Douglas William Jerrold (1803-1857) was the son of an actor manager. After some time in the Navy and as an apprentice printer he became a playwright and later a journalist. He was a contemporary and friend of Charles Dickens. As a journalist he worked for Punch magazine in which Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures were serialised, to be published in book form in 1846.
Job Caudle, the 'hero' of the book is a Victorian shopkeeper whose wife finds she can only talk to him without interruption in bed. Caudle, who outlives his wife, finds he can no longer sleep easily because of his memory of these 'lectures' and resolves to exorcise his wife's memory by recording the lectures, it seems with a view to future publication for the edification of others. Jerrold's humour shines through this insight into Victorian middle class culture. (Summary by Martin Clifton)
IntroductionLecture 1: Mr. Caudle has lent five pounds to a friendLecture 2: Mr. Caudle has been at a tavern with a friend, and is “enough to poison a woman” with tobacco smokeLecture 3: Mr. Caudle joins a club – “The Skylarks”Lecture 4: Mr. Caudle has been called from his bed to bail Mr. Prettyman from the watch-houseLecture 5: Mr. Caudle has remained downstairs till past one, with a friendLecture 6: Mr. Caudle has lent an acquaintance the family umbrellaLecture 7: Mr. Caudle has ventured a remonstrance on his day’s dinner: cold mutton and no pudding – Mrs Caudle defends the cold shoulderLecture 8: Caudle has been made a mason – Mrs Caudle indignant and curiousLecture 9: Mr Caudle has been to Greenwich fairLecture 10: On Mr. Caudle’s shirt buttonsLecture 11: Mrs Caudle suggests the her dear mother should “come and live with them”Lecture 12: Mr. Caudle having come home a little late, declares that henceforth “he will have a key”Lecture 13: Mrs Caudle has been to see her dear mother – Caudle on the “joyful occasion”, has given a party and issued a card of invitationLecture 14: Mrs Caudle thinks it “high time” that the children should have summer clothingLecture 15: Mr. Caudle again stayed out late. Mrs Caudle, at first injured and violent, meltsLecture 16: Baby is to be christened; Mrs Caudle canvasses the merits of probable godfathersLecture 17: Caudle in the course of the day has ventured to question the economy of “washing at home”Lecture 18: Caudle, whilst walking with his wife, has been bowed to by a younger and even prettier woman than Mrs CaudleLecture 19: Mrs Caudle thinks “it would look well to keep their wedding-day”Lecture 20: “Brother” Caudle has been to a Masonic charitable dinner. Mrs Caudle has hidden the “brother’s” cheque-bookLecture 21: Mr. Caudle has not acted “like a husband” at the wedding dinnerLecture 22: Caudle comes home in the evening, as Mrs Caudle has “just stepped out, shopping” On her return, at ten, Caudle remonstratesLecture 23: Mrs Caudle “wishes to know if they’re going to the sea-side, or not, this summer – that’s allLecture 24: Mrs Caudle dwells on Caudle’s “cruel neglect” of her on board the “Red Rover”. Mrs Caudle so “ill with the sea”, that they put up at the Dolphin, Herne BayLecture 25: Mrs Caudle, wearied of Margate, has “a great desire to see France”Lecture 26: Mrs Caudle’s first night in France – “shameful indifference” of Caudle at the Boulogne custom houseLecture 27: Mrs Caudle returns to her native land. “Unmanly cruelty” of Caudle, who has refused “to smuggle a few things” for herLecture 28: Mrs Caudle has returned home. The house (of course) “not fit to be seen”. Mr Caudle, in self-defence, takes a bookLecture 29: Mrs Caudle thinks “the time has come to have a cottage out of town”Lecture 30: Mrs Caudle complains of the “Turtle Dovery”. Discovers black beetles. Thinks it “nothing but right” that Caudle should set up a chaiseLecture 31: Mrs Caudle complains very bitterly that Mr. Caudle has “broken her confidence”Lecture 32: Mrs Caudle discourses of maids-of-all-work and maids in general. Mr. Caudle’s “infamous behaviour” ten years agoLecture 33: Mrs Caudle has discovered that Caudle is a railway directorLecture 34: Mrs Caudle, suspecting that Mr. Caudle has made his will, is only “anxious as a wife”, to know its provisionsLecture 35: Mrs Caudle “has been told “ that Caudle has “taken to play” at billiardsLecture the Last: Mrs Caudle has taken cold; the tragedy of thin shoesPostscript
On this page you can listen to the audiobook Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures - Douglas William JERROLD!
Listen online in good quality, from your Android phone, iphone or pc at any time.
Comments
The minimum comment length is 50 characters. comments are moderated
