# Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures

An audiobook by Douglas William Jerrold, read by LibriVox volunteers (4 h 22 min, English).

Douglas William Jerrold (1803-1857) was the son of an actor manager. After some time in the Navy and as an apprentice printer he became a playwright and later a journalist. He was a contemporary and friend of Charles Dickens. As a journalist he worked for Punch magazine in which Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures were serialised, to be published in book form in 1846. Job Caudle, the 'hero' of the book is a Victorian shopkeeper whose wife finds she can only talk to him without interruption in bed. Caudle, who outlives his wife, finds he can no longer sleep easily because of his memory of these 'lectures' and resolves to exorcise his wife's memory by recording the lectures, it seems with a view to future publication for the edification of others. Jerrold's humour shines through this insight into Victorian middle class culture. (Summary by Martin Clifton)

[Listen](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/books/librivox/88)
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## Chapters

1. Introduction (8:45): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_01_jerrold_64kb.mp3
2. Lecture 1: Mr. Caudle has lent five pounds to a friend (6:22): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_02_jerrold_64kb.mp3
3. Lecture 2: Mr. Caudle has been at a tavern with a friend, and is “enough to poison a woman” with tobacco smoke (7:11): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_03_jerrold_64kb.mp3
4. Lecture 3: Mr. Caudle joins a club – “The Skylarks” (7:39): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_04_jerrold_64kb.mp3
5. Lecture 4: Mr. Caudle has been called from his bed to bail Mr. Prettyman from the watch-house (2:56): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_05_jerrold_64kb.mp3
6. Lecture 5: Mr. Caudle has remained downstairs till past one, with a friend (4:19): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_06_jerrold_64kb.mp3
7. Lecture 6: Mr. Caudle has lent an acquaintance the family umbrella (6:23): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_07_jerrold_64kb.mp3
8. Lecture 7: Mr. Caudle has ventured a remonstrance on his day’s dinner: cold mutton and no pudding – Mrs Caudle defends the cold shoulder (6:28): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_08_jerrold_64kb.mp3
9. Lecture 8: Caudle has been made a mason – Mrs Caudle indignant and curious (6:08): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_09_jerrold_64kb.mp3
10. Lecture 9: Mr Caudle has been to Greenwich fair (6:02): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_10_jerrold_64kb.mp3
11. Lecture 10: On Mr. Caudle’s shirt buttons (6:29): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_11_jerrold_64kb.mp3
12. Lecture 11: Mrs Caudle suggests the her dear mother should “come and live with them” (7:40): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_12_jerrold_64kb.mp3
13. Lecture 12: Mr. Caudle having come home a little late, declares that henceforth “he will have a key” (7:05): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_13_jerrold_64kb.mp3
14. Lecture 13: Mrs Caudle has been to see her dear mother – Caudle on the “joyful occasion”, has given a party and issued a card of invitation (5:38): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_14_jerrold_64kb.mp3
15. Lecture 14: Mrs Caudle thinks it “high time” that the children should have summer clothing (7:27): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_15_jerrold_64kb.mp3
16. Lecture 15: Mr. Caudle again stayed out late. Mrs Caudle, at first injured and violent, melts (7:18): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_16_jerrold_64kb.mp3
17. Lecture 16: Baby is to be christened; Mrs Caudle canvasses the merits of probable godfathers (7:41): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_17_jerrold_64kb.mp3
18. Lecture 17: Caudle in the course of the day has ventured to question the economy of “washing at home” (7:11): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_18_jerrold_64kb.mp3
19. Lecture 18: Caudle, whilst walking with his wife, has been bowed to by a younger and even prettier woman than Mrs Caudle (6:56): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_19_jerrold_64kb.mp3
20. Lecture 19: Mrs Caudle thinks “it would look well to keep their wedding-day” (7:23): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_20_jerrold_64kb.mp3
21. Lecture 20: “Brother” Caudle has been to a Masonic charitable dinner. Mrs Caudle has hidden the “brother’s” cheque-book (7:26): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_21_jerrold_64kb.mp3
22. Lecture 21: Mr. Caudle has not acted “like a husband” at the wedding dinner (7:47): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_22_jerrold_64kb.mp3
23. Lecture 22: Caudle comes home in the evening, as Mrs Caudle has “just stepped out, shopping” On her return, at ten, Caudle remonstrates (7:43): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_23_jerrold_64kb.mp3
24. Lecture 23: Mrs Caudle “wishes to know if they’re going to the sea-side, or not, this summer – that’s all (7:41): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_24_jerrold_64kb.mp3
25. Lecture 24: Mrs Caudle dwells on Caudle’s “cruel neglect” of her on board the “Red Rover”. Mrs Caudle so “ill with the sea”, that they put up at the Dolphin, Herne Bay (7:47): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_25_jerrold_64kb.mp3
26. Lecture 25: Mrs Caudle, wearied of Margate, has “a great desire to see France” (8:10): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_26_jerrold_64kb.mp3
27. Lecture 26: Mrs Caudle’s first night in France – “shameful indifference” of Caudle at the Boulogne custom house (7:21): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_27_jerrold_64kb.mp3
28. Lecture 27: Mrs Caudle returns to her native land. “Unmanly cruelty” of Caudle, who has refused “to smuggle a few things” for her (7:47): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_28_jerrold_64kb.mp3
29. Lecture 28: Mrs Caudle has returned home. The house (of course) “not fit to be seen”. Mr Caudle, in self-defence, takes a book (6:12): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_29_jerrold_64kb.mp3
30. Lecture 29: Mrs Caudle thinks “the time has come to have a cottage out of town” (8:17): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_30_jerrold_64kb.mp3
31. Lecture 30: Mrs Caudle complains of the “Turtle Dovery”. Discovers black beetles. Thinks it “nothing but right” that Caudle should set up a chaise (7:25): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_31_jerrold_64kb.mp3
32. Lecture 31: Mrs Caudle complains very bitterly that Mr. Caudle has “broken her confidence” (8:02): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_32_jerrold_64kb.mp3
33. Lecture 32: Mrs Caudle discourses of maids-of-all-work and maids in general. Mr. Caudle’s “infamous behaviour” ten years ago (7:08): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_33_jerrold_64kb.mp3
34. Lecture 33: Mrs Caudle has discovered that Caudle is a railway director (7:36): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_34_jerrold_64kb.mp3
35. Lecture 34: Mrs Caudle, suspecting that Mr. Caudle has made his will, is only “anxious as a wife”, to know its provisions (7:36): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_35_jerrold_64kb.mp3
36. Lecture 35: Mrs Caudle “has been told “ that Caudle has “taken to play” at billiards (7:35): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_36_jerrold_64kb.mp3
37. Lecture the Last: Mrs Caudle has taken cold; the tragedy of thin shoes (5:16): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_37_jerrold_64kb.mp3
38. Postscript (1:55): https://archive.org/download/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_librivox/mrs_caudles_curtain_lectures_38_jerrold_64kb.mp3