Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures

Douglas William Jerrold (1803-1857) was the son of an actor manager. After some time in the Navy and as an apprentice printer he became a playwright and later a journalist. He was a contemporary and friend of Charles Dickens. As a journalist he worked for Punch magazine in which Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures were serialised, to be published in book form in 1846.

Job Caudle, the 'hero' of the book is a Victorian shopkeeper whose wife finds she can only talk to him without interruption in bed. Caudle, who outlives his wife, finds he can no longer sleep easily because of his memory of these 'lectures' and resolves to exorcise his wife's memory by recording the lectures, it seems with a view to future publication for the edification of others. Jerrold's humour shines through this insight into Victorian middle class culture. (Summary by Martin Clifton) (4 hr 21 min)

Kapitel

Introduction	8:45	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 1: Mr. Caudle has lent five pounds to a friend	6:22	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 2: Mr. Caudle has been at a tavern with a friend, and is “enough to poi…	7:11	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 3: Mr. Caudle joins a club – “The Skylarks”	7:39	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 4: Mr. Caudle has been called from his bed to bail Mr. Prettyman from t…	2:56	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 5: Mr. Caudle has remained downstairs till past one, with a friend	4:19	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 6: Mr. Caudle has lent an acquaintance the family umbrella	6:23	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 7: Mr. Caudle has ventured a remonstrance on his day’s dinner: cold mut…	6:28	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 8: Caudle has been made a mason – Mrs Caudle indignant and curious	6:08	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 9: Mr Caudle has been to Greenwich fair	6:02	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 10: On Mr. Caudle’s shirt buttons	6:29	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 11: Mrs Caudle suggests the her dear mother should “come and live with …	7:40	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 12: Mr. Caudle having come home a little late, declares that henceforth…	7:05	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 13: Mrs Caudle has been to see her dear mother – Caudle on the “joyful …	5:38	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 14: Mrs Caudle thinks it “high time” that the children should have summ…	7:27	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 15: Mr. Caudle again stayed out late. Mrs Caudle, at first injured and …	7:18	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 16: Baby is to be christened; Mrs Caudle canvasses the merits of probab…	7:41	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 17: Caudle in the course of the day has ventured to question the econom…	7:11	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 18: Caudle, whilst walking with his wife, has been bowed to by a younge…	6:56	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 19: Mrs Caudle thinks “it would look well to keep their wedding-day”	7:23	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 20: “Brother” Caudle has been to a Masonic charitable dinner. Mrs Caudl…	7:26	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 21: Mr. Caudle has not acted “like a husband” at the wedding dinner	7:47	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 22: Caudle comes home in the evening, as Mrs Caudle has “just stepped o…	7:43	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 23: Mrs Caudle “wishes to know if they’re going to the sea-side, or not…	7:41	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 24: Mrs Caudle dwells on Caudle’s “cruel neglect” of her on board the “…	7:47	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 25: Mrs Caudle, wearied of Margate, has “a great desire to see France”	8:10	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 26: Mrs Caudle’s first night in France – “shameful indifference” of Cau…	7:21	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 27: Mrs Caudle returns to her native land. “Unmanly cruelty” of Caudle,…	7:47	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 28: Mrs Caudle has returned home. The house (of course) “not fit to be …	6:12	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 29: Mrs Caudle thinks “the time has come to have a cottage out of town”	8:17	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 30: Mrs Caudle complains of the “Turtle Dovery”. Discovers black beetle…	7:25	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 31: Mrs Caudle complains very bitterly that Mr. Caudle has “broken her …	8:02	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 32: Mrs Caudle discourses of maids-of-all-work and maids in general. Mr…	7:08	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 33: Mrs Caudle has discovered that Caudle is a railway director	7:36	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 34: Mrs Caudle, suspecting that Mr. Caudle has made his will, is only “…	7:36	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture 35: Mrs Caudle “has been told “ that Caudle has “taken to play” at bill…	7:35	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Lecture the Last: Mrs Caudle has taken cold; the tragedy of thin shoes	5:16	Gelesen von Martin Clifton
Postscript	1:55	Gelesen von Martin Clifton

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