ffred's
nearly-forgotten treasuresI find myself mixed up with people and affairs with whom and with which I have in point of fact, no earthly concern. Still, here I am, and being so placed, I must fight my way through the evils which assail me as well as I can.
After having transcribed Gilbert Gurney, by Theodore Hook, I decided to proceed with the sequel, published two years later. Continuing where the previous narrative left off, the comical setting turns decidedly domestic (suitable for a stage play), and the author confines his dry, witty observation to a smaller circle of characters. Nonetheless, his psychological literary style remains quite rewarding. How vividly does Gurney report the all-too-familiar frustration one experiences upon involuntarily witnessing an unpleasant situation (e.g. a parent practically encouraging bad behavior in a child*), with any attempt at criticism or intervention doomed to rebound unfavorably upon one's own qualifications as a human being!
[*Or, for that matter, Congress or Supreme Court encouraging bad behavior in a President.]
This novel employs the excruciating form of comedy, more recently performed by John Cleese, which strains one to the psychological limit, and invokes the desire to ride in on a charger and horsewhip just about everyone in sight. Fortunately, the tale has a happy ending, where the worst offenders either find redemption or get their just desserts. Would that the real world worked that way!
The text is taken from Volumes I, II, and III of the 1838 edition, backed up by these scans. Obvious typographical errors were corrected. While spelling is for the most part preserved, some obsolete or inconsistent spellings (e.g. "ancle," "visiter," "recal") were standardized.
So here it is: the master HTML version, the home-brew Kindle version, and the actual Amazon publication.
July 11, 2026