Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures

First published in Punch in 1845, this book gives Mrs Caudle's incessant petty lectures to her unfortunate husband - enacted in the matrimonial bed at the close of each day when he is compelled to lie and listen. In Mrs Caudle's eyes he can do no right and she lays the blame for all their ills squarely at his feet. Mrs Caudle is adept at inconsistency and her melodramatic talent for turning molehills into mountains means her husband's most innocent acts - from eating out to lending an umbrella - are construed as monstrous deeds that will surely lead their whole family to death and damnation.