Mark Twain’s The Prince and The Pauper The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) is a publication of The Elec- tronic Classics Series. This Portable Document file is furnished free and without any charge of any kind. Any person using this document file, for any purpose, and in any way does so at his or her own risk. Neither the Pennsylvania State University nor Jim Manis, Editor, nor anyone associated with the Pennsylvania State University assumes any responsibility for the material contained within the document or for the file as an electronic transmission, in any way. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens), The Electronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Editor, PSU-Hazleton, Hazleton, PA 18202 is a Portable Document File produced as part of an ongoing publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them. Jim Manis is a faculty member of the English Department of The Pennsylvania State University. This page and any preceding page(s) are restricted by copyright. The text of the following pages are not copyrighted within the United States; however, the fonts used may be. Cover Design: Jim Manis Copyright © 2000 - 2013 The Pennsylvania State University is an equal opportunity university. The Prince and the Pauper longe, then ther was (I trow), inter vicinos att the byrth The Prince of S. J. Baptyste, as thys berer, Master Erance, can telle you. Gode gyffe us alle grace, to yelde dew thankes to and our Lorde Gode, Gode of Inglonde, for verely He hathe shoyd Hym selff Gode of Inglonde, or rather an Inglyssh Gode, yf we consydyr and pondyr welle alle Hys the Pauper procedynges with us from tyme to tyme. He hath over cumme alle our yllnesse with Hys excedynge goodnesse, so that we are now moor then compellyd to serve Hym, by seke Hys glory, promott Hys wurde, yf the Devylle of alle Devylles be natt in us. We have now the stooppe of Mark Twain vayne trustes ande the stey of vayne expectations; lett us alle pray for hys preservatione. Ande I for my partt wylle wyssh that hys Grace allways have, and evyn now Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, to Lord Cromwell, from the begynynge, Governares, Instructores and on the birth of the Prince of Wales (afterward Edward offyceres of ryght jugmente, ne optimum ingenium non VI.). optima educatione deprevetur. From the National Manuscripts preserved by the Brit- Butt whatt a grett fowlle am I! So, whatt devotione ish Government. shoyth many tymys butt lytelle dyscretione! Ande thus Ryght honorable, Salutem in Christo Jesu, and Syr the Gode of Inglonde be ever with you in alle your here ys no lesse joynge and rejossynge in thes partees procedynges. for the byrth of our prynce, hoom we hungurde for so 3 Mark Twain The 19 of October. end, a tradition. It may have happened, it may not have happened: but it could have happened. It may be Youres, H. L. B. of Wurcestere, now att Hartlebury. that the wise and the learned believed it in the old days; it may be that only the unlearned and the simple Yf you wolde excytt thys berere to be moore hartye loved it and credited it. ayen the abuse of ymagry or mor forwarde to promotte the veryte, ytt myght doo goode. Natt that ytt came of Contents. me, butt of your selffe, etc. I. The birth of the Prince and the Pauper. (Addressed) To the Ryght Honorable Loorde P. Sealle II. Tom’s early life. hys synguler gode Lorde. III. Tom’s meeting with the Prince. IV. The Prince’s troubles begin. To those good-mannered and agreeable children Susie V. Tom as a patrician. and Clara Clemens this book is affectionately inscribed VI. Tom receives instructions. by their father. VII. Tom’s first royal dinner. I will set down a tale as it was told to me by one who VIII. The question of the Seal. had it of his father, which latter had it of his father, IX. The river pageant. this last having in like manner had it of his father— X. The Prince in the toils. and so on, back and still back, three hundred years and XI. At Guildhall. more, the fathers transmitting it to the sons and so XII. The Prince and his deliverer. preserving it. It may be history, it may be only a leg- XIII. The disappearance of the Prince. 4 The Prince and the Pauper XIV. ‘Le Roi est mort—vive le Roi.’ ‘The quality of mercy … is twice bless’d; It blesseth XV. Tom as King. him that gives, and him that takes; ’Tis mightiest in XVI. The state dinner. the mightiest: it becomes The thron-ed monarch better XVII. Foo-foo the First. than his crown’. Merchant of Venice. XVIII. The Prince with the tramps. XIX. The Prince with the peasants. Chapter I XX. The Prince and the hermit. XXI. Hendon to the rescue. The birth of the Prince XXII. A victim of treachery. XXIII. The Prince a prisoner. and the Pauper XXIV. The escape. XXV. Hendon Hall. n the ancient city of London, on a certain au XXVI. Disowned. tumn day in the second quarter of the sixteenth XXVII. In prison. Icentury, a boy was born to a poor family of the XXVIII. The sacrifice. name of Canty, who did not want him. On the same day XXIX. To London. another English child was born to a rich family of the XXX. Tom’s progress. name of Tudor, who did want him. All England wanted XXXI. The Recognition procession. him too. England had so longed for him, and hoped for XXXII. Coronation Day. him, and prayed God for him, that, now that he was XXXIII. Edward as King. Conclusion. Justice and Retri- really come, the people went nearly mad for joy. Mere bution. Notes. acquaintances hugged and kissed each other and cried. Everybody took a holiday, and high and low, rich and 5 Mark Twain poor, feasted and danced and sang, and got very mel- Chapter II low; and they kept this up for days and nights together. By day, London was a sight to see, with gay banners Tom’s early life waving from every balcony and housetop, and splendid pageants marching along. By night, it was again a sight et us skip a number of years. to see, with its great bonfires at every corner, and its London was fifteen hundred years old, troops of revellers making merry around them. There L and was a great town—for that day. It had a was no talk in all England but of the new baby, Edward hundred thousand inhabitants—some think double as Tudor, Prince of Wales, who lay lapped in silks and sat- many. The streets were very narrow, and crooked, and ins, unconscious of all this fuss, and not knowing that dirty, especially in the part where Tom Canty lived, which great lords and ladies were tending him and watching was not far from London Bridge. The houses were of over him—and not caring, either. But there was no talk wood, with the second story projecting over the first, about the other baby, Tom Canty, lapped in his poor and the third sticking its elbows out beyond the sec- rags, except among the family of paupers whom he had ond. The higher the houses grew, the broader they grew. just come to trouble with his presence. They were skeletons of strong criss-cross beams, with solid material between, coated with plaster. The beams were painted red or blue or black, according to the owner’s taste, and this gave the houses a very pictur- esque look. The windows were small, glazed with little diamond-shaped panes, and they opened outward, on hinges, like doors. 6 The Prince and the Pauper The house which Tom’s father lived in was up a foul was a thief, and his mother a beggar. They made beg- little pocket called Offal Court, out of Pudding Lane. It gars of the children, but failed to make thieves of them. was small, decayed, and rickety, but it was packed full Among, but not of, the dreadful rabble that inhabited of wretchedly poor families. Canty’s tribe occupied a the house, was a good old priest whom the King had room on the third floor. The mother and father had a turned out of house and home with a pension of a few sort of bedstead in the corner; but Tom, his grandmother, farthings, and he used to get the children aside and and his two sisters, Bet and Nan, were not restricted— teach them right ways secretly. Father Andrew also they had all the floor to themselves, and might sleep taught Tom a little Latin, and how to read and write; where they chose. There were the remains of a blanket and would have done the same with the girls, but they or two, and some bundles of ancient and dirty straw, were afraid of the jeers of their friends, who could not but these could not rightly be called beds, for they were have endured such a queer accomplishment in them. not organised; they were kicked into a general pile, All Offal Court was just such another hive as Canty’s mornings, and selections made from the mass at night, house. Drunkenness, riot and brawling were the order, for service. there, every night and nearly all night long. Broken Bet and Nan were fifteen years old—twins.