Paul Clifford, Volume I

Paul Clifford, Volume I

Paul Clifford, Volume I, opens with an anonymous woman named Judith dying in a squalid room in Thames Court, London, attended by the small-time fence Dummie Dunnaker and the tavern-keeper Mrs. Margery Lobkins. Dummie has failed to obtain a real Bible and substitutes a work of plays so that Judith, delirious, can swear him to secrecy over an unnamed matter; he then pretends to comply. Before dying, Judith extracts from Mrs. Lobkins a promise to raise her small son, entrusting the boy to her care. After Judith dies, Dummie secretly rifles her trunk, stealing bundles of letters, a lock of her cut golden hair, and (after hesitating over her gold watch) leaving that behind, resolving to keep the "rum business" to himself. Mrs. Lobkins names the boy Paul, after her own thrice-transported, twice-hanged grandfather, and raises him at her public house, the Mug. Paul grows up quick-witted, physically strong, and mischievous—given to pocket-picking pranks done for amusement rather than gain. Anxious that he receive a proper education, Mrs. Lobkins engages the pompous Scottish critic Peter MacGrawler, editor of the periodical "The Asinaeum," as Paul's tutor in "Latin and vartue," at a stipend of two shillings and sixpence weekly. MacGrawler's actual instruction proves ineffective, hampered by Paul's pranks and his continuing obsession with tales of the highwayman Richard Turpin. Paul's literary tastes are reshaped when he meets Augustus Tomlinson, a flashy young journalist who dazzles him with talk of fashionable life, boxing, music, and his own supposed brilliance, and who urges Paul to abandon vulgar slang for a "nobler spirit." Tomlinson later vanishes from London, but Paul, now around sixteen, continues under MacGrawler and grows increasingly refined in speech and ambition, drawn into a fashionable but costly social circle. He attends parties and gambles at a club in Fish Lane, running into debt despite loans from Dummie and from a foppish new acquaintance, Long Ned (Edward Pepper), whom Dummie repeatedly warns Paul against. Financial strain and Mrs. Lobkins's rough temper culminate in a violent quarrel: after Paul asks for money to repay his debts, she refuses, hurls her pipe at him (accidentally striking Dummie, who takes the blame and is thrown out), and Paul storms out to seek his fortune independently. Learning that Long Ned has left town on a "toby" (highway robbery) errand, Paul instead goes to MacGrawler for shelter. There, MacGrawler recruits Paul into writing reviews for "The Asinaeum," instructing him in the arts of "slashing," "plastering," and "tickling" books for pay, promising to split profits evenly. Paul's writings, published under the byline "Nobilitas," bring the paper new attention, but MacGrawler secretly cheats him of most of the promised earnings. Discovering this deception via an intercepted letter revealing a higher offer from another editor, Paul angrily quits MacGrawler's lodgings, leaving a reproachful note and dousing him with ink. Wandering to London Bridge, he encounters Long Ned again, now revealed as a highwayman who tries to recruit Paul into his "profession," romanticizing crime as preferable to poverty or starvation. Paul refuses outright criminal life but agrees to accompany Ned to the theatre, first outfitting himself in ill-fitting secondhand finery bought on Ned's credit. At the theatre, Paul is struck by the beauty of a young girl seated with an older, sharp-featured gentleman. Leaving the play, Ned picks the gentleman's pocket of his watch and flees, shouting for Paul to run, but Paul is seized as an accomplice. After a scuffle in which he strikes one of his captors, he is knocked unconscious by a watchman and wakes up on a bench in the watchhouse, under arrest—where the volume ends.

By Edward Bulwer-lytton · First published 1830 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Romance · 6 chapters · 27,728 words

First lines

Say, ye oppressed by some fantastic woes, Some jarring nerve that baffles your repose, Who press the downy couch while slaves advance With timid eye to read the distant glance, Who with sad prayers the weary doctor tease To name the nameless, ever-new disease, Who with mock patience dire complaints endure, Which real pain and that alone can cure, How would you bear in real pain to lie Despised, neglected, left alone to die? How would you bear to draw your latest breath Where all that's wretched paves the way to death? -- Crabbe.

What this Textopian page supports

Paul Clifford, Volume I is listed on Textopian as a novel by Edward Bulwer-lytton, dated 1830 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Good citation fit

Discussion starters

Similar titles

Genres

Tags

romance · adventure · drama · 19th century · British literature · social class · crime · redemption · identity · forgiveness · love · betrayal

Contents

More by Edward Bulwer-lytton