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Nicholas Nickleby
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===Around London=== *'''Miss La Creevy''': The Nicklebys' landlady. A small, kindly (if somewhat ridiculous) woman in her fifties, she is a miniature-portrait painter. She is the first friend the Nicklebys make in London, and one of the truest. She is rewarded for her good-heartedness when she falls in love with Tim Linkinwater and they later marry. Her character was said to have been inspired by the artist [[Rose Emma Drummond]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kitton |first=Frederic George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YfKpCdOnvrMC&dq=rose+emma+drummond&pg=PA437 |title=The Life of Charles Dickens: His Life, Writings, and Personality |date=2004 |publisher=Lexden Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-904995-02-9 |pages=437 |language=en}}</ref> *'''Hannah''': Miss La Creevy's faithful but noticeably stupid maid. *'''Mr Snawley''': An oil merchant who puts his two stepsons into Squeers's "care". He pretends to be Smike's father to help Squeers get back at Nicholas, but, when pursued by the Cheerybles, cracks under the pressure and eventually confesses everything. *'''Mr and Madame Mantalini''': Milliners, Kate's employers. Alfred Muntle (he changed his name to Mantalini for business purposes) is a handsome man with a large bushy black mustache who lives off his wife's business. He is not above stealing from his wife and dramatically threatens to kill himself whenever he does not get his way. Madame Mantalini is much older than her husband and equally prone to dramatics. She eventually gets wise and divorces him, but not until he has ruined her with extravagant spending and she is forced to sell the business to Miss Knag. Mantalini is seen again at the end of the book living in much reduced circumstances, romantically tied to a washerwoman, but still up to his old tricks. *'''Miss Knag''': Mrs Mantalini's right-hand woman and the chief assistant in the showroom. Miss Knag is well into middle age but is under the impression that she is exceptionally beautiful. When Kate begins her employment with the Mantalinis, Miss Knag is quite kind to her because the younger woman is clumsy, making Miss Knag look more accomplished by comparison. But when she is insulted by a disgruntled customer who prefers to be served by Kate, she blames Kate and ostracizes her. She takes over the business when the Mantalinis go bankrupt, immediately firing Kate. A spinster, she lives with her brother Mortimer, a failed novelist. *'''The Kenwigs family''': Newman Noggs's neighbours. Mr Kenwigs and his wife Susan are dependent on the latter's wealthy uncle Mr Lillyvick, and everything they do is designed to please him so he will not write their children (including their baby, named Lillyvick) out of his will. Their daughter Morleena is an awkward child of seven. The family and their acquaintances are described by Dickens as "exceptionally common." *'''Mr Lillyvick''': Mrs Kenwigs's uncle. He is a collector of the water rate, a position which gives him great importance among his poor relatives. They bend over backwards to please him, and he is completely used to getting his way. He falls in love with Miss Petowker and marries her, to the Kenwigs' great distress. When she elopes with another man, he comes back to his family a sadder but wiser man. *'''Henrietta Petowker''': Of the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]]. A minor actress with a prestigious company and a major star with the significantly less prestigious Crummles troupe. Mrs Crummles' protégée. She marries Mr Lillyvick after meeting him at the Kenwigs' wedding anniversary party, but leaves him for another man within a few months. *'''Henry and Julia Wittiterly''': A wealthy, social-climbing couple who employ Kate as a companion to Mrs Wittiterly. Mrs Wittiterly is a hypochondriac and puts on a show of her frailty and poor health, but she has a fierce temper when she does not get her way. Mr Wittiterly flatters his wife and toadies to her every whim. They are oblivious to the degradation Kate is subjected to under their noses, only concerned that they are being visited by noblemen. Mrs. Wittiterly becomes jealous of Kate. She reprimands Kate for flirting with the noblemen that call, but never allows Kate to miss the visits since it is obvious that she is the reason for the call. Nicholas rescues Kate from their employ, and they are happy to see her go. They do not pay Kate her last salary. *'''Charles and Ned Cheeryble''': Identical twin brothers, wealthy "German-merchants" (merchants who trade internationally) who are as magnanimous as they are jovial. Remembering their humble beginnings, they spend much of their time doing charity work and helping those in need. This generosity leads them to give Nicholas a job and provide for his family, and almost single-handedly revive his faith in the goodness of man. They become key figures in the development of Ralph's defeat and the Nicklebys' happy ending. *'''Frank Cheeryble''': Ned and Charles's nephew, who is just as open-hearted as his uncles. He shares Nicholas's streak of anger when his sense of chivalry is roused; Nicholas first meets him after he has kicked a man for insulting Madeline Bray. He falls in love with Kate and later marries her. *'''Madeline Bray''': A beautiful but destitute young woman. Proud and dutiful to her dying father, she is willing to throw her life away if it means ensuring his comfort. Nicholas falls in love with her at first sight, and she comes to feel the same way about him. *'''Walter Bray''': Madeline's father, formerly a handsome gentleman. He is an extremely selfish man who has wasted his late wife's fortune and living, in ill health, in a slum dwelling with his daughter. He owes vast sums of money to both Ralph and Gride. He maintains a scornful and prideful attitude towards Nicholas. He fools himself that he is acting for the benefit of his daughter by agreeing to her marriage with Gride, but when he realizes what he has done, he dies of grief before the marriage goes through, freeing Madeline from her obligations. *'''Tim Linkinwater''': The Cheerybles' devoted clerk. An elderly, stout, pleasant gentleman, he is jokingly referred to by the Brothers as "a Fierce Lion". He is prone to [[hyperbole]] and obstinately refuses to go into retirement. He finds happiness with Miss La Creevy. *'''The Man Next Door''': A madman who lives next to the Nickleby family's cottage in the latter part of the novel. He falls instantly in love with Mrs. Nickleby, and he repeatedly throws vegetables over the wall in their garden as a token of his affections. To Kate's distress, Mrs. Nickleby refuses to believe that her suitor is insane until he suddenly switches his attentions to Miss LaCreevy.
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