The Prince and the Pauper

by

Mark Twain

Edward Tudor’s friend and protector. Miles is Sir Richard Hendon’s middle son. Seven years before the events of the story, Richard sent Miles into the army after his vindictive younger brother, Hugh, convinced their father that Miles intended to kidnap Lady Edith—their cousin whom Miles was in love with—and force her to marry him. When Miles discovers Edward, lost and confused in London, he swoops in and offers Edward his protection. Edward tells Miles that he’s the prince, but Miles writes this off as symptoms of mental illness. Still, Miles plays along in the hope that Edward will snap out of the delusion. When John Canty, mistaking Edward for his son Tom Canty, kidnaps Edward, Miles tracks them down and rescues Edward. John kidnaps Edward again, and one of his companions, Hugo, frames Edward for theft. Miles blackmails a sheriff to let Edward go, and together they race off towards Miles’s family home. Miles hopes he’ll find a warm welcome but he discovers that his father and older brother, Arthur, are dead—and Hugh has tricked Edith into marrying him. This makes Miles the rightful heir to Sir Richard’s title (baronet), but Hugh has convinced everyone Miles died and he denies recognizing him. Hugh even gets Edith to say she doesn’t recognize Miles by telling her that he will kill Miles if she doesn’t do as he says. Hugh has Miles and Edward arrested and imprisoned. The judge orders Miles to spend several hours in the stock. When Edward tries to intervene, Hugh tells the sheriff to whip him. However, Miles takes the whipping himself. Touched, Edward tells Miles that he’ll make Miles an earl when he gets his throne back. Miles decides to bring Edward back to London but he loses him in the crowd. The next time Miles sees Edward, he has gotten his crown back and he makes good on his promise to make Miles an earl. Edward strips Hugh of his title and land. Hugh abandons Edith and dies and short time later, allowing Miles to marry Edith.

Miles Hendon Quotes in The Prince and the Pauper

The The Prince and the Pauper quotes below are all either spoken by Miles Hendon or refer to Miles Hendon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Appearances vs. Reality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 12 Quotes

“And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows! A most odd and strange position, truly, for one so matter-of-fact as I. I will not laugh—no, God forbid, for this thing which is so substanceless to me is real to him. And to me, also, in one way, it is not a falsity, for it reflects with truth the sweet and generous spirit that is in him.” After a pause: “Ah, what if he should call me by my fine title before folk!—there’d be a merry contrast betwixt my glory and my raiment! But no matter: let him call me what he will, so it please him; I shall be content.”

Related Characters: Miles Hendon (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 81-82
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

To the rest of the world the name of Henry VIII brought a shiver, and suggested an ogre whose nostrils breathed destruction and whose hand dealt scourgings and death; but to this boy the name brought only sensations of pleasure, the figure it invoked wore a countenance that was all gentleness and affection. He called to mind a long succession of loving passages between his father and himself, and dwelt fondly upon them, his unstinted tears attesting how deep and real was the grief that possessed his heart.

Related Characters: Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, Tom Canty, Miles Hendon, John Canty / John Hobbs, Tom’s Mother, King Henry VIII
Page Number: 122
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

Sir Miles! Bless me, I had totally forgot I was a knight! Lord how marvelous a thing it is, the grip his memory doth take upon his quaint and crazy fancies!...An empty and foolish title is mine, and yet it is something to have deserved it, for I think it is more honor to be held worthy to be a spectre-knight in his Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows, than to be held base enough to be an earl in some of the real kingdoms of this world.”

Related Characters: Miles Hendon (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI
Page Number: 168
Explanation and Analysis:

“Reflect, sire—your laws are the wholesome breath of your own royalty; shall their source resist them, yet require the branches to respect them? Apparently one of these laws has been broken; when the king is on his throne again, can it ever grieve him to remember that when he was seemingly a private person he loyally sunk the king in the citizen and submitted to its authority?”

Related Characters: Miles Hendon (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, King Henry VIII, Hugo
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

“An’ it were dark, I should think it was a king that spoke; there’s no denying it, when the humor’s upon him he doth thunder and lighten like your true king—now where got he that trick? See him scribble and scratch away contentedly at his meaningless pot-hooks, fancying them to be Latin and Greek—and except my wit shall serve me with a lucky device for diverting him from his purpose, I shall be forced to pretend to post away to-morrow on this wild errand he hath invented for me.”

Related Characters: Miles Hendon (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI
Page Number: 185
Explanation and Analysis:

“My husband is master in this region; his power hath hardly any limit; the people prosper or starve, as he wills. If you resembled not the man whom you profess to be, my husband might bid you pleasure yourself with your dream in peace; but trust me, I know him well, I know what he will do; he will say to all, that you are but a mad impostor, and straightway all will echo him.” She bent upon Miles that same steady look once more[.]

Related Characters: Lady Edith (speaker), Miles Hendon, Hugh Hendon, Arthur Hendon, Sir Richard Hendon
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

The king’s eye burned with passion. He said—

“None believe in me—neither wilt thou. But no matter—within the compass of a month thou shalt be free; and more, the laws that have dishonored thee, and shamed the English name, shall be swept from the statute books. The world is made wrong; kings should go to school to their own laws, at times, and so learn mercy.”

Related Characters: Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI (speaker), Miles Hendon
Page Number: 199
Explanation and Analysis:
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Miles Hendon Quotes in The Prince and the Pauper

The The Prince and the Pauper quotes below are all either spoken by Miles Hendon or refer to Miles Hendon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Appearances vs. Reality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 12 Quotes

“And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows! A most odd and strange position, truly, for one so matter-of-fact as I. I will not laugh—no, God forbid, for this thing which is so substanceless to me is real to him. And to me, also, in one way, it is not a falsity, for it reflects with truth the sweet and generous spirit that is in him.” After a pause: “Ah, what if he should call me by my fine title before folk!—there’d be a merry contrast betwixt my glory and my raiment! But no matter: let him call me what he will, so it please him; I shall be content.”

Related Characters: Miles Hendon (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 81-82
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

To the rest of the world the name of Henry VIII brought a shiver, and suggested an ogre whose nostrils breathed destruction and whose hand dealt scourgings and death; but to this boy the name brought only sensations of pleasure, the figure it invoked wore a countenance that was all gentleness and affection. He called to mind a long succession of loving passages between his father and himself, and dwelt fondly upon them, his unstinted tears attesting how deep and real was the grief that possessed his heart.

Related Characters: Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, Tom Canty, Miles Hendon, John Canty / John Hobbs, Tom’s Mother, King Henry VIII
Page Number: 122
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

Sir Miles! Bless me, I had totally forgot I was a knight! Lord how marvelous a thing it is, the grip his memory doth take upon his quaint and crazy fancies!...An empty and foolish title is mine, and yet it is something to have deserved it, for I think it is more honor to be held worthy to be a spectre-knight in his Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows, than to be held base enough to be an earl in some of the real kingdoms of this world.”

Related Characters: Miles Hendon (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI
Page Number: 168
Explanation and Analysis:

“Reflect, sire—your laws are the wholesome breath of your own royalty; shall their source resist them, yet require the branches to respect them? Apparently one of these laws has been broken; when the king is on his throne again, can it ever grieve him to remember that when he was seemingly a private person he loyally sunk the king in the citizen and submitted to its authority?”

Related Characters: Miles Hendon (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, King Henry VIII, Hugo
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

“An’ it were dark, I should think it was a king that spoke; there’s no denying it, when the humor’s upon him he doth thunder and lighten like your true king—now where got he that trick? See him scribble and scratch away contentedly at his meaningless pot-hooks, fancying them to be Latin and Greek—and except my wit shall serve me with a lucky device for diverting him from his purpose, I shall be forced to pretend to post away to-morrow on this wild errand he hath invented for me.”

Related Characters: Miles Hendon (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI
Page Number: 185
Explanation and Analysis:

“My husband is master in this region; his power hath hardly any limit; the people prosper or starve, as he wills. If you resembled not the man whom you profess to be, my husband might bid you pleasure yourself with your dream in peace; but trust me, I know him well, I know what he will do; he will say to all, that you are but a mad impostor, and straightway all will echo him.” She bent upon Miles that same steady look once more[.]

Related Characters: Lady Edith (speaker), Miles Hendon, Hugh Hendon, Arthur Hendon, Sir Richard Hendon
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

The king’s eye burned with passion. He said—

“None believe in me—neither wilt thou. But no matter—within the compass of a month thou shalt be free; and more, the laws that have dishonored thee, and shamed the English name, shall be swept from the statute books. The world is made wrong; kings should go to school to their own laws, at times, and so learn mercy.”

Related Characters: Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI (speaker), Miles Hendon
Page Number: 199
Explanation and Analysis: