When Pisistratus Caxton leaves the shelter of home for London, he steps into a world where scholarship, ambition, and temptation collide. At dawn, he encounters his volatile but affectionate Uncle Roland and learns that the family's great scholar, Austin Caxton, is at last preparing to publish his vast "History of Human Error," a work that traces mankind's progress through race, religion, civilization, and folly with learning and quiet humor. Encouraged by family and friends, the Caxtons set out in comic fashion, and Pisistratus, left to walk, tastes the independence of the open road and the city beyond it. On the journey, he meets Mr. Peacock, a flashy, cigar-choked rogue, and a younger companion whose beauty is matched by a sharp, unsettling wit. Their talk of theater, gambling, money, and success exposes a harsher social world, where charm may conceal danger and worldly advantage seems to outweigh moral steadiness. Yet in a churchyard, a poor Savoyard boy with a hurdy-gurdy and white mice offers a humbler, deeper lesson in dignity, survival, and human fellowship, leaving the narrator profoundly changed. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.
