The Project Gutenberg eBook, The House of Cobwebs and Other Stories, by
George Gissing, et al

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Title: The House of Cobwebs and Other Stories

Author: George Gissing

Release Date: March 16, 2004 [eBook #11603]

Language: English

Character set encoding: US-ASCII

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE OF COBWEBS AND OTHER
STORIES***

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THE HOUSE OF COBWEBS

AND OTHER STORIES

BY

GEORGE GISSING

1906

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED
THE WORK OF GEORGE GISSING
AN INTRODUCTORY SURVEY
BY THOMAS SECCOMBE

CONTENTS

THE WORK OF GEORGE GISSING

A CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD

THE HOUSE OF COBWEBS

A CAPITALIST

CHRISTOPHERSON

HUMPLEBEE

THE SCRUPULOUS FATHER

A POOR GENTLEMAN

MISS RODNEY'S LEISURE

A CHARMING FAMILY

A DAUGHTER OF THE LODGE

THE RIDING-WHIP

FATE AND THE APOTHECARY

TOPHAM'S CHANCE

A LODGER IN MAZE POND

THE SALT OF THE EARTH

THE PIG AND WHISTLE

THE WORK OF GEORGE GISSING

AN INTRODUCTORY SURVEY

'Les gens tout a fait heureux, forts et bien portants, sont-ils
prepares comme il faut pour comprendre, penetrer, exprimer la vie,
notre vie si tourmentee et si courte?'

MAUPASSANT.

In England during the sixties and seventies of last century the world of
books was dominated by one Gargantuan type of fiction. The terms book and
novel became almost synonymous in houses which were not Puritan, yet where
books and reading, in the era of few and unfree libraries, were strictly
circumscribed. George Gissing was no exception to this rule. The English
novel was at the summit of its reputation during his boyish days. As a lad
of eight or nine he remembered the parts of _Our Mutual Friend_ coming to
the house, and could recall the smile of welcome with which they were
infallibly received. In the dining-room at home was a handsomely framed
picture which he regarded with an almost idolatrous veneration. It was an
engraved portrait of Charles Dickens. Some of the best work of George
Eliot, Reade, and Trollope was yet to make its appearance; Meredith and
Hardy were still the treasu