The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

Crusty, gout-ridden Matthew Bramble drags his household on a health tour of Britain (Bath, London, Harrogate, Edinburgh, the Highlands) and everyone writes letters home about it. That is the whole engine of Smollett's last novel, and it is ingenious: the same inn, the same accident, the same suitor looks entirely different depending on whether it is described by the splenetic uncle, his husband-hunting sister Tabitha, his romantic niece, his hot-headed nephew, or the maid whose spelling is a comic character in itself.

Along the road they acquire Humphry Clinker, a ragged, earnest stable-boy turned servant turned Methodist preacher, whose fortunes hold the book's warmest surprises. Rambling, gossipy, and very funny, it is an eighteenth-century road trip that suits listening the way letters suit being read aloud.

At roughly 147,900 words, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker runs about 16½ hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

The edition linked here is available from Project Gutenberg under its US public-domain listing. Check the edition, translation, completeness and copyright rules where you live. LoudReader lets you browse and download Gutenberg books; they are not all stored on installation. To listen:

1. Install LoudReader on iPhone or iPad, or its iPad app on a compatible Apple Silicon Mac.
2. Search for “The Expedition of Humphry Clinker” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

Speech is generated locally without uploading the book for narration. Download the book and check your chosen voice before travelling offline. Available voices depend on your device; check the in-app voice list. Try every available voice for your first 8 hours of listening. Afterwards, keep a free English voice selection and unlimited book listening. No LoudReader account or word quota.