At a Reading in Bradford
Title
Description
Creator
Date
Bibliographic Citation
Summary
In reading this little book, he said, he should pause for at the most ten minutes as nearly half-way through as the prescribed divisions of the story would permit.
Allow me, he went on, before I commence, to express two wishes. The first is that you will have the kindness, by a great stretch of the imagination, to imagine this a small social party assembled to hear a tale told round the Christmas fire; and secondly, that if you feel disposed as we go along to give expression to any emotion, whether grave or gay, you will do so with perfect freedom from restraint, and without the least apprehension of disturbing me. Nothing can be so delightful to me on such occasions as the assurance that my hearers accompany me with something of the pleasure and interest I shall have in conducting them; and, believe me, I cannot desire anything so much as the establishment amongst us, from the very beginning, of a perfectly unfettered, cordial, friendly sentiment.
They had, he said, been such an admirable audience for so long that he would only detain them by thanking them heartily for their cordial response to the proposition of the two gentlemen, and conclude by assuring them that he could not possibly have given them more pleasure than they had given him.