Lecture 7 of Book Two Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens, the greatest representative of English critical realism, was born in 1812 at Portsmouth, where his father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office.

In 1821 the Dickens family moved to a poor quarter in London. Mr. Dickens was heavily in debt and did not know which way to turn for money.

Finally Mr. Dickens was taken to the Marshalsea Prison, London, for debt.

Shortly afterwards Mm. Dickens and the younger children went to the prison, too, to join the father.

The 12-year-old Charles, weak and sensitive, was sent to work in an underground cellar at a blacking factory in the East End of London.

Then his fortune took a turn for the better. He left the blacking factory and studied at school again.

When Dickens was 15, he left school for good and became a lawyer's clerk. In 1834 he was taken on the staff of a newspaper.

The rest of his life is a story of work, and work without rest.

He followed up the triumph of' Pickwick Papers' with a quick succession of outstanding novels in which he masterly depicted the rife of contemporary English society.

His energy was almost boundless, but his use of it so prodigal that he died in 1870, worn out, at 58.

The First Period 1836 "Sketches by Boz' 1836-1837 "The Pickwick Papers" 1837-1838 - Oliver Twist" 1838-1839 " Nicholas Nickleby" 1840-1841 "The Old Curiosity Shop' 1841 "Barnaby Rudge"

The Second Period 1842 American Notes" 1843-1845 Martin Chuzzlewit 1843 A Christmas Carol" ( a Christmas

book) 1844 The Chimes (a Christmas book) 1845 The Cricket on the Hearth( a C

hristmas book) 1846-i848 Dombey and Son 1849-1850 David Copperfield

The Third Period 1852-1853 "Bleak House' 1854 "Hard Times" 1855-1857 "Little Dorrit" t859 "A Tale of Two Cities" 1860 1861 "Great Expectations" 1864.-1865 "Our Mutual Friend" 1870 "Edwin Drood" (unfinished)

1. The Pickwick Papers: The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick

Club is the work that first made Dickens famous as a popular writer of novels.

The story evolves round the adventures of Mr. Pickwick, a retired well-to-do merchant and a somewhat eccentric old fellow who is the founder and chairman of the Pickwick Club.

The plot is rather formless, but the novel fascinates the reader from beginning to end by its comical episodes.

"Oliver Twist': "Oliver Twist", written in 1837-38, tells the

story of an orphan boy, whose adventures provide a description of the lower depths of London.

Oliver Twist is of unknown parentage. He is born in a workhouse and brought up under cruel conditions. The tyrant at whose hands he especially suffers is Bumble, the parish beadle.

After serving an unhappy apprenticeship to an undertaker, he runs away to London, where he, falls into the hands of a gang of thieves.

The head of the gang is old Fagin, and the other chief members are the burglar, Bill Sikes, his mistress Nancy, and the Artful Dodger, a young pickpocket.

Then Oliver is made to accompany Bill Sikes on a burgling expedition, in the course of which he receives a gun-shot wound, and comes into the hands of Mrs. Maylie and her protégée Rose, by whom he is kindly treated.

After a time, Nancy reveals to Rose that Monks knows Oliver's parentage. They make some inquiry about the matter.But Fagin discovers Nancy's action and tells Sikes. who, in a fit of rage murders her.

Rose is the sister of Oliver's unfortunate mother. Oliver is adopted by Mr. Brownlow. Monks dies in prison. Bumble, the cruel persecutor of Oliver, ends his career in the work house over which he formerly ruled.

Dombey and Son The hero in "Dombey and Son" is a capital

ist, a true representative of the English bourgeoisie---the rich and proud head of the shipping home of Dombey and Son.

Dickens thus describes Mr. Dombey: "The earth was made for Dombey and Son to trade in, and the sun and moon were made to give them light. Rivers and planets circled in their orbits to preserve inviolate a system of which they were the centre,"

To secure the continuity of the House, Mr. Dombey needs a son.

To him his wife is only the means of producing the son. He was "Mr. Dombey" to her when she married him, and "Mr. Dombey' he was to her when she died--in giving birth to the son.

But the son, little Paul, is delicate in health. What is worse, he is deprived of all the joys of a child at school, and is soon killed by the strict education there.

Heavily shaken by his loss, Mr. Dombey marries again, taking, as his second wife, Edith, a beautiful, proud but very poor woman. Dombey does not care a fig about Edith's lack of love for him. All he wants is a woman who can produce the needed son.

From the start Dombey's hard-heartedness offends Edith, and this crack in their relations is artfully widened by his business manager Carker, a villain.

The breach widens and develops into a crisis. Edith leaves him, eloping with Carker. Mr. Dombey, in pursuit of Edith for revenge, meets Carker, who has now been spurned by Edith, in a railway station. Carker, in a great shock, stumbles from the station platform before a coming train and gets killed.

The house of Dombey goes bankrupt in a financial crisis. Dombey loses his fortune, his son and his wife. He lives in humility and repentance, his daughter Florence, who has been driven from home, now returns to him. The proud Edith ends her days in voluntary seclusion.

David Copperfield David, a posthumous child, is born soon after the

death of his father. His mother, a gentle weak woman, marries again.

Her second husband, Mr. Murdstone, is a vile-natured man. Under the guise of teaching David and forming his character, he tortures both David and his mother, driving the poor young mother to an early grave.

David is sent to school, where he is badly treated by the sadistic head-humoured, Creakle, and at the same time makes two friends in Tommy Traddle the tearful but good-humoured boy, and the handsome and brilliant Steerforth, the spoiled son of a foolish and aristocratic mother.

After schooling, David enters Doctors' Commons to study law.

Meeting Steerforth again. David introduces him to the family of his old nurse, Clara Peggotty. This family consists of Mr. Peggotty, a Yarmouth fisherman, his nephew Ham and Little Emily, a pretty orphan girl, engaged to be married to Ham.

The handsome villain Steerforth induces Little Emily to run away with him under a promise of marriage, which he does not intend to fulfil. Then Steerlforth, who has abandoned Emily, is shipwrecked and drowned off Yarmouth on his return to England. Ham is drowned in an attempt to save him. Emily is found by Mr. Peggotty, and they, together with the Micawbers, emigrate to Australia, where they live happily ever after.

Hard Times The scene of Hard Times' is laid in the North of England, in an indus

trial city called Coketown, about 1853. Thomas Gradgrind and his friend Josiah Bounderby, both followers

of the utilitarian Manchester school. Mr. Gradgrind, M.P and millowner, advocates a philosophy of" facts'.

He brings up his son Tom and his daughter Louisa on the philosophy of facts, carefully extinguishing any imaginativeness or youthful tendencies in them.

As a result, Tom becomes an unprincipled youth, mean, cringing, dishonest and selfish, committing theft and then going out of England.

Meanwhile Louisa, as another victim of her father's heartless principle, is sacrificed in marriage to Bounderby though she does not love him. After marriage, she feels unhappy and is carried away by the attentions of another man.

The unhappy state of his children opens Gradgrind's eyes to the knowledge that life contains sentiments as powerful as facts.

Points of view (1) He hates the social evils and intends social

reform by exposing and criticizing in his works all the poverty, injustice, hypocrisy and corruption in the 19th-century England.

(2) He thinks that the state should intervene to control the rapacity of landlords and capitalists.

(3) He wants improvement in the life of the poor, but is afraid of a real revolution.

(4) Dickens is a humanitarian who pours all his love and sympathy for those poor, weak, innocent, injured and neglected good people.

Oliver Twist Through the story of the poor orphan boy. Oliver

Twist, Dickens launches a fierce attack at the cruelty and hypocrisy of the ruling class and calls for sympathy and help for the unfortunate and helpless children.

Oliver Twist is the first child hero by Dickens. Like other young heroes or heroines, he is an innocent, gentle, virtuous, pure and helpless child who, by misfortune, is brought into this miserable world and yet remains pure, virtuous and refined throughout.

His story—the mystery of his birth and the misery of his life-provides the main framework of the novel.

An illegitimate son of a lady and a gentleman, he is born and grows up in a workhouse. And yet, he seems to have inherited the polite language, gentle conduct and innocence from his gentry parents. Whether he is in the workhouse or in the thieves' den of Fagin, however he is maltreated, he remains innocent and pure.

At the same time, he is always defenseless and helpless in the world of brutality and criminality.

In a way, his major function as the hero of the novel is to link the upper society with the underworld criminals.

By following him, the reader gets to see the brutality, corruptness and criminality of both societies.

David Copperfield It tells of the story of David Copperfield in the form of a Bildungsrom

an. It is actually an adapted account of Dickens' own life from childhood

to early adulthood. The novel contains some of the experiences and feelings that Dickens had buried deep in his heart without telling any one, not even his dear wife. For instance, like David who is forced by his stepfather to work in a warehouse soon after his mother's death, Dickens too had the experience of having to working a blacking factory, pasting labels onto the bottles by day and sleeping under the counter at night, earning a few shillings a week, and he too for some time had to make his weekly walk back and forth to the Marshalsea prison where his father was kept for debt.

But on the whole, the novel is quite optimistic: Despite his unhappy childhood, David grows up to be a happily married man and a successful writer, just like the author himself.

The structure of the novel seems to fit well into the Cinderella pattern.

David, the disinherited prince, left in the hands of the wicked stepfather, is rescued and helped by his Godmother, Miss Trotwood, and finally finds and happily marries his princess, Agnes.

And yet, the first person point of view adds much to the realistic effects and sympathetic treatment of characters.

And the successful employment of child's point of view, particularly in the first part of the novel, brings out the truthfulness and genuineness of David's experiences and his feelings. Children's black-or-white view of people and life is here wonderfully presented.

Great Expectations: Philip Pirrip, commonly known as "Pip", is a village boy b

rought up by his bad-tempered sister and her gentle, kind blacksmith husband, Joe Gargery.

He is introduced to the house of Miss Havisham. The old lady, who was deserted by her lover on their wedding night many years ago, has brought up an orphan girl, Estella, as a very beautiful but mean, cruel, and selfish young lady. She hopes to use the girl as a weapon of revenge on all men.

Young Pip falls hopelessly in love with Estella. He wishes to become a gentleman so that he can marry her some day.

Suddenly, he is told that he is given a large sum of money. Thinking Miss Havisham to be his benefactress, he goes to London for a gentleman's education.

He soon becomes a changed person. He is ashamed of his relation with Joe Gargery who has come to see him in London.

But his unknown benefactor proves to be Abel Magwitch, an escaped convict whom he had once helped as a boy. The man is caught again and dies before he is taken to court.

Pip is guilt-ridden and falls ill. Joe comes to nurse him. After he gets well, Pip goes back to the country, hoping to start all over again.

Disheartened and desolate, he goes abroad and comes back eleven years later. Estella, the princess he has all along hoped to marry, turns out to be the daughter of Magwitch and a woman criminal. She has married the wicked Drummle, who maltreats and humiliates her the worst way he can.

Finally, Pip meets the widowed Estella at the ruined site of Miss Havisham'a burned house. The two childhood friends walk hand in hand from the place that has played such an enormous part in both their lives.

Comments: Apparently this is a novel about "great expectations", abo

ut dreams people cherish in life. Pip's great expectation is to grow up to be a gentleman and marry his princess, Estella.

But it turns out that the person who pays for his education is Magwitch, a convict whom he once helped in the past, and Estella, his long dreamed of princess, is no one but the daughter of Magwitch and a criminal woman.

Above all, the gentleman's education and life have turned him from a simple, honest, kind-hearted country boy into a vain, selfish, snobbish man.

The revelation of the truth of the source of his money and of the identifies of Magwitch and Estella, and the realization of the drastic changes in himself, leave him disheartened and disillusioned.

Artistic features (1) Dickens is a master storyteller who tells Very

interesting stories about London life with extraordinary vividness.

(2) Dickens is a master of language. He has a very large vocabulary and a remarkable deftness with the vernacular.

(3) The most distinguishing feature of his works is character-portrayal. He creates both type and individual characters. His characters are mostly larger-than-life. Most of them are marked out--usually through exaggeration--by some peculiar physical trait, speech or manners of conduct.

(4) a special master in portraying child characters. In Oliver Twist, The Old Curiosity Shop, Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations, he creates a group of immortal young heroes and heroines. He uses the children's point of view in telling their stories. The black-or-white-angel-or-monster point of view of children adds a vividness and exactness to the world of children, and makes their happiness or sorrow all the more acute and moving.

(5) Among a whole gallery of various expertly portrayed characters by Dickens, the best depicted are:

(A) those innocent, virtuous, angel-like, persecuted, helpless child characters like Oliver Twist, little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop, David Copperfield, little Dorrrit, etc;

(B) those ugly, wicked, evil, grotesque characters like Fagin and Monks in Oliver Twist, Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop, and Silas Wegg in Our Mutual Friend; and

(C) those broadly humorous and comical characters like Sam Weller in The Pickwick Papers, Mr. Micawber in David Copperfield, Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist, and Mrs. Gamp in Martin Chuzzlewit.

(6) Dickens believes that life is made up of both joy and sorrow.

By nature, he is a man who laughs a lot and cries as much. Most of his works are a mixture of humor and pathos.

On one hand, he uses exaggeration, especially in characterization, to highlight a character's personal traits or physical defect for a comical effect. On the other hand, he is also good at painting pictures of great pathos. He makes sure never to present a tragic scene in vain and tries hard to pass the pain and suffering to the audience and bring out their unashamed tears of sympathy and sorrow.

To some extent, this is a key to his popularity--giving readers bright merriment and dark gloom at the same time, mingling tears and laughter as in real life. But sometimes, he overdoes it: the dramatic scenes degenerate into melodrama and sentiments slips into excessive sentimentality.

Oliver Twist (1) Main idea Because he has asked for more gruel, Oliver is shut off i

n a cold, dark cabin, whipped every day, constantly put in public disgrace, and set up 'for sale at 5.

The criticism of the cruelty, hypocrisy and corruptness of the British workhouse system is here presented mainly through the sympathetic depiction of the innocence and helplessness of Oliver Twist, and through the vivid and exaggerated depiction of the savage, inhuman and stupid chimney-sweeper-owner, Mr. Gamfield, the ridiculous, snobbish and self-important Mr. Bumble, the heartless gentleman in white waist-coat, the other hypocritical board members, and the portrayal of the two old, impotent magistrates.

(2) Caricature and irony The exaggerated depiction of scenes and

characters in this part only enlivens the story, but also sharpens the social criticism of the worker. Besides the exaggerated caricature, the social is also for the use of the figure of speech of irony. With a pretended innocence , it denounces the inhuman for abusing and dehumanizing the poor children. The ironic tone of the author is bitter and indignant.

For a week after the commission of the impious and profane offence of asking for more, Oliver remained a close prisoner in the dark and solitary room to which he had been consigned by the wisdom and mercy of the board. It appears, at first sight not unreasonable to suppose, that, if he had entertained a becoming feeling of respect for the prediction of the gentleman in the white waistcoat, he would have established that sage individual's prophetic character, once and for ever, by tying one end of his pocket-handkerchief to a hook in the wall, and attaching himself to the other.

To the performance of this feat, however, there was one obstacle: namely, that pocket-handkerchiefs being decided articles of luxury, had been, for all future times and ages, removed from the noses of paupers by the express order of the board, in council assembled: solemnly given and pronounced under their hands and seals.

There was a still greater obstacle in Oliver's youth and childishness. He only cried bitterly all day; and, when the long, dismal night came on, spread his little hands before his eyes to shut out the darkness, and crouching in the corner, tried to sleep: ever and anon waking with a start and tremble, and drawing himself closer and closer to the wall, as if to feel even its cold hard surface were a protection in the gloom and loneliness which surrounded him.

Let it not be supposed by the enemies of 'the system,' that, during the period of his solitary incarceration, Oliver was denied the benefit of exercise, the pleasure of society, or the advantages of religious consolation.

As for exercise, it was nice cold weather, and he was allowed to perform his ablutions every morning under the pump, in a stone yard, in the presence of Mr. Bumble, who prevented his catching cold, and caused a tingling sensation to pervade his frame, by repeated applications of the cane.

As for society, he was carried every other day into the hall where the boys dined, and there sociably flogged as a public warning and example.

And so far from being denied the advantages of religious consolation, he was kicked into the same apartment every evening at prayer-time, and there permitted to listen to, and console his mind with, a general supplication of the boys, containing a special clause, therein inserted by authority of the board, in which they entreated to be made good, virtuous, contented, and obedient, and to be guarded from the sins and vices of Oliver Twist: whom the supplication distinctly set forth to be under the exclusive patronage and protection of the powers of wickedness, and an article direct from the manufactory of the very Devil himself.

Oliver TwistCHAPTER II

Oliver had not been within the walls of the workhouse a quarter of an hour, and had scarcely completed the demolition of a second slice of bread, when Mr. Bumble, who had handed him over to the care of an old woman, returned; and, telling him it was a board night, informed him that the board had said he was to appear before it forthwith.

Not having a very clearly defined notion of what a live board was, Oliver was rather astounded by this intelligence, and was not quite certain whether he ought to laugh or cry. He had no time to think about the matter, however; for Mr. Bumble gave him

a tap on the head, with his cane, to wake him up: and another on the back to make him lively: and bidding him to follow, conducted him into a large white-washed room, where eight or ten fat gentlemen were sitting round a table. At the top of the table, seated in an arm-chair rather higher than the rest, was a particularly fat gentleman with a very round, red face.

'Bow to the board,' said Bumble. Oliver brushed away two or three tears that were lingering in his eyes; and seeing no board but the table, fortunately bowed to that.

'What's your name, boy?' said the gentleman in the high chair.

Oliver was frightened at the sight of so many gentlemen, which made him tremble: and the beadle gave him another tap behind, which made him cry. These two causes made him answer in a very low and hesitating voice; whereupon a gentleman in a white waistcoat said he was a fool. Which was a capital way of raising his spirits, and putting him quite at his ease.

'Boy,' said the gentleman in the high chair, 'listen to me. You know you're an orphan, I suppose?'

'What's that, sir?' inquired poor Oliver. 'The boy IS a fool--I thought he was,' said the gentleman in the white w

aistcoat. 'Hush!' said the gentleman who had spoken first. 'You know you've got

no father or mother, and that you were brought up by the parish, don't you?'

'Yes, sir,' replied Oliver, weeping bitterly. 'What are you crying for?' inquired the gentleman in the white waistcoa

t. And to be sure it was very extraordinary. What COULD the boy be crying for?

'I hope you say your prayers every night,' said another gentleman in a gruff voice; 'and pray for the people who feed you, and take care of you--like a Christian.'

'Yes, sir,' stammered the boy. The gentleman who spoke last was unconsciously right. It would have been very like a Christian, and a marvellously good Christian too, if Oliver had prayed for the people who fed and took care of HIM. But he hadn't, because nobody had taught him.

'Well! You have come here to be educated, and taught a useful trade,' said the red-faced gentleman in the high chair.

'So you'll begin to pick oakum to-morrow morning at six o'clock,' added the surly one in the white waistcoat.

For the combination of both these blessings in the one simple process of picking oakum, Oliver bowed low by the direction of the beadle, and was then hurried away to a large ward; where, on a rough, hard bed, he sobbed himself to sleep. What a novel illustration of the tender laws of England! They let the paupers go to sleep!

Poor Oliver! He little thought, as he lay sleeping in happy unconsciousness of all around him, that the board had that very day arrived at a decision which would exercise the most material influence over all his future fortunes. But they had. And this was it:

The members of this board were very sage, deep, philosophical men; and when they came to turn their attention to the workhouse, they found out at once, what ordinary folks would never have discovered--the poor people liked it! It was a regular place of public entertainment for the poorer classes; a tavern where there was nothing to pay; a public breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper all the year round; a brick and mortar Elysium, where it was all play and no work. 'Oho!' said the board, looking very knowing; 'we are the fellows to set this to rights; we'll stop it all, in no time.' So, they established the rule, that all poor people should have the alternative (for they would compel nobody, not they), of being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it. With this view, they contracted with the water-works to lay on an unlimited supply of water; and with a corn-factor to supply periodically small quantities of oatmeal; and issued three meals of thin gruel a day, with an onion twice a week, and half a roll of Sundays.

They made a great many other wise and humane regulations, having reference to the ladies, which it is not necessary to repeat; kindly undertook to divorce poor married people, in consequence of the great expense of a suit in Doctors' Commons; and, instead of compelling a man to support his family, as they had theretofore done, took his family away from him, and made him a bachelor! There is no saying how many applicants for relief, under these last two heads, might have started up in all classes of society, if it had not been coupled with the workhouse; but the board were long-headed men, and had provided for this difficulty. The relief was inseparable from the workhouse and the gruel; and that frightened people.

For the first six months after Oliver Twist was removed, the system was in full operation. It was rather expensive at first, in consequence of the increase in the undertaker's bill, and the necessity of taking in the clothes of all the paupers, which fluttered loosely on their wasted, shrunken forms, after a week or two's gruel. But the number of workhouse inmates got thin as well as the paupers; and the board were in ecstasies.

The room in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall, with a copper at one end: out of which the master, dressed in an apron for the purpose, and assisted by one or two women, ladled the gruel at mealtimes. Of this festive composition each boy had one porringer, and no more--except on occasions of great public rejoicing, when he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides.

The bowls never wanted washing. The boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again; and when they had performed this operation (which never took very long, the spoons being nearly as large as the bowls), they would sit staring at the copper, with such eager eyes, as if they could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed; employing themselves, meanwhile, in sucking their fingers most assiduously, with the view of catching up any stray splashes of gruel that might have been cast thereon. Boys have generally excellent appetites. Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months: at last they got so voracious and wild with hunger, that one boy, who was tall for his age, and hadn't been used to that sort of thing (for his father had kept a small cook-shop), hinted darkly to his companions, that unless he had another basin of gruel per diem, he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next him, who happened to be a weakly youth of tender age. He had a wild, hungry eye; and they implicitly believed him. A council was held; lots were cast who should walk up to the master after supper that evening, and ask for more; and it fell to Oliver Twist.

The evening arrived; the boys took their places. The master, in his cook's uniform, stationed himself at the copper; his pauper assistants ranged themselves behind him; the gruel was served out; and a long grace was said over the short commons. The gruel disappeared; the boys whispered each other, and winked at Oliver; while his next neighbours nudged him. Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery. He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said: somewhat alarmed at his own temerity:

'Please, sir, I want some more.' The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed i

n stupified astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear.

'What!' said the master at length, in a faint voice. 'Please, sir,' replied Oliver, 'I want some more.' The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle; pinioned him i

n his arm; and shrieked aloud for the beadle.

The board were sitting in solemn conclave, when Mr. Bumble rushed into the room in great excitement, and addressing the gentleman in the high chair, said,

'Mr. Limbkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist has asked for more!' There was a general start. Horror was depicted on every countenance. 'For MORE!' said Mr. Limbkins. 'Compose yourself, Bumble, and answ

er me distinctly. Do I understand that he asked for more, after he had eaten the supper allotted by the dietary?'

'He did, sir,' replied Bumble. 'That boy will be hung,' said the gentleman in the white waistcoat. 'I kn

ow that boy will be hung.' Nobody controverted the prophetic gentleman's opinion. An animated

discussion took place. Oliver was ordered into instant confinement; and a bill was next morning pasted on the outside of the gate, offering a reward of five pounds to anybody who would take Oliver Twist off the hands of the parish. In other words, five pounds and Oliver Twist were offered to any man or woman who wanted an apprentice to any trade, business, or calling.

'I never was more convinced of anything in my life,' said the gentleman in the white waistcoat, as he knocked at the gate and read the bill next morning: 'I never was more convinced of anything in my life, than I am that that boy will come to be hung.'

As I purpose to show in the sequel whether the white waist coated gentleman was right or not, I should perhaps mar the interest of this narrative (supposing it to possess any at all), if I ventured to hint just yet, whether the life of Oliver Twist had this violent termination or no.

Chapter 3 For a week after the commission of the impious and profane offence of

asking for more, Oliver remained a close prisoner in the dark and solitary room to which he had been consigned by the wisdom and mercy of the board. It appears, at first sight not

unreasonable to suppose, that, if he had entertained a becoming feeling of respect for the prediction of the gentleman in the white waistcoat, he would have established that sage individual's prophetic character, once and for ever, by tying one end of his pocket-handkerchief to a hook in the wall, and attaching himself to the other. To the performance of this feat, however, there was one obstacle: namely, that pocket-handkerchiefs being decided articles of luxury, had been, for all future times and ages, removed from the noses of paupers by the express order of the board, in council assembled: solemnly given and pronounced under their hands and seals. There was a still greater obstacle in Oliver's youth and childishness. He only cried bitterly all day; and, when the long, dismal night came on, spread his little hands before his eyes to shut out the darkness, and crouching in the corner, tried to sleep: ever and anon waking with a start and tremble, and drawing himself closer and closer to the wall, as if to feel even its cold hard surface were a protection in the gloom and loneliness which surrounded him.

Let it not be supposed by the enemies of 'the system,' that, during the period of his solitary incarceration, Oliver was denied the benefit of exercise, the pleasure of society, or the advantages of religious consolation. As for exercise, it was nice cold weather, and he was allowed to perform his ablutions every morning under the pump, in a stone yard, in the presence of Mr. Bumble, who prevented his catching cold, and caused a tingling sensation to pervade his frame, by repeated applications of the cane. As for society, he was carried every other day into the hall where the boys dined, and there sociably flogged as a public warning and example. And so for from being denied the advantages of religious consolation, he was kicked into the same apartment every evening at prayer-time, and there permitted to listen to, and console his mind with, a general supplication of the boys, containing a special clause, therein inserted by authority of the board, in which they entreated to be made good, virtuous, contented, and obedient, and to be guarded from the sins and vices of Oliver Twist: whom the supplication distinctly set forth to be under the exclusive patronage and protection of the powers of wickedness, and an article direct from the manufactory of the very Devil himself.