Court of Chancery

Next we come to an abuse on which I must speak with much diffidence, for no one but a trained lawyer could properly discuss it.

The Court of Chancery.

It is the theme of much of Dickens' best work, and is the whole motive of Bleak House and the famous Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit.

The mixture of humor and pathos in the treatment of this subject tempts me to digress a little before explaining as best I may the actual state of the law at the time.

We are introduced to those who are interested in the vast machinery of the Court of Chancery as the great Jarndyce case drags its slow length along from the Lord Chancellor down to the starving law writer.

We see suitors of every description like the man from Shropshire and Miss Flight.

We seem to smell the musty law papers as we read the book.

We laugh, but the tears are not far off, at the humor of such people as Miss Flight, Mr. Gruppy, Conversation Kenge.

Certainly an Englishman, it was more doubtful whether Phileas Fogg was a Londoner.

He was never seen on 'Change, nor at the Bank, nor in the counting-rooms of the "City"; no ships ever came into London docks of which he was the owner; he had no public employment; he had never been entered at any of the Inns of Court, either at the Temple, or Lincoln's Inn, or Gray's Inn; nor had his voice ever resounded in the Court of Chancery, or in the Exchequer, or the Queen's Branch, or the Ecclesiastical Courts.

He certainly was not a manufacturer; nor was he a merchant or a gentleman farmer.

His name was strange to the scientific and learned societies, and he never was known to take part in the sage deliberations of the Royal Institution or the London Institution, the Artisan's Association, or the Institution of Arts and Sciences.

Next we come to an abuse on which I must speak with much diffidence, for no one but a trained lawyer could properly discuss it.

The Court of Chancery.

It is the theme of much of Dickens' best work and is the whole motive of Bleak House and the famous Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit.

The mixture of humor and pathos in the treatment of this subject tempts me to digress a little before explaining as best I may the actual state of the law at the time.

We are introduced to those who are interested in the vast machinery of the Court of Chancery as the great Jarndyce case drags its slow length along from the Lord Chancellor down to the starving law writer.

We see suitors of every description like the man from Shropshire and Miss Flight.

We seem to smell the musty law papers as we read the book.

We laugh, but the tears are not far off, at the humor of such people as Miss Flight, Mr. Gruppy, Conversation Kenge.

Next we come to an abuse on which I must speak with much diffidence, for no one but a trained lawyer could properly discuss it.

The Court of Chancery.

It is the theme of much of Dickens' best work and is the whole motive of Bleak House and the famous Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit.

The mixture of humor and pathos in the treatment of this subject tempts me to digress a little before explaining as best I may the actual state of the law at the time.

We are introduced to those who are interested in the vast machinery of the Court of Chancery as the great Jarndyce case drags its slow length along from the Lord Chancellor down to the starving law writer.

We see suitors of every description like the man from Shropshire and Miss Flight.

We seem to smell the musty law papers as we read the book.

We laugh, but the tears are not far off, at the humor of such people as Miss Flight, Mr. Gruppy, Conversation Kenge.

It was not a very arduous office, but very pleasantly remunerative.

I seldom lose my temper, much more seldom indulge in dangerous indignation at wrongs and outrages; but I must be permitted to be rash here, and declare that I consider the sudden and violent abrogation of the office of Master in Chancery by the new Constitution as a blank, blank premature act, inasmuch as I had counted upon a life lease of the profits, whereas I only received those of a few short years.

But this is by the way.

My chambers were upstairs at number blank, blank Wall Street.

Next we come to an abuse on which I must speak with much diffidence, for no one but a trained lawyer could properly discuss it.

The Court of Chancery.

It is the theme of much of Dickens' best work and is the whole motive of Bleak House and the famous Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit.

The mixture of humor and pathos in the treatment of this subject tempts me to digress a little before explaining as best I may the actual state of the law at the time.

We are introduced to those who are interested in the vast machinery of the Court of Chancery as the great Jarndyce case drags its slow length along from the Lord Chancellor down to the starving law writer.

We see suitors of every description like the man from Shropshire and Miss Flight.

We seem to smell the musty law papers as we read the book.

We laugh, but the tears are not far off, at the humor of such people as Miss Flight, Mr. Gruppy, Conversation Kenge.

He had no public employment.

He had never been entered at any of the Inns of the Court, neither at the Temple or Lincoln's Inn or Gray's Inn, nor had his voice ever resounded in the Court of Chancery or in the Exchequer or in the Queen Bench or in the Ecclesiastical Courts.

He certainly was not a manufacturer, nor was he a merchant or a gentleman farmer.

His name was strange to the scientific and learned societies, and he was never known to take part in the sage deliberations of the Royal Institution or the London Institution, the Artisans Association, or the Institution of Arts and Sciences.

No ships ever came into London docks of which he was the owner.

He had no public employment; he had never been entered at any of the Inns of Court, either at the Temple, or Lincoln's Inn, or Gray's Inn, nor had his voice ever resounded in the Court of Chancery, or in the Exchequer, or the Queen's Branch, or the Ecclesiastical Courts.

He certainly was not a manufacturer; nor was he a merchant or a gentleman farmer.

His name was strange to the scientific and learned societies, and he never was known to take part in the sage deliberations of the Royal Institution, or the London Institution, the Artisan's Association, or the Institution of Arts and Sciences.

It is my box royal, and this amphitheater my theater of San Carlo.

Yes, the scenery is magical, the illusion so complete And Madame Meadow Lark, my prima donna, plays her grand engagement here And drinking in her sunrise note, which, Memnon-like, seems struck from the golden window How far from me the weary face behind it! But every night, when the curtain falls, truth comes in with darkness No light shows from the mountain To and fro I walk the piazza deck, haunted by Mariana's face, and many as real a story End of section one Section two of The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by John Greenman Chapter two A, Bartleby, part one I am a rather elderly man The nature of my avocations for the last thirty years has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, of whom, as yet, nothing, that I know of, has ever been written I mean the law copyists or scriveners I have known very many of them professionally and privately, and, if I pleased, could relate divers histories at which good-natured gentlemen might smile and sentimental souls might weep But I waive the biographies of all other scriveners for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener, the strangest I ever saw or heard of While of other law copyists I might write the complete life, of Bartleby nothing of that sort can be done I believe that no materials exist for a full and satisfactory biography of this man It is an irreparable loss to literature Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable except from the original sources, and in his case those are very small What my own astonished eyes saw of Bartleby, that is all I know of him, except, indeed, one vague report which will appear in the sequel Ere introducing the scrivener as he first appeared to me, it is fit I make some mention of myself, my employer, my business, my chambers, and general surroundings, because some such description is indispensable to an adequate understanding of the chief character about to be presented Imprimis, I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best Hence, though I belong to a profession proverbially energetic and nervous, even to turbulence at times, yet nothing of that sort have I ever suffered to invade my peace I am one of those unambitious lawyers who never addresses a jury, or in any way draws down public applause, but, in the cool tranquillity of a snug retreat, do a snug business among rich men's bonds and mortgages and title-deeds All who know me consider me an eminently safe man The late John Jacob Astor, a personage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation in pronouncing my first grand point to be prudence My next method I do not speak it in vanity, but simply record the fact that I was not unemployed in my profession by the late John Jacob Astor, a name which I admit I love to repeat, for it hath a rounded and orbicular sound to it, and rings like unto bullion I will freely add that I was not insensible to the late John Jacob Astor's good opinion Some time prior to the period at which this little history begins, my avocations had been largely increased The good old office now extinct in the State of New York of a Master of Chancery had been conferred upon me It was not a very arduous office, but very pleasantly remunerative I seldom lose my temper, much more seldom indulge in dangerous indignation at wrongs and outrages But I must be permitted to be rash here, and declare that I consider the sudden and violent abrogation of the office of Master in Chancery by the new Constitution as a blank, blank, premature act Inasmuch as I had counted upon a life lease of the profits, whereas I only received those of a few short years But this is by the way My chambers were upstairs at number blank, blank Wall Street At one end they looked upon the white wall of the interior of a spacious skylight shaft, penetrating the building from top to bottom This view might have been considered rather tame than otherwise, deficient in what landscape painters call life But if so, the view from the other end of my chambers offered, at least, a contrast, if nothing more.

In that direction, my windows commanded an unobstructed view of a lofty brick wall, black by age and everlasting shade, which wall required no spyglass to bring out its lurking beauties but, for the benefit of all nearsighted spectators, was pushed up to within ten feet of my window panes.

Owing to the great height of the surrounding buildings, and my chambers being on the second floor, the interval between this wall and mine not a little resembled a huge square cistern.