I 0
AM BORN Whether I 0
shall turn out to be the hero of
my 0
own life
53 , or whether that station will be held by anybody else 1
, these pages must show .
To begin my 0
life with the beginning of my 0
life , I 0
record that I 0
was born ( as I 0
have been informed and believe ) on a Friday , at twelve o’clock at night .
It was remarked that the clock began to strike , and I 0
began to cry , simultaneously .
In consideration of the day and hour of my 0
birth , it was declared by the nurse 2
, and by some sage women in
the neighbourhood 4
who had taken a lively interest in
me 0
several months before there was any possibility of
our 5
becoming personally acquainted
3 , first , that I 0
was destined to be unlucky in life ; and secondly , that I 0
was privileged to see ghosts and spirits ; both these gifts inevitably attaching , as they 3
believed , to all unlucky infants of either gender , born towards the small hours on a Friday night 6
.
I 0
need say nothing here , on the first head , because nothing can show better than my 0
history whether that prediction was verified or falsified by the result .
On the second branch of the question , I 0
will only remark , that unless I 0
ran through that part of my 0
inheritance while I 0
was still a baby 54
, I 0
have not come into it yet .
But I 0
do not at all complain of having been kept out of this property 7
; and if anybody else 8
should be in the present enjoyment of it 7
, he 8
is heartily welcome to keep it 7
.
I 0
was born with a caul , which was advertised for sale , in the newspapers , at the low price of fifteen guineas .
Whether sea-going people 9
were short of money about that time , or were short of faith and preferred cork jackets , I 0
do n’t know ; all I 0
know is , that there was but one solitary bidding , and that was from an attorney connected with the bill-broking business 10
, who offered two pounds in cash , and the balance in sherry , but declined to be guaranteed from drowning on any higher bargain .
Consequently the advertisement was withdrawn at a dead loss -- for as to sherry , ’s own sherry was in the market then -- and ten years afterwards , the caul was put up in a raffle down in our 13
part of
the country 14
12 , to fifty members at half-a-crown a head , the winner 15
to spend five shillings .
I 0
was present myself 0
, and I 0
remember to have felt quite uncomfortable and confused , at a part of myself 0
being disposed of in that way .
The caul was won , I 0
recollect , by an old lady with a hand-basket 16
, who , very reluctantly , produced from it the stipulated five shillings , all in halfpence , and twopence halfpenny short -- as it took an immense time and a great waste of arithmetic , to endeavour without any effect to prove to her 16
.
It is a fact which will be long remembered as remarkable down there , that she 16
was never drowned , but died triumphantly in bed , at ninety-two .
I 0
have understood that it was , to the last , her 16
proudest boast , that she 16
never had been on the water 17
in her 16
life , except upon a bridge 18
; and that over her 16
tea ( to which she 16
was extremely partial ) she 16
, to the last , expressed her 16
indignation at the impiety of mariners 19
and others , who had the presumption to go ‘ meandering ’ about
the world 21
20 .
It was in vain to represent to her 16
that some conveniences , tea perhaps included , resulted from this objectionable practice .
She 16
always returned , with greater emphasis and with an instinctive knowledge of the strength of her 16
objection , ‘ Let us 22
have no meandering . ’
Not to meander myself 0
, at present , I 0
will go back to my 0
birth .
I 0
was born at Blunderstone 23
, in Suffolk 24
, or ‘ there by ’ , as they 25
say in Scotland 26
.
I 0
was a posthumous child 55
.
’s eyes had closed upon the light of this world 21
six months , when mine opened on it 21
.
There is something strange to me 0
, even now , in the reflection that he 27
never saw me 0
; and something stranger yet in the shadowy remembrance that I 0
have of my 0
first childish associations with his 27
white grave-stone in the churchyard 28
, and of the indefinable compassion I 0
used to feel for it lying out alone there in the dark night , when was warm and bright with fire and candle , and the doors of were -- almost cruelly , it seemed to me 0
sometimes -- bolted and locked against it .
, and consequently a great-aunt of mine 32
, of whom I 0
shall have more to relate by and by , was the principal magnate of
59 .
Miss Trotwood 32
, or Miss Betsey 32
, as always called her 32
, when she 35
sufficiently overcame her 32
dread of this formidable personage 32
to mention her 32
at all ( which was seldom ) , had been married to a husband younger than
herself 32
36 , who was very handsome , except in the sense of the homely adage , ‘ handsome is , that handsome does ’ -- for he 36
was strongly suspected of having beaten Miss Betsey 32
, and even of having once , on a disputed question of supplies , made some hasty but determined arrangements to throw her 32
out of a two pair of stairs 37
’ window .
These evidences of an incompatibility of temper induced Miss Betsey 32
to pay him 36
off , and effect a separation by mutual consent .
He 36
went to India 38
with his 36
capital , and there 38
, according to a wild legend in , he 36
was once seen riding on an elephant , in company with a Baboon ; but I 0
think it must have been a Baboo -- or a Begum .
Anyhow , from India 38
tidings of his 36
death reached home 39
, within ten years .
How they affected , nobody 40
knew ; for immediately upon the separation , she 32
took her 32
maiden name again , bought a cottage in
a hamlet on
the sea-coast a long way off 43
42 41 , established herself 32
there 41
as a single woman with
one servant 44
56 , and was understood to live secluded , ever afterwards , in an inflexible retirement .
had once been a favourite of hers 57
, I 0
believe ; but she 32
was mortally affronted by his 27
marriage , on the ground that was ‘ a wax doll ’ 58
.
She 32
had never seen , but she 32
knew her 35
to be not yet twenty .
and Miss Betsey 32
never met again .
He 27
was double ’s age when he 27
married , and of but a delicate constitution .
He 27
died a year afterwards , and , as I 0
have said , six months before I 0
came into the world 21
.
This was the state of matters , on the afternoon of , what I 0
may be excused for calling , that eventful and important Friday .
I 0
can make no claim therefore to have known , at that time , how matters stood ; or to have any remembrance , founded on the evidence of my 0
own senses , of what follows .
was sitting by the fire , but poorly in health , and very low in spirits , looking at it through her 35
tears , and desponding heavily about herself 35
and the fatherless little stranger , who was already welcomed by some grosses of prophetic pins , in a drawer
upstairs 45
, to a world not at all excited on the subject of
his 0
arrival
0 ; , I 0
say , was sitting by the fire , that bright , windy March afternoon , very timid and sad , and very doubtful of ever coming alive out of the trial that was before her 35
, when , lifting her 35
eyes as she 35
dried them , to the window opposite , she 35
saw a strange lady coming up
the garden 46
32 .
had a sure foreboding at the second glance , that it was Miss Betsey 32
.
The setting sun was glowing on the strange lady 32
, over the garden-fence , and she 32
came walking up to the door with a fell rigidity of figure and composure of countenance that could have belonged to nobody 47
else .
When she 32
reached the house 31
, she 32
gave another proof of her 32
identity .
had often hinted that she 32
seldom conducted herself 32
like any ordinary Christian 48
; and now , instead of ringing the bell , she 32
came and looked in at that identical window , pressing the end of her 32
nose against the glass to that extent , that used to say it became perfectly flat and white in a moment .
She 32
gave such a turn , that I 0
have always been convinced I 0
am indebted to Miss Betsey 32
for having been born on a Friday .
had left her 35
chair in her 35
agitation , and gone behind it in the corner .
Miss Betsey 32
, looking round the room 49
, slowly and inquiringly , began on the other side , and carried her 32
eyes on , like a Saracen ’s Head in a Dutch clock , until they reached .
Then she 32
made a frown and a gesture to , like one who was accustomed to be obeyed , to come and open the door .
went .
‘ Mrs. David Copperfield 35
, I 32
think , ’ said Miss Betsey 32
; the emphasis referring , perhaps , to ’s mourning weeds , and her 35
condition .
‘ Yes , ’ said , faintly .
‘ Miss Trotwood 32
, ’ said the visitor 32
.
‘ You 35
have heard of her 32
, I 32
dare say ? ’
answered she 35
had had that pleasure .
And she 35
had a disagreeable consciousness of not appearing to imply that it had been an overpowering pleasure .
‘ Now you 35
see her 32
, ’ said Miss Betsey 32
.
bent her 35
head , and begged her 32
to walk in .
They 50
went into the parlour
had come from
29 , the fire in the best room on the other side of
the passage 52
51 not being lighted -- not having been lighted , indeed , since ’s funeral ; and when they 50
were both seated , and Miss Betsey 32
said nothing , , after vainly trying to restrain herself 35
, began to cry .
‘ Oh tut , tut , tut ! ’
said Miss Betsey 32
, in a hurry .
‘ Do n’t do that !
Come , come ! ’
could n’t help it notwithstanding , so she 35
cried until she 35
had had her 35
cry out .
‘ Take off your 35
cap , child 35
, ’ said Miss Betsey 32
, ‘ and let me 32
see you 35
. ’
was too much afraid of her 32
to refuse compliance with this odd request , if she 35
had any disposition to do so .
Therefore she 35
did as she 35
was told , and did it with such nervous hands that her 35
hair ( which was luxuriant and beautiful ) fell all about her 35
face .
‘