![]() How this young Newton (for such I judge him to be) came by his information, I donât know he was a quarter of a century too young to know anything about it of himself. The smallest boy I ever conversed with, carrying the largest baby I ever saw, offered a supernaturally intelligent explanation of the locality in its old uses, and was very nearly correct. Wandering, however, down a certain adjacent âAngel Court, leading to Bermondsey,â I came to âMarshalsea Place:â the houses in which I recognised, not only as the great block of the former prison, but as preserving the rooms that arose in my mindâs-eye when I became Little Dorritâs biographer. ![]() I found the outer front courtyard, often mentioned here, metamorphosed into a butter shop and I then almost gave up every brick of the jail for lost. I did not know, myself, until the sixth of this present month, when I went to look. Some of my readers may have an interest in being informed whether or no any portions of the Marshalsea Prison are yet standing. But, I submit myself to suffer judgment to go by default on all these counts, if need be, and to accept the assurance (on good authority) that nothing like them was ever known in this land. If I were to plead anything in mitigation of the preposterous fancy that a bad design will sometimes claim to be a good and an expressly religious design, it would be the curious coincidence that it has been brought to its climax in these pages, in the days of the public examination of late Directors of a Royal British Bank. If I might make so bold as to defend that extravagant conception, Mr. Merdle, I would hint that it originated after the Railroad-share epoch, in the times of a certain Irish bank, and of one or two other equally laudable enterprises. ![]() If I might offer any apology for so exaggerated a fiction as the Barnacles and the Circumlocution Office, I would seek it in the common experience of an Englishman, without presuming to mention the unimportant fact of my having done that violence to good manners, in the days of a Russian war, and of a Court of Inquiry at Chelsea. But, as it is not unreasonable to suppose that I may have held its threads with a more continuous attention than anyone else can have given them during its desultory publication, it is not unreasonable to ask that the weaving may be looked at in its completed state, and with the pattern finished. I must have been very ill employed, if I could not leave its merits and demerits as a whole, to express themselves on its being read as a whole. I have been occupied with this story, during many working hours of two years. You can download this and other ebooks carefully produced for true book lovers at. Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-driven project that produces ebook editions of public domain literature using modern typography, technology, and editorial standards, and distributes them free of cost. For full license information, see the Uncopyright at the end of this ebook. The creators of, and contributors to, this ebook dedicate their contributions to the worldwide public domain via the terms in the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. They may still be copyrighted in other countries, so users located outside of the United States must check their local laws before using this ebook. The source text and artwork in this ebook are believed to be in the United States public domain that is, they are believed to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. This particular ebook is based on a transcription from Project Gutenberg and on digital scans from the Internet Archive. This ebook is the product of many hours of hard work by volunteers for Standard Ebooks, and builds on the hard work of other literature lovers made possible by the public domain. XXVIII: An Appearance in the Marshalsea.XXV: The Chief Butler Resigns the Seals of Office.XXIII: Mistress Affery Makes a Conditional Promise, Respecting Her Dreams.XIX: The Storming of the Castle in the Air.XV: No Just Cause or Impediment Why These Two Persons Should Not Be Joined Together.XII: In Which a Great Patriotic Conference Is Holden.Gowan Is Reminded That âIt Never Doesâ XXXVI: The Marshalsea Becomes an Orphan.XIX: The Father of the Marshalsea in Two or Three Relations. ![]()
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