Nicholas Nickleby: Chapters 49 - 65

[Peter]

Jean

Of all your insightful commentaries this one is, in my opinion, the best. I have no idea where to start my comments, so I will time travel back into history.

By picking up the word ‘squire’ and linking that word to Nicholas and Smike opens up a treasure chest of possibilities. Then you fold in a reference to Chaucer and my mind was off to the races.

The listing of roles that characters can/do assume in the novel gives us a delightful base form which to discuss and debate the novel.

I eagerly begin my digging.

[Connie]

You've given us lots to think about today, Jean.

Dickens received many letters from people who did not want Smike to die, but he made it as beautiful and peaceful as possible with Nicholas at Smike's side. Dickens needed to get Smike out of London where the urban graveyards had coffins piled on top of each other. (Remember the graveyard in "Bleak House.") The countryside had cemeteries with flowers, trees, and tombstones with engravings. A grave under the tree where Kate was found sleeping by her father is beautiful place for Smike to rest, and makes his death a little easier on the reader. Smike was around the age of Dickens' beloved sister-in-law, Mary, when she died. That event probably influenced his lovely piece of sentimental writing.

[Sue]

I love your list of roles, Jean. It seems to me that some roles are possibly filled by more than one character and that some characters fill more than one role. All of which has me thinking that many of Dickens’ characters are more complex than I would have initially thought. I really enjoy how being in this group can widen the scope of reading each novel or other piece we read. And your comments, Jean, are great conversation starters and also opportunities to put the thinking cap on.

[Sara]

Jean--I do wish every reader of Dickens in the entire world had you as a guide. You have caused me to think of and examine so many aspects of this work that I confess never crossed my mind in the original reading. I love your explanation of the use of "roles" in Victorian literature and how it applies, not just to this work, but to many others that employ this device.

What marveled me always was that I could know exactly where Dickens was going with a story and yet be completely willing to go with him and totally satisfied when I got there. (Very unlike watching a Hallmark predictable movie). The depth of feeling he elicits is almost inexplicable to me. I knew Smike was not for this world almost from the moment he was introduced, and yet I shed tears over his demise. BTW, the Reinhart illustration is beautiful! (Jean--Another way in which you bless us while we are reading).

One comment I did want to make is that I found myself comparing the experiences of these two young men while Nicholas was showing Smike around his childhood haunts. There was so much joy and nostalgia for Nicholas and it hurt to think Smike has none of that. Not one memory that is good, kind, loving or sharing. His earliest memory is of the man who dropped him with Squeers, and that memory is a nightmare to him. No wonder he feels himself a creature apart from all the others, and no wonder he clings to Nicholas who has saved him and offered him at least a peaceful and loving way to die.

[Sam]

I was trying to think about how I wanted to respond on this chapter. In fact, I decided not to post comments on Ralph's possible role in his financial ruin and to wait to post on this chapter. It is hard to choose the right superlative to describe my feelings. So after consideration, I want to use the term "awed," I don't mean "awesome," the way the term is casually used today as a substitute for saying something is likable in a person's opinion; I mean how we used to use it like when seeing the ocean for the first time and one's reaction is not to run and take a selfie, but rather to stare, feel that sense of awe. and appreciate.
I do not know if I can convey that sense of awe I felt while and after reading the chapter. I could write a paper trying to explain it and still would not get it all. But let me just touch on some of what I felt Dickens accomplished here.

The novel, as undefined as it is. is part Bildungsroman and if we look at the work from that perspective one problem has been the snail's pace of Nicholas' growth. If we rationalize and exaggerate here and there, we may see some growth but on the whole Nicholas is almost the exact same as when we first met him, and Dickens has multiple defined flaws in his character, like his impulsive actions or his class consciousness, or his self-idealization. ( not to mention he is not the brightest bulb when it comes to being sensitive to the needs of others) Yet I feel Nicholas shows true growth in this chapter. And Dickens give Nicholas that growth spurt in what would be considered "Smike's chapter." After all it is his death scene... But Dickens has balanced the two making Nicholas and Smike almost equals. And let us not forget-- they are not equals! While we the modern reader and equally the reader of the time may feel sympathy for Smike (manipulated by the author) we are aware of the difference between the two. I think it is even mentioned by us in our comments. Smike is not an acceptable match for Kate and we see him as "squire" to the noble Nicholas. But I would argue that they are equals by the end of this chapter and Dickens accomplished this not by raising Smike, but by humbling Nicholas.

Dickens has Nicholas show compassion for Smike and more specifically he has him show that compassion in caring, and even more specifically than that, in the action of physically caring. Today, we are used to most actions of this type being done by professionals, but I imagine most of us have had some experience or another in physically caring for somebody, probably with someone with whom we have an intimate relationship. The act of physically caring for a sick individual is an intimate act. It requires the acceptance of both parties. I am not going into details. I will let our imaginations fill in those.

My argument is that Dickens, in allowing Nicholas to show this selfless action has given us as readers that growth in character the novel so badly needed, which for me relaxed a tension that had been building since the beginning of the book.

Btw, I also love that Dickens brought back a number of psychological and philosophical considerations in this chapter, something I had complained was missing since earlier in the book.
I also want to mention how I found this chapter well placed structurally, both in relation to the whole and in relation to recent chapters. I love how Dickens chose for Nicholas these actions in comparison to those he chose for Ralph.

Now edited. I have intentionally left these remarks histrionic and vague. I most wanted to demonstrate my feelings after reading the chapter.

[Peter]

Sara wrote: "Jean--I do wish every reader of Dickens in the entire world had you as a guide. You have caused me to think of and examine so many aspects of this work that I confess never crossed my mind in the o..."

Yes. The early life experiences of Nicholas and Smike are very different and I really enjoyed how you brought insight and sensitivity to show how this chapter functions.

[Peter]

Sam wrote: "I was trying to think about how I wanted to respond on this chapter. In fact, I decided not to post comments on Ralph's possible role in his financial ruin and to wait to post on this chapter. It i..."

I agree with your comments about Nicholas. Earlier in the novel I had difficulty warming to his character. In this chapter he is a gentle man and a gentleman.

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

Jean, I want to thank you so much for your post regarding 18th century literature and the part that "roles", including the audiences' insistence on them, played in its development. That really gives me a new light on understanding Victorian literature.

I was somewhat amused with your statement that "The general public were not overly concerned with depth of character." I couldn't help but think that literature has come full circle. Not to disparage contemporary literature, but I find that most "bestselling" contemporary novels that I read with my local group have shallow character development and rapid plot advancement through dialogue.

So when you also state " It [Nicholas Nickleby] should never be judged in comparison with Charles Dickens’s later novels, which conform much more to our modern ideals...", I'm taking you mean to refer to the ideals of modern readers of classic literature. I'm just not sure how many modern readers would be willing to slow down to the pace of Bleak House or Dombey and Son.

Sadly, most school children in the US are no longer taught to read and discuss classic novels. From what I understand, they're taught to study "excerpts" of novels so they can learn to answer questions "to the test."

Thank you for all of the in-depth analyses that you provide, Jean, which truly enrich our reading experiences.

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

I really loved reading everyone's comments!

Connie: I, too, was glad that Nicholas removed Smike from London and gave him a peaceful, idyllic environment to die in. And I loved that Nicholas told him the story of Kate falling asleep under the tree, which gave Smike the vision of an eternal resting place near Kate.

Sara: I loved your comments about Nicholas regaling Smike with sweet reminisces of his youth. I know Smike enjoyed hearing the stories... especially since he had none of his own. But I can't help but think that those memories became Smike's memories and "gave" him a childhood he would have never had otherwise.

Sam: I guess it never occurred to me that Nicholas had not really "grown" through the novel. But in reading this chapter, I was struck by the tender, patient care Nicholas gave to Smike, a young man he had only known for a short period of time. While he was nursing Smike, he showed no impatience to return to his life in London and resume his courtship of Madeline. He was totally devoted to his friend. I thought he showed a maturity beyond his years. So yes, Sam, I agree - Dickens did give Nicholas further growth in character.

And I, too, was so sad to see that Smike would never know happiness on earth. But Dickens did give him a vision of walking in peace and happiness in the Garden of Eden, and that did bring comfort to him at the moment of death.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "I'm taking you mean to refer to the ideals of modern readers of classic literature ..."

Yes, I was trying to express that we in the 21st century have an "ideal" of what we expect a great classic novel to be - i.e. one with broad themes and concerns - and it seems to start at about George Eliot. Charles Dickens fits neither the 18th century-influenced mould nor the 19th century mould exactly.

Thank you all for your lovely comments! 😊

[Sara]

Sam - great contribution as always.

Shirley- love the idea that Nicholas' memories somehow become Smike's. Knowing he will be buried in a spot that Kate has laid upon is balm for his soul and the kind of Dickensian element that I feel another author might well have failed to supply.

[Kelly]

All: I can't wait to read through everyone's comments in detail as I, yet again, play catch up here. My reading of the novel has, yet again, stayed on schedule but I can't seem to get involved in the discussion every time.

Jean: I've read your outstanding posts for this chapter at least. I am letting it all sink in! This has been one of the most enjoyable book discussions I've ever been a part of. I continue to be grateful for you.

I'm getting weepy that this book is coming to a close.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Claudia - I think you're definitely on to something with your analysis through the textual description of who the stranger behind the tree must be, and his connection with Smike. It makes us wonder why (and how) he would be there, and what he wants. As you pointed out, he has become shabby in the meantime, so perhaps it is something to do with money ... 🤔

Lee - I'm delighted to see you in this thread and hope this means you are close to catching up ... though I know you are rereading some early posts too. I'm delighted that you are gaining so much from reading Nicholas Nickleby, and hope to see some of your thoughts on the penultimate thread too - but only if you feel up to it.

Archetypes for sure, and we also see these character roles in early folk tales, where the same stories are told over and over again in different ways. (Fairy tales are a bit different, as they seem less concerned with story, and more about instilling a sense of wonder. I often find them a bit too "random" and purposeless for my taste.) Charles Dickens loved adventurous folk tales.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Peter - Thank you very much for your lovely comment, which means a lot to me, as I have learnt so much from you about Victorian literature over the years. And I love the idiom (or at least the mental image conjured up!) of your mind being off to the races. 😆

Connie - You have put some lovely images in our minds, thank you 😊

Devon still is beautiful in parts, and yes what a contrast it would have been to the London of 1839 - especially as you pointed out the graveyards with rotting bodies routinely piled up, and the lack of a sewage system. The city had suddenly become massively overcrowded at the start of the industrial revolution, and the structures that were in place could not cope. We read about all this in Judith Flanders's The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London and glimpse it in his other novels, as you say.

Charles Dickens's beloved sister-in-law Mary Hogarth was 17 when she died, and Smike a little older at 19 or 20 (he was 18 at the start). However you are right that Mary's death would be at the forefront of Charles Dickens's mind, as it happened so recently: in 1837, in the middle of writing Oliver Twist, and would increase the pathos he transferred to Smike.

We do keep seeing how the deaths of children - or child-like innocent young adults such as Smike - were to crop up in many works.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Sue - Yes, it occurred to me too that "some roles are possibly filled by more than one character and that some characters fill more than one role." It's Charles Dickens's genius again, I think, that they are still identifiable as the role they fulfil, but often something more as well.

And thank you! I love how our comments spark many more aspects, and always look forward to seeing and gaining from the extra insights about a chapter, which others bring out, and may have moved on to 😊

Sara - 🥰 That must be one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me - but gosh it is very flattering! I know how well versed you are in Victorian literature.

I don't think I've ever seen a Hallmark movie ... oh wait maybe I caught 10 minutes of one yesterday. I felt like watching a Christmas film at the end of the day, and although Chris doubted there would be any on yet, I said there was a whole channel of them. So we tried one, could not believe how bland it was, and quickly switched to Seinfeld!

There were only a few artists who illustrated this chapter. I hoped to find one by Harold Copping, as he painted such beautiful water colours, but his was only a sketch.

That is a wonderful insight as to why Charles Dickens spent so much of this chapter describing Nicholas's childhood haunts. I would have thought that the contrast between the two would have been agonising for Smike, but we were told that he kept wanting to see them all. It must have given poor Smike a vicarious pleasure, in his final days.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Sam - I love to read what you say, as you always have an interesting take on things. 😊

Yes Charles Dickens does quite often leave us in awe, I think. "I feel Nicholas shows true growth in this chapter. And Dickens give Nicholas that growth spurt in what would be considered "Smike's chapter" is a perfect example. We read and experience some aspects: a sense that time is running out for Smike and all the concomitant sadness; the nostalgia associated with Nicholas - and perhaps both of these are reflected in a strange way in our feelings as we approach the end of this book ... or is that too "meta"?

But when we pause afterwards we also see Nicholas's growth, as you say, and "they are equals by the end of this chapter and Dickens accomplished this not by raising Smike, but by humbling Nicholas" is a brilliant observation! I'm so glad you brought this out; thank you! 👏 All your subsequent points here also provide food for thought, and perhaps discussion too, as do Shirley's - thank you 😊

Kelly - I'm so glad you continue to be be a part of this read. It is tricky, I know. Not like most GR groups, and not like a real-life group either. It seems that some people like to comment every day with a chapter-a-day read; some only occasionally and most every two or three. But it always seems to work out just fine, and everyone finds their own way, and what works best for them. So hopefully this way is beneficial rather than restrictive. 😊

Thank you for the huge compliment (about "Dickensians!", and my bits too 😁!) This way of reading is not for everyone, so there may be some who dip their toe in and then quietly move away, but that's fine! I know others read it all and say nothing, as that suits them best. But I think those of us who able to stick with the plan are lucky enough to glean the most, and pick up what Charles Dickens wanted us to. As Sara indicated, you can miss so much by reading Nicholas Nickleby straight through like a modern novel.

[Lori]

We have been on such a roller coaster with this 4 chapter installment. I was so hoping (knowing though what must happen) that Smike would take a turn for the better. I can only imagine the conversations among the Victorian readers who are feeling sad about Smike but still on the cliff waiting to know what will happen back in London. Will Madeline come around and who is the ragged man as well as will Ralph get his comeuppance?

I can’t really add much to what has already been so eloquently said.

[Kathleen]

I do just want to thank everyone for the stimulating comments, and Jean for all you've added to this read for me. As you and Sara said, I would miss so much just reading it straight through.

I also want to note that I've had no temptation to read ahead. I actually love the waiting! Like Lori says, we get to feel like the Victorian readers and wonder together what will happen next. For me, so much of information and entertainment is so fast today, and doesn't give me a chance to absorb it. So this is a special treat, to dwell a little on Dickens' words that have so much to give us when we have a little help. Thank you all!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

That's so lovely Lori and Kathleen! Part of what I really like about this way of reading is the change of scene and characters, each time a chapter ends. I think meanwhile my subconscious stays with what I've read, and because it's a few days (or more) it will come up with new things by the time I'm back with that story thread 😆 It's an exception when the action carries straight on, and is usually when we are engrossed in a dramatic scene.

Today there is another change of mood, and another part of the tapestry, as we're back to the wicked uncle ...

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Installment 19:

Chapter 59: The Plots begin to fail, and Doubts and Dangers to disturb the Plotter

Ralph has become anxious and haggard. He jumps at little sounds. He has not eaten his breakfast, and it is past the time he normally goes to work. He hasn’t been able to sleep, but when he does sleep, he dreams about people plotting his downfall and winning.

“That he laboured under some mental or bodily indisposition, and that it was one of no slight kind so to affect a man like him, was sufficiently shown by his haggard face, jaded air, and hollow languid eyes: which he raised at last with a start and a hasty glance around him, as one who suddenly awakes from sleep, and cannot immediately recognise the place in which he finds himself.”

He is surprised that Noggs hasn’t come yet. He wishes the man would do something to get himself sent to prison.

“He is a traitor, I swear! How, or when, or where, I don’t know, though I suspect.”

He sends his servant to enquire after Newman Noggs. She comes back and says that Noggs did not return home last night, and also that there is a gentleman who wishes to speak with him. Ralph, back to his old self, is angry with her as he does not wish to be disturbed, but decides that he will see the man, after all. The servant is relieved to be released. Ralph assumes his old professional manner as best he can, and opens to door to find his visitor is Charles Cheeryble.

“Of all men alive, this was one of the last he would have wished to meet at any time; but, now that he recognised in him only the patron and protector of Nicholas, he would rather have seen a spectre.”

The unexpectedness of this intrusion brings forth all Ralph’s wrath, hatred and malice, and “restored the sneer to his lip, and the scowl to his brow”. He greets Charles Cheeryble sarcastically, saying that he can guess what his business is about, and he is not prepared to listen:

“Our way lies in very different directions. Take yours, I beg of you, and leave me to pursue mine in quiet.”

Charles says he didn’t come there because he wanted to, quite the opposite, but that he is on a mission of mercy. Ralph scorns him, saying that he shows no mercy and expects none. Charles tells him:

“Your nephew is a noble lad, sir, an honest, noble lad. What you are, Mr. Nickleby, I will not say; but what you have done, I know.”

Charles tells Ralph that when he finds the business he is engaged difficult to pursue, to come to the Cheerybles. They and Tim Linkinwater will explain everything. He needs to come soon, though, before it is too late. Charles Cheeryble says to Ralph never to forget that he came in mercy.

Ralph dismisses Charles as a madman, but he becomes more uneasy. As the day wears on and Noggs has still not arrived, he remembers Nicholas’s warning and imagines many unpleasant scenarios. He decides to go to the Snawleys.

Snawley’s wife refuses to let him in. She tells him that she knows about his scheme, and had warned her husband that it would bring about his downfall. Even when Ralph tells her that he can see Mr Snawley at an upstairs window, she refuses to fetch her husband.

“It was either you or the schoolmaster—one of you, or the two between you—that got the forged letter done; remember that! That wasn’t his doing, so don’t lay it at his door.’
‘Hold your tongue, you Jezebel,’ said Ralph, looking fearfully round.’“

Ralph tries threatening her and raising his hand, but Mrs Snawley will not budge. Ralph mutters to himself making sure that she knows he will not forget this. He leaves to go to the inn where Squeers is staying.

He learns that Squeers has been gone for ten days, although he left his bill and luggage behind. He goes to the place in Lambeth where Squeers had been staying, wondering if Squeers knows something about Snawley, or about why his attitude has changed. He knocks gently but there is no answer. Ralph waits on the stairs for many hours, and people come and go, but Squeers is not there either. Making enquiries, he learns that Squeers and an old woman were escorted out by two men, and assumes that they must have been arrested.

“If this were so, the fact must be known to Gride; and to Gride’s house he directed his steps; now thoroughly alarmed, and fearful that there were indeed plots afoot, tending to his discomfiture and ruin.”

When he arrives, it seems as though nobody is there, but then Ralph sees Gride just peeping out of the window of the garret:

“The sharp features and white hair appearing alone, above the parapet, looked like a severed head garnishing the wall.”

Gride will not answer the door and tells Ralph to go away, snarling at him and saying it isn’t safe.

Ralph considers to himself:

“How is this … that they all fall from me, and shun me like the plague, these men who have licked the dust from my feet? Is my day past, and is this indeed the coming on of night?”

but he is determined to find out the truth, and turns his towards the city, working his way steadily through the crowds as it is now between five and six o’clock. He has decided to go to the Cheerybles’, and raps on the glass where Tim Linkinwater is at work. Ralph demands to see whoever called on him that morning. Tim says it was Mr. Charles, but that he will see Mr. Ned too. When Charles arrives, he ways that it was “as a matter of delicacy and consideration” that he had called on Ralph, and now Ralph will see them all together or none of them.

Ralph agrees with a curl of his lip, and demands to know why they are interfering in his affairs. He does not care for the views of the world, and accuses them of malice and slander. The narrator comments that Ralph acts as is he is the injured party.

Ned Cheeryble reminds his brother that Mr Nickleby needs to listen to everything they have to say, before Charles rings the bell. Ralph merely smiles at this, and the bell is rung.

“Ralph’s eyes met those of Newman Noggs. From that moment, his heart began to fail him.”

However, Ralph merely comments that Noggs would sell his soul for a drink. Tim tries to intercede but Noggs bursts out that Ralph had made him what he was. He had worked for Ralph because he was poor, and never cringed or fawned, but had served him faithfully for many years, despite his bad treatment.

“I served you because I was proud; because I was a lonely man with you, and there were no other drudges to see my degradation; and because nobody knew, better than you, that I was a ruined man”.



“Ralph Nickleby Brought to Book - "Who tampered with a selfish father, urging him to sell his daughter to old Arthur Gride, and tampered with Gride, too, and did so in the little office, with a closet in the room?"” - Fred Barnard - 1875

Tim urges Noggs to be calm, but Noggs carries on regardless. He accuses Ralph of manipulating Squeers, Arthur Gride and Mr. Bray to commit evil acts. He reveals how his suspicions had been roused when he was sent out of the room, so that he had arranged for Squeers to be followed. He reminds Ralph that there is a closet in his room, so that he was able to overheard Ralph and Gride’s scheme. Noggs had tried to help others in Ralph’s clutches over the years, but his “cruel treatment of his own flesh and blood, and vile designs upon a young girl” made him feel like “reliev[ing] his feelings by pummelling his master soundly, and then going to the Devil.” But he thought that even such a “broken-down, drunken, miserable hack,” as he is, might be able to do her some good if he stayed in Ralph’s service.

Noggs says he sought out the Cheerybles, as he wants to set things right, and they have advised him that this is the way to go about it. For a long time he has wanted to have this moment where he would confront Ralph. Noggs had been sitting down and jerkily getting up again all through his fiery and violent speech, but now suddenly sits stiff, upright, and motionless, staring at Ralph Nickleby.

Ralph warns them about the law, and demands proof. Charles tells him that they have it. Snawley had confessed that Smike was not his son. Dogged and inflexible, Ralph asks who “the man Snawley” is, nd what it has to do with him. Charles pauses, but says that since they are in earnest, he realises that they will have to show all their proof, and how they obtained it. Then the Cheerybles and Tim Linkinwater consult briefly together, and make a statement.

Noggs had been assured by someone - who is not currently present - that Smike is not Snawley’s son, and who would take an oath on it if needed. The Cheeryble brothers would not have doubted the evidence if not for this, but then began to suspect a conspiracy, which they traced back to “the malice of Ralph, and the vindictiveness and avarice of Squeers. They had consulted an eminent lawyer, who had advised them not to give up Smike, but to delay proceedings as long as they could, and to try to encourage Snawley into making contradictory statements, so that he would begin to fear for his own safety and implicate Squeers. But although all this was done, Snawley was an old hand at low cunning and intrigue, and nothing had worked.

However, Noggs had stumbled on Ralph and Squeers talking together in the street, and followed them as they went round “various low lodging-houses, and taverns kept by broken gamblers”. On enquiring at these, he discovered that they were in pursuit of an old woman, who sounded very like deaf Mrs. Sliderskew. The Cheerybles hired someone to also stay in Squeers’s lodgings, and Frank and Noggs followed Squeers until he was also installed in the same lodgings at Lambeth. The officer employed by the Cheerybles therefore also moved lodgings across the street from them in Lambeth, and soon found out that Squeers was in communication with Mrs. Sliderskew.

The Cheerybles appealed to Gride, but he refused to give evidence against Mrs Sliderskew or help in her capture. He was in such a panic that he hid inside his house and refused to talk to anyone. After some discussion the Cheerybles believed that the papers must have something to do with Madeline, and so decided a search warrant should be obtained, so that Peg Sliderskew - and perhaps Squeers too - would be taken into custody. Frank Cheeryble and Newman crept upstairs to listen to the two talking, and to give the signal to the officer at the most favourable time.

The narrator points out that the reader knows what happened next. Squeers was then arrested in possession of a stolen document, and Peg Sliderskew taken into custody at the same time. On hearing of this, Snawley confessed to all the lies about Smike being his son, and implicated Ralph. Squeers was remanded in custody for a week, being unable to account for the stolen document in his possession, as was Peg Sliderskew.

Ralph betrays no sign of emotion on hearing all this. When he looks as if he is about to speak, Charles Cheeryble lays his hand on his shoulder. He reminds him that he had come to see him as an act of mercy. He does not know how far Ralph is to be implicated, but justice must be done for “this poor, unoffending, injured lad” and they cannot help the consequences. The most they can do is to warn him in time:

“We would not have an old man like you disgraced and punished by your near relation; nor would we have him forget, like you, all ties of blood and nature.”

The Cheerybles encourage Ralph to retire and leave London, to escape being caught. In time, they hope he will atone, and amend his ways.

Ralph refuses to flee, saying: “I spit upon your fair words and false dealings, and dare you—provoke you—taunt you—to do to me the very worst you can!” as he leaves.

But the narrator comments that the worst has not yet come to pass.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Three cheers for Newman Noggs! 🤩

This is another long and very complicated chapter! It does connect some stray threads and answers some of our questions, but although it explains some parts of the story, we are left with a strong sense of foreboding 😨

My favourite quotation is the rather grisly description of Arthur Gride sticking his head out of the window:

“The sharp features and white hair appearing alone, above the parapet, looked like a severed head garnishing the wall.”

Straight over now to you!

[Kathleen]

Excellent job summarizing this chapter, Jean! 😅

I'll just share my favorite quotation from today's chapter:

"Tim, taking the hint, stifled his indignation as well as he could, and suffered it to escape through his spectacles, with the additional safety-valve of a short hysterical laugh now and then, which seemed to relieve him mightily."

[Sara]

I was glad to see Noggs given a chance to tell Ralph exactly how he felt and to see Ralph in the kind of panic he generally put others into. I had a very vivid image in my mind of Ralph sitting on the stairs:

"Many feet came up the creaking stairs; and the step of some seemed to his listening ear so like that of the man for whom he waited, that Ralph often stood up to be ready to address him when he reached the top; but, one by one, each person turned off into some room short of the place where he was stationed; and at every such disappointment he felt quite chilled and lonely."

I thought this was a great metaphor for Ralph's life. Everyone else is now going on with their lives, without him, and the loneliness has just begun.

[Kathleen]

There was little to say during the discussion of the last chapter as everyone wrote so well that all I could write was “ditto.”

At the beginning of this chapter I clearly saw what a sad person Ralph is. He has no one. Everyone has left him, even Noggs, and his housekeeper was glad to be sent back to her kitchen. We see him in the role of the wicked uncle, but he is also a victim of his own evil doings. However, I quickly lost my pity for him as the chapter proceeded! And at the end, he is as pugnacious and disgusting as ever.

[Katy]

Sara wrote: "I was glad to see Noggs given a chance to tell Ralph exactly how he felt and to see Ralph in the kind of panic he generally put others into. I had a very vivid image in my mind of Ralph sitting on ..."

Sara, I like your comment about Ralph sitting on the stairs waiting for Squeers as a metaphor for his life. I didn't think of it that way, but it is so true. From his comments at the end of the chapter, it seems like Rallph still has some tricks up his sleeve, but I think things are going to continue to go downhill for him. Nicholas' friends are always there to help him, but Ralph's supporters are only there for him when he has something to offer them.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Chapter 60: The Dangers thicken, and the Worst is Told

The action follows straight on.

Ralph gets in to a cabriolet and goes straight to the police station, discovering that Squeers is waiting for a hackney coach to be taken to where he has to be in custody for a week. In the meantime he is asleep on a bench in a sort of waiting room. An empty glass and very strong smell of brandy and water reveal that he is likely to be drunk when he wakes.

“He at length sat upright; and, displaying a very yellow face, a very red nose, and a very bristly beard: the joint effect of which was considerably heightened by a dirty white handkerchief, spotted with blood, drawn over the crown of his head and tied under his chin: stared ruefully at Ralph in silence”

In answer to Ralph’s question about his head, he sulkily complains that Ralph’s “kidnapping man” had broken it. Ralph wants to know why Squeers had not sent for him, and Squeers hiccups, talking tipsily of his family:

“here’s a shock for my family! The coat-of-arms of the Squeerses is tore, and their sun is gone down into the ocean wave!”

On being accused of not being sober, Squeers remarks that he need not think that he has been drinking Ralph Nickleby’s health.

“Ralph suppressed the indignation which the schoolmaster’s altered and insolent manner awakened, and asked again”.

Squeers says it would not do him any good to be associated with Ralph, and says that “him with the powdered head” [the judge] won’t offer him bail until the court knows the truth. He meanders on, saying that they probably won’t be able to do anything to him if he blames it all on:

“that there ca-daverous old Slider,’ replied Squeers viciously, ‘who I wish was dead and buried, and resurrected and dissected, and hung upon wires in a anatomical museum, before ever I’d had anything to do with her”

self-importantly adding that he can produce his card to say that he is Wackford Squeers, headmaster of the establishment named. He would say that he had no idea of any wrong-doing, but had just been employed by Ralph Nickleby, and that they should ask him about it.



“”Total, all up with Squeers!” - Fred Barnard - 1875

Ralph ignores this, and asks about the document, and when Squeers says it was the will about Madeline, hurriedly asks:

“Of what nature, whose will, when dated, how benefiting her, to what extent?”

It had been a will in her favour, Squeers says: “and that’s more than you’d have known, if you’d had them bellows on your head”. He grumbles that Ralph should have trusted him and let him burn it, and then starts to meander in his speech again, quoting partly from his adverts for Dotheboys Hall, and partly from the instructions he quotes at the boys there.

Meanwhile Ralph has decided that the best course is to persuade Squeers to maintain his silence. He tells him that they can make up a story so that the authorities cannot touch him. All Squeers needs to do is withhold the truth. Even if they need £1000 as security, he will have it.

But Squeers looks at him cunningly, and says that he is not going to make up any stories, and expects Ralph to take his share of the blame. Each has helped the other in their business in the past, but:

“if anything goes wrong, then times are altered, and I shall just say and do whatever I think may serve me most, and take advice from nobody … The images of Mrs. Squeers, my daughter, and my son Wackford, all short of vittles, is perpetually before me”

But before he can declaim further, an attendant arrives to escort Squeers to the coach. Once alone, Ralph muses on how everyone has turned against him, because they are afraid:

“But they shall not move me. I’ll not give way. I will not budge one inch!”

Ralph goes home and thinks. He has not eaten since the previous night, and feels sick and exhausted from travelling around. At almost ten o’clock there is a knocking at the door, and he sees Tim Linkinwater on the steps, saying:

“Mr. Nickleby, there is terrible news for you, and I am sent to beg you will come with me directly”.

Ralph does not want a repeat of the morning’s events, but he sees that Tim is very excited and persistent, urging him by talking of something dreadful.

“Tim well remembered afterwards, and often said, that as Ralph Nickleby went into the house for this purpose, he saw him, by the light of the candle which he had set down upon a chair, reel and stagger like a drunken man.”

He silently gets into the coach, his face so ashy pale, wild and vacant that Tim is almost afraid to follow.

“People were fond of saying that he had some dark presentiment upon him then, but his emotion might, perhaps, with greater show of reason, be referred to what he had undergone that day.”

When he arrives at the Cheerybles, Ralph is astounded by the compassion on their faces. He asks them what more they have to say, and looks about the room, discerning a figure in the shadows. The Cheerybles and Tim do not want to reveal him for the moment, but say that he has brought them news within the previous 2 hours.

The figure disturbs Ralph and makes him nervous. He pretend the light is bothering him. The two brothers confer in an agitated way. Ralph seizes on an idea, and asks if his niece is dead. The brothers agree that it is of a death they need to speak to him, but not that one. His niece is well.

“‘You don’t mean to tell me,’ said Ralph, as his eyes brightened, ‘that her brother’s dead? No, that’s too good. I’d not believe it, if you told me so. It would be too welcome news to be true.’”

The Cheerybles attitude hardens at this, and with great emotion they tell him at length that Smike is dead. Ralph is full of a savage joy, although he is puzzled, because: “mingling with their look of disgust and horror, [he sees]something of that indefinable compassion for himself which he had noticed before.”

Ralph points at the hidden figure and makes vague threats for the future, but the figure is not Nicholas, as he had supposed. Brooker reveals himself.

“The pallor which had been observed in [Ralph’s] face when he issued forth that night, came upon him again. He was seen to tremble, and his voice changed”

as he fixes his eye on Brookes, saying that he is a convicted felon. But the Cheeryble brothers beg him so earnestly to listen to what Brooker has to say, that Ralph turns to them in wonder.

Brooker swears “so help me God in heaven!” that the boy the Cheerybles have been talking of, who is now dead, had been Ralph’s only son ...

Brooker now tells his story. He offers no excuses, and say he is guilty, although he had been driven to act against his nature.

Twenty to twenty-five years ago there had been a “rough fox-hunting, hard-drinking gentleman” who had squandered his fortunes, and wanted to squander that of his sister, who managed the house for both orphans. But Ralph used to visit them at their house in Leicestershire, to patch up the remains of his money affairs, and had eventually married the man’s sister:

“The gentlewoman was not a girl, but she was, I have heard say, handsome, and entitled to a pretty large property.”

Ralph had insisted that they keep the marriage a secret, because without her brother’s consent, her father’s will stated that the property would go to someone else. They kept on “waiting for him to break his neck or die of a fever”. But the brother did not die for many years.

Ralph and his wife had a son. Ralph sent the child away, a long way off. His wife only saw him occasionally, and Ralph never went near him:

“so eagerly did he thirst after the money which seemed to come almost within his grasp now, for his brother-in-law was very ill, and breaking more and more every day.”

The wife lived in a dull house in the country, with only drunken sportsmen for company, while Ralph lived in London. There were bitter recriminations, because she wanted to make their marriage known. After nearly seven years, she eloped with a younger man, just a few weeks before her brother was to die.

Ralph does not move, and when the brothers signal him to carry on, Brooker continues.

He says that Ralph had told him all this then, as by now the man and others knew everything. Ralph began to searching for his wife [the man’s sister] - perhaps to take revenge - or perhaps to make money out of it. However he never found her, and she died shortly after.

In the meantime, Ralph instructed Brooker to bring his child back home - perhaps to keep him away from his mother [who subsequently died] or perhaps in case he might like him. Brooker did so, and put him in the front garret. The child was sickly, and a doctor said he had to be taken to the country or he would die.

“I did it then. He was gone six weeks, and when he came back, I told him—with every circumstance well planned and proved; nobody could have suspected me—that the child was dead and buried.”

Brooker had been angry about Ralph’s ill-treatment of him, and he took the child to Squeers’s school, hoping that he might make money out of Ralph in the future. He gave the name of “Smike” for the boy, and paid twenty pounds every year to Squeers for six years, never telling the secret. Brooker then quarrelled with Ralph, and was transported for eight years.

When Brooker returned, he went to the Yorkshire school and discovered by making enquiries round about, that Smike had run away with a young man who was also called Nickleby. He sought out Ralph Nickleby in London, and hinted at what he knew, hoping for enough money to live, but received only threats in return. He then tried Ralph’s clerk.

Brooker gained Nogg’s trust, and told him that the boy was no son of the man who claimed to be his father. In turn he picked up that the boy was seriously ill, and learned from Noggs where Smike was. He hoped this would confirm his story:

“I came upon him unexpectedly; but before I could speak he knew me—he had good cause to remember me, poor lad!—and I would have sworn to him if I had met him in the Indies. I knew the piteous face I had seen in the little child.”

After a few days Brooker finally spoke to “the young gentleman” who was caring for him, but Smike was already dead. He had recognised Brooker as the man who had taken him away and left him at the school. Smike had often spoken of him, and remembered the garret too.

Brooker want to meet the schoolmaster, to prove that it is true, saying: “I have this guilt upon my soul”. He knows that nothing can make reparation for his own responsibility in Smike’s fate.

“He had hardly spoken, when the lamp, which stood upon the table close to where Ralph was seated …was thrown to the ground, and left them in darkness … The interval [obtaining another light] was a mere nothing; but when the light appeared, Ralph Nickleby was gone.”

The Cheeryble brothers and Tim Linkinwater discuss what to do. Ralph had been so strange and silent during the interview, and not moved at all. Perhaps he was ill. They decide to make some excuse for sending to his house, before they go to bed.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

And a little more ...

Style

Oh my goodness this is a long explanation, just as in Oliver Twist (view spoiler)[Mr Brownlow’s lecture to Monks is ostensibly showing him he knew the entire back story (hide spoiler)] - but its purpose really being to explain it to us. As a literary device it works, in that it links up all the threads which need to be linked, but is incredibly convoluted and dense to read, plus of course very contrived. 🤔

This is, as Jim mentioned earlier, a consequence of serial writing. Even though he used the serial format for every novel, and frequently found he was writing virtually right up to the date by which the next installment was due, Charles Dickens was yet to learn that planning of such a discursive novel was essential. (He only really started this with his “mems” for Dombey and Son.)

The next one after Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop actually had a similar false start to Oliver Twist, as it was intended to be whimsical sketches, with an old man surrounded by a group of friends, who would all relate stories to each other. They would all read out their own manuscripts, the proceedings being presided over by “Master Humphrey”, the remainder becoming the Master Humphrey's Clock sketches. So when read as a novel, the first few chapters of The Old Curiosity Shop have a very odd point of view and feel.

At this stage of his writing, Charles Dickens was forever “rescuing” the conclusions of his pieces from the limitations of serial publication!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Having said that, Charles Dickens's skill at weaving the strands together to form a whole are remarkable. As Sara has said, every character has their own story. Did anyone notice the little aside by Tim Linkinwater? It is to confirm the Cheerybles’ works as benefactors, and we could easily assume that the purpose in referring to this detail is merely to affirm their characters.

But the name “Mr Trimmer” rang a bell, and sure enough we had heard of him before. He features much earlier in the novel, in the chapter when Nicholas first meets Charles Cheeryble outside the employment office. They take a bus back to the Cheerybles’ office, and there Nicholas meets their clerk, Tim Linkinwater who reports on their latest project. Do you remember that he had been getting up a subscription for the widow and family of a man who was killed in the East India Docks that morning: “Smashed, sir, by a cask of sugar”.

Today’s mention is of the very same Mr Trimmer, all that time ago!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Well what a revelation! 😮😨

But since this is (another) such complicated chapter, I won't add any more to read just yet, but pass the baton on for others' thoughts 😊

[Claudia]

Thank you Jean!

Ralph's story is indeed almost as convoluted as some others in Oliver Twist and Little Dorrit!

Now we know who was the dark withered man in shabby clothes who frightened Smike.

[Peter]

Where to start? If we go back to Chapter 59 we find Ralph Nickleby constantly on the move in an attempt to sort out his looming problems. As he notes in Chapter 60 he had been ‘travelling about from place to place almost incessantly for many hours.’ Now, in this Chapter, we have Ralph in the offices of the Cheerybles. The forces of evil and good, avariciousness and kindness, hatred and good confront each other at last. Ralph, who once was the flame which attracted the likes of Hawk, Verisopht, Gride, and Bray is now alone. His secrets come to light, confessions are made by Brooks, and the depravity of Ralph Nickleby is laid bare for all the see. I don’t think it is by chance that Ralph extinguishes the light in the room to effect his escape. Evil often dwells in darkness. The truth, however, has been revealed, and come to light.

There is so much more in this chapter that can be discussed. The emergence of Brooker into the light, and his revelations of the past, for instance, remind me of a very powerful novella of Dickens that is soon to come.

[Claudia]

Peter wrote: Ralph, who once was the flame which attracted the likes of Hawk, Verisopht, Gride, and Bray is now alone. His secrets come to light, confessions are made by Brooks, and the depravity of Ralph Nickleby is laid bare for all the see. I don’t think it is by chance that Ralph extinguishes the light in the room to effect his escape. Evil often dwells in darkness. The truth, however, has been revealed, and come to light.

Excellent!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Peter - "The truth, however, has been revealed, and come to light"

Oh yes, what a perfect idiom! And by concentrating on the lighting, your comment brings out just how theatrical the whole of the second part of this chapter is. To me it feels just like a stage set, which is plunged into darkness at the end - ooo-er! Do we dare to leave our seats in the interval ...?

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

Oh... I made the mistake of reading this chapter late last night so I would be ready for your summary this morning, Jean! There was so much to think about that it really interrupted my sleep. LOL

As Peter said, there is SO much in this chapter to discuss, and I'm looking forward to reading everyone's comments. I'll limit my observations right now to Nicholas, Smike and Ralph Nickleby.

To think that Ralph was instrumental in killing his own son out of vengeance toward Nicholas!

To think that Nicholas was the one who gave comfort and love and protection to Ralph's own son - and Nicholas' first cousin!

And lastly, that Dickens tied up all of the loose ends that would make sense if he had created mems first, but was not part of the scheme as he was developing the story: (1) That part of Ralph's hatred for Nicholas when he first meets him is that his brother had a fine, handsome son while his own son - who would have been the same age - died young (as he would have imagined it at the time). And (2) That Smike could have never married Kate because she was his first cousin (again not part of the plan all along).

Oh my goodness... so many things to think and talk about just in these Nickleby relationships! If Brooker could have only revealed all this history to Smike before he died... it might have saved him!

[Kathleen]

What really struck me was the empathy of the Cheeryble brothers. It seemed quite sincere, which made me--as a reader who was not feeling very empathetic towards Ralph--feel a little uncomfortable about my own reaction. :-) Remarkable, those brothers are!

[Chris]

Kathleen wrote: What really struck me was the empathy of the Cheeryble brothers. It seemed quite sincere, which made me--as a reader who was not feeling very empathetic towards Ralph--feel a little uncomfortable about my own reaction. :-) Remarkable, those brothers are!
I agree 100% with you Kathleen about the warmth, & compassion of the Cheeryble brothers. And it struck me that now twice they have also extended an offer of mercy to Ralph.

I love that Peter highlighted the descriptions of light & dark and their analogy to goodness and evil. Ralph escaping into the darkness, how apropos!

I wasn't surprised to find out that Smike was Ralph's son, I had begun to go down that path; but I was very surprised that Ralph didn't know it, that he thought his son was dead! I was thinking Ralph didn't want to be bothered with a child and had someone falsely claim parentage and send him away to Squeers's school.! What a cruel secret to be revealed.

I liked Shirley's comment that Ralph's hatred of Nicholas may be wrapped up into the knowledge that his own son died in childhood & his brother's son was a handsome and kind fellow. It has bothered me that Ralph had such immediate antipathy for Nicholas without cause (to me at least).

Lastly, I completely missed the appearance of Mr. Trimmer again and if I did notice I probably would not have remembered what his part was, so thanks for that tidbit Jean !!

[Sara]

I could not help being struck by the fact that Smike was born exactly on the same footing with Nicholas and, in fact, being the son of a wealthier father, should have expected an even more comfortable life. The evil that lives in Ralph Nickleby infests the lives of everyone around him, and defines his own.

Shirley - the match between Kate and Smike would have been fine in the eyes of Victorian society. Cousins often married, and in fact, Victoria and Albert were first cousins. The squeamishness about such marriages did not set in until later, and it was often planned by the parents that such marriages should take place when the cousins were mere infants.

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

Sara ~ Thank you for the information about Victoria and Albert. I did not know that (they were first cousins). And I didn't realize that the role of genetics had not yet come into consideration.

I love what you said about Smike being on the same footing as Nicholas, and even a little above because of Ralph's greater wealth. Ralph has got a lot of soul searching to do... whether he will is another story!

[Sam]

I like that Dickens reaffirms Nicholas' choice to treat Smike as an equal by posthumously revealing Smike is in fact a gentleman.

Do we have any idea of what Dickens thought the cause of tuberculosis was? The bacterial connection wouldn't be established for years to come. I know there was suspicion of hereditary origing and many common beliefs that related the disease to cleanliness and food.

Also I like how Ralph's fall is being linked to his own actions and primarily his pursuit of profit.

[Jim]

The rats have deserted Ralph's sinking ship, one by one: Squeers, Snawley, Gride, the whole lot!

[Bridget]

The name "Smike" always seemed odd to me. What could it mean, where did it come from? Now, knowing that Brooker is the man who took Smike to Squeers in order to spite Ralph, and further is the man who chose the name "smike", I can't help thinking that "Smike" is a play on the word "spite". That is either a stroke of luck in an unplanned story, or Dickens had an inkling of this story line early on. (or I'm just completely wrong about the words sounding similar ;-)

Like Kathleen and Chris mentioned, I too was moved by the compassion of the Cheeryable brothers. For me, I felt it was Dickens way of preparing me to also feel compassion for Ralph, and though it was a tall order, I admit I did feel compassion for him by the end of Brooker's confession. How horrible to know you are responsible for your son's death. It reminds me of a Greek tragedy. And even more interesting to me was watching how uncomfortable Ralph was with receiving compassion.

I thought it was masterful that Dickens didn't interrupt Brooker's soliloquy to give us a glimpse of Ralph's reaction, and instead turned out the lights at the end so we have no way of knowing (yet) what Ralph might feel.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Great insights here! Just to add before I turn in ...

Sam - the doctor said it was due to Smike's early maltreatment - which I then infer means that his immunity was low. Tuberculosis was rife in London, so moving to the country before the infection was confirmed would have been a good idea. All the doctor really needed to know would be that this had worked before, in similar cases.

Chris - we were told that as a boy Ralph was very envious of his brother's popularity, and Nicholas was very like his father. So as soon as they met, (young) Nicholas instantly reminded Ralph of his brother (Nicholas senior) and this is why Ralph took an instant dislike to him and resented young Nicholas from the start.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Bridget - great comparison with a Greek tragedy! I had pondered on why Tim Linkinwater had to be there at the revelation. It's a sort of judgement after all, albeit a kind and compassionate one. Then it struck me that we need three to suggest a higher moral authority.

So the angelic Cheerbyle brothers plus Tim Linkinwater could be deliberately evoking the Three Fates in our minds - or even loosely perhaps the Holy Trinity.

Just an idea though 🤔

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Shirley - Oh I feel for you - and have done exactly the same thing sometimes, thinking about our read. 😆 What a chapter to read before you try to sleep! Today's should be safe enough, hopefully. So on we go …

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Chapter 61: Wherein Nicholas and his Sister forfeit the good Opinion of all worldly and prudent People

Nicholas returns home, and the whole Nickleby family grieves for Smike, “whose truth of heart and grateful earnest nature had, every day, endeared him to them more and more.”

Mrs. Nickleby gives “vent to her sorrows after her own peculiar fashion of considering herself foremost”, and is convinced that she feels the most grief. She is sad that she has lost someone who was so devoted to her and was talented at making things that made their lives comfortable. Both Kate and Madeline can hardly suppress their grief, and Miss La Creevy - intending to visit and cheer them all - cannot help but burst into floods of tears when she arrives. She feels for Nicholas, and laments that for all he had done, Nicholas could not save Smike.

“‘It hurts me so,’ cried the poor body, ‘to see him come back alone. I can’t help thinking what he must have suffered himself. I wouldn’t mind so much if he gave way a little more; but he bears it so manfully.’”

Nicholas takes comfort in the fact that Smike’s last days were peaceful, and that he was able to comfort him.

After resting, Kate comes to Nicholas’s room and tells him how pleased they all are to see him again. Nicholas says he is glad to be home too, and - blushing - asks Kate if the Cheerybles have made arrangements for Madeline. She says no, but that she does not want to lose her. Nicholas doesn’t want her to go either, and although he says he can disguise his feelings from everyone else, he confesses to his sister that he loves Madeline.

“Kate’s eyes brightened, and she was going to make some reply, when Nicholas laid his hand upon her arm, and went on: ‘Nobody must know this but you. She, last of all.’”

Nicholas explains how impossible it would be for him to court Madeline, because he is bound by his duty to the Cheerybles. He has always appreciated their generosity, and even more now, since Smike’s illness when they were so kind. Even if it were possible in the future to marry Madeline, it must be so far off, that he would likely be greatly changed.

Kate cannot let him go on without sharing her secret thoughts, but when she tries to, she falters and burst into tears. This prepares Nicholas for what she will tell him, and sure enough, it is about Frank Cheeryble. Nicholas guesses that while he was away with Smike, Frank had asked Kate to marry him, and Kate confirms this. But she adds that she had refused him—although she loves him.

“‘I told him,’ she said, in a trembling voice, ‘all that I have since found you told mama; and while I could not conceal from him, and cannot from you, that—that it was a pang and a great trial, I did so firmly, and begged him not to see me any more.’”

Nicholas is proud of his sister, and tells her how brave she is.

Kate tells him that Frank is determined to speak to his uncles about it. However Nicholas replies that his love for Madeline is exactly the same, because the Cheerybles wish her to be their child. It would be a mean and base act for him to take advantage of his position and take her away from them, after all their kindness. Nicholas decides that he will ask the Cheerybles straightaway to remove Madeline from the house, to remove temptation out of his way.

Nicholas then paints a verbal picture where he and Kate will grow old together, having done the honourable thing in sacrificing their true loves.

“Kate smiled through her tears as Nicholas drew this picture; but they were not tears of sorrow, although they continued to fall when he had ceased to speak.”



“Portrait of Kate Nickleby” - W.P. Frith (oil)

On his way to the Cheerybles Nicholas muses on the ways of the world, where someone as worthy of praise and pure in heart as Kate is not prized for this alone:

“Frank has money, and wants no more. Where would it buy him such a treasure as Kate? And yet, in unequal marriages, the rich party is always supposed to make a great sacrifice, and the other to get a good bargain!”

But he stops himself from dwelling on such thoughts, and addresses the matter in hand. When Nicholas arrives at the Cheerybles, Tim Linkinwater greets him with great pleasure, but says he looks tired. Tim too has been very affected by the news of Smike’s death, and wants to know if Smike had ever mentioned the Cheerbyles - and himself. Nicholas assures him that Smike often did so, and sent his love. Tim wishes Smike could have been buried in London, and is then too overcome by emotion to speak.

The same happens to Nicholas, when he goes in to see Charles Cheeryble, and meets with the “warm welcome, the hearty manner, the homely unaffected commiseration”.

Charles consoles him in his grief, and reminds Nicholas that:

“Every day that this poor lad had lived, he must have been less and less qualified for the world, and more and more unhappy in is own deficiencies. It is better as it is, my dear sir. Yes, yes, yes, it’s better as it is.”

Charles says how much they have all missed Nicholas, whereupon Nicholas says how anxious he is to say something to Charles. First of all he describes how much he respects and is grateful to the brothers, and how he had vowed to carry out their commission for Madeline as well as he possibly could. Then he confesses his love for Madeline. He stresses that he decided at first not to mention that he had admired her from afar, because he was sure he could keep his feelings at bay. However, now he finds he cannot, and hopes they will not feel he has not acted according to his duty, in not telling them.

Charles tells him that he did not violate their confidence, and is sure that Nicholas would not have taken advantage. Nicholas assures him that he had managed to stay resolute, but constant association is weakening his resolve. He asks for Madeline to be taken away, even though he knows that they must consider it presumptuous of him to love her:

“In short, sir, I cannot trust myself, and I implore and beseech you to remove this young lady from under the charge of my mother and sister without delay … This young lady … is now your ward, and the object of your peculiar care … But who can see her as I have seen, who can know what her life has been, and not love her?”

Mr. Cheeryble agrees, saying that he should have expected it to happen. When Nicholas asks a further favour, he promises not to reveal Nicholas’s love for Madeline to her.

Charles Cheeryble suspects that there might be something else on Nicholas’s mind, and guesses correctly. Nicholas intends to mention Frank’s proposal of marriage to his sister, but Mr. Cheerbyle already knows about it.

“‘Frank is a heedless, foolish fellow,’ he said, after Nicholas had paused for some time; ‘a very heedless, foolish fellow. I will take care that this is brought to a close without delay.’”

Nicholas thinks he has offended his employer, but he says not, and
asks Nicholas to meet him in half an hour, as his uncle will be there later for him to see as well. Charles Cheeryble says that many strange things have happened.

The narrator tells us that Nicholas learns what has transpired, which we already know. However he is full of uneasiness, uncertainty, and disquiet. Although the Cheerybles are just as kind to him as they ever were, they seem to be acting differently towards him, although he would not be able to say exactly how.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

This is the end of Installment 19. Installment 20 begins on Chapter 62 on Saturday, and will be 4 chapters long.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

There were no illustrations at all that I could find for this chapter, so I’ve inserted a beautiful work of Art instead. Peter located this lovely oil painting right at the beginning of this read, so maybe he’ll be able to say something about it.

I’m looking forward to your thoughts on this poignant chapter, full of the idea of sacrifice. What strikes me most is how each character’s reaction to Smike’s death reveals their true nature. Tim shows how much he cared about Smike by wanting to have him buried in the city he himself loves so much, whereas Mrs Nickleby feels sad for him, but can only relate it to how it affects her.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

And a little more …

Mesmerism

I want to just put this idea in our minds for the next installment … and not just because on Monday I was in the building where Charles Dickens watched all those demonstrations by Dr John Elliotson, I promise! You might remember from our earlier read of Oliver Twist that John Elliotson was largely responsible for bringing the “Mesmeric Mania” to England, where during London in 1837-1839 it was at its height, and was to remain hugely influential all through the 1840s.

John Elliotson was a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Society. He both practised and lectured at University College London as their Professor of Clinical Surgery. His demonstrations of the “mighty curative powers of animal magnetism” (or therapeutic effects of mesmerism) on patients with nervous conditions, and those we now know to be suffering from epilepsy, were astonishing. A decade later, by 1849, John Elliotson was also performing surgical operations without chloroform (or the more recently introduced ether; introduced in 1847, but still before modern anaesthesia). He used mesmerism to relax the patient and keep them free from pain.

This was at the oldest brain hospital in the world, which is now the National Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery. As much as we may look askance at these theories now, the surgeon told me on Monday (when I mentioned it) that they “stand on the shoulders” of these early pioneers. It is worth bearing Charles Dickens’s preoccupation in mind when reading the final installment of Nicholas Nickleby. Charles Dickens became profoundly interested in “Animal Magnetism” - or Mesmerism - viewing a demonstration in January 1838, and subsequently many more. After his death several well-thumbed books on it were found in his library. Oliver Twist is particularly full of writing which came out of his response to this.

Other leading figures of the day, also attended: from the medical and scientific and literary world and including the writers Robert Browning, the historian John Forster, the great actor and Charles Dickens’s friend William Macready and others all attended the lectures/demonstrations. William Makepeace Thackeray and Alfred, Lord Tennyson (whom Goodreads calls Alfred Tennyson) were also greatly interested in mesmerism.

The technique of Mesmerism was later to develop into Hypnosis, which Charles Dickens himself practised to great effect, on his wife Catherine, the illustrator John Leech, and many others.

For those interested, I'll post the theory next.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

And a little more (under a spoiler just to save space) …

About the early theories of Animal Magnetism

(view spoiler)[John Elliotson’s basic two principles in 1838 were that:

1. Mechanical laws working in an alterate ebb and flow, “control a mutual influence between the Heavenly bodies, the Earth and animate bodies which exists as a universally distributed and continuous fluid … of a rarified nature.”

2. Since all the properties of matter depend on this operation, its influence or force could be communicated to animate or inanimate bodies. It was therefore possible he believed, to create a new theory about the nature of influence and power relationships between people, and also between people and the objects in their environment. If such were proved to be true, then he said “the art of healing will reach its final stage of perfection”.

Magnets were thought to be especially good conductors of the force or influence, so to distinguish it from mineral magnetism, he called it “animal magnetism”. It became known as Mesmerism after the doctor who conceptualised this first, in the 18th century: the Viennese doctor Franz Mesmer. Interestingly, it was a small circle of wealthy Jewish merchants who first paid for the private publication of an 1822 text by the German M. Loewe, which originally sparked interest in London.

John Elliotson became interested in the phenomenons of sleepwaking (waking dreams) and mesmeric trance, but was aware of the deceptions practised by others. One thorny issue was that of clairvoyance, which was ridiculed by most of the medical establishment. John Elliotson perfomed several tests with his regular patients to test this hypothesis.

Charles Dickens remained a staunch friend and believer. When “The Lancet” began to turn against mesmerism, Charles Dickens wrote with great anger:

“When I think that every rotten-hearted pander who has been beaten, kicked and rolled in the kennel yet struts it in the Editorial We once a week - every vagabond that a man’s gorge must rise at - every live emetic in that nauseous drugshop the Press - can have his fling at such men [Elliotson] and call them knaves and fools and thieves, I grow so vicious that with bearing hard upon my pen, I break the nib down and with keeping my teeth set, make my jaw ache.”

Phew! At 25 Charles Dickens was a very angry young man indeed!

However the terminology was changing, along with the discoveries. Seventy years after the concept had first been suggested, it was established that there was no invisible all-pervasive fluid or force. Any metaphorical language was abandoned, but mesmeric effects were agreed to be effective. The observed results were seen to be due to powerful imaginations working in congruence; mental forces not separate from the mind. What the mesmeric operator did to their subject had a new name. It was called “hypnosis”, and it was seen that “hypnosis” could indeed play an important role as a curative agent.

Charles Dickens himself practised mesmerism both as entertainment and therapeutically. His first subject was his wife Catherine. He also helped his friend and illustrator John Leech (the illustrator of A Christmas Carol) after a bad fall. Some of his “patients” were notable figures. I’ve written a little more about that here:

LINK HERE.

There is a wealth of information in Dickens and Mesmerism: The Hidden Springs of Fiction by the Dickens scholar Fred Kaplan, both about the history and theory of mesmerism, as well as detailed descriptions of the experiments and patients involved, gleaned from The Lancet.

Plus there's more mesmerism information in our read of Oliver Twist Chapters 35 - 43 #6-10, or by using the search field. (hide spoiler)]

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Mesmerism in Nicholas Nickleby

There are quite a few places in Nicholas Nickleby where the terminology and concepts of mesmerism, such as clairvoyance, the will, the mesmeric trance or waking dream, or the shared self are apparent.

Other times I have wondered about a mesmeric interpretation, such as Smike’s “vision” of a stranger behind a tree, but Charles Dickens himself quashed that and said that Nicholas would learn more later. And indeed he did, just as we learned later that the stranger was Brooker. Then in chapter 60 we read about Ralph, that:

“People were fond of saying that he had some dark presentiment upon him then, but his emotion might, perhaps, with greater show of reason, be referred to what he had undergone that day.”

It seems almost as if Charles Dickens considered writing these as two specifically mesmeric episodes, as in Oliver Twist, but rejected the idea. However, laying these two obvious possibilities aside, there have been instances where Charles Dickens clearly had mesmeric theories in his mind as he was writing Nicholas Nickleby. I'll mention a few here, and maybe others will be picked up.

The mesmeric experience can be to do with to do with moments of insight, a special consciousness of both past and future. There are dreams that are prophetic and clairvoyant such as Mrs Nickleby’s dreams of prosperity, which “haunted her sleep” in chapter 27. The “domains of dreamland” conjured up by Dickens can also cover the stuff of nightmares though: fears of what has been, or what is to come. We have had huge hints about this today, but Dickens is kind, and won’t make it a cliffhanger, so I’ll just leave that idea dangling …

Another aspect of the mesmeric power can be to do with another self; a self split into two identities. Here we have a tangible, physical spilt with the Cheeryble brothers, and a suggested one with Nicholas and Kate. Twins and doppelgangers abound in all Dickens’ works; he was fascinated with the “other self”. One of the patients he hypnotised with great success was Madame de La Rue, whom he saw every day for a long time, at various periods between 1858 and 1863. She aided his self-discovery about his other self, as she was conscious of two “Charleses”; it was a very intense self-sustaining relationship, but only has a limited bearing here.

Sometimes Charles Dickens uses the idea of “other selves” to dramatise conflicts of self, soul and society, but the two instances in Nicholas Nickleby seem to be of doubling, rather than conflicting selves. The Cheerybles are not opposing factions. Nor, oddly, are they complementary factions, necessary to produce a united whole, although we could look at Nicholas and Kate like this. The split self in Nicholas Nickleby seems primarily to add to the “larger than life” sense we have of the world of the novel.

When Kate says to Miss La Creevy that sometimes the pain of the mind is harder to bear than the pain of the body, Charles Dickens is dramatising the relation of the self to the self and the world under conditions of particular stress.

Sometimes Charles Dickens uses the imagery of mesmerism to suggest a heightened awareness. One example is where Nicholas is working all hours, learning how to record the figures for the Cheerybles. He figuratively mesmerises himself through reading a manual with question and statistics: “with as much thought or consciousness of what he was doing as if he had been in a magnetic slumber”. Dickens makes other references to this dreamlike state, when the normal mind is obliterated temporarily. For instance in chapter 50, we read: “he might have been in a trance, or under the influence of opium”, and in chapter 54 “like men in a dream or trance”. These are cases where Charles Dickens is speaking almost metaphorically, but using the concepts and terminology of mesmerism.

In chapter 20 Miss La Creevy remarks to Nicholas that “the power to serve is as seldom joined with the will, as the will is with the power.” In Nicholas Nickleby, and many others of his works, this “will to serve” is rarely joined with the will to serve others, and more to serve the self. We can think of many instances from Nicholas Nickleby … and hopefully Charles Dickens will not let us down, as in his stories, self-serving ends are usually frustrated in the end (and we give a cheer!)

Charles Dickens presents the will to control as part of the mesmeric eye, which is about dominance and control. We have seen this too in Nicholas Nickleby - and not always with a strong person and a weak one. Even when we have two self-serving operators, such as Ralph Nickleby and Squeers, we can see that the stronger one predominates. Ralph has taken control of Squeers by his sheer force of will - just as he has done with his erstwhile mentor, Arthur Gride. In chapter 56 we read:

“Ralph … once more regained the hard immovable inflexible manner which was habitual to him, and to which, perhaps, was ascribable no small part of the influence which, over many men of no very strong prejudices on the score of morality, he could exert almost at will”.

He turns Squeers’s own desire to control Smike, into a way to manipulate and control Squeers himself, saying:

The knowledge that he was again in your power would be the best punishment you could inflict upon your enemy“.

Ralph sees the world as peopled by manipulators exerting their power. One surprising example is assuming this about Mrs Nickleby. Do you remember when Ralph said to her confidentially, about Nicholas:

“I don’t believe that under his will you have the slightest control of your own”

in chapter 45, and she sadly agreed? This crafty manoeuvre by Ralph is an example of Dickens expressing the mesmeric principle that will power is used as a effective instrument of the energy level of one person to dominate another.