Humphry Clinker Week 4: The above to End of Volume 2 on page 230, ending with a letter to Sir W. Phillips from J Melford (Edinburgh, Aug 8).

[Frances, Moderator]

The party spends some not entirely successful time at Scarborough, then passes through a series of towns before finally reaching Edinburgh. Here things appear to be looking up. Matthew Bramble (and presumably Smollett) has a much more favourable impression of the Scottish Capital and Jery is having a wonderful time.

As a lover of the English Cathedrals, I was quite amused by Smollett's/Bramble's impression that they were meant for a warm climate and should never have been brought to Britain, being so draughty and chilly. Furthermore,

The external appearance of an old cathedral cannot be but displeasing to the eye of every man, who has any idea of propriety and proportion, even though he may be ignorant of architecture as a science; and the long slender spire puts one in mind of a criminal impaled, with a sharp stake rising up through his shoulder-...

I was also surprised when Bramble mentioned that he disliked having a biblical name (such as Matthew) because it ...savours of those canting hypocrites, who in Cromwell's time, christened all their children by names taken from the scripture.

There is quite a funny tale for poor Win being taken to the play in finery before finally losing Dutton to a woman with £5000, before we finally arrive in Edinburgh for some general enjoyment.

Please share your thoughts on and favourite parts of this section.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I find this section entertaining, especially Matt's descriptions-he is not too impressed with the interiors of some lodging houses and is grateful that he has letters of introduction to residents of the towns and cities he visits.

And something has caused Miss Liddy an upset-at a dance with someone who looked remarkably like Wilson.

And Mrs. Tabitha is still looking for a husband. I got a kick out of her attire at a ball they all attended-she was so badly dressed, but she didn't know that. Everyone just had to look at her.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I remember the scene where poor Win went out dressed like a painted harlot. Poor thing-she is well rid of Dutton.

[Abigail]

Squire Bramble seems to be miraculously cured of his ills by the Scottish air and Scottish society! Even a drenching doesn’t dampen his good cheer.

Lydia for the past three weeks has been reduced to a serial swooner. I do hope the emergence of the proto-Wilson signals her return to center stage. We haven’t seen one of her letters for a long time.

We had our mandatory bit of slapstick with Clinker dragging Bramble out of the water. I enjoyed the dinner with the clever messenger boys setting up the event and then getting the aristocrat to pay for it, and the aristocrat’s good-natured acceptance of the charge.

This section reminds me how important wit and the ability to dispute ideas were to society in Great Britain at this time. Like perpetual college!

I was struck by how the servants are much more entwined in family life than we would think. They ride in the carriage with the family members, go on outings with them, argue with them, and are embraced by Jery’s references to “the entire family.” I know they worked like dogs for a pittance, but there is a certain level of humanity in the way they are regarded here.

[Brian E]

While this section was not quite as exciting as last section, for a golf fan like me, it was fun to see Melford run into actual golfers in 1770s Edinburgh:

"Hard by, in the fields called the Links, the citizens of Edinburgh divert themselves at a game called golf, in which they use a curious kind of bats, tipt with horn, and small elastic balls of leather, stuffed with feathers, rather less than tennis balls, but of much harder consistence—This they strike with such force and a dexterity from one hole to another, that they will fly to an incredible distance. Of this diversion the Scots are so fond ..."

And I also got to learn about the "cawdies"
"There is at Edinburgh a society or corporation of errand-boys, called cawdies, who ply in the streets at night with paper lanthorns, and are very serviceable in carrying messages—"

Wikipedia explains the history of golf caddies:
"The Scots word caddie or cawdy was derived in the 17th century from the French word cadet and originally meant a student military officer. It later came to refer to someone who did odd jobs By the 19th century, it had come to mean someone who carried clubs for a golfer, or in its shortened form, cad, a man of disreputable behaviour.

"The first caddies appeared in 1817 in Edinburgh. It is believed that the first use of a caddie was by The Duke of Albany of Scotland in 1681 while playing the first international golf contest at Leith Links, which resulted in the construction of Golfers Land in Edinburgh."

It is at the Leith Links where Melford observes the golfers.
It all makes me want to read some of P.G. Wodehouse's Oldest Member golf stories.

[Abigail]

Thanks for the Wikipedia info, Brian! Somehow I missed the connection between cawdie and caddie.

[Brian E]

The derivation of caddie and cad was of interest to me as I once served as a caddie and have long served as a cad.

[Abigail]

😂

[Trev]

Brian wrote: "The derivation of caddie and cad was of interest to me as I once served as a caddie and have long served as a cad."

You’ve left me in a fit of **************** (as Winifred would put it.)

That Winifred was not a constant woman I could tell by her language, but how many ladies’ maids could resist being pampered by a dandy even if she did end up being dumped for an heiress. She acknowledged that Clinker had been sorely tried and now seems to think she has him wrapped round her finger.

The Scottish gentleman seems to have a lively imagination when relating his history. Passing quickly over the stomach churning details of how he survived and his colleague didn’t, my favourite ‘tale’ was the way his wife, Squinkinacoosta died.

’ …..she had died of a fever, occasioned by eating too much raw bear, which they had killed in a hunting excursion.’

Alnwick is indeed a lovely town, but it gets rather crowded these days because the castle is better known as Hogwarts, the location for the first two Harry Potter movies.

The description of Edinburgh’s tenement buildings, particularly the throwing out of the slops at 10pm each evening made a lasting impression but unlike Matthew, I didn’t have to put up with the smell that came with it.

Jery has obviously been enjoying himself in Edinburgh and it is perhaps for the best that he didn’t go into too much detail about the ‘debauchery’ that he was involved in.

We have heard far too little about Liddy in the previous two sections, but the hint from Jerry that Wilson is back on the scene might change all that. Liddy’s fainting fit and subsequent agitation, as well as her declining to go sailing with the rest of the family could mean that the wily Wilson has managed to arrange some clandestine meetings. Will he be a noble suitor or a dastardly rake?


==========

[Abigail]

Good lord, how could I have forgotten the details of Lieutenant Lismahago’s sojourn with the tribe?

[Robin P, Moderator]

Yes, all the gory details of life among the American savages!

I also liked the commentary on Scottish food.

[Frances, Moderator]

Can I clarify that the grand ball arranged by the cawdies was for gentlemen only and that the women who attended were prostitutes? Was that what everyone else understood? ... and this invitation was reinforced by an assurance that all the celebrated ladies of pleasure would grace the entertainment with their company

And to what did the bit during Jery's explanation of the Cawdies, They are particularly famous for the dexterity in executing one of the functions of Mercury; though for my own part, I never employed them in this department of business-Had I occasion for any service of this nature, my own man Archy M'Alpine is as well qualified as e'er a cawdie in Edinburgh; refer?

[Brian E]

Frances, I thought that just referred to their function when serving as messengers.

[Abigail]

I hadn’t picked up on the prostitutes being in attendance at the ball! Sounds like the annual Players’ Ball in Los Angeles, which has also been invaded by hipsters.

[Brian E]

Abigail wrote: "I hadn’t picked up on the prostitutes being in attendance at the ball."

There are many things observed by others on here that I failed to pick up on during my reading. When I read 18th Century fiction and the language stymies me a bit, I gloss over certain paragraphs as a result, without fully understanding what is being portrayed.
I have gone back and reread passages pointed out by others on here more often than about any other book I've read the past several years. This re-reading has enabled me to appreciate the book more but my reading skills less.

[Abigail]

It doesn’t help that this book is chock-full of insider material about relatively minor cultural and political figures of the day, unnamed, and my edition is woefully under-annotated.

[Trev]

Frances wrote: "Can I clarify that the grand ball arranged by the cawdies was for gentlemen only and that the women who attended were prostitutes? Was that what everyone else understood? ... and this invitation wa..."

I read it the same as you and believed the cawdies to be the rather underhand messengers of the gentlemen to either the ladies of ill repute or their mistresses. That is probably why the term ‘cads’ developed its malign connotation. There were other ways of sending and receiving messages in Edinburgh but the cawdies seemed to specialise in the secretive and immoral ones.

[Trev]

Robin P wrote:

I also liked the commentary on Scottish food."

My own take on haggis is that it tastes rather bland. I do have a preference for ‘white pudding’ which is often served up as part of a Scottish breakfast. I have never been offered a sheep’s head whilst staying in Scotland.

[Trev]

Abigail wrote: "Good lord, how could I have forgotten the details of Lieutenant Lismahago’s sojourn with the tribe?"

Robin P wrote:

Yes, all the gory details of life among the American savages!

Tabitha was very impressed.

’ Such are the outlines of Mr Lismahago’s history, to which Tabitha did seriously incline her ear;—indeed, she seemed to be taken with the same charms that captivated the heart of Desdemona, who loved the Moor for the dangers he had past.’

Although Tabitha has been troublesome and some have said annoying, her comparison with Desdemona seems a little outrageous considering both her age and poor Desdemona’s fate at the end of the play.