David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page Nicholas Nickleby FAQ & Email Cheap boarding schools in Yorkshire were advertised in the London papers with an emphasis on 'no holiday' and were a convenient place to dispose of unwanted or illegitimate children. Dickens and his illustrator Hablot Browne (phiz) traveled incognito to Yorkshire on a fact-finding mission in January 1838. There they encountered William Shaw, headmaster of Bowes Academy, in whose school several boys had died or went blind from mistreatment and neglect. Visiting a cemetery in the area Dickens found the graves of many of the students of these schools and one in particular Dickens said "put Smike into my head". Smike was the abused inmate of Dotheboys Hall, the fictional school he based on Shaw's Bowes Academy in Nicholas Nickleby. The fictional headmaster of Dotheboys Hall, Wackford Squeers, was based on William Shaw. The ignorance of the schoolmaster Squeers is more than a comic exaggeration. Edgar Johnson, in his biography of Dickens, notes that as late as 1851, 2.5 per cent of the schoolmasters and mistresses in private schools signed their census returns with a mark.

Three Actors Herb Moskovitz examines Dickens' love of the theatre. The theater is central to the plot of Nicholas Nickleby and Dickens dedicated the novel to his friend, distinguished actor and theater manager William Macready . Dickens' life during the serialization of Nicholas Nickleby Mar 1838 - Sep 1839 Wikipedia - Nicholas Nickleby The Cheeryble Brothers The story of the benevolent brothers who aid Nicholas and his family resulted in Dickens getting hundreds upon hundreds of applications for loans, gifts, and other requests for aid to be forwarded to the originals of the Cheeryble brothers. In the preface to the Cheap Edition of Nicholas Nickleby in 1848 Dickens claimed that the brothers were based on real persons "with whom I never interchanged any communication in my life". Paul Davis in The Penguin Dickens Companion says that the brothers were based on William and Daniel Grant, Manchester calico merchants whom Dickens met in 1838. Squeers' Advertisement in the London Papers "EDUCATION.

-- At Mr Wackford Squeers's Academy, Dotheboys Hall, at the delightful village of Dotheboys, near Greta Bridge in Yorkshire, Youth are boarded, clothed, booked, furnished with pocket-money, provided with all necessaries, instructed in all languages living and dead, mathematics, orthography, geometry, astronomy, trigonometry, the use of the globes, algebra, single stick (if required), writing, arithmetic, fortification, and every other branch of classical literature. Terms, twenty guineas per annum. No extras, no vacations, and diet unparalleled. Mr Squeers is in town, and attends daily, from one till four, at the Saracen's Head, Snow Hill. N.B. An able assistant wanted. Annual salary 5 pounds.

A Master of Arts would be preferred." Dickens Describes the Boys at Dotheboys Hall Pale and haggard faces, lank and bony figures, children with the countenances of old men, deformities with irons upon their limbs, boys of stunted growth, and others whose long meagre legs would hardly bear their stooping bodies, all crowded on the view together; there were the bleared eye, the hare-lip, the crooked foot, and every ugliness or distortion that told of unnatural aversion conceived by parents for their offspring, or of young lives which, from the earliest dawn of infancy, had been one horrible endurance of cruelty and neglect. There were little faces which should have been handsome, darkened with the scowl of sullen, dogged suffering; there was childhood with the light of its eye quenched, its beauty gone, and its helplessness alone remaining.

Excerpt: There once lived, in a sequestered part of the county of Devonshire, one Mr Godfrey Nickleby: a worthy gentleman, who, taking it into his head rather late in life that he must get married, and not being young enough or rich enough to aspire to the hand of a lady of fortune, had wedded an old flame out of mere attachment, who in her turn had taken him for the same reason. Thus two people who cannot afford to play cards for money, sometimes sit down to a quiet game for love. Nicholas Nickleby | Charles Dickens Info Charles Dickens Info Nicholas Nickleby Nicholas Nickleby Nicholas Nickleby was the third novel of Charles Dickens. The first installment was published on March 31, 1838 and the last installment was published on October 1, 1839. Nicholas Nickleby – Dickens’s Life At The Time In early 1838 Dickens and Hablot Browne, the illustrator for Nickleby, travel to Yorkshire to see the boarding schools for themselves. On March 6th of that year Dickens’s daughter Mary is born.

The first installment of Nicholas Nickleby is published on March 31, 1838. In January of 1839 Dickens begins writing Barnaby Rudge . On October 1, 1839 the final installment of Nickleby is published. On October 29th of that year Dickens’s daughter Kate is born. Yorkshire Boarding Schools One of Dickens’s goals in writing Nicholas Nickleby was to expose the ugly truth about Yorkshire boarding schools. In the preface to the novel Dickens has this to say about Yorkshire schoolmasters: Traders in the avarice, indifference, or imbecility of parents, and the helplessness of children; ignorant, sordid, brutal men, to whom few considerate persons would have entrusted the board and lodging of a horse or a dog; they formed the worthy cornerstone of a structure, which, for absurdity and a magnificent high-minded laissez-aller neglect, has rarely been exceeded in the world. In the novel Nicholas is sent to teach at Dotheboys Hall. It is a school where there are no holidays, no trips home for the abused and neglected pupils of Mr. Wackford Squeers.

Sadly schools like Dotheboys Hall really did exist. In early 1838 Dickens and Hablot Browne, the illustrator of Nicholas Nickleby, visited Yorkshire to get a first hand look at the situation. It was a very short visit, just two days, but it was enough to gather all the material they needed. During their visit they called on William Shaw, the headmaster of Bowes Academy. In 1823 Shaw had been prosecuted for neglect after two pupils became blind because of beatings and poor nutrition. The situation improved somewhat after the investigation. However even after the investigation it was common for one pupil to die at Bowes Academy every year. Dickens got the idea for Smike as he wandered through a churchyard near Bowes Academy. He read the engravings on the tombstones of the boys who died while attending Bowes and the idea sprang into his mind. Mrs. Nickleby Dickens’s own mother, Elizabeth Dickens, was the model for the always confused, comic Mrs. Nickleby. Luckily for Charles she didn’t recognize herself in the character. In fact she asked someone if they “really believed there ever was such a woman”.

Theme in Nicholas Nickleby An issue raised in Nicholas Nickleby deals with the definition of being a gentleman. What exactly does it take to be a true gentleman? Is it a matter of breeding? Sir Mulberry Hawk, who was determined to ruin Kate Nickleby, was surely not a true gentleman despite his good breeding. Wackford Squeers, the headmaster at Dotheboys Hall, proved that it takes more than position to be a gentleman. Ralph Nickleby illustrated that money alone does not make a gentleman. However in Nicholas Nickleby himself we see that a man is defined by his acts rather than breeding, money or position. It was a harder day’s journey than yesterday’s, for there were long and weary hills to climb; and in journeys, as in life, it is a great deal easier to go down hill than up. However, they kept on, with unabated perseverance, and the hill has not yet lifted its face to heaven that perseverance will not gain the summit of at last.

Nicholas Nickleby Information Exhibition explores Charles Dickens' links with County Durham - BBC News BBC News Exhibition explores Charles Dickens' links with County Durham 6 February 2012 Close share panel Image caption Bowes Academy has now been divided into seven flats and has been named Dotheboys Hall An exhibition exploring the links between Charles Dickens and County Durham is on display. The display of documents, photographs and press cuttings looks into Dickens' connections with the Barnard Castle which he visited in February 1838 when he was researching Nicholas Nickleby. The exhibition at Durham County Record Office coincides with the 200th anniversary of his birth on 7 February. Dawn Layland, Durham County Record Office education archivist, said: "A lot of people don't realise that Dickens had any connection to County Durham... when the novel was published, it had a huge impact on the schools and community of that area." Many people believe that the character of Wackford Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby was inspired by William Shaw, who was the headmaster of Bowes Academy in the 1830s. The school was also said to be the basis for the author's depiction of Dotheboys Hall.

Charles Dickens visited the town with illustrator Hablot K. Browne to research boarding schools in the north-east of England for the book. These boarding schools were known at the time as "Yorkshire Schools" and had a reputation as being places to send unwanted or illegitimate children for a cheaper rate, with an emphasis on work and no holidays. Dickens and Mr Browne visited a lawyer on their visit, pretending they were trying to find a suitable school for a widowed friend's sons. Image caption A ledger showing the names and costs from Bowes Academy is on display at Bowes Academy In a letter from Dickens in 1838, he replies to a lady called Mrs. Hall who had written to him saying she thought he had exaggerated the school's treatment of its pupils in the book. He states: "... the rascalities of those York-shire Schoolmasters cannot easily be exag-gerated, and that I have kept down the strong truth and thrown as much comicality over it as I could, rather than disgust and weary the reader with its fouler aspects".

He also states the lawyer he met told them the schools were "sad places" and advised them to "fling them in any way upon the mercy of the World - rather than trust them here". It was this reputation that formed the basis of Nicholas Nickleby. Following the publication of the book and its bad exposure of the Yorkshire Schools, most of them were closed down, including Bowes Academy. Dr Tony Williams, associate editor of The Dickensian and honorary life member of The International Dickens Fellowship, says the mistreatment of boys made Dickens angry and he wanted to "exploit" the schools' reputation in his work. However, Dr Williams says "we must remember these are works of fiction". 'Duly proud' Dickens briefly met William Shaw on 2 February when he went to Bowes Academy but he was quickly ushered away when somebody revealed his identity. It is believed this brief meeting inspired the character of Wackford Squeers, who both share the same initials and also similarities in their appearance. In the same letter from 1838, he mentions his meeting with Mr Shaw, whom he describes as a "scoundrel".

Image caption A newspaper article by a former pupil defending Bowes Academy However, William Shaw's family, and in particular his great-great-grandson Ted Shaw, have always defended his character. Mr Shaw will be holding a talk on 19 March at Hamsterley Village Hall as part of the Dickens in Teesdale year-long festival of events. Another connection with the town is the character of Smike, who is said to have been based on the grave of George Ashton Taylor, a boy who died at Bowes Academy. Dickens refers to visiting the boy's grave in a letter: "... the first gravestone I stumbled on that dreary winter afternoon was placed above the grave of a boy, eighteen long years old, who had died suddenly... died at that wretched place. I think his ghost put Smike into my head, upon the spot." Dickens in Durham is on display at Durham County Record Office until the end of March. The Bowes Museum is also holding a series of events and an exhibition to mark the writer's anniversary, including talks from Dickens' great-great-grandson Gerald Dickens, and the great-great-granddaughter of Hablot Browne, Valerie Browne Lester.

Vivien Vallack, head of exhibitions at the museum, said: "We can certainly be duly proud of the part our town and the dale played in helping inspire and create that novel. "Dickens' books are loved worldwide and so on this 200th anniversary it is important to recognise the modest but important part we played in the literary output of one of the world's favourite authors." Nicholas Nickleby at Dotheby's Hall | Culture Northern Ireland Nicholas Nickleby at Dotheby's Hall Nicholas Nickleby at Dotheby's Hall Sam McCready, master of the pared-down theatrical adaptation, brings Charles Dickens to the Belfast Festival sam.jpg Playwright, actor and director Sam McCready has no difficulty remembering his first encounter with the genius of Charles Dickens. ‘I went to Grosvenor High School,’ he recalls, ‘and we were given Great Expectations. The teacher said, “Read the first two chapters for Monday”. Sunday came and that morning I picked up my copy, intending to read the two chapters. I read the whole book in bed that day, something I never did.

I couldn’t put it down.’ That same burning enthusiasm for the great English novelist still shines brightly in McCready’s eyes six decades later. ‘The power of the story-teller is what held me,’ he says. ‘His ability to engage you totally, the wonderful characterisation.’ Although McCready, a budding actor when he first read Great Expectations, subsequently developed a consuming interest in the literature of his native Ireland, he returned to Dickens after emigrating to America to pursue a career in university teaching. He immediately started making new discoveries. ‘I was astonished to find the humour in Dickens, which I hadn’t seen before, and indeed the whole social commentary that is going on. The man is the most complete novelist. It’s one layer after another, and that really has been my intense interest.’ McCready brought that intense interest back to Belfast earlier in 2012, for Dickens at the Ulster Hall, an absorbing one-man play examining the writer’s visit to Belfast in 1867, when he performed his famously magnetic readings from the novels to spellbound local audiences.

The show is returning next year to the Lyric Theatre, an institution McCready played a leading role in establishing when it first mounted productions in founder Mary O’Malley’s home on Derryvolgie Avenue, and subsequently in Ridgeway Street, site of the current building. Before then, however, there is another Dickensian venture to attend to – Nicholas Nickleby at Dotheboys Hall, which McCready himself has adapted, and is directing for the Fringe Benefits Theatre Company as part of this year’s Belfast Festival at Queen’s. In cutting Dickens’s typically bulky, 800-page novel down to manageable proportions, McCready was keen to retain as much of the original text as possible, rather than re-writing new dialogue. ‘That is where Dickens is alive,’ explains McCready. ‘The story is only a clothes line – you have to value the language, value the text.’ McCready concentrates exclusively on the first part of the novel, set in the shockingly dysfunctional environment of Dotheboys Hall, a boarding school in Yorkshire presided over by the one-eyed Wackford Squeers, who routinely beats the pupils.

‘What I used there as a model was Dicken’s own reduction of his novel, because he did readings from Nicholas Nickleby, and that’s the part of the book that he included.’ How difficult is it, I wonder, to whittle Nickleby down to size, to make lean drama out of the garrulous, grandly expansive structure of Dickens’s original story? ‘Oh, it’s easy!’ smiles McCready fondly. ‘Because it’s already there! ‘He has what any great playwright has – he has characterisation, and he gives you this storyline. The quality of his writing is that he balances comedy and pathos, grotesquerie and naturalism. If you follow his structure, you have the play. He gives you the dialogue.’ Because Dickens’s world is already so alive with vividly imagined characters, McCready is adopting a deliberately minimalist approach to the set for his adaptation. ‘It would be superfluous to start putting scenes and scenery on the stage in a 19th century way. So the set is 18 chairs and a table. I’m interested as a director in focusing on the actor and the space. I’m interested in the imagination.

Dickens obviously had an extraordinary imagination, and I must try to match that in the imaginative work we are doing on stage with the actors.’ Working with young players on the cusp of a professional career is an area of particular interest for McCready, and a major focus of the developmental work done by the Fringe Benefits company, whose past members include Conleth Hill, Michelle Fairley and Richard Orr. McCready has strong views on why working with this particular tranche of aspiring actors is important, and on what they need to do to break into a ferociously competitive profession. ‘You’re with young people there at a key moment of their potential,’ he says. ‘And I feel that I have something to contribute. The talent they’ve got, the commitment and energy they have to do this work, it can all be dissipated if the right person is not involved at that moment.’ McCready speaks with the accumulated wisdom and experience of a lifetime spent treading the boards as actor and director, working with leading lights of stage and screen such as Liam Neeson, Kevin Spacey, Adrian Dunbar, Danny Boyle, Dan Gordon and Frances Barber. And his recipe for success is simple: there is no substitute for hard work, and lots of it.

‘Discipline is important,’ insists McCready. ‘Absolute commitment to what it is you are doing. I’ve told the actors here that when I went to the United States in the early 1980s to direct off-Broadway, I discovered a work ethic that was in my opinion missing from the actors I was working with in Northern Ireland. ‘The commitment to training – to take dance classes, vocal classes, improvisational classes, to explore the different training methods they could follow in order to become a better actor. Irish actors are great natural talents. But when you move beyond that, into classical work, richer material that is outside your environment, then you need a process to go through what an actor needs to go through, to get from the text to the performance. ‘I am there as a nurturer, to open these young actors up to what that process is, what are the demands of this profession a number of them want to go into.

I want them to work harder, to see the potential in what they do.’ The fruits of McCready’s latest collaboration with the rising generation of Northern Irish actors will be there for all to see when Nicholas Nickleby at Dotheboys Hall hits the stage this month at the Crescent Arts Centre. Despite the passing of the years, Nickleby retains, according to McCready, a biting contemporary relevance. ‘Education is still too much about someone standing at the front, giving information, which is then given back,’ he says, a process satirised by Dickens in the novel. There are darker elements in Nickleby too – the beatings, the mindless thuggery and neglect perpetrated by Squeers on his hapless educational charges – which chime uncomfortably with the apparently endless string of child abuse stories currently being reported on a virtually daily basis in contemporary media. ‘What happens in homes where children are put away for whatever reason, what happens to abandoned children, when they’re brutalised and beaten?' McCready asks. 'There’s a relevance in Nickleby to what goes on today. The inhumanity to children, it’s still happening, it certainly hasn’t gone away.

And that’s in Dickens.’ Nicholas Nickleby at Dotheby's Hall runs in the Crescent Arts Centre from October 25 - 28. The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's runs until November 4. Topics Neil Simon's rib-tickling examination of male friendship finds added relevance in the era of the ‘bromance’ Advertisement Nicholas Nickleby - tutorial, study guide & critical commentary Mantex Nicholas Nickleby tutorial, critical comment, plot, and study resources Nicholas Nickleby first appeared as a serial novel in nineteen monthly instalments between 1838 and 1839, published by Chapman and Hall. It was Charles Dickens’ third novel, but he wrote it at the same time as he was completing his second novel, Oliver Twist. He had struck a best-selling formula with his first novel – The Pickwick Papers – an episodic narrative issued in monthly parts, and he stuck to this publishing format, selling 50,000 copies a month of each instalment, which cost one shilling per issue and two shillings for the final double issue.

It is worth noting, in terms of the history of the novel and literature as a cultural medium, that Charles Dickens’ name does not appear on the cover – only his nom de plume, ‘Boz’. And he is not the author but the editor of these recorded adventures – almost as if their existence were due to some other person or source. In addition, each instalment of the serial was illustrated – in this case by his favourite artist, Hablot Knight Browne, who was also given a pseudonym of ‘Phiz’. The convention of illustrating novels persisted until the end of the nineteenth century and then disappeared in the early twentieth. a monthly instalment Nicholas Nickleby – critical commentary The picaresque novel Dickens greatly admired the novelists of the eighteenth century – Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, and Tobias Smollett – all of whom had inherited the earlier tradition of the novel as a picaresque narrative. That is, the focus of attention in a novel was on an individual who engaged with society and embarked on a series of adventures.

In its original form the picaro was usually a low-life character, and this is perhaps reflected in Fielding’s hero (in Tom Jones) being a foundling, or in Smollett’s heroes Roderick Random and Peregrine Pickle being ‘groundlings’ or ordinary characters. The traditional picaresque novel featured a one central character (Lazarillo de Tormes and Tom Jones for example), but Dickens gives this convention a creative twist by having essentially two central characters battling with the vicissitudes of society. Nicholas and his sister Kate are both young and vulnerable following their father’s death. They are saddled with a mother who is worse than useless as a moral and spiritual guide, and they are surrounded by villainous characters who wish to do them harm. Nicholas first has to battle with the psychopathic schoolmaster Wackford Squeers and his equally brutal family. Then he is also thwarted by his uncle, Ralph Nickleby Ralph Nickleby is also the spider at the centre of the corrupt web of upper-class rakes trying to ensnare Kate Nickleby.

Even though it is Sir Willoughby Hawk who is her main assailant, he is a client of Ralph’s and operates under his roof. Kate quite rightly complains that the very person who should be protecting her honour (her uncle) is putting her at risk by exposing her to moral danger and actually using her as live bait to ensnare the rich but simple Lord Frederick Verisopht. The elements of the picaresque novel are normally movement – the journey – encounters with unknown individuals who may be rogues desperadoes, or comic characters. This was the novel as sheer entertainment, and Dickens happily embraced the genre. As well as featuring the hero’s mixed fortunes in society, encounters with rogues and villains, there were also a lot of knockabout comic and farcical scenes, plus no shortage of real physical violence – much in evidence here in the scenes at Dotheboys Hall. There is very little notion of a tightly plotted story. The essence of the picaresque is a loose, episodic tale where one event follows another. Nevertheless, Dickens inserts elements which typify his later command of the tightly plotted serial novel, with a structure unified by overarching metaphors and symbols.

He introduces mysterious and dramatically interesting details which act as a thread through the episodes of the story. For instance, the curious figure of Newman Noggs who works for but despises Ralph Nickleby. He passes a message to Nicholas as he embarks at the start of the novel on his journey to Yorkshire and Dotheboys Hall. This creates a link between them which enables Nicholas to survive the vicissitudes of his exile and even his return under an assumed name (Johnson). The negative parent figure We know that Dickens was very concerned about the ill-treatment of children – despite the fact that he neglected his own. His novels are full of neglected and poor youngsters, children forced into work and crime, and pathetic under-aged beings who suffer and die young. The other side of this coin is the parent figure who neglects those under its supervision and care. Nicholas Nickleby has a wide range of characters who are what might be called the negative parent figure – people who are responsible for people younger than themselves who neglect their welfare and in some cases actively seek to undermine it. First in order of appearance of these figures is Wackford Squeers, the sadistic headmaster of Dotheboys Hall, who acts in loco parentis to his pupils.

Squeers is motivated entirely by greed and self-gratification. He actually robs the pupils under his care; he beats them; more or less starves them; and actively stands in the way of their securing any possible outside help. He is what we would now classify as a sociopath or even a psychopath Mr Bray is one of the many miserly characters in the novel, but his outstanding characteristic is that of an emotionally tyrannical father figure. He has a daughter (Madeleine) who is slavishly devoted to him, but rather than appreciate her efforts, he abuses her unmercifully and turns her life into a living misery. Rather like Squeers, he is entirely self-regarding and even sneers at the very sources of income which keep him alive (the ‘purchases’ made by the Cheerybles). Mrs Nickleby is a great comic figure in the novel – a social snob even when her family has become penniless, and a garrulous featherbrain who fails to understand anything that is going on.

She doesn’t actually make her children suffer, but she is certainly derelict in his role as a parent, and it is interesting to note that she shares self-regard and a solipsistic view of the world with the other negative parent figures in the novel. Ralph Nickleby turns out to be the worst parent figure of all. He is dominated by an almost pathological worship of money. He marries for financial advantage, and when his wife leaves him, he gives away his son – who becomes the abandoned Smike at Dotheboys Hall. The conditions there – in addition to his consumption – contribute to his early death. Money, inheritance, and class The origins of the entire narrative lie in a version of the Biblical parable of the talents. At his death old Nicholas Nickleby divides his money between two sons, Ralph and John. One (Ralph) becomes a money lender (a usurer) and makes more money: The other (John) invests his portion of the inheritance in the stock market and loses everything. This accounts for the tensions within young Nicholas Nickleby’s family and his personal life.

He has been raised and educated to be a ‘gentleman’, but he suddenly finds himself with no money and a mother and sister for whom he is responsible. Nicholas is forced to work as an almost unpaid assistant schoolteacher, whilst his mother clings to comically misplaced snobbish standards as if she were still upper class. Kate too is forced into low-paid work, and can only hope for a suitable marriage to save her from her plight. But any marriage should be on reasonably equal terms. This explains the dramatically stretched issue of conscience and scruples when Nicholas insists that Kate should not encourage Frank Cheeryble as a suitor – because Frank will inherit from his twin uncles, whereas Kate has nothing to inherit. Nicholas puts an equally severe limit on himself when he asks for Madeleine to be taken away from his mother’s house. He is in love with her, but he realises that the Cheerybles will look after her financially, whereas he has no inheritance to offer her. He belongs (albeit temporarily) to a lower social class. However, these problems are resolved by the fairy-tale generosity of the Cheerybles.

Nicholas Nickleby – study resources Oxford Reader’s Companion to Charles Dickens – Amazon UK Nicholas Nickleby – plot summary Chapter I. Old Mr Nickleby leaves money to his two sons, Ralph and Nicholas. Ralph invests his inheritance and becomes a successful money-lender. Nicholas speculates with his money on the stock exchange and loses everything. Chapter II. Ralph and fellow entrepreneurs hold a public meeting to promote interest in a parliamentary bill to establish a muffin-making business, which will in fact be a monopoly. Chapter III. Ralph receives news of the death of his brother. He visits his sister in law and her two young children and, completely lacking in generosity and compassion, arranges to ‘find a job’ for young Nicholas. Chapter IV. Wackford Squeers enrolls pupils for his school at Dotheboys Hall in Yorkshire, and Ralph persuades him to take on Nicholas as an assistant schoolmaster. Chapter V. Nicholas sets off for Yorkshire. Before departure Newman Noggs slips him a mysterious letter. Squeers feeds himself liberally, but completely neglects his pupils. The coach overturns in bad weather. Chapter VI.

The travellers recover at a nearby inn, where they regale each other with tales of ‘The Five Sisters of York’ and ‘The Baron of Grogzwig’. Chapter VII. Nicholas arrives at Dotheboys Hall, meets the abandoned boy Smike, and is given a frugal supper by Mrs Squeers. He reads the mysterious letter from Noggs, offering him sympathy and accommodation in London if ever he should need it. Chapter VIII. Squeers runs the school in a brutal and exploitative manner. All the pupils are broken and miserable. Nicholas is ashamed of being there. Smike has no friends and no hope. Chapter IX. The plain Fanny Squeers decides to fall in love with Nicholas, then announces to her friend Matilda that she is ‘almost’ engaged to him. The two young women entertain their beaux to tea, then fall out in rivalry with each other. Chapter X. Miss Le Crevey paints a miniature portrait of Kate Nickleby. Ralph Nickleby finds Kate a questionable job as a dressmaker with Madam Mantalini and moves her mother into an empty house he owns. Chapter XI.

Kate and her mother leave Miss Le Crevey and are taken by Noggs to live in an old run down house in a poor party of the City. Chapter XII. Fanny and Matilda repair their disagreement of the day before. Matilda is to be married in three weeks. They meet Nicholas and claim he is in love with Fanny. When he refutes this claim, Fanny vows vengeance on Nicholas, who comforts the persecuted Smike. Nicholas starts for Yorkshire Chapter XIII. Smike suddenly runs off from the school, but is hunted down and recaptured. When Squeers starts to administer a public flogging before the assembled boys, Nicholas intervenes and beats Squeers. Nicholas leaves the school to go back to London, and is followed by Smike. Chapter XIV. A wedding anniversary party is under way in the rented rooms of the Keriwigs. nTheir neighbour Noggs is in attendance, despatching punch, when Nicholas and Smike arrive. Chapter XV. The Squeers have sent a defamatory letter to Ralph Nickleby, denouncing Nicholas. Noggs urges patience. Meanwhile Lillyvick lords it over the party and its members.

When the babysitter’s hair catches fire, Nicholas rescues the baby and is admired by everybody as a gentleman and an aristocrat Chapter XVI. Next day Nicholas goes in search of a job, but turns down the position of secretary to an unscrupulous member of parliament. Instead, Noggs arranges for him to become private tutor to the Kenwig girls, under the name of Johnson. Chapter XVII. Kate starts work at Mantalini’s where she feels demeaned by the nature of her position. The Mantalinis are semi-comic buffoons, somehow connected with Ralph Nickleby. Chapter XVIII. Miss Knag has an almost Sapphic crush on Kate, who makes a good impression on visiting customers. But when Kate is chosen to display bonnets instead of Miss Knag, she turns hysterically against her. Chapter XIX. Kate in invited to dinner at her uncle’s house. But the guests are all-male boors, and she has been used as bait to lure a rich young lord. One drunken guest tries to attack her. Ralph Nickleby feels the first twinges of conscience regarding his niece. Chapter XX.

Ralph confronts Kate and her mother with Nicholas’s ‘misdeeds’ (reported by Squeers). Nicholas stands up to Ralph and maintains his innocence – but he is powerless to do anything more. Everything is against him – but he sticks by Smike. Chapter XXI. The Mantalinis are bankrupted (by Ralph) and Kate loses her job. She becomes a companion to Mrs Witterly, who suffers from ‘an excess of soul’. Chapter XXII. Nicholas decides to leave London. He and Smike walk to Portsmouth, but before they get there Nicholas meets the theatrical manager Vincent Crummles, and in desperation is persuaded to join his troupe. Chapter XXIII. When they reach Portsmouth Crummles introduces Nicholas to his band of itinerant ‘actors’, including the ‘infant phenomenon’. Crummles gives Nicholas a French text to translate and plagiarize for performance in a few day’s time. Chapter XXIV. Nicholas writes the play for Miss Snevellicci’s benefit performance (one of many) – then has to go out touting for subscriptions.The play is put on, and despite its ridiculous and corny plot is a big success.

Mr and Mrs Mantalini in Ralph Nickleby’s Office Chapter XXV. Mr Lillyvick the water tax collector arrives to tell Nicholas of his impending marriage to Henrietta Petowker, who is joining the troupe. A comic wedding scene ensues. Nicholas teaches Smike his simple part in Romeo and Juliet. Chapter XXVI. Hawk and Verisopht conspire to pursue the pretty Kate. Hawk wishes to trap Verisopht financially. They visit Ralph Nickleby, who wants to entrap them both. Mrs Nickel by arrives and naively hopes that Kate will marry one of these corrupt rakes. Ralph’s conscience pricks him for a second time. Chapter XXVII. Mrs Nickleby is fascinated with the idea of upper-class connections. She is visited by Pyke and Pluck who flatter her and invite her to the theatre on behalf of Hawk, who oppresses Kate again. They are also introduced to Mrs Witterly, who is also flattered by the attention of these rakes. Chapter XXVIII. Hawk and his entourage become regular visitors chez Mrs Witterly – and continue to oppress Kate.

She appeals to her uncle Ralph for help – but he refuses to do anything, and even though he has encouraged their behaviour, he disapproves of it. So does Noggs, who disapproves of his employer Ralph. Chapter XXIX. Lenville is jealous of Nicolas’s success in the acting troupe. He offers a challenge, but Nicholas knocks him down. Nicholas communicates with Noggs via post, who replies that Kate might need his protection in the future. Chapter XXX. Nicholas prepare to leave the acting company. He goes to dinner, where Mr Snevellicci gets drunks and kisses all the women. An urgent note from Noggs arrives, so Nicholas and Smike leave for London by the morning coach. Chapter XXXI. Noggs negotiates with Miss La Crevey to delay telling Nicholas about Kate’s problems on his imminent arrival in ~London – to forestall rash actions. Chapter XXXII. Nicholas reaches London and immediately goes in search of Noggs, who has deliberately gone out as part of his plan. Nicholas wanders into a hotel and overhears Hawk maligning Kate. He challenges him, but Hawk refuses to reveal his identity.

They fight in the street, and Hawk sustains injuries when his cab overturns. Chapter XXXIII. Nicholas removes Kate from Mrs Witterly’s , his mother from her lodgings, and writes to Ralph denouncing him as a villain. Chapter XXXIV. Ralph is visited by Mr Mantalini who needs money. Mrs Mantalini argues with her husband., during which time Ralph learns about the coach accident. Mr Squeers arrives, and Ralph quizzes him about Smike’s identity and origins. Chapter XXXV. Mrs Nickleby and Kate meet Smike, then Nicholas goes in search of a job, where he meets the improbably philanthropic Mr Cheeryble, who provides him with a well-paid job, a home, and gifts of furniture. Chapter XXXVI. Mrs Kenwigs has a baby. The family all congratulate themselves on their future prospects, but when Nicholas arrives with the news that their ‘benefactor’ Lillyvick has married Henrietta Petowker in Portsmouth, they go to pieces ,thinking that their ‘expectations’ have been ruined. Miss Nickleby Introduced to her Uncle’s Friends Chapter XXXVII.

Nicholas makes a success of his introduction to working at Cheeryble’s, and old Tim Linkinwater’s birthday is celebrated in the office with lots of toasting and good cheer. Mrs Nickleby confides in Nicholas that she is being courted by their next-door neighbour by throwing cucumbers over the wall. Chapter XXXVIII. Miss La Crevey thinks that Smike is changing significantly. Ralph Nickleby visits Hawk who is still recovering from his injuries in the coach crash. Lord Verisopht is amongst the rakes but he thinks that Nicholas has acted honourably in defending his sister’s reputation. On his way back home, Smike is captured by Squeers and held prisoner. Chapter XXXIX. John Browdie arrives in London with his new bride Matilda Price and her friend Fanny Squeers.. They meet Mr Squeers at the Saracen’s Head That night Browdie helps Smike to escape from Squeers’ clutches. Chapter XXXX. Nicholas falls in love with a girl he saw very briefly in the Registry Office. He commissions Noggs to find out who she is and where she lives.

He does this and actually arranges a meeting with her late at night.But when they get there it is the wrong girl. Chapter XXXXI. The eccentric (mad) man next door continues to pay court to Mrs Nickleby – who is flattered by his attentions, even though she feigns to reject them. Chapter XXXXII. Nicholas visits John Browdie at the Saracen’s Head. Whilst they are discussing Fanny Squeers’ lack of marriage prospects, she suddenly appears. There is a comic argument between Fanny and Matilda, then between Squeers and Browdie Chapter XXXXIII. Following the altercation at the Saracen’s Head, Nicholas meets Frank Cheeryble, with whom he feels a close bond. Yet he immediately wonders if he is a rival for the mysterious and beautiful girl – to whom he has never spoken. Frank and one of his uncles visit the Nickleby home the following Sunday, and everybody has a good time. Chapter XXXXIV. Ralph Nickleby is out collecting debts when he is tracked down by Mr Booker, a former business associate who has been in jail.

Booker threatens to reveal compromising information, but Ralph calls his bluff and refuses to help him.There is a fake suicide by Mr Mantalini, then Ralph goes off withSqueers and a stranger, with Noggs in pursuit. Chapter XXXXV. Whilst John and Matilda Browdie are at the Nickleby cottage they are interrupted by Ralph Nickleby, Squeers, and Mr Snawley, who claims to be Smike’s estranged father. THey wish to capture Smike and take him back to Yorkshire, but Smike does not want to go.. After they throw out Squeers, Ralph leaves, threatening legal action against Nicholas. Chapter XXXXVI. Nicholas relates these incidents to the Cheerybles, who tell him a similar story about the beautiful girl who has devoted herself to an unloving father who is a wastrel. They want to use Nicholas as a means of supplying money to her. This enables him to meet Madeleine Bray and her thankless father. Chapter XXXXVII. Ralph Nickleby arrives at his office with Arthur Gride, who relates his plan to marry Madeleine Bray so as to acquire a property she will inherit.

Ralph forces him to sign an agreement between them – all overheard by Noggs. They visit Bray and Madeleine and put their plan into motion, hoping that the greedy and heartless Bray will persuade Madeleine to accept. Chapter XXXXVIII. Nicholas is upset regarding his role in the supply of money to Madeleine Bray. He then meets up with the Crummles theatrical troupe giving their farewell performances before going to America. There is another lengthy dinner with speeches. Mr Linkinwater Intimates his Approval of Nicholas Chapter XLIX. In the Nickleby household Smike is suffering from consumption, but hides it from everyone. The mad old man from next door comes down the chimney in pursuit of Mrs Nickleby, but then changes to Miss La Crevey when he sees her. Chapter L. Sir Mulberry Hawk appears at Hampton Races after recuperating abroad. He quarrels with Lord Verisopht, who has a guilty conscience regarding his part in the plot against Kate. That night, after gambling and drinking, they fight a duel, in which Lord Frederick is killed. Chapter LI. Arthur Gride selects his clothes for the marriage to Madeleine Bray.

Noggs has been approached by the mysteriousMr Brooker, and he tells Nicholas about Gride’s plan to marry Madeleine Bray. Chapter LII. Noggs takes Moreleen Kenwig to the barber, where they meet Lillyvick. His wife Henrietta has eloped with a solider, so he is received at the Kenwigs where he reverses the terms of his will in their favour, following much sycophancy on both sides. Chapter LIII. Nicholas appeals directly to Madeleine to call off or at least delay the marriage. He explains the plot between her father and Gride. But she refuses: she is sacrificing herself to gain the money promised to support her father. Nicholas then goes to Gride and offers to buy him off, but Gride refuses. Chapter LIV. Ralph and Arthur Gride arrive at the Bray house on the morning of the wedding, but suddenly Nicholas and Kate arrive to confront them and take Madeleine away. There is a stand off, and then Bray drops dead upstairs. Nicholas takes Madeleine away telling Ralph that his business has collapsed. Chapter LV.

Mrs Nickleby is convinced that Frank Cheeryble is in love with Kate, who is looking after Madeleine as she recovers. Mrs Nickleby asks Nicholas to encourage the relationship, but he warns against it on the grounds that they are poor, whereas Frank has ‘expectations’ from his uncles. Nicholas is then commissioned to take the ailing Smike to Devon for convalescence. Chapter LVI. Ralph has lost £10,000 in a bank crash. Returning to Gribe’s house, they discover that old Peg has stolen incriminating papers and absconded. Ralph devises an elaborate plan of revenge (on Nicholas and just about everybody else) which includes the Snawley and Smike relationship, Madeleine’s inheritance, and recovery of Gride’s stolen documents. He enlists the services of Squeers to do the dirty work and carefully excludes all mention of himself from the arrangements. Chapter LVII. Ralph has located old Peg and Squeers visits her in a drunken state. He persuades her to show him the documents – but whilst they are inspecting them Frank Cheeryble and Noggs sneak into the room and knock Squeers out. Chapter LVIII.

Nicholas takes Smike to Devon where they share a bucolic and tranquil existence. Smike has a fleeting vision of the man who first took him to Dotheboys Hall, reveals that he has been in love with Kate , and dies. Chapter LIX. An anxious Ralph is visited by Charles Cheeryble who wishes to warn him of something – but he dismisses him. Ralph goes off in search Noggs, Squeers, and Snawley, but none of them are to be found. So he goes to Cheerybles where he is confronted by Noggs who has unravelled the whole pilot. They offer him an honourable escape, but he scorns it. Chapter LX. Ralph tracks down Squeers at the police station where he is being held on remand. There are signs that even Squeers is turning against him. Then he returns to Cheerybles, where they produce Ralph’s former employee Mr Brooker, who reveals that Smike was Ralph’s son. Ralph suddenly disappears. Chapter LXI. Nicholas returns from Devon and learns that Kate has refused an offer of marriage from Frank Cheeryble on grounds of differences in their social positions.

Nicholas vows to do the same regarding Madeleine, and asks the Cheerybles to remove her from his mother’s house. Chapter LXII. Ralph retreats to his house, followed by a black cloud, and is oppressed by feelings of defeat and the fact that his enemy Nicholas was the person who looked after his own son, Smike. He goes into the attic and hangs himself. Chapter LXIII. The Cheerybles summon everyone to a dinner at which the details of Madeleine’s inheritance are made known and the two couples – Frank and Kate, and Nicolas and Madeleine – are united.Then Tim Linkinwater proposes to Miss La Crevey, who accepts, much to Mrs Nickleby’s disgust. Chapter LXIV. Nicholas travels to Yorkshire to see his friend John Browdie and brings him up to date with all the news. It is revealed that Squeers has been found guilty and transported for seven years. John Browdie rides over to Dotheboys Hall where the boys revolt against Mrs Squeers and her two offspring. They then all run away. Conclusion. Nicholas marries Madeleine on the same day that Frank marries Kate. Nicholas becomes a partner in the firm.

Ralph’s money is left un-touched and reverts to the State. Gride escapes punishment, but is then murdered. Hawk lives abroad, but on return is jailed for debt, where he dies. Mont Blanc – Charles Dickens special edition Nicholas Nickleby – principal characters an ex-convict and formerly Ralph’s clerk Further reading Peter Ackroyd, Dickens, London: Mandarin, 1991. John Forster, The Life of Charles Dickens, Forgotten Books, 2009. Edgar Johnson, Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph, Little Brown, 1952. Fred Kaplan, Dickens: A Biography, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. Frederick G. Kitton, The Life of Charles Dickens: His Life, Writings and Personality, Lexden Publishing Limited, 2004. Michael Slater, Charles Dickens, Yale University Press, 2009. Nicholas Nickleby Bernard Bergonzi, ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, Dickens and the Twentieth Century, ed.

John Gross and Gabriel Pearson, London: Routledge, 1962 John Bowen, ‘Performing Business, Training Ghosts: Transcending Nickleby, ELH 63, 1996. V.C. Clinton-Baddeley, ‘Snevellicci’, Dickensian 57, 1961 Phillip Collins , Dickens and Education, London: Macmillan, 1963 Norman Russell, ‘Nicholas Nickleby and the Commercial Crisis of 1825′, Dickensian 77, 1981. Paul Schlike, Dickens and Popular Entertainment, London: Allen and Unwin, 1985. Michael Slater, The Composition and Monthly Publication of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Scholar Press, 1973. General criticism G.H. Ford, Dickens and His Readers, Norton, 1965. P.A.W. Collins, Dickens and Crime, London: Palgrave, 1995. Philip Collins (ed), Dickens: The Critical Heritage, London: Routledge, 1982. Andrew Sanders, Authors in Context: Charles Dickens, Oxford University Press, 2009.

Jeremy Tambling, Going Astray: Dickens and London, London: Longman, 2008. Donald Hawes, Who’s Who in Dickens, London: Routledge, 2001. Other works by Charles Dickens Pickwick Papers (1836-37) was Dickens’ first big success. It was issued in twenty monthly parts and is not so much a novel as a series of loosely linked sketches and changing characters featured in reports to the Pickwick Club. These recount comic excursions to Rochester, Dingley Dell, and Bath; duels and elopements; Christmas festivities; Mr Pickwick inadvertently entering the bedroom of a middle-aged lady at night; and in the end a happy marriage. Much light-hearted fun, and a host of memorable characters. Buy the book here Oliver Twist (1837-38) expresses Dickens’ sense of the vulnerability of children. Oliver is a foundling, raised in a workhouse, who escapes suffering by running off to London. There he falls into the hands of a gang of thieves controlled by the infamous Fagin. He is pursued by the sinister figure of Monks who has secret information about him.

The plot centres on the twin issues of personal identity and a secret inheritance (which surface again in Great Expectations). Emigration, prison, and violent death punctuate a cascade of dramatic events. This is the early Victorian novel in fine melodramatic form. Recommended for beginners to Dickens. Dotheboys Hall The Peel Web I am happy that you are using this web site and hope that you found it useful. Unfortunately, the cost of making this material freely available is increasing, so if you have found the site useful and would like to contribute towards its continuation, I would greatly appreciate it. Click the button to go to Paypal and make a donation. Dotheboys Hall Taken from Nicholas Nickleby: Charles Dickens (1838-9), ch. 3 Mr Ralph Nickleby took a newspaper from his pocket, and after unfolding it, and looking for a short time among the advertisements, read as follows: '" EDUCATION .

- At Mr Wackford Squeers's Academy, Dotheboys Hall, at the delightful village of Dotheboys, near Greta Bridge in Yorkshire, Youth are boarded, clothed, booked, furnished with pocket-money, provided with all necessaries, instructed in all languages living and dead, mathematics, orthography, geometry, astronomy, trigonometry, the use of the globes, algebra, single stick (if required), writing, arithmetic, fortification, and every other branch of classical literature. Terms, twenty guineas per annum. No extras, no vacations, and diet unparalleled. Mr Squeers is in town, and attends daily, from one till four, at the Saracen's Head, Snow Hill. N.B. An able assistant wanted. Annual salary 5 pounds. A Master of Arts would be preferred." 'There!' said Ralph, folding the paper again. 'Let him get that situation, and his fortune is made.' 'But he is not a Master of Arts,' said Mrs Nickleby. 'That,' replied Ralph, 'that, I think, can be got over.' 'But the salary is so small, and it is such a long way off, uncle!' faltered Kate.

'Hush, Kate my dear,' interposed Mrs Nickleby; 'your uncle must know best.' [From Ch 9]. Squeers, arming himself with his cane, led the way across a yard, to a door in the rear of the house. 'There,' said the schoolmaster as they stepped in together; 'this is our shop, Nickleby!' It was such a crowded scene, and there were so many objects to attract attention, that, at first, Nicholas stared about him, really without seeing anything at all. By degrees, however, the place resolved itself into a bare and dirty room, with a couple of windows, whereof a tenth part might be of glass, the remainder being stopped up with old copy-books and paper. There were a couple of long old rickety desks, cut and notched, and inked, and damaged, in every possible way; two or three forms; a detached desk for Squeers; and another for his assistant. The ceiling was supported, like that of a barn, by cross-beams and rafters; and the walls were so stained and discoloured, that it was impossible to tell whether they had ever been touched with paint or whitewash.

But the pupils - the young noblemen! How the last faint traces of hope, the remotest glimmering of any good to be derived from his efforts in this den, faded from the mind of Nicholas as he looked in dismay around! Pale and haggard faces, lank and bony figures, children with the countenances of old men, deformities with irons upon their limbs, boys of stunted growth, and others whose long meagre legs would hardly bear their stooping bodies, all crowded on the view together; there were the bleared eye, the hare-lip, the crooked foot, and every ugliness or distortion that told of unnatural aversion conceived by parents for their offspring, or of young lives which, from the earliest dawn of infancy, had been one horrible endurance of cruelty and neglect.

There were little faces which should have been handsome, darkened with the scowl of sullen, dogged suffering; there was childhood with the light of its eye quenched, its beauty gone, and its helplessness alone remaining; there were vicious-faced boys, brooding, with leaden eyes, like malefactors in a jail; and there were young creatures on whom the sins of their frail parents had descended, weeping even for the mercenary nurses they had known, and lonesome even in their loneliness. With every kindly sympathy and affection blasted in its birth, with every young and healthy feeling flogged and starved down, with every revengeful passion that can fester in swollen hearts, eating its evil way to their core in silence, what an incipient Hell was breeding here! And yet this scene, painful as it was, had its grotesque features, which, in a less interested observer than Nicholas, might have provoked a smile.

Mrs Squeers stood at one of the desks, presiding over an immense basin of brimstone and treacle, of which delicious compound she administered a large instalment to each boy in succession: using for the purpose a common wooden spoon, which might have been originally manufactured for some gigantic top, and which widened every young gentleman's mouth considerably: they being all obliged, under heavy corporal penalties, to take in the whole of the bowl at a gasp. In another corner, huddled together for companionship, were the little boys who had arrived on the preceding night, three of them in very large leather breeches, and two in old trousers, a something tighter fit than drawers are usually worn; at no great distance from these was seated the juvenile son and heir of Mr Squeers - a striking likeness of his father - kicking, with great vigour, under the hands of Smike, who was fitting upon him a pair of new boots that bore a most suspicious resemblance to those which the least of the little boys had worn on the journey down - as the little boy himself seemed to think, for he was regarding the appropriation with a look of most rueful amazement.

Besides these, there was a long row of boys waiting, with countenances of no pleasant anticipation, to be treacled; and another file, who had just escaped from the infliction, making a variety of wry mouths indicative of anything but satisfaction. The whole were attired in such motley, ill-assorted, extraordinary garments, as would have been irresistibly ridiculous, but for the foul appearance of dirt, disorder, and disease, with which they were associated. 'Now,' said Squeers, giving the desk a great rap with his cane, which made half the little boys nearly jump out of their boots, 'is that physicking over?' 'Just over,' said Mrs Squeers, choking the last boy in her hurry, and tapping the crown of his head with the wooden spoon to restore him. 'Here, you Smike; take away now. Look sharp!' Smike shuffled out with the basin, and Mrs Squeers having called up a little boy with a curly head, and wiped her hands upon it, hurried out after him into a species of wash-house, where there was a small fire and a large kettle, together with a number of little wooden bowls which were arranged upon a board.

Into these bowls, Mrs Squeers, assisted by the hungry servant, poured a brown composition, which looked like diluted pincushions without the covers, and was called porridge. A minute wedge of brown bread was inserted in each bowl, and when they had eaten their porridge by means of the bread, the boys ate the bread itself, and had finished their breakfast; whereupon Mr Squeers said, in a solemn voice, 'For what we have received, may the Lord make us truly thankful!' - and went away to his own. Nicholas distended his stomach with a bowl of porridge, for much the same reason which induces some savages to swallow earth - lest they should be inconveniently hungry when there is nothing to eat. Having further disposed of a slice of bread and butter, allotted to him in virtue of his office, he sat himself down, to wait for school-time. He could not but observe how silent and sad the boys all seemed to be. There was none of the noise and clamour of a schoolroom; none of its boisterous play, or hearty mirth. The children sat crouching and shivering together, and seemed to lack the spirit to move about.

The only pupil who evinced the slightest tendency towards locomotion or playfulness was Master Squeers, and as his chief amusement was to tread upon the other boys' toes in his new boots, his flow of spirits was rather disagreeable than otherwise. After some half-hour's delay, Mr Squeers reappeared, and the boys took their places and their books, of which latter commodity the average might be about one to eight learners. A few minutes having elapsed, during which Mr Squeers looked very profound, as if he had a perfect apprehension of what was inside all the books, and could say every word of their contents by heart if he only chose to take the trouble, that gentleman called up the first class. Obedient to this summons there ranged themselves in front of the schoolmaster's desk, half-a-dozen scarecrows, out at knees and elbows, one of whom placed a torn and filthy book beneath his learned eye. 'This is the first class in English spelling and philosophy, Nickleby,' said Squeers, beckoning Nicholas to stand beside him. 'We'll get up a Latin one, and hand that over to you.

Now, then, where's the first boy?' 'Please, sir, he's cleaning the back-parlour window,' said the temporary head of the philosophical class. 'So he is, to be sure,' rejoined Squeers. 'We go upon the practical mode of teaching, Nickleby; the regular education system. C-l-e-a- n, clean, verb active, to make bright, to scour. W-i-n, win, d-e-r, der, winder, a casement. When the boy knows this out of book, he goes and does it. It's just the same principle as the use of the globes. Where's the second boy?' 'Please, sir, he's weeding the garden,' replied a small voice. 'To be sure,' said Squeers, by no means disconcerted. 'So he is. B-o-t, bot, t-i-n, tin, bottin, n-e-y, ney, bottinney, noun substantive, a knowledge of plants. When he has learned that bottinney means a knowledge of plants, he goes and knows 'em.

That's our system, Nickleby: what do you think of it?' 'It's very useful one, at any rate,' answered Nicholas. 'I believe you,' rejoined Squeers, not remarking the emphasis of his usher. 'Third boy, what's horse?' 'A beast, sir,' replied the boy. 'So it is,' said Squeers. 'Ain't it, Nickleby?' 'I believe there is no doubt of that, sir,' answered Nicholas. 'Of course there isn't,' said Squeers. 'A horse is a quadruped, and quadruped's Latin for beast, as everybody that's gone through the grammar knows, or else where's the use of having grammars at all?' 'Where, indeed!' said Nicholas abstractedly. 'As you're perfect in that,' resumed Squeers, turning to the boy, 'go and look after MY horse, and rub him down well, or I'll rub you down.

The rest of the class go and draw water up, till somebody tells you to leave off, for it's washing-day tomorrow, and they want the coppers filled.' So saying, he dismissed the first class to their experiments in practical philosophy, and eyed Nicholas with a look, half cunning and half doubtful, as if he were not altogether certain what he might think of him by this time. 'That's the way we do it, Nickleby,' he said, after a pause. Nicholas shrugged his shoulders in a manner that was scarcely perceptible, and said he saw it was. 'And a very good way it is, too,' said Squeers. 'Now, just take them fourteen little boys and hear them some reading, because, you know, you must begin to be useful. Idling about here won't do.' Mr Squeers said this, as if it had suddenly occurred to him, either that he must not say too much to his assistant, or that his assistant did not say enough to him in praise of the establishment.

The children were arranged in a semicircle round the new master, and he was soon listening to their dull, drawling, hesitating recital of those stories of engrossing interest which are to be found in the more antiquated spelling-books. In this exciting occupation, the morning lagged heavily on. At one o'clock, the boys, having previously had their appetites thoroughly taken away by stir-about and potatoes, sat down in the kitchen to some hard salt beef, of which Nicholas was graciously permitted to take his portion to his own solitary desk, to eat it there in peace. After this, there was another hour of crouching in the schoolroom and shivering with cold, and then school began again. The Playhouse Theatre, Derry/Londonderry Contact Fringe Benefits presents Nicholas Nickleby at Dotheboys Hall Adapted and directed by Sam McCready Friday 9th November 2012 8pm 'Nicholas Nickleby at Dotheboys Hall' is the latest production by Fringe Benefits Theatre Company and is adapted and directed by acclaimed Northern Ireland Director, Sam McCready from the Charles Dickens novel ‘The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'.

The play which features a large ensemble cast of 20 actors from Fringe Benefits, is part the Dickens Centenary Festival. Nicholas Nickleby at Dotheboys Hall follows the first part of the Dickens novel, in which the hero Nicholas and his family, following the financial ruin and death of their father are left destitute and dependent on their unscrupulous uncle, Ralph Nickleby. Nicholas suffers extreme hardship when he is employed at Dotheboys Hall, a Yorkshire Boarding School. Nicholas with wit and resourcefulness defends the pupils against the insults and humiliations of the vicious schoolmaster Wackford Squeers and his family, who conduct a reign of terror over Dotheboys Hall. Dotheboys Hall is one of the many Victorian boarding schools to which unwanted children were sent by their parents and largely forgotten. Sam McCready's production uses a large ensemble cast, music, movement and exciting scenic effects to sweep the audience into a world in which the power of Dickens storytelling, his lively imaginations and rich characters will delight and enthrall audiences. The adaptation is modelled on the the Royal Shakespeare Company's ground breaking version of Nicholas Nickleby.

Nicholas Nickleby at Dotheboys Hall comes to the Playhouse in Derry after it is performed at the Ulster Bank Festvial at Queens in Belfast. Tickets: £11/ £8

Question: Which Dickens novel features Dotheboys Halls?
Answer: NICHOLAS NICKLEBY