Note 7 to Chapter 5 of the author's Dickens and the Rhetoric of Laughter which Clarendon Press published in 1972. It has been included in the Victorian Web with the kind permission of the author and of the Clarendon Press, which retains copyright.
Kathleen Tillotson says we "enjoy the nicely contrived nemesis by which 'history' converts the innkeeper from invincible stupidity to imbecile stupor, and from petty tyranny to submissiveness" (Preface, p. xi). I find the verb "enjoy" incredibly inappropriate to what Dickens is doing here.
Last modified: 3 May 2001