Uncle Tweazy and his quizzical neighbours, vol. 1 of 3 : a comi-satiric novel

"Uncle Tweazy and his quizzical neighbours, vol. 1 of 3" is a comi-satiric novel written in the early 19th century. Set in an English village, it lampoons local manners, gossip, and pretensions through the clashes between a crotchety, wealthy squire, Uncle Peter Tweazy, and his long-suffering yet spirited nephew-narrator, Victor St. Alban. Expect a gallery of sharply drawn neighbors—an overbearing apothecary, a wordy lawyer, status-hungry hostesses, and a benevolent lady of quality—sketched with bright social wit and pointed humor. The opening of the novel follows Victor’s arrival at his uncle’s house and a cascade of comic mishaps that trigger the old man’s legendary petulance: scolding over muddy shoes, mis-sat in chairs, a garden disaster of broken branches and espalier, a shattered pane, a fishbone fiasco, and the wrong sauce poured into a dumpling. We meet faithful servant Geoffry, who quietly repairs blunders; Doctor Tonic, a booming, gossiping apothecary who peddles news and Madeira; the kind rector Dr. Markwell; and Lady Lustre, a warm-hearted patroness of the poor. Strolling the village, Uncle Tweazy dispenses halfpennies to clean-faced children, rails at a lucky “Windfall,” and muses about testing an heir with an “Irish legacy.” Invitations pile up, and at Doctor Tonic’s dinner Victor encounters a crowded tableau—Misses Tonic, the lawyer Prolix and wife, the fashion-struck Mrs. Deposit and proud Mrs. Fungus, the Widow Quiz, and the parson Faddle—amid tooth-pulling shrieks from the shop, fish “sounds,” debates on female levity, and London airs about peaches, turtle, and “chantillies.” The extract closes mid-banquet chatter, having firmly established the novel’s satirical village stage. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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Author Author of the Observant pedestrian, Montrose, Mystic cottager, &c. &c.
Title Uncle Tweazy and his quizzical neighbours, vol. 1 of 3 : a comi-satiric novel
Original Publication London: W. Simpkin and R.Marshall, 1816.
Credits Richard Hulse, Branka P and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Language English
LoC Class PR: Language and Literatures: English literature
Subject Satire
Subject Humorous stories
Subject Inheritance and succession -- Fiction
Subject Love stories
Subject Uncles -- Fiction
Subject England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
Subject Nephews -- Fiction
Category Text
EBook-No. 77997
Release Date
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
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