David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens

       Title: David Copperfield

       Author: Charles Dickens

       Release Date: November 24, 2009 [EBook #766] Language: English

       Character set encoding: ASCII

       *** DAVID COPPERFIELD ***

       Produced by Jo Churcher, and David Widger

       DAVID COPPERFIELD By Charles Dickens

       AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED TO

       THE HON. Mr. AND Mrs. RICHARD WATSON, OF ROCKINGHAM, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

       Contents

       PREFACE TO 1850 EDITION

       PREFACE TO THE CHARLES DICKENS EDITION

       THE PERSONAL HISTORY AND EXPERIENCE OF DAVID COPPERFIELD THE YOUNGER

       CHAPTER 1. I AM BORN

       CHAPTER 2. I OBSERVE

       1

       CHAPTER 3. I HAVE A CHANGE CHAPTER 4. I FALL INTO DISGRACE CHAPTER 5. I AM SENT AWAY FROM HOME

       CHAPTER 6. I ENLARGE MY CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCE CHAPTER 7. MY 'FIRST HALF' AT SALEM HOUSE

       CHAPTER 8. MY HOLIDAYS. ESPECIALLY ONE HAPPY AFTERNOON CHAPTER 9. I HAVE A MEMORABLE BIRTHDAY

       CHAPTER 10. I BECOME NEGLECTED, AND AM PROVIDED FOR CHAPTER 11. I BEGIN LIFE ON MY OWN ACCOUNT, AND DON'T LIKE IT

       CHAPTER 12. LIKING LIFE ON MY OWN ACCOUNT NO BETTER, I FORM A GREAT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 13. THE SEQUEL OF MY RESOLUTION

       CHAPTER 14. MY AUNT MAKES UP HER MIND ABOUT ME CHAPTER 15. I MAKE ANOTHER BEGINNING

       CHAPTER 16. I AM A NEW BOY IN MORE SENSES THAN ONE CHAPTER 17. SOMEBODY TURNS UP

       CHAPTER 18. A RETROSPECT

       CHAPTER 19. I LOOK ABOUT ME, AND MAKE A DISCOVERY CHAPTER 20. STEERFORTH'S HOME

       CHAPTER 21. LITTLE EM'LY

       CHAPTER 22. SOME OLD SCENES, AND SOME NEW PEOPLE

       CHAPTER 23. I CORROBORATE Mr. DICK, AND CHOOSE A PROFESSION CHAPTER 24. MY FIRST DISSIPATION

       CHAPTER 25. GOOD AND BAD ANGELS CHAPTER 26. I FALL INTO CAPTIVITY CHAPTER 27. TOMMY TRADDLES CHAPTER 28. Mr. MICAWBER'S GAUNTLET

       CHAPTER 29. I VISIT STEERFORTH AT HIS HOME, AGAIN

       CHAPTER 30. A LOSS

       CHAPTER 31. A GREATER LOSS

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       CHAPTER 32. THE BEGINNING OF A LONG JOURNEY CHAPTER 33. BLISSFUL

       CHAPTER 34. MY AUNT ASTONISHES ME CHAPTER 35. DEPRESSION

       CHAPTER 36. ENTHUSIASM

       CHAPTER 37. A LITTLE COLD WATER

       CHAPTER 38. A DISSOLUTION OF PARTNERSHIP CHAPTER 39. WICKFIELD AND HEEP

       CHAPTER 40. THE WANDERER CHAPTER 41. DORA'S AUNTS CHAPTER 42. MISCHIEF

       CHAPTER 43. ANOTHER RETROSPECT CHAPTER 44. OUR HOUSEKEEPING

       CHAPTER 45. MR. DICK FULFILS MY AUNT'S PREDICTIONS CHAPTER 46. INTELLIGENCE

       CHAPTER 47. MARTHA CHAPTER 48. DOMESTIC

       CHAPTER 49. I AM INVOLVED IN MYSTERY CHAPTER 50. Mr. PEGGOTTY'S DREAM COMES TRUE CHAPTER 51. THE BEGINNING OF A LONGER JOURNEY CHAPTER 52. I ASSIST AT AN EXPLOSION

       CHAPTER 53. ANOTHER RETROSPECT CHAPTER 54. Mr. MICAWBER'S TRANSACTIONS CHAPTER 55. TEMPEST

       CHAPTER 56. THE NEW WOUND, AND THE OLD CHAPTER 57. THE EMIGRANTS

       CHAPTER 58. ABSENCE

       CHAPTER 59. RETURN

       CHAPTER 60. AGNES

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       CHAPTER 61. I AM SHOWN TWO INTERESTING PENITENTS CHAPTER 62. A LIGHT SHINES ON MY WAY

       CHAPTER 63. A VISITOR

       CHAPTER 64. A LAST RETROSPECT

       PREFACE TO 1850 EDITION

       I do not find it easy to get sufficiently far away from this Book, in the first sensations of having finished it, to refer to it with the composure which this formal heading would seem to require. My interest in it, is so recent and strong; and my mind is so divided between pleasure and regret--pleasure in the achievement of a long design, regret in the separation from many companions--that I am in danger of wearying the reader whom I love, with personal confidences, and private emotions.

       Besides which, all that I could say of the Story, to any purpose, I have endeavoured to say in it.

       It would concern the reader little, perhaps, to know, how sorrowfully the pen is laid down at the close of a two-years' imaginative task; or how an Author feels as if he were dismissing some portion of himself into the shadowy world, when a crowd of the creatures of his brain are going from him for ever. Yet, I have nothing else to tell; unless, indeed, I were to confess (which might be of less moment still) that no one can ever believe this Narrative, in the reading, more than I have believed it in the writing.

       Instead of looking back, therefore, I will look forward. I cannot close this Volume more agreeably to myself, than with a hopeful glance towards the time when I shall again put forth my two green leaves once a month, and with a faithful remembrance of the genial sun and showers that have fallen on these leaves of David Copperfield, and made me happy.

       London, October, 1850.

       PREFACE TO THE CHARLES DICKENS EDITION

       I REMARKED in the original Preface to this Book, that I did not find it easy to get sufficiently far away from it, in the first sensations of having finished it, to refer to it with the composure which this formal heading would seem to require. My interest in it was

       so recent and strong, and my mind was so divided between pleasure and regret--pleasure in the achievement of a long design, regret in the separation from many companions--that I was in danger of wearying the reader with personal confidences and private emotions.

       Besides which, all that I could have said of the Story to any purpose, I had endeavoured to say in it.

       It would concern the reader little, perhaps, to know how sorrowfully the pen is laid down at the close of a two-years' imaginative task; or how an Author feels as if he were dismissing some portion of himself into the shadowy world, when a crowd of the creatures of his brain are going from him for ever. Yet, I had nothing else to tell; unless, indeed, I were to confess (which might be of less moment still), that no one can ever believe this Narrative, in the reading, more than I believed it in the writing.

       So true are these avowals at the present day, that I can now only take the reader into one confidence more. Of all my books, I like this the best. It will be easily believed that I am a fond parent to every child of my fancy, and that no one can ever love that family as dearly as I love them. But, like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is

       DAVID COPPERFIELD.

       1869

       4

       THE PERSONAL HISTORY AND EXPERIENCE OF DAVID COPPERFIELD THE YOUNGER

       CHAPTER 1. I AM BORN

       Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o'clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.

       In consideration of the day and hour of my birth, it was declared by the nurse, and by some sage women in the neighbourhood who had taken a lively interest in me several months before there was any possibility of our becoming personally acquainted, first, that I was destined to be unlucky in life; and secondly, that I was privileged to see ghosts and spirits; both these gifts inevitably attaching, as they believed, to all unlucky infants of either gender, born towards the small hours on a Friday night.

       I need say nothing