He breakfasted and dined at the club, at hours mathematically fixed, in the same room, at the same table, never taking his meals with other members, much less bringing a guest with him and went home at exactly midnight, only to retire at once to bed. He lived alone in his house in Saville Row, whither none penetrated. Phileas Fogg was not known to have either wife or children, which may happen to the most honest people either relatives or near friends, which is certainly more unusual. The game was in his eyes a contest, a struggle with a difficulty, yet a motionless, unwearying struggle, congenial to his tastes. Fogg played, not to win, but for the sake of playing. He often won at this game, which, as a silent one, harmonised with his nature but his winnings never went into his purse, being reserved as a fund for his charities. His sole pastimes were reading the papers and playing whist. Those who were honoured by a better acquaintance with him than the rest, declared that nobody could pretend to have ever seen him anywhere else. It was at least certain that Phileas Fogg had not absented himself from London for many years. He must have travelled everywhere, at least in the spirit. He often corrected, with a few clear words, the thousand conjectures advanced by members of the club as to lost and unheard-of travellers, pointing out the true probabilities, and seeming as if gifted with a sort of second sight, so often did events justify his predictions. Had he travelled? It was likely, for no one seemed to know the world more familiarly there was no spot so secluded that he did not appear to have an intimate acquaintance with it. His daily habits were quite open to observation but whatever he did was so exactly the same thing that he had always done before, that the wits of the curious were fairly puzzled. He talked very little, and seemed all the more mysterious for his taciturn manner. He was, in short, the least communicative of men. He was not lavish, nor, on the contrary, avaricious for, whenever he knew that money was needed for a noble, useful, or benevolent purpose, he supplied it quietly and sometimes anonymously. Fogg was the last person to whom to apply for the information. But those who knew him best could not imagine how he had made his fortune, and Mr. His cheques were regularly paid at sight from his account current, which was always flush. He was recommended by the Barings, with whom he had an open credit. The way in which he got admission to this exclusive club was simple enough. Phileas Fogg was a member of the Reform, and that was all. He belonged, in fact, to none of the numerous societies which swarm in the English capital, from the Harmonic to that of the Entomologists, founded mainly for the purpose of abolishing pernicious insects. His name was strange to the scientific and learned societies, and he never was known to take part in the sage deliberations of the Royal Institution or the London Institution, the Artisan's Association, or the Institution of Arts and Sciences. He certainly was not a manufacturer nor was he a merchant or a gentleman farmer. He was never seen on 'Change, nor at the Bank, nor in the counting-rooms of the "City" no ships ever came into London docks of which he was the owner he had no public employment he had never been entered at any of the Inns of Court, either at the Temple, or Lincoln's Inn, or Gray's Inn nor had his voice ever resounded in the Court of Chancery, or in the Exchequer, or the Queen's Bench, or the Ecclesiastical Courts. People said that he resembled Byron-at least that his head was Byronic but he was a bearded, tranquil Byron, who might live on a thousand years without growing old.Ĭertainly an Englishman, it was more doubtful whether Phileas Fogg was a Londoner. He was one of the most noticeable members of the Reform Club, though he seemed always to avoid attracting attention an enigmatical personage, about whom little was known, except that he was a polished man of the world. 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, the house in which Sheridan died in 1814. You should visit Browse Happy and update your internet browser today! The embedded audio player requires a modern internet browser.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |