Did you know that there is a Mr. Markham in Dickens' David Copperfield? I've been reading it lately and the other night I was surprised to read of a character named Mr. Markham. It made me wonder if Dickens' had ever come across any of my ancestors and the experience led him to base one of his characters off their personality? Unfortunately, up to this point in the book, Mr. Markham's only cameo is during the night that Copperfield first became inebriated and blames it partly on Steerforth and his two buddies from school (Markham being one of them). Well in any case, it is nice to get the Markham name out there haha.
Going back to Dickens though, this is his third book that I've read and it amazes me how well he can describe people. I mean, who hasn't met somebody that doesn't resemble a Mr. Micawber or a Uriah Heep? I especially like this description of the slimy Uriah Heep-
"When the pony-chaise stopped at the door, and my eyes were intent upon the house, I saw a cadaverous face appear at a small window on the ground floor (in a little round tower that formed one side of the house), and quickly disappear. The low arched door then opened, and the face came out. It was quite as cadaverous as it had looked in the window, though in the grain of it there was that tinge of red which is sometimes to be observed in the skins of red-haired people. It belonged to a red-haired person-a youth of fifteen, as I take it now, but looking much older-whose hair was cropped as close as the closest stubble; who had hardly any eyebrows, and no eyelashes, and eyes of a red-brown, so unsheltered and unshaded, that I remember wondering how he went to sleep. He was high-shouldered and bony; dressed in decent black, with a white wisp of a neckcloth; buttoned up to the throat; and had a long, lank, skeleton hand, which particularly attracted my attention, as he stood at the pony's head, rubbing his chin with it, and looking up at us in the chaise."
Going back to Dickens though, this is his third book that I've read and it amazes me how well he can describe people. I mean, who hasn't met somebody that doesn't resemble a Mr. Micawber or a Uriah Heep? I especially like this description of the slimy Uriah Heep-
"When the pony-chaise stopped at the door, and my eyes were intent upon the house, I saw a cadaverous face appear at a small window on the ground floor (in a little round tower that formed one side of the house), and quickly disappear. The low arched door then opened, and the face came out. It was quite as cadaverous as it had looked in the window, though in the grain of it there was that tinge of red which is sometimes to be observed in the skins of red-haired people. It belonged to a red-haired person-a youth of fifteen, as I take it now, but looking much older-whose hair was cropped as close as the closest stubble; who had hardly any eyebrows, and no eyelashes, and eyes of a red-brown, so unsheltered and unshaded, that I remember wondering how he went to sleep. He was high-shouldered and bony; dressed in decent black, with a white wisp of a neckcloth; buttoned up to the throat; and had a long, lank, skeleton hand, which particularly attracted my attention, as he stood at the pony's head, rubbing his chin with it, and looking up at us in the chaise."
(I think this drawing by Fred Barnard portrays him very well)
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