Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty

Hugh, Dennis, and Sim head toward The Boot but are told by a scout that the pub has been raided. Many of the rioters have gone to Fleet Market, where the three men go to ask about Barnaby, but no one there has seen him. A man brings Hugh news from Barnaby and several of the men attempt to rush to Newgate Prison, but the ringleaders stop them and plan to burn all jails in London the following night.

Haredale gets no help escorting Barnaby Rudge Sr. to prison, as all rioters coming from London have pledged to do harm to anyone who even helps a Catholic. He takes Rudge to London on his own, but the Lord Mayor refuses to help him and another Catholic man whose house has been threatened. Though the man has little to offer Haredale, he offers his home to him anyway. Haredale then heads to the house of another magistrate, whose guards assist Haredale in taking Rudge to Newgate without either being discovered.

Stagg goes to visit Rudge in prison and asks him why he went to Chigwell. He tells Stagg how he thought joining the rioters was the only way he could be sure to stay away from Haredale. He also recounts his story of the night he killed Rueben Haredale and how the gardener saw, so Rudge killed him too and dressed him in his own clothes before throwing him in a river. That night, he told his wife what had happened and she and her unborn child renounced him. He has been wandering ever since, but felt beckoned back to Chigwell five years ago. He claims another power forced him to kill Rueben and he has wrestled against it since.

Stagg tells him that Mary is again in London and he has a plan to get Rudge free. He plans to tell Mary to tell the court that her husband has been dead for years, so cannot be the man they have arrested, setting him free. If she does so, Stagg can help Barnaby Jr. get out of jail. Rudge is let out into the prison yard where he sees Barnaby, who recognizes him as the man who robbed Edward Chester. Barnaby Rudge Sr. immediately tells his son that he is his father and Barnaby Rudge Jr. hugs him.

The Gordon Riots grow to be the biggest ever experienced in London, and most of London, including the militia and the Lord Mayor, appear to side with the rioters. It is widely known that the rioters plan to overtake Newgate Prison, and a group of them led by Hugh, Dennis, and Sim go to Gabriel Varden’s house, as he is the locksmith who designed the great lock at the jail and would know how to pick it. Gabriel threatens the rioters from an upstairs window with his gun, but Miggs appears on the roof to tell them that she is still loyal to the cause and she has poured beer down the barrel of his gun. The rioters take Gabriel and when Miggs is released she flings herself upon Sim, who has a hard time getting rid of her before they head toward Newgate.

The rioters meet the jailer at Newgate, who refuses to let them in but entreats them to let Gabriel go when the man says he has been brought there by force. The rioters try to force Gabriel to get to work opening the prison gate, yet he will not budge. Many call for his head and one man almost kills him with an ax before that man drops and a one-armed man and another take Gabriel away, telling Hugh they will take care of him and to remember Barnaby. Though a few go after the men, most begin to take the furniture from the jailer’s home and pile it up in a massive fire.

The fire spreads both outside and inside of the prison, and many of the men they are trying to rescue are captured in the flames. Finally, the door to the prison starts to give and Hugh and Dennis rush in with the others following, stamping down the flames.

Rudge awakes in the prison and believes the mob is there to kill him, so he does not scream for help when the fire begins to take the jail. He is still released and also sees Barnaby being released among the inmates. Four inmates who are supposed to be hanged in two days are in a separate part of the prison, which Dennis goes to before the others. When Hugh arrives to free the inmates, Dennis begs Hugh to let him have the men and do what the law commands, but Hugh refuses and the men are released.

Haredale continues to search for Emma, but is still often turned away as a Catholic. He hears that Newgate Prison, where he recently brought Rudge, is being attacked by the rioters. He is found by the man he met at the Lord Mayor’s house earlier, along with an old vintner and John Grueby, who is now in this man’s employ and assisting Catholics after leaving Gordon’s service. Haredale swoons and the old vintner takes care of him while sending out scouts to learn what has happened with the riots.

The rioters have set several justices’ houses on fire and a few have been killed by soldiers and paraded through the streets. They release all the inmates of another jail.

Dozens of fires continue to blaze the following night and Hugh seems to be at all of them. The mob has threatened the old vintner’s house and he and Haredale try to escape over the roof before Hugh spots Haredale. The men instead try to escape through a cellar and get there just as the mob breaks through the door, but Haredale and the vintner see two men, one of them with one arm, already inside. Haredale recognizes the men as Edward Chester and Joe Willet, and despite his former animosity, lets them and John Grueby lead him and the vintner to safety.

Barnaby, his father, and Grip escape to a hut just outside of the city, where Barnaby hopes Mary will find them. The day after the burning of Newgate, he goes in search of Stagg but comes across the horrors of the city. He sees the vintner’s house in flames and several people who have drank themselves to death in a puddle of the liquor that has seeped out of his house. He finds Hugh, drunk and disoriented but still at the head of the mob, and brings him back to his hut in the country.

Barnaby Rudge Sr. is highly suspicious of Hugh when his son brings him to the hut. Rudge tells Barnaby to try and find Stagg again, wearing his father’s clothes to disguise himself. Stagg comes that night telling Rudge he has seen Mary and she is on her deathbed after losing Barnaby. He tries to persuade Rudge to run with Barnaby and loot the streets for money.

Dennis suddenly arrives at the hut, having heard Hugh’s horse ride off the night before. He has laid a trap, however, and soldiers quickly surround the men. Stagg heard the soldiers a moment before the others and he takes off running before he is shot. Dennis laments that this is how people must come to their death these days, rather than at his hands, as he did with the four prisoners. Hugh, Barnaby, and his father are taken back to London, where they know there is little hope once they see that Fleet Market has been ransacked by the militia.

Dennis is sure no one will take him for one of the rioters except if Dolly, Emma, or Miggs—who has been removed to the house where the others are kept—say something against him. Dennis goes to the house and talks with Miggs, who thinks Dolly should be taught a lesson, though she worries what would happen to the Vardens if she were abducted, as Dennis secretly plans.

Dolly, Emma, and Miggs fear that something bad is bound to happen after Dennis’s visit. They hear the moans of a man coming from another side of the house and wonder who he is.

One day, a man beats their guards and tells them that he has come to bring Emma to her uncle and to tell Dolly she will be restored to her friends later that day. Though Emma trusts the man, Dolly doesn’t and tries to persuade her not to leave with him. Emma does leave with the man but, as soon as they step outside, he is struck down and Haredale and the Vardens appear with Edward and Joe helping them. The man turns out to be Gashford, who is taken away outside.

They see that the outer room of the house is full of the men who were their captors, now captured themselves, and they see that Sim has been shot and burnt—he was the moaning man. Everyone is happily reunited and all but Edward and Joe go in a coach to the Black Lion pub.

The coach arrives at the Black Lion with Edward, Joe, and Old John Willet having already arrived. Dolly begins to cry seeing that Joe has lost an arm, as she was not there for him. Old John is much kinder to his son without his cronies to spur him on and knowing he could easily run away again.

Dolly is the last one to leave the dinner table and is sobbing once again when Joe leaves. She finally realizes how much she feels for him just before he tells her that he is happy she is alive, and free to choose whomever she wants for a husband.

The militia has overtaken the city and quelled the riots, with hundreds being arrested, dead, or injured. Mary visits Barnaby in his cell and they try to console each other, with both still convinced that Barnaby has done nothing wrong and should not fear death. As she is leaving, Mary tells Barnaby not to tell anyone of his father and reveals that he is a murderer.

Mary comes across her husband’s cell and asks to speak with him, telling him that if he repents she will strive to love him and his confession of guilt could save Barnaby. He curses her and all the world before forcing her away. Lord George Gordon has been brought to the Tower of London alone and abandoned by all of his followers, but regretful that his beliefs led them to riot.

Despite his beliefs about the necessity of a hangman, Dennis is arrested and told he is likely to be hanged. He is brought to Newgate, where some cells have been restored, and is terrified when he learns his cellmate is Hugh. Though Hugh threatens Dennis, he thinks that revenge is hopeless, so he settles to enjoy the little life he has as much as he can. When Dennis asks if Hugh has any family he can write to, Hugh mentions that his mother was hanged at Tyburn, where Dennis was the hangman—Dennis has yet to tell any of his fellow rioters of his profession.

A month after the riots, Sir John soliloquizes on how Dennis, Hugh, and Barnaby are to be hanged. Though Barnaby’s intellectual disability is brought up at his trial, the country justice who tried to buy Grip was present, and convinced the court that Barnaby was just faking it.

Gabriel Varden comes from Newgate to visit Sir John to deliver a message from Dennis. Gabriel’s testimony against Dennis is what sealed his fate, but Dennis called for Gabriel to tell him a story. During his month of imprisonment with Hugh, the cellmates learned that Dennis did hang Hugh’s mother, and that he and another man he had hanged had revealed facts that made it known to Dennis that Sir John Chester was Hugh’s father. Gabriel implores Sir John to visit his son before his execution tomorrow, though he has turned away his other son three times the previous month. Sir John refuses.

Barnaby Rudge Sr. does not repent and his last words are used to curse his enemies. Haredale is there when the man is hanged. Dennis is sure there must be some mistake and that someone is coming to get him before his hanging, while Hugh merely laughs at the irony of the hangman being hanged. Mary visits with Barnaby one last time but he assures her he will be brave.

Crowds gather to see the men hanged: Hugh and Dennis first outside of the prison, and Barnaby shortly after in another square. Dennis pleads for his life until he no longer can. Hugh recognizes that it is his fault that Barnaby got involved with the riots and regrets it deeply, and also curses his father to a violent death. Barnaby is cheerful and tries to go with the other men to the gallows, yet officers take him away in a cart to the place where he is to be hanged.

At the same time the men are being hanged, Joe comes to tell Old John that Edward, who has made a fortune in the West Indies, will hire him. Suddenly, Dolly runs into the room and throws her arms around Joe, confessing her love for him and asking for his forgiveness. Old John is incredibly puzzled but Joe and Dolly are happy.

Many of the old residents of Chigwell have gathered at the Vardens’ newly-rebuilt house. Haredale apologizes to Edward and Emma and blesses their union, knowing they will soon go off to live in the West Indies.

A mob is suddenly at the door of the Vardens’, from which the people of the house can see Gabriel pushing through with Barnaby on his arm. It is revealed that the Chigwell company was trying to get Barnaby released all day, and went so far as the king to prove that Barnaby should be considered innocent due to his intellectual disability. They received a pardon just as Barnaby was being taken to the gallows, and a mob of his supporters are assured he made it safely to his friends.

Barnaby rushes to his mother, who is again on her sick bed, and the members of the house rejoice. Later that night, Edward is the only one who goes to see his brother, Hugh, buried, and regrets not knowing of his brother sooner, though Hugh refused to see Edward when he went to Newgate during the last day of his life.

The Vardens are excessively happy for Dolly and Joe. Martha’s complaints about her husband have been tempered by the riots and she is even able to laugh at herself when the others joke about her. Miggs, having gone to her sister’s home after escaping from the house where she, Dolly, and Emma were kept, returns to the Vardens but Martha refuses to take her back, now seeing how Miggs encouraged her volatile ways.

Another month has passed but Haredale seems to have aged significantly since he said goodbye to Emma the previous day. He leaves London and goes to see the Warren for what he knows will be the last time, but when he arrives Sir John is already there. Haredale tells Sir John that he knows he is responsible for the Warren’s destruction as he had been working with Gashford, and the two men duel. Though both are wounded, Haredale ultimately stabs Sir John, who dies concerned about how his body will appear after his death.

It takes two days to find the body of Sir John but, before that can happen, Haredale leaves England and joins a monastery. Lord George Gordon is found not guilty of inciting the riots, despite urging his friends to act dangerously. He is excommunicated from the church and converts to Judaism, and later dies in Newgate. John Grueby was one of the few to stay by his side since his time in the Tower, but Gashford, having turned against him, lived poorly and later died by suicide. Once released from the hospital and prison, Sim Tappertit applied to Gabriel Varden again for work and the man set him up as a shoeblack. Sim’s business has since become profitable and he marries, but he has lost his beloved legs and must get wooden ones. Miggs becomes a turnkey at a female prison and never marries.

Joe and Dolly quickly marry, reopen the Maypole, and have many children. They settle Old John at a nearby cottage in Chigwell, where his cronies come to smoke and drink as they did at the Maypole. He never quite recovers from the shock of the riots, but dies at peace a few years later.

Slowly, Barnaby recovers from his experience with the riots but refuses to return to London. He and Mary live on the farms of the Maypole and tend to the animals there, including Hugh’s dog. Barnaby’s memory improves, and he easily recognizes Edward and Emma when they bring their new family to visit the Maypole. Grip also recovers some of the personality he lost in his imprisonment and, though he goes without speaking for a year, Dickens concludes his novel by writing that Grip “constantly practiced and improved himself in the vulgar tongue; and, as he was a mere infant for a raven when Barnaby was grey, he has very probably gone on talking to the present time” (829).