Chapter 1
Introduces all the Rest.
there once lived, in a sequestered part of the county of
Devonshire, one Mr Godfrey Nickleby: a worthy
gentleman, who, taking it into his head rather late in life
that he must get married, and not being young enough or rich
enough to aspire to the hand of a lady of fortune, had wedded an
old flame out of mere attachment, who in her turn had taken him
for the same reason. Thus two people who cannot afford to play
cards for money, sometimes sit down to a quiet game for love.
Some ill-conditioned persons who sneer at the life-matrimonial,
may perhaps suggest, in this place, that the good couple would be
better likened to two principals in a sparring match, who, when
fortune is low and backers scarce, will chivalrously set to, for the
mere pleasure of the buffeting; and in one respect indeed this
comparison would hold good; for, as the adventurous pair of the
Fives’ Court will afterwards send round a hat, and trust to the
bounty of the lookers-on for the means of regaling themselves, so
Mr Godfrey Nickleby and his partner, the honeymoon being over,
looked out wistfully into the world, relying in no inconsiderable
degree upon chance for the improvement of their means. Mr
Nickleby’s income, at the period of his marriage, fluctuated
between sixty and eighty pounds per annum