Dickensians! discussion

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY

Installments 4 - : Chapters 11 -



Nicholas and Smike - Roger Rees and David Threllfall on stage at the Royal Shakespeare Company 1982 adaptation by David Edgar

LINKS TO CHAPTERS

Installments I - III
Previous thread

IV
Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

V
Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

VI
Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

VII
Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Next thread

Carries straight on from the previous chapter …

Installment 4

Chapter 11: Newman Noggs inducts Mrs. and Miss Nickleby into their New Dwelling in the City

Kate has many doubts about her uncle and her new position, which make her downhearted. Her mother chattily tries to cheer her up, by mentioning cases she has heard of where a milliner started with nothing, became prosperous, and contracted a successful marriage. Miss La Creevy expresses her doubts, but Mrs. Nickleby finds optimistic rebuttals:

“Happy Mrs. Nickleby! A project had but to be new, and it came home to her mind, brightly varnished and gilded as a glittering toy.”

Miss La Creevy doubtfully mentions that she painted some milliners once, and that theirs was an unhealthy occupation which left workers pale and sickly. Mrs. Nickleby counters that a girl she had hired to make her a cloak had a face full of colour.

“‘Perhaps she drank,’ suggested Miss La Creevy … ” but Mrs Nickleby will not be persuaded from her optimism.

Kate is very sorry to be leaving Miss La Creevy, whose kindness had made such a deep impression on her, but Miss La Creevy tells Kate that she will keep her in her prayers, and come to visit her. She has a really good cry after Kate leaves.

Newman Noggs arrives on Saturday afternoon, smelling a little of gin. When Mrs Nickleby asks how his master is, he tells them that Ralph Nickleby is fine, and sends his “love” (emphasising this final word). Kate wants to hire a coach, but Noggs insist on doing this himself. She notices something in his manner which reminds her of an earlier occasion, and asks Noggs if she had seen him the day that Nicholas left, but he denies it:



“Newman Noggs (Character sketch) - Harry Furniss - 1910

saying:

“‘It’s the first time I’ve been out for three weeks. I’ve had the gout.’
Newman was very, very far from having the appearance of a gouty subject …”

but Kate lets the matter lie, as her mother fusses about him being outside in the rain.

They arrive at a dilapidated mansion near a busy wharf on the river Thames:

“Old, and gloomy, and black, in truth it was, and sullen and dark were the rooms, once so bustling with life and enterprise … It was a picture of cold, silent decay.”

Kate finds it a depressing house, saying that it looks like the sort of house where a violent crime had been committed. Mrs. Nickleby chides Kate on her morbid fancies, and asks why Kate hadn’t thought of this earlier. She remarks on how much Kate is like her father. Unless Mrs. Nickleby had the foresight to think of something, she says, Mr. Nickleby would never think about it. The narrator comments:

“This was Mrs. Nickleby’s usual commencement of a general lamentation, running through a dozen or so of complicated sentences addressed to nobody in particular, and into which she now launched until her breath was exhausted.”

They go upstairs after Noggs, to find two rooms which are habitable although sparsely furnished, containing only the necessities. Mrs. Nickleby tries to look pleased, remarking how kind it was of her brother-in-law to furnish the home. Newman Noggs did not tell them that Ralph Nickleby had done no such thing, and that it had been Noggs himself who had got the few bits of furniture, coals and food. He distracts himself by cracking all his finger joints at once.

“Mrs. Nickleby was rather startled at first, but supposing it to be in some remote manner connected with the gout, did not remark upon [it].”

Kate suggests to Noggs that he can leave, and Mrs. Nickleby looks as if she is going to tip him, with money for “a drink”, but Kate sees his expression and says to her mother that that would hurt his feelings.



“Newman Noggs Leaves the Ladies in the Empty House
Phiz (Hablot K. Browne) - June 1838

Noggs appears overcome, and bows in a gentlemanly manner, before exiting. Kate is half tempted to ask him back, for she finds the house fearfully oppressive, but is too late.

And a little more …

We have picked up that Kate is in a precarious position, and that her new employment is far from suitable as a profession for respectable young ladies. 😟

Charles Dickens wrote in one of his Sketches by Boz (“The Streets - Morning”) that milliners apprentices were “the hardest worked, the worst paid and too often, the worst used class of the community”

Their employment continually exposed them to advances by lecherous men.

My favourite part of this is the exchange between Noggs, with his dogged literalness, and Mrs Nickleby’s gay chatter about the cab:

“I thought of it as I came along; but didn’t get one, thinking you mightn’t be ready. I think of a great many things. Nobody can prevent that.’

‘Oh yes, I understand you, Mr. Noggs,’ said Mrs. Nickleby. ‘Our thoughts are free, of course. Everybody’s thoughts are their own, clearly.’

‘They wouldn’t be, if some people had their way,’ muttered Newman."

It’s pretty clear which employer he is thinking of!

Favourite quotations?

“I remember, as well as if it was only yesterday, employing one that I was particularly recommended to, to make me a scarlet cloak at the time when scarlet cloaks were fashionable, and she had a very red face—a very red face, indeed.’
‘Perhaps she drank,’ suggested Miss La Creevy.“

Miss La Creevy seems to have her feet firmly on the ground, and she is not afraid to speak her mind either!

I enjoyed today’s chapter, which seemed slightly shorter than usual. We leaned more about the characters of both Miss La Creevy and Noggs, and the more I see of each of them, the more I like them. Noggs has an answer for everything. Gout!

And Charles Dickens describes his expressions and demeanour beautifully. I can just imagine the ironic expression on his face when he reports that Ralph Nickleby had sent his love.

I hope all 68 of us have found this new thread. As usual each chapter will be linked to the beginning of the thread, and there will also be links to both the previous and the next thread. Hopefully I've responded to the extra comments in the first one ...

Comments on today's chapter (and previous ones of course) are now welcome here 😊

I love the way Dickens writes old, decrepit houses. He gives us the exact words required for us to perfectly envision how it looks and in this case how it makes one feel:

An empty dog-kennel, some bones of animals, fragments of iron hoops, and staves of old casks, lay strewn about, but no life was stirring there. It was a picture of cold, silent decay.

We don’t feel good about this situation at all.

I’m growing more curious about Noggs each time we see him. Kate knew she’d seen him but he denies being there on the day Nicholas left. Why so secretive? And could he be a help to the Nickleby women?

I liked this quote that describes Noggs’ appearance and the usefulness of his hat:

The door of this deserted mansion Newman opened with a key which he took out of his hat—in which, by-the-bye, in consequence of the dilapidated state of his pockets, he deposited everything, and would most likely have carried his money if he had had any—

Jean - I laughed out loud at Miss La Creevy's comment "Perhaps she drank". I, too, am liking Miss La Creevy and Noggs more and more, which is good because Nicholas, Mrs. Nickleby and Kate are going to need all the friends they can get.

Yes, all the help they can get! And Nicholas has not exhibited much strength of character at all. I wonder if Dickens will give Kate an honest voice to examine the weaknesses of her mother and brother?

Lori wrote: "I love the way Dickens writes old, decrepit houses. He gives us the exact words required for us to perfectly envision how it looks and in this case how it makes one feel:

An empty dog-kennel, som..."

I loved your comment, Lori, those descriptions are brilliant and so impressive. We will get acquainted to similar premises and dark atmospheres in Our Mutual Friend too!

Katy wrote: "Jean - I laughed out loud at Miss La Creevy's comment "Perhaps she drank". I, too, am liking Miss La Creevy and Noggs more and more, which is good because Nicholas, Mrs. Nickleby and Kate are going..."

These were my thoughts and reactions exactly! I did a literal LOL at Miss La Creevy's bluntness.

I appreciate the way Noggs is taking care of Kate and Mrs Nickleby, even if it's just at the behest of his boss. And it seems Kate has a lifelong friend in Miss La Creevy.

My favorite quotation from chapter 11 was when Mrs Nickleby was responding to her daughter's fancies about the decrepit house: "
Well, then, my love, I wish you would keep your foolish fancy to yourself, and not wake up *my* foolish fancy to keep it company."

I did also note the conversation about gout, and the indication that Noggs didn't have the appearance of someone that would have gout. I finished reading Wolf Hall recently so I couldn't help thinking of Henry VIII who suffered from it and the stark contrast between someone in Noggs' station and someone like a king. Ironically, my husband suffers from it but I believe he's been unfortunate in his genetics that way :-( He has had to watch how much red meat he eats and he should stay away from beer (which he doesn't! But he does try to limit it.)

Boggs does seem like the fairy godfather here, especially when we learn that he is the one who supplied what few comforts are in the house. It feels like he must save his limited funds to help others. I wonder if it grows out of witnessing what Ralph Nickleby does to people. I do like him.

On the other hand, Mrs. Nickleby was a bit much and I wanted to put my hand over her mouth!

I was so happy to see Miss La Creevy show up again and that she continues to be so delightful, practical and as Kelly noted blunt .

Mr. Noggs only gets more intriguing.

I loved the description of the Nickleby's new abode as well. Depressing and creepy.

I like how Kate described the feeling of the house

“This house depresses and chills one,” said Kate, “and seems as if some blight had fallen on it. If I were superstitious, I should be almost inclined to believe that some dreadful crime had been perpetrated within these old walls, and that the place had never prospered since. How frowning and how dark it looks!”

it does seem all sorts of creepy

The summaries and illustrations shared have been so helpful. I am delighted to read the interesting comments and to find that my favorite quotations are shared by others. I am listening to B.J. Harrison reading NN. He is a superb reader!

Chapter XI certainly shines a spotlight on Miss LaCreevy's goodness and compassion and the strength of her offered friendship to the Nicklebys:

"... if, in all London, or all the wide world besides, there is no other heart that takes an interest in your welfare, there will be one little lonely woman that prays for it night and day."

I wonder if her farewell would have been such a powerful combination of ebullience and tenderness if she had been saying goodbye to Mrs Nickleby instead of Kate?!

Poor Mr Noggs, with me renaming him Boggs which makes him sound more sinister altogether.

I do love logging on and seeing all these delightful comments! Its almost like reading the chapter again, as so many pick out favourite quotations we have evidently all enjoyed - or one which perhaps deserves more attention! They make me laugh once more with everyone ... and Sue I confess I laughed twice with you, once at your faux pas and once with you when you recognised it! 😂

Though, I have been wondering about the name Newman Noggs. A new man? In what way? I'm still pondering this one and do not yet have an answer.

Dee - thank you; I'm so glad you are enjoying it all 😊 And thanks for the tip on another good reader.

Lori - Some of my favourite passages are about old decrepit houses too. Charles Dickens's descriptions are unmistakeably his, aren't they, and you put it so well!

Right, let's move on to today's ridiculous, heartrending chapter ...

Chapter 12: Whereby the Reader will be enabled to trace the further course of Miss Fanny Squeer’s Love, and to ascertain whether it ran smooth or otherwise.

Mr. Squeers is too drunk to notice how upset his daughter is, when he returns. Fanny keeps one of the boys up, just so he would encounter her father first, and bear the results of his anger. Having vented his feelings on this boy in kicks and cuffs, Squeers goes to bed.

The “hungry servant” Phib (a patronising abbreviation for Pheobe) is attending to Miss Squeers’ nightly beautifying regime. She notices that her usual flattery is not working, so—half-aware of what had happened that evening—tries a different tack, and starts to criticise Tilda. Phib says that Miss Price dresses herself up and behaves in a way to get attention.

Miss Squeers looks in her mirror, where she sees "only the reflection of some pleasant image in her own brain". She pretends to excuse Tilda, saying that she is friends with coarse people who no doubt influence her behaviour. Phoebe says that it is a pity that Miss Price doesn’t model herself after her superiors—as her friend Fanny does. Miss Squeers admonishes Phoebe for her unkind words, although she is clearly gratified and agrees:

“I must say, that if she would, she would be all the better for it.”

Encouraged, Phoebe goes on to say that she believes Mr. Browdie:

“thinks as you think; and … he’d be very glad to be off with Miss Price, and on with Miss Squeers.”

Fanny affects to be astonished at the idea that he might prefer her, gaining the desired reaction:

“‘Truth, ma’am, and nothing but truth,’ replied the artful Phib.”

Fanny laments that she is so irresistible that she is the cause of men being led astray from their intendeds. Phoebe says that they can’t help themselves.

Fanny says that although Tilda is flawed, she wishes her well. She feels sorry for Mr. Browdie, but will let Tilda keep him, because it is better for her to be married. The narrator comments that spite is a strange jumble of feelings. Deep down, Miss Squeers knows that her servant is lying in order to flatter her. However, it allows her to vent her feelings for a little while, and also to pretend to herself that she has been noble in rejecting John Browdie’s hand.

This enables her to make up with Tilda, when her friend calls the next day. She says:

“I pity your bad passions, ‘Tilda,’ … but I bear no malice. I am above it.”

Fanny is secretly pleased to hear that Tilda and John have quarrelled, but then Miss Price confides that she and John made it up, and are going to be married in three weeks’ time. Miss Squeers feels a pang of envy at first, since her younger friend will be married first. Then she starts thinking about her dress, and cheers up, realising that this means Tilda is not planning to steal Nicholas from her. She tells her friend that she hopes she will be happy, but that men are strange creatures, and a great many married women are very miserable.

Fanny then becomes hysterical and says she despises young Mr Nickleby:

“[falling] into a paroxysm of spiteful tears, and exclaim[ing] that she was a wretched, neglected, miserable castaway.
‘I hate everybody,’ said Miss Squeers, ‘and I wish that everybody was dead—that I do.’”

Tilda affects sympathy, but the two start quarrelling again over Nicholas, with Tilda saying:

“Persons don’t make their own faces, and it’s no more my fault if mine is a good one than it is other people’s fault if theirs is a bad one”

which makes Fanny very shrill. Their passions escalate until they both exclaim that they

“had never thought of being spoken to in that way”

at the same time, and begin to make amends, (as they regularly did, the narrator comments, about once a week). They begin to discuss Miss Price’s future wardrobe, and Fanny starts to escort her friend home.

This was the time of day when Nicholas usually went out walking “and to brood, as he sauntered listlessly through the village, upon his miserable lot.”

Miss Squeers knew this perfectly well, but the narrator comments archly that she must have forgotten it for the moment as she behaves as if she is feeling faint. Nicholas does not notice them as his eyes are lowered to the ground. The narrator wryly observes that if he had noticed, he might have hidden from them, but Nicholas gives a brief greeting when he is closer, and walks on.

Miss Price pretends to be alarmed at her friend’s faintness, and calls him back. (The narrator tells us that she is really prompted by a malicious wish to hear what Nicholas would say.)

Nicholas apologises for being the cause of their argument the other day, and “regarding with most unfeigned astonishment a look of tender reproach from Miss Squeers, shrunk back a few paces to be out of reach.”

Astonished, he asks if Fanny thinks he is in love with her, and when Miss Price confirms this and Fanny begins to declare that his feelings are reciprocated, Nicholas interrupts; vociferously and firmly saying that this is preposterous:



“Fanny working hard at entrapping Nicholas” - Charles Stanley Reinhart - New York Household Edition, 1875

Nicholas says that he has just met Fanny, but even if he had known her for a long time, he would not fall in love with her. He declares that he doesn’t want to hurt her feelings, but it is better for Fanny to know the truth. Furthermore:

“the one object, dear to my heart as life itself, [is] of being one day able to turn my back upon this accursed place, never to set foot in it again, or think of it—even think of it—but with loathing and disgust.”

Nicholas then leaves.

Miss Squeers is furious. She has been rejected by a lowly teacher’s assistant, and in front of her best friend, a “little chit of a miller’s daughter of eighteen”, who is about to be married:

“She hated and detested Nicholas with all the narrowness of mind and littleness of purpose worthy a descendant of the house of Squeers”

and she plans to revenge herself. She tells Tilda that Nicholas was such an odd creature, with such a violent temper, that she plans to give him up. The truth was that it had never occurred to Fanny Squeers that Nicholas would reject her. She considers herself beautiful, her father is Nicholas’s master, and her family has money. She could have made Nicholas’ situation very agreeable as his friend. However, she can also make it difficult, which she proceeds to do.

“Every hour in every day she could wound his pride, and goad him with the infliction of some slight, or insult, or deprivation, which could not but have some effect on the most insensible person, and must be acutely felt by one so sensitive as Nicholas.”

Fanny complains to her mother, who already hates him, and now:

“poor Nicholas, in addition to bad food, dirty lodging, and the being compelled to witness one dull unvarying round of squalid misery, was treated with every special indignity that malice could suggest, or the most grasping cupidity put upon him.”

Yet this was not the worst thing. The pitiable and wretched Smike has been devoted to Nicholas, following him around ever since the young man had shown him some kindness. At last he had a purpose, of being useful to Nicholas, and was almost happy. This has been noticed, so now poor Smike is treated even worse than ever.

“Upon this poor being, all the spleen and ill-humour that could not be vented on Nicholas were unceasingly bestowed.”

Drudgery he was used to, but now Smike is beaten constantly:

“stripes and blows, stripes and blows, morning, noon, and night, were his only portion. Squeers was jealous of the influence which [Nicholas] had so soon acquired, and his family hated him, and Smike paid for both. Nicholas saw it, and ground his teeth at every repetition of the savage and cowardly attack.”



“Nicholas and Smike” - Sol Eytinge, Jr. - Diamond Edition
1867

Smike is slow, and has difficulty learning what the younger students have already mastered. He is scorned even by the other boys. However, he wants to please Nicholas, so he tries as hard as he can, and is distraught that he cannot do it, sobbing:

“They are more hard with me than ever … but for you …I should die. They would kill me; they would; I know they would.”

Nicholas says that it will not be so bad for Smike when he leaves.

“‘Tell me,’ urged Smike, ‘is the world as bad and dismal as this place?’”

Nicholas promises that it is not and merely trying to make Smike feel better, says that if Smike were ever in the world outside, he would help him.

Squeers enters, and Smike shrinks back into the corner.

And a little more …

Illustrations

Those of you who have joined our group reads before will have noticed a “new” name in the illustrators here: Charles Stanley Reinhart who illustrated the Household Edition of this novel in 1875 (Harper and Collins, New York). (There are also illustrations by him for it in 1872 and 1876.)

Charles Stanley Reinhart (1844 - 1896) was an American-born but European-trained artist, and used a “Parisian” style of illustration for several of Charles Dickens's novels which were reprinted in the 1870s. His style is very different from the careful detail of the original illustrator Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz) but similar to Fred Barnard, who worked on "Nicholas Nickleby" in the same year (and whose illustrations for Charles Dickens I often include.)

Here is the wiki page for Charles Stanley Reinhart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles..., for those who are interested.

What a panoply of emotions we have in this chapter! Such posturing and spite from Fanny and Tilda.

I enjoyed this part:

‘‘How you talk!’
‘Talk, miss! It’s enough to make a Tom cat talk French grammar, only to see how she tosses her head,’

and

‘Because they can’t help it, miss,’ replied the girl; ‘the reason’s plain.’ (If Miss Squeers were the reason, it was very plain.)“

where the narrator is being almost as catty as the two young ladies!

There are so many resentments and petty jealousies here. But I can’t help feeling that the tension is building, and what of poor Smike, whose daily life is now even more of a living hell.

Your thoughts?

I couldn't help but smile at this little tidbit that demonstrated Dickens' understanding of psychology and our individual behaviour:

"... Miss Squeers, looking in her own little glass, where, like most of us, she saw - not herself, but the reflection of some pleasant image in her own brain."

Don't we all find it so easy to overlook and forgive our own shortcomings?

It was only a single sentence in the chapter but I can't help but wonder if Dickens was dropping a quickie hint of the convergence of the Squeers/Nicholas plot line with the Mantalini/Kate story?!

From Miss Price: "... this morning John went and wrote our names down to be put up, for the first time, next Sunday, so we shall be married in three weeks, and I give you notice to get your frock made."

Do you suppose that Fanny might be making a visit to the Mantalini millinery establishment to place an order for that frock?

Bionic Jean wrote: "I enjoyed today’s chapter, which seemed slightly shorter than usual. We leaned more about the characters of both Miss La Creevy and Noggs, and the more I see of each of them, the more I like them. ..."

Yes. Newman Noggs and Miss La Creevy are on the top of my list of favourite minor characters so far in this novel. Candidly, I’m already tired of Mrs Nickleby. Too much Mr Dickens! Pull back please. A Dickens fantasy of mine would be to put Mrs. Nickleby and Mr Micawber in the same room. 😊

My favourite line occurs near the end of chapter 11 when Dickens describes Noggs as ‘bowing to the young lady more like a gentleman than the miserable wretch he seemed …’

We have already touched on the differences, some subtle, some blatant, that Dickens has already explored between the social classes in England in this novel. Consider Ralph Nickleby and Newman Noggs. What a chasm of difference.

I am really enjoying the rich variety of illustrations that Jean is posting. From our 21C viewpoint and reading we are no longer used to seeing pictures accompanying a book — unless we are reading with, to, or along with our grandchildren. In the 19C the reading experience was very different.

I enjoy the study of 19C illustrators and one of my favourite phrases from ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ is “what is the use of a book … without pictures.”

Thank you Jean for this rich summary and additional info! I checked on Charles Stanley Reinhart and see that he had a totally different way of illustrating.

This chapter was interesting because of its structure: a big part of it was the futile, but nevertheless telling conversation of Miss Squeers and Miss Price (called Fanny Price like the main character in Mansfield Park, which is quite funny. Was it intentional (and satirical) of Charles Dickens?

The second part, a shorter one, was revealing the cruelty Miss Squeers is able to exert by proxy (her parents). She has it has an extraordinary ability to cause harm through her parents and direct cruelty against poor Smike, and psychologically harm Nicholas through Smike;

My heart goes out to poor Smike who is being even more mistreated. Nicholas is feeling protective, and promises to help him if he can get away from the school himself. The Squeers know how much it bothers Nicholas when they are mean to Smike.

Smike was described somewhere as being simple, and I wonder what he could have been if he wasn't hopeless, malnourished, feeling chilled and unwell, unloved, and emotionally and physically abused. I could see him as a hardworking, loyal worker for someone who treated him kindly. He and Nicholas are around the same age, but their self-confidence and worldview are totally different.

Paul - Yes. I liked that idea of the reflection too (and put part in the summary). Psychologists have done some studies on "selfies" which seem to confirm that we choose ones which conform to a stereotype rather than ones which are more accurate representations. Even more curious is that when friends and family are asked to choose a photo of that person, they too choose one which does not match their features as closely! We are evidently all living in cloud cuckoo land (not that I've ever taken a selfie) - and Charles Dickens recognised this vanity nearly 200 years ago 😲

Peter - "A Dickens fantasy of mine would be to put Mrs. Nickleby and Mr Micawber in the same room. 😊"

This is an hilarious idea! Especially since (as you know Peter) Mrs Nickleby is based on Charles Dickens's mother and Mr Micawber is based on his father. Oh to have been a fly on the wall in the Dickens household 😂

"Consider Ralph Nickleby and Newman Noggs. What a chasm of difference"

The odd thing is that they probably started off in the same class, and perhaps even a narrow bracket of it. We learned the Nickleby antecedents and history in chapter one, but all we know about Noggs is that he "used to be a gentleman". I wonder if he came from a slightly higher origins, where his father had no need of working. He certainly has noble courteous ways about him, for all his gruffness.

I'm so pleased you're enjoying the illustrations; thank you! It's also interesting to see which scenes are not chosen. I looked up 6 illustrators for tomorrow's chapter, only to find that all 6 had illustrated the same scene! 🙄 And sometimes there are none at all for a chapter, so I have to search out a character sketch. But yes, like you, I think they add a rich dimension 😊 They are close enough to the time to have a different feel (the latest I've chosen are from 1910).

Claudia wrote: "Thank you Jean for this rich summary and additional info!..."

I'm pleased you enjoyed it Claudia! There are so many layers to Charles Dickens's humour. Sometimes it seems like sacrilege to simplify it, and also tricky not to overly "interpret" for the reader.

"the futile, but nevertheless telling conversation of Miss Squeers and Miss Price" - yes, just so 😝We want to run a mile from these two! In some ways it reminds me of the much earlier wickedly cynical social comedies of Jane Austen ...

oh by the way, Tilda is Matilda Price, and Fanny is Fanny Squeers, so hopefully not quite as confusing as you had thought .😊

Fanny understands human behaviour all too well, doesn't she. What a shame she puts her skill to such devious and destructive use 😡

Connie wrote: "My heart goes out to poor Smike ... The Squeers know how much it bothers Nicholas when they are mean to Smike"

Yes, doesn't this seem like striking as low as they could possibly get?! 😠😡

Bionic Jean wrote: "Claudia wrote: "Thank you Jean for this rich summary and additional info!..."

I'm pleased you enjoyed it Claudia! There are so many layers to Charles Dickens's humour. Sometimes it..."

Oh yes, Fanny Squeers and Matilda Price may be condensed in one Fanny Price 🙂 Jane Austen's Fanny, although much criticised by some readers, was a more enjoyable company than those two!

Miss Squeers is definitely clever, but the evil sort of cleverness indeed.

Yes, I do not like Fanny one bit. I don't know what Tilda sees in her, although maybe there is no one else around of similar age. I was impressed at Phoebe's skill at protecting herself around Fanny though.

Smike though ... like Connie, I feel for him more and more. I love how he can at least imagine a way out due to Nicholas' generosity. I so hope he gets there!

Paul wrote: I couldn't help but smile at this little tidbit that demonstrated Dickens' understanding of psychology and our individual behaviour:

"... Miss Squeers, looking in her own little glass, where, like most of us, she saw - not herself, but the reflection of some pleasant image in her own brain."

Don't we all find it so easy to overlook and forgive our own shortcomings?

SO TRUE! And I do think it shows Dickens insight into human nature.

I've had more than enough of Fanny Squeers! I certainly can understand Nicholas's aversion to her. Since he doesn't know how to play the game, i.e. flirting; he is very blunt about his feelings. I suppose in that era it was probably considered rude and i can see any young lady taking offense, oh but she so deserved it! If she wasn't so spiteful, as time passed she may have seen an honest report is better than being led on. But then that wouldn't propel the story forward, would it?

My heart does continue to break for poor Smike.

I was rather shocked at Nicholas' naivety when he basically shouted at Miss Squeers that his only hope and thought was to one day be "able to turn my back upon this accursed place, never to set foot in it again or to think of it - even think of it - but with loathing and disgust." Was he so innocent about human nature not to realize what fury ("Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned") he had just rained down on his head? Oh my!

But I wonder that Dickens gave the Squeers the human understanding that a blow against Smike was a blow against Nicholas. Would they be sensitive enough to understand this?

I’ve had to keep reminding myself that Nicholas is still quite young, has never really been independent before, is, I believe, 5 years younger than Fanny, and raised by parents who were apparently unsuccessful in life. So I don’t think he is prepared at all for the situation he’s in. I think his sister got more of the “common sense” from what we’ve seen so far but she hasn’t been tested in quite the same way….yet!

My favorite line from this chapter: “But there was one thing clear in the midst of her mortification; and that was, that she hated and detested Nicholas with all the narrowness of mind and littleness of purpose worthy a descendant of the house of Squeers.”

Like Sue, I’m thinking of Nicholas. Until the card party, we’ve seen a mostly unformed boy, a naive boy. I was surprised that he became so animated at the party and was not impressed. But in this chapter we are seeing the beginnings of some maturity. He is depressed with his situation and now he shows some compassion on Smike.

He seems to feel a kind of brotherhood with Smike. They are both in a dreadful situation not of their own making. Neither has options. But, now, Nicholas is beginning to form a plan. He seems to be waking up from the shock of his father’s death. Perhaps, for the first time, he can chose his own direction.
Kathleen S

I really enjoyed that line too Sue, and think it bears out your reminders to yourself that Nicolas is only just 19 and Fanny is 23. Perhaps too, Shirley we have to bear their experience in mind when being surprised at how naive Nicholas is.

Fanny has been surrounded by manipulative, selfish people. This has been her model all her life, and we see that she and her brother are encourage and even congratulated when they show the same cruelty (e.g. little Wackford threatening the boys). Her rewards in life are all turned upside down, and to add to this she is clever, ambitious (within her small mean world), desperate to be married, and knows how to manipulate people.

Nicholas though up to now has been surrounded by a loving family, whose only failing seems to have been improvidence. His mother was sure that they could emulate Ralph's facility for making money, but he was motivated by greed and Nicholas (the father) wanted to give people who borrowed money from him a reduced rate when they couldn't pay it back. (I strongly suspect he let some of them off!) Then when his wife convinced him to "gamble" on shares, he lost it all.

It seems as though Nicholas has been taught good moral values; we've had plenty of examples of how horrified he is at the boys' treatment. He has also been extremely courteous to all he meets, has been educated commensurate with his age, (which Charles Dickens hadn't!) and has been taught the manners of a gentleman. However his experience of life, and of manipulative people is minimal.

In his Preface, Charles Dickens says:

"If Nicholas be not always found to be blameless or agreeable, he is not always intended to appear so. He is a young man of an impetuous temper and of little or no experience; and I saw no reason why such a hero should be lifted out of nature"

which shows that others had said the same to him after the serial! But I have to confess that I like Nicholas very much, and more than some of Charles Dickens's rather self-absorbed young men. (I particularly dislike Pip in Great Expectations for instance, for most of the book!) And as Kathleen and others have noticed he is beginning to change.

Anyway, on to today's roller-coaster of an episode, in which we see Nicholas as he really is! Hold on to your hats ...

Chapter 13: Nicholas varies the Monotony of Dothebys Hall by a most vigorous and remarkable proceeding, which leads to Consequences of some Importance

Nicholas sleeps in the same room as the boys. None look content; all are gaunt and thin, and some boys look in continual pain. Others: “bore more the aspect of dead bodies than of living creatures”. Sleep gives them some peace, but this is destroyed when the dawn approaches.

Nicholas looks about the room with a searching air. Squeers shouts up to the boys to come down or to suffer a thrashing, demanding Smike by name. Nicholas cannot see the boy in the room, but when Nicholas says that Smike is not there, Squeers argues:

“’Don’t tell me a lie … He is.’
‘He is not,’ retorted Nicholas angrily, ‘don’t tell me one.’”

Squeers comes up, cane in hand. He thrashes the desk, but when he doesn’t see Smike, he is “evidently frightened, though he endeavour[s] to look otherwise.” Squeers continues his bullying, sneering manner, and accuses them all of hiding Smike, but Nicholas says he hasn’t seen him since the night before. Squeers continues his bullish manner:

“Where is he?’
‘At the bottom of the nearest pond for aught I know,’ rejoined Nicholas in a low voice, and fixing his eyes full on the master’s face.”

Squeers curses and demands to know if the other boys know where Smike is. One suggests that he ran away, and Squeers beats him for suggesting that anybody would want to run away. Seeing Nicholas’s look of disgust, Squeers says:

“‘Well, Nickleby,’ … eyeing him maliciously. ‘You think he has run away, I suppose?’
‘I think it extremely likely,’ replied Nicholas, in a quiet manner.”

He denies knowing it for certain, despite Squeers’s sneering, but says he is glad that Smike did not tell him, to relieve himself of the obligation of informing Squeers.

Mrs. Squeers comes up blustering her way through the boys and quick to blame Squeers for hiring Nicholas and thereby putting the idea in Smike’s head:

“Where’s the wonder? If you get a parcel of proud-stomached teachers that set the young dogs a rebelling, what else can you look for?”

She orders Nicholas to take the boys to the school room, threatening him that she will soon find a way to ruin his good looks. Nicholas answers politely, but in a way that shows her he is not afraid. She says she wouldn’t have him in her house “Mister Jackanapes”, if the decision was hers, and he agrees:

“Nor would you if I had mine!” and calls the boys together. Mrs Squeers mimics his manner, and promises the boys that Smike will be brought back, Mr Squeers adding:

“I’ll only stop short of flaying him alive. I give you notice, boys.”

Mrs Squeers is sure she knows how to go about catching Smike, and they discuss which way he has gone. Mrs Squeers decides he must be on the road to York:

“‘Why must he?’ inquired Squeers.
‘Stupid!’ said Mrs. Squeers angrily. ‘He hadn’t any money, had he?’”

A public road is the only road Smike could beg on. He has no food or money, so he will have to beg his way. They will each take a chaise and search in a different direction, and that way they are sure to find him.

Both start out separately “intent upon discovery and vengeance”. Mrs Squeers is armed with a club, and ropes, and has hired a strong labourer to help her.

Nicholas is filled with anxiety. Smike faces starvation and death from exposure, and yet his fate is not much kinder if he is brought back. The next evening Mr. Squeers comes back, empty-handed and angry at the cost spent in the effort to find Smike. He plans to take it out of somebody if not Smike, and is insolent to Nicholas:

“None of your whining vapourings here, Mr. Puppy, but be off to your kennel, for it’s past your bedtime!”

Nicolas bites his lip and clenches his fists, but manages to control himself “content[ing] himself with darting a contemptuous look at the tyrant.”

Mrs. Squeers returns the next day, exulting as she has the wretched Smike, although he is “so bedabbled with mud and rain, so haggard and worn, and wild”, that it would be hard to tell who he was, except for the tattered rags he wears. ”With hands trembling with delight, Squeers unloosened the cord …

Smike more dead than alive” is locked in the cellar, until Mr Squeers has all the boys assembled together, watching.

The narrator explains that the Squeerses make the effort to capture runaways for two reasons. It is less expensive to capture the runaways themselves than to pay others to do the drudgery. Also, they want the boys to know that running away is futile.

The news of Smike’s capture spreads like wildfire, and all the other boys try to avoid being noticed. Squeers summons them, having bought a new cane expressly for the beating. Smike is brought in:

“In any other place, the appearance of the wretched, jaded, spiritless object would have occasioned a murmur of compassion and remonstrance … even there … a few of the boldest ventured to steal looks at each other, expressive of indignation and pity.”

Squeers grins “diabolically” and asks Smike if he has anything to say for himself. Smike begs for mercy, saying that he was driven to do it.

This infuriates Mrs Squeers, and she boxes his ears calling him a “A nasty, ungrateful, pig-headed, brutish, obstinate, sneaking dog.”

As Mr. Squeers begins the beating, and Smike screams with pain, Nicholas intercedes, crying: “‘Stop!’ in a voice that made the rafters ring.”




“Nicholas Astonishes Mr. Squeers and Family - Hablot K. Browne (Phiz) - July 1838

He points out all his attempts to reconcile the situation, which had been ignored. Mr. Squeers is now almost beside himself with rage. He seizes Smike and orders Nicholas to stand down.



“”Wretch,“ rejoined Nicholas, fiercely, ”touch him at your peril! I will not stand by, and see it done. My blood is up, and I have the strength of ten such men as you” - Fred Barnard - 1875

Nicholas refuses with a passion, and and warns Squeers that he is raising the devil in him, moreover he says he is ten times as strong as Squeers is:

“Look to yourself, for by Heaven I will not spare you, if you drive me on!”

“… Squeers, in a violent outbreak of wrath, and with a cry like the howl of a wild beast, spat upon him, and struck him a blow across the face with his instrument of torture, which raised up a bar of livid flesh as it was inflicted.”

Smarting from the strike of the cane, Nicholas beats Squeers until he cries for mercy.



“Nicholas turns the tables on Mr. Squeers” - Charles Stanley Reinhart - 1875”

Wackford Squeers Junior attacks Nicholas from the rear, Fanny throws things at him, and Mrs. Squeers tries to pull her husband away.



“Nicholas’s Vengeance on Squeers” - Harry Furniss - 1910

Nicholas hardly notices these blows, and beats Squeers until he falls and bangs his head. Stopping only to check that Squeers is not dead, Nicholas packs a small bag and leaves. He cannot see Smike anywhere. He has four shillings and a few pence in his pocket, and is more than two hundred and fifty miles from London, but wants to find out what Squeers will have told his uncle Ralph about the episode.

Nicholas is on the road to Greta Bridge when he sees John Browdie pull up in a carriage, looking at him rather sternly. The two greet each other courteously, and Nicholas apologises for the trouble over tea. John Browdie accepts it with good grace, and as they shake hands John asks what is wrong with Nicholas’s face, saying: “It’s all broken like!”*

Nicholas tells John about his fight with Squeers, and Browdie is delighted. “Beaten the schoolmaster! Whoever heard the like of that now! Give us your hand again, youngster. Beaten the schoolmaster! Darn it, I love you for it."*

“John Browdie laughed and laughed again—so loud that the echoes, far and wide, sent back nothing but jovial peals of merriment—and shook Nicholas by the hand meanwhile, no less heartily.”

Hearing that Nicholas plans to walk to London, he loans him money, although Nicholas will only accept a sovereign.

Nicholas travels all day, and finds lodging at a cheap cottage. The next day he again walks all day and finds an empty barn to sleep in, near Boroughbridge. He dreams of Dotheboys hall, and wakes to find an object he cannot identify nearby. With a start of amazement, he realises it is Smike.

Smike kneels and begs Nicholas to let him come along. Nicholas says kindly that he can’t do much for him, being almost as badly off as Smike.

“May I—may I go with you?’ asked Smike, timidly. ‘I will be your faithful hard-working servant, I will, indeed.”

All Smike wants to be with the friend who has shown him kindness. He wants nothing else. To his great delight, Nicholas agrees:

“‘And you shall,’ cried Nicholas. ‘And the world shall deal by you as it does by me, till one or both of us shall quit it for a better. Come!’”

So saying, the two set off together.

[*dialect amended}

What a wonderful chapter! 👏😊😆 Were you like me, cheering by the end? Everything we hoped Nicholas would do, he did with great passion and vigour! Yes, he indulged in stagey rhetoric, but we love him for it. 🤩 Charles Dickens built it up so well, from the pain and pathos of Smike, and the gradually building inner fury and contempt of Nicholas.

All the later artists wanted to illustrate this dramatic scene, which Charles Dickens initially picked out for Phiz to illustrate. I just included four, in their published order. Oddly the one by Harry Furniss in 1910 was a frontispiece, and not in the text, so it served as a spoiler! 😲That seems odd to me ... I can see that the publication in book form straight after the serial and dramas might have attracted readers who knew the story well, but I wouldn't have liked to known today's events before I started. By 1910 I would have thought it would be new to some.

Charles Dickens introduced this scene in his public readings at quite a late stage, and was surprised how much people cheered and applauded. It became one of his most popular “performances”.

Stay on a high for as long as you can, for who knows where this can possibly go now 🫢

I'm excited to see what people say!

Kathleen wrote: "Like Sue, I’m thinking of Nicholas. Until the card party, we’ve seen a mostly unformed boy, a naive boy. I was surprised that he became so animated at the party and was not impressed."

I wonder if Squeers, having pushed too hard on too many of Nicholas's triggers, finally came to the realization that Nicholas was "animated" and anything but immature and naive as he was getting the daylights beaten out of him.

" 'I have a long series of insults to avenge,' said Nicholas, flushed with passion; 'and my indignation is aggravated by the dastardly cruelties practised on helpless infancy in this foul den. Have a care; for if you do raise the devil within me, the consequences shall fall heavily upon your own head!' "

I thought the scene in which Nicholas and John Browdie shook hands and made gentlemanly amends with one another was absolutely brilliant. Browdie might have been in the process of having the banns read for his upcoming marriage with Tilda but, despite Tilda's friendship(?) with Fanny, there is obviously no love lost between Browdie and Wackford Squeers. Quite the opposite, I dare say, as Browdie clearly took great delight in imagining Nicholas beating the stuffings out of him!

Bionic Jean wrote: "Smike kneels and begs Nicholas to let him come along. Nicholas says kindly that he can’t do much for him, being almost as badly off as Smike.

“May I—may I go with you?’ asked Smike, timidly. ‘I will be your faithful hard-working servant, I will, indeed.”

All Smike wants to be with the friend who has shown him kindness. He wants nothing else. To his great delight, Nicholas agrees:"

Shades of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, doncha think?

Yes! Charles Dickens is buying into a long tradition of great stories with this entire episode, but making important social criticism too.

I have to say I was hoping to find an illustration with Nicholas, and John Browdie. (All I could find is an inferior one by Sol Eytinge Jr, of John, Fanny and Tilda.) John Browdie is based on the man Charles Dickens met in Yorkshire, and whom he made friends with.

For anyone who has not yet read the Preface, please do!

" ... though I tried him again and again, I never approached the question of the school, even if he were in the middle of a laugh, without observing that his countenance fell, and that he became uncomfortable"

and in the end, the Yorkshireman decided he could not leave it to chance, and told Charles Dickens not to send the (fictitious) little boy to Bowers Academy "while there’s a harse to hoold in a’ Lunnun, or a gootther to lie asleep in."

while there's a house to hold him in in London, or a gutter to sleep in.

I think this is a perfect tribute to this anonymous man! 🥰 He's "reet gradley" as we'd say in Yorkshire (right i.e. very upstanding and worthy.)

Oh yes, I was cheering by the end too, Jean!

I really like what Kathleen said above, that Nicholas was "waking up from the shock of his father's death." He was certainly wide awake here, and it was fun to cheer him on.

It was interesting to compare the illustrations. You can clearly see, looking at those last two especially, that Furniss captures Dickens' melodramatic style in a way that really suits the prose. I'm just appreciating what he did with each of their faces, from Nicholas' determination to Mrs. Squeers panic. And if you look at the lines that depict the background walls in each illustration, most are straight and calm, and it's only Furniss where even the lines show the wildness of the scene. So fun--thank you for sharing them, Jean!
Kathleen C.