Always something in the nature of a Boil upon the face of society, Mr. Honeythunder expanded into an inflammatory Wen in Minor Canon Corner. Though it was not literally true, as was facetiously charged against him by public unbelievers, that he called aloud to his fellow-creatures: “Curse your souls and bodies, come here and be blessed!” still his philanthropy was of that gunpowderous sort that the difference between it and animosity was hard to determine.
Charles Dickens – The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870)
Strangely enough there is still a curious lack of difference between malice and the loudly intransigent virtue-signalling of Mr. Honeythunder. Accept the saintly virtue of the climate narrative or be cursed forever is the kind of thing we have to endure today.
We don’t know what happened to Mr. Honeythunder because Dickens died before the novel was finished, but no doubt he would have encountered Nemesis towards the end of the novel. Doesn’t end like that today.
No comments:
Post a Comment