The Old Curiosity Club discussion
The Old Curiosity Shop
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TOCS: Chapters 26-30
Mod
”’I never saw any wax-work, ma’am,’ said Nell. ‘Is it funnier than Punch?’
‘Funnier!’ said Mrs Jarley in a shrill voice. ‘It is not funny at all.’
‘Oh!’ said Nell, with all possible humility.
‘It isn’t funny at all,’ repeated Mrs Jarley. ‘It’s calm and — what’s that word again – critical? – no –classical, that’s it – it’s calm and classical. No low beatings and knockings about, no jokings and squeakings like your precious Punches, but always the same, with a constantly unchanging air of coldness and gentility; and so like life, that if wax-work only spoke and walked about, you’d hardly know the difference. I won’t go so far as to say, that, as it is, I’ve seen wax-work quite like life, but I’ve certainly seen some life that was exactly like wax-work.’”
Well, that’s Mrs. Jarley: conscious of her own merits and those of her show, but also ailing from lack of sleep and appetite – at least according to her words, and not so much to her behaviour. She shows Little Nell the advertisements of her show, which imply that she is very popular among the genteel classes. By the way, if calm and always being the same is a sign of quality to Mrs. Jarley, I wonder what she might have said about the novel she makes her appearance in: It being anything by calm and samey.
According to her own words, it struck Mrs. Jarley that Little Nell looked out of her element at the races, which seems to speak in the girl’s favour. When she learns, however, that Little Nell and her Grandfather are wandering about the country without a particular aim and that they are, what Little Nell calls beggars, her cordiality seems to receive a certain check. But then she also learns that Little Nell can read and write, something that is beyond her own ken – and after a quick consultation of George, the carter – she offers Little Nell the chance to stay with her and work for her. Then there is the following scene:
”’[…] Do you want a good situation for your grand-daughter, master? If you do, I can put her in the way of getting one. What do you say?’
‘I can’t leave her,’ answered the old man. ‘We can’t separate. What would become of me without her?’
‘I should have thought you were old enough to take care of yourself, if you ever will be,’ retorted Mrs Jarley sharply.”
Is this not the first time the Grandfather ever openly admits that it is not he that looks after the child but rather the other way around? Do you think Mrs. Jarley’s harsh reaction understandable, or even adequate? – And what do you think of Little Nell’s immediately taking up cudgels for her Grandfather, justifying his claim? In a way, we again touch on a question raised by Peter, namely what we make of the relationship between Little Nell and her grandparent. Is it believable, or is it also to be taken symbolically? Is it even desirable? After all, a lot of you have remarked that it would be better for Little Nell to be rid of her grandfather, even though she loves him. Our questions might be made even trickier in the light of the following little quotation:
”’[…] We are very thankful to you’, she [i.e. Nell] added aloud; ‘but neither of us could part form the other if all the wealth of the world were halved between us.’
Mrs. Jarley was a little disconcerted by this reception of her proposa, and looked at the old man, who tenderly took Nell’s hand and detained it in his own, as if she could have very well dispensed with his company of even his earthly existence.” [my emphases]
Mrs. Jarley, however, is too practically-minded to remain disconcerted for a long time, and soon she has again consulted George – although this time, their exchange takes a bit longer –, and the upshot of it all is that the Grandfather is also welcome to travel along, since it is to be assumed that he can render himself useful in many small ways. On these new conditions, Nell gladly takes up the kind offer.
Later, when they have stopped to bed down, something unsettling happens: Nell, who once again takes a short walk before going to bed, witnesses none other but Quilp, who is apparently on his way back to London and who “seemed to have risen out of the earth” in the darkness of the streets. Luckily, the villain does not notice Nell because he is busy giving his orders (and invectives) to a boy who is carrying his luggage.
Why might Quilp take the trouble to follow Little Nell and her Grandfather? In a way, the plausibility of the whole novel depends on this, so we had better find a good reason …
Mod
”’Because it does you good,’ said the lady of the caravan, ‘when you’re tired, to sleep as long as ever you can, and get the fatigue quite off; and that’s another blessing of your time of life – you can sleep so very sound.’”
She couples these words with a hint at her own insomnia – a diagnosis that seems at variance with the fact that Little Nell heard her snore during the night – but all in all, she seems to take a genuine interest in Nell, doesn’t she?
The main part of the chapter lets us in on Mrs. Jarley’s business routines, e.g. the building up and arranging of the exhibition but also her strategies of advertising. In this context, it may be useful to mention to appearance of a certain Mr. Slum, whose unprepossessing name is matched by his outward appearance and his apparel, which is rather run-down. Mr. Slum has clearly come with a view to receive an order from the “lady of the caravan” – he is a hackney writer who, among other things, has specialized on slogans and advertisements, and it was his wit that came up with the slightly altered lines of poetry and song that have been made to sing the praise of Mrs. Jarley’s wax work. When he meets Mrs. Jarley, he says, “’I came here […] ‘pon my soul and honour I hardly know what I came here for. It would puzzle me to tell you, it would by Gad. I wanted a little inspiration, a little freshening up, a little change of ideas, and – […]’”. Soon enough, however, he reveals his real intentions suggesting to Mrs. Jarley that it would be a good investment to have him compose another jingle for her. At first, she is full of doubt, thinking it rather costly and of uncertain effect, but eventually, Mr. Slum manages to talk her around and make her comply.
What do you think of Mrs. Jarley and her business? Can her exhibition really be a way to make a living? How would people in those days have reacted to it? Would they have preferred it to a Punch-and-Judy show? And what about that Mr. Slum? It is probably no coincidence – although not quite significant for readers at the time – that Mr. Slum mentions an advertisement he did for “Warren”, because this probably refers to Warren’s Blacking, the factory where Dickens had to start working when he was but 12 years old. Dickens could not refrain from having this dig at the then popular company where he suffered so much as a child, and this should probably suffice to show that Mr. Slum – again, what a name! – is anything but a trustworthy or palatable character, especially since he says that “’you’ll find in a certain angle of that dreary pile, called Poets’ Corner, a few smaller names than Slum’”, which is quite some thing to say.
When the hack-writer has left, Little Nell is introduced into the particulars of the wax collection, and she proves a quick and persistent learner when Mrs. Jarley tells her what to say when showing people throught the exhibition. In a way, most of the waxworks seem to refer to sensationalist stories about murders and strange deaths or other … here we are again … curiosities. Just take the man who killed his wife by tickling her feet when she was asleep! What a tricky way of doing someone in!
All in all, what is your opinion on Mrs. Jarley and her trade?
Mod
”Although her duties were sufficiently laborious, Nell found in the lady of the caravan a very kind and considerate person, who had not only a peculiar relish for being comfortable herself , but for making everybody her comfortable also […]”
And so, Nell might have found a new haven of security and rest, were it not for the wilful twist Chapter 29 is determined to take.
Admittedly, there are so of the usual cares Little Nell has, e.g. her fear of once more meeting Quilp by any ill-chance, and when she spends her nights in the room where the wax collection is – for the security of the waxworks –, she finds enough inspiration there to make her think that Quilp has somehow hidden among the exhibit pieces. Apart from that, there are her cares about her Grandfather:
”Often and anxiously at this silent hour, her thoughts reverted to her grandfather, and she would wonder how much he remembered of their former life, and whether he was ever really mindful of the change in their condition and of their late helplessness and destitution. […] He was very patient and willing, happy to execute any little task, and glad to be of use; but he was in the same listless state, with no prospect of improvement – a mere child – a poor, thoughtless, vacant creature – a harmless fond old man, susceptible of tender love and regard for her, and of pleasant and painful impressions, but alive to nothing more. It made her very sad to know that this was so – so sad to see it that sometimes when he sat idly by, smiling and nodding to her when she looked round, or when he caressed some little child and carried it to and fro, as he was fond of doing by the hour together, perplexed by its simple questions, yet patient under his own infirmity, and seeming almost conscious of it too, and humbled even before the mind of an infant – so sad it made her to see him thus, that she would burst into tears, and, withdrawing into some secret place, fall down upon her knees and pray that he might be restored.”
What does this passage tell us about the state of mind Grandpa is in, and what about Nell’s relationship with him?
One day, however, new troubles enter the lives of Nell and the old man: When they take a rather long walk – one might wonder why a decrepit man like Grandpa is taken on walks of such length –, they are surprised by bad weather in the form of a sudden thunderstorm, which is probably also of some symbolic quality because the narrator remarks that
”the darkness of an hour seemed to have gathered in an instant.”
Nell and her Grandfather luckily arrive at a house that promises to offer some shelter from the elements, although it is a public house of low quality called “The Valiant Soldier”. Good for us Curiosities to have assembled in “The Jolly Sandboys”! The owner of this strange place has the following to say for himself and his house:
”‘Where have you come from, if you don’t know the Valiant Soldier as well as the church catechism? This is the Valiant Soldier, by James Groves – Jem Groves – honest Jem Groves, as is a man of unblemished moral character, and has a good dry skittle-ground. If any man has got anything to say again Jem Groves, let him say it TO Jem Groves, and Jem Groves can accommodate him with a customer on any terms from four pound a side to forty.”
Have we met any other person in our Old Curiosity Shop adventure so far that blew the trumpet of their own honesty and good intentions? What can be expected of this landlord?
They have not been long under the roof of “The Valiant Solider”, however, when it becomes clear to them that they are in a gamblers’ den. It is, admittedly, a little one but it is enough for Grandpa to become fidgety. An immediate change occurs in the old man:
”His face was flushed and eager, his eyes were strained, his teeth set, his breath came short and thick, and the hand he laid upon her arm trembled so violently that she shook beneath its grasp.”
His behaviour, too, is altered in that he sharply demands that Little Nell hand him the money he saw her with the day before. Nevertheless, he realizes that his tone was very harsh, and he immediately apologizes, without, though, retracting his demand as such. While he insists on her handing out the money, he tells her that he will “right” her and that she need “never fear”. It does not take long for Nell to give in and for Grandpa to join the two gamblers, with Jem Groves making the round complete. Of course, the old man does not stand the vestige of a chance against the experienced gamblers. Little Nell entreats him to go away from the place with her but he replies:
”’We WILL be happy,’ replied the old man hastily. ‘Let me go, Nell. The means of happiness are on the cards and the dice. We must rise from little winnings to great. There's little to be won here; but great will come in time. I shall but win back my own, and it's all for thee, my darling.’
‘God help us!’ cried the child. ‘Oh! what hard fortune brought us here?’
‘Hush!’ rejoined the old man laying his hand upon her mouth, ‘Fortune will not bear chiding. We must not reproach her, or she shuns us; I have found that out.’”
What do you think is the reason that old Trent gambles? Is it really just for Little Nell’s sake, and if it were so, would this make his gambling any better? If he wants to provide for his grandchild, why did he not lay by money from his shop when there was still the opportunity for him to do so? Why was it not enough for him to make Nell well-off; why did he want to make her super-rich instead? Is it all an excuse for not being satisfied with what he has?
He also seems to think that since he gambles for Little Nell and his motives are nobler, success is just a matter of time – after all, he says, “’[…] Look at them. See what they are and what thou art. Who doubts that we must win!’” – If this is his honest opinion, it can be taken as a sign of his delusion, but maybe also of his will to lie to himself.
While Grandpa is gambling, the omniscient narrator comments:
”The child sat by, and watched its progress with a troubled mind. Regardless of the run of luck, and mindful only of the desperate passion which had its hold upon her grandfather, losses and gains were to her alike. Exulting in some brief triumph, or cast down by a defeat, there he sat so wild and restless, so feverishly and intensely anxious, so terribly eager, so ravenous for the paltry stakes, that she could have almost better borne to see him dead. And yet she was the innocent cause of all this torture, and he, gambling with such a savage thirst for gain as the most insatiable gambler never felt, had not one selfish thought!”
Why does the narrator tell us that there is not one selfish thought in Grandpa? Can we believe him? Does the narrator feel himself that we might form an opinion on Old Trent that is not entirely favourable? And how could Little Nell have behaved more cleverly in such a situation? Why is she so passive? And did you notice that she could “have almost better borne to see him dead” than consumed by the passion of gambling? What are we to think here?
And, last but not least, what might the concluding sentence of the chapter hint at? It goes like this:
”[…] and still the game went on, and still the anxious child was quite forgotten.”
Mod
How long has he been gambling altogether now? How much money does he owe Quilp? Should he not have won amply by now, according to this logic?
Be that as it may, the evening has crept by during their gambling session, and now there is not much left for the two wayfarers but to spend the night at “The Valiant Soldier” and hope that Mrs. Jarley will not be put out by their staying away overnight. Characteristically, Nell fears that they might well be “turned adrift” again by their benefactress. In order to pay for board and lodging, Little Nell now has to eat into her nest egg, i.e. the sovereign (or was it a guinea, I can’t remember) she sewed into her dress. Lest her grandfather see that she still has a stock of money left and be lead into temptation again, she pays the landlord in a room next to the guest-room but, on coming back into this, has the impression that somebody must have tailed her. On the other hand, all the people in the room – and apart from her grandfather, there are only the two gamblers, Isaac List and his confederate – seem to be in the same position and immersed in the same occupation she left them in. Hmmmmm … When something like this happens in real life, it quite often means nothing, but since this happens in a novel, it is, of course, of significance!
Later in the evening when Little Nell has gone to bed – after a longish conversation with the girl serving at the inn, in the course of which she learns that the place is held in low repute –, she cannot fall asleep at once. Knowing Little Nell, we might have expected that because before she sleeps, she usually cries a bit, filling two buckets with her tears and at least one page with a description of how she sheds them. This time, however, something interesting, and eerie occurs: Somebody creeps into her room, ransacks her belongings and takes away the change she received from the landlord. We get the following description of the thief’s leaving the scene of his crime:
”Then, on it came again, silent and stealthy as before, and replacing the garments it had taken from the bedside, dropped upon its hands and knees, and crawled away.”
The only thing that’s missing now is the mysterious crawler hissing, ‘My treasssssure’. But seriously, what might the falling on his hands and knees tell us about the thief. Before the chapter ends, Little Nell finds out that it is none other but her own Grandfather that has slunk into her chamber and pilfered her money, and the fact that he does this by creeping on his fours is very interesting.
Would you have expected such a behaviour of Grandpa? How ought Little Nell react, and how will she probably react? These might be two different things, and one might involve crying and sobbing and all that. And, if Grandpa does not shrink from stealing money from his own grandchild – ironically, to benefit her, as he will undoubtedly say –, what else will he be ready to do? Where will it all end?
Chapter 26Tristram wrote: " ...offers them to take them along for a while. Is this out of helpfulness, of curiosity, or are there ulterior motives? And then, why does she so carefully consult her carter instead of just giving the orders? What might arise from this new acquaintance..."
I loved Mrs. Jarley from the start. What's not to love about a woman taking tea in a field while her horses graze nearby? I didn't pick it up from the written word, but when I listened to some of this on cd, I noticed that with an English accent "Jarley" sounds very much like "Jolly." Surely that bodes well for Nell and Gramps! And yet the skeptical questions you ask in your recap have me concerned. I hope time will confirm that Mrs. Jarley is one of the good guys on whom we can rely as we go along.
Surprisingly, as I started reading this chapter's summary it dawned on me that I'd already forgotten the schoolmaster and his favorite pupil. I'm not overly sentimental and my memory isn't what it used to be, but it does seem a short amount of time to already have forgotten such a scene, and it makes me wonder if the schoolmaster will have a part to play in Nell's future. Or is TOCS going to be episodic in nature, so that Nell learns from each experience she has, but the characters she comes across won't add to the overall plot?
Despite forgetting it so quickly, I do recall being a bit miffed by the rude response the schoolmaster gave Nell when she was bidding him farewell. He seemed a kind, thoughtful man up until that point. Can we put it down to grief, or is he another, more subtle example of people not being what they seem?
Chapter 27Tristram wrote: " ‘I should have thought you were old enough to take care of yourself, if you ever will be,’ retorted Mrs Jarley sharply.'..."
This line is another reason I love Mrs. Jarley!
I've been thinking about the whole Biblical analogy thing. Bare with me, because while see these things clearly when others point them out, I'm not good at seeing them on my own (which is why I love reading Dickens with all of you!). But if Nell is representative of Christ, doesn't that make Grandfather the symbol for mankind, i.e. all of us? Kind of a disturbing thought, isn't it? But Jesus was sent here to take on the burden of our worldly sins, just as Nell seems to be doing with Trent. Having not read TOCS before, I've no idea if I'm on the right track or not, but it seems to make sense. I hate to think I'm anything like Grandfather, though. :-)
Tristram wrote: "Why might Quilp take the trouble to follow Little Nell and her Grandfather? In a way, the plausibility of the whole novel depends on this, so we had better find a good reason …..."
Did Quilp say something specific to indicate that he was following Nell? I don't remember. Might it have been one of Dickens' infamous coincidences? It will, no doubt, have some meaning as we go along, but as I read it, I thought it may well have been happenstance.
Chapter 28Tristram wrote: "She couples these words with a hint at her own insomnia – a diagnosis that seems at variance with the fact that Little Nell heard her snore during the night "
Sleep apnea?
This is one of those chapters in which I feel as if 21st century readers are missing out on a lot. The subjects of Jarley's Waxworks must have been pop culture figures of their time, and we are likely missing out on some good humor. Does anyone have an annotated version that would shed light on some of these people? Or could they possibly be figures of the Inimitable's imagination? We just don't know. I do love the story of the man tickling his wife's feet, though. If that's based on a true story, I want to hear about it!
Chapter 29Tristram wrote: "Jem Groves..."
The only person I thought of when I read about the publican was Major Bagstock in Dombey, who also referred to himself in the third person all the time.
Tristram wrote: "An immediate change occurs in the old man..."
I thought this was very well written. I felt as if we could see his brain chemistry alter right before our very eyes.
And how could Little Nell have behaved more cleverly in such a situation? Why is she so passive?
I wondered that, too. But I think this is one of those times we need to remind ourselves that Nell is only 13 and cut her some slack. At least she had the forethought to sew a bit of money into her hem.
Chapter 30 Tristram wrote: "...Grandpa continues dealing out the cards and checking what might have been on them for him had he had enough money to keep the game up. …..."
I don't know any gamblers but, again, thought this was brilliantly written. Grandpa really has a monkey on his back.
she ... has the impression that somebody must have tailed her.
Could Quilp have somehow set this game up to draw Trent in? I don't see how -- how could he have known they go for a walk in that direction and be caught in a storm? Still....
Nell finds out that it is ... her own Grandfather that has slunk into her chamber and pilfered her money
It was my first thought that it had to be Grandfather, but I dismissed it because I thought, even in the dark, Nell would be able to recognize his breathing, his silhouette, his smell, etc. But I must have glossed over the fact that he was crawling, which would take the biggest tell, i.e. the silhouette, out of mix. Having dismissed that possibility fairly quickly, it then became a bit of a surprise to find it really was Trent all along.
Not since Quilp and Swiveller shattered the serenity at the Nubbles home have I been so engaged with the story as when I realized to what depths Trent would sink. I've been chomping at the bit to see what transpires next, and can now jump back in after having shown admirable self-control for the last several days. :-)
Mod
Tristram wrote: "...Grandpa continues dealing out the cards and checking what might have been on them for him had he had enough money to keep the game up. …..."
I don't know any gambl..."
Hi Mary Lou
I admire your self control. Me, I’m often a peeker, even when I read a mystery story. Me bad!
No spoilers, but your feelings and impressions of possible links to the Bible in TOCS may warrant your continued attention as we move throughout the novel.
The confusion we are experiencing over Nell’s age interests me too. I recently re-read The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London by Judith Flanders. She points out that the age of consent for a female was 12 and had been since the 16C. It was raised to 13 in 1875 and 16 in 1885.
Now, this in itself may not solve our question of Nell’s age but it does go to the fact that Dickens may not have considered the question of her age that important because she would have been viewed as mature regardless of her age in the novel.
This is perhaps another incidence of how a 21C reader is not reading the novel through the same eyes and experience as a person from the 19C.
Kim wrote: "Where's Mr. Jarley?"Kim -- did you ever see the old Vincent Price movie, "House of Wax"? Maybe that could give us some clues. ;-)
Tristram wrote: ...what we make of the relationship between Little Nell and her grandparent. Is it believable, or is it also to be taken symbolically?I don't like the relationship, but I think it's symbolic, because Dickens is very repetitive about Grandpa "needing" Nell, looking to her to make decisions, and feeling lost without her. I think Nell represents the conscience or divine guide. I could be wrong, but that's what I'm thinking now.
Mary Lou wrote: "But if Nell is representative of Christ, doesn't that make Grandfather the symbol for mankind, i.e. all of us? Kind of a disturbing thought, isn't it? But Jesus was sent here to take on the burden of our worldly sins, just as Nell seems to be doing with Trent."
I like this analogy! This is very possible, in light of the Biblical references.
Peter wrote: "I recently re-read The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London by Judith Flanders. She points out that the age of consent for a female was 12 and had been since the 16C. It was raised to 13 in 1875 and 16 in 1885. "Wow, thanks for sharing, Peter. 12 is way too young, to my mind. It's amazing how different modern life is compared to the rest of history. This knowledge puts a different spin on Quilp's "advances towards conversation" in the earlier scenes, since Nell was technically old enough to consent.
I'm convinced this journey is more an opportunity for Dickens to put to use some vignettes he had lying around than it is to tell the larger story. Grandpa and Nell are the means of conveyance and continuity, but they are barely involved. Mostly they are off stage. It's the people we meet who are the real characters, the ones who take center stage.Eventually this has to end, and we'll be getting back to the story. But while it lasts it is an interesting glimpse into the creative genius of a writer who's best known for the characters he created. He makes it look too easy. It is also an interesting glimpse at the Victorian England countryside.
We put a lot of emphasis on the names Dickens gives his characters. That just makes it all the more interesting that some we have met here have no names, yet they are as memorable as the ones who do. It's the mannerisms Dickens attributes to them that sticks in the mind -- a little house on wheels, a lady having tea in the middle of nowhere, and a man who drinks from a stone cup until he is practically laid out on his back. These mannerisms are names in themselves.
PS: the woman gives us a less favorable opinion of Punch and Judy, doesn't she?
PS: I noted the lady ate the crumbs she scooped up off the table, an indication of her own hunger, perhaps? Yet she offers tea and food to grandpa and Nell and insists they consume it all.
Mod
The Lady of the Caravan
Phiz
Text Illustrated:
The afternoon had worn away into a beautiful evening, when they arrived at a point where the road made a sharp turn and struck across a common. On the border of this common, and close to the hedge which divided it from the cultivated fields, a caravan was drawn up to rest; upon which, by reason of its situation, they came so suddenly that they could not have avoided it if they would.
It was not a shabby, dingy, dusty cart, but a smart little house upon wheels, with white dimity curtains festooning the windows, and window-shutters of green picked out with panels of a staring red, in which happily-contrasted colours the whole concern shone brilliant. Neither was it a poor caravan drawn by a single donkey or emaciated horse, for a pair of horses in pretty good condition were released from the shafts and grazing on the frouzy grass. Neither was it a gipsy caravan, for at the open door (graced with a bright brass knocker) sat a Christian lady, stout and comfortable to look upon, who wore a large bonnet trembling with bows. And that it was not an unprovided or destitute caravan was clear from this lady’s occupation, which was the very pleasant and refreshing one of taking tea. The tea-things, including a bottle of rather suspicious character and a cold knuckle of ham, were set forth upon a drum, covered with a white napkin; and there, as if at the most convenient round-table in all the world, sat this roving lady, taking her tea and enjoying the prospect.
It happened that at that moment the lady of the caravan had her cup (which, that everything about her might be of a stout and comfortable kind, was a breakfast cup) to her lips, and that having her eyes lifted to the sky in her enjoyment of the full flavour of the tea, not unmingled possibly with just the slightest dash or gleam of something out of the suspicious bottle—but this is mere speculation and not distinct matter of history—it happened that being thus agreeably engaged, she did not see the travellers when they first came up. It was not until she was in the act of getting down the cup, and drawing a long breath after the exertion of causing its contents to disappear, that the lady of the caravan beheld an old man and a young child walking slowly by, and glancing at her proceedings with eyes of modest but hungry admiration.
Commentary:
The Old Curiosity Shop more than in any of the other novels, Phiz's illustrations — and the more noticeably so in their contrast with Cattermole's — emphasize the unruliness of the energies unleashed by Dickens' imagination. Thanks to Phiz to some extent the illustrated novel is dominated by those energies rather than by the idealizing and religious sentiments which Dickens himself evidently wished to consider the main thrust of the work.
Mod
She handed down to them the tea tray, the bread and butter, the knuckle of ham, in short, everything of which she had partaken herself.
Chapter 26
Charles Green
Scenes and Characters from the works of Charles Dickens
Text Illustrated:
The lady of the caravan was in the act of gathering her tea equipage together preparatory to clearing the table, but noting the child’s anxious manner she hesitated and stopped. The child curtseyed, thanked her for her information, and giving her hand to the old man had already got some fifty yards or so away, when the lady of the caravan called to her to return.
‘Come nearer, nearer still,’ said she, beckoning to her to ascend the steps. ‘Are you hungry, child?’
‘Not very, but we are tired, and it’s—it is a long way.’
‘Well, hungry or not, you had better have some tea,’ rejoined her new acquaintance. ‘I suppose you are agreeable to that, old gentleman?’
The grandfather humbly pulled off his hat and thanked her. The lady of the caravan then bade him come up the steps likewise, but the drum proving an inconvenient table for two, they descended again, and sat upon the grass, where she handed down to them the tea-tray, the bread and butter, the knuckle of ham, and in short everything of which she had partaken herself, except the bottle which she had already embraced an opportunity of slipping into her pocket.
‘Set ‘em out near the hind wheels, child, that’s the best place,’ said their friend, superintending the arrangements from above. ‘Now hand up the teapot for a little more hot water, and a pinch of fresh tea, and then both of you eat and drink as much as you can, and don’t spare anything; that’s all I ask of you.’
They might perhaps have carried out the lady’s wish, if it had been less freely expressed, or even if it had not been expressed at all. But as this direction relieved them from any shadow of delicacy or uneasiness, they made a hearty meal and enjoyed it to the utmost.
While they were thus engaged, the lady of the caravan alighted on the earth, and with her hands clasped behind her, and her large bonnet trembling excessively, walked up and down in a measured tread and very stately manner, surveying the caravan from time to time with an air of calm delight, and deriving particular gratification from the red panels and the brass knocker. When she had taken this gentle exercise for some time, she sat down upon the steps and called ‘George’; whereupon a man in a carter’s frock, who had been so shrouded in a hedge up to this time as to see everything that passed without being seen himself, parted the twigs that concealed him, and appeared in a sitting attitude, supporting on his legs a baking-dish and a half-gallon stone bottle, and bearing in his right hand a knife, and in his left a fork.
‘Yes, Missus,’ said George.
Mod
'Come nearer, nearer still, said she, beckoning to her to ascend the steps. 'Are you hungry, child?"
Chapter 26
Arthur Dixon
Text Illustrated:
‘Come nearer, nearer still,’ said she, beckoning to her to ascend the steps. ‘Are you hungry, child?’
‘Not very, but we are tired, and it’s—it is a long way.’
‘Well, hungry or not, you had better have some tea,’ rejoined her new acquaintance. ‘I suppose you are agreeable to that, old gentleman?’
The grandfather humbly pulled off his hat and thanked her. The lady of the caravan then bade him come up the steps likewise, but the drum proving an inconvenient table for two, they descended again, and sat upon the grass, where she handed down to them the tea-tray, the bread and butter, the knuckle of ham, and in short everything of which she had partaken herself, except the bottle which she had already embraced an opportunity of slipping into her pocket.
‘Set ‘em out near the hind wheels, child, that’s the best place,’ said their friend, superintending the arrangements from above. ‘Now hand up the teapot for a little more hot water, and a pinch of fresh tea, and then both of you eat and drink as much as you can, and don’t spare anything; that’s all I ask of you.’
They might perhaps have carried out the lady’s wish, if it had been less freely expressed, or even if it had not been expressed at all. But as this direction relieved them from any shadow of delicacy or uneasiness, they made a hearty meal and enjoyed it to the utmost.
Commentary:
Arthur Dixon 1872-1959, was a prolific English illustrator. His work is described as conventional and prosaic with sentimental tones, but generally competent. He was a painter of genre, landscapes, in both oil and watercolour, and exhibited between 1884 and 1917. He illustrated dozens of books including fairy tales, school books for girls, the classic tales of Dickens, Dumas, Hugo and many others. His work described as “conventional and prosaic with sentimental overtones, but generally competent” in Dictionary of British Book Illustrators.
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Mrs. Jarley
Chapter 26
H. M. Brock
Commentary:
Henry Matthew Brock (1875-1960), the son of a specialist reader in oriental languages for Cambridge University Press, was the brother of the better-known artist Charles Edmund Brock (1870-1938), with whom he shared a studio. Like his brother, he contributed to the great magazine of Victorian humour, Punch, but unlike Charles Edmund, who painted in oils and was elected a member of the British Institution, the younger Brock worked in advertising.
Most of Brock's illustrations were for classic Victorian and Edwardian fiction. He also did a great deal of work for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for whom he produced posters and other advertising materials. During his artistic career, H. M. Brock regularly exhibited his drawings and watercolours at the Royal Academy and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. He became a full member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours in 1907, and joined the newly-formed Society of Graphic Art in 1921.
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Little Nell and her Grandfather
Chapter 26
It says by Phiz, but it doesn't look like Phiz to me and it isn't in my copy.
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LITTLE NELL AND HER GRANDFATHER
Chapter 26
Jessie Willcox Smith
1925
The Children of Dickens by Samuel McChord Crothers
Charles Scribner's Sons 1925
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Mrs. Jarley
Chapter 26
An early photoprint dated to 1910, titled 'The Genuine and Only Jarley' by Ernest Nister. An Illustration from The Old Curiosity Shop.
Commentary:
Ernest Nister (1841–1906) was a publisher and printer of movable books for children and paper ephemera such as greeting cards, post cards, and calendars. He was born in Darmstadt, Germany and later had an office in London. He refined the techniques used in the design of "magic windows," "dissolving picture," and pop-up books, publishing them from his firm based in Nuremberg, a toy-making center of the nineteenth century.
Although not the first to invent pop-up books, he was the first to invent automatic pop-up books. Before Nister, pop-ups had to be manually maneuvered into an upright position. "Pop-up books" is a term sometimes applied to other movable books, volvelles, tunnel books, pull tabs, and other varied forms of paper engineering; similar techniques such as die cutting and embossing are often also used in greeting cards. Children's books with movable parts are subject to the play of children and may not work properly after heavy use. Older mechanical books in library or personal collections can be preserved by professional conservators. The older original first edition books by Ernest Nister can be found in antiquarian book stores and the archives of Library rare book collections.
It is not known exactly how much of his own drawing he contributed to the illustrations of the books he edited and printed, but he would sometimes remove an artist's name and replace it with his own. Louis Wain, known for his anthropomorphic cats, was one of the illustrators who worked for Nister. In 1894, Beatrix Potter sold a series of verses and illustrations to Nister for his Changing Pictures series.
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Mrs. Jarley entertains Little Nell and her grandfather to tea
Chapter 26
An early 20th c. letterpress by Fred Pegram
Commentary:
Fred Pegram or Frederick Pegram was a prolific English illustrator and cartoonist who produced work for The Pall Mall Gazette, Punch Magazine, The Idler, Illustrated London News, The Tatler, and The Daily Chronicle. He studied under Fred Brown and spent some time in Paris. He also painted, drew pencil portraits, did watercolours, used chalk and pastel, and produced etchings. He became one of the most consistent of magazine illustrators, maintaining a high standard and preferring a Georgian setting for his works. He succumbed to lung cancer on 23 August 1937.
The son of Alfred Pegram, a cabinet maker, Frederick, enrolled at the Westminster School of Art at age 15. Some of his fellow students were Henry Tonks, Aubrey Beardsley and Maurice Greiffenhagen. Pegram served as Special Constable at Buckingham Palace during World War I. Pegram's draughtsmanship was widely acclaimed and he produced the artwork for Mackintosh's Toffee advertisements, Player's, Ronuk Wax Polish, Selfridges, and some versions of the iconic Kodak Girl. Between 1889 and 1904 he exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, and in 1925 was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours. He also designed posters for the Underground Group. In 1918 he moved into one of 15 artist's studios that were known as 'The Avenue' and located at 76 Fulham Road.....
I'm beginning to think we will never be done drinking tea with Mrs Jarley. Maybe Mr. Jarley went to get something else to drink.
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Nell hides from Quilp
Chapter 27
Phiz
Text Illustrated:
She had taken leave of her grandfather and was returning to the other waggon, when she was tempted by the coolness of the night to linger for a little while in the air. The moon was shining down upon the old gateway of the town, leaving the low archway very black and dark; and with a mingled sensation of curiosity and fear, she slowly approached the gate, and stood still to look up at it, wondering to see how dark, and grim, and old, and cold, it looked.
There was an empty niche from which some old statue had fallen or been carried away hundreds of years ago, and she was thinking what strange people it must have looked down upon when it stood there, and how many hard struggles might have taken place, and how many murders might have been done, upon that silent spot, when there suddenly emerged from the black shade of the arch, a man. The instant he appeared, she recognised him—Who could have failed to recognise, in that instant, the ugly misshapen Quilp!
The street beyond was so narrow, and the shadow of the houses on one side of the way so deep, that he seemed to have risen out of the earth. But there he was. The child withdrew into a dark corner, and saw him pass close to her. He had a stick in his hand, and, when he had got clear of the shadow of the gateway, he leant upon it, looked back—directly, as it seemed, towards where she stood—and beckoned.
To her? oh no, thank God, not to her; for as she stood, in an extremity of fear, hesitating whether to scream for help, or come from her hiding-place and fly, before he should draw nearer, there issued slowly forth from the arch another figure—that of a boy—who carried on his back a trunk.
‘Faster, sirrah!’ cried Quilp, looking up at the old gateway, and showing in the moonlight like some monstrous image that had come down from its niche and was casting a backward glance at its old house, ‘faster!’
‘It’s a dreadful heavy load, Sir,’ the boy pleaded. ‘I’ve come on very fast, considering.’
‘You have come fast, considering!’ retorted Quilp; ‘you creep, you dog, you crawl, you measure distance like a worm. There are the chimes now, half-past twelve.’
He stopped to listen, and then turning upon the boy with a suddenness and ferocity that made him start, asked at what hour that London coach passed the corner of the road. The boy replied, at one.
‘Come on then,’ said Quilp, ‘or I shall be too late. Faster—do you hear me? Faster.’
The boy made all the speed he could, and Quilp led onward, constantly turning back to threaten him, and urge him to greater haste. Nell did not dare to move until they were out of sight and hearing, and then hurried to where she had left her grandfather, feeling as if the very passing of the dwarf so near him must have filled him with alarm and terror. But he was sleeping soundly, and she softly withdrew.
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Mrs. Jarley's Waxworks
Chapter 28
Phiz
Text Illustrated:
When Nell had exhausted her first raptures at this glorious sight, Mrs Jarley ordered the room to be cleared of all but herself and the child, and, sitting herself down in an arm-chair in the centre, formally invested Nell with a willow wand, long used by herself for pointing out the characters, and was at great pains to instruct her in her duty.
‘That,’ said Mrs Jarley in her exhibition tone, as Nell touched a figure at the beginning of the platform, ‘is an unfortunate Maid of Honour in the Time of Queen Elizabeth, who died from pricking her finger in consequence of working upon a Sunday. Observe the blood which is trickling from her finger; also the gold-eyed needle of the period, with which she is at work.’
All this, Nell repeated twice or thrice: pointing to the finger and the needle at the right times: and then passed on to the next.
‘That, ladies and gentlemen,’ said Mrs Jarley, ‘is Jasper Packlemerton of atrocious memory, who courted and married fourteen wives, and destroyed them all, by tickling the soles of their feet when they were sleeping in the consciousness of innocence and virtue. On being brought to the scaffold and asked if he was sorry for what he had done, he replied yes, he was sorry for having let ‘em off so easy, and hoped all Christian husbands would pardon him the offence. Let this be a warning to all young ladies to be particular in the character of the gentlemen of their choice. Observe that his fingers are curled as if in the act of tickling, and that his face is represented with a wink, as he appeared when committing his barbarous murders.’
When Nell knew all about Mr Packlemerton, and could say it without faltering, Mrs Jarley passed on to the fat man, and then to the thin man, the tall man, the short man, the old lady who died of dancing at a hundred and thirty-two, the wild boy of the woods, the woman who poisoned fourteen families with pickled walnuts, and other historical characters and interesting but misguided individuals. And so well did Nell profit by her instructions, and so apt was she to remember them, that by the time they had been shut up together for a couple of hours, she was in full possession of the history of the whole establishment, and perfectly competent to the enlightenment of visitors.
Commentary:
Although many of Browne's early cuts for The Old Curiosity Shop are somewhat caricatured, comic portrayals of characters, his Quilp is a notable creation. Less has been said in favor of his Nell, but compared to Cattermole's, who is either a wax doll or barely visible, Browne makes us believe in the "cherry-cheeked, red-lipped" child Quilp describes so lecherously, and yet the artist never loses the pathos of Nell's situation — indeed, it could be argued that Phiz's Nell is more flesh and blood than Dickens'. Phiz seems to have transcended the rigidity of figure which characterized his virtuous females in Nicholas Nickleby.
The stylistic differences between the two illustrators are especially of interest because Browne traced all of George Cattermole's drawings for the earlier numbers — and some of the later ones as well — and transferred them to the woodblock (It has always been assumed that at some point fairly early, Cattermole took over the transferring of his own drawings; Yet among the tracings in the Gimbel Collection there are ones for Cattermole's designs for Barnaby Budge, all initialed "HKB," indicating that Browne continued to do at least some of this work for Cattermole nearly all the way through Master Humphrey's Clock.). The way Dickens seems to have seen the respective functions of his two illustrators, and the difficulty he had at times keeping to that conception, is typified in the evidence regarding an engraving of Nell cowering in fear that she will be seen by Quilp, who gestures to Tom Scott beneath an old arched gateway (ch. 27). As he wrote to Cattermole, the scene was put in "expressly with a view to your illustrious pencil. By a mistake, however, it went to Browne instead". Mrs. Leavis (Q. D. Leavis, Dickens the Novelist) is probably correct in conjecturing that Browne achieved a better effect than Cattermole would have, especially in emphasizing Dickens' description of Quilp ("like some monstrous image that had come down from its niche") by suggesting a visual parallel between the grotesque stone carvings and Quilp himself (Q. D. Leavis, p. 344). And the use of heavy, sinister looking architecture seems a precursor of Browne's later treatment of buildings in his dark plates. just how one should read the significance of the empty niches is more questionable, since Dickens' text specifically associates niches with monsters, rather than with the "guardian saints".
Dickens' intention to give the subject to Cattermole implies a peculiar prejudice in favor of this artist and a mistaken preconception about what subjects Browne is most capable of handling; it may be symptomatic that in no surviving correspondence does Dickens praise Browne's work as effusively as Cattermole's. The novelist also intended Cattermole to do the first illustration for Number 22, that of Nell and the cart which travels around town advertising the waxwork (ch. 29); he had even enclosed a "scrap" of the manuscript for that subject in the letter referred to above. But for reasons unknown, Browne did that one too.
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"That, Ladies and Gentlemen," said Mrs. Jarley, "is Jasper Packlemerton of atrocious memory."
Chapter 28
Charles Green
Scenes and Characters from the works of Charles Dickens
Text Illustrated:
When Nell had exhausted her first raptures at this glorious sight, Mrs Jarley ordered the room to be cleared of all but herself and the child, and, sitting herself down in an arm-chair in the centre, formally invested Nell with a willow wand, long used by herself for pointing out the characters, and was at great pains to instruct her in her duty.
‘That,’ said Mrs Jarley in her exhibition tone, as Nell touched a figure at the beginning of the platform, ‘is an unfortunate Maid of Honour in the Time of Queen Elizabeth, who died from pricking her finger in consequence of working upon a Sunday. Observe the blood which is trickling from her finger; also the gold-eyed needle of the period, with which she is at work.’
All this, Nell repeated twice or thrice: pointing to the finger and the needle at the right times: and then passed on to the next.
‘That, ladies and gentlemen,’ said Mrs Jarley, ‘is Jasper Packlemerton of atrocious memory, who courted and married fourteen wives, and destroyed them all, by tickling the soles of their feet when they were sleeping in the consciousness of innocence and virtue. On being brought to the scaffold and asked if he was sorry for what he had done, he replied yes, he was sorry for having let ‘em off so easy, and hoped all Christian husbands would pardon him the offence. Let this be a warning to all young ladies to be particular in the character of the gentlemen of their choice. Observe that his fingers are curled as if in the act of tickling, and that his face is represented with a wink, as he appeared when committing his barbarous murders.’
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Nell rode slowly through the town every morning
Chapter 29
Phiz
Text Illustrated:
Unquestionably Mrs Jarley had an inventive genius. In the midst of the various devices for attracting visitors to the exhibition, little Nell was not forgotten. The light cart in which the Brigand usually made his perambulations being gaily dressed with flags and streamers, and the Brigand placed therein, contemplating the miniature of his beloved as usual, Nell was accommodated with a seat beside him, decorated with artificial flowers, and in this state and ceremony rode slowly through the town every morning, dispersing handbills from a basket, to the sound of drum and trumpet. The beauty of the child, coupled with her gentle and timid bearing, produced quite a sensation in the little country place. The Brigand, heretofore a source of exclusive interest in the streets, became a mere secondary consideration, and to be important only as a part of the show of which she was the chief attraction. Grown-up folks began to be interested in the bright-eyed girl, and some score of little boys fell desperately in love, and constantly left enclosures of nuts and apples, directed in small-text, at the wax-work door."
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And in this state and ceremony rode slowly through the town every morning.
Chapter 29
Charles Green
Text Illustrated:
"Unquestionably Mrs Jarley had an inventive genius. In the midst of the various devices for attracting visitors to the exhibition, little Nell was not forgotten. The light cart in which the Brigand usually made his perambulations being gaily dressed with flags and streamers, and the Brigand placed therein, contemplating the miniature of his beloved as usual, Nell was accommodated with a seat beside him, decorated with artificial flowers, and in this state and ceremony rode slowly through the town every morning, dispersing handbills from a basket, to the sound of drum and trumpet. The beauty of the child, coupled with her gentle and timid bearing, produced quite a sensation in the little country place. The Brigand, heretofore a source of exclusive interest in the streets, became a mere secondary consideration, and to be important only as a part of the show of which she was the chief attraction. Grown-up folks began to be interested in the bright-eyed girl, and some score of little boys fell desperately in love, and constantly left enclosures of nuts and apples, directed in small-text, at the wax-work door."
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A Game of Cards
Chapter 29
Phiz
Text Illustrated:
The landlord, who conducted himself like one who was well used to such little parties, approached the table and took his seat. The child, in a perfect agony, drew her grandfather aside, and implored him, even then, to come away.
‘Come; and we may be so happy,’ said the child.
‘We will be happy,’ replied the old man hastily. ‘Let me go, Nell. The means of happiness are on the cards and the dice. We must rise from little winnings to great. There’s little to be won here; but great will come in time. I shall but win back my own, and it’s all for thee, my darling.’
‘God help us!’ cried the child. ‘Oh! what hard fortune brought us here?’
‘Hush!’ rejoined the old man laying his hand upon her mouth, ‘Fortune will not bear chiding. We must not reproach her, or she shuns us; I have found that out.’
‘Now, mister,’ said the stout man. ‘If you’re not coming yourself, give us the cards, will you?’
‘I am coming,’ cried the old man. ‘Sit thee down, Nell, sit thee down and look on. Be of good heart, it’s all for thee—all—every penny. I don’t tell them, no, no, or else they wouldn’t play, dreading the chance that such a cause must give me. Look at them. See what they are and what thou art. Who doubts that we must win!’
‘The gentleman has thought better of it, and isn’t coming,’ said Isaac, making as though he would rise from the table. ‘I’m sorry the gentleman’s daunted—nothing venture, nothing have—but the gentleman knows best.’
‘Why I am ready. You have all been slow but me,’ said the old man. ‘I wonder who is more anxious to begin than I.’
As he spoke he drew a chair to the table; and the other three closing round it at the same time, the game commenced.
The child sat by, and watched its progress with a troubled mind. Regardless of the run of luck, and mindful only of the desperate passion which had its hold upon her grandfather, losses and gains were to her alike. Exulting in some brief triumph, or cast down by a defeat, there he sat so wild and restless, so feverishly and intensely anxious, so terribly eager, so ravenous for the paltry stakes, that she could have almost better borne to see him dead. And yet she was the innocent cause of all this torture, and he, gambling with such a savage thirst for gain as the most insatiable gambler never felt, had not one selfish thought!
On the contrary, the other three—knaves and gamesters by their trade—while intent upon their game, were yet as cool and quiet as if every virtue had been centered in their breasts. Sometimes one would look up to smile to another, or to snuff the feeble candle, or to glance at the lightning as it shot through the open window and fluttering curtain, or to listen to some louder peal of thunder than the rest, with a kind of momentary impatience, as if it put him out; but there they sat, with a calm indifference to everything but their cards, perfect philosophers in appearance, and with no greater show of passion or excitement than if they had been made of stone.
Phiz let me down with his illustration. Does Mrs. Jarley have the mumps or some type of facial goiters? Yikes.His collection of wax figures is much more circus-like than Green's.
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Another week of reading The Old Curiosity Shop seems to be calling for another change of scene and another addition to the staff of the novel. And yet, even though Little Nell an..."
What has struck me with this week’s chapters has been how different people establish and define their homes. The schoolmaster has one type of life. Nell and her grandfather have the opportunity to experience the way he lives, works and creates his own world within society. Now, with Mrs Jarley, we have another type of home. The fact that she is having tea and offers to share it with Nell felt very domensric to me. Dickens gives Mrs Jarley, like the schoolmaster, their own unique characteristics and traits, but both characters offer Nell a home environment. Nell and her grandfather have been thrust from their home. From that moment, it seems to be Dickens has presented Nell in multiple domestic scenes, with multiple people. They all have a home of some description. Nell and her grandfather do not.
Everyone needs a home, a place to have tea, or dinner, or just to go to. Could it be that TOCS is about how we all need to find a home?
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The Lady of the Caravan
Phiz
Text Illustrated:
The afternoon had worn away into a beautiful evening, when they..."
Kim
Wonderful illustrations. All the various representations of Jarley were interesting. Mrs Jarley is such an interesting character. She is motherly and yet a shrewd business woman, thoughtful and yet lives in a world of fantasy, trustworthy and yet cautious. I’d like to meet her.
The carivan looks great in all its renditions. Naturally, I was interested in the Phiz illustrations. There are a couple of “Where’s Waldo” moments as well. Hablot Browne has incorporated his initials into his illustrations. It’s fun to search for them.
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Chapter 26
It says by Phiz, but it doesn't look like Phiz to me and it isn't in my copy."
I agree with you Kim. This does not fit with being a Phiz. The face renditions seem to be way off the mark. In fact, the entire visual presentation seems to be way off his methodology of illustration.
Chapter 27Finally, Nell engages in a conversation with Mrs. Jarley of some length. But it's questions and answers, and Nell's answers offer little insight into her feelings. We are now at chapter 27, and I have yet to hear her express herself, except about Kit. What's going on in that mind of hers? Where is the person named Nell hiding? Come out, come out, wherever you are!
She's a sketch, not a character.
I have to say, though, I'm enjoying the journey. We are seeing all kinds of people, and one never knows who or what one may come across next. It's fun.
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Tristram
I agree with you that the collection of waxwork figures can be summed up as a group of characters that contain sensationalist stories and strange deaths. I think that the waxwork figures add yet another element to the novel’s focus on nightmares, grotesque characters, dreamscape figures, actions, and settings. It seems that Nell is constantly surrounded by and battles through a series of events that force her to function in a world that is off its axis, a world that has become a living distortion.
Now, in these chapters, Nell must deal with dozens of figures who portray, in wax, the underbelly of humanity. That these wax figures are less than authentic and faithful in detail to their original living beings make them even more distorted. Nell’s job with Mrs Jarley is to describe these wax figures to paying customers, to bring to life these wax figures. I see that as a metaphor. Nell must explain what and who people are and make them understandable. Quilp is real and Nell cannot place him within a normal setting or world. Now she must deal with this further distorted world and try to make sense of it.
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The Lady of the Caravan
Phiz
Text Illustrated:
The afternoon had worn away into a beautiful evenin..."
Peter,
I can only second your encomium on Mrs. Jarley, who is an intriguing character, and I also second your second encomium on Kim‘s hunting out all those illustrations for us.
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Finally, Nell engages in a conversation with Mrs. Jarley of some length. But it's questions and answers, and Nell's answers offer little insight into her feelings. We are now at chapter..."
Yes, Xan, the fact that she does not speak about herself and that we get little insight into her character may have to do with the fact that there is not much of a character in that bubble of holiness.
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I actually used "encomium" in conversation a few weeks ago. I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with myself. 🙂 Those of us who spend a lot of time in the 19th century seem to have much better vocabularies than so many others.
Mary Lou wrote: "I actually used "encomium" in conversation a few weeks ago. I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with myself. 🙂 Those of us who spend a lot of time in the 19th century seem to have much better voc..."Next up, panegyric :)
and, yes, I don't believe I had ever come across "moiety" before. And there it was, hiding in the woods dividing Jarley's caravan in half.
True about the words. I recently looked up "frowzy" grass, which means scruffy, and "baize," a coarse, woolen fabric. I always read Dickens with a dictionary on hand. His vocabulary is impressive, especially when you consider his lack of formal schooling. I honesty think he studied words and word meanings to hone his craft.
Nice illustrations of Jarley. I like Mrs. Jarley and her sharp reply to Grandpa, "I should have thought you were old enough to take care of yourself." She seems like a prideful person, but she's confident in herself, and she also has a maternal side.
How sad that grandpa stole from Nell. He definitely has a gambling addiction. The wax figures, the appearance of Quilp, and grandpa's relapse all seem related to me. I'm intrigued by the scene in ch. 29, when Nell slept in the room with the wax figures, and she imagined them all to be Quilp. It's quite a horror scene:
"Quilp indeed was a perpetual night-mare to the child, who was constantly haunted by a vision of his ugly face and stunted figure. She slept, for their better security, in the room where the wax-work figures were, and she never retired to this place at night but she tortured herself—she could not help it—with imagining a resemblance, in some one or other of their death-like faces, to the dwarf, and this fancy would sometimes so gain upon her that she would almost believe he had removed the figure and stood within the clothes. Then there were so many of them with their great glassy eyes—and, as they stood one behind the other all about her bed, they looked so like living creatures, and yet so unlike in their grim stillness and silence..."
The wax figures remind me of Legion in the Bible. They're all naughty characters, like demons. I think Grandpa is the crazy old man in the Bible, possessed by Legion. He acts possessed. Quilp is the devil, which is why he appears in all those figures. Jesus banished Legion into a herd of pigs, and they jumped off a cliff. Is this why Mrs. Jarley eats pig knuckle? LOL. I wonder what will happen next.
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I like the word but I hardly ever indulge in encomia in real life myself because they disagree with my grumpiness.
Reading Peter Ackroyd this morning, I came across a word I had never heard before and which I rather liked: "fissiparous". I went to look it up and now I am waiting for an opportunity to use it.
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Maybe, he also read a lot of Shakespeare and other good authors - like we do ;-)
Another week of reading The Old Curiosity Shop seems to be calling for another change of scene and another addition to the staff of the novel. And yet, even though Little Nell and her Grandfather strike up some new acquaintances on the road, there is also an unexpected re-encounter with a particular friend of our travellers’.
At the beginning of Chapter 26 we see Nell and the schoolmaster return home broken-hearted from the little scholar’s death-bed. As usual, but this time probably for a better reason, Little Nell, as soon as she is in her bed “gave free vent to the sorrow with which her breast was overcharged.” However, she also derives a “lesson of content and gratitude” from the whole tragedy, namely that she is still in “health and freedom” and that her Grandfather is with her, or rather, maybe, she with him.
We then get a passage of purple prose, which we might want to keep in mind:
Why does our narrator intend by this remark? What might the “plain and easy moral” that Little Nell stores in her mind be? What are the similarities between herself and the little scholar? Both seem to be vital companions to solitary, somewhat outcast adults, but apart from that?
Finally the hour comes to say farewell to the old schoolmaster, and – to tell you the truth – I am quite relieved because Nell might have ended up feeling responsible for two people apart from herself, whom she does not seem to particularly feel responsible for. Her kind words, i.e. that she will never forget him, the schoolmaster retorts with an answer full of self-pity, namely
Why do you think does the old teacher react in this slightly petulant way? The farewell scene takes quite long, probably also because Nell has a bad conscience (she was even willing to give him the money she received at the races but he declined the offer), but eventually, Nell and her Grandfather are on the road again, which gives me the opportunity to put in a link to a very good song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi...
While the song was playing, Little Nell and her companion have arrived at a scene dominated by a caravan with a compact matron sitting in front of it.
The bottle of suspicious character may cast some doubt as to the trustworthiness of the lady, but the lady addresses Little Nell, making it clear that she has seen our heroine before, at the races, in the company of what she pleases to call “’a Punch; a low, practical, wulgar wretch, that people scorn to look at.’”
Nell explains to her the cause of their acquaintance with Short and Codlin, and in the course of the ensuing conversation, the two wayfarers are invited by the matron to partake of her meal. They soon learn that there is also a man called George, apparently her carter, who has been sitting concealed in the bushes, eating and drinking, and able to follow the whole conversation without being noticed by Nell and her companion. George has a very non-committal way of talking about him, and when the lady asks him whether the additional load of two passengers might be too much for the horses – the prospect of walking eight miles has brought another tear to Little Nell’s eyes –, he seems to entertain certain doubts as to whether the two travellers should be taken along. After all, he says, they must be only slightly lighter than Oliver Cromwell.
Little Nell wonders at the man’s ability to tell the weight of a long-dead man, and a famous one at that, but instead of wondering with her, we could go on reading the next few chapters and find the answer to that puzzle.
Just some questions to round off the first chapter recap: What do you think of the matron and her intentions? She allows two strangers to partake of their meal – with these words: “’both of you eat and drink as much as you can, and don’t spare anything: that’s all I ask of you’” – and then offers them to take them along for a while. Is this out of helpfulness, of curiosity, or are there ulterior motives? And then, why does she so carefully consult her carter instead of just giving the orders? What might arise from this new acquaintance?