{"product_id":"2940013435728","title":"THE THREE CLERKS","description":"• Table of contents with working links to chapters is included\u003cbr\u003e• The book has been corrected for spelling and grammatical errors\u003cbr\u003e• \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is the proper mood and the just environment for the reading as well as for the writing of works of fiction, and there can be no better place for the enjoying of a novel by Anthony Trollope than under a tree in Kensington Gardens of a summer day. Under a tree in the avenue that reaches down from the Round Pond to the Long Water. There, perhaps more than anywhere else, lingers the early Victorian atmosphere. As we sit beneath our tree, we see in the distance the dun, red-brick walls of Kensington Palace, where one night Princess Victoria was awakened to hear that she was Queen; there in quaint, hideously ugly Victorian rooms are to be seen Victorian dolls and other playthings; the whole environment is early Victorian. Here to the mind's eye how easy it is to conjure up ghosts of men in baggy trousers and long flowing whiskers, of prim women in crinolines, in hats with long trailing feathers and with ridiculous little parasols, or with Grecian-bends and chignons—church-parading to and fro beneath the trees or by the water's edge—perchance, even the fascinating Lady Crinoline and the elegant Mr. Macassar Jones, whose history has been written by Clerk Charley in the pages we are introducing to the 'gentle reader'. As a poetaster of an earlier date has written:—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Where Kensington high o'er the neighbouring lands\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'Midst green and sweets, a royal fabric, stands,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  And sees each spring, luxuriant in her bowers,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  A snow of blossoms, and a wild of flowers,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  The dames of Britain oft in crowds repair\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  To gravel walks, and unpolluted air.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Here, while the town in damps and darkness lies,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  They breathe in sunshine, and see azure skies;\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Each walk, with robes of various dyes bespread,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Seems from afar a moving tulip bed,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Where rich brocades and glossy damasks glow,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  And chintz, the rival of the showery bow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIndeed, the historian of social manners, when dealing with the\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVictorian period, will perforce have recourse to the early\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003evolumes of Punch and to the novels of Thackeray, Dickens, and\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTrollope.","brand":"Unforgotten Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47073730593008,"sku":"2940013435728","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013435728_p0.jpg?v=1763581469","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013435728","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}