The Chimes by Charles Dickens (Illustrated)

By Charles Dickens

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Chimes’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Charles Dickens’.

Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Dickens includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

eBook features:
* The complete unabridged text of ‘The Chimes’
* Beautifully illustrated with images related to Dickens’s works
* Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook
* Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Jul 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781786567079

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an English writer and social critic. Regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era, Dickens had a prolific collection of works including fifteen novels, five novellas, and hundreds of short stories and articles. The term “cliffhanger endings” was created because of his practice of ending his serial short stories with drama and suspense. Dickens’ political and social beliefs heavily shaped his literary work. He argued against capitalist beliefs, and advocated for children’s rights, education, and other social reforms. Dickens advocacy for such causes is apparent in his empathetic portrayal of lower classes in his famous works, such as The Christmas Carol and Hard Times.

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The Complete Works of

CHARLES DICKENS

VOLUME 22 OF 64

The Chimes

Parts Edition

By Delphi Classics, 2015

Version 13

COPYRIGHT

‘The Chimes’

Charles Dickens: Parts Edition (in 64 parts)

First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2017.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78656 707 9

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

Contact: [e-mail]

www.delphiclassics.com

Charles Dickens: Parts Edition

This eBook is Part 22 of the Delphi Classics edition of Charles Dickens in 64 Parts. It features the unabridged text of The Chimes from the bestselling edition of the author’s Complete Works. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. Our Parts Editions feature original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of Charles Dickens, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

Visit here to buy the entire Parts Edition of Charles Dickens or the Complete Works of Charles Dickens in a single eBook.

Learn more about our Parts Edition, with free downloads, via this link or browse our most popular Parts here.

CHARLES DICKENS

IN 64 VOLUMES

Parts Edition Contents

1, A Dinner at Poplar Walk

The Novels

2, The Pickwick Papers

3, Oliver Twist

4, Nicholas Nickleby

5, The Old Curiosity Shop

6, Barnaby Rudge

7, Martin Chuzzlewit

8, Dombey and Son

9, David Copperfield

10, Bleak House

11, Hard Times

12, Little Dorrit

13, A Tale of Two Cities

14, Great Expectations

15, Our Mutual Friend

16, The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Droodiana

17, The Cloven Foot by Robert Henry Newell

18, John Jasper’s Secret by Henry Morford

19, Part Second of the Mystery of Edwin Drood by Thomas James

20, A Great Mystery Solved by Gillan Vase

The Christmas Novellas

21, A Christmas Carol

22, The Chimes

23, The Cricket on the Hearth

24, The Battle of Life

25, The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain

The Short Story Collections

26, Sketches by Boz

27, Master Humphrey’s Clock

28, Christmas Numbers of ‘Household Words’

29, Christmas Numbers of ‘All the Year Round’

30, Miscellaneous Short Stories

31, Reprinted Pieces

The Plays

32, The Strange Gentleman

33, The VIllage Coquettes

34, Is She His Wife?

35, The Lamplighter

36, Mr. Nightingale’s Diary

37, The Frozen Deep

38, No Thoroughfare

The Poetry

39, The Collected Poetry of Charles Dickens

The Non-Fiction

40, Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi by Thomas Egerton Wilks

41, American Notes

42, Pictures from Italy

43, The Life of Our Lord

44, A Child’s History of England

45, The Uncommercial Traveller

46, The Speeches

47, The Letters

48, Miscellaneous Papers

The Adaptations

49, Tales from Dickens by Hallie Erminie Rives

50, Dickens’ Children by Jessie Willcox Smith

51, Dickens’ Stories About Children Every Child Can Read by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

52, Sam Weller by W. T. Moncrieff

53, Oliver Twist by Charles Zachary Barnett

54, Nicholas Nickleby by Edward Stirling

55, The Old Curiosity Shop by Edward Stirling

The Criticism

56, The Criticism

The Biographies

57, The Life of Charles Dickens by John Forster

58, Forster’s Life of Dickens by George Gissing

59, Dickens by Sir Adolphus William Ward

60, Life of Charles Dickens by Sir Frank T. Marzials

61, Victorian Worthies: Charles Dickens by G. H. Blore

62, Dickens’ London by M. F. Mansfield

63, My Father as I Recall Him by Mamie Dickens

64, Brief Biography by Leslie Stephen

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The Chimes

A GOBLIN STORY OF SOME BELLS THAT RANG AN OLD YEAR OUT AND A NEW YEAR IN

Published in 1844, a year after A Christmas Carol, this novella was written during Dickens’ year-long visit to Italy, having been inspired by the Genoese bells audible from the villa where he was staying.  It tells the story of impoverished Trotty Veck and his daughter Meg’s privations at the seasonal time of year. The chimes are old bells in the church on whose steps Veck plies his trade as a ticket porter.

The tale opens one New Year’s Eve, Trotty, an elderly messenger, is filled with gloom at the reports of crime and immorality in the newspapers and wonders whether the working classes are simply evil by nature. His daughter Meg and her long-time fiancé Richard arrive and announce their decision to marry the following day. Trotty hides his misgivings, but their happiness is dispelled by an encounter with the pompous Alderman Cute, plus a political economist and a young gentleman with a nostalgia, all of whom make Trotty, Meg and Richard feel they hardly have a right to exist, let alone marry. In the night, the bells seem to call Trotty. Going to the church, he finds the tower door unlocked and climbs to the bellchamber, where he discovers the spirits of the bells and their goblin attendants who reprimand him for losing faith in man’s destiny to improve.

Due to A Christmas Carol being extremely well-received the previous year, The Chimes stirred much interest and anticipation. Five different stage productions of the book were running within weeks of publication and nearly 20,000 copies were sold in the first three months. It enjoyed a high media profile and was widely reviewed and discussed. Critical opinion was divided; those sympathetic to its social and political message liked the book, though other critics judged it dangerously radical. The Northern Star reviewer called Dickens the champion of the poor, while John Bull rejected his unflattering caricatures of philanthropy. It was certainly a financial success for Dickens and remained popular for many years, although in the long term its fame was eclipsed by that of A Christmas Carol.

The first edition

The first edition’s title page

CONTENTS

FIRST QUARTER.

THE SECOND QUARTER.

THIRD QUARTER.

FOURTH QUARTER.

The original frontispiece

Trotty Veck by Kyd

FIRST QUARTER.

Here are not many people — and as it is desirable that a story-teller and a story-reader should establish a mutual understanding as soon as possible, I beg it to be noticed that I confine this observation neither to young people nor to little people, but extend it to all conditions of people: little and big, young and old: yet growing up, or already growing down again — there are not, I say, many people who would care to sleep in a church.

I don’t mean at sermon-time in warm weather (when the thing has actually been done, once or twice), but in the night, and alone. A great multitude of persons will be violently astonished, I know, by this position, in the broad bold Day. But it applies to Night. It must be argued by night, and I will undertake to maintain it successfully on any gusty winter’s night appointed for the purpose, with any one opponent chosen from the rest, who will meet me singly in an old churchyard, before an old church-door; and will previously empower me to lock him in, if needful to his satisfaction, until morning.

For the night-wind has a dismal trick of wandering round and round a building of that sort, and moaning as it goes; and of trying, with its unseen hand, the windows and the doors; and seeking out some crevices by which to enter. And when it has got in; as one not finding what it seeks, whatever that may be, it wails and howls to issue forth again: and not content with stalking through the aisles, and gliding round and round the pillars, and tempting the deep organ, soars up to the roof, and strives to rend the rafters: then flings itself despairingly upon the stones below, and passes, muttering, into the vaults. Anon, it comes up stealthily, and creeps along the walls, seeming to read, in whispers, the Inscriptions sacred to the Dead. At some of these, it breaks out shrilly, as with laughter; and at others, moans and cries as if it were lamenting. It has a ghostly sound too, lingering within the altar; where it seems to chaunt, in its wild way, of Wrong and Murder done, and false Gods worshipped, in defiance of the Tables of the Law, which look so fair and smooth, but are so flawed and broken. Ugh! Heaven preserve us, sitting snugly round the fire! It has an awful voice, that wind at Midnight, singing in a church!

But, high up in the steeple! There the foul blast roars and whistles! High up in the steeple, where it is free to come and go through many an airy arch and loophole, and to twist and twine itself about the giddy stair, and twirl the groaning weathercock, and make the very tower shake and shiver! High up in the steeple, where the belfry is, and iron rails are ragged with rust, and sheets of lead and copper, shrivelled by the changing weather, crackle and heave beneath the unaccustomed tread; and birds stuff shabby nests into corners of old oaken joists and beams; and dust grows old and grey; and speckled spiders, indolent and fat with long