Ask Mamma: or The Richest Commoner In England
Robert Smith Surtees
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Considering that Billy Pringle, or Fine Billy, as his good-natured friends called him, was only an underbred chap, he was as good an imitation of a Swell as ever we saw. He had all the airy dreaminess of a hereditary high flyer, while his big talk and off-hand manner strengthened the delusion.
It was only when you came to close quarters with him and found that though he talked in pounds he acted in pence, and marked his fine dictionary words and laboured expletives, that you came to the conclusion that he was “painfully gentlemanly.” So few people, however, agree upon what a gentleman is, that Billy was well calculated to pass muster with the million. Fine shirts, fine ties, fine talk, fine trinkets, go a long way towards furnishing the character with many. Billy was liberal, not to say prodigal, in all these. The only infallible rule we know is, that the man who is always talking about being a gentleman never is one. Just as the man who is always talking about honour, morality, fine feeling, and so on never knows anything of these qualities but the name. - Summary From The Book (17 hr 55 min)
Chapters
Preface and Chapter 1 | 11:49 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 2 | 11:35 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 3 | 18:26 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 4 | 10:06 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 5 | 16:15 | Read by Christine Rottger |
Chapter 6 | 17:31 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 7 | 12:30 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 8 | 11:25 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 9 | 9:31 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 10 | 8:07 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 11 | 25:38 | Read by gracecremeens |
Chapter 12 | 23:24 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 13 | 19:45 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 14 | 12:32 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 15 | 16:35 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 16 | 13:20 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 17 | 15:59 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 18 | 7:08 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 19 | 20:30 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 20 | 12:12 | Read by Ryan Lohner |
Chapter 21 | 26:27 | Read by Christine Rottger |
Chapter 22 | 17:30 | Read by Michelle Ballard |
Chapter 23 | 18:27 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 24 | 14:21 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 25 | 17:31 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 26 | 20:32 | Read by ToddHW |
Chapter 27 | 14:19 | Read by Ryan Williams |
Chapter 28 | 19:33 | Read by Belinda Loveday |
Chapter 29 | 19:34 | Read by Lector1 |
Chapter 30 | 11:40 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 31 | 21:49 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 32 | 19:04 | Read by Nancy Gorgen |
Chapter 33 | 21:09 | Read by Nancy Gorgen |
Chapter 34 | 15:52 | Read by Nancy Gorgen |
Chapter 35 | 19:57 | Read by Nancy Gorgen |
Chapter 36 | 21:20 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 37 | 11:59 | Read by Tia Wright |
Chapter 38 | 24:00 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 39 | 20:35 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 40 | 18:22 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 41 | 24:32 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 42 | 9:05 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 43 | 24:18 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 44 | 17:13 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 45 | 13:52 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 46 | 22:19 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 47 | 18:00 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 48 | 11:57 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 49 | 22:14 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 50 | 23:33 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 51 | 6:24 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 52 | 20:27 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 53 | 20:55 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 54 | 32:47 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 55 | 16:47 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 56 | 16:06 | Read by Jamie Price |
Chapter 57 | 9:55 | Read by jkatula |
Chapter 58 | 18:26 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 59 | 12:47 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 60 | 10:40 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 61 | 29:32 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 62 | 15:32 | Read by Brize C |
Chapter 63 | 9:40 | Read by Kerry Adams |