344-345).ĭickens' amateur acting troupe performing Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Son Edward Bulwer Lytton (Plorn) Dickens born ( Slater, 2009, p. 'Twas Moll and Bet, and Doll and Kate, and Dorothy Draggletail,Īnd John and Dick, and Joe and Jack, and Humphrey with his flail.Īnd Kitty was a charming girl to carry the milking pail.Ĭharles Dickens' life during the serialization of Bleak House The name comes from a traditional song and became a common term to refer to a housewife ( ). One of the endearing names given to Esther Summerson when she takes over the household keys of Bleak House. Albans in Hertfordshire, about 20 miles north of London ( Google Map). In Bleak House Richard Carstone hires Vholes as his solicitor in the Jarndyce and Jarndyce Chancery case.Ĭharles Dickens located John Jarndyce's Bleak House near the old Roman town of St. The court was presided over by the Lord Chancellor, disputants in Chancery cases used solicitors to state their case to hired barristers who presented them in court ( Wikipedia). Properties tied up 'in Chancery' were not financially accessible to possible beneficiaries. The Court of Chancery was founded during the reign of Richard II and in Dickens' time was a model of inefficiency. Dickens wrote several stories featuring Field (sometimes under the name of Wield) in his weekly journal Household Words, including On Duty with Inspector Field ( Household Words, 1851, 265). Field, a member of London's new police force ( Slater, 2009, p. Dickens based Bucket on real life detective Charles F. Hired by lawyer Tulkinghorn to inquire into Lady Dedlock's secret past, Bucket later investigates Tulkinghorn's murder. FieldIn Bleak House Charles Dickens introduced one of the first detectives in English Literature: Inspector Bucket.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens