A Tale of Two Cities
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair..."
~Charles Dickens
Audio Book
Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities was published serially in 1859. As a historical novel about the French Revolution, however, it takes us back to 18th century London and Paris.
1757-1794: The Period Represented in the Novel
Though A Tale of Two Cities begins in 1770 with Doctor Manette’s release from the Bastille and ends in late 1793 or early 1794, the story as a whole covers a much broader period. In the larger view, the novel begins in 1757 (the year of Doctor Manette’s incarceration) and its final scene anticipates a post-revolutionary Paris. However, as a historical novel organized around the events of the French Revolution (1789-1794), the major historical features are drawn from the major events of the revolutionary period in France – the fall of the Bastille (July 14, 1789), the September Massacres (September 2-6, 1792), and the Reign of Terror (1793-1794).
From a historical point of view, A Tale of Two Cities gives a rather compressed account of the French Revolution; yet this is appropriate in a novel concerned as much with the lives of private individuals as with public events. Dickens researched the revolutionary period carefully in preparation for writing A Tale of Two Cities, and the novel maintains a high level of historical accuracy.
1859: The Period of the Novel’s Publication
In 1859, when A Tale of Two Cities was first serialized, England was experiencing a period of social and political stability. It had long enjoyed a stable monarchy, and it had become – partly through its leading role in the Industrial Revolution and through colonial expansion – a prosperous nation and a major European power. France was comparatively tumultuous. After the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte had become emperor (in 1804) and started on his campaign to take over Europe. In 1814, the French monarchy was restored by the forces allied against Napoleon (including England) and the Emperor was sent into exile; he returned, however, and regained power for a brief period before his final defeat in 1815. France then had a king again, but monarchical rule was challenged by the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, the latter establishing the Second Republic. Louis Napoleon, a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, became president of the Second Republic in 1848; in 1852, however, he declared himself emperor. The Second Republic then became the Second Empire.
Though relations were essentially peaceful between England and the Second Empire, the British tended to perceive a second Emperor Napoleon as a possible threat, and the French were not endeared to the English by events of 1858: an assassination attempt on Louis Napoleon and his Empress disclosed a plot organized by a group of French people living in England. This plot, perpetrated with grenades of Birmingham manufacture, increased French-English tensions in the year before A Tale of Two Cities was published; however, it did not have serious consequences for international relations.
Our own country was on the verge of a major historical event in 1859. Having gained its independence in the period represented in A Tale of Two Cities, America was about to embark, just after the novel’s publication, upon the Civil War (1860-65).
All the Year Round
Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1812, and spent his early years at Chatham, in Kent. In 1823, the family moved to London, where his father was eventually committed to Marshalsea Prison for debt. While his parents and siblings lived in the debtor’s prison, Charles was sent to work at Warren’s Blacking (a manufacturer of shoe-polish). He managed to support himself, alone, on the meager wages of a child laborer, but was plunged into a period of misery that threatened to destroy his hopes of growing up to be a man of merit and distinction. Though the latter catastrophe was averted, his youthful experiences haunted him for the rest of his life.
After leaving school at 15, Dickens started work as an office boy, but soon taught himself shorthand and entered journalism as a parliamentary reporter. In addition to his reports on the House of Commons, he began to contribute articles and sketches, and quickly gained a reputation as the popular journalist “Boz.” Boz’ first long work of fiction – The Pickwick Papers – was serialized in 1836/1837.
After the success of Pickwick, Dickens continued to produce serialized novels, and advanced to the editorship of various periodicals. A Tale of Two Cities was first serialized in All the Year Round – a journal conducted by Dickens himself – in 31 weekly installments from April 30 to November 26, 1859. It appeared simultaneously in eight monthly issues; monthly publication was Dickens’ accustomed format and he reasoned that it would “give [him his] old standing with [his] old public” to publish in monthly as well as weekly numbers. A Tale of Two Cities opened the very first issue of All the Year Round, and the immediate success of the periodical was in large part due to the success of the novel. During the run of A Tale of Two Cities, All the Year Round sold in excess of 100,000 copies per issue.
The Installment Plan
BOOK THE FIRST: RECALLED TO LIFE
Ch. 1-3 The Period; The Mail; The Night Shadows
Ch. 4 The Preparation
Ch. 5 The Wine Shop
Ch. 6 The Shoemaker
BOOK THE SECOND: THE GOLDEN THREAD
Ch. 1-2 Five Years Later; A Sight
Ch. 3 A Disappointment
Ch. 4-5 Congratulatory; The Jackal
Ch. 6 Hundreds of People
Ch. 7-8 Monseigneur in Town; Monseigneur in Country
Ch. 9 The Gorgon's Head
Ch. 10-11 Two Promises; A Companion Picture
Ch. 12-13 The Fellow of Delicacy; The Fellow of No Delicacy
Ch. 14 The Honest Tradesman
Ch. 15 Knitting
Ch. 16 Still Knitting
Ch. 17-18 One Night; Nine Days
Ch. 19-20 An Opinion; A Plea
Ch. 21 Echoing Footsteps
Ch. 22-23 The Sea Still Rises; Fire Rises
Ch. 24 Drawn to the Loadstone Rock
BOOK THE THIRD: THE TRACK OF A STORM
Ch. 1 In Secret
Ch. 2-3 The Grindstone; The Shadow
Ch. 4-5 Calm in Storm; The Wood-Sawyer
Ch. 6-7 Triumph; A Knock at the Door
Ch. 8 A Hand at Cards
Ch. 9 The Game Made
Ch. 10 The Substance of the Shadow
Ch. 11-12 Dusk; Darkness
Ch. 13 Fifty-two
Ch. 14 The Knitting Done
Ch. 15 The Footsteps Die Out Forever
The Old Bailey Courthouse
adapted from Clive Emsley, Tim Hitchcock, and Robert Shoemaker
London's Central Criminal Court, 1673-1913
The Old Bailey, also known as Justice Hall, the Sessions House, and the Central Criminal Court, was named after the street in which it was located, just off Newgate Street and next to Newgate Prison, in the western part of the City of London. Over the centuries, the building has been remodeled and rebuilt in ways which both reflected and influenced the changing ways trials were carried out and reported.
Location
The Old Bailey is located about 200 yards northwest of St Paul's Cathedral, just outside the former western wall of the City of London. It is named after the street on which it is located, which itself follows the line of the original fortified wall, or "bailey", of the City. The initial location of the courthouse close to Newgate Prison allowed prisoners to be conveniently brought to the courtroom for their trials. Its position between the City of London and Westminster meant it was a suitable location for trials involving people from all over the metropolis, north of the river Thames.
The Courtroom
Although the Old Bailey was rebuilt several times between 1674 and 1913, the basic design of the courtrooms remained the same. It was arranged to emphasize the contest between the accused and the rest of the court. The accused stood at “the bar” (or in “the dock”), directly facing the witness box (where prosecution and defense witnesses testified) and the judges sat on the other side of the room. Before the introduction of gas lighting in the early nineteenth century, a mirrored reflector was placed above the bar, in order to reflect light from the windows onto the faces of the accused. This allowed the court to examine their facial expressions and assess the validity of their testimony. In addition, a sounding board was placed over their heads in order to amplify their voices.
Jurors sat on the sides of the courtroom to both the left and the right of the accused, but in 1737, they were brought together in stalls on the defendant's right, sufficiently close together to be able to consult each other and arrive at verdicts without leaving the room. Seated at a table below where the judges sat were clerks, lawyers, and the writers who took the shorthand notes which formed the basis of the proceedings.
1673 Open Air Building
The medieval courthouse was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. In 1673 the Old Bailey was rebuilt as a three story Italianate brick building, described by John Strype in 1720 as "a fair and stately building". In front of the courthouse was the Sessions House Yard, a place where litigants, witnesses, and court personnel could gather. The area inside the wall, where prisoners awaited trial, was called the bail dock. They were separated from the street by a brick wall with spikes on top to keep them from escaping.
A surprising feature was that the ground floor of the building, where the courtroom was located, was open on one side to the weather; the upper stories were held up by columns. A wall had been left out in order to increase the supply of fresh air to reduce the risk that prisoners suffering from gaol fever (typhus) would infect others in court. On the first floor there was a "stately dining room" for the justices. Inside the courtroom, there was a bench for judges at the far end, and, on both sides, partitioned spaces for jurors and balconies for court officers and privileged observers. Other spectators crowded into the yard. The trials attracted a mixed audience of London's more and less respectable inhabitants, and it was alleged that criminals attended in order to devise strategies for defending themselves should they find themselves on trial. The crowd's presence could influence or intimidate the jurors sitting inside.
1737 Refronting
In 1737, the building was remodeled and enclosed. Although this was purportedly in order to keep out the weather, the City authorities may also have wanted to limit the influence of spectators. The ground floor of the exterior was refaced with large masonry blocks, and the windows and roofline altered to reflect prevailing architectural styles. A passageway was constructed linking the courthouse with Newgate Prison. The interior was rearranged so the trial jury could sit together, since they were now expected to give their verdicts after each trial, without leaving the courtroom.
With the courtroom now enclosed, the danger of infection increased, and at one session, in 1750, an outbreak of typhus led to the deaths of sixty people, including the Lord Mayor and two judges. Subsequently, the judges spread nosegays (bouquets) and aromatic herbs to keep down the stench and prevent infection, a practice commemorated in a ceremony which continues to this day. Spectators frequently came to see the trials, and courthouse officials had the right to charge fees. Although not approved by all, spectators continued to pay to see trials until 1860.
1774 Reconstruction
In 1774 the court was rebuilt by George Dance at a cost of £15,000. As a way of further controlling public access, a semi-circular brick wall was built around the area immediately in front of the courthouse, the bail dock. This wall provided better security for the prisoners awaiting trial and was intended to prevent communication between prisoners and the public. Public view of the courtroom windows was thereby obstructed. The narrow entrance also prevented a sudden influx of spectators into the courtroom.
The new courthouse still had only one courtroom, but it had new and often luxurious facilities for court personnel. There was a separate room for witnesses, so they would not be obliged to wait their turn in a nearby pub. A grand jury room was appointed with eighteen leather seated chairs and three tables. There were also separate parlors for the Sheriff and Lord Mayor, a Lord Mayor's Clerk's Room, an Indictment Office, and a drawing room for the sword bearer and judges' clerks. The lavish provision for the judges and their servants contrasted dramatically with the prisoners' quarters in the basement. The Lord Mayor's Dining Room, for example, included a fireplace with a mosaic on the front, mahogany dining tables, chairs, a pot cupboard, and a large Turkey carpet. Mirrors were added in 1787. Elaborate dinners, served with drink from the wine vault, were provided at 3pm and 5pm. Outside, there was a covered colonnade for carriages and 5 coach stands.
The courtroom had four brass chandeliers and a semi-circular mahogany table for council to plead from. Since some prisoners were still branded, there were two irons for confining convicts' hands while they were burnt. A large glass mirror continued to be positioned to reflect daylight onto the face of the accused (later replaced by gas lights). Behind the jurors, and seated above them, was a gallery for spectators (fees were still charged for admission). Although only a limited number of spectators could be accommodated, the increasingly detailed proceedings published in these years allowed anyone who read them to keep informed of events in the courtroom.
In order to accommodate the growing number of trials, a second courtroom was added in 1824 by converting a neighboring building. Reflecting the still increasing role of lawyers, the new courtroom had seating for attorneys, counsel, and law students. There were also seats for spectators, jurors in waiting, prosecutors and witnesses, and officers of the court.
In subsequent decades, two additional courtrooms were added, but conditions, as can be seen in this depiction, were cramped: the fourth courtroom contained little more room than was necessary for the judge, jury, and prisoner’s dock, with counsel and the clerk forced to sit in a narrow row of seats. There was no seating for the public, which had to stand in the gangway.
1907 Current Building
As trials lengthened and the number of those seeking to watch increased in the late nineteenth century the courthouse building became increasingly inadequate. In 1877, a fire forced the City of London to act and proposals were drawn up for a new building. Owing to the dilapidation of Newgate Prison next door, which by the 1860s no longer held long-term prisoners, it was decided to pull down both buildings to make room for a larger building.
After many delays, the new building, designed by E. W. Mountford and built at a cost of £392,277, was finally opened in 1907. It was lavishly adorned with symbolic reminders to the public of its virtuous purpose. On top of the 67 foot high dome a 12 foot gold leaf statue was placed of a “lady of justice” holding a sword in one hand and the scales of justice in the other; she is not, as is conventional with such figures, blindfolded. Over the main entrance to the building figures were placed representing fortitude, the recording angel, and truth, along with the carved inscription, “defend the children of the poor and punish the wrongdoer”.
The exterior was faced in Portland stone, while the interior lobbies and a monumental staircase had Sicilian marble floors, allegorical paintings representing Labor, Art, Wisdom, and Truth, and ornate mosaic arches. The four oak-paneled courtrooms contained space for all those who needed to attend modern trials. Each courtroom had a spacious dock, enclosed by low partitions, for the defendants, with a staircase leading directly below to the holding cells. There were now separate rooms for male and female witnesses, and another for witnesses of “the better class”.
At the opening ceremonies, the Recorder of London addressed the King and Queen: We trust that this building, whilst well adapted for the transaction of legal business, also possesses architectural features at once dignified and beautiful, which will make it an ornament to the metropolis of your Empire and a fitting home for the first Criminal Court of Justice in your Majesty's dominions.
The building was heavily damaged by a bombing in 1941 and rebuilt. A modern extension was added in 1972. Nonetheless, the current building on the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey, which still holds trials of local and national significance and can be visited, remains at its core the building which was first opened in 1907.
Hot Chocolate in 1780
Every wondered what goes into this yummy favorite? Here are the ingredients and the process nobility would have expected:
"Place one tablet of chocolate for each cup of water in a coffee pot and bring it slowly to a boil; when ready to serve, add one egg yolk for every four cups and stir with the baton over a slow fire, without boiling. It is better if made in the evening for the next day. Those who drink it every day save a leaven for the next day's pot. Instead of an egg yolk, a whipped egg white can be used after removing the first froth; blend it with a little chocolate taken from the coffee pot, then put it in the pot and finish off with a yolk."
"Yes. It took four men, all four a-blaze with gorgeous decoration, and the Chief of them unable to exist with fewer than two gold watches in his pocket, emulative of the noble and chaste fashion set by Monseigneur, to conduct the happy chocolate to Monseigneur's lips. One laquey carried the chocolate-pot into the sacred presence; a second, milled and frothed the chocolate with the little instrument he bore for that function; a third, presented the favoured napkin; a fourth (he of the two gold watches), poured the chocolate out. It was impossible for Monseigneur to dispense with one of these attendants on the chocolate and hold his high place under the admiring Heavens. Deep would have been the blot upon his escutcheon if his chocolate had been ignobly waited on by only three men; he must have died of two" (Dickens 108).
Joseph Foullon de Doué
Joseph-François Foullon de Doué or Foulon de Doué
(25 June 1715–22 July 1789, Paris) was a French politician and a Controller-General of Finances under Louis XVI.
Born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, he was Intendant-General of the armies during the Seven Years' War, and Intendant of the Army and Navy under Marshal de Belle-Isle. In 1771, he was appointed Intendant of Finances. In 1789, when Jacques Necker was dismissed, Foullon was appointed Controller-General of Finances and minister of the king's household, having been the choice of the reactionary party as a substitute.
He became unpopular on all sides. The farmers-general resented his severity; the Parisians his wealth whom viewed it as result of exploitation of the poor. An unsubstantiated rumor accused him of having said during an earlier famine: "If those rascals have no bread, then let them eat hay". Foullon was member of the Parlement of Paris prior to the French Revolution, nicknamed Ame damnée (familiar demon).
After the storming of the Bastille, aware of the people's hatred, Foullon fled Paris to his friend Antoine de Sartine's house at Viry-Châtillon, a few miles south of the capital. He attempted to spread the news of his death. He was, however, soon captured by the peasants on Sartine's estate, and taken to the Hôtel de Ville (made to walk barefoot, he had a bundle of hay tied to his back, was given to drink only peppered vinegar, and had the sweat on his face wiped off with nettles).
Jean Sylvain Bailly and the Marquis de La Fayette tried to interpose themselves, but Foullon de Doué was dragged out, together with his son-in-law Berthier de Sauvigny, by the populace to the Place de Grève. As he was hung from a lamp-post, the rope broke three times in a row — so members of the crowd decided to behead him instead, before parading his head on a pike with his mouth stuffed with hay. (Berthier de Sauvigny was killed at roughly the same time.)
“…the men sternly calling out to have him killed with grass in his mouth. Once, he went aloft, and the rope broke, and they caught him shrieking; then, the rope was merciful and held him, and his head was soon upon a pike, with grass enough in the mouth for all Saint Antoine to dance at the sight of” (Dickens 227).
Dickens’ account of Foulon’s lynching follows Carlyle’s in The French Revolution:
We are but at the 22nd of the month [of July, 1789], hardly above a week since the Bastille fell, when it suddenly appears that old Foulon is alive; nay, that he is here, in early morning, in the streets of Paris: the extortioner, the plotter, who would make the people eat grass, and was a liar from the beginning! – It is even so. The deceptive “sumptuous funeral” (of some domestic that died); the hiding-place at Vitry towards Fontainebleau, have not availed that wretched old man. Some living domestic or dependent, for none loves Foulon, has betrayed him to the Village. Merciless boors of Vitry unearth him; pounce on him, like hell-hounds: Westward, old Infamy; to Paris, to be judged at the Hôtel-de-Ville! His old head, which seventy-four years have bleached, is bare; they have tied an emblematic bundle of grass on his back; a garland of nettles and thistles is round his neck: in this manner, led with ropes; goaded on with curses and menaces, must he, with his old limbs, sprawl forward; the most unpitied of all old men.
Sooty Saint-Antoine, and every street, musters its crowds as he passes; – the Hall of the Hôtel-de-Ville, the Place de Grève itself, will scarcely hold his escort and him. Foulon must not only be judged righteously, but judged there where he stands, without any delay…. With wild yells, Sansculottism [revolutionaries] clutches him, in its hundred hands: he is whirled across the Place de Grève, to the “Lanterne,” Lamp-iron which there is at the corner of the Rue de la Vannerie; pleading bitterly for his life, – to the deaf winds. Only with the third rope (for two ropes broke, and the quavering voice still pleaded) can he be so much as got hanged! His Body is dragged through the streets; his Head goes aloft on a pike, the mouth filled with grass: amid sounds as of Tophet, from a grass-eating people (Carlyle 173-174).
“…on hearing when the day closed in that the son-in-law of the dispatched, another of the people’s enemies and insulters, was coming to Paris under a guard five hundred strong, in cavalry alone. Saint Antoine wrote his crimes on flaring sheets of paper, seized him – would have torn him out of the breast of an army to bear Foulon company – set his head and heart on pikes, and carried the three spoils of the day, in Wolf-procession through the streets” (Dickens 227-228).
Dickens’ description of Foulon’s son-in-law’s death follows, again, Carlyle’s description in The French Revolution. Foulon’s son-in-law was Louis-Bénigne-François de Bertier de Sauvigny (1737-89) (Sanders 123):
To add to the horror …, word comes that Berthier has also been arrested; that he is on his way hither from Compiègne. Berthier, Intendant (say Tax-levier) of Paris; sycophant and tyrant; forestaller of Corn; contriver of Camps against the people; – accused of many things: is he not Foulon’s son-in-law; and, in that one point, guilty of all? In these hours too, when Sansculottism has its blood up! The shuddering Municipals send one of their number to escort him, with mounted National Guards.
At the fall of day, the wretched Berthier, still wearing a face of courage, arrives at the Barrier; in an open carriage; with the Municipal beside him; five hundred horsemen with drawn sabers; unarmed footmen enough: not without noise! Placards go brandished round him; bearing legibly his indictment, as Sansculottism, with unlegal brevity, “in huge letters,” draws it up. Paris is come forth to meet him: with hand-clappings, with windows flung up; with dances, triumph-songs, as of the Furies. Lastly, the Head of Foulon; this also meets him on a pike. Well might his “look become glazed,” and sense fail him, at such sight! – Nevertheless, be the man’s conscience what it may, his nerves are of iron. At the Hôtel-de-Ville, he will answer nothing. He says he obeyed superior orders; they have his papers; they may judge and determine: as for himself, not having closed an eye these two nights, he demands, before all things, to have sleep. Leaden sleep, thou miserable Berthier! Guards rise with him, in motion toward the [Prison of the] Abbaye. At the very door of the Hôtel-de-Ville, they are clutched; flung asunder, as by a vortex of mad arms; Berthier whirls towards the Lanterne. He snatches a musket; fells and strikes, defending himself like a mad lion: he is borne down, trampled, hanged, mangled: his Head too, and even his Heart, flies over the City on a pike (Carlyle 175-176).
La Carmagnole
Madame Veto avait promis:
De faire egorger tout Paris.
Mais son coup a manqué
Grace a nos canonniers.
Refrain
Dansons la Carmagnole,
Vive le son, vive le son,
Dansons la Carmagnole,
Vive le son du canon!
Monsieur Veto avait promis:
D’etre fidele a son pays.
Mais il y a manqué,
Ne faisons plus de quartier.
Refrain
Amis, restons toujours unis:
Ne craignons pas nos ennemis.
S’ils viennent nous attaquer,
Nous les ferons sauter.
Refrain
The Carmagnole
Mrs. Veto has promised:
Have everyone in Paris killed.
She didn’t succeed
Thanks to cannoniers.
Dance the Carmagnole,
Long live the sound, long live the sound,
Dance the Carmagnole,
Long live the sound of the cannon!
Mr. Veto had a promise:
To be true to his country.
But he failed,
Let’s have no mercy.
Refrain
Friends, lets always stand together:
Don’t fear your enemies.
If they attack,
We blow them up.
Refrain
The Carmagnole Definition
noun car·ma·gnole \ ˈkär-mən-ˌyōl \
1. a lively song popular at the time of the first French Revolution
2: a street dance in a meandering course to the tune of the carmagnole
Works Cited
Barnard, Fred. "A Tale of Two Cities, the mob in Paris dancing La Carmagnole" Wikimedia Commons, 1870, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:T2C,_Fred_Barnard,_The_Carmagnole_(III,5).jpeg
"Carmagnole." Merriam Webster, 2018, Merriam Webster. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carmagnole. 10 April 2018.
Cassell, John. "Cassell's Illustrated History of England, Volume 5". Wikimedia Commons, 1865, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P613_SANS_CULOTTES_DANS_THE_CARMAGNOLE.jpg
"Charles Dickens." Wikimedia, 1842, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Charles_Dickens_sketch_1842.jpg
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Vintage Classics, 1990.
Dickens, Charles. "A Tale of Two Cities, Chapter 1, published in the periodical All The Year Round." Wikimedia Commons, 1859, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Tale_of_Two_Cities,_Chapter_1,_in_All_The_Year_Round.png
"Execution Robespierre." Wikimedia Commons, 1794, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie, RESERVE QB-370 (48)-FT 4, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Execution_robespierre,_saint_just....jpg
Gurney, Jeremiah. "Charles Dickens." Wikimedia Commons, between 1867 and 1868, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Dickens_Gurney_head.jpg
"Louis Bénigne Berthier de Sauvigny (1737-1789)." Wikimedia Commons, 18th Century, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louis_B%C3%A9nigne_de_Sauvigny.jpg
"The Carmagnole (Dance Around the Guillotine). Lithograph." Wikimedia Commons, 1901, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Carmagnole_-_K%C3%A4the_Kollwitz.pn