PREFACE. I MAKE so bold as to believe that the faculty (or the habit) of closely and carefully observing the characters of men, is a rare one. I have not even found, within my experience, that the faculty (or the habit) of closely and carefully observing so much as the faces of men, is a general one by any means. The two commonest mistakes in judgment that I suppose to arise from the former default, are, the confounding of shyness with arrogance, and the not understanding that an obstinate nature exists in a perpetual struggle with itself. Mr. Dombey undergoes no violent internal change, either in this book, or in life. A sense of his injustice is within him all along. The more he represses it, the more unjust he necessarily is. Internal shame and external circumstances may bring the contest to the surface in a week, or a day; but, it has been a contest for years, and is only fought out after a long balance of victory. Years have elapsed since I dismissed Mr. Dombey. I have not been impatient to offer this critical remark upon him, and I offer it with some confidence. I began this book by the lake of Geneva, and went on with it for some months in France. The association between the writing and the place of writing is so curiously strong in my mind, that at this day, although I know every stair in the little Midshipman's house, and could swear to every pew in the church in which Florence was married, or to every young gentleman's bedstead in Doctor Blimber's establishment, I yet confusedly imag ine Captain Cuttle as secluding himself from Mrs. MacStinger among the mountains of Switzerland. Similarly, when I am reminded by any chance of what it was that the waves were always saying, I wander in my fancy for a whole night about the streets of Paris-as I really did, with a heavy heart, on the night when my little friend and I parted company for ever. 14 II.—In which Timely Provision is made for an Emergency that will sometimes arise in the best-regulated Families...... 21 III.-In which Mr. Dombey, as a Man and a Father, is seen at the Head of the Home-Department..... IV.—In which some more First Appearances are made on the V.-Paul's Progress and Christening.. VI.-Paul's Second Deprivation..... VII.—A Bird's-eye Glimpse of Miss Tox's Dwelling-place; also of IX.-In which the Wooden Midshipman gets into Trouble....... 114 X.-Containing the Sequel of the Midshipman's Disaster....... XXII.-A Trifle of Management by Mr. Carker the Manager... 289 XXIII.-Florence Solitary, and the Midshipman Mysterious..... 308 XXIV. The Study of a Loving Heart XXXVIII.—Miss Tox improves an Old Acquaintance..... XXXIX. Further Adventures of Captain Edward Cuttle, Mariner. 517 |