Table Of Content
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT
wasborninPortsmouthonFebruary,thesecond
of eight children. Dickens’s childhood experiences were similar to those
depictedinDavidCopperfield.Hisfather,whowasagovernmentclerk,was
imprisoned for debt and Dickens was briefly sent to work in a blacking
warehouse at the age of twelve. He received little formal education, but
taughthimselfshorthandandbecameareporterofparliamentarydebatesfor
theMorningChronicle.Hebegantopublishsketchesinvariousperiodicals,
which were subsequently republished as Sketches by Boz. The Pickwick
Paperswaspublishedin–andafteraslowstartbecameapublishing
phenomenonandDickens’scharactersthecentreofapopularcult.Partof
the secret of his success was the method of cheap serial publication he
adopted;thereafter,allDickens’snovelswerefirstpublishedinserialform.
HebeganOliverTwistin,followedbyNicholasNickleby()andThe
OldCuriosityShop(–).AfterfinishingBarnabyRudge()Dickens
setoffforAmerica;hewentfullofenthusiasmfortheyoungrepublicbut,
inspiteofatriumphantreception,hereturneddisillusioned.Hisexperiences
are recorded in American Notes (). A Christmas Carol, the first of the
hugelypopularChristmasBooks,appearedin,whileMartinChuzzlewit,
which included a fictionalized account of his American travels, was first
publishedovertheperiod–.During–Dickenstravelledabroad
andhebeganDombeyandSonwhileinSwitzerland.ThisandDavidCopperfield
(–)weremoreseriousinthemeandmorecarefullyplannedthanhis
early novels. In later works, such as Bleak House () and Little Dorrit
(),Dickens’ssocialcriticismbecamemoreradicalandhiscomedymore
savage. In Dickens started the weekly periodical Household Words,
succeededinbyAlltheYearRound;inthesehepublishedHardTimes
(), A Tale of Two Cities () and Great Expectations (–).
Dickens’shealthwasfailingduringthesandthephysicalstrainofthe
publicreadingswhichhebeganinhastenedhisdecline,althoughOur
MutualFriend()retainedsomeofhisbestcomedy.Hislastnovel,The
MysteryofEdwinDrood,wasnevercompletedandhediedonJune.
PublicgriefathisdeathwasconsiderableandhewasburiedinthePoets’
CornerofWestminsterAbbey.
isaFellowofStAnne’sCollege,ReaderinEnglishand
TheTimesLecturerinEnglishLanguage,attheUniversityofOxford.She
haswrittenextensivelyontheVictoriannovel.Hermostrecentpublications
includeDickens,WomenandLanguage()andTheLanguageofGender
andClass:TransformationintheVictorianNovel().Shehasalsoedited
Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South and Thomas Hardy’s The Pursuit of
the Well-Beloved and The Well-Beloved and The Woodlanders for Penguin
Classics, andis General Editorof Thomas Hardy’sfiction inthe Penguin
ClassicsEdition.
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT
EditedwithanIntroductionandNotesby
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First published by Chapman and Hall,1843-4
Published in Penguin Classics 1999
This electronic edition published 2002
Introduction and notes copyright © Patricia Ingham,1999
ADickens Chronology copyright © Stephen Wall,1995
All rights reserved
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Acknowledgements vi
ADickensChronology vii
Introduction x
FurtherReading xxvii
ANoteontheTextanditsHistory xxx
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT
AppendixA:Postscript()
AppendixB:SomeofDickens’sWorkingPapersfor
MartinChuzzlewit
AppendixC:MrsGamp’sEccentricSpeech
Notes
I am indebted to Jenny Harrington and Shannon Russell for help in the
preparation of this edition; and to St Anne’s College Library and its staff
–AlisonCorley,MartinaMangelsandDavidSmith.ToalloftheseIoffer
thanks.IamalsogratefultotheVictoriaandAlbertMuseumforaccessto
theForsterCollection.
FebruaryCharlesJohnHuffamDickensbornatPortsmouth,where
his father is a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. The eldest son in a
familyofeight,twoofwhomdieinchildhood.
FamilymovetoChatham.
FamilymovetoLondon.
Dickens’s father in Marshalsea Debtors’ Prison for three months.
Dickensemployedinablackingwarehouse,labellingbottles.Attends
WellingtonHouseAcademy,aprivateschool,–.
Becomesasolicitor’sclerk.
Becomesaparliamentaryreporteraftermasteringshorthand.Inlove
withMariaBeadnell,–.
First published story, ‘A Dinner at Poplar Walk’, in the Monthly
Magazine.Furtherstoriesandsketchesinthisandotherperiodicals,
–.
BecomesreporterontheMorningChronicle.
Engaged to Catherine Hogarth, daughter of editor of the Evening
Chronicle.
SketchesbyBoz,FirstandSecondSeries,published.MarriesCatherine
Hogarth. Meets John Forster, his literary adviser and future
biographer.
The Pickwick Papers published in one volume (issued in monthly
parts, –). Birth of a son, the first of ten children. Death of
Mary Hogarth, Dickens’s sister-in-law. Edits Bentley’s Miscellany,
–.
OliverTwistpublishedinthreevolumes(serializedmonthlyinBent-
ley’sMiscellany,–).VisitsYorkshireschoolsoftheDotheboys
type.
NicholasNicklebypublishedinonevolume(issuedinmonthlyparts,
–).
DeclinesinvitationtostandforParliament.TheOldCuriosityShop
andBarnabyRudgepublishedinseparatevolumesafterappearingin
weeklynumbersinMasterHumphrey’sClock,–.Publicdinner
inhishonouratEdinburgh.
vii
January–June First visit to North America, described in American
Notes,twovolumes.
DecemberAChristmasCarolappears.
MartinChuzzlewitpublishedinonevolume(issuedinmonthlyparts,
–).DickensandfamilyleaveforItaly,SwitzerlandandFrance.
Dickens returns to London briefly to read The Chimes to friends
beforeitspublicationinDecember.
Dickens and family return from Italy. The Cricket on the Hearth
publishedatChristmas.Writesautobiographicalfragment,?–,
not published until included in Forster’s Life (three volumes,
–).
Becomes first editor of the Daily News but resigns after seventeen
issues.PicturesfromItalypublished.DickensandfamilyinSwitzer-
landandParis.TheBattleofLifepublishedatChristmas.
ReturnstoLondon.HelpsMissBurdettCouttstosetup,andlater
torun,a‘HomeforHomelessWomen’.
DombeyandSonpublishedinonevolume(issuedinmonthlyparts,
–).OrganizesandactsincharityperformancesofTheMerry
Wives of Windsor and Every Man in His Humour in London and
elsewhere.TheHauntedManpublishedatChristmas.
HouseholdWords,aweeklyjournal‘ConductedbyCharlesDickens’,
beginsinMarchandcontinuesuntil.Dickensmakesaspeechat
firstmeetingofMetropolitanSanitaryAssociation.DavidCopperfield
publishedinonevolume(issuedinmonthlyparts,–).
DeathofDickens’sfather.Furthertheatricalactivitiesinaidofthe
GuildofLiteratureandArt,includingaperformancebeforeQueen
Victoria.AChild’sHistoryofEnglandappearsatintervalsinHousehold
Words,publishedinthreevolumes(,,).
Bleak House published in one volume (issued in monthly parts,
–).Dickensgivesfirstpublicreadings(fromAChristmasCarol).
VisitsPreston,Lancashire,toobserveindustrialunrest.HardTimes
appears weekly in Household Words and is published in book
form.
SpeechinsupportoftheAdministrativeReformAssociation.
DickensbuysGad’sHillPlace,nearRochester.
Little Dorrit published in one volume (issued in monthly parts,
–). Dickens acts in Wilkie Collins’s melodrama The Frozen
DeepandfallsinlovewiththeyoungactressEllenTernan.TheLazy
Tour of Two Idle Apprentices, written jointly with Wilkie Collins
aboutaholidayinCumberland,appearsinHouseholdWords.
viii
Publishes Reprinted Pieces (articles from Household Words). Sep-
aration from his wife followed by statement in Household Words.
Dickens’shouseholdnowlargelyrunbyhissister-in-lawGeorgina.
AlltheYearRound,aweeklyjournalagain‘ConductedbyCharles
Dickens’,begins.ATaleofTwoCities,serializedbothinAlltheYear
Roundandinmonthlyparts,appearsinonevolume.
DickenssellsLondonhouseandmovesfamilytoGad’sHill.
GreatExpectationspublishedinthreevolumesafterappearingweekly
inAlltheYearRound(–).TheUncommercialTraveller(papers
fromAlltheYearRound)appears;expandededition,.Further
publicreadings,–.
Death of Dickens’s mother, and of his son Walter (in India).
ReconciledwithThackeray,withwhomhehadquarrelled,shortly
before the latter’s death. Publishes ‘Mrs Lirriper’s Lodgings’ in
ChristmasnumberofAlltheYearRound.
Our Mutual Friend published in two volumes (issued in monthly
parts,–).Dickensseverelyshockedafteratrainaccidentwhen
returningfromFrancewithEllenTernanandhermother.
Beginsanotherseriesofreadings.TakesahouseforEllenatSlough.
‘Mugby Junction’ appears in Christmas number of All the Year
Round.
MovesEllentoPeckham.SecondjourneytoAmerica.Givesreadings
inBoston,NewYork,Washingtonandelsewhere,despiteincreasing
ill-health. ‘George Silverman’s Explanation’ appears in Atlantic
Monthly(theninAlltheYearRound,).
Returns to England. Readings now include the sensational ‘Sikes
andNancy’fromOliverTwist;Dickens’shealthfurtherundermined.
FarewellreadingsinLondon.TheMysteryofEdwinDroodissuedin
sixmonthlyparts,intendedtobecompletedintwelve.
JuneDies,aftercollapseatGad’sHill,agedfifty-eight.Buriedin
WestminsterAbbey.
StephenWall,
ix
Description:The greed of his family has led wealthy old Martin Chuzzle wit to become suspicious and misanthropic, leaving his grandson and namesake to make his own way in the world. And so young Martin sets out from the Wiltshire home of his supposed champion, the scheming architect Pecksniff, to seek his fortu
