having thus provided, to the utmost of his power, for the safetyof the desponding crew, he returned to the round-house, where, bythis time, all the passengers and most of the officers hadassemble
o hear from Mrs. Belltott, that his sister, the beautifulunmarried young English lady, was Miss Maryon. The novelty was, that herchristian-name was Marion too. Marion Maryon. Many a time I have runoff those two names in my thoughts, like a bit of verse. Oh many, andmany, and many a time!
We saw out all the drink that was produced, like good men and true, andthen took our leaves, and went down to the beach. The weather wasbeautiful; the wind steady, low, and gentle; the island, a picture; thesea, a picture; the sky, a picture. In that country there are two rainyseasons in the year. One sets in at about our English Midsummer; theother, about a fortnight after our English Michaelmas. It was thebeginning of August at that time; the first of these rainy seasons waswell over; and everything was in its most beautiful growth, and had itsloveliest look upon it.
"They enjoy themselves here," I says to Charker, turning surly again."This is better than private-soldiering."
We had come down t
riends, or anywhere else.
But that is not the question now. It is conspired against; and wehave given a few proofs of the conspiracy, as they shine out ofvarious classes engaged in it. An indictment against the wholemanufacturing interest need not be longer, surely, than theindictment in the case of the Crown against O'Connell and others.Mr. Cobden may be taken as its representative--as indeed he is, byone consent already. There may be no evidence; but that is notrequired. A judge and jury are all that is needed. And theGovernment know where to find them, or they gain experience tolittle purpose.
THREATENING LETTERTO THOMAS HOODFROM AN ANCIENT GENTLEMANMR. HOOD. SIR,--The Constitution is going at last! You needn'tlaugh, Mr. Hood. I am aware that it has been going, two or threetimes before; perhaps four times; but it is on the move now, sir,and no mistake.I beg to say, that I use those last expressions advisedly, sir, andnot in the sense in which they are now used by Ja
eave the farm! Rose. }
Rose. If he leaves it, he dies.
Edmunds. This base act, proud man, you shall rue.
Young Benson. Turn him from the farm! From his home will you cast, The old man who has tilled it for years? Ev'ry tree, ev'ry flower, is linked with the past, And a friend of his childhood appears!
Squire. Yes, yes, leave the farm! From his home I will cast The old man who has tilled it for years; Though each tree and flower is linked with the past, And a friend of his childhood appears.
Chorus.
He has turned from his farm! From his home he has cast The old man who has tilled it for years; Though each tree and flower is linked with the past, And a friend of his childhood appears.
QUARTET
Squire. Hear me, when I swear that the farm is your own Through all changes Fortune may make; The base charge of falsehood I never have known; This promise I never will break.
Rose and } He
edwells rather oftener in alleys and by-ways than she does in courtsand palaces, and that it is good, and pleasant, and profitable totrack her out, and follow her. I believe that to lay one's handupon some of those rejected ones whom the world has too longforgotten, and too often misused, and to say to the proudest andmost thoughtless--"These creatures have the same elements andcapacities of goodness as yourselves, they are moulded in the sameform, and made of the same clay; and though ten times worse thanyou, may, in having retained anything of their original natureamidst the trials and distresses of their condition, be really tentimes better;" I believe that to do this is to pursue a worthy andnot useless vocation. Gentlemen, that you think so too, yourfervent greeting sufficiently assures me. That this feeling isalive in the Old World as well as in the New, no man should knowbetter than I--I, who have found such wide and ready sympathy in myown dear land. That in expressing it, we are b
ceiving that it is something unusually lively, kicksand crows most lustily, to the unspeakable delight of all thechildren and both the parents: and the dinner is borne into thehouse amidst a shouting of small voices, and jumping of fat legs,which would fill Sir Andrew Agnew with astonishment; as well itmight, seeing that Baronets, generally speaking, eat prettycomfortable dinners all the week through, and cannot be expected tounderstand what people feel, who only have a meat dinner on one dayout of every seven.
The bakings being all duly consigned to their respective owners,and the beer-man having gone his rounds, the church bells ring forafternoon service, the shops are again closed, and the streets aremore than ever thronged with people; some who have not been tochurch in the morning, going to it now; others who have been tochurch, going out for a walk; and others--let us admit the fullmeasure of their guilt--going for a walk, who have not been tochurch at all. I am afraid the smart serv
d after exchanging his rough coat forsome more suitable attire (in which however he loses nothing of theout-and-outer), gets into the coach and grumbles all the way at hisown good nature: his bitter reflections aggravated by therecollection, that Tom Smith has taken the chair at a littleimpromptu dinner at a fighting man's, and that a set-to was to takeplace on a dining-table, between the fighting man and his brother-in-law, which is probably 'coming off' at that very instant.
As the out-and-out young gentleman is by no means at his ease inladies' society, he shrinks into a corner of the drawing-room whenthey reach the friend's, and unless one of his sisters is kindenough to talk to him, remains there without being much troubled bythe attentions of other people, until he espies, lingering outsidethe door, another gentleman, whom he at once knows, by his air andmanner (for there is a kind of free-masonry in the craft), to be abrother out-and-outer, and towards whom he accordingly makes hiswa
u came out, which made you very careful how you left it about afterwards because people were turned so red and uncomfortable by mostly guessing it was somebody else quite different, and there was once a certain person that had put his money in a hop business that came in one morning to pay his rent and his respects being the second floor that would have taken it down from its hook and put it in his breast-pocket--you understand my dear--for the L, he says of the original--only there was no mellowness in HIS voice and I wouldn't let him, but his opinion of it you may gather from his saying to it "Speak to me Emma!" which was far from a rational observation no doubt but still a tribute to its being a likeness, and I think myself it WAS like me when I was young and wore that sort of stays.
But it was about the Lodgings that I was intending to hold forth and certainly I ought to know something of the business having been in it so long, for it was early in the second year of my married life that I lost my p