Paul Clifford (Annotated)

Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Paul Clifford (1830) is a vivid Newgate novel that fuses romance, social satire, and criminal biography into the story of a foundling who becomes a celebrated highwayman. Best remembered for its thunderous opening, "It was a dark and stormy night," the novel is far more than a stylistic curiosity: its ornate prose, theatrical plotting, and ironic treatment of respectability ...