Dickensian kindness-butter

A brief interlude, courtesy of Martin Chuzzlewit, chapter 3:


It would be no description of Mr Pecksniff’s gentleness of manner to adopt the common parlance, and say that he looked at this moment as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He rather looked as if any quantity of butter might have been made out of him, by churning the milk of human kindness, as it spouted upwards from his heart.

Is there anything that Dickens is better at describing than pomposity?

Leave a Reply