Dickensians! discussion

This is the thread to discuss Mr. Nightingale's Diary: A Farce In One Act, which is our final group read of a Dickens farce for the "Dramatic Dickens!" season.

It is another collaborative work, this time between Charles Dickens and ... well I'll let Sam tell you all about it 😊

Reading of this fun work will be between 1st and 14th September.

***PLEASE LET SAM COMMENT FIRST! Thank you!

Hello everyone. Welcome to the discussion of [book:Mr. Nightingale's Diary: A Farce In One Act|3450254. This is the last of our readings of Dickens dramatic works as Jean already pointed out. This is also the end of summer or back to school time and since everyone is surely busy, I am hoping to encourage everyone to have little fun with this given we are reading a farce. IMO, farces are somewhat difficult to just read as much of the humor stems from seeing the actual performance. Here we have to imagine what the actors are doing beyond just reading their lines to make this an enjoyable farce and I hope we can perhaps help each other in this by sharing how we envision the play being staged.

Because it is a one act farce, I am going to deviate a bit from our usual approach and encourage you to read this straight through once and try to imagine it as if you were seeing it on stage performed by a company of celebrity writers and amateur actors, with Charles Dickens playing the character of Mr. Gabblewig, a lovelorn soul whose suit to marry has been rejected by the girl's uncle, Mr. Nightingale. played by Dudley Costello, a Victorian journalist and writer. The foil in this play is a character Slap, using an alias, Mr. Flormiville and is played by Mark Lemon , co-author of the play and a very well known farce writer and founding editor of Punch. These primaries will all meet in the Water Lily hotel in Malvern Hills which was known for the supposed healing properties of its spring water with Wilkie Collins playing the landlord.

As you imagine the play try to think of what each actor might bring to their role to add to the humor.

Sharing our thoughts on this will be the goal of the first six days of our read. September 1-6. I will try and post something of how I imagined it each day and hope you will do the same because I may see things differently from you.

On September 7-8 we will discuss authorship and I will share some information on varied sources that give us the present play.

On September 9-10 we will discuss the water cure and how Dickens references it and other health related motifs in the play.

On September 11-12, we will discuss any other interesting elements associated with the play.

The final days of this topic shall be devoted to our feelings about the whole of our readings, what we thought of the dramas, or learned or anything generally related.

So I hope you will join me in exploring this last of our sunmmer reads.

Great plan! Thanks Sam 😊

I am looking forward to the discussions. The outline plan for discussion is great and will certainly give us a complete understanding of the play, the players, and the historical circumstances.

This sounds like the perfect approach, Sam, and the background you provided is very helpful. I'm looking forward to reading and imagining this!

The actors' body language is just as important as the written words in a farce, so your emphasis on using our imagination is certainly important, Sam. This should be a fun read!

Sam wrote: "Hello everyone. ."

I will be joining in, Sam. I love the creative way you are approaching the play. It nearly drove me wild to take No Thoroughfare in pieces, especially as Charles Dickens had Wilkie Collins re-format it as a play to be seen all at once.

Looking forward to the discussion!

Hello everyone! Thanks for the comments and for those who have started I hope you are beginning to imagine the play and enjoying the exercise. Today I am posting a short introduction, a warm-up to picturing the actual play.

For me to imagine this, I wanted to whet my appetite with a little more background information. Specifically, I wanted to be able to better picture a place and time, along with the occasion if there was one, and get a rough idea of the theater company, Thankfully, there is a lot of information on this play due to the scholarship of Leona Weaver Fisher in her book Lemon, Dickens, and Mr. Nightingale's Diary: A Victorian Farce which studies the play's origins and is helpful beyond measure. Unfortunately, I found little online about the author except from her bio from the back of the book. She was a professor of English at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. at the time of printing in 1988, and also authored " Mark Lemon's Farces on the 'Woman Question.' "
According to Ms. Fisher, the play premiered at Devonshire House, (Piccadilly, I presume) on May 27, 1851. One of these days, I will risk adding artwork but for now I am linking a Wikipedia article on Devonshire House with pictures for those interested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devonsh...

The play was to be an afterpiece to Edward Bulwer Lytton's "Not So Bad As We Seem," which had premiered previously and had already played to the Queen. We have spoken of Lytton in the past and despite a somewhat bad reputation his work developed to due to his association with the line, 'a dark and stormy night, he was a fine author and very popular in Dickens' time. The player's company consisted of a group of well known amateurs whose goal was to raise funds through productions for a new Guild of Literature and Art. originated by Dickens and Lytton. So we are going to be in an amateur theatrical setting in the well known Devonshire House, watching a who's who of of the literary elite having a bit of fun for a good cause. It is late May with predictable accompanying weather, and a good year for entertainment with the Great Exhibition having just started not far away with its spectacular Crystal Palace built for the occasion.

I am going to try and imagine this from a seat in the audience rather than as a director or writer, since I am not well-acquainted with the theater of the time. For that I want to send you to another link to a picture, (actually, a drawing of the performance of Lytton's play from a couple of weeks earlier than ours performed before the Queen.) I am using the Amazon link because the picture is copyrighted.

https://www.amazon.com/Private-Namate...

With our setting established, my next post will begin the play.

That's a fantastic engraving, and really captures the feel of the stage and setting - great find, thanks Sam! We commented in an earlier read how sad it was that Devonshire House has been demolished.

Oh just in case, to avoid confusion with similar names ...

the Devonshire House the plays were staged at is not where Charles Dickens lived in in 1839 to 1851 (the year this farce was produced). His address was 1 Devonshire Terrace https://www.londonremembers.com/subje...

and they were just about to move to Tavistock House.

Today's post will be brief. We are now sitting in the audience waiting for our farce to begin. We have sat through "Not So Bad As We Seem," a five act comedy, and now is the afterpiece which is usually a short humorous or musical piece, in this case a farce. We would be bit more relaxed, and ready to laugh, expecting that farce.

The scene opens with a doorbell being rung "violently," according to the stage notes and offstage a voice is heard yelling for the landlord , a waiter,..."Somebody!!" obviously wanting help. Then our first player enters carrying a large amount of luggage. A second character enters and it is the landlord, Lithers. He is played by Wilkie Collins, but we don't see Wilkie Collins, the famous author, because the character is young man of 26 and that fame would come from works to be written many years ahead. the young man is made up to appear older, but the youth would show through and he invites our first player, named Tip, into the common room of the Water Lily Hotel. We do recognize the first character since it is the same actor who played the lead in the feature play we just saw and he is played by Augustus Egg. People would know of him if not outright recognize him for his family name and status. He is an artist and too will achieve quite some fame in years to come. He is about ten years older than the landlord character.

Lithers addresses Tip, calling him, "boy," and our farce instantly is begun. Tip is offended and now comes a playful verbal struggle as the two exchange power roles engaging in wordplay rife with misunderstanding and we are chuckling because of the obvious age and class difference between the two that reinforces the dialogue,

Now a new voice is heard from without calling for his "puppy, which answers to the name of Tip," and if we don't recognize the voice, we do anticipate it as the famous Boz, and this is confirmed as he enters the stage, probably to some applause, and here we will stop, continuing tomorrow with the entrance of Gabblewig, played by Charles Dickens.

Sam, thank you for giving us some background on the actors who are entering the stage. These amateur actors were personal friends of Dickens who shared a love of the theatre. As Sam mentioned earlier, the plays were a benefit to raise money for a Guild of Literature and Art. Most of the cast members were writers and artists with a strong personal interest in the Guild.

Dickens never had any love for lawyers in his works. Gabblewig is a great name since lawyers are known for their incessant jabbering, and those in the legal profession wore wigs to court.

I love your description Sam, and really felt I was there!

"He is played by Wilkie Collins, but we don't see Wilkie Collins, the famous author, because the character is young man of 26 and that fame would come from works to be written many years ahead. the young man is made up to appear older,"

This is a very good point! We are now in 1851, and the 3 youngish men Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins (far younger of course) and Augustus Egg all had a very youthful appearance. I think I've posted before about their beard-growing competition (sorry- can't find it to link to!) when they went to Italy in 1853, just 2 years later.

Charles Dickens grew a moustache and ‘Newgate Fringe’ (hair under the chin). All three men were attempting to cultivate facial hair and Charles Dickens said:

“Collins’s moustache is gradually developing … He smooths it down over his mouth, in imitation of the present great Original …”

and compared Egg’s to those of the Witches in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. He also expressed chagrin that his valet had also begun to grow one. (Perhaps it was much more luxurious!)

John Forster disapproved, and called them a ‘hideous disfigurement’.

I remember from the recent exhibition about Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins at Doughty Street, that they were so measly, that after a while all three shaved them off!

Here's more: https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2012/...

Sam wrote: "Today's post will be brief. We are now sitting in the audience waiting for our farce to begin. We have sat through "Not So Bad As We Seem," a five act comedy, and now is the afterpiece which is usu..."

Sam, I absolutely love how you're bringing this to life!

Sam wrote: "Today's post will be brief. We are now sitting in the audience waiting for our farce to begin. We have sat through "Not So Bad As We Seem," a five act comedy, and now is the afterpiece which is usu..."

Sam

You have captured the mood of the play perfectly. What fun it must have been to be in the audience and see this farce.

Such energy goes into a farce. Constant movement, fast witty dialogue, costume - and sex - changes by the actors.

It is so difficult to imagine any play. Plays are meant to be seen; even more so a farce. I agree with you on how we need to imagine the exaggerated body movements, the overly-expressive facial expressions.

I don’t think I’m romanticizing too much. And then to consider the gaslit stage. Wow.

Connie wrote: "Sam, thank you for giving us some background on the actors who are entering the stage. These amateur actors were personal friends of Dickens who shared a love of the theatre. As Sam mentioned earli..."

Hi Connie

Yes indeed. The Guild of Literature and Art was both a welcome aid to artists in need and an incredible gathering of 19C personalities. When I look at the actor's list for some of the performances it’s hard to believe so many notable people could be assembled to prepare, rehearse, and then perform. Certainly, a testament to both the assembled group and to Dickens for bringing so many important figures together.

Peter "we need to imagine the exaggerated body movements, the overly-expressive facial expressions" and Sam -

This triggered a memory of Lori's excellent posts on acting melodrama, from our recent read of The Frozen Deep ... Mr. Nightingale's Diary: A Farce In One Act is not only a farce but a melodrama. There are several posts before this, but these diagrams of conventional poses are so good! LINK HERE

(I love your new profile pic Peter! It's so nice to see you without Queen Victoria grabbing all the limelight!)

I have a doctor's appointment and real life bookclub today and since I frittered away most of the early part of the day, I may not post later. If not, I will get to it first thing in my AM

Thank you Sam for the link to the drawing of the Devonshire Theatre. It really helps me imagine sitting in the audience.

The staging notes written into the play are helping my imagination as well. There is a very explicit one right at the beginning which instructs Lithers to come face to face with Gabblewig. I'm picturing them almost nose to nose in an exaggerated fashion, which would be hilarious.

Thanks everyone for the comments, and I do encourage you to share even what you may think is the slightest of additions. Connie associated Gabblewig's name with his being a lawyer and thus wearing a wig. This simply did not occur to me, obvious though it may be. Bridget further helped us visualize the humor in the confrontation between Lithers and Tip pointing out how she pictured the stage notation. On exaggerations of body movements, facial expressions and even of the language in the text, I wish to add remarks from Leona Fisher from her book, noted above and from which I have been borrowing from a bit too liberally:

"... Gabblewig indulges in quantities of self-parodic posturing which suggest Dickens’s own pleasure in showing off and up-staging everyone. In this opening scene, Gabblewig goes on at great length to describe and exaggerate his torments, while Lithers merely feeds him questions."

From what I have read, Dickens enjoyed his staged presence and though they were a bit "hammy," it appears audiences loved this from him, so I imagine even more exaggeration from him and the characters engaged with him.

Also this seems a good time to address asides which are numerous in this play. I believe they are especially of note in an amateur production such as this since the audience as well as the stage would be filled with people that know one another fairly well. So imagine not just an anonymous audience but one filled with friends and family and a who's who of the arts scene in London at the time.

My last word is also from material in Ms. Fisher's book, and I will say more about it when we discuss authorship, There was extemporaneous creation or in simple terms a lot of ad-libbing. So the heart of the play might remain the same but variations in dialogue might occur from performance to performance .

Sam wrote: "Thanks everyone for the comments, and I do encourage you to share even what you may think is the slightest of additions. Connie associated Gabblewig's name with his being a lawyer and thus wearing ..."

Sam

Yes, I imagine Dickens would have really enjoyed farces as they allow, indeed encouraged, acting up ‘over the top.’ With audiences who were friends attending the play what a grand time to play up to the crowd. I wonder how many times what was written into the text of the play could be decoded by friends in the audience during the grand gestures and language and have had an additional extended meanings. The Frozen Deep comes to mind as an example.

How I would have enjoyed being at a performance.

Peter wrote: "How I would have enjoyed being at a performance."

I fully agree!

Frederic W. Pailthorpe created an illustration for the book showing Lither, Tip, and Gabblewig in the first scene. I love that he pictured Gabblewig looking just like Dickens!


The Morgan Library and Museum
https://www.themorgan.org/drawings/it...

I had not considered the audience knowing each other, that's a wonderful detail. Thank you Sam.

At risk of showing my ignorance, I'm going to ask a couple clarifying questions. When Lithers says "ever since you paid out that execution for me when I was in the green-grocery way", what does that mean? What execution and what is a green-grocer?

My second question is about "cold veal". That sounds disgusting to me . . . . would that have also been disgusting to Victorians? I'm guessing there is a joke here that I'm missing, because later on Slap orders - what seems to be - better food: steak, ham, fowl.

Bridget wrote: "I had not considered the audience knowing each other, that's a wonderful detail. Thank you Sam.

At risk of showing my ignorance, I'm going to ask a couple clarifying questions. When Lithers says "..."

Thank you very much for these questions! I was going to bring the subject up of not understanding certain things in a play because of difference in meanings over time, use of slang, and other various reasons. There are a number that confused me as well but most are later in the play.

I took the picking of "cold veal," term to mean a poor, distasteful, or unwise choice maybe because it is a more expensive cut and not considered as tasty cold , would be a waste to order it that way if there were better options. Another thought might be bacteria. Refrigeration was more of an issue in Victorian Times and perhaps veal was thought to spoil faster when leftover from cooking that would make it a poor choice, or maybe because the delicacy of flavor would be lost.

A green-grocer would be a person with a store or cart that sold fruits and vegetables, produce. I took the "execution"' to mean a writ or warrant of execution which are terms related to collecting on something owed to someone, a debt or compensation. I believe Lithers meant that Gabblewig paid off a debt for Lithers incurred when he was a green-grocer..

We still refer to fruit and vegetable shops as greengrocer's, by the way.

I also had not considered that the theater would be filled with people who actually knew the actors. It does bring a different dynamic (as those of us know who have had amateur actors in the family). I think it also makes it more fun for the actors and gives them a greater license to "ham it up".

Yes, I grew up calling it the greengrocer's too, but think most people I know now would have no idea what it meant. Love that illustration, Connie--especially Tip!

That's amazing Kathleen ... Perhaps they no longer exist in America and Canada, (where most in this thread live)? "Greengrocer's" is standard here. It would be a real mouthful to have to say "Can you call in at the fruit-and-vegetable-shop up the road for an apple please?"

Had a great laugh, Jean. I am a Southerner and we call ours the 'fruit stand', even though they also sell vegetables, of course. I called my sister yesterday and said "if you are going by the fruit stand pick me up some tomatoes."

Ah, right! I had visions of everything being in some sort of hypermarket!

We left off just as Gabblewig was entering stage and I'll leave it to you to imagine whether there was an ovation at the appearance of Dickens but the play moves on. After a bit about Lithers previous acquaintance with Gabblewig that we discussed in response to Bridget's post, Lithers informs Gabblewig how he came to be landlord of the Water Lily, through "(a little legacy my wife dropped into)," and in asking of Gabblewig's welfare, is told "I can't say I am pretty well," and note the stage direction, (moodily seats himself,), and Tip's following aside to the audience, "No more ain't I." Tip is sent packing (literally, taking the baggage to the kitchen) and we learn that Gabblewig is not in debt or drinking or dicing, but has been rejected as a suitor by the girl's Uncle. After the "Cold Veal," reference we find the in the reason why another nice jab at lawyers.


"He says I speak too fast, and am too slow — want reality of purpose, and all that. He says I 'm all words. What the devil else does he suppose I can be, being a lawyer ! He says I happen to be counsel for his daughter just now, but after marriage might be counsel for the opposite side." Gabblewig in his misery has come to Malvern for the "cold water cure." The dialogue on this is witty and exaggerated-- "If the waters of Malvern were the
waters of Lethe, I'd take a douche forty feet high this afternoon, and drink five-and-twenty tumblers before breakfast to-morrow morning. Anything to wash out the tormenting remembrance of Rosina Nightingale."


I was going to give a whole day to the water cure but since I am running late, I will probably just add a note as we go along. for, now, the water cure was a health fad from a few years prior, that consisted of dinking and bathing in the healthy waters from Malvern springs. Feel free to comment on this now if you wish.

Gabblewig had ended his his plaint with the name of Nightingale
and Lithers exclaims "Mr.Nightingale!" and Gabblewig replies "Nightingale," followed by some lines from Richard Barnfield's "As it fell upon a day," ( also known as "Address to a Nightingale, and also Philomel) Gabblewig attributes these to Shakespeare because the poem was published by Barnfield in a collection of poems, called, The Passionate Pilgrim all attributed to Shakespeare, but this was by Barnfield and I am not sure if this was an intended joke the audience would catch or an error.

But Surprise!, Guess who's coming to dinner!! Or at least to get the water cure himself, and it is none other than Mr. Nightingale on that very afternoon! There is lovely wordplay in the reading of the confirmation letter with Gabblewig misreading what's written and Lithers leaning over his shoulder correcting. And of course he is bring his niece!

Gabblewig--Support me.

Lithers-- Hold up Mr.Gabblewig.

Gabblewig--You might knock me down with a feather.

Lithers-- But you needn't knock me down with a barrister,

I knw I am doing a lot of quoting, the more often we read this the funnier it gets, imagining the physical humor that must have been carried on by Dickens and Collins.

We now get a link to the title of the play. It appears, Mr. Nightingale is a hopeless hypochondriac and keeps a record of his ailments and attempted cures in a diary which he has quoted in his letter of confirmation for the visit to the Water Lily. This visit prompts some scheming between Lithers and Gabblewig but ends with Gabblewig saying, "uncle won't give consent--stick won't beat dog--dog won't bite pig--pig won't get over stile--and so the lovers will never be married! Bring me the cold veal..." and quite soon after we here another voice form offstage "Halloa here!"

Continued tomorrow..



s

I really had to laugh aloud when Gabblewig started quoting The Old Woman and Her Pig. I don't think I had thought of that since I was six years old, but I remembered it immediately.

It is quite fun to picture Dickens and Collins doing slapstick on stage.

Thank you Sara, noting I left this unsourced leaving ample opportunity for someone to step in with more and potential illustrations, hint hint.

According to Wikipedia this illustration dates to 1 November 1819 by John Harris. The rhyme itself was part of verbal lore and first published on 27 May 1806 as "The True History of a Little Old Woman Who Found a Silver Penny" by Tabart & Co. at No. 157 New Bond Street, London.

Sara wrote: "

According to Wikipedia this illustration dates to 1 November 1819 by John Harris. The rhyme itself was part of verbal lore and first published on 27 May 1806 as "The True History of a Little Old ..."

Thank you again Sara.

Today's short post is devoted to Mark Lemon, credited as co-author of Mr. Nightingale's Diary. He was born in 1809 making him just three years older than Charles Dickens. He had an exceptional career in theater, writing over 60 works produced for the stage and journalism, having been a founding editor with Henry Mayhew of the humor magazine, Punch, and later sole editor while the publication gained wide success. He, meanwhile, was editing or contributing to other publications.

His acting was recognized, was known for his Shakespearean character imitations and he had a lead in the Bulwer-Lytton play performed earlier the same night of our play.

He is going to play the role of Snap and is about to enter the stage in our play.

He is especially important for our discussion of authorship. Leona Fisher in her previously mentioned book, Lemon, Dickens, and Mr. Nightingale's Diary, a Victorian Farce has included not only the text of the printed version of the play but a carefully transcribed copy of the hand written Mark Lemon's Autograph manuscript, Needless to say, this is invaluable to anyone wanting to see the actual differences in the copies and while Ms. Fisher points out some major differences leading her to believe this was Lemon's play than emended by Dickens, the opportunity to do some amateur scholarship of your own exists, since she mostly leaves fuller comparisons of the copies to readers. I got this late for the discussion which is probably good since I am sure I would have been arguing some fool idea I got from comparing the two and wasting your time by posting it here. Better to let you discover things for yourself if interested.
But there are numerous differences like, for example, the names of characters. Gabblewig, played by Dickens, was named Frank Heartwell in the autograph copy.

One of Mark Lemon's distinguishing characteristics was his size and shape. I am adding this picture if it works and try to picture him in respect to Dickens as the play continues.

Sam wrote: "Today's short post is devoted to Mark Lemon, credited as co-author of Mr. Nightingale's Diary. He was born in 1809 making him just three years older than Charles Dickens. He had an exceptional care..."

Hi Sam
Mark Lemon was certainly a man with wide literary talents. ‘Punch’ magazine was one of the preeminent literary magazines of the 19C. It, like the Guild of Literature and Art, attracted many of England’s best writers and illustrators. Indeed, there was a cross-pollination of people who were active in both enterprises.

I’ve often wondered about the chemistry between Mark Lemon and Henry Mayhew. Mayhew’s ‘Life and Labour of the London Poor’ seems very different from ‘Punch.’


I have been unable to get my hands on the Leona Fisher book you have mentioned. It sounds fascinating.

Oh to have seen Lemon and Dickens on the stage together.

Sam wrote: "Today's short post is devoted to Mark Lemon, credited as co-author of Mr. Nightingale's Diary. He was born in 1809 making him just three years older than Charles Dickens. He had an exceptional care..."

Thank you, Sam for doing all this research on Mark Lemon. I had not heard of him before reading this play, and he seems to be someone worth knowing more about.

I found a small bit of information about his relationship with Dickens, which some might find interesting. It started when I clicked on the link Jean provided about 1 Devonshire Terrace. I discovered that Charles and Catherine's 8 month old daughter, Dora, died at Devonshire Terrace. When I looked further into her short life, I read that Mark Lemon kept watch with Dickens over Dora's body all night on April 15, 1851 - just about a month before this play was performed.

Interestingly, Catherine wasn't home. She was recuperating in Malvern.

I am also enjoying the background info. It really adds to the production when you have a mental image of the players.

The story of Dora is very sad, Bridget. It is hard to realize how many parents in those days dealt with infant deaths. Also difficult for me to fathom Dickens' life being such a mix of blessings and tragedies.

Thanks for the additional comments on Mark Lemon. I am also learning as I follow the reads in this group and I hear something new almost every day. One thing I have found is that the lesser known Victorian players are just as interesting as the famous ones and often quite accomplished.

"Halloo, here." was where we left off and that offstage voice belonged to the character "Slap," played by Mark Lemon, who enters using the alias, Mr. Formiville and asking about his luggage as he is greeted by Lithers. Lithers informs him it is here, three boxes and two foils, and then Slap, engages Lithers in a little stage business, where he removes his cap and asks Lithers to take it which he does and sets it down; then Slap removes his gloves, asks Lithers to take them and put them in the cap, which Lithers does; and then Slap asks Lithers to pick up the cap and hand it back to him, which Lithers does and you might be asking yourself what this is all about. My guess, and I am not sure, is that it is just a bit of stage business that helps to define Slap's character as the joker and scam artist and his victim here is Lithers who plays the straight man. I imagine audiences were familiar with this type of shtick and would have understood. More recent examples of this type of business can be seen in Marx Brothers' movies with Harpo being an absolute master of this type of game and Benny Hill aloused to use these type of routines in the skits on his TV series. I am afraid I cannot recall any really recent examples but you may think of them. Slap orders a quantity of food and wine from Lithers as well, and as he orders the wine, he says, "The price is no consideration, {aside) as I shall never pay for it."

So Slap is our somewhat likable villain. He is here to fleece someone. We shall move a little faster now with most of our characters introduced.

Lithers exits to get Slap's food and drink and Slap meanwhile sees Gabblewig and seeks to introduce himself as Formiville, but Gabblewig has already observed Slap and knows his tricks. Slap realizes it is Gabblewig and that he owes the man "£ 15, four shirts, and a waistcoat." He tries some flattery on Gabblewig, " —O sir, if I drop a tear upon that hand—" Gabblewig allows it but makes it clear to Slap, he knows Slap's dealings, mentioning Slap being involved in the "begging-letter business," a scam to fleece wealthier individuals of their money pretending to represent some charity. The equivalent now would be a fake "Go Fund Me," plea.


Gabblewig is building himself up to potential violence, "...when a gentleman of that description drops a tear on my hand, my hand has a tendency to drop itself on his nose." Slap begs him off blaming Nightingale for denoucing him to the Mendicity Society thus prejudicing Gabblewig against him, and tells Gabblewig he plans to get revenge on Nightingale when he arrives.

Gabblewig sees in this "trap for Nightingales," a possibility to redeem himself in the uncle's eyes and lays off Slap for now. He exits with a warning to slap to not steal the silverware.

We will end today with Slap rubbing his hands and plotting away as the best evil villains do, "But arise, black vengeance, Nightingale shall suffer doubly." And so we end today with Nightingale about to enter. Tomorrow, we will meet the last of our principal characters and remember the foils, Gabblewig's words about dresses in his luggage since these will figure in our play soon.

See the following link for more on The Society for the Suppression of Mendicity, a charitable organization with the aim of discouraging begging by letter or in person on the streets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society....

We left off as Mr. Nightingale arrives accompanied by his niece Rosina and her maid, Susan, played by professional actresses. Mr. Nightingale is played by Dudley Costello, a multitalented Irish Victorian, known as a journalist, travel writer and artist. He is a hypochondriac and keeps records of his various ailments and attempted cures in his diary. He is at Malvern for the water cure.

Hydrotherapy or "water cure," has a long history and is still present today but for our purposes, I will limit our discussion to Malvern in Victorian times. James Mamby Gully and James Wilson started a water cure clinic in Malvern in 1842 to take advantage of the supposed medicinal properties of Malvern spring water following the success of such clinics in Austria. Hydrotherapy caught on, became a fad, and Malvern became host to many celebrities including Charles Dickens himself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroth...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malvern...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malvern...

The treatments are various and let the pictures serve instead of text.







For a further read on the Malvern water cure clinics you might want to look at Ruler of the Night by David Morell, a modern mystery set in 1855 Malvern.

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/gue...

The plot of our farce is going to get quite complicated now and I only wanted to get us all imagining, not fully summarize the play in this topic. Plus we are beginning to be pressed for time and everyone is going to be wanting to get ready of Bionic Jean's led journey with Nicholas Nickelby. So just as the plot starts to complicate and the costume changing is beginning. I am going to be leaving everyone to finish their imaginings on their own. I will add one more post that carries us through the first bit of pretending where Gabblewig will pretend to be. "Boots," and engage with Slap. There will be several more incidents where characters dress up as others but I don't want to spoil them completely by delineating them here. My intent was to provide a taste. So tomorrow will be my post on imagining the play and the last two days will be be for any comments or questions from you on Mr. Nightingale's Diary and any comments on our drama readings as a whole. We covered a lot of material and I have enjoyed it all, especially the various member led discussions. So I will drop my last post on imagining the play tomorrow.

Sam

I am thoroughly enjoying your summaries and comments. They help put the play in our minds and imaginations.

I agree that the rather liberal use of the aside adds greatly to the plot. The asides help the reader/audience define the speaker, get a feeling for how the plot will advance, and adds to the farce’s humour. In my imagination I always picture the speaker of the aside’s face being very comical and playing to the audience. Since the speech is an aside I also imagine how the lines would be delivered.

Reading a farce is quite the exercise for one’s imagination.

Thanks for all the wonderful information about hydrotherapy, Sam. I can't imagine people being very comfortable running around in wet sheets unless it was a scorching summer day!

I was wondering if Mr Nightingale was named for the nurse Florence Nightingale since he is a hypochondriac, and writes such detailed accounts of his health in his diary.

You've helped my imagining more than I could have dreamed, Sam! The picture of Mark Lemon has definitely enhanced my appreciation of Snap. And those water cures are fascinating. How desperate we are for relief sometimes! I think I have some (hopefully latent) hypochondriacal tendencies, so am thoroughly enjoying Mr. N's diary entries. :-)

I an having issues posting Goodreads, so I will see how far I get today. Thanks everyone for the kind words.

Mr. Nightingale while busy noting his symptoms sends his niece off with Lithers to fid her room and Lithers manages to whisper to Rosina that Gabblewig is in the establishment. Rosina screams in response but bluffs off this reaction as if she "felt something touch her heart." Her uncle thinks "a crick in his back" symptom of his is contagious and she has caught it. He asks Susan, the maid, if she feels anything but the maid does not and all of this is being delivered in witty dialogue. Rosina exits with Lithers and Susan follows seeing something is up. Mr. Nightingale notes Slap eating but goes back to noting his various ailments in his diary when struck by a new pain and exits after Susan for more ink to notate it, leaving the diary behind. Snap sees it, and thumbs through it, finding a potential blackmail in the fact that Mr. Nightingale has had a wife with whom he is "unconjugal." He sets the diary down, returns to his table and Mr. Nightingale comes back looking for it and thankfully finding it, exits again.

Gabblewig enters disguised as "Boots," and sits at Slap's table and pretends to be a fellow performer flattering Slap to no end while helping himself liberally to Slap's food and wine. This is one of the funnier parts in the play with the dialogue alluding to various roles Lemon could exaggerate as a known Shakespeare character impressionist. Eventually Slap and Boots (actually Gabblewig) exchange information on Nightingale's wife and their verbal contest comes to an end. I will stop here before the Goodread gods take what I have written but wil be back early tomorrow with some words on the bit I omitted, the swordfight, a highlight of the play.

I enjoyed this part of the play. Gabblewig gobbling up all the food was hilarious! Since the comedy comes through in the writing, I'm sure it would be even more fun to see it acted in person.

Sam, thank you so much for the info on the water treatments. Fascinating!!

Finally got a moment to read the info on the water baths. LOVE the pictures! Thank you, Sam.

I also laughed thinking about what the food snatching would have felt like watching a performance.