Excerpt from Martin Chuzzlewit - anthology.
Publié le 12/05/2013
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But there is one other piece of evidence, bearing immediate reference to their close connextion with this memorable event in English History, which must carryconviction, even to a mind (if such a mind there be) remaining unconvinced by these presumptive proofs.
There was, within a few years, in the possession of a highly respectable and in every way credible and unimpeachable member of the Chuzzlewit Family (for hisbitterest enemy never dared to hint at his being otherwise than a wealthy man), a dark lantern of undoubted antiquity; rendered still more interesting by being, inshape and pattern, extremely like such as are in use at the present day.
Now this gentleman, since deceased, was at all times ready to make oath, and did again andagain set forth upon his solemn asseveration, that he had frequently heard his grandmother say, when contemplating this venerable relic, 'Aye, aye! This was carriedby my fourth son on the fifth of November, when he was a Guy Fawkes.' These remarkable words wrought (as well they might) a strong impression on his mind, andhe was in the habit of repeating them very often.
The just interpretation which they bear, and the conclusion to which they lead, are triumphant and irresistible.
Theold lady, naturally strong-minded, was nevertheless frail and fading; she was notoriously subject to that confusion of ideas, or, to say the least, of speech, to which ageand garrulity are liable.
The slight, the very slight, confusion apparent in these expressions is manifest, and is ludicrously easy of correction.
'Aye, aye,' quoth she, andit will be observed that no emendation whatever is necessary to be made in these two initiative remarks, 'Aye, aye! This lantern was carried by my forefather'—notfourth son, which is preposterous—'on the fifth of November.
And he was Guy Fawkes.' Here we have a remark at once consistent, clear, natural, and in strict accordance with the character of the speaker.
Indeed the anecdote is so plainly susceptible of this meaning, and no other, that it would be hardly worth recording in itsoriginal state, were it not a proof of what may be (and very often is) effected not only in historical prose but in imaginative poetry, by the exercise of a little ingeniouslabour on the part of a commentator.
It has been said that there is no instance, in modern times, of a Chuzzlewit having been found on terms of intimacy with the Great.
But here again the sneeringdetractors who weave such miserable figments from their malicious brains, are stricken dumb by evidence.
For letters are yet in the possession of various branches ofthe family, from which it distinctly appears, being stated in so many words, that one Diggory Chuzzlewit was in the habit of perpetually dining with Duke Humphrey[Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, youngest son of late-medieval monarch Henry IV, who was renowned for his learning].
So constantly was he a guest at thatnobleman's table, indeed; and so unceasingly were His Grace's hospitality and companionship forced, as it were, upon him; that we find him uneasy, and full ofconstraint and reluctance: writing his friends to the effect that if they fail to do so and so by bearer, he will have no choice but to dine again with Duke Humphrey:and expressing himself in a very marked and extraordinary manner as one surfeited of High Life and Gracious Company.
It has been rumoured, and it is needless to say the rumour originated in the same base quarters, that a certain male Chuzzlewit, whose birth must be admitted to beinvolved in some obscurity, was of very mean and low descent.
How stands the proof? When the son of that individual, to whom the secret of his father's birth wassupposed to have been communicated by his father in his lifetime, lay upon his deathbed, this question was put to him in a distinct, solemn, and formal way: 'TobyChuzzlewit, who was your grandfather?' To which he, with his last breath, no less distinctly, solemnly, and formally replied: and his words were taken down at thetime, and signed by six witnesses, each with his name and address in full: 'The Lord No Zoo.' It may be said—it has been said, for human wickedness has no limits—that there is no Lord of that name, and that among the titles which have become extinct, none at all resembling this, in sound even, is to be discovered.
Butwhat is the irresistible inference?—Rejecting a theory broached by some well-meaning but mistaken persons, that this Mr Toby Chuzzlewit's grandfather, to judgefrom his name, must surely have been a Mandarin (which is wholly insupportable, for there is no pretence of his grandmother ever having been out of this country, orof any Mandarin [high-ranking public official in imperial China] having been in it within some years of his father's birth: except those in the tea-shops, which cannotfor a moment be regarded as having any bearing on the question, one way or other), rejecting this hypothesis, is it not manifest that Mr Toby Chuzzlewit had eitherreceived the name imperfectly from his father, or that he had forgotten it, or that he had mispronounced it? and that even at the recent period in question, theChuzzlewits were connected by a bend sinister, or kind of heraldic over-the-left [signifying illegitimacy], with some unknown noble and illustrious House?
From documentary evidence, yet preserved in the family, the fact is clearly established that in the comparatively modern days of the Diggory Chuzzlewit beforementioned, one of its members had attained to very great wealth and influence.
Throughout such fragments of his correspondence as have escaped the ravages of themoths (who, in right of their extensive absorption of the contents of deeds and papers, may be called the general registers of the Insect World), we find him makingconstant reference to an uncle, in respect of whom he would seem to have entertained great expectations, as he was in the habit of seeking to propitiate his favour bypresents of plate, jewels, books, watches, and other valuable articles.
Thus, he writes on one occasion to his brother in reference to a gravy-spoon, the brother'sproperty, which he (Diggory) would appear to have borrowed or otherwise possessed himself of: 'Do not be angry, I have parted with it—to my uncle.' On anotheroccasion he expresses himself in a similar manner with regard to a child's mug which had been entrusted to him to get repaired.
On another occasion he says, 'I havebestowed upon that irresistible uncle of mine everything I ever possessed.' And that he was in the habit of paying long and constant visits to this gentleman at hismansion, if, indeed, he did not wholly reside there, is manifest from the following sentence: 'With the exception of the suit of clothes I carry about with me, the wholeof my wearing apparel is at present at my uncle's.' This gentleman's patronage and influence must have been very extensive, for his nephew writes, 'His interest is toohigh'—'It is too much'—'It is tremendous'—and the like.
Still it does not appear (which is strange) to have procured for him any lucrative post at court or elsewhere,or to have conferred upon him any other distinction than that which was necessarily included in the countenance of so great a man, and the being invited by him tocertain entertainments, so splendid and costly in their nature, that he calls them 'Golden Balls' [allusion to the pawnbroker’s traditional sign].
It is needless to multiply instances of the high and lofty station, and the vast importance of the Chuzzlewits, at different periods.
If it came within the scope ofreasonable probability that further proofs were required, they might be heaped upon each other until they formed an Alps of testimony, beneath which the boldestscepticism should be crushed and beaten flat.
As a goodly tumulus is already collected, and decently battened up above the Family grave, the present chapter iscontent to leave it as it is: merely adding, by way of a final spadeful, that many Chuzzlewits, both male and female, are proved to demonstration, on the faith of letters.
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