Ask Mamma: or The Richest Commoner In England


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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