Un gentiluomo d’inflessibile puntualità e il suo nuovo servitore

In 1872, Phileas Fogg lives at number 7 Saville Row, in Burlington Gardens. In that house, Sheridan died in 1814. Afterwards, a great English speaker also lives there. Then Fogg arrives. Fogg has a title: “esq.”, that is “esquire”. He is a member of the Reform Club of London, a private club. In the club, he is a very strange member, but he wants to stay discreet, that is, not to be noticed. No one really knows him. They all say only this: he is a respectable man and a gentleman of high society.

Many people say that Fogg looks like Byron. Byron is a famous poet. Fogg looks like him in the head and in the face. But he has no defect in his feet. However, Fogg has a moustache and sideburns. He is always impassive and does not show emotions. He seems able to live a thousand years without getting old. He is English, without a doubt. But maybe he is not a Londoner.

They never see him at the Stock Exchange or at the bank. They do not see him in the City of London offices. In the basins and in the docks, a ship never arrives with him as shipowner. Nobody says: “This ship is Phileas Fogg’s.” He is not in any management committee. His name does not circulate in these circles. For many people, he remains a mystery.

They do not even know him, not even the lawyers. His name is not heard in a lawyers’ association. You do not hear it at the Temple, at Lincoln’s Inn, or at Gray’s Inn. He never starts lawsuits in court. He does not go to the Chancellor’s Court, nor to the Queen’s Bench, nor to the Exchequer. He does not even go to the ecclesiastical court.

Fogg is not an industrialist, and he is not a shopkeeper. He is not a merchant. He is not a farmer. He is not part of the Royal Institute of Great Britain. He is not part of the London Institute, nor of the Institute of Craftsmen. He is not part of the Russel Institute, nor of the Literary Institute of the West. He is not part of the Institute of Law. He is not even part of the Institute of United Arts and Sciences. This institute is under the direct patronage of Her Gracious Majesty, that is, under the protection of the queen.

In London there are many societies and groups. Some are for music. For example, there is the Harmonica Society. Others are for science. For example, there is the entomological Society. “Entomological” means: it talks about insects. This society was created mainly to destroy harmful insects, that is, insects that cause damage. Fogg does not belong to any of these societies.

Fogg is only a member of the Reform Club. That is all. Some people are surprised, because he is very mysterious. But the explanation is simple. The Reform Club accepts him thanks to the recommendation of the Baring Brothers. The Baring Brothers are a bank. There Fogg has an open line of credit, that is, he can use a lot of money. The bank always pays his orders immediately, that is, his payment orders, on the current account. On the account, he is almost always a creditor: he has more money than he spends, and this gives him respect.