The Charles Dickens Page
Charles Dickens' Characters N-Q
N - O - P - Q
Nadgett ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) PIX Private investigator hired by Tigg Montague to provide information on the customers of the fraudulent Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company. Nadgett exposes Jonas Chuzzlewit as Montague's murderer. Nadgett is also the landlord of Tom and Ruth Pinch in Islington. He was the man at a pound a week who made the inquiries. It was no virtue or merit in Nadgett that he transacted all his Anglo-Bengalee business secretly and in the closest confidence; for he was born to be a secret. He was a short, dried-up, withered, old man, who seemed to have secreted his very blood; for nobody would have given him credit for the possession of six ounces of it in his whole body.. (top)
Namby ( Pickwick Papers ) Sheriff's Deputy who comes to arrest Samuel Pickwick when Pickwick refuses to pay costs after the Bardell vs Pickwick trial. He incurs the wrath of Sam Weller. A man of about forty, with black hair, and carefully combed whiskers; dressed in a particularly gorgeous manner, with plenty of articles of jewellery about him–all about three sizes larger than those which are usually worn by gentlemen–and a rough great-coat to crown the whole. (top)
Nancy ( Oliver Twist ) PIX Prostitute and member of Fagin's band of thieves. Befriends Oliver and is eventually murdered by Sikes trying to help Oliver escape Fagin's clutches. Wore a good deal of hair, not very neatly turned up behind, and were rather untidy about the shoes and stockings. They were not exactly pretty, perhaps; but they had a great deal of colour in their faces, and looked quite stout and hearty.
Geolinks: London Bridge (top)
Nandy, John Edward ( Little Dorrit ) PIX Mrs Plornish's father. A poor little reedy piping old gentleman, like a worn-out bird; who had been in what he called the music-binding business, and met with great misfortunes, and who had seldom been able to make his way, or to see it or to pay it, or to do anything at all with it but find it no thoroughfare. (top)
Nathan, Mr ( Sketches by Boz: Private Theatres ) Dresser (manages wardrobe) in private theatricals. (top)
Native, The ( Dombey and Son ) Indian servant of Major Joe Bagstock who had no particular name, but answered to any vituperative epithet. (top)
Neckett ( Bleak House ) Sheriff's officer who arrests debtors and delivers them to Coavin's sponging house (temporary debtor's prison) thus Skimpole gives Neckett the nickname "Coavinses". Neckett dies leaving three orphans: Charlotte (Charley), Emma, and Tom. (top)
Neckett, Charlotte (Charley) ( Bleak House ) Daughter of sheriff's officer Neckett. When her father dies Charley cares for her two younger siblings: Emma and Tom. Charley becomes Esther Summerson's maid, nursing Esther through smallpox. She later marries a miller. A very little girl, childish in figure but shrewd and older-looking in the face--pretty-faced too--wearing a womanly sort of bonnet much too large for her and drying her bare arms on a womanly sort of apron. Her fingers were white and wrinkled with washing, and the soap-suds were yet smoking which she wiped off her arms. But for this, she might have been a child playing at washing and imitating a poor working-woman with a quick observation of the truth. (top)
Neckett, Emma ( Bleak House ) Daughter of Neckett and baby sister to Charley and Tom. a heavy child of eighteen months. Later becomes Esther Summerson's maid after Charley gets married. (top)
Neckett, Tom ( Bleak House ) Son of Neckett and brother to Charley and Emma. a mite of a boy, some five or six years old. Later apprenticed to Charley's husband, a miller. (top)
Ned ( Oliver Twist ) Chimney sweep whom Bill Sikes laments has been lagged (sentenced to transportation) and the small boy Ned "kept small on purpose" and was formerly available for thief work, has been reformed and given honest work. (top)
Neddy ( Pickwick Papers ) Turnkey at the Fleet Prison. (top)
Nell's Grandfather ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) PIX Owner of the Old Curiosity Shop. He has a secret gambling habit, hoping to make a fortune for his granddaughter. He borrows money to gamble from Quilp, when he cannot pay he takes Nell and escapes London to the country. When Nell dies he is heartbroken and dies soon after. It was an old man with long grey hair, whose face and figure as he held the light above his head and looked before him as he approached, I could plainly see. Though much altered by age, I fancied I could recognize in his spare and slender form something of that delicate mould which I had noticed in a child. Their bright blue eyes were certainly alike, but his face was so deeply furrowed and so very full of care, that here all resemblance ceased. (top)
Nemo ( Bleak House ) Alias of Capt. Hawdon (Nemo is Latin for nobody). Nemo is doing some law copying for Snagsby and is a boarder in Krook's rag and bottle shop when he dies of an opium overdose. He is later found to be the former lover of Lady Dedlock and the father of Esther Summerson. When Nemo approaches Mrs Snagsby about copying work she was rather took by something about this person, whether by his being unshaved, or by his hair being in want of attention.
Geolinks: Chancery Lane (top)
Nettingalls, Misses ( David Copperfield ) Proprietors of a girls school in Canterbury attended by Miss Shepherd, an early love of David Copperfield. (top)
Newcome, Clemency ( The Battle of Life ) Lovable, awkward, and clumsy servant of Dr. Jeddler. She later marries Benjamin Britain and together they run the comfortable Nutmeg-Grater and Thimble Inn. (top)
Nicholas ( Sketches by Boz: A Parliamentary Sketch ) Butler at Bellamy's, the refreshment room in the Houses of Parliament. Held the same place, dressed exactly in the same manner, and said precisely the same things, ever since the oldest of its present visiters can remember. (top)
Nickleby, Godfrey ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Grandfather of Nicholas Nickleby. Originally from Devonshire, where he married. He relocated to London, became financially embarrassed, and was contemplating buying a life insurance policy and then jumping off of the Monument in order to provide for his wife and two sons. His rich uncle Ralph, whom he had named his eldest son after in hopes of garnering favor, died leaving him 5000 pounds sterling. He purchased a small farm, near Dawlish in Devonshire, whither he retired with his wife and two children, to live upon the best interest he could get for the rest of his money, and the little produce he could raise from his land. The two prospered so well together that, when he died, some fifteen years after this period, and some five after his wife, he was enabled to leave, to his eldest son, Ralph, three thousand pounds in cash, and to his youngest son, Nicholas, one thousand and the farm, which was as small a landed estate as one would desire to see. (top)
Nickleby, Mrs Godfrey ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Wife of Godfrey Nickleby who died five years before her husband. (top)
Nickleby, Kate ( Nicholas Nickleby ) PIX Sister of Nicholas. She is placed by her uncle, Ralph Nickleby, with Madame Mantalini. Kate becomes the object of the undesirable attentions of some of the evil-minded clients of her uncle, who is using her to his advantage. She is rescued by Nicholas with the help of Newman Noggs. Later she marries Frank Cheeryble. A slight but very beautiful girl of about seventeen.
Geolinks: Strand, Thames Street (top)
Nickleby, Mrs ( Nicholas Nickleby ) PIX Mother of Nicholas and Kate. Absent-minded and self-absorbed, she continues to "put on airs" even in the reduced situation of her family after the financial ruin and death of her husband. The character is heavily drawn from Dickens' mother. The daughter of a neighbouring gentleman with a dower of one thousand pounds.
Geolinks: Strand, Thames Street (top)
Nickleby, Nicholas Sr ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Father of Nicholas Nickleby. He lived a single man on the patrimonial estate until he grew tired of living alone, and then he took to wife the daughter of a neighbouring gentleman with a dower of one thousand pounds. This good lady bore him two children, a son and a daughter, and when the son was about nineteen, and the daughter fourteen, as near as we can guess--impartial records of young ladies' ages being, before the passing of the new act, nowhere preserved in the registries of this country--Mr Nickleby looked about him for the means of repairing his capital, now sadly reduced by this increase in his family, and the expenses of their education.
'Speculate with it,' said Mrs Nickleby.
...Speculation is a round game; the players see little or nothing of their cards at first starting; gains MAY be great--and so may losses. The run of luck went against Mr Nickleby. A mania prevailed, a bubble burst, four stock-brokers took villa residences at Florence, four hundred nobodies were ruined, and among them Mr Nickleby. (top)Nickleby, Nicholas ( Nicholas Nickleby ) PIX Brother to Kate and nephew of Ralph. Hoping to provide support for his mother and sister after the death of his father, he turns to his uncle Ralph for assistance. Ralph wants nothing to do with his late brother's family and feigns to help Nicholas by securing a position as assistant master at the Dotheboys Hall school, run by unscrupulous Wackford Squeers. Nicholas soon becomes disgusted with Squeer's treatment of his pupils and leaves, giving Squeers a sound thrashing and liberating Smike, whom Squeers has mistreated for years. Nicholas and Smike move in with Newman Noggs in London and then travel to Portsmouth where they take up acting in Crummles stage company. On hearing of the mistreatment of his sister at the hands of his uncle, Nicholas, with Smike, returns to London. Nicholas secures employment with the philanthropic Cheeryble brothers and later marries Madeline Bray whom he has helped rescue from the evil designs of Ralph and Arthur Gride. Bright with the light of intelligence and spirit. His figure was somewhat slight, but manly and well formed; and, apart from all the grace of youth and comeliness, there was an emanation from the warm young heart in his look and bearing.
Nicholas seems to have a bit more pluck than many of Dickens young heroes and in the preface to the 1848 Cheap Edition of Nicholas Nickleby Dickens writes If Nicholas be not always found to be blameless or agreeable, he is not always intended to appear so. He is a young man of an impetuous temper and of little or no experience; and I saw no reason why such a hero should be lifted out of nature. (top)
Nickleby, Ralph (1) ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Uncle of Godfrey Nickleby who leaves him 5000 pounds sterling. The amiable old gentleman, it seemed, had intended to leave the whole to the Royal Humane Society, and had indeed executed a will to that effect; but the Institution, having been unfortunate enough, a few months before, to save the life of a poor relation to whom he paid a weekly allowance of three shillings and sixpence, he had, in a fit of very natural exasperation, revoked the bequest in a codicil, and left it all to Mr Godfrey Nickleby; with a special mention of his indignation, not only against the society for saving the poor relation's life, but against the poor relation also, for allowing himself to be saved. (top)
Nickleby, Ralph ( Nicholas Nickleby ) PIX Uncle to Nicholas and Kate (and later we find, father of Smike). A rich and miserly moneylender who feigns to help his late brother's family but, in reality, tries to humiliate Nicholas and use Kate to his own advantage. His evil plans and schemes prove his ultimate undoing and he eventually hangs himself. He wore a bottle-green spencer over a blue coat; a white waistcoat, grey mixture pantaloons, and Wellington boots drawn over them. The corner of a small-plaited shirt-frill struggled out, as if insisting to show itself, from between his chin and the top button of his spencer; and the latter garment was not made low enough to conceal a long gold watch-chain, composed of a series of plain rings, which had its beginning at the handle of a gold repeater in Mr Nickleby's pocket, and its termination in two little keys: one belonging to the watch itself, and the other to some patent padlock. He wore a sprinkling of powder upon his head, as if to make himself look benevolent; but if that were his purpose, he would perhaps have done better to powder his countenance also, for there was something in its very wrinkles, and in his cold restless eye, which seemed to tell of cunning that would announce itself in spite of him.
Geolinks: Golden Square (top)
Nickleby, Mrs Ralph ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Wife of Ralph Nickleby and mother of Smike. Ralph married her for her money, which he could only obtain by keeping the marriage secret. A child was born (Smike) and put out to nurse a long way off. She constantly urged [Ralph] to avow their marriage; he peremptorily refused. She remained alone in a dull country house: seeing little or no company but riotous, drunken sportsmen. He lived in London and clung to his business. Angry quarrels and recriminations took place, and when they had been married nearly seven years, and were within a few weeks of the time when the brother's death would have adjusted all, she eloped with a younger man, and left him. (top)
Nickits ( Hard Times ) Former owner of Bounderby's country estate. (top)
Nipper, Susan ( Dombey and Son ) PIX Florence Dombey's maid who is discharged when she confronts Paul Dombey about his treatment of Florence. She later marries Toots. Dickens describes Susan as a short, brown womanly girl, with a little snub nose, and black eyes like jet beads. (top)
Nixon Family ( Sketches by Boz: Mrs Joseph Porter ) Audience members at the Gattleton's private theatrical. (top)
Noakes, Percy ( Sketches by Boz: The Steam Excursion ) Law student at Gray's Inn and organizer of the steam excursion. He invariably spoke with astonishing rapidity; was smart, spoffish, and eight-and-twenty.
Geolinks: Gray's Inn (top)
Nockemorf ( Pickwick Papers ) Previous owner of the medical business taken over by Bob Sawyer in Bristol. (top)
Noddy, Mr ( Pickwick Papers ) Guest at Bob Sawyer's dinner party. A scorbutic youth in a long stock. (top)
Noggs, Newman ( Nicholas Nickleby ) PIX Once a well-to-do gentleman but he squanders his money and is reduced to serving Ralph Nickleby as clerk. He befriends Nicholas and eventually helps him defeat the designs of Ralph. A sallow-faced man in rusty brown, who sat upon an uncommonly hard stool in a species of butler's pantry at the end of the passage, and always had a pen behind his ear when he answered the bell. He was a tall man of middle age, with two goggle eyes whereof one was a fixture, a rubicund nose, a cadaverous face, and a suit of clothes (if the term be allowable when they suited him not at all) much the worse for wear, very much too small, and placed upon such a short allowance of buttons that it was marvellous how he contrived to keep them on.
Geolinks: Golden Square (top)
Norris family ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) New York friends of Mr Bevan whom he introduces to Martin Chuzzlewit. The family consists of Mr and Mrs, two daughters, a son, and the grandmother. Their initial warm welcome cools when they discover that Martin made the trip to America in steerage. (top)
Nubbles, Christopher (Kit) ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) PIX Kit is shop boy at the Curiosity Shop owned by Nell's grandfather and is devoted to Nell. Kit lives at home with his widowed mother, his brother Jacob, and baby brother. Kit is later hired by the Garlands and is wrongly charged with theft by Brass. At the end of the novel we find Kit has married Barbara. A shock-headed, shambling, awkward lad with an uncommonly wide mouth, very red cheeks, a turned-up nose, and certainly the most comical expression of face.
Nubbles, Jacob ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) Kit's little brother. A sturdy boy of two or three years old, very wide awake, with a very tight night-cap on his head, and a night-gown very much too small for him on his body. (top)
Nubbles, Mrs ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) PIX Widowed mother to Kit, Jacob, and the baby. She accompanies The Single Gentleman on his journey to find Nell and her grandfather. (top)
Nupkins, George ( Pickwick Papers ) Mayor of Ipswich. Samuel Pickwick and Tracy Tupman are brought before him on a charge leveled by Miss Witherfield. (top)
Nupkins, Henrietta ( Pickwick Papers ) Daughter of Ipswich mayor George Nupkins. Miss Nupkins possessed all her mamma's haughtiness without the turban, and all her ill-nature without the wig. (top)
Nupkins, Mrs ( Pickwick Papers ) Wife of Ipswich mayor George Nupkins. A majestic female in a blue gauze turban and a light brown wig. (top)
O
O'Bleary, Frederick ( Sketches by Boz: The Boarding House ) Boarder at Mrs Tibbs' boarding house. Mr O'Bleary was an Irishman, recently imported; he was in a perfectly wild state, and had come over to England to be an apothecary, a clerk in a government office, an actor, a reporter, or any thing else that turned up – he was not particular. (top)
O'Brien ( Sketches by Boz: The River ) Passenger on the Gravesend steamer who has an eye for the young ladies. (top)
Omer, Minnie ( David Copperfield ) Daughter of Mr Omer and a seamstrss in her father's business. She later marries the shop foreman Joram. A pretty, good-natured girl. (top)
Omer, Mr ( David Copperfield ) Undertaker in Yarmouth who arranges the funeral of Clara Copperfield. a fat, short-winded, merry-looking, little old man in black, with rusty little bunches of ribbons at the knees of his breeches, black stockings, and a broad-brimmer hat His daughter Minnie marries the shop foreman, Joram, who later inherits the business. Emily and Martha Endell work for Mr Omer. (top)
Onowenever, Miss and Mrs ( The Uncommercial Traveller - Birthday Celebrations ) Object of the Uncommercial Traveller's youthful affection and her mother. She was older than I, and had pervaded every chink and crevice of my mind for three or four years. I had held volumes of Imaginary Conversations with her mother on the subject of our union, and I had written letters more in number than Horace Walpole's, to that discreet woman, soliciting her daughter's hand in marriage. I had never had the remotest intention of sending any of those letters; but to write them, and after a few days tear them up, had been a sublime occupation. (top)
Orlick, Dolge ( Great Expectations ) PIX Joe Gargary's journeyman blacksmith, he quarrels with Mrs Joe and later attacks her, leaving her with injuries of which she later dies. He falls in with Compeyson and tries to murder Pip. He was a broadshouldered loose-limbed swarthy fellow of great strength, never in a hurry, and always slouching. He never even seemed to come to his work on purpose, but would slouch in as if by mere accident. (top)
Overs, John ( Our Mutual Friend ) Miser in Noddy Boffin’s collection of books concerning prominent misers purchased to give the illusion that he himself has become a miser. (top)
Overton, Joseph ( Sketches by Boz: The Great Winglebury Duel ) Solicitor, and mayor of Great Winglebury. He is recruited by Julia Manners to arrange an elopement with Lord Peter. Julia marries Alexander Trott whom she mistakes for Lord Peter. (top)
Owen, John ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) Student at Mr Marton's school. A lad of good parts, sir, and frank, honest temper; but too thoughtless, too playful, too light-headed by far. (top)
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Palmer ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Student at Dotheboys Hall. He wished he was in Heaven...he's always a-wishing something horrid. He said once, he wished he was a donkey, because then he wouldn't have a father as didn't love him! Pretty wicious that for a child of six! (top)
Palmer, Mr ( Sketches by Boz: Private Theatres ) Plays the part of an unknown bandit in a private theatrical. (top)
Pancks ( Little Dorrit ) PIX Clerk and rent collector for Mr Casby. He assists in finding William Dorrit's fortune. Dickens employs the metaphor of Pancks as a tugboat guiding Casby's "ship." He was dressed in black, and rusty iron grey; had jet black beads of eyes; a scrubby little black chin; wiry black hair striking out from his head in prongs, like forks or hair-pins; and a complexion that was very dingy by nature, or very dirty by art, or a compound of nature and art. He had dirty hands and dirty broken nails, and looked as if he had been in the coals; he was in a perspiration, and snorted and sniffed and puffed and blew, like a little laboring steam-engine.
Geolinks: Pentonville (top)
Pankey, Miss ( Dombey and Son ) Fellow boarder at Mrs Pipchin's with Paul and Florence Dombey. A mild little blue-eyed morsel of a child, who was shampoo'd every morning, and seemed in danger of being rubbed away, altogether. She is admonished by Mrs Pipchin that nobody who sniffed before visitors ever went to Heaven. (top)
Paragon, Mary Anne ( David Copperfield ) The first in a succession of incompetent maids hired by David and Dora Copperfield. Her nature was represented to us, when we engaged her, as being feebly expressed in her name. She had a written character, as large as a proclamation; and, according to this document, could do everything of a domestic nature that ever I heard of, and a great many things that I never did hear of. She was a woman in the prime of life; of a severe countenance; and subject (particularly in the arms) to a sort of perpetual measles or fiery rash. She had a cousin in the Life-Guards, with such long legs that he looked like the afternoon shadow of somebody else. His shell-jacket was as much too little for him as he was too big for the premises. He made the cottage smaller than it need have been, by being so very much out of proportion to it. Besides which, the walls were not thick, and, whenever he passed the evening at our house, we always knew of it by hearing one continual growl in the kitchen. (top)
Pardiggle, Mr ( Bleak House ) Husband of Mrs Pardiggle. An obstinate-looking man with a large waistcoat and stubbly hair, who was always talking in a loud bass voice about his mite, or Mrs Pardiggle's mite, or their five boys' mites. (top)
Pardiggle, Mrs ( Bleak House ) Pseudo-benevolent neighbor of John Jarndyce of the type who did a little and made a great deal of noise...She was a formidable style of lady with spectacles, a prominent nose, and a loud voice, who had the effect of wanting a great deal of room. And she really did, for she knocked down little chairs with her skirts that were quite a great way off.
Mother of five children: "These, young ladies," said Mrs Pardiggle with great volubility after the first salutations, "are my five boys. You may have seen their names in a printed subscription list (perhaps more than one) in the possession of our esteemed friend Mr Jarndyce. Egbert, my eldest (twelve), is the boy who sent out his pocket-money, to the amount of five and threepence, to the Tockahoopo Indians. Oswald, my second (ten and a half), is the child who contributed two and nine-pence to the Great National Smithers Testimonial. Francis, my third (nine), one and sixpence halfpenny; Felix, my fourth (seven), eightpence to the Superannuated Widows; Alfred, my youngest (five), has voluntarily enrolled himself in the Infant Bonds of Joy, and is pledged never, through life, to use tobacco in any form."
Esther Summerson: We had never seen such dissatisfied children. It was not merely that they were weazened and shrivelled--though they were certainly that to--but they looked absolutely ferocious with discontent. At the mention of the Tockahoopo Indians, I could really have supposed Eghert to be one of the most baleful members of that tribe, he gave me such a savage frown. The face of each child, as the amount of his contribution was mentioned, darkened in a peculiarly vindictive manner, but his was by far the worst. I must except, however, the little recruit into the Infant Bonds of Joy, who was stolidly and evenly miserable. (top)
Parker, Mr Johnson ( Sketches by Boz: The Ladies' Societies ) President of the ladies' bible and prayer-book distribution society with her daughters serving as treasurers, auditors, and secretary. (top)
Parker, Uncle ( Our Mutual Friend ) One of the imaginary inhabitants (along with Miss Elizabeth, Master George, and Aunt Jane) of the house near Cavendish Square where Silas Wegg sets up his costermonger cart. Later inhabited by the Boffins. (top)
Parkes, Phil (Long) ( Barnaby Rudge ) Friend of John Willet at the Maypole Inn. Had a large nose. (top)
Parkle ( The Uncommercial Traveller - Chambers ) Esteemed friend of the Uncommercial Traveller who has chambers at Gray's Inn Square. (top)
Parsons, Fanny ( Sketches by Boz: A Passage in the Life of Mr Watkins Tottle ) Wife of Gabriel. Gabriel married Fanny against her parents wishes. The fact is, Fanny's father and mother liked me well enough as an individual, but had a decided objection to my becoming a husband. You see, I hadn't any money in those days, and they had; and so they wanted Fanny to pick up somebody else. However, we managed to discover the state of each other's affections somehow. (top)
Parsons, Gabriel ( Sketches by Boz: A Passage in the Life of Mr Watkins Tottle ) Friend of Watkins Tottle who bails him out of debt with the understanding that when Tottle marries Miss Lillerton Gabriel will be rewarded. A short elderly gentleman with a gruffish voice. (top)
Parsons, Laetitia ( Sketches by Boz: Sentiment ) Performer at the Minerva House ball. (top)
Passnidge, Mr ( David Copperfield ) Friend of Edward Murdstone whom David Copperfield meets in Lowestoft along with Mr Quinion. At this meeting Murdstone, Passnidge, and Quinion discuss Murdstone's plan to marry Clara Copperfield and David is referred to as 'Brooks of Sheffield' to keep him in the dark. (top)
Pawkins, Major ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) The Major is typical of the scoundrels that Martin Chuzzlewit meets in America. (a gentleman of Pennsylvanian origin) was distinguished by a very large skull, and a great mass of yellow forehead; in deference to which commodities, it was currently held in bar-rooms and other such places of resort, that the major was a man of huge sagacity. He was further to be known by a heavy eye and a dull slow manner; and for being a man of that kind who – mentally speaking – requires a deal of room to turn himself in. But in trading on his stock of wisdom, he invariably proceeded on the principle of putting all the goods he had (and more) into his window; and that went a great way with his constituency of admirers. It went a great way, perhaps, with Mr Jefferson Brick, who took occasion to whisper in Martin's ear: 'One of the most remarkable men in our country, sir!' (top)
Pawkins, Mrs ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Wife of Major Pawkins and keeper of a boarding house in America where Martin Chuzzlewit and Mark Tapley stay. Very straight, bony, and silent. (top)
Payne, Dr ( Pickwick Papers ) Surgeon with the 43rd Rochester Regiment. Friend to Dr Slammer. A portly personage in a braided surtout. (top)
Peak ( Barnaby Rudge ) Valet of Sir John Chester. As cool and negligent in his way as his master. True to his master’s creed, [he] eloped with all the cash and moveables he could lay his hands on, and started as a finished gentleman upon his own account. (top)
Pecksniff, Charity (Cherry) ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) PIX Seth Pecksniff's older daughter and sister of Mercy Pecksniff. Haughty and ill-tempered, without her younger sister's playful nature. She is infuriated when passed over for marriage by Jonas Chuzzlewith who chooses her sister. She later promises herself to Augustus Moddle, who leaves her at the alter. Charity has a disposition which was then observed to be of a sharp and acid quality, as though an extra lemon (figuratively speaking) had been squeezed into the nectar of her disposition, and had rather damaged its flavour. (top)
Pecksniff, Mercy (Merry) ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) PIX Seth Pecksniff's younger daughter, five years younger than her sister, Charity Pecksniff. Seth gives her in marriage to Jonas Chuzzlewit, who breaks her spirit, and her heart. She was all girlishness, and playfulness, and wildness, and kittenish buoyancy. She was the most arch and at the same time the most artless creature, was the youngest Miss Pecksniff, that you can possibly imagine. It was her great charm. She was too fresh and guileless, and too full of child-like vivacity. (top)
Pecksniff, Seth ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) PIX Sanctimonious surveyor and architect "who has never designed or built anything", and one of the biggest hypocrites in fiction. Father of daughters Mercy and Charity. In an effort to gain his cousin, old Martin Chuzzlewit's, money he embraces then throws out the old man's grandson, young Martin Chuzzlewit, at old Martin's wish. When long time servant Tom Pinch learns of Pecksniff's treachery he is also thrown out. Pecksniff's self-serving designs are eventually exposed by Old Martin who reconciles with his grandson, young Martin. Dickens' description of Pecksniff's hypocrisy is telling: "Some people likened him to a direction-post, which is always telling the way to a place, and never goes there." His hair, just grizzled with an iron-gray, which was all brushed off his forehead, and stood bolt upright, or slightly drooped in kindred action with his heavy eyelids. So did his person, which was sleek though free from corpulency. So did his manner, which was soft and oily. In a word, even his plain black suit, and state of widower, and dangling double eye-glass, all tended to the same purpose, and cried aloud, 'Behold the moral Pecksniff!' (top)
Peddle and Pool, Messrs ( Little Dorrit ) Solicitors of Edward Dorrit. Among other items, Messrs Peddle and Pool, solicitors, of Monument Yard, were instructed by their client Edward Dorrit, Esquire, to address a letter to Mr Arthur Clennam, enclosing the sum of twenty-four pounds nine shillings and eightpence, being the amount of principal and interest computed at the rate of five per cent per annum, in which their client believed himself to be indebted to Mr Clennam. (top)
Peecher, Emma ( Our Mutual Friend ) Teacher of the girl's class at the school where Bradley Headstone is master. Emma is in love with Headstone but he does not return her affection. Small, shining, neat, methodical, and buxom was Miss Peecher; cherry-cheeked and tuneful of voice. A little pincushion, a little housewife, a little book, a little workbox, a little set of tables and weights and measures, and a little woman, all in one. (top)
Peerybingle, John ( Cricket on the Hearth ) Carrier, deliverer of goods, who is much older than his wife, Mary. (top)
Peerybingle, Mary (Dot) ( Cricket on the Hearth ) Mary is the much younger wife of John. She is called Dot due to her small size and dumpling shape. Her parents are Old Dot and Mrs Dot, both also small. Mary works to reunite old lovers May Fielding and Edward Plummer. (top)
Peffer ( Bleak House ) Deceased partner of Snagsby and uncle to Mrs Snagsby. Peffer is never seen in Cook's Court now. He is not expected there, for he has been recumbent this quarter of a century in the churchyard of St. Andrews, Holborn, with the waggons and hackney-coaches roaring past him all the day and half the night. (top)
Pegg (aka Waterhouse) ( The Uncommercial Traveller - Poor Mercantile Jack ) Liverpool crimp, one who traps or shanghais men into service as a sailor. (top)
Peggotty, Clara ( David Copperfield ) PIX David Copperfield's devoted nurse and sister to Daniel Peggotty. After the death of David's mother she is discharged and marries Barkis. When Barkis dies she goes to live with David and Betsey Trotwood. David comically describes getting a hug from Peggotty: She laid aside her work (which was a stocking of her own), and opening her arms wide, took my curly head within them, and gave it a good squeeze. I know it was a good squeeze, because, being very plump, whenever she made any little exertion after she was dressed, some of the buttons on the back of her gown flew off. And I recollect two bursting to the opposite side of the parlour, while she was hugging me.
Geolinks: Fleet Street, St. Paul's Cathedral, The Tower, Tottenham Court Road (top)
Peggotty, Daniel ( David Copperfield ) PIX Crotchety fisherman and dealer in lobsters, crabs, and crawfish. Brother of Clara. He lives in a converted boat on the beach at Yarmouth with Emily, Ham, and Mrs Gummidge. When Emily abandons them to elope with Steerforth, Daniel vows to find her. Steerforth later leaves Emily and she is re-united with Daniel. At the end of the novel Daniel, Emily, and Mrs Gummidge resettle in Australia. A hairy man with a very good-natured face. Quote: You'll find us rough, sir, but you'll find us ready.
Geolinks: Golden Square, Millbank, Westminster Bridge (top)
Peggotty, Ham ( David Copperfield ) PIX Fisherman and boatbuilder. Ham is the son of the drowned Joe Peggotty. He is taken in by his uncle, Daniel Peggotty. Later he is engaged to his cousin, Emily. He drowns trying to rescue Steerforth. He was a huge, strong fellow of six feet high, broad in proportion, and round-shouldered; but with a simpering boy's face and curly light hair that gave him quite a sheepish look. He was dressed in a canvas jacket, and a pair of such very stiff trousers that they would have stood quite as well alone, without any legs in them. And you couldn't so properly have said he wore a hat, as that he was covered in a-top, like an old building, with something pitchy. (top)
Peggotty, Joe ( David Copperfield ) Brother of Daniel Peggotty and father of Ham Peggotty. Joe was drowned before the story begins. (top)
Pegler, Mrs ( Hard Times ) Revealed at the end of the story to be Bounderby's loving mother, exposing his claim as "self-made man", who raised himself in the streets, to be a sham. An old woman, tall and shapely still, though withered by time...She was very cleanly and plainly dressed, had country mud upon her shoes, and was newly come from a journey. The flutter of her manner, in the unwonted noise of the streets; the spare shawl, carried unfolded on her arm; the heavy umbrella, and little basket; the loose long-fingered gloves, to which her hands were unused; all bespoke an old woman from the country, in her plain holiday clothes, come into Coketown on an expedition of rare occurrence. (top)
Pell, Solomon ( Pickwick Papers ) Shady lawyer whom Tony Weller engages to arrange Samuel Weller's imprisonment in the Fleet in order to be with his master, Samuel Pickwick. A fat flabby pale man, in a surtout which looked green one minute, and brown the next, with a velvet collar of the same cameleon tints. His forehead was narrow, his face wide, his head large, and his nose all on one side, as if Nature, indignant with the propensities she observed in him in his birth, had given it an angry tweak which it had never recovered. Being short-necked and asthmatic, however, he respired principally through this feature; so, perhaps, what it wanted in ornament it made up in usefulness. (top)
Peltirogus ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Former neighbors of the Nicklebys in Mrs Nickleby's remembrance who threw the most extravagant parties. Mrs Nickleby remembers that the family entertained the idea of an attachment for Kate Nickleby by 4-year-old Horatio Peltirogus. (top)
Peplow, Mrs ( Sketches by Boz: The Streets – Night ) Customer of the muffin boy who sends her son to fetch the buttered muffins. (top)
Pepper - The Avenger ( Great Expectations ) A servant boy hired by Pip. I had got on so fast of late, that I had even started a boy in boots - top boots - in bondage and slavery to whom I might have been said to pass my days. For, after I had made the monster (out of the refuse of my washerwoman's family) and had clothed him with a blue coat, canary waistcoat, white cravat, creamy breeches, and the boots already mentioned, I had to find him a little to do and a great deal to eat; and with both of those horrible requirements he haunted my existence. Pip has such a hard time finding things to keep him busy that I sometimes sent him to Hyde Park Corner to see what o'clock it was. (top)
Peps, Dr Parker ( Dombey and Son ) Physician present at Paul Dombey's birth and death. One of the Court Physicians, and a man of immense reputation. (top)
Perch ( Dombey and Son ) Messenger at the firm of Dombey and Son. He and his Wife live at Ball's Pond, a suburb on the northern edge of London. (top)
Perker, Mr ( Pickwick Papers ) Solicitor of Mr Wardle who stands as agent for Samual Slumkey in the Eatanswill election. He later represents Samuel Pickwick in the Bardell vs Pickwick breach of promise suit. He was a little high-dried man, with a dark squeezed up face, and small restless black eyes, that kept winking and twinkling on each side of his little inquisitive nose, as if they were playing a perpetual game of peep-bo with that feature. He was dressed all in black, with boots as shiny as his eyes, a low white neckcloth, and a clean shirt with a frill to it. A gold watch-chain, and seals, depended from his fob. He carried his black kid gloves in his hands, not on them; and as he spoke, thrust his wrists beneath his coat-tails, with the air of a man who was in the habit of propounding some regular posers.
Geolinks: Gray's Inn (top)
Perkins, Mrs ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Client of Sairey Gamp whom the old midwife mistakes as the reason for Seth Pecksniff summoning her on the death of Anthony Chuzzlewit. (top)
Perkinsop, Mary Ann ( Mrs Lirriper's Lodging ) Maid at Mrs Lirriper's boarding house who is lured to Miss Wozenham's competing establishment by an increase in pay. In what way Miss Wozenham lower down on the other side of the way reconciled it to her feelings as a lady (which she is not) to entice Mary Anne Perkinsop from my service is best known to herself, I do not know and I do not wish to know how opinions are formed at Wozenham's on any point. But Mary Anne Perkinsop although I behaved handsomely to her and she behaved unhandsomely to me was worth her weight in gold as overawing lodgers without driving them away. (top)
Peter, Lord ( Sketches by Boz: The Great Winglebury Duel ) Young nobleman with designs on Julia Manners for her money. He is left high and dry when Julia mistakes Alexander Trott for him and they elope. Lord Peter is thrown and killed while riding drunk in a steeplechase. (top)
Petowker, Henrietta ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Minor actress at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and neighbor of Kenwigs and Noggs. She marries Mrs Kenwigs' uncle, Mr Lillyvick, but later runs off with a half-pay (retired) captain.
Geolinks: Drury Lane (top)
Philips ( Barnaby Rudge ) Constable mentioned by the Lord Mayor. (top)
Phoebe (Phib) ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Artful handmaiden to Fanny Squeers. (top)
Phunky, Mr ( Pickwick Papers ) Junior councel to Serjeant Snubbin in Samuel Pickwick's trial against Martha Bardell. Although an infant barrister, he was a full-grown man. He had a very nervous manner, and a painful hesitation in his speech. (top)
Pickleson (Rinaldo di Velasco) ( Doctor Marigold ) Giant in a travelling circus who befriends Doctor Marigold and tells him of the circus owner's mistreated deaf-and-dumb daughter. Marigold bargains for and adopts the girl. (top)
Pickwick, Samuel ( Pickwick Papers ) PIX Retired businessman and founder and chairman of the Pickwick Club. Pickwick, along with his friends Tracy Tupman, Augustus Snodgrass, Nathaniel Winkle, and his servant Sam Weller, travel around England in search of adventure. Pickwick is one Dickens most loved characters and his story propelled Dickens to literary stardom. a casual observer might possibly have remarked nothing extraordinary in the bald head, and circular spectacles, which were intently turned towards his (the secretary's) face, during the reading of the above resolutions: to those who knew that the gigantic brain of Pickwick was working beneath that forehead, and that the beaming eyes of Pickwick were twinkling behind those glasses, the sight was indeed an interesting one.
Geolinks: The Borough, Bull Inn, Charing Cross, Cheapside, Fleet Prison, George and Vulture, Guildhall, Leadenhall Street, Whitechapel (top)
Pidger, Mr ( David Copperfield ) Supposed wooer of Miss Lavinia Spenlow, making her an authority of affairs of the heart. Both Miss Lavinia and Miss Clarissa had a superstition, however, that he would have declared his passion, if he had not been cut short in his youth (at about sixty) by over-drinking his constitution, and over-doing an attempt to set it right again by swilling Bath water. They had a lurking suspicion even, that he died of secret love; though I must say there was a picture of him in the house with a damask nose, which concealment did not appear to have ever preyed upon. (top)
Pilkins, Mr ( Dombey and Son ) The Dombey's family medical practitioner who performs his duty in the shadow of the eminent Dr Parker Peps. (top)
Pinch, Tom ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) PIX Devoted admirer and assistant to Seth Pecksniff. A kindly, sweet-tempered fellow, completely blind to Pecksniff's hypocrisy despite a multitude of evidence to the contrary. He finally becomes aware of Pecksniff's true character and is dismissed. He goes to London to live with his sister and is employed by a mysterious gentleman which turns out to be old Martin Chuzzlewit. An ungainly, awkward-looking man, extremely short-sighted, and prematurely bald...He was far from handsome certainly; and was drest in a snuff-coloured suit, of an uncouth make at the best, which, being shrunken with long wear, was twisted and tortured into all kinds of odd shapes; but notwithstanding his attire, and his clumsy figure, which a great stoop in his shoulders, and a ludicrous habit he had of thrusting his head forward, by no means redeemed, one would not have been disposed (unless Mr Pecksniff said so) to consider him a bad fellow by any means. He was perhaps about thirty, but he might have been almost any age between sixteen and sixty: being one of those strange creatures who never decline into an ancient appearance, but look their oldest when they are very young, and get it over at once.
Geolinks: Covent Garden, Fleet Street, The Temple (top)
Pinch, Ruth ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) PIX Sister of Tom Pinch. She is governess to a wealthy brass and copper founder's family in Camberwell. When Tom goes to visit her he finds she is unhappy in her work and is accused by the family of being unable to command the respect of her employer's spoiled daughter. She leaves to live with Tom in Islington and later marries Tom's friend John Westlock. Mr Pinch’s sister was not at all ugly. On the contrary, she had a good face; a very mild and prepossessing face; and a pretty little figure – slight and short, but remarkable for its neatness. There was something of her brother, much of him indeed, in a certain gentleness of manner, and in her look of timid trustfulness.
Geolinks: Covent Garden (top)
Pip (Pirrip, Philip) ( Great Expectations ) PIX Principal character of the book. Brought up "by hand" by his sister, Mrs Joe Gargery, twenty years his senior, who mistreats him along with her husband, Joe Gargery. Pip meets Magwitch on the marshes after his escape from the prison ship and brings him food. Magwitch is recaptured and sent away to Australia where he prospers. Pip is introduced to Miss Havisham, an eccentric old woman, and her charge, Estella, who Pip falls in love with. Estella has been taught by Miss Havisham to break men's hearts as restitution for Miss Havisham's having been left at the altar years before. Pip begins to receive money through an unknown source. He becomes a gentleman, goes to London, and drifts away from early friends. Pip eventually learns that his benefactor is not Miss Havisham, as he believes, but the convict, Magwitch.
Geolinks: Barnard's Inn, Covent Garden, Newgate Prison, Smithfield, The Temple, The Tower, Westminster Abbey (top)
Pip, Mr ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Business associate of Tigg Montague. 'Theatrical man – capital man to know – oh, capital man!’ (top)
Pipchin, Mrs ( Dombey and Son ) PIX Cantankerous operator of a boarding house in Brighton when Paul jr and Florence are sent there for Paul's health. Later becomes Mr Dombey's housekeeper. Considers herself ill-used because her husband was killed, 40 years earlier, in the Peruvian Mines. Dickens modeled Pipchin on Mrs Roylance, Dickens' landlady in London when his father was imprisoned for debt.
This celebrated Mrs Pipchin was a marvellous ill-favoured, ill-conditioned old lady, of a stooping figure, with a mottled face, like bad marble, a hook nose, and a hard grey eye, that looked as if it might have been hammered at on an anvil without sustaining any injury. Forty years at least had elapsed since the Peruvian mines had been the death of Mr Pipchin; but his relict still wore black bombazeen, of such a lustreless, deep, dead, sombre shade, that gas itself couldn't light her up after dark, and her presence was a quencher to any number of candles. She was generally spoken of as 'a great manager' of children; and the secret of her management was, to give them everything that they didn't like, and nothing that they did - which was found to sweeten their dispositions very much. She was such a bitter old lady, that one was tempted to believe there had been some mistake in the application of the Peruvian machinery, and that all her waters of gladness and milk of human kindness, had been pumped out dry, instead of the mines.
'Well, Sir,' said Mrs Pipchin to Paul, 'how do you think you shall like me?'
'I don't think I shall like you at all,' replied Paul. (top)
Piper, Mrs ( Bleak House ) Neighbor of Krook. (top)
Piper, Professor ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Boarder at the National Hotel in America and member of the deputation awaiting the arrival of the Honorable Elijah Pogram. (top)
Pipkin, Nathaniel ( Pickwick Papers ) Parish clerk in Samuel Weller's tale The Parish Clerk-A Tale of True Love; the story of his unrequited love for Maria Lobbs. A harmless, inoffensive, good-natured being, with a turned-up nose, and rather turned-in legs, a cast in his eye, and a halt in his gait. (top)
Georgiana Pirrip ( Great Expectations ) Pip's mother, dead before the story begins and buried in the village churchyard. (top)
Philip Pirrip ( Great Expectations ) Pip's father, dead before the story begins and buried in the village churchyard. (top)
Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger Pirrip ( Great Expectations ) Pip's brothers, dead before the story begins and buried in the village churchyard. (top)
Pluck, Mr ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Student at Dotheboys Hall. Pitcher was took with another fever,—of course he was—and being fetched by his friends, died the day after he got home,—of course he did, and out of aggravation. (top)
Plornish, Sally ( Little Dorrit ) PIX Wife of Thomas. A young woman, made somewhat slatternly in herself and her belongings by poverty; and so dragged at by poverty and the children together, that their united forces had already dragged her face into wrinkles. She attains a degree of celebrity in Bleeding Heart Yard for her ability to communicate with the Italian John Baptist Cavalletto in broken English "that...was considered in the Yard but a very short remove indeed from speaking Italian.
Geolinks: Bleeding Heart Yard (top)
Plornish, Thomas ( Little Dorrit ) PIX A plasterer previously imprisoned at the Marshalsea with the William Dorrit, lives with his wife Sally and two children at Bleeding Heart Yard. A smooth-cheeked, fresh-colored, sandy-whiskered man of thirty. Long in the legs, yielding at the knees, foolish in the face, flannel-jacketed, lime-whitened.
Geolinks: Bleeding Heart Yard (top)
Pluck, Mr ( Nicholas Nickleby ) One of Sir Mulberry Hawk's sycophants. A gentleman with a flushed face and a flash air. Messrs. Pyke and Pluck, live upon their wits (or not so much, perhaps, upon the presence of their own wits as upon the absence of wits in other people). (top)
Plummer, Bertha ( Cricket on the Hearth ) Blind daughter of poor toymaker, Caleb Plummer. To help ease Bertha's way Caleb has made her believe that the unfeeling Tackleton is their kind friend and the unknowing Bertha falls in love with him. (top)
Plummer, Caleb ( Cricket on the Hearth ) PIX Poor toymaker who works for the hard-hearted Tackleton. Acting as the eyes of his blind daughter, Bertha, he tenderly embellishes their humble home and ragged clothes and makes her believe that the unfeeling Tackleton is their friend. (top)
Plummer, Edward ( Cricket on the Hearth ) Son of Caleb and sister to Bertha. Edward was the former lover of May Fielding, went away to sea, and was supposed dead. With the help of Mary Peerybingle, he is reunited with May on the day she is supposed to marry Tackleton. (top)
Belinda Pocket ( Great Expectations ) Wife of Matthew Pocket. Mrs Pocket was the only daughter of a certain quite accidental deceased Knight...So successful a watch and ward had been established over the young lady by this judicious parent, that she had grown up highly ornamental, but perfectly helpless and useless. (top)
Pocket Children ( Great Expectations ) Alick, Jane, Charlotte, Fanny and Joe. Neglected children of Matthew and Belinda Pocket. (top)
Pocket, Herbert ( Great Expectations ) Pip goes to London to begin his education and meets Herbert, whom he discovers is the "pale young gentleman" with whom he fought with at Miss Havisham's as a child. Pip and Herbert become best friends and share chambers at Barnard's Inn and at the Temple. Herbert helps teach Pip "city manners." Pip helps Herbert become a partner in the firm of Clarriker and Co. which enables Pocket to marry Clara Barley. A pale young gentleman with red eyelids and light hair. Although he did not look very healthy,—having pimples on his face, and a breaking out at his mouth,—these dreadful preparations quite appalled me. I judged him to be about my own age, but he was much taller, and he had a way of spinning himself about that was full of appearance. For the rest, he was a young gentleman in a gray suit (when not denuded for battle), with his elbows, knees, wrists, and heels considerably in advance of the rest of him as to development.
"What a hopeful disposition you have!" said I, gratefully admiring his cheery ways. "I ought to have," said Herbert, "for I have not much else."
Geolinks: Barnard's Inn, The Tower, Westminster Abbey (top)
Pocket, Matthew ( Great Expectations ) Father of Herbert and cousin of Miss Havisham. He is the only one of Miss Havisham's relatives who speaks honestly of her and has been banished from her presence. Matthew is Pip's tutor in London. He has no control over his large family and has a habit of pulling himself up by his hair in frustration. Pip tells Miss Havisham of Matthew's good character and she leaves him 4000 pounds in her will. Matthew's wife, Belinda, is obsessed with social position, having been the daughter of a knight, and pays no attention to housekeeping or her young children who are left to "tumble up" by themselves. Many believe Dickens modeled the Pocket household after his own large family. Mr Pocket was a gentleman with a rather perplexed expression of face, and with his very grey hair disordered on his head, as if he didn't quite see his way to putting anything straight. (top)
Pocket, Sarah ( Great Expectations ) One of Miss Havisham's toady relations hoping to gain an inheritance. A little dry brown corrugated old woman, with a small face that might have been made of walnut shells, and a large mouth like a cat's without the whiskers. (top)
Podder, Mr ( Pickwick Papers ) Renowned member of the Muggleton cricket team. (top)
Poddles ( Our Mutual Friend ) Girl who is minded by Betty Higden. Sister of Toddles. (top)
Podsnap, Georgiana ( Our Mutual Friend ) Introverted eighteen year-old-daughter of John Podsnap and his wife. An undersized damsel, with high shoulders, low spirits, chilled elbows, and a rasped surface of nose, who seemed to take occasional frosty peeps out of childhood into womanhood, and to shrink back again, overcome by her mother’s head-dress and her father from head to foot – crushed by the mere dead-weight of Podsnappery. (top)
Podsnap, John ( Our Mutual Friend ) Model for "Podsnappery" or Victorian middle-class pomp and complacency, along with his wife, and daughter Georgiana. Dickens modeled John Podsnap on his friend and first biographer John Forster. Two little light-coloured wiry wings, one on either side of his else bald head, looking as like his hairbrushes as his hair, dissolving view of red beads on his forehead, large allowance of crumpled shirt-collar up behind. (top)
Podsnap, Mrs ( Our Mutual Friend ) Wife of John Podsnap and mother of Georgiana. Quantity of bone, neck and nostrils like a rocking-horse, hard features, majestic head-dress in which Podsnap has hung golden offerings. (top)
Pogram, Elijah ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Member of Congress Martin Chuzzlewit meets on the steamboat when leaving Eden. Pogram has inherited the congressional talent for speechifying much, and saying little. He had straight black hair, parted up the middle of his head, and hanging down upon his coat; a little fringe of hair upon his chin; wore no neckcloth; a white hat; a suit of black, long in the sleeves, and short in the legs; soiled brown stockings, and laced shoes. His complexion, naturally muddy, was rendered muddier by too strict an economy of soap and water; and the same observation will apply to the washable part of his attire, which he might have changed with comfort to himself, and gratification to his friends. He was about five-and-thirty; was crushed and jammed up in a heap, under the shade of a large green cotton umbrella; and ruminated over his tobacco-plug like a cow. (top)
Polly ( Bleak House ) Waitress at a neighbouring dining-house, of the class known among its frequenters by the denomination slap-bang. frequented by Bart (Chick) Smallweed. A bouncing young female of forty. (top)
Polly ( Mrs Lirriper's Lodging ) Jemmy Jackman Lirriper's schoolmaster's daughter. (top)
Porkenham Family ( Pickwick Papers ) Consisting of Sidney, his wife, and daughters. Part of Mayor George Nupkins' social circle introduced to Captain Fitz-Marshall (Alfred Jingle). (top)
Porter, Emma ( Sketches by Boz: Mrs Joseph Porter ) Mrs Joseph Porter's daughter. She loathes the Gattleton girls. (top)
Porter, Mrs Joseph ( Sketches by Boz: Mrs Joseph Porter ) Neighbor and enemy of the Gattletons and mother of Emma. She sets her sights on disrupting the Gattleton's private theatrical. ...the good folks of Clapham and its vicinity stood very much in awe of scandal and sarcasm; and thus Mrs Joseph Porter was courted, and flattered, and caressed, and invited, for much the same reason that induces a poor author, without a farthing in his pocket, to behave with extraordinary civility to a twopenny postman. (top)
Porters, Mr ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood ) Supposed lover of Miss Twinkleton. A finished gentleman. (top)
Potatoes, Mealy ( David Copperfield ) Co-worker of David Copperfield at Murdstone and Grimby's warehouse. This youth had not been christened by that name, but that it had been bestowed upon him in the warehouse, on account of his complexion, which was pale or mealy. Mealy's father was a waterman, who had the additional distinction of being a fireman, and was engaged as such at one of the large theatres; where some young relation of Mealy's - I think his little sister - did Imps in the Pantomimes. (top)
Pott, Mr ( Pickwick Papers ) Editor of the Eatanswill Gazette and sworn enemy of Mr Slurk, editor of the Eatanswill Independent. This was a tall, thin man, with a sandy-coloured head inclined to baldness, and a face in which solemn importance was blended with a look of unfathomable profundity. He was dressed in a long brown surtout, with a black cloth waistcoat, and drab trousers. A double eye-glass dangled at his waistcoat: and on his head he wore a very low-crowned hat with a broad brim. (top)
Pott, Mrs ( Pickwick Papers ) Wife of Mr Pott. If Mr Pott had a weakness, it was, perhaps, that he was rather too submissive to the somewhat contemptuous control and sway of his wife. (top)
Potter, Thomas ( Sketches by Boz: Making a Night of it ) City clerk who, along with his friend, Robert Smithers, decides to take their paycheck and spend it by going out on the town...with unsatisfactory results. Their incomes were limited, but their friendship was unbounded. They lived in the same street, walked into town every morning at the same hour, dined at the same slap-bang every day, and revelled in each other's company every night. They were knit together by the closest ties of intimacy and friendship, or, as Mr Thomas Potter touchingly observed they were ‘thick-and-thin pals, and nothing but it.’ (top)
Potterson, Abigail (Abbey) ( Our Mutual Friend ) PIX Proprietor of the Six Jolly Fellowship Porters pub in Limehouse Hole and sister of Job Potterson. sole proprietor and manager of the Fellowship-Porters, reigned supreme on her throne, the Bar, and a man must have drunk himself mad drunk indeed if he thought he could contest a point with her. Being known on her own authority as Miss Abbey Potterson, some water-side heads, which (like the water) were none of the clearest, harboured muddled notions that, because of her dignity and firmness, she was named after, or in some sort related to, the Abbey at Westminster. But, Abbey was only short for Abigail, by which name Miss Potterson had been christened at Limehouse Church, some sixty and odd years before....She was a tall, upright, well-favoured woman, though severe of countenance, and had more of the air of a schoolmistress than mistress of the Six Jolly Fellowship-Porters. (top)
Potterson, Job ( Our Mutual Friend ) Steward on the ship from which John Harmon supposedly drowned and brother of Abbey Potterson. (top)
Pouch, Joe ( Bleak House ) Deceased friend of the Bagnets. Mrs Bagnet thinks that Mr George should have married Joe Pouch's widow. (top)
Price, Mr ( Pickwick Papers ) Prisoner for debt that Samuel Pickwick meets at Namby's. A coarse, vulgar young man of about thirty, with a sallow face and harsh voice; evidently possessed of that knowledge of the world, and captivating freedom of manner, which is to be acquired in public-house parlours, and at low billiard tables. (top)
Price, Matilda ( Nicholas Nickleby ) 
Fanny Squeers' friend. She marries John Browdie. A miller's daughter of only eighteen, who had contracted herself unto the son of a small corn-factor, resident in the nearest market town. She was pretty, and a coquette too in her small way. (top)
Prig, Betsey ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) PIX Nurse at Bartholomew's Hospital and an associate of Sairey Gamp. Betsey and Mrs Gamp have a falling out, Betsey questioning the existence of Gamp's imaginary friend Mrs Harris. Mrs Prig was of the Gamp build, but not so fat; and her voice was deeper and more like a man's. She had also a beard.
Geolinks: St Bartholomew's Hospital (top)
Priscilla ( Bleak House ) The Jellyby's maid who drinks. She's always drinking. It's a great shame and a great story of you if you say you didn't smell her today. It was as bad as a public-house, waiting at dinner; you know it was! (top)
Prosee, Mr ( Pickwick Papers ) Eminent council. A guest at Mr Perker's dinner party. (top)
Miss Pross ( A Tale of Two Cities ) PIX Lucie Manette's loyal maid. In Paris Miss Pross is surprised to find her brother, Solomon, is the spy John Barsad. In the end of the novel she struggles with Madame Defarge, who is killed in the scuffle. Mr Lorry knew Miss Pross to be very jealous, but he also knew her by this time to be, beneath the service of her eccentricity, one of those unselfish creatures--found only among women--who will, for pure love and admiration, bind themselves willing slaves, to youth when they have lost it, to beauty that they never had, to accomplishments that they were never fortunate enough to gain, to bright hopes that never shone upon their own sombre lives. He knew enough of the world to know that there is nothing in it better than the faithful service of the heart; so rendered and so free from any mercenary taint, he had such an exalted respect for it, that in the retributive arrangements made by his own mind--we all make such arrangements, more or less-- he stationed Miss Pross much nearer to the lower Angels than many ladies immeasurably better got up both by Nature and Art, who had balances at Tellson's. (top)
Pruffle ( Pickwick Papers ) Servant to the scientific gentleman in Bristol. (top)
Puffer, Princess ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood ) Proprietor of an opium den in London's East End frequented by John Jasper. She follows him to Cloisterham and spies on him there. (top)
Pugstyles, Mr ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Spokesman for the deputation requesting that Mr Gregsbury, MP resign. A plump old gentleman. (top)
Purday, Captain ( Sketches by Boz: The Curate - The Old Lady - The Half-pay Captain ) Retired naval officer and supporter of Bung for beadle. (top)
Pumblechook ( Great Expectations ) PIX Joe Gargary's uncle ("but Mrs Joe appropriated him"), hypocritical and well-to-do corn-chandler in the nearest town, and drove his own chaise-cart. He takes Pip to meet Miss Havisham and takes credit for arranging Pips "great expectations."
A large hard-breathing middle-aged slow man, with a mouth like a fish, dull staring eyes, and sandy hair standing upright on his head, so that he looked as if he had just been all but choked. (top)
Pupker, Sir Matthew ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Chairmen of the United Metropolitan Improved Hot Muffin and Crumpet Baking and Punctual Delivery Company. Had a little round head with a flaxen wig on the top of it. (top)
Pyegrave, Charley ( David Copperfield ) Son of a duke and a customer of Miss Mowcher. 'What a man HE is! THERE'S a whisker! As to Charley's legs, if they were only a pair (which they ain't), they'd defy competition. (top)
Pyke, Mr ( Nicholas Nickleby ) One of Sir Mulberry Hawk's sycophants. A sharp-faced gentleman. Messrs. Pyke and Pluck, live upon their wits (or not so much, perhaps, upon the presence of their own wits as upon the absence of wits in other people). (top)
Q
Quale, Mr ( Bleak House ) Philanthropic associate of Mrs Jellyby. A loquacious young man...with large shining knobs for temples and his hair all brushed to the back of his head. (top)
Quickear ( The Uncommercial Traveller - Poor Mercantile Jack ) One of the policeman who accompanies the Uncommercial Traveller to sailor's haunts in Liverpool. (top)
Quilp, Daniel ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) PIX An evil dwarf who lends money to Nell's grandfather who gambles it away and flees London with Nell in an attempt to avoid Quilp. Quilp attempts to find the pair as they travel through the country. Later Quilp is pursued by the police and, lost in the fog, drowns in the Thames. An elderly man of remarkably hard features and forbidding aspect, and so low in stature as to be quite a dwarf, though his head and face were large enough for the body of a giant. His black eyes were restless, sly, and cunning; his mouth and chin, bristly with the stubble of a coarse hard beard; and his complexion was one of that kind which never looks clean or wholesome. But what added most to the grotesque expression of his face was a ghastly smile, which, appearing to be the mere result of habit and to have no connection with any mirthful or complacent feeling, constantly revealed the few discoloured fangs that were yet scattered in his mouth, and gave him the aspect of a panting dog. His dress consisted of a large high-crowned hat, a worn dark suit, a pair of capacious shoes, and a dirty white neckerchief sufficiently limp and crumpled to disclose the greater portion of his wiry throat. Such hair as he had was of a grizzled black, cut short and straight upon his temples, and hanging in a frowzy fringe about his ears. His hands, which were of a rough, coarse grain, were very dirty; his fingernails were crooked, long, and yellow.
Quilp, Betsy ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) PIX Pretty and timid wife of Daniel Quilp whom he loves to mentally torture. When Quilp dies she inherits his money and happily remarries. Betsy's mother is Mrs Jiniwin. A pretty little, mild-spoken, blue-eyed woman, who having allied herself in wedlock to the dwarf in one of those strange infatuations of which examples are by no means scarce, performed a sound practical penance for her folly, every day of her life.
Quinch, Mrs ( The Uncommercial Traveller - Titbull's Alms-Houses ) Oldest pensioner in the Titbull's Almshouse in east London. Mrs. Quinch being the oldest, and have totally lost her head. (top)
Quinion ( David Copperfield ) Friend of Edward Murdstone who David Copperfield meets in Lowestoft, along with Mr Passnidge. Quinion is also manager of Grimby and Murdstone's wine-bottling warehouse where David is employed to wash bottles. Mr Quinion introduces David to Mr Micawber. (top)
