



Produced by David Widger from page images generously
provided by the Internet Archive









OLIVER TWIST,

Or, The Parish Boy's Progress

By Charles Dickens




CONTENTS


I        TREATS OF THE PLACE WHERE OLIVER TWIST WAS BORN AND OF THE
         CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING HIS BIRTH

II       TREATS OF OLIVER TWIST'S GROWTH, EDUCATION, AND BOARD

III      RELATES HOW OLIVER TWIST WAS VERY NEAR GETTING A PLACE WHICH
         WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A SINECURE

IV       OLIVER, BEING OFFERED ANOTHER PLACE, MAKES HIS FIRST ENTRY INTO
         PUBLIC LIFE

V        OLIVER MINGLES WITH NEW ASSOCIATES.  GOING TO A FUNERAL FOR THE
         FIRST TIME, HE FORMS AN UNFAVOURABLE NOTION OF HIS MASTER'S
         BUSINESS

VI       OLIVER, BEING GOADED BY THE TAUNTS OF NOAH, ROUSES INTO ACTION,
         AND RATHER ASTONISHES HIM

VII      OLIVER CONTINUES REFRACTORY

VIII     OLIVER WALKS TO LONDON.  HE ENCOUNTERS ON THE ROAD A STRANGE
         SORT OF YOUNG GENTLEMAN

IX       CONTAINING FURTHER PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE PLEASANT OLD
         GENTLEMAN, AND HIS HOPEFUL PUPILS

X        OLIVER BECOMES BETTER ACQUAINTED WITH THE CHARACTERS OF HIS NEW
         ASSOCIATES; AND PURCHASES EXPERIENCE AT A HIGH PRICE. BEING A
         SHORT, BUT VERY IMPORTANT CHAPTER, IN THIS HISTORY

XI       TREATS OF MR. FANG THE POLICE MAGISTRATE; AND FURNISHES A
         SLIGHT SPECIMEN OF HIS MODE OF ADMINISTERING JUSTICE

XII      IN WHICH OLIVER IS TAKEN BETTER CARE OF THAN HE EVER WAS
         BEFORE.  AND IN WHICH THE NARRATIVE REVERTS TO THE MERRY OLD
         GENTLEMAN AND HIS YOUTHFUL FRIENDS.

XIII     SOME NEW ACQUAINTANCES ARE INTRODUCED TO THE INTELLIGENT READER,
         CONNECTED WITH WHOM VARIOUS PLEASANT MATTERS ARE RELATED,
         APPERTAINING TO THIS HISTORY

XIV      COMPRISING FURTHER PARTICULARS OF OLIVER'S STAY AT MR.
         BROWNLOW'S, WITH THE REMARKABLE PREDICTION WHICH ONE MR. GRIMWIG
         UTTERED CONCERNING HIM, WHEN HE WENT OUT ON AN ERRAND

XV       SHOWING HOW VERY FOND OF OLIVER TWIST, THE MERRY OLD JEW AND
         MISS NANCY WERE

XVI      RELATES WHAT BECAME OF OLIVER TWIST, AFTER HE HAD BEEN CLAIMED
         BY NANCY

XVII     OLIVER'S DESTINY CONTINUING UNPROPITIOUS, BRINGS A GREAT MAN TO
         LONDON TO INJURE HIS REPUTATION

XVIII    HOW OLIVER PASSED HIS TIME IN THE IMPROVING SOCIETY OF HIS
         REPUTABLE FRIENDS

XIX      IN WHICH A NOTABLE PLAN IS DISCUSSED AND DETERMINED ON

XX       WHEREIN OLIVER IS DELIVERED OVER TO MR. WILLIAM SIKES

XXI      THE EXPEDITION

XXII     THE BURGLARY

XXIII    WHICH CONTAINS THE SUBSTANCE OF A PLEASANT CONVERSATION BETWEEN
         MR. BUMBLE AND A LADY; AND SHOWS THAT EVEN A BEADLE MAY BE
         SUSCEPTIBLE ON SOME POINTS

XXIV     TREATS ON A VERY POOR SUBJECT.  BUT IS A SHORT ONE, AND MAY BE
         FOUND OF IMPORTANCE IN THIS HISTORY

XXV      WHEREIN THIS HISTORY REVERTS TO MR. FAGIN AND COMPANY

XXVI     IN WHICH A MYSTERIOUS CHARACTER APPEARS UPON THE SCENE; AND MANY
         THINGS, INSEPARABLE FROM THIS HISTORY, ARE DONE AND PERFORMED

XXVII    ATONES FOR THE UNPOLITENESS OF A FORMER CHAPTER; WHICH DESERTED
         A LADY, MOST UNCEREMONIOUSLY

XXVIII   LOOKS AFTER OLIVER, AND PROCEEDS WITH HIS ADVENTURES

XXIX     HAS AN INTRODUCTORY ACCOUNT OF THE INMATES OF THE HOUSE, TO
         WHICH OLIVER RESORTED

XXX      RELATES WHAT OLIVER'S NEW VISITORS THOUGHT OF HIM

XXXI     INVOLVES A CRITICAL POSITION

XXXII    OF THE HAPPY LIFE OLIVER BEGAN TO LEAD WITH HIS KIND FRIENDS

XXXIII   WHEREIN THE HAPPINESS OF OLIVER AND HIS FRIENDS, EXPERIENCES A
         SUDDEN CHECK

XXXIV    CONTAINS SOME INTRODUCTORY PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO A YOUNG
         GENTLEMAN WHO NOW ARRIVES UPON THE SCENE; AND A NEW ADVENTURE
         WHICH HAPPENED TO OLIVER

XXXV     CONTAINING THE UNSATISFACTORY RESULT OF OLIVER'S ADVENTURE; AND
         A CONVERSATION OF SOME IMPORTANCE BETWEEN HARRY MAYLIE AND ROSE

XXXVI    IS A VERY SHORT ONE, AND MAY APPEAR OF NO GREAT IMPORTANCE IN
         ITS PLACE, BUT IT SHOULD BE READ NOTWITHSTANDING, AS A SEQUEL
         TO THE LAST, AND A KEY TO ONE THAT WILL FOLLOW WHEN ITS TIME
         ARRIVES

XXXVII   IN WHICH THE READER MAY PERCEIVE A CONTRAST, NOT UNCOMMON IN
         MATRIMONIAL CASES

XXXVIII  CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT PASSED BETWEEN MR. AND MRS.
         BUMBLE, AND MR. MONKS, AT THEIR NOCTURNAL INTERVIEW

XXXIX    INTRODUCES SOME RESPECTABLE CHARACTERS WITH WHOM THE READER IS
         ALREADY ACQUAINTED, AND SHOWS HOW MONKS AND THE JEW LAID THEIR
         WORTHY HEADS TOGETHER

XL       A STRANGE INTERVIEW, WHICH IS A SEQUEL TO THE LAST CHAMBER

XLI      CONTAINING FRESH DISCOVERIES, AND SHOWING THAT SUPRISES, LIKE
         MISFORTUNES, SELDOM COME ALONE

XLII     AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE OF OLIVER'S, EXHIBITING DECIDED MARKS OF
         GENIUS, BECOMES A PUBLIC CHARACTER IN THE METROPOLIS

XLIII    WHEREIN IS SHOWN HOW THE ARTFUL DODGER GOT INTO TROUBLE

XLIV     THE TIME ARRIVES FOR NANCY TO REDEEM HER PLEDGE TO ROSE MAYLIE.
         SHE FAILS.

XLV      NOAH CLAYPOLE IS EMPLOYED BY FAGIN ON A SECRET MISSION

XLVI     THE APPOINTMENT KEPT

XLVII    FATAL CONSEQUENCES

XLVIII   THE FLIGHT OF SIKES

XLIX     MONKS AND MR. BROWNLOW AT LENGTH MEET.  THEIR CONVERSATION,
         AND THE INTELLIGENCE THAT INTERRUPTS IT

L        THE PURSUIT AND ESCAPE

LI       AFFORDING AN EXPLANATION OF MORE MYSTERIES THAN ONE, AND
         COMPREHENDING A PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE WITH NO WORD OF SETTLEMENT
         OR PIN-MONEY

LII      FAGIN'S LAST NIGHT ALIVE

LIII     AND LAST





CHAPTER I -- TREATS OF THE PLACE WHERE OLIVER TWIST WAS BORN AND OF
THE CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING HIS BIRTH

Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many
reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which
I will assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common
to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhouse; and in this
workhouse was born; on a day and date which I need not trouble
myself to repeat, inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence
to the reader, in this stage of the business at all events; the item
of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this chapter.

For a long time after it was ushered into this world of sorrow and
trouble, by the parish surgeon, it remained a matter of considerable
doubt whether the child would survive to bear any name at all; in
which case it is somewhat more than probable that these memoirs
would never have appeared; or, if they had, that being comprised
within a couple of pages, they would have possessed the inestimable
merit of being the most concise and faithful specimen of biography,
extant in the literature of any age or country.

Although I am not disposed to maintain that the being born in a
workhouse, is in itself the most fortunate and enviable circumstance
that can possibly befall a human being, I do mean to say that in
this particular instance, it was the best thing for Oliver Twist
that could by possibility have occurred. The fact is, that there was
considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the
office of respiration,--a troublesome practice, but one which custom
has rendered necessary to our easy existence; and for some time
he lay gasping on a little flock mattress, rather unequally poised
between this world and the next: the balance being decidedly in
favour of the latter. Now, if, during this brief period, Oliver had
been surrounded by careful grandmothers, anxious aunts, experienced
nurses, and doctors of profound wisdom, he would most inevitably
and indubitably have been killed in no time. There being nobody by,
however, but a pauper old woman, who was rendered rather misty by
an unwonted allowance of beer; and a parish surgeon who did such
matters by contract; Oliver and Nature fought out the point between
them. The result was, that, after a few struggles, Oliver breathed,
sneezed, and proceeded to advertise to the inmates of the workhouse
the fact of a new burden having been imposed upon the parish, by
setting up as loud a cry as could reasonably have been expected
from a male infant who had not been possessed of that very useful
appendage, a voice, for a much longer space of time than three
minutes and a quarter.

As Oliver gave this first proof of the free and proper action of his
lungs, the patchwork coverlet which was carelessly flung over the
iron bedstead, rustled; the pale face of a young woman was raised
feebly from the pillow; and a faint voice imperfectly articulated
the words, 'Let me see the child, and die.'

The surgeon had been sitting with his face turned towards the fire:
giving the palms of his hands a warm and a rub alternately. As the
young woman spoke, he rose, and advancing to the bed's head, said,
with more kindness than might have been expected of him:

'Oh, you must not talk about dying yet.'

'Lor bless her dear heart, no!' interposed the nurse, hastily
depositing in her pocket a green glass bottle, the contents of which
she had been tasting in a corner with evident satisfaction.

'Lor bless her dear heart, when she has lived as long as I have,
sir, and had thirteen children of her own, and all on 'em dead
except two, and them in the wurkus with me, she'll know better than
to take on in that way, bless her dear heart! Think what it is to be
a mother, there's a dear young lamb do.'

Apparently this consolatory perspective of a mother's prospects
failed in producing its due effect. The patient shook her head, and
stretched out her hand towards the child.

The surgeon deposited it in her arms. She imprinted her cold white
lips passionately on its forehead; passed her hands over her face;
gazed wildly round; shuddered; fell back--and died. They chafed her
breast, hands, and temples; but the blood had stopped forever. They
talked of hope and comfort. They had been strangers too long.

'It's all over, Mrs