Markham. A gay and lively fellow of not more than twenty; a friend of Steerforth's. (Ch. xxiv, xxv.) Markleham, Mrs. Mother of Mrs. Doctor Strong. (Ch. xvi, xix, xxxvi, xlii, xlv, lxiv.) Our boys used to call her the Old Soldier, on account of her generalship and the skill with which she marshalled great forces of relations against the doctor. She was a little, sharp-eyed woman, who used to wear, when she was dressed, one unchangeable cap, ornamented with some artificial flowers, and two artificial butterflies supposed to be hovering about the flowers. Mealy Potatoes. (So called on account of his pale complexion.) A boy employed at Murdstone and Grinby's wine-store, with David Copperfield and others, to examine bottles, wash them out, label and cork them, and the like. (Ch. xi.) Mell, Mr. Charles. An under master at Salem House, Mr. Mell, Mrs. His mother. (Ch. v, vii.) (Ch. Son of Mr. Wilkins Micawber. He has a remarkable head voice, and becomes a chorister-boy in the cathedral at Canterbury. At a later date, he acquires a high reputation as an amateur singer. (Ch. xi, xii, xvii, xxvii, xxxvi, xlii, xlix, lii, liv, lvii, lxiv.) Micawber, Miss Emma. Daughter of Mr. Wilkins Micawber; afterwards Mrs. Ridger Begs of Port Middlebay, Australia. (Ch. xi, xii, xvii, xxvii, xxxvi, xlii, xlix, lii, liv, lvii, lxiv.) Micawber, Mr. Wilkins. A gentleman - remarkable for his reckless improvidence, his pecuniary involvements, his alternate elevation and depression of spirits, his love of letter-writing and speech-making, his grandiloquent rhetoric, his shabby devices for eking out a genteel living, and his constantly "waiting for something to turn up"- with whom David Copperfield lodges while drudging in the warehouse of Murdstone and Grinby. In this character Mr. Dickens has represented some of the experiences and foibles of his own father, who was for several years in very embarrassed circumstances, and for a time a prisoner for debt in the Marshalsea. But two facts should be borne in mind: first, that Mr. Dickens thus described his father to a friend (sce ... Forster's Life of Dickens, vol. i, pp. 37, 38),—“I know my father to be as kind-hearted and generous a man as ever lived in the world. Every thing that I can remember of his conduct to his wife or children or friends, in sickness or affliction, is beyond all praise. . . He never undertook any business, charge, or trust, that he did not zealously, conscientiously, punctually, honorably discharge. His industry has always been untiring.” Secondly, it must not be forgotten, that, "though Mr. Micawber is represented as careless in money-matters, apt to get into debt, and addicted to getting out of it by means of bills and notes of hand, he never says or does any thing at variance with morality or probity. He is never mean, false, or dishonest." ... Mr. Micawber is thus introduced upon the scene: The counting-house clock was at half-past twelve, and there was general preparation for going to dinner, when Mr. Quinion tapped at the counting-house window, and beckoned me to go in. I went in, and found there a stoutish, middleaged person, in a brown surtout and black tights and shoes, with no more hair upon his head (which was a large one, and very shining) than there is upon an egg, and with a very extensive face, which he turned full upon me. His clothes were shabby; but he had an imposing shirt-collar on. He carried a jaunty sort of a stick with a large pair of rusty tassels to it; and a quizzing-glass hung outside his coat, - for ornament, I afterwards found, as he very seldom looked through it, and could n't see any thing when he did. "This," said Mr. Quinion, in allusion to myself, "is he." "This," said the stranger, with a certain condescending roll in his voice, and a certain indescribable air of doing something genteel, which impressed me very much, "is Master Copperfield. I hope I see you well, sir?" I said I was very well, and hoped he was. I was sufficiently ill at ease, Heaven knows; but it was not in my nature to complain much at that time of my life so I said I was very well, and hoped he was. "I am," said the stranger, "thank Heaven! quite well. I have received a letter from Mr. Murdstone, in which he mentions that he would desire me to receive into an apartment in the rear of my house, which is at present unoccupied, and is, in short, to be let as a - - in short," said the stranger, with a smile, and in a burst of confidence,- as a bed-room, the young beginner whom I have now the pleasure to❞—and the stranger waved his hand, and settled his chin in his shirtcollar. "This is Mr. Micawber," said Mr Quinion to me. "Ahem!" said the stranger: "that is my name." "Mr. Micawber," said Mr. Quinion, "is known to Mr. Murdstone. He takes orders for us on commission, when he can get any. He has been written to by Mr. Murdstone on the subject of your lodgings, and he will receive you as a lodger." When young Copperfield takes possession of his quarters at Mr. Micawber's, Windsor Terrace, City Road, he finds the domestic situation of that gentleman beset with difficulties which to any other man would be thoroughly discouraging. The only visitors I ever saw or heard of were creditors. They used to come at all hours; and some of them were quite ferocious. One dirty-faced man, I think he was a bootmaker, used to edge himself into the passage as early as seven o'clock in the morning, and call up the stairs to Mr. Micawber, "Come! You ain't out yet, you know. Pay us, will you? Don't hide, you know: that's mean. I would n't be mean, if I was you. Pay us, will you? You just pay us: d'ye hear? Come!" Receiving no answer to these taunts, he would mount in his wrath to the words "swindlers" and "robbers," and, these being ineffectual too, would sometimes go to the extremity of crossing the street, and roaring up at the windows of the second floor, where he knew Mr. Micawber was. At these times, Mr. Micawber would be transported with grief and mortification, even to the length (as I was once made aware by a scream from his wife) of making motions at himself with a razor; but, within half an hour afterwards, he would polish up his shoes with extraordinary pains, and go out, humming a tune with a greater air of gentility than ever. His difficulties come to a crisis at last, however; and he is arrested one morning, and carried to the King's Bench Prison, saying that the god of day has gone down upon him: but before noon he is seen playing a lively game of skittles. At last, he applies for release under the Insolvent Debtors' Act; and in due time is set at liberty. Mrs. Micawber's friends being of the opinion that his wisest course will be to quit London, he determines to go down to Plymouth, where he thinks something may "turn up" for him in the custom house. Before parting from David, he gives him a little friendly counsel. "My dear young friend," said Mr. Micawber, "I am older than you; a man of some experience in life, and-and- - of some experience, in short, in difficulties, generally speaking. At present, and until something turns up (which I am, I may say, hourly expecting), I have nothing to bestow but advice. Still my advice is so far worth taking, that-in short, that I have never taken it myself, and am the "- here Mr. Micawber, who had been beaming and smiling all over his head and face, up to the present moment, checked himself, and frowned, "the miserable wretch you behold." 66 My dear Micawber!" urged his wife. "I say," returned Mr. Micawber, quite forgetting himself, and smiling again, "the miserable wretch you behold. My advice is, never do to-morrow what you can do to-day. Procrastination is the thief of time. Collar him!" "My dear," said Mr. Micawber, "your papa was very well in his way, and Heaven forbid that I should disparage him! Take him for all in all, we ne'er shall in short, make the acquaintance, probably, of anybody else possessing, at his time of life, the same legs for gaiters, and able to read the same description of print without spectacles. But he applied that maxim to our marriage, my dear, and that was so far prematurely entered into, in consequence, that I never recovered the expense." Mr. Micawber looked aside at Mrs. Micawber, and added, "Not that I am sorry for it quite the contrary, my love." After which he was grave for a minute or so. "My other piece of advice, Copperfield," said Mr. Micawber, "you know. |