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)
Chapters
1
Introduction Read by Martin Clifton 8:45
2
Lecture 1: Mr. Caudle has lent five pounds to a friend Read by Martin Clifton 6:22
3
Lecture 2: Mr. Caudle has been at a tavern with a friend, and is “enough to poison a woman” with tobacco smoke Read by Martin Clifton 7:11
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Lecture 3: Mr. Caudle joins a club – “The Skylarks” Read by Martin Clifton 7:39
5
Lecture 4: Mr. Caudle has been called from his bed to bail Mr. Prettyman from the watch-house Read by Martin Clifton 2:56
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Lecture 5: Mr. Caudle has remained downstairs till past one, with a friend Read by Martin Clifton 4:19
7
Lecture 6: Mr. Caudle has lent an acquaintance the family umbrella Read by Martin Clifton 6:23
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Lecture 7: Mr. Caudle has ventured a remonstrance on his day’s dinner: cold mutton and no pudding – Mrs Caudle defends the cold shoulder Read by Martin Clifton 6:28
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Lecture 8: Caudle has been made a mason – Mrs Caudle indignant and curious Read by Martin Clifton 6:08
10
Lecture 9: Mr Caudle has been to Greenwich fair Read by Martin Clifton 6:02
11
Lecture 10: On Mr. Caudle’s shirt buttons Read by Martin Clifton 6:29
12
Lecture 11: Mrs Caudle suggests the her dear mother should “come and live with them” Read by Martin Clifton 7:40
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Lecture 12: Mr. Caudle having come home a little late, declares that henceforth “he will have a key” Read by Martin Clifton 7:05
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Lecture 13: Mrs Caudle has been to see her dear mother – Caudle on the “joyful occasion”, has given a party and issued a card of invitation Read by Martin Clifton 5:38
15
Lecture 14: Mrs Caudle thinks it “high time” that the children should have summer clothing Read by Martin Clifton 7:27
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Lecture 15: Mr. Caudle again stayed out late. Mrs Caudle, at first injured and violent, melts Read by Martin Clifton 7:18
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Lecture 16: Baby is to be christened; Mrs Caudle canvasses the merits of probable godfathers Read by Martin Clifton 7:41
18
Lecture 17: Caudle in the course of the day has ventured to question the economy of “washing at home” Read by Martin Clifton 7:11
19
Lecture 18: Caudle, whilst walking with his wife, has been bowed to by a younger and even prettier woman than Mrs Caudle Read by Martin Clifton 6:56
20
Lecture 19: Mrs Caudle thinks “it would look well to keep their wedding-day” Read by Martin Clifton 7:23
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Lecture 20: “Brother” Caudle has been to a Masonic charitable dinner. Mrs Caudle has hidden the “brother’s” cheque-book Read by Martin Clifton 7:26
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Lecture 21: Mr. Caudle has not acted “like a husband” at the wedding dinner Read by Martin Clifton 7:47
23
Lecture 22: Caudle comes home in the evening, as Mrs Caudle has “just stepped out, shopping” On her return, at ten, Caudle remonstrates Read by Martin Clifton 7:43
24
Lecture 23: Mrs Caudle “wishes to know if they’re going to the sea-side, or not, this summer – that’s all Read by Martin Clifton 7:41
25
Lecture 24: Mrs Caudle dwells on Caudle’s “cruel neglect” of her on board the “Red Rover”. Mrs Caudle so “ill with the sea”, that they put up at the Dolphin, Herne Bay Read by Martin Clifton 7:47
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Lecture 25: Mrs Caudle, wearied of Margate, has “a great desire to see France” Read by Martin Clifton 8:10
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Lecture 26: Mrs Caudle’s first night in France – “shameful indifference” of Caudle at the Boulogne custom house Read by Martin Clifton 7:21
28
Lecture 27: Mrs Caudle returns to her native land. “Unmanly cruelty” of Caudle, who has refused “to smuggle a few things” for her Read by Martin Clifton 7:47
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Lecture 28: Mrs Caudle has returned home. The house (of course) “not fit to be seen”. Mr Caudle, in self-defence, takes a book Read by Martin Clifton 6:12
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Lecture 29: Mrs Caudle thinks “the time has come to have a cottage out of town” Read by Martin Clifton 8:17
31
Lecture 30: Mrs Caudle complains of the “Turtle Dovery”. Discovers black beetles. Thinks it “nothing but right” that Caudle should set up a chaise Read by Martin Clifton 7:25
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Lecture 31: Mrs Caudle complains very bitterly that Mr. Caudle has “broken her confidence” Read by Martin Clifton 8:02
33
Lecture 32: Mrs Caudle discourses of maids-of-all-work and maids in general. Mr. Caudle’s “infamous behaviour” ten years ago Read by Martin Clifton 7:08
34
Lecture 33: Mrs Caudle has discovered that Caudle is a railway director Read by Martin Clifton 7:36
35
Lecture 34: Mrs Caudle, suspecting that Mr. Caudle has made his will, is only “anxious as a wife”, to know its provisions Read by Martin Clifton 7:36
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Lecture 35: Mrs Caudle “has been told “ that Caudle has “taken to play” at billiards Read by Martin Clifton 7:35
37
Lecture the Last: Mrs Caudle has taken cold; the tragedy of thin shoes Read by Martin Clifton 5:16
38
Postscript Read by Martin Clifton 1:55
From LibriVox, read by volunteers and in the public domain. LibriVox page (opens librivox.org) , the text (opens gutenberg.org) , all files on the Internet Archive (opens archive.org) .
