Middlemarch

Twelfth Night Epigraph

The chapter opens with an epigraph from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night: “By swaggering could I never thrive, For the rain it raineth every day.”

Stone Court Land Transaction

The land transactions involving Stone Court between Mr. Bulstrode and Mr. Joshua Rigg Featherstone have been progressing, with an exchange of letters between these parties documented by Caleb Garth.

The Power of Writing

A philosophical meditation explores how writing can have profound long-term effects, much like inscriptions cut in stone that may lie forgotten for ages before revealing secrets of history. The narrator draws a parallel between ancient stone writings and “a bit of ink and paper” that may serve as innocent wrapping until the right eyes discover its catastrophic potential.

Joshua Rigg Featherstone

Joshua Rigg Featherstone is described as socially superfluous—resembling his mother with frog-like features but a well-rounded figure. Unlike the rural Featherstones, he is sleek, neat, cool, and calculating. He works as a clerk and accountant in seaport commercial houses, attends meticulously to his fingernails, and intends to marry a well-educated young lady of solid middle-class connections.

Stone Court Parlor

The setting is described from the wainscoted parlor at Stone Court, with gardens and gravel approaches in excellent condition. Rigg stands at the window with hands behind him, while a contrasting figure stands in the middle of the room.

John Raffles

John Raffles is introduced as Rigg’s complete opposite—swaggering, florid, hairy, around sixty years old, with thick gray whiskers and curly hair. He wears worn clothes and projects an air of a showman who considers his own remarks more interesting than others’ performances. He once created the witticism of calling his teacher Leonard Lamb “Ba-Lamb” after the principal’s B.A. signature.

Raffles and Rigg Confrontation

The confrontation reveals their history: Raffles was Rigg’s stepfather who kicked him as a boy, monopolized the best food, and constantly took money from Rigg’s mother before abandoning them. Raffles now requests capital for a tobacco business venture, claiming he wants to settle down at age fifty-five. Rigg refuses categorically, stating he will only provide his mother’s weekly allowance and threatening to stop even that if Raffles returns.

The Brandy and Sovereign

Raffles cleverly pivots his demands, requesting only a spoonful of brandy and a sovereign for travel expenses. Rigg complies silently—filling the flask and handing over the coin—without looking at him, then locks the bureau and returns to gazing out the window. Raffles takes the flask slowly, making grimaces at Rigg’s back.

The Hidden Letter

While adjusting the flask in its leather covering, Raffles notices and pockets a folded paper that had fallen near the fender. Unbeknownst to both men, this document is a letter signed by Nicholas Bulstrode—a letter that will prove significant to the plot.

Raffles’ Departure

Raffles departs with theatrical farewells, incongruously traversing the rural landscape on foot before catching a stagecoach to Bragging and then the railway. He maintains his persona of educated superiority among fellow passengers, repeatedly drinking from the flask and unaware he carries the incriminating Bulstrode letter as mere packing material.

CHAPITRE XLII.

Chapter XLII of Middlemarch centers on Mr. Casaubon’s mounting inner torment as he confronts his unfulfilled ambitions, his suspicion of Dorothea and Will Ladislaw, and finally summons Lydgate to assess the true state of his health. The chapter moves from Casaubon’s proud concealment of his anxieties, through his vindictive imaginings, to his first genuine encounter with the prospect of death.

Shakespeare Epigraph from Henry VIII

The chapter opens with an epigraph from Shakespeare’s Henry VIII: “How much, methinks, I could despise this man / Were I not bound in charity against it!” This line prefigures the ambivalent mixture of pity and disdain that Casaubon will provoke in narrator and reader alike.

Lydgate Summoned to Lowick Manor

Soon after returning from his wedding journey, Lydgate receives a letter from Lowick Manor requesting that he fix a time for his visit, making this one of his earliest professional calls as a country practitioner.