Dickensians! discussion
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No Thoroughfare
Dramatic Dickens! Year
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No Thoroughfare (hosted by Lee)
Connie wrote: "Claudia, I got the impression that Mr Bintrey is Mr Wilding's lawyer who is handling Wilding's mother's estate as well as Wilding's legal business work. Mr Bintrey would probably know about Wilding..."Thanks Connie! In that case it makes fully sense!
I am caught up again. Thank you, Jean for the anecdote regarding the staircase. It really brings home that these are children--I can just see them sliding down the staircase rail. How sad that the accident occurred. It is interesting that this mother was able to reunite with her child. I'm sure that seldom (or perhaps never) happened, in reality. The hints given by Walter Wilding make me very curious to know why she surrendered him in the first place and the details of the father. It was rather poignant for Walter to say that he feared having a short life because he could not fulfill the command to honor your father and mother.
Mod
Lee, I hope I'm not getting too off-topic as I add more details about the Foundling hospital (museum) but I noticed mention of a few composers in the current section, including Handel.
The composer George Frideric Handel was one of the earliest benefactors of The Foundling Hospital, and used to hold performances of the Messiah every year, in order to raise funds for them. The top floor of the museum is now devoted to a museum for him, with etchings, a bust, information, music and several harpischords and clavichords. It is decorated in the 18th century style, and there are 2 easy chairs playing harpsichord music in the wings, so that you can sit and listen to his music if you wish. A lovely quiet spot in the centre of London! https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/event/...
I wonder if the mention in No Thoroughfare was a tribute to him.
We see that Walter Wilding has become a successful merchant and he really likes to talk. It seems that the retelling of his story to his lawyer may have been a monologue in the play format. This seems like a good way to get some information to the audience and to lay the foundation of his past and to set up some clues. Now, I’m more curious about his mother’s past.
Claudia wrote: "Thank you Lee for this great summary!There is indeed a gap of thirteen years between the two chapters and the author knows how to tickle our curiosity.
In addition, the burlesque toponyms have ..."
Interesting that you note Walter giving personal info to his business manager -- Dickens does this often. I have been surprised before when Dickens has a character share info with someone not in his/her social or business class. I think classes were fairly well established at this time but Dickens seems to cross classes. peace, janz
SUMMARY: T HE C U R T A I N R I S E S, part 2, July 13, Saturday (5 pgs)Begin with: "When I was in the Foundling, Mr. Bintry"
The discussion between Wilding and his legal agent Mr. Bintrey continues with details essential to the story, also showing the intimate friendship between the two. We learn that upon her death his adoptive mother had left Wilding with her inherited share in what was to become his own winery, formerly “Pebbleson Nephew”.
Mr. Wilding is so overcome with gratitude and love for his mother’s generosity that he determines to make his place of business a home for all his employees, a home which he never had as a child. “. . . I, who never knew a father of my own, wish to be a father to all in my employment”. The employer and the employed shall be equal at Wilding and Company!
Joey Ladle is introduced as the Head Cellarman of the wine cellars, having held that position since the Pebbleson Nephew cellars operated. Joey addresses his boss as Young Master Wilding, having known him since Wilding’s early apprenticeship.
They mention a Young Master George Vendale as the new partner in the business. Ominously Joel Ladle alerts Wilding to superstitions he holds about bad luck. He mutters that Wilding should never have changed the name of the business. “You had better by half have followed the luck instead of crossing it.”
(end of THE CURTAIN RISES).
Over To YouI see that some of the discussion has already mentioned elements in this section, which is understandable due to my breaking THE CURTAIN RISES into 2 sections. After you have a day to add further remarks, I will move quickly to Enter the Housekeeper as the important background of the story has now been established.
Mr Wilding appears to be very enthusiastic and have generous plans. I noticed that Mr Bintrey is repeatedly insisting upon Mr Wilding "cooling down" his good feelings: “Do you know, I really would not let my good feelings excite me, if I was you,” hinted the lawyer again, anxiously. “Try some more pump.”
Thank you for this information. peace, janz
It speaks to Walter Wilding's character that he wishes to make a kind of family of his employees. There is obvious gratitude he feels from his own circumstances and being reunited with his mother. I am very anxious to know more of his story.
Mod
(Hoping you are holding your own, Lee)
Thanks to everyone for your patience. My medical tests have been completed today. This evening I will post the remainder of our reading schedule to the end. Please continue reading to the end of "Enter The Housekeeper" chapter today and I will post a summary this evening also. Here is a photo of the theater performing cast of No Thoroughfare: A Drama in Four Acts, which was written primarily by Wilkie Collinsperformed with the distant collaboration of Charles Dickens who, after publication of his novel, had departed for yet another tour of America. (Dickens will complete at least a hundred readings while on this tour. ) Meanwhile, as a sneak preview, you will meet all of the characters in this image in the next week of our readings as the plot becomes far more complicated and the story much darker!
I will post more about the dramatic production at the end of our reading of the novel.
READING SCHEDULE, PART II PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGES. I WANT TO SPEED UP TO ACT II!ENTER THE HOUSEKEEPER
July 16 - From "The wine-merchant sat . . . " to " . . . set up her rest as house-keeper in Cripple Corner". Entire chapter (4 pages).
THE HOUSEKEEPER SPEAKS
July 17 - Beginning of chapter to "The wine-merchant's head dropped on his breast." (6 1/2 pages).
July 18 - From " . . . "'I was that child!'", he said to himself, trying helplessly . . ." to end of chapter (3 pages)
.
NEW CHARACTER ON THE SCENE
Friday, July 19 Beginning of chapter to "...You find us at length, Mr. Vendale. Perhaps you may lose us again."(9 pages).
Please continue reading and disregard the former Sunday breaks! The novel in its entirety is four ACTS.
Saturday, July 20- Begin with "I trust not. The curious coincidence that has enabled me . . . ." (5 1/2 pages) to end of chapter.
Sunday, July 21 - EXIT WILDING Entire chapter. (12 pages).
SUMMARY - "Enter the Housekeeper" - July 16We are reminded of Dickens’s authorship at the beginning of the 2nd paragraph with this: “Such a Columbus of a morning was the summer morning, that it discovered Cripple Corner.” The dining room of Wilding & Co., Wine Merchants is described in detail. Hanging over the chimney piece is a portrait of his late mother.
The clerk Jarvis is introduced. He announces that several “females” have answered the advertising for housekeeper and are awaiting their interviews. Mr. Wilding begins the process nervously, as he is a modest man. Finally a Mrs. Sarah Goldstraw greets him and almost immediately he finds himself pleased with her. She examines the dining room carefully, looking particularly closely at the chimney piece.
She has excellent credentials and Mr. Wilding hires her on the spot. She agrees to return the next morning.
Bionic Jean wrote: "If I've read the plan correctly, we can comment up to the end of "Enter the Housekeeper" section today 😊(Hoping you are holding your own, Lee)"
Today is Tuesday, July 16. I have now posted the Summary for ENTER THE HOUSEKEEPER so feel free to comment. We will move quickly into the novel now in this week's readings and I hope you will be pleased!
Mrs Sarah Goldstraw, fifty years old, is watching closely the chimney piece. Above it is hanging the portrait of a lady: “I hang up here, in order that visitors may admire my mother in the bloom of her youth and beauty. My mother at fifty I hang in the seclusion of my own chamber, as a remembrance sacred to me."At the same time, Mr Wilding has a feeling of knowing this applicant housekeeper.
I have the same impression too! I am looking forward to learning more about those two parallel lives, Sarah's and Mr Wilding's deceased mother's.
I have been quiet so far as little has happened on which to comment. I am holding back any comments on the play till we have read well past any content where spoilers might ruin our novella. My main thought is on atmosphere as that has been my main reaction. IMO, it has been dark with warning flags for the future. The physical setting of the wine shop seems much more suited to rats than people. So I will remain quiet ti we get further on.
I was enjoying the humor as the applicants for housekeeper were being interviewed:" There were some respondents who came two together, a highly promising one and a wholly unpromising one: of whom the promising one answered all questions charmingly, until it would at last appear that she was not a candidate at all, but only the friend of the unpromising one, who had glowered in absolute silence and apparent injury."
SUMMARY: July 17 - The Housekeeper Speaks to "I was that child!"The next day Mrs. Goldstraw arrives and settles into her own room. She inquires about her duties as she is ready to begin at once. Mr. Wilding explains his desire to run the establishment like a family. His new partner is expected imminently. The housekeeper’s eyes stray again to the chimney piece, and her wandering attention distracts the merchant.
Again he finds her disconcertingly familiar, yet does not understand why.
She asks about the lady in the portrait above the chimney piece and Wilding explains it is of his dear mother when she was young. He then inquires more deeply into Mrs. Goldsmith’s past situations.
She was once a nurse at the Foundling Hospital. Both people are stunned with sudden realization: she once knew a child at the hospital with the name Walter Wilding. All falls dramatically into place: the orphan, the young lady in the portrait was leaving her infant child with a much younger Sally!
Mrs. SarahGoldsmith then explains that this child was adopted by a lady from Switzerland. Then, a mere 3 months later, another orphan was received into the institution. She was standing there and observed that the original name of Walter Wilding was scratched out on the register.
Mrs. Sarah Goldsmith, the housekeeper watched as the unused name of Walter Wilding was now free to be placed upon the NEWLY received orphan. The Registrar, with Sarah in attendance, decided to re-use that name. Let's . . ."Give it to the new foundling who has been received today." This child was the Walter Wilding who is our wine merchant. [This mass of details is contained in the chapter THE HOUSEKEEPER SPEAKS. It was my error to confuse the names of the original Sally with the new housekeeper, Sarah Goldsmith! So another switch is accidentally performed by this reader and I apologize!]
Mr. Bintrey is in the room with his client and he spots Mr. Wilding turning deadly pale, as he is a man of delicate health.
Mrs. Goldsmith attempts to change the subject when she sees his distress, but it is too late. She reveals that that original infant was adopted by a family shortly after its christening. The original infant, the true Walter Wilding, was taken away shortly after its arrival at the Foundling Hospital. A short 3 months later, a new male infant arrived, and the manager decided to re-use the name of Walter Wilding.
Distraught, our wine merchant exclaims, “I was that child!”
Sam wrote: "I have been quiet so far as little has happened on which to comment. I am holding back any comments." Makes sense, Sam. Breaking up this short reading really slows down the action. It will pick up soon!
S U M M A R Y: Pt II, The Housekeeper SpeaksJuly 18 (3 pgs)
July 18 – From: “ . . . Not very long after you had been received into the Institution” . . . to the end of chapter
Wilding attempts to grasp the ramifications of the information Sally the housekeeper has revealed to him. She explains that the lady that our Walter would call his mother had returned to the Foundling too late, almost 12 years too late. By that time her child had long been adopted by a fine family and taken away to their home somewhere in Switzerland. Sally had inadvertently given away the truth by her recognition of the lady in the portrait in Walter Wilding’s chimney-piece.
Broken-hearted by the mistaken identity, Walter Wilding believes that in innocence he had wrongly taken his mother’s fortune, and that she never knew her real son had been taken to Switzerland. “She left me all that I possess, in the firm persuasion that I was her son. I am not her son. I have taken the place, I have innocently got the inheritance of another man.
The arrival of his new partner, Mr. Vendale, is announced.
REVISED READING SCHEDULE. I want to hurry us through the remainder of ACT I and move us along more rapidly. There are 4 ACTS to this novel. The very layout shows us the intention Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins had at the very beginning to transform this story to a staged theater play.Friday, July 19 - New Characters on the Scene
From beginning of the chapter to "You find us at length, Mr. Vendale." (9 pages)
Saturday, July 20 - Begin with . . . "I trust not. The curious coincidence . . . " to EXIT WILDING (6 pages)
Sunday, July 21 Begin EXIT WILDING a. . . You are not going to die yet, sir." Read to ACT II. (7 pages).
S U M M A R Y: "New Characters on the Scene."Friday, July 19
A letter postmarked from Switzerland stuns Mr. Wilding and his brand new partner, George Vendale is confused by Wilding’s agitation. Immediately Mr. Wilding shares his story about not deserving his mother’s inheritance, declaring himself to be an imposter. Vendale assures him that everything can be straightened out. "Let me begin our partnership by being a serviceable partner, and setting right whatever is wrong."
Together they read at the Swiss letter and learn it is from one of Wilding’s best clients, the ‘House of Defresnier et Cie’. The letter congratulates Vendale and introduces to both men an individual named M. Jules Obenreizer. Obenreizer is currently residing in London and he will serve as the agent for the Swiss champagne maker. George Vendale is astonished, as he had met Mr. Obenreizer several years earlier on a Swiss tour. At the time, M. Obenreizer was accompanied by his niece, whom Vendale remembers.
The shattered Mr. Windale is obsessed with the idea that he has appropriated by error another man’s inheritance. Vendale is quickly taken into his confidence as Mr. Windale declares the business is not legally his and calls for his attorney. George attempts to calm him and persuade him not to act rashly and abandon the business assets. Together they will secretly look for the original Walter Wilding.
Vendale proceeds to the residence of M. Obenreizer to introduce himself. There he also sees Miss Marguerite, who is chaperoned by a Madame Dor. Introductions are made and Miss Marguerite blushes at the sight of George.
George Vendale is a “brown-cheeked handsome fellow” with a quick eye. Obenreizer is a robust black-haired young man of a dark complexion, but whose face is colorless. He eyes others with suspicion. Then we meet Madame Dor, an older lady. Young Marguerite has “fair bright hair” and lovely gray eyes. She is the heroine of this tale, as Dickens tells us that she is imbued with the freshness and color of clean mountain air. As to the unexpected reunion of the four people, the young lady says . . . ”You find us at length, Mr. Vendale. Perhaps you may lose us again.”
Thanks Lee!We seem to have switched from a fairy tale where orphans found their mothers, to a huge quiproquo of a Walter Wilding who is not Walter Wilding and his mother not his mother. How devastating!
George Vendale despite his funnily ominous name (vandal) seems to be more composed and serene than emotionally fragile Walter Wilding (how not to be emotionally fragile in such a situation).
This passage, as well as the conversation with Sarah, formerly Sally, may raise awareness on adoption matters, children discovering the truth, Pandora boxes wide opened or better left unopened?
I spotted Dickens style in the passage about Swiss life in London: great Dickensian anaphora and plethora but not so great Dickensian clichés (unless Wilkie Collins was collaborating to this) I suppose - I disliked his clichés in Oliver Twist but these about goitres (hypothyroidism once said to be endemically present in mountainous areas (Alps and Massif Central) because of a lack of iodine, inducing switched moods and sometimes heavily impaired intellectual development) seem competing with the clichés around Fagin.
Still, there is a hint of mystery!
I am still catching up on the reading and will comment more when I get a bit further along. I have met the new housekeeper and already am curious to know why her voice reminds Wilding of someone. I am curious if employers often boarded their employees the way Walter wants to do? I can’t think of another story or Victorian novel that I’ve read in which we see this. It definitely demonstrates his character and I am curious to know more about his mother’s background and the circumstances surrounding giving him up to the Foundling hospital.
Lee, thank you for your summaries.Claudia, your mentions of the Swiss clichés was very interesting. I didn't know about the lack of iodine in that region.
Another cliché was the racialization of Obenreizer:
"Mr. Obenreizer was a black-haired young man of a dark complexion, through whose swarthy skin no red glow ever shone. When colour would have come into another cheek, a hardly discernible beat would come into his, as if the machinery for bringing up the ardent blood were there, but the machinery were dry. He was robustly made, well proportioned, and had handsome features. Many would have perceived that some surface change in him would have set them more at their ease with him, without being able to define what change. If his lips could have been made much thicker, and his neck much thinner, they would have found their want supplied."
The "New Characters on the Scene" section leaves the reader wondering if the authors are setting up Obenreizer to be a victim of poverty and mistreatment, or whether the emphasis on his dark complexion is a way to question if he is to be trusted.
"No Thoroughfare" was written in 1867 after the 1857 Indian uprising and the 1865 Morant Bay uprising in Jamaica. The colonial Governor Edward John Eyre executed over 400 men, flogged many more, and burned over a thousand houses in Jamaica. Racial tensions were running high in England with Dickens being more supportive of the empire while Collins was more liberal. Both authors were involved in writing Act I of "No Thoroughfare."
While there are spoilers so you would not want to read it yet, there is some interesting information about race in "No Thoroughfare" (both novel and play) in the sections "Fechter the Forgotten Collaborator" and "The Stage Affects of Morant Bay" of an article in Sage Journals. (Charles Fechter acted the role of Obenreizer in the play, and his suggestions helped Collins change the role of Obenreizer a bit in the play version.) The article is:
Joshua Gooch, "Damn all White Men and Down With Labor": Race and Genre in Wilkie Collins and Charles Fechter's "Black and White". Sage Journals, Vol 49, Issue 1.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full...
A Note on my error in the Summary of July 17! The trick s of misnaming/ mistaken identity of individuals has been extended beyond the deliberate ones of Charles Dickens to me, your hostess of this reading. I confused Sally in the OVERTURE with Mrs. Sarah Goldsmith in THE HOUSEKEEPER SPEAKS. My apologies!! This is why Walter tells his new housekeeper that he recognizes in her " . . . a manner and tone of voice . . . not of an individual - but of a general bearing." He was recognizing the general bearing of nurses at the Foundlings Hospital!
Moving on to the great comments by the readers:Claudia, your observations of the possibly "ominous" name of Vendale (vandal) caught me by surprise. And you recognized that I had switched the names Sally and Sarah, but did not see my error.
I like the attention you give to the Swiss styled district of Soho in London. I think more attention should be given by us to those passages in NEW CHARACTERS ON THE SCENE. They escaped my close attention each time I have read the story. It sounds like a little "Chinatown in San Francisco", only instead a little "Switzerland in the Soho district of London".
Would anyone like to enlarge upon Claudia's observation? And Claudia, could you elaborate? You said, I spotted Dickens style in the passage about Swiss life in London: great Dickensian anaphora and plethora" What exactly did you mean?
Lori wrote: "I am still catching up on the reading and will comment more when I get a bit further along. I have met the new housekeeper and already am curious to know why her voice reminds Wilding of someone. ..."
Interesting, Lori that you picked up how strange it was that this matronly Mrs. Goldsmith might remind Walter of someone. You are onto something there, as you will know by my comments today, July 20. But I worry that my summaries will spoil things for you, Lori. When we get to ACT II, there will be some mysterious twists in the story. I can delay our start to Act II by a day OR I can just encourage everyone to watch out for spoilers in you get behind in the reading.
Certainly this novel picks up speed in Act III, particularly!!
"Shabby Swiss eating-houses, coffee-houses, and lodging-houses, Swiss drinks and dishes, Swiss service for Sundays, and Swiss schools for week-days, are all to be found there. Even the native-born English taverns drive a sort of broken-English trade; announcing in their windows Swiss whets and drams, and sheltering in their bars Swiss skirmishes of love and animosity on most nights in the year.Here above there is an anaphoric repeating of "Swiss" - perhaps not Dickens' best anaphora ever, but it conveys an insistence. Dickens is quite a champion of anaphora, but nowadays politicians have adopted this too, as it makes their speeches more convincing!
Plethora: I meant a flurry of things and people in the same passage. Perhaps there is but a hundred Swiss citizens established there, but the enumeration gives us an impression of millions of people. Still, Switzerland is a rather small country, then it seems astonishing that there are so many of them in London.
Connie has added a great deal of new information in her comment, message 77. "Another cliché was the racialization of Obenreizer". I had noticed the lengthy physical description of Obenreizer and frankly, it is puzzling. Dickens is implying another racial ethnicity here, yet the man chosen to play the role of Obenreizer in the play by (primarily)
Wilkie Collins was Caucasian, see Charles Albert Fechter. How would you explain the last name of "Obenreizer" in lieu of
Dickens's swarthy description? The term "racialization", not commonly used in the US, means:"a concept that describes how racial or ethnic identities are created, or how race is incorporated into a society's understanding of human behavior. It also models racial dominance as a process in which a dominant group "racializes" a dominated group. Racial issues are front and center in the US, but I am not sure of how Dickens' handled that topic. On the other hand, does the dark complexion and the muscular cheek without color simply prepare us to dislike Obenreizer? We will learn more about this in ACTs III and IV.
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was new historical information to me, and I wonder how it must have impacted Charles Dickens writing. There is much to explore there, thank you, Connie.
The Joshua Gooch article "Damn all White Men and Down With Labor": Race and Genre in Wilkie Collins and Charles Fechter's "Black and White" presented by Connie will be most interesting. I will look forward to seeing if that answers some of our questions.
S U M M A R Y: "New Characters on the Scene, part II"Saturday, July 20.
S U M M A R Y: "New Characters on the Scene, part II"Saturday, July 20
Begin with "I trust not". Obenreizer remarks on yet another coincidence as he watches Mr. Vendale and Marguerite renew their acquaintance. "The world is so small and so monotonous that a surprise is worth having . . . " Obenreizer says. Then he embarks upon a testimonial of his family history and relationship to Miss Marguerite. Vendale tries to access whether or not her relationship to M. Obenreizer is truly a voluntary one. "He felt convinced that Marguerite was in some sort a prisoner as to her freewill".
Vendale returns to the merchant's office and home on Tower Street. As he explores the ancient vaults, like a "stone crypt", he meets worker Joey Ladle, and they wander by candlelight. Joey has been a loyal worker at the establishment since before Wilding had purchased it. There is a hint of the gothic as the chapter ends, and Joey elaborates upon his superstitions regarding the winery, Mr. Wilding and Mr. Vendale. There are warnings and mentions of "clotted" blood" Vendale exits the wine cellar as he imagines a heavy hand hitting his chest.
Claudia wrote: ""Shabby Swiss eating-houses, coffee-houses, and lodging-houses, Swiss drinks and dishes, Swiss service for Sundays, and Swiss schools for week-days, are all to be found there. Even the native-born ..."Excellent, thank you. You have exposed the richness of these paragraphs, Claudia!
Mod
A sense of racialism is always difficult when reading Charles Dickens, as we found in The Frozen Deep, when looking at the back story about his beliefs regarding the Inuit (or as they were then termed "Esquimo"). It is better - and makes more sense - if we think of him as a strong supporter of the British Empire, as Connie brought out.
Anaphora is one of those literary terms which often escapes me😂 yet Claudia is absolutely right to bring it up here. We could hardly think of an author who used repetition to better literary effect.
I am getting excited now, as I know that Lee has a really great surprise for us all later today ... 😊
An Unexpected DiscoveryCharles Dickens knew London. Step by step, day or night, he loved to take long walks through the city, going to prisons, hospitals (including our Foundling Hospital), slums and river banks. His walking paths have been traced and mapped by scholars.
Every location he described in his novels or Christmas stories has been researched in modern times, identified and added to elaborate maps tracing every spot he described. https://www.charlesdickenspage.com/ch...
But what of No Thoroughfare? What of Wilding’s carefully depicted Wilding & Co., Wine Merchants? Charles Dickens described in minute detail the setting. “In a courtyard in the City of London…and a winding street connecting Tower Street with the Middlesex shore of the Thames, stood the place of business of Wilding & Co. Wine Merchants” . . . I searched on Google to see if I could identify such odd spots on Tower Street as Break-Neck-Stairs and Cripple Corner. I found nothing.
(view spoiler)
Mod
GR does not like html links, so I will try just using the address:
https://www.proquest.com/pao/docview/...
It may be that you can only read this if you are a member of ProQuest, but do try and see! (I'm not, but the DF gave me access.)
Scroll down a few pages for the entire article. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E...
Jean did fantastic work in reaching out to the Dickens Fellowship Joint Honorary General Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer!
The research done by Ms. Major in the 1950's is fascinating, and I cannot find mention of it anywhere else, even in British History Online sites. Many thanks to Jean for the incredible work she did to bring this article to light!
Mod
Journal - Dickensian; London Vol. 55, (Jan 1, 1959); 175.
Title - NO THOROUGHFARE
Major, Gwen.
You can either log in through ProQuest (my link) or Google (Lee's link).
Sorry, but GR restricted all direct links a while ago. Lee and I were excited about the article she found ... perhaps some will still be able to read it.
SURVEYHave any of my readers been able to access the article? It is a description of "An Old City Merchant's House", and the author is speculating, with excellent quotes from No Thoroughfare, that she remembers 34 Great Tower Street that had been tragically bombed by Hitler during WWII. Her source of information is Unknown London
.The mansion itself had a courtyard and spacious apartments, and beneath the mansion was a large cellar. The mansion dated from 1670. In Bell's book, he mentions a flight of stairs at the entrance. The mansion and connected counting house was owned by wine merchants who first came on site in 1821.
Bell described great chimneys with ornamental mantlepieces elaborately carved. There was a large dining room big enough for a large number of guests. And there was a vast and antique wine cellar below the mansion!
To save space, I use a spoiler tag here. (view spoiler)
SURVEY continued. Part II. Spoiler added to condense the space. The author of this article goes on to explain that like myself, she was unable to locate evidence of a real Cripple Corner, only a Cripple Court. Dickens went on to describe decaying steep, narrow steps down to the Thames, (view spoiler)
One final point. The wine merchants that existed during Dickens's days? Messrs. Wilkinson (aka Wilding?) and Gaviller, who first came to that location in 1848.
I dearly hope you could access the actual article, which is far more interesting reading in full than my snippets of quotes and notes!
I pause here for your comments before proceeding onto the longer chapter, "Exit Wilding". I hope you have enjoyed walking in the steps of Charles Dickens as we explored his "Court-yard in the City of London".
Great detective work, Lee and Jean! I found "Unknown London" on Internet Achieve with a photo of the building, but I could not access Gwen Major's article.
Thanks, Connie. It has been exciting for me. I couldn’t manage to put that photo on Goodreads. I hate that so much history has been purchased and copywrited for personal profit! I’m sorry you couldn’t get through with our links. 😥
Mod
"Breakneck Stairs" is an actual place; I suspect Charles Dickens inserted the hyphen for emphasis. It is in Green Harbour Court, Old Bailey, London, which often features in Charles Dickens's novels e.g. the Courts of Chancery - and he lived in that area for a while when he was working as a court reporter - until he married and moved to Doughty St.
This is an etching from 1803, which shows a house on the corner of Breakneck Stairs, which was the residence of Oliver Goldsmith in 1758.
I managed to lift a copy of the building from Unknown London and post it here for anyone who could not see it otherwise. I was also unable to read the article, but thank you Lee and Jean for all the very interesting information. I sometimes wonder if there was a sight or a place in London that Dickens did not have in his head and transfer to his writing.
I have finally caught up with both the reading and the discussion. I have nothing really to add, but I am intrigued by all the mysteries that are developing. I was a little shaken by the episode in the cellar when Joey Ladle foreshadows death for Vendale by murder. I am hoping he is wrong, since I have already become quite fond of Mr. Vendale.
Sara wrote: "I am intrigued by all the mysteries that are developing. I was a little shaken by the episode in..."I agree that Joey Ladle is doing a lot of foreshadowing. He drops hints, appears in dark, mysterious places like the concrete wine vaults where they walk by candlelight. He doesn't seem like a fully formed character to me, yet Dickens places him right at Marguerite Obenreizer's side during the musical evenings. How odd is it that a simple, uneducated clerk seems to have a power of foresight and also that he is close at her side, whereas Vendale can't get near her!
Dickensians!
Books mentioned in this topic
No Thoroughfare (other topics)Barnaby Rudge (other topics)
No Thoroughfare (other topics)
No Thoroughfare: A Drama in Four Acts (other topics)
Oliver Twist (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles Dickens (other topics)Walter Scott (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
John Forster (other topics)
Wilkie Collins (other topics)
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That's a good comparison with Lady Dedlock, although that was much more tragic.