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The Uncommercial Traveller

Charles Dickens

Adopting the persona of a wandering observer, Dickens documents his explorations through Victorian London and beyond, traveling "for the great house of Human Interest Brothers.

"The Uncommercial Traveller" by Charles Dickens is a collection of literary sketches. Adopting the persona of a wandering observer, Dickens documents his explorations through Victorian London and beyond, traveling "for the great house of Human Interest Brothers.

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Never had I seen a year going out, or going on, under quieter circumstances. Eighteen hundred and fifty-nine had but another day to live, and truly its end was Peace on that sea-shore that morning.

So settled and orderly was everything seaward, in the bright light of the sun and under the transparent shadows of the clouds, that it was hard to imagine the bay otherwise, for years past or to come, than it was that very day. The Tug-steamer lying a little off the shore, the Lighter lying still nearer to the shore, the boat alongside the Lighter, the regularly-turning windlass aboard the Lighter, the methodical figures at work, all slowly and regularly heaving up and down with the breathing of the sea, all seemed as much a part of the nature of the place as the tide itself. The tide was on the flow, and had been for some two hours and a half; there was a slight obstruction in the sea within a few yards of my feet: as if the stump of a tree, with earth enough about it to keep it from lying horizontally on the water, had slipped a little from the land—and as I stood upon the beach and observed it dimpling the light swell that was coming in, I cast a stone over it.

Contents

  1. 01I His General Line of Business
  2. 02II the Shipwreck
  3. 03III Wapping Workhouse
  4. 04IV Two Views of a Cheap Theatre
  5. 05V Poor Mercantile Jack
  6. 06VI Refreshments for Travellers
  7. 07VII Travelling Abroad
  8. 08VIII the Great Tasmania’s Cargo
  9. 09IX City of London Churches
  10. 10X Shy Neighbourhoods
  11. 11XI Tramps
  12. 12XII Dullborough Town
  13. 13XIII Night Walks
  14. 14XIV Chambers
  15. 15XV Nurse’s Stories
  16. 16XVI Arcadian London
  17. 17XVII the Italian Prisoner
  18. 18XVIII the Calais Night Mail
  19. 19XIX Some Recollections of Mortality
  20. 20XX Birthday Celebrations
  21. 21XXI the Short-Timers
  22. 22XXII Bound for the Great Salt Lake
  23. 23XXIII the City of the Absent
  24. 24XXIV an Old Stage-Coaching House
  25. 25XXV the Boiled Beef of New England
  26. 26XXVI Chatham Dockyard
  27. 27XXVII in the French-Flemish Country
  28. 28XXVIII Medicine Men of Civilisation
  29. 29XXIX Titbull’s Alms-Houses
  30. 30XXX the Ruffian
  31. 31XXXI Aboard Ship
  32. 32XXXII a Small Star in the East
  33. 33XXXIII a Little Dinner in an Hour
  34. 34XXXIV Mr. Barlow
  35. 35XXXV on an Amateur Beat
  36. 36XXXVI a Fly-Leaf in a Life
  37. 37XXXVII a Plea for Total Abstinence
  38. 38Footnotes.

About this edition

Author
Charles Dickens
Era
Modern (c. 1800–1945)
Reading level
Advanced: for close, demanding reading
Formats
EPUB, PDF
Length
357 pages
This edition
Modern Philosophers