Price 35 Cents. CHARLES DICKENS.I Ct4e Story of big tife. BY THE AUTHOR OF THE "LIFE OF THACKERAY." BLEAK HOUSE, AT BROADSTAIRS. WITH ILUSTRA TIONS ANI D FACSIMILES. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. I 8 70o. DICTIONARIES AND WORKS OF REFERENCE, PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. ANDREWS'S LATIN - ENGLISH LEXICON. FOWLER'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE. The English Founded on the larger German-Latin Lexicon of Language in its Elements and Forms. With a HisDr. WM. FREUND. With Additions and Corrections tory ot its Origin and Development, and a full Gramfrom the Lexicons of Gesner, Facciolati, Scheller, mar. Designed for Use in Colleges and Schools. Georges, &c. Royal 8vo, Sheep extra, $1 50. Revised and Enlarged. By WILLIAM C. FOWLER, LL.D., late Professor in Amherst College. 8vo, ANTHON'S CLASSICAL DICTIONARY. Contain- Cloth, $250. ing an Account of the principal Proper Names mentioned in Ancient Authors, and intended to elucidate HAYDN'S DICTIONARY OF DATES. Haydn's Dicall the important Points connected with the Geogra- tionary of Dates, relating to all Ages and Nations.: phy, History, Biography, Mythology, and Fine Arts For Universal Reference. Edited by BENJAMIN VINof the Greeks and Romans, together with an Ac- CENT, Assistant Secretary and Keeper of the Library count of the Coins, Weights, and Measures of the of the Royal Institution of Great Britain; and Re-, Ancients, with Tabular Values of the same. Royal vised for the Use of American Readers. 8vo, Cloth, 8vo, Sheep extra, $6 00. $5 00; Sheep, $6 00. ANTHON'S SMITH'S CLASSICAL DICTIONARY. LIDDELL AND SCOTT'S GREEK- ENGLISH A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman LEXICON. Based on the German Work of FRANBiography, Mythology, and Geography. Partly cis PAssow. With Corrections and Additions, and based upon the Dictionary of Greek and Roman the Insertion, in Alphabetical Order, of the Proper Biography and Mythology. By WM. SRIrTH, LL.D. 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Royal SvoSheep ex-progress. Price, per Volume, Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, tra, $6 00. $6 00; Half Morocco, $8 00. ANTHON'S LATIN-ENGLISH AND ENGLISHLATIN DICTIONARY. A Latin-English and En- MARCH'S ANGLO-SAXON GRAMMAR. A Comglish-Latin Dictionary, for the use of Schools. Chief- parative Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Language, in ly from the Lexicons of Freund, Georges, and Kalt- which its Forms are Illustrated by those of the Sanschmidt. Small 4to, Sheep, $3 50. skrit, Greek, Latin, Gothic, Old Saxon, Old Friesic, ANTHON'S RIDDLE AND ARNOLD'S ENGLISH- Old Norse, and Old High-German. By FRANCIS A. LATIN LEXICON. A Copious and Critical En MARcH, Professor of the English Language and Comglish-Latin Lexicon, founded on the German-Lat parative Philology in Lafayette College, Author of in "Method of Philological Study of the English LanDictionary of Dr. C. E. GEORGEd. By Rev. TJosME R guage," "A Parser and Analyzer for Beginners," ESMOND RIDDLE, M.A., and Rev. THOMAS:KERCHIEvER &c. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. ARNOLD, D.D. First American Edition, carefully re- vised, and containing acopious Dictionaryof Proper ROBINSON'S GREEK LEXICON OF THE TESTNames from the best Sources. By CIIARLES ANTION, AM E NT. A Greek and English Lexicon of the New LL.D. Royal 8v-o, Sheep extra, $5 00. Testament. ByEDwARo RoINsoN, D.D., LL.D., late CRABB'S ENGL iSH SYNONYMS. English Syno- Professor of Biblical Literature in the Union Theonyms, w'th copious Illustrations and Explanations, loical Seminary, N. Y. A New Edition, revised, drawn from the best Writers. By GEORGE CRAnn, and in great part rewritten. Royal 8vo, Cloth, $6 00..A., Author of the "iTechnological Dictionary" YONGE'S ENGLISH-GREEK LEXICON. AnEnand the "Universal Historical Dictionary." 8vo, Sheep extra, $2 50. glish-Greek Lexicon. By C.D. YONGE. With many Sheep extra, $2 50. New Articles, an Appendix of Proper Names, and ENGLISHMAN'S GREEK CONCORDANCE. The Pillon's Greek Synonyms. To which is prefixed an Englishman's Greek Concordance of the New Testa- Essay on the Order of Words in Attic-Greek Prose, by ment: being an Attempt at a Verbal Connection Charles Short, LL.D., Professor of Latin in Columbetween the Greek and the English Texts; includ- bia College, N.Y. Edited by HENRY DRISLER, LL.D., ing a Concordance to the Proper Names, with In- Professor of Greek in Columbia College, Editor of dexes, Greek-English and English-Greek. Svo, "Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon," &c. Cloth, $5 00. Svo, Sheep extra, $7 00..;;f IIARnPER &i BROT1IhER will send either of the above books by mtail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, on? receipt of the parice. CHARLES DICKENS as "CAPTAIN BOBADIL." CHARLES DICKENS asg y CAPTAIN BOBADIL." From the original painting by C. R. Leslie, R. A. - a Fac-simile of MR. DICKENS'S HANDWRITING. Part of a Letter to a Friend. CHARLES DICKENS, At the age of 29. Front a Drawing by Count D'Orsay, taken on the comnZletion of "The Old Curiosity Shop." CHARLES DICKENS. 1[ce storv of biz' ife. BY THE AUTHOR OF THE "LIFE OF THACKERAY." BLEAK HOUSE, AT BROADSTAIRS. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND FACSIMILES. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. I 8 70. " OH, potent wizard! painter of great skill Blending with life's realities the hues Of a rich fancy: sweetest of all singers Charming the public ear, and, at thy will, Searching the soul of him thou dost amuse, And the warm heart's recess, where mem'ry lingers, And child-like love, and sympathy, and truth, And every blessed feeling which the world Had frozen or repressed with its stern apathy For human suffering!'Crabbed age and youth,' And beauty, smiling tearful, turn to thee, Whose'Carol' is an allegbry fine, The burden of whose'Chimes' is holy and benign!" DOUGLAS JERROLD'S Magazine. PRELIMINARY. 3TIHE following brief Memoir of the late Mr. Charles Dickens may, perhaps, be acceptable as filling an intermediate place between the newspaper or review article and the more elaborate biography which may be expected in due course. The writer had some peculiar means of acquiring information for the purpose of his sketch; and to this he has added such particulars as have been already made public in English and foreign publications and other scattered sources. The common complaints against memoirs of this necessarily hasty and incomplete character will not be repeated by those who are accustomed to test questions in morals by the principles which underlie them. That there is nothing necessarily indelicate or improper in the desire of the public to obtain some personal knowledge of the great and good who have just passed away, is assumed by every daily, weekly, and quarterly journal, which, on occasions of this kind, furnish their readers with such details as they are able to obtain, and which in no case confine themselves strictly to the public career of the deceased. Although some facts in the private life of Mr. Dickens will be found to be touched upon in these pages, the writer is not conscious of having written a line which could give pain to others. In view of a second edition-should one be called for-the writer will be obliged by the receipt of any additional particulars which may assist in completing the outline memoir which now leaves his hand. He can not, however, conclude without acknowledging the kind assistance he has received in furnishing anecdotes and other particulars from Mr. Arthur Locker, Mr. E. S. Dallas, Mr. Blanchard Jerrold, Mr. James Grant, Dr. Charles Mackay, Mr. Mitchell, of Bond Street (for permission to make reductions of Leslie's beautiful picture, and Count D'Orsay's characteristic portrait), Mr. Edmund Ollier, Mr. E. P. Hingston, Mr. Allen, Mr. J. Colam (Secretary to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), the writers of interesting articles in the " Daily News" and the'" Observer," and to Mr. Hablot K. Browne, for his admirable study of the chief characters drawn by him for the late Mr. Dickens's works. It would have been impossible to have given the data contained in this little book, in the rather short time occupied in its preparation, but for the hearty assistance of Mr. H. T. Taverner, an industrious litterateur, who had already gathered some particulars of the great novelist's public career. LONDON, 29th June, 1870. A TRIBUTE TO CHARLES DICKENS. BY THE HON. MRS. NORTON. (From ALBERT SCHLOSS'S "IEnglish Bijou Almanac" for 1842.) "NOT merely thine the tribute praise, Which greets an author's progress here; Not merely thine the fabled bays, Whose verdure brightens his career; Thine the pure triumph to have taught Thy brother man a gentle part; In every line a fervent thought, Which gushes from thy generous heart: For thine are words which rouse up all The dormant good among us foundLike drops which from a fountain fall, To bless and fertilize the ground!" CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. CHAPTER XIV. Early Career...........................Page 11 Dickens as a Journalist................ Page 52 CHAPTER II. CHAPTER XV. Publication of the " Pickwick Papers ".... 17 Appearance of "Dombey and Son"........ 53 CHAPTER III. CHAPTER XVI. Popularity of the "Pickwick Papers"..... 22 Victor Hugo.-" The Haunted Man"...... 55 CHAPTER IV. CHAPTER XVII. Dickens as a Dramatist.-" Oliver Twist ".. 25 Dickens and Thackeray. —" David Copperfield." —On Capital Punishment.......... 57 CHAPTER V. CHAPTER XVIII. The Copyright of " Oliver Twist"....... 28 CHAPTER XVIII. "Household Words."-The Guild of LiteCHAPTER VI rature.60 CHAPTER VI. rature................................... 60 "Nicholas Nickleby"............... 30; CHAPTER XIX. CHAPTER VII. "Bleak House."-Leigh Hunt............. 64 Publication of "The Old Curiosity Shop" CHAPTER XX. and "Barnaby Rudge."-Dickens's Ravens.-" Barnaby Rudge" Dramatized.- American Publishers.-The First Reading.. 66 "The Picnic Papers "................... 32 CHAPTER XXI. CHAPTER VIII. "' Hard Times."-" Seven Poor Travellers." Dickens's Visit to America................. 36 -The Dinner to Thackeray.-Johnson's Goddaughter. —" Holly-tree Inn"........ 68 CHAPTER IX. CHAPTER XXII. Further American Experiences............. 40 "Little Dorrit." —" Travelling Abroad."CHAPTER Tavistock House Theatricals............. 70 CHAPTER X. "Martin Chuzzlewit "..................... 42 CHAPTER XXIII. Works translated into French. - Dickens CHAPTER XI. and Thackeray........................... 73 The "Christmas Carol"................... 45 CHAPTER XXIV. CHAPTER XII. Royal Dramatic College. - Discontinuance Visit to Italy.-" The Chimes "............ 48 of "Household Words."-" All the Year Round"................................ 77 CHAPTER XIII. CHAPTER XXV. Dickens as an Actor....................... 50 "The Uncommercial Traveller"........... 80 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVI. APPENDIX. Mr. Dickens and the Electors of Finsbury.- ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. " Tom Tiddler's Ground." —" Somebody's Luggage."-" Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings." The First Hint of " Pickwick "....... Page 103 -" Pincher"...........Page 81 Dickens and the "Morning Chronicle".... 103 Portraits of Dickens................. 104 CHAPTER XXVII. The Names of Dickens's Characters........ 105 Description of " Boz" in 1844.............. 105 "Our Mutual Friend." -The Staplehurst Descriptionof Boz in 1844..............105 Accident.-" Miss Berwick."-" Dr. Mar- Description of Dickens in 1852............. 105 Accident. —" Miss Berwick." —" Dr. Mar- Boz's Table Habits.. 105 igold's Prescriptions." - Dickens at the The MS. of" Oliver Twist ".................. 10 Mansion House. -Clarkson Stanfield.- The MS. of Oliver Twist...............106 Therneseaes..........84 Dickens's Benevolence..................... 106 Hook and Dickens........................ 106 Methodical Habits and Perseverance...... 106 CHAPTER XXVIII. Manner of Literary Composition.......... 106 SecondVisit toAmerica.-Pedestrian Tastes 88 "The Chief".............................. 107 Blue Ink................ 167 Dickens in Private Life.. 107 CHAPTER XXIX. Sympathy with Working-men.. 107 The Farewell Readings.-Failing Health.... 92 A Beggar's Estimate of his Generosity..... 107 Paragraph Disease......................... 107 Dickens and Thackeray.................... 107 CHAPTER XXX. Anecdote of Abraham Lincoln............. 108 Interview with the Queen.-Last Illness.- The Contributors to "Household Words ". 108 Death.-Burial in Westminster Abbey. — "The Mystery of Edwin Drood".......... 109 Funeral Sermon.-His last Resting-place. 96 Gad's Hill House.......................... 109 CHARLES DICKENS: THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. character, and the father of the author of " Pickwick " was at times fond of dilating =__ _..... _- -c==;4......-X: upon the strange scenes he had witnessed. One of the stories described a sitting-room ~_-=-3X he once enjoyed at Blue Town, Sheerness, abutting on the theatre. Of an evening he used to sit in his room and could hear what was passing on the stage, and join in the chorus of " God save the King" and _, "Britannia Rules the Waves "-then the favorite song of Englishmen. On the termination of the war in 1815, a large reduction was made in the number....."~'Wi~`;~'! rof clerks in this office, and Mr. Dickens ROCHESTER CASTLE, AS SEEN FROM THE RAILWAY receiving his pension, removed to London BRIDGE. with his wife and seven children. Possessing considerable abilities, and unwilling to CHAPTER I. remain idle, he became parliamentary reporter on the "Morning Chronicle."* Charles remained at home until he was seven THE " Story of the Life " of England's great- years of age, and was then sent to a private est novelist requires but little introduc- school at Chatham, the late Rev. Wm. Giles, tion. Of his ancestors but few particulars are F. R. A. S., being his instructor. As an evirecorded, and these are entirely without inter- dence of young Dickens's kindly disposition, it est as having any connection with the late il- may be mentioned that, some years ago, when lustrious bearer of the name. such fame as he had acquired would cause most men to have forgotten their former old associaCHARLES DICKENS* was born at Landport, tions, Dickens joined some other old scholars Portsmouth, on the 7th February, 1812, his in the presentation of a service of plate to Mr. father, Mr. John Dickens, being a clerk in the Giles, accompanied by a most gratifying testiNavy Pay Office at that sea-port. His duties monial of regard, to which he attached his required that he should reside from time to time well-known bold autograph. A fellow-scholar, in different naval stations-now at Plymouth, who was at school at the same time with Dicknow at Portsmouth, and then at Sheerness and ens (there being only two years difference in Chatham. "In the glorious days" of war with their ages), used often to speak of the marked France those towns were full of life, bustle, and geniality of Dickens's character as a boy, and of his proficiency in all boyish sports, such as * He was christened CharlesJohn Hougham Dickens, but the full name (taken partly from the father and cricket, etc. Ultimately he completed his edupartly from his mother's side) was too high-sounding cation at a good school in or near London. for his simple tastes, and so he never used it, prefer- At an early age he commenced to read the ring the plainer form. He once remarked that, had he been a fashionable doctor, he might have thought * The old gentleman died in Keppel Street, Russell differently about the matter. Square, on 31st March, 1851, aged 65. 12 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. standard works of the best authors. In the reporter, like his father, who, finding how preface to "Nicholas Nickleby," speaking of strong his son's ideas were on the subject, how he first heard of the cruelties of the York- wisely placed no obstacle in his path, but reshire schools, he describes himself as being " a moved him from his uncongenial employment, not very robust child, sitting in by-places, near and placed him with the Messrs. Gurney, the Rochester Castle, with a head full of Partridge, parliamentary short-hand writers of Abingdon Strap, Tom Pipes, and Sancho Panza." In Street, Westminster. It is said that during his "David Copperfield " (a book one can hardly probation, and while practising short-hand writhelp fancying is in some respects autobiograph- ing, Dickens passed the leisure hours of some ical), he says (omitting a few words): "From two years in the Library of the British Muthat blessed little room Roderick Random, Per- seum. egrine Pickle, Humphry Clinker, Tom Jones, The manner in which the difficulties of stethe Vicar of Wakefield, Don Quixote, Gil Blas, nography were overcome had best be told in his and Robinson Crusoe, came out, a glorious host, own words: "I did not allow my resolution to keep me company. They kept alive my fan- with respect to the parliamentary debates to cy-they, and the'Arabian Nights,' and the cool. It was one of the irons I began to heat'Tales of the Genii,'-and did me no harm; immediately, and one of the irons I kept hot and for whatever harm there was in some of them, hammered at with a perseverance I may honestwas not there for me; I knew nothing of it. ly admire. I bought an approved scheme of * * * I have seen Tom Jones (a child's Tom the noble art and mystery of stenography (which Jones, a harmless creature) for a week together. cost me ten-and-sixpence),* and plunged into a I have sustained my own idea of Roderick Ran- sea of perplexity, that brought me in a few dom for a month at a stretch, I verily believe. weeks to the confines of distraction. The I had a greedy relish for a few volumes of voy- changes that were rung upon dots, which in one ages and travels, and for days and days I can position meant such a thing, and in another remember to have gone about my region of our position something else entirely different; the house armed with a centre-piece out of an old wonderful vagaries that were played by circles; set of boot-trees-the perfect realization of Cap. the unaccountable consequences that resulted tain Somebody, of the Royal British Navy, in from marks like fly's legs; the tremendous efdanger of being beset by savages, and resolved fects from a curve in the wrong place; not only to sell his life at a great price. The Captain troubled my waking hours, but reappeared benever lost dignity from having his ears boxed fore me in my sleep. When I had groped my with the Latin Grammar. I did; but the Cap- way blindly through these difficulties, and had tain was a captain and a hero, in despite of all mastered the alphabet, which was an Egyptian the grammars of all the languages in the world, temple in itself, there then appeared a procession dead or alive." of new horrors, called arbitrary characters-the His career at school having concluded, his most despotic characters I had ever known; father was desirous that he should be articled who insisted, for instance, that the thing like the to the law, and he entered a solicitor's office beginning of a cobweb meant expectation, that for that purpose. Dunning (afterwards Lord a pen-and-ink sky-rocket stood for disadvantaAshburton) once said: "'The study of the law geous. When I had fixed these wretches in my is generally ridiculed as dry and uninteresting; mind, I found that they had driven every thing but a mind anxious for the discovery of truth else out of it; then, beginning again, I forgot and information will be amply gratified for the them; while I was picking them up, I dropped to!i of investigating the origin and progress of the other fragments of the system; in short, it jurisprudence which has the good of the people was almost heart-breaking." for its basis, and the accumulated wisdom of Occupying the Chair at the second Anniverages for its improvement." But to young sary of the Newspaper Press Fund, on 20th Dickens it was ill calculated to accord with the May, 1865, and referring to his early reporting literary tastes he had formed, and thus imbued days, he said: with the kindred feelings of some of his distin- "I went into the gallery of the House of guished contemporaries-Disraeli, Lavard, Har- Commons as a parliamentary reporter when I rison Ainsworth, and Westland Marston, all of was a boy not eighteen, and I left it-I can whom passed a portion of their early days at hardly believe the inexorable truth-nigh thirty an attorney's desk-he became disgusted with years ago; and I have pursued the calling of a the tedious routine of the profession, and, re* This was "Gurney's System of Short-hand," the signing all ideas of propitiating Thetis (the 16th edition of which is now selling at the old price, goddess of lawyers), determined to become a 10s. 6d. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 13 reporter under circumstances of which many of what I know, as a confirmation of my interest my brethren at home in England here-many of in this old calling. I verily believe, I am sure, my brethren's successors-can form no adequate that if I had never quitted my old calling, I conception. I have often transcribed for the should have been foremost and zealous in the printer from my short-hand notes important interest of this institution, believing it to be a public speeches in which the strictest accuracy sound, a wholesome, and a good one." was required, and a mistake in which would have " That there was no exaggeration in this been to a young man severely compromising, statement," writes a personal friend,* "he writing on the palm of my hand by the light of proved, in the course of that very year, by giva dark lantern in a post-chaise and four, gal- ing a series of lessons in short-hand to a young loping through a wild country, through the dead man, a connection of his, when his fluency and of the night, at the then surprising rate of fif- perspicuity were found to be as great as ever." teen miles an hour. The very last time I was To the same writer he once told a curious anat Exeter I strolled into the castle-yard there to ecdote of his reporting days: "The late Earl of identify, for the amusement of a friend, the spot Derby, then Lord Stanley, had on some imporon which I once' took,' as we used to call it, tant occasion made a grand speech in the House an election speech of my noble friend Lord Rus- of Commons. This speech, of immense length, sell, in the midst of a lively fight maintained by it was found necessary to compress, but so adall the vagabonds in that division of the county, mirably had its pith and marrow been given in and under such pelting rain, that I remember the'Morning Chronicle,' that Lord Stanley two good-natured colleagues, who chanced to be sent to the office, requesting that the gentleman at leisure, held a pocket-handkerchief over my who had reported it would wait upon him at his note-book after the manner of a state canopy in residence in Carlton House Terrace, that he an ecclesiastical procession. I have worn my might then and there take down the speech in knees by writing on them on.the old back row its entirety from his lordship's lips, Lord Stanof the old gallery of the old House of Commons; ley being desirous of having a perfect transcript and I have worn my feet by standing to write of it. The reporter was Charles Dickens. He in a preposterous pen in the old House of Lords, attended, took down the speech, and received where we used to be huddled like so many sheep Lord Stanley's compliments on his work. Many kept in waiting till the wool-sack might want years after, Mr. Dickens, dining for the first time restuffing. Returning home from excited po- with a friend in Carlton Ilouse Terrace, found litical meetings in the country to the waiting the aspect of the dining-room strangely familiar press in London, I do verily believe I have been to him, and, on making inquiries, discovered upset in almost every description of vehicle that the house had previously belonged to Lord known in this country. I have been in my Derby, and that that was the very room in which time belated on miry by-roads towards the small he had taken down Lord Stanley's speech." It hours, forty or fifty miles from London, in a is understood that our author practised reportrickety carriage, with exhausted horses and ing in the law Courts before going to the Houses drunken post-boys, and have got back in time of Parliament. before publication, to be received with never- The first paper he obtained an engagement forgotten compliments by Mr. Black, in the on was "The True Sun," with the managers broadest of Scotch, coming from the broadest of of which he soon became noted for the succincthearts I ever knew. I mention these trivial ness of his reports, and the judicious, though things as an assurance to you that I never have somewhat ruthless, style with which he cut forgotten the fascination of that old pursuit. down unnecessary verbiage, displaying the subThe pleasure that I used to feel in the rapidity stance - to the best advantage, and exemplifyand dexterity of its exercise has never faded out ing the well-known maxim of Perry, the faof my breast. Whatever little cunning of hand mous chief of the " Morning Chronicle," that or head I took to it or acquired in it, I have so "I Speeches can not be made long enough for the retained as that I fully believe I could resume speakers, nor short enough for the readers." it to-morrow. To this present year of my life, Remaining for a brief period on the staff of when I sit in this hall, or where not, hearing a "I The True Sun," he seceded to the " Mirror dull speech-the phenomenon does occur-I of Parliament," which had started with the exsometimes beguile the tedium of the moment by press object of reporting the debates verbatim. mentally following the speaker in the old, old Mr. Barrow, Dickens's uncle, was the conductway; and sometimes, if you can believe me, I or; its downfall, however, was rapid, as it only even find my hand going on the table-cloth. existed two sessions. Accept these little truths as a confirmation of * In the "Observer," 12th June, 1870. 14: LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. Through his father's influence he was next express satisfaction. You may imagine that secured an appointment on the "Morning we are extremely anxious to know the result of Chronicle," a newspaper originally established the arrangement. Pray direct to one of us at on Whig principles, by Woodfall, in 1769. By the' White Hart,' Bath, and inform us in a a remarkable coincidence, three of its chief par- parcel sent by the FIRST COACH after you receive liamentary reporters afterwards attained to emi- this, exactly at what hour it arrived. Do not nent positions. The late Lord Chancellor fail on any account. Campbell commenced his career on its staff; on " We joined with the' Herald' (I say this in his resignation William Hazlitt (the celebrated reference to the first part of your letter) preciseessayist) supplied his place, who was in turn ly on the principle you at first laid down-econsucceeded by Mr. Charles Dickens. omy; not pushed so far, however, as to interWhile Dickens was reporting for the "Morn- fere with the efficiency of the express. As the ing Chronicle," it fell in the way of his duty to conclusion of the dinner was to be done, we all go down into Devonshire, where Lord John thought the best plan we could pursue would be Russell-who had accepted the post of Secreta- to leave two men behind, and trust Russell to ry of State in the new Melbourne cabinet-was the others. I have no doubt, if he makes a seeking re-election (May, 1835) from his old con- speech of any ordinary dimensions, it can be stituency. As his lordship had been instrument- done by the time we reach Marlborough; and al in getting Peel and the tories out of office, taking into consideration the immense imporhis constituents resented the act by returning tance of having the addition of saddle-horses another member in his place. It is to this noisy from thence, it is beyond all doubt worth an efelection that Dickens alludes in the extract from fort. Believe me (for self and Beard), his speech on "reporting" given above. In "Very sincerely yours,.those days of coaching and slow letter-post, " CHARLES DICKENS. Dickens had to keep his editor fully informed " *** I thought of putting the accompanying of the best and quickest transit for his "re- letter to my brother in the post. Will you ports;" and, by the kindness of the then sub-ed- have the kindness to send a boy with it?" itor, who received Dickens's letters, and, believing in the man as heartily as the great John This is, in all likelihood, the only letter of Black did, has carefully preserved them to the Dickens's reporting days now in existence. present time, I am enabled to give an extract As a record of his industry and business forefrom the identical letter received from him when sight it is most interesting, and the glimpses on this journey. He writes from the Bush Inn that it gives of the wild life led by a reporter at Bristol, a famous hostelry for commercial in those days, show us the source of that wontravellers, and a noted "coaching" house for derful knowledge of those old coaching days persons bound to the West of England. The and that old tavern life that have passed out of letter was dated Tuesday morning: actual existence, to live forever in Dickens's pages. We may just say that it is Mr. Thomas' The conclusion of Russell's dinner will be Beard, one of the first reporters in England, and forwarded by Cooper's company's coach, which Dickens's dear friend, who is alluded to in the leaves here at half past six to-morrow morning. letter; the Mr. Frank Beard, who attended the The report of the Bath dinner shall be forward- great novelist in his last moments, is, we beed by the first Bath coach on Thursday morning lieve, a brother of this gentleman. -what time it starts we have no means of as- Concerning Dickens's earliest printed writcertaining till we reach Bath; but you will re- ings, Mr. James Grant, the well-known journalceive it as early as possible, as we will indorse ist and author, has supplied us with an account the parcel'Pay the porter 2s. 6d. extra for im- which differs much from what has been elsemediate delivery.' Beard will go over to Bath where said upon this part of our author's career. from here to-morrow morning, and.I shall come "It is everywhere stated," says Mr. Grant, back by the mail from Marlborough. I need "that the earliest productions from his pen not say that it will be sharp work, and will re- made their appearance in the columns of the quire two of us; for we shall both be up the'Morning Chronicle,' and that Mr. John Black, whole of the previous night, and shall have to sit then editor of that journal, was the first to disup all night again to get it off in time. cover and duly to appreciate the genius of Mr. "As soon as we have had a little sleep, we Dickens. The fact was not so. It is true that shall return to town as quickly as we can, for we he wrote' Sketches' afterwards in the' Morn have (if the express succeeds) to stop at two or ing Chronicle,' but he did not begin them in three places along the road, to pay money and that journal. Mr. Dickens first became con LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 15 nected with the'Morning Chronicle' as a re- by this time dropped-came into my hands; porter in the gallery of the House of Commons. and in making the necessary arrangements for This was in 1835-'36; but Mr. Dickens had been its transfer from Captain Holland-then, I previously engaged, while in his nineteenth year, should have mentioned, proprietor as well as as a reporter for a publication entitled the' Mir- editor-I expressed my great admiration of the ror of Parliament,' in which capacity he occupied series of' Sketches by Boz,' which had appearthe very highest rank among the eighty or ninety ed in the'Monthly,' and said I should like to reporters for the press then in Parliament. make an arrangement with the writer for a conWhile in the gallery of the House of Commons, tinuance of them under my editorship. With he was exceedingly reserved in his manners. that view I asked him the name of the author. Though interchanging the usual courtesies of It will sound strange in most ears when I state, life with all with whom he came into contact in that a name which has for so many years filled the discharge of his professional duties, the only the whole civilized world with its fame was not gentleman at that time in the gallery of the remembered by Captain Holland. But he addHouse of Commons with whbm he formed a ed, after expressing his regret that he could not close personal intimacy was Mr. Thomas Beard, at the moment recollect the real name of' Boz,' then a reporter for the' Morning Herald,' and that he had received a letter from him a few now connected with the newspaper press gener- days previously, and that if I would meet him ally, as furnishing the court intelligence in the at the same time and place next day, he would morning journals. The friendship thus formed bring me that letter, because it related to the between Mr. Dickens and Mr. Beard so far'Sketches' of the writer in the'Monthly Magaback as the year 1832 was, I believe, continued zine.' As Captain Holland knew I was at the till the death of Mr. Dickens. time a parliamentary reporter on the'Morning " It was about the year 1833-'34, before Mr. Chronicle,' then a journal of high literary repuDickens's connection with the' Morning Chron- tation, and of great political influence, he supicle,' and before Mr. Black, then editor of that plemented his remark by saying that' Boz' was journal, had ever met with him, that he com- a parliamentary reporter; on which I observed menced his literary career as an amateur writer. that I must, in that case, know' him, at least by He made his debut in the latter end of 1834 or sight, as I was acquainted, in that respect, more beginning of 1835, in the'Old Monthly Maga- or less, with all the reporters in the gallery of zine,' then conducted by Captain Holland, an the House of Commons. intimate friend of mine. The'Old Monthly " Captain Holland and I met, according to Magazine' had been started more than a qnar- appointment, on the following day, when he ter of a century before by Sir Richard Philips, brought me the letter to which he had referred. and was for many years a periodical of large cir- I then found that the name of the author of culation and high literary reputation-a fact' Sketches by Boz' was Charles Dickens. The which might be inferred from another fact, letter was written in the most moderate terms. namely, that the' New Monthly Magazine,' It was simply to the effect that as he (Mr. Dickstarted by Mr. Colburn, under the editorial ens) had hitherto given all his contributionsauspices of Mr. Thomas Campbell, author of those signed'Boz'-gratuitously, he would be'The Pleasures of Hope,' appropriated the glad if Captain Holland thought his' Sketches' larger portion of its title. The'Old Monthly to be worthy of any small remuneration, as Magazine' was published at half a crown, being otherwise he would be obliged to discontinue the same price as'Blackwood,''Fraser,' and them, because he was going very soon to get'Bettley's' magazines are at the present day. married, and therefore would be subjected to " It was, as I have said, in this monthly pe- more expenses than he was while living alone, riodical-not in the columns of the' Morning which he was during the time, in Furnival's Chronicle'-that Mr. Dickens first appeared in Inn. the realms of literature. He sent, in the first "It was not quite clear from Mr. Dickens's instance, his contributions to that periodical letter to Captain Holland, whether he meant he anonymously. These consisted of sketches, would be glad to receive any small consideration chiefly of a humorous character, and were sim- for the series of' Sketches,' about a dozen in ply signed'Boz.' For a long time they did number, which he had furnished to the' Monthnot attract any special attention, but were gen- ly Magazine' without making any charge, or erally spoken of in newspaper notices of the whether he only expected to be paid for those magazine as'clever,''graphic,' and so forth. he might afterwards send. Neither do I know "Early in 1836 the editorship of the' Month- whether Captain Holland furnished him with ly Magazine'-the adjective' Old' having been any pecuniary expression of his admiration of 16 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. ___: _=:~: —— %' eight guineas per sheet, which was at the - rate of half a guinea per page. ________ "___________________I wrote to him in reply, that the - price was not too much, but that I could not get the proprietor to give the amount, because when the' Monthly Magazine' came into his hands it was not in the........... — _________ ~ same flourishing state as it once had been. I was myself, at this time, getting ten guineas a sheet from Captain Marryat for writing for his'Metropoli-, tan Magazine,' which was started by Thomas Campbell and Tom Moore, in opposition to the'New Monthly Maga_-..- zine,' and at the rate of twenty guineas l l 1-1per sheet for my contributions to the Penny Cyclopadia.'' "Only imagine,"concludes Mr. Grant, with pardonable fervor, "Mr. Dickens offering to furnish me with a continuation, for any length of time which I might have named, of his' Sketches by Boz' for eight guineas a sheet, whereas in little more than six months from that 7 i- date he could-so great in the interval had his popularity become-have got 100 guineas per sheet of sixteen pages from - any of the leading periodicals of the day!"* THE HOUSE IN FURNIVAL'S INN (1833-'36). Dr. Charles Mackay writes to us: [Our Author's earliest London home, after leaving his fa- " John Black, of the'Morning Chronther's house. Here he had chambers when a reporter, and some time before he received any appointment as a writer icle,' was always keen to discover young for the press. Here the "Sketches by Boz" were written, genius, and to help it onward in the and the largest portion of his best-known work, the inimi- struggle of life. He very early discovtable "Pickwick Papers."] ered the talents of Dickens-not only as the'Sketches by Boz' which had appeared in a reporter, but as a writer." Dr. Mackay was the'Monthly.' But immediately on receiving sub-editor of the'Morning Chronicle' when Mr. Dickens's letter, I wrote to him, saying that Dickens was a reporter. He continues: "I the editorship of the'Monthly Magazine' had have often heard Black speak of him, and precome into my hands, and that, greatly admiring dict his future fame. When Dickens had behis' Sketches' under the signature of'Boz,' I come famous, Black exerted all his influence should be glad if we could come to any arrange- with Sir John Easthope, principal proprietor of ment for a continuance of them. I concluded the' Chronicle,' to have Dickens engaged as a my note by expressing a hope that he would, at writer of leading articles. He (Black) had his hi, earliest convenience, let me know on what wish, and Dickens wrote several articles; but terms per sheet he would be willing to furnish he did not seem to take kindly to such work, me with similar sketches every month for an in- and did not long continue at it." definite period. And Mr. Gruneisen writes: "I believe I " By return of post I received a letter from must add my name to the remaining list of ediMr. Dickens, to the effect that he had just en- torial workers who became acquainted with tered into an arrangement with Messrs. Chap- Charles Dickens when he was in the Gallery. man & Hall to write a monthly serial. He I hope my memory is not deceiving me when I did not name the work, but I found in a few claim for Vincent Dowling, once a reporter, weeks it was none other than the'Pickwick Pa- and for years the respected editor of'Bell's pers.' He added, that as this serial would oc- Life in London,' the credit of having been the cupy much of his spare time from his duties as first to discover the genius for sketching characa reporter, he could not undertake to furnish me with the proposed sketches for less than * "Morning Advertiser," 13th June, 18T0. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 17 ters of Dickens.'J. G.' may remember that students who patronized his oysters. It was the proprietary of the' Morning Chronicle,' i still upon his wall when " Pickwick " had made the'Observer,' and'Bell's Life' was in the Dickens famous, and the old man was never hands, if I remember rightly, exclusively of tired of pointing it out to those whom he was Mr. Perry, and the publication of the several pleased to call his "bivalve demolishers!" papers was at the Strand office. I have a dis- We may just mention that it was Dowling tinct recollection that Dr. Black's notice of who rushed down from the reporters' gallery Dickens was based on writings which had been and seized Bellingham, after his assassination in print prior to his joining the reporting staff of Spencer Perceval. of the'Morning Chronicle.' Dr. Black was The late Mr. Jerdan used to describe how he always very emphatic in his prognostications of caught the Prime Minister in his arms. the brilliant future of Charles Dickens. In 1835 the famed novelist was spoken of among his colleagues as a man of mark. The' Boz' CHAPTER II. sketches, if not the rage of the general public, had attracted the attention of the literary circles of the day. WE have thought it right to give Mr. Grant's'" Respecting the marvellous facility of Dick- personal account of Dickens's early career entire, ens as a reporter, many versions of his note- but it is only fair to other friends of the de. taking of a speech of the late Lord Derby (when ceased novelist, who have favored us with parLord Stanley) have been current, and I had a ticulars, that their recollections should find a correspondence with Dickens on the subject place in these pages. From them we learn only some months since, he promising to give that in the year 1835 our author made his debut me the accurate record of his stenographic feat as a writer, " with the exception of certain when he met me. This promise he fulfilled the tragedies achieved at the mature age of eight or last time, alas! I ever saw him alive, at the ten, and represented with great applause to anniversary dinner of the News-venders' Be- overflowing nurseries." His first sketch, ennevolent Institution, when he took the Chair in Ititled "Mrs. Joseph Porter," was inserted in Free-masons' Hall-the last banquet at which the " Old Monthly Magazine." In the preface he presided. It was in consequence of a re- to the " Pickwick Papers," mention is made of porter having broken down for the' Mirror of the effect its publication had on him: Parliament' that the late Lord Derby, after com- "- My first effusion-dropped steathily one plimenting Dickens for his report in the'Chroni- evening at twilight, with fear and trembling, cle,' dictated to him his speech-the'Mirror,' into a dark letter-box, in a dark office, up a as you are aware, giving in those days verbatim dark court in Fleet Street-appeared in all the reports." glory of print; on which occasion, by-the-by When Charles Dickens first became acquaint- -how well I recollect it!-I walked down to ed with Mr. Vincent Dowling, editor of "Bell's Westminster Hall, and turned into it for half Life "-or " Sleepless Life," as he facetiously an hour, because my eyes were so dimmed with termed it, from its Latin heading, "Nunquamn joy and pride that they could not bear the Dorndio " ("wide awake ")-he would generally street, and were not fit to be seen there." A stop at old Tom Goodwin's oyster and refresh- number of other papers were sent to the same ment rooms, opposite the office, in the Strand. magazine, and subsequently he contributed a On one occasion, Mr. Dowling, not knowing similar series to the evening edition of the who 4had called, desired that the gentleman "Morning Chronicle." would leave his name, to be sent over to the The pseudonym adopted was " Boz," which office, whereupon young Dickens wrote: quaint signature subsequently gave rise to the epigram: "Who the dickens'Boz! could be "CHARLES DICKENS, Puzzled many a curious elf;."Besurrectienist, Till time unveil'd the mystery, And'Boz' appear'd as Dickens' self." "In search of a Subject." And Tom Hood, in the character of an " uneducated poet," says: Some recent cases of body-snatching had then "Arn't that'ere' Boz' a tip-top feller! made the matter a general topic for public dis- Lots writes well, but he writes Weller!" cussion, and Goodwin pasted up the strange ad- The reason for such a singular nom-de-plume dress-card for the amusement of the medical is thus told by the author himself: "Boz was 2 18 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. the nickname of a pet child, a younger brother, which you propose to read this evening. Withwhom I had dubbed Moses, in honor of'The out presuming to claim any interference in the Vicar of Wakefield;' which being facetiously arrangement of the Readings, I would suggest pronounced through the nose, became Boses, to you whether you have, on this occasion, sufand being shortened became Boz. Boz was a ficiently considered the character of the compovery familiar household word to me long before sition you have selected. I quite appreciate the I was an author, and so I came to adopt it." laudable motive of the promoters of the ReadThe reception the " Sketches" met with was, ings to raise the moral tone and direct this taste we are assured, immense; and it has been tru- in a familiar and pleasant manner.' The ly said: "They were the first of their class. Bloomsbury Christening' can not possibly do Dickens was the first to unite the delicately- this. It trifles with a sacred ordinance, and playful thread of Charles Lamb's street musings the language and style, instead of improving -half experiences, half bookish phantasies- the taste, has a direct tendency to lower it. with the vigorous wit, and humor, and observa- "I appeal to your right feeling whether it be tion of Goldsmith's' Citizen of the World,' his desirable to give publicity to that which must'Indigent Philosopher,' and'Man in Black,' shock several of your audience, and create a and twine them together in that golden cord of smile among others, to be indulged in only by Essay, which combines literature with philoso- violating the conscientious scruples of their phy, humor with morality, amusement with in- neighbors. struction." The wonderful fund of humor and "The ordinance which is here exposed to ridpicturesque word-painting contained in them icule is one which is much misunderstood and surprises, even in these days, most persons who neglected among many families belonging to the read them for the first time. They are, as Church of England, and the mode in which it Pope wrote: is treated in this chapter can not fail to appear "From grave to gay, from lively to severe." as giving a sanction to, or at least excusing, such neglect. The most thrilling and impressive are, undoubt- "Although you are pledged to the public to edly, "A Visit to Newgate " and " The Drunk- give this subject, yet I can not but believe that ard's Death," while perhaps the best comic ones they would fully justify your substitution of it are the celebrated "Election for Beadle," bv another, did they know the circumstances. " Greenwich Fair, " and " Miss Evans at the An abridgment would only lessen the evil, as it Eagle." is not only the style of the writing, but the subIn February, 1836, the first series, in two vol- ject itself, which is objectionable. umes, illustrated by George Cruikshank, was " Excuse me for troubling you, but I felt that, published in a collected form by Macrone, of in common with yourself, I have a grave responSt. James's Square, and in the December fol- ity in the matter, and I am, lowing the second series was issued. Macrone, Most truly yours, T. S. COLES. shortly afterwards, being in distressed circum- "To. J. G Eo." stances, sold the copyright to Messrs. Chapman and Hall for ~1100. At the present day their It is not generally known that some time bepopularity still remains unabated, and it is sel- fore " Pickwick " had been thought of by either dom, at a Penny Reading or entertainment by publisher or author, Dickens was engaged upon an Elocution Class, that one or more of them is a novel, the fate of which we may now never not selected as a staple attraction in the pro- know. The success of the "Sketches" was gramme. such-a seco'nd edition being called for immediTo show how persons at times may take a ately after they were issued-that Macrone enmistaken and bigoted view of things in general, tered into an arrangement with "Boz" to puband how apt they are to look with jaundiced lish this work in the regular three-volume form. eyes on humorous writing, we may be pardon- The title was to be " GABRIEL VARDON "-and ed for mentioning that, at one of the Penny a new novel by the author of "Sketches by Readings at Sto~wmarket, Suffolk, some nine Boz" was at once advertised by the publisher, years since, on the announcement of a MIl. and continued to be so announced until the Gudgeon's intention to read " The Bloomsbur commencement of 1837, when Macrone failed in Christening," he received this epistle from the business, and the advertisement was withdrawn. horrified rector: Could the novel have been laid aside to appear, "Stowmarket Vicarage, Feb. 25, 1861. four years later, in the altered form of " Barna"SIR,-My attention has been directed to a by Rudge," in which-as the reader may repiece called' The Bloomsbury Christening,' member —" Gabriel Varden" (not Vardon), the LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 19 father of Dolly, is one of the principal charac- efforts in behalf of English literature, and of ters? those who devote themselves to the most precaIt has been recently stated, in more than one rious of all pursuits, I do but imperfect justice journal, that " The Sketches by Boz " were not to my own strong feelings on the subject, if I republished in a collective form until after the do no service to you." success of" Pickwick." This is a mistake. It The entire letter was printed as an introducwas in the month following the publication of tion to the old, original, and large-size edition the " Sketches "-in March, 1836-that the of "Pickwick," but it has been omitted in tlie first number of the " Pickwick Papers " was is- " Charles Dickens Edition " recently issued. sued, and in the following year the work was An amusing anecdote is remembered of our published in a complete form, and dedicated to author and the learned Serjeant. At a public Mr. Serjeant Talfourd, an old and attached dinner, some years afterwards, Mr. Talfourd, refriend, and one of the first to recognize Dick- gretting the absence of his friend Dickens, paid ens's extraordinary genius. He it was that an appropriate and well-merited compliment to presided at the monthly dinner, at the conclu- the breadth of surface over which the life, charsion of which the proof of the forthcoming num- acter, and general knowledge contained in his ber of " Pickwick " was read by him (Talfourd). works extended. The reporter, not rightly The guests-some half a dozen literary and hearing this, or not attending to it, but probapersonal friends-expressed their opinions, sug- bly saying to himself, " Oh, it's about Dickens gested changes, etc., which the author took -one can't go wrong," gave a version of the kindly, and often availed himself of. learned Serjeant's speech in the next morning's His friend, the late Mr. Maclise, often told paper, to the effect that Mr. Dickens's genius how that he, John Forster, and Charles Dick- comprised that of all the greatest minds of the ens used to meet at "Jack Straw's Castle," time put together, and that his works representHampstead Heath, and there Dickens would ed all their works. The high ideal and imagiread to them that which he had written during native-the improvements in the steam-engine the week; and this done, the rest of the time and machinery-all the new discoveries in anatwould be passed in a pleasant commingling of omy, geology, and electricity, with the prize good cheer and genial criticism. "But this," cartoons, and history and philosophy thrown the great artist would add, " was in the good into the bargain-one had only to search from old days gone by, when we were all young, and the " Sketches by Boz" down to "Martin had the world before us." Chuzzlewit" to find, in some shape or otherSubsequently, in sending a complete copy of " properly understood "-all these, and much the work to his friend Talfourd, he took occa- more; in fact, every thing valuable which the sion to speak of his learned friend's exertions to world of letters elsewhere contains! We need secure to authors an extended term of copyright hardly say that no reader of this astounding rein their works: port was more amused than was Mr. Dickens " If I had not enjoyed the happiness of your himself, when he glanced over his newspaper on private friendship, I should still have dedicated the following morning. this work to you, as a slight and most inade- A great deal has been said of the origin of quate acknowledgment of the inestimable serv- Pickwick and his Club, but notwithstanding ices you are rendering to the literature of your the accounts given by both author and artist country. * * * Many a fevered head and pal- are perplexingly circumstantial, the reader will sied hand will gather new vigor in the hour of have but little difficulty in coming to a conclusickness and distress from your excellent exer- sion upon the matter. tions; many a widowed mother an'd orphan The artist's account, given in the introducchild, who would otherwise reap nothing from tion to the last edition of " Seymour's Sketchthe fame of departed genius but its too frequent es," is this: "Seymour was very fond of horlegacy of poverty and suffering, will bear, in ticultural pursuits, and took great pains in cultheir altered condition, higher testimony to the tivating a very nice garden which was attached value of your labors than the most lavish enco- to his house. Being rather disappointed with mium from lip or pen could ever afford. the effect of his gardening operations, it was "Besides such tributes, any avowal of feeling suggested to him that the misfortunes of an from me on the question to which you have de- amateur gardener might be made the subject of voted the combined advantages of your elo- some humorous drawings. After revolving quence, character, and genius, would be Vower- the idea in his mind for a short time, he reless indeed. Nevertheless, in thus publicly ex- solved upon converting it into something of a pressing my deep and grateful sense of your sporting character, and said it should be' Pick 20 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. wick and his Club.' His first notion was to agreed on as Dickens's recompense. The artbring it out on a similar plan to that of the ist, however, soon found, like Winkle on the' Heiress,' which appeared in 1830, and he pro- tall horse, that it was a difficult thing to direct posed the subject to Mr. M'Lean. This was the motions of an author who had his own in the autumn of 1835, during which Mr. views to consult. Seymour's scheme was cerSpooner frequently called at Seymour's house tainly a form of narrative in which the princito ascertain the progress of the plates for the pal incidents should be of a sporting character,'Book of Christmas,' and on one of these oc- something, as Mr. Dickens describes it,'a Nimcasions Seymour brought forward the project of rod Club, the members of which were to go out'Pickwick,' which Spooner highly approved; shooting, fishing, and so forth.' Whether this and, in talking the matter over between them, design involves such a pastoral simplicity, and it was decided that it would be an improvement restricts the range of description so much as to add letter-press. The undertaking was so Mr. Dickens seems to imply, is perhaps capable far put in motion that Seymour etched four of being disproved. Certain it is that sketches plates from the drawings which he had made, to illustrate the'Pickwick Papers' were deand Mr. Spooner suggested that Theodore signed a considerable time before the letterHook should, if possible, be engaged for the press was arranged for; and the well-known letter-press. In consequence of Spooner being portrait of the founder of the club existed on very much occupied in the production of the paper at least five years prior to Mr. Chapman's'Book of Christmas,' which, through the au- visit to Seymour, when the artist unfolded his thor's (T. K. Hervey's) dilatoriness, came out views. In the second plate of the'Heiress' sea month later than it should have done,' Pick- ries, published March 1st, 1830, Mr. Pickwick wick' lay in abeyance, and the four plates that introduces the modest girl, just arrived from were etched remained in the artist's drawer for the country, to Lady Dashfort, who exclaims, about three months, so that Seymour began to' And blushing too-how very amusing!' The think that if he did not soon hear from Spooner figure of Pickwick was a favorite character, a he would bring out the work on his own ac- sort of stock-piece with Seymour-just as Mr. count, and get II. Mayhew or Moncrieff to Briggs and Paterfamilias were favorites of John write for it. In February, 1836, Mr. Chap- Leech, or as that stout elderly gentleman, with man, the publisher, called on Seymour and well-brushed whiskers, and invariably attired asked him to make a drawing for a wood-cut, in a buttoned-up frock-coat, is of Mr. Charles which Seymour undertook on the express con- Keene. In Sketch 114 of' Seymour's Sketchdition that it should be engraved by a certain es,' a figure very closely resembling the wellengraver whom he named. At this interview known form of Pickwick may be seen. It he mentioned the' Pickwick' design to Mr. should here be stated that the original designs Chapman, and showed him the plates. Chap- were in some degree modified, as it is certain, man very soon closed with his offer, proposing from an entry in the artist's books, that'the at first that it should be brought out in half- first four plates were re-etched. By whatever guinea volumes; but Seymour, who desired the combination of counsels it happened, the first widest circulation, insisted on his original plan, number of'Pickwick' came out April Ist, and for it was his own idea that it should be in was very successful. Mr. Dickens wrote to shilling monthly numbers. The publisher then Seymour the following letter: asked Seymour if he had engaged an author to do the writing, and upon receiving an answer "'MY DEAR SIR,-I had intended to write in the negative, mentioned Mr. Clarke, the au- you to say how much gratified I feel by the thor of'Three Courses and a Dessert.' This pains you' have bestowed on our mutual friend writer, however, the artist objected to, for a Mr. Pickwick, and how much the result of your private reason. Chapman then spoke of'Boz' labors has surpassed my expectations. I am (Mr. Dickens's pseudonym), and having in his happy to be able to congratulate you, the pubhand one of the'Pickwick' drawings, which lishers, and myself on the success of the underwas a representation of a poor author's troubles taking, which appears to have been most com(afterwards converted into the' Stroller's Tale'), plete. he ended the matter by some pleasantry about "'I have now another reason for troubling the proverbial poverty of literary men, and ex- you. It is this: I am extremely anxious about pressed a hope that he would see Mr. Dickens, the " Stroller's Tale," the more especially as and lay his views of the matter before him. many literary friends, on whose judgment I Soon after an interview took place between the place great reliance, think it will create considparties, and the sum of ~15 per month was erable sensation. I have seen your design for LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 21 an etching to accompany it. I think it extreme- Dickens on the Sunday evening on which Seyly good, but still it is not quite my idea; and as mour met him at Furnival's Inn, about a fortI feel so very solicitous to have it as complete as night before." possible, I shall feel personally obliged if you Such is the artist's account. will make another drawing. It will give me As recently as March, 1866, a letter concerngreat pleasure to see you, as well as the draw- ing this subject appeared in the "Atheneeum," ing, when it is completed. With this view I signed "R. Seymour." This was from the son have asked Chapman and Hall to take a glass of the artist who drew those inimitable caricaof grog with me on Sunday evening (the only tures of George IV. and his Ministry, and who, night I am disengaged), when I hope you will as we have seen, was associated with Dickens in be able to look in. the production of Pickwick. "' The alteration I want I will endeavor to The following was Mr. Dickens's reply, sent explain. I think the woman should be young- to the editor of the " Atheneum:" er-the dismal man decidedly should, and he should be less miserable in appearance. To "Gad's Hill Place, March 28, 1866. communicate an interest to the plate, his whole "As the author of the'Pickwick Papers' appearance should express more sympathy and (and of one or two other books), I send you a solicitude; and while I represented the sick few facts, and no comments, having reference man as emaciated and dying, I would not make to a letter signed' R. Seymour,' which in your him too repulsive. The furniture of the room editorial discretion you published last week. you have depicted admirablq. I have ventured " Mr. Seymour, the artist, never originated, to make these suggestions, feeling assured that suggested, or in any way had to do with, save you will consider them in the spirit in which I as illustrator of what I devised, an incident, a submit them to your judgment. I shall be hap- character (except the sporting tastes of Mr. py to hear from you that I may expect to see Winkle), a name, a phrase, or a word, to be you on Sunday evening. Dear sir, very truly found in the' Pickwick Papers.' yours, CHARLES DICKE NS.' "I never saw Mr. Seymour's handwriting, I believe, in my life.' In compliance with this wish, Seymour made " I never even sawvMr. Seymour but once in a new drawing for the' Stroller's Tale,' which he my life, and that was within eight-and-forty etched on steel, and gave it into the hands of Mr. hours of his untimely death. Two persons, Dickens on the Sundayevening appointed. This both still living, were present on that short ocwas the last illustration the artist did for'Pick- casion. wick.' His sad death, which took place April " Mr. Seymour died when only the first twen20th, 1836, is perhaps known to the reader. ty-four printed pages of the' Pickwick Papers' "'The second number of the'Pickwick Pa- were published; I think before the next three pers' contained the following just eulogium: or four pages were completely written; I am'Some time must elapse before the void the sure before one subsequent line of the book was deceased gentleman has left in his profession invented. can be filled up. The blank his death has oc- "In the Preface to the cheap edition of the casioned in the society which his amiable na-' Pickwick Papers,' published in October, 1847, ture won and his talents adorned we hardly hope I thus described the origin of that work:' I to see supplied. We do not allude to this dis- was a young man of three-and-twenty when the tressing event in the vain hope of adding, by present publishers, attracted by some pieces I any oulogium of ours, to the respect in which was at that time writing in the " Morning the late Mr. Seymour's memory is held by all Chronicle" newspaper (of which one series had who ever knew him.' lately been collected and published in two vol"Mr. Dickens adds:'Some apology is due niumes, illustrated by my esteemed friend Mr. to our readers with only three plates. When George Cruikshank), waited upon me to propose we say they comprise Mr. Seymour's last efforts, a something that should be published in shilling and that upon one of them, in particular (the numbers-then only known to me, or, I believe, embellishments of the "Stroller's Tale"), he to any body else, by a dim recollection of cerwas engaged to a late hour of the night pre- tain interminable novels in that form, which ceding his death, we feel confident the excuse used, some five-and-twenty years ago, to be carwill be deemed a sufficient one.' This, how- ried about the country by peddlers, and over ever, is incorrect. We have already said that some of which I remember to have shed inthis plate, which was certainly the last Sey- numerable tears before I served my apprenticemour did for'Pickwick,' was given to Mr. ship to Life. * * * The idea propounded to me 22 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. was that the monthly something should be a CHAPTER III. vehicle for certain plates, to be executed by Mr. POPULARITY OF THE " PICKWICK PAPERS." Seymour; and there was a notion, either on the part of that admirable humorous artist, or of my MR. JAMES GRANT'S account of Dickens's visitor (I forgot which), that a " Nimrod Club," earliest writings we have already given. The the members of which were to go out shooting, same gentleman has favored us with some perfishing, and so forth, and getting themselves into sonal recollections of the fortune which attenddifficulties through theirwant of dexterity, would ed the first publication of "Pickwick:" be the best means of introducing these. I ob- "In connection with the rapidity of Mr. jected, on consideration that, although born and Dickens's rise, and the heights to which he soarpartly bred in the country, I was no great ed in the regions of literature, I may mention a sportsman, except in regard of all kinds of lo- few facts which have not before found their way comotion; that the idea was not novel, and had into print. The terms on which he concluded been already much used; that it would be infi- an arrangement with Messrs. Chapman & Hall nitely better for the plates to arise naturally out for the publication of the'Pickwick Papers' of the text; and that I should like to take my own were fifteen guineas for each number, the numway, with a freer raifge of English scenes and ber consisting of two sheets, or thirty-two pages. people, and was afraid I should ultimately do so That was a rather smaller sum than that at in any case, whatever course I might prescribe which he offered, just at the same time, to conto myself at starting. My views being deferred tribute to the'Monthly Magazine,' then under to, I thought of Mr. Pickwick, and wrote the my editorship. first number; from the proof-sheets of which "For the first five months of its existence Mr. Seymour made his drawing of the Club, and Mr. Dickens's first serial, the' Pickwick Papers,' that happy portrait of its founder, by which he was a signal failure, and notwithstanding the is always recognized, and which may be said to fact that Mr. Charles Tilt, at that time a pubhave made him a reality. I connected Mr. lisher of considerable eminence, made extraorPickwick with a club because of the original dinary exertions, out of friendship for Messrs. suggestion, and I put in Mr. Winkle expressly Chapman & Hall, to insure its success. IIe sent for the use of Mr. SeymQur. We started with out, on what is called sale or return, to all parts a number of twenty-four pages instead of thirty- of the provinces, no fewer than fifteen hundred two, and four illustrations in lieu of a couple. copies of each of the first five numbers. This Mr. Seymour's sudden and lamented death be- gave the'Pickwick Papers' a very extensive fore the second number was published brought publicity, yet Mr. Tilt's only result was an avabout a quick decision upon a point already in erage sale of about fifty copies of each of the five agitation; the number became one of thirty- parts. A certain number of copies sold, of two pages with two illustrations, and remained course, through other channels, but commercialso to the end.' Iy the publication was a decided failure. Two " In July, 1849, some incoherent assertions months before this Mr. Seymour, the artist, died made by the widow of Mr. Seymour, in the suddenly, but left sketches for two parts more, course of certain endeavors of hers to raise and the question was then debated by the pubmoney, induced me to address a letter to Mr. lishers whether they ought not to discontinue Edward Chapman, then the only surviving busi- the publication of the serial. But just while ness partner in the original firm of Chapman the matter was under their consideration, Sam & Hall, who first published the' Pickwick Weller, who had been introduced in the previous Pipers,' requesting him to inform me in writ- number, began to attract great attention, and to ing whether the foregoing statement was cor- call forth much admiration. The press was all rect. but unanimous in praising' Samivel' as an en"In Mr. Chapman's confirmatory answer, tirely original character, whom none but a great immediately written, he reminded me that I had genius could have created; and all of a sudden, given Mr. Seymour more credit than was his in consequence of' Samivel's' popularity, the due.'As this letter is to be historical,' he wrote,' Pickwick Papers' rose to an unheard-of popu-'I may as well claim what little belongs to me larity. The back numbers of the work were in the matter, and that is, the figure of Pick- ordered to a large extent, and of course all idea wick. Seymour's first sketch' (made from the of discontinuing it was abandoned. proof of my first chapter)' was for a long thin "No one can read these interesting incidents man. The present immortal one he made from without being struck with the fact that the fumy description of a friend of mine at Rich- ture literary career of Mr. Dickens should have mond.'" been for a brief season placed in circumstances LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 23 of so much risk of proving a failure; for there Street, Leicester Square, on the following day can be no doubt that, had the publication of his sent this correction to the same journal: serial been discontinued at this particular period, there was little or no probability that other "SIR, —In your sketch of the Life and Death publishers would have undertaken the risk of i of Mr. Charles Dickens, in yesterday's'Teleany other literary venture of his. And he graph,' you state that the first order given to might consequently have lived and died, great the binder for Part I. of the'Pickwick' was as his gifts and genius were, without being seven hundred copies, and it was a question beknown in the world of literature. How true it tween Messrs. Chapman & Hall, and Mr. Bone, is that there is a tide in the affairs of men! the binder,whether a greater or less number than "By the time the'Pickwick Papers' had seven hundred should be stitched in wrapper. reached their twelfth number, that being half " The first order for Part I. of the' Pickwick' of the numbers of which it was originally in- was for four hundred copies only, and the ortended the work should consist, Messrs. Chap- der was given to myself to execute (not to Mr. man & Hall were so gratified with the signal Bone) by Messrs. Chapman & Hall, the publishsuccess to which it had now attained, that they ers, who in those days did not consult the bindsent Mr. Dickens a check for ~500, as a practi- er about the number of copies they would recal expression of their satisfaction with the sale. quire. Also the first number, stitched and put The work continued steadily to increase in cir- in the green cover, was done by myself, my culation until its completion, when the sale had work-people having left off work for the day. all but reached 40,000 copies. In the interval " Before the completion of the work the sale between the twelfth and concluding number, amounted to nearly 40,000, the orders being Messrs. Chapman & Hall sent Mr. Dickens sev- given to myself and to Mr. Bone." eral checks, amounting in all to ~3000, in addition to the fifteen guineas per number which Readers of " Pickwick" found the style so they had engaged at the beginning to give him. fresh and novel, so totally unlike the forced fun It was understood at the time that Messrs. and unreal laughter of the other light reading Chapman & Hall made a clear profit of nearly of their time, that the smallest scrap from any ~20,000 by the sale of the' Pickwick Papers,' portion of the work was deemed worthy of freafter paying Mr. Dickens in round numbers quent quotation-a gem in itself. We have ~3500. seen a little book-now very rare, and not to "Probably," concludes Mr. Grant, "there be found in the British Museum - of which are few. instances on record in the annals of thousands and thousands of copies must have literature in which an author rose so rapidly to been sold by Mr. Park, of Long Lane, and Mr. popularity and attained so great a height in it Catnach, of Seven Dials, bearing the title of as Mr. Dickens. His popularity was all the "Beauties of Pickwick." more remarkable because it was reached while The famed Pickwick cigar —the "Penny yet a mere youth. He was incomparably the Pickwick " of our childhood —is too well known most popular author of his day before he had to need any comment. It was a "brand" origattained his twenty-sixth year; and what is inally made by a manufacturer in Leman Street, even more extraordinary still, he retained the *Minories, and sold in boxes and papers decoradistinction of being the most brilliant author ted with Mr. Pickwick, hat off, bowing to you of the age until the very hour of his death-a in the politest manner, and offering for your period of no less than thirty-five years." notice a long scroll, setting forth the excel*Since the illustrious author's decease even! lence of the cigar-a small cheroot, and conthe book-binders who had the charge of " Pick- taining about one-half of the tobacco used in a wick" have been claiming the honor of stitch- cigar of this kind sold at 2d. At the present ing the sheets together, and giving their recol- day "Pickwicks" are patronized almost entirelections to the newspapers. It having been ly by cab-drivers. stated in the "I)aily Telegraph" newspaper Then there were " Pickwick" hats, with narthat " it was a question between Messrs. Chap- row brims curved up at the sides, as in the figman and Hall and their binder, Mr. Bone," ure of the immortal possessor of that name; "whether a greater or less number than seven " Pickwick" canes, with tassels; and "Pickhundred copies should be stitched in wrappers; vick" coats, with brass and horn buttons, and instead of hundreds, it soon became necessary the cloth invariably dark green or dark plum. to provide for the sale of thousands; and the The name "Pickwick " is said to have been green covers of'Pickwick' were seen all over i taken from the hamlet or cluster of houses the country," a Mr. Joseph Aked, of Green which formed the last resting-stage for coaches 24 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. going to Bath,* which town, it will be remem- drollery, are cast loose upon the world to wanbered, was the scene of Sam Weller's chaffing der through scenes of every-day life, in which, of " Blazes," the red-breeched footman. though constantly getting more absurd and weak, But to return to the work as a literary comr-, they yet gain a firm hold on the reader's affecposition. "The Pickwick Papers " stand alone tion; so that at length we take leave of Mr. from all Dickens's works. Like "Robinson Pickwick, in his rural retirement at Dulwich, Crusoe," "Tom Jones," "Gulliver," "Rab- with a lingering fondness, such as we have never elais," "Tristram Shandy," "The Vicar of felt for any of those young and handsome miraWakefield," and half a score more, it will nev- cles of sense and spirit upon whose heroic caer die out or be forgotten. It is crammed with reer the vicissitudes of three thrilling volumes rollicking fun and drollery. You may read it are suspended. * * * But so much geniality of fifty times and never tire of it. Open it at all kinds is displayed in the book, that probably whatever page you will, the charm is such that no appreciative reader ever rose from its perusal one can not put it down without feeling thor- without a strong feeling of personal regard for oughly amused and delighted. We may re- the author-an element generally omitted in the mark that the well known song, "The Ivy estimate of a writer's genius, to which we alGreen," which William Henry Russell used to ways attach great importance." sing with such eclat five-and-twenty years since, A writer, whose name we have forgotten, refirst appeared in "Pickwick." It is the only marked that "Pickwick" was made up of " two poetry contained in any of Dickens's novels. pounds of Smollett, three ounces of Sterne, a Judging from its merits, the author would handful of Hook, a dash of the grammatical doubtlessly have taken a very fair stand as a Pierce Egan-incidents at pleasure, served with poet. In "Shy Neighborhoods" (" Uncom- an original sauce piquante." And Lady Chatmercial Traveller "), speaking of walking one terton, in one of her works, remarked: " Mr. night half-asleep, dozing heavily, and slumber- Davy, who accompanied Colonel Chesney up ing continually, he observes, "I made immense the Euphrates, has recently been in the service quantities of verses on that pedestrian occasion of Mohammed Ali Pacha.'Pickwick' happen(of course I never make any when I am in my ing to reach Davy while he was at Damascus, right senses)." he read a part of it to the Pacha, who was so deConcerning the inimitable " Pickwick," lighted with it, that Davy was on one occasion " Blackwood," many years since, in an article summoned to him in the middle of the night, entitled " A Remonstrance with Dickens," thus to finish the reading of some part in which they bears testimony: " As to what the best bits are, had been interrupted. Mr. Davy read in Egypt, only he who brings a virgin palate is, perhaps, upon another occasion, some passages from these qualified to discriminate, of so rich materials is unrivalled papers to a blind Englishman, who the whole compounded; and to this day we are was in such ecstasy with what he had heard, lost in admiration of the wealth of humor which that he exclaimed he was almost thankful he could go on, page after page, chapter after chap- could not see he was in a foreign country, for ter, month after month, to the close of a long that, while he listened, he felt completely as work, pouring forth, from a source seemingly though he were again in England." inexhaustible, fun, and incident, and descrip- " Pickwick " was attacked in the "Quarterly tion, and character, ever fresh, vivid, and new, Review," which declared that "indications are which, if distributed with a thrifty hand, would not wanting that the peculiar vein of humor have served to relieve and enliven, perhaps im- which has hitherto yielded such attractive mortalize, twenty sober romances. The very metal is worn out;" but the rancorous article plan of the work (if plan it can be called where did not change public opinion, and the work plan seems none) evinces the writer's extraor- continued just as popular as ever. dinary confidence in his resources, where a knot James Smith (one of the authors of "The of individuals, connected with the loosest tie, Rejected Addresses"), according to the "Law and interesting only from their unconscious Magazine," one day made the bold assertion that he clearly preceded Mr. Dickens in the * "PIcKwIcK (97 m.).-A degree of importance is line which first acquired ",The Pickwick Paattached to this small place, from its contiguity to pers " their popularity. Corsham House (1 m.), the celebrated seat of Paul Sydney Smith had two tests for the goodness Cobb Methuen, Esq., whose superb collection of paintings are the theme and admiration of every visitor. of a novel: " Does it make you deaf to the dinOn the right of Pickwick stands Hartham Park, the ner-bell? seat of - Jay, Esq., and Pickwick Lodge, belongin "While reading it, do ou forget to answer, to Caleb Dickenson, Esq."-" Walks through Bath." By PIERCE EGAN, 1819. even if a bishop should speak to you?" LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 25 Moncrieff, the famous author of " Tom and wanted, and the result was the singular interJerry," and a hundred farces and light come- view between the two men whose names, though dies, dramatized " Pickwick " long before it representing schools of fiction so widely differwas finished, for the Strand Theatre, where it *ent, were destined to become constantly associwas performed under the title of " Sam Weller; ated in the public mind. or, The Pickwickians;" Mr. W. J. Hammond *A leading article in a morning newspaper on sustaining the character of Sam Weller. The the occasion of Mr. Thackeray's death, in telling termination of the drama was very different to the anecdote of his attempt to illustrate " Pickthat given in the book itself, as will be readily wick," adds that, disappointed at the rejection seen. The adapter caused Mrs. Bardell to be of his offer, he exclaimed, "Well, if you will tried and found guilty of attempted bigamy, her not let me draw, I will write;" and from that husband being Alfred Jingle. Messrs. Dodson hour determined to compete with his illustrious & Fogg, the Freeman Court sharks, were sent brother novelist for public favor. Nothing could to Newgate for conspiracy, and only released be more opposed to the facts than this colored upon payment of the sum of ~300 or there- version of the anecdote. It was not for a year abouts, which Mr. Pickwick, on receiving, very or two after the event referred to that he began generously handed to Jingle to start afresh in seriously to devote himself to literary labor; the world-the curtain falling with a herald en- and his articles, published anonymously, and tering and announcing the accession of Queen only now for the first time brought into notice, Victoria, which occurred about this time! because recognized from their noms-de-plume to Another version was acted, with indifferent have been written by him, contain the best evisuccess, at the Adelphi, Yates representing Mr. dences that he felt no shadow of ill-will for a Pickwick, and John Reeve Sam Weller. In rejection which he always good-humoredly alFebruary, 1838, Mr. G. W. M. Reynolds started luded to as " Mr. Pickwick's lucky escape!"* a monthly "' Pickwick Abroad; 6r, A Tour in ~ The artists eventually engaged to take SeyFrance," illustrated by Alfred Crowvquill. As mour's place were, first Mr. Buss, and then Mr. a curiosity, it deserves to be read, if only to see Hablot Knight Browne, who had, in wood-cut, the immense difference existing between the illustrated a small pamphlet by Mr. Charles two books. Dickens, now out of print and extremely scarce, on the subject of the Sabbath in London, and bearing the title of "Sunday under three CHAPTER IV. Heads." As is well known, the same artist, under the quaint signature of "Phiz," apparDICKENS AS A DRAMATIST. —" OLIVER TWIST." ently intended to match the author's own nomIT was in the year 1836 that Mr. Thackeray, de-plume, " Boz," continued to etch the plates according to an anecdote related by himself, of- for Mr. Dickens's monthly numbers for many fered Mr. Dickens to undertake the task of il- years afterwards. Poor Tom Hood used to lustrating one of his works. The story was told stumble at the name: " Fizz, Whizz, or someby the former at an anniversary dinner of the thing of that sort," he would say. Royal Academy a few years since, Mr. Dickens During the publication of "The Pickwick being present on the occasion. " I can remem- Papers" St. James's Theatre was opened, Sepber (said Mr. Thackeray) when Mr. Dickens tember 29th, 1836, with a burletta entitled was a very young man, and had commenced de- "I The Strange Gentleman," written by " Boz;" lighting the world with some charming humor- Pritt Harley acted the Strange Gentleman; and ous works in covers which were colored light "Boz," himself, on one occasion took a part. green, and came out once a month, that this The piece ran until December, when it was young man wanted an artist to illustrate his withdrawn for an operatic burletta, "The Vilwritings; and I recollect walking up to his lage Coquettes," by the same author, the music chambers in Furnival's Inn, with two or three by John Hullah. The parts were sustained by drawings in my hand, which, strange to say, he Messrs. Harley (as Martin Stokes), Braham (as did not find suitable. But for the unfortunate Squire Norton), Bennett (as George Edmunds), blight which came over my artistical existence, and John Parry; Mesdames Smith, Rainsforth it would have been my pride and my pleasure (as Lucy Benson), and others. It met with a to have endeavored one day to find a place on marked reception; and Braham, for a long time these walls for one of my performances." The after, at different concerts, sang I" The Child work referred to was the "Pickwick Papers." and the Old Man sat alone," invariably getting Seymour, the illustrator, having destroyed himself in a fit of derangement, a new artist was * Theodore Taylor's "Life of Thackeray," pi 63. 26 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. encored most enthusiastically. Three other songs in the burletta were great favorites, viz., _ —. "Love is not a Feeling to pass away," "Au- Au tumn Leaves," and "There's a Charm in/ "''"" Spring." The book of the words was published N / by Mr. Bentley, and dedicated to J. Pritt Harley in the following terms: My dramatic bantlings are no sooner born than you father them. You have made my i: Strange Gentleman exclusively your own; you 1111i A have adopted Martin Stokes with equal readi- ness."' The author, "Boz," excuses himself for ap- pearing before the public as the composer of an operatic burletta in the following words: " Either the Honorable Gentleman is in the right, or he is not,' is a phrase in very common t use within the walls of Parliament. This drama may have a plot, or it may not; and the songs may be poetry, or they may not; and the whole affair, from beginning to end, may be - E great nonsense, or it may not; just as the honorable gentleman or lady who reads it may happen to think. So, retaining his own private and particular opinion upon the subject (an opinion which he formed upwards of a year ago, when he wrote the piece), the author leaves every gentleman or lady to form his or hers, as he 1 NO. 4S DOUGHTY ST., MEOKLENBURG SQUARE or she may think proper, without saying one (183T-'40). word to influence or conciliate them. [When Mr. Dickens got married, he removed from "All he wishes to say is this-that he hopes Furnival's Inn to this house. Here were written the Mr. Braham, and all the performers who assist- cocludin numhers of "Pickwick," "Oliver Twist,_ and "Nicholas Nickleby."] ed in the representation of this Opera, will accept his warmest thanks for the interest they Mr. Bentley in November, 1838, illustrated by evinced in it from its very first rehearsal, and some of the finest etchings that ever sprang for their zealous efforts in his behalf-efforts from the magic needle of George Ctuikshank. which have crowned it with a degree of success Any criticism upon the work at this time is at far exceeding his most sanguine anticipations, least needless, if not impertinent; but we may and of which no form of words could speak his be forgiven in saying that the work abounds in acknowledgment. touches of surpassing pathos, picturesque de" It is needless to add, that the libretto of an scription, and dramatic effect, while the somOpera must be, to a certain extent, a mere ve- bre parts are relieved by a rich vein of irresisthicle for the music; and that it is scarcely fair ible humor. The death of Bill Sykes, after or reasonable to judge it by those strict rules of the barbarous murder of poor Nancy, is one of criticism which would be justly applicable to a the most thrilling and effective chapters in the five-act tragedy or a finished comedy." book. Bumble the Beadle has attained a About this time (in 1837, we believe) Mr. world-wide reputation. The scene of his courtDickens married Miss Catherine Hogarth, a ship with Mrs. Corney-first prudently ascerdaughter of Mr. George Hogarth, musical and taining the value of the spoons, etc.-is perhaps dramatic critic of the "Morning Chronicle," the best " bit" of all. author of " Memoirs of the Musical Drama," In proof of Dickens's accuracy in all matters and formerly a writer to the " Signet " in Scot- of detail, an eminent medical authority assures land. Dickens now left his old chambers in us that his description of hectic, given in " 01Furnival's Inn, and took the house, No. 48 iver Twist," has found its way into more than Doughty Street, Mecklenburg Square. Soon one standard English work,* in both medicine after he was installed editor of "Bentley's Mis- Miller's "Princi * Miller's "Principles 6f Surgery," second edition, cellany," a~nd he began therein " Oliver Twist," p. 46; also Dr. Altkin's "Practice of Medicine," third subsequently published in a complete form by edition, vol. i. p. 111. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 27 and surgery, also into several American and time, I gladly complied with his suggestion that French books of medicine. I should look over a port-folio crowded with The preface to I"The Charles Dickens Edi- etchings, proofs, and drawings, which lay upon tion " (1867) speaks of Alderman Laurie hav- the sofa. Among these, carelessly tied togething called in question the existence of such a er in a wrap of brown paper, was a series of place as Jacob's Island, and declares that even some twenty-five or thirty drawings, very carethen, in 1867, it may be seen in almost the fully finished, through most of which were carsame squalid and filthy state as it was when first ried the well-known portraits of Fagin, Bill described. "Oliver Twist" was directed with Sykes and his dog, Nancy, the Artful Dodger, great effect against the Poor-law and work- and Master Charles Bates-all well known to house system. It will be remembered by many the readers of' Oliver Twist.' There was no that a great outcry was raised at the time of mistake about it; and when Cruikshank turned its original publication, and statements respect- round, his work finished, I said as much. lIe ing its " gross untruth " and'" distorted facts " told me that it had long been in his mind to were freely made. Can any one, reading the show the life of a London thief by a series of shocking and disgraceful disclosures made du- drawings engraved by himself, in which, withring the last three or four years, still maintain out a single line of letter-press, the story would that erroneous opinion? be strikingly and clearly told.'Dickens,' he A meeting was held at Willis's Rooms, on continued,'dropped in here onle day, just as 3d March, 1866, to promote the establishment you have done, and, while waiting until I could of an Association for the Improvement of the speak with him, took up that identical portInfirmaries of the London Work-houses. Mr. folio, and ferreted out that bundle of drawings. Ernest Hart, the Secretary, had invited Dick- When he came to that one which represents ens to attend the meeting and take part in the Fagin in the condemned cell, he studied it for proceedings. In his reply, the author of " 01- half an hour, and told me that he was tempted iver Twist " said: to change the whole plot of his story; not to "An annual engagement which I can not carry Oliver Twist through adventures in the possibly forego will prevent my attending next country, but to take him up into the thieves' Saturday's meeting, and (consequently) my sec- den in London, show what their life was, and onding the resolution proposed to be intrusted bring Oliver through it without sin or shame. to me for that purpose. My knowledge of the I consented to let him write up to as many of general condition of sick poor in work-houses is the designs as he thought would suit his purnot of yesterday, nor are my efforts in my vo- pose; and that was the way in which Fagin, cation to call merciful attention to it. Few Sykes, and Nancy were created. My drawanomalies in England are so horrible to me as ings suggested them, rather than individuality the unchecked existence of many shameful suggesting my drawings.'" sick-wards for paupers side by side with the How the remarkable figure of Fagin was first constantly increasing expansion of conventional conceived Mr. Hodder tells ns. The reader wonder that the poor should creep into corners will remember the picture of the Jew malefacand die rather than fester and rot in those in- tor in the condemned cell, biting his hails in famous places. the torture of remorse. Cruikshank had been "You know what they are, and have man- laboring at the subject for several days, and fully told what they are, to the awakening at thought the task hopeless, when, sitting up in last, it would seem, of rather more than the his bed one morning, with his hand on his chin seveft distinguished sleepers. If any subscrip- and his fingers in his mouth, the whole attitions should be opened to advance the objects tude expressive of despair, he saw his face in of our association, do me the kindness to set me the cheval glass. down for ~20." " That's it!" he exclaimed, " that's the exMr. Sheldon M'Kenzie, in the American pression I want i" and he soon finished thepic"Round Table," relates this anecdote of " 01- ture. iver Twist:" Thackeray, in " The Newcomes," remarked " In London I was intimate with the broth- that "' a profane work, called' Oliver Twist,' ers Cruikshank, Robert and George, but more having appeared, which George read out to his particularly with the latter. Having called family with admirable emphasis, it is a fact upon him one day at his house (it then was in that Lady Walham became so interested in the Mydleton Terrace, Pentonville), I had to wait parish-boy's progress, that she took his history while he was finishing an etching, for which a into her bedroom (where it was discovered, printer's boy was waiting. To while away the under Blatherwick's'Voice from Mesopota 28 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. mia,' by her ladyship's maid); and that Kew Nelly Moore, Nancy. It was this version that laughed so immensely at Mr. Bumble, the became the subject of a Parliamentary discusBeadle, as to endanger the reopening of his sion: wound." Dr. Brady asked the Secretary of State And again, in " Fraser's Magazine " for Feb- whether the Lord Chamberlain had refused to ruary, 1840, at the end of a clever satire upon license a play dramatized by Mr. Oxenford the Newgate Calendar school of romance, pur- from Mr. Dickens's celebrated work of " Oliver porting to be written by Ikey Solomons, Jun., Twist;" and whether all plays from the same Thackeray thus remarks upon " Oliver Twist:" work were interdicted in London as being of"No man has read that remarkable tale with- fensive to parish beadles; and whether he apout being interested in poor Nancy and her proved of theLord Chamberlain's consideration murderer, and especially amused and tickled by for the feelings of the parish authorities. the gambols of the skillful Dodger and his com- Air. Hardy: The parish beadles have not the panions. The power of the writer is so amaz- influence with the Lord Chamberlain which the ing, that the reader at once becomes his cap- hon. member supposes. Formerly, "Oliver tive, and must follow him whithersoever he Twist" and "Jack Sheppard" were prohibited, leads: and to what are we led? Breathless to but Mr. Oxenford's play has been licensed bv watch all the crimes of Fagin, tenderly to de- the Lord Chamberlain. plore the errors of Nancy, to have for Bill Representations also took place at the SurSykes a kind of pity and admiration, and an rey, Victoria, Pavilion, and other theatres. absolute love for the society of the Dodger. All these heroes stepped from the novel on to the stage; and the whole London public, from peers to chimney-sweeps, were interested about a set CHAPTER V. of ruffians whose occupations are thievery, murder, and prostitution. A most agreeable set of rascals, indeed, who have their virtues, too, HERE we come to a matter connected with but not good company for any man. We had the transfer of the copyright of " Oliver Twist" better pass them by in decent silence; for, as back into Mr. Dickens's own possession, which, no writer can or dare tell the whole truth con- many years later, occasioned a controversy in cerning them, and faithfully explain their vices, the public papers. Mr. Jerdan, the once fathere is no need to give ex parte statements of mous editor of the " Literary Gazette," in his their virtues. * * * The pathos of the work- rambling autobiography, published in 1853, house scenes in' Oliver Twist,' of the Fleet mentions (vol. iv.) that —"Bulwer, I believe, Prison descriptions in' Pickwick,' is genuine paid Mr. Bentley ~750 to recover a small porand pure-as much of this as you please; as tion of copyright which he wished, in order to tender a hand to the poor, as kindly a word to possess an entire property in his work; and, the unhappy as you will, but in the name of nearly at the same time, Mr. Dickens took a like common sense let us not expend our sympa- step to repurchase a share of the copyright of thies dn cut-throats and other such prodigies of' Oliver Twist,' after it had launched " Bentley's evil!" Miscellany " prosperously on the popular tide, Albert Smith, in his "Adventures of Mr. and gone through two or three profitable ediLedbury," observed that, "in the year 1840, tions. The compensation was referred to Mr. he found an Italian translator of the book had John Forster and myself, and upon my table placarded the name of the poor parish orphan the sum of ~2250 was handed over to Mr. Bentof England against the walls of the Ducal Pal- ley, and both parties perfectly satisfied. But ace of Venice!" W;as not' the trade' fortunate in so easily addIn May, 1838, an adaptation of the story ing to handsome preceding emoluments, the towas produced at the Pavilion Theatre, and at tal of no less than ~3000?" the Surrey on November 19th following, and Mr. Bentley, in a letter to "The Critic" met with great success. The representations of (now defunct, which had reviewed the book, and "Oliver Twist" and " Jack Sheppard," being quoted the above paragraph), replied: considered as entailing great mischief, were accordingly prohibited; but Mr. John Oxenford's "MR. JERDAN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. version (specially licensed), in three acts, was "SIR,-In your last number, while reviewproduced at the New Queen's Theatre, in April, ing the concluding volume of Mr. Jerdan's Au1868, and attracted large audiences, Mr. J. L. tobiography, you quote a statement made by him Toole playing the Artful Dodger, and Miss relative to two transactions-one with Sir Ed LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 29 ward Bulwer Lytton, and the other with Mr. "I am indeed sorry that Mr. Bentley's feelCharles Dickens and myself-which, if left un- ings or amour propre have been disturbed; but contradicted, is calculated to be injurious to me. I am sure that few persons, except himself, will This statement, I distinctly assert, is grossly in- think that I have cast a blot on his publishing correct; and I have thought it necessary to call scutcheon. I am, sir, yours obediently, upon Mr. Jerdan to cancel it altogether. " W. JERDAN. "I greatly regret, for Mr. Jerdan's sake, as "January 25th." well as the parties referred to, that he should Another letter from Mr. Bentley closed the have ventured to commit such an indiscretion. controversy: "Yours faithfully, RICHARD BENTLEY. "New Burlington Street, Jan. 12, 1854." " To the Editor of' The Critic.' "New Burlington Street, February 13, 1854. To which Jerdan, in turn, wrote: To which Jerdan, in turn, wrote: "SI,-You will oblige me by giving inserMR. BENTLEY AND MR. JERDAN. tion in your journal to the accompanying letter from Mr. Forster, which has been handsomely "To the Editor of'The Critic' London Literary sent to me without any solicitation on my part. Journal. "Yours faithfully, RICHARD BENTLEY." "SIR,-Having admitted a letter from Mr. Bentley to your columns, impugning a statement [Copy inclosed.] you did me the honor to quote in your notice "58 Lincoln's Inn Fields, January 31,1854. of the fourth volume of my Autobiography, I "DEAR SIR,-I perceive that the'Morning beg your permission to insert the following ob- Herald' which I have just received, comes from servations on the complaint: yrou, and I can not doubt that it is sent to me "If I could have supposed, for an instant, because it contains a correspondence between that the facts related were calculated to do Mr. yourself and Mr. Jerdan, in reference to a stateBentley the slightest injury, I never would have ment on the part of the latter, in which my published them; but, on the most earnest con- name is introduced. sideration of the matter, I must say that such " I feel it right, in confirmation of your opinan idea is perfectly incomprehensible. ion, expressed in that correspondence, to state to 1" In the one instance, I mention a report that you my own opinion, that the negotiation was Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer had paid a certain undoubtedly of a private nature, and one with sum to Mr. Bentley for the restoration of a par- which the public have no concern. ticular copyright; and, in the other, I state "Further, there were matters in dispute befrom my own knowledge the circumstance of tween yourself and Mr. Dickens, the fair adjustMr. Dickens having paid a larger sum for a ment of which was taken into account when the similar reassignment. the sum of ~2250 was fixed upon as the price at "Now, I would ask, to what does this amount? which he should purchase back from you the It may go to prove the truism that publishers are copyright of' Oliver Twist.' more likely than authors to keep their coaches; " This matter having been brought before the but all the rest simply amounts to the common- public without any fault of yours, it is just toest commercial arrangement, viz., that Sir Ed- wards you that I should write these few words; ward Bulwer Lytton and Mr. Dickens paid Mr. and I do so with the knowledge and consent of Bentley a fair price for what they desired to pur- Mr. Dickens himself. Yours very truly, chase, and which he had no higher or more prof- "JOHN FORSTER. itable'object in wishing to retain. In the more "R. BENTLEY, Esq." important case I was his own arbiter, and surely I would not accuse myself of having been a "Oliver Twist" completed, Dickens resigned party to a transaction injurious to my principal the editorship to Mr. W. Harrison Ainsworth, or to Mr. Dickens, by sanctioning a disreputa- who, we believe, still occupies that position. ble arbitration, of which I may add, that it had Just before the last installment was published, the rare good fortune, at the time, to be per- there appeared in " Bentley's Miscellany" this: fectly satisfactory to all concerned. " As for any breach of confidence, you, sir, "POETICAL EPISTLE FROM FATHER PROUT are far too conversant with the literary world to TO BOZ. suppose that these matters were not the com-. mon talk of every circle in London, and that "A RHYME! a rhyme! from a distant clime-from the the attempt to represent them as secrets is ve gulf of the Genoese: the attempt to represent them as secrets is very O'er the rugged scalps of the Julian Alps, dear Boz! preposterous. I send you these, 30 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. To light the Wick your candlestick holds up, or, 1 written, full of merriment and quaint anecdotes should you list, should you list, of the great pantomimist, and has gone through To usher in the yarn you spin concerning Oliver of the great pantomimist, and has gone through Twist. several editions. It was hot, however, the IL. | composition of Mr. Dickens, being only "ed"Immense applause you've gained, O Boz! through ited " by him, as the title-page declares. Continental Europe; You'll make Pickwick cecumenick;* of fame you The next work-and the second in the have a sure hope; "green-leaf" series-was "Nicholas NickleFor here your books are found, gadzooks! in great- by," the first number of which appeared 31st er luxe than any That have issued yet, hotpress'd or wet, from the March, 1838. It extended to twenty numbers, types of GALIONANI. and was published in a complete form, in the III. following year, by Messrs. Chapman & Hall, "But neither, when you sport your pen, O potent dedicated to Mr. Macready. This novel showmirth-compeller! ed that Dickens was still working for the emanWinning our hearts'in monthly parts,' can Pickwick or Sam Weller cipation of boyhood. In the preface, after Cause us to weep with pathos deep, or shake with mentioning how he first came to hear of the lanh spasmodical, gross mismanagement carried on in the YorkAs when you drain your copious vein for Bentley's periodical. shire schools, hlie resolved to go and see what IV. they were like. "Folks all enjoy your Parish Boy-so truly you de- "' With that intent I went down into Yorkpict him: shire before I began this book, in very severe But I, alack! while thus you track your stinted Poor-law's victim, winter-time, which is pretty faithfully described Must think of some poor nearer home-poor who, herein. As I wanted to see a schoolmaster or unheeded, perish, two, and was forewarned that those gentlemen By squires despoiled, by'patriots' galled-I mean the starving Irish. might, in their modesty, be shy of receiving a visit from the author of the'Pickwick Papers,' "Yet there's no dearth of Irish mirth, which, to a I consulted with a professional friend here, who mind of feeling, had a Yorkshire connection, and with whom I Seemeth to be the Helot's glee before the Spartan concerted a pious fraud. He gave me some reeling: Such gloomy thought o'ercometh not the glow of letters of introduction, in the name, I think, of England's humor, my travelling companion; they bore reference Thrice happy isle! long may the smile of genuine Thrice hppy isle! long may the smile of gene to a supposititious little boy who had been left joy illume her! with a widowed mother who didn't know what Vl.'to do with him; the poor lady had thought, as "Write on, young sage! still o'er the page pour forth the flood of fancy; the dlood of fancy; a means of thawing the tardy compassion of Wax still more droll, wave o'er the soul Wit's wand her relations in his behalf, of sending him to a of necromancy. Yorkshire school; I was the poor lady's friend, Behold! e'en now around your brow th' immortal travelling that way; and if the recipient of the laurel thickens; Yea, SWIFT or STERNE might gladly learn a thing letter could inform me of a school in his neighor two from DIClKENs. borhood, the writer would be very much obliged. VII. "I went to several places in that part of the "A rhyme! a rhyme! from a distant clime-a song country where I understood these schools to be from the sunny South! most plentifully sprinkled, and had no occasion A goodly theme, so Boz but deem the measure not to deliver a letter until I came to a certain town uncouth. Would, for thy sake, that'PtoUT' could make his which shall be nameless. The person to whom h bow in fashion finer, it was addressed was not at home; but he came'Partcant' (from thee)'pour la Syrie,' for Greece down at night, through the snow, to the inn and As]i Minor. "Genoa, 14t1 Decelmber, 1837." where I was staying. It was after dinner; and he needed little persuasion to sit down by the fire in a warm corner, and take his share of the wine that was on the table. CHAPTER VI. "'I am afraid he is dead now. I recollect he was a jovial, ruddy, broad-faced man; that " NICHOLAS NICKLEBY. 7 we got acquainted directly; and that we talked IN January, 1838, "The Memoirs of Joseph on all kinds of subjects, except the school, Grimaldi, the Clown," edited by Dickens, il- which he showed a great anxiety to avoid. lustrated by Cruikshank, was published by Mr. Was there any large school near? I asked him, Bentley, in two volumes. It is amusingly in reference to the letter.'Oh yes,' he said; a el6Aov TISo..TS of Kou'evnt. C'there was a pratty big'un.''Was it a good LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 31 one?' I asked.' Ey!' he said,' it was as good as some of Dickens's other fictions, although it as anoother; that was a' a matther of opinion;' is certainly not inferior to any of the other and fell to looking at the fire, staring round the works of this illustrious author. The passages room, and whistling a little. On my reverting describing the deaths of Ralph Nickleby and to some other topic that we had been discussing, Gride the Miser are dramatic in the highest dehe recovered immediately; but, though I tried gree, and inimitable as pieces of powerful writhim again and again, I never approached the ing. John Browdie, with his hearty laugh and question of the school, even if he were in the thoroughly English heart, will ever be an immiddle of a laugh, without observing that his mense favorite. Dotheboys Hall and its tencountenance fell, and that he became uncom- ants is a very sad history, and well might Dickfortable. At last, when we had passed a couple ens use his utmost endeavors to crush such an of hours or so very agreeably, he suddenly took infamous hot-bed of misery and torment. Who up his hat, and, leaning over the table and look- has not roared at the eccentricities of Mrs. ing me full in the face, said, in a low voice, Nickleby, especially in that memorable inter-'Weel, Misther, we've been vary pleasant too- view with the gentleman in the small clothes? gather, and ar'll spak' my moind tiv'ee. Din- It is said that the Brothers Grant, the wealthy not let the weedur send her lattle boy to yan o' cotton - mill owners of Manchester, were the our schoolmeasthers, while there's a harse to prototypes of the Brothers Cheeryble; both are hoold in a' Lunnun, or a gootther to lie asleep now dead, the elder one dying in March, 1855. in. Ar wouldn't mak' ill words amang my In the original preface, Dickens having stated neeburs, and ar speak tiv'ee quiet loike. But that they were portraits from life, and were still I'm doni'd if ar can gang to bed and not tellee, living, in the preface to a later edition he said: for weedur's sak', to keep the lattle boy from a' " If I were to attempt to sum up the hundreds sike scoondrels while there's a harse to hoold of letters from all sorts of people, in all sorts of in a' Lunnun, or a gootther to lie asleep il i!' latitudes and climates, to which this unlucky Repeating thesewords with great heartiness, and paragraph has since given rise, I should get'with a solemnity on his jolly face that made it into an arithmetical difficulty from which I look twice as large as before, he shook hands could not easily extricate myself. Suffice it to and went away. I never saw him afterwards, say, that I believe the applications for loans, but I sometimes imagine that I descry a faint gifts, and offices of profit, that I have been rereflection of him in John Browdie." quested to forward to the originals of the In reference to these gentry, we may here Brothers Cheeryble (with whom I never interquote a few words from the original preface to changed any communication in my life), would this book: have exhausted the combined patronage of all " It has afforded the author great amusement the lord chancellors since the accession of the and satisfaction, during the progress of this House of Brunswick, and would have broken work, to learn, from country friends and from a the rest of the Bank of England." variety of ludicrous statements concerning him- In Mr. Samuel Smiles's admirable "Self self in provincial newspapers, that more than Help " (the later editions) is recorded a very one Yorkshire schoolmaster lays claim to being touching instance of the kindness and generthe original of Mr. Squeers. One worthy, he osity of-these gentlemen. However, it is too has reason to believe, has actually consulted long to transfer to these pages. authorities learned in the law, as to his having Long before the completion of'"Nicholas good grounds on which to rest an action for Nickleby," Mr. Edward Stirling produced a libel, another has meditated a journey to Lon- dramatic version of it, and received, in consedon, for the express purpose of committing an quence, a sharp reproof in the ensuing number. assault and battery on his traducer; a third It was performed at the Adelphi, on November perfectly remembers being waited on, last Jan- 19th, 1838, as a farce, in two acts, Mr. O. Smith uary twelve month, by two gentlemen, one of representing Newman Noggs; Mr. Yates, Manwhom held him in conversation while the other talini; and Mrs. Keeley, Smikce. Another adaptook his likeness; and although Mr. Squeers tation was brought out at the Strand Theatre, has but one eye, and he has two, and the pub- under the title of " The Fortunes of Smike." lished sketch does not resemble him (whoever As recently as the end of 1866, Mr. J. L. Toole he may be) in any other respect, still he and all made a great hit by doubling the parts of his friends and neighbors know at once for Squeers and Newman Noggs, when playing in whom it is meant, because-the character is so the provinces with Mrs. Billington, who made like him." a capital Mrs. Squeers, the termagant partner Nicholas Nickleby " is not quite so popular of the school-master. 32 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. Sydney Smith, in aletter to Sir George Phil- this admirable representation of him. What lips, about September, 1838, wrote: "' Nickle- cheerful intellectuality is about the man's eyes, by' is very good. I stood out against Mr. and a large forehead! The mouth is too large Dickens as long as I could, but he has con- and full, too eager and active, perhaps; the quered me." smile is very sweet and generous. If Monsieur And Thomas Moore, in his Diary, under date De Balzac, thatvoluminous physiognomist, could April 5, 1835, mentions dining at Messrs. Long- examine this head, he would no doubt interpret mans, in Paternoster Row, the company con- every line and wrinkle in it-the nose firm and sisting of Sydney Smith, Canon Tate, MHerivale, well placed, the nostrils wide and full, as are the Dionysius the Tyrant, M'Culloch, and Hay- nostrils of all men of genius (this is Monsieur ward (the translator of " Faust "). " Conver- Balzac's maxim). The past and the future, sation turned on Boz, the new comic writer. says Jean Paul, are written in every counteWas sorry to hear Sydney cry him down, and nance. I think we may promise ourselves a evidently without having given him a fair trial. brilliant future from this one. There seems no Whereas, to me it appears one of the few proofs flagging as yet in it, no sense of fatigue, or conof good taste that the' masses,'as they are call- sciousness of decaying power. Long mayest ed, have yet given, there being some as nice thou, O Boz! reign over thy comic kingdom; humor and fun in the'Pickwick Papers' as in long may we pay tribute-whether of threeany work I have seen in our day. Hayward, pence weekly, or of a shilling monthly, it matthe only one of the party that stood by me in ters not. Mighty prince! at thy imperial feet, this opinion, engaged me for a dinner (at his Titmarsh, humblest of thy servants, offers his chambers) on Thursday next." vows of loyalty and his humble tribute of praise." In the following year Sydney Smith had form- And lecturing on " Week-day Preachers," at ed an acquaintance with Dickens, and we find St. Martin's Hall,* in aid of the Jerrold Fund, him writing to the author of " Nicholas Nick- Thackeray spoke of the delight which children leby:" derived from reading the works of Mr. Dickens, " Nobody more-and more justly-talked of and mentioned that one of his own children said than yourself. The Miss Berrys, now at Rich- to him that she wished he "would write stories mond, live only to become acquainted with you, like those which Mr. Dickens wrote. The same and have commissioned me to request you to young lady," he continued, I" when she was ten dine with them Friday, the 29th, or Monday, years old, read'Nicholas Nickleby' morning, July 1st, to meet a Canon of St. Paul's, the noon, and night, beginning it again as soon as Rector of Comlbe Florey, and the Vicar of she had finished it, and never wearying of its Halberton, all equally well known to you; to fun." say nothing of other and better people. The Concerning the financial success of " NichoMiss Berrys and Lady Charlotte Lindsay have las Nickleby," it may be mentioned that the not the smallest objection to be put into a num- late Mr. Tegg, the publisher, writing to the her, but, on the contrary, would be proud of the " Times," in February, 1840, on copyrights, distinction; and Lady Charlotte, in particular, declared that the work produced the author you may marry to Newman Noggs. Pray come; ~3000. it is as much as my place is worth to send a re- At the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1840, fusal." a fine portrait of Dickens, painted by his friend We have already given evidence of Thack- Daniel Maclise, was exhibited. This is the eray's hearty appreciation of the author who portrait to which Thackeray;alludes above. An hag chronicled for us the adventures of "Oliver engraving from it appeared in subsequent ediTwist." Later on, in "Fraser's Magazine," tions of "Nicholas Nick.leby." when commenting on the Royal Academy Exhibition, we find another interesting reference by Thackeray to Mr. Dickens, with a prophecy of his future greatness: "Look (he says, in CHAPTER VII. the assumed character of Michael Angelo TitPUBLICATION OF " THE OLD CURIIIOSITY SHOP" marsh) at the portrait of Mr. Dickens-well arranged as a picture, good in color and light and shadow, and as a likeness perfectly amazing; a THE first number of " Master Humphrey's looking-glass could not render a better fac-sim- Clock" appeared on the 4th of April, 1840. ile. Here we have the real identical man Dick- Not content with the unexampled success which ens: the artist must have understood the inward had attended the issue of " Nicholas Nickleby "' Boz' as well as the outward before he made * July, 1857. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 33 in shilling numbers, the publisher conceived the and when I had come to know him well, and mistaken idea of altering the form of Mr. Dick- see him, stout of heart, going slowly down into ens's new work. It was not to be in what is his grave, I knew the writer of that essay to be technically known as "demy octavo," at one THOMAS HOOD." shilling, but in ungainly " imperial octavo," In the course of this review, Hood took occaand in weekly numbers, at three-pence each. sion to say of the author: "The poor are his Messrs. Cattermole and "Phiz" (Hablot K. especial clients. He delights to show worth in Browne) had undertaken the illustrations, and low places-living up a court, for example, with the work proceeded, but it soon became a mat- Kit and the industrious washerwoman his mothter of policy, or rather of necessity, to revive er. To exhibit Honesty holding a gentleman's the public interest; and this was done by the horse, or Poverty bestowing alms." resuscitation of Mr. Pickwick and of the two Fraser, in 1850, said: "We have been told Wellers-father and son. Thus helped for- that when the'Old Curiosity Shop' was drawward, the new work began to make its way ing to a close, he received heaps of anonymous steadily; and the two principal tales, " The letters in female hands, imploring him' not to Old Curiosity Shop" and "Barnaby Rudge," kill Little Nell.' The wretch ungallantly perare among the best and most popular of Mr. sisted in his murderous design; and those genDickens's stories. The work was published in tle readers only wept, and forgave him." a complete form, in the following year, by - Dick Swiveller is a type and representative Messrs. Chapman & Hall. Eventually the au- of a numerous class of young men not absolutethor thought fit to separate the stories, " and ly vicious, but too lazy to work, and who lounge' Master Humphrey's Clock,' as originally con- away their lives resorting to all manner of shifts structed," he mentions, " became one of the and contrivances to exist, yet, greatat the clubs lost books of the earth-which, we all know, and meetings as he. was, as are far more precious than any that can be read "Perpetual Grand of the Glorious Apollos." for love or money." The " Old Curiosity Shop " is a splendid and Quilp is, perhaps, the most carefully-elaborated touching story. Little Nelly is a beautiful and and highly-finished character of all-a Caliban delicate creation; so likewise is the poor school- and wretch, never more delighted than when master, and his favorite scholar, who wrote so inflicting pain on his meek wife, Mrs. Jiniwin, good a hand with such a very little one. We his mother-in-law, or that fawning, white-livmay here mention a curious fact, to which Mr. ered hound, Sampson Brass, the attorney of R. H. Horne, in his "New Spirit of the Age," Bevis Marks. To comment further would be first directed attention. He says that the de- to pass a glowing eulogium on every other scription of Nelly's death, if divided into lines, character in the book. It was dedicated to his will form that species of gracefully irregular friend Samuel Rogers, the Banker Poet. blank verse which Shelley and Southey often " Barnaby Rudge " is a history of the notoused. Here is a specimen: rious I"No Popery " riots of 1780, which had hitherto not formed the subject of, or been in"When Death strikes down the innocent and young, hitherto not formed the subject of, or been inFor every fragile form, from which he lets troduced into, any work of fiction. The tale The panting spirit free, abounds in vigorous descriptions of the chief A hundred virtues rise, n A hundred virtues charise, a misguided actor, Lord George Gordon, and the In shape of mercy, charity, and love, To walk the world and bless it. dreadful scenes that ensued. The sketches of Of every tear Old Willet, at the Maypole, at Chigwell, and That sorrowing nature sheds on such green graves, the courtship of Joe Willett and Dolly Varden Some good is born, some gentler nature comes." are unsurpassed; Sir Edward Chester evidently Of that exquisitely beautiful creation, "' Lit- being intended for the celebrated Lord Chestertle Nell," Mr. Dickens has himself remarked: field, the decorously polite but heartless author "I have a mournful pride in one recollection of a worthless book entitled "Lord Chesterassociated with' Little Nell.' While she was field's Letters to his Son." yet upon her wanderings, not then concluded, "Will " (writes a friend of the late novelist) there appeared in a literary journal an essay, "a great living painter of English manners, of which she was the principal theme, so ear- Mr. W. P. Frith, forgive an allusion to the nestly, so eloquently, and tenderly appreciative early days when the success of his admirable of her, and of all her shadowy kith and kin, picture of'Dolly Varden' led Charles Dickthat it would have been insensibility in me if I ens to call on him, and, after expressing the could have read it without an unusual glow of warmest thanks for the feeling and appreciation pleasure and encouragement. Long afterwards, which the artist's handiwork displayed, to give 3 t 34 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. him a commission for other subjects, to be se- Page,'good gifts,' which he improved, by study lected from the works of'Boz?' Dickens," con- and attention, in a most exemplary manner. tinues the writer, " wanted on canvas, and in He slept in a stable-generally on horsebackhues which should live, the young artist's con- and so terrified a Newfoundland dog by his preception of the imaginary people with whose char- ternatural sagacity, that he has been known, by acteristics England was ringing. His hearty the mere superiority of his genius, to walk off approval of the pictures, when painted, his per- unmolested with the dog's dinner from before sonal introduction of himself to thank the art-!his face. He was rapidly rising in acquireist, and his check, with the well-known signa- ments and virtues, when, in an evil hour, his ture, the' C' rather like a'G,' and the elab- stable was newly painted. He observed the orate flourish beneath it, exactly as it is given workmen closely, saw that they were careful of outside the last edition of his works, are, we the paint, and immediately burned to possess venture to say, like things of yesterday to Mr. it. On their going to dinner, he ate up all Frith." they had left behind, consisting of a pound or It is doubtful if the illustrious author of two of white lead; and this youthful indiscre"Barnaby Rudge" ever knew that the genial tion terminated in death. Tom Hood-for whom Dickens always had the "While I was yet inconsolable for his loss, greatest admiration, we may almost say affec- another friend of mine in Yorkshire discovered tion-once wrote an exquisitely beautiful ac- an older and more gifted raven at a village count of that work, as well as of "The Old public-house, which he prevailed upon the landCuriosity Shop." We know it as a fact, and lord to part with for a consideration, and sent the reader can judge for himself whether Hood up to me. The first act of this sage was to was not the man, above all others, to appreci- administer to the effects of his predecessor, by ate Dickens. The reviewer says: "' The first disinterring all the cheese and half-pence he had chapter pleasantly plants us, not in Cato Street, buried in the garden-a work of immense labor but on the borders of Epping Forest, at an an- and research, to which he devoted all the ene — cient ruddy Elizabethan inn, with a May-pole gies of his mind. When he had achieved this for its sign, an antique porch, quaint chimneys, task, he applied himself to the acquisition of and'more gable-ends than a crazy man would stable language, in which he soon became such care to count on a sunny day.' The ornament- an adept, that he would perch outside my wined eaves are haunted by twittering swallows, dow and drive imaginary horses with great skill and the distorted roof is mobbed by clusters of all day. Perhaps even I never saw him at his cooing pigeons. Then for its landlord: there best, for his former master sent his duty with is old John Willett, as square and as slow as a him,' and if I wished the bird to come out very tortoise; and for its parlor customers, Long strong, would I be so good as to show him a Parks, Tom Cobb, both taciturn and profound drunken man'-which I never did, having (forsmokers; and Solomon Daisy, that parochial tunately) none but sober people at hand. But I Argus, studded all down his rusty black coat, could hardly have respected him more, whatever and his long flapped waistcoat, with little queer the stimulating influences of this sight might buttons, like nothing except his eyes, but so have been. He had not the slightest respect, I like them, that as they twinkled and glistened am sorry to say, for me in return, or for any body in the light of the fire, which shone too in his but the cook; to whom he was attached-but bright shoe-buckles, he seemed all eyes from only, I fear, as a policeman might have been. head to foot." Once I met him unexpectedly, about half a As illustrative of Mr. Dickens's love of ani- mile off, walking down the middle of the pubmals-of ravens in particular-we may here be lic street, attended by a pretty large crowd, and,ermitted to give his own remarks in a preface spontaneously exhibiting the whole of his acto the cheap' edition of this work: "As it is complishments. His gravity under those tryMr. Waterton's opinion that ravens are grad- ing circumstances I never can forget, nor the ually becoming extinct in England, I offer a extraordinary gallantry with which, refusing to few words here about mine. be brought home, he defended himself behind a "The raven in this story is a compound of pump, until overpowered by numbers. It may two great originals, of whom I have been, at have been that he was too bright a genius to different times, the proud possessor. The first live long, or it may have been that he took some was in the bloom of his youth, when he was pernicious substance into his bill, and thence discovered in a modest retirement, in London, into his maw-which is not improbable, seeby a friend of mine, and given to me. He had ing that he new-pointed the greater part of the from the first, as Sir Hugh Evans says of Anne garden wall by digging out the mortar, broke LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 35 countless squares of glass by scraping away the Wood Mliss Miggs, Mr. Shore Sir John Chester. putty all round the frames, and tore up and A newspaper critic, speaking of Mrs. Wood's swallowed, in splinters, the greater part of a performance, observed: "If any one expected wooden staircase of six steps and a landing- the subdued cough, the small groan, the sigh, but after some three years he too was taken ill, the sniff, the spasmodic start, and the constant and died before the kitchen fire. He kept his rubbing and tweaking of the nose to which Miss eye to the last upon the meat as it roasted, and Miggs had recourse in the frequent moments of suddenly turned over on his back with a sepul- her vexation, would have been reproduced by chral cry of' Cuckoo.' Since then I have been Mrs. John Wood in illustration of the novelist's ravenless." description, they must have overlooked the peIt is just worth while to remark, in connec- culiarities of that liberty-loving country from tion with this fondness for ravens, that a per- which the debutante has just come, after a sosoial friend, a bad punster, being at a party, journ of some twelve years. It is quite apparand remarking on the mania Dickens seemed to ent that Mrs. John Wood has been in the habit have for these birds, said, "Dickens is raven of representing Miss Miggs repeatedly on the mad." This, being repeated, gave rise to a re- other side the Atlantic, in a version which has port, which was industriously spread by his de- been doubtless made by some patriotic Ameritractors, that " Dickens was raving mad," and can, who believed that the Declaration of Inde-' was confined in a madhouse," and other silly pendence secured the right of departing as far rumors. as possible from the intentions of the British "Barnabv Rudge" expressed the author's author. The Miss Miggs who appeared last abhorrence to capital punishment, on the prin- evening on the stage of the Princess's is a ciple enunciated by Pistol, in Shakspeare's'Yankee gal' of the familiar Down-East pat"King Henry V.:" tern, who sings one of the high-toned ditties characteristic of her class, mixes up grotesque "Let gallows gape for dog, let man go free, And let not hemp his wind-pipe suffocate." pantomime extravagances with nasal inflections and angular attitudes, and thinks nothing of The pathetic scene of the gray-headed old father sprawling on tables and tumbling into tubs. following the dead body of his only son, merely Nor, in personal appearance, will the good-lookto touch the lifeless hand of the boy so unjustly ing, though coarse-mannered, companion of hung, also reminds one of Shakspeare's lines: Mrs. Varden at all correspond to the portraiture which was also so long identified with one of "If I put out thy light, thou flaming minister, I can restore it, should I repent me; te principal figster Humphrey's But once put out thy light, thou cunning'st pattern Clock.' The double disappointment thus expeof excelling nature, rienced found audible expression in the course I know not that Promethean heat that can thy I know not that Promethean heat that can thy of the performance, and drew the customary exlight relume." postulation of a first night from Mr. Vining, Some London publisher, about this time, hav- who took the opportunity of a call at the end ing issued imitations or piracies of some of Dick- of the third act to address the audience.' On ens's former works and titles, Thomas Hood, the present occasion,' observed Mr. Vining,' I writing to the " Athenmum " (June, 1842) on do not appear before you as an actor; but from " Copyright and Copywrong," speaks of a con- a private box I have seen that a determination versation he had had with a bookseller on a to hiss this piece fiom its commencement has spurious "Master Humphrey's Clock." been apparent on the part of a few persons "Sr," said the bookseller, "if you had ob- among the audience. I have watched for an served the name, it was Bos, not Boz-s, sir, expression of public opinion. If you have seen not z; and, besides, it would have been no pira- any thing which deserved hissing, hiss awaycy, sir, even with the z, because' Master Hum- (cheers)-but some, to the degradation of their phrey's Clock,' you see, sir, was not published manhood, have hissed a lady who was a stranger as by Boz, but by Charles Dickens!" in the land."'" Mr. George IIoney was afterIn the summer of 1841, a dramatized version wards substituted to play the part, and the piece of the story, by Charles Selby, was produced at ran until January following. the Lyceum, and other versions appeared about That our author, about this time, was busy in the same time at various theatres. More re- "I society" as well as in literature, we have good cently, on November 13th, 1866, it was put on evidence from the examples of his correspondthe stage at the Princess's, by Messrs. Vining ence which exist in contemporary biography. and Watts Phillips, as a four-act drama, Miss With the Countess of Blessington he had been Rodgers playing Barnaby Rudge, Mrs. John acquainted for some time. On one occasion 36 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. Dickens fell in with a remarkable clairvoyant- CHAPTER VIII. a "magnetic boy," as he is styled, and our auDICKENS'S VISIT TO AMERICA. thor thus writes to the Countess: "Have you seen Townsend's magnetic boy? You heard LONG before he fixed any date for his departof him, no doubt, from Count d'Orsay. If you ure, Dickens had promised Washington Irving, get him to Gore House, don't, I entreat you, and many other correspondents in America, have more than eight people-four is a better that he would come andsee them. The prQgnumber-to see him. He fails in a crowd, and ress of " Oliver Twist," " Nicholas Nickleby,"' is marvellous before a few. I am told, that and other works, however, delayed the event, down in Devonshire there are young ladies in- and many of'his English admirers did all that numerable who read crabbed manuscripts with lay in their power to keep him at home. the palms of their hands, and who, so to speak, " Worked hard," says poor Haydon, the paintare literary all over. I begin to understand er, in his Diary, under date of December 10th; what a blue-stocking means; and have not the " Talfourd said he introduced Dickens to Lady slightest doubt that Lady -, for instance, Holland. She hated the Americans, and did could write quite as entertaining a book with not want Dickens to go. the sole of her foot as ever she did with her " She said:' Why can not you go down to head. I am a believer in earnest, and am sure Bristol, and see some of the third or fourth-class you would be if you saw this boy, under moder- people, and they'll do just as well?'" ately favorable circumstances, as I hope you will And the genial Thomas Hood, in his article before he leaves England."* on " Barnaby Rudge," after lamenting the temIt was about this time that "The Picnic porary loss of Dickens, thus excuses his abPapers," "by various hands," and edited by sence: "Availing himself of the pause for a litDickens, was issued by Mr. Henry Colburn, in tle well-earned rest and recreation, the author, three volumes, with illustrations by George it appears, has sailed on a long-projected trip to Cruikshank. The work was the result of a se- America; or, according to Mr. Weller, senior, Pies of literary contributions in aid of the fami- has' made away with hisself to another, though ly of Mr. Macrone, who had just died. He was not a better, world,' though it's called a new described in the preface as " A publisher who one. In fact he is, we hope, paddling prosperdied prematurely young, and in the prime and ously across the Atlantic, while we are sitting vigor of his years, before he had time or opportu- down to criticise the characters he has left benity to make any provision for his wife and in- hind him in his' Barnaby Rudge.' " fant children, and at the moment when his pros- To another journal Hood sent these lines: pects were the brightest, and the difficulties of his enterprise were nearly overcome." The editor TO C. DICKENS, ESQ., led off with " The Lamplighter's Story." The oN HIS DEPARTURE FOR AMERICA. contributors comprised Messrs. Talfourd, Thom- "Pshaw! away with leaf and berry, as Moore, W. H. Maxwell, Leitch Ritchie, Mi- And the sober-sided cup! Bring a goblet, and bright sherry, chael Honan, John Forster, Allan Cunningham, And a goblet, and bright sherry, and W. Harrison Ainsworth. The book served Though a pledge I had to shiver, the purpose it was intended for, and realized a And the longest ever was, Ere his vessel leaves our river, large sum. It is now seldom read, and then Ere his vessel leaves our river, I would drink a health to Boz! more for the editor's tale than for any thing else Here's success to all his antics, contained in it. Since it pleases him to roam, In the July of this year (1841) a public din- After such a o paddle at homer Atlantics, ner in honor of Dickens took place at Edin- May he shun all rocks whatever, burgh, and went off with great eclat, Professor And each shallow sand that lurks, And his passage be as clever Wilson (the celebrated 1" Christopher North") As the best among his works!" presiding.t It was on the 3d of January, 1842, that our * Madden's " Life of Lady Blessington," June, 1S41. author and his wife left England for the United t Mr. Dickens's speech upon this occasion is given States They went to Liverpool, and crossed in the great novelist's collected " Speeches," recently published. the Atlantic in the " Britannia" steam-packet, Captain Hewett. The result of this trip was the publication, by Messrs. Chapman & Hall, in October of the same year, of "American Notes for General Circulation," in two volumes, with a frontispiece by Clarkson Stanfield, R.A. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 37 The dedication was as follows: and which I have disregarded for eight years, and could disregard for eighty more." I DEDICATE THIS BOOK "O I DEDICATE THIS HOOR00K Whatever transatlantic critics may have TO THOSE FRIENDS OF MINE IN AMERICA WHO, thought of the work, Lord Jeffrey, on the apGIVING ME A WELCOME I MUST EVER GRATEFULLY pearance of the first edition, wrote the author a AND PROUDLY REMEMBER, letter, in which he says: "A thousand thanks LEFT MY JUDGMENT FREE; for your charming book, and for all the pleasAND WHO, LOVING THEIR COUNTRY, ure, profit, and relief it has afforded me. You AN BEAR TIIE TRUTH, WIAEN IT INS TOLD GOOD-HUMOR-have been very tender to our sensitive friends EDLY, AND IN A KIND SPIRIT.'" beyond the sea, and really said nothing which The publication, however, gave great offense will give any serious offense to any moderately to our author's American readers, and, as he rational patriot among them. The slavers, of might have foreseen, he got abused and vilified course, will give you no quarter, and of course most unmercifully. Judge Haliburton (" Sam you did not expect they would. * * * Your Slick"), in one of his works, alluding to the account of the silent or solitary imprisonment fetes and receptions given to Dickens, said system is as pathetic and as powerful a piece that, on his homeward passage, he had suffered of writing as I have ever seen, and your sweet severely from sea-sickness, and all the kindness airy little snatch of the little woman taking her he had experienced had been cast overboard. new babe home to her young husband,* and Whether Dickens had in his mind's eye the your manly and feeling appeal in behalf of the advice tendered by old Weller to Sam, when he poor Irish, or rather the affectionate poor of all proposed having a "pianner" to carry Mr. races and tongues, who are patient and tender Pickwick from the Fleet Prison, is uncertain: to their children, under circumstances which "There ain't no vurks in it," whispered his would make half the exemplary parents among father. "It'ull hold him easy, with his hat the rich monsters of selfishness and discontent, and shoes on, and breathe through the legs, remind us that we have still among us the crevich is holler. Have a passage ready taken for ator of Nelly and Smike, and the schoolmaster'Merriker. The'Merrikin Gov'ment vill never and his dying pupil, and must continue to win give him up, ven they finds as he's got money for you still more of that homage of the heart, to spend, Sammy. Let the gov'ner stop there that love and esteem of the just and the good, till Mrs. Bardell's dead, or Mr. Dodson and which, though it should never be disjoined from Fogg's hung, which last ewent I think is the them, should, I think you must already feel, be most likely to happen first, Sammy; and then better than fortune or fame." let him come back and write a book about the Very recently it has been made known that'Merrikins as'll pay all his expenses and more, poor Tom Hood, almost immediately upon its if he blows'em up enough." appearance, reviewed the work, under the title Emerson, in " The Conduct of Life " (in the of "Boz in America." In his happiest vein Essay on " Behavior"), writes: of drollery, he conjectures that it would be im"Charles Dickens self-sacrificingly under- possible for Mr. Boz to go to " the States" took the reformation of'our American manners without losing all his English characteristics, in unspeakable particulars. I think the lesson and returning to his friends a regular Downwas not quite lost; that it held bad manners East Yankee: "So strong, indeed, was this up, so that the churls could see the deformity. impression, that certain blue-stockinged prophUnhappily, the book has its own deformities. etesses even predicted a new Avatar of the celIt ought not to need to print in a reading-room ebrated Mr. Pickwick, in slippers and loose a caution to strangers not to speak loud; nor trowsers, a nankeen jacket, and a straw-hat as to persons who look over fine engravings, that large as an umbrella. Sam Weller was to rethey should be handled like cobwebs and but- appear as his' help,' instead of a footman, still terflies' wings; nor to persons who look at full of droll sayings, but in a slang more akin marble statues, that they shall not smite them to his namesake, the Clock-maker: while with their canes." Weller, senior, was to revive on the box of a In publishing a new edition of " American Boston long stage-only calling himself JonaNotes," in 1850, Dickens, in the preface, urged than, instead of Tony, and spelling it with a G. that " prejudiced I have never been, otherwise | A Virginian Widow Bardell was as a matter of than in favor of the United States. * * * To represent me as viewing it with ill-nature, ani- * See Chapter XII., "American Notes." A very fin-, ished and beautiful little incident, related in that natmosity, or partisanship, is merely to do a very ural and truthful manner in which Dickens excels all foolish thing, which is always a very easy one, other writers. 38 LIFE OF CHARLES IDICKENS. course; and some visionaries even foresaw a one I wrote, expressing my heartfelt delight slave-owning Mr. Snodgrass, a coon-hunting with his writings, and my yearnings towards Mr. Winkle, a wide-awake Joe, and a forest- himself. See how completely we sympathize clearing Bob Sawyer.* But, upon the appear- in feeling: ance of the book itself," continues Hood, "the "'There is no man in the world,' replies romanticists were in despair, and reluctantly Dickens,'who could have given me the heartabandoned all hopes of a Pennsylvanian Nich- felt pleasure you have by your kind note of the olas Nickleby, affectionately darning his moth- 13th of last month. There is no living writer, er-a New Yorkshire Mr. Squeers, flogging and there are very few among the dead, whose creation-a black Smike-a brown Kate —and approbation I should feel so proud to earn; and, a Bostonian Newman Noggs, alternately swal- with every thing you have written upon my lowing a cocktail and a cobbler." shelves, and in my thoughts, and in my heart Professor Flton, alluding to the death of of hearts, I may honestly and truly say so. If Washington Irving, in a speech, in the latter you could know how earnestly I write this, you part of the year 1859, gave this interesting would be glad to read it-as I hope you will be, reminiscence of the friendship existing between faintly guessing at the warmth of the hand I auDickens and Irving: tographically hold out to you over the broad "The time when I saw the most of Mr. Ir- Atlantic. ving was in the winter of 1842, during the visit "' I wish I could find in your welcome letter of Mr. Charles Dickens in New York. I had some hint of an intention to visit England. I known this already distinguished writer in Bos- can't. I have held it at arm's length, and taken ton and Cambridge, and, while passing some a bird's-eye view of it, after reading it a great weeks with my dear and lamented friend, Al- many times; but there is no greater encouragebert Sumner, I renewed my acquaintance with ment in it, this way, than on a microscopic inMr. Dickens, often meeting him in the brilliant spection. I should love to go with you-as I literary society which then made New York a have gone, God knows how often-into Little most agreeable resort. Halleck, Bryant, Wash- Britain, and Eastcheap, and Green Arbor Court, ington Irving, Davis, and others scarce less at- and Westminster Abbey. I should like to travel tractive by their genius, wit, and social graces, with you, outside the last of the coaches, down constituted a circle not to be surpassed any- to Bracebridge Hall. It would make my heart where in the world. I passed much of the glad to compare notes with you about that shabtime with Mr. Irving and Mr. Dickens, and it by gentleman in the, oil-cloth hat and red nose, was delightful to witness the cordial intercourse who sat in the nine-cornered back parlor of the of the young man, in the flush and glory of his Mason's Arms; and about Robert Preston, and youthful genius, and his elder compeer, then in the tallow-chandler's widow, whose sitting-room the assured possession of immortal renown. is second nature to me; and about all those deDickens said, in his frank, hearty manner, that lightful places and people that I used to talk from his childhood he had known the works of about and dream of in the day-time, when a Irving; and that, before he thought of coming very small and not-over-particularly-taken-careto this country, he had received a letter from of boy. I have a good deal to say, too, about him, expressing the delighthe felt in reading that dashing Alonzo de Ojeda, that you can't the story of'Little Nell;' and from that day help being foilder of than you ought to be; they had shaken hands autographically across and much to hear concerning Moorish legend, the Atlantic." and poor unhappy Boabdil. Diedrich Knicker-,After Professor Felto.n's reminiscences, it bocker I have worn to death in my pocket, and may not be uninteresting to quote the following yet I should show you his mutilated carcass extract from a letter written by Washington with a joy past all expression. Irving to his niece (Mrs. Storrow), under date "' I have been so accustomed to associate you May 25, 1841, in which he mentions a letter he with my pleasantest and happiest thoughts, and had just received from Dickens, in reply to one with my leisure hours, that I rush at once into from himself: full confidence with you, and fall, as it were nat"And now comes the third letter from that urally, and by the very laws of gravity, into your glorious fellow, Dickens (Boz), in reply to the open arms. Questions come thronging to my pen as to the lips of people who meet after long "With the wishes of these admirers of Boz we hoping to do so. I don't know what to say first, can in somne degree sympathize; for what could be a or what to leave unsaid, and am constantly disgreater treat, in the reading way, than the perplexi- posed to break off and tell you again how ties of a squatting Mr. Pickwick or a settling Mrs. posed to break off and tell you again ho glad I Nickleby?" am this moment has arrived. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 39 "'My dear Washington Irving, I can not if by a nightmare; and I could only compare thank you enough for your cordial and generous his dismay to that of Mr. Pickwick, who was so praise, or tell you what deep and lasting gratifi- alarmed at the prospect of leading about that cation it has given me. I hope to have many' dreadful horse' all day. At length the longletters from you, and to exchange a frequent expected evening arrived. A company of the correspondence. I send this to say so. After most eminent persons, from all the professions the first two or three, I shall settle down into a and every walk of life, were assembled, and Mr. connected style, and become gradually rational. Irving took the chair. I had gladly accepted "'You know what the feeling is, after hav- an invitation, making it, however, a condition ing written a letter, sealed it, and sent it off. I that I should not be called upon to speak-a shall picture you reading this, and answering it, thing I then dreaded quite as much as Mr. Irbefore it has lain one night in the post-office. ving himself. The direful compulsions of life Ten to one that before the fastest packet could have since helped me to overcome, in some reach New York I shall be writing again. measure, the post-prandial fright. Under the "' Do you suppose the post-office clerks care circumstances-an invited guest, with no imto receive letters? I have my doubts. They pending speech-I sat calmly and watched with get into a dreadful habit of indifference. A interest the imposing scene. I had the honor postman, I imagine, is quite callous.- Conceive to be placed next but one to Mr. Irving, and his delivering one to himself, without being the great pleasure of sharing in his conversastartled by a preliminary double knock i'" tion. He had brought the manuscript of his Irving, writing again to Mrs. Storrow, 29th of speech, and laid it under his plate.'I shall October following, says: certainly break down,' he repeated over and "What do you think? Dickens is actually over again. At last the moment arrived. Mr. coming to America. He has engaged passage Irving rose, and was received with deafening and for himself and his wife in the steam-packet for long-continued applause, which by no meanslessBoston, for the 4th of January next. He says: ened his apprehension. He began in his pleas-'I look forward to shaking hands with you, with ant voice; got through two or three sentences an interest I can not (and I would not if I could) pretty easily, but in the next hesitated; and, afdescribe. You can imagine, I dare say, some- ter one or two attempts to go on, gave it up, with thing of the feelings with which I look forward a graceful allusion to the tournament, and the to being in America. I can hardly believe I troop of knights all armed and eager for the fray; am coming.'" and ended with the toast,' Charles Dickens, the But to return to Professor Felton and his recol- guest of the nation.'' There!' said he, as he lections of Irving and Dickens. He continues: resumed his seat under a repetition of the ap" Great and varied as was the genius of Mr. plause which had saluted his rising-' there! I Irving, there was one thing he shrank with a told you I should break down, and I've done it.' comical terror from attempting, and that was a "There certainly never was a shorter afterdinner speech. A great dinner, however, was to dinner speech; and I doubt if there ever was a be given to Mr. Dickens in New York, as one more successful one. The manuscript seemed had already been given in Boston, and it was to be a dozen or twenty pages long, but the printevident to all that no man like Washington Ir- ed speech was not as many lines. ving could be thought of to preside. With all "Mr. Irving often spoke with a good-humorhis dread of making a speech, he was obliged to ed envy of the felicity with which Dickens alobey the universal call, and to accept the pain- ways acquitted himself on such occasions."* ful pre-eminence. I saw him daily during the interval of preparation, either at the lodgings of I * This speech is given in "The Speeches of Charles Dickens, or at dinner, or at evening parties. I Dickens," recently published. Thomas Moore, in his hope I showed no want of sympathy with his Diary, speaking of running up to London to act as steward of the Literary Fund Dinner at the Freemaforebodings, but I could not help being amused sons' Tavern, H.R.H. the Prince Consort acting as with his tragi-comical distress which the thought Chairman, says: " May 11th, 1842.-By-the-by, Irving of that approaching dinner had caused him. His had yesterday come to Murray's with the determination, as I found, not to go to the dinner, and all pleasant humor mingled with the real dread, and begged of me to use my influence with him to change played with the whimsical horrors of his own po- this resolution. But he told me his mind was made sition with an irresistible drollery. Whenever up on the point, that the drinking his health, and the speech he would have to make in return, were more it was alluded to, his invariable answer was,' I than he durst encounter; that he had broken down shall certainly break down!'-uttered in a half- at the Dickens Dinner (of which he was Chairman) in America, and obliged to stop short in the middle melancholy tone, the ludicrous effectof of which it ofhis oration, which made him resolve not to enis impossible to describe. He was haunted, as counter another such accident. In vain did I rep 40 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. Immediately after dinner, Irving and Dickens can Notes " upon the Solitary Prison at Philastarted off together to Washington, to spend a delphia, the latter felt it his duty to reply: few days, and there took leave of one another. "As Mr. Field condescends to quote some vaIrving at this time having just received his ap- porings about the account given by Mr. Charles pointment as Minister to Spain, Dickens wrote Dickens in his' American Notes' of the Solitary to him: "We passed through-literally passed Prison at Philadelphia, he may perhaps really through-this place again to-day. I did not wish for some few words of information on the come to see you, for I really had not the heart subject. For this purpose Mr. Charles Dickens to say good-bye again, and I felt more than I has referred to the entry in his Diary, made at can tell you when we shook hands last Wednes- the close of that day. day. You will not be at Baltimore, I fear? I "He left his hotel for the prison at twelve thought at the time, that you only said you might o'clock, being waited on, by appointment, by the be there, to make our parting the gayer. gentleman who showed it to him, and he return"Wherever you go, God bless you! What ed between seven and eight at night; dining in pleasure I have had in seeing and talking with the prison in the course of that time, which, acyou, I will not attempt to say. I shall never cording to his calculation, in despite of the Philforget it as long as I live. What would I give adelphia newspaper, rather exceeded two hours. if we could have a quiet walk together! Spain He found the prison admirably conducted, exis a lazy place, and its climate an indolent one. tremely clean, and the system administered in a But if you have ever leisure under its sunny skies most'intelligent, kind, orderly, tender, and careto think of a man who loves you, and holds com- ful manner. Ile did not consider (nor should munion with your spirit oftener, perhaps, than he, if he were to visit Pentonville to-morrow) any other person alive-leisure from listlessness, that the book in which visitors were expected to I mean-and will write to me in London, you record their observations of the place was inwill give me an inexpressible amount of pleas- tended for the insertion of criticisms on the sysure." tem, but for honest testimony to the manner of Dickens took the opportunity, in a number of its administration, and to that he bore, as an im"All the Year Round," March, 1862 (when the partial visitor, the highest testimony in his powsong "A Young Man from the Country" was er. In returning thanks for his health being very popular, and which suggested the article), drunk, at the dinner within its walls, he said to remark that what he had originally written that what he had seen that day was running in about the United States had been fully borne his mind; that he could not help reflecting on out in the recent events in that great republic. it; and that it was an awful punishment. If the American officer who rode with him afterwards should ever see these words, he will perhaps recall his conversation with Mr. Dickens CHAPTER IX. on the road, as to Mr. Dickens having said so very plainly and very strongly. In reference FURTHER AMERICAN EXPERIENCES. to the ridiculous assertion that Mr. Dickens in IN 1848 there appeared a new edition of an his book termed a woman' quite beautiful' who extensive and important work on "Prison Dis- was a negress, he positively believes that he was cipline." The author was the Rev. John Field, shown no negress in the prison, but one who was chaplain of the county jail at Reading, in Berk- nursing a woman much diseased, and to whom shire, and well known in literary circles as the no reference is made in his published account. author of a " Life of John Howard, the Philan- In describing three young women,' all convictthropist," and editor of the " Howard Corre- ed at the same time of a conspiracy,' he may, spondence." This work on prison discipline had possibly, among many cases, have substituted in attracted considerable attention; and as the au- his memory, for one of them whom he did not thor, in advocating the advantages of the sepa- see, some other prisoner, confined for some othrate system of imprisonment, took occasion to er crime, whom he did see; but he has not the mention Mr. Dickens's remarks in his "Ameri- least doubt of having been guilty of the (American) enormity of detecting beauty in the passive resent to him that a few words would be quite suffi- quadroon or mulatto girl, or of having seen excient in returning thanks.'That Dickens Dinner,' which he always pronounced with strong emphasis, tly what he describes; and hammering away all the time with his right arm, girl more particularly described in this connecmore suo,'that Dickens Dinner' still haunted his im- tion perfectly. Can Mr. Field really suppose agination, and I almost gave up all hope of persuad- Mr Dickens had any intcrest or purpose in mising him." The arguments proved irresistible, and Irving went to it. representing the system, or that, if he could be LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 41 guilty of such unworthy conduct, or desire to do I that country in reference to the wholesale piracy it any thing but justice, he could have volunteer- of British works. Having been successful in ed the narrative of a man's having, of his own making the subject one of general discussion in choice, undergone it for two years? the United States, I carried to Washington, for " We will not notice the objection of Mr. Field presentation to Congress by Mr. Clay, a petition (who strengthens the truth of Mr. Burns to na- from the whole body of American authors, ture, by the testimony of Mr. Pitt!) to the dis- earnestly praying for the enactment of an Intercussion of such a topic as the present in a work national Copyright Law. It was signed by Mr. of' mere amusement;' though we had thought Washington Irving, Mr. Prescott, Mr. Cooper, we remembered in that book a word or two and every man who had distinguished himself about slavery, which, although a very amusing, in the literature of America, and has since been can scarcely be considered an unmitigatedly referred to a Select Committee of the House of comic theme. We are quite content to believe, Representatives. To counteract any effect without seeking to make a convert of the Rev. which might be produced by that petition, a Mr. Field, that no work need be one of'mere meeting was held at Boston-which you will amusement,' and that some works to which he remember is the seat and stronghold of learnwould apply that designation have done a little ing and letters in the United States-at which good in advancing principles to which, we hope a memorial against any change in the existing and will believe, for the credit of his Christian state of things in this respect was agreed to, office, he is not indifferent." with but one dissentientvoice. This document, However, all these disputes and " angry recol- which, incredible as it may appear to you, was lections" of the America of 1842, were finally actually forwarded to Congress and received, disposed of by Mr. Dickens on his arrival home deliberately stated that, if English authors were after a second visit to that great country. At invested with any control over the republication the end of this little Memoir we give the great of their own books, it would be no longer possinovelist's public testimony of the change in his ble for American editors to alter and adapt experiences of America, with the " Postscript " them (as they do now) to the American taste. which he then declared should forever after con- This memorial was without loss of time replied tinue to form a part of any new edition of to by Mr. Prescott, who commented, with the' American Notes." natural indignation of a gentleman and a man One of the prime objects in Mr. Dickens's visit of letters, upon its extraordinary dishonesty. I to our transatlantic cousins was the endeavor to am satisfied that this brief mention of its tone place the vexed question of International Copy- and spirit is sufficient to impress you with the right on a sound and proper footing, and when- conviction that it becomes all those who are in ever an available occasion presented itself he any way connected with the literature of Engstrenuously urged his ideas and views. Return- land to take that high stand to which the nature ing to England, he forwarded to the " Athene- of their pursuits, and the extent of their sphere um " this letter, for which he had desired the of usefulness, justly entitle them, to discourage widest publicity, in the hope that it might assist the upholders of such doctrines by every means in bringing about the much-desired International in their power, and to hold themselves aloof Convention. It was inserted with the following from the remotest participation in a system from editorial note: which the moral sense and honorable feeling of "On the subject of literary piracy we have all just men must instinctively recoil. For received the following letter from Mr. Charles myself, I have resolved that I will never from Dickens. We do not see very clearly the good this time enter into any negotiation with any that would result even from a general adoption person for the transmission across the Atlantic of the proposed measures; but the straightfor- of early proofs of any thing I may write, and ward and hearty way in which the writer has, that I will forego all profit derivable from such under the most discouraging circumstances, set a source. I do not venture to urge this line of himself in opposition to the disgraceful practice, proceeding upon you, but I would beg to suggest, entitles all his suggestions to respectful atten- and to lay great stress upon the necessity of obtion: serving, one other course of action, to which I "1 Devonshire Terrace, York Gate, can not too emphatically call your attention. Regent's Park, July 7, 1842. X The persons who exert themselves to mislead "You may perhaps be aware that, during my the American public on this question, to put stay in America, I lost no opportunity of en- down its discussion, and to suppress and distort deavoring to awaken the public mind to a sense the truth in reference to it in every possible way of the unjust and iniquitous state of the law of (as you may easily suppose) are those who have 42 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. a strong interest in the existing system of "As Boz approached, Mr. Philip Hone seized piracy and plunder; inasmuch as, so long as it his hand, and said,'My dear sir, here is a handcontinues, they can gain a very comfortable liv- ful of our people-right glad-bright eyes-reing out of the brains of other men, while they joice-heartfelt welcome-can't express-overwould find it very difficult to find bread by the powered-feelings-' to all which Boz most graexercise of their own. These are the editors ciously bowed, and placed his hand upon his and proprietors of newspapers almost exclusively heart; and then Mr. Hone said " Nine cheers," devoted to the republication of popular English and, evidently to the astonishment of the hero works. They are, for the most part, men of of the extraordinary scene, the surrounding very low attainments, and of more than indif- crowd gave utterance to nine enthusiastic ferent reputation, and I have frequently seen cheers." them, in the same sheet in which they boast of " Punch " jokingly said: "We learnt, while the rapid sale of many thousand copies of an having our hair cut at Truefitt's the other day English reprint, coarsely and insolently attack- (March, 1842), that that illustrious dealer in ficing the author of that very book, and heaping titious hair had received an immense order from scurrility and slander upon his head. I would Boz, originating in his desire to gratify the sevtherefore entreat you, in the name of the hon- enteen thousand American young ladies who orable pursuit with which you are so intimate- had honored him with applications for locks ly connected, never to hold correspondence with from his caput.. Two ships have been charterany of these men, and never to negotiate with ed to convey the sentimental cargo, and will them for the sale of early proofs, over which you start from the London docks on the 1st day of have control, but to treat on all occasions with April." some respectable American publishing house, Soon after his return from America we find and with such an establishment only. Our Sydney Smith again in active correspondence common interest in this subject, and my advo- with our author. Dickens had asked him to cacy of it, single-handed, on every occasion that dinner, and Sydney Smith replied:* has presented itself during my absence from "I accept your obliging invitation conditionEurope, forms my excuse for addressing you. ally. If I am invited by any man of greater "I am, etc., CHARLES DICKENS." genius than yourself, or by one in whose works I have been more completely interested, I will To revert to the American visit, we may state repudiate you, and dine with the more splendid that for the " Dickens Ball," at New York, on phenomenon of the two." February 14th, 1842, a committee of the citizens At the end of the year, on the 10th Decemrecommended, among many other suggestions of ber, " The Patrician's Daughter," by Dr. Westa similar character, the following: land Marston, was represented at Drury Lane, ORDER O:F DANCES AND TABLEAUX VI- the beautiful prologue by Dickens being admiVANTS. rably delivered by Mr. Macready. 1. Grand March. 2. Tableau Vivant.............. "A Sketch, by Boz." 3. Amilie Quadrille. 4. Tableau Vivant....." The Seasons," a poem, with music. CHAPTER X. 5. Quadrille Waltz, selections. 6. Tableau Vivant......The book of " Oliver Twist." " MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.' 7. Quadrille March......................... Norma. 8. Tableau Vivant..............." The Ivy Green." UNDETERRED by the disapprobation showered 9. Victoria Waltz. down upon him by the Americans, on lst Jan10. Tableau Vivant.................... Little Nell."ary, 1843, Dickens issued the first number of 11. Basket Quadrille. 12. Tableau Vivant...........The book of " Nicholas " Martin Chuzzlewit." Nickleby." If there had been any previous doubt as to 13. March. 14. Tableau Vivant...............A Sketch, by Boz." the general feeling throughout the States, there 15. Spanish Dance. was none now. No sooner had the new book 16. Tableau Vivant.........." The Pickwick Papers." reached America than the storm burst forth with It is, perhaps, well to remark that I" Mrs. Leo great violence, and all classes were so touched Hunter's dinner party" was presented among with Dickens's satire and the fun he had made the tableaux, as finally amended. The follow- of them, that a writer some time since said that, ing report of an actual incident at the ball reads when present at the Boston Theatre-the burlike an extract from the account of the manner lesque of " Macbeth " being performed-all sorts in which Martin Chuzzlewit "received" the American Sovereigns at the " National Hotel:" * 14th May, 1842. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 43 of worthless articles (Mexican rifles, Pensylva- The main object of "Martin Chuzzlewit" nian bonds, etc.) were pitched into the caldron, was to call attention to the system of ship-hosin the incantation scene, but nothing provoked pitals, and to work-house nurses; and, as types louder cheers than when the last work by Dick- of the latter, Sarah Gamp, with the no less imens was thrown in! The American journals, mortal, though invisible, Mrs. Harris and Betboth literary and political, all united against the sey Prig, are inimitable. Speaking of the formcommon foe, much in the same way as they had er, a writer said: united twelve years before against Mrs. Trollope and her " Domestic Manners of the Americans." TheShe is, with a vengeance,' The grave, conceited nurse, of office proud!' In the preface to the cheap edition appearing in 1849, he remarked that the American por- "coarse, greedy, inhuman, jovial - prowling tions of the book, he had been given to under- about young wives with a leer, and old men stand from authorities, were considered violent with a look that would fain'lay them out.' exaggerations, and that theWater-toast Associ- Ready at every festivity'to put the bottle to ation and eloquence, for example, were beyond her lips,' and at every calamity to squat down all bounds of belief. Nothing, however, but a and find in it her own account of pickled salmon liberal paraphrase of some reports of public and cucumber-and crutched up in a sort of proceedings in the United States (especially of sham sympathy and zeal, by the perpetual the Brandywine Association), printed in the praises administered to herself by that Eidolon, " Times," in June and July, 1843, had been em- Mrs. Harris-there are not many things of their ployed in writing Martin Chuzzlewit, and these kind so living in fiction as this nightmare. formed the material complained of. We may The touch of exaggeration in her dialect is so remark that the same " Postscript" as in that skillfully distributed everywhere, that we lose of " American Notes" is affixed to the " Charles the sense of it as we read." Dickens Edition " of "Martin Chuzzlewit." Sydney Smith, delighted at the manner in Blackwood affirmed that " Pecksniff owed which the Americans were pasquinaded, sent him much of his celebrity, we believe, to his remark- these familiar notes on the merits of the book: able likeness to the late Sir Robert Peel."'You have been so used to such imperti"The American Publishers' Circular," in the nences that I believe you will excuse me for summer of 1857, stating that Mr. Samuel Car- saying' how very much pleased I am with the ter Hall was about to visit the United States, to first number of your new work. Pecksniff and deliver a series of lectures, impudently alluded his daughters, and Pinch, are admirable-quite to Mr. Hall as being " the original of Dickens's first-rate painting, such as no one but yourself character," and suggested that if he (Mr. Hall) can execute. wished to draw well, he should advertise him- " I did not like your genealogy of the Chuzself as "the original Pecksniff." zlewits, and I must wait a little to see how Lord Lytton, in the preface to " Night and Martin turns out. I am impatient for the next Morning," says: " In this work I have sought number. to lift the mask from the timid selfishness which "Pray come and see me next summer; and too often bears with us the name of Respectabil- believe me ever yours, SYDNEY SMITH. ity. Purposely avoiding all attraction that may "P.S. —Chuffey is admirable. I- have nevsavor of extravagance, patiently subduing every er read a finer piece of writing; it is deeply patone and every hue to the aspect of those whom thetic and affecting. Your last number is exwe meet daily in our thoroughfares, I have cellent. Don't give yourself the trouble to anshown in Robert Beaufort the man of decorous swer my impertinent eulogies, only excuse phrase and bloodless action-the systematic self- them." server-in whom the world forgives the lack of Then, again, under date July 12th, 1843, in all that is generous, warm, and noble, in order acknowledgmentof a call from Dickens, and after to respect the passive acquiescence in methodi- the receipt of a new number of " Martin Chuzcal conventions and hollow forms. And how i zlewit," he writes: common such men are with us in this century, "Excellent! nothing can be better! You and how inviting and how necessary their de- must settle it with the Americans as you can, lineation, may be seen in this-that the popular but I have nothing to do with that. I have and pre-eminent Observer of the age in which only to certify that the number is full of wit, we live has since placed their prototype in vig- humor, and power of description. orous colors upon imperishable canvas. Need I "I am slowly recovering from an attack of I say that I allude to the'Pecksniff' of Mr. the gout in the knee, and am sorry to have Dickens?" missed you." 44 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. "Martin Chuzzlewit" was published in a During the year, at the inauguration of the complete form by Messrs. Chapman & Hall, and Manchester Athenaeum, he made an admirable dedicated to Miss Burdett Coutts. Poor Tom speech-his longest effort up to this time-on Pinch claims our best sympathy; the boy Bai- the importance and usefulness, of Mechanics' ley, Pecksniff and his chaste daughters, Monta- Institutes.* gue Tigg, Mark Tapley, and Mrs. Lupin, and After the publication of " Oliver Twist" and the Chuzzlewits, old and young, are all admira- "Martin Chuzzlewit," Dickens's friends were bly sketched. The American characters, Jef- continually reporting to him cases of cruelty ferson Brick (war correspondent), Scadder, Col- and hardship, and begging his attention thereto. onel Diver, and Hannibal Chollop, are fine food In answer to one of these philanthropic appeals, for mirth. Dickens wrote-he was at that time living in The most melodramatic portion is the mur- Devonshire terrace: der of Tigg by Jonas Chuzzlewit.' The disguise " That is a very horrible case you tell me of. I and preparation-the history of the individual would to God I could get at the parental heart mind of the murderer-the steps by which he of - -, in which event I would so descends-and the minute particulars which the scarify it that he should writhe again. But if over-wrought brain of Jonas catches up to use I were to put such a father as he into a book, all for his horrible purpose (witness the conversa- the fathers going (and especially the bad ones) tion with the doctor), are splendid examples of would hold up their hands and protest against observation and intuition, and as true as nature the unnatural caricature. I find that a great itself; and the defeat and final extirpation of many people (particularly those who might have selfishness in the heart of the hero, Martin, point sat for the character) consider even Mr. Pecka most valuable moral. The heroine is, how- sniff a grotesque impossibility; and Mrs. Nickever, weak, and sinks into insignificance by the leby herself, sitting bodily before me in a solid side of charming little Ruth Pinch. chair, once asked me whether I really believed Remaining true to the resolve contained in there was such a woman. his letter to the "Athenaeum," the numbers "So - -, reviewing his own case, would were simultaneously published here in America not believe in Jonas Chuzzlewit.'I like " Oli-Messrs. Harper Brothers, by arrangement, be- ver Twist,"' says -,' for I am fond of chiling furnished with a duplicate copy of each dren. But the book is unnatural; for who number, thereby enabling them to forestall the would think of being cruel to poor little Oliver other American publishers. Twist?' A good melodramatic version was produced "Nevertheless I will bear the dog in my at the Lyceum, Mr. Robert Keeley enacting mind. And if I can hit him between the eyes, Sairey Gamp; Mr. Emery, Jonas; Frank Mat- so that he shall stagger more than you or I have thews, Pecksniff; Miss Woolgar and Mrs. Kee- done this Christmas under the combined effects ley, Mercy and Bailey. of punch and turkey, I will. Very recently, in March, 1868, Mr. Horace "Thank you cordially for your note. ExWigan's adaptation at the Olympic met with cuse this scrap of paper. I thought it was a considerable success, Mr. J. Clarke sustaining whole sheet, until I turned over."t the part of Mrs. Gamlp. The reader will remember Maclise's beautiful Douglas Jerrold this summer (1843), occupy- portrait of Dickens, familiar to us all as the ening a cottage near Herne Bay, wrote to Dickens, graved frontispiece to the large edition of inviting him to come and see him. The follow- "Nicholas Nickleby." It is the portrait of a in, is an extract from his rejoinder: literary exquisite thirty years ago; and it is "Herne Bay. Hum! I suppose it is no hard to believe that those large effeminate eyes worse than any other place in this weather; sparkling from beneath flowing locks, that ambut it is watery, rather, isn't it? In my mind's ple black satin scarf, with a diamond union-pin, eye, I have the sea in a perpetual state of small- and that wide velvet collar, can have any thing pox, and the chalk running down-hill like town to do with the hearty, keen-eyed, sailor-like man milk. But I know the comfort of getting to whose last photographs now look at us from work in a fresh place, and proposing pious proj- every shop-window! But it is so! they are ects to one's self, and having the more substan- the portraits of the same great man. Time tial advantage of going to bed early, and getting up ditto, and walking about alone. If there * Given in Charles Dickens's Speeches, recentlypubwere a fine day, I should like to deprive you of lished. t The letter was dated "2d January, 1844." It the last-named happiness, and take a good long was published in the "Autographic Mirror" for Febstroll." ruary, 1864. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 45 alone has worked the change. Of his elegant On a former page we spoke of Thackeray's appearance, when young, Mr. Arthur Locker hearty appreciation of Dickens-expressed, too, gives us a reminiscence: " The first time," he at a time when the "Vanity Fair" had made says, "I saw the idolized Boz in the flesh was its writer's fame. It has been said that a deat a Fancy Fair in the Painted Hall of Green- gree of rivalry at one period existed between the wich Hospital, held, I think, for the benefit of two authors; but few readers, we think, will be the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society. He was inclined to characterize by any such term the then a handsome young man, with piercing most friendly competition, after perusing this bright eyes and carefully arranged hair-much, touching and beautiful tribute* to Mr. Dickens's in fact, as he is represented in Maclise's picture." genius from the pen of the yet unknown Michael Towards the close of this year another char- Angelo Titmarsh. A box of Christmas books acteristic portrait of our author was taken by is supposed to have been sent by the editor to Miss M. Gillies; and a fine engraving of it, by Titmarsh, in his retirement in Switzerland, Armytage, appeared as a frontispiece to Horne's whence the latter writes his notions of their "New Spirit of the Age," issued early in the contents. The last book of all is Mr. Dickens's new year. It is different to the Maclise pic- 1Christmas Carol "-we mean the story of old ture; the hair is longer and more careless, the Scrooge-the immortal precursor of that long face is more thoughtful, the mouth firmer-in line of Christmas stories which are now so fafact, there is less of the exquisite and more of miliar to his readers. the man about it than in the Maclise portrait "And now (says the critic) there is but one taken four years before. book left in the box, the smallest one, but oh! how much the best of all. It is the work of the master of all the English humorists now alive; the young man who came and took his place CHAPTER XI. calmly at the head of the whole tribe, and who has kept it. Think of all we owe Mr. Dickens THE " CHRISTIMAS CAROL." since those half-dozen years; that store of happy HIs next work was that delightful little book hours that he has made us pass; the kindly and -a better-hearted one never issued from the pleasant companions whom he has introduced press-"A Christmas Carol, in prose; being a to us; the harmless laughter, the generous wit, Ghost Story of Christmas." It appeared in the fiank, manly, human love which he has December, 1843, with some admirable illustra- taught us to feel! Every month of those years tions by John Leech. Since the publication of has brought us some kind token from this dethe "Pickwick Papers," no work of Dickens's lightful genius. IHis books may have lost in caused half the sensation this touching and art, perhaps, but could we afford to wait? Since beautiful little story did-it is written with the days when the' Spectator' was produced by a such a hearty appreciation of Christmas, and all man of kindred mind and temper, what books the attendant festivities indulged in at that joy- have appeared that have taken so affectionate a ous period. The description of Scrooge is won- hold of the English public as these? derfully drawn; his excitement in waking up * * * * * * after his interviews with the spirits, and find- "Who can listen to objections regarding such ing it all a dream-his getting up and nearly a book as this? It seems to me a national cutting his nose off in shaving-buying the big benefit, and, to every man or woman who reads turkey, and sending it off to Bob Cratchit, with it, a personal kindness. The last two people I a series of chuckles, and giving so handsome a heard speak of it were women; neither knew donation to the collector-and, finally, going to the other or the author, and both said, by way the party at Fred's, where that fine fellow Top- of criticism,' God bless him!' per and the plump sister played up such grand "As for Tiny Tim, there is a certain passage tricks, and then behaving so unexpectedly to in the book regarding that young gentleman poor Bob the next day-follow so rapidly as al- about which a man should hardly venture to most to take one's breath away with amaze- speak in print or in public, any more than he ment and delight! would of any other affections of his private If any individual story ever warmed a Christ- heart. There is not a reader in England but mas hearth, that was the one; if ever solitary that little creature will be a bond of union beOld-Self was converted by a book, and made to tween author and him; and he will say of be merry and child-like at that season " when Charles Dickens, as the women just now,' God its blessed Founder was himself a child," he surely was by that!. It appeared in "Fraser's Magazine " for July, 1844. 46 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. bless him!' What a feeling is this for a writer death of Little Nell is, recorded, the great orato be able to inspire, and what a reward to tor's eyes filled with tears, and he sobbed aloud; reap!" " He should not have killed her!-he should Let the reader call to mind the book itself, I not have killed her! She was too good!" and and then he will appreciate the warmth and ex- so he threw the book out of the window, unable uberance of good feeling reflected in the follow- to read more, and indignant that the author ing letter to its author by Lord Jeffrey: should have immolated a heroine in death. "Blessings on your kind heart, my dear The story was dramatized and played at sevDickens, and may it always be as full and'as eral theatres, the Adelphi, as usual, taking the light as it is kind, and a fountain of kindness to lead in making the tale popular. It was about all within reach of its beatings. We are all this time that Dickens resorted to the Court of charmed with your' Carol;' chiefly, I think, I Chancery for an injunction against the printer for the genuine goodness which breathes all and four publishers of "Parley's Illuminated through it, and is the true inspiring angel by Library " for piracy. which its genius has been awakened. The Mr. Dickens had now two sons-the last bewhole scene of the Cratchits is like the dream ing born during the progress of " Martin Chuzof a beneficent angel, in spite of its broad real- zlewit." Early in the new year it was decided ity, the little Tiny Tim in life and death al- upon christening the second boy, and the name most as sweet and as touching as Nelly. * * * Francis.1Je,/ey-after that of a true and tried Well, to be sure, you should be happy yourself; friend-was determined upon. A letter of the for you may be sure you have done more good, latter, dated 1st February, 1844, in answer to and not only fastened more kindly feelings, but the half-serious, half-jocular proposal of Dickprompted more positive acts of benevolence, by ens, says: "About that most flattering, or this little publication, than can be traced to all more probably passing, fancy of that dear Kate the pulpits and confessionals since Christmas, (Mrs. Dickens) of yours to associate my name 1842."* with yours over the baptismal font of your newSydney Smith, too, a few weeks afterwards, come boy, my first impression was that it was wrote: " Many thanks for the' Christmas Ca- a mere piece of kind badinage of hers (or perrol,' which I shall immediately proceed upon, haps your own), and not meant to be seriously in preference to six American pamphlets I found taken, and, consequently, that it would be foolupon my arrival, all promising immediate pay- ish to take any notice of it. * * * If such a ment?"t thing be indeed in your contemplation, it would In a criticism in "Hood's Magazine," a simi- be more flattering and agreeable to me than lar sentiment to that contained in Lord Jeffrey's most things which have happened to me in my letter occurs: "' This book will do more to moral pilgrimage; while, if it was but the exspread Christian feeling than ten thousand pul- pression of a happy and confiding playfulness, I pits!" shall still feel grateful for the communication, and And in another article the same writer-the return you a smile as cordial as your own, with kindly Thomas Hood himself-says: " It was full permission for both of you to smile at the a blessed inspiration that put such a book into simplicity which could not distinguish jest from the head of Charles Dickens-a happy inspira- earnest. * * * I want amazingly to see you tion of the heart, that warms every page. It rich and independent of all irksome exertions; is impossible to read, without a glowing bosom and really if you go on having more boys (and and burning cheeks, between love and shame naming them after poor Scotch plebeians), for our kind, with perhaps a little touch of mis- you must make good bargains and lucky hits, giving whether we are not personally open, a and, above all accommodate yourself oftener to crack or so, to the reproach of Wordsworth "- that deeper and higher tone of human feeling, which, you now see experimentally, is more sure"'The world is too much with us, early and late, ly and steadily popular than any display of Getting and spending.'" fancy, or magical power of observation and deMen of very different natures to Thomas scription'combined. And so God be with you Hood read of little Nell, and were touched.' It and yours," etc. is told of Daniel O'Connell, the great Irish ag-' The last part of the letter alludes, no doubt, itator, that, riding with a friend one day, and to the profits of the " Christmas Carol," the sale reading the then recently issued book where the of which was very large. Jeffrey knew how few authors possessed sufficient worldly wisdom * Edinburgh, December 26, 1843. E to keep a balance at their bankers', and gave t London, February 21,1844. his young friend a delicate hint to "be care LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 47 ful and save." This was not the only time -out of his way-to call her up for instant Lord Jeffrey quietly lectured his correspondent. sentence of death, and to tell her she had no Three years later, in 1847, we get this piece of hope of mercy in this world-as you may see practical-shall we say Northern-advice?-" I yourself if you look in the papers of Wednesam rather" (he writes in 1847) "disappointed day, the 17th of April." to find your embankment" (doubtlessly a fund of future provision) " still so small. But it is It is curious, after this allusion to Mr. Laing, a great thing that you have made a beginning the notorious police magistrate-said to be the and laid a foundation, and you are young Fang of "Oliver Twist "-and after mentionenough to think of living yet many years under ing the poor distressed needle-woman, with the the proud roof of the completed structure, which allusion to Sir Peter Laurie, that the next article even I expect to see ascending in its grandeur. immediately following should be the first apBut when I consider that the public has, upon pearance of Hood's exquisite " Bridge of Sighs." moderate computation, paid at least ~100,000 On the same page with Dickens's bitter and tellfor your work (and had a good bargain, too, for ing attack upon the grumblers in power-the the money), I think it is rather provoking to grumblers who can only see national prosperity think that the author should not now have - in the increasing misery of the lower ordersin bank, and never have received, I suspect, there appeared those wonderful lines, commencabove -. There must have been some mis- ingmanagement, I think, as well as ill-luck, to "One more Unfortunate, have occasioned this result-not extravagance Weary of breath, Rashly importunate, on your part, my dear Dickens, nor even excess- Gone to her death " ive beneficence-but improvident arrangements with publishers, and too careless a control over as if suggested by the poor female whom Dicktheir proceedings. But you are wiser now, and ens had just described as being brought before with Forster's kind and judicious help, will soon the magistrate for an attempt to commit suiredeem the effect of your not ungenerous errors." cide. It is not generally known that Dickens con- In May, 1844, he presided at the Annual tributed an article to "Hood's Magazine " and Conversazione of the Polytechnic Institution in " Comic Miscellany " in May, 1844. Our au- Birmingham, and made a most telling speech. thor had received some kindnesses at the hands Writing, soon after, to Jerrold-who was very of the humorist, and in recognition of them he nervous in addressing an assembly-he said: sent a paper entitled " Threatening Letter to " Is your modesty a confirmed habit, or could Thomas Hood, from an Ancient Gentleman, by you prevail upon yourself, if you are moderatefavor of Charles Dickens," to his friend's maga- ly well, to let me call you up for a word or zine. Speaking of the manner of some com- two at the Sanatorium Dinner? There are plaining old gentlemen, the writer of the letter some men (excellent men) connected with that tried to find fault with every thing modern: institution, who would take the very strongest interest in your doing so; and do advise me, "MMR. HooD. SIR, * * S' Ah! governments one of these odd days, that if I can do it well were governments, and judges were judges, in and unaffectedly, I may." Jerrold overcame mny day, Mr. Hood. There was no nonsense his bashfulness, and presided at the next annithen. Any of your seditious complainings, and versary. we were ready with the military on the shortest A very kind and graceful act was performed notice. We should have charged Covent Gar- by Dickens this year. Mr. Newby, in July, den Theatre, sir, on a Wednesday night, at the published, in one volume, " THE EVENINGS OF point of the bayonet. Then the judges were A WORKING-MIAN. Being the Occupation of his full of dignity and firmness, and knew how to Scanty Leisure, by JOHN OVERS. With a Prefadminister the law. ace, relating to the Author, by Charles Dickens." "There is only one judge who knows how The preface is of the most charming description. to do his duty now. He tried that revolution- It first mentions that: Overs was a carpenter, ary female the other day, who, though she was who had employed his evenings in literary comin full work (making shirts at three-halfpence positions, and applied to him, as he was relinapiece), had no pride in her country, but treason- quishing the editorship of "Bentley's Miscelably took it into her head, in the distraction of lany," for help to get his writings into notice. having been robbed of her easy earnings, to at- After some correspondence, Dickens trying to tempt to drown herself and her young child, dissuade him from the perils of authorship, and and the glorious man went out of his way, sir a personal interview, " he wrote me," he says, 48 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. " as manly and straightforward, but, withal, as its author are now almost forgotten, but the modest, a letter as ever I read in my life. He generous conduct displayed towards him- by explained to me how limited his ambition was, Dickens is well deserving of remembrance. soaring no higher than the establishment of his wife in some light business, and the better education of his children. He set before me the difference of his evening and holiday studies, CHAPTER XII. such as they were, and his having no better reVISIT TO ITALY. —A THE CHIMES." source than an ale-house or a skittle-ground." Dickens accordingly consented to assist him, IN the summer of this year Dickens went to and got several of his pieces inserted in a mag- Italy. He started off with his wife, sister-inazine. "During this period neither hammer, law, five children, courier, nurses, etc, and a nor plane, nor chisel had been laid aside for the carriage, and had a very enjoyable holiday. more enticing service of the pen-literary corn- Previous to his departure, he was entertained positions had neither seduced John Overs into at a dinner by his friends, at the " Trafalgar," dreams nor lamentations which have damaged Greenwich, on the 19th June, 1845, Lord Norhis peace of mind. manby in the chair. The following extracts * * * * * * * from his epistles to Jerrold give us many pleas-' He is very ill; the faintest shadow of the ing bits of an autobiographical character, and at man who came into my little study, for the first least show us how he enjoyed himself: time, half a dozen years ago, after the corre- "Come, come and see me in Italy-let us spondence I have mentioned. He has been very smoke a pipe among the vines. I have taken ill for a long period; his disease is a severe and a little house surrounded by them, and no man wasting affection of the lungs, which has inca- in the world should be more welcome to it than pacitated him these many months for every you." kind of occupation.' If I could only do a hard And in another from Cremona: day's work,' he said to me, the other day,' how "It was very hearty and good of you, Jerhappy I should be.' rold, to make that affectionate mention of the "' Having these papers by him, amongst' Carol' in' Punch;' and, I assure you, it was others, he bethought himself that, if he could not lost upon the distant object of your manly get a bookseller to purchase them for publica- regard, but touched him as you wished and tion in a volume, they would enable him to meant itshould. I wish we had not lost so much make some temporary provision for his sick time in improving our personal knowledge of wife and very young family. We talked the each other. But I have so steadily read you, matter over together, and that it might be easier and so selfishly gratified myself in always exof accomplishment, I promised him that I would pressing the admiration with which your galwrite an introduction to his book. lant truths inspired me, that I must not call it "I would to Heaven that I could do him lost time either." better service; I would to Heaven it were an From the same place, in November: introduction to a long, and vigorous, and useful "You rather entertained the idea once of life. But Hope will not trim her lamp the less coming to see me at Genoa. I shall return brightly for him and his because of this impulse straight on the 9th of December, limiting hmy to their struggling fortunes; and trust me, read- stay in town to one week. Now, couldn't you er, they deserve her light, and need it sorely. come back with me? The journey that way, " He has inscribed this book to one* whose is very cheap, costing little more than ~12, and skill will help him, under Providence, in all I am quite sure the gratification to you would that human skill can do-to one who never be high. I am lodged in quite a wonderful could have recognized in any potentate on earth place, and would put you in a painted room as a higher claim to constant kindness and atten- big as a church, and much more comfortable. tion than he has recognized in him." There are pens and ink upon the premises; The book was eventually published at 5s., orange-trees, gardens, battledores and shuttleand was found to contain some very creditable cocks, rousing wood fires for the evenings, and writing, both prose and verse. Overs did not a welcome worth having. * * * Come! Letter live long enough to enjoy his popularity, for the from a gentleman in Italy to Bradbury & malady under which he was laboring terminated Evans in London. Letter from a gentleman fatally the following October. The work and in a country gone to sleep, to a gentleman in a country that would go to sleep too, and never *Dr. Elliotson.,wake again, if some people had their way. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 49 You can work in Genoa-the house is used to Boz to stir up and awaken the kindly feelings it: it is exactly a week's post. Have that. which are generally diffused among mankind, portmanteau looked to; and when we meet, but too apt, as old Weller says, to lie'dorsay,'I am coming!'" mouse' in the human bosom. It is similar in The visit to Italy often formed a subject for plan to the'Christmas Carol,' but is scarcely conversation with Dickens, and only a few so happy in its subject-it could not be-as that weeks before his death, he told Mr. Arthur famous Gobbling Story, with its opulence of Locker this anecdote of his experiences there: good cheer, and all the Gargantuan festivity of " Mr. Dickens, on one occasion, visited a cer- that hospitable tide. The hero of the tale is one tain monastery, and was conducted over the Toby Veck (we wish that surname had been building by a young monk, who, though a na- more English in its sound, it seems to want an tive of the country, spoke, remarkably fluent outlandish DIe or Van before it), a little old English. There was, however, one peculiarity London ticket-porter-who does not know the about his pronunciation. He frequently mis- original? —and his humble dwelling down the placed his v's and w's.'Have you been in mews, with his wooden cardboard at the door, England?' asked Mr. Dickens.'No,' replied with his name and occupation, and the the monk,' I have learnt my English from this book,' producing'Pickwick;' and it further appeared that he had selected Mr. Samuel Weller May' The Chimes,'" Tom Hood concludes, as the beau ideal of elegant pronunciation." " be widely and wisely heard, inculcating their "The Chimes: a Goblin Story of some Bells wholesome lessons of charity and forbearance, that rang an Old Year out and a New Year in," reminding wealth of the claims of want-the was published at the end of the year, by Messrs. feasting of the fasting, and inducing them to Chapman & Hall, illustrated by Maclise, Doyle, spare something for an aching void from their Leech, and Stanfield. It was of the same size comfortable repletion." and price as the former Christmas book; but, Having alluded to the administration of the instead of being illustrated by Mr. Leech alone, law by Mr. Laing, the Clerkenwell magistrate, several Academicians and other artists had now in "Oliver Twist," under the character of Mr. come forward with their pencils. The great Fang, likewise to the notorious Sir Peter Lausuccess of the "Christmas Carol," in the pre- rie, in "The Chimes," as Alderman Cute, the ceding year, had directed the attention of other talk about " putting down " various little wants, authors to this class of literature, and this cares, and troubles of the poor being merely a Christmas there appeared " The Snow-storm," transcript of what the garrulous old City magby Mrs. Gore; " The Last of the Fairies," by istrate had said from the bench, " Particularly G. P. R. James; an Irish Story, by Mr. Lever; well," says one who had heard him, "do we and others; but we need hardly say Mr. Dick- recollect a promise fmade by that officious perens distanced them all. sonage,' dressed in a little brief authority,' to a Next to the "Christmas Carol," it is one of starved and maddened woman, who had atthe most delightful little books he has written. tempted to drown herself, that he (Sir Peter Old Toby Veck, the patient, drudging ticket- Laurie) would put down suicide!" The alderporter, plying his vocation near the old church, man did not forget the attack made upon him, listening to the voices of the bells, and gather- and when he found an opportunity, which he ing encouragement from them, is a beauti- did shortly, ridiculed Mr. Dickens's description fully drawn character. Meg, his daughter, a of Jacob's Island in "Oliver Twist," and dehopeful woman, and Richard, her sweetheart, nied in full court the existence, as described, are truthfully portrayed, as also Will Fern, Sir of that locality, and of the Folly Ditch; but Joshua Bowley, Mr. Filer, and Alderman Cute. the author was again too strong for the alderThe plot is worked out somewhat after the plan man, and in his preface to the new edition of of the " Christmas Carol," consisting mainly of the tale he incidentally mentions the fact, and a dream by Toby Veck. Every one ought to denies, in his turn, the existence of Sir Peter be well pleased with the finale, in which Toby Laurie! disappears from notice in a country dance to Jerrold, we may remark, under the initial of the step he is so accustomed to-a Trot! "Q," often scarified the alderman in the pages Thomas Hood, who had written so beauti- of "Punch." fully of the "Christmas Carol," could not re- As a drama "The Chimes" became very frain from expressing in print a like admiration popular, the Adelphi performing on 19th Defor "The Chimes:" —"This," he wrote, "is cember a version adapted with some skill by another of those seasonable books intended by Messrs. Mark Lemon and Gilbert A'Beckett, 4 50 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. Mr. Wright sustaining the part of Alderman the correct amount-and got it. This end, Cute, and Paul Bedford Sir Joshua Bowley. *worn into teeth like the rasped edge of an old The Lyceum had an admirable dramatic version, file, is sacred to the Custom Houses, boy, the Mr. Keeley's Toby Veck being a most life-like passports, and the shabby soldiers at town portrait of Dickens's happy original. gates, who put an open hand and a dirty coatWriting from Milan, in November, 1844, to cuff into the windows of all Forestieri. Take the Countess of Blessington, we learn how this it, boy. Thy father has nothing else to give!' beautiful little work was composed: My desk is cooling itself in a mail-coach, some" Since I heard from Count D'Orsay, I have where down at the back of the cathedral, and been beset in I don't know how many ways. the pens and ink in this house are so detestable, First of all, I went to Marseilles, and came back that I have no hope of your ever getting to this to Genoa. Then I went to the Peschiere. portion of my letter. But I have the less misery Then some people who had been present at the in this state of mind, from knowing that it has Scientific Congress here, made a sudden inroad nothing in it to repay you for the trouble of on that establishment and overran it. Then perusal." they went away, and I shut myself up for one During the early part of the year 1845 Dickmonth, close and tight, over my little Christmas ens remained on the Continent. He was in book,'The Chimes.' All my affections and London, however, in the summer, making arpassions got twined and knotted in it, and I be- rangements for new books, and other venturescame as haggard as a murderer, long before I amongst them a new daily paper, of the most had wrote' The End.' When I had done that, liberal principles-for the coming autumn sealike' The man of Thessaly,' who having scratch- son. ed his eyes out in a quickset hedge, plunged into a bramble-bush to scratch them in again, I CHAPTER XIII. fled to Venice, to recover the composure I had disturbed. From thence I went to Verona and DICKENS AS AN ACTOR. to Mantua. And now I am here-just come IT has been very generally stated that it was up from underground, and earthy all over, from at the close of this year that our author made seeing that extraordinary tomb in which the his first appearance as an actor upon a public Dead Saint lies in an alabaster case, with spark- stage. This is not correct. Dickens's extreme ling jewels all about him to mock his dusty eyes, fondness for theatricals had tempted him, as far not to mention the twenty-franc pieces which back as the year 1836, when "Pickwick " was devout votaries were ringing down upon a sort publishing, to take a part in "The Strange of skylight in the Cathedral pavement above, as Gentleman," at St. James's Theatre. The amaif it were the counter of his Heavenly shop. * * * teur actor was not successful on this occasion, Old is a. trifle uglier than when I first and we believe no further attempt — except arrived. He has periodical parties, at which drawing-room performances-was made until there are a great many flower-pots and a few the autumn of 1845, when he made another apices-no other refreshments. He goes about pearance onthe stage at the St. James's Theatre, continually with extemporaneous poetry; and is on the 19th of September, the play selected bealways ready, like tavern-dinners, on the short- ing Ben Jonson's " Every Man in his Humor;" est notice and the most reasonable terms. He the various parts of the amateur performance keeps a gigantic harp in his bedroom, together being taken by literary and artistic celebrities. with pen, ink, and paper, for fixing his ideas as The triumph achieved was immense. They they flow-a kind of profane King David, truly were induced to repeat the performance for a good-natured and very harmless. Pray say to Charity, at the same theatre, on the 15th of Count D'Orsay every thing that is cordial and November following, the only alteration being loving from me. The travelling-purse he gave the substitution of a Mr. Eaton for Mr. A'Beckett me has been of immense service. It has been as William. The playbill itself is a curiosity: constantly opened. All Italy seems to yearn to put its hand into it. I think of hanging A Strictly Private Amateur Performance it, when I come back to England, on a nail At the ST. JAMES'S THEATRE as a trophy, and of gashing the brim like the (By favor of Mr. Mitchell). Will be performed Ben blade of an old sword, and saying to my son Jonson's Comedy of and heir, as they do upon the stage:'You see EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOR. this notch, boy? Five hundred francs were cIaARATERs: laid low on that day for post-horses. Where ell...................HENR MAYEW this gap is, a waiter charged your father treble Edward Knowell............. FREDERICK DICKENS. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 51 Brainworm..........M....... MARK LEMON. Mr. Dickens and then by Mr. Robson, were George Downright.............DUDLEY COSTELLO. Wellbrecd............... GO...R..EGE CATTERMOLE. enabled to judge of the wonderful superiority Kitely.........JO11.........JohN FORSTER. of the rendering given by the former. And Captain Bobadil............. CHARLES DiCKENS. not merely as an actor, but as a stage director, Master Stephen...............DOUGLAS JERROLD. were is talents pre-eminent not merely did he Master Mathew................JOHN LEECH. Moster Mathew......... JOHN LEECH,. were his talents pre-eminent; not merely did he Thomas Cash................ AUGUSTUS DIOKENS. play his own part to perfection, but he taught Oliver Cob................... PEROIVAL LEIGH. every one else in his little company how to play Justice Clement.............. FRANK STONE. Roger Formal................Mr. EVANS. William..................... W. EATON. and Telbin, take a practical share in the stage James...................W.....W B. JERRoLD. carpentry, write out the copy for the playbill, Dame Kitely................. Miss FORTESQUE. Mistress Bridget.............. Miss HINTON. and in every way thoroughly earn the title of Tib.......................... Miss BEW.'Mr. Crummles,' with which he was always affectionately greeted on these occasions." To conclude with a Farce, in One Act, called At the time of which we are writing, Dickens TWO O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING. was full of enthusiasm for the stage, and being appealed to by Jerrold for an opinion on his CHIARACTERS: drama of'; Time Works Wonders," he wrote to Mr. Snobbington.............r. CHARLES DICKENS. hi friend: I"I am greatly struck by the whole The Stranger...............Mr. MARK LEMON. idea of the piece. The elopement in the beginPrevious to the Play, the Overture to "William ning, and the consequences that flow from it, Tell." Previous to the Farce, the Overture to "La and their delicate and masterly exposition, are of the freshest, truest, and most vigorous kind; His Royal Hi ghness Prince Albert has been pleased?I especially the characters-especially the govto express his intention to honor the performance especially the haracters-es pecially the govwith his~presence. with hispresence. erness, among the best I know; and the wit and the wisdom of it are never asunder. I Ben Jonson, as an acting dramatist, has al- could almost find it in my heart to sit down most disappeared from the stage he so long and write you a long letter on the subject of adorned, and, probably, no performance of his this play, but I won't. I will only thank you best comedy was ever more successful than the for it heartily, and add that I agree with you above. Dickens made such an admirable Cap- in thinking it incomparably the best of your tain Bobadil, that Leslie, the Royal Academi- dramatic writings." cian, took a most characteristic portrait of him in During the summer and autumn of this year that character. The moment selected is when Mr. Dickens finished his new Christmas book, the Captain shouts out — "The Cricket on the Hearth (a Fairy Tale of Home); printed and published for the Author" Act i., Scene. by Messrs. Bradbury & Evans, illustrated by Leech, Stanfield, and Maclise, and dedicated to Mr. Mitchell, of Bond Street, published a fine Lord Jeffrey. Next to the " Christmas Carol" lithograph of the picture, and collectors of the and the " Chimes," this is a great favorite. deceased novelist's portraits will do well to se- The quaint way in which it opens, giving an cure a copy. For beauty of portraiture and eloquent picture of homely and domestic comcharacter there is nothing like it. It is also fort in the English carrier's house, the construcvery interesting, as coming between the beauti- tion of the plot, and the glorious denotlelnent, ful but effeminate portrait of Maclise and the make the book one of his best and heartiest photograph of our own day, because it shows the efforts. Tilly Slowboy, the great clumsy nursechange that was coming over his features, when girl, is very charmingly portrayed, her especial deep thought and firmness of purpose were be- forte being to hold the baby topsy-turvy, and ginning to leave their marks behind them. entertain it with dialogues, consisting mainly of But to return to Dickens as an actor, a friend scraps from conversations she hears, with all the says: nouns turned into plurals. "Analogous to his powers as a reader were The Lyceum was first in the field (21st Dehis abilities as an actor; and it has been said of cember) with a dramatic adaptation by Mr. Al-. him with truth that, with perhaps the exception bert Smith, Miss Mary Keeley impersonating of Frederick Lemaitre in his best days, there Bertha; Mr. Keeley, Caleb; Mrs. Keeley, Mrs. was no one who could excel Charles Dickens in Peerybingle; and Mr. Emery, John, the honest purely dramatic representation. Those who saw carrier. Under Mrs. Keeley's management it the character of the light-house-keeper in Mr. proved an extraordinary success. Wilkie Collins's drama, as portrayed first by On 6th January following, Mr. Webster's ver 52 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. sion of the story was placed on the Haymarket paper, and that its early numbers were brought boards, with this strong cast: out under his editorship. In the first number of this journal, in the'Daily News' of January John Peerybingle............... Mr. WEBSTER. Tackleton......................Mr. TILBURY. 21, 1846, appeared No. 1 of'Travelling Letters, Caleb......................Mr. FARREN. written on the Road, by Charles Dickens.' In Mrs.Peerybingle...................Miss FORTEQE. the'Daily News' of February 14th, of the Bertha...........................Mrs. SEYMOUR, Tilly Slowboy...................Mr. BUCRST(,NE. same year, Mr. Dickens wrote the following verses-which will be new to many-elicited by At the Adelphi, O'Smith represented Mr. a speech at one of the night meetings of the Peerybingle; Wright, Tilly Slowboy; and the wives of agricultural laborers in Wiltshire, held celebrated Mrs. Fitzwilliam, Dot. At the City to petition for free-trade: of London Theatre, too, an adaptation was performed with considerable ability. In the be- THE HYMN OF THE WILTSHIRE LABORERS. ginning of 1862, Mr. Boucicault's adaptation, " Don't you all think that we have a great need to cry to our God to put it in the hearts of our greaseous Queen and her members of under the title of " Dot," played at the Adelphi, Parlerment to grant us free bread!"-LucY SIMPKINS, at Brim Hill. proved a great triumph, Mr. J. L. Toole sustain- O God, who by Thy Prophet's hand ing the part of Caleb. Didst smite the rocky brake, Whence water came at Thy command, Thy people's thirst to slake: Strike, now, upon this granite wall, Stern, obdurate, and high; CHAPTER XIV. And let some drops of pity fall For us who starve and die 1 DICKENS AS A JOURNALIST. The God, who took a little child WE have previously alluded to the fact that And set him in the midst, And promised him His mercy mild, Mr. Dickens had for some time past been think- As, by Thy Son, Thou didst: ing of connecting himself with a new daily pa- Look down upon our children dear, So gaunt, so cold, so spare, per which was to appear early in the new year. And let their images appear The idea was well taken up. Money was free- Where Lords and Gentry are! ly spent by the various shareholders, and many O God, teach them to feel how we, advertisements told the public that a newspa- When our poor infants droop, per, which should supply every thing in the Are weakened in our trust in Thee, first style of newspaper talent, would be publish- And how our spirits stoop: For, in Thy rest, so bright and fair, ed at the price of twopence-halfpenny. The All tears and sorrows sleep; name chosen was the "Daily News," and Mr. And their young looks, so full of care, name chsWould make Thine angels weep! Dickens was widely advertised as "the head of the literary department." Expectation was The God, who with His finger drew The Judgment coming on, raised to a high pitch by this announcement; Write f or these men, what must ensue Write for these men, what must ensue, and in 1846, on the 21st of January, the first Ere many years be gone! number appeared. The new journal, however, O God, whose bow is in the sky, Let them not brave and dare, did not prove so successful as was expected. Until they look (too late) on high The staffs of other papers had been long organ- And see an Arrow there I ized, their expenses-of course immense-were 0 God, remind them, in the bread well and judiciously controlled, and the arrange- They break upon the knee, ments complete. All these things were new to These sacred words may yet be read, II"In memory of Me!" the "IDaily News," and the expenses entered God, remind them of Me is sweet into did not render it possible, with the circu- Compassion for the poor, lation it had then reached, to sell the paper at And how He gave them Bread to eat, And went from door to door. the original price; and it was shortly after CHARLES DICKENS. raised to threepence, and finally to the same price as the " Times." "There is the true ringin these lines. They Very recently, and only a few days after the have the note which Dickens sounded consistentdeath of the great novelist, the paper here al- ly through life of right against might; the note luded to gave this account of his connection which found expression in the Anti-Corn Law with the journal: agitation, in the protests against workhouse " Some of our readers may not be aware that enormities, in the raid against those eccentricithe'Pictures from Italy,' which are now in- ties in legislation which are anomalies to the eluded in all editions of Charles Dickens's rich and bitter hardships to the poor. Let the works, were originally contributed to this news- reader remark how consistently the weekly peri LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 53 odicals which Mr. Dickens has guided have taken Hood's' Bridge of Sighs.' My God! how sorthis side, and how the many pens employed on rowful and pitiful it is!" them have taken this side whenever political or Writing to Jerrold, also, before his departure social subjects have been discussed, and he will to Switzerland, he incidentally speaks of the understand that the author was not a mere jester work he is engaged upon: and story-teller, but a true philanthropist and "I wish you would seriously consider the exreformer."* pediency and feasibility of coming to Lausanne Dickens's friends very soon saw that he had in the summer or early autumn. I must be at taken a false step. The duties of a daily po- work myself during a certain part of every day litical paper were not suitable to him, and be- almost, and you could do twice as much there fore many months he relinquished the editor- as here. It is a wonderful place to see; and ship, and retired from participation in the what sort of welcome you will find I will say "Daily News "-but not, it is understood, nothing about, for I have vanity enough to be. without a considerable loss in money. His lieve that you would be willing to feel yourself place was then filled by Mr. John Forster, the as much at home in my household as in any able editor of the "Examiner," and friend- man's."* Arriving at Lausanne, he writes that and at that time the champion-of Mr. Mac- he will be ready to accommodate him in June, ready. For many years previously Dickens and goes on: " We are established here, in a had been on the friendliest terms with the au- perfect doll's house, which could be put bodily thor of the delightful " Life of Goldsmith," and into the hall of our Italian palazzo; but it is the this intimacy was maintained to the close of our most lovely and delicious situation imaginable, author's life, and in his will Mr. Forster has and there is a spare bedroom, wherein we could been appointed principal executor. After the make you as comfortable as need be. Bowers " Pictures " had appeared in the' Daily News," of roses for cigar smoking, arbors for cool they were collected and printed and published punch-drinking, mountain and Tyrolean counfor the author, in May, 1846, by his new pub- tries close at hand, piled-up Alps before the lishers, Messrs. Bradbury & Evans. Both this windows, etc., etc., etc." work and "The Cricket on the Hearth" may be regarded as the speculations of Mr. Dickens in attempting publishing on his own account. No further works written by him have CHAPTER XV. been, we believe, " printed and published for APPEARANCE OF " DOMBEY AND SON.' the author." The book did not meet with that hearty applause which had been given to his ON the 1st October, the first number of previous works. " Dombey and Son" was issued by Messrs. About this time there are evidences that Dick- Bradbury & Evans, illustrated by Phiz. It ens was planning another novel, to be issued in ran the usual twenty numbers, and on its comthe old familiar green covers. Two years had pletion was dedicated to the Marchioness of elapsed since the completion of "Martin Chuz- Normanby. zlewit," and we now find him writing to his This is, perhaps, one of his least popular friend, the Countess of Blessington, about a novels. The descriptions of high life are some"new book "-which new work must have been what forced and overdrawn. Dombey is a man " Dombey and Son," that appeared in the fol- thoroughly to be detested-cruel, stern, and unlowing year: "Vague thoughts of a new book bending. Little Paul and Captain Cuttle are are rite within me just now; and I go wander- the two best characters in the book, which coning about at night into the strangest places, ac- tains many others excessively diverting. Mr. cording to my usual propensity at such a time, Toots, with his mania for writing confidential seeking rest, and finding none. As an addition letters to himself from great and eminent men, to my composure, I ran over a little dog in the and his penchant for Messrs. Burgess & Co., Regent's Park, yesterday (killing him on the the celebrated tailors; Perch, the messenger, spot), and gave his little mistress such exquisite and father of a large family; the awful Mrs. distress as I never saw the like of. I must have MacStinger, Susan Nipper, Major Joe Bagstock, some talk with you about those American sing- Miss Floy, etc. ers.t They must never go back to their own In "Dorlbey " Dickens has evidently endeavcountry without your having heard them sing ored to describe a certain phase of " high life," and he has done so with much success. The * "The Daily News," 11th June, 1870. character of the aristocratic Cousin Feenix is t The Hutchinson family, probably. finished and natural. 51 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. It may just be mentioned that Hablot K. Lord Cockburn, in a letter under date 31st of Browne (Phiz), with Mr. Dickens's sanction, January, 1847, wrote to the author: published some additional designs —- full-length " Oh, my dear, dear Dickens! What a No. 5 portraits of the characters contained in the you have given us! I have so cried and sobbed novel. over it last night, and again this morning; and While the story was progressing, an enter- felt my heart purified by those tears, and blessed prising publisher, in January, 1847, started in and loved you for making me sled them; and weekly penny numbers " Dombey and Daugh- I never can bless and love you enough. Since ter," coolly announcing its appearance thus: that divine Nelly was found in her humble "This work is from the pen of one of the first Peri- couch, beneath the snow and ivy, there has odical Writers of the day; and is, in literary merit been nothing like the actual dying of that (although so low in price), no way inferior to Mr. sweet Paul, in the summershine of that lofty Dickens's admirable work,' Dombey and Son.' Those who are reading'Dombey and Son' should most as- room. suredly order' Dombey and Daughter;' it is a produc- A high medical authority assures us, that in tion of exalted intellect, written to sustain moral ex-the author's description of the last illness of ample and virtuous precept-deeply to interest, and sagely to instruct. Mrs. Skewton, he actually anticipated the clinic" Order of any Bookseller orNewsvender-ONE PEN- al researches of M. Dax, Broca, and Hughlings Nv will test the truth of this announcerment." Jackson, on the connection of right hemiplegia The public thought differently, and nothing with asphasia. further was heard of the work. The story was cleverly dramatized and well Early in 1847, in a letter to Lady Blessing- represented at the Marylebone Theatre, in June, ton, Dickens wrote: " I begin to.doubt whether 1849, and its success was in proportion to its I had any thing to do with a book called' Dom- merits. bey,' or ever sat over number five (not finished In the spring of 1846, on April 6th, the first a fortnight yet), day after day, until I half be- Anniversary Festival of the General Theatrical gan, like the monk in poor Wilkie's story, to Fund Association was held at the London Tavthink it the only reality in life, and to mistake ern. Dickens was in the chair, and made some all the realities for short-lived shadows."* admirable hits in his most effective speech, as In the preface to the new edition in 1858, is when he said, in speaking of the " base uses" this note: " I began this book by the Lake of to which the two great theatres were then being Geneva, and went on with it for some months applied: "Covent Garden is now but a vision in France. The association between the writ- of the past. You might play the bottle conjurer ing and the place of writing is so curiously strong with its dramatic company, and put them all into in my mind, that at this day, although I know a pint bottle. The human voice is rarely heard every stair in the little midshipman's house, and within its walls, save in connection with corn, could swear to every pew in the church in which or the ambidextrous prestidigitation of the WizFlorence was married, or to every young gentle- ard of the North. In like manner, Drury Lane man's bedstead in Doctor Blimber's establish- is conducted now with almost a sole view to the ment, I yet confusedly imagine Captain Cuttle opera and ballet, insomuch that the statue of as secluding himself from Mrs. MacStinger Shakspeare over the door serves as emphatically among the mountains of Switzerland. Simi- to point out his grave as his bust did in the church larly, when I am reminded by any chance of of Stratford-upon-Avon." what it was that the waves were always saying, What, too, can be happier than his pleadings I wander in my fancy for a whole winter night for the poor actor: " Hazlitt has well said that alout the streets of Paris-as I really did, with' There is no class of society whom so many pera heavy heart, on the night when my little friend sons regard with affection as actors. We greet and I parted company forever."t them on the stage, we like to meet them in the streets; they almost always recall to us pleasant * It may be remembered how this same beautiful associations.' When they have strutted and story of Wilkie's was differently applied by Mr. Dick- fretted their hour upon the stage, let them not ens, in the last speech he ever made at the Royal Academy dinner. t The Philadelphia "Morning Post" says:-Dick- artist received from Mr. Dickens an exquisite edition ens, while in this city, was very anxious to purchase of his novels, accompanied by the following autoMr. James Hamilton's painting entitled " What are the graph: - " Gad's-hill Place, Higham by Rochester, Wild Waves Saying?" But as this beautiful work, Kent, Monday, Twenty-fifth May, 1868, to Mr. James one of the artist's best, was already sold, Mr. Dickens Hamilton, this set of my books, with thanks and rerequested that he might see the original sketch, with gard.-Charles Dickens." It is certain that Charles which he was so greatly pleased that he insisted upon Dickens's genius never suggested a more imaginative buying it. Mr. Hamilton refused to sell the picture, picture than this masterpiece, and his appreciation of but presented it to Mr. Dickens. The other day the Hamilton could not have been more delicately shown. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 55 be heard no more-but let them be heard some- chances, strong. Let them, or something else, times to say that they are happy in their old age. hold you to me by the heart." When they have passed for the last time from " The Battle of Life (a Love Story) " was the behind that glittering row of lights with which Christmas book referred to in the beginning of we are all familiar, let them not pass away into the foregoing letter. Messrs. Bradbury & Evans gloom and darkness-but let them pass into were the publishers, and Maclise, Leech, Stancheerfulness and light-into a contented and field, and Doyle the illustrators. It was a great happy home."@ favorite, and enjoyed considerable popularity, Writing to Jerrold from Geneva, in Novem- on account of its poetical tendency. ber, 1846, he says: " This dhy week I finished Clemency Newcome is a spiritedly drawn and my little Christmas book (writing towards the well-conceived character, as are Messrs. Snitchclose the exact words of a passage in your affec- ley and Craggs, the solicitors, Dr. Jeddler, his tionate letter,t received this morning; to wit, daughters, Heathfield, and Michael Warden,'After all, life has something serious in it'); they all displaying considerable care and painsand ran over here for a week's rest. I can not taking in their treatment. Benjamin Britain, tell you how much true gratification I have had sometimes called Little Britain, to distinguish in your most hearty letter. Forster told me that him from Great, is an oddity. He expresses the same spirit breathed through a notice of himself in a conversation to this effect: "I'Dombey' in your paper; and I have been say- don't know any thing, I don't care for any ing since to K. and G., that there is no such thing, I don't make out any thing, I don't begood way of testing the worth of a literary lieve any thing, and I don't want any thing." friendship as by comparing its influence on The Lyceum reopened on the.21st December, one's mind with any that literary animosity can with a dramatic version of the story by Albert produce. Mr. W. will throw me into a violent Smith-Clemency Newcombe sustained by Mrs. fit of anger for the moment, it is true; but his Keeley; Benjamin Britain, by Mr. Keeley; acts and deeds pass into the death of all bad Alfred Heathfield, Leigh Murray; and Doctor things next day, and rot out of my memory; Jeddler, Mr. Frank Matthews. At Astley's whereas a generous sympathy like yours is ever Theatre, in March, 1867, a clever adaptation present to me, ever fresh and new to me-always was performed, and ran a considerable time. stimulating, cheerful, and delightful. The pain of unjust malice is lost in an hour. The pleasure of a generous friendship is the steadiest joy in the world. What a glorious and comfortable CHAPTER XVI. thing that is to think of! VICTOR tIUGO. —THE HAUNTED MAN. "No, I don't get the papers regularly. To the best of my recollection, I have not had more FROM Paris, early in 1847, our author writes than three numbers-certainly not more than to Lady Blessington, describing his visit to four. But I knew how busy you must be, and Victor Hugo, then residing in the French caphad no expectation of hearing from you until I ital. Twelve months after this, the great wrote from Paris (as I intended doing), and im- French novelist had to fly. The coup d'etat plored you to come and make merry with us brought about a new order of things: there. I am truly pleased to receive your good " We were (writes Dickens) at V. H.'s house account of that enterprise * * * I have had last Sunday week-a most extraordinary place, great success again in magnetism. E-, who something like an old curiosity-shop, or the has-been with us for a week or so, holds my property-room of some gloomy, vast old theatre. magnetic powers in great veneration, and I I was much struck by H. himself, who looks really think they are, by some conjunction of like a genius-he is, every inch of him, and is * Given entire in "The Speeches of Charles Dick- very interesting and satisfactory from head to ens." foot. His wife is a handsome woman, with t Jerrold, in the letter referred to by Dickens, had flashing black eyes. There is also a charming said (in deprecating Gilbert A'Beckett's "Comic History of England"): "After all, life has something ser ditto daughter, of fifteen or sixteen, with ditto ous in it. It can not be all a comic history of human- eyes. Sitting among old armor and old tapity. Some men would, I believe, write the Comic estry, and old coffers, and grim old chairs and Sermon on the Mount. Think of a Comic History of England; the drollery of Alfred; the fun of Sir Thom- tables, and old canopies of state from old palas More in the Tower; the farce of his daughter beg- aces, and old golden lions going to play at skitging the dead head, and clasping it in her coffin, on ties with ponderous old golden balls, that made her bosom. Surely the world will be sick of this blasphemy."' a most romantic show, and looked like a chapt Douglas Jerrold's "Weekly Newspaper." ter out of one of his own books." 56 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. The letter is most interesting in a double traced even this to its source but I have found sense. It shows us Victor Hugo's tastes in that the term education, so employed, meant decoration, and those objects in his house upon any thing but education-implied the mere imwhich his eye would continually rest, and perfect application of old, ignorant, preposterous which would help to form drapery and literary spelling-book lessons to the meanest purposes — illustration for his fictions; and it shows us in as if you should teach a child that there is no an oblique manner what were Dickens's notions higher end in electricity, for example, than exin these matters, and the sympathy-if any-in pressly to strike a mutton-pie out of the hand such surroundings, between the two men. of a greedy boy-and on which it is as unreaDuring this year an announcement appeared sonable to found an objection to education in a that Shakspeare's house at Stratford-upon-Avon comprehensive sense, as it would be to object alwas to be sold. A public meeting was held, together to the combing of youthful hair, beand a committee organized. By subscriptions, cause in a certain charity-school they had a and a grand performance at Covent Garden practice of combing it into the pupils' eyes." Theatre, on 7th December-all the principal "Dombey and Son " interfering with his aractors and actresses taking part therein-and rangements, the Christmas of 1847 passed withreadings by Macready, prior to his retirement, out the usual appearance of a separate story, but a sufficient sum (~3000) was realized. the ensuing Christmas " The Haunted Man, and To provide for the proper care and custody the Ghost's Bargain" was published by Messrs. of the house and its relics, a series of amateur Bradbury & Evans. This is perhaps his least entertainments were given. Messrs. Charles popular little book, although considerable skill Knight, Peter Cunningham, and John Payne and vigorous writing are apparent. Redlaw, Collier were the Directors of the General Man- the Haunted Man, is a creation of sad and agement, and Dickens the Stage Manager. sombre hue. The most genial parts are the The first performance took place at the Hay- accounts of Tetterby, the struggling news-venmarket Theatre on May 15, 1848, the play se- der, and his family, not forgetting Johnny, and lected being " The Merry Wives of Windsor," the Moloch baby, Sally. with the following cast: In a little sketch of Mr. Dickens which apSir John Falstaff........... Mr. MARK LEMON. peared many years ago, it is said: "If stories Fenton................... Mr. CHARLES ROMER. told by booksellers of extraordinary sales be Shallow.................. Mr. CHARLES DICKENS. true, this last Christmas volume met with quite Slender................... Mr. JOHN LEECH. Mr. Ford............... Mr. FORSTER. as much favor as any of the rest. But someMr. Page............M......Mr. FR.ANK STONE. how, when it was read, it did not please. The Sir Hugh Evans...........Mr. G. H. LEWES.' Haunted Man' did not long haunt our memDr. Caius..................Mr. DI)rLEY COSTELLO. oDr. Caius.M..............Mr. DUDLEY COSTELLO. ories. It had a peculiar purpose, opposed to the Host of the Garter inn......Mr. FREDK. DLCKENS. Bardolph................. Mr. COLE. first part of the old saw,' Forget and forgive.' Pistol.....................Mr. GEO. CRUISIIANK. This extract will place before us the moral of Nym......................Mr. AUGUSTUS DICKENS. Robin..................... Miss ROBINS. the tale: Simple................... Mr. AUGUSTUS EGG. "'I have no learning,' said Milly,'and you Ruzgb~y~.....................Mr. EATON. have much; I am not used to think, and you Mrs. Ford..................Miss FORTESQUE. Mrs. Page................ Miss KENWORTIY. are always thinking. May I tell you why it Mrs. Anne Page............ Miss ANNE ROMER. seems to me a good thing to remember wrong fMrs. Quickly..............Mrs. COWDEN CLARKE. that has been done us?' Towards the close of the year 1847 he was in- "' Yes.' vited by the good people of Leeds to attend a "'That we may forgive it.' soiree at their Mechanics' Institution.* One "'Pardon me, great Heaven,' said Redlaw, clause of his speech was in his most character- lifting up his eyes,'for having thrown away istic manner. He is speaking of a class of pol- thine own attribute!' iticians who object to educate the lower orders "' And if,' said Milly,' if your own memory any more than up to a certain point, because should one day be restored, as we will hope and "knowledge is power:' pray it may be, would it not be a blessing to you "I never heard but one tangible position to recall at once a wrong and its forgiveness?' taken against educational establishments for the "Alas for human nature, how few can do people, and that was, that in this or that in- this!" stance, or in these or those instances, education Happy he from whose memory wrong is quickfor the people has failed. And I have never ly effaced; and unfortunate that mind which, in recalling an injury, feels again the poignancy * December, 1841. of the wound. We fear that forgiveness, or what LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 57 looks like it, the absence of rancor, often comes CHAPTER XVII. through forgetfulness. We fear that it ever DICKENS AND THACKERAY. —-" DAVID COPPERmust be so; that few will remember vividly, and forgive perfectly. In ordinary minds, then, forgetfulness and forgiveness will be compan- MR. DICKENS had hitherto met with no comions, and for them the old motto is a good one; petitor in the field of English fiction. He had but it is the highest part of the highest creed, to early won the attention of readers, but no writer forgive before'memory sleeps, and ever to re- had arisen to divide the honor with him. Anmember how the good overcame the evil. other novelist, however, was now beginning to It has been remarked that the illustrious nov- be talked of. On the 1st of February, 1847, elist has curiously mistaken the legend of the old Mr. Thackeray had issued the first monthly porportrait, on which this story is built - "Lord, tion of " Vanity Fair," in the yellow wrapper keep my memory green," which we take to be a which served to distinguish it from Mr. Dickwish that the fame of the man shall survive to ens's stories, and, after some twelve months had aftertimes, so as to verify Herrick's sweet lines: passed, critics began to speak of the work in terms of approbation. The "Edinburgh Re"Only the actions of the just S'mOnly the actions of the just dust." view," criticising it in January, 1848, says: Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust.", The great charm of this work is its entire While Mr. Dickens makes it mean, " Lord, al- freedom from mannerism and affectation both in low my recollection'(mental power of remem- style and sentiment. * * * His pathos (though brance) to be unimpaired;" like Swift's prayer not so deep as Mr. Dickens's) is exquisite; the that he should not die mad, viewing with fear more so, perhaps, because he seems to struggle the awful contingency of loss of mind. against it, and to be half ashamed of being caught in the melting mood; but the attempt And Swift expires, a driveller and a show." to be caustic, satirical, ironical, or philosophical on such occasions is uniformly vain; and again At the Adelphi and the Polytechnic Institu- and again have we found reason to admire how tion, this story, by the aid of the patent Pepper's- an originally fine and kind nature remains esghost apparatus, some three or four years since, sentially free from worldliness, and, in the highexcited considerable attention, and the satisfac- est pride of intellect, pays homage to the tory result, in a monetary sense, was testified heart." by the fact of the numerous audiences at each From this time forward a friendly rivalry enrepresentation. sued between the two representatives of the two The five little Christmas books, which we have schocls of English fiction. We say " rivalry," separately noticed under the year of their is- but it never could have existed from Dickens's sue, were published in one volume, and entitled side; for, when " Vanity Fair" was at its best, " Christmas Books." To this Mr. Dickens finding six thousand purchasers a mcnth, Dickcontributed a new and admirable preface. ens was taking the shillings from thirty to forty Three days after Christmas-day, 1847, Dick- thousand readers; but the gossips of society ens was in Glasgow, presiding at the opening of have always asserted that there was a rivalry, the new Athenoeum there. The burden of his and made comparisons so very frequently bespeech was, " What constituted Real Educa- tween the two great men, that we incidentally tion?" allude to it here. More than once has Thack" Mere reading and writing is not education," eray said to the present writer (or words very he said; "it would be quite as reasonable to similar): "Ah! they talk to me of popularity, call bricks and mortar architecture-oils and with a sale of little more than one half of colors art-reeds and catgut music-or the 10,000! Why, look at that lucky fellow Dickchild's spelling-books the works of Shakspeare, ens, with Heaven knows how many readers, and Milton, or Bacon-as to call the lowest rudi- certainly not less than 30,000 buyers!" But ments of education, education, and to visit on the fact is easily explained-only cultivated that most abused and slandered word their fail- readers enjoy Thackeray, whereas both cultiure in any instance." These and kindred sen- vated and uncultivated read Dickens with detiments were very warmly received, and were light. acknowledged in a complimentary speech by To return to Mr. Dickens's new book —" DaSir Archibald (then Mr.) Alison. * vid Copperfield," one of the finest and certainly one of the most'popular of its author's works. The first number appeared May 1st, 1849, with illustrations by "Phiz." It extended to the 58 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. usual twenty numbers, and on its completion guage, destitute of exaggeration, and bearing so was issued by Messrs. Bradbury & Evans, with strongly the impress of truth and reality, that a dedication to the HIIon. Mr. and Mrs. Richard they can not fail to charm and delight the readWatson, of Rockingham. er. It would be impertinent further to point The work, as we have previously remarked, out-to our mind-the best points in the book, is a great favorite, and such it deserves to be, for and one can but thank God that such a writer to our mind it is the happiest of all his fictions. has penned a work that can never be too much It was the first that we read, and well do we re- read or admired. member the exquisite delight with which we ea- In the latest edition of " David Copperfield" gerly devoured its pages-a rough seaman's copy -in the " Charles Dickens Edition "-the auof the American edition, which had been lent thor takes us into his confidence and tells us that as an immense favor-and, boy-like, apprecia- it was his favorite child. He says: " I remarkted and sympathized with David in his youthful ed, in the original preface to this book, that I struggles. At that time we had just quitted the did not find it easy to get sufficiently away from house of a distant relative with whom we had it, in the first sensations of having finished, to been residing, and who in very many respects- refer to it with the composure which this formal so far as trying to break David's spirit in before heading would seem to require. My interest in going to Salem House-greatly resembled the it was so recent and strong, and my mind so ditreatment shown towards ourselves. vided between pleasure and regret-pleasure in The book is written in a delightfully easy, the achievement of a long design, regret in the earnest, yet most graceful manner; the plot is separation from many companions-that I was well contrived, and never forced. It has often in danger of wearying the reader with personal been hinted that in many ways it is partly auto- confidences and private emotions. Besides biographical-the hero beginning at the law, which, all that I could have said of the story to turning parliamentary reporter, and finally any purpose I had endeavored to say in it. It winding up as a successful novelist, all of which would concern the reader little, perhaps, to know the world knows have been Mr. Dickens's expe- how sorrowfully the pen is laid down at the riences. In fact, it is generally believed to oc- close of a two years' imaginative task; or how cupy the same position to Dickens as ":Penden- an author feels as if he were dismissing some nis " does to Thackeray. portion of himself into the shadowy world when The peculiar commencement and description a crowd of the creatures of his brain are going of Blunderstone Rookery; the birth of the post- from him forever. Yet I had nothing else to humous child; the second marriage of David's tell; unless, indeed, I were to confess (which mother to Murdstone; his early days, and the might be of less moment still) that no one can wonderful crocodile book; Peggotty, and the ever believe this narrative in the reading, more courtship of Barkis the carrier, leaving his offer- than I believed it in the writing. So true are ings behind the door; Mrs. Gummidge, Steer- these avowals at the present day, that I can forth, the famous Micawbers, Betsy Trotwood, only now take the reader into one confidence the kind-hearted aunt, and her aversion to don- more. Of all my books, I like this the best. keys; Mr. Dick and his memorial, and his ina- It will easily be believed that I am a fond pability to keep Charles I. out of it; David's love rent of every child of my fancy, and that no one of darling Dora Spenlow, their marriage, and can love them as dearly as I love them; but, the dreadful troubles encountered in house-keep- like many fond parents, I have, in my heart of ing, her death, and his consequent journey to hearts, a favorite child, and his name is DAVID Switzerland, and coming home and marrying COPPERFIELD." Agnes Wickfield; the villainies of Uriah Heep; At the Strand Theatre, on October 21st, 1850, the eccentricities of Miss Mowcher, the corn ex- Almar's adaptation was played under the title tractor; Emily, the poor seduced girl; the of "Born with a Caul." The Surrey Theatre, magnificent description of the storm at Yar- in the following month, had a much better vermouth, in which Steerforth the betrayer meets sion; Mr. Thomas Mead as Peggotty, and the his death, while Ham, seeking to save him, renowned Mr. Widdicomb combining the charmeets the same fate; the love of Daniel Peggot- acters of Miss MlJowcher and Mr. l]1icawber. ty for his niece, and his patient search after But the most successful representation of all her; Traddles and his ultimate success, and the was "The Deal Boatman " at Drury Lane starting off to the Antipodes of the Micawbers, Theatre, two. or three years since, in two acts, Peggotty, Martha, Emily, and Mrs. Gummidge, by Mr. Burnand. their life in the bush, and how they prospered, Mr. Dickens was living at this time at No. 1 are each and all described in such glowing lan- Devonshire Terrace, in the New Road. In his LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 59 "American Notes," in __.. ___ —...._ "Martin Chuzzlewit,". and elsewhere in his writings, and occasionally in his speeches, he had expressed his dis- _ approval of capital pun- i ishment. He now re- solved to be a witness at a "hanging match" -as it is frequently called by the lower orders - and afterwards publish his experiences. The trial of the notorious Mannings had recently startled society, and it was thought that the hanging of such __. notable wretches would No. 1. DEVrONSIsIRE TERRACE, NEW ROAD (1840-'50). at least afford a fair [After removing from Doughty Street, Mr. Dickens resided in this house, and specimen of the riot and here were written a large portion of "The Old Curiosity Shop," "Barnaby demoralization attend- Rtudge," "A Christmas Carol," "The American Notes," and "Chuzzlewit," The Cricket on the Hearth," " The Battle of Life,"' " Dombey and Son,"' "The ing a London public Haunted Man," and "David Copperfield."] execution. For the pulpose of seeing the whole ceremony, and giv- sight so inconceivably awful as the wickedness ing the institution a fair trial, he left his house and levity of the immense crowd collected at with a friend, on the evening previous, deter- that execution this morning could be imagined mined to make a night of it in the crowd front- by no man, and could be presented in no heaing the Southwark scaffold. The following then land under the sun. The horrors of the letter to the " Times " was-the result: crime which brought the wretched murderers to it faded in my mind before the atrocious bearing, " I was a witness of the execution at Horse- looks, and language of the assembled spectators. monger Lane this morning. I went there with When I came upon the scene at midnight, the the intention of observing the crowd gathered shrillness of the cries and howls that were raised to behold it, and I had excellent opportunities from time to time, denoting that they came from of doing so at intervals all through the night, a concourse of boys and girls assembled in the and continuously from daybreak until after best places, made my blood run cold. As the the spectacle was over. I do not address you night went on, screeching and laughing, and on the subject with any intention of discussing yelling in strong chorus of parodies on negro the abstract question of capital punishment, or melodies, with substitutions of' Mrs. Manning' any of the arguments of its opponents or advo- for' Susannah,' and the like, were added to cates. I simply wish to turn this dreadful ex- these. When the day dawned, thieves, low prosperience to some account for the general good, titutes, ruffians, and vagabonds of every kind, by taking the readiest and most public means flocked on to the ground, with every variety of of adverting to an intimation given by Sir G. offensive and foul behavior. Fightings, faintGrey, in the last session of Parliament, that the ings, whistlings, imitations of Punch, brutal Government might be induced to give its sup- jokes, tumultuous demonstrations of indecent port to a measure making the infliction of capi- delight when swooning women were dragged tal punishment a private solemnity within the out of the crowd by the police with their dressprison-walls (with such guaranties for the last es disordered, gave a new zest to the generalensentence of the law being inexorably and sure- tertainment. When the sun rose brightly-as ly administered as should be satisfactory to the it did-it gilded thousands upon thousands of public at large), and of most earnestly beseech- up-turned faces, so inexpressibly odious in their ing Sir G. Grey, as a solemn duty which he brutal mirth or callousness, that a man had owes to society, and a responsibility which he cause to feel ashamed of the shape he wore, and can not forever put away, to originate such a to shrink from himself, as fashioned in the legislative change himself. I believe that a image of the Devil. When the two miserable 60 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. creatures who attracted all this ghastly sight streets chained to a long chain, like the galleyabout them were turned quivering into the air, slaves in'Don Quixote.' Is there no mystery there was no more emotion, no mnore pity, no about transportation, and our manner of sendmore thought that two immortal souls had gone ing men away to Norfolk Island, or elsewhere? to judgment, no more restraint in any of the None in abandoning the use of a man's name, previous obscenities, than if the name of Christ and knowing him only by a number? Is not bad never been heard in this world, and there the whole improved and altered system, from were no belief among men but that they perish the beginning to end, a mystery? I wish I like the beasts. I have seen, habitually, some could induce you to feel justified in leaving of the worst sources of general contamination that word to the platform people, on the and corruption in this country, and I think strength of your knowledge of what crime was, there are not many phases of London life that and of what its punishments were, in the days could surprise me. I am solemnly convinced when there was no mystery connected with that nothing that ingenuity could devise to be these things, and all was as open as Bridewell done in this city, in the same compass of time, when Ned Ward went to see the women whipcould work such ruin as one public execution, ped." and I stand astounded and appalled by the wickedness it exhibits. I do not believe that any community can prosper where such a scene CHAPTER XVIII. of horror and demoralization as was enacted " HOUSEHOLD WORDS." -THE GUILD OF LITthis morning outside Horsemonger Lane jail is presented at the very doors of good citizens, and is passed by, unknown or forgotten. And NOTWITHSTANDING past experiences in conwhen, in our prayers and thanksgivings for the nection with the "Daily News," Mr. Dickens season, we are humbly expressing before God was still desirous of some periodical in which our desire to remove the moral evils of the he could hold frequent and regular intercourse land, I would ask your readers to consider with his readers. Early in 1850 our indewhether it is not a time to think of this one, fatigable author projected the " Household and to root it out. Words," a name which was more or less famil"Tuesday, November 13th." iar to the public through a line in Shakspeare's Henry V. -" Familiar in their mouths as The great question of "public hanging" oc-'Household Words.'" It is just worth while, cupied Dickens's attention for some time after. in passing, to say that this motto was a favorThe horrors of that night and the morning pre- ite with Mr. Dickens. He often used it in ceding the Manning execution he could not conversation, long before a periodical of the readily forget. Some days after he wrote to kind was dreamed of. As far back as his first the "Times," he addressed a long letter to his visit to America, when he was addressing the friend Douglas Jerrold, who was a Conservative young men of Boston, and Washington Irving, on the question of capital punishment, and be- Holmes, and other celebrities were present, he lieved heartily in Tyburn as a public insti- said: "You have in America great writerstution. Dickens thus remonstrates with his great writers-who will live in all time, and friend: " In a letter I have received from G. are as familiar to our lips as household words."* this morning he quotes a recent letter from And afterwards, in his speeches, the motto was you, in which you deprecate the'mystery' of not uncommon. private hanging. On Saturday, March 30th, 1850, was issued'"Will you consider what punishment there is, the first number of "Household Words, price except death, to which' mystery' does not at- 2d., conducted by Charles Dickens." tach? Will you consider whether all the im- No article had the name of its author appendprovements in prisons and punishments that ed, and when the " Conductor " proposed to Jerhave been made within the last twenty years rold that he should contribute to its pages, but have or have not been all productive of'mys- added that his name could not appear, as the tery?' I can remember very well when the si- journal was anonymous, the wit replied, "Aye, lent system was objected to as mysterious, and I see it is, for there's the name of Charles Dickopposed to the genius of English society. Yet ens on every page." there is no question that it has been a great Among the original contributors to "Housebenefit. The prison vans are mysterious ve- hold Words" may be mentioned John Forshicles; but surely they are better than the old system of marching prisoners through the | February 1, 1842. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 61 ter, W. H. Wills, George Augustus Sala, Moy Thomas, John Hollings- - _;____= head, Miss Martineau, Professor Morley, EdmundYates, Dr. Charles Mackay, _ = —__=_ _ Andrew Halliday, Edmund Ollier, and many other talented writers. It was the great delight of the " Conductor" _ to draw around him the rising talent _ -the new men who gave evidence of literary ability; and many a mark have they made in the pages of "Household __ _ Words!"__ Connected with "HouseholdWords," - at the end of each month, appeared the -_.... "Household Narrative," containing a __. -= history of the preceding month. It be- gan in April of this year, and involved Mr. Dickens in a dispute with the I'i Stamp Office. An information was laid against the "Narrative," it being contended that, under the Stamp Duty Act, it was a newspaper; but, on appeal to the Court of Exchequer, the barons'decided in Mr. Dickens's favor, and thus the first step to the repeal of the newspaper stamp was given. The publication was not a success, people preferring to pay for amusement and information combined, rather than for _ _ the latter in a purely statistical form. TAVISTOOK HOUSE, TAYISTOCK SQUARE (1850-'60). It stopped at about the 70th number, [Before Dickens removed here, the house was occupied by and sets are now rare. Mr. Perry, the once famous chief of the "Morning Chronicle." But to return to "Household Words." Whilst living at Tavistock House, "Bleak House," "A Child's History of England," "Hard Times," "Little Dorrit," "A Tale A friend who knew Dickens writes: of Two Cities," portions of " Hunted Down," and the " Uncom"' His editorship of this periodical was mercial Traveller" were written. In 1860 our Author finally removed to Gad's Hill.] no nominal post. Papers sent in for approval invariably went through a prelimina- Bradbury and Evans, and inscribed as folry'testing' by the acting editor (Mr. W. H. lows: Wills); but all those which survived this ordeal "TO MY OWN DEAR CHILDREN, were conscientiously read and judged by Mr. WHOM I IIOPE IT MAY HELP, BY-AND-BY, TO READ WITH INTEREST LARGER AND BETTER BOOKS ON THE Dickens, who again read all the accepted con- SAME SUBJECT." tributions in proof, and made numerous and valuable alterations in them." Besides the or- The Battle of Hastings is one of the finest dinary tales and articles upon popular topics, and most marvellous pieces of descriptive writthere appeared in "Household Words" in good ing in the " Child's History," which-as has time for the festive season, and during the first been well remarked —" might be read by many year, a collection of stories, connected entirely children of larger growth with much profit." with Christmas, viz.: "A Christmas Tree" and This is an extract from his glowing descrip"A Christmas Pudding," " Christmas in the tion: "The sun rose high and sank, and the Navy, in Lodgings, in India, in the Frozen Re- battle still raged. Through all the wild Octogions, in the Bush, and among the Sick and ber day the clash and din resounded in the air. Poor of London," and " Household Christmas In the red sunset, in the white moonlight, heaps Carols." upon heaps of dead men lay strewn, a dreadful In the ensuing January, Dickens commenced spectacle, all over the ground. King Harold, in this journal the publication of his " Child's wounded with an arrow in the eye, was nearHistory of England." This little work be- ly blind. His brothers were already killed. came very popular, and in the following year Twenty Norman knights, whose battered arit was reprinted in a separate form by Messrs. mor had flashed fiery and golden all day long, 62 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. and now looked silvery in the moonlight, dash- on the stage to swell the drinking chorus, and ed forward to seize the royal banner from the who, it may be observed, always turns his glass English' knights and soldiers, still faithfully upside down before he begins to drink out of it. collected round their blinded king. The king Or he may be the clown who takes away the received a mortal wound and dropped." door-step of the house where the evening party If the remainder of the description is turned is going on. Or he may be the gentleman who into blank verse (as Byron did when copying issues out of the house on the false alarm, and " Werner " from the " Canterbury Tales " of is precipitated into the area. Or, to come to the Miss Lee), by adding two words, and expung- actresses, she may be the fairy who resides foring some few others, we obtain this glowing ever in a revolving star, with an occasional and beautiful narration: visit to a bower or a palace. Or the actor may "The English broke and fled. be the armed head of the witch's caldron; or The Normans rallied, and the day was lost! even that extraordinary witch, concerning whom Oh, what a sight beneath the moon and stars! I have observed, in country places, that he is The lights were shining in the victor's tent (Pitch'd near the spot where blinded Harold fell); much less like the notion formed from the deHe and his knights carousing were within; scription of Hopkins than the Malcolm or DonSoldiers with torches, going to and fro, albain of the previous scenes. This society, in Sought for the corpse of Harold'mongst the dead. The Warrior, work'd with stones and golden thread, short, says,'Be you what you may, be you Lay low, all torn, and soil'd with English blood, actor or actress, be your path in your profession And the three Lions kept watch o'er the field!" never so high or never so low, never so haughty The work has never been reprinted at a low- or never so humble, we offer you the means of er price than the old three-volume form, and doing good to yourselves, and of doing good to of course it forms no part of the recent " Cheap your brethren.' " Editions" and the "Charles Dickens Edition;" In June, 1851, a project-which, it is said, but, now that extra attention will be directed Mr. Dickens had long had in contemplationto the writings of Mr. Dickens, it is to be hoped was brought forward by Sir Edward Bulwer that it may be reprinted at a moderate price. Lytton, namely, the founding of a Guild of LitThe second Christmas number (1851) of erature and Art; in reality, a provident fund " Household Words " consisted of nine stories and benefit society for unfortunate literary men about Christmas, and how it was held, and what and artists. From it the proper persons would it was like in different companies and countries receive continual or occasional relief, as the -in fact, very similar to the preceding numn- case might be; but the leading feature was the ber. "Provident Fund," to be composed of moneys At the Sixth Annual Dinner of the General deposited by the authors themselves, when they Theatrical Fund (April 14, 1851), the conduct- were in a position to be able to lay by someors again begged Mr. Dickens to preside. His thing. Dickens and Sir Edward Bulwer Lyvtspeech was short,but exceedingly happy. Speak- ton (since a peer) were the most active promoting of the Theatrical Fund, he said: ers. The precise plan of the " Guild " was dis" It is a society in which the word exclu- cussed at Lord Lytton's seat, at Knebworth, the siveness is wholly unknown. It is a society November previously. There had been three which includes every actor, whether he be Ben- amateur performances, by Dickens and others, edick or Hamlet, or the Ghost, or the Bandit, of " Every Man in his Humor," for the gratifior the court-physician, or, in the one person, cation of his lordship and his neighboring the whole king's army. He may do the'light friends, when it was arranged that his lordship business,' or the'heavy,' or the comic, or should write a comedy, and Dickens and Mark the eccentric. He may be the captain who Lemon a farce. The comedy was entitled courts the young lady, whose uncle still unac-'" Not so Bad as we Seem," and the farce bore countably persists in dressing himself in a cos- the name of " Mrs. Nightingale's Diary." The tume one hundred years older than his time. first performance took place at Devonshire Or he may be the young lady's brother in the House, before the Queen, the Prince Consort, white gloves and inexpressibles, whose duty in and the court circles; and afterwards at the the family appears to be to listen to the female Hanover Square Rooms, and at many of the members of it whenever they sing, and to shake large provincial towns (Bath, Bristol, etc.). hands with every body between all the verses. At Devonshire House, not the least incident Or he may be the baron who gives the fete, and occurred to shade what a late Drury Lane who sits uneasily on the sofa under a canopy manager might, in his own Titanic way, have with the baroness while the fete is going on. called " the blaze of triumph." From the first Or he may be the peasant at the fete who comes moment that the scheme was made known to ILIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 63 her Majesty and Prince Albert, both the Queen ing a box erected for the occasion. The seats and the Prince manifested the liveliest interest were filled by the most illustrious for rank and in its success. The Duke of Devonshire, with genius. There was the Duchess of Sutherland; a munificence that made the name of his Grace there was the "Iron Duke," in his best temper; a proverb for liberality, dedicated his mansion there was Macaulay, Chevalier Bunsen,Van der to the cause of Literature and Art, and his Weyer-themselves authors; in fact, all the house was for many days in possession of the highest representatives of the rank, beauty, and amateurs. genius of England, and her foreign ambassadors. The play began at half past nine, Her Majes- The list of the performers, and the parts ty, Prince Albert, and the royal family occupy- taken by them, is a curiosity in its way: MEN. The Duke of Middlesex, Peers attached to the son of James II., common-....... Mr. FRANK STONE. The Earl of Loftus, ly called the First Pretender.........................Mr. DUDLEY COSTELLO. Lord Wilmot, a young mall at the head of the mode more than a century Mr. CHARLES DICKENS. ago, son to Lord Loftus......................................... Mr. Shadowoly Softlhead, a young gentleman from the city, friend aind Mr DOUGLAS JERROLD double to Lord Wilmot............................................. Mr. Hardman, a rising Member of Parliament, and adherent to Sir Rob-. Mr JOHN FORSTER ert Walpole....................................................... j Sir GeoffreyJ Thornside, a gentleman of good family and estate.....M............r. MARK LEMON. Mr. Goodenough Easy, in business, highly respectable, and a friend to. Mr E W ToPHAm. Sir Geoffrey.............................4........................ Lord Le Trimmer,........ Mr.PETER CUNNINGHAM. Sir Thomas Timid, Freqenters of Will's Coffe e-house.................... Mr. WESTLAND MARSTON. Cololnel Flint, )....... Mr. R. H. HORNE. Mr. Jacob Tonson, a bookseller..................................................Mr. CHARLES KNIGHT. Smart, valet to Lord Wilmot.........................................Mr. WILKIE COLLINS. Hodge, servant to Sir Geoffrey Thornside.........M....................Mr. JOHN TENNIEL. Paddy O'Sullivan, Mr. Fallen's landlord........................................Mr. ROBERT BELL. Mr. David Fallen, Grub Street, author and pamphleteer..........................Mr. AUGUSTUS EGG, A.R.A. Lord Stronybow, Sir John Bruina, Cofee-house Loungers, Drawers, Newsmen, Watchmen, etc., etc. WOMEN. Lucy, daughter to Sir Geoffrey Thornside..................................... Mrs. COMPTON. Barbara, daughter to Mr. Easy.................................................Miss ELLEN CHAPLIN. The Silent Lady of Deadman's Lane. The royal party paid the deepest attention to Lemon has all the ease of a finished performer, the progress of the play, Her Majesty frequent- with a capital relish for comedy and broad ly leading the applause. And when the cur- farce." tain fell upon the three hours' triumph, Her For the representations in the provinces a Majesty rose in her box, and, by the most cor- portable theatre was constructed, Messrs. Clarkdial demonstration of approval, " commanded" son Stanfield, David Roberts, Grieve, and oth(for such may be the word) the reappearance ers, painting the scenes, etc., which are said to of all the actors, again to receive the royal ap- have been very beautiful. The funds raised proval of their efforts. Nor did the Queen and were unfortunately, by a flaw in the act of ParPrince merely bestow applause. Her Majesty liament, unintentionally tied up for a number took seventeen places for herself, visitors, and of years; but on Saturday, July 29th, 1865, the suite; and, further, as a joint contribution of surviving members of the Fund proceeded to herself and the Prince, headed the list of sub- the neighborhood of Stevenage, near the magscrwiptions with ~150, making the sum total of nificent seat of the President, Lord Lytton, to ~225. It is said that the receipts of the night inspect three houses built in the Gothic style on exceeded ~1000. Another representation at the ground given by him for that purpose. An Devonshire House took place on the following enterprising publican in the vicinity had just Tuesday, the admission being ~2. The farce previously opened his establishment, which bore written for the occasion, called " Mrs. Nightin- the very appropriate sign of " Our Mutual gale's Diary," was performed, and Charles Friend "-Mr. Dickens's then latest work-and Dickens and Mark Lemon sustained the princi- caused considerable merriment. pal characters. A critic at the time remarked: So popular had Mr. Dickens become in the "Both these gentlemen are admirable actors. character of President or Chairman at the anIt is by no means amateur playing with them. niversaries of benevolent societies, that the garDickens seizes the strong points of a character, deners begged him to officiate for them at their bringing them out as effectively upon the stage dinner and meeting of the " Gardeners' Benevas his pen undyingly marks them upon paper. olent Institution." The affair came off on the 64 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 14th June, 1852, at the London Tavern. The children; and it was to his being so much in splendid display of flowers was the result of a their company that he doubtless owed his sailor very hearty combination of the very best efforts look. Mr. Arthur Locker, whose recollections of the best gardeners, and Mr. Dickens (to use we have before quoted, saw him only a few his own phrase) "burst into bloom" upon the weeks before his death, when he was "struck culture of flowers and fruits in such a way as to by his sailor-like aspect-a peculiarity observed astonish his auditory. by many other persons. Yet, except his two The "Household Words " Christmas number voyages to America, he had not been much on for 1852 was entitled "A Round of Stories by the sea, and was not, I believe, a particularly the Christmas Fire," told by A Poor Relation- good sailor. But we all know his sympathy A Child-Somebody —An Old Nurse - The for seamen, and I think, without being fanciful, " Boots "-A Grandfather-A Char-woman-A that his nautical air may in part be attributed Deaf Playmate-A Guest, and A Mother. to early Portsmouth associations." "Bleak House" ran through its course of numbers, and appeared in a complete form in August of the following year: CHAPTER XIX. " DEDICATED, ~ BLEAK HOUSE. "-LEIGH HUNT. AS A REMEMBRANCE OF OUR FRIENDLY UNION, Two years had now elapsed since the comple- TO MY COMPANIONS tion of "David Copperfield," and a new novel IN THE GUILD OF LITERATURE AND ART." was announced, to appear in the old familiar serial form, under the title of " Bleak House." The work was directed with considerable efIt is not generally known, we believe, that the fect against the Court of Chancery. Lawyers name "Bleak House " was taken from that tall, and others were loud in their complaints at the solitary brick house which stands away from the way in which their favorite court had been asothers, and rising far above them, at Broad- sailed; but the majority of legal readers, whethstairs-the house where for one, if not for two er then or even now practising, or connected in seasons, Mr. Dickens resided. This charming any shape or way with the court in questionlittle town was for many years Mr. Dickens's or even only as unfortunate suitors-can testify favorite sea-side resort-in fact, " Our Water- as to the enormous waste of time, and the costing-place," as he called it in an article in ly procedure therein. Matters have of late "Household Words" some years since. The years somewhat improved, but a great deal yet house in question is a square, sullen structure- remains to be remedied. hard and bleak, and of course it is now one of The author, in his preface, took the opportuthe lions of the place, the guide-books and local nity of defending himself from the remarks photographers setting great store by it. Just made upon the supposititious suit of Jarndyce below Bleak House, on the point that runs out vrs. Jarndyce,* and Krook's death by spontato form the harbor, is the Tartar Frigate, the neous combustion. The latter incident excited cosiest little sailor's inn, selling the strongest much controversy at the time, Mr. G. H. Lewes of tobacco, and the strongest-smelling rum that opposing the idea strongly; but Dickens mainis to be met with around the coast. Close by is tained his ground, and referred to several wella rope-house, decorated with wonderful figure- authenticated cases in support of the theory. heads, each having a wild story of shipwreck to One of the characters in the book, Harold tell. As you pass the little Tartar Frigate, with Skimpole, an incarnation of a canting and hypits red blinds and little door, you know what ocritical scoundrel, whom one longs to kick, was are the sounds that are to be heard there any fastened upon as the impersonation of that kind night during the winter. The very walls must and genial writer, the late Leigh Hunt. Those have long ago learnt "Tom Bowling" and the who had the good fortune to know him person"Bay of Biscay " by heart, and would now be ally indignantly refuted the calumny, and, like very thankful for a fresh song. Dickens knew the little inn very well, and, under the title of * Suggested, it is believed, by the celebrated case "The Tartar Frigate," he gave in "'Household of the Jennings property. Dickens had previously brought an antagonist upon himself in the person of Words," some years since, an admirable descrip- Sir Edward Sugden (now Lord St. Leonards), in contion of this little town with a tiny harbor. The sequence of an article in " Household Words," headed great novelist was fond of genuine sailors-the "Martyrs in Chancery," on the offense of Contempt of Court, and replied to by the above eminent lawyer, hardy, good-tempered fellows of Deal and in a letter to the "Times" (7th January, 1851), giving Broadstairs-brave as lions, and guileless as a true version of the case therein referred to. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 65 other unfounded rumors, the matter died out, other things, that'sort of gay and ostentauntil, after his death, the idea was again bruited tious willfulness' in the humoring of a subforth. ject, which had many times delighted him, and Mr. Thornton Hunt (his eldest son), in pre- impressed him as being unspeakably whimsical paring a new edition of his father's famous "Au- and attractive, was the airy quality he wanted tobiography," prefixed an introductory chapter, for the man he invented. Partly for this reain which the following passages occur: son, and partly (he has since often grieved to "His animation, his sympathy with what was think) for the pleasure it afforded him to find gay and pleasurable, his avowed doctrine of cul- that delightful manner reproducing itself under tivating cheerfulness, were manifest on the sur- his hand, he yielded to the temptation of too face, and could be appreciated by those who often making the character speak like his old knew him in society, most probably even exag- friend. He no more thought, God forgive him! gerated as salient traits, on which he himself in- that the admired original would ever be charged sisted with a sort of gay and ostentatious willful- with the imaginary vices of the fictitious creaness. ture than he has himself ever thought of charg"The anxiety to recognize the right of oth- ing the blood of Desdemona and Othello on the ers, the tendency to'refine,' which was noted by innocent Academy model who sat for Iago's leg an early school companion, and the propensity in the picture. Even as to the mere occasionto elaborate every thought, made him, along al manner, he meant to be so cautious and conwith the direct argument by which he sustained scientious that he privately referred the proofhis own conviction, recognize and almost admit sheets of the first number of that book to two inall that might be said on the opposite side. dimate literary friends of Leigh Hunt (both still "It is most desirable that his qualities should living), and altered the whole of that part of be known as they were; for such deficiencies as the text on their discovering too strong a rehe had are the honest explanation of his mis- semblance to his'way.' takes; while, as the reader may see from his "He can not see the son lay this wreath on writing and his conduct, they are not, as the the father's tomb, and leave him to the possibilfaults of which he was accused would be, in- ity of ever thinking that the present words might compatible with the noblest faculties both of have righted the father's memory and were left head and heart. To know Leigh Hunt as he unwritten. He can not know that his own son was, was to hold him in reverence and love." may have to explain his father when folly or Dickens immediately, in a number of "All malice can wound his heart no more, and leave the Year Round," under the head of " Leigh this task undone." Hunt-a Remonstrance," made this statement: Mr. Thornton Hunt, alluding to his father's " Four or five years ago, the writer of these incapacity to understand figures, frankly admitlines was much pained by accidentally encoun- ted, " His so-called improvidence resulted parttering a printed statement,'that Mr. Leigh Hunt ly from actual disappointment in professional was the original of Harold Skimpole in Bleak undertakings, partly from a real incapacity to House.' The writer of these lines is the author understand any objects when they were reduced of that book. The statement came from Amer- to figures,* and partly from a readiness of selfica. It is no disrespect to that country, in sacrifice, which was the less to be guessed by which the writer has, perhaps, as many friends any one who knew him, since he seldom alluded and as true an interest as any man that lives, to it, and never, except in the vaguest and most good-humoredly to state the fact that he has unintelligible terms, hinted at its real nature or now and then been the subject of paragraphs in extent." transatlantic newspapers more surprisingly des- Very recently, and since the decease of the titute of all foundation in truth than the wildest great novelist, a similar statement about Skimdelusions of the wildest lunatics. For reasons pole and Leigh Hunt, made in the columns of born of this experience, he let the thing go by. a daily journal,t was thus replied to by Mr. Ed" But since Mr. Leigh Hunt's death the state- mund Ollier, an old friend of the deceased esment has been revived in England. The deli- sayist: "Dickens himself corrected the misapcacy and generosity evinced in its revival are prehension in a paper in'.All the Year Round,' for the rather late consideration of its revivers. * Several anecdotes have been circulated relative to the late Lord Macaulay's dislike to mathematics, charms of manner which are remembered in the and, acting on this distaste, he declined to compete wvords we have quoted were remembered by the for honors, but was, in consideration of his great proauthor of the work of fiction in question when ficiency in other studies, elected a fellow of his colauthor of the work of fiction in question \when lege (Trinity, Cambridge). lie drew the character in question. Above all t " Daily News," 10th June, 1870. 5 66 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. towards the close of 1859, after Hunt's death; lice Court, and was present both at her trial and and during Hunt's life, and after the publication her execution. Her broken English, her imof'Bleak House,' he wrote a most genial paper patient gestures, and her volubility, are imitaabout him in' Household Words.' It is also ted in the novel with marvellous exactness. within my knowledge that he expressed to Leigh The character of Turveydrop, we may menHunt personally his regret at the Skimpole mis- tion, was always believed to portray " the first take." gentleman in Europe," his Sacred Majesty King Leigh Hunt himself, in confessing his inabil- George the Fourth. ity at school to master the multiplication-table, naively adds, " Nor do I know it to this day!" And again: "I equally disliked Dr. Franklin, author of' Poor Richard's Almanac,' a heap, as CHAPTER XX. it appeared to rme, of'scoundrel maxims.'* I think I now appreciate Dr. Franklin as I ought; AMERICAN PUBLISHERS.-THE FIRST READING. but, although I can see the utility of such pub- As many statements have recently been made lications as his almanac for a rising commercial in this country and in the United States restate, and hold it useful as a memorandum to specting Mr. Dickens's relations to the Ameriuncalculating persons like myself, who happen can publishers of his works, we may say that to live in an old one, I think there is no neces- "Bleak House " was his first novel issued there sity for it in commercial nations long establish- in profits arising from the sale of which he pared, and that it has no business in others who do ticipated. not found their happiness in that sort of power. Up to the publication of "' Dombey and Son" Franklin, with all his abilities, is but at the he had received nothing from America. It was head of those who think that man lives'by understood that he was rather more angry with bread alone.'" Messrs. Harper & Brothers - subsequently his And again, in his " Journal," a few years recognized publishers-than with any other transago, that gentleman, after narrating several atlantic house. They had just begun publishing agreeable hardships inflicted upon him, says: their "L New Monthly Magazine," and the pub"A little before this, a friend in a manufactur- lishers of the "International Magazine " were ing town was informed that I was a terrible contesting with the Harpers the first place in speculator in the money markets! I who was American periodical literature. After a severe never in a market of any kind but to buy an and indecisive struggle of a year, one of the conapple or a flower, and who could not dabble in ductors of the "International" conceived an money business if I would, from sheer ignorance idea which, if successfully carried out, would of their language!" have given the victory to that Magazine: one Just at this time other characters in Mr. of its publishers was going abroad, and was. auDickens's novel were selected by gossips as rep- thorized to secure firom Mr. Dickens " advanced resenting this or that distinguished individual. sheets " of his next novel for publication in the Thus Boythorne was affirmed to be the ener- I" International." getic Mr. Walter Savage Landor. Miss Mar- The steamer on which he sailed had hardly tineau came forward in her own person to take got out of sight before Dr. Griswold, of the the cap of Mrs. Jellaby, and to scold Mr. Dick- " International," had given to the "Evening ens for his allusions to " blue-stockingism " and Post " a sensational paragraph, stating that Mr. "Borioboola Gha." Whether there was any Dickens had been engaged towrite for the "Infoundation for these parallels between living in- ternational Magazine " a new novel, for which dividuals.and the characters in "Bleak House," he was to be paid $2000-a sum considerably it is not now likely the world will ever know, larger in 1850 than in 1867-and then considbut there can be no doubt about one of the ered enormous for the favor demanded. The characters in that book-the French lady's watchful Harpers sent out in the next steamer maid. Mr. Dickens made no secret about her a messenger who went directly to Mr. Dickens, representing Mrs. Manning the murderess. In- and found him ready for any reasonable offer. deed he attended at her examination at the Po- The "Post " with DIr. Griswold's paragraph being shown him, he at once decided to hold the * Thomson's phrase in his "Castle of Indolence," Yankees to the terms therein set forth, and speaking of a miserly money-getter: agreed for the $2000 to furnish Harper & Broth"'A penny saved is a penny got;' ers with " advanced sheets " of the next novel, Firm to this scoundrel maxim keepeth he, Nor of its rigor will he bate a jot, which was the present one of "Bleak House." Till he hath quench'd his fire and banished his pot." The messenger of the "International" had LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. (;7 made the very great blunder of going to Mr. In her adieus she said: "I have omitted, Dickens's publisher instead of to Mr. Dickens however, that I went with Lady Hatherton to himself. The publisher had told him that Mr. call on Mr. and Mrs. Dickens, and was sorry to Dickens was busy about private theatricals, find him too unwell to be able to see me. Mrs. which would probably absorb his attention for Dickens, who was busy in attending him, also an indefinite period, and that no new novel was excused herself, and we saw her sister." in contemplation. In fact, it is not improbable We now come to an important event in Mr. that, on account of the bargain with the Har- Dickens's career-his first public "reading." pers, " Bleak House " was written, or at least Various towns claim the honor of being the first published, before it otherwise would have been. to invite the great novelist to read to its inhabIt is said that Mr. Dickens has received up- itants; but we believe Peterborough was the wards of $100,000 on the sale of his works in real scene of his first appearance in the capaciAmerica. ty of a public reader. Reading aloud, however, Early in the new year Mr. Dickens paid a to the circle of his household, and at those visit to the Midland counties. Birmingham Hampstead dinners, had often been a source of has always been very partial to our great novel- gratification to his. friends. The first allusion ist, and he in turn has been equally partial to to reading his works in public was made at BirBirmingham. One of his earliest speeches was mingham, 6th January, 1853, when he returned delivered here, and for services rendered to the thanks for a present that had been made to him. town a public presentation of a diamond ring He then promised to come next December to and a silver salver was made to him, in the give two or three readings, from his own books, rooms of the society of Artists there, on January on behalf of the Midland Institute; suggesting 6, 1853. A banquet was subsequently given to that the novelty of such a proceeding might him, and Mr. Dickens made three speeches on produce something towards the funds of that the occasion. admirable institution. A daily journal* with In May of this year Dickens was the guest of which Mr. Dickens was formerly connected has, the Lord Mayor. His lordship had invited a however, recently asserted that it was at Chatnumber of literary celebrities to dine with him, ham that our author made his first public apincluding Mrs. Beecher Stowe and her husband, pearance; but we believe that in the quiet litand Dickens was called upon to respond to Mr. tle city of Peterborough, some few months beJustice Talfourd's toast, "Anglo-Saxon Liter- fore the time for the Birmingham reading had ature." arrived, Mr. Dickens essayed his first public Mrs. Stowe, in her " Sunny Memories of reading, he himself going down a day or two Foreign Lands," alludes to the occasion, and before to superintend the stage, and those "efto the author of' Bleak House," remarking: fects" which, however small, he never neglected. " Directly opposite me was Mr. Dickens, whom Whether Birmingham, Peterborough, or ChatI now beheld for the first time, and was sur- ham can claim the honor, there can be no quesprised to see looking so young. Mr. Justice tion about the result of Mr. Dickens's efforts in Talfourd made all'usion to the author of' Uncle this new line. It was an undoubted success, Tom's Cabin' and Mr. Dickens, speaking of and was soon repeated for other charitable inboth as having employed fiction as a means of stitutions in various parts of England. At Birawakening the attention of the respective coun- mingham over ~300 were collected. Mr. Dicktries to the condition of the oppressed and stf- ens used to tell some amusing stories of his fering classes. We rose from table between "reading" experiences in the provinces. At eleven and twelve o'clock-that is, we ladies- one town in the North, a door-keeper's opinion and went into the drawing-room, where I was was invited by a gentleman who was entering presented to Mrs. Dickens and several other the room to hear the second "reading" of the ladies. Mrs. Dickens is a good specimen of a course. truly English woman; tall, large, and well-de- "Very fair, sir," was the reply; " very fair; veloped, with fine, healthy color, and an air he does not read amiss; but his attitudes are of frankness, cheerfulness, and reliability. A poor, sir. I think nothing of his attitudes." friend whispered to me that she was as observ- It is tolerably well known that our author neving and fond of humor as her husband. After er experienced those bashful, sensations which a while the gentlemen came back to the draw- most persons experience when they come before ing-room, and 41 had a few moments of very the public for the first time. The reader's own pleasant friendly conversation with Mr. Dickens. recollections of rising to respond to toasts, even They are both people that one could not know a little of without desiring to know more." "* The Daily News," 11th June, 1870. 68 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. in a private circle, will suggest the feeling which on such subjects, but proclaim a great truth, Mr. Dickens never knew. Mr. George Hodder which has perhaps not been sufficiently attendsays: " I once asked Mr. Dickens if he ever felt ed to by some of the dreary and dogmatic pronervous in public. fessors of what has been called the dismal science: "'Not in the least,' was the answer.'The'I My satire is against those who see figures and first time I took the chair, I felt as much confi- averages, and nothing else-the representatives dence as if I had done the thing a hundred of the wickedest and most enormous vice of this times.' time-the men who, through long years to "At a dinner to his eldest son, who was go- come, will do more to damage the really useful ing out to China, the young man became warm- truths of political economy than I could do (if ed with the wine; and Dickens, in returning I tried) in my whole life-the addled heads who thanks when his own health was drunk, said would take the average of cold in the Crimea that after so good a dinner' a little transaction during twelve months as a reason for clothing in tea would do his son a world of good."' a soldier in nankeen on a night when he would It was always this happy readiness at re- be frozen to death in fur-and who would comsponse, this being able to reply on the moment, fort the laborer, in travelling twelve miles a day that made him, as he certainly was, the best af- to and from his work, by telling him that the ter-dinner speaker in England. There is an average distance of one inhabited place from anexquisite delicacy in his treatment of an ordi- other on the whole area of England is not nary subject, and in the selection of words, more than four miles. Bah! what have you which, if possessed by any other speaker in this to do with these?'" country-Mr. Bright, perhaps, excepted-is cer- An amusing parody or skit on the tale by the tainly not shown in any recent efforts of their late Robert Brough appeared in " Our Misceloratory. As has been remarked, some of his lany," a work the joint production of that laspeeches are equal to the finest pages of his mented writer and Mr. Edmund Yates. At the printed works. Strand Theatre, in the August following, a version was placed on the stage, and was well received, all the melancholy parts being cut out, CHAPTER XXI. and all the humor heightened as much as possiHARD TIMES."-" SEVEN POble! the denoutement being somewhat different " HARD) TIMES."- " SEVEN POOR TRAVELLERS.~ to Mr. Dickens's! The new bill for closing -' HOLLY-TREE INN.'~ the public-houses creating great excitement IN August, 1854, Mr. Dickens published his and discussion at the time, Mr. Gradgrind was "Hard Times," which had previously appeared made to exhibit strong animosity and hostility in the weekly pages of " Household Words." It to the proposed measure. It may be mentionwas "Inscribed to Thomas Carlyle," for whom ed that an adaptation was performed at Astley's Mr. Dickens ever felt the warmest admiration. Theatre, with the title of " Under the Earth; This work is treated differently to any of his or, the Sons of Toil," as recently as April and other books, and hardly sustains his reputation, May, 1867. being the least read and admired of his numer- It was in this year, on the 13th of March, ous fictions. The plot is meagre and aimless. that Dickens lost his dear friend, Sir Thomas The personages are too often exaggerated and Noon Talfourd-better known as Serjeant Taloverdrawn; the design, apparently, being to fourd, the friend of Charles Lamb, and of many place facts, figures, science, and political econo- other eminent men of letters in his day. m! in any thing but a favorable or correct That Dickens keenly felt the loss, we know light. The education received by the Grad- from various passages in the life of his deceased grinds is preposterous. Mr. Charles Knight, friend. How beautiful is this description of the in his "Passages of a Working Life," said: dead man's virtues-how delicately are his "Before I published, in 1854, my volume of graces dwelt upon!'Knowledge is Power,' I sent a copy to my "The chief delight of his life was to give deeminent friend (Mr. Charles Dickens), with light to others. His nature was so exquisitely somewhat of apprehension, for he was then kind, that to be kind was his highest happiness. publishing his'tHard Times.' I said that I was Those who had the privilege of seeing him in afraid that he would set me down as a cold- his own home, when his public successes were hearted political economist. His reply, of the greatest-so modest, so contented with little 30th of January, 1854, was very characteristic; things, so interested in humble persons and and I venture to extract it, as it may not only humble efforts, so surrounded by children and correct some erroneous notions as to his opinions young people, so adored in remembrance of a LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 69 domestic generosity and greatness of heart too nock, the old light-house-keeper, to perfection; sacred to be unveiled here, can never forget the Miss Dickens representing Phoebe; Mr. Egg, a pleasure of that sight." rough Sailor; and Mr. Mark Lemon, Jacob "The Seven Poor Travellers" formed the Bell. title of the Christmas number for 1854. It In October, 1855-prior to his departure to was one of the most popular of the series of America-a dinner was given to Mr. ThackeChristmas stories. The idea was that Dickens ray at the London Tavern, of which one who had staid one Christmas-eve at the Poor Trav- was present gave the following account: "The eller's House at Rochester (founded by good Thackeray dinner was a triumph. Covers, we old Richard Watts*) in company with six poor are assured, were laid for sixty; and sixty and travellers, and entertained them with roast beef, no more sat down precisely at the minute turkey, and punch from the neighboring inn, named to do honor to the great novelist. Sixwhen each in turn told a story. His own, the ty very hearty shakes of the hand did Thackehistory of Richard Doubledick, is one of the ray receive from sixty friends on that occasion; most impressive and beautiful stories ever writ- and hearty cheers from sixty vociferous and ten. friendly tongues followed the Chairman's (Mr. On January 15th following, he presided, at Charles Dickens's) proposal of his health, and the London Tavern, at the Annual Dinner of of wishes for his speedy and successful return the Commercial Travellers' School at Wan- among us. Dickens was never happier. He stead. This was the occasion when he made a spoke as if he was fully conscious that it was a most amusing and sprightly speech upon "Com- great occasion, and that the absence of even one mercials." On 27th June, in the same year, reporter was a matter of congratulation, affordhe delivered a telling speech upon " Reform" ing ampler room to unbend. The table was in at Drury Lane Theatre. the shape of a horse-shoe, having two ViceIt was during this year, in July, that the Chairmen; and this circumstance was wrought much-talked-of private theatricals at Campden up and played with by Dickens in the true Sam House were set on foot by Dickens, for the ben- Weller and Charles Dickens manner. Thackefit of the Brompton Consumption Hospital. eray, who is far from what is called a good The piece performed was the "Light-house," speaker, outdid himself. There was his usual a thrilling melodrama, written by Mr. Wilkie Hesitation; but this hesitation becomes his Collins. Dickens took the part of Aaron Gur- manner of speaking and his matter, and is never unpleasant to his hearers, though it is, we * The house appointed for the reception of the poor are assured, most irksome to himself. This travellers is situated on the north side of the High speech was full of pathos, and humor, and oddStreet, adjoining to the custom-house, and is probably the original building. A very considerable sum was ity, with bits of prepared parts imperfectly recexpended by the mayor and citizens on its repair in ollected, but most happily made good by the 1771. Agreeably to the benevolent design of the do- felicities of the passing moment. Like the nor, poor travellers have lodging and four-pence each; and that this charity may be more generally known,'Last Minstrel'the following inscription is fixed over the door: "RICHARD WATTS, ESQ.,'Each blank in faithless memory void, IS WILL DATED22 Au., 159, The poet's glowing thought supplied.' - BYu HIS WILL DATED 22 AVQ., 1579, FOUNDED THIS CIHARITY, FOR SIX rooT TRAVELLERS, It was a speech to remember for its earnestness WHO, NOT BEING ROGUES, OR PROCTORS, of purpose and its undoubted originality. Then MAY RECEIVE GEATIS, FOE ONE NIGHT, the Chairman quitted, and many near and at a LODGING, ENTERTAINMENT, * 4AND FOUR-PENCE EACH. distance quitted with him. Thackeray was on IN TESTIMONY OF HIS MUNIFICENCE, the -move with the Chairman, when, inspired IN HONOR OF HIS MEMORY, bv the moment, Jerrold took the chair, and AND INI)DUCEMENT TO HIS EXAMPLE, NATHL. HOOD, ESQ., THE PRESENT MAYOR, Thackeray remained. Who is to chronicle HAS CAUSED THIS STONE, what now passed?-what passages of witGRATEFULLY TO HE RENEWED GRANDTEULL INCRIENEWED what neat and pleasant sarcastic speeches in A-ND INSoRIBED, A.D. 1771." proposing healths-what varied and pleasant, The History of Rochester, 1772. aye, and at times, sarcastic acknowledgments? By direction of the Court of Chancery, the large in- Up to the time when Dickens left, a good recome derived from the property bequeathed for the support of the house (being now ~3500 per annum) porter might have given all, and with ease, to was, in pursuance of a scheme settled in 1855, applied future ages; but there could be no reporting in building of almshouses for ten men and ten women. what followed. There were words too nimble The result has been the erection of a splendid edifice, in the Elizabethan style, with two magnificent gate- and too full of flame for a dozen Gurneys, all ways. ears, to catch and preserve. Few will forget 70 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. that night. There was an'air of wit' about to the London boards. A much better version the room for three days after. Enough to was produced at the Adelphi, Mr. Benjamin make the two next companies, though down- Webster playing, with all those peculiar and right fools, right witty." delicate touches of nature he is capable of, the The ensuing month an appeal was made on r61e of Cobbs, " the Boots." behalf of Johnson's god-daughter, signed by nineteen eminent literary men, including Dickens, Hallam, Disraeli, Carlyle, Thackeray, Milman, and Macaulay. A large sum of money CHAPTER XXII. was raised, but the recipient did not live many " LITTLE DORRIT."-TAVISTOCK HOUSE THEATyears to enjoy the annuity secured for her, and RICALS. this quaint advertisement appeared in the' Times" of the 18th of January, 1860: THE leading events in our author's career from the time we now begin to approach will "On the 15th inst., at No. 5 Minerva Place, Hatcham, be fresh in the memories of most readers. In S.E., Ann Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the late Mauritius Lowe, Esq., of the Royal Academy, Gold Medal- the Christmas week of this year the first numlist, and god-daughter of the late Samuel Johnson, ber of" Little Dorrit " appeared, and on its comLL.D., aged 82." pletion, twenty months later, was issued by "The Late Saimuel Johnson, LL.D.," sounds Messrs. Bradbury & Evans, with illustrations by strange in these days! "Phiz," and dedicated to Clarkson Stanfield, Another appeal to aid in a philanthropic R.A., the eminent landscape-painter. This cause was made to our author in the Christmas work was written with the express intention of week, and again he expressed his readiness to showing the procrastination and formal routine assist. of the Government administration of business, He read his " Christmas Carol" to an im- happily designated as "The Circumlocution mense audience at the Mechanics' Institute, Office," and the Tite Barnacle's family, who Sheffield, in aid of its funds, and we are told in impede the machinery by their inefficiency and the papers of the time that at the termination supercilious know-nothing propensities. the Mayor presented him with a very handsome Soon after it was published, Lord Lytton untable service of cutlery, including, we are fur- wittingly furnished a specimen of the mode in ther told, with a circumstantiality which its which the dispatch of public business is conamusing-"a pair of fish-carvers, and a couple ducted. Receiving an important deputation at of razors," in the name of the inhabitants, for the Colonial Office (when he was Minister), it his generous help and assistance. In thanking appeared that, though a memorial had been sent him, Dickens said that, in an earnest desire to in, and due notice given, he had heard nothing leave imaginative and popular literature some- of the matter till five minutes before, if indeed he thing more closely associated than he found it, had heard of it at all; in explanation of which at once with the private homes and the public he somewhat naively remarked that in such ofrights of the English people, "he should be fices " papers of importance passed through sevfaithful to death."* eral departments, and required time for inspecThis Christmas the celebrated number, en- tion-first they were sent to the Emigration titled " The Holly-Tree Inn," came out. The Board, then to another office, and then to the best story in it-of course by Dickens-was Secretary of State, who might refer it to some "The Boots," a charming sketch, the writing other department." One can not fail to obdelightfully fresh and vivid. It recorded the serve the extreme vagueness of the final restdroll adventures of a young gentleman of the ing-place of the unfortunate document: " some tender age of eight running off with his sweet- other department." What other department? heart, aged seven, to Gretna Green. This is what Mr. Clennam and his mechanical Mr. Johnstone dramatized it for the Strand partner were always " wanting to know." Theatre, and, we may mention, it was the means The work met with an immense sale in the of introducing the now celebrated Miss Herbert serial form, but it is not now so popular as some of the other works of Mr. Dickens. The story * Dickens, in a letter to Charles Knight, in 1844, was dramatized, and well represented at the alluding to the appearance of "Knight's Weekly Vol- Strand Theatre umes," wrote him: "If I can ever be of the feeblest use in advancing a We come now to note Dickens's change of resiproject so intimately connected with an end on which dence from Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, my heart is set-the liberal education of the people- to Gad's Hill Place, Kent, or, as the great man I shall be sincerely glad. All good wishes and success attend you." himself always wrote it, with that amplitude LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 71 and unmistakable clearness which made him "'Hallo!' said I to the very queer small write, not only the day of the month, but the boy,' where do you live?' day of the week, in full at the head of his let- "'At Chatham,' says he. ters-Gad's Hill Place, Hiyhamn by Rochester, "' What do you do there?' says I. IKent. How he came to live here is pleasantly "'I go to school,' says he. told by a fiiend.* "I took him up in a moment, and we went "Though not born at Rochester, Mr. Dick- on. ens spent some portion of his boyhood there; "Presently the very queer small boy says, and was wont to tell how his father the late'This is Gad's Hill we are coming to, where Mr. John Dickens, in the course of a country Falstaff went out to rob those travellers and ran ramble, pointed out to him as a child the house away.' at Gad's Hill Place, saying,'There, my boy; "' You know something about Falstaff, eh?' if you work and mind your book, you will, per- said I. haps, one day live in a house like that.' This " All about him,' said the very queer small speech sunk deep, and in after years, and in the boy. course of his many long pedestrian rambles "'I am old (I am nine) and I read all sorts through the lanes and, roads of the pleasant of books. But do let us stop at the top of the Kentish country, Mr. Dickens came to regard hill and look at the house there, if you please!' this Gad's Hill House lovingly, and to wish "'You admire that house?' said I. himself its possessor. This seemed an impos- "'Bless you, sir!' said the very queer small sibility. The property was so held that there boy,'when I was not more than half as old as was no likelihood of its ever coming into the nine, it used to be a treat for me to be brought market; and so Gad's Hill came to be alluded to look at it. And now I am nine, I come by to jocularly, as representing a fancy which was myself to look at it. And ever since I can recpleasant enough in dream-land, but would nev- ollect, my father, seeing me so fond of it, has er be realized. often said to me, " If you were to be very perse" Meanwhile the years rolled on, and Gad's vering and were to work hard, you might some Hill became almost forgotten. Then a further day come to live in it." Though that's imposlapse of time, and Mr. Dickens felt a strong sible!' said the very queer small boy, drawing a wish to settle in the country, and determined to, low breath, and now staring at the house out of let Tavistock House. About this time, and by window with all his might. the strangest coincidences, his intimate friend "I was rather amazed to be told this by the and close ally, Mr. W. H. Wills, chanced to sit very queer small boy, for that house happens to next to a lady at a London dinner-party, who be may house, and I have reason to believe that remarked, in the course of conversation, that a what he said was true." house and grounds had come into her possession Of " Gad's Hill'~ haunted greenness," a modof which she wanted to dispose. The reader ern pIoet well says: will guess the rest. The house was in Kent, "There is a subtle spirit in its air; was not far from Rochester, had this and that The very soul of humor homes it there; distinguishing feature which made it like Gad's So is it now: of old so has it been; Hill and like no other place;* and the upshot Shakspeare from off it caught the rarest scene That ever shook with laughs the sides of Care; of Mr. Wills's dinner-table chitchat with a lady F:alstaff's fie instinct for a Prince grew where whom he had never met before was, that That hill-what years since! —show'd its Kentish Charles Dickens realized the dream of his green. Fit home for England's world-loved Dickens." youth, and became the possessor of Gad's Hill." The purchase was made in the spring of 1856. Before Dickens left Tavistock House, where In the "Uncommercial Traveller," under the he had resided for many years, and where " Bleak head of " Travelling Abroad," No. VII., Dick- House" and " Little Dorrit " were written, he ens makes this mention of it: gave some dramatic performances which elicited " So smooth was the old high-road, and so the warmest praise from those who had the good fresh were the horses, and so fast went I, that fortune to be present. A large room had been it was midway between Gravesend and Roches- fitted up with stage, scenery, and foot-lights, and ter, and the widening river was bearing the ships, his friend Wilkie Collins had written an entirewhite-sailed, or black-smoked, out to sea, when ly new drama of the most romantic character I noticed by the way-side a very queer small for the occasion. The title was "The Frozen boy. Deep," and the rigors of the Arctic regions were scenically portrayed by Clarkson Stanfield, R.A., * "Daily News," 15th June, 180. and Mr. Danson. The following rough outline 72 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. will give some idea of the piece as then perform- Burnham and Frank Aldersley. Dickens's ed. First, there was a beautiful scene in Kent, personation of Wardour required the best acting painted by Mr. Telbin, in which the members of of a well-practised performer. His acting surthe family of Captain Ebsworth and Lieutenants prised all who witnessed it. The character was Crayford and Steventon, who are on board cer- a fervid, powerful, and distinct individuality; tain vessels engaged in an expedition at the not unlike, in some respects, Mr. B. Webster's North Pole, are assembled, and disclose the tragic impersonations. Mrs. Inchbald's farce of sufferings and the suspense by which they are " Animal Magnetism " concluded the evening's agonized during the absence of their rela- amusements, Mr. Dickens acting the Doctor, and tives. These consist of five young ladies-Mrs. Mr. Mark Lemon Pedrillo. Steventon (Miss Helen), Rose Ebsworth (iMiss On the Wednesday following, Buckstone's Kate), Lucy Crayford (Miss Hoygarth), Clara well-known farce of "Uncle John" was perBurnham (Miss Mary), and the Nurse Esther formed, Mr. Dickens acting the vigorous old (Mrs. Wills), with their Maid (Miss Martha). gentleman of seventy to perfection. RepresenClara Burnham has two lovers-one Richard tations subsequently took place at the Gallery Wardour, performed by M2lr. Charles Dickens of Illustration, and at the Free Trade Hall, himself, and the other Frank Aldersley (Mr. Manchester, for charitable purposes. On the Wilkie Collins), to whom she is engaged. The 27th October, 1864, it was publicly produced at former has vowed a terrible vengeance against the Olympic Theatre, and met with a very enhis rival. And now that they are both on the thusiastic reception. Polar Seas together, Clara's fears are awakened, The death of Douglas Jerrold, in June, 1867, and haunt her imagination continually. To was keenly felt by Dickens. The two friends deepen the impression still more, Nurse Esther had been on the most intimate terms for many pretends to second-sight, and predicts the most years, as the few extracts we have already given fatal catastrophe. from pleasant letters will show. The funeral Doubts are entertained of the character of was at Norwood Cemetery. The coffin was of Wardour from his strange conduct. This arises plain oak, and on each side were the initials from " the pangs of despised love," with which " D. J." The pall-bearers were Charles Dickhis heart still wrestles. As yet he knows not ens, W. M. Thackeray, Charles Knight, Horace who his rival may be, and does not suspect that Mayhew, Mark Lemon, Monckton Milnes (Lord he dwells in the same hut with him. Lieuten- Houghton), and Mr. Bradbury. A great gathant Crayford, a bluff, hearty sailor (Mark Lemn- ering of artists and literary men surrounded the on), takes a strong interest in him, and believes grave. in him, and believes in his inherent goodness. With his usual thoughtfulness and practical But at length his faith gives way; for, in a kindness, he soon ascertained the position in well-managed conversation, he penetrates the which poor Mrs. Jerrold, the widow, had been state of Wardour's soul, and forms of his tend- left. He found, as he had really suspectedencies the most awful judgment. Soon after for few men of letters were such good business Wardour makes the discovery that Aldersley is men as Dickens-that a helping hand would be his rival, and his resolution is formed to accom- necessary, and he then, in conjunction with plish the vengeance on which he had so long Mark Lemon, Albert Smith, Arthur Smith, and brooded. We next find all the party, with the other friends, formed a committee to raise a young ladies, on the shore of Newfoundland. fund, which was to be known as the "Jerrold But Wardour and Aldersley are for a while Fund." missing, and Crayford is haunted with a horri- "Dickens entered warmly into the matter," ble suspicion that the latter has been made the remarks one who knew him; " and on the day victim of the former. Wardour in rags, wild of Jerrold's funeral, after dining with two or as a maniac, rushes into the cave. He claims three friends, of whom the informant was one, food and drink, part of which he takes, and at the Garrick Club, drew up the programme of carefully preserves the rest in a wallet. Cray- a series of entertainments, which was that same ford at last recognizes him-endeavors to seize night taken round to the editors of the various him-but the madman dashes away, soon to re- newspapers for insertion." Arthur Smith was turn with poor exhausted Aldersley in his arms. the honorary secretary, and an entertainment, He had become the preserver of the man whom including the performance of "The Frozen he had seduced to the most desolate spots on the Deep," was given at the Egyptian Hall, on 4th Arctic snows for the purpose of destroying. July, at which the Queen, Prince Albert, and He makes full reparation for his intended crime; the royal family were present. Other performand, ere his death, blesses the union-of Clara ances took place elsewhere, and readings were LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 73 given by Thackeray and Dickens at St. Mar- the English language, except by isolated and tin's Hall, and a large sum of money was the partial translations, published without my auresult. thority and control, and from which I have deThe occasion for these charitable perform- rived no personal advantage. The present pubances excited considerable outcry and disappro- lication has been proposed to me by MM. bation in literary circles, Jerrold being esteemed Hachette & Co., and by M. Charles Lahure, in to be a prosperous man, as he received a very terms which do honor to their elevated, liberal, large salary as editor of " Lloyd's Weekly News- and generous character. It has been executed paper." Dickens and Arthur Smith at once with great care; and the numerous difficulties communicated to the papers the result of their it presents have been vanquished with uncomlabors, viz., the purchase of an annuity for the mon ability, intelligence, and perseverance. I widow and her unmarried daughter, and added am proud of being thus presented to the French that they had considered their personal respon- people, whom I sincerely love and honor." sibility a sufficient refutation to any untrue or It must have been a great source of satisfacpreposterous statements that had obtained circu- tion to him to have known that not only in lation as to property asserted to have been left Western Europe and America were his books, by Mr. Jerrold, and that unless they had thor- with their kindly teachings anrd influences for oughly known, and beyond all doubt assured good, widely read by the common people, but themselves, that their exertions were needed by that as far away as Russia there existed a transthe dearest objects of Mr. Jerrold's love, those lation of Dickens's works, all of which are very exertions would never have been heard of. popular. Lord Palmerston, it may be added, granted to "Who among us "-exclaims a writer in the widow an annual pension of ~100 out of the " Vedomoste," one of the leading journals of Civil List. St. Petersburg-" does not know the geniusIt was at the anniversary dinner of the W'are- who has not read the novels of Dickens? There housemen and Clerks' Schools, held in Novem- was a time when the Russian translators of forber of this year, that Dickens made his well- eign novels did almost nothing else than transknown speech upon " Schools," when he told late the charming productions of Boz! The his hearers of all the schools he did not like, journals and newspapers rivalled each other in and, after a long enumeration of these, he de- being the first to communicate his last work. scribed to them the one he did like. Every word he wrote was offered to the RusThe Christmas number of " Household sian reading community in five or six different Words" was entitled " Perils of certain Eng- periodicals, and as soon as the concluding part lish Prisoners," and was founded on the In- of each of his novels appeared in England a dian Mutiny. It was in three chapters, "The variety of St. Petersburg and Moscow editions Island of Silver Store," "The Prison in the bore the fame of Dickens over all the East of Woods," and " The Rafts on the River," sup- Europe. Every scrap of Dickens "-exclaims posed to be narrated by Gilbert Davis, private the Northern critic with the keen appetite of in the Royal Marines. It is, as may be remem- his climate-" has been devoured. With the bered, full of the most exciting adventures. sole exception of Walter Scott, none among the English novelists has enjoyed such an enormous and prolonged success as Dickens." And since his death long obituary notices CHAPTER XXIII. of him have been given in the Italian papers. - The " Diritto " thinks that Sam Weller and the WORKS TRANSLATED INTO FRENCH.-DICKENS "m rodern Tartuffe," in " Martin Chuzzlewit," AND THACKERAY. will be immortal, like Perpetua and Don AbDURING this year a complete and authorized bondio in Manzoni's " Promessi Sposi," which edition of Dickens's novels was published in have become popular types of character. The France, beginning with " Vie et Aventures de "I Nazione " speaks of the deceased as the greatNicholas Nickleby." To this the author add- est of modern English novelists. "He was," ed this introductory address to the French pub- it adds, " for five-and-thirty years, at once the lie: most esteemed novelist and the greatest social "For a long time I have wished to see a reformer of his fellow-countrymen. There will uniform and complete translation of my works be monuments to him in marble and bronze, into French. Hitherto, less fortunate in France but his finest monument will be the good he did than in Germany, I have not been made known for the poorer classes." to French readers who are not familiar with In March of this year Dickens visited Edin 74 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. burgh to read his " Christmas Carol" to upwards tide in "All the Year Round "-entitled "Dr. of two thousand members of the Philosophical Johnson from a Scottish Point of View "Institute there. After the reading was over, Dickens said: "By all means let me have the the Lord Provost presented him with a splendid paper proposed; but, in handling Johnson, be silver wassail bowl. Dickens, in replying said: pleasant with the Scottish people, because I love "The first great public recognition and encour- them." A STUDY OF DICKENS'S CHIARAC3TERIS DRAWN BY " PHIZ "-I1ABLOT K. BIOWNE, The original delineator of Charles Dickens's principal characters. agement I ever received was bestowed on me by A few days after, on the 29th of March, your generous and magnificent city. To come Thackeray, supported by Dickens and other to Edinburgh is to me like coming home." literary men, presided at the Royal General And in a recent letter to the writer of an ar- Theatrical Fund Dinner at the Freemasons!4 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 75 Tavern; and, in proposing the health of the explanation was, that a misunderstanding had Chairman, Dickens took occasion to bear his arisen between Mr. and Mrs. Dickens, of a puretestimony to the goodness, the self-denial, and ly domesticcharacter-so domestic-almost trivthe self-respect of the actors of England, and ial, indeed —that, neither law nor friendly arbipassed a very flattering encomium upon the tration could define or fix the difficulty sufficientChairman's works: "It is not for me, at this ly clear to adjudicate upon it. All we can say time and in this place," he said, "to take on is, that it was a very great pity that a purely myself to flutter before you the well-thumbed family dispute should have been brought before pages of Mr. Thackeray's books, and to tell you the public, and, saying thus much, we trust the to observe how full they are of wit and wisdom, reader will think we act wisely in dropping any how out-speaking, and how devoid of fear or further mention of it. favor they are. * * * The bright and airy That Mr. Dickens loves his home, and that his pages of'Vanity Fair.' * * * To this skillful domestic tastes were very strong, there is abunshowman, who has so often delighted us, and dant proof. Hawthorne, in his " English Diawho has charmed us again to-night, we have ry," has a passage apropos of this: " Mr. Dicknow to wish God-speed, and that he may con- ens mentioned how he preferred home enjoytinue for many years to exercise his potent art. ments to all others, and did not willingly go much To him fill a bumper toast, and fervently utter into society. Mrs. Dickens, too, the other day God bless him!" told us of his taking on himself all possible Alas! the " many years " were to be barely trouble as regards their domestic affairs." six! In 1864 the speaker himself wrote some It is somewhat singular that on the very day memorial pages commemorative of his illustrious when Mr. Dickens's personal explanation apfriend in the deceased author's own "Cornhill peared in " Household Words," on that very Magazine." dayv (12th June, 1858) a paper, also of a personSo much interest had been shown by the pub- al character, but concerning our author's distinlic in Mr. Dickens's performance of his part of guished contemporary, Mr. W. M. Thackeray, the "Jerrold Fund" programme, that he now appeared in a little journal called " Town Talk;" determined to give his readings professionally, both articles eventually acquiring a painful noand as an avowed source of income. It was oi toriety, and the latter occasioning, an unhappy the evening of Thursday, the 29th of April, 1858, difference between the two great men. The that he appeared in St. Martin's Hall (now con- article which owcasioned so much pain to Mr. verted into the New Queen's Theatre) for the Thackeray professed to give an account of the first time, as a source of personal profit to him- author of " Vanity Fair "-his appearance, his self. career, and his success. The article was coarse We may mention that on the 25th of the fol- and offensive in tone, but it was notorious that lowing month one of the assistants in the Li- the periodical was edited by a clever writer of brary at the British Museum, M. Louis Augistin the day, well known to Mr. Thackeray as a Prdvost, a great linguist, died. It was he who brother member of a club to which he belonged. imparted instruction in the French tongue to As such,tthe subject of the attack felt himself Dickens. compelled to take notice of it. This is a speciWe come now to a painful matter, which oc- men of the article: casioned a great talk at the' time, and led Mr. "HIS APPEACANCE. Dickens's warmest friends to marvel at the "Mr. Thackeray is forty-six years old, though, from course he had thought fit to pursue. the silvery whiteness of his hair, he appears someIt appears that some domestic'unhappiness in what older. He is very tall, standing upwards of six feet two inches. His face is bloodless, and not parthe great novelist's family had occasioned the ticularly expressive, but remarkable for the fracture usual gossip out of doors, and these " rumors and of the bridge of the nose, the result of an accident in slanders "-as he energetically termed the whis- youth. His bearing is cold and uninviting, his style of conversation either openly cynical or affectedly perings that were so repugnant to him —led to good-natured and benevolent; his bonhomie is forced, his inserting a manifesto on the front page of his wit biting, his pride easily touched. "Household Words."* "HII SUCcEsS. All the newspapers and journals copied it, "No one succeeds better than Mr. Thackeray in cutwith various comments-in some cases exceed- tilg his coat according to his cloth. * * Our own opinion is, that his success is on the wane." ingly rancorous and spiteful-and various long letters and documents from friends on both sides Two days later Mr. Thackeray addressed the appeared in the public journals. The simple assumed writer of this article in a manly but indignant letter. * June 12th. Subsequently Mr. Thackeray, "rather (he 76 LIFE OF -CHARLES DICKENS. said) than have any further correspondence with " If this mediation that I have suggested can the writer of the character," determined to sub- take place, I shall be heartily glad to do my mit the letters which had passed between them best'in it —and, God knows, in no hostile spirit to the committee of the club. The committee towards any one, least of all to you. If it can accordingly met, and decided that the writer of not take place, the thing is at least no worse the attack complained of was bound to make an than it was; and you will burn this letter, and ample apology, or to retire from the club. The I will burn your answer. latter contested the right of the committee "Yours faithfully, CHARLES DICKENS. to interfere. Suits at law and proceedings in "W. M. THACKERAY, Esq." Chancery against the committee were threatenTo this Mr. Thackeray replied: ed, when Mr. Dickens, who was also a member v of the club, interfered, with the following letter: "36 Onslow Square, 26th November, 1S58. "DEAR DICKENS, —I grieve to gather from "Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, "DEAR DiCKENS-I grieve to gather from London, W.C., Wednesday, your letter that you were Mr. Yates's adviser in 24th November, 1S58. the dispute between me and him. His letter' M DEAR THACKERAY,-Without a word was the cause of my appeal to the Garrick Club of prelude, I wish this note to revert to a subject for protection from insults against which I had on which I said six words to you at the Athene- no other remedy. uml when I last saw you. "I placed my grievance before the committee "Coming home fiom my country work, I of the club as the only place where I have been find Mr. Edwin James's opinion taken on this accustomed to meet Mr. Yates. They gave painful question of the Garrick and Mr. Ed- their opinion of his conduct, and of the reparamund Yates. I find it strong on the illegality tion which lay in his power. Not satisfied with of the Garrick proceeding. Not to complicate their sentence, Mr. Yates called for a general this note, or give it a formal appearance, I for- meeting; and, the meeting which he had called bear from copying the opinion; but I have having declared against him, he declines the asked to see it, and I have it, and I want to jurisdiction which he had asked for, and says make no secret from you of a word of it. he will have recourse to lawyers. "I find Mr. Edwin James retained on the "You say that Mr. Edwin James is strongly one side; I hear and read of the Attorney-Gen- of opinion that the conduct of the club is illegal. eral being retained on the other. Let me, in On this point I can give no sort of judgment; this state of things, ask you a plain question: nor can I conceive that the club will be fright" Can any conference be held between me, ened, by the opinion of any lawyer, out of their as representing Mr. Yates, and an appointed own sense of the justice and honor which ought friend of yours, as representing you, with the to obtain among gentlemen. hope and purpose of some quiet accommodation " Ever since I submitted my case to the club, of this deplorable matter, which will satisfy the I have had, and can have, no part in the disfeelings of all concerned? pute. It is for them to judge if any recon"It is right that, in putting this to you, I cilement is possible with your fiiend. I subs'nould tell you that Mr. Yates, when you first join the copy of a letter* which I wrote to wrote to him, brought your letter to me. He had recently done me a manly service I can never The inclosure referred to was as follows: " Onslow Square, November 28, 1858. forget, in some private distress of mine (gener- GENTLEMEN,,-I have this day received a communially within your knowledge), and he naturally cation from Mr. Charles Dickens relative to the dispute thought of me as his friend in an emergency. which has been so long pending, in which he says: l i a "''Can any conference be held between me, as repI told him that his article was not to be defend- resenting Mr. Yates, and any appointed friend of ed; but I confirmed him in his opinion that it yours, as representing you, in the hope and purpose was not reasonably possible for him to set right of some quiet accommodation of this deplorable matter, which will satisfy the feelings of all parties?' what was amiss, on the receipt of a letter couch- "I have written to Mr. Dickens to say that, since ed in the very strong terms you had employed. the commencement of this business, I have placed When you appealed to the Garrick committee myself entirely in the hands of the committee of the Garrick, and am still, as ever, prepared to abide by and they called their general meeting, I said any decision at which they may arrive on the subject. at that meeting that you and I had been on I conceive I can not, ifI would, make the dispute once g more personal, or remove it out of the court to which good terms for many years, and that I was very I submitted it for arbitration. sorry to find myself opposed to you; but that I "If you can devise any peaceful means for ending was clear that the committee had nothing on it, no one will be better pleased than earth to do with it, and that in the strength of W. M. ToAOrvant. my conviction I should go against them. I "THE COMMITTEE OF THE GARRICK CLUB." LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 77 the committee, and refer you to them for the of establishing the now famous Royal Dramatic issue. College. Mr. Charles Kean was the Chairman, "Yours, etc., W. M. THACKERAY. and Dickens delivered one of his excellent "C. DICKENs, Esq." speeches on a topic ever dear to him-the theatrical profession. Charles Kean was then conIt would be in vain to attempt to conceal that ducting his Shakspearian revivals-those splenthis painful affair left a coolness between Mr. did pageantries and archaeological displays which Thackeray and his brother novelist. Mr. we all remember at this theatre twelve years ago Thackeray, smarting under the elaborate and -and Dickens, with his usual tact, turned the unjust attack, portions of which were copied circumstance to account in his speech. The and widely circulated in other journals, could play then being performed was the "Merchant not but regard the friend and adviser of his of Venice," and, in concluding, the speaker recritic as in some degree associated with it; and marked, "I could not but reflect, while Mr. Mr. Dickens, on the other hand, naturally hurt Kean was speaking, that in an hour or two from at finding his offer of arbitration rejected, gave this time, the spot upon which we are now asthe letters to the original author of the trouble sermbled will be transformed into the scene of a for publication, with the remark-" As the re- crafty and a cruel bond. I know that a few ceiver of my letter did not respect the confi- hours hence the Grand Canal of Venice will dence in which it addressed him, there can be flow, with picturesque fidelity, on the very spot none left for you to violate. I send you what where I now stand dryshod, and that the' qualI wrote to Mr. Thackeray, and what he wrote ity of mercy' will be beautifully stated to the to me, and you are at perfect liberty to print Venetian Council by a learned young doctor the two." Thus, for awhile, ended this painful from Padua, on these very boards on which affair. Readers of Disraeli's " Quarrels of Au- we now enlarge upon the quality of charity and thors " will miss in it those sterner features of the synlpathy. Knowing this, it came into my dissensions between literary men as they were mind to consider how different the real bond of conducted in the old times; but none can con- to-day from the ideal bond of to-night. Now template this difference between the two great all generosity, all forbearance, all forgetfulness masters of fiction of our day with other than of little jealousies and unworthy divisions, all feelings of regret for the causes which led to it. united action for the general good. Then all It is pleasing, however, to learn that the dif- selfishness, all malignity, all cruelty, all revenge, ferences between them were ended before Mr. and all evil; now all good. Then a bond to be Thackeray's death. Singularly enough, this broken within the compass of a few-three or happy circumstance occurred only a few days four-swiftly passing hours; now a bond to be before the time when it would have been too valid and of good effect generations hence." late. The two great authors met by accident The committee's labors were successful, and in the lobby of a club. They suddenly turned an elegant building, in the Elizabethan style, at and saw each other, and the unrestrained im- Maybury, was the result. On June 1st, 1860, pulse of both was to hold out the hand of for- the late prince consort, in laying the foundationgiveness and fellowship. With that hearty stone, spoke of the Dramatic College as confergrasp the difference which estranged them ring "a benefit upon the public as well as upon ceased forever. This must have been a great the stage, by aiding a profession from which the consolation to Mr. Dickens when he saw his community at large derived national entertaingreat brother laid in the earth at Kensal Green; ment." Five years after, on 5th June, the and to one who read the beautiful and affect- Prince of Wales inaugurated the Central Htall ing article on Thackeray, from the hand of Mr. of the College. The annual Fancy Fair at the Dickens, which appeared in the " Cornhill Mag- Crystal Palace, and the junketings thereat, it is azine," can doubt that all trace of this painful needless to say, are the means of adding a large affair had then vanished. accession to the funds. During the autumn months of this year, the readings were continued in London, and at various large towns in England and Ireland, the novelist receiving both applause and money to ROYAL DRAMATIC COLLEGE.-" ALL THE YEAR a greater extent than ever. ROUND." It was in November, 1858, that he allowed WE turn now to a more pleasant theme. his name to be put in nomination for the high On the 21st July, 1858, a public meeting was office of Lord Rector of Glasgow University. held at the Princess's Theatre, for the purpose His rivals were Lord Lytton (who was chosen 78 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. to the office) and Lord Shaftesbury. The re- started in 1850; that on the publication of his sult of the poll was: Lord Lytton, 216; Lord manifesto as to his conjugal differences, they unShaftesbury, 203; Dickens, 68. The cause of derstood from a friend that he had resolved to this large minority is now not remembered, but break off his connections with them by reason it is more than probable that Dickens took of its non-insertion in' Punch,' in which they no special pains to secure votes in his own be- had not thought fit to do so,'Punch' being enhalf. tirely a comic publication; that in the November During the following month he was entertained he summoned a meeting of the proprietors, and at a public dinner by the citizens of Coventry, in consequence of the advertisement announcing and received from them a very handsome gold the cessation of the work, they had no alternawatch, as a testimony of their gratitude for his tive but to apply to the Master of the Rolls for reading, in aid of the Coventry Institute, twelve protection." months before. The day previously he had It was a most unfortunate affair, as Mr. presided at Manchester, in aid of an Institute Evans's son had married Miss Dickens, and there. thus a family, as well as a business, disagreeEarly in 1859 a dispute arose between Mr. ment came about. Mr. Dickens's next step Dickens and his publishers, originating mainly was to return to his original publishers, Messrs. in the unfortunate family disagreement to which Chapman & Hall, who now issue all his works. we alluded on a former page; and in conse- " All the Year Round " was the title of Mr. quence of this the conductor of "Household Dickens's new venture, taking its motto, like Words " resolved that the journal should cease, " Household Words," from Shakspeareand he would close business relations with "The story of our lives from year to year." Messrs. Bradbury & Evans. Mr. Dickens ad- " vertised that the discontinuance of " Household In its first number was contained the comWords" would take place on March 28th. mencement of "A Tale of Two Cities," subseMessrs. Bradbury & Evans filed a Bill in Chan- quently published by Messrs. Chapman & Hall, cery, and the matter was heard by the Master illustrated by Mr. Marcus Stone (a rising young of the Rolls. Both parties refusing to sell artist), and dedicated to Earl Russell. their interest, the winding up of the publication In the preface the author mentions that he was directed. Dickens owned five-eighths, and first thought of the story while acting with his had command over another eighth. At the sale, children and friends in Mr. Wilkie Collins's on 16th May, by Mr. Hodgson of Chancery Lane, drama of "The Frozen Deep." "As the idea the property, after a spirited contest, was knock- became familiar to me, it gradually shaped itself ed down to Dickens (represented by Mr. Arthur into its present form. Throughout its execuSmith) for ~3550. In the last number of tion, it has had complete possession of me; I "Household Words," introducing the forth- have so far verified what is done and suffered in coming periodical, he wrote: these pages, as that I have certainly done and "He knew perfectly well, knowing his own suffered it allmyself. * * It has been one of rights, and his means of attaining them, that it my hopes to add something to the popular and could not be but that this wdrk must stop, if he picturesque means of understanding that terrible chose to stop it. He therefore announced, time, though no one can hope to add any thing many weeks ago, that it would be discontinued to the philosophy of Mr. Carlyle's wonderful on' the day on which this final number bears book." date. The public have read a great deal to the Dickens had the greatest respect for the works contrary, and will observe that it has not in the of that eminent writer, and it would be difficult least affected the result." to say which of the two distinguished authors, Messrs. Bradbury& Evans, to justify their pro- Tennyson or Carlyle, he was most fond of ceedings, published a statement, affirming- quoting. Only a few weeks before his death, " That' Household Words' stopped against Mr. Arthur Locker was discussing some literary their will, and mentioned the appearance of topics with him: " On this occasion," that gen-'Once a Week' —remarking, at the same time, tleman writes, "Mr. Dickens conversed with that their business relations with Dickens had me chiefly about Mr. Carlyle's writings, for commenced in 1836; that in 1844 they acquired whose'French Revolution' he expressed the an interest in all works he might write, or in strongest admiration, as he had practically any periodical he might originate, during a shown in his'Tale of Two Cities.'" term of seven years, and that under this agree- The story holds the reader perfectly spellment they became possessed of a joint though bound. The power and awful grandeur exunequal share of'Household Words,' which hibited in the descriptive scenes of bloodshed LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 79 and carnage enacted in the dreadful reign of that constantly obtains in this world, which a Terror are almost beyond conception. It has, word from the departed dead person in question however, occasional passages of humor-as, for could set right,* he would not believe-could instance, where Mr. Jeremiah Cruncher deter- not believe-in the War Office ghost without mines not to let his wife say her prayers, being overwhelming evidence. of opinion that such a course of procedure, de- Howitt sent a letter to one of the weekly scribed by him as "flopping," is injurious to papers, stating that "Mr. Dickens wrote me his business! some time ago, to request that I would point out Tom Taylor dramatized the story for the to him some house said to be haunted. I named Lyceum, where it was produced the January to him two-that at Cheshunt, formerly inhabfollowing, but it met with an indifferent recep- ited by the Chapmans, and one at Wellington, tion, although the principal character was un- near Newcastle. Never seen former, but had dertaken by Madame Celeste. the latter." Dickens went to Cheshunt and During October, Dickens gave readings at visited the house, and communicated to Howitt the Town Hall, Oxford, and attracted large that "the house in which the Chapmans lived audiences. On one occasion the Prince of has been greatly enlarged, and commands a Wales, then entering on his career as an Ox- high rent, and is no more disturbed than this onian, was present, and expressed considerable house of mine." satisfaction at the pleasure he had experienced If any one of a nervous and superstitious temin hearing him read. perament will read all the seven ghost stories The reader may remember that on an earlier contained in " The Haunted House " at a late page we gave. an account of the handsome pres- hour, alone, and in a dull and gloomy room, a ent which Mr. Dickens once received from his very quiet and comfortable night's rest may be many Birmingham friends-more especially his safely calculated on! artist friends there. On that occasion an ad- About this time the Americans tried very dress was presented to him expressing the great hard to persuade Dickens to visit them and give admiration all Birmingham people felt for his his readings, and many of their newspapers were genius. Mr. W. P. Frith, in his portrait of jubilant at the idea, and reported that his servDickens, exhibited at the Royal Academy in ices had been secured. To dissipate all doubts, 1858, made the address form a portion of the he wrote to Lieutenant-colonel Foster, of Bospicture; but a Mr. Walker, an artist of Bir- ton, U. S. A.: mingham, could scarcely believe that the great "I beg to assure you, in reply to your oblignovelist had troubled himself to remember the ing letter, that you are misinformed, and that I address, so he wrote to know the truth of the have no intention of visiting America in the enmatter, when Mr. Dickens immediately replied: suing autumn."t " I have great pleasure in assuring you that the In the numbers for the 4th and 11th August, framed address in Mr. Frith's portrait is the ad- 1860, of "All the Year Round," the two pordress presented to me by my Birmingham friends, tions of "Hunted Down" appeared. It was and to which you refer. It has stood at my el- supposed to be a reminiscence supplied by a Mr. bow, in that one place, ever since I received it, Sampson, chief manager of a life assurance ofand, please God, it will remain at my side as fice, relating the history of an assurance effectlong as I live and work."* ed on the life of Mr. Alfred Beckwith by Mr. It was the Christmas number for this year, Julius Slinkton, whom he (Slinkton) attempts "The Haunted House," which at the time pro- to poison to get the money; but, foiled in his yoked so much discussion on the subject of ghosts object, destroys himself. The story was of a and supernatural visitors. The idea of the num- most melodramatic and sensational character. bher may have been suggested by the appearance Before it appeared in this country, it had a six of a work, published a few months previously, months' run in the "New York Ledger," and entitled "A Night in a Haunted House: a the American publisher paid ~1000 for the Tale of Facts. By the Author of' Kazan,' and privilege. Dickens was loath to undertake its dedicated to Charles Dickens." Howitt took composition, but finally his objections were the matter up warmly, and Dickens, in a letter overcome. " I thought," he wrote to the Amerito Howitt, said that he had always taken great can publisher, " that I could not be tempted at interest in these matters, but required evidence such as he had not yet met with; and that when * "Oh that it were possible, for one short hour, to he thinks of the amount of misery and injustice see The souls we loved, that they might tell us What and where they be!"-TENNYsoN. * Tuesday, July 20th, 1859. t Wednesday night, 7th September, 1859. 80 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. this time to engage in any undertaking, how- The manager of the Britannia Theatre, Hoxever short, but the literary project which will ton, having announced for representation a come into active existence next month. But dramatic adaptation of the tale, Dickens, in a your proposal is so handsome that it changes my letter to the "Times," gave his reasons for inresolution, and I can not refuse it. * * I will terfering with its production. Subsequently, endeavor to be at work upon the tale while this Mr. Charles Reade tried the question in his note is on its way to you across the water." action against Mr. Conquest for representing The "project" referred to here as coming into "Never too Late to Mend," and was unsucactive existence next month was "A Tale of cessful. Two Cities." It was towards the close of this year that "Great Expectations," which had been published in "All the Year Round," came out in CIIAPTER XXV. the (for Mr. Dickens) somewhat unusual form"TEE UNCOSMMERCIAL TRAVELLER."' the old lending-library form-of three volumes, and was published by Messrs. Chapman & Hall, IT was at the end of this year that a series of illustrated by Marcus Stone, and inscribed to quaint and descriptive papers, which had ap- Mr. C. H. Townshend. It is a novel of the peared in "All the Year Round," was published most peculiar and fantastic construction, the by Messrs. Chapman & Hall, under the title of plot of an extraordinary description, and the "The Uncommercial Traveller." They were characters often grotesque, and sometimes imoriginally seventeen in number, but in a subse- possible. Here we meet with Abel Magwitch, quent edition they were increased to twenty- the convict, a powerfully-drawn character; eight papers, bearing such titles as "City with Pip, a selfish, and oftentimes a pitiful felChurches," " Sly Neighborhoods," " Night low, but good in the end, when his expectations Walks," "Chambers," "Birthdays," "Funer- have entirely faded; with Joe Gargery, the als," " Tramps." We need scarcely remark blacksmith, the finest character of all-kind, that they are all admirably written, and abound patient, and true to Pip, from his infancy to in delicate touches. In "Nurse's Stories," Mr. manhood, shielding him in all his shortcomings Dickens says, " Brobingnag (which has the cu- when a child, and liberally spooning gravy into rious fate of being usually misspelt when writ- his plate when he gets talked at by Pumbleten)." Here the illustrious author actually falls chook at dinner; with Miss Havisham, the into the very error he is speaking of. The prop- broken-hearted woman, existing with the one er spelling of the word is BrobDingnag. idea of training her adopted child; with Estella, It was in the autumn of this year that Mr. a beautiful conception (Pip's love for her, and Dickens finally removed from Tavistock House his grief when he finds her married to Bentley to Gad's Hill, a place which he had purchased Drummle, the man without a heart to break, four years before. Some arrangement, we be- are masterpieces of description); with Pumblelieve, in connection with the lease of the London chook, that frightful impostor. Perhaps the house prevented his removing earlier. Tavis- most entertaining portions are those connected tock House thenceforward became the residence with Wemmick, the lawyer's clerk, his " Casof Mr. Phineas Davis, a gentleman well known tle " at Walworth, and his peculiar ideas of in aristocratic circles. The house next to Tav- portable property, his post-office mouth, and istock House was occupied by the late Mr. Frank Mr. Jaggers, the criminal lawyer of Little BritStone, the eminent artist, and for a long time ain, his employer..M. Dickens's neighbor. We may here mention that "Satis House," The Christmas number for 1860 was "A the residence of Miss Havisham, lies a little to Message from the Sea." It was here that we the west of Boley Hill, near Rochester, and debecame acquainted with Captain Jorgan, the rived its peculiar name from the fact of RichAmerican captain, and his faithful steward, Tom ard Watts (founder of the Poor Travellers' Pettifer. The Captain's task satisfactorily ter- House previously referred to) entertaining minated, he shakes hands with the entire pop- Queen Elizabeth in it-when on her journey ulation of the fishing village, inviting the whole, round the coasts of Sussex and Kent-in 1573. without exception, to come and stay with him Here she staid some days, and, on her leaving, for several months at Salem, United States. Watts apologized for the smallness of the house "The Sea-faring Man," narrating the ship- for so great a Queen; she merely replied wreck, and the island on fire, in vividness of "Satis," signifying she was well content with description are wonderful pieces of writing. her accommodation. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 81 CHAPTER XXVI. fended him terribly. He pretended he was a Highlander, and Mr. Lucas at once began to MR. DICKENS AND THE ELECTORS OF FINSBURY.-" TOM TIDDLER'S GEROUND. "-" SOME. question him about the country, and then spoke to him in Gaelic, which he couldn't reply to. BODY' S LUGGAGE." -- ~ MRS. LIRRIPER' S ULODGINGS.G " Mr. Lucas said to him,'Sir, you are an imposLODGINGS." tor; you are no gentleman.'" IN November of this year, Dsome admirers in A copy of the newspaper was at once forwardFinsbury formed the idea that Mr. Dickens ed to Mr. Dickens by a friend, who asked if would have no objections to represent that bor- there was any truth in the statement. The reough in Parliament, and his name was brought ply was.: " As you sent me the paper with that prominently forward as a candidate. He was very cool account of myself in it, perhaps you then at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and on the 21st want to know whether or not it is true. There of November he wrote to the "Daily News:" is not a syllable of truth in it. I have never "Being here for a day or two, I have observed, seen the person in question but once in my life, in your paper of yesterday, an account of a and then I was accompanied by Lord Orford, meeting of Finsbury electors, in which it was Mr. Arthur Helps, the clerk of the privy coundiscussed whether I should be invited to be- cil, my eldest daughter, and my sister-in-law, come a candidate for the borough.* It may all of whom know perfectly well that nothing save some trouble if you will kindly confirm a of the sort passed. It is a sheer invention of sensible gentleman, who doubted at that meet- the wildest kind."* Lucas, the papers reporting whether I was quite the sort of man for ed, was terribly cut up by the inclement winFinsbury. I am not at all the sort of man, for ter of 1866-'7, and was hardly expected to get I believe nothing would induce me to offer my- ovr it. self as a parliamentary representative of that In March, 1862, Dickens commenced a new place, or any other under the sun." series of readings at St. James's Hall, which In the early part of this winter he resumed his proved a very advantageous speculation. He readings in the provinces, and met with consid- officiated as Chairman at the Annual Festival erable success, especially in Lancashire, where of the Dramatic Equestrian and Musical Assothere was great enthusiasm shown to see and ciation, on the 5th of the same month, at Wilhear the author of "Pickwick," and latterly of lis's Rooms, and delivered an eloquent address; "Hard Times," which had found thousands of he fulfilled the same duty at the annual dinner readers in the cotton districts. of the Artists' General Benevolent Fund, at The Christmas number for this year, " Tom the Freemasons' Tavern, on the 29th of this Tiddler's Ground," excited considerable curios- month, and the result was a large accession to ity, and one of the stories became a subject of its treasury. Acting in the same capacity at general discussion-that of "Mr. Mopes," the the Annual Festival of the News-venders' and hermit. "Picking up Soot and Cinders" Provident Institution, at the last-named tavern, gives the history and description of the hermit on the 20th May following, in proposing the -a dirty, lazy, slothful fellow, dressed up in a toast of the evening, "Prosperity to the Newsblanket fastened by a skewer, and revelling in venders' Benevolent Institution,';t he delivered soot and grease. There is one story in the a very amusing speech on "The Newsman's number, called "Picking up Terrible Com- Calling." In the course of his remarks he pany," of the most intense sensational charac- "started off with the newsman on a fine May ter. It is told by Frangois Thierry, a French morning, to take a view of the wonderful convict, under the head of "Picking up a broad-sheets which every day he scatters broadPocket-book." cast over the country. Well, the first thing The " hermit " was a living reality-a person that occurs to me, following the newsman, is, of property and education, who, to mortify his that every day we are born, that every day we friends, we believe, withdrew from the world, are married —some of us-and that every day and lived in rags and filth. Soon after a let- we are dead; consequently, the first thing the ter, signed "A County Down Lady," was in- news-vender's column informs me is, that Atserted in the "Downpatrick Recorder," in which kins has been born, that Catkins has been marthe writer related the particulars of a visit she ried, and that Datkins is dead. But the most had paid to " Mr. Mopes," the hermit, and remarkable thing I immediately discover in the concluded by saying: "Charles Dickens of- next column is, that Atkins has grown to be * Consequent on the death of Mr. Thomas S. Dun- * London, 27th March, 1862. combe-the " Tom Duncombe " of Finsbury-the late t He was elected President of the Institution in representative. May, 1S54. 6 82 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. seventeen years old, and that he has run away, print, and sitting down, with several new pens for at last my eye lights on the fact that Wil- and all the inkstands well filled, to correct, in a liam A., who is seventeen years old, is adjured high state of excitement, and being discovered immediately to returh to his disconsolate pa- in the morning, himself and the proofs, so smearrents, and every thing will be arranged to the ed with ink, that it would have been difficult to satisfaction of every one. I am afraid he will have said which was him, and which was them, never return, simply because, if he had meant and which was blots-is sufficient to keep the to come back, he would never have gone away. reader in one continual roar of laughter. Immediately below, I find a mysterious charac- In the preceding year several imitation Christter in such a mysterious difficulty, that it is nmas numbers had appeared, but this season they only to be expressed by several disjointed let- swarmed. The newspapers and the boardings' ters, by several figures, and several stars; and were filled with advertisements of them, and Mr. then I find the explanation in the intimation Dickens expressed great annoyance at the manthat the writer has given his property over to ner in which he was being copied. his uncle, and that the elephant is on the wing. In the March following (1863) he presided * * * I learn, to my intense gratification, that at the eighteenth anniversary of the Royal GenI need never grow old, that I may always pre- eral Theatrical Fund, and made a most excelserve the juvenile bloom of my complexion; lent speech. that if ever I turn ill it is entirely my own About this time Mr. Charles Reade's "Very fault; that if I have any complaint, and want Hard Cash " was appearing in the pages of " All brown cod-liver oil or Turkish baths, I am told the Year Round," and that gentleman having where to get them; and that if I want an in- attacked with virulence the Commissioners in come of ~7 a week, I may have it by sending Lunacy, Dickens, in a foot-note to Chapter half a crown in postage-stamps. Then I look XLVI., wrote: to the police intelligence, and I can discover " The conductor of this journal desires to take that I may bite off a human living nose cheap- this opportunity of expressing his personal bely; but if I take off the dead nose of a pig or a lief that no public servants do their duty with calf from a shop-window, it will cost me ex- greater ability, humanity, and independence ceedingly dear. I also find that if I allow my- than the Commissioners in Lunacy." self to be betrayed into the folly of killing an When the story was concluded, to further inoffensive tradesman on his own door-step, show that the sentiments expressed in it were that little incident will not affect the testi- not those of Mr. Dickens-or that at least he monials to my character, but that I shall be had not controlled them-he wrote: described as a most amiable young man, and, as above all things, remarkable for the singular " The statements and opinions of this jourinoffensiveness of my character and disposi- nal generally are, of course, to be received as the tion." statements and'opinions of its conductor. But But the entire speech is much too long for this is not so in the case of a work of fiction first our space.. published in these pages as a serial story, with We have now reached another winter-that the name of an eminent writer attached to it. of 1862-and this time our novelist devoted his When one of my literary brothers does me the Christmas number, " Somebody's Luggage," to honor to undertake such a task, I hold that he that peculiar class of individuals known as executes it on his own personal responsibility, "Waiters." Mr. Arthur Locker truly says of and for the sustainment of his own reputation; it. " We rise from the little story with kindli- and I do not consider myself at liberty to exerer feelings towards the whole race of waiters; cise that control over his text which I claim as we know more of their struggles and trials, and to other contributions. so we sympathize with them more." Most of "CCHARLES DICKENS." our readers will remember the description of Christopher, the head-waiter, with his amusing He was justified in making this statement, as revelations of his profession —the mysterious Mr. Forster, an old and true friend-and who luggage left in Room 24 B, with a lien on it for has since been appointed by Mr. Dickens his ~2 12s. 6d., his purchasing the whole of it, and principal executor-is one of the commissioners. finding all the articles crammed full of MSS.- Another Christmas has come round - the his subsequently selling them, and, on the ar- Christmas of 1863. "Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgrival of the proofs, his horror at the appearance ings " was the title of the number for this seaof the owner-his placing them before him, and son, and it created an immense furore. The the joy of the unknown at finding his stories in quaint manners and ideas of Mrs. Lirriper, lodg LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 83 ing-house keeper, of 81 Norfolk Street, Strand the lecture just mentioned with a reference to -her troubles with the domestics, willing So- his late electioneering failure, which was full of phy, Mary Anne-the fiery Carolina fighting good sense, good spirits, and good humor. He with the lodgers, and being sent off to prison- had a particular delight in boys, and an excelthe odious Miss Wozenham, an opposition lodg- lent way with them. I remember his once asking-house keeper-the adoption of poor little ing me, with a fantastic gravity, when he had Jemmy, under the joint guardianship of her ec- been to Eton, where my eldest son then was, centric but good-hearted lodger, Major Jackman, whether I felt as he did in regard of never seehis education at home, and then his being sent ing a boy without wanting instantly to give him off to a boarding-school, are inimitably sketched. a sovereign? I thought of this when I looked Thackeray died on Christmas-eve, 1863. In down into his grave, after he was laid there, for the February number of the " Cornhill Maga- I looked down into it over the shoulder of a boy zine," for the ensuing year, Dickens wrote a to whom he had been kind." most beautiful and touching " In Memoriam;" Frequently, in the numbers of " Household which shows in what estimation he was held by Words," and in "All the Year Round," has his surviving friend: Mr. Dickens given us an anecdote, a biograph" We had our differences of opinion. I ical scrap concerning himself, or an article which thought that he too much feigned a want of ear- could only be considered as "( personal;" and no nestness, and that he made a pretense of under- future biographer of the great man can tell the valuing his art, which was not good for the art complete story of his life without having rethat he held in trust. But when we fell upon course to the pages of these magazines. these topics, it was never very gravely, and I The anecdotes we have already given of have a lively image of him in my mind, twisting Dickens's ravens show his fondness f9r animals. both his hands in his hair, and stamping about, Mr. Collam, Secretary of the Society for the laughing, to make an end of the discussion. Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, now kindly When we were associated in remembrance of directs our attention to the great novelist's adthe late Mr. Douglas Jerrold, he delivered a mirable paper in "All the Year Round,"* entipublic lecture in London, in the course of which tled " Pincher Astray: an account of the Home he read his very best contribution to'Punch,' for Lost and Starving Dogs," at Holloway. describing the grown-up cares of a poor fam- The paper records the adventures of a favorite ily of young children. No one hearing him dog, Pincher: could have doubted his natural gentleness, or " He was not handsome-at least, in the comhis thoroughly unaffected manly sympathy with mon acceptation of the term. * * * He was a the weak and lowly. He read the paper most morose beast, and of most uncertain temper. pathetically, and with a simplicity of tenderness * * * He was the terror of the trades-people: that certainly moved one of his audience to he loathed the butcher; he had adeadly hatred tears. This was presently after his standing for the fishmonger's boy; and when I comfor Oxford, from which place he had dispatched plained to the post-office of the non-receipt in his agent to me, with a droll note (to which he due course of a letter from my aunt's legal adafterwards added a verbal postcript), urging me viser, advising me to repair at once to the old to'come down and make a speech, and tell lady's death-bed (owing to which non-receipt I them who he was, for he doubted whether more was cut out of my aunt's will), I was answered than two of the electors had ever heard of him, * that' the savage character of my dog-a circumand he thought there might be as many as six stance with which the department could not inor eight who had heard of me.' He introduced terfere-prevented the letter-carrier from the due performance of his functions after nightfall.' *This anecdote from "'Thackeray; the Humorist and Still I love him! What though my trowserthe Man of Letters," by Theodore Taylor, may be fit- ends were frayed into hanging strips by his tingly appended: "Pray, what can I do to serve you, sir?" inquired teeth;, what though my slippers are a mass of the vice-chancellor. —" My name is Thackeray."-" So chewed pulp; what though he has towzled all the I see by this card."-" I seek permission to lecture within the precincts."-" Ah! you are a lecturer; what corners of the manuscript of my work on Logasubjects do you undertake, religious or political?" — rithms-shall I reproach him now that he is " Neither; I am a literary man."-" Have you w;itten lost to me? Never!" any thing?"-" Yes; I am the author of' Vanity Fair."' Applic -"I presume a Dissenter; has that any thing to do Pincher strayed away-was lost. Applica with John Bunyan's book?"-".Not exactly; I have tion was made at the "Home," which afforded also written'Pendennis.' "-"Never heard of these Mr. Dickens an opportunity to describe that inworks; but no doubt they are proper books."-"I have also contributed to'Punch."' —"'Punch!' I have heard of that; is it not a ribald publication?" * January 30, 1864. 84 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. stitution, but he was not there. After some 1864; and Mr. John Forster, responding to the days he returned " with a ruffled coat, a torn toast, " The Interests of Literature," gracefully ear, a fierceness of eye which bespoke recent remarked: " In fiction, I see not only the great trouble. I afterwards learned that he had been master of character and humor (Mr. Dickens) a principal in a combat held in the adjoining who has held sway over both now for more than parish, where he acquitted himself with a cer- a quarter of a century, and this very day starts tain amount of honor, and was pinning his ad- after new laurels with as much vigor and freshversary, when a rustic person from a farm broke ness as when he first began the race." in upon the ring, and kicked both the combat- " Our Mutual Friend" was the work alluded ants out of it. This ignominy was more than to by Mr. Forster, and Number I. was published Pincher could bear; he flung himself upon the on the 1st of May, by Messrs. Chapman & rustic's leg, and brought him to the ground; Hall, with illustrations by Mr. Marcus Stone. then fled, and remained hidden in a wood until The plot is most ingeniously constructed, and hunger compelled him to come home. We each character an elaborate and highly executed have interchanged no communication since, but portrait, although, perhaps, occasionally verging regard each other with sulky dignity. I per- on caricature. ceive that he intends to remain obdurate until Miss Jenny Wren, the entertaining Doll's I make the first advances." dressmaker; her drunken father, " FascinaEarly in the new year Mr. Dickens received tion " Fledgeby; Riah, the patient and kindintelligence of the death of his son, Walter Lan- hearted Jew; Silas Wegg, the wooden-legged dor Dickens, in the Officers' Hospital at Cal- individual, a parasite and selfish impostor, " litcutta. He was a lieutenant of the 26th Native erary man " to Boffin, employed at the rate of Infantry Regiment, and had been doing duty twopence-halfpenny an hour to read and exwith the 42d Highlanders. His decease oc- pound the " Decline and Fall of the Rooshian curred on the last day of the old year. Empire," otherwise "Roman Empire;" John During this spring* he was requested by the Harman; Lizzie Hexam; Venus, the anatomWorking-men's Shakspeare Memorial Comrn. ical artist; Bradley Headstone; Mr. and Mrs. mittee to take the chief direction in planting Boffin; and Bella Wilfer, daughter of the the " ShakspeareOak" on Primrose Hill. Mr. Cherub; are the best-remembered characters F. G. Tomlins, a well-known litterateur, and in the book. The story is somewhat improbaat one time editor of the "Leader" newspa- ble, and contains many scenes of horror and per, wrote to him, stating the working-men's crime. Taken as a specimen of literary workwishes, and Mr. Dickens at once replied: " I manship, it is his best production since " David am truly honored by the feeling of the working- Copperfield," but it is not popular with readers. men towards me, as expressed in your note, and Mr. Crabb Robinson has preserved in his Diwould far rather take part in their interesting ary some playful lines by Southey; but his edproceedings than in any other ceremonial held itor has omitted to add a circumstance which on that day. would have increased their interest. They " But I am not free. The request, unfortu- were written in the album of Mrs. S. C. Hall, nately, comes too late. I have declined several and the opposite page contained the autographs public invitations on the ground that I had re- of Joseph Bonaparte and Daniel O'Connell, a solved to take part in none, and had bound my- circumstance which suggested what the Lauself to a few personal friends for a quiet, pri- reate wrote: vate remembrance of the occasion. From this "Birds of a feather flock together, conclusion I can not now depart. Do me the But vide the opposite page; kindness to assure the delegates, with whom And thence you may gather I'm not of a feather With some of the birds in this cage." you are in communication, of my cordial sym- ROBERT SOUTHEY, 22d October, 1836. pathy and respect." Some years afterwards, Charles Dickens, goodhumoredly referring to Southey's change of opinion, wrote in the album, immediately unCHAPTER XXVII. der Southey's lines, the following: " OUR MUTUAL FRIEND." - "DOCTOR MARI-. "Now, if I don't make GOLD'S PRESCRIPTIONS." - "MUGBY JUNC- The completest mistake TION." That ever put man in a rage, This bird of two weathers DICKENS was a guest at the Anniversary Has moulted his feathers, Banquet at the Royal Academy, on 1st May, And left them in some other cage." —Boz. * Wednesday, 12th April, 1864. When these last lines first appeared in the LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 85 "Art Journal," a friend of Southey's, resent- festival of the News-venders' Benevolent and ing Boz's remark, retaliated by "good-humor- Provident Association, and delivered another edly referring" to the change of style between admirable speech. "Pickwick" and " Our Mutual Friend," and Ten days afterwards, on the 20th of the wrote in the margin of the periodical: same month, he fulfilled a similar post at the "Put his first work and last work together, second anniversary of the Newspaper Press And learn from the groans of all men, Fund (being a vice-president of that useful asThat if he's not alter'd his feather, sociation). His speech was that well-known He's certainly alter'd his pen." one in which he gave us his early reporting ex"Our Mutual Friend" was dramatized as periences. In defending the profession he said: "The Golden Dustman," and was acted on "I would venture to remind you, if I delicateJune 16th, 1866, with great ability, at the Sad- ly may, in the august presence of members of ler's Wells, and afterwards at Astley's and the Parliament, how much. we, the public, owe to Britannia Theatres. the reporters, if it were only for their skill in Dickens, on the 11th of May, 1864, presided the two great sciences of condensation and reat the Adelphi Theatre, at a public meeting for jection. Conceive what our sufferings under the purpose of founding the Shakspeare Foun- an Imperial Parliament, however popularly condation Schools, in connection with the Royal stituted, under however glorious a constitution, Dramatic College. On this occasion he made, would be, if the reporters could not skip!" And as usual, an admirable speech, and a large sum it was on this occasion that he exclaimed, in the of money was collected. midst of the warmest applause, "I am not here During the summer of this year, and while advocating the case of a mere ordinary client on a trip to Paris, Mr. Dickens met with a sun- of whom I have little or no knowledge. I hold stroke, which greatly alarmed his friends. For a brief to-night for my brothers!" Since his many hours he was in a state of complete in- death this passage has been often quoted in sensibility, but at length recovered, and in due proof of the love he bore to the literary profescourse returned home. sion and all connected with it. The interest taken in " Mrs. Lirriper and We come now to a very sad occurrence, from her Lodgings," the preceding Christmas, in- the effects of which Mr. Dickens never entirely duced Dickens to give a sequel to the old lady's recovered. On the 9th of June he was unforexperiences. Accordingly, in the Christmas of tunate enough to be a passenger in the train 1864, we had " Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy." This that met with the lamentable accident at Stanarrated the death, in France, of Mr. Edson, plehurst, in consequence of the plate-layer's the father of Jemmy; the journey of Mrs. Lir- negligence. The carriage in which he was sitriper, the Major, and Master Jem, to the death- ting toppled over the edge of the precipice, and bed of the repentant man; their adventures go- hung suspended sufficiently long to allow him to ing and returning; the revelations of the ex- escape by scrambling out of the window, unintraordinary conduct of her brother-in-law, Doc- jured in body, and without even a bruise, but tor Joshua Lirriper; the vagaries of Mr. Buf- his. nerves receiving a shock from which he oftfle, the collector of the assessed taxes; her en afterwards complained. The News-venders' meritorious conduct towards him and his fami- Benevolent and Provident Institution, at a spely on the night of the fire, and also, when Miss cial meeting, a few days after, passed a resoluWozenham was in danger of being sold up, tion congratulating him on his miraculous and lending her money to pay the execution out, providential escape, and concluded by. expressand becoming intimate friends -are all very ing " their sincere hope that a life so publicly charmingly and amusingly described. and privately valuable may be spared for many, A little matter occurred in the following many years, further to adorn English literaMarch, to which we may just allude in passing. ture with imperishable works, and to grace Mr. Dickens had nominated, and Mr. Wilkie with apt eloquence, and promote by strenuous Collins seconded, a very intimate friend as a practical example and advocacy efforts made member of the Garrick Club, to which they to ameliorate distress and provide for the sad both belonged. The committee, for some un- contingencies of sickness and old age." accountable reason, blackballed the gentleman; Dickens always considered the regular conDickens and Collins, disgusted at this treat- tributors to "Household Words " and to " All ment, resigned their membership, and the af- the Year Round" as connected with him in a fair for the moment created some considerable manner much more closely than as ordinary stir in the literary world. professional or purely business connections. On the 9th May he presided at the annual "' My brothers" was his favorite phrase; and 86 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. when Miss Adelaide Anne Procter died he months: " In all that time her old cheerfulness wrote for the beautiful "Legends and Lyr- never quitted her. In all that time not an imics,"* which her family published as an "In patient or querulous minute can be rememberMemoriam " volume, a most touching preface. ed. At length, at midnight on the 2d of FebThis passage explains how he came to know the ruary, 1864, she turned down a leaf of a little daughter of "Barry Cornwall:" book she was reading, and shut it up. The "In the spring of the year 1853, I observed, ministering hand that had copied the verses into as conductor of the weekly journal,' Household the tiny album was soon round her neck, and Words,' a short poem among the proffered con- she quietly asked, as the clock was on the stroke tributions, very different, as I thought, from the of one:' Do you think I am dying, mamma?' shoal of verses perpetually passing through the -' I think you are very, very ill to-night, my office of such a periodical, and possessing much dear.'-' Send for my sister. My feet are so more merit. Its authoress was quite unknown cold. Lift me up!' Her sister entering asthey to me. She was one Miss Mary Berwick, whom raised her, she said:'It has come at last!' I had never heard of; and she was to be ad- And with a bright and happy smile, looked updressed by letter, if addressed at all, at a circu- ward, and departed." lating library in the western district of London. We are now approaching the last of those Through this channel Miss Berwick was in- Christmas numbers which for so many years formed that her poem was accepted, and was in- have formed a friendly tie between author and vited to send another. She complied, and be- reader at the festive season. " Doctor Maricame a regular and frequent contributor. Many gold's Prescriptions " was the number for Christletters passed between the journal and Miss mas, 1865. It gave the history of an itinerant Berwick, but Miss Berwick herself was never "Cheap Jack," named "Doctor," in rememseen. How we came gradually to establish, at brance of a kind-hearted medical man who offithe office of'Household Words,' that we knew ciated at his birth, and who would only accept a all about Miss Berwick, I have never discovered. tea-tray in payment for his services. The " DocBut we settled somehow, to our complete satis- tor's:' peculiar talents in his line of business, faction, that she was governess in a family; that and the happy contrast to the political Cheap she went to Italy in that capacity, and returned; Jack, making rash promises never intended to and that she had long been in the same family. be kept; the giant Pickleson, otherwise Rinaldo We really knew nothing whatever of her, ex- di Velasco, with his small head, weak eyes, and cept that she was remarkably business - like, weak knees; his master, Mr. Mim, the proprietor punctual, self-reliant, and reliable: so I suppose of the caravan; the death of little Sophy in her we insensibly invented the rest. For myself, father's arms, while he convulses his rustic aumy mother was not a more real personage to dience with his witticisms and funny speeches; me than Miss Berwick the governess became. the suicide of his wife; the peculiarities of his This went on until December, 1854, when the old horse; and the intelligent dog, who " taught Christmas number, entitled'The Seven Poor himself out of his own head to growl at any Travellers,' was sent to press. Happening to person in the crowd that bid as low as sixbe going to dine that day with an old and dear pence;" the purchase of the poor little deaf and friend, distinguished in literature as Barry dumb girl for a pair of braces; his kindness to Cornwall, I took with me an tearly proof of that her, then sending her to an institution to be ednumber, and remarked, as I laid it on the draw- ucated; her subsequent marriage with one simiing-room table, that it contained a very pretty larly afflicted as herself; their coming home, poem, written by a certain Miss Berwick. Next after a long absence, with their little girl; and day brought me the disclosure that I had so Marigold's intense excitement in finding the spoken of the poem to the mother of its writer, child can speak, is all a delightful reality, and in its writer's presence; that I had no such cor- thoroughly true to nature. respondent in existence as Miss Berwick; that Dickens was a guest at the Mansion House, the name had been assumed by Barry Cornwall's on January 16th following, on the occasion of a eldest daughter, Miss Adelaide Anne Procter." magnificent banquet. He proposed the "Health And, after describing her cheerfulness, her of the Lady Mayoress." The next month we modesty, her conviction that life "must not be find him taking the chair (for the second time) dreamed away,'her unceasing efforts to do good, at the annual dinner of the Dramatic, Equestrihe thus describes the final ending. She had an, and Musical Fund at Willis's rooms.* then lain an invalid upon her bed through fifteen The following month Dickens took a promi* It was published by Messrs. Bell & Daldy as a Christmas gift-book. * February 14, 1866. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 87 nent part in another public meeting-the annual The last number but one of the old familiar festival of the Royal General Theatrical Fund. Christmas Numbers was now at hand. "MugIt came off on March 28th, and Sir Benjamin by Junction " was the title of that issued in DePhillips, the Lord Mayor, in replying to his cember, 1866, and it contained a larger amount " health "-which our author had proposed- of writing by Dickens than usual. " Barbox told this interesting anecdote: "My acquaint- Brothers and Co.," " The Boy at Mugby," ance with Mr. Dickens dates from my boyhood. and "The Signalman," were his contributions. I recollect being in Hamburg, some thirty years The description of the Mugby Junction Staago, upon a commercial errand, when my mind tion at three in the morning, in tempestuous and time were engaged in those pursuits, and, weather; the arrival of the express train, the meeting with a gentleman with whom I had guard "glistening with drops of wet, and looksome very large transactions, he invited me to ing at the tearful face of his watch by the light breakfast with him the following morning. I of his lantern;" the alighting of Barbox went to him, we passed a pleasant hour, and Brothers; the appearance of "Lamps," the velafter he rose from his table he looked at his veteen individual; his daughter Phcebe, who watch and said,'Let us take a walk.''Well,' kept a school; the episode of Polly going a I said,' I have no objection to that,' and we astray, and being found by BarboxBrothers; and walked together. He seemed very restless. the relating of Barbox Brothers' past life and We went to a cafe and read a newspaper, and I adventures, are told in a manner the reader will could get him to do any thing but attend to busi- not easily forget. ness. At last out he took his watch and said: " The Boy at Mu4by" was intended to show "' My dear friend, you must excuse me, this the abominable system of our railway refreshis the day on which the fifth number of a work ment rooms, with their stale pastry, saw-dust written by one of your countrymen, and called sandwiches, scalding tea and coffee, and unpal" Boz," comes to Hamburg, and until I get that atable butter-scotch, in comparison with the exnumber and read it I can neither talk of busi- cellent arrangements for the comfort and accomness nor any thing else.' modation of railway travellers in France. "' I take shame to myself," continued the As some indication of the sale of these Lord Mayor on this occasion, " that I at that " Christmas Numbers," we may state that the moment should have been in utter ignorance of sale of " Mugby Junction" exceeded a quarter the brilliant talent of my illustrious friend, of of a million copies. whom I can say, as was said by another distin- During the first three months of the year 1867 guished poet, that the price of his literary labors he gave readings at St. James's Hall to crowded is immortality, and that posterity will generous- audiences, having in the previous April, May, ly and proudly pay it. * * * I never contem- and June (1866) appeared at Manchester, plated in my philosophy that I should have the Greenwich, the Crystal Palace, St. James's Hall, honor of what Mr. Dickens has been pleased to and other places, delighting and amusing many call a personal friendship with the man whom, I thousands of people. do not hesitate to say, any crowned head in On the 5th of June we find him presiding at Europe would be proud to shake by the hand the ninth anniversary festival of the Railway and call by the name-the man who has added, Benevolent Society, at Willis's Rooms; and it in this generation, honor and dignity to his pro- was in his speech on this occasion that he gave fession-who has penetrated and dug from the the amusing story of "The Ten Suitors." hearts of men their virtues and their qualities, In May his old and dear friend, Clarkson antd to whom the whole world owes a deep and Stanfield, the Royal Academician, died, and the a lasting debt of gratitude; and I unhesitating- reader may remember the beautiful and touchly say, and say most proudly, that it is to me, ing obituary notice which Dickens penned on representing, as I do, the largest commercial city the occasion-the affectionate appreciation of in the world-that I consider it to be a great the delicate shades of the great maritime artist's honor to be permitted, in the name of humanity, character which that notice evinced, and the to offer my grateful and graceful tribute to Mr. noble peroration with which it closed. A friend Charles Dickens." of the late illustrious author, to whom we are The members of the Metropolitan Rowing- already indebted for some interesting facts, reclubs, dining together at the London Tavern, on marks: "The recent earnest wish displayed by the 7th May following, Dickens, as President the Queen to confer upon Dickens some title of of the Nautilus Rowing-club (of which his eld- honor, and the womanly refinement shown by est son was captain), occupied the chair: his Her Majesty in seeking to make that honor one speech on this occasion was full of humor. which he could accept without derogating from 88 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. his social principles, gives his parting words on make preparations for a visit to the United Stanfield a not unkindly significance. It was States in the autumn. The fact soon became after enumerating the artist's many claims to known to the American journalists, and from public distinction, after specifying several of his that time until he landed, paragraphs, poems works by name, and after pointing to the recog- of welcome, and scraps of so-called intelligence nition he would have received had he belonged -scraps which surprised even Mr. Dickens to a foreign state, that Dickens said:'It is himself —were continually appearing in the superfluous to add that he died Mr. Stanfield- papers there. The "New York Tribune" said: he was an Englishman.'" "Charles Dickens is coming to the United On the 17th September following, he took the States to give a series of readings in the princhair at a public meeting of the Printers' Read- cipal cities of the republic. The announceers. A corrector of the press, and at that time ment will be received with pleasure throughout a member of the "Association," who was pres- the country. Our people do, indeed, remement with the other working-men, has forwarded ber the'American Notes,' and the satirical to us this account of the meeting. Coming from chapters in'Martin Chuzzlewit,' and are no one of the men themselves, it is of interest, as doubt of opinion that, as a matter of taste, Mr. showing their appreciation of that respect and Dickens might well have been more gracious.. sympathy which Charles Dickens ever expressed But, on the other hand, our people like free for honest and intelligent working-men: speech and appreciate frankness-not forgetting "I well remember, on the evening when that truth should be the North Star of authorDickens so readily consented to preside at a ship; and there is a good deal of truth in what meeting of the London Association of Correctors Mr. Dickens'said about us on returning from of the Press, following the immortal novelist up his first visit to this country." In England, the steps of'the Salisbury Hotel, Fleet Street, the great novelist's friends arranged for a Farewhere the meeting was to be held. The great well Banquet on the most sumptuous scale. It master, on that occasion, met the assemblage of took place on Saturday evening, November 2d, literary drudges with the open-hearted frankness at the Freemasons' Tavern. The new hall was of a brother. As he threw aside his large light specially decorated for the occasion, the panels cloak, he shook hands with all who sought that being adorned with laurel leaves, and each inhonor with the utmost warmth. Even now I scribed with the name of one of Dickens's works fancy I can feel the firm grip, and see his cheery in splendid letters of gold. The company numsmile. He was dressed with the greatest care bered between four hundred and five hundred and elegance, as if for an evening party or state gentlemen, including nearly all the eminent ball. His florid complexion, dark glittering men in art, literature, science, law, and medieye, and grizzled beard, were very striking; but cine. above all, the loftiness of his massive brow-de- Lord Lytton presided, and in the course -of a noting' the mighty brain within'-inspired the magnificent eulogium upon the illustrious novbeholder with reverence. In his speech he ex- elist, said: "We are about to intrust our honpressed the warmest friendship for the intelligent ored countryman to the hospitality of those body of men before him, to whom, he said,' he kindred shores in which his writings are as was indebted for many kindly hints, and judi- much household words as they are in the homes cious corrections and queries in his proofs, which of England. in the hurry of business had escaped his notice "If I may speak as a politician, I should say while preparing " copy," or revising sheets for that no time for his visit could be more happily press.' He said that he had other engagements chosen. For our American kinsfolk have confor that evening, but had at once put them aside ceived, rightly or wrongly, that they have some when he had been invited to spend an hour with recent cause of complaint against ourselves, and the practical correctors of the Press, for the ad- out of all England we could not have selected vancement of their interests." an envoy-speaking not on behalf of our Government, but of our people-more calculated to allay irritation and propitiate good-will. * * -* * * * CHAPTER XXVII1. CHAPTER XXVIII. "How many hours in which pain and sickSECOND VISIT TO AMERICA.-PEDESTRIAN ness have changed into cheerfulness and mirth TASTES. beneath the wand of that enchanter! How PRESSING invitations from American friends, many a hardy combatant, beaten down in the and the desire to carry out a long-nursed proj- battle of life-and nowhere on this earth is the ect, induced Mr. Dickens early in the year to battle of life sharper than in the commonwealth LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 89 of America -has taken new hope, and new have descried in theirs, that they are a kind, courage, and new force from the manly lessons large-hearted, generous, and great people.' In of that unobtrusive teacher." that faith I am going to see them again. In He concluded by proposing "A prosperous that faith I shall, please God, return from voyage, health, and long life to our illustrious them in the spring, in that same faith to live guest and countryman, Charles Dickens;" and, and to die. My lords, ladies, and gentlemen, if we remember the reports given of the banquet I told you in the beginning that I could not rightly, the company rose as one man to do hon- thank you enough, and Heaven knows I have or to the toast, and drank it with such expres- most thoroughly kept my word. If I may sions of enthusiasm and good-will as are rarely quote one other short sentence from myself, let to be seen in any public assembly. Again and it imply all that I have left unsaid and yet again the cheers burst forth, and it was some deeply feel; let it, putting a girdle round the minutes before silence was restored. earth, comprehend both sides of the Atlantic at Mr. Dickens replied in a speech such as no once in this moment. As Tiny Tim observed, one else could have delivered, and towards its' God bless us, every one.' " conclusion he said: "The story of my going to The great novelist left London on the followAmerica is very easily and briefly told. Since I ing Friday for Liverpool, being accompanied to was there before a vast and entirely new gen- the station by a host of friends desirous of bideration has arisen in the United States. Since ding him " God speed " and au revoir. The that time, too, most of the best known of my directors of the London and North-western books have been written and published. The Company paid Mr. Dickens and party the comnew generation and the books -have come to- pliment of placing at their disposal one of the gether and have kept together, until at length Royal saloon carriages, the appearance of which numbers of those who have so widely and con- excited great interest at the various stations at stantly read me, naturally desiring a little va- which the train stopped. On Saturday mornriety in the relations between us, have express- ing Mr. Dickens was on board the Cunard mailed a strong wish that I should read myself. steamer "Cuba," commanded by Capt. Stone. This wish, at first conveyed to me through A second officer's cabin was set aside for his expublic as well as through business channels, elusive use, and every thing done that could inhas gradually become enforced by an immense sure his personal comfort. He was accompaaccumulation of letters from private individu- nied by his machinist, Mr. Kelly, and a manals and associations of individuals, all express- servant; and-like a true showman-carried ing in the same hearty, homely, cordial, unaf- with him the arrangements of his own platform, fected way a kind of personal affection for me, with the gas apparatus required for his readings. which I am sure you will agree with me that it On Friday, the 23d of the same month, a telwould be downright insensibility on my part not egram, " Safe and well," was received in Lonto prize. Little by little this pressure has be- don, announcing his arrival at Boston. He arcome so great that, although, as Charles Lamb rived there on the 19th, and was received with says,'My household gods strike a terribly deep acclamations. Mr. Dolby, his agent, who preroot,' I have driven them from their places, and ceded him, had disposed of an immense numthis day week, at this hour, shall be upon the ber of tickets. The first reading took place on sea. You will readily conceive that I am in- December 2d, at Tremont Temple. After a spired besides by a natural desire to see for my- few readings in Boston, he proceeded to New self the astonishing progress of a quarter of a York, Washington, and Philadelphia, and read century over there-to grasp the hands of many to immense audiences, being everywhere refaithful friends whom I left there-to see the ceived with the greatest enthusiasm. faces of a multitude of new friends upon whom One of the papers* there said: " No literary I have never looked- and, though last, not man except Thackeray ever had such a welleast, to use my best endeavors to lay down a come from Philadelphia as Charles Dickens rethird cable of intercommunication and alliance ceived last night at Concert Hall. The selling between the Old World and the New. of the tickets two weeks ago almost amounted "' Twelve years ago, when, Heaven knows, I to a disturbance of the peace. Five hundred little thought I should ever be bound upon the people in line, standing from midnight till noon, voyage which now lies before me, I wrote in poorly represented the general desire to hear the that form of my writings which obtains by far great novelist on his first night. Everywhere the most extensive circulation, these words that I looked in the crowded hall I saw some about the American nation:' I know full well that whatever little motes my beamy eyes may * "New York Tribune," 14th January, 1868. 90 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. one not unknown to fame-some one represent- known to my publishers, on both sides of the ing either' the intelligence or the beauty, the Atlantic, that I positively declared that no conwealth or the fashion of Philadelphia. It was sideration on earth should induce me to write an audience which, in the words of Sergeant one. But what I have intended, what I have Buzfuz, I might declare an enlightened, a high- resolved upon (and this is the confidence I seek minded, a right-feeling, a dispassionate, a con- to place in you), is, on my return to England, scientious, a sympathizing, a contemplative, in my own person, to bear, for the behoof of and a poetical jury, to judge Charles Dickens my countrymen, such testimony to the gigantic without fear or favor. The novelist stepped changes in this country as I have hinted at toupon the stage, his book in his hand, his bou- night. Also, to record that, wherever I have quet in his coat; but I will not describe to been, in the smallest places equally with the readers the face and form many of them know largest, I have been received with unsurpassaso well. Mr. Dickens was received coldly. blepoliteness, delicacy; sweet temper, hospitalHere was an Englishman who had pulled us to ity, consideration, and with unsurpassable repieces and tweaked the national nose by writing spect for the privacy daily enforced upon me by'Martin Chuzzlewit' and'American Notes.' the nature of my avocation here, and the state Philadelphia held out as long as she could. The of my health. This testimony, so long as I first smile came in when Bob Cratchit warmed live, and so long as my descendants have any himself with a candle, but before Scrooge had legal right in my books, I shall cause to be got through with the first ghost the laughter was republished as an appendix to every copy of universal and uproarious. The Christmas din- those two books of mine in which I have referner of the Cratchits was a tremendous success, red to America. And this I will do and cause as was Scrooge's Niece by marriage. There to be done, not in mere love and thankfulness, was a young lady in white fur and blue ribbons, but because I regard it as an act of plain justice name unknown to the writer, upon whose sym- and honor." pathies Mr. Dickens played as if she had been a The time for Mr. Dickens's departure was piano. A deaf man could have followed his now close at hand. His last reading was given story by looking at her face. The goose con- at Steinway Hall on the ensuing Monday evenvulsed her. The pudding threw her into hys- ing. The task finished, he was about to retire, terics; and when the story came to the sad but a tremendous burst of applause stopped him. death of Tiny Tim,'my little, little child,' He knew what his audience wanted-a few tears were streaming down her cheeks. This words-a parting greeting before saying goodyoung lady was as good as Mr. Dickens, and all bye. Their illustrious visitor did not disapthe more attractive because she couldn't help it. point them: " The shadow of one word has imThen, as a joke began to be dimly foreseen, it pended over me this evening," said Mr. Dickwas great to see the faint smile dawning on ens, "and the time has come at length when long lines of faces, growing brighter and bright- the shadow must fall. It is but a very short er till it passed from sight to sound, and thun- one, but the weight of such things is not measdered to the roof in vast and inextinguishable ured by their length, and two much shorter laughter." words express the round of our human existDuring his visit to America, the great men ence. When I was reading'David Copperof the land travelled from far and near to be field,' a few evenings since, I felt there was present at the readings; the poet Longfellow more than usual significance in the words of went three nights in succession, and he after- Peggotty,' My future life lies over the sea.' * * * wards declared to a friend that they were "the The relations which have been set up between most delightful evenings of his life." us must now be broken forever. Be assured, On Saturday, the 18th April, he was enter- however, that you will not pass from my mind. tained at a farewell dinner at Delmonico's Ho- I shall often realize you as I see you now, equaltel, New York. Two hundred gentlemen sat ly by my winter fire and in the green English down to it, and Mr. Horace Greeley presided. summer weather. I shall never recall you as a Dickens was somewhat indisposed; but in re- mere public audience, but rather as a host of ply to the toast of his health, he gave this in- personal friends, and ever with the greatest gratteresting experience of his second visit to Amer- itude, tenderness, and consideration. Ladies ica: " It has been said in your newspapers that and gentlemen, I beg to bid you farewell. God for months past I have been collecting materi- bless you, and God bless the land in which I als for and hammering away at a new book on leave you!" America. This has much astonished me, see- He left America on the 22d of April, and the ing that all that time it has been perfectly well following extract from the "New York Tribune" LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 91 of the day after will convey the best impression To envelop, direct, and post these replies, of the great respect paid to him, and the general the services of three secretaries were required. regret expressed at his departure: Applications of another kind, however, were "The'Russia' left her wharf early yesterday morn- personally attended to. Thus it was told there ing, and steamed down the bay. When near Staten Isl- that a lady of Charleston, a great admirer of and, she rounded to and waited for mails and passen- Mr. Dickens's writings, but unfortunately paragers to arrive by the tug-boat from Jersey City. When lyzed in her limbs from an accident, so that she the boat came alongside, bearing, among others, M. Paul du Chaillu and Mr. G. W. Childs, the passengers could not walk, wrote to ask if the doors of the crowded to the side to catch a glimpse of Mr. Dickens, " Temple " could be opened to her earlier than who, leaning over the rail on the quarter-deck of the the usual hour, that she might be lifted into the'Russia,' smiled and nodded to his friends below. Two hours before he had left the Westminster Hotel, hall unobserved. Mr. Dickens immediately acamidst the cheers of those who had gathered to bid knowledged the note, gave the requisite order him farewell, and, as he entered his carriage, bouquets tossed by fair hands from windows fell at his feet. In for the lady's accommodation, and claimed the order to avoid a crowd of spectators, he left the city honor of presenting her, besides, with complifrom the foot of Spring Street, in the private tuag-boat mentary tickets of admission. of his friend Mr. Morgan. On board the tug were Mr. James T. Fields, of Boston; Mr. Anthony and Mr. It is a curious fact that the smallest house Eytinge, artists; Mr. William Winter, Mr. Osgood, of which welcomed Mr. Dickens anywhere in AmerTicknor & Fields (this gentleman has accompanied ica was Rochester, New York, where the reading Mr. Dickens throughout his American campaign); " only $2500. The largest receipts, Mr. H. D. Palmer and his associate, Mr. H. C. Jarrett, of Niblo's; and Mr. Marshall B. Wild, of Boston. The on several occasions exceeded $6000. last-named gentleman was Mr. Dickens's ticket agent. Mr. Dickens's capabilities as a pedestrian Before he bade his farewell, Mr. Dickens acknowledged the value of his agent's services by making had been discussed in America long before he him a present of a check for $150. They steamed arrived there, and our transatlantic friends were down the bay, followed by the police boat, having on not satisfied until a "match " had been brought board Mr. Thurlow Weed, the Superintendent of Police, and a number of ladies bearing beautiful bou- about. This was arranged at Boston, between quets for Mr. Dickens. They reached the'Russia,' Mr. Dolby (Mr. Dickens's English agent) and and were soon on board. The state-room prepared The for Mr. Dickens was laden with flowers. "A basket, elegantly arranged, was presented to distance was to be twelve miles, and the contest him by Mr. Childs. In the centre, in white carna- was to take place on the Mill-dam Road, totions, upon a ground of red roses, was the word' Fare- wards Newton. Mr. Dickens and Mr. Fields well,' and below, the initials' C. D.' "It was a lovely day-a clear blue sky overhead. (the publisher) were to be umpires, and had to As he stood resting on the rail, chatting with this walk the whole twelve miles with their respectfriend and writing an autograph for that one, the genial face all aglow with delight, it was seemingly ive men. Immediately the match was made hard to say the word'Farewell,' yet the tug-boat known, the papers teemed with particulars conscreamed the note of warning, and those who must cerning it. "Dickens," one journal said, return to the city went down the side. "All had left save Mr. Fields.'Boz'held the hand " was a superb pedestrian, good for thirty miles of the publisher within his own. There was an un- on end' any day." The articles were drawn mistakable look on both faces. The lame foot came down from the rail, and the friends were locked in up by the great author, and subscribed to by all each other's arms. four gentlemen. The public were, however, not " Mr. Fields then hastened down the side, not daring made acquainted with the place or the time unto look behind. The lines were'cast off.' "A cheer was given for Mr. Dolby, when Mr. Dick- til after the contest was over. The affair came ens patted him approvingly upon the shoulder, saying, off on the following Saturday, at twelve o'clock.'Good boy.' The pedestrians were all, it is said, " appropri" Another cheer for Mr. Dickens, and the tug steam- ately costumed, and they went at a tremendous ed away. ately costumed, and they went at a tremendous "' Good-bye, " Boz!"' pace. The first six miles were accomplished in "'Good-bye!' from Mr. Fields, who stood the cen- one hour and twenty-three minutes, and the retral figure of a group of three, Messrs. Du Chaillu and Childs upon each side. turn six miles were finished by Mr. Osgood (the "Then'Boz' put his hat upon his cane and waved American) in one hour and twenty-five minutes, it, and the answer came,' Good-bye' and'God bless he winning the match by exactly seven minutes. you, every one!"' he wning the match by exactly seven minutes. An elegant dinner was given by Mr. Dickens at After a pleasant homeward voyage, he ar- the Parker House, the same evening, to signalrived at Liverpool on 1st May, 1868. ize the occasion." This anecdote shows the During his stay, he was besieged to such an heartiness with which he entered into any extent with applications for his autograph that healthy out-door sport he cared to join in, and he was obliged to have a printed form in re- his gameness and youthful vigor in keeping up ply: with men not more than half his age. " To comply with your modest request would not While we are upon the subject'bf our author's be reasonably possible." pedestrian tastes, we may mention that, like Dr. 92 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. Johnson, Dickens was singularly fond of the old "No Thoroughfare" was the title of the city streets and alleys when emptied of the busy Christmas number of "All the Year Round," throng that filled them in the day-time. Lord which appeared during Dickens's absence in the Jeffrey, writing to him once, remarked: " How Christmas of 1867. It consisted of a sensationfunny that besoin of yours for midnight rambling al story, the joint production of Dickens and in city streets; and how curious that Macaulay Wilkie Collins. should have the same taste or fancy! If I It was dramatized by the authors, and had a thought there was any such inspiration as yours most successful run at the Adelphi Theatre fo'r to be caught by the practice, I should expose my one hundred and fifty-one nights, and was then poor irritable trachea, I think, to a nocturnal produced at the Royal Standard by the same pilgrimage, without scruple. But, I fear, I should company, which consisted of the following dishave my venture for my pains." tinguished actors and actresses: Messrs. BenjaThe reader may remember our extract from min Webster, Fechter, Belmore, and Neville; his letter to the Countess of Blessington, where Mesdames Mellon and Billington, and Miss Carhe says-in allusion to his habit of walking at lotta Leclercq. nights while planning out a new novel-" I go "Holiday Romance" and " George Silverwandering about at night into the strangest man's Explanation," both by Dickens, and pubplaces, according to my usual propensity at lished in "All the Year Round," in the months such times, seeking rest and finding none." of January to March, 1868, attracted some slight A story is told that on one pedestrian occasion attention, but did not add very much to his he was taken for a " smasher." He had re- fame as an author. tired to rest at Gad's Hill, but found he could not sleep, when he determined to turn out, dress, and walk up to London-some thirty miles. He reached the suburbs in the gray CHAPTER XXIX. morning, and applied at an "early" coffeeTHE FAREWELL READINGS. —FAILING HEALTH. house for some refreshment, tendering for the same a sovereign, the smallest coin he happen- THE "Farewell Readings," which comed to have about him. menced towards the close of 1868, will be too "It's a bad'un,"'said the man, biting at it, and familiar to most readers to require other than a trying to twist it in all directions, "and I shall passing mention of them. The Messrs. Chapgive you in charge." Sure enough the coin did pell, the well-known music publishers of Bond have a suspicious look. Mr. Dickens had car- Street, had contracted with Mr. Dickens for a ried some substance in his pocket which had ox- given number of final readings, to take place in ydized it. Seeing that matters looked awkward, the principal towns of England, Ireland, and he at once said, " But I am Charles Dickens!" Scotland; and the enormous crowds who throng" Come, that won't do; any man could say ed to hear them showed the unabated interest he was' Charles Dickens.' How do I know?" all classes took in the great novelist and his The man had been victimized only the week books. previously, and at length, at Mr. Dickens's sug- In the month of November, 1868, a new segestion, it was arranged that they should go to ries of " All the Year Round " appeared, the first a chemist, to have the coin tested with aquafor- series having reached twenty volumes. It was tis. In due course, when the shops opened, a marked by the disappearance of his popular chemist was found, who immediately recognized Christmas number, by reason-Mr. Dickens said the, great novelist-notwithstanding his dusty -that had it been so extensively and regularappearance —-and the coffee-house keeper was ly and often imitated, that it was in very great satisfactorily convinced that he had not been danger of becoming tiresome-a statement which entertaining a "smasher." was not at all well received by the press, which It is pleasant to know that, upon the great said, very truly, that to the great body of readnovelist's return to England, the farmers and ers the absence of the Christmas number would neighbors around Gad's Hill draped their be a national disappointment. houses with flags to receive him. "He was ex- Continuing the readings in London and the tremely popular in the place where he lived," provinces, Dickens at last reached Liverpool, says our informant; "he was a man of practical where it was forthwith resolved to entertain charity at home and abroad, and gave away him at a grand banquet. This took place on large sums judiciously every year. Indeed he Saturday evening, the 10th April, 1869, at the would get up in the night and go ten miles to St. George's Hall, the Mayor presiding. At aid any one who was suffering." the time it was spoken of as being one of the LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 93 most sumptuous gatherings of the kind ever fast his ordinary cheerfulness had returned, and seen in this country. The number of ladies he rallied the writer, who was about to visit and gentlemen who sat down to dinner was Sheffield in the rain which was then pouring about seven hundred. The invited guests, in down, about his probable chances of pleasure, addition to the guests of the evening, were Lord remarking that' it was just the kind of day in Dufferin, M. Alphonse Esquiros, Lord Hough- which the loveliness of the locality would be ton, A. Trollope, Palgrave Simpson, W. Hep- seen to the highest advantage.' On the Thursworth Dixon, Andrew Halliday, Joseph Mayer, day in the next week Mr. Dickens was to read F.S.A., G. A. Sala, A. Trollope, Jun., and at Preston; but, still feeling ill, had summoned Charles Dickens, Jun. Next to Mr. Dickens, his friend and usual medical attendant, Mr. Lord Dufferin made the best speech, and some Frank Beard, of Welbeck Street, to meet him of his allusions to the good effects which the there. On Mr. Beard's arrival he at once saw writings of their guest were destined to exercise the gravity of the case, and instantly ordered over all English-speaking peoples were admira- Mr. Dickens then and there to give up all bodible. Concerning the friendly hint which Lord ly and mental exertion for the time. In vain Houghton gave our author, that, had he sought it was urged that an enormous number of tickets parliamentary honors, he might have done his had been sold for that evening's reading. Mr. country good service, and have been rewarded by Beard would hear of no excuse, but carried off titles of honor, this extract from his speech has Mr. Dickens with him to London by the five a biographical significance: 1" When I first took o'clock train. literature as my profession in England, I calmly " The precaution thus seasonably taken seemresolved within myself that, whether I suc- ed to have due effect. Mr. Dickens retired to ceeded or whether I failed, literature should his residence at Gad's Hill, and, implicitly obeybe my sole profession. It appeared to me at ing the orders of his physicians, appeared soon that time that it was not so well understood in to regain his normal state of physical health England as it was in other countries that litera- and strength. Indeed, a very few weeks afterture was a dignified profession, by which any wards, replying to an inquiry made by a friend man might stand or fall. I made a compact as to his condition, he wrote,'After all that with myself that in my person literature should has been said, I feel almost like an impostor; stand, and by itself, of itself, and for itself; and I am so unconscionably well.' "* there is no consideration on earth which would This illness served to bring him under the induce me to break that bargain." notice of several bigots and fanatics, who pesterContinuing the " Farewell Readings" with ed him with tracts, and preached at him. But unvaried success, he reached Preston a fort- soon after, in his own periodical and in his own night after, but became so ill there that he was earnest manner, he showed them how distasteforbidden by his medical advisers to read again ful these pertinacious attentions were to him, until the following year. A personal friend, and how very unnecessary he considered them. who was with him on this journey, thus de- It is believed now that these were the first scribes his indisposition. The friend had gone symptoms of the malady which finally carried down to Leeds at Mr. Dickens's request: him off. " After the business of the evening was over The great International University Boat-race we supped together at the Queen's Hotel, and I between Oxford and Harvard having taken place noticed that he (Dickens) looked jaded and on the 27th August, the London Rowing-club worn, and had to a certain extent lost that invited the crews to dinner at the Crystal Palace marvellous elasticity of spirits which was his on the following Monday. Desirous of showgreat characteristic. He was suffering, too, i ing his American friends the love he bore their from an inflammation of the ball of the foot, country, and of expressing his sympathy with a which had previously occasioned him some an- healthy and manly exercise, he at once accepted noyance, and the origin and cause of which the invitation to be present, and on the occasion could never be rightly settled by his medical delivered one of his very best speeches, notattendants, although among those whom he had withstanding that he was in the doctor's hands consulted about it were Sir Henry Thompson at the time. and Professor Syme. His health continuing to improve, he was, on " He relieved himself of his boot immediate- the 27th of September, enabled to deliver the ly on gaining the room, and while he remained annual address at the commencement of the sat with his foot swathed in lotioned bandages; winter session of the Birmingham and Midland but he was evidently fatigued and depressed, and retired early. The next morning at break- * "Observer," June 12th, 1870. 94 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. Institute, of which Mr. Dickens was President. ways the obstructers of society instead of its This was his longest effort in public speaking, helpers, and that in the extremely few cases and although somewhat severe and didactic where their measures have turned out well, when compared with former speeches, it is an their success has been owing to the fact that, admirable example of his inimitable style. It contrary to their usual custom, they have imwas delivered-one who was present during the plicitly obeyed the spirit of their time, and have delivery informs us-without note of any kind, been-as they always should be-the mere servexcept the quotation from Sydney Smith, and ants of the people, to whose wishes they are without a single pause. Respecting Mr. Dick- bound to give a public and legal sanction.'" ens's concluding words, when acknowledging During the past winter Dickens resumed his the vote of thanks: " My faith in the people readings at St. James's Hall, and, to avoid the governing is, on the whole, infinitesimal; my necessity of frequent journeyings to and from faith in the People governed is, on the whole, Gad's Hill, he rented for six months the town illimitable," considerable discussion arose in the public prints as to the precise meaning the: —= = _ speaker desired to convey. But in the follow- -_ __ ing January (1870), when he attended at the Institution to distribute the prizes and certificates to the most successful students, he gave this explanation: "When I was here last autumn, I made, in reference to some remarks of your respected member, Mr. Dixon, a short confession of my political faith-or perhaps I should better say, want of faith. It imported that I have very little confidence in the people who govern usplease to observe'people' there will be with a small'p' —but that I have great confidence in the People whom they govern —please to observe'People' there with a large' P.' This II was shortly and elliptically stated, and was with no evil intention, I am absolutely sure, in some quarters inversely explained. Perhaps, as the inventor of a certain extravagant fiction, but one which I do see rather frequently quoted as if there were grains of truth at the bottom of it-a fiction called the' Circumlocution Office' -and perhaps also as the writer of an idle book or two, whose public opinions are not obscurely la sI L stated —perhaps in these respects I do not sufficiently bear in mind Hamlet's caution to speak by the card, lest equivocation should undo me. t sh "Now I complain of nobody; but simply in - order that there may be no mistake as to what I ~id mean, and as to what I do mean, I will o avYz PAnK PLACE (1869-70) restate my meaning, and I will do so in the [Mr. Milner Gibson's house, which Dickens rented during the winter months. It was the temporary words of a great thinker, a great writer, and a home where much of his last unfinished work, "Edgreat scholar,* whose death, unfortunately for win Drood," was written. He only lived a few weeks mankind, cut short his'History of Civilization after his return to Gad's Hill.] in England:''They may talk as they will house of his old friend, Mr. Milner Gibson, in about reforms which Government has intro- Hyde Park Place, which he continued to occuduced and improvements to be expected from py up to the end of May last. This house in legislation, but whoever will take a wider and future will have a special interest, from the fact more commanding view of human affairs will that here, in his bedroon on the first floor, with soon discover that such hopes are chimerical. the roar of Oxford Street beneath him-his They will learn that lawgivers are nearly al- studies suffered no interruption from street noises-a large part of his unfinished work,' Henry Thomas Buckle. "Edwin Drood," was written. LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 95 We may mention that Mr. Dickens's father- own homes, on a new series of readings, at in-law, Mr. George Hogarth, died on the 12th which my assistance will be indispensable;* February, in his 87th year. In his earlier days but from these garish lights I vanish now for he was Sir Walter Scott's law agent, and was evermore, with a heartfelt, grateful, respectful, personally acquainted with most of the literary and affectionate farewell." characters of the day. Christopher North, in The speaker then retired, amidst acclamations "Noctes Ambrosianxe," makes mention of him. of the most enthusiastic description, hats and He was musical critic on the staff of the " Daily handkerchiefs being waved in every part of the News," from the time of its starting until 1866, hall. when failing health compelled him to resign his Since the illustrious author's decease, this adpost. dress has acquired a peculiar significance by reaOn the 15th of March, Dickens gave his son of that almost prophetic line: "From these "Farewell reading" at St. James's Hall. It garish lights I vanish now for evermore." was his favorite selection-the "Christmas Car- Shortly after, on April 5, he was with his ol," and "The Trial from Pickwick." Long friends the News-venders, presiding at the anbefore the hour appointed the thoroughfare lead- nual dinner of their Benevolent and Provident ing to the hall was blocked up, and when the Institution. He was in excellent spirits, and doors were opened every seat was instantly his speech upon the occasion was a most humortaken, and many thousands of people were un- ous one. Those who were present will rememable to obtain admittance. As if to assure his ber with what inimitable gravity he told this auditors that his powers were undiminished, he story: read with more than usual spirit and energy, " I was once present at a social discussion, and his voice was clear to the last. At the which originated by chance. The subject was, conclusion, and after the "Trial from Pick-'What was the most absorbing and longestwick," in which the speeches of the opposing lived passion in the human breast? What was counsel, and the owlish gravity of the judge, the passion so powerful that it would almost seemed to be delivered and depicted with great- induce the generous to be mean, the careless to er dramatic power than ever, the applause of be cautious, the guileless to be deeply designthe audience rang for several minutes through ing, and the dove to emulate the serpent?' A the hall; and when it had subsided, Mr. Dick- daily editor of vast experience and great acuteens, with evidently strong emotion, but in his ness, who was one of the company, considerably usual distinct and impressive manner, spoke as surprised us by saying with the greatest confifollows: dence that the passion in question was the pas" LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, —It would be sion of getting orders for the play. worse than idle-for it would be hypocritical "There had recently been a terrible shipand unfeeling-if I were to disguise that I close wreck, and very few of the surviving sailors had this episode in my life with feelings of very con- escaped in an open boat. One of these, on siderable pain. For some fifteen years, in this making land, came straight to London, and hall and in many kindred places, I have had the straight to the newspaper office, with his story honor of presenting my own cherished ideas be- of how he had seen the ship go down before his fore you for your recognition, and, in closely eyes. That young man had witnessed the most observing your reception of them, have enjoyed terrible contention between the powers of fire an amount of artistic delight and instruction and water for the destruction of that ship and which, perhaps, is given to few men to know. of every one on board. He had rowed away In this task, and in every other I have ever un- among the floating, dying, and the sinking dertaken, as a faithful servant of the public, al- dead. He had floated by day, and he had ways imbued with a sense of duty to them, and frozen by night, with no shelter and no food, always striving to do his best, I have been uni- and, as he told this dismal tale, he rolled his formly cheered by the readiest response, the haggard eyes about the room. When he had most generous sympathy, and the most stimu- finished, and the tale had been noted down lating support. Nevertheless, I have thought it from his lips, he was cheered, and refreshed, well, at the full flood-tide of your favor, to re- and soothed, and asked if any thing could be tire upon those older associations between us done for him. Even within him that masterwhich date from much farther back than these, passion was so strong that he immediately reand henceforth to devote myself exclusively to plied he should like an order for the play." the art that first brought us together. Ladies "One of his latest acts in the way of busiand gentlemen, in but two short weeks from * Alluding to the forthcoming serial story of "Edthis time I hope that you may enter, in your win Drood." 96 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. ness," Mr. Hingston Writes to us, " was in re- sert that they would have made him, if he had lation to Miss Glyn, and her then approaching been so minded, at least as great a writer as he reading at St. James's Hall, with her departure was a painter. The gentlest and most modest for Australia. I persuaded Miss Glyn, some of men, the freshest as to his generous apprefive weeks since, to take a trip to Australia, and ciation of young aspirants, and the frankest I drew.out a form of agreement. Dickens took and largest-hearted as to his peers, incapable great interest in her welfare; the agreemerit had of a sordid or ignoble thought, gallantly susto be submitted to him. It was sent back with taining the true dignity of his vocation, withhis annotations and suggestions, all of which out one grain of self-ambition, wholesomely were eminently practical, and very illustrative natural at the last as at the first,'in wit a of his keen business abilities. He acted as a man, simplicity a child,' no artist, of whatever lawyer would for a client." denomination, I make bold to say, ever went Towards the end of the month he again be- to his rest leaving a golden memory more pure came indisposed. A promise that he had made from dross, or having devoted himself with a to dine at the annual dinner of the General truer chivalry to the art goddess whom he worTheatrical Fund he found himself unable to shipped." keep, and at the last moment he telegraphed that he was too unwell to attend. Two days later he sent a short note to one of his inti- CHAPTER XXX. mates, postponing a little expedition which had been arranged, and stating that the old NERVIEW WITH THE QUEN. -LAS T ILLNESS. — DEATH. —BURIAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. enemy in his foot was again causing him annoyance. ONLY since the death of Mr. Dickens is it On 2d May he was better-sufficiently well, that the high respect in which Her Majesty has indeed, to accept the invitation of his artist always held the great novelist and his writings friends, and to dine with them at the opening has become generally known, but for many of the Royal Academy. years past our Queen has taken the liveliest inMr. Arthur Locker writes: " The last time terest in his literary labors, and has frequently I saw him was a few weeks since, when I had expressed a desire for an interview with him. the pleasure of meeting him at dinner. To all And here it may not be uninteresting to menoutward appearance he then looked like a man tion a circumstance in illustration of Her Majwho would live and work until he was fourscore. esty's regard for her late distinguished subject I was especially struck by the brilliancy and which came under the writer's personal notice. vivacity of his eyes. There seemed as much Six years ago, just before the library of Mr. life and animation in them as in twenty ordi- Thackeray was sold off at Palace Green, Kennary pair of eyes." sington, a catalogue of the books was sent to It was at the Academy dinner that he made Her Majesty-in all probability by her request. his last public speech, and his concluding words She desired some memorial of the great man, upon this occasion were a tribute to the memory and preferred to make her own selection by of his dear friend, Daniel Maclise, then recently purchase rather than ask the family for any deceased: "Since," he said, "I first entered the memento by way of gift. There were books public lists, a very young man indeed, it has been with odd drawings from Thackeray's pen and my constant fortune to number among my near- pencil; there were others crammed with MS. est and dearest friends members of the Royal notes, but there was one lot thus described in Academy who have been its grace and pride. the catalogue: They have so dropped from my side, one by one, DICKENS (C.) A CIRISTMAS CAROL, in prose, 1843; that I already begin to feel like the Spanish Presentation Copy. monk of whom Wilkie tells, who had grown to INSCRIBED believe that the only realities around him were " W. Ml. Thackeray, from Charles Dickens (whom he *1ade very happy once a long way from homLe)." the pictures which he loved, and that all the moving life he saw, or ever had seen, was a Her Majesty expressed the strongest desire shadow and a dream. to possess this, and sent an unlimited commission " For many years I was one of the two most to buy it. The original published price of the intimate friends and most constant companions book was 5s. It became Her Majesty's propof the late Mr. Maclise. Of his genius in his erty for ~25 10s., and was at once taken to the chosen art I will venture to say nothing here, palace. but of his prodigious fertility of mind and won- The personal interview Her Majesty had long derful wealth of intellect, I may confidently as- expressed a desire to have with Mr. Dickens LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 97 took place on the 9th April, 1870, when he re- as having attended the State Ball at Buckingceived her commands to attend her at Bucking- ham Palace on that day, were those of Mr. and ham Palace, and accordingly did so, being intro- Miss Dickens. duced by his friend, Mr. Arthur Helps, the The fact of Mr. Dickens going more into clerk of the Privy Council. society than usual during the past spring, and The interview was a lengthened one, and entertaining his friends-always with the utmost satisfactory to both. In the course of it most hospitality-rather more frequently than Her Majesty expressed to him her warm inter- was his custom, had been observed by those est in, and admiration of his works; and, on who knew him. But he continued to complain parting, presented him with a copy of her own that he was not well, and when he felt a little book, " Our Life in the Highlands," with an of his old robust health returning to him he autograph inscription, " Victoria R. to Charles seemed to desire the recreation of society, the D)ickens," on the fly-leaf; at the same time company of friends. Literary composition was making a charmingly modest and graceful re- a task-not a pleasure, as formerly. mark as to the relative positions occupied in As showing his great fondness for the stage, the world of letters by the donor and the recip- it may be mentioned that almost the last-if ient of the book. not the very last-occasion on which he appearSoon after his return home, he sent to Her ed in London society, was in connection with Majesty an edition of his collected works; and an exhibition of amateur theatricals given at when the clerk of the Council recently went to the house of Mr. Freake, at South Kensington, Balmoral, the Queen, knowing the friendship only a very few days before his death. that existed between Mr. Dickens and Mr. " The Mystery of Edwin Drood," we are told, Helps, showed the latter where she had placed gave its author more trouble than any of his the gift of the great novelist. This was in her former works. He complained of this, perhaps own private library, in order that she might al- with a sad presage of the truth. He had, he ways see the books; and Her Majesty express- thought, told too much of the story in the early ed her desire that Mr. Helps should inform the numbers, and his thoughts did not flow so freely great novelist of this arrangement.* as of yore. Since our author's decease the journal with The personal friend, who has before assisted which he was formerly connected has said: us with his reminiscences, shall tell the rest: "We were not at liberty at that time to " Unquestionably he had very much aged in make known that the Queen was then person- appearance during the two previous years; the ally occupied with the consideration of some thought-graven lines in his face were deeper, means by which she might, in her public capaci- the beard and hair were more grizzled, the comty, express her sense of the value of Mr. Dick- plexion ruddier, but not so healthy in hue. He ens's services to his country and to literature. walked, too, less and less actively-latterly, inIt mav now be stated that the Queen was ready deed, dragging one leg rather wearily behind to confer any distinction which Mr. Dickens's him. But he maintained the bluff, frank, known views and tastes would permit him to hearty presence, and the deep cheery voice; accept, and that after more than one title of his hand given to his friend had all its affechlonor had been declined, Her Majesty desired tionate grip, and the splendid beauty of the that he would, at least, accept a place in her dark eyes remained undimmed to the last. Privy Council." "IIow that last came about is now well Three days before this he had attended the known. He returned home to Gad's Hill, levee and been presented to her son H. R. H. where, during his absence, some ornamental althe Prince of Wales, introduced by the Earl terations, which he had previously planned, had De Grey and Ripon. been carried out, on Tuesday, the 31st of May. His daughter, Miss Dickens, was presented He was not then in good health, and complained at court to Her Majesty on the 10th of the fol- that his work fatigued and worried him. On lowing month, introduced by the Countess Rus- Wednesday, while sitting at dinner with his sissell. ter-in-law, Miss Hogarth, a change came over the As recently as the 17th of May last, among expression of his face, which alarmed his comthe names appearing in the " Court Circular" panion. She proposed to send for medical as* Immediately on his return from Balmoral, Mr. sistance, but he refused, putting his hand to his Helps wrote to Mr. Dickens, in pursuance of Her face, complaining of toothache, and desiring Majesty's desire; but the letter that contained so re- that the window might be shut. It was shut markable a tribute to the great novelist could only have reached Gad's Hill while he lay unconscious and at once, and he rose to leave the room, but afdying. ter taking a few steps, he fell heavily on his 7 98 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. left side, and remained unconscious until his'I the worst of these railway accidents was the death, which took place at ten minutes past six, difficulty of determining the period at which on Thursday, June 9, 1870, just twenty-four the system could be said to have survived the hours after the attack. Medical assistance had shock, and that instances were on record of two been summoned; Mr. Frank Beard, Mr. Steele, or three years hlaving gone by before the sufferof Strood, and Dr. Russell Reynolds all saw him, er knew that he was seriously hurt."' but he was beyond the reach of science. As if with a presentiment of what was coming, "He died of apoplexy-an effusion of blood he completed his will just seven days before he on the brain-and an attack of this kind must was struck down. After his wishes had been put have been apprehended by Mr. Frank Beard, into legal form by his solicitors, he copied out when he caused such prompt and decisive the entire document in his own handwriting. measures to be taken last year at Preston." By a codicil to this document he bequeathed That hedied from over-work is now too clear. the whole of his interest in "All the Year The day preceding his death had been passed Round " to his acting editor and eldest son, at the desk in literary composition and corre- coupling the bequest with such private instrucspondence, and already three letters written by tions as would, he believed, insure the character him on that day have been published. and merit of the periodical remaining unchanged Only a few weeks before he wrote to a friend: after he had gone. Mr. John Forster, who had "I have' placed' your touching poem,' The been on intimate terms with Dickens for more God's Acre,' which will appear in the next than thirty years, and Miss Hogarth, his sisternumber." The poem describes a very old man in-law, "and the best friend I ever had," to and a very young child in a church-yard on a use his own words, were his appointed execusunny Sunday; the old man reflecting, the tors. child gathering flowers; and predicts that, as His affairs had been left in perfect order-in the " old, old fruit has ripened, death will not that order which, to the great man throughout tarry long." Contrary to probability, it is the life, was law. Concerning the disposition of little child that dies within a few days, and not his remains clear instructions were also left bethe octogenarian. The verses conclude with a hind. He desired no publicity about his funerreflection that, in the after-light shed upon it al, none of the well-meant assembling of friends by Mr. Dickens's early death, possesses a mourn- when his remains should be committed to the ful interest: earth. It is understood that he had expressed a wish to lie in his own favorite Rochester, as "Whom the gods love die early: Our Father kuoweth best, near as possible to the ruins of the old castle And it is wrong, to murmur there, and in a spot which he had already At the high behest. pointed out. The burial-ground referred to is Sleep gently, blighted blossom; Sleep gently, blighted blossom; d ae thy ret.adjacent to the walls of the castle, and belongs Sleep, and take thy rest." to the parish of St. Nicholas, Rochester. It has When Mr. Helps received the news of Dick- been closed for some time, and for it to be reen's death he immediately telegraphed the fact opened permission of the Secretary of State to her Majesty at Balmoral, and received the would have to be obtained. subjoined sympathetic response: "From Col- But immediately following the sad intellionel Ponsonby to Mr. Helps, Council Office- gence of his death came the universally exThe Queen commands me to express her deep- pressed desire that his remains should rest in est regret at the sad news of Charles Dickens's Westminster Abbey —in that Poet's Corner death." which has been consecrated to the greatest, the tIe died on the anniversary of the dreadful wisest, the best of our countrymen. Dean Staplehurst railway accident, and the shock his Stanley at once communicated with the family, nerves received on that occasion it is believed and in an interview with Mr. Charles Dickens, he never entirely got over. Jun., begged that the national wish might be "The friends in the habit of meeting Mr. complied with. This was on Friday. From Dickens privately recall now the energy with that time until Monday evening the matter was which he depicted that dreadful scene, and how, under earnest consideration. Mr. Dickens's as the climax of his story came, and its dread family took counsel with their father's dearest interest grew, he would rise from the table and and oldest friends, and after due deliberation literally act the parts of the various sufferers to and consultation on the terms of the written inwhom he lent a helping hand. One of the structions they held, asked the Dean of Westfirst surgeons of the day, who was present soon minster whether it would be possible to have after the Staplehurst. occurrence, remarked that certain conditions complied with if they con LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 99 sented that the interment should be at West- Cemetery, and to deliver a short address on the minster? spot-a task which was afterwards excellently The answer was satisfactory, and arrange- performed by Lord Houghton." To this the ments were at once made for the funeral to great novelist replied: take place in the most private manner. possible, on the following day, Tuesday, the 14th June, "MY DEAR MR. OLLIER,-I am very sensi1870. A special train, bearing his remains, ble of the feeling of the committee towards me, left Rochester early in the morning. At the and I receive their invitation (conveyed through Charing Cross station a waiting-room had been you) as a most acceptable mark of their considset apart for the mourners, and on the arrival eration. But I have a very strong objection to of the body, three plain mourning coaches, hav- speech-making beside graves. I do not expect ing none of the feathers or dismal frippery of or wish my feeling in this wise to guide other the undertaker, drew up to receive those per- men; still it is so serious with me, and the idea sonal friends and relatives who were to witness of ever being the subject of such a ceremony the burial of the great man. In coming to the myself is so repugnant to my soul, that I must Abbey, in the first coach were the late Mr. decline to officiate. Faithfully yours always, Dickens's children-Mr. Charles Dickens, Jun.; " CHARLES DICKENS. Mr. Harry Dickens, Miss Dickens, Mrs. Charles "EDMUND OLLIEB, Esq." Collins. In the second coach were Mrs. Austin, his sister; Mrs. Charles Dickens, Jun.; But the most energetic protest against the Miss Hogarth, his sister-in-law; Mr. John hideous fineries of the undertaker is to be found Forster. In the third coach, Mr. Frank Beard, in an article entitled "Trading in Death,' which his medical attendant; Mr. Charles Collins, appearedin "Household Words" about Novemhis son-in-law; Mr. Ouvry, his solicitor; Mr. ber, 1852. It is not generally known that this Wilkie Collins; Mr. Edmund Dickens, his article-which produced much comment at the nephew. time-came from his pen. Upon reaching the Abbey, the doors were On Sunday, the 19th June, Dean Stanley immediately closed and the coaches dismissed. preached the funeral sermon in Westminster The ceremony was at once proceeded with. Abbey. An announcement to this effect had The Dean read our solemn burial-service in a been made in the daily journals, and long bemanner which showed how strong were his fore the hour appointed for the service a vast own emotions; and the great organ chimed body of people had assembled at the doors. Imsubdued and low. The solemnity of the scene mediately these were opened every available was indeed striking-the vast place empty, seat was taken, and many thousands of persons save for the little group of heart-stricken peo- remained in distant parts of the building until ple by an open grave. A plain oak coffin, with the conclusion of the sermon. Among the a brass plate bearing the inscription: many distinguished individuals present, the two who attracted most notice were the Poet LaureCHARLES DICKENS, ate and Mr. Thomas Carlyle. Mr. Dickens ever BORN FEBRUARY 7TH, 1812; BORN FEBRUARY, 1812; respected the great genius of Tennyson, and the DIED JUNE 9TH, 1870, poet has always expressed the highest admiraa coffin strewed with wreaths and flowers by tion for the writings of Charles Dickens. It the female mourners, and then-dust to dust, was fitting, therefore, that the surviving author and ashes to ashen!-such was the funeral of should be present at this last ceremony over the great man who has gone. There were no the great novelist's remains. The poet was accloaks, no crapes, no bands or scarfs-none of commodated with a seat inside the sacrarium; that mocking paraphernalia of the professional Mr. Carlyle sat in the body of the building. undertaker which Dickens so strongly objected The family and relations of Mr. Dickens were to. When the subject of his funeral was being in the gallery to the north of Poet's Corner. discussed, Mr. Oilier told us how strongly the Dean Stanley was not well; indeed, he had for great man had objected to take part in the cer- some days been complaining of severe indispoemony which was performed over the grave of sition, but, in spite of physical weakness, he deLeigh Hunt, in Kensal Green, during the past termined to carry out the duty of the day. He summer. took as his text the verses in the 15th and 16th "In August last," writes Mr. Oilier, one of chapters of St. Luke, which embody the parable the honorary secretaries of the Leigh Hunt of the rich man and Lazarus: "He spoke this Memorial Fund, " I requested Mr. Dickens to parable. There was a certain rich man, which inaugurate the monument in Kensal Green was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared 100 LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. sumptuously every day: and there was a cer- man who sheltered her life-these are scenes tain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at which no human being can read without being his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the better for it. He labored to teach us that the crumbs whieh fell from the rich man's table: there is even in the worst of mankind a soul of moreover the dogs came and licked his sores." goodness-a soul worth revealing, worth re. The eloquent and impressive sermon which claiming, worth regenerating. IIe labored to followed was listened to with breathless atten- teach the rich and educated how this better side tion, and many a cheek was moist with tears was to be found, even in the most neglected during its progress. There was in the whole Lazarus, and to tell the poor no less to respect scene something unusually impressive - the this better part of themselves-to remember that enormous congregation covering every inch of they also have a calling to be good and great, ground in choir, and sacrarium, and transepts; if they will but hear it. the unbroken silence, or broken only by sobs; * * * * * * the careworn, delicate face and attenuated form "There is one' more thought that arises on of the preacher, struggling against overwhelming this occasion. As, in the parable, we are forebodily weakness to reach the congregation that ibly impressed with the awful solemnity of the hung on his lips. other world, so on this day a feeling rises in us After commenting at some length upon the before which the most brilliant powers of genius parables of the New Testament, and especially and the most lively sallies of wit wax faint. upon the one selected for their consideration When, on Tuesday last, we stood beside that that morning, the preacher thus applied the open grave, in the still deep silence of the sumtext:. mer morning, in the midst of this vast solitary " It is, said to have been the distinguishing space, broken only by that small band of fourglory of a famous Spanish saint that she was teen mourners, it was impossible not to feel the advocate -of the absent. That is precisely that there is something more sacred than tony the advocacy of this divine parable, and of those worldly glory, however bright-or than any modern parables which most represent its spirit mausoleum, however mighty-and that is the -the advocacy, namely, of the poor, the absent, return of the human soul into the hands of its the neglected, of the weaker side, whom, not see- Maker. Many, many are the feet that have ing, we are tempted to forget. It was the part trodden, and will tread, the consecrated ground of him whom we have lost to make the rich around his grave. Many, many are the hearts man, faring sumptuously every day, not fail to which, both in the old world and the new, are see the presence of the poor man at his gate. drawn towards it as towards the resting-place of The suffering inmates of our work-houses-the a dear personal friend. Many are the flowers neglected children in the dens and caves of this that have been strewn-many the tears that great city-the starved, ill-used boys in remote have been shed-by the grateful affection of the schools, far from the observation of men-these poor that have cried-of the fatherlegs-and of all felt a new ray of sunshine poured into their those that have none to help them. May I dark prisons, andanew interestawakened intheir speak to them a few sacred words, that will forlorn and desolate lot, because an unknown come perhaps 4vth a new meaning and a deeper friend had pleaded their cause with a voice that force, because they come from the lips of their rang through the palaces of the great as well as lost friend-because they are the most solemn through the cottages of the poor. In his pages, utterances of lips now closed forever in the with gaunt figures and hollow voices, they were grave? They are extracted from the will of made to stand and speak before those who had Charles Dickens, dated May 12, 1869, and will before hardly dreamed of their existence. But now be heard by many for the first time. After was it mere compassion which this created? the most emphatic injunctions respecting the The same master-hand which drew the sorrows inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private of the English poor drew also the picture of the manner of his funeral-injunctions which have unselfishness, the kindness, the courageous pa- been carried out to the very letter-he thus tience, and the tender thoughtfulness that lie continues: concealed under many a coarse exterior, and are "' I direct that my name be inscribed in plain to be found in many a degraded home. When English letters on my tomb. I conjure my friends the little work-house boy wins his way, pure on no account to make me the subject of any monuand mndefiled, through the mass of wickedness ment, memorial, or testimonial whatever. I rest around him-when the little orphan girl, who my claim to the remembrance of my country on my brings thoughts of heaven into the hearts of all published works, and to the remembrance of my aibound her, is as the very gift of God to the old friends in their experience of me in addition LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. 101 thereto. I commit my soul to the mercy of God, though three doors were open,- nearly every perthrough our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; son present passed out by Poet's Corner, in orand I exhort mlly dear children humbly to try to der to take a last look at Charles Dickens's guide themselves by the teaching of the NTew Tes- grave. tament, in its broad spirit, and to put nofaith in He lies, without one of his injunctions reany man's narrow construction of its letter here or specting his funeral having been violated, surthere.' I rounded by poets and men of genius. Shak"In that simple but sufficient faith he lived speare's marble effigy looks upon his grave; at and died. In that simple and sufficient faith his feet are Dr. Johnson and David Garrick; he bids you live and die. If any of you have his head is by Addison and Handel; while learnt from his works the value-the eternal Oliver Goldsmith, Rowe, Southey, Campbell, value-of generosity, of purity, of kindness, of Thomson, Sheridan, Macaulay, and Thackeunselfishness, and have learnt to show these in ray, or their memorials, encircle him. Thus your own hearts and lives, then remember that " Poet's Corner," the most familiar spot in the these are the best monuments, memorials, and whole Abbey, has received an illustrious additestimonials of the friend whom you have loved, tion to its peculiar glory. Separated from and who loved with a marvellous and exceeding Dickens's grave, by the statues of Shakspeare, love his children, his country, and his fellow- Southey, and Thomson, and close by the door men. These are monuments which he would to "Poet's Corner," are the memorials of Ben not refuse, and which the humblest and poorest Jonson, Dr. Samuel Butler, Milton, Spenser, and youngest here have it in their power to and Gray; while Chaucer, Dryden, Cowley, raise to his memory." Mason, Shadwell, and Prior are hard by, and The beautiful anthem, I" When the ear heard tell the by-stander, with their wealth of great him," was then sung, and the remainder of the names, how service was gone through. The dispersion of "These poets near our princes sleep, the congregation was a work of time, for, al- And in one grave their mansion keep." A PP E N D I X. T NDER this heading a few detached anec- find out something new about London lifeU dotes, and some additional particulars, are some new custom or trade or mode of livinggiven: and his second thought is to imagine the peo__ — ple engaged in that custom or,trade or mode of THE FIRST HINT OF " PICKWICK."-A great living. Now this is Pierce Egan's style-and deal has been said as to the origin of "Pickwick," Dickens, with rare genius, and with large symand in the chapter devoted to a consideration of pathies, has followed in grooves which the once this favorite work the present writer has stated celebrated Pierce laid down. Pierce Egan from whence the name, at least, was taken. had no wit, and his conversations are not worth He did not, however, for the moment remem- mentioning. Dickens riots in wit, and what ber a conversation upon the subject which he Pierce would have shown in a description, had with a friend not long since, which conver- Dickens makes out in a conversation. But the sation was shortly followed by a letter from objects of the two men to magnify London life, him upon this same topic.. The letter runs and to show it in all its phases, were the thus, and the compiler of this little book trusts same." he may be pardoned for quoting it: Upon examining Pierce Egan's'"Finish "" When I stated to you that Dickens took his a sequel to his " Life in London "-we certainideal of novel-writing fiom the works of Mr. ly find the characters are somewhat similar to Pierce Egan, I had nothing but internal evi- those in " Pickwick." In other matters, too, a deuce to go upon. When he began to write, parallel may be drawn-thus, the Bench inthe most popular fictions were the descriptions stead of the Fleet, and the archery match inof'Life in London' connected with the names stead of the shooting party. But the most cuof'Tom' and'Jerry.' The grand object of rious coincidence is that the "Fat Knight" Dickens, as a novelist, has been to depict not so -the counterpart of Mr. Pickwick-is first met much human life as human life in London, and by Corinthian Tom at the village of Pickwick!* this he has done after a fashion which he learned from the' Life in London' of Mr. DICKENS AND THE " MORNING CHRONICLE." Pierce Egan. If you remember that once fa- -Various and conflicting accounts of Dickmous book, you will call to mind how he takes ens's earliest " Sketches" have been given, and his heroes-the everlasting Tom and Jerry- of the circumstances under which he first connow to a fencing-saloon, now to a dancing- tributed to the evening edition of the "'Mornhouse, now to a chop-house, now to a spunging- ing Chronicle;" but the following extract, house. The object is not to evolve the charac- which we have been permitted to make from a ters of Tom and Jerry, but to introduce them long unpublished letter, will set the question in new scene after new scene. And so you at rest. The letter was addressed to the rate will find with Dickens. He invents new char- Mr. George Hogarth, then connected with the acters, but he never invents them without, at i "Morning Chronicle," and was the beginning tLe same time, inventing new situations and of a friendship between the two which encded in surroundings of London life. Other novelists Mr. Dickens marrying Mr. Hogarth's daughter: would not object to invent new characters ap- " * * As you begged me to write an original pearing in the same position of life as the char- sketch for the first number of the new evening acters in some preceding novel, and trusting for paper, and as I trust to your kindness to refer novelty to the newness of the surroundings and my application to the proper quarter, should I the situation. Dickens insists upon putting the new characters into a new and unexpected * The writer thinks it scarcely necessary to say that trade-doll-making perhaps, or news-vending these remarks upon the origin-the first hint-of -and he has always in view some new phase I" Pickwick " are not to be understood as intended in of London life which he is far more anxious to any way to detract from the great novelist's fair fame exhibit than the characters without which it is i for originality. On the contrary, it is believed that the time has now come when it will be a delight with impossible to bring the phase into prominence. students to trace his reading, and, if possible, catch If you look to his writings, or if you talk to some glimpse of the origin of those inimitable charachimn, you will find that his first thought is to ters which will live forever in English fiction. 104 APPENDIX. be unreasonably or improperly trespassing upon tion of light papers, in the style of my' Street you, I beg to ask whether it is probable that if Sketches,' would be considered of use to the I commenced a series of articles under some -new paper; and, secondly, if so, whether they attractive title for the "Evening Chronicle," do not think it fair and reasonable that —takits conductors would think I had any claim to ing my share of the ordinary reporting business some additional remuneration-of Course, of no of the'Chronicle' besides —I should receive great amount-for doing so. something for the papers beyond my ordinary "Let me beg you not to misunderstand salary as a reporter?"* my meaning. Whatever the reply may be, I The offer was accepted, the then sub-editor promised you an article, and shall supply it informs us, and Mr. Dickens received an inwith the utmost readiness, and with an anxious crease in his salary of from five guineas per desire to do my best; which I honestly assure week to seven guineas. you would be the feeling with which I should always receive any request coming personally PORTRAITS OF DIcKENS.-Besides those enufrom yourself. * * * I merely wish to put it merated in the body of this book, there are othto the proprietors-first, whether a continua- ers which should be mentioned. A very reDANIEL MACLISE, IRA. COUNT D'ORGAY. Taken in 1839, and given as a frontispiece to "Nicho- From a pencil sketch made in 1841. las Nickleby." CUALRLES LESLIE, R.A. PHOTOGRAPH. From his painting of Dickens as "The Copper Cap- From the portrait considered by Mr. Dickens as his tain u"in " *Every Man in his Own Humor." 1846. hest likeness. 1870. * Dated "13 Furnival's Inn, Tuesday evening, January 20, E1835)." APPENDIX.'105 markable one was etched about 1837, with the Mr. Dickens's characters in an article on the name "Phiz " at the foot. It represents Dick- novelist, in " Blackwood's Magazine," April, ens seated on a chair, and holding a port-folio. 1855. In the background a Punch-and-Judy performance is going on. The face has none of that DESCRIPTION OF "BoZ " IN 1844.-Mr. R. delicacy and softness about it which are observ- H. Horne, in his " New Spirit of the Age," gives able in the Maclise portrait. It looks, however, this graphic description of him as he appeared more like the real young face of the older man, when a young man: " Mr. Dickens is, in prias revealed in the photograph now publishing. vate, very much what might be expected from This portrait is very rare, and it is understood his works-by no means an invariable coincithat it was withdrawn from publication soon af- dence. He talks much or little, according to ter it appeared. Mr. Hablot K. Browne, the his sympathies. His conversation is genial. genuine "Phiz," denies all knowledge of it. He hates argument; in fact, he is unable to arThere exists a portrait by S. Lawrence, which gue-a common case with impulsive characters was lithographed by W. Taylor. who see the whole, and feel it crowding and In 1856, Ary Scheffer's portrait of the great struggling at once for immediate utterance. novelist was exhibited in the Royal Academy. He never talks for effect, but for the truth or It was hard and cold, and gave general dissat- for the fun of the thing. He'tells a story adisfaction. mirably, and generally with humorous exaggerMr. Frith painted a portrait of his friend, ations. His sympathies are of the broadest, representing him writing his celebrated compo- and his literary tastes appreciate all excellence. sitions at his plain, but workman-like, desk. He is a great admirer of the poetry of TennyThis portrait is now the property of the great son. Mr. Dickens has singular personal activinovelist's friend and executor, Mr. John Forster, ty, and is fond of games of practical skill. He and in due time will be hung on the walls of is also a great walker,* and very much given to the National Portrait Gallery. In the Exhibi- dancing Sir Roger de Coverley. In private, the tion of the Royal Academy for 1857, Mr. Frith general impression of him is that of a first-rate exhibited a picture (No. 125), " Kate Nickleby practical intellect, with'no. nonsense' about at Madame Mantalini's." Kate is holding a him. Seldom, if ever, has any mail been more mantle, while Miss Knagg (reflected in the che- beloved by contemporary authors, and by the val glass) is trying on another. public of his time." THE NAMES OF DICKENS'S CHARACTERS.-It DESCRIPTION OF DICKENS IN 1852.-Miss is well known that the quaint surnames of his Clarke, an American lady, who visited Engcharacters, concerning which essays have been land in 1852 with Miss Cushman and a friend, written, were the result of much pains-taking. in her " Haps and Mishaps of a Tour in EuDickens, with a genius which might have justi- rope " (written under the assumed name of lied his trusting it implicitly and solely, placed Grace Greenwood), says: his chief reliance on his own hard labor. It is "He is rather slight, with a symmetrical said that when he saw a strange or odd name head, spiritedly borne, and eyes beaming alike on a shop-board, or in walking through a vil- with genius and humor. Yet, for all the power lage or country town, he entered it in his pock- and beauty of these eyes, their changes seemed ct-book, and added it to his reserve list. Then, to me to be from light to light. I saw them in runs the story, when he wanted a striking sur- no profound, pathetic depths, and there was name for a new character, he had but to take around them no tragic shadowing. But I was the first half of one real name, and to add it to foolish to look for these on such an occasion, the second half of another, to produce the ex- when they were very properly left in the auact effect upon the eye and ear of the reader he thor's study, with pens, ink, and blotting-paper, desired.* and the last written pages of'Bleak House."' ** * In " Notes and Queries" for August 28,,1858 (this periodical takes its motto from Boz's TABLE HABITS.-Some of the Amerione of Mr. Dickens's characters), it was suggest- can newspaper paragraphs about his personal ed that the name of "Carker" was framed tastes gave him considerable amusement. Said from the Greek, as so much is said of Mr. Cark- a Temperance Journal: er's teeth. Mr. Dickens, however, replied to "The prevailing idea that Mr. Dickens is this, that the coincidence was undesigned. It accustomed to a very generous diet, which has has been further suggested that the name was mainly arisen from the jovial tone of his writmade up from " canker " and "carking" (as ings, is quite incorrect, for we are credibly inin " carking care "), which are very expressive. "So much of my travelling is done on foot that, if of the blighting influence possessed by Carker. I cherished betting propensities, I should probably be It has been stated that'the Pickwickian names found registered in sporting newspapers under some of Wardle, Lowten, and Dowler occur in the such title as the Elastic Novice, challenging all eleven" Annual Register's " account of the Duke of stone mankind to competition in walking. My last York's trial, 1809. special' feat was turning out of bed at two, after a Some inquiry is made as to the names of hard day, pedestrian and otherwise, and walking thirty miles into the country to breakfast.-(" Sly Neigh" Daily News," June 11, 1870. borhoods," "Uncommercial Traveller.") 106 APPENDIX. formed that lie is very careful in such mat- easily read, were by no means easily written; ters!" He labored at them prodigiously, both in their conception and execution. During the whole THE MS. OF " OLIVER TWIST."-A portion time that he had a book in hand, he was much of the MS. of "Oliver Twist," which originally more thoughtful and preoccupied than in his appeared in "Bentley's Miscellany," is still in leisure moments." Mr. Bentley's possession. It has been suggest- *** Another friend has written: " His hours ed that it might fittingly be placed in the Brit- and days were spent by rule. He rose at a cerish Museum by the side of the MS. of Sterne's tain time, he retired at another, and though no "Sentimental Journey." precisian, it was not often that his arrangements varied. His hours for writing were between DICKENS'S BENEVOLENCE.-The late Sheri- breakfast and luncheon, and when there was dan Knowles, in a letter to a friend, gave an any work to be done no temptation was suffiinstance of his generosity: "Poor Haydn, the ciently strong to cause it to be neglected. This author of the'Dictionary of Dates' and the order and regularity followed him through the'Book of Dignities' (I believe I am right in day. His mind was essentially methodical; the titles), was working, to my knowledge, and in his long walks, in his recreations, in his under the pressure of extreme destitution, ag- labor, he was governed by rules laid down for gravated by wretchedly bad health, and a heart himself by himself, rules well studied beforeslowly breaking through efforts indefatigable, hand, and rarely departed from. The so-called but vain, to support in comfort a wife and a men of business, the people whose own exclusive young family. I could not afford him at the devotion to the science of profit and loss makes moment any material relief, and I wrote to them regard doubtfully all to whom that same Charles Dickens, stating his miserable case. science is not the main object in life, would My letter was no sooner received than it was have been delighted and amazed at this side of answered-and how? By a visit to his suffer- Dickens's character." ing brother, and not of condolence only, but of *** " No writer set before himself more laassistance-rescue! Charles Dickens offered his boriously the task of giving the public the very purse to pdor Haydn, and subsequently brought best. A great artist, who once painted his porthe case before the Literary Society, and so ap- I trait while he was in the act of writing one of pealingly as to produce an immediate supply of the most popular of his stories, relates that he ~60. I need not say another word. I need not was astonished at the trouble Dickens seemed remark that such benevolence is not likely to to take over his work, at the number of forms occur solitarily. The fact I communicate I in which he would write down a thought before learned from poor Haydn himself. Dickens he hit out the one which seemed to his fastidious never breathed a word to me about it." fancy the best, and at the comparative smallness of manuscript each day's sitting seemed to HOOK AND DICKENS.-" A comparison seems have produced. Those, too, who have seen the almost to force itself upon our notice between original MSS. of his works, many of which he the writings of Hook and those of a still more had bound and kept at his residence at Gad's popular author, Mr. Charles Dickens. We Hill, describe them as full of interlineations and shall not be tempted to pursue it farther that to alterations." remark that, their subject-matter being in some measure the same, the former seems to survey MANNER OF LITERARY COMPOSITION.- A society from a level more elevated and more writer in a weekly journal says: " I remember distant than his competitor; his delineations well one evening, spent with him by appointare in consequence genial and sketchy, those of ment, not wasted by intrusion, when I found the latter more technical and minute. Hook him, according to his own phrase,'picking up gives you a landscape, while'Boz' is tracing the threads' of' Martin Chuzzlewit' from the every leaf of a particular tree. The same printed sheets of the half volume that lay before analogy holds good as regards their moral him. This accounts for the seeming incomtea'ching. Hook is pithy, pointed, and off- pleteness of some of his plots; in others, the hand; the reflections of Mr. Dickens are elabo- design was too strong and sure to be influenced rated with a care that occasionally, perhaps, de- by any outer consideration. He was only contracts from their effect. Hook has undoubtedly firmed and invigorated by the growing applause, the advantage of more experience of the world, and marched on, like a successful general, with but the palm of originality must, we should each victory made easier by the preceding one. think, be awarded to his rival." -BARHAM'S It seemed hardly to come within his nature to Life of Theodore IIook. compose in solitary fashion, and wait the event of a whole work. No doubt this resulted in METHODICAL HABITS AND PERSEVERANCE. part from his character as a journalist; and so -One who knew him well says: " He did not did his utter disdain of the shams which it is the work by fits and starts, but had regular hours for! express province of journalism to detect and labor, commencing about ten and ending about expose. two. It is an old saying that easy writing is "His composition, easy as it seems in the very difficult reading; Mr. Dickens's works, so reading-indeed, so natural that it would be APPENDIX. 107 difficult to substitute any truer word in any of trial unite in testifying to the open-handed place-was, we are told, elaborate and slow. justice of the man." But in his happier days the process was by no * * * * * * means wearisome. It was the love of the idea, "Never was human being more' thorough.' that could not let it go till he had nursed it to His friendship was a fervent reality, and he its utmost growth. In this he resembled many spared no pains and withheld no exertion to of the greatest humorists, whose enjoyment of serve those whom he thought worthy, and to their own fancies is evidenced by the impossi-' whom his countenance was valuable. The bility of passing them.into print while a single whole energy of his nature-and the passage in mirth-stirring thought or word could be added'David Copperfield,' in which the hero.attributes to make the picture perfect. The result was whatever success he has acquired in this life to invaluable. With the exception only of Sllak- his faculty of devoting his whole strength and speare, among English writers of drama and thoughts to the subject in hand, whatever it fiction, no other author than Dickens yields so i might be, precisely describes Charles Dickens many sentences on each page of sterling value in himself-was given to the friend as readily and themselves; no other author can be read and fully as to the day's work; and it would be imre-read with such certainty of finding fresh possible to say more. Again, this kindly helppleasure on every perusal. Nowhere, with the fulness was more valuable in Dickens than in one exception, does so much thought go to finish | most men, from his shrewd common sense, his the production. It is jeweller's work, inlaying worldly wisdom, his business habits, his intense and enriching every part."* regard for accuracy in detail. Whatever lie said should be done, those who knew him re-' THE CHIEF."-In his own immediate lite- garded as accomplished. There was no forgetrary circle, and among those who were on the, fulness, no procrastination, no excuse, when the most familiar terms with him, the name "Mr. time for granting a promised favor came."* Dickens," or "Mr. Charles Dickens," or even "Charles," with his most intimate friends, was SYMPATHY WITIH WORKING-MEN. —A friend, never heard. The respect felt for his genius- writing in the " Observer," says: "He took a his superiority-took a more striking, although certain honest pride in receiving and returning more familiar form. He was invariably spoken the salutations of working-people personally unof as "the Chief!" At "AlltheYearRound" known to him as he walked along the city's office, the question was never, "' Is Mr. Dickens streets or the country roads, and he was greatly in?" but " Has the' Chief' arrived?" " Is the pleased by the reception at Christmas-time of'Chief' in?" numberless small presents, generally of provisions, sent to him,' in honor of the season,' by BLUE INIK.-The present habit among literary humble and anonymous admirers." men-especially anmong those formerly connected with "Household Words," and morerecent- A BEGGAR'S ESTIMATE OF HIS GENEROSITY. ly with "All the Year Round "-of using blue -Dickens has, like others in this world, been in preference to black ink, arose with Mr. Dick- made to suffer every now and then for his good ens. "The Chief" disliked the necessity of nature. High up on a list, taken from the blotting his MS. in the progress of composition, pocket of a begging-letter writer, of persons easiand on finding that a certain make of blue ink ly induced to give money to those who pleaded dried almost immediately it left'the pen, he in- distress, was found the name of " Charles Dickvariably used that kind ever after; and thus be- ens," in company with that of an equally kindly, gan the fashion for blue ink apaong London but more wealthy, charitable person, Miss Burjournalists. dett Coutts. His own account of how he has been victimized by the clever tales of systematic DICKENS IN PRIVATE LIFE.-One who was impostors has been told in his own inimitable intimately acquainted with him says: "To way in "Household Words." thoSe who never saw Dickens, and who ask whether he was like his works, we answer PARAGRAPH DISEASE.-Writing to a friend emphatically, Yes. When in congenial society, in Boston, Dickens said: "I notice that about his humor was so abundant and overflowing, that once in every seven years I become the victim the impression it gave the listener was that it of a paragraph disease. It breaks out in Engwould have been painful to check it; while in land, travels to India by the overland route, nobility and tenderness, in generous sympathy gets to America per Cunard line, strikes the for all that is elevating and pure, in lofty scotn base of the Rocky Mountains, and, rebounding of the base, in hatred of the wrong, Dickens the back to Europe, mostly perishes on the steppes author and Dickens the man was one. The of Russia from inanition and extreme cold." stories of his goodness and generosity are endless. His was the common fate of having to DICKENS AND THACKERAY.- Mr. Hodder bear the burdens of others as well as his own, tells us that "Thackeray did not keep copies and those who knew him under circumstances of his own books. I was at his house when he * "Weekly Dispatch," June 18, 1S70. "Daily News," June 11, 1870. 108 APPENDIX. had completed the'Newcomes,' and, on look- ANECDOTE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.-Mr. Aring at the book-shelves in his studio, I saw a thur Locker says that the following sad story newly-bound copy of that work, but neither was related to Mr. Dickens by the late Mr. Ed-'Vanity Fair,''Pendennis,' nor'Esmond.' I win Stanton, the famous Secretary of War in spoke of this strange want in his library;'for the United States Cabinet. On Good-Friday, (said I) Charles Dickens has all his own works 1865, there was a Cabinet meeting at Washingneatly bound in the order of publication.' ton, and Mr. Stanton chanced to enter the coun-'Yes,' answered Thackeray,'I know he has, cil chamber some time after the other members and so ought I; but fellows borrow them or had assembled. As he entered he heard the steal them, and I try to keep them, and can't.'" President say, " Well, gentlemen, this is only *** ":In the mere matter of literary style amusement. I think we had better now turn to there is a very obvious difference. Mr. Thack-. business." During the meeting he noticed that eray, according to the general opinion, is the Mr. Lincoln was remarkably grave and sedate; more terse and idiomatic, and Mr. Dickens the and that, instead of strolling about the room, as more diffuse and luxuriant writer. There is an was his usual wont, dealing out droll remarks, Horatian strictness and strength in Thackeray he sat bolt upright in his chair. On leaving which satisfies the more cultivated taste, and the Cabinet, Mr. Stanton asked one of the other wins thu respect of the severest critic; but Members why the President's manner was so Dickens, if he is the more rapid and careless, on peculiar, and received the following explanation: the whole, seems more susceptible to passion, " When we assembled to-day, Mr. Lincoln said, and rises to a keener and wilder song. Refer-' Gentlemen, I dreamt a strange dream last night ring the difference of style to its origin in dif- for the third time, and on each occasion someference of intellectual constitution, critics are thing remarkable has followed upon it. After accustomed to say that Thackeray's is the mind the first dream came the battle of Bull Run [Mr. of closer and harder, and Dickens's the mind of Dickens could not remember the second event], looser and richer, texture-that the intellect of and now the dream has come again. I dreamt the one is the more penetrating and reflective, that I was in a boat on a lake, drifting along and that of the other the more excursive and I without either oars or sails, when-' At this intuitive."-MAssoN's "British Novelists and moment you," said the Member, addressing Mr. their Styles." Stanton, " opened the door,whereupon the Presi*** An anonymous writer says: "The first dent checked himself, and said,'I think we had time I heard Mr. Thackeray read in public, he better turn to business.' So we have lost the paid a tribute to'Boz.' It was the night after conclusion of the dream." the Oxford election, in which Mr. Thackeray And it was lost forever. The council met at was an unsuccessful candidate, and the kind- half-past two, and on the same evening Presihearted author hastened up to town to fulfill a dent Lincoln lay dead, slain by the pistol-shot promise to give some readings on behalf of Mr. of Wilkes Booth. Angus Reach.* I well remember the burst of laughter and applause which greeted the open- THE CONTRIBUTORS TO " HOUSEHOLD ing words of his reading.'Walking yesterday WoRDS."-The earliest contributor to "' Housedown the streets of an ancient and well-known hold Words" may be said to have been Mrs. city, I-' but here the allusion to Oxford was Gaskell, for, after the beautiful little introductorecognized, and he had to wait until the merri- ry address by Charles Dickens, the new periodment it created had ceased. In alluding to ical opened with a fine story from- her pen. Charles Dickens, Mr. Thackeray, after speaking Many of the small band of writers who had ralwith abhorrence of the impurity of the writings lied round Mr. Dickens, and who formed what of Sterne, went on to say:'The foul satyr's may be called the staff of the journal, were comeyes leer out of the leaves constantly; the last paratively unknown; some were altogether novwords the famous author wrote were bad and ices, whom Mr. Dickens's quick discernment of wicked-the last lines the poor stricken wretch talent had marked out as useful collaborateurs. penned were for pity and pardon. I think of More than one young writer, whose name has these past writers, and of one who lives amongst since become familiar to the public, made his us now, and am grateful for the innocent laugh- debdt here. One of the first contributors was ter, and. the sweet and unsullied pages, which Mr. W. H. Wills, who had been editor of the author of " David Copperfield " gives to my I" Chambers's Journal," and who for years actchildren.' The author of'David Copperfield' ed as Mr. Dickens's working editor and confiwas taken by surprise, and looked immensely dential secretary. Besides the contributors hard at the ceiling, as if trying to persuade enumerated on p. 60, there were Mr. R. H. himself that he was unknown to the audience. Horne, the author of "Orion," Douglas JerOn the same night I heard. Thackeray read rold, and Mr. James Hannay, who wrote most Hood's celebrated lines,'One more unfortu- of the sea-sketches. Mr. Sala's "Key of the nate,' etc." jStreet," published here, was, we believe, his first appearance as a magazine writer. Amongoth* The writer is here in error. The lecture was not non delivered on behalf of Mr. Reach, but for the fund then er regular contributors ma being raised to the memory of the late Douglas Jer- cy Fitzgerald, Wilkie and Charles Collins, Sidrold. ney Blanchard, Mrs. Gaskell, Walter Thorn APPENDIX. 109 bury, Mrs. Linton, Robert Brough, Miss Amelia But it may be mentioned that "Edwin Ed(vards, Mr. J. C. Parkinson, Blanchard Jer- Drood" is also having an independent issue* rold, W. Allingham. The names of all the con- in America; and it is somewhat remarkable that tributors to the journal, however, would occupy the last words in the part issued there should more space than we have at command. likewise have an almost prophetic meaning: "There, there! there! Get to bed, poor "THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD."-Con- mail, and cease to jabber! With that he extincerning the completion of this, Messrs. Chap- guished his light, pulled up the bed-clothes man & Hall, the publishers, have addressed the around him, and with another sigh shut out the following letter to the " Times:" world." " SI,-We find that erroneous reports are *** Relative to the sketch of opium-smoking in circulation respecting'The Mystery of Ed- which occurs in "Edwin Drood," Sir John win Drood,' the novel on which Mr. Dickens Bowring has written to the "Daily News:" was at work when he died. It has been sug- "Connected with the name and history. of gested that the tale is to be finished by other Charles Dickens, and illustrative of his habits hands. We hope you will allow us to state in of observation, it may not be amiss to record your columns that Mr. Dickens has left three that on the publication of'Edwin Drood's numbers complete, in addition to those already Mystery'I wrote to him explaining what appublished, this being one-half of the story as it peared to me an inaccuracy in his description was intended to be written. These numbers and picture of opium-smoking, and sent to him will be published, and the fragment will so re- an original Chinese sketch of the form of the main. No other writer could be permitted by pipe and the manner of its employment in us to complete the work which Mr. Dickens China. Expressing much gratification/ with has left." my communication, he informed me that before *** A letter had been sent to Mr. Dickens he wrote the chapter he had personally visited relative to a figure of speech in Chapter X. of the eastern districts of London, in the neigh"Edwin Drood," which figure of speech, the borhood of the docks, and had only recorded writer stated, had been taken from the descrip- what he had himself seen in that locality. No tion of the sufferings of our Saviour, as given in doubt that the Chinaman whom he described the New Testament, and applied in a way to had accommodated himself to English usage, wound the feelings of Christian readers. The and that our great and faithful dramatist here author of "Edwin Drood " wrote the following as elsewhere most correctly portrayed a piece reply the day preceding his death. It has al- of actual life." ready been published as " his last words." "DEAR SIR,-It would be quite inconceiv- GAD'S HILL HIOUSE.-It has been suggested able to me, but for your letter, that any reasonable reader could possibly attach a scriptural reference to a passage in -- -- _ a book of mine, reproducing a much- __ abused social figure of speech, impressed __ into all sorts of service, on all sorts of ___ _i_ __ inappropriate occasions, withouLt the faintest connection of it with its original.... source. I am truly shocked to find that any reader can make the mistake. I have always striven in my writings to express veneration for the life and les- t sons of our Saviour; because I feel it, and because I re-wrote that history for my children-everv one of whom knew it frQm having it repeated to them, long before they could read, and almost as soon as they could speak. But I have never made proclamation of this from the housetops. Faithfully yours, X — "CHARLES DICKENS."' *** It has been remarked that the concluding words of the last number of " Edwin Drood,"* CAD)' IIILL PLACE, NEAR ROCHESTER (1SO0-'T0). " Conies to an end-for the time," [Mr. Dickens's last residence. Here "Great Expectations," "Our Mutual Friend," " The Uncommercial Traveller," and have a mournful significance, when read portions of" Edwin Drood," were written. As is well known, in the light of after events. he died here, 9th June, 1870.] * June 1, 1S70. * " Every Saturday," June 9, 1870. 10 APPENDIX. that Charles Dickens's favorite abiding-place should be purchased -by a general subscription, and kept as a national memento of the author. r It is further suggested that the house should be ~ retained by Mr. Dickens's family for a term, to be named by themselves, at the expiration of which, with their consent, the place should merge in trustees. Dickens passed the morning and afternoon of his last day on earth in the ch&let presented to him by a few Swiss admirers two years since, which is erected in the j shrubbery opposite his residence, and approached by a tunnel underneath the turnpike road. This chalet, embosomed in the foliage of some TIlE SWIss CHALET. very fine trees, stands upon an eminence com[Presented to Mr. Dickens by his English friends in manding a magnificent view of the mouth of Switzerland. It forms a summer-house in the grounds the Thames and the opposite coast of Essex. at Gad's Hill.] It was a favorite retreat of Dickens. THE END. FRANKLIN SQUARE, NEW YORK, September,. 1870. HARPER & BROTHERS' LIST OF NEW BOOKS. HARPER & BROTHERS will send any of the following books by mail, iostage fireliaid, to any Miart of the United States, on receizpt of the firice. HARPER'S CATALOGUE, with CLASSIFIED INDEX OF CONTENTS, sent by mail on recei/pt of Six Cents in postage stamps, or it may be obtained gratuitously on ao4lication to the Pu3lishers personally. HARPER'S COMPLETE EDITION OF THE CHARLES DICKENS: THE STORY OF LIFE AND WORKS OF THE REV. F. W. HIS LIFE. By the Author of "The Life of ROBERTSON. In Two Volumes. $1 50 Thackeray." Portraits taken at various times, each. and Views of his Residences. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents. LIFE, LETTERS, LECTURES ON CORINTHIANS, AND ADDRESSES OF THE LATE A record of the incidents in a career full of labors, FREDERICK W. ROBERTSON, M.A., In- full of triumphs, and almost exceptionally full of friendcumbent of Trinity Chapel, Brighton, 1847- ships. * * * The volume, in truth, is a faithful account 1853. With Portrait on Steel. Large 12mo, of every event in the life of Dickens, social, domestic, 840 pages, Cloth, $1 50. or literary, which can interest the reader.-London Daily Telegraph. A great deal of information and entertainment may SERMONS PREACHED AT BRIGHTON BY be derived from this volume.-London Daily News. THE LATE REV. FREDERICK W. ROBERTSON, the Incumbent of Trinity Chapel. With Portrait on Steel. Large 12mo, 838 SPEECHES, LETTERS, AND SAYINGS of pages, Cloth, $1 50. CHARLES DICKENS. To which is added a Sketch of his Life by George Augustus Sala, The publishers take pleasure in commending to and Dean Stanley's Sermon. With Portrait public favor their complete and uniform Edition of the Life and Works of this gifted preacher, as more As a deliverer of what the French would call "a compact and neat than any other in the market, speech of occasion," no one is more happy.-Percy while its extraordinary cheapness puts it within the Fitzgerald. reach of many who have been heretofore prevented His capital speeches. Every one of them reads like by their high price from possessing this author's life a page of " Piclwick." —Critic. and writings. * * A more thoughtful, suggestive, and beautiful THE GENIAL SHOWMAN. Being Reminispreacher never entered a pulpit; a simpler and braver cences of the Life of Artemus Ward and Picman never lived; a truer Christian never adorned any tures of a Showman's Career in the Western religious community. His life and death were vica- World. By EDWARD P. HINGSTON. Two rioer, as he himself might have put it. He lived and (lied for others, for us all. The sorrows and agonies Illustrations. 8vo, Paper, 75 cents. of his heart pressed rare music out of it, and the experience of a terribly bitter life leaves a wealth of thought and reflection never more than equaled in the THE UNITED STATES INTERNAL REVhistory of men. —Morning Star (London). ENUE AND TARIFF LAW (passed July Here is a book which has gone through as great7, together with the Act imposig a number of editions as the most, popular novel. It 13, 180) together with the Act imposing has all those marks of arduous service which are.Taxes on Distilled Spirits and Tobacco, and only to be seen in books which belong to great pub- for other purposes (approved July 20, 1868), lic libraries. It is thumbed, dog's-eared, pencil- and such other Acts or Parts of Acts relating inmarked, worn by much perusal. Is it then a novel? On the contrary, it is a volume of sermons. A fine, to Internal Revenue as are now in effect; with tender, and lofty mind, full of thoughtfulness, full Tables of Taxes, a copious Analytical Index, of devotion, has herein left his legacy to his coun- and full Sectional Notes. Compiled by HORtry. It is not rhetoric or any vulgar excitement of eloquence that charms so many readers to the book, ACE E. DRESSER. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents. so many hearers to this preacher's feet. It is not with the action of a Demosthenes, with outstretched arms and countenance of flame, that he presses his Gospel HARPER'S HAND-BOOK FOR TRAVELupon his audience. On the contrary, when we read ERS IN EUROPE AND TIE EAST. those calum and lofty utterances, this preacher seems seated, like his Master, with the multitude palpitating Be a Gude throuh France, Belgium, round, but no agitation or passion in his own thonf-ht- Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Egypt, Syful, contemplative breast. The Sermons of Rob'ert- ria, Turkey, Greece, Switzerland, Tyrol, Russon have few of the exciting qualities of oratory. Save si, Denmark, Sweden, Spail, and Great Britfor the charm of a singularly pure and lucid style, their almost sole attraction consists in their power of in- an and Ireland. With a Railroad Map and struction, in their faculty of opening iup the mysteries 44 other Maps and Plans of Cities. By W. of life and truth. It is pure teaching, so far as that PEMzBROKIE FETRIDGE. New Edition: Ninth ever can be administered to a popular audience, which Year.' Large 12mo Leather Pocket-Book is offered to us in these volumes. —Blackwood's Maya- Pocket-Book zine. Form, $7 50. 2 H-aper &v Brothers' List of New Books. COCKER'S CHRISTIANITY AND GREEK DIXON'S FREE RUSSIA. Free Russia. By PHILOSOPHY. Christianityand GreekPhi- W. HEPWORTH DIXON, Author of " Her losophy; or, the Relation between Spontaneous Majesty's Tower," &c. With Two Illustraand Reflective Thought in Greece and the Pos- tions. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 00. itive Teaching of Christ and his Apostles. By itive Teaching of Christ and his Apostles. By This is a more important and remarkable work upon B. F. COCKER, D.D., Professor of Moral and the great Muscovite'Empire than any foreign traveler Mental Philosophy in Michigan University. has ever even attempted, much less accomplished. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 75. Thanks to the writer of this splendid volume, "Free Russia" is brought clearly, boldly, vividly, compreA.work of learning and ability, and of wide re- hensively, and yet minutely, within the ken of every search; dealing with its problems and difficulties ac- intelligent reading Englishman. The book is in many cording to modern philosophic methods, and pervaded parts as enthralling as a romance, besides being full throughout with a devout Christian spirit. —Lutheran of life and character.-Sun (London). Observer. We claim for Mr. Dixon the merit of having treatThe problems proposed for discussion in this volume ed his subject in a fresh and original manner. He has are some of the most profound and most important done his best to see with his own eyes the vast country which can engage the attention of the human mind. which he describes, and he has visited some parts of the Dr. Cocker is disposed to see, both in the heathen re- land with which few even among its natives are familligions and the teachings of the philosophers, a much iar, and he has had the advantage of being brought into clearer apprehension of the Deity as one and supreme personal contact with a number of those Russians than is commonly admitted, and to recognize this as whose opinions are of most weight. The consequence the result of that apprehension of himself which God is that he has been able to lay before general readers has given to all his intelligent creatures. His book is such a picture of Russia and the Russian people as written vigorously, and adapted to the comprehension can not fail to interest them.-Athenceum (London). of intelligent readers, and the notes have been prepared with reference to the wants of those who do not read Latin and Greek.-Standard (Chicago). WINCIIELL'S SKETCHES OF CREATION. Sketches of Creation: a Popular View of some of the Grand Conclusions of the Sciences moir of the Rev. John Scudder, M.D., Thir- in reference to the Histoly of Matter and of oty-six Years Missionary in India. By the Life. Together with a Statement of the IntiyRev. J. B.-six Years Missionary in IndiaD. By Portrait. mations of Science respecting the Primordial v12mo ClothJB. $1WATERBURYDD Port.75. Condition and the Ultimate Destiny of the Earth and the Solar System. By ALEXANDER The letters and journals give the reader an insight WINCHELL, LL.D. Professor of Geology, Zointo Dr. Scudder's interior life and experience. 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There are very many persons who desire some knowledge of the origin, conORTON'S ANDES AND THE AMAZON. struction, and development of the earth and of its reThe Andes and the Amazon; or, Across the lations to the other bodies in the solar system, yet have neither the time nor the patience to master the Continent of South America. By JAMES OR- details of the subject. Those details so burden ordiTON, M.A., Professor of Natural History in nary geological treatises that this class of inquirers is Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., -and repelled from their study. They will find this sumCorresponding Member of the Academy of mary of the matter better adapted to their purpose Corresponding lMeember of t he Academy of than almost any thing else that has appeared.-BrookNatural Sciences, Philadelphia. With a New lyn Eagle. Map of Equatorial America and numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 00. THEY BAZAR BOOK OF DECORUM. 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Regarding the popular character and variety of its contents, the attractiveness of its illustrated articles, the timeliness of its occasional articles upon current topics, the instructiveness and importance of its Historical and Scientific papers, and the conduct of its special Editorial Departments, the Publishers of HARPER'S MAGAZINE may confidently challenge comparison of its present with its previous record, and claim that they are generously fulfilling the promises which they have given in the past. In the July Number was commenced a serial story, " The Old Love Again," by AINNIE THOMAS, printed firom the author's manuscript, and beautifully illustrated. "AXnteros," by the Author of "Guy Livingstone," will still be continued. In the present Number is commenced a serial story, "Anme izraness," by the Author of " Mabel's Progress," "Aunt Mlargaret's Trouble," etc. Pbl?'aished. flonty, Wioti Iroefuse IlIuslraZionso VOLUME C For XIV. ARPER'S EEKLYo 1870. ARPER'S WEEKLY is an illustrated record of, and commentary upon the events of the times. It will treat of every topic, Political, Historical, Literary, and Scientific, which is of current interest, and will give the finest illustrations that can be obtained from every available source, original or foreign. Published HWeekly, witis psoflse dZlusXrationso VOLUME. I ARPE'S BZARo 5 For S III. 5 LL 1&JP E:`S 1870. ARP1EPR'S BAZAR is a Journal for the Home. It is especially devoted to all i D subjects pertaining to Domestic and Social'Life. It furnishes the latest Fashions in Dress and Ornament; describes in-door and out-door Amusements; contains Stories, Essays, and Poerls —every thing, in brief, calculated to make an American Home attractive. "Y6 e Crqogranz," by Prof. DE MILLE, now being published in the BAZAR, is, after "Man and Wife," the most interesting story of the season.f Publ'ised W oeely, wit/ Iroftse Zlls/rs/.ios. JTHARPER'S MAGAZINE, WzEENLYE, and BAZAR, Osse Copy of either for One Year, $4 00. Tho three publications, the MAGAZINE, WEEKLY, and BAZAR, will be sent to any address, for One Year, for $xo oo; any two of them for $7 oo. Aos Y"'xtra Copy of either the MAGAZINE, thle WEEKLY, or the BAZAR will be supplied gratis to every Club of Five Subscribers wdho send,4 oo each in one remittance; or Six Copies, without extra copy, of either publication, for $20 oo. The Volumes of the WvEEICLY and BAZAR commence with the year. When no time is specified, it will be understood that the subscriber wishes to commence with the Number next after the receipt of his order. The Volumes of the bMAGAZINE commence with the Numbers for June and December of cach year. Subscriptions may comImence with any Number. When no time is specified, it will be understood that the subscriber wishes to begin with the first Number of the current Volume, and back Numbers will be sent accordingly. 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