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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:19:13 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:19:13 -0700 |
| commit | 0cbf1260def69a1476c115d959c7c659f9f16d63 (patch) | |
| tree | 49494694b143101b77abf02b88a9b98e3370db82 /25851-h | |
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diff --git a/25851-h/25851-h.htm b/25851-h/25851-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d8fd148 --- /dev/null +++ b/25851-h/25851-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,53351 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Life of Charles Dickens, by John Forster. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .date {text-align: right;} + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .right {text-align: right;} + .poem {margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;} + .poem2 {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;} + .sig {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align:baseline; + position: relative; + bottom: 0.33em; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + .hang1 {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 3em; text-align: justify;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, +Complete, by John Forster + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, Complete + +Author: John Forster + +Release Date: June 20, 2008 [EBook #25851] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS *** + + + + +Produced by Emmy, Juliet Sutherland, Andrew Templeton and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p> + + + +<h1>THE LIFE<a name="fly" id="fly"></a></h1> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/title_signature.png" width="300" height="120" alt="Signature: Charles Dickens" title="Signature: Charles Dickens" /> +</div> + +<p><a name="title" id="title"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 490px;"> +<img src="images/image01.jpg" width="490" height="600" alt="Charles Dickens" title="Charles Dickens" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE LIFE</h2> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h1>CHARLES DICKENS</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>JOHN FORSTER.</h2> + +<h3>THREE VOLUMES IN TWO.</h3> + +<h2>VOL. I.</h2> + +<div class='center'><br />————————<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +BOSTON:<br /> +JAMES R. OSGOOD & COMPANY,<br /> +(<small>LATE TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO.</small>)<br /> +1875.<br /></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE LIFE</h2> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h1>CHARLES DICKENS</h1> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h3>JOHN FORSTER.<br /> +<br /><br /><br /> +VOL. I.<br /> + +1812-1842.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> + +<div class='center'> +<small>TO THE</small><br /> +<br /> +DAUGHTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS,<br /> +<br /> +M Y G O D - D A U G H T E R M A R Y<br /> +<br /> +<small>AND</small><br /> +<br /> +HER SISTER KATE,<br /> +<br /> +<b>This Book is Dedicated</b><br /> +<br /> +<small>BY THEIR FRIEND,</small><br /> +<br /> +<small>AND THEIR FATHER'S FRIEND AND EXECUTOR,</small><br /> +<br /> +JOHN FORSTER<br /></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></p> + +<h2>NOTE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Such</span> has been the rapidity of the demand for successive impressions +of this book, that I have found it impossible, until now, to +correct at pages <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, and <a href="#Page_97">97</a> three errors of statement made in the +former editions; and some few other mistakes, not in themselves important, +at pages <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, and <a href="#Page_102">102</a>. I take the opportunity of adding +that the mention at p. <a href="#Page_83">83</a> is not an allusion to the well-known "Penny" +and "Saturday" Magazines, but to weekly periodicals of some years' +earlier date resembling them in form. One of them, I have since +found from a later mention by Dickens himself, was presumably of a +less wholesome and instructive character. "I used," he says, "when +I was at school, to take in the <i>Terrific Register</i>, making myself unspeakably +miserable, and frightening my very wits out of my head, for +the small charge of a penny weekly; which, considering that there was +an illustration to every number in which there was always a pool of +blood, and at least one body, was cheap." An obliging correspondent +writes to me upon my reference to the Fox-under-the-hill, at p. <a href="#Page_62">62</a>: +"Will you permit me to say that the house, shut up and almost ruinous, +is still to be found at the bottom of a curious and most precipitous +court, the entrance of which is just past Salisbury Street. . . . It +was once, I think, the approach to the halfpenny boats. The house is +now shut out from the water-side by the Embankment."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Palace Gate House, Kensington</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><i>23d December, 1871</i>.</span><br /></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class='center'><br />————————<br /> +</div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Vol. I Contents"> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER I. 1812-1822.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 21-46.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Childhood. Æt.</span> 1-10.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='center'><span class="smcap">page</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birth at Landport in Portsea</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Family of John Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Powers of observation in children</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Two years old</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In London, æt. 2-3</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In Chatham, æt. 4-9</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Vision of boyhood</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The queer small child</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mother's teaching</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Day-school in Rome Lane</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Retrospects of childhood</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>David Copperfield and Charles Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Access to small but good library</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tragedy-writing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Comic-song singing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cousin James Lamert</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First taken to theatre</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Mr. Giles's school</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Encored in the recitations</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Boyish recollections</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birthplace of his fancy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last night in Chatham</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In London</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First impressions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bayham Street, Camden-town</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Faculty of early observation</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His description of his father</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Small theatre made for him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sister Fanny at Royal Academy of Music</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Walks about London</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Biography and autobiography</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At his godfather's and his uncle's</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First efforts at description</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Res Angusta Domi"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mother exerting herself</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Father in the Marshalsea</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visit to the prison</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Captain Porter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Old friends disposed of</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At the pawnbroker's</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER II. 1822-1824.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 47-70.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Hard Experiences in Boyhood. Æt.</span> 10-12.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Dilke's half-crown</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Story of boyhood told</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>D. C. and C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Enterprise of the cousins Lamert</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First employment in life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Blacking-warehouse</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A poor little drudge</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bob Fagin and Poll Green</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Facilis Descensus"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Crushed hopes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The home in Gower Street</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Regaling alamode</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Home broken up</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>At Mrs. Roylance's in Camden-town</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sundays in prison</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Pudding-shops and coffee-shops</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What was and might have been</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thomas and Harry</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A lodging in Lant Street</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Meals in the Marshalsea</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D. and the Marchioness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Originals of Garland family</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Adventure with Bob Fagin</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Saturday-night shows</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Appraised officially</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Publican and wife at Cannon Row</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Marshalsea incident in <i>Copperfield</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Incident as it occurred</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Materials for <i>Pickwick</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sister Fanny's musical prize</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>From Hungerford Stairs to Chandos Street</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Father's quarrel with James Lamert</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Quits the warehouse</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bitter associations of servitude</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What became of the blacking business</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER III. 1824-1830.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 71-95.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">School-Days and Start In Life. Æt.</span> 12-18.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Outcome of boyish trials</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Disadvantage in later years</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Advantages</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Next move in life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wellington House Academy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Revisited and described</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letter from a schoolfellow</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D.'s recollections of school</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Schoolfellow's recollections of C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fac-simile of schoolboy letter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Daniel Tobin</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Another schoolfellow's <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'recoltions'">recollections</ins></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Writing tales and getting up plays</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Master Beverley scene-painter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Street-acting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The schoolfellows after forty years</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Smallness of the world</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In attorneys' offices</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At minor theatres</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The father on the son's education</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Studying short-hand</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In British Museum reading-room</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Preparing for the gallery</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>D. C. for C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A real Dora in 1829</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The same Dora in 1855</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dora changed into Flora</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ashes of youth and hope</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER IV. 1831-1835.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 96-106.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Reporters' Gallery and Newspaper Literature.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Æt.</span> 19-23.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reporting for <i>True Sun</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First seen by me</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reporting for <i>Mirror</i> and <i>Chronicle</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First published piece</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Discipline and experiences of reporting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Life as a reporter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Black</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Thomas Beard</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A letter to his editor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Incident of reporting days</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The same more correctly told</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Origin of "Boz"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Captain Holland</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. George Hogarth</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sketches in <i>Evening Chronicle</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D.'s first hearty appreciator</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER V. 1836.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 107-115.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">First Book, and Origin of Pickwick. Æt.</span> 24.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Sketches by Boz</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fancy-piece by N. P. Willis: a poor English author</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Start of <i>Pickwick</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Marriage to Miss Hogarth</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First connection with Chapman & Hall</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Seymour's part in <i>Pickwick</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letters relating thereto</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D.'s own account</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>False claims refuted</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Pickwick's original, his figure and his name</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First sprightly runnings of genius</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The <i>Sketches</i> characterized</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Seymour's death</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>New illustrator chosen</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Hablot K. Browne</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D. leaves the gallery</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Strange Gentleman</i> and <i>Village Coquettes</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VI. 1837.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 117-140.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Writing the Pickwick Papers. Æt.</span> 25.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First letter from him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>As he was thirty-five years ago</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. Carlyle and Leigh Hunt</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birth of eldest son</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>From Furnival's Inn to Doughty Street</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A long-remembered sorrow</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>I visit him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hasty compacts with publishers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Self-sold into quasi-bondage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Agreements for editorship and writing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Macrone's scheme to reissue <i>Sketches</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Attempts to prevent it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Exorbitant demand</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Impatience of suspense</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Purchase advised</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Oliver Twist</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Characters real to himself</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sense of responsibility for his writings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Criticism that satisfied him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Help given with his proofs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Writing <i>Pickwick</i>, Nos. 14 and 15</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_127"><ins title="Transcriber's Note: this number repeated in the original">127</ins></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scenes in a debtors' prison</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A recollection of Smollett</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reception of <i>Pickwick</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A popular rage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Carlyle's "dreadful" story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Secrets of success</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Pickwick</i> inferior to later books</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Exception for Sam Weller and Mr. Pickwick</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Personal habits of C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reliefs after writing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Natural discontents</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The early agreements</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tale to follow <i>Oliver Twist</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Compromise with Mr. Bentley</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Trip to Flanders</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First visit to Broadstairs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Piracies of <i>Pickwick</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A sufferer from agreements</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First visit to Brighton</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What he is doing with <i>Oliver Twist</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reading De Foe</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"No Thoroughfare"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed help to Macready</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VII. 1837-1838.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 141-151.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Between Pickwick and Nickleby. Æt.</span> 25-26.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Edits <i>Life of Grimaldi</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His own opinion of it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An objection answered</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His recollections of 1823</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Completion of <i>Pickwick</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A purpose long entertained</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Relations with Chapman & Hall</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Payments made for <i>Pickwick</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Agreement for <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Oliver Twist</i> characterized</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reasons for acceptance with every class</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Nightmare of an agreement</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letter to Mr. Bentley</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposal as to <i>Barnaby Rudge</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Result of it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birth of eldest daughter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Young Gentlemen</i> and <i>Young Couples</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First number of <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>2d of April, 1838</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VIII. 1838.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 152-164.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Oliver Twist. Æt.</span> 26.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Interest in characters at close of <i>Oliver</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Writing of the last chapter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cruikshank illustrations</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Etchings for last volume</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>How executed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Slander respecting them exposed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Falsehood ascribed to the artist</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reputation of the new tale</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Its workmanship</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Social evils passed away</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Living only in what destroyed them</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Chief design of the story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Its principal figures</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Comedy and tragedy of crime</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reply to attacks</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Le Sage, Gay, and Fielding</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Likeness to them</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Again the shadow of <i>Barnaby</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Appeal to Mr. Bentley for delay</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A very old story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Sic vos non vobis"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Barnaby</i> given up by Mr. Bentley</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Resignation of <i>Miscellany</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Parent parting from child</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER IX. 1838-1839.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 165-179.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Nicholas Nickleby.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Æt.</span> 26-27.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Doubts of success dispelled</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Realities of English life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Characters self-revealed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Miss Bates and Mrs. Nickleby</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Smike and Dotheboys</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A favorite type of humanity</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sydney Smith and Newman Noggs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Kindliness and breadth of humor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Goldsmith and Smollett</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Early and later books</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Biographical not critical</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Characteristics</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Materials for the book</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birthday letter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A difficulty at starting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Never in advance with <i>Nickleby</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Always with later books</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Enjoying a play</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span>At the Adelphi</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Writing Mrs. Nickleby's love-scene</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_175">175</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sydney Smith vanquished</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_175">175</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Winding up the story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Parting from creatures of his fancy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Nickleby dinner</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Persons present</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Maclise portrait</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER X. 1838-1839.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 180-190.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">During and After Nickleby. Æt.</span> 26-27.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Cottage at Twickenham</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Daniel Maclise</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ainsworth and other friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Stanley of Alderley</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Petersham cottage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Childish enjoyments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Writes a farce for Covent Garden</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Entered at the Middle Temple</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>We see Wainewright in Newgate</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Oliver Twist</i> and the <i>Quarterly</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hood's <i>Up the Rhine</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Shakspeare Society</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birth of second daughter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>House-hunting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Barnaby</i> at his tenth page</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letter from Exeter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_187">187</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A landlady and her friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_187">187</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A home for his father and mother</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_188">188</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Autobiographical</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visit to an upholsterer</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visit from the same</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XI. 1839.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 191-199.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">New Literary Project. Æt.</span> 27-28.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thoughts for the future</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_191">191</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Doubts of old serial form</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Suggestion for his publishers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>My mediation with them</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed weekly publication</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Design of it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Old favorites to be revived</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Subjects to be dealt with</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Chapters on Chambers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Gog and Magog Relaxations</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Savage Chronicles</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Others as well as himself to write</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Travels to Ireland and America in view</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Stipulation as to property and payments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Great hopes of success</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Assent of his publishers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>No planned story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Terms of agreement</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Notion for his hero</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_198">198</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A name hit upon</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sanguine of the issue</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XII. 1840-1841.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 200-216.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">The Old Curiosity Shop. Æt.</span> 28-29.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visit to Walter Landor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First thought of Little Nell</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hopeful of Master Humphrey</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A title for the child-story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First sale of <i>Master Humphrey's Clock</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Its original plan abandoned</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reasons for this</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To be limited to one story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Disadvantages of weekly publication</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A favorite description</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In Bevis Marks for Sampson Brass</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Lawn House, Broadstairs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dedication of his first volume to Rogers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span>Chapters 43-45</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dick Swiveller and the Marchioness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_207">207</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Masterpiece of kindly fun</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_207">207</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Closing of the tale</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_208">208</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Effect upon the writer</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_208">208</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Making-believe very much</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The end approaching</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The realities of fiction</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of Little Nell</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>My share in the close</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A suggestion adopted by him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Success of the story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Useful lessons</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Its mode of construction</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Character and characteristics</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The art of it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A recent tribute</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Harte's "Dickens in Camp"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_215">215</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIII. 1840.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 217-231.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Devonshire Terrace and Broadstairs. Æt.</span> 28.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A good saying</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Landor mystified</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The mirthful side of Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Extravagant flights</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Humorous despair</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Riding exercise</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First of the ravens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The groom Topping</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The smoky chimneys</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Juryman at an inquest</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Practical humanity</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Publication of <i>Clock's</i> first number</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Transfer of <i>Barnaby</i> settled</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A true prediction</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Revisiting old scenes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D. to Chapman & Hall</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Terms of sale of <i>Barnaby</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A gift to a friend</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Final escape from bondage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Published libels about him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Said to be demented</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To be insane and turned Catholic</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Begging letter-writers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A donkey asked for</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Kindheart</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Friendly meetings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Social talk</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reconciling friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hint for judging men</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIV. 1841.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 232-248.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Barnaby Rudge. Æt.</span> 29.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Advantage in beginning <i>Barnaby</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birth of fourth child and second son</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Raven</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A loss in the family</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Grip's death</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D. describes his illness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Family mourners</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Apotheosis by Maclise</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Grip the second</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The inn at Chigwell</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A <i>Clock</i> Dinner</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lord Jeffrey in London</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The <i>Lamplighter</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The <i>Pic Nic Papers</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Character of Lord George Gordon</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A doubtful fancy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Interest in new labor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Constraints of weekly publication</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The prison-riots</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A serious illness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Close of <i>Barnaby</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Character of the tale</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Defects in the plot</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The No-Popery riots</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Descriptive power displayed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_246">246</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Leading persons in story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Dennis the hangman</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_248">248</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XV. 1841.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 249-262.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Public Dinner in Edinburgh. Æt.</span> 29.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His son Walter Landor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_249">249</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dies in Calcutta (1863)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D. and the new poor-law</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Moore and Rogers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Jeffrey's praise of Little Nell</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Resolve to visit Scotland</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Edinburgh dinner proposed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sir David Wilkie's death</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Peter Robertson</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Professor Wilson</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A fancy of Scott</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lionization made tolerable</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thoughts of home</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The dinner and speeches</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His reception</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wilson's eulogy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Home yearnings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Freedom of city voted to him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Speakers at the dinner</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Politics and party influences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Whig jealousies</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At the theatre</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hospitalities</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Moral of it all</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed visit to the Highlands</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Maclise and Macready</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Guide to the Highlands</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Angus Fletcher (Kindheart)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVI. 1841.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 263-276.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Adventures in the Highlands. Æt.</span> 29.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A fright</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fletcher's eccentricities</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Trossachs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The traveler's guide</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A comical picture</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Highland accommodation</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Grand scenery</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Changes in route</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A waterfall</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Entrance to Glencoe</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The pass of Glencoe</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_268">268</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Loch Leven</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A July evening</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Postal service at Loch Earn Head</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The maid of the inn</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_270">270</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Impressions of Glencoe</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_270">270</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An adventure</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Torrents swollen with rain</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dangerous traveling</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Incidents and accidents</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Broken-down bridge</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A fortunate resolve</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Post-boy in danger</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_274">274</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The rescue</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_274">274</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Narrow escape</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_274">274</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Highland inn and inmates</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_275">275</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>English comfort at Dalmally</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_275">275</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dinner at Glasgow proposed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Eagerness for home</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVII. 1841.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 277-283.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Again at Broadstairs. Æt.</span> 29.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Peel and his party</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_277">277</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Getting very radical</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_278">278</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thoughts of colonizing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_278">278</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Political squib by C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_278">278</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fine old English Tory times</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mesmerism</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_280">280</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Metropolitan prisons</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_280">280</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Book by a workman</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_280">280</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An August day by the sea</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_281">281</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Another story in prospect</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_281">281</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Clock</i> discontents</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_281">281</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>New adventure</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Agreement for it signed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</a></span>The book that proved to be <i>Chuzzlewit</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Peel and Lord Ashley</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visions of America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVIII. 1841.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 284-291.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Eve of the Visit To America. Æt.</span> 29.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Greetings from America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_284">284</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reply to Washington Irving</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_284">284</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Difficulties in the way</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_285">285</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Resolve to go</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wish to revisit scenes of boyhood</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed book of travel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Arrangements for the journey</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_287">287</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Impatience of suspense</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_287">287</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Resolve to leave the children</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. Dickens reconciled</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A grave illness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Domestic griefs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The old sorrow</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Windsor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_290">290</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Son Walter's christening</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_290">290</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Liverpool with the travelers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_291">291</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIX. 1842.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 292-309.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">First Impressions of America. Æt.</span> 30.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rough passage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A steamer in a storm</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Resigned to the worst</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Of himself and fellow-travelers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_294">294</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Atlantic from deck</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_294">294</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The ladies' cabin</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_294">294</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Its occupants</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Card-playing on the Atlantic</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ship-news</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_296">296</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A wager</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_297">297</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Halifax harbor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_297">297</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ship aground</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_297">297</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Captain Hewitt</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_298">298</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Speaker of House of Assembly</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ovation to C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Arrival at Boston</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_300">300</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Incursion of editors</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_300">300</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Tremont House</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_300">300</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The welcome</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_301">301</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Deputations</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_301">301</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dr. Channing to C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_302">302</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Public appearances</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_302">302</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A secretary engaged</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_303">303</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bostonians</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_303">303</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>General characteristics</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_304">304</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Personal notices</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_304">304</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Perils of steamers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_305">305</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A home-thought</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_305">305</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>American institutions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_306">306</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>How first impressed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_306">306</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reasons for the greeting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_306">306</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What was welcomed in C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_307">307</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Old World and New World</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_308">308</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Daniel Webster as to C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_308">308</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Channing as to C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_308">308</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Subsequent disappointments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_309">309</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>New York invitation to dinner</td><td align='left' rowspan='6'><img src="images/bracket-right.png" width="10" height="150" alt="Bracket" title="Bracket" /></td><td align='left' rowspan='6'>Facing page <a href="#facs1">309</a>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fac-similes of signatures</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Additional fac-similes</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>New York invitation to ball</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fac-similes of signatures</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Additional fac-similes</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XX. 1842.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 310-334.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Second Impressions of America. Æt.</span> 30.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Second letter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_310">310</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>International copyright</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_311">311</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Third letter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_311">311</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The dinner at Boston</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_312">312</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Worcester, Springfield, and Hartford</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[xv]</a></span>Queer traveling</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Levees at Hartford and New Haven</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Wallingford</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_314">314</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Serenades</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_314">314</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cornelius C. Felton</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_315">315</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Payment of personal expenses declined</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_315">315</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At New York</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_315">315</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Irving and Colden</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_315">315</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Description of the ball</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_316">316</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Newspaper accounts</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_317">317</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A phase of character</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_317">317</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Opinion in America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_318">318</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>International copyright</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_318">318</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>American authors in regard to it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_319">319</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Outcry against the nation's guest</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_319">319</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Declines to be silent on copyright</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_319">319</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Speech at dinner</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Irving in the chair</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Chairman's break-down</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_321">321</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An incident afterwards in London</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_321">321</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Results of copyright speeches</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_322">322</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A bookseller's demand for help</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_322">322</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Suggestion for copyright memorial</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Henry Clay's opinion</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Life in New York</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_324">324</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Distresses of popularity</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_324">324</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Intentions for future</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_325">325</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Refusal of invitations</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_325">325</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Going south and west</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_325">325</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>As to return</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dangers incident to steamers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Slavery</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_327">327</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ladies of America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_327">327</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Party conflicts</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_328">328</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Non-arrival of Cunard steamer</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_328">328</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Copyright petition for Congress</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_328">328</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>No hope of the Caledonia</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_329">329</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A substitute for her</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_330">330</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Anxiety as to letters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_330">330</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Of distinguished Americans</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_330">330</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hotel bills</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_331">331</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thoughts of the children</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_331">331</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Acadia takes Caledonia's place</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letter to C. D. from Carlyle</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Carlyle on copyright</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Argument against stealing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_333">333</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rob Roy's plan worth bettering</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D. as to Carlyle</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XXI. 1842.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 335-357.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Philadelphia, Washington, and the South. Æt.</span> 30.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Philadelphia</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rule in printing letters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Promise as to railroads</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_336">336</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Experience of them</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_337">337</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Railway-cars</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_337">337</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Charcoal stoves</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_337">337</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ladies' cars</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_338">338</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Spittoons</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_338">338</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Massachusetts and New York</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Police-cells and prisons</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>House of detention and inmates</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_340">340</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Women and boy prisoners</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_341">341</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Capital punishment</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_342">342</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A house of correction</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_342">342</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Four hundred single cells</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_343">343</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Comparison with English prisons</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_344">344</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Inns and landlords</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_344">344</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Washington</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_344">344</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hotel extortion</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_345">345</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Philadelphia penitentiary</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_345">345</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The solitary system</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_345">345</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Solitary prisoners</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_346">346</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Talk with inspectors</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_346">346</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bookseller Carey</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_347">347</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Changes of temperature</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_347">347</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Henry Clay</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_348">348</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed journeyings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_348">348</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letters from England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_349">349</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Congress and Senate</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_349">349</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Leading American statesmen</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_349">349</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[xvi]</a></span>The people of America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_350">350</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Englishmen "located" there</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_350">350</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Surgit amari aliquid"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_351">351</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The copyright petition</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_351">351</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Richmond</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_351">351</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Irving appointed to Spain</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_352">352</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Experience of a slave city</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_353">353</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Incidents of slave-life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_353">353</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Discussion with a slaveholder</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_353">353</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Feeling of South to England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_354">354</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Levees at Richmond</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_354">354</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>One more banquet accepted</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_355">355</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>My gift of <i>Shakspeare</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_355">355</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Home letters and fancies</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_356">356</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Self-reproach of a noble nature</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_356">356</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Washington Irving's leave-taking</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_357">357</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XXII. 1842.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 358-380.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Canal-Boat Journeys: bound Far West. Æt.</span> 30.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Character in the letters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_358">358</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The <i>Notes</i> less satisfactory</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_359">359</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Personal narrative in letters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_359">359</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The copyright differences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_360">360</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Social dissatisfactions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_360">360</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A fact to be remembered</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_361">361</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Literary merits of the letters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_361">361</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Personal character portrayed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_362">362</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>On board for Pittsburgh</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_362">362</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Choicest passages of <i>Notes</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_362">362</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Queer stage-coach</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_363">363</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Something revealed on the top</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_364">364</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Harrisburg</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_364">364</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Treaties with Indians</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_365">365</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Local legislatures</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_365">365</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A levee</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_365">365</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Morning and night in canal-boat</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_366">366</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At and after breakfast</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_366">366</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Making the best of it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_367">367</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hardy habits</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_368">368</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>By rail across mountain</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_368">368</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mountain scenery</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_369">369</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>New settlements</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_369">369</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Original of Eden in <i>Chuzzlewit</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_369">369</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A useful word</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_370">370</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Party in America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_371">371</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Home news</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_371">371</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Meets an early acquaintance</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_372">372</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Smallness of the world"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_372">372</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Queer customers at levees</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_372">372</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Our anniversary</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_373">373</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Cincinnati steamer</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_374">374</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Frugality in water and linen</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_374">374</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Magnetic experiments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_375">375</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Life-preservers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_376">376</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bores</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_376">376</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Habits of neatness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_377">377</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wearying for home</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_377">377</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Another solitary prison</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_378">378</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>New terror to loneliness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_378">378</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Arrival at Cincinnati</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_378">378</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Two judges in attendance</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_379">379</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The city described</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_379">379</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>On the pavement</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_380">380</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XXIII. 1842.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 381-406.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">The Far West: to Niagara Falls. Æt.</span> 30.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Descriptions in letters and in <i>Notes</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_381">381</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Outline of westward travel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_382">382</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An Arabian-Night city</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_383">383</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A temperance festival</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_383">383</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A party at Judge Walker's</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_383">383</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The party from another view</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_384">384</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Young lady's description of C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_384">384</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mournful results of boredom</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_385">385</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Down the Mississippi</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_386">386</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Listening and watching</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_386">386</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A levee at St. Louis</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_386">386</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Compliments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_387">387</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lord Ashburton's arrival</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_387">387</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Talk with a judge on slavery</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_388">388</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A negro burnt alive</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_388">388</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[xvii]</a></span>Feeling of slaves themselves</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_389">389</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>American testimony</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_389">389</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Pretty little scene</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_390">390</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A mother and her husband</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_390">390</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The baby</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_391">391</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>St. Louis in sight</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_392">392</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Meeting of wife and husband</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_392">392</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Trip to a prairie</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_393">393</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>On the prairie at sunset</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_393">393</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>General character of scenery</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_394">394</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The prairie described</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_394">394</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Disappointment and enjoyment</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_394">394</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Soirée at Planter's House Inn</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_395">395</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Good fare</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_395">395</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>No gray heads in St. Louis</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_396">396</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dueling</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_396">396</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. Dickens as a traveler</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_397">397</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>From Cincinnati to Columbus</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_397">397</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What a levee is like</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_398">398</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>From Columbus to Sandusky</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_398">398</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The travelers alone</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_399">399</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A log house inn</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_400">400</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Making tidy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_400">400</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A monetary crisis</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_400">400</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Americans not a humorous people</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_401">401</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The only recreations</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_401">401</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>From Sandusky to Buffalo</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_402">402</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>On Lake Erie</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_402">402</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reception and consolation of a mayor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_403">403</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>From Buffalo to Niagara</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_403">403</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Nearing the Falls</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_404">404</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Horse-shoe</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_404">404</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Effect upon him of Niagara</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_405">405</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The old recollection</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_405">405</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Looking forward</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_406">406</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XXIV. 1842.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 407-418.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Niagara and Montreal. Æt.</span> 30.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last two letters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_407">407</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens vanquished</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_407">407</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Obstacles to copyright</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_408">408</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Two described</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_408">408</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Value of literary popularity</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_409">409</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Substitute for literature</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_410">410</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The secretary described</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_410">410</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His paintings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_411">411</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The lion and ——</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_411">411</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Toryism of Toronto</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_412">412</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Canadian attentions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_412">412</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed theatricals</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_413">413</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last letter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_413">413</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The private play</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_414">414</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Stage manager's report</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_414">414</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bill of the performance</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_415">415</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The lady performers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_417">417</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A touch of Crummles</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_417">417</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Home</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_418">418</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[xviii]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[xix]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><span class="smcap">page</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Autograph of C. D. (1837)</td><td align='right'><a href="#fly"><i>Fly-leaf</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D. æt. 27. From Maclise's Painting, by Graves, A.R.A.</td><td align='right'><a href="#title"><i>Title-page</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fac-simile of Letter written in Boyhood</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Outline of the Maclise Painting of 1839. Engraved by Jeens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Maclise">178</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Apotheosis of Grip the Raven, by Maclise, R.A.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fac-simile of C. D.'s autograph signature Boz (1841)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fac-simile of Invitation to the Public Dinner in New York, with the signatures </td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_309">309</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fac-simile of Invitation to the Public Ball in New York, with the signatures</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_309">309</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fac-simile of the Bill of the Private Play in Canada</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_415">415</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[xx]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE LIFE</h2> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h2>CHARLES DICKENS.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>CHILDHOOD</h3> + +<h3>1812-1822.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Birth at Landport in Portsea—Family of John Dickens—Powers of +Observation in Children—Two Years Old—In London, æt. 2-3—In +Chatham, æt. 4-9—Vision of Boyhood—The Queer Small Child—Mother's +Teaching—Day-School in Rome Lane—Retrospects of +Childhood—David Copperfield and Charles Dickens—Access to +Small but Good Library—Tragedy-Writing—Comic-Song Singing—Cousin +James Lamert—First taken to Theatre—At Mr. Giles's +School—Encored in the Recitations—Boyish Recollections—Birthplace +of his Fancy—Last Night in Chatham—In London—First +Impressions—Bayham Street, Camden-town—Faculty of Early +Observation—His Description of his Father—Small Theatre made +for him—Sister Fanny at Royal Academy of Music—Walks about +London—Biography and Autobiography—At his Godfather's and +his Uncle's—First Efforts at Description—"Res Angusta Domi"—Mother +exerting Herself—Father in the Marshalsea—Visit to the +Prison—Captain Porter—Old Friends disposed of—At the Pawnbroker's.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>, the most popular novelist of the +century, and one of the greatest humorists that England +has produced, was born at Landport in Portsea on Friday, +the 7th of February, 1812.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + +<p>His father, John Dickens, a clerk in the Navy-pay +office, was at this time stationed in the Portsmouth +dockyard. He had made acquaintance with the lady, +Elizabeth Barrow, who became afterwards his wife, +through her elder brother, Thomas Barrow, also engaged +on the establishment at Somerset House; and she bore +him in all a family of eight children, of whom two died +in infancy. The eldest, Fanny (born 1810), was followed +by Charles (entered in the baptismal register of Portsea +as Charles John Huffham, though on the very rare +occasions when he subscribed that name he wrote +Huffam); by another son, named Alfred, who died in +childhood; by Letitia (born 1816); by another daughter, +Harriet, who died also in childhood; by Frederick (born +1820); by Alfred Lamert (born 1822); and by Augustus +(born 1827); of all of whom only the second daughter +now survives.</p> + +<p>Walter Scott tells us, in his fragment of autobiography, +speaking of the strange remedies applied to his lameness, +that he remembered lying on the floor in the parlor of +his grandfather's farm-house, swathed up in a sheepskin +warm from the body of the sheep, being then not three +years old. David Copperfield's memory goes beyond +this. He represents himself seeing so far back into the +blank of his infancy as to discern therein his mother +and her servant, dwarfed to his sight by stooping down +or kneeling on the floor, and himself going unsteadily +from the one to the other. He admits this may be +fancy, though he believes the power of observation in +numbers of very young children to be quite wonderful +for its closeness and accuracy, and thinks that the recollection +of most of us can go farther back into such times<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +than many of us suppose. But what he adds is certainly +not fancy. "If it should appear from anything I may +set down in this narrative that I was a child of close +observation, or that as a man I have a strong memory +of my childhood, I undoubtedly lay claim to both of +these characteristics." Applicable as it might be to +David Copperfield, this was simply and unaffectedly +true of Charles Dickens.</p> + +<p>He has often told me that he remembered the small +front garden to the house at Portsea, from which he was +taken away when he was two years old, and where, +watched by a nurse through a low kitchen-window almost +level with the gravel walk, he trotted about with something +to eat, and his little elder sister with him. He +was carried from the garden one day to see the soldiers +exercise; and I perfectly recollect that, on our being +at Portsmouth together while he was writing <i>Nickleby</i>, +he recognized the exact shape of the military parade +seen by him as a very infant, on the same spot, a quarter +of a century before.</p> + +<p>When his father was again brought up by his duties +to London from Portsmouth, they went into lodgings +in Norfolk Street, Middlesex Hospital; and it lived +also in the child's memory that they had come away +from Portsea in the snow. Their home, shortly after, +was again changed, on the elder Dickens being placed +upon duty in Chatham dockyard; and the house where +he lived in Chatham, which had a plain-looking whitewashed +plaster front and a small garden before and behind, +was in St. Mary's Place, otherwise called the +Brook, and next door to a Baptist meeting-house called +Providence Chapel, of which a Mr. Giles, to be presently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +mentioned, was minister. Charles at this time +was between four and five years old;<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and here he +stayed till he was nine. Here the most durable of his +early impressions were received; and the associations +that were around him when he died were those which +at the outset of his life had affected him most strongly.</p> + +<p>The house called Gadshill Place stands on the strip +of highest ground in the main road between Rochester +and Gravesend. Often had we traveled past it together, +years and years before it became his home, and +never without some allusion to what he told me when +first I saw it in his company, that amid the recollections +connected with his childhood it held always a +prominent place, for, upon first seeing it as he came +from Chatham with his father, and looking up at it with +much admiration, he had been promised that he might +himself live in it, or in some such house, when he came +to be a man, if he would only work hard enough. +Which for a long time was his ambition. The story is +a pleasant one, and receives authentic confirmation at +the opening of one of his essays on traveling abroad, +when as he passes along the road to Canterbury there +crosses it a vision of his former self:</p> + +<p>"So smooth was the old high-road, and so fresh were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +the horses, and so fast went I, that it was midway between +Gravesend and Rochester, and the widening river +was bearing the ships, white-sailed or black-smoked, out +to sea, when I noticed by the wayside a very queer +small boy.</p> + +<p>"'Holloa!' said I to the very queer small boy, +'where do you live?'</p> + +<p>"'At Chatham,' says he.</p> + +<p>"'What do you do there?' says I.</p> + +<p>"'I go to school,' says he.</p> + +<p>"I took him up in a moment, and we went on. Presently, +the very queer small boy says, 'This is Gadshill +we are coming to, where Falstaff went out to rob those +travelers, and ran away.'</p> + +<p>"'You know something about Falstaff, eh?' said I.</p> + +<p>"'All about him,' said the very queer small boy. 'I +am old (I am nine), and I read all sorts of books. But +<i>do</i> let us stop at the top of the hill, and look at the +house there, if you please!'</p> + +<p>"'You admire that house?' said I.</p> + +<p>"'Bless you, sir,' said the very queer small boy, +'when I was not more than half as old as nine, it used +to be a treat for me to be brought to look at it. And +now I am nine, I come by myself to look at it. And +ever since I can recollect, my father, seeing me so fond +of it, has often said to me, <i>If you were to be very persevering +and were to work hard, you might some day come +to live in it</i>. Though that's impossible!' said the very +queer small boy, drawing a low breath, and now staring +at the house out of window with all his might.</p> + +<p>"I was rather amazed to be told this by the very +queer small boy; for that house happens to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> <i>my</i> +house, and I have reason to believe that what he said +was true."</p> + +<p>The queer small boy was indeed his very self. He +was a very little and a very sickly boy. He was subject +to attacks of violent spasm which disabled him for any +active exertion. He was never a good little cricket-player. +He was never a first-rate hand at marbles, or +peg-top, or prisoner's base. But he had great pleasure +in watching the other boys, officers' sons for the most +part, at these games, reading while they played; and +he had always the belief that this early sickness had +brought to himself one inestimable advantage, in the +circumstance of his weak health having strongly inclined +him to reading. It will not appear, as my narrative +moves on, that he owed much to his parents, or +was other than in his first letter to Washington Irving +he described himself to have been, a "very small and +not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy;" but he has +frequently been heard to say that his first desire for +knowledge, and his earliest passion for reading, were +awakened by his mother, who taught him the first +rudiments not only of English, but also, a little later, +of Latin. She taught him regularly every day for a +long time, and taught him, he was convinced, thoroughly +well. I once put to him a question in connection +with this to which he replied in almost exactly the +words he placed five years later in the mouth of David +Copperfield: "I faintly remember her teaching me the +alphabet; and when I look upon the fat black letters +in the primer, the puzzling novelty of their shapes, and +the easy good nature of O and S, always seem to present +themselves before me as they used to do."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then followed the preparatory day-school, a school +for girls and boys to which he went with his sister +Fanny, and which was in a place called Rome (pronounced +Room) Lane. Revisiting Chatham in his +manhood, and looking for the place, he found it had +been pulled down to make a new street, "ages" before; +but out of the distance of the ages arose nevertheless +a not dim impression that it had been over a +dyer's shop; that he went up steps to it; that he had +frequently grazed his knees in doing so; and that in +trying to scrape the mud off a very unsteady little +shoe, he generally got his leg over the scraper.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Other +similar memories of childhood have dropped from him +occasionally in his lesser writings; whose readers may +remember how vividly portions of his boyhood are reproduced +in his fancy of the Christmas-tree, and will +hardly have forgotten what he says, in his thoughtful +little paper on Nurses' stories, of the doubtful places +and people to which children may be introduced before +they are six years old, and forced, night after night, to +go back to against their wills, by servants to whom they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +are intrusted. That childhood exaggerates what it +sees, too, has he not tenderly told? How he thought +the Rochester High Street must be at least as wide as +Regent Street, which he afterwards discovered to be +little better than a lane; how the public clock in it, +supposed to be the finest clock in the world, turned out +to be as moon-faced and weak a clock as a man's eyes +ever saw; and how in its town-hall, which had appeared +to him once so glorious a structure that he had set it +up in his mind as the model on which the genie of the +lamp built the palace for Aladdin, he had painfully to +recognize a mere mean little heap of bricks, like a +chapel gone demented. Yet not so painfully, either, +when second thoughts wisely came. "Ah! who was I +that I should quarrel with the town for being changed +to me, when I myself had come back, so changed, to +it? All my early readings and early imaginations dated +from this place, and I took them away so full of innocent +construction and guileless belief, and I brought +them back so worn and torn, so much the wiser and so +much the worse!"</p> + +<p>And here I may at once expressly mention, what already +has been hinted, that even as Fielding described +himself and his belongings in Captain Booth and +Amelia, and protested always that he had writ in his +books nothing more than he had seen in life, so it may +be said of Dickens in more especial relation to David +Copperfield. Many guesses have been made since his +death, connecting David's autobiography with his own; +accounting, by means of such actual experiences, for the +so frequent recurrence in his writings of the prison-life, +its humor and pathos, described in them with such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +wonderful reality; and discovering in what David tells +Steerforth at school of the stories he had read in his +childhood, what it was that had given the bent to his +own genius. There is not only truth in all this, but it +will very shortly be seen that the identity went deeper +than any had supposed, and covered experiences not less +startling in the reality than they appear to be in the +fiction.</p> + +<p>Of the "readings" and "imaginations" which he +describes as brought away from Chatham, this authority +can tell us. It is one of the many passages in <i>Copperfield</i> +which are literally true, and its proper place is here. +"My father had left a small collection of books in a +little room up-stairs to which I had access (for it adjoined +my own), and which nobody else in our house +ever troubled. From that blessed little room, <i>Roderick +Random</i>, <i>Peregrine Pickle</i>, <i>Humphrey Clinker</i>, <i>Tom +Jones</i>, the <i>Vicar of Wakefield</i>, <i>Don Quixote</i>, <i>Gil Blas</i>, +and <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> came out, a glorious host, to keep +me company. They kept alive my fancy, and my hope +of something beyond that place and time,—they, and +the <i>Arabian Nights</i> and the <i>Tales of the Genii</i>,—and +did me no harm; for whatever harm was in some of +them was not there for me; <i>I</i> knew nothing of it. It +is astonishing to me now how I found time, in the midst +of my porings and blunderings over heavier themes, to +read those books as I did. It is curious to me how I +could ever have consoled myself under my small troubles +(which were great troubles to me), by impersonating my +favorite characters in them. . . . I have been Tom +Jones (a child's Tom Jones, a harmless creature) for a +week together. I have sustained my own idea of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +Roderick Random for a month at a stretch, I verily +believe. I had a greedy relish for a few volumes of +voyages and travels—I forget what, now—that were on +those shelves; and for days and days I can remember +to have gone about my region of our house, armed with +the centre-piece out of an old set of boot-trees: the +perfect realization of Captain Somebody, of the royal +British Navy, in danger of being beset by savages, and +resolved to sell his life at a great price. . . . When I +think of it, the picture always rises in my mind, of a +summer evening, the boys at play in the churchyard, +and I sitting on my bed, reading as if for life. Every +barn in the neighborhood, every stone in the church, +and every foot of the churchyard, had some association +of its own, in my mind, connected with these books, +and stood for some locality made famous in them. I +have seen Tom Pipes go climbing up the church-steeple; +I have watched Strap, with the knapsack on his back, +stopping to rest himself upon the wicket-gate; and I +<i>know</i> that Commodore Trunnion held that club with +Mr. Pickle, in the parlor of our little village ale-house." +Every word of this personal recollection had +been written down as fact, some years before it found +its way into <i>David Copperfield;</i> the only change in the +fiction being his omission of the name of a cheap series +of novelists then in course of publication, by which his +father had become happily the owner of so large a lump +of literary treasure in his small collection of books.</p> + +<p>The usual result followed. The child took to writing, +himself, and became famous in his childish circle for +having written a tragedy called <i>Misnar</i>, the Sultan of +India, founded (and very literally founded, no doubt)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +on one of the <i>Tales of the Genii</i>. Nor was this his only +distinction. He told a story offhand so well, and sang +small comic songs so especially well, that he used to be +elevated on chairs and tables, both at home and abroad, +for more effective display of these talents; and when he +first told me of this, at one of the Twelfth-night parties +on his eldest son's birthday, he said he never recalled +it that his own shrill little voice of childhood did not +again tingle in his ears, and he blushed to think what +a horrible little nuisance he must have been to many +unoffending grown-up people who were called upon to +admire him.</p> + +<p>His chief ally and encourager in these displays was a +youth of some ability, much older than himself, named +James Lamert, stepson to his mother's sister, and therefore +a sort of cousin, who was his great patron and +friend in his childish days. Mary, the eldest daughter +of Charles Barrow, himself a lieutenant in the navy, +had for her first husband a commander in the navy +called Allen; on whose death by drowning at Rio +Janeiro she had joined her sister, the navy-pay clerk's +wife, at Chatham; in which place she subsequently +took for her second husband Dr. Lamert, an army-surgeon, +whose son James, even after he had been sent to +Sandhurst for his education, continued still to visit Chatham +from time to time. He had a turn for private +theatricals; and as his father's quarters were in the +ordnance hospital there, a great rambling place otherwise +at that time almost uninhabited, he had plenty +of room in which to get up his entertainments. The +staff-doctor himself played his part, and his portrait +will be found in <i>Pickwick</i>.</p> + +<p>By Lamert, I have often heard him say, he was first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +taken to the theatre at the very tenderest age. He could +hardly, however, have been younger than Charles Lamb, +whose first experience was of having seen <i>Artaxerxes</i> +when six years old; and certainly not younger than +Walter Scott, who was only four when he saw <i>As You +Like It</i> on the Bath stage, and remembered having +screamed out, <i>Ain't they brothers?</i> when scandalized +by Orlando and Oliver beginning to fight.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> But he +was at any rate old enough to recollect how his young +heart leaped with terror as the wicked king Richard, +struggling for life against the virtuous Richmond, +backed up and bumped against the box in which he +was; and subsequent visits to the same sanctuary, as +he tells us, revealed to him many wondrous secrets, "of +which not the least terrific were, that the witches in +<i>Macbeth</i> bore an awful resemblance to the thanes and +other proper inhabitants of Scotland; and that the +good king Duncan couldn't rest in his grave, but was +constantly coming out of it and calling himself somebody +else."</p> + +<p>During the last two years of Charles's residence at +Chatham, he was sent to a school kept in Clover Lane +by the young Baptist minister already named, Mr. +William Giles. I have the picture of him here, very +strongly in my mind, as a sensitive, thoughtful, feeble-bodied +little boy, with an unusual sort of knowledge +and fancy for such a child, and with a dangerous kind +of wandering intelligence that a teacher might turn to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +good or evil, happiness or misery, as he directed it. +Nor does the influence of Mr. Giles, such as it was, +seem to have been other than favorable. Charles had +himself a not ungrateful sense in after-years that this +first of his masters, in his little-cared-for childhood, had +pronounced him to be a boy of capacity; and when, +about half-way through the publication of <i>Pickwick</i>, his +old teacher sent a silver snuff-box with admiring inscription +to the "inimitable Boz," it reminded him of praise +far more precious obtained by him at his first year's examination +in the Clover Lane academy, when his recitation +of a piece out of the <i>Humorist's Miscellany</i> about +Doctor Bolus had received, unless his youthful vanity +bewildered him, a double encore. A habit, the only +bad one taught him by Mr. Giles, of taking for a time, +in very moderate quantities, the snuff called Irish blackguard, +was the result of this gift from his old master; +but he abandoned it after some few years, and it was +never resumed.</p> + +<p>It was in the boys' playing-ground near Clover Lane +in which the school stood, that, according to one of his +youthful memories, he had been, in the hay-making +time, delivered from the dungeons of Seringapatam, +an immense pile "(of haycock)," by his countrymen +the victorious British "(boy next door and his two +cousins)," and had been recognized with ecstasy by his +affianced one "(Miss Green)," who had come all the +way from England "(second house in the terrace)" to +ransom and marry him. It was in this playing-field, too, +as he has himself recorded, he first heard in confidence +from one whose father was greatly connected, "being +under government," of the existence of a terrible banditti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +called <i>the radicals</i>, whose principles were that the +prince-regent wore stays, that nobody had a right to any +salary, and that the army and navy ought to be put +down; horrors at which he trembled in his bed, after +supplicating that the radicals might be speedily taken +and hanged. Nor was it the least of the disappointments +of his visit in after-life to the scenes of his boyhood +that he found this play-field had been swallowed +up by a railway station. It was gone, with its two +beautiful trees of hawthorn; and where the hedge, the +turf, and all the buttercups and daisies had been, there +was nothing but the stoniest of jolting roads.</p> + +<p>He was not much over nine years old when his father +was recalled from Chatham to Somerset House, and he +had to leave this good master, and the old place endeared +to him by recollections that clung to him afterwards all +his life long. It was here he had made the acquaintance +not only of the famous books that David Copperfield +specially names, of <i>Roderick Random</i>, <i>Peregrine Pickle</i>, +<i>Humphrey Clinker</i>, <i>Tom Jones</i>, the <i>Vicar of Wakefield</i>, +<i>Don Quixote</i>, <i>Gil Blas</i>, <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>, the <i>Arabian +Nights</i>, and the <i>Tales of the Genii</i>, but also of the <i>Spectator</i>, +the <i>Tatler</i>, the <i>Idler</i>, the <i>Citizen of the World</i>, +and Mrs. Inchbald's <i>Collection of Farces</i>. These latter +had been, as well, in the little library to which access +was open to him; and of all of them his earliest remembrance +was the having read them over and over at Chatham, +not for the first, the second, or the third time. +They were a host of friends when he had no single +friend; and in leaving the place, I have often heard +him say, he seemed to be leaving them too, and everything +that had given his ailing little life its picturesqueness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +or sunshine. It was the birthplace of his fancy; +and he hardly knew what store he had set by its busy +varieties of change and scene, until he saw the falling +cloud that was to hide its pictures from him forever. +The gay bright regiments always going and coming, +the continual paradings and firings, the successions of +sham sieges and sham defenses, the plays got up by his +cousin in the hospital, the navy-pay yacht in which he +had sailed to Sheerness with his father, and the ships +floating out in the Medway with their far visions of +sea,—he was to lose them all. He was never to watch +the boys at their games any more, or see them sham +over again the sham sieges and sham defenses. He was +to be taken to London inside the stage-coach Commodore; +and Kentish woods and fields, Cobham park and +hall, Rochester cathedral and castle, and all the wonderful +romance together, including the red-cheeked +baby he had been wildly in love with, were to vanish +like a dream. "On the night before we came away," +he told me, "my good master came flitting in among +the packing-cases to give me Goldsmith's <i>Bee</i> as a keepsake. +Which I kept for his sake, and its own, a long +time afterwards." A longer time afterwards he recollected +the stage-coach journey, and said in one of his +published papers that never had he forgotten, through +all the intervening years, the smell of the damp straw +in which he was packed and forwarded like game, carriage-paid. +"There was no other inside passenger, and +I consumed my sandwiches in solitude and dreariness, +and it rained hard all the way, and I thought life +sloppier than I expected to find it."</p> + +<p>The earliest impressions received and retained by him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +in London were of his father's money involvements; and +now first he heard mentioned "the deed," representing +that crisis of his father's affairs in fact which is ascribed +in fiction to Mr. Micawber's. He knew it in later days +to have been a composition with creditors; though at +this earlier date he was conscious of having confounded +it with parchments of a much more demoniacal description. +One result from the awful document soon showed +itself in enforced retrenchment. The family had to +take up its abode in a house in Bayham Street, Camden-town.</p> + +<p>Bayham Street was about the poorest part of the +London suburbs then, and the house was a mean small +tenement, with a wretched little back-garden abutting +on a squalid court. Here was no place for new acquaintances +to him: no boys were near with whom he +might hope to become in any way familiar. A washerwoman +lived next door, and a Bow-Street officer lived +over the way. Many, many times has he spoken to me +of this, and how he seemed at once to fall into a solitary +condition apart from all other boys of his own age, +and to sink into a neglected state at home which had +been always quite unaccountable to him. "As I thought," +he said on one occasion very bitterly, "in the little back-garret +in Bayham Street, of all I had lost in losing +Chatham, what would I have given, if I had had anything +to give, to have been sent back to any other +school, to have been taught something anywhere!" +He was at another school already, not knowing it. +The self-education forced upon him was teaching him, +all unconsciously as yet, what, for the future that +awaited him, it most behooved him to know.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>That he took, from the very beginning of this Bayham-Street +life, his first impression of that struggling +poverty which is nowhere more vividly shown than in +the commoner streets of the ordinary London suburb, +and which enriched his earliest writings with a freshness +of original humor and quite unstudied pathos that +gave them much of their sudden popularity, there cannot +be a doubt. "I certainly understood it," he has +often said to me, "quite as well then as I do now." +But he was not conscious yet that he did so understand +it, or of the influence it was exerting on his life even +then. It seems almost too much to assert of a child, +say at nine or ten years old, that his observation of +everything was as close and good, or that he had as +much intuitive understanding of the character and +weaknesses of the grown-up people around him, as +when the same keen and wonderful faculty had made +him famous among men. But my experience of him led +me to put implicit faith in the assertion he unvaryingly +himself made, that he had never seen any cause to correct +or change what in his boyhood was his own secret +impression of anybody whom he had had, as a grown +man, the opportunity of testing in later years.</p> + +<p>How it came that, being what he was, he should +now have fallen into the misery and neglect of the time +about to be described, was a subject on which thoughts +were frequently interchanged between us; and on one +occasion he gave me a sketch of the character of his +father, which, as I can here repeat it in the exact words +employed by him, will be the best preface I can make +to what I feel that I have no alternative but to tell. "I +know my father to be as kind-hearted and generous a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +man as ever lived in the world. Everything that I can +remember of his conduct to his wife, or children, or +friends, in sickness or affliction, is beyond all praise. +By me, as a sick child, he has watched night and day, +unweariedly and patiently, many nights and days. He +never undertook any business, charge, or trust, that he +did not zealously, conscientiously, punctually, honorably +discharge. His industry has always been untiring. +He was proud of me, in his way, and had a great admiration +of the comic singing. But, in the ease of his +temper, and the straitness of his means, he appeared to +have utterly lost at this time the idea of educating me +at all, and to have utterly put from him the notion that +I had any claim upon him, in that regard, whatever. +So I degenerated into cleaning his boots of a morning, +and my own; and making myself useful in the work +of the little house; and looking after my younger +brothers and sisters (we were now six in all); and going +on such poor errands as arose out of our poor way of +living."</p> + +<p>The cousin by marriage of whom I have spoken, +James Lamert, who had lately completed his education +at Sandhurst and was waiting in hopes of a commission, +lived now with the family in Bayham Street, and had +not lost his taste for the stage, or his ingenuities in connection +with it. Taking pity on the solitary lad, he +made and painted a little theatre for him. It was the +only fanciful reality of his present life; but it could +not supply what he missed most sorely, the companionship +of boys of his own age, with whom he might share +in the advantages of school and contend for its prizes. +His sister Fanny was at about this time elected as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +pupil to the Royal Academy of Music; and he has told +me what a stab to his heart it was, thinking of his own +disregarded condition, to see her go away to begin her +education, amid the tearful good wishes of everybody +in the house.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, as time went on, his own education still +unconsciously went on as well, under the sternest and +most potent of teachers; and, neglected and miserable +as he was, he managed gradually to transfer to London +all the dreaminess and all the romance with which he +had invested Chatham. There were then at the top of +Bayham Street some almshouses, and were still when +he revisited it with me nearly twenty-seven years ago; +and to go to this spot, he told me, and look from it +over the dust-heaps and dock-leaves and fields (no +longer there when we saw it together) at the cupola of +St. Paul's looming through the smoke, was a treat that +served him for hours of vague reflection afterwards. +To be taken out for a walk into the real town, especially +if it were anywhere about Covent Garden or the +Strand, perfectly entranced him with pleasure. But +most of all he had a profound attraction of repulsion +to St. Giles's. If he could only induce whomsoever +took him out to take him through Seven-Dials, he was +supremely happy. "Good Heaven!" he would exclaim, +"what wild visions of prodigies of wickedness, +want, and beggary arose in my mind out of that place!" +He was all this time, the reader will remember, still +subject to continual attacks of illness, and, by reason +of them, a very small boy even for his age.</p> + +<p>That part of his boyhood is now very near of which, +when the days of fame and prosperity came to him, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +felt the weight upon his memory as a painful burden +until he could lighten it by sharing it with a friend; +and an accident I will presently mention led him first +to reveal it. There is, however, an interval of some +months still to be described, of which, from conversations +or letters that passed between us, after or because +of this confidence, and that already have yielded fruit +to these pages, I can supply some vague and desultory +notices. The use thus made of them, it is due to myself +to remark, was contemplated then; for though, +long before his death, I had ceased to believe it likely +that I should survive to write about him, he had never +withdrawn the wish at this early time strongly expressed, +or the confidences, not only then but to the +very eve of his death reposed in me, that were to enable +me to fulfill it.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> The fulfillment indeed he had himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +rendered more easy by partially uplifting the veil in +<i>David Copperfield</i>.</p> + +<p>The visits made from Bayham Street were chiefly to +two connections of the family, his mother's elder +brother and his godfather. The latter, who was a rigger, +and mast-, oar-, and block-maker, lived at Limehouse +in a substantial handsome sort of way, and was +kind to his godchild. It was always a great treat to +him to go to Mr. Huffham's; and the London night-sights +as he returned were a perpetual joy and marvel. +Here, too, the comic-singing accomplishment was +brought into play so greatly to the admiration of one +of the godfather's guests, an honest boat-builder, that +he pronounced the little lad to be a "progidy." The +visits to the uncle who was at this time fellow-clerk with +his father, in Somerset House, were nearer home. Mr. +Thomas Barrow, the eldest of his mother's family, had +broken his leg in a fall; and, while laid up with this +illness, his lodging was in Gerrard Street, Soho, in the +upper part of the house of a worthy gentleman then recently +deceased, a bookseller named Manson, father to +the partner in the celebrated firm of Christie & Manson, +whose widow at this time carried on the business. +Attracted by the look of the lad as he went up-stairs, +these good people lent him books to amuse him; +among them Miss Porter's <i>Scottish Chiefs</i>, Holbein's +<i>Dance of Death</i>, and George Colman's <i>Broad Grins</i>. +The latter seized his fancy very much; and he was so +impressed by its description of Covent Garden, in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +piece called "The Elder Brother," that he stole down +to the market by himself to compare it with the book. +He remembered, as he said in telling me this, snuffing +up the flavor of the faded cabbage-leaves as if it were +the very breath of comic fiction. Nor was he far +wrong, as comic fiction then and for some time after +was. It was reserved for himself to give sweeter and +fresher breath to it. Many years were to pass first, but +he was beginning already to make the trial.</p> + +<p>His uncle was shaved by a very odd old barber out +of Dean Street, Soho, who was never tired of reviewing +the events of the last war, and especially of detecting +Napoleon's mistakes, and rearranging his whole +life for him on a plan of his own. The boy wrote a +description of this old barber, but never had courage +to show it. At about the same time, taking for his +model the description of the canon's housekeeper in +<i>Gil Blas</i>, he sketched a deaf old woman who waited +on them in Bayham Street, and who made delicate +hashes with walnut-ketchup. As little did he dare to +show this, either; though he thought it, himself, extremely +clever.</p> + +<p>In Bayham Street, meanwhile, affairs were going on +badly; the poor boy's visits to his uncle, while the +latter was still kept a prisoner by his accident, were +interrupted by another attack of fever; and on his +recovery the mysterious "deed" had again come uppermost. +His father's resources were so low, and all +his expedients so thoroughly exhausted, that trial was +to be made whether his mother might not come to the +rescue. The time was arrived for her to exert herself, she +said; and she "must do something." The godfather<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +down at Limehouse was reported to have an Indian +connection. People in the East Indies always sent +their children home to be educated. She would set up +a school. They would all grow rich by it. And then, +thought the sick boy, "perhaps even I might go to +school myself."</p> + +<p>A house was soon found at number four, Gower Street +north; a large brass plate on the door announced <span class="smcap">Mrs. +Dickens's Establishment</span>; and the result I can give +in the exact words of the then small actor in the comedy, +whose hopes it had raised so high: "I left, at a great +many other doors, a great many circulars calling attention +to the merits of the establishment. Yet nobody +ever came to school, nor do I recollect that anybody +ever proposed to come, or that the least preparation was +made to receive anybody. But I know that we got on +very badly with the butcher and baker; that very often +we had not too much for dinner; and that at last my +father was arrested." The interval between the sponging-house +and the prison was passed by the sorrowful +lad in running errands and carrying messages for the +prisoner, delivered with swollen eyes and through shining +tears; and the last words said to him by his father +before he was finally carried to the Marshalsea were to +the effect that the sun was set upon him forever. "I +really believed at the time," said Dickens to me, "that +they had broken my heart." He took afterwards ample +revenge for this false alarm by making all the world +laugh at them in <i>David Copperfield</i>.</p> + +<p>The readers of Mr. Micawber's history who remember +David's first visit to the Marshalsea prison, and how +upon seeing the turnkey he recalled the turnkey in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +blanket in <i>Roderick Random</i>, will read with curious +interest what follows, written as a personal experience +of fact two or three years before the fiction had even +entered into his thoughts:</p> + +<p>"My father was waiting for me in the lodge, and we +went up to his room (on the top story but one), and +cried very much. And he told me, I remember, to +take warning by the Marshalsea, and to observe that if +a man had twenty pounds a year and spent nineteen +pounds nineteen shillings and sixpence, he would be +happy; but that a shilling spent the other way would +make him wretched. I see the fire we sat before, now; +with two bricks inside the rusted grate, one on each side, +to prevent its burning too many coals. Some other +debtor shared the room with him, who came in by-and-by; +and, as the dinner was a joint-stock repast, I was +sent up to 'Captain Porter' in the room overhead, with +Mr. Dickens's compliments, and I was his son, and +could he, Captain P., lend me a knife and fork?</p> + +<p>"Captain Porter lent the knife and fork, with his +compliments in return. There was a very dirty lady in +his little room; and two wan girls, his daughters, with +shock heads of hair. I thought I should not have liked +to borrow Captain Porter's comb. The captain himself +was in the last extremity of shabbiness; and if I could +draw at all, I would draw an accurate portrait of the +old, old, brown great-coat he wore, with no other coat +below it. His whiskers were large. I saw his bed rolled +up in a corner; and what plates, and dishes, and pots +he had, on a shelf; and I knew (God knows how) that +the two girls with the shock heads were Captain Porter's +natural children, and that the dirty lady was not married<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +to Captain P. My timid, wondering station on +his threshold was not occupied more than a couple of +minutes, I dare say; but I came down again to the +room below with all this as surely in my knowledge as +the knife and fork were in my hand."</p> + +<p>How there was something agreeable and gipsy-like in +the dinner after all, and how he took back the captain's +knife and fork early in the afternoon, and how he went +home to comfort his mother with an account of his visit, +David Copperfield has also accurately told. Then, at +home, came many miserable daily struggles that seemed +to last an immense time, yet did not perhaps cover +many weeks. Almost everything by degrees was sold +or pawned, little Charles being the principal agent in +those sorrowful transactions. Such of the books as had +been brought from Chatham—<i>Peregrine Pickle</i>, <i>Roderick +Random</i>, <i>Tom Jones</i>, <i>Humphrey Clinker</i>, and all the +rest—went first. They were carried off from the little +chiffonier, which his father called the library, to a bookseller +in the Hampstead Road, the same that David +Copperfield describes as in the City Road; and the +account of the sales, as they actually occurred and were +told to me long before David was born, was reproduced +word for word in his imaginary narrative: "The keeper +of this bookstall, who lived in a little house behind it, +used to get tipsy every night, and to be violently +scolded by his wife every morning. More than once, +when I went there early, I had audience of him in a +turn-up bedstead, with a cut in his forehead or a black +eye bearing witness to his excesses overnight (I am +afraid he was quarrelsome in his drink); and he, with a +shaking hand, endeavoring to find the needful shillings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +in one or other of the pockets of his clothes, which lay +upon the floor, while his wife, with a baby in her arms +and her shoes down at heel, never left off rating him. +Sometimes he had lost his money, and then he would +ask me to call again; but his wife had always got some +(had taken his, I dare say, while he was drunk), and +secretly completed the bargain on the stairs, as we went +down together."</p> + +<p>The same pawnbroker's shop, too, which was so well +known to David, became not less familiar to Charles; +and a good deal of notice was here taken of him by the +pawnbroker, or by his principal clerk who officiated +behind the counter, and who, while making out the +duplicate, liked of all things to hear the lad conjugate +a Latin verb and translate or decline his <i>musa</i> and +<i>dominus</i>. Everything to this accompaniment went +gradually; until, at last, even of the furniture of Gower +Street number four there was nothing left except a few +chairs, a kitchen table, and some beds. Then they +encamped, as it were, in the two parlors of the emptied +house, and lived there night and day.</p> + +<p>All which is but the prelude to what remains to be +described.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>HARD EXPERIENCES IN BOYHOOD.</h3> + +<h3>1822-1824.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Mr. Dilke's Half-crown—Story of Boyhood told—D. C. and C. D.—Enterprise +of the Cousins Lamert—First Employment in Life—Blacking-Warehouse—A +Poor Little Drudge—Bob Fagin and Poll +Green—"Facilis Descensus"—Crushed Hopes—The Home in Gower +Street—Regaling Alamode—Home broken up—At Mrs. Roylance's +in Camden-town—Sundays in Prison—Pudding-Shops and Coffee-Shops—What +was and might have been—Thomas and Harry—A +Lodging in Lant Street—Meals in the Marshalsea—C. D. and the +Marchioness—Originals of Garland Family—Adventure with Bob +Fagin—Saturday-Night Shows—Appraised officially—Publican and +Wife at Cannon Row—Marshalsea Incident in <i>Copperfield</i>—Incident +as it occurred—Materials for <i>Pickwick</i>—Sister Fanny's Musical +Prize—From Hungerford Stairs to Chandos Street—Father's Quarrel +with James Lamert—Quits the Warehouse—Bitter Associations of +Servitude—What became of the Blacking-Business.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> incidents to be told now would probably never +have been known to me, or indeed any of the occurrences +of his childhood and youth, but for the accident +of a question which I put to him one day in the March +or April of 1847.</p> + +<p>I asked if he remembered ever having seen in his +boyhood our friend the elder Mr. Dilke, his father's +acquaintance and contemporary, who had been a clerk +in the same office in Somerset House to which Mr. +John Dickens belonged. Yes, he said, he recollected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +seeing him at a house in Gerrard Street, where his +uncle Barrow lodged during an illness, and Mr. Dilke +had visited him. Never at any other time. Upon +which I told him that some one else had been intended +in the mention made to me, for that the reference implied +not merely his being met accidentally, but his +having had some juvenile employment in a warehouse +near the Strand; at which place Mr. Dilke, being with +the elder Dickens one day, had noticed him, and received, +in return for the gift of a half-crown, a very +low bow. He was silent for several minutes; I felt +that I had unintentionally touched a painful place in +his memory; and to Mr. Dilke I never spoke of the +subject again. It was not, however, then, but some +weeks later, that Dickens made further allusion to my +thus having struck unconsciously upon a time of which +he never could lose the remembrance while he remembered +anything, and the recollection of which, at intervals, +haunted him and made him miserable, even to +that hour.</p> + +<p>Very shortly afterwards I learnt in all their detail the +incidents that had been so painful to him, and what +then was said to me or written respecting them revealed +the story of his boyhood. The idea of <i>David Copperfield</i>, +which was to take all the world into his confidence, +had not at this time occurred to him; but what +it had so startled me to know, his readers were afterwards +told with only such change or addition as for the +time might sufficiently disguise himself under cover of +his hero. For the poor little lad, with good ability +and a most sensitive nature, turned at the age of ten +into a "laboring hind" in the service of "Murdstone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +and Grinby," and conscious already of what made it +seem very strange to him that he could so easily have +been thrown away at such an age, was indeed himself. +His was the secret agony of soul at finding himself +"companion to Mick Walker and Mealy Potatoes," +and his the tears that mingled with the water in which +he and they rinsed and washed out bottles. It had all +been written, as fact, before he thought of any other +use for it; and it was not until several months later, +when the fancy of <i>David Copperfield</i>, itself suggested +by what he had so written of his early troubles, began +to take shape in his mind, that he abandoned his first +intention of writing his own life. Those warehouse +experiences fell then so aptly into the subject he had +chosen, that he could not resist the temptation of immediately +using them; and the manuscript recording +them, which was but the first portion of what he had +designed to write, was embodied in the substance of +the eleventh and earlier chapters of his novel. What +already had been sent to me, however, and proof-sheets +of the novel interlined at the time, enable me now to +separate the fact from the fiction, and to supply to the +story of the author's childhood those passages, omitted +from the book, which, apart from their illustration of +the growth of his character, present to us a picture of +tragical suffering, and of tender as well as humorous +fancy, unsurpassed in even the wonders of his published +writings.</p> + +<p>The person indirectly responsible for the scenes to be +described was the young relative James Lamert, the +cousin by his aunt's marriage of whom I have made frequent +mention, who got up the plays at Chatham, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +after passing at Sandhurst had been living with the +family in Bayham Street in the hope of obtaining a +commission in the army. This did not come until long +afterwards, when, in consideration of his father's services, +he received it, and relinquished it then in favor +of a younger brother; but he had meanwhile, before +the family removed from Camden-town, ceased to live +with them. The husband of a sister of his (of the +same name as himself, being indeed his cousin, George +Lamert), a man of some property, had recently embarked +in an odd sort of commercial speculation, and +had taken him into his office and his house, to assist in +it. I give now the fragment of the autobiography of +Dickens:</p> + +<p>"This speculation was a rivalry of 'Warren's Blacking, +30, Strand,'—at that time very famous. One +Jonathan Warren (the famous one was Robert), living +at 30, Hungerford Stairs, or Market, Strand (for I forget +which it was called then), claimed to have been the +original inventor or proprietor of the blacking-recipe, +and to have been deposed and ill used by his renowned +relation. At last he put himself in the way of selling +his recipe, and his name, and his 30, Hungerford Stairs, +Strand (30, Strand, very large, and the intermediate +direction very small), for an annuity; and he set forth +by his agents that a little capital would make a great +business of it. The man of some property was found +in George Lamert, the cousin and brother-in-law of +James. He bought this right and title, and went into +the blacking-business and the blacking-premises.</p> + +<p>"—In an evil hour for me, as I often bitterly thought. +Its chief manager, James Lamert, the relative who had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +lived with us in Bayham Street, seeing how I was employed +from day to day, and knowing what our domestic +circumstances then were, proposed that I should go +into the blacking-warehouse, to be as useful as I could, +at a salary, I think, of six shillings a week. I am not +clear whether it was six or seven. I am inclined to +believe, from my uncertainty on this head, that it was +six at first, and seven afterwards. At any rate, the offer +was accepted very willingly by my father and mother, +and on a Monday morning I went down to the blacking-warehouse +to begin my business life.</p> + +<p>"It is wonderful to me how I could have been so +easily cast away at such an age. It is wonderful to me +that, even after my descent into the poor little drudge +I had been since we came to London, no one had compassion +enough on me—a child of singular abilities, +quick, eager, delicate, and soon hurt, bodily or mentally—to +suggest that something might have been +spared, as certainly it might have been, to place me at +any common school. Our friends, I take it, were tired +out. No one made any sign. My father and mother +were quite satisfied. They could hardly have been +more so if I had been twenty years of age, distinguished +at a grammar-school, and going to Cambridge.</p> + +<p>"The blacking-warehouse was the last house on the +left-hand side of the way, at old Hungerford Stairs. It +was a crazy, tumble-down old house, abutting of course +on the river, and literally overrun with rats. Its wainscoted +rooms, and its rotten floors and staircase, and +the old gray rats swarming down in the cellars, and the +sound of their squeaking and scuffling coming up the +stairs at all times, and the dirt and decay of the place,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +rise up visibly before me, as if I were there again. The +counting-house was on the first floor, looking over the +coal-barges and the river. There was a recess in it, in +which I was to sit and work. My work was to cover +the pots of paste-blacking; first with a piece of oil-paper, +and then with a piece of blue paper; to tie them +round with a string; and then to clip the paper close +and neat, all round, until it looked as smart as a pot +of ointment from an apothecary's shop. When a certain +number of grosses of pots had attained this pitch +of perfection, I was to paste on each a printed label, +and then go on again with more pots. Two or three +other boys were kept at similar duty down-stairs on +similar wages. One of them came up, in a ragged apron +and a paper cap, on the first Monday morning, to show +me the trick of using the string and tying the knot. +His name was Bob Fagin; and I took the liberty of +using his name, long afterwards, in <i>Oliver Twist</i>.</p> + +<p>"Our relative had kindly arranged to teach me +something in the dinner-hour; from twelve to one, I +think it was; every day. But an arrangement so incompatible +with counting-house business soon died +away, from no fault of his or mine; and, for the same +reason, my small work-table, and my grosses of pots, +my papers, string, scissors, paste-pot, and labels, by +little and little, vanished out of the recess in the counting-house, +and kept company with the other small +work-tables, grosses of pots, papers, string, scissors, and +paste-pots, down-stairs. It was not long before Bob +Fagin and I, and another boy whose name was Paul +Green, but who was currently believed to have been +christened Poll (a belief which I transferred, long afterwards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +again, to Mr. Sweedlepipe, in <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>), +worked generally, side by side. Bob Fagin was an +orphan, and lived with his brother-in-law, a waterman. +Poll Green's father had the additional distinction of +being a fireman, and was employed at Drury Lane +theatre; where another relation of Poll's, I think his +little sister, did imps in the pantomimes.</p> + +<p>"No words can express the secret agony of my soul +as I sunk into this companionship; compared these +every-day associates with those of my happier childhood; +and felt my early hopes of growing up to be a +learned and distinguished man, crushed in my breast. +The deep remembrance of the sense I had of being +utterly neglected and hopeless; of the shame I felt in +my position; of the misery it was to my young heart +to believe that, day by day, what I had learned, and +thought, and delighted in, and raised my fancy and my +emulation up by, was passing away from me, never to +be brought back any more; cannot be written. My +whole nature was so penetrated with the grief and +humiliation of such considerations, that even now, +famous and caressed and happy, I often forget in my +dreams that I have a dear wife and children; even +that I am a man; and wander desolately back to that +time of my life.</p> + +<p>"My mother and my brothers and sisters (excepting +Fanny in the Royal Academy of Music) were still encamped, +with a young servant-girl from Chatham workhouse, +in the two parlors in the emptied house in Gower +Street north. It was a long way to go and return within +the dinner-hour, and usually I either carried my dinner +with me, or went and bought it at some neighboring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +shop. In the latter case, it was commonly a saveloy +and a penny loaf; sometimes, a fourpenny plate of beef +from a cook's shop; sometimes, a plate of bread and +cheese, and a glass of beer, from a miserable old public-house +over the way: the Swan, if I remember right, or +the Swan and something else that I have forgotten. +Once, I remember tucking my own bread (which I had +brought from home in the morning) under my arm, +wrapped up in a piece of paper like a book, and going +into the best dining-room in Johnson's alamode beef-house +in Clare Court, Drury Lane, and magnificently +ordering a small plate of alamode beef to eat with it. +What the waiter thought of such a strange little apparition, +coming in all alone, I don't know; but I can see +him now, staring at me as I ate my dinner, and bringing +up the other waiter to look. I gave him a halfpenny, +and I wish, now, that he hadn't taken it."</p> + +<p>I lose here for a little while the fragment of direct +narrative, but I perfectly recollect that he used to +describe Saturday night as his great treat. It was a +grand thing to walk home with six shillings in his pocket, +and to look in at the shop-windows and think what it +would buy. Hunt's roasted corn, as a British and +patriotic substitute for coffee, was in great vogue just +then; and the little fellow used to buy it, and roast it +on the Sunday. There was a cheap periodical of selected +pieces called the <i>Portfolio</i>, which he had also a +great fancy for taking home with him. The new proposed +"deed," meanwhile, had failed to propitiate his +father's creditors; all hope of arrangement passed away; +and the end was that his mother and her encampment +in Gower Street north broke up and went to live in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +Marshalsea. I am able at this point to resume his own +account:</p> + +<p>"The key of the house was sent back to the landlord, +who was very glad to get it; and I (small Cain that I +was, except that I had never done harm to any one) +was handed over as a lodger to a reduced old lady, long +known to our family, in Little College Street, Camden-town, +who took children in to board, and had once +done so at Brighton; and who, with a few alterations +and embellishments, unconsciously began to sit for Mrs. +Pipchin in <i>Dombey</i> when she took in me.</p> + +<p>"She had a little brother and sister under her care +then; somebody's natural children, who were very +irregularly paid for; and a widow's little son. The +two boys and I slept in the same room. My own exclusive +breakfast, of a penny cottage loaf and a penny-worth +of milk, I provided for myself. I kept another +small loaf, and a quarter of a pound of cheese, on a +particular shelf of a particular cupboard; to make my +supper on when I came back at night. They made a +hole in the six or seven shillings, I know well; and I +was out at the blacking-warehouse all day, and had to +support myself upon that money all the week. I suppose +my lodging was paid for, by my father. I certainly +did not pay it myself; and I certainly had no +other assistance whatever (the making of my clothes, I +think, excepted), from Monday morning until Saturday +night. No advice, no counsel, no encouragement, no +consolation, no support, from any one that I can call +to mind, so help me God.</p> + +<p>"Sundays, Fanny and I passed in the prison. I was +at the academy in Tenterden Street, Hanover Square,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +at nine o'clock in the morning, to fetch her; and we +walked back there together, at night.</p> + +<p>"I was so young and childish, and so little qualified—how +could I be otherwise?—to undertake the whole +charge of my own existence, that, in going to Hungerford +Stairs of a morning, I could not resist the stale +pastry put out at half-price on trays at the confectioners' +doors in Tottenham Court Road; and I often spent +in that the money I should have kept for my dinner. +Then I went without my dinner, or bought a roll, or a +slice of pudding. There were two pudding-shops between +which I was divided, according to my finances. +One was in a court close to St. Martin's Church (at +the back of the church) which is now removed altogether. +The pudding at that shop was made with currants, +and was rather a special pudding, but was dear: +two penn'orth not being larger than a penn'orth of +more ordinary pudding. A good shop for the latter +was in the Strand, somewhere near where the Lowther +Arcade is now. It was a stout, hale pudding, heavy +and flabby; with great raisins in it, stuck in whole, at +great distances apart. It came up hot, at about noon +every day; and many and many a day did I dine off it.</p> + +<p>"We had half an hour, I think, for tea. When I +had money enough, I used to go to a coffee-shop, and +have half a pint of coffee, and a slice of bread-and-butter. +When I had no money, I took a turn in +Covent Garden market, and stared at the pineapples. +The coffee-shops to which I most resorted were, one in +Maiden Lane; one in a court (non-existent now) close +to Hungerford market; and one in St. Martin's Lane, +of which I only recollect that it stood near the church,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +and that in the door there was an oval glass plate, with +<span class="smcap">coffee-room</span> painted on it, addressed towards the +street. If I ever find myself in a very different kind +of coffee-room now, but where there is such an inscription +on glass, and read it backward on the wrong side +<span class="smcap">moor-eeffoc</span> (as I often used to do then, in a dismal +reverie,) a shock goes through my blood.</p> + +<p>"I know I do not exaggerate, unconsciously and unintentionally, +the scantiness of my resources and the +difficulties of my life. I know that if a shilling or so +were given me by any one, I spent it in a dinner or a +tea. I know that I worked, from morning to night, +with common men and boys, a shabby child. I know +that I tried, but ineffectually, not to anticipate my +money, and to make it last the week through; by putting +it away in a drawer I had in the counting-house, +wrapped into six little parcels, each parcel containing +the same amount and labeled with a different day. I +know that I have lounged about the streets, insufficiently +and unsatisfactorily fed. I know that, but for the mercy +of God, I might easily have been, for any care that was +taken of me, a little robber or a little vagabond.</p> + +<p>"But I held some station at the blacking-warehouse +too. Besides that my relative at the counting-house did +what a man so occupied, and dealing with a thing so +anomalous, could, to treat me as one upon a different +footing from the rest, I never said, to man or boy, how +it was that I came to be there, or gave the least indication +of being sorry that I was there. That I suffered +in secret, and that I suffered exquisitely, no one ever +knew but I. How much I suffered, it is, as I have +said already, utterly beyond my power to tell. No<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +man's imagination can overstep the reality. But I kept +my own counsel, and I did my work. I knew from the +first that, if I could not do my work as well as any of +the rest, I could not hold myself above slight and contempt. +I soon became at least as expeditious and as +skillful with my hands as either of the other boys. +Though perfectly familiar with them, my conduct and +manners were different enough from theirs to place a +space between us. They, and the men, always spoke +of me as 'the young gentleman.' A certain man (a +soldier once) named Thomas, who was the foreman, and +another named Harry, who was the carman and wore a +red jacket, used to call me 'Charles' sometimes, in +speaking to me; but I think it was mostly when we were +very confidential, and when I had made some efforts to +entertain them over our work with the results of some +of the old readings, which were fast perishing out of +my mind. Poll Green uprose once, and rebelled +against the 'young gentleman' usage; but Bob Fagin +settled him speedily.</p> + +<p>"My rescue from this kind of existence I considered +quite hopeless, and abandoned as such, altogether; +though I am solemnly convinced that I never, for one +hour, was reconciled to it, or was otherwise than miserably +unhappy. I felt keenly, however, the being so +cut off from my parents, my brothers and sisters, and, +when my day's work was done, going home to such a +miserable blank; and <i>that</i>, I thought, might be corrected. +One Sunday night I remonstrated with my +father on this head, so pathetically, and with so many +tears, that his kind nature gave way. He began to +think that it was not quite right. I do believe he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +had never thought so before, or thought about it. It +was the first remonstrance I had ever made about my +lot, and perhaps it opened up a little more than I intended. +A back-attic was found for me at the house of +an insolvent-court agent, who lived in Lant Street in +the borough, where Bob Sawyer lodged many years afterwards. +A bed and bedding were sent over for me, and +made up on the floor. The little window had a pleasant +prospect of a timber-yard; and when I took possession +of my new abode I thought it was a Paradise."</p> + +<p>There is here another blank, which it is, however, +not difficult to supply from letters and recollections of +my own. What was to him of course the great pleasure +of his paradise of a lodging was its bringing him again, +though after a fashion sorry enough, within the circle +of home. From this time he used to breakfast "at +home,"—in other words, in the Marshalsea; going to +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 't'">it</ins> as early as the gates were open, and for the most part +much earlier. They had no want of bodily comforts +there. His father's income, still going on, was amply +sufficient for that; and in every respect indeed but +elbow-room, I have heard him say, the family lived +more comfortably in prison than they had done for a +long time out of it. They were waited on still by the +maid-of-all-work from Bayham Street, the orphan girl +of the Chatham workhouse, from whose sharp little +worldly and also kindly ways he took his first impression +of the Marchioness in the <i>Old Curiosity Shop</i>. She also +had a lodging in the neighborhood, that she might be +early on the scene of her duties; and when Charles met +her, as he would do occasionally, in his lounging-place +by London Bridge, he would occupy the time before<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +the gates opened by telling her quite astonishing fictions +about the wharves and the tower. "But I hope I believed +them myself," he would say. Besides breakfast, +he had supper also in the prison, and got to his lodging +generally at nine o'clock. The gates closed always at +ten.</p> + +<p>I must not omit what he told me of the landlord of +this little lodging. He was a fat, good-natured, kind +old gentleman. He was lame, and had a quiet old +wife; and he had a very innocent grown-up son, who +was lame too. They were all very kind to the boy. +He was taken with one of his old attacks of spasm one +night, and the whole three of them were about his bed +until morning. They were all dead when he told me +this; but in another form they still live very pleasantly +as the Garland family in the <i>Old Curiosity Shop</i>.</p> + +<p>He had a similar illness one day in the warehouse, +which I can describe in his own words: "Bob Fagin +was very good to me on the occasion of a bad attack +of my old disorder. I suffered such excruciating pain +that time, that they made a temporary bed of straw in +my old recess in the counting-house, and I rolled about +on the floor, and Bob filled empty blacking-bottles with +hot water, and applied relays of them to my side, half +the day. I got better, and quite easy towards evening; +but Bob (who was much bigger and older than I) did +not like the idea of my going home alone, and took me +under his protection. I was too proud to let him know +about the prison, and, after making several efforts to +get rid of him, to all of which Bob Fagin in his goodness +was deaf, shook hands with him on the steps of +a house near Southwark Bridge on the Surrey side,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +making believe that I lived there. As a finishing piece +of reality in case of his looking back, I knocked at the +door, I recollect, and asked, when the woman opened +it, if that was Mr. Robert Fagin's house."</p> + +<p>The Saturday nights continued, as before, to be precious +to him. "My usual way home was over Blackfriars +Bridge, and down that turning in the Blackfriars +Road which has Rowland Hill's chapel on one side, and +the likeness of a golden dog licking a golden pot over a +shop-door on the other. There are a good many little +low-browed old shops in that street, of a wretched kind; +and some are unchanged now. I looked into one a few +weeks ago, where I used to buy boot-laces on Saturday +nights, and saw the corner where I once sat down on a +stool to have a pair of ready-made half-boots fitted on. +I have been seduced more than once, in that street on +a Saturday night, by a show-van at a corner; and have +gone in, with a very motley assemblage, to see the Fat-pig, +the Wild-indian, and the Little-lady. There were +two or three hat-manufactories there then (I think they +are there still); and among the things which, encountered +anywhere or under any circumstances, will instantly +recall that time, is the smell of hat-making."</p> + +<p>His father's attempts to avoid going through the +court having failed, all needful ceremonies had to be +undertaken to obtain the benefit of the insolvent debtors' +act; and in one of these little Charles had his part to +play. One condition of the statute was that the wearing-apparel +and personal matters retained were not to +exceed twenty pounds sterling in value. "It was necessary, +as a matter of form, that the clothes I wore should +be seen by the official appraiser. I had a half-holiday<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +to enable me to call upon him, at his own time, at a +house somewhere beyond the Obelisk. I recollect his +coming out to look at me with his mouth full, and a +strong smell of beer upon him, and saying good-naturedly +that 'that would do,' and 'it was all right.' +Certainly the hardest creditor would not have been disposed +(even if he had been legally entitled) to avail +himself of my poor white hat, little jacket, or corduroy +trowsers. But I had a fat old silver watch in my pocket, +which had been given me by my grandmother before +the blacking-days, and I had entertained my doubts as +I went along whether that valuable possession might +not bring me over the twenty pounds. So I was greatly +relieved, and made him a bow of acknowledgment as I +went out."</p> + +<p>Still, the want felt most by him was the companionship +of boys of his own age. He had no such acquaintance. +Sometimes he remembered to have played on +the coal-barges at dinner-time, with Poll Green and +Bob Fagin; but those were rare occasions. He generally +strolled alone, about the back streets of the +Adelphi, or explored the Adelphi arches. One of his +favorite localities was a little public-house by the water-side, +called the Fox-under-the-hill, approached by an +underground passage which we once missed in looking +for it together; and he had a vision which he has mentioned +in <i>Copperfield</i> of sitting eating something on a +bench outside, one fine evening, and looking at some +coal-heavers dancing before the house. "I wonder +what they thought of me," says David. He had himself +already said the same in his fragment of autobiography.</p> + +<p>Another characteristic little incident he made afterwards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +one of David's experiences, but I am able to +give it here without the disguises that adapt it to the +fiction: "I was such a little fellow, with my poor +white hat, little jacket, and corduroy trowsers, that +frequently, when I went into the bar of a strange +public-house for a glass of ale or porter to wash down +the saveloy and the loaf I had eaten in the street, they +didn't like to give it me. I remember, one evening +(I had been somewhere for my father, and was going +back to the borough over Westminster Bridge), that I +went into a public-house in Parliament Street,—which +is still there, though altered,—at the corner of the +short street leading into Cannon Row, and said to +the landlord behind the bar, 'What is your very best—the +VERY <i>best</i>—ale, a glass?' For the occasion was a +festive one, for some reason: I forget why. It may +have been my birthday, or somebody else's. 'Two-pence,' +says he. 'Then,' says I, 'just draw me a glass +of that, if you please, with a good head to it.' The +landlord looked at me, in return, over the bar, from +head to foot, with a strange smile on his face, and, +instead of drawing the beer, looked round the screen +and said something to his wife, who came out from +behind it, with her work in her hand, and joined him +in surveying me. Here we stand, all three, before me +now, in my study in Devonshire Terrace. The landlord, +in his shirt-sleeves, leaning against the bar window-frame; +his wife, looking over the little half-door; +and I, in some confusion, looking up at them from +outside the partition. They asked me a good many +questions, as what my name was, how old I was, where +I lived, how I was employed, etc. etc. To all of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +which, that I might commit nobody, I invented appropriate +answers. They served me with the ale, though +I suspect it was not the strongest on the premises; and +the landlord's wife, opening the little half-door and +bending down, gave me a kiss that was half admiring +and half compassionate, but all womanly and good, I +am sure."</p> + +<p>A later, and not less characteristic, incident of the +true story of this time found also a place, three or four +years after it was written, in his now famous fiction. +It preceded but by a short time the discharge, from the +Marshalsea, of the elder Dickens; to whom a rather +considerable legacy from a relative had accrued not +long before ("some hundreds," I understood), and +had been paid into court during his imprisonment. +The scene to be described arose on the occasion of a +petition drawn up by him before he left, praying, not +for the abolition of imprisonment for debt, as David +Copperfield relates, but for the less dignified but more +accessible boon of a bounty to the prisoners to drink +his majesty's health on his majesty's forthcoming birthday.</p> + +<p>"I mention the circumstance because it illustrates, to +me, my early interest in observing people. When I +went to the Marshalsea of a night, I was always delighted +to hear from my mother what she knew about +the histories of the different debtors in the prison; and +when I heard of this approaching ceremony, I was so +anxious to see them all come in, one after another +(though I knew the greater part of them already, to +speak to, and they me), that I got leave of absence on +purpose, and established myself in a corner, near the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +petition. It was stretched out, I recollect, on a great +ironing-board, under the window, which in another part +of the room made a bedstead at night. The internal +regulations of the place, for cleanliness and order, and +for the government of a common room in the ale-house, +where hot water and some means of cooking, and a good +fire, were provided for all who paid a very small subscription, +were excellently administered by a governing +committee of debtors, of which my father was chairman +for the time being. As many of the principal officers +of this body as could be got into the small room without +filling it up, supported him, in front of the petition; +and my old friend Captain Porter (who had washed +himself, to do honor to so solemn an occasion) stationed +himself close to it, to read it to all who were unacquainted +with its contents. The door was then thrown +open, and they began to come in, in a long file; several +waiting on the landing outside, while one entered, affixed +his signature, and went out. To everybody in +succession, Captain Porter said, 'Would you like to +hear it read?' If he weakly showed the least disposition +to hear it, Captain Porter, in a loud sonorous +voice, gave him every word of it. I remember a certain +luscious roll he gave to such words as 'Majesty—gracious +Majesty—your gracious Majesty's unfortunate +subjects—your Majesty's well-known munificence,'—as +if the words were something real in his mouth, and +delicious to taste; my poor father meanwhile listening +with a little of an author's vanity, and contemplating +(not severely) the spikes on the opposite wall. Whatever +was comical in this scene, and whatever was pathetic, +I sincerely believe I perceived in my corner,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +whether I demonstrated or not, quite as well as I should +perceive it now. I made out my own little character +and story for every man who put his name to the sheet +of paper. I might be able to do that now, more truly: +not more earnestly, or with a closer interest. Their +different peculiarities of dress, of face, of gait, of manner, +were written indelibly upon my memory. I would +rather have seen it than the best play ever played; and +I thought about it afterwards, over the pots of paste-blacking, +often and often. When I looked, with my +mind's eye, into the Fleet prison during Mr. Pickwick's +incarceration, I wonder whether half a dozen +men were wanting from the Marshalsea crowd that +came filing in again, to the sound of Captain Porter's +voice!"</p> + +<p>When the family left the Marshalsea they all went to +lodge with the lady in Little College Street, a Mrs. Roylance, +who has obtained unexpected immortality as Mrs. +Pipchin; and they afterwards occupied a small house in +Somers-town. But, before this time, Charles was present +with some of them in Tenterden Street to see his sister. +Fanny received one of the prizes given to the pupils of +the Royal Academy of Music. "I could not bear to +think of myself—beyond the reach of all such honorable +emulation and success. The tears ran down my +face. I felt as if my heart were rent. I prayed, when +I went to bed that night, to be lifted out of the humiliation +and neglect in which I was. I never had suffered +so much before. There was no envy in this." There +was little need that he should say so. Extreme enjoyment +in witnessing the exercise of her talents, the +utmost pride in every success obtained by them, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +manifested always to a degree otherwise quite unusual +with him; and on the day of her funeral, which we +passed together, I had most affecting proof of his tender +and grateful memory of her in these childish days. A +few more sentences, certainly not less touching than +any that have gone before, will bring the story of them +to its close. They stand here exactly as written by +him:</p> + +<p>"I am not sure that it was before this time, or after +it, that the blacking-warehouse was removed to Chandos +Street, Covent Garden. It is no matter. Next to +the shop at the corner of Bedford Street in Chandos +Street are two rather old-fashioned houses and shops +adjoining one another. They were one then, or thrown +into one, for the blacking-business; and had been a +butter-shop. Opposite to them was, and is, a public-house, +where I got my ale, under these new circumstances. +The stones in the street may be smoothed by +my small feet going across to it at dinner-time, and +back again. The establishment was larger now, and +we had one or two new boys. Bob Fagin and I had +attained to great dexterity in tying up the pots. I +forget how many we could do in five minutes. We +worked, for the light's sake, near the second window +as you come from Bedford Street; and we were so +brisk at it that the people used to stop and look in. +Sometimes there would be quite a little crowd there. +I saw my father coming in at the door one day when +we were very busy, and I wondered how he could +bear it.</p> + +<p>"Now, I generally had my dinner in the warehouse. +Sometimes I brought it from home, so I was better off.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +I see myself coming across Russell Square from Somers-town, +one morning, with some cold hotch-potch in +a small basin tied up in a handkerchief. I had the +same wanderings about the streets as I used to have, and +was just as solitary and self-dependent as before; but I +had not the same difficulty in merely living. I never, +however, heard a word of being taken away, or of +being otherwise than quite provided for.</p> + +<p>"At last, one day, my father, and the relative so +often mentioned, quarreled; quarreled by letter, for I +took the letter from my father to him which caused the +explosion, but quarreled very fiercely. It was about +me. It may have had some backward reference, in +part, for anything I know, to my employment at the +window. All I am certain of is, that, soon after I had +given him the letter, my cousin (he was a sort of cousin, +by marriage) told me he was very much insulted about +me, and that it was impossible to keep me after that. +I cried very much, partly because it was so sudden, and +partly because in his anger he was violent about my +father, though gentle to me. Thomas, the old soldier, +comforted me, and said he was sure it was for the best. +With a relief so strange that it was like oppression, I +went home.</p> + +<p>"My mother set herself to accommodate the quarrel, +and did so next day. She brought home a request for +me to return next morning, and a high character of me, +which I am very sure I deserved. My father said I +should go back no more, and should go to school. I +do not write resentfully or angrily; for I know how all +these things have worked together to make me what I +am; but I never afterwards forgot, I never shall forget,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +I never can forget, that my mother was warm for my +being sent back.</p> + +<p>"From that hour until this at which I write, no word +of that part of my childhood which I have now gladly +brought to a close has passed my lips to any human +being. I have no idea how long it lasted; whether for +a year, or much more, or less. From that hour until +this my father and my mother have been stricken dumb +upon it. I have never heard the least allusion to it, +however far off and remote, from either of them. I have +never, until I now impart it to this paper, in any burst +of confidence with any one, my own wife not excepted, +raised the curtain I then dropped, thank God.</p> + +<p>"Until old Hungerford market was pulled down, +until old Hungerford Stairs were destroyed, and the +very nature of the ground changed, I never had the +courage to go back to the place where my servitude +began. I never saw it. I could not endure to go near +it. For many years, when I came near to Robert +Warren's in the Strand, I crossed over to the opposite +side of the way, to avoid a certain smell of the cement +they put upon the blacking-corks, which reminded me +of what I was once. It was a very long time before I +liked to go up Chandos Street. My old way home by +the borough made me cry, after my eldest child could +speak.</p> + +<p>"In my walks at night I have walked there often, +since then, and by degrees I have come to write this. +It does not seem a tithe of what I might have written, +or of what I meant to write."</p> + +<p>The substance of some after-talk explanatory of +points in the narrative, of which a note was made at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +the time, may be briefly added. He could hardly have +been more than twelve years old when he left the place, +and was still unusually small for his age; much smaller, +though two years older, than his own eldest son was at +the time of these confidences. His mother had been +in the blacking-warehouse many times; his father not +more than once or twice. The rivalry of Robert Warren +by Jonathan's representatives, the cousins George +and James, was carried to wonderful extremes in the +way of advertisement; and they were all very proud, he +told me, of the cat scratching the boot, which was <i>their</i> +house's device. The poets in the house's regular employ +he remembered, too, and made his first study from +one of them for the poet of Mrs. Jarley's wax-work. +The whole enterprise, however, had the usual end of +such things. The younger cousin tired of the concern; +and a Mr. Wood, the proprietor who took James's +share and became George's partner, sold it ultimately +to Robert Warren. It continued to be his at the time +Dickens and myself last spoke of it together, and he +had made an excellent bargain of it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>SCHOOL-DAYS AND START IN LIFE.</h3> + +<h3>1824-1830.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Outcome of Boyish Trials—Disadvantage in Later Years—Advantages—Next +Move in Life—Wellington House Academy—Revisited +and Described—Letter from a Schoolfellow—C. D.'s Recollections +of School—Schoolfellow's Recollections of C. D.—Fac-simile of +Schoolboy Letter—Daniel Tobin—Another Schoolfellow's Recollections—Writing +Tales and getting up Plays—Master Beverley +Scene-Painter—Street-acting—The Schoolfellows after Forty Years—Smallness +of the World—In Attorneys' Offices—At Minor Theatres—The +Father on the Son's Education—Studying Short-hand—In +British Museum Reading Room—Preparing for the Gallery—D. C. +for C. D.—A Real Dora in 1829—The same Dora in 1855—Dora +changed into Flora—Ashes of Youth and Hope.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> what way these strange experiences of his boyhood +affected him afterwards, this narrative of his life +must show; but there were influences that made themselves +felt even on his way to manhood.</p> + +<p>What at once he brought out of the humiliation that +had impressed him so deeply, though scarcely as yet +quite consciously, was a natural dread of the hardships +that might still be in store for him, sharpened by what +he had gone through; and this, though in its effect for +the present imperfectly understood, became by degrees +a passionate resolve, even while he was yielding to circumstances, +<i>not to be</i> what circumstances were conspiring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +to make him. All that was involved in what he +had suffered and sunk into, could not have been known +to him at the time; but it was plain enough later, as +we see; and in conversation with me after the revelation +was made, he used to find, at extreme points in +his life, the explanation of himself in those early trials. +He had derived great good from them, but not without +alloy. The fixed and eager determination, the restless +and resistless energy, which opened to him opportunities +of escape from many mean environments, not +by turning off from any path of duty, but by resolutely +rising to such excellence or distinction as might be +attainable in it, brought with it some disadvantage +among many noble advantages. Of this he was himself +aware, but not to the full extent. What it was +that in society made him often uneasy, shrinking, and +over-sensitive, he knew; but all the danger he ran in +bearing down and overmastering the feeling, he did +not know. A too great confidence in himself, a sense +that everything was possible to the will that would +make it so, laid occasionally upon him self-imposed +burdens greater than might be borne by any one with +safety. In that direction there was in him, at such +times, something even hard and aggressive; in his determinations +a something that had almost the tone of +fierceness; something in his nature that made his +resolves insuperable, however hasty the opinions on +which they had been formed. So rare were these manifestations, +however, and so little did they prejudice a +character as entirely open and generous as it was at all +times ardent and impetuous, that only very infrequently, +towards the close of the middle term of a friendship<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +which lasted without the interruption of a day for more +than three-and-thirty years, were they ever unfavorably +presented to me. But there they were; and when I +have seen strangely present, at such chance intervals, a +stern and even cold isolation of self-reliance side by +side with a susceptivity almost feminine and the most +eager craving for sympathy, it has seemed to me as +though his habitual impulses for everything kind and +gentle had sunk, for the time, under a sudden hard +and inexorable sense of what fate had dealt to him in +those early years. On more than one occasion, indeed, +I had confirmation of this. "I must entreat you," +he wrote to me in June, 1862, "to pause for an instant, +and go back to what you know of my childish days, +and to ask yourself whether it is natural that something +of the character formed in me then, and lost under +happier circumstances, should have reappeared in the +last five years. The never-to-be-forgotten misery of +that old time bred a certain shrinking sensitiveness in +a certain ill-clad ill-fed child, that I have found come +back in the never-to-be-forgotten misery of this later +time."</p> + +<p>One good there was, however, altogether without +drawback, and which claims simply to be mentioned +before my narrative is resumed. The story of his +childish misery has itself sufficiently shown that he +never throughout it lost his precious gift of animal +spirits, or his native capacity for humorous enjoyment; +and there were positive gains to him from what he underwent, +which were also rich and lasting. To what in +the outset of his difficulties and trials gave the decisive +bent to his genius, I have already made special reference;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +and we are to observe, of what followed, that +with the very poor and unprosperous, out of whose +sufferings and strugglings, and the virtues as well as +vices born of them, his not least splendid successes were +wrought, his childish experiences had made him actually +one. They were not his clients whose cause he pleaded +with such pathos and humor, and on whose side he got +the laughter and tears of all the world, but in some sort +his very self. Nor was it a small part of this manifest +advantage that he should have obtained his experience +as a child and not as a man; that only the good part, +the flower and fruit of it, was plucked by him; and +that nothing of the evil part, none of the earth in which +the seed was planted, remained to soil him.</p> + +<p>His next move in life can also be given in his own language: +"There was a school in the Hampstead Road +kept by Mr. Jones, a Welshman, to which my father +dispatched me to ask for a card of terms. The boys +were at dinner, and Mr. Jones was carving for them +with a pair of holland sleeves on, when I acquitted +myself of this commission. He came out, and gave me +what I wanted; and hoped I should become a pupil. +I did. At seven o'clock one morning, very soon +afterwards, I went as day-scholar to Mr. Jones's establishment, +which was in Mornington Place, and had its +school-room sliced away by the Birmingham Railway, +when that change came about. The school-room, however, +was not threatened by directors or civil engineers +then, and there was a board over the door, graced with +the words <span class="smcap">Wellington House Academy</span>."</p> + +<p>At Wellington House Academy he remained nearly +two years, being a little over fourteen years of age when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +he quitted it. In his minor writings as well as in +<i>Copperfield</i> will be found general allusions to it, and +there is a paper among his pieces reprinted from <i>Household +Words</i> which purports specifically to describe it. +To the account therein given of himself when he went +to the school, as advanced enough, so safely had his +memory retained its poor fragments of early schooling, +to be put into <i>Virgil</i>, as getting sundry prizes, and as +attaining to the eminent position of its first boy, one of +his two schoolfellows with whom I have had communication +makes objection; but both admit that the +general features of the place are reproduced with wonderful +accuracy, and more especially in those points for +which the school appears to have been much more +notable than for anything connected with the scholarship +of its pupils.</p> + +<p>In the reprinted piece Dickens describes it as remarkable +for white mice. He says that red-polls, linnets, +and even canaries were kept by the boys in desks, +drawers, hat-boxes, and other strange refuges for birds; +but that white mice were the favorite stock, and that +the boys trained the mice much better than the master +trained the boys. He recalled in particular one white +mouse who lived in the cover of a Latin dictionary, +ran up ladders, drew Roman chariots, shouldered +muskets, turned wheels, and even made a very creditable +appearance on the stage as the dog of Montàrgis, +who might have achieved greater things but for having +had the misfortune to mistake his way in a triumphal +procession to the Capitol, when he fell into a deep inkstand +and was dyed black and drowned.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless he mentions the school as one also of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +some celebrity in its neighborhood, though nobody +could have said why; and adds that among the boys +the master was supposed to know nothing, and one of +the ushers was supposed to know everything. "We +are still inclined to think the first-named supposition +perfectly correct. We went to look at the place only +this last midsummer, and found that the railway had +cut it up, root and branch. A great trunk line had +swallowed the playground, sliced away the school-room, +and pared off the corner of the house. Which, thus +curtailed of its proportions, presented itself in a green +stage of stucco, profile-wise towards the road, like a +forlorn flat-iron without a handle, standing on end."</p> + +<p>One who knew him in those early days, Mr. Owen +P. Thomas, thus writes to me (February, 1871): "I +had the honor of being Mr. Dickens's schoolfellow for +about two years (1824-1826), both being day-scholars, +at Mr. Jones's 'Classical and Commercial Academy,' +as then inscribed in front of the house, and which was +situated at the corner of Granby Street and the Hampstead +Road. The house stands now in its original state, +but the school and large playground behind disappeared +on the formation of the London and Northwestern +Railway, which at this point runs in a slanting direction +from Euston Square underneath the Hampstead +Road. We were all companions and playmates when +out of school, as well as fellow-students therein." (Mr. +Thomas includes in this remark the names of Henry +Danson, now a physician in practice in London; of +Daniel Tobin, whom I remember to have been frequently +assisted by his old schoolfellow in later years; +and of Richard Bray.) "You will find a graphic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +sketch of the school by Mr. Dickens himself in <i>Household +Words</i> of 11th October, 1851. The article is +entitled Our School. The names of course are feigned; +but, allowing for slight coloring, the persons and incidents +described are all true to life, and easily recognizable +by any one who attended the school at the time. +The Latin master was Mr. Manville, or Mandeville, +who for many years was well known at the library of +the British Museum. The academy, after the railroad +overthrew it, was removed to another house in the +neighborhood, but Mr. Jones and two at least of his +assistant masters have long ago departed this life."</p> + +<p>One of the latter was the usher believed to know +everything, who was writing-master, mathematical master, +English master, divided the little boys with the +Latin master, made out the bills, mended the pens, and +always called at parents' houses to inquire after sick boys, +because he had gentlemanly manners. This picture my +correspondent recognized; as well as those of the fat +little dancing-master who taught them hornpipes, of the +Latin master who stuffed his ears with onions for his +deafness, of the gruff serving-man who nursed the boys +in scarlet fever, and of the principal himself, who was +always ruling ciphering-books with a bloated mahogany +ruler, smiting the palms of offenders with the same +diabolical instrument, or viciously drawing a pair of +pantaloons tight with one of his large hands and caning +the wearer with the other.</p> + +<p>"My recollection of Dickens whilst at school," Mr. +Thomas continues, "is that of a healthy-looking boy, +small but well built, with a more than usual flow of +spirits, inducing to harmless fun, seldom or never I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +think to mischief, to which so many lads at that age are +prone. I cannot recall anything that then indicated he +would hereafter become a literary celebrity; but perhaps +he was too young then. He usually held his head more +erect than lads ordinarily do, and there was a general +smartness about him. His weekday dress of jacket and +trowsers, I can clearly remember, was what is called +pepper-and-salt; and, instead of the frill that most boys +of his age wore then, he had a turn-down collar, so that +he looked less youthful in consequence. He invented +what we termed a 'lingo,' produced by the addition of +a few letters of the same sound to every word; and it +was our ambition, walking and talking thus along the +street, to be considered foreigners. As an alternate +amusement the present writer well remembers extemporizing +tales of some sort, and reciting them offhand, +with Dickens and Danson or Tobin walking on either +side of him. I inclose you a copy of a note I received +from him when he was between thirteen and fourteen +years of age, perhaps one of the earliest productions of +his pen. The Leg referred to was the Legend of something, +a pamphlet romance I had lent him; the Clavis +was of course the Latin school-book so named."</p> + +<p>There is some underlying whim or fun in the "Leg" +allusions which Mr. Thomas appears to have overlooked, +and certainly fails to explain; but the note, which is +here given in fac-simile, may be left to speak for itself; +and in the signature the reader will be amused to see +the first faint beginning of a flourish afterwards famous.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image02.png" width="600" height="355" alt="Handwritten note" title="Handwritten note" /> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>"After a lapse of years," Mr. Thomas continues, +"I recognized the celebrated writer as the individual +I had known so well as a boy, from having preserved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +this note; and upon Mr. Dickens visiting Reading in +December, 1854, to give one of his earliest readings +for the benefit of the literary institute, of which he had +become president on Mr. Justice Talfourd's death, I +took the opportunity of showing it to him, when he +was much diverted therewith. On the same occasion +we conversed about mutual schoolfellows, and among +others Daniel Tobin was referred to, whom I remembered +to have been Dickens's <i>most</i> intimate companion +in the school-days (1824 to 1826). His reply was that +Tobin either was then, or had previously been, assisting +him in the capacity of amanuensis; but there is a +subsequent mystery about Tobin, in connection with +his friend and patron, which I have never been able to +comprehend; for I understood shortly afterwards that +there was entire separation between them, and it must +have been an offense of some gravity to have sundered +an acquaintance formed in early youth, and which had +endured, greatly to Tobin's advantage, so long. He +resided in our school-days in one of the now old and +grimy-looking stone-fronted houses in George Street, +Euston Road, a few doors from the Orange-tree tavern. +It is the opinion of the other schoolfellow with whom +we were intimate, Doctor Danson, that upon leaving +school Mr. Dickens and Tobin entered the same solicitor's +office, and this he thinks was either in or near +Lincoln's Inn Fields."</p> + + + +<p>The offense of Tobin went no deeper than the having +at last worn out even Dickens's patience and kindness. +His applications for relief were so incessantly +repeated, that to cut him and them adrift altogether +was the only way of escape from what had become an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +intolerable nuisance. To Mr. Thomas's letter the +reader will thank me for adding one not less interesting +with which Dr. Henry Danson has favored me. +We have here, with the same fun and animal spirits, a +little of the proneness to mischief which his other +schoolfellow says he was free from; but the mischief +is all of the harmless kind, and might perhaps +have been better described as but part of an irrepressible +vivacity:</p> + +<p>"My impression is that I was a schoolfellow of +Dickens for nearly two years: he left before me, I +think at about fifteen years of age. Mr. Jones's school, +called the Wellington Academy, was in the Hampstead +Road, at the northeast corner of Granby Street. +The school-house was afterwards removed for the London +and Northwestern Railway. It was considered at +the time a very superior sort of school,—one of the +best, indeed, in that part of London; but it was +most shamefully mismanaged, and the boys made but +very little progress. The proprietor, Mr. Jones, was +a Welshman; a most ignorant fellow, and a mere +tyrant; whose chief employment was to scourge the +boys. Dickens has given a very lively account of +this place in his paper entitled Our School, but it is +very mythical in many respects, and more especially +in the compliment he pays in it to himself. I do not +remember that Dickens distinguished himself in any +way, or carried off any prizes. My belief is that he +did not learn Greek or Latin there; and you will +remember there is no allusion to the classics in any +of his writings. He was a handsome, curly-headed +lad, full of animation and animal spirits, and probably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +was connected with every mischievous prank in the +school. I do not think he came in for any of Mr. +Jones's scourging propensity: in fact, together with +myself, he was only a day-pupil, and with these there +was a wholesome fear of tales being carried home to +the parents. His personal appearance at that time is +vividly brought home to me in the portrait of him +taken a few years later by Mr. Lawrence. He resided +with his friends in a very small house in a street leading +out of Seymour Street, north of Mr. Judkin's +chapel.</p> + +<p>"Depend on it, he was quite a self-made man, and +his wonderful knowledge and command of the English +language must have been acquired by long and +patient study after leaving his last school.</p> + +<p>"I have no recollection of the boy you name. His +chief associates were, I think, Tobin, Mr. Thomas, +Bray, and myself. The first-named was his chief ally, +and his acquaintance with him appears to have continued +many years afterwards. At about that time +Penny and Saturday Magazines were published weekly, +and were greedily read by us. We kept bees, white +mice, and other living things clandestinely in our +desks; and the mechanical arts were a good deal +cultivated, in the shape of coach-building, and making +pumps and boats, the motive power of which was +the white mice.</p> + +<p>"I think at that time Dickens took to writing small +tales, and we had a sort of club for lending and circulating +them. Dickens was also very strong in using a +sort of lingo, which made us quite unintelligible to +bystanders. We were very strong, too, in theatricals.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +We mounted small theatres, and got up very gorgeous +scenery to illustrate the <i>Miller and his Men</i> and <i>Cherry +and Fair Star</i>. I remember the present Mr. Beverley, +the scene-painter, assisted us in this. Dickens was +always a leader at these plays, which were occasionally +presented with much solemnity before an audience of +boys and in the presence of the ushers. My brother, +assisted by Dickens, got up the <i>Miller and his Men</i>, in +a very gorgeous form. Master Beverley constructed +the mill for us in such a way that it could tumble to +pieces with the assistance of crackers. At one representation +the fireworks in the last scene, ending with +the destruction of the mill, were so very real that the +police interfered and knocked violently at the doors. +Dickens's after-taste for theatricals might have had its +origin in these small affairs.</p> + +<p>"I quite remember Dickens on one occasion heading +us in Drummond Street in pretending to be poor boys, +and asking the passers-by for charity,—especially old +ladies, one of whom told us she 'had no money for +beggar-boys.' On these adventures, when the old ladies +were quite staggered by the impudence of the demand, +Dickens would explode with laughter and take to his +heels.</p> + +<p>"I met him one Sunday morning shortly after he +left the school, and we very piously attended the morning +service at Seymour Street Chapel. I am sorry to +say Master Dickens did not attend in the slightest degree +to the service, but incited me to laughter by +declaring his dinner was ready and the potatoes would +be spoiled, and in fact behaved in such a manner that +it was lucky for us we were not ejected from the chapel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I heard of him some time after from Tobin, whom +I met carrying a foaming pot of London particular in +Lincoln's Inn Fields, and I then understood that +Dickens was in the same or some neighboring office.</p> + +<p>"Many years elapsed after this before I became aware, +from accidentally reading Our School, that the brilliant +and now famous Dickens was my old schoolfellow. I +didn't like to intrude myself upon him; and it was not +until three or four years ago, when he presided at the +University College dinner at Willis's rooms, and made +a most brilliant and effective speech, that I sent him a +congratulatory note reminding him of our former fellowship. +To this he sent me a kind note in reply, and +which I value very much. I send you copies of these."<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> +<p>From Dickens himself I never heard much allusion to +the school thus described; but I knew that, besides +being the subject dealt with in <i>Household Words</i>, it had +supplied some of the lighter traits of Salem House for +<i>Copperfield;</i> and that to the fact of one of its tutors +being afterwards engaged to teach a boy of Macready's, +our common friend, Dickens used to point for one of +the illustrations of his favorite theory as to the smallness +of the world, and how things and persons apparently +the most unlikely to meet were continually +knocking up against each other. The employment as +his amanuensis of his schoolfellow Tobin dates as early +as his Doctors'-Commons days, but both my correspondents +are mistaken in the impression they appear +to have received that Tobin had been previously his +fellow-clerk in the same attorney's office. I had thought +him more likely to have been accompanied there by +another of his boyish acquaintances who became afterwards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +a solicitor, Mr. Mitton, not recollected by either +of my correspondents in connection with the school, +but whom I frequently met with him in later years, and +for whom he had the regard arising out of such early +associations. In this, however, I have since discovered +my own mistake: the truth being that it was this gentleman's +connection, not with the Wellington Academy, +but with a school kept by Mr. Dawson in Hunter Street, +Brunswick Square, where the brothers of Dickens were +subsequently placed, which led to their early knowledge +of each other. I fancy that they were together +also, for a short time, at Mr. Molloy's in New Square, +Lincoln's Inn; but, whether or not this was so, Dickens +certainly had not quitted school many months +before his father had made sufficient interest with an +attorney of Gray's Inn, Mr. Edward Blackmore, to +obtain him regular employment in his office. In this +capacity of clerk, our only trustworthy glimpse of him +we owe to the last-named gentleman, who has described +briefly, and I do not doubt authentically, the services +so rendered by him to the law. It cannot be said that +they were noteworthy, though it might be difficult to +find a more distinguished person who has borne the +title, unless we make exception for the very father of +literature himself, whom Chaucer, with amusing illustration +of the way in which words change their meanings, +calls "that conceited clerke Homère."</p> + +<p>"I was well acquainted," writes Mr. Edward Blackmore +of Alresford, "with his parents, and, being then +in practice in Gray's Inn, they asked me if I could find +employment for him. He was a bright, clever-looking +youth, and I took him as a clerk. He came to me in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +May, 1827, and left in November, 1828; and I have +now an account-book which he used to keep of petty +disbursements in the office, in which he charged himself +with the modest salary first of thirteen shillings +and sixpence, and afterwards of fifteen shillings, a week. +Several incidents took place in the office of which he +must have been a keen observer, as I recognized some +of them in his <i>Pickwick</i> and <i>Nickleby;</i> and I am much +mistaken if some of his characters had not their originals +in persons I well remember. His taste for theatricals +was much promoted by a fellow-clerk named +Potter, since dead, with whom he chiefly associated. +They took every opportunity, then unknown to me, of +going together to a minor theatre, where (I afterwards +heard) they not unfrequently engaged in parts. After +he left me I saw him at times in the lord chancellor's +court, taking notes of cases as a reporter. I then lost +sight of him until his <i>Pickwick</i> made its appearance." +This letter indicates the position he held at Mr. Blackmore's; +and we have but to turn to the passage in <i>Pickwick</i> +which describes the several grades of attorney's +clerk, to understand it more clearly. He was very far +below the articled clerk, who has paid a premium and +is attorney in perspective. He was not so high as the +salaried clerk, with nearly the whole of his weekly +thirty shillings spent on his personal pleasures. He was +not even on the level with his middle-aged copying-clerk, +always needy and uniformly shabby. He was simply +among, however his own nature may have lifted him +above, the "office-lads in their first surtouts, who feel +a befitting contempt for boys at day-schools, club as +they go home at night for saveloys and porter, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +think there's nothing like life." Thus far, not more +or less, had he now reached. He was one of the +office-lads, and probably in his first surtout.</p> + +<p>But, even thus, the process of education went on, +defying what seemed to interrupt it; and in the amount +of his present equipment for his needs of life, what he +brought from the Wellington House Academy can have +borne but the smallest proportion to his acquirement +at Mr. Blackmore's. Yet to seek to identify, without +help from himself, any passages in his books with those +boyish law-experiences, would be idle and hopeless +enough. In the earliest of his writings, and down +to the very latest, he worked exhaustively the field +which is opened by an attorney's office to a student +of life and manners; but we have not now to deal with +his numerous varieties of the <i>genus</i> clerk drawn thus +for the amusement of others, but with the acquisitions +which at present he was storing up for himself from the +opportunities such offices opened to him. Nor would +it be possible to have better illustrative comment on all +these years than is furnished by his father's reply to a +friend it was now hoped to interest on his behalf, which +more than once I have heard him whimsically, but +good-humoredly, imitate. "Pray, Mr. Dickens, where +was your son educated?" "Why, indeed, sir—ha! +ha!—he may be said to have educated himself!" Of +the two kinds of education which Gibbon says that all +men who rise above the common level receive,—the +first, that of his teachers, and the second, more personal +and more important, <i>his own</i>,—he had the advantage +only of the last. It nevertheless sufficed for +him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> + +<p>Very nearly another eighteen months were now to be +spent mainly in practical preparation for what he was, +at this time, led finally to choose as an employment +from which a fair income was certain with such talents +as he possessed; his father already having taken to it, +in these latter years, in aid of the family resources. In +his father's house, which was at Hampstead through the +first portion of the Mornington Street school time, then +in the house out of Seymour Street mentioned by Dr. +Danson, and afterwards, upon the elder Dickens going +into the gallery, in Bentinck Street, Manchester Square, +Charles had continued to live; and, influenced doubtless +by the example before him, he took sudden determination +to qualify himself thoroughly for what his +father was lately become, a newspaper parliamentary +reporter. He set resolutely, therefore, to the study of +short-hand; and, for the additional help of such general +information about books as a fairly-educated youth +might be expected to have, as well as to satisfy some +higher personal cravings, he became an assiduous attendant +in the British Museum reading-room. He +would frequently refer to these days as decidedly the +usefulest to himself he had ever passed; and, judging +from the results, they must have been so. No man who +knew him in later years, and talked to him familiarly +of books and things, would have suspected his education +in boyhood, almost entirely self-acquired as it was, +to have been so rambling or hap-hazard as I have here +described it. The secret consisted in this, that, whatever +for the time he had to do, he lifted himself, there +and then, to the level of, and at no time disregarded +the rules that guided the hero of his novel. "Whatever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my +heart to do well. What I have devoted myself to, I +have devoted myself to completely. Never to put one +hand to anything on which I could throw my whole +self, and never to affect depreciation of my work, +whatever it was, I find now to have been my golden +rules."</p> + +<p>Of the difficulties that beset his short-hand studies, +as well as of what first turned his mind to them, he has +told also something in <i>Copperfield</i>. He had heard that +many men distinguished in various pursuits had begun +life by reporting the debates in parliament, and he was +not deterred by a friend's warning that the mere mechanical +accomplishment for excellence in it might take +a few years to master thoroughly; "a perfect and entire +command of the mystery of short-hand writing and +reading being about equal in difficulty to the mastery +of six languages." Undaunted, he plunged into it, +self-teaching in this as in graver things, and, having +bought Mr. Gurney's half-guinea book, worked steadily +his way through its distractions. "The changes that +were rung upon dots, which in such a position meant +such a thing, and in such another position something +else entirely different; the wonderful vagaries that were +played by circles; the unaccountable consequences that +resulted from marks like flies' legs; the tremendous +effects of a curve in a wrong place; not only troubled +my waking hours, but reappeared before me in my +sleep. When I had groped my way, blindly, through +these difficulties, and had mastered the alphabet, there +then appeared a procession of new horrors, called arbitrary +characters; the most despotic characters I have ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +known; who insisted, for instance, that a thing like the +beginning of a cobweb meant expectation, and that a +pen-and-ink sky-rocket stood for disadvantageous. +When I had fixed these wretches in my mind, I found +that they had driven everything else out of it; then, +beginning again, I forgot them; while I was picking +them up, I dropped the other fragments of the system: +in short, it was almost heart-breaking."</p> + +<p>What it was that made it not quite heart-breaking to +the hero of the fiction, its readers know; and something +of the same kind was now to enter into the actual +experience of its writer. First let me say, however, +that after subduing to his wants in marvelously quick +time this unruly and unaccommodating servant of stenography, +what he most desired was still not open to +him. "There never <i>was</i> such a short-hand writer," +has been often said to me by Mr. Beard, the friend he +first made in that line when he entered the gallery, and +with whom to the close of his life he maintained the +friendliest intercourse. But there was no opening for +him in the gallery yet. He had to pass nearly two +years as a reporter for one of the offices in Doctors' +Commons, practicing in this and the other law courts, +before he became a sharer in parliamentary toils and +triumphs; and what sustained his young hero through +something of the same sort of trial was also his own +support. He too had his Dora, at apparently the same +hopeless elevation; striven for as the one only thing to +be attained, and even more unattainable, for neither +did he succeed nor happily did she die; but the one +idol, like the other, supplying a motive to exertion for +the time, and otherwise opening out to the idolater,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +both in fact and fiction, a highly unsubstantial, happy, +foolish time. I used to laugh and tell him I had no +belief in any but the book Dora, until the incident of +a sudden reappearance of the real one in his life, nearly +six years after <i>Copperfield</i> was written, convinced me +there had been a more actual foundation for those +chapters of his book than I was ready to suppose. Still, +I would hardly admit it, and, that the matter could +possibly affect him then, persisted in a stout refusal to +believe. His reply (1855) throws a little light on this +juvenile part of his career, and I therefore venture to +preserve it:</p> + +<p>"I don't quite apprehend what you mean by my +overrating the strength of the feeling of five-and-twenty +years ago. If you mean of my own feeling, and will +only think what the desperate intensity of my nature +is, and that this began when I was Charley's age; that +it excluded every other idea from my mind for four +years, at a time of life when four years are equal to +four times four; and that I went at it with a determination +to overcome all the difficulties, which fairly lifted +me up into that newspaper life, and floated me away +over a hundred men's heads; then you are wrong, +because nothing can exaggerate that. I have positively +stood amazed at myself ever since!—And so I suffered, +and so worked, and so beat and hammered away at the +maddest romances that ever got into any boy's head and +stayed there, that to see the mere cause of it all, now, +loosens my hold upon myself. Without for a moment +sincerely believing that it would have been better if we +had never got separated, I cannot see the occasion of +so much emotion as I should see any one else. No one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +can imagine in the most distant degree what pain the +recollection gave me in <i>Copperfield</i>. And, just as I can +never open that book as I open any other book, I cannot +see the face (even at four-and-forty), or hear the +voice, without going wandering away over the ashes of +all that youth and hope in the wildest manner." More +and more plainly seen, however, in the light of four-and-forty, +the romance glided visibly away, its work +being fairly done; and at the close of the month following +that in which this letter was written, during +which he had very quietly made a formal call with his +wife at his youthful Dora's house, and contemplated +with a calm equanimity, in the hall, her stuffed favorite +Jip, he began the fiction in which there was a Flora to +set against its predecessor's Dora, both derived from +the same original. The fancy had a comic humor in it +he found it impossible to resist, but it was kindly and +pleasant to the last;<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> and if the later picture showed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +him plenty to laugh at in this retrospect of his youth, +there was nothing he thought of more tenderly than +the earlier, as long as he was conscious of anything.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>REPORTERS' GALLERY AND NEWSPAPER LITERATURE.</h3> + +<h3>1831-1835.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Reporting for <i>True Sun</i>—First seen by me—Reporting for <i>Mirror</i> and +<i>Chronicle</i>—First Published Piece—Discipline and Experiences of +Reporting—Life as a Reporter—John Black—Mr. Thomas Beard—A +Letter to his Editor—Incident of Reporting Days—The same +more correctly told—Origin of "Boz"—Captain Holland—Mr. +George Hogarth—Sketches in <i>Evening Chronicle</i>—C. D.'s First +Hearty Appreciator.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Dickens</span> was nineteen years old when at last he entered +the gallery. His father, with whom he still lived +in Bentinck Street, had already, as we have seen, joined +the gallery as a reporter for one of the morning papers, +and was now in the more comfortable circumstances +derived from the addition to his official pension which +this praiseworthy labor insured; but his own engagement +on the <i>Chronicle</i> dates somewhat later. His +first parliamentary service was given to the <i>True Sun</i>, +a journal which had then on its editorial staff some dear +friends of mine, through whom I became myself a contributor +to it, and afterwards, in common with all concerned, +whether in its writing, reporting, printing, or +publishing, a sharer in its difficulties. The most formidable +of these arrived one day in a general strike of +the reporters; and I well remember noticing at this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +dread time, on the staircase of the magnificent mansion +we were lodged in, a young man of my own age, whose +keen animation of look would have arrested attention +anywhere, and whose name, upon inquiry, I then for +the first time heard. It was coupled with the fact, +which gave it interest even then, that "young Dickens" +had been spokesman for the recalcitrant reporters, and +conducted their case triumphantly. He was afterwards +during two sessions engaged for the <i>Mirror of Parliament</i>, +which one of his uncles by the mother's side +originated and conducted; and finally, in his twenty-third +year, he became a reporter for the <i>Morning +Chronicle</i>.</p> + +<p>A step far more momentous to him (though then he +did not know it) he had taken shortly before. In the +December number for 1833 of what then was called the +<i>Old Monthly Magazine</i>, his first published piece of +writing had seen the light. He has described himself +dropping this paper (Mr. Minns and his Cousin, as he +afterwards entitled it, but which appeared in the magazine +as A Dinner at Poplar Walk) stealthily one evening +at twilight, with fear and trembling, into a dark +letter-box in a dark office up a dark court in Fleet +Street; and he has told his agitation when it appeared +in all the glory of print: "On which occasion I +walked down to Westminster Hall, and turned into it +for half an hour, because my eyes were so dimmed +with joy and pride that they could not bear the street, +and were not fit to be seen there." He had purchased +the magazine at a shop in the Strand; and exactly two +years afterwards, in the younger member of a publishing +firm who had called, at the chambers in Furnival's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +Inn to which he had moved soon after entering the +gallery, with the proposal that originated <i>Pickwick</i>, he +recognized the person he had bought that magazine +from, and whom before or since he had never seen.</p> + +<p>This interval of two years more than comprised +what remained of his career in the gallery and the engagements +connected with it; but that this occupation +was of the utmost importance in its influence on his life, +in the discipline of his powers as well as of his character, +there can be no doubt whatever. "To the wholesome +training of severe newspaper work, when I was a very +young man, I constantly refer my first successes," he +said to the New York editors when he last took leave +of them. It opened to him a wide and varied range +of experience, which his wonderful observation, exact as +it was humorous, made entirely his own. He saw the +last of the old coaching-days, and of the old inns that +were a part of them; but it will be long before the +readers of his living page see the last of the life of either. +"There never was," he once wrote to me (in 1845), +"anybody connected with newspapers who, in the same +space of time, had so much express and post-chaise experience +as I. And what gentlemen they were to serve, +in such things, at the old <i>Morning Chronicle!</i> Great +or small it did not matter. I have had to charge for +half a dozen break-downs in half a dozen times as many +miles. I have had to charge for the damage of a great-coat +from the drippings of a blazing wax candle, in writing +through the smallest hours of the night in a swift-flying +carriage-and-pair. I have had to charge for all +sorts of breakages fifty times in a journey without question, +such being the ordinary results of the pace which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +we went at. I have charged for broken hats, broken +luggage, broken chaises, broken harness—everything +but a broken head, which is the only thing they would +have grumbled to pay for."</p> + +<p>Something to the same effect he said publicly twenty +years later, on the occasion of his presiding, in May, +1865, at the second annual dinner of the Newspaper +Press Fund, when he condensed within the compass of +his speech a summary of the whole of his reporting life. +"I am not here," he said, "advocating the case of a +mere ordinary client of whom I have little or no knowledge. +I hold a brief to-night for my brothers. I went +into the gallery of the House of Commons as a parliamentary +reporter when I was a boy, and I left it—I can +hardly believe the inexorable truth—nigh thirty years +ago. I have pursued the calling of a reporter under +circumstances of which many of my brethren here can +form no adequate conception. I have often transcribed +for the printer, from my short-hand notes, important +public speeches in which the strictest accuracy was required, +and a mistake in which would have been to a +young man severely compromising, writing on the palm +of my hand, by the light of a dark-lantern, in a post-chaise +and four, galloping through a wild country, and +through the dead of the night, at the then surprising +rate of fifteen miles an hour. The very last time I was +at Exeter, I strolled into the castle-yard there, to identify, +for the amusement of a friend, the spot on which +I once 'took,' as we used to call it, an election-speech +of Lord John Russell at the Devon contest, in the midst +of a lively fight maintained by all the vagabonds in that +division of the county, and under such a pelting rain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +that I remember two good-natured colleagues, who +chanced to be at leisure, held a pocket-handkerchief +over my note-book, after the manner of a state canopy +in an ecclesiastical procession. I have worn my knees +by writing on them on the old back row of the old +gallery of the old House of Commons; and I have worn +my feet by standing to write in a preposterous pen in +the old House of Lords, where we used to be huddled +together like so many sheep,—kept in waiting, say, +until the woolsack might want restuffing. Returning +home from exciting political meetings in the country to +the waiting press in London, I do verily believe I have +been upset in almost every description of vehicle known +in this country. I have been, in my time, belated on +miry by-roads, towards the small hours, forty or fifty +miles from London, in a wheelless carriage, with exhausted +horses and drunken post-boys, and have got +back in time for publication, to be received with never-forgotten +compliments by the late Mr. Black, coming +in the broadest of Scotch from the broadest of hearts I +ever knew. These trivial things I mention as an assurance +to you that I never have forgotten the fascination +of that old pursuit. The pleasure that I used to feel in +the rapidity and dexterity of its exercise has never faded +out of my breast. Whatever little cunning of hand or +head I took to it, or acquired in it, I have so retained +as that I fully believe I could resume it to-morrow, very +little the worse from long disuse. To this present year +of my life, when I sit in this hall, or where not, hearing +a dull speech (the phenomenon does occur), I sometimes +beguile the tedium of the moment by mentally +following the speaker in the old, old way; and sometimes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +if you can believe me, I even find my hand going +on the table-cloth, taking an imaginary note of it all." +The latter I have known him do frequently. It was +indeed a quite ordinary habit with him.</p> + +<p>Mr. James Grant, a writer who was himself in the +gallery with Dickens, and who states that among its +eighty or ninety reporters he occupied the very highest +rank, not merely for accuracy in reporting but for marvelous +quickness in transcribing, has lately also told +us that while there he was exceedingly reserved in his +manners, and that, though showing the usual courtesies +to all he was concerned with in his duties, the only personal +intimacy he formed was with Mr. Thomas Beard, +then too reporting for the <i>Morning Chronicle</i>. I have +already mentioned the friendly and familiar relations +maintained with this gentleman to the close of his life; +and in confirmation of Mr. Grant's statement I can +further say that the only other associate of these early +reporting days to whom I ever heard him refer with +special regard was the late Mr. Vincent Dowling, many +years editor of <i>Bell's Life</i>, with whom he did not continue +much personal intercourse, but of whose character +as well as talents he had formed a very high +opinion. Nor is there anything to add to the notice +of these days which the reader's fancy may not easily +supply. A letter has been kept as written by him while +engaged on one of his "expresses;" but it is less for +its saying anything new, than for its confirming with a +pleasant vividness what has been said already, that its +contents will justify mention here.</p> + +<p>He writes, on a "Tuesday morning" in May, 1835, +from the Bush Inn, Bristol; the occasion that has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +taken him to the west, connected with a reporting party, +being Lord John Russell's Devonshire contest above +named, and his associate-chief being Mr. Beard, intrusted +with command for the <i>Chronicle</i> in this particular +express. He expects to forward "the conclusion of +Russell's dinner" by Cooper's company's coach leaving +the Bush at half-past six next morning; and by the +first Ball's coach on Thursday morning he will forward +the report of the Bath dinner, indorsing the parcel for +immediate delivery, with extra rewards for the porter. +Beard is to go over to Bath next morning. He is himself +to come back by the mail from Marlborough; he +has no doubt, if Lord John makes a speech of any ordinary +dimensions, it can be done by the time Marlborough +is reached; "and taking into consideration +the immense importance of having the addition of +saddle-horses from thence, it is, beyond all doubt, +worth an effort. . . . I need not say," he continues, +"that it will be sharp work and will require two of us; +for we shall both be up the whole of the previous night, +and shall have to sit up all night again to get it off in +time." He adds that as soon as they have had a little +sleep they will return to town as quickly as they can; +but they have, if the express succeeds, to stop at sundry +places along the road to pay money and notify satisfaction. +And so, for himself and Beard, he is his +editor's very sincerely.</p> + +<p>Another anecdote of these reporting days, with its +sequel, may be added from his own alleged relation, in +which, however, mistakes occur that it seems strange +he should have made. The story, as told, is that the +late Lord Derby, when Mr. Stanley, had on some important<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +occasion made a speech which all the reporters +found it necessary greatly to abridge; that its essential +points had nevertheless been so well given in the +<i>Chronicle</i> that Mr. Stanley, having need of it for himself +in greater detail, had sent a request to the reporter +to meet him in Carlton House Terrace and take down +the entire speech; that Dickens attended and did the +work accordingly, much to Mr. Stanley's satisfaction; +and that, on his dining with Mr. Gladstone in recent +years, and finding the aspect of the dining-room +strangely familiar, he discovered afterwards on inquiry +that it was there he had taken the speech. The story, +as it actually occurred, is connected with the brief life +of the <i>Mirror of Parliament</i>. It was not at any special +desire of Mr. Stanley's, but for that new record of the +debates, which had been started by one of the uncles +of Dickens and professed to excel <i>Hansard</i> in giving +verbatim reports, that the famous speech against +O'Connell was taken as described. The young reporter +went to the room in Carlton Terrace because +the work of his uncle Barrow's publication required to +be done there; and if, in later years, the great author +was in the same room as the guest of the prime minister, +it must have been but a month or two before he +died, when for the first time he visited and breakfasted +with Mr. Gladstone.</p> + +<p>The mention of his career in the gallery may close +with the incident. I will only add that his observation +while there had not led him to form any high +opinion of the House of Commons or its heroes, and +that of the Pickwickian sense which so often takes the +place of common sense in our legislature he omitted no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +opportunity of declaring his contempt at every part of +his life.</p> + +<p>The other occupation had meanwhile not been lost +sight of, and for this we are to go back a little. Since +the first sketch appeared in the <i>Monthly Magazine</i>, nine +others have enlivened the pages of later numbers of the +same magazine, the last in February, 1835, and that +which appeared in the preceding August having first +had the signature of Boz. This was the nickname of +a pet child, his youngest brother Augustus, whom in +honor of the <i>Vicar of Wakefield</i> he had dubbed Moses, +which being facetiously pronounced through the nose +became Boses, and being shortened became Boz. "Boz +was a very familiar household word to me, long before +I was an author, and so I came to adopt it." Thus had +he fully invented his Sketches by Boz before they were +even so called, or any one was ready to give much attention +to them; and the next invention needful to +himself was some kind of payment in return for them. +The magazine was owned as well as conducted at this +time by a Mr. Holland, who had come back from Bolivar's +South American campaigns with the rank of captain, +and had hoped to make it a popular mouthpiece +for his ardent liberalism. But this hope, as well as his +own health, quite failed; and he had sorrowfully to decline +receiving any more of the sketches when they had +to cease as voluntary offerings. I do not think that +either he or the magazine lived many weeks after an +evening I passed with him in Doughty Street in 1837, +when he spoke in a very touching way of the failure +of this and other enterprises of his life, and of the help +that Dickens had been to him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nothing thus being forthcoming from the <i>Monthly</i>, it +was of course but natural the sketches too should cease +to be forthcoming; and, even before the above-named +February number appeared, a new opening had been +found for them. An evening offshoot to the <i>Morning +Chronicle</i> had been lately in hand; and to a countryman +of Black's engaged in the preparations for it, Mr. +George Hogarth, Dickens was communicating from his +rooms in Furnival's Inn, on the evening of Tuesday, +the 20th of January, 1835, certain hopes and fancies he +had formed. This was the beginning of his knowledge +of an accomplished and kindly man, with whose family +his relations were soon to become so intimate as to have +an influence on all his future career. Mr. Hogarth had +asked him, as a favor to himself, to write an original +sketch for the first number of the enterprise, and in +writing back to say with what readiness he should comply, +and how anxiously he should desire to do his best +for the person who had made the request, he mentioned +what had arisen in his mind. It had occurred to him +that he might not be unreasonably or improperly trespassing +farther on Mr. Hogarth if, trusting to his kindness +to refer the application to the proper quarter, he +begged to ask whether it was probable, if he commenced +a regular series of articles under some attractive +title for the <i>Evening Chronicle</i>, its conductors would +think he had any claim to <i>some</i> additional remuneration +(of course, of no great amount) for doing so. In short, +he wished to put it to the proprietors—first, whether +a continuation of some chapters of light papers in the +style of his street-sketches would be considered of use +to the new journal; and secondly, if so, whether they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +would not think it fair and reasonable that, taking his +share of the ordinary reporting business of the <i>Chronicle</i> +besides, he should receive something for the papers +beyond his ordinary salary as a reporter. The request +was thought fair, he began the sketches, and his salary +was raised from five to seven guineas a week.</p> + +<p>They went on, with undiminished spirit and freshness, +throughout the year; and, much as they were +talked of outside as well as in the world of newspapers, +nothing in connection with them delighted the writer +half so much as the hearty praise of his own editor. +Mr. Black is one of the men who has passed without +recognition out of a world his labors largely benefited, +but with those who knew him no man was so popular, +as well for his broad kindly humor as for his honest +great-hearted enjoyment of whatever was excellent in +others. Dickens to the last remembered that it was +most of all the cordial help of this good old mirth-loving +man which had started him joyfully on his career +of letters. "It was John Black that flung the slipper +after me," he would often say. "Dear old Black! my +first hearty out-and-out appreciator," is an expression +in one of his letters written to me in the year he died.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>FIRST BOOK, AND ORIGIN OF PICKWICK.</h3> + +<h3>1836.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><i>Sketches by Boz</i>—Fancy-piece by N. P. Willis: a Poor English Author—Start +of <i>Pickwick</i>—Marriage to Miss Hogarth—First Connection +with Chapman & Hall—Mr. Seymour's Part in <i>Pickwick</i>—Letters +relating thereto—C. D.'s own Account—False Claims refuted—Pickwick's +Original, his Figure and his Name—First Sprightly Runnings +of Genius—The <i>Sketches</i> characterized—Mr. Seymour's Death—New +Illustrator chosen—Mr. Hablot K. Browne—C. D. leaves +the Gallery—<i>Strange Gentleman</i> and <i>Village Coquettes</i>.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> opening of 1836 found him collecting into two +volumes the first series of <i>Sketches by Boz</i>, of which he +had sold the copyright for a conditional payment of (I +think) a hundred and fifty pounds to a young publisher +named Macrone, whose acquaintance he had made +through Mr. Ainsworth a few weeks before.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> At this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +time also, we are told in a letter before quoted, the +editorship of the <i>Monthly Magazine</i> having come into +Mr. James Grant's hands, this gentleman, applying to +him through its previous editor to know if he would +again contribute to it, learned two things: the first, +that he was going to be married; and the second, that, +having entered into an arrangement to write a monthly +serial, his duties in future would leave him small spare +time. Both pieces of news were soon confirmed. The +<i>Times</i> of the 26th of March, 1836, gave notice that on +the 31st would be published the first shilling number +of the <i>Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, edited +by Boz;</i> and the same journal of a few days later announced +that on the 2d of April Mr. Charles Dickens +had married Catherine, the eldest daughter of Mr. +George Hogarth, whom already we have met as his +fellow-worker on the <i>Chronicle</i>. The honeymoon was +passed in the neighborhood to which at all times of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +interest in his life he turned with a strange recurring +fondness; and while the young couple are at the quiet +little village of Chalk, on the road between Gravesend +and Rochester, I will relate exactly the origin of the +ever-memorable Mr. Pickwick.</p> + +<p>A young publishing-house had started recently, +among other enterprises ingenious rather than important, +a Library of Fiction; among the authors they +wished to enlist in it was the writer of the sketches in +the <i>Monthly;</i> and, to the extent of one paper during the +past year, they had effected this through their editor, +Mr. Charles Whitehead, a very ingenious and very +unfortunate man. "I was not aware," wrote the elder +member of the firm to Dickens, thirteen years later, in +a letter to which reference was made<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> in the preface to +<i>Pickwick</i> in one of his later editions, "that you were +writing in the <i>Chronicle</i>, or what your name was; but +Whitehead, who was an old <i>Monthly</i> man, recollected +it, and got you to write The Tuggs's at Ramsgate."</p> + +<p>And now comes another person on the scene. "In +November, 1835," continues Mr. Chapman, "we published +a little book called the <i>Squib Annual</i>, with plates +by Seymour; and it was during my visit to him to see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +after them that he said he should like to do a series of +cockney-sporting plates of a superior sort to those he +had already published. I said I thought they might +do, if accompanied by letter-press and published in +monthly parts; and, this being agreed to, we wrote to +the author of <i>Three Courses and a Dessert</i>, and proposed +it; but, receiving no answer, the scheme dropped +for some months, till Seymour said he wished us to +decide, as another job had offered which would fully +occupy his time; and it was on this we decided to ask +you to do it. Having opened already a connection +with you for our Library of Fiction, we naturally applied +to you to do the <i>Pickwick;</i> but I do not think +we even mentioned our intention to Mr. Seymour, and +I am quite sure that from the beginning to the end +nobody but yourself had anything whatever to do with +it. Our prospectus was out at the end of February, +and it had all been arranged before that date."</p> + +<p>The member of the firm who carried the application +to him in Furnival's Inn was not the writer of this letter, +but Mr. Hall, who had sold him two years before, +not knowing that he was the purchaser, the magazine +in which his first effusion was printed; and he has himself +described what passed at the interview: "The +idea propounded to me was that the monthly something +should be a vehicle for certain plates to be executed by +Mr. Seymour; and there was a notion, either on the +part of that admirable humorous artist, or of my visitor, +that a <span class="smcap">Nimrod Club</span>, the members of which were +to go out shooting, fishing, and so forth, and getting +themselves into difficulties through their want of dexterity, +would be the best means of introducing these.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +I objected, on consideration that, although born and +partly bred in the country, I was no great sportsman, +except in regard to all kinds of locomotion; that the +idea was not novel, and had already been much used; +that it would be infinitely better for the plates to arise +naturally out of the text; and that I would like to take +my own way, with a freer range of English scenes and +people, and was afraid I should ultimately do so in any +case, whatever course I might prescribe to myself at +starting. My views being deferred to, I thought of +Mr. Pickwick, and wrote the first number; from the +proof-sheets of which Mr. Seymour made his drawing +of the club and his happy portrait of its founder. I +connected Mr. Pickwick with a club, because of the +original suggestion; and I put in Mr. Winkle expressly +for the use of Mr. Seymour."</p> + +<p>Mr. Hall was dead when this statement was first +made, in the preface to the cheap edition in 1847; but +Mr. Chapman clearly recollected his partner's account +of the interview, and confirmed every part of it, in his +letter of 1849,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> with one exception. In giving Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +Seymour credit for the figure by which all the habitable +globe knows Mr. Pickwick, and which certainly at the +outset helped to make him a reality, it had given the +artist too much. The reader will hardly be so startled +as I was on coming to the closing line of Mr. Chapman's +confirmatory letter: "As this letter is to be historical, +I may as well claim what little belongs to me in +the matter, and that is the figure of Pickwick. Seymour's +first sketch was of a long, thin man. The present +immortal one he made from my description of a +friend of mine at Richmond, a fat old beau, who would +wear, in spite of the ladies' protests, drab tights and +black gaiters. His name was John Foster."</p> + +<p>On the coincidences, resemblances, and surprises of +life, Dickens liked especially to dwell, and few things +moved his fancy so pleasantly. The world, he would +say, was so much smaller than we thought it; we were +all so connected by fate without knowing it; people +supposed to be far apart were so constantly elbowing +each other; and to-morrow bore so close a resemblance +to nothing half so much as to yesterday. Here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +were the only two leading incidents of his own life +before I knew him, his marriage and the first appearance +of his Pickwick; and it turned out after all that +I had some shadowy association with both. He was +married on the anniversary of my birthday, and the +original of the figure of Mr. Pickwick bore my name.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>The first number had not yet appeared when his +<i>Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life and +Every-Day People</i>, came forth in two duodecimos with +some capital cuts by Cruikshank, and with a preface in +which he spoke of the nervousness he should have had +in venturing alone before the public, and of his delight +in getting the help of Cruikshank, who had frequently +contributed to the success, though his well-earned +reputation rendered it impossible for him ever to have +shared the hazard, of similar undertakings. It very +soon became apparent that there was no hazard here. +The <i>Sketches</i> were much more talked about than the +first two or three numbers of <i>Pickwick</i>, and I remember +still with what hearty praise the book was first +named to me by my dear friend Albany Fonblanque, +as keen and clear a judge as ever lived either of books +or men. Richly did it merit all the praise it had, and +more, I will add, than he was ever disposed to give to +it himself. He decidedly underrated it. He gave, in +subsequent writings, so much more perfect form and +fullness to everything it contained, that he did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +care to credit himself with the marvel of having yet so +early anticipated so much. But the first sprightly runnings +of his genius are undoubtedly here. Mr. Bumble +is in the parish sketches, and Mr. Dawkins the dodger +in the Old Bailey scenes. There is laughter and fun to +excess, never misapplied; there are the minute points +and shades of character, with all the discrimination +and nicety of detail, afterwards so famous; there is +everywhere the most perfect ease and skill of handling. +The observation shown throughout is nothing short of +wonderful. Things are painted literally as they are, +and, whatever the picture, whether of every-day vulgar, +shabby-genteel, or downright low, with neither the +condescending air which is affectation, nor the too +familiar one which is slang. The book altogether is a +perfectly unaffected, unpretentious, honest performance. +Under its manly, sensible, straightforward vein of talk +there is running at the same time a natural flow of sentiment +never sentimental, of humor always easy and +unforced, and of pathos for the most part dramatic or +picturesque, under which lay the germ of what his +mature genius took afterwards most delight in. Of +course there are inequalities in it, and some things that +would have been better away; but it is a book that +might have stood its ground, even if it had stood alone, +as containing unusually truthful observation of a sort +of life between the middle class and the low, which, +having few attractions for bookish observers, was quite +unhackneyed ground. It had otherwise also the very +special merit of being in no respect bookish or commonplace +in its descriptions of the old city with which +its writer was so familiar. It was a picture of every-day<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +London at its best and worst, in its humors and +enjoyments as well as its sufferings and sins, pervaded +everywhere not only with the absolute reality of the +things depicted, but also with that subtle sense and +mastery of feeling which gives to the reader's sympathies +invariably right direction, and awakens consideration, +tenderness, and kindness precisely for those who most +need such help.</p> + +<p>Between the first and the second numbers of <i>Pickwick</i>, +the artist, Mr. Seymour, died by his own hand; +and the number came out with three instead of four +illustrations. Dickens had seen the unhappy man only +once, forty-eight hours before his death; when he went +to Furnival's Inn with an etching for the "stroller's +tale" in that number, which, altered at Dickens's suggestion, +he brought away again for the few further +touches that occupied him to a late hour of the night +before he destroyed himself. A notice attached to the +number informed the public of this latter fact. There +was at first a little difficulty in replacing him, and for +a single number Mr. Buss was interposed. But before +the fourth number a choice had been made, which as +time went on was so thoroughly justified, that through +the greater part of the wonderful career which was +then beginning the connection was kept up, and Mr. +Hablot Browne's name is not unworthily associated +with the masterpieces of Dickens's genius. An incident +which I heard related by Mr. Thackeray at one +of the Royal Academy dinners belongs to this time: +"I can remember when Mr. Dickens was a very young +man, and had commenced delighting the world with +some charming humorous works in covers which were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +colored light green and came out once a month, that +this young man wanted an artist to illustrate his writings; +and I recollect walking up to his chambers in +Furnival's Inn, with two or three drawings in my hand, +which, strange to say, he did not find suitable." Dickens +has himself described another change now made in +the publication: "We started with a number of twenty-four +pages and four illustrations. Mr. Seymour's sudden +and lamented death before the second number +was published, brought about a quick decision upon a +point already in agitation: the number became one of +thirty-two pages with only two illustrations, and remained +so to the end."</p> + +<p>The Session of 1836 terminated his connection with +the gallery, and some fruits of his increased leisure +showed themselves before the close of the year. His +eldest sister's musical attainments and connections had +introduced him to many cultivators and professors of +that art; he was led to take much interest in Mr. Braham's +enterprise at the St. James's theatre; and in aid +of it he wrote a farce for Mr. Harley, founded upon +one of his sketches, and the story and songs for an +opera composed by his friend Mr. Hullah. Both the +<i>Strange Gentleman</i>, acted in September, and the <i>Village +Coquettes</i>, produced in December, 1836, had a good +success; and the last is memorable to me for having +brought me first into personal communication with +Dickens.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>WRITING THE PICKWICK PAPERS.</h3> + +<h3>1837.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">First Letter from him—As he was Thirty-five Years ago—Mrs. Carlyle +and Leigh Hunt—Birth of Eldest Son—From Furnival's Inn to +Doughty Street—A Long-Remembered Sorrow—I visit him—Hasty +Compacts with Publishers—Self-sold into Quasi-Bondage—Agreements +for Editorship and Writing—Mr. Macrone's Scheme to <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'reisssue'">reissue</ins> +<i>Sketches</i>—Attempts to prevent it—Exorbitant Demand—Impatience +of Suspense—Purchase advised—<i>Oliver Twist</i>—Characters real to +himself—Sense of Responsibility for his Writings—Criticism that +satisfied him—Help given with his Proofs—Writing <i>Pickwick</i>, Nos. +14 and 15—Scenes in a Debtors' Prison—A Recollection of Smollett—Reception +of <i>Pickwick</i>—A Popular Rage—Mr. Carlyle's +"Dreadful" Story—Secrets of Success—<i>Pickwick</i> inferior to Later +Books—Exception for Sam Weller and Mr. Pickwick—Personal +Habits of C. D.—Reliefs after Writing—Natural Discontents—The +Early Agreements—Tale to follow <i>Oliver Twist</i>—Compromise with +Mr. Bentley—Trip to Flanders—First Visit to Broadstairs—Piracies +of <i>Pickwick</i>—A Sufferer from Agreements—First Visit to Brighton—What +he is doing with <i>Oliver Twist</i>—Reading De Foe—"No Thoroughfare"—Proposed +Help to Macready.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> first letter I had from him was at the close of +1836, from Furnival's Inn, when he sent me the book +of his opera of the <i>Village Coquettes</i>, which had been +published by Mr. Bentley; and this was followed, two +months later, by his collected <i>Sketches</i>, both first and +second series; which he desired me to receive "as a +very small testimony of the donor's regard and obligations,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +as well as of his desire to cultivate and avail himself +of a friendship which has been so pleasantly thrown +in his way. . . . In short, if you will receive them for +my sake and not for their own, you will very greatly +oblige me." I had met him in the interval at the house +of our common friend Mr. Ainsworth, and I remember +vividly the impression then made upon me.</p> + +<p>Very different was his face in those days from that +which photography has made familiar to the present +generation. A look of youthfulness first attracted you, +and then a candor and openness of expression which +made you sure of the qualities within. The features +were very good. He had a capital forehead, a firm +nose with full wide nostril, eyes wonderfully beaming +with intellect and running over with humor and cheerfulness, +and a rather prominent mouth strongly marked +with sensibility. The head was altogether well formed +and symmetrical, and the air and carriage of it were +extremely spirited. The hair so scant and grizzled in +later days was then of a rich brown and most luxuriant +abundance, and the bearded face of his last two decades +had hardly a vestige of hair or whisker; but there was +that in the face as I first recollect it which no time could +change, and which remained implanted on it unalterably +to the last. This was the quickness, keenness, and +practical power, the eager, restless, energetic outlook +on each several feature, that seemed to tell so little of a +student or writer of books, and so much of a man of +action and business in the world. Light and motion +flashed from every part of it. <i>It was as if made of +steel</i>, was said of it, four or five years after the time to +which I am referring, by a most original and delicate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +observer, the late Mrs. Carlyle. "What a face is his +to meet in a drawing-room!" wrote Leigh Hunt to me, +the morning after I made them known to each other. +"It has the life and soul in it of fifty human beings." +In such sayings are expressed not alone the restless and +resistless vivacity and force of which I have spoken, but +that also which lay beneath them of steadiness and hard +endurance.</p> + +<p>Several unsuccessful efforts were made by each to get +the other to his house before the door of either was +opened at last. A son had been born to him on Twelfth-day +(the 6th January, 1837), and before the close of the +following month he and his wife were in the lodgings +at Chalk they had occupied after their marriage. Early +in March there is a letter from him accounting for the +failure of a promise to call on me because of "a crew +of house-agents and attorneys" through whom he had +nearly missed his conveyance to Chalk, and been made +"more than half wild besides." This was his last +letter from Furnival's Inn. In that same month he +went to 48, Doughty Street; and in his first letter to +me from that address, dated at the close of the month, +there is this passage: "We only called upon you a second +time in the hope of getting you to dine with us, and +were much disappointed not to find you. I have delayed +writing a reply to your note, meaning to call +upon you. I have been so much engaged, however, in +the pleasant occupation of 'moving' that I have not +had time; and I am obliged at last to write and say +that I have been long engaged to the <i>Pickwick</i> publishers +to a dinner in honor of that hero which comes +off to-morrow. I am consequently unable to accept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +your kind invite, which I frankly own I should have +liked much better."</p> + +<p>That Saturday's celebration of his twelfth number, +the anniversary of the birth of <i>Pickwick</i>, preceded by +but a few weeks a personal sorrow which profoundly +moved him. His wife's next younger sister, Mary, +who lived with them, and by sweetness of nature even +more than by graces of person had made herself the +ideal of his life, died with a terrible suddenness that +for the time completely bore him down.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> His grief +and suffering were intense, and affected him, as will be +seen, through many after-years. The publication of +<i>Pickwick</i> was interrupted for two months, the effort of +writing it not being possible to him. He moved for +change of scene to Hampstead, and here, at the close +of May, I visited him, and became first his guest. More +than ordinarily susceptible at the moment to all kindliest +impressions, his heart opened itself to mine. I +left him as much his friend, and as entirely in his confidence, +as if I had known him for years. Nor had +many weeks passed before he addressed to me from +Doughty Street words which it is my sorrowful pride to +remember have had literal fulfillment: "I look back +with unmingled pleasure to every link which each ensuing +week has added to the chain of our attachment. +It shall go hard, I hope, ere anything but Death impairs +the toughness of a bond now so firmly riveted." It +remained unweakened till death came.</p> + +<p>There were circumstances that drew us at once into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +frequent and close communication. What the sudden +popularity of his writings implied, was known to others +some time before it was known to himself; and he was +only now becoming gradually conscious of all the disadvantage +this had placed him at. He would have +laughed if, at this outset of his wonderful fortune in +literature, his genius acknowledged by all without misgiving, +young, popular, and prosperous, any one had +compared him to the luckless men of letters of former +days, whose common fate was to be sold into a slavery +which their later lives were passed in vain endeavors to +escape from. Not so was his fate to be, yet something +of it he was doomed to experience. He had unwittingly +sold himself into a quasi-bondage, and had to +purchase his liberty at a heavy cost, after considerable +suffering.</p> + +<p>It was not until the fourth or fifth number of <i>Pickwick</i> +(in the latter Sam Weller made his first appearance) +that its importance began to be understood by +"the trade," and on the eve of the issue of its sixth +number, the 22d August, 1836, he had signed an agreement +with Mr. Bentley to undertake the editorship of a +monthly magazine to be started the following January, +to which he was to supply a serial story; and soon afterwards +he had agreed with the same publisher to write +two other tales, the first at a specified early date; the +expressed remuneration in each case being certainly +quite inadequate to the claims of a writer of any marked +popularity. Under these Bentley agreements he was +now writing, month by month, the first half of <i>Oliver +Twist</i>, and, under his Chapman & Hall agreement, +the last half of <i>Pickwick</i>, not even by a week in advance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +of the printer with either; when a circumstance +became known to him of which he thus wrote to me:</p> + +<p>"I heard half an hour ago, on authority which leaves +me in no doubt about the matter (from the binder of +<i>Pickwick</i>, in fact), that Macrone intends publishing a +new issue of my <i>Sketches</i> in monthly parts of nearly the +same size and in just the same form as the <i>Pickwick +Papers</i>. I need not tell you that this is calculated to +injure me most seriously, or that I have a very natural +and most decided objection to being supposed to presume +upon the success of the <i>Pickwick</i>, and thus foist +this old work upon the public in its new dress for the +mere purpose of putting money in my own pocket. +Neither need I say that the fact of my name being +before the town, attached to three publications at the +same time, must prove seriously prejudicial to my reputation. +As you are acquainted with the circumstances +under which these copyrights were disposed of, and as +I know I may rely on your kind help, may I beg you to +see Macrone, and to state in the strongest and most emphatic +manner my feeling on this point? I wish him +to be reminded of the sums he paid for those books; +of the sale he has had for them; of the extent to which +he has already pushed them; and of the very great +profits he must necessarily have acquired from them. I +wish him also to be reminded that no intention of publishing +them in this form was in the remotest manner +hinted to me, by him or on his behalf, when he obtained +possession of the copyright. I then wish you to +put it to his feelings of common honesty and fair dealing +whether after this communication he will persevere +in his intention." What else the letter contained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +need not be quoted, but it strongly moved me to do +my best.</p> + +<p>I found Mr. Macrone inaccessible to all arguments +of persuasion, however. That he had bought the book +for a small sum at a time when the smallest was not unimportant +to the writer, shortly before his marriage, +and that he had since made very considerable profits +by it, in no way disturbed his position that he had a +right to make as much as he could of what was his, +without regard to how it had become so. There was +nothing for it but to change front, and, admitting it +might be a less evil to the unlucky author to repurchase +than to let the monthly issue proceed, to ask +what further gain was looked for; but so wide a mouth +was opened at this that I would have no part in the +costly process of filling it. I told Dickens so, and +strongly counseled him to keep quiet for a time.</p> + +<p>But the worry and vexation were too great with all +the work he had in hand, and I was hardly surprised +next day to receive the letter sent me; which yet +should be prefaced with the remark that suspense of any +kind was at all times intolerable to the writer. The +interval between the accomplishment of anything, and +"its first motion," Dickens never could endure, and +he was too ready to make any sacrifice to abridge or +end it. This did not belong to the strong side of his +character, and advantage was frequently taken of the +fact. "I sent down just now to know whether you +were at home (two o'clock), as Chapman & Hall were +with me, and, the case being urgent, I wished to have +the further benefit of your kind advice and assistance. +Macrone and H—— (arcades ambo) waited on them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +this morning, and after a long discussion peremptorily +refused to take one farthing less than the two thousand +pounds. H—— repeated the statement of figures which +he made to you yesterday, and put it to Hall whether +he could say from his knowledge of such matters that +the estimate of probable profit was exorbitant. Hall, +whose judgment may be relied on in such matters, could +not dispute the justice of the calculation. And so the +matter stood. In this dilemma it occurred to them +(my <i>Pickwick</i> men), whether, if the <i>Sketches must</i> appear +in monthly numbers, it would not be better for +them to appear for their benefit and mine conjointly +than for Macrone's sole use and behoof; whether they, +having all the <i>Pickwick</i> machinery in full operation, +could not obtain for them a much larger sale than +Macrone could ever get; and whether, even at this +large price of two thousand pounds, we might not, +besides retaining the copyright, reasonably hope for a +good profit on the outlay. These suggestions having +presented themselves, they came straight to me (having +obtained a few hours' respite) and proposed that we +should purchase the copyrights between us for the two +thousand pounds, and publish them in monthly parts. +I need not say that no other form of publication would +repay the expenditure; and they wish me to explain by +an address that <i>they</i>, who may be fairly put forward as +the parties, have been driven into that mode of publication, +or the copyrights would have been lost. I +considered the matter in every possible way. I sent +for you, but you were out. I thought of"—what need +not be repeated, now that all is past and gone—"and +consented. Was I right? I think you will say yes."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +I could not say no, though I was glad to have been no +party to a price so exorbitant; which yet profited extremely +little the person who received it. He died in +hardly more than two years; and if Dickens had enjoyed +the most liberal treatment at his hands, he could +not have exerted himself more generously for the widow +and children.</p> + +<p>His new story was now beginning largely to share +attention with his <i>Pickwick Papers</i>, and it was delightful +to see how real all its people became to him. What +I had most, indeed, to notice in him, at the very outset +of his career, was his indifference to any praise of +his performances on the merely literary side, compared +with the higher recognition of them as bits of actual +life, with the meaning and purpose on their part, and +the responsibility on his, of realities rather than creatures +of fancy. The exception that might be drawn +from <i>Pickwick</i> is rather in seeming than substance. A +first book has its immunities, and the distinction of +this from the rest of the writings appears in what has +been said of its origin. The plan of it was simply to +amuse. It was to string together whimsical sketches +of the pencil by entertaining sketches of the pen; and, +at its beginning, where or how it was to end was as +little known to himself as to any of its readers. But +genius is a master as well as a servant, and when the +laughter and fun were at their highest something graver +made its appearance. He had to defend himself for +this; and he said that, though the mere oddity of a +new acquaintance was apt to impress one at first, the +more serious qualities were discovered when we became +friends with the man. In other words he might have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +said that the change was become necessary for his own +satisfaction. The book itself, in teaching him what his +power was, had made him more conscious of what +would be expected from its use; and this never afterwards +quitted him. In what he was to do hereafter, +as in all he was doing now, with <i>Pickwick</i> still to finish +and <i>Oliver</i> only beginning, it constantly attended him. +Nor could it well be otherwise, with all those fanciful +creations so real, to a nature in itself so practical and +earnest; and in this spirit I had well understood the +letter accompanying what had been published of <i>Oliver</i> +since its commencement the preceding February, which +reached me the day after I visited him. Something to +the effect of what has just been said, I had remarked +publicly of the portion of the story sent to me; and +his instant warm-hearted acknowledgment, of which I +permit myself to quote a line or two, showed me in +what perfect agreement we were: "How can I thank +you? Can I do better than by saying that the sense +of poor Oliver's reality, which I know you have had +from the first, has been the highest of all praise to me? +None that has been lavished upon me have I felt half +so much as that appreciation of my intent and meaning. +You know I have ever done so, for it was your +feeling for me and mine for you that first brought us +together, and I hope will keep us so till death do us +part. Your notices make me grateful, but very proud: +so have a care of them."</p> + +<p>There was nothing written by him after this date +which I did not see before the world did, either in +manuscript or proofs; and in connection with the +latter I shortly began to give him the help which he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +publicly mentioned twenty years later in dedicating +his collected writings to me. One of his letters reminds +me when these corrections began, and they +were continued very nearly to the last. They lightened +for him a labor of which he had more than +enough imposed upon him at this time by others, and +they were never anything but an enjoyment to me. +"I have," he wrote, "so many sheets of the <i>Miscellany</i> +to correct before I can begin <i>Oliver</i>, that I fear I shall +not be able to leave home this morning. I therefore +send your revise of the <i>Pickwick</i> by Fred, who is on +his way with it to the printers. You will see that +my alterations are very slight, but I think for the +better." This was the fourteenth number of the <i>Pickwick +Papers</i>. Fred was his next younger brother, who +lived with him at the time.</p> + +<p>The number following this was the famous one in +which the hero finds himself in the Fleet; and another +of his letters will show what enjoyment the writing of +it had given to himself. I had sent to ask him where +we were to meet for a proposed ride that day. "<span class="smcap">Here</span>," +was his reply. "I am slippered and jacketed, and, +like that same starling who is so very seldom quoted, +can't get out. I am getting on, thank Heaven, like +'a house o' fire,' and think the next <i>Pickwick</i> will bang +all the others. I shall expect you at one, and we will +walk to the stable together. If you know anybody at +Saint Paul's, I wish you'd send round and ask them +not to ring the bell so. I can hardly hear my own +ideas as they come into my head, and say what they +mean."</p> + +<p>The exulting tone of confidence in what he had thus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +been writing was indeed well justified. He had as yet +done nothing so remarkable, in blending humor with +tragedy, as his picture of what the poor side of a debtors' +prison was in the days of which we have seen that he +had himself had bitter experience; and we have but to +recall, as it rises sharply to the memory, what is contained +in this portion of a work that was not only +among his earliest but his least considered as to plan, +to understand what it was that not alone had given +him his fame so early, but that in itself held the germ +of the future that awaited him. Every point was a +telling one, and the truthfulness of the whole unerring. +The dreadful restlessness of the place, undefined yet +unceasing, unsatisfying and terrible, was pictured +throughout with De Foe's minute reality; while points +of character were handled in that greater style which +connects with the richest oddities of humor an insight +into principles of character universal as nature itself. +When he resolved that Sam Weller should be occupant +of the prison with Mr. Pickwick, he was perhaps thinking +of his favorite Smollett, and how, when Peregrine +Pickle was inmate of the Fleet, Hatchway and Pipes +refused to leave him; but Fielding himself might have +envied his way of setting about it. Nor is any portion +of his picture less admirable than this. The comedy +gradually deepening into tragedy; the shabby vagabonds +who are the growth of debtors' prisons, contrasting +with the poor simple creatures who are their +sacrifices and victims; Mr. Mivins and Mr. Smangle +side by side with the cobbler ruined by his legacy, who +sleeps under the table to remind himself of his old +four-poster; Mr. Pickwick's first night in the marshal's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +room, Sam Weller entertaining Stiggins in the snuggery, +Jingle in decline, and the chancery prisoner +dying; in all these scenes there was writing of the first +order, a deep feeling of character, that delicate form +of humor which has a quaintly pathetic turn in it as +well, comedy of the richest and broadest kind, and the +easy handling throughout of a master in his art. We +place the picture by the side of those of the great +writers of this style, of fiction in our language, and it +does not fall by the comparison.</p> + +<p>Of what the reception of the book had been up to +this time, and of the popularity Dickens had won as its +author, this also will be the proper place to speak. For +its kind, its extent, and the absence of everything unreal +or factitious in the causes that contributed to it, it +is unexampled in literature. Here was a series of +sketches, without the pretense to such interest as attends +a well-constructed story; put forth in a form apparently +ephemeral as its purpose; having none that +seemed higher than to exhibit some studies of cockney +manners with help from a comic artist; and after four +or five parts had appeared, without newspaper notice +or puffing, and itself not subserving in the public anything +false or unworthy, it sprang into a popularity that +each part carried higher and higher, until people at this +time talked of nothing else, tradesmen recommended +their goods by using its name, and its sale, outstripping +at a bound that of all the most famous books of the +century, had reached to an almost fabulous number. +Of part one, the binder prepared four hundred; and +of part fifteen, his order was for more than forty thousand. +Every class, the high equally with the low, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +attracted to it. The charm of its gayety and good humor, +its inexhaustible fun, its riotous overflow of animal +spirits, its brightness and keenness of observation, and, +above all, the incomparable ease of its many varieties +of enjoyment, fascinated everybody. Judges on the +bench and boys in the street, gravity and folly, the +young and the old, those who were entering life and +those who were quitting it, alike found it to be irresistible. +"An archdeacon," wrote Mr. Carlyle afterwards +to me, "with his own venerable lips, repeated to me, +the other night, a strange profane story: of a solemn +clergyman who had been administering ghostly consolation +to a sick person; having finished, satisfactorily +as he thought, and got out of the room, he heard the +sick person ejaculate, 'Well, thank God, <i>Pickwick</i> will +be out in ten days any way!'—This is dreadful."</p> + +<p>Let me add that there was something more in it all +than the gratification of mere fun and laughter, more +even than the rarer pleasure that underlies the outbreak +of all forms of genuine humor. Another chord had +been struck. Over and above the lively painting of +manners which at first had been so attractive, there was +something that left deeper mark. Genial and irrepressible +enjoyment, affectionate heartiness of tone, +unrestrained exuberance of mirth, these are not more +delightful than they are fleeting and perishable qualities; +but the attention eagerly excited by the charm of +them in <i>Pickwick</i> found itself retained by something +more permanent. We had all become suddenly conscious, +in the very thick of the extravaganza of adventure +and fun set before us, that here were real people. +It was not somebody talking humorously about them,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +but they were there themselves. That a number of +persons belonging to the middle and lower ranks of life +(Wardles, Winkles, Wellers, Tupmans, Bardells, Snubbinses, +Perkers, Bob Sawyers, Dodsons, and Foggs) had +been somehow added to his intimate and familiar +acquaintance, the ordinary reader knew before half a +dozen numbers were out; and it took not many more +to make clear to the intelligent reader that a new and +original genius in the walk of Smollett and Fielding +had arisen in England.</p> + +<p>I do not, for reasons to be hereafter stated, think the +<i>Pickwick Papers</i> comparable to the later books; but, +apart from the new vein of humor it opened, its wonderful +freshness and its unflagging animal spirits, it has +two characters that will probably continue to attract to +it an unfading popularity. Its pre-eminent achievement +is of course Sam Weller,—one of those people +that take their place among the supreme successes of +fiction, as one that nobody ever saw but everybody +recognizes, at once perfectly natural and intensely +original. Who is there that has ever thought him +tedious? Who is so familiar with him as not still to be +finding something new in him? Who is so amazed by +his inexhaustible resources, or so amused by his inextinguishable +laughter, as to doubt of his being as ordinary +and perfect a reality, nevertheless, as anything in +the London streets? When indeed the relish has been +dulled that makes such humor natural and appreciable, +and not his native fun only, his ready and rich illustration, +his imperturbable self-possession, but his devotion +to his master, his chivalry and his gallantry, are no +longer discovered, or believed no longer to exist, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +the ranks of life to which he belongs, it will be worse +for all of us than for the fame of his creator. Nor, +when faith is lost in that possible combination of eccentricities +and benevolences, shrewdness and simplicity, +good sense and folly, all that suggests the ludicrous and +nothing that suggests contempt for it, which form the +delightful oddity of Pickwick, will the mistake committed +be one merely of critical misjudgment. But of +this there is small fear. Sam Weller and Mr. Pickwick +are the Sancho and the Quixote of Londoners, and as +little likely to pass away as the old city itself.</p> + +<p>Dickens was very fond of riding in these early years, +and there was no recreation he so much indulged, or +with such profit to himself, in the intervals of his +hardest work. I was his companion oftener than I +could well afford the time for, the distances being great +and nothing else to be done for the day; but when a +note would unexpectedly arrive while I knew him to be +hunted hard by one of his printers, telling me he had +been sticking to work so closely that he must have +rest, and, by way of getting it, proposing we should +start together that morning at eleven o'clock for "a +fifteen-mile ride out, ditto in, and a lunch on the +road" with a wind-up of six o'clock dinner in Doughty +Street, I could not resist the good fellowship. His +notion of finding rest from mental exertion in as much +bodily exertion of equal severity, continued with him +to the last; taking in the later years what I always +thought the too great strain of as many miles in walking +as he now took in the saddle, and too often indulging +it at night; for, though he was always passionately +fond of walking, he observed as yet a moderation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +in it, even accepting as sufficient my seven or eight +miles' companionship. "What a brilliant morning for +a country walk!" he would write, with not another +word in his dispatch. Or, "Is it possible that you +can't, oughtn't, shouldn't, mustn't, <i>won't</i> be tempted, +this gorgeous day?" Or, "I start precisely—precisely, +mind—at half-past one. Come, come, <i>come</i>, and walk +in the green lanes. You will work the better for it all +the week. Come! I shall expect you." Or, "You +don't feel disposed, do you, to muffle yourself up and +start off with me for a good brisk walk over Hampstead +Heath? I knows a good 'ous there where we +can have a red-hot chop for dinner, and a glass of good +wine:" which led to our first experience of Jack +Straw's Castle, memorable for many happy meetings in +coming years. But the rides were most popular and +frequent. "I think," he would write, "Richmond and +Twickenham, thro' the park, out at Knightsbridge, and +over Barnes Common, would make a beautiful ride." +Or, "Do you know, I shouldn't object to an early +chop at some village inn?" Or, "Not knowing whether +my head was off or on, it became so addled with work, +I have gone riding the old road, and should be truly +delighted to meet or be overtaken by you." Or, +"Where shall it be—<i>oh, where</i>—Hampstead, Greenwich, +Windsor? <span class="smcap">where</span>?????? while the day is +bright, not when it has dwindled away to nothing! +For who can be of any use whatsomdever such a day +as this, excepting out of doors?" Or it might be interrogatory +summons to "A hard trot of three hours?" +or intimation as laconic "To be heard of at Eel-pie +House, Twickenham!" When first I knew him, I may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +add, his carriage for his wife's use was a small chaise +with a smaller pair of ponies, which, having a habit +of making sudden rushes up by-streets in the day and +peremptory standstills in ditches by night, were changed +in the following year for a more suitable equipage.</p> + +<p>To this mention of his habits while at work when our +friendship began, I have to add what will complete the +relation already given, in connection with his <i>Sketches</i>, +of the uneasy sense accompanying his labor that it was +yielding insufficient for himself while it enriched others, +which is a needful part of his story at this time. At +midsummer, 1837, replying to some inquiries, and sending +his agreement with Mr. Bentley for the <i>Miscellany</i> +under which he was writing <i>Oliver</i>, he went on: "It +is a very extraordinary fact (I forgot it on Sunday) that +I have <span class="smcap">never had</span> from him a copy of the agreement +respecting the novel, which I never saw before or since +I signed it at his house one morning long ago. Shall +I ask him for a copy or no? I have looked at some +memoranda I made at the time, and I <i>fear</i> he has my +second novel on the same terms, under the same agreement. +This is a bad lookout, but we must try and +mend it. You will tell me you are very much surprised +at my doing business in this way. So am I, for in most +matters of labor and application I am punctuality +itself. The truth is (though you do not need I should +explain the matter to you, my dear fellow), that if I +had allowed myself to be worried by these things, I +could never have done as much as I have. But I +much fear, in my desire to avoid present vexations, +I have laid up a bitter store for the future." The +second novel, which he had promised in a complete form<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +for a very early date, and had already selected subject +and title for, was published four years later as <i>Barnaby +Rudge;</i> but of the third he at present knew nothing but +that he was expected to begin it, if not in the magazine, +somewhere or other independently within a specified +time.</p> + +<p>The first appeal made, in taking action upon his letter, +had reference to the immediate pressure of the <i>Barnaby</i> +novel; but it also opened up the question of the great +change of circumstances since these various agreements +had been precipitately signed by him, the very different +situation brought about by the extraordinary increase +in the popularity of his writings, and the advantage it +would be to both Mr. Bentley and himself to make more +equitable adjustment of their relations. Some misunderstandings +followed, but were closed by a compromise in +September, 1837; by which the third novel was abandoned<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> +on certain conditions, and <i>Barnaby</i> was undertaken +to be finished by November, 1838. This involved +a completion of the new story during the progress of +<i>Oliver</i>, whatever might be required to follow on the +close of <i>Pickwick;</i> and I doubted its wisdom. But it +was accepted for the time.</p> + +<p>He had meanwhile taken his wife abroad for a ten +days' summer holiday, accompanied by the shrewd +observant young artist, Mr. Hablot Browne, whose +admirable illustrations to <i>Pickwick</i> had more than supplied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +Mr. Seymour's loss; and I had a letter from him +on their landing at Calais on the 2d of July:</p> + +<p>"We have arranged for a post-coach to take us to +Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp, and a hundred other places, +that I cannot recollect now and couldn't spell if I did. +We went this afternoon in a barouche to some gardens +where the people dance, and where they were footing it +most heartily,—especially the women, who in their short +petticoats and light caps look uncommonly agreeable. +A gentleman in a blue surtout and silken berlins accompanied +us from the hotel, and acted as curator. He even +waltzed with a very smart lady (just to show us, condescendingly, +how it ought to be done), and waltzed +elegantly, too. We rang for slippers after we came back, +and it turned out that this gentleman was the Boots."</p> + +<p>His later sea-side holiday was passed at Broadstairs, +as were those of many subsequent years, and the little +watering-place has been made memorable by his pleasant +sketch of it. From his letters to myself a few lines may +be given of his first doings and impressions there.</p> + +<p>Writing on the 3d of September, he reports himself +just risen from an attack of illness. "I am much better, +and hope to begin <i>Pickwick No. 18</i> to-morrow. You +will imagine how queer I must have been when I tell +you that I have been compelled for four-and-twenty +mortal hours to abstain from porter or other malt +liquor!!! I have done it though—really. . . . I have +discovered that the landlord of the Albion has delicious +hollands (but what is that to <i>you?</i> for you cannot sympathize +with my feelings), and that a cobbler who lives +opposite to my bedroom window is a Roman Catholic, +and gives an hour and a half to his devotions every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +morning behind his counter. I have walked upon the +sands at low-water from this place to Ramsgate, and sat +upon the same at high-ditto till I have been flayed with +the cold. I have seen ladies and gentlemen walking +upon the earth in slippers of buff, and pickling themselves +in the sea in complete suits of the same. I have +seen stout gentlemen looking at nothing through powerful +telescopes for hours, and, when at last they saw a +cloud of smoke, fancying a steamer behind it, and going +home comfortable and happy. I have found out that +our next neighbor has a wife and something else under +the same roof with the rest of his furniture,—the wife +deaf and blind, and the something else given to drinking. +And if you ever get to the end of this letter <i>you</i> +will find out that I subscribe myself on paper, as on +everything else (some atonement perhaps for its length +and absurdity)," etc. etc.</p> + +<p>In his next letter (from 12, High Street, Broadstairs, +on the 7th) there is allusion to one of the many piracies +of <i>Pickwick</i>, which had distinguished itself beyond the +rest by a preface abusive of the writer plundered: "I +recollect this 'member of the Dramatic Authors' Society' +bringing an action once against Chapman who rented +the City theatre, in which it was proved that he had +undertaken to write under special agreement seven +melodramas for five pounds, to enable him to do which +a room had been hired in a gin-shop close by. The +defendant's plea was that the plaintiff was always drunk, +and had not fulfilled his contract. Well, if the <i>Pickwick</i> +has been the means of putting a few shillings in the +vermin-eaten pockets of so miserable a creature, and has +saved him from a workhouse or a jail, let him empty out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +his little pot of filth and welcome. I am quite content +to have been the means of relieving him. Besides, he +seems to have suffered by agreements!"</p> + +<p>His own troubles in that way were compromised for +the time, as already hinted, at the close of this September +month; and at the end of the month following, +after finishing <i>Pickwick</i> and resuming <i>Oliver</i>, the latter +having been suspended by him during the recent disputes, +he made his first visit to Brighton. The opening +of his letter of Friday the 3d of November is full of +regrets that I had been unable to join them there: "It +is a beautiful day, and we have been taking advantage +of it, but the wind until to-day has been so high and +the weather so stormy that Kate has been scarcely able +to peep out of doors. On Wednesday it blew a perfect +hurricane, breaking windows, knocking down shutters, +carrying people off their legs, blowing the fires out, and +causing universal consternation. The air was for some +hours darkened with a shower of black hats (second-hand), +which are supposed to have been blown off the +heads of unwary passengers in remote parts of the town, +and have been industriously picked up by the fishermen. +Charles Kean was advertised for <i>Othello</i> 'for the +benefit of Mrs. Sefton, having most kindly postponed +for this one day his departure for London.' I have not +heard whether he got to the theatre, but I am sure +nobody else did. They do <i>The Honeymoon</i> to-night, +on which occasion I mean to patronize the drayma. +We have a beautiful bay-windowed sitting-room here, +fronting the sea, but I have seen nothing of B.'s +brother who was to have shown me the lions, and my +notions of the place are consequently somewhat confined:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +being limited to the pavilion, the chain-pier, +and the sea. The last is quite enough for me, and, +unless I am joined by some male companion (<i>do you +think I shall be?</i>), is most probably all I shall make +acquaintance with. I am glad you like <i>Oliver</i> this +month: especially glad that you particularize the first +chapter. I hope to do great things with Nancy. If I +can only work out the idea I have formed of her, and +of the female who is to contrast with her, I think I +may defy Mr. —— and all his works.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> I have had +great difficulty in keeping my hands off Fagin and the +rest of them in the evenings; but, as I came down for +rest, I have resisted the temptation, and steadily applied +myself to the labor of being idle. Did you ever read +(of course you have, though) De Foe's <i>History of the +Devil?</i> What a capital thing it is! I bought it for a +couple of shillings yesterday morning, and have been +quite absorbed in it ever since. We must have been +jolter-headed geniuses not to have anticipated M.'s +reply. My best remembrances to him. I see H. at +this moment. I must be present at a rehearsal of that +opera. It will be better than any comedy that was +ever played. Talking of comedies, I still see <span class="smcap">No +Thoroughfare</span> staring me in the face, every time I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +look down that road. I have taken places for Tuesday +next. We shall be at home at six o'clock, and I shall +hope at least to see you that evening. I am afraid you +will find this letter extremely dear at eightpence, but +if the warmest assurances of friendship and attachment, +and anxious lookings-forward to the pleasure of your +society, be worth anything, throw them into the balance, +together with a hundred good wishes and one +hearty assurance that I am," etc. etc. "<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>. +No room for the flourish—I'll finish it the next +time I write to you."</p> + +<p>The flourish that accompanied his signature is familiar +to every one. The allusion to the comedy expresses a +fancy he at this time had of being able to contribute +some such achievement in aid of Macready's gallant +efforts at Covent Garden to bring back to the stage its +higher associations of good literature and intellectual +enjoyment. It connects curiously now that unrealized +hope with the exact title of the only story he ever helped +himself to dramatize, and which Mr. Fechter played +at the Adelphi three years before his death.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>BETWEEN PICKWICK AND NICKLEBY.</h3> + +<h3>1837-1838.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Edits <i>Life of Grimaldi</i>—His Own Opinion of it—An Objection answered—His +Recollections of 1823—Completion of <i>Pickwick</i>—A +Purpose long entertained—Relations with Chapman & Hall—Payments +made for <i>Pickwick</i>—Agreement for <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>—<i>Oliver +Twist</i> characterized—Reasons for Acceptance with every Class—Nightmare +of an Agreement—Letter to Mr. Bentley—Proposal as +to <i>Barnaby Rudge</i>—Result of it—Birth of Eldest Daughter—<i>Young +Gentlemen and Young Couples</i>—First Number of <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>—2d +of April, 1838.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Not</span> remotely bearing on the stage, nevertheless, was +the employment on which I found him busy at his return +from Brighton; one result of his more satisfactory +relations with Mr. Bentley having led to a promise to +edit for him a life of the celebrated clown Grimaldi. +The manuscript had been prepared from autobiographical +notes by a Mr. Egerton Wilks, and contained one or two +stories told so badly, and so well worth better telling, +that the hope of enlivening their dullness at the cost of +very little labor constituted a sort of attraction for him. +Except the preface, he did not write a line of this biography, +such modifications or additions as he made +having been dictated by him to his father; whom I +found often in the supreme enjoyment of the office of +amanuensis. He had also a most indifferent opinion of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +the mass of material which in general composed it, describing +it to me as "twaddle," and his own modest +estimate of the book, on its completion, may be guessed +from the number of notes of admiration (no less than +thirty) which accompanied his written mention to +me of the sale with which it started in the first week +of its publication: "Seventeen hundred <i>Grimaldis</i> +have been already sold, and the demand increases +daily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"</p> + +<p>It was not to have all its own way, however. A great +many critical faults were found; and one point in particular +was urged against his handling such a subject, +that he could never himself even have seen Grimaldi. +To this last objection he was moved to reply, and had +prepared a letter for the <i>Miscellany</i>, "from editor to +sub-editor," which it was thought best to suppress, but +of which the opening remark may now be not unamusing: +"I understand that a gentleman unknown is going +about this town privately informing all ladies and gentlemen +of discontented natures, that, on a comparison +of dates and putting together of many little circumstances +which occur to his great sagacity, he has made +the profound discovery that I can never have seen +Grimaldi whose life I have edited, and that the book +must therefore of necessity be bad. Now, sir, although +I was brought up from remote country parts in the dark +ages of 1819 and 1820 to behold the splendor of Christmas +pantomimes and the humor of Joe, in whose honor +I am informed I clapped my hands with great precocity, +and although I even saw him act in the remote times +of 1823, yet as I had not then aspired to the dignity +of a tail-coat, though forced by a relentless parent into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +my first pair of boots, I am willing, with the view of +saving this honest gentleman further time and trouble, +to concede that I had not arrived at man's estate when +Grimaldi left the stage, and that my recollections of +his acting are, to my loss, but shadowy and imperfect. +Which confession I now make publickly, and without +mental qualification or reserve, to all whom it may concern. +But the deduction of this pleasant gentleman +that therefore the Grimaldi book must be bad, I must +take leave to doubt. I don't think that to edit a man's +biography from his own notes it is essential you should +have known him, and I don't believe that Lord Braybrooke +had more than the very slightest acquaintance +with Mr. Pepys, whose memoirs he edited two centuries +after he died."</p> + +<p>Enormous meanwhile, and without objection audible +on any side, had been the success of the completed +<i>Pickwick</i>, which we celebrated by a dinner, with himself +in the chair and Talfourd in the vice-chair, everybody +in hearty good humor with every other body; +and a copy of which I received from him on the 11th +of December in the most luxurious of Hayday's bindings, +with a note worth preserving for its closing allusion. +The passage referred to in it was a comment, in +delicately chosen words, that Leigh Hunt had made on +the inscription at the grave in Kensal Green:<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> "Chapman +& Hall have just sent me, with a copy of our deed, +three 'extra-super' bound copies of <i>Pickwick</i>, as per +specimen inclosed. The first I forward to you, the +second I have presented to our good friend Ainsworth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +and the third Kate has retained for herself. Accept +your copy with one sincere and most comprehensive +expression of my warmest friendship and esteem; and +a hearty renewal, if there need be any renewal when +there has been no interruption, of all those assurances +of affectionate regard which our close friendship and +communion for a long time back has every day implied. . . . +That beautiful passage you were so kind and +considerate as to send me, has given me the only feeling +akin to pleasure (sorrowful pleasure it is) that I +have yet had, connected with the loss of my dear young +friend and companion; for whom my love and attachment +will never diminish, and by whose side, if it +please God to leave me in possession of sense to signify +my wishes, my bones, whenever or wherever I die, will +one day be laid. Tell Leigh Hunt when you have an +opportunity how much he has affected me, and how +deeply I thank him for what he has done. You cannot +say it too strongly."</p> + +<p>The "deed" mentioned was one executed in the previous +month to restore to him a third ownership in the +book which had thus far enriched all concerned but +himself. The original understanding respecting it Mr. +Edward Chapman thus describes for me: "There was +no agreement about <i>Pickwick</i> except a verbal one. +Each number was to consist of a sheet and a half, for +which we were to pay fifteen guineas; and we paid him +for the first two numbers at once, as he required the +money to go and get married with. We were also to +pay more according to the sale, and I think <i>Pickwick</i> +altogether cost us three thousand pounds." Adjustment +to the sale would have cost four times as much,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +and of the actual payments I have myself no note; +but, as far as my memory serves, they are overstated +by Mr. Chapman. My impression is that, above and +beyond the first sum due for each of the twenty numbers +(making no allowance for their extension after the +first to thirty-two pages), successive checks were given, +as the work went steadily on to the enormous sale it +reached, which brought up the entire sum received to two +thousand five hundred pounds. I had, however, always +pressed so strongly the importance to him of some +share in the copyright, that this at last was conceded +in the deed above mentioned, though five years were +to elapse before the right should accrue; and it was +only yielded as part consideration for a further agreement +entered into at the same date (the 19th of November, +1837), whereby Dickens engaged to "write a +new work, the title whereof shall be determined by +him, of a similar character and of the same extent as +the <i>Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club</i>," the first +number of which was to be delivered on the 15th of +the following March, and each of the numbers on the +same day of each of the successive nineteen months; +which was also to be the date of the payment to him, +by Messrs. Chapman & Hall, of twenty several sums +of one hundred and fifty pounds each for five years' +use of the copyright, the entire ownership in which +was then to revert to Dickens. The name of this +new book, as all the world knows, was <i>The Life and +Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby;</i> and between April, +1838, and October, 1839, it was begun and finished +accordingly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p> + +<p>All through the interval of these arrangements <i>Oliver +Twist</i> had been steadily continued. Month by month, +for many months, it had run its opening course with +the close of <i>Pickwick</i>, as we shall see it close with the +opening of <i>Nickleby;</i> and the expectations of those +who had built most confidently on the young novelist +were more than confirmed. Here was the interest of a +story simply but well constructed; and characters with +the same impress of reality upon them, but more carefully +and skillfully drawn. Nothing could be meaner +than the subject, the progress of a parish or workhouse +boy, nothing less so than its treatment. As each number +appeared, his readers generally became more and more +conscious of what already, as we have seen, had revealed +itself amid even the riotous fun of <i>Pickwick</i>, +that the purpose was not solely to amuse; and, far more +decisively than its predecessor, the new story further +showed what were the not least potent elements in the +still increasing popularity that was gathering around +the writer. His qualities could be appreciated as well +as felt in an almost equal degree by all classes of his +various readers. Thousands were attracted to him +because he placed them in the midst of scenes and +characters with which they were already themselves +acquainted; and thousands were reading him with no +less avidity because he introduced them to passages of +nature and life of which they before knew nothing, but +of the truth of which their own habits and senses +sufficed to assure them. Only to genius are so revealed +the affinities and sympathies of high and low, in regard +to the customs and usages of life; and only a writer +of the first rank can bear the application of such a test.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +For it is by the alliance of common habits, quite as +much as by the bonds of a common humanity, that we +are all of us linked together; and the result of being +above the necessity of depending on other people's +opinions, and that of being below it, are pretty much +the same. It would equally startle both high and low +to be conscious of the whole that is implied in this +close approximation; but for the common enjoyment +of which I speak such consciousness is not required; +and for the present Fagin may be left undisturbed in +his school of practical ethics with only the Dodger, +Charley Bates, and his other promising scholars.</p> + +<p>With such work as this in hand, it will hardly seem +surprising that as the time for beginning <i>Nickleby</i> came +on, and as he thought of his promise for November, he +should have the sense of "something hanging over him +like a hideous nightmare." He felt that he could not +complete the <i>Barnaby Rudge</i> novel by the November +of that year, as promised, and that the engagement he +would have to break was unfitting him for engagements +he might otherwise fulfill. He had undertaken what, +in truth, was impossible. The labor of at once editing +the <i>Miscellany</i> and supplying it with monthly portions +of <i>Oliver</i> more than occupied all the time left him by +other labors absolutely necessary. "I no sooner get +myself up," he wrote, "high and dry, to attack <i>Oliver</i> +manfully, than up come the waves of each month's +work, and drive me back again into a sea of manuscript." +There was nothing for it but that he should +make further appeal to Mr. Bentley. "I have recently," +he wrote to him on the 11th of February, +1838, "been thinking a great deal about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> <i>Barnaby +Rudge</i>. <i>Grimaldi</i> has occupied so much of the short +interval I had between the completion of the <i>Pickwick</i> +and the commencement of the new work, that I see it +will be wholly impossible for me to produce it by the +time I had hoped, with justice to myself or profit to +you. What I wish you to consider is this: would it +not be far more to your interest, as well as within the +scope of my ability, if <i>Barnaby Rudge</i> began in the +<i>Miscellany</i> immediately on the conclusion of <i>Oliver +Twist</i>, and were continued there for the same time, +and then published in three volumes? Take these +simple facts into consideration. If the <i>Miscellany</i> is to +keep its ground, it <i>must</i> have some continuous tale from +me when <i>Oliver</i> stops. If I sat down to <i>Barnaby +Rudge</i>, writing a little of it when I could (and with +all my other engagements it would necessarily be a very +long time before I could hope to finish it that way), +it would be clearly impossible for me to begin a new +series of papers in the <i>Miscellany</i>. The conduct of +three different stories at the same time, and the production +of a large portion of each, every month, would +have been beyond Scott himself. Whereas, having +<i>Barnaby</i> for the <i>Miscellany</i>, we could at once supply +the gap which the cessation of <i>Oliver</i> must create, and +you would have all the advantage of that prestige in +favor of the work which is certain to enhance the value +of <i>Oliver Twist</i> considerably. Just think of this at +your leisure. I am really anxious to do the best I can +for you as well as for myself, and in this case the +pecuniary advantage must be all on your side." This +letter nevertheless, which had also requested an overdue +account of the sales of the <i>Miscellany</i>, led to differences<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +which were only adjusted after six months' +wrangling; and I was party to the understanding then +arrived at, by which, among other things, <i>Barnaby</i> +was placed upon the footing desired, and was to begin +when <i>Oliver</i> closed.</p> + +<p>Of the progress of his <i>Oliver</i>, and his habits of writing +at the time, it may perhaps be worth giving some additional +glimpses from his letters of 1838. "I was thinking +about <i>Oliver</i> till dinner-time yesterday," he wrote +on the 9th of March,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> "and, just as I had fallen upon +him tooth and nail, was called away to sit with Kate. +I did eight slips, however, and hope to make them +fifteen this morning." Three days before, a little +daughter had been born to him, who became a little +god-daughter to me; on which occasion (having closed +his announcement with a postscript of "I can do nothing +this morning. What time will you ride? The +sooner the better, for a good long spell"), we rode out +fifteen miles on the great north road, and, after dining +at the Red Lion in Barnet on our way home, distinguished +the already memorable day by bringing in both +hacks dead lame.</p> + +<p>On that day week, Monday, the 13th, after describing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +himself "sitting patiently at home waiting for +<i>Oliver Twist</i> who has not yet arrived," which was his +pleasant form of saying that his fancy had fallen into +sluggishness that morning, he made addition not less +pleasant as to some piece of painful news I had sent +him, now forgotten: "I have not yet seen the paper, +and you throw me into a fever. The comfort is, that +all the strange and terrible things come uppermost, and +that the good and pleasant things are mixed up with +every moment of our existence so plentifully that we +scarcely heed them." At the close of the month Mrs. +Dickens was well enough to accompany him to Richmond, +for now the time was come to start <i>Nickleby;</i> +and, having been away from town when <i>Pickwick's</i> +first number came out, he made it a superstition to be +absent at all future similar times. The magazine-day +of that April month, I remember, fell upon a Saturday, +and the previous evening had brought me a peremptory +summons: "Meet me at the Shakspeare on Saturday +night at eight; order your horse at midnight, and ride +back with me." Which was done accordingly. The +smallest hour was sounding from St. Paul's into the +night before we started, and the night was none of the +pleasantest; but we carried news that lightened every +part of the road, for the sale of <i>Nickleby</i> had reached +that day the astonishing number of nearly fifty thousand! +I left him working with unusual cheerfulness at +<i>Oliver Twist</i> when I left the Star and Garter on the +next day but one, after celebrating with both friends +on the previous evening an anniversary<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> which concerned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +us all (their second and my twenty-sixth), and +which we kept always in future at the same place, except +when they were living out of England, for twenty +successive years. It was a part of his love of regularity +and order, as well as of his kindliness of nature, to +place such friendly meetings as these under rules of +habit and continuance.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>OLIVER TWIST.</h3> + +<h3>1838.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Interest in Characters at Close of <i>Oliver</i>—Writing of the Last Chapter—Cruikshank +Illustrations—Etchings for Last Volume—How +executed—Slander respecting them exposed—Falsehood ascribed to +the Artist—Reputation of the New Tale—Its Workmanship—Social +Evils passed away—Living only in what destroyed them—Chief Design +of the Story—Its Principal Figures—Comedy and Tragedy of +Crime—Reply to Attacks—Le Sage, Gay, and Fielding—Likeness +to them—Again the Shadow of <i>Barnaby</i>—Appeal to Mr. Bentley for +Delay—A Very Old Story—"Sic Vos non Vobis"—<i>Barnaby</i> given +up by Mr. Bentley—Resignation of <i>Miscellany</i>—Parent parting from +Child.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> whole of his time not occupied by <i>Nickleby</i> was +now given to <i>Oliver</i>, and as the story shaped itself to +its close it took extraordinary hold of him. I never +knew him work so frequently after dinner, or to such +late hours (a practice he afterwards abhorred), as during +the final months of this task; which it was now his hope +to complete before October, though its close in the +magazine would not be due until the following March. +"I worked pretty well last night," he writes, referring +to it in May, "very well indeed; but, although I did +eleven close slips before half-past twelve, I have four to +write to complete the chapter; and, as I foolishly left +them till this morning, have the steam to get up afresh."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +A month later he writes, "I got to the sixteenth slip +last night, and shall try hard to get to the thirtieth before +I go to bed."<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Then, on a "Tuesday night," at +the opening of August, he wrote, "Hard at work still. +Nancy is no more. I showed what I have done to Kate +last night, who was in an unspeakable '<i>state:</i>' from +which and my own impression I augur well. When I +have sent Sikes to the devil, I must have yours." "No, +no," he wrote, in the following month: "don't, don't +let us ride till to-morrow, not having yet disposed of +the Jew, who is such an out-and-outer that I don't know +what to make of him." No small difficulty to an inventor, +where the creatures of his invention are found +to be as real as himself; but this also was mastered; +and then there remained but the closing quiet chapter +to tell the fortunes of those who had figured in the tale. +To this he summoned me in the first week of September, +replying to a request of mine that he'd give me a +call that day: "Come and give <i>me</i> a call, and let us +have 'a bit o' talk' before we have a bit o' som'at else. +My missis is going out to dinner, and I ought to go, but +I have got a bad cold. So do you come, and sit here, +and read, or work, or do something, while I write the +LAST chapter of <i>Oliver</i>, which will be arter a lamb +chop." How well I remember that evening! and our +talk of what should be the fate of Charley Bates, on +behalf of whom (as indeed for the Dodger too) Talfourd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +had pleaded as earnestly in mitigation of judgment +as ever at the bar for any client he had most +respected.</p> + +<p>The publication had been announced for October, +but the third-volume illustrations intercepted it a little. +This part of the story, as we have seen, had been +written in anticipation of the magazine, and the designs +for it, having to be executed "in a lump," were +necessarily done somewhat hastily. The matter supplied +in advance of the monthly portions in the magazine +formed the bulk of the last volume as published +in the book; and for this the plates had to be prepared +by Cruikshank also in advance of the magazine, to furnish +them in time for the separate publication: Sikes +and his dog, Fagin in the cell, and Rose Maylie and +Oliver, being the three last. None of these Dickens +had seen until he saw them in the book on the eve of +its publication; when he so strongly objected to one +of them that it had to be canceled. "I returned suddenly +to town yesterday afternoon," he wrote to the +artist at the end of October, "to look at the latter +pages of <i>Oliver Twist</i> before it was delivered to the +booksellers, when I saw the majority of the plates in +the last volume for the first time. With reference to +the last one,—Rose Maylie and Oliver,—without entering +into the question of great haste, or any other cause, +which may have led to its being what it is, I am quite +sure there can be little difference of opinion between +us with respect to the result. May I ask you whether +you will object to designing this plate afresh, and doing +so <i>at once</i>, in order that as few impressions as possible +of the present one may go forth? I feel confident you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +know me too well to feel hurt by this inquiry, and with +equal confidence in you I have lost no time in preferring +it." This letter, printed from a copy in Dickens's +handwriting fortunately committed to my keeping, +entirely disposes of a wonderful story<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> originally promulgated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +in America with a minute particularity of +detail that might have raised the reputation of Sir Benjamin +Backbite himself. Whether all Sir Benjamin's +laurels, however, should fall to the person by whom +the tale is told,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> or whether any part belongs to the authority +alleged for it, is unfortunately not quite clear. +There would hardly have been a doubt, if the fable +had been confined to the other side of the Atlantic; +but it has been reproduced and widely circulated on +this side also; and the distinguished artist whom it +calumniates by attributing the invention to him has +been left undefended from its slander. Dickens's +letter spares me the necessity of characterizing, by the +only word which would have been applicable to it, a +tale of such incredible and monstrous absurdity as that +one of the masterpieces of its author's genius had been +merely an illustration of etchings by Mr. Cruikshank!</p> + +<p>The completed <i>Oliver Twist</i> found a circle of admirers, +not so wide in its range as those of others of +his books, but of a character and mark that made their +honest liking for it, and steady advocacy of it, important +to his fame; and the book has held its ground +in the first class of his writings. It deserves that place. +The admitted exaggerations in <i>Pickwick</i> are incident<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +to its club's extravaganza of adventure, of which they +are part, and are easily separable from the reality of its +wit and humor, and its incomparable freshness; but no +such allowances were needed here. Make what deduction +the too scrupulous reader of <i>Oliver</i> might +please for "lowness" in the subject, the precision and +the unexaggerated force of the delineation were not to +be disputed. The art of copying from nature as it +really exists in the common walks had not been carried +by any one to greater perfection, or to better +results in the way of combination. Such was his +handling of the piece of solid, existing, every-day life, +which he made here the groundwork of his wit and +tenderness, that the book which did much to help out +of the world the social evils it portrayed will probably +preserve longest the picture of them as they then were. +Thus far, indeed, he had written nothing to which in a +greater or less degree this felicity did not belong. At +the time of which I am speaking, the debtors' prisons +described in <i>Pickwick</i>, the parochial management denounced +in <i>Oliver</i>, and the Yorkshire schools exposed +in <i>Nickleby</i>, were all actual existences,—which now +have no vivider existence than in the forms he thus +gave to them. With wiser purposes, he superseded the +old petrifying process of the magician in the Arabian +tale, and struck the prisons and parish abuses of his +country, and its schools of neglect and crime, into +palpable life forever. A portion of the truth of the +past, of the character and very history of the moral +abuses of his time, will thus remain always in his +writings; and it will be remembered that with only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +the light arms of humor and laughter, and the gentle +ones of pathos and sadness, he carried cleansing and +reform into those Augean stables.</p> + +<p>Not that such intentions are in any degree ever intruded +by this least didactic of writers. It is the fact +that teaches, and not any sermonizing drawn from it. +<i>Oliver Twist</i> is the history of a child born in a workhouse +and brought up by parish overseers, and there is +nothing introduced that is out of keeping with the design. +It is a series of pictures from the tragi-comedy +of lower life, worked out by perfectly natural agencies, +from the dying mother and the starved wretches of the +first volume, through the scenes and gradations of +crime, careless or deliberate, which have a frightful +consummation in the last volume, but are never without +the reliefs and self-assertions of humanity even in +scenes and among characters so debased. It is indeed +the primary purpose of the tale to show its little hero, +jostled as he is in the miserable crowd, preserved +everywhere from the vice of its pollution by an exquisite +delicacy of natural sentiment which clings to +him under every disadvantage. There is not a more +masterly touch in fiction, and it is by such that this +delightful fancy is consistently worked out to the last, +than Oliver's agony of childish grief on being brought +away from the branch-workhouse, the wretched home +associated only with suffering and starvation, and with +no kind word or look, but containing still his little +companions in misery.</p> + +<p>Of the figures the book has made familiar to every +one it is not my purpose to speak. To name one or +two will be enough. Bumble and his wife; Charley<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +Bates and the Artful Dodger; the cowardly charity-boy, +Noah Claypole, whose <i>Such agony, please, sir</i>, puts the +whole of a school-life into one phrase; the so-called +merry old Jew, supple and black-hearted Fagin; and +Bill Sikes, the bolder-faced bulky-legged ruffian, with +his white hat and white shaggy dog,—who does not +know them all, even to the least points of dress, look, +and walk, and all the small peculiarities that express +great points of character? I have omitted poor +wretched Nancy; yet it is to be said of her, with such +honest truthfulness her strength and weakness are +shown, in the virtue that lies neighbored in her nature +so closely by vice, that the people meant to be entirely +virtuous show poorly beside her. But, though +Rose and her lover are trivial enough beside Bill and +his mistress, being indeed the weak part of the story, +it is the book's pre-eminent merit that vice is nowhere +made attractive in it. Crime is not more intensely +odious, all through, than it is also most wretched and +most unhappy. Not merely when its exposure comes, +when the latent recesses of guilt are laid bare, and all +the agonies of remorse are witnessed; not in the great +scenes only, but in those lighter passages where no +such aim might seem to have guided the apparently +careless hand, this is emphatically so. Whether it be +the comedy or the tragedy of crime, terror and retribution +dog closely at its heels. They are as plainly visible +when Fagin is first shown in his den, boiling the +coffee in the saucepan and stopping every now and +then to listen when there is the least noise below,—the +villainous confidence of habit never extinguishing in +him the anxious watchings and listenings of crime,—as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +when we see him at the last in the condemned cell, +like a poisoned human rat in a hole.</p> + +<p>A word may be added upon the attacks directed +against the subject of the book, to which Dickens made +reply in one of his later editions, declaring his belief +that he had tried to do a service to society, and had +certainly done no disservice, in depicting a knot of +such associates in crime in all their deformity and squalid +wretchedness, skulking uneasily through a miserable life +to a painful and shameful death. It is, indeed, never +the subject that can be objectionable, if the treatment is +not so, as we may see by much popular writing since, +where subjects unimpeachably high are brought low by +degrading sensualism. When the object of a writer is +to exhibit the vulgarity of vice, and not its pretensions +to heroism or cravings for sympathy, he may measure +his subject with the highest. We meet with a succession +of swindlers and thieves in <i>Gil Blas;</i> we shake +hands with highwaymen and housebreakers all round in +the <i>Beggars' Opera;</i> we pack cards with La Ruse or +pick pockets with Jonathan in Fielding's <i>Mr. Wild the +Great;</i> we follow cruelty and vice from its least beginning +to its grossest ends in the prints of Hogarth; but +our morals stand none the looser for any of them. As +the spirit of the Frenchman was pure enjoyment, the +strength of the Englishmen lay in wisdom and satire. +The low was set forth to pull down the false pretensions +of the high. And though for the most part they differ +in manner and design from Dickens in this tale, desiring +less to discover the soul of goodness in things evil +than to brand the stamp of evil on things apt to pass for +good, their objects and results are substantially the same.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +Familiar with the lowest kind of abasement of life, the +knowledge is used, by both him and them, to teach what +constitutes its essential elevation; and by the very coarseness +and vulgarity of the materials employed we measure +the gentlemanliness and beauty of the work that is done. +The quack in morality will always call such writing immoral, +and the impostors will continue to complain of +its treatment of imposture, but for the rest of the world +it will still teach the invaluable lesson of what men ought +to be from what they are. We cannot learn it more than +enough. We cannot too often be told that as the pride +and grandeur of mere external circumstance is the falsest +of earthly things, so the truth of virtue in the heart is +the most lovely and lasting; and from the pages of +<i>Oliver Twist</i> this teaching is once again to be taken by +all who will look for it there.</p> + +<p>And now, while <i>Oliver</i> was running a great career of +popularity and success, the shadow of the tale of <i>Barnaby +Rudge</i>, which he was to write on similar terms, +and to begin in the <i>Miscellany</i> when the other should +have ended, began to darken everything around him. +We had much discussion respecting it, and I had no +small difficulty in restraining him from throwing up the +agreement altogether; but the real hardship of his position, +and the considerate construction to be placed on +every effort made by him to escape from obligations +incurred in ignorance of the sacrifices implied by them, +will be best understood from his own frank and honest +statement. On the 21st of January, 1839, inclosing +me the copy of a letter which he proposed to send to +Mr. Bentley the following morning, he thus wrote: +"From what I have already said to you, you will have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +been led to expect that I entertained some such intention. +I know you will not endeavor to dissuade me +from sending it. Go it <span class="smcap">must</span>. It is no fiction to say +that at present I <i>cannot</i> write this tale. The immense +profits which <i>Oliver</i> has realized to its publisher and is +still realizing; the paltry, wretched, miserable sum it +brought to me (not equal to what is every day paid for +a novel that sells fifteen hundred copies at most); the +recollection of this, and the consciousness that I have +still the slavery and drudgery of another work on the +same journeyman-terms; the consciousness that my +books are enriching everybody connected with them +but myself, and that I, with such a popularity as I have +acquired, am struggling in old toils, and wasting my +energies in the very height and freshness of my fame, +and the best part of my life, to fill the pockets of +others, while for those who are nearest and dearest to +me I can realize little more than a genteel subsistence: +all this puts me out of heart and spirits. And I cannot—cannot +and will not—under such circumstances +that keep me down with an iron hand, distress myself +by beginning this tale until I have had time to breathe, +and until the intervention of the summer, and some +cheerful days in the country, shall have restored me to +a more genial and composed state of feeling. There—for +six months <i>Barnaby Rudge</i> stands over. And but +for you, it should stand over altogether. For I do most +solemnly declare that morally, before God and man, I +hold myself released from such hard bargains as these, +after I have done so much for those who drove them. +This net that has been wound about me so chafes me, +so exasperates and irritates my mind, that to break it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +at whatever cost—<i>that</i> I should care nothing for—is my +constant impulse. But I have not yielded to it. I +merely declare that I must have a postponement very +common in all literary agreements; and for the time I +have mentioned—six months from the conclusion of +<i>Oliver</i> in the <i>Miscellany</i>—I wash my hands of any fresh +accumulation of labor, and resolve to proceed as cheerfully +as I can with that which already presses upon +me."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>To describe what followed upon this is not necessary. +It will suffice to state the results. Upon the +appearance in the <i>Miscellany</i>, in the early months of +1839, of the last portion of <i>Oliver Twist</i>, its author, +having been relieved altogether from his engagement +to the magazine, handed over, in a familiar epistle +from a parent to his child, the editorship to Mr. Ainsworth; +and the still subsisting agreement to write +<i>Barnaby Rudge</i> was, upon the overture of Mr. Bentley +himself in June of the following year, 1840, also put +an end to, on payment by Dickens, for the copyright +of <i>Oliver Twist</i> and such printed stock as remained of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +the edition then on hand, of two thousand two hundred +and fifty pounds. What was further incident to this +transaction will be told hereafter; and a few words +may meanwhile be taken, not without significance in +regard to it, from the parent's familiar epistle. It describes +the child as aged two years and two months (so +long had he watched over it); gives sundry pieces of +advice concerning its circulation, and the importance +thereto of light and pleasant articles of food; and +concludes, after some general moralizing on the shiftings +and changes of this world having taken so wonderful +a turn that mail-coach guards were become no +longer judges of horse-flesh, "I reap no gain or profit +by parting from you, nor will any conveyance of your +property be required, for in this respect you have always +been literally Bentley's Miscellany and never mine."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>NICHOLAS NICKLEBY.</h3> + +<h3>1838-1839.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Doubts of Success dispelled—Realities of English Life—Characters +self-revealed—Miss Bates and Mrs. Nickleby—Smike and Dotheboys—A +Favorite Type of Humanity—Sydney Smith and Newman +Noggs—Kindliness and Breadth of Humor—Goldsmith and Smollett—Early +and Later Books—Biographical not critical—Characteristics—Materials +for the Book—Birthday Letter—A Difficulty at +Starting—Never in Advance with <i>Nickleby</i>—Always with Later +Books—Enjoying a Play—At the Adelphi—Writing Mrs. Nickleby's +Love-scene—Sydney Smith vanquished—Winding up the Story—Parting +from Creatures of his Fancy—The Nickleby Dinner—Persons +present—The Maclise Portrait.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">I well</span> recollect the doubt there was, mixed with the +eager expectation which the announcement of his second +serial story had awakened, whether the event would justify +all that interest, and if indeed it were possible that +the young writer could continue to walk steadily under +the burden of the popularity laid upon him. The first +number dispersed this cloud of a question in a burst of +sunshine; and as much of the gayety of nations as had +been eclipsed by old Mr. Pickwick's voluntary exile to +Dulwich was restored by the cheerful confidence with +which young Mr. Nicholas Nickleby stepped into his +shoes. Everything that had given charm to the first +book was here, with more attention to the important<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +requisite of a story, and more wealth as well as truth +of character.</p> + +<p>How this was poured forth in each successive number, +it hardly needs that I should tell. To recall it now, is +to talk of what since has so interwoven itself with common +speech and thought as to have become almost part +of the daily life of us all. It was well said of him, soon +after his death, in mentioning how largely his compositions +had furnished one of the chief sources of intellectual +enjoyment to this generation, that his language +had become part of the language of every class and rank +of his countrymen, and his characters were a portion +of our contemporaries. "It seems scarcely possible," +continued this otherwise not too indulgent commentator, +"to believe that there never were any such +persons as Mr. Pickwick and Mrs. Nickleby and Mrs. +Gamp. They are to us not only types of English life, +but types actually existing. They at once revealed the +existence of such people, and made them thoroughly +comprehensible. They were not studies of persons, +but persons. And yet they were idealized in the sense +that the reader did not think that they were drawn from +the life. They were alive; they were themselves." +The writer might have added that this is proper to all +true masters of fiction who work in the higher regions +of their calling.</p> + +<p>Nothing certainly could express better what the new +book was at this time making manifest to its thousands +of readers; not simply an astonishing variety in the +creations of character, but what it was that made these +creations so real; not merely the writer's wealth of +genius, but the secret and form of his art. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +never was any one who had less need to talk about his +characters, because never were characters so surely +revealed by themselves; and it was thus their reality +made itself felt at once. They talked so well that +everybody took to repeating what they said, as the +writer just quoted has pointed out; and the sayings +being the constituent elements of the characters, these +also of themselves became part of the public. This, +which must always be a novelist's highest achievement, +was the art carried to exquisite perfection on a more +limited stage by Miss Austen; and, under widely different +conditions both of art and work, it was pre-eminently +that of Dickens. I told him, on reading the +first dialogue of Mrs. Nickleby and Miss Knag, that +he had been lately reading Miss Bates in <i>Emma</i>, but I +found that he had not at this time made the acquaintance +of that fine writer.</p> + +<p>Who that recollects the numbers of <i>Nickleby</i> as they +appeared can have forgotten how each number added +to the general enjoyment? All that had given <i>Pickwick</i> +its vast popularity, the overflowing mirth, hearty exuberance +of humor, and genial kindliness of satire, had +here the advantage of a better-laid design, more connected +incidents, and greater precision of character. +Everybody seemed immediately to know the Nickleby +family as well as his own. Dotheboys, with all that +rendered it, like a piece by Hogarth, both ludicrous +and terrible, became a household word. Successive +groups of Mantalinis, Kenwigses, Crummleses, introduced +each its little world of reality, lighted up everywhere +with truth and life, with capital observation, the +quaintest drollery, and quite boundless mirth and fun.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +The brothers Cheeryble brought with them all the +charities. With Smike came the first of those pathetic +pictures that filled the world with pity for what cruelty, +ignorance, or neglect may inflict upon the young. And +Newman Noggs ushered in that class of the creatures +of his fancy in which he took himself perhaps the most +delight, and which the oftener he dealt with the more +he seemed to know how to vary and render attractive: +gentlemen by nature, however shocking bad their hats +or ungenteel their dialects; philosophers of modest endurance, +and needy but most respectable coats; a sort +of humble angels of sympathy and self-denial, though +without a particle of splendor or even good looks about +them, except what an eye as fine as their own feelings +might discern. "My friends," wrote Sydney Smith, +describing to Dickens the anxiety of some ladies of his +acquaintance to meet him at dinner, "have not the +smallest objection to be put into a number, but on the +contrary would be proud of the distinction; and Lady +Charlotte, in particular, you may marry to Newman +Noggs." Lady Charlotte was not a more real person to +Sydney than Newman Noggs; and all the world that +Dickens attracted to his books could draw from them +the same advantage as the man of wit and genius. It +has been lately objected that humanity is not seen in +them in its highest or noblest types, and the assertion +may hereafter be worth considering; but what is very +certain is, that they have inculcated humanity in +familiar and engaging forms to thousands and tens of +thousands of their readers, who can hardly have failed +each to make his little world around him somewhat the +better for their teaching. From first to last they were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +never for a moment alien to either the sympathies or +the understandings of any class; and there were crowds +of people at this time that could not have told you +what imagination meant, who were adding month by +month to their limited stores the boundless gains of +imagination.</p> + +<p>One other kindliest product of humor in <i>Nickleby</i>, +not to be passed over in even thus briefly recalling a +few first impressions of it, was the good little miniature-painter +Miss La Creevy, living by herself, overflowing +with affections she has nobody to bestow on, +but always cheerful by dint of industry and good-heartedness. +When she is disappointed in the character +of a woman she has been to see, she eases her mind +by saying a very cutting thing at her expense <i>in a soliloquy:</i> +and thereby illustrates one of the advantages of +having lived alone so long, that she made always a confidante +of herself; was as sarcastic as she could be, by +herself, on people who offended her; pleased herself, +and did no harm. Here was one of those touches, +made afterwards familiar to the readers of Dickens by +innumerable similar fancies, which added affection to +their admiration for the writer, and enabled them to +anticipate the feeling with which posterity would regard +him as indeed the worthy companion of the Goldsmiths +and Fieldings. There was a piece of writing, +too, within not many pages of it, of which Leigh Hunt +exclaimed on reading it that it surpassed the best things +of the kind in Smollett that he was able to call to mind. +This was the letter of Miss Squeers to Ralph Nickleby, +giving him her version of the chastisement inflicted by +Nicholas on the schoolmaster: "My pa requests me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +to write to you, the doctors considering it doubtful +whether he will ever recuvver the use of his legs which +prevents his holding a pen. We are in a state of mind +beyond everything, and my pa is one mask of brooses +both blue and green likewise two forms are steepled in +his Goar. . . . Me and my brother were then the victims +of his feury since which we have suffered very +much which leads us to the arrowing belief that we +have received some injury in our insides, especially as +no marks of violence are visible externally. I am +screaming out loud all the time I write and so is my +brother which takes off my attention rather and I hope +will excuse mistakes". . . .</p> + +<p>Thus rapidly may be indicated some elements that +contributed to the sudden and astonishingly wide popularity +of these books. I purposely reserve from my +present notices of them, which are biographical rather +than critical, any statement of the reasons for which I +think them inferior in imagination and fancy to some +of the later works; but there was continued and steady +growth in them on the side of humor, observation, and +character, while freshness and raciness of style continued +to be an important help. There are faults of +occasional exaggeration in the writing, but none that +do not spring from animal spirits and good humor, or +a pardonable excess, here and there, on the side of +earnestness; and it has the rare virtue, whether gay or +grave, of being always thoroughly intelligible and for +the most part thoroughly natural, of suiting itself without +effort to every change of mood, as quick, warm, +and comprehensive as the sympathies it is taxed to +express. The tone also is excellent. We are never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +repelled by egotism or conceit, and misplaced ridicule +never disgusts us. When good is going on, we are +sure to see all the beauty of it; and when there is +evil, we are in no danger of mistaking it for good. +No one can paint more picturesquely by an apposite +epithet, or illustrate more happily by a choice allusion. +Whatever he knows or feels, too, is always at his +fingers' ends, and is present through whatever he is +doing. What Rebecca says to Ivanhoe of the black +knight's mode of fighting would not be wholly inapplicable +to Dickens's manner of writing: "There is more +than mere strength, there seems as if the whole soul and +spirit of the champion were given to every blow he +deals." This, when a man deals his blows with a pen, +is the sort of handling that freshens with new life the +oldest facts, and breathes into thoughts the most familiar +an emotion not felt before. There seemed to be not +much to add to our knowledge of London until his +books came upon us, but each in this respect outstripped +the other in its marvels. In <i>Nickleby</i> the old city reappears +under every aspect; and whether warmth and +light are playing over what is good and cheerful in it, +or the veil is uplifted from its darker scenes, it is at all +times our privilege to see and feel it as it absolutely is. +Its interior hidden life becomes familiar as its commonest +outward forms, and we discover that we hardly +knew anything of the places we supposed that we knew +the best.</p> + +<p>Of such notices as his letters give of his progress with +<i>Nickleby</i>, which occupied him from February, 1838, +to October, 1839, something may now be said. Soon +after the agreement for it was signed, before the Christmas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +of 1837 was over, he went down into Yorkshire +with Mr. Hablot Browne to look up the Cheap Schools +in that county to which public attention had been +painfully drawn by a law-case in the previous year; +which had before been notorious for cruelties committed +in them, whereof he had heard as early as in his childish +days;<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> and which he was bent upon destroying if +he could. I soon heard the result of his journey; and +the substance of that letter, returned to him for the +purpose, is in his preface to the story written for the +collected edition. He came back confirmed in his design, +and in February set to work upon his first chapter. +On his birthday he wrote to me, "I <i>have</i> begun! I +wrote four slips last night, so you see the beginning is +made. And what is more, I can go on: so I hope the +book is in training at last." "The first chapter of +<i>Nicholas</i> is done," he wrote two days later. "It took +time, but I think answers the purpose as well as it +could." Then, after a dozen days more, "I wrote +twenty slips of <i>Nicholas</i> yesterday, left only four to do +this morning (up at 8 o'clock too!), and have ordered +my horse at one." I joined him as he expected, and +we read together at dinner that day the first number of +<i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>.</p> + +<p>In the following number there was a difficulty which +it was marvelous should not oftener have occurred to +him in this form of publication. "I could not write a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +line till three o'clock," he says, describing the close +of that number, "and have yet five slips to finish, and +don't know what to put in them, for I have reached the +point I meant to leave off with." He found easy +remedy for such a miscalculation at his outset, and it +was nearly his last as well as first misadventure of the +kind: his difficulty in <i>Pickwick</i>, as he once told me, +having always been, not the running short, but the +running over: not the whip, but the drag, that was +wanted. Sufflaminandus erat, as Ben Jonson said of +Shakspeare. And in future works, with such marvelous +nicety could he do always what he had planned, strictly +within the space available, that only another similar +instance is remembered by me. The third number introduced +the school; and "I remain dissatisfied until +you have seen and read number three," was his way of +announcing to me his own satisfaction with that first +handling of Dotheboys Hall. Nor had it the least +part in my admiration of his powers at this time that +he never wrote without the printer at his heels; that, +always in his later works two or three numbers in +advance, he was never a single number in advance with +this story; that the more urgent the call upon him the +more readily he rose to it; and that his astonishing +animal spirits never failed him. As late in the November +month of 1838 as the 20th, he thus wrote to me: +"I have just begun my second chapter; cannot go out +to-night; must get on; think there <i>will</i> be a <i>Nickleby</i> +at the end of this month now (I doubted it before); +and want to make a start towards it if I possibly can." +That was on Tuesday; and on Friday morning in the +same week, explaining to me the failure of something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +that had been promised the previous day, he tells me, +"I was writing incessantly until it was time to dress; +and have not yet got the subject of my last chapter, +which <i>must be</i> finished to-night."</p> + +<p>But this was not all. Between that Tuesday and +Friday an indecent assault had been committed on his +book by a theatrical adapter named Stirling, who seized +upon it without leave while yet only a third of it was +written; hacked, cut, and garbled its dialogue to the +shape of one or two farcical actors; invented for it a plot +and an ending of his own, and produced it at the Adelphi; +where the outraged author, hard pressed as he was +with an unfinished number, had seen it in the interval +between the two letters I have quoted. He would not +have run such a risk in later years, but he threw off +lightly at present even such offenses to his art; and +though I was with him at a representation of his <i>Oliver +Twist</i> the following month at the Surrey theatre, when +in the middle of the first scene he laid himself down +upon the floor in a corner of the box and never rose +from it until the drop-scene fell, he had been able +to sit through <i>Nickleby</i> and to see a kind of merit +in some of the actors. Mr. Yates had a sufficiently +humorous meaning in his wildest extravagance, and +Mr. O. Smith could put into his queer angular oddities +enough of a hard dry pathos, to conjure up shadows +at least of Mantalini and Newman Noggs; of Ralph +Nickleby there was indeed nothing visible save a wig, +a spencer, and a pair of boots; but there was a quaint +actor named Wilkinson who proved equal to the drollery +though not to the fierce brutality of Squeers; and +even Dickens, in the letter that amazed me by telling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +me of his visit to the theatre, was able to praise +"the skillful management and dressing of the boys, +the capital manner and speech of Fanny Squeers, the +dramatic representation of her card-party in Squeers's +parlor, the careful making-up of all the people, and +the exceedingly good tableaux formed from Browne's +sketches. . . . Mrs. Keeley's first appearance beside +the fire (see wollum), and all the rest of Smike, was excellent; +bating sundry choice sentiments and rubbish +regarding the little robins in the fields which have been +put in the boy's mouth by Mr. Stirling the adapter." +His toleration could hardly be extended to the robins, +and their author he very properly punished by introducing +and denouncing him at Mr. Crummles's farewell +supper.</p> + +<p>The story was well in hand at the next letter to be +quoted, for I limit myself to those only with allusions +that are characteristic or illustrative. "I must be alone +in my glory to-day," he wrote, "and see what I can +do. I perpetrated a great amount of work yesterday, +and have every day indeed since Monday, but I must +buckle-to again and endeavor to get the steam up. If +this were to go on long, I should 'bust' the boiler. I +think Mrs. Nickleby's love-scene will come out rather +unique." The steam doubtless rose dangerously +high when such happy inspiration came. It was but +a few numbers earlier than this, while that eccentric +lady was imparting her confidences to Miss Knag, that +Sydney Smith confessed himself vanquished by a humor +against which his own had long striven to hold out. +"<i>Nickleby</i> is <i>very good</i>," he wrote to Sir George Phillips +after the sixth number. "I stood out against Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +Dickens as long as I could, but he has conquered +me."<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>The close of the story was written at Broadstairs, +from which (he had taken a house "two doors from +the Albion Hotel, where we had that merry night two +years ago") he wrote to me on the 9th September, +1839, "I am hard at it, but these windings-up wind +slowly, and I shall think I have done great things if I +have entirely finished by the 20th. Chapman & Hall +came down yesterday with Browne's sketches, and +dined here. They imparted their intentions as to a +Nicklebeian fête which will make you laugh heartily—so +I reserve them till you come. It has been blowing +great guns for the last three days, and last night (I +wish you could have seen it!) there was such a sea! +I staggered down to the pier, and, creeping under the +lee of a large boat which was high and dry, watched it +breaking for nearly an hour. Of course I came back +wet through." On the afternoon of Wednesday, the +18th, he wrote again: "I shall not finish entirely before +Friday, sending Hicks the last twenty pages of manuscript +by the night-coach. I have had pretty stiff work, +as you may suppose, and I have taken great pains. The +discovery is made, Ralph is dead, the loves have come +all right, Tim Linkinwater has proposed, and I have +now only to break up Dotheboys and the book together. +I am very anxious that you should see this +conclusion before it leaves my hands, and I plainly see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +therefore that I must come to town myself on Saturday +if I would not endanger the appearance of the +number. So I have written to Hicks to send proofs to +your chambers as soon as he can that evening; and, if +you don't object, I will dine with you any time after +five, and we will devote the night to a careful reading. +I have not written to Macready, for they have not yet +sent me the title-page of dedication, which is merely +'To W. C. Macready, Esq., the following pages are +inscribed, as a slight token of admiration and regard, +by his friend the Author.' Meanwhile will you let +him know that I have fixed the Nickleby dinner for +Saturday, the 5th of October? Place, the Albion in +Aldersgate Street. Time, six for half-past exactly. . . . +I shall be more glad than I can tell you to +see you again, and I look forward to Saturday, and the +evenings that are to follow it, with most joyful anticipation. +I have had a good notion for <i>Barnaby</i>, of +which more anon."</p> + +<p>The shadow from the old quarter, we see, the unwritten +<i>Barnaby</i> tale, intrudes itself still; though hardly, +as of old, making other pleasanter anticipations less +joyful. Such, indeed, at this time was his buoyancy +of spirit that it cost him little, compared with the suffering +it gave him at all subsequent similar times, to +separate from the people who for twenty months had +been a part of himself. The increased success they had +achieved left no present room but for gladness and well-won +pride; and so, to welcome them into the immortal +family of the English novel, and open cheerily to their +author "fresh woods and pastures new," we had the dinner<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +celebration. But there is small need now to speak +of what has left, to one of the few survivors, only the +sadness of remembering that all who made the happiness +of it are passed away. There was Talfourd, facile +and fluent of kindliest speech, with whom we were in +constant and cordial intercourse, and to whom, grateful +for his copyright exertions in the House of Commons, +he had dedicated <i>Pickwick;</i> there was Maclise, +dear and familiar friend to us both, whose lately-painted +portrait of Dickens hung in the room;<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> and there was +the painter of the Rent-day, who made a speech as good +as his pictures, rich in color and quaint with homely +allusion, all about the reality of Dickens's genius, and +how there had been nothing like him issuing his novels +part by part since Richardson issued his novels volume +by volume, and how in both cases people talked about +the characters as if they were next-door neighbors or +friends; and as many letters were written to the author +of <i>Nickleby</i> to implore him not to kill poor Smike, as +had been sent by young ladies to the author of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> <i>Clarissa</i> +to "save Lovelace's soul alive." These and others are +gone. Of those who survive, only three arise to my +memory,—Macready, who spoke his sense of the honor +done him by the dedication in English as good as his +delivery of it, Mr. Edward Chapman, and Mr. Thomas +Beard.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 483px;"><a name="Maclise" id="Maclise"></a> +<img src="images/image03.jpg" width="483" height="599" alt="Maclise, R. A. C. H. Jeens." title="Maclise, R. A. C. H. Jeens." /> +<span class="caption">Maclise, R. A. C. H. Jeens.</span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>DURING AND AFTER NICKLEBY.</h3> + +<h3>1838-1839.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">The Cottage at Twickenham—Daniel Maclise—Ainsworth and other +Friends—Mr. Stanley of Alderley—Petersham Cottage—Childish +Enjoyments—Writes a Farce for Covent Garden—Entered at the +Middle Temple—We see Wainewright in Newgate—<i>Oliver Twist</i> +and the <i>Quarterly</i>—Hood's <i>Up the Rhine</i>—Shakspeare Society—Birth +of Second Daughter—House-Hunting—<i>Barnaby</i> at his Tenth +Page—Letter from Exeter—A Landlady and her Friends—A Home +for his Father and Mother—Autobiographical—Visit to an Upholsterer—Visit +from the Same.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> name of his old gallery-companion may carry +me back from the days to which the close of <i>Nickleby</i> +had led me to those when it was only beginning. +"This snow will take away the cold weather," he had +written, in that birthday letter of 1838 already quoted, +"and then for Twickenham." Here a cottage was +taken, nearly all the summer was passed, and a familiar +face there was Mr. Beard's. There, with Talfourd and +with Thackeray and Jerrold, we had many friendly days, +too; and the social charm of Maclise was seldom wanting. +Nor was there anything that exercised a greater +fascination over Dickens than the grand enjoyment of +idleness, the ready self-abandonment to the luxury of +laziness, which we both so laughed at in Maclise, under +whose easy swing of indifference, always the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +amusing at the most aggravating events and times, we +knew that there was artist-work as eager, energy as +unwearying, and observation almost as penetrating as +Dickens's own. A greater enjoyment than the fellowship +of Maclise at this period it would indeed be difficult +to imagine. Dickens hardly saw more than he +did, while yet he seemed to be seeing nothing; and +the small esteem in which this rare faculty was held by +himself, a quaint oddity that gave to shrewdness itself +in him an air of Irish simplicity, his unquestionable +turn for literature, and a varied knowledge of it not +always connected with such intense love and such unwearied +practice of one special and absorbing art, +combined to render him attractive far beyond the +common. His fine genius and his handsome person, +of neither of which at any time he seemed himself to +be in the slightest degree conscious, completed the +charm. Edwin Landseer, all the world's favorite, and +the excellent Stanfield, came a few months later, in the +Devonshire-Terrace days; but another painter-friend +was George Cattermole, who had then enough and to +spare of fun as well as fancy to supply ordinary artists +and humorists by the dozen, and wanted only a little +more ballast and steadiness to have had all that could +give attraction to good-fellowship. A friend now especially +welcome, too, was the novelist Mr. Ainsworth, +who shared with us incessantly for the three following +years in the companionship which began at his house; +with whom we visited, during two of those years, +friends of art and letters in his native Manchester, +from among whom Dickens brought away his Brothers +Cheeryble, and to whose sympathy in tastes and pursuits,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +accomplishments in literature, open-hearted generous +ways, and cordial hospitality, many of the +pleasures of later years were due. Frederick Dickens, +to whom soon after this a treasury clerkship was handsomely +given, on Dickens's application, by Mr. Stanley +of Alderley, known in and before those Manchester +days, was for the present again living with his father, +but passed much time in his brother's home; and +another familiar face was that of Mr. Thomas Mitton, +who had known him when himself a law-clerk in Lincoln's +Inn, through whom there was introduction of +the relatives of a friend and partner, Mr. Smithson, the +gentleman connected with Yorkshire mentioned in his +preface to <i>Nickleby</i>, who became very intimate in his +house. These, his father and mother and their two +younger sons, with members of his wife's family, and +his married sisters and their husbands, Mr. and Mrs. +Burnett and Mr. and Mrs. Austin, are figures that all +associate themselves prominently with the days of +Doughty Street and the cottages of Twickenham and +Petersham as remembered by me in the summers of +1838 and 1839.</p> + +<p>In the former of these years the sports were necessarily +quieter<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> than at Petersham, where extensive garden-grounds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +admitted of much athletic competition, from +the more difficult forms of which I in general modestly +retired, but where Dickens for the most part held his +own against even such accomplished athletes as Maclise +and Mr. Beard. Bar-leaping, bowling, and quoits were +among the games carried on with the greatest ardor; +and in sustained energy, what is called keeping it up, +Dickens certainly distanced every competitor. Even +the lighter recreations of battledoor and bagatelle were +pursued with relentless activity; and at such amusements +as the Petersham races, in those days rather celebrated, +and which he visited daily while they lasted, +he worked much harder himself than the running +horses did.</p> + +<p>What else his letters of these years enable me to recall, +that could possess any interest now, may be told +in a dozen sentences. He wrote a farce by way of +helping the Covent Garden manager which the actors +could not agree about, and which he turned afterwards +into a story called <i>The Lamplighter</i>. He entered his +name among the students at the inn of the Middle +Temple, though he did not eat dinners there until +many years later. We made together a circuit of +nearly all the London prisons, and, in coming to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +prisoners under remand while going over Newgate, accompanied +by Macready and Mr. Hablot Browne,<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> +were startled by a sudden tragic cry of "My God! +there's Wainewright!" In the shabby-genteel creature, +with sandy disordered hair and dirty moustache, who +had turned quickly round with a defiant stare at our +entrance, looking at once mean and fierce, and quite +capable of the cowardly murders he had committed, Macready +had been horrified to recognize a man familiarly +known to him in former years, and at whose table he +had dined. Between the completion of <i>Oliver</i> and its +publication, Dickens went to see something of North +Wales; and, joining him at Liverpool, I returned with +him.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> Soon after his arrival he had pleasant communication +with Lockhart, dining with him at Cruikshank's +a little later; and this was the prelude to a +<i>Quarterly</i> notice of <i>Oliver</i> by Mr. Ford, written at the +instance of Lockhart, but without the raciness he would +have put into it, in which amende was made for previous +less favorable remarks in that review. Dickens had +not, however, waited for this to express publicly his +hearty sympathy with Lockhart's handling of some +passages in his admirable <i>Life of Scott</i> that had drawn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +down upon him the wrath of the Ballantynes. This he +did in the <i>Examiner;</i> where also I find him noticing a +book by Thomas Hood: "rather poor, but I have not +said so, because Hood is too, and ill besides." In the +course of the year he was taken into Devonshire to +select a home for his father, on the removal of the latter +(who had long given up his reporting duties) from +his London residence; and this he found in a cottage +at Alphington, near Exeter, where he placed the elder +Dickens with his wife and their youngest son. The +same year closed Macready's Covent Garden management, +and at the dinner to the retiring manager, when +the Duke of Cambridge took the chair, Dickens spoke +with that wonderful instinct of knowing what to abstain +from saying, as well as what to say, which made his +after-dinner speeches quite unique. Nor should mention +be omitted of the Shakspeare Society, now diligently +attended, of which Procter, Talfourd, Macready, +Thackeray, Henry Davison, Blanchard, Charles Knight, +John Bell, Douglas Jerrold, Maclise, Stanfield, George +Cattermole, the good Tom Landseer, Frank Stone, and +other old friends were members, and where, out of +much enjoyment and many disputings,<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> there arose,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +from Dickens and all of us, plenty of after-dinner oratory. +The closing months of this year of 1839 had +special interest for him. At the end of October another +daughter was born to him, who bears the name of that +dear friend of his and mine, Macready, whom he asked +to be her godfather; and before the close of the year +he had moved out of Doughty Street into Devonshire +Terrace, a handsome house with a garden of considerable +size, shut out from the New Road by a high brick +wall facing the York Gate into Regent's Park. These +various matters, and his attempts at the <i>Barnaby</i> novel +on the conclusion of <i>Nickleby</i>, are the subject of his +letters between October and December.</p> + +<p>"Thank God, all goes famously. I have worked at +<i>Barnaby</i> all day, and moreover seen a beautiful (and +reasonable) house in Kent Terrace, where Macready +once lived, but larger than his." Again (this having +gone off): "<i>Barnaby</i> has suffered so much from the +house-hunting, that I mustn't chop to-day." Then +(for the matter of the Middle Temple), "I return the +form. It's the right temple, I take for granted. <i>Barnaby</i> +moves, not at race-horse speed, but yet as fast (I +think) as under these unsettled circumstances could +possibly be expected." Or again: "All well. <i>Barnaby</i> +has reached his tenth page. I have just turned +lazy, and have passed into <i>Christabel</i>, and thence to +<i>Wallenstein</i>." At last the choice was made. "A +house of great promise (and great premium), 'undeniable'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +situation, and excessive splendor, is in view. +Mitton is in treaty, and I am in ecstatic restlessness. +Kate wants to know whether you have any books to +send her, so please to shoot here any literary rubbish +on hand." To these I will only add a couple of extracts +from his letters while in Exeter arranging his +father's and mother's new home. They are very +humorous; and the vividness with which everything, +once seen, was photographed in his mind and memory, +is pleasantly shown in them.</p> + +<p>"I took a little house for them this morning" (5th +March, 1839: from the New London Inn), "and if +they are not pleased with it I shall be grievously disappointed. +Exactly a mile beyond the city on the +Plymouth road there are two white cottages: one is +theirs and the other belongs to their landlady. I +almost forget the number of rooms, but there is an excellent +parlor with two other rooms on the ground floor, +there is really a beautiful little room over the parlor +which I am furnishing as a drawing-room, and there is +a splendid garden. The paint and paper throughout is +new and fresh and cheerful-looking, the place is clean +beyond all description, and the neighborhood I suppose +the most beautiful in this most beautiful of English +counties. Of the landlady, a Devonshire widow +with whom I had the honor of taking lunch to-day, I +must make most especial mention. She is a fat, infirm, +splendidly-fresh-faced country dame, rising sixty and +recovering from an attack 'on the nerves'—I thought +they never went off the stones, but I find they +try country air with the best of us. In the event of +my mother's being ill at any time, I really think the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +vicinity of this good dame, the very picture of respectability +and good humor, will be the greatest possible +comfort. <i>Her</i> furniture and domestic arrangements +are a capital picture, but that I reserve till I see you, +when I anticipate a hearty laugh. She bears the highest +character with the bankers and the clergyman (who +formerly lived in <i>my</i> cottage himself), and is a kind-hearted +worthy capital specimen of the sort of life, +or I have no eye for the real and no idea of finding it +out.</p> + +<p>"This good lady's brother and his wife live in the +next nearest cottage, and the brother transacts the good +lady's business, the nerves not admitting of her transacting +it herself, although they leave her in her debilitated +state something sharper than the finest lancet. +Now, the brother having coughed all night till he +coughed himself into such a perspiration that you +might have 'wringed his hair,' according to the asseveration +of eye-witnesses, his wife was sent for to negotiate +with me; and if you could have seen me sitting in +the kitchen with the two old women, endeavoring to +make them comprehend that I had no evil intentions +or covert designs, and that I had come down all that +way to take some cottage and had <i>happened</i> to walk +down that road and see that particular one, you would +never have forgotten it. Then, to see the servant-girl +run backwards and forwards to the sick man, and when +the sick man had signed one agreement which I drew +up and the old woman instantly put away in a disused +tea-caddy, to see the trouble and the number of messages +it took before the sick man could be brought to +sign another (a duplicate) that we might have one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +apiece, was one of the richest scraps of genuine drollery +I ever saw in all my days. How, when the business +was over, we became conversational; how I was facetious, +and at the same time virtuous and domestic; how +I drank toasts in the beer, and stated on interrogatory +that I was a married man and the father of two blessed +infants; how the ladies marveled thereat; how one +of the ladies, having been in London, inquired where +I lived, and, being told, remembered that Doughty +Street and the Foundling Hospital were in the Old +Kent Road, which I didn't contradict,—all this and a +great deal more must make us laugh when I return, as it +makes me laugh now to think of. Of my subsequent +visit to the upholsterer recommended by the landlady; +of the absence of the upholsterer's wife, and the timidity +of the upholsterer fearful of acting in her absence; of my +sitting behind a high desk in a little dark shop, calling +over the articles in requisition and checking off the +prices as the upholsterer exhibited the goods and called +them out; of my coming over the upholsterer's daughter +with many virtuous endearments, to propitiate the +establishment and reduce the bill; of these matters I +say nothing, either, for the same reason as that just +mentioned. The discovery of the cottage I seriously +regard as a blessing (not to speak it profanely) upon +our efforts in this cause. I had heard nothing from the +bank, and walked straight there, by some strange impulse, +directly after breakfast. I am sure they may be +happy there; for if I were older, and my course of +activity were run, I am sure <i>I</i> could, with God's blessing, +for many and many a year." . . .</p> + +<p>"The theatre is open here, and Charles Kean is to-night<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +playing for his last night. If it had been the +'rig'lar' drama I should have gone, but I was afraid Sir +Giles Overreach might upset me, so I stayed away. My +quarters are excellent, and the head-waiter is <i>such</i> a +waiter! Knowles (not Sheridan Knowles, but Knowles +of the Cheetham Hill Road<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a>) is an ass to him. This +sounds bold, but truth is stranger than fiction. By-the-by, +not the least comical thing that has occurred was the +visit of the upholsterer (with some further calculations) +since I began this letter. I think they took me here at +the New London for the Wonderful Being I am; they +were amazingly sedulous; and no doubt they looked +for my being visited by the nobility and gentry of the +neighborhood. My first and only visitor came to-night: +a ruddy-faced man in faded black, with extracts from a +feather-bed all over him; an extraordinary and quite +miraculously dirty face; a thick stick; and the personal +appearance altogether of an amiable bailiff in a green +old age. I have not seen the proper waiter since, and +more than suspect I shall not recover this blow. He +was announced (by <i>the</i> waiter) as 'a person.' I expect +my bill every minute. . . .</p> + +<p>"The waiter is laughing outside the door with +another waiter—this is the latest intelligence of my +condition."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>NEW LITERARY PROJECT.</h3> + +<h3>1839.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Thoughts for the Future—Doubts of old Serial Form—Suggestion for +his Publishers—My Mediation with them—Proposed Weekly Publication—Design +of it—Old Favorites to be revived—Subjects to be +dealt with—Chapters on Chambers—Gog and Magog Relaxations—Savage +Chronicles—Others as well as himself to write—Travels +to Ireland and America in View—Stipulation as to Property and +Payments—Great Hopes of Success—Assent of his Publishers—No +Planned Story—Terms of Agreement—Notion for his Hero—A +Name hit upon—Sanguine of the Issue.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> time was now come for him seriously to busy +himself with a successor to <i>Pickwick</i> and <i>Nickleby</i>, +which he had not, however, waited thus long before +turning over thoroughly in his mind. <i>Nickleby's</i> success +had so far outgone even the expectation raised by +<i>Pickwick's</i>, that, without some handsome practical admission +of this fact at the close, its publishers could +hardly hope to retain him. This had been frequently +discussed by us, and was well understood. But, apart +from the question of his resuming with them at all, he +had persuaded himself it might be unsafe to resume in +the old way, believing the public likely to tire of the +same twenty numbers over again. There was also +another and more sufficient reason for change which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +naturally had great weight with him, and this was the +hope that, by invention of a new mode as well as kind +of serial publication, he might be able for a time to +discontinue the writing of a long story with all its +strain on his fancy, in any case to shorten and vary +the length of the stories written by himself, and perhaps +ultimately to retain all the profits of a continuous +publication without necessarily himself contributing +every line that was to be written for it. These considerations +had been discussed still more anxiously; +and for several months some such project had been taking +form in his thoughts.</p> + +<p>While he was at Petersham (July, 1839) he thus wrote +to me: "I have been thinking that subject over. Indeed, +I have been doing so to the great stoppage of +<i>Nickleby</i> and the great worrying and fidgeting of myself. +I have been thinking that if Chapman & Hall +were to admit you into their confidence with respect to +what they mean to do at the conclusion of <i>Nickleby</i>, +without admitting me, it would help us very much. +You know that I am well disposed towards them, and +that if they do something handsome, even handsomer +perhaps than they dreamt of doing, they will find it +their interest, and will find me tractable. You know +also that I have had straightforward offers from responsible +men to publish anything for me at a percentage +on the profits and take all the risk; but that I am unwilling +to leave them, and have declared to you that if +they behave with liberality to me I will not on any +consideration, although to a certain extent I certainly +and surely must gain by it. Knowing all this, I feel +sure that if you were to put before them the glories of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +our new project, and, reminding them that when <i>Barnaby</i> +is published I am clear of all engagements, were +to tell them that if they wish to secure me and perpetuate +our connection now is the time for them to step +gallantly forward and make such proposals as will produce +that result,—I feel quite sure that if this should be +done by you, as you only can do it, the result will be +of the most vital importance to me and mine, and that +a very great deal may be effected, thus, to recompense +your friend for very small profits and very large work +as yet. I shall see you, please God, on Tuesday night; +and if they wait upon you on Wednesday, I shall remain +in town until that evening."</p> + +<p>They came; and the tenor of the interview was so +favorable that I wished him to put in writing what from +time to time had been discussed in connection with +the new project. This led to the very interesting letter +I shall now quote, written also in the same month from +Petersham. I did not remember, until I lately read it, +that the notion of a possible visit to America had been +in his thoughts so early.</p> + +<p>"I should be willing to commence on the thirty-first +of March, 1840, a new publication, consisting entirely +of original matter, of which one number, price threepence, +should be published every week, and of which a +certain amount of numbers should form a volume, to +be published at regular intervals. The best general +idea of the plan of the work might be given, perhaps, +by reference to the <i>Spectator</i>, the <i>Tatler</i>, and Goldsmith's +<i>Bee;</i> but it would be far more popular both in +the subjects of which it treats and its mode of treating +them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I should propose to start, as the <i>Spectator</i> does, with +some pleasant fiction relative to the origin of the publication; +to introduce a little club or knot of characters +and to carry their personal histories and proceedings +through the work; to introduce fresh characters constantly; +to reintroduce Mr. Pickwick and Sam Weller, +the latter of whom might furnish an occasional communication +with great effect; to write amusing essays on +the various foibles of the day as they arise; to take advantage +of all passing events; and to vary the form of +the papers by throwing them into sketches, essays, +tales, adventures, letters from imaginary correspondents, +and so forth, so as to diversify the contents as +much as possible.</p> + +<p>"In addition to this general description of the contents, +I may add that under particular heads I should +strive to establish certain features in the work, which +should be so many veins of interest and amusement +running through the whole. Thus the Chapters on +Chambers, which I have long thought and spoken of, +might be very well incorporated with it; and a series +of papers has occurred to me containing stories and +descriptions of London as it was many years ago, as +it is now, and as it will be many years hence, to which +I would give some such title as The Relaxations of Gog +and Magog, dividing them into portions like the +<i>Arabian Nights</i>, and supposing Gog and Magog to +entertain each other with such narrations in Guildhall +all night long, and to break off every morning at daylight. +An almost inexhaustible field of fun, raillery, +and interest would be laid open by pursuing this idea.</p> + +<p>"I would also commence, and continue from time to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +time, a series of satirical papers purporting to be translated +from some Savage Chronicles, and to describe the +administration of justice in some country that never +existed, and record the proceedings of its wise men. +The object of this series (which if I can compare it +with anything would be something between <i>Gulliver's +Travels</i> and the <i>Citizen of the World</i>) would be to keep +a special lookout upon the magistrates in town and +country, and never to leave those worthies alone.</p> + +<p>"The quantity of each number that should be written +by myself would be a matter for discussion and arrangement. +Of course I should pledge and bind myself upon +that head. Nobody but myself would ever pursue <i>these +ideas</i>, but I must have assistance of course, and there +must be some contents of a different kind. Their general +nature might be agreed upon beforehand, but I +should stipulate that this assistance is chosen solely by +myself, and that the contents of every number are as +much under my own control, and subject to as little +interference, as those of a number of <i>Pickwick</i> or +<i>Nickleby</i>.</p> + +<p>"In order to give fresh novelty and interest to this +undertaking, I should be ready to contract to go at +any specified time (say in the midsummer or autumn +of the year, when a sufficient quantity of matter in advance +should have been prepared, or earlier if it were +thought fit) either to Ireland or to America, and to +write from thence a series of papers descriptive of the +places and people I see, introducing local tales, traditions, +and legends, something after the plan of Washington +Irving's <i>Alhambra</i>. I should wish the republication +of these papers in a separate form, with others<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +to render the subject complete (if we should deem it +advisable), to form part of the arrangement for the +work; and I should wish the same provision to be +made for the republication of the Gog and Magog +series, or indeed any that I undertook.</p> + +<p>"This is a very rough and slight outline of the project +I have in view. I am ready to talk the matter +over, to give any further explanations, to consider any +suggestions, or to go into the details of the subject immediately. +I say nothing of the novelty of such a publication +nowadays, or its chances of success. Of course +I think them very great, very great indeed,—almost +beyond calculation,—or I should not seek to bind myself +to anything so extensive.</p> + +<p>"The heads of the terms upon which I should be +prepared to go into this undertaking would be—That I +be made a proprietor in the work and a sharer in the +profits. That when I bind myself to write a certain +portion of every number, I am insured, <i>for</i> that writing +in every number, a certain sum of money. That those +who assist me, and contribute the remainder of every +number, shall be paid by the publishers immediately +after its appearance, according to a scale to be calculated +and agreed upon, on presenting my order for the +amount to which they may be respectively entitled. Or, +if the publishers prefer it, that they agree to pay me a +certain sum for the <i>whole</i> of every number, and leave +me to make such arrangements for that part which I +may not write, as I think best. Of course I should require +that for these payments, or any other outlay connected +with the work, I am not held accountable in any +way; and that no portion of them is to be considered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +as received by me on account of the profits. I need +not add that some arrangement would have to be made, +if I undertake my Travels, relative to the expenses of +traveling.</p> + +<p>"Now, I want our publishing friends to take these +things into consideration, and to give me the views and +proposals they would be disposed to entertain when they +have maturely considered the matter."</p> + +<p>The result of their consideration was, on the whole, +satisfactory. An additional fifteen hundred pounds was +to be paid at the close of <i>Nickleby</i>, the new adventure +was to be undertaken, and Cattermole was to be joined +with Browne as its illustrator. Nor was its plan much +modified before starting, though it was felt by us all +that, for the opening numbers at least, Dickens would +have to be sole contributor, and that, whatever otherwise +might be its attraction, or the success of the detached +papers proposed by him, some reinforcement of +them from time to time, by means of a story with his +name continued at reasonable if not regular intervals, +would be found absolutely necessary. Without any +such planned story, however, the work did actually begin, +its course afterwards being determined by circumstances +stronger than any project he had formed. The +agreement, drawn up in contemplation of a mere miscellany +of detached papers or essays, and in which no +mention of any story appeared, was signed at the end +of March; and its terms were such as to place him in +his only proper and legitimate position in regard to all +such contracts, of being necessarily a gainer in any +case, and, in the event of success, the greatest gainer +of all concerned in the undertaking. All the risk of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +every kind was to be undergone by the publishers; and, +as part of the expenses to be defrayed by them of each +weekly number, he was to receive fifty pounds. Whatever +the success or failure, this was always to be paid. +The numbers were then to be accounted for separately, +and half the realized profits paid to him, the other half +going to the publishers; each number being held +strictly responsible for itself, and the loss upon it, supposing +any, not carried to the general account. The +work was to be continued for twelve months certain, +with leave to the publishers then to close it; but if +they elected to go on, he was himself bound to the enterprise +for five years, and the ultimate copyright as +well as profit was to be equally divided.</p> + +<p>Six weeks before signature of this agreement, while a +title was still undetermined, I had this letter from him: +"I will dine with you. I intended to spend the evening +in strict meditation (as I did last night); but perhaps +I had better go out, lest all work and no play +should make me a dull boy. <i>I</i> have a list of titles too, +but the final title I have determined on—or something +very near it. I have a notion of this old file in the +queer house, opening the book by an account of himself, +and, among other peculiarities, of his affection for +an old quaint queer-cased clock; showing how that +when they have sat alone together in the long evenings, +he has got accustomed to its voice, and come to consider +it as the voice of a friend; how its striking, in +the night, has seemed like an assurance to him that it +was still, a cheerful watcher at his chamber-door; and +now its very face has seemed to have something of +welcome in its dusty features, and to relax from its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +grimness when he has looked at it from his chimney-corner. +Then I mean to tell how that he has kept odd +manuscripts in the old, deep, dark, silent closet where +the weights are; and taken them from thence to read +(mixing up his enjoyments with some notion of his +clock); and how, when the club came to be formed, +they, by reason of their punctuality and his regard for +this dumb servant, took their name from it. And thus +I shall call the book either <i>Old Humphrey's Clock</i>, or +<i>Master Humphrey's Clock;</i> beginning with a woodcut +of old Humphrey and his clock, and explaining the +why and wherefore. All Humphrey's own papers will +be dated then From my clock-side, and I have divers +thoughts about the best means of introducing the others. +I thought about this all day yesterday and all last night +till I went to bed. I am sure I can make a good thing +of this opening, which I have thoroughly warmed up +to in consequence."</p> + +<p>A few days later: "I incline rather more to <i>Master +Humphrey's Clock</i> than <i>Old Humphrey's</i>—if so be that +there is no danger of the pensive confounding master +with a boy." After two days more: "I was thinking +all yesterday, and have begun at <i>Master Humphrey</i> to-day." +Then, a week later: "I have finished the first +number, but have not been able to do more in the +space than lead up to the Giants, who are just on the +scene."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP.</h3> + +<h3>1840-1841.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Visit to Walter Landor—First Thought of Little Nell—Hopeful of +Master Humphrey—A Title for the Child-Story—First Sale of <i>Master +Humphrey's Clock</i>—Its Original Plan abandoned—Reasons for +Original Plan abandoned—Reasons for +this—To be limited to One Story—Disadvantages of Weekly Publication—A +Favorite Description—In Bevis Marks for Sampson +Brass—At Lawn House, Broadstairs—Dedication of his First Volume +to Rogers—Chapters 43-45—Dick Swiveller and the Marchioness—Masterpiece +of Kindly Fun—Closing of the Tale—Effect +upon the Writer—Making-believe very much—The End approaching—The +Realities of Fiction—Death of Little Nell—My Share in +the Close—A Suggestion adopted by him—Success of the Story—Useful +Lessons—Its Mode of Construction—Character and Characteristics—The +Art of it—A Recent Tribute—Harte's "Dickens in +Camp."</div> + + +<p>A <span class="smcap">day</span> or two after the date of the last letter quoted, +Dickens and his wife, with Maclise and myself, visited +Landor in Bath, and it was during three happy days we +passed together there that the fancy which was shortly +to take the form of Little Nell first occurred to its author,<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a>—but +as yet with the intention only of making<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +out of it a tale of a few chapters. On the 1st of March +we returned from Bath; and on the 4th I had this letter: +"If you can manage to give me a call in the course +of the day or evening, I wish you would. I am laboriously +turning over in my mind how I can best effect the +improvement we spoke of last night, which I will certainly +make by hook or by crook, and which I would +like you to see <i>before</i> it goes finally to the printer's. I +have determined not to put that witch-story into number +3, for I am by no means satisfied of the effect of its +contrast with Humphrey. I think of lengthening Humphrey, +finishing the description of the society, and +closing with the little child-story, which is <span class="smcap">sure</span> to be +effective, especially after the old man's quiet way."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +Then there came hard upon this: "What do you think +of the following double title for the beginning of that +little tale? '<span class="smcap">Personal Adventures of Master Humphrey</span>: +<i>The Old Curiosity Shop</i>.' I have thought of +<i>Master Humphrey's Tale</i>, <i>Master Humphrey's Narrative</i>, +<i>A Passage in Master Humphrey's Life</i>—but I don't +think any does as well as this. I have also thought of +<i>The Old Curiosity Dealer and the Child</i> instead of <i>The +Old Curiosity Shop</i>. Perpend. Topping waits."——And +thus was taking gradual form, with less direct consciousness +of design on his own part than I can remember +in any other instance of all his career, a story which +was to add largely to his popularity, more than any +other of his works to make the bond between himself +and his readers one of personal attachment, and very +widely to increase the sense entertained of his powers +as a pathetic as well as humorous writer.</p> + +<p>He had not written more than two or three chapters, +when the capability of the subject for more extended +treatment than he had at first proposed to give to it +pressed itself upon him, and he resolved to throw everything +else aside, devoting himself to the one story only. +There were other strong reasons for this. Of the first +number of the <i>Clock</i> nearly seventy thousand were sold; +but with the discovery that there was no continuous +tale the orders at once diminished, and a change must +have been made even if the material and means for it +had not been ready. There had been an interval of +three numbers between the first and second chapters, +which the society of Mr. Pickwick and the two Wellers +made pleasant enough; but after the introduction of +Dick Swiveller there were three consecutive chapters;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +and in the continued progress of the tale to its close +there were only two more breaks, one between the +fourth and fifth chapters and one between the eighth +and ninth, pardonable and enjoyable now for the sake +of Sam and his father. The reintroduction of these +old favorites, it will have been seen, formed part of his +original plan; of his abandonment of which his own +description may be added, from his preface to the +collected edition: "The first chapter of this tale appeared +in the fourth number of <i>Master Humphrey's +Clock</i>, when I had already been made uneasy by the +desultory character of that work, and when, I believe, +my readers had thoroughly participated in the feeling. +The commencement of a story was a great satisfaction +to me, and I had reason to believe that my readers +participated in this feeling too. Hence, being pledged +to some interruptions and some pursuit of the original +design, I set cheerfully about disentangling myself from +those impediments as fast as I could; and, this done, +from that time until its completion <i>The Old Curiosity +Shop</i> was written and published from week to week, in +weekly parts."</p> + +<p>He had very early himself become greatly taken with +it. "I am very glad indeed," he wrote to me after +the first half-dozen chapters, "that you think so well +of the <i>Curiosity Shop</i>, and especially that what may be +got out of Dick strikes you. I <i>mean</i> to make much of +him. I feel the story extremely myself, which I take +to be a good sign; and am already warmly interested +in it. I shall run it on now for four whole numbers +together, to give it a fair chance." Every step lightened +the road as it became more and more real with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +each character that appeared in it, and I still recall the +glee with which he told me what he intended to do not +only with Dick Swiveller, but with Septimus Brass, +changed afterwards to Sampson. Undoubtedly, however, +Dick was his favorite. "Dick's behavior in the +matter of Miss Wackles will, I hope, give you satisfaction," +is the remark of another of his letters. "I cannot +yet discover that his aunt has any belief in him, or +is in the least degree likely to send him a remittance, +so that he will probably continue to be the sport of +destiny." His difficulties were the quickly recurring +times of publication, the confined space in each number +that yet had to contribute its individual effect, and +(from the suddenness with which he had begun) the +impossibility of getting in advance. "I was obliged +to cramp most dreadfully what I thought a pretty idea +in the last chapter. I hadn't room to turn:" to this +or a similar effect his complaints are frequent, and of +the vexations named it was by far the worst. But he +steadily bore up against all, and made a triumph of the +little story.</p> + +<p>To help his work he went twice to Broadstairs, in +June and in September. From this he wrote to me +(17th June), "It's now four o'clock, and I have been +at work since half-past eight. I have really dried myself +up into a condition which would almost justify me +in pitching off the cliff, head first—but I must get +richer before I indulge in a crowning luxury. Number +15, which I began to-day, I anticipate great things +from. There is a description of getting gradually out +of town, and passing through neighborhoods of distinct +and various characters, with which, if I had read<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +it as anybody else's writing, I think I should have been +very much struck. The child and the old man are on +their journey of course, and the subject is a very pretty +one." Between these two Broadstairs visits he wrote +to me, "I intended calling on you this morning on my +way back from Bevis Marks, whither I went to look at +a house for Sampson Brass. But I got mingled up in a +kind of social paste with the Jews of Houndsditch, and +roamed about among them till I came out in Moorfields, +quite unexpectedly. So I got into a cab, and +came home again, very tired, by way of the City Road." +At the opening of September he was again at Broadstairs. +The residence he most desired there, Fort +House, stood prominently at the top of a breezy hill +on the road to Kingsgate, with a corn-field between it +and the sea, and this in many subsequent years he +always occupied; but he was fain to be content, as +yet, with Lawn House, a smaller villa between the hill +and the corn-field, from which he now wrote of his attentions +to Mr. Sampson Brass's sister: "I have been +at work of course" (2d September), "and have just +finished a number. I have effected a reform by virtue +of which we breakfast at a quarter-before eight, so that +I get to work at half-past, and am commonly free by +one o'clock or so, which is a great happiness. Dick +is now Sampson's clerk, and I have touched Miss +Brass in Number 25, lightly, but effectively I hope."</p> + +<p>At this point it became necessary to close the first +volume of the <i>Clock</i>, which was issued accordingly with +a dedication to Rogers, and a preface to which allusion +will be made hereafter. "I have opened the second<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +volume," he wrote to me on the 9th of September, +"with Kit; and I saw this morning looking out at the +sea, as if a veil had been lifted up, an affecting thing +that I can do with him by-and-by. Nous verrons." +"I am glad you like that Kit number," he wrote twelve +days later; "I thought you would. I have altered that +about the opera-going. Of course I had no intention +to delude the many-headed into a false belief concerning +opera-nights, but merely to specify a class of senators. +I needn't have done it, however, for God knows +they're pretty well all alike." This referred to an +objection made by me to something he had written +of "opera-going senators on Wednesday nights;" and, +of another change made in compliance with some other +objection of mine, he wrote on the 4th of October, +"You will receive the proof herewith. I have altered +it. You must let it stand now. I really think the dead +mankind a million fathoms deep, the best thing in the +sentence. I have a notion of the dreadful silence down +there, and of the stars shining down upon their drowned +eyes,—the fruit, let me tell you, of a solitary walk by +starlight on the cliffs. As to the child-image, I have +made a note of it for alteration. In number thirty +there will be some cutting needed, I think. I have, +however, something in my eye near the beginning which +I can easily take out. You will recognize a description +of the road we traveled between Birmingham and Wolverhampton; +but I had conceived it so well in my +mind that the execution doesn't please me quite as well +as I expected. I shall be curious to know whether you +think there's anything in the notion of the man and +his furnace-fire. It would have been a good thing to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +have opened a new story with, I have been thinking +since."</p> + +<p>In the middle of October he returned to town, and +by the end of the month he had so far advanced that +the close of the story began to be not far distant. +"Tell me what you think," he had written just before +his return, "of 36 and 37? The way is clear for Kit +now, and for a great effect at the last with the Marchioness." +The last allusion I could not in the least +understand, until I found, in the numbers just sent me, +those exquisite chapters of the tale, the 57th and 58th, +in which Dick Swiveller realizes his threat to Miss +Wackles, discovers the small creature that his destiny +is expressly saving up for him, dubs her Marchioness, +and teaches her the delights of hot purl and cribbage. +This is comedy of the purest kind; its great charm +being the good-hearted fellow's kindness to the poor +desolate child hiding itself under cover of what seems +only mirth and fun. Altogether, and because of rather +than in spite of his weakness, Dick is a captivating +person. His gayety and good humor survive such accumulations +of "staggerers," he makes such discoveries +of the "rosy" in the very smallest of drinks, and becomes +himself by his solacements of verse such a "perpetual +grand Apollo," that his failings are all forgiven, +and hearts resolutely shut against victims of destiny in +general open themselves freely to Dick Swiveller.</p> + +<p>At the opening of November, there seems to have +been a wish on Maclise's part to try his hand at an +illustration for the story; but I do not remember that +it bore other fruit than a very pleasant day at Jack +Straw's Castle, where Dickens read one of the later<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +numbers to us. "Maclise and myself (alone in the +carriage)," he wrote, "will be with you at two exactly. +We propose driving out to Hampstead and walking +there, if it don't rain in buckets'-full. I sha'n't send +Bradburys' the MS. of next number till to-morrow, for +it contains the shadow of the number after that, and I +want to read it to Mac, as, if he likes the subject, it +will furnish him with one, I think. You can't imagine +(gravely I write and speak) how exhausted I am to-day +with yesterday's labors. I went to bed last night +utterly dispirited and done up. All night I have been +pursued by the child; and this morning I am unrefreshed +and miserable. I don't know what to do with +myself. . . . I think the close of the story will be great." +Connected with the same design on Maclise's part +there was another reading, this time at my house, and +of the number shadowed forth by what had been read +at Hampstead. "I will bring the MS.," he writes on +the 12th of November, "and, for Mac's information +if needful, the number before it. I have only this +moment put the finishing touch to it. The difficulty +has been tremendous—the anguish unspeakable. I +didn't say six. Therefore dine at half-past five like a +Christian. I shall bring Mac at that hour."</p> + +<p>He had sent me, shortly before, the chapters in which +the Marchioness nurses Dick in his fever, and puts his +favorite philosophy to the hard test of asking him +whether he has ever put pieces of orange-peel into cold +water and made believe it was wine. "If you make +believe very much, it's quite nice; but if you don't, +you know, it hasn't much flavor:" so it stood originally, +and to the latter word in the little creature's mouth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +I seem to have objected. Replying (on the 16th of +December) he writes, "'If you make believe very +much, it's quite nice; but if you don't, you know, it +seems as if it would bear a little more seasoning, certainly.' +I think that's better. Flavor is a common +word in cookery, and among cooks, and so I used it. +The part you cut out in the other number, which was +sent me this morning, I had put in with a view to +Quilp's last appearance on any stage, which is casting +its shadow upon my mind; but it will come well enough +without such a preparation, so I made no change. I +mean to shirk Sir Robert Inglis, and work to-night. I +have been solemnly revolving the general story all this +morning. The forty-fifth number will certainly close. +Perhaps this forty-first, which I am now at work on, +had better contain the announcement of <i>Barnaby?</i> I +am glad you like Dick and the Marchioness in that +sixty-fourth chapter. I thought you would."</p> + +<p>Fast shortening as the life of little Nell was now, the +dying year might have seen it pass away; but I never +knew him wind up any tale with such a sorrowful +reluctance as this. He caught at any excuse to hold +his hand from it, and stretched to the utmost limit the +time left to complete it in. Christmas interposed its +delays too, so that Twelfth-night had come and gone +when I wrote to him in the belief that he was nearly +done. "Done!" he wrote back to me on Friday, the +7th; "Done!!! Why, bless you, I shall not be done +till Wednesday night. I only began yesterday, and this +part of the story is not to be galloped over, I can tell +you. I think it will come famously—but I am the +wretchedest of the wretched. It casts the most horrible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +shadow upon me, and it is as much as I can do to +keep moving at all. I tremble to approach the place +a great deal more than Kit; a great deal more than +Mr. Garland; a great deal more than the Single Gentleman. +I sha'n't recover it for a long time. Nobody +will miss her like I shall. It is such a very painful +thing to me, that I really cannot express my sorrow. +Old wounds bleed afresh when I only think of the way +of doing it: what the actual doing it will be, God +knows. I can't preach to myself the schoolmaster's +consolation, though I try. Dear Mary died yesterday, +when I think of this sad story. I don't know what to +say about dining to-morrow—perhaps you'll send up +to-morrow morning for news? That'll be the best way. +I have refused several invitations for this week and +next, determining to go nowhere till I had done. I +am afraid of disturbing the state I have been trying to +get into, and having to fetch it all back again." He +had finished, all but the last chapter, on the Wednesday +named; that was the 12th of January; and on the following +night he read to me the two chapters of Nell's +death, the seventy-first and seventy-second, with the +result described in a letter to me of the following Monday, +the 17th January, 1841:</p> + +<p>"I can't help letting you know how much your +yesterday's letter pleased me. I felt sure you liked the +chapters when we read them on Thursday night, but it +was a great delight to have my impression so strongly +and heartily confirmed. You know how little value +I should set on what I had done, if all the world cried +out that it was good, and those whose good opinion and +approbation I value most were silent. The assurance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +that this little closing of the scene touches and is felt +by you so strongly, is better to me than a thousand most +sweet voices out of doors. When I first began, <i>on your +valued suggestion</i>, to keep my thoughts upon this ending +of the tale, I resolved to try and do something which +might be read by people about whom Death had been, +with a softened feeling, and with consolation. . . . After +you left last night, I took my desk up-stairs, and, +writing until four o'clock this morning, finished the old +story. It makes me very melancholy to think that all +these people are lost to me forever, and I feel as if I +never could become attached to any new set of characters." +The words printed in italics, as underlined +by himself, give me my share in the story which had gone +so closely to his heart. I was responsible for its tragic +ending. He had not thought of killing her, when, +about half-way through, I asked him to consider whether +it did not necessarily belong even to his own conception, +after taking so mere a child through such a tragedy +of sorrow, to lift her also out of the commonplace of +ordinary happy endings so that the gentle pure little +figure and form should never change to the fancy. All +that I meant he seized at once, and never turned aside +from it again.</p> + +<p>The published book was an extraordinary success, +and, in America more especially, very greatly increased +the writer's fame. The pathetic vein it had opened +was perhaps mainly the cause of this, but opinion at +home continued still to turn on the old characteristics,—the +freshness of humor of which the pathos was but +another form and product, the grasp of reality with +which character had again been seized, the discernment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +of good under its least attractive forms and of evil in its +most captivating disguises, the cordial wisdom and sound +heart, the enjoyment and fun, luxuriant yet under proper +control. No falling-off was found in these; and I doubt +if any of his people have been more widely liked than +Dick Swiveller and the Marchioness. The characters +generally, indeed, work out their share in the purpose +of the tale; the extravagances of some of them help to +intensify its meaning; and the sayings and doings of +the worst and the best alike have their point and applicability. +Many an oversuspicious person will find advantage +in remembering what a too liberal application +of Foxey's principle of suspecting everybody brought +Mr. Sampson Brass to; and many an overhasty judgment +of poor human nature will unconsciously be +checked, when it is remembered that Mr. Christopher +Nubbles <i>did</i> come back to work out that shilling.</p> + +<p>But the main idea and chief figure of the piece constitute +its interest for most people, and give it rank +upon the whole with the most attractive productions of +English fiction. I am not acquainted with any story +in the language more adapted to strengthen in the +heart what most needs help and encouragement, to +sustain kindly and innocent impulses, and to awaken +everywhere the sleeping germs of good. It includes +necessarily much pain, much uninterrupted sadness; +and yet the brightness and sunshine quite overtop the +gloom. The humor is so benevolent; the view of +errors that have no depravity of heart in them is so +indulgent; the quiet courage under calamity, the purity +that nothing impure can soil, are so full of tender teaching. +Its effect as a mere piece of art, too, considering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +the circumstances in which I have shown it to be written, +I think very noteworthy. It began with a plan +for but a short half-dozen chapters; it grew into a full-proportioned +story under the warmth of the feeling it +had inspired its writer with; its very incidents created +a necessity at first not seen; and it was carried to a +close only contemplated after a full half of it had been +written. Yet, from the opening of the tale to that undesigned +ending,—from the image of little Nell asleep +amid the quaint grotesque figures of the old curiosity +warehouse to that other final sleep she takes among the +grim forms and carvings of the old church aisle,—the +main purpose seems to be always present. The characters +and incidents that at first appear most foreign to it +are found to have had with it a close relation. The +hideous lumber and rottenness that surround the child +in her grandfather's home take shape again in Quilp +and his filthy gang. In the first still picture of Nell's +innocence in the midst of strange and alien forms, we +have the forecast of her after-wanderings, her patient +miseries, her sad maturity of experience before its time. +Without the show-people and their blended fictions and +realities, their wax-works, dwarfs, giants, and performing +dogs, the picture would have wanted some part +of its significance. Nor could the genius of Hogarth +himself have given it higher expression than in the +scenes by the cottage door, the furnace-fire, and the +burial-place of the old church, over whose tombs and +gravestones hang the puppets of Mr. Punch's show +while the exhibitors are mending and repairing them. +And when, at last, Nell sits within the quiet old church +where all her wanderings end, and gazes on those silent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +monumental groups of warriors,—helmets, swords, and +gauntlets wasting away around them,—the associations +among which her life had opened seem to have come +crowding on the scene again, to be present at its close,—but +stripped of their strangeness; deepened into +solemn shapes by the suffering she has undergone; +gently fusing every feeling of a life past into hopeful +and familiar anticipation of a life to come; and already +imperceptibly lifting her, without grief or pain, from +the earth she loves, yet whose grosser paths her light +steps only touched to show the track through them to +heaven. This is genuine art, and such as all cannot +fail to recognize who read the book in a right sympathy +with the conception that pervades it. Nor, great as the +discomfort was of reading it in brief weekly snatches, +can I be wholly certain that the discomfort of so writing +it involved nothing but disadvantage. With so much +in every portion to do, and so little space to do it in, +the opportunities to a writer for mere self-indulgence +were necessarily rare.</p> + +<p>Of the innumerable tributes the story has received, +and to none other by Dickens have more or more various +been paid, there is one, the very last, which has +much affected me. Not many months before my friend's +death, he had sent me two <i>Overland Monthlies</i> containing +two sketches by a young American writer far away +in California, "The Luck of Roaring Camp," and +"The Outcasts of Poker Flat," in which he had found +such subtle strokes of character as he had not anywhere +else in late years discovered; the manner resembling +himself, but the matter fresh to a degree that had surprised +him; the painting in all respects masterly, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +the wild rude thing painted a quite wonderful reality. +I have rarely known him more honestly moved. A few +months passed; telegraph-wires flashed over the world +that he had passed away on the 9th of June; and the +young writer of whom he had then written to me, all +unconscious of that praise, put his tribute of gratefulness +and sorrow into the form of a poem called <i>Dickens +in Camp</i>.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> It embodies the same kind of incident +which had so affected the master himself, in the papers +to which I have referred; it shows the gentler influences +which, in even those Californian wilds, can +restore outlawed "roaring camps" to silence and humanity; +and there is hardly any form of posthumous +tribute which I can imagine likely to have better satisfied +his desire of fame than one which should thus +connect, with the special favorite among all his heroines, +the restraints and authority exerted by his genius +over the rudest and least civilized of competitors in +that far fierce race for wealth.</p> + +<div class='poem2'> +"Above the pines the moon was slowly drifting,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The river sang below;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The dim Sierras, far beyond, uplifting</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Their minarets of snow:</span><br /> +<br /> +"The roaring camp-fire, with rude humor, painted<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The ruddy tints of health</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">On haggard face and form that drooped and fainted</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">In the fierce race for wealth;</span><br /> +<br /> +"Till one arose, and from his pack's scant treasure<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">A hoarded volume drew,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And cards were dropped from hands of listless leisure</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">To hear the tale anew;</span><br /> +<br /> +"And then, while round them shadows gathered faster,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And as the fire-light fell,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">He read aloud the book wherein the Master</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Had writ of 'Little Nell:'</span><br /> +<br /> +"Perhaps 'twas boyish fancy,—for the reader<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Was youngest of them all,—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But, as he read, from clustering pine and cedar</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">A silence seemed to fall;</span><br /> +<br /> +"The fir-trees, gathering closer in the shadows,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Listened in every spray,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">While the whole camp with 'Nell' on English meadows</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Wandered and lost their way.</span><br /> +<br /> +"And so in mountain solitudes—o'ertaken<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">As by some spell divine—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Their cares dropped from them like the needles shaken</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">From out the gusty pine.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Lost is that camp, and wasted all its fire;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And he who wrought that spell?—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Ah, towering pine and stately Kentish spire,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Ye have one tale to tell!</span><br /> +<br /> +"Lost is that camp! but let its fragrant story<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Blend with the breath that thrills</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">With hop-vines' incense all the pensive glory</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">That fills the Kentish hills.</span><br /> +<br /> +"And on that grave where English oak and holly<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And laurel wreaths entwine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Deem it not all a too presumptuous folly,—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">This spray of Western pine!</span><br /> +<br /> +"July, 1870."<br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>DEVONSHIRE TERRACE AND BROADSTAIRS.</h3> + +<h3>1840.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">A Good Saying—Landor mystified—The Mirthful Side of Dickens—Extravagant +Flights—Humorous Despair—Riding Exercise—First +of the Ravens—The Groom Topping—The Smoky Chimneys—Juryman +at an Inquest—Practical Humanity—Publication of <i>Clock's</i> First +Number—Transfer of <i>Barnaby</i> settled—A True Prediction—Revisiting +Old Scenes—C. D. to Chapman & Hall—Terms of Sale of <i>Barnaby</i>—A +Gift to a Friend—Final Escape from Bondage—Published +Libels about him—Said to be demented—To be insane and turned +Catholic—Begging Letter-Writers—A Donkey asked for—Mr. Kindheart—Friendly +Meetings—Social Talk—Reconciling Friends—Hint +for judging Men.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was an excellent saying of the first Lord Shaftesbury, +that, seeing every man of any capacity holds within +himself two men, the wise and the foolish, each of them +ought freely to be allowed his turn; and it was one of +the secrets of Dickens's social charm that he could, in +strict accordance with this saying, allow each part of +him its turn; could afford thoroughly to give rest and +relief to what was serious in him, and, when the time +came to play his gambols, could surrender himself +wholly to the enjoyment of the time, and become the +very genius and embodiment of one of his own most +whimsical fancies.</p> + +<p>Turning back from the narrative of his last piece of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +writing to recall a few occurrences of the year during +which it had occupied him, I find him at its opening in +one of these humorous moods, and another friend, with +myself, enslaved by its influence. "What on earth does +it all mean?" wrote poor puzzled Mr. Landor to me, +inclosing a letter from him of the date of the 11th of +February, the day after the royal nuptials of that year. +In this he had related to our old friend a wonderful +hallucination arising out of that event, which had then +taken entire possession of him. "Society is unhinged +here," thus ran the letter, "by her majesty's marriage, +and I am sorry to add that I have fallen hopelessly in +love with the Queen, and wander up and down with +vague and dismal thoughts of running away to some uninhabited +island with a maid of honor, to be entrapped +by conspiracy for that purpose. Can you suggest any +particular young person, serving in such a capacity, who +would suit me? It is too much perhaps to ask you to +join the band of noble youths (Forster is in it, and +Maclise) who are to assist me in this great enterprise, +but a man of your energy would be invaluable. I have +my eye upon Lady . . . , principally because she is +very beautiful and has no strong brothers. Upon this, +and other points of the scheme, however, we will confer +more at large when we meet; and meanwhile burn this +document, that no suspicion may arise or rumor get +abroad."</p> + +<p>The maid of honor and the uninhabited island were +flights of fancy, but the other daring delusion was for a +time encouraged to such whimsical lengths, not alone +by him, but (under his influence) by the two friends +named, that it took the wildest forms of humorous extravagance;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +and of the private confidences much interchanged, +as well as of the style of open speech in +which our joke of despairing unfitness for any further +use or enjoyment of life was unflaggingly kept up, to +the amazement of bystanders knowing nothing of what +it meant, and believing we had half lost our senses, I +permit myself to give from his letters one further illustration. +"I am utterly lost in misery," he writes to me +on the 12th of February, "and can do nothing. I +have been reading <i>Oliver</i>, <i>Pickwick</i>, and <i>Nickleby</i> to +get my thoughts together for the new effort, but all in +vain:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"My heart is at Windsor,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">My heart isn't here;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">My heart is at Windsor.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">A following my dear.</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>I saw the Responsibilities this morning, and burst into +tears. The presence of my wife aggravates me. I +loathe my parents. I detest my house. I begin to have +thoughts of the Serpentine, of the Regent's Canal, of +the razors up-stairs, of the chemist's down the street, +of poisoning myself at Mrs. ——'s table, of hanging +myself upon the pear-tree in the garden, of abstaining +from food and starving myself to death, of being bled +for my cold and tearing off the bandage, of falling +under the feet of cab-horses in the New Road, of murdering +Chapman & Hall and becoming great in story +(<span class="smcap">She</span> must hear something of me then—perhaps sign +the warrant: or is that a fable?), of turning Chartist, of +heading some bloody assault upon the palace and saving +Her by my single hand—of being anything but +what I have been, and doing anything but what I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +done. Your distracted friend, C. D." The wild derangement +of asterisks in every shape and form, with +which this incoherence closed, cannot here be given.</div> + +<p>Some ailments which dated from an earlier period in his +life made themselves felt in the spring of the year, as I remember, +and increased horse-exercise was strongly recommended +to him. "I find it will be positively necessary +to go, for five days in the week, at least," he wrote to me +in March, "on a perfect regimen of diet and exercise, and +am anxious therefore not to delay treating for a horse." +We were now in consequence, when he was not at the +sea-side, much on horseback in suburban lanes and +roads; and the spacious garden of his new house was +also turned to healthful use at even his busiest times of +work. I mark this, too, as the time when the first of +his ravens took up residence there; and as the beginning +of disputes with two of his neighbors about the +smoking of the stable-chimney, which his groom Topping, +a highly absurd little man with flaming red hair, +so complicated by secret devices of his own, meant to +conciliate each complainant alternately and having the +effect of aggravating both, that law-proceedings were +only barely avoided. "I shall give you," he writes, +"my latest report of the chimney in the form of an +address from Topping, made to me on our way from +little Hall's at Norwood the other night, where he and +Chapman and I had been walking all day, while Topping +drove Kate, Mrs. Hall, and her sisters, to Dulwich. +Topping had been regaled upon the premises, +and was just drunk enough to be confidential. 'Beggin' +your pardon, sir, but the genelman next door sir, +seems to be gettin' quite comfortable and pleasant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +about the chimley.'—'I don't think he is, Topping.'—'Yes +he is sir I think. He comes out in the yard this +morning and says, <i>Coachman</i> he says' (observe the +vision of a great large fat man called up by the word) +<i>is that your raven</i> he says, <i>Coachman? or is it Mr. +Dickens's raven?</i> he says. My master's sir, I says. +Well, he says, It's a fine bird. <i>I think the chimley 'ill +do now Coachman,—now the jint's taken off the pipe</i> he +says. I hope it will sir, I says; my master's a genelman +as wouldn't annoy no genelman if he could help +it, I'm sure; and my missis is so afraid of havin' a bit +o' fire that o' Sundays our little bit o' weal or wot not, +goes to the baker's a purpose.—<i>Damn the chimley, +Coachman</i>, he says, <i>it's a smokin' now</i>.—It ain't a +smokin' your way sir, I says; Well he says <i>no more it +is, Coachman, and as long as it smokes anybody else's +way, it's all right and I'm agreeable</i>.' Of course I shall +now have the man from the other side upon me, and +very likely with an action of nuisance for smoking into +his conservatory."</p> + +<p>A graver incident, which occurred to him also among +his earliest experiences as tenant of Devonshire Terrace, +illustrates too well the always practical turn of +his kindness and humanity not to deserve relation here. +He has himself described it in one of his minor writings, +in setting down what he remembered as the only +good that ever came of a beadle. Of that great parish +functionary, he says, "having newly taken the lease of +a house in a certain distinguished metropolitan parish, +a house which then appeared to me to be a frightfully +first-class family mansion involving awful responsibilities, +I became the prey." In other words, he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +summoned, and obliged to sit, as juryman at an inquest +on the body of a little child alleged to have been +murdered by its mother; of which the result was, that, +by his persevering exertion, seconded by the humane +help of the coroner, Mr. Wakley, the verdict of himself +and his fellow-jurymen charged her only with concealment +of the birth. "The poor desolate creature +dropped upon her knees before us with protestations +that we were right (protestations among the most +affecting that I have ever heard in my life), and was +carried away insensible. I caused some extra care to +be taken of her in the prison, and counsel to be retained +for her defense when she was tried at the Old +Bailey; and her sentence was lenient, and her history +and conduct proved that it was right." How much +he felt the little incident, at the actual time of its +occurrence, may be judged from the few lines written +to me next morning: "Whether it was the poor baby, +or its poor mother, or the coffin, or my fellow-jurymen, +or what not, I can't say, but last night I had a most +violent attack of sickness and indigestion, which not +only prevented me from sleeping, but even from lying +down. Accordingly Kate and I sat up through the +dreary watches."</p> + +<p>The day of the first publication of <i>Master Humphrey</i> +(Saturday, 4th April) had by this time come, and, according +to the rule observed in his two other great ventures, +he left town with Mrs. Dickens on Friday, the +3d. With Maclise we had been together at Richmond +the previous night; and I joined him at Birmingham +the day following with news of the sale of the whole +sixty thousand copies to which the first working had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +been limited, and of orders already in hand for ten +thousand more! The excitement of the success somewhat +lengthened our holiday; and, after visiting Shakspeare's +house at Stratford and Johnson's at Lichfield, +we found our resources so straitened in returning, that, +employing as our messenger of need his younger brother +Alfred, who had joined us from Tamworth, where he +was a student-engineer, we had to pawn our gold +watches at Birmingham.</p> + +<p>At the end of the following month he went to Broadstairs, +and not many days before (on the 20th of May) +a note from Mr. Jordan on behalf of Mr. Bentley +opened the negotiations formerly referred to,<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> which +transferred to Messrs. Chapman & Hall the agreement +for <i>Barnaby Rudge</i>. I was myself absent when he left, and +in a letter announcing his departure he had written, "I +don't know of a word of news in all London, but there +will be plenty next week, for I am going away, and I +hope you'll send me an account of it. I am doubtful +whether it will be a murder, a fire, a vast robbery, or +the escape of Gould, but it will be something remarkable +no doubt. I almost blame myself for the death +of that poor girl who leaped off the monument upon +my leaving town last year. She would not have done +it if I had remained, neither would the two men have +found the skeleton in the sewers." His prediction was +quite accurate, for I had to tell him, after not many +days, of the potboy who shot at the queen. "It's a +great pity," he replied, very sensibly, "they couldn't +suffocate that boy, Master Oxford, and say no more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +about it. To have put him quietly between two feather +beds would have stopped his heroic speeches, and dulled +the sound of his glory very much. As it is, she will +have to run the gauntlet of many a fool and madman, +some of whom may perchance be better shots and use +other than Brummagem firearms." How much of this +actually came to pass, the reader knows.</p> + +<p>From the letters of his present Broadstairs visit, there +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 's'">is</ins> little further to add to their account of his progress +with his story; but a couple more lines may be given +for their characteristic expression of his invariable <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'hab'">habit</ins> +upon entering any new abode, whether to stay in it for +days or for years. On a Monday night he arrived, and +on the Tuesday (2d of June) wrote to me, "<i>Before</i> I +tasted bit or drop yesterday, I set out my writing-table +with extreme taste and neatness, and improved the +disposition of the furniture generally." He stayed till +the end of June; when Maclise and myself joined him +for the pleasure of posting back home with him and +Mrs. Dickens, by way of his favorite Chatham and +Rochester and Cobham, where we passed two agreeable +days in revisiting well-remembered scenes. I had meanwhile +brought to a close the treaty for repurchase of +<i>Oliver</i> and surrender of <i>Barnaby</i>, upon terms which +are succinctly stated in a letter written by him to Messrs. +Chapman & Hall on the 2d of July, the day after our +return:</p> + +<p>"The terms upon which you advance the money to-day +for the purchase of the copyright and stock<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +<i>Oliver</i> on my behalf are understood between us to be +these. That this 2250<i>l</i>. is to be deducted from the +purchase-money of a work by me entitled <i>Barnaby +Rudge</i>, of which two chapters are now in your hands, +and of which the whole is to be written within some +convenient time to be agreed upon between us. But +if it should not be written (which God forbid!) within +five years, you are to have a lien to this amount on the +property belonging to me that is now in your hands, +namely, my shares in the stock and copyright of +<i>Sketches by Boz</i>, <i>The Pickwick Papers</i>, <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>, +<i>Oliver Twist</i>, and <i>Master Humphrey's Clock;</i> in +which we do not include any share of the current profits +of the last-named work, which I shall remain at +liberty to draw at the times stated in our agreement. +Your purchase of <i>Barnaby Rudge</i> is made upon the +following terms. It is to consist of matter sufficient +for ten monthly numbers of the size of <i>Pickwick</i> and +<i>Nickleby</i>, which you are, however, at liberty to divide +and publish in fifteen smaller numbers if you think fit. +The terms for the purchase of this edition in numbers, +and for the copyright of the whole book for six months +after the publication of the last number, are 3000<i>l</i>. At +the expiration of the six months the whole copyright +reverts to me." The sequel was, as all the world +knows, that Barnaby became successor to Little Nell, +the money being repaid by the profits of the <i>Clock;</i> +but I ought to mention also the more generous sequel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +that my own small service had, on my receiving from +him, after not many days, an antique silver-mounted +jug of great beauty of form and workmanship, but with +a wealth far beyond jeweler's chasing or artist's design +in the written words that accompanied it.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> I accepted +them to commemorate, not the help they would have +far overpaid, but the gladness of his own escape from +the last of the agreements that had hampered the opening +of his career, and the better future that was now +before him.</p> + +<p>At the opening of August he was with Mrs. Dickens +for some days in Devonshire, on a visit to his father, +but he had to take his work with him; and, as he wrote +to me, they had only one real holiday, when Dawlish, +Teignmouth, Babbicombe, and Torquay were explored, +returning to Exeter at night. In the beginning of +September he was again at Broadstairs.</p> + +<p>"I was just going to work," he wrote on the 9th, +"when I got this letter, and the story of the man who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +went to Chapman & Hall's knocked me down flat. I +wrote until now (a quarter to one) against the grain, +and have at last given it up for one day. Upon my +word it is intolerable. I have been grinding my teeth +all the morning. I think I could say in two lines +something about the general report with propriety. I'll +add them to the proof" (the preface to the first volume +of the <i>Clock</i> was at this time in preparation), "giving +you full power to cut them out if you should think +differently from me, and from C. and H., who in such +a matter must be admitted judges." He refers here to +a report, rather extensively circulated at the time, and +which through various channels had reached his publishers, +that he was suffering from loss of reason and +was under treatment in an asylum.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> I would have +withheld from him the mention of it, as an absurdity +that must quickly pass away, but against my wish it +had been communicated to him, and I had difficulty in +keeping within judicious bounds his extreme and very +natural wrath.</p> + +<p>A few days later (the 15th) he wrote, "I have been +rather surprised of late to have applications from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +Roman Catholic clergymen, demanding (rather pastorally, +and with a kind of grave authority) assistance, +literary employment, and so forth. At length it struck +me that, through some channel or other, I must have +been represented as belonging to that religion. Would +you believe that in a letter from Lamert, at Cork, to +my mother, which I saw last night, he says, 'What do +the papers mean by saying that Charles is demented, +and, further, <i>that he has turned Roman Catholic?'—!</i>" +Of the begging-letter-writers, hinted at here, I ought +earlier to have said something. In one of his detached +essays he has described, without a particle of exaggeration, +the extent to which he was made a victim by this +class of swindler, and the extravagance of the devices +practiced on him; but he has not confessed, as he +might, that for much of what he suffered he was +himself responsible, by giving so largely, as at first he +did, to almost every one who applied to him. What at +last brought him to his senses in this respect, I think, +was the request made by the adventurer who had exhausted +every other expedient, and who desired finally, +after describing himself reduced to the condition of a +traveling Cheap Jack in the smallest way of crockery, +that a donkey might be left out for him next day, +which he would duly call for. This I perfectly remember, +and I much fear that the applicant was the Daniel +Tobin before mentioned.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>Many and delightful were other letters written from +Broadstairs at this date, filled with whimsical talk and +humorous description relating chiefly to an eccentric<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +friend who stayed with him most of the time, and is +sketched in one of his published papers as Mr. Kindheart; +but all too private for reproduction now. He +returned in the middle of October, when we resumed +our almost daily ridings, foregatherings with Maclise at +Hampstead and elsewhere, and social entertainments +with Macready, Talfourd, Procter, Stanfield, Fonblanque, +Elliotson, Tennent, D'Orsay, Quin, Harness, +Wilkie, Edwin Landseer, Rogers, Sydney Smith, and +Bulwer. Of the genius of the author of <i>Pelham</i> and +<i>Eugene Aram</i> he had, early and late, the highest admiration, +and he took occasion to express it during the +present year in a new preface which he published to +<i>Oliver Twist</i>. Other friends became familiar in later +years; but, disinclined as he was to the dinner-invitations +that reached him from every quarter, all such +meetings with those whom I have named, and in an +especial manner the marked attentions shown him by +Miss Coutts which began with the very beginning of +his career, were invariably welcome.</p> + +<p>To speak here of the pleasure his society afforded, +would anticipate the fitter mention to be made hereafter. +But what in this respect distinguishes nearly all +original men, he possessed eminently. His place was +not to be filled up by any other. To the most trivial +talk he gave the attraction of his own character. It +might be a small matter,—something he had read or +observed during the day, some quaint odd fancy from a +book, a vivid little out-door picture, the laughing exposure +of some imposture, or a burst of sheer mirthful +enjoyment,—but of its kind it would be something +unique, because genuinely part of himself. This, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +his unwearying animal spirits, made him the most delightful +of companions; no claim on good-fellowship +ever found him wanting; and no one so constantly +recalled to his friends the description Johnson gave of +Garrick, as the cheerfulest man of his age.</p> + +<p>Of what occupied him in the way of literary labor in +the autumn and winter months of the year, some description +has been given; and, apart from what has +already thus been said of his work at the closing chapters +of <i>The Old Curiosity Shop</i>, nothing now calls for +more special allusion, except that in his town-walks in +November, impelled thereto by specimens recently discovered +in his country-walks between Broadstairs and +Ramsgate, he thoroughly explored the ballad literature +of Seven-Dials, and took to singing himself, with an +effect that justified his reputation for comic singing in +his childhood, not a few of these wonderful productions. +His last successful labor of the year was the +reconciliation of two friends; and his motive, as well +as the principle that guided him, as they are described +by himself, I think worth preserving. For the first: +"In the midst of this child's death, I, over whom +something of the bitterness of death has passed, not +lightly perhaps, was reminded of many old kindnesses, +and was sorry in my heart that men who really liked +each other should waste life at arm's length." For the +last: "I have laid it down as a rule in my judgment of +men, to observe narrowly whether some (of whom one +is disposed to think badly) don't carry all their faults +upon the surface, and others (of whom one is disposed +to think well) don't carry many more beneath it. I +have long ago made sure that our friend is in the first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +class; and when I know all the foibles a man has, with +little trouble in the discovery, I begin to think he is +worth liking." His latest letter of the year, dated the +day following, closed with the hope that we might, he +and I, enjoy together "fifty more Christmases, at least, +in this world, and eternal summers in another." Alas!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>BARNABY RUDGE.</h3> + +<h3>1841.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Advantage in beginning <i>Barnaby</i>—Birth of Fourth Child and Second +Son—The Raven—A Loss in the Family—Grip's Death—C. D. +describes his Illness—Family Mourners—Apotheosis by Maclise—Grip +the Second—The Inn at Chigwell—A <i>Clock</i> Dinner—Lord +Jeffrey in London—The <i>Lamplighter</i>—The <i>Pic Nic Papers</i>—Character +of Lord George Gordon—A Doubtful Fancy—Interest in New +Labor—Constraints of Weekly Publication—The Prison-Riots—A +Serious Illness—Close of <i>Barnaby</i>—Character of the Tale—Defects +in the Plot—The No-Popery Riots—Descriptive Power displayed—Leading +Persons in Story—Mr. Dennis the Hangman.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> letters of 1841 yield similar fruit as to his doings +and sayings, and may in like manner first be consulted +for the literary work he had in hand.</p> + +<p>He had the advantage of beginning <i>Barnaby Rudge</i> +with a fair amount of story in advance, which he had +only to make suitable, by occasional readjustment of +chapters, to publication in weekly portions; and on +this he was engaged before the end of January. "I +am at present" (22d January, 1841) "in what Leigh +Hunt would call a kind of impossible state,—thinking +what on earth Master Humphrey can think of through +four mortal pages. I added, here and there, to the last +chapter of the <i>Curiosity Shop</i> yesterday, and it leaves +me only four pages to write." (They were filled by a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +paper from Humphrey introductory of the new tale, in +which will be found a striking picture of London from +midnight to the break of day.) "I also made up, and +wrote the needful insertions for, the second number of +<i>Barnaby</i>,—so that I came back to the mill a little." +Hardly yet; for after four days he writes, having meanwhile +done nothing, "I have been looking (three +o'clock) with an appearance of extraordinary interest +and study at <i>one leaf</i> of the <i>Curiosities of Literature</i> ever +since half-past ten this morning—I haven't the heart to +turn over." Then on Friday the 29th better news +came. "I didn't stir out yesterday, but sat and <i>thought</i> +all day; not writing a line; not so much as the cross +of a t or dot of an i. I imaged forth a good deal +of <i>Barnaby</i> by keeping my mind steadily upon him; +and am happy to say I have gone to work this morning +in good twig, strong hope, and cheerful spirits. Last +night I was unutterably and impossible-to-form-an-idea-of-ably +miserable. . . . By-the-by, don't engage +yourself otherwise than to me for Sunday week, because +it's my birthday. I have no doubt we shall have got +over our troubles here by that time, and I purpose +having a snug dinner in the study." We had the dinner, +though the troubles were not over; but the next +day another son was born to him. "Thank God," he +wrote on the 9th, "quite well. I am thinking hard, +and have just written to Browne inquiring when he will +come and confer about the raven." He had by this +time resolved to make that bird, whose accomplishments +had been daily ripening and enlarging for the last twelve +months to the increasing mirth and delight of all of us, +a prominent figure in <i>Barnaby;</i> and the invitation to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +the artist was for a conference how best to introduce +him graphically.</p> + +<p>The next letter mentioning <i>Barnaby</i> was from Brighton +(25th February), whither he had flown for a week's +quiet labor: "I have (it's four o'clock) done a very +fair morning's work, at which I have sat very close, +and been blessed besides with a clear view of the end +of the volume. As the contents of one number usually +require a day's thought at the very least, and often +more, this puts me in great spirits. I think—that is, +I hope—the story takes a great stride at this point, and +takes it <span class="smcap">well</span>. Nous verrons. Grip will be strong, +and I build greatly on the Varden household."</p> + +<p>Upon his return he had to lament a domestic calamity, +which, for its connection with that famous personage in +<i>Barnaby</i>, must be mentioned here. The raven had for +some days been ailing, and Topping had reported of +him, as Shakspeare of Hamlet, that he had lost his +mirth and foregone all customary exercises; but Dickens +paid no great heed, remembering his recovery from +an illness of the previous summer when he swallowed +some white paint; so that the graver report which led +him to send for the doctor came upon him unexpectedly, +and nothing but his own language can worthily +describe the result. Unable from the state of his feelings +to write two letters, he sent the narrative to Maclise, +under an enormous black seal, for transmission to +me; and thus it befell that this fortunate bird receives +a double passport to fame, so great a humorist having +celebrated his farewell to the present world, and so +great a painter his welcome to another.</p> + +<p>"You will be greatly shocked" (the letter is dated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +Friday evening, March 12, 1841) "and grieved to hear +that the Raven is no more. He expired to-day at a +few minutes after twelve o'clock at noon. He had +been ailing for a few days, but we anticipated no serious +result, conjecturing that a portion of the white paint he +swallowed last summer might be lingering about his +vitals without having any serious effect upon his constitution. +Yesterday afternoon he was taken so much +worse that I sent an express for the medical gentleman +(Mr. Herring), who promptly attended, and administered +a powerful dose of castor oil. Under the influence +of this medicine, he recovered so far as to be able +at eight o'clock <span class="smcap">p.m.</span> to bite Topping. His night was +peaceful. This morning at daybreak he appeared better; +received (agreeably to the doctor's directions) +another dose of castor oil; and partook plentifully of +some warm gruel, the flavor of which he appeared to +relish. Towards eleven o'clock he was so much worse +that it was found necessary to muffle the stable-knocker. +At half-past, or thereabouts, he was heard talking to +himself about the horse and Topping's family, and to +add some incoherent expressions which are supposed +to have been either a foreboding of his approaching +dissolution, or some wishes relative to the disposal of +his little property: consisting chiefly of half-pence +which he had buried in different parts of the garden. +On the clock striking twelve he appeared slightly +agitated, but he soon recovered, walked twice or thrice +along the coach-house, stopped to bark, staggered, +exclaimed <i>Halloa old girl!</i> (his favorite expression), +and died.</p> + +<p>"He behaved throughout with a decent fortitude,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +equanimity, and self-possession, which cannot be too +much admired. I deeply regret that being in ignorance +of his danger I did not attend to receive his last +instructions. Something remarkable about his eyes +occasioned Topping to run for the doctor at twelve. +When they returned together our friend was gone. It +was the medical gentleman who informed me of his +decease. He did it with great caution and delicacy, +preparing me by the remark that 'a jolly queer start +had taken place;' but the shock was very great notwithstanding. +I am not wholly free from suspicions of +poison. A malicious butcher has been heard to say +that he would 'do' for him: his plea was that he would +not be molested in taking orders down the mews, by +any bird that wore a tail. Other persons have also +been heard to threaten: among others, Charles Knight, +who has just started a weekly publication price fourpence: +<i>Barnaby</i> being, as you know, threepence. I +have directed a post-mortem examination, and the body +has been removed to Mr. Herring's school of anatomy +for that purpose.</p> + +<p>"I could wish, if you can take the trouble, that you +could inclose this to Forster immediately after you +have read it. I cannot discharge the painful task of +communication more than once. Were they ravens +who took manna to somebody in the wilderness? At +times I hope they were, and at others I fear they were +not, or they would certainly have stolen it by the way. +In profound sorrow, I am ever your bereaved friend +C. D. Kate is as well as can be expected, but terribly +low, as you may suppose. The children seem rather +glad of it. He bit their ankles. But that was play."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 402px;"> +<img src="images/image04_letter_about_bird.jpg" width="402" height="500" alt="Letter about Bird" title="Letter about Bird" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p> + +<p>Maclise's covering letter was an apotheosis, to be +rendered only in fac-simile.</p> + +<p>In what way the loss was replaced, so that <i>Barnaby</i> +should have the fruit of continued study of the habits +of the family of birds which Grip had so nobly represented, +Dickens has told in the preface to the story; +and another, older, and larger Grip, obtained through +Mr. Smithson, was installed in the stable, almost before +the stuffed remains of his honored predecessor had been +sent home in a glass case, by way of ornament to his +master's study.</p> + +<p>I resume our correspondence on what he was writing: +"I see there is yet room for a few lines" (25th March), +"and you are quite right in wishing what I cut out to +be restored. I did not want Joe to be so short about +Dolly, and really wrote his references to that young +lady carefully,—as natural things with a meaning in +them. Chigwell, my dear fellow, is the greatest place +in the world. Name your day for going. Such a +delicious old inn opposite the churchyard,—such a +lovely ride,—such beautiful forest scenery,—such an +out-of-the-way, rural place,—such a sexton! I say +again, name your day." The day was named at once; +and the whitest of stones marks it, in now sorrowful +memory. His promise was exceeded by our enjoyment; +and his delight in the double recognition, of himself +and of <i>Barnaby</i>, by the landlord of the nice old inn, +far exceeded any pride he would have taken in what the +world thinks the highest sort of honor.</p> + +<p>"I have shut myself up" (26th March) "by myself +to-day, and mean to try and 'go it' at the <i>Clock;</i> Kate +being out, and the house peacefully dismal. I don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +remember altering the exact part you object to, but if +there be anything here you object to, knock it out ruthlessly." +"Don't fail" (April the 5th) "to erase anything +that seems to you too strong. It is difficult for +me to judge what tells too much, and what does not. I +am trying a very quiet number to set against this +necessary one. I hope it will be good, but I am in +very sad condition for work. Glad you think this +powerful. What I have put in is more relief, from the +raven." Two days later: "I have done that number, +and am now going to work on another. I am bent +(please Heaven) on finishing the first chapter by Friday +night. I hope to look in upon you to-night, when we'll +dispose of the toasts for Saturday. Still bilious—but a +good number, I hope, notwithstanding. Jeffrey has +come to town, and was here yesterday." The toasts to +be disposed of were those to be given at the dinner on +the 10th to celebrate the second volume of <i>Master +Humphrey:</i> when Talfourd presided, when there was +much jollity, and, according to the memorandum drawn +up that Saturday night now lying before me, we all in +the greatest good humor glorified each other: Talfourd +proposing the <i>Clock</i>, Macready Mrs. Dickens, Dickens +the publishers, and myself the artists; Macready giving +Talfourd, Talfourd Macready, Dickens myself, and +myself the comedian Mr. Harley, whose humorous +songs had been the not least considerable element in +the mirth of the evening.</p> + +<p>Five days later he writes, "I finished the number +yesterday, and, although I dined with Jeffrey, and was +obliged to go to Lord Denman's afterwards (which +made me late), have done eight slips of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> <i>Lamplighter</i> +for Mrs. Macrone, this morning. When I have got +that off my mind, I shall try to go on steadily, fetching +up the <i>Clock</i> lee-way." The <i>Lamplighter</i> was his +old farce,<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> which he now turned into a comic tale; +and this, with other contributions given him by friends +and edited by him as <i>Pic Nic Papers</i>, enabled him to +help the widow of his old publisher in her straitened +means by a gift of £300. He had finished his work +of charity before he next wrote of <i>Barnaby Rudge</i>, but +he was fetching up his lee-way lazily. "I am getting +on" (29th of April) "very slowly. I want to stick to +the story; and the fear of committing myself, because +of the impossibility of trying back or altering a syllable, +makes it much harder than it looks. It was too +bad of me to give you the trouble of cutting the number, +but I knew so well you would do it in the right +places. For what Harley would call the 'onward +work' I really think I have some famous thoughts." +There is an interval of a month before the next allusion: +"Solomon's expression" (3d of June) "I meant +to be one of those strong ones to which strong circumstances +give birth in the commonest minds. Deal with +it as you like. . . . Say what you please of Gordon" +(I had objected to some points in his view of this madman, +stated much too favorably as I thought), "he +must have been at heart a kind man, and a lover of the +despised and rejected, after his own fashion. He lived +upon a small income, and always within it; was known +to relieve the necessities of many people; exposed in +his place the corrupt attempt of a minister to buy him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +out of Parliament; and did great charities in Newgate. +He always spoke on the people's side, and tried against +his muddled brains to expose the profligacy of both +parties. He never got anything by his madness, and +never sought it. The wildest and most raging attacks +of the time allow him these merits: and not to let +him have 'em in their full extent, remembering in what +a (politically) wicked time he lived, would lie upon +my conscience heavily. The libel he was imprisoned +for when he died, was on the Queen of France; and +the French government interested themselves warmly +to procure his release,—which I think they might have +done, but for Lord Grenville." I was more successful +in the counsel I gave against a fancy he had at this part +of the story, that he would introduce as actors in the +Gordon riots three splendid fellows who should order, +lead, control, and be obeyed as natural guides of the +crowd in that delirious time, and who should turn out, +when all was over, to have broken out from Bedlam; +but, though he saw the unsoundness of this, he could +not so readily see, in Gordon's case, the danger of +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'axing'">taxing</ins> ingenuity to ascribe a reasonable motive to acts +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'f'">of</ins> sheer insanity. The feeblest parts of the book +are those in which Lord George and his secretary +appear.</p> + +<p>He left for Scotland after the middle of June, but he +took work with him. "You may suppose," he wrote +from Edinburgh on the 30th, "I have not done much +work; but by Friday night's post from here I hope to +send the first long chapter of a number and both the +illustrations; from Loch Earn on Tuesday night, the +closing chapter of that number; from the same place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +on Thursday night, the first long chapter of another, +with both the illustrations; and, from some place which +no man ever spelt but which sounds like Ballyhoolish, +on Saturday, the closing chapter of that number, which +will leave us all safe till I return to town." Nine days +later he wrote from "Ballechelish," "I have done all I +can or need do in the way of <i>Barnaby</i> until I come +home, and the story is progressing (I hope you will +think) to good strong interest. I have left it, I think, +at an exciting point, with a good dawning of the riots. +In the first of the two numbers I have written since I +have been away, I forget whether the blind man, in +speaking to Barnaby about riches, tells him they are to +be found in <i>crowds</i>. If I have not actually used that +word, will you introduce it? A perusal of the proof of +the following number (70) will show you how, and why." +"Have you," he wrote shortly after his return (29th +July), "seen No. 71? I thought there was a good +glimpse of a crowd, from a window—eh?" He had +now taken thoroughly to the interest of his closing chapters, +and felt more than ever the constraints of his form +of publication. "I am warming up very much" (on +the 5th August from Broadstairs) "about <i>Barnaby</i>. +Oh! if I only had him, from this time to the end, in +monthly numbers. <i>N'importe!</i> I hope the interest +will be pretty strong,—and, in every number, stronger." +Six days later, from the same place: "I was always sure +I could make a good thing of <i>Barnaby</i>, and I think +you'll find that it comes out strong to the last word. I +have another number ready, all but two slips. Don't +fear for young Chester. The time hasn't come——there +we go again, you see, with the weekly delays. I am in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +great heart and spirits with the story, and with the prospect +of having time to think before I go on again." A +month's interval followed, and what occupied it will be +described shortly. On the 11th September he wrote, +"I have just burnt into Newgate, and am going in the +next number to tear the prisoners out by the hair of +their heads. The number which gets into the jail you'll +have in proof by Tuesday." This was followed up a +week later: "I have let all the prisoners out of Newgate, +burnt down Lord Mansfield's, and played the very +devil. Another number will finish the fires, and help +us on towards the end. I feel quite smoky when I am +at work. I want elbow-room terribly." To this trouble, +graver supervened at his return, a serious personal +sickness not the least; but he bore up gallantly, and I +had never better occasion than now to observe his quiet +endurance of pain, how little he thought of himself +where the sense of self is commonly supreme, and the +manful duty with which everything was done that, ailing +as he was, he felt it necessary to do. He was still in +his sick-room (22d October) when he wrote, "I hope I +sha'n't leave off any more, now, until I have finished +<i>Barnaby</i>." Three days after that, he was busying himself +eagerly for others; and on the 2d of November the +printers received the close of <i>Barnaby Rudge</i>.</p> + +<p>This tale was Dickens's first attempt out of the sphere +of the life of the day and its actual manners. Begun +during the progress of <i>Oliver Twist</i>, it had been for +some time laid aside; the form it ultimately took had +been comprised only partially within its first design; +and the story in its finished shape presented strongly a +special purpose, the characteristic of all but his very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +earliest writings. Its scene is laid at the time when the +incessant execution of men and women, comparatively +innocent, disgraced every part of the country; demoralizing +thousands, whom it also prepared for the scaffold. +In those days the theft of a few rags from a bleaching-ground, +or the abstraction of a roll of ribbons from a +counter, was visited with the penalty of blood; and +such laws brutalized both their ministers and victims. +It was the time, too, when a false religious outcry +brought with it appalling guilt and misery. These +are vices that leave more behind them than the first +forms assumed, and they involve a lesson sufficiently +required to justify a writer in dealing with them. There +were also others grafted on them. In Barnaby himself +it was desired to show what sources of comfort there +might be, for the patient and cheerful heart, in even +the worst of all human afflictions; and in the hunted +life of his outcast father, whose crime had entailed not +that affliction only but other more fearful wretchedness, +we have as powerful a picture as any in his writings of +the inevitable and unfathomable consequences of sin. +But, as the story went on, it was incident to these designs +that what had been accomplished in its predecessor +could hardly be attained here, in singleness of +purpose, unity of idea, or harmony of treatment; and +other defects supervened in the management of the +plot. The interest with which the tale begins has +ceased to be its interest before the close; and what has +chiefly taken the reader's fancy at the outset almost +wholly disappears in the power and passion with which, +in the later chapters, the great riots are described. So +admirable is this description, however, that it would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +hard to have to surrender it even for a more perfect +structure of fable.</p> + +<p>There are few things more masterly in any of his +books. From the first low mutterings of the storm to +its last terrible explosion, this frantic outbreak of +popular ignorance and rage is depicted with unabated +power. The aimlessness of idle mischief by which the +ranks of the rioters are swelled at the beginning; the +recklessness induced by the monstrous impunity allowed +to the early excesses; the sudden spread of this drunken +guilt into every haunt of poverty, ignorance, or mischief +in the wicked old city, where the rich materials +of crime lie festering; the wild action of its poison on +all, without scheme or plan of any kind, who come +within its reach; the horrors that are more bewildering +for this complete absence of purpose in them; and, +when all is done, the misery found to have been self-inflicted +in every cranny and corner of London, as if a +plague had swept over the streets: these are features in +the picture of an actual occurrence, to which the manner +of the treatment gives extraordinary force and +meaning. Nor, in the sequel, is there anything displayed +with more profitable vividness than the law's +indiscriminate cruelty at last, in contrast with its +cowardly indifference at first; while, among the casual +touches lighting up the scene with flashes of reality +that illumine every part of it, may be instanced the +discovery, in the quarter from which screams for succor +are loudest when Newgate is supposed to be accidentally +on fire, of four men who were certain in any case to +have perished on the drop next day.</p> + +<p>The story, which has unusually careful writing in it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +and much manly upright thinking, has not so many +people eagerly adopted as of kin by everybody, as its +predecessors are famous for; but it has yet a fair proportion +of such as take solid form within the mind and +keep hold of the memory. To these belong in an +especial degree Gabriel Varden and his household, on +whom are lavished all the writer's fondness and not a +little of his keenest humor. The honest locksmith +with his jovial jug, and the tink-tink-tink of his pleasant +nature making cheerful music out of steel and iron; +the buxom wife, with her plaguy tongue that makes +every one wretched whom her kindly disposition would +desire to make happy; the good-hearted plump little +Dolly, coquettish minx of a daughter, with all she +suffers and inflicts by her fickle winning ways and her +small self-admiring vanities; and Miggs the vicious and +slippery, acid, amatory, and of uncomfortable figure, +sower of family discontents and discords, who swears +all the while she wouldn't make or meddle with 'em +"not for a annual gold-mine and found in tea and +sugar:" there is not much social painting anywhere +with a better domestic moral than in all these; and a +nice propriety of feeling and thought regulates the use +of such satire throughout. No one knows more exactly +how far to go with that formidable weapon, or understands +better that what satirizes everything, in effect +satirizes nothing.</p> + +<p>Another excellent group is that which the story opens +with, in the quaint old kitchen of the Maypole; John +Willett and his friends, genuinely comic creations all +of them. Then we have Barnaby and his raven: the +light-hearted idiot, as unconscious of guilt as of suffering,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +and happy with no sense but of the influences of +nature; and the grave sly bird, with sufficient sense to +make himself as unhappy as rascally habits will make +the human animal. There is poor brutish Hugh, too, +loitering lazily outside the Maypole door, with a storm +of passions in him raging to be let loose; already the +scaffold's withered fruit, as he is doomed to be its ripe +offering; and though with all the worst instincts of the +savage, yet not without also some of the best. Still +farther out of kindly nature's pitying reach lurks the +worst villain of the scene: with this sole claim to consideration, +that it was by constant contact with the +filthiest instrument of law and state he had become the +mass of moral filth he is. Mr. Dennis the hangman is +a portrait that Hogarth would have painted with the +same wholesome severity of satire which is employed +upon it in <i>Barnaby Rudge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>PUBLIC DINNER IN EDINBURGH.</h3> + +<h3>1841.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">His Son Walter Landor—Dies in Calcutta (1863)—C. D. and the New +Poor-Law—Moore and Rogers—Jeffrey's Praise of Little Nell—Resolve +to visit Scotland—Edinburgh Dinner proposed—Sir David +Wilkie's Death—Peter Robertson—Professor Wilson—A Fancy of +Scott—Lionization made tolerable—Thoughts of Home—The Dinner +and Speeches—His Reception—Wilson's Eulogy—Home Yearnings—Freedom +of City voted to him—Speakers at the Dinner—Politics +and Party Influences—Whig Jealousies—At the Theatre—Hospitalities—Moral +of it all—Proposed Visit to the Highlands—Maclise +and Macready—Guide to the Highlands—Mr. Angus +Fletcher (Kindheart).</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Among</span> the occurrences of the year, apart from the +tale he was writing, the birth of his fourth child and +second son has been briefly mentioned. "I mean to +call the boy Edgar," he wrote, the day after he was +born (9th February), "a good honest Saxon name, I +think." He changed his mind in a few days, however, +on resolving to ask Landor to be godfather. This +intention, as soon as formed, he announced to our +excellent old friend, telling him it would give the +child something to boast of, to be called Walter Landor, +and that to call him so would do his own heart +good. For, as to himself, whatever realities had gone +out of the ceremony of christening, the meaning still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +remained in it of enabling him to form a relationship +with friends he most loved; and as to the boy, he held +that to give him a name to be proud of was to give +him also another reason for doing nothing unworthy +or untrue when he came to be a man. Walter, alas! +only lived to manhood. He obtained a military cadetship +through the kindness of Miss Coutts, and died at +Calcutta on the last day of 1863, in his twenty-third +year.</p> + +<p>The interest taken by this distinguished lady in him +and in his had begun, as I have said, at an earlier date +than even this; and I remember, while <i>Oliver Twist</i> +was going on, his pleasure because of her father's mention +of him in a speech at Birmingham, for his advocacy +of the cause of the poor. Whether to the new +poor-law Sir Francis Burdett objected as strongly as we +have seen that Dickens did, as well as many other excellent +men, who forgot the atrocities of the system it +displaced in their indignation at the needless and cruel +harshness with which it was worked at the outset, I +have not at hand the means of knowing. But certainly +this continued to be strongly the feeling of Dickens, +who exulted in nothing so much as at any misadventure +to the Whigs in connection with it. "How often used +Black and I," he wrote to me in April, "to quarrel +about the effect of the poor-law bill! Walter comes in +upon the cry. See whether the Whigs go out upon it." +It was the strong desire he had to make himself heard +upon it, even in Parliament, that led him not immediately +to turn aside from a proposal, now privately made +by some of the magnates of Reading, to bring him in +for that borough; but the notion was soon dismissed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +as, on its revival more than once in later times, it continued +very wisely to be. His opinions otherwise were +extremely radical at present, as will be apparent shortly; +and he did not at all relish Peel's majority of one when +it came soon after, and unseated the Whigs. It was +just now, I may add, he greatly enjoyed a quiet setting-down +of Moore by Rogers at Sir Francis Burdett's +table, for talking exaggerated toryism. So debased was +the House of Commons by reform, said Moore, that a +Burke, if you could find him, would not be listened to. +"No such thing, Tommy," said Rogers; "<i>find yourself</i>, +and they'd listen even to you."</p> + +<p>This was not many days before he hinted to me an +intention soon to be carried out in a rather memorable +manner: "I have done nothing to-day" (18th March: +we had bought books together, the day before, at Tom +Hill's sale) "but cut the <i>Swift</i>, looking into it with a +delicious laziness in all manner of delightful places, and +put poor Tom's books away. I had a letter from Edinburgh +this morning, announcing that Jeffrey's visit to +London will be the week after next; telling me that he +drives about Edinburgh declaring there has been 'nothing +so good as Nell since Cordelia,' which he writes +also to all manner of people; and informing me of a +desire in that romantic town to give me greeting and +welcome. For this and other reasons I am disposed to +make Scotland my destination in June rather than Ireland. +Think, <i>do</i> think, meantime (here are ten good +weeks), whether you couldn't, by some effort worthy +of the owner of the gigantic helmet, go with us. Think +of such a fortnight,—York, Carlisle, Berwick, your +own Borders, Edinburgh, Rob Roy's country, railroads,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +cathedrals, country inns, Arthur's Seat, lochs, glens, +and home by sea. DO think of this, seriously, at +leisure." It was very tempting, but not to be.</p> + +<p>Early in April Jeffrey came, many feasts and entertainments +welcoming him, of which he very sparingly +partook; and before he left, the visit to Scotland in +June was all duly arranged, to be initiated by the +splendid welcome of a public dinner in Edinburgh, +with Lord Jeffrey himself in the chair. Allan the +painter had come up meanwhile, with increasing note +of preparation; and it was while we were all regretting +Wilkie's absence abroad, and Dickens with warrantable +pride was saying how surely the great painter would +have gone to this dinner, that the shock of his sudden +death<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> came, and there was left but the sorrowful satisfaction +of honoring his memory. There was one other +change before the day. "I heard from Edinburgh this +morning," he wrote on the 15th of June. "Jeffrey is +not well enough to take the chair, so Wilson does. I +think under all circumstances of politics, acquaintance, +and <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, that it's much better as it is—Don't +you?"</p> + +<p>His first letter from Edinburgh, where he and Mrs. +Dickens had taken up quarters at the Royal Hotel on +their arrival the previous night, is dated the 23d of +June: "I have been this morning to the Parliament +House, and am now introduced (I hope) to everybody +in Edinburgh. The hotel is perfectly besieged, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +I have been forced to take refuge in a sequestered +apartment at the end of a long passage, wherein I +write this letter. They talk of 300 at the dinner. +We are very well off in point of rooms, having a handsome +sitting-room, another next to it for <i>Clock</i> purposes, +a spacious bedroom, and large dressing-room +adjoining. The castle is in front of the windows, and +the view noble. There was a supper ready last night +which would have been a dinner anywhere." This +was his first practical experience of the honors his fame +had won for him, and it found him as eager to receive +as all were eager to give. Very interesting still, too, +are those who took leading part in the celebration; +and in his pleasant sketches of them there are some +once famous and familiar figures not so well known to +the present generation. Here, among the first, are +Wilson and Robertson.</p> + +<p>"The renowned Peter Robertson is a large, portly, +full-faced man, with a merry eye, and a queer way of +looking under his spectacles which is characteristic and +pleasant. He seems a very warm-hearted earnest man +too, and I felt quite at home with him forthwith. +Walking up and down the hall of the courts of law +(which was full of advocates, writers to the signet, +clerks, and idlers) was a tall, burly, handsome man +of eight-and-fifty, with a gait like O'Connell's, the +bluest eye you can imagine, and long hair—longer +than mine—falling down in a wild way under the +broad brim of his hat. He had on a surtout coat, a +blue checked shirt; the collar standing up, and kept +in its place with a wisp of black neckerchief; no waistcoat; +and a large pocket-handkerchief thrust into his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +breast, which was all broad and open. At his heels +followed a wiry, sharp-eyed, shaggy devil of a terrier, +dogging his steps as he went slashing up and down, +now with one man beside him, now with another, and +now quite alone, but always at a fast, rolling pace, with +his head in the air, and his eyes as wide open as he +could get them. I guessed it was Wilson, and it was. +A bright, clear-complexioned, mountain-looking fellow, +he looks as though he had just come down from the +Highlands, and had never in his life taken pen in hand. +But he has had an attack of paralysis in his right arm, +within this month. He winced when I shook hands +with him; and once or twice, when we were walking +up and down, slipped as if he had stumbled on a piece +of orange-peel. He is a great fellow to look at, and +to talk to; and, if you could divest your mind of the +actual Scott, is just the figure you would put in his +place."</p> + +<p>Nor have the most ordinary incidents of the visit +any lack of interest for us now, in so far as they help +to complete the picture of himself: "Allan has been +squiring me about, all the morning. He and Fletcher +have gone to a meeting of the dinner-stewards, and I +take the opportunity of writing to you. They dine +with us to-day, and we are going to-night to the theatre. +M'Ian is playing there. I mean to leave a card for him +before evening. We are engaged for every day of our +stay, already; but the people I have seen are so very +hearty and warm in their manner that much of the +horrors of lionization gives way before it. I am glad to +find that they propose giving me for a toast on Friday +the Memory of Wilkie. I should have liked it better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +than anything, if I could have made my choice. Communicate +all particulars to Mac. I would to God you +were both here. Do dine together at the Gray's Inn +on Friday, and think of me. If I don't drink my first +glass of wine to you, may my pistols miss fire, and my +mare slip her shoulder. All sorts of regard from Kate. +She has gone with Miss Allan to see the house she was +born in, etc. Write me soon, and long, etc."</p> + +<p>His next letter was written the morning after the +dinner, on Saturday, the 26th June: "The great event +is over; and, being gone, I am a man again. It was +the most brilliant affair you can conceive; the completest +success possible, from first to last. The room +was crammed, and more than seventy applicants for +tickets were of necessity refused yesterday. Wilson was +ill, but plucked up like a lion, and spoke famously.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +send you a paper herewith, but the report is dismal in +the extreme. They say there will be a better one—I +don't know where or when. Should there be, I will +send it to you. I <i>think</i> (ahem!) that I spoke rather +well. It was an excellent room, and both the subjects +(Wilson and Scottish Literature, and the Memory of +Wilkie) were good to go upon. There were nearly two +hundred ladies present. The place is so contrived that +the cross table is raised enormously: much above the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +heads of people sitting below: and the effect on first +coming in (on me, I mean) was rather tremendous. I +was quite self-possessed, however, and, notwithstanding +the enthoosemoosy, which was very startling, as cool as +a cucumber. I wish to God you had been there, as it +is impossible for the 'distinguished guest' to describe +the scene. It beat all natur." . . .</p> + +<p>Here was the close of his letter: "I have been expecting +every day to hear from you, and not hearing +mean to make this the briefest epistle possible. We +start next Sunday (that's to-morrow week). We are +going out to Jeffrey's to-day (he is very unwell), and +return here to-morrow evening. If I don't find a letter +from you when I come back, expect no Lights and +Shadows of Scottish Life from your indignant correspondent. +Murray the manager made very excellent, +tasteful, and gentlemanly mention of Macready, about +whom Wilson had been asking me divers questions +during dinner." "A hundred thanks for your letter," +he writes four days later. "I read it this morning +with the greatest pleasure and delight, and answer it +with ditto, ditto. Where shall I begin—about my +darlings? I am delighted with Charley's precocity. +He takes arter his father, he does. God bless them, +you can't imagine (<i>you!</i> how can you?) how much I +long to see them. It makes me quite sorrowful to +think of them. . . . Yesterday, sir, the lord provost, +council, and magistrates voted me by acclamation the +freedom of the city, in testimony (I quote the letter +just received from 'James Forrest, lord provost') 'of +the sense entertained by them of your distinguished +abilities as an author.' I acknowledged this morning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +in appropriate terms the honor they had done me, and +through me the pursuit to which I was devoted. It <i>is</i> +handsome, is it not?"</p> + +<p>The parchment scroll of the city-freedom, recording +the grounds on which it was voted, hung framed in his +study to the last, and was one of his valued possessions. +Answering some question of mine, he told me further +as to the speakers, and gave some amusing glimpses of +the party-spirit which still at that time ran high in the +capital of the north.</p> + +<p>"The men who spoke at the dinner were all the most +rising men here, and chiefly at the Bar. They were all, +alternately, Whigs and Tories; with some few Radicals, +such as Gordon, who gave the memory of Burns. +He is Wilson's son-in-law and the lord-advocate's +nephew—a very masterly speaker indeed, who ought to +become a distinguished man. Neaves, who gave the +other poets, a <i>little</i> too lawyer-like for my taste, is a +great gun in the courts. Mr. Primrose is Lord Rosebery's +son. Adam Black, the publisher as you know. +Dr. Alison, a very popular friend of the poor. Robertson +you know. Allan you know. Colquhoun is an +advocate. All these men were selected for the toasts +as being crack speakers, known men, and opposed to +each other very strongly in politics. For this reason, +the professors and so forth who sat upon the platform +about me made no speeches and had none assigned them. +I felt it was very remarkable to see such a number of +gray-headed men gathered about my brown flowing +locks; and it struck most of those who were present +very forcibly. The judges, solicitor-general, lord-advocate, +and so forth, were all here to call, the day after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +our arrival. The judges never go to public dinners in +Scotland. Lord Meadowbank alone broke through the +custom, and none of his successors have imitated him. +It will give you a good notion of <i>party</i> to hear that the +solicitor-general and lord-advocate refused to go, though +they had previously engaged, <i>unless</i> the croupier or the +chairman were a Whig. Both (Wilson and Robertson) +were Tories, simply because, Jeffrey excepted, no Whig +could be found who was adapted to the office. The +solicitor laid strict injunctions on Napier not to go if +a Whig were not in office. No Whig was, and he +stayed away. I think this is good?—bearing in mind +that all the old Whigs of Edinburgh were cracking +their throats in the room. They gave out that they +were ill, and the lord-advocate did actually lie in bed +all the afternoon; but this is the real truth, and one of +the judges told it me with great glee. It seems they +couldn't quite trust Wilson or Robertson, as they +thought; and feared some Tory demonstration. Nothing +of the kind took place; and ever since, these +men have been the loudest in their praises of the whole +affair."</p> + +<p>The close of his letter tells us all his engagements, +and completes his graceful picture of the hearty Scottish +welcome given him. It has also some personal +touches that may be thought worth preserving. "A +threat reached me last night (they have been hammering +at it in their papers, it seems, for some time) of a +dinner at Glasgow. But I hope, having circulated false +rumors of my movements, to get away before they send +to me; and only to stop there on my way home, to +change horses and send to the post-office. . . . You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +will like to know how we have been living. Here's a +list of engagements, past and present. Wednesday, +we dined at home, and went incog. to the theatre at +night, to Murray's box; the pieces admirably done, +and M'Ian in the <i>Two Drovers</i> quite wonderful and +most affecting. Thursday, to Lord Murray's; dinner +and evening party. Friday, <i>the</i> dinner. Saturday, to +Jeffrey's, a beautiful place about three miles off" (Craigcrook, +which at Lord Jeffrey's invitation I afterwards +visited with him), "stop there all night, dine on +Sunday, and home at eleven. Monday, dine at Dr. +Alison's, four miles off. Tuesday, dinner and evening +party at Allan's. Wednesday, breakfast with Napier, +dine with Blackwood's seven miles off, evening party at +the treasurer's of the town-council, supper with all the +artists (!!). Thursday, lunch at the solicitor-general's, +dine at Lord Gillies's, evening party at Joseph Gordon's, +one of Brougham's earliest supporters. Friday, dinner +and evening party at Robertson's. Saturday, dine +again at Jeffrey's; back to the theatre, at half-past nine +to the moment, for public appearance;<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> places all let, +etc. etc. etc. Sunday, off at seven o'clock in the morning +to Stirling, and then to Callender, a stage further. +Next day, to Loch Earn, and pull up there for three +days, to rest and work. The moral of all this is, that +there is no place like home; and that I thank God most +heartily for having given me a quiet spirit, and a heart +that won't hold many people. I sigh for Devonshire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +Terrace and Broadstairs, for battledoor and shuttlecock; +I want to dine in a blouse with you and Mac; and I +feel Topping's merits more acutely than I have ever +done in my life. On Sunday evening, the 17th of July, +I shall revisit my household gods, please Heaven. I +wish the day were here. For God's sake be in waiting. +I wish you and Mac would dine in Devonshire Terrace +that day with Fred. He has the key of the cellar. <i>Do.</i> +We shall be at Inverary in the Highlands on Tuesday +week, getting to it through the Pass of Glencoe, of +which you may have heard! On Thursday following +we shall be at Glasgow, where I shall hope to receive +your last letter before we meet. At Inverary, too, I +shall make sure of finding at least one, at the post-office. . . . +Little Allan is trying hard for the post of +queen's limner for Scotland, vacant by poor Wilkie's +death. Every one is in his favor but ——, who is jobbing +for some one else. Appoint him, will you, and +I'll give up the premiership.—How I breakfasted to-day +in the house where Scott lived seven-and-twenty +years; how I have made solemn pledges to write about +missing children in the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, and will do +my best to keep them; how I have declined to be +brought in, free gratis for nothing and qualified to boot, +for a Scotch county that's going a-begging, lest I should +be thought to have dined on Friday under false pretenses; +these, with other marvels, shall be yours anon. . . . +I must leave off sharp, to get dressed and off +upon the seven miles' dinner-trip. Kate's affectionate +regards. My hearty loves to Mac and Grim." Grim +was another great artist having the same beginning +to his name, whose tragic studies had suggested an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +epithet quite inapplicable to any of his personal qualities.</p> + +<p>The narrative of the trip to the Highlands must have +a chapter to itself and its incidents of adventure and +comedy. The latter chiefly were due to the guide who +accompanied him, a quasi-Highlander himself, named +a few pages back as Mr. Kindheart, whose real name +was Mr. Angus Fletcher, and to whom it hardly needs +that I should give other mention than will be supplied +by such future notices of him as my friend's letters may +contain. He had a wayward kind of talent, which he +could never concentrate on a settled pursuit; and +though at the time we knew him first he had taken up +the profession of a sculptor, he abandoned it soon afterwards. +His mother, a woman distinguished by many +remarkable qualities, lived now in the English lake-country; +and it was no fault of hers that this home was +no longer her son's. But what mainly had closed it to +him was undoubtedly not less the secret of such liking +for him as Dickens had. Fletcher's eccentricities and +absurdities, often divided by the thinnest partition from +the most foolish extravagance, but occasionally clever, +and always the genuine though whimsical outgrowth +of the life he led, had a curious sort of charm for +Dickens. He enjoyed the oddity and humor; tolerated +all the rest; and to none more freely than to Kindheart +during the next few years, both in Italy and in England, +opened his house and hospitality. The close of the +poor fellow's life, alas! was in only too sad agreement +with all the previous course of it; but this will have +mention hereafter. He is waiting now to introduce +Dickens to the Highlands.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>ADVENTURES IN THE HIGHLANDS.</h3> + +<h3>1841.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">A Fright—Fletcher's Eccentricities—The Trossachs—The Travelers' +Guide—A Comical Picture—Highland Accommodation—Grand +Scenery—Changes in Route—A Waterfall—Entrance to Glencoe—The +Pass of Glencoe—Loch Leven—A July Evening—Postal Service +at Loch Earn Head—The Maid of the Inn—Impressions of +Glencoe—An Adventure—Torrents swollen with Rain—Dangerous +Traveling—Incidents and Accidents—Broken-down Bridge—A Fortunate +Resolve—Post-boy in Danger—The Rescue—Narrow Escape—A +Highland Inn and Inmates—English Comfort at Dalmally—Dinner +at Glasgow proposed—Eagerness for Home.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">From</span> Loch Earn Head Dickens wrote on Monday, +the 5th of July, having reached it, "wet through," at +four that afternoon: "Having had a great deal to do +in a crowded house on Saturday night at the theatre, we +left Edinburgh yesterday morning at half-past seven, +and traveled, with Fletcher for our guide, to a place +called Stewart's Hotel, nine miles further than Callender. +We had neglected to order rooms, and were +obliged to make a sitting-room of our own bed-chamber; +in which my genius for stowing furniture away +was of the very greatest service. Fletcher slept in a +kennel with three panes of glass in it, which formed +part and parcel of a window; the other three panes +whereof belonged to a man who slept on the other side<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +of the partition. He told me this morning that he had +had a nightmare all night, and had screamed horribly, +he knew. The stranger, as you may suppose, hired a +gig and went off at full gallop with the first glimpse +of daylight.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Being very tired (for we had not had +more than three hours' sleep on the previous night) we +lay till ten this morning, and at half-past eleven went +through the Trossachs to Loch Katrine, where I walked +from the hotel after tea last night. It is impossible to +say what a glorious scene it was. It rained as it never +does rain anywhere but here. We conveyed Kate up +a rocky pass to go and see the island of the Lady of the +Lake, but she gave in after the first five minutes, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +we left her, very picturesque and uncomfortable, with +Tom" (the servant they had brought with them from +Devonshire Terrace) "holding an umbrella over her +head, while we climbed on. When we came back, she +had gone into the carriage. We were wet through to +the skin, and came on in that state four-and-twenty +miles. Fletcher is very good-natured, and of extraordinary +use in these outlandish parts. His habit of going +into kitchens and bars, disconcerting at Broadstairs, is +here of great service. Not expecting us till six, they +hadn't lighted our fires when we arrived here; and if +you had seen him (with whom the responsibility of the +omission rested) running in and out of the sitting-room +and the two bedrooms with a great pair of bellows, with +which he distractedly blew each of the fires out in turn, +you would have died of laughing. He had on his head +a great Highland cap, on his back a white coat, and cut +such a figure as even the inimitable can't depicter. . . .</p> + +<p>"The inns, inside and out, are the queerest places +imaginable. From the road, this one," at Loch Earn +Head, "looks like a white wall, with windows in it +by mistake. We have a good sitting-room, though, on +the first floor: as large (but not as lofty) as my study. +The bedrooms are of that size which renders it impossible +for you to move, after you have taken your boots +off, without chipping pieces out of your legs. There +isn't a basin in the Highlands which will hold my face; +not a drawer which will open, after you have put your +clothes in it; not a water-bottle capacious enough to +wet your toothbrush. The huts are wretched and miserable +beyond all description. The food (for those +who can pay for it) 'not bad,' as M. would say: oat-cake,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +mutton, hotch-potch, trout from the loch, small +beer bottled, marmalade, and whiskey. Of the last-named +article I have taken about a pint to-day. The +weather is what they call 'soft'—which means that the +sky is a vast water-spout that never leaves off emptying +itself; and the liquor has no more effect than water. . . . I +am going to work to-morrow, and hope before +leaving here to write you again. The elections have +been sad work indeed. That they should return Sibthorp +and reject Bulwer, is, by Heaven, a national +disgrace. . . . I don't wonder the devil flew over Lincoln. +The people were far too addle-headed, even for +him. . . . I don't bore you with accounts of Ben this +and that, and Lochs of all sorts of names, but this is a +wonderful region. The way the mists were stalking +about to-day, and the clouds lying down upon the +hills; the deep glens, the high rocks, the rushing waterfalls, +and the roaring rivers down in deep gulfs below; +were all stupendous. This house is wedged round by +great heights that are lost in the clouds; and the loch, +twelve miles long, stretches out its dreary length before +the windows. In my next I shall soar to the +sublime, perhaps; in this here present writing I confine +myself to the ridiculous. But I am always," etc. etc.</p> + +<p>His next letter bore the date of "Ballechelish, +Friday evening, ninth July, 1841, half-past nine, <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>," +and described what we had often longed to see together, +the Pass of Glencoe. . . . "I can't go to bed without +writing to you from here, though the post will not +leave this place until we have left it and arrived at another. +On looking over the route which Lord Murray +made out for me, I found he had put down Thursday<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +next for Abbotsford and Dryburgh Abbey, and a journey +of seventy miles besides! Therefore, and as I +was happily able to steal a march upon myself at Loch +Earn Head, and to finish in two days what I thought +would take me three, we shall leave here to-morrow +morning; and, by being a day earlier than we intended +at all the places between this and Melrose (which we +propose to reach by Wednesday night), we shall have a +whole day for Scott's house and tomb, and still be at +York on Saturday evening, and home, God willing, on +Sunday. . . . We left Loch Earn Head last night, and +went to a place called Killin, eight miles from it, +where we slept. I walked some six miles with Fletcher +after we got there, to see a waterfall; and truly it was +a magnificent sight, foaming and crashing down three +great steeps of riven rock; leaping over the first as far +off as you could carry your eye, and rumbling and +foaming down into a dizzy pool below you, with a +deafening roar. To-day we have had a journey of between +50 and 60 miles, through the bleakest and most +desolate part of Scotland, where the hill-tops are still +covered with great patches of snow, and the road winds +over steep mountain-passes, and on the brink of deep +brooks and precipices. The cold all day has been +<i>intense</i>, and the rain sometimes most violent. It has +been impossible to keep warm, by any means; even +whiskey failed; the wind was too piercing even for +that. One stage of ten miles, over a place called the +Black Mount, took us two hours and a half to do; and +when we came to a lone public called the King's +House, at the entrance to Glencoe,—this was about +three o'clock,—we were wellnigh frozen. We got a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +fire directly, and in twenty minutes they served us up +some famous kippered salmon, broiled; a broiled fowl; +hot mutton ham and poached eggs; pancakes; oat-cake; +wheaten bread; butter; bottled porter; hot +water, lump sugar, and whiskey; of which we made a +very hearty meal. All the way, the road had been +among moors and mountains, with huge masses of rock, +which fell down God knows where, sprinkling the +ground in every direction, and giving it the aspect +of the burial-place of a race of giants. Now and then +we passed a hut or two, with neither window nor chimney, +and the smoke of the peat fire rolling out at the +door. But there were not six of these dwellings in a +dozen miles; and anything so bleak and wild, and +mighty in its loneliness, as the whole country, it is impossible +to conceive. Glencoe itself is perfectly <i>terrible</i>. +The pass is an awful place. It is shut in on each +side by enormous rocks from which great torrents come +rushing down in all directions. In amongst these rocks +on one side of the pass (the left as we came) there are +scores of glens, high up, which form such haunts as +you might imagine yourself wandering in, in the very +height and madness of a fever. They will live in my +dreams for years—I was going to say as long as I live, +and I seriously think so. The very recollection of +them makes me shudder. . . . Well, I will not bore +you with my impressions of these tremendous wilds, +but they really are fearful in their grandeur and +amazing solitude. Wales is a mere toy compared with +them."</p> + +<p>The further mention of his guide's whimsical ways +may stand, for it cannot now be the possible occasion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +of pain or annoyance, or of anything but very innocent +laughter:</p> + +<p>"We are now in a bare white house on the banks of +Loch Leven, but in a comfortably-furnished room on +the top of the house,—that is, on the first floor,—with +the rain pattering against the window as though +it were December, the wind howling dismally, a cold +damp mist on everything without, a blazing fire within +half way up the chimney, and a most infernal Piper +practicing under the window for a competition of pipers +which is to come off shortly. . . . The store of anecdotes +of Fletcher with which we shall return will last a +long time. It seems that the F.'s are an extensive clan, +and that his father was a Highlander. Accordingly, +wherever he goes, he finds out some cotter or small +farmer who is his cousin. I wish you could see him +walking into his cousins' curds and cream, and into their +dairies generally! Yesterday morning, between eight +and nine, I was sitting writing at the open window, +when the postman came to the inn (which at Loch Earn +Head is the post-office) for the letters. He is going +away, when Fletcher, who has been writing somewhere +below-stairs, rushes out, and cries, 'Halloa there! Is +that the Post?' 'Yes!' somebody answers. 'Call him +back!' says Fletcher: 'Just sit down till I've done, <i>and +don't go away till I tell you</i>.'—Fancy! The General +Post, with the letters of forty villages in a leathern bag! . . . +To-morrow at Oban. Sunday at Inverary. +Monday at Tarbet. Tuesday at Glasgow (and that night +at Hamilton). Wednesday at Melrose. Thursday at +ditto. Friday I don't know where. Saturday at York. +Sunday—how glad I shall be to shake hands with you!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +My love to Mac. I thought he'd have written once. +Ditto to Macready. I had a very nice and welcome +letter from him, and a most hearty one from Elliotson. . . . +P.S. Half asleep. So excuse drowsiness of matter +and composition. I shall be full of joy to meet another +letter from you! . . . P.P.S. They speak Gaelic here, +of course, and many of the common people understand +very little English. Since I wrote this letter, I rang +the girl up-stairs, and gave elaborate directions (you +know my way) for a pint of sherry to be made into +boiling negus; mentioning all the ingredients one by +one, and particularly nutmeg. When I had quite finished, +seeing her obviously bewildered, I said, with +great gravity, 'Now you know what you're going to +order?' 'Oh, yes. Sure.' 'What?'—a pause—'Just'—another +pause—'Just plenty of <i>nutbergs!</i>'"</p> + +<p>The impression made upon him by the Pass of Glencoe +was not overstated in this letter. It continued with +him as he there expressed it; and as we shall see hereafter, +even where he expected to find Nature in her +most desolate grandeur on the dreary waste of an American +prairie, his imagination went back with a higher +satisfaction to Glencoe. But his experience of it is not +yet completely told. The sequel was in a letter of two +days' later date, from "Dalmally, Sunday, July the +eleventh, 1841:"</p> + +<p>"As there was no place of this name in our route, you +will be surprised to see it at the head of this present +writing. But our being here is a part of such moving +accidents by flood and field as will astonish you. If you +should happen to have your hat on, take it off, that your +hair may stand on end without any interruption. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +get from Ballyhoolish (as I am obliged to spell it when +Fletcher is not in the way; and he is out at this moment) +to Oban, it is necessary to cross two ferries, one of which +is an arm of the sea, eight or ten miles broad. Into this +ferry-boat, passengers, carriages, horses, and all, get +bodily, and are got across by hook or by crook if the +weather be reasonably fine. Yesterday morning, however, +it blew such a strong gale that the landlord of the +inn, where we had paid for horses all the way to Oban +(thirty miles), honestly came up-stairs just as we were +starting, with the money in his hand, and told us it +would be impossible to cross. There was nothing to +be done but to come back five-and-thirty miles, through +Glencoe and Inverouran, to a place called Tyndrum, +whence a road twelve miles long crosses to Dalmally, +which is sixteen miles from Inverary. Accordingly we +turned back, and in a great storm of wind and rain +began to retrace the dreary road we had come the day +before. . . . I was not at all ill pleased to have to come +again through that awful Glencoe. If it had been tremendous +on the previous day, yesterday it was perfectly +horrific. It had rained all night, and was raining then, +as it only does in these parts. Through the whole +glen, which is ten miles long, torrents were boiling and +foaming, and sending up in every direction spray like +the smoke of great fires. They were rushing down +every hill and mountain side, and tearing like devils +across the path, and down into the depths of the +rocks. Some of the hills looked as if they were full of +silver, and had cracked in a hundred places. Others +as if they were frightened, and had broken out into a +deadly sweat. In others there was no compromise or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +division of streams, but one great torrent came roaring +down with a deafening noise, and a rushing of water +that was quite appalling. Such a <i>spaet</i>, in short (that's +the country word), has not been known for many years, +and the sights and sounds were beyond description. +The post-boy was not at all at his ease, and the horses +were very much frightened (as well they might be) by +the perpetual raging and roaring; one of them started +as we came down a steep place, and we were within +that much (——) of tumbling over a precipice; just +then, too, the drag broke, and we were obliged to go +on as we best could, without it: getting out every now +and then, and hanging on at the back of the carriage +to prevent its rolling down too fast, and going Heaven +knows where. Well, in this pleasant state of things +we came to King's House again, having been four +hours doing the sixteen miles. The rumble where +Tom sat was by this time so full of water that he was +obliged to borrow a gimlet and bore holes in the bottom +to let it run out. The horses that were to take us on +were out upon the hills, somewhere within ten miles +round; and three or four bare-legged fellows went out +to look for 'em, while we sat by the fire and tried to +dry ourselves. At last we got off again (without the +drag and with a broken spring, no smith living within +ten miles), and went limping on to Inverouran. In the +first three miles we were in a ditch and out again, and +lost a horse's shoe. All this time it never once left off +raining; and was very windy, very cold, very misty, +and most intensely dismal. So we crossed the Black +Mount, and came to a place we had passed the day +before, where a rapid river runs over a bed of broken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +rock. Now, this river, sir, had a bridge last winter, +but the bridge broke down when the thaw came, and +has never since been mended; so travelers cross upon +a little platform, made of rough deal planks stretching +from rock to rock; and carriages and horses ford the +water, at a certain point. As the platform is the reverse +of steady (we had proved this the day before), is very +slippery, and affords anything but a pleasant footing, +having only a trembling little rail on one side, and on +the other nothing between it and the foaming stream, +Kate decided to remain in the carriage, and trust herself +to the wheels rather than to her feet. Fletcher and +I had got out, and it was going away, when I advised +her, as I had done several times before, to come with +us; for I saw that the water was very high, the current +being greatly swollen by the rain, and that the post-boy +had been eyeing it in a very disconcerted manner for +the last half-hour. This decided her to come out; and +Fletcher, she, Tom, and I, began to cross, while the +carriage went about a quarter of a mile down the bank, +in search of a shallow place. The platform shook so +much that we could only come across two at a time, +and then it felt as if it were hung on springs. As to +the wind and rain! . . . well, put into one gust all +the wind and rain you ever saw and heard, and you'll +have some faint notion of it! When we got safely to +the opposite bank, there came riding up a wild Highlander, +in a great plaid, whom we recognized as the +landlord of the inn, and who, without taking the +least notice of us, went dashing on,—with the plaid +he was wrapped in, streaming in the wind,—screeching +in Gaelic to the post-boy on the opposite bank,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +and making the most frantic gestures you ever saw, in +which he was joined by some other wild man on foot, +who had come across by a short cut, knee-deep in mire +and water. As we began to see what this meant, we +(that is, Fletcher and I) scrambled on after them, while +the boy, horses, and carriage were plunging in the +water, which left only the horses' heads and the boy's +body visible. By the time we got up to them, the man +on horseback and the men on foot were perfectly mad +with pantomime; for as to any of their shouts being +heard by the boy, the water made such a great noise +that they might as well have been dumb. It made me +quite sick to think how I should have felt if Kate had +been inside. The carriage went round and round like +a great stone, the boy was as pale as death, the horses +were struggling and plashing and snorting like sea-animals, +and we were all roaring to the driver to throw +himself off and let them and the coach go to the devil, +when suddenly it came all right (having got into shallow +water), and, all tumbling and dripping and jogging +from side to side, climbed up to the dry land. I assure +you we looked rather queer, as we wiped our faces +and stared at each other in a little cluster round about +it. It seemed that the man on horseback had been +looking at us through a telescope as we came to the +track, and knowing that the place was very dangerous, +and seeing that we meant to bring the carriage, had come +on at a great gallop to show the driver the only place +where he could cross. By the time he came up, the man +had taken the water at a wrong place, and in a word +was as nearly drowned (with carriage, horses, luggage, +and all) as ever man was. Was <i>this</i> a good adventure?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We all went on to the inn,—the wild man galloping +on first, to get a fire lighted,—and there we dined +on eggs and bacon, oat-cake, and whiskey; and changed +and dried ourselves. The place was a mere knot of little +outhouses, and in one of these there were fifty Highlanders +<i>all drunk</i>. . . . Some were drovers, some pipers, +and some workmen engaged to build a hunting-lodge +for Lord Breadalbane hard by, who had been driven in +by stress of weather. One was a paper-hanger. He +had come out three days before to paper the inn's best +room, a chamber almost large enough to keep a Newfoundland +dog in, and, from the first half-hour after +his arrival to that moment, had been hopelessly and +irreclaimably drunk. They were lying about in all +directions: on forms, on the ground, about a loft overhead, +round the turf-fire wrapped in plaids, on the +tables, and under them. We paid our bill, thanked our +host very heartily, gave some money to his children, +and after an hour's rest came on again. At ten o'clock +at night we reached this place, and were overjoyed to +find quite an English inn, with good beds (those we +have slept on, yet, have always been of straw), and +every possible comfort. We breakfasted this morning +at half-past ten, and at three go on to Inverary to dinner. +I believe the very rough part of the journey is +over, and I am really glad of it. Kate sends all kind +of regards. I shall hope to find a letter from you at +Inverary when the post reaches there, to-morrow. I +wrote to Oban yesterday, desiring the post-office keeper +to send any he might have for us, over to that place. +Love to Mac."</p> + +<p>One more letter, brief, but overflowing at every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +word with his generous nature, must close the delightful +series written from Scotland. It was dated from +Inverary the day following his exciting adventure; +promised me another from Melrose (which has unfortunately +not been kept with the rest); and inclosed +the invitation to a public dinner at Glasgow. "I have +returned for answer that I am on my way home, on +pressing business connected with my weekly publication, +and can't stop. But I have offered to come down +any day in September or October, and accept the honor +then. Now, I shall come and return per mail; and, if +this suits them, enter into a solemn league and covenant +to come with me. <i>Do.</i> You must. I am sure +you will. . . . Till my next, and always afterwards, +God bless you. I got your welcome letter this morning, +and have read it a hundred times. What a pleasure +it is! Kate's best regards. I am dying for Sunday, +and wouldn't stop now for twenty dinners of twenty +thousand each.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px;"> +<img src="images/image05_signature.jpg" width="250" height="87" alt="'Always your affectionate friend 'Doz." title="'Always your affectionate friend 'Doz." /> +</div> + +<p>"Will Lord John meet the Parliament, or resign +first?" I agreed to accompany him to Glasgow; but +illness intercepted that celebration.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>AGAIN AT BROADSTAIRS.</h3> + +<h3>1841.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Peel and his Party—Getting very Radical—Thoughts of colonizing—Political +Squib by C. D.—Fine Old English Tory Times—Mesmerism—Metropolitan +Prisons—Book by a Workman—An August Day +by the Sea—Another Story in Prospect—<i>Clock</i> Discontents—New +Adventure—Agreement for it signed—The Book that proved to be +<i>Chuzzlewit</i>—Peel and Lord Ashley—Visions of America.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Soon</span> after his return, at the opening of August, he +went to Broadstairs; and the direction in which that +last question shows his thoughts to have been busy +was that to which he turned his first holiday leisure. +He sent me some rhymed squibs as his anonymous contribution +to the fight the Liberals were then making +against what was believed to be intended by the return +to office of the Tories; ignorant as we were how much +wiser than his party the statesman then at the head of +it was, or how greatly what we all most desired would +be advanced by the very success that had been most +disheartening. There will be no harm now in giving +one of these pieces, which will sufficiently show the +tone of all of them, and with what a hearty relish +they were written. I doubt indeed if he ever enjoyed +anything more than the power of thus taking part +occasionally, unknown to outsiders, in the sharp conflict<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +the press was waging at the time. "By Jove, how +radical I am getting!" he wrote to me (13th August). +"I wax stronger and stronger in the true principles +every day. I don't know whether it's the sea, or no, +but so it is." He would at times even talk, in moments +of sudden indignation at the political outlook, of carrying +off himself and his household gods, like Coriolanus, +to a world elsewhere! "Thank God there is a Van +Diemen's Land. That's my comfort. Now, I wonder +if I should make a good settler! I wonder, if I went +to a new colony with my head, hands, legs, and health, +I should force myself to the top of the social milk-pot +and live upon the cream! What do you think? Upon +my word, I believe I should."</p> + +<p>His political squibs during the Tory interregnum +comprised some capital subjects for pictures after the +manner of Peter Pindar; but that which I select has no +touch of personal satire in it, and he would himself, for +that reason, have least objected to its revival. Thus +ran his new version of "The Fine Old English Gentleman, +to be said or sung at all conservative dinners:"</p> + +<div class='poem2'><br /> +I'll sing you a new ballad, and I'll warrant it first-rate,<br /> +Of the days of that old gentleman who had that old estate;<br /> +When they spent the public money at a bountiful old rate<br /> +On ev'ry mistress, pimp, and scamp, at ev'ry noble gate.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">In the fine old English Tory times;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">Soon may they come again!</span><br /> +<br /> +The good old laws were garnished well with gibbets, whips, and chains,<br /> +With fine old English penalties, and fine old English pains,<br /> +With rebel heads and seas of blood once hot in rebel veins;<br /> +For all these things were requisite to guard the rich old gains<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">Of the fine old English Tory times;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">Soon may they come again!</span><br /> +<br /> +This brave old code, like Argus, had a hundred watchful eyes,<br /> +And ev'ry English peasant had his good old English spies,<br /> +To tempt his starving discontent with fine old English lies,<br /> +Then call the good old Yeomanry to stop his peevish cries,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">In the fine old English Tory times;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">Soon may they come again!</span><br /> +<br /> +The good old times for cutting throats that cried out in their need,<br /> +The good old times for hunting men who held their fathers' creed,<br /> +The good old times when William Pitt, as all good men agreed,<br /> +Came down direct from Paradise at more than railroad speed. . . .<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">Oh, the fine old English Tory times;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">When will they come again?</span><br /> +<br /> +In those rare days, the press was seldom known to snarl or bark,<br /> +But sweetly sang of men in pow'r, like any tuneful lark;<br /> +Grave judges, too, to all their evil deeds were in the dark;<br /> +And not a man in twenty score knew how to make his mark.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">Oh, the fine old English Tory times;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">Soon may they come again! . . .</span><br /> +<br /> +But tolerance, though slow in flight, is strong-wing'd in the main;<br /> +That night must come on these fine days, in course of time was plain;<br /> +The pure old spirit struggled, but its struggles were in vain;<br /> +A nation's grip was on it, and it died in choking pain,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">With the fine old English Tory days,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">All of the olden time.</span><br /> +<br /> +The bright old day now dawns again; the cry runs through the land,<br /> +In England there shall be—dear bread! in Ireland—sword and brand!<br /> +And poverty, and ignorance, shall swell the rich and grand,<br /> +So, rally round the rulers with the gentle iron hand<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">Of the fine old English Tory days;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">Hail to the coming time!</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>Of matters in which he had been specially interested +before he quitted London, one or two may properly be +named. He had always sympathized, almost as strongly +as Archbishop Whately did, with Dr. Elliotson's mesmeric<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +investigations; and, reinforced as these were in +the present year by the displays of a Belgian youth +whom another friend, Mr. Chauncy Hare Townshend, +brought over to England, the subject, which to the last +had an attraction for him, was for the time rather +ardently followed up. The improvement during the +last few years in the London prisons was another matter +of eager and pleased inquiry with him; and he took +frequent means of stating what in this respect had been +done, since even the date when his <i>Sketches</i> were written, +by two most efficient public officers at Clerkenwell and +Tothill Fields, Mr. Chesterton and Lieutenant Tracey, +whom the course of these inquiries turned into private +friends. His last letter to me before he quitted town +sufficiently explains itself. "Slow rises worth by poverty +deprest" was the thought in his mind at every part +of his career, and he never for a moment was unmindful +of the duty it imposed upon him: "I subscribed for +a couple of copies" (31st July) "of this little book. +I knew nothing of the man, but he wrote me a very +modest letter of two lines, some weeks ago. I have been +much affected by the little biography at the beginning, +and I thought you would like to share the emotion it +had raised in me. I wish we were all in Eden again—for +the sake of these toiling creatures."</p> + +<p>In the middle of August (Monday, 16th) I had announcement +that he was coming up for special purposes: +"I sit down to write to you without an atom of news +to communicate. Yes, I have,—something that will +surprise you, who are pent up in dark and dismal Lincoln's +Inn Fields. It is the brightest day you ever saw. +The sun is sparkling on the water so that I can hardly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +bear to look at it. The tide is in, and the fishing-boats +are dancing like mad. Upon the green-topped +cliffs the corn is cut and piled in shocks; and thousands +of butterflies are fluttering about, taking the +bright little red flags at the mast-heads for flowers, and +panting with delight accordingly. [Here the Inimitable, +unable to resist the brilliancy out of doors, breaketh +off, rusheth to the machines, and plungeth into +the sea. Returning, he proceedeth:] Jeffrey is just +as he was when he wrote the letter I sent you. No +better, and no worse. I had a letter from Napier on +Saturday, urging the children's-labor subject upon me. +But, as I hear from Southwood Smith that the report +cannot be printed until the new Parliament has sat at +the least six weeks, it will be impossible to produce +it before the January number. I shall be in town on +Saturday morning and go straight to you. A letter +has come from little Hall begging that when I <i>do</i> come +to town I will dine there, as they wish to talk about +the new story. I have written to say that I will do so +on Saturday, and we will go together; but I shall be +by no means good company. . . . I have more than +half a mind to start a bookseller of my own. I could; +with good capital too, as you know; and ready to spend +it. <i>G. Varden beware!</i>"</p> + +<p>Small causes of displeasure had been growing out of +the <i>Clock</i>, and were almost unavoidably incident to the +position in which he found himself respecting it. Its +discontinuance had become necessary, the strain upon +himself being too great without the help from others +which experience had shown to be impracticable; but I +thought he had not met the difficulty wisely by undertaking,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +which already he had done, to begin a new +story so early as the following March. On his arrival, +therefore, we decided on another plan, with which we +went armed that Saturday afternoon to his publishers, +and of which the result will be best told by himself. He +had returned to Broadstairs the following morning, and +next day (Monday, the 23d of August) he wrote to me +in very enthusiastic terms of the share I had taken in +what he calls "the development on Saturday afternoon; +when I thought Chapman very manly and sensible, Hall +morally and physically feeble though perfectly well intentioned, +and both the statement and reception of the +project quite triumphant. Didn't you think so too?" +A fortnight later, Tuesday, the 7th of September, the +agreement was signed in my chambers, and its terms +were to the effect following. The <i>Clock</i> was to cease +with the close of <i>Barnaby Rudge</i>, the respective ownerships +continuing as provided; and the new work in +twenty numbers, similar to those of <i>Pickwick</i> and <i>Nickleby</i>, +was not to begin until after an interval of twelve +months, in November, 1842. During its publication +he was to receive two hundred pounds monthly, to be +accounted as part of the expenses; for all which, and +all risks incident, the publishers made themselves responsible, +under conditions the same as in the <i>Clock</i> +agreement; except that out of the profits of each number +they were to have only a fourth, three-fourths going +to him, and this arrangement was to hold good until +the termination of six months from the completed book, +when, upon payment to him of a fourth of the value of +all existing stock, they were to have half the future interest. +During the twelve months' interval before the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +book began, he was to be paid one hundred and fifty +pounds each month; but this was to be drawn from his +three-fourths of the profits, and in no way to interfere +with the monthly payments of two hundred pounds +while the publication was going on.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Such was the +"project," excepting only a provision to be mentioned +hereafter against the improbable event of the profits +being inadequate to the repayment; and my only drawback +from the satisfaction of my own share in it arose +from my fear of the use he was likely to make of the +leisure it afforded him.</p> + +<p>That this fear was not ill founded appeared at the close +of the next note I had from him: "There's no news" +(13th September) "since my last. We are going to dine +with Rogers to-day, and with Lady Essex, who is also +here. Rogers is much pleased with Lord Ashley, who +was offered by Peel a post in the government, but resolutely +refused to take office unless Peel pledged himself +to factory-improvement. Peel 'hadn't made up his +mind,' and Lord Ashley was deaf to all other inducements, +though they must have been very tempting. +Much do I honor him for it. I am in an exquisitely +lazy state, bathing, walking, reading, lying in the sun, +doing everything but working. This frame of mind is +superinduced by the prospect of rest, and the promising +arrangements which I owe to you. I am still haunted +by visions of America night and day. To miss this +opportunity would be a sad thing. Kate cries dismally +if I mention the subject. But, God willing, I think it +<i>must</i> be managed somehow!"</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>EVE OF THE VISIT TO AMERICA.</h3> + +<h3>1841.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Greetings from America—Reply to Washington Irving—Difficulties +in the Way—Resolve to go—Wish to revisit Scenes of Boyhood—Proposed +Book of Travel—Arrangements for the Journey—Impatience +of Suspense—Resolve to leave the Children—Mrs. Dickens +reconciled—A Grave Illness—Domestic Griefs—The Old Sorrow—At +Windsor—Son Walter's Christening—At Liverpool with the +Travelers.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> notion of America was in his mind, as we have +seen, when he first projected the <i>Clock;</i> and a very +hearty letter from Washington Irving about Little Nell +and the <i>Curiosity Shop</i>, expressing the delight with his +writings and the yearnings to himself which had indeed +been pouring in upon him for some time from every part +of the States, had very strongly revived it. He answered +Irving with more than his own warmth: unable +to thank him enough for his cordial and generous praise, +or to tell him what lasting gratification it had given. +"I wish I could find in your welcome letter," he added, +"some hint of an intention to visit England. I should +love to go with you, as I have gone, God knows how +often, into Little Britain, and Eastcheap, and Green +Arbor Court, and Westminster Abbey. . . . It would +gladden my heart to compare notes with you about all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> +those delightful places and people that I used to walk +about and dream of in the daytime, when a very small +and not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy." After +interchange of these letters the subject was frequently +revived; upon his return from Scotland it began to +take shape as a thing that somehow or other, at no +very distant date, <i>must be;</i> and at last, near the end +of a letter filled with many unimportant things, the +announcement, doubly underlined, came to me.</p> + +<p>The decision once taken, he was in his usual fever +until its difficulties were disposed of. The objections +to separation from the children led at first to the notion +of taking them, but this was as quickly abandoned; +and what remained to be overcome yielded readily to +the kind offices of Macready, the offer of whose home +to the little ones during the time of absence, though +not accepted to the full extent, gave yet the assurance +needed to quiet natural apprehensions. All this, including +an arrangement for publication of such notes as +might occur to him on the journey, took but a few days; +and I was reading in my chambers a letter he had written +the previous day from Broadstairs, when a note from +him reached me, written that morning in London, to +tell me he was on his way to take share of my breakfast. +He had come overland by Canterbury after posting +his first letter, had seen Macready the previous +night, and had completed some part of the arrangements. +This mode of rapid procedure was characteristic +of him at all similar times, and will appear in the +few following extracts from his letters:</p> + +<p>"Now" (19th September) "to astonish you. After +balancing, considering, and weighing the matter in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +every point of view, <span class="smcap">I have made up my mind (with +God's leave) to go to America—and to start as +soon after Christmas as it will be safe to go.</span>" +Further information was promised immediately; and a +request followed, characteristic as any he could have +added to his design of traveling so far away, that we +should visit once more together the scenes of his boyhood. +"On the ninth of October we leave here. It's +a Saturday. If it should be fine dry weather, or anything +like it, will you meet us at Rochester, and stop +there two or three days to see all the lions in the surrounding +country? Think of this. . . . If you'll arrange +to come, I'll have the carriage down, and Topping; +and, supposing news from Glasgow don't interfere with +us, which I fervently hope it will not, I will insure that +we have much enjoyment."</p> + +<p>Three days later than that which announced his +resolve, the subject was resumed: "I wrote to Chapman +& Hall asking them what they thought of it, and +saying I meant to keep a note-book, and publish it for +half a guinea or thereabouts, on my return. They +instantly sent the warmest possible reply, and said they +had taken it for granted I would go, and had been +speaking of it only the day before. I have begged +them to make every inquiry about the fares, cabins, +berths, and times of sailing; and I shall make a great +effort to take Kate <i>and</i> the children. In that case I +shall try to let the house furnished, for six months (for +I shall remain that time in America); and if I succeed, +the rent will nearly pay the expenses out, and home. +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: this word omitted in original">I</ins> have heard of family cabins at £100; and I think one +of these is large enough to hold us all. A single fare,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +I think, is forty guineas. I fear I could not be happy +if we had the Atlantic between us; but leaving them +in New York while I ran off a thousand miles or so, +would be quite another thing. If I can arrange all my +plans before publishing the <i>Clock</i> address, I shall state +therein that I am going: which will be no unimportant +consideration, as affording the best possible reason for +a long delay. How I am to get on without you for +seven or eight months, I cannot, upon my soul, conceive. +I dread to think of breaking up all our old +happy habits for so long a time. The advantages of +going, however, appear by steady looking-at so great, +that I have come to persuade myself it is a matter of +imperative necessity. Kate weeps whenever it is spoken +of. Washington Irving has got a nasty low fever. I +heard from him a day or two ago."</p> + +<p>His next letter was the unexpected arrival which +came by hand from Devonshire Terrace, when I thought +him still by the sea: "This is to give you notice that +I am coming to breakfast with you this morning on my +way to Broadstairs. I repeat it, sir,—on my way <i>to</i> +Broadstairs. For, directly I got Macready's note yesterday +I went to Canterbury, and came on by day-coach +for the express purpose of talking with him; +which I did between 11 and 12 last night in Clarence +Terrace. The American preliminaries are necessarily +startling, and, to a gentleman of my temperament, destroy +rest, sleep, appetite, and work, unless definitely +arranged.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> Macready has quite decided me in respect +of time and so forth. The instant I have wrung a reluctant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +consent from Kate, I shall take our joint passage +in the mail-packet for next January. I never loved my +friends so well as now." We had all discountenanced +his first thought of taking the children; and, upon this +and other points, the experience of our friend who had +himself traveled over the States was very valuable. His +next letter, two days later from Broadstairs, informed +me of the result of the Macready conference: "Only +a word. Kate is quite reconciled. 'Anne' (her maid) +goes, and is amazingly cheerful and light of heart upon +it. And I think, at present, that it's a greater trial to +me than anybody. The 4th of January is the day. +Macready's note to Kate was received and acted upon +with a perfect response. She talks about it quite gayly, +and is satisfied to have nobody in the house but Fred, +of whom, as you know, they are all fond. He has got +his promotion, and they give him the increased salary +from the day on which the minute was made by Baring, +I feel so amiable, so meek, so fond of people, so full +of gratitudes and reliances, that I am like a sick man. +And I am already counting the days between this and +coming home again."</p> + +<p>He was soon, alas! to be what he compared himself +to. I met him at Rochester at the end of September, +as arranged; we passed a day and night there; a day +and night in Cobham and its neighborhood, sleeping +at the Leather Bottle; and a day and night at Gravesend. +But we were hardly returned when some slight +symptoms of bodily trouble took suddenly graver form, +and an illness followed involving the necessity of surgical +attendance. This, which with mention of the +helpful courage displayed by him has before been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +alluded to,<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> put off necessarily the Glasgow dinner; +and he had scarcely left his bedroom when a trouble +arose near home which touched him to the depths of +the greatest sorrow of his life, and, in the need of exerting +himself for others, what remained of his own +illness seemed to pass away.</p> + +<p>His wife's younger brother had died with the same +unexpected suddenness that attended her younger +sister's death; and the event had followed close upon +the decease of Mrs. Hogarth's mother while on a visit +to her daughter and Mr. Hogarth. "As no steps +had been taken towards the funeral," he wrote (25th +October) in reply to my offer of such service as I could +render, "I thought it best at once to bestir myself; +and not even you could have saved my going to the +cemetery. It is a great trial to me to give up Mary's +grave; greater than I can possibly express. I thought +of moving her to the catacombs and saying nothing +about it; but then I remembered that the poor old +lady is buried next her at her own desire, and could +not find it in my heart, directly she is laid in the +earth, to take her grandchild away. The desire to be +buried next her is as strong upon me now as it was five +years ago; and I <i>know</i> (for I don't think there ever +was love like that I bear her) that it will never diminish. +I fear I can do nothing. Do you think I can? They +would move her on Wednesday, if I resolved to have +it done. I cannot bear the thought of being excluded +from her dust; and yet I feel that her brothers and +sisters, and her mother, have a better right than I to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +be placed beside her. It is but an idea. I neither +think nor hope (God forbid) that our spirits would +ever mingle <i>there</i>. I ought to get the better of it, but +it is very hard. I never contemplated this—and coming +so suddenly, and after being ill, it disturbs me more +than it ought. It seems like losing her a second +time. . . ." "No," he wrote the morning after, "I +tried that. No, there is no ground on either side to be +had. I must give it up. I shall drive over there, +please God, on Thursday morning, before they get +there; and look at her coffin."</p> + +<p>He suffered more than he let any one perceive, and +was obliged again to keep his room for some days. +On the 2d of November he reported himself as progressing +and ordered to Richmond, which, after a week +or so, he changed to the White Hart at Windsor, where +I passed some days with him, Mrs. Dickens, and her +younger sister Georgina; but it was not till near the +close of that month he could describe himself as +thoroughly on his legs again, in the ordinary state on +which he was wont to pride himself, bolt upright, +staunch at the knees, a deep sleeper, a hearty eater, a +good laugher, and nowhere a bit the worse, "bating a +little weakness now and then, and a slight nervousness +at times."</p> + +<p>We had some days of much enjoyment at the end of +the year, when Landor came up from Bath for the +christening of his godson; and the "Britannia," which +was to take the travelers from us in January, brought +over to them in December all sorts of cordialities, anticipations, +and stretchings-forth of palms, in token of +the welcome awaiting them. On New Year's Eve they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +dined with me, and I with them on New Year's Day; +when (his house having been taken for the period of +his absence by General Sir John Wilson) we sealed up +his wine-cellar, after opening therein some sparkling +Moselle in honor of the ceremony, and drinking it +then and there to his happy return. Next morning (it +was a Sunday) I accompanied them to Liverpool, +Maclise having been suddenly stayed by his mother's +death; the intervening day and its occupations have +been humorously sketched in his American book; and +on the 4th they sailed. I never saw the Britannia +after I stepped from her deck back to the small steamer +that had taken us to her. "How little I thought" +(were the last lines of his first American letter), "the +first time you mounted the shapeless coat, that I should +have such a sad association with its back as when I saw +it by the paddle-box of that small steamer!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA.</h3> + +<h3>1842.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Rough Passage—A Steamer in a Storm—Resigned to the Worst—Of +Himself and Fellow-travelers—The Atlantic from Deck—The +Ladies' Cabin—Its Occupants—Card-playing on the Atlantic—Ship-news—A +Wager—Halifax Harbor—Ship aground—Captain Hewitt—Speaker +of House of Assembly—Ovation to C. D.—Arrival at +Boston—Incursion of Editors—At Tremont House—The Welcome—Deputations—Dr. +Channing to C. D.—Public Appearances—A +Secretary engaged—Bostonians—General Characteristics—Personal +Notices—Perils of Steamers—A Home-thought—American Institutions—How +first impressed—Reasons for the Greeting—What was +welcomed in C. D.—Old World and New World—Daniel Webster +as to C. D.—Channing as to C. D.—Subsequent Disappointments—New +York Invitation to Dinner—Fac-similes of Signatures—Additional +Fac-similes—New York Invitation to Ball—Fac-similes of +Signatures—Additional Fac-similes.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> first lines of that letter were written as soon as +he got sight of earth again, from the banks of Newfoundland, +on Monday, the 17th of January, the fourteenth +day from their departure: even then so far from +Halifax that they could not expect to make it before +Wednesday night, or to reach Boston until Saturday or +Sunday. They had not been fortunate in the passage. +During the whole voyage the weather had been unprecedentedly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +bad, the wind for the most part dead against +them, the wet intolerable, the sea horribly disturbed, +the days dark, and the nights fearful. On the previous +Monday night it had blown a hurricane, beginning at +five in the afternoon and raging all night. His description +of the storm is published, and the peculiarities of +a steamer's behavior in such circumstances are hit off +as if he had been all his life a sailor. Any but so extraordinary +an observer would have described a steamer +in a storm as he would have described a sailing-ship in +a storm. But any description of the latter would be as +inapplicable to my friend's account of the other as the +ways of a jackass to those of a mad bull. In the letter +from which it was taken, however, there were some +things addressed to myself alone: "For two or three +hours we gave it up as a lost thing; and with many +thoughts of you, and the children, and those others +who are dearest to us, waited quietly for the worst. I +never expected to see the day again, and resigned myself +to God as well as I could. It was a great comfort +to think of the earnest and devoted friends we had left +behind, and to know that the darlings would not +want."</p> + +<p>This was not the exaggerated apprehension of a +landsman merely. The head engineer, who had been +in one or other of the Cunard vessels since they began +running, had never seen such stress of weather; and I +heard Captain Hewitt himself say afterwards that nothing +but a steamer, and one of that strength, could +have kept her course and stood it out. A sailing-vessel +must have beaten off and driven where she could; +while through all the fury of that gale they actually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +made fifty-four miles headlong through the tempest, +straight on end, not varying their track in the least.</p> + +<p>He stood out against sickness only for the day following +that on which they sailed. For the three following +days he kept his bed, miserable enough, and had not, +until the eighth day of the voyage, six days before the +date of his letter, been able to get to work at the +dinner-table. What he then observed of his fellow-travelers, +and had to tell of their life on board, has +been set forth in his <i>Notes</i> with delightful humor; but +in its first freshness I received it in this letter, and some +whimsical passages, then suppressed, there will be no +harm in printing now:</p> + +<p>"We have 86 passengers; and such a strange collection +of beasts never was got together upon the sea, +since the days of the Ark. I have never been in the +saloon since the first day; the noise, the smell, and the +closeness being quite intolerable. I have only been on +deck <i>once!</i>—and then I was surprised and disappointed +at the smallness of the panorama. The sea, running as +it does and has done, is very stupendous, and viewed +from the air or some great height would be grand no +doubt. But seen from the wet and rolling decks, in +this weather and these circumstances, it only impresses +one giddily and painfully. I was very glad to turn +away, and come below again.</p> + +<p>"I have established myself, from the first, in the +ladies' cabin—you remember it? I'll describe its +other occupants, and our way of passing the time, to +you.</p> + +<p>"First, for the occupants. Kate and I, and Anne—when +she is out of bed, which is not often. A queer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +little Scotch body, a Mrs. P—,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> whose husband is a +silversmith in New York. He married her at Glasgow +three years ago, and bolted the day after the wedding; +being (which he had not told her) heavily in debt. +Since then she has been living with her mother; and +she is now going out under the protection of a male +cousin, to give him a year's trial. If she is not comfortable +at the expiration of that time, she means to go +back to Scotland again. A Mrs. B—, about 20 years +old, whose husband is on board with her. He is a +young Englishman domiciled in New York, and by +trade (as well as I can make out) a woolen-draper. +They have been married a fortnight. A Mr. and Mrs. +C—, marvelously fond of each other, complete the +catalogue. Mrs. C—, I have settled, is a publican's +daughter, and Mr. C— is running away with her, the +till, the time-piece off the bar mantel-shelf, the mother's +gold watch from the pocket at the head of the bed; +and other miscellaneous property. The women are +all pretty; unusually pretty. I never saw such good +faces together, anywhere."</p> + +<p>Their "way of passing the time" will be found in +the <i>Notes</i> much as it was written to me; except that +there was one point connected with the card-playing +which he feared might overtax the credulity of his +readers, but which he protested had occurred more +than once: "Apropos of rolling, I have forgotten to +mention that in playing whist we are obliged to put<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +the tricks in our pockets, to keep them from disappearing +altogether; and that five or six times in the course +of every rubber we are all flung from our seats, roll out +at different doors, and keep on rolling until we are +picked up by stewards. This has become such a +matter of course, that we go through it with perfect +gravity, and, when we are bolstered up on our sofas +again, resume our conversation or our game at the +point where it was interrupted." The news that excited +them from day to day, too, of which little more +than a hint appears in the <i>Notes</i>, is worth giving as +originally written:</p> + +<p>"As for news, we have more of that than you would +think for. One man lost fourteen pounds at vingt-un +in the saloon yesterday, or another got drunk before +dinner was over, or another was blinded with lobster-sauce +spilt over him by the steward, or another had a +fall on deck and fainted. The ship's cook was drunk +yesterday morning (having got at some salt-water-damaged +whiskey), and the captain ordered the boatswain +to play upon him with the hose of the fire-engine until +he roared for mercy—which he didn't get: for he was +sentenced to look out, for four hours at a stretch for +four nights running, without a great-coat, and to have +his grog stopped. Four dozen plates were broken at +dinner. One steward fell down the cabin stairs with a +round of beef, and injured his foot severely. Another +steward fell down after him and cut his eye open. The +baker's taken ill; so is the pastry-cook. A new man, +sick to death, has been required to fill the place of the +latter officer, and has been dragged out of bed and +propped up in a little house upon deck, between two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +casks, and ordered (the captain standing over him) to +make and roll out pie-crust; which he protests, with +tears in his eyes, it is death to him in his bilious state +to look at. Twelve dozen of bottled porter has got +loose upon deck, and the bottles are rolling about distractedly, +overhead. Lord Mulgrave (a handsome +fellow, by-the-by, to look at, and nothing but a good +'un to go) laid a wager with twenty-five other men last +night, whose berths, like his, are in the fore-cabin, +which can only be got at by crossing the deck, that he +would reach his cabin first. Watches were set by the +captain's, and they sallied forth, wrapped up in coats +and storm caps. The sea broke over the ship so +violently, that they were <i>five-and-twenty minutes</i> holding +on by the handrail at the starboard paddle-box, +drenched to the skin by every wave, and not daring to +go on or come back, lest they should be washed overboard. +News! A dozen murders in town wouldn't +interest us half as much."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless their excitements were not over. At +the very end of the voyage came an incident very +lightly touched in the <i>Notes</i>, but more freely told +to me under date of the 21st January: "We were +running into Halifax harbor on Wednesday night, +with little wind and a bright moon; had made the +light at its outer entrance, and given the ship in charge +to the pilot; were playing our rubber, all in good +spirits (for it had been comparatively smooth for some +days, with tolerably dry decks and other unusual comforts), +when suddenly the ship <span class="smcap">struck</span>! A rush upon +deck followed, of course. The men (I mean the crew! +think of this) were kicking off their shoes and throwing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +off their jackets preparatory to swimming ashore; +the pilot was beside himself; the passengers dismayed; +and everything in the most intolerable confusion and +hurry. Breakers were roaring ahead; the land within +a couple of hundred yards; and the vessel driving +upon the surf, although her paddles were worked backwards, +and everything done to stay her course. It is +not the custom of steamers, it seems, to have an anchor +ready. An accident occurred in getting ours over the +side; and for half an hour we were throwing up rockets, +burning blue-lights, and firing signals of distress, all of +which remained unanswered, though we were so close +to the shore that we could see the waving branches of +the trees. All this time, as we veered about, a man was +heaving the lead every two minutes; the depths of water +constantly decreasing; and nobody self-possessed but +Hewitt. They let go the anchor at last, got out a boat, +and sent her ashore with the fourth officer, the pilot, +and four men aboard, to try and find out where we were. +The pilot had no idea; but Hewitt put his little finger +upon a certain part of the chart, and was as confident +of the exact spot (though he had never been there in +his life) as if he had lived there from infancy. The +boat's return about an hour afterwards proved him to +be quite right. We had got into a place called the +Eastern Passage, in a sudden fog and through the pilot's +folly. We had struck upon a mud-bank, and driven +into a perfect little pond, surrounded by banks and +rocks and shoals of all kinds: the only safe speck in +the place. Eased by this report, and the assurance that +the tide was past the ebb, we turned in at three o'clock +in the morning, to lie there all night."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p> + +<p>The next day's landing at Halifax, and delivery of +the mails, are sketched in the <i>Notes;</i> but not his personal +part in what followed: "Then, sir, comes a +breathless man who has been already into the ship and +out again, shouting my name as he tears along. I stop, +arm in arm with the little doctor whom I have taken +ashore for oysters. The breathless man introduces himself +as The Speaker of the House of Assembly; <i>will</i> +drag me away to his house; and <i>will</i> have a carriage +and his wife sent down for Kate, who is laid up with a +hideously swoln face. Then he drags me up to the +Governor's house (Lord Falkland is the governor), and +then Heaven knows where; concluding with both +houses of parliament, which happen to meet for the +session that very day, and are opened by a mock speech +from the throne delivered by the governor, with one of +Lord Grey's sons for his aide-de-camp, and a great +host of officers about him. I wish you could have seen +the crowds cheering the inimitable<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> in the streets. I +wish you could have seen judges, law-officers, bishops, +and law-makers welcoming the inimitable. I wish you +could have seen the inimitable shown to a great elbow-chair +by the Speaker's throne, and sitting alone in the +middle of the floor of the House of Commons, the observed +of all observers, listening with exemplary gravity +to the queerest speaking possible, and breaking in spite +of himself into a smile as he thought of this commencement +to the Thousand and One stories in reserve for +home and Lincoln's Inn Fields and Jack Straw's Castle.—Ah, +Forster! when I <i>do</i> come back again!——"</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span></p> +<p>He resumed his letter at Tremont House on Saturday, +the 28th of January, having reached Boston that +day week at five in the afternoon; and, as his first +American experience is very lightly glanced at in the +<i>Notes</i>, a fuller picture will perhaps be welcome. "As +the Cunard boats have a wharf of their own at the +custom-house, and that a narrow one, we were a long +time (an hour at least) working in. I was standing in +full fig on the paddle-box beside the captain, staring +about me, when suddenly, long before we were moored +to the wharf, a dozen men came leaping on board at +the peril of their lives, with great bundles of newspapers +under their arms; worsted comforters (very much the +worse for wear) round their necks; and so forth. 'Aha!' +says I, 'this is like our London Bridge;' believing of +course that these visitors were news-boys. But what +do you think of their being <span class="smcap">Editors</span>? And what do +you think of their tearing violently up to me and +beginning to shake hands like madmen? Oh! if you +could have seen how I wrung their wrists! And if you +could but know how I hated one man in very dirty +gaiters, and with very protruding upper teeth, who said +to all comers after him, 'So you've been introduced to +our friend Dickens—eh?' There was one among them, +though, who really was of use; a Doctor S., editor of +the ——. He ran off here (two miles at least), and +ordered rooms and dinner. And in course of time +Kate, and I, and Lord Mulgrave (who was going back +to his regiment at Montreal on Monday, and had +agreed to live with us in the mean while) sat down in a +spacious and handsome room to a very handsome dinner, +bating peculiarities of putting on table, and had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> +forgotten the ship entirely. A Mr. Alexander, to +whom I had written from England promising to sit for +a portrait, was on board directly we touched the land, +and brought us here in his carriage. Then, after sending +a present of most beautiful flowers, he left us to +ourselves, and we thanked him for it."</p> + +<p>What further he had to say of that week's experience +finds its first public utterance here. "How can I tell +you," he continues, "what has happened since that first +day? How can I give you the faintest notion of my +reception here; of the crowds that pour in and out +the whole day; of the people that line the streets when +I go out; of the cheering when I went to the theatre; +of the copies of verses, letters of congratulation, welcomes +of all kinds, balls, dinners, assemblies without +end? There is to be a public dinner to me here in +Boston, next Tuesday, and great dissatisfaction has +been given to the many by the high price (three pounds +sterling each) of the tickets. There is to be a ball +next Monday week at New York, and 150 names appear +on the list of the committee. There is to be a dinner +in the same place, in the same week, to which I have +had an invitation with every known name in America +appended to it. But what can I tell you about any of +these things which will give you the slightest notion of +the enthusiastic greeting they give me, or the cry that +runs through the whole country? I have had deputations +from the Far West, who have come from more +than two thousand miles' distance: from the lakes, the +rivers, the back-woods, the log houses, the cities, factories, +villages, and towns. Authorities from nearly all +the States have written to me. I have heard from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +universities, Congress, Senate, and bodies, public and +private, of every sort and kind. 'It is no-nonsense, +and no common feeling,' wrote Dr. Channing to me +yesterday. 'It is all heart. There never was, and +never will be, such a triumph.' And it is a good +thing, is it not, . . . to find those fancies it has given +me and you the greatest satisfaction to think of, at the +core of it all? It makes my heart quieter, and me a +more retiring, sober, tranquil man, to watch the effect +of those thoughts in all this noise and hurry, even than +if I sat, pen in hand, to put them down for the first +time. I feel, in the best aspects of this welcome, +something of the presence and influence of that spirit +which directs my life, and through a heavy sorrow +has pointed upwards with unchanging finger for more +than four years past. And if I know my heart, not +twenty times this praise would move me to an act of +folly." . . .</p> + +<p>There were but two days more before the post left +for England, and the close of this part of his letter +sketched the engagements that awaited him on leaving +Boston: "We leave here next Saturday. We go to a +place called Worcester, about 75 miles off, to the house +of the governor of this place; and stay with him all +Sunday. On Monday we go on by railroad about 50 +miles further to a town called Springfield, where I am +met by a 'reception committee' from Hartford 20 +miles further, and carried on by the multitude: I am +sure I don't know how, but I shouldn't wonder if they +appear with a triumphal car. On Wednesday I have +a public dinner there. On Friday I shall be obliged +to present myself in public again, at a place called New<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +Haven, about 30 miles further. On Saturday evening +I hope to be at New York; and there I shall stay ten +days or a fortnight. You will suppose that I have +enough to do. I am sitting for a portrait and for a +bust. I have the correspondence of a secretary of +state, and the engagements of a fashionable physician. +I have a secretary whom I take on with me. He is a +young man of the name of Q.; was strongly recommended +to me; is most modest, obliging, silent, and +willing; and does his work <i>well</i>. He boards and +lodges at my expense when we travel; and his salary +is ten dollars per month—about two pounds five of our +English money. There will be dinners and balls at +Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and I believe +everywhere. In Canada, I have promised to <i>play</i> at +the theatre with the officers, for the benefit of a charity. +We are already weary, at times, past all expression; and +I finish this by means of a pious fraud. We were engaged +to a party, and have written to say we are +both desperately ill. . . . 'Well,' I can fancy you +saying, 'but about his impressions of Boston and the +Americans?'—Of the latter, I will not say a word until +I have seen more of them, and have gone into the interior. +I will only say, now, that we have never yet +been required to dine at a table-d'hôte; that, thus far, +our rooms are as much our own here as they would be +at the Clarendon; that but for an odd phrase now and +then—such as <i>Snap of cold weather;</i> a <i>tongue-y man</i> for +a talkative fellow; <i>Possible?</i> as a solitary interrogation; +and <i>Yes?</i> for indeed—I should have marked, so +far, no difference whatever between the parties here +and those I have left behind. The women are very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> +beautiful, but they soon fade; the general breeding is +neither stiff nor forward; the good nature, universal. +If you ask the way to a place—of some common water-side +man, who don't know you from Adam—he turns +and goes with you. Universal deference is paid to +ladies; and they, walk about at all seasons, wholly unprotected. . . . +This hotel is a trifle smaller than +Finsbury Square; and is made so infernally hot (I use +the expression advisedly) by means of a furnace with +pipes running through the passages, that we can hardly +bear it. There are no curtains to the beds, or to the +bedroom windows. I am told there never are, hardly, +all through America. The bedrooms are indeed very +bare of furniture. Ours is nearly as large as your great +room, and has a wardrobe in it of painted wood not +larger (I appeal to K.) than an English watch-box. I +slept in this room for two nights, quite satisfied with +the belief that it was a shower-bath."</p> + +<p>The last addition made to this letter, from which +many vividest pages of the <i>Notes</i> (among them the +bright quaint picture of Boston streets) were taken with +small alteration, bore date the 29th of January: "I +hardly know what to add to all this long and unconnected +history. Dana, the author of that <i>Two Years before +the Mast</i>" (a book which I had praised much to him, +thinking it like De Foe), "is a very nice fellow indeed; +and in appearance not at all the man you would expect. +He is short, mild-looking, and has a care-worn face. +His father is exactly like George Cruikshank after a +night's jollity—only shorter. The professors at the +Cambridge university, Longfellow, Felton, Jared Sparks, +are noble fellows. So is Kenyon's friend, Ticknor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +Bancroft is a famous man; a straightforward, manly, +earnest heart; and talks much of you, which is a great +comfort. Doctor Channing I will tell you more of, +after I have breakfasted alone with him next Wednesday. . . . +Sumner is of great service to me. . . . The +president of the Senate here presides at my dinner on +Tuesday. Lord Mulgrave lingered with us till last +Tuesday (we had our little captain to dinner on the +Monday), and then went on to Canada. Kate is quite +well, and so is Anne, whose smartness surpasses belief. +They yearn for home, and so do I.</p> + +<p>"Of course you will not see in the papers any true +account of our voyage, for they keep the dangers of the +passage, when there are any, very quiet. I observed so +many perils peculiar to steamers that I am still undecided +whether we shall not return by one of the New +York liners. On the night of the storm, I was wondering +within myself where we should be, if the chimney +were blown overboard; in which case, it needs no great +observation to discover that the vessel must be instantly +on fire from stem to stern. When I went on deck next +day, I saw that it was held up by a perfect forest of +chains and ropes, which had been rigged in the night. +Hewitt told me (when we were on shore, not before) +that they had men lashed, hoisted up, and swinging +there, all through the gale, getting these stays about it. +This is not agreeable—is it?</p> + +<p>"I wonder whether you will remember that next +Tuesday is my birthday! This letter will leave here +that morning.</p> + +<p>"On looking back through these sheets, I am astonished +to find how little I have told you, and how much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> +I have, even now, in store which shall be yours by word +of mouth. The American poor, the American factories, +the institutions of all kinds—I have a book, already. +There is no man in this town, or in this State of New +England, who has not a blazing fire and a meat dinner +every day of his life. A flaming sword in the air would +not attract so much attention as a beggar in the streets. +There are no charity uniforms, no wearisome repetition +of the same dull ugly dress, in that blind school.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> All +are attired after their own tastes, and every boy and +girl has his or her individuality as distinct and unimpaired +as you would find it in their own homes. At the +theatres, all the ladies sit in the fronts of the boxes. +The gallery are as quiet as the dress circle at dear +Drury Lane. A man with seven heads would be no +sight at all, compared with one who couldn't read and +write.</p> + +<p>"I won't speak (I say 'speak'! I wish I could) about +the dear precious children, because I know how much +we shall hear about them when we receive those letters +from home for which we long so ardently."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Unmistakably to be seen, in this earliest of his letters, +is the quite fresh and unalloyed impression first +received by him at this memorable visit; and it is due, +as well to himself as to the great country which welcomed +him, that this should be considered independently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +of any modification it afterwards underwent. Of +the fervency and universality of the welcome there could +indeed be no doubt, and as little that it sprang from +feelings honorable both to giver and receiver. The +sources of Dickens's popularity in England were in +truth multiplied many-fold in America. The hearty, +cordial, and humane side of his genius had fascinated +them quite as much; but there was also something beyond +this. The cheerful temper that had given new +beauty to the commonest forms of life, the abounding +humor which had added largely to all innocent enjoyment, +the honorable and in those days rare distinction +of America which left no home in the Union inaccessible +to such advantages, had made Dickens the object +everywhere of grateful admiration, for the most part of +personal affection. But even this was not all. I do not +say it either to lessen or to increase the value of the +tribute, but to express simply what it was; and there +cannot be a question that the young English author, +whom by his language they claimed equally for their +own, was almost universally regarded by the Americans +as a kind of embodied protest against what they believed +to be worst in the institutions of England, depressing +and overshadowing in a social sense, and +adverse to purely intellectual influences. In all the +papers of every grade in the Union, of which many +were sent to me at the time, the feeling of triumph over +the mother-country in this particular is everywhere predominant. +You Worship titles, they said, and military +heroes, and millionaires, and we of the New World +want to show you, by extending the kind of homage +that the Old World reserves for kings and conquerors,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +to a young man with nothing to distinguish him but his +heart and his genius, what it is we think in these parts +worthier of honor, than birth, or wealth, a title, or a +sword. Well, there was something in this too, apart +from a mere crowing over the mother-country. The +Americans had honestly more than a common share in +the triumphs of a genius which in more than one sense +had made the deserts and wildernesses of life to blossom +like the rose. They were entitled to select for a welcome, +as emphatic as they might please to render it, the +writer who pre-eminently in his generation had busied +himself to "detect and save," in human creatures, such +sparks of virtue as misery or vice had not availed to +extinguish; to discover what is beautiful and comely +under what commonly passes for the ungainly and the +deformed; to draw happiness and hopefulness from +despair itself; and, above all, so to have made known +to his own countrymen the wants and sufferings of +the poor, the ignorant, and the neglected, that they +could be left in absolute neglect no more. "A triumph +has been prepared for him," wrote Mr. Ticknor +to our dear friend Kenyon, "in which the whole country +will join. He will have a progress through the +States unequaled since Lafayette's." Daniel Webster +told the Americans that Dickens had done more +already to ameliorate the condition of the English +poor than all the statesmen Great Britain had sent +into Parliament. His sympathies are such, exclaimed +Dr. Channing, as to recommend him in an especial +manner to us. He seeks out that class, in order to +benefit them, with whom American institutions and +laws sympathize most strongly; and it is in the passions,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +sufferings, and virtues of the mass that he has +found his subjects of most thrilling interest. "He +shows that life in its rudest form may wear a tragic +grandeur; that amidst follies and excesses, provoking +laughter or scorn, the moral feelings do not wholly +die; and that the haunts of the blackest crime are +sometimes lighted up by the presence and influence of +the noblest souls. His pictures have a tendency to +awaken sympathy with our race, and to change the +unfeeling indifference which has prevailed towards the +depressed multitude, into a sorrowful and indignant +sensibility to their wrongs and woes."</p> + +<p>Whatever may be the turn which we are to see the +welcome take, by dissatisfaction that arose on both +sides, it is well that we should thus understand what in +its first manifestations was honorable to both. Dickens +had his disappointments, and the Americans had theirs; +but what was really genuine in the first enthusiasm remained +without grave alloy from either; and the letters, +as I proceed to give them, will so naturally explain +and illustrate the misunderstanding as to require little +further comment. I am happy to be able here to place +on record fac-similes of the invitations to the public +entertainments in New York which reached him before +he quitted Boston. The mere signatures suffice to show +how universal the welcome was from that great city of +the Union.<a name="facs1" id="facs1"></a></p> + +<div class='tnote'><small>Transcriber's Note: Clicking on each image will +show a somewhat larger copy of the image. This is true of all illustrations where +a larger size may make it more readable.</small></div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/ins01_letter_page1-larger.png"><img src="images/ins01_letter_page1.png" width="500" height="552" alt="New York Dinner" title="New York Dinner" /> +</a></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/ins02_letter_page2-larger.png"><img src="images/ins02_letter_page2.png" width="500" height="580" alt="signatures" title="signatures" /> +</a></div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/ins03_signatures-larger.png"><img src="images/ins03_signatures.png" width="500" height="566" alt="additional signatures" title="additional signatures" /> +</a></div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/ins04_letter-larger.png"><img src="images/ins04_letter.png" width="500" height="609" alt="New York Ball" title="New York Ball" /> +</a></div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/ins05_letter_part2-larger.png"><img src="images/ins05_letter_part2.png" width="500" height="632" alt="signatures" title="signatures" /> +</a></div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<a href="images/ins06_signatures-larger.png"><img src="images/ins06_signatures.png" width="500" height="627" alt="additional signatures" title="additional signatures" /> +</a></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>SECOND IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA.</h3> + +<h3>1842.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Second Letter—International Copyright—Third Letter—The Dinner +at Boston—Worcester, Springfield, and Hartford—Queer Traveling—Levees +at Hartford and New Haven—At Wallingford—Serenades—Cornelius +C. Felton—Payment of Personal Expenses declined—At +New York—Irving and Golden—Description of the Ball—Newspaper +Accounts—A Phase of Character—Opinion in America—International +Copyright—American Authors in regard to it—Outcry +against the Nation's Guest—Declines to be silent on Copyright—Speech +at Dinner—Irving in the Chair—Chairman's Breakdown—An +Incident afterwards in London—Results of Copyright Speeches—A +Bookseller's Demand for Help—Suggestion for Copyright Memorial—Henry +Clay's Opinion—Life in New York—Distresses of +Popularity—Intentions for Future—Refusal of Invitations—Going +South and West—As to Return—Dangers incident to Steamers—Slavery—Ladies +of America—Party Conflicts—Non-arrival of Cunard +Steamer—Copyright Petition for Congress—No Hope of the +Caledonia—Substitute for her—Anxiety as to Letters—Of Distinguished +Americans—Hotel Bills—Thoughts of the Children—Acadia +takes Caledonia's Place—Letter to C. D. from Carlyle—Carlyle +on Copyright—Argument against Stealing—Rob Roy's Plan +worth bettering—C. D. as to Carlyle.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">His</span> second letter, radiant with the same kindly +warmth that gave always pre-eminent charm to his +genius, was dated from the Carlton Hotel, New York, +on the 14th February, but its only allusion of any public +interest was to the beginning of his agitation of the +question of international copyright. He went to America<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> +with no express intention of starting this question +in any way, and certainly with no belief that such remark +upon it as a person in his position could alone be +expected to make would be resented strongly by any +sections of the American people. But he was not long +left in doubt on this head. He had spoken upon it +twice publicly, "to the great indignation of some of +the editors here, who are attacking me for so doing, +right and left." On the other hand, all the best men +had assured him that, if only at once followed up in +England, the blow struck might bring about a change +in the law; and, yielding to the pleasant hope that the +best men could be a match for the worst, he urged me +to enlist on his side what force I could, and in particular, +as he had made Scott's claim his war-cry, to bring +Lockhart into the field. I could not do much, but I +did what I could.</p> + +<p>Three days later he began another letter; and, as +this will be entirely new to the reader, I shall print it +as it reached me, with only such omission of matter +concerning myself as I think it my duty, however reluctantly, +to make throughout these extracts. There +was nothing in its personal details, or in those relating +to international copyright, available for his <i>Notes;</i> from +which they were excluded by the two rules he observed +in that book,—the first to be altogether silent as to the +copyright discussion, and the second to abstain from +all mention of individuals. But there can be no harm +here in violating either rule, for, as Sydney Smith said +with his humorous sadness, "We are all dead now."</p> + +<p>"Carlton House, New York: Thursday, February +Seventeenth, 1842. . . . As there is a sailing-packet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +from here to England to-morrow which is warranted +(by the owners) to be a marvelous fast sailer, and as +it appears most probable that she will reach home (I +write the word with a pang) before the Cunard steamer +of next month, I indite this letter. And lest this letter +should reach you before another letter which I dispatched +from here last Monday, let me say in the first +place that I <i>did</i> dispatch a brief epistle to you on that +day, together with a newspaper, and a pamphlet touching +the Boz ball; and that I put in the post-office at +Boston another newspaper for you containing an account +of the dinner, which was just about to come off, +you remember, when I wrote to you from that city.</p> + +<p>"It was a most superb affair; and the speaking <i>admirable</i>. +Indeed, the general talent for public speaking +here is one of the most striking of the things that force +themselves upon an Englishman's notice. As every +man looks on to being a member of Congress, every +man prepares himself for it; and the result is quite surprising. +You will observe one odd custom,—the drinking +of sentiments. It is quite extinct with us, but here +everybody is expected to be prepared with an epigram +as a matter of course.</p> + +<p>"We left Boston on the fifth, and went away with the +governor of the city to stay till Monday at his house at +Worcester. He married a sister of Bancroft's, and +another sister of Bancroft's went down with us. The +village of Worcester is one of the prettiest in New +England. . . . On Monday morning at nine o'clock +we started again by railroad and went on to Springfield, +where a deputation of two were waiting, and everything +was in readiness that the utmost attention could suggest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> +Owing to the mildness of the weather, the Connecticut +river was 'open,' videlicet not frozen, and they had a +steamboat ready to carry us on to Hartford; thus saving +a land-journey of only twenty-five miles, but on such +roads at this time of year that it takes nearly twelve hours +to accomplish! The boat was very small, the river full +of floating blocks of ice, and the depth where we went +(to avoid the ice and the current) not more than a few +inches. After two hours and a half of this queer traveling, +we got to Hartford. There, there was quite an English +inn; except in respect of the bedrooms, which are +always uncomfortable; and the best committee of management +that has yet presented itself. They kept us +more quiet, and were more considerate and thoughtful, +even to their own exclusion, than any I have yet had +to deal with. Kate's face being horribly bad, I determined +to give her a rest here; and accordingly wrote +to get rid of my engagement at New Haven, on that +plea. We remained in this town until the eleventh: +holding a formal levee every day for two hours, and +receiving on each from two hundred to three hundred +people. At five o'clock on the afternoon of +the eleventh, we set off (still by railroad) for New +Haven, which we reached about eight o'clock. The +moment we had had tea, we were forced to open +another levee for the students and professors of the +college (the largest in the States), and the townspeople. +I suppose we shook hands, before going to bed, with +considerably more than five hundred people; and I +stood, as a matter of course, the whole time. . . .</p> + +<p>"Now, the deputation of two had come on with us +from Hartford; and at New Haven there was another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> +committee; and the immense fatigue and worry of all +this, no words can exaggerate. We had been in the +morning over jails and deaf and dumb asylums; had +stopped on the journey at a place called Wallingford, +where a whole town had turned out to see me, and to +gratify whose curiosity the train stopped expressly; had +had a day of great excitement and exertion on the +Thursday (this being Friday); and were inexpressibly +worn out. And when at last we got to bed and were +'going' to fall asleep, the choristers of the college +turned out in a body, under the window, and serenaded +us! We had had, by-the-by, another serenade at Hartford, +from a Mr. Adams (a nephew of John Quincy +Adams) and a German friend. <i>They</i> were most beautiful +singers: and when they began, in the dead of the +night, in a long, musical, echoing passage outside our +chamber door; singing, in low voices to guitars, about +home and absent friends and other topics that they +knew would interest us; we were more moved than I +can tell you. In the midst of my sentimentality, though, +a thought occurred to me which made me laugh so immoderately +that I was obliged to cover my face with +the bedclothes. 'Good Heavens!' I said to Kate, +'what a monstrously ridiculous and commonplace appearance +my boots must have, outside the door!' I +never <i>was</i> so impressed with a sense of the absurdity +of boots, in all my life.</p> + +<p>"The New Haven serenade was not so good; though +there were a great many voices, and a 'reg'lar' band. +It hadn't the heart of the other. Before it was six +hours old, we were dressing with might and main, and +making ready for our departure; it being a drive of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> +twenty minutes to the steamboat, and the hour of sailing +nine o'clock. After a hasty breakfast we started +off; and after another levee on the deck (actually on +the deck), and 'three times three for Dickens,' moved +towards New York.</p> + +<p>"I was delighted to find on board a Mr. Felton whom +I had known at Boston. He is the Greek professor at +Cambridge, and was going on to the ball and dinner. +Like most men of his class whom I have seen, he is +a most delightful fellow,—unaffected, hearty, genial, +jolly; quite an Englishman of the best sort. We drank +all the porter on board, ate all the cold pork and cheese, +and were very merry indeed. I should have told you, +in its proper place, that both at Hartford and New +Haven a regular bank was subscribed, by these committees, +for <i>all</i> my expenses. No bill was to be got at the +bar, and everything was paid for. But as I would on +no account suffer this to be done, I stoutly and positively +refused to budge an inch until Mr. Q. should +have received the bills from the landlord's own hands, +and paid them to the last farthing. Finding it impossible +to move me, they suffered me, most unwillingly, +to carry the point.</p> + +<p>"About half-past 2 we arrived here. In half an hour +more, we reached this hotel, where a very splendid +suite of rooms was prepared for us; and where everything +is very comfortable, and no doubt (as at Boston) +<i>enormously</i> dear. Just as we sat down to dinner, David +Golden made his appearance; and when he had gone, +and we were taking our wine, Washington Irving came +in alone, with open arms. And here he stopped, until +ten o'clock at night." (Through Lord Jeffrey, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> +whom he was connected by marriage, and Macready, +of whom he was the cordial friend, we already knew +Mr. Colden; and his subsequent visits to Europe led +to many years' intimate intercourse, greatly enjoyed by +us both.) "Having got so far, I shall divide my discourse +into four points. First, the ball. Secondly, +some slight specimens of a certain phase of character +in the Americans. Thirdly, international copyright. +Fourthly, my life here, and projects to be carried out +while I remain.</p> + +<p>"Firstly, the ball. It came off last Monday (vide +pamphlet.) 'At a quarter-past 9, exactly' (I quote +the printed order of proceeding), we were waited upon +by 'David Colden, Esquire, and General George Morris;' +habited, the former in full ball costume, the latter +in the full dress uniform of Heaven knows what regiment +of militia. The general took Kate, Golden gave +his arm to me, and we proceeded downstairs to a carriage +at the door, which took us to the stage-door of +the theatre, greatly to the disappointment of an enormous +crowd who were besetting the main door and +making a most tremendous hullaballoo. The scene on +our entrance was very striking. There were three thousand +people present in full dress; from the roof to the +floor, the theatre was decorated magnificently; and the +light, glitter, glare, show, noise, and cheering, baffle +my descriptive powers. We were walked in through +the centre of the centre dress-box, the front whereof +was taken out for the occasion; so to the back of the +stage, where the mayor and other dignitaries received +us; and we were then paraded all round the enormous +ball-room, twice, for the gratification of the many-headed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> +That done, we began to dance—Heaven knows +how we did it, for there was no room. And we continued +dancing until, being no longer able even to +stand, we slipped away quietly, and came back to the +hotel. All the documents connected with this extraordinary +festival (quite unparalleled here) we have preserved; +so you may suppose that on this head alone we +shall have enough to show you when we come home. +The bill of fare for supper is, in its amount and extent, +quite a curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Now, the phase of character in the Americans +which amuses me most was put before me in its most +amusing shape by the circumstances attending this +affair. I had noticed it before, and have since; but I +cannot better illustrate it than by reference to this +theme. Of course I can do nothing but in some shape +or other it gets into the newspapers. All manner of +lies get there, and occasionally a truth so twisted and +distorted that it has as much resemblance to the real +fact as Quilp's leg to Taglioni's. But with this ball to +come off, the newspapers were if possible unusually +loquacious; and in their accounts of me, and my seeings, +sayings, and doings on the Saturday night and +Sunday before, they describe my manner, mode of +speaking, dressing, and so forth. In doing this, they +report that I am a very charming fellow (of course), +and have a very free and easy way with me; 'which,' +say they, 'at first amused a few fashionables;' but soon +pleased them exceedingly. Another paper, coming +after the ball, dwells upon its splendor and brilliancy; +hugs itself and its readers upon all that Dickens saw, +and winds up by gravely expressing its conviction that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> +Dickens was never in such society in England as he +has seen in New York, and that its high and striking +tone cannot fail to make an indelible impression on +his mind! For the same reason I am always represented, +whenever I appear in public, as being 'very +pale;' 'apparently thunderstruck;' and utterly confounded +by all I see. . . . You recognize the queer +vanity which is at the root of all this? I have plenty +of stories in connection with it to amuse you with when +I return."</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class='date'> +"<i>Twenty-fourth February.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"It is unnecessary to say . . . that this letter <i>didn't</i> +come by the sailing packet, and <i>will</i> come by the +Cunard boat. After the ball I was laid up with a very +bad sore throat, which confined me to the house four +whole days; and as I was unable to write, or indeed to +do anything but doze and drink lemonade, I missed +the ship. . . . I have still a horrible cold, and so has +Kate, but in other respects we are all right. I proceed +to my third head: the international copyright question.</p> + +<p>"I believe there is no country on the face of the +earth where there is less freedom of opinion on any +subject in reference to which there is a broad difference +of opinion, than in this.—There!—I write the words +with reluctance, disappointment, and sorrow; but I +believe it from the bottom of my soul. I spoke, as +you know, of international copyright, at Boston; and +I spoke of it again at Hartford. My friends were +paralyzed with wonder at such audacious daring. The +notion that I, a man alone by himself, in America, +should venture to suggest to the Americans that there +was one point on which they were neither just to their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> +own countrymen nor to us, actually struck the boldest +dumb! Washington Irving, Prescott, Hoffman, Bryant, +Halleck, Dana, Washington Allston—every man who +writes in this country is devoted to the question, and +not one of them <i>dares</i> to raise his voice and complain +of the atrocious state of the law. It is nothing that +of all men living I am the greatest loser by it. It is +nothing that I have a claim to speak and be heard. +The wonder is that a breathing man can be found with +temerity enough to suggest to the Americans the possibility +of their having done wrong. I wish you could +have seen the faces that I saw, down both sides of the +table at Hartford, when I began to talk about Scott. +I wish you could have heard how I gave it out. My +blood so boiled as I thought of the monstrous injustice +that I felt as if I were twelve feet high when I thrust it +down their throats.</p> + +<p>"I had no sooner made that second speech than such +an outcry began (for the purpose of deterring me from +doing the like in this city) as an Englishman can form +no notion of. Anonymous letters, verbal dissuasions; +newspaper attacks making Colt (a murderer who is +attracting great attention here) an angel by comparison +with me; assertions that I was no gentleman, but a +mere mercenary scoundrel; coupled with the most +monstrous misrepresentations relative to my design and +purpose in visiting the United States; came pouring in +upon me every day. The dinner committee here (composed +of the first gentlemen in America, remember +that) were so dismayed, that they besought me not to +pursue the subject, <i>although they every one agreed with +me</i>. I answered that I would. That nothing should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> +deter me. . . . That the shame was theirs, not mine; +and that as I would not spare them when I got home, +I would not be silenced here. Accordingly, when the +night came, I asserted my right, with all the means I +could command to give it dignity, in face, manner, or +words; and I believe that if you could have seen and +heard me, you would have loved me better for it than +ever you did in your life.</p> + +<p>"The <i>New York Herald</i>, which you will receive with +this, is the <i>Satirist</i> of America; but having a great circulation +(on account of its commercial intelligence and +early news) it can afford to secure the best reporters. . . . +My speech is done, upon the whole, with remarkable +accuracy. There are a great many typographical +errors in it; and by the omission of one or two words, +or the substitution of one word for another, it is often +materially weakened. Thus, I did not say that I +'claimed' my right, but that I 'asserted' it; and I did +not say that I had 'some claim,' but that I had 'a most +righteous claim,' to speak. But altogether it is very +correct."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Washington Irving was chairman of this dinner, and, +having from the first a dread that he should break down +in his speech, the catastrophe came accordingly. Near +him sat the Cambridge professor who had come with +Dickens by boat from New Haven, with whom already +a warm friendship had been formed that lasted for life, +and who has pleasantly sketched what happened. Mr. +Felton saw Irving constantly in the interval of preparation, +and could not but despond at his daily iterated +foreboding of <i>I shall certainly break down;</i> though besides<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> +the real dread there was a sly humor which heightened +its whimsical horror with an irresistible drollery. +But the professor plucked up hope a little when the night +came and he saw that Irving had laid under his plate +the manuscript of his speech. During dinner, nevertheless, +his old foreboding cry was still heard, and "at +last the moment arrived; Mr. Irving rose; and the +deafening and long-continued applause by no means +lessened his apprehension. He began in his pleasant +voice; got through two or three sentences pretty easily, +but in the next hesitated; and, after one or two attempts +to go on, gave it up, with a graceful allusion to the +tournament and the troop of knights all armed and +eager for the fray; and ended with the toast <span class="smcap">Charles +Dickens, the guest of the nation</span>. <i>There!</i> said +he, as he resumed his seat amid applause as great as had +greeted his rising, <i>There! I told you I should break down, +and I've done it!</i>" He was in London a few months +later, on his way to Spain; and I heard Thomas Moore +describe<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> at Rogers's table the difficulty there had been +to overcome his reluctance, because of this break-down, +to go to the dinner of the Literary Fund on the occasion +of Prince Albert's presiding. "However," said Moore, +"I told him only to attempt a few words, and I suggested +what they should be, and he said he'd never +thought of anything so easy, and he went, and did famously." +I knew very well, as I listened, that this had +<i>not</i> been the result; but as the distinguished American +had found himself, on this second occasion, not among +orators as in New York, but among men as unable as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> +himself to speak in public, and equally able to do better +things,<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> he was doubtless more reconciled to his own +failure. I have been led to this digression by Dickens's +silence on his friend's break-down. He had so great a +love for Irving that it was painful to speak of him as +at any disadvantage, and of the New York dinner he +wrote only in its connection with his own copyright +speeches.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The effect of all this copyright agitation at least +has been to awaken a great sensation on both sides of +the subject; the respectable newspapers and reviews +taking up the cudgels as strongly in my favor, as the +others have done against me. Some of the vagabonds +take great credit to themselves (grant us patience!) for +having made me popular by publishing my books in +newspapers: as if there were no England, no Scotland, +no Germany, no place but America in the whole world. +A splendid satire upon this kind of trash has just occurred. +A man came here yesterday, and demanded, +not besought but demanded, pecuniary assistance; and +fairly bullied Mr. Q. for money. When I came home, +I dictated a letter to this effect,—that such applications +reached me in vast numbers every day; that if I were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span> +a man of fortune, I could not render assistance to all +who sought it; and that, depending on my own exertion +for all the help I could give, I regretted to say I +could afford him none. Upon this, my gentleman sits +down and writes me that he is an itinerant bookseller; +that he is the first man who sold my books in New +York; that he is distressed in the city where I am +reveling in luxury; that he thinks it rather strange that +the man who wrote <i>Nickleby</i> should be utterly destitute +of feeling; and that he would have me 'take care I +don't repent it.' What do you think of <i>that?</i>—as Mac +would say. I thought it such a good commentary, +that I dispatched the letter to the editor of the only +English newspaper here, and told him he might print +it if he liked.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you what <i>I</i> should like, my dear friend, +always supposing that your judgment concurs with +mine, and that you would take the trouble to get such +a document. I should like to have a short letter +addressed to me by the principal English authors +who signed the international copyright petition, expressive +of their sense that I have done my duty to the +cause. I am sure I deserve it, but I don't wish it on +that ground. It is because its publication in the best +journals here would unquestionably do great good. As +the gauntlet is down, let us go on. Clay has already +sent a gentleman to me express from Washington (where +I shall be on the 6th or 7th of next month) to declare +his strong interest in the matter, his cordial approval +of the 'manly' course I have held in reference to it, +and his desire to stir in it if possible. I have lighted +up such a blaze that a meeting of the foremost people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> +on the other side (very respectfully and properly conducted +in reference to me, personally, I am bound to +say) was held in this town t'other night. And it would +be a thousand pities if we did not strike as hard as we +can, now that the iron is so hot.</p> + +<p>"I have come at last, and it is time I did, to my life +here, and intentions for the future. I can do nothing +that I want to do, go nowhere where I want to go, and +see nothing that I want to see. If I turn into the +street, I am followed by a multitude. If I stay at home, +the house becomes, with callers, like a fair. If I visit +a public institution, with only one friend, the directors +come down incontinently, waylay me in the yard, and +address me in a long speech. I go to a party in the +evening, and am so inclosed and hemmed about by +people, stand where I will, that I am exhausted for want +of air. I dine out, and have to talk about everything, +to everybody. I go to church for quiet, and there is +a violent rush to the neighborhood of the pew I sit in, +and the clergyman preaches <i>at</i> me. I take my seat in +a railroad-car, and the very conductor won't leave me +alone. I get out at a station, and can't drink a glass +of water, without having a hundred people looking +down my throat when I open my mouth to swallow. +Conceive what all this is! Then by every post, letters +on letters arrive, all about nothing, and all demanding +an immediate answer. This man is offended because I +won't live in his house; and that man is thoroughly +disgusted because I won't go out more than four times +in one evening. I have no rest or peace, and am in a +perpetual worry.</p> + +<p>"Under these febrile circumstances, which this climate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> +especially favors, I have come to the resolution +that I will not (so far as my will has anything to do +with the matter) accept any more public entertainments +or public recognitions of any kind, during my +stay in the United States; and in pursuance of this +determination I have refused invitations from Philadelphia, +Baltimore, Washington, Virginia, Albany, +and Providence. Heaven knows whether this will be +effectual, but I shall soon see, for on Monday morning, +the 28th, we leave for Philadelphia. There I shall +only stay three days. Thence we go to Baltimore, and +<i>there</i> I shall only stay three days. Thence to Washington, +where we may stay perhaps ten days; perhaps +not so long. Thence to Virginia, where we may halt +for one day; and thence to Charleston, where we may +pass a week perhaps, and where we shall very likely +remain until your March letters reach us, through +David Colden. I had a design of going from Charleston +to Columbia in South Carolina, and there engaging +a carriage, a baggage-tender and negro boy to guard +the same, and a saddle-horse for myself,—with which +caravan I intended going 'right away,' as they say +here, into the West, through the wilds of Kentucky +and Tennessee, across the Alleghany Mountains, and +so on until we should strike the lakes and could get to +Canada. But it has been represented to me that this +is a track only known to traveling merchants; that the +roads are bad, the country a tremendous waste, the inns +log houses, and the journey one that would play the +very devil with Kate. I am staggered, but not deterred. +If I find it possible to be done in the time, I mean to +do it; being quite satisfied that without some such dash<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span> +I can never be a free agent, or see anything worth the +telling.</p> + +<p>"We mean to return home in a packet-ship,—not a +steamer. Her name is the George Washington, and she +will sail from here, for Liverpool, on the seventh of +June. At that season of the year they are seldom more +than three weeks making the voyage; and I never will +trust myself upon the wide ocean, if it please Heaven, +in a steamer again. When I tell you all that I observed +on board that Britannia, I shall astonish you. Meanwhile, +consider two of their dangers. First, that if the +funnel were blown overboard the vessel must instantly +be on fire, from stem to stern; to comprehend which +consequence, you have only to understand that the +funnel is more than 40 feet high, and that at night you +see the solid fire two or three feet above its top. Imagine +this swept down by a strong wind, and picture to yourself +the amount of flame on deck; and that a strong +wind is likely to sweep it down you soon learn, from +the precautions taken to keep it up in a storm, when it +is the first thing thought of. Secondly, each of these +boats consumes between London and Halifax 700 tons +of coals; and it is pretty clear, from this enormous difference +of weight in a ship of only 1200 tons burden +in all, that she must either be too heavy when she comes +out of port, or too light when she goes in. The daily +difference in her rolling, as she burns the coals out, is +something absolutely fearful. Add to all this, that by +day and night she is full of fire and people, that she +has no boats, and that the struggling of that enormous +machinery in a heavy sea seems as though it would rend +her into fragments—and you may have a pretty con-sid-erable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> +damned good sort of a feeble notion that it +don't fit nohow; and that it a'n't calculated to make +you smart, overmuch; and that you don't feel 'special +bright; and by no means first-rate; and not at all +tonguey (or disposed for conversation); and that however +rowdy you may be by natur', it does use you up +com-plete, and that's a fact; and makes you quake +considerable, and disposed toe damn the ĕnginĕ!—All +of which phrases, I beg to add, are pure Americanisms +of the first water.</p> + +<p>"When we reach Baltimore, we are in the regions of +slavery. It exists there, in its least shocking and most +mitigated form; but there it is. They whisper, here +(they dare only whisper, you know, and that below their +breaths), that on that place, and all through the South, +there is a dull gloomy cloud on which the very word +seems written. I shall be able to say, one of these +days, that I accepted no public mark of respect in any +place where slavery was;—and that's something.</p> + +<p>"The ladies of America are decidedly and unquestionably +beautiful. Their complexions are not so good +as those of Englishwomen; their beauty does not last +so long; and their figures are very inferior. But they +are most beautiful. I still reserve my opinion of the +national character,—just whispering that I tremble for +a radical coming here, unless he is a radical on principle, +by reason and reflection, and from the sense of +right. I fear that if he were anything else, he would +return home a Tory. . . . I say no more on that +head for two months from this time, save that I do +fear that the heaviest blow ever dealt at liberty will be +dealt by this country, in the failure of its example to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> +the earth. The scenes that are passing in Congress +now, all tending to the separation of the States, fill one +with such a deep disgust that I dislike the very name of +Washington (meaning the place, not the man), and am +repelled by the mere thought of approaching it."</p> + + +<div class='date'><br /> +<i>"Twenty-seventh February. Sunday.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"There begins to be great consternation here, in +reference to the Cunard packet which (we suppose) left +Liverpool on the fourth. She has not yet arrived. We +scarcely know what to do with ourselves in our extreme +anxiety to get letters from home. I have really had +serious thoughts of going back to Boston, alone, to be +nearer news. We have determined to remain here +until Tuesday afternoon, if she should not arrive before, +and to send Mr. Q. and the luggage on to Philadelphia +to-morrow morning. God grant she may not have +gone down! but every ship that comes in brings intelligence +of a terrible gale (which indeed was felt ashore +here) on the night of the fourteenth; and the sea-captains +swear (not without some prejudice, of course) +that no steamer could have lived through it, supposing +her to have been in its full fury. As there is no steam-packet +to go to England, supposing the Caledonia not +to arrive, we are obliged to send our letters by the +Garrick ship, which sails early to-morrow morning. +Consequently I must huddle this up, and dispatch it +to the post-office with all speed. I have so much to +say that I could fill quires of paper, which renders this +sudden pull-up the more provoking.</p> + +<p>"I have in my portmanteau a petition for an international +copyright law, signed by all the best American<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> +writers, with Washington Irving at their head. They +have requested me to hand it to Clay for presentation, +and to back it with any remarks I may think proper to +offer. So 'Hoo-roar for the principle, as the money-lender +said ven he vouldn't renoo the bill.'</p> + +<p>"God bless you. . . . You know what I would say +about home and the darlings. A hundred times God +bless you. . . . Fears are entertained for Lord Ashburton +also. Nothing has been heard of him."</p></div> + +<p>A brief letter, sent me next day by the minister's +bag, was in effect a postscript to the foregoing, and +expressed still more strongly the doubts and apprehensions +his voyage out had impressed him with, and +which, though he afterwards saw reason greatly to +modify his misgivings, were not so strange at that time +as they appear to us now:</p> +<div class='blockquot'> +<p>"Carlton House, New York, February twenty-eighth, +1842. . . . The Caledonia, I grieve and regret to say, +has not arrived. If she left England to her time, she +has been four-and-twenty days at sea. There is no +news of her; and on the nights of the fourteenth and +eighteenth it blew a terrible gale, which almost justifies +the worst suspicions. For myself, I have hardly any +hope of her; having seen enough, in our passage out, +to convince me that steaming across the ocean in heavy +weather is as yet an experiment of the utmost hazard.</p> + +<p>"As it was supposed that there would be no steamer +whatever for England this month (since in ordinary +course the Caledonia would have returned with the +mails on the 2d of March), I hastily got the letters +ready yesterday and sent them by the Garrick; which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span> +may perhaps be three weeks out, but is not very likely +to be longer. But belonging to the Cunard company +is a boat called the Unicorn, which in the summertime +plies up the St. Lawrence, and brings passengers +from Canada to join the British and North American +steamers at Halifax. In the winter she lies at the last-mentioned +place; from which news has come this +morning that they have sent her on to Boston for the +mails, and, rather than interrupt the communication, +mean to dispatch her to England in lieu of the poor +Caledonia. This in itself, by the way, is a daring +deed; for she was originally built to run between +Liverpool and Glasgow, and is no more designed for +the Atlantic than a Calais packet-boat; though she +once crossed it, in the summer season.</p> + +<p>"You may judge, therefore, what the owners think +of the probability of the Caledonia's arrival. How +slight an alteration in our plans would have made us +passengers on board of her!</p> + +<p>"It would be difficult to tell you, my dear fellow, +what an impression this has made upon our minds, or +with what intense anxiety and suspense we have been +waiting for your letters from home. We were to have +gone South to-day, but linger here until to-morrow +afternoon (having sent the secretary and luggage forward) +for one more chance of news. Love to dear +Macready, and to dear Mac, and every one we care for. +It's useless to speak of the dear children. It seems now +as though we should never hear of them. . . .</p> + +<p>"P.S. Washington Irving is a <i>great</i> fellow. We +have laughed most heartily together. He is just the +man he ought to be. So is Doctor Channing, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span> +whom I have had an interesting correspondence since +I saw him last at Boston. Halleck is a merry little +man. Bryant a sad one, and very reserved. Washington +Allston the painter (who wrote <i>Monaldi</i>) is a +fine specimen of a glorious old genius. Longfellow, +whose volume of poems I have got for you, is a frank +accomplished man as well as a fine writer, and will be +in town 'next fall.' Tell Macready that I suspect +prices here must have rather altered since his time. I +paid our fortnight's bill here, last night. We have +dined out every day (except when I was laid up with +a sore throat), and only had in all four bottles of wine. +The bill was 70<i>l.</i> English!!!</p> + +<p>"You will see, by my other letter, how we have +been fêted and feasted; and how there is war to the +knife about the international copyright; and how I +<i>will</i> speak about it, and decline to be put down. . . .</p> + +<p>"Oh for news from home! I think of your letters +so full of heart and friendship, with perhaps a little +scrawl of Charley's or Mamey's, lying at the bottom +of the deep sea; and am as full of sorrow as if they +had once been living creatures.—Well! they <i>may</i> +come, yet."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>They did reach him, but not by the Caledonia. His +fears as to that vessel were but too well founded. On +the very day when she was due in Boston (the 18th of +February) it was learned in London that she had undergone +misadventure; that, her decks having been swept +and her rudder torn away, though happily no lives were +lost, she had returned disabled to Cork; and that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span> +Acadia, having received her passengers and mails, was +to sail with them from Liverpool next day.</p> + +<p>Of the main subject of that letter written on the day +preceding,—of the quite unpremeditated impulse, out +of which sprang his advocacy of claims which he felt +to be represented in his person,—of the injustice done +by his entertainers to their guest in ascribing such advocacy +to selfishness,—and of the graver wrong done +by them to their own highest interests, nay, even to +their commonest and most vulgar interests, in continuing +to reject those claims, I will add nothing now to +what all those years ago I labored very hard to lay before +many readers. It will be enough if I here print, +from the authors' letters I sent out to him by the next +following mail, in compliance with his wish, this which +follows from a very dear friend of his and mine. I +fortunately had it transcribed before I posted it to him; +Mr. Carlyle having in some haste written from "Templand, +26 March, 1842," and taken no copy.</p> + +<p>"We learn by the newspapers that you everywhere +in America stir up the question of international copyright, +and thereby awaken huge dissonance where all +else were triumphant unison for you. I am asked my +opinion of the matter, and requested to write it down +in words.</p> + +<p>"Several years ago, if memory err not, I was one of +many English writers who, under the auspices of Miss +Martineau, did already sign a petition to congress praying +for an international copyright between the two +Nations,—which properly are not two Nations, but one; +<i>indivisible</i> by parliament, congress, or any kind of human +law or diplomacy, being already <i>united</i> by Heaven's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> +Act of Parliament, and the everlasting law of Nature +and Fact. To that opinion I still adhere, and am like +to continue adhering.</p> + +<p>"In discussion of the matter before any congress or +parliament, manifold considerations and argumentations +will necessarily arise; which to me are not interesting, +nor essential for helping me to a decision. They respect +the time and manner in which the thing should +be; not at all whether the thing should be or not. In +an ancient book, reverenced I should hope on both +sides of the Ocean, it was thousands of years ago +written down in the most decisive and explicit manner, +'Thou <i>shalt not</i> steal.' That thou belongest to a different +'Nation,' and canst steal without being certainly +hanged for it, gives thee no permission to steal! Thou +shalt <i>not</i> in anywise steal at all! So it is written down, +for Nations and for Men, in the Law-Book of the +Maker of this Universe. Nay, poor Jeremy Bentham +and others step in here, and will demonstrate that it is +actually our true convenience and expediency not to +steal; which I for my share, on the great scale and on +the small, and in all conceivable scales and shapes, do +also firmly believe it to be. For example, if Nations +abstained from stealing, what need were there of fighting,—with +its butcherings and burnings, decidedly the +most expensive thing in this world? How much more +two Nations, which, as I said, are but one Nation; +knit in a thousand ways by Nature and Practical Intercourse; +indivisible brother elements of the same great +<span class="smcap">Saxondom</span>, to which in all honorable ways be long life!</p> + +<p>"When Mr. Robert Roy M'Gregor lived in the district +of Menteith on the Highland border two centuries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span> +ago, he for his part found it more convenient to supply +himself with beef by stealing it alive from the adjacent +glens, than by buying it killed in the Stirling butchers' +market. It was Mr. Roy's plan of supplying himself +with beef in those days, this of stealing it. In many +a little 'Congress' in the district of Menteith, there +was debating, doubt it not, and much specious argumentation +this way and that, before they could ascertain +that, really and truly, buying was the best way to +get your beef; which, however, in the long run they +did with one assent find it indisputably to be: and accordingly +they hold by it to this day."</p> + +<p>This brave letter was an important service rendered +at a critical time, and Dickens was very grateful for it. +But, as time went on, he had other and higher causes +for gratitude to its writer. Admiration of Carlyle increased +in him with his years; and there was no one +whom in later life he honored so much, or had a more +profound regard for.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>PHILADELPHIA, WASHINGTON, AND THE SOUTH.</h3> + +<h3>1842.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">At Philadelphia—Rule in Printing Letters—Promise as to Railroads—Experience +of them—Railway-cars—Charcoal Stoves—Ladies' Cars—Spittoons—Massachusetts +and New York—Police-cells and +Prisons—House of Detention and Inmates—Women and Boy Prisoners—Capital +Punishment—A House of Correction—Four Hundred +Single Cells—Comparison with English Prisons—Inns and +Landlords—At Washington—Hotel Extortion—Philadelphia Penitentiary—The +Solitary System—Solitary Prisoners—Talk with +Inspectors—Bookseller Carey—Changes of Temperature—Henry +Clay—Proposed Journeyings—Letters from England—Congress +and Senate—Leading American Statesmen—The People of America—Englishmen +"located" there—"Surgit amari aliquid"—The Copyright +Petition—At Richmond—Irving appointed to Spain—Experience +of a Slave City—Incidents of Slave Life—Discussion with a +Slaveholder—Feeling of South to England—Levees at Richmond—One +more Banquet accepted—My Gift of <i>Shakspeare</i>—Home Letters +and Fancies—Self-reproach of a Noble Nature—Washington +Irving's Leave-taking.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Dickens's</span> next letter was begun in the "United +States Hotel, Philadelphia," and bore date "Sunday, +sixth March, 1842." It treated of much dealt with +afterwards at greater length in the <i>Notes</i>, but the freshness +and vivacity of the first impressions in it have surprised +me. I do not, however, print any passage here +which has not its own interest independently of anything +contained in that book. The rule will be continued,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span> +as in the portions of letters already given, of +not transcribing anything before printed, or anything +having even but a near resemblance to descriptions that +appear in the <i>Notes</i>.</p> + +<p>". . . . . . . As this is likely to be the only +quiet day I shall have for a long time, I devote it to +writing to you. We have heard nothing from you<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> yet, +and only have for our consolation the reflection that +the Columbia<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> is now on her way out. No news +had been heard of the Caledonia yesterday afternoon, +when we left New York. We <i>were</i> to have quitted +that place last Tuesday, but have been detained there +all the week by Kate having so bad a sore throat that +she was obliged to keep her bed. We left yesterday +afternoon at five o'clock, and arrived here at eleven last +night. Let me say, by the way, that this is a very trying +climate.</p> + +<p>"I have often asked Americans in London which +were the better railroads,—ours or theirs? They have +taken time for reflection, and generally replied on mature +consideration that they rather thought we excelled; +in respect of the punctuality with which we arrived at +our stations, and the smoothness of our traveling. I +wish you could see what an American railroad is, in +some parts where I now have seen them. I won't say +I wish you could feel what it is, because that would be +an unchristian and savage aspiration. It is never inclosed, +or warded off. You walk down the main street<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span> +of a large town; and, slap-dash, headlong, pell-mell, +down the middle of the street, with pigs burrowing, +and boys flying kites and playing marbles, and men +smoking, and women talking, and children crawling, +close to the very rails, there comes tearing along a mad +locomotive with its train of cars, scattering a red-hot +shower of sparks (from its <i>wood</i> fire) in all directions; +screeching, hissing, yelling, and panting; and nobody +one atom more concerned than if it were a hundred +miles away. You cross a turnpike-road; and there is +no gate, no policeman, no signal—nothing to keep the +wayfarer or quiet traveler out of the way, but a wooden +arch on which is written, in great letters, 'Look out +for the locomotive.' And if any man, woman, or +child don't look out, why, it's his or her fault, and +there's an end of it.</p> + +<p>"The cars are like very shabby omnibuses,—only +larger; holding sixty or seventy people. The seats, +instead of being placed long ways, are put cross-wise, +back to front. Each holds two. There is a long row +of these on each side of the caravan, and a narrow +passage up the centre. The windows are usually all +closed, and there is very often, in addition, a hot, close, +most intolerable charcoal stove in a red-hot glow. The +heat and closeness are quite insupportable. But this is +the characteristic of all American houses, of all the +public institutions, chapels, theatres, and prisons. From +the constant use of the hard anthracite coal in these +beastly furnaces, a perfectly new class of diseases is +springing up in the country. Their effect upon an +Englishman is briefly told. He is always very sick and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span> +very faint; and has an intolerable headache, morning, +noon, and night.</p> + +<p>"In the ladies' car, there is no smoking of tobacco +allowed. All gentlemen who have ladies with them sit +in this car; and it is usually very full. Before it, is +the gentlemen's car; which is something narrower. As +I had a window close to me yesterday which commanded +this gentlemen's car, I looked at it pretty often, perforce. +The flashes of saliva flew so perpetually and +incessantly out of the windows all the way, that it +looked as though they were ripping open feather-beds +inside, and letting the wind dispose of the feathers.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> +But this spitting is universal. In the courts of law, +the judge has his spittoon on the bench, the counsel +have theirs, the witness has his, the prisoner his, and +the crier his. The jury are accommodated at the rate +of three men to a spittoon (or spit-box as they call it +here); and the spectators in the gallery are provided +for, as so many men who in the course of nature expectorate +without cessation. There are spit-boxes in every +steamboat, bar-room, public dining-room, house of +office, and place of general resort, no matter what it +be. In the hospitals, the students are requested, by +placard, to use the boxes provided for them, and not +to spit upon the stairs. I have twice seen gentlemen, +at evening parties in New York, turn aside when they +were not engaged in conversation, and spit upon the +drawing-room carpet. And in every bar-room and +hotel passage the stone floor looks as if it were paved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span> +with open oysters—from the quantity of this kind of +deposit which tessellates it all over. . . .</p> + +<p>"The institutions at Boston, and at Hartford, are +most admirable. It would be very difficult indeed to +improve upon them. But this is not so at New York; +where there is an ill-managed lunatic asylum, a bad +jail, a dismal workhouse, and a perfectly intolerable +place of police-imprisonment. A man is found drunk +in the streets, and is thrown into a cell below the surface +of the earth; profoundly dark; so full of noisome +vapors that when you enter it with a candle you see a +ring about the light, like that which surrounds the +moon in wet and cloudy weather; and so offensive and +disgusting in its filthy odors that you <i>cannot bear</i> its +stench. He is shut up within an iron door, in a series +of vaulted passages where no one stays; has no drop +of water, or ray of light, or visitor, or help of any +kind; and there he remains until the magistrate's +arrival. If he die (as one man did not long ago), he +is half eaten by the rats in an hour's time (as this man +was). I expressed, on seeing these places the other +night, the disgust I felt, and which it would be impossible +to repress. 'Well, I don't know,' said the night +constable—that's a national answer, by-the-by,—'well, +I don't know. I've had six-and-twenty young women +locked up here together, and beautiful ones too, and +that's a fact.' The cell was certainly no larger than +the wine-cellar in Devonshire Terrace; at least three +feet lower; and stunk like a common sewer. There +was one woman in it then. The magistrate begins his +examinations at five o'clock in the morning; the watch +is set at seven at night; if the prisoners have been given<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> +in charge by an officer, they are not taken out before +nine or ten; and in the interval they remain in these +places, where they could no more be heard to cry for +help, in case of a fit or swoon among them, than a +man's voice could be heard after he was coffined up in +his grave.</p> + +<p>"There is a prison in this same city, and indeed in +the same building, where prisoners for grave offenses +await their trial, and to which they are sent back when +under remand. It sometimes happens that a man or +woman will remain here for twelve months, waiting the +result of motions for new trial, and in arrest of judgment, +and what not. I went into it the other day: +without any notice or preparation, otherwise I find it +difficult to catch them in their work-a-day aspect. I +stood in a long, high, narrow building, consisting of +four galleries one above the other, with a bridge across +each, on which sat a turnkey, sleeping or reading as +the case might be. From the roof, a couple of wind-sails +dangled and drooped, limp and useless; the sky-light +being fast closed, and they only designed for +summer use. In the centre of the building was the +eternal stove; and along both sides of every gallery +was a long row of iron doors—looking like furnace-doors, +being very small, but black and cold as if the +fires within had gone out.</p> + +<p>"A man with keys appears, to show us round. A +good-looking fellow, and, in his way, civil and obliging." +(I omit a dialogue of which the substance has +been printed,<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> and give only that which appears for +the first time here.)</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span></p> +<p>"'Suppose a man's here for twelve months. Do you +mean to say he never comes out at that little iron +door?'</p> + +<p>"'He <i>may</i> walk some, perhaps—not much.'</p> + +<p>"'Will you show me a few of them?'</p> + +<p>"'Ah! All, if you like.'</p> + +<p>"He threw open a door, and I looked in. An old +man was sitting on his bed, reading. The light came +in through a small chink, very high up in the wall. +Across the room ran a thick iron pipe to carry off +filth; this was bored for the reception of something +like a big funnel in shape; and over the funnel was a +watercock. This was his washing apparatus and water-closet. +It was not savory, but not very offensive. He +looked up at me; gave himself an odd, dogged kind +of shake; and fixed his eyes on his book again. I +came out, and the door was shut and locked. He had +been there a month, and would have to wait another +month for his trial. 'Has he ever walked out now, +for instance?' 'No.' . . .</p> + +<p>"'In England, if a man is under sentence of death +even, he has a yard to walk in at certain times.'</p> + +<p>"'Possible?'</p> + +<p>" . . . Making me this answer with a coolness which +is perfectly untranslatable and inexpressible, and which +is quite peculiar to the soil, he took me to the women's +side, telling me, upon the way, all about this man, who, +it seems, murdered his wife, and will certainly be hanged. +The women's doors have a small square aperture in +them; I looked through one, and saw a pretty boy +about ten or twelve years old, who seemed lonely and +miserable enough—as well he might. 'What's <i>he</i> been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> +doing?' says I. 'Nothing,' says my friend. 'Nothing!' +says I. 'No,' says he. 'He's here for safe keeping. +He saw his father kill his mother, and is detained to +give evidence against him—that was his father you saw +just now.' 'But that's rather hard treatment for a +witness, isn't it?' 'Well, I don't know. It a'n't a +very rowdy life, and <i>that's</i> a fact.' So my friend, who +was an excellent fellow in his way, and very obliging, +and a handsome young man to boot, took me off to +show me some more curiosities; and I was very much +obliged to him, for the place was so hot, and I so +giddy, that I could scarcely stand. . . .</p> + +<p>"When a man is hanged in New York, he is walked +out of one of these cells, without any condemned sermon +or other religious formalities, straight into the +narrow jail-yard, which may be about the width of +Cranbourn Alley. There, a gibbet is erected, which +is of curious construction; for the culprit stands on the +earth with the rope about his neck, which passes through +a pulley in the top of the 'Tree' (see <i>Newgate Calendar</i> +passim), and is attached to a weight something heavier +than the man. This weight, being suddenly let go, +drags the rope down with it, and sends the criminal +flying up fourteen feet into the air; while the judge, and +jury, and five-and-twenty citizens (whose presence is +required by the law), stand by, that they may afterwards +certify to the fact. This yard is a very dismal place; +and when I looked at it, I thought the practice infinitely +superior to ours: much more solemn, and far less degrading +and indecent.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/image06_diagram.jpg" width="300" height="65" alt="Diagram" title="Diagram" /> +</div> + +<p>"There is another prison near New York which is a +house of correction. The convicts labor in stone-quarries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> +near at hand, but the jail has no covered yards or +shops, so that when the weather is wet (as it was when +I was there) each man is shut up in his own little cell, +all the live-long day. These cells, in all the correction-houses +I have seen, are on one uniform plan,—thus: +<span class="smcap">a, b, c</span>, and <span class="smcap">d</span>, are the walls of the building with windows +in them, high up in the wall. The shaded place +in the centre represents four tiers of cells, one above the +other, with doors of grated iron, and a light grated +gallery to each tier. Four tiers front to <span class="smcap">b</span>, and four to +<span class="smcap">d</span>, so that by this means you may be said, in walking +round, to see eight tiers in all. The intermediate blank +space you walk in, looking up at these galleries; so that, +coming in at the door <span class="smcap">e</span>, and going either to the right +or left till you come back to the door again, you see all +the cells under one roof and in one high room. Imagine +them in number 400, and in every one a man locked up; +this one with his hands through the bars of his grate, +this one in bed (in the middle of the day, remember), +and this one flung down in a heap upon the ground with +his head against the bars like a wild beast. Make the +rain pour down in torrents outside. Put the everlasting +stove in the midst; hot, suffocating, and vaporous, as a +witch's cauldron. Add a smell like that of a thousand +old mildewed umbrellas wet through, and a thousand +dirty-clothes-bags musty, moist, and fusty, and you will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span> +have some idea—a very feeble one, my dear friend, on +my word—of this place yesterday week. You know of +course that we adopted our improvements in prison-discipline +from the American pattern; but I am confident +that the writers who have the most lustily lauded the +American prisons have never seen Chesterton's domain +or Tracey's.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> There is no more comparison between +these two prisons of ours, and any I have seen here <span class="smcap">yet</span>, +than there is between the keepers here, and those two +gentlemen. Putting out of sight the difficulty we have +in England of finding <i>useful</i> labor for the prisoners +(which of course arises from our being an older country +and having vast numbers of artisans unemployed), our +system is more complete, more impressive, and more +satisfactory in every respect. It is very possible that I +have not come to the best, not having yet seen Mount +Auburn. I will tell you when I have. And also when +I have come to those inns, mentioned—vaguely rather—by +Miss Martineau, where they undercharge literary +people for the love the landlords bear them. My experience, +so far, has been of establishments where (perhaps +for the same reason) they very monstrously and +violently overcharge a man whose position forbids remonstrance.</p> + + +<div class='date'><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Washington</span>, Sunday, March the Thirteenth, 1842.<br /> +</div> + +<p>"In allusion to the last sentence, my dear friend, I +must tell you a slight experience I had in Philadelphia. +My rooms had been ordered for a week, but, in consequence +of Kate's illness, only Mr. Q. and the luggage +had gone on. Mr. Q. always lives at the table-d'hôte,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> +so that while we were in New York our rooms were +empty. The landlord not only charged me half the +full rent for the time during which the rooms were reserved +for us (which was quite right), but charged me +also <i>for board for myself and Kate and Anne, at the rate +of nine dollars per day</i> for the same period, when we +were actually living, at the same expense, in New +York!!! I <i>did</i> remonstrate upon this head, but was +coolly told it was the custom (which I have since been +assured is a lie), and had nothing for it but to pay the +amount. What else could I do? I was going away by +the steamboat at five o'clock in the morning; and the +landlord knew perfectly well that my disputing an item +of his bill would draw down upon me the sacred wrath +of the newspapers, which would one and all demand in +capitals if <span class="smcap">this</span> was the gratitude of the man whom +America had received as she had never received any +other man but La Fayette?</p> + +<p>"I went last Tuesday to the Eastern Penitentiary +near Philadelphia, which is the only prison in the States, +or I believe in the world, on the principle of hopeless, +strict, and unrelaxed solitary confinement, during the +whole term of the sentence. It is wonderfully kept, +but a most dreadful, fearful place. The inspectors, +immediately on my arrival in Philadelphia, invited me +to pass the day in the jail, and to dine with them when +I had finished my inspection, that they might hear my +opinion of the system. Accordingly I passed the whole +day in going from cell to cell, and conversing with the +prisoners. Every facility was given me, and no constraint +whatever imposed upon any man's free speech. +If I were to write you a letter of twenty sheets, I could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span> +not tell you this one day's work; so I will reserve it +until that happy time when we shall sit round the table +a Jack Straw's—you, and I, and Mac—and go over +my diary. I never shall be able to dismiss from my +mind the impressions of that day. Making notes of +them, as I have done, is an absurdity, for they are +written, beyond all power of erasure, in my brain. I +saw men who had been there, five years, six years, +eleven years, two years, two months, two days; some +whose term was nearly over, and some whose term had +only just begun. Women too, under the same variety +of circumstances. Every prisoner who comes into the +jail comes at night; is put into a bath, and dressed in +the prison-garb; and then a black hood is drawn over +his face and head, and he is led to the cell from which +he never stirs again until his whole period of confinement +has expired. I looked at some of them with the +same awe as I should have looked at men who had been +buried alive and dug up again.</p> + +<p>"We dined in the jail: and I told them after dinner +how much the sight had affected me, and what an awful +punishment it was. I dwelt upon this; for, although +the inspectors are extremely kind and benevolent men, +I question whether they are sufficiently acquainted with +the human mind to know what it is they are doing. +Indeed, I am sure they do not know. I bore testimony, +as every one who sees it must, to the admirable +government of the institution (Stanfield is the keeper: +grown a little younger, that's all); but added that nothing +could justify such a punishment but its working +a reformation in the prisoners. That for short terms—say +two years for the maximum—I conceived, especially<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span> +after what they had told me of its good effects in certain +cases, it might perhaps be highly beneficial; but +that, carried to so great an extent, I thought it cruel +and unjustifiable; and, further, that their sentences for +small offenses were very rigorous, not to say savage. +All this they took like men who were really anxious to +have one's free opinion and to do right. And we were +very much pleased with each other, and parted in the +friendliest way.</p> + +<p>"They sent me back to Philadelphia in a carriage +they had sent for me in the morning; and then I had +to dress in a hurry, and follow Kate to Carey's the +bookseller's, where there was a party. He married a +sister of Leslie's. There are three Miss Leslies here, +very accomplished; and one of them has copied all +her brother's principal pictures. These copies hang +about the room. We got away from this as soon as we +could; and next morning had to turn out at five. In +the morning I had received and shaken hands with five +hundred people, so you may suppose that I was pretty +well tired. Indeed, I am obliged to be very careful of +myself; to avoid smoking and drinking; to get to bed +soon; and to be particular in respect of what I eat. . . . +You cannot think how bilious and trying the climate +is. One day it is hot summer, without a breath of air; +the next, twenty degrees below freezing, with a wind +blowing that cuts your skin like steel. These changes +have occurred here several times since last Wednesday +night.</p> + +<p>"I have altered my route, and don't mean to go to +Charleston. The country, all the way from here, is +nothing but a dismal swamp; there is a bad night of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> +sea-coasting in the journey; the equinoctial gales are +blowing hard; and Clay (a most <i>charming</i> fellow, by-the-by), +whom I have consulted, strongly dissuades me. +The weather is intensely hot there; the spring fever is +coming on; and there is very little to see, after all. +We therefore go next Wednesday night to Richmond, +which we shall reach on Thursday. There we shall +stop three days; my object being to see some tobacco-plantations. +Then we shall go by James River back to +Baltimore, which we have already passed through, and +where we shall stay two days. Then we shall go West +at once, straight through the most gigantic part of this +continent: across the Alleghany Mountains, and over +a prairie.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Still at Washington</span>, Fifteenth March, 1842. . . . +It is impossible, my dear friend, to tell you what we +felt when Mr. Q. (who is a fearfully sentimental +genius, but heartily interested in all that concerns us) +came to where we were dining last Sunday, and sent +in a note to the effect that the Caledonia<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> had +arrived! Being really assured of her safety, we felt as +if the distance between us and home were diminished +by at least one-half. There was great joy everywhere +here, for she had been quite despaired of, but our joy +was beyond all telling. This news came on by express. +Last night your letters reached us. I was +dining with a club (for I can't avoid a dinner of that +sort, now and then), and Kate sent me a note about +nine o'clock to say they were here. But she didn't +open them—which I consider heroic—until I came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span> +home. That was about half-past ten; and we read +them until nearly two in the morning.</p> + +<p>"I won't say a word about your letters; except that +Kate and I have come to a conclusion which makes +me tremble in my shoes, for we decide that humorous +narrative is your forte, and not statesmen of the commonwealth. +I won't say a word about your news; +for how could I in that case, while you want to hear +what we are doing, resist the temptation of expending +pages on those darling children? . . .</p> + +<p>"I have the privilege of appearing on the floor of +both Houses here, and go to them every day. They +are very handsome and commodious. There is a great +deal of bad speaking, but there are a great many very +remarkable men, in the legislature: such as John +Quincy Adams, Clay, Preston, Calhoun, and others: +with whom I need scarcely add I have been placed +in the friendliest relations. Adams is a fine old +fellow—seventy-six years old, but with most surprising +vigor, memory, readiness, and pluck. Clay is +perfectly enchanting; an irresistible man. There are +some very notable specimens, too, out of the West. +Splendid men to look at, hard to deceive, prompt to +act, lions in energy, Crichtons in varied accomplishments, +Indians in quickness of eye and gesture, Americans +in affectionate and generous impulse. It would +be difficult to exaggerate the nobility of some of these +glorious fellows.</p> + +<p>"When Clay retires, as he does this month, Preston +will become the leader of the Whig party. He so +solemnly assures me that the international copyright +shall and will be passed, that I almost begin to hope;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span> +and I shall be entitled to say, if it be, that I have +brought it about. You have no idea how universal the +discussion of its merits and demerits has become, or +how eager for the change I have made a portion of the +people.</p> + +<p>"You remember what —— was, in England. If +you <i>could</i> but see him here! If you could only have +seen him when he called on us the other day,—feigning +abstraction in the dreadful pressure of affairs of +state; rubbing his forehead as one who was aweary of +the world; and exhibiting a sublime caricature of Lord +Burleigh. He is the only thoroughly unreal man I +have seen on this side the ocean. Heaven help the +President! All parties are against him, and he appears +truly wretched. We go to a levee at his house +to-night. He has invited me to dinner on Friday, but +I am obliged to decline; for we leave, per steamboat, +to-morrow night.</p> + +<p>"I said I wouldn't write anything more concerning +the American people, for two months. Second thoughts +are best. I shall not change, and may as well speak +out—to <i>you</i>. They are friendly, earnest, hospitable, +kind, frank, very often accomplished, far less prejudiced +than you would suppose, warm-hearted, fervent, +and enthusiastic. They are chivalrous in their universal +politeness to women, courteous, obliging, disinterested; +and, when they conceive a perfect affection +for a man (as I may venture to say of myself), entirely +devoted to him. I have received thousands of people +of all ranks and grades, and have never once been +asked an offensive or unpolite question,—except by +Englishmen, who, when they have been 'located' here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span> +for some years, are worse than the devil in his blackest +painting. The State is a parent to its people; has a +parental care and watch over all poor children, women +laboring of child, sick persons, and captives. The +common men render you assistance in the streets, and +would revolt from the offer of a piece of money. The +desire to oblige is universal; and I have never once +traveled in a public conveyance without making some +generous acquaintance whom I have been sorry to part +from, and who has in many cases come on miles, to see +us again. But I don't like the country. I would not +live here, on any consideration. It goes against the +grain with me. It would with you. I think it impossible, +utterly impossible, for any Englishman to live +here and be happy. I have a confidence that I must +be right, because I have everything, God knows, to +lead me to the opposite conclusion; and yet I cannot +resist coming to this one. As to the causes, they are +too many to enter upon here. . . .</p> + +<p>"One of two petitions for an international copyright +which I brought here from American authors, with +Irving at their head, has been presented to the House +of Representatives. Clay retains the other for presentation +to the Senate after I have left Washington. The +presented one has been referred to a committee; the +Speaker has nominated as its chairman Mr. Kennedy, +member for Baltimore, who is himself an author and +notoriously favorable to such a law; and I am going to +assist him in his report.</p> + + +<div class='date'><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Richmond, in Virginia</span>. Thursday Night, March 17.<br /> +</div> + +<p>"Irving was with me at Washington yesterday, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span> +<i>wept heartily</i> at parting. He is a fine fellow, when you +know him well; and you would relish him, my dear +friend, of all things. We have laughed together at +some absurdities we have encountered in company, +quite in my vociferous Devonshire-Terrace style. The +'Merrikin' government has treated him, he says, most +liberally and handsomely in every respect. He thinks +of sailing for Liverpool on the 7th of April, passing a +short time in London, and then going to Paris. Perhaps +you may meet him. If you do, he will know +that you are my dearest friend, and will open his whole +heart to you at once. His secretary of legation, Mr. +Coggleswell, is a man of very remarkable information, +a great traveler, a good talker, and a scholar.</p> + +<p>"I am going to sketch you our trip here from Washington, +as it involves nine miles of a 'Virginny Road.' +That done, I must be brief, good brother." . . .</p> + +<p>The reader of the <i>American Notes</i> will remember the +admirable and most humorous description of the night +steamer on the Potomac, and of the black driver over +the Virginia road. Both were in this letter; which, +after three days, he resumed "At Washington again, +Monday, March the twenty-first:</p> + +<p>"We had intended to go to Baltimore from Richmond, +by a place called Norfolk; but, one of the boats +being under repair, I found we should probably be +detained at this Norfolk two days. Therefore we came +back here yesterday, by the road we had traveled +before; lay here last night; and go on to Baltimore +this afternoon, at four o'clock. It is a journey of only +two hours and a half. Richmond is a prettily situated +town, but, like other towns in slave districts (as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span> +planters themselves admit), has an aspect of decay and +gloom which to an unaccustomed eye is <i>most</i> distressing. +In the black car (for they don't let them sit with +the whites), on the railroad as we went there, were a +mother and family, whom the steamer was conveying +away, to sell; retaining the man (the husband and +father, I mean) on his plantation. The children cried +the whole way. Yesterday, on board the boat, a slave-owner +and two constables were our fellow-passengers. +They were coming here in search of two negroes who +had run away on the previous day. On the bridge at +Richmond there is a notice against fast driving over it, +as it is rotten and crazy: penalty—for whites, five dollars; +for slaves, fifteen stripes. My heart is lightened +as if a great load had been taken from it, when I think +that we are turning our backs on this accursed and +detested system. I really don't think I could have +borne it any longer. It is all very well to say 'be +silent on the subject.' They won't let you be silent. +They <i>will</i> ask you what you think of it; and <i>will</i> +expatiate on slavery as if it were one of the greatest +blessings of mankind. 'It's not,' said a hard, bad-looking +fellow to me the other day, 'it's not the interest +of a man to use his slaves ill. It's damned nonsense +that you hear in England.'—I told him quietly that it +was not a man's interest to get drunk, or to steal, or to +game, or to indulge in any other vice, but he <i>did</i> +indulge in it for all that; that cruelty, and the abuse +of irresponsible power, were two of the bad passions +of human nature, with the gratification of which, considerations +of interest or of ruin, had nothing whatever +to do; and that, while every candid man must admit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> +that even a slave might be happy enough with a good +master, all human beings knew that bad masters, cruel +masters, and masters who disgraced the form they bore, +were matters of experience and history, whose existence +was as undisputed as that of slaves themselves. He +was a little taken aback by this, and asked me if I +believed in the Bible. Yes, I said, but if any man +could prove to me that it sanctioned slavery, I would +place no further credence in it. 'Well then,' he said, +'by God, sir, the niggers must be kept down, and the +whites have put down the colored people wherever they +have found them.' 'That's the whole question,' said +I. 'Yes, and by God,' says he, 'the British had better +not stand out on that point when Lord Ashburton +comes over, for I never felt so warlike as I do now,—and +that's a fact.' I was obliged to accept a public +supper in this Richmond, and I saw plainly enough +there that the hatred which these Southern States bear +to us as a nation has been fanned up and revived again +by this Creole business, and can scarcely be exaggerated.</p> + +<p>. . . . "We were desperately tired at Richmond, as +we went to a great many places and received a very +great number of visitors. We appoint usually two +hours in every day for this latter purpose, and have our +room so full at that period that it is difficult to move +or breathe. Before we left Richmond, a gentleman +told me, when I really was so exhausted that I could +hardly stand, that 'three people of great fashion' were +much offended by having been told, when they called +last evening, that I was tired and not visible, then, but +would be 'at home' from twelve to two next day! +Another gentleman (no doubt of great fashion also)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span> +sent a letter to me two hours after I had gone to bed, +preparatory to rising at four next morning, with instructions +to the slave who brought it to knock me up +and wait for an answer!</p> + +<p>"I am going to break my resolution of accepting +no more public entertainments, in favor of the originators +of the printed document overleaf. They live upon +the confines of the Indian territory, some two thousand +miles or more west of New York! Think of my dining +there! And yet, please God, the festival will come +off—I should say about the 12th or 15th of next +month." . . .</p> + +<p>The printed document was a series of resolutions, +moved at a public meeting attended by all the principal +citizens, judges, professors, and doctors of St. +Louis, urgently inviting to that city of the Far West +the distinguished writer then the guest of America, +eulogizing his genius, and tendering to him their +warmest hospitalities. He was at Baltimore when he +closed his letter.</p> + + +<div class='date'><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Baltimore</span>, <i>Tuesday, March 22d.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"I have a great diffidence in running counter to any +impression formed by a man of Maclise's genius, on a +subject he has fully considered." (Referring, apparently, +to some remark by myself on the picture of the +Play-scene in <i>Hamlet</i>, exhibited this year.) "But I +quite agree with you about the King in <i>Hamlet</i>. Talking +of Hamlet, I constantly carry in my great-coat +pocket the <i>Shakspeare</i> you bought for me in Liverpool. +What an unspeakable source of delight that book is +to me!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Your Ontario letter I found here to-night: sent on +by the vigilant and faithful Colden, who makes every +thing having reference to us or our affairs a labor of the +heartiest love. We devoured its contents, greedily. +Good Heaven, my dear fellow, how I miss you! and +how I count the time 'twixt this and coming home +again! Shall I ever forget the day of our parting at +Liverpool! when even —— became jolly and radiant +in his sympathy with our separation! Never, never +shall I forget that time. Ah! how seriously I thought +then, and how seriously I have thought many, many +times since, of the terrible folly of ever quarreling with +a true friend, on good-for-nothing trifles! Every little +hasty word that has ever passed between us rose up before +me like a reproachful ghost. At this great distance, +I seem to look back upon any miserable small interruption +of our affectionate intercourse, though only for the +instant it has never outlived, with a sort of pity for +myself as if I were another creature.</p> + +<p>"I have bought another accordion. The steward +lent me one, on the passage out, and I regaled the ladies' +cabin with my performances. You can't think with +what feeling I play <i>Home Sweet Home</i> every night, or +how pleasantly sad it makes us. . . . And so God bless +you. . . . I leave space for a short postscript before +sealing this, but it will probably contain nothing. The +dear, dear children! what a happiness it is to know +that they are in such hands!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"P.S. Twenty-third March, 1842. Nothing new. +And all well. I have not heard that the Columbia is +in, but she is hourly expected. Washington Irving has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span> +come on for another leave-taking,<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> and dines with me +to-day. We start for the West, at half-after eight to-morrow +morning. I send you a newspaper, the most +respectable in the States, with a very just copyright +article."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>CANAL-BOAT JOURNEYS: BOUND FAR WEST.</h3> + +<h3>1842.</h3> + +<div class='blockquot'> +Character in the Letters—The <i>Notes</i> less satisfactory—Personal Narrative +in Letters—The Copyright Differences—Social Dissatisfactions—A +Fact to be remembered—Literary Merits of the Letters—Personal +Character portrayed—On Board for Pittsburgh—Choicest +Passages of <i>Notes</i>—Queer Stage-coach—Something revealed on the +Top—At Harrisburg—Treaties with Indians—Local Legislatures—A +Levee—Morning and Night in Canal-boat—At and after Breakfast—Making +the best of it—Hardy Habits—By Rail across Mountain—Mountain +Scenery—New Settlements—Original of Eden in +<i>Chuzzlewit</i>—A Useful Word—Party in America—Home News—Meets +an Early Acquaintance—"Smallness of the World"—Queer +Customers at Levees—Our Anniversary—The Cincinnati Steamer—Frugality +in Water and Linen—Magnetic Experiments—Life-preservers—Bores—Habits +of Neatness—Wearying for Home—Another +Solitary Prison—New Terror to Loneliness—Arrival at Cincinnati—Two +Judges in Attendance—The City described—On the Pavement. +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> would not be possible that a more vivid or exact +impression than that which is derivable from these +letters could be given of either the genius or the character +of the writer. The whole man is here in the +supreme hour of his life, and in all the enjoyment of +its highest sensations. Inexpressibly sad to me has +been the task of going over them, but the surprise has +equaled the sadness. I had forgotten what was in +them. That they contained, in their first vividness,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span> +all the most prominent descriptions of his published +book, I knew. But the reproduction of any part of +these was not permissible here; and, believing that the +substance of them had been thus almost wholly embodied +in the <i>American Notes</i>, when they were lent to +assist in its composition, I turned to them with very +small expectation of finding anything available for +present use. Yet the difficulty has been, not to find, +but to reject; and the rejection when most unavoidable +has not been most easy. Even where the subjects +recur that are in the printed volume, there is a freshness +of first impressions in the letters that renders it +no small trial to act strictly on the rule adhered to in +these extracts from them. In the <i>Notes</i> there is of +course very much, masterly in observation and description, +of which there is elsewhere no trace; but the +passages amplified from the letters have not been improved, +and the manly force and directness of some +of their views and reflections, conveyed by touches of +a picturesque completeness that no elaboration could +give, have here and there not been strengthened by +rhetorical additions in the printed work. There is +also a charm in the letters which the plan adopted in +the book necessarily excluded from it. It will always, +of course, have value as a deliberate expression of the +results gathered from the American experiences, but +the <i>personal narrative</i> of this famous visit to America +is in the letters alone. In what way his experiences +arose, the desire at the outset to see nothing that was +not favorable, the slowness with which adverse impressions +were formed, and the eager recognition of every +truthful and noble quality that arose and remained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span> +above the fault-finding, are discoverable only in the +letters.</p> + +<p>Already it is manifest from them that the before-mentioned +disappointments, as well of the guest in his +entertainers as of the entertainers in their guest, had +their beginning in the copyright differences; but it is +not less plain that the social dissatisfactions on his side +were of even earlier date, and with the country itself +had certainly nothing to do. It was objected to him, +I well remember, that in making such unfavorable remarks +as his published book did on many points, he +was assailing the democratic institutions that had formed +the character of the nation; but the answer is obvious, +that, democratic institutions being universal in America, +they were as fairly entitled to share in the good as +in the bad; and in what he praised, of which there is +here abundant testimony, he must be held to have exalted +those institutions as much, as in what he blamed +he could be held to depreciate them. He never sets +himself up in judgment on the entire people. As we +see, from the way the letters show us that the opinions +he afterwards published were formed, he does not draw +conclusions while his observation is only half concluded; +and he refrains throughout from the example +too strongly set him, even in the very terms of his welcome +by the writers of America,<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> of flinging one nation +in the other's face. He leaves each upon its own ground. +His great business in his publication, as in the first impressions +recorded here, is to exhibit social influences +at work as he saw them himself; and it would surely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span> +have been of all bad compliments the worst, when resolving, +in the tone and with the purpose of a friend, +to make public what he had observed in America, if +he had supposed that such a country would take truth +amiss.</p> + +<p>There is, however, one thing to be especially remembered, +as well in reading the letters as in judging of the +book which was founded on them. It is a point to +which I believe Mr. Emerson directed the attention of +his countrymen. Everything of an objectionable kind, +whether the author would have it so or not, stands out +more prominently and distinctly than matter of the +opposite description. The social sin is a more tangible +thing than the social virtue. Pertinaciously to insist +upon the charities and graces of life, is to outrage their +quiet and unobtrusive character; but we incur the +danger of extending the vulgarities and indecencies if +we seem to countenance by omitting to expose them. +And if this is only kept in view in reading what is here +given, the proportion of censure will be found not to +overbalance the just admiration and unexaggerated +praise.</p> + +<p>Apart from such considerations, it is to be also said, +the letters, from which I am now printing exactly as +they were written, have claims, as mere literature, of +an unusual kind. Unrivaled quickness of observation, +the rare faculty of seizing out of a multitude of things +the thing only that is essential, the irresistible play of +humor, such pathos as only humorists of this high +order possess, and the unwearied unforced vivacity of +ever fresh, buoyant, bounding animal spirits, never +found more natural, variously easy, or picturesque expression.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span> +Written amid such distraction, fatigue, and +weariness as they describe, amid the jarring noises of +hotels and streets, aboard steamers, on canal-boats, +and in log huts, there is not an erasure in them. Not +external objects only, but feelings, reflections, and +thoughts, are photographed into visible forms with the +same unexampled ease. They borrow no help from +the matters of which they treat. They would have +given, to the subjects described, old acquaintance and +engrossing interest if they had been about a people in +the moon. Of the personal character at the same time +self-portrayed, others, whose emotions it less vividly +awakens, will judge more calmly and clearly than myself. +Yet to myself only can it be known how small +were the services of friendship that sufficed to rouse all +the sensibilities of this beautiful and noble nature. +Throughout our life-long intercourse it was the same. +His keenness of discrimination failed him never excepting +here, when it was lost in the limitless extent +of his appreciation of all kindly things; and never did +he receive what was meant for a benefit that he was not +eager to return it a hundredfold. No man more truly +generous ever lived.</p> + +<p>His next letter was begun from "on board the canal-boat. +Going to Pittsburgh. Monday, March twenty-eighth, +1842;" and the difficulties of rejection, to +which reference has just been made, have been nowhere +felt by me so much. Several of the descriptive masterpieces +of the book are in it, with such touches of original +freshness as might fairly have justified a reproduction +of them in their first form. Among these are the +Harrisburg coach on its way through the Susquehanna<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span> +valley; the railroad across the mountain; the brown-forester +of the Mississippi, the interrogative man in +pepper-and-salt, and the affecting scene of the emigrants +put ashore as the steamer passes up the Ohio. But all +that I may here give, bearing any resemblance to what +is given in the <i>Notes</i>, are the opening sketch of the +small creature on the top of the queer stage-coach, to +which the printed version fails to do adequate justice, +and an experience to which the interest belongs of +having suggested the settlement of Eden in <i>Martin +Chuzzlewit</i>. . . . "We left Baltimore last Thursday, +the twenty-fourth, at half-past eight in the morning, by +railroad; and got to a place called York, about twelve. +There we dined, and took a stage-coach for Harrisburg; +twenty-five miles further. This stage-coach was like +nothing so much as the body of one of the swings you +see at a fair set upon four wheels and roofed and covered +at the sides with painted canvas. There were +twelve <i>inside!</i> I, thank my stars, was on the box. +The luggage was on the roof; among it, a good-sized +dining-table, and a big rocking-chair. We also took +up an intoxicated gentleman, who sat for ten miles +between me and the coachman; and another intoxicated +gentleman who got up behind, but in the course of a +mile or two fell off without hurting himself, and was +seen in the distant perspective reeling back to the grog-shop +where we had found him. There were four horses +to this land-ark, of course; but we did not perform +the journey until after half-past six o'clock that night. . . . +The first half of the journey was tame enough, +but the second lay through the valley of the Susquehanah +(I think I spell it right, but I haven't that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span> +American Geography at hand), which is very beautiful. . . .</p> + +<p>"I think I formerly made a casual remark to you +touching the precocity of the youth of this country. +When we changed horses on this journey I got down +to stretch my legs, refresh myself with a glass of +whiskey-and-water, and shake the wet off my great-coat,—for +it was raining very heavily, and continued to +do so, all night. Mounting to my seat again, I observed +something lying on the roof of the coach, which I took +to be a rather large fiddle in a brown bag. In the +course of ten miles or so, however, I discovered that it +had a pair of dirty shoes at one end, and a glazed cap +at the other; and further observation demonstrated it +to be a small boy, in a snuff-colored coat, with his arms +quite pinioned to his sides by deep forcing into his +pockets. He was, I presume, a relative or friend of the +coachman's, as he lay atop of the luggage, with his +face towards the rain; and, except when a change of +position brought his shoes in contact with my hat, he +appeared to be asleep. Sir, when we stopped to water +the horses, about two miles from Harrisburg, this thing +slowly upreared itself to the height of three foot eight, +and, fixing its eyes on me with a mingled expression +of complacency, patronage, national independence, +and sympathy for all outer barbarians and foreigners, +said, in shrill piping accents, 'Well now, stranger, I +guess you find this a'most like an English a'ternoon,—hey?' +It is unnecessary to add that I thirsted for his +blood. . . .</p> + +<p>"We had all next morning in Harrisburg, as the +canal-boat was not to start until three o'clock in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> +afternoon. The officials called upon me before I had +finished breakfast; and, as the town is the seat of the +Pennsylvanian legislature, I went up to the Capitol. I +was very much interested in looking over a number of +treaties made with the poor Indians, their signatures +being rough drawings of the creatures or weapons they +are called after; and the extraordinary drawing of +these emblems, showing the queer, unused, shaky manner +in which each man has held the pen, struck me +very much.</p> + +<p>"You know my small respect for our House of Commons. +These local legislatures are too insufferably +apish of mighty legislation, to be seen without bile; +for which reason, and because a great crowd of senators +and ladies had assembled in both houses to behold the +inimitable, and had already begun to pour in upon +him even in the secretary's private room, I went back +to the hotel, with all speed. The members of both +branches of the legislature followed me there, however, +so we had to hold the usual levee before our half-past +one o'clock dinner. We received a great number of +them. Pretty nearly every man spat upon the carpet, +as usual; and one blew his nose with his fingers,—also +on the carpet, which was a very neat one, the room +given up to us being the private parlor of the landlord's +wife. This has become so common since, however, +that it scarcely seems worth mentioning. Please to +observe that the gentleman in question was a member +of the senate, which answers (as they very often tell +me) to our House of Lords.</p> + +<p>"The innkeeper was the most attentive, civil, and +obliging person I ever saw in my life. On being asked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> +for his bill, he said there was no bill: the honor and +pleasure, etc. being more than sufficient.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> I did not +permit this, of course, and begged Mr. Q. to explain +to him that, traveling four strong, I could not hear of +it on any account.</p> + +<p>"And now I come to the Canal-Boat. Bless your heart +and soul, my dear fellow,—if you could only see us on +board the canal-boat! Let me think, for a moment, at +what time of the day or night I should best like you to +see us. In the morning? Between five and six in the +morning, shall I say? Well! you <i>would</i> like to see me, +standing on the deck, fishing the dirty water out of the +canal with a tin ladle chained to the boat by a long +chain; pouring the same into a tin basin (also chained +up in like manner); and scrubbing my face with the +jack towel. At night, shall I say? I don't know that +you <i>would</i> like to look into the cabin at night, only to +see me lying on a temporary shelf exactly the width of +this sheet of paper when it's open (<i>I measured it this +morning</i>),<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> with one man above me, and another below; +and, in all, eight-and-twenty in a low cabin, which +you can't stand upright in with your hat on. I don't +think you would like to look in at breakfast-time either, +for then these shelves have only just been taken down +and put away, and the atmosphere of the place is, as +you may suppose, by no means fresh; though there <i>are</i> +upon the table tea and coffee, and bread and butter, +and salmon, and shad, and liver, and steak, and potatoes, +and pickles, and ham, and pudding, and sausages;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span> +and three-and-thirty people sitting round it, eating and +drinking; and savory bottles of gin, and whiskey, and +brandy, and rum, in the bar hard by; and seven-and-twenty +out of the eight-and-twenty men, in foul linen, +with yellow streams from half-chewed tobacco trickling +down their chins. Perhaps the best time for you to +take a peep would be the present: eleven o'clock in +the forenoon: when the barber is at his shaving, and +the gentlemen are lounging about the stove waiting for +their turns, and not more than seventeen are spitting +in concert, and two or three are walking overhead +(lying down on the luggage every time the man at the +helm calls 'Bridge!'), and I am writing this in the +ladies' cabin, which is a part of the gentlemen's, and +only screened off by a red curtain. Indeed, it exactly +resembles the dwarf's private apartment in a caravan +at a fair; and the gentlemen, generally, represent the +spectators at a penny a head. The place is just as clean +and just as large as that caravan you and I were in at +Greenwich Fair last past. Outside, it is exactly like +any canal-boat you have seen near the Regent's Park, +or elsewhere.</p> + +<p>"You never can conceive what the hawking and +spitting is, the whole night through. Last night was +the worst. <i>Upon my honor and word</i> I was obliged, +this morning, to lay my fur coat on the deck, and wipe +the half-dried flakes of spittle from it with my handkerchief; +and the only surprise seemed to be that I +should consider it necessary to do so. When I turned +in last night, I put it on a stool beside me, and there +it lay, under a cross-fire from five men,—three opposite, +one above, and one below. I make no complaints, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span> +show no disgust. I am looked upon as highly facetious +at night, for I crack jokes with everybody near me until +we fall asleep. I am considered very hardy in the +morning, for I run up, bare-necked, and plunge my +head into the half-frozen water, by half-past five o'clock. +I am respected for my activity, inasmuch as I jump from +the boat to the towing-path, and walk five or six miles +before breakfast; keeping up with the horses all the +time. In a word, they are quite astonished to find a +sedentary Englishman roughing it so well, and taking +so much exercise; and question me very much on that +head. The greater part of the men will sit and shiver +round the stove all day, rather than put one foot before +the other. As to having a window open, that's not to +be thought of.</p> + +<p>"We expect to reach Pittsburgh to-night, between +eight and nine o'clock; and there we ardently hope to +find your March letters awaiting us. We have had, +with the exception of Friday afternoon, exquisite +weather, but cold. Clear starlight and moonlight +nights. The canal has run, for the most part, by the +side of the Susquehanah and Iwanata rivers; and has +been carried through tremendous obstacles. Yesterday +we crossed the mountain. This is done <i>by railroad</i>. . . . +You dine at an inn upon the mountain; and, including +the half-hour allowed for the meal, are rather +more than five hours performing this strange part of the +journey. The people north and 'down east' have terrible +legends of its danger; but they appear to be exceedingly +careful, and don't go to work at all wildly. +There are some queer precipices close to the rails, certainly; +but every precaution is taken, I am inclined to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span> +think, that such difficulties, and such a vast work, will +admit of.</p> + +<p>"The scenery, before you reach the mountains, and +when you are on them, and after you have left them, +is very grand and fine; and the canal winds its way +through some deep, sullen gorges, which, seen by moonlight, +are very impressive: though immeasurably inferior +to Glencoe, to whose terrors I have not seen the +smallest <i>approach</i>. We have passed, both in the mountains +and elsewhere, a great number of new settlements +and detached log houses. Their utterly forlorn and +miserable appearance baffles all description. I have not +seen six cabins out of six hundred, where the windows +have been whole. Old hats, old clothes, old boards, +old fragments of blanket and paper, are stuffed into the +broken glass; and their air is misery and desolation. +It pains the eye to see the stumps of great trees thickly +strewn in every field of wheat; and never to lose the +eternal swamp and dull morass, with hundreds of rotten +trunks, of elm and pine and sycamore and logwood, +steeped in its unwholesome water; where the frogs so +croak at night that after dark there is an incessant +sound as if millions of phantom teams, with bells, were +traveling through the upper air, at an enormous distance +off. It is quite an oppressive circumstance, too, +to <i>come</i> upon great tracks, where settlers have been +burning down the trees; and where their wounded +bodies lie about, like those of murdered creatures; +while here and there some charred and blackened giant +rears two bare arms aloft, and seems to curse his enemies. +The prettiest sight I have seen was yesterday,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span> +when we—on the heights of the mountain, and in a +keen wind—looked down into a valley full of light and +softness; catching glimpses of scattered cabins; children +running to the doors; dogs bursting out to bark; +pigs scampering home, like so many prodigal sons; +families sitting out in their gardens; cows gazing upward, +with a stupid indifference; men in their shirt-sleeves, +looking on at their unfinished houses, and +planning work for to-morrow;—and the train riding +on, high above them, like a storm. But I know this is +beautiful—very—very beautiful!</p> + +<p>"I wonder whether you and Mac mean to go to +Greenwich Fair! Perhaps you dine at the Crown and +Sceptre to-day, for it's Easter-Monday—who knows! +I wish you drank punch, dear Forster. It's a shabby +thing, not to be able to picture you with that cool +green glass. . . .</p> + +<p>"I told you of the many uses of the word 'fix.' I +ask Mr. Q. on board a steamboat if breakfast be nearly +ready, and he tells me yes he should think so, for when +he was last below the steward was 'fixing the tables'—in +other words, laying the cloth. When we have been +writing, and I beg him (do you remember anything of +my love of order, at this distance of time?) to collect +our papers, he answers that he'll 'fix 'em presently.' +So when a man's dressing he's 'fixing' himself, and +when you put yourself under a doctor he 'fixes' you in +no time. T'other night, before we came on board here, +when I had ordered a bottle of mulled claret and waited +some time for it, it was put on table with an apology +from the landlord (a lieutenant-colonel) that 'he feared +it wasn't fixed properly.' And here, on Saturday morning,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> +a Western man, handing the potatoes to Mr. Q. +at breakfast, inquired if he wouldn't take some of 'these +fixings' with his meat. I remained as grave as a judge. +I catch them looking at me sometimes, and feel that +they think I don't take any notice. Politics are very +high here; dreadfully strong; handbills, denunciations, +invectives, threats, and quarrels. The question is, who +shall be the next President. The election comes off in +<i>three years and a half</i> from this time."</p> + +<p>He resumed his letter, "on board the steamboat from +Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, April the 1st, 1842. A very +tremulous steamboat, which makes my hand shake. +This morning, my dear friend, this very morning, which, +passing by without bringing news from England, would +have seen us on our way to St. Louis (viâ Cincinnati +and Louisville) with sad hearts and dejected countenances, +and the prospect of remaining for at least three +weeks longer without any intelligence of those so inexpressibly +dear to us—this very morning, bright and +lucky morning that it was, a great packet was brought +to our bedroom door, from HOME. How I have read +and re-read your affectionate, hearty, interesting, funny, +serious, delightful, and thoroughly Forsterian Columbia +letter, I will not attempt to tell you; or how glad I am +that you liked my first; or how afraid I am that my +second was not written in such good spirits as it should +have been; or how glad I am again to think that my +third <i>was;</i> or how I hope you will find some amusement +from my fourth: this present missive. All this, +and more affectionate and earnest words than the post-office +would convey at any price, though they have no +sharp edges to hurt the stamping-clerk—you will understand,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span> +I know, without expression, or attempt at expression. +So, having got over the first agitation of so +much pleasure; and having walked the deck; and +being now in the cabin, where one party are playing at +chess, and another party are asleep, and another are +talking round the stove, and all are spitting; and a +persevering bore of a horrible New Englander with a +droning voice like a gigantic bee <i>will</i> sit down beside +me, though I am writing, and talk incessantly, in my +very ear, to Kate; here goes again.</p> + +<p>"Let me see. I should tell you, first, that we got to +Pittsburgh between eight and nine o'clock of the evening +of the day on which I left off at the top of this +sheet; and were there received by a little man (a very +little man) whom I knew years ago in London. He +rejoiceth in the name of D. G.; and, when I knew him, +was in partnership with his father on the Stock-Exchange, +and lived handsomely at Dalston. They failed +in business soon afterwards, and then this little man +began to turn to account what had previously been his +amusement and accomplishment, by painting little +subjects for the fancy shops. So I lost sight of him, +nearly ten years ago; and here he turned up t'other +day, as a portrait-painter in Pittsburgh! He had +previously written me a letter which moved me a good +deal, by a kind of quiet independence and contentment +it breathed, and still a painful sense of being alone, so +very far from home. I received it in Philadelphia, and +answered it. He dined with us every day of our stay +in Pittsburgh (they were only three), and was truly +gratified and delighted to find me unchanged,—more +so than I can tell you. I am very glad to-night to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span> +think how much happiness we have fortunately been +able to give him.</p> + +<p>"Pittsburgh is like Birmingham—at least its townsfolks +say so; and I didn't contradict them. It is, in +one respect. There is a great deal of smoke in it. I +quite offended a man at our yesterday's levee, who +supposed I was 'now quite at home,' by telling him +that the notion of London being so dark a place was a +popular mistake. We had very queer customers at our +receptions, I do assure you. Not least among them, a +gentleman with his inexpressibles imperfectly buttoned +and his waistband resting on his thighs, who stood +behind the half-opened door, and could by no temptation +or inducement be prevailed upon to come out. +There was also another gentleman, with one eye and +one fixed gooseberry, who stood in a corner, motionless +like an eight-day clock, and glared upon me, as I +courteously received the Pittsburgians. There were +also two red-headed brothers—boys—young dragons +rather—who hovered about Kate, and wouldn't go. A +great crowd they were, for three days; and a very +queer one."</p> + + +<div class='date'><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Still in the same boat.</span> <i>April the Second, 1842.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"Many, many happy returns of the day. It's only +eight o'clock in the morning now, but we mean to drink +your health after dinner, in a bumper; and scores of +Richmond dinners to us! We have some wine (a +present sent on board by our Pittsburgh landlord) +in our own cabin; and we shall tap it to good purpose, +I assure you; wishing you all manner and kinds of happiness, +and a long life to ourselves that we may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span> +partakers of it. We have wondered a hundred times +already, whether you and Mac will dine anywhere together, +in honor of the day. I say yes, but Kate says +no. She predicts that you'll ask Mac, and he won't +go. I have not yet heard from him.</p> + +<p>"We have a better cabin here than we had on board +the Britannia; the berths being much wider, and the +den having two doors: one opening on the ladies' cabin, +and one upon a little gallery in the stern of the boat. +We expect to be at Cincinnati some time on Monday +morning, and we carry about fifty passengers. The +cabin for meals goes right through the boat, from the +prow to the stern, and is very long; only a small portion +of it being divided off, by a partition of wood and +ground glass, for the ladies. We breakfast at half-after +seven, dine at one, and sup at six. Nobody will sit +down to any one of these meals, though the dishes are +smoking on the board, until the ladies have appeared +and taken their chairs. It was the same in the canal-boat.</p> + +<p>"The washing department is a little more civilized +than it was on the canal, but bad is the best. Indeed, +the Americans when they are traveling, as Miss Martineau +seems disposed to admit, are exceedingly negligent; not +to say dirty. To the best of my making out, the ladies, +under most circumstances, are content with smearing +their hands and faces in a very small quantity of water. +So are the men; who superadd to that mode of ablution +a hasty use of the common brush and comb. It is quite +a practice, too, to wear but one cotton shirt a week, and +three or four fine linen <i>fronts</i>. Anne reports that this +is Mr. Q.'s course of proceeding; and my portrait-painting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span> +friend told me that it was the case with pretty nearly +all his sitters; so that when he bought a piece of cloth +not long ago, and instructed the sempstress to make it +<i>all</i> into shirts, not fronts, she thought him deranged.</p> + +<p>"My friend the New Englander, of whom I wrote last +night, is perhaps the most intolerable bore on this vast +continent. He drones, and snuffles, and writes poems, +and talks small philosophy and metaphysics, and never +<i>will</i> be quiet, under any circumstances. He is going to +a great temperance convention at Cincinnati; along +with a doctor of whom I saw something at Pittsburgh. +The doctor, in addition to being everything that the +New Englander is, is a phrenologist besides. I dodge +them about the boat. Whenever I appear on deck, I +see them bearing down upon me—and fly. The New +Englander was very anxious last night that he and I +should 'form a magnetic chain,' and magnetize the +doctor, for the benefit of all incredulous passengers; +but I declined on the plea of tremendous occupation in +the way of letter-writing.</p> + +<p>"And, speaking of magnetism, let me tell you that +the other night at Pittsburgh, there being present only +Mr. Q. and the portrait-painter, Kate sat down, laughing, +for me to try my hand upon her. I had been holding +forth upon the subject rather luminously, and asserting +that I thought I could exercise the influence, but had +never tried. In six minutes, I magnetized her into +hysterics, and then into the magnetic sleep. I tried +again next night, and she fell into the slumber in little +more than two minutes. . . . I can wake her with perfect +ease; but I confess (not being prepared for anything +so sudden and complete) I was on the first occasion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span> +rather alarmed. . . . The Western parts being sometimes +hazardous, I have fitted out the whole of my little +company with <span class="smcap">Life-Preservers</span>, which I inflate with +great solemnity when we get aboard any boat, and keep, +as Mrs. Cluppins did her umbrella in the court of common +pleas, ready for use upon a moment's notice." . . .</p> + +<p>He resumed his letter, on "Sunday, April the third," +with allusion to a general who had called upon him in +Washington with two literary ladies, and had written +to him next day for an immediate interview, as "the +two LL's" were ambitious of the honor of a personal +introduction. "Besides the doctor and the dread New +Englander, we have on board that valiant general who +wrote to me about the 'two LL's.' He is an old, old +man with a weazen face, and the remains of a pigeon-breast +in his military surtout. He is acutely gentlemanly +and officer-like. The breast has so subsided, and +the face has become so strongly marked, that he seems, +like a pigeon-pie, to show only the feet of the bird outside, +and to keep the rest to himself. He is perhaps +<i>the</i> most horrible bore in this country. And I am quite +serious when I say that I do not believe there are, on +the whole earth besides, so many intensified bores as in +these United States. No man can form an adequate +idea of the real meaning of the word, without coming +here. There are no particular characters on board, +with these three exceptions. Indeed, I seldom see the +passengers but at meal-times, as I read and write in +our own little state-room. . . . I have smuggled two +chairs into our crib, and write this on a book upon my +knee. Everything is in the neatest order, of course; +and my shaving-tackle, dressing-case, brushes, books,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span> +and papers, are arranged with as much precision as if +we were going to remain here a month. Thank God +we are not.</p> + +<p>"The average width of the river rather exceeds that +of the Thames at Greenwich. In parts it is much +broader; and then there is usually a green island, +covered with trees, dividing it into two streams. Occasionally +we stop for a few minutes at a small town, +or village (I ought to say city, everything is a city +here); but the banks are for the most part deep solitudes, +overgrown with trees, which, in these western +latitudes, are already in leaf, and very green. . . .</p> + +<p>"All this I see, as I write, from the little door into +the stern-gallery which I mentioned just now. It don't +happen six times in a day that any other passenger +comes near it; and, as the weather is amply warm +enough to admit of our sitting with it open, here we +remain from morning until night: reading, writing, +talking. What our theme of conversation is, I need +not tell you. No beauty or variety makes us weary less +for home. We count the days, and say, 'When May +comes, and we can say—<i>next month</i>—the time will +seem almost gone.' We are never tired of imagining +what you are all about. I allow of no calculation for +the difference of clocks, but insist on a corresponding +minute in London. It is much the shortest way, and +best. . . . Yesterday, we drank your health and many +happy returns—in wine, after dinner; in a small milk-pot +jug of gin-punch, at night. And when I made a +temporary table, to hold the little candlestick, of one +of my dressing-case trays; cunningly inserted under +the mattress of my berth with a weight atop of it to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span> +keep it in its place, so that it made a perfectly exquisite +bracket; we agreed, that, please God, this should be +a joke at the Star and Garter on the second of April +eighteen hundred and forty-three. If your blank <i>can</i> +be surpassed, . . . believe me ours transcends it. My +heart gets, sometimes, <span class="smcap">sore</span> for home.</p> + +<p>"At Pittsburgh I saw another solitary confinement +prison: Pittsburgh being also in Pennsylvania. A +horrible thought occurred to me when I was recalling +all I had seen, that night. <i>What if ghosts be one of the +terrors of these jails?</i> I have pondered on it often, since +then. The utter solitude by day and night; the many +hours of darkness; the silence of death; the mind +forever brooding on melancholy themes, and having no +relief; sometimes an evil conscience very busy; imagine +a prisoner covering up his head in the bedclothes +and looking out from time to time, with a ghastly dread +of some inexplicable silent figure that always sits upon +his bed, or stands (if a thing can be said to stand, that +never walks as men do) in the same corner of his cell. +The more I think of it, the more certain I feel that not +a few of these men (during a portion of their imprisonment +at least) are nightly visited by spectres. I did +ask one man in this last jail, if he dreamed much. He +gave me a most extraordinary look, and said—under +his breath—in a whisper, 'No.'"</p> + + +<div class='date'><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Cincinnati</span>. <i>Fourth April, 1842.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"We arrived here this morning: about three o'clock, +I believe, but I was fast asleep in my berth. I turned +out soon after six, dressed, and breakfasted on board. +About half-after eight, we came ashore and drove to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span> +hotel, to which we had written on from Pittsburgh +ordering rooms; and which is within a stone's throw of +the boat-wharf. Before I had issued an official notification +that we were 'not at home,' two Judges called, on +the part of the inhabitants, to know when we would +receive the townspeople. We appointed to-morrow +morning, from half-past eleven to one; arranged to go +out, with these two gentlemen, to see the town, <i>at</i> one; +and were fixed for an evening party to-morrow night at +the house of one of them. On Wednesday morning we +go on by the mail-boat to Louisville, a trip of fourteen +hours; and from that place proceed in the next good +boat to St. Louis, which is a voyage of four days. +Finding from my judicial friends (well-informed and +most agreeable gentlemen) this morning that the prairie +travel to Chicago is a very fatiguing one, and that the +lakes are stormy, sea-sicky, and not over safe at this +season, I wrote by our captain to St. Louis (for the +boat that brought us here goes on there) to the effect, +that I should not take the lake route, but should come +back here; and should visit the prairies, which are +within thirty miles of St. Louis, immediately on my +arrival there. . . .</p> + +<p>"I have walked to the window, since I turned this +page, to see what aspect the town wears. We are in a +wide street: paved in the carriage-way with small white +stones, and in the footway with small red tiles. The +houses are for the most part one story high; some are +of wood; others of a clean white brick. Nearly all +have green blinds outside every window. The principal +shops over the way are, according to the inscriptions +over them, a Large Bread Bakery; a Book Bindery; a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span> +Dry Goods Store; and a Carriage Repository; the last-named +establishment looking very like an exceedingly +small retail coal-shed. On the pavement under our +window, a black man is chopping wood; and another +black man is talking (confidentially) to a pig. The +public table, at this hotel and at the hotel opposite, +has just now finished dinner. The diners are collected +on the pavement, on both sides of the way, picking +their teeth, and talking. The day being warm, some +of them have brought chairs into the street. Some are +on three chairs; some on two; and some, in defiance +of all known laws of gravity, are sitting quite comfortably +on one: with three of the chair's legs, and their +own two, high up in the air. The loungers, underneath +our window, are talking of a great Temperance convention +which comes off here to-morrow. Others, about +me. Others, about England. Sir Robert Peel is popular +here, with everybody. . . ."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE FAR WEST: TO NIAGARA FALLS.</h3> + +<h3>1842.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Descriptions in Letters and in <i>Notes</i>—Outline of Westward Travel—An +Arabian Night City—A Temperance Festival—A Party at Judge +Walker's—The Party from another View—Mournful Results of Boredom—Young +Lady's Description of C. D.—Down the Mississippi—Listening +and Watching—A Levee at St. Louis—Compliments—Lord +Ashburton's Arrival—Talk with a Judge on Slavery—A Negro +burnt alive—Feeling of Slaves themselves—American Testimony—Pretty +Little Scene—A Mother and her Husband—The Baby—St. +Louis in Sight—Meeting of Wife and Husband—Trip to a Prairie—On +the Prairie at Sunset—General Character of Scenery—The +Prairie described—Disappointment and Enjoyment—Soirée at +Planter's House Inn—Good Fare—No Gray Heads in St. Louis—Dueling—Mrs. +Dickens as a Traveler—From Cincinnati to Columbus—What +a Levee is like—From Columbus to Sandusky—The +Travelers alone—A Log House Inn—Making tidy—A Momentary +Crisis—Americans not a Humorous People—The Only Recreations—From +Sandusky to Buffalo—On Lake Erie—Reception and Consolation +of a Mayor—From Buffalo to Niagara—Nearing the Falls—The +Horse-shoe—Effect upon him of Niagara—The Old Recollection—Looking +forward.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> next letter described his experiences in the Far +West, his stay in St. Louis, his visit to a prairie, the +return to Cincinnati, and, after a stage-coach ride from +that city to Columbus, the travel thence to Sandusky, +and so, by Lake Erie, to the Falls of Niagara. All +these subjects appear in the <i>Notes</i>, but nothing printed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span> +there is repeated in the extracts now to be given. Of +the closing passages of his journey, when he turned +from Columbus in the direction of home, the story, +here for the first time told, is in his most characteristic +vein; the account that will be found of the prairie will +probably be preferred to what is given in the <i>Notes;</i> +the Cincinnati sketches are very pleasant; and even +such a description as that of the Niagara Falls, of which +so much is made in the book, has here an independent +novelty and freshness. The first vividness is in his letter. +The naturalness of associating no image or sense +but of repose, with a grandeur so mighty and resistless, +is best presented suddenly; and, in a few words, we +have the material as well as moral beauty of a scene +unrivaled in its kind upon the earth. The instant impression +we find to be worth more than the eloquent +recollection.</p> + +<p>The captain of the boat that had dropped them at +Cincinnati and gone to St. Louis had stayed in the latter +place until they were able to join and return with him; +this letter bears date accordingly, "On board the Messenger +again. Going from St. Louis back to Cincinnati. +Friday, fifteenth April, 1842;" and its first +paragraph is an outline of the movements which it +afterwards describes in detail. "We remained in Cincinnati +one whole day after the date of my last, and left +on Wednesday morning, the 6th. We reached Louisville +soon after midnight on the same night; and slept +there. Next day at one o'clock we put ourselves on +board another steamer, and traveled on until Sunday +evening, the tenth; when we reached St. Louis at about +nine o'clock. The next day we devoted to seeing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span> +city. Next day, Tuesday, the twelfth, I started off +with a party of men (we were fourteen in all) to see a +prairie; returned to St. Louis about noon on the thirteenth; +attended a soirée and ball—not a dinner—given +in my honor that night; and yesterday afternoon at +four o'clock we turned our faces homewards. Thank +Heaven!</p> + +<p>"Cincinnati is only fifty years old, but is a very +beautiful city; I think the prettiest place I have seen +here, except Boston. It has risen out of the forest like +an Arabian-Night city; is well laid out; ornamented in +the suburbs with pretty villas; and above all, for this is +a very rare feature in America, has smooth turf-plots +and well-kept gardens. There happened to be a great +temperance festival; and the procession mustered under, +and passed, our windows early in the morning. I +suppose they were twenty thousand strong, at least. +Some of the banners were quaint and odd enough. The +ship-carpenters, for instance, displayed on one side of +their flag the good Ship Temperance in full sail; on the +other, the Steamer Alcohol blowing up sky-high. The +Irishmen had a portrait of Father Mathew, you may be +sure. And Washington's broad lower jaw (by-the-by, +Washington had not a pleasant face) figured in all parts +of the ranks. In a kind of square at one outskirt of the +city they divided into bodies, and were addressed by +different speakers. Drier speaking I never heard. I +own that I felt quite uncomfortable to think they could +take the taste of it out of their mouths with nothing +better than water.</p> + +<p>"In the evening we went to a party at Judge Walker's, +and were introduced to at least one hundred and fifty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span> +first-rate bores, separately and singly. I was required +to sit down by the greater part of them, and talk!<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span> +the night we were serenaded (as we usually are in every +place we come to), and very well serenaded, I assure +you. But we were very much knocked up. I really +think my face has acquired a fixed expression of sadness +from the constant and unmitigated boring I endure. +The LL's have carried away all my cheerfulness. There +is a line in my chin (on the right side of the under lip), +indelibly fixed there by the New Englander I told you +of in my last. I have the print of a crow's foot on the +outside of my left eye, which I attribute to the literary +characters of small towns. A dimple has vanished from +my cheek, which I felt myself robbed of at the time by +a wise legislator. But on the other hand I am really +indebted for a good broad grin to P.. E.., literary +critic of Philadelphia, and sole proprietor of the English +language in its grammatical and idiomatical +purity; to P.. E.., with the shiny straight hair and +turned-down shirt-collar, who taketh all of us English +men of letters to task in print, roundly and uncompromisingly, +but told me, at the same time, that I had +'awakened a new era' in his mind. . . .</p> + +<p>"The last 200 miles of the voyage from Cincinnati to +St. Louis are upon the Mississippi, for you come down +the Ohio to its mouth. It is well for society that this +Mississippi, the renowned father of waters, had no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span> +children who take after him. It is the beastliest river +in the world." . . . (His description is in the <i>Notes</i>.)</p> + +<p>"Conceive the pleasure of rushing down this stream +by night (as we did last night) at the rate of fifteen +miles an hour; striking against floating blocks of timber +every instant; and dreading some infernal blow at +every bump. The helmsman in these boats is in a little +glass house upon the roof. In the Mississippi, another +man stands in the very head of the vessel, listening and +watching intently; listening, because they can tell in +dark nights by the noise when any great obstruction is +at hand. This man holds the rope of a large bell which +hangs close to the wheel-house, and whenever he pulls +it the engine is to stop directly, and not to stir until he +rings again. Last night, this bell rang at least once in +every five minutes; and at each alarm there was a concussion +which nearly flung one out of bed. . . . While +I have been writing this account, we have shot out of +that hideous river, thanks be to God; never to see it +again, I hope, but in a nightmare. We are now on the +smooth Ohio, and the change is like the transition from +pain to perfect ease.</p> + +<p>"We had a very crowded levee in St. Louis. Of +course the paper had an account of it. If I were to +drop a letter in the street, it would be in the newspaper +next day, and nobody would think its publication an +outrage. The editor objected to my hair, as not curling +sufficiently. He admitted an eye; but objected +again to dress, as being somewhat foppish, 'and indeed +perhaps rather flash.' 'But such,' he benevolently +adds, 'are the differences between American and English +taste—rendered more apparent, perhaps, by all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span> +other gentlemen present being dressed in black.' Oh +that you could have seen the other gentlemen! . . .</p> + +<p>"A St. Louis lady complimented Kate upon her +voice and manner of speaking, assuring her that she +should never have suspected her of being Scotch, or +even English. She was so obliging as to add that she +would have taken her for an American, anywhere: +which she (Kate) was no doubt aware was a very great +compliment, as the Americans were admitted on all +hands to have greatly refined upon the English language! +I need not tell you that out of Boston and +New York a nasal drawl is universal, but I may as well +hint that the prevailing grammar is also more than +doubtful; that the oddest vulgarisms are received +idioms; that all the women who have been bred in +slave-States speak more or less like negroes, from having +been constantly in their childhood with black nurses; +and that the most fashionable and aristocratic (these are +two words in great use), instead of asking you in what +place you were born, inquire where you 'hail from.' ! !</p> + +<p>"Lord Ashburton arrived at Annapolis t'other day, +after a voyage of forty odd days in heavy weather. +Straightway the newspapers state, on the authority of a +correspondent who 'rowed round the ship' (I leave +you to fancy her condition), that America need fear no +superiority from England, in respect of her wooden +walls. The same correspondent is 'quite pleased' with +the frank manner of the English officers; and patronizes +them as being, for John Bulls, quite refined. My +face, like Haji Baba's, turns upside down, and my +liver is changed to water, when I come upon such +things, and think who writes and who read them. . . .<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They won't let me alone about slavery. A certain +judge in St. Louis went so far yesterday that I fell +upon him (to the indescribable horror of the man who +brought him) and told him a piece of my mind. I said +that I was very averse to speaking on the subject here, +and always forbore, if possible; but when he pitied +our national ignorance of the truths of slavery, I must +remind him that we went upon indisputable records, +obtained after many years of careful investigation, and +at all sorts of self-sacrifice, and that I believed we +were much more competent to judge of its atrocity and +horror than he who had been brought up in the midst +of it. I told him that I could sympathize with men +who admitted it to be a dreadful evil, but frankly confessed +their inability to devise a means of getting rid +of it; but that men who spoke of it as a blessing, as a +matter of course, as a state of things to be desired, +were out of the pale of reason; and that for them to +speak of ignorance or prejudice was an absurdity too +ridiculous to be combated. . . .</p> + +<p>"It is not six years ago, since a slave in this very +same St. Louis, being arrested (I forget for what), and +knowing he had no chance of a fair trial, be his +offense what it might, drew his bowie-knife and ripped +the constable across the body. A scuffle ensuing, the +desperate negro stabbed two others with the same +weapon. The mob who gathered round (among whom +were men of mark, wealth, and influence in the place) +overpowered him by numbers; carried him away to a +piece of open ground beyond the city; <i>and burned +him alive</i>. This, I say, was done within six years, in +broad day; in a city with its courts, lawyers, tipstaffs,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span> +judges, jails, and hangman; and not a hair on the +head of one of those men has been hurt to this day. +And it is, believe me, it is the miserable, wretched independence +in small things, the paltry republicanism +which recoils from honest service to an honest man, +but does not shrink from every trick, artifice, and +knavery in business, that makes these slaves necessary, +and will render them so, until the indignation of other +countries sets them free.</p> + +<p>"They say the slaves are fond of their masters. Look +at this pretty vignette<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> (part of the stock in trade of a +newspaper), and judge how you would feel, when men, +looking in your face, told you such tales with the newspaper +lying on the table. In all the slave-districts, +advertisements for runaways are as much matters of +course as the announcement of the play for the evening +with us. The poor creatures themselves fairly worship +English people: they would do anything for them. +They are perfectly acquainted with all that takes place +in reference to emancipation; and <i>of course</i> their attachment +to us grows out of their deep devotion to +their owners. I cut this illustration out of a newspaper +which had a leader in reference to <i>the abominable and +hellish doctrine of Abolition—repugnant alike to every +law of God and Nature</i>. 'I know something,' said a +Dr. Bartlett (a very accomplished man), late a fellow-passenger +of ours,—'I know something of their fondness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span> +for their masters. I live in Kentucky; and I can +assert upon my honor that, in my neighborhood, it is +as common for a runaway slave, retaken, to draw his +bowie-knife and rip his owner's bowels open, as it is +for you to see a drunken fight in London.'</p> + + +<div class='date'><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Same Boat</span>, <i>Saturday, Sixteenth April, 1842.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"Let me tell you, my dear Forster, before I forget +it, a pretty little scene we had on board the boat between +Louisville and St. Louis, as we were going to +the latter place. It is not much to tell, but it was very +pleasant and interesting to witness."</p> + +<p>What follows has been printed in the <i>Notes</i>, and +ought not, by the rule I have laid down, to be given +here. But, beautiful as the printed description is, it +has not profited by the alteration of some touches and +the omission of others in the first fresh version of it, +which, for that reason, I here preserve,—one of the +most charming soul-felt pictures of character and emotion +that ever warmed the heart in fact or fiction. It +was, I think, Jeffrey's favorite passage in all the writings +of Dickens; and certainly, if any one would learn the +secret of their popularity, it is to be read in the observation +and description of this little incident.</p> + +<p>"There was a little woman on board, with a little +baby; and both little woman and little child were +cheerful, good-looking, bright-eyed, and fair to see. +The little woman had been passing a long time with a +sick mother in New York, and had left her home in St. +Louis in that condition in which ladies who truly love +their lords desire to be. The baby had been born in +her mother's house, and she had not seen her husband<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span> +(to whom she was now returning) for twelve months: +having left him a month or two after their marriage. +Well, to be sure, there never was a little woman so full +of hope, and tenderness, and love, and anxiety, as this +little woman was: and there she was, all the livelong +day, wondering whether 'he' would be at the wharf; +and whether 'he' had got her letter; and whether, if +she sent the baby on shore by somebody else, <i>'he' would +know it, meeting it in the street:</i> which, seeing that he +had never set eyes upon it in his life, was not very likely +in the abstract, but was probable enough to the young +mother. She was such an artless little creature; and +was in such a sunny, beaming, hopeful state; and let +out all this matter, clinging close about her heart, so +freely; that all the other lady passengers entered into +the spirit of it as much as she: and the captain (who +heard all about it from his wife) was wondrous sly, I +promise you: inquiring, every time we met at table, +whether she expected anybody to meet her at St. Louis, +and supposing she wouldn't want to go ashore the night +we reached it, and cutting many other dry jokes which +convulsed all his hearers, but especially the ladies. +There was one little, weazen, dried-apple old woman +among them, who took occasion to doubt the constancy +of husbands under such circumstances of bereavement; +and there was another lady (with a lap-dog), old enough +to moralize on the lightness of human affections, and +yet not so old that she could help nursing the baby +now and then, or laughing with the rest when the little +woman called it by its father's name, and asked it all +manner of fantastic questions concerning him, in the +joy of her heart. It was something of a blow to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span> +little woman that when we were within twenty miles +of our destination it became clearly necessary to put +the baby to bed; but she got over that with the same +good humor, tied a little handkerchief over her little +head, and came out into the gallery with the rest. +Then, such an oracle as she became in reference to the +localities! and such facetiousness as was displayed by +the married ladies! and such sympathy as was shown +by the single ones! and such peals of laughter as the +little woman herself (who would just as soon have cried) +greeted every jest with! At last, there were the lights +of St. Louis—and here was the wharf—and those were +the steps—and the little woman, covering her face with +her hands, and laughing, or seeming to laugh, more +than ever, ran into her own cabin, and shut herself up +tight. I have no doubt that, in the charming inconsistency +of such excitement, she stopped her ears lest +she should hear 'him' asking for her; but I didn't see +her do it. Then a great crowd of people rushed on +board, though the boat was not yet made fast, and was +staggering about among the other boats to find a landing-place; +and everybody looked for the husband, and +nobody saw him; when all of a sudden, right in the +midst of them,—God knows how she ever got there,—there +was the little woman hugging with both arms +round the neck of a fine, good-looking, sturdy fellow! +And in a moment afterwards, there she was again, dragging +him through the small door of her small cabin, to +look at the baby as he lay asleep!—What a good thing it +is to know that so many of us would have been quite down-hearted +and sorry if that husband had failed to come!"</p> + +<p>He then resumes; but in what follows nothing is repeated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span> +that will be found in his printed description of +the jaunt to the looking-glass prairie:</p> + +<p>"But about the prairie—it is not, I must confess, so +good in its way as this; but I'll tell you all about that +too, and leave you to judge for yourself. Tuesday the +12th was the day fixed; and we were to start at five in +the morning—sharp. I turned out at four; shaved and +dressed; got some bread and milk; and, throwing up +the window, looked down into the street. Deuce a +coach was there, nor did anybody seem to be stirring +in the house. I waited until half-past five; but no preparations +being visible even then, I left Mr. Q. to look +out, and lay down upon the bed again. There I slept +until nearly seven, when I was called. . . . Exclusive +of Mr. Q. and myself, there were twelve of my committee +in the party: all lawyers except one. He was +an intelligent, mild, well-informed gentleman of my +own age,—the Unitarian minister of the place. With +him, and two other companions, I got into the first +coach. . . .</p> + +<p>"We halted at so good an inn at Lebanon that we +resolved to return there at night, if possible. One +would scarcely find a better village alehouse of a homely +kind in England. During our halt I walked into the +village, and met a <i>dwelling-house</i> coming down-hill at +a good round trot, drawn by some twenty oxen! We +resumed our journey as soon as possible, and got upon +the looking-glass prairie at sunset. We halted near a +solitary log house for the sake of its water; unpacked +the baskets; formed an encampment with the carriages; +and dined.</p> + +<p>"Now, a prairie is undoubtedly worth seeing—but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span> +more, that one may say one has seen it, than for any +sublimity it possesses in itself. Like most things, great +or small, in this country, you hear of it with considerable +exaggerations. Basil Hall was really quite right +in depreciating the general character of the scenery. +The widely-famed Far West is not to be compared with +even the tamest portions of Scotland or Wales. You +stand upon the prairie, and see the unbroken horizon +all round you. You are on a great plain, which is like +a sea without water. I am exceedingly fond of wild +and lonely scenery, and believe that I have the faculty +of being as much impressed by it as any man living. +But the prairie fell, by far, short of my preconceived +idea. I felt no such emotions as I do in crossing Salisbury +Plain. The excessive flatness of the scene makes +it dreary, but tame. Grandeur is certainly not its characteristic. +I retired from the rest of the party, to +understand my own feelings the better; and looked all +round, again and again. It was fine. It was worth the +ride. The sun was going down, very red and bright; +and the prospect looked like that ruddy sketch of Catlin's, +which attracted our attention (you remember?); +except that there was not so much ground as he represents, +between the spectator and the horizon. But to +say (as the fashion is here) that the sight is a landmark +in one's existence, and awakens a new set of sensations, +is sheer gammon. I would say to every man who can't +see a prairie—go to Salisbury Plain, Marlborough +Downs, or any of the broad, high, open lands near the +sea. Many of them are fully as impressive, and Salisbury +Plain is <i>decidedly</i> more so.</p> + +<p>"We had brought roast fowls, buffalo's tongue, ham,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span> +bread, cheese, butter, biscuits, sherry, champagne, +lemons and sugar for punch, and abundance of ice. It +was a delicious meal; and, as they were most anxious +that I should be pleased, I warmed myself into a state +of surpassing jollity; proposed toasts from the coach-box +(which was the chair); ate and drank with the best; +and made, I believe, an excellent companion to a very +friendly companionable party. In an hour or so we +packed up, and drove back to the inn at Lebanon. +While supper was preparing, I took a pleasant walk with +my Unitarian friend; and when it was over (we drank +nothing with it but tea and coffee) we went to bed. +The clergyman and I had an exquisitely clean little +chamber of our own; and the rest of the party were +quartered overhead. . . .</p> + +<p>"We got back to St. Louis soon after twelve at noon; +and I rested during the remainder of the day. The +soirée came off at night, in a very good ball-room at our +inn,—the Planter's House. The whole of the guests +were introduced to us, singly. We were glad enough, +you may believe, to come away at midnight; and were +very tired. Yesterday, I wore a blouse. To-day, a fur +coat. Trying changes!</p> + + +<div class='date'><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"<span class="smcap">In the same Boat</span>,</span><br /> +"<i>Sunday, Sixteenth April, 1842.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"The inns in these outlandish corners of the world +would astonish you by their goodness. The Planter's +House is as large as the Middlesex Hospital, and built +very much on our hospital plan, with long wards abundantly +ventilated, and plain whitewashed walls. They +had a famous notion of sending up at breakfast-time +large glasses of new milk with blocks of ice in them as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span> +clear as crystal. Our table was abundantly supplied +indeed at every meal. One day when Kate and I were +dining alone together, in our own room, we counted +sixteen dishes on the table at the same time.</p> + +<p>"The society is pretty rough, and intolerably conceited. +All the inhabitants are young. <i>I didn't see one +gray head in St. Louis.</i> There is an island close by, +called Bloody Island. It is the dueling-ground of St. +Louis; and is so called from the last fatal duel which +was fought there. It was a pistol duel, breast to breast, +and both parties fell dead at the same time. One of +our prairie party (a young man) had acted as second +there, in several encounters. The last occasion was a +duel with rifles, at forty paces; and coming home he +told us how he had bought his man a coat of green linen +to fight in, woolen being usually fatal to rifle-wounds. +Prairie is variously called (on the refinement principle, +I suppose) Para<i>a</i>rer; par<i>e</i>arer; and paro<i>a</i>rer. I am +afraid, my dear fellow, you will have had great difficulty +in reading all the foregoing text. I have written it, very +laboriously, on my knee; and the engine throbs and +starts as if the boat were possessed with a devil.</p> + + +<div class='date'><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"<span class="smcap">Sandusky</span>,</span><br /> +"<i>Sunday, Twenty-fourth April, 1842.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"We went ashore at Louisville this night week, +where I left off, two lines above; and slept at the hotel, +in which we had put up before. The Messenger being +abominably slow, we got our luggage out next morning, +and started on again at eleven o'clock in the Benjamin +Franklin mail-boat: a splendid vessel, with a cabin +more than two hundred feet long, and little state-rooms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span> +affording proportionate conveniences. She got in at +Cincinnati by one o'clock next morning, when we +landed in the dark and went back to our old hotel. As +we made our way on foot over the broken pavement, +Anne measured her length upon the ground, but didn't +hurt herself. I say nothing of Kate's troubles—but +you recollect her propensity? She falls into, or out of, +every coach or boat we enter; scrapes the skin off her +legs; brings great sores and swellings on her feet; chips +large fragments out of her ankle-bones; and makes +herself blue with bruises. She really has, however, +since we got over the first trial of being among circumstances +so new and so fatiguing, made a <i>most admirable</i> +traveler in every respect. She has never screamed or +expressed alarm under circumstances that would have +fully justified her in doing so, even in my eyes; has +never given way to despondency or fatigue, though we +have now been traveling incessantly, through a very +rough country, for more than a month, and have been +at times, as you may readily suppose, most thoroughly +tired; has always accommodated herself, well and +cheerfully, to everything; and has pleased me very +much, and proved herself perfectly game.</p> + +<p>"We remained at Cincinnati all Tuesday the nineteenth, +and all that night. At eight o'clock on Wednesday +morning the twentieth, we left in the mail-stage +for Columbus: Anne, Kate, and Mr. Q. inside; I on +the box. The distance is a hundred and twenty miles; +the road macadamized; and, for an American road, +very good. We were three-and-twenty hours performing +the journey. We traveled all night; reached +Columbus at seven in the morning; breakfasted; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span> +went to bed until dinner-time. At night we held a +levee for half an hour, and the people poured in as +they always do: each gentleman with a lady on each +arm, exactly like the Chorus to God Save the Queen. +I wish you could see them, that you might know what +a splendid comparison this is. They wear their clothes +precisely as the chorus people do; and stand—supposing +Kate and me to be in the centre of the stage, with +our backs to the footlights—just as the company would, +on the first night of the season. They shake hands +exactly after the manner of the guests at a ball at the +Adelphi or the Haymarket; receive any facetiousness +on my part as if there were a stage direction 'all +laugh;' and have rather more difficulty in 'getting off' +than the last gentlemen, in white pantaloons, polished +boots, and berlins, usually display, under the most +trying circumstances.</p> + +<p>"Next morning, that is to say, on Friday, the 22d, +at seven o'clock exactly, we resumed our journey. The +stage from Columbus to this place only running thrice +a week, and not on that day, I bargained for an 'exclusive +extra' with four horses; for which I paid forty dollars, +or eight pounds English: the horses changing, as +they would if it were the regular stage. To insure our +getting on properly, the proprietors sent an agent on +the box; and, with no other company but him and a +hamper full of eatables and drinkables, we went upon +our way. It is impossible to convey an adequate idea +to you of the kind of road over which we traveled. I +can only say that it was, at the best, but a track through +the wild forest, and among the swamps, bogs, and morasses +of the withered bush. A great portion of it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span> +what is called a 'corduroy road:' which is made by +throwing round logs or whole trees into a swamp, and +leaving them to settle there. Good Heaven! if you +only felt one of the least of the jolts with which the +coach falls from log to log! It is like nothing but going +up a steep flight of stairs in an omnibus. Now the +coach flung us in a heap on its floor, and now crushed +our heads against its roof. Now one side of it was deep +in the mire, and we were holding on to the other. Now +it was lying on the horses' tails, and now again upon its +back. But it never, never was in any position, attitude, +or kind of motion, to which we are accustomed +in coaches; or made the smallest approach to our experience +of the proceedings of any sort of vehicle that +goes on wheels. Still, the day was beautiful, the air +delicious, and we were <i>alone;</i> with no tobacco-spittle, +or eternal prosy conversation about dollars and politics +(the only two subjects they ever converse about, or can +converse upon), to bore us. We really enjoyed it; +made a joke of the being knocked about; and were +quite merry. At two o'clock we stopped in the wood +to open our hamper and dine; and we drank to our +darlings and all friends at home. Then we started +again and went on until ten o'clock at night: when we +reached a place called Lower Sandusky, sixty-two miles +from our starting-point. The last three hours of the +journey were not very pleasant; for it lightened—awfully: +every flash very vivid, very blue, and very long; +and, the wood being so dense that the branches on +<i>either</i> side of the track rattled and broke <i>against</i> the +coach, it was rather a dangerous neighborhood for a +thunder-storm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The inn at which we halted was a rough log house. +The people were all abed, and we had to knock them +up. We had the queerest sleeping-room, with two +doors, one opposite the other; both opening directly +on the wild black country, and neither having any lock +or bolt. The effect of these opposite doors was, that +one was always blowing the other open: an ingenuity +in the art of building, which I don't remember to have +met with before. You should have seen me, in my +shirt, blockading them with portmanteaus, and desperately +endeavoring to make the room tidy! But the +blockading was really needful, for in my dressing-case +I have about 250<i>l.</i> in gold; and for the amount of the +middle figure in that scarce metal there are not a +few men in the West who would murder their fathers. +Apropos of this golden store, consider at your leisure the +strange state of things in this country. It has <i>no money;</i> +really no money. The bank-paper won't pass; the +newspapers are full of advertisements from tradesmen +who sell by barter; and American gold is not to be had, +or purchased. I bought sovereigns, English sovereigns, +at first; but as I could get none of them at Cincinnati, +to this day, I have had to purchase French gold; 20-franc +pieces; with which I am traveling as if I were in Paris!</p> + +<p>"But let's go back to Lower Sandusky. Mr. Q. +went to bed up in the roof of the log house somewhere, +but was so beset by bugs that he got up after an hour +and <i>lay in the coach</i>, . . . where he was obliged to +wait till breakfast-time. We breakfasted, driver and +all, in the one common room. It was papered with +newspapers, and was as rough a place as need be. At +half-past seven we started again, and we reached Sandusky<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span> +at six o'clock yesterday afternoon. It is on Lake +Erie, twenty-four hours' journey by steamboat from +Buffalo. We found no boat here, nor has there been +one, since. We are waiting, with every thing packed +up, ready to start on the shortest notice; and are anxiously +looking out for smoke in the distance.</p> + +<p>"There was an old gentleman in the log inn at Lower +Sandusky who treats with the Indians on the part of +the American government, and has just concluded a +treaty with the Wyandot Indians at that place to remove +next year to some land provided for them west of the +Mississippi, a little way beyond St. Louis. He described +his negotiation to me, and their reluctance to +go, exceedingly well. They are a fine people, but +degraded and broken down. If you could see any of +their men and women on a race-course in England, you +would not know them from gipsies.</p> + +<p>"We are in a small house here, but a very comfortable +one, and the people are exceedingly obliging. Their +demeanor in these country parts is invariably morose, +sullen, clownish, and repulsive. I should think there +is not, on the face of the earth, a people so entirely +destitute of humor, vivacity, or the capacity of enjoyment. +It is most remarkable. I am quite serious when +I say that I have not heard a hearty laugh these six +weeks, except my own; nor have I seen a merry face +on any shoulders but a black man's. Lounging listlessly +about; idling in bar-rooms; smoking; spitting; and +lolling on the pavement in rocking-chairs, outside the +shop-doors; are the only recreations. I don't think +the national shrewdness extends beyond the Yankees; +that is, the Eastern men. The rest are heavy, dull,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span> +and ignorant. Our landlord here is from the East. +He is a handsome, obliging, civil fellow. He comes +into the room with his hat on; spits in the fireplace +as he talks; sits down on the sofa with his hat on; +pulls out his newspaper, and reads; but to all this I am +accustomed. He is anxious to please—and that is +enough.</p> + +<p>"We are wishing very much for a boat; for we hope +to find our letters at Buffalo. It is half-past one; and, +as there is no boat in sight, we are fain (sorely against +our wills) to order an early dinner.</p> + + +<div class='date'><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"<i>Tuesday, April Twenty-sixth, 1842.</i></span><br /> +<span class="smcap">"Niagara Falls!!! (Upon the English<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> Side.</span>)<br /> +</div> + +<p>"I don't know at what length I might have written +you from Sandusky, my beloved friend, if a steamer +had not come in sight just as I finished the last unintelligible +sheet! (oh! the ink in these parts!): whereupon +I was obliged to pack up bag and baggage, to +swallow a hasty apology for a dinner, and to hurry my +train on board with all the speed I might. She was a +fine steamship, four hundred tons burden, name the +Constitution, had very few passengers on board, and +had bountiful and handsome accommodation. It's all +very fine talking about Lake Erie, but it won't do for +persons who are liable to sea-sickness. We were all +sick. It's almost as bad in that respect as the Atlantic. +The waves are very short, and horribly constant. +We reached Buffalo at six this morning; went ashore +to breakfast; sent to the post-office forthwith; and received—oh!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span> +who or what can say with how much +pleasure and what unspeakable delight!—our English +letters!</p> + +<p>"We lay all Sunday night at a town (and a beautiful +town too) called Cleveland; on Lake Erie. The people +poured on board, in crowds, by six on Monday morning, +to see me; and a party of 'gentlemen' actually +planted themselves before our little cabin, and stared in +at the door and windows <i>while I was washing, and Kate +lay in bed</i>. I was so incensed at this, and at a certain +newspaper published in that town which I had accidentally +seen in Sandusky (advocating war with England +to the death, saying that Britain must be 'whipped +again,' and promising all true Americans that within +two years they should sing Yankee Doodle in Hyde +Park and Hail Columbia in the courts of Westminster), +that when the mayor came on board to present himself +to me, according to custom, I refused to see him, +and bade Mr. Q. tell him why and wherefore. His +honor took it very coolly, and retired to the top of the +wharf, with a big stick and a whittling knife, with +which he worked so lustily (staring at the closed door +of our cabin all the time) that long before the boat +left, the big stick was no bigger than a cribbage-peg!</p> + +<p>"I never in my life was in such a state of excitement +as coming from Buffalo here, this morning. You +come by railroad, and are nigh two hours upon the +way. I looked out for the spray, and listened for the +roar, as far beyond the bounds of possibility as though, +landing in Liverpool, I were to listen for the music of +your pleasant voice in Lincoln's Inn Fields. At last,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span> +when the train stopped, I saw two great white clouds +rising up from the depths of the earth,—nothing more. +They rose up slowly, gently, majestically, into the air. +I dragged Kate down a deep and slippery path leading +to the ferry-boat; bullied Anne for not coming fast +enough; perspired at every pore; and felt, it is impossible +to say how, as the sound grew louder and louder +in my ears, and yet nothing could be seen for the +mist.</p> + +<p>"There were two English officers with us (ah! what +<i>gentlemen</i>, what noblemen of nature they seemed), and +they hurried off with me; leaving Kate and Anne on +a crag of ice; and clambered after me over the rocks +at the foot of the small Fall, while the ferryman was +getting the boat ready. I was not disappointed—but I +could make out nothing. In an instant I was blinded +by the spray, and wet to the skin. I saw the water +tearing madly down from some immense height, but +could get no idea of shape, or situation, or anything +but vague immensity. But when we were seated in the +boat, and crossing at the very foot of the cataract—then +I began to feel what it was. Directly I had +changed my clothes at the inn I went out again, taking +Kate with me, and hurried to the Horse-shoe Fall. I +went down alone, into the very basin. It would be +hard for a man to stand nearer God than he does there. +There was a bright rainbow at my feet; and from that +I looked up to—great Heaven! to <i>what</i> a fall of bright +green water! The broad, deep, mighty stream seems +to die in the act of falling; and from its unfathomable +grave arises that tremendous ghost of spray and mist +which is never laid, and has been haunting this place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span> +with the same dread solemnity—perhaps from the creation +of the world.</p> + +<p>"We purpose remaining here a week. In my next I +will try to give you some idea of my impressions, and +to tell you how they change with every day. At present +it is impossible. I can only say that the first effect of +this tremendous spectacle on me was peace of mind—tranquillity—great +thoughts of eternal rest and happiness—nothing +of terror. I can shudder at the recollection +of Glencoe (dear friend, with Heaven's leave +we must see Glencoe together), but whenever I think +of Niagara I shall think of its beauty.</p> + +<p>"If you could hear the roar that is in my ears as I +write this. Both Falls are under our windows. From +our sitting-room and bedroom we look down straight +upon them. There is not a soul in the house but ourselves. +What would I give if you and Mac were here +to share the sensations of this time! I was going to +add, what would I give if the dear girl whose ashes lie +in Kensal Green had lived to come so far along with +us—but she has been here many times, I doubt not, +since her sweet face faded from my earthly sight.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"One word on the precious letters before I close. +You are right, my dear fellow, about the papers; and +you are right (I grieve to say) about the people. <i>Am +I right?</i> quoth the conjurer. <i>Yes!</i> from gallery, pit, +and boxes. I <i>did</i> let out those things, at first, against +my will, but when I come to tell you all—well; only +wait—only wait—till the end of July. I say no more.</p> + +<p>"I do perceive a perplexingly divided and subdivided +duty, in the matter of the book of travels. Oh!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span> +the sublimated essence of comicality that I <i>could</i> distil, +from the materials I have! . . . You are a part, and +an essential part, of our home, dear friend, and I +exhaust my imagination in picturing the circumstances +under which I shall surprise you by walking into 58, +Lincoln's Inn Fields. We are truly grateful to God +for the health and happiness of our inexpressibly dear +children and all our friends. But one letter more—only +one. . . . I don't seem to have been half affectionate +enough, but there <i>are</i> thoughts, you know, that +lie too deep for words."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3>NIAGARA AND MONTREAL.</h3> + +<h3>1842.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Last Two Letters—Dickens vanquished—Obstacles to Copyright—Two +described—Value of Literary Popularity—Substitute for Literature—The +Secretary described—His Paintings—The Lion and —— —Toryism +of Toronto—Canadian Attentions—Proposed Theatricals—Last +Letter—The Private Play—Stage Manager's Report—The +Lady Performers—Bill of the Performance—A Touch of +Crummies—HOME.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">My</span> friend was better than his word, and two more +letters reached me before his return. The opening of +the first was written from Niagara on the 3d, and its +close from Montreal on the 12th, of May; from which +latter city also, on the 26th of that month, the last of +all was written.</p> + +<p>Much of the first of these letters had reference to the +international copyright agitation, and gave strong expression +to the indignation awakened in him (nor less +in some of the best men of America) by the adoption, at +a public meeting in Boston itself, of a memorial against +any change of the law, in the course of which it was +stated that, if English authors were invested with any +control over the republication of their own books, it +would be no longer possible for American editors to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span> +alter and adapt them to the American taste. This deliberate +declaration, however, unsparing as Dickens's +anger at it was, in effect vanquished him. He saw the +hopelessness of pursuing further any present effort to +bring about the change desired; and he took the determination +not only to drop any allusion to it in his +proposed book, but to try what effect might be produced, +when he should again be in England, by a +league of English authors to suspend further intercourse +with American publishers while the law should remain +as it is. On his return he made accordingly a public +appeal to this effect, stating his own intention for the +future to forego all profit derivable from the authorized +transmission of early proofs across the Atlantic; but his +hopes in this particular also were doomed to disappointment. +I now leave the subject, quoting only from his +present letter the general remarks with which it is dismissed +by himself.</p> + + +<div class='date'><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"<span class="smcap">Niagara Falls</span>,</span><br /> +"<i>Tuesday, Third May, 1842.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>"I'll tell you what the two obstacles to the passing +of an international copyright law with England are: +firstly, the national love of 'doing' a man in any bargain +or matter of business; secondly, the national +vanity. Both these characteristics prevail to an extent +which no stranger can possibly estimate.</p> + +<p>"With regard to the first, I seriously believe that it +is an essential part of the pleasure derived from the perusal +of a popular English book, that the author gets +nothing for it. It is so dar-nation 'cute—so knowing +in Jonathan to get his reading on those terms. He has +the Englishman so regularly on the hip that his eye<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span> +twinkles with slyness, cunning, and delight; and he +chuckles over the humor of the page with an appreciation +of it quite inconsistent with, and apart from, its +honest purchase. The raven hasn't more joy in eating +a stolen piece of meat, than the American has in reading +the English book which he gets for nothing.</p> + +<p>"With regard to the second, it reconciles that better +and more elevated class who are above this sort of satisfaction, +with surprising ease. The man's read in +America! The Americans like him! They are glad +to see him when he comes here! They flock about +him, and tell him that they are grateful to him for +spirits in sickness; for many hours of delight in health; +for a hundred fanciful associations which are constantly +interchanged between themselves and their wives and +children at home! It is nothing that all this takes +place in countries where he is <i>paid;</i> it is nothing that +he has won fame for himself elsewhere, and profit too. +The Americans read him; the free, enlightened, independent +Americans; and what more <i>would</i> he have? +Here's reward enough for any man. The national +vanity swallows up all other countries on the face of +the earth, and leaves but this above the ocean. Now, +mark what the real value of this American reading is. +Find me in the whole range of literature one single +solitary English book which becomes popular with them +before, by going through the ordeal at home and becoming +popular there, it has forced itself on their attention—and +I am content that the law should remain as +it is, forever and a day. I must make one exception. +There <i>are</i> some mawkish tales of fashionable life before +which crowds fall down as they were gilded calves,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span> +which have been snugly enshrined in circulating libraries +at home, from the date of their publication.</p> + +<p>"As to telling them they will have no literature of +their own, the universal answer (out of Boston) is, +'We don't want one. Why should we pay for one +when we can get it for nothing? Our people don't +think of poetry, sir. Dollars, banks, and cotton are +<i>our</i> books, sir.' And they certainly are in one sense; +for a lower average of general information than exists +in this country on all other topics, it would be very +hard to find. So much, at present, for international +copyright."</p> + +<p>The same letter kept the promise made in its predecessor +that one or two more sketches of character +should be sent: "One of the most amusing phrases in +use all through the country, for its constant repetition, +and adaptation to every emergency, is 'Yes, Sir.' Let +me give you a specimen." (The specimen was the dialogue, +in the <i>Notes</i>, of straw-hat and brown-hat, during +the stage-coach ride to Sandusky.) "I am not joking, +upon my word. This is exactly the dialogue. Nothing +else occurring to me at this moment, let me give you +the secretary's portrait. Shall I?</p> + +<p>"He is of a sentimental turn—strongly sentimental; +and tells Anne as June approaches that he hopes 'we +shall sometimes think of him' in our own country. +He wears a cloak, like Hamlet; and a very tall, big, +limp, dusty black hat, which he exchanges on long +journeys for a cap like Harlequin's. . . . He sings; +and in some of our quarters, when his bedroom has +been near ours, we have heard him grunting bass notes +through the keyhole of his door, to attract our attention.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span> +His desire that I should formally ask him to sing, +and his devices to make me do so, are irresistibly absurd. +There was a piano in our room at Hartford (you recollect +our being there, early in February?)—and he asked +me one night, when we were alone, if 'Mrs. D.' played. +'Yes, Mr. Q.' 'Oh, indeed, Sir! <i>I</i> sing: so whenever +you want <i>a little soothing</i>—' You may imagine +how hastily I left the room, on some false pretense, +without hearing more.</p> + +<p>"He paints. . . . An enormous box of oil-colors is +the main part of his luggage: and with these he blazes +away, in his own room, for hours together. Anne got +hold of some big-headed, pot-bellied sketches he made +of the passengers on board the canal-boat (including +me in my fur coat), the recollection of which brings +the tears into my eyes at this minute. He painted the +Falls, at Niagara, superbly; and is supposed now to be +engaged on a full-length representation of me: waiters +having reported that chamber-maids have said that there +is a picture in his room which has a great deal of hair. +One girl opined that it was 'the beginning of the +King's Arms;' but I am pretty sure that the Lion is +myself. . . .</p> + +<p>"Sometimes, but not often, he commences a conversation. +That usually occurs when we are walking the +deck after dark; or when we are alone together in a +coach. It is his practice at such times to relate the +most notorious and patriarchal Joe Miller, as something +that occurred in his own family. When traveling by +coach, he is particularly fond of imitating cows and +pigs; and nearly challenged a fellow-passenger the +other day, who had been moved by the display of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span> +accomplishment into telling him that he was 'a Perfect +Calf.' He thinks it an indispensable act of politeness +and attention to inquire constantly whether we're not +sleepy, or, to use his own words, whether we don't +'suffer for sleep.' If we have taken a long nap of fourteen +hours or so, after a long journey, he is sure to +meet me at the bedroom door when I turn out in the +morning, with this inquiry. But, apart from the amusement +he gives us, I could not by possibility have lighted +on any one who would have suited my purpose so well. +I have raised his ten dollars per month to twenty; and +mean to make it up for six months."</p> + +<p>The conclusion of this letter was dated from "Montreal, +Thursday, twelfth May," and was little more +than an eager yearning for home: "This will be a very +short and stupid letter, my dear friend; for the post +leaves here much earlier than I expected, and all my +grand designs for being unusually brilliant fall to the +ground. I will write you <i>one line</i> by the next Cunard +boat,—reserving all else until our happy and long long +looked-for meeting.</p> + +<p>"We have been to Toronto and Kingston; experiencing +attentions at each which I should have difficulty +in describing. The wild and rabid toryism of Toronto +is, I speak seriously, <i>appalling</i>. English kindness is +very different from American. People send their horses +and carriages for your use, but they don't exact as payment +the right of being always under your nose. We +had no less than <i>five</i> carriages at Kingston waiting our +pleasure at one time; not to mention the commodore's +barge and crew, and a beautiful government steamer. +We dined with Sir Charles Bagot last Sunday. Lord<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span> +Mulgrave was to have met us yesterday at Lachine; +but, as he was wind-bound in his yacht and couldn't +get in, Sir Richard Jackson sent his drag four-in-hand, +with two other young fellows who are also his aides, +and in we came in grand style.</p> + +<p>"The Theatricals (I think I told you<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> I had been +invited to play with the officers of the Coldstream +Guards here) are <i>A Roland for an Oliver;</i> <i>Two o'Clock +in the Morning;</i> and either the <i>Young Widow</i>, or <i>Deaf +as a Post</i>. Ladies (unprofessional) are going to play, +for the first time. I wrote to Mitchell at New York +for a wig for Mr. Snobbington, which has arrived, and +is brilliant. If they had done <i>Love, Law, and Physick</i>, +as at first proposed, I was already 'up' in Flexible, +having played it of old, before my authorship days; +but if it should be Splash in the <i>Young Widow</i>, you +will have to do me the favor to imagine me in a smart +livery-coat, shiny black hat and cockade, white knee-cords, +white top-boots, blue stock, small whip, red +cheeks, and dark eyebrows. Conceive Topping's state +of mind if I bring this dress home and put it on unexpectedly! . . . +God bless you, dear friend. I can say +nothing about the seventh, the day on which we sail. +It is impossible. Words cannot express what we feel, +now that the time is so near. . . ."</p> + +<p>His last letter, dated from "Peasco's Hotel, Montreal, +Canada, twenty-sixth of May," described the +private theatricals, and inclosed me a bill of the play.</p> + +<p>"This, like my last, will be a stupid letter, because +both Kate and I are thrown into such a state of excitement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span> +by the near approach of the seventh of June +that we can do nothing, and think of nothing.</p> + +<p>"The play came off last night. The audience, between +five and six hundred strong, were invited as to a +party; a regular table with refreshments being spread +in the lobby and saloon. We had the band of the +twenty-third (one of the finest in the service) in the +orchestra, the theatre was lighted with gas, the scenery +was excellent, and the properties were all brought from +private houses. Sir Charles Bagot, Sir Richard Jackson, +and their staffs were present; and as the military +portion of the audience were all in full uniform, it was +really a splendid scene.</p> + +<p>"We 'went' also splendidly; though with nothing +very remarkable in the acting way. We had for Sir +Mark Chase a genuine odd fish, with plenty of humor; +but our Tristram Sappy was not up to the marvelous +reputation he has somehow or other acquired here. I +am not however, let me tell you, placarded as stage-manager +for nothing. Everybody was told they would +have to submit to the most iron despotism; and didn't +I come Macready over them? Oh, no. By no means. +Certainly not. The pains I have taken with them, and +the perspiration I have expended, during the last ten +days, exceed in amount anything you can imagine. I +had regular plots of the scenery made out, and lists of +the properties wanted; and had them nailed up by the +prompter's chair. Every letter that was to be delivered, +was written; every piece of money that had to be +given, provided; and not a single thing lost sight of. +I prompted, myself, when I was not on; when I was, I +made the regular prompter of the theatre my deputy;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span> +and I never saw anything so perfectly touch and go, as +the first two pieces. The bedroom scene in the interlude +was as well furnished as Vestris had it; with a +'practicable' fireplace blazing away like mad, and everything +in a concatenation accordingly. I really do +believe that I was very funny: at least I know that I +laughed heartily at myself, and made the part a character, +such as you and I know very well: a mixture of +T——, Harley, Yates, Keeley, and Jerry Sneak. It +went with a roar, all through; and, as I am closing +this, they have told me I was so well made up that Sir +Charles Bagot, who sat in the stage-box, had no idea +who played Mr. Snobbington, until the piece was over.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image07_playbill.png" width="500" height="789" alt="Private Theatricals." title="Private Theatricals." /> +</div> + +<p>"But only think of Kate playing! and playing +devilish well, I assure you! All the ladies were capital, +and we had no wait or hitch for an instant. You may +suppose this, when I tell you that we began at eight, +and had the curtain down at eleven. It is their custom +here, to prevent heart-burnings in a very heart-burning +town, whenever they have played in private, to repeat +the performances in public. So, on Saturday (substituting, +of course, real actresses for the ladies), we +repeat the two first pieces to a paying audience, for the +manager's benefit. . . .</p> + +<p>"I send you a bill, to which I have appended a +key.</p> + +<p>"I have not told you half enough. But I promise +you I shall make you shake your sides about this play. +Wasn't it worthy of Crummles that when Lord Mulgrave +and I went out to the door to receive the Governor-general, +the regular prompter followed us in +agony with four tall candlesticks with wax candles in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span> +them, and besought us with a bleeding heart to carry +two apiece, in accordance with all the precedents? . . .</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"I have hardly spoken of our letters, which reached +us yesterday, shortly before the play began. A hundred +thousand thanks for your delightful mainsail of that +gallant little packet. I read it again and again; and +had it all over again at breakfast-time this morning. I +heard also, by the same ship, from Talfourd, Miss +Coutts, Brougham, Rogers, and others. A delicious +letter from Mac too, as good as his painting, I swear. +Give my hearty love to him. . . . God bless you, +my dear friend. As the time draws nearer, we get +FEVERED with anxiety for home. . . . Kiss our darlings +for us. We shall soon meet, please God, and be +happier and merrier than ever we were, in all our +lives. . . . Oh, home—home—home—home—home—home—HOME!!!!!!!!!!!"</p> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<div class='center'><span class="smcap">end of vol. i.</span></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_i" id="Page_2_i">[i]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE LIFE<a name="fly2" id="fly2"></a></h2> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/title_signature.png" width="300" height="120" alt="Signature: Charles Dickens" title="Signature: Charles Dickens" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_ii" id="Page_2_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 457px;"><a name="front2" id="front2"></a> +<img src="images/image08.jpg" width="457" height="600" alt="Charles Dickens" title="Charles Dickens" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_iii" id="Page_2_iii">[iii]</a></span></p> + + + +<h2>THE LIFE</h2> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h1>CHARLES DICKENS</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>JOHN FORSTER.</h2> + + + +<h2>VOL. I.<br /> +1842-1852.</h2> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_iv" id="Page_2_iv">[iv]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_v" id="Page_2_v">[v]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CORRECTIONS MADE IN THE LATER EDITIONS<br /> +OF THE FIRST VOLUME.</h2> + +<div class='center'>————————<br /> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">A notice</span> written under date of the 23rd December, 1871, appeared with the +Tenth Edition. "Such has been the rapidity of the demand for successive impressions +of this book, that I have found it impossible, until now, to correct at +pages <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, and <a href="#Page_97">97</a> three errors of statement made in the former editions; and +some few other mistakes, not in themselves important, at pages <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, and <a href="#Page_102">102</a>. I +take the opportunity of adding, that the mention at p. <a href="#Page_83">83</a> is not an allusion to +the well-known 'Penny' and 'Saturday' magazines, but to weekly periodicals of +some years' earlier date resembling them in form. One of them, I have since +found from a later mention by Dickens himself, was presumably of a less wholesome +and instructive character. 'I used,' he says, 'when I was at school, to +take in the <i>Terrific Register</i>, making myself unspeakably miserable, and +frightening my very wits out of my head, for the small charge of a penny weekly; +which, considering that there was an illustration to every number in which there +was always a pool of blood, and at least one body, was cheap.' An obliging +correspondent writes to me upon my reference to the Fox-under-the-hill, at p. +<a href="#Page_62">62</a>: 'Will you permit me to say, that the house, shut up and almost ruinous, +is still to be found at the bottom of a curious and most precipitous court, the +entrance of which is just past Salisbury-street. . . . It was once, I think, the +approach to the halfpenny boats. The house is now shut out from the water-side +by the Embankment.'" I proceed to state in detail what the changes thus +referred to were.</p> + +<p>The passage about James Lamert, beginning at the thirteenth line of p. <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, now +stands: "His chief ally and encourager in these displays was a youth of some +ability, much older than himself, named James Lamert, stepson to his mother's +sister and therefore a sort of cousin, who was his great patron and friend in his +childish days. Mary, the eldest daughter of Charles Barrow, himself a lieutenant +in the navy, had for her first husband a commander in the navy called Allen; +on whose death by drowning at Rio Janeiro she had joined her sister, the navy-pay +clerk's wife, at Chatham; in which place she subsequently took for her +second husband Doctor Lamert, an army surgeon, whose son James, even after +he had been sent to Sandhurst for his education, continued still to visit Chatham +from time to time. He had a turn for private theatricals; and as his father's +quarters were in the ordnance-hospital there, a great rambling place otherwise +at that time almost uninhabited, he had plenty of room in which to get up his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_vi" id="Page_2_vi">[vi]</a></span> +entertainments." Two other corrections were consequent on this change. At +the 21st line of page <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, for "the elder cousin" read "the cousin by marriage;" +and at the 31st line of p. <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, "cousin by his mother's side" should be "cousin +by his aunt's marriage."</p> + +<p>At the 15th line of the <a href="#Page_41">41</a>st page, "his bachelor-uncle, fellow-clerk," &c. should +be "the uncle who was at this time fellow-clerk," &c. At the 11th line of page +<a href="#Page_54">54</a>, "Charles-court" should be "Clare-court." The allusion to one of his favourite +localities at the 23d line of page <a href="#Page_62">62</a> should stand thus: "a little public-house by +the water-side called the Fox-under-the-hill, approached by an underground +passage which we once missed in looking for it together."</p> + +<p>The passage at p. <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, having reference to an early friend who had been +with him, as I supposed, at his first school, should run thus: "In this however I +have since discovered my own mistake: the truth being that it was this gentleman's +connection, not with the Wellington-academy, but with a school kept by +Mr. Dawson in Hunter-street, Brunswick-square, where the brothers of Dickens +were subsequently placed, which led to their early knowledge of each other. I +fancy that they were together also, for a short time, at Mr. Molloy's in New-square, +Lincoln's-inn; but, whether or not this was so, Dickens certainly had not +quitted school many months before his father had made sufficient interest with an +attorney of Gray's-inn, Mr. Edward Blackmore, to obtain him regular employment +in his office." There is subsequent allusion to the same gentleman (at p. +<a href="#Page_182">182</a>) as his "school-companion at Mr. Dawson's in Henrietta-street," which +ought to stand as "having known him when himself a law-clerk in Lincoln's-inn."</p> + +<p>At p. <a href="#Page_96">96</a> I had stated that Mr. John Dickens reported for the <i>Morning +Chronicle;</i> and at p. <a href="#Page_101">101</a> that Mr. Thomas Beard reported for the <i>Morning +Herald;</i> whereas Mr. Dickens, though in the gallery for other papers, did not +report for the <i>Chronicle</i>, and Mr. Beard did report for that journal; and where +(at p. <a href="#Page_102">102</a>) Dickens was spoken of as associated with Mr. Beard in a reporting +party which represented respectively the <i>Chronicle</i> and <i>Herald</i>, the passage +ought simply to have described him as "connected with a reporting party, being +Lord John Russell's Devonshire contest above-named, and his associate chief +being Mr. Beard, entrusted with command for the <i>Chronicle</i> in this particular +express."</p> + +<p>At p. <a href="#Page_97">97</a> I had made a mistake about his "first published piece of writing," in +too hastily assuming that he had himself forgotten what the particular piece was. +It struck an intelligent and kind correspondent as very unlikely that Dickens +should have fallen into error on such a point; and, making personal search for +himself (as I ought to have done), discovered that what I supposed to be another +piece was merely the same under another title. The description of his first +printed sketch should therefore be "(Mr. Minns and his Cousin, as he afterwards +entitled it, but which appeared in the magazine as A Dinner at Poplar Walk)." +There is another mistake at p. <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, of "bandy-legged" instead of "bulky-legged" +and, at p. <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, of "fresh fields" for "fresh woods."</p> + +<p>Those several corrections were made in the Tenth Edition. To the Eleventh +these words were prefixed (under date of the 23rd of January, 1872): "Since the +above mentioned edition went to press, a published letter has rendered necessary +a brief additional note to the remarks made at pp. <a href="#Page_155">155</a>-<a href="#Page_156">6</a>." The remark occurs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_vii" id="Page_2_vii">[vii]</a></span> +in my notice of the silly story of Mr. Cruikshank having originated <i>Oliver Twist</i>, +and, with the note referred to, now stands in the form subjoined. "Whether all +Sir Benjamin's laurels however should fall to the person by whom the tale is +told,* or whether any part belongs to the authority alleged for it, is unfortunately +not quite clear. There would hardly have been a doubt, if the fable had been +confined to the other side of the Atlantic; but it has been reproduced and widely +circulated on this side also; and the distinguished artist whom it calumniates +by attributing the invention to him has been left undefended from its slander. +Dickens's letter spares me the necessity of characterizing, by the only word which +would have been applicable to it, a tale of such incredible and monstrous absurdity +as that one of the masterpieces of its author's genius had been merely an +illustration of etchings by Mr. Cruikshank!" Note to the words "person by +whom the tale is told:" "*This question has been partly solved, since my last +edition, by Mr. Cruikshank's announcement in the <i>Times</i>, that, though Dr. +Mackenzie had 'confused some circumstances with respect to Mr. Dickens looking +over some drawings and sketches,' the substance of his information as to +who it was that originated <i>Oliver Twist</i>, and all its characters, had been derived +from Mr. Cruikshank himself. The worst part of the foregoing fable, therefore, +has not Dr. Mackenzie for its author; and Mr. Cruikshank is to be congratulated +on the prudence of his rigid silence respecting it as long as Mr. Dickens lived."</p> + +<p>In the Twelfth Edition I mentioned, in the note at p. <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, a little work of which +all notice had been previously omitted; and the close of that note now runs: "He +had before written for them, without his name, <i>Sunday under Three Heads;</i> and +he added subsequently a volume of <i>Young Couples</i>." At p. <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, "parish abuses" +is corrected in the same edition to "parish practices;" and at p. <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, "in his +later works" to "in his latest works."</p> + +<p>I have received letters from several obliging correspondents, among them three +or four who were scholars at the Wellington-house Academy before or after +Dickens's time, and one who attended the school with him; but such remark as +they suggest will more properly accompany my third and closing volume.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Palace Gate House, Kensington</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><i>29th of October, 1872.</i></span><br /></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_viii" id="Page_2_viii">[viii]</a></span></p> + +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Autograph of Charles Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#fly2"><i>Fly leaf</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>Charles Dickens, æt. 47. From the portrait painted for the author in 1859 by W. P. Frith, R.A. Engraved by Robert Graves, A.R.A.</div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#front2"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>Charles Dickens, his Wife, and her Sister. Drawn by Daniel Maclise R.A. in 1842. Engraved by C. H. Jeens</div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_2_48">48</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sketch of the Villa Bagnerello (Albaro), by Angus Fletcher</td><td align='right'><a href="#villa">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Drawing of the Palazzo Peschiere (Genoa), by Mr. Batson</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_141">141</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>At 58, Lincoln's-inn-fields, Monday the 2nd of December, 1844. From a drawing by Daniel Maclise, R.A. Engraved by C. H. Jeens</div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_2_174">174</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rosemont, Lausanne. From a drawing by the Hon. Mrs. Watson</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_229">229</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>M. Barthelémy's card</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_325">325</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Seventeen "fancies" for Mr. Dombey. Designed by H. K. Browne</td><td align='right'><a href="#seventeen">345</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Twelve more similar fancies. From the design of the same artist</td><td align='right'><a href="#twelve">346</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>Charles Dickens to George Cruikshank. Facsimile of a letter written in 1838, concerning the later illustrations to <i>Oliver Twist</i></div></td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_2_349">349</a>-<a href="#Page_2_350">50</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_ix" id="Page_2_ix">[ix]</a></span></p> + +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Vol. II Contents"> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER I. 1842.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 21-39.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">American Notes. Æt.</span> 30.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Return from America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_21">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Longfellow in England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_22">22</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Broadstairs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Preparing <i>Notes</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fancy for opening of <i>Chuzzlewit</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_24">24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Attractions at Margate</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_25">25</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Being, not always Believing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_26">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Burlesque of classic tragedy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_26">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A smart man and forged letter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_26">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A proposed dedication</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Authorship and sea bathing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_28">28</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Easy-living rich and patient poor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_28">28</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Coming to the end</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_29">29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rejected motto for <i>Notes</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_30">30</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Home of the <i>Every Day Book</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scene at a funeral</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_32">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An introductory chapter suppressed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Chapter first printed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_33">33</a>-<a href="#Page_2_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Jeffrey's opinion of the <i>Notes</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Later page anticipated</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Experience of America in 1868</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER II. 1843.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 40-62.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">First Year of Martin Chuzzlewit</span>. <span class="smcap">Æt.</span> 31.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A sunset at Land's-end</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_40">40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A holiday described by C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_41">41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The same described by Maclise</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_42">42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A landscape and a portrait</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_43">43</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Names first given to <i>Chuzzlewit</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_44">44</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Origin of the novel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_45">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Prologue to a play</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_45">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>On a tragedy by Browning</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_46">46</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>George Eliot's first book</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Accompaniments of work</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Miss Georgina Hogarth</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_48">48</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Three portraits</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_49">49</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A public benefactor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_50">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Controversy on <i>Notes</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_50">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Original of Mrs. Gamp</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What he will do with her</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>John Black</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Macready and America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Apprehended disservice</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_54">54</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Exertions for Elton family</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Seaside life in ordinary</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Public speeches</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_56">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ragged schools and results</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_57">57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unitarianism</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Return to Church of England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Language of his Will</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Christmas Carol</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_60">60</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birth of third son</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Amusing letter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER III. 1843-1844.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 63-92.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Chuzzlewit Disappointments and Christmas Carol. Æt.</span> 31-32.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Falling-off in <i>Chuzzlewit</i> sale</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Publishers and authors</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_64">64</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Premature fears</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_65">65</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Resolve to change his publishers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_66">66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposal to his printers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_66">66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Desire to travel again</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_67">67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ways and means</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_68">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_x" id="Page_2_x">[x]</a></span>Objections to the scheme</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_69">69</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Confidence in himself</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_70">70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Want of confidence in others</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_70">70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bent on his plan</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_71">71</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Turning point of his career</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_72">72</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Grounds for course taken</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_73">73</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>On <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_74">74</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>American portions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_75">75</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The book's special superiority</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_76">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>News from America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_76">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>American consolations</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_77">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Why no Pecksniffs in France</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_78">78</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Why Tartuffes in England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_78">78</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A favourite scene of Thackeray's</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_79">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Process of creation in a novel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_80">80</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Intended motto for story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_81">81</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Leading characters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_82">82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A superb masterpiece</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_83">83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Triumph of humorous art</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_84">84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Publication of <i>Christmas Carol</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_84">84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unrealized hopes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_85">85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Results of <i>Carol</i> sale</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_86">86</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Renewed negotiations with printers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_87">87</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Agreement with Bradbury and Evans</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_88">88</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letters about the <i>Carol</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_89">89</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Spirit of the book</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_90">90</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Something better than literature</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_91">91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER IV. 1844.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 93-110.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Year of Departure for Italy. Æt.</span> 32.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Gore-house friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_93">93</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sensitive for his calling</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_94">94</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A troublesome cheque</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_95">95</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Education speeches</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_95">95</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sufferings from stage-adaptations</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_96">96</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wrongs from piracy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_96">96</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proceedings in Chancery</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_97">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A pirate's plea</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_97">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Result of Chancery experience</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_99">99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Piracy preferred</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_99">99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reliefs to work</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_100">100</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The tempted and tempter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Favourite bit of humour</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_102">102</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Criticized without humour</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_102">102</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Taine on Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_102">102</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Macready in New Orleans</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_103">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Society in England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_104">104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Writing in the <i>Chronicle</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_104">104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Conference with its new editor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_104">104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Preparations for departure</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_105">105</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In temporary quarters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_106">106</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Begging-letter case</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_106">106</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The farewell dinner-party</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_107">107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Evenings of a Working-man"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_108">108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Greenwich dinner</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_109">109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>J. M. W. Turner and Carlyle</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_110">110</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER V. 1844.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 111-138.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Idleness at Albaro: Villa Bagnerello. Æt.</span> 32.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The travel to Italy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_111">111</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A bit of character</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_112">112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>French thrown away</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_112">112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Albaro villa</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_113">113</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First experiences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_114">114</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cloudy weather</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sunsets and scenery</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_116">116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Address to Maclise</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_116">116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Mediterranean</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_117">117</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Colours of sky and sea</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_117">117</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Warning to Maclise</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_118">118</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Perishing frescoes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_118">118</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>French Consul at Genoa</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_119">119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rooms in villa described</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_120">120</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Surrounding scenery</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Church-ruin on the rocks</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Angus Fletcher's sketch</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Work in abeyance</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_122">122</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Learning Italian</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_122">122</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Domestic news</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His English servants</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>English residents</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_124">124</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Genoa the superb</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_125">125</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Church splendours and tinsel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_126">126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Theatres</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_126">126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Italian plays</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_127">127</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_xi" id="Page_2_xi">[xi]</a></span>Dumas' <i>Kean</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_127">127</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Religious houses</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_128">128</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sunday promenade</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_128">128</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Winter residence chosen</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A lucky arrival</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dinner at French Consul's</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_130">130</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Verses in C. D.'s honour</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_130">130</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Others in Prince Joinville's</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_131">131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rumours of war with England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_131">131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Marquis's reception</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_132">132</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Flight and tumble</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_133">133</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Quiet enjoyments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_134">134</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>English visitors and news</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_135">135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Talk with Lord Robertson</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_135">135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A suggestion for Jerrold</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_136">136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visit of Frederick Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_136">136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An inn on the Alps</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_136">136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dangers of sea-bathing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_137">137</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A change beginning</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_138">138</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VI. 1844.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 139-162.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Work in Genoa: Palazzo Peschiere. Æt.</span> 32.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Palace of the Fish-ponds</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rooms and frescoes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_140">140</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>View over the city</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_141">141</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dancing and praying</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Peschiere garden</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Trying to write</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A difficulty settled</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Craving for streets</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_144">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Design for his book</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_144">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Governor's levee</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_144">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Absence of the poet</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_145">145</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Subject he is working at</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_145">145</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D.'s politics</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_146">146</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Choice of a hero</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_147">147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Master-passion</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_147">147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Religious sentiment</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_147">147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A dream</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_148">148</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dialogue in a vision</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_149">149</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"What is the True religion?"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_149">149</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fragments of reality in a vision</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_149">149</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Trying regions of thought</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_150">150</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reverence for Doctor Arnold</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_150">150</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First part of book finished</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_151">151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Anticipation of its close</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_151">151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Differences from published tale</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_152">152</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First outline of the <i>Chimes</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_152">152</a>-<a href="#Page_2_156">156</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Liking for the subject</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_156">156</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What the writing cost him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_156">156</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Realities of fictitious sorrow</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_157">157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wild mountain weather</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_157">157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Banquet at the Whistle</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_158">158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Startling news</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_158">158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Coming to London</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_159">159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Secret of the visit</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_160">160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Eager to try effect of story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_160">160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Plans a reading at my rooms</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_160">160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The tale finished</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_161">161</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed travel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_161">161</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Party for the Reading</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_162">162</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VII. 1844.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 163-178.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Italian Travel. Æt.</span> 32.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cities and people</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_163">163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Venice</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_164">164</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rapture of enjoyment</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_165">165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Aboard the city</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_165">165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What he saw and felt</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_165">165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Solitary thoughts</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_166">166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Lodi</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_166">166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>About paintings and engravings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_167">167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Titian and Tintoretto</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_168">168</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Conventionalities</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_169">169</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Monks and painters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_169">169</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The inns</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_170">170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Compensation for discomfort</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_170">170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Brave C of his <i>Pictures</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_171">171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Louis Roche of Avignon</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_171">171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dinner at the Peschiere</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Custom-house officers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Milan and Strasburg</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Passing the Simplon</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_174">174</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In London</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_174">174</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Reading in Lincoln's-inn-fields</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_174">174</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Persons present</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_175">175</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Success of the visit</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_175">175</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_xii" id="Page_2_xii">[xii]</a></span>In Paris with Macready</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_176">176</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Origin of our private play</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_176">176</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A recognition at Marseilles</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_177">177</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Friendly Americans</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_177">177</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>On board for Genoa</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_177">177</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Information for travellers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_178">178</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VIII. 1845.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 179-200.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Last Months in Italy. Æt.</span> 33.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birthday gift for eldest son</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_179">179</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Suspicious "Characters"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_180">180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Jesuit interferences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_180">180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birth of 1845</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_180">180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Travel southward</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_181">181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Carrara and Pisa</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_181">181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A wild journey</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_182">182</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birds of prey</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_183">183</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A beggar and his staff</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_183">183</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"My lord" loses temper</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_184">184</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>And has the worst of it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_184">184</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Rome</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_184">184</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Campagna</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_185">185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bay of Naples</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_185">185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Filth of Naples and Fondi</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_186">186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Lazzaroni</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_186">186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>False picturesque</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_187">187</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sad English news</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_187">187</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>True friends in calamity</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_188">188</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Florence</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_188">188</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wayside memorials and Landor's villa</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_189">189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of Bobus Smith</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_190">190</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Lord Holland's</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_190">190</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lord Palmerston's brother</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_190">190</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Again at the Peschiere</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_190">190</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To publish or not?</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_191">191</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thoughts of home</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_192">192</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>American friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_192">192</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Deaths among English residents</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_193">193</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scarlet breeches out of place</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_193">193</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Angus Fletcher</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_193">193</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Complaint of a meek footman</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_194">194</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Recalling Lady Holland</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_194">194</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A touch of Portsmouth</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_195">195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Plans for meeting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_196">196</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last letter from Genoa</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_196">196</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Closing excitements and troubles</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_196">196</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Italians hard at work</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_197">197</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Returning by Switzerland</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_197">197</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Passage of the St. Gothard</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_198">198</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Splendours of Swiss scenery</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_198">198</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dangers of it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_199">199</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What is left behind the Alps</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_199">199</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A week in Flanders</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_200">200</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER IX. 1845-1846.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 201-221.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Again in England. Æt.</span> 33-34.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Old hopes revived</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_201">201</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Notions for a periodical</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_201">201</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed prospectus</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_202">202</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Chances for and against it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_203">203</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Swept away by larger venture</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_203">203</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Christmas book of 1845</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>D'Orsay and the courier</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Another passage of Autobiography</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>More of the story of early years</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wish to try the stage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Applies to manager of Covent Garden</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sister Fanny in the secret</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_206">206</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Stage studies and rehearsings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_206">206</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Strange news for Macready</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_207">207</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Requisites of author and actor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_208">208</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Play chosen for private performance</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_209">209</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fanny Kelly and her theatre</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_209">209</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Every Man in his Humour</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_209">209</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The company of actors</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_210">210</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Enjoying a character</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_210">210</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Troubles of management</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_210">210</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First and second performances</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_211">211</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Of the acting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_211">211</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D. as performer</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_212">212</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D. as manager</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_212">212</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Two human mysteries</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_213">213</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The mysteries explained</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_213">213</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Training for the stage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_213">213</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_xiii" id="Page_2_xiii">[xiii]</a></span>At Broadstairs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_214">214</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ramsgate entertainments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_214">214</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birth of fourth son</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_215">215</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Second raven's death</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_215">215</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Intended daily paper</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_215">215</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Disturbing engagements</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_216">216</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Old ways interrupted</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_216">216</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>My appeal against the enterprise</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_217">217</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reply and issue</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_217">217</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Interruption and renewal</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_218">218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The beginning and the end</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_218">218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Forming new resolve</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Back to old scenes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Editorship ceased</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Going to Switzerland</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_220">220</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A happy saying</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_221">221</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Leaves England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_221">221</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER X. 1846.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 222-243.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">A Home in Switzerland. Æt.</span> 34.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>On the Rhine</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_222">222</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>German readers of Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_223">223</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Travelling Englishmen</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_223">223</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A hoaxing-match</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_224">224</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>House-hunting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_224">224</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tempted by a mansion</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_225">225</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Chooses a cottage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_225">225</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Earliest impressions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_226">226</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lausanne described</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_227">227</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Views from his farm</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_228">228</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Under his windows</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_228">228</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A sketch of Rosemont</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_229">229</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Design as to work</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_230">230</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The English colony</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_231">231</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unaccommodating carriage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_232">232</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A death in the lake</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_232">232</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Boatman's narrative</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_233">233</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Theatre</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_233">233</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Prison</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_234">234</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Blind Institution</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_235">235</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Interesting cases</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_235">235</a>-<a href="#Page_2_240">240</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Beginning work</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_240">240</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First slip of New Novel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_241">241</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sortes Shandyanæ</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_242">242</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Christmas tale</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_242">242</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XI. 1846.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 244-260.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Swiss People and Scenery. Æt.</span> 34.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The mountains and lake</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_244">244</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The people and their manners</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_245">245</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A country fête</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_246">246</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Family sketch</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_246">246</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rifle-shooting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_247">247</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A marriage on the farm</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_248">248</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Gunpowder festivities</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_248">248</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bride and mother</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_248">248</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First number of <i>Dombey</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_249">249</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Christmas book</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_249">249</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>General idea for new story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_250">250</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hints for illustration of it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_250">250</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Haldimands and Cerjats</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_251">251</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visit of Henry Hallam</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_251">251</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Local news</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_252">252</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sight-seers from England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_252">252</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Trip to Chamounix</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_253">253</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mule-travelling</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_253">253</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mont Blanc range</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_254">254</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mer de Glace</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_255">255</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tête Noire pass</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_255">255</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Help in an accident</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_256">256</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>English, French, and Prussian</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_256">256</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Second number of <i>Dombey</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_257">257</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Castle of Chillon described</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_257">257</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Honour to New Constitution</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_258">258</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Political celebration</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_258">258</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Malcontents</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_259">259</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Good conduct of the people</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_259">259</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Protestant and Catholic cantons</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_260">260</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A timely word on Ireland</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_260">260</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XII. 1846.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 261-276.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Sketches Chiefly Personal. Æt.</span> 34.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Home politics</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_261">261</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Whigs and Peel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_261">261</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Belief in emigration schemes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_262">262</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_xiv" id="Page_2_xiv">[xiv]</a></span>Mark Lemon</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_263">263</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An incident of character</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_263">263</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hood's <i>Tylney Hall</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_264">264</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Trait of the Duke of Wellington</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_264">264</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Watson of Rockingham</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_264">264</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A recollection of reporting days</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Returns to <i>Dombey</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Two English travellers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_266">266</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Party among the hills</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_267">267</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Smollett and Fielding hero</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_268">268</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Milksop youths</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_268">268</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ogre and Lambs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_268">268</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sir Joseph and his family</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_269">269</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lord Vernon</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_270">270</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Passion for rifle-shooting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_270">270</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A wonderful carriage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_270">270</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Ladies Taylor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_271">271</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed Reading of first <i>Dombey</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_272">272</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A sketch from life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_272">272</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Two sisters and their books</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_272">272</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Trip to Great St. Bernard</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_273">273</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ascent of the mountain</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_274">274</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Convent</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_274">274</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scene at the mountain top</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_274">274</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bodies found in the snow</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_275">275</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The holy fathers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_275">275</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A tavern all but sign</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_276">276</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The monk and <i>Pickwick</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_276">276</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIII. 1846.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 277-294.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Literary Labour at Lausanne. Æt.</span> 34.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A picture completed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_277">277</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Great present want</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_277">277</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Daily life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_278">278</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Imaginative needs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_278">278</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Self-judgments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_279">279</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Now and the Hereafter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_279">279</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fancies for Christmas books</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_280">280</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Second number of <i>Dombey</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_280">280</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A personal revelation</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_281">281</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Craving for streets</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_281">281</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Food for fancy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_282">282</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Second <i>Dombey</i> done</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_282">282</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Curious wants of the mind</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_283">283</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Success of the Reading</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_283">283</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First thought of Public Readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_284">284</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Two stories in hand</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_285">285</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unexpected difficulties</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_286">286</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Work under sensitive conditions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_286">286</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Alarm for <i>Dombey</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_287">287</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Doubts and misgivings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_287">287</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Change of scene to be tried</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_287">287</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Genoa</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_288">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Disquietudes of authorship</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_288">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wanting counsel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_289">289</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At the worst</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_289">289</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Report of Genoa</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_290">290</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A new social experience</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_290">290</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Feminine eccentricities</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_291">291</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A ladies' dinner</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_291">291</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Elephant-quellers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_292">292</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Like a Manchester cotton mill"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_292">292</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Again at Rosemont</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_293">293</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visit of the Talfourds</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_293">293</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lodging his friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_294">294</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Intentions and hope</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_294">294</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIV. 1846.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 295-315.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Revolution at Geneva. Christmas Book and Last Days in<br />Switzerland. Æt.</span> 34.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An arrival of manuscript</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_295">295</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A title</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_295">295</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Large sale of <i>Dombey</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_296">296</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Again at Geneva</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_296">296</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rising against the Jesuits</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_297">297</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Back to Lausanne</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_297">297</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The fight in Geneva</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_298">298</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rifle against cannon</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_299">299</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>True objection to Roman-Catholicism</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_299">299</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Genevese "aristocracy"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_299">299</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A lesson</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_300">300</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Traces left by revolution</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_300">300</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_xv" id="Page_2_xv">[xv]</a></span>Abettors of revolution</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_301">301</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Where the shoe pinches</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_301">301</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Daily News'</i> changes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_302">302</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>My surrender of editorship</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_302">302</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thoughts for the future</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_303">303</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letters about <i>Battle of Life</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_303">303</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Jeffrey's opinion</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_303">303</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sketch of story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_304">304</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A difficulty in plot</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_305">305</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Old characteristics</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_305">305</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His own comments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_306">306</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reply to criticism</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_307">307</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Stanfield illustrations</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_307">307</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Doubts of third part</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_308">308</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Strengthening the close</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_308">308</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Objections invited</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_309">309</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tendency to blank verse</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_309">309</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Grave mistake by Leech</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_310">310</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>How dealt with by C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_310">310</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First impulse</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_311">311</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Kindly afterthought</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_311">311</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lord Gobden and free trade</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_312">312</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Needs while at work</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_312">312</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Pleasures of autumn</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_313">313</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Striking tents</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_314">314</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sadness of leave-taking</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_314">314</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Travelling to Paris</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_314">314</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Paris</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_315">315</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XV. 1846-1847.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 316-333.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Three Months in Paris. Æt.</span> 34-35.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A greeting from Lord Brougham</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_316">316</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>French Sunday</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_317">317</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A house taken</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_317">317</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Absurdity of the abode</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_318">318</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Its former tenant</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_319">319</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sister Fanny's illness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_319">319</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Opinion of Elliotson</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_320">320</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The king of the barricades</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_320">320</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unhealthy symptoms</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_321">321</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Incident in the streets</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_321">321</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Parisian population</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_322">322</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Americans and French</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_322">322</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unsettlement of plans</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_323">323</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Eldest son's education</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_323">323</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A true friend</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_323">323</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Christmas tale on the stage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_323">323</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An alarming neighbour</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_325">325</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Startling blue-devils</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Approach to cannibalism</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In London</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cheap edition of works</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Suppressed dedication</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Return to Paris</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Begging-letter writers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_327">327</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Friendly services</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_327">327</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Imaginary dialogue</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_328">328</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Boulogne reception</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_328">328</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cautions to a traveller</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_329">329</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Citizen Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_330">330</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sight-seeing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_330">330</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At theatres</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_330">330</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visits to famous Frenchmen</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_331">331</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Evening with Victor Hugo</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_331">331</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Adventure with a coachman</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_332">332</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bibliothèque Royale</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_333">333</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Premonitory symptoms</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_333">333</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In London</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_334">334</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A party at Gore-house</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_334">334</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Illness of eldest son</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_335">335</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Snuff-shop readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_336">336</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Old charwoman's compliment</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_336">336</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVI. 1846-1848.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 337-367.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Dombey and Son. Æt.</span> 34-36.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Drift of the tale</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_337">337</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Why undervalued</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_338">338</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mistakes of critics</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_338">338</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Adherence to first design</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_338">338</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Plan for Paul and his sister</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_339">339</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>For Dombey and his daughter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_339">339</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed course of the story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_340">340</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"The stock of the soup"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_340">340</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Walter Gay and his fate</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_341">341</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Decided favourably</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_341">341</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Six pages too much</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_342">342</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Omissions objected to</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_342">342</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_xvi" id="Page_2_xvi">[xvi]</a></span>New chapter written</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_343">343</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Portions sacrificed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_343">343</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Anxiety for the face of his hero</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_344">344</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A suggested type of city-gentleman</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_344">344</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Artist-fancies for Mr. Dombey</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_345">345</a>-<a href="#Page_2_346">6</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens and his illustrators</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_347">347</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A silly story repeated</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_347">347</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Why noticed again</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_348">348</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Facsimile of letter to Cruikshank</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_349">349</a>-<a href="#Page_2_350">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens's words at the time</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_349">349</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cruikshank's thirty-four years after</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_350">350</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A masterpiece of Dickens's writing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_351">351</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Picture of him at work</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_352">352</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An experience of Ben Jonson's</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_352">352</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>How objections are taken</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_352">352</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Shall Paul's life be prolonged?</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_353">353</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Reading of the second number</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_353">353</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A number to be added to Paul's life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_354">354</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Failure of an illustration</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_354">354</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What it should have been</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_355">355</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Mrs. Pipchin of his childhood</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_355">355</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First thought of his Autobiography</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_356">356</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Opening his fourth number</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_356">356</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Doctor Blimber's</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_357">357</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Paul's school life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_357">357</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Paul and Florence</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_357">357</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Jeffrey's forecast of the tale</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_358">358</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Beginning his fifth number</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_359">359</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What he will do with it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_359">359</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A damper to the spirits</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_359">359</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Close of Paul's life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_360">360</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Jeffrey on Paul's death</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_361">361</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thoughts for Edith</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_362">362</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Florence and Little Nell</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_362">362</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Judgments and comparisons</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_363">363</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Edith's first destiny</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_363">363</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Doubts suggested</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_364">364</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An important change</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_364">364</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Diogenes remembered</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_365">365</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Other characters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_365">365</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Blimber establishment</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_366">366</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Supposed originals</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_366">366</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Surmises entirely wrong</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_367">367</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVII. 1847-1852.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 368-402.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Splendid Strolling. Æt.</span> 35-40.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birth of fifth son</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_368">368</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of Lieut. Sydney Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_368">368</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed benefit for Leigh Hunt</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_369">369</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The plays and actors</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_370">370</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The manager</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_370">370</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Troubles at rehearsals</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_371">371</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Pains rewarded</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_371">371</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Leigh Hunt's account</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_372">372</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Receipts and expenses</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_373">373</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lord Lytton's prologue</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_373">373</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Appearance of Mrs. Gamp</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_374">374</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fancy for a jeu d'esprit</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_374">374</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. Gamp at the play</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_375">375</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Failure of artists</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_375">375</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An unfinished fancy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_375">375</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. Gamp with the strollers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_376">376</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Alarm of Mrs. Harris</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_376">376</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Leigh Hunt and Poole</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_377">377</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ticklish society</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_378">378</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. Gamp's cabman</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_378">378</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>George Cruikshank</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_379">379</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Wilson the barber</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_379">379</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wig experiences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_380">380</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fatigues of a powder ball</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_380">380</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Manager's moustache and whiskers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_381">381</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Leech, Lemon, and Jerrold</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_381">381</a>-<a href="#Page_2_381">2</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. Gamp's dislike of "Dougladge"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_382">382</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Costello, Stone, and Egg</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_383">383</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Only the engine"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_384">384</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cruikshank's <i>Bottle</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_384">384</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Profits of <i>Dombey</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_385">385</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Time come for savings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_385">385</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed edition of old novels</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_385">385</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Another dropped design</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_386">386</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Praslin tragedy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_386">386</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Penalty for seeing before others</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_387">387</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Street-music</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_387">387</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Margate theatre and manager</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_387">387</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>As to Christmas book</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_388">388</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_xvii" id="Page_2_xvii">[xvii]</a></span>Delay found necessary</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_389">389</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A literary Kitely</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_389">389</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Meetings at Leeds and Glasgow</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_390">390</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Book-friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_391">391</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sheriff Alison</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_391">391</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hospitable welcome</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_391">391</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scott-monument</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_392">392</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Purchase of Shakespeare's house</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_392">392</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scheme to benefit Knowles</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_393">393</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Plays rehearsed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_394">394</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Merry Wives</i> chosen</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_394">394</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Performances and result</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_394">394</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Knebworth-park</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_395">395</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Guild of Literature and Art</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_396">396</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unfortunate omission</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_396">396</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The farce that was to be written</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_396">396</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The farce that was substituted</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_397">397</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Not so Bad as we Seem</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_397">397</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Travelling theatre and scenes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_398">398</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Success of the comedy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_398">398</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An incident at Sunderland</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_399">399</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Troubles of a manager</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_399">399</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Acting under difficulties</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_400">400</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scenery overturned</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_401">401</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Effects of fright</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_401">401</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Wilkie Collins</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_402">402</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVIII. 1848-1851.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 403-441.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Seaside Holidays. Æt.</span> 36-39.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Louis Philippe dethroned</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_403">403</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>French missive from C. D.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_404">404</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Aspirations of Citizen Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_404">404</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Broadstairs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_405">405</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>By rail to China</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_405">405</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Junk</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_406">406</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mariners on deck and in cabin</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_406">406</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Perplexing questions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_406">406</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A toy-shop on the seas</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_407">407</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Type of finality</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_407">407</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A contrast</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_408">408</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Home questions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_408">408</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Temperance agitations</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_409">409</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The temptations to gin-shop</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_409">409</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Necessity of dealing with <i>them</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_409">409</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Stages anterior to drunkenness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_410">410</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cruikshank's satire</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_410">410</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Realities of his pencil</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_411">411</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Its one-sidedness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_411">411</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens on Hogarth</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_412">412</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cause as well as effect</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_412">412</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Exit of Gin-lane</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_412">412</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wisdom of the great painter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_413">413</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Late, but never too late</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_413">413</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens on designs by Leech</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_414">414</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Originality of Leech</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_414">414</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Superiority of his method</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_415">415</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The requisites for it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_415">415</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Excuses for the rising generation</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_416">416</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Intellectual juvenility</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_416">416</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A dangerous youth</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_417">417</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What Leech will be remembered for</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_417">417</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Odd adventures</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_418">418</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Pony-chaise accident</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_418">418</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Parallel to Squeers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_419">419</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Strenuous idleness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_419">419</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>French philosophy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_420">420</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hint for Mr. Taine</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_420">420</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The better for idleness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_421">421</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A favourite spot</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_421">421</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Brighton</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_421">421</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>With mad folks and doctors</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_422">422</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A name for his new book</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_422">422</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Broadstairs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_422">422</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Troubles in his writing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_423">423</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A letter in character</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_423">423</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Bonchurch</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_425">425</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Rev. James White</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_425">425</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mirth and melancholy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_425">425</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. James White</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_426">426</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First impressions of Undercliff</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_426">426</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Talfourd made a judge</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_427">427</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens's affection for him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_427">427</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Church-school examination</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_428">428</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dinners and pic-nics</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_428">428</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The comedian Regnier</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_429">429</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>When acting is genuine</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_429">429</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Doubts as to health</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_429">429</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Arrivals and departures</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_430">430</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A startling revelation</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_431">431</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Effects of Bonchurch climate</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_431">431</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_xviii" id="Page_2_xviii">[xviii]</a></span>Utter prostration</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_431">431</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Difficulties of existing there</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_432">432</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Distrust of doctors</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_433">433</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Other side of picture</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_433">433</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What I observed at the time</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_434">434</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>From the <i>Copperfield</i> MS.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_434">434</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Browne's sketch of Micawber</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_435">435</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Accident to John Leech</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_435">435</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Its consequences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_435">435</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Depressing influences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_436">436</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Broadstairs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_436">436</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Railway travellers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_437">437</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The exhibition year</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_438">438</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A <i>Copperfield</i> banquet</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_438">438</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. D. on money values</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_439">439</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His leisure reading</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_439">439</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A correction for Carlyle</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_440">440</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Good criticism</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_441">441</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thoughts of a new book</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_441">441</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The old restlessness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_441">441</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Beginning on a Friday</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_441">441</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIX. 1848-1850.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 442-456.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Haunted Man and Household Words. Æt.</span> 36-40.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Maturing book for Christmas</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_442">442</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Friendly plea for Mr. Macrone</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_442">442</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Completion of Christmas story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_443">443</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dropped motto</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_443">443</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The "ghost" and the "bargain"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_444">444</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Tetterby family</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_445">445</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Teachings of the little tale</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_445">445</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His own statement of its intention</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_446">446</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Forgive that you may forget</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_446">446</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Copperfield</i> sales</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_447">447</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A letter from Russia</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_448">448</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Translation into Russian</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_448">448</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sympathy of Siberia</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_448">448</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Periodical taking form</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_449">449</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A design for it described</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_449">449</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Original and selected matter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_449">449</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Shadow for everywhere</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_450">450</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hopes of success</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_450">450</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Doubts respecting it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_451">451</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Incompatibility of design</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_451">451</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>New design chosen</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_452">452</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Assistant editor appointed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_453">453</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Titles proposed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_453">453</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Appearance of first number</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_454">454</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Earliest contributors</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_454">454</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Opinion of Mr. Sala</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_454">454</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Child's dream of a star</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_455">455</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A fancy derived from childhood</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_456">456</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XX. 1848-1851.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 457-494.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Last Years in Devonshire Terrace. Æt.</span> 36-39.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sentiment about places</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_457">457</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Confidences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_458">458</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Personal revelations</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_458">458</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Early memories</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_459">459</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At his sister's sick-bed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_459">459</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last thoughts</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_460">460</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sister's death</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_460">460</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Book to be written in first person</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_461">461</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Riding over Salisbury Plain</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_461">461</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visiting scene of a tragedy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_462">462</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First sees Yarmouth</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_462">462</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birth of sixth son</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_462">462</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Notion for a character</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_463">463</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Choosing a title</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_463">463</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Mag's Diversions"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_464">464</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Copperfield" chosen</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_464">464</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Varieties of it proposed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_465">465</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Title finally determined</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_466">466</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Difficulties of opening</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_466">466</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rogers and Benedict</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_466">466</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wit of Fonblanque</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_467">467</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Procter and Macready</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_467">467</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Sheridans</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_468">468</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lord Byron's Ada</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_469">469</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dinner to Halévy and Scribe</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_469">469</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Brougham and "the <i>Punch</i> people"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_469">469</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Duke at Vauxhall</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_470">470</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Carlyle and Thackeray</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_470">470</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Judicious change of a "tag"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_471">471</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_xix" id="Page_2_xix">[xix]</a></span>A fact for a biographer</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_471">471</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Marryat's delight with children</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_472">472</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bulwer Lytton and Monckton Milnes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_472">472</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lords Nugent and Dudley Stuart</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_472">472</a>-<a href="#Page_2_473">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Kemble, Harness, and Dyce</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_473">473</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. Siddons and John Kemble</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_473">473</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Comparison and good distinction</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_474">474</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mazzini and Edinburgh friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_474">474</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Artist-acquaintance</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_475">475</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visitors at his house</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_475">475</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Friends from America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_476">476</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>M. Van de Weyer</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_476">476</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ambition to see into heaven</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_477">477</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Literature and art in the city</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_477">477</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Doubtful compliment</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_478">478</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A hint for London citizens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_478">478</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letter against public executions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_479">479</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>American observer in England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_479">479</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Marvels of English manners</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_480">480</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A letter from Rockingham</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_481">481</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Private theatricals</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_481">481</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Major Bentley and General Boxall</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_481">481</a>-<a href="#Page_2_482">2</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A family scene</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_482">482</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Doing too much</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_483">483</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of Francis Jeffrey</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_483">483</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Progress of work</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_484">484</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The child-wife</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_484">484</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A run to Paris</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_484">484</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Banker or proctor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_485">485</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Doubts as to Dora settled</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_486">486</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Of Rogers and Landor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_486">486</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A third daughter born</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_487">487</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Great Malvern</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_487">487</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Macready's farewell</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_488">488</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Experience of a brother author</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_488">488</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Home at Shepherd's-bush</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_488">488</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Father's illness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_489">489</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of John Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_489">489</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tribute by his son</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_490">490</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Theatrical-fund dinner</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_490">490</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Plea for small actors</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_491">491</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Remembering the forgotten</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_491">491</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of his little daughter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_492">492</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Difficult tasks in life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_492">492</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dora's grave</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_493">493</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Advocating sanitary reform</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_493">493</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lord Shaftesbury</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_494">494</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Realities of his books to Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_2_494">494</a></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_xx" id="Page_2_xx">[xx]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_21" id="Page_2_21">[21]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE LIFE</h2> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h2>CHARLES DICKENS.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>AMERICAN NOTES.</h3> + +<h3>1842.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Return from America—Longfellow in England—Thirty Years Ago—At +Broadstairs—Preparing <i>Notes</i>—Fancy for the Opening of +<i>Chuzzlewit</i>—Reading Tennyson—Theatricals at Margate—A New +Protégé—Proposed Dedication—Sea-bathing and Authorship—Emigrants +in Canada—Coming to the End—Rejected Motto for +<i>Notes</i>—Return to London—Cheerless Visit—The Mingled Yarn—Scene +at a Funeral—The Suppressed Introductory Chapter to the +<i>Notes</i>, now first printed—Jeffrey's Opinion of the <i>Notes</i>—Dickens's +Experience of America in 1868.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> reality did not fall short of the anticipation of +home. His return was the occasion of unbounded enjoyment; +and what he had planned before sailing as +the way we should meet, received literal fulfilment. By +the sound of his cheery voice I first knew that he was +come; and from my house we went together to Maclise, +also "without a moment's warning." A Greenwich dinner +in which several friends (Talfourd, Milnes, Procter, +Maclise, Stanfield, Marryat, Barham, Hood, and Cruikshank<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_22" id="Page_2_22">[22]</a></span> +among them) took part, and other immediate +greetings, followed; but the most special celebration +was reserved for autumn, when, by way of challenge to +what he had seen while abroad, a home-journey was +arranged with Stanfield, Maclise, and myself for his +companions, into such of the most striking scenes of a +picturesque English county as the majority of us might +not before have visited: Cornwall being ultimately +chosen.</p> + +<p>Before our departure he was occupied by his preparation +of the <i>American Notes;</i> and to the same interval +belongs the arrival in London of Mr. Longfellow, who +became his guest, and (for both of us I am privileged +to add) our attached friend. Longfellow's name was +not then the pleasant and familiar word it has since +been in England; but he had already written several +of his most felicitous pieces, and he possessed all the +qualities of delightful companionship, the culture and +the charm, which have no higher type or example than +the accomplished and genial American. He reminded +me, when lately again in England, of two experiences out +of many we had enjoyed together this quarter of a century +before. One of them was a day at Rochester, when, +met by one of those prohibitions which are the wonder +of visitors and the shame of Englishmen, we overleapt +gates and barriers, and, setting at defiance repeated +threats of all the terrors of law coarsely expressed to us +by the custodian of the place, explored minutely the +castle ruins. The other was a night among those portions +of the population which outrage law and defy its +terrors all the days of their lives, the tramps and thieves +of London; when, under guidance and protection of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_23" id="Page_2_23">[23]</a></span> +the most trusted officers of the two great metropolitan +prisons afforded to us by Mr. Chesterton and Lieut. +Tracey, we went over the worst haunts of the most +dangerous classes. Nor will it be unworthy of remark, +in proof that attention is not drawn vainly to such +scenes, that, upon Dickens going over them a dozen +years later when he wrote a paper about them for his +<i>Household Words</i>, he found important changes effected +whereby these human dens, if not less dangerous, were +become certainly more decent. On the night of our +earlier visit, Maclise, who accompanied us, was struck +with such sickness on entering the first of the Mint +lodging-houses in the borough, that he had to remain, +for the time we were in them, under guardianship of the +police outside. Longfellow returned home by the Great +Western from Bristol on the 21st of October, enjoying +as he passed through Bath the hospitality of Landor; +and at the end of the following week we started on our +Cornish travel.</p> + +<p>But what before this had occupied Dickens in the +writing way must now be told. Not long after his reappearance +amongst us, his house being still in the +occupation of Sir John Wilson, he went to Broadstairs, +taking with him the letters from which I have +quoted so largely to help him in preparing his <i>American +Notes;</i> and one of his first announcements to me (18th +of July) shows not only this labour in progress, but +the story he was under engagement to begin in November +working in his mind. "The subjects at the +beginning of the book are of that kind that I can't +<i>dash</i> at them, and now and then they fret me in consequence. +When I come to Washington, I am all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_24" id="Page_2_24">[24]</a></span> +right. The solitary prison at Philadelphia is a good +subject, though; I forgot that for the moment. Have +you seen the Boston chapter yet? . . . I have never +been in Cornwall either. A mine certainly; and a +letter for that purpose shall be got from Southwood +Smith. I have some notion of opening the new book +in the lantern of a lighthouse!" A letter a couple of +months later (16th of Sept.) recurs to that proposed +opening of his story which after all he laid aside; and +shows how rapidly he was getting his <i>American Notes</i> +into shape. "At the Isle of Thanet races yesterday +I saw—oh! who shall say what an immense amount +of character in the way of inconceivable villainy and +blackguardism! I even got some new wrinkles in the +way of showmen, conjurors, pea-and-thimblers, and +trampers generally. I think of opening my new book +on the coast of Cornwall, in some terribly dreary iron-bound +spot. I hope to have finished the American +book before the end of next month; and we will then +together fly down into that desolate region." Our +friends having Academy engagements to detain them, +we had to delay a little; and I meanwhile turn back +to his letters to observe his progress with his <i>Notes</i>, +and other employments or enjoyments of the interval. +They require no illustration that they will not themselves +supply: but I may remark that the then collected +<i>Poems</i> of Tennyson had become very favourite reading +with him; and that while in America Mr. Mitchell +the comedian had given him a small white shaggy +terrier, who bore at first the imposing name of Timber +Doodle, and became a great domestic pet and companion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_25" id="Page_2_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I have been reading" (7th of August) "Tennyson +all this morning on the seashore. Among other trifling +effects, the waters have dried up as they did of old, +and shown me all the mermen and mermaids, at the +bottom of the ocean; together with millions of queer +creatures, half-fish and half-fungus, looking down into +all manner of coral caves and seaweed conservatories; +and staring in with their great dull eyes at every open +nook and loop-hole. Who else, too, could conjure up +such a close to the extraordinary and as Landor would +say 'most wonderful' series of pictures in the 'dream +of fair women,' as—</p> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +"'Squadrons and squares of men in brazen plates,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Scaffolds, still sheets of water, divers woes,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ranges of glimmering vaults with iron grates,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And hushed seraglios!'</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>"I am getting on pretty well, but it was so glittering +and sunshiny yesterday that I was forced to make holiday." +Four days later: "I have not written a word +this blessed day. I got to New York yesterday, and +think it goes as it should . . . Little doggy improves +rapidly, and now jumps over my stick at the word of +command. I have changed his name to Snittle Timbery, +as more sonorous and expressive. He unites with +the rest of the family in cordial regards and loves. +<i>Nota Bene</i>. The Margate theatre is open every evening, +and the Four Patagonians (see Goldsmith's <i>Essays</i>) +are performing thrice a week at Ranelagh . . ."</p> + +<p>A visit from me was at this time due, to which these +were held out as inducements; and there followed what +it was supposed I could not resist, a transformation into +the broadest farce of a deep tragedy by a dear friend<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_26" id="Page_2_26">[26]</a></span> +of ours. "Now you really must come. Seeing only +is believing, very often isn't that, and even Being the +thing falls a long way short of believing it. Mrs. +Nickleby herself once asked me, as you know, if I +really believed there ever was such a woman; but +there'll be no more belief, either in me or my descriptions, +after what I have to tell of our excellent friend's +tragedy, if you don't come and have it played again +for yourself 'by particular desire.' We saw it last night, +and oh! if you had but been with us! Young Betty, +doing what the mind of man without my help never +<i>can</i> conceive, with his legs like padded boot-trees +wrapped up in faded yellow drawers, was the hero. +The comic man of the company enveloped in a white +sheet, with his head tied with red tape like a brief and +greeted with yells of laughter whenever he appeared, +was the venerable priest. A poor toothless old idiot at +whom the very gallery roared with contempt when he +was called a tyrant, was the remorseless and aged +Creon. And Ismene being arrayed in spangled muslin +trowsers very loose in the legs and very tight in the +ankles, such as Fatima would wear in <i>Blue Beard</i>, was +at her appearance immediately called upon for a song. +After this, can you longer. . . ?"</p> + +<p>With the opening of September I had renewed report +of his book, and of other matters. "The Philadelphia +chapter I think very good, but I am sorry to +say it has not made as much in print as I hoped . . . +In America they have forged a letter with my signature, +which they coolly declare appeared in the <i>Chronicle</i> +with the copyright circular; and in which I express +myself in such terms as you may imagine, in reference<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_27" id="Page_2_27">[27]</a></span> +to the dinners and so forth. It has been widely distributed +all over the States; and the felon who invented +it is a 'smart man' of course. You are to understand +that it is not done as a joke, and is scurrilously +reviewed. Mr. Park Benjamin begins a lucubration +upon it with these capitals, <span class="smcap">Dickens is a Fool, +and a Liar</span>. . . . I have a new protégé, in the person +of a wretched deaf and dumb boy whom I found +upon the sands the other day, half dead, and have got +(for the present) into the union infirmary at Minster. +A most deplorable case."</p> + +<p>On the 14th he told me: "I have pleased myself +very much to-day in the matter of Niagara. I have +made the description very brief (as it should be), but I +fancy it is good. I am beginning to think over the introductory +chapter, and it has meanwhile occurred to +me that I should like, at the beginning of the volumes, +to put what follows on a blank page. <i>I dedicate this +Book to those friends of mine in America, who, loving +their country, can bear the truth, when it is written good +humouredly and in a kind spirit.</i> What do you think? +Do you see any objection?"</p> + +<p>My reply is to be inferred from what he sent back on +the 20th. "I don't quite see my way towards an expression +in the dedication of any feeling in reference +to the American reception. Of course I have always +intended to glance at it, gratefully, in the end of the +book; and it will have its place in the introductory +chapter, if we decide for that. Would it do to put in, +after 'friends in America,' <i>who giving me a welcome I +must ever gratefully and proudly remember, left my judgment +free, and</i> who, loving, &c. If so, so be it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_28" id="Page_2_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>Before the end of the month he wrote: "For the last +two or three days I have been rather slack in point of +work; not being in the vein. To-day I had not written +twenty lines before I rushed out (the weather being +gorgeous) to bathe. And when I have done that, it is +all up with me in the way of authorship until to-morrow. +The little dog is in the highest spirits; and jumps, +as Mr. Kenwigs would say, perpetivally. I have had +letters by the Britannia from Felton, Prescott, Mr. Q, +and others, all very earnest and kind. I think you will +like what I have written on the poor emigrants and +their ways as I literally and truly saw them on the boat +from Quebec to Montreal."</p> + +<p>This was a passage, which, besides being in itself as +attractive as any in his writings, gives such perfect expression +to a feeling that underlies them all, that I subjoin +it in a note.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> On board this Canadian steamboat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_29" id="Page_2_29">[29]</a></span> +he encountered crowds of poor emigrants and their +children; and such was their patient kindness and +cheerful endurance, in circumstances where the easy-living +rich could hardly fail to be monsters of impatience +and selfishness, that it suggested to him a reflection than +which it was not possible to have written anything more +worthy of observation, or more absolutely true. Jeremy +Taylor has the same philosophy in his lesson on opportunities, +but here it was beautified by the example with +all its fine touches. It made us read Rich and Poor by +new translation.</p> + +<p>The printers were now hard at work, and in the last +week of September he wrote: "I send you proofs as +far as Niagara . . . I am rather holiday-making this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_30" id="Page_2_30">[30]</a></span> +week . . . taking principal part in a regatta here yesterday, +very pretty and gay indeed. We think of +coming up in time for Macready's opening, when perhaps +you will give us a chop; and of course you and +Mac will dine with <i>us</i> the next day? I shall leave +nothing of the book to do after coming home, please +God, but the two chapters on slavery and the people +which I could manage easily in a week, if need were . . . The +policeman who supposed the Duke of Brunswick +to be one of the swell mob, ought instantly to be +made an inspector. The suspicion reflects the highest +credit (I seriously think) on his penetration and judgment." +Three days later: "For the last two days we +have had gales blowing from the north-east, and seas +rolling on us that drown the pier. To-day it is tremendous. +Such a sea was never known here at this +season, and it is running in at this moment in waves of +twelve feet high. You would hardly know the place. +But we shall be punctual to your dinner hour on Saturday. +If the wind should hold in the same quarter, we +may be obliged to come up by land; and in that case +I should start the caravan at six in the morning. . . . +What do you think of this for my title—<i>American Notes +for General Circulation;</i> and of this motto?</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"In reply to a question from the Bench, the Solicitor for the Bank +observed, that this kind of notes circulated the most extensively, in +those parts of the world where they were stolen and forged. <i>Old +Bailey Report.</i>"</p></div> + +<p>The motto was omitted, objection being made to it; +and on the last day of the month I had the last of his +letters during this Broadstairs visit. "Strange as it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_31" id="Page_2_31">[31]</a></span> +may appear to you" (25th of September), "the sea is +running so high that we have no choice but to return +by land. No steamer can come out of Ramsgate, and +the Margate boat lay out all night on Wednesday with +all her passengers on board. You may be sure of us +therefore on Saturday at 5, for I have determined to +leave here to-morrow, as we could not otherwise manage +it in time; and have engaged an omnibus to bring +the whole caravan by the overland route. . . . We cannot +open a window, or a door; legs are of no use on +the terrace; and the Margate boats can only take people +aboard at Herne Bay!" He brought with him all +that remained to be done of his second volume except +the last two chapters, including that to which he has +referred as "introductory;" and on the following +Wednesday (5th of October) he told me that the first +of these was done. "I want you very much to come +and dine to-day that we may repair to Drury-lane together; +and let us say half-past four, or there is no +time to be comfortable. I am going out to Tottenham +this morning, on a cheerless mission I would willingly +have avoided. Hone, of the <i>Every Day Book</i>, is +dying; and sent Cruikshank yesterday to beg me to go +and see him, as, having read no books but mine of late, +he wanted to see and shake hands with me before (as +George said) 'he went.' There is no help for it, of +course; so to Tottenham I repair, this morning. I +worked all day, and till midnight; and finished the +slavery chapter yesterday."</p> + +<p>The cheerless visit had its mournful sequel before the +next month closed, when he went with the same companion +to poor Hone's funeral; and one of his letters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_32" id="Page_2_32">[32]</a></span> +written at the time to Mr. Felton has so vividly recalled +to me the tragi-comedy of an incident of that day, as +for long after he used to describe it, and as I have heard +the other principal actor in it good-naturedly admit to +be perfectly true, that two or three sentences may be +given here. The wonderful neighbourhood in this life +of ours, of serious and humorous things, constitutes in +itself very much of the genius of Dickens's writing; +the laughter close to the pathos, but never touching it +with ridicule; and this small occurrence may be taken +in farther evidence of its reality.</p> + +<p>"We went into a little parlour where the funeral +party was, and God knows it was miserable enough, for +the widow and children were crying bitterly in one +corner, and the other mourners (mere people of ceremony, +who cared no more for the dead man than the +hearse did) were talking quite coolly and carelessly together +in another; and the contrast was as painful and +distressing as anything I ever saw. There was an independent +clergyman present, with his bands on and a +bible under his arm, who, as soon as we were seated, +addressed C thus, in a loud emphatic voice. 'Mr. C, +have you seen a paragraph respecting our departed +friend, which has gone the round of the morning papers?' +'Yes, sir,' says C, 'I have:' looking very hard +at me the while, for he had told me with some pride +coming down that it was his composition. 'Oh!' said +the clergyman. 'Then you will agree with me, Mr. C, +that it is not only an insult to me, who am the servant +of the Almighty, but an insult to the Almighty, whose +servant I am.' 'How is that, sir?' says C. 'It is +stated, Mr. C, in that paragraph,' says the minister,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_33" id="Page_2_33">[33]</a></span> +'that when Mr. Hone failed in business as a bookseller, +he was persuaded by <i>me</i> to try the pulpit; which is false, +incorrect, unchristian, in a manner blasphemous, and +in all respects contemptible. Let us pray.' With +which, and in the same breath, I give you my word, he +knelt down, as we all did, and began a very miserable +jumble of an extemporary prayer. I was really penetrated +with sorrow for the family" (he exerted himself +zealously for them afterwards, as the kind-hearted C +also did), "but when C, upon his knees and sobbing +for the loss of an old friend, whispered me 'that if that +wasn't a clergyman, and it wasn't a funeral, he'd have +punched his head,' I felt as if nothing but convulsions +could possibly relieve me."</p> + +<p>On the 10th of October I heard from him that the +chapter intended to be introductory to the <i>Notes</i> was +written, and waiting our conference whether or not it +should be printed. We decided against it; on his +part so reluctantly, that I had to undertake for its publication +when a more fitting time should come. This +in my judgment has arrived, and the chapter first sees +the light on this page. There is no danger at present, +as there would have been when it was written, that its +proper self-assertion should be mistaken for an apprehension +of hostile judgments which he was anxious to +deprecate or avoid. He is out of reach of all that +now; and reveals to us here, as one whom fear or censure +can touch no more, his honest purpose in the use +of satire even where his humorous temptations were +strongest. What he says will on other grounds also +be read with unusual interest, for it will be found to +connect itself impressively not with his first experiences<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_34" id="Page_2_34">[34]</a></span> +only, but with his second visit to America at +the close of his life. He held always the same high +opinion of what was best in that country, and always +the same contempt for what was worst in it.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><div class='center'>"INTRODUCTORY. AND NECESSARY TO BE READ.</div> + +<p>"I have placed the foregoing title at the head of +this page, because I challenge and deny the right of +any person to pass judgment on this book, or to arrive +at any reasonable conclusion in reference to it, without +first being at the trouble of becoming acquainted +with its design and purpose.</p> + +<p>"It is not statistical. Figures of arithmetic have +already been heaped upon America's devoted head, almost +as lavishly as figures of speech have been piled +above Shakespeare's grave.</p> + +<p>"It comprehends no small talk concerning individuals, +and no violation of the social confidences of private +life. The very prevalent practice of kidnapping +live ladies and gentlemen, forcing them into cabinets, +and labelling and ticketing them whether they will or +no, for the gratification of the idle and the curious, is +not to my taste. Therefore I have avoided it.</p> + +<p>"It has not a grain of any political ingredient in its +whole composition.</p> + +<p>"Neither does it contain, nor have I intended that +it should contain, any lengthened and minute account +of my personal reception in the United States: not +because I am, or ever was, insensible to that spontaneous +effusion of affection and generosity of heart, in a +most affectionate and generous-hearted people; but +because I conceive that it would ill become me to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_35" id="Page_2_35">[35]</a></span> +flourish matter necessarily involving so much of my +own praises, in the eyes of my unhappy readers.</p> + +<p>"This book is simply what it claims to be—a record +of the impressions I received from day to day, during +my hasty travels in America, and sometimes (but not +always) of the conclusions to which they, and after-reflection +on them, have led me; a description of the +country I passed through; of the institutions I visited; +of the kind of people among whom I journeyed; and +of the manners and customs that came within my observation. +Very many works having just the same +scope and range, have been already published, but I +think that these two volumes stand in need of no +apology on that account. The interest of such productions, +if they have any, lies in the varying impressions +made by the same novel things on different +minds; and not in new discoveries or extraordinary +adventures.</p> + +<p>"I can scarcely be supposed to be ignorant of the +hazard I run in writing of America at all. I know +perfectly well that there is, in that country, a numerous +class of well-intentioned persons prone to be dissatisfied +with all accounts of the Republic whose citizens they +are, which are not couched in terms of exalted and +extravagant praise. I know perfectly well that there is +in America, as in most other places laid down in maps +of the great world, a numerous class of persons so +tenderly and delicately constituted, that they cannot +bear the truth in any form. And I do not need the +gift of prophecy to discern afar off, that they who will +be aptest to detect malice, ill will, and all uncharitableness +in these pages, and to show, beyond any doubt,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_36" id="Page_2_36">[36]</a></span> +that they are perfectly inconsistent with that grateful +and enduring recollection which I profess to entertain +of the welcome I found awaiting me beyond the Atlantic—will +be certain native journalists, veracious and +gentlemanly, who were at great pains to prove to me, +on all occasions during my stay there, that the aforesaid +welcome was utterly worthless.</p> + +<p>"But, venturing to dissent even from these high +authorities, I formed my own opinion of its value in +the outset, and retain it to this hour; and in asserting +(as I invariably did on all public occasions) my liberty +and freedom of speech while I was among the Americans, +and in maintaining it at home, I believe that I +best show my sense of the high worth of that welcome, +and of the honourable singleness of purpose with which +it was extended to me. From first to last I saw, in the +friends who crowded round me in America, old readers, +over-grateful and over-partial perhaps, to whom I had +happily been the means of furnishing pleasure and +entertainment; not a vulgar herd who would flatter +and cajole a stranger into turning with closed eyes from +all the blemishes of the nation, and into chaunting its +praises with the discrimination of a street ballad-singer. +From first to last I saw, in those hospitable hands, a +home-made wreath of laurel; and not an iron muzzle +disguised beneath a flower or two.</p> + +<p>"Therefore I take—and hold myself not only justified +in taking, but bound to take—the plain course of +saying what I think, and noting what I saw; and as it +is not my custom to exalt what in my judgment are +foibles and abuses at home, so I have no intention of +softening down, or glozing over, those that I have +observed abroad.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_37" id="Page_2_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If this book should fall into the hands of any +sensitive American who cannot bear to be told that the +working of the institutions of his country is far from +perfect; that in spite of the advantage she has over all +other nations in the elastic freshness and vigour of her +youth, she is far from being a model for the earth to +copy; and that even in those pictures of the national +manners with which he quarrels most, there is still +(after the lapse of several years, each of which may be +fairly supposed to have had its stride in improvement) +much that is just and true at this hour; let him lay it +down, now, for I shall not please him. Of the intelligent, +reflecting, and educated among his countrymen, +I have no fear; for I have ample reason to believe, +after many delightful conversations not easily to be +forgotten, that there are very few topics (if any) on +which their sentiments differ materially from mine.</p> + +<p>"I may be asked—'If you have been in any respect +disappointed in America, and are assured beforehand +that the expression of your disappointment will give +offence to any class, why do you write at all?' My +answer is, that I went there expecting greater things +than I found, and resolved as far as in me lay to do +justice to the country, at the expense of any (in my +view) mistaken or prejudiced statements that might +have been made to its disparagement. Coming home +with a corrected and sobered judgment, I consider myself +no less bound to do justice to what, according to +my best means of judgment, I found to be the truth."</p></div> + +<p>Of the book for whose opening page this matter +introductory was written, it will be enough merely to +add that it appeared on the 18th of October; that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_38" id="Page_2_38">[38]</a></span> +before the close of the year four large editions had been +sold; and that in my opinion it thoroughly deserved +the estimate formed of it by one connected with +America by the strongest social affections, and otherwise +in all respects an honourable, high-minded, upright +judge. "You have been very tender," wrote Lord +Jeffrey, "to our sensitive friends beyond sea, and my +whole heart goes along with every word you have written. +I think that you have perfectly accomplished all +that you profess or undertake to do, and that the world +has never yet seen a more faithful, graphic, amusing, +kind-hearted narrative."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I permit myself so far to anticipate a later page as to +print here a brief extract from one of the letters of the +last American visit. Without impairing the interest +with which the narrative of that time will be read in its +proper place, I shall thus indicate the extent to which +present impressions were modified by the experience of +twenty-six years later. He is writing from Philadelphia +on the fourteenth of January, 1868.</p> + +<p>"I see <i>great changes</i> for the better, socially. Politically, +no. England governed by the Marylebone vestry +and the penny papers, and England as she would be +after years of such governing; is what I make of <i>that</i>. +Socially, the change in manners is remarkable. There +is much greater politeness and forbearance in all ways. . . . +On the other hand there are still provincial oddities +wonderfully quizzical; and the newspapers are +constantly expressing the popular amazement at 'Mr. +Dickens's extraordinary composure.' They seem to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_39" id="Page_2_39">[39]</a></span> +take it ill that I don't stagger on to the platform overpowered +by the spectacle before me, and the national +greatness. They are all so accustomed to do public +things with a flourish of trumpets, that the notion of +my coming in to read without somebody first flying up +and delivering an 'Oration' about me, and flying down +again and leading me in, is so very unaccountable to +them, that sometimes they have no idea until I open +my lips that it can possibly be Charles Dickens."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_40" id="Page_2_40">[40]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>FIRST YEAR OF MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.</h3> + +<h3>1843.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">A Sunset at Land's-end—Description of the Cornish Tour—Letter +from Maclise—Maclise to J. F.—Names first given to <i>Chuzzlewit</i>—First +Number of <i>Chuzzlewit</i>—Prologue to a Play—A Tragedy by +Browning—Accompaniments of Work—Miss Georgina Hogarth—American +Controversy—Cottage at Finchley—Origin of Mrs. Gamp—Change +of Editorship at <i>Chronicle</i>—Macready bound for America—Works +of Charity and Mercy—Visit to Broadstairs—Sea-side Life +in Ordinary—Speech at Opening of the Manchester Athenæum—Dickens's +Interest in Ragged Schools—His Sympathy with the +Church of England—Origin of his <i>Christmas Carol</i>—Third Son born.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Cornish trip had come off, meanwhile, with such +unexpected and continued attraction for us that we were +well into the third week of absence before we turned +our faces homeward. Railways helped us then not +much; but where the roads were inaccessible to post-horses, +we walked. Tintagel was visited, and no part +of mountain or sea consecrated by the legends of +Arthur was left unexplored. We ascended to the +cradle of the highest tower of Mount St. Michael, and +descended into several mines. Land and sea yielded +each its marvels to us; but of all the impressions +brought away, of which some afterwards took forms as +lasting as they could receive from the most delightful +art, I doubt if any were the source of such deep emotion +to us all as a sunset we saw at Land's-end. Stanfield<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_41" id="Page_2_41">[41]</a></span> +knew the wonders of the Continent, the glories +of Ireland were native to Maclise, I was familiar from +boyhood with border and Scottish scenery, and Dickens +was fresh from Niagara; but there was something in the +sinking of the sun behind the Atlantic that autumn +afternoon, as we viewed it together from the top of the +rock projecting farthest into the sea, which each in his +turn declared to have no parallel in memory.</p> + +<p>But with the varied and overflowing gladness of +those three memorable weeks it would be unworthy +now to associate only the saddened recollection of the +sole survivor. "Blessed star of morning!" wrote +Dickens to Felton while yet the glow of its enjoyment +was upon him. "Such a trip as we had into Cornwall +just after Longfellow went away! . . . Sometimes we +travelled all night, sometimes all day, sometimes both. . . . +Heavens! If you could have seen the necks of +bottles, distracting in their immense varieties of shape, +peering out of the carriage pockets! If you could +have witnessed the deep devotion of the post-boys, +the wild attachment of the hostlers, the maniac glee +of the waiters! If you could have followed us into +the earthy old churches we visited, and into the strange +caverns on the gloomy sea-shore, and down into the +depths of mines, and up to the tops of giddy heights +where the unspeakable green water was roaring, I don't +know how many hundred feet below! If you could +have seen but one gleam of the bright fires by which +we sat in the big rooms of ancient inns at night, until +long after the small hours had come and gone. . . . I +never laughed in my life as I did on this journey. It +would have done you good to hear me. I was choking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_42" id="Page_2_42">[42]</a></span> +and gasping and bursting the buckle off the back of +my stock, all the way. And Stanfield got into such +apoplectic entanglements that we were often obliged +to beat him on the back with portmanteaus before we +could recover him. Seriously, I do believe there never +was such a trip. And they made such sketches, those +two men, in the most romantic of our halting-places, +that you would have sworn we had the Spirit of Beauty +with us, as well as the Spirit of Fun."<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>The Logan Stone, by Stanfield, was one of them; and +it laughingly sketched both the charm of what was seen +and the mirth of what was done, for it perched me on +the top of the stone. It is historical, however, the +ascent having been made; and of this and other examples +of steadiness at heights which deterred the rest, as +well as of a subject suggested for a painting of which +Dickens became the unknown purchaser, Maclise reminded +me in some pleasant allusions many years later, +which, notwithstanding their tribute to my athletic +achievements, the good-natured reader must forgive my +printing. They complete the little picture of our trip. +Something I had written to him of recent travel among +the mountain scenery of the wilder coasts of Donegal +had touched the chord of these old remembrances. +"As to your clambering," he replied, "don't I know +what happened of old? Don't I still see the Logan +Stone, and you perched on the giddy top, while we, +rocking it on its pivot, shrank from all that lay concealed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_43" id="Page_2_43">[43]</a></span> +below! Should I ever have blundered on the +waterfall of St. Wighton, if you had not piloted the +way? And when we got to Land's-end, with the green +sea far under us lapping into solitary rocky nooks where +the mermaids live, who but you only had the courage +to stretch over, to see those diamond jets of brightness +that I swore then, and believe still, were the flappings +of their tails! And don't I recall you again, sitting on +the tip-top stone of the cradle-turret over the highest +battlement of the castle of St. Michael's Mount, with +not a ledge or coigne of vantage 'twixt you and the +fathomless ocean under you, distant three thousand +feet? Last, do I forget you clambering up the goat-path +to King Arthur's castle of Tintagel, when, in my +vain wish to follow, I grovelled and clung to the soil +like a Caliban, and you, in the manner of a tricksy +spirit and stout Ariel, actually danced up and down +before me!"</p> + +<p>The waterfall I led him to was among the records of +the famous holiday, celebrated also by Thackeray in one +of his pen-and-ink pleasantries, which were sent by both +painters to the next year's Academy; and so eager was +Dickens to possess this landscape by Maclise which +included the likeness of a member of his family, yet so +anxious that our friend should be spared the sacrifice +which he knew would follow an avowal of his wish, that +he bought it under a feigned name before the Academy +opened, and steadily refused to take back the money +which on discovery of the artifice Maclise pressed upon +him.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> Our friend, who already had munificently given<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_44" id="Page_2_44">[44]</a></span> +him a charming drawing of his four eldest children to +accompany him and his wife to America, had his generous +way nevertheless; and as a voluntary offering four +years later, painted Mrs. Dickens on a canvas of the +same size as the picture of her husband in 1839.</p> + +<p>"Behold finally the title of the new book," was the +first note I had from Dickens (12th of November) after +our return; "don't lose it, for I have no copy." Title +and even story had been undetermined while we travelled, +from the lingering wish he still had to begin it +among those Cornish scenes; but this intention had +now been finally abandoned, and the reader lost nothing +by his substitution for the lighthouse or mine in +Cornwall, of the Wiltshire-village forge on the windy +autumn evening which opens the tale of <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>. +Into that name he finally settled, but only after +much deliberation, as a mention of his changes will +show. Martin was the prefix to all, but the surname +varied from its first form of Sweezleden, Sweezleback, +and Sweezlewag, to those of Chuzzletoe, Chuzzleboy, +Chubblewig, and Chuzzlewig; nor was Chuzzlewit chosen +at last until after more hesitation and discussion. What +he had sent me in his letter as finally adopted, ran thus: +"The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewig, his +family, friends, and enemies. Comprising all his wills +and his ways. With an historical record of what he did +and what he didn't. The whole forming a complete key +to the house of Chuzzlewig." All which latter portion +of the title was of course dropped as the work became +modified, in its progress, by changes at first not contemplated; +but as early as the third number he sent me +the plan of "old Martin's plot to degrade and punish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_45" id="Page_2_45">[45]</a></span> +Pecksniff," and the difficulties he encountered in departing +from other portions of his scheme were such as +to render him, in his subsequent stories, more bent upon +constructive care at the outset, and adherence as far as +might be to any design he had formed.</p> + +<p>The first number, which appeared in January 1843, +had not been quite finished when he wrote to me on +the 8th of December: "The Chuzzlewit copy makes +so much more than I supposed, that the number is +nearly done. Thank God!" Beginning so hurriedly +as at last he did, altering his course at the opening and +seeing little as yet of the main track of his design, +perhaps no story was ever begun by him with stronger +heart or confidence. Illness kept me to my rooms for +some days, and he was so eager to try the effect of +Pecksniff and Pinch that he came down with the ink +hardly dry on the last slip to read the manuscript to +me. Well did Sydney Smith, in writing to say how +very much the number had pleased him, foresee the +promise there was in those characters. "Pecksniff and +his daughters, and Pinch, are admirable—quite first-rate +painting, such as no one but yourself can execute!" +And let me here at once remark that the +notion of taking Pecksniff for a type of character was +really the origin of the book; the design being to +show, more or less by every person introduced, the +number and variety of humours and vices that have +their root in selfishness.</p> + +<p>Another piece of his writing that claims mention +at the close of 1842 was a prologue contributed to +the <i>Patrician's Daughter</i>, Mr. Westland Marston's first +dramatic effort, which had attracted him by the beauty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_46" id="Page_2_46">[46]</a></span> +of its composition less than by the courage with which +its subject had been chosen from the actual life of the +time.</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Not light its import, and not poor its mien;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Yourselves the actors, and your homes the scene."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>This was the date, too, of Mr. Browning's tragedy +of the <i>Blot on the 'Scutcheon</i>, which I took upon myself, +after reading it in the manuscript, privately to +impart to Dickens; and I was not mistaken in the +belief that it would profoundly touch him. "Browning's +play," he wrote (25th of November), "has thrown +me into a perfect passion of sorrow. To say that there +is anything in its subject save what is lovely, true, +deeply affecting, full of the best emotion, the most +earnest feeling, and the most true and tender source of +interest, is to say that there is no light in the sun, and +no heat in blood. It is full of genius, natural and +great thoughts, profound and yet simple and beautiful +in its vigour. I know nothing that is so affecting, +nothing in any book I have ever read, as Mildred's +recurrence to that 'I was so young—I had no mother.' +I know no love like it, no passion like it, no moulding +of a splendid thing after its conception, like it. And +I swear it is a tragedy that <span class="smcap">must</span> be played; and must +be played, moreover, by Macready. There are some +things I would have changed if I could (they are very +slight, mostly broken lines); and I assuredly would +have the old servant <i>begin his tale upon the scene;</i> and +be taken by the throat, or drawn upon, by his master, +in its commencement. But the tragedy I never shall +forget, or less vividly remember than I do now. And +if you tell Browning that I have seen it, tell him that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_47" id="Page_2_47">[47]</a></span> +I believe from my soul there is no man living (and +not many dead) who could produce such a work.—Macready +likes the altered prologue very much." . . . +There will come a more convenient time to speak of +his general literary likings, or special regard for contemporary +books; but I will say now that nothing interested +him more than successes won honestly in his +own field, and that in his large and open nature there +was no hiding-place for little jealousies. An instance +occurs to me which may be named at once, when, +many years after the present date, he called my attention +very earnestly to two tales then in course of publication +in <i>Blackwood's Magazine</i>, and afterwards collected +under the title of <i>Scenes of Clerical Life</i>. "Do +read them," he wrote. "They are the best things I +have seen since I began my course."</p> +<div class="figright" style="width: 286px;"> +<img src="images/image09.png" width="286" height="400" alt="Dickens, his Wife and her Sister" title="Dickens, his Wife and her Sister" /> +<span class="caption">Maclise, R.A. C.H. Jeens.</span> +</div> +<p>Eighteen hundred and forty-three<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> opened with the +most vigorous prosecution of his <i>Chuzzlewit</i> labour. +"I hope the number will be very good," he wrote to +me of number two (8th of January). "I have been +hammering away, and at home all day. Ditto <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'yester-[page break]terday'">yesterday</ins>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_48" id="Page_2_48">[48]</a></span> +except for two hours in the afternoon, when I +ploughed through snow half a foot deep, round about +the wilds of Willesden." For the present, however, +I shall glance only briefly from time to time at his +progress with the earlier portions of the story on which +he was thus engaged until the midsummer of 1844. +Disappointments arose in connection with it, unexpected +and strange, which had important influence +upon him: but, I reserve the mention of these for +awhile, that I may speak of the leading incidents of +1843.</p> + +<p>"I am in a difficulty," he wrote (12th of February), +"and am coming down to you some time to-day or to-night. +I couldn't write a line yesterday; not a word, +though I really tried hard. In a kind of despair I +started off at half-past two with my pair of petticoats to +Richmond; and dined there!! Oh what a lovely day +it was in those parts." His pair of petticoats were +Mrs. Dickens and her sister Georgina: the latter, +since his return from America, having become part of +his household, of which she remained a member until +his death; and he had just reason to be proud of the +steadiness, depth, and devotion of her friendship. In +a note-book begun by him in January 1855, where, for +the first time in his life, he jotted down hints and +fancies proposed to be made available in future writings, +I find a character sketched of which, if the whole +was not suggested by his sister-in-law, the most part +was applicable to her. "She—sacrificed to children, +and sufficiently rewarded. From a child herself, always +'the children' (of somebody else) to engross her. +And so it comes to pass that she is never married;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_49" id="Page_2_49">[49]</a></span> +never herself has a child; is always devoted 'to the +children' (of somebody else); and they love her; +and she has always youth dependent on her till her +death—and dies quite happily." Not many days after +that holiday at Richmond, a slight unstudied outline in +pencil was made by Maclise of the three who formed +the party there, as we all sat together; and never did +a touch so light carry with it more truth of observation. +The likenesses of all are excellent; and I here preserve +the drawing because nothing ever done of Dickens +himself has conveyed more vividly his look and bearing +at this yet youthful time. He is in his most pleasing +aspect; flattered, if you will; but nothing that is +known to me gives a general impression so life-like and +true of the then frank, eager, handsome face.</p> + +<p>It was a year of much illness with me, which had +ever-helpful and active sympathy from him. "Send +me word how you are," he wrote, two days later. +"But not so much for that I now write, as to tell you, +peremptorily, that I insist on your wrapping yourself +up and coming here in a hackney-coach, with a big +portmanteau, to-morrow. It surely is better to be unwell +with a Quick and Cheerful (and Co) in the neighbourhood, +than in the dreary vastness of Lincoln's-inn-fields. +Here is the snuggest tent-bedstead in the +world, and there you are with the drawing-room for +your workshop, the Q and C for your pal, and 'every-think +in a concatenation accordingly.' I begin to +have hopes of the regeneration of mankind after the +reception of Gregory last night, though I have none of +the <i>Chronicle</i> for not denouncing the villain. Have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_50" id="Page_2_50">[50]</a></span> +you seen the note touching my <i>Notes</i> in the blue and +yellow?"</p> + +<p>The first of these closing allusions was to the editor +of the infamous <i>Satirist</i> having been hissed from the +Drury-lane stage, on which he had presented himself +in the character of Hamlet; and I remember with +what infinite pleasure I afterwards heard Chief Justice +Tindal in court, charging the jury in an action brought +by this malefactor against a publican of St. Giles's for +having paid men to take part in the hissing of him, +avow the pride he felt in "living in the same parish +with a man of that humble station of life of the defendant's," +who was capable of paying money out of his +own pocket to punish what he believed to be an outrage +to decency. The second allusion was to a statement +of the reviewer of the <i>American Notes</i> in the <i>Edinburgh</i> +to the effect, that, if he had been rightly informed, +Dickens had gone to America as a kind of missionary +in the cause of international copyright; to which a +prompt contradiction had been given in the <i>Times</i>. +"I deny it," wrote Dickens, "wholly. He is wrongly +informed; and reports, without enquiry, a piece of information +which I could only characterize by using one +of the shortest and strongest words in the language."</p> + +<p>The disputes that had arisen out of the American +book, I may add, stretched over great part of the year. +It will quite suffice, however, to say here that the +ground taken by him in his letters written on the spot, +and printed in my former volume, which in all the +more material statements his book invited public judgment +upon and which he was moved to reopen in +<i>Chuzzlewit</i>, was so kept by him against all comers, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_51" id="Page_2_51">[51]</a></span> +none of the counter-statements or arguments dislodged +him from a square inch of it. But the controversy is +dead now; and he took occasion, on his later visit to +America, to write its epitaph.</p> + +<p>Though I did not, to revert to his February letter, +obey its cordial bidding by immediately taking up +quarters with him, I soon after joined him at a cottage +he rented in Finchley; and here, walking and talking +in the green lanes as the midsummer months were +coming on, his introduction of Mrs. Gamp, and the +uses to which he should apply that remarkable personage, +first occurred to him. In his preface to the +book he speaks of her as a fair representation, at the +time it was published, of the hired attendant on the +poor in sickness: but he might have added that the +rich were no better off, for Mrs. Gamp's original was +in reality a person hired by a most distinguished friend +of his own, a lady, to take charge of an invalid very +dear to her; and the common habit of this nurse in +the sick room, among other Gampish peculiarities, was +to rub her nose along the top of the tall fender. +Whether or not, on that first mention of her, I had +any doubts whether such a character could be made a +central figure in his story, I do not now remember; +but if there were any at the time, they did not outlive +the contents of the packet which introduced her to me +in the flesh a few weeks after our return. "Tell me," +he wrote from Yorkshire, where he had been meanwhile +passing pleasant holiday with a friend, "what +you think of Mrs. Gamp? You'll not find it easy to +get through the hundreds of misprints in her conversation, +but I want your opinion at once. I think you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_52" id="Page_2_52">[52]</a></span> +know already something of mine. I mean to make a +mark with her." The same letter enclosed me a clever +and pointed little parable in verse which he had written +for an annual edited by Lady Blessington.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_53" id="Page_2_53">[53]</a></span></p> +<p>Another allusion in the February letter reminds me +of the interest which his old work for the <i>Chronicle</i> +gave him in everything affecting its credit, and that +this was the year when Mr. John Black ceased to be +its editor, in circumstances reviving strongly all Dickens's +sympathies. "I am deeply grieved" (3rd of +May, 1843) "about Black. Sorry from my heart's +core. If I could find him out, I would go and comfort +him this moment." He did find him out; and +he and a certain number of us did also comfort this +excellent man after a fashion extremely English, by +giving him a Greenwich dinner on the 20th of May; +when Dickens had arranged and ordered all to perfection, +and the dinner succeeded in its purpose, as in +other ways, quite wonderfully. Among the entertainers +were Sheil and Thackeray, Fonblanque and Charles +Buller, Southwood Smith and William Johnson Fox, +Macready and Maclise, as well as myself and Dickens.</p> + +<p>There followed another similar celebration, in which +one of these entertainers was the guest and which +owed hardly less to Dickens's exertions, when, at the +Star-and-garter at Richmond in the autumn, we wished +Macready good-speed on his way to America. Dickens +took the chair at that dinner; and with Stanfield,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_54" id="Page_2_54">[54]</a></span> +Maclise, and myself, was in the following week to +have accompanied the great actor to Liverpool to say +good-bye to him on board the Cunard ship, and bring +his wife back to London after their leave-taking; when +a word from our excellent friend Captain Marryat, +startling to all of us except Dickens himself, struck +him out of our party. Marryat thought that Macready +might suffer in the States by any public mention of +his having been attended on his way by the author +of the <i>American Notes</i> and <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>, and +our friend at once agreed with him. "Your main and +foremost reason," he wrote to me, "for doubting +Marryat's judgment, I can at once destroy. It has +occurred to me many times; I have mentioned the +thing to Kate more than once; and I had intended +<i>not</i> to go on board, charging Radley to let nothing be +said of my being in his house. I have been prevented +from giving any expression to my fears by a misgiving +that I should seem to attach, if I did so, too much +importance to my own doings. But now that I have +Marryat at my back, I have not the least hesitation in +saying that I am certain he is right. I have very great +apprehensions that the <i>Nickleby</i> dedication will damage +Macready. Marryat is wrong in supposing it is not +printed in the American editions, for I have myself +seen it in the shop windows of several cities. If I +were to go on board with him, I have not the least +doubt that the fact would be placarded all over New +York, before he had shaved himself in Boston. And +that there are thousands of men in America who would +pick a quarrel with him on the mere statement of his +being my friend, I have no more doubt than I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_55" id="Page_2_55">[55]</a></span> +of my existence. You have only doubted Marryat +because it is impossible for <i>any man</i> to know what +they are in their own country, who has not seen them +there."</p> + +<p>This letter was written from Broadstairs, whither he +had gone in August, after such help as he only could +give, and never took such delight as in giving, to a +work of practical humanity. Earlier in the year he +had presided at a dinner for the Printers' Pension-fund, +which Thomas Hood, Douglas Jerrold, and myself +attended with him; and upon the terrible summer-evening +accident at sea by which Mr. Elton the actor +lost his life, it was mainly by Dickens's unremitting +exertions, seconded admirably by Mr. Serle and warmly +taken up by Mr. Elton's own profession (the most +generous in the world), that ample provision was made +for the many children. At the close of August I had +news of him from his favourite watering-place, too +characteristic to be omitted. The day before had been +a day of "terrific heat," yet this had not deterred him +from doing what he was too often suddenly prone to +do in the midst of his hardest work. "I performed +an insane match against time of eighteen miles by the +milestones in four hours and a half, under a burning +sun the whole way. I could get" (he is writing next +morning) "no sleep at night, and really began to be +afraid I was going to have a fever. You may judge in +what kind of authorship-training I am to-day. I could +as soon eat the cliff as write about anything." A few +days later, however, all was well again; and another +sketch from himself, to his American friend, will show +his sea-side life in ordinary. "In a bay-window in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_56" id="Page_2_56">[56]</a></span> +one-pair sits, from nine o'clock to one, a gentleman +with rather long hair and no neckcloth, who writes and +grins as if he thought he were very funny indeed. At +one he disappears, presently emerges from a bathing-machine, +and may be seen, a kind of salmon-coloured +porpoise, splashing about in the ocean. After that he +may be viewed in another bay-window on the ground +floor, eating a strong lunch; and after that, walking a +dozen miles or so, or lying on his back in the sand +reading a book. Nobody bothers him unless they know +he is disposed to be talked to; and I am told he is very +comfortable indeed. He's as brown as a berry, and +they <i>do</i> say is a small fortune to the innkeeper who sells +beer and cold punch. But this is mere rumour. Sometimes +he goes up to London (eighty miles or so away), +and then I'm told there is a sound in Lincoln's-inn-fields +at night, as of men laughing, together with a +clinking of knives and forks and wine-glasses."<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p> + +<p>He returned to town "for good" on Monday the +2nd of October, and from the Wednesday to the Friday +of that week was at Manchester, presiding at the +opening of its great Athenæum, when Mr. Cobden and +Mr. Disraeli also "assisted." Here he spoke mainly +on a matter always nearest his heart, the education of +the very poor. He protested against the danger of +calling a little learning dangerous; declared his preference +for the very least of the little over none at all; +proposed to substitute for the old a new doggerel,</p> + +<div class='poem'> +Though house and lands be never got,<br /> +Learning can give what they can <i>not;</i><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_57" id="Page_2_57">[57]</a></span></div> + +<div class='unindent'>told his listeners of the real and paramount danger we +had lately taken Longfellow to see in the nightly +refuges of London, "thousands of immortal creatures +condemned without alternative or choice to tread, not +what our great poet calls the primrose path to the everlasting +bonfire, but one of jagged flints and stones laid +down by brutal ignorance;" and contrasted this with +the unspeakable consolation and blessings that a little +knowledge had shed on men of the lowest estate and +most hopeless means, "watching the stars with Ferguson +the shepherd's boy, walking the streets with Crabbe, +a poor barber here in Lancashire with Arkwright, a +tallow-chandler's son with Franklin, shoemaking with +Bloomfield in his garret, following the plough with +Burns, and, high above the noise of loom and hammer, +whispering courage in the ears of workers I could +this day name in Sheffield and in Manchester."</div> + +<p>The same spirit impelled him to give eager welcome +to the remarkable institution of Ragged schools, which, +begun by a shoemaker of Southampton and a chimney-sweep +of Windsor and carried on by a peer of the +realm, has had results of incalculable importance to +society. The year of which I am writing was its first, +as this in which I write is its last; and in the interval, +out of three hundred thousand children to whom it has +given some sort of education, it is computed also to +have given to a third of that number the means of +honest employment.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> "I sent Miss Coutts," he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_58" id="Page_2_58">[58]</a></span> +written (24th of September), "a sledge hammer account +of the Ragged schools; and as I saw her name +for two hundred pounds in the clergy education subscription-list, +took pains to show her that religious +mysteries and difficult creeds wouldn't do for such +pupils. I told her, too, that it was of immense importance +they should be <i>washed</i>. She writes back to +know what the rent of some large airy premises would +be, and what the expense of erecting a regular bathing +or purifying place; touching which points I am in correspondence +with the authorities. I have no doubt she +will do whatever I ask her in the matter. She is a +most excellent creature, I protest to God, and I have a +most perfect affection and respect for her."</p> + +<p>One of the last things he did at the close of the year, +in the like spirit, was to offer to describe the Ragged +schools for the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>. "I have told +Napier," he wrote to me, "I will give a description of +them in a paper on education, if the <i>Review</i> is not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_59" id="Page_2_59">[59]</a></span> +afraid to take ground against the church catechism and +other mere formularies and subtleties, in reference to +the education of the young and ignorant. I fear it is +extremely improbable it will consent to commit itself +so far." His fears were well-founded; but the statements +then made by him give me opportunity to add +that it was his impatience of differences on this point +with clergymen of the Established Church that had led +him, for the past year or two, to take sittings in the +Little Portland-street Unitarian chapel; for whose +officiating minister, Mr. Edward Tagart, he had a +friendly regard which continued long after he had +ceased to be a member of his congregation. That he +did so quit it, after two or three years, I can distinctly +state; and of the frequent agitation of his mind and +thoughts in connection with this all-important theme, +there will be other occasions to speak. But upon essential +points he had never any sympathy so strong as with +the leading doctrine and discipline of the Church of +England; to these, as time went on, he found himself +able to accommodate all minor differences; and the +unswerving faith in Christianity itself, apart from sects +and schisms, which had never failed him at any period +of his life, found expression at its close in the language +of his will. Twelve months before his death, these +words were written. "I direct that my name be inscribed +in plain English letters on my tomb . . . I +conjure my friends on no account to make me the subject +of any monument, memorial, or testimonial whatever. +I rest my claim to the remembrance of my country +on my published works, and to the remembrance of my +friends upon their experience of me in addition thereto.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_60" id="Page_2_60">[60]</a></span> +I commit my soul to the mercy of God, through our +Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and I exhort my dear +children humbly to try to guide themselves by the +teaching of the New Testament in its broad spirit, and +to put no faith in any man's narrow construction of its +letter here or there."</p> + +<p>Active as he had been in the now ending year, and +great as were its varieties of employment; his genius in +its highest mood, his energy unwearied in good work, +and his capacity for enjoyment without limit; he was +able to signalize its closing months by an achievement +supremely fortunate, which but for disappointments the +year had also brought might never have been thought +of. He had not begun until a week after his return +from Manchester, where the fancy first occurred to him, +and before the end of November he had finished, his +memorable <i>Christmas Carol</i>. It was the work of such +odd moments of leisure as were left him out of the time +taken up by two numbers of his <i>Chuzzlewit;</i> and though +begun with but the special design of adding something +to the <i>Chuzzlewit</i> balance, I can testify to the accuracy +of his own account of what befell him in its composition, +with what a strange mastery it seized him for itself, +how he wept over it, and laughed, and wept again, and +excited himself to an extraordinary degree, and how he +walked thinking of it fifteen and twenty miles about +the black streets of London, many and many a night +after all sober folks had gone to bed. And when it +was done, as he told our friend Mr. Felton in America, +he let himself loose like a madman. "Forster is out +again," he added, by way of illustrating our practical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_61" id="Page_2_61">[61]</a></span> +comments on his celebration of the jovial old season, +"and if he don't go in again after the manner in which +we have been keeping Christmas, he must be very +strong indeed. Such dinings, such dancings, such conjurings, +such blind-man's-buffings, such theatre-goings, +such kissings-out of old years and kissings-in of new +ones, never took place in these parts before."</p> + +<p>Yet had it been to him, this closing year, a time also +of much anxiety and strange disappointments of which +I am now to speak; and before, with that view, we go +back for a while to its earlier months, one step into the +new year may be taken for what marked it with interest +and importance to him. Eighteen hundred and +forty-four was but fifteen days old when a third son +(his fifth child, which received the name of its godfather +Francis Jeffrey) was born; and here is an answer +sent by him, two days later, to an invitation from +Maclise, Stanfield, and myself to dine with us at Richmond. +"<span class="smcap">Devonshire Lodge</span>, <i>Seventeenth of January</i>, +1844. <span class="smcap">Fellow Countrymen!</span> The appeal with which +you have honoured me, awakens within my breast emotions +that are more easily to be imagined than described. +Heaven bless you. I shall indeed be proud, my friends, +to respond to such a requisition. I had withdrawn +from Public Life—I fondly thought forever—to pass +the evening of my days in hydropathical pursuits, and +the contemplation of virtue. For which latter purpose, +I had bought a looking-glass.—But, my friends, private +feeling must ever yield to a stern sense of public duty. +The Man is lost in the Invited Guest, and I comply. +Nurses, wet and dry; apothecaries; mothers-in-law;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_62" id="Page_2_62">[62]</a></span> +babbies; with all the sweet (and chaste) delights of +private life; these, my countrymen, are hard to leave. +But you have called me forth, and I will come. Fellow +countrymen, your friend and faithful servant, +<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_63" id="Page_2_63">[63]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>CHUZZLEWIT DISAPPOINTMENTS AND CHRISTMAS CAROL.</h3> + +<h3>1843-1844.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Sale of <i>Chuzzlewit</i>—Publishers and Authors—Unlucky Clause in +<i>Chuzzlewit</i> Agreement—Resolve to have other Publishers—A Plan +for seeing Foreign Cities—Confidence in Himself—Preparation of +<i>Carol</i>—Turning-point of his Career—Work and its Interruptions—Superiority +of <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i> to former Books—News from +America—A Favourite Scene of Thackeray's—Grand Purpose of the +Satire of <i>Chuzzlewit</i>—Publication of <i>Christmas Carol</i>—Unrealized +Hopes—Agreement with Bradbury and Evans.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Chuzzlewit</span> had fallen short of all the expectations +formed of it in regard to sale. By much the most +masterly of his writings hitherto, the public had rallied +to it in far less numbers than to any of its predecessors. +The primary cause of this, there is little doubt, had +been the change to weekly issues in the form of publication +of his last two stories; for into everything in +this world mere habit enters more largely than we are +apt to suppose. Nor had the temporary withdrawal to +America been favourable to an immediate resumption +by his readers of their old and intimate relations. +This also is to be added, that the excitement by +which a popular reputation is kept up to the highest +selling mark, will always be subject to lulls too capricious +for explanation. But whatever the causes, here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_64" id="Page_2_64">[64]</a></span> +was the undeniable fact of a grave depreciation of sale +in his writings, unaccompanied by any falling off either +in themselves or in the writer's reputation. It was very +temporary; but it was present, and to be dealt with +accordingly. The forty and fifty thousand purchasers +of <i>Pickwick</i> and <i>Nickleby</i>, the sixty and seventy thousand +of the early numbers of the enterprize in which +the <i>Old Curiosity Shop</i> and <i>Barnaby Rudge</i> appeared, +had fallen to little over twenty thousand. They rose +somewhat on Martin's ominous announcement, at the +end of the fourth number, that he'd <i>go to America;</i> +but though it was believed that this resolve, which +Dickens adopted as suddenly as his hero, might increase +the number of his readers, that reason influenced +him less than the challenge to make good his <i>Notes</i> +which every mail had been bringing him from unsparing +assailants beyond the Atlantic. The substantial +effect of the American episode upon the sale was yet +by no means great. A couple of thousand additional +purchasers were added, but the highest number at any +time reached before the story closed was twenty-three +thousand. Its sale, since, has ranked next after <i>Pickwick</i> +and <i>Copperfield</i>.</p> + +<p>We were now, however, to have a truth brought +home to us which few that have had real or varied experience +in such matters can have failed to be impressed +by—that publishers are bitter bad judges of an author, +and are seldom safe persons to consult in regard to the +fate or fortunes that may probably await him. Describing +the agreement for this book in September 1841, I +spoke of a provision against the improbable event +of its profits proving inadequate to certain necessary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_65" id="Page_2_65">[65]</a></span> +repayments. In this unlikely case, which was to be +ascertained by the proceeds of the first five numbers, +the publishers were to have power to appropriate fifty +pounds a month out of the two hundred pounds payable +for authorship in the expenses of each number; +but though this had been introduced with my knowledge, +I knew also too much of the antecedent relations +of the parties to regard it as other than a mere form to +satisfy the attorneys in the case. The fifth number, +which landed Martin and Mark in America, and the +sixth, which described their first experiences, were published; +and on the eve of the seventh, in which Mrs. +Gamp was to make her first appearance, I heard with +infinite pain that from Mr. Hall, the younger partner +of the firm which had enriched itself by <i>Pickwick</i> and +<i>Nickleby</i>, and a very kind well-disposed man, there had +dropped an inconsiderate hint to the writer of those +books that it might be desirable to put the clause in +force. It had escaped him without his thinking of all +that it involved; certainly the senior partner, whatever +amount of as thoughtless sanction he had at the moment +given to it, always much regretted it, and made endeavours +to exhibit his regret; but the mischief was +done, and for the time was irreparable.</p> + +<p>"I am so irritated," Dickens wrote to me on the +28th of June, "so rubbed in the tenderest part of my +eyelids with bay-salt, by what I told you yesterday, +that a wrong kind of fire is burning in my head, and I +don't think I <i>can</i> write. Nevertheless, I am trying. In +case I should succeed, and should not come down to +you this morning, shall you be at the club or elsewhere +after dinner? I am bent on paying the money. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_66" id="Page_2_66">[66]</a></span> +before going into the matter with anybody I should like +you to propound from me the one preliminary question +to Bradbury and Evans. It is more than a year and a +half since Clowes wrote to urge me to give him a hearing, +in case I should ever think of altering my plans. +A printer is better than a bookseller, and it is quite as +much the interest of one (if not more) to join me. But +whoever it is, or whatever, I am bent upon paying +Chapman and Hall <i>down</i>. And when I have done that, +Mr. Hall shall have a piece of my mind."</p> + +<p>What he meant by the proposed repayment will be +understood by what formerly was said of his arrangements +with these gentlemen on the repurchase of his +early copyrights. Feeling no surprise at this announcement, +I yet prevailed with him to suspend proceedings +until his return from Broadstairs in October; and what +then I had to say led to memorable resolves. The +communication he had desired me to make to his +printers had taken them too much by surprise to enable +them to form a clear judgment respecting it; and they +replied by suggestions which were in effect a confession +of that want of confidence in themselves. They enlarged +upon the great results that would follow a reissue +of his writings in a cheap form; they strongly +urged such an undertaking; and they offered to invest +to any desired amount in the establishment of a magazine +or other periodical to be edited by him. The +possible dangers, in short, incident to their assuming +the position of publishers as well as printers of new +works from his pen, seemed at first to be so much +greater than on closer examination they were found to +be, that at the outset they shrank from encountering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_67" id="Page_2_67">[67]</a></span> +them. And hence the remarkable letter I shall now +quote (1st of November, 1843).</p> + +<p>"Don't be startled by the novelty and extent of +my project. Both startled <i>me</i> at first; but I am well +assured of its wisdom and necessity. I am afraid of a +magazine—just now. I don't think the time a good +one, or the chances favourable. I am afraid of putting +myself before the town as writing tooth and nail for +bread, headlong, after the close of a book taking so +much out of one as <i>Chuzzlewit</i>. I am afraid I could +not do it, with justice to myself. I know that whatever +we may say at first, a new magazine, or a new anything, +would require so much propping, that I should +be <i>forced</i> (as in the <i>Clock</i>) to put myself into it, in my +old shape. I am afraid of Bradbury and Evans's desire +to force on the cheap issue of my books, or any of +them, prematurely. I am sure if it took place yet +awhile, it would damage me and damage the property, +<i>enormously</i>. It is very natural in them to want it; +but, since they do want it, I have no faith in their +regarding me in any other respect than they would regard +any other man in a speculation. I see that this is +really your opinion as well; and I don't see what I +gain, in such a case, by leaving Chapman and Hall. +If I had made money, I should unquestionably fade +away from the public eye for a year, and enlarge my +stock of description and observation by seeing countries +new to me; which it is most necessary to me that +I should see, and which with an increasing family I +can scarcely hope to see at all, unless I see them now. +Already for some time I have had this hope and intention +before me; and though not having made money<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_68" id="Page_2_68">[68]</a></span> +yet, I find or fancy that I can put myself in the position +to accomplish it. And this is the course I have +before me. At the close of <i>Chuzzlewit</i> (by which time +the debt will have been materially reduced) I purpose +drawing from Chapman and Hall my share of the subscription—bills, +or money, will do equally well. I design +to tell them that it is not likely I shall do anything +for a year; that, in the meantime, I make no arrangement +whatever with any one; and our business matters +rest <i>in statu quo</i>. The same to Bradbury and Evans. +I shall let the house if I can; if not, leave it to be let. +I shall take all the family, and two servants—three at +most—to some place which I know beforehand to be +<span class="smcap">cheap</span> and in a delightful climate, in Normandy or +Brittany, to which I shall go over, first, and where I +shall rent some house for six or eight months. During +that time, I shall walk through Switzerland, cross the +Alps, travel through France and Italy; take Kate perhaps +to Rome and Venice, but not elsewhere; and in +short see everything that is to be seen. I shall write +my descriptions to you from time to time, exactly as I +did in America; and you will be able to judge whether +or not a new and attractive book may not be made on +such ground. At the same time I shall be able to turn +over the story I have in my mind, and which I have a +strong notion might be published with great advantage, +<i>first in Paris</i>—but that's another matter to be talked +over. And of course I have not yet settled, either, +whether any book about the travel, or this, should be +the first. 'All very well,' you say, 'if you had money +enough.' Well, but if I can see my way to what would +be necessary without binding myself in any form to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_69" id="Page_2_69">[69]</a></span> +anything; without paying interest, or giving any security +but one of my Eagle five thousand pounds; you +would give up that objection. And I stand committed +to no bookseller, printer, money-lender, banker, or +patron whatever; and decidedly strengthen my position +with my readers, instead of weakening it, drop by +drop, as I otherwise must. Is it not so? and is not +the way before me, plainly this? I infer that in reality +you do yourself think, that what I first thought of is +<i>not</i> the way? I have told you my scheme very badly, +as I said I would. I see its great points, against many +prepossessions the other way—as, leaving England, +home, friends, everything I am fond of—but it seems +to me, at a critical time, <i>the</i> step to set me right. A +blessing on Mr. Mariotti my Italian master, and his +pupil!—If you have any breath left, tell Topping how +you are."</p> + +<p>I had certainly not much after reading this letter, +written amid all the distractions of his work, with both +the <i>Carol</i> and <i>Chuzzlewit</i> in hand; but such insufficient +breath as was left to me I spent against the project, and +in favour of far more consideration than he had given +to it, before anything should be settled. "I expected +you," he wrote next day (the 2nd of November), "to +be startled. If I was startled myself, when I first got +this project of foreign travel into my head, <span class="smcap">months</span> +AGO, how much more must you be, on whom it comes +fresh: numbering only hours! Still, I am very resolute +upon it—very. I am convinced that my expenses +abroad would not be more than half of my expenses +here; the influence of change and nature upon me, +enormous. You know, as well as I, that I think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_70" id="Page_2_70">[70]</a></span> <i>Chuzzlewit</i> +in a hundred points immeasurably the best of my +stories. That I feel my power now, more than I ever +did. That I have a greater confidence in myself than +I ever had. That I <i>know</i>, if I have health, I could +sustain my place in the minds of thinking men, though +fifty writers started up to-morrow. But how many +readers do <i>not</i> think! How many take it upon trust +from knaves and idiots, that one writes too fast, or +runs a thing to death! How coldly did this very book +go on for months, until it forced itself up in people's +opinion, without forcing itself up in sale! If I wrote +for forty thousand Forsters, or for forty thousand people +who know I write because I can't help it, I should have +no need to leave the scene. But this very book warns me +that if I <i>can</i> leave it for a time, I had better do so, and +must do so. Apart from that again, I feel that longer +rest after this story would do me good. You say two +or three months, because you have been used to see me +for eight years never leaving off. But it is not rest +enough. It is impossible to go on working the brain +to that extent for ever. The very spirit of the thing, +in doing it, leaves a horrible despondency behind, +when it is done; which must be prejudicial to the +mind, so soon renewed, and so seldom let alone. What +would poor Scott have given to have gone abroad, of +his own free will, a young man, instead of creeping +there, a driveller, in his miserable decay! I said myself +in my note to you—anticipating what you put to +me—that it was a question <i>what</i> I should come out +with, first. The travel-book, if to be done at all, would +cost me very little trouble; and surely would go very +far to pay charges, whenever published. We have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_71" id="Page_2_71">[71]</a></span> +spoken of the baby, and of leaving it here with Catherine's +mother. Moving the children into France could +not, in any ordinary course of things, do them anything +but good. And the question is, what it would +do to that by which they live: not what it would do +to them.—I had forgotten that point in the B. and E. +negociation; but they certainly suggested instant publication +of the reprints, or at all events of some of +them; by which of course I know, and as you point +out, I could provide of myself what is wanted. I take +that as putting the thing distinctly as a matter of trade, +and feeling it so. And, as a matter of trade with them +or anybody else, as a matter of trade between me and +the public, should I not be better off a year hence, with +the reputation of having seen so much in the meantime? +The reason which induces you to look upon +this scheme with dislike—separation for so long a time—surely +has equal weight with me. I see very little +pleasure in it, beyond the natural desire to have been +in those great scenes; I anticipate no enjoyment at +the time. I have come to look upon it as a matter of +policy and duty. I have a thousand other reasons, but +shall very soon myself be with you."</p> + +<p>There were difficulties, still to be strongly urged, +against taking any present step to a final resolve; and +he gave way a little. But the pressure was soon renewed. +"I have been," he wrote (10th of November), +"all day in <i>Chuzzlewit</i> agonies—conceiving only. +I hope to bring forth to-morrow. Will you come here +at six? I want to say a word or two about the cover +of the <i>Carol</i> and the advertising, and to consult you +on a nice point in the tale. It will come wonderfully<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_72" id="Page_2_72">[72]</a></span> +I think. Mac will call here soon after, and we can +then all three go to Bulwer's together. And do, my +dear fellow, do for God's sake turn over about Chapman +and Hall, and look upon my project as a <i>settled +thing</i>. If you object to see them, I must write to +them." My reluctance as to the question affecting +his old publishers was connected with the little story, +which, amid all his perturbations and troubles and +"<i>Chuzzlewit</i> agonies," he was steadily carrying to its +close; and which remains a splendid proof of how +thoroughly he was borne out in the assertion just before +made, of the sense of his power felt by him, and +his confidence that it had never been greater than +when his readers were thus falling off from him. He +had entrusted the <i>Carol</i> for publication on his own +account, under the usual terms of commission, to the +firm he had been so long associated with; and at such +a moment to tell them, short of absolute necessity, his +intention to quit them altogether, I thought a needless +putting in peril of the little book's chances. He +yielded to this argument; but the issue, as will be +found, was less fortunate than I hoped.</p> + +<p>Let disappointments or annoyances, however, beset +him as they might, once heartily in his work and all +was forgotten. His temperament of course coloured +everything, cheerful or sad, and his present outlook was +disturbed by imaginary fears; but it was very certain +that his labours and successes thus far had enriched +others more than himself, and while he knew that his +mode of living had been scrupulously governed by +what he believed to be his means, the first suspicion +that these might be inadequate made a change necessary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_73" id="Page_2_73">[73]</a></span> +to so upright a nature. It was the turning-point +of his career; and the issue, though not immediately, +ultimately justified him. Much of his present restlessness +I was too ready myself to ascribe to that love of +change in him which was always arising from his passionate +desire to vary and extend his observation; but +even as to this the result showed him right in believing +that he should obtain decided intellectual advantage +from the mere effects of such farther travel. Here +indeed he spoke from experience, for already he had +returned from America with wider views than when +he started, and with a larger maturity of mind. The +money difficulties on which he dwelt were also, it is +now to be admitted, unquestionable. Beyond his own +domestic expenses necessarily increasing, there were +many, never-satisfied, constantly-recurring claims from +family quarters, not the more easily avoidable because +unreasonable and unjust; and it was after describing +to me one such with great bitterness, a few days following +the letter last quoted, that he thus replied on the +following day (19th of November) to the comment I +had made upon it. "I was most horribly put out for +a little while; for I had got up early to go at it, and +was full of interest in what I had to do. But having +eased my mind by that note to you, and taken a turn +or two up and down the room, I went at it again, and +soon got so interested that I blazed away till 9 last +night; only stopping ten minutes for dinner! I suppose +I wrote eight printed pages of <i>Chuzzlewit</i> yesterday. +The consequence is that I <i>could</i> finish to-day, but am +taking it easy, and making myself laugh very much." +The very next day, unhappily, there came to himself a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_74" id="Page_2_74">[74]</a></span> +repetition of precisely similar trouble in exaggerated +form, and to me a fresh reminder of what was gradually +settling into a fixed resolve. "I am quite serious and +sober when I say, that I have very grave thoughts of +keeping my whole menagerie in Italy, three years."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Of the book which awoke such varied feelings and +was the occasion of such vicissitudes of fortune, some +notice is now due; and this, following still as yet my +former rule, will be not so much critical as biographical. +He had left for Italy before the completed tale was +published, and its reception for a time was exactly what +his just-quoted letter prefigures. It had forced itself up +in public opinion without forcing itself up in sale. It +was felt generally to be an advance upon his previous +stories, and his own opinion is not to be questioned +that it was in a hundred points immeasurably the best of +them thus far; less upon the surface, and going deeper +into springs of character. Nor would it be difficult to +say, in a single word, where the excellence lay that +gave it this superiority. It had brought his highest +faculty into play: over and above other qualities it had +given scope to his imagination; and it first expressed +the distinction in this respect between his earlier and +his later books. Apart wholly from this, too, his letters +will have confirmed a remark already made upon the +degree to which his mental power had been altogether +deepened and enlarged by the effect of his visit to +America.</p> + +<p>In construction and conduct of story <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i> +is defective, character and description constituting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_75" id="Page_2_75">[75]</a></span> +the chief part of its strength. But what it lost as a +story by the American episode it gained in the other +direction; young Martin, by happy use of a bitter +experience, casting off his slough of selfishness in the +poisonous swamp of Eden. Dickens often confessed, +however, the difficulty it had been to him to have to +deal with this gap in the main course of his narrative; +and I will give an instance from a letter he wrote to +me when engaged upon the number in which Jonas +brings his wife to her miserable home. "I write in +haste" (28th of July 1843), "for I have been at work +all day; and, it being against the grain with me to go +back to America when my interest is strong in the other +parts of the tale, have got on but slowly. I have a +great notion to work out with Sydney's favourite,<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> and +long to be at him again." But obstructions of this +kind with Dickens measured only and always the degree +of readiness and resource with which he rose to meet +them, and never had his handling of character been so +masterly as in <i>Chuzzlewit</i>. The persons delineated in +former books had been more agreeable, but never so +interpenetrated with meanings brought out with a grasp +so large, easy, and firm. As well in this as in the passionate +vividness of its descriptions, the imaginative +power makes itself felt. The windy autumn night, with +the mad desperation of the hunted leaves and the roaring +mirth of the blazing village forge; the market-day<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_76" id="Page_2_76">[76]</a></span> +at Salisbury; the winter walk, and the coach journey +to London by night; the ship voyage over the Atlantic; +the stormy midnight travel before the murder, the +stealthy enterprise and cowardly return of the murderer; +these are all instances of first-rate description, +original in the design, imaginative in all the detail, +and very complete in the execution. But the higher +power to which I direct attention is even better discerned +in the persons and dialogue. With nothing +absent or abated in its sharp impressions of reality, +there are more of the subtle requisites which satisfy +reflection and thought. We have in this book for the +most part, not only observation but the outcome of it, +the knowledge as well as the fact. While we witness +as vividly the life immediately passing, we are more +conscious of the permanent life above and beyond it. +Nothing nearly so effective therefore had yet been +achieved by him. He had scrutinised as truly and +satirised as keenly; but had never shown the imaginative +insight with which he now sent his humour and +his art into the core of the vices of the time.</p> + +<p>Sending me the second chapter of his eighth number +on the 15th of August, he gave me the latest tidings +from America. "I gather from a letter I have had +this morning that Martin has made them all stark +staring raving mad across the water. I wish you would +consider this. Don't you think the time has come +when I ought to state that such public entertainments +as I received in the States were either accepted before +I went out, or in the first week after my arrival there; +and that as soon as I began to have any acquaintance +with the country, I set my face against any public recognition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_77" id="Page_2_77">[77]</a></span> +whatever but that which was forced upon me +to the destruction of my peace and comfort—and made +no secret of my real sentiments." We did not agree +as to this, and the notion was abandoned; though his +correspondent had not overstated the violence of the +outbreak in the States when those chapters exploded +upon them. But though an angry they are a good +humoured and a very placable people; and, as time +moved on a little, the laughter on that side of the +Atlantic became quite as great as our amusement on +this side, at the astonishing fun and comicality of these +scenes. With a little reflection the Americans had +doubtless begun to find out that the advantage was not +all with us, nor the laughter wholly against them.</p> + +<p>They had no Pecksniff at any rate. Bred in a more +poisonous swamp than their Eden, of greatly older +standing and much harder to be drained, Pecksniff was +all our own. The confession is not encouraging to +national pride, but this character is so far English, +that though our countrymen as a rule are by no means +Pecksniffs, the ruling weakness is to countenance and +encourage the race. When people call the character +exaggerated, and protest that the lines are too broad to +deceive any one, they only refuse, naturally enough, to +sanction in a book what half their lives is passed in +tolerating if not in worshipping. Dickens, illustrating +his never-failing experience of being obliged to subdue +in his books what he knew to be real for fear it should +be deemed impossible, had already made the remark in +his preface to <i>Nickleby</i>, that the world, which is so +very credulous in what professes to be true, is most incredulous +in what professes to be imaginary. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_78" id="Page_2_78">[78]</a></span> +agree to be deceived in a reality, and reward themselves +by refusing to be deceived in a fiction. That a +great many people who might have sat for Pecksniff, +should condemn him for a grotesque impossibility, as +Dickens averred to be the case, was no more than +might be expected. A greater danger he has exposed +more usefully in showing the greater numbers, who, +desiring secretly to be thought better than they are, +support eagerly pretensions that keep their own in +countenance, and, without being Pecksniffs, render +Pecksniffs possible. All impostures would have something +too suspicious or forbidding in their look if we +were not prepared to meet them half way.</p> + +<p>There is one thing favourable to us however, even in +this view, which a French critic has lately suggested. +Informing us that there are no Pecksniffs to be found +in France, Mr. Taine explains this by the fact that his +countrymen have ceased to affect virtue, and pretend +only to vice; that a charlatan setting up morality +would have no sort of following; that religion and the +domestic virtues have gone so utterly to rags as not to +be worth putting on for a deceitful garment; and that, +no principles being left to parade, the only chance for +the French modern Tartuffe is to confess and exaggerate +weaknesses. We seem to have something of an advantage +here. We require at least that the respectable homage of +vice to virtue should not be omitted. "Charity, my +dear," says our English Tartuffe, upon being bluntly +called what he really is, "when I take my chamber-candlestick +to-night, remind me to be more than usually +particular in praying for Mr. Anthony Chuzzlewit, who +has done me an injustice." No amount of self-indulgence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_79" id="Page_2_79">[79]</a></span> +weakens or lowers his pious and reflective tone. +"Those are her daughters," he remarks, making maudlin +overtures to Mrs. Todgers in memory of his deceased +wife. "Mercy and Charity, Charity and Mercy, not +unholy names I hope. She was beautiful. She had a +small property." When his condition has fallen into +something so much worse than maudlin that his friends +have to put him to bed, they have not had time to +descend the staircase when he is seen to be "fluttering" +on the top landing, desiring to collect their sentiments +on the nature of human life. "Let us be moral. Let +us contemplate existence." He turns his old pupil +out of doors in the attitude of blessing him, and when +he has discharged that social duty retires to shed his +personal tribute of a few tears in the back garden. No +conceivable position, action, or utterance finds him +without the vice in which his being is entirely steeped +and saturated. Of such consummate consistency is its +practice with him, that in his own house with his +daughters he continues it to keep his hand in; and +from the mere habit of keeping up appearances, even +to himself, falls into the trap of Jonas. Thackeray used +to say that there was nothing finer in rascaldom than +this ruin of Pecksniff by his son-in-law at the very +moment when the oily hypocrite believes himself to +be achieving his masterpiece of dissembling over the +more vulgar avowed ruffian. "'Jonas!' cried Mr. +Pecksniff much affected, 'I am not a diplomatical +character; my heart is in my hand. By far the greater +part of the inconsiderable savings I have accumulated +in the course of—I hope—a not dishonourable or useless +career, is already given, devised, or bequeathed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_80" id="Page_2_80">[80]</a></span> +(correct me, my dear Jonas, if I am technically wrong), +with expressions of confidence which I will not repeat; +and in securities which it is unnecessary to mention; +to a person whom I cannot, whom I will not, whom I +need not, name.' Here he gave the hand of his son-in-law +a fervent squeeze, as if he would have added, +'God bless you: be very careful of it when you get it!'"</p> + +<p>Certainly Dickens thus far had done nothing of +which, as in this novel, the details were filled in with +such minute and incomparable skill; where the wealth +of comic circumstance was lavished in such overflowing +abundance on single types of character; or where +generally, as throughout the story, the intensity of his +observation of individual humours and vices had taken +so many varieties of imaginative form. Everything in +<i>Chuzzlewit</i> indeed had grown under treatment, as will +be commonly the case in the handling of a man of +genius, who never knows where any given conception +may lead him, out of the wealth of resource in development +and incident which it has itself created. "As to +the way," he wrote to me of its two most prominent +figures, as soon as all their capabilities were revealed to +him, "As to the way in which these characters have +opened out, that is, to me, one of the most surprising +processes of the mind in this sort of invention. Given +what one knows, what one does not know springs up; +and I am as absolutely certain of its being true, as I am +of the law of gravitation—if such a thing be possible, +more so." The remark displays exactly what in all +his important characters was the very process of creation +with him.</p> + +<p>Nor was it in the treatment only of his present fiction,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_81" id="Page_2_81">[81]</a></span> +but also in its subject or design, that he had gone +higher than in preceding efforts. Broadly what he +aimed at, he would have expressed on the title-page if +I had not dissuaded him, by printing there as its motto +a verse altered from that prologue of his own composition +to which I have formerly referred: "Your homes +the scene. Yourselves, the actors, here!" Debtors' +prisons, parish Bumbledoms, Yorkshire schools, were +vile enough, but something much more pestiferous was +now the aim of his satire; and he had not before so +decisively shown vigour, daring, or discernment of what +lay within reach of his art, as in taking such a person +as Pecksniff for the central figure in a tale of existing +life. Setting him up as the glass through which to view +the groups around him, we are not the less moved to a +hearty detestation of the social vices they exhibit, and +pre-eminently of selfishness in all its forms, because we +see more plainly than ever that there is but one vice +which is quite irremediable. The elder Chuzzlewits are +bad enough, but they bring their self-inflicted punishments; +the Jonases and Tigg Montagues are execrable, +but the law has its halter and its penal servitude; the +Moulds and Gamps have plague-bearing breaths, from +which sanitary wisdom may clear us; but from the sleek, +smiling, crawling abomination of a Pecksniff, there is +no help but self-help. Every man's hand should be +against him, for his is against every man; and, as Mr. +Taine very wisely warns us, the virtues have most need +to be careful that they do not make themselves panders +to his vice. It is an amiable weakness to put the +best face on the worst things, but there is none more +dangerous. There is nothing so common as the mistake<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_82" id="Page_2_82">[82]</a></span> +of Tom Pinch, and nothing so rare as his excuses.</p> + +<p>The art with which that delightful character is placed +at Mr. Pecksniff's elbow at the beginning of the story, +and the help he gives to set fairly afloat the falsehood +he innocently believes, contribute to an excellent management +of this part of the design; and the same +prodigal wealth of invention and circumstance which +gives its higher imaginative stamp to the book, appears +as vividly in its lesser as in its leading figures. There +are wonderful touches of this suggestive kind in the +household of Mould the undertaker; and in the vivid +picture presented to us by one of Mrs. Gamp's recollections, +we are transported to the youthful games of +his children. "The sweet creeturs! playing at berryins +down in the shop, and follerin' the order-book to its +long home in the iron safe!" The American scenes +themselves are not more full of life and fun and freshness, +and do not contribute more to the general hilarity, +than the cockney group at Todgers's; which is itself a +little world of the qualities and humours that make up +the interest of human life, whether it be high or low, +vulgar or fine, filled in with a master's hand. Here, +in a mere byestroke as it were, are the very finest things +of the earlier books superadded to the new and higher +achievement that distinguished the later productions. +No part indeed of the execution of this remarkable novel +is inferior. Young Bailey and Sweedlepipes are in the +front rank of his humorous creations; and poor Mrs. +Todgers, worn but not depraved by the cares of gravy +and solicitudes of her establishment, with calculation +shining out of one eye but affection and goodheartedness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_83" id="Page_2_83">[83]</a></span> +still beaming in the other, is in her way quite as +perfect a picture as even the portentous Mrs. Gamp +with her grim grotesqueness, her filthy habits and foul +enjoyments, her thick and damp but most amazing +utterances, her moist clammy functions, her pattens, +her bonnet, her bundle, and her umbrella. But such +prodigious claims must have a special mention.</p> + +<p>This world-famous personage has passed into and become +one with the language, which her own parts of +speech have certainly not exalted or refined. To none +even of Dickens's characters has there been such a run +of popularity; and she will remain among the everlasting +triumphs of fiction, a superb masterpiece of +English humour. What Mr. Mould says of her in his +enthusiasm, that she's the sort of woman one would +bury for nothing, and do it neatly too, every one feels +to be an appropriate tribute; and this, by a most +happy inspiration, is exactly what the genius to whom +she owes her existence did, when he called her into +life, to the foul original she was taken from. That +which enduringly stamped upon his page its most +mirth-moving figure, had stamped out of English life +for ever one of its disgraces. The mortal Mrs. Gamp +was handsomely put into her grave, and only the immortal +Mrs. Gamp survived. Age will not wither this +one, nor custom stale her variety. In the latter point +she has an advantage over even Mr. Pecksniff. She +has a friend, an alter ego, whose kind of service to her +is expressed by her first utterance in the story; and +with this, which introduces her, we may leave her most +fitly. "'Mrs. Harris,' I says, at the very last case as +ever I acted in, which it was but a young person, 'Mrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_84" id="Page_2_84">[84]</a></span> +Harris,' I says, 'leave the bottle on the chimley-piece, +and don't ask me to take none, but let me put my lips +to it when I am so dispoged.' 'Mrs. Gamp,' she says +in answer, 'if ever there was a sober creetur to be got +at eighteen pence a day for working people, and three +and six for gentlefolks—night watching,' said Mrs. +Gamp with emphasis, 'being a extra charge—you are +that inwallable person.' 'Mrs. Harris,' I says to her, +'don't name the charge, for if I could afford to lay all +my fellow-creeturs out for nothink, I would gladly do +it, sich is the love I bears 'em.'" To this there is +nothing to be added, except that in the person of that +astonishing friend every phase of fun and comedy in +the character is repeated, under fresh conditions of increased +appreciation and enjoyment. By the exuberance +of comic invention which gives his distinction to +Mr. Pecksniff, Mrs. Gamp profits quite as much; the +same wealth of laughable incident which surrounds +that worthy man is upon her heaped to overflowing; +but over and above this, by the additional invention +of Mrs. Harris, it is all reproduced, acted over with +renewed spirit, and doubled and quadrupled in her +favour. This on the whole is the happiest stroke of +humorous art in all the writings of Dickens.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>But this is a chapter of disappointments, and I have +now to state, that as <i>Martin Chuzzlewit's</i> success was +to seem to him at first only distant and problematical, +so even the prodigious immediate success of the +<i>Christmas Carol</i> itself was not to be an unmitigated +pleasure. Never had a little book an outset so full of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_85" id="Page_2_85">[85]</a></span> +brilliancy of promise. Published but a few days before +Christmas, it was hailed on every side with enthusiastic +greeting. The first edition of six thousand +copies was sold the first day, and on the third of January +1844 he wrote to me that "two thousand of the +three printed for second and third editions are already +taken by the trade." But a very few weeks were to +pass before the darker side of the picture came. "Such +a night as I have passed!" he wrote to me on Saturday +morning the 10th of February. "I really believed I +should never get up again, until I had passed through +all the horrors of a fever. I found the <i>Carol</i> accounts +awaiting me, and they were the cause of it. The first +six thousand copies show a profit of £230! And the +last four will yield as much more. I had set my heart +and soul upon a Thousand, clear. What a wonderful +thing it is, that such a great success should occasion +me such intolerable anxiety and disappointment! My +year's bills, unpaid, are so terrific, that all the energy +and determination I can possibly exert will be required +to clear me before I go abroad; which, if next June +come and find me alive, I shall do. Good Heaven, if +I had only taken heart a year ago! Do come soon, as +I am very anxious to talk with you. We can send +round to Mac after you arrive, and tell him to join us +at Hampstead or elsewhere. I was so utterly knocked +down last night, that I came up to the contemplation +of all these things quite bold this morning. If I can +let the house for this season, I will be off to some seaside +place as soon as a tenant offers. I am not afraid, +if I reduce my expenses; but if I do not, I shall be +ruined past all mortal hope of redemption."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_86" id="Page_2_86">[86]</a></span></p> + +<p>The ultimate result was that his publishers were +changed, and the immediate result that his departure +for Italy became a settled thing; but a word may be +said on these Carol accounts before mention is made +of his new publishing arrangements.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> Want of judgment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_87" id="Page_2_87">[87]</a></span> +had been shown in not adjusting the expenses of +production with a more equable regard to the selling +price, but even as it was, before the close of the year, +he had received £726 from a sale of fifteen thousand +copies; and the difference between this and the amount +realised by the same proportion of the sale of the successor +to the <i>Carol</i>, undoubtedly justified him in the +discontent now expressed. Of that second tale, as +well as of the third and fourth, more than double the +numbers of the <i>Carol</i> were at once sold, and of course +there was no complaint of any want of success: but +the truth really was, as to all the Christmas stories +issued in this form, that the price charged, while too +large for the public addressed by them, was too little +to remunerate their outlay; and when in later years +he put forth similar fancies for Christmas, charging for +them fewer pence than the shillings required for these, +he counted his purchasers, with fairly corresponding +gains to himself, not by tens but by hundreds of thousands.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> + +<p>It was necessary now that negotiations should be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_88" id="Page_2_88">[88]</a></span> +resumed with his printers, but before any step was +taken Messrs. Chapman and Hall were informed of his +intention not to open fresh publishing relations with +them after <i>Chuzzlewit</i> should have closed. Then followed +deliberations and discussions, many and grave, +which settled themselves at last into the form of an +agreement with Messrs. Bradbury and Evans executed +on the first of June 1844; by which, upon advance +made to him of £2800, he assigned to them a fourth +share in whatever he might write during the next ensuing +eight years, to which the agreement was to be +strictly limited. There were the usual protecting +clauses, but no interest was to be paid, and no obligations +were imposed as to what works should be +written, if any, or the form of them; the only farther +stipulation having reference to the event of a periodical +being undertaken whereof Dickens might be only +partially editor or author, in which case his proprietorship +of copyright and profits was to be two thirds +instead of three fourths. There was an understanding, +at the time this agreement was signed, that a successor +to the <i>Carol</i> would be ready for the Christmas of 1844; +but no other promise was asked or made in regard to +any other book, nor had he himself decided what +form to give to his experiences of Italy, if he should +even finally determine to publish them at all.</p> + +<p>Between this agreement and his journey six weeks +elapsed, and there were one or two characteristic incidents +before his departure: but mention must first be +interposed of the success quite without alloy that also +attended the little book, and carried off in excitement +and delight every trace of doubt or misgiving.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_89" id="Page_2_89">[89]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Blessings on your kind heart!" wrote Jeffrey to +the author of the <i>Carol</i>. "You should be happy yourself, +for you may be sure you have done more good by +this little publication, fostered more kindly feelings, and +prompted more positive acts of beneficence, than can +be traced to all the pulpits and confessionals in Christendom +since Christmas 1842." "Who can listen," +exclaimed Thackeray, "to objections regarding such a +book as this? It seems to me a national benefit, and +to every man or woman who reads it a personal kindness." +Such praise expressed what men of genius felt +and said; but the small volume had other tributes, +less usual and not less genuine. There poured upon +its author daily, all through that Christmas time, letters +from complete strangers to him which I remember +reading with a wonder of pleasure; not literary at +all, but of the simplest domestic kind; of which the +general burden was to tell him, amid many confidences +about their homes, how the <i>Carol</i> had come +to be read aloud there, and was to be kept upon a +little shelf by itself, and was to do them all no end +of good. Anything more to be said of it will not add +much to this.</p> + +<p>There was indeed nobody that had not some interest +in the message of the <i>Christmas Carol</i>. It told the +selfish man to rid himself of selfishness; the just man +to make himself generous; and the good-natured man +to enlarge the sphere of his good nature. Its cheery +voice of faith and hope, ringing from one end of the +island to the other, carried pleasant warning alike to +all, that if the duties of Christmas were wanting no +good could come of its outward observances; that it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_90" id="Page_2_90">[90]</a></span> +must shine upon the cold hearth and warm it, and into +the sorrowful heart and comfort it; that it must be +kindness, benevolence, charity, mercy, and forbearance, +or its plum pudding would turn to bile, and its +roast beef be indigestible.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> Nor could any man have +said it with the same appropriateness as Dickens. What +was marked in him to the last was manifest now. He +had identified himself with Christmas fancies. Its life +and spirits, its humour in riotous abundance, of right +belonged to him. Its imaginations as well as kindly +thoughts were his; and its privilege to light up with +some sort of comfort the squalidest places, he had +made his own. Christmas Day was not more social or +welcome: New Year's Day not more new: Twelfth +Night not more full of characters. The duty of diffusing +enjoyment had never been taught by a more +abundant, mirthful, thoughtful, ever-seasonable writer.</p> + +<p>Something also is to be said of the spirit of the book, +and of the others that followed it, which will not anticipate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_91" id="Page_2_91">[91]</a></span> +special allusions to be made hereafter. No one +was more intensely fond than Dickens of old nursery +tales, and he had a secret delight in feeling that he was +here only giving them a higher form. The social and +manly virtues he desired to teach, were to him not less +the charm of the ghost, the goblin, and the fairy fancies +of his childhood; however rudely set forth in +those earlier days. What now were to be conquered +were the more formidable dragons and giants which +had their places at our own hearths, and the weapons +to be used were of a finer than the "ice-brook's temper." +With brave and strong restraints, what is evil +in ourselves was to be subdued; with warm and gentle +sympathies, what is bad or unreclaimed in others was +to be redeemed; the Beauty was to embrace the Beast, +as in the divinest of all those fables; the star was to +rise out of the ashes, as in our much-loved Cinderella; +and we were to play the Valentine with our wilder +brothers, and bring them back with brotherly care to +civilization and happiness. Nor is it to be doubted, I +think, that, in that largest sense of benefit, great public +and private service was done; positive, earnest, practical +good; by the extraordinary popularity, and nearly +universal acceptance, which attended these little holiday +volumes. They carried to countless firesides, with +new enjoyment of the season, better apprehension of +its claims and obligations; they mingled grave with +glad thoughts, much to the advantage of both; what +seemed almost too remote to meddle with they brought +within reach of the charities, and what was near they +touched with a dearer tenderness; they comforted the +generous, rebuked the sordid, cured folly by kindly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_92" id="Page_2_92">[92]</a></span> +ridicule and comic humour, and, saying to their readers +<i>Thus you have done, but it were better Thus</i>, may for +some have realised the philosopher's famous experience, +and by a single fortunate thought revised the whole +manner of a life. Criticism here is a second-rate thing, +and the reader may be spared such discoveries as it +might have made in regard to the <i>Christmas Carol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_93" id="Page_2_93">[93]</a></span></i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>YEAR OF DEPARTURE FOR ITALY.</h3> + +<h3>1844.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Gore-house—Liverpool and Birmingham Institutes—A Troublesome +Cheque—Wrongs from Piracy—Proceedings in Chancery—Result +of Chancery Experience—Reliefs to Work—M. Henri Taine on +Dickens—Writing in the <i>Chronicle</i>—Preparations for Departure—In +Temporary Quarters—The Farewell Dinner-party—"The Evenings +of a Working-man"—Greenwich Dinner.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">And</span> now, before accompanying Dickens on his +Italian travel, one or two parting incidents will receive +illustration from his letters. A thoughtful little poem +written during the past summer for Lady Blessington +has been quoted on a previous page: and it may remind +me to say here what warmth of regard he had for her, +and for all the inmates of Gore-house; how uninterruptedly +joyous and pleasurable were his associations +with them; and what valued help they now gave in his +preparations for Italy. The poem, as we have seen, +was written during a visit made in Yorkshire to the +house of Mr. Smithson, already named as the partner +of his early companion, Mr. Mitton; and this visit he +repeated in sadder circumstances during the present +year, when (April 1844) he attended Mr. Smithson's +funeral. With members or connections of the family +of this friend, his intercourse long continued.</p> + +<p>In the previous February, on the 26th and 28th respectively,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_94" id="Page_2_94">[94]</a></span> +he had taken the chair at two great meetings, +in Liverpool of the Mechanics' Institution, and in Birmingham +of the Polytechnic Institution, to which reference +is made by him in a letter of the 21st. I quote +the allusion because it shows thus early the sensitive +regard to his position as a man of letters, and his scrupulous +consideration for the feelings as well as interest +of the class, which he manifested in many various and +often greatly self-sacrificing ways all through his life. +"Advise me on the following point. And as I must +write to-night, having already lost a post, advise me by +bearer. This Liverpool Institution, which is wealthy +and has a high grammar-school the masters of which +receive in salaries upwards of £2000 a year (indeed its +extent horrifies me; I am struggling through its papers +this morning), writes me yesterday by its secretary a +business letter about the order of the proceedings on +Monday; and it begins thus. 'I beg to send you prefixed, +with the best respects of our committee, a bank +order for twenty pounds in payment of the expenses +contingent on your visit to Liverpool.'—And there, +sure enough, it is. Now my impulse was, <i>and is</i>, decidedly +to return it. Twenty pounds is not of moment +to me; and any sacrifice of independence is worth it +twenty times' twenty times told. But haggling in my +mind is a doubt whether that would be proper, and not +boastful (in an inexplicable way); and whether as an +author, I have a right to put myself on a basis which +the professors of literature in other forms <i>connected +with the Institution</i> cannot afford to occupy. Don't +you see? But of course you do. The case stands +thus. The Manchester Institution, being in debt,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_95" id="Page_2_95">[95]</a></span> +appeals to me as it were <i>in formâ pauperis</i>, and makes +no such provision as I have named. The Birmingham +Institution, just struggling into life with great difficulty, +applies to me on the same grounds. But the Leeds +people (thriving) write to me, making the expenses a +distinct matter of business; and the Liverpool, as a +point of delicacy, say nothing about it to the last +minute, and then send the money. Now, what in the +name of goodness ought I to do?—I am as much +puzzled with the cheque as Colonel Jack was with his +gold. If it would have settled the matter to put it in +the fire yesterday, I should certainly have done it. +Your opinion is requested. I think I shall have grounds +for a very good speech at Brummagem; but I am not +sure about Liverpool: having misgivings of over-gentility." +My opinion was clearly for sending the money +back, which accordingly was done.</p> + +<p>Both speeches, duly delivered to enthusiastic listeners +at the places named, were good, and both, with suitable +variations, had the same theme: telling his popular audience +in Birmingham that the principle of their institute, +education comprehensive and unsectarian, was the +only safe one, for that without danger no society could +go on punishing men for preferring vice to virtue without +giving them the means of knowing what virtue was; +and reminding his genteeler audience in Liverpool, that +if happily they had been themselves well taught, so +much the more should they seek to extend the benefit +to all, since, whatever the precedence due to rank, +wealth, or intellect, there was yet a nobility beyond +them, expressed unaffectedly by the poet's verse and in +the power of education to confer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_96" id="Page_2_96">[96]</a></span></p> + +<div class='poem'> +Howe'er it be, it seems to me,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis only noble to be good:</span><br /> +True hearts are more than coronets,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And simple faith than Norman blood.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>He underwent some suffering, which he might have +spared himself, at his return. "I saw the <i>Carol</i> last +night," he wrote to me of a dramatic performance of +the little story at the Adelphi. "Better than usual, +and Wright seems to enjoy Bob Cratchit, but <i>heart-breaking</i> +to me. Oh Heaven! if any forecast of <i>this</i> +was ever in my mind! Yet O. Smith was drearily better +than I expected. It is a great comfort to have that +kind of meat under done; and his face is quite perfect." +Of what he suffered from these adaptations of his +books, multiplied remorselessly at every theatre, I have +forborne to speak, but it was the subject of complaint +with him incessantly; and more or less satisfied as he +was with individual performances, such as Mr. Yates's +Quilp or Mantalini and Mrs. Keeley's Smike or Dot, +there was only one, that of Barnaby Rudge by the Miss +Fortescue who became afterwards Lady Gardner, on +which I ever heard him dwell with a thorough liking. +It is true that to the dramatizations of his next and +other following Christmas stories he gave help himself; +but, even then, all such efforts to assist special representations +were mere attempts to render more tolerable +what he had no power to prevent, and, with a few rare +exceptions, they were never very successful. Another +and graver wrong was the piracy of his writings, every +one of which had been reproduced with merely such +colourable changes of title, incidents, and names of +characters, as were believed to be sufficient to evade<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_97" id="Page_2_97">[97]</a></span> +the law and adapt them to "penny" purchasers. So +shamelessly had this been going on ever since the days +of <i>Pickwick</i>, in so many outrageous ways<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> and with all +but impunity, that a course repeatedly urged by Talfourd +and myself was at last taken in the present year +with the <i>Christmas Carol</i> and the <i>Chuzzlewit</i> pirates. +Upon a case of such peculiar flagrancy, however, that +the vice-chancellor would not even hear Dickens's +counsel; and what it cost our dear friend Talfourd to +suppress his speech exceeded by very much the labour +and pains with which he had prepared it. "The +pirates," wrote Dickens to me, after leaving the court +on the 18th of January, "are beaten flat. They are +bruised, bloody, battered, smashed, squelched, and +utterly undone. Knight Bruce would not hear Talfourd, +but instantly gave judgment. He had interrupted +Anderdon constantly by asking him to produce +a passage which was not an expanded or contracted +idea from my book. And at every successive passage +he cried out, 'That is Mr. Dickens's case. Find +another!' He said that there was not a shadow of +doubt upon the matter. That there was no authority +which would bear a construction in their favour; the +piracy going beyond all previous instances. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_98" id="Page_2_98">[98]</a></span> +might mention it again in a week, he said, if they +liked, and might have an issue if they pleased; but +they would probably consider it unnecessary after that +strong expression of his opinion. Of course I will +stand by what we have agreed as to the only terms of +compromise with the printers. I am determined that +I will have an apology for their affidavits. The other +men may pay their costs and get out of it, but I will +stick to my friend the author." Two days later he +wrote: "The farther affidavits put in by way of extenuation +by the printing rascals <i>are</i> rather strong, +and give one a pretty correct idea of what the men +must be who hold on by the heels of literature. Oh! +the agony of Talfourd at Knight Bruce's not hearing +him! He had sat up till three in the morning, he +says, preparing his speech; and would have done all +kinds of things with the affidavits. It certainly was a +splendid subject. We have heard nothing from the vagabonds +yet. I once thought of printing the affidavits +without a word of comment, and sewing them up with +<i>Chuzzlewit</i>. Talfourd is strongly disinclined to compromise +with the printers on any terms. In which case +it would be referred to the master to ascertain what +profits had been made by the piracy, and to order the +same to be paid to me. But wear and tear of law is +my consideration." The undertaking to which he +had at last to submit was, that upon ample public +apology, and payment of all costs, the offenders should +be let go; but the real result was that, after infinite +vexation and trouble, he had himself to pay all the +costs incurred on his own behalf; and, a couple of +years later, upon repetition of the wrong he had suffered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_99" id="Page_2_99">[99]</a></span> +in so gross a form that proceedings were again +advised by Talfourd and others, he wrote to me from +Switzerland the condition of mind to which his experience +had brought him. "My feeling about the —— is +the feeling common, I suppose, to three fourths of +the reflecting part of the community in our happiest +of all possible countries; and that is, that it is better +to suffer a great wrong than to have recourse to the +much greater wrong of the law. I shall not easily forget +the expense, and anxiety, and horrible injustice of +the <i>Carol</i> case, wherein, in asserting the plainest right +on earth, I was really treated as if I were the robber +instead of the robbed. Upon the whole, I certainly +would much rather <span class="smcap">not</span> proceed. What do you think +of sending in a grave protest against what has been done +in this case, on account of the immense amount of piracy +to which I am daily exposed, and because I have been +already met in the court of chancery with the legal +doctrine that silence under such wrongs barred my +remedy: to which Talfourd's written opinion might +be appended as proof that we stopped under no discouragement. +It is useless to affect that I don't know +I have a morbid susceptibility of exasperation, to which +the meanness and badness of the law in such a matter +would be stinging in the last degree. And I know of +nothing that <i>could</i> come, even of a successful action, +which would be worth the mental trouble and disturbance +it would cost."<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_100" id="Page_2_100">[100]</a></span></p><p>A few notes of besetting temptations during his +busiest days at <i>Chuzzlewit</i>, one taken from each of the +first four months of the year when he was working at +its masterly closing scenes, will amusingly exhibit, side +by side, his powers of resistance and capacities of enjoyment. +"I had written you a line" (16th of January), +"pleading Jonas and Mrs. Gamp, but this frosty +day tempts me sorely. I am distractingly late; but I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_101" id="Page_2_101">[101]</a></span> +look at the sky, think of Hampstead, and feel hideously +tempted. Don't come with Mae, and fetch me. I +couldn't resist if you did." In the next (18th of February), +he is not the tempted, but the tempter. "Stanfield +and Mac have come in, and we are going to +Hampstead to dinner. I leave Betsey Prig as you +know, so don't you make a scruple about leaving Mrs. +Harris. We shall stroll leisurely up, to give you time +to join us, and dinner will be on the table at Jack +Straw's at four. . . . In the very improbable (surely +impossible?) case of your not coming, we will call on +you at a quarter before eight, to go to the ragged +school." The next (5th of March) shows him in +yielding mood, and pitying himself for his infirmity of +compliance. "Sir, I will—he—he—he—he—he—he—I +will <span class="smcap">not</span> eat with you, either at your own house or +the club. But the morning looks bright, and a walk +to Hampstead would suit me marvellously. If you +should present yourself at my gate (bringing the R. +A.'s along with you) I shall not be sapparized. So no +more at this writing from Poor <span class="smcap">Mr. Dickens</span>." But +again the tables are turned, and he is tempter in the +last; written on that Shakespeare day (23rd of April) +which we kept always as a festival, and signed in +character expressive of his then present unfitness for +any of the practical affairs of life, including the very +pressing business which at the moment ought to have +occupied him, namely, attention to the long deferred +nuptials of Miss Charity Pecksniff. "November blasts! +Why it's the warmest, most genial, most intensely bland, +delicious, growing, springy, songster-of-the-grovy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_102" id="Page_2_102">[102]</a></span> +bursting-forth-of-the-buddy, day as ever was. At half-past +four I shall expect you. Ever, <span class="smcap">Moddle</span>."</p> + +<p>Moddle, the sentimental noodle hooked by Miss +Pecksniff who flies on his proposed wedding-day from +the frightful prospect before him, the reader of course +knows; and has perhaps admired for his last supreme +outbreak of common sense. It was a rather favourite +bit of humour with Dickens; and I find it pleasant to +think that he never saw the description given of it by a +trained and skilful French critic, who has been able +to pass under his review the whole of English literature +without any apparent sense or understanding of one +of its most important as well as richest elements. A +man without the perception of humour taking English +prose literature in hand, can of course set about it only +in one way. Accordingly, in Mr. Taine's decisive +judgments of our last great humourist, which proceed +upon a principle of psychological analysis which it is +only fair to say he applies impartially to everybody, +<i>Pickwick</i>, <i>Oliver Twist</i>, and <i>The Old Curiosity Shop</i> +are not in any manner even named or alluded to; Mrs. +Gamp is only once mentioned as always talking of Mrs. +Harris; and Mr. Micawber also only once as using +always the same emphatic phrases; the largest extracts +are taken from the two books in all the Dickens series +that are weakest on the humorous side, <i>Hard Times</i> and +the <i>Chimes;</i> <i>Nickleby</i>, with its many laughter-moving +figures, is dismissed in a line and a half; Mr. Toots, +Captain Cuttle, Susan Nipper, Toodles, and the rest +have no place in what is said of <i>Dombey;</i> and, to close +with what has caused and must excuse my digression, +Mr. Augustus Moddle is introduced as a gloomy maniac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_103" id="Page_2_103">[103]</a></span> +who makes us laugh and makes us shudder, and as +drawn so truly for a madman that though at first sight +agreeable, he is in reality horrible!<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p> + +<p>A month before the letter subscribed by Dickens in +the character, so happily unknown to himself, of this +gloomy maniac, he had written to me from amidst his +famous chapter in which the tables are turned on Pecksniff; +but here I quote the letter chiefly for noticeable +words at its close. "I heard from Macready by the +Hibernia. I have been slaving away regularly, but the +weather is against rapid progress. I altered the verbal +error, and substituted for the action you didn't like +some words expressive of the hurry of the scene. Macready +sums up slavery in New Orleans in the way of a +gentle doubting on the subject, by a 'but' and a dash. +I believe it is in New Orleans that the man is lying +under sentence of death, who, not having the fear of +God before his eyes, did not deliver up a captive slave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_104" id="Page_2_104">[104]</a></span> +to the torture? The largest gun in that country has not +burst yet—<i>but it will</i>. Heaven help us, too, from explosions +nearer home! I declare I never go into what +is called 'society' that I am not aweary of it, despise it, +hate it, and reject it. The more I see of its extraordinary +conceit, and its stupendous ignorance of what is +passing out of doors, the more certain I am that it is +approaching the period when, being incapable of reforming +itself, it will have to submit to be reformed by +others off the face of the earth." Thus we see that the +old radical leanings were again rather strong in him at +present, and I may add that he had found occasional +recent vent for them by writing in the <i>Morning Chronicle</i>.</p> + +<p>Some articles thus contributed by him having set +people talking, the proprietors of the paper rather +eagerly mooted the question what payment he would +ask for contributing regularly; and ten guineas an +article was named. Very sensibly, however, the editor +who had succeeded his old friend Black pointed out to +him, that though even that sum would not be refused +in the heat of the successful articles just contributed, +yet (I quote his own account in a letter of the 7th of +March 1844) so much would hardly be paid continuously; +and thereupon an understanding, was come to, +that he would write as a volunteer and leave his payment +to be adjusted to the results. "Then said the +editor—and this I particularly want you to turn over +in your mind, at leisure—supposing me to go abroad, +could I contemplate such a thing as the writing of a +letter a week under any signature I chose, with such +scraps of descriptions and impressions as suggested<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_105" id="Page_2_105">[105]</a></span> +themselves to my mind? If so, would I do it for the +<i>Chronicle?</i> And if so again, what would I do it for? +He thought for such contributions Easthope would +pay anything. I told him that the idea had never +occurred to me; but that I was afraid he did not know +what the value of such contributions would be. He +repeated what he had said before; and I promised to +consider whether I could reconcile it to myself to write +such letters at all. The pros and cons need to be very +carefully weighed. I will not tell you to which side I +incline, but if we should disagree, or waver on the same +points, we will call Bradbury and Evans to the council. +I think it more than probable that we shall be of exactly +the same mind, but I want you to be in possession of +the facts and therefore send you this rigmarole." The +rigmarole is not unimportant; because, though we did +not differ on the wisdom of saying No to the <i>Chronicle</i>, +the "council" spoken of was nevertheless held, and in +it lay the germ of another newspaper enterprise he permitted +himself to engage in twelve months later, to +which he would have done more wisely to have also +answered No.</p> + +<p>The preparation for departure was now actively going +forward, and especially his enquiries for two important +adjuncts thereto, a courier and a carriage. As to the +latter it occurred to him that he might perhaps get for +little money "some good old shabby devil of a coach—one +of those vast phantoms that hide themselves in +a corner of the Pantechnicon;" and exactly such a one +he found there; sitting himself inside it, a perfect +Sentimental Traveller, while the managing man told +him its history. "As for comfort—let me see—it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_106" id="Page_2_106">[106]</a></span> +about the size of your library; with night-lamps and +day-lamps and pockets and imperials and leathern +cellars, and the most extraordinary contrivances. +Joking apart, it is a wonderful machine. And when +you see it (if you <i>do</i> see it) you will roar at it first, and +will then proclaim it to be 'perfectly brilliant, my dear +fellow.'" It was marked sixty pounds; he got it for +five-and-forty; and my own emotions respecting it he +had described by anticipation quite correctly. In finding +a courier he was even more fortunate; and these +successes were followed by a third apparently very +promising, but in the result less satisfactory. His +house was let to not very careful people.</p> + +<p>The tenant having offered herself for Devonshire-terrace +unexpectedly, during the last week or two of +his stay in England he went into temporary quarters in +Osnaburgh-terrace; and here a domestic difficulty befell +of which the mention may be amusing, when I have +disposed of an incident that preceded it too characteristic +for omission. The Mendicity Society's officers had +caught a notorious begging-letter writer, had identified +him as an old offender against Dickens of which proofs +were found on his person, and had put matters in train +for his proper punishment; when the wretched creature's +wife made such appeal before the case was heard at the +police-court, that Dickens broke down in his character +of prosecutor, and at the last moment, finding what was +said of the man's distress at the time to be true, relented. +"When the Mendicity officers themselves told +me the man was in distress, I desired them to suppress +what they knew about him, and slipped out of the bundle +(in the police office) his first letter, which was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_107" id="Page_2_107">[107]</a></span> +greatest lie of all. For he looked wretched, and his +wife had been waiting about the street to see me, all +the morning. It was an exceedingly bad case however, +and the imposition, all through, very great indeed. +Insomuch that I could not <i>say</i> anything in his favour, +even when I saw him. Yet I was not sorry that the +creature found the loophole for escape. The officers +had taken him illegally without any warrant; and really +they messed it all through, quite facetiously."</p> + +<p>He will himself also best relate the small domestic +difficulty into which he fell in his temporary dwelling, +upon his unexpectedly discovering it to be unequal to the +strain of a dinner party for which invitations had gone +out just before the sudden "let" of Devonshire-terrace. +The letter is characteristic in other ways, or I should +hardly have gone so far into domesticities here; and it +enables me to add that with the last on its list of guests, +Mr. Chapman the chairman of Lloyd's, he held much +friendly intercourse, and that few things more absurd +or unfounded have been invented, even of Dickens, +than that he found any part of the original of Mr. +Dombey in the nature, the appearance, or the manners +of this estimable gentleman. "Advise, advise," he +wrote (9 Osnaburgh-terrace, 28th of May 1844), "advise +with a distracted man. Investigation below stairs +renders it, as my father would say, 'manifest to any +person of ordinary intelligence, if the term may be considered +allowable,' that the Saturday's dinner cannot +come off here with safety. It would be a toss-up, and +might come down heads, but it would put us into an +agony with that kind of people. . . . Now, I feel a difficulty +in dropping it altogether, and really fear that this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_108" id="Page_2_108">[108]</a></span> +might have an indefinably suspicious and odd appearance. +Then said I at breakfast this morning, I'll send +down to the Clarendon. Then says Kate, have it at +Richmond. Then I say, that might be inconvenient +to the people. Then she says, how could it be if we +dine late enough? Then I am very much offended +without exactly knowing why; and come up here, in a +state of hopeless mystification. . . . What do you think? +Ellis would be quite as dear as anybody else; and unless +the weather changes, the place is objectionable. I must +make up my mind to do one thing or other, for we shall +meet Lord Denman at dinner to-day. Could it be +dropped decently? That, I think very doubtful. Could +it be done for a couple of guineas apiece at the Clarendon? . . . +In a matter of more importance I could make +up my mind. But in a matter of this kind I bother and +bewilder myself, and come to no conclusion whatever. +Advise! Advise! . . . List of the Invited. There's Lord +Normanby. And there's Lord Denman. There's Easthope, +wife, and sister. There's Sydney Smith. There's +you and Mac. There's Babbage. There's a Lady Osborne +and her daughter. There's Southwood Smith. +And there's Quin. And there are Thomas Chapman +and his wife. So many of these people have never +dined with us, that the fix is particularly tight. Advise! +Advise!" My advice was for throwing over the party +altogether, but additional help was obtained and the +dinner went off very pleasantly. It was the last time +we saw Sydney Smith.</p> + +<p>Of one other characteristic occurrence he wrote +before he left; and the very legible epigraph round +the seal of his letter, "It is particularly requested that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_109" id="Page_2_109">[109]</a></span> +if Sir James Graham should open this, he will not +trouble himself to seal it again," expresses both its +date and its writer's opinion of a notorious transaction +of the time. "I wish" (28th of June) "you would +read this, and give it me again when we meet at Stanfield's +to-day. Newby has written to me to say that +he hopes to be able to give Overs more money than +was agreed on." The enclosure was the proof-sheet +of a preface written by him to a small collection of +stories by a poor carpenter dying of consumption, +who hoped by their publication, under protection of +such a name, to leave behind him some small provision +for his ailing wife and little children.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> The book +was dedicated to the kind physician, Doctor Elliotson, +whose name was for nearly thirty years a synonym with +us all for unwearied, self-sacrificing, beneficent service +to every one in need.</p> + +<p>The last incident before Dickens's departure was a +farewell dinner to him at Greenwich, which took also +the form of a celebration for the completion of <i>Chuzzlewit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_110" id="Page_2_110">[110]</a></span></i>, +or, as the Ballantynes used to call it in Scott's +case, a christening dinner; when Lord Normanby +took the chair, and I remember sitting next the great +painter Turner, who had come with Stanfield, and had +enveloped his throat, that sultry summer day, in a +huge red belcher-handkerchief which nothing would +induce him to remove. He was not otherwise demonstrative, +but enjoyed himself in a quiet silent way, less +perhaps at the speeches than at the changing lights on +the river. Carlyle did not come; telling me in his +reply to the invitation that he truly loved Dickens, +having discerned in the inner man of him a real music +of the genuine kind, but that he'd rather testify to +this in some other form than that of dining out in the +dogdays.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_111" id="Page_2_111">[111]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>IDLENESS AT ALBARO: VILLA BAGNERELLO.</h3> + +<h3>1844.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Arrival at Marseilles—A Character—Villa at Genoa—Sirocco—Sunsets +and Scenery—Address to Maclise—French and Italian Skies—The +Mediterranean—The Cicala—French Consul of Genoa—Learning +Italian—Trades-people—Genoa the Superb—Theatres—Italian +Plays—Religious Houses—Sunday Promenade—Winter Residence +chosen—Dinner at French Consul's—Reception at M. di Negri's—A +Tumble—English Visitors and News—Visit of his Brother—Sea-bathing.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> travelling party arrived at Marseilles on the +evening of Sunday the 14th of July. Not being able +to get vetturino horses in Paris, they had come on, post; +paying for nine horses but bringing only four, and +thereby saving a shilling a mile out of what the four +would have cost in England. So great thus far, however, +had been the cost of travel, that "what with +distance, caravan, sight-seeing, and everything," two +hundred pounds would be nearly swallowed up before +they were at their destination. The success otherwise +had been complete. The children had not cried in +their worst troubles, the carriage had gone lightly over +abominable roads, and the courier had proved himself +a perfect gem. "Surrounded by strange and perfectly +novel circumstances," Dickens wrote to me from Marseilles,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_112" id="Page_2_112">[112]</a></span> +"I feel as if I had a new head on side by side +with my old one."</p> + +<p>To what shrewd and kindly observation the old one +had helped him at every stage of his journey, his published +book of travel tells, and of all that there will be +nothing here; but a couple of experiences at his outset, +of which he told me afterwards, have enough character +in them to be worth mention.</p> + +<p>Shortly before there had been some public interest +about the captain of a Boulogne steamer apprehended +on a suspicion of having stolen specie, but reinstated +by his owners after a public apology to him on their +behalf; and Dickens had hardly set foot on the boat +that was to carry them across, when he was attracted +by the look of its captain, and discovered him after a +few minutes' talk to be that very man. "Such an honest, +simple, good fellow, I never saw," said Dickens, +as he imitated for me the homely speech in which his +confidences were related. The Boulogne people, he +said, had given him a piece of plate, "but Lord bless +us! it took a deal more than that to get him round +again in his own mind; and for weeks and weeks he was +uncommon low to be sure. Newgate, you see! What a +place for a sea-faring man as had held up his head afore +the best on 'em, and had more friends, I mean to say, +and I do tell you the daylight truth, than any man on +this station—ah! or any other, I don't care where!"</p> + +<p>His first experience in a foreign tongue he made immediately +on landing, when he had gone to the bank +for money, and after delivering with most laborious +distinctness a rather long address in French to the clerk +behind the counter, was disconcerted by that functionary's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_113" id="Page_2_113">[113]</a></span> +cool enquiry in the native-born Lombard-street +manner, "How would you like to take it, sir?" He +took it, as everybody must, in five-franc pieces, and a +most inconvenient coinage he found it; for he required +so much that he had to carry it in a couple of small +sacks, and was always "turning hot about suddenly" +taking it into his head that he had lost them.</p> + +<p>The evening of Tuesday the 16th of July saw him in +a villa at Albaro, the suburb of Genoa in which, upon +the advice of our Gore-house friends, he had resolved +to pass the summer months before taking up his quarters +in the city. His wish was to have had Lord +Byron's house there, but it had fallen into neglect and +become the refuge of a third-rate wine-shop. The +matter had then been left to Angus Fletcher who just +now lived near Genoa, and he had taken at a rent +absurdly above its value<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> an unpicturesque and uninteresting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_114" id="Page_2_114">[114]</a></span> +dwelling, which at once impressed its new +tenant with its likeness to a pink jail. "It is," he said +to me, "the most perfectly lonely, rusty, stagnant old +staggerer of a domain that you can possibly imagine. +What would I give if you could only look round the +courtyard! <i>I</i> look down into it, whenever I am near +that side of the house, for the stable is so full of 'vermin +and swarmers' (pardon the quotation from my inimitable +friend) that I always expect to see the carriage +going out bodily, with legions of industrious fleas harnessed +to and drawing it off, on their own account. +We have a couple of Italian work-people in our establishment; +and to hear one or other of them talking +away to our servants with the utmost violence and volubility +in Genoese, and our servants answering with +great fluency in English (very loud: as if the others +were only deaf, not Italian), is one of the most ridiculous +things possible. The effect is greatly enhanced +by the Genoese manner, which is exceedingly animated +and pantomimic; so that two friends of the lower class +conversing pleasantly in the street, always seem on the +eve of stabbing each other forthwith. And a stranger +is immensely astonished at their not doing it."</p> + +<p>The heat tried him less than he expected, excepting +always the sirocco, which, near the sea as they were, +and right in the course of the wind as it blew against +the house, made everything hotter than if there had +been no wind. "One feels it most, on first getting up. +Then, it is really so oppressive that a strong determination +is necessary to enable one to go on dressing; one's +tendency being to tumble down anywhere and lie +there." It seemed to hit him, he said, behind the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_115" id="Page_2_115">[115]</a></span> +knee, and made his legs so shake that he could not +walk or stand. He had unfortunately a whole week of +this without intermission, soon after his arrival; but +then came a storm, with wind from the mountains; +and he could bear the ordinary heat very well. What +at first had been a home-discomfort, the bare walls, +lofty ceilings, icy floors, and lattice blinds, soon became +agreeable; there were regular afternoon breezes +from the sea; in his courtyard was a well of very pure +and very cold water; there were new milk and eggs by +the bucketful, and, to protect from the summer insects +these and other dainties, there were fresh vine-leaves +by the thousand; and he satisfied himself, by the +experience of a day or two in the city, that he had +done well to come first to its suburb by the sea. What +startled and disappointed him most were the frequent +cloudy days.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> He opened his third letter (3rd of August) +by telling me there was a thick November fog, +that rain was pouring incessantly, and that he did not +remember to have seen in his life, at that time of year, +such cloudy weather as he had seen beneath Italian +skies.</p> + +<p>"The story goes that it is in autumn and winter, +when other countries are dark and foggy, that the +beauty and clearness of this are most observable. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_116" id="Page_2_116">[116]</a></span> +hope it may prove so; for I have postponed going +round the hills which encircle the city, or seeing any +of the sights, until the weather is more favourable.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> I +have never yet seen it so clear, for any longer time of +the day together, as on a bright, lark-singing, coast-of-France-discerning +day at Broadstairs; nor have I ever +seen so fine a sunset, <i>throughout</i>, as is very common +there. But the scenery is exquisite, and at certain +periods of the evening and the morning the blue of the +Mediterranean surpasses all conception or description. +It is the most intense and wonderful colour, I do believe, +in all nature."</p> + +<p>In his second letter from Albaro there was more of +this subject; and an outbreak of whimsical enthusiasm +in it, meant especially for Maclise, is followed by some +capital description. "I address you, my friend," he +wrote, "with something of the lofty spirit of an exile, +a banished commoner, a sort of Anglo-Pole. I don't +exactly know what I have done for my country in coming +away from it, but I feel it is something; something +great; something virtuous and heroic. Lofty emotions +rise within me, when I see the sun set on the blue Mediterranean.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_117" id="Page_2_117">[117]</a></span> +I am the limpet on the rock. My father's +name is Turner, and my boots are green. . . . Apropos +of blue. In a certain picture called the Serenade for +which Browning wrote that verse<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> in Lincoln's-inn-fields, +you, O Mac, painted a sky. If you ever have +occasion to paint the Mediterranean, let it be exactly +of that colour. It lies before me now, as deeply +and intensely blue. But no such colour is above me. +Nothing like it. In the south of France, at Avignon, +at Aix, at Marseilles, I saw deep blue skies; and +also in America. But the sky above me is familiar to +my sight. Is it heresy to say that I have seen its +twin brother shining through the window of Jack +Straw's—that down in Devonshire-terrace I have seen +a better sky? I dare say it is; but like a great many +other heresies, it is true. . . . But such green, green, +green, as flutters in the vineyard down below the windows, +<i>that</i> I never saw; nor yet such lilac and such purple +as float between me and the distant hills; nor yet +in anything, picture, book, or vestal boredom, such +awful, solemn, impenetrable blue, as in that same sea. +It has such an absorbing, silent, deep, profound effect, +that I can't help thinking it suggested the idea of Styx. +It looks as if a draught of it, only so much as you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_118" id="Page_2_118">[118]</a></span> +could scoop up on the beach in the hollow of your +hand, would wash out everything else, and make a +great blue blank of your intellect. . . . When the sun +sets clearly, then, by Heaven, it is majestic. From +any one of eleven windows here, or from a terrace +overgrown with grapes, you may behold the broad sea, +villas, houses, mountains, forts, strewn with rose leaves. +Strewn with them? Steeped in them! Dyed, through +and through and through. For a moment. No more. +The sun is impatient and fierce (like everything else in +these parts), and goes down headlong. Run to fetch +your hat—and it's night. Wink at the right time of +black night—and it's morning. Everything is in extremes. +There is an insect here that chirps all day. +There is one outside the window now. The chirp is +very loud: something like a Brobdingnagian grasshopper. +The creature is born to chirp; to progress in +chirping; to chirp louder, louder, louder; till it gives +one tremendous chirp and bursts itself. That is its life +and death. Everything is 'in a concatenation accordingly.' +The day gets brighter, brighter, brighter, till +it's night. The summer gets hotter, hotter, hotter, till +it explodes. The fruit gets riper, riper, riper, till it +tumbles down and rots. . . . Ask me a question or two +about fresco: will you be so good? All the houses are +painted in fresco, hereabout (the outside walls I mean, +the fronts, backs, and sides), and all the colour has run +into damp and green seediness; and the very design +has straggled away into the component atoms of the +plaster. Beware of fresco! Sometimes (but not often) +I can make out a Virgin with a mildewed glory round +her head, holding nothing in an undiscernible lap with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_119" id="Page_2_119">[119]</a></span> +invisible arms; and occasionally the leg or arm of a +cherub. But it is very melancholy and dim. There are +two old fresco-painted vases outside my own gate, one +on either hand, which are so faint that I never saw +them till last night; and only then, because I was looking +over the wall after a lizard who had come upon +me while I was smoking a cigar above, and crawled +over one of these embellishments in his retreat. . . ."</p> + +<p>That letter sketched for me the story of his travel +through France, and I may at once say that I thus received, +from week to week, the "first sprightly runnings" +of every description in his <i>Pictures from Italy</i>. But my +rule as to the American letters must be here observed +yet more strictly; and nothing resembling his printed +book, however distantly, can be admitted into these +pages. Even so my difficulty of rejection will not be +less; for as he had not actually decided, until the very +last, to publish his present experiences at all, a larger +number of the letters were left unrifled by him. He +had no settled plan from the first, as in the other case.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="villa" id="villa"></a> +<img src="images/image10.png" width="400" height="266" alt="Inn" title="Inn" /> +</div> + +<p>His most valued acquaintance at Albaro was the +French consul-general, a student of our literature who +had written on his books in one of the French reviews, +and who with his English wife lived in the very next +villa, though so oddly shut away by its vineyard that +to get from the one adjoining house to the other was a +mile's journey.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> Describing, in that August letter, his +first call from this new friend thus pleasantly self-recommended, +he makes the visit his excuse for breaking off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_120" id="Page_2_120">[120]</a></span> +from a facetious description of French inns to introduce +to me a sketch, from a pencil outline by Fletcher, +of what bore the imposing name of the Villa di Bella +vista, but which he called by the homelier one of its proprietor, +Bagnerello. "This, my friend, is quite accurate. +Allow me to explain it. You are standing, sir, +in our vineyard, among the grapes and figs. The Mediterranean +is at your back as you look at the house: of +which two sides, out of four, are here depicted. The +lower story (nearly concealed by the vines) consists of +the hall, a wine-cellar, and some store-rooms. The +three windows on the left of the first floor belong to the +sala, lofty and whitewashed, which has two more windows +round the corner. The fourth window <i>did</i> belong +to the dining-room, but I have changed one of the +nurseries for better air; and it now appertains to that +branch of the establishment. The fifth and sixth, or +two right-hand windows, sir, admit the light to the +inimitable's (and uxor's) chamber; to which the first +window round the right-hand corner, which you perceive +in shadow, also belongs. The next window in +shadow, young sir, is the bower of Miss H. The next, +a nursery window; the same having two more round +the corner again. The bowery-looking place stretching +out upon the left of the house is the terrace, which +opens out from a French window in the drawing-room +on the same floor, of which you see nothing: and +forms one side of the court-yard. The upper windows +belong to some of those uncounted chambers upstairs; +the fourth one, longer than the rest, being in F.'s bedroom. +There is a kitchen or two up there besides, and +my dressing-room; which you can't see from this point<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_121" id="Page_2_121">[121]</a></span> +of view. The kitchens and other offices in use are down +below, under that part of the house where the roof is +longest. On your left, beyond the bay of Genoa, about +two miles off, the Alps stretch off into the far horizon; +on your right, at three or four miles distance, are mountains +crowned with forts. The intervening space on +both sides is dotted with villas, some green, some red, +some yellow, some blue, some (and ours among the +number) pink. At your back, as I have said, sir, is +the ocean; with the slim Italian tower of the ruined +church of St. John the Baptist rising up before it, on +the top of a pile of savage rocks. You go through the +court-yard, and out at the gate, and down a narrow +lane to the sea. Note. The sala goes sheer up to the +top of the house; the ceiling being conical, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_122" id="Page_2_122">[122]</a></span> +little bedrooms built round the spring of its arch. You +will observe that we make no pretension to architectural +magnificence, but that we have abundance of room. +And here I am, beholding only vines and the sea for +days together. . . . Good Heavens! How I wish you'd +come for a week or two, and taste the white wine at a +penny farthing the pint. It is excellent." . . . Then, +after seven days: "I have got my paper and inkstand +and figures now (the box from Osnaburgh-terrace only +came last Thursday), and can think—I have begun to +do so every morning—with a business-like air, of the +Christmas book. My paper is arranged, and my pens +are spread out in the usual form. I think you know the +form—Don't you? My books have not passed the +custom-house yet, and I tremble for some volumes of +Voltaire. . . . I write in the best bedroom. The sun is +off the corner window at the side of the house by a very +little after twelve; and I can then throw the blinds +open, and look up from my paper, at the sea, the mountains, +the washed-out villas, the vineyards, at the blistering +white hot fort with a sentry on the drawbridge +standing in a bit of shadow no broader than his own +musket, and at the sky, as often as I like. It is a very +peaceful view, and yet a very cheerful one. Quiet as +quiet can be."</p> + +<p>Not yet however had the time for writing come. A +sharp attack of illness befell his youngest little daughter, +Kate, and troubled him much. Then, after beginning +the Italian grammar himself, he had to call in the help +of a master; and this learning of the language took up +time. But he had an aptitude for it, and after a month's +application told me (24th of August) that he could ask<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_123" id="Page_2_123">[123]</a></span> +in Italian for whatever he wanted in any shop or coffee-house, +and could read it pretty well. "I wish you +could see me" (16th of September), "without my +knowing it, walking about alone here. I am now as +bold as a lion in the streets. The audacity with which +one begins to speak when there is no help for it, is +quite astonishing." The blank impossibility at the +outset, however, of getting native meanings conveyed +to his English servants, he very humorously described +to me; and said the spell was first broken by the cook, +"being really a clever woman, and not entrenching +herself in that astonishing pride of ignorance which +induces the rest to oppose themselves to the receipt of +any information through any channel, and which made +A. careless of looking out of window, in America, even +to see the Falls of Niagara." So that he soon had to +report the gain, to all of them, from the fact of this +enterprising woman having so primed herself with "the +names of all sorts of vegetables, meats, soups, fruits, and +kitchen necessaries," that she was able to order whatever +was needful of the peasantry that were trotting in +and out all day, basketed and barefooted. Her example +became at once contagious;<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> and before the end<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_124" id="Page_2_124">[124]</a></span> +of the second week of September news reached me that +"the servants are beginning to pick up scraps of Italian; +some of them go to a weekly conversazione of servants +at the Governor's every Sunday night, having got over +their consternation at the frequent introduction of +quadrilles on these occasions; and I think they begin +to like their foreigneering life."</p> + +<p>In the tradespeople they dealt with at Albaro he +found amusing points of character. Sharp as they +were after money, their idleness quenched even that +propensity. Order for immediate delivery two or three +pounds of tea, and the tea-dealer would be wretched. +"Won't it do to-morrow?" "I want it now," you +would reply; and he would say, "No, no, there can +be no hurry!" He remonstrated against the cruelty. +But everywhere there was deference, courtesy, more +than civility. "In a café a little tumbler of ice costs +something less than threepence, and if you give the +waiter in addition what you would not offer to an +English beggar, say, the third of a halfpenny, he is +profoundly grateful." The attentions received from +English residents were unremitting.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> In moments of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_125" id="Page_2_125">[125]</a></span> +need at the outset, they bestirred themselves ("large +merchants and grave men") as if they were the family's +salaried purveyors; and there was in especial one +gentleman named Curry whose untiring kindness was +long remembered.</p> + +<p>The light, eager, active figure soon made itself +familiar in the streets of Genoa, and he never went +into them without bringing some oddity away. I soon +heard of the strada Nuova and strada Balbi; of the +broadest of the two as narrower than Albany-street, +and of the other as less wide than Drury-lane or Wych-street; +but both filled with palaces of noble architecture +and of such vast dimensions that as many windows +as there are days in the year might be counted in one +of them, and this not covering by any means the +largest plot of ground. I heard too of the other +streets, none with footways, and all varying in degrees +of narrowness, but for the most part like Field-lane in +Holborn, with little breathing-places like St. Martin's-court; +and the widest only in parts wide enough to +enable a carriage and pair to turn. "Imagine yourself +looking down a street of Reform Clubs cramped +after this odd fashion, the lofty roofs almost seeming +to meet in the perspective." In the churches nothing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_126" id="Page_2_126">[126]</a></span> +struck him so much as the profusion of trash and tinsel +in them that contrasted with their real splendours of +embellishment. One only, that of the Cappucini friars, +blazed every inch of it with gold, precious stones, and +paintings of priceless art; the principal contrast to its +radiance being the dirt of its masters, whose bare legs, +corded waists, and coarse brown serge never changed +by night or day, proclaimed amid their corporate +wealth their personal vows of poverty. He found +them less pleasant to meet and look at than the country +people of their suburb on festa-days, with the Indulgences +that gave them the right to make merry +stuck in their hats like turnpike-tickets. He did not +think the peasant girls in general good-looking, though +they carried themselves daintily and walked remarkably +well: but the ugliness of the old women, begotten +of hard work and a burning sun, with porters' knots +of coarse grey hair grubbed up over wrinkled and +cadaverous faces, he thought quite stupendous. He +was never in a street a hundred yards long without +getting up perfectly the witch part of <i>Macbeth</i>.</p> + +<p>With the theatres of course he soon became acquainted, +and of that of the puppets he wrote to me +again and again with humorous rapture. "There are +other things," he added, after giving me the account +which is published in his book, "too solemnly surprising +to dwell upon. They must be seen. They must +be seen. The enchanter carrying off the bride is not +greater than his men brandishing fiery torches and +dropping their lighted spirits of wine at every shake. +Also the enchanter himself, when, hunted down and +overcome, he leaps into the rolling sea, and finds a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_127" id="Page_2_127">[127]</a></span> +watery grave. Also the second comic man, aged about +55 and like George the Third in the face, when he +gives out the play for the next night. They must all +be seen. They can't be told about. Quite impossible." +The living performers he did not think so good, +a disbelief in Italian actors having been always a heresy +with him, and the deplorable length of dialogue to the +small amount of action in their plays making them sadly +tiresome. The first that he saw at the principal theatre +was a version of Balzac's <i>Père Goriot</i>. "The domestic +Lear I thought at first was going to be very clever. But +he was too pitiful—perhaps the Italian reality would +be. He was immensely applauded, though." He afterwards +saw a version of Dumas' preposterous play of +<i>Kean</i>, in which most of the representatives of English +actors wore red hats with steeple crowns, and very loose +blouses with broad belts and buckles round their waists. +"There was a mysterious person called the Prince of +Var-lees" (Wales), "the youngest and slimmest man in +the company, whose badinage in Kean's dressing-room +was irresistible; and the dresser wore top-boots, a Greek +skull-cap, a black velvet jacket, and leather breeches. +One or two of the actors looked very hard at me to see +how I was touched by these English peculiarities—especially +when Kean kissed his male friends on both +cheeks." The arrangements of the house, which he +described as larger than Drury-lane, he thought excellent. +Instead of a ticket for the private box he had +taken on the first tier, he received the usual key for +admission which let him in as if he lived there; and for +the whole set-out, "quite as comfortable and private as +a box at our opera," paid only eight and fourpence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_128" id="Page_2_128">[128]</a></span> +English. The opera itself had not its regular performers +until after Christmas, but in the summer there was a +good comic company, and he saw the <i>Scaramuccia</i> +and the <i>Barber of Seville</i> brightly and pleasantly done. +There was also a day theatre, beginning at half past +four in the afternoon; but beyond the novelty of looking +on at the covered stage as he sat in the fresh pleasant +air, he did not find much amusement in the Goldoni +comedy put before him. There came later a Russian +circus, which the unusual rains of that summer prematurely +extinguished.</p> + +<p>The Religious Houses he made early and many enquiries +about, and there was one that had stirred and +baffled his curiosity much before he discovered what it +really was. All that was visible from the street was a +great high wall, apparently quite alone, no thicker than +a party wall, with grated windows, to which iron screens +gave farther protection. At first he supposed there had +been a fire; but by degrees came to know that on the +other side were galleries, one above another, one above +another, and nuns always pacing them to and fro. Like +the wall of a racket-ground outside, it was inside a very +large nunnery; and let the poor sisters walk never so +much, neither they nor the passers-by could see anything +of each other. It was close upon the Acqua +Sola, too; a little park with still young but very pretty +trees, and fresh and cheerful fountains, which the +Genoese made their Sunday promenade; and underneath +which was an archway with great public tanks, +where, at all ordinary times, washerwomen were washing +away, thirty or forty together. At Albaro they +were worse off in this matter: the clothes there being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_129" id="Page_2_129">[129]</a></span> +washed in a pond, beaten with gourds, and whitened +with a preparation of lime: "so that," he wrote to me +(24th of August), "what between the beating and the +burning they fall into holes unexpectedly, and my +white trowsers, after six weeks' washing, would make +very good fishing-nets. It is such a serious damage +that when we get into the Peschiere we mean to wash +at home."</p> + +<p>Exactly a fortnight before this date, he had hired +rooms in the Peschiere from the first of the following +October; and so ended the house-hunting for his +winter residence, that had taken him so often to the +city. The Peschiere was the largest palace in Genoa +let on hire, and had the advantage of standing on a +height aloof from the town, surrounded by its own +gardens. The rooms taken had been occupied by an +English colonel, the remainder of whose term was let +to Dickens for 500 francs a month (£20); and a few +days after (20th of August) he described to me a fellow +tenant: "A Spanish duke has taken the room under +me in the Peschiere. The duchess was his mistress +many years, and bore him (I think) six daughters. He +always promised her that if she gave birth to a son, he +would marry her; and when at last the boy arrived, he +went into her bedroom, saying—'Duchess, I am +charmed to "salute you!"' And he married her in good +earnest, and legitimatized (as by the Spanish law he +could) all the other children." The beauty of the new +abode will justify a little description when he takes up his +quarters there. One or two incidents may be related, +meanwhile, of the closing weeks of his residence at +Albaro.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_130" id="Page_2_130">[130]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the middle of August he dined with the French +consul-general, and there will now be no impropriety +in printing his agreeable sketch of the dinner. "There +was present, among other Genoese, the Marquis di +Negri: a very fat and much older Jerdan, with the +same thickness of speech and size of tongue. He was +Byron's friend, keeps open house here, writes poetry, +improvises, and is a very good old Blunderbore; just +the sort of instrument to make an artesian well with, +anywhere. Well, sir, after dinner, the consul proposed +my health, with a little French conceit to the effect +that I had come to Italy to have personal experience +of its lovely climate, and that there was this similarity +between the Italian sun and its visitor, that the sun +shone into the darkest places and made them bright +and happy with its benignant influence, and that my +books had done the like with the breasts of men, and +so forth. Upon which Blunderbore gives his bright-buttoned +blue coat a great rap on the breast, turns up +his fishy eye, stretches out his arm like the living statue +defying the lightning at Astley's, and delivers four impromptu +verses in my honour, at which everybody is +enchanted, and I more than anybody—perhaps with +the best reason, for I didn't understand a word of them. +The consul then takes from his breast a roll of paper, +and says, 'I shall read them!' Blunderbore then says, +'Don't!' But the consul does, and Blunderbore beats +time to the music of the verse with his knuckles on the +table; and perpetually ducks forward to look round +the cap of a lady sitting between himself and me, to +see what I think of them. I exhibit lively emotion. +The verses are in French—short line—on the taking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_131" id="Page_2_131">[131]</a></span> +of Tangiers by the Prince de Joinville; and are received +with great applause; especially by a nobleman +present who is reported to be unable to read and write. +They end in my mind (rapidly translating them into +prose) thus,—</p> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +'The cannon of France Rendering thanks<br /> +Shake the foundation To Heaven.<br /> +Of the wondering sea, The King<br /> +The artillery on the shore And all the Royal Family<br /> +Is put to silence. Are bathed<br /> +Honour to Joinville In tears.<br /> +And the Brave! They call upon the name<br /> +The Great Intelligence Of Joinville!<br /> +Is borne France also<br /> +Upon the wings of Fame Weeps, and echoes it.<br /> +To Paris. Joinville is crowned<br /> +Her national citizens With Immortality;<br /> +Exchange caresses And Peace and Joinville,<br /> +In the streets! And the Glory of France,<br /> +The temples are crowded Diffuse themselves<br /> +With religious patriots Conjointly.'<br /> +</div> + +<p>If you can figure to yourself the choice absurdity of +receiving anything into one's mind in this way, you +can imagine the labour I underwent in my attempts to +keep the lower part of my face square, and to lift up +one eye gently, as with admiring attention. But I am +bound to add that this is really pretty literal; for I +read them afterwards."</p> + +<p>This, too, was the year of other uncomfortable glories +of France in the last three years of her Orleans +dynasty; among them the Tahiti business, as politicians +may remember; and so hot became rumours of war +with England at the opening of September that Dickens +had serious thoughts of at once striking his tent. One<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_132" id="Page_2_132">[132]</a></span> +of his letters was filled with the conflicting doubts in +which they lived for nigh a fortnight, every day's arrival +contradicting the arrival of the day before: so that, +as he told me, you met a man in the street to-day, who +told you there would certainly be war in a week; and +you met the same man in the street to-morrow, and he +swore he always knew there would be nothing but +peace; and you met him again the day after, and he +said it all depended <i>now</i> on something perfectly new +and unheard of before, which somebody else said had +just come to the knowledge of some consul in some +dispatch which said something about some telegraph +which had been at work somewhere, signalizing some +prodigious intelligence. However, it all passed harmlessly +away, leaving him undisturbed opportunity to +avail himself of a pleasure that arose out of the consul-general's +dinner party, and to be present at a great +reception given shortly after by the good "old Blunderbore" +just mentioned, on the occasion of his daughter's +birthday.</p> + +<p>The Marquis had a splendid house, but Dickens +found the grounds so carved into grottoes and fanciful +walks as to remind him of nothing so much as our old +White-conduit-house, except that he would have been +well pleased, on the present occasion, to have discovered +a waiter crying, "Give your orders, gents!" it +being not easy to him at any time to keep up, the whole +night through, on ices and variegated lamps merely. +But the scene for awhile was amusing enough, and not +rendered less so by the delight of the Marquis himself, +"who was constantly diving out into dark corners +and then among the lattice-work and flower pots,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_133" id="Page_2_133">[133]</a></span> +rubbing his hands and going round and round with +explosive chuckles in his huge satisfaction with the +entertainment." With horror it occurred to Dickens, +however, that four more hours of this kind of entertainment +would be too much; that the Genoa gates +closed at twelve; and that as the carriage had not +been ordered till the dancing was expected to be over +and the gates to reopen, he must make a sudden bolt +if he would himself get back to Albaro. "I had barely +time," he told me, "to reach the gate before midnight; +and was running as hard as I could go, down-hill, +over uneven ground, along a new street called the +strada Sevra, when I came to a pole fastened straight +across the street, nearly breast high, without any light +or watchman—quite in the Italian style. I went over +it, headlong, with such force that I rolled myself completely +white in the dust; but although I tore my +clothes to shreds, I hardly scratched myself except in +one place on the knee. I had no time to think of it +then, for I was up directly and off again to save the +gate: but when I got outside the wall, and saw the +state I was in, I wondered I had not broken my neck. +I 'took it easy' after this, and walked home, by lonely +ways enough, without meeting a single soul. But there +is nothing to be feared, I believe, from midnight walks +in this part of Italy. In other places you incur the +danger of being stabbed by mistake; whereas the +people here are quiet and good tempered, and very +rarely commit any outrage."</p> + +<p>Such adventures, nevertheless, are seldom without +consequences, and there followed in this case a short +but sharp attack of illness. It came on with the old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_134" id="Page_2_134">[134]</a></span> +"unspeakable and agonizing pain in the side," for +which Bob Fagin had prepared and applied the hot +bottles in the old warehouse time; and it yielded +quickly to powerful remedies. But for a few days he +had to content himself with the minor sights of Albaro. +He sat daily in the shade of the ruined chapel on the +seashore. He looked in at the festa in the small country +church, consisting mainly of a tenor singer, a seraphine, +and four priests sitting gaping in a row on one side of +the altar "in flowered satin dresses and little cloth +caps, looking exactly like the band at a wild-beast-caravan." +He was interested in the wine-making, and +in seeing the country tenants preparing their annual +presents for their landlords, of baskets of grapes and +other fruit prettily dressed with flowers. The season +of the grapes, too, brought out after dusk strong parties +of rats to eat them as they ripened, and so many shooting +parties of peasants to get rid of these despoilers, +that as he first listened to the uproar of the firing and +the echoes he half fancied it a siege of Albaro. The +flies mustered strong, too, and the mosquitos;<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> so that +at night he had to lie covered up with gauze, like cold +meat in a safe.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_135" id="Page_2_135">[135]</a></span></p> +<p>Of course all news from England, and especially +visits paid him by English friends who might be travelling +in Italy, were a great delight. This was the year +when O'Connell was released from prison by the judgment +of the Lords on appeal. "I have no faith in +O'Connell taking the great position he might upon this: +being beleaguered by vanity always. Denman delights +me. I am glad to think I have always liked him so +well. I am sure that whenever he makes a mistake, it +<i>is</i> a mistake; and that no man lives who has a grander +and nobler scorn of every mean and dastard action. I +would to Heaven it were decorous to pay him some +public tribute of respect . . . O'Connell's speeches +are the old thing: fretty, boastful, frothy, waspish at +the voices in the crowd, and all that: but with no true +greatness. . . . What a relief to turn to that noble +letter of Carlyle's" (in which a timely testimony had +been borne to the truthfulness and honour of Mazzini), +"which I think above all praise. My love to him." +Among his English visitors were Mr. Tagart's family, +on their way from a scientific congress at Milan; and +Peter (now become Lord) Robertson from Rome, of +whose talk he wrote very pleasantly. The sons of Burns +had been entertained during the summer in Edinburgh +at what was called a Burns Festival, of which, through +Jerrold who was present, I had sent him no very favourable +account; and this was now confirmed by Robertson, +whose letters had given him an "awful" narrative +of Wilson's speech, and of the whole business. "There +was one man who spoke a quarter of an hour or so, to +the toast of the navy; and could say nothing more +than 'the—British—navy—always appreciates—' which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_136" id="Page_2_136">[136]</a></span> +remarkable sentiment he repeated over and over again +for that space of time; and then sat down. Robertson +told me also that Wilson's allusion to, or I should +rather say expatiation upon, the 'vices' of Burns, excited +but one sentiment of indignation and disgust: +and added, very sensibly, 'By God!—I want to know +<i>what Burns did!</i> I never heard of his doing anything +that need be strange or unaccountable to the Professor's +mind. I think he must have mistaken the name, and +fancied it a dinner to the sons of <i>Burke</i>'—meaning of +course the murderer. In short he fully confirmed +Jerrold in all respects." The same letter told me, too, +something of his reading. Jerrold's <i>Story of a Feather</i> +he had derived much enjoyment from. "Gauntwolf's +sickness and the career of that snuffbox, masterly.<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> I +have been deep in Voyages and Travels, and in De +Foe. Tennyson I have also been reading, again and +again. What a great creature he is! . . . What about +the <i>Goldsmith?</i> Apropos, I am all eagerness to write +a story about the length of that most delightful of all +stories, the <i>Vicar of Wakefield</i>."</p> + +<p>In the second week of September he went to meet +his brother Frederick at Marseilles, and bring him +back over the Cornice road to pass a fortnight's holiday +at Genoa; and his description of the first inn upon +the Alps they slept in is too good to be lost. "We +lay last night," he wrote (9th of September) "at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_137" id="Page_2_137">[137]</a></span> +first halting-place on this journey, in an inn which is +not entitled, as it ought to be, The house of call for +fleas and vermin in general, but is entitled the grand +hotel of the Post! I hardly know what to compare it +to. It seemed something like a house in Somers-town +originally built for a wine-vaults and never finished, but +grown very old. There was nothing to eat in it and +nothing to drink. They had lost the teapot; and +when they found it, they couldn't make out what had +become of the lid, which, turning up at last and being +fixed on to the teapot, couldn't be got off again for the +pouring in of more water. Fleas of elephantine dimensions +were gambolling boldly in the dirty beds; and +the mosquitoes!—But let me here draw a curtain (as I +would have done if there had been any). We had +scarcely any sleep, and rose up with hands and arms +hardly human."</p> + +<p>In four days they were at Albaro, and the morning +after their arrival Dickens underwent the terrible shock +of seeing his brother very nearly drowned in the bay. +He swam out into too strong a current,<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> and was only +narrowly saved by the accident of a fishing-boat preparing +to leave the harbour at the time. "It was a +world of horror and anguish," Dickens wrote to me, +"crowded into four or five minutes of dreadful agitation; +and, to complete the terror of it, Georgy, +Charlotte" (the nurse), "and the children were on a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_138" id="Page_2_138">[138]</a></span> +rock in full view of it all, crying, as you may suppose, +like mad creatures." His own bathing was from the +rock, and, as he had already told me, of the most +primitive kind. He went in whenever he pleased, +broke his head against sharp stones if he went in with +that end foremost, floundered about till he was all over +bruises, and then climbed and staggered out again. +"Everybody wears a dress. Mine extremely theatrical: +Masaniello to the life: shall be preserved for your inspection +in Devonshire-terrace." I will add another +personal touch, also Masaniello-like, which marks the +beginning of a change which, though confined for the +present to his foreign residence and removed when he +came to England, was resumed somewhat later, and in +a few more years wholly altered the aspect of his face. +"The moustaches are glorious, glorious. I have cut +them shorter, and trimmed them a little at the ends to +improve the shape. They are charming, charming. +Without them, life would be a blank."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_139" id="Page_2_139">[139]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>WORK IN GENOA: PALAZZO PESCHIERE.</h3> + +<h3>1844.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Palace of the Fish-ponds—Mural Paintings—Peschiere Garden—A +Peal of Chimes—Governor's Levee—<i>Chimes</i> a Plea for the Poor—Dickens's +Choice of a Hero—Religious Sentiment—Dialogue in a +Vision—Hard at Work—First Outline of the <i>Chimes</i>—What the +Writing of it cost Him—Wild Weather—Coming to London—Secret +of the Visit—The Tale finished—Proposed Travel.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the last week of September they moved from +Albaro into Genoa, amid a violent storm of wind and +wet, "great guns blowing," the lightning incessant, +and the rain driving down in a dense thick cloud. +But the worst of the storm was over when they reached +the Peschiere. As they passed into it along the stately +old terraces, flanked on either side with antique sculptured +figures, all the seven fountains were playing in +its gardens, and the sun was shining brightly on its +groves of camellias and orange-trees.</p> + +<p>It was a wonderful place, and I soon became familiar +with the several rooms that were to form their home +for the rest of their stay in Italy. In the centre was +the grand sala, fifty feet high, of an area larger than +"the dining-room of the Academy," and painted, +walls and ceiling, with frescoes three hundred years +old, "as fresh as if the colours had been laid on yesterday."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_140" id="Page_2_140">[140]</a></span> +On the same floor as this great hall were a +drawing-room, and a dining-room,<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> both covered also +with frescoes still bright enough to make them thoroughly +cheerful, and both so nicely proportioned as +to give to their bigness all the effect of snugness.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> +Out of these opened three other chambers that were +turned into sleeping-rooms and nurseries. Adjoining +the sala, right and left, were the two best bedrooms; +"in size and shape like those at Windsor-castle but +greatly higher;" both having altars, a range of three +windows with stone balconies, floors tesselated in patterns +of black and white stone, and walls painted every +inch: on the left, nymphs pursued by satyrs "as large +as life and as wicked;" on the right, "Phaeton larger +than life, with horses bigger than Meux and Co.'s, +tumbling headlong down into the best bed." The +right-hand one he occupied with his wife, and of the +left took possession as a study; writing behind a big +screen he had lugged into it, and placed by one of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_141" id="Page_2_141">[141]</a></span> +windows, from which he could see over the city, as he +wrote, as far as the lighthouse in its harbour. Distant +little over a mile as the crow flew, flashing five times +in four minutes, and on dark nights, as if by magic, +illuminating brightly the whole palace-front every time +it shone, this lighthouse was one of the wonders of +Genoa.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/image11.jpg" width="400" height="316" alt="Palace" title="Palace" /> +</div> + +<p>When it had all become more familiar to him, he +was fond of dilating on its beauties; and even the +dreary sound of the chaunting from neighbouring +mass-performances, as it floated in at all the open +windows, which at first was a sad trouble, came to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_142" id="Page_2_142">[142]</a></span> +have its charm for him. I remember a vivid account +he gave me of a great festa on the hill behind the +house, when the people alternately danced under tents +in the open air and rushed to say a prayer or two in +an adjoining church bright with red and gold and blue +and silver; so many minutes of dancing, and of praying, +in regular turns of each. But the view over into +Genoa, on clear bright days, was a never failing enjoyment. +The whole city then, without an atom of +smoke, and with every possible variety of tower and +steeple pointing up into the sky, lay stretched out +below his windows. To the right and left were lofty +hills, with every indentation in their rugged sides +sharply discernible; and on one side of the harbour +stretched away into the dim bright distance the whole +of the Cornice, its first highest range of mountains +hoary with snow. Sitting down one Spring day to +write to me, he thus spoke of the sea and of the +garden. "Beyond the town is the wide expanse of +the Mediterranean, as blue, at this moment, as the +most pure and vivid prussian blue on Mac's palette +when it is newly set; and on the horizon there is a +red flush, seen nowhere as it is here. Immediately +below the windows are the gardens of the house, with +gold fish swimming and diving in the fountains; and +below them, at the foot of a steep slope, the public +garden and drive, where the walks are marked out by +hedges of pink roses, which blush and shine through +the green trees and vines, close up to the balconies +of these windows. No custom can impair, and no +description enhance, the beauty of the scene."</p> + +<p>All these and other glories and beauties, however,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_143" id="Page_2_143">[143]</a></span> +did not come to him at once. They counted for little +indeed when he first set himself seriously to write. +"Never did I stagger so upon a threshold before. I +seem as if I had plucked myself out of my proper soil +when I left Devonshire-terrace; and could take root +no more until I return to it. . . . Did I tell you how +many fountains we have here? No matter. If they +played nectar, they wouldn't please me half so well +as the West Middlesex water-works at Devonshire-terrace." +The subject for his new Christmas story he +had chosen, but he had not found a title for it, or the +machinery to work it with; when, at the moment of +what seemed to be his greatest trouble, both reliefs +came. Sitting down one morning resolute for work, +though against the grain, his hand being out and everything +inviting to idleness, such a peal of chimes arose +from the city as he found to be "maddening." All +Genoa lay beneath him, and up from it, with some +sudden set of the wind, came in one fell sound the +clang and clash of all its steeples, pouring into his ears, +again and again, in a tuneless, grating, discordant, +jerking, hideous vibration that made his ideas "spin +round and round till they lost themselves in a whirl of +vexation and giddiness, and dropped down dead." +He had never before so suffered, nor did he again; but +this was his description to me next day, and his excuse +for having failed in a promise to send me his title. +Only two days later, however, came a letter in which +not a syllable was written but "We have heard <span class="smcap">the +Chimes</span> at midnight, Master Shallow!" and I knew +he had discovered what he wanted.</p> + +<p>Other difficulties were still to be got over. He craved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_144" id="Page_2_144">[144]</a></span> +for the London streets. He so missed his long night-walks +before beginning anything that he seemed, as +he said, dumbfounded without them. "I can't help +thinking of the boy in the school-class whose button +was cut off by Walter Scott and his friends. Put me +down on Waterloo-bridge at eight o'clock in the evening, +with leave to roam about as long as I like, and I +would come home, as you know, panting to go on. I +am sadly strange as it is, and can't settle. You will +have lots of hasty notes from me while I am at work; +but you know your man; and whatever strikes me, I +shall let off upon you as if I were in Devonshire-terrace. +It's a great thing to have my title, and see +my way how to work the bells. Let them clash upon me +now from all the churches and convents in Genoa, I +see nothing but the old London belfry I have set them +in. In my mind's eye, Horatio. I like more and +more my notion of making, in this little book, a great +blow for the poor. Something powerful, I think I can +do, but I want to be tender too, and cheerful; as like +the <i>Carol</i> in that respect as may be, and as unlike it as +such a thing can be. The duration of the action will +resemble it a little, but I trust to the novelty of the +machinery to carry that off; and if my design be anything +at all, it has a grip upon the very throat of the +time." (8th of October.)</p> + +<p>Thus bent upon his work, for which he never had +been in more earnest mood, he was disturbed by hearing +that he must attend the levee of the Governor who +had unexpectedly arrived in the city, and who would +take it as an affront, his eccentric friend Fletcher told +him, if that courtesy were not immediately paid. "It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_145" id="Page_2_145">[145]</a></span> +was the morning on which I was going to begin, so I +wrote round to our consul,"—praying, of course, that +excuse should be made for him. Don't bother yourself, +replied that sensible functionary, for all the consuls +and governors alive; but shut yourself up by all +means. "So," continues Dickens, telling me the tale, +"he went next morning in great state and full costume, +to present two English gentlemen. 'Where's the great +poet?' said the Governor. 'I want to see the great +poet.' 'The great poet, your excellency,' said the +consul, 'is at work, writing a book, and begged me to +make his excuses.' 'Excuses!' said the Governor, 'I +wouldn't interfere with such an occupation for all the +world. Pray tell him that my house is open to the +honour of his presence when it is perfectly convenient +for him; but not otherwise. And let no gentleman,' +said the Governor, a surweyin' of his suite with a majestic +eye, 'call upon Signor Dickens till he is understood +to be disengaged.' And he sent somebody with +his own cards next day. Now I <i>do</i> seriously call this, +real politeness and pleasant consideration—not positively +American, but still gentlemanly and polished. +The same spirit pervades the inferior departments; and +I have not been required to observe the usual police +regulations, or to put myself to the slightest trouble +about anything." (18th of October.)</p> + +<p>The picture I am now to give of him at work should +be prefaced by a word or two that may throw light on +the design he was working at. It was a large theme +for so small an instrument; and the disproportion was +not more characteristic of the man, than the throes of +suffering and passion to be presently undergone by him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_146" id="Page_2_146">[146]</a></span> +for results that many men would smile at. He was +bent, as he says, on striking a blow for the poor. They +had always been his clients, they had never been forgotten +in any of his books, but here nothing else was +to be remembered. He had become, in short, terribly +earnest in the matter. Several months before he left +England, I had noticed in him the habit of more +gravely regarding many things before passed lightly +enough; the hopelessness of any true solution of either +political or social problems by the ordinary Downing-street +methods had been startlingly impressed on him +in Carlyle's writings; and in the parliamentary talk +of that day he had come to have as little faith for the +putting down of any serious evil, as in a then notorious +city Alderman's gabble for the putting down of suicide. +The latter had stirred his indignation to its depths just +before he came to Italy, and his increased opportunities +of solitary reflection since had strengthened and +extended it. When he came therefore to think of his +new story for Christmas time, he resolved to make it a +plea for the poor. He did not want it to resemble +his <i>Carol</i>, but the same kind of moral was in his mind. +He was to try and convert Society, as he had converted +Scrooge, by showing that its happiness rested on the +same foundations as those of the individual, which are +mercy and charity not less than justice. Whether right +or wrong in these assumptions, need not be questioned +here, where facts are merely stated to render intelligible +what will follow; he had not made politics at any +time a study, and they were always an instinct with +him rather than a science; but the instinct was wholesome +and sound, and to set class against class never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_147" id="Page_2_147">[147]</a></span> +ceased to be as odious to him as he thought it righteous +at all times to help each to a kindlier knowledge of the +other. And so, here in Italy, amid the grand surroundings +of this Palazzo Peschiere, the hero of his +imagination was to be a sorry old drudge of a London +ticket-porter, who in his anxiety not to distrust or +think hardly of the rich, has fallen into the opposite +extreme of distrusting the poor. From such distrust +it is the object of the story to reclaim him; and, to +the writer of it, the tale became itself of less moment +than what he thus intended it to enforce. Far beyond +mere vanity in authorship went the passionate zeal with +which he began, and the exultation with which he +finished, this task. When we met at its close, he was +fresh from Venice, which had impressed him as "the +wonder" and "the new sensation" of the world: but +well do I remember how high above it all arose the +hope that filled his mind. "Ah!" he said to me, +"when I saw those places, how I thought that to leave +one's hand upon the time, lastingly upon the time, with +one tender touch for the mass of toiling people that +nothing could obliterate, would be to lift oneself above +the dust of all the Doges in their graves, and stand +upon a giant's staircase that Sampson couldn't overthrow!" +In varying forms this ambition was in all +his life.</p> + +<p>Another incident of these days will exhibit aspirations +of a more solemn import that were not less part of his +nature. It was depth of sentiment rather than clearness +of faith which kept safe the belief on which they +rested against all doubt or question of its sacredness, +but every year seemed to strengthen it in him. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_148" id="Page_2_148">[148]</a></span> +was told me in his second letter after reaching the Peschiere; +the first having sent me some such commissions +in regard to his wife's family as his kindly care for all +connected with him frequently led to. "Let me tell +you," he wrote (30th of September), "of a curious +dream I had, last Monday night; and of the fragments +of reality I can collect; which helped to make it up. I +have had a return of rheumatism in my back, and +knotted round my waist like a girdle of pain; and had +laid awake nearly all that night under the infliction, +when I fell asleep and dreamed this dream. Observe +that throughout I was as real, animated, and full of +passion as Macready (God bless him!) in the last scene +of <i>Macbeth</i>. In an indistinct place, which was quite +sublime in its indistinctness, I was visited by a Spirit. +I could not make out the face, nor do I recollect that +I desired to do so. It wore a blue drapery, as the Madonna +might in a picture by Raphael; and bore no resemblance +to any one I have known except in stature. +I think (but I am not sure) that I recognized the voice. +Anyway, I knew it was poor Mary's spirit. I was not +at all afraid, but in a great delight, so that I wept very +much, and stretching out my arms to it called it 'Dear.' +At this, I thought it recoiled; and I felt immediately, +that not being of my gross nature, I ought not to have +addressed it so familiarly. 'Forgive me!' I said. 'We +poor living creatures are only able to express ourselves +by looks and words. I have used the word most natural +to <i>our</i> affections; and you know my heart.' It was +so full of compassion and sorrow for me—which I knew +spiritually, for, as I have said, I didn't perceive its +emotions by its face—that it cut me to the heart; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_149" id="Page_2_149">[149]</a></span> +I said, sobbing, 'Oh! give me some token that you +have really visited me!' 'Form a wish,' it said. I +thought, reasoning with myself: 'If I form a selfish +wish, it will vanish.' So I hastily discarded such hopes +and anxieties of my own as came into my mind, and +said, 'Mrs. Hogarth is surrounded with great distresses'—observe, +I never thought of saying 'your mother' as +to a mortal creature—'will you extricate her?' 'Yes.' +'And her extrication is to be a certainty to me, that this +has really happened?' 'Yes.' 'But answer me one other +question!' I said, in an agony of entreaty lest it should +leave me. 'What is the True religion?' As it paused +a moment without replying, I said—Good God in such +an agony of haste, lest it should go away!—'You think, +as I do, that the Form of religion does not so greatly +matter, if we try to do good? or,' I said, observing that +it still hesitated, and was moved with the greatest compassion +for me, 'perhaps the Roman Catholic is the +best? perhaps it makes one think of God oftener, and +believe in him more steadily?' 'For <i>you</i>,' said the +Spirit, full of such heavenly tenderness for me, that I +felt as if my heart would break; 'for <i>you</i>, it is the best!' +Then I awoke, with the tears running down my face, +and myself in exactly the condition of the dream. It +was just dawn. I called up Kate, and repeated it three +or four times over, that I might not unconsciously make +it plainer or stronger afterwards. It was exactly this. +Free from all hurry, nonsense, or confusion, whatever. +Now, the strings I can gather up, leading to this, were +three. The first you know, from the main subject of +my last letter. The second was, that there is a great +altar in our bed-room, at which some family who once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_150" id="Page_2_150">[150]</a></span> +inhabited this palace had mass performed in old time: +and I had observed within myself, before going to bed, +that there was a mark in the wall, above the sanctuary, +where a religious picture used to be; and I had wondered +within myself what the subject might have been, +<i>and what the face was like</i>. Thirdly, I had been listening +to the convent bells (which ring at intervals in the +night), and so had thought, no doubt, of Roman Catholic +services. And yet, for all this, put the case of that +wish being fulfilled by any agency in which I had no +hand; and I wonder whether I should regard it as a +dream, or an actual Vision!" It was perhaps natural +that he should omit, from his own considerations awakened +by the dream, the very first that would have risen +in any mind to which his was intimately known—that +it strengthens other evidences, of which there are many +in his life, of his not having escaped those trying regions +of reflection which most men of thought and all men of +genius have at some time to pass through. In such disturbing +fancies during the next year or two, I may add +that the book which helped him most was the <i>Life of +Arnold</i>. "I respect and reverence his memory," he +wrote to me in the middle of October, in reply to my +mention of what had most attracted myself in it, "beyond +all expression. I must have that book. Every +sentence that you quote from it is the text-book of my +faith."</p> + +<p>He kept his promise that I should hear from him +while writing, and I had frequent letters when he was +fairly in his work. "With my steam very much up, I +find it a great trial to be so far off from you, and consequently +to have no one (always excepting Kate and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_151" id="Page_2_151">[151]</a></span> +Georgy) to whom to expatiate on my day's work. And +I want a crowded street to plunge into at night. And +I want to be 'on the spot' as it were. But apart from +such things, the life I lead is favourable to work." In +his next letter: "I am in regular, ferocious excitement +with the <i>Chimes;</i> get up at seven; have a cold bath before +breakfast; and blaze away, wrathful and red-hot, +until three o'clock or so; when I usually knock off +(unless it rains) for the day . . . I am fierce to finish in a +spirit bearing some affinity to those of truth and mercy, +and to shame the cruel and the canting. I have not +forgotten my catechism. 'Yes verily, and with God's +help, so I will!'"</p> + +<p>Within a week he had completed his first part, or +quarter. "I send you to-day" (18th of October), "by +mail, the first and longest of the four divisions. This +is great for the first week, which is usually up-hill. I +have kept a copy in shorthand in case of accidents. I +hope to send you a parcel every Monday until the whole +is done. I do not wish to influence you, but it has a +great hold upon me, and has affected me, in the doing, +in divers strong ways, deeply, forcibly. To give you +better means of judgment I will sketch for you the general +idea, but pray don't read it until you have read +this first part of the MS." I print it here. It is a +good illustration of his method in all his writing. His +idea is in it so thoroughly, that, by comparison with +the tale as printed, we see the strength of its mastery +over his first design. Thus always, whether his tale +was to be written in one or in twenty numbers, his +fancies controlled him. He never, in any of his books, +accomplished what he had wholly preconceived, often<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_152" id="Page_2_152">[152]</a></span> +as he attempted it. Few men of genius ever did. Once +at the sacred heat that opens regions beyond ordinary +vision, imagination has its own laws; and where characters +are so real as to be treated as existences, their +creator himself cannot help them having their own wills +and ways. Fern the farm-labourer is not here, nor yet +his niece the little Lilian (at first called Jessie) who is +to give to the tale its most tragical scene; and there +are intimations of poetic fancy at the close of my sketch +which the published story fell short of. Altogether the +comparison is worth observing.</p> + +<p>"The general notion is this. That what happens to +poor Trotty in the first part, and what will happen to +him in the second (when he takes the letter to a punctual +and a great man of business, who is balancing his +books and making up his accounts, and complacently +expatiating on the necessity of clearing off every liability +and obligation, and turning over a new leaf and +starting fresh with the new year), so dispirits him, who +can't do this, that he comes to the conclusion that his +class and order have no business with a new year, and +really are 'intruding.' And though he will pluck up +for an hour or so, at the christening (I think) of a +neighbour's child, that evening: still, when he goes +home, Mr. Filer's precepts will come into his mind, +and he will say to himself, 'we are a long way past the +proper average of children, and it has no business to +be born:' and will be wretched again. And going +home, and sitting there alone, he will take that newspaper +out of his pocket, and reading of the crimes and +offences of the poor, especially of those whom Alderman +Cute is going to put down, will be quite confirmed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_153" id="Page_2_153">[153]</a></span> +in his misgiving that they are bad; irredeemably bad. +In this state of mind, he will fancy that the Chimes are +calling, to him; and saying to himself 'God help me. +Let me go up to 'em. I feel as if I were going to die +in despair—of a broken heart; let me die among the +bells that have been a comfort to me!'—will grope his +way up into the tower; and fall down in a kind of +swoon among them. Then the third quarter, or in +other words the beginning of the second half of the +book, will open with the Goblin part of the thing: +the bells ringing, and innumerable spirits (the sound +or vibration of them) flitting and tearing in and out +of the church-steeple, and bearing all sorts of missions +and commissions and reminders and reproaches, +and comfortable recollections and what not, to all +sorts of people and places. Some bearing scourges; +and others flowers, and birds, and music; and others +pleasant faces in mirrors, and others ugly ones: the +bells haunting people in the night (especially the +last of the old year) according to their deeds. And +the bells themselves, who have a goblin likeness to +humanity in the midst of their proper shapes, and who +shine in a light of their own, will say (the Great Bell +being the chief spokesman) Who is he that being of +the poor doubts the right of poor men to the inheritance +which Time reserves for them, and echoes an unmeaning +cry against his fellows? Toby, all aghast, +will tell him it is he, and why it is. Then the spirits +of the bells will bear him through the air to various +scenes, charged with this trust: That they show him +how the poor and wretched, at the worst—yes, even +in the crimes that aldermen put down, and he has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_154" id="Page_2_154">[154]</a></span> +thought so horrible—have some deformed and hunchbacked +goodness clinging to them; and how they have +their right and share in Time. Following out the +history of Meg the Bells will show her, that marriage +broken off and all friends dead, with an infant child; +reduced so low, and made so miserable, as to be brought +at last to wander out at night. And in Toby's sight, +her father's, she will resolve to drown herself and the +child together. But before she goes down to the water, +Toby will see how she covers it with a part of her own +wretched dress, and adjusts its rags so as to make it +pretty in its sleep, and hangs over it, and smooths its +little limbs, and loves it with the dearest love that God +ever gave to mortal creatures; and when she runs down +to the water, Toby will cry 'Oh spare her! Chimes, +have mercy on her! Stop her!'—and the bells will say, +'Why stop her? She is bad at heart—let the bad die.' +And Toby on his knees will beg and pray for mercy: +and in the end the bells will stop her, by their voices, +just in time. Toby will see, too, what great things +the punctual man has left undone on the close of the +old year, and what accounts he has left unsettled: +punctual as he is. And he will see a great many things +about Richard, once so near being his son-in-law, and +about a great many people. And the moral of it all +will be, that he has his portion in the new year no less +than any other man, and that the poor require a deal +of beating out of shape before their human shape is +gone; that even in their frantic wickedness there may +be good in their hearts triumphantly asserting itself, +though all the aldermen alive say 'No,' as he has learnt +from the agony of his own child; and that the truth is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_155" id="Page_2_155">[155]</a></span> +Trustfulness in them, not doubt, nor putting down, nor +filing them away. And when at last a great sea rises, +and this sea of Time comes sweeping down, bearing +the alderman and such mudworms of the earth away to +nothing, dashing them to fragments in its fury—Toby +will climb a rock and hear the bells (now faded from +his sight) pealing out upon the waters. And as he +hears them, and looks round for help, he will wake up +and find himself with the newspaper lying at his foot; +and Meg sitting opposite to him at the table, making +up the ribbons for her wedding to-morrow; and the +window open, that the sound of the bells ringing the +old year out and the new year in may enter. They +will just have broken out, joyfully; and Richard will +dash in to kiss Meg before Toby, and have the first kiss +of the new year (he'll get it too); and the neighbours +will crowd round with good wishes; and a band will +strike up gaily (Toby knows a Drum in private); and +the altered circumstances, and the ringing of the bells, +and the jolly musick, will so transport the old fellow +that he will lead off a country dance forthwith in an +entirely new step, consisting of his old familiar trot. +Then quoth the inimitable—Was it a dream of Toby's +after all? Or is Toby but a dream? and Meg a dream? +and all a dream! In reference to which, and the realities +of which dreams are born, the inimitable will be +wiser than he can be now, writing for dear life, with +the post just going, and the brave C booted. . . . Ah +how I hate myself, my dear fellow, for this lame and +halting outline of the Vision I have in my mind. But +it must go to you. . . . You will say what is best for +the frontispiece". . . .<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_156" id="Page_2_156">[156]</a></span></p> + +<p>With the second part or quarter, after a week's interval, +came announcement of the enlargement of his +plan, by which he hoped better to carry out the scheme +of the story, and to get, for its following part, an effect +for his heroine that would increase the tragic interest. +"I am still in stout heart with the tale. I think it well-timed +and a good thought; and as you know I wouldn't +say so to anybody else, I don't mind saying freely thus +much. It has great possession of me every moment in +the day; and drags me where it will. . . . If you only +could have read it all at once!—But you never would +have done that, anyway, for I never should have been +able to keep it to myself; so that's nonsense. I hope +you'll like it. I would give a hundred pounds (and +think it cheap) to see you read it. . . . Never mind."</p> + +<p>That was the first hint of an intention of which I +was soon to hear more; but meanwhile, after eight +more days, the third part came, with the scene from +which he expected so much, and with a mention of +what the writing of it had cost him. "This book +(whether in the Hajji Baba sense or not I can't say, +but certainly in the literal one) has made my face white +in a foreign land. My cheeks, which were beginning +to fill out, have sunk again; my eyes have grown immensely +large; my hair is very lank; and the head +inside the hair is hot and giddy. Read the scene at +the end of the third part, twice. I wouldn't write it +twice, for something. . . . You will see that I have +substituted the name of Lilian for Jessie. It is prettier +in sound, and suits my music better. I mention this, +lest you should wonder who and what I mean by that +name. To-morrow I shall begin afresh (starting the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_157" id="Page_2_157">[157]</a></span> +next part with a broad grin, and ending it with the +very soul of jollity and happiness); and I hope to finish +by next Monday at latest. Perhaps on Saturday. I +hope you will like the little book. Since I conceived, +at the beginning of the second part, what must happen +in the third, I have undergone as much sorrow and +agitation as if the thing were real; and have wakened +up with it at night. I was obliged to lock myself in +when I finished it yesterday, for my face was swollen +for the time to twice its proper size, and was hugely +ridiculous." . . . His letter ended abruptly. "I am +going for a long walk, to clear my head. I feel that +I am very shakey from work, and throw down my pen +for the day. There! (That's where it fell.)" A huge +blot represented it, and, as Hamlet says, the rest was +silence.</p> + +<p>Two days later, answering a letter from me that had +reached in the interval, he gave sprightlier account of +himself, and described a happy change in the weather. +Up to this time, he protested, they had not had more +than four or five clear days. All the time he had been +writing they had been wild and stormy. "Wind, +hail, rain, thunder and lightning. To-day," just before +he sent me his last manuscript, "has been November +slack-baked, the sirocco having come back; and to-night +it blows great guns with a raging storm." +"Weather worse," he wrote after three Mondays, "than +any November English weather I have ever beheld, or +any weather I have had experience of anywhere. So +horrible to-day that all power has been rained and +gloomed out of me. Yesterday, in pure determination +to get the better of it, I walked twelve miles in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_158" id="Page_2_158">[158]</a></span> +mountain rain. You never saw it rain. Scotland and +America are nothing to it." But now all this was over. +"The weather changed on Saturday night, and has +been glorious ever since. I am afraid to say more in +its favour, lest it should change again." It did not. I +think there were no more complainings. I heard now +of autumn days with the mountain wind lovely, enjoyable, +exquisite past expression. I heard of mountain +walks behind the Peschiere, most beautiful and fresh, +among which, and along the beds of dry rivers and +torrents, he could "pelt away," in any dress, without +encountering a soul but the contadini. I heard of his +starting off one day after finishing work, "fifteen miles +to dinner—oh my stars! at such an inn!!!" On another +day, of a party to dinner at their pleasant little +banker's at Quinto six miles off, to which, while the +ladies drove, he was able "to walk in the sun of the +middle of the day and to walk home again at night." +On another, of an expedition up the mountain on +mules. And on another of a memorable tavern-dinner +with their merchant friend Mr. Curry, in which there +were such successions of surprising dishes of genuine +native cookery that they took two hours in the serving, +but of the component parts of not one of which was he +able to form the remotest conception: the site of the +tavern being on the city wall, its name in Italian sounding +very romantic and meaning "the Whistle," and +its bill of fare kept for an experiment to which, before +another month should be over, he dared and challenged +my cookery in Lincoln's-inn.</p> + +<p>A visit from him to London was to be expected +almost immediately! That all remonstrance would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_159" id="Page_2_159">[159]</a></span> +idle, under the restless excitement his work had +awakened, I well knew. It was not merely the wish +he had, natural enough, to see the last proofs and the +woodcuts before the day of publication, which he could +not otherwise do; but it was the stronger and more +eager wish, before that final launch, to have a vivider +sense than letters could give him of the effect of what +he had been doing. "If I come, I shall put up at +Cuttris's" (then the Piazza-hotel in Covent-garden) +"that I may be close to you. Don't say to anybody, +except our immediate friends, that I am coming. Then +I shall not be bothered. If I should preserve my +present fierce writing humour, in any pass I may run +to Venice, Bologna, and Florence, before I turn my +face towards Lincoln's-inn-fields; and come to England +by Milan and Turin. But this of course depends +in a great measure on your reply." My reply, dwelling +on the fatigue and cost, had the reception I foresaw. +"Notwithstanding what you say, I am still in the same +mind about coming to London. Not because the +proofs concern me at all (I should be an ass as well as +a thankless vagabond if they did), but because of that +unspeakable restless something which would render it +almost as impossible for me to remain here and not see +the thing complete, as it would be for a full balloon, +left to itself, not to go up. I do not intend coming +from <i>here</i>, but by way of Milan and Turin (previously +going to Venice), and so, across the wildest pass of the +Alps that may be open, to Strasburg. . . . As you dislike +the Young England gentleman I shall knock him +out, and replace him by a man (I can dash him in at +your rooms in an hour) who recognizes no virtue in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_160" id="Page_2_160">[160]</a></span> +anything but the good old times, and talks of them, +parrot-like, whatever the matter is. A real good old +city tory, in a blue coat and bright buttons and a white +cravat, and with a tendency of blood to the head. +File away at Filer, as you please; but bear in mind +that the <i>Westminster Review</i> considered Scrooge's presentation +of the turkey to Bob Cratchit as grossly incompatible +with political economy. I don't care at all +for the skittle-playing." These were among things I +had objected to.</p> + +<p>But the close of his letter revealed more than its +opening of the reason, not at once so frankly confessed, +for the long winter-journey he was about to make; and +if it be thought that, in printing the passage, I take a +liberty with my friend, it will be found that equal +liberty is taken with myself, whom it goodnaturedly +caricatures; so that the reader can enjoy his laugh at +either or both. "Shall I confess to you, I particularly +want Carlyle above all to see it before the rest of the +world, when it is done; and I should like to inflict the +little story on him and on dear old gallant Macready +with my own lips, and to have Stanny and the other +Mac sitting by. Now, if you was a real gent, you'd +get up a little circle for me, one wet evening, when I +come to town: and would say, 'My boy (<span class="smcap">sir</span>, will you +have the goodness to leave those books alone and to go +downstairs—<span class="smcap">What</span> the Devil are you doing! And +mind, sir, I can see nobody—do you hear? Nobody. +I am particularly engaged with a gentleman from Asia)—My +boy, would you give us that little Christmas book +(a little Christmas book of Dickens's, Macready, which +I'm anxious you should hear); and don't slur it, now,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_161" id="Page_2_161">[161]</a></span> +or be too fast, Dickens, please!'—I say, if you was a +real gent, something to this effect might happen. I +shall be under sailing orders the moment I have finished. +And I shall produce myself (please God) in London on +the very day you name. For one week: to the hour."</p> + +<p>The wish was complied with, of course; and that +night in Lincoln's-inn-fields led to rather memorable +issues. His next letter told me the little tale was done. +"Third of November, 1844. Half-past two, afternoon. +Thank God! I have finished the <i>Chimes</i>. This moment. +I take up my pen again to-day; to say only that much; +and to add that I have had what women call 'a real +good cry!'" Very genuine all this, it is hardly necessary +to say. The little book thus completed was not +one of his greater successes, and it raised him up some +objectors; but there was that in it which more than +repaid the suffering its writing cost him, and the enmity +its opinions provoked; and in his own heart it had a +cherished corner to the last. The intensity of it +seemed always best to represent to himself what he +hoped to be longest remembered for; and exactly +what he felt as to this, his friend Jeffrey warmly expressed. +"All the tribe of selfishness, and cowardice +and cant, will hate you in their hearts, and cavil when +they can; will accuse you of wicked exaggeration, and +excitement to discontent, and what they pleasantly call +disaffection! But never mind. The good and the +brave are with you, and the truth also."</p> + +<p>He resumed his letter on the fourth of November. +"Here is the brave courier measuring bits of maps +with a carving-fork, and going up mountains on a teaspoon. +He and I start on Wednesday for Parma, Modena,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_162" id="Page_2_162">[162]</a></span> +Bologna, Venice, Verona, Brescia, and Milan. +Milan being within a reasonable journey from here, +Kate and Georgy will come to meet me when I arrive +there on my way towards England; and will bring me +all letters from you. I shall be there on the 18th. . . . +Now, you know my punctiwality. Frost, ice, +flooded rivers, steamers, horses, passports, and custom-houses +may damage it. But my design is, to walk into +Cuttris's coffee-room on Sunday the 1st of December, +in good time for dinner. I shall look for you at the +farther table by the fire—where we generally go. . . . +But the party for the night following? I know you +have consented to the party. Let me see. Don't have +any one, this particular night, to dinner, but let it be a +summons for the special purpose at half-past 6. Carlyle, +indispensable, and I should like his wife of all +things: <i>her</i> judgment would be invaluable. You will +ask Mac, and why not his sister? Stanny and Jerrold +I should particularly wish; Edwin Landseer; Blanchard; +perhaps Harness; and what say you to Fonblanque +and Fox? I leave it to you. You know the effect I +want to try . . . Think the <i>Chimes</i> a letter, my dear +fellow, and forgive this. I will not fail to write to you +on my travels. Most probably from Venice. And +when I meet you (in sound health I hope) oh Heaven! +what a week we will have."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_163" id="Page_2_163">[163]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>ITALIAN TRAVEL.</h3> + +<h3>1844.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Cities and People—Venice—Proposed Travel—At Lodi—Paintings—The +Inns—Dinner at the Peschiere—Custom-house Officers—At +Milan—At Strasburg—Return to London—A Macready Rehearsal—Friendly +Americans.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">So</span> it all fell out accordingly. He parted from his +disconsolate wife, as he told me in his first letter from +Ferrara, on Wednesday the 6th of November: left her +shut up in her palace like a baron's lady in the time of +the crusades; and had his first real experience of the +wonders of Italy. He saw Parma, Modena, Bologna, +Ferrara, Venice, Verona, and Mantua. As to all which +the impressions conveyed to me in his letters have been +more or less given in his published <i>Pictures</i>. They are +charmingly expressed. There is a sketch of a cicerone +at Bologna which will remain in his books among their +many delightful examples of his unerring and loving +perception for every gentle, heavenly, and tender soul, +under whatever conventional disguise it wanders here +on earth, whether as poorhouse orphan or lawyer's clerk, +architect's pupil at Salisbury or cheerful little guide to +graves at Bologna; and there is another memorable +description in his Rembrandt sketch, in form of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_164" id="Page_2_164">[164]</a></span> +dream, of the silent, unearthly, watery wonders of +Venice. This last, though not written until after his +London visit, had been prefigured so vividly in what +he wrote at once from the spot, that those passages +from his letter<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> may be read still with a quite undiminished +interest. "I must not," he said, "anticipate +myself. But, my dear fellow, nothing in the world that +ever you have heard of Venice, is equal to the magnificent +and stupendous reality. The wildest visions of the +Arabian Nights are nothing to the piazza of Saint Mark, +and the first impression of the inside of the church. +The gorgeous and wonderful reality of Venice is beyond +the fancy of the wildest dreamer. Opium couldn't +build such a place, and enchantment couldn't shadow +it forth in a vision. All that I have heard of it, read<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_165" id="Page_2_165">[165]</a></span> +of it in truth or fiction, fancied of it, is left thousands +of miles behind. You know that I am liable to disappointment +in such things from over-expectation, but +Venice is above, beyond, out of all reach of coming +near, the imagination of a man. It has never been +rated high enough. It is a thing you would shed tears +to see. When I came <i>on board</i> here last night (after a +five miles' row in a gondola; which somehow or other, +I wasn't at all prepared for); when, from seeing the +city lying, one light, upon the distant water, like a +ship, I came plashing through the silent and deserted +streets; I felt as if the houses were reality—the water, +fever-madness. But when, in the bright, cold, bracing +day, I stood upon the piazza, this morning, by Heaven +the glory of the place was insupportable! And diving +down from that into its wickedness and gloom—its +awful prisons, deep below the water; its judgment +chambers, secret doors, deadly nooks, where the +torches you carry with you blink as if they couldn't +bear the air in which the frightful scenes were acted; +and coming out again into the radiant, unsubstantial +Magic of the town; and diving in again, into vast +churches, and old tombs—a new sensation, a new +memory, a new mind came upon me. Venice is a bit +of my brain from this time. My dear Forster, if you +could share my transports (as you would if you were +here) what would I not give! I feel cruel not to have +brought Kate and Georgy; positively cruel and base. +Canaletti and Stanny, miraculous in their truth. +Turner, very noble. But the reality itself, beyond all +pen or pencil. I never saw the thing before that I +should be afraid to describe. But to tell what Venice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_166" id="Page_2_166">[166]</a></span> +is, I feel to be an impossibility. And here I sit alone, +writing it: with nothing to urge me on, or goad me to +that estimate, which, speaking of it to anyone I loved, +and being spoken to in return, would lead me to form. +In the sober solitude of a famous inn; with the great +bell of Saint Mark ringing twelve at my elbow; with +three arched windows in my room (two stories high) +looking down upon the grand canal and away, beyond, +to where the sun went down to-night in a blaze; and +thinking over again those silent speaking faces of +Titian and Tintoretto; I swear (uncooled by any humbug +I have seen) that Venice is <i>the</i> wonder and the new +sensation of the world! If you could be set down in +it, never having heard of it, it would still be so. With +your foot upon its stones, its pictures before you, and +its history in your mind, it is something past all writing +of or speaking of—almost past all thinking of. +You couldn't talk to me in this room, nor I to you, +without shaking hands and saying 'Good God my dear +fellow, have we lived to see this!'"</p> + +<p>Five days later, Sunday the 17th, he was at Lodi, +from which he wrote to me that he had been, like Leigh +Hunt's pig, up "all manner of streets" since he left +his palazzo; that with one exception he had not on +any night given up more than five hours to rest; that +all the days except two had been bad ("the last two +foggy as Blackfriars-bridge on Lord Mayor's day"); +and that the cold had been dismal. But what cheerful, +keen, observant eyes he carried everywhere; and, in +the midst of new and unaccustomed scenes, and of +objects and remains of art for which no previous study +had prepared him, with what a delicate play of imagination<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_167" id="Page_2_167">[167]</a></span> +and fancy the minuteness and accuracy of his +ordinary vision was exalted and refined; I think strikingly +shown by the few unstudied passages I am preserving +from these friendly letters. He saw everything +for himself; and from mistakes in judging for himself +which not all the learning and study in the world will +save ordinary men, the intuition of genius almost always +saved him. Hence there is hardly anything uttered by +him, of this much-trodden and wearisomely-visited, but +eternally beautiful and interesting country, that will not +be found worth listening to.</p> + +<p>"I am already brim-full of cant about pictures, and +shall be happy to enlighten you on the subject of the +different schools, at any length you please. It seems +to me that the preposterous exaggeration in which +our countrymen delight in reference to this Italy, +hardly extends to the really good things.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> Perhaps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_168" id="Page_2_168">[168]</a></span> +it is in its nature, that there it should fall short. I +have never seen any praise of Titian's great picture +of the Transfiguration of the Virgin at Venice, which +soared half as high as the beautiful and amazing +reality. It is perfection. Tintoretto's picture too, of +the Assembly of the Blest, at Venice also, with all the +lines in it (it is of immense size and the figures +are countless) tending majestically and dutifully to +Almighty God in the centre, is grand and noble in the +extreme. There are some wonderful portraits there, +besides; and some confused, and hurried, and slaughterous +battle pieces, in which the surprising art that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_169" id="Page_2_169">[169]</a></span> +presents the generals to your eye, so that it is almost +impossible you can miss them in a crowd though they +are in the thick of it, is very pleasant to dwell upon. +I have seen some delightful pictures; and some (at +Verona and Mantua) really too absurd and ridiculous +even to laugh at. Hampton-court is a fool to 'em—and +oh there are some rum 'uns there, my friend. +Some werry rum 'uns. . . . Two things are clear to me +already. One is, that the rules of art are much too +slavishly followed; making it a pain to you, when you +go into galleries day after day, to be so very precisely +sure where this figure will be turning round, and that +figure will be lying down, and that other will have a +great lot of drapery twined about him, and so forth. +This becomes a perfect nightmare. The second is, +that these great men, who were of necessity very much +in the hands of the monks and priests, painted monks +and priests a vast deal too often. I constantly see, in +pictures of tremendous power, heads quite below the +story and the painter; and I invariably observe that +those heads are of the convent stamp, and have their +counterparts, exactly, in the convent inmates of this +hour. I see the portraits of monks I know at Genoa, +in all the lame parts of strong paintings: so I have +settled with myself that in such cases the lameness was +not with the painter, but with the vanity and ignorance +of his employers, who <i>would</i> be apostles on canvas at +all events."<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p> + +<p>In the same letter he described the Inns. "It is a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_170" id="Page_2_170">[170]</a></span> +great thing—quite a matter of course—with English +travellers, to decry the Italian inns. Of course you +have no comforts that you are used to in England; and +travelling alone, you dine in your bedroom always. +Which is opposed to our habits. But they are immeasurably +better than you would suppose. The +attendants are very quick; very punctual; and so +obliging, if you speak to them politely, that you +would be a beast not to look cheerful, and take everything +pleasantly. I am writing this in a room like a +room on the two-pair front of an unfinished house in +Eaton-square: the very walls make me feel as if I were +a bricklayer distinguished by Mr. Cubitt with the favour +of having it to take care of. The windows won't +open, and the doors won't shut; and these latter (a cat +could get in, between them and the floor) have a windy +command of a colonnade which is open to the night, +so that my slippers positively blow off my feet, and +make little circuits in the room—like leaves. There is +a very ashy wood-fire, burning on an immense hearth +which has no fender (there is no such thing in Italy); +and it only knows two extremes—an agony of heat when +wood is put on, and an agony of cold when it has been +on two minutes. There is also an uncomfortable stain +in the wall, where the fifth door (not being strictly +indispensable) was walled up a year or two ago, and +never painted over. But the bed is clean; and I have +had an excellent dinner; and without being obsequious +or servile, which is not at all the characteristic of the +people in the North of Italy, the waiters are so amiably +disposed to invent little attentions which they suppose +to be English, and are so lighthearted and goodnatured,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_171" id="Page_2_171">[171]</a></span> +that it is a pleasure to have to do with them. But so +it is with all the people. Vetturino-travelling involves +a stoppage of two hours in the middle of the day, to +bait the horses. At that time I always walk on. If +there are many turns in the road, I necessarily have to +ask my way, very often: and the men are such gentlemen, +and the women such ladies, that it is quite an +interchange of courtesies."</p> + +<p>Of the help his courier continued to be to him I had +whimsical instances in almost every letter, but he appears +too often in the published book to require such +celebration here. He is however an essential figure to +two little scenes sketched for me at Lodi, and I may +preface them by saying that Louis Roche, a native of +Avignon, justified to the close his master's high opinion. +He was again engaged for nearly a year in Switzerland, +and soon after, poor fellow, though with a jovial robustness +of look and breadth of chest that promised +unusual length of days, was killed by heart-disease. +"The brave C continues to be a prodigy. He puts out +my clothes at every inn as if I were going to stay there +twelve months; calls me to the instant every morning; +lights the fire before I get up; gets hold of roast fowls +and produces them in coaches at a distance from all +other help, in hungry moments; and is invaluable to +me. He is such a good fellow, too, that little rewards +don't spoil him. I always give him, after I have dined, +a tumbler of Sauterne or Hermitage or whatever I may +have; sometimes (as yesterday) when we have come to +a public-house at about eleven o'clock, very cold, having +started before day-break and had nothing, I make +him take his breakfast with me; and this renders him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_172" id="Page_2_172">[172]</a></span> +only more anxious than ever, by redoubling attentions, +to show me that he thinks he has got a good master . . . +I didn't tell you that the day before I left Genoa, we +had a dinner-party—our English consul and his wife; +the banker; Sir George Crawford and his wife; the +De la Rues; Mr. Curry; and some others, fourteen +in all. At about nine in the morning, two men in immense +paper caps enquired at the door for the brave +C, who presently introduced them in triumph as the +Governor's cooks, his private friends, who had come +to dress the dinner! Jane wouldn't stand this, however; +so we were obliged to decline. Then there came, +at half-hourly intervals, six gentlemen having the appearance +of English clergymen; other private friends +who had come to wait. . . . We accepted <i>their</i> services; +and you never saw anything so nicely and quietly done. +He had asked, as a special distinction, to be allowed +the supreme control of the dessert; and he had ices +made like fruit, had pieces of crockery turned upside +down so as to look like other pieces of crockery non-existent +in this part of Europe, and carried a case of +tooth-picks in his pocket. Then his delight was, to +get behind Kate at one end of the table, to look at +me at the other, and to say to Georgy in a low voice +whenever he handed her anything, 'What does master +think of datter 'rangement? Is he content?' . . . +If you could see what these fellows of couriers are +when their families are not upon the move, you would +feel what a prize he is. I can't make out whether he +was ever a smuggler, but nothing will induce him +to give the custom-house-officers anything: in consequence +of which that portmanteau of mine has been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_173" id="Page_2_173">[173]</a></span> +unnecessarily opened twenty times. Two of them will +come to the coach-door, at the gate of a town. 'Is +there anything contraband in this carriage, signore?'—'No, +no. There's nothing here. I am an Englishman, +and this is my servant.' 'A buono mano signore?' +'Roche,'(in English) 'give him something, +and get rid of him.' He sits unmoved. 'A buono +mano signore?' 'Go along with you!' says the brave +C. 'Signore, I am a custom-house-officer!' 'Well, +then, more shame for you!'—he always makes the +same answer. And then he turns to me and says in +English: while the custom-house-officer's face is a +portrait of anguish framed in the coach-window, from +his intense desire to know what is being told to his +disparagement: 'Datter chip,' shaking his fist at him, +'is greatest tief—and you know it you rascal—as never +did en-razh me so, that I cannot bear myself!' I +suppose chip to mean chap, but it may include the +custom-house-officer's father and have some reference +to the old block, for anything I distinctly know."</p> + +<p>He closed his Lodi letter next day at Milan, whither +his wife and her sister had made an eighty miles journey +from Genoa, to pass a couple of days with him in +Prospero's old Dukedom before he left for London. +"We shall go our several ways on Thursday morning, +and I am still bent on appearing at Cuttris's on Sunday +the first, as if I had walked thither from Devonshire-terrace. +In the meantime I shall not write to +you again . . . to enhance the pleasure (if anything +<i>can</i> enhance the pleasure) of our meeting . . . I am +opening my arms so wide!" One more letter I had +nevertheless; written at Strasburg on Monday night<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_174" id="Page_2_174">[174]</a></span> +the 25th; to tell me I might look for him one day +earlier, so rapid had been his progress. He had been +in bed only once, at Friburg for two or three hours, +since he left Milan; and he had sledged through the +snow on the top of the Simplon in the midst of prodigious +cold. "I am sitting here <i>in</i> a wood-fire, and +drinking brandy and water scalding hot, with a faint +idea of coming warm in time. My face is at present +tingling with the frost and wind, as I suppose the +cymbals may, when that turbaned turk attached to the +life guards' band has been newly clashing at them in +St. James's-park. I am in hopes it may be the preliminary +agony of returning animation."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<a href="images/image12-larger.jpg"><img src="images/image12.jpg" width="600" height="391" alt="AT 58 LINCOLN'S-INN-FIELDS, MONDAY THE 2ND OF DECEMBER 1844." title="AT 58 LINCOLN'S-INN-FIELDS, MONDAY THE 2ND OF DECEMBER 1844." /> +<span class="caption">AT 58 LINCOLN'S-INN-FIELDS, MONDAY THE 2ND OF DECEMBER 1844.</span> +</a></div> + +<p>There was certainly no want of animation when we +met. I have but to write the words to bring back the +eager face and figure, as they flashed upon me so suddenly +this wintry Saturday night that almost before I +could be conscious of his presence I felt the grasp of +his hand. It is almost all I find it possible to remember +of the brief, bright, meeting. Hardly did he seem +to have come when he was gone. But all that the visit +proposed he accomplished. He saw his little book in +its final form for publication; and, to a select few +brought together on Monday the 2nd of December at +my house, had the opportunity of reading it aloud. An +occasion rather memorable, in which was the germ of +those readings to larger audiences by which, as much +as by his books, the world knew him in his later life; +but of which no detail beyond the fact remains in my +memory, and all are now dead who were present at it +excepting only Mr. Carlyle and myself. Among those +however who have thus passed away was one, our excellent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_175" id="Page_2_175">[175]</a></span> +Maclise, who, anticipating the advice of Captain +Cuttle, had "made a note of" it in pencil, which +I am able here to reproduce. It will tell the reader all +he can wish to know. He will see of whom the party +consisted; and may be assured (with allowance for a +touch of caricature to which I may claim to be considered +myself as the chief victim), that in the grave attention +of Carlyle, the eager interest of Stanfield and +Maclise, the keen look of poor Laman Blanchard, Fox's +rapt solemnity, Jerrold's skyward gaze, and the tears +of Harness and Dyce, the characteristic points of the +scene are sufficiently rendered. All other recollection +of it is passed and gone; but that at least its principal +actor was made glad and grateful, sufficient farther testimony +survives. Such was the report made of it, that +once more, on the pressing intercession of our friend +Thomas Ingoldsby (Mr. Barham), there was a second +reading to which the presence and enjoyment of Fonblanque +gave new zest;<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> and when I expressed to +Dickens, after he left us, my grief that he had had so +tempestuous a journey for such brief enjoyment, he replied +that the visit had been one happiness and delight +to him. "I would not recall an inch of the way to or +from you, if it had been twenty times as long and +twenty thousand times as wintry. It was worth any +travel—anything! With the soil of the road in the +very grain of my cheeks, I swear I wouldn't have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_176" id="Page_2_176">[176]</a></span> +missed that week, that first night of our meeting, that +one evening of the reading at your rooms, aye, and the +second reading too, for any easily stated or conceived +consideration."</p> + +<p>He wrote from Paris, at which he had stopped on his +way back to see Macready, whom an engagement to act +there with Mr. Mitchell's English company had prevented +from joining us in Lincoln's-inn-fields. There had been +no such frost and snow since 1829, and he gave dismal report +of the city. With Macready he had gone two nights +before to the Odéon to see Alexandre Dumas' <i>Christine</i> +played by Madame St. George, "once Napoleon's mistress; +now of an immense size, from dropsy I suppose; +and with little weak legs which she can't stand upon. +Her age, withal, somewhere about 80 or 90. I never +in my life beheld such a sight. Every stage-conventionality +she ever picked up (and she has them all) +has got the dropsy too, and is swollen and bloated +hideously. The other actors never looked at one another, +but delivered all their dialogues to the pit, in a +manner so egregiously unnatural and preposterous that +I couldn't make up my mind whether to take it as a +joke or an outrage." And then came allusion to a +project we had started on the night of the reading, +that a private play should be got up by us on his +return from Italy. "You and I, sir, will reform this +altogether." He had but to wait another night, however, +when he saw it all reformed at the Italian opera +where Grisi was singing in <i>Il Pirato</i>, and "the passion +and fire of a scene between her, Mario, and Fornasari, +was as good and great as it is possible for anything +operatic to be. They drew on one another, the two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_177" id="Page_2_177">[177]</a></span> +men—not like stage-players, but like Macready himself: +and she, rushing in between them; now clinging to this +one, now to that, now making a sheath for their naked +swords with her arms, now tearing her hair in distraction +as they broke away from her and plunged again +at each other; was prodigious." This was the theatre +at which Macready was immediately to act, and where +Dickens saw him next day rehearse the scene before the +doge and council in <i>Othello</i>, "not as usual facing the +float but arranged on one side," with an effect that +seemed to him to heighten the reality of the scene.</p> + +<p>He left Paris on the night of the 13th with the malle +poste, which did not reach Marseilles till fifteen hours +behind its time, after three days and three nights travelling +over horrible roads. Then, in a confusion between +the two rival packets for Genoa, he unwillingly detained +one of them more than an hour from sailing; and only +managed at last to get to her just as she was moving +out of harbour. As he went up the side, he saw a +strange sensation among the angry travellers whom he +had detained so long; heard a voice exclaim "I am +blarmed if it ain't <span class="smcap">Dickens</span>!" and stood in the centre +of a group of <i>Five Americans!</i> But the pleasantest +part of the story is that they were, one and all, glad +to see him; that their chief man, or leader, who had +met him in New York, at once introduced them all +round with the remark, "Personally our countrymen, +and you, can fix it friendly sir, I do expectuate;" and +that, through the stormy passage to Genoa which followed, +they were excellent friends. For the greater +part of the time, it is true, Dickens had to keep to his +cabin; but he contrived to get enjoyment out of them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_178" id="Page_2_178">[178]</a></span> +nevertheless. The member of the party who had the +travelling dictionary wouldn't part with it, though he +was dead sick in the cabin next to my friend's; and +every now and then Dickens was conscious of his fellow-travellers +coming down to him, crying out in +varied tones of anxious bewilderment, "I say, what's +French for a pillow?" "Is there any Italian phrase +for a lump of sugar? Just look, will you?" "What +the devil does echo mean? The garsong says echo to +everything!" They were excessively curious to know, +too, the population of every little town on the Cornice, +and all its statistics; "perhaps the very last subjects +within the capacity of the human intellect," remarks +Dickens, "that would ever present themselves to an +Italian steward's mind. He was a very willing fellow, +our steward; and, having some vague idea that they +would like a large number, said at hazard fifty thousand, +ninety thousand, four hundred thousand, when they +asked about the population of a place not larger than +Lincoln's-inn-fields. And when they said <i>Non Possible!</i> +(which was the leader's invariable reply), he +doubled or trebled the amount; to meet what he supposed +to be their views, and make it quite satisfactory."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_179" id="Page_2_179">[179]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>LAST MONTHS IN ITALY.</h3> + +<h3>1845.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Jesuit Interferences—Travel Southward—Carrara and Pisa—A Wild +Journey—At Radicofani—A Beggar and his Staff—At Rome—Terracina—Bay +of Naples—Lazzaroni—Sad English News—At Florence—Visit +to Landor's Villa—At Lord Holland's—Return to Genoa—Italy's +Best Season—A Funeral—Nautical Incident—Fireflies at +Night—Returning by Switzerland—At Lucerne—Passage of the +St. Gothard—Splendour of Swiss Scenery—Swiss Villages.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> the 22nd of December he had resumed his ordinary +Genoa life; and of a letter from Jeffrey, to +whom he had dedicated his little book, he wrote as +"most energetic and enthusiastic. Filer sticks in his +throat rather, but all the rest is quivering in his heart. +He is very much struck by the management of Lilian's +story, and cannot help speaking of that; writing of it +all indeed with the freshness and ardour of youth, and +not like a man whose blue and yellow has turned grey." +Some of its words have been already given. "Miss +Coutts has sent Charley, with the best of letters to me, +a Twelfth Cake weighing ninety pounds, magnificently +decorated; and only think of the characters, Fairburn's +Twelfth Night characters, being detained at the custom-house +for Jesuitical surveillance! But these fellows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_180" id="Page_2_180">[180]</a></span> +are—— Well! never mind. Perhaps you have seen +the history of the Dutch minister at Turin, and of the +spiriting away of his daughter by the Jesuits? It is all +true; though, like the history of our friend's servant,<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> +almost incredible. But their devilry is such that I am +assured by our consul that if, while we are in the south, +we were to let our children go out with servants on +whom we could not implicitly rely, these holy men +would trot even their small feet into churches with a +view to their ultimate conversion! It is tremendous +even to see them in the streets, or slinking about this +garden." Of his purpose to start for the south of Italy +in the middle of January, taking his wife with him, his +letter the following week told me; dwelling on all he +had missed, in that first Italian Christmas, of our old +enjoyments of the season in England; and closing its +pleasant talk with a postscript at midnight. "First of +January, 1845. Many many many happy returns of +the day! A life of happy years! The Baby is dressed +in thunder, lightning, rain, and wind. His birth is +most portentous here."</p> + +<p>It was of ill-omen to me, one of its earliest incidents +being my only brother's death; but Dickens had a +friend's true helpfulness in sorrow, and a portion of +what he then wrote to me I permit myself to preserve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_181" id="Page_2_181">[181]</a></span> +in a note<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> for what it relates of his own sad experiences +and solemn beliefs and hopes. The journey southward +began on the 20th January, and five days later I had a +letter written from La Scala, at a little inn, "supported +on low brick arches like a British haystack," the bed +in their room "like a mangle," the ceiling without +lath or plaster, nothing to speak of available for comfort +or decency, and nothing particular to eat or drink. +"But for all this I have become attached to the country +and I don't care who knows it." They had left Pisa +that morning and Carrara the day before: at the latter +place an ovation awaiting him, the result of the zeal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_182" id="Page_2_182">[182]</a></span> +of our eccentric friend Fletcher, who happened to be +staying there with an English marble-merchant.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> +"There is a beautiful little theatre there, built of marble; +and they had it illuminated that night, in my +honour. There was really a very fair opera: but it is +curious that the chorus has been always, time out of +mind, made up of labourers in the quarries, who don't +know a note of music, and sing entirely by ear. It was +crammed to excess, and I had a great reception; a +deputation waiting upon us in the box, and the orchestra +turning out in a body afterwards and serenading +us at Mr. Walton's." Between this and Rome they +had a somewhat wild journey;<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> and before Radicofani +was reached, there were disturbing rumours of bandits +and even uncomfortable whispers as to their night's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_183" id="Page_2_183">[183]</a></span> +lodging-place. "I really began to think we might +have an adventure; and as I had brought (like an ass) +a bag of Napoleons with me from Genoa, I called up +all the theatrical ways of letting off pistols that I could +call to mind, and was the more disposed to fire them +from not having any." It ended in no worse adventure, +however, than a somewhat exciting dialogue +with an old professional beggar at Radicofani itself, +in which he was obliged to confess that he came off +second-best. It transpired at a little town hanging +on a hill side, of which the inhabitants, being all of +them beggars, had the habit of swooping down, like +so many birds of prey, upon any carriage that approached +it.</p> + +<p>"Can you imagine" (he named a first-rate bore, for +whose name I shall substitute) "M. F. G. in a very +frowsy brown cloak concealing his whole figure, and +with very white hair and a very white beard, darting +out of this place with a long staff in his hand, and begging? +There he was, whether you can or not; out of +breath with the rapidity of his dive, and staying with +his staff all the Radicofani boys, that he might fight it +out with me alone. It was very wet, and so was I: for +I had kept, according to custom, my box-seat. It was +blowing so hard that I could scarcely stand; and there +was a custom-house on the spot, besides. Over and +above all this, I had no small money; and the brave C +never has, when I want it for a beggar. When I had +excused myself several times, he suddenly drew himself +up and said, with a wizard look (fancy the aggravation +of M. F. G. as a wizard!) 'Do you know what you +are doing, my lord? Do you mean to go on, to-day?'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_184" id="Page_2_184">[184]</a></span> +'Yes,' I said, 'I do.' 'My lord,' he said, 'do you +know that your vetturino is unacquainted with this +part of the country; that there is a wind raging on the +mountain, which will sweep you away; that the courier, +the coach, and all the passengers, were blown from the +road last year; and that the danger is great and almost +certain?' 'No,' I said, 'I don't.' 'My lord, you +don't understand me, I think?' 'Yes I do, d—— you!' +nettled by this (you feel it? I confess it). +'Speak to my servant. It's his business. Not mine'—for +he really was too like M. F. G. to be borne. If +you could have seen him!—'Santa Maria, these +English lords! It's not their business, if they're +killed! They leave it to their servants!' He drew +off the boys; whispered them to keep away from the +heretic; and ran up the hill again, almost as fast as he +had come down. He stopped at a little distance as we +moved on; and pointing to Roche with his long staff +cried loudly after me, 'It's <i>his</i> business if you're killed, +is it, my lord? Ha! ha! ha! whose business is it, +when the English lords are born! Ha! ha! ha!' The +boys taking it up in a shrill yell, I left the joke and them +at this point. But I must confess that I thought he +had the best of it. And he had so far reason for what +he urged, that when we got on the mountain pass the +wind became terrific, so that we were obliged to take +Kate out of the carriage lest she should be blown over, +carriage and all, and had ourselves to hang on to it, on +the windy side, to prevent its going Heaven knows +where!"</p> + +<p>The first impression of Rome was disappointing. It +was the evening of the 30th of January, and the cloudy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_185" id="Page_2_185">[185]</a></span> +sky, dull cold rain, and muddy footways, he was prepared +for; but he was not prepared for the long streets +of commonplace shops and houses like Paris or any +other capital, the busy people, the equipages, the ordinary +walkers up and down. "It was no more my Rome, +degraded and fallen and lying asleep in the sun among +a heap of ruins, than Lincoln's-inn-fields is. So I really +went to bed in a very indifferent humour." That all +this yielded to later and worthier impressions I need +hardly say; and he had never in his life, he told me +afterwards, been so moved or overcome by any sight +as by that of the Coliseum, "except perhaps by the +first contemplation of the Falls of Niagara." He went +to Naples for the interval before the holy week; and +his first letter from it was to say that he had found the +wonderful aspects of Rome before he left, and that for +loneliness and grandeur of ruin nothing could transcend +the southern side of the Campagna. But farther +and farther south the weather had become worse; and +for a week before his letter (the 11th of February), the +only bright sky he had seen was just as the sun was +coming up across the sea at Terracina. "Of which +place, a beautiful one, you can get a very good idea by +imagining something as totally unlike the scenery in +<i>Fra Diavolo</i> as possible." He thought the bay less +striking at Naples than at Genoa, the shape of the +latter being more perfect in its beauty, and the smaller +size enabling you to see it all at once, and feel it more +like an exquisite picture. The city he conceived the +greatest dislike to.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> "The condition of the common<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_186" id="Page_2_186">[186]</a></span> +people here is abject and shocking. I am afraid the +conventional idea of the picturesque is associated with +such misery and degradation that a new picturesque +will have to be established as the world goes onward. +Except Fondi, there is nothing on earth that I have +seen so dirty as Naples. I don't know what to liken +the streets to where the mass of the lazzaroni live. +You recollect that favourite pigstye of mine near Broadstairs? +They are more like streets of such apartments +heaped up story on story, and tumbled house on house,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_187" id="Page_2_187">[187]</a></span> +than anything else I can think of, at this moment." +In a later letter he was even less tolerant. "What +would I give that you should see the lazzaroni as they +really are—mere squalid, abject, miserable animals for +vermin to batten on; slouching, slinking, ugly, shabby, +scavenging scarecrows! And oh the raffish counts and +more than doubtful countesses, the noodles and the +blacklegs, the good society! And oh the miles of +miserable streets and wretched occupants,<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> to which +Saffron-hill or the Borough-mint is a kind of small +gentility, which are found to be so picturesque by +English lords and ladies; to whom the wretchedness +left behind at home is lowest of the low, and vilest +of the vile, and commonest of all common things. +Well! well! I have often thought that one of the +best chances of immortality for a writer is in the Death +of his language, when he immediately becomes good +company; and I often think here,—What <i>would</i> you +say to these people, milady and milord, if they spoke +out of the homely dictionary of your own 'lower +orders.'" He was again at Rome on Sunday the +second of March.</p> + +<p>Sad news from me as to a common and very dear +friend awaited him there; but it is a subject on which +I may not dwell farther than to say that there arose +from it much to redeem even such a sorrow, and that +this I could not indicate better than by these wise and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_188" id="Page_2_188">[188]</a></span> +tender words from Dickens. "No philosophy will +bear these dreadful things, or make a moment's head +against them, but the practical one of doing all the +good we can, in thought and deed. While we can, +God help us! ourselves stray from ourselves so easily; +and there are all around us such frightful calamities +besetting the world in which we live; nothing else will +carry us through it. . . . What a comfort to reflect on +what you tell me. Bulwer Lytton's conduct is that +of a generous and noble-minded man, as I have ever +thought him. Our dear good Procter too! And +Thackeray—how earnest they have all been! I am +very glad to find you making special mention of +Charles Lever. I am glad over every name you write. +It says something for our pursuit, in the midst of all +its miserable disputes and jealousies, that the common +impulse of its followers, in such an instance as this, +is surely and certainly of the noblest."</p> + +<p>After the ceremonies of the holy week, of which the +descriptions sent to me were reproduced in his book, +he went to Florence,<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> which lived always afterwards in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_189" id="Page_2_189">[189]</a></span> +his memory with Venice, and with Genoa. He +thought these the three great Italian cities. "There +are some places here,<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a>—oh Heaven how fine! I wish +you could see the tower of the palazzo Vecchio as it +lies before me at this moment, on the opposite bank of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_190" id="Page_2_190">[190]</a></span> +the Arno! But I will tell you more about it, and +about all Florence, from my shady arm-chair up among +the Peschiere oranges. I shall not be sorry to sit down +in it again. . . . Poor Hood, poor Hood! I still look +for his death, and he still lingers on. And Sydney +Smith's brother gone after poor dear Sydney himself! +Maltby will wither when he reads it; and poor old +Rogers will contradict some young man at dinner, +every day for three weeks."</p> + +<p>Before he left Florence (on the 4th of April) I heard +of a "very pleasant and very merry day" at Lord +Holland's; and I ought to have mentioned how much +he was gratified, at Naples, by the attentions of the +English Minister there, Mr. Temple, Lord Palmerston's +brother, whom he described as a man supremely +agreeable, with everything about him in perfect taste, +and with that truest gentleman-manner which has its +root in kindness and generosity of nature. He was +back at home in the Peschiere on Wednesday the ninth +of April. Here he continued to write to me every +week, for as long as he remained, of whatever he had +seen: with no definite purpose as yet, but the pleasure +of interchanging with myself the impressions and +emotions undergone by him. "Seriously," he wrote +to me on the 13th of April, "it is a great pleasure to +me to find that you are really pleased with these +shadows in the water, and think them worth the looking +at. Writing at such odd places, and in such odd +seasons, I have been half savage with myself, very +often, for not doing better. But d'Orsay, from whom +I had a charming letter three days since, seems to +think as you do of what he has read in those shown to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_191" id="Page_2_191">[191]</a></span> +him, and says they remind him vividly of the real +aspect of these scenes. . . . Well, if we should determine, +after we have sat in council, that the experiences +they relate are to be used, we will call B. and E. to +their share and voice in the matter." Shortly before +he left, the subject was again referred to (7th of June). +"I am in as great doubt as you about the letters I have +written you with these Italian experiences. I cannot +for the life of me devise any plan of using them to my +own satisfaction, and yet think entirely with you +that in some form I ought to use them." Circumstances +not in his contemplation at this time settled +the form they ultimately took.</p> + +<p>Two more months were to finish his Italian holiday, +and I do not think he enjoyed any part of it so much +as its close. He had formed a real friendship for +Genoa, was greatly attached to the social circle he had +drawn round him there, and liked rest after his travel +all the more for the little excitement of living its activities +over again, week by week, in these letters to +me. And so, from his "shady arm-chair up among +the Peschiere oranges," I had at regular intervals what +he called his rambling talk; went over with him again +all the roads he had taken; and of the more important +scenes and cities, such as Venice, Rome, and Naples, +received such rich filling-in to the first outlines sent, as +fairly justified the title of <i>Pictures</i> finally chosen for +them. The weather all the time too had been without +a flaw. "Since our return," he wrote on the 27th +April, "we have had charming spring days. The +garden is one grove of roses; we have left off fires; +and we breakfast and dine again in the great hall, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_192" id="Page_2_192">[192]</a></span> +the windows open. To-day we have rain, but rain was +rather wanted I believe, so it gives offence to nobody. +As far as I have had an opportunity of judging yet, the +spring is the most delightful time in this country. But +for all that I am looking with eagerness to the tenth of +June, impatient to renew our happy old walks and old +talks in dear old home."</p> + +<p>Of incidents during these remaining weeks there +were few, but such as he mentioned had in them +points of humour or character still worth remembering.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> +Two men were hanged in the city; and two ladies of +quality, he told me, agreed to keep up for a time a +prayer for the souls of these two miserable creatures so +incessant that Heaven should never for a moment be left +alone; to which end "they relieved each other" after such +wise, that, for the whole of the stated time, one of them +was always on her knees in the cathedral church of +San Lorenzo. From which he inferred that "a morbid +sympathy for criminals is not wholly peculiar to England, +though it affects more people in that country perhaps +than in any other."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_193" id="Page_2_193">[193]</a></span></p> +<p>Of Italian usages to the dead some notices from his +letters have been given, and he had an example before +he left of the way in which they affected English residents. +A gentleman of his friend Fletcher's acquaintance +living four miles from Genoa had the misfortune +to lose his wife; and no attendance on the dead beyond +the city gate, nor even any decent conveyance, +being practicable, the mourner, to whom Fletcher had +promised nevertheless the sad satisfaction of an English +funeral, which he had meanwhile taken enormous secret +pains to arrange with a small Genoese upholsterer, was +waited upon, on the appointed morning, by a very +bright yellow hackney-coach-and-pair driven by a +coachman in yet brighter scarlet knee-breeches and +waistcoat, who wanted to put the husband and the +body inside together. "They were obliged to leave +one of the coach-doors open for the accommodation +even of the coffin; the widower walked beside the +carriage to the Protestant cemetery; and Fletcher followed +on a big grey horse."<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_194" id="Page_2_194">[194]</a></span></p> +<p>Scarlet breeches reappear, not less characteristically, +in what his next letter told of a couple of English +travellers who took possession at this time (24th of +May) of a portion of the ground floor of the Peschiere. +They had with them a meek English footman who immediately +confided to Dickens's servants, among other +personal grievances, the fact that he was made to do +everything, even cooking, in crimson breeches; which +in a hot climate, he protested, was "a grinding of him +down." "He is a poor soft country fellow; and his +master locks him up at night, in a basement room with +iron bars to the window. Between which our servants +poke wine in, at midnight. His master and mistress +buy old boxes at the curiosity shops, and pass their +lives in lining 'em with bits of parti-coloured velvet. +A droll existence, is it not? We are lucky to have had +the palace to ourselves until now, but it is so large that +we never see or hear these people; and I should not +have known even, if they had not called upon us, that +another portion of the ground floor had been taken by +some friends of old Lady Holland—whom I seem to +see again, crying about dear Sydney Smith, behind +that green screen as we last saw her together."<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_195" id="Page_2_195">[195]</a></span></p> +<p>Then came a little incident also characteristic. An +English ship of war, the Phantom, appeared in the harbour; +and from her commander, Sir Henry Nicholson, +Dickens received, among attentions very pleasant to +him, an invitation to lunch on board and bring his +wife, for whom, at a time appointed, a boat was to be +sent to the Ponte Reale (the royal bridge). But no +boat being there at the time, Dickens sent off his servant +in another boat to the ship to say he feared some +mistake. "While we were walking up and down a +neighbouring piazza in his absence, a brilliant fellow in +a dark blue shirt with a white hem to it all round the +collar, regular corkscrew curls, and a face as brown as +a berry, comes up to me and says 'Beg your pardon sir—Mr. +Dickens?' 'Yes.' 'Beg your pardon sir, but +I'm one of the ship's company of the Phantom sir, +cox'en of the cap'en's gig sir, she's a lying off the pint +sir—been there half an hour.' 'Well but my good fellow,' +I said, 'you're at the wrong place!' 'Beg your +pardon sir, I was afeerd it was the wrong place sir, but +I've asked them Genoese here sir, twenty times, if it +was Port Real; and they knows no more than a dead +jackass!'—Isn't it a good thing to have made a regular +Portsmouth name of it?"</p> + +<p>That was in his letter of the 1st June, which began +by telling me it had been twice begun and twice flung +into the basket, so great was his indisposition to write +as the time for departure came; and which ended thus. +"The fire-flies at night now, are miraculously splendid; +making another firmament among the rocks on the seashore, +and the vines inland. They get into the bedrooms, +and fly about, all night, like beautiful little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_196" id="Page_2_196">[196]</a></span> +lamps.<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> . . . I have surrendered much I had fixed my +heart upon, as you know, admitting you have had reason +for not coming to us here: but I stand by the hope +that you and Mac will come and meet us at Brussels; it +being so very easy. A day or two there, and at Antwerp, +would be very happy for us; and we could still +dine in Lincoln's-inn-fields on the day of arrival." I +had been unable to join him in Genoa, urgently as he +had wished it: but what is said here was done, and +Jerrold was added to the party.</p> + +<p>His last letter from Genoa was written on the 7th of +June, not from the Peschiere, but from a neighbouring +palace, "Brignole Rosso," into which he had fled from +the miseries of moving. "They are all at sixes and sevens +up at the Peschiere, as you may suppose; and Roche is +in a condition of tremendous excitement, engaged in +settling the inventory with the house-agent, who has +just told me he is the devil himself. I had been appealed +to, and had contented myself with this expression +of opinion. 'Signor Noli, you are an old impostor!'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_197" id="Page_2_197">[197]</a></span> +'Illustrissimo,' said Signor Noli in reply, +'your servant is the devil himself: sent on earth to +torture me.' I look occasionally towards the Peschiere +(it is visible from this room), expecting to see one of +them flying out of a window. Another great cause of +commotion is, that they have been paving the lane by +which the house is approached, ever since we returned +from Rome. We have not been able to get the carriage +up since that time, in consequence; and unless +they finish to-night, it can't be packed in the garden, +but the things will have to be brought down in baskets, +piecemeal, and packed in the street. To avoid this +inconvenient necessity, the Brave made proposals of +bribery to the paviours last night, and induced them +to pledge themselves that the carriage should come up at +seven this evening. The manner of doing that sort of +paving work here, is to take a pick or two with an axe, +and then lie down to sleep for an hour. When I came +out, the Brave had issued forth to examine the ground; +and was standing alone in the sun among a heap of +prostrate figures: with a Great Despair depicted in his +face, which it would be hard to surpass. It was like a +picture—'After the Battle'—Napoleon by the Brave: +Bodies by the Paviours."</p> + +<p>He came home by the Great St. Gothard, and was +quite carried away by what he saw of Switzerland. The +country was so divine that he should have wondered +indeed if its sons and daughters had ever been other +than a patriotic people. Yet, infinitely above the +country he had left as he ranked it in its natural splendours, +there was something more enchanting than these +that he lost in leaving Italy; and he expressed this delightfully<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_198" id="Page_2_198">[198]</a></span> +in the letter from Lucerne (14th of June) +which closes the narrative of his Italian life.</p> + +<p>"We came over the St. Gothard, which has been +open only eight days. The road is cut through the +snow, and the carriage winds along a narrow path between +two massive snow walls, twenty feet high or +more. Vast plains of snow range up the mountain-sides +above the road, itself seven thousand feet above +the sea; and tremendous waterfalls, hewing out arches +for themselves in the vast drifts, go thundering down +from precipices into deep chasms, here and there and +everywhere: the blue water tearing through the white +snow with an awful beauty that is most sublime. The +pass itself, the mere pass over the top, is not so fine, I +think, as the Simplon; and there is no plain upon the +summit, for the moment it is reached the descent begins. +So that the loneliness and wildness of the Simplon +are not equalled <i>there</i>. But being much higher, +the ascent and the descent range over a much greater +space of country; and on both sides there are places +of terrible grandeur, unsurpassable, I should imagine, +in the world. The Devil's Bridge, terrific! The +whole descent between Andermatt (where we slept on +Friday night) and Altdorf, William Tell's town, which +we passed through yesterday afternoon, is the highest +sublimation of all you can imagine in the way of Swiss +scenery. Oh God! what a beautiful country it is! +How poor and shrunken, beside it, is Italy in its +brightest aspect!</p> + +<p>"I look upon the coming down from the Great St. +Gothard with a carriage and four horses and only one +postilion, as the most dangerous thing that a carriage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_199" id="Page_2_199">[199]</a></span> +and horses can do. We had two great wooden logs for +drags, and snapped them both like matches. The road +is like a geometrical staircase, with horrible depths +beneath it; and at every turn it is a toss-up, or seems +to be, whether the leaders shall go round or over. The +lives of the whole party may depend upon a strap in +the harness; and if we broke our rotten harness once +yesterday, we broke it at least a dozen times. The difficulty +of keeping the horses together in the continual +and steep circle, is immense. They slip and slide, and +get their legs over the traces, and are dragged up +against the rocks; carriage, horses, harness, all a confused +heap. The Brave, and I, and the postilion, were +constantly at work, in extricating the whole concern +from a tangle, like a skein of thread. We broke two +thick iron chains, and crushed the box of a wheel, as it +was; and the carriage is now undergoing repair, under +the window, on the margin of the lake: where a woman +in short petticoats, a stomacher, and two immensely +long tails of black hair hanging down her back very +nearly to her heels, is looking on—apparently dressed +for a melodrama, but in reality a waitress at this establishment.</p> + +<p>"If the Swiss villages look beautiful to me in winter, +their summer aspect is most charming: most fascinating: +most delicious. Shut in by high mountains capped +with perpetual snow; and dotting a rich carpet of the +softest turf, overshadowed by great trees; they seem so +many little havens of refuge from the troubles and +miseries of great towns. The cleanliness of the little +baby-houses of inns is wonderful to those who come +from Italy. But the beautiful Italian manners, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_200" id="Page_2_200">[200]</a></span> +sweet language, the quick recognition of a pleasant +look or cheerful word; the captivating expression of a +desire to oblige in everything; are left behind the Alps. +Remembering them, I sigh for the dirt again: the brick +floors, bare walls, unplaistered ceilings, and broken +windows."</p> + +<p>We met at Brussels; Maclise, Jerrold, myself, and +the travellers; passed a delightful week in Flanders +together; and were in England at the close of June.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_201" id="Page_2_201">[201]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>AGAIN IN ENGLAND. +1845-1846.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Proposed Weekly Paper—Christmas Book of 1845—Stage Studies—Private +Theatricals—Dickens as Performer and as Manager—Second +Raven's Death—Busy with the <i>Cricket</i>—Disturbing Engagements—Prospectus +written by him—New Book to be written +in Switzerland—Leaves England.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">His</span> first letter after again taking possession of Devonshire-terrace +revived a subject on which opinions +had been from time to time interchanged during his +absence, and to which there was allusion in the agreement +executed before his departure. The desire was +still as strong with him as when he started <i>Master Humphrey's +Clock</i> to establish a periodical, that, while relieving +his own pen by enabling him to receive frequent +help from other writers, might yet retain always the +popularity of his name. "I really think I have an idea, +and not a bad one, for the periodical. I have turned +it over, the last two days, very much in my mind: and +think it positively good. I incline still to weekly; +price three halfpence, if possible; partly original, +partly select; notices of books, notices of theatres, +notices of all good things, notices of all bad ones; +<i>Carol</i> philosophy, cheerful views, sharp anatomization +of humbug, jolly good temper; papers always in season,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_202" id="Page_2_202">[202]</a></span> +pat to the time of year; and a vein of glowing, hearty, +generous, mirthful, beaming reference in everything to +Home, and Fireside. And I would call it, sir,—</p> + +<div class='bbox'> +<div class='center'>THE CRICKET.<br /> +<br /> +A cheerful creature that chirrups on the Hearth.<br /></div> + +<div class='sig'><br /> +<i>Natural History.</i><br /></div> +</div> + +<p>"Now, don't decide hastily till you've heard what I +would do. I would come out, sir, with a prospectus +on the subject of the Cricket that should put everybody +in a good temper, and make such a dash at +people's fenders and arm-chairs as hasn't been made +for many a long day. I could approach them in a +different mode under this name, and in a more winning +and immediate way, than under any other. I +would at once sit down upon their very hobs; and +take a personal and confidential position with them +which should separate me, instantly, from all other +periodicals periodically published, and supply a distinct +and sufficient reason for my coming into existence. +And I would chirp, chirp, chirp away in every number +until I chirped it up to——well, you shall say how many +hundred thousand! . . . Seriously, I feel a capacity in +this name and notion which appears to give us a tangible +starting-point, and a real, defined, strong, genial drift +and purpose. I seem to feel that it is an aim and name +which people would readily and pleasantly connect with +<i>me;</i> and that, for a good course and a clear one, instead +of making circles pigeon-like at starting, here we should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_203" id="Page_2_203">[203]</a></span> +be safe. I think the general recognition would be +likely to leap at it; and of the helpful associations +that could be clustered round the idea at starting, +and the pleasant tone of which the working of it is +susceptible, I have not the smallest doubt. . . . But you +shall determine. What do you think? And what do +you say? The chances are, that it will either strike +you instantly, or not strike you at all. Which is it, my +dear fellow? You know I am not bigoted to the first +suggestions of my own fancy; but you know also exactly +how I should use such a lever, and how much +power I should find in it. Which is it? What do you +say?—I have not myself said half enough. Indeed I +have said next to nothing; but like the parrot in the +negro-story, I 'think a dam deal.'"</p> + +<p>My objection, incident more or less to every such +scheme, was the risk of losing its general advantage +by making it too specially dependent on individual +characteristics; but there was much in favour of the +present notion, and its plan had been modified so far, +in the discussions that followed, as to involve less +absolute personal identification with Dickens,—when +discussion, project, everything was swept away by a +larger scheme, in its extent and its danger more suitable +to the wild and hazardous enterprises of that prodigious +year (1845) of excitement and disaster. In this more +tremendous adventure, already hinted at on a previous +page, we all became involved; and the chirp of the +Cricket, delayed in consequence until Christmas, was +heard then in circumstances quite other than those that +were first intended. The change he thus announced +to me about half way through the summer, in the same<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_204" id="Page_2_204">[204]</a></span> +letter which told me the success of d'Orsay's kind +exertion to procure a fresh engagement for his courier +Roche.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> "What do you think of a notion that has +occurred to me in connection with our abandoned little +weekly? It would be a delicate and beautiful fancy +for a Christmas book, making the Cricket a little +household god—silent in the wrong and sorrow of the +tale, and loud again when all went well and happy." +The reader will not need to be told that thus originated +the story of the <i>Cricket on the Hearth</i>, a Fairy Tale of +Home, which had a great popularity in the Christmas +days of 1845. Its sale at the outset doubled that of +both its predecessors.</p> + +<p>But as yet the larger adventure has not made itself +known, and the interval was occupied with the private +play of which the notion had been started between us +at his visit in December, and which cannot now be +better introduced than by a passage of autobiography. +This belongs to his early life, but I overlooked it when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_205" id="Page_2_205">[205]</a></span> +engaged on that portion of the memoir; and the +accident gives it now a more appropriate place. For, +though the facts related belong to the interval described +in the chapter on his school-days and start in life, +when he had to pass nearly two years as a reporter for +one of the offices in Doctors' Commons, the influences +and character it illustrates had their strongest expression +at this later time. I had asked him, after his +return to Genoa, whether he continued to think that +we should have the play; and this was his reply. It +will startle and interest the reader, and I must confess +that it took myself by surprise; for I did not thus early +know the story of his boyish years, and I thought it +strange that he could have concealed from me so much.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Are</span> we to have that play??? Have I spoken of +it, ever since I came home from London, as a settled +thing! I do not know if I have ever told you seriously, +but I have often thought, that I should certainly +have been as successful on the boards as I have been +between them. I assure you, when I was on the stage +at Montreal (not having played for years) I was as +much astonished at the reality and ease, to myself, of +what I did as if I had been another man. See how +oddly things come about! When I was about twenty, +and knew three or four successive years of Mathews's +At Homes from sitting in the pit to hear them, I wrote +to Bartley who was stage manager at Covent-garden, +and told him how young I was, and exactly what I +thought I could do; and that I believed I had a strong +perception of character and oddity, and a natural +power of reproducing in my own person what I observed +in others. There must have been something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_206" id="Page_2_206">[206]</a></span> +in the letter that struck the authorities, for Bartley +wrote to me, almost immediately, to say that they were +busy getting up the <i>Hunchback</i> (so they were!) but +that they would communicate with me again, in a +fortnight. Punctual to the time, another letter came: +with an appointment to do anything of Mathews's I +pleased, before him and Charles Kemble, on a certain +day at the theatre. My sister Fanny was in the secret, +and was to go with me to play the songs. I was laid +up, when the day came, with a terrible bad cold and +an inflammation of the face; the beginning, by the +bye, of that annoyance in one ear to which I am +subject at this day. I wrote to say so, and added that +I would resume my application next season. I made +a great splash in the gallery soon afterwards; the +<i>Chronicle</i> opened to me; I had a distinction in the +little world of the newspaper, which made me like it; +began to write; didn't want money; had never thought +of the stage, but as a means of getting it; gradually +left off turning my thoughts that way; and never resumed +the idea. I never told you this, did I? See +how near I may have been, to another sort of life.</p> + +<p>"This was at the time when I was at Doctors' Commons +as a shorthand writer for the proctors. And I +recollect I wrote the letter from a little office I had +there, where the answer came also. It wasn't a very +good living (though not a <i>very</i> bad one), and was +wearily uncertain; which made me think of the Theatre +in quite a business-like way. I went to some +theatre every night, with a very few exceptions, for at +least three years: really studying the bills first, and +going to where there was the best acting: and always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_207" id="Page_2_207">[207]</a></span> +to see Mathews whenever he played. I practised immensely +(even such things as walking in and out, and +sitting down in a chair): often four, five, six hours a +day: shut up in my own room, or walking about in +the fields. I prescribed to myself, too, a sort of +Hamiltonian system for learning parts; and learnt a +great number. I haven't even lost the habit now, for +I knew my Canadian parts immediately, though they +were new to me. I must have done a good deal: for, +just as Macready found me out, they used to challenge +me at Braham's: and Yates, who was knowing enough +in those things, wasn't to be parried at all. It was +just the same, that day at Keeley's, when they were +getting up the <i>Chuzzlewit</i> last June.</p> + +<p>"If you think Macready would be interested in this +Strange news from the South, tell it him. Fancy +Bartley or Charles Kemble <i>now!</i> And how little they +suspect me!" In the later letter from Lucerne written +as he was travelling home, he adds: "<i>Did</i> I ever tell +you the details of my theatrical idea, before? Strange, +that I should have quite forgotten it. I had an odd +fancy, when I was reading the unfortunate little farce +at Covent-garden, that Bartley looked as if some +struggling recollection and connection were stirring up +within him—but it may only have been his doubts of +that humorous composition." The last allusion is to +the farce of the <i>Lamplighter</i> which he read in the Covent-garden +green-room, and to which former allusion +was made in speaking of his wish to give help to Macready's +managerial enterprise.</p> + +<p><i>What Might have Been</i> is a history of too little profit +to be worth anybody's writing, and here there is no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_208" id="Page_2_208">[208]</a></span> +call even to regret how great an actor was in Dickens +lost. He took to a higher calling, but it included the +lower. There was no character created by him into +which life and reality were not thrown with such vividness, +that the thing written did not seem to his readers +the thing actually done, whether the form of disguise +put on by the enchanter was Mrs. Gamp, Tom Pinch, +Mr. Squeers, or Fagin the Jew. He had the power of +projecting himself into shapes and suggestions of his +fancy which is one of the marvels of creative imagination, +and what he desired to express he became. The +assumptions of the theatre have the same method at a +lower pitch, depending greatly on personal accident; +but the accident as much as the genius favoured Dickens, +and another man's conception underwent in his +acting the process which in writing he applied to his +own. Into both he flung himself with the passionate +fullness of his nature; and though the theatre had +limits for him that may be named hereafter, and he +was always greater in quickness of assumption than in +steadiness of delineation, there was no limit to his delight +and enjoyment in the adventures of our theatrical +holiday.</p> + +<p>In less than three weeks after his return we had +selected our play, cast our parts, and all but engaged +our theatre; as I find by a note from my friend of the +22nd of July, in which the good natured laugh can +give now no offence, since all who might have objected +to it have long gone from us. Fanny Kelly, the friend +of Charles Lamb, and a genuine successor to the old +school of actresses in which the Mrs. Orgers and Miss +Popes were bred, was not more delightful on the stage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_209" id="Page_2_209">[209]</a></span> +than impracticable when off, and the little theatre in +Dean-street which the Duke of Devonshire's munificence +had enabled her to build, and which with any +ordinary good sense might handsomely have realized +both its uses, as a private school for young actresses +and a place of public amusement, was made useless for +both by her mere whims and fancies. "Heavens! +Such a scene as I have had with Miss Kelly here, +this morning! She wanted us put off until the theatre +should be cleaned and brushed up a bit, and she +would and she would not, for she is eager to have us +and alarmed when she thinks of us. By the foot of +Pharaoh, it was a great scene! Especially when she +choked, and had the glass of water brought. She exaggerates +the importance of our occupation, dreads +the least prejudice against the establishment in the +minds of any of our company, says the place already +has quite ruined her, and with tears in her eyes protests +that any jokes at her additional expense in print would +drive her mad. By the body of Cæsar, the scene was +incredible! It's like a preposterous dream." Something +of our play is disclosed by the oaths à la Bobadil, +and of our actors by "the jokes" poor Miss Kelly was +afraid of. We had chosen <span class="smcap">Every Man in his Humour</span>, +with special regard to the singleness and individuality +of the "humours" portrayed in it; and our company +included the leaders of a journal then in its earliest +years, but already not more renowned as the most successful +joker of jokes yet known in England, than famous +for that exclusive use of its laughter and satire for objects +the highest or most harmless which makes it still so +enjoyable a companion to mirth-loving right-minded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_210" id="Page_2_210">[210]</a></span> +men. Maclise took earnest part with us, and was to have +acted, but fell away on the eve of the rehearsals; and +Stanfield, who went so far as to rehearse Downright +twice, then took fright and also ran away:<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> but Jerrold, +who played Master Stephen, brought with him Lemon, +who took Brainworm; Leech, to whom Master Matthew +was given; A'Beckett, who had condescended to the +small part of William; and Mr. Leigh, who had Oliver +Cob. I played Kitely, and Bobadil fell to Dickens, +who took upon him the redoubtable Captain long before +he stood in his dress at the footlights; humouring the +completeness of his assumption by talking and writing +Bobadil, till the dullest of our party were touched and +stirred to something of his own heartiness of enjoyment. +One or two hints of these have been given, and I will +only add to them his refusal of my wish that he should +go and see some special performance of the Gamester. +"Man of the House. <i>Gamester!</i> By the foot of Pharaoh, +I will <i>not</i> see the <i>Gamester</i>. Man shall not force, +nor horses drag, this poor gentleman-like carcass into +the presence of the <i>Gamester</i>. I have said it. . . . +The player Mac hath bidden me to eat and likewise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_211" id="Page_2_211">[211]</a></span> +drink with him, thyself, and short-necked Fox to-night—An' +I go not, I am a hog, and not a soldier. But an' +thou goest not—Beware citizen! Look to it. . . . +Thine as thou meritest. <span class="smcap">Bobadil</span> (Captain). Unto +Master Kitely. These."</p> + +<p>The play was played on the 21st of September with +a success that out-ran the wildest expectation; and +turned our little enterprise into one of the small sensations +of the day. The applause of the theatre found +so loud an echo in the press, that for the time nothing +else was talked about in private circles; and after a +week or two we had to yield (we did not find it difficult) +to a pressure of demand for more public performance +in a larger theatre, by which a useful charity received +important help, and its committee showed their +gratitude by an entertainment to us at the Clarendon, +a month or two later, when Lord Lansdowne took the +chair. There was also another performance by us at +the same theatre, before the close of the year, of a +play by Beaumont and Fletcher. I may not farther +indicate the enjoyments that attended the success, and +gave always to the first of our series of performances a +pre-eminently pleasant place in memory.</p> + +<p>Of the thing itself, however, it is necessary to be +said that a modicum of merit goes a long way in all +such matters, and it would not be safe now to assume +that ours was much above the average of amateur attempts +in general. Lemon certainly had most of the +stuff, conventional as well as otherwise, of a regular +actor in him, but this was not of a high kind; and +though Dickens had the title to be called a born comedian, +the turn for it being in his very nature, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_212" id="Page_2_212">[212]</a></span> +strength was rather in the vividness and variety of his +assumptions, than in the completeness, finish, or ideality +he could give to any part of them. It is expressed exactly +by what he says of his youthful preference for the +representations of the elder Mathews. At the same +time this was in itself so thoroughly genuine and enjoyable, +and had in it such quickness and keenness of insight, +that of its kind it was unrivalled; and it enabled +him to present in Bobadil, after a richly coloured +picture of bombastical extravagance and comic exaltation +in the earlier scenes, a contrast in the later of +tragical humility and abasement, that had a wonderful +effect. But greatly as his acting contributed to the +success of the night, this was nothing to the service he +had rendered as manager. It would be difficult to describe +it. He was the life and soul of the entire affair. +I never seemed till then to have known his business +capabilities. He took everything on himself, and did +the whole of it without an effort. He was stage-director, +very often stage-carpenter, scene-arranger, property-man, +prompter, and band-master. Without offending +any one he kept every one in order. For all he had +useful suggestions, and the dullest of clays under his +potter's hand were transformed into little bits of porcelain. +He adjusted scenes, assisted carpenters, invented +costumes, devised playbills, wrote out calls, and enforced +as well as exhibited in his proper person everything +of which he urged the necessity on others. Such +a chaos of dirt, confusion, and noise, as the little +theatre was the day we entered it, and such a cosmos +as he made it of cleanliness, order, and silence, before +the rehearsals were over! There were only two things<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_213" id="Page_2_213">[213]</a></span> +left as we found them, bits of humanity both, understood +from the first as among the fixtures of the place: +a Man in a Straw Hat, tall, and very fitful in his exits +and entrances, of whom we never could pierce the +mystery, whether he was on guard or in possession, or +what he was; and a solitary little girl, who flitted about +so silently among our actors and actresses that she +might have been deaf and dumb but for sudden small +shrieks and starts elicited by the wonders going on, +which obtained for her the name of Fireworks. There +is such humorous allusion to both in a letter of Dickens's +of a year's later date, on the occasion of the straw-hatted +mystery revealing itself as a gentleman in training +for the tragic stage, that it may pleasantly close for +the present our private theatricals.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Our straw-hatted friend</span> from Miss Kelly's! +Oh my stars! To think of him, all that time—Macbeth +in disguise; Richard the Third grown straight; +Hamlet as he appeared on his seavoyage to England. +What an artful villain he must be, never to have made +any sign of the melodrama that was in him! What a +wicked-minded and remorseless Iago to have seen you +doing Kitely night after night! raging to murder you +and seize the part! Oh fancy Miss Kelly 'getting him +up' in Macbeth. Good Heaven! what a mass of absurdity +must be shut up sometimes within the walls of +that small theatre in Dean-street! <span class="smcap">Fireworks</span> will +come out shortly, depend upon it, in the dumb line; +and will relate her history in profoundly unintelligible +motions that will be translated into long and complicated +descriptions by a grey-headed father, and a red-wigged +countryman, his son. You remember the dumb<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_214" id="Page_2_214">[214]</a></span> +dodge of relating an escape from captivity? Clasping +the left wrist with the right hand, and the right wrist +with the left hand—alternately (to express chains)—and +then going round and round the stage very fast, +and coming hand over hand down an imaginary cord; +at the end of which there is one stroke on the drum, +and a kneeling to the chandelier? If Fireworks can't +do that—and won't somewhere—I'm a Dutchman."</p> + +<p>Graver things now claim a notice which need not be +proportioned to their gravity, because, though they +had an immediate effect on Dickens's fortunes, they +do not otherwise form part of his story. But first let +me say, he was at Broadstairs for three weeks in the +autumn;<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> we had the private play on his return; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_215" id="Page_2_215">[215]</a></span> +a month later, on the 28th of October, a sixth child +and fourth son, named Alfred Tennyson after his godfathers +d'Orsay and Tennyson, was born in Devonshire-terrace. +A death in the family followed, the older and +more gifted of his ravens having indulged the same +illicit taste for putty and paint which had been fatal +to his predecessor. Voracity killed him, as it killed +Scott's. He died unexpectedly before the kitchen-fire. +"He kept his eye to the last upon the meat as it roasted, +and suddenly turned over on his back with a sepulchral +cry of <i>Cuckoo!</i>" The letter which told me this (31st +of October) announced to me also that he was at a +dead lock in his Christmas story: "Sick, bothered and +depressed. Visions of Brighton come upon me; and +I have a great mind to go there to finish my second +part, or to Hampstead. I have a desperate thought of +Jack Straw's. I never was in such bad writing cue as +I am this week, in all my life." The reason was not +far to seek. In the preparation for the proposed new +Daily Paper to which reference has been made, he was +now actively assisting, and had all but consented to the +publication of his name.</p> + +<p>I entertained at this time, for more than one powerful +reason, the greatest misgiving of his intended share +in the adventure. It was not fully revealed until later<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_216" id="Page_2_216">[216]</a></span> +on what difficult terms, physical as well as mental, +Dickens held the tenure of his imaginative life; but +already I knew enough to doubt the wisdom of what he +was at present undertaking. In all intellectual labour, +his will prevailed so strongly when he fixed it on any +object of desire, that what else its attainment might +exact was never duly measured; and this led to frequent +strain and unconscious waste of what no man could less +afford to spare. To the world gladdened by his work, +its production might always have seemed quite as easy +as its enjoyment; but it may be doubted if ever any +man's mental effort cost him more. His habits were +robust, but not his health; that secret had been disclosed +to me before he went to America; and to the +last he refused steadily to admit the enormous price he +had paid for his triumphs and successes. The morning +after his last note I heard again. "I have been so very +unwell this morning, with giddiness, and headache, and +botheration of one sort or other, that I didn't get up +till noon: and, shunning Fleet-street" (the office of the +proposed new paper), "am now going for a country +walk, in the course of which you will find me, if you +feel disposed to come away in the carriage that goes to +you with this. It is to call for a pull of the first part +of the <i>Cricket</i>, and will bring you, if you like, by way +of Hampstead to me, and subsequently to dinner. There +is much I should like to discuss, if you can manage it. +It's the loss of my walks, I suppose; but I am as giddy +as if I were drunk, and can hardly see." I gave far +from sufficient importance at the time to the frequency +of complaints of this kind, or to the recurrence, at +almost regular periods after the year following the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_217" id="Page_2_217">[217]</a></span> +present, of those spasms in the side of which he has +recorded an instance in the recollections of his childhood, +and of which he had an attack in Genoa; but +though not conscious of it to its full extent, this consideration +was among those that influenced me in a determination +to endeavour to turn him from what could +not but be regarded as full of peril. His health, however, +had no real prominence in my letter; and it is +strange now to observe that it appears as an argument +in his reply. I had simply put before him, in the +strongest form, all the considerations drawn from his +genius and fame that should deter him from the labour +and responsibility of a daily paper, not less than from +the party and political involvements incident to it; and +here was the material part of the answer made. "Many +thanks for your affectionate letter, which is full of generous +truth. These considerations weigh with me, +<i>heavily:</i> but I think I descry in these times, greater +stimulants to such an effort; greater chance of some +fair recognition of it; greater means of persevering in +it, or retiring from it unscratched by any weapon one +should care for; than at any other period. And most of +all I have, sometimes, that possibility of failing health +or fading popularity before me, which beckons me to +such a venture when it comes within my reach. At the +worst, I have written to little purpose, if I cannot <i>write +myself right</i> in people's minds, in such a case as this."</p> + +<p>And so it went on: but it does not fall within my +plan to describe more than the issue, which was to be +accounted so far at least fortunate that it established a +journal which has advocated steadily improvements in +the condition of all classes, rich as well as poor, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_218" id="Page_2_218">[218]</a></span> +has been able, during late momentous occurrences, to +give wider scope to its influence by its enterprise and +liberality. To that result, the great writer whose name +gave its earliest attraction to the <i>Daily News</i> was not +enabled to contribute much; but from him it certainly +received the first impress of the opinions it has since +consistently maintained. Its prospectus is before me +in his handwriting, but it bears upon itself sufficiently +the character of his hand and mind. The paper would +be kept free, it said, from personal influence or party +bias; and would be devoted to the advocacy of all +rational and honest means by which wrong might be +redressed, just rights maintained, and the happiness and +welfare of society promoted.</p> + +<p>The day for the appearance of its first number was +that which was to follow Peel's speech for the repeal of +the corn laws; but, brief as my allusions to the subject +are, the remark should be made that even before this +day came there were interruptions to the work of preparation, +at one time very grave, which threw such +"changes of vexation" on Dickens's personal relations +to the venture as went far to destroy both his faith and +his pleasure in it. No opinion need be offered as to +where most of the blame lay, and it would be useless +now to apportion the share that might possibly have +belonged to himself; but, owing to this cause, his editorial +work began with such diminished ardour that its +brief continuance could not but be looked for. A +little note written "before going home" at six o'clock +in the morning of Wednesday the 21st of January 1846, +to tell me they had "been at press three quarters of an +hour, and were out before the <i>Times</i>," marks the beginning;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_219" id="Page_2_219">[219]</a></span> +and a note written in the night of Monday +the 9th of February, "tired to death and quite worn +out," to say that he had just resigned his editorial functions, +describes the end. I had not been unprepared. +A week before (Friday 30th of January) he had written: +"I want a long talk with you. I was obliged to come +down here in a hurry to give out a travelling letter I +meant to have given out last night, and could not call +upon you. Will you dine with us to-morrow at six +sharp? I have been revolving plans in my mind this +morning for quitting the paper and going abroad again +to write a new book in shilling numbers. Shall we go +to Rochester to-morrow week (my birthday) if the +weather be, as it surely must be, better?" To Rochester +accordingly we had gone, he and Mrs. Dickens and +her sister, with Maclise and Jerrold and myself; going +over the old Castle, Watts's Charity, and Chatham +fortifications on the Saturday, passing Sunday in Cobham +church and Cobham park; having our quarters +both days at the Bull inn made famous in <i>Pickwick;</i> +and thus, by indulgence of the desire which was always +strangely urgent in him, associating his new resolve in +life with those earliest scenes of his youthful time. On +one point our feeling had been in thorough agreement. +If long continuance with the paper was not likely, the +earliest possible departure from it was desirable. But +as the letters descriptive of his Italian travel (turned +afterwards into <i>Pictures from Italy</i>) had begun with its +first number, his name could not at once be withdrawn; +and for the time during which they were still to appear, +he consented to contribute other occasional letters on +important social questions. Public executions and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_220" id="Page_2_220">[220]</a></span> +Ragged schools were among the subjects chosen by +him, and all were handled with conspicuous ability. +But the interval they covered was a short one.</p> + +<p>To the supreme control which he had quitted, I succeeded, +retaining it very reluctantly for the greater part +of that weary, anxious, laborious year; but in little +more than four months from the day the paper started, +the whole of Dickens's connection with the <i>Daily +News</i>, even that of contributing letters with his signature, +had ceased. As he said in the preface to the +republished <i>Pictures</i>, it was a mistake to have disturbed +the old relations between himself and his readers, in so +departing from his old pursuits. It had however been +"a brief mistake;" the departure had been only "for +a moment;" and now those pursuits were "joyfully" +to be resumed in Switzerland. Upon the latter point +we had much discussion; but he was bent on again +removing himself from London, and his glimpse of the +Swiss mountains on his coming from Italy had given +him a passion to visit them again. "I don't think," he +wrote to me, "I <i>could</i> shut out the paper sufficiently, +here, to write well. No . . . I will write my book in +Lausanne and in Genoa, and forget everything else if I +can; and by living in Switzerland for the summer, and +in Italy or France for the winter, I shall be saving money +while I write." So therefore it was finally determined.</p> + +<p>There is not much that calls for mention before he +left. The first conceiving of a new book was always +a restless time, and other subjects beside the characters +that were growing in his mind would persistently intrude +themselves into his night-wanderings. With some surprise +I heard from him afterwards, for example, of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_221" id="Page_2_221">[221]</a></span> +communication opened with a leading member of the +Government to ascertain what chances there might be +for his appointment, upon due qualification, to the paid +magistracy of London: the reply not giving him encouragement +to entertain the notion farther. It was +of course but an outbreak of momentary discontent; +and if the answer had been as hopeful as for others' +sake rather than his own one could have wished it to be, +the result would have been the same. Just upon the +eve of his departure, I may add, he took much interest +in the establishment of the General Theatrical Fund, +of which he remained a trustee until his death. It +had originated in the fact that the Funds of the two +large theatres, themselves then disused for theatrical +performances, were no longer available for the ordinary +members of the profession; and on the occasion of his +presiding at its first dinner in April he said, very happily, +that now the statue of Shakespeare outside the +door of Drury-lane, as emphatically as his bust inside +the church of Stratford-on-Avon, <i>pointed out his grave</i>. +I am tempted also to mention as felicitous a word +which I heard fall from him at one of the many private +dinners that were got up in those days of parting to +give him friendliest farewell. "Nothing is ever so +good as it is thought," said Lord Melbourne. "And +nothing so bad," interposed Dickens.</p> + +<p>The last incidents were that he again obtained Roche +for his travelling servant, and that he let his Devonshire-terrace +house to Sir James Duke for twelve months, +the entire proposed term of his absence. On the 30th +of May they all dined with me, and on the following +day left England.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_222" id="Page_2_222">[222]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>A HOME IN SWITZERLAND.</h3> + +<h3>1846.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">On the Rhine—Travelling Englishmen—At Lausanne—House-hunting—A +Cottage chosen—First Impressions of Switzerland—Lausanne +described—His Villa described—Design as to Work—English +Neighbours—Swiss Prison System—Blind Institution—Interesting +Case—Idiot Girl—Habits in Idiot Life and Savage—Begins Dombey—The +Christmas Tale.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Halting</span> only at Ostend, Verviers, Coblentz, and +Mannheim, they reached Strasburg on the seventh of +June: the beauty of the weather<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> showing them the +Rhine at its best. At Mayence there had come aboard +their boat a German, who soon after accosted Mrs. Dickens +on deck in excellent English: "Your countryman +Mr. Dickens is travelling this way just now, our papers +say. Do you know him, or have you passed him anywhere?" +Explanations ensuing, it turned out, by one of +the odd chances my friend thought himself always singled +out for, that he had with him a letter of introduction to +the brother of this gentleman; who then spoke to him +of the popularity of his books in Germany, and of the +many persons he had seen reading them in the steamboats<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_223" id="Page_2_223">[223]</a></span> +as he came along. Dickens remarking at this +how great his own vexation was not to be able himself +to speak a word of German, "Oh dear! that needn't +trouble you," rejoined the other; "for even in so small +a town as ours, where we are mostly primitive people +and have few travellers, I could make a party of at +least forty people who understand and speak English +as well as I do, and of at least as many more who +could manage to read you in the original." His town +was Worms, which Dickens afterwards saw, " . . . a +fine old place, though greatly shrunken and decayed in +respect of its population; with a picturesque old cathedral +standing on the brink of the Rhine, and some +brave old churches shut up, and so hemmed in and +overgrown with vineyards that they look as if they +were turning into leaves and grapes."</p> + +<p>He had no other adventure on the Rhine. But, on +the same steamer, a not unfamiliar bit of character +greeted him in the well-known lineaments, moral and +physical, of two travelling Englishmen who had got an +immense barouche on board with them, and had no +plan whatever of going anywhere in it. One of them +wanted to have this barouche wheeled ashore at every +little town and village they came to. The other was +bent upon "seeing it out," as he said—meaning, +Dickens supposed, the river; though neither of them +seemed to have the slightest interest in it. "The locomotive +one would have gone ashore without the carriage, +and would have been delighted to get rid of it; +but they had a joint courier, and neither of them +would part with <i>him</i> for a moment; so they went +growling and grumbling on together, and seemed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_224" id="Page_2_224">[224]</a></span> +have no satisfaction but in asking for impossible viands +on board the boat, and having a grim delight in the +steward's excuses."</p> + +<p>From Strasburg they went by rail on the 8th to Bâle, +from which they started for Lausanne next day, in +three coaches, two horses to each, taking three days +for the journey: its only enlivening incident being an +uproar between the landlord of an inn on the road, +and one of the voituriers who had libelled Boniface's +establishment by complaining of the food. "After +various defiances on both sides, the landlord said +'Scélérat! Mécréant! Je vous boaxerai!' to which the +voiturier replied, 'Aha! Comment dites-vous? Voulez-vous +boaxer? Eh? Voulez-vous? Ah! Boaxez-moi +donc! Boaxez-moi!'—at the same time accompanying +these retorts with gestures of violent significance, +which explained that this new verb-active was founded +on the well-known English verb to boax, or box. If +they used it once, they used it at least a hundred times, +and goaded each other to madness with it always." +The travellers reached the hotel Gibbon at Lausanne +on the evening of Thursday the 11th of June; having +been tempted as they came along to rest somewhat +short of it, by a delightful glimpse of Neuchâtel. "On +consideration however I thought it best to come on +here, in case I should find, when I begin to write, that +I want streets sometimes. In which case, Geneva +(which I hope would answer the purpose) is only four +and twenty miles away."</p> + +<p>He at once began house-hunting, and had two days' +hard work of it. He found the greater part of those +let to the English like small villas in the Regent's-park,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_225" id="Page_2_225">[225]</a></span> +with verandahs, glass-doors opening on lawns, and +alcoves overlooking the lake and mountains. One he +was tempted by, higher up the hill, "poised above the +town like a ship on a high wave;" but the possible +fury of its winter winds deterred him. Greater still +was the temptation to him of "L'Elysée," more a +mansion than a villa; with splendid grounds overlooking +the lake, and in its corridors and staircases as well +as furniture like an old fashioned country house in +England; which he could have got for twelve months +for £160. "But when I came to consider its vastness, +I was rather dismayed at the prospect of windy nights +in the autumn, with nobody staying in the house to +make it gay." And so he again fell back upon the +very first place he had seen, Rosemont, quite a doll's +house; with two pretty little salons, a dining-room, +hall, and kitchen, on the ground floor; and with just +enough bedrooms upstairs to leave the family one to +spare. "It is beautifully situated on the hill that rises +from the lake, within ten minutes' walk of this hotel, +and furnished, though scantily as all here are, better +than others except Elysée, on account of its having +being built and fitted up (the little salons in the Parisian +way) by the landlady and her husband for themselves. +They lived now in a smaller house like a +porter's lodge, just within the gate. A portion of the +grounds is farmed by a farmer, and <i>he</i> lives close by; +so that, while it is secluded, it is not at all lonely." +The rent was to be ten pounds a month for half a +year, with reduction to eight for the second half, if he +should stay so long; and the rooms and furniture were +to be described to me, so that according to custom I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_226" id="Page_2_226">[226]</a></span> +should be quite at home there, as soon as, also according +to a custom well-known, his own ingenious re-arrangements +and improvements in the chairs and +tables should be completed. "I shall merely observe +at present therefore, that my little study is upstairs, +and looks out, from two French windows opening into +a balcony, on the lake and mountains; and that there +are roses enough to smother the whole establishment +of the <i>Daily News</i> in. Likewise, there is a pavilion in +the garden, which has but two rooms in it; in one of +which, I think you shall do your work when you come. +As to bowers for reading and smoking, there are as +many scattered about the grounds, as there are in +Chalk-farm tea-gardens. But the Rosemont bowers +are really beautiful. Will you come to the bowers. . . ?"</p> + +<p>Very pleasant were the earliest impressions of Switzerland +with which this first letter closed. "The +country is delightful in the extreme—as leafy, green, +and shady, as England; full of deep glens, and branchy +places (rather a Leigh Huntish expression), and bright +with all sorts of flowers in profusion.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> It abounds in +singing birds besides—very pleasant after Italy; and +the moonlight on the lake is noble. Prodigious mountains +rise up from its opposite shore (it is eight or nine +miles across, at this point), and the Simplon, the St. +Gothard, Mont Blanc, and all the Alpine wonders are +piled there, in tremendous grandeur. The cultivation +is uncommonly rich and profuse. There are all manner<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_227" id="Page_2_227">[227]</a></span> +of walks, vineyards, green lanes, cornfields, and +pastures full of hay. The general neatness is as remarkable +as in England. There are no priests or +monks in the streets, and the people appear to be industrious +and thriving. French (and very intelligible +and pleasant French) seems to be the universal language. +I never saw so many booksellers' shops +crammed within the same space, as in the steep up-and-down +streets of Lausanne."</p> + +<p>Of the little town he spoke in his next letter as +having its natural dulness increased by that fact of its +streets going up and down hill abruptly and steeply, +like the streets in a dream; and the consequent difficulty +of getting about it. "There are some suppressed +churches in it, now used as packers' warehouses: with +cranes and pulleys growing out of steeple-towers; little +doors for lowering goods through, fitted into blocked-up +oriel windows; and cart-horses stabled in crypts. +These also help to give it a deserted and disused appearance. +On the other hand, as it is a perfectly free +place subject to no prohibitions or restrictions of any +kind, there are all sorts of new French books and publications +in it, and all sorts of fresh intelligence from +the world beyond the Jura mountains. It contains +only one Roman Catholic church, which is mainly for +the use of the Savoyards and Piedmontese who come +trading over the Alps. As for the country, it cannot +be praised too highly, or reported too beautiful. There +are no great waterfalls, or walks through mountain-gorges, +<i>close</i> at hand, as in some other parts of Switzerland; +but there is a charming variety of enchanting +scenery. There is the shore of the lake, where you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_228" id="Page_2_228">[228]</a></span> +may dip your feet, as you walk, in the deep blue water, +if you choose. There are the hills to climb up, leading +to the great heights above the town; or to stagger +down, leading to the lake. There is every possible +variety of deep green lanes, vineyard, cornfield, pasture-land, +and wood. There are excellent country +roads that might be in Kent or Devonshire: and, +closing up every view and vista, is an eternally changing +range of prodigious mountains—sometimes red, sometimes +grey, sometimes purple, sometimes black; sometimes +white with snow; sometimes close at hand; and +sometimes very ghosts in the clouds and mist."</p> + +<p>In the heart of these things he was now to live and +work for at least six months; and, as the love of nature +was as much a passion with him in his intervals of +leisure, as the craving for crowds and streets when he +was busy with the creatures of his fancy, no man was +better qualified to enjoy what was thus open to him +from his little farm.</p> + +<p>The view from each side of it was different in character, +and from one there was visible the liveliest +aspect of Lausanne itself, close at hand, and seeming, +as he said, to be always coming down the hill with its +steeples and towers, not able to stop itself. "From a +fine long broad balcony on which the windows of my +little study on the first floor (where I am now writing) +open, the lake is seen to wonderful advantage,—losing +itself by degrees in the solemn gorge of mountains +leading to the Simplon pass. Under the balcony is a +stone colonnade, on which the six French windows of +the drawing-room open; and quantities of plants are +clustered about the pillars and seats, very prettily. One<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_229" id="Page_2_229">[229]</a></span> +of these drawing-rooms is furnished (like a French +hotel) with red velvet, and the other with green; in +both, plenty of mirrors and nice white muslin curtains; +and for the larger one in cold weather there is a carpet, +the floors being bare now, but inlaid in squares with +different-coloured woods." His description did not +close until, in every nook and corner inhabited by +the several members of the family, I was made to feel +myself at home; but only the final sentence need be +added. "Walking out into the balcony as I write, I +am suddenly reminded, by the sight of the Castle of +Chillon glittering in the sunlight on the lake, that I +omitted to mention that object in my catalogue of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_230" id="Page_2_230">[230]</a></span> +Rosemont beauties. Please to put it in, like George +Robins, in a line by itself."</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/image13.png" width="400" height="303" alt="House" title="House" /> +</div> + +<p>Regular evening walks of nine or ten miles were +named in the same letter (22nd of June) as having been +begun;<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> and thoughts of his books were already stirring +in him. "An odd shadowy undefined idea is at +work within me, that I could connect a great battle-field +somehow with my little Christmas story. Shapeless +visions of the repose and peace pervading it in +after-time; with the corn and grass growing over the +slain, and people singing at the plough; are so perpetually +floating before me, that I cannot but think +there may turn out to be something good in them when +I see them more plainly. . . . I want to get Four +Numbers of the monthly book done here, and the +Christmas book. If all goes well, and nothing changes, +and I can accomplish this by the end of November, I +shall run over to you in England for a few days with a +light heart, and leave Roche to move the caravan to +Paris in the meanwhile. It will be just the very point +in the story when the life and crowd of that extraordinary +place will come vividly to my assistance in writing." +Such was his design; and, though difficulties<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_231" id="Page_2_231">[231]</a></span> +not now seen started up which he had a hard fight to +get through, he managed to accomplish it. His letter +ended with a promise to tell me, when next he wrote, +of the small colony of English who seemed ready to +give him even more than the usual welcome. Two +visits had thus early been paid him by Mr. Haldimand, +formerly a member of the English parliament, an +accomplished man, who, with his sister Mrs. Marcet +(the well-known authoress), had long made Lausanne +his home. He had a very fine seat just below Rosemont, +and his character and station had made him +quite the little sovereign of the place. "He has +founded and endowed all sorts of hospitals and institutions +here, and he gives a dinner to-morrow to introduce +our neighbours, whoever they are."</p> + +<p>He found them to be happily the kind of people who +rendered entirely pleasant those frank and cordial hospitalities +which the charm of his personal intercourse +made every one so eager to offer him. The dinner at +Mr. Haldimand's was followed by dinners from the +guests he met there; from an English lady<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> married to +a Swiss, Mr. and Mrs. Cerjat, clever and agreeable both, +far beyond the common; from her sister wedded to an +Englishman, Mr. and Mrs. Goff; and from Mr. and Mrs. +Watson of Rockingham-castle in Northamptonshire,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_232" id="Page_2_232">[232]</a></span> +who had taken the Elysée on Dickens giving it up, and +with whom, as with Mr. Haldimand, his relations continued +to be very intimate long after he left Lausanne. +In his drive to Mr. Cerjat's dinner a whimsical difficulty +presented itself. He had set up, for use of his wife and +children, an odd little one-horse-carriage; made to +hold three persons sideways, so that they should avoid +the wind always blowing up or down the valley; and he +found it attended with one of the drollest consequences +conceivable. "It can't be easily turned; and as you +face to the side, all sorts of evolutions are necessary +to bring you 'broad-side to' before the door of the +house where you are going. The country houses here +are very like those upon the Thames between Richmond +and Kingston (this, particularly), with grounds all +round. At Mr. Cerjat's we were obliged to be carried, +like the child's riddle, round the house and round the +house, without touching the house; and we were presented +in the most alarming manner, three of a row, +first to all the people in the kitchen, then to the governess +who was dressing in her bedroom, then to the +drawing-room where the company were waiting for us, +then to the dining-room where they were spreading the +table, and finally to the hall where we were got out—scraping +the windows of each apartment as we glared +slowly into it."</p> + +<p>A dinner party of his own followed of course; and +a sad occurrence, of which he and his guests were +unconscious, signalised the evening (15th of July). +"While we were sitting at dinner, one of the prettiest +girls in Lausanne was drowned in the lake—in the +most peaceful water, reflecting the steep mountains, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_233" id="Page_2_233">[233]</a></span> +crimson with the setting sun. She was bathing in one +of the nooks set apart for women, and seems somehow +to have entangled her feet in the skirts of her dress. +She was an accomplished swimmer, as many of the girls +are here, and drifted, suddenly, out of only five feet +water. Three or four friends who were with her, <i>ran +away</i>, screaming. Our children's governess was on the +lake in a boat with M. Verdeil (my prison-doctor) and +his family. They ran inshore immediately; the body +was quickly got out; and M. Verdeil, with three or +four other doctors, laboured for some hours to restore +animation; but she only sighed once. After all that +time, she was obliged to be borne, stiff and stark, to her +father's house. She was his only child, and but 17 +years old. He has been nearly dead since, and all +Lausanne has been full of the story. I was down by +the lake, near the place, last night; and a boatman +<i>acted</i> to me the whole scene: depositing himself finally +on a heap of stones, to represent the body."</p> + +<p>With M. Verdeil, physician to the prison and vice-president +of the council of health, introduced by Mr. +Haldimand, there had already been much communication; +and I could give nothing more characteristic of +Dickens than his reference to this, and other similar +matters in which his interest was strongly moved during +his first weeks at Lausanne.<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_234" id="Page_2_234">[234]</a></span></p> +<p>"Some years ago, when they set about reforming the +prison at Lausanne, they turned their attention, in a +correspondence of republican feeling, to America; and +taking the Philadelphian system for granted, adopted +it. Terrible fits, new phases of mental affection, and +horrible madness, among the prisoners, were very soon +the result; and attained to such an alarming height, +that M. Verdeil, in his public capacity, began to report +against the system, and went on reporting and working +against it until he formed a party who were determined +not to have it, and caused it to be abolished—except +in cases where the imprisonment does not exceed ten +months in the whole. It is remarkable that in his notes +of the different cases, there is <i>every effect</i> I mentioned +as having observed myself at Philadelphia; even down +to those contained in the description of the man who +had been there thirteen years, and who <i>picked his hands</i> +so much as he talked. He has only recently, he says, +read the <i>American Notes;</i> but he is so much struck by +the perfect coincidence that he intends to republish +some extracts from his own notes, side by side with +these passages of mine translated into French. I went +with him over the prison the other day. It is wonderfully +well arranged for a continental jail, and in perfect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_235" id="Page_2_235">[235]</a></span> +order. The sentences however, or some of them, are +very terrible. I saw one man sent there for murder +under circumstances of mitigation—for 30 years. Upon +the silent social system all the time! They weave, and +plait straw, and make shoes, small articles of turnery +and carpentry, and little common wooden clocks. But +the sentences are too long for that monotonous and +hopeless life; and, though they are well-fed and cared +for, they generally break down utterly after two or three +years. One delusion seems to become common to +three-fourths of them after a certain time of imprisonment. +Under the impression that there is something +destructive put into their food 'pour les guérir de +crime' (says M. Verdeil), they refuse to eat!"</p> + +<p>It was at the Blind Institution, however, of which +Mr. Haldimand was the president and great benefactor, +that Dickens's attention was most deeply arrested; and +there were two cases in especial of which the detail may +be read with as much interest now as when my friend's +letters were written, and as to which his own suggestions +open up still rather startling trains of thought. +The first, which in its attraction for him he found +equal even to Laura Bridgman's, was that of a young +man of 18: "born deaf and dumb, and stricken blind +by an accident when he was about five years old. The +Director of the institution is a young German, of great +ability, and most uncommonly prepossessing appearance. +He propounded to the scientific bodies of +Geneva, a year ago (when this young man was under +education in the asylum), the possibility of teaching +him to speak—in other words, to play with his tongue +upon his teeth and palate as if on an instrument, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_236" id="Page_2_236">[236]</a></span> +connect particular performances with particular words +conveyed to him in the finger-language. They unanimously +agreed that it was quite impossible. The German +set to work, and the young man now speaks very +plainly and distinctly: without the least modulation, +of course, but with comparatively little hesitation; expressing +the words aloud as they are struck, so to speak, +upon his hands; and showing the most intense and +wonderful delight in doing it. This is commonly acquired, +as you know, by the deaf and dumb who learn +by sight; but it has never before been achieved in the +case of a deaf, dumb, and blind subject. He is an extremely +lively, intelligent, good-humoured fellow; an +excellent carpenter; a first-rate turner; and runs about +the building with a certainty and confidence which +none of the merely blind pupils acquire. He has a +great many ideas, and an instinctive dread of death. +He knows of God, as of Thought enthroned somewhere; +and once told, on nature's prompting (the +devil's of course), a lie. He was sitting at dinner, and +the Director asked him whether he had had anything +to drink; to which he instantly replied 'No,' in order +that he might get some more, though he had been +served in his turn. It was explained to him that this +was a wrong thing, and wouldn't do, and that he was +to be locked up in a room for it: which was done. +Soon after this, he had a dream of being bitten in the +shoulder by some strange animal. As it left a great +impression on his mind, he told M. the Director that +he had told another lie in the night. In proof of it +he related his dream, and added, 'It must be a lie +you know, because there is no strange animal here,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_237" id="Page_2_237">[237]</a></span> +and I never was bitten.' Being informed that this sort +of lie was a harmless one, and was called a dream, he +asked whether dead people ever dreamed<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> while they +were lying in the ground. He is one of the most +curious and interesting studies possible."</p> + +<p>The second case had come in on the very day that +Dickens visited the place. "When I was there" (8th +of July) "there had come in, that morning, a girl of +ten years old, born deaf and dumb and blind, and so +perfectly untaught that she has not learnt to have the +least control even over the performance of the common +natural functions. . . . And yet she <i>laughs sometimes</i> +(good God! conceive what at!)—and is dreadfully +sensitive from head to foot, and very much alarmed, +for some hours before the coming on of a thunder +storm. Mr. Haldimand has been long trying to induce +her parents to send her to the asylum. At last they +have consented; and when I saw her, some of the +little blind girls were trying to make friends with her, +and to lead her gently about. She was dressed in just +a loose robe from the necessity of changing her frequently, +but had been in a bath, and had had her nails +cut (which were previously very long and dirty), and +was not at all ill-looking—quite the reverse; with a +remarkably good and pretty little mouth, but a low and +undeveloped head of course. It was pointed out to +me, as very singular, that the moment she is left alone, +or freed from anybody's touch (which is the same thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_238" id="Page_2_238">[238]</a></span> +to her), she instantly crouches down with her hands up +to her ears, in exactly the position of a child before its +birth; and so remains. I thought this such a strange +coincidence with the utter want of advancement in her +moral being, that it made a great impression on me; +and conning it over and over, I began to think that +this is surely the invariable action of savages too, and +that I have seen it over and over again described in +books of voyages and travels. Not having any of +these with me, I turned to <i>Robinson Crusoe;</i> and I find +De Foe says, describing the savages who came on the +island after Will Atkins began to change for the better +and commanded under the grave Spaniard for the +common defence, 'their posture was generally sitting +upon the ground, with their knees up towards their +mouth, and the head put between the two hands, leaning +down upon the knees'—exactly the same attitude!" +In his next week's letter he reported further: "I have +not been to the Blind asylum again yet, but they tell +me that the deaf and dumb and blind child's <i>face</i> is +improving obviously, and that she takes great delight +in the first effort made by the Director to connect himself +with an occupation of her time. He gives her, +every day, two smooth round pebbles to roll over and +over between her two hands. She appears to have an +idea that it is to lead to something; distinctly recognizes +the hand that gives them to her, as a friendly and +protecting one; and sits for hours quite busy."</p> + +<p>To one part of his very thoughtful suggestion I objected, +and would have attributed to a mere desire for +warmth, in her as in the savage, what he supposed to +be part of an undeveloped or embryo state explaining<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_239" id="Page_2_239">[239]</a></span> +also the absence of sentient and moral being. To this +he replied (25th of July): "I do not think that there +is reason for supposing that the savage attitude originates +in the desire of warmth, because all naked savages +inhabit hot climates; and their instinctive attitude, if +it had reference to heat or cold, would probably be the +coolest possible; like their delight in water, and swimming. +I do not think there is any race of savage men, +however low in grade, inhabiting cold climates, who +do not kill beasts and wear their skins. The girl +decidedly improves in face, and, if one can yet use the +word as applied to her, in manner too. No communication +by the speech of touch has yet been established +with her, but the time has not been long enough." In +a later letter he tells me (24th of August): "The deaf, +dumb, and blind girl is decidedly improved, and very +much improved, in this short time. No communication +is yet established with her, but that is not to be expected. +They have got her out of that strange, crouching +position; dressed her neatly; and accustomed her to +have a pleasure in society. She laughs frequently, and +also claps her hands and jumps; having, God knows +how, some inward satisfaction. I never saw a more +tremendous thing in its way, in my life, than when +they stood her, t'other day, in the centre of a group of +blind children who sang a chorus to the piano; and +brought her hand, and kept it, in contact with the instrument. +A shudder pervaded her whole being, her +breath quickened, her colour deepened,—and I can +compare it to nothing but returning animation in a person +nearly dead. It was really awful to see how the sensation +of the music fluttered and stirred the locked-up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_240" id="Page_2_240">[240]</a></span> +soul within her." The same letter spoke again of the +youth: "The male subject is well and jolly as possible. +He is very fond of smoking. I have arranged to supply +him with cigars during our stay here; so he and I +are in amazing sympathy. I don't know whether he +thinks I grow them, or make them, or produce them +by winking, or what. But it gives him a notion that +the world in general belongs to me." . . . Before his +kind friend left Lausanne the poor fellow had been +taught to say, "Monsieur Dickens m'a donné les +cigares," and at their leave-taking his gratitude was expressed +by incessant repetition of these words for a full +half-hour.</p> + +<p>Certainly by no man was gratitude more persistently +earned, than by Dickens, from all to whom nature or +the world had been churlish or unfair. Not to those +only made desolate by poverty or the temptations incident +to it, but to those whom natural defects or infirmities +had placed at a disadvantage with their kind, +he gave his first consideration; helping them personally +where he could, sympathising and sorrowing with +them always, but above all applying himself to the investigation +of such alleviation or cure as philosophy or +science might be able to apply to their condition. +This was a desire so eager as properly to be called one +of the passions of his life, visible in him to the last +hour of it.</p> + +<p>Only a couple of weeks, themselves not idle ones, +had passed over him at Rosemont when he made a +dash at the beginning of his real work; from which indeed +he had only been detained so long by the non-arrival +of a box dispatched from London before his own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_241" id="Page_2_241">[241]</a></span> +departure, containing not his proper writing materials +only, but certain quaint little bronze figures that thus +early stood upon his desk, and were as much needed +for the easy flow of his writing as blue ink or quill pens. +"I have not been idle" (28th of June) "since I have +been here, though at first I was 'kept out' of the big +box as you know. I had a good deal to write for Lord +John about the Ragged schools. I set to work and did +that. A good deal for Miss Coutts, in reference to her +charitable projects. I set to work and did <i>that</i>. Half +of the children's New Testament<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> to write, or pretty +nearly. I set to work and did <i>that</i>. Next I cleared +off the greater part of such correspondence as I had +rashly pledged myself to; and then. . . .</p> + +<div class='center'> +BEGAN DOMBEY!<br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>I performed this feat yesterday—only wrote the first +slip—but there it is, and it is a plunge straight over +head and ears into the story. . . . Besides all this, I have +really gone with great vigour at the French, where I +find myself greatly assisted by the Italian; and am +subject to two descriptions of mental fits in reference +to the Christmas book: one, of the suddenest and +wildest enthusiasm; one, of solitary and anxious consideration. . . .<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_242" id="Page_2_242">[242]</a></span> +By the way, as I was unpacking the +big box I took hold of a book, and said to 'Them,'—'Now, +whatever passage my thumb rests on, I shall +take as having reference to my work.' It was <span class="smcap">Tristram +Shandy</span>, and opened at these words, 'What a +work it is likely to turn out! Let us begin it!'"</div> + +<p>The same letter told me that he still inclined strongly +to "the field of battle notion" for his Christmas volume, +but was not as yet advanced in it; being curious +first to see whether its capacity seemed to strike me at +all. My only objection was to his adventure of opening +two stories at once, of which he did not yet see +the full danger; but for the moment the Christmas +fancy was laid aside, and not resumed, except in passing +allusions, until after the close of August, when the +first two numbers of <i>Dombey</i> were done. The interval +supplied fresh illustration of his life in his new home, +not without much interest; and as I have shown what +a pleasant social circle, "wonderfully friendly and +hospitable"<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> to the last, already had grouped itself +round him in Lausanne, and how full of "matter to +be heard and learn'd" he found such institutions as its +prison and blind school, the picture will receive attractive +touches if I borrow from his letters written +during this outset of <i>Dombey</i>, some farther notices as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_243" id="Page_2_243">[243]</a></span> +well of the general progress of his work, as of what +was specially interesting or amusing to him at the time, +and of how the country and the people impressed him. +In all of these his character will be found strongly +marked.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_244" id="Page_2_244">[244]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>SWISS PEOPLE AND SCENERY.</h3> + +<h3>1846.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">The Mountains and Lake—Manners of the People—A Country Fête—Rifle-shooting—A +Marriage—Gunpowder Festivities—Progress in +Work—Hints to Artist for Illustrating Dombey—Henry Hallam—Sight-seers +from England—Trip to Chamounix—Mule Travelling—Mer +de Glace—Tête Noire Pass—An Accident—Castle of Chillon +described—Political Celebration—Good Conduct of the People—Protestant +and Catholic Cantons.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">What</span> at once had struck him as the wonderful +feature in the mountain scenery was its everchanging +and yet unchanging aspect. It was never twice like +the same thing to him. Shifting and altering, advancing +and retreating, fifty times a day, it was unalterable +only in its grandeur. The lake itself too had every +kind of varying beauty for him. By moonlight it was +indescribably solemn; and before the coming on of a +storm had a strange property in it of being disturbed, +while yet the sky remained clear and the evening +bright, which he found to be mysterious and impressive +in an especial degree. Such a storm had come among +his earliest and most grateful experiences; a degree of +heat worse even than in Italy<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> having disabled him at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_245" id="Page_2_245">[245]</a></span> +the outset for all exertion until the lightning, thunder, +and rain arrived. The letter telling me this (5th July) +described the fruit as so abundant in the little farm, +that the trees of the orchard in front of his house were +bending beneath it; spoke of a field of wheat sloping +down to the side window of his dining-room as already +cut and carried; and said that the roses, which the +hurricane of rain had swept away, were come back +lovelier and in greater numbers than ever.</p> + +<p>Of the ordinary Swiss people he formed from the +first a high opinion which everything during his stay +among them confirmed. He thought it the greatest +injustice to call them "the Americans of the Continent." +In his first letters he said of the peasantry all +about Lausanne that they were as pleasant a people as +need be. He never passed, on any of the roads, man, +woman, or child, without a salutation; and anything +churlish or disagreeable he never noticed in them. +"They have not," he continued, "the sweetness and +grace of the Italians, or the agreeable manners of the +better specimens of French peasantry, but they are admirably +educated (the schools of this canton are extraordinarily +good, in every little village), and always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_246" id="Page_2_246">[246]</a></span> +prepared to give a civil and pleasant answer. There is +no greater mistake. I was talking to my landlord<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> +about it the other day, and he said he could not conceive +how it had ever arisen, but that when he returned +from his eighteen years' service in the English navy he +shunned the people, and had no interest in them until +they gradually forced their real character upon his observation. +We have a cook and a coachman here, +taken at hazard from the people of the town; and I +never saw more obliging servants, or people who did +their work so truly <i>with a will</i>. And in point of cleanliness, +order, and punctuality to the moment, they are +unrivalled. . . ."</p> + +<p>The first great gathering of the Swiss peasantry +which he saw was in the third week after his arrival, +when a country fête was held at a place called The +Signal; a deep green wood, on the sides and summit +of a very high hill overlooking the town and all the +country round; and he gave me very pleasant account +of it. "There were various booths for eating and +drinking, and the selling of trinkets and sweetmeats; +and in one place there was a great circle cleared, in +which the common people waltzed and polka'd, without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_247" id="Page_2_247">[247]</a></span> +cessation, to the music of a band. There was a +great roundabout for children (oh my stars what a +family were proprietors of it! A sunburnt father and +mother, a humpbacked boy, a great poodle-dog possessed +of all sorts of accomplishments, and a young +murderer of seventeen who turned the machinery); +and there were some games of chance and skill established +under trees. It was very pretty. In some of +the drinking booths there were parties of German +peasants, twenty together perhaps, singing national +drinking-songs, and making a most exhilarating and +musical chorus by rattling their cups and glasses on +the table and drinking them against each other, to a +regular tune. You know it as a stage dodge, but the +real thing is splendid. Farther down the hill, other +peasants were rifle-shooting for prizes, at targets set on +the other side of a deep ravine, from two to three +hundred yards off. It was quite fearful to see the +astonishing accuracy of their aim, and how, every time +a rifle awakened the ten thousand echoes of the green +glen, some men crouching behind a little wall immediately +in front of the targets, sprung up with large +numbers in their hands denoting where the ball had +struck the bull's eye—and then in a moment disappeared +again. Standing in a ring near these shooters +was another party of Germans singing hunting-songs, +in parts, most melodiously. And down in the distance +was Lausanne, with all sorts of haunted-looking old +towers rising up before the smooth water of the lake, +and an evening sky all red, and gold, and bright +green. When it closed in quite dark, all the booths +were lighted up; and the twinkling of the lamps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_248" id="Page_2_248">[248]</a></span> +among the forest of trees was beautiful. . . ." To +this pretty picture, a letter of a little later date, describing +a marriage on the farm, added farther comical +illustration of the rifle-firing propensities of the Swiss, +and had otherwise also whimsical touches of character. +"One of the farmer's people—a sister, I think—was +married from here the other day. It is wonderful to +see how naturally the smallest girls are interested in +marriages. Katey and Mamey were as excited as if +they were eighteen. The fondness of the Swiss for +gunpowder on interesting occasions, is one of the +drollest things. For three days before, the farmer +himself, in the midst of his various agricultural duties, +plunged out of a little door near my windows, about +once in every hour, and fired off a rifle. I thought +he was shooting rats who were spoiling the vines; but +he was merely relieving his mind, it seemed, on the +subject of the approaching nuptials. All night afterwards, +he and a small circle of friends kept perpetually +letting off guns under the casement of the bridal chamber. +A Bride is always drest here, in black silk; but +this bride wore merino of that colour, observing to +her mother when she bought it (the old lady is 82, and +works on the farm), 'You know, mother, I am sure +to want mourning for you, soon; and the same gown +will do.'"<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_249" id="Page_2_249">[249]</a></span></p> +<p>Meanwhile, day by day, he was steadily moving on +with his first number; feeling sometimes the want of +streets in an "extraordinary nervousness it would be +hardly possible to describe," that would come upon +him after he had been writing all day; but at all other +times finding the repose of the place very favourable to +industry. "I am writing slowly at first, of course" +(5th of July), "but I hope I shall have finished the +first number in the course of a fortnight at farthest. I +have done the first chapter, and begun another. I say +nothing of the merits thus far, or of the idea beyond +what is known to you; because I prefer that you should +come as fresh as may be upon them. I shall certainly +have a great surprise for people at the end of the fourth +number;<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> and I think there is a new and peculiar sort +of interest, involving the necessity of a little bit of +delicate treatment whereof I will expound my idea to +you by and by. When I have done this number, I may +take a run to Chamounix perhaps. . . . My thoughts +have necessarily been called away from the Christmas +book. The first <i>Dombey</i> done, I think I should fly off +to that, whenever the idea presented itself vividly before +me. I still cherish the Battle fancy, though it is +nothing but a fancy as yet." A week later he told me +that he hoped to finish the first number by that day +week or thereabouts, when he should then run and look +for his Christmas book in the glaciers at Chamounix. +His progress to this point had been pleasing him. "I +think <i>Dombey</i> very strong—with great capacity in its +leading idea; plenty of character that is likely to tell;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_250" id="Page_2_250">[250]</a></span> +and some rollicking facetiousness, to say nothing of +pathos. I hope you will soon judge of it for yourself, +however; and I know you will say what you think. I +have been very constantly at work." Six days later I +heard that he had still eight slips to write, and for a +week had put off Chamounix.</p> + +<p>But though the fourth chapter yet was incomplete, he +could repress no longer the desire to write to me of what +he was doing (18th of July). "I think the general +idea of <i>Dombey</i> is interesting and new, and has great +material in it. But I don't like to discuss it with you +till you have read number one, for fear I should spoil +its effect. When done—about Wednesday or Thursday, +please God—I will send it in two days' posts, +seven letters each day. If you have it set at once (I +am afraid you couldn't read it, otherwise than in print) +I know you will impress on B. & E. the necessity of +the closest secrecy. The very name getting out, would +be ruinous. The points for illustration, and the enormous +care required, make me excessively anxious. The +man for Dombey, if Browne could see him, the class +man to a T, is Sir A—— E——, of D——'s. Great pains +will be necessary with Miss Tox. The Toodle family +should not be too much caricatured, because of Polly. +I should like Browne to think of Susan Nipper, who +will not be wanted in the first number. After the second +number, they will all be nine or ten years older, but +this will not involve much change in the characters, +except in the children and Miss Nipper. What a brilliant +thing to be telling you all these names so familiarly, +when you know nothing about 'em! I quite +enjoy it. By the bye, I hope you may like the introduction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_251" id="Page_2_251">[251]</a></span> +of Solomon Gills.<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> I think he lives in a good +sort of house. . . . One word more. What do you +think, as a name for the Christmas book, of <span class="smcap">The +Battle of Life</span>? It is not a name I have conned at +all, but has just occurred to me in connection with that +foggy idea. If I can see my way, I think I will take it +next, and clear it off. If you knew how it hangs about +me, I am sure you would say so too. It would be an +immense relief to have it done, and nothing standing +in the way of <i>Dombey</i>."</p> + +<p>Within the time left for it the opening number was +done, but two little incidents preceded still the trip to +Chamounix. The first was a visit from Hallam to Mr. +Haldimand. "Heavens! how Hallam did talk yesterday! +I don't think I ever saw him so tremendous. +Very good-natured and pleasant, in his way, but Good +Heavens! how he did talk. That famous day you and +I remember was nothing to it. His son was with him, +and his daughter (who has an impediment in her +speech, as if nature were determined to balance that +faculty in the family), and his niece, a pretty woman, +the wife of a clergyman and a friend of Thackeray's. +It strikes me that she must be 'the little woman' he +proposed to take us to drink tea with, once, in Golden-square. +Don't you remember? His great favourite? +She is quite a charming person anyhow." I hope to +be pardoned for preserving an opinion which more +familiar later acquaintance confirmed, and which can +hardly now give anything but pleasure to the lady of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_252" id="Page_2_252">[252]</a></span> +whom it is expressed. To the second incident he +alludes more briefly. "As Haldimand and Mrs. +Marcet and the Cerjats had devised a small mountain +expedition for us for to-morrow, I didn't like to allow +Chamounix to stand in the way. So we go with them +first, and start on our own account on Tuesday. We +are extremely pleasant with these people." The close +of the same letter (25th of July), mentioning two pieces +of local news, gives intimation of the dangers incident +to all Swiss travelling, and of such special precautions +as were necessary for the holiday among the mountains +he was now about to take. "My first news is that a +crocodile is said to have escaped from the Zoological +gardens at Geneva, and to be now 'zigzag-zigging' +about the lake. But I can't make out whether this is a +great fact, or whether it is a pious fraud to prevent too +much bathing and liability to accidents. The other +piece of news is more serious. An English family +whose name I don't know, consisting of a father, +mother, and daughter, arrived at the hotel Gibbon here +last Monday, and started off on some mountain expedition +in one of the carriages of the country. It was +a mere track, the road, and ought to have been travelled +only by mules, but the Englishman persisted (as +Englishmen do) in going on in the carriage; and in +answer to all the representations of the driver that no +carriage had ever gone up there, said he needn't be +afraid he wasn't going to be paid for it, and so forth. +Accordingly, the coachman got down and walked by +the horses' heads. It was fiery hot; and, after much +tugging and rearing, the horses began to back, and +went down bodily, carriage and all, into a deep ravine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_253" id="Page_2_253">[253]</a></span> +The mother was killed on the spot; and the father and +daughter are lying at some house hard by, not expected +to recover."</p> + +<p>His next letter (written on the second of August) +described his own first real experience of mountain-travel. +"I begin my letter to-night, but only begin, +for we returned from Chamounix in time for dinner +just now, and are pretty considerably done up. We +went by a mountain pass not often crossed by ladies, +called the Col de Balme, where your imagination may +picture Kate and Georgy on mules <i>for ten hours at a +stretch</i>, riding up and down the most frightful precipices. +We returned by the pass of the Tête Noire, +which Talfourd knows, and which is of a different +character, but astonishingly fine too. Mont Blanc, and +the Valley of Chamounix, and the Mer de Glace, and +all the wonders of that most wonderful place, are above +and beyond one's wildest expectations. I cannot imagine +anything in nature more stupendous or sublime. +If I were to write about it now, I should quite rave—such +prodigious impressions are rampant within me. . . . +You may suppose that the mule-travelling is pretty +primitive. Each person takes a carpet-bag strapped on +the mule behind himself or herself: and that is all the +baggage that can be carried. A guide, a thorough-bred +mountaineer, walks all the way, leading the lady's +mule; I say the lady's par excellence, in compliment +to Kate; and all the rest struggle on as they please. +The cavalcade stops at a lone hut for an hour and a +half in the middle of the day, and lunches brilliantly +on whatever it can get. Going by that Col de Balme +pass, you climb up and up and up for five hours and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_254" id="Page_2_254">[254]</a></span> +more, and look—from a mere unguarded ledge of path +on the side of the precipice—into such awful valleys, +that at last you are firm in the belief that you have got +above everything in the world, and that there can be +nothing earthly overhead. Just as you arrive at this +conclusion, a different (and oh Heaven! what a free +and wonderful) air comes blowing on your face; you +cross a ridge of snow; and lying before you (wholly +unseen till then), towering up into the distant sky, is +the vast range of Mont Blanc, with attendant mountains +diminished by its majestic side into mere dwarfs +tapering up into innumerable rude Gothic pinnacles; +deserts of ice and snow; forests of firs on mountain +sides, of no account at all in the enormous scene; +villages down in the hollow, that you can shut out with +a finger; waterfalls, avalanches, pyramids and towers +of ice, torrents, bridges; mountain upon mountain +until the very sky is blocked away, and you must look +up, overhead, to see it. Good God, what a country +Switzerland is, and what a concentration of it is to be +beheld from that one spot! And (think of this in +Whitefriars and in Lincoln's-inn!) at noon on the +second day from here, the first day being but half a +one by the bye and full of uncommon beauty, you lie +down on that ridge and see it all! . . . I think I must +go back again (whether you come or not!) and see it +again before the bad weather arrives. We have had +sunlight, moonlight, a perfectly transparent atmosphere +with not a cloud, and the grand plateau on the +very summit of Mont Blanc so clear by day and night +that it was difficult to believe in intervening chasms +and precipices, and almost impossible to resist the idea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_255" id="Page_2_255">[255]</a></span> +that one might sally forth and climb up easily. I went +into all sorts of places; armed with a great pole with +a spike at the end of it, like a leaping-pole, and with +pointed irons buckled on to my shoes; and am all but +knocked up. I was very anxious to make the expedition +to what is called 'The Garden:' a green spot +covered with wild flowers, lying across the Mer de +Glace, and among the most awful mountains: but I +could find no Englishman at the hotels who was similarly +disposed, and the Brave <i>wouldn't go</i>. No sir! +He gave in point blank (having been horribly blown +in a climbing excursion the day before), and couldn't +stand it. He is too heavy for such work, unquestionably.<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> +In all other respects, I think he has exceeded +himself on this journey; and if you could have seen +him riding a very small mule, up a road exactly like +the broken stairs of Rochester-castle; with a brandy +bottle slung over his shoulder, a small pie in his hat, a +roast fowl looking out of his pocket, and a mountain +staff of six feet long carried cross-wise on the saddle +before him; you'd have said so. He was (next to me) +the admiration of Chamounix, but he utterly quenched +me on the road."</p> + +<p>On the road as they returned there had been a +small adventure, the day before this letter was written. +Dickens was jingling slowly up the Tête Noire pass (his +mule having thirty-seven bells on its head), riding at +the moment quite alone, when—"an Englishman came +bolting out of a little châlet in a most inaccessible and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_256" id="Page_2_256">[256]</a></span> +extraordinary place, and said with great glee 'There +has been an accident here sir!' I had been thinking +of anything else you please; and, having no reason +to suppose him an Englishman except his language, +which went for nothing in the confusion, stammered +out a reply in French and stared at him, in +a very damp shirt and trowsers, as he stared at me +in a similar costume. On his repeating the announcement, +I began to have a glimmering of common sense; +and so arrived at a knowledge of the fact that a German +lady had been thrown from her mule and had +broken her leg, at a short distance off, and had found +her way in great pain to that cottage, where the Englishman, +a Prussian, and a Frenchman, had presently +come up; and the Frenchman, by extraordinary good +fortune, was a surgeon! They were all from Chamounix, +and the three latter were walking in company. +It was quite charming to see how attentive they were. +The lady was from Lausanne; where she had come +from Frankfort to make excursions with her two boys, +who are at the college here, during the vacation. She +had no other attendants, and the boys were crying and +very frightened. The Englishman was in the full glee +of having just cut up one white dress, two chemises, and +three pocket handkerchiefs, for bandages; the Frenchman +had set the leg skilfully; the Prussian had scoured +a neighboring wood for some men to carry her forward; +and they were all at it, behind the hut, making a sort +of handbarrow on which to bear her. When it was +constructed, she was strapped upon it; had her poor +head covered over with a handkerchief, and was carried +away; and we all went on in company: Kate and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_257" id="Page_2_257">[257]</a></span> +Georgy consoling and tending the sufferer, who was +very cheerful, but had lost her husband only a year." +With the same delightful observation, and missing no +touch of kindly character that might give each actor +his place in the little scene, the sequel is described; +but it does not need to add more. It was hoped that +by means of relays of men at Martigny the poor lady +might have been carried on some twenty miles, in the +cooler evening, to the head of the lake, and so have +been got into the steamer; but she was too exhausted +to be borne beyond the inn, and there she had to +remain until joined by relatives from Frankfort.</p> + +<p>A few days' rest after his return were interposed, +before he began his second number; and until the latter +has been completed, and the Christmas story taken +in hand, I do not admit the reader to his full confidences +about his writing. But there were other subjects +that amused and engaged him up to that date, as +well when he was idle as when again he was at work, to +which expression so full of character is given in his +letters that they properly find mention here.</p> + +<p>Between the second and the ninth of August he went +down one evening to the lake, five minutes after sunset, +when the sky was covered with sullen black clouds +reflected in the deep water, and saw the Castle of +Chillon. He thought it the best deserving and least +exaggerated in repute, of all the places he had seen. +"The insupportable solitude and dreariness of the +white walls and towers, the sluggish moat and drawbridge, +and the lonely ramparts, I never saw the like +of. But there is a court-yard inside; surrounded by +prisons, oubliettes, and old chambers of torture; so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_258" id="Page_2_258">[258]</a></span> +terrifically sad, that death itself is not more sorrowful. +And oh! a wicked old Grand Duke's bedchamber +upstairs in the tower, with a secret staircase down into +the chapel, where the bats were wheeling about; and +Bonnivard's dungeon; and a horrible trap whence +prisoners were cast out into the lake; and a stake all +burnt and crackled up, that still stands in the torture-ante-chamber +to the saloon of justice (!)—what tremendous +places! Good God, the greatest mystery in +all the earth, to me, is how or why the world was +tolerated by its Creator through the good old times, +and wasn't dashed to fragments."</p> + +<p>On the ninth of August he wrote to me that there was +to be a prodigious fête that day in Lausanne, in honour +of the first anniversary of the proclamation of the New +Constitution:<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> "beginning at sunrise with the firing of +great guns, and twice two thousand rounds of rifles by +two thousand men; proceeding at eleven o'clock with +a great service, and some speechifying, in the church; +and ending to-night with a great ball in the public +promenade, and a general illumination of the town." +The authorities had invited him to a place of honour in +the ceremony; and though he did not go ("having +been up till three o'clock in the morning, and being +fast asleep at the appointed time"), the reply that sent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_259" id="Page_2_259">[259]</a></span> +his thanks expressed also his sympathy. He was the +readier with this from having discovered, in the "old" +or "gentlemanly" party of the place ("including of +course the sprinkling of English who are always tory, +hang 'em!"), so wonderfully sore a feeling about the +revolution thus celebrated, that to avoid its fête the +majority had gone off by steamer the day before, and +those who remained were prophesying assaults on the +unilluminated houses, and other excesses. Dickens had +no faith in such predictions. "The people are as perfectly +good tempered and quiet always, as people can +be. I don't know what the last Government may have +been, but they seem to me to do very well with this, +and to be rationally and cheaply provided for. If you +believed what the discontented assert, you wouldn't believe +in one solitary man or woman with a grain of +goodness or civility. I find nothing <i>but</i> civility; and +I walk about in all sorts of out-of-the-way places, where +they live rough lives enough, in solitary cottages." The +issue was told in two postscripts to his letter, and showed +him to be so far right. "P.S. 6 o'clock afternoon. +The fête going on, in great force. Not one of 'the old +party' to be seen. I went down with one to the ground +before dinner, and nothing would induce him to go +within the barrier with me. Yet what they call a revolution +was nothing but a change of government. Thirty-six +thousand people, in this small canton, petitioned +against the Jesuits—God knows with good reason. The +Government chose to call them 'a mob.' So, to prove +that they were not, they turned the Government out. +I honour them for it. They are a genuine people, these +Swiss. There is better metal in them than in all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_260" id="Page_2_260">[260]</a></span> +stars and stripes of all the fustian banners of the so-called, +and falsely called, U-nited States. They are a +thorn in the sides of European despots, and a good +wholesome people to live near Jesuit-ridden Kings on +the brighter side of the mountains." "P.P.S. August +10th. . . . The fête went off as quietly as I supposed +it would; and they danced all night."</p> + +<p>These views had forcible illustration in a subsequent +letter, where he describes a similar revolution that +occurred at Geneva before he left the country; and +nothing could better show his practical good sense in a +matter of this kind. The description will be given +shortly; and meanwhile I subjoin a comment made by +him, not less worthy of attention, upon my reply to his +account of the anti-Jesuit celebration at Lausanne. "I +don't know whether I have mentioned before, that in +the valley of the Simplon hard by here, where (at the +bridge of St. Maurice, over the Rhone) this Protestant +canton ends and a Catholic canton begins, you might +separate two perfectly distinct and different conditions +of humanity by drawing a line with your stick in the +dust on the ground. On the Protestant side, neatness; +cheerfulness; industry; education; continual aspiration, +at least, after better things. On the Catholic +side, dirt, disease, ignorance, squalor, and misery. I +have so constantly observed the like of this, since I +first came abroad, that I have a sad misgiving that the +religion of Ireland lies as deep at the root of all its +sorrows, even as English misgovernment and Tory villainy." +Almost the counterpart of this remark is to +be found in one of the later writings of Macaulay.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_261" id="Page_2_261">[261]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>SKETCHES CHIEFLY PERSONAL.</h3> + +<h3>1846.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Home Politics—Malthus Philosophy—Mark Lemon—An Incident +of Character—Hood's <i>Tylney Hall</i>—Duke of Wellington—Lord +Grey—A Recollection of his Reporting Days—Returns to <i>Dombey</i>—Two +English Travellers—Party among the Hills—Lord Vernon—A +Wonderful Carriage—Reading of First <i>Dombey</i>—A Sketch from +Life—Trip to Great St. Bernard—Ascent of the Mountain—The +Convent—Scene at the Mountain Top—Bodies found in the Snow—The +Holy Fathers—A Holy Brother and <i>Pickwick</i>.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Some</span> sketches from the life in his pleasantest vein +now claim to be taken from the same series of letters; +and I will prefix one or two less important notices, for +the most part personal also, that have characteristic +mention of his opinions in them.</p> + +<p>Home-politics he criticized in what he wrote on the +24th of August, much in the spirit of his last excellent +remark on the Protestant and Catholic cantons; having +no sympathy with the course taken by the whigs in +regard to Ireland after they had defeated Peel on his +coercion bill, and resumed the government. "I am +perfectly appalled by the hesitation and cowardice +of the whigs. To bring in that arms bill, bear the +brunt of the attack upon it, take out the obnoxious +clauses, still retain the bill, and finally withdraw it, +seems to me the meanest and most halting way of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_262" id="Page_2_262">[262]</a></span> +going to work that ever was taken. I cannot believe +in them. Lord John must be helpless among them. +They seem somehow or other never to know what +cards they hold in their hands, and to play them +out blindfold. The contrast with Peel (as he was +last) is, I agree with you, certainly not favourable. I +don't believe now they ever would have carried the +repeal of the corn law, if they could." Referring in +the same letter<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> to the reluctance of public men of all +parties to give the needful help to schemes of emigration, +he ascribed it to a secret belief "in the gentle +politico-economical principle that a surplus population +must and ought to starve;" in which for himself he +never could see anything but disaster for all who trusted +to it. "I am convinced that its philosophers would +sink any government, any cause, any doctrine, even the +most righteous. There is a sense and humanity in the +mass, in the long run, that will not bear them; and they +will wreck their friends always, as they wrecked them in +the working of the Poor-law-bill. Not all the figures +that Babbage's calculating machine could turn up in +twenty generations, would stand in the long run against +the general heart."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_263" id="Page_2_263">[263]</a></span></p> +<p>Of other topics in his letters, one or two have the +additional attractiveness derivable from touches of +personal interest when these may with propriety be +printed. Hardly within the class might have fallen a +mention of Mark Lemon, of whom our recent play, +and his dramatic adaptation of the <i>Chimes</i>, had given +him pleasant experiences, if I felt less strongly not only +that its publication would have been gladly sanctioned +by the subject of it, but that it will not now displease +another to whom also it refers, herself the member of a +family in various ways distinguished on the stage, and +to whom, since her husband's death, well-merited sympathy +and respect have been paid. "After turning +Mrs. Lemon's portrait over, in my mind, I am convinced +that there is not a grain of bad taste in the +matter, and that there is a manly composure and courage +in the proceeding deserving of the utmost respect. +If Lemon were one of your braggart honest men, he +would set a taint of bad taste upon that action as upon +everything else he might say or do; but being what he +is, I admire him for it greatly, and hold it to be a +proof of an exalted nature and a true heart. Your +idea of him, is mine. I am sure he is an excellent fellow. +We talk about not liking such and such a man because +he doesn't look one in the face,—but how much +we should esteem a man who looks the world in the +face, composedly, and neither shirks it nor bullies it. +Between ourselves, I say with shame and self-reproach +that I am quite sure if Kate had been a Columbine her +portrait would not be hanging, 'in character,' in +Devonshire-terrace."</p> + +<p>He speaks thus of a novel by Hood. "I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_264" id="Page_2_264">[264]</a></span> +been reading poor Hood's <i>Tylney Hall;</i> the most extraordinary +jumble of impossible extravagance, and +especial cleverness, I ever saw. The man drawn to the +life from the pirate-bookseller, is wonderfully good; +and his recommendation to a reduced gentleman from +the university, to rise from nothing as he, the pirate, +did, and go round to the churches and see whether +there's an opening, and begin by being a beadle, is +one of the finest things I ever read, in its way." The +same letter has a gentle little trait of the great duke, +touching in its simplicity, and worth preserving. "I +had a letter from Tagart the day before yesterday, with +a curious little anecdote of the Duke of Wellington in +it. They have had a small cottage at Walmer; and +one day—the other day only—the old man met their +little daughter Lucy, a child about Mamey's age, near +the garden; and having kissed her, and asked her +what was her name, and who and what her parents +were, tied a small silver medal round her neck with a +bit of pink ribbon, and asked the child to keep it in +remembrance of him. There is something good, and +aged, and odd in it. Is there not?"</p> + +<p>Another of his personal references was to Lord Grey, +to whose style of speaking and general character of +mind he had always a strongly-expressed dislike, drawn +not impartially or quite justly from the days of reaction +that followed the reform debates, when the whig +leader's least attractive traits were presented to the +young reporter. "He is a very intelligent agreeable +fellow, the said Watson by the bye" (he is speaking +of the member of the Lausanne circle with whom he +established friendliest after-intercourse); "he sat for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_265" id="Page_2_265">[265]</a></span> +Northamptonshire in the reform bill time, and is high +sheriff of his county and all the rest of it; but has +not the least nonsense about him, and is a thorough +good liberal. He has a charming wife, who draws +well, and is making a sketch of Rosemont for us that +shall be yours in Paris." (It is already, by permission +of its present possessor, the reader's, and all the world's +who may take interest in the little doll's house of +Lausanne which lodged so illustrious a tenant.) "He +was giving me some good recollections of Lord Grey +the other evening when we were playing at battledore +(old Lord Grey I mean), and of the constitutional +impossibility he and Lord Lansdowne and the rest +laboured under, of ever personally attaching a single +young man, in all the excitement of that exciting time, +to the leaders of the party. It was quite a delight to +me, as I listened, to recall my own dislike of his style +of speaking, his fishy coldness, his uncongenial and +unsympathetic politeness, and his insufferable though +most gentlemanly artificiality. The shape of his head +(I see it now) was misery to me, and weighed down +my youth. . . ."</p> + +<p>It was now the opening of the second week in +August; and before he finally addressed himself to the +second number of <i>Dombey</i>, he had again turned a +lingering look in the direction of his Christmas book. +"It would be such a great relief to me to get that +small story out of the way." Wisely, however, again +he refrained, and went on with <i>Dombey;</i> at which he +had been working for a little time when he described +to me (24th of August) a visit from two English travellers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_266" id="Page_2_266">[266]</a></span> +of one of whom with the slightest possible touch +he gives a speaking likeness.<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a></p> + +<p>"Not having your letter as usual, I sat down to +write to you on speculation yesterday, but lapsed in +my uncertainty into <i>Dombey</i>, and worked at it all day. +It was, as it has been since last Tuesday morning, +incessantly raining regular mountain rain. After dinner, +at a little after seven o'clock, I was walking up and +down under the little colonnade in the garden, racking +my brain about <i>Dombeys</i> and <i>Battles of Lives</i>, when +two travel-stained-looking men approached, of whom +one, in a very limp and melancholy straw hat, ducked, +perpetually to me as he came up the walk. I couldn't +make them out at all; and it wasn't till I got close up +to them that I recognised A. and (in the straw hat) N. +They had come from Geneva by the steamer, and taken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_267" id="Page_2_267">[267]</a></span> +a scrambling dinner on board. I gave them some fine +Rhine wine, and cigars innumerable. A. enjoyed himself +and was quite at home. N. (an odd companion +for a man of genius) was snobbish, but pleased and +good-natured. A. had a five pound note in his pocket +which he had worn down, by careless carrying about, +to some two-thirds of its original size, and which was +so ragged in its remains that when he took it out bits +of it flew about the table. 'Oh Lor you know—now +really—like Goldsmith you know—or any of those +great men!' said N. with the very 'snatches in his +voice and burst of speaking' that reminded Leigh Hunt +of Cloten. . . . The clouds were lying, as they do in +such weather here, on the earth, and our friends saw +no more of Lake Leman than of Battersea. Nor had +they, it might appear, seen more of the Mer de Glace, +on their way here; their talk about it bearing much +resemblance to that of the man who had been to +Niagara and said it was nothing but water."</p> + +<p>His next letter described a day's party of the Cerjats, +Watsons, and Haldimands, among the neighbouring +hills, which, contrary to his custom while at work, he +had been unable to resist the temptation of joining. +They went to a mountain-lake twelve miles off, had +dinner at the public-house on the lake, and returned +home by Vevay at which they rested for tea; and where +pleasant talk with Mr. Cerjat led to anecdotes of an +excellent friend of ours, formerly resident at Lausanne, +with which the letter closed. Our friend was a distinguished +writer, and a man of many sterling fine +qualities, but with a habit of occasional free indulgence +in coarseness of speech, which, though his earlier life<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_268" id="Page_2_268">[268]</a></span> +had made it as easy to acquire as difficult to drop, did +always less than justice to a very manly, honest, and +really gentle nature. He had as much genuinely admirable +stuff in him as any favourite hero of Smollett +or Fielding, and I never knew anyone who reminded +me of those characters so much. "It would seem, Mr. +Cerjat tells me, that he was, when here, infinitely worse +in his general style of conversation, than now—sermuchser, +as Toodles says, that Cerjat describes himself +as having always been in unspeakable agony when he +was at his table, lest he should forget himself (or remember +himself, as I suggested) and break out before +the ladies. There happened to be living here at that +time a stately English baronet and his wife, who had +two milksop sons, concerning whom they cherished the +idea of accomplishing their education into manhood +coexistently with such perfect purity and innocence, +that they were hardly to know their own sex. Accordingly, +they were sent to no school or college, but had +masters of all sorts at home, and thus reached eighteen +years or so, in what Falstaff calls a kind of male green-sickness. +At this crisis of their innocent existence, +our ogre friend encountered these lambs at dinner, +with their father, at Cerjat's house; and, as if possessed +by a devil, launched out into such frightful and appalling +impropriety—ranging over every kind of forbidden +topic and every species of forbidden word and every +sort of scandalous anecdote—that years of education in +Newgate would have been as nothing compared with +their experience of that one afternoon. After turning +paler and paler, and more and more stoney, the baronet, +with a half-suppressed cry, rose and fled. But the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_269" id="Page_2_269">[269]</a></span> +sons—intent on the ogre—remained behind instead of +following him; and are supposed to have been ruined +from that hour. Isn't that a good story? I can <span class="smcap">see</span> +our friend and his pupils now. . . . Poor fellow! He +seems to have a hard time of it with his wife. She +had no interest whatever in her children; and was +such a fury, that, being dressed to go out to dinner, +she would sometimes, on no other provocation than a +pin out of its place or some such thing, fall upon a +little maid she had, beat her till she couldn't stand, +then tumble into hysterics, and be carried to bed. He +suffered martyrdom with her; and seems to have been +himself, in all good-natured easy-going ways, just what +we know him now."</p> + +<p>There were at this time some fresh arrivals of travelling +English at Lausanne, outside their own little +circle, and among them another baronet and his +family made amusing appearance. "We have another +English family here, one Sir Joseph and his lady, and +ten children. Sir Joseph, a large baronet something +in the Graham style, with a little, loquacious, flat-faced, +damaged-featured, <i>old young</i> wife. They are +fond of society, and couldn't well have less. They +delight in a view, and live in a close street at Ouchy, +down among the drunken boatmen and the drays and +omnibuses, where nothing whatever is to be seen but the +locked wheels of carts scraping down the uneven, +steep, stone pavement. The baronet plays double-dummy +all day long, with an unhappy Swiss whom he +has entrapped for that purpose; the baronet's lady +pays visits; and the baronet's daughters play a Lausanne +piano, which must be heard to be appreciated. . . ."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_270" id="Page_2_270">[270]</a></span></p> + +<p>Another sketch in the same letter touches little more +than the eccentricities (but all in good taste and good +humour) of the subject of it, who is still gratefully remembered +by English residents in Italy for his scholarly +munificence, and for very valuable service conferred +by it on Italian literature. "Another curious man is +backwards and forwards here—a Lord Vernon,<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> who is +well-informed, a great Italian scholar deep in Dante, +and a very good-humoured gentleman, but who has +fallen into the strange infatuation of attending every +rifle-match that takes place in Switzerland, accompanied +by two men who load rifles for him, one after another, +which he has been frequently known to fire off, two a +minute, for fourteen hours at a stretch, without once +changing his position or leaving the ground. He wins +all kinds of prizes; gold watches, flags, teaspoons, tea-boards, +and so forth; and is constantly travelling about +with them, from place to place, in an extraordinary +carriage, where you touch a spring and a chair flies out, +touch another spring and a bed appears, touch another +spring and a closet of pickles opens, touch another +spring and disclose a pantry. While Lady Vernon +(said to be handsome and accomplished) is continually +cutting across this or that Alpine pass in the night, to +meet him on the road, for a minute or two, on one of +his excursions; these being the only times at which she +can catch him. The last time he saw her, was five or +six months ago, when they met and supped together on +the St. Gothard! It is a monomania with him, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_271" id="Page_2_271">[271]</a></span> +course. He is a man of some note; seconded one of +Lord Melbourne's addresses; and had forty thousand a +year, now reduced to ten, but nursing and improving +every day. He was with us last Monday, and comes +back from some out-of-the-way place to join another +small picnic next Friday. As I have said, he is the +very soul of good nature and cheerfulness, but one can't +help being melancholy to see a man wasting his life in +such a singular delusion. Isn't it odd? He knows my +books very well, and seems interested in everything +concerning them; being indeed accomplished in books +generally, and attached to many elegant tastes."</p> + +<p>But the most agreeable addition to their own special +circle was referred to in his first September letter, just +when he was coming to the close of his second number +of <i>Dombey</i>. "There are two nice girls here, the Ladies +Taylor, daughters of Lord Headfort. Their mother +was daughter (I think) of Sir John Stevenson, and +Moore dedicated one part of the Irish Melodies to her. +They inherit the musical taste, and sing very well. A +proposal is on foot for our all bundling off on Tuesday +(16 strong) to the top of the Great St. Bernard. But +the weather seems to have broken, and the autumn +rains to have set in; which I devoutly hope will break +up the party. It would be a most serious hindrance to +me, just now; but I have rashly promised. Do you +know young Romilly? He is coming over from Geneva +when 'the reading' comes off, and is a fine fellow I am +told. There is not a bad little theatre here; and by +way of an artificial crowd, I should certainly have got +it open with an amateur company, if we were not so +few that the only thing we want is the audience." . . .<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_272" id="Page_2_272">[272]</a></span> +The "reading" named by him was that of his first +number, which was to "come off" as soon as I could +get the proofs out to him; but which the changes +needful to be made, and to be mentioned hereafter, +still delayed. The St. Bernard holiday, which within +sight of his Christmas-book labour he would fain have +thrown over, came off as proposed very fortunately for +the reader, who might otherwise have lost one of his +pleasantest descriptions. But before giving it, one more +little sketch of character may be interposed as delicately +done as anything in his writings. Steele's observation +is in the outline, and Charles Lamb's humour in its +touch of colouring.</p> + +<p>" . . . There are two old ladies (English) living +here who may serve me for a few lines of gossip—as I +have intended they should, over and over again, but +I have always forgotten it. There were originally four +old ladies, sisters, but two of them have faded away +in the course of eighteen years, and withered by the +side of John Kemble in the cemetery. They are very +little, and very skinny; and each of them wears a row +of false curls, like little rolling-pins, so low upon her +brow, that there is no forehead; nothing above the +eyebrows but a deep horizontal wrinkle, and then the +curls. They live upon some small annuity. For thirteen +years they have wanted very much to move to +Italy, as the eldest old lady says the climate of this +part of Switzerland doesn't agree with her, and preys +upon her spirits; but they have never been able to go, +because of the difficulty of moving 'the books.' This +tremendous library belonged once upon a time to the +father of these old ladies, and comprises about fifty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_273" id="Page_2_273">[273]</a></span> +volumes. I have never been able to see what they +are, because one of the old ladies always sits before +them; but they look, outside, like very old backgammon-boards. +The two deceased sisters died in the +firm persuasion that this precious property could never +be got over the Simplon without some gigantic effort +to which the united family was unequal. The two +remaining sisters live, and will die also, in the same +belief. I met the eldest (evidently drooping) yesterday, +and recommended her to try Genoa. She looked +shrewdly at the snow that closes up the mountain prospect +just now, and said that when the spring was quite +set in, and the avalanches were down, and the passes +well open, she would certainly try that place, if they +could devise any plan, in the course of the winter, for +moving 'the books.' The whole library will be sold +by auction here, when they are both dead, for about +a napoleon; and some young woman will carry it home +in two journeys with a basket."</p> + +<p>The last letter sent me before he fell upon his self-appointed +task for Christmas, contained a delightful +account of the trip to the Great St. Bernard. It was +dated on the sixth of September.</p> + +<p>"The weather obstinately clearing, we started off +last Tuesday for the Great St. Bernard, returning here +on Friday afternoon. The party consisted of eleven +people and two servants—Haldimand, Mr. and Mrs. +Cerjat and one daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Watson, two +Ladies Taylor, Kate, Georgy, and I. We were wonderfully +unanimous and cheerful; went away from here by +the steamer; found at its destination a whole omnibus +provided by the Brave (who went on in advance everywhere);<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_274" id="Page_2_274">[274]</a></span> +rode therein to Bex; found two large carriages +ready to take us to Martigny; slept there; and proceeded +up the mountain on mules next day. Although +the St. Bernard convent is, as I dare say you know, +the highest inhabited spot but one in the world, the +ascent is extremely gradual and uncommonly easy: +really presenting no difficulties at all, until within the +last league, when the ascent, lying through a place +called the valley of desolation, is very awful and tremendous, +and the road is rendered toilsome by scattered +rocks and melting snow. The convent is a most +extraordinary place, full of great vaulted passages, +divided from each other with iron gratings; and presenting +a series of the most astonishing little dormitories, +where the windows are so small (on account of +the cold and snow), that it is as much as one can do +to get one's head out of them. Here we slept: supping, +thirty strong, in a rambling room with a great +wood-fire in it set apart for that purpose; with a grim +monk, in a high black sugar-loaf hat with a great knob +at the top of it, carving the dishes. At five o'clock +in the morning the chapel bell rang in the dismallest +way for matins: and I, lying in bed close to the +chapel, and being awakened by the solemn organ and +the chaunting, thought for a moment I had died in the +night and passed into the unknown world.</p> + +<p>"I wish to God you could see that place. A great +hollow on the top of a range of dreadful mountains, +fenced in by riven rocks of every shape and colour: +and in the midst, a black lake, with phantom clouds +perpetually stalking over it. Peaks, and points, and +plains of eternal ice and snow, bounding the view, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_275" id="Page_2_275">[275]</a></span> +shutting out the world on every side: the lake reflecting +nothing: and no human figure in the scene. The +air so fine, that it is difficult to breathe without feeling +out of breath; and the cold so exquisitely thin and +sharp that it is not to be described. Nothing of life or +living interest in the picture, but the grey dull walls +of the convent. No vegetation of any sort or kind. +Nothing growing, nothing stirring. Everything iron-bound, +and frozen up. Beside the convent, in a little +outhouse with a grated iron door which you may unbolt +for yourself, are the bodies of people found in the +snow who have never been claimed and are withering +away—not laid down, or stretched out, but standing +up, in corners and against walls; some erect and horribly +human, with distinct expressions on the faces; +some sunk down on their knees; some dropping over on +one side; some tumbled down altogether, and presenting +a heap of skulls and fibrous dust. There is no +other decay in that atmosphere; and there they remain +during the short days and the long nights, the only +human company out of doors, withering away by grains, +and holding ghastly possession of the mountain where +they died.</p> + +<p>"It is the most distinct and individual place I have +seen, even in this transcendent country. But, for the +Saint Bernard holy fathers and convent in themselves, +I am sorry to say that they are a piece of as sheer humbug +as we ever learnt to believe in, in our young days. +Trashy French sentiment and the dogs (of which, by +the bye, there are only three remaining) have done it +all. They are a lazy set of fellows; not over fond of +going out themselves; employing servants to clear the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_276" id="Page_2_276">[276]</a></span> +road (which has not been important or much used as a +pass these hundred years); rich; and driving a good +trade in Innkeeping: the convent being a common +tavern in everything but the sign. No charge is made +for their hospitality, to be sure; but you are shown to +a box in the chapel, where everybody puts in more +than could, with any show of face, be charged for the +entertainment; and from this the establishment derives +a right good income. As to the self-sacrifice of +living up there, they are obliged to go there young, it +is true, to be inured to the climate: but it is an infinitely +more exciting and various life than any other +convent can offer; with constant change and company +through the whole summer; with a hospital for invalids +down in the valley, which affords another change; and +with an annual begging-journey to Geneva and this +place and all the places round for one brother or +other, which affords farther change. The brother who +carved at our supper could speak some English, and +had just had <i>Pickwick</i> given him!—what a humbug he +will think me when he tries to understand it! If I +had had any other book of mine with me, I would have +given it him, that I might have had some chance of +being intelligible. . . ."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_277" id="Page_2_277">[277]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>LITERARY LABOUR AT LAUSANNE.</h3> + +<h3>1846.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">A Picture completed—Self-judgments—Christmas Fancies—Second +Number of <i>Dombey</i>—A Personal Revelation—First Thought of +Public Readings—Two Tales in Hand—Christmas Book given up—Goes +to Geneva—Disquietudes of Authorship—Shadows from +<i>Dombey</i>—A New Social Experience—Eccentricities—Feminine +Smoking Party—Visit of the Talfourds—Christmas Book resumed—Lodging +his Friends.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Something</span> of the other side of the medal has now +to be presented. His letters enable us to see him +amid his troubles and difficulties of writing, as faithfully +as in his leisure and enjoyments; and when, to +the picture thus given of Dickens's home life in Switzerland, +some account has been added of the vicissitudes +of literary labour undergone in the interval, as complete +a representation of the man will be afforded as +could be taken from any period of his career. Of the +larger life whereof it is part, the Lausanne life is indeed +a perfect microcosm, wanting only the London +streets. This was his chief present want, as will shortly +be perceived: but as yet the reader does not feel it, +and he sees otherwise in all respects at his best the +great observer and humourist; interested in everything +that commended itself to a thoroughly earnest and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_278" id="Page_2_278">[278]</a></span> +eagerly enquiring nature; popular beyond measure +with all having intercourse with him; the centre, and +very soul, of social enjoyment; letting nothing escape +a vision that was not more keen than kindly; and even +when apparently most idle, never idle in the sense of +his art, but adding day by day to experiences that +widened its range, and gave freer and healthier play to +an imagination always busily at work, alert and active +in a singular degree, and that seemed to be quite untiring. +At his heart there was a genuine love of nature +at all times; and strange as it may seem to connect +this with such forms of humorous delineation as are +most identified with his genius, it is yet the literal +truth that the impressions of this noble Swiss scenery +were with him during the work of many subsequent +years: a present and actual, though it might be seldom +a directly conscious, influence. When he said afterwards, +that, while writing the book on which he is now +engaged, he had not seen less clearly each step of the +wooden midshipman's staircase, each pew of the church +in which Florence was married, or each bed in the dormitory +of Doctor Blimber's establishment, because he +was himself at the time by the lake of Geneva, he +might as truly have said that he saw them all the more +clearly even because of that circumstance. He worked +his humour to its greatest results by the freedom and +force of his imagination; and while the smallest or +commonest objects around him were food for the one, +the other might have pined or perished without additional +higher aliment. Dickens had little love for +Wordsworth, but he was himself an example of the +truth the great poet never tired of enforcing, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_279" id="Page_2_279">[279]</a></span> +Nature has subtle helps for all who are admitted to +become free of her wonders and mysteries.</p> + +<p>Another noticeable thing in him is impressed upon +these letters, as upon many also heretofore quoted, for +indeed all of them are marvellously exact in the reproduction +of his nature. He did not think lightly of his +work; and the work that occupied him at the time was +for the time paramount with him. But the sense he +entertained, whether right or wrong, of the importance +of what he had to do, of the degree to which it concerned +others that the power he held should be exercised +successfully, and of the estimate he was justified in forming +as the fair measure of its worth or greatness, does +not carry with it of necessity presumption or self-conceit. +Few men have had less of either. It was part +of the intense individuality by which he effected so +much, to set the high value which in general he did +upon what he was striving to accomplish; he could not +otherwise have mastered one half the work he designed; +and we are able to form an opinion, more just now for +ourselves than it might have seemed to us then from +others, of the weight and truth of such self-judgment. +The fussy pretension of small men in great places, and +the resolute self-assertion of great men in small places, +are things essentially different. <i>Respice finem</i>. The +exact relative importance of all our pursuits is to be +arrived at by nicer adjustments of the Now and the +Hereafter than are possible to contemporary judgments; +and there have been some indications since his death +confirmatory of the belief, that the estimate which he +thought himself entitled to form of the labours to which +his life was devoted, will be strengthened, not lessened, +by time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_280" id="Page_2_280">[280]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dickens proposed to himself, it will be remembered, +to write at Lausanne not only the first four numbers of +his larger book, but the Christmas book suggested to +him by his fancy of a battle field; and reserving what +is to be said of <i>Dombey</i> to a later chapter, this and its +successor will deal only with what he finished as well +as began in Switzerland, and will show at what cost +even so much was achieved amid his other and larger +engagements.</p> + +<p>He had restless fancies and misgivings before he +settled to his first notion. "I have been thinking +this last day or two," he wrote on the 25th of July, +"that good Christmas characters might be grown out +of the idea of a man imprisoned for ten or fifteen +years; his imprisonment being the gap between the +people and circumstances of the first part and the +altered people and circumstances of the second, and +his own changed mind. Though I shall probably proceed +with the Battle idea, I should like to know what +you think of this one?" It was afterwards used in a +modified shape for the <i>Tale of Two Cities</i>. "I shall +begin the little story straightway," he wrote a few +weeks later; "but I have been dimly conceiving a +very ghostly and wild idea, which I suppose I must now +reserve for the <i>next</i> Christmas book. <i>Nous verrons.</i> +It will mature in the streets of Paris by night, as well +as in London." This took ultimately the form of the +<i>Haunted Man</i>, which was not written until the winter +of 1848. At last I knew that his first slip was done, +and that even his eager busy fancy would not turn him +back again.</p> + +<p>But other unsatisfied wants and cravings had meanwhile<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_281" id="Page_2_281">[281]</a></span> +broken out in him, of which I heard near the +close of the second number of <i>Dombey</i>. The first he +had finished at the end of July; and the second, which +he began on the 8th of August, he was still at work +upon in the first week of September, when this remarkable +announcement came to me. It was his first detailed +confession of what he felt so continuously, and +if that were possible even more strongly, as the years +went on, that there is no single passage in any of his +letters which throws such a flood of illuminative light +into the portions of his life which always awaken the +greatest interest. Very much that is to follow must be +read by it. "You can hardly imagine," he wrote on +the 30th of August, "what infinite pains I take, or +what extraordinary difficulty I find in getting on <span class="smcap">fast</span>. +Invention, thank God, seems the easiest thing in the +world; and I seem to have such a preposterous sense +of the ridiculous, after this long rest" (it was now +over two years since the close of <i>Chuzzlewit</i>), "as to +be constantly requiring to restrain myself from launching +into extravagances in the height of my enjoyment. +But the difficulty of going at what I call a rapid pace, +is prodigious; it is almost an impossibility. I suppose +this is partly the effect of two years' ease, and partly +of the absence of streets and numbers of figures. I can't +express how much I want these. It seems as if they +supplied something to my brain, which it cannot bear, +when busy, to lose. For a week or a fortnight I can +write prodigiously in a retired place (as at Broadstairs), +and a day in London sets me up again and starts me. +But the toil and labour of writing, day after day, without +that magic lantern, is <span class="smcap">immense</span>!! I don't say this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_282" id="Page_2_282">[282]</a></span> +at all in low spirits, for we are perfectly comfortable +here, and I like the place very much indeed, and the +people are even more friendly and fond of me than +they were in Genoa. I only mention it as a curious +fact, which I have never had an opportunity of finding +out before. <i>My</i> figures seem disposed to stagnate without +crowds about them. I wrote very little in Genoa +(only the <i>Chimes</i>), and fancied myself conscious of +some such influence there—but Lord! I had two miles +of streets at least, lighted at night, to walk about in; +and a great theatre to repair to, every night." At the +close of the letter he told me that he had pretty well +matured the general idea of the Christmas book, and +was burning to get to work on it. He thought it would +be all the better, for a change, to have no fairies or +spirits in it, but to make it a simple domestic tale.<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p> + +<p>In less than a week from this date his second number +was finished, his first slip of the little book done, and +his confidence greater. They had had wonderful +weather,<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> so clear that he could see from the Neuchâtel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_283" id="Page_2_283">[283]</a></span> +road the whole of Mont Blanc, six miles distant, as +plainly as if he were standing close under it in the +courtyard of the little inn at Chamounix; and, though +again it was raining when he wrote, his "nailed shoes" +were by him and his "great waterproof cloak" in +preparation for a "fourteen-mile walk" before dinner. +Then, after three days more, came something of a +sequel to the confession before made, which will be +read with equal interest. "The absence of any accessible +streets continues to worry me, now that I have so +much to do, in a most singular manner. It is quite a +little mental phenomenon. I should not walk in them +in the day time, if they were here, I dare say: but at +night I want them beyond description. I don't seem +able to get rid of my spectres unless I can lose them in +crowds. However, as you say, there are streets in +Paris, and good suggestive streets too: and trips to +London will be nothing then. <span class="smcap">When</span> I have finished +the Christmas book, I shall fly to Geneva for a day or +two, before taking up with <i>Dombey</i> again. I like this +place better and better; and never saw, I think, more +agreeable people than our little circle is made up of. +It is so little, that one is not 'bothered' in the least; +and their interest in the inimitable seems to strengthen +daily. I read them the first number last night 'was a' +week, with unrelateable success; and old Mrs. Marcet,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_284" id="Page_2_284">[284]</a></span> +who is devilish 'cute, guessed directly (but I didn't tell +her she was right) that little Paul would die. They +were all so apprehensive that it was a great pleasure to +read it; and I shall leave here, if all goes well, in a +brilliant shower of sparks struck out of them by the +promised reading of the Christmas book." Little did +either of us then imagine to what these readings were +to lead, but even thus early they were taking in his +mind the shape of a sort of jest that the smallest opportunity +of favour might have turned into earnest. +In his very next letter he wrote to me: "I was thinking +the other day that in these days of lecturings and +readings, a great deal of money might possibly be +made (if it were not infra dig) by one's having Readings +of one's own books. It would be an <i>odd</i> thing. +I think it would take immensely. What do you say? +Will you step to Dean-street, and see how Miss Kelly's +engagement-book (it must be an immense volume!) +stands? Or shall I take the St. James's?" My answer +is to be inferred from his rejoinder: but even at this +time, while heightening and carrying forward his jest, +I suspected him of graver desires than he cared to +avow; and the time was to come, after a dozen years, +when with earnestness equal to his own I continued to +oppose, for reasons to be stated in their place, that +which he had set his heart upon too strongly to abandon, +and which I still can only wish he had preferred +to surrender with all that seemed to be its enormous +gains! "I don't think you have exercised your usual +judgment in taking Covent-garden for me. I doubt it +is too large for my purpose. However, I shall stand +by whatever you propose to the proprietors."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_285" id="Page_2_285">[285]</a></span></p> +<p>Soon came the changes of trouble and vexation I had +too surely seen. "You remember," he wrote, "your +objection about the two stories. I made over light of +it. I ought to have considered that I have never +before really tried the opening of two together—having +always had one pretty far ahead when I have been +driving a pair of them. I know it all now. The +apparent impossibility of getting each into its place, +coupled with that craving for streets, so thoroughly put +me off the track, that, up to Wednesday or Thursday +last, I really contemplated, at times, the total abandonment +of the Christmas book this year, and the limitation +of my labours to <i>Dombey and Son!</i> I cancelled +the beginning of a first scene—which I have never +done before—and, with a notion in my head, ran +wildly about and about it, and could not get the idea +into any natural socket. At length, thank Heaven, I +nailed it all at once; and after going on comfortably +up to yesterday, and working yesterday from half-past +nine to six, I was last night in such a state of enthusiasm +about it that I think I was an inch or two taller. +I am a little cooler to-day, with a headache to boot; +but I really begin to hope you will think it a pretty +story, with some delicate notions in it agreeably presented, +and with a good human Christmas groundwork. +I fancy I see a great domestic effect in the last +part."</p> + +<p>That was written on the 20th of September; but +six days later changed the picture and surprised me +not a little. I might grudge the space thus given to +one of the least important of his books but that the +illustration goes farther than the little tale it refers to,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_286" id="Page_2_286">[286]</a></span> +and is a picture of him in his moods of writing, with +their weakness as well as strength upon him, of a perfect +truth and applicability to every period of his life. +Movement and change while he was working were not +mere restlessness, as we have seen; it was no impatience +of labour, or desire of pleasure, that led at such +times to his eager craving for the fresh crowds and +faces in which he might lose or find the creatures +of his fancy; and recollecting this, much hereafter +will be understood that might else be very far +from clear, in regard to the sensitive conditions under +which otherwise he carried on these exertions of his +brain. "I am going to write you" (26th of September) +"a most startling piece of intelligence. I fear +there may be <span class="smcap">no Christmas Book</span>! I would give the +world to be on the spot to tell you this. Indeed I +once thought of starting for London to-night. I have +written nearly a third of it. It promises to be pretty; +quite a new idea in the story, I hope; but to manage +it without the supernatural agency now impossible of +introduction, and yet to move it naturally within the +required space, or with any shorter limit than a <i>Vicar +of Wakefield</i>, I find to be a difficulty so perplexing—the +past <i>Dombey</i> work taken into account—that I am +fearful of wearing myself out if I go on, and not being +able to come back to the greater undertaking with the +necessary freshness and spirit. If I had nothing but +the Christmas book to do, I <span class="smcap">would</span> do it; but I get +horrified and distressed beyond conception at the prospect +of being jaded when I come back to the other, +and making it a mere race against time. I have written +the first part; I know the end and upshot of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_287" id="Page_2_287">[287]</a></span> +second; and the whole of the third (there are only +three in all). I know the purport of each character, +and the plain idea that each is to work out; and I have +the principal effects sketched on paper. It cannot end +<i>quite</i> happily, but will end cheerfully and pleasantly. +But my soul sinks before the commencement of the +second part—the longest—and the introduction of the +under-idea. (The main one already developed, with +interest.) I don't know how it is. I suppose it is the +having been almost constantly at work in this quiet +place; and the dread for the <i>Dombey;</i> and the not +being able to get rid of it, in noise and bustle. The +beginning two books together is also, no doubt, a fruitful +source of the difficulty; for I am now sure I could +not have invented the <i>Carol</i> at the commencement of +the <i>Chuzzlewit</i>, or gone to a new book from the <i>Chimes</i>. +But this is certain. I am sick, giddy, and capriciously +despondent. I have bad nights; am full of disquietude +and anxiety; and am constantly haunted by the idea +that I am wasting the marrow of the larger book, and +ought to be at rest. One letter that I wrote you before +this, I have torn up. In that the Christmas book was +wholly given up for this year: but I now resolve to +make one effort more. I will go to Geneva to-morrow, +and try on Monday and Tuesday whether I can get on +at all bravely, in the changed scene. If I cannot, I am +convinced that I had best hold my hand at once; and +not fritter my spirits and hope away, with that long +book before me. You may suppose that the matter is +very grave when I can so nearly abandon anything in +which I am deeply interested, and fourteen or fifteen +close MS. pages of which, that have made me laugh and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_288" id="Page_2_288">[288]</a></span> +cry, are lying in my desk. Writing this letter at all, I +have a great misgiving that the letter I shall write you +on Tuesday night will not make it better. Take it, for +Heaven's sake, as an extremely serious thing, and not +a fancy of the moment. Last Saturday after a very +long day's work, and last Wednesday after finishing +the first part, I was full of eagerness and pleasure. At +all other times since I began, I have been brooding +and brooding over the idea that it was a wild thing to +dream of, ever: and that I ought to be at rest for the +<i>Dombey</i>."</p> + +<p>The letter came, written on Wednesday not Tuesday +night, and it left the question still unsettled. "When +I came here" (Geneva, 30th of September) "I had a +bloodshot eye; and my head was so bad, with a pain +across the brow, that I thought I must have got cupped. +I have become a great deal better, however, and feel +quite myself again to-day. . . . I still have not made +up my mind as to what I <span class="smcap">can</span> do with the Christmas +book. I would give any money that it were possible +to consult with you. I have begun the second part this +morning, and have done a very fair morning's work at +it, but I do not feel it <i>in hand</i> within the necessary space +and divisions: and I have a great uneasiness in the +prospect of falling behind hand with the other labour, +which is so transcendantly important. I feel quite sure +that unless I (being in reasonably good state and spirits) +like the Christmas book myself, I had better not go on +with it; but had best keep my strength for <i>Dombey</i>, +and keep my number in advance. On the other hand +I am dreadfully averse to abandoning it, and am so torn +between the two things that I know not what to do. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_289" id="Page_2_289">[289]</a></span> +is impossible to express the wish I have that I could +take counsel with you. Having begun the second part +I will go on here, to-morrow and Friday (Saturday, the +Talfourds come to us at Lausanne, leaving on Monday +morning), unless I see new reason to give it up in the +meanwhile. Let it stand thus—that my next Monday's +letter shall finally decide the question. But if you have +not already told Bradbury and Evans of my last letter +I think it will now be best to do so. . . . This non-publication +of a Christmas book, if it must be, I try to +think light of with the greater story just begun, and +with this <i>Battle of Life</i> story (of which I really think +the leading idea is very pretty) lying by me, for future +use. But I would like you to consider, in the event of +my not going on, how best, by timely announcement, +in November's or December's <i>Dombey</i>, I may seem to +hold the ground prospectively. . . . Heaven send me +a good deliverance! If I don't do it, it will be the +first time I ever abandoned anything I had once taken +in hand; and I shall not have abandoned it until after +a most desperate fight. I could do it, but for the +<i>Dombey</i>, as easily as I did last year or the year before. +But I cannot help falling back on that continually: +and this, combined with the peculiar difficulties of the +story for a Christmas book, and my being out of sorts, +discourages me sadly. . . . Kate is here, and sends her +love." . . . A postscript was added on the following +day. "Georgy has come over from Lausanne, and +joins with Kate, &c. &c. My head remains greatly +better. My eye is recovering its old hue of beautiful +white, tinged with celestial blue. If I hadn't come +here, I think I should have had some bad low fever.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_290" id="Page_2_290">[290]</a></span> +The sight of the rushing Rhone seemed to stir my blood +again. I don't think I shall want to be cupped, this +bout; but it looked, at one time, worse than I have +confessed to you. If I have any return, I will have it +done immediately."</p> + +<p>He stayed two days longer at Geneva, which he found +to be a very good place; pleasantly reporting himself +as quite dismayed at first by the sight of gas in it, and +as trembling at the noise in its streets, which he pronounced +to be fully equal to the uproar of Richmond +in Surrey; but deriving from it some sort of benefit +both in health and in writing. So far his trip had been +successful, though he had to leave the place hurriedly +to welcome his English visitors to Rosemont.</p> + +<p>One social and very novel experience he had in his +hotel, however, the night before he left, which may be +told before he hastens back to Lausanne; for it could +hardly now offend any one even if the names were +given. "And now sir I will describe, modestly, tamely, +literally, the visit to the small select circle which I +promised should make your hair stand on end. In our +hotel were Lady A, and Lady B, mother and daughter, +who came to the Peschiere shortly before we left it, +and who have a deep admiration for your humble servant +the inimitable B. They are both very clever. +Lady B, extremely well-informed in languages, living +and dead; books, and gossip; very pretty; with two +little children, and not yet five and twenty. Lady A, +plump, fresh, and rosy; matronly, but full of spirits +and good looks. Nothing would serve them but we +<i>must</i> dine with them; and accordingly, on Friday at +six, we went down to their room. I knew them to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_291" id="Page_2_291">[291]</a></span> +rather odd. For instance, I have known Lady A, <i>full +dressed</i>, walk alone through the streets of Genoa, the +squalid Italian bye streets, to the Governor's soirée; +and announce herself at the palace of state, by knocking +at the door. I have also met Lady B, full dressed, +without any cap or bonnet, walking a mile to the opera, +with all sorts of jingling jewels about her, beside +a sedan chair in which sat enthroned her mama. +Consequently, I was not surprised at such little sparkles +in the conversation (from the young lady) as 'Oh God +what a sermon we had here, last Sunday!' 'And did +you ever read such infernal trash as Mrs. Gore's?'—and +the like. Still, but for Kate and Georgy (who +were decidedly in the way, as we agreed afterwards), I +should have thought it all very funny; and, as it was, +I threw the ball back again, was mighty free and easy, +made some rather broad jokes, and was highly applauded. +'You smoke, don't you?' said the young +lady, in a pause of this kind of conversation. 'Yes,' I +said, 'I generally take a cigar after dinner when I am +alone.' 'I'll give you a good 'un,' said she, 'when +we go up-stairs.' Well sir, in due course we went up +stairs, and there we were joined by an American lady +residing in the same hotel, who looked like what we +call in old England 'a reg'lar Bunter'—fluffy face +(rouged); considerable development of figure; one +groggy eye; blue satin dress made low with short +sleeves, and shoes of the same. Also a daughter; face +likewise fluffy; figure likewise developed; dress likewise +low, with short sleeves, and shoes of the same; +and one eye not yet actually groggy, but going to be. +American lady married at sixteen; daughter sixteen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_292" id="Page_2_292">[292]</a></span> +now, often mistaken for sisters, &c. &c. &c. When +that was over, Lady B brought out a cigar box, and +gave me a cigar, made of negrohead she said, which +would quell an elephant in six whiffs. The box was +full of cigarettes—good large ones, made of pretty +strong tobacco; I always smoke them here, and used +to smoke them at Genoa, and I knew them well. +When I lighted my cigar, Lady B lighted hers, at +mine; leaned against the mantelpiece, in conversation +with me; put out her stomach, folded her arms, and +with her pretty face cocked up sideways and her cigarette +smoking away like a Manchester cotton mill, +laughed, and talked, and smoked, in the most gentlemanly +manner I ever beheld. Lady A immediately +lighted her cigar; American lady immediately lighted +hers; and in five minutes the room was a cloud of +smoke, with us four in the centre pulling away bravely, +while American lady related stories of her 'Hookah' +up stairs, and described different kinds of pipes. But +even this was not all. For presently two Frenchmen +came in, with whom, and the American lady, Lady B +sat down to whist. The Frenchmen smoked of course +(they were really modest gentlemen, and seemed dismayed), +and Lady B played for the next hour or two +with a cigar continually in her mouth—never out of +it. She certainly smoked six or eight. Lady A gave +in soon—I think she only did it out of vanity. American +lady had been smoking all the morning. I took +no more; and Lady B and the Frenchmen had it all +to themselves.</p> + +<p>"Conceive this in a great hotel, with not only their +own servants, but half a dozen waiters coming constantly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_293" id="Page_2_293">[293]</a></span> +in and out! I showed no atom of surprise; +but I never <i>was</i> so surprised, so ridiculously taken +aback, in my life; for in all my experience of 'ladies' +of one kind and another, I never saw a woman—not a +basket woman or a gypsy—smoke, before!" He lived +to have larger and wider experience, but there was +enough to startle as well as amuse him in the scene +described.</p> + +<p>But now Saturday is come; he has hurried back for +the friends who are on their way to his cottage; and on +his arrival, even before they have appeared, he writes +to tell me his better news of himself and his work.</p> + +<p>"In the breathless interval" (Rosemont: 3rd of +October) "between our return from Geneva and the +arrival of the Talfourds (expected in an hour or two), +I cannot do better than write to you. For I think you +will be well pleased if I anticipate my promise, and +Monday, at the same time. I have been greatly better +at Geneva, though I still am made uneasy by occasional +giddiness and headache: attributable, I have not the +least doubt, to the absence of streets. There is an idea +here, too, that people are occasionally made despondent +and sluggish in their spirits by this great mass of still +water, lake Leman. At any rate I have been very uncomfortable: +at any rate I am, I hope, greatly better: +and (lastly) at any rate I hope and trust, <i>now</i>, the +Christmas book will come in due course!! I have had +three very good days' work at Geneva, and trust I may +finish the second part (the third is the shortest) by this +day week. Whenever I finish it, I will send you the +first two together. I do not think they can begin to +illustrate it, until the third arrives; for it is a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_294" id="Page_2_294">[294]</a></span>single minded +story, as it were, and an artist should know +the end: which I don't think very likely, unless he +reads it." Then, after relating a superhuman effort he +was making to lodge his visitors in his doll's house ("I +didn't like the idea of turning them out at night. It +is so dark in these lanes, and groves, when the moon's +not bright"), he sketched for me what he possibly +might, and really did, accomplish. He would by great +effort finish the small book on the 20th; would fly to +Geneva for a week to work a little at <i>Dombey</i>, if he +felt "pretty sound;" in any case would finish his number +three by the 10th of November; and on that day +would start for Paris: "so that, instead of resting unprofitably +here, I shall be using my interval of idleness +to make the journey and get into a new house, and shall +hope so to put a pinch of salt on the tail of the sliding +number in advance. . . . I am horrified at the idea +of getting the blues (and bloodshots) again." Though +I did not then know how gravely ill he had been, I was +fain to remind him that it was bad economy to make +business out of rest itself; but I received prompt confirmation +that all was falling out as he wished. The +Talfourds stayed two days: "and I think they were +very happy. He was in his best aspect; the manner so +well known to us, not the less loveable for being laughable; +and if you could have seen him going round and +round the coach that brought them, as a preliminary to +paying the voiturier to whom he couldn't speak, in a +currency he didn't understand, you never would have +forgotten it." His friends left Lausanne on the 5th; +and five days later he sent me two-thirds of the manuscript +of his Christmas book.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_295" id="Page_2_295">[295]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>REVOLUTION AT GENEVA, CHRISTMAS BOOK, AND LAST +DAYS IN SWITZERLAND.</h3> + +<h3>1846.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">At Lausanne—Large Sale of <i>Dombey</i>—Christmas Book done—At +Geneva—Back to <i>Dombey</i>—Rising against the Jesuits—The Fight +in Geneva—Rifle against Cannon—Genevese "Aristocracy"—Swiss +"Rabble"—Traces left by the Revolution—Smaller Revolution in +Whitefriars—<i>Daily News</i> changes—Letters about his <i>Battle of +Life</i>—Sketch of Story—Difficulty in Plot—His own Comments—Date +of Story—Reply to Criticism—Stanfield's Offer of Illustrations—Doubts +of Third Part—Tendency to Blank Verse—Stanfield's +Designs—Grave Mistake by Leech—Last Days in Switzerland—Mountain +Winds—A Ravine in the Hills—Sadness of Leave-taking—Travelling +to Paris.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">"I send</span> you in twelve letters, counting this as one, +the first two parts (thirty-five slips) of the Christmas +book. I have two present anxieties respecting it. One +to know that you have received it safely; and the +second to know how it strikes you. Be sure you read +the first and second parts together. . . . There seems +to me to be interest in it, and a pretty idea; and it is +unlike the others. . . . There will be some minor points +for consideration: as, the necessity for some slight +alterations in one or two of the Doctor's speeches in +the first part; and whether it should be called 'The +Battle of Life. A Love Story'—to express both a love<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_296" id="Page_2_296">[296]</a></span> +story in the common acceptation of the phrase, and +also a story of love; with one or two other things of +that sort. We can moot these by and by. I made a +tremendous day's work of it yesterday and was horribly +excited—so I am going to rush out, as fast as I can: +being a little used up, and sick. . . . But never say die! +I have been to the glass to look at my eye. Pretty +bright!"</p> + +<p>I made it brighter next day by telling him that the +first number of <i>Dombey</i> had outstripped in sale the first +of <i>Chuzzlewit</i> by more than twelve thousand copies; +and his next letter, sending the close of his little tale, +showed his need of the comfort my pleasant news had +given him. "I really do not know what this story is +worth. I am so floored: wanting sleep, and never +having had my head free from it for this month past. +I think there are some places in this last part which I +may bring better together in the proof, and where a +touch or two may be of service; particularly in the +scene between Craggs and Michael Warden, where, as +it stands, the interest seems anticipated. But I shall +have the benefit of your suggestions, and my own then +cooler head, I hope; and I will be very careful with +the proofs, and keep them by me as long as I can. . . . +Mr. Britain must have another Christian name, then? +'Aunt Martha' is the Sally of whom the Doctor +speaks in the first part. Martha is a better name. +What do you think of the concluding paragraph? +Would you leave it for happiness' sake? It is merely +experimental. . . . I am flying to Geneva to-morrow +morning." (That was on the 18th of October; and +on the 20th he wrote from Geneva.) "We came here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_297" id="Page_2_297">[297]</a></span> +yesterday, and we shall probably remain until Katey's +birthday, which is next Thursday week. I shall fall to +work on number three of <i>Dombey</i> as soon as I can. At +present I am the worse for wear, but nothing like as +much so as I expected to be on Sunday last. I had not +been able to sleep for some time, and had been hammering +away, morning, noon, and night. A bottle of +hock on Monday, when Elliotson dined with us (he +went away homeward yesterday morning), did me a +world of good; the change comes in the very nick of +time; and I feel in Dombeian spirits already. . . . But +I have still rather a damaged head, aching a good deal +occasionally, as it is doing now, though I have not been +cupped—yet. . . . I dreamed all last week that the <i>Battle +of Life</i> was a series of chambers impossible to be got +to rights or got out of, through which I wandered +drearily all night. On Saturday night I don't think I +slept an hour. I was perpetually roaming through the +story, and endeavouring to dove-tail the revolution +here into the plot. The mental distress, quite horrible."</p> + +<p>Of the "revolution" he had written to me a week +before, from Lausanne; where the news had just reached +them, that, upon the Federal Diet decreeing the expulsion +of the Jesuits, the Roman Catholic cantons had +risen against the decree, the result being that the +Protestants had deposed the grand council and established +a provisional government, dissolving the Catholic +league. His interest in this, and prompt seizure +of what really was brought into issue by the conflict, +is every way characteristic of Dickens. "You will +know," he wrote from Lausanne on the 11th of October, +"long before you get this, all about the revolution<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_298" id="Page_2_298">[298]</a></span> +at Geneva. There were stories of plots against the +Government when I was there, but I didn't believe +them; for all sorts of lies are always afloat against the +radicals, and wherever there is a consul from a Catholic +Power the most monstrous fictions are in perpetual circulation +against them: as in this very place, where the +Sardinian consul was gravely whispering the other day +that a society called the Homicides had been formed, +whereof the president of the council of state, the +O'Connell of Switzerland and a clever fellow, was a +member; who were sworn on skulls and cross-bones to +exterminate men of property, and so forth. There was +a great stir here, on the day of the fight in Geneva. +We heard the guns (they shook this house) all day; +and seven hundred men marched out of this town of +Lausanne to go and help the radical party—arriving at +Geneva just after it was all over. There is no doubt +they had received secret help from here; for a powder +barrel, found by some of the Genevese populace with +'Canton de Vaud' painted on it, was carried on a pole +about the streets as a standard, to show that they were +sympathized with by friends outside. It was a poor +mean fight enough, I am told by Lord Vernon, who +was present and who was with us last night. The Government +was afraid; having no confidence whatever, I +dare say, in its own soldiers; and the cannon were +fired everywhere except at the opposite party, who (I +mean the revolutionists) had barricaded a bridge with +an omnibus only, and certainly in the beginning might +have been turned with ease. The precision of the +common men with the rifle was especially shown by a +small party of <i>five</i>, who waited on the ramparts near<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_299" id="Page_2_299">[299]</a></span> +one of the gates of the town, to turn a body of soldiery +who were coming in to the Government assistance. +They picked out every officer and struck him down instantly, +the moment the party appeared; there were +three or four of them; upon which the soldiers gravely +turned round and walked off. I dare say there are not +fifty men in this place who wouldn't click your card off +a target a hundred and fifty yards away, at least. I +have seen them, time after time, fire across a great +ravine as wide as the ornamental ground in St. James's-park, +and never miss the bull's-eye.</p> + +<p>"It is a horribly ungentlemanly thing to say here, +though I <i>do</i> say it without the least reserve—but my +sympathy is all with the radicals. I don't know any +subject on which this indomitable people have so good +a right to a strong feeling as Catholicity—if not as a +religion, clearly as a means of social degradation. They +know what it is. They live close to it. They have +Italy beyond their mountains. They can compare the +effect of the two systems at any time in their own +valleys; and their dread of it, and their horror of the +introduction of Catholic priests and emissaries into +their towns, seems to me the most rational feeling in +the world. Apart from this, you have no conception +of the preposterous, insolent little aristocracy of Geneva: +the most ridiculous caricature the fancy can suggest of +what we know in England. I was talking to two famous +gentlemen (very intelligent men) of that place, not long +ago, who came over to invite me to a sort of reception +there—which I declined. Really their talk about 'the +people' and 'the masses,' and the necessity they would +shortly be under of shooting a few of them as an example<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_300" id="Page_2_300">[300]</a></span> +for the rest, was a kind of monstrosity one might +have heard at Genoa. The audacious insolence and +contempt of the people by their newspapers, too, is +quite absurd. It is difficult to believe that men of +sense can be such donkeys politically. It was precisely +such a state of things that brought about the change +here. There was a most respectful petition presented +on the Jesuit question, signed by its tens of thousands +of small farmers; the regular peasants of the canton, +all splendidly taught in public schools, and intellectually +as well as physically a most remarkable body of +labouring men. This document is treated by the +gentlemanly party with the most sublime contempt, +and the signatures are said to be the signatures of 'the +rabble.' Upon which, each man of the rabble shoulders +his rifle, and walks in upon a given day agreed +upon among them to Lausanne; and the gentlemanly +party walk out without striking a blow."</p> + +<p>Such traces of the "revolution" as he found upon +his present visit to Geneva he described in writing to +me from the hotel de l'Ecu on the 20th of October. +"You never would suppose from the look of this town +that there had been anything revolutionary going on. +Over the window of my old bedroom there is a great +hole made by a cannon-ball in the house-front; and +two of the bridges are under repair. But these are +small tokens which anything else might have brought +about as well. The people are all at work. The little +streets are rife with every sight and sound of industry; +the place is as quiet by ten o'clock as Lincoln's-inn-fields; +and the only outward and visible sign of public +interest in political events is a little group at every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_301" id="Page_2_301">[301]</a></span> +street corner, reading a public announcement from the +new Government of the forthcoming election of state-officers, +in which the people are reminded of their +importance as a republican institution, and desired to +bear in mind their dignity in all their proceedings. +Nothing very violent or bad could go on with a community +so well educated as this. It is the best antidote +to American experiences, conceivable. As to +the nonsense 'the gentlemanly interest' talk about, +their opposition to property and so forth, there never +was such mortal absurdity. One of the principal leaders +in the late movement has a stock of watches and +jewellery here of immense value—and had, during the +disturbance—perfectly unprotected. James Fahzey has +a rich house and a valuable collection of pictures; and, +I will be bound to say, twice as much to lose as half +the conservative declaimers put together. This house, +the liberal one, is one of the most richly furnished +and luxurious hotels on the continent. And if I were +a Swiss with a hundred thousand pounds, I would be +as steady against the Catholic cantons and the propagation +of Jesuitism as any radical among 'em: believing +the dissemination of Catholicity to be the most horrible +means of political and social degradation left in the +world. Which these people, thoroughly well educated, +know perfectly. . . . The boys of Geneva were very +useful in bringing materials for the construction of the +barricades on the bridges; and the enclosed song may +amuse you. They sing it to a tune that dates from the +great French Revolution—a very good one."</p> + +<p>But revolutions may be small as well as their heroes, +and while he thus was sending me his Gamin de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_302" id="Page_2_302">[302]</a></span> +Genève I was sending him news of a sudden change in +Whitefriars which had quite as vivid interest for him. +Not much could be told him at first, but his curiosity +instantly arose to fever pitch. "In reference to that +<i>Daily News</i> revolution," he wrote from Geneva on the +26th, "I have been walking and wondering all day +through a perfect Miss Burney's Vauxhall of conjectural +dark walks. Heaven send you enlighten me +fully on Wednesday, or number three will suffer!" +Two days later he resumed, as he was beginning his +journey back to Lausanne. "I am in a great state of +excitement on account of your intelligence, and desperately +anxious to know all about it. I shall be put out +to an unspeakable extent if I don't find your letter +awaiting me. God knows there has been small comfort +for either of us in the <i>D. N.</i>'s nine months." +There was not much to tell then, and there is less now; +but at last the discomfort was over for us both, as I had +been unable to reconcile myself to a longer continuance +of the service I had given in Whitefriars since he +quitted it. The subject may be left with the remark +made upon it in his first letter after returning to Rosemont. +"I certainly am very glad of the result of the +<i>Daily News</i> business, though my gladness is dashed +with melancholy to think that you should have toiled +there so long, to so little purpose. I escaped more +easily. However, it is all past now. . . . As to the +undoubted necessity of the course you took, I have not +a grain of question in my mind. That, being what you +are, you had only one course to take and have taken it, +I no more doubt than that the Old Bailey is not Westminster +Abbey. In the utmost sum at which you value<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_303" id="Page_2_303">[303]</a></span> +yourself, you were bound to leave; and now you <i>have</i> +left, you will come to Paris, and there, and at home +again, we'll have, please God, the old kind of evenings +and the old life again, as it used to be before those +daily nooses caught us by the legs and sometimes +tripped us up. Make a vow (as I have done) never to +go down that court with the little news-shop at the corner, +any more, and let us swear by Jack Straw as in the +ancient times. . . . I am beginning to get over my +sorrow for your nights up aloft in Whitefriars, and to +feel nothing but happiness in the contemplation of +your enfranchisement. God bless you!"</p> + +<p>The time was now shortening for him at Lausanne; +but before my sketches of his pleasant days there close, +the little story of his Christmas book may be made +complete by a few extracts from the letters that followed +immediately upon the departure of the Talfourds. +Without comment they will explain its closing touches, +his own consciousness of the difficulties in working out +the tale within limits too confined not to render its +proper development imperfect, and his ready tact in +dealing with objection and suggestion from without. +His condition while writing it did not warrant me in +pressing what I might otherwise have thought necessary; +but as the little story finally left his hands, it +had points not unworthy of him; and a sketch of its +design will render the fragments from his letters more +intelligible. I read it lately with a sense that its general +tone of quiet beauty deserved well the praise which +Jeffrey in those days had given it. "I like and admire +the <i>Battle</i> extremely," he said in a letter on its publication, +sent me by Dickens and not included in Lord<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_304" id="Page_2_304">[304]</a></span> +Cockburn's Memoir. "It is better than any other man +alive could have written, and has passages as fine as +anything that ever came from the man himself. The +dance of the sisters in that autumn orchard is of itself +worth a dozen inferior tales, and their reunion at the +close, and indeed all the serious parts, are beautiful, +some traits of Clemency charming."</p> + +<p>Yet it was probably here the fact, as with the <i>Chimes</i>, +that the serious parts were too much interwoven with +the tale to render the subject altogether suitable to the +old mirth-bringing season; but this had also some +advantages. The story is all about two sisters, the +younger of whom, Marion, sacrifices her own affection +to give happiness to the elder, Grace. But Grace had +already made the same sacrifice for this younger sister; +life's first and hardest battle had been won by her +before the incidents begin; and when she is first seen, +she is busying herself to bring about her sister's +marriage with Alfred Heathfield, whom she has herself +loved, and whom she has kept wholly unconscious, by +a quiet change in her bearing to him, of what his own +still disengaged heart would certainly not have rejected. +Marion, however, had earlier discovered this, though +it is not until her victory over herself that Alfred knows +it; and meanwhile he is become her betrothed. The +sisters thus shown at the opening, one believing her +love undiscovered and the other bent for the sake of +that love on surrendering her own, each practising concealment +and both unselfishly true, form a pretty and +tender picture. The second part is intended to give to +Marion's flight the character of an elopement; and so +to manage this as to show her all the time unchanged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_305" id="Page_2_305">[305]</a></span> +to the man she is pledged to, yet flying from, was the +author's difficulty. One Michael Warden is the <i>deus +ex machinâ</i> by whom it is solved, hardly with the usual +skill; but there is much art in rendering his pretensions +to the hand of Marion, whose husband he becomes +after an interval of years, the means of closing against +him all hope of success, in the very hour when her own +act might seem to be opening it to him. During the +same interval Grace, believing Marion to be gone with +Warden, becomes Alfred's wife; and not until reunion +after six years' absence is the truth entirely known to +her. The struggle, to all of them, has been filled and +chastened with sorrow; but joy revisits them at its +close. Hearts are not broken by the duties laid upon +them; nor is life shown to be such a perishable holiday, +that amidst noble sorrow and generous self-denial +it must lose its capacity for happiness. The tale thus +justifies its place in the Christmas series. What Jeffrey +says of Clemency, too, may suggest another word. The +story would not be Dickens's if we could not discover +in it the power peculiar to him of presenting the commonest +objects with freshness and beauty, of detecting +in the homeliest forms of life much of its rarest loveliness, +and of springing easily upward from everyday +realities into regions of imaginative thought. To this +happiest direction of his art, Clemency and her husband +render new tribute; and in her more especially, +once again, we recognize one of those true souls who +fill so large a space in his writings, for whom the lowest +seats at life's feasts are commonly kept, but whom he +moves and welcomes to a more fitting place among the +prized and honoured at the upper tables.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_306" id="Page_2_306">[306]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I wonder whether you foresaw the end of the +Christmas book! There are two or three places in +which I can make it prettier, I think, by slight alterations. . . . +I trust to Heaven you may like it. What +an affecting story I could have made of it in one octavo +volume. Oh to think of the printers transforming my +kindly cynical old father into Doctor Taddler!" (28th +of October.)</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Do you think it worth while, in the illustrations, to +throw the period back at all for the sake of anything +good in the costume? The story may have happened +at any time within a hundred years. Is it worth +having coats and gowns of dear old Goldsmith's day? +or thereabouts? I really don't know what to say. +The probability is, if it has not occurred to you or to +the artists, that it is hardly worth considering; but I +ease myself of it by throwing it out to you. It may +be already too late, or you may see reason to think it +best to 'stick to the <i>last</i>' (I feel it necessary to italicize +the joke), and abide by the ladies' and gentlemen's +spring and winter fashions of this time. Whatever you +think best, in this as in all other things, is best, I am +sure. . . . I would go, in the illustrations, for 'beauty' +as much as possible; and I should like each part to +have a general illustration to it at the beginning, shadowing +out its drift and bearing: much as Browne goes +at that kind of thing on <i>Dombey</i> covers. I don't think +I should fetter your discretion in the matter farther. +The better it is illustrated, the better I shall be pleased +of course." (29th of October.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_307" id="Page_2_307">[307]</a></span></p> + +<p>" . . . I only write to say that it is of no use my +writing at length, until I have heard from you; and +that I will wait until I shall have read your promised +communication (as my father would call it) to-morrow. +I have glanced over the proofs of the last part and +really don't wonder, some of the most extravagant +mistakes occurring in Clemency's account to Warden, +that the marriage of Grace and Alfred should seem +rather unsatisfactory to you. Whatever is done about +that must be done with the lightest hand, for the reader +<span class="smcap">must</span> take something for granted; but I think it next +to impossible, without dreadful injury to the effect, to +introduce a scene between Marion and Michael. The +introduction must be in the scene between the sisters, +and must be put, mainly, into the mouth of Grace. +Rely upon it there is no other way, in keeping with +the spirit of the tale. With this amendment, and a +touch here and there in the last part (I know exactly +where they will come best), I think it may be pretty +and affecting, and comfortable too. . . ." (31st of +October.)</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>" . . . I shall hope to touch upon the Christmas +book as soon as I get your opinion. I wouldn't do it +without. I am delighted to hear of noble old Stanny. +Give my love to him, and tell him I think of turning +Catholic. It strikes me (it may have struck you perhaps) +that another good place for introducing a few +lines of dialogue, is at the beginning of the scene between +Grace and her husband, where he speaks about +the messenger at the gate." (4th of November.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_308" id="Page_2_308">[308]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Before I reply to your questions I wish to remark +generally of the third part that all the passion that can +be got into it, through my interpretation at all events, +is there. I know that, by what it cost me; and I take +it to be, as a question of art and interest, in the very +nature of the story that it <i>should</i> move at a swift pace +after the sisters are in each other's arms again. Anything +after that would drag like lead, and must. . . . +Now for your questions. I don't think any little scene +with Marion and anybody can prepare the way for the +last paragraph of the tale: I don't think anything but +a printer's line <i>can</i> go between it and Warden's speech. +A less period than ten years? Yes. I see no objection +to six. I have no doubt you are right. Any word from +Alfred in his misery? Impossible: you might as well +try to speak to somebody in an express train. The preparation +for his change is in the first part, and he kneels +down beside her in that return scene. He is left alone +with her, as it were, in the world. I am quite confident +it is wholly impossible for me to alter that. . . . +BUT (keep your eye on me) when Marion went away, +she left a letter for Grace in which she charged her to +encourage the love that Alfred would conceive for her, +and <span class="smcap">forewarned</span> her that years would pass before they +met again, &c. &c. This coming out in the scene +between the sisters, and something like it being expressed +in the opening of the little scene between Grace +and her husband before the messenger at the gate, will +make (I hope) a prodigious difference; and I will try +to put in something with Aunt Martha and the Doctor +which shall carry the tale back more distinctly and +unmistakeably to the battle-ground. I hope to make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_309" id="Page_2_309">[309]</a></span> +these alterations next week, and to send the third part +back to you before I leave here. If you think it can +still be improved after that, say so to me in Paris and +I will go at it again. I wouldn't have it limp, if it +can fly. I say nothing to you of a great deal of this +being already expressed in the sentiment of the beginning, +because your delicate perception knows all that +already. Observe for the artists. Grace will now only +have <i>one child</i>—little Marion." . . . (At night, on same +day.) . . . "You recollect that I asked you to read it +all together, for I knew that I was working for that? +But I have no doubt of <i>your</i> doubts, and will do what +I have said. . . . I had thought of marking the time +in the little story, and will do so. . . . Think, once +more, of the period between the second and third parts. +I will do the same." (7th of November.)</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"I hope you will think the third part (when you read +it in type with these amendments) very much improved. +I think it so. If there should still be anything wanting, +in your opinion, pray suggest it to me in Paris. I +am bent on having it right, if I can. . . . If in going +over the proofs you find the tendency to blank verse (I +<i>cannot</i> help it, when I am very much in earnest) too +strong, knock out a word's brains here and there." +(13th of November. Sending the proofs back.)</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>". . . Your Christmas book illustration-news makes +me jump for joy. I will write you at length to-morrow. +I should like this dedication: This Christmas Book is +cordially inscribed To my English Friends in Switzerland.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_310" id="Page_2_310">[310]</a></span> +Just those two lines, and nothing more. When +I get the proofs again I think I may manage another +word or two about the battle-field, with advantage. I +am glad you like the alterations. I feel that they make +it complete, and that it would have been incomplete +without your suggestions." (21st of <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Nove ber'">November</ins>. From +Paris.)</p> + +<p>I had managed, as a glad surprise for him, to enlist +both Stanfield and Maclise in the illustration of the +story, in addition to the distinguished artists whom +the publishers had engaged for it, Leech and Richard +Doyle; and among the subjects contributed by Stanfield +are three morsels of English landscape which had +a singular charm for Dickens at the time, and seem to +me still of their kind quite faultless. I may add a +curious fact, never mentioned until now. In the illustration +which closes the second part of the story, where +the festivities to welcome the bridegroom at the top +of the page contrast with the flight of the bride represented +below, Leech made the mistake of supposing +that Michael Warden had taken part in the elopement, +and has introduced his figure with that of Marion. +We did not discover this until too late for remedy, the +publication having then been delayed, for these drawings, +to the utmost limit; and it is highly characteristic +of Dickens, and of the true regard he had for this fine +artist, that, knowing the pain he must give in such +circumstances by objection or complaint, he preferred +to pass it silently. Nobody made remark upon it, and +there the illustration still stands; but any one who +reads the tale carefully will at once perceive what +havoc it makes of one of the most delicate turns in it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_311" id="Page_2_311">[311]</a></span></p> + +<p>"When I first saw it, it was with a horror and agony +not to be expressed. Of course I need not tell <i>you</i>, +my dear fellow, Warden has no business in the elopement +scene. <i>He</i> was never there! In the first hot +sweat of this surprise and novelty, I was going to implore +the printing of that sheet to be stopped, and the +figure taken out of the block. But when I thought of +the pain this might give to our kind-hearted Leech; +and that what is such a monstrous enormity to me, as +never having entered my brain, may not so present +itself to others, I became more composed: though the +fact is wonderful to me. No doubt a great number +of copies will be printed by the time this reaches you, +and therefore I shall take it for granted that it stands +as it is. Leech otherwise is very good, and the illustrations +altogether are by far the best that have been +done for any of the Christmas books. You know how +I build up temples in my mind that are not made with +hands (or expressed with pen and ink, I am afraid), +and how liable I am to be disappointed in these things. +But I really am <i>not</i> disappointed in this case. Quietness +and beauty are preserved throughout. Say everything +to Mac and Stanny, more than everything! It +is a delight to look at these little landscapes of the dear +old boy. How gentle and elegant, and yet how manly +and vigorous, they are! I have a perfect joy in <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'hem'">them</ins>."</p> + +<p>Of the few days that remained of his Lausanne life, +before he journeyed to Paris, there is not much requiring +to be said. His work had continued during the +whole of the month before departure to occupy him +so entirely as to leave room for little else, and even +occasional letters to very dear friends at home were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_312" id="Page_2_312">[312]</a></span> +intermitted. Here is one example of many. "I will +write to Landor as soon as I can possibly make time, +but I really am so much at my desk perforce, and so +full of work, whether I am there or elsewhere, between +the Christmas book and <i>Dombey</i>, that it is the most +difficult thing in the world for me to make up my mind +to write a letter to any one but you. I ought to have +written to Macready. I wish you would tell him, with +my love, how I am situated in respect of pen, ink, and +paper. One of the Lausanne papers, treating of free +trade, has been very copious lately in its mention of +<span class="smcap">Lord Gobden</span>. Fact; and I think it a good name." +Then, as the inevitable time approached, he cast about +him for such comfort as the coming change might +bring, to set against the sorrow of it; and began to +think of Paris, "'in a less romantic and more homely +contemplation of the picture,'" as not wholly undesirable. +I have no doubt that constant change, too, is indispensable +to me when I am at work: and at times +something more than a doubt will force itself upon me +whether there is not something in a Swiss valley that +disagrees with me. Certainly, whenever I live in +Switzerland again, it shall be on the hill-top. Something +of the <i>goître</i> and <i>cretin</i> influence seems to settle +on my spirits sometimes, on the lower ground.<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> How<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_313" id="Page_2_313">[313]</a></span> +sorry, ah yes! how sorry I shall be to leave the little +society nevertheless. We have been thoroughly good-humoured +and agreeable together, and I'll always give +a hurrah for the Swiss and Switzerland."</p> + +<p>One or two English travelling by Lausanne had +meanwhile greeted him as they were passing home, and +a few days given him by Elliotson had been an enjoyment +without a drawback. It was now the later +autumn, very high winds were coursing through the +valley, and his last letter but one described the change +which these approaches of winter were making in the +scene. "We have had some tremendous hurricanes at +Lausanne. It is an extraordinary place now for wind, +being peculiarly situated among mountains—between +the Jura, and the Simplon, St. Gothard, St. Bernard, and +Mont Blanc ranges; and at night you would swear +(lying in bed) you were at sea. You cannot imagine +wind blowing so, over earth. It is very fine to hear. +The weather generally, however, has been excellent. +There is snow on the tops of nearly all the hills, but +none has fallen in the valley. On a bright day, it is +quite hot between eleven and half past two. The +nights and mornings are cold. For the last two or +three days, it has been thick weather; and I can see +no more of Mont Blanc from where I am writing now +than if I were in Devonshire terrace, though last week +it bounded all the Lausanne walks. I would give a +great deal that you could take a walk with me about +Lausanne on a clear cold day. It is impossible to +imagine anything more noble and beautiful than the +scene; and the autumn colours in the foliage are more +brilliant and vivid now than any description could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_314" id="Page_2_314">[314]</a></span> +convey to you. I took Elliotson, when he was with us, +up to a ravine I had found out in the hills eight hundred +or a thousand feet deep! Its steep sides dyed +bright yellow, and deep red, by the changing leaves; a +sounding torrent rolling down below; the lake of +Geneva lying at its foot; one enormous mass and chaos +of trees at its upper end; and mountain piled on +mountain in the distance, up into the sky! He really +was struck silent by its majesty and splendour."</p> + +<p>He had begun his third number of <i>Dombey</i> on the +26th of October, on the 4th of the following month he +was half through it, on the 7th he was in the "agonies" +of its last chapter, and on the 9th, one day before that +proposed for its completion, all was done. This was +marvellously rapid work, after what else he had undergone; +but within a week, Monday the 16th being the +day for departure, they were to strike their tents, and +troubled and sad were the few days thus left him for +preparation and farewell. He included in his leave-taking +his deaf, dumb, and blind friends; and, to use +his own homely phrase, was yet more terribly "down in +the mouth" at taking leave of his hearing, speaking, +and seeing friends. "I shall see you soon, please +God, and that sets all to rights. But I don't believe +there are many dots on the map of the world where we +shall have left such affectionate remembrances behind +us, as in Lausanne. It was quite miserable this last +night, when we left them at Haldimand's."</p> + +<p>He shall himself describe how they travelled post to +Paris, occupying five days. "We got through the +journey charmingly, though not quite so quickly as we +hoped. The children as good as usual, and even Skittles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_315" id="Page_2_315">[315]</a></span> +jolly to the last. (That name has long superseded +Sampson Brass, by the bye. I call him so, from something +skittle-playing and public-housey in his countenance.) +We have been up at five every morning, and +on the road before seven. We were three carriages: +a sort of wagon, with a cabriolet attached, for the luggage; +a ramshackle villainous old swing upon wheels +(hired at Geneva), for the children; and for ourselves, +that travelling chariot which I was so kind as to bring +here for sale. It was very cold indeed crossing the +Jura—nothing but fog and frost; but when we were +out of Switzerland and across the French frontier, it +became warmer, and continued so. We stopped at between +six and seven each evening; had two rather +queer inns, wild French country inns; but the rest +good. They were three hours and a half examining +the luggage at the frontier custom-house—atop of a +mountain, in a hard and biting frost; where Anne and +Roche had sharp work I assure you, and the latter insisted +on volunteering the most astonishing and unnecessary +lies about my books, for the mere pleasure of +deceiving the officials. When we were out of the mountain +country, we came at a good pace, but were a day +late in getting to our hotel here."</p> + +<p>They were in Paris when that was written; at the +hotel Brighton; which they had reached in the evening +of Friday the 20th of November.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_316" id="Page_2_316">[316]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>THREE MONTHS IN PARIS.</h3> + +<h3>1846-1847.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Lord Brougham—French Sunday—A House taken—His French +Abode—A Former Tenant—Sister Fanny's Illness—The King of +the Barricades—The Morgue—Parisian Population—Americans and +French—Unsettlement of Plans—A True Friend—Hard Frost—Alarming +Neighbour—A Fellow-littérateur—London Visit—Return +to Paris—Begging-letter-writers—A Boulogne Reception—French-English—Citizen +Dickens—Sight-seeing—Evening with Victor Hugo—At +the Bibliothèque Royale—Adventure with a Coachman—Illness +of Eldest Son—Visit of his Father—The "Man that put together +Dombey."</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">No</span> man enjoyed brief residence in a hotel more than +Dickens, but "several tons of luggage, other tons of +servants, and other tons of children" are not desirable +accompaniments to this kind of life; and his first day +in Paris did not close before he had offered for an +"eligible mansion." That same Saturday night he +took a "colossal" walk about the city, of which the +brilliancy and brightness almost frightened him; and +among other things that attracted his notice was "rather +a good book announced in a bookseller's window as +<i>Les Mystères de Londres par Sir Trollopp</i>. Do you +know him?" A countryman better known had given +him earlier greeting. "The first man who took hold +of me in the street, immediately outside this door, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_317" id="Page_2_317">[317]</a></span> +Bruffum in his check trousers, and without the proper +number of buttons on his shirt, who was going away +this morning, he told me, but coming back in two +months, when we would go and dine—at some place +known to him and fame."</p> + +<p>Next day he took another long walk about the streets, +and lost himself fifty times. This was Sunday, and he +hardly knew what to say of it, as he saw it there and +then. The bitter observance of that day he always +sharply resisted, believing a little rational enjoyment to +be not opposed to either rest or religion; but here was +another matter. "The dirty churches, and the clattering +carts and waggons, and the open shops (I don't +think I passed fifty shut up, in all my strollings in and +out), and the work-a-day dresses and drudgeries, are +not comfortable. Open theatres and so forth I am +well used to, of course, by this time; but so much toil +and sweat on what one would like to see, apart from +religious observances, a sensible holiday, is painful."</p> + +<p>The date of his letter was the 22nd of November, +and it had three postscripts.<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> The first, "Monday +afternoon," told me a house was taken; that, unless +the agreement should break off on any unforeseen fight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_318" id="Page_2_318">[318]</a></span> +between Roche and the agent ("a French Mrs. Gamp"), +I was to address him at No. 48, Rue de Courcelles, Faubourg +St. Honoré; and that he would merely then +advert to the premises as in his belief the "most ridiculous, +extraordinary, unparalleled, and preposterous" +in the whole world; being something between a baby-house, +a "shades," a haunted castle, and a mad kind +of clock. "They belong to a Marquis Castellan, and +you will be ready to die of laughing when you go over +them." The second P.S. declared that his lips should +be sealed till I beheld for myself. "By Heaven it is +not to be imagined by the mind of man!" The third +P.S. closed the letter. "One room is a tent. Another +room is a grove. Another room is a scene at +the Victoria. The upstairs rooms are like fanlights +over street-doors. The nurseries—but no, no, no, no +more! . . ."</p> + +<p>His following letter nevertheless sent more, even in +the form of an additional protestation that never till I +saw it should the place be described. "I will merely +observe that it is fifty yards long, and eighteen feet +high, and that the bedrooms are exactly like opera-boxes. +It has its little courtyard and garden, and +porter's house, and cordon to open the door, and so +forth; and is a Paris mansion in little. There is a +gleam of reason in the drawing-room. Being a gentleman's +house, and not one furnished to let, it has +some very curious things in it; some of the oddest +things you ever beheld in your life; and an infinity of +easy chairs and sofas. . . . Bad weather. It is snowing +hard. There is not a door or window here—but +that's nothing! there's not a door or window in all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_319" id="Page_2_319">[319]</a></span> +Paris—that shuts; not a chink in all the billions of +trillions of chinks in the city that can he stopped to +keep the wind out. And the cold!—but you shall +judge for yourself; and also of this preposterous dining-room. +The invention, sir, of Henry Bulwer, who when +he had executed it (he used to live here), got frightened +at what he had done, as well he might, and went away. . . . +The Brave called me aside on Saturday night, and +showed me an improvement he had effected in the +decorative way. 'Which,' he said, 'will very much +s'prize Mis'r Fors'er when he come.' You are to be +deluded into the belief that there is a perspective of +chambers twenty miles in length, opening from the +drawing-room. . . ."</p> + +<p>My visit was not yet due, however, and what occupied +or interested him in the interval may first be told. +He had not been two days in Paris when a letter from +his father made him very anxious for the health of his +eldest sister. "I was going to the play (a melodrama +in eight acts, five hours long), but hadn't the heart to +leave home after my father's letter," he is writing on +the 30th of November, "and sent Georgy and Kate by +themselves. There seems to be no doubt whatever that +Fanny is in a consumption." She had broken down +in an attempt to sing at a party in Manchester; and +subsequent examination by Sir Charles Bell's son, who +was present and took much interest in her, too sadly +revealed the cause. "He advised that neither she nor +Burnett should be told the truth, and my father has not +disclosed it. In worldly circumstances they are very +comfortable, and they are very much respected. They +seem to be happy together, and Burnett has a great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_320" id="Page_2_320">[320]</a></span> +deal of teaching. You remember my fears about her +when she was in London the time of Alfred's marriage, +and that I said she looked to me as if she were in a +decline? Kate took her to Elliotson, who said that +her lungs were certainly not affected then. And she +cried for joy. Don't you think it would be better for +her to be brought up, if possible, to see Elliotson again? +I am deeply, deeply grieved about it." This course +was taken, and for a time there seemed room for hope; +but the result will be seen. In the same letter I heard +of poor Charles Sheridan, well known to us both, dying +of the same terrible disease; and his chief, Lord Normanby, +whose many acts of sympathy and kindness had +inspired strong regard in Dickens, he had already found +"as informal and good-natured as ever, but not so gay +as usual, and having an anxious, haggard way with him, +as if his responsibilities were more than he had bargained +for." Nor, to account for this, had Dickens +far to seek, when a little leisure enabled him to see +something of what was passing in Paris in that last year +of Louis Philippe's reign. What first impressed him +most unfavourably was a glimpse in the Champs Elysées, +of the King himself coming in from the country. +"There were two carriages. His was surrounded by +horseguards. It went at a great pace, and he sat very +far back in a corner of it, I promise you. It was strange +to an Englishman to see the Prefet of Police riding on +horseback some hundreds of yards in advance of the +cortége, turning his head incessantly from side to side, +like a figure in a Dutch clock, and scrutinizing everybody +and everything, as if he suspected all the twigs +in all the trees in the long avenue."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_321" id="Page_2_321">[321]</a></span></p> + +<p>But these and other political indications were only, +as they generally prove to be, the outward signs of +maladies more deeply-seated. He saw almost everywhere +signs of canker eating into the heart of the people +themselves. "It is a wicked and detestable place, +though wonderfully attractive; and there can be no +better summary of it, after all, than Hogarth's unmentionable +phrase." He sent me no letter that did not +contribute something of observation or character. He +went at first rather frequently to the Morgue, until +shocked by something so repulsive that he had not +courage for a long time to go back; and on that same +occasion he had noticed the keeper smoking a short +pipe at his little window, "and giving a bit of fresh +turf to a linnet in a cage." Of the condition generally +of the streets he reported badly; the quays on the other +side of the Seine were not safe after dark; and here was +his own night experience of one of the best quarters of +the city. "I took Georgy out, the night before last, +to show her the Palais Royal lighted up; and on the +Boulevard, a street as bright as the brightest part of the +Strand or Regent-street, we saw a man fall upon another, +close before us, and try to tear the cloak off his back. +It was in a little dark corner near the Porte St. Denis, +which stands out in the middle of the street. After a +short struggle, the thief fled (there were thousands of +people walking about), and was captured just on the +other side of the road."</p> + +<p>An incident of that kind might mean little or much: +but what he proceeded to remark of the ordinary Parisian +workpeople and smaller shopkeepers, had a more grave +complexion; and may be thought perhaps still to yield<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_322" id="Page_2_322">[322]</a></span> +some illustration, not without value, to the story of the +quarter of a century that has passed since, and even to +some of the appalling events of its latest year or two. +"It is extraordinary what nonsense English people talk, +write, and believe, about foreign countries. The Swiss +(so much decried) will do anything for you, if you are +frank and civil; they are attentive and punctual in all +their dealings; and may be relied upon as steadily as +the English. The Parisian workpeople and smaller +shopkeepers are more like (and unlike) Americans than +I could have supposed possible. To the American indifference +and carelessness, they add a procrastination +and want of the least heed about keeping a promise or +being exact, which is certainly not surpassed in Naples. +They have the American semi-sentimental independence +too, and none of the American vigour or purpose. If +they ever get free trade in France (as I suppose they +will, one day), these parts of the population must, for +years and years, be ruined. They couldn't get the +means of existence, in competition with the English +workmen. Their inferior manual dexterity, their lazy +habits, perfect unreliability, and habitual insubordination, +would ruin them in any such contest, instantly. +They are fit for nothing but soldiering—and so far, I +believe, the successors in the policy of your friend Napoleon +have reason on their side. Eh bien, mon ami, +quand vous venez à Paris, nous nous mettrons à quatre +épingles, et nous verrons toutes les merveilles de la cité, +et vous en jugerez. God bless me, I beg your pardon! +It comes so natural."</p> + +<p>On the 30th he wrote to me that he had got his +papers into order and hoped to begin that day. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_323" id="Page_2_323">[323]</a></span> +the same letter told me of the unsettlement thus early +of his half-formed Paris plans. Three months sooner +than he designed he should be due in London for +family reasons; should have to keep within the limit +of four months abroad; and as his own house would +not be free till July, would have to hire one from the +end of March. "In these circumstances I think I +shall send Charley to King's-college after Christmas. +I am sorry he should lose so much French, but don't +you think to break another half-year's schooling would +be a pity? Of my own will I would not send him to +King's-college at all, but to Bruce-castle instead. I +suppose, however, Miss Coutts is best. We will talk +over all this when I come to London." The offer to +take charge of his eldest son's education had been +pressed upon Dickens by this true friend, to whose delicate +and noble consideration for him it would hardly become +me to make other allusion here. Munificent as +the kindness was, however, it was yet only the smallest +part of the obligation which Dickens felt that he owed +this lady; to whose generous schemes for the neglected +and uncared-for classes of the population, in all which +he deeply sympathised, he did the very utmost to +render, through many years, unstinted service of his +time and his labour, with sacrifice unselfish as her own. +His proposed early visit to London, named in this letter, +was to see the rehearsal of his Christmas story, dramatised +by Mr. Albert Smith for Mr. and Mrs. Keeley at +the Lyceum; and my own proposed visit to Paris was +to be in the middle of January. "It will then be the +height of the season, and a good time for testing the +unaccountable French vanity which really does suppose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_324" id="Page_2_324">[324]</a></span> +there are no fogs here, but that they are all in +London."<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a></p> + +<p>The opening of his next letter, which bore date the +6th of December, and its amusing sequel, will sufficiently +speak for themselves. "Cold intense. The +water in the bedroom-jugs freezes into solid masses +from top to bottom, bursts the jugs with reports like +small cannon, and rolls out on the tables and wash-stands, +hard as granite. I stick to the shower-bath, +but have been most hopelessly out of sorts—writing +sorts; that's all. Couldn't begin, in the strange place; +took a violent dislike to my study, and came down into +the drawing-room; couldn't find a corner that would +answer my purpose; fell into a black contemplation of +the waning month; sat six hours at a stretch, and +wrote as many lines, &c. &c. &c. . . . Then, you +know what arrangements are necessary with the chairs +and tables; and then what correspondence had to be +cleared off; and then how I tried to settle to my desk, +and went about and about it, and dodged at it, like a +bird at a lump of sugar. In short I have just begun; +five printed pages finished, I should say; and hope I +shall be blessed with a better condition this next week,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_325" id="Page_2_325">[325]</a></span> +or I shall be behind-hand. I shall try to go at it—hard. +I can't do more. . . . There is rather a good +man lives in this street, and I have had a correspondence +with him which is preserved for your inspection. +His name is Barthélemy. He wears a prodigious +Spanish cloak, a slouched hat, an immense beard, and +long black hair. He called the other day and left his +card. Allow me to enclose his card, which has originality +and merit.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/image14_rue-de.png" width="300" height="147" alt="Rue de Courcelles Barthélemy 49." title="Rue de Courcelles Barthélemy 49." /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>Roche said I wasn't at home. Yesterday, he wrote me +to say that he too was a 'Littérateur'—that he had +called, in compliment to my distinguished reputation—'qu'il +n'avait pas été reçu—qu'il n'était pas habitué à +cette sorte de procédé—et qu'il pria Monsieur Dickens +d'oublier son nom, sa mémoire, sa carte, et sa visite, +et de considérer qu'elle n'avait pas été rendu!' Of +course I wrote him a very polite reply immediately, +telling him good-humouredly that he was quite mistaken, +and that there were always two weeks in the +beginning of every month when M. Dickens ne pouvait +rendre visite à personne. He wrote back to say that +he was more than satisfied; that it was his case too, at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_326" id="Page_2_326">[326]</a></span> +the end of every month; and that when busy himself, +he not only can't receive or pay visits, but—'tombe, +généralement, aussi, dans des humeurs noires qui approchent +de l'anthropophagie!!!' I think that's pretty +well."</div> + +<p>He was in London eight days, from the 15th to the +23rd of December;<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> and among the occupations of +his visit, besides launching his little story on the stage, +was the settlement of form for a cheap edition of his +writings, which began in the following year. It was +to be printed in double-columns, and issued weekly in +three-halfpenny numbers; there were to be new prefaces, +but no illustrations; and for each book something +less than a fourth of the original price was to be +charged. Its success was very good, but did not come +even near to the mark of the later issues of his writings. +His own feeling as to this, however, though any failure +at the moment affected him on other grounds, was always +that of a quiet confidence; and he had expressed +this in a proposed dedication of this very edition, +which for other reasons was ultimately laid aside. It +will be worth preserving here. "This cheap edition +of my books is dedicated to the English people, in +whose approval, if the books be true in spirit, they +will live, and out of whose memory, if they be false, +they will very soon die."</p> + +<p>Upon his return to Paris I had frequent report of his +progress with his famous fifth number, on the completion +of which I was to join him. The day at one time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_327" id="Page_2_327">[327]</a></span> +seemed doubtful. "It would be miserable to have to +work while you were here. Still, I make such sudden +starts, and am so possessed of what I am going to do, +that the fear may prove to be quite groundless, and if +any alteration would trouble you, let the 13th stand at +all hazards." The cold he described as so intense, +and the price of fuel so enormous, that though the +house was not half warmed ("as you'll say, when you +feel it") it cost him very near a pound a day. Begging-letter +writers had found out "Monsieur Dickens, le +romancier célèbre," and waylaid him at the door and +in the street as numerously as in London: their distinguishing +peculiarity being that they were nearly all +of them "Chevaliers de la Garde Impériale de sa Majesté +Napoléon le Grand," and that their letters bore +immense seals with coats of arms as large as five-shilling +pieces. His friends the Watsons passed new year's day +with him on their way to Rockingham from Lausanne, +leaving that country covered with snow and the Bise +blowing cruelly over it, but describing it as nothing to +the cold of Paris. On the day that closed the old +year he had gone into the Morgue and seen an old man +with grey head lying there. "It seemed the strangest +thing in the world that it should have been necessary +to take any trouble to stop such a feeble, spent, exhausted +morsel of life. It was just dusk when I went +in; the place was empty; and he lay there, all alone, +like an impersonation of the wintry eighteen hundred +and forty-six. . . . I find I am getting inimitable, so +I'll stop."</p> + +<p>The time for my visit having come, I had grateful +proof of the minute and thoughtful provision characteristic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_328" id="Page_2_328">[328]</a></span> +of him in everything. My dinner had been +ordered to the second at Boulogne, my place in the +malle-poste taken, and these and other services announced +in a letter, which, by way of doing its part +also in the kindly work of preparation, broke out into +French. He never spoke that language very well, his +accent being somehow defective; but he practised himself +into writing it with remarkable ease and fluency. +"I have written to the Hôtel des Bains at Boulogne to +send on to Calais and take your place in the malle-poste. . . . +Of course you know that you'll be assailed with frightful +shouts all along the two lines of ropes from all the +touters in Boulogne, and of course you'll pass on like +the princess who went up the mountain after the talking +bird; but don't forget quietly to single out the +Hôtel des Bains commissionnaire. The following circumstances +will then occur. My experience is more +recent than yours, and I will throw them into a dramatic +form. . . . You are filtered into the little office, where +there are some soldiers; and a gentleman with a black +beard and a pen and ink sitting behind a counter. +<i>Barbe Noire</i> (to the lord of L. I. F.). Monsieur, votre +passeport. <i>Monsieur.</i> Monsieur, le voici! <i>Barbe Noire.</i> +Où allez-vous, monsieur? <i>Monsieur.</i> Monsieur, je vais +à Paris. <i>Barbe Noire.</i> Quand allez-vous partir, monsieur? +<i>Monsieur.</i> Monsieur, je vais partir aujourd'hui. +Avec la malle-poste. <i>Barbe Noire.</i> C'est bien. (To +Gendarme.) Laissez sortir monsieur! <i>Gendarme.</i> Par +ici, monsieur, s'il vous plait. Le gendarme ouvert +une très petite porte. Monsieur se trouve subitement +entouré de tous les gamins, agents, commissionnaires, +porteurs, et polissons, en général, de Boulogne, qui<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_329" id="Page_2_329">[329]</a></span> +s'élancent sur lui, en poussant des cris épouvantables. +Monsieur est, pour le moment, tout-à-fait effrayé et +bouleversé. Mais monsieur reprend ses forces et dit, +de haute voix: 'Le Commissionnaire de l'Hôtel des +Bains!' <i>Un petit homme</i> (s'avançant rapidement, et en +souriant doucement). Me voici, monsieur. Monsieur +Fors Tair, n'est-ce pas? . . . Alors. . . . Alors monsieur se +promène <i>à</i> l'Hôtel des Bains, où monsieur trouvera +qu'un petit salon particulier, en haut, est déjà préparé +pour sa réception, et que son dîner est déjà commandé, +aux soins du brave Courier, <i>à midi et demi</i>. . . . Monsieur +mangera son dîner près du feu, avec beaucoup de +plaisir, et il boirera de vin rouge à la santé de Monsieur +de Boze, et sa famille intéressante et aimable. La malle-poste +arrivera au bureau de la poste aux lettres à deux +heures ou peut-être un peu plus tard. Mais monsieur +chargera le commissionnaire d'y l'accompagner de +bonne heure, car c'est beaucoup mieux de l'attendre +que de la perdre. La malle-poste arrivé, monsieur +s'assiéra, aussi confortablement qu'il le peut, et il y +restera jusqu'à son arrivé au bureau de la poste aux +lettres à Paris. Parceque, le convoi (<i>train</i>) n'est pas +l'affaire de monsieur, qui continuera s'asseoir dans la +malle-poste, sur le chemin de fer, et après le chemin de +fer, jusqu'il se trouve à la basse-cour du bureau de la poste +aux lettres à Paris, où il trouvera une voiture qui a été +dépêché de la Rue de Courcelles, quarante-huit. Mais +monsieur aura la bonté d'observer—Si le convoi arriverait +à Amiens après le départ du convoi à minuit, il +faudra y rester jusqu'à l'arrivé d'un autre convoi à trois +heures moins un quart. En attendant, monsieur peut +rester au buffet (<i>refreshment room</i>), où l'on peut toujours<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_330" id="Page_2_330">[330]</a></span> +trouver un bon feu, et du café chaud, et des très bonnes +choses à boire et à manger, pendant toute la nuit.—Est-ce +que monsieur comprend parfaitement toutes ces +règles pour sa guidance?—Vive le Roi des Français! +Roi de la nation la plus grande, et la plus noble, et la +plus extraordinairement merveilleuse, du monde! A +bas des Anglais!</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>,</span><br /> +"Français naturalisé, et Citoyen de Paris."<br /> +</div> + +<p>We passed a fortnight together, and crowded into it +more than might seem possible to such a narrow space. +With a dreadful insatiability we passed through every +variety of sight-seeing, prisons, palaces, theatres, hospitals, +the Morgue and the Lazare, as well as the +Louvre, Versailles, St. Cloud, and all the spots made +memorable by the first revolution. The excellent +comedian Regnier, known to us through Macready and +endeared by many kindnesses, incomparable for his +knowledge of the city and unwearying in friendly service, +made us free of the green-room of the Français, +where, on the birthday of Molière, we saw his "Don +Juan" revived. At the Conservatoire we witnessed +the masterly teaching of Samson; at the Odéon saw a +new play by Ponsard, done but indifferently; at the +Variétés "Gentil-Bernard," with four grisettes as if +stepped out of a picture by Watteau; at the Gymnase +"Clarisse Harlowe," with a death-scene of Rose Cheri +which comes back to me, through the distance of time, +as the prettiest piece of pure and gentle stage-pathos +in my memory; at the Porte St. Martin "Lucretia +Borgia" by Hugo; at the Cirque, scenes of the great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_331" id="Page_2_331">[331]</a></span> +revolution, and all the battles of Napoleon; at the +Comic Opera, "Gibby"; and at the Palais Royal the +usual new-year's piece, in which Alexandre Dumas was +shown in his study beside a pile of quarto volumes five +feet high, which proved to be the first tableau of the +first act of the first piece to be played on the first night +of his new theatre. That new theatre, the Historique, +we also saw verging to a very short-lived completeness; +and we supped with Dumas himself, and Eugène Sue, +and met Théophile Gautier and Alphonse Karr. We +saw Lamartine also, and had much friendly intercourse +with Scribe, and with the kind good-natured Amedée +Pichot. One day we visited in the Rue du Bac the +sick and ailing Chateaubriand, whom we thought like +Basil Montagu; found ourselves at the other extreme +of opinion in the sculpture-room of David d'Angers; +and closed that day at the house of Victor Hugo, by +whom Dickens was received with infinite courtesy and +grace. The great writer then occupied a floor in a +noble corner-house in the Place Royale, the old quarter +of Ninon l'Enclos and the people of the Regency, of +whom the gorgeous tapestries, the painted ceilings, the +wonderful carvings and old golden furniture, including +a canopy of state out of some palace of the middle age, +quaintly and grandly reminded us. He was himself, +however, the best thing we saw; and I find it difficult +to associate the attitudes and aspect in which the world +has lately wondered at him, with the sober grace and +self-possessed quiet gravity of that night of twenty-five +years ago. Just then Louis Philippe had ennobled him, +but the man's nature was written noble. Rather under +the middle size, of compact close-buttoned-up figure,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_332" id="Page_2_332">[332]</a></span> +with ample dark hair falling loosely over his close-shaven +face, I never saw upon any features so keenly +intellectual such a soft and sweet gentility, and certainly +never heard the French language spoken with +the picturesque distinctness given to it by Victor Hugo. +He talked of his childhood in Spain, and of his father +having been Governor of the Tagus in Napoleon's wars; +spoke warmly of the English people and their literature; +declared his preference for melody and simplicity +over the music then fashionable at the Conservatoire; +referred kindly to Ponsard, laughed at the actors who +had murdered his tragedy at the Odéon, and sympathized +with the dramatic venture of Dumas. To Dickens +he addressed very charming flattery, in the best taste; +and my friend long remembered the enjoyment of that +evening.</p> + +<p>There is little to add of our Paris holiday, if indeed +too much has not been said already. We had an adventure +with a drunken coachman, of which the sequel +showed at least the vigour and decisiveness of the police +in regard to hired vehicles<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> in those last days of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_333" id="Page_2_333">[333]</a></span> +Orleans monarchy. At the Bibliothèque Royale we were +much interested by seeing, among many other priceless +treasures, Gutenberg's types, Racine's notes in his +copy of Sophocles, Rousseau's music, and Voltaire's +note upon Frederick of Prussia's letter. Nor should I +omit that in what Dickens then told me, of even his +small experience of the social aspects of Paris, there +seemed but the same disease which raged afterwards +through the second Empire. Not many days after I +left, all Paris was crowding to the sale of a lady of the +demi-monde, Marie du Plessis, who had led the most +brilliant and abandoned of lives, and left behind her +the most exquisite furniture and the most voluptuous +and sumptuous bijouterie. Dickens wished at one time +to have pointed the moral of this life and death of +which there was great talk in Paris while we were together. +The disease of satiety, which only less often +than hunger passes for a broken heart, had killed her. +"What do you want?" asked the most famous of the +Paris physicians, at a loss for her exact complaint. At +last she answered: "To see my mother." She was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_334" id="Page_2_334">[334]</a></span> +sent for; and there came a simple Breton peasant-woman +clad in the quaint garb of her province, who +prayed by her bed until she died. Wonderful was the +admiration and sympathy; and it culminated when +Eugène Sue bought her prayer-book at the sale. Our +last talk before I quitted Paris, after dinner at the Embassy, +was of the danger underlying all this, and of the +signs also visible everywhere of the Napoleon-worship +which the Orleanists themselves had most favoured. +Accident brought Dickens to England a fortnight later, +when again we met together, at Gore-house, the self-contained +reticent man whose doubtful inheritance was +thus rapidly preparing to fall to him.<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a></p> + +<p>The accident was the having underwritten his number +of <i>Dombey</i> by two pages, which there was not time to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_335" id="Page_2_335">[335]</a></span> +supply otherwise than by coming to London to write +them.<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> This was done accordingly; but another +greater trouble followed. He had hardly returned to +Paris when his eldest son, whom I had brought to +England with me and placed in the house of Doctor +Major, then head-master of King's-college-school, was +attacked by scarlet fever; and this closed prematurely +Dickens's residence in Paris. But though he and his +wife at once came over, and were followed after some +days by the children and their aunt, the isolation of +the little invalid could not so soon be broken through. +His father at last saw him, nearly a month before the +rest, in a lodging in Albany-street, where his grandmother, +Mrs. Hogarth, had devoted herself to the +charge of him; and an incident of the visit, which +amused us all very much, will not unfitly introduce the +subject that waits me in my next chapter.</p> + +<p>An elderly charwoman employed about the place +had shown so much sympathy in the family trouble, +that Mrs. Hogarth specially told her of the approaching +visit, and who it was that was coming to the sick-room. +"Lawk ma'am!" she said. "Is the young +gentleman upstairs the son of the man that put together +<i>Dombey?</i>" Reassured upon this point, she explained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_336" id="Page_2_336">[336]</a></span> +her question by declaring that she never thought there +was a man that <i>could</i> have put together <i>Dombey</i>. Being +pressed farther as to what her notion was of this mystery +of a <i>Dombey</i> (for it was known she could not +read), it turned out that she lodged at a snuff-shop +kept by a person named Douglas, where there were +several other lodgers; and that on the first Monday +of every month there was a Tea, and the landlord read +the month's number of <i>Dombey</i>, those only of the +lodgers who subscribed to the tea partaking of that +luxury, but all having the benefit of the reading; and +the impression produced on the old charwoman revealed +itself in the remark with which she closed her +account of it. "Lawk ma'am! I thought that three +or four men must have put together <i>Dombey!</i>"</p> + +<p>Dickens thought there was something of a compliment +in this, and was not ungrateful.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE LIFE</h2> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h1>CHARLES DICKENS</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>JOHN FORSTER.</h2> + +<h3>THREE VOLUMES IN TWO.</h3> + +<h2>VOL. II.</h2> + +<div class='center'><br />————————<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +BOSTON:<br /> +JAMES R. OSGOOD & COMPANY,<br /> +(<small>LATE TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO.</small>)<br /> +1875.<br /></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_337" id="Page_2_337">[337]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>DOMBEY AND SON.</h3> + +<h3>1846-1848.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Drift of the Tale—Why undervalued—Mistakes of Critics—Adherence +to First Design—Design as to Paul and Sister—As to Dombey +and Daughter—Real Character of Hero—Walter Gay—Omissions +proposed—Anxiety as to Face of his Hero—Passage of Original +MS. omitted—Artist-fancies for Mr. Dombey—Dickens and his +Illustrators—Hints for Artist—Letter to Cruikshank—An Experience +of Ben Jonson's—Sale of the First Number—A Reading of the Second +Number—Scene at Mrs. Pipchin's—The Mrs. Pipchin of his Childhood—First +Thought of his Autobiography—Paul's School-life—Jeffrey's +Forecast of the Tale—A Damper to the Spirit—A Fancy for +New Zealand—Close of Paul's Life—Jeffrey on Paul's Death—Florence +and Little Nell—Jeffrey on the Edith Scenes—Edith's First +Destiny—Jack Bunsby—Dombey Household—Blimber Establishment—Supposed +Originals.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Though</span> his proposed new "book in shilling numbers" +had been mentioned to me three months before +he quitted England, he knew little himself at that time +or when he left excepting the fact, then also named, +that it was to do with Pride what its predecessor had +done with Selfishness. But this limit he soon overpassed; +and the succession of independent groups of +character, surprising for the variety of their forms and +handling, with which he enlarged and enriched his +plan, went far beyond the range of the passion of Mr. +Dombey and Mr. Dombey's second wife.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_338" id="Page_2_338">[338]</a></span></p> + +<p>Obvious causes have led to grave under-estimates of +this novel. Its first five numbers forced up interest +and expectation so high that the rest of necessity fell +short; but it is not therefore true of the general conception +that thus the wine of it had been drawn, and +only the lees left. In the treatment of acknowledged +masterpieces in literature it not seldom occurs that the +genius and the art of the master have not pulled together +to the close; but if a work of imagination is to +forfeit its higher meed of praise because its pace at +starting has not been uniformly kept, hard measure +would have to be dealt to books of undeniable greatness. +Among other critical severities it was said here, +that Paul died at the beginning not for any need of +the story, but only to interest its readers somewhat +more; and that Mr. Dombey relented at the end for +just the same reason. What is now to be told will +show how little ground existed for either imputation. +The so-called "violent change" in the hero has more +lately been revived in the notices of Mr. Taine, +who says of it that "<i>it spoils a fine novel;</i>" but it will +be seen that in the apparent change no unnaturalness +of change was involved, and certainly the adoption of +it was not a sacrifice to "public morality." While +every other portion of the tale had to submit to such +varieties in development as the characters themselves +entailed, the design affecting Paul and his father had +been planned from the opening, and was carried without +alteration to the close. And of the perfect honesty +with which Dickens himself repelled such charges as +those to which I have adverted, when he wrote the +preface to his collected edition, remarkable proof appears<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_339" id="Page_2_339">[339]</a></span> +in the letter to myself which accompanied the +manuscript of his proposed first number. No other +line of the tale had at this time been placed on paper.</p> + +<p>When the first chapter only was done, and again +when all was finished but eight slips, he had sent me +letters formerly quoted. What follows came with the +manuscript of the first four chapters on the 25th of July. +"I will now go on to give you an outline of my immediate +intentions in reference to <i>Dombey</i>. I design +to show Mr. D. with that one idea of the Son taking +firmer and firmer possession of him, and swelling and +bloating his pride to a prodigious extent. As the +boy begins to grow up, I shall show him quite impatient +for his getting on, and urging his masters to set +him great tasks, and the like. But the natural affection +of the boy will turn towards the despised sister; +and I purpose showing her learning all sorts of things, +of her own application and determination, to assist +him in his lessons; and helping him always. When the +boy is about ten years old (in the fourth number), he +will be taken ill, and will die; and when he is ill, and +when he is dying, I mean to make him turn always for +refuge to the sister still, and keep the stern affection of +the father at a distance. So Mr. Dombey—for all his +greatness, and for all his devotion to the child—will +find himself at arms' length from him even then; and +will see that his love and confidence are all bestowed +upon his sister, whom Mr. Dombey has used—and so +has the boy himself too, for that matter—as a mere +convenience and handle to him. The death of the boy +is a death-blow, of course, to all the father's schemes +and cherished hopes; and 'Dombey and Son,' as Miss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_340" id="Page_2_340">[340]</a></span> +Tox will say at the end of the number, 'is a Daughter +after all.' . . . From that time, I purpose changing his +feeling of indifference and uneasiness towards his +daughter into a positive hatred. For he will always +remember how the boy had his arm round her neck +when he was dying, and whispered to her, and would +take things only from her hand, and never thought of +him. . . . At the same time I shall change <i>her</i> feeling +towards <i>him</i> for one of a greater desire to love him, +and to be loved by him; engendered in her compassion +for his loss, and her love for the dead boy whom, in +his way, he loved so well too. So I mean to carry the +story on, through all the branches and offshoots and +meanderings that come up; and through the decay +and downfall of the house, and the bankruptcy of +Dombey, and all the rest of it; when his only staff +and treasure, and his unknown Good Genius always, +will be this rejected daughter, who will come out better +than any son at last, and whose love for him, when discovered +and understood, will be his bitterest reproach. +For the struggle with himself which goes on in all such +obstinate natures, will have ended then; and the sense +of his injustice, which you may be sure has never quitted +him, will have at last a gentler office than that of only +making him more harshly unjust. . . . I rely very +much on Susan Nipper grown up, and acting partly as +Florence's maid, and partly as a kind of companion to +her, for a strong character throughout the book. I also +rely on the Toodles, and on Polly, who, like everybody +else, will be found by Mr. Dombey to have gone +over to his daughter and become attached to her. This +is what cooks call 'the stock of the soup.' All kinds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_341" id="Page_2_341">[341]</a></span> +of things will be added to it, of course." Admirable +is the illustration thus afforded of his way of working, +and very interesting the evidence it gives of the genuine +feeling for his art with which this book was begun.</p> + +<p>The close of the letter put an important question +affecting gravely a leading person in the tale. . . . +"About the boy, who appears in the last chapter of the +first number, I think it would be a good thing to disappoint +all the expectations that chapter seems to raise +of his happy connection with the story and the heroine, +and to show him gradually and naturally trailing away, +from that love of adventure and boyish light-heartedness, +into negligence, idleness, dissipation, dishonesty, +and ruin. To show, in short, that common, every-day, +miserable declension of which we know so much in our +ordinary life; to exhibit something of the philosophy of +it, in great temptations and an easy nature; and to show +how the good turns into bad, by degrees. If I kept some +little notion of Florence always at the bottom of it, I +think it might be made very powerful and very useful. +What do you think? Do you think it may be done, +without making people angry? I could bring out Solomon +Gills and Captain Cuttle well, through such a history; +and I descry, anyway, an opportunity for good +scenes between Captain Cuttle and Miss Tox. This +question of the boy is very important. . . . Let me hear +all you think about it. Hear! I wish I could." . . .</p> + +<p>For reasons that need not be dwelt upon here, but +in which Dickens ultimately acquiesced, Walter was +reserved for a happier future; and the idea thrown +out took subsequent shape, amid circumstances better +suited to its excellent capabilities, in the striking character<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_342" id="Page_2_342">[342]</a></span> +of Richard Carstone in the tale of <i>Bleak House</i>. +But another point had risen meanwhile for settlement +not admitting of delay. In the first enjoyment of writing +after his long rest, to which a former letter has referred, +he had over-written his number by nearly a fifth; and +upon his proposal to transfer the fourth chapter to his +second number, replacing it by another of fewer pages, +I had to object that this might damage his interest at +starting. Thus he wrote on the 7th of August: ". . . I +have received your letter to-day with the greatest delight, +and am overjoyed to find that you think so well +of the number. I thought well of it myself, and that +it was a great plunge into a story; but I did not know +how far I might be stimulated by my paternal affection. . . . +What should you say, for a notion of the illustrations, +to 'Miss Tox introduces the Party?' and +'Mr. Dombey and family?' meaning Polly Toodle, +the baby, Mr. Dombey, and little Florence: whom I +think it would be well to have. Walter, his uncle, and +Captain Cuttle, might stand over. It is a great question +with me, now, whether I had not better take this +last chapter bodily out, and make it the last chapter of +the second number; writing some other new one to +close the first number. I think it would be impossible +to take out six pages without great pangs. Do you +think such a proceeding as I suggest would weaken +number one very much? I wish you would tell me, as +soon as you can after receiving this, what your opinion +is on the point. If you thought it would weaken the +first number, beyond the counterbalancing advantage +of strengthening the second, I would cut down somehow +or other, and let it go. I shall be anxious to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_343" id="Page_2_343">[343]</a></span> +hear your opinion. In the meanwhile I will go on +with the second, which I have just begun. I have +not been quite myself since we returned from Chamounix, +owing to the great heat." Two days later: +"I have begun a little chapter to end the first number, +and certainly think it will be well to keep the ten +pages of Wally and Co. entire for number two. But +this is still subject to your opinion, which I am very +anxious to know. I have not been in writing cue all +the week; but really the weather has rendered it next +to impossible to work." Four days later: "I shall +send you with this (on the chance of your being favourable +to that view of the subject) a small chapter +to close the first number, in lieu of the Solomon Gills +one. I have been hideously idle all the week, and +have done nothing but this trifling interloper: but +hope to begin again on Monday—ding dong. . . . The +inkstand is to be cleaned out to-night, and refilled, preparatory +to execution. I trust I may shed a good deal +of ink in the next fortnight." Then, the day following, +on arrival of my letter, he submitted to a hard +necessity. "I received yours to-day. A decided facer +to me! I had been counting, alas! with a miser's +greed, upon the gained ten pages. . . . No matter. I +have no doubt you are right, and strength is everything. +The addition of two lines to each page, or +something less,—coupled with the enclosed cuts, will +bring it all to bear smoothly. In case more cutting is +wanted, I must ask you to try your hand. I shall agree +to whatever you propose." These cuttings, absolutely +necessary as they were, were not without much disadvantage; +and in the course of them he had to sacrifice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_344" id="Page_2_344">[344]</a></span> +a passage foreshadowing his final intention as to +Dombey. It would have shown, thus early, something +of the struggle with itself that such pride must always +go through; and I think it worth preserving in a note.<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 416px;"> +<img src="images/image16.jpg" width="416" height="600" alt="Sketches 1" title="Sketches 1" /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 388px;"> +<img src="images/image17.png" width="388" height="600" alt="Sketches 2" title="Sketches 2" /> +</div> + +<p>Several letters now expressed his anxiety and care +about the illustrations. A nervous dread of caricature +in the face of his merchant-hero, had led him to indicate +by a living person the type of city-gentleman he +would have had the artist select; and this is all he +meant by his reiterated urgent request, "I do wish he +could get a glimpse of A, for he is the very Dombey." +But as the glimpse of A was not to be had, it was resolved +to send for selection by himself glimpses of other +letters of the alphabet, actual heads as well as fanciful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_347" id="Page_2_347">[347]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_346" id="Page_2_346">[346]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_345" id="Page_2_345">[345]</a></span> +ones; and the sheetful I sent out, which he returned +when the choice was made, I here reproduce in fac-simile. +In itself amusing, it has now the important +use of showing, once for all, in regard to Dickens's +intercourse with his artists, that they certainly had not +an easy time with him; that, even beyond what is +ordinary between author and illustrator, his requirements +were exacting; that he was apt, as he has said +himself, to build up temples in his mind not always +makeable with hands; that in the results he had rarely +anything but disappointment; and that of all notions +to connect with him the most preposterous would be +that which directly reversed these relations, and depicted +him as receiving from any artist the inspiration +he was always vainly striving to give. An assertion of +this kind was contradicted in my first volume; but it +has since been repeated so explicitly, that to prevent +any possible misconstruction from a silence I would +fain have persisted in, the distasteful subject is again +reluctantly introduced.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 416px;"><a name="seventeen" id="seventeen"></a> +<img src="images/image16.jpg" width="416" height="600" alt="Seventeen fancies" title="Seventeen fancies" /> +</div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 388px;"><a name="twelve" id="twelve"></a> +<img src="images/image17.png" width="388" height="600" alt="Twelve fancies" title="Twelve fancies" /> +</div> +<p>It originated with a literary friend of the excellent +artist by whom <i>Oliver Twist</i> was illustrated from month +to month, during the earlier part of its monthly issue. +This gentleman stated, in a paper written and published +in America, that Mr. Cruikshank, by executing the +plates before opportunity was afforded him of seeing +the letter press, had suggested to the writer the finest +effects in his story; and to this, opposing my clear recollection +of all the time the tale was in progress, it +became my duty to say that within my own personal +knowledge the alleged fact was not true. "Dickens," +the artist is reported an saying to his admirer, "ferreted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_348" id="Page_2_348">[348]</a></span> +out that bundle of drawings, and when he came to the +one which represents Fagin in the cell, he silently +studied it for half an hour, and told me he was tempted +to change the whole plot of his story. . . . I consented +to let him write up to my designs; and that was the +way in which Fagin, Sikes, and Nancy were created." +Happily I was able to add the complete refutation of +this folly by producing a letter of Dickens written at +the time, which proved incontestably that the closing +illustrations, including the two specially named in support +of the preposterous charge, Sikes and his Dog, and +Fagin in his Cell, had not even been seen by Dickens +until his finished book was on the eve of appearance. +As however the distinguished artist, notwithstanding +the refreshment of his memory by this letter, has permitted +himself again to endorse the statement of his +friend, I can only again print, on the same page which +contains the strange language used by him, the words +with which Dickens himself repels its imputation on +his memory. To some it may be more satisfactory if +I print the latter in fac-simile; and so leave for ever a +charge in itself so incredible that nothing would have +justified farther allusion to it but the knowledge of my +friend's old and true regard for Mr. Cruikshank, of +which evidence will shortly appear, and my own respect +for an original genius well able to subsist of itself without +taking what belongs to others.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_349" id="Page_2_349">[349]</a></span> +<img src="images/cruik1.png" width="600" height="763" alt="Letter to Cruikshank, Part 1" title="Letter to Cruikshank, Part 1" /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_350" id="Page_2_350">[350]</a></span> +<img src="images/cruik2.png" width="600" height="527" alt="Letter to Cruikshank, Part 2" title="Letter to Cruikshank, Part 2" /> +<span class="caption"><a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a></span> +</div> + +<p>Resuming the <i>Dombey</i> letters I find him on the 30th +of August in better heart about his illustrator. "I shall +gladly acquiesce in whatever more changes or omissions +you propose. Browne seems to be getting on well. . . . +He will have a good subject in Paul's christening. Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_351" id="Page_2_351">[351]</a></span> +of it. The little chapter of Miss Tox and the Major, +which you alas! (but quite wisely) rejected from the +first number, I have altered for the last of the second. +I have not quite finished the middle chapter yet—having, +I should say, three good days' work to do at +it; but I hope it will be all a worthy successor to number +one. I will send it as soon as finished." Then, +a little later: "Browne is certainly interesting himself, +and taking pains. I think the cover very good: perhaps +with a little too much in it, but that is an ungrateful +objection." The second week of September brought +me the finished MS. of number two; and his letter of +the 3rd of October, noticing objections taken to it, +gives additional touches to this picture of him while at +work. The matter that engages him is one of his masterpieces. +There is nothing in all his writings more +perfect, for what it shows of his best qualities, than +the life and death of Paul Dombey. The comedy is +admirable; nothing strained, everything hearty and +wholesome in the laughter and fun; all who contribute +to the mirth, Doctor Blimber and his pupils, Mr. Toots, +the Chicks and the Toodles, Miss Tox and the Major, +Paul and Mrs. Pipchin, up to his highest mark; and +the serious scenes never falling short of it, from the +death of Paul's mother in the first number, to that of +Paul himself in the fifth, which, as a writer of genius<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_352" id="Page_2_352">[352]</a></span> +with hardly exaggeration said, threw a whole nation +into mourning. But see how eagerly this fine writer +takes every suggestion, how little of self-esteem and +self-sufficiency there is, with what a consciousness of +the tendency of his humour to exuberance he surrenders +what is needful to restrain it, and of what small +account to him is any special piece of work in his care +and his considerateness for the general design. I +think of Ben Jonson's experience of the greatest of all +writers. "He was indeed honest, and of an open and +free nature; had an excellent phantasy, brave notions +and gentle expressions; wherein he flowed with that +facility, that sometimes it was necessary he should be +stopped." Who it was that stopped <i>him</i>, and the ease +of doing it, no one will doubt. Whether he, as well +as the writer of later time, might not with more advantage +have been left alone, will be the only question.</p> + +<p>Thus ran the letter of the 3rd of October: "Miss +Tox's colony I will smash. Walter's allusion to Carker +(would you take it <i>all</i> out?) shall be dele'd. Of course, +you understand the man! I turned that speech over in +my mind; but I thought it natural that a boy should +run on, with such a subject, under the circumstances: +having the matter so presented to him. . . . I thought +of the possibility of malice on christening points of +faith, and put the drag on as I wrote. Where would +you make the insertion, and to what effect? <i>That</i> +shall be done too. I want you to think the number +sufficiently good stoutly to back up the first. It occurs +to me—might not your doubt about the christening be +a reason for not making the ceremony the subject of an +illustration? Just turn this over. Again: if I could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_353" id="Page_2_353">[353]</a></span> +do it (I shall have leisure to consider the possibility +before I begin), do you think it would be advisable to +make number three a kind of half-way house between +Paul's infancy, and his being eight or nine years old?—In +that case I should probably not kill him until the +fifth number. Do you think the people so likely to be +pleased with Florence, and Walter, as to relish another +number of them at their present age? Otherwise, +Walter will be two or three and twenty, straightway. +I wish you would think of this. . . . I am sure you are +right about the christening. It shall be artfully and +easily amended. . . . Eh?"</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, two days before this letter, his first number +had been launched with a sale that transcended his +hopes and brought back <i>Nickleby</i> days. The <i>Dombey</i> +success "is <span class="smcap">brilliant</span>!" he wrote to me on the 11th. +"I had put before me thirty thousand as the limit of +the most extreme success, saying that if we should +reach that, I should be more than satisfied and more +than happy; you will judge how happy I am! I read +the second number here last night to the most prodigious +and uproarious delight of the circle. I never +saw or heard people laugh so. You will allow me to +observe that my reading of the Major has merit." +What a valley of the shadow he had just been passing, +in his journey through his Christmas book, has before +been told; but always, and with only too much eagerness, +he sprang up under pressure. "A week of perfect +idleness," he wrote to me on the 26th, "has brought +me round again—idleness so rusting and devouring, so +complete and unbroken, that I am quite glad to write +the heading of the first chapter of number three to-day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_354" id="Page_2_354">[354]</a></span> +I shall be slow at first, I fear, in consequence +of that change of the plan. But I allow myself nearly +three weeks for the number; designing, at present, to +start for Paris on the 16th of November. Full particulars +in future bills. Just going to bed. I think +I can make a good effect, on the after story, of the +feeling created by the additional number before Paul's +death." . . . Five more days confirmed him in this hope. +"I am at work at <i>Dombey</i> with good speed, thank +God. All well here. Country stupendously beautiful. +Mountains covered with snow. Rich, crisp weather." +There was one drawback. The second number had +gone out to him, and the illustrations he found to +be so "dreadfully bad" that they made him "curl +his legs up." They made him also more than usually +anxious in regard to a special illustration on which he +set much store, for the part he had in hand.</p> + +<p>The first chapter of it was sent me only four days +later (nearly half the entire part, so freely his fancy +was now flowing and overflowing), with intimation for +the artist: "The best subject for Browne will be at +Mrs. Pipchin's; and if he liked to do a quiet odd +thing, Paul, Mrs. Pipchin, and the Cat, by the fire, +would be very good for the story. I earnestly hope +he will think it worth a little extra care. The second +subject, in case he shouldn't take a second from that +same chapter, I will shortly describe as soon as I have +it clearly (to-morrow or next day), and send it to <i>you</i> +by post." The result was not satisfactory; but as the +artist more than redeemed it in the later course of the +tale, and the present disappointment was mainly the +incentive to that better success, the mention of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_355" id="Page_2_355">[355]</a></span> +failure here will be excused for what it illustrates of +Dickens himself. "I am really <i>distressed</i> by the illustration +of Mrs. Pipchin and Paul. It is so frightfully +and wildly wide of the mark. Good Heaven! in the +commonest and most literal construction of the text, +it is all wrong. She is described as an old lady, and +Paul's 'miniature arm-chair' is mentioned more than +once. He ought to be sitting in a little arm-chair +down in the corner of the fireplace, staring up at her. +I can't say what pain and vexation it is to be so utterly +misrepresented. I would cheerfully have given a hundred +pounds to have kept this illustration out of the +book. He never could have got that idea of Mrs. +Pipchin if he had attended to the text. Indeed I +think he does better without the text; for then the +notion is made easy to him in short description, and +he can't help taking it in."</p> + +<p>He felt the disappointment more keenly, because the +conception of the grim old boarding-house keeper had +taken back his thoughts to the miseries of his own child-life, +and made her, as her prototype in verity was, a +part of the terrible reality.<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> I had forgotten, until I +again read this letter of the 4th of November 1846, that +he thus early proposed to tell me that story of his boyish +sufferings which a question from myself, of some +months later date, so fully elicited. He was now hastening +on with the close of his third number, to be ready +for departure to Paris.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_356" id="Page_2_356">[356]</a></span></p> +<p>". . . I hope to finish the number by next Tuesday +or Wednesday. It is hard writing under these bird-of-passage +circumstances, but I have no reason to complain, +God knows, having come to no knot yet. . . . I +hope you will like Mrs. Pipchin's establishment. It is +from the life, and I was there—I don't suppose I was +eight years old; but I remember it all as well, and certainly +understood it as well, as I do now. We should +be devilish sharp in what we do to children. I thought +of that passage in my small life, at Geneva. <i>Shall I leave +you my life in MS. when I die? There are some things in +it that would touch you very much, and that might go +on the same shelf with the first volume of Holcroft's.</i>"</p> + +<p>On the Monday week after that was written he left +Lausanne for Paris, and my first letter to him there was +to say that he had overwritten his number by three +pages. "I have taken out about two pages and a half," +he wrote by return from the hotel Brighton, "and the +rest I must ask you to take out with the assurance that +you will satisfy me in whatever you do. The sale, prodigious +indeed! I am very thankful." Next day he +wrote as to Walter. "I see it will be best as you +advise, to give that idea up; and indeed I don't feel it +would be reasonable to carry it out now. I am far from +sure it could be wholesomely done, after the interest he +has acquired. But when I have disposed of Paul (poor +boy!) I will consider the subject farther." The subject +was never resumed. He was at the opening of his admirable +fourth part, when, on the 6th of December, he +wrote from the Rue de Courcelles: "Here am I, writing +letters, and delivering opinions, politico-economical +and otherwise, as if there were no undone number,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_357" id="Page_2_357">[357]</a></span> +and no undone Dick! Well. Cosi va il mondo (God +bless me! Italian! I beg your pardon)—and one +must keep one's spirits up, if possible, even under <i>Dombey</i> +pressure. Paul, I shall slaughter at the end of +number five. His school ought to be pretty good, but +I haven't been able to dash at it freely, yet. However, +I have avoided unnecessary dialogue so far, to avoid +overwriting; and all I <i>have</i> written is point."</p> + +<p>And so, in "point," it went to the close; the rich +humour of its picture of Doctor Blimber and his pupils +alternating with the quaint pathos of its picture of little +Paul; the first a good-natured exposure of the forcing-system +and its fruits, as useful as the sterner revelation in +<i>Nickleby</i> of the atrocities of Mr. Squeers, and the last +even less attractive for the sweetness and sadness of its +foreshadowing of a child's death, than for those strange +images of a vague, deep thoughtfulness, of a shrewd unconscious +intellect, of mysterious small philosophies and +questionings, by which the young old-fashioned little +creature has a glamour thrown over him as he is passing +away. It was wonderfully original, this treatment of the +part that thus preceded the close of Paul's little life; and +of which the first conception, as I have shown, was an +afterthought. It quite took the death itself out of the +region of pathetic commonplaces, and gave to it the +proper relation to the sorrow of the little sister that survives +it. It is a fairy vision to a piece of actual suffering; +a sorrow with heaven's hues upon it, to a sorrow +with all the bitterness of earth.</p> + +<p>The number had been finished, he had made his +visit to London, and was again in the Rue de Courcelles, +when on Christmas day he sent me its hearty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_358" id="Page_2_358">[358]</a></span> +old wishes, and a letter of Jeffrey's on his new story of +which the first and second part had reached him. +"Many merry Christmases, many happy new years, +unbroken friendship, great accumulation of cheerful +recollections, affection on earth, and Heaven at last! . . . +Is it not a strange example of the hazard of writing +in parts, that a man like Jeffrey should form his notion +of Dombey and Miss Tox on three months' knowledge? +I have asked him the same question, and advised him +to keep his eye on both of them as time rolls on.<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_359" id="Page_2_359">[359]</a></span> +do not at heart, however, lay much real stress on his +opinion, though one is naturally proud of awakening +such sincere interest in the breast of an old man who +has so long worn the blue and yellow. . . . He certainly +did some service in his old criticisms, especially +to Crabbe. And though I don't think so highly of +Crabbe as I once did (feeling a dreary want of fancy +in his poems), I think he deserved the pains-taking +and conscientious tracking with which Jeffrey followed +him". . . . Six days later he described himself sitting +down to the performance of one of his greatest achievements, +his number five, "most abominably dull and +stupid. I have only written a slip, but I hope to get to +work in strong earnest to-morrow. It occurred to me +on special reflection, that the first chapter should be +with Paul and Florence, and that it should leave a +pleasant impression of the little fellow being happy, +before the reader is called upon to see him die. I mean +to have a genteel breaking-up at Doctor Blimber's +therefore, for the Midsummer vacation; and to show +him in a little quiet light (now dawning through the +chinks of my mind), which I hope will create an agreeable +impression." Then, two days later: ". . . I am +working very slowly. You will see in the first two or +three lines of the enclosed first subject, with what idea +I am ploughing along. It is difficult; but a new way +of doing it, it strikes me, and likely to be pretty."</p> + +<p>And then, after three days more, came something of +a damper to his spirits, as he thus toiled along. He +saw public allusion made to a review that had appeared +in the <i>Times</i> of his Christmas book, and it momentarily +touched what he too truly called his morbid susceptibility<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_360" id="Page_2_360">[360]</a></span> +to exasperation. "I see that the 'good old +Times' are again at issue with the inimitable B. +Another touch of a blunt razor on B.'s nervous system.—Friday +morning. Inimitable very mouldy and dull. +Hardly able to work. Dreamed of <i>Timeses</i> all night. +Disposed to go to New Zealand and start a magazine." +But soon he sprang up, as usual, more erect for the +moment's pressure; and after not many days I heard +that the number was as good as done. His letter was +very brief, and told me that he had worked so hard the +day before (Tuesday, the 12th of January), and so incessantly, +night as well as morning, that he had breakfasted +and lain in bed till midday. "I hope I have +been very successful." There was but one small chapter +more to write, in which he and his little friend were +to part company for ever; and the greater part of the +night of the day on which it was written, Thursday the +14th, he was wandering desolate and sad about the +streets of Paris. I arrived there the following morning +on my visit; and as I alighted from the malle-poste, +a little before eight o'clock, found him waiting +for me at the gate of the post-office bureau.</p> + +<p>I left him on the 2nd of February with his writing-table +in readiness for number six; but on the 4th, enclosing +me subjects for illustration, he told me he was +"not under weigh yet. Can't begin." Then, on the +7th, his birthday, he wrote to warn me he should be +late. "Could not begin before Thursday last, and +find it very difficult indeed to fall into the new vein of +the story. I see no hope of finishing before the 16th +at the earliest, in which case the steam will have to be +put on for this short month. But it can't be helped.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_361" id="Page_2_361">[361]</a></span> +Perhaps I shall get a rush of inspiration. . . . I will +send the chapters as I write them, and you must not +wait, of course, for me to read the end in type. To +transfer to Florence, instantly, all the previous interest, +is what I am aiming at. For that, all sorts of other +points must be thrown aside in this number. . . . We +are going to dine again at the Embassy to-day—with +a very ill will on my part. All well. I hope when I +write next I shall report myself in better cue. . . . I +have had a tremendous outpouring from Jeffrey about +the last part, which he thinks the best thing past, +present, or to come."<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> Three more days and I had +the MS. of the completed chapter, nearly half the +number (in which as printed it stands second, the small +middle chapter having been transposed to its place). +"I have taken the most prodigious pains with it; the +difficulty, immediately after Paul's death, being very +great. May you like it! My head aches over it now +(I write at one o'clock in the morning), and I am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_362" id="Page_2_362">[362]</a></span> +strange to it. . . . I think I shall manage Dombey's +second wife (introduced by the Major), and the beginning +of that business in his present state of mind, very +naturally and well. . . . Paul's death has amazed Paris. +All sorts of people are open-mouthed with admiration. . . . +When I have done, I'll write you <i>such</i> a letter! +Don't cut me short in your letters just now, because +I'm working hard. . . . <i>I</i>'ll make up. . . . Snow—snow—snow—a +foot thick." The day after this, came the +brief chapter which was printed as the first; and then, +on the 16th, which he had fixed as his limit for completion, +the close reached me; but I had meanwhile +sent him out so much of the proof as convinced him +that he had underwritten his number by at least two +pages, and determined him to come to London. The +incident has been told which soon after closed his residence +abroad, and what remained of his story was +written in England.</p> + +<p>I shall not farther dwell upon it in any detail. It +extended over the whole of the year; and the interest +and passion of it, when to himself both became centred +in Florence and in Edith Dombey, took stronger hold +of him, and more powerfully affected him, than had +been the case in any of his previous writings, I think, +excepting only the close of the <i>Old Curiosity Shop</i>. +Jeffrey compared Florence to little Nell, but the differences +from the outset are very marked, and it is rather +in what disunites or separates them that we seem to +find the purpose aimed at. If the one, amid much +strange and grotesque violence surrounding her, expresses +the innocent, unconsciousness of childhood to +such rough ways of the world, passing unscathed as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_363" id="Page_2_363">[363]</a></span> +Una to her home beyond it, the other is this character +in action and resistance, a brave young resolute heart +that will <i>not</i> be crushed, and neither sinks nor yields, +but from earth's roughest trials works out her own redemption +even here. Of Edith from the first Jeffrey +judged more rightly; and, when the story was nearly +half done, expressed his opinion about her, and about +the book itself, in language that pleased Dickens for +the special reason that at the time this part of the book +had seemed to many to have fallen greatly short of the +splendour of its opening. Jeffrey said however quite +truly, claiming to be heard with authority as his "Critic-laureate," +that of all his writings it was perhaps the +most finished in diction, and that it equalled the best +in the delicacy and fineness of its touches, "while it +rises to higher and deeper passions, not resting, like +most of the former, in sweet thoughtfulness, and thrilling +and attractive tenderness, but boldly wielding all +the lofty and terrible elements of tragedy, and bringing +before us the appalling struggles of a proud, scornful, +and repentant spirit." Not that she was exactly +this. Edith's worst qualities are but the perversion of +what should have been her best. A false education in +her, and a tyrant passion in her husband, make them +other than Nature meant; and both show how life may +run its evil course against the higher dispensations.</p> + +<p>As the catastrophe came in view, a nice point in the +management of her character and destiny arose. I +quote from a letter of the 19th of November, when he +was busy with his fourteenth part. "Of course she +hates Carker in the most deadly degree. I have not +elaborated that, now, because (as I was explaining to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_364" id="Page_2_364">[364]</a></span> +Browne the other day) I have relied on it very much +for the effect of her death. But I have no question +that what you suggest will be an improvement. The +strongest place to put it in, would be the close of the +chapter immediately before this last one. I want to +make the two first chapters as light as I can, but I will +try to do it, solemnly, in that place." Then came the +effect of this fourteenth number on Jeffrey; raising the +question of whether the end might not come by other +means than her death, and bringing with it a more +bitter humiliation for her destroyer. While engaged +on the fifteenth (21st December) Dickens thus wrote +to me: "I am thoroughly delighted that you like what +I sent. I enclose designs. Shadow-plate, poor. But +I think Mr. Dombey admirable. One of the prettiest +things in the book ought to be at the end of the chapter +I am writing now. But in Florence's marriage, and +in her subsequent return to her father, I see a brilliant +opportunity. . . . Note from Jeffrey this morning, who +won't believe (positively refuses) that Edith is Carker's +mistress. What do you think of a kind of inverted +Maid's Tragedy, and a tremendous scene of her undeceiving +Carker, and giving him to know that she never +meant that?" So it was done; and when he sent me +the chapter in which Edith says adieu to Florence, I +had nothing but praise and pleasure to express. "I +need not say," he wrote in reply, "I can't, how delighted +and overjoyed I am by what you say and feel +of it. I propose to show Dombey <i>twice</i> more; and in +the end, leave him exactly as you describe." The end +came; and, at the last moment when correction was +possible, this note arrived. "I suddenly remember<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_365" id="Page_2_365">[365]</a></span> +that I have forgotten Diogenes. Will you put him in the +last little chapter? After the word 'favourite' in reference +to Miss Tox, you can add, 'except with Diogenes, +who is growing old and wilful.' Or, on the last page of +all, after 'and with them two children: boy and girl' (I +quote from memory), you might say 'and an old dog +is generally in their company,' or to that effect. Just +what you think best."</p> + +<p>That was on Saturday the 25th of March, 1848, and +may be my last reference to <i>Dombey</i> until the book, in +its place with the rest, finds critical allusion when I +close. But as the confidences revealed in this chapter +have dealt wholly with the leading currents of interest, +there is yet room for a word on incidental persons in +the story, of whom I have seen other so-called confidences +alleged which it will be only right to state have +really no authority. And first let me say what unquestionable +evidence these characters give of the unimpaired +freshness, richness, variety, and fitness of Dickens's +invention at this time. Glorious Captain Cuttle, +laying his head to the wind and fighting through everything; +his friend Jack Bunsby,<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> with a head too ponderous +to lay-to, and so falling victim to the inveterate +MacStinger; good-hearted, modest, considerate Toots, +whose brains rapidly go as his whiskers come, but who +yet gets back from contact with the world, in his +shambling way, some fragments of the sense pumped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_366" id="Page_2_366">[366]</a></span> +out of him by the forcing Blimbers; breathless Susan +Nipper, beaming Polly Toodle, the plaintive Wickham, +and the awful Pipchin, each with her duty in the +starched Dombey household so nicely appointed as to +seem born for only that; simple thoughtful old Gills +and his hearty young lad of a nephew; Mr. Toodle +and his children, with the charitable grinder's decline +and fall; Miss Tox, obsequious flatterer from nothing +but good-nature; spectacled and analytic, but not +unkind Miss Blimber; and the good droning dull benevolent +Doctor himself, withering even the fruits of +his well-spread dinner-table with his <i>It is remarkable, +Mr. Feeder, that the Romans</i>—"at the mention of +which terrible people, their implacable enemies, every +young gentleman fastened his gaze upon the Doctor, +with an assumption of the deepest interest." So vivid +and life-like were all these people, to the very youngest +of the young gentlemen, that it became natural eagerly +to seek out for them actual prototypes; but I think I +can say with some confidence of them all, that, whatever +single traits may have been taken from persons +known to him (a practice with all writers, and very +specially with Dickens), only two had living originals. +His own experience of Mrs. Pipchin has been related; +I had myself some knowledge of Miss Blimber; and +the Little Wooden Midshipman did actually (perhaps +does still) occupy his post of observation in Leadenhall-street. +The names that have been connected, I doubt +not in perfect good faith, with Sol Gills, Perch the +messenger, and Captain Cuttle, have certainly not more +foundation than the fancy a courteous correspondent +favours me with, that the redoubtable Captain must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_367" id="Page_2_367">[367]</a></span> +have sat for his portrait to Charles Lamb's blustering, +loud-talking, hook-handed Mr. Mingay. As to the +amiable and excellent city-merchant whose name has +been given to Mr. Dombey, he might with the same +amount of justice or probability be supposed to have +originated <i>Coriolanus</i> or <i>Timon of Athens</i>.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_368" id="Page_2_368">[368]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>SPLENDID STROLLING.</h3> + +<h3>1847-1852.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Birth of Fifth Son—Theatrical Benefit for Leigh Hunt—Troubles at +Rehearsals—Leigh Hunt's Account—Receipts and Expenses—Anecdote +of Macready—At Broadstairs—Appearance of Mrs. Gamp—Fancy +for a Jeu-d'esprit—Mrs. Gamp at the Play—Mrs. Gamp with +the Strollers—Confidences with Mrs. Harris—Leigh Hunt and +Poole—Ticklish Society—Mrs. Gamp's Cabman—George Cruikshank—Mr. +Wilson the Hair-dresser—In the Sweedlepipes Line—Fatigues +of a Powder Ball—C. D.'s Moustache and Whiskers—John +Leech—Mark Lemon—Douglas Jerrold—Dudley Costello—Frank +Stone—Augustus Egg—J. F.—Cruikshank's <i>Bottle</i>—Profits of <i>Dombey</i>—Design +for Edition of Old Novelists—Street-music at Broadstairs—Margate +Theatre—Public Meetings—Book Friends—Friendly +Reception in Glasgow—Scott-monument—Purchase of +Shakespeare's House—Amateur Theatricals—Origin of Guild of +Literature and Art—Travelling Theatre and Scenes—Success of +Comedy and Farce—Troubles of a Manager—Acting under Difficulties—Scenery +overturned—Dinner at Manchester.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Devonshire Terrace</span> remaining still in possession +of Sir James Duke, a house was taken in Chester-place, +Regent's-park, where, on the 18th of April, his fifth +son, to whom he gave the name of Sydney Smith +Haldimand, was born.<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> Exactly a month before, we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_369" id="Page_2_369">[369]</a></span> +had attended together the funeral, at Highgate, of his +publisher Mr. William Hall, his old regard for whom +had survived the recent temporary cloud, and with +whom he had the association as well of his first success, +as of much kindly intercourse not forgotten at +this sad time. Of the summer months that followed, +the greater part was passed by him at Brighton or +Broadstairs; and the chief employment of his leisure, +in the intervals of <i>Dombey</i>, was the management of an +enterprise originating in the success of our private +play, of which the design was to benefit a great man +of letters.</p> + +<p>The purpose and the name had hardly been announced, +when, with the statesmanlike attention to +literature and its followers for which Lord John Russell +has been eccentric among English politicians, a civil-list +pension of two hundred a year was granted to +Leigh Hunt; but though this modified our plan so far +as to strike out of it performances meant to be given +in London, so much was still thought necessary as +might clear off past liabilities, and enable one of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_370" id="Page_2_370">[370]</a></span> +most genuine of writers better to enjoy the easier +future that had at last been opened to him. Reserving +therefore anything realized beyond a certain sum for +a dramatic author of merit, Mr. John Poole, to whom +help had become also important, it was proposed +to give, on Leigh Hunt's behalf, two representations +of Ben Jonson's comedy, one at Manchester and the +other at Liverpool, to be varied by different farces in +each place; and with a prologue of Talfourd's which +Dickens was to deliver in Manchester, while a similar +address by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton was to be spoken +by me in Liverpool. Among the artists and writers +associated in the scheme were Mr. Frank Stone, Mr. +Augustus Egg, Mr. John Leech, and Mr. George +Cruikshank; Mr. Douglas Jerrold, Mr. Mark Lemon, +Mr. Dudley Costello, and Mr. George Henry Lewes; +the general management and supreme control being +given to Dickens.</p> + +<p>Leading men in both cities contributed largely to the +design, and my friend Mr. Alexander Ireland of Manchester +has lately sent me some letters not more characteristic +of the energy of Dickens in regard to it than of +the eagerness of every one addressed to give what help +they could. Making personal mention of his fellow-sharers +in the enterprise he describes the troop, in one +of those letters, as "the most easily governable company +of actors on earth;" and to this he had doubtless +brought them, but not very easily. One or two of his +managerial troubles at rehearsals remain on record in +letters to myself, and may give amusement still. Comedy +and farces are referred to indiscriminately, but the +farces were the most recurring plague. "Good Heaven!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_371" id="Page_2_371">[371]</a></span> +I find that A. hasn't twelve words, and I am in hourly +expectation of rebellion!"—"You were right about +the green baize, that it would certainly muffle the +voices; and some of our actors, by Jove, haven't too +much of that commodity at the best."—"B. shocked +me so much the other night by a restless, stupid movement +of his hands in his first scene with you, that I +took a turn of an hour with him yesterday morning, +and I hope quieted his nerves a little."—"I made a desperate +effort to get C. to give up his part. Yet in spite +of all the trouble he gives me I am sorry for him, he is +so evidently hurt by his own sense of not doing well. +He clutched the part, however, tenaciously; and three +weary times we dragged through it last night."—"That +infernal E. forgets everything."—"I plainly see that +F. when nervous, which he is sure to be, loses his memory. +Moreover his asides are inaudible, even at Miss +Kelly's; and as regularly as I stop him to say them +again, he exclaims (with a face of agony) that 'he'll +speak loud on the night,' as if anybody ever did without +doing it always!"—"G. not born for it at all, and +too innately conceited, I much fear, to do anything +well. I thought him better last night, but I would as +soon laugh at a kitchen poker."—"Fancy H. ten days +after the casting of that farce, wanting F.'s part therein! +Having himself an excellent old man in it already, and a +quite admirable part in the other farce." From which +it will appear that my friend's office was not a sinecure, +and that he was not, as few amateur-managers have ever +been, without the experiences of Peter Quince. Fewer +still, I suspect, have fought through them with such +perfect success, for the company turned out at last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_372" id="Page_2_372">[372]</a></span> +would have done credit to any enterprise. They deserved +the term applied to them by Maclise, who had +invented it first for Macready, on his being driven +to "star" in the provinces when his managements +in London closed. They were "splendid strollers."<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_373" id="Page_2_373">[373]</a></span></p> +<p>On Monday the 26th July we played at Manchester, +and on Wednesday the 28th at Liverpool; the comedy +being followed on the first night by <i>A Good Night's +Rest</i> and <i>Turning the Tables</i>, and on the second by +<i>Comfortable Lodgings, or Paris in 1750;</i> and the receipts +being, on the first night £440 12<i>s</i>, and on the +second, £463 8<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> But though the married members +of the company who took their wives defrayed +that part of the cost, and every one who acted paid +three pounds ten to the benefit-fund for his hotel +charges, the expenses were necessarily so great that the +profit was reduced to four hundred guineas, and, handsomely +as this realised the design, expectations had +been raised to five hundred. There was just that shade<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_374" id="Page_2_374">[374]</a></span> +of disappointment, therefore, when, shortly after we +came back and Dickens had returned to Broadstairs, I +was startled by a letter from him. On the 3rd of August +he had written: "All well. Children" (who had +been going through whooping cough) "immensely improved. +Business arising out of the late blaze of +triumph, worse than ever." Then came what startled +me, the very next day. As if his business were not +enough, it had occurred to him that he might add the +much longed-for hundred pounds to the benefit-fund +by a little jeu d'esprit in form of a history of the trip, +to be published with illustrations from the artists; and +his notion was to write it in the character of Mrs. +Gamp. It was to be, in the phraseology of that +notorious woman, a new "Piljians Projiss;" and was +to bear upon the title page its description as an Account +of a late Expedition into the North, for an +Amateur Theatrical Benefit, written by Mrs. Gamp +(who was an eye-witness), Inscribed to Mrs. Harris, +Edited by Charles Dickens, and published, with illustrations +on wood by so and so, in aid of the Benefit-fund. +"What do you think of this idea for it? The +argument would be, that Mrs. Gamp, being on the eve +of an excursion to Margate as a relief from her professional +fatigues, comes to the knowledge of the intended +excursion of our party; hears that several of the ladies +concerned are in an interesting situation; and decides +to accompany the party unbeknown, in a second-class +carriage—'in case.' There, she finds a gentleman +from the Strand in a checked suit, who is going down +with the wigs"—the theatrical hair-dresser employed on +these occasions, Mr. Wilson, had eccentric points of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_375" id="Page_2_375">[375]</a></span> +character that were a fund of infinite mirth to Dickens—"and +to his politeness Mrs. Gamp is indebted for much +support and countenance during the excursion. She +will describe the whole thing in her own manner: sitting, +in each place of performance, in the orchestra, +next the gentleman who plays the kettle-drums. She +gives her critical opinion of Ben Jonson as a literary +character, and refers to the different members of the +party, in the course of her description of the trip: having +always an invincible animosity towards Jerrold, for +Caudle reasons. She addresses herself, generally, to +Mrs. Harris, to whom the book is dedicated,—but is +discursive. Amount of matter, half a sheet of <i>Dombey:</i> +may be a page or so more, but not less." Alas! it +never arrived at even that small size, but perished prematurely, +as I feared it would, from failure of the +artists to furnish needful nourishment. Of course it +could not live alone. Without suitable illustration it +must have lost its point and pleasantry. "Mac will +make a little garland of the ladies for the title-page. +Egg and Stone will themselves originate something +fanciful, and I will settle with Cruikshank and Leech. +I have no doubt the little thing will be droll and +attractive." So it certainly would have been, if the +Thanes of art had not fallen from him; but on their +desertion it had to be abandoned after the first few +pages were written. They were placed at my disposal +then; and, though the little jest has lost much of its +flavour now, I cannot find it in my heart to omit them +here. There are so many friends of Mrs. Gamp who +will rejoice at this unexpected visit from her!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_376" id="Page_2_376">[376]</a></span></p> + +<div class='blockquot'> +<div class='center'><br />"I. MRS. GAMP'S ACCOUNT OF HER CONNEXION WITH +THIS AFFAIR.</div> + +<p>"Which Mrs. Harris's own words to me, was these: +'Sairey Gamp,' she says, 'why not go to Margate? +Srimps,' says that dear creetur, 'is to your liking, +Sairey; why not go to Margate for a week, bring your +constitootion up with srimps, and come back to them +loving arts as knows and wallies of you, blooming? +Sairey,' Mrs. Harris says, 'you are but poorly. Don't +denige it, Mrs. Gamp, for books is in your looks. You +must have rest. Your mind,' she says, 'is too strong +for you; it gets you down and treads upon you, Sairey. +It is useless to disguige the fact—the blade is a wearing +out the sheets.' 'Mrs. Harris,' I says to her, 'I +could not undertake to say, and I will not deceive you +ma'am, that I am the woman I could wish to be. The +time of worrit as I had with Mrs. Colliber, the baker's +lady, which was so bad in her mind with her first, that +she would not so much as look at bottled stout, and +kept to gruel through the month, has agued me, Mrs. +Harris. But ma'am,' I says to her, 'talk not of Margate, +for if I do go anywheres, it is elsewheres and not +there.' 'Sairey,' says Mrs. Harris, solemn, 'whence +this mystery? If I have ever deceived the hardest-working, +soberest, and best of women, which her name +is well beknown is S. Gamp Midwife Kingsgate Street +High Holborn, mention it. If not,' says Mrs. Harris, +with the tears a standing in her eyes, 'reweal your intentions.' +'Yes, Mrs. Harris,' I says, 'I will. Well +I knows you Mrs. Harris; well you knows me; well we +both knows wot the characters of one another is. Mrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_377" id="Page_2_377">[377]</a></span> +Harris then,' I says, 'I <i>have</i> heerd as there <i>is</i> a expedition +going down to Manjestir and Liverspool, a play-acting. +If I goes anywheres for change, it is along +with that.' Mrs. Harris clasps her hands, and drops +into a chair, as if her time was come—which I know'd +it couldn't be, by rights, for six weeks odd. 'And +have I lived to hear,' she says, 'of Sairey Gamp, as +always kept hersef respectable, in company with play-actors!' +'Mrs. Harris,' I says to her, 'be not alarmed—not +reg'lar play-actors—hammertoors.' 'Thank +Evans!' says Mrs. Harris, and bustiges into a flood of +tears.</p> + +<p>"When the sweet creetur had compoged hersef +(which a sip of brandy and water warm, and sugared +pleasant, with a little nutmeg did it), I proceeds in +these words. 'Mrs. Harris, I am told as these hammertoors +are litter'ry and artistickle.' 'Sairey,' says +that best of wimmin, with a shiver and a slight relasp, +'go on, it might be worse.' 'I likewise hears,' I says +to her, 'that they're agoin play-acting, for the benefit +of two litter'ry men; one as has had his wrongs a long +time ago, and has got his rights at last, and one as has +made a many people merry in his time, but is very dull +and sick and lonely his own sef, indeed.' 'Sairey,' +says Mrs. Harris, 'you're an Inglish woman, and that's +no business of you'rn.'</p> + +<p>"'No, Mrs. Harris,' I says, 'that's very true; I +hope I knows my dooty and my country. But,' I says, +'I am informed as there is Ladies in this party, and +that half a dozen of 'em, if not more, is in various +stages of a interesting state. Mrs. Harris, you and me +well knows what Ingeins often does. If I accompanies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_378" id="Page_2_378">[378]</a></span> +this expedition, unbeknown and second cladge, may I +not combine my calling with change of air, and prove +a service to my feller creeturs?' 'Sairey,' was Mrs. +Harris's reply, 'you was born to be a blessing to your +sex, and bring 'em through it. Good go with you! +But keep your distance till called in, Lord bless you +Mrs. Gamp; for people is known by the company they +keeps, and litterary and artistickle society might be the +ruin of you before you was aware, with your best customers, +both sick and monthly, if they took a pride in +themselves.'</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />"II. MRS. GAMP IS DESCRIPTIVE.</div> + +<p>"The number of the cab had a seven in it I think, +and a ought I know—and if this should meet his eye +(which it was a black 'un, new done, that he saw with; +the other was tied up), I give him warning that he'd +better take that umbereller and patten to the Hackney-coach +Office before he repents it. He was a young man +in a weskit with sleeves to it and strings behind, and +needn't flatter himsef with a suppogition of escape, as +I gave this description of him to the Police the moment +I found he had drove off with my property; and if he +thinks there an't laws enough he's much mistook—I +tell him that:</p> + +<p>"I do assure you, Mrs. Harris, when I stood in the +railways office that morning with my bundle on my +arm and one patten in my hand, you might have +knocked me down with a feather, far less porkmangers +which was a lumping against me, continual and sewere +all round. I was drove about like a brute animal and +almost worritted into fits, when a gentleman with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_379" id="Page_2_379">[379]</a></span> +large shirt-collar and a hook nose, and a eye like one +of Mr. Sweedlepipes's hawks, and long locks of hair, +and wiskers that I wouldn't have no lady as I was engaged +to meet suddenly a turning round a corner, for +any sum of money you could offer me, says, laughing, +'Halloa, Mrs. Gamp, what are <i>you</i> up to!' I didn't +know him from a man (except by his clothes); but I +says faintly, 'If you're a Christian man, show me where +to get a second-cladge ticket for Manjester, and have +me put in a carriage, or I shall drop!' Which he +kindly did, in a cheerful kind of a way, skipping about +in the strangest manner as ever I see, making all kinds +of actions, and looking and vinking at me from under +the brim of his hat (which was a good deal turned up), +to that extent, that I should have thought he meant +something but for being so flurried as not to have no +thoughts at all until I was put in a carriage along with +a individgle—the politest as ever I see—in a shepherd's +plaid suit with a long gold watch-guard hanging round +his neck, and his hand a trembling through nervousness +worse than a aspian leaf.</p> + +<p>"'I'm wery appy, ma'am,' he says—the politest vice +as ever I heerd!—'to go down with a lady belonging +to our party.'</p> + +<p>"'Our party, sir!' I says.</p> + +<p>"'Yes, m'am,' he says, 'I'm Mr. Wilson. I'm +going down with the wigs.'</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Harris, wen he said he was agoing down with +the wigs, such was my state of confugion and worrit +that I thought he must be connected with the Government +in some ways or another, but directly moment he +explains himsef, for he says:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_380" id="Page_2_380">[380]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'There's not a theatre in London worth mentioning +that I don't attend punctually. There's five-and-twenty +wigs in these boxes, ma'am,' he says, a pinting +towards a heap of luggage, 'as was worn at the Queen's +Fancy Ball. There's a black wig, ma'am,' he says, 'as +was worn by Garrick; there's a red one, ma'am,' he +says, 'as was worn by Kean; there's a brown one, +ma'am,' he says, 'as was worn by Kemble; there's a +yellow one, ma'am,' he says, 'as was made for Cooke; +there's a grey one, ma'am,' he says, 'as I measured +Mr. Young for, mysef; and there's a white one, ma'am, +that Mr. Macready went mad in. There's a flaxen one +as was got up express for Jenny Lind the night she +came out at the Italian Opera. It was very much applauded +was that wig, ma'am, through the evening. It +had a great reception. The audience broke out, the +moment they see it.'</p> + +<p>"'Are you in Mr. Sweedlepipes's line, sir?' I says.</p> + +<p>"'Which is that, ma'am?' he says—the softest and +genteelest vice I ever heerd, I do declare, Mrs. Harris!</p> + +<p>"'Hair-dressing,' I says.</p> + +<p>"'Yes, ma'am,' he replies, 'I have that honour. Do +you see this, ma'am?' he says, holding up his right hand.</p> + +<p>"'I never see such a trembling,' I says to him. +And I never did!</p> + +<p>"'All along of Her Majesty's Costume Ball, ma'am,' +he says. 'The excitement did it. Two hundred and +fifty-seven ladies of the first rank and fashion had their +heads got up on that occasion by this hand, and my +t'other one. I was at it eight-and-forty hours on my +feet, ma'am, without rest. It was a Powder ball, +ma'am. We have a Powder piece at Liverpool. Have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_381" id="Page_2_381">[381]</a></span> +I not the pleasure,' he says, looking at me curious, 'of +addressing Mrs. Gamp?'</p> + +<p>"'Gamp I am, sir,' I replies. 'Both by name and +natur.'</p> + +<p>"'Would you like to see your beeograffer's moustache +and wiskers, ma'am?' he says. 'I've got 'em +in this box.'</p> + +<p>"'Drat my beeograffer, sir,' I says, 'he has given +me no region to wish to know anythink about him.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, Missus Gamp, I ask your parden'—I never +see such a polite man, Mrs. Harris! 'P'raps,' he +says, 'if you're not of the party, you don't know who +it was that assisted you into this carriage!'</p> + +<p>"'No, Sir,' I says, 'I don't, indeed.'</p> + +<p>"'Why, ma'am,' he says, a wisperin', 'that was +George, ma'am.'</p> + +<p>"'What George, sir? I don't know no George,' +says I.</p> + +<p>"'The great George, ma'am,' says he. 'The +Crookshanks.'</p> + +<p>"If you'll believe me, Mrs. Harris, I turns my head, +and see the wery man a making picturs of me on his +thumb nail, at the winder! while another of 'em—a +tall, slim, melancolly gent, with dark hair and a bage +vice—looks over his shoulder, with his head o' one side +as if he understood the subject, and cooly says, '<i>I</i>'ve +draw'd her several times—in Punch,' he says too! +The owdacious wretch!</p> + +<p>"'Which I never touches, Mr. Wilson,' I remarks +out loud—I couldn't have helped it, Mrs. Harris, if +you had took my life for it!—'which I never touches, +Mr. Wilson, on account of the lemon!'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_382" id="Page_2_382">[382]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Hush!' says Mr. Wilson. 'There he is!'</p> + +<p>"I only see a fat gentleman with curly black hair +and a merry face, a standing on the platform rubbing +his two hands over one another, as if he was washing +of 'em, and shaking his head and shoulders wery much; +and I was a wondering wot Mr. Wilson meant, wen +he says, 'There's Dougladge, Mrs. Gamp!' he says. +'There's him as wrote the life of Mrs. Caudle!'</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Harris, wen I see that little willain bodily +before me, it give me such a turn that I was all in a +tremble. If I hadn't lost my umbereller in the cab, I +must have done him a injury with it! Oh the bragian +little traitor! right among the ladies, Mrs. Harris; +looking his wickedest and deceitfullest of eyes while he +was a talking to 'em; laughing at his own jokes as loud +as you please; holding his hat in one hand to cool his-sef, +and tossing back his iron-grey mop of a head of +hair with the other, as if it was so much shavings—there, +Mrs. Harris, I see him, getting encouragement +from the pretty delooded creeturs, which never know'd +that sweet saint, Mrs. C, as I did, and being treated +with as much confidence as if he'd never wiolated none +of the domestic ties, and never showed up nothing! +Oh the aggrawation of that Dougladge! Mrs. Harris, +if I hadn't apologiged to Mr. Wilson, and put a little +bottle to my lips which was in my pocket for the journey, +and which it is very rare indeed I have about me, +I could not have abared the sight of him—there, Mrs. +Harris! I could not!—I must have tore him, or have +give way and fainted.</p> + +<p>"While the bell was a ringing, and the luggage of +the hammertoors in great confugion—all a litter'ry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_383" id="Page_2_383">[383]</a></span> +indeed—was handled up, Mr. Wilson demeens his-sef +politer than ever. 'That,' he says, 'Mrs. Gamp,' a +pinting to a officer-looking gentleman, that a lady with +a little basket was a taking care on, 'is another of our +party. He's a author too—continivally going up the +walley of the Muses, Mrs. Gamp. There,' he says, +alluding to a fine looking, portly gentleman, with a +face like a amiable full moon, and a short mild gent, +with a pleasant smile, 'is two more of our artists, +Mrs G, well beknowed at the Royal Academy, as sure +as stones is stones, and eggs is eggs. This resolute +gent,' he says, 'a coming along here as is aperrently +going to take the railways by storm—him with the +tight legs, and his weskit very much buttoned, and +his mouth very much shut, and his coat a flying open, +and his heels a giving it to the platform, is a cricket +and beeograffer, and our principal tragegian.' 'But +who,' says I, when the bell had left off, and the train +had begun to move, 'who, Mr. Wilson, is the wild +gent in the prespiration, that's been a tearing up and +down all this time with a great box of papers under +his arm, a talking to everybody wery indistinct, and +exciting of himself dreadful?' 'Why?' says Mr. Wilson, +with a smile. 'Because, sir,' I says, 'he's being +left behind.' 'Good God!' cries Mr. Wilson, turning +pale and putting out his head, 'it's <i>your</i> beeograffer—the +Manager—and he has got the money, Mrs. Gamp!' +Hous'ever, some one chucked him into the train and +we went off. At the first shreek of the whistle, Mrs. +Harris, I turned white, for I had took notice of some +of them dear creeturs as was the cause of my being +in company, and I know'd the danger that—but Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_384" id="Page_2_384">[384]</a></span> +Wilson, which is a married man, puts his hand on +mine, and says, 'Mrs. Gamp, calm yourself; it's only +the Ingein.'"</p></div> + +<p>Of those of the party with whom these humorous +liberties were taken there are only two now living to +complain of their friendly caricaturist, and Mr. Cruikshank +will perhaps join me in a frank forgiveness not +the less heartily for the kind words about himself that +reached me from Broadstairs not many days after Mrs. +Gamp. "At Canterbury yesterday" (2nd of September) +"I bought George Cruikshank's <i>Bottle</i>. I think +it very powerful indeed: the two last plates most admirable, +except that the boy and girl in the very last are +too young, and the girl more like a circus-phenomenon +than that no-phenomenon she is intended to represent. +I question, however, whether anybody else living could +have done it so well. There is a woman in the last +plate but one, garrulous about the murder, with a child +in her arms, that is as good as Hogarth. Also, the +man who is stooping down, looking at the body. The +philosophy of the thing, as a great lesson, I think all +wrong; because to be striking, and original too, the +drinking should have begun in sorrow, or poverty, or +ignorance—the three things in which, in its awful +aspect, it <i>does</i> begin. The design would then have +been a double-handed sword—but too 'radical' for +good old George, I suppose."</p> + +<p>The same letter made mention of other matters of +interest. His accounts for the first half-year of <i>Dombey</i> +were so much in excess of what had been expected from +the new publishing arrangements, that from this date +all embarrassments connected with money were brought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_385" id="Page_2_385">[385]</a></span> +to a close. His future profits varied of course with his +varying sales, but there was always enough, and savings +were now to begin. "The profits of the half-year are +brilliant. Deducting the hundred pounds a month paid +six times, I have still to receive two thousand two hundred +and twenty pounds, which I think is tidy. Don't +you? . . . Stone is still here, and I lamed his foot by +walking him seventeen miles the day before yesterday; +but otherwise he flourisheth. . . . Why don't you bring +down a carpet-bag-full of books, and take possession of +the drawing-room all the morning? My opinion is that +Goldsmith would die more easy by the seaside. Charley +and Walley have been taken to school this morning in +high spirits, and at London Bridge will be folded in +the arms of Blimber. The Government is about to +issue a Sanitary commission, and Lord John, I am right +well pleased to say, has appointed Henry Austin secretary." +Mr. Austin, who afterwards held the same office +under the Sanitary act, had married his youngest sister +Letitia; and of his two youngest brothers I may add +that Alfred, also a civil-engineer, became one of the +sanitary inspectors, and that Augustus was now placed +in a city employment by Mr. Thomas Chapman, which +after a little time he surrendered, and then found his +way to America.</p> + +<p>The next Broadstairs letter (5th of September) resumed +the subject of Goldsmith, whose life I was then +bringing nearly to completion. "Supposing your <i>Goldsmith</i> +made a general sensation, what should you think of +doing a cheap edition of his works? I have an idea that +we might do some things of that sort with considerable +effect. There is really no edition of the great British<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_386" id="Page_2_386">[386]</a></span> +novelists in a handy nice form, and would it not be a +likely move to do it with some attractive feature that +could not be given to it by the Teggs and such people? +Supposing one wrote an essay on Fielding for instance, +and another on Smollett, and another on Sterne, recalling +how one read them as a child (no one read them +younger than I, I think;) and how one gradually grew +up into a different knowledge of them, and so forth—would +it not be interesting to many people? I should +like to know if you descry anything in this. It is one +of the dim notions fluctuating within me.<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> . . . The +profits, brave indeed, are four hundred pounds more +than the utmost I expected. . . . The same yearnings +have been mine, in reference to the Praslin business. +It is pretty clear to me, for one thing, that the Duchess +was one of the most uncomfortable women in the world, +and that it would have been hard work for anybody to +have got on with her. It is strange to see a bloody +reflection of our friends Eugène Sue and Dumas in the +whole melodrama. Don't you think so. . . . remembering +what we often said of the canker at the root of +all that Paris life? I dreamed of you, in a wild manner, +all last night. . . . A sea fog here, which prevents +one's seeing the low-water mark. A circus on the cliff +to the right, and of course I have a box to-night! Deep +slowness in the inimitable's brain. A shipwreck on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_387" id="Page_2_387">[387]</a></span> +the Goodwin sands last Sunday, which <span class="smcap">Wally</span>, with a +hawk's eye, <span class="smcap">saw go down</span>: for which assertion, subsequently +confirmed and proved, he was horribly maltreated +at the time."</p> + +<p>Devonshire-terrace meanwhile had been left by his +tenant; and coming up joyfully himself to take possession, +he brought for completion in his old home an +important chapter of <i>Dombey</i>. On the way he lost his +portmanteau, but "Thank God! the MS. of the chapter +wasn't in it. Whenever I travel, and have anything +of that valuable article, I always carry it in my pocket."<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> +He had begun at this time to find difficulties in writing +at Broadstairs, of which he told me on his return. +"Vagrant music is getting to that height here, and is +so impossible to be escaped from, that I fear Broadstairs +and I must part company in time to come. Unless +it pours of rain, I cannot write half-an-hour without the +most excruciating organs, fiddles, bells, or glee-singers. +There is a violin of the most torturing kind under the +window now (time, ten in the morning) and an Italian +box of music on the steps—both in full blast." He +closed with a mention of improvements in the Margate +theatre since his memorable last visit. In the past two +years it had been managed by a son of the great comedian, +Dowton, with whose name it is pleasant to connect +this note. "We went to the manager's benefit on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_388" id="Page_2_388">[388]</a></span> +Wednesday" (10th of September): "<i>As You Like It</i> +really very well done, and a most excellent house. Mr. +Dowton delivered a sensible and modest kind of speech +on the occasion, setting forth his conviction that a +means of instruction and entertainment possessing such +a literature as the stage in England, could not pass +away; and, that what inspired great minds, and delighted +great men, two thousand years ago, and did the +same in Shakespeare's day, must have within itself a +principle of life superior to the whim and fashion of the +hour. And with that, and with cheers, he retired. He +really seems a most respectable man, and he has cleared +out this dust-hole of a theatre into something like +decency."</p> + +<p>He was to be in London at the end of the month: +but I had from him meanwhile his preface<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> for his +first completed book in the popular edition (<i>Pickwick</i> +being now issued in that form, with an illustration by +Leslie); and sending me shortly after (12th of Sept.) +the first few slips of the story of the <i>Haunted Man</i> +proposed for his next Christmas book, he told me he +must finish it in less than a month if it was to be done +at all, <i>Dombey</i> having now become very importunate. +This prepared me for his letter of a week's later date. +"Have been at work all day, and am seedy in consequence. +<i>Dombey</i> takes so much time, and requires to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_389" id="Page_2_389">[389]</a></span> +be so carefully done, that I really begin to have serious +doubts whether it is wise to go on with the Christmas +book. Your kind help is invoked. What do you +think? Would there be any distinctly bad effect in +holding this idea over for another twelvemonth? saying +nothing whatever till November; and then announcing +in the <i>Dombey</i> that its occupation of my entire time +prevents the continuance of the Christmas series until +next year, when it is proposed to be renewed. There +might not be anything in that but a possibility of an +extra lift for the little book when it did come—eh? +On the other hand, I am very loath to lose the money. +And still more so to leave any gap at Christmas firesides +which I ought to fill. In short I am (forgive the +expression) <span class="smcap">blowed</span> if I know what to do. I am a +literary Kitely—and you ought to sympathize and help. +If I had no <i>Dombey</i>, I could write and finish the story +with the bloom on—but there's the rub. . . . Which +unfamiliar quotation reminds me of a Shakspearian +(put an e before the s; I like it much better) speculation +of mine. What do you say to 'take arms against +a sea of troubles' having been originally written 'make +arms,' which is the action of swimming. It would get +rid of a horrible grievance in the figure, and make it +plain and apt. I think of setting up a claim to live in +The House at Stratford, rent-free, on the strength of +this suggestion. You are not to suppose that I am +anything but disconcerted to-day, in the agitation of +my soul concerning Christmas; but I have been brooding, +like Dombey himself, over <i>Dombey</i> these two days, +until I really can't afford to be depressed." To his +Shakespearian suggestion I replied that it would hardly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_390" id="Page_2_390">[390]</a></span> +give him the claim he thought of setting up, for that +swimming through your troubles would not be "opposing" +them. And upon the other point I had no +doubt of the wisdom of delay. The result was that +the Christmas story was laid aside until the following +year.</p> + +<p>The year's closing incidents were his chairmanship +at a meeting of the Leeds Mechanics' Society on the +1st of December, and his opening of the Glasgow Athenæum +on the 28th; where, to immense assemblages +in both,<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> he contrasted the obstinacy and cruelty of +the Power of ignorance with the docility and gentleness +of the Power of knowledge; pointed the use of +popular institutes in supplementing what is learnt first +in life, by the later education for its employments and +equipment for its domesticities and virtues, which the +grown person needs from day to day as much as the +child its reading and writing; and he closed at Glasgow +with allusion to a bazaar set on foot by the ladies +of the city, under patronage of the Queen, for adding +books to its Athenæum library. "We never tire of +the friendships we form with books," he said, "and +here they will possess the added charm of association<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_391" id="Page_2_391">[391]</a></span> +with their donors. Some neighbouring Glasgow widow +will be mistaken for that remoter one whom Sir Roger +de Coverley could not forget; Sophia's muff will be +seen and loved, by another than Tom Jones, going +down the High-street some winter day; and the grateful +students of a library thus filled will be apt, as to the +fair ones who have helped to people it, to couple them +in their thoughts with Principles of the Population and +Additions to the History of Europe, by an author of +older date than Sheriff Alison." At which no one +laughed so loudly as the Sheriff himself, who had cordially +received Dickens as his guest, and stood with +him on the platform.</p> + +<p>On the last day but one of the old year he wrote to +me from Edinburgh. "We came over this afternoon, +leaving Glasgow at one o'clock. Alison lives in style +in a handsome country house out of Glasgow, and is +a capital fellow, with an agreeable wife, nice little +daughter, cheerful niece, all things pleasant in his +household. I went over the prison and lunatic asylum +with him yesterday;<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> at the Lord Provost's had gorgeous +state-lunch with the Town Council; and was entertained +at a great dinner-party at night. Unbounded +hospitality and enthoozymoozy the order of the day, +and I have never been more heartily received anywhere, +or enjoyed myself more completely. The great chemist, +Gregory, who spoke at the meeting, returned with us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_392" id="Page_2_392">[392]</a></span> +to Edinburgh to-day, and gave me many new lights on +the road regarding the extraordinary pains Macaulay +seems for years to have taken to make himself disagreeable +and disliked here. No one else, on that side, +would have had the remotest chance of being unseated +at the last election; and, though Gregory voted for +him, I thought he seemed quite as well pleased as anybody +else that he didn't come in. . . . I am sorry to +report the Scott Monument a failure. It is like the spire +of a Gothic church taken off and stuck in the ground." +On the first day of 1848, still in Edinburgh, he wrote +again: "Jeffrey, who is obliged to hold a kind of +morning court in his own study during the holidays, +came up yesterday in great consternation, to tell me +that a person had just been to make and sign a declaration +of bankruptcy; and that on looking at the +signature he saw it was James Sheridan Knowles. He +immediately sent after, and spoke with him; and of +what passed I am eager to talk with you." The talk +will bring back the main subject of this chapter, from +which another kind of strolling has led me away; for +its results were other amateur performances, of which +the object was to benefit Knowles.</p> + +<p>This was the year when a committee had been formed +for the purchase and preservation of Shakespeare's house +at Stratford, and the performances in question took the +form of contributions to the endowment of a curatorship +to be held by the author of <i>Virginius</i> and the +<i>Hunchback</i>. The endowment was abandoned upon the +town and council of Stratford finally (and very properly) +taking charge of the house; but the sum realised +was not withdrawn from the object really desired, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_393" id="Page_2_393">[393]</a></span> +one of the finest of dramatists profited yet more largely +by it than Leigh Hunt did by the former enterprise. +It may be proper to remark also, that, like Leigh Hunt, +Knowles received soon after, through Lord John Russell, +the same liberal pension; and that smaller claims to +which attention had been similarly drawn were not +forgotten, Mr. Poole, after much kind help from the +Bounty Fund, being in 1850 placed on the Civil List +for half the amount by the same minister and friend of +letters.</p> + +<p>Dickens threw himself into the new scheme with all +his old energy;<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> and prefatory mention may be made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_394" id="Page_2_394">[394]</a></span> +of our difficulty in selection of a suitable play to alternate +with our old Ben Jonson. The <i>Alchemist</i> had +been such a favourite with some of us, that, before +finally laying it aside, we went through two or three +rehearsals, in which I recollect thinking Dickens's Sir +Epicure Mammon as good as anything he had done; +and now the same trouble, with the same result, arising +from a vain desire to please everybody, was taken successively +with Beaumont and Fletcher's <i>Beggar's Bush</i>, +and Goldsmith's <i>Good Natured Man</i>, with Jerrold's +characteristic drama of the <i>Rent Day</i>, and Bulwer's +masterly comedy of <i>Money</i>. Choice was at last made +of Shakespeare's <i>Merry Wives</i>, in which Lemon played +Falstaff, I took again the jealous husband as in Jonson's +play, and Dickens was Justice Shallow; to which was +added a farce, <i>Love, Law, and Physick</i>, in which +Dickens took the part he had acted long ago, before his +days of authorship; and, besides the professional actresses +engaged, we had for our Dame Quickly the lady +to whom the world owes incomparably the best <i>Concordance</i> +to Shakespeare that has ever been published, +Mrs. Cowden Clarke. The success was undoubtedly +very great. At Manchester, Liverpool, and Edinburgh +there were single representations; but Birmingham and +Glasgow had each two nights, and two were given at the +Haymarket, on one of which the Queen and Prince +were present. The gross receipts from the nine performances, +before the necessary large deductions for +London and local charges, were two thousand five hundred +and fifty-one pounds and eightpence.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> The first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_395" id="Page_2_395">[395]</a></span> +representation was in London on the 15th of April, the +last in Glasgow on the 20th of July, and everywhere +Dickens was the leading figure. In the enjoyment as +in the labour he was first. His animal spirits, unresting +and supreme, were the attraction of rehearsal at +morning, and of the stage at night. At the quiet early +dinner, and the more jovial unrestrained supper, where +all engaged were assembled daily, his was the brightest +face, the lightest step, the pleasantest word. There +seemed to be no rest needed for that wonderful vitality.</p> + +<p>My allusion to the last of these splendid strollings in +aid of what we believed to be the interests of men of +letters, shall be as brief as I can make it. Two winters +after the present, at the close of November 1850, in the +great hall of Lord Lytton's old family mansion in +Knebworth-park, there were three private performances +by the original actors in Ben Jonson's <i>Every Man in +His Humour</i>. All the circumstances and surroundings +were very brilliant; some of the gentlemen of the +county played both in the comedy and farces; our +generous host was profuse of all noble encouragement; +and amid the general pleasure and excitement hopes +rose high. Recent experience had shown what the +public interest in this kind of amusement might place +within reach of its providers; and there came to be +discussed the possibility of making permanent such +help as had been afforded to fellow writers, by means +of an endowment that should not be mere charity,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_396" id="Page_2_396">[396]</a></span> +but should combine indeed something of both pension-list +and college-lectureship, without the drawbacks of +either. It was not enough considered that schemes for +self-help, to be successful, require from those they are +meant to benefit, not only a general assent to their desirability, +but zealous and active co-operation. Without +discussing now, however, what will have to be stated +hereafter, it suffices to say that the enterprise was set on +foot, and the "Guild of Literature and Art" originated +at Knebworth. A five-act comedy was to be written by +Sir Edward Lytton, and, when a certain sum of money +had been obtained by public representations of it, the +details of the scheme were to be drawn up, and appeal +made to those whom it addressed more especially. +In a very few months everything was ready, except a +farce which Dickens was to have written to follow the +comedy, and which unexpected cares of management +and preparation were held to absolve him from. There +were other reasons. "I have written the first scene," +he told me (23rd March, 1851), "and it has droll +points in it, more farcical points than you commonly +find in farces,<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> really better. Yet I am constantly +striving, for my reputation's sake, to get into it a meaning +that is impossible in a farce; constantly thinking +of it, therefore, against the grain; and constantly impressed +with a conviction that I could never act in it +myself with that wild abandonment which can alone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_397" id="Page_2_397">[397]</a></span> +carry a farce off. Wherefore I have confessed to Bulwer +Lytton and asked for absolution." There was +substituted a new farce of Lemon's, to which, however, +Dickens soon contributed so many jokes and so much +Gampish and other fun of his own, that it came to be +in effect a joint piece of authorship; and Gabblewig, +which the manager took to himself, was one of those +personation parts requiring five or six changes of face, +voice, and gait in the course of it, from which, as we +have seen, he derived all the early theatrical ambition +that the elder Mathews had awakened in him. "You +have no idea," he continued, "of the immensity of the +work as the time advances, for the Duke even throws +the whole of the audience on us, or he would get (he +says) into all manner of scrapes." The Duke of Devonshire +had offered his house in Piccadilly for the first +representations, and in his princely way discharged all +the expenses attending them. A moveable theatre was +built and set up in the great drawing-room, and the +library was turned into a green-room.</p> + +<p><i>Not so Bad as We Seem</i> was played for the first time +at Devonshire-house on the 27th of May, 1851, before +the Queen and Prince and as large an audience as places +could be found for; <i>Mr. Nightingale's Diary</i> being the +name given to the farce. The success abundantly +realised the expectations formed; and, after many +representations at the Hanover-square Rooms in London, +strolling began in the country, and was continued +at intervals for considerable portions of this and the +following year. From much of it, illness and occupation +disabled me, and substitutes had to be found; but +to this I owe the opportunity now of closing with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_398" id="Page_2_398">[398]</a></span> +characteristic picture of the course of the play, and of +Dickens amid the incidents and accidents to which his +theatrical career exposed him. The company carried +with them, it should be said, the theatre constructed +for Devonshire-house, as well as the admirable scenes +which Stanfield, David Roberts, Thomas Grieve, Telbin, +Absolon, and Louis Haghe had painted as their +generous free-offerings to the comedy; of which the +representations were thus rendered irrespective of theatres +or their managers, and took place in the large +halls or concert-rooms of the various towns and cities.</p> + +<p>"The enclosure forgotten in my last" (Dickens +writes from Sunderland on the 29th of August 1852), +"was a little printed announcement which I have had +distributed at the doors wherever we go, knocking <i>Two +o' Clock in the Morning</i> bang out of the bills. Funny as +it used to be, it is become impossible to get anything +out of it after the scream of <i>Mr. Nightingale's Diary</i>. +The comedy is so far improved by the reductions which +your absence and other causes have imposed on us, that +it acts now only two hours and twenty-five minutes, all +waits included, and goes 'like wildfire,' as Mr. Tonson<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> +says. We have had prodigious houses, though smaller +rooms (as to their actual size) than I had hoped for. +The Duke was at Derby, and no end of minor radiances. +Into the room at Newcastle (where Lord Carlisle was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_399" id="Page_2_399">[399]</a></span> +by the bye) they squeezed six hundred people, at twelve +and sixpence, into a space reasonably capable of holding +three hundred. Last night, in a hall built like a +theatre, with pit, boxes, and gallery, we had about +twelve hundred—I dare say more. They began with a +round of applause when Coote's white waistcoat appeared +in the orchestra, and wound up the farce with +three deafening cheers. I never saw such good fellows. +Stanny is their fellow-townsman; was born here; and +they applauded his scene as if it were himself. But +what I suffered from a dreadful anxiety that hung over +me all the time, I can never describe. When we got +here at noon, it appeared that the hall was a perfectly +new one, and had only had the slates put upon the roof +by torchlight over night. Farther, that the proprietors +of some opposition rooms had declared the building to +be unsafe, and that there was a panic in the town about +it; people having had their money back, and being +undecided whether to come or not, and all kinds of +such horrors. I didn't know what to do. The horrible +responsibility of risking an accident of that awful nature +seemed to rest wholly upon me; for I had only to +say we wouldn't act, and there would be no chance of +danger. I was afraid to take Sloman into council lest +the panic should infect our men. I asked W. what he +thought, and he consolingly observed that his digestion +was so bad that death had no terrors for him! I went +and looked at the place; at the rafters, walls, pillars, +and so forth; and fretted myself into a belief that they +really were slight! To crown all, there was an arched +iron roof without any brackets or pillars, on a new +principle! The only comfort I had was in stumbling at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_400" id="Page_2_400">[400]</a></span> +length on the builder, and finding him a plain practical +north-countryman with a foot rule in his pocket. I took +him aside, and asked him should we, or could we, prop +up any weak part of the place: especially the dressing-rooms, +which were under our stage, the weight of which +must be heavy on a new floor, and dripping wet walls. +He told me there wasn't a stronger building in the +world; and that, to allay the apprehension, they had +opened it, on Thursday night, to thousands of the working +people, and induced them to sing, and beat with +their feet, and make every possible trial of the vibration. +Accordingly there was nothing for it but to go +on. I was in such dread, however, lest a false alarm +should spring up among the audience and occasion a +rush, that I kept Catherine and Georgina out of the +front. When the curtain went up and I saw the great +sea of faces rolling up to the roof, I looked here +and looked there, and thought I saw the gallery out +of the perpendicular, and fancied the lights in the +ceiling were not straight. Rounds of applause were +perfect agony to me, I was so afraid of their effect +upon the building. I was ready all night to rush on +in case of an alarm—a false alarm was my main dread—and +implore the people for God's sake to sit still. +I had our great farce-bell rung to startle Sir Geoffrey +instead of throwing down a piece of wood, which +might have raised a sudden-apprehension. I had a +palpitation of the heart, if any of our people stumbled +up or down a stair. I am sure I never acted better, +but the anxiety of my mind was so intense, and the +relief at last so great, that I am half-dead to-day, and +have not yet been able to eat or drink anything or to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_401" id="Page_2_401">[401]</a></span> +stir out of my room. I shall never forget it. As to +the short time we had for getting the theatre up; as to +the upsetting, by a runaway pair of horses, of one of +the vans at the Newcastle railway station, <i>with all the +scenery in it, every atom of which was turned over;</i> as +to the fatigue of our carpenters, who have now been +up four nights, and who were lying dead asleep in the +entrances last night; I say nothing, after the other +gigantic nightmare, except that Sloman's splendid +knowledge of his business, and the good temper and +cheerfulness of all the workmen, are capital. I mean +to give them a supper at Liverpool, and address them +in a neat and appropriate speech. We dine at two +to-day (it is now one) and go to Sheffield at four, +arriving there at about ten. I had been as fresh as a +daisy; walked from Nottingham to Derby, and from +Newcastle here; but seem to have had my nerves +crumpled up last night, and have an excruciating headache. +That's all at present. I shall never be able to +bear the smell of new deal and fresh mortar again as +long as I live."</p> + +<p>Manchester and Liverpool closed the trip with enormous +success at both places; and Sir Edward Lytton +was present at a public dinner which was given in the +former city, Dickens's brief word about it being written +as he was setting foot in the train that was to bring +him to London. "Bulwer spoke brilliantly at the +Manchester dinner, and his earnestness and determination +about the Guild was most impressive. It carried +everything before it. They are now getting up annual +subscriptions, and will give us a revenue to begin with. +I swear I believe that people to be the greatest in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_402" id="Page_2_402">[402]</a></span> +world. At Liverpool I had a Round Robin on the +stage after the play was over, a place being left for +your signature, and as I am going to have it framed, +I'll tell Green to send it to Lincoln's-inn-fields. You +have no idea how good Tenniel, Topham, and Collins +have been in what they had to do."</p> + +<p>These names, distinguished in art and letters, represent +additions to the company who had joined the +enterprise; and the last of them, Mr. Wilkie Collins, +became, for all the rest of the life of Dickens, one of +his dearest and most valued friends.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_403" id="Page_2_403">[403]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>SEASIDE HOLIDAYS.</h3> + +<h3>1848-1851.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Louis Philippe dethroned—French Missive from C. D.—At Broadstairs—A +Chinese Junk—What it was like—Perplexing Questions—A +Type of Finality—A Contrast—Dickens's View of Temperance +Agitation—Cruikshank's <i>Bottle:</i> and <i>Drunkard's Children</i>—Realities +of Cruikshank's Pencil—Dickens on Hogarth—Exit of Gin-lane—Wisdom +of the Great Painter—Originality of Leech—Superiority +of his Method—Excuses for the Rising Generation—What +Leech will be remembered for—Pony-chaise Accident—Fortunate +Escape—Strenuous Idleness—Hint for Mr. Taine—At +Brighton—A Name for his New Book—At Broadstairs—Summoned +as Special Juror—A Male Mrs. Gamp and Mrs. Harris—At +Bonchurch—Rev. James White—First Impressions of the +Undercliff—Talfourd made a Judge—Touching Letter from Jeffrey—The +Comedian Regnier—Progress in Writing—A Startling Revelation—Effects +of Bonchurch Climate—Mr. Browne's Sketch for +Micawber—Accident to Leech—Its Consequences—At Broadstairs—A +<i>Copperfield</i> Banquet—Thoughts of a New Book.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> portion of Dickens's life over which his adventures +of strolling extended was in other respects not +without interest; and this chapter will deal with some +of his seaside holidays before I pass to the publication +in 1848 of the story of <i>The Haunted Man</i>, and to the +establishment in 1850 of the Periodical which had been +in his thoughts for half a dozen years before, and has +had foreshadowings nearly as frequent in my pages.</p> + +<p>Among the incidents of 1848 before the holiday +season came, were the dethronement of Louis Philippe,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_404" id="Page_2_404">[404]</a></span> +and birth of the second French republic: on which I +ventured to predict that a Gore-house friend of ours, +and <i>his</i> friend, would in three days be on the scene of +action. The three days passed, and I had this letter. +"Mardi, Février 29, 1848. <span class="smcap">Mon Cher</span>. Vous êtes +homme de la plus grande pénétration! Ah, mon Dieu, +que vous êtes absolument magnifique! Vous prévoyez +presque toutes les choses qui vont arriver; et aux choses +qui viennent d'arriver vous êtes merveilleusement au-fait. +Ah, cher enfant, quelle idée sublime vous vous +aviez à la tête quand vous prévîtes si clairement que M. +le Comte Alfred d'Orsay se rendrait au pays de sa naissance! +Quel magicien! Mais—c'est tout égal, mais—il +n'est pas parti. Il reste à Gore-house, où, avant-hier, +il y avait un grand <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'diner'">dîner</ins> à tout le monde. Mais +quel homme, quel ange, néanmoins! <span class="smcap">Mon ami</span>, je +trouve que j'aime tant la République, qu'il me faut +renoncer ma langue et écrire seulement le langage de +la République de France—langage des Dieux et des +Anges—langage, en un mot, des Français! Hier au +soir je rencontrai à l'Athenæum Monsieur Mack Leese, +qui me dit que MM. les Commissionnaires des Beaux +Arts lui avaient écrit, par leur secrétaire, un billet de +remerciements à propos de son tableau dans la Chambre +des Députés, et qu'ils lui avaient prié de faire l'autre +tableau en fresque, dont on y a besoin. Ce qu'il a +promis. Voici des nouvelles pour les champs de Lincoln's +Inn! Vive la gloire de France! Vive la République! +Vive le Peuple! Plus de Royauté! Plus +des Bourbons! Plus de Guizot! Mort aux traîtres! +Faisons couler le sang pour la liberté, la justice, la +cause populaire! Jusqu'à cinq heures et demie, adieu,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_405" id="Page_2_405">[405]</a></span> +mon brave! Recevez l'assurance de ma considération +distinguée, et croyez-moi, <span class="smcap">concitoyen</span>! votre tout +dévoué, <span class="smcap">Citoyen Charles Dickens</span>." I proved to +be not quite so wrong, nevertheless, as my friend supposed.</p> + +<p>Somewhat earlier than usual this summer, on the +close of the Shakespeare-house performances, he tried +Broadstairs once more, having no important writing in +hand: but in the brief interval before leaving he saw +a thing of celebrity in those days, the Chinese Junk; +and I had all the details in so good a description that +I could not resist the temptation of using some parts +of it at the time. "Drive down to the Blackwall railway," +he wrote to me, "and for a matter of eighteen-pence +you are at the Chinese Empire in no time. In +half a score of minutes, the tiles and chimney-pots, +backs of squalid houses, frowsy pieces of waste ground, +narrow courts and streets, swamps, ditches, masts of +ships, gardens of dockweed, and unwholesome little +bowers of scarlet beans, whirl away in a flying dream, +and nothing is left but China. How the flowery region +ever came into this latitude and longitude is the first +thing one asks; and it is not certainly the least of the +marvel. As Aladdin's palace was transported hither +and thither by the rubbing of a lamp, so the crew of +Chinamen aboard the Keying devoutly believed that +their good ship would turn up, quite safe, at the desired +port, if they only tied red rags enough upon the +mast, rudder, and cable. Somehow they did not succeed. +Perhaps they ran short of rag; at any rate they +hadn't enough on board to keep them above water; +and to the bottom they would undoubtedly have gone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_406" id="Page_2_406">[406]</a></span> +but for the skill and coolness of a dozen English sailors, +who brought them over the ocean in safety. Well, if +there be any one thing in the world that this extraordinary +craft is not at all like, that thing is a ship of +any kind. So narrow, so long, so grotesque; so low +in the middle, so high at each end, like a China pen-tray; +with no rigging, with nowhere to go to aloft; +with mats for sails, great warped cigars for masts, gaudy +dragons and sea-monsters disporting themselves from +stem to stern, and <i>on</i> the stern a gigantic cock of impossible +aspect, defying the world (as well he may) to +produce his equal,—it would look more at home at the +top of a public building, or at the top of a mountain, +or in an avenue of trees, or down in a mine, than afloat +on the water. As for the Chinese lounging on the +deck, the most extravagant imagination would never +dare to suppose them to be mariners. Imagine a ship's +crew, without a profile among them, in gauze pinafores +and plaited hair; wearing stiff clogs a quarter +of a foot thick in the sole; and lying at night in little +scented boxes, like backgammon men or chess-pieces, +or mother-of-pearl counters! But by Jove! even this +is nothing to your surprise when you go down into the +cabin. There you get into a torture of perplexity. +As, what became of all those lanterns hanging to the +roof when the Junk was out at sea? Whether they +dangled there, banging and beating against each other, +like so many jesters' baubles? Whether the idol Chin +Tee, of the eighteen arms, enshrined in a celestial +Punch's Show, in the place of honour, ever tumbled +out in heavy weather? Whether the incense and the +joss-stick still burnt before her, with a faint perfume<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_407" id="Page_2_407">[407]</a></span> +and a little thread of smoke, while the mighty waves +were roaring all around? Whether that preposterous +tissue-paper umbrella in the corner was always spread, +as being a convenient maritime instrument for walking +about the decks with in a storm? Whether all the +cool and shiny little chairs and tables were continually +sliding about and bruising each other, and if not why +not? Whether anybody on the voyage ever read those +two books printed in characters like bird-cages and +fly-traps? Whether the Mandarin passenger, He Sing, +who had never been ten miles from home in his life +before, lying sick on a bamboo couch in a private china +closet of his own (where he is now perpetually writing +autographs for inquisitive barbarians), ever began to +doubt the potency of the Goddess of the Sea, whose +counterfeit presentment, like a flowery monthly nurse, +occupies the sailors' joss-house in the second gallery? +Whether it is possible that the said Mandarin, or the +artist of the ship, Sam Sing, Esquire, R.A. of Canton, +<i>can</i> ever go ashore without a walking-staff of cinnamon, +agreeably to the usage of their likenesses in +British tea-shops? Above all, whether the hoarse old +ocean could ever have been seriously in earnest with +this floating toy-shop; or had merely played with it in +lightness of spirit—roughly, but meaning no harm—as +the bull did with another kind of china-shop on St. +Patrick's day in the morning."</p> + +<p>The reply made on this brought back comment and +sequel not less amusing. "Yes, there can be no question +that this is Finality in perfection; and it is a great +advantage to have the doctrine so beautifully worked +out, and shut up in a corner of a dock near a fashionable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_408" id="Page_2_408">[408]</a></span> +white-bait house for the edification of man. +Thousands of years have passed away since the first +junk was built on this model, and the last junk ever +launched was no better for that waste and desert of +time. The mimic eye painted on their prows to assist +them in finding their way, has opened as wide and seen +as far as any actual organ of sight in all the interval +through the whole immense extent of that strange +country. It has been set in the flowery head to as +little purpose for thousands of years. With all their +patient and ingenious but never advancing art, and +with all their rich and diligent agricultural cultivation, +not a new twist or curve has been given to a ball of +ivory, and not a blade of experience has been grown. +There is a genuine finality in that; and when one +comes from behind the wooden screen that encloses +the curious sight, to look again upon the river and the +mighty signs on its banks of life, enterprise, and progress, +the question that comes nearest is beyond doubt +a home one. Whether <i>we</i> ever by any chance, in +storms, trust to red flags; or burn joss-sticks before +idols; or grope our way by the help of conventional +eyes that have no sight in them; or sacrifice substantial +facts for absurd forms? The ignorant crew of the +Keying refused to enter on the ships' books, until 'a +considerable amount of silvered-paper, tin-foil, and +joss-stick' had been laid in by the owners for the purposes +of their worship. And I wonder whether <i>our</i> +seamen, let alone our bishops and deacons, ever stand +out upon points of silvered-paper and tin-foil and joss-sticks. +To be sure Christianity is not Chin-Teeism, +and that I suppose is why we never lose sight of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_409" id="Page_2_409">[409]</a></span> +end in contemptible and insignificant quarrels about +the means. There is enough matter for reflection +aboard the Keying at any rate to last one's voyage +home to England again."</p> + +<p>Other letters of the summer from Broadstairs will +complete what he wrote from the same place last year +on Mr. Cruikshank's efforts in the cause of temperance, +and will enable me to say, what I know he wished to +be remembered in his story, that there was no subject +on which through his whole life he felt more strongly +than this. No man advocated temperance, even as +far as possible its legislative enforcement, with greater +earnestness; but he made important reservations. Not +thinking drunkenness to be a vice inborn, or incident +to the poor more than to other people, he never would +agree that the existence of a gin-shop was the alpha and +omega of it. Believing it to be, <i>the</i> "national horror," +he also believed that many operative causes had to do +with having made it so; and his objection to the temperance +agitation was that these were left out of account +altogether. He thought the gin-shop not fairly to be +rendered the exclusive object of attack, until, in connection +with the classes who mostly made it their resort, +the temptations that led to it, physical and moral, +should have been more bravely dealt with. Among the +former he counted foul smells, disgusting habitations, +bad workshops and workshop-customs, scarcity of light, +air, and water, in short the absence of all easy means +of decency and health; and among the latter, the mental +weariness and languor so induced, the desire of +wholesome relaxation, the craving for <i>some</i> stimulus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_410" id="Page_2_410">[410]</a></span> +and excitement, not less needful than the sun itself to +lives so passed, and last, and inclusive of all the rest, +ignorance, and the want of rational mental training, +generally applied. This was consistently Dickens's +"platform" throughout the years he was known to me; +and holding it to be within the reach as well as the +scope of legislation, which even our political magnates +have been discovering lately, he thought intemperance +to be but the one result that, out of all those arising +from the absence of legislation, was the most wretched. +For him, drunkenness had a teeming and reproachful +history anterior to the drunken stage; and he thought +it the first duty of the moralist bent upon annihilating +the gin-shop, to "strike deep and spare not" at those +previous remediable evils. Certainly this was not the +way of Mr. Cruikshank, any more than it is that of the +many excellent people who take part in temperance +agitations. His former tale of the <i>Bottle</i>, as told by +his admirable pencil, was that of a decent working +man, father of a boy and a girl, living in comfort and +good esteem until near the middle age, when, happening +unluckily to have a goose for dinner one day in the +bosom of his thriving family, he jocularly sends out for +a bottle of gin, persuades his wife, until then a picture +of neatness and good housewifery, to take a little drop +after the stuffing, and the whole family from that moment +drink themselves to destruction. The sequel, of +which Dickens now wrote to me, traced the lives of +the boy and girl after the wretched deaths of their +drunken parents, through gin-shop, beer-shop, and dancing-rooms, +up to their trial for robbery, when the boy +is convicted, dying aboard the hulks; and the girl,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_411" id="Page_2_411">[411]</a></span> +desolate and mad after her acquittal, flings herself from +London-bridge into the night-darkened river.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Dickens, "the power of that closing +scene quite extraordinary. It haunts the remembrance +like an awful reality. It is full of passion and terror, +and I doubt very much whether any hand but his could +so have rendered it. There are other fine things too. +The death-bed scene on board the hulks; the convict +who is composing the face, and the other who is drawing +the screen round the bed's head; seem to me masterpieces +worthy of the greatest painter. The reality +of the place, and the fidelity with which every minute +object illustrative of it is presented, are surprising. I +think myself no bad judge of this feature, and it is +remarkable throughout. In the trial scene at the Old +Bailey, the eye may wander round the Court, and observe +everything that is a part of the place. The very +light and atmosphere are faithfully reproduced. So, in +the gin-shop and the beer-shop. An inferior hand +would indicate a fragment of the fact, and slur it over; +but here every shred is honestly made out. The man +behind the bar in the gin-shop, is as real as the convicts +at the hulks, or the barristers round the table in the +Old Bailey. I found it quite curious, as I closed the +book, to recall the number of faces I had seen of individual +identity, and to think what a chance they have +of living, as the Spanish friar said to Wilkie, when the +living have passed away. But it only makes more exasperating +to me the obstinate one-sidedness of the +thing. When a man shows so forcibly the side of the +medal on which the people in their faults and crimes +are stamped, he is the more bound to help us to a glance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_412" id="Page_2_412">[412]</a></span> +at that other side on which the faults and vices of the +governments placed over the people are not less gravely +impressed."</p> + +<p>This led to some remark on Hogarth's method in +such matters, and I am glad to be able to preserve this +fine criticism of that great Englishman, by a writer who +closely resembled him in genius; as another generation +will be probably more apt than our own to discover. +"Hogarth avoided the Drunkard's Progress, I conceive, +precisely because the causes of drunkenness among the +poor were so numerous and widely spread, and lurked +so sorrowfully deep and far down in all human misery, +neglect, and despair, that even <i>his</i> pencil could not +bring them fairly and justly into the light. It was +never his plan to be content with only showing the +effect. In the death of the miser-father, his shoe new-soled +with the binding of his bible, before the young +Rake begins his career; in the worldly father, listless +daughter, impoverished young lord, and crafty lawyer, +of the first plate of Marriage-à-la mode; in the detestable +advances through the stages of Cruelty; and in +the progress downward of Thomas Idle; you see the +effects indeed, but also the causes. He was never disposed +to spare the kind of drunkenness that was of more +'respectable' engenderment, as one sees in his midnight +modern conversation, the election plates, and crowds +of stupid aldermen and other guzzlers. But after one +immortal journey down Gin-lane, he turned away in +pity and sorrow—perhaps in hope of better things, one +day, from better laws and schools and poor men's homes—and +went back no more. The scene of Gin-lane, +you know, is that just cleared away for the extension<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_413" id="Page_2_413">[413]</a></span> +of Oxford-street, which we were looking at the other +day; and I think it a remarkable trait of Hogarth's +picture, that while it exhibits drunkenness in the most +appalling forms, it also forces on attention a most neglected +wretched neighbourhood, and an unwholesome, +indecent, abject condition of life that might be put as +frontispiece to our sanitary report of a hundred years +later date. I have always myself thought the purpose +of this fine piece to be not adequately stated even by +<span class="smcap">Charles Lamb</span>. 'The very houses seem absolutely +reeling' it is true; but beside that wonderful picture +of what follows intoxication, we have indication quite +as powerful of what leads to it among the neglected +classes. There is no evidence that any of the actors +in the dreary scene have ever been much better than +we see them there. The best are pawning the commonest +necessaries, and tools of their trades; and the +worst are homeless vagrants who give us no clue to +their having been otherwise in bygone days. All are +living and dying miserably. Nobody is interfering for +prevention or for cure, in the generation going out +before us, or the generation coming in. The beadle +is the only sober man in the composition except the +pawnbroker, and he is mightily indifferent to the orphan-child +crying beside its parent's coffin. The little charity-girls +are not so well taught or looked after, but that +they can take to dram-drinking already. The church +indeed is very prominent and handsome; but as, quite +passive in the picture, it coldly surveys these things in +progress under shadow of its tower, I cannot but bethink +me that it was not until this year of grace 1848 +that a Bishop of London first came out respecting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_414" id="Page_2_414">[414]</a></span> +something wrong in poor men's social accommodations, +and I am confirmed in my suspicion that Hogarth +had many meanings which have not grown +obsolete in a century."</p> + +<p>Another art-criticism by Dickens should be added. +Upon a separate publication by Leech of some drawings +on stone called the Rising Generation, from designs +done for Mr. Punch's gallery, he wrote at my +request a little essay of which a few sentences will find +appropriate place with his letter on the other great caricaturist +of his time. I use that word, as he did, only +for want of a better. Dickens was of opinion that, in +this particular line of illustration, while he conceded +all his fame to the elder and stronger contemporary, +Mr. Leech was the very first Englishman who had made +Beauty a part of his art; and he held, that, by striking +out this course, and setting the successful example of +introducing always into his most whimsical pieces some +beautiful faces or agreeable forms, he had done more +than any other man of his generation to refine a branch +of art to which the facilities of steam-printing and +wood-engraving were giving almost unrivalled diffusion +and popularity. His opinion of Leech in a word was +that he turned caricature into character; and would +leave behind him not a little of the history of his time +and its follies, sketched with inimitable grace.</p> + +<p>"If we turn back to a collection of the works of +Rowlandson or Gilray, we shall find, in spite of the +great humour displayed in many of them, that they are +rendered wearisome and unpleasant by a vast amount +of personal ugliness. Now, besides that it is a poor +device to represent what is satirized as being necessarily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_415" id="Page_2_415">[415]</a></span> +ugly, which is but the resource of an angry child or a +jealous woman, it serves no purpose but to produce a +disagreeable result. There is no reason why the farmer's +daughter in the old caricature who is squalling at the +harpsichord (to the intense delight, by the bye, of +her worthy father, whom it is her duty to please) +should be squab and hideous. The satire on the +manner of her education, if there be any in the thing +at all, would be just as good, if she were pretty. +Mr. Leech would have made her so. The average +of farmers' daughters in England are not impossible +lumps of fat. One is quite as likely to find a pretty +girl in a farm-house, as to find an ugly one; and +we think, with Mr. Leech, that the business of this +Style of art is with the pretty one. She is not only a +pleasanter object, but we have more interest in her. +We care more about what does become her, and does +not become her. Mr. Leech represented the other day +certain delicate creatures with bewitching countenances +encased in several varieties of that amazing garment, +the ladies' paletot. Formerly those fair creatures would +have been made as ugly and ungainly as possible, and +then the point would have been lost. The spectator, +with a laugh at the absurdity of the whole group, would +not have cared how such uncouth creatures disguised +themselves, or how ridiculous they became. . . . But +to represent female beauty as Mr. Leech represents it, +an artist must have, a most delicate perception of it; +and the gift of being able to realise it to us with two or +three slight, sure touches of his pencil. This power +Mr. Leech possesses, in an extraordinary degree. . . . +For this reason, we enter our protest against those of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_416" id="Page_2_416">[416]</a></span> +the Rising Generation who are precociously in love +being made the subject of merriment by a pitiless and +unsympathizing world. We never saw a boy more distinctly +in the right than the young gentleman kneeling +on the chair to beg a lock of hair from his pretty +cousin, to take back to school. Madness is in her +apron, and Virgil dog's-eared and defaced is in her +ringlets. Doubts may suggest themselves of the perfect +disinterestedness of the other young gentleman contemplating +the fair girl at the piano—doubts engendered +by his worldly allusion to 'tin'; though even +that may have arisen in his modest consciousness of his +own inability to support an establishment—but that +he should be 'deucedly inclined to go and cut that +fellow out,' appears to us one of the most natural emotions +of the human breast. The young gentleman with +the dishevelled hair and clasped hands who loves the +transcendant beauty with the bouquet, and can't be +happy without her, is to us a withering and desolate +spectacle. Who <i>could</i> be happy without her? . . . The +growing youths are not less happily observed and +agreeably depicted than the grown women. The languid +little creature who 'hasn't danced since he was +quite a boy,' is perfect; and the eagerness of the small +dancer whom he declines to receive for a partner at the +hands of the glorious old lady of the house (the little +feet quite ready for the first position, the whole heart +projected into the quadrille, and the glance peeping +timidly at the desired one out of a flutter of hope and +doubt) is quite delightful to look at. The intellectual +juvenile who awakens the tremendous wrath of a Norma +of private life by considering woman an inferior animal,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_417" id="Page_2_417">[417]</a></span> +is lecturing at the present moment, we understand, on +the Concrete in connexion with the Will. The legs of +the young philosopher who considers Shakespeare an +over-rated man, were seen by us dangling over the +side of an omnibus last Tuesday. We have no acquaintance +with the scowling young gentleman who +is clear that 'if his Governor don't like the way he +goes on in, why he must have chambers and so much +a week;' but if he is not by this time in Van Diemen's +land, he will certainly go to it through Newgate. +We should exceedingly dislike to have personal +property in a strong box, to live in the suburb of +Camberwell, and to be in the relation of bachelor-uncle +to that youth. . . . In all his designs, whatever +Mr. Leech desires to do, he does. His drawing seems +to us charming; and the expression indicated, though +by the simplest means, is exactly the natural expression, +and is recognised as such immediately. Some +forms of our existing life will never have a better +chronicler. His wit is good-natured, and always the +wit of a gentleman. He has a becoming sense of responsibility +and self-restraint; he delights in agreeable +things; he imparts some pleasant air of his own to +things not pleasant in themselves; he is suggestive and +full of matter; and he is always improving. Into the +tone as well as into the execution of what he does, he +has brought a certain elegance which is altogether new, +without involving any compromise of what is true. +Popular art in England has not had so rich an acquisition." +Dickens's closing allusion was to a remark made +by Mr. Ford in a review of <i>Oliver Twist</i> formerly referred +to. "It is eight or ten years since a writer in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_418" id="Page_2_418">[418]</a></span> +the <i>Quarterly Review</i>, making mention of <span class="smcap">Mr. George +Cruikshank</span>, commented on the absurdity of excluding +such a man from the Royal Academy, because his works +were not produced in certain materials, and did not +occupy a certain space in its annual shows. Will no +Associates be found upon its books one of these days, +the labours of whose oil and brushes will have sunk into +the profoundest obscurity, when many pencil-marks of +<span class="smcap">Mr. Cruikshank</span> and of <span class="smcap">Mr. Leech</span> will be still fresh +in half the houses in the land?"</p> + +<p>Of what otherwise occupied him at Broadstairs in +1848 there is not much to mention until the close of +his holiday. He used to say that he never went for +more than a couple of days from his own home without +something befalling him that never happened to anyone +else, and his Broadstairs adventure of the present +summer verged closer on tragedy than comedy. Returning +there one day in August after bringing up his +boys to school, it had been arranged that his wife +should meet him at Margate; but he had walked impatiently +far beyond the place for meeting when at last +he caught sight of her, not in the small chaise but in a +large carriage and pair followed by an excited crowd, +and with the youth that should have been driving the +little pony bruised and bandaged on the box behind +the two prancing horses. "You may faintly imagine +my amazement at encountering this carriage, and the +strange people, and Kate, and the crowd, and the bandaged +one, and all the rest of it." And then in a line +or two I had the story. "At the top of a steep hill +on the road, with a ditch on each side, the pony bolted, +upon which what does John do but jump out! He says<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_419" id="Page_2_419">[419]</a></span> +he was thrown out, but it cannot be. The reins immediately +became entangled in the wheels, and away went +the pony down the hill madly, with Kate inside rending +the Isle of Thanet with her screams. The accident +might have been a fearful one, if the pony had not, +thank Heaven, on getting to the bottom, pitched over +the side; breaking the shaft and cutting her hind legs, +but in the most extraordinary manner smashing her +own way apart. She tumbled down, a bundle of legs +with her head tucked underneath, and left the chaise +standing on the bank! A Captain Devaynes and his +wife were passing in their carriage at the moment, saw +the accident with no power of preventing it, got Kate +out, laid her on the grass, and behaved with infinite +kindness. All's well that ends well, and I think she's +really none the worse for the fright. John is in bed a +good deal bruised, but without any broken bone, and +likely soon to come right; though for the present plastered +all over, and, like Squeers, a brown-paper parcel +chock-full of nothing but groans. The women generally +have no sympathy for him whatever; and the nurse +says, with indignation, how could he go and leave an +unprotected female in the shay!"</p> + +<p>Holiday incidents there were many, but none that +need detain us. This was really a summer idleness: +for it was the interval between two of his important +undertakings, there was no periodical yet to make demands +on him, and only the task of finishing his +<i>Haunted Man</i> for Christmas lay ahead. But he did +even his nothings in a strenuous way, and on occasion +could make gallant fight against the elements themselves. +He reported himself, to my horror, thrice wet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_420" id="Page_2_420">[420]</a></span> +through on a single day, "dressed four times," and +finding all sorts of great things, brought out by the +rains, among the rocks on the sea-beach. He also +sketched now and then morsels of character for me, of +which I will preserve one. "F is philosophical, from +sunrise to bedtime: chiefly in the French line, about +French women going mad, and in that state coming +to their husbands, and saying, 'Mon ami, je vous ai +trompé. Voici les lettres de mon amant!' Whereupon +the husbands take the letters and think them waste +paper, and become extra-philosophical at finding that +they really <i>were</i> the lover's effusions: though what +there is of philosophy in it all, or anything but unwholesomeness, +it is not easy to see." (A remark that it +might not be out of place to offer to Mr. Taine's +notice.) "Likewise about dark shades coming over our +wedded Emmeline's face at parties; and about F handing +her to her carriage, and saying, 'May I come in, +for a lift homeward?' and she bending over him out of +window, and saying in a low voice, <span class="smcap">I dare not!</span> And +then of the carriage driving away like lightning, leaving +F more philosophical than ever on the pavement." +Not till the close of September I heard of work intruding +itself, in a letter twitting me for a broken promise +in not joining him: "We are reasonably jolly, but +rurally so; going to bed o' nights at ten, and bathing +o' mornings at half-past seven; and not drugging ourselves +with those dirty and spoiled waters of Lethe that +flow round the base of the great pyramid." Then, +after mention of the friends who had left him, Sheriff +Gordon, the Leeches, Lemon, Egg and Stone: "reflection +and pensiveness are coming. I have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_421" id="Page_2_421">[421]</a></span><span class="smcap">not</span></p> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'—seen Fancy write</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">With a pencil of light</span><br /> +On the blotter so solid, commanding the sea!'<br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>but I shouldn't wonder if she were to do it, one of +these days. Dim visions of divers things are floating +around me; and I must go to work, head foremost, +when I get home. I am glad, after all, that I have +not been at it here; for I am all the better for my +idleness, no doubt. . . . Roche was very ill last night, +and looks like one with his face turned to the other +world, this morning. When <i>are</i> you coming? Oh +what days and nights there have been here, this week +past!" My consent to a suggestion in his next letter, +that I should meet him on his way back, and join him +in a walking-excursion home, got me full absolution +for broken promises; and the way we took will remind +friends of his later life, when he was lord of Gadshill, +of an object of interest which he delighted in taking +them to see. "You will come down booked for Maidstone +(I will meet you at Paddock-wood), and we will +go thither in company over a most beautiful little line +of railroad. The eight miles walk from Maidstone to +Rochester, and the visit to the Druidical altar on the +wayside, are charming. This could be accomplished +on the Tuesday; and Wednesday we might look about +us at Chatham, coming home by Cobham on Thursday. . . ."</div> + +<p>His first seaside holiday in 1849 was at Brighton, +where he passed some weeks in February; and not, I +am bound to add, without the usual <i>un</i>usual adventure +to signalize his visit. He had not been a week in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_422" id="Page_2_422">[422]</a></span> +lodgings, where Leech and his wife joined him, when +both his landlord and the daughter of his landlord +went raving mad, and the lodgers were driven away +to the Bedford hotel. "If you could have heard the +cursing and crying of the two; could have seen the +physician and nurse quoited out into the passage by +the madman at the hazard of their lives; could have +seen Leech and me flying to the doctor's rescue; could +have seen our wives pulling us back; could have seen +the M.D. faint with fear; could have seen three other +M.D.'s come to his aid; with an atmosphere of Mrs. +Gamps, strait-waistcoats, struggling friends and servants, +surrounding the whole; you would have said +it was quite worthy of me, and quite in keeping with +my usual proceedings." The letter ended with a word +on what then his thoughts were full of, but for which +no name had yet been found. "A sea-fog to-day, but +yesterday inexpressibly delicious. My mind running, +like a high sea, on names—not satisfied yet, though." +When he next wrote from the seaside, in the beginning +of July, he had found the name; had started his +book; and was "rushing to Broadstairs" to write the +fourth number of <i>David Copperfield</i>.</p> + +<p>In this came the childish experiences which had left +so deep an impression upon him, and over which he +had some difficulty in throwing the needful disguises. +"Fourteen miles to-day in the country," he had written +to me on the 21st of June, "revolving number +four!" Still he did not quite see his way. Three +days later he wrote: "On leaving you last night, I +found myself summoned on a special jury in the +Queen's Bench to-day. I have taken no notice of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_423" id="Page_2_423">[423]</a></span> +the document,<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> and hourly expect to be dragged forth +to a dungeon for contempt of court. I think I should +rather like it. It might help me with a new notion or +two in my difficulties. Meanwhile I shall take a stroll +to-night in the green fields from 7 to 10, if you feel +inclined to join." His troubles ended when he got +to Broadstairs, from which he wrote on the tenth of +July to tell me that agreeably to the plan we had discussed +he had introduced a great part of his MS. into +the number. "I really think I have done it ingeniously, +and with a very complicated interweaving of +truth and fiction. Vous verrez. I am getting on like +a house afire in point of health, and ditto ditto in +point of number."</p> + +<p>In the middle of July the number was nearly done, +and he was still doubtful where to pass his longer summer +holiday. Leech wished to join him in it, and +both desired a change from Broadstairs. At first he +thought of Folkestone,<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> but disappointment there led<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_424" id="Page_2_424">[424]</a></span> +to a sudden change. "I propose" (15th of July) +"returning to town to-morrow by the boat from Ramsgate, +and going off to Weymouth or the Isle of Wight, +or both, early the next morning." A few days after, +his choice was made.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_425" id="Page_2_425">[425]</a></span></p> +<p>He had taken a house at Bonchurch, attracted there +by the friend who had made it a place of interest +for him during the last few years, the Reverend James +White, with whose name and its associations my mind +connects inseparably many of Dickens's happiest hours. +To pay him fitting tribute would not be easy, if here it +were called for. In the kindly shrewd Scotch face, a +keen sensitiveness to pleasure and pain was the first +thing that struck any common observer. Cheerfulness +and gloom coursed over it so rapidly that no one could +question the tale they told. But the relish of his life +had outlived its more than usual share of sorrows; and +quaint sly humour, love of jest and merriment, capital +knowledge of books, and sagacious quips at men, made +his companionship delightful. Like his life, his genius +was made up of alternations of mirth and melancholy. +He would be immersed, at one time, in those darkest +Scottish annals from which he drew his tragedies; and +overflowing, at another, into Sir Frizzle Pumpkin's exuberant +farce. The tragic histories may probably perish +with the actor's perishable art; but three little abstracts +of history written at a later time in prose, with a sunny<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_426" id="Page_2_426">[426]</a></span> +clearness of narration and a glow of picturesque interest +to my knowledge unequalled in books of such small +pretension, will find, I hope, a lasting place in literature. +They are filled with felicities of phrase, with +breadth of understanding and judgment, with manful +honesty, quiet sagacity, and a constant cheerful piety, +valuable for all and priceless for the young. Another +word I permit myself to add. With Dickens, White +was popular supremely for his eager good fellowship; +and few men brought him more of what he always liked +to receive. But he brought nothing so good as his +wife. "He is excellent, but she is better," is the pithy +remark of his first Bonchurch letter; and the true affection +and respect that followed is happily still borne +her by his daughters.</p> + +<p>Of course there is something strange to be recorded +of the Bonchurch holiday, but it does not come till +nearer the ending; and, with more attention to Mrs. +Malaprop's advice to begin with a little aversion, might +probably not have come at all. He began with an +excess of liking. Of the Undercliff he was full of +admiration. "From the top of the highest downs," +he wrote in his second letter (28th of July) "there are +views which are only to be equalled on the Genoese +shore of the Mediterranean; the variety of walks is extraordinary; +things are cheap, and everybody is civil. +The waterfall acts wonderfully, and the sea bathing is +delicious. Best of all, the place is certainly cold rather +than hot, in the summer time. The evenings have been +even chilly. White very jovial, and emulous of the +inimitable in respect of gin-punch. He had made some +for our arrival. Ha! ha! not bad for a beginner. . . .<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_427" id="Page_2_427">[427]</a></span> +I have been, and am, trying to work this morning; but +I can't make anything of it, and am going out to think. +I am invited by a distinguished friend to dine with you +on the first of August, but I have pleaded distance and +the being resident in a cave on the sea shore; my food, +beans; my drink, the water from the rock. . . . I must +pluck up heart of grace to write to Jeffrey, of whom I +had but poor accounts from Gordon just before leaving. +Talfourd delightful, and amuses me mightily. I am +really quite enraptured at his success, and think of his +happiness with uncommon pleasure." Our friend was +now on the bench; which he adorned with qualities +that are justly the pride of that profession, and with +accomplishments that have become more rare in its +highest places than they were in former times. His +elevation only made those virtues better known. Talfourd +assumed nothing with the ermine but the privilege +of more frequent intercourse with the tastes and +friends he loved, and he continued to be the most +joyous and least affected of companions. Such small +oddities or foibles as he had made him secretly only +dearer to Dickens, who had no friend he was more +attached to; and the many happy nights made happier +by the voice so affluent in generous words, and the face +so bright with ardent sensibility, come back to me sorrowfully +now. "Deaf the prais'd ear, and mute the +tuneful tongue." The poet's line has a double application +and sadness.</p> + +<p>He wrote again on the first of August. "I have just +begun to get into work. We are expecting the Queen +to come by very soon, in grand array, and are going +to let off ever so many guns. I had a letter from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_428" id="Page_2_428">[428]</a></span> +Jeffrey yesterday morning, just as I was going to write +to him. He has evidently been very ill, and I begin +to have fears for his recovery. It is a very pathetic +letter, as to his state of mind; but only in a tranquil +contemplation of death, which I think very noble." +His next letter, four days later, described himself as +continuing still at work; but also taking part in dinners +at Blackgang, and picnics of "tremendous success" on +Shanklin Down. "Two charity sermons for the school +are preached to-day, and I go to the afternoon one. +The examination of said school t'other day was very +funny. All the boys made Buckstone's bow in the +<i>Rough Diamond</i>, and some in a very wonderful manner +recited pieces of poetry, about a clock, and may we +be like the clock, which is always a going and a doing +of its duty, and always tells the truth (supposing it to +be a slap-up chronometer I presume, for the American +clock in the school was lying frightfully at that +moment); and after being bothered to death by the +multiplication table, they were refreshed with a public +tea in Lady Jane Swinburne's garden." (There was a +reference in one of his letters, but I have lost it, to a +golden-haired lad of the Swinburnes whom his own boys +used to play with, since become more widely known.) +"The rain came in with the first tea-pot, and has been +active ever since. On Friday we had a grand, and +what is better, a very good dinner at 'parson' Fielden's, +with some choice port. On Tuesday we are going on +another picnic; with the materials for a fire, at my express +stipulation; and a great iron pot to boil potatoes +in. These things, and the eatables, go to the ground +in a cart. Last night we had some very good merriment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_429" id="Page_2_429">[429]</a></span> +at White's, where pleasant Julian Young and his +wife (who are staying about five miles off) showed +some droll new games"—and roused the ambition in +my friend to give a "mighty conjuring performance +for all the children in Bonchurch," for which I sent +him the materials and which went off in a tumult of +wild delight. To the familiar names in this letter I +will add one more, grieving freshly even now to connect +it with suffering. "A letter from Poole has +reached me since I began this letter, with tidings in it +that you will be very sorry to hear. Poor Regnier has +lost his only child; the pretty daughter who dined with +us that nice day at your house, when we all pleased the +poor mother by admiring her so much. She died +of a sudden attack of malignant typhus. Poole was +at the funeral, and writes that he never saw, or could +have imagined, such intensity of grief as Regnier's at +the grave. How one loves him for it. But is it not +always true, in comedy and in tragedy, that the more +real the man the more genuine the actor?"</p> + +<p>After a few more days I heard of progress with his +writing in spite of all festivities. "I have made it a +rule that the inimitable is invisible, until two every +day. I shall have half the number done, please God, +to-morrow. I have not worked quickly here yet, but I +don't know what I <i>may</i> do. Divers cogitations have +occupied my mind at intervals, respecting the dim design." +The design was the weekly periodical so often +in his thoughts, of which more will appear in my next +chapter. His letter closed with intimations of discomfort +in his health; of an obstinate cough; and of a +determination he had formed to mount daily to the top<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_430" id="Page_2_430">[430]</a></span> +of the downs. "It makes a great difference in the +climate to get a blow there and come down again." +Then I heard of the doctor "stethoscoping" him, of +his hope that all was right in that quarter, and of rubbings +"à la St. John Long" being ordered for his +chest. But the mirth still went on. "There has been +a Doctor Lankester at Sandown, a very good merry +fellow, who has made one at the picnics, and whom I +went over and dined with, along with Danby (I remember +your liking for Danby, and don't wonder at it), +Leech, and White." A letter towards the close of +August resumed yet more of his ordinary tone. "We +had games and forfeits last night at White's. Davy +Roberts's pretty little daughter is there for a week, with +her husband, Bicknell's son. There was a dinner first +to say good-bye to Danby, who goes to other clergyman's-duty, +and we were very merry. Mrs. White +unchanging; White comically various in his moods. +Talfourd comes down next Tuesday, and we think of +going over to Ryde on Monday, visiting the play, +sleeping there (I don't mean at the play), and bringing +the Judge back. Browne is coming down when +he has done his month's work. Should you like to go +to Alum Bay while you are here? It would involve a +night out, but I think would be very pleasant; and if +you think so too, I will arrange it sub rosâ, so that we +may not be, like Bobadil, 'oppressed by numbers.' I +mean to take a fly over from Shanklin to meet you at +Ryde; so that we can walk back from Shanklin over +the landslip, where the scenery is wonderfully beautiful. +Stone and Egg are coming next month, and we hope +to see Jerrold before we go." Such notices from his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_431" id="Page_2_431">[431]</a></span> +letters may be thought hardly worth preserving; but a +wonderful vitality in every circumstance, as long as life +under any conditions remained to the writer, is the +picture they contribute to; nor would it be complete +without the addition, that fond as he was, in the intervals +of his work, of this abundance and variety of +enjoyments, to no man were so essential also those +quieter hours of thought, and talk, not obtainable when +"oppressed by numbers."</p> + +<p>My visit was due at the opening of September, but +a few days earlier came the full revelation of which only +a passing shadow had reached in two or three previous +letters. "Before I think of beginning my next number, +I perhaps cannot do better than give you an imperfect +description of the results of the climate of Bonchurch +after a few weeks' residence. The first salubrious effect +of which the Patient becomes conscious is an almost +continual feeling of sickness, accompanied with great +prostration of strength, so that his legs tremble under +him, and his arms quiver when he wants to take hold +of any object. An extraordinary disposition to sleep +(except at night, when his rest, in the event of his +having any, is broken by incessant dreams) is always +present at the same time; and, if he have anything to do +requiring thought and attention, this overpowers him +to such a degree that he can only do it in snatches: +lying down on beds in the fitful intervals. Extreme +depression of mind, and a disposition to shed tears +from morning to night, developes itself at the same +period. If the Patient happen to have been a good +walker, he finds ten miles an insupportable distance; +in the achievement of which his legs are so unsteady,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_432" id="Page_2_432">[432]</a></span> +that he goes from side to side of the road, like a +drunken man. If he happen to have ever possessed +any energy of any kind, he finds it quenched in a dull, +stupid languor. He has no purpose, power, or object +in existence whatever. When he brushes his hair in +the morning, he is so weak that he is obliged to sit +upon a chair to do it. He is incapable of reading, at +all times. And his bilious system is so utterly overthrown, +that a ball of boiling fat appears to be always +behind the top of the bridge of his nose, simmering +between his haggard eyes. If he should have caught +a cold, he will find it impossible to get rid of it, as his +system is wholly incapable of making any effort. His +cough will be deep, monotonous, and constant. 'The +faithful watch-dog's honest bark' will be nothing to it. +He will abandon all present idea of overcoming it, +and will content himself with keeping an eye upon +his blood-vessels to preserve them whole and sound. +<i>Patient's name, Inimitable B.</i> . . . It's a mortal mistake!—That's +the plain fact. Of all the places I +ever have been in, I have never been in one so difficult +to exist in, pleasantly. Naples is hot and dirty, +New York feverish, Washington bilious, Genoa exciting, +Paris rainy—but Bonchurch, smashing. I am +quite convinced that I should die here, in a year. It's +not hot, it's not close, I don't know what it is, but the +prostration of it is <i>awful</i>. Nobody here has the least +idea what I think of it; but I find, from all sorts of +hints from Kate, Georgina, and the Leeches, that they +are all affected more or less in the same way, and +find it very difficult to make head against. I make +no sign, and pretend not to know what is going on.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_433" id="Page_2_433">[433]</a></span> +But they are right. I believe the Leeches will go +soon, and small blame to 'em!—For me, when I leave +here at the end of this September, I must go down to +some cold place; as Ramsgate for example, for a week +or two; or I seriously believe I shall feel the effects +of it for a long time. . . . What do you think of +<i>that?</i> . . . The longer I live, the more I doubt the +doctors. I am perfectly convinced, that, for people +suffering under a wasting disease, this Undercliff is +madness altogether. The doctors, with the old miserable +folly of looking at one bit of a subject, take the +patient's lungs and the Undercliff's air, and settle +solemnly that they are fit for each other. But the whole +influence of the place, never taken into consideration, +is to reduce and overpower vitality. I am quite confident +that I should go down under it, as if it were so +much lead, slowly crushing me. An American resident +in Paris many years, who brought me a letter from +Olliffe, said, the day before yesterday, that he had +always had a passion for the sea never to be gratified +enough, but that after living here a month, he could +not bear to look at it; he couldn't endure the sound of +it; he didn't know how it was, but it seemed associated +with the decay of his whole powers." These +were grave imputations against one of the prettiest +places in England; but of the generally depressing influence +of that Undercliff on particular temperaments, +I had already enough experience to abate something +of the surprise with which I read the letter. What it +too bluntly puts aside are the sufferings other than his +own, projected and sheltered by what only aggravated +his; but my visit gave me proof that he had really very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_434" id="Page_2_434">[434]</a></span> +little overstated the effect upon himself. Making allowance, +which sometimes he failed to do, for special peculiarities, +and for the excitability never absent when he +had in hand an undertaking such as <i>Copperfield</i>, I observed +a nervous tendency to misgivings and apprehensions +to the last degree unusual with him, which +seemed to make the commonest things difficult; and +though he stayed out his time, and brought away +nothing that his happier associations with the place +and its residents did not long survive, he never returned +to Bonchurch.</p> + +<p>In the month that remained he completed his fifth +number, and with the proof there came the reply to +some questions of which I hardly remember more than +that they referred to doubts of mine; one being as to +the propriety of the kind of delusion he had first given +to poor Mr. Dick,<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> which I thought a little too farcical +for that really touching delineation of character. +"Your suggestion is perfectly wise and sound," he +wrote back (22nd of August). "I have acted on it. +I have also, instead of the bull and china-shop delusion, +given Dick the idea, that, when the head of king +Charles the First was cut off, some of the trouble was +taken out of it, and put into his (Dick's)". When he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_435" id="Page_2_435">[435]</a></span> +next wrote, there was news very welcome to me for +the pleasure to himself it involved. "Browne has +sketched an uncommonly characteristic and capital +Mr. Micawber for the next number. I hope the present +number is a good one. I hear nothing but pleasant +accounts of the general satisfaction." The same letter +told me of an intention to go to Broadstairs, put aside +by doubtful reports of its sanitary condition; but it will +be seen presently that there was another graver interruption. +With his work well off his hands, however, +he had been getting on better where he was; and they +had all been very merry. "Yes," he said, writing +after a couple of days (23rd of September), "we have +been sufficiently rollicking since I finished the number; +and have had great games at rounders every +afternoon, with all Bonchurch looking on; but I begin +to long for a little peace and solitude. And now for +my less pleasing piece of news. The sea has been running +very high, and Leech, while bathing, was knocked +over by a bad blow from a great wave on the forehead. +He is in bed, and had twenty of his namesakes on his +temples this morning. When I heard of him just now, +he was asleep—which he had not been all night." He +closed his letter hopefully, but next day (24th September) +I had less favourable report. "Leech has been +very ill with congestion of the brain ever since I wrote, +and being still in excessive pain has had ice to his head +continuously, and been bled in the arm besides. Beard +and I sat up there, all night." On the 26th he wrote, +"My plans are all unsettled by Leech's illness; as of +course I do not like to leave this place while I can be +of any service to him and his good little wife. But all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_436" id="Page_2_436">[436]</a></span> +visitors are gone to-day, and Winterbourne once more +left to the engaging family of the inimitable B. Ever +since I wrote to you Leech has been seriously worse, +and again very heavily bled. The night before last he +was in such an alarming state of restlessness, which nothing +could relieve, that I proposed to Mrs. Leech to try +magnetism. Accordingly, in the middle of the night +I fell to; and after a very fatiguing bout of it, put him +to sleep for an hour and thirty-five minutes. A change +came on in the sleep, and he is decidedly better. I +talked to the astounded little Mrs. Leech across him, +when he was asleep, as if he had been a truss of hay. . . . +What do you think of my setting up in the magnetic +line with a large brass plate? 'Terms, twenty-five +guineas per nap.'" When he wrote again on the 30th, +he had completed his sixth number; and his friend was +so clearly on the way to recovery that he was next day +to leave for Broadstairs with his wife, her sister, and +the two little girls. "I will merely add that I entreat to +be kindly remembered to Thackeray" (who had a dangerous +illness at this time); "that I think I have, without +a doubt, <i>got</i> the Periodical notion; and that I am +writing under the depressing and discomforting influence +of paying off the tribe of bills that pour in upon an +unfortunate family-young-man on the eve of a residence +like this. So no more at present from the disgusted, +though still inimitable, and always affectionate B."</p> + +<p>He stayed at Broadstairs till he had finished his number +seven, and what else chiefly occupied him were +thoughts about the Periodical of which account will +presently be given. "Such a night and day of rain," +ran his first letter, "I should think the oldest inhabitant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_437" id="Page_2_437">[437]</a></span> +never saw! and yet, in the ould formiliar Broadstairs, +I somehow or other don't mind it much. The +change has done Mamey a world of good, and I have +begun to sleep again. As for news, you might as well +ask me for dolphins. Nobody in Broadstairs—to speak +of. Certainly nobody in Ballard's. We are in the +part, which is the house next door to the hotel itself, +that we once had for three years running, and just as +quiet and snug now as it was then. I don't think I +shall return before the 20th or so, when the number +is done; but I <i>may</i>, in some inconstant freak, run +up to you before. Preliminary despatches and advices +shall be forwarded in any case to the fragrant +neighbourhood of Clare-market and the Portugal-street +burying-ground." Such was his polite designation of +my whereabouts: for which nevertheless he had secret +likings. "On the Portsmouth railway, coming here, +encountered Kenyon. On the ditto ditto at Reigate, +encountered young Dilke, and took him in tow to Canterbury. +On the ditto ditto at ditto (meaning Reigate), +encountered Fox, M. P. for Oldham, and his daughter. +All within an hour. Young Dilke great about the proposed +Exposition under the direction of H. R. H. Prince +Albert, and evincing, very pleasantly to me, unbounded +faith in our old friend his father." There was one +more letter, taking a rather gloomy view of public +affairs in connection with an inflated pastoral from +Doctor Wiseman "given out of the Flaminian Gate," +and speaking dolefully of some family matters; which +was subscribed, each word forming a separate line, +"Yours Despondently, And Disgustedly, Wilkins Micawber."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_438" id="Page_2_438">[438]</a></span></p> + +<p>His visit to the little watering-place in the following +year was signalised by his completion of the most famous +of his novels, and his letters otherwise were occupied +by elaborate managerial preparation for the private +performances at Knebworth. But again the plague of +itinerant music flung him into such fevers of irritation, +that he finally resolved against any renewed attempt to +carry on important work here; and the summer of +1851, when he was only busy with miscellaneous writing, +was the last of his regular residences in the place. He +then let his London house for the brief remainder of +its term; ran away at the end of May, when some +grave family sorrows had befallen him, from the crowds +and excitements of the Great Exhibition; and with +intervals of absence, chiefly at the Guild representations, +stayed in his favourite Fort-house by the sea until +October, when he took possession of Tavistock-house. +From his letters may be added a few notices of this +last holiday at Broadstairs, which he had always afterwards +a kindly word for; and to which he said pleasant +adieu in the sketch of "Our Watering-place," written +shortly before he left.</p> + +<p>"It is more delightful here" (1st of June) "than I +can express. Corn growing, larks singing, garden full of +flowers, fresh air on the sea—O it is wonderful! Why +can't you come down next Saturday (bringing work) +and go back with me on Wednesday for the <i>Copperfield</i> +banquet? Concerning which, of course, I say yes to +Talfourd's kind proposal. Lemon by all means. And—don't +you think? Browne? Whosoever, besides, +pleases Talfourd will please me." Great was the success +of that banquet. The scene was the Star-and-Garter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_439" id="Page_2_439">[439]</a></span> +at Richmond; Thackeray and Alfred Tennyson +joined in the celebration; and the generous giver was +in his best vein. I have rarely seen Dickens happier +than he was amid the sunshine of that day. Jerrold +and Thackeray returned to town with us; and a little +argument between them about money and its uses, led to +an avowal of Dickens about himself to which I may add +the confirmation of all our years of intercourse. "No +man," he said, "attaches less importance to the possession +of money, or less disparagement to the want of +it, than I do."</p> + +<p>Vague mention of a "next book" escaped in a letter +at the end of July, on which I counselled longer abstinence. +"Good advice," he replied, "but difficult: +I wish you'd come to us and preach another kind of +abstinence. Fancy the Preventive men finding a lot +of brandy in barrels on the rocks here, the day before +yesterday! Nobody knows anything about the barrels, +of course. They were intended to have been landed +with the next tide, and to have been just covered at low +water. But the water being unusually low, the tops of +the barrels became revealed to Preventive telescopes, +and descent was made upon the brandy. They are +always at it, hereabouts, I have no doubt. And of +course B would not have had any of it. O dear no! +certainly not."</p> + +<p>His reading was considerable and very various at +these intervals of labour, and in this particular summer +took in all the minor tales as well as the plays of Voltaire, +several of the novels (old favourites with him) of +Paul de Kock, Ruskin's <i>Lamps of Architecture</i>, and a +surprising number of books of African and other travel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_440" id="Page_2_440">[440]</a></span> +for which he had insatiable relish: but the notices of +all this in his letters were few. "By the bye, I observe, +reading that wonderful book the <i>French Revolution</i> +again, for the 500th time, that Carlyle, who knows +everything, don't know what Mumbo Jumbo is. It is +not an Idol. It is a secret preserved among the men +of certain African tribes, and never revealed by any of +them, for the punishment of their women. Mumbo +Jumbo comes in hideous form out of the forest, or the +mud, or the river, or where not, and flogs some woman +who has been backbiting, or scolding, or with some +other domestic mischief disturbing the general peace. +Carlyle seems to confound him with the common +Fetish; but he is quite another thing. He is a disguised +man; and all about him is a freemasons' secret +<i>among the men</i>."—"I finished the <i>Scarlet Letter</i> yesterday. +It falls off sadly after that fine opening scene. +The psychological part of the story is very much over-done, +and not truly done I think. Their suddenness of +meeting and agreeing to go away together, after all those +years, is very poor. Mr. Chillingworth ditto. The +child out of nature altogether. And Mr. Dimmisdale +certainly never could have begotten her." In Mr. Hawthorne's +earlier books he had taken especial pleasure; +his <i>Mosses from an Old Manse</i> having been the first +book he placed in my hands on his return from America, +with reiterated injunctions to read it. I will add a word +or two of what he wrote of the clever story of another +popular writer, because it hits well the sort of ability +that has become so common, which escapes the highest +point of cleverness, but stops short only at the very +verge of it. "The story extremely good indeed; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_441" id="Page_2_441">[441]</a></span> +all the strongest things of which it is capable, missed. +It shows just how far that kind of power can go. It is +more like a note of the idea than anything else. It +seems to me as if it were written by somebody who +lived next door to the people, rather than inside of 'em."</p> + +<p>I joined him for the August regatta and stayed a +pleasant fortnight. His paper on "Our Watering-place" +appeared while I was there, and great was the +local excitement. His own restlessness with fancies +for a new book had now risen beyond bounds, and for +the time he was eager to open it in that prettiest +quaintest bit of English landscape, Strood valley, +which reminded him always of a Swiss scene. I had +not left him many days when these lines followed me. +"I very nearly packed up a portmanteau and went +away, the day before yesterday, into the mountains of +Switzerland, alone! Still the victim of an intolerable +restlessness, I shouldn't be at all surprised if I wrote to +you one of these mornings from under Mont Blanc. I +sit down between whiles to think of a new story, and, as +it begins to grow, such a torment of a desire to be anywhere +but where I am; and to be going I don't know +where, I don't know why; takes hold of me, that it is +like being <i>driven away</i>. If I had had a passport, I +sincerely believe I should have gone to Switzerland the +night before last. I should have remembered our engagement—say, +at Paris, and have come back for it; but +should probably have left by the next express train."</p> + +<p>At the end of November, when he had settled himself +in his new London abode, the book was begun; and +as generally happened with the more important incidents +of his life, but always accidentally, begun on a Friday.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_442" id="Page_2_442">[442]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>HAUNTED MAN AND HOUSEHOLD WORDS.</h3> + +<h3>1848-1850.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Friendly Plea for Mr. Macrone—Completion of Christmas Tale—The +"Ghost" Story and the "Bargain"—The Tetterby Family—Moral +of the Story—<i>Copperfield</i> Sales—Letter from Russia—The Periodical +taking Form—Hopes of Success—Doubts respecting it—New +Design chosen—Names proposed—Appearance of First Number—Earliest +Contributors—His Opinion of Mr. Sala—Child's Dream of +a Star—A Fancy derived from his Childhood.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> has been seen that his fancy for his Christmas +book of 1848 first arose to him at Lausanne in the summer +of 1846, and that, after writing its opening pages +in the autumn of the following year, he laid it aside +under the pressure of his <i>Dombey</i>. These lines were +in the letter that closed his 1848 Broadstairs holiday. +"At last I am a mentally matooring of the Christmas +book—or, as poor Macrone<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> used to write, 'booke,'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_443" id="Page_2_443">[443]</a></span> +'boke,' 'buke,' &c." It was the first labour to which +he applied himself at his return.</p> + +<p>In London it soon came to maturity; was published +duly as <i>The Haunted Man, or the Ghost's Bargain;</i> +sold largely, beginning with a subscription of twenty +thousand; and had a great success on the Adelphi +stage, to which it was rather cleverly adapted by +Lemon. He had placed on its title page originally +four lines from Tennyson's "Departure,"</p> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +"And o'er the hills, and far away<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Beyond their utmost purple rim,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Beyond the night, across the day,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Thro' all the world <span class="smcap">it</span> follow'd him;"</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>but they were less applicable to the close than to the +opening of the tale, and were dropped before publication.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_444" id="Page_2_444">[444]</a></span> +The hero is a great chemist, a lecturer at an +old foundation, a man of studious philosophic habits, +haunted with recollections of the past "o'er which his +melancholy sits on brood," thinking his knowledge of +the present a worthier substitute, and at last parting +with that portion of himself which he thinks he can +safely cast away. The recollections are of a great +wrong done him in early life, and of all the sorrow +consequent upon it; and the ghost he holds nightly +conference with, is the darker presentiment of himself +embodied in those bitter recollections. This part is +finely managed. Out of heaped-up images of gloomy +and wintry fancies, the supernatural takes a shape which +is not forced or violent; and the dialogue which is no +dialogue, but a kind of dreary dreamy echo, is a piece +of ghostly imagination better than Mrs. Radcliffe. The +boon desired is granted and the bargain struck. He +is not only to lose his own recollection of grief and +wrong, but to destroy the like memory in all whom he +approaches. By this means the effect is shown in +humble as well as higher minds, in the worst poverty +as in competence or ease, always with the same result. +The over-thinking sage loses his own affections and +sympathy, sees them crushed in others, and is brought +to the level of the only creature whom he cannot +change or influence, an outcast of the streets, a boy +whom the mere animal appetites have turned into a +small fiend. Never having had his mind awakened, +evil is this creature's good; avarice, irreverence, and +vindictiveness, are his nature; sorrow has no place in +his memory; and from his brutish propensities the +philosopher can take nothing away. The juxtaposition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_445" id="Page_2_445">[445]</a></span> +of two people whom such opposite means have put in +the same moral position is a stroke of excellent art. +There are plenty of incredibilities and inconsistencies, +just as in the pleasant <i>Cricket on the Hearth</i>, which +one does not care about, but enjoy rather than otherwise; +and, as in that charming little book, there were +minor characters as delightful as anything in Dickens. +The Tetterby group, in whose humble, homely, kindly, +ungainly figures there is everything that could suggest +itself to a clear eye, a piercing wit, and a loving heart, +became enormous favourites. Tilly Slowboy and her +little dot of a baby, charging folks with it as if it were +an offensive instrument, or handing it about as if it +were something to drink, were not more popular than +poor Johnny Tetterby staggering under his Moloch of +an infant, the Juggernaut that crushes all his enjoyments. +The story itself consists of nothing more than +the effects of the Ghost's gift upon the various groups +of people introduced, and the way the end is arrived at +is very specially in Dickens's manner. What the highest +exercise of the intellect had missed is found in the +simplest form of the affections. The wife of the custodian +of the college where the chemist is professor, in +whom are all the unselfish virtues that can beautify and +endear the humblest condition, is the instrument of the +change. Such sorrow as she had suffered had made +her only zealous to relieve others' sufferings: and the +discontented wise man learns from her example that +the world is, after all, a much happier compromise than +it seems to be, and life easier than wisdom is apt to +think it; that grief gives joy its relish, purifying what +it touches truly; and that "sweet are the uses of adversity"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_446" id="Page_2_446">[446]</a></span> +when its clouds are not the shadow of dishonour. +All this can be shown but lightly within such +space, it is true; and in the machinery a good deal has +to be taken for granted. But Dickens was quite justified +in turning aside from objections of that kind. +"You must suppose," he wrote to me (21st of November), +"that the Ghost's saving clause gives him those +glimpses without which it would be impossible to carry +out the idea. Of course my point is that bad and good +are inextricably linked in remembrance, and that you +could not choose the enjoyment of recollecting only +the good. To have all the best of it you must remember +the worst also. My intention in the other point +you mention is, that he should not know himself how +he communicates the gift, whether by look or touch; +and that it should diffuse itself in its own way in each +case. I can make this clearer by a very few lines in +the second part. It is not only necessary to be so, for +the variety of the story, but I think it makes the thing +wilder and stranger." Critical niceties are indeed out +of place, where wildness and strangeness in the means +matter less than that there should be clearness in the +drift and intention. Dickens leaves no doubt as to +this. He thoroughly makes out his fancy, that no man +should so far question the mysterious dispensations of +evil in this world as to desire to lose the recollection +of such injustice or misery as he may suppose it to have +done to himself. There may have been sorrow, but +there was the kindness that assuaged it; there may +have been wrong, but there was the charity that forgave +it; and with both are connected inseparably so many +thoughts that soften and exalt whatever else is in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_447" id="Page_2_447">[447]</a></span> +sense of memory, that what is good and pleasurable +in life would cease to continue so if these were forgotten. +The old proverb does not tell you to forget +that you may forgive, but to forgive that you may forget. +It is forgiveness of wrong, for forgetfulness of the evil +that was in it; such as poor old Lear begged of +Cordelia.</div> + +<p>The design for his much-thought-of new Periodical +was still "dim," as we have seen, when the first cogitation +of it at Bonchurch occupied him; but the expediency +of making it clearer came soon after with a visit +from Mr. Evans, who brought his half-year's accounts +of sales, and some small disappointment for him in +those of <i>Copperfield</i>. "The accounts are rather shy, +after <i>Dombey</i>, and what you said comes true after all. +I am not sorry I cannot bring myself to care much for +what opinions people may form; and I have a strong +belief, that, if any of my books are read years hence, +<i>Dombey</i> will be remembered as among the best of them: +but passing influences are important for the time, and +as <i>Chuzzlewit</i> with its small sale sent me up, <i>Dombey's</i> +large sale has tumbled me down. Not very much, however, +in real truth. These accounts only include the +first three numbers, have of course been burdened with +all the heavy expenses of number one, and ought not +in reason to be complained of. But it is clear to me +that the Periodical must be set agoing in the spring; +and I have already been busy, at odd half-hours, in +shadowing forth a name and an idea. Evans says they +have but one opinion repeated to them of <i>Copperfield</i>, +and they feel very confident about it. A steady twenty-five +thousand, which it is now on the verge of, will do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_448" id="Page_2_448">[448]</a></span> +very well. The back numbers are always going off. +Read the enclosed."</p> + +<p>It was a letter from a Russian man of letters, dated +from St. Petersburg and signed "Trinarch Ivansvitch +Wredenskii," sending him a translation of <i>Dombey</i> +into Russian; and informing him that his works, which +before had only been translated in the journals, and +with certain omissions, had now been translated in their +entire form by his correspondent, though even he had +found an omission to be necessary in his version of +<i>Pickwick</i>. He adds, with an exquisite courtesy to our +national tongue which is yet not forgetful of the claims +of his own nationality, that his difficulties (in the Sam +Weller direction and others) had arisen from the "impossibility +of portraying faithfully the beauties of the +original in the Russian language, which, though the +richest in Europe in its expressiveness, is far from being +elaborate enough for literature like other civilized languages." +He had however, he assured Dickens, been +unremitting in his efforts to live with his thoughts; +and the exalted opinion he had formed of them was +attended by only one wish, that such a writer "could +but have expanded under a Russian sky!" Still, his +fate was an enviable one. "For the last eleven years +your name has enjoyed a wide celebrity in Russia, and +from the banks of the Neva to the remotest parts of +Siberia you are read with avidity. Your <i>Dombey</i> continues +to inspire with enthusiasm the whole of the literary +Russia." Much did we delight in the good +Wredenskii; and for a long time, on anything going +"contrairy" in the public or private direction with +him, he would tell me he had ordered his portmanteau<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_449" id="Page_2_449">[449]</a></span> +to be packed for the more sympathizing and congenial +climate of "the remotest parts of Siberia."</p> + +<p>The week before he left Bonchurch I again had news +of the old and often recurring fancy. "The old notion +of the Periodical, which has been agitating itself +in my mind for so long, I really think is at last gradually +growing into form." That was on the 24th of +September; and on the 7th of October, from Broadstairs, +I had something of the form it had been taking. +"I do great injustice to my floating ideas (pretty +speedily and comfortably settling down into orderly +arrangement) by saying anything about the Periodical +now: but my notion is a weekly journal, price either +three-halfpence or two-pence, matter in part original +and in part selected, and always having, if possible, +a little good poetry. . . . Upon the selected matter, I +have particular notions. One is, that it should always +be <i>a subject</i>. For example, a history of Piracy; in +connexion with which there is a vast deal of extraordinary, +romantic, and almost unknown matter. A history +of Knight-errantry, and the wild old notion of +the Sangreal. A history of Savages, showing the singular +respects in which all savages are like each other; +and those in which civilised men, under circumstances +of difficulty, soonest become like savages. A history +of remarkable characters, good and bad, <i>in</i> history; +to assist the reader's judgment in his observation of +men, and in his estimates of the truth of many characters +in fiction. All these things, and fifty others +that I have already thought of, would be compilations; +through the whole of which the general intellect and +purpose of the paper should run, and in which there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_450" id="Page_2_450">[450]</a></span> +would be scarcely less interest than in the original +matter. The original matter to be essays, reviews, +letters, theatrical criticisms, &c., &c., as amusing as +possible, but all distinctly and boldly going to what in +one's own view ought to be the spirit of the people +and the time. . . . Now to bind all this together, and +to get a character established as it were which any of +the writers may maintain without difficulty, I want to +suppose a certain <span class="smcap">Shadow</span>, which may go into any +place, by sunlight, moonlight, starlight, firelight, +candlelight, and be in all homes, and all nooks and +corners, and be supposed to be cognisant of everything, +and go everywhere, without the least difficulty. +Which may be in the Theatre, the Palace, the House +of Commons, the Prisons, the Unions, the Churches, +on the Railroad, on the Sea, abroad and at home: +a kind of semi-omniscient, omnipresent, intangible +creature. I don't think it would do to call the paper +<span class="smcap">The Shadow</span>: but I want something tacked to that +title, to express the notion of its being a cheerful, useful, +and always welcome Shadow. I want to open the +first number with this Shadow's account of himself and +his family. I want to have all the correspondence addressed +to him. I want him to issue his warnings from +time to time, that he is going to fall on such and such +a subject; or to expose such and such a piece of humbug; +or that he may be expected shortly in such and +such a place. I want the compiled part of the paper +to express the idea of this Shadow's having been in +libraries, and among the books referred to. I want +him to loom as a fanciful thing all over London; and +to get up a general notion of 'What will the Shadow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_451" id="Page_2_451">[451]</a></span> +say about this, I wonder? What will the Shadow say +about that? Is the Shadow here?' and so forth. Do +you understand? . . . I have an enormous difficulty in +expressing what I mean, in this stage of the business; +but I think the importance of the idea is, that once +stated on paper, there is no difficulty in keeping it up. +That it presents an odd, unsubstantial, whimsical, +new thing: a sort of previously unthought-of Power +going about. That it will concentrate into one focus all +that is done in the paper. That it sets up a creature +which isn't the Spectator, and isn't Isaac Bickerstaff, +and isn't anything of that kind: but in which people +will be perfectly willing to believe, and which is just +mysterious and quaint enough to have a sort of charm +for their imagination, while it will represent common-sense +and humanity. I want to express in the title, +and in the grasp of the idea to express also, that it is +the Thing at everybody's elbow, and in everybody's +footsteps. At the window, by the fire, in the street, +in the house, from infancy to old age, everyone's inseparable +companion. . . . Now do you make anything +out of this? which I let off as if I were a bladder full +of it, and you had punctured me. I have not breathed +the idea to any one; but I have a lively hope that it +<i>is</i> an idea, and that out of it the whole scheme may be +hammered."</p> + +<p>Excellent the idea doubtless, and so described in his +letter that hardly anything more characteristic survives +him. But I could not make anything out of it that +had a quite feasible look. The ordinary ground of +miscellaneous reading, selection, and compilation out +of which it was to spring, seemed to me no proper soil<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_452" id="Page_2_452">[452]</a></span> +for the imaginative produce it was meant to bear. As +his fancies grew and gathered round it, they had given +it too much of the range and scope of his own exhaustless +land of invention and marvel; and the very means +proposed for letting in the help of others would only +more heavily have weighted himself. Not to trouble +the reader now with objections given him in detail, my +judgment was clear against his plan; less for any doubt +of the effect if its parts could be brought to combine, +than for my belief that it was not in that view practicable; +and though he did not immediately accept my +reasons, he acquiesced in them ultimately. "I do not +lay much stress on your grave doubts about Periodical, +but more anon." The more anon resolved itself into +conversations out of which the shape given to the project +was that which it finally took.</p> + +<p>It was to be a weekly miscellany of general literature; +and its stated objects were to be, to contribute +to the entertainment and instruction of all classes of +readers, and to help in the discussion of the more important +social questions of the time. It was to comprise +short stories by others as well as himself; matters +of passing interest in the liveliest form that could be +given to them; subjects suggested by books that might +most be attracting attention; and poetry in every +number if possible, but in any case something of romantic +fancy. This was to be a cardinal point. There +was to be no mere utilitarian spirit; with all familiar +things, but especially those repellent on the surface, +something was to be connected that should be fanciful +or kindly; and the hardest workers were to be taught +that their lot is not necessarily excluded from the sympathies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_453" id="Page_2_453">[453]</a></span> +and graces of imagination. This was all finally +settled by the close of 1849, when a general announcement +of the intended adventure was made. There +remained only a title and an assistant editor; and I +am happy now to remember that for the latter important +duty Mr. Wills was chosen at my suggestion. He +discharged his duties with admirable patience and ability +for twenty years, and Dickens's later life had no more +intimate friend.</p> + +<p>The title took some time and occupied many letters. +One of the first thought-of has now the curious interest +of having foreshadowed, by the motto proposed to accompany +it, the title of the series of <i>All the Year +Round</i> which he was led to substitute for the older +series in 1859. "<span class="smcap">The Robin</span>. With this motto from +Goldsmith. '<i>The redbreast, celebrated for its affection +to mankind, continues with us, the year round.</i>'" That +however was rejected. Then came: "<span class="smcap">Mankind</span>. This +I think very good." It followed the other nevertheless. +After it came: "And here a strange idea, but +with decided advantages. '<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>. A +weekly journal designed for the instruction and entertainment +of all classes of readers. <span class="smcap">Conducted by +Himself</span>.'" Still, there was something wanting in +that also. Next day arrived: "I really think if there +<i>be</i> anything wanting in the other name, that this is +very pretty, and just supplies it. <span class="smcap">The Household +Voice.</span> I have thought of many others, as—<span class="smcap">The +Household Guest. The Household Face. The +Comrade. The Microscope. The Highway Of +Life. The Lever. The Rolling Years. The +Holly Tree</span> (with two lines from Southey for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_454" id="Page_2_454">[454]</a></span> +motto). <span class="smcap">Everything</span>, But I rather think the <span class="smcap">Voice</span> +is it." It was near indeed; but the following day +came, "<span class="smcap">Household Words</span>. This is a very pretty +name:" and the choice was made.</p> + +<p>The first number appeared on Saturday the 30th of +March 1850, and contained among other things the +beginning of a story by a very original writer, Mrs. +Gaskell, for whose powers he had a high admiration, +and with whom he had friendly intercourse during +many years. Other opportunities will arise for mention +of those with whom this new labour brought him +into personal communication, but I may at once say +that of all the writers, before unknown, whom his +journal helped to make familiar to a wide world of +readers, he had the strongest personal interest in Mr. +Sala, and placed at once in the highest rank his capabilities +of help in such an enterprise.<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> An illustrative +trait of what I have named as its cardinal point to +him will fitly close my account of its establishment. +Its first number, still unpublished, had not seemed to +him quite to fulfil his promise, "tenderly to cherish +the light of fancy inherent in all breasts;" and, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_455" id="Page_2_455">[455]</a></span> +soon as he received the proof of the second, I heard +from him. "Looking over the suggested contents of +number two at breakfast this morning" (Brighton: +14th of March 1850) "I felt an uneasy sense of there +being a want of something tender, which would apply +to some universal household knowledge. Coming down +in the railroad the other night (always a wonderfully +suggestive place to me when I am alone) I was looking +at the stars, and revolving a little idea about them. +Putting now these two things together, I wrote the enclosed +little paper, straightway; and should like you to +read it before you send it to the printers (it will not +take you five minutes), and let me have a proof by return." +This was the child's "dream of a star," which +opened his second number; and, not appearing among +his reprinted pieces, may justify a word or two of description. +It is of a brother and sister, constant child-companions, +who used to make friends of a star, watching +it together until they knew when and where it would +rise, and always bidding it good-night; so that when +the sister dies the lonely brother still connects her with +the star, which he then sees opening as a world of light, +and its rays making a shining pathway from earth to +heaven; and he also sees angels waiting to receive +travellers up that sparkling road, his little sister among +them; and he thinks ever after that he belongs less to +the earth than to the star where his sister is; and he +grows up to youth and through manhood and old age, +consoled still under the successive domestic bereavements +that fall to his earthly lot by renewal of that +vision of his childhood; until at last, lying on his own +bed of death, he feels that he is moving as a child to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_456" id="Page_2_456">[456]</a></span> +his child-sister, and he thanks his heavenly father that +the star had so often opened before to receive the dear +ones who awaited him.</p> + +<p>His sister Fanny and himself, he told me long before +this paper was written, used to wander at night about +a churchyard near their house, looking up at the stars; +and her early death, of which I am now to speak, had +vividly reawakened all the childish associations which +made her memory dear to him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_457" id="Page_2_457">[457]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>LAST YEARS IN DEVONSHIRE TERRACE.</h3> + +<h3>1848-1851.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Sentiment about Places—Personal Revelations—At his Sister's Sick-bed—Sister's +Death—Book to be written in First Person—Visiting +the Scene of a Tragedy—First sees Yarmouth—Birth of Sixth Son—Title +of <i>Copperfield</i> chosen—Difficulties of Opening—Memorable +Dinner—Rogers and Benedict—Wit of Fonblanque—Procter +and Macready—The Sheridans—Dinner to Halévy and Scribe—Expedition +with Lord Mulgrave—The Duke at Vauxhall—Carlyle +and Thackeray—Marryat's Delight with Children—Monckton +Milnes and Lord Lytton—Lords Dudley, Stuart, and Nugent—Kemble, +Harness, and Dyce—Mrs. Siddons and John Kemble—Mazzini +and Edinburgh Friends—Artist Acquaintance—Friends +from America—M. Van de Weyer—Doubtful Compliment—A Hint +for London Citizens—Letter against Public Executions—An American +Observer in England—Marvels of English Manners—Letter +from Rockingham—Private Theatricals—A Family Scene—Death +of Francis Jeffrey—Progress of <i>Copperfield</i>—A Run to Paris—Third +Daughter born—At Great Malvern—Macready's Farewell—The +Home at Shepherd's-bush—Death of John Dickens—Tribute by his +Son—Theatrical-fund Dinner—Plea for Small Actors—Death of his +Little Daughter—Advocating Sanitary Reform—Lord Shaftesbury—Realities +of his Books to Dickens.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Excepting</span> always the haunts and associations of his +childhood, Dickens had no particular sentiment of +locality, and any special regard for houses he had lived +in was not a thing noticeable in him. But he cared +most for Devonshire-terrace, perhaps for the bit of +ground attached to it; and it was with regret he suddenly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_458" id="Page_2_458">[458]</a></span> +discovered, at the close of 1847, that he should +have to resign it "next lady-day three years. I had +thought the lease two years more." To that brief remaining +time belong some incidents of which I have +still to give account; and I connect them with the +house in which he lived during the progress of what is +generally thought his greatest book, and of what I think +were his happiest years.</p> + +<p>We had never had such intimate confidences as in +the interval since his return from Paris; but these have +been used in my narrative of the childhood and boyish +experiences, and what remain are incidental only. Of +the fragment of autobiography there also given, the +origin has been told; but the intention of leaving such +a record had been in his mind, we now see, at an earlier +date; and it was the very depth of our interest in the +opening of his fragment that led to the larger design +in which it became absorbed. "I hardly know why I +write this," was his own comment on one of his personal +revelations, "but the more than friendship which +has grown between us seems to force it on me in my +present mood. We shall speak of it all, you and I, +Heaven grant, wisely and wonderingly many and many +a time in after years. In the meanwhile I am more at +rest for having opened all my heart and mind to you. . . . +This day eleven years, poor dear Mary died."<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a></p> + +<p>That was written on the seventh of May 1848, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_459" id="Page_2_459">[459]</a></span> +another sadness impending at the time was taking his +thoughts still farther back; to when he trotted about +with his little elder sister in the small garden to the +house at Portsea. The faint hope for her which Elliotson +had given him in Paris had since completely broken +down; and I was to hear, in less than two months after +the letter just quoted, how nearly the end was come. +"A change took place in poor Fanny," he wrote on +the 5th of July, "about the middle of the day yesterday, +which took me out there last night. Her cough +suddenly ceased almost, and, strange to say, she immediately +became aware of her hopeless state; to which +she resigned herself, after an hour's unrest and struggle, +with extraordinary sweetness and constancy. The irritability +passed, and all hope faded away; though only two +nights before, she had been planning for 'after Christmas.' +She is greatly changed. I had a long interview +with her to-day, alone; and when she had expressed +some wishes about the funeral, and her being +buried in unconsecrated ground" (Mr. Burnett's family +were dissenters), "I asked her whether she had any +care or anxiety in the world. She said No, none. It +was hard to die at such a time of life, but she had no +alarm whatever in the prospect of the change; felt +sure we should meet again in a better world; and although +they had said she might rally for a time, did +not really wish it. She said she was quite calm and +happy, relied upon the mediation of Christ, and had +no terror at all. She had worked very hard, even when +ill; but believed that was in her nature, and neither +regretted nor complained of it. Burnett had been +always very good to her; they had never quarrelled;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_460" id="Page_2_460">[460]</a></span> +she was sorry to think of his going back to such a +lonely home; and was distressed about her children, +but not painfully so. She showed me how thin and +worn she was; spoke about an invention she had heard +of that she would like to have tried, for the deformed +child's back; called to my remembrance all our sister +Letitia's patience and steadiness; and, though she shed +tears sometimes, clearly impressed upon me that her +mind was made up, and at rest. I asked her very +often, if she could ever recall anything that she could +leave to my doing, to put it down, or mention it to +somebody if I was not there; and she said she would, +but she firmly believed that there was nothing—nothing. +Her husband being young, she said, and her +children infants, she could not help thinking sometimes, +that it would be very long in the course of nature +before they were reunited; but she knew that was a +mere human fancy, and could have no reality after she +was dead. Such an affecting exhibition of strength +and tenderness, in all that early decay, is quite indescribable. +I need not tell you how it moved me. I +cannot look round upon the dear children here, without +some misgiving that this sad disease will not perish +out of our blood with her; but I am sure I have no +selfishness in the thought, and God knows how small +the world looks to one who comes out of such a sick-room +on a bright summer day. I don't know why I +write this before going to bed. I only know that in +the very pity and grief of my heart, I feel as if it +were doing something." After not many weeks she +died, and the little child who was her last anxiety did +not long survive her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_461" id="Page_2_461">[461]</a></span></p> + +<p>In all the latter part of the year Dickens's thoughts +were turning much to the form his next book should +assume. A suggestion that he should write it in the +first person, by way of change, had been thrown out +by me, which he took at once very gravely; and this, +with other things, though as yet not dreaming of any +public use of his own personal and private recollections, +conspired to bring about that resolve. The determination +once taken, with what a singular truthfulness +he contrived to blend the fact with the fiction +may be shown by a small occurrence of this time. It +has been inferred, from the vividness of the boy-impressions +of Yarmouth in David's earliest experiences, +that the place must have been familiar to his own boyhood: +but the truth was that at the close of 1848 he +first saw that celebrated sea-port. One of its earlier +months had been signalised by an adventure in which +Leech, Lemon, and myself took part with him, when, +obtaining horses from Salisbury, we passed the whole +of a March day in riding over every part of the Plain; +visiting Stonehenge, and exploring Hazlitt's "hut" at +Winterslow, birthplace of some of his finest essays; +altogether with so brilliant a success that now (13th of +November) he proposed to "repeat the Salisbury Plain +idea in a new direction in mid-winter, to wit, Blackgang +Chine in the Isle of Wight, with dark winter +cliffs and roaring oceans." But mid-winter brought +with it too much dreariness of its own, to render these +stormy accompaniments to it very palatable; and on +the last day of the year he bethought him "it would +be better to make an outburst to some old cathedral +city we don't know, and what do you say to Norwich<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_462" id="Page_2_462">[462]</a></span> +and Stanfield-hall?" Thither accordingly the three +friends went, illness at the last disabling me; and of +the result I heard (12th of January, 1849) that Stanfield-hall, +the scene of a recent frightful tragedy, had +nothing attractive unless the term might be applied to +"a murderous look that seemed to invite such a crime. +We arrived," continued Dickens, "between the Hall +and Potass farm, as the search was going on for the +pistol in a manner so consummately stupid, that there +was nothing on earth to prevent any of Rush's +labourers from accepting five pounds from Rush junior +to find the weapon and give it to him. Norwich, a +disappointment" (one pleasant face "transformeth a +city," but he was unable yet to connect it with our +delightful friend Elwin); "all save its place of execution, +which we found fit for a gigantic scoundrel's exit. +But the success of the trip, for me, was to come. Yarmouth, +sir, where we went afterwards, is the strangest +place in the wide world: one hundred and forty-six +miles of hill-less marsh between it and London. More +when we meet. I shall certainly try my hand at it." +He made it the home of his "little Em'ly."</p> + +<p>Everything now was taking that direction with him; +and soon, to give his own account of it, his mind was +upon names "running like a high sea." Four days +after the date of the last-quoted letter ("all over happily, +thank God, by four o'clock this morning") there +came the birth of his eighth child and sixth son; whom +at first he meant to call by Oliver Goldsmith's name, +but settled afterwards into that of Henry Fielding; +and to whom that early friend Ainsworth who had first +made us known to each other, welcome and pleasant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_463" id="Page_2_463">[463]</a></span> +companion always, was asked to be godfather. Telling +me of the change in the name of the little fellow, +which he had made in a kind of homage to the style +of work he was now so bent on beginning, he added, +"What should you think of this for a notion of a +character? 'Yes, that is very true: but now, <i>What's +his motive?</i>' I fancy I could make something like it +into a kind of amusing and more innocent Pecksniff. +'Well now, yes—no doubt that was a fine thing to do! +But now, stop a moment, let us see—<i>What's his motive?</i>'" +Here again was but one of the many outward +signs of fancy and fertility that accompanied the outset +of all his more important books; though, as in +their cases also, other moods of the mind incident to +such beginnings were less favourable. "Deepest despondency, +as usual, in commencing, besets me;" is +the opening of the letter in which he speaks of what +of course was always one of his first anxieties, the +selection of a name. In this particular instance he +had been undergoing doubts and misgivings to more +than the usual degree. It was not until the 23rd of +February he got to anything like the shape of a feasible +title. "I should like to know how the enclosed +(one of those I have been thinking of) strikes you, on +a first acquaintance with it. It is odd, I think, and +new; but it may have A's difficulty of being 'too +comic, my boy.' I suppose I should have to add, +though, by way of motto, 'And in short it led to the +very Mag's Diversions. <i>Old Saying.</i>' Or would it be +better, there being equal authority for either, 'And in +short they all played Mag's Diversions. <i>Old Saying?</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_464" id="Page_2_464">[464]</a></span>'</p> + +<div class='center'> +<i>Mag's Diversions.</i><br /> +Being the personal history of<br /> +<span class="smcap">Mr. Thomas Mag the Younger</span>,<br /> +Of Blunderstone House."<br /> +</div> + +<p>This was hardly satisfactory, I thought; and it soon +became apparent that he thought so too, although +within the next three days I had it in three other forms. +"<i>Mag's Diversions</i>, being the Personal History, Adventures, +Experience and Observation of Mr. David +Mag the Younger, of Blunderstone House." The second +omitted Adventures, and called his hero Mr. David +Mag the Younger, of Copperfield House. The third +made nearer approach to what the destinies were leading +him to, and transformed Mr. David Mag into Mr. +David Copperfield the Younger and his great-aunt +Margaret; retaining still as his leading title, <i>Mag's +Diversions</i>. It is singular that it should never have +occurred to him, while the name was thus strangely +as by accident bringing itself together, that the initials +were but his own reversed; but he was much startled +when I pointed this out, and protested it was just in +keeping with the fates and chances which were always +befalling him. "Why else," he said, "should I so +obstinately have kept to that name when once it turned +up?"</p> + +<p>It was quite true that he did so, as I had curious +proof following close upon the heels of that third proposal. +"I wish," he wrote on the 26th of February, +"you would look over carefully the titles now enclosed, +and tell me to which you most incline. You will see +that they give up <i>Mag</i> altogether, and refer exclusively<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_465" id="Page_2_465">[465]</a></span> +to one name—that which I last sent you. I doubt +whether I could, on the whole, get a better name.</p> + +<div class="blockquot">"1. <i>The Copperfield Disclosures.</i> +Being the personal history, experience, +and observation, of Mr. +David Copperfield the Younger, +of Blunderstone House.<br /> +<br /> +"2. <i>The Copperfield Records.</i> +Being the personal history, experience, +and observation, of +Mr. David Copperfield the +Younger, of Copperfield Cottage.<br /> +<br /> +"3. <i>The Last Living Speech and +Confession of David Copperfield +Junior</i>, of Blunderstone Lodge, +who was never executed at the +Old Bailey. Being his personal +history found among his papers.<br /> +<br /> +"4. <i>The Copperfield Survey of the +World as it Rolled.</i> Being the +personal history, experience, and +observation, of David Copperfield +the Younger, of Blunderstone +Rookery.<br /> +<br /> +"5. <i>The Last Will and Testament +of Mr. David Copperfield.</i> +Being his personal history left +as a legacy.<br /> +<br /> +"6. <i>Copperfield, Complete.</i> Being +the whole personal history and +experience of Mr. David Copperfield +of Blunderstone House, +which he never meant to be +published on any account.</div> + +<div class='unindent'>Or, the opening words of No. 6 might be <i>Copperfield's +Entire;</i> and <i>The Copperfield Confessions</i> might open +Nos. 1 and 2. Now, <span class="smcap">what say you?</span>"</div> + +<p>What I said is to be inferred from what he wrote +back on the 28th. "The <i>Survey</i> has been my favourite +from the first. Kate picked it out from the rest, without +my saying anything about it. Georgy too. You +hit upon it, on the first glance. Therefore I have no +doubt that it is indisputably the best title; and I will +stick to it." There was a change nevertheless. His +completion of the second chapter defined to himself, +more clearly than before, the character of the book; +and the propriety of rejecting everything not strictly +personal from the name given to it. The words proposed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_466" id="Page_2_466">[466]</a></span> +therefore, became ultimately these only: "The +Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation +of David Copperfield the Younger, of Blunderstone +Rookery, which he never meant to be published +on any account." And the letter which told me that +with this name it was finally to be launched on the +first of May, told me also (19th April) the difficulties +that still beset him at the opening. "My hand is +out in the matter of <i>Copperfield</i>. To-day and yesterday +I have done nothing. Though I know what I want to +do, I am lumbering on like a stage-waggon. I can't +even dine at the Temple to-day, I feel it so important +to stick at it this evening, and make some head. +I am quite aground; quite a literary Benedict, as +he appeared when his heels wouldn't stay upon the +carpet; and the long Copperfieldian perspective looks +snowy and thick, this fine morning."<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> The allusion +was to a dinner at his house the night before; when +not only Rogers had to be borne out, having fallen sick +at the table, but, as we rose soon after to quit the +dining-room, Mr. Jules Benedict had quite suddenly +followed the poet's lead, and fallen prostrate on the +carpet in the midst of us. Amid the general consternation +there seemed a want of proper attendance on the +sick: the distinguished musician faring in this respect +hardly so well as the famous bard, by whose protracted +sufferings in the library, whither he had been removed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_467" id="Page_2_467">[467]</a></span> +the sanitary help available on the establishment was +still absorbed; and as Dickens had been eloquent +during dinner on the atrocities of a pauper-farming case +at Tooting which was then exciting a fury of indignation, +Fonblanque now declared him to be no better +himself than a second Drouet, reducing his guests to a +lamentable state by the food he had given them, and +aggravating their sad condition by absence of all proper +nursing. The joke was well kept up by Quin and +Edwin Landseer, Lord Strangford joining in with a +tragic sympathy for his friend the poet; and the banquet +so dolefully interrupted ended in uproarious mirth. +For nothing really serious had happened. Benedict +went laughing away with his wife, and I helped Rogers +on with his overshoes for his usual night-walk home. +"Do you know how many waistcoats I wear?" asked +the poet of me, as I was doing him this service. I professed +my inability to guess. "Five!" he said: "and +here they are!" Upon which he opened them, in the +manner of the gravedigger in <i>Hamlet</i>, and showed me +every one.</p> + +<p>That dinner was in the April of 1849, and among +others present were Mrs. Procter and Mrs. Macready, +dear and familiar names always in his house. No +swifter or surer perception than Dickens's for what was +solid and beautiful in character; he rated it higher than +intellectual effort; and the same lofty place, first in his +affection and respect, would have been Macready's +and Procter's, if the one had not been the greatest of +actors, and the other a poet as genuine as old Fletcher +or Beaumont. There were present at this dinner also +the American minister and Mrs. Bancroft (it was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_468" id="Page_2_468">[468]</a></span> +year of that visit of Macready to America, which ended +in the disastrous Forrest riots); and it had among its +guests Lady Graham, the wife of Sir James Graham, +than whom not even the wit and beauty of her nieces, +Mrs. Norton and Lady Dufferin, better represented the +brilliant family of the Sheridans; so many of whose +members, and these three above all, Dickens prized +among his friends. The table that day will be "full" +if I add the celebrated singer Miss Catherine Hayes, +and her homely good-natured Irish mother, who +startled us all very much by complimenting Mrs. Dickens +on her having had for her father so clever a painter +as Mr. Hogarth.</p> + +<p>Others familiar to Devonshire-terrace in these years +will be indicated if I name an earlier dinner (3rd of +January), for the "christening" of the <i>Haunted Man</i>, +when, besides Lemons, Evanses, Leeches, Bradburys, +and Stanfields, there were present Tenniel, Topham, +Stone, Robert Bell, and Thomas Beard. Next month +(24th of March) I met at his table, Lord and Lady Lovelace; +Milner Gibson, Mowbray Morris, Horace Twiss, +and their wives; Lady Molesworth and her daughter +(Mrs. Ford); John Hardwick, Charles Babbage, and Dr. +Locock. That distinguished physician had attended +the poor girl, Miss Abercrombie, whose death by +strychnine led to the exposure of Wainewright's murders; +and the opinion he had formed of her chances +of recovery, the external indications of that poison +being then but imperfectly known, was first shaken, he +told me, by the gloomy and despairing cries of the old +family nurse, that her mother and her uncle had died +exactly so! These, it was afterwards proved, had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_469" id="Page_2_469">[469]</a></span> +among the murderer's former victims. The Lovelaces +were frequent guests after the return from Italy, Sir +George Crawford, so friendly in Genoa, having married +Lord Lovelace's sister; and few had a greater +warmth of admiration for Dickens than Lord Byron's +"Ada," on whom Paul Dombey's death laid a strange +fascination. They were again at a dinner got up in +the following year for Scribe and the composer Halévy, +who had come over to bring out the <i>Tempest</i> at Her +Majesty's-theatre, then managed by Mr. Lumley, who +with M. Van de Weyer, Mrs. Gore and her daughter, +the Hogarths, and I think the fine French comedian, +Samson, were also among those present. Earlier that +year there were gathered at his dinner-table the John +Delanes, Isambard Brunels, Thomas Longmans (friends +since the earliest Broadstairs days, and special favourites +always), Lord Mulgrave, and Lord Carlisle, with +all of whom his intercourse was intimate and frequent, +and became especially so with Delane in later years. +Lord Carlisle amused us that night, I remember, by +repeating what the good old Brougham had said to him +of "those <i>Punch</i> people," expressing what was really +his fixed belief. "They never get my face, and are +obliged" (which, like Pope, he always pronounced +obleeged), "to put up with my plaid trousers!" Of +Lord Mulgrave, pleasantly associated with the first +American experiences, let me add that he now went +with us to several outlying places of amusement of +which he wished to acquire some knowledge, and which +Dickens knew better than any man; small theatres, +saloons, and gardens in city or borough, to which the +Eagle and Britannia were as palaces; and I think he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_470" id="Page_2_470">[470]</a></span> +was of the party one famous night in the summer of +1849 (29th of June), when with Talfourd, Edwin +Landseer, and Stanfield, we went to the <i>Battle of +Waterloo</i> at Vauxhall, and were astounded to see pass +in immediately before us, in a bright white overcoat, +the great Duke himself, Lady Douro on his arm, the +little Ladies Ramsay by his side, and everybody cheering +and clearing the way before him. That the old +hero enjoyed it all, there could be no doubt, and he +made no secret of his delight in "Young Hernandez;" +but the "Battle" was undeniably tedious, and it was +impossible not to sympathize with the repeatedly and +very audibly expressed wish of Talfourd, that "the +Prussians would come up!"</p> + +<p>The preceding month was that of the start of <i>David +Copperfield</i>, and to one more dinner (on the 12th) I +may especially refer for those who were present at it. +Carlyle and Mrs. Carlyle came, Thackeray and Rogers, +Mrs. Gaskell and Kenyon, Jerrold and Hablot Browne, +with Mr. and Mrs. Tagart; and it was a delight to see +the enjoyment of Dickens at Carlyle's laughing reply +to questions about his health, that he was, in the language +of Mr. Peggotty's housekeeper, a lorn lone creature +and everything went contrairy with him. Things +were not likely to go better, I thought, as I saw the +great writer,—kindest as well as wisest of men, but not +very patient under sentimental philosophies,—seated +next the good Mr. Tagart, who soon was heard launching +at him various metaphysical questions in regard to heaven +and such like; and the relief was great when Thackeray +introduced, with quaint whimsicality, a story which he +and I had heard Macready relate in talking to us about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_471" id="Page_2_471">[471]</a></span> +his boyish days, of a country actor who had supported +himself for six months on his judicious treatment of the +"tag" to the <i>Castle Spectre</i>. In the original it stands +that you are to do away with suspicion, banish vile mistrust, +and, almost in the words we had just heard from the +minister to the philosopher, "Believe there is a Heaven +nor Doubt that Heaven is just!" in place of which +Macready's friend, observing that the drop fell for the +most part quite coldly, substituted one night the more +telling appeal, "And give us your Applause, for <i>that</i> +is <span class="smcap">always just</span>!" which brought down the house with +rapture.</p> + +<p>This chapter would far outrun its limits if I spoke +of other as pleasant gatherings under Dickens's roof +during the years which I am now more particularly +describing; when, besides the dinners, the musical +enjoyments and dancings, as his children became able +to take part in them, were incessant. "Remember +that for my Biography!" he said to me gravely on +twelfth-day in 1849, after telling me what he had done +the night before; and as gravely I now redeem my +laughing promise that I would. Little Mary and her +sister Kate had taken much pains to teach their father +the polka, that he might dance it with them at their +brother's birthday festivity (held this year on the 7th, +as the 6th was a Sunday); and in the middle of the +previous night as he lay in bed, the fear had fallen on +him suddenly that the step was forgotten, and then +and there, in that wintry dark cold night, he got out +of bed to practise it. Anything <i>more</i> characteristic +could certainly not be told; unless I could have +shown him dancing it afterwards, and far excelling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_472" id="Page_2_472">[472]</a></span> +the youngest performer in untiring vigour and vivacity. +There was no one who approached him on these occasions +excepting only our attached friend Captain +Marryat, who had a frantic delight in dancing, especially +with children, of whom and whose enjoyments +he was as fond as it became so thoroughly good +hearted a man to be. His name would have stood first +among those I have been recalling, as he was among +the first in Dickens's liking; but in the autumn of 1848 +he had unexpectedly passed away. Other names however +still reproach me for omission as my memory goes +back. With Marryat's on the earliest page of this +volume stands that of Monckton Milnes, familiar with +Dickens over all the time it covers, and still more +prominent in Tavistock-house days when with Lady +Houghton he brought fresh claims to my friend's admiration +and regard. Of Bulwer Lytton's frequent presence +in all his houses, and of Dickens's admiration for +him as one of the supreme masters in his art, so unswerving +and so often publicly declared, it would be needless +again to speak. Nor shall I dwell upon his interchange +of hospitalities with distinguished men in the +two great professions so closely allied to literature +and its followers; Denmans, Pollocks, Campbells, and +Chittys; Watsons, Southwood Smiths, Lococks, and +Elliotsons. To Alfred Tennyson, through all the +friendly and familiar days I am describing, he gave +full allegiance and honoured welcome. Tom Taylor +was often with him; and there was a charm for him +I should find it difficult to exaggerate in Lord Dudley +Stuart's gentle yet noble character, his refined intelligence +and generous public life, expressed so perfectly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_473" id="Page_2_473">[473]</a></span> +in his chivalrous face. Incomplete indeed would be +the list if I did not add to it the frank and hearty Lord +Nugent, who had so much of his grandfather, Goldsmith's +friend, in his lettered tastes and jovial enjoyments. +Nor should I forget occasional days with dear +old Charles Kemble and one or other of his daughters; +with Alexander Dyce; and with Harness and his sister, +or his niece and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Archdale; +made especially pleasant by talk about great days of +the stage. It was something to hear Kemble on his +sister's Mrs. Beverley; or to see Harness and Dyce +exultant in recollecting her Volumnia. The enchantment +of the Mrs. Beverley, her brother would delightfully +illustrate by imitation of her manner of restraining +Beverley's intemperance to their only friend, "You +are too busy, sir!" when she quietly came down the +stage from a table at which she had seemed to be occupying +herself, laid her hand softly on her husband's +arm, and in a gentle half-whisper "No, not too busy; +mistaken perhaps; but——" not only stayed his temper +but reminded him of obligations forgotten in +the heat of it. Up to where the tragic terror began, +our friend told us, there was nothing but this composed +domestic sweetness, expressed even in the simplicity +and neat arrangement of her dress, her cap with the +strait band, and her hair gathered up underneath; but +all changing when the passion <i>did</i> begin; one single +disordered lock escaping at the first outbreak, and, in +the final madness, all of it streaming dishevelled down +her beautiful face. Kemble made no secret of his belief +that his sister had the higher genius of the two; +but he spoke with rapture of "John's" Macbeth and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_474" id="Page_2_474">[474]</a></span> +parts of his Othello; comparing his "Farewell the +tranquil mind" to the running down of a clock, an +image which he did not know that Hazlitt had applied +to the delivery of "To-morrow and to-morrow," in the +other tragedy. In all this Harness seemed to agree; +and I thought a distinction was not ill put by him, on +the night of which I speak, in his remark that the nature +in Kemble's acting only supplemented his magnificent +art, whereas, though the artist was not less supreme +in his sister, it was on nature she most relied, bringing +up the other power only to the aid of it. "It was in +another sense like your writing," said Harness to Dickens, +"the commonest natural feelings made great, even +when not rendered more refined, by art." Her Constance +would have been fishwify, he declared, if its +wonderful truth had not overborne every other feeling; +and her Volumnia escaped being vulgar only by being so +excessively grand. But it was just what was so called +"vulgarity" that made its passionate appeal to the vulgar +in a better meaning of the word. When she first entered, +Harness said, swaying and surging from side to side with +every movement of the Roman crowd itself, as it went +out and returned in confusion, she so absorbed her son +into herself as she looked at him, so swelled and amplified +in her pride and glory for him, that "the people +in the pit blubbered all round," and he could no more +help it than the rest.</p> + +<p>There are yet some other names that should have +place in these rambling recollections, though I by no +means affect to remember all. One Sunday evening +Mazzini made memorable by taking us to see the school +he had established in Clerkenwell for the Italian organ-boys.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_475" id="Page_2_475">[475]</a></span> +This was after dining with Dickens, who had +been brought into personal intercourse with the great +Italian by having given money to a begging impostor +who made unauthorized use of his name. Edinburgh +friends made him regular visits in the spring time: not +Jeffrey and his family alone, but sheriff Gordon and +his, with whom he was not less intimate, Lord Murray +and his wife, Sir William Allan and his niece, Lord +Robertson with his wonderful Scotch mimicries, and +Peter Fraser with his enchanting Scotch songs; our +excellent friend Liston the surgeon, until his fatal illness +came in December 1848, being seldom absent +from those assembled to bid such visitors welcome. +Allan's name may remind me of other artists often at +his house, Eastlakes, Leslies, Friths, and Wards, besides +those who have had frequent mention, and among +whom I should have included Charles as well as Edwin +Landseer, and William Boxall. Nor should I drop +from this section of his friends, than whom none were +more attractive to him, such celebrated names in the +sister arts as those of Miss Helen Faucit, an actress +worthily associated with the brightest days of our friend +Macready's managements, Mr. Sims Reeves, Mr. John +Parry, Mr. Phelps, Mr. Webster, Mr. Harley, Mr. and +Mrs. Keeley, Mr. Whitworth, and Miss Dolby. Mr. +George Henry Lewes he had an old and great regard +for; among other men of letters should not be forgotten +the cordial Thomas Ingoldsby, and many-sided +true-hearted Charles Knight; Mr. R. H. Horne and +his wife were frequent visitors both in London and at +seaside holidays; and I have met at his table Mr. and +Mrs. S. C. Hall. There were the Duff Gordons too,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_476" id="Page_2_476">[476]</a></span> +the Lyells, and, very old friends of us both, the Emerson +Tennents; there was the good George Raymond, +Mr. Frank Beard and his wife; the Porter Smiths, +valued for Macready's sake as well as their own; Mr. +and Mrs. Charles Black, near connections by marriage +of George Cattermole, with whom there was intimate +intercourse both before and during the residence in +Italy; Mr. Thompson, brother of Mrs. Smithson formerly +named, and his wife, whose sister Frederick +Dickens married; Mr. Mitton, his own early companion; +and Mrs. Torrens, who had played with the +amateurs in Canada. These are all in my memory so +connected with Devonshire-terrace, as friends or familiar +acquaintance, that they claim this word before +leaving it; and visitors from America, I may remark, +had always a grateful reception. Of the Bancrofts +mention has been made, and with them should be +coupled the Abbot Lawrences, Prescott, Hillard, +George Curtis, and Felton's brother. Felton himself +did not visit England until the Tavistock-house time. +In 1847 there was a delightful day with the Coldens +and the Wilkses, relatives by marriage of Jeffrey; in +the following year, I think at my rooms because of +some accident that closed Devonshire-terrace that day +(25th of April), Dickens, Carlyle, and myself foregathered +with the admirable Emerson; and M. Van de +Weyer will probably remember a dinner where he took +joyous part with Dickens in running down a phrase +which the learned in books, Mr. Cogswell, on a mission +here for the Astor library, had startled us by denouncing +as an uncouth Scotch barbarism—<i>open up</i>. You +found it constantly in Hume, he said, but hardly anywhere<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_477" id="Page_2_477">[477]</a></span> +else; and he defied us to find it more than once +through the whole of the volumes of Gibbon. Upon +this, after brief wonder and doubt, we all thought it +best to take part in a general assault upon <i>open up</i>, by +invention of phrases on the same plan that should show +it in exaggerated burlesque, and support Mr. Cogswell's +indictment. Then came a struggle who should carry +the absurdity farthest; and the victory remained with +M. Van de Weyer until Dickens surpassed even him, +and "opened up" depths of almost frenzied absurdity +that would have delighted the heart of Leigh Hunt. It +will introduce the last and not least honoured name +into my list of his acquaintance and friends, if I mention +his amusing little interruption one day to Professor +Owen's description of a telescope of huge dimensions +built by an enterprising clergyman who had +taken to the study of the stars; and who was eager, +said Owen, to see farther into heaven—he was going +to say, than Lord Rosse; if Dickens had not drily +interposed, "than his professional studies had enabled +him to penetrate."</p> + +<p>Some incidents that belong specially to the three +years that closed his residence in the home thus associated +with not the least interesting part of his career, +will farther show what now were his occupations and +ways of life. In the summer of 1849 he came up from +Broadstairs to attend a Mansion-house dinner, which +the lord mayor of that day had been moved by a laudable +ambition to give to "literature and art," which +he supposed would be adequately represented by the +Royal Academy, the contributors to <i>Punch</i>, Dickens, +and one or two newspaper men. On the whole the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_478" id="Page_2_478">[478]</a></span> +result was not cheering; the worthy chief magistrate, +no doubt quite undesignedly, expressing too much surprise +at the unaccustomed faces around him to be altogether +complimentary. In general (this was the tone) +we are in the habit of having princes, dukes, ministers, +and what not for our guests, but what a delight, all the +greater for being unusual, to see gentlemen like you! +In other words, what could possibly be pleasanter than +for people satiated with greatness to get for a while by +way of change into the butler's pantry? This in substance +was Dickens's account to me next day, and his +reason for having been very careful in his acknowledgment +of the toast of "the Novelists." He was +nettled not a little therefore by a jesting allusion to +himself in the <i>Daily News</i> in connection with the +proceedings, and asked me to forward a remonstrance. +Having a strong dislike to all such displays of sensitiveness, +I suppressed the letter; but it is perhaps worth +printing now. Its date is Broadstairs, Wednesday 11th +of July 1849. "I have no other interest in, or concern +with, a most facetious article on last Saturday's dinner +at the Mansion-house, which appeared in your paper of +yesterday, and found its way here to-day, than that it +misrepresents me in what I said on the occasion. If you +should not think it at all damaging to the wit of that +satire to state what I did say, I shall be much obliged +to you. It was this. . . . That I considered the compliment +of a recognition of Literature by the citizens of +London the more acceptable to us because it was unusual +in that hall, and likely to be an advantage and +benefit to them in proportion as it became in future +less unusual. That, on behalf of the novelists, I accepted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_479" id="Page_2_479">[479]</a></span> +the tribute as an appropriate one; inasmuch as +we had sometimes reason to hope that our imaginary +worlds afforded an occasional refuge to men busily engaged +in the toils of life, from which they came forth +none the worse to a renewal of its strivings; and certainly +that the chief magistrate of the greatest city in +the world might be fitly regarded as the representative +of that class of our readers."</p> + +<p>Of an incident towards the close of the year, though +it had important practical results, brief mention will +here suffice. We saw the Mannings executed on the +walls of Horsemonger-lane gaol; and with the letter +which Dickens wrote next day to the <i>Times</i> descriptive +of what we had witnessed on that memorable morning, +there began an active agitation against public executions +which never ceased until the salutary change was +effected which has worked so well. Shortly after this +he visited Rockingham-castle, the seat of Mr. and Mrs. +Watson, his Lausanne friends; and I must preface by +a word or two the amusing letter in which he told me +of this visit. It was written in character, and the character +was that of an American visitor to England.</p> + +<p>"I knew him, Horatio;" and a very kindly honest +man he was, who had come to England authorised to +make enquiry into our general agricultural condition, +and who discharged his mission by publishing some reports +extremely creditable to his good sense and ability, +expressed in a plain nervous English that reminded one +of the rural writings of Cobbett. But in an evil hour +he published also a series of private letters to friends +written from the various residences his introductions +had opened to him; and these were filled with revelations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_480" id="Page_2_480">[480]</a></span> +as to the internal economy of English noblemen's +country houses, of a highly startling description. As +for example, how, on arrival at a house your "name +is announced, and your portmanteau immediately +taken into your chamber, which the servant shows you, +with every convenience." How "you are asked by +the servant at breakfast what you will have, or you get +up and help yourself." How at dinner you don't dash +at the dishes, or contend for the "fixings," but wait +till "his portion is handed by servants to every one." +How all the wines, fruit, glasses, candlesticks, lamps, +and plate are "taken care of" by butlers, who have +under-butlers for their "adjuncts;" how ladies never +wear "white satin shoes or white gloves more than +once;" how dinner napkins are "never left upon the +table, but either thrown into your chair or on the floor +under the table;" how no end of pains are taken to +"empty slops;" and above all what a national propensity +there is to brush a man's clothes and polish his +boots, whensoever and wheresoever the clothes and +boots can be seized without the man.<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> This was what +Dickens good-humouredly laughs at.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_481" id="Page_2_481">[481]</a></span></p> +<p>"Rockingham Castle: Friday, thirtieth of November, +1849. Picture to yourself, my dear F, a large old +castle, approached by an ancient keep, portcullis, &c., +&c., filled with company, waited on by six-and-twenty +servants; the slops (and wine-glasses) continually being +emptied; and my clothes (with myself in them) always +being carried off to all sorts of places; and you will +have a faint idea of the mansion in which I am at +present staying. I should have written to you yesterday, +but for having had a very busy day. Among the +guests is a Miss B, sister of the Honourable Miss B +(of Salem, Mass.), whom we once met at the house of +our distinguished literary countryman Colonel Landor. +This lady is renowned as an amateur actress, so last +night we got up in the great hall some scenes from the +<i>School for Scandal;</i> the scene with the lunatic on the +wall, from the <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i> of Major-General the +Hon. C. Dickens (Richmond, Va.); some conjuring; +and then finished off with country-dances; of which +we had two admirably good ones, quite new to me, +though really old. Getting the words, and making +the preparations, occupied (as you may believe) the +whole day; and it was three o'clock before I got to +bed. It was an excellent entertainment, and we were +all uncommonly merry. . . . I had a very polite letter +from our enterprising countryman Major Bentley<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> (of +Lexington, Ky.), which I shall show you when I come +home. We leave here this afternoon, and I shall expect +you according to appointment, at a quarter past<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_482" id="Page_2_482">[482]</a></span> +ten <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> to-morrow. Of all the country-houses and +estates I have yet seen in England, I think this is by +far the best. Everything undertaken eventuates in a +most magnificent hospitality; and you will be pleased +to hear that our celebrated fellow citizen General Boxall +(Pittsburg, Penn.) is engaged in handing down to +posterity the face of the owner of the mansion and of +his youthful son and daughter. At a future time it +will be my duty to report on the turnips, mangel-wurzel, +ploughs, and live stock; and for the present +I will only say that I regard it as a fortunate circumstance +for the neighbouring community that this patrimony +should have fallen to my spirited and enlightened +host. Every one has profited by it, and the labouring +people in especial are thoroughly well cared-for and +looked after. To see all the household, headed by +an enormously fat housekeeper, occupying the back +benches last night, laughing and applauding without +any restraint; and to see a blushing sleek-headed footman +produce, for the watch-trick, a silver watch of +the most portentous dimensions, amidst the rapturous +delight of his brethren and sisterhood; was a very +pleasant spectacle, even to a conscientious republican +like yourself or me, who cannot but contemplate the +parent country with feelings of pride in our own land, +which (as was well observed by the Honorable Elias +Deeze, of Hertford, Conn.) is truly the land of the +free. Best remembrances from Columbia's daughters. +Ever thine, my dear F,—C.H." Dickens, during the +too brief time this excellent friend was spared to him, +often repeated his visits to Rockingham, always a surpassing +enjoyment; and in the winter of 1851 he accomplished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_483" id="Page_2_483">[483]</a></span> +there, with help of the country carpenter, +"a very elegant little theatre," of which he constituted +himself manager, and had among his actors a brother +of the lady referred to in his letter, "a very good +comic actor, but loose in words;" poor Augustus Stafford +"more than passable;" and "a son of Vernon +Smith's, really a capital low comedian." It will be +one more added to the many examples I have given +of his untiring energy both in work and play, if I +mention the fact that this theatre was opened at Rockingham +for their first representation on Wednesday the +15th of January; that after the performance there was +a country dance which lasted far into the morning; +and that on the next evening, after a railway journey +of more than 120 miles, he dined in London with the +prime minister, Lord John Russell.</p> + +<p>A little earlier in that winter we had together taken +his eldest son to Eton, and a little later he had a great +sorrow. "Poor dear Jeffrey!" he wrote to me on the +29th January, 1850. "I bought a <i>Times</i> at the station +yesterday morning, and was so stunned by the announcement, +that I felt it in that wounded part of me, +almost directly; and the bad symptoms (modified) +returned within a few hours. I had a letter from him +in extraordinary good spirits within this week or two—he +was better, he said, than he had been for a long +time—and I sent him proof-sheets of the number only +last Wednesday. I say nothing of his wonderful abilities +and great career, but he was a most affectionate +and devoted friend to me; and though no man could +wish to live and die more happily, so old in years and +yet so young in faculties and sympathies, I am very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_484" id="Page_2_484">[484]</a></span> +very deeply grieved for his loss." He was justly entitled +to feel pride in being able so to word his tribute +of sorrowing affection. Jeffrey had completed with +consummate success, if ever man did, the work appointed +him in this world; and few, after a life of such +activities, have left a memory so unstained and pure. +But other and sharper sorrows awaited Dickens.</p> + +<p>The chief occupation of the past and present year, +<i>David Copperfield</i>, will have a chapter to itself, and in +this may be touched but lightly. Once fairly in it, the +story bore him irresistibly along; certainly with less +trouble to himself in the composition, beyond that +ardent sympathy with the creatures of the fancy which +always made so absolutely real to him their sufferings +or sorrows; and he was probably never less harassed by +interruptions or breaks in his invention. His principal +hesitation occurred in connection with the child-wife +Dora, who had become a great favourite as he went +on; and it was shortly after her fate had been decided, +in the early autumn of 1850,<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> but before she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_485" id="Page_2_485">[485]</a></span> +breathed her last, that a third daughter was born to +him, to whom he gave his dying little heroine's name. +On these and other points, without forestalling what +waits to be said of the composition of this fine story, +a few illustrative words from his letters will properly +find a place here. "<i>Copperfield</i> half done," he wrote +of the second number on the 6th of June. "I feel, +thank God, quite confident in the story. I have a move +in it ready for this month; another for next; and another +for the next." "I think it is necessary" (15th +of November) "to decide against the special pleader. +Your reasons quite suffice. I am not sure but that the +banking house might do. I will consider it in a walk." +"Banking business impracticable" (17th of November) +"on account of the confinement: which would +stop the story, I foresee. I have taken, for the present +at all events, the proctor. I am wonderfully in harness, +and nothing galls or frets." "<i>Copperfield</i> done" (20th<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_486" id="Page_2_486">[486]</a></span> +of November) "after two days' very hard work indeed; +and I think a smashing number. His first dissipation +I hope will be found worthy of attention, as a +piece of grotesque truth." "I feel a great hope" (23rd +of January, 1850) "that I shall be remembered by +little Em'ly, a good many years to come." "I begin +to have my doubts of being able to join you" (20th +of February), "for <i>Copperfield</i> runs high, and must be +done to-morrow. But I'll do it if possible, and strain +every nerve. Some beautiful comic love, I hope, in +the number." "Still undecided about Dora" (7th of +May), "but <span class="smcap">must</span> decide to-day."<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> "I have been" +(Tuesday, 20th of August) "very hard at work these +three days, and have still Dora to kill. But with good +luck, I may do it to-morrow. Obliged to go to Shepherd's-bush +to-day, and can consequently do little this +morning. Am eschewing all sorts of things that present +themselves to my fancy—coming in such crowds!" +"Work in a very decent state of advancement" (13th<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_487" id="Page_2_487">[487]</a></span> +of August) "domesticity notwithstanding. I hope I +shall have a splendid number. I feel the story to its +minutest point." "Mrs. Micawber is still" (15th of +August), "I regret to say, in statu quo. Ever yours, +<span class="smcap">Wilkins Micawber</span>." The little girl was born the +next day, the 16th, and received the name of Dora +Annie. The most part of what remained of the year +was passed away from home.</p> + +<p>The year following did not open with favourable +omen, both the child and its mother having severe +illness. The former rallied however, and "little Dora +is getting on bravely, thank God!" was his bulletin +of the early part of February. Soon after, it was +resolved to make trial of Great Malvern for Mrs. +Dickens; and lodgings were taken there in March, +Dickens and her sister accompanying her, and the +children being left in London. "It is a most beautiful +place," he wrote to me (15th of March). "O +Heaven, to meet the Cold Waterers (as I did this +morning when I went out for a shower-bath) dashing +down the hills, with severe expressions on their countenances, +like men doing matches and not exactly winning! +Then, a young lady in a grey polka going <i>up</i> +the hills, regardless of legs; and meeting a young gentleman +(a bad case, I should say) with a light black +silk cap on under his hat, and the pimples of I don't +know how many douches under that. Likewise an old +man who ran over a milk-child, rather than stop!—with +no neckcloth, on principle; and with his mouth +wide open, to catch the morning air." This was the +month, as we have seen, when the performances for the +Guild were in active preparation, and it was also the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_488" id="Page_2_488">[488]</a></span> +date of the farewell dinner to our friend Macready on +his quitting the stage. Dickens and myself came up +for it from Malvern, to which he returned the next +day; and from the spirited speech in which he gave +the health of the chairman at the dinner, I will add a +few words for the sake of the truth expressed in them. +"There is a popular prejudice, a kind of superstition, +that authors are not a particularly united body, and I +am afraid that this may contain half a grain or so of the +veracious. But of our chairman I have never in my +life made public mention without adding what I can +never repress, that in the path we both tread I have +uniformly found him to be, from the first, the most +generous of men; quick to encourage, slow to disparage, +and ever anxious to assert the order of which +he is so great an ornament. That we men of letters +are, or have been, invariably or inseparably attached +to each other, it may not be possible to say, formerly +or now; but there cannot now be, and there cannot +ever have been, among the followers of literature, a +man so entirely without the grudging little jealousies +that too often disparage its brightness, as Sir Edward +Bulwer Lytton." That was as richly merited as it is +happily said.</p> + +<p>Dickens had to return to London after the middle +of March for business connected with a charitable +Home established at Shepherd's-bush by Miss Coutts, +in the benevolent hope of rescuing fallen women by +testing their fitness for emigration, of which future +mention will be made, and which largely and regularly +occupied his time for several years. On this +occasion his stay was prolonged by the illness of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_489" id="Page_2_489">[489]</a></span> +father. His health had been failing latterly, and +graver symptoms were now spoken of. "I saw my +poor father twice yesterday," he wrote to me on the +27th, "the second time between ten and eleven at night. +In the morning I thought him not so well. At night, +as well as any one in such a situation could be." Next +day he was so much better that his son went back to +Malvern, and even gave us grounds for hope that we +might yet have his presence in Hertfordshire to advise +on some questions connected with the comedy which +Sir Edward Lytton had written for the Guild. But +the end came suddenly. I returned from Knebworth +to London, supposing that some accident had detained +him at Malvern; and at my house this letter waited +me. "Devonshire-terrace, Monday, thirty-first of +March 1851. . . . My poor father died this morning +at five and twenty minutes to six. They had sent for +me to Malvern, but I passed John on the railway; for +I came up with the intention of hurrying down to +Bulwer Lytton's to-day before you should have left. I +arrived at eleven last night, and was in Keppel-street +at a quarter past eleven. But he did not know me, nor +any one. He began to sink at about noon yesterday, +and never rallied afterwards. I remained there until +he died—O so quietly. . . . I hardly know what to +do. I am going up to Highgate to get the ground. +Perhaps you may like to go, and I should like it if you +do. I will not leave here before two o'clock. I think +I must go down to Malvern again, at night, to know +what is to be done about the children's mourning; and +as you are returning to Bulwer's I should like to have +gone that way, if <i>Bradshaw</i> gave me any hope of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_490" id="Page_2_490">[490]</a></span> +doing it. I wish most particularly to see you, I needn't +say. I must not let myself be distracted by anything—and +God knows I have left a sad sight!—from the +scheme on which so much depends. Most part of the +alterations proposed I think good." Mr. John Dickens +was laid in Highgate Cemetery on the 5th of April; +and the stone placed over him by the son who has made +his name a famous one in England, bore tribute to his +"zealous, useful, cheerful spirit." What more is to be +said of him will be most becomingly said in speaking +of <i>David Copperfield</i>. While the book was in course +of being written, all that had been best in him came +more and more vividly back to its author's memory; +as time wore on, nothing else was remembered; and +five years before his own death, after using in one of +his letters to me a phrase rather out of the common +with him, this was added: "I find this looks like my +poor father, whom I regard as a better man the longer +I live."</p> + +<p>He was at this time under promise to take the chair +at the General Theatrical Fund on the 14th of April. +Great efforts were made to relieve him from the promise; +but such special importance was attached to his +being present, and the Fund so sorely then required +help, that, no change of day being found possible for +the actors who desired to attend, he yielded to the +pressure put upon him; of which the result was to +throw upon me a sad responsibility. The reader will +understand why, even at this distance of time; my allusion +to it is brief.</p> + +<p>The train from Malvern brought him up only five +minutes short of the hour appointed for the dinner, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_491" id="Page_2_491">[491]</a></span> +we first met that day at the London Tavern. I never +heard him to greater advantage than in the speech that +followed. His liking for this Fund was the fact of its not +confining its benefits to any special or exclusive body of +actors, but opening them generously to all; and he +gave a description of the kind of actor, going down to +the infinitesimally small, not omitted from such kind +help, which had a half-pathetic humour in it that makes +it charming still. "In our Fund," he said, "the word +exclusiveness is not known. We include every actor, +whether he be Hamlet or Benedict: the ghost, the +bandit, or the court physician; or, in his one person, the +whole king's army. He may do the light business, or +the heavy, or the comic, or the eccentric. He may be +the captain who courts the young lady, whose uncle +still unaccountably persists in dressing himself in a costume +one hundred years older than his time. Or he +may be the young lady's brother in the white gloves +and inexpressibles, whose duty in the family appears to +be to listen to the female members of it whenever they +sing, and to shake hands with everybody between all +the verses. Or he may be the baron who gives the +fête, and who sits uneasily on the sofa under a canopy +with the baroness while the fête is going on. Or he +may be the peasant at the fête who comes on the stage +to swell the drinking chorus, and who, it may be observed, +always turns his glass upside down before he +begins to drink out of it. Or he may be the clown +who takes away the doorstep of the house where the +evening party is going on. Or he may be the gentleman +who issues out of the house on the false alarm, +and is precipitated into the area. Or, if an actress,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_492" id="Page_2_492">[492]</a></span> +she may be the fairy who resides for ever in a revolving +star with an occasional visit to a bower or a palace. +Or again, if an actor, he may be the armed head of the +witch's cauldron; or even that extraordinary witch, +concerning whom I have observed in country places, +that he is much less like the notion formed from the +description of Hopkins than the Malcolm or Donalbain +of the previous scenes. This society, in short, says, +'Be you what you may, be you actor or actress, be your +path in your profession never so high or never so low, +never so haughty or never so humble, we offer you the +means of doing good to yourselves, and of doing good +to your brethren.'"</p> + +<p>Half an hour before he rose to speak I had been +called out of the room. It was the servant from Devonshire-terrace +to tell me his child Dora was suddenly +dead. She had not been strong from her birth; but +there was just at this time no cause for special fear, +when unexpected convulsions came, and the frail little +life passed away. My decision had to be formed at +once; and I satisfied myself that it would be best to +permit his part of the proceedings to close before the +truth was told to him. But as he went on, after the +sentences I have quoted, to speak of actors having to +come from scenes of sickness, of suffering, aye, even of +death itself, to play their parts before us, my part was +very difficult. "Yet how often is it with all of us," +he proceeded to say, and I remember to this hour with +what anguish I listened to words that had for myself +alone, in all the crowded room, their full significance: +"how often is it with all of us, that in our several +spheres we have to do violence to our feelings, and to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_493" id="Page_2_493">[493]</a></span> +hide our hearts in carrying on this fight of life, if we +would bravely discharge in it our duties and responsibilities." +In the disclosure that followed when he left +the chair, Mr. Lemon, who was present, assisted me; +and I left this good friend with him next day, when +I went myself to Malvern and brought back Mrs. Dickens +and her sister. The little child lies in a grave at +Highgate near that of Mr. and Mrs. John Dickens; +and on the stone which covers her is now written also +her father's name, and those of two of her brothers.</p> + +<p>One more public discussion he took part in, before +quitting London for the rest of the summer; and what +he said (it was a meeting, with Lord Carlisle in the +chair, in aid of Sanitary reform) very pregnantly illustrates +what was remarked by me on a former page. He +declared his belief that neither education nor religion +could do anything really useful in social improvement +until the way had been paved for their ministrations by +cleanliness and decency. He spoke warmly of the +services of Lord Ashley in connection with ragged +schools, but he put the case of a miserable child +tempted into one of those schools out of the noisome +places in which his life was passed, and he asked what +a few hours' teaching could effect against the ever-renewed +lesson of a whole existence. "But give him, +and his, a glimpse of heaven through a little of its +light and air; give them water; help them to be clean; +lighten the heavy atmosphere in which their spirits flag, +and which makes them the callous things they are; +take the body of the dead relative from the room +where the living live with it, and where such loathsome +familiarity deprives death itself of awe; and then, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2_494" id="Page_2_494">[494]</a></span> +not before, they will be brought willingly to hear of +Him whose thoughts were so much with the wretched, +and who had compassion for all human sorrow." He +closed by proposing Lord Ashley's health as having +preferred the higher ambition of labouring for the poor +to that of pursuing the career open to him in the service +of the State; and as having also had "the courage +on all occasions to face the cant which is the worst +and commonest of all, the cant about the cant of philanthropy." +Lord Shaftesbury first dined with him in +the following year at Tavistock-house.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the Sanitary meeting came the first +Guild performances; and then Dickens left Devonshire-terrace, +never to return to it. What occupied him in +the interval before he took possession of his new abode, +has before been told; but two letters were overlooked +in describing his progress in the labour of the previous +year, and brief extracts from them will naturally lead +me to the subject of my next chapter. "I have been" +(15th of September) "tremendously at work these two +days; eight hours at a stretch yesterday, and six hours +and a half to-day, with the Ham and Steerforth chapter, +which has completely knocked me over—utterly +defeated me!" "I am" (21st of October) "within +three pages of the shore; and am strangely divided, +as usual in such cases, between sorrow and joy. Oh, +my dear Forster, if I were to say half of what <i>Copperfield</i> +makes me feel to-night, how strangely, even to +you, I should be turned inside out! I seem to be sending +some part of myself into the Shadowy World."</p> + +<div class='center'><b><span class="smcap">end of the second volume.</span></b></div> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_i" id="Page_3_i">[i]</a></span></p> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>THE LIFE</h1> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"><a name="fly3" id="fly3"></a> +<img src="images/title_signature.png" width="300" height="120" alt="Signature: Charles Dickens" title="Signature: Charles Dickens" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_ii" id="Page_3_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 494px;"><a name="front3" id="front3"></a> +<img src="images/image15.jpg" width="494" height="599" alt="Charles Dickens" title="Charles Dickens" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_iii" id="Page_3_iii">[iii]</a></span></p> +<h1>THE LIFE</h1> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h1>CHARLES DICKENS</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>JOHN FORSTER.</h2> + +<h3>VOL. III.<br /> + +1852-1870.</h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_iv" id="Page_3_iv">[iv]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_v" id="Page_3_v">[v]</a></span></p> + +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Autograph of Charles Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#fly3"><i>Fly-leaf</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>Charles Dickens, æt. 56. From the last photograph taken in America, in 1868. Engraved by J. C. Armytage</div></td><td align='right'><a href="#front3"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Devonshire Terrace. From a drawing by Daniel Maclise, R.A.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_41">41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tavistock House</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Facsimile of plan prepared for first number of <i>David Copperfield</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_157">157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Facsimile of plan prepared for first number of <i>Little Dorrit</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_158">158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Porch at Gadshill</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Châlet</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_213">213</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>House and conservatory, from the meadow</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_216">216</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The study at Gadshill</td><td align='right'><a href="#study">222</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Facsimile from the last page of <i>Edwin Drood</i>, written on the 8th of June, 1870</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_468">468</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Facsimile of a page of <i>Oliver Twist</i>, written in 1837</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_469">469</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>The Grave. From an original water-colour drawing, executed for this Work, by S. L. Fildes. Engraved by J. Saddler</div></td><td align='right'><i>to face</i> p. <a href="#Page_3_544">544</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_vi" id="Page_3_vi">[vi]</a></span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_vii" id="Page_3_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Vol. III Contents"> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER I. 1850-1853.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 21-50.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">David Copperfield and Bleak House. Æt.</span> 38-41.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'><span class="smcap">page</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Interest of <i>Copperfield</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_21">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Real people in novels</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_22">22</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scott, Smollett, and Fielding</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_22">22</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Complaint and atonement</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Earlier and later methods</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_24">24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Boythorn and Skimpole</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_26">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Yielding to temptation</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Changes made in Skimpole</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_28">28</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Relatives put into books</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_29">29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scott and his father</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_29">29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens and his father</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_30">30</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>No harm done</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_32">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Micawber and Skimpole</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_32">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens and David</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dangers of autobiography</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_34">34</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Design of David's character</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_35">35</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Why books continue</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_36">36</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The storm and shipwreck</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Goethe on the insane</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The two heroines</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_39">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Risks not worth running</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_40">40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Devonshire Terrace</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_41">41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Bleak House</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_43">43</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Defects of the novel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_44">44</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Set-offs and successes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_45">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Value of critical judgments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_46">46</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The contact of extremes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dean Ramsay on Jo</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_48">48</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Town graves</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_49">49</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>One last friend</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_49">49</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Truth of Gridley's case</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_50">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER II. 1853-1855.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 51-75.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Home Incidents and Hard Times. Æt.</span> 41-43.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Titles proposed for <i>Bleak House</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_52">52</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Restlessness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_52">52</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tavistock House</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last child born</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_54">54</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A young stage aspirant</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_54">54</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Deaths of friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Boulogne</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Publishing agreements</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_56">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Birmingham</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_56">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Self-changes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_57">57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Employments in Boulogne</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First reading in public</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_60">60</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Argument against paid readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Children's theatricals</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_62">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. H. in <i>Tom Thumb</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_62">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens in Fortunio</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Titles for a new story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_65">65</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Difficulties of weekly parts</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_66">66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Ruskin on <i>Hard Times</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_67">67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Truths enforced</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_68">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Early experiences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_69">69</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Strike at Preston</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_69">69</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Speaking at Drury Lane</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_70">70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Stanfield scenes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_71">71</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tavistock House theatricals</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_71">71</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Peter Cunningham</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_73">73</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Incident of a November night</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_74">74</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Degrees in misery</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_75">75</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_viii" id="Page_3_viii">[viii]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER III. 1853.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 76-95.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Switzerland and Italy Revisited. Æt.</span> 41.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Swiss people</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_76">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Narrow escape</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_77">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lausanne and Genoa</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_78">78</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Peschiere and its owner</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_79">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>On the way to Naples</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_80">80</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A night on board ship</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_81">81</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Greek potentate</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_82">82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Going out to dinner</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_83">83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The old idle Frenchman</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_84">84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Changes and old friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_85">85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A "scattering" party</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_86">86</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The puppets at Rome</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_87">87</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Malaria and desolation</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_88">88</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Plague-smitten places</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_89">89</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Again in Venice</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_90">90</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A painter among paintings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_91">91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Liking for the Sardinians</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_92">92</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Neapolitans in exile</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_93">93</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Travelling police arrangements</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_94">94</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens and the Austrian</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_95">95</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER IV. 1853, 1854, and 1856.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 96-120.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Three Summers at Boulogne. Æt.</span> 41, 42, 44.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visits to France</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_96">96</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First summer residence (1853)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_97">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Villa des Moulineaux</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_98">98</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Doll's house and offices</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_99">99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bon garçon of a landlord</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_100">100</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Making the most of it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Among Putney market-gardeners</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_102">102</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Shakespearian performance</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_103">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Pictures at the pig-market</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_104">104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>English friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_105">105</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Change of villa (1854)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_105">105</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Northern Camp</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_106">106</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visit of Prince Albert</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_107">107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Emperor, Prince, and Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_108">108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Like boxing"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_109">109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Empress at a review</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_110">110</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A French conjuror</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_110">110</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Conjuring by Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_111">111</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Making demons of cards</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_112">112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Conjuror's compliment and vision</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_114">114</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Old residence resumed (1856)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last of the Camp</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_116">116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A household war</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_117">117</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>State of siege</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_118">118</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of Gilbert A'Becket</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_119">119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Leaving for England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_119">119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER V. 1855, 1856.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 121-153.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Residence in Paris. Æt.</span> 43-44.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Actors and dramas</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_122">122</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Frédéric Lemaitre</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_122">122</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last scene in <i>Gambler's Life</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Apartment in Champs Elysées</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_124">124</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>French Translation of Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_125">125</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ary Scheffer and Daniel Manin</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_126">126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>English friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_126">126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Acting at the Français</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_127">127</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dumas' <i>Orestes</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Paradise Lost</i> at the Ambigu</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_130">130</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Profane nonsense</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_131">131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>French <i>As You Like It</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_132">132</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Story of a French drama</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_133">133</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A delightful "Tag"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_134">134</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Auber and Queen Victoria</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_134">134</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scribe and his wife</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_136">136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Regnier's</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_137">137</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Viardot in <i>Orphée</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_138">138</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Meets Georges Sand</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_138">138</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Banquet at Girardin's</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Second banquet</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_141">141</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bourse and its victims</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Entry of troops from Crimea</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Zouaves and their dog</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_144">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_ix" id="Page_3_ix">[ix]</a></span>Streets on New Year's Day</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_145">145</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>English and French art</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_146">146</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Emperor and Edwin Landseer</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_147">147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sitting to Ary Scheffer</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_148">148</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scheffer as to the likeness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_149">149</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A duchess murdered</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_150">150</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Truth is stranger than fiction</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_151">151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Singular scenes described</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_152">152</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What became of the actors</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_153">153</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VI. 1855-1857.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 154-176.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Little Dorrit, and a Lazy Tour. Æt.</span> 43-45.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Watts's Rochester charity</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_155">155</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tablet to Dickens in Cathedral</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_155">155</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Nobody's Fault</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_155">155</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>How the <i>Dorrit</i> story grew</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_156">156</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Number-Plan of <i>Copperfield</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_157">157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Number-Plan of <i>Dorrit</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_158">158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Circumlocution Office</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_159">159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Flora and Mr. F——</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_160">160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Weak and strong points</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_161">161</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A scene of boy-trials</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_162">162</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reception of the novel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_163">163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Christmas theatricals</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_164">164</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Theatre-making</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_165">165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rush for places</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_166">166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Douglas Jerrold's death</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_168">168</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Exertions and result</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_168">168</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Seeing the serpents fed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_169">169</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lazy Tour projected</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_170">170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Up Carrick Fell</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_170">170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Accident to Mr. Wilkie Collins</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_171">171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Wigton and Allonby</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Yorkshire landlady</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Doncaster in race week</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_174">174</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A performance of <i>Money</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_175">175</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VII. 1857-1858.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 177-201.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">What Happened at This Time. Æt.</span> 45-46.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Disappointments and distastes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_177">177</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What we seem and are</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_178">178</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Compensations of Art</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_179">179</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Misgivings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_180">180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A defect and a merit</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_181">181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reply to a remonstrance</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_182">182</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dangerous comfort</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_183">183</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>One happiness missed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_184">184</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Homily on life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_185">185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Confidences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_186">186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rejoinder to a reply</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_187">187</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What the world cannot give</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_189">189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An old project revived</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_189">189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Shakespeare on acting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_191">191</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hospital for sick children</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_192">192</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Charities of the very poor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_192">192</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unsolved mysteries</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_194">194</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Appeal for sick children</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_195">195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reading for Child's Hospital</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_195">195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposal for Paid readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_196">196</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Question of the Plunge</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_198">198</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Arthur Smith</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_199">199</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Separation from Mrs. Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_200">200</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What alone concerned the public</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_201">201</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VIII. 1856-1870.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 202-222.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Gadshill Place. Æt.</span> 44-58.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First description of it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_202">202</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The porch</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Negotiations for purchase</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Becomes his home</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Gadshill a century ago</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_206">206</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Past owners and tenants</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_207">207</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sinking a well</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_209">209</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Gradual additions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_210">210</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Gift from Mr. Fechter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_211">211</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens's writing-table</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_211">211</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The châlet</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_213">213</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Much coveted acquisition</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_214">214</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last improvement</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_215">215</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Visits of friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_216">216</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens's Dogs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_218">218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Fenian mastiff</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_218">218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Linda and Mrs. Bouncer</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Favourite walks</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_220">220</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The study and chair</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_222">222</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_x" id="Page_3_x">[x]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER IX. 1858-1859.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 223-238.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">First Paid Readings. Æt.</span> 46-47.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Various managements</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_223">223</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>One day's work</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_224">224</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Impressions of Dublin</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_225">225</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Irish audiences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_226">226</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Young Ireland and Old England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_227">227</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Railway ride to Belfast</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_229">229</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Brought near his Fame</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_229">229</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A knowing audience</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_231">231</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Greeting in Manchester</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_231">231</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Joined by his daughters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_232">232</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Strange life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_233">233</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scotch audiences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_234">234</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>When most successful in reading</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_235">235</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At public meetings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_236">236</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Miss Marie Wilton as <i>Pippo</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_237">237</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ed. Landseer on Frith's portrait</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_238">238</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER X. 1859-1861.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 239-254.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">All The Year Round and the Uncommercial<br />Traveller. Æt.</span> 47-49.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Household Words</i> discontinued</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_240">240</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Earliest and latest publishers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_240">240</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens and Mr. Bentley</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_241">241</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In search of a title</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_242">242</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A title found</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_243">243</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Success of new periodical</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_244">244</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Difference from the old</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_245">245</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Knebworth</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_246">246</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Commercial Travellers' Schools</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_247">247</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Traveller for human interests</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_248">248</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Personal references in writing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_249">249</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Birds and low company</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_250">250</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bethnal-green fowls</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_251">251</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An incident of Doughty Street</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_252">252</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Offers from America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_253">253</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XI. 1861-1863.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 255-274.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Second Series of Readings. Æt.</span> 49-51.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Daughter Kate's marriage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_255">255</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Charles Alston Collins</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_257">257</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sale of Tavistock House</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_257">257</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Brother Alfred's death</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_258">258</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Metropolitan readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_258">258</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Provincial circuit</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_259">259</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>New subjects for readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_260">260</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of Mr. Arthur Smith</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_261">261</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of Mr. Henry Austin</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_262">262</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Readings at Brighton</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_263">263</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Canterbury and Dover</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_264">264</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Alarming scene</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Impromptu reading-hall</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_266">266</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scenes in Scotland</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_267">267</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Torquay</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_268">268</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of C. C. Felton</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_269">269</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Offers for Australia</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_270">270</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Writing or Reading?</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_271">271</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Home arguments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_272">272</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Religious Richardson's Show</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_273">273</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Exiled ex-potentate</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_274">274</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XII. 1855-1865.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 275-297.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Hints for Books Written and Unwritten. Æt.</span> 43-53.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Book of MS. memoranda</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_275">275</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Originals of characters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_277">277</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fancies put into books</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_277">277</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Notions for <i>Little Dorrit</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_278">278</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Suggestions for other books</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_279">279</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hints for last completed book</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_280">280</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fancies never used</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_281">281</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_xi" id="Page_3_xi">[xi]</a></span>Ideas not worked out</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_282">282</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A touching fancy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_284">284</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Domestic subjects</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_284">284</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Characters of women</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_285">285</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Other female groups</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_286">286</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Uncle Sam</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_288">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sketches of selfishness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_288">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Striking thoughts</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_290">290</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Subjects not accomplished</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_290">290</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Characters laid aside</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_291">291</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Available names</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_293">293</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Titles for books</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_293">293</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Names for girls and boys</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_295">295</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An undistinguished crowd</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_296">296</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mr. Brobity's snuff-box</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_297">297</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIII. 1864-1867.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 298-324.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Third Series of Readings. Æt.</span> 52-55.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of Thackeray</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_298">298</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mother's death</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_300">300</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of second son</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_300">300</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Interest in Mr. Fechter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_301">301</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Notes on theatres</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_302">302</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sorrowful new year</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_303">303</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>C. W. Dilke's death</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_303">303</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Staplehurst accident</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_305">305</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Illness and suffering</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_305">305</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Enters on new readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_306">306</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last meeting with Mrs. Carlyle</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_308">308</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. Carlyle's death</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_309">309</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Offer for more readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_309">309</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Grave warnings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_311">311</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In Scotland</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_312">312</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Exertion and its result</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_313">313</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Self-deception</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_314">314</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An old malady</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_314">314</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scene <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'a'">at</ins> Tynemouth</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_316">316</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>In Dublin with the Fenians</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_317">317</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Yielding to temptation</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_318">318</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Pressure from America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_319">319</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At bay at last</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_320">320</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Warning unheeded</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_321">321</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Discussion useless</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_322">322</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The case in a nutshell</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_323">323</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Decision to go</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_324">324</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIV. 1836-1870.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 325-386.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Dickens as a Novelist. Æt.</span> 24-58.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>See before you oversee</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>M. Taine's criticism</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What is overlooked in it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_327">327</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A popularity explained</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_328">328</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>National excuses for Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_330">330</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Comparison with Balzac</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_330">330</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Anticipatory reply to M. Taine</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_332">332</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A critic in the <i>Fortnightly Review</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_333">333</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Blame and praise to be reconciled</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_333">333</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A plea for objectors</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_334">334</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Hallucinative" imagination</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_335">335</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Vain critical warnings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_336">336</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The critic and the criticised</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_336">336</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An opinion on the Micawbers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_338">338</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hallucinative phenomena</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_338">338</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scott writing <i>Bride of Lammermoor</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_339">339</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Claim to be fairly judged</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_340">340</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens's leading quality</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_341">341</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dangers of Humour</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_342">342</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His earlier books</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_343">343</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mastery of dialogue</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_344">344</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Character-drawing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_345">345</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Realities of fiction</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_346">346</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fielding and Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_347">347</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Touching of extremes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_347">347</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Why the creations of fiction live</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_349">349</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Enjoyment of his own humour</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_350">350</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unpublished note of Lord Lytton</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_350">350</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Exaggerations of humour</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_351">351</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Temptations of all great humourists</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_352">352</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A word for fanciful descriptions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_353">353</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Tale of Two Cities</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_355">355</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Difficulties and success</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_355">355</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Specialty of treatment</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_356">356</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reply to objections</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_357">357</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_xii" id="Page_3_xii">[xii]</a></span>Care with which Dickens worked</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_358">358</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An American critic</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_359">359</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Great Expectations</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_360">360</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Pip and Magwitch</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_361">361</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Another boy-child for hero</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_362">362</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unlikeness in likeness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_363">363</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Vivid descriptive writing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_364">364</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Masterly drawing of character</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_365">365</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A day on the Thames</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_366">366</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Homely and shrewd satire</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_367">367</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Incident changed for Lytton</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_368">368</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>As originally written</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_369">369</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Christmas Sketches</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_370">370</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Our Mutual Friend</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_370">370</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Writing numbers in advance</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_373">373</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Working slowly</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_374">374</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of John Leech</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_375">375</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A fatal anniversary</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_376">376</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Effects on himself and his novel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_376">376</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A tale by Edmond About</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_378">378</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First and Last</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_378">378</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Doctor Marigold</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_379">379</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Minor stories</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_380">380</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Something from Above"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_381">381</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Purity of Dickens's writings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_382">382</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Substitute for an alleged deficiency</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_382">382</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>True province of humour</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_383">383</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Horace Greeley and Longfellow</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_384">384</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letters from an American</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_385">385</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Companions for solitude</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_386">386</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XV. 1867.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 387-406.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">America Revisited. November and December, 1867. Æt.</span> 55.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Warmth of the greeting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_388">388</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Same cause as in 1842</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_388">388</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Old and new friends</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_389">389</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Changes since 1842</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_390">390</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First Boston reading</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_391">391</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scene at New York sales</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_393">393</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First New York reading</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_393">393</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An action against Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_394">394</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A fire at his hotel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_395">395</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Local and general politics</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_397">397</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Railway arrangements</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_398">398</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Police of New York</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_398">398</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mistletoe from England</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_399">399</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>As to newspapers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_400">400</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Nothing lasts long</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_401">401</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cities chosen for readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_401">401</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Scene of a murder visited</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_402">402</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A dinner at the murderer's</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_403">403</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Illness and abstinence</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_404">404</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Miseries of American travel</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_405">405</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Startling prospect</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_406">406</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVI. 1868.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 407-443.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">America Revisited. January to April, 1868. Æt.</span> 56.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Speculators and public</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_408">408</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An Englishman's disadvantage</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_408">408</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Freedom and independence"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_408">408</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mountain-sneezers and eye-openers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_409">409</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The work and the gain</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_410">410</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A scene at Brooklyn</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_411">411</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Philadelphia</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_412">412</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Looking up the judge"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_413">413</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Improved social ways</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_414">414</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Result of thirty-four readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_415">415</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Shadow to the sunshine</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_416">416</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Readings in a church</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_417">417</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Change of plan</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_417">417</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Baltimore women</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_418">418</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Success in Philadelphia</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_419">419</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Objections to coloured people</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_420">420</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>With Sumner at Washington</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_421">421</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>President Lincoln's dream</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_423">423</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Interview with President Johnson</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_423">423</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Washington audiences</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_424">424</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A comical dog</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_425">425</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Incident before a reading</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_426">426</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_xiii" id="Page_3_xiii">[xiii]</a></span>The child and the doll</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_427">427</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>North-west tour</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_428">428</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Political excitement</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_429">429</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Struggle for tickets</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_430">430</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>American female beauty</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_432">432</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sherry to "slop round" with</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_432">432</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Final impression of Niagara</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_433">433</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letter to Mr. Ouvry</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_434">434</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Getting along" through water</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_435">435</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Again attacked by lameness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_437">437</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Illness and exertion</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_437">437</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Seeing prevents believing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_439">439</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>All but used up</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_439">439</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last Boston readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_440">440</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>New York farewells</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_441">441</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The receipts throughout</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_441">441</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Promise at public dinner</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_442">442</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Adieu</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_443">443</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVII. 1868-1870.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 444-460.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Last Readings. Æt.</span> 56-58.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Health improved</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_444">444</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What the readings did and undid</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_445">445</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Expenses and gains in America</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_446">446</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Noticeable changes in him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_447">447</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Oliver Twist</i> reading proposed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_448">448</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Objections to it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_449">449</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Death of Frederick Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_450">450</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Macready at <i>Oliver Twist</i> reading</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_451">451</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Another attack of illness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_452">452</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A doctors' difference</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_454">454</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Emerson Tennent's funeral</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_454">454</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The illness at Preston</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_455">455</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Brought to London</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_456">456</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sir Thomas Watson consulted</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_456">456</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His note of the case</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_457">457</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Guarded sanction to other readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_458">458</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Close of career as public reader</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_460">460</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVIII. 1869-1870.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 461-477.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Last Book. Æt.</span> 57-58.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The agreement for <i>Edwin Drood</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_461">461</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>First fancy for it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_462">462</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Story as planned in his mind</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_463">463</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What to be its course and end</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_463">463</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Merits of the fragment</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_464">464</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Comparison of early and late MSS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_466">466</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Discovery of an unpublished scene</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_467">467</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last page of <i>Drood</i> in fac-simile</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_468">468</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Page of <i>Oliver Twist</i> in fac-simile</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_469">469</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Delightful specimen of Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_470">470</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unpublished scene for <i>Drood</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_470">470</a>-<a href="#Page_3_476">476</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIX. 1836-1870.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 478-526.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">Personal Characteristics. Æt.</span> 24-58.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens not a bookish man</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_479">479</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Books and their critics</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_479">479</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Design of present book stated</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_480">480</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens made to tell his own story</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_480">480</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Charge of personal obtrusiveness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_481">481</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lord Russell on Dickens's letters</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_481">481</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Shallower judgments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_481">481</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Absence of self-conceit in Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_482">482</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letter to youngest son</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_483">483</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>As to religion and prayer</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_485">485</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letter to a clergyman in 1856</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_485">485</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letter to a layman in 1870</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_486">486</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Objection to posthumous honours</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_487">487</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_xiv" id="Page_3_xiv">[xiv]</a></span>As to patronage of literature</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_488">488</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Vanity of human wishes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_488">488</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>As to writers and publishers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_489">489</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Editorship of his weekly serials</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_490">490</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Work for his contributors</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_491">491</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Editorial troubles and pleasures</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_493">493</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Letter to an author</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_493">493</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Help to younger novelists</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_495">495</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Adelaide Procter's poetry</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_495">495</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Effect of periodical writing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_496">496</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Proposed satirical papers</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_497">497</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Political opinions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_498">498</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Not the man for Finsbury</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_499">499</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Liverpool dinner in 1869</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_500">500</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Reply to Lord Houghton</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_501">501</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tribute to Lord Russell</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_501">501</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>People governing and governed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_502">502</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Alleged offers from her Majesty</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_503">503</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Silly Rigmarole</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_504">504</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Queen sees him act (1857)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_505">505</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Desires to hear him read (1858)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_506">506</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Interview at the Palace (1870)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_507">507</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>What passed at the interview</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_507">507</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dickens's grateful impression</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_508">508</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A hope at the close of life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_509">509</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Games in Gadshill meadow</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_510">510</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Home enjoyments</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_512">512</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Habits of life everywhere</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_513">513</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Family dependence on him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_514">514</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Carlyle's opinion of Dickens</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_514">514</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Street walks and London haunts</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_515">515</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Christmas Eve and Christmas Day</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_517">517</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The first attack of lameness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_518">518</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Effect upon his dogs</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_518">518</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Why right things to be done</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_519">519</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Silent heroisms</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_519">519</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At social meetings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_520">520</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Delight in "assumption"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_520">520</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Humouring a joke</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_522">522</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unlucky hits</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_522">522</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ghost stories</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_524">524</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Predominant feeling of his life</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_525">525</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sermon of the Master of Balliol</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_525">525</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XX. 1869-1870.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>Pages 527-545.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><span class="smcap">The End. Æt.</span> 57-58.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last summer and autumn</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_527">527</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Showing London to a visitor</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_528">528</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>His son Henry's scholarship</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_529">529</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Twelve more readings</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_530">530</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Medical attendance at them</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_531">531</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Excitement incident to them</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_532">532</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Farewell</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_533">533</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last public appearances</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_535">535</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>At Royal Academy dinner</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_535">535</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Eulogy of Daniel Maclise</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_536">536</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Return of illness</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_537">537</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Our last meeting</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_538">538</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A noteworthy incident</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_538">538</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last letter received from him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_539">539</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Final days at Gadshill</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_539">539</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Wednesday the 8th of June</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_540">540</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Last piece of writing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_540">540</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The 8th and 9th of June</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_541">541</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The general grief</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_542">542</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The burial</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_544">544</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Unbidden mourners</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_544">544</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The grave</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_544">544</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />——————</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><br />APPENDIX.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> I. <span class="smcap">The Writings of Charles Dickens</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_547">547</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> II. <span class="smcap">The Will of Charles Dickens</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_561">561</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='hang1'>III. <span class="smcap">Corrections made in the Later Editions of the<br />Second Volume of this Work</span></div></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_566">566</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>INDEX</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_3_571">571</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_21" id="Page_3_21">[21]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE LIFE</h2> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h3>CHARLES DICKENS.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>DAVID COPPERFIELD AND BLEAK HOUSE.</h3> + +<h3>1850-1853.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Interest of <i>Copperfield</i>—Scott, Smollett, and Fielding—Too close to +the Real—Earlier and Later Methods—Dickens at Hatton-garden +(1837)—Originals of Boythorn and Skimpole—Last Glimpse of +Leigh Hunt (1859)—Changes made in Skimpole—Self-defence—Scott +and his Father—Dickens and his Father—Sayings of John +Dickens—Skimpole and Micawber—Dickens and David—Self-portraiture +not attempted—The Autobiographic Form—Consistent +Drawing—Design of David's Character—Tone of the Novel—The +Peggottys—Miss Dartle—Mrs. Steerforth—Betsey Trotwood—A +Country Undertaker—The Two Heroines—Contrast of Esther and +David—Plot of the Story—Incidents and Persons interwoven—Defects +of <i>Bleak House</i>—Success in Character—Value of Critical +Judgments—Pathetic Touches—Dean Ramsay on <i>Bleak House</i> and +Jo—Originals of Chancery Abuses.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Dickens</span> never stood so high in reputation as at the +completion of <i>Copperfield</i>. The popularity it obtained +at the outset increased to a degree not approached by +any previous book excepting <i>Pickwick</i>. "You gratify +me more than I can tell you," he wrote to Bulwer Lytton<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_22" id="Page_3_22">[22]</a></span> +(July 1850), "by what you say about <i>Copperfield</i>, +because I hope myself that some heretofore deficient +qualities are there." If the power was not greater than +in <i>Chuzzlewit</i>, the subject had more attractiveness; there +was more variety of incident, with a freer play of character; +and there was withal a suspicion, which though +general and vague had sharpened interest not a little, +that underneath the fiction lay something of the author's +life. How much, was not known by the world until he +had passed away.</p> + +<p>To be acquainted with English literature is to know, +that, into its most famous prose fiction, autobiography +has entered largely in disguise, and that the characters +most familiar to us in the English novel had originals in +actual life. Smollett never wrote a story that was not +in some degree a recollection of his own adventures; +and Fielding, who put something of his wife into all his +heroines, had been as fortunate in finding, not Trulliber +only, but Parson Adams himself, among his living +experiences. To come later down, there was hardly +any one ever known to Scott of whom his memory had +not treasured up something to give minuter reality to +the people of his fancy; and we know exactly whom to +look for in Dandie Dinmont and Jonathan Oldbuck, in +the office of Alan Fairford and the sick room of Crystal +Croftangry. We are to observe also that it is never +anything complete that is thus taken from life by a genuine +writer, but only leading traits, or such as may give +greater finish; that the fine artist will embody in his +portraiture of one person his experiences of fifty; and +that this would have been Fielding's answer to Trulliber +if he had objected to the pigstye, and to Adams if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_23" id="Page_3_23">[23]</a></span> +he had sought to make a case of scandal out of the affair +in Mrs. Slipslop's bedroom. Such questioning befell +Dickens repeatedly in the course of his writings, where +he freely followed, as we have seen, the method thus +common to the masters in his art; but there was an +instance of alleged wrong in the course of <i>Copperfield</i> +where he felt his vindication to be hardly complete, +and what he did thereupon was characteristic.</p> + +<p>"I have had the queerest adventure this morning," +he wrote (28th of December 1849) on the eve of his +tenth number, "the receipt of the enclosed from Miss +Moucher! It is serio-comic, but there is no doubt one +is wrong in being tempted to such a use of power." +Thinking a grotesque little oddity among his acquaintance +to be safe from recognition, he had done what +Smollett did sometimes, but never Fielding, and given +way, in the first outburst of fun that had broken out +around the fancy, to the temptation of copying too +closely peculiarities of figure and face amounting in +effect to deformity. He was shocked at discovering +the pain he had given, and a copy is before me of the +assurances by way of reply which he at once sent to the +complainant. That he was grieved and surprised beyond +measure. That he had not intended her altogether. +That all his characters, being made up out of +many people, were composite, and never individual. +That the chair (for table) and other matters were undoubtedly +from her, but that other traits were not hers +at all; and that in Miss Moucher's "Ain't I volatile" +his friends had quite correctly recognized the favourite +utterance of a different person. That he felt nevertheless +he had done wrong, and would now do anything to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_24" id="Page_3_24">[24]</a></span> +repair it. That he had intended to employ the character +in an unpleasant way, but he would, whatever the +risk or inconvenience, change it all, so that nothing +but an agreeable impression should be left. The reader +will remember how this was managed, and that the +thirty-second chapter went far to undo what the twenty-second +had done.</p> + +<p>A much earlier instance is the only one known to me +where a character in one of his books intended to be +odious was copied wholly from a living original. The +use of such material, never without danger, might have +been justifiable here if anywhere, and he had himself a +satisfaction in always admitting the identity of Mr. +Fang in <i>Oliver Twist</i> with Mr. Laing of Hatton-garden. +But the avowal of his purpose in that case, and +his mode of setting about it, mark strongly a difference +of procedure from that which, following great examples, +he adopted in his later books. An allusion to a common +friend in one of his letters of the present date—"A +dreadful thought occurs to me! how brilliant in a +book!"—expresses both the continued strength of his +temptations and the dread he had brought himself to +feel of immediately yielding to them; but he had no +such misgivings in the days of <i>Oliver Twist</i>. Wanting +an insolent and harsh police-magistrate, he bethought +him of an original ready to his hand in one of the +London offices; and instead of pursuing his later +method of giving a personal appearance that should in +some sort render difficult the identification of mental +peculiarities, he was only eager to get in the whole man +complete upon his page, figure and face as well as manners +and mind.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_25" id="Page_3_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<p>He wrote accordingly (from Doughty-street on the +3rd of June 1837) to Mr. Haines,<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> a gentleman who +then had general supervision over the police reports +for the daily papers. "In my next number of <i>Oliver +Twist</i> I must have a magistrate; and, casting about for +a magistrate whose harshness and insolence would render +him a fit subject to be <i>shown up</i>, I have as a necessary +consequence stumbled upon Mr. Laing of Hatton-garden +celebrity. I know the man's character perfectly +well; but as it would be necessary to describe his personal +appearance also, I ought to have seen him, which +(fortunately or unfortunately as the case may be) I +have never done. In this dilemma it occurred to me +that perhaps I might under your auspices be smuggled +into the Hatton-garden office for a few moments some +morning. If you can further my object I shall be really +very greatly obliged to you." The opportunity was +found; the magistrate was brought up before the novelist; +and shortly after, on some fresh outbreak of intolerable +temper, the home-secretary found it an easy +and popular step to remove Mr. Laing from the bench.</p> + +<p>This was a comfort to everybody, saving only the +principal person; but the instance was highly exceptional, +and it rarely indeed happens that to the +individual objection natural in every such case some +consideration should not be paid. In the book that +followed <i>Copperfield</i>, two characters appeared having +resemblances in manner and speech to two distinguished +writers too vivid to be mistaken by their personal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_26" id="Page_3_26">[26]</a></span> +friends. To Lawrence Boythorn, under whom +Landor figured, no objection was made; but Harold +Skimpole, recognizable for Leigh Hunt, led to much +remark; the difference being, that ludicrous traits were +employed in the first to enrich without impairing an +attractive person in the tale, whereas to the last was +assigned a part in the plot which no fascinating foibles +or gaieties of speech could redeem from contempt. +Though a want of consideration was thus shown to the +friend whom the character would be likely to recall +to many readers, it is nevertheless very certain that the +intention of Dickens was not at first, or at any time, +an unkind one. He erred from thoughtlessness only. +What led him to the subject at all, he has himself +stated. Hunt's philosophy of moneyed obligations, +always, though loudly, half jocosely proclaimed, and +his ostentatious wilfulness in the humouring of that or +any other theme on which he cared for the time to +expatiate,<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> had so often seemed to Dickens to be whimsical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_27" id="Page_3_27">[27]</a></span> +and attractive that, wanting an "airy quality" for +the man he invented, this of Hunt occurred to him; +and "partly for that reason, and partly, he has since +often grieved to think, for the pleasure it afforded to +find a delightful manner reproducing itself under his +hand, he yielded to the temptation of too often making +the character speak like his old friend." This apology +was made<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> after Hunt's death, and mentioned a revision +of the first sketch, so as to render it less like, at the +suggestion of two other friends of Hunt. The friends +were Procter (Barry Cornwall) and myself; the feeling +having been mine from the first that the likeness was +too like. Procter did not immediately think so, but a +little reflection brought him to that opinion. "You +will see from the enclosed," Dickens wrote (17th of +March 1852), "that Procter is much of my mind. I +will nevertheless go through the character again in the +course of the afternoon, and soften down words here +and there." But before the day closed Procter had +again written to him, and next morning this was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_28" id="Page_3_28">[28]</a></span> +result. "I have again gone over every part of it very +carefully, and I think I have made it much less like. +I have also changed Leonard to Harold. I have no +right to give Hunt pain, and I am so bent upon not +doing it that I wish you would look at all the proof +once more, and indicate any particular place in which +you feel it particularly like. Whereupon I will alter +that place."</p> + +<p>Upon the whole the alterations were considerable, +but the radical wrong remained. The pleasant sparkling +airy talk, which could not be mistaken, identified +with odious qualities a friend only known to the writer +by attractive ones; and for this there was no excuse. +Perhaps the only person acquainted with the original +who failed to recognize the copy, was the original himself +(a common case); but good-natured friends in +time told Hunt everything, and painful explanations +followed, where nothing was possible to Dickens but +what amounted to a friendly evasion of the points really +at issue. The time for redress had gone. I yet well +remember with what eager earnestness, on one of these +occasions, he strove to set Hunt up again in his own +esteem. "Separate in your own mind," he said to +him, "what you see of yourself from what other people +tell you that they see. As it has given you so much +pain, I take it at its worst, and say I am deeply sorry, +and that I feel I did wrong in doing it. I should otherwise +have taken it at its best, and ridden off upon what +I strongly feel to be the truth, that there is nothing in +it that <i>should</i> have given you pain. Every one in +writing must speak from points of his experience, and +so I of mine with you: but when I have felt it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_29" id="Page_3_29">[29]</a></span> +going too close I stopped myself, and the most blotted +parts of my MS. are those in which I have been striving +hard to make the impression I was writing from, <i>un</i>like +you. The diary-writing I took from Haydon, not from +you. I now first learn from yourself that you ever set +anything to music, and I could not have copied <i>that</i> +from you. The character is not you, for there are traits +in it common to fifty thousand people besides, and I +did not fancy you would ever recognize it. Under +similar disguises my own father and mother are in my +books, and you might as well see your likeness in +Micawber." The distinction is that the foibles of Mr. +Micawber and of Mrs. Nickleby, however laughable, +make neither of them in speech or character less loveable; +and that this is not to be said of Skimpole's. +The kindly or unkindly impression makes all the difference +where liberties are taken with a friend; and even +this entirely favourable condition will not excuse the +practice to many, where near relatives are concerned.</p> + +<p>For what formerly was said of the Micawber resemblances, +Dickens has been sharply criticized; and in +like manner it was thought objectionable in Scott that +for the closing scenes of Crystal Croftangry he should +have found the original of his fretful patient at the +death-bed of his own father. Lockhart, who tells us +this, adds with a sad significance that he himself lived +to see the curtain fall at Abbotsford upon even such +another scene. But to no purpose will such objections +still be made. All great novelists will continue to use +their experiences of nature and fact, whencesoever derivable; +and a remark made to Lockhart by Scott himself +suggests their vindication. "If a man will paint<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_30" id="Page_3_30">[30]</a></span> +from nature, he will be most likely to interest and +amuse those who are daily looking at it."</p> + +<p>The Micawber offence otherwise was not grave. We +have seen in what way Dickens was moved or inspired +by the rough lessons of his boyhood, and the groundwork +of the character was then undoubtedly laid; but +the rhetorical exuberance impressed itself upon him +later, and from this, as it expanded and developed in a +thousand amusing ways, the full-length figure took its +great charm. Better illustration of it could not perhaps +be given than by passages from letters of Dickens, +written long before Micawber was thought of, in which +this peculiarity of his father found frequent and always +agreeable expression. Several such have been given in +this work from time to time, and one or two more may +here be added. It is proper to preface them by saying +that no one could know the elder Dickens without +secretly liking him the better for these flourishes of +speech, which adapted themselves so readily to his +gloom as well as to his cheerfulness, that it was difficult +not to fancy they had helped him considerably in both, +and had rendered more tolerable to him, if also more +possible, the shade and sunshine of his chequered life. +"If you should have an opportunity <i>pendente lite</i>, as +my father would observe—indeed did on some memorable +ancient occasions when he informed me that the +ban-dogs would shortly have him at bay"—Dickens +wrote in December 1847. "I have a letter from my +father" (May 1841) "lamenting the fine weather, invoking +congenial tempests, and informing me that it will +not be possible for him to stay more than another year in +Devonshire, as he must then proceed to Paris to consolidate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_31" id="Page_3_31">[31]</a></span> +Augustus's French." "There has arrived," +he writes from the Peschiere in September 1844, "a +characteristic letter for Kate from my father. He +dates it Manchester, and says he has reason to believe +that he will be in town with the pheasants, on or about +the first of October. He has been with Fanny in the +Isle of Man for nearly two months: finding there, as +he goes on to observe, troops of friends, and every +description of continental luxury at a cheap rate." +Describing in the same year the departure from Genoa +of an English physician and acquaintance, he adds: +"We are very sorry to lose the benefit of his advice—or, +as my father would say, to be deprived, to a certain +extent, of the concomitant advantages, whatever they +may be, resulting from his medical skill, such as it is, +and his professional attendance, in so far as it may be +so considered." Thus also it delighted Dickens to +remember that it was of one of his connections his +father wrote a celebrated sentence; "And I must express +my tendency to believe that his longevity is (to +say the least of it) extremely problematical:" and that +it was to another, who had been insisting somewhat +obtrusively on dissenting and nonconformist superiorities, +he addressed words which deserve to be no less +celebrated; "The Supreme Being must be an entirely +different individual from what I have every reason to +believe him to be, if He would care in the least for the +society of your relations." There was a laugh in the +enjoyment of all this, no doubt, but with it much personal +fondness; and the feeling of the creator of +Micawber as he thus humoured and remembered the +foibles of his original, found its counterpart in that of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_32" id="Page_3_32">[32]</a></span> +his readers for the creation itself, as its part was played +out in the story. Nobody likes Micawber less for his +follies; and Dickens liked his father more, the more +he recalled his whimsical qualities. "The longer I +live, the better man I think him," he exclaimed afterwards. +The fact and the fancy had united whatever +was most grateful to him in both.</p> + +<p>It is a tribute to the generally healthful and manly +tone of the story of <i>Copperfield</i> that such should be the +outcome of the eccentricities of this leading personage +in it; and the superiority in this respect of Micawber +over Skimpole is one of many indications of the inferiority +of <i>Bleak House</i> to its predecessor. With leading +resemblances that make it difficult to say which +character best represents the principle or no principle +of impecuniosity, there cannot be any doubt which +has the advantage in moral and intellectual development. +It is genuine humour against personal satire. +Between the worldly circumstances of the two, there +is nothing to choose; but as to everything else it is the +difference between shabbiness and greatness. Skimpole's +sunny talk might be expected to please as much +as Micawber's gorgeous speech, the design of both +being to take the edge off poverty. But in the one +we have no relief from attendant meanness or distress, +and we drop down from the airiest fancies into sordidness +and pain; whereas in the other nothing pitiful or +merely selfish ever touches us. At its lowest depth of +what is worst, we never doubt that something better +must turn up; and of a man who sells his bedstead +that he may entertain his friend, we altogether refuse +to think nothing but badly. This is throughout the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_33" id="Page_3_33">[33]</a></span> +free and cheery style of <i>Copperfield</i>. The masterpieces +of Dickens's humour are not in it; but he has nowhere +given such variety of play to his invention, and the +book is unapproached among his writings for its completeness +of effect and uniform pleasantness of tone.</p> + +<p>What has to be said hereafter of those writings generally, +will properly restrict what is said here, as in +previous instances, mainly to personal illustration. +The <i>Copperfield</i> disclosures formerly made will for ever +connect the book with the author's individual story; +but too much has been assumed, from those revelations, +of a full identity of Dickens with his hero, and of a +supposed intention that his own character as well as +parts of his career should be expressed in the narrative. +It is right to warn the reader as to this. He can judge +for himself how far the childish experiences are likely +to have given the turn to Dickens's genius; whether +their bitterness had so burnt into his nature, as, in the +hatred of oppression, the revolt against abuse of power, +and the war with injustice under every form displayed +in his earliest books, to have reproduced itself only; +and to what extent mere compassion for his own childhood +may account for the strange fascination always +exerted over him by child-suffering and sorrow. But, +many as are the resemblances in Copperfield's adventures +to portions of those of Dickens, and often as +reflections occur to David which no one intimate with +Dickens could fail to recognize as but the reproduction +of his, it would be the greatest mistake to imagine +anything like a complete identity of the fictitious +novelist with the real one, beyond the Hungerford +scenes; or to suppose that the youth, who then received<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_34" id="Page_3_34">[34]</a></span> +his first harsh schooling in life, came out of it as little +harmed or hardened as David did. The language of +the fiction reflects only faintly the narrative of the +actual fact; and the man whose character it helped to +form was expressed not less faintly in the impulsive +impressionable youth, incapable of resisting the leading +of others, and only disciplined into self-control by +the later griefs of his entrance into manhood. Here +was but another proof how thoroughly Dickens understood +his calling, and that to weave fact with fiction +unskilfully would be only to make truth less true.</p> + +<p>The character of the hero of the novel finds indeed +his right place in the story he is supposed to tell, +rather by unlikeness than by likeness to Dickens, even +where intentional resemblance might seem to be prominent. +Take autobiography as a design to show that +any man's life may be as a mirror of existence to all +men, and the individual career becomes altogether +secondary to the variety of experiences received and +rendered back in it. This particular form in imaginative +literature has too often led to the indulgence of +mental analysis, metaphysics, and sentiment, all in +excess: but Dickens was carried safely over these +allurements by a healthy judgment and sleepless creative +fancy; and even the method of his narrative is +more simple here than it generally is in his books. +His imaginative growths have less luxuriance of underwood, +and the crowds of external images always rising +so vividly before him are more within control.</p> + +<p>Consider Copperfield thus in his proper place in the +story, and sequence as well as connection will be given +to the varieties of its childish adventure. The first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_35" id="Page_3_35">[35]</a></span> +warm nest of love in which his vain fond mother, and +her quaint kind servant, cherish him; the quick-following +contrast of hard dependence and servile treatment; +the escape from that premature and dwarfed maturity +by natural relapse into a more perfect childhood; the +then leisurely growth of emotions and faculties into +manhood; these are component parts of a character +consistently drawn. The sum of its achievement is to +be a successful cultivation of letters; and often as such +imaginary discipline has been the theme of fiction, +there are not many happier conceptions of it. The +ideal and real parts of the boy's nature receive development +in the proportions which contribute best to the +end desired; the readiness for impulsive attachments +that had put him into the leading of others, has underneath +it a base of truthfulness on which at last he rests +in safety; the practical man is the outcome of the +fanciful youth; and a more than equivalent for the +graces of his visionary days, is found in the active +sympathies that life has opened to him. Many experiences +have come within its range, and his heart has +had room for all. Our interest in him cannot but be +increased by knowing how much he expresses of what +the author had himself gone through; but David includes +far less than this, and infinitely more.</p> + +<p>That the incidents arise easily, and to the very end +connect themselves naturally and unobtrusively with +the characters of which they are a part, is to be said +perhaps more truly of this than of any other of Dickens's +novels. There is a profusion of distinct and distinguishable +people, and a prodigal wealth of detail; +but unity of drift or purpose is apparent always, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_36" id="Page_3_36">[36]</a></span> +the tone is uniformly right. By the course of the events +we learn the value of self-denial and patience, quiet +endurance of unavoidable ills, strenuous effort against +ills remediable; and everything in the fortunes of the +actors warns us, to strengthen our generous emotions +and to guard the purities of home. It is easy thus to +account for the supreme popularity of <i>Copperfield</i>, without +the addition that it can hardly have had a reader, +man or lad, who did not discover that he was something +of a Copperfield himself. Childhood and youth +live again for all of us in its marvellous boy-experiences. +Mr. Micawber's presence must not prevent my saying +that it does not take the lead of the other novels in +humorous creation; but in the use of humour to bring +out prominently the ludicrous in any object or incident +without excluding or weakening its most enchanting +sentiment, it stands decidedly first. It is the perfection +of English mirth. We are apt to resent the exhibition +of too much goodness, but it is here so qualified +by oddity as to become not merely palatable but attractive; +and even pathos is heightened by what in +other hands would only make it comical. That there +are also faults in the book is certain, but none that are +incompatible with the most masterly qualities; and a +book becomes everlasting by the fact, not that faults +are not in it, but that genius nevertheless is there.</p> + +<p>Of its method, and its author's generally, in the delineation +of character, something will have to be said +on a later page. The author's own favourite people in +it, I think, were the Peggotty group; and perhaps he +was not far wrong. It has been their fate, as with all +the leading figures of his invention, to pass their names<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_37" id="Page_3_37">[37]</a></span> +into the language, and become types; and he has nowhere +given happier embodiment to that purity of +homely goodness, which, by the kindly and all-reconciling +influences of humour, may exalt into comeliness +and even grandeur the clumsiest forms of humanity. +What has been indicated in the style of the book as its +greatest charm is here felt most strongly. The ludicrous +so helps the pathos, and the humour so uplifts +and refines the sentiment, that mere rude affection and +simple manliness in these Yarmouth boatmen, passed +through the fires of unmerited suffering and heroic endurance, +take forms half-chivalrous half-sublime. It is +one of the cants of critical superiority to make supercilious +mention of the serious passages in this great +writer; but the storm and shipwreck at the close of +<i>Copperfield</i>, when the body of the seducer is flung dead +upon the shore amid the ruins of the home he has wasted +and by the side of the man whose heart he has broken, +the one as unconscious of what he had failed to reach +as the other of what he has perished to save, is a description +that may compare with the most impressive +in the language. There are other people drawn into +this catastrophe who are among the failures of natural +delineation in the book. But though Miss Dartle is +curiously unpleasant, there are some natural traits in her +(which Dickens's least life-like people are never without); +and it was from one of his lady friends, very +familiar to him indeed, he copied her peculiarity of +never saying anything outright, but hinting it merely, +and making more of it that way. Of Mrs. Steerforth +it may also be worth remembering that Thackeray had +something of a fondness for her. "I knew how it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_38" id="Page_3_38">[38]</a></span> +would be when I began," says a pleasant letter all +about himself written immediately after she appeared +in the story. "My letters to my mother are like this, +but then she likes 'em—like Mrs. Steerforth: don't you +like Mrs. Steerforth?"</p> + +<p>Turning to another group there is another elderly lady +to be liked without a shadow of misgiving; abrupt, angular, +extravagant, but the very soul of magnanimity +and rectitude; a character thoroughly made out in all +its parts; a gnarled and knotted piece of female timber, +sound to the core; a woman Captain Shandy would have +loved for her startling oddities, and who is linked to the +gentlest of her sex by perfect womanhood. Dickens has +done nothing better, for solidness and truth all round, +than Betsey Trotwood. It is one of her oddities to +have a fool for a companion; but this is one of them +that has also most pertinence and wisdom. By a line +thrown out in <i>Wilhelm Meister</i>, that the true way of +treating the insane was, in all respects possible, to act +to them as if they were sane, Goethe anticipated what +it took a century to apply to the most terrible disorder +of humanity; and what Mrs. Trotwood does for Mr. +Dick goes a step farther, by showing how often asylums +might be dispensed with, and how large might be the +number of deficient intellects manageable with patience +in their own homes. Characters hardly less distinguishable +for truth as well as oddity are the kind old nurse +and her husband the carrier, whose vicissitudes alike of +love and of mortality are condensed into the three words +since become part of universal speech, <i>Barkis is willin'</i>. +There is wholesome satire of much utility in the conversion +of the brutal schoolmaster of the earlier scenes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_39" id="Page_3_39">[39]</a></span> +into the tender Middlesex magistrate at the close. Nor +is the humour anywhere more subtle than in the country +undertaker, who makes up in fullness of heart for scantness +of breath, and has so little of the vampire propensity +of the town undertaker in <i>Chuzzlewit</i>, that he dares +not even inquire after friends who are ill for fear of +unkindly misconstruction. The test of a master in +creative fiction, according to Hazlitt, is less in contrasting +characters that are unlike than in distinguishing +those that are like; and to many examples of the art in +Dickens, such as the Shepherd and Chadband, Creakle +and Squeers, Charley Bates and the Dodger, the Guppys +and the Wemmicks, Mr. Jaggers and Mr. Vholes, +Sampson Brass and Conversation Kenge, Jack Bunsby, +Captain Cuttle, and Bill Barley, the Perkers and Pells, +the Dodsons and Fogs, Sarah Gamp and Betsy Prig, +and a host of others, is to be added the nicety of distinction +between those eminent furnishers of funerals, +Mr. Mould and Messrs. Omer and Joram. All the +mixed mirth and sadness of the story are skilfully +drawn into the handling of this portion of it; and, +amid wooings and preparations for weddings and +church-ringing bells for baptisms, the steadily-going +rat-tat of the hammer on the coffin is heard.</p> + +<p>Of the heroines who divide so equally between them +the impulsive, easily swayed, not disloyal but sorely +distracted affections of the hero, the spoilt foolishness +and tenderness of the loving little child-wife, Dora, is +more attractive than the too unfailing wisdom and self-sacrificing +goodness of the angel-wife, Agnes. The +scenes of the courtship and housekeeping are matchless; +and the glimpses of Doctors' Commons, opening<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_40" id="Page_3_40">[40]</a></span> +those views, by Mr. Spenlow, of man's vanity of expectation +and inconsistency of conduct in neglecting +the sacred duty of making a will, on which he largely +moralizes the day before he dies intestate, form a background +highly appropriate to David's domesticities. +This was among the reproductions of personal experience +in the book; but it was a sadder knowledge that +came with the conviction some years later, that David's +contrasts in his earliest married life between his happiness +enjoyed and his happiness once anticipated, the +"vague unhappy loss or want of something" of which +he so frequently complains, reflected also a personal +experience which had not been supplied in fact so successfully +as in fiction. (A closing word may perhaps be +allowed, to connect with Devonshire-terrace the last +book written there. On the page opposite is engraved +a drawing by Maclise of the house where so many of +Dickens's masterpieces were composed, done on the +first anniversary of the day when his daughter Kate was +born.)</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_41" id="Page_3_41">[41]</a></span> +<img src="images/image18_devonshire.png" width="600" height="370" alt="DEVONSHIRE TERRACE." title="DEVONSHIRE TERRACE." /> +<span class="caption">DEVONSHIRE TERRACE.</span> +</div> +<p><i>Bleak House</i> followed <i>Copperfield</i>, which in some respects +it copied in the autobiographical form by means +of extracts from the personal relation of its heroine. +But the distinction between the narrative of David and +the diary of Esther, like that between Micawber and +Skimpole, marks the superiority of the first to its successor. +To represent a storyteller as giving the most +surprising vividness to manners, motives, and characters +of which we are to believe her, all the time, as artlessly +unconscious, as she is also entirely ignorant of the good +qualities in herself she is naïvely revealing in the story, +was a difficult enterprise, full of hazard in any case, not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_42" id="Page_3_42">[42]</a></span> +worth success, and certainly not successful. Ingenuity +is more apparent than freshness, the invention is neither +easy nor unstrained, and though the old marvellous +power over the real is again abundantly manifest, there +is some alloy of the artificial. Nor can this be said of +Esther's relation without some general application to +the book of which it forms so large a part. The novel +is nevertheless, in the very important particular of construction, +perhaps the best thing done by Dickens.</p> + + + +<p>In his later writings he had been assiduously cultivating +this essential of his art, and here he brought it +very nearly to perfection. Of the tendency of composing +a story piecemeal to induce greater concern for +the part than for the whole, he had been always conscious; +but I remember a remark also made by him to +the effect that to read a story in parts had no less a tendency +to prevent the reader's noticing how thoroughly a +work so presented might be calculated for perusal as a +whole. Look back from the last to the first page of the +present novel, and not even in the highest examples of +this kind of elaborate care will it be found, that event +leads more closely to event, or that the separate incidents +have been planned with a more studied consideration +of the bearing they are severally to have on the +general result. Nothing is introduced at random, +everything tends to the catastrophe, the various lines +of the plot converge and fit to its centre, and to the +larger interest all the rest is irresistibly drawn. The +heart of the story is a Chancery suit. On this the plot +hinges, and on incidents connected with it, trivial or +important, the passion and suffering turn exclusively. +Chance words, or the deeds of chance people, to appearance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_43" id="Page_3_43">[43]</a></span> +irrelevant, are found everywhere influencing +the course taken by a train of incidents of which the +issue is life or death, happiness or misery, to men and +women perfectly unknown to them, and to whom they +are unknown. Attorneys of all possible grades, law +clerks of every conceivable kind, the copyist, the law +stationer, the usurer, all sorts of money lenders, suitors +of every description, haunters of the Chancery court +and their victims, are for ever moving round about the +lives of the chief persons in the tale, and drawing them +on insensibly, but very certainly, to the issues that await +them. Even the fits of the little law-stationer's servant +help directly in the chain of small things that lead +indirectly to Lady Dedlock's death. One strong chain +of interest holds together Chesney Wold and its inmates, +Bleak House and the Jarndyce group, Chancery +with its sorry and sordid neighbourhood. The characters +multiply as the tale advances, but in each the +drift is the same. "There's no great odds betwixt my +noble and learned brother and myself," says the grotesque +proprietor of the rag and bottle shop under the +wall of Lincoln's-inn, "they call me Lord Chancellor +and my shop Chancery, and we both of us grub on in +a muddle." <i>Edax rerum</i> the motto of both, but with +a difference. Out of the lumber of the shop emerge +slowly some fragments of evidence by which the chief +actors in the story are sensibly affected, and to which +Chancery itself might have succumbed if its devouring +capacities had been less complete. But by the +time there is found among the lumber the will which +puts all to rights in the Jarndyce suit, it is found to be +too late to put anything to rights. The costs have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_44" id="Page_3_44">[44]</a></span> +swallowed up the estate, and there is an end of the +matter.</p> + +<p>What in one sense is a merit however may in others +be a defect, and this book has suffered by the very completeness +with which its Chancery moral is worked out. +The didactic in Dickens's earlier novels derived its +strength from being merely incidental to interest of a +higher and more permanent kind, and not in a small +degree from the playful sportiveness and fancy that +lighted up its graver illustrations. Here it is of sterner +stuff, too little relieved, and all-pervading. The fog +so marvellously painted in the opening chapter has +hardly cleared away when there arises, in <i>Jarndyce</i> v. +<i>Jarndyce</i>, as bad an atmosphere to breathe in; and +thenceforward to the end, clinging round the people +of the story as they come or go, in dreary mist or in +heavy cloud, it is rarely absent. Dickens has himself +described his purpose to have been to dwell on the romantic +side of familiar things. But it is the romance of +discontent and misery, with a very restless dissatisfied +moral, and is too much brought about by agencies disagreeable +and sordid. The Guppys, Weevles, Snagsbys, +Chadbands, Krooks, and Smallweeds, even the Kenges, +Vholeses, and Tulkinghorns, are much too real to be +pleasant; and the necessity becomes urgent for the reliefs +and contrasts of a finer humanity. These last are +not wanting; yet it must be said that we hardly escape, +even with them, into the old freedom and freshness of +the author's imaginative worlds, and that the too conscious +unconsciousness of Esther flings something of a +shade on the radiant goodness of John Jarndyce himself. +Nevertheless there are very fine delineations in the story.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_45" id="Page_3_45">[45]</a></span> +The crazed little Chancery lunatic, Miss Flite; the +loud-voiced tender-souled Chancery victim, Gridley; +the poor good-hearted youth Richard, broken up in life +and character by the suspense of the Chancery suit on +whose success he is to "begin the world," believing +himself to be saving money when he is stopped from +squandering it, and thinking that having saved it he +is entitled to fling it away; trooper George, with the +Bagnets and their household, where the most ludicrous +points are more forcible for the pathetic touches underlying +them; the Jellyby interior, and its philanthropic +strong-minded mistress, placid and smiling amid a +household muddle outmuddling Chancery itself; the +model of deportment, Turveydrop the elder, whose +relations to the young people, whom he so superbly +patronizes by being dependent on them for everything, +touch delightfully some subtle points of truth; the inscrutable +Tulkinghorn, and the immortal Bucket; all +these, and especially the last, have been added by this +book to the list of people more intimately and permanently +known to us than the scores of actual familiar +acquaintance whom we see around us living and dying.</p> + +<p>But how do we know them? There are plenty to tell +us that it is by vividness of external observation rather +than by depth of imaginative insight, by tricks of manner +and phrase rather than by truth of character, by +manifestation outwardly rather than by what lies behind. +Another opportunity will present itself for some +remark on this kind of criticism, which has always had +a special pride in the subtlety of its differences from +what the world may have shown itself prone to admire. +"In my father's library," wrote Landor to Southey's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_46" id="Page_3_46">[46]</a></span> +daughter Edith, "was the <i>Critical Review</i> from its commencement; +and it would have taught me, if I could +not even at a very early age teach myself better, that +Fielding, Sterne, and Goldsmith were really worth +nothing." It is a style that will never be without cultivators, +and its frequent application to Dickens will +be shown hereafter. But in speaking of a book in +which some want of all the freshness of his genius first +became apparent, it would be wrong to omit to add +that his method of handling a character is as strongly +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'inpressed'">impressed</ins> on the better portions of it as on the best of +his writings. It is difficult to say when a peculiarity +becomes too grotesque, or an extravagance too farcical, +to be within the limits of art, for it is the truth of these +as of graver things that they exist in the world in just the +proportions and degree in which genius can discover +them. But no man had ever so surprising a faculty as +Dickens of becoming himself what he was representing; +and of entering into mental phases and processes so +absolutely, in conditions of life the most varied, as to +reproduce them completely in dialogue without need +of an explanatory word. (He only departed from this +method once, with a result which will then be pointed +out.) In speaking on a former page of the impression +of reality thus to a singular degree conveyed by him, +it was remarked that where characters so revealed themselves +the author's part in them was done; and in the +book under notice there is none, not excepting those +least attractive which apparently present only prominent +or salient qualities, in which it will not be found +that the characteristic feature embodied, or the main +idea personified, contains as certainly also some human<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_47" id="Page_3_47">[47]</a></span> +truth universally applicable. To expound or discuss +his creations, to lay them psychologically bare, to +analyse their organisms, to subject to minute demonstration +their fibrous and other tissues, was not at all +Dickens's way. His genius was his fellow feeling with +his race; his mere personality was never the bound or +limit to his perceptions, however strongly sometimes it +might colour them; he never stopped to dissect or +anatomize his own work; but no man could better adjust +the outward and visible oddities in a delineation +to its inner and unchangeable veracities. The rough +estimates we form of character, if we have any truth of +perception, are on the whole correct: but men touch +and interfere with one another by the contact of their +extremes, and it may very often become necessarily the +main business of a novelist to display the salient points, +the sharp angles, or the prominences merely.</p> + +<p>The pathetic parts of <i>Bleak House</i> do not live +largely in remembrance, but the deaths of Richard +and of Gridley, the wandering fancies of Miss Flite, and +the extremely touching way in which the gentleman-nature +of the pompous old baronet, Dedlock, asserts +itself under suffering, belong to a high order of writing. +There is another most affecting example, taking the +lead of the rest, in the poor street-sweeper Jo; which +has made perhaps as deep an impression as anything +in Dickens. "We have been reading <i>Bleak House</i> +aloud," the good Dean Ramsay wrote to me very +shortly before his death. "Surely it is one of his most +powerful and successful! What a triumph is Jo! Uncultured +nature is <i>there</i> indeed; the intimations of true +heart-feeling, the glimmerings of higher feeling, all are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_48" id="Page_3_48">[48]</a></span> +there; but everything still consistent and in harmony. +Wonderful is the genius that can show all this, yet keep +it only and really part of the character itself, low or +common as it may be, and use no morbid or fictitious +colouring. To my mind, nothing in the field of fiction +is to be found in English literature surpassing the death +of Jo!" What occurs at and after the inquest is as +worth remembering. Jo's evidence is rejected because +he cannot exactly say what will be done to him after +he is dead if he should tell a lie;<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> but he manages to +say afterwards very exactly what the deceased while he +lived did to him. That one cold winter night, when +he was shivering in a doorway near his crossing, a man +turned to look at him, and came back, and, having +questioned him and found he had not a friend in the +world, said, "Neither have I. Not one!" and gave +him the price of a supper and a night's lodging. That +the man had often spoken to him since, and asked him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_49" id="Page_3_49">[49]</a></span> +if he slept of a night, and how he bore cold and hunger, +or if he ever wished to die; and would say in +passing "I am as poor as you to-day, Jo" when he had +no money, but when he had any would always give +some. "He wos wery good to me," says the boy, +wiping his eyes with his wretched sleeve. "Wen I see +him a-layin' so stritched out just now, I wished he +could have heerd me tell him so. He wos werry good to +me, he wos!" The inquest over, the body is flung into +a pestiferous churchyard in the next street, houses overlooking +it on every side, and a reeking little tunnel of +a court giving access to its iron gate. "With the +night, comes a slouching figure through the tunnel-court, +to the outside of the iron gate. It holds the +gate with its hands, and looks in within the bars; +stands looking in, for a little while. It then, with an +old broom it carries, softly sweeps the step, and makes +the archway clean. It does so, very busily, and trimly; +looks in again, a little while; and so departs." These +are among the things in Dickens that cannot be forgotten; +and if <i>Bleak House</i> had many more faults +than have been found in it, such salt and savour as this +might freshen it for some generations.</p> + +<p>The first intention was to have made Jo more prominent +in the story, and its earliest title was taken +from the tumbling tenements in Chancery, "Tom-all-Alone's," +where he finds his wretched habitation; but +this was abandoned. On the other hand, Dickens was +encouraged and strengthened in his design of assailing +Chancery abuses and delays by receiving, a few days +after the appearance of his first number, a striking +pamphlet on the subject containing details so apposite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_50" id="Page_3_50">[50]</a></span> +that he took from them, without change in any material +point, the memorable case related in his fifteenth chapter. +Any one who examines the tract<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> will see how +exactly true is the reference to it made by Dickens in +his preface. "The case of Gridley is in no essential +altered from one of actual occurrence, made public by +a disinterested person who was professionally acquainted +with the whole of the monstrous wrong from beginning +to end." The suit, of which all particulars are given, +affected a single farm, in value not more than £1200, +but all that its owner possessed in the world, against +which a bill had been filed for a £300 legacy left in +the will bequeathing the farm. In reality there was +only one defendant, but in the bill, by the rule of the +Court, there were seventeen; and, after two years had +been occupied over the seventeen answers, everything +had to begin over again because an eighteenth had +been accidentally omitted. "What a mockery of +justice this is," says Mr. Challinor, "the facts speak +for themselves, and I can personally vouch for their +accuracy. The costs already incurred in reference to +this £300 legacy are not less than from £800 to £900, +and the parties are no forwarder. Already near five +years have passed by, and the plaintiff would be glad +to give up his chance of the legacy if he could escape +from his liability to costs, while the defendants who +own the little farm left by the testator, have scarce any +other prospect before them than ruin."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_51" id="Page_3_51">[51]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>HOME INCIDENTS AND HARD TIMES.</h3> + +<h3>1853-1854-1855.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><i>Bleak House</i> Sale—Proposed Titles—Restless—Tavistock House—Last +Child born—Death of Friends—Liking for Boulogne—Banquet +at Birmingham—Self-changes—Overdoing it—Projected Trip to +Italy—First Public Readings—Argument against Paid Readings—Children's +Theatricals—Small Actors—Henry Fielding Dickens—Dickens +and the Czar—Titles for a New Story—"Hard Times" +chosen—Difficulties of Weekly Publication—Mr. Ruskin on <i>Hard +Times</i>—Exaggerated Rebuke of Exaggeration—Manufacturing +Town on Strike—Dinner to Thackeray—Peter Cunningham—Incident +of a November Night.</div> + + +<p><i><span class="smcap">David Copperfield</span></i> had been written, in Devonshire-terrace +for the most part, between the opening of +1849 and October 1850, its publication covering that +time; and its sale, which has since taken the lead +of all his books but <i>Pickwick</i>, never then exceeding +twenty-five thousand. But though it remained thus +steady for the time, the popularity of the book added +largely to the sale of its successor. <i>Bleak House</i> was +begun in his new abode of Tavistock House at the end +of November 1851; was carried on, amid the excitements +of the Guild performances, through the following +year; was finished at Boulogne in the August of +1853; and was dedicated to "his friends and companions +in the Guild of Literature and Art."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_52" id="Page_3_52">[52]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 323px;"> +<img src="images/image19_tavis.png" width="323" height="500" alt="TAVISTOCK HOUSE." title="TAVISTOCK HOUSE." /> +<span class="caption">TAVISTOCK HOUSE.</span> +</div> + +<p>In March 1852 the first number appeared,<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> and its +sale was mentioned in the same letter from Tavistock +House (7th of March) which told of his troubles in +the story at its outset, and of other anxieties incident +to the common lot and inseparable equally from its joys +and sorrows, through which his life was passing at the +time. "My Highgate journey yesterday was a sad +one. Sad to think how all journeys tend that way. I +went up to the cemetery to look for a piece of ground. +In no hope of a Government bill,<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> and in a foolish +dislike to leaving the little child shut up in a vault +there, I think of pitching a tent under the sky. . . . +Nothing has taken place here: but I believe, every +hour, that it must next hour. Wild ideas are upon me +of going to Paris—Rouen—Switzerland—somewhere—and +writing the remaining two-thirds of the next No. +aloft in some queer inn room. I have been hanging +over it, and have got restless. Want a change I think.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_53" id="Page_3_53">[53]</a></span> +Stupid. We were at 30,000 when I last heard. . . . I +am sorry to say that after all kinds of evasions, I am +obliged to dine at Lansdowne House to-morrow. But +maybe the affair will come off to-night and give me an +excuse! I enclose proofs of No. 2. Browne has done<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_54" id="Page_3_54">[54]</a></span> +Skimpole, and helped to make him singularly unlike +the great original. Look it over, and say what occurs +to you. . . . Don't you think Mrs. Gaskell charming? +With one ill-considered thing that looks like a want of +natural perception, I think it masterly." His last +allusion is to the story by a delightful writer then +appearing in <i>Household Words;</i> and of the others it +only needs to say that the family affair which might +have excused his absence at the Lansdowne dinner did +not come off until four days later. On the 13th of +March his last child was born; and the boy, his +seventh son, bears his godfather's distinguished name, +Edward Bulwer Lytton.</p> + +<p>The inability to "grind sparks out of his dull +blade," as he characterized his present labour at <i>Bleak +House</i>, still fretting him, he struck out a scheme for +Paris. "I could not get to Switzerland very well at +this time of year. The Jura would be covered with +snow. And if I went to Geneva I don't know where +I might <i>not</i> go to." It ended at last in a flight to +Dover; but he found time before he left, amid many +occupations and some anxieties, for a good-natured +journey to Walworth to see a youth rehearse who was +supposed to have talents for the stage, and he was able +to gladden Mr. Toole's friends by thinking favourably +of his chances of success. "I remember what I once +myself wanted in that way," he said, "and I should +like to serve him."</p> + +<p>At one of the last dinners in Tavistock House before +his departure, Mr. Watson of Rockingham was present; +and he was hardly settled in Camden-crescent, Dover, +when he had news of the death of that excellent friend.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_55" id="Page_3_55">[55]</a></span> +"Poor dear Watson! It was this day two weeks when +you rode with us and he dined with us. We all remarked +after he had gone how happy he seemed to +have got over his election troubles, and how cheerful +he was. He was full of Christmas plans for Rockingham, +and was very anxious that we should get up a +little French piece I had been telling him the plot of. +He went abroad next day to join Mrs. Watson and the +children at Homburg, and then go to Lausanne, where +they had taken a house for a month. He was seized +at Homburg with violent internal inflammation, and +died—without much pain—in four days. . . . I was +so fond of him that I am sorry you didn't know him +better. I believe he was as thoroughly good and true +a man as ever lived; and I am sure I can have felt no +greater affection for him than he felt for me. When I +think of that bright house, and his fine simple honest +heart, both so open to me, the blank and loss are like +a dream." Other deaths followed. "Poor d'Orsay!" +he wrote after only seven days (8th of August). "It is +a tremendous consideration that friends should fall +around us in such awful numbers as we attain middle +life. What a field of battle it is!" Nor had another +month quite passed before he lost, in Mrs. Macready, +a very dear family friend. "Ah me! ah me!" he +wrote. "This tremendous sickle certainly does cut deep +into the surrounding corn, when one's own small blade +has ripened. But <i>this</i> is all a Dream, may be, and +death will wake us."</p> + +<p>Able at last to settle to his work, he stayed in Dover +three months; and early in October, sending home his +family caravan, crossed to Boulogne to try it as a resort<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_56" id="Page_3_56">[56]</a></span> +for seaside holiday. "I never saw a better instance of +our countrymen than this place. Because it is accessible +it is genteel to say it is of no character, quite English, +nothing continental about it, and so forth. It is +as quaint, picturesque, good a place as I know; the +boatmen and fishing-people quite a race apart, and some +of their villages as good as the fishing-villages on the +Mediterranean. The Haute Ville, with a walk all round +it on the ramparts, charming. The country walks, delightful. +It is the best mixture of town and country +(with sea air into the bargain) I ever saw; everything +cheap, everything good; and please God I shall be +writing on those said ramparts next July!"</p> + +<p>Before the year closed, the time to which his publishing +arrangements with Messrs. Bradbury and Evans +were limited had expired, but at his suggestion the +fourth share in such books as he might write, which +they had now received for eight years, was continued +to them on the understanding that the publishers' percentage +should no longer be charged in the partnership +accounts, and with a power reserved to himself to withdraw +when he pleased. In the new year his first adventure +was an ovation in Birmingham, where a silver-gilt +salver and a diamond ring were presented to him, as +well for eloquent service specially rendered to the Institution, +as in general testimony of "varied literary +acquirements, genial philosophy, and high moral +teaching." A great banquet followed on Twelfth +Night, made memorable by an offer<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> to give a couple<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_57" id="Page_3_57">[57]</a></span> +of readings from his books at the following Christmas, +in aid of the new Midland Institute. It might seem to +have been drawn from him as a grateful return for the +enthusiastic greeting of his entertainers, but it was in +his mind before he left London. It was his first formal +undertaking to read in public.</p> + +<p>His eldest son had now left Eton, and, the boy's +wishes pointing at the time to a mercantile career, he +was sent to Leipzig for completion of his education.<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> +At this date it seemed to me that the overstrain of attempting +too much, brought upon him by the necessities +of his weekly periodical, became first apparent in +Dickens. Not unfrequently a complaint strange upon +his lips fell from him. "Hypochondriacal whisperings +tell me that I am rather overworked. The spring does +not seem to fly back again directly, as it always did +when I put my own work aside, and had nothing else +to do. Yet I have everything to keep me going with a +brave heart, Heaven knows!" Courage and hopefulness +he might well derive from the increasing sale of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_58" id="Page_3_58">[58]</a></span> +<i>Bleak House</i>, which had risen to nearly forty thousand; +but he could no longer bear easily what he carried so +lightly of old, and enjoyments with work were too +much for him. "What with <i>Bleak House</i>, and <i>Household +Words</i>, and <i>Child's History</i>" (he dictated from +week to week the papers which formed that little book, +and cannot be said to have quite hit the mark with it), +"and Miss Coutts's Home, and the invitations to feasts +and festivals, I really feel as if my head would split like +a fired shell if I remained here." He tried Brighton +first, but did not find it answer, and returned.<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> A few +days of unalloyed enjoyment were afterwards given to +the visit of his excellent American friend Felton; and +on the 13th of June he was again in Boulogne, thanking +heaven for escape from a breakdown. "If I had substituted +anybody's knowledge of myself for my own, +and lingered in London, I never could have got +through."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_59" id="Page_3_59">[59]</a></span></p><p>What befell him in Boulogne will be given, with the +incidents of his second and third summer visits to the +place, on a later page. He completed, by the third +week of August, his novel of <i>Bleak House;</i> and it was +resolved to celebrate the event by a two months' trip +to Italy, in company with Mr. Wilkie Collins and Mr. +Augustus Egg. The start was to be made from Boulogne +in the middle of October, when he would send his +family home; and he described the intervening weeks +as a fearful "reaction and prostration of laziness" only +broken by the <i>Child's History</i>. At the end of September +he wrote: "I finished the little <i>History</i> yesterday, +and am trying to think of something for the Christmas +number. After which I shall knock off; having had +quite enough to do, small as it would have seemed to +me at any other time, since I finished <i>Bleak House</i>." +He added, a week before his departure: "I get letters +from Genoa and Lausanne as if I were going to stay in +each place at least a month. If I were to measure my +deserts by people's remembrance of me, I should be a +prodigy of intolerability. Have recovered my Italian, +which I had all but forgotten, and am one entire and +perfect chrysolite of idleness."</p> + +<p>From this trip, of which the incidents have an interest +independent of my ordinary narrative, Dickens +was home again in the middle of December 1853, and +kept his promise to his Birmingham friends by reading +in their Town Hall his <i>Christmas Carol</i> on the 27th,<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> +and his <i>Cricket on the Hearth</i> on the 29th. The enthusiasm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_60" id="Page_3_60">[60]</a></span> +was great, and he consented to read his <i>Carol</i> +a second time, on Friday the 30th, if seats were reserved +for working men at prices within their means. The +result was an addition of between four and five hundred +pounds to the funds for establishment of the new Institute; +and a prettily worked flower-basket in silver, +presented to Mrs. Dickens, commemorated these first +public readings "to nearly six thousand people," and +the design they had generously helped. Other applications +then followed to such extent that limits to compliance +had to be put; and a letter of the 16th of May +1854 is one of many that express both the difficulty in +which he found himself, and his much desired expedient +for solving it. "The objection you suggest to paid +public lecturing does not strike me at all. It is worth +consideration, but I do not think there is anything in +it. On the contrary, if the lecturing would have any +motive power at all (like my poor father this, in the +sound!) I believe it would tend the other way. In the +Colchester matter I had already received a letter from +a Colchester magnate; to whom I had honestly replied +that I stood pledged to Christmas readings at Bradford<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> +and at Reading, and could in no kind of reason do +more in the public way." The promise to the people +of Reading was for Talfourd's sake; the other was given +after the Birmingham nights, when an institute in Bradford +asked similar help, and offered a fee of fifty pounds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_61" id="Page_3_61">[61]</a></span> +At first this was entertained; but was abandoned, with +some reluctance, upon the argument that to become +publicly a reader must alter without improving his position +publicly as a writer, and that it was a change to be +justified only when the higher calling should have failed +of the old success. Thus yielding for the time, he +nevertheless soon found the question rising again with +the same importunity; his own position to it being +always that of a man assenting against his will that it +should rest in abeyance. But nothing farther was resolved +on yet. The readings mentioned came off as +promised, in aid of public objects;<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> and besides others +two years later for the family of a friend, he had given +the like liberal help to institutes in Folkestone, Chatham, +and again in Birmingham, Peterborough, Sheffield, +Coventry, and Edinburgh, before the question<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_62" id="Page_3_62">[62]</a></span> +settled itself finally in the announcement for paid +public readings issued by him in 1858.</p> + +<p>Carrying memory back to his home in the first half +of 1854, there are few things that rise more pleasantly +in connection with it than the children's theatricals. +These began with the first Twelfth Night at Tavistock +House, and were renewed until the principal actors +ceased to be children. The best of the performances +were <i>Tom Thumb</i> and <i>Fortunio</i>, in '54 and '55; Dickens +now joining first in the revel, and Mr. Mark Lemon +bringing into it his own clever children and a very +mountain of child-pleasing fun in himself. Dickens +had become very intimate with him, and his merry +genial ways had given him unbounded popularity with +the "young 'uns," who had no such favourite as +"Uncle Mark." In Fielding's burlesque he was the +giantess Glumdalca, and Dickens was the ghost of +Gaffer Thumb; the names by which they respectively +appeared being the Infant Phenomenon and the Modern +Garrick. But the younger actors carried off the palm. +There was a Lord Grizzle, at whose ballad of Miss +Villikins, introduced by desire, Thackeray rolled off +his seat in a burst of laughter that became absurdly +contagious. Yet even this, with hardly less fun from +the Noodles, Doodles, and King Arthurs, was not so +good as the pretty, fantastic, comic grace of Dollalolla, +Huncamunca, and Tom. The girls wore steadily the +grave airs irresistible when put on by little children; +and an actor not out of his fourth year, who went +through the comic songs and the tragic exploits without +a wrong note or a victim unslain, represented the small +helmeted hero. He was in the bills as Mr. H——, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_63" id="Page_3_63">[63]</a></span> +bore in fact the name of the illustrious author whose +conception he embodied; and who certainly would +have hugged him for Tom's opening song, delivered in +the arms of Huncamunca, if he could have forgiven +the later master in his own craft for having composed +it afresh to the air of a ditty then wildly popular at the +"Coal Hole."<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> The encores were frequent, and for +the most part the little fellow responded to them; but +the misplaced enthusiasm that took similar form at the +heroic intensity with which he stabbed Dollalolla, he +rebuked by going gravely on to the close. His Fortunio, +the next Twelfth Night, was not so great; yet +when, as a prelude to getting the better of the Dragon, +he adulterated his drink (Mr. Lemon played the Dragon) +with sherry, the sly relish with which he watched the +demoralization, by this means, of his formidable adversary +into a helpless imbecility, was perfect. Here +Dickens played the testy old Baron, and took advantage +of the excitement against the Czar raging in 1855 to +denounce him (in a song) as no other than own cousin +to the very Bear that Fortunio had gone forth to subdue. +He depicted him, in his desolation of autocracy, as the +Robinson Crusoe of absolute state, who had at his court +many a show-day and many a high-day, but hadn't in +all his dominions a Friday.<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> The bill, which attributed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_64" id="Page_3_64">[64]</a></span> +these interpolations to "the Dramatic Poet of the Establishment," +deserves also mention for the fun of the +six large-lettered announcements which stood at the +head of it, and could not have been bettered by Mr. +Crummles himself. "Re-engagement of that irresistible +comedian" (the performer of Lord Grizzle) "Mr. Ainger!" +"Reappearance of Mr. H. who created so +powerful an impression last year!" "Return of Mr. +Charles Dickens Junior from his German engagements!" +"Engagement of Miss Kate, who declined the munificent +offers of the Management last season!" "Mr. +Passé, Mr. Mudperiod, Mr. Measly Servile, and Mr. +Wilkini Collini!" "First appearance on any stage of +Mr. Plornishmaroontigoonter (who has been kept out +of bed at a vast expense)." The last performer mentioned<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> +was yet at some distance from the third year +of his age. Dickens was Mr. Passé.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_65" id="Page_3_65">[65]</a></span></p><p>Gravities were mixed with these gaieties. "I wish +you would look" (20th of January 1854) "at the enclosed +titles for the <i>H. W.</i> story, between this and two +o'clock or so, when I will call. It is my usual day, you +observe, on which I have jotted them down—Friday! +It seems to me that there are three very good ones +among them. I should like to know whether you hit +upon the same." On the paper enclosed was written: +1. According to Cocker. 2. Prove it. 3. Stubborn +Things. 4. Mr. Gradgrind's Facts. 5. The Grindstone. +6. Hard Times. 7. Two and Two are Four. +8. Something Tangible. 9. Our Hard-headed Friend. +10. Rust and Dust. 11. Simple Arithmetic. 12. A +Matter of Calculation. 13. A Mere Question of Figures. +14. The Gradgrind Philosophy.<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> The three +selected by me were 2, 6, and 11; the three that were +his own favourites were 6, 13, and 14; and as 6 had +been chosen by both, that title was taken.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_66" id="Page_3_66">[66]</a></span></p> +<p>It was the first story written by him for <i>Household +Words;</i> and in the course of it the old troubles of the +<i>Clock</i> came back, with the difference that the greater +brevity of the weekly portions made it easier to write +them up to time, but much more difficult to get sufficient +interest into each. "The difficulty of the space," he +wrote after a few weeks' trial, "is <span class="smcap">crushing</span>. Nobody +can have an idea of it who has not had an experience +of patient fiction-writing with some elbow-room always, +and open places in perspective. In this form, with any +kind of regard to the current number, there is absolutely +no such thing." He went on, however; and, +of the two designs he started with, accomplished one +very perfectly and the other at least partially. He +more than doubled the circulation of his journal; and +he wrote a story which, though not among his best, +contains things as characteristic as any he has written. +I may not go as far as Mr. Ruskin in giving it a high +place; but to anything falling from that writer, however +one may differ from it, great respect is due, and +every word here said of Dickens's intention is in the +most strict sense just.<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> "The essential value and truth +of Dickens's writings," he says, "have been unwisely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_67" id="Page_3_67">[67]</a></span> +lost sight of by many thoughtful persons, merely because +he presents his truth with some colour of caricature. +Unwisely, because Dickens's caricature, though often +gross, is never mistaken. Allowing for his manner of +telling them, the things he tells us are always true. I +wish that he could think it right to limit his brilliant +exaggeration to works written only for public amusement; +and when he takes up a subject of high national +importance, such as that which he handled in <i>Hard +Times</i>, that he would use severer and more accurate +analysis. The usefulness of that work (to my mind, in +several respects, the greatest he has written) is with +many persons seriously diminished, because Mr. Bounderby +is a dramatic monster, instead of a characteristic +example of a worldly master; and Stephen Blackpool +a dramatic perfection, instead of a characteristic example +of an honest workman. But let us not lose the use +of Dickens's wit and insight, because he chooses to +speak in a circle of stage fire. He is entirely right in +his main drift and purpose in every book he has written; +and all of them, but especially <i>Hard Times</i>, should be +studied with close and earnest care by persons interested +in social questions. They will find much that is partial, +and, because partial, apparently unjust; but if they examine +all the evidence on the other side, which Dickens +seems to overlook, it will appear, after all their trouble, +that his view was the finally right one, grossly and +sharply told."<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> The best points in it, out of the circle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_68" id="Page_3_68">[68]</a></span> +of stage fire (an expression of wider application to this +part of Dickens's life than its inventor supposed it to +be), were the sketches of the riding-circus people and +the Bounderby household; but it is a wise hint of Mr. +Ruskin's that there may be, in the drift of a story, +truths of sufficient importance to set against defects of +workmanship; and here they challenged wide attention. +You cannot train any one properly, unless you cultivate +the fancy, and allow fair scope to the affections. You +cannot govern men on a principle of averages; and to +buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market is +not the <i>summum bonum</i> of life. You cannot treat the +working man fairly unless, in dealing with his wrongs +and his delusions, you take equally into account the +simplicity and tenacity of his nature, arising partly +from limited knowledge, but more from honesty and +singleness of intention. Fiction cannot prove a case, +but it can express forcibly a righteous sentiment; and +this is here done unsparingly upon matters of universal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_69" id="Page_3_69">[69]</a></span> +concern. The book was finished at Boulogne in the +middle of July,<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> and is inscribed to Carlyle.</p> + +<p>An American admirer accounted for the vivacity of +the circus-scenes by declaring that Dickens had "arranged +with the master of Astley's Circus to spend +many hours behind the scenes with the riders and +among the horses;" a thing just as likely as that he +went into training as a stroller to qualify for Mr. +Crummles in <i>Nickleby</i>. Such successes belonged to +the experiences of his youth; he had nothing to add to +what his marvellous observation had made familiar +from almost childish days; and the glimpses we get of +them in the <i>Sketches by Boz</i> are in these points as perfect +as anything his later experience could supply. +There was one thing nevertheless which the choice of +his subject made him anxious to verify while <i>Hard +Times</i> was in hand; and this was a strike in a manufacturing +town. He went to Preston to see one at the +end of January, and was somewhat disappointed. "I +am afraid I shall not be able to get much here. Except +the crowds at the street-corners reading the placards +pro and con; and the cold absence of smoke from the +mill-chimneys; there is very little in the streets to +make the town remarkable. I am told that the people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_70" id="Page_3_70">[70]</a></span> +'sit at home and mope.' The delegates with the +money from the neighbouring places come in to-day +to report the amounts they bring; and to-morrow the +people are paid. When I have seen both these ceremonies, +I shall return. It is a nasty place (I thought +it was a model town); and I am in the Bull Hotel, +before which some time ago the people assembled supposing +the masters to be here, and on demanding to +have them out were remonstrated with by the landlady +in person. I saw the account in an Italian paper, in +which it was stated that 'the populace then environed +the Palazzo Bull, until the padrona of the Palazzo +heroically appeared at one of the upper windows and +addressed them!' One can hardly conceive anything +less likely to be represented to an Italian mind by this +description, than the old, grubby, smoky, mean, intensely +formal red brick house with a narrow gateway +and a dingy yard, to which it applies. At the theatre +last night I saw <i>Hamlet</i>, and should have done better +to 'sit at home and mope' like the idle workmen. In +the last scene, Laertes on being asked how it was with +him replied (verbatim) 'Why, like a woodcock—on +account of my treachery.'" (29th Jan.)</p> + +<p>The home incidents of the summer and autumn of +1855 may be mentioned briefly. It was a year of much +unsettled discontent with him, and upon return from a +short trip to Paris with Mr. Wilkie Collins, he flung +himself rather hotly into agitation with the administrative +reformers,<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> and spoke at one of the great meetings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_71" id="Page_3_71">[71]</a></span> +in Drury-lane Theatre. In the following month (April) +he took occasion, even from the chair of the General +Theatrical Fund, to give renewed expression to political +dissatisfactions.<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> In the summer he threw open to +many friends his Tavistock House Theatre, having secured +for its "lessee and manager Mr. Crummles;" +for its poet Mr. Wilkie Collins, in an "entirely new +and original domestic melodrama;" and for its scene-painter +"Mr. Stanfield, R.A."<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> <i>The Lighthouse</i>, by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_72" id="Page_3_72">[72]</a></span> +Mr. Wilkie Collins, was then produced, its actors being +Mr. Crummles the manager (Dickens in other words), +the Author of the play, Mr. Lemon and Mr. Egg, and +the manager's sister-in-law and eldest daughter. It +was followed by the Guild farce of <i>Mr. Nightingale's +Diary</i>, in which besides the performers named, and +Dickens in his old personation part, the manager's +youngest daughter and Mr. Frank Stone assisted. The +success was wonderful; and in the three delighted +audiences who crowded to what the bills described as +"the smallest theatre in the world," were not a few +of the notabilities of London. Mr. Carlyle compared +Dickens's wild picturesqueness in the old lighthouse +keeper to the famous figure in Nicholas Poussin's bacchanalian +dance in the National Gallery; and at one +of the joyous suppers that followed on each night of +the play, Lord Campbell told the company that he +had much rather have written <i>Pickwick</i> than be Chief +Justice of England and a peer of parliament.<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a></p> + +<p>Then came the beginning of <i>Nobody's Fault</i>, as +<i>Little Dorrit</i> continued to be called by him up to the +eve of its publication; a flight to Folkestone to help<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_73" id="Page_3_73">[73]</a></span> +his sluggish fancy; and his return to London in October +to preside at a dinner to Thackeray on his going +to lecture in America. It was a muster of more than +sixty admiring entertainers, and Dickens's speech gave +happy expression to the spirit that animated all, telling +Thackeray not alone how much his friendship was +prized by those present, and how proud they were of +his genius, but offering him in the name of the tens of +thousands absent who had never touched his hand or +seen his face, life-long thanks for the treasures of +mirth, wit, and wisdom within the yellow-covered +numbers of <i>Pendennis</i> and <i>Vanity Fair</i>. Peter Cunningham, +one of the sons of Allan, was secretary to +the banquet; and for many pleasures given to the subject +of this memoir, who had a hearty regard for him, +should have a few words to his memory.</p> + +<p>His presence was always welcome to Dickens, and +indeed to all who knew him, for his relish of social life +was great, and something of his keen enjoyment could +not but be shared by his company. His geniality +would have carried with it a pleasurable glow even if it +had stood alone, and it was invigorated by very considerable +acquirements. He had some knowledge of +the works of eminent authors and artists; and he had +an eager interest in their lives and haunts, which he +had made the subject of minute and novel enquiry. +This store of knowledge gave substance to his talk, yet +never interrupted his buoyancy and pleasantry, because +only introduced when called for, and not made matter +of parade or display. But the happy combination of +qualities that rendered him a favourite companion, and +won him many friends, proved in the end injurious to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_74" id="Page_3_74">[74]</a></span> +himself. He had done much while young in certain +lines of investigation which he had made almost his +own, and there was every promise that, in the department +of biographical and literary research, he would +have produced much weightier works with advancing +years. This however was not to be. The fascinations +of good fellowship encroached more and more upon +literary pursuits, until he nearly abandoned his former +favourite studies, and sacrificed all the deeper purposes +of his life to the present temptation of a festive hour. +Then his health gave way, and he became lost to friends +as well as to literature. But the impression of the +bright and amiable intercourse of his better time survived, +and his old associates never ceased to think of +Peter Cunningham with regret and kindness.</p> + +<p>Dickens went to Paris early in October, and at its +close was brought again to London by the sudden death +of a friend, much deplored by himself, and still more +so by a distinguished lady who had his loyal service at +all times. An incident before his return to France is +worth brief relation. He had sallied out for one of +his night walks, full of thoughts of his story, one wintery +rainy evening (the 8th of November), and "pulled +himself up," outside the door of Whitechapel Workhouse, +at a strange sight which arrested him there. +Against the dreary enclosure of the house were leaning, +in the midst of the downpouring rain and storm, what +seemed to be seven heaps of rags: "dumb, wet, silent +horrors" he described them, "sphinxes set up against +that dead wall, and no one likely to be at the pains of +solving them until the General Overthrow." He sent +in his card to the Master. Against him there was no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_75" id="Page_3_75">[75]</a></span> +ground of complaint; he gave prompt personal attention; +but the casual ward was full, and there was no +help. The rag-heaps were all girls, and Dickens gave +each a shilling. One girl, "twenty or so," had been +without food a day and night. "Look at me," she +said, as she clutched the shilling, and without thanks +shuffled off. So with the rest. There was not a single +"thank you." A crowd meanwhile, only less poor +than these objects of misery, had gathered round the +scene; but though they saw the seven shillings given +away they asked for no relief to themselves, they +recognized in their sad wild way the other greater +wretchedness, and made room in silence for Dickens +to walk on.</p> + +<p>Not more tolerant of the way in which laws meant +to be most humane are too often administered in England, +he left in a day or two to resume his <i>Little Dorrit</i> +in Paris. But before his life there is described, some +sketches from his holiday trip to Italy with Mr. Wilkie +Collins and Mr. Augustus Egg, and from his three +summer visits to Boulogne, claim to themselves two +intervening chapters.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_76" id="Page_3_76">[76]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>SWITZERLAND AND ITALY REVISITED.</h3> + +<h3>1853.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Swiss People—Narrow Escape—Berne—Lausanne—An Old Friend—Genoa—Peschiere +revisited—On the Way to Naples—Scene on +Board Steamship—A Jaunt to Pisa—A Greek War-ship—At Naples—At +Rome—Time's Changes—At the Opera—A "Scattering" Party—Performance +of Puppets—Malaria—Desolation—At Bolsena—At +Venice—Habits of Gondoliers—Uses of Travel—Tintoretto—At +Turin—Liking for the Sardinians—Austrian Police—Police Arrangements—Dickens +and the Austrian—An Old Dislike.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> first news of the three travellers was from Chamounix, +on the 20th of October; and in it there was +little made of the fatigue, and much of the enjoyment, +of their Swiss travel. Great attention and cleanliness +at the inns, very small windows and very bleak passages, +doors opening to wintery blasts, overhanging +eaves and external galleries, plenty of milk, honey, +cows, and goats, much singing towards sunset on +mountain sides, mountains almost too solemn to look +at—that was the picture of it, with the country everywhere +in one of its finest aspects, as winter began to +close in. They had started from Geneva the previous +morning at four, and in their day's travel Dickens had +again noticed what he spoke of formerly, the ill-favoured +look of the people in the valleys owing to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_77" id="Page_3_77">[77]</a></span> +their hard and stern climate. "All the women were +like used-up men, and all the men like a sort of fagged +dogs. But the good, genuine, grateful Swiss recognition +of the commonest kind word—not too often +thrown to them by our countrymen—made them quite +radiant. I walked the greater part of the way, which +was like going up the Monument." On the day the +letter was written they had been up to the Mer de +Glace, finding it not so beautiful in colour as in summer, +but grander in its desolation; the green ice, like +the greater part of the ascent, being covered with snow. +"We were alarmingly near to a very dismal accident. +We were a train of four mules and two guides, going +along an immense height like a chimney-piece, with +sheer precipice below, when there came rolling from +above, with fearful velocity, a block of stone about the +size of one of the fountains in Trafalgar-square, which +Egg, the last of the party, had preceded by not a yard, +when it swept over the ledge, breaking away a tree, +and rolled and tumbled down into the valley. It had +been loosened by the heavy rains, or by some wood-cutters +afterwards reported to be above." The only +place new to Dickens was Berne: "a surprisingly picturesque +old Swiss town, with a view of the Alps from +the outside of it singularly beautiful in the morning +light." Everything else was familiar to him: though +at that winter season, when the inns were shutting up, +and all who could afford it were off to Geneva, most +things in the valley struck him with a new aspect. +From such of his old friends as he found at Lausanne, +where a day or two's rest was taken, he had the gladdest +of greetings; "and the wonderful manner in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_78" id="Page_3_78">[78]</a></span> +which they turned out in the wettest morning ever +beheld for a Godspeed down the Lake was really quite +pathetic."</p> + +<p>He had found time to see again the deaf, dumb, and +blind youth at Mr. Haldimand's Institution who had +aroused so deep an interest in him seven years before, +but, in his brief present visit, the old associations +would not reawaken. "Tremendous efforts were made +by Hertzel to impress him with an idea of me, and +the associations belonging to me; but it seemed in my +eyes quite a failure, and I much doubt if he had the +least perception of his old acquaintance. According +to his custom, he went on muttering strange eager +sounds like Town and Down and Mown, but nothing +more. I left ten francs to be spent in cigars for my +old friend. If I had taken one with me, I think I +could, more successfully than his master, have established +my identity." The child similarly afflicted, the +little girl whom he saw at the same old time, had been +after some trial discharged as an idiot.</p> + +<p>Before October closed, the travellers had reached +Genoa, having been thirty-one consecutive hours on the +road from Milan. They arrived in somewhat damaged +condition, and took up their lodging in the top rooms +of the Croce di Malta, "overlooking the port and sea +pleasantly and airily enough, but it was no joke to get +so high, and the apartment is rather vast and faded." +The warmth of personal greeting that here awaited +Dickens was given no less to the friends who accompanied +him, and though the reader may not share in +such private confidences as would show the sensation +created by his reappearance, and the jovial hours that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_79" id="Page_3_79">[79]</a></span> +were passed among old associates, he will perhaps be +interested to know how far the intervening years had +changed the aspect of things and places made pleasantly +familiar to us in his former letters. He wrote to his +sister-in-law that the old walks were pretty much the +same as ever except that there had been building behind +the Peschiere up the San Bartolomeo hill, and the +whole town towards San Pietro d'Arena had been quite +changed. The Bisagno looked just the same, stony just +then, having very little water in it; the vicoli were +fragrant with the same old flavour of "very rotten +cheese kept in very hot blankets;" and everywhere he +saw the mezzaro as of yore. The Jesuits' College in +the Strada Nuova was become, under the changed government, +the Hôtel de Ville, and a splendid caffè with +a terrace-garden had arisen between it and Palaviccini's +old palace. "Pal himself has gone to the dogs." +Another new and handsome caffè had been built in the +Piazza Carlo Felice, between the old one of the Bei +Arti and the Strada Carlo Felice; and the Teatro +Diurno had now stone galleries and seats, like an ancient +amphitheatre. "The beastly gate and guardhouse +in the Albaro road are still in their dear old beastly +state; and the whole of that road is just as it was. +The man without legs is still in the Strada Nuova; but +the beggars in general are all cleared off, and our old +one-arm'd Belisario made a sudden evaporation a year +or two ago. I am going to the Peschiere to-day." +To myself he described his former favourite abode as +converted into a girls' college; all the paintings of gods +and goddesses canvassed over, and the gardens gone to +ruin; "but O! what a wonderful place!" He observed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_80" id="Page_3_80">[80]</a></span> +an extraordinary increase everywhere else, since +he was last in the splendid city, of "life, growth, and +enterprise;" and he declared his old conviction to be +confirmed that for picturesque beauty and character +there was nothing in Italy, Venice excepted, "near +brilliant old Genoa."</p> + +<p>The voyage thence to Naples, written from the latter +place, is too capital a description to be lost. The +steamer in which they embarked was "the new express +English ship," but they found her to be already more +than full of passengers from Marseilles (among them +an old friend, Sir Emerson Tennent, with his family), +and everything in confusion. There were no places at +the captain's table, dinner had to be taken on deck, no +berth or sleeping accommodation was available, and +heavy first-class fares had to be paid. Thus they made +their way to Leghorn, where worse awaited them. The +authorities proved to be not favourable to the "crack" +English-officered vessel (she had just been started for +the India mail); and her papers not being examined +in time, it was too late to steam away again that day, +and she had to lie all night long off the lighthouse. +"The scene on board beggars description. Ladies on +the tables; gentlemen under the tables; bed-room appliances +not usually beheld in public airing themselves +in positions where soup-tureens had been lately developing +themselves; and ladies and gentlemen lying indiscriminately +on the open deck, arranged like spoons +on a sideboard. No mattresses, no blankets, nothing. +Towards midnight attempts were made, by means of +awning and flags, to make this latter scene remotely +approach an Australian encampment; and we three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_81" id="Page_3_81">[81]</a></span> +(Collins, Egg, and self) lay together on the bare planks +covered with our coats. We were all gradually dozing +off, when a perfectly tropical rain fell, and in a moment +drowned the whole ship. The rest of the night we +passed upon the stairs, with an immense jumble of men +and women. When anybody came up for any purpose +we all fell down, and when anybody came down we all +fell up again. Still, the good-humour in the English +part of the passengers was quite extraordinary. . . . +There were excellent officers aboard, and, in the morning, +the first mate lent me his cabin to wash in—which +I afterwards lent to Egg and Collins. Then we, the +Emerson Tennents, the captain, the doctor, and the +second officer, went off on a jaunt together to Pisa, as +the ship was to lie all day at Leghorn. The captain +was a capital fellow, but I led him, facetiously, such a +life the whole day, that I got most things altered at +night. Emerson Tennent's son, with the greatest +amiability, insisted on turning out of his state-room for +me, and I got a good bed there. The store-room down +by the hold was opened for Collins and Egg; and they +slept with the moist sugar, the cheese in cut, the spices, +the cruets, the apples and pears, in a perfect chandler's +shop—in company with what a friend of ours would +call a hold gent, who had been so horribly wet through +over night that his condition frightened the authorities; +a cat; and the steward, who dozed in an arm-chair, and +all-night-long fell head foremost, once every five minutes, +on Egg, who slept on the counter or dresser. +Last night, I had the steward's own cabin, opening on +deck, all to myself. It had been previously occupied +by some desolate lady who went ashore at Civita Vecchia.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_82" id="Page_3_82">[82]</a></span> +There was little or no sea, thank Heaven, all the +trip; but the rain was heavier than any I have ever +seen, and the lightning very constant and vivid. We +were, with the crew, some 200 people—provided with +boats, at the utmost stretch, for one hundred perhaps. +I could not help thinking what would happen if we met +with any accident: the crew being chiefly Maltese, and +evidently fellows who would cut off alone in the largest +boat, on the least alarm; the speed very high; and the +running, thro' all the narrow rocky channels. Thank +God, however, here we are."</p> + +<p>A whimsical postscript closed the amusing narrative. +"We towed from Civita Vecchia the entire Greek +navy, I believe; consisting of a little brig of war with +no guns, fitted as a steamer, but disabled by having +burnt the bottoms of her boilers out, in her first run. +She was just big enough to carry the captain and a +crew of six or so: but the captain was so covered with +buttons and gold that there never would have been +room for him on board to put those valuables away, if +he hadn't worn them—which he consequently did, all +night. Whenever anything was wanted to be done, as +slackening the tow-rope or anything of that sort, our +officers roared at this miserable potentate, in violent +English, through a speaking trumpet; of which he +couldn't have understood a word in the most favourable +circumstances. So he did all the wrong things +first, and the right thing always last. The absence of +any knowledge of anything but English on the part of +the officers and stewards was most ridiculous. I met +an Italian gentleman on the cabin steps yesterday +morning, vainly endeavouring to explain that he wanted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_83" id="Page_3_83">[83]</a></span> +a cup of tea for his sick wife. And when we were +coming out of the harbour at Genoa, and it was necessary +to order away that boat of music you remember, +the chief officer (called 'aft' for the purpose, as 'knowing +something of Italian') delivered himself in this +explicit and clear Italian to the principal performer—'Now +Signora, if you don't sheer off you'll be run +down, so you had better trice up that guitar of yours +and put about.'"</p> + +<p>At Naples some days were passed very merrily; +going up Vesuvius and into the buried cities, with +Layard who had joined them, and with the Tennents. +Here a small adventure befell Dickens specially, in +itself extremely unimportant; but told by him with +delightful humour in a letter to his sister-in-law. The +old idle Frenchman, to whom all things are possible, +with his snuff-box and dusty umbrella, and all the delicate +and kindly observation, would have enchanted +Leigh Hunt, and made his way to the heart of Charles +Lamb. After mentioning Mr. Lowther, then English +chargé d'affaires in Naples, as a very agreeable fellow +who had been at the Rockingham play, he alludes to +a meeting at his house. "We had an exceedingly +pleasant dinner of eight, preparatory to which I was +near having the ridiculous adventure of not being able +to find the house and coming back dinnerless. I went +in an open carriage from the hotel in all state, and the +coachman to my surprise pulled up at the end of the +Chiaja. 'Behold the house,' says he, 'of Il Signor +Larthoor!'—at the same time pointing with his whip +into the seventh heaven where the early stars were +shining. 'But the Signor Larthorr,' says I, 'lives at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_84" id="Page_3_84">[84]</a></span> +Pausilippo.' 'It is true,' says the coachman (still +pointing to the evening star), 'but he lives high up +the Salita Sant' Antonio where no carriage ever yet +ascended, and that is the house' (evening star as aforesaid), +'and one must go on foot. Behold the Salita +Sant' Antonio!' I went up it, a mile and a half I +should think, I got into the strangest places among +the wildest Neapolitans; kitchens, washing-places, +archways, stables, vineyards; was baited by dogs, and +answered, in profoundly unintelligible language, from +behind lonely locked doors in cracked female voices, +quaking with fear; but could hear of no such Englishman, +nor any Englishman. Bye and bye, I came upon +a polenta-shop in the clouds, where an old Frenchman +with an umbrella like a faded tropical leaf (it had not +rained in Naples for six weeks) was staring at nothing +at all, with a snuff-box in his hand. To him I appealed, +concerning the Signor Larthoor. 'Sir,' said +he, with the sweetest politeness, 'can you speak +French?' 'Sir,' said I, 'a little.' 'Sir,' said he, 'I +presume the Signer Loothere'—you will observe that +he changed the name according to the custom of his +country—'is an Englishman?' I admitted that he +was the victim of circumstances and had that misfortune. +'Sir,' said he, 'one word more. <i>Has</i> he a +servant with a wooden leg?' 'Great heaven, sir,' said +I, 'how do I know? I should think not, but it is possible.' +'It is always,' said the Frenchman, 'possible. +Almost all the things of the world are always possible.' +'Sir,' said I—you may imagine my condition and dismal +sense of my own absurdity, by this time—'that is +true.' He then took an immense pinch of snuff<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_85" id="Page_3_85">[85]</a></span> +wiped the dust off his umbrella, led me to an arch +commanding a wonderful view of the Bay of Naples, +and pointed deep into the earth from which I had +mounted. 'Below there, near the lamp, one finds an +Englishman with a servant with a wooden leg. It is +always possible that he is the Signor Loothore.' I had +been asked at six o'clock, and it was now getting on +for seven. I went back in a state of perspiration and +misery not to be described, and without the faintest +hope of finding the spot. But as I was going farther +down to the lamp, I saw the strangest staircase up a +dark corner, with a man in a white waistcoat (evidently +hired) standing on the top of it fuming. I +dashed in at a venture, found it was the house, made +the most of the whole story, and achieved much popularity. +The best of it was that as nobody ever did +find the place, Lowther had put a servant at the bottom +of the Salita to wait 'for an English gentleman;' but +the servant (as he presently pleaded), deceived by the +moustache, had allowed the English gentleman to pass +unchallenged."</p> + +<p>From Naples they went to Rome, where they found +Lockhart, "fearfully weak and broken, yet hopeful of +himself too" (he died the following year); smoked +and drank punch with David Roberts, then painting +everyday with Louis Haghe in St. Peter's; and took +the old walks. The Coliseum, Appian Way, and +Streets of Tombs, seemed desolate and grand as ever; +but generally, Dickens adds, "I discovered the Roman +antiquities to be <i>smaller</i> than my imagination in nine +years had made them. The Electric Telegraph now +goes like a sunbeam through the cruel old heart of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_86" id="Page_3_86">[86]</a></span> +Coliseum—a suggestive thing to think about, I fancied. +The Pantheon I thought even nobler than of yore." +The amusements were of course an attraction; and +nothing at the Opera amused the party of three English +more, than another party of four Americans who +sat behind them in the pit. "All the seats are numbered +arm-chairs, and you buy your number at the pay-place, +and go to it with the easiest direction on the +ticket itself. We were early, and the four places of +the Americans were on the next row behind us—all +together. After looking about them for some time, +and seeing the greater part of the seats empty (because +the audience generally wait in a caffè which is part of +the theatre), one of them said 'Waal I dunno—I expect +we aint no call to set so nigh to one another neither—will +you scatter Kernel, will you scatter sir?—' Upon +this the Kernel 'scattered' some twenty benches off; +and they distributed themselves (for no earthly reason +apparently but to get rid of one another) all over the +pit. As soon as the overture began, in came the audience +in a mass. Then the people who had got the +numbers into which they had 'scattered,' had to get +them out; and as they understood nothing that was +said to them, and could make no reply but 'A-mericani,' +you may imagine the number of cocked hats it +took to dislodge them. At last they were all got back +into their right places, except one. About an hour +afterwards when Moses (<i>Moses in Egypt</i> was the opera) +was invoking the darkness, and there was a dead +silence all over the house, unwonted sounds of disturbance +broke out from a distant corner of the pit, and +here and there a beard got up to look. 'What is it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_87" id="Page_3_87">[87]</a></span> +neow sir?' said one of the Americans to another;—'some +person seems to be getting along, again streeem.' +'Waal sir' he replied 'I dunno. But I xpect 'tis the +Kernel sir, a holdin on.' So it was. The Kernel +was ignominiously escorted back to his right place, not +in the least disconcerted, and in perfectly good spirits +and temper." The opera was excellently done, and the +price of the stalls one and threepence English. At +Milan, on the other hand, the Scala was fallen from its +old estate, dirty, gloomy, dull, and the performance +execrable.</p> + +<p>Another theatre of the smallest pretension Dickens +sought out with avidity in Rome, and eagerly enjoyed. +He had heard it said in his old time in Genoa that the +finest Marionetti were here; and now, after great difficulty, +he discovered the company in a sort of stable +attached to a decayed palace. "It was a wet night, +and there was no audience but a party of French officers +and ourselves. We all sat together. I never saw +anything more amazing than the performance—altogether +only an hour long, but managed by as many +as ten people, for we saw them all go behind, at the +ringing of a bell. The saving of a young lady by a +good fairy from the machinations of an enchanter, +coupled with the comic business of her servant Pulcinella +(the Roman Punch) formed the plot of the first +piece. A scolding old peasant woman, who always +leaned forward to scold and put her hands in the +pockets of her apron, was incredibly natural. Pulcinella, +so airy, so merry, so life-like, so graceful, he +was irresistible. To see him carrying an umbrella over +his mistress's head in a storm, talking to a prodigious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_88" id="Page_3_88">[88]</a></span> +giant whom he met in the forest, and going to bed +with a pony, were things never to be forgotten. And +so delicate are the hands of the people who move them, +that every puppet was an Italian, and did exactly what +an Italian does. If he pointed at any object, if he +saluted anybody, if he laughed, if he cried, he did it +as never Englishman did it since Britain first at +Heaven's command arose—arose—arose, &c. There +was a ballet afterwards, on the same scale, and we +really came away quite enchanted with the delicate +drollery of the thing. French officers more than +ditto."</p> + +<p>Of the great enemy to the health of the now capital +of the kingdom of Italy, Dickens remarked in the same +letter. "I have been led into some curious speculations +by the existence and progress of the Malaria +about Rome. Isn't it very extraordinary to think of +its encroaching and encroaching on the Eternal City +as if it were commissioned to swallow it up. This year +it has been extremely bad, and has long outstayed its +usual time. Rome has been very unhealthy, and is not +free now. Few people care to be out at the bad times +of sunset and sunrise, and the streets are like a desert +at night. There is a church, a very little way outside +the walls, destroyed by fire some 16 or 18 years ago, +and now restored and re-created at an enormous expense. +It stands in a wilderness. For any human +creature who goes near it, or can sleep near it, after +nightfall, it might as well be at the bottom of the +uppermost cataract of the Nile. Along the whole extent +of the Pontine Marshes (which we came across the +other day), no creature in Adam's likeness lives, except<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_89" id="Page_3_89">[89]</a></span> +the sallow people at the lonely posting-stations. I walk +out from the Coliseum through the Street of Tombs to +the ruins of the old Appian Way—pass no human being, +and see no human habitation but ruined houses from +which the people have fled, and where it is Death to +sleep: these houses being three miles outside a gate +of Rome at its farthest extent. Leaving Rome by the +opposite side, we travel for many many hours over the +dreary Campagna, shunned and avoided by all but the +wretched shepherds. Thirteen hours' good posting +brings us to Bolsena (I slept there once before), on the +margin of a stagnant lake whence the workpeople fly +as the sun goes down—where it is a risk to go; where +from a distance we saw a mist hang on the place; where, +in the inconceivably wretched inn, no window can be +opened; where our dinner was a pale ghost of a fish +with an oily omelette, and we slept in great mouldering +rooms tainted with ruined arches and heaps of dung—and +coming from which we saw no colour in the cheek +of man, woman, or child for another twenty miles. +Imagine this phantom knocking at the gates of Rome; +passing them; creeping along the streets; haunting the +aisles and pillars of the churches; year by year more +encroaching, and more impossible of avoidance."</p> + +<p>From Rome they posted to Florence, reaching it in +three days and a half, on the morning of the 20th of +November; having then been out six weeks, with only +three days' rain; and in another week they were at +Venice. "The fine weather has accompanied us here," +Dickens wrote on the 28th of November, "the place +of all others where it is necessary, and the city has +been a blaze of sunlight and blue sky (with an extremely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_90" id="Page_3_90">[90]</a></span> +clear cold air) ever since we have been in it. If you +could see it at this moment you would never forget it. +We live in the same house that I lived in nine years +ago, and have the same sitting-room—close to the +Bridge of Sighs and the Palace of the Doges. The +room is at the corner of the house, and there is a narrow +street of water running round the side: so that we have +the Grand Canal before the two front windows, and +this wild little street at the corner window: into which, +too, our three bedrooms look. We established a gondola +as soon as we arrived, and we slide out of the hall on +to the water twenty times a day. The gondoliers have +queer old customs that belong to their class, and some +are sufficiently disconcerting. . . . It is a point of honour +with them, while they are engaged, to be always at your +disposal. Hence it is no use telling them they may go +home for an hour or two—for they won't go. They +roll themselves in shaggy capuccins, great coats with +hoods, and lie down on the stone or marble pavement +until they are wanted again. So that when I come in +or go out, on foot—which can be done from this house +for some miles, over little bridges and by narrow ways—I +usually walk over the principal of my vassals, whose +custom it is to snore immediately across the doorway. +Conceive the oddity of the most familiar things in this +place, from one instance: Last night we go downstairs +at half-past eight, step into the gondola, slide away on +the black water, ripple and plash swiftly along for a +mile or two, land at a broad flight of steps, and instantly +walk into the most brilliant and beautiful theatre +conceivable—all silver and blue, and precious little +fringes made of glittering prisms of glass. There we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_91" id="Page_3_91">[91]</a></span> +sit until half-past eleven, come out again (gondolier +asleep outside the box-door), and in a moment are on +the black silent water, floating away as if there were +no dry building in the world. It stops, and in a +moment we are out again, upon the broad solid Piazza +of St. Mark, brilliantly lighted with gas, very like the +Palais Royal at Paris, only far more handsome, and +shining with no end of caffès. The two old pillars and +the enormous bell-tower are as gruff and solid against +the exquisite starlight as if they were a thousand miles +from the sea or any undermining water: and the front +of the cathedral, overlaid with golden mosaics and beautiful +colours, is like a thousand rainbows even in the +night."</p> + +<p>His formerly expressed notions as to art and pictures +in Italy received confirmation at this visit. "I am +more than ever confirmed in my conviction that one +of the great uses of travelling is to encourage a man +to think for himself, to be bold enough always to +declare without offence that he <i>does</i> think for himself, +and to overcome the villainous meanness of professing +what other people have professed when he knows (if he +has capacity to originate an opinion) that his profession +is untrue. The intolerable nonsense against which +genteel taste and subserviency are afraid to rise, in +connection with art, is astounding. Egg's honest +amazement and consternation when he saw some of the +most trumpeted things was what the Americans call 'a +caution.' In the very same hour and minute there were +scores of people falling into conventional raptures with +that very poor Apollo, and passing over the most beautiful +little figures and heads in the whole Vatican because<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_92" id="Page_3_92">[92]</a></span> +they were not expressly set up to be worshipped. So in +this place. There are pictures by Tintoretto in Venice, +more delightful and masterly than it is possible sufficiently +to express. His Assembly of the Blest I do believe +to be, take it all in all, the most wonderful and charming +picture ever painted. Your guide-book writer, +representing the general swarming of humbugs, rather +patronizes Tintoretto as a man of some sort of merit; +and (bound to follow Eustace, Forsyth, and all the rest +of them) directs you, on pain of being broke for want +of gentility in appreciation, to go into ecstacies with +things that have neither imagination, nature, proportion, +possibility, nor anything else in them. You +immediately obey, and tell your son to obey. He tells +his son, and he tells his, and so the world gets at three-fourths +of its frauds and miseries."</p> + +<p>The last place visited was Turin, where the travellers +arrived on the 5th of December, finding it, with a +brightly shining sun, intensely cold and freezing hard. +"There are double windows to all the rooms, but the +Alpine air comes down and numbs my feet as I write +(in a cap and shawl) within six feet of the fire." There +was yet something better than this to report of that +bracing Alpine air. To Dickens's remarks on the Sardinian +race, and to what he says of the exile of the +noblest Italians, the momentous events of the few following +years gave striking comment; nor could better +proof be afforded of the judgment he brought to the +observation of what passed before him. The letter had +in all respects much interest and attractiveness. "This +is a remarkably agreeable place. A beautiful town, +prosperous, thriving, growing prodigiously, as Genoa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_93" id="Page_3_93">[93]</a></span> +is; crowded with busy inhabitants; full of noble streets +and squares. The Alps, now covered deep with snow, +are close upon it, and here and there seem almost ready +to tumble into the houses. The contrast this part of +Italy presents to the rest, is amazing. Beautifully made +railroads, admirably managed; cheerful, active people; +spirit, energy, life, progress. In Milan, in every street, +the noble palace of some exile is a barrack, and dirty +soldiers are lolling out of the magnificent windows—it +seems as if the whole place were being gradually absorbed +into soldiers. In Naples, something like a hundred +thousand troops. 'I knew,' I said to a certain +Neapolitan Marchese there whom I had known before, +and who came to see me the night after I arrived, 'I +knew a very remarkable gentleman when I was last +here; who had never been out of his own country, but +was perfectly acquainted with English literature, and +had taught himself to speak English in that wonderful +manner that no one could have known him for a foreigner; +I am very anxious to see him again, but I forget +his name.'—He named him, and his face fell directly. +'Dead?' said I.—'In exile.'—'O dear me!' said I, +'I had looked forward to seeing him again, more than +any one I was acquainted with in the country!'—'What +would you have!' says the Marchese in a low-voice. +'He was a remarkable man—full of knowledge, +full of spirit, full of generosity. Where should he be +but in exile! Where could he be!' We said not +another word about it, but I shall always remember the +short dialogue."</p> + +<p>On the other hand there were incidents of the Austrian +occupation as to which Dickens thought the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_94" id="Page_3_94">[94]</a></span> +ordinary style of comment unfair; and his closing +remark on their police is well worth preserving. "I +am strongly inclined to think that our countrymen are +to blame in the matter of the Austrian vexations to +travellers that have been complained of. Their manner +is so very bad, they are so extraordinarily suspicious, +so determined to be done by everybody, and give so +much offence. Now, the Austrian police are very strict, +but they really know how to do business, and they do +it. And if you treat them like gentlemen, they will +always respond. When we first crossed the Austrian +frontier, and were ushered into the police office, I took +off my hat. The officer immediately took off his, and +was as polite—still doing his duty, without any compromise—as +it was possible to be. When we came to +Venice, the arrangements were very strict, but were so +business-like that the smallest possible amount of inconvenience +consistent with strictness ensued. Here is the +scene. A soldier has come into the railway carriage +(a saloon on the American plan) some miles off, has +touched his hat, and asked for my passport. I have +given it. Soldier has touched his hat again, and retired +as from the presence of superior officer. Alighted +from carriage, we pass into a place like a banking-house, +lighted up with gas. Nobody bullies us or +drives us there, but we must go, because the road ends +there. Several soldierly clerks. One very sharp chief. +My passport is brought out of an inner room, certified +to be en règle. Very sharp chief takes it, looks at it +(it is rather longer, now, than <i>Hamlet</i>), calls out—'Signor +Carlo Dickens!' 'Here I am sir.' 'Do you +intend remaining long in Venice sir?' 'Probably four<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_95" id="Page_3_95">[95]</a></span> +days sir!' 'Italian is known to you sir. You have +been in Venice before?' 'Once before sir.' 'Perhaps +you remained longer then sir?' 'No indeed; I merely +came to see, and went as I came.' 'Truly sir? Do I +infer that you are going by Trieste?' 'No. I am going +to Parma, and Turin, and by Paris home.' 'A cold +journey sir, I hope it may be a pleasant one.' 'Thank +you.'—He gives me one very sharp look all over, and +wishes me a very happy night. I wish <i>him</i> a very happy +night and it's done. The thing being done at all, +could not be better done, or more politely—though I +dare say if I had been sucking a gentish cane all the +time, or talking in English to my compatriots, it might +not unnaturally have been different. At Turin and at +Genoa there are no such stoppages at all; but in any +other part of Italy, give me an Austrian in preference +to a native functionary. At Naples it is done in a +beggarly, shambling, bungling, tardy, vulgar way; but +I am strengthened in my old impression that Naples is +one of the most odious places on the face of the earth. +The general degradation oppresses me like foul air."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_96" id="Page_3_96">[96]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>THREE SUMMERS AT BOULOGNE.</h3> + +<h3>1853, 1854, and 1856.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Boulogne—Visits to France—His First Residence—Fishermen's +Quarter—Villa des Moulineaux—M. Beaucourt—Tenant and +Landlord—French Prices—Beaucourt's Visit to England—Preparations +for the Fair—English Friends—Northern Camp—Visit of +Prince Albert—Grand Review—Beaucourt's Excitement—Emperor, +Prince, and Dickens—Jack-Tars—Legerdemain in Perfection—Conjuring +by Dickens—Making Demons of Cards—Old Residence +resumed—Last of the Camp—A Household War—Feline Foes—State +of Siege—Preparing for Christmas—Gilbert A'Becket.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Dickens</span> was in Boulogne, in 1853, from the middle +of June to the end of September, and for the next +three months, as we have seen, was in Switzerland and +Italy. In the following year he went again to Boulogne +in June, and stayed, after finishing <i>Hard Times</i>, +until far into October. In February of 1855 he was +for a fortnight in Paris with Mr. Wilkie Collins; not +taking up his more prolonged residence there until the +winter. From November 1855 to the end of April +1856 he made the French capital his home, working +at <i>Little Dorrit</i> during all those months. Then, after +a month's interval in Dover and London, he took up +his third summer residence in Boulogne, whither his +younger children had gone direct from Paris; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_97" id="Page_3_97">[97]</a></span> +stayed until September, finishing <i>Little Dorrit</i> in London +in the spring of 1857.</p> + +<p>Of the first of these visits, a few lively notes of +humour and character out of his letters will tell the +story sufficiently. The second and third had points of +more attractiveness. Those were the years of the +French-English alliance, of the great exposition of +English paintings, of the return of the troops from the +Crimea, and of the visit of the Prince Consort to the +Emperor; such interest as Dickens took in these several +matters appearing in his letters with the usual +vividness, and the story of his continental life coming +out with amusing distinctness in the successive pictures +they paint with so much warmth and colour. Another +chapter will be given to Paris. This deals only with +Boulogne.</p> + +<p>For his first summer residence, in June 1853, he had +taken a house on the high ground near the Calais road; +an odd French place with the strangest little rooms +and halls, but standing in the midst of a large garden, +with wood and waterfall, a conservatory opening on a +great bank of roses, and paths and gates on one side +to the ramparts, on the other to the sea. Above all +there was a capital proprietor and landlord, by whom +the cost of keeping up gardens and wood (which he +called a forest) was defrayed, while he gave his tenant +the whole range of both and all the flowers for nothing, +sold him the garden produce as it was wanted, and +kept a cow on the estate to supply the family milk. +"If this were but 300 miles farther off," wrote Dickens, +"how the English would rave about it! I do assure +you that there are picturesque people, and town, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_98" id="Page_3_98">[98]</a></span> +country, about this place, that quite fill up the eye and +fancy. As to the fishing people (whose dress can have +changed neither in colour nor in form for many many +years), and their quarter of the town cobweb-hung with +great brown nets across the narrow up-hill streets, they +are as good as Naples, every bit." His description +both of house and landlord, of which I tested the exactness +when I visited him, was in the old pleasant +vein; requiring no connection with himself to give +it interest, but, by the charm and ease with which +everything picturesque or characteristic was disclosed, +placed in the domain of art.</p> + +<p>"O the rain here yesterday!" (26th of June.) "A +great sea-fog rolling in, a strong wind blowing, and the +rain coming down in torrents all day long. . . . This house +is on a great hill-side, backed up by woods of young +trees. It faces the Haute Ville with the ramparts and +the unfinished cathedral—which capital object is exactly +opposite the windows. On the slope in front, +going steep down to the right, all Boulogne is piled +and jumbled about in a very picturesque manner. The +view is charming—closed in at last by the tops of +swelling hills; and the door is within ten minutes of +the post-office, and within quarter of an hour of the +sea. The garden is made in terraces up the hill-side, +like an Italian garden; the top walks being in the +before-mentioned woods. The best part of it begins +at the level of the house, and goes up at the back, a +couple of hundred feet perhaps. There are at present +thousands of roses all about the house, and no end of +other flowers. There are five great summer-houses, +and (I think) fifteen fountains—not one of which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_99" id="Page_3_99">[99]</a></span> +(according to the invariable French custom) ever plays. +The house is a doll's house of many rooms. It is one +story high, with eight and thirty steps up and down—tribune +wise—to the front door: the noblest French +demonstration I have ever seen I think. It is a double +house; and as there are only four windows and a +pigeon-hole to be beheld in front, you would suppose +it to contain about four rooms. Being built on the +hill-side, the top story of the house at the back—there +are two stories there—opens on the level of another +garden. On the ground floor there is a very pretty +hall, almost all glass; a little dining-room opening on +a beautiful conservatory, which is also looked into +through a great transparent glass in a mirror-frame over +the chimney-piece, just as in Paxton's room at Chatsworth; +a spare bed-room, two little drawing-rooms +opening into one another, the family bed-rooms, a +bath-room, a glass corridor, an open yard, and a kind +of kitchen with a machinery of stoves and boilers. +Above, there are eight tiny bed-rooms all opening on +one great room in the roof, originally intended for a +billiard-room. In the basement there is an admirable +kitchen with every conceivable requisite in it, a noble +cellar, first-rate man's room and pantry; coach-house, +stable, coal-store and wood-store; and in the garden +is a pavilion, containing an excellent spare bed-room +on the ground floor. The getting-up of these places, +the looking-glasses, clocks, little stoves, all manner of +fittings, must be seen to be appreciated. The conservatory +is full of choice flowers and perfectly beautiful."</p> + +<p>Then came the charm of the letter, his description<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_100" id="Page_3_100">[100]</a></span> +of his landlord, lightly sketched by him in print as M. +Loyal-Devasseur, but here filled in with the most attractive +touches his loving hand could give. "But the +landlord—M. Beaucourt—is wonderful. Everybody +here has two surnames (I cannot conceive why), and +M. Beaucourt, as he is always called, is by rights M. +Beaucourt-Mutuel. He is a portly jolly fellow with a +fine open face; lives on the hill behind, just outside +the top of the garden; and was a linen draper in the +town, where he still has a shop, but is supposed to have +mortgaged his business and to be in difficulties—all +along of this place, which he has planted with his own +hands; which he cultivates all day; and which he +never on any consideration speaks of but as 'the +Property.' He is extraordinarily popular in Boulogne +(the people in the shops invariably brightening up at +the mention of his name, and congratulating us on +being his tenants), and really seems to deserve it. He +is such a liberal fellow that I can't bear to ask him for +anything, since he instantly supplies it whatever it is. +The things he has done in respect of unreasonable bedsteads +and washing-stands, I blush to think of. I +observed the other day in one of the side gardens—there +are gardens at each side of the house too—a place +where I thought the Comic Countryman" (a name he +was giving just then to his youngest boy) "must infallibly +trip over, and make a little descent of a dozen +feet. So I said, 'M. Beaucourt'—who instantly pulled +off his cap and stood bareheaded—'there are some +spare pieces of wood lying by the cow-house, if you +would have the kindness to have one laid across here I +think it would be safer.' 'Ah, mon dieu sir,' said M.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_101" id="Page_3_101">[101]</a></span> +Beaucourt, 'it must be iron. This is not a portion of +the property where you would like to see wood.' 'But +iron is so expensive,' said I, 'and it really is not worth +while——' 'Sir, pardon me a thousand times,' said +M. Beaucourt, 'it shall be iron. Assuredly and perfectly +it shall be iron.' 'Then M. Beaucourt,' said I, +'I shall be glad to pay a moiety of the cost.' 'Sir,' +said M. Beaucourt, 'Never!' Then to change the +subject, he slided from his firmness and gravity into a +graceful conversational tone, and said, 'In the moonlight +last night, the flowers on the property appeared, +O Heaven, to be <i>bathing themselves in the sky</i>. You +like the property?' 'M. Beaucourt,' said I, 'I am +enchanted with it; I am more than satisfied with everything.' +'And I sir,' said M. Beaucourt, laying his +cap upon his breast, and kissing his hand—'I equally!' +Yesterday two blacksmiths came for a day's work, and +put up a good solid handsome bit of iron-railing, morticed +into the stone parapet. . . . If the extraordinary +things in the house defy description, the amazing phenomena +in the gardens never could have been dreamed +of by anybody but a Frenchman bent upon one idea. +Besides a portrait of the house in the dining-room, +there is a plan of the property in the hall. It looks +about the size of Ireland; and to every one of the +extraordinary objects, there is a reference with some +portentous name. There are fifty-one such references, +including the Cottage of Tom Thumb, the Bridge of +Austerlitz, the Bridge of Jena, the Hermitage, the +Bower of the Old Guard, the Labyrinth (I have no +idea which is which); and there is guidance to every +room in the house, as if it were a place on that stupendous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_102" id="Page_3_102">[102]</a></span> +scale that without such a clue you must infallibly +lose your way, and perhaps perish of starvation +between bedroom and bedroom."<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a></p> + +<p>On the 3rd of July there came a fresh trait of the +good fellow of a landlord. "Fancy what Beaucourt +told me last night. When he 'conceived the inspiration' +of planting the property ten years ago, he went +over to England to buy the trees, took a small cottage +in the market-gardens at Putney, lived there three +months, held a symposium every night attended by the +principal gardeners of Fulham, Putney, Kew, and Hammersmith +(which he calls Hamsterdam), and wound +up with a supper at which the market-gardeners rose, +clinked their glasses, and exclaimed with one accord (I +quote him exactly) <span class="smcap">Vive Beaucourt</span>! He was a captain +in the National Guard, and Cavaignac his general. +Brave Capitaine Beaucourt! said Cavaignac, you must +receive a decoration. My General, said Beaucourt, No! +It is enough for me that I have done my duty. I go to +lay the first stone of a house upon a Property I have—that +house shall be my decoration. (Regard that +house!)" Addition to the picture came in a letter of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_103" id="Page_3_103">[103]</a></span> +the 24th of July: with a droll glimpse of Shakespeare +at the theatre, and of the Saturday's pig-market.</p> + +<p>"I may mention that the great Beaucourt daily +changes the orthography of this place. He has now +fixed it, by having painted up outside the garden gate, +'Entrée particulière de la Villa des Moulineaux.' On +another gate a little higher up, he has had painted +'Entrée des Ecuries de la Villa des Moulineaux.' +On another gate a little lower down (applicable to one +of the innumerable buildings in the garden), 'Entrée +du Tom Pouce.' On the highest gate of the lot, +leading to his own house, 'Entrée du Château Napoléonienne.' +All of which inscriptions you will behold +in black and white when you come. I see little of +him now, as, all things being 'bien arrangées,' he is +delicate of appearing. His wife has been making a +trip in the country during the last three weeks, but (as +he mentioned to me with his hat in his hand) it was +necessary that he should remain here, to be continually +at the disposition of the tenant of the Property. (The +better to do this, he has had roaring dinner parties of +fifteen daily; and the old woman who milks the cows +has been fainting up the hill under vast burdens of +champagne.)</p> + +<p>"We went to the theatre last night, to see the <i>Midsummer +Night's Dream</i>—of the Opera Comique. It is a +beautiful little theatre now, with a very good company; +and the nonsense of the piece was done with a sense +quite confounding in that connexion. Willy Am Shay +Kes Peer; Sirzhon Foll Stayffe; Lor Lattimeer; and +that celebrated Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth, +Meees Oleeveeir—were the principal characters.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_104" id="Page_3_104">[104]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Outside the old town, an army of workmen are +(and have been for a week or so, already) employed +upon an immense building which I supposed might +be a Fort, or a Monastery, or a Barrack, or other something +designed to last for ages. I find it is for the annual +fair, which begins on the fifth of August and lasts a +fortnight. Almost every Sunday we have a fête, where +there is dancing in the open air, and where immense +men with prodigious beards revolve on little wooden +horses like Italian irons, in what we islanders call a +roundabout, by the hour together. But really the good +humour and cheerfulness are very delightful. Among +the other sights of the place, there is a pig-market +every Saturday, perfectly insupportable in its absurdity. +An excited French peasant, male or female, with a +determined young pig, is the most amazing spectacle. +I saw a little Drama enacted yesterday week, the drollery +of which was perfect. <i>Dram. Pers.</i> 1. A pretty +young woman with short petticoats and trim blue +stockings, riding a donkey with two baskets and a pig +in each. 2. An ancient farmer in a blouse, driving +four pigs, his four in hand, with an enormous whip—and +being drawn against walls and into smoking shops +by any one of the four. 3. A cart, with an old pig +(manacled) looking out of it, and terrifying six hundred +and fifty young pigs in the market by his terrific +grunts. 4. Collector of Octroi in an immense cocked +hat, with a stream of young pigs running, night and +day, between his military boots and rendering accounts +impossible. 5. Inimitable, confronted by a radiation +of elderly pigs, fastened each by one leg to a bunch +of stakes in the ground. 6. John Edmund Reade,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_105" id="Page_3_105">[105]</a></span> +poet, expressing eternal devotion to and admiration +of Landor, unconscious of approaching pig recently +escaped from barrow. 7. Priests, peasants, soldiers, +&c. &c."</p> + +<p>He had meanwhile gathered friendly faces round +him. Frank Stone went over with his family to a house +taken for him on the St. Omer road by Dickens, who +was joined in the chateau by Mr. and Mrs. Leech and +Mr. Wilkie Collins. "Leech says that when he stepped +from the boat after their stormy passage, he was received +by the congregated spectators with a distinct +round of applause as by far the most intensely and unutterably +miserable looking object that had yet appeared. +The laughter was tumultuous, and he wishes his friends +to know that altogether he made an immense hit." So +passed the summer months: excursions with these +friends to Amiens and Beauvais relieving the work +upon his novel, and the trip to Italy, already described, +following on its completion.</p> + +<p>In June, 1854, M. Beaucourt had again received his +famous tenant, but in another cottage or chateau (to +him convertible terms) on the much cherished property, +placed on the very summit of the hill with a private +road leading out to the Column, a really pretty +place, rooms larger than in the other house, a noble +sea view, everywhere nice prospects, good garden, and +plenty of sloping turf.<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> It was called the Villa du<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_106" id="Page_3_106">[106]</a></span> +Camp de Droite, and here Dickens stayed, as I have +intimated, until the eve of his winter residence in +Paris.</p> + +<p>The formation of the Northern Camp at Boulogne +began the week after he had finished <i>Hard Times</i>, and +he watched its progress, as it increased and extended +itself along the cliffs towards Calais, with the liveliest +amusement. At first he was startled by the suddenness +with which soldiers overran the roads, became billeted +in every house, made the bridges red with their +trowsers, and "sprang upon the pier like fantastic +mustard and cress when boats were expected, many of +them never having seen the sea before." But the good +behaviour of the men had a reconciling effect, and +their ingenuity delighted him. The quickness with +which they raised whole streets of mud-huts, less picturesque +than the tents,<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> but (like most unpicturesque +things) more comfortable, was like an Arabian Nights' +tale. "Each little street holds 144 men, and every +corner-door has the number of the street upon it as +soon as it is put up; and the postmen can fall to work +as easily as in the Rue de Rivoli at Paris." His patience +was again a little tried when he found baggage-wagons +ploughing up his favourite walks, and trumpeters +in twos and threes teaching newly-recruited trumpeters +in all the sylvan places, and making the echoes hideous.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_107" id="Page_3_107">[107]</a></span> +But this had its amusement too. "I met to-day a +weazen sun-burnt youth from the south with such an +immense regimental shako on, that he looked like a +sort of lucifer match-box, evidently blowing his life +rapidly out, under the auspices of two magnificent +creatures all hair and lungs, of such breadth across the +shoulders that I couldn't see their breast-buttons when +I stood in front of them."</p> + +<p>The interest culminated as the visit of the Prince +Consort approached with its attendant glories of illuminations +and reviews. Beaucourt's excitement became +intense. The Villa du Camp de Droite was to be a +blaze of triumph on the night of the arrival; Dickens, +who had carried over with him the meteor flag of England +and set it streaming over a haystack in his field,<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> +now hoisted the French colours over the British Jack +in honour of the national alliance; the Emperor was +to subside to the station of a general officer, so that all +the rejoicings should be in honour of the Prince; and +there was to be a review in the open country near +Wimereux, when "at one stage of the maneuvres (I +am too excited to spell the word but you know what I +mean)" the whole hundred thousand men in the camp +of the North were to be placed before the Prince's +eyes, to show him what a division of the French army +might be. "I believe everything I hear," said Dickens. +It was the state of mind of Hood's country gentleman +after the fire at the Houses of Parliament. "Beaucourt, +as one of the town council, receives summonses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_108" id="Page_3_108">[108]</a></span> +to turn out and debate about something, or receive +somebody, every five minutes. Whenever I look out +of window, or go to the door, I see an immense black +object at Beaucourt's porch like a boat set up on end +in the air with a pair of white trowsers below it. This +is the cocked hat of an official Huissier, newly arrived +with a summons, whose head is thrown back as he is in +the act of drinking Beaucourt's wine." The day came +at last, and all Boulogne turned out for its holiday; +"but I" Dickens wrote, "had by this cooled down a +little, and, reserving myself for the illuminations, I +abandoned the great men and set off upon my usual +country walk. See my reward. Coming home by the +Calais road, covered with dust, I suddenly find myself +face to face with Albert and Napoleon, jogging along in +the pleasantest way, a little in front, talking extremely +loud about the view, and attended by a brilliant staff +of some sixty or seventy horsemen, with a couple of +our royal grooms with their red coats riding oddly +enough in the midst of the magnates. I took off my +wide-awake without stopping to stare, whereupon the +Emperor pulled off his cocked hat; and Albert (seeing, +I suppose, that it was an Englishman) pulled off his. +Then we went our several ways. The Emperor is +broader across the chest than in the old times when we +used to see him so often at Gore-<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'House'">house</ins>, and stoops +more in the shoulders. Indeed his carriage thereabouts +is like Fonblanque's."<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> The town he described as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_109" id="Page_3_109">[109]</a></span> +"one great flag" for the rest of the visit; and to the +success of the illuminations he contributed largely himself +by leading off splendidly with a hundred and +twenty wax candles blazing in his seventeen front +windows, and visible from that great height over all +the place. "On the first eruption Beaucourt <i>danced +and screamed</i> on the grass before the door; and when +he was more composed, set off with Madame Beaucourt +to look at the house from every possible quarter, and, +he said, collect the suffrages of his compatriots."</p> + +<p>Their suffrages seem to have gone, however, mainly +in another direction. "It was wonderful," Dickens +wrote, "to behold about the streets the small French +soldiers of the line seizing our Guards by the hand and +embracing them. It was wonderful, too, to behold the +English sailors in the town, shaking hands with everybody +and generally patronizing everything. When the +people could not get hold of either a soldier or a +sailor, they rejoiced in the royal grooms, and embraced +<i>them</i>. I don't think the Boulogne people were surprised +by anything so much, as by the three cheers +the crew of the yacht gave when the Emperor went +aboard to lunch. The prodigious volume of them, +and the precision, and the circumstance that no man +was left straggling on his own account either before or +afterwards, seemed to strike the general mind with +amazement. Beaucourt said it was <i>like boxing</i>." That +was written on the 10th of September; but in a very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_110" id="Page_3_110">[110]</a></span> +few days Dickens was unwillingly convinced that whatever +the friendly disposition to England might be, the +war with Russia was decidedly unpopular. He was +present when the false report of the taking of Sebastopol +reached the Emperor and Empress. "I was at +the Review" (8th of October) "yesterday week, very +near the Emperor and Empress, when the taking of +Sebastopol was announced. It was a magnificent show +on a magnificent day; and if any circumstance could +make it special, the arrival of the telegraphic despatch +would be the culminating point one might suppose. +It quite disturbed and mortified me to find how faintly, +feebly, miserably, the men responded to the call of the +officers to cheer, as each regiment passed by. Fifty excited +Englishmen would make a greater sign and sound +than a thousand of these men do. . . . The Empress +was very pretty, and her slight figure sat capitally on +her grey horse. When the Emperor gave her the +despatch to read, she flushed and fired up in a very +pleasant way, and kissed it with as natural an impulse +as one could desire to see."</p> + +<p>On the night of that day Dickens went up to see a +play acted at a café at the camp, and found himself one +of an audience composed wholly of officers and men, +with only four ladies among them, officers' wives. +The steady, working, sensible faces all about him +told their own story; "and as to kindness and consideration +towards the poor actors, it was real benevolence." +Another attraction at the camp was a conjuror, +who had been called to exhibit twice before the imperial +party, and whom Dickens always afterwards referred +to as the most consummate master of legerdemain he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_111" id="Page_3_111">[111]</a></span> +seen. Nor was he a mean authority as to this, being +himself, with his tools at hand, a capital conjuror;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_112" id="Page_3_112">[112]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> +but the Frenchman scorned help, stood among the +company without any sort of apparatus, and, by the +mere force of sleight of hand and an astonishing memory, +performed feats having no likeness to anything +Dickens had ever seen done, and totally inexplicable +to his most vigilant reflection. "So far as I know, +a perfectly original genius, and that puts any sort of +knowledge of legerdemain, such as I supposed that I +possessed, at utter defiance." The account he gave +dealt with two exploits only, the easiest to describe, +and, not being with cards, not the most remarkable; +for he would also say of this Frenchman that he transformed +cards into very demons. He never saw a human +hand touch them in the same way, fling them about +so amazingly, or change them in his, one's own, or +another's hand, with a skill so impossible to follow.</p> + +<p>"You are to observe that he was <i>with the company</i>, +not in the least removed from them; and that we occupied +the front row. He brought in some writing paper +with him when he entered, and a black-lead pencil;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_113" id="Page_3_113">[113]</a></span> +and he wrote some words on half-sheets of paper. One +of these half-sheets he folded into two, and gave to +Catherine to hold. Madame, he says aloud, will you +think of any class of objects? I have done so.—Of +what class, Madame? Animals.—Will you think of a +particular animal, Madame? I have done so.—Of +what animal? The Lion.—Will you think of another +class of objects, Madame? I have done so.—Of what +class? Flowers.—The particular flower? The Rose.—Will +you open the paper you hold in your hand? +She opened it, and there was neatly and plainly written +in pencil—<i>The Lion.</i> <i>The Rose.</i> Nothing whatever +had led up to these words, and they were the most +distant conceivable from Catherine's thoughts when +she entered the room. He had several common school-slates +about a foot square. He took one of these to a +field-officer from the camp, decoré and what not, who +sat about six from us, with a grave saturnine friend next +him. My General, says he, will you write a name on +this slate, after your friend has done so? Don't show +it to me. The friend wrote a name, and the General +wrote a name. The conjuror took the slate rapidly +from the officer, threw it violently down on the ground +with its written side to the floor, and asked the officer +to put his foot upon it and keep it there: which he +did. The conjuror considered for about a minute, +looking devilish hard at the General.—My General, +says he, your friend wrote Dagobert, upon the slate +under your foot. The friend admits it.—And you, +my General, wrote Nicholas. General admits it, and +everybody laughs and applauds.—My General, will you +excuse me, if I change that name into a name expressive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_114" id="Page_3_114">[114]</a></span> +of the power of a great nation, which, in happy +alliance with the gallantry and spirit of France will +shake that name to its centre? Certainly I will excuse +it.—My General, take up the slate and read. General +reads: <span class="smcap">Dagobert, Victoria</span>. The first in his friend's +writing; the second in a new hand. I never saw anything +in the least like this; or at all approaching to the +absolute certainty, the familiarity, quickness, absence +of all machinery, and actual face-to-face, hand-to-hand +fairness between the conjuror and the audience, with +which it was done. I have not the slightest idea of +the secret.—One more. He was blinded with several +table napkins, and then a great cloth was bodily thrown +over them and his head too, so that his voice sounded +as if he were under a bed. Perhaps half a dozen dates +were written on a slate. He takes the slate in his hand, +and throws it violently down on the floor as before, +remains silent a minute, seems to become agitated, and +bursts out thus: 'What is this I see? A great city, +but of narrow streets and old-fashioned houses, many +of which are of wood, resolving itself into ruins! How +is it falling into ruins? Hark! I hear the crackling +of a great conflagration, and, looking up, I behold a +vast cloud of flame and smoke. The ground is covered +with hot cinders too, and people are flying into the +fields and endeavouring to save their goods. This +great fire, this great wind, this roaring noise! This is +the great fire of London, and the first date upon the +slate must be one, six, six, six—the year in which it +happened!' And so on with all the other dates. +There! Now, if you will take a cab and impart these +mysteries to Rogers, I shall be very glad to have his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_115" id="Page_3_115">[115]</a></span> +opinion of them." Rogers had taxed our credulity +with some wonderful clairvoyant experiences of his own +in Paris to which here was a parallel at last!</p> + +<p>When leaving Paris for his third visit to Boulogne, +at the beginning of June 1856, he had not written a +word of the ninth number of his new book, and did +not expect for another month to "see land from the +running sea of <i>Little Dorrit</i>." He had resumed the +house he first occupied, the cottage or villa "des Moulineaux," +and after dawdling about his garden for a +few days with surprising industry in a French farmer +garb of blue blouse, leathern belt, and military cap, +which he had mounted as "the only one for complete +comfort," he wrote to me that he was getting "Now +to work again—to work! The story lies before me, I +hope, strong and clear. Not to be easily told; but +nothing of that sort <span class="smcap">is</span> to be easily done that <i>I</i> know +of." At work it became his habit to sit late, and then, +putting off his usual walk until night, to lie down +among the roses reading until after tea ("middle-aged +Love in a blouse and belt"), when he went down to +the pier. "The said pier at evening is a phase of +the place we never see, and which I hardly knew. But +I never did behold such specimens of the youth of my +country, male and female, as pervade that place. They +are really, in their vulgarity and insolence, quite disheartening. +One is so fearfully ashamed of them, and +they contrast so very unfavourably with the natives." +Mr. Wilkie Collins was again his companion in the +summer weeks, and the presence of Jerrold for the +greater part of the time added much to his enjoyment.</p> + +<p>The last of the camp was now at hand. It had only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_116" id="Page_3_116">[116]</a></span> +a battalion of men in it, and a few days would see +them out. At first there was horrible weather, "storms +of wind, rushes of rain, heavy squalls, cold airs, sea +fogs, banging shutters, flapping doors, and beaten down +rose-trees by the hundred; but then came a delightful +week among the corn fields and bean fields, and afterwards +the end. It looks very singular and very +miserable. The soil being sand, and the grass having +been trodden away these two years, the wind from the +sea carries the sand into the chinks and ledges of all the +doors and windows, and chokes them;—just as if they +belonged to Arab huts in the desert. A number of +the non-commissioned officers made turf-couches outside +their huts, and there were turf orchestras for the +bands to play in; all of which are fast getting sanded +over in a most Egyptian manner. The Fair is on, under +the walls of the haute ville over the way. At one +popular show, the Malakhoff is taken every half-hour +between 4 and 11. Bouncing explosions announce +every triumph of the French arms (the English have +nothing to do with it); and in the intervals a man outside +blows a railway whistle—straight into the dining-room. +Do you know that the French soldiers call the +English medal 'The Salvage Medal'—meaning that +they got it for saving the English army? I don't suppose +there are a thousand people in all France who +believe that we did anything but get rescued by the +French. And I am confident that the no-result of our +precious Chelsea enquiry has wonderfully strengthened +this conviction. Nobody at home has yet any adequate +idea, I am deplorably sure, of what the Barnacles and +the Circumlocution Office have done for us. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_117" id="Page_3_117">[117]</a></span> +whenever we get into war again, the people will begin +to find out."</p> + +<p>His own household had got into a small war already, +of which the commander-in-chief was his man-servant +"French," the bulk of the forces engaged being his +children, and the invaders two cats. Business brought +him to London on the hostilities breaking out, and on +his return after a few days the story of the war was told. +"Dick," it should be said, was a canary very dear both +to Dickens and his eldest daughter, who had so tamed +to her loving hand its wild little heart that it was become +the most docile of companions.<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> "The only +thing new in this garden is that war is raging against +two particularly tigerish and fearful cats (from the mill, +I suppose), which are always glaring in dark corners, +after our wonderful little Dick. Keeping the house +open at all points, it is impossible to shut them out, and +they hide themselves in the most terrific manner: hanging +themselves up behind draperies, like bats, and +tumbling out in the dead of night with frightful caterwaulings. +Hereupon, French borrows Beaucourt's gun, +loads the same to the muzzle, discharges it twice in vain +and throws himself over with the recoil, exactly like +a clown. But at last (while I was in town) he aims +at the more amiable cat of the two, and shoots that +animal dead. Insufferably elated by this victory, he is +now engaged from morning to night in hiding behind +bushes to get aim at the other. He does nothing else +whatever. All the boys encourage him and watch for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_118" id="Page_3_118">[118]</a></span> +the enemy—on whose appearance they give an alarm +which immediately serves as a warning to the creature, +who runs away. They are at this moment (ready +dressed for church) all lying on their stomachs in various +parts of the garden. Horrible whistles give notice +to the gun what point it is to approach. I am afraid +to go out, lest I should be shot. Mr. Plornish says +his prayers at night in a whisper, lest the cat should +overhear him and take offence. The tradesmen cry +out as they come up the avenue, 'Me voici! C'est moi—boulanger—ne +tirez pas, Monsieur Franche!' It is +like living in a state of siege; and the wonderful +manner in which the cat preserves the character of +being the only person not much put out by the intensity +of this monomania, is most ridiculous." (6th of July.) . . . +"About four pounds of powder and half a ton of +shot have been (13th of July) fired off at the cat (and +the public in general) during the week. The finest thing +is that immediately after I have heard the noble sportsman +blazing away at her in the garden in front, I look +out of my room door into the drawing-room, and am +pretty sure to see her coming in after the birds, in the +calmest manner, by the back window. Intelligence +has been brought to me from a source on which I can +rely, that French has newly conceived the atrocious +project of tempting her into the coach-house by meat +and kindness, and there, from an elevated portmanteau, +blowing her head off. This I mean sternly to interdict, +and to do so to-day as a work of piety."</p> + +<p>Besides the graver work which Mr. Wilkie Collins +and himself were busy with, in these months, and by +which <i>Household Words</i> mainly was to profit, some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_119" id="Page_3_119">[119]</a></span> +lighter matters occupied the leisure of both. There +were to be, at Christmas, theatricals again at Tavistock +House; in which the children, with the help of their +father and other friends, were to follow up the success +of the <i>Lighthouse</i> by again acquitting themselves as +grown-up actors; and Mr. Collins was busy preparing +for them a new drama to be called <i>The Frozen Deep</i>, +while Dickens was sketching a farce for Mr. Lemon to +fill in. But this pleasant employment had sudden and +sad interruption.</p> + +<p>An epidemic broke out in the town, affecting the +children of several families known to Dickens, among +them that of his friend Mr. Gilbert A'Becket; who, +upon arriving from Paris, and finding a favourite little +son stricken dangerously, sank himself under an illness +from which he had been suffering, and died two days +after the boy. "He had for three days shown symptoms +of rallying, and we had some hope of his recovery; +but he sank and died, and never even knew that +the child had gone before him. A sad, sad story." +Dickens meanwhile had sent his own children home +with his wife, and the rest soon followed. Poor M. +Beaucourt was inconsolable. "The desolation of the +place is wretched. When Mamey and Katey went, +Beaucourt came in and wept. He really is almost +broken-hearted about it. He had planted all manner +of flowers for next month, and has thrown down the +spade and left off weeding the garden, so that it looks +something like a dreary bird-cage with all manner of +grasses and chickweeds sticking through the bars and +lying in the sand. 'Such a loss too,' he says, 'for +Monsieur Dickens!' Then he looks in at the kitchen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_120" id="Page_3_120">[120]</a></span> +window (which seems to be his only relief), and sighs +himself up the hill home."<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p> + +<p>The interval of residence in Paris between these two +last visits to Boulogne is now to be described.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_121" id="Page_3_121">[121]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>RESIDENCE IN PARIS.</h3> + +<h3>1855-1856.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Actors and Dramas—Criticism of Frédéric Lemaitre—Increase of +Celebrity—French Translation of Dickens—Conventionalities of +the Théâtre Français—<i>Paradise Lost</i> at the Ambigu—Profane Nonsense—French +<i>As You Like It</i>—Story of a French Drama—Auber +and Queen Victoria—Robinson Crusoe—A Compliment and its +Result—Madame Scribe—Ristori—Viardot in Orphée—Madame +Dudevant at the Viardots—Banquet at Girardin's—National and +Personal Compliment—Second Banquet—The Bourse and its +Victims—Entry of Troops from Crimea—Paris illuminated—Streets +on New Year's Day—Results of Imperial Improvement—English +and French Art—French and English Nature—Sitting to Ary +Scheffer—A Reading in Scheffer's Studio—Scheffer's Opinion of +the Likeness—A Duchess murdered—A Chance Encounter, and +what came of it.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> Paris Dickens's life was passed among artists, and +in the exercise of his own art. His associates were +writers, painters, actors, or musicians, and when he +wanted relief from any strain of work he found it at +the theatre. The years since his last residence in the +great city had made him better known, and the increased +attentions pleased him. He had to help in +preparing for a translation of his books into French; +and this, with continued labour at the story he had in +hand, occupied him as long as he remained. It will be +all best told by extracts from his letters; in which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_122" id="Page_3_122">[122]</a></span> +people he met, the theatres he visited, and the incidents, +public or private, that seemed to him worthy of +mention, reappear with the old force and liveliness.</p> + +<p>Nor is anything better worth preserving from them +than choice bits of description of an actor or a drama, +for this perishable enjoyment has only so much as may +survive out of such recollections to witness for itself to +another generation; and an unusually high place may +be challenged for the subtlety and delicacy of what is +said in these letters of things theatrical, when the writer +was especially attracted by a performer or a play. +Frédéric Lemaitre has never had a higher tribute than +Dickens paid to him during his few days' earlier stay at +Paris in the spring.</p> + +<p>"Incomparably the finest acting I ever saw, I saw +last night at the Ambigu. They have revived that old +piece, once immensely popular in London under the +name of <i>Thirty Years of a Gambler's Life</i>. Old Lemaitre +plays his famous character,<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> and never did I see +anything, in art, so exaltedly horrible and awful. In +the earlier acts he was so well made up, and so light +and active, that he really looked sufficiently young. +But in the last two, when he had grown old and miserable, +he did the finest things, I really believe, that are +within the power of acting. Two or three times, a +great cry of horror went all round the house. When +he met, in the inn yard, the traveller whom he murders, +and first saw his money, the manner in which the crime<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_123" id="Page_3_123">[123]</a></span> +came into his head—and eyes—was as truthful as it was +terrific. This traveller, being a good fellow, gives him +wine. You should see the dim remembrance of his +better days that comes over him as he takes the glass, +and in a strange dazed way makes as if he were going +to touch the other man's, or do some airy thing with +it; and then stops and flings the contents down his hot +throat, as if he were pouring it into a lime-kiln. But +this was nothing to what follows after he has done the +murder, and comes home, with a basket of provisions, +a ragged pocket full of money, and a badly-washed +bloody right hand—which his little girl finds out. +After the child asked him if he had hurt his hand, his +going aside, turning himself round, and looking over +all his clothes for spots, was so inexpressibly dreadful +that it really scared one. He called for wine, and the +sickness that came upon him when he saw the colour, +was one of the things that brought out the curious cry +I have spoken of, from the audience. Then he fell into +a sort of bloody mist, and went on to the end groping +about, with no mind for anything, except making his +fortune by staking this money, and a faint dull kind of +love for the child. It is quite impossible to satisfy +one's-self by saying enough of such a magnificent performance. +I have never seen him come near its finest +points, in anything else. He said two things in a way +that alone would put him far apart from all other actors. +One to his wife, when he has exultingly shewn her the +money and she has asked him how he got it—'I found +it'—and the other to his old companion and tempter, +when he charged him with having killed that traveller, +and he suddenly went headlong mad and took him by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_124" id="Page_3_124">[124]</a></span> +the throat and howled out, 'It wasn't I who murdered +him—it was Misery!' And such a dress; such a face; +and, above all, such an extraordinary guilty wicked +thing as he made of a knotted branch of a tree which +was his walking-stick, from the moment when the idea +of the murder came into his head! I could write pages +about him. It is an impression quite ineffaceable. He +got half-boastful of that walking-staff to himself, and +half-afraid of it; and didn't know whether to be grimly +pleased that it had the jagged end, or to hate it and be +horrified at it. He sat at a little table in the inn-yard, +drinking with the traveller; and this horrible stick got +between them like the Devil, while he counted on his +fingers the uses he could put the money to."</p> + +<p>That was at the close of February. In October, +Dickens's longer residence began. He betook himself +with his family, after two unsuccessful attempts in the +new region of the Rue Balzac and Rue Lord Byron, +to an apartment in the Avenue des Champs Elysées. +Over him was an English bachelor with an establishment +consisting of an English groom and five English +horses. "The concierge and his wife told us that his +name was <i>Six</i>, which drove me nearly mad until we +discovered it to be <i>Sykes</i>." The situation was a good +one, very cheerful for himself and with amusement for +his children. It was a quarter of a mile above Franconi's +on the other side of the way, and within a door +or two of the Jardin d'Hiver. The Exposition was just +below; the Barrière de l'Etoile from a quarter to half +a mile below; and all Paris, including Emperor and +Empress coming from and returning to St. Cloud, +thronged past the windows in open carriages or on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_125" id="Page_3_125">[125]</a></span> +horseback, all day long. Now it was he found himself +more of a celebrity than when he had wintered in the +city nine years before;<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> the feuilleton of the <i>Moniteur</i> +was filled daily with a translation of <i>Chuzzlewit;</i> and +he had soon to consider the proposal I have named, to +publish in French his collected novels and tales.<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> Before<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_126" id="Page_3_126">[126]</a></span> +he had been a week in his new abode, Ary Scheffer, +"a frank and noble fellow," had made his acquaintance; +introduced him to several distinguished Frenchmen; +and expressed the wish to paint him. To Scheffer +was also due an advantage obtained for my friend's two +little daughters of which they may always keep the +memory with pride. "Mamey and Katey are learning +Italian, and their master is Manin of Venetian fame, +the best and the noblest of those unhappy gentlemen. +He came here with a wife and a beloved daughter, and +they are both dead. Scheffer made him known to me, +and has been, I understand, wonderfully generous and +good to him." Nor may I omit to state the enjoyment +afforded him, not only by the presence in Paris +during the winter of Mr. Wilkie Collins and of Mr. +and Mrs. White of Bonchurch, but by the many friends +from England whom the Art Exposition brought over. +Sir Alexander Cockburn was one of these; Edwin Landseer, +Charles Robert Leslie, and William Boxall, were +others. Macready left his retreat at Sherborne to +make him a visit of several days. Thackeray went to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_127" id="Page_3_127">[127]</a></span> +and fro all the time between London and his mother's +house, also in the Champs Elysées, where his daughters +were. And Paris for the time was the home of Robert +Lytton, who belonged to the Embassy, of the Sartorises, +of the Brownings, and of others whom Dickens +liked and cared for.</p> + +<p>At the first play he went to, the performance was +stopped while the news of the last Crimean engagement, +just issued in a supplement to the <i>Moniteur</i>, was read +from the stage. "It made not the faintest effect upon +the audience; and even the hired claqueurs, who had +been absurdly loud during the piece, seemed to consider +the war not at all within their contract, and were +as stagnant as ditch-water. The theatre was full. It +is quite impossible to see such apathy, and suppose the +war to be popular, whatever may be asserted to the contrary." +The day before, he had met the Emperor and +the King of Sardinia in the streets, "and, as usual, no +man touching his hat, and very very few so much as +looking round."</p> + +<p>The success of a most agreeable little piece by our +old friend Regnier took him next to the Français, +where Plessy's acting enchanted him. "Of course the +interest of it turns upon a flawed piece of living china +(<i>that</i> seems to be positively essential), but, as in most +of these cases, if you will accept the position in which +you find the people, you have nothing more to bother +your morality about." The theatre in the Rue Richelieu, +however, was not generally his favourite resort. +He used to talk of it whimsically as a kind of tomb, +where you went, as the Eastern people did in the +stories, to think of your unsuccessful loves and dead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_128" id="Page_3_128">[128]</a></span> +relations. "There is a dreary classicality at that establishment +calculated to freeze the marrow. Between +ourselves, even one's best friends there are at times +very aggravating. One tires of seeing a man, through +any number of acts, remembering everything by patting +his forehead with the flat of his hand, jerking out sentences +by shaking himself, and piling them up in pyramids +over his head with his right forefinger. And they +have a generic small comedy-piece, where you see two +sofas and three little tables, to which a man enters with +his hat on, to talk to another man—and in respect of +which you know exactly when he will get up from one +sofa to sit on the other, and take his hat off one table +to put it upon the other—which strikes one quite as +ludicrously as a good farce.<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> . . . There seems to be +a good piece at the Vaudeville, on the idea of the <i>Town +and Country Mouse</i>. It is too respectable and inoffensive +for me to-night, but I hope to see it before I leave . . . I +have a horrible idea of making friends with Franconi, +and sauntering when I am at work into their sawdust +green-room."</p> + +<p>At a theatre of a yet heavier school than the Français +he had a drearier experience. "On Wednesday +we went to the Odéon to see a new piece, in four acts +and in verse, called <i>Michel Cervantes</i>. I suppose such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_129" id="Page_3_129">[129]</a></span> +an infernal dose of ditch water never was concocted. +But there were certain passages, describing the suppression +of public opinion in Madrid, which were received +with a shout of savage application to France that made +one stare again! And once more, here again, at every +pause, steady, compact, regular as military drums, the +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Ca'">Ça</ins> Ira!" On another night, even at the Porte St. +Martin, drawn there doubtless by the attraction of +repulsion, he supped full with the horrors of classicality +at a performance of <i>Orestes</i> versified by Alexandre +Dumas. "Nothing have I ever seen so weighty and +so ridiculous. If I had not already learnt to tremble +at the sight of classic drapery on the human form, I +should have plumbed the utmost depths of terrified +boredom in this achievement. The chorus is not preserved +otherwise than that bits of it are taken out for +characters to speak. It is really so bad as to be almost +good. Some of the Frenchified classical anguish struck +me as so unspeakably ridiculous that it puts me on the +broad grin as I write."</p> + +<p>At the same theatre, in the early spring, he had a +somewhat livelier entertainment. "I was at the Porte +St. Martin last night, where there is a rather good +melodrama called <i>Sang Melé</i>, in which one of the characters +is an English Lord—Lord William Falkland—who +is called throughout the piece Milor Williams +Fack Lorn, and is a hundred times described by others +and described by himself as Williams. He is admirably +played; but two English travelling ladies are beyond +expression ridiculous, and there is something positively +vicious in their utter want of truth. One 'set,' where +the action of a whole act is supposed to take place in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_130" id="Page_3_130">[130]</a></span> +the great wooden verandah of a Swiss hotel overhanging +a mountain ravine, is the best piece of stage carpentering +I have seen in France. Next week we are +to have at the Ambigu <i>Paradise Lost</i>, with the murder +of Abel, and the Deluge. The wildest rumours are +afloat as to the un-dressing of our first parents." Anticipation +far outdoes a reality of this kind; and at +the fever-pitch to which rumours raised it here, Dickens +might vainly have attempted to get admission on the +first night, if Mr. Webster, the English manager and +comedian, had not obtained a ticket for him. He went +with Mr. Wilkie Collins. "We were rung in (out of +the café below the Ambigu) at 8, and the play was over +at half-past 1; the waits between the acts being very +much longer than the acts themselves. The house was +crammed to excess in every part, and the galleries +awful with Blouses, who again, during the whole of the +waits, beat with the regularity of military drums the +revolutionary tune of famous memory—<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Ca'">Ça</ins> Ira! The +play is a compound of <i>Paradise Lost</i> and Byron's <i>Cain;</i> +and some of the controversies between the archangel +and the devil, when the celestial power argues with the +infernal in conversational French, as 'Eh bien! Satan, +crois-tu donc que notre Seigneur t'aurait exposé aux +tourments que t'endures à présent, sans avoir prévu,' +&c. &c. are very ridiculous. All the supernatural personages +are alarmingly natural (as theatre nature goes), +and walk about in the stupidest way. Which has occasioned +Collins and myself to institute a perquisition +whether the French ever have shown any kind of idea +of the supernatural; and to decide this rather in the +negative. The people are very well dressed, and Eve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_131" id="Page_3_131">[131]</a></span> +very modestly. All Paris and the provinces had been +ransacked for a woman who had brown hair that would +fall to the calves of her legs—and she was found at last +at the Odéon. There was nothing attractive until the +4th act, when there was a pretty good scene of the +children of Cain dancing in, and desecrating, a temple, +while Abel and his family were hammering hard at the +Ark, outside; in all the pauses of the revel. The Deluge +in the fifth act was up to about the mark of a drowning +scene at the Adelphi; but it had one new feature. +When the rain ceased, and the ark drove in on the +great expanse of water, then lying waveless as the mists +cleared and the sun broke out, numbers of bodies +drifted up and down. These were all real men and +boys, each separate, on a new kind of horizontal sloat. +They looked horrible and real. Altogether, a merely +dull business; but I dare say it will go for a long +while."</p> + +<p>A piece of honest farce is a relief from these profane +absurdities. "An uncommonly droll piece with an +original comic idea in it has been in course of representation +here. It is called <i>Les Cheveux de ma Femme</i>. +A man who is dotingly fond of his wife, and who +wishes to know whether she loved anybody else before +they were married, cuts off a lock of her hair by +stealth, and takes it to a great mesmeriser, who submits +it to a clairvoyante who never was wrong. It is discovered +that the owner of this hair has been up to the +most frightful dissipations, insomuch that the clairvoyante +can't mention half of them. The distracted +husband goes home to reproach his wife, and she then +reveals that she wears a wig, and takes it off."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_132" id="Page_3_132">[132]</a></span></p> + +<p>The last piece he went to see before leaving Paris +was a French version of <i>As You Like It;</i> but he found +two acts of it to be more than enough. "In <i>Comme il +vous Plaira</i> nobody had anything to do but to sit down +as often as possible on as many stones and trunks of +trees as possible. When I had seen Jacques seat himself +on 17 roots of trees, and 25 grey stones, which was +at the end of the second act, I came away." Only +one more sketch taken in a theatre, and perhaps the +best, I will give from these letters. It simply tells us +what is necessary to understand a particular "tag" to +a play, but it is related so prettily that the thing it +celebrates could not have a nicer effect than is produced +by this account of it. The play in question, <i>Mémoires +du Diable</i>, and another piece of enchanting interest, +the <i>Médecin des Enfants</i>,<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> were his favourites among +all he saw at this time. "As I have no news, I may +as well tell you about the tag that I thought so pretty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_133" id="Page_3_133">[133]</a></span> +to the <i>Mémoires du Diable;</i> in which piece by the way, +there is a most admirable part, most admirably played, +in which a man says merely 'Yes' or 'No' all through +the piece, until the last scene. A certain M. Robin +has got hold of the papers of a deceased lawyer, concerning +a certain estate which has been swindled away +from its rightful owner, a Baron's widow, into other +hands. They disclose so much roguery that he binds +them up into a volume lettered 'Mémoires du Diable.' +The knowledge he derives from these papers not only +enables him to unmask the hypocrites all through the +piece (in an excellent manner), but induces him to +propose to the Baroness that if he restores to her her +estate and good name—for even her marriage to the +deceased Baron is denied—she shall give him her +daughter in marriage. The daughter herself, on hearing +the offer, accepts it; and a part of the plot is, her +going to a masked ball, to which he goes as the Devil, +to see how she likes him (when she finds, of course, +that she likes him very much). The country people +about the Château in dispute, suppose him to be really +the Devil, because of his strange knowledge, and his +strange comings and goings; and he, being with this +girl in one of its old rooms, in the beginning of the +3rd act, shews her a little coffer on the table with a +bell in it. 'They suppose,' he tells her, 'that whenever +this bell is rung, I appear and obey the summons. +Very ignorant, isn't it? But, if you ever want me +particularly—very particularly—ring the little bell and +try.' The plot proceeds to its development. The +wrong-doers are exposed; the missing document, proving +the marriage, is found; everything is finished; they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_134" id="Page_3_134">[134]</a></span> +are all on the stage; and M. Robin hands the paper +to the Baroness. 'You are reinstated in your rights, +Madame; you are happy; I will not hold you to a +compact made when you didn't know me; I release +you and your fair daughter; the pleasure of doing what +I have done, is my sufficient reward; I kiss your hand +and take my leave. Farewell!' He backs himself +courteously out; the piece seems concluded, everybody +wonders, the girl (little Mdlle. Luther) stands amazed; +when she suddenly remembers the little bell. In the +prettiest way possible, she runs to the coffer on the +table, takes out the little bell, rings it, and he comes +rushing back and folds her to his heart. I never saw +a prettier thing in my life. It made me laugh in that +most delightful of ways, with the tears in my eyes; so +that I can never forget it, and must go and see it +again."</p> + +<p>But great as was the pleasure thus derived from the +theatre, he was, in the matter of social intercourse, +even more indebted to distinguished men connected +with it by authorship or acting. At Scribe's he was +entertained frequently; and "very handsome and +pleasant" was his account of the dinners, as of all the +belongings, of the prolific dramatist—a charming place +in Paris, a fine estate in the country, capital carriage, +handsome pair of horses, "all made, as he says, by his +pen." One of the guests the first evening was Auber, +"a stolid little elderly man, rather petulant in manner," +who told Dickens he had once lived "at Stock Noonton" +(Stoke Newington) to study English, but had +forgotten it all. "Louis Philippe had invited him to +meet the Queen of England, and when L. P. presented<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_135" id="Page_3_135">[135]</a></span> +him, the Queen said, 'We are such old acquaintances +through M. Auber's works, that an introduction is +quite unnecessary.'" They met again a few nights +later, with the author of the <i>History of the Girondins</i>, +at the hospitable table of M. Pichot, to whom Lamartine +had expressed a strong desire again to meet Dickens +as "un des grands amis de son imagination." "He +continues to be precisely as we formerly knew him, +both in appearance and manner; highly prepossessing, +and with a sort of calm passion about him, very taking +indeed. We talked of De Foe<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> and Richardson, and +of that wonderful genius for the minutest details in a +narrative, which has given them so much fame in +France. I found him frank and unaffected, and full +of curious knowledge of the French common people. +He informed the company at dinner that he had rarely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_136" id="Page_3_136">[136]</a></span> +met a foreigner who spoke French so easily as your +inimitable correspondent, whereat your correspondent +blushed modestly, and almost immediately afterwards +so nearly choked himself with the bone of a fowl (which +is still in his throat), that he sat in torture for ten +minutes with a strong apprehension that he was going +to make the good Pichot famous by dying like the +little Hunchback at his table. Scribe and his wife +were of the party, but had to go away at the ice-time +because it was the first representation at the Opéra +Comique of a new opera by Auber and himself, of +which very great expectations have been formed. It +was very curious to see him—the author of 400 pieces—getting +nervous as the time approached, and pulling +out his watch every minute. At last he dashed out as +if he were going into what a friend of mine calls a +plunge-bath. Whereat she rose and followed. She is +the most extraordinary woman I ever beheld; for her +eldest son must be thirty, and she has the figure of +five-and-twenty, and is strikingly handsome. So graceful +too, that her manner of rising, curtseying, laughing, +and going out after him, was pleasanter than the pleasantest +thing I have ever seen done on the stage." The +opera Dickens himself saw a week later, and wrote of it +as "most charming. Delightful music, an excellent +story, immense stage tact, capital scenic arrangements, +and the most delightful little prima donna ever seen +or heard, in the person of Marie Cabel. It is called +<i>Manon Lescaut</i>—from the old romance—and is charming +throughout. She sings a laughing song in it which +is received with madness, and which is the only real +laughing song that ever was written. Auber told me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_137" id="Page_3_137">[137]</a></span> +that when it was first rehearsed, it made a great effect +upon the orchestra; and that he could not have had a +better compliment upon its freshness than the musical +director paid him, in coming and clapping him on the +shoulder with 'Bravo, jeune homme! Cela promet +bien!'"</p> + +<p>At dinner at Regnier's he met M. Legouvet, in +whose tragedy Rachel, after its acceptance, had refused +to act Medea; a caprice which had led not only to her +condemnation in costs of so much a night until she did +act it, but to a quasi rivalry against her by Ristori, who +was now on her way to Paris to play it in Italian. To +this performance Dickens and Macready subsequently +went together, and pronounced it to be hopelessly bad. +"In the day <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'entertaiments'">entertainments</ins>, and little melodrama theatres, +of Italy, I have seen the same thing fifty times, +only not at once so conventional and so exaggerated. +The papers have all been in fits respecting the sublimity +of the performance, and the genuineness of the applause—particularly +of the bouquets; which were thrown on +at the most preposterous times in the midst of agonizing +scenes, so that the characters had to pick their way +among them, and a certain stout gentleman who played +King Creon was obliged to keep a wary eye, all night, +on the proscenium boxes, and dodge them as they +came down. Now Scribe, who dined here next day +(and who follows on the Ristori side, being offended, +as everybody has been, by the insolence of Rachel), +could not resist the temptation of telling us, that, going +round at the end of the first act to offer his congratulations, +he met all the bouquets coming back in men's +arms to be thrown on again in the second act. . . .<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_138" id="Page_3_138">[138]</a></span> +By the bye, I see a fine actor lost in Scribe. In all his +pieces he has everything done in his own way; and on +that same night he was showing what Rachel did not +do, and wouldn't do, in the last scene of Adrienne +Lecouvreur, with extraordinary force and intensity."</p> + +<p>At the house of another great artist, Madame Viardot,<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> +the sister of Malibran, Dickens dined to meet +Georges Sands, that lady having appointed the day and +hour for the interesting festival, which came off duly +on the 10th of January. "I suppose it to be impossible +to imagine anybody more unlike my preconceptions +than the illustrious Sand. Just the kind of woman in +appearance whom you might suppose to be the Queen's +monthly nurse. Chubby, matronly, swarthy, black-eyed. +Nothing of the blue-stocking about her, except<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_139" id="Page_3_139">[139]</a></span> +a little final way of settling all your opinions with hers, +which I take to have been acquired in the country +where she lives, and in the domination of a small circle. +A singularly ordinary woman in appearance and manner. +The dinner was very good and remarkably +unpretending. Ourselves, Madame and her son, the +Scheffers, the Sartorises, and some Lady somebody +(from the Crimea last) who wore a species of paletot, +and smoked. The Viardots have a house away in the +new part of Paris, which looks exactly as if they had +moved into it last week and were going away next. +Notwithstanding which, they have lived in it eight +years. The opera the very last thing on earth you +would associate with the family. Piano not even +opened. Her husband is an extremely good fellow, +and she is as natural as it is possible to be."</p> + +<p>Dickens was hardly the man to take fair measure of +Madame Dudevant in meeting her thus. He was not +familiar with her writings, and had no very special +liking for such of them as he knew. But no disappointment, +nothing but amazement, awaited him at a +dinner that followed soon after. Emile de Girardin +gave a banquet in his honour. His description of it, +which he declares to be strictly prosaic, sounds a little +Oriental, but not inappropriately so. "No man unacquainted +with my determination never to embellish +or fancify such accounts, could believe in the description +I shall let off when we meet of dining at Emile +Girardin's—of the three gorgeous drawing rooms with +ten thousand wax candles in golden sconces, terminating +in a dining-room of unprecedented magnificence +with two enormous transparent plate-glass doors in it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_140" id="Page_3_140">[140]</a></span> +looking (across an ante-chamber full of clean plates) +straight into the kitchen, with the cooks in their white +paper caps dishing the dinner. From his seat in the +midst of the table, the host (like a Giant in a Fairy +story) beholds the kitchen, and the snow-white tables, +and the profound order and silence there prevailing. +Forth from the plate-glass doors issues the Banquet—the +most wonderful feast ever tasted by mortal: at the +present price of Truffles, that article alone costing (for +eight people) at least five pounds. On the table are +ground glass jugs of peculiar construction, laden with +the finest growth of Champagne and the coolest ice. +With the third course is issued Port Wine (previously +unheard of in a good state on this continent), which +would fetch two guineas a bottle at any sale. The +dinner done, Oriental flowers in vases of golden cobweb +are placed upon the board. With the ice is issued +Brandy, buried for 100 years. To that succeeds Coffee, +brought by the brother of one of the convives from the +remotest East, in exchange for an equal quantity of +California gold dust. The company being returned to +the drawing-room—tables roll in by unseen agency, +laden with Cigarettes from the Hareem of the Sultan, +and with cool drinks in which the flavour of the Lemon +arrived yesterday from Algeria, struggles voluptuously +with the delicate Orange arrived this morning from +Lisbon. That period past, and the guests reposing on +Divans worked with many-coloured blossoms, big table +rolls in, heavy with massive furniture of silver, and +breathing incense in the form of a little present of +Tea direct from China—table and all, I believe; but +cannot swear to it, and am resolved to be prosaic. All<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_141" id="Page_3_141">[141]</a></span> +this time the host perpetually repeats 'Ce petit dîner-ci +n'est que pour faire la connaissance de Monsieur Dickens; +il ne compte pas; ce n'est rien.' And even now +I have forgotten to set down half of it—in particular +the item of a far larger plum pudding than ever was +seen in England at Christmas time, served with a +celestial sauce in colour like the orange blossom, and +in substance like the blossom powdered and bathed in +dew, and called in the carte (carte in a gold frame like +a little fish-slice to be handed about) 'Hommage à +l'illustre écrivain d'Angleterre.' That illustrious man +staggered out at the last drawing-room door, speechless +with wonder, finally; and even at that moment his host, +holding to his lips a chalice set with precious stones and +containing nectar distilled from the air that blew over +the fields of beans in bloom for fifteen summers, remarked +'Le <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'diner'">dîner</ins> que nous avons eu, mon cher, n'est +rien—il ne compte pas—il a été tout-à-fait en famille—il +faut dîner (en vérité, dîner) bientôt. Au plaisir! +Au revoir! Au dîner!'"</p> + +<p>The second dinner came, wonderful as the first; +among the company were Regnier, Jules Sandeau, and +the new Director of the Français; and his host again +played Lucullus in the same style, with success even +more consummate. The only absolutely new incident +however was that "After dinner he asked me if I +would come into another room and smoke a cigar? +and on my saying Yes, coolly opened a drawer, containing +about 5000 inestimable cigars in prodigious +bundles—just as the Captain of the Robbers in <i>Ali +Baba</i> might have gone to a corner of the cave for +bales of brocade. A little man dined who was blacking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_142" id="Page_3_142">[142]</a></span> +shoes 8 years ago, and is now enormously rich—the +richest man in Paris—having ascended with +rapidity up the usual ladder of the Bourse. By merely +observing that perhaps he might come down again, I +clouded so many faces as to render it very clear to me +that <i>everybody present</i> was at the same game for some +stake or other!" He returned to that subject in a letter +a few days later. "If you were to see the steps of +the Bourse at about 4 in the afternoon, and the crowd +of blouses and patches among the speculators there +assembled, all howling and haggard with speculation, +you would stand aghast at the consideration of what +must be going on. Concierges and people like that +perpetually blow their brains out, or fly into the Seine, +'à cause des pertes sur la Bourse.' I hardly ever +take up a French paper without lighting on such a +paragraph. On the other hand, thoroughbred horses +without end, and red velvet carriages with white kid +harness on jet black horses, go by here all day long; +and the pedestrians who turn to look at them, laugh, +and say 'C'est la Bourse!' Such crashes must be +staved off every week as have not been seen since +Law's time."</p> + +<p>Another picture connects itself with this, and throws +light on the speculation thus raging. The French loans +connected with the war, so much puffed and praised in +England at the time for the supposed spirit in which +they were taken up, had in fact only ministered to the +commonest and lowest gambling; and the war had +never in the least been popular. "Emile Girardin," +wrote Dickens on the 23rd of March, "was here yesterday, +and he says that Peace is to be formally announced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_143" id="Page_3_143">[143]</a></span> +at Paris to-morrow amid general apathy." But the +French are never wholly apathetic to their own exploits; +and a display with a touch of excitement in +it had been witnessed a couple of months before on +the entry of the troops from the Crimea,<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> when the +Zouaves, as they marched past, pleased Dickens most. +"A remarkable body of men," he wrote, "wild, dangerous, +and picturesque. Close-cropped head, red skull +cap, Greek jacket, full red petticoat trowsers trimmed +with yellow, and high white gaiters—the most sensible +things for the purpose I know, and coming into use in +the line. A man with such things on his legs is always +free there, and ready for a muddy march; and might +flounder through roads two feet deep in mud, and, +simply by changing his gaiters (he has another pair in +his haversack), be clean and comfortable and wholesome +again, directly. Plenty of beard and moustache,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_144" id="Page_3_144">[144]</a></span> +and the musket carried reverse-wise with the stock over +the shoulder, make up the sunburnt Zouave. He strides +like Bobadil, smoking as he goes; and when he laughs +(they were under my window for half-an-hour or so), +plunges backward in the wildest way, as if he were +going to throw a sommersault. They have a black +dog belonging to the regiment, and, when they now +marched along with their medals, this dog marched +after the one non-commissioned officer he invariably +follows with a profound conviction that he was decorated. +I couldn't see whether he had a medal, his +hair being long; but he was perfectly up to what had +befallen his regiment; and I never saw anything so +capital as his way of regarding the public. Whatever +the regiment does, he is always in his place; and it was +impossible to mistake the air of modest triumph which +was now upon him. A small dog corporeally, but of a +great mind."<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> On that night there was an illumination +in honour of the army, when the "whole of Paris, bye +streets and lanes and all sorts of out of the way places, +was most brilliantly illuminated. It looked in the dark +like Venice and Genoa rolled into one, and split up +through the middle by the Corso at Rome in the carnival +time. The French people certainly do know how +to honour their own countrymen, in a most marvellous +way." It was the festival time of the New Year, and +Dickens was fairly lost in a mystery of amazement at +where the money could come from that everybody was +spending on the étrennes they were giving to everybody<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_145" id="Page_3_145">[145]</a></span> +else. All the famous shops on the Boulevards had been +blockaded for more than a week. "There is now a line +of wooden stalls, three miles long, on each side of that +immense thoroughfare; and wherever a retiring house +or two admits of a double line, there it is. All sorts +of objects from shoes and sabots, through porcelain and +crystal, up to live fowls and rabbits which are played +for at a sort of dwarf skittles (to their immense disturbance, +as the ball rolls under them and shakes them off +their shelves and perches whenever it is delivered by a +vigorous hand), are on sale in this great Fair. And +what you may get in the way of ornament for two-pence, +is astounding." Unhappily there came dark +and rainy weather, and one of the improvements of +the Empire ended, as so many others did, in slush and +misery.<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_146" id="Page_3_146">[146]</a></span></p><p>Some sketches connected with the Art Exposition in +the winter of 1855, and with the fulfilment of Ary +Scheffer's design to paint the portrait of Dickens, may +close these Paris pictures. He did not think that English +art showed to advantage beside the French. It +seemed to him small, shrunken, insignificant, "niggling." +He thought the general absence of ideas +horribly apparent; "and even when one comes to +Mulready, and sees two old men talking over a much-too-prominent +table-cloth, and reads the French explanation +of their proceedings, 'La discussion sur les +principes de Docteur Whiston,' one is dissatisfied. +Somehow or other they don't tell. Even Leslie's Sancho +wants go, and Stanny is too much like a set-scene. +It is of no use disguising the fact that what we know +to be wanting in the men is wanting in their works—character, +fire, purpose, and the power of using the +vehicle and the model as mere means to an end. There +is a horrible respectability about most of the best of +them—a little, finite, systematic routine in them, +strangely expressive to me of the state of England +itself. As a mere fact, Frith, Ward, and Egg, come out +the best in such pictures as are here, and attract to the +greatest extent. The first, in the picture from the +Good-natured Man; the second, in the Royal Family +in the Temple; the third, in the Peter the Great first +seeing Catherine—which I always thought a good picture, +and in which foreigners evidently descry a sudden +dramatic touch that pleases them. There are no end<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_147" id="Page_3_147">[147]</a></span> +of bad pictures among the French, but, Lord! the +goodness also!—the fearlessness of them; the bold +drawing; the dashing conception; the passion and +action in them!<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> The Belgian department is full of +merit. It has the best landscape in it, the best portrait, +and the best scene of homely life, to be found in +the building. Don't think it a part of my despondency +about public affairs, and my fear that our national glory +is on the decline, when I say that mere form and conventionalities +usurp, in English art, as in English government +and social relations, the place of living force +and truth. I tried to resist the impression yesterday, +and went to the English gallery first, and praised and +admired with great diligence; but it was of no use. I +could not make anything better of it than what I tell +you. Of course this is between ourselves. Friendship +is better than criticism, and I shall steadily hold my +tongue. Discussion is worse than useless when you +cannot agree about what you are going to discuss." +French nature is all wrong, said the English artists +whom Dickens talked to; but surely not because it is +French, was his reply. The English point of view is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_148" id="Page_3_148">[148]</a></span> +not the only one to take men and women from. The +French pictures are "theatrical," was the rejoinder. +But the French themselves are a demonstrative and +gesticulating people, was Dickens's retort; and what +thus is rendered by their artists is the truth through an +immense part of the world. "I never saw anything so +strange. They seem to me to have got a fixed idea that +there is no natural manner but the English manner (in +itself so exceptional that it is a thing apart, in all countries); +and that unless a Frenchman—represented as +going to the guillotine for example—is as calm as Clapham, +or as respectable as Richmond-hill, he cannot be +right."</p> + +<p>To the sittings at Ary Scheffer's some troubles as +well as many pleasures were incident, and both had +mention in his letters. "You may faintly imagine +what I have suffered from sitting to Scheffer every day +since I came back. He is a most noble fellow, and I +have the greatest pleasure in his society, and have made +all sorts of acquaintances at his house; but I can +scarcely express how uneasy and unsettled it makes me +to have to sit, sit, sit, with <i>Little Dorrit</i> on my mind, +and the Christmas business too—though that is now +happily dismissed. On Monday afternoon, <i>and all +day on Wednesday</i>, I am going to sit again. And the +crowning feature is, that I do not discern the slightest +resemblance, either in his portrait or his brother's! +They both peg away at me at the same time." The +sittings were varied by a special entertainment, when +Scheffer received some sixty people in his "long +atelier"—"including a lot of French who <i>say</i> (but I +don't believe it) that they know English"—to whom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_149" id="Page_3_149">[149]</a></span> +Dickens, by special entreaty, read his <i>Cricket on the +Hearth</i>.</p> + +<p>That was at the close of November. January came, +and the end of the sittings was supposed to be at hand. +"The nightmare portrait is nearly done; and Scheffer +promises that an interminable sitting next Saturday, +beginning at 10 o'clock in the morning, shall finish it. +It is a fine spirited head, painted at his very best, and +with a very easy and natural appearance in it. But it +does not look to me at all like, nor does it strike me +that if I saw it in a gallery I should suppose myself to +be the original. It is always possible that I don't +know my own face. It is going to be engraved here, +in two sizes and ways—the mere head and the whole +thing." A fortnight later, the interminable sitting +came. "Imagine me if you please with No. 5 on my +head and hands, sitting to Scheffer yesterday four +hours! At this stage of a story, no one can conceive +how it distresses me." Still this was not the last. +March had come before the portrait was done. +"Scheffer finished yesterday; and Collins, who has a +good eye for pictures, says that there is no man living +who could do the painting about the eyes. As a work +of art I see in it spirit combined with perfect ease, +and yet I don't see myself. So I come to the conclusion +that I never <i>do</i> see myself. I shall be very +curious to know the effect of it upon you." March +had then begun; and at its close Dickens, who had +meanwhile been in England, thus wrote: "I have not +seen Scheffer since I came back, but he told Catherine +a few days ago that he was not satisfied with the likeness +after all, and thought he must do more to it. My<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_150" id="Page_3_150">[150]</a></span> +own impression of it, you remember?" In these few +words he anticipated the impression made upon myself. +I was not satisfied with it. The picture had +much merit, but not as a portrait. From its very resemblance +in the eyes and mouth one derived the +sense of a general unlikeness. But the work of the +artist's brother, Henri Scheffer, painted from the same +sittings, was in all ways greatly inferior.</p> + +<p>Before Dickens left Paris in May he had sent over +two descriptions that the reader most anxious to follow +him to a new scene would perhaps be sorry to lose. A +Duchess was murdered in the Champs Elysées. "The +murder over the way (the third or fourth event of that +nature in the Champs Elysées since we have been here) +seems to disclose the strangest state of things. The +Duchess who is murdered lived alone in a great house +which was always shut up, and passed her time entirely +in the dark. In a little lodge outside lived a coachman +(the murderer), and there had been a long succession +of coachmen who had been unable to stay there, and +upon whom, whenever they asked for their wages, she +plunged out with an immense knife, by way of an immediate +settlement. The coachman never had anything +to do, for the coach hadn't been driven out for years; +neither would she ever allow the horses to be taken out +for exercise. Between the lodge and the house, is a +miserable bit of garden, all overgrown with long rank +grass, weeds, and nettles; and in this, the horses used +to be taken out to swim—in a dead green vegetable sea, +up to their haunches. On the day of the murder, there +was a great crowd, of course; and in the midst of it up +comes the Duke her husband (from whom she was separated),<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_151" id="Page_3_151">[151]</a></span> +and rings at the gate. The police open the +grate. 'C'est vrai donc,' says the Duke, 'que Madame +la Duchesse n'est plus?'—'C'est trop vrai, Monseigneur.'—'Tant +mieux,' says the Duke, and walks off +deliberately, to the great satisfaction of the assemblage."</p> + +<p>The second description relates an occurrence in England +of only three years previous date, belonging to +that wildly improbable class of realities which Dickens +always held, with Fielding, to be (properly) closed to +fiction. Only, he would add, critics should not be so +eager to assume that what had never happened to themselves +could not, by any human possibility, ever be +supposed to have happened to anybody else. "B. was +with me the other day, and, among other things that +he told me, described an extraordinary adventure in his +life, at a place not a thousand miles from my 'property' +at Gadshill, three years ago. He lived at the tavern +and was sketching one day when an open carriage came +by with a gentleman and lady in it. He was sitting in +the same place working at the same sketch, next day, +when it came by again. So, another day, when the +gentleman got out and introduced himself. Fond of +art; lived at the great house yonder, which perhaps he +knew; was an Oxford man and a Devonshire squire, +but not resident on his estate, for domestic reasons; +would be glad to see him to dinner to-morrow. He +went, and found among other things a very fine library. +'At your disposition,' said the Squire, to whom he had +now described himself and his pursuits. 'Use it for +your writing and drawing. Nobody else uses it.' He +stayed in the house <i>six months</i>. The lady was a mistress,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_152" id="Page_3_152">[152]</a></span> +aged five-and-twenty, and very beautiful, drinking +her life away. The Squire was drunken, and utterly +depraved and wicked; but an excellent scholar, an admirable +linguist, and a great theologian. Two other +mad visitors stayed the six months. One, a man well +known in Paris here, who goes about the world with a +crimson silk stocking in his breast pocket, containing a +tooth-brush and an immense quantity of ready money. +The other, a college chum of the Squire's, now ruined; +with an insatiate thirst for drink; who constantly got +up in the middle of the night, crept down to the +dining-room, and emptied all the decanters. . . . B. +stayed on in the place, under a sort of devilish fascination +to discover what might come of it. . . . Tea or +coffee never seen in the house, and very seldom water. +Beer, champagne, and brandy, were the three drinkables. +Breakfast: leg of mutton, champagne, beer, +and brandy. Lunch: shoulder of mutton, champagne, +beer, and brandy. Dinner: every conceivable dish +(Squire's income, £7,000 a-year), champagne, beer, +and brandy. The Squire had married a woman of the +town from whom he was now separated, but by whom +he had a daughter. The mother, to spite the father, +had bred the daughter in every conceivable vice. +Daughter, then 13, came from school once a month. +Intensely coarse in talk, and always drunk. As they +drove about the country in two open carriages, the +drunken mistress would be perpetually tumbling out of +one, and the drunken daughter perpetually tumbling +out of the other. At last the drunken mistress drank +her stomach away, and began to die on the sofa. Got +worse and worse, and was always raving about Somebody's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_153" id="Page_3_153">[153]</a></span> +where she had once been a lodger, and perpetually +shrieking that she would cut somebody else's heart +out. At last she died on the sofa, and, after the funeral, +the party broke up. A few months ago, B. met the +man with the crimson silk stocking at Brighton, who +told him that the Squire was dead 'of a broken heart'; +that the chum was dead of delirium tremens; and that +the daughter was heiress to the fortune. He told me +all this, which I fully believe to be true, without any +embellishment—just in the off-hand way in which I +have told it to you."</p> + +<p>Dickens left Paris at the end of April, and, after the +summer in Boulogne which has been described, passed +the winter in London, giving to his theatrical enterprise +nearly all the time that <i>Little Dorrit</i> did not claim from +him. His book was finished in the following spring; +was inscribed to Clarkson Stanfield; and now claims to +have something said about it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_154" id="Page_3_154">[154]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>LITTLE DORRIT, AND A LAZY TOUR.</h3> + +<h3>1855-1857.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Little Dorrit—A Proposed Opening—How the Story grew—Sale +of the Book—Circumlocution Office—Flora and her Surroundings—Weak +Points in the Book—Remains of Marshalsea visited—Reception +of the Novel—Christmas Theatricals—Theatre-making—At +Gadshill—Last Meeting of Jerrold and Dickens—Proposed Memorial +Tribute—At the Zoological Gardens—Lazy Tour projected—Visit +to Cumberland—Accident to Wilkie Collins—At Allonby—At +Doncaster—Racing Prophecy—A Performance of <i>Money</i>.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Between</span> <i>Hard Times</i> and <i>Little Dorrit</i>, Dickens's +principal literary work had been the contribution to +<i>Household Words</i> of two tales for Christmas (1854 and +1855) which his readings afterwards made widely popular, +the Story of Richard Doubledick,<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> and Boots at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_155" id="Page_3_155">[155]</a></span> +the Holly-Tree Inn. In the latter was related, with a +charming naturalness and spirit, the elopement, to get +married at Gretna Green, of two little children of the +mature respective ages of eight and seven. At Christmas +1855 came out the first number of <i>Little Dorrit</i>, +and in April 1857 the last.</p> + +<p>The book took its origin from the notion he had of +a leading man for a story who should bring about all +the mischief in it, lay it all on Providence, and say at +every fresh calamity, "Well it's a mercy, however, +nobody was to blame you know!" The title first +chosen, out of many suggested, was <i>Nobody's Fault;</i> +and four numbers had been written, of which the first +was on the eve of appearance, before this was changed. +When about to fall to work he excused himself from +an engagement he should have kept because "the story +is breaking out all round me, and I am going off down +the railroad to humour it." The humouring was a +little difficult, however; and such indications of a +droop in his invention as presented themselves in portions +of <i>Bleak House</i>, were noticeable again. "As to +the story I am in the second number, and last night +and this morning had half a mind to begin again, and +work in what I have done, afterwards." It had occurred +to him, that, by making the fellow-travellers at +once known to each other, as the opening of the story +stands, he had missed an effect. "It struck me that it +would be a new thing to show people coming together, +in a chance way, as fellow-travellers, and being in the +same place, ignorant of one another, as happens in +life; and to connect them afterwards, and to make the +waiting for that connection a part of the interest."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_156" id="Page_3_156">[156]</a></span> +The change was not made; but the mention of it was +one of several intimations to me of the altered conditions +under which he was writing, and that the old, +unstinted, irrepressible flow of fancy had received temporary +check. In this view I have found it very interesting +to compare the original notes, which as usual he +prepared for each number of the tale, and which with +the rest are in my possession, with those of <i>Chuzzlewit</i> +or <i>Copperfield;</i> observing in the former the labour and +pains, and in the latter the lightness and confidence of +handling.<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> "I am just now getting to work on number +three: sometimes enthusiastic, more often dull +enough. There is an enormous outlay in the Father +of the Marshalsea chapter, in the way of getting a great +lot of matter into a small space. I am not quite resolved, +but I have a great idea of overwhelming that +family with wealth. Their condition would be very +curious. I can make Dorrit very strong in the story, I +hope." The Marshalsea part of the tale undoubtedly +was excellent, and there was masterly treatment of +character in the contrasts of the brothers Dorrit; but +of the family generally it may be said that its least important +members had most of his genius in them. The +younger of the brothers, the scapegrace son, and +"Fanny dear," are perfectly real people in what makes +them unattractive; but what is meant for attractiveness in +the heroine becomes often tiresome by want of reality.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_157" id="Page_3_157">[157]</a></span> +<a href="images/image20_notes-larger.png"><img src="images/image20_notes.png" width="600" height="398" alt="Notes 1" title="Notes 1" /> +</a></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_158" id="Page_3_158">[158]</a></span> +<a href="images/image21_notes-larger.png"><img src="images/image21_notes.png" width="600" height="350" alt="Notes 2" title="Notes 2" /> +</a></div> + +<p>The first number appeared in December 1855, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_159" id="Page_3_159">[159]</a></span> +on the 2nd there was an exultant note. "<i>Little Dorrit</i> +has beaten even <i>Bleak House</i> out of the field. It +is a most tremendous start, and I am overjoyed at it;" +to which he added, writing from Paris on the 6th of +the month following, "You know that they had sold +35,000 of number two on new year's day." He was +still in Paris on the day of the appearance of that portion +of the tale by which it will always be most vividly +remembered, and thus wrote on the 30th of January +1856: "I have a grim pleasure upon me to-night in +thinking that the Circumlocution Office sees the light, +and in wondering what effect it will make. But my +head really stings with the visions of the book, and I +am going, as we French say, to disembarrass it by +plunging out into some of the strange places I glide +into of nights in these latitudes." The Circumlocution +heroes led to the Society scenes, the Hampton-court +dowager-sketches, and Mr. Gowan; all parts of one +satire levelled against prevailing political and social +vices. Aim had been taken, in the course of it, at +some living originals, disguised sufficiently from recognition +to enable him to make his thrust more sure; +but there was one exception self-revealed. "I had the +general idea," he wrote while engaged on the sixth +number, "of the Society business before the Sadleir +affair, but I shaped Mr. Merdle himself out of that +precious rascality. Society, the Circumlocution Office, +and Mr. Gowan, are of course three parts of one idea +and design. Mr. Merdle's complaint, which you will +find in the end to be fraud and forgery, came into my +mind as the last drop in the silver cream-jug on Hampstead-heath. +I shall beg, when you have read the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_160" id="Page_3_160">[160]</a></span> +present number, to enquire whether you consider 'Bar' +an instance, in reference to K F, of a suggested likeness +in not many touches!" The likeness no one +could mistake; and, though that particular Bar has +since been moved into a higher and happier sphere, +Westminster-hall is in no danger of losing "the insinuating +Jury-droop, and persuasive double-eyeglass," +by which this keen observer could express a type of +character in half a dozen words.</p> + +<p>Of the other portions of the book that had a strong +personal interest for him I have spoken on a former +page, and I will now only add an allusion of his own. +"There are some things in Flora in number seven that +seem to me to be extraordinarily droll, with something +serious at the bottom of them after all. Ah, well! +was there <i>not</i> something very serious in it once? I am +glad to think of being in the country with the long +summer mornings as I approach number ten, where I +have finally resolved to make Dorrit rich. It should +be a very fine point in the story. . . . Nothing in Flora +made me laugh so much as the confusion of ideas +between gout flying upwards, and its soaring with Mr. +F—— to another sphere." He had himself no inconsiderable +enjoyment also of Mr. F.'s aunt; and in the +old rascal of a patriarch, the smooth-surfaced Casby, +and other surroundings of poor Flora, there was fun +enough to float an argosy of second-rates, assuming +such to have formed the staple of the tale. It would +be far from fair to say they did. The defect in the +book was less the absence of excellent character or +keen observation, than the want of ease and coherence +among the figures of the story, and of a central interest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_161" id="Page_3_161">[161]</a></span> +in the plan of it. The agencies that bring about +its catastrophe, too, are less agreeable even than in +<i>Bleak House;</i> and, most unlike that well-constructed +story, some of the most deeply considered things that +occur in it have really little to do with the tale itself. +The surface-painting of both Miss Wade and Tattycoram, +to take an instance, is anything but attractive, +yet there is under it a rare force of likeness in the +unlikeness between the two which has much subtlety +of intention; and they must both have had, as well as +Mr. Gowan himself, a striking effect in the novel, if +they had been made to contribute in a more essential +way to its interest or development. The failure nevertheless +had not been for want of care and study, as +well of his own design as of models by masters in his +art. A happier hint of apology, for example, could +hardly be given for Fielding's introduction of such an +episode as the Man of the Hill between the youth and +manhood of Blifil and Tom Jones, than is suggested +by what Dickens wrote of the least interesting part of +<i>Little Dorrit</i>. In the mere form, Fielding of course +was only following the lead of Cervantes and Le Sage; +but Dickens rightly judged his purpose also to have +been, to supply a kind of connection between the episode +and the story. "I don't see the practicability of +making the History of a Self-Tormentor, with which I +took great pains, a written narrative. But I do see the +possibility" (he saw the other practicability before the +number was published) "of making it a chapter by +itself, which might enable me to dispense with the +necessity of the turned commas. Do you think that +would be better? I have no doubt that a great part of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_162" id="Page_3_162">[162]</a></span> +Fielding's reason for the introduced story, and Smollett's +also, was, that it is sometimes really impossible +to present, in a full book, the idea it contains (which +yet it may be on all accounts desirable to present), +without supposing the reader to be possessed of almost +as much romantic allowance as would put him on a +level with the writer. In Miss Wade I had an idea, +which I thought a new one, of making the introduced +story so fit into surroundings impossible of separation +from the main story, as to make the blood of the book +circulate through both. But I can only suppose, from +what you say, that I have not exactly succeeded in this."</p> + +<p>Shortly after the date of his letter he was in London +on business connected with the purchase of Gadshill +Place, and he went over to the Borough to see what +traces were left of the prison of which his first impression +was taken in his boyhood, which had played so important +a part in this latest novel, and every brick and +stone of which he had been able to rebuild in his book +by the mere vividness of his marvellous memory. +"Went to the Borough yesterday morning before +going to Gadshill, to see if I could find any ruins of +the Marshalsea. Found a great part of the original +building—now 'Marshalsea Place.' Found the rooms +that have been in my mind's eye in the story. Found, +nursing a very big boy, a very small boy, who, seeing +me standing on the Marshalsea pavement, looking +about, told me how it all used to be. God knows how +he learned it (for he was a world too young to know +anything about it), but he was right enough. . . . There +is a room there—still standing, to my amazement—that +I think of taking! It is the room through which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_163" id="Page_3_163">[163]</a></span> +the ever-memorable signers of Captain Porter's petition +filed off in my boyhood. The spikes are gone, and +the wall is lowered, and anybody can go out now who +likes to go, and is not bedridden; and I said to the boy +'Who lives there?' and he said, 'Jack Pithick.' 'Who +is Jack Pithick?' I asked him. And he said, 'Joe +Pithick's uncle.'"</p> + +<p>Mention was made of this visit in the preface that +appeared with the last number; and all it is necessary +to add of the completed book will be, that, though in +the humour and satire of its finer parts not unworthy +of him, and though it had the clear design, worthy of +him in an especial degree, of contrasting, both in private +and in public life, and in poverty equally as in +wealth, duty done and duty not done, it made no material +addition to his reputation. His public, however, +showed no falling-off in its enormous numbers; and +what is said in one of his letters, noticeable for this +touch of character, illustrates his anxiety to avoid any +set-off from the disquiet that critical discourtesies might +give. "I was ludicrously foiled here the other night +in a resolution I have kept for twenty years not to know +of any attack upon myself, by stumbling, before I +could pick myself up, on a short extract in the <i>Globe</i> +from <i>Blackwood's Magazine</i>, informing me that <i>Little +Dorrit</i> is 'Twaddle.' I was sufficiently put out by it +to be angry with myself for being such a fool, and +then pleased with myself for having so long been constant +to a good resolution." There was a scene that +made itself part of history not four months after his +death, which, if he could have lived to hear of it, +might have more than consoled him. It was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_164" id="Page_3_164">[164]</a></span> +meeting of Bismarck and Jules Favre under the walls +of Paris. The Prussian was waiting to open fire on the +city; the Frenchman was engaged in the arduous task +of showing the wisdom of not doing it; and "we +learn," say the papers of the day, "that while the two +eminent statesmen were trying to find a basis of negotiation, +Von Moltke was seated in a corner reading +<i>Little Dorrit</i>." Who will doubt that the chapter on +<span class="smcap">How Not to do it</span> was then absorbing the old soldier's +attention?</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Preparations for the private play had gone on incessantly +up to Christmas, and, in turning the school-room +into a theatre, sawing and hammering worthy +of Babel continued for weeks. The priceless help of +Stanfield had again been secured, and I remember +finding him one day at Tavistock House in the act of +upsetting some elaborate arrangements by Dickens, +with a proscenium before him made up of chairs, and +the scenery planned out with walking-sticks. But +Dickens's art in a matter of this kind was to know +how to take advice; and no suggestion came to him +that he was not ready to act upon, if it presented the +remotest likelihood. In one of his great difficulties of +obtaining more space, for audience as well as actors, +he was told that Mr. Cooke of Astley's was a man of +much resource in that way; and to Mr. Cooke he +applied, with the following result. "One of the +finest things" (18th of October 1856) "I have ever +seen in my life of that kind was the arrival of my +friend Mr. Cooke one morning this week, in an open +phaeton drawn by two white ponies with black spots<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_165" id="Page_3_165">[165]</a></span> +all over them (evidently stencilled), who came in at +the gate with a little jolt and a rattle, exactly as they +come into the Ring when they draw anything, and +went round and round the centre bed of the front +court, apparently looking for the clown. A multitude +of boys who felt them to be no common ponies rushed +up in a breathless state—twined themselves like ivy +about the railings—and were only deterred from storming +the enclosure by the glare of the Inimitable's eye. +Some of these boys had evidently followed from +Astley's. I grieve to add that my friend, being taken +to the point of difficulty, had no sort of suggestion in +him; no gleam of an idea; and might just as well have +been the popular minister from the Tabernacle in Tottenham +Court Road. All he could say was—answering +me, posed in the garden, precisely as if I were the +clown asking him a riddle at night—that two of their +stable tents would be home in November, and that they +were '20 foot square,' and I was heartily welcome to +'em. Also, he said, 'You might have half a dozen of +my trapezes, or my middle-distance-tables, but they're +all 6 foot and all too low sir.' Since then, I have +arranged to do it in my own way, and with my own +carpenter. You will be surprised by the look of the +place. It is no more like the school-room than it is +like the sign of the Salutation Inn at Ambleside in +Westmoreland. The sounds in the house remind me, +as to the present time, of Chatham Dockyard—as to a +remote epoch, of the building of Noah's ark. Joiners +are never out of the house, and the carpenter appears +to be unsettled (or settled) for life."</p> + +<p>Of course time did not mend matters, and as Christmas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_166" id="Page_3_166">[166]</a></span> +approached the house was in a state of siege. +"All day long, a labourer heats size over the fire in a +great crucible. We eat it, drink it, breathe it, and +smell it. Seventy paint-pots (which came in a van) +adorn the stage; and <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'hereon'">thereon</ins> may be beheld, Stanny, +and three Dansons (from the Surrey Zoological Gardens), +all painting at once!! Meanwhile, Telbin, in a secluded +bower in Brewer-street, Golden-square, plies <i>his</i> part +of the little <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'under aking'">undertaking</ins>." How worthily it turned +out in the end, the excellence of the performances and +the delight of the audiences, became known to all +London; and the pressure for admittance at last took +the form of a tragi-comedy, composed of ludicrous +makeshifts and gloomy disappointments, with which +even Dickens's resources could not deal. "My audience +is now 93," he wrote one day in despair, "and +at least 10 will neither hear nor see." There was +nothing for it but to increase the number of nights; +and it was not until the 20th of January he described +"the workmen smashing the last atoms of the theatre."</p> + +<p>His book was finished soon after at Gadshill Place, +to be presently described, which he had purchased the +previous year, and taken possession of in February; +subscribing himself, in the letter announcing the fact, +as "the Kentish Freeholder on his native heath, his +name Protection."<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> The new abode occupied him in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_167" id="Page_3_167">[167]</a></span> +various ways in the early part of the summer; and +Hans Andersen the Dane had just arrived upon a visit +to him there, when Douglas Jerrold's unexpected death +befell. It was a shock to every one, and an especial +grief to Dickens. Jerrold's wit, and the bright shrewd +intellect that had so many triumphs, need no celebration +from me; but the keenest of satirists was one of +the kindliest of men, and Dickens had a fondness for +Jerrold as genuine as his admiration for him. "I +chance to know a good deal about the poor fellow's +illness, for I was with him on the last day he was out. +It was ten days ago, when we dined at a dinner given +by Russell at Greenwich. He was complaining much +when we met, said he had been sick three days, and +attributed it to the inhaling of white paint from his +study window. I did not think much of it at the +moment, as we were very social; but while we walked +through Leicester-square he suddenly fell into a white, +hot, sick perspiration, and had to lean against the +railings. Then, at my urgent request, he was to let +me put him in a cab and send him home; but he rallied +a little after that, and, on our meeting Russell, determined +to come with us. We three went down by +steamboat that we might see the great ship, and then +got an open fly and rode about Blackheath: poor +Jerrold mightily enjoying the air, and constantly +saying that it set him up. He was rather quiet at +dinner—sat next Delane—but was very humorous and +good, and in spirits, though he took hardly anything. +We parted with references to coming down here" +(Gadshill) "and I never saw him again. Next morning +he was taken very ill when he tried to get up. On<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_168" id="Page_3_168">[168]</a></span> +the Wednesday and Thursday he was very bad, but +rallied on the Friday, and was quite confident of +getting well. On the Sunday he was very ill again, +and on the Monday forenoon died; 'at peace with all +the world' he said, and asking to be remembered to +friends. He had become indistinct and insensible, +until for but a few minutes at the end. I knew nothing +about it, except that he had been ill and was better, +until, going up by railway yesterday morning, I heard +a man in the carriage, unfolding his newspaper, say to +another 'Douglas Jerrold is dead.' I immediately +went up there, and then to Whitefriars . . . I propose +that there shall be a night at a theatre when the actors +(with old Cooke) shall play the <i>Rent Day</i> and <i>Black-ey'd +Susan;</i> another night elsewhere, with a lecture +from Thackeray; a day reading by me; a night reading +by me; a lecture by Russell; and a subscription performance +of the <i>Frozen Deep</i>, as at Tavistock House. +I don't mean to do it beggingly; but merely to +announce the whole series, the day after the funeral, +'In memory of the late Mr. Douglas Jerrold,' or some +such phrase. I have got hold of Arthur Smith as the +best man of business I know, and go to work with him +to-morrow morning—inquiries being made in the meantime +as to the likeliest places to be had for these +various purposes. My confident hope is that we shall +get close upon two thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>The friendly enterprise was carried to the close with +a vigour, promptitude, and success, that well corresponded +with this opening. In addition to the performances +named, there were others in the country also +organized by Dickens, in which he took active personal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_169" id="Page_3_169">[169]</a></span> +part; and the result did not fall short of his expectations. +The sum was invested ultimately for our friend's +unmarried daughter, who still receives the income from +myself, the last surviving trustee.</p> + +<p>So passed the greater part of the summer,<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> and when +the country performances were over at the end of +August I had this intimation. "I have arranged with +Collins that he and I will start next Monday on a ten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_170" id="Page_3_170">[170]</a></span> +or twelve days' expedition to out-of-the-way places, to +do (in inns and coast-corners) a little tour in search of +an article and in avoidance of railroads. I must get a +good name for it, and I propose it in five articles, one +for the beginning of every number in the October part." +Next day: "Our decision is for a foray upon the fells +of Cumberland; I having discovered in the books some +promising moors and bleak places thereabout." Into +the lake-country they went accordingly; and The Lazy +Tour of Two Idle Apprentices, contributed to <i>Household +Words</i>, was a narrative of the trip. But his letters +had descriptive touches, and some whimsical personal +experiences, not in the published account.</p> + +<p>Looking over the <i>Beauties of England and Wales</i> +before he left London, his ambition was fired by mention +of Carrick Fell, "a gloomy old mountain 1500 +feet high," which he secretly resolved to go up. "We +came straight to it yesterday" (9th of September). +"Nobody goes up. Guides have forgotten it. Master +of a little inn, excellent north-countryman, volunteered. +Went up, in a tremendous rain. C. D. beat Mr. Porter +(name of landlord) in half a mile. Mr. P. done up in +no time. Three nevertheless went on. Mr. P. again +leading; C. D. and C." (Mr. Wilkie Collins) "following. +Rain terrific, black mists, darkness of night. Mr. +P. agitated. C. D. confident. C. (a long way down +in perspective) submissive. All wet through. No +poles. Not so much as a walking-stick in the party. +Reach the summit, at about one in the day. Dead +darkness as of night. Mr. P. (excellent fellow to the +last) uneasy. C. D. produces compass from pocket. +Mr. P. reassured. Farm-house where dog-cart was left,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_171" id="Page_3_171">[171]</a></span> +N.N.W. Mr. P. complimentary. Descent commenced. +C. D. with compass triumphant, until compass, with the +heat and wet of C. D.'s pocket, breaks. Mr. P. (who +never had a compass), inconsolable, confesses he has +not been on Carrick Fell for twenty years, and he don't +know the way down. Darker and darker. Nobody +discernible, two yards off, by the other two. Mr. P. +makes suggestions, but no way. It becomes clear to +C. D. and to C. that Mr. P. is going round and round +the mountain, and never coming down. Mr. P. sits +on angular granite, and says he is 'just fairly doon.' +C. D. revives Mr. P. with laughter, the only restorative +in the company. Mr. P. again complimentary. Descent +tried once more. Mr. P. worse and worse. Council of +war. Proposals from C. D. to go 'slap down.' Seconded +by C. Mr. P. objects, on account of precipice called +The Black Arches, and terror of the country-side. +More wandering. Mr. P. terror-stricken, but game. +Watercourse, thundering and roaring, reached. C. D. +suggests that it must run to the river, and had best be +followed, subject to all gymnastic hazards. Mr. P. opposes, +but gives in. Watercourse followed accordingly. +Leaps, splashes, and tumbles, for two hours. C. lost. +C. D. whoops. Cries for assistance from behind. C. D. +returns. C. with horribly sprained ankle, lying in +rivulet!"</p> + +<p>All the danger was over when Dickens sent his description; +but great had been the trouble in binding +up the sufferer's ankle and getting him painfully on, +shoving, shouldering, carrying alternately, till terra +firma was reached. "We got down at last in the +wildest place, preposterously out of the course; and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_172" id="Page_3_172">[172]</a></span> +propping up C. against stones, sent Mr. P. to the other +side of Cumberland for dog-cart, so got back to his +inn, and changed. Shoe or stocking on the bad foot, +out of the question. Foot tumbled up in a flannel +waistcoat. C. D. carrying C. melo-dramatically (Wardour +to the life!)<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> everywhere; into and out of carriages; +up and down stairs; to bed; every step. And +so to Wigton, got doctor, and here we are!! A pretty +business, we flatter ourselves!"</p> + +<p>Wigton, Dickens described as a place of little houses +all in half-mourning, yellow stone or white stone and +black, with the wonderful peculiarity that though it +had no population, no business, and no streets to speak +of, it had five linendrapers within range of their single +window, one linendraper's next door, and five more +linendrapers round the corner. "I ordered a night +light in my bed-room. A queer little old woman +brought me one of the common Child's night lights, +and, seeming to think that I looked at it with interest, +said, 'It's joost a vara keeyourious thing, sir, and joost +new coom oop. It'll burn awt hoors a' end, and no +gootther, nor no waste, nor ony sike a thing, if you +can creedit what I say, seein' the airticle.'" In these +primitive quarters there befell a difficulty about letters, +which Dickens solved in a fashion especially his own. +"The day after Carrick there was a mess about our +letters, through our not going to a place called Mayport. +So, while the landlord was planning how to get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_173" id="Page_3_173">[173]</a></span> +them (they were only twelve miles off), I walked off, +to his great astonishment, and brought them over." +The night after leaving Wigton they were at the Ship-hotel +in Allonby.</p> + +<p>Allonby his letters presented as a small untidy outlandish +place; rough stone houses in half mourning, a +few coarse yellow-stone lodging houses with black roofs +(bills in all the windows), five bathing-machines, five +girls in straw hats, five men in straw hats (wishing they +had not come); very much what Broadstairs would +have been if it had been born Irish, and had not inherited +a cliff. "But this is a capital little homely +inn, looking out upon the sea; with the coast of Scotland, +mountainous and romantic, over against the +windows; and though I can just stand upright in my +bedroom, we are really well lodged. It is a clean nice +place in a rough wild country, and we have a very +obliging and comfortable landlady." He had found +indeed, in the latter, an acquaintance of old date. +"The landlady at the little inn at Allonby, lived at +Greta-Bridge in Yorkshire when I went down there +before <i>Nickleby;</i> and was smuggled into the room to +see me, after I was secretly found out. She is an immensely +fat woman now. 'But I could tuck my arm +round her waist then, Mr. Dickens,' the landlord said +when she told me the story as I was going to bed the +night before last. 'And can't you do it now?' I said. +'You insensible dog! Look at me! Here's a picture!' +Accordingly I got round as much of her as I could; +and this gallant action was the most successful I have +ever performed, on the whole."</p> + +<p>On their way home the friends were at Doncaster,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_174" id="Page_3_174">[174]</a></span> +and this was Dickens's first experience of the St. Leger +and its saturnalia. His companion had by this time so +far recovered as to be able, doubled-up, to walk with a +thick stick; in which condition, "being exactly like +the gouty admiral in a comedy I have given him that +name." The impressions received from the race-week +were not favourable. It was noise and turmoil all day +long, and a gathering of vagabonds from all parts of +the racing earth. Every bad face that had ever caught +wickedness from an innocent horse had its representative +in the streets; and as Dickens, like Gulliver looking +down upon his fellow-men after coming from the +horse-country, looked down into Doncaster High-street +from his inn-window, he seemed to see everywhere +a then notorious personage who had just poisoned +his betting-companion. "Everywhere I see the late +Mr. Palmer with his betting-book in his hand. Mr. +Palmer sits next me at the theatre; Mr. Palmer goes +before me down the street; Mr. Palmer follows me into +the chemist's shop where I go to buy rose water after +breakfast, and says to the chemist 'Give us soom sal +volatile or soom damned thing o' that soort, in wather—my +head's bad!' And I look at the back of his bad +head repeated in long, long lines on the race course, +and in the betting stand and outside the betting rooms +in the town, and I vow to God that I can see nothing +in it but cruelty, covetousness, calculation, insensibility, +and low wickedness."</p> + +<p>Even a half-appalling kind of luck was not absent +from my friend's experiences at the race course, when, +what he called a "wonderful, paralysing, coincidence" +befell him. He bought the card; facetiously wrote<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_175" id="Page_3_175">[175]</a></span> +down three names for the winners of the three chief +races (never in his life having heard or thought of any +of the horses, except that the winner of the Derby, +who proved to be nowhere, had been mentioned to +him); "and, if you can believe it without your hair +standing on end, those three races were won, one after +another, by those three horses!!!" That was the St. +Leger-day, of which he also thought it noticeable, +that, though the losses were enormous, nobody had +won, for there was nothing but grinding of teeth and +blaspheming of ill-luck. Nor had matters mended on +the Cup-day, after which celebration "a groaning +phantom" lay in the doorway of his bed-room and +howled all night. <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Th'">The</ins> landlord came up in the morning +to apologise, "and said it was a gentleman who had +lost £1500 or £2000; and he had drunk a deal afterwards; +and then they put him to bed, and then he—took +the 'orrors, and got up, and yelled till morning."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_176" id="Page_3_176">[176]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> +Dickens might well believe, as he declared at the end +of his letter, that if a boy with any good in him, but +with a dawning propensity to sporting and betting, +were but brought to the Doncaster races soon enough, +it would cure him.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_177" id="Page_3_177">[177]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>WHAT HAPPENED AT THIS TIME.</h3> + +<h3>1857-1858.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Disappointments and Distastes—Compensations of Art—Misgivings—Restlessness +and Impatience—Reply to a Remonstrance—Visions of +Places to write Books in—Fruitless Aspirations—What lay behind—Sorrowful +Convictions—No Desire for Immunity from Blame—Counteracting +Influences weakened—Old Project revived—Disadvantages +of Public Reading—Speech for Children's Hospital—Unsolved +Mysteries—Hospital described—Appeal for Sick Children—Reasons +for and against Paid Readings—A Proposal from Mr. +Beale—Question of the Plunge—Mr. Arthur Smith—Change in +Home—Unwise Printed Statement—A "Violated Letter."</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">An</span> unsettled feeling greatly in excess of what was +usual with Dickens, more or less observable since his +first residence at Boulogne, became at this time almost +habitual, and the satisfactions which home should have +supplied, and which indeed were essential requirements +of his nature, he had failed to find in his home. He +had not the alternative that under this disappointment +some can discover in what is called society. It did +not suit him, and he set no store by it. No man was +better fitted to adorn any circle he entered, but beyond +that of friends and equals he rarely passed. He would +take as much pains to keep out of the houses of the +great as others take to get into them. Not always +wisely, it may be admitted. Mere contempt for toadyism +and flunkeyism was not at all times the prevailing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_178" id="Page_3_178">[178]</a></span> +motive with him which he supposed it to be. Beneath +his horror of those vices of Englishmen in his own +rank of life, there was a still stronger resentment at the +social inequalities that engender them, of which he was +not so conscious and to which he owned less freely. +Not the less it served secretly to justify what he might +otherwise have had no mind to. To say he was not a +gentleman would be as true as to say he was not a +writer; but if any one should assert his occasional +preference for what was even beneath his level over +that which was above it, this would be difficult of +disproof. It was among those defects of temperament +for which his early trials and his early successes were +accountable in perhaps equal measure. He was sensitive +in a passionate degree to praise and blame, which +yet he made it for the most part a point of pride to +assume indifference to; the inequalities of rank which +he secretly resented took more galling as well as glaring +prominence from the contrast of the necessities he had +gone through with the fame that had come to him; +and when the forces he most affected to despise assumed +the form of barriers he could not easily overleap, he was +led to appear frequently intolerant (for he very seldom +was really so) in opinions and language. His early +sufferings brought with them the healing powers of +energy, will, and persistence, and taught him the inexpressible +value of a determined resolve to live down +difficulties; but the habit, in small as in great things, +of renunciation and self-sacrifice, they did not teach; +and, by his sudden leap into a world-wide popularity +and influence, he became master of everything that +might seem to be attainable in life, before he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_179" id="Page_3_179">[179]</a></span> +mastered what a man must undergo to be equal to its +hardest trials.</p> + +<p>Nothing of all this has yet presented itself to notice, +except in occasional forms of restlessness and desire +of change of place, which were themselves, when his +books were in progress, so incident as well to the active +requirements of his fancy as to call, thus far, for no +other explanation. Up to the date of the completion +of <i>Copperfield</i> he had felt himself to be in possession +of an all-sufficient resource. Against whatever might +befall he had a set-off in his imaginative creations, a +compensation derived from his art that never failed +him, because there he was supreme. It was the world +he could bend to his will, and make subserve to all his +desires. He had otherwise, underneath his exterior +of a singular precision, method, and strictly orderly +arrangement in all things, and notwithstanding a temperament +to which home and home interests were +really a necessity, something in common with those +eager, impetuous, somewhat overbearing natures, that +rush at existence without heeding the cost of it, and +are not more ready to accept and make the most of its +enjoyments than to be easily and quickly overthrown +by its burdens.<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> But the world he had called into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_180" id="Page_3_180">[180]</a></span> +being had thus far borne him safely through these +perils. He had his own creations always by his side. +They were living, speaking companions. With them +only he was everywhere thoroughly identified. He +laughed and wept with them; was as much elated by +their fun as cast down by their grief; and brought to +the consideration of them a belief in their reality as +well as in the influences they were meant to exercise, +which in every circumstance sustained him.</p> + +<p>It was during the composition of <i>Little Dorrit</i> that I +think he first felt a certain strain upon his invention +which brought with it other misgivings. In a modified +form this was present during the latter portions of +<i>Bleak House</i>, of which not a few of the defects might +be traced to the acting excitements amid which it was +written; but the succeeding book made it plainer to +him; and it is remarkable that in the interval between +them he resorted for the first and only time in his life +to a practice, which he abandoned at the close of his +next and last story published in the twenty-number +form, of putting down written "Memoranda" of suggestions +for characters or incidents by way of resource +to him in his writing. Never before had his teeming +fancy seemed to want such help; the need being less +to contribute to its fullness than to check its overflowing;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_181" id="Page_3_181">[181]</a></span> +but it is another proof that he had been secretly +bringing before himself, at least, the possibility that +what had ever been his great support might some day +desert him. It was strange that he should have had +such doubt, and he would hardly have confessed it +openly; but apart from that wonderful world of his +books, the range of his thoughts was not always proportioned +to the width and largeness of his nature. +His ordinary circle of activity, whether in likings or +thinkings, was full of such surprising animation, that +one was apt to believe it more comprehensive than it +really was; and again and again, when a wide horizon +might seem to be ahead of him, he would pull up suddenly +and stop short, as though nothing lay beyond. +For the time, though each had its term and change, he +was very much a man of one idea, each having its turn +of absolute predominance; and this was one of the +secrets of the thoroughness with which everything he +took in hand was done. As to the matter of his +writings, the actual truth was that his creative genius +never really failed him. Not a few of his inventions +of character and humour, up to the very close of his +life, his Marigolds, Lirripers, Gargerys, Pips, Sapseas +and many others, were as fresh and fine as in his greatest +day. He had however lost the free and fertile method +of the earlier time. He could no longer fill a wide-spread +canvas with the same facility and certainty as +of old; and he had frequently a quite unfounded +apprehension of some possible break-down, of which +the end might be at any moment beginning. There +came accordingly, from time to time, intervals of unusual +impatience and restlessness, strange to me in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_182" id="Page_3_182">[182]</a></span> +connection with his home; his old pursuits were too +often laid aside for other excitements and occupations; +he joined a public political agitation, set on foot +by administrative reformers; he got up various quasi-public +private theatricals, in which he took the leading +place; and though it was but part of his always generous +devotion in any friendly duty to organize the series +of performances on his friend Jerrold's death, yet the +eagerness with which he flung himself into them, so +arranging them as to assume an amount of labour in +acting and travelling that might have appalled an +experienced comedian, and carrying them on week +after week unceasingly in London and the provinces, +expressed but the craving which still had possession of +him to get by some means at some change that should +make existence easier. What was highest in his nature +had ceased for the time to be highest in his life, and he +had put himself at the mercy of lower accidents and +conditions. The mere effect of the strolling wandering +ways into which this acting led him could not be other +than unfavourable. But remonstrance as yet was unavailing.</p> + +<p>To one very earnestly made in the early autumn of +1857, in which opportunity was taken to compare his +recent rush up Carrick Fell to his rush into other difficulties, +here was the reply. "Too late to say, put the +curb on, and don't rush at hills—the wrong man to say +it to. I have now no relief but in action. I am become +incapable of rest. I am quite confident I should +rust, break, and die, if I spared myself. Much better +to die, doing. What I am in that way, nature made +me first, and my way of life has of late, alas! confirmed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_183" id="Page_3_183">[183]</a></span> +I must accept the drawback—since it is one—with +the powers I have; and I must hold upon the +tenure prescribed to me." Something of the same +sad feeling, it is right to say, had been expressed from +time to time, in connection also with home dissatisfactions +and misgivings, through the three years preceding; +but I attributed it to other causes, and gave +little attention to it. During his absences abroad for +the greater part of 1854, '55, and '56, while the elder +of his children were growing out of childhood, and +his books were less easy to him than in his earlier manhood, +evidences presented themselves in his letters of +the old "unhappy loss or want of something" to which +he had given a pervading prominence in <i>Copperfield</i>. +In the first of those years he made express allusion to +the kind of experience which had been one of his descriptions +in that favourite book, and, mentioning the +drawbacks of his present life, had first identified it +with his own: "the so happy and yet so unhappy +existence which seeks its realities in unrealities, and +finds its dangerous comfort in a perpetual escape from +the disappointment of heart around it."</p> + +<p>Later in the same year he thus wrote from Boulogne: +"I have had dreadful thoughts of getting away somewhere +altogether by myself. If I could have managed +it, I think possibly I might have gone to the Pyreennees +(you know what I mean that word for, so I won't +re-write it) for six months! I have put the idea into +the perspective of six months, but have not abandoned +it. I have visions of living for half a year or so, in all +sorts of inaccessible places, and opening a new book +therein. A floating idea of going up above the snow-line<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_184" id="Page_3_184">[184]</a></span> +in Switzerland, and living in some astonishing +convent, hovers about me. If <i>Household Words</i> could +be got into a good train, in short, I don't know in +what strange place, or at what remote elevation above +the level of the sea, I might fall to work next. <i>Restlessness</i>, +you will say. Whatever it is, it is always +driving me, and I cannot help it. I have rested nine +or ten weeks, and sometimes feel as if it had been a +year—though I had the strangest nervous miseries before +I stopped. If I couldn't walk fast and far, I +should just explode and perish." Again, four months +later he wrote: "You will hear of me in Paris, probably +next Sunday, and I <i>may</i> go on to Bordeaux. +Have general ideas of emigrating in the summer to +the mountain-ground between France and Spain. Am +altogether in a dishevelled state of mind—motes of +new books in the dirty air, miseries of older growth +threatening to close upon me. Why is it, that as with +poor David, a sense comes always crushing on me now, +when I fall into low spirits, as of one happiness I have +missed in life, and one friend and companion I have +never made?"</p> + +<p>Early in 1856 (20th of January) the notion revisited +him of writing a book in solitude. "Again I am beset +by my former notions of a book whereof the whole +story shall be on the top of the Great St. Bernard. +As I accept and reject ideas for <i>Little Dorrit</i>, it perpetually +comes back to me. Two or three years hence, +perhaps you'll find me living with the Monks and the +Dogs a whole winter—among the blinding snows that +fall about that monastery. I have a serious idea that +I shall do it, if I live." He was at this date in Paris;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_185" id="Page_3_185">[185]</a></span> +and during the visit to him of Macready in the following +April, the self-revelations were resumed. The +great actor was then living in retirement at Sherborne, +to which he had gone on quitting the stage; and Dickens +gave favourable report of his enjoyment of the +change to his little holiday at Paris. Then, after recurring +to his own old notion of having some slight +idea of going to settle in Australia, only he could not +do it until he should have finished <i>Little Dorrit</i>, he +went on to say that perhaps Macready, if he could get +into harness again, would not be the worse for some +such troubles as were worrying himself. "It fills me +with pity to think of him away in that lonely Sherborne +place. I have always felt of myself that I must, +please God, die in harness, but I have never felt it +more strongly than in looking at, and thinking of, +him. However strange it is to be never at rest, and +never satisfied, and ever trying after something that is +never reached, and to be always laden with plot and +plan and care and worry, how clear it is that it must +be, and that one is driven by an irresistible might until +the journey is worked out! It is much better to go on +and fret, than to stop and fret. As to repose—for +some men there's no such thing in this life. The foregoing +has the appearance of a small sermon; but it is +so often in my head in these days that it cannot help +coming out. The old days—the old days! Shall I +ever, I wonder, get the frame of mind back as it used +to be then? Something of it perhaps—but never quite +as it used to be. I find that the skeleton in my domestic +closet is becoming a pretty big one."</p> + +<p>It would be unjust and uncandid not to admit that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_186" id="Page_3_186">[186]</a></span> +these and other similar passages in the letters that extended +over the years while he lived abroad, had served +in some degree as a preparation for what came after his +return to England in the following year. It came with +a great shock nevertheless; because it told plainly what +before had never been avowed, but only hinted at more +or less obscurely. The opening reference is to the reply +which had been made to a previous expression of +his wish for some confidences as in the old time. I give +only what is strictly necessary to account for what followed, +and even this with deep reluctance. "Your +letter of yesterday was so kind and hearty, and sounded +so gently the many chords we have touched together, +that I cannot leave it unanswered, though I have not +much (to any purpose) to say. My reference to 'confidences' +was merely to the relief of saying a word of +what has long been pent up in my mind. Poor Catherine +and I are not made for each other, and there is no +help for it. It is not only that she makes me uneasy +and unhappy, but that I make her so too—and much +more so. She is exactly what you know, in the way +of being amiable and complying; but we are strangely +ill-assorted for the bond there is between us. God +knows she would have been a thousand times happier +if she had married another kind of man, and that her +avoidance of this destiny would have been at least +equally good for us both. I am often cut to the heart +by thinking what a pity it is, for her own sake, that +I ever fell in her way; and if I were sick or disabled +to-morrow, I know how sorry she would be, and how +deeply grieved myself, to think how we had lost each +other. But exactly the same incompatibility would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_187" id="Page_3_187">[187]</a></span> +arise, the moment I was well again; and nothing on +earth could make her understand me, or suit us to each +other. Her temperament will not go with mine. It +mattered not so much when we had only ourselves to +consider, but reasons have been growing since which +make it all but hopeless that we should even try to +struggle on. What is now befalling me I have seen +steadily coming, ever since the days you remember +when Mary was born; and I know too well that you +cannot, and no one can, help me. Why I have even +written I hardly know; but it is a miserable sort of +comfort that you should be clearly aware how matters +stand. The mere mention of the fact, without any +complaint or blame of any sort, is a relief to my present +state of spirits—and I can get this only from you, +because I can speak of it to no one else." In the same +tone was his rejoinder to my reply. "To the most +part of what you say—Amen! You are not so tolerant +as perhaps you might be of the wayward and unsettled +feeling which is part (I suppose) of the tenure on which +one holds an imaginative life, and which I have, as you +ought to know well, often only kept down by riding +over it like a dragoon—but let that go by. I make no +maudlin complaint. I agree with you as to the very +possible incidents, even not less bearable than mine, +that might and must often occur to the married condition +when it is entered into very young. I am always +deeply sensible of the wonderful exercise I have of life +and its highest sensations, and have said to myself for +years, and have honestly and truly felt, This is the +drawback to such a career, and is not to be complained +of. I say it and feel it now as strongly as ever I did;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_188" id="Page_3_188">[188]</a></span> +and, as I told you in my last, I do not with that view +put all this forward. But the years have not made it +easier to bear for either of us; and, for her sake as well +as mine, the wish will force itself upon me that something +might be done. I know too well it is impossible. +There is the fact, and that is all one can say. Nor are +you to suppose that I disguise from myself what might +be urged on the other side. I claim no immunity from +blame. There is plenty of fault on my side, I dare say, +in the way of a thousand uncertainties, caprices, and +difficulties of disposition; but only one thing will alter +all that, and that is, the end which alters everything."</p> + +<p>It will not seem to most people that there was anything +here which in happier circumstances might not +have been susceptible of considerate adjustment; but +all the circumstances were unfavourable, and the moderate +middle course which the admissions in that letter +might wisely have prompted and wholly justified, was +unfortunately not taken. Compare what before was +said of his temperament, with what is there said by +himself of its defects, and the explanation will not be +difficult. Every counteracting influence against the +one idea which now predominated over him had been +so weakened as to be almost powerless. His elder +children were no longer children; his books had lost +for the time the importance they formerly had over +every other consideration in his life; and he had not +in himself the resource that such a man, judging him +from the surface, might be expected to have had. Not +his genius only, but his whole nature, was too exclusively +made up of sympathy for, and with, the real in +its most intense form, to be sufficiently provided against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_189" id="Page_3_189">[189]</a></span> +failure in the realities around him. There was for him +no "city of the mind" against outward ills, for inner +consolation and shelter. It was in and from the actual +he still stretched forward to find the freedom and satisfactions +of an ideal, and by his very attempts to escape +the world he was driven back into the thick of it. But +what he would have sought there, it supplies to none; +and to get the infinite out of anything so finite, has +broken many a stout heart.</p> + +<p>At the close of that last letter from Gadshill (5th +of September) was this question—"What do you think +of my paying for this place, by reviving that old idea +of some Readings from my books. I am very strongly +tempted. Think of it." The reasons against it had +great force, and took, in my judgment, greater from +the time at which it was again proposed. The old +ground of opposition remained. It was a substitution +of lower for higher aims; a change to commonplace +from more elevated pursuits; and it had so much of +the character of a public exhibition for money as to +raise, in the question of respect for his calling as a +writer, a question also of respect for himself as a gentleman. +This opinion, now strongly reiterated, was +referred ultimately to two distinguished ladies of his +acquaintance, who decided against it.<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> Yet not without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_190" id="Page_3_190">[190]</a></span> +such momentary misgiving in the direction of +"the stage," as pointed strongly to the danger, which, +by those who took the opposite view, was most of all +thought incident to the particular time of the proposal. +It might be a wild exaggeration to fear that he +was in danger of being led to adopt the stage as a calling, +but he was certainly about to place himself within +reach of not a few of its drawbacks and disadvantages. +To the full extent he perhaps did not himself know, +how much his eager present wish to become a public +reader was but the outcome of the restless domestic +discontents of the last four years; and that to indulge +it, and the unsettled habits inseparable from it, was to +abandon every hope of resettling his disordered home. +There is nothing, in its application to so divine a +genius as Shakespeare, more affecting than his expressed +dislike to a profession, which, in the jealous +self-watchfulness of his noble nature, he feared might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_191" id="Page_3_191">[191]</a></span> +hurt his mind.<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> The long subsequent line of actors +admirable in private as in public life, and all the +gentle and generous associations of the histrionic art, +have not weakened the testimony of its greatest name +against its less favourable influences; against the laxity +of habits it may encourage; and its public manners, +bred of public means, not always compatible with +home felicities and duties. But, freely open as Dickens +was to counsel in regard of his books, he was, for +reasons formerly stated,<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> less accessible to it on points +of personal conduct; and when he had neither self-distrust +nor self-denial to hold him back, he would +push persistently forward to whatever object he had in +view.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_192" id="Page_3_192">[192]</a></span></p><p>An occurrence of the time hastened the decision in +this case. An enterprise had been set on foot for +establishment of a hospital for sick children;<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> a large +old-fashioned mansion in Great Ormond-street, with +spacious garden, had been fitted up with more than +thirty beds; during the four or five years of its existence, +outdoor and indoor relief had been afforded by +it to nearly fifty thousand children, of whom thirty +thousand were under five years of age; but, want of +funds having threatened to arrest the merciful work, it +was resolved to try a public dinner by way of charitable +appeal, and for president the happy choice was made +of one who had enchanted everybody with the joys and +sorrows of little children. Dickens threw himself into +the service heart and soul. There was a simple pathos +in his address from the chair quite startling in its effect +at such a meeting; and he probably never moved any +audience so much as by the strong personal feeling with +which he referred to the sacrifices made for the Hospital +by the very poor themselves: from whom a subscription +of fifty pounds, contributed in single pennies, had +come to the treasurer during almost every year it had +been open. The whole speech, indeed, is the best of +the kind spoken by him; and two little pictures from +it, one of the misery he had witnessed, the other of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_193" id="Page_3_193">[193]</a></span> +remedy he had found, should not be absent from the +picture of his own life.</p> + +<p>"Some years ago, being in Scotland, I went with one +of the most humane members of the most humane of +professions, on a morning tour among some of the worst +lodged inhabitants of the old town of Edinburgh. In +the closes and wynds of that picturesque place (I am +sorry to remind you what fast friends picturesqueness +and typhus often are), we saw more poverty and sickness +in an hour than many people would believe in, in +a life. Our way lay from one to another of the most +wretched dwellings, reeking with horrible odours; shut +out from the sky and from the air, mere pits and dens. +In a room in one of these places, where there was an +empty porridge-pot on the cold hearth, a ragged woman +and some ragged children crouching on the bare ground +near it,—and, I remember as I speak, where the very +light, refracted from a high damp-stained wall outside, +came in trembling, as if the fever which had shaken +everything else had shaken even it,—there lay, in an +old egg-box which the mother had begged from a shop, +a little, feeble, wan, sick child. With his little wasted +face, and his little hot worn hands folded over his +breast, and his little bright attentive eyes, I can see +him now, as I have seen him for several years, looking +steadily at us. There he lay in his small frail box, +which was not at all a bad emblem of the small body +from which he was slowly parting—there he lay, quite +quiet, quite patient, saying never a word. He seldom +cried, the mother said; he seldom complained; 'he +lay there, seemin' to woonder what it was a' aboot.' +God knows, I thought, as I stood looking at him, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_194" id="Page_3_194">[194]</a></span> +had his reasons for wondering. . . . Many a poor child, +sick and neglected, I have seen since that time in London; +many have I also seen most affectionately tended, +in unwholesome houses and hard circumstances where +recovery was impossible: but at all such times I have +seen my little drooping friend in his egg-box, and he +has always addressed his dumb wonder to me what it +meant, and why, in the name of a gracious God, such +things should be! . . . But, ladies and gentlemen," +Dickens added, "such things need <span class="smcap">not</span> be, and will +not be, if this company, which is a drop of the life-blood +of the great compassionate public heart, will +only accept the means of rescue and prevention which +it is mine to offer. Within a quarter of a mile of this +place where I speak, stands a once courtly old house, +where blooming children were born, and grew up to be +men and women, and married, and brought their own +blooming children back to patter up the old oak staircase +which stood but the other day, and to wonder at +the old oak carvings on the chimney-pieces. In the +airy wards into which the old state drawing-rooms and +family bedchambers of that house are now converted, +are lodged such small patients that the attendant nurses +look like reclaimed giantesses, and the kind medical +practitioner like an amiable Christian ogre. Grouped +about the little low tables in the centre of the rooms, +are such tiny convalescents that they seem to be playing +at having been ill. On the doll's beds are such diminutive +creatures that each poor sufferer is supplied with its +tray of toys: and, looking round, you may see how the +little tired flushed cheek has toppled over half the brute +creation on its way into the ark; or how one little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_195" id="Page_3_195">[195]</a></span> +dimpled arm has mowed down (as I saw myself) the +whole tin soldiery of Europe. On the walls of these +rooms are graceful, pleasant, bright, childish pictures. +At the beds' heads, hang representations of the figure +which is the universal embodiment of all mercy and +compassion, the figure of Him who was once a child +Himself, and a poor one. But alas! reckoning up the +number of beds that are there, the visitor to this Child's +Hospital will find himself perforce obliged to stop at +very little over thirty; and will learn, with sorrow and +surprise, that even that small number, so forlornly, so +miserably diminutive compared with this vast London, +cannot possibly be maintained unless the Hospital be +made better known. I limit myself to saying better +known, because I will not believe that in a Christian +community of fathers and mothers, and brothers and +sisters, it can fail, being better known, to be well and +richly-endowed." It was a brave and true prediction. +The Child's Hospital has never since known want. +That night alone added greatly more than three thousand +pounds to its funds, and Dickens put the crown to +his good work by reading on its behalf, shortly afterwards, +his <i>Christmas Carol;</i> when the sum realized, +and the urgent demand that followed for a repetition +of the pleasure given by the reading, bore down farther +opposition to the project of his engaging publicly in +such readings for himself.</p> + +<p>The Child's Hospital night was the 9th of February, +its Reading was appointed for the 15th of April, and, +nearly a month before, renewed efforts at remonstrance +had been made. "Your view of the reading matter," +Dickens replied, "I still think is unconsciously taken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_196" id="Page_3_196">[196]</a></span> +from your own particular point. You don't seem to +me to get out of yourself in considering it. A word +more upon it. You are not to think I have made up +my mind. If I had, why should I not say so? I find +very great difficulty in doing so because of what you +urge, because I know the question to be a balance of +doubts, and because I most honestly feel in my innermost +heart, in this matter (as in all others for years and +years), the honour of the calling by which I have +always stood most conscientiously. But do you quite +consider that the public exhibition of oneself takes +place equally, whosoever may get the money? And +have you any idea that at this moment—this very time—half +the public at least supposes me to be paid? +My dear F, out of the twenty or five-and-twenty letters +a week that I get about Readings, twenty will ask at +what price, or on what terms, it can be done. The +only exceptions, in truth, are when the correspondent +is a clergyman, or a banker, or the member for the +place in question. Why, at this very time half Scotland +believes that I am paid for going to Edinburgh!—Here +is Greenock writes to me, and asks could it +be done for a hundred pounds? There is Aberdeen +writes, and states the capacity of its hall, and says, +though far less profitable than the very large hall in +Edinburgh, is it not enough to come on for? W. answers +such letters continually. (—At this place, enter +Beale. He called here yesterday morning, and then +wrote to ask if I would see him to-day. I replied +'Yes,' so here he came in. With long preface called +to know whether it was possible to arrange anything +in the way of Readings for this autumn—say, six<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_197" id="Page_3_197">[197]</a></span> +months. Large capital at command. Could produce +partners, in such an enterprise, also with large capital. +Represented such. Returns would be enormous. +Would I name a sum? a minimum sum that I required +to have, in any case? Would I look at it as a Fortune, +and in no other point of view? I shook my head, +and said, my tongue was tied on the subject for the +present; I might be more communicative at another +time. Exit Beale in confusion and disappointment.)—You +will be happy to hear that at one on Friday, +the Lord Provost, Dean of Guild, Magistrates, and +Council of the ancient city of Edinburgh will wait +(in procession) on their brother freeman, at the Music +Hall, to give him hospitable welcome. Their brother +freeman has been cursing their stars and his own, ever +since the receipt of solemn notification to this effect." +But very grateful, when it came, was the enthusiasm +of the greeting, and welcome the gift of the silver +wassail-bowl which followed the reading of the <i>Carol</i>. +"I had no opportunity of asking any one's advice in +Edinburgh," he wrote on his return. "The crowd +was too enormous, and the excitement in it much too +great. But my determination is all but taken. I must +do <i>something</i>, or I shall wear my heart away. I can see +no better thing to do that is half so hopeful in itself, +or half so well suited to my restless state."</p> + +<p>What is pointed at in those last words had been +taken as a ground of objection, and thus he turned it +into an argument the other way. During all these +months many sorrowful misunderstandings had continued +in his home, and the relief sought from the +misery had but the effect of making desperate any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_198" id="Page_3_198">[198]</a></span> +hope of a better understanding. "It becomes necessary," +he wrote at the end of March, "with a view to +the arrangements that would have to be begun next +month if I decided on the Readings, to consider and +settle the question of the Plunge. Quite dismiss from +your mind any reference whatever to present circumstances +at home. Nothing can put <i>them</i> right, until +we are all dead and buried and risen. It is not, with +me, a matter of will, or trial, or sufferance, or good +humour, or making the best of it, or making the worst +of it, any longer. It is all despairingly over. Have +no lingering hope of, or for, me in this association. +A dismal failure has to be borne, and there an end. +Will you then try to think of this reading project (as I +do) apart from all personal likings and dislikings, and +solely with a view to its effect on that peculiar relation +(personally affectionate, and like no other man's) +which subsists between me and the public? I want +your most careful consideration. If you would like, +when you have gone over it in your mind, to discuss +the matter with me and Arthur Smith (who would +manage the whole of the business, which I should +never touch); we will make an appointment. But I +ought to add that Arthur Smith plainly says, 'Of the +immense return in money, I have no doubt. Of the +Dash into the new position, however, I am not so good +a judge.' I enclose you a rough note<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> of my project, +as it stands in my mind."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_199" id="Page_3_199">[199]</a></span></p> +<p>Mr. Arthur Smith, a man possessed of many qualities +that justified the confidence Dickens placed in +him, might not have been a good judge of the "Dash" +into the new position, but no man knew better every +disadvantage incident to it, or was less likely to be +disconcerted by any. His exact fitness to manage the +scheme successfully, made him an unsafe counsellor +respecting it. Within a week from this time the reading +for the Charity was to be given. "They have +let," Dickens wrote on the 9th of April, "five hundred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_200" id="Page_3_200">[200]</a></span> +stalls for the Hospital night; and as people come +every day for more, and it is out of the question to +make more, they cannot be restrained at St. Martin's +Hall from taking down names for other readings." +This closed the attempt at further objection. Exactly +a fortnight after the reading for the children's hospital, +on Thursday the 29th April, came the first public reading +for his own benefit; and before the next month was +over, this launch into a new life had been followed by +a change in his old home. Thenceforward he and his +wife lived apart. The eldest son went with his mother, +Dickens at once giving effect to her expressed wish in +this respect; and the other children remained with +himself, their intercourse with Mrs. Dickens being left +entirely to themselves. It was thus far an arrangement +of a strictly private nature, and no decent person +could have had excuse for regarding it in any other +light, if public attention had not been unexpectedly +invited to it by a printed statement in <i>Household +Words</i>. Dickens was stung into this by some miserable +gossip at which in ordinary circumstances no man +would more determinedly have been silent; but he had +now publicly to show himself, at stated times, as a +public entertainer, and this, with his name even so +aspersed, he found to be impossible. All he would +concede to my strenuous resistance against such a publication, +was an offer to suppress it, if, upon reference +to the opinion of a certain distinguished man (still +living), that opinion should prove to be in agreement +with mine. Unhappily it fell in with his own, +and the publication went on. It was followed by another +statement, a letter subscribed with his name,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_201" id="Page_3_201">[201]</a></span> +which got into print without his sanction; nothing +publicly being known of it (I was not among those +who had read it privately) until it appeared in the +<i>New York Tribune</i>. It had been addressed and given +to Mr. Arthur Smith as an authority for correction of +false rumours and scandals, and Mr. Smith had given +a copy of it, with like intention, to the <i>Tribune</i> correspondent +in London. Its writer referred to it always +afterwards as his "violated letter."</p> + +<p>The course taken by the author of this book at the +time of these occurrences, will not be departed from +here. Such illustration of grave defects in Dickens's +character as the passage in his life affords, I have not +shrunk from placing side by side with such excuses in +regard to it as he had unquestionable right to claim +should be put forward also. How far what remained +of his story took tone or colour from it, and especially +from the altered career on which at the same time he +entered, will thus be sufficiently explained; and with +anything else the public have nothing to do.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_202" id="Page_3_202">[202]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>GADSHILL PLACE.</h3> + +<h3>1856-1870.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">First Description of Gadshill Place—Negociations for Purchase—Becomes +his Home in 1859—Gadshill a Century Ago—Antecedents of +Dickens's House—Exterior and Porch—Gradual Additions—Later +Changes—Swiss Châlet presented by Mr. Fechter—Dickens's +Writing-table—Making Gadshill his Home—Planting Trees—New +Conservatory—Course of Daily Life—Dickens's Dogs—A Dog with +a Taste—Favourite Walks—Cooling Churchyard.</div> + + +<p>"<span class="smcap">I was</span> better pleased with Gadshill Place last +Saturday," he wrote to me from Paris on the 13th of +February 1856, "on going down there, even than I +had prepared myself to be. The country, against +every disadvantage of season, is beautiful; and the +house is so old fashioned, cheerful, and comfortable, +that it is really pleasant to look at. The good old +Rector now there, has lived in it six and twenty years, +so I have not the heart to turn him out. He is to +remain till Lady-Day next year, when I shall go in, +please God; make my alterations; furnish the house; +and keep it for myself that summer." Returning to +England through the Kentish country with Mr. Wilkie +Collins in July, other advantages occurred to him. "A +railroad opened from Rochester to Maidstone, which +connects Gadshill at once with the whole sea coast, is +certainly an addition to the place, and an enhancement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_203" id="Page_3_203">[203]</a></span> +of its value. Bye and bye we shall have the +London, Chatham and Dover, too; and that will bring +it within an hour of Canterbury and an hour and a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_204" id="Page_3_204">[204]</a></span> +half of Dover. I am glad to hear of your having been +in the neighbourhood. There is no healthier (marshes +avoided), and none in my eyes more beautiful. One +of these days I shall show you some places up the +Medway with which you will be charmed."</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 290px;"> +<img src="images/image22_porch_gads.jpg" width="290" height="450" alt="THE PORCH AT GADSHILL." title="THE PORCH AT GADSHILL." /> +<span class="caption">THE PORCH AT GADSHILL.</span> +</div> + +<p>The association with his youthful fancy that first +made the place attractive to him has been told; and +it was with wonder he had heard one day, from his +friend and fellow worker at <i>Household Words</i>, Mr. W. +H. Wills, that not only was the house for sale to which +he had so often looked wistfully, but that the lady +chiefly interested as its owner had been long known +and much esteemed by himself. Such curious chances +led Dickens to his saying about the smallness of the +world; but the close relation often found thus existing +between things and persons far apart, suggests not so +much the smallness of the world as the possible importance +of the least things done in it, and is better +explained by the grander teaching of Carlyle, that +causes and effects, connecting every man and thing +with every other, extend through all space and time.</p> + +<p>It was at the close of 1855 the negociation for its +purchase began. "They wouldn't," he wrote (25th of +November), "take £1700 for the Gadshill property, but +'finally' wanted £1800. I have finally offered £1750. +It will require an expenditure of about £300 more +before yielding £100 a year." The usual discovery +of course awaited him that this first estimate would +have to be increased threefold. "The changes absolutely +necessary" (9th of February 1856) "will take +a thousand pounds; which sum I am always resolving +to squeeze out of this, grind out of that, and wring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_205" id="Page_3_205">[205]</a></span> +out of the other; this, that, and the other generally +all three declining to come up to the scratch for the +purpose." "This day,"<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> he wrote on the 14th of +March, "I have paid the purchase money for Gadshill +Place. After drawing the cheque (£1790) I turned +round to give it to Wills, and said, 'Now isn't it an +extraordinary thing—look at the Day—Friday! I have +been nearly drawing it half a dozen times when the +lawyers have not been ready, and here it comes round +upon a Friday as a matter of course.'" He had no +thought at this time of reserving the place wholly for +himself, or of making it his own residence except at +intervals of summer. He looked upon it as an investment +only. "You will hardly know Gadshill again," +he wrote in January 1858, "I am improving it so much—yet +I have no interest in the place." But continued +ownership brought increased liking; he took more and +more interest in his own improvements, which were +just the kind of occasional occupation and resource +his life most wanted in its next seven or eight years; +and any farther idea of letting it he soon abandoned +altogether. It only once passed out of his possession +thus, for four months in 1859; in the following year, +on the sale of Tavistock House, he transferred to it his +books and pictures and choicer furniture; and thenceforward, +varied only by houses taken from time to time +for the London season, he made it his permanent +family abode. Now and then, even during those years,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_206" id="Page_3_206">[206]</a></span> +he would talk of selling it; and on his last return from +America, when he had sent the last of his sons out into +the world, he really might have sold it if he could +then have found a house in London suitable to him, +and such as he could purchase. But in this he failed; +secretly to his own satisfaction, as I believe; and thereupon, +in that last autumn of his life, he projected and +carried out his most costly addition to Gadshill. +Already of course more money had been spent upon it +than his first intention in buying it would have justified. +He had so enlarged the accommodation, improved the +grounds and offices, and added to the land, that, taking +also into account this final outlay, the reserved price +placed upon the whole after his death more than quadrupled +what he had given in 1856 for the house, shrubbery, +and twenty years' lease of a meadow field. It +was then purchased, and is now inhabited, by his +eldest son.</p> + +<p>Its position has been described, and one of the last-century-histories +of Rochester quaintly mentions the +principal interest of the locality. "Near the twenty-seventh +stone from London is Gadshill, supposed to +have been the scene of the robbery mentioned by +Shakespeare in his play of Henry IV; there being reason +to think also that it was Sir John Falstaff, of truly +comic memory, who under the name of Oldcastle inhabited +Cooling Castle of which the ruins are in the +neighbourhood. A small distance to the left appears +on an eminence the Hermitage the seat of the late Sir +Francis Head, Bart;<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> and close to the road, on a small<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_207" id="Page_3_207">[207]</a></span> +ascent, is a neat building lately erected by Mr. Day. +In descending Strood-hill is a fine prospect of Strood, +Rochester, and Chatham, which three towns form a +continued street extending above two miles in length." +It had been supposed<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> that "the neat building lately +erected by Mr. Day" was that which the great novelist +made famous; but Gadshill Place had no existence until +eight years after the date of the history. The good +rector who so long lived in it told me, in 1859, that it +had been built eighty years before by a then well-known +character in those parts, one Stevens, father-in-law of +Henslow the Cambridge professor of botany. Stevens, +who could only with much difficulty manage to write +his name, had begun life as ostler at an inn; had become +husband to the landlord's widow; then a brewer; +and finally, as he subscribed himself on one occasion, +"mare" of Rochester. Afterwards the house was inhabited +by Mr. Lynn (from some of the members of +whose family Dickens made his purchase); and, before +the Rev. Mr. Hindle became its tenant, it was inhabited +by a Macaroni parson named Townshend, whose +horses the Prince Regent bought, throwing into the +bargain a box of much desired cigars. Altogether the +place had notable associations even apart from those +which have connected it with the masterpieces of English +humour. "<span class="smcap">This House, Gadshill Place</span>, stands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_208" id="Page_3_208">[208]</a></span> +on the summit of Shakespeare's Gadshill, ever memorable +for its association with Sir John Falstaff in his +noble fancy. <i>But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, +by four o'clock, early at Gadshill! there are pilgrims +going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding +to London with fat purses: I have vizards for you +all; you have horses for yourselves.</i>" Illuminated by +Mr. Owen Jones, and placed in a frame on the first-floor +landing, these words were the greeting of the new +tenant to his visitors. It was his first act of ownership.</p> + +<p>All his improvements, it should perhaps be remarked, +were not exclusively matters of choice; and to illustrate +by his letters what befell at the beginning of his changes, +will show what attended them to the close. His earliest +difficulty was very grave. There was only one spring +of water for gentlefolk and villagers, and from some of +the houses or cottages it was two miles away. "We are +still" (6th of July) "boring for water here, at the rate +of two pounds per day for wages. The men seem to +like it very much, and to be perfectly comfortable." +Another of his earliest experiences (5th of September) +was thus expressed: "Hop-picking is going on, and +people sleep in the garden, and breathe in at the keyhole +of the house door. I have been amazed, before +this year, by the number of miserable lean wretches, +hardly able to crawl, who go hop-picking. I find it is +a superstition that the dust of the newly picked hop, +falling freshly into the throat, is a cure for consumption. +So the poor creatures drag themselves along the roads, +and sleep under wet hedges, and get cured soon and +finally." Towards the close of the same month (24th +of September) he wrote: "Here are six men perpetually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_209" id="Page_3_209">[209]</a></span> +going up and down the well (I know that somebody +will be killed), in the course of fitting a pump; which +is quite a railway terminus—it is so iron, and so big. +The process is much more like putting Oxford-street +endwise, and laying gas along it, than anything else. +By the time it is finished, the cost of this water will be +something absolutely frightful. But of course it proportionately +increases the value of the property, and +that's my only comfort. . . . The horse has gone lame +from a sprain, the big dog has run a tenpenny nail into +one of his hind feet, the bolts have all flown out of the +basket-carriage, and the gardener says all the fruit trees +want replacing with new ones." Another note came +in three days. "I have discovered that the seven miles +between Maidstone and Rochester is one of the most +beautiful walks in England. Five men have been looking +attentively at the pump for a week, and (I should +hope) may begin to fit it in the course of October." . . .</p> + +<p>With even such varying fortune he effected other +changes.<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> The exterior remained to the last much as +it was when he used as a boy to see it first; a plain, +old-fashioned, two-story, brick-built country house, +with a bell-turret on the roof, and over the front door +a quaint neat wooden porch with pillars and seats. +But, among his additions and alterations, was a new +drawing-room built out from the smaller existing one,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_210" id="Page_3_210">[210]</a></span> +both being thrown together ultimately; two good bedrooms +built on a third floor at the back; and such rearrangement +of the ground floor as, besides its handsome +drawing-room, and its dining-room which he +hung with pictures, transformed its bedroom into a +study which he lined with books and sometimes wrote +in, and changed its breakfast-parlour into a retreat +fitted up for smokers into which he put a small billiard-table. +These several rooms opened from a hall +having in it a series of Hogarth prints, until, after the +artist's death, Stanfield's noble scenes were placed +there, when the Hogarths were moved to his bedroom; +and in this hall, during his last absence in America, a +parquet floor was laid down. Nor did he omit such +changes as might increase the comfort of his servants. +He built entirely new offices and stables, and replaced +a very old coach-house by a capital servants' hall, +transforming the loft above into a commodious school-room +or study for his boys. He made at the same +time an excellent croquet-ground out of a waste piece +of orchard.</p> + +<p>Belonging to the house, but unfortunately placed on +the other side of the high road, was a shrubbery, well +wooded though in desolate condition, in which stood +two magnificent cedars; and having obtained, in 1859, +the consent of the local authorities for the necessary +underground work, Dickens constructed a passage beneath +the road<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> from his front lawn; and in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_211" id="Page_3_211">[211]</a></span> +shrubbery thus rendered accessible, and which he then +laid out very prettily, he placed afterwards a Swiss +châlet<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> presented to him by Mr. Fechter, which arrived +from Paris in ninety-four pieces fitting like the +joints of a puzzle, but which proved to be somewhat +costly in setting on its legs by means of a foundation +of brickwork. Once up, however, it was a great resource +in the summer months, and much of Dickens's +work was done there. "I have put five mirrors in the +châlet where I write,"<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> he told an American friend,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_212" id="Page_3_212">[212]</a></span> +"and they reflect and refract, in all kinds of ways, the +leaves that are quivering at the windows, and the great +fields of waving corn, and the sail-dotted river. My +room is up among the branches of the trees; and the +birds and the butterflies fly in and out, and the green +branches shoot in at the open windows, and the lights +and shadows of the clouds come and go with the rest +of the company. The scent of the flowers, and indeed +of everything that is growing for miles and miles, is +most delicious." He used to make great boast, too, +not only of his crowds of singing birds all day, but +of his nightingales at night.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 295px;"> +<img src="images/image23_chalet.jpg" width="295" height="400" alt="THE CHÂLET." title="THE CHÂLET." /> +<span class="caption">THE <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'CHALÊT.'">CHÂLET.</ins></span> +</div> + +<p>One or two more extracts from letters having reference +to these changes may show something of the +interest to him with which Gadshill thus grew under +his hands. A sun-dial on his back-lawn had a bit of +historic interest about it. "One of the balustrades of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_213" id="Page_3_213">[213]</a></span> +the destroyed old Rochester Bridge," he wrote to his +daughter in June 1859, "has been (very nicely) presented +to me by the contractors for the works, and +has been duly stone-masoned and set up on the lawn +behind the house. I have ordered a sun-dial for the +top of it, and it will be a very good object indeed." +"When you come down here next month," he wrote +to me, "we have an idea that we shall show you rather<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_214" id="Page_3_214">[214]</a></span> +a neat house. What terrific adventures have been in +action; how many overladen vans were knocked up +at Gravesend, and had to be dragged out of Chalk-turnpike +in the dead of the night by the whole equine +power of this establishment; shall be revealed at +another time." That was in the autumn of 1860, +when, on the sale of his London house, its contents +were transferred to his country home. "I shall have +an alteration or two to show you at Gadshill that +greatly improve the little property; and when I get +the workmen out this time, I think I'll leave off." +October 1861 had now come, when the new bedrooms +were built; but in the same month of 1863 he announced +his transformation of the old coach-house. +"I shall have a small new improvement to show you +at Gads, which I think you will accept as the crowning +ingenuity of the inimitable." But of course it was not +over yet. "My small work and planting," he wrote +in the spring of 1866, "really, truly, and positively +the last, are nearly at an end in these regions, and the +result will await summer inspection." No, nor even +yet. He afterwards obtained, by exchange of some +land with the trustees of Watts's Charity, the much +coveted meadow at the back of the house of which +heretofore he had the lease only; and he was then +able to plant a number of young limes and <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'chesnuts'">chestnuts</ins> +and other quick-growing trees. He had already planted +a row of limes in front. He had no idea, he would +say, of planting only for the benefit of posterity, but +would put into the ground what he might himself enjoy +the sight and shade of. He put them in two or three +clumps in the meadow, and in a belt all round.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_215" id="Page_3_215">[215]</a></span></p> + +<p>Still there were "more last words," for the limit +was only to be set by his last year of life. On +abandoning his notion, after the American Readings, +of exchanging Gadshill for London, a new staircase +was put up from the hall; a parquet floor laid on +the first landing; and a conservatory built, opening +into both drawing-room and dining-room, "glass and +iron," as he described it, "brilliant but expensive, with +foundations as of an ancient Roman work of horrible +solidity." This last addition had long been an object +of desire with him; though he would hardly even now +have given himself the indulgence but for the golden +shower from America. He saw it first in a completed +state on the Sunday before his death, when his younger +daughter was on a visit to him. "Well, Katey," he +said to her, "now you see <span class="smcap">positively</span> the last improvement +at Gadshill;" and every one laughed at the joke +against himself. The success of the new conservatory +was unquestionable. It was the remark of all around +him that he was certainly, from this last of his improvements, +drawing more enjoyment than from any +of its predecessors, when the scene for ever closed.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/image24_house.jpg" width="450" height="326" alt="HOUSE AND CONSERVATORY: FROM THE MEADOW." title="HOUSE AND CONSERVATORY: FROM THE MEADOW." /> +<span class="caption">HOUSE AND CONSERVATORY: FROM THE MEADOW.</span> +</div> + +<p>Of the course of his daily life in the country there +is not much to be said. Perhaps there was never a man +who changed places so much and habits so little. He +was always methodical and regular; and passed his life +from day to day, divided for the most part between +working and walking, the same wherever he was. The +only exception was when special or infrequent visitors +were with him. When such friends as Longfellow and +his daughters, or Charles Eliot Norton and his wife, +came, or when Mr. Fields brought his wife and Professor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_216" id="Page_3_216">[216]</a></span> +Lowell's daughter, or when he received other +Americans to whom he owed special courtesy, he would +compress into infinitely few days an enormous amount +of sight seeing and country enjoyment, castles, cathedrals, +and fortified lines, lunches and picnics among +cherry orchards and hop-gardens, excursions to Canterbury +or Maidstone and their beautiful neighbourhoods, +Druid-stone and Blue Bell Hill. "All the +neighbouring country that could be shown in so short +a time," he wrote of the Longfellow visit, "they saw. +I turned out a couple of postilions in the old red jackets +of the old red royal Dover road for our ride, and it +was like a holiday ride in England fifty years ago." +For Lord Lytton he did the same, for the Emerson +Tennents, for Mr. Layard and Mr. Helps, for Lady<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_217" id="Page_3_217">[217]</a></span> +Molesworth and the Higginses (Jacob Omnium), and +such other less frequent visitors.</p> + +<p>Excepting on such particular occasions however, and +not always even then, his mornings were reserved +wholly to himself; and he would generally preface his +morning work (such was his love of order in everything +around him) by seeing that all was in its place in the +several rooms, visiting also the dogs, stables, and +kitchen garden, and closing, unless the weather was +very bad indeed, with a turn or two round the meadow +before settling to his desk. His dogs were a great +enjoyment to him;<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> and, with his high road traversed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_218" id="Page_3_218">[218]</a></span> +as frequently as any in England by tramps and wayfarers +of a singularly undesirable description, they were +also a necessity. There were always two, of the mastiff +kind, but latterly the number increased. His own +favourite was Turk, a noble animal, full of affection +and intelligence, whose death by a railway-accident, +shortly after the Staplehurst catastrophe, caused him +great grief. Turk's sole companion up to that date +was Linda, puppy of a great St. Bernard brought over +by Mr. Albert Smith, and grown into a superbly beautiful +creature. After Turk there was an interval of an +Irish dog, Sultan, given by Mr. Percy Fitzgerald; a +cross between a St. Bernard and a bloodhound, built +and coloured like a lioness and of splendid proportions, +but of such indomitably aggressive propensities, that, +after breaking his kennel-chain and nearly devouring a +luckless little sister of one of the servants, he had to +be killed. Dickens always protested that Sultan was a +Fenian, for that no dog, not a secretly sworn member +of that body, would ever have made such a point, +muzzled as he was, of rushing at and bearing down +with fury anything in scarlet with the remotest resemblance +to a British uniform. Sultan's successor was +Don, presented by Mr. Frederic Lehmann, a grand +Newfoundland brought over very young, who with +Linda became parent to a couple of Newfoundlands, +that were still gambolling about their master, huge, +though hardly out of puppydom, when they lost him. +He had given to one of them the name of Bumble, +from having observed, as he described it, "a peculiarly +pompous and overbearing manner he had of appearing +to mount guard over the yard when he was an absolute<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_219" id="Page_3_219">[219]</a></span> +infant." Bumble was often in scrapes. Describing +to Mr. Fields a drought in the summer of 1868, when +their poor supply of ponds and surface wells had become +waterless, he wrote: "I do not let the great +dogs swim in the canal, because the people have to +drink of it. But when they get into the Medway, it is +hard to get them out again. The other day Bumble +(the son, Newfoundland dog) got into difficulties among +some floating timber, and became frightened. Don +(the father) was standing by me, shaking off the wet +and looking on carelessly, when all of a sudden he +perceived something amiss, and went in with a bound +and brought Bumble out by the ear. The scientific +way in which he towed him along was charming." +The description of his own reception, on his reappearance +after America, by Bumble and his brother, by the +big and beautiful Linda, and by his daughter Mary's +handsome little Pomeranian, may be added from his +letters to the same correspondent. "The two Newfoundland +dogs coming to meet me, with the usual +carriage and the usual driver, and beholding me coming +in my usual dress out at the usual door, it struck +me that their recollection of my having been absent +for any unusual time was at once cancelled. They +behaved (they are both young dogs) exactly in their +usual manner; coming behind the basket phaeton as +we trotted along, and lifting their heads to have their +ears pulled, a special attention which they receive from +no one else. But when I drove into the stable-yard, +Linda (the St. Bernard) was greatly excited; weeping +profusely, and throwing herself on her back that she +might caress my foot with her great fore-paws. Mary's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_220" id="Page_3_220">[220]</a></span> +little dog too, Mrs. Bouncer, barked in the greatest +agitation on being called down and asked by Mary, +'Who is this?' and tore round and round me like the +dog in the Faust outlines." The father and mother +and their two sons, four formidable-looking companions, +were with him generally in his later walks.</p> +<div class="figright" style="width: 286px;"><a name="study" id="study"></a> +<img src="images/image25_study.jpg" width="286" height="400" alt="THE STUDY AT GADSHILL." title="THE STUDY AT GADSHILL." /> +<span class="caption">THE STUDY AT GADSHILL.</span> +</div> + +<p>Round Cobham, skirting the park and village and +passing the Leather Bottle famous in the page of <i>Pickwick</i>, +was a favourite walk with Dickens. By Rochester +and the Medway, to the Chatham Lines, was +another. He would turn out of Rochester High-street +through The Vines (where some old buildings, from +one of which called Restoration-house he took Satis-house +for <i>Great Expectations</i>, had a curious attraction +for him), would pass round by Fort Pitt, and coming +back by Frindsbury would bring himself by some cross +fields again into the high road. Or, taking the other +side, he would walk through the marshes to Gravesend, +return by Chalk church, and stop always to have greeting +with a comical old monk who for some incomprehensible +reason sits carved in stone, cross-legged with +a jovial pot, over the porch of that sacred edifice. To +another drearier churchyard, itself forming part of the +marshes beyond the Medway, he often took friends to +show them the dozen small tombstones of various sizes +adapted to the respective ages of a dozen small children +of one family which he made part of his story of +<i>Great Expectations</i>, though, with the reserves always +necessary in copying nature not to overstep her modesty +by copying too closely, he makes the number that +appalled little Pip not more than half the reality. +About the whole of this Cooling churchyard, indeed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_221" id="Page_3_221">[221]</a></span> +and the neighbouring castle ruins, there was a weird +strangeness that made it one of his attractive walks in +the late year or winter, when from Higham he could +get to it across country over the stubble fields; and, +for a shorter summer walk, he was not less fond of going +round the village of Shorne, and sitting on a hot afternoon +in its pretty shaded churchyard. But on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_222" id="Page_3_222">[222]</a></span> +whole, though Maidstone had also much that attracted +him to its neighbourhood, the Cobham neighbourhood +was certainly that which he had greatest pleasure in; +and he would have taken oftener than he did the walk +through Cobham park and woods, which was the last +he enjoyed before life suddenly closed upon him, but +that here he did not like his dogs to follow.</p> + + +<p>Don now has his home there with Lord Darnley, and +Linda lies under one of the cedars at Gadshill.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_223" id="Page_3_223">[223]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>FIRST PAID READINGS.</h3> + +<h3>1858-1859.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">First Series—Exeter Audience—Impressions of Dublin—Irish Car-driver—Young +Ireland and Old England—Reception in Belfast—At +Harrogate—At York—At Manchester—Continued Successes—Scene +at Edinburgh—At Dundee—At Aberdeen and Perth—At Glasgow—Glasgow +Audience—Subjects of First Readings—First Library +Edition of his Books—At Coventry—Frith's Portrait of Dickens.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Dickens</span> gave his paid public Readings successively, +with not long intervals, at four several dates; in +1858-9, in 1861-63, in 1866-67, and in 1868-70; the +first series under Mr. Arthur Smith's management, +the second under Mr. Headland's, and the third and +fourth, in America as well as before and after it, under +that of Mr. George Dolby, who, excepting in America, +acted for the Messrs. Chappell. The references in the +present chapter are to the first series only.</p> + +<p>It began with sixteen nights at St. Martin's Hall, the +first on the 29th of April, the last on the 22nd of July, +1858; and there was afterwards a provincial tour of +87 readings, beginning at Clifton on the 2nd of August, +ending at Brighton on the 13th of November, and +taking in Ireland and Scotland as well as the principal +English cities: to which were added, in London, three +Christmas readings, three in January, with two in the +following month; and, in the provinces in the month<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_224" id="Page_3_224">[224]</a></span> +of October, fourteen, beginning at Ipswich and Norwich, +taking in Cambridge and Oxford, and closing +with Birmingham and Cheltenham. The series had +comprised altogether 125 Readings when it ended on +the 27th of October, 1859; and without the touches +of character and interest afforded by his letters written +while thus employed, the picture of the man would not +be complete.</p> + +<p>Here was one day's work at the opening which will +show something of the fatigue they involved even at +their outset. "On Friday we came from Shrewsbury to +Chester; saw all right for the evening; and then went +to Liverpool. Came back from Liverpool and read at +Chester. Left Chester at 11 at night, after the reading, +and went to London. Got to Tavistock House at 5 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> +on Saturday, left it at a quarter past 10 that morning, +and came down here" (Gadshill: 15th of August 1858).</p> + +<p>The "greatest personal affection and respect" had +greeted him everywhere. Nothing could have been +"more strongly marked or warmly expressed;" and +the readings had "gone" quite wonderfully. What in +this respect had most impressed him, at the outset of +his adventures, was Exeter. "I think they were the +finest audience I ever read to; I don't think I ever +read in some respects so well; and I never beheld anything +like the personal affection which they poured out +upon me at the end. I shall always look back upon it +with pleasure." He often lost his voice in these early +days, having still to acquire the art of husbanding it; +and in the trial to recover it would again waste its +power. "I think I sang half the Irish melodies to myself +as I walked about, to test it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_225" id="Page_3_225">[225]</a></span></p> + +<p>An audience of two thousand three hundred people +(the largest he had had) greeted him at Liverpool on +his way to Dublin, and, besides the tickets sold, more +than two hundred pounds in money was taken at the +doors. This taxed his business staff a little. "They +turned away hundreds, sold all the books, rolled on +the ground of my room knee-deep in checks, and made +a perfect pantomime of the whole thing." (20th of +August.) He had to repeat the reading thrice.<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a></p> + +<p>It was the first time he had seen Ireland, and Dublin +greatly surprised him by appearing to be so much larger +and more populous than he had supposed. He found +it to have altogether an unexpectedly thriving look, +being pretty nigh as big, he first thought, as Paris; of +which some places in it, such as the quays on the river, +reminded him. Half the first day he was there, he +took to explore it; walking till tired, and then taking +a car. "Power, dressed for the character of Teddy the +Tiler, drove me: in a suit of patches, and with his hat +unbrushed for twenty years. Wonderfully pleasant, +light, intelligent, and careless."<a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> The number of common<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_226" id="Page_3_226">[226]</a></span> +people he saw in his drive, "also riding about in +cars as hard as they could split," brought to his recollection +a more distant scene, and but for the dresses he +could have thought himself on the Toledo at Naples.</p> + +<p>In respect of the number of his audience, and their +reception of him, Dublin was one of his marked successes. +He came to have some doubt of their capacity +of receiving the pathetic, but of their quickness as to +the humorous there could be no question, any more +than of their heartiness. He got on wonderfully well +with the Dublin people.<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> The Boots at Morrison's +expressed the general feeling in a patriotic point of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_227" id="Page_3_227">[227]</a></span> +view. "He was waiting for me at the hotel door last +night. 'Whaat sart of a hoose sur?' he asked me. +'Capital.' 'The Lard be praised fur the 'onor 'o +Dooblin!'" Within the hotel, on getting up next +morning, he had a dialogue with a smaller resident, +landlord's son he supposed, a little boy of the ripe age +of six, which he presented, in his letter to his sister-in-law, +as a colloquy between Old England and Young +Ireland inadequately reported for want of the "imitation" +it required for its full effect. "I am sitting on +the sofa, writing, and find him sitting beside me.</p> + +<p>"<i>Old England.</i> Halloa old chap.</p> + +<p>"<i>Young Ireland.</i> Hal—loo!</p> + +<p>"<i>Old England</i> (in his delightful way). What a nice +old fellow you are. I am very fond of little boys.</p> + +<p>"<i>Young Ireland.</i> Air yes? Ye'r right.</p> + +<p>"<i>Old England.</i> What do you learn, old fellow?</p> + +<p>"<i>Young Ireland</i> (very intent on Old England, and +always childish except in his brogue). I lairn wureds +of three sillibils—and wureds of two sillibils—and +wureds of one sillibil.</p> + +<p>"<i>Old England</i> (cheerfully). Get out, you humbug! +You learn only words of one syllable.</p> + +<p>"<i>Young Ireland</i> (laughs heartily). You may say that +it is mostly wureds of one sillibil.</p> + +<p>"<i>Old England.</i> Can you write?</p> + +<p>"<i>Young Ireland,</i> Not yet. Things comes by deegrays.</p> + +<p>"<i>Old England.</i> Can you cipher?</p> + +<p>"<i>Young Ireland</i> (very quickly). Whaat's that?</p> + +<p>"<i>Old England.</i> Can you make figures?</p> + +<p>"<i>Young Ireland.</i> I can make a nought, which is not +asy, being roond.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_228" id="Page_3_228">[228]</a></span></p> + +<p>"<i>Old England.</i> I say, old boy! Wasn't it you I saw +on Sunday morning in the Hall, in a soldier's cap? +You know!—In a soldier's cap?</p> + +<p>"<i>Young Ireland</i> (cogitating deeply). Was it a very +good cap?</p> + +<p>"<i>Old England.</i> Yes.</p> + +<p>"<i>Young Ireland.</i> Did it fit ankommon?</p> + +<p>"<i>Old England.</i> Yes.</p> + +<p>"<i>Young Ireland.</i> Dat was me!"</p> + +<p>The last night in Dublin was an extraordinary scene. +"You can hardly imagine it. All the way from the +hotel to the Rotunda (a mile), I had to contend against +the stream of people who were turned away. When +I got there, they had broken the glass in the pay-boxes, +and were offering £5 freely for a stall. Half of my +platform had to be taken down, and people heaped in +among the ruins. You never saw such a scene."<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> But +he would not return after his other Irish engagements. +"I have positively said No. The work is too hard. It +is not like doing it in one easy room, and always the +same room. With a different place every night, and a +different audience with its own peculiarity every night, +it is a tremendous strain. . . . I seem to be always +either in a railway carriage or reading, or going to +bed; and I get so knocked up whenever I have a minute +to remember it, that then I go to bed as a matter +of course."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_229" id="Page_3_229">[229]</a></span></p> +<p>Belfast he liked quite as much as Dublin in another +way. "A fine place with a rough people; everything +looking prosperous; the railway ride from Dublin quite +amazing in the order, neatness, and cleanness of all +you see; every cottage looking as if it had been whitewashed +the day before; and many with charming gardens, +prettily kept with bright flowers." The success, +too, was quite as great. "Enormous audiences. We +turn away half the town.<a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> I think them a better audience +on the whole than Dublin; and the personal affection +is something overwhelming. I wish you and the +dear girls" (he is writing to his sister-in-law) "could +have seen the people look at me in the street; or heard +them ask me, as I hurried to the hotel after the reading +last night, to 'do me the honor to shake hands Misther +Dickens and God bless you sir; not ounly for the light +you've been to me this night, but for the light you've +been in mee house sir (and God love your face!) this +many a year!'"<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> He had never seen men "go in to +cry so undisguisedly," as they did at the Belfast <i>Dombey</i> +reading; and as to the <i>Boots</i> and <i>Mrs. Gamp</i> "it +was just one roar with me and them. For they made +me laugh so, that sometimes I <i>could not</i> compose my +face to go on." His greatest trial in this way however<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_230" id="Page_3_230">[230]</a></span> +was a little later at Harrogate—"the queerest place, +with the strangest people in it, leading the oddest lives +of dancing, newspaper-reading, and tables d'hôte"—where +he noticed, at the same reading, embodiments +respectively of the tears and laughter to which he has +moved his fellow creatures so largely. "There was +one gentleman at the <i>Little Dombey</i> yesterday morning" +(he is still writing to his sister-in-law) "who +exhibited—or rather concealed—the profoundest grief. +After crying a good deal without hiding it, he covered +his face with both his hands, and laid it down on the +back of the seat before him, and really shook with +emotion. He was not in mourning, but I supposed +him to have lost some child in old time. . . . There +was a remarkably good fellow too, of thirty or so, who +found something so very ludicrous in Toots that he +<i>could not</i> compose himself at all, but laughed until he +sat wiping his eyes with his handkerchief; and whenever +he felt Toots coming again, he began to laugh +and wipe his eyes afresh; and when Toots came once +more, he gave a kind of cry, as if it were too much for +him. It was uncommonly droll, and made me laugh +heartily."</p> + +<p>At Harrogate he read twice on one day (a Saturday), +and had to engage a special engine to take him +back that night to York, which, having reached at one +o'clock in the morning, he had to leave, because of +Sunday restrictions on travel, the same morning at +half-past four, to enable him to fulfil a Monday's reading +at Scarborough. Such fatigues became matters of +course; but their effect, not noted at the time, was +grave. "At York I had a most magnificent audience,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_231" id="Page_3_231">[231]</a></span> +and might have filled the place for a week. . . . I +think the audience possessed of a better knowledge of +character than any I have seen. But I recollect Doctor +Belcombe to have told me long ago that they first +found out Charles Mathews's father, and to the last +understood him (he used to say) better than any other +people. . . . The let is enormous for next Saturday at +Manchester, stalls alone four hundred! I shall soon +be able to send you the list of places to the 15th of +November, the end. I shall be, O most heartily glad, +when that time comes! But I must say that the intelligence +and warmth of the audiences are an immense +sustainment, and one that always sets me up. Sometimes +before I go down to read (especially when it is +in the day), I am so oppressed by having to do it that +I feel perfectly unequal to the task. But the people +lift me out of this directly; and I find that I have +quite forgotten everything but them and the book, in +a quarter of an hour."</p> + +<p>The reception that awaited him at Manchester had +very special warmth in it, occasioned by an adverse +tone taken in the comment of one of the Manchester +daily papers on the letter which by a breach of confidence +had been then recently printed. "My violated +letter" Dickens always called it. "When I came to +Manchester on Saturday I found seven hundred stalls +taken! When I went into the room at night 2500 +people had paid, and more were being turned away +from every door. The welcome they gave me was +astounding in its affectionate recognition of the late +trouble, and fairly for once unmanned me. I never +saw such a sight or heard such a sound. When they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_232" id="Page_3_232">[232]</a></span> +had thoroughly done it, they settled down to enjoy +themselves; and certainly did enjoy themselves most +heartily to the last minute." Nor, for the rest of his +English tour, in any of the towns that remained, had +he reason to complain of any want of hearty greeting. +At Sheffield great crowds came in excess of the places. +At Leeds the hall overflowed in half an hour. At Hull +the vast concourse had to be addressed by Mr. Smith +on the gallery stairs, and additional Readings had to +be given, day and night, "for the people out of town +and for the people in town."</p> + +<p>The net profit to himself, thus far, had been upwards +of three hundred pounds a week;<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> but this was nothing +to the success in Scotland, where his profit in a week, +with all expenses paid, was five hundred pounds. The +pleasure was enhanced, too, by the presence of his two +daughters, who had joined him over the Border. At +first the look of Edinburgh was not promising. "We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_233" id="Page_3_233">[233]</a></span> +began with, for us, a poor room. . . . But the effect of +that reading (it was the <i>Chimes</i>) was immense; and on +the next night, for <i>Little Dombey</i>, we had a full room. +It is our greatest triumph everywhere. Next night +(<i>Poor Traveller</i>, <i>Boots</i>, and <i>Gamp</i>) we turned away +hundreds upon hundreds of people; and last night, for +the <i>Carol</i>, in spite of advertisements in the morning +that the tickets were gone, the people had to be got in +through such a crowd as rendered it a work of the +utmost difficulty to keep an alley into the room. They +were seated about me on the platform, put into the +doorway of the waiting-room, squeezed into every conceivable +place, and a multitude turned away once more. +I think I am better pleased with what was done in +Edinburgh than with what has been done anywhere, +almost. It was so completely taken by storm, and +carried in spite of itself. Mary and Katey have been +infinitely pleased and interested with Edinburgh. We +are just going to sit down to dinner and therefore I cut +my missive short. Travelling, dinner, reading, and +everything else, come crowding together into this +strange life."</p> + +<p>Then came Dundee: "An odd place," he wrote, +"like Wapping with high rugged hills behind it. We +had the strangest journey here—bits of sea, and bits +of railroad, alternately; which carried my mind back +to travelling in America. The room is an immense +new one, belonging to Lord Kinnaird, and Lord Panmure, +and some others of that sort. It looks something +between the Crystal-palace and Westminster-hall +(I can't imagine who wants it in this place), and has +never been tried yet for speaking in. Quite disinterestedly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_234" id="Page_3_234">[234]</a></span> +of course, I hope it will succeed." The people +he thought, in respect of taste and intelligence, below +any other of his Scotch audiences; but they woke up +surprisingly, and the rest of his Caledonian tour was +a succession of triumphs. "At Aberdeen we were +crammed to the street, twice in one day. At Perth +(where I thought when I arrived, there literally could +be nobody to come) the gentlefolk came posting in +from thirty miles round, and the whole town came +besides, and filled an immense hall. They were as full +of perception, fire, and enthusiasm as any people I +have seen. At Glasgow, where I read three evenings +and one morning, we took the prodigiously large sum +of six hundred pounds! And this at the Manchester +prices, which are lower than St. Martin's Hall. As to +the effect—I wish you could have seen them after Lilian +died in the <i>Chimes</i>, or when Scrooge woke in the +<i>Carol</i> and talked to the boy outside the window. And +at the end of <i>Dombey</i> yesterday afternoon, in the cold +light of day, they all got up, after a short pause, gentle +and simple, and thundered and waved their hats with +such astonishing heartiness and fondness that, for the +first time in all my public career, they took me completely +off my legs, and I saw the whole eighteen hundred +of them reel to one side as if a shock from without +had shaken the hall. Notwithstanding which, I must +confess to you, I am very anxious to get to the end of +my Readings, and to be at home again, and able to sit +down and think in my own study. There has been only +one thing quite without alloy. The dear girls have +enjoyed themselves immensely, and their trip with me +has been a great success."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_235" id="Page_3_235">[235]</a></span></p> + +<p>The subjects of his readings during this first circuit +were the <i>Carol</i>, the <i>Chimes</i>, the <i>Trial in Pickwick</i>, the +chapters containing <i>Paul Dombey</i>, <i>Boots at the Holly +Tree Inn</i>, the <i>Poor Traveller</i> (Captain Doubledick), +and <i>Mrs. Gamp:</i> to which he continued to restrict +himself through the supplementary nights that closed +in the autumn of 1859.<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> Of these the most successful +in their uniform effect upon his audiences were undoubtedly +the <i>Carol</i>, the <i>Pickwick</i> scene, <i>Mrs. Gamp</i>, +and the <i>Dombey</i>—the quickness, variety, and completeness +of his assumption of character, having greatest +scope in these. Here, I think, more than in the pathos +or graver level passages, his strength lay; but this is +entitled to no weight other than as an individual +opinion, and his audiences gave him many reasons for +thinking differently.<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a></p> + +<p>The incidents of the period covered by this chapter +that had any general interest in them, claim to be +mentioned briefly. At the close of 1857 he presided +at the fourth anniversary of the Warehousemen and +Clerks' Schools, describing and discriminating, with +keenest wit and kindliest fun, the sort of schools he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_236" id="Page_3_236">[236]</a></span> +liked and he disliked. To the spring and summer of +1858 belongs the first collection of his writings into a +succinct library form, each of the larger novels occupying +two volumes. In March he paid warm public +tribute to Thackeray (who had been induced to take +the chair at the General Theatrical Fund) as one for +whose genius he entertained the warmest admiration, +who did honour to literature, and in whom literature +was honoured. In May he presided at the Artists' +Benevolent Fund dinner, and made striking appeal for +that excellent charity. In July he took earnest part in +the opening efforts on behalf of the Royal Dramatic +College, which he supplemented later by a speech for +the establishment of schools for actors' children; in +which he took occasion to declare his belief that there +were no institutions in England so socially liberal as +its public schools, and that there was nowhere in the +country so complete an absence of servility to mere +rank, position, or riches. "A boy, there, is always +what his abilities or his personal qualities make him. +We may differ about the curriculum and other matters, +but of the frank, free, manly, independent spirit preserved +in our public schools, I apprehend there can be +no kind of question." In December<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> he was entertained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_237" id="Page_3_237">[237]</a></span> +at a public dinner in Coventry on the occasion +of receiving, by way of thanks for help rendered to +their Institute, a gold repeater of special construction +by the watchmakers of the town; as to which he kept +faithfully his pledge to the givers, that it should be +thenceforward the inseparable companion of his workings +and wanderings, and reckon off the future labours +of his days until he should have done with the measurement +of time. Within a day from this celebration, he +presided at the Institutional Association of Lancashire +and Cheshire in Manchester Free Trade Hall; gave +prizes to candidates from a hundred and fourteen local +mechanics' institutes affiliated to the Association; described +in his most attractive language the gallant +toiling fellows by whom the prizes had been won; +and ended with the monition he never failed to couple +with his eulogies of Knowledge, that it should follow +the teaching of the Saviour, and not satisfy the understanding +merely. "Knowledge has a very limited +power when it informs the head only; but when it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_238" id="Page_3_238">[238]</a></span> +informs the heart as well, it has a power over life and +death, the body and the soul, and dominates the universe."</p> + +<p>This too was the year when Mr. Frith completed +Dickens's portrait, and it appeared upon the walls of +the Academy in the following spring. "I wish," said +Edwin Landseer as he stood before it, "he looked less +eager and busy, and not so much out of himself, or beyond +himself. I should like to catch him asleep and +quiet now and then." There is something in the objection, +and he also would be envious at times of what +he too surely knew could never be his lot. On the +other hand who would willingly have lost the fruits of +an activity on the whole so healthy and beneficent?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_239" id="Page_3_239">[239]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>ALL THE YEAR ROUND AND THE UNCOMMERCIAL +TRAVELLER.</h3> + +<h3>1859-1861.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><i>All the Year Round</i> started—<i>Household Words</i> discontinued—Differences +with Mr. Bentley—In Search of a Name for New Periodical—Opening +a Story—Success of New Periodical—At Knebworth +with Bulwer Lytton—Sale of Christmas Numbers—Commercial +Travellers' Schools—Personal References—Remedy for Sleeplessness—"Tramp" +Experiences—Reduced Bantams—Bethnal-green +Fowls—The Goldfinch and his Friend—Offers from America—Visit +of Mr. Fields.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the interval before the close of the first circuit of +readings, painful personal disputes arising out of the +occurrences of the previous year were settled by the +discontinuance of <i>Household Words</i>, and the establishment +in its place of <i>All the Year Round</i>. The disputes +turned upon matters of feeling exclusively, and involved +no charge on either side that would render any detailed +reference here other than gravely out of place. The +question into which the difference ultimately resolved +itself was that of the respective rights of the parties as +proprietors of <i>Household Words;</i> and this, upon a bill +filed in Chancery, was settled by a winding-up order, +under which the property was sold. It was bought by +Dickens, who, even before the sale, exactly fulfilling a +previous announcement of the proposed discontinuance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_240" id="Page_3_240">[240]</a></span> +of the existing periodical and establishment of another +in its place, precisely similar but under a different title, +had started <i>All the Year Round</i>. It was to be regretted +perhaps that he should have thought it necessary to +move at all, but he moved strictly within his rights.</p> + +<p>To the publishers first associated with his great success +in literature, Messrs. Chapman and Hall, he now +returned for the issue of the remainder of his books; +of which he always in future reserved the copyrights, +making each the subject of such arrangement as for the +time might seem to him desirable. In this he was met +by no difficulty; and indeed it will be only proper to +add, that, in any points affecting his relations with those +concerned in the production of his books, though his +resentments were easily and quickly roused, they were +never very lasting. The only fair rule therefore was, in +a memoir of his life, to confine the mention of such +things to what was strictly necessary to explain its narrative. +This accordingly has been done; and, in the +several disagreements it has been necessary to advert to, +I cannot charge myself with having in a single instance +overstepped the rule. Objection has been made to my +revival of the early differences with Mr. Bentley. But +silence respecting them was incompatible with what +absolutely required to be said, if the picture of Dickens +in his most interesting time, at the outset of his career +in letters, was not to be omitted altogether; and, suppressing +everything of mere temper that gathered round +the dispute, use was made of those letters only containing +the young writer's urgent appeal to be absolved, +rightly or wrongly, from engagements he had too precipitately +entered into. Wrongly, some might say,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_241" id="Page_3_241">[241]</a></span> +because the law was undoubtedly on Mr. Bentley's +side; but all subsequent reflection has confirmed the +view I was led strongly to take at the time, that in the +facts there had come to be involved what the law could +not afford to overlook, and that the sale of brain-work +can never be adjusted by agreement with the same exactness +and certainty as that of ordinary goods and +chattels. Quitting the subject once for all with this +remark, it is not less incumbent on me to say that there +was no stage of the dispute in which Mr. Bentley, holding +as strongly the other view, might not think it to +have sufficient justification; and certainly in later years +there was no absence of friendly feeling on the part of +Dickens to his old publisher. This already has been +mentioned; and on the occasion of Hans Andersen's +recent visit to Gadshill, Mr. Bentley was invited to +meet the celebrated Dane. Nor should I omit to say, +that, in the year to which this narrative has now arrived, +his prompt compliance with an intercession made to +him for a common friend pleased Dickens greatly.</p> + +<p>At the opening of 1859, bent upon such a successor +to <i>Household Words</i> as should carry on the associations +connected with its name, Dickens was deep in search +of a title to give expression to them. "My determination +to settle the title arises out of my knowledge that +I shall never be able to do anything for the work until +it has a fixed name; also out of my observation that the +same odd feeling affects everybody else." He had proposed +to himself a title that, as in <i>Household Words</i>, +might be capable of illustration by a line from Shakespeare; +and alighting upon that wherein poor Henry the +Sixth is fain to solace his captivity by the fancy, that,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_242" id="Page_3_242">[242]</a></span> +like birds encaged he might soothe himself for loss of +liberty "at last by notes of household harmony," he +for the time forgot that this might hardly be accepted +as a happy comment on the occurrences out of which +the supposed necessity had arisen of replacing the old +by a new household friend. "Don't you think," he +wrote on the 24th of January, "this is a good name +and quotation? I have been quite delighted to get +hold of it for our title.</p> + +<div class='center'> +"HOUSEHOLD HARMONY.<br /> +<br /> +"'At last by notes of Household Harmony.'—<i>Shakespeare.</i>"<br /> +</div> + +<p>He was at first reluctant even to admit the objection +when stated to him. "I am afraid we must not be too +particular about the possibility of personal references +and applications: otherwise it is manifest that I never +can write another book. I could not invent a story of +any sort, it is quite plain, incapable of being twisted +into some such nonsensical shape. It would be wholly +impossible to turn one through half a dozen chapters." +Of course he yielded, nevertheless; and much consideration +followed over sundry other titles submitted. +Reviving none of those formerly rejected, here were a +few of these now rejected in their turn. <span class="smcap">The Hearth. +The Forge. The Crucible. The Anvil of the +Time. Charles Dickens's Own. Seasonable Leaves. +Evergreen Leaves. Home. Home-Music. Change. +Time and Tide. Twopence. English Bells. Weekly +Bells. The Rocket. Good Humour.</span> Still the +great want was the line adaptable from Shakespeare, +which at last exultingly he sent on the 28th of January.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_243" id="Page_3_243">[243]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am dining early, before reading, and write literally +with my mouth full. But I have just hit upon a name +that I think really an admirable one—especially with +the quotation <i>before</i> it, in the place where our present +<i>H. W.</i> quotation stands.</p> + +<div class='center'> +"'The story of our lives, from year to year.'—<i>Shakespeare.</i>"<br /> +<br /> +"<span class="smcap">All the Year Round.</span><br /> +<br /> +"A weekly journal conducted by Charles Dickens."<br /> +</div> + +<p>With the same resolution and energy other things +necessary to the adventure were as promptly done. +"I have taken the new office," he wrote from Tavistock +House on the 21st of February; "have got +workmen in; have ordered the paper; settled with the +printer; and am getting an immense system of advertising +ready. Blow to be struck on the 12th of March. . . . +Meantime I cannot please myself with the opening +of my story" (the <i>Tale of Two Cities</i>, which <i>All the +Year Round</i> was to start with), "and cannot in the +least settle at it or take to it. . . . I wish you would +come and look at what I flatter myself is a rather +ingenious account to which I have turned the Stanfield +scenery here." He had placed the <i>Lighthouse</i> scene +in a single frame; had divided the scene of the <i>Frozen +Deep</i> into two subjects, a British man-of-war and an +Arctic sea, which he had also framed; and the school-room +that had been the theatre was now hung with +sea-pieces by a great painter of the sea. To believe +them to have been but the amusement of a few mornings +was difficult indeed. Seen from the due distance +there was nothing wanting to the most masterly and +elaborate art.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_244" id="Page_3_244">[244]</a></span></p> + +<p>The first number of <i>All the Year Round</i> appeared on +the 30th of April, and the result of the first quarter's +accounts of the sale will tell everything that needs to +be said of a success that went on without intermission +to the close. "A word before I go back to Gadshill," +he wrote from Tavistock House in July, "which I +know you will be glad to receive. So well has <i>All the +Year Round</i> gone that it was yesterday able to repay +me, with five per cent. interest, all the money I advanced +for its establishment (paper, print &c. all paid, down +to the last number), and yet to leave a good £500 +balance at the banker's!" Beside the opening of his +<i>Tale of Two Cities</i> its first number had contained +another piece of his writing, the "Poor Man and his +Beer;" as to which an interesting note has been sent +me. The Rev. T. B. Lawes, of Rothamsted, St. +Alban's, had been associated upon a sanitary commission +with Mr. Henry Austin, Dickens's brother-in-law +and counsellor in regard to all such matters in his +own houses, or in the houses of the poor; and this connection +led to Dickens's knowledge of a club that Mr. +Lawes had established at Rothamsted, which he became +eager to recommend as an example to other country +neighbourhoods. The club had been set on foot<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> to +enable the agricultural labourers of the parish to have +their beer and pipes independent of the public-house; +and the description of it, says Mr. Lawes, "was the +occupation of a drive between this place (Rothamsted) +and London, 25 miles, Mr. Dickens refusing the offer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_245" id="Page_3_245">[245]</a></span> +of a bed, and saying that he could arrange his ideas +on the journey. In the course of our conversation I +mentioned that the labourers were very jealous of the +small tradesmen, blacksmiths and others, holding allotment-gardens; +but that the latter did so indirectly by +paying higher rents to the labourers for a share. This +circumstance is not forgotten in the verses on the +Blacksmith in the same number, composed by Mr. +Dickens and repeated to me while he was walking +about, and which close the mention of his gains with +allusion to</p> + +<div class='poem'><br /> +"A share (concealed) in the poor man's field,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Which adds to the poor man's store."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>The periodical thus established was in all respects, +save one, so exactly the counterpart of what it replaced, +that a mention of this point of difference is the only +description of it called for. Besides his own three-volume +stories of <i>The Tale of Two Cities</i> and <i>Great +Expectations</i>, Dickens admitted into it other stories of +the same length by writers of character and name, of +which the authorship was avowed. It published tales +of varied merit and success by Mr. Edmund Yates, Mr. +Percy Fitzgerald, and Mr. Charles Lever. Mr. Wilkie +Collins contributed to it his <i>Woman in White</i>, <i>No +Name</i>, and <i>Moonstone</i>, the first of which had a pre-eminent +success; Mr. Reade his <i>Hard Cash;</i> and +Lord Lytton his <i>Strange Story</i>. Conferring about the +latter Dickens passed a week at Knebworth, accompanied +by his daughter and sister-in-law, in the summer +of 1861, as soon as he had closed <i>Great Expectations;</i> +and there met Mr. Arthur Helps, with whom and Lord<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_246" id="Page_3_246">[246]</a></span> +Orford he visited the so-called "Hermit" near Stevenage, +whom he described as Mr. Mopes in <i>Tom Tiddler's +Ground</i>. With his great brother-artist he thoroughly +enjoyed himself, as he invariably did; and reported +him as "in better health and spirits than I have seen +him in, in all these years,—a little weird occasionally +regarding magic and spirits, but always fair and frank +under opposition. He was brilliantly talkative, anecdotical, +and droll; looked young and well; laughed +heartily; and enjoyed with great zest some games we +played. In his artist-character and talk, he was full +of interest and matter, saying the subtlest and finest +things—but that he never fails in. I enjoyed myself +immensely, as we all did."<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a></p> + +<p>In <i>All the Year Round</i>, as in its predecessor, the +tales for Christmas were of course continued, but with +a surprisingly increased popularity; and Dickens never +had such sale for any of his writings as for his Christmas +pieces in the later periodical. It had reached, +before he died, to nearly three hundred thousand. The +first was called the <i>Haunted House</i>, and had a small<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_247" id="Page_3_247">[247]</a></span> +mention of a true occurrence in his boyhood which is +not included in the bitter record on a former page. "I +was taken home, and there was debt at home as well as +death, and we had a sale there. My own little bed +was so superciliously looked upon by a power unknown +to me hazily called The Trade, that a brass coal-scuttle, +a roasting jack, and a bird cage were obliged to be put +into it to make a lot of it, and then it went for a song. +So I heard mentioned, and I wondered what song, and +thought what a dismal song it must have been to +sing!" The other subjects will have mention in another +chapter.</p> + +<p>His tales were not his only important work in <i>All +the Year Round</i>. The detached papers written by him +there had a character and completeness derived from +their plan, and from the personal tone, as well as frequent +individual confessions, by which their interest +is enhanced, and which will always make them specially +attractive. Their title expressed a personal liking. +Of all the societies, charitable or self-assisting, which +his tact and eloquence in the "chair" so often helped, +none had interested him by the character of its service +to its members, and the perfection of its management, +so much as that of the Commercial Travellers. His, +admiration of their schools introduced him to one who +then acted as their treasurer, and whom, of all the men +he had known, I think he rated highest for the union +of business qualities in an incomparable measure to a +nature comprehensive enough to deal with masses of +men, however differing in creed or opinion, humanely +and justly. He never afterwards wanted support for +any good work that he did not think first of Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_248" id="Page_3_248">[248]</a></span> +George Moore,<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> and appeal was never made to him in +vain. "Integrity, enterprise, public spirit, and benevolence," +he told the Commercial Travellers on one +occasion, "had their synonym in Mr. Moore's name;" +and it was another form of the same liking when he +took to himself the character and title of a Traveller +<i>Un</i>commercial. "I am both a town traveller and a +country traveller, and am always on the road. Figuratively +speaking, I travel for the great house of +Human-interest Brothers, and have rather a large connection +in the fancy goods way. Literally speaking, I +am always wandering here and there from my rooms +in Covent-garden, London: now about the city streets; +now about the country by-roads: seeing many little +things, and some great things, which, because they interest +me, I think may interest others." In a few +words that was the plan and drift of the papers which +he began in 1860, and continued to write from time +to time until the last autumn of his life.</p> + +<p>Many of them, such as "Travelling Abroad," "City +Churches," "Dullborough," "Nurses' Stories," and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_249" id="Page_3_249">[249]</a></span> +"Birthday Celebrations," have supplied traits, chiefly +of his younger days, to portions of this memoir; and +parts of his later life receive illustration from others, +such as "Tramps," "Night Walks," "Shy Neighbourhoods," +"The Italian Prisoner," and "Chatham +Dockyard." Indeed hardly any is without its personal +interest or illustration. One may learn from them, +among other things, what kind of treatment he resorted +to for the disorder of sleeplessness from which +he had often suffered amid his late anxieties. Experimenting +upon it in bed, he found to be too slow +and doubtful a process for him; but he very soon defeated +his enemy by the brisker treatment, of getting +up directly after lying down, going out, and coming +home tired at sunrise. "My last special feat was +turning out of bed at two, after a hard day pedestrian +and otherwise, and walking thirty miles into the country +to breakfast." One description he did not give in +his paper, but I recollect his saying that he had seldom +seen anything so striking as the way in which the +wonders of an equinoctial dawn (it was the 15th of +October 1857) presented themselves during that walk. +He had never before happened to see night so completely +at odds with morning, "which was which." +Another experience of his night ramblings used to be +given in vivid sketches of the restlessness of a great +city, and the manner in which <i>it</i> also tumbles and +tosses before it can get to sleep. Nor should anyone +curious about his habits and ways omit to accompany +him with his Tramps into Gadshill lanes; or to follow +him into his Shy Neighbourhoods of the Hackney-road, +Waterloo-road, Spitalfields, or Bethnal-green. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_250" id="Page_3_250">[250]</a></span> +delightful observation both of country and town, for +the wit that finds analogies between remote and familiar +things, and for humorous personal sketches and +experience, these are perfect of their kind.</p> + +<p>"I have my eye upon a piece of Kentish road, bordered +on either side by a wood, and having on one +hand, between the road-dust and the trees, a skirting +patch of grass. Wild flowers grow in abundance on +this spot, and it lies high and airy, with a distant river +stealing steadily away to the ocean, like a man's life. +To gain the mile-stone here, which the moss, primroses, +violets, blue-bells, and wild roses, would soon +render illegible but for peering travellers pushing them +aside with their sticks, you must come up a steep hill, +come which way you may. So, all the tramps with +carts or caravans—the Gipsy-tramp, the Show-tramp, +the Cheap Jack—find it impossible to resist the temptations +of the place; and all turn the horse loose when +they come to it, and boil the pot. Bless the place, I +love the ashes of the vagabond fires that have scorched +its grass!" It was there he found Dr. Marigold, and +Chops the Dwarf, and the White-haired Lady with the +pink eyes eating meat-pie with the Giant. So, too, in +his Shy Neighbourhoods, when he relates his experiences +of the bad company that birds are fond of, and +of the effect upon domestic fowls of living in low districts, +his method of handling the subject has all the +charm of a discovery. "That anything born of an +egg and invested with wings should have got to the +pass that it hops contentedly down a ladder into a +cellar, and calls <i>that</i> going home, is a circumstance +so amazing as to leave one nothing more in this connexion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_251" id="Page_3_251">[251]</a></span> +to wonder at." One of his illustrations is a +reduced Bantam family in the Hackney-road deriving +their sole enjoyment from crowding together in a +pawnbroker's side-entry; but seeming as if only newly +come down in the world, and always in a feeble flutter +of fear that they may be found out. He contrasts them +with others. "I know a low fellow, originally of a +good family from Dorking, who takes his whole establishment +of wives, in single file, in at the door of the +Jug Department of a disorderly tavern near the Haymarket, +manœuvres them among the company's legs, +emerges with them at the Bottle Entrance, and so +passes his life: seldom, in the season, going to bed +before two in the morning. . . . But, the family I am +best acquainted with, reside in the densest part of Bethnal-green. +Their abstraction from the objects among +which they live, or rather their conviction that those +objects have all come into existence in express subservience +to fowls, has so enchanted me, that I have +made them the subject of many journeys at divers +hours. After careful observation of the two lords and +the ten ladies of whom this family consists, I have +come to the conclusion that their opinions are represented +by the leading lord and leading lady: the latter, +as I judge, an aged personage, afflicted with a +paucity of feather and visibility of quill that gives her +the appearance of a bundle of office pens. When a +railway goods-van that would crush an elephant comes +round the corner, tearing over these fowls, they emerge +unharmed from under the horses, perfectly satisfied +that the whole rush was a passing property in the air, +which may have left something to eat behind it. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_252" id="Page_3_252">[252]</a></span> +look upon old shoes, wrecks of kettles and saucepans, +and fragments of bonnets, as a kind of meteoric discharge, +for fowls to peck at. . . . Gaslight comes quite +as natural to them as any other light; and I have more +than a suspicion that, in the minds of the two lords, +the early public-house at the corner has superseded the +sun. They always begin to crow when the public-house +shutters begin to be taken down, and they salute the +Potboy, the instant he appears to perform that duty, +as if he were Phœbes in person." For the truth of the +personal adventure in the same essay, which he tells in +proof of a propensity to bad company in more refined +members of the feathered race, I am myself in a position +to vouch. Walking by a dirty court in Spitalfields +one day, the quick little busy intelligence of a goldfinch, +drawing water for himself in his cage, so attracted +him that he bought the bird, which had other accomplishments; +but not one of them would the little creature +show off in his new abode in Doughty-street, and +he drew no water but by stealth or under the cloak of +night. "After an interval of futile and at length hopeless +expectation, the merchant who had educated him +was appealed to. The merchant was a bow-legged character, +with a flat and cushiony nose, like the last new +strawberry. He wore a fur cap, and shorts, and was of +the velveteen race, velveteeny. He sent word that he +would 'look round.' He looked round, appeared in +the doorway of the room, and slightly cocked up his evil +eye at the goldfinch. Instantly a raging thirst beset +that bird; and when it was appeased, he still drew several +unnecessary buckets of water, leaping about his perch +and sharpening his bill with irrepressible satisfaction."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_253" id="Page_3_253">[253]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Uncommercial Traveller papers, his two serial +stories, and his Christmas tales, were all the contributions +of any importance made by Dickens to <i>All the +Year Round;</i> but he reprinted in it, on the completion +of his first story, a short tale called "Hunted Down," +written for a newspaper in America called the <i>New +York Ledger</i>. Its subject had been taken from the life +of a notorious criminal already named, and its principal +claim to notice was the price paid for it. For a +story not longer than half of one of the numbers of +<i>Chuzzlewit</i> or <i>Copperfield</i>, he had received a thousand +pounds.<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> It was one of the indications of the eager +desire which his entry on the career of a public reader +had aroused in America to induce him again to visit +that continent; and at the very time he had this magnificent +offer from the New York journal, Mr. Fields +of Boston, who was then on a visit to Europe, was +pressing him so much to go that his resolution was +almost shaken. "I am now," he wrote to me from +Gadshill on the 9th of July 1859, "getting the <i>Tale of +Two Cities</i> into that state that IF I should decide to go +to America late in September, I could turn to, at any +time, and write on with great vigour. Mr. Fields has +been down here for a day, and with the strongest intensity +urges that there is no drawback, no commercial +excitement or crisis, no political agitation; and that +so favourable an opportunity, in all respects, might not +occur again for years and years. I should be one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_254" id="Page_3_254">[254]</a></span> +the most unhappy of men if I were to go, and yet I +cannot help being much stirred and influenced by the +golden prospect held before me."</p> + +<p>He yielded nevertheless to other persuasion, and for +that time the visit was not to be. In six months more +the Civil War began, and America was closed to any +such enterprise for nearly five years.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_255" id="Page_3_255">[255]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>SECOND SERIES OF READINGS.</h3> + +<h3>1861-1863.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Daughter Kate's Marriage—Wedding Party—Sale of Tavistock +House—Brother Alfred's Death—Metropolitan Readings—Proposed +Provincial Readings—Good of doing Nothing—New Subjects +for Readings—Mr. Arthur Smith's Death—Eldest Son's Marriage—Audience +at Brighton—Audiences at Canterbury and Dover—Alarming +Scene at Newcastle—Impromptu Reading Hall at +Berwick-on-Tweed—In Scotland—At Torquay—At Liverpool—Metropolitan +Success—Offer from Australia—Writing or Reading +not always possible—Arguments for and against going to Australia—Readings +in Paris—A Religious Richardson's Show—Exiled Ex-potentate.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">At</span> the end of the first year of residence at Gadshill +it was the remark of Dickens that nothing had gratified +him so much as the confidence with which his poorer +neighbours treated him. He had tested generally their +worth and good conduct, and they had been encouraged +in illness or trouble to resort to him for help. +There was pleasant indication of the feeling thus +awakened, when, in the summer of 1860, his younger +daughter Kate was married to Charles Alston Collins, +brother of the novelist, and younger son of the painter +and academician, who might have found, if spared to +witness that summer-morning scene, subjects not unworthy +of his delightful pencil in many a rustic group<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_256" id="Page_3_256">[256]</a></span> +near Gadshill. All the villagers had turned out in +honour of Dickens, and the carriages could hardly get +to and from the little church for the succession of triumphal +arches they had to pass through. It was quite +unexpected by him; and when the feu de joie of the +blacksmith in the lane, whose enthusiasm had smuggled +a couple of small cannon into his forge, exploded upon +him at the return, I doubt if the shyest of men was +ever so taken aback at an ovation.</p> + +<p>To name the principal persons present that day will +indicate the faces that (with addition of Miss Mary +Boyle, Miss Marguerite Power, Mr. Fechter, Mr. +Charles Kent, Mr. Edmund Yates, Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, +and members of the family of Mr. Frank Stone, +whose sudden death<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> in the preceding year had been a +great grief to Dickens) were most familiar at Gadshill +in these later years. Mr. Frederic Lehmann was there +with his wife, whose sister, Miss Chambers, was one of +the bridesmaids; Mr. and Mrs. Wills were there, and +Dickens's old fast friend Mr. Thomas Beard; the two +nearest country neighbours with whom the family had +become very intimate, Mr. Hulkes and Mr. Malleson, +with their wives, joined the party; among the others +were Henry Chorley, Chauncy Townshend, and Wilkie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_257" id="Page_3_257">[257]</a></span> +Collins; and, for friend special to the occasion, the +bridegroom had brought his old fellow-student in art, +Mr. Holman Hunt. Mr. Charles Collins had himself +been bred as a painter, for success in which line he had +some rare gifts; but inclination and capacity led him +also to literature, and, after much indecision between +the two callings, he took finally to letters. His contributions +to <i>All the Year Round</i> were among the most +charming of its detached papers, and two stories published +independently showed strength of wing for +higher flights. But his health broke down, and his +taste was too fastidious for his failing power. It is +possible however that he may live by two small books +of description, the <i>New Sentimental Journey</i> and the +<i>Cruize on Wheels</i>, which have in them unusual delicacy +and refinement of humour; and if those volumes should +make any readers in another generation curious about +the writer, they will learn, if correct reply is given to +their inquiries, that no man disappointed so many reasonable +hopes with so little fault or failure of his own, +that his difficulty always was to please himself, and that +an inferior mind would have been more successful in +both the arts he followed. He died in 1873 in his +forty-fifth year; and until then it was not known, even +by those nearest to him, how great must have been the +suffering which he had borne, through many trying +years, with uncomplaining patience.</p> + +<p>His daughter's marriage was the chief event that had +crossed the even tenor of Dickens's life since his first +paid readings closed; and it was followed by the sale +of Tavistock House, with the resolve to make his +future home at Gadshill. In the brief interval (29th<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_258" id="Page_3_258">[258]</a></span> +of July) he wrote to me of his brother Alfred's death. +"I was telegraphed for to Manchester on Friday night. +Arrived there at a quarter past ten, but he had been +dead three hours, poor fellow! He is to be buried at +Highgate on Wednesday. I brought the poor young +widow back with me yesterday." All that this death +involved,<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> the troubles of his change of home, and +some difficulties in working out his story, gave him +more than sufficient occupation till the following +spring; and as the time arrived for the new Readings, +the change was a not unwelcome one.</p> + +<p>The first portion of this second series was planned +by Mr. Arthur Smith, but he only superintended the +six readings in London which opened it. These were +the first at St. James's Hall (St. Martin's Hall having +been burnt since the last readings there) and were +given in March and April 1861. "We are all well +here and flourishing," he wrote to me from Gadshill +on the 28th of April. "On the 18th I finished the +readings as I purposed. We had between seventy and +eighty pounds <i>in the stalls</i>, which, at four shillings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_259" id="Page_3_259">[259]</a></span> +apiece, is something quite unprecedented in these +times. . . . The result of the six was, that, after paying +a large staff of men and all other charges, and Arthur +Smith's ten per cent. on the receipts, and replacing +everything destroyed in the fire at St. Martin's Hall +(including all our tickets, country-baggage, cheque-boxes, +books, and a quantity of gas-fittings and what +not), I got upwards of £500. A very great result. +We certainly might have gone on through the season, +but I am heartily glad to be concentrated on my +story."</p> + +<p>It had been part of his plan that the Provincial +Readings should not begin until a certain interval after +the close of his story of <i>Great Expectations</i>. They +were delayed accordingly until the 28th of October, +from which date, when they opened at Norwich, they +went on with the Christmas intervals to be presently +named to the 30th of January 1862, when they closed +at Chester. Kept within England and Scotland, they +took in the border town of Berwick, and, besides the +Scotch cities, comprised the contrasts and varieties of +Norwich and Lancaster, Bury St. Edmunds and Cheltenham, +Carlisle and Hastings, Plymouth and Birmingham, +Canterbury and Torquay, Preston and Ipswich, +Manchester and Brighton, Colchester and Dover, +Newcastle and Chester. They were followed by ten +readings at the St. James's Hall, between the 13th of +March and the 27th of June 1862; and by four at +Paris in January 1863, given at the Embassy in aid of +the British Charitable Fund. The second series had +thus in the number of the readings nearly equalled the +first, when it closed at London in June 1863 with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_260" id="Page_3_260">[260]</a></span> +thirteen readings in the Hanover Square Rooms; and +it is exclusively the subject of such illustrations or +references as this chapter will supply.</p> + +<p>On <i>Great Expectations</i> closing in June 1861, Bulwer +Lytton, at Dickens's earnest wish, took his place in +<i>All the Year Round</i> with the "Strange Story;" and +he then indulged himself in idleness for a little while. +"The subsidence of those distressing pains in my face +the moment I had done my work, made me resolve to +do nothing in that way for some time if I could help +it."<a name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> But his "doing nothing" was seldom more +than a figure of speech, and what it meant in this case +was soon told. "Every day for two or three hours, I +practise my new readings, and (except in my office +work) do nothing else. With great pains I have made +a continuous narrative out of <i>Copperfield</i>, that I think +will reward the exertion it is likely to cost me. Unless +I am much mistaken, it will be very valuable in London. +I have also done <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i> at the Yorkshire +school, and hope I have got something droll out of +Squeers, John Browdie, & Co. Also, the Bastille +prisoner from the <i>Tale of Two Cities</i>. Also, the +Dwarf from one of our Christmas numbers." Only +the first two were added to the list for the present +circuit.</p> + +<p>It was in the midst of these active preparations that +painful news reached him. An illness under which +Mr. Arthur Smith had been some time suffering took<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_261" id="Page_3_261">[261]</a></span> +unexpectedly a dangerous turn, and there came to be +but small chance of his recovery. A distressing interview +on the 28th of September gave Dickens little +hope. "And yet his wakings and wanderings so perpetually +turn on his arrangements for the Readings, +and he is so desperately unwilling to relinquish the +idea of 'going on with the business' to-morrow and +to-morrow and to-morrow, that I had not the heart to +press him for the papers. He told me that he believed +he had by him '70 or 80 letters unanswered.' You +may imagine how anxious it makes me, and at what a +deadstop I stand." Another week passed, and with it +the time fixed at the places where his work was to have +opened; but he could not bring himself to act as if all +hope had gone. "With a sick man who has been so +zealous and faithful, I feel bound to be very tender +and patient. When I told him the other day about +my having engaged Headland—'to do all the personally +bustling and fatiguing part of your work,' I said—he +nodded his heavy head with great satisfaction, and +faintly got out of himself the words, 'Of course I pay +him, and not you.'" The poor fellow died in October; +and on the day after attending the funeral,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_262" id="Page_3_262">[262]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> +Dickens heard of the death of his brother-in-law and +friend, Mr. Henry Austin, whose abilities and character +he respected as much as he liked the man. He lost +much in losing the judicious and safe counsel which +had guided him on many public questions in which he +took lively interest, and it was with a heavy heart he +set out at last upon his second circuit. "With what +difficulty I get myself back to the readings after all +this loss and trouble, or with what unwillingness I work +myself up to the mark of looking them in the face, I +can hardly say. As for poor Arthur Smith at this +time, it is as if my right arm were gone. It is only +just now that I am able to open one of the books, and +screw the text out of myself in a flat dull way. Enclosed +is the list of what I have to do. You will see +that I have left ten days in November for the Christmas +number, and also a good Christmas margin for our +meeting at Gadshill. I shall be very glad to have the +money that I expect to get; but it will be earned." +That November interval was also the date of the marriage +of his eldest son to the daughter of Mr. Evans, +so long, in connection with Mr. Bradbury, his publisher +and printer.</p> + +<p>The start of the readings at Norwich was not good, +so many changes of vexation having been incident to +the opening announcements as to leave some doubt of +their fulfilment. But the second night, when trial was +made of the <i>Nickleby</i> scenes, "we had a splendid hall, +and I think <i>Nickleby</i> will top all the readings. Somehow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_263" id="Page_3_263">[263]</a></span> +it seems to have got in it, by accident, exactly the +qualities best suited to the purpose; and it went last +night, not only with roars, but with a general hilarity +and pleasure that I have never seen surpassed."<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> From +this night onward, the success was uninterrupted, and +here was his report to me from Brighton on the 8th of +November. "We turned away half Dover and half +Hastings and half Colchester; and, if you can believe +such a thing, I may tell you that in round numbers we +find 1000 stalls already taken here in Brighton! I left +Colchester in a heavy snow-storm. To-day it is so +warm here that I can hardly bear the fire, and am writing +with the window open down to the ground. Last +night I had a most charming audience for <i>Copperfield</i>, +with a delicacy of perception that really made the work +delightful. It is very pretty to see the girls and women +generally, in the matter of Dora; and everywhere I +have found that peculiar personal relation between my +audience and myself on which I counted most when I +entered on this enterprise. <i>Nickleby</i> continues to go +in the wildest manner."</p> + +<p>A storm was at this time sweeping round the coast, +and while at Dover he had written of it to his sister-in-law +(7th of November): "The bad weather has not in +the least touched us, and the storm was most magnificent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_264" id="Page_3_264">[264]</a></span> +at Dover. All the great side of the Lord Warden +next the sea had to be emptied, the break of the waves +was so prodigious, and the noise so utterly confounding. +The sea came in like a great sky of immense clouds, +for ever breaking suddenly into furious rain; all kinds +of wreck were washed in; among other things, a very +pretty brass-bound chest being thrown about like a +feather. . . . The unhappy Ostend packet, unable to +get in or go back, beat about the Channel all Tuesday +night, and until noon yesterday; when I saw her come +in, with five men at the wheel, a picture of misery inconceivable. . . . +The effect of the readings at Hastings +and Dover really seems to have outdone the best +usual impression; and at Dover they wouldn't go, but +sat applauding like mad. The most delicate audience +I have seen in any provincial place, is Canterbury" +("an intelligent and delightful response in them," he +wrote to his daughter, "like the touch of a beautiful +instrument"); "but the audience with the greatest +sense of humour certainly is Dover. The people in the +stalls set the example of laughing, in the most curiously +unreserved way; and they laughed with such really +cordial enjoyment, when Squeers read the boys' letters, +that the contagion extended to me. For, one couldn't +hear them without laughing too. . . . So, I am thankful +to say, all goes well, and the recompense for the +trouble is in every way Great."</p> + +<p>From the opposite quarter of Berwick-on-Tweed he +wrote again in the midst of storm. But first his mention +of Newcastle, which he had also taken on his way +to Edinburgh, reading two nights there, should be +given. "At Newcastle, against the very heavy expenses,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_265" id="Page_3_265">[265]</a></span> +I made more than a hundred guineas profit. A finer +audience there is not in England, and I suppose them +to be a specially earnest people; for, while they can +laugh till they shake the roof, they have a very unusual +sympathy with what is pathetic or passionate. An extraordinary +thing occurred on the second night. The +room was tremendously crowded and my gas-apparatus +fell down. There was a terrible wave among the people +for an instant, and God knows what destruction of life +a rush to the stairs would have caused. Fortunately a +lady in the front of the stalls ran out towards me, exactly +in a place where I knew that the whole hall could +see her. So I addressed her, laughing, and half-asked +and half-ordered her to sit down again; and, in a moment, +it was all over. But the men in attendance had +such a fearful sense of what might have happened (besides +the real danger of Fire) that they positively shook +the boards I stood on, with their trembling, when they +came up to put things right. I am proud to record +that the gas-man's sentiment, as delivered afterwards, +was, 'The more you want of the master, the more +you'll find in him.' With which complimentary +homage, and with the wind blowing so that I can +hardly hear myself write, I conclude."<a name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_266" id="Page_3_266">[266]</a></span></p> +<p>It was still blowing, in shape of a gale from the sea, +when, an hour before the reading, he wrote from the +King's Arms at Berwick-on-Tweed. "As odd and out +of the way a place to be at, it appears to me, as ever +was seen! And such a ridiculous room designed for +me to read in! An immense Corn Exchange, made of +glass and iron, round, dome-topp'd, lofty, utterly absurd +for any such purpose, and full of thundering +echoes; with a little lofty crow's nest of a stone gallery, +breast high, deep in the wall, into which it was +designed to put——<i>me!</i> I instantly struck, of course; +and said I would either read in a room attached to this +house (a very snug one, capable of holding 500 people), +or not at all. Terrified local agents glowered, but fell +prostrate, and my men took the primitive accommodation +in hand. Ever since, I am alarmed to add, the +people (who besought the honour of the visit) have +been coming in numbers quite irreconcileable with the +appearance of the place, and what is to be the end I do +not know. It was poor Arthur Smith's principle that +a town on the way paid the expenses of a long through-journey,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_267" id="Page_3_267">[267]</a></span> +and therefore I came." The Reading paid +more than those expenses.</p> + +<p>Enthusiastic greeting awaited him in Edinburgh. +"We had in the hall exactly double what we had on +the first night last time. The success of <i>Copperfield</i> +was perfectly unexampled. Four great rounds of applause +with a burst of cheering at the end, and every +point taken in the finest manner." But this was nothing +to what befell on the second night, when, by +some mistake of the local agents, the tickets issued +were out of proportion to the space available. Writing +from Glasgow next day (3rd of December) he described +the scene. "Such a pouring of hundreds into a place +already full to the throat, such indescribable confusion, +such a rending and tearing of dresses, and yet such a +scene of good humour on the whole, I never saw the +faintest approach to. While I addressed the crowd in +the room, G addressed the crowd in the street. Fifty +frantic men got up in all parts of the hall and addressed +me all at once. Other frantic men made speeches to the +walls. The whole B family were borne in on the top of a +wave, and landed with their faces against the front of +the platform. I read with the platform crammed with +people. I got them to lie down upon it, and it was +like some impossible tableau or gigantic pic-nic—one +pretty girl in full dress, lying on her side all night, +holding on to one of the legs of my table! It was the +most extraordinary sight. And yet, from the moment +I began to the moment of my leaving off, they never +missed a point, and they ended with a burst of cheers. . . . +The expenditure of lungs and spirits was (as you +may suppose) rather great; and to sleep well was out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_268" id="Page_3_268">[268]</a></span> +of the question. I am therefore rather fagged to-day; +and as the hall in which I read to-night is a large one, +I must make my letter a short one. . . . My people +were torn to ribbons last night. They have not a hat +among them—and scarcely a coat." He came home +for his Christmas rest by way of Manchester, and thus +spoke of the reading there on the 14th of December. +"<i>Copperfield</i> in the Free Trade Hall last Saturday was +really a grand scene."</p> + +<p>He was in southern latitudes after Christmas, and on +the 8th of January wrote from Torquay: "We are now +in the region of small rooms, and therefore this trip +will not be as profitable as the long one. I imagine +the room here to be very small. Exeter I know, and +that is small too. I am very much used up on the +whole, for I cannot bear this moist warm climate. It +would kill me very soon. And I have now got to the +point of taking so much out of myself with <i>Copperfield</i> +that I might as well do Richard Wardour. . . . This +is a very pretty place—a compound of Hastings, Tunbridge +Wells, and little bits of the hills about Naples; +but I met four respirators as I came up from the station, +and three pale curates without them who seemed in a +bad way." They had been not bad omens, however. +The success was good, at both Torquay and Exeter; +and he closed the month, and this series of the country +readings, at the great towns of Liverpool and Chester. +"The beautiful St. George's Hall crowded to excess +last night" (28th of January 1862) "and numbers +turned away. Brilliant to see when lighted up, and for +a reading simply perfect. You remember that a Liverpool +audience is usually dull; but they put me on my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_269" id="Page_3_269">[269]</a></span> +mettle last night, for I never saw such an audience—no, +not even in Edinburgh! The agents (alone, and +of course without any reference to ready money at the +doors) had taken for the two readings two hundred +pounds." But as the end approached the fatigues had +told severely on him. He described himself sleeping +horribly, and with head dazed and worn by gas and +heat. Rest, before he could resume at the St. James's +Hall in March, was become an absolute necessity.</p> + +<p>Two brief extracts from letters of the dates respectively +of the 8th of April<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> and the 28th of June will +sufficiently describe the London readings. "The +money returns have been quite astounding. Think +of £190 a night! The effect of <i>Copperfield</i> exceeds all +the expectations which its success in the country led me +to form. It seems to take people entirely by surprise. +If this is not new to you, I have not a word of news. +The rain that raineth every day seems to have washed +news away or got it under water." That was in April. +In June he wrote: "I finished my readings on Friday +night to an enormous hall—nearly £200. The success +has been throughout complete. It seems almost suicidal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_270" id="Page_3_270">[270]</a></span> +to leave off with the town so full, but I don't +like to depart from my public pledge. A man from +Australia is in London ready to pay £10,000 for eight +months there. If——" It was an If that troubled +him for some time, and led to agitating discussion. +The civil war having closed America, an increase made +upon the just-named offer tempted him to Australia. +He tried to familiarize himself with the fancy that he +should thus also get new material for observation, and +he went so far as to plan an Uncommercial Traveller +Upside Down.<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> It is however very doubtful if such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_271" id="Page_3_271">[271]</a></span> +a scheme would have been entertained for a moment, +but for the unwonted difficulties of invention that +were now found to beset a twenty-number story. +Such a story had lately been in his mind, and he had +just chosen the title for it (<i>Our Mutual Friend</i>); but +still he halted and hesitated sorely. "If it was not," +(he wrote on the 5th of October 1862) "for the hope +of a gain that would make me more independent of +the worst, I could not look the travel and absence and +exertion in the face. I know perfectly well beforehand +how unspeakably wretched I should be. But these renewed +and larger offers tempt me. I can force myself +to go aboard a ship, and I can force myself to do at +that reading-desk what I have done a hundred times; +but whether, with all this unsettled fluctuating distress +in my mind, I could force an original book out of +it, is another question." On the 22nd, still striving +hard to find reasons to cope with the all but irresistible +arguments against any such adventure, which indeed, +with everything that then surrounded him, would have +been little short of madness, he thus stated his experience +of his two circuits of public reading. "Remember +that at home here the thing has never missed fire, +but invariably does more the second time than it did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_272" id="Page_3_272">[272]</a></span> +the first; and also that I have got so used to it, and +have worked so hard at it, as to get out of it more than +I ever thought was in it for that purpose. I think all +the probabilities for such a country as Australia are +immense." The terrible difficulty was that the home +argument struck both ways. "If I were to go it would +be a penance and a misery, and I dread the thought +more than I can possibly express. The domestic life +of the Readings is all but intolerable to me when I am +away for a few weeks at a time merely, and what would +it be——." On the other hand it was also a thought +of home, far beyond the mere personal loss or gain of +it, that made him willing still to risk even so much +misery and penance; and he had a fancy that it might +be possible to take his eldest daughter with him. "It +is useless and needless for me to say what the conflict +in my own mind is. How painfully unwilling I am to +go, and yet how painfully sensible that perhaps I ought +to go—with all the hands upon my skirts that I cannot +fail to feel and see there, whenever I look round. It +is a struggle of no common sort, as you will suppose, +you who know the circumstances of the struggler." It +closed at once when he clearly saw that to take any of +his family with him, and make satisfactory arrangement +for the rest during such an absence, would be impossible. +By this time also he began to find his way +to the new story, and better hopes and spirits had returned.</p> + +<p>In January 1863 he had taken his daughter and his +sister-in-law to Paris, and he read twice at the Embassy +in behalf of the British Charitable Fund, the +success being such that he consented to read twice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_273" id="Page_3_273">[273]</a></span> +again.<a name="FNanchor_249_249" id="FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> He passed his birthday of that year (the 7th +of the following month) at Arras. "You will remember +me to-day, I know. Thanks for it. An odd +birthday, but I am as little out of heart as you would +have me be—floored now and then, but coming up +again at the call of Time. I wanted to see this town, +birthplace of our amiable Sea Green" (Robespierre); +"and I find a Grande Place so very remarkable and +picturesque that it is astonishing how people miss it. +Here too I found, in a bye-country place just near, a +Fair going on, with a Religious Richardson's in it—<span class="smcap">Théatre +Religieux</span>—'donnant six fois par jour, +l'histoire de la Croix en tableaux vivants, depuis la +naissance de notre Seigneur jusqu'à son sepulture. +Aussi l'immolation d'Isaac, par son père Abraham.' +It was just before nightfall when I came upon it; +and one of the three wise men was up to his eyes in +lamp oil, hanging the moderators. A woman in blue +and fleshings (whether an angel or Joseph's wife I +don't know) was addressing the crowd through an +enormous speaking-trumpet; and a very small boy with +a property lamb (I leave you to judge who <i>he</i> was) was +standing on his head on a barrel-organ." Returning +to England by Boulogne in the same year, as he stepped +into the Folkestone boat he encountered a friend, Mr. +Charles Manby (for, in recording a trait of character +so pleasing and honourable, it is not necessary that I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_274" id="Page_3_274">[274]</a></span> +should suppress the name), also passing over to England. +"Taking leave of Manby was a shabby man of +whom I had some remembrance, but whom I could +not get into his place in my mind. Noticing when we +stood out of the harbour that he was on the brink of +the pier, waving his hat in a desolate manner, I said to +Manby, 'Surely I know that man.'—'I should think +you did,' said he: 'Hudson!' He is living—just +living—at Paris, and Manby had brought him on. He +said to Manby at parting, 'I shall not have a good +dinner again, till you come back.' I asked Manby +why he stuck to him? He said, Because he (Hudson) +had so many people in his power, and had held his +peace; and because he (Manby) saw so many Notabilities +grand with him now, who were always grovelling +for 'shares' in the days of his grandeur."</p> + +<p>Upon Dickens's arrival in London the second series +of his readings was brought to a close; and opportunity +may be taken, before describing the third, to +speak of the manuscript volume found among his +papers, containing Memoranda for use in his writings.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_275" id="Page_3_275">[275]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>HINTS FOR BOOKS WRITTEN AND UNWRITTEN.</h3> + +<h3>1855-1865.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Book of MS. Memoranda—Home of the Barnacles—Original of Mrs. +Clennam—River and Ferryman—Notions for <i>Little Dorrit</i>—Original +of <i>Hunted Down</i>—Titles for <i>Tale of Two Cities</i>—Hints for +<i>Mutual Friend</i>—Reprobate's Notion of Duty—Proposed Opening +for a Story—England first seen by an Englishman—Touching +Fancy—Story from State Trials—Sentimentalist and her Fate—Female +Groups—Children Farming—Subjects for Description—Fancies +not worked upon—Available Names—Mr. Brobity's Snuff-box.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Dickens</span> began the Book of Memoranda for possible +use in his work, to which occasional reference has been +made, in January 1855, six months before the first page +of <i>Little Dorrit</i> was written; and I find no allusion +leading me to suppose, except in one very doubtful instance, +that he had made addition to its entries, or been +in the habit of resorting to them, after the date of <i>Our +Mutual Friend</i>. It seems to comprise that interval of +ten years in his life.</p> + +<p>In it were put down any hints or suggestions that +occurred to him. A mere piece of imagery or fancy, +it might be at one time; at another the outline of a +subject or a character; then a bit of description or +dialogue; no order or sequence being observed in any. +Titles for stories were set down too, and groups of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_276" id="Page_3_276">[276]</a></span> +names for the actors in them; not the least curious of +the memoranda belonging to this class. More rarely, +entry is made of some oddity of speech; and he has +thus preserved in it, <i>verbatim et literatim</i>, what he declared +to have been as startling a message as he ever +received. A confidential servant at Tavistock House, +having conferred on some proposed changes in his bed-room +with the party that was to do the work, delivered +this ultimatum to her master. "The gas-fitter says, sir, +that he can't alter the fitting of your gas in your bed-room +without taking up almost the ole of your bed-room +floor, and pulling your room to pieces. He says, of +course you can have it done if you wish, and he'll do +it for you and make a good job of it, but he would have +to destroy your room first, and go entirely under the +jistes."<a name="FNanchor_250_250" id="FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a></p> + +<p>It is very interesting in this book, last legacy as it is +of the literary remains of such a writer, to compare the +way in which fancies were worked out with their beginnings +entered in its pages. Those therefore will first be +taken that in some form or other appeared afterwards +in his writings, with such reference to the latter as may +enable the reader to make comparison for himself.</p> + +<p>"Our House. Whatever it is, it is in a first-rate +situation, and a fashionable neighbourhood. (Auctioneer +called it 'a gentlemanly residence.') A series +of little closets squeezed up into the corner of a dark +street—but a Duke's Mansion round the corner. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_277" id="Page_3_277">[277]</a></span> +whole house just large enough to hold a vile smell. +The air breathed in it, at the best of times, a kind of +Distillation of Mews." He made it the home of the +Barnacles in <i>Little Dorrit</i>.</p> + +<p>What originally he meant to express by Mrs. Clennam +in the same story has narrower limits, and a character +less repellent, in the Memoranda than it assumed +in the book. "Bed-ridden (or room-ridden) twenty—five-and-twenty—years; +any length of time. As to +most things, kept at a standstill all the while. Thinking +of altered streets as the old streets—changed things +as the unchanged things—the youth or girl I quarrelled +with all those years ago, as the same youth or +girl now. Brought out of doors by an unexpected +exercise of my latent strength of character, and then +how strange!"</p> + +<p>One of the people of the same story who becomes a +prominent actor in it, Henry Gowan, a creation on +which he prided himself as forcible and new, seems to +have risen to his mind in this way. "I affect to believe +that I would do anything myself for a ten-pound +note, and that anybody else would. I affect to be +always book-keeping in every man's case, and posting +up a little account of good and evil with every one. +Thus the greatest rascal becomes 'the dearest old fellow,' +and there is much less difference than you would +be inclined to suppose between an honest man and a +scoundrel. While I affect to be finding good in most +men, I am in reality decrying it where it really is, and +setting it up where it is not. Might not a presentation +of this far from uncommon class of character, if I +could put it strongly enough, be likely to lead some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_278" id="Page_3_278">[278]</a></span> +men to reflect, and change a little? I think it has never +been done."</p> + +<p>In <i>Little Dorrit</i> also will be found a picture which +seems to live with a more touching effect in his first +pleasing fancy of it. "The ferryman on a peaceful +river, who has been there from youth, who lives, who +grows old, who does well, who does ill, who changes, +who dies—the river runs six hours up and six hours +down, the current sets off that point, the same allowance +must be made for the drifting of the boat, the +same tune is always played by the rippling water against +the prow."</p> + +<p>Here was an entry made when the thought occurred +to him of the close of old Dorrit's life. "First sign +of the father failing and breaking down. Cancels long +interval. Begins to talk about the turnkey who first +called him the Father of the Marshalsea—as if he were +still living. 'Tell Bob I want to speak to him. See +if he is on the Lock, my dear.'" And here was the +first notion of Clennam's reverse of fortune. "His +falling into difficulty, and himself imprisoned in the +Marshalsea. Then she, out of all her wealth and +changed station, comes back in her old dress, and +devotes herself in the old way."</p> + +<p>He seems to have designed, for the sketches of +society in the same tale, a "Full-length portrait of his +lordship, surrounded by worshippers;" of which, beside +that brief memorandum, only his first draft of the +general outline was worked at. "Sensible men enough, +agreeable men enough, independent men enough in a +certain way;—but the moment they begin to circle +round my lord, and to shine with a borrowed light<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_279" id="Page_3_279">[279]</a></span> +from his lordship, heaven and earth how mean and +subservient! What a competition and outbidding of +each other in servility."</p> + +<p>The last of the Memoranda hints which were used in +the story whose difficulties at its opening seem first to +have suggested them, ran thus: "The unwieldy ship +taken in tow by the snorting little steam tug"—by which +was prefigured the patriarch Casby and his agent Panks.</p> + +<p>In a few lines are the germ of the tale called <i>Hunted +Down:</i> "Devoted to the Destruction of a man. Revenge +built up on love. The secretary in the Wainewright +case, who had fallen in love (or supposed he +had) with the murdered girl."—The hint on which he +worked in his description of the villain of that story, +is also in the Memoranda. "The man with his hair +parted straight up the front of his head, like an aggravating +gravel-walk. Always presenting it to you. 'Up +here, if you please. Neither to the right nor left. +Take me exactly in this direction. Straight up here. +Come off the grass—'"</p> + +<p>His first intention as to the <i>Tale of Two Cities</i> was +to write it upon a plan proposed in this manuscript +book. "How as to a story in two periods—with a +lapse of time between, like a French Drama? Titles +for such a notion. <span class="smcap">Time! The Leaves of the Forest. +Scattered Leaves. The Great Wheel. Round +and Round. Old Leaves. Long Ago. Far Apart. +Fallen Leaves. Five and Twenty Years. Years +and Years. Rolling Years. Day after Day. +Felled Trees. Memory Carton. Rolling Stones. +Two Generations.</span>" That special title of <i>Memory +Carton</i> shows that what led to the greatest success of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_280" id="Page_3_280">[280]</a></span> +the book as written was always in his mind; and +another of the memoranda is this rough hint of the +character itself. "The drunken?—dissipated?—What?—<span class="smcap">Lion</span>—and +his <span class="smcap">Jackall</span> and Primer, stealing down +to him at unwonted hours."</p> + +<p>The studies of Silas Wegg and his patron as they +exist in <i>Our Mutual Friend</i>, are hardly such good +comedy as in the form which the first notion of them +seems to have intended. "Gibbon's Decline and +Fall. The two characters. One reporting to the other +as he reads. Both getting confused as to whether it is +not all going on now." In the same story may be +traced, more or less clearly, other fancies which had +found their first expression in the Memoranda. A +touch for Bella Wilfer is here. "Buying poor shabby—<span class="smcap">father</span>?—a +new hat. So incongruous that it makes +him like African King Boy, or King George; who is +usually full dressed when he has nothing upon him but +a cocked hat or a waistcoat." Here undoubtedly is +the voice of Podsnap. "I stand by my friends and +acquaintances;—not for their sakes, but because they +are <i>my</i> friends and acquaintances. <i>I</i> know them, <i>I</i> +have licensed them, they have taken out <i>my</i> certificate. +Ergo, I champion them as myself." To the same redoubtable +person another trait clearly belongs. "And +by denying a thing, supposes that he altogether puts +it out of existence." A third very perfectly expresses +the boy, ready for mischief, who does all the work +there is to be done in Eugene Wrayburn's place of +business. "The office boy for ever looking out of +window, who never has anything to do."</p> + +<p>The poor wayward purposeless good-hearted master<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_281" id="Page_3_281">[281]</a></span> +of the boy, Eugene himself, is as evidently in this: +"If they were great things, I, the untrustworthy man +in little things, would do them earnestly—But O No, +I wouldn't!" What follows has a more direct reference; being +indeed almost literally copied in the story. +"As to the question whether I, Eugene, lying ill and +sick even unto death, may be consoled by the representation +that coming through this illness, I shall begin +a new life, and have energy and purpose and all I have +yet wanted: 'I <i>hope</i> I should, but I <i>know</i> I shouldn't. +Let me die, my dear.'"</p> + +<p>In connection with the same book, the last in that +form which he lived to complete, another fancy may +be copied from which, though not otherwise worked +out in the tale, the relation of Lizzie Hexam to +her brother was taken. "A man, and his wife—or +daughter—or niece. The man, a reprobate and ruffian; +the woman (or girl) with good in her, and with compunctions. +He believes nothing, and defies everything; yet +has suspicions always, that she is 'praying +against' his evil schemes, and making them go wrong. +He is very much opposed to this, and is always angrily +harping on it. 'If she <i>must</i> pray, why can't she pray +in their favour, instead of going against 'em? She's +always ruining me—she always is—and calls that, Duty! +There's a religious person! Calls it Duty to fly in my +face! Calls it Duty to go sneaking against me!'"</p> + +<p>Other fancies preserved in his Memoranda were left +wholly unemployed, receiving from him no more permanent +form of any kind than that which they have +in this touching record; and what most people would +probably think the most attractive and original of all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_282" id="Page_3_282">[282]</a></span> +the thoughts he had thus set down for future use, are +those that were never used.</p> + +<p>Here were his first rough notes for the opening of a +story. "Beginning with the breaking up of a large +party of guests at a country house: house left lonely +with the shrunken family in it: guests spoken of, and +introduced to the reader that way.—<span class="smcap">Or</span>, beginning with +a house abandoned by a family fallen into reduced circumstances. +Their old furniture there, and numberless +tokens of their old comforts. Inscriptions under the +bells downstairs—'Mr. John's Room,' 'Miss Caroline's +Room.' Great gardens trimly kept to attract a tenant: +but no one in them. A landscape without figures. +Billiard room: table covered up, like a body. Great +stables without horses, and great coach-houses without +carriages. Grass growing in the chinks of the stone-paving, +this bright cold winter day. <i>Downhills.</i>" +Another opening had also suggested itself to him. +"Open a story by bringing two strongly contrasted +places and strongly contrasted sets of people, into the +connexion necessary for the story, by means of an electric +message. Describe the message—<i>be</i> the message—flashing +along through space, over the earth, and +under the sea."<a name="FNanchor_251_251" id="FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> Connected with which in some way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_283" id="Page_3_283">[283]</a></span> +would seem to be this other notion, following it in the +Memoranda. "Representing London—or Paris, or any +other great place—in the new light of being actually +unknown to all the people in the story, and only taking +the colour of their fears and fancies and opinions. So +getting a new aspect, and being unlike itself. An <i>odd</i> +unlikeness of itself."</p> + +<p>The subjects for stories are various, and some are +striking. There was one he clung to much, and +thought of frequently as in a special degree available +for a series of papers in his periodical; but when he +came to close quarters with it the difficulties were found +to be too great. "English landscape. The beautiful +prospect, trim fields, clipped hedges, everything so +neat and orderly—gardens, houses, roads. Where are +the people who do all this? There must be a great +many of them, to do it. Where are they all? And +are <i>they</i>, too, so well kept and so fair to see? Suppose +the foregoing to be wrought out by an Englishman: +say, from China: who knows nothing about his native +country." To which may be added a fancy that +savours of the same mood of discontent, political and +social. "How do I know that I, a man, am to learn +from insects—unless it is to learn how little my littlenesses +are? All that botheration in the hive about +the queen bee, may be, in little, me and the court circular."</p> + +<p>A domestic story he had met with in the State Trials +struck him greatly by its capabilities, and I may preface +it by mentioning another subject, not entered in the +Memoranda, which for a long time impressed him as +capable of attractive treatment. It was after reading<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_284" id="Page_3_284">[284]</a></span> +one of the witch-trials that this occurred to him; and +the heroine was to be a girl who for a special purpose +had taken a witch's disguise, and whose trick was not +discovered until she was actually at the stake. Here +is the State Trials story as told by Dickens. "There +is a case in the State Trials, where a certain officer +made love to a (supposed) miser's daughter, and ultimately +induced her to give her father slow poison, +while nursing him in sickness. Her father discovered +it, told her so, forgave her, and said 'Be patient my +dear—I shall not live long, even if I recover: and then +you shall have all my wealth.' Though penitent then, +she afterwards poisoned him again (under the same +influence), and successfully. Whereupon it appeared +that the old man had no money at all, and had lived +on a small annuity which died with him, though always +feigning to be rich. He had loved this daughter with +great affection."</p> + +<p>A theme touching closely on ground that some might +think dangerous, is sketched in the following fancy. +"The father (married young) who, in perfect innocence, +venerates his son's young wife, as the realization +of his ideal of woman. (He not happy in his own +choice.) The son slights her, and knows nothing of +her worth. The father watches her, protects her, +labours for her, endures for her,—is for ever divided +between his strong natural affection for his son as his +son, and his resentment against him as this young +creature's husband." Here is another, less dangerous, +which he took from an actual occurrence made known +to him when he was at Bonchurch. "The idea of my +being brought up by my mother (me the narrator), my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_285" id="Page_3_285">[285]</a></span> +father being dead; and growing up in this belief until +I find that my father is the gentleman I have sometimes +seen, and oftener heard of, who has the handsome +young wife, and the dog I once took notice of +when I was a little child, and who lives in the great +house and drives about."</p> + +<p>Very admirable is this. "The girl separating herself +from the lover who has shewn himself unworthy—loving +him still—living single for his sake—but never +more renewing their old relations. Coming to him +when they are both grown old, and nursing him in his +last illness." Nor is the following less so. "Two girls +<i>mis-marrying</i> two men. The man who has evil in him, +dragging the superior woman down. The man who has +good in him, raising the inferior woman up." Dickens +would have been at his best in working out both fancies.</p> + +<p>In some of the most amusing of his sketches of character, +women also take the lead. "The lady un peu +passée, who is determined to be interesting. No matter +how much I love that person—nay, the more so for +that very reason—I <span class="smcap">must</span> flatter, and bother, and be +weak and apprehensive and nervous, and what not. If +I were well and strong, agreeable and self-denying, my +friend might forget me." Another not remotely belonging +to the same family is as neatly hit off. "The +sentimental woman feels that the comic, undesigning, +unconscious man, is 'Her Fate.'—I her fate? God +bless my soul, it puts me into a cold perspiration to +think of it. <i>I</i> her fate? How can <i>I</i> be her fate? I +don't mean to be. I don't want to have anything to +do with her—Sentimental woman perceives nevertheless +that Destiny must be accomplished."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_286" id="Page_3_286">[286]</a></span></p> + +<p>Other portions of a female group are as humorously +sketched and hardly less entertaining. "The enthusiastically +complimentary person, who forgets you in +her own flowery prosiness: as—'I have no need to say +to a person of your genius and feeling, and wide range +of experience'—and then, being shortsighted, puts up +her glass to remember who you are."—"Two sisters" +(these were real people known to him). "One going +in for being generally beloved (which she is not by any +means); and the other for being generally hated +(which she needn't be)."—"The bequeathed maid-servant, +or friend. Left as a legacy. And a devil of +a legacy too."—"The woman who is never on any +account to hear of anything shocking. For whom the +world is to be of barley-sugar."—"The lady who lives +on her enthusiasm; and hasn't a jot."—"Bright-eyed +creature selling jewels. The stones and the eyes." +Much significance is in the last few words. One may +see to what uses Dickens would have turned them.</p> + +<p>A more troubled note is sounded in another of these +female characters. "I am a common woman—fallen. +Is it devilry in me—is it a wicked comfort—what is it—that +induces me to be always tempting other women +down, while I hate myself!" This next, with as much +truth in it, goes deeper than the last. "The prostitute +who will not let one certain youth approach her. 'O +let there be some one in the world, who having an inclination +towards me has not gratified it, and has not +known me in my degradation!' She almost loving +him.—Suppose, too, this touch in her could not be +believed in by his mother or mistress: by some handsome +and proudly virtuous woman, always revolting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_287" id="Page_3_287">[287]</a></span> +from her." A more agreeable sketch than either follows, +though it would not please M. Taine so well. +"The little baby-like married woman—so strange in +her new dignity, and talking with tears in her eyes, of +her sisters 'and all of them' at home. Never from +home before, and never going back again." Another +from the same manuscript volume not less attractive, +which was sketched in his own home, I gave upon a +former page.</p> + +<p>The female character in its relations with the opposite +sex has lively illustration in the Memoranda. +"The man who is governed by his wife, and is heartily +despised in consequence by all other wives; who still +want to govern <i>their</i> husbands, notwithstanding." An +alarming family pair follows that. "The playful—and +scratching—family. Father and daughter." And here +is another. "The agreeable (and wicked) young-mature +man, and his devoted sister." What next was +set down he had himself partly seen; and, by enquiry +at the hospital named, had ascertained the truth of the +rest. "The two people in the Incurable Hospital.—The +poor incurable girl lying on a water-bed, and the +incurable man who has a strange flirtation with her; +comes and makes confidences to her; snips and arranges +her plants; and rehearses to her the comic +songs(!) by writing which he materially helps out his +living."<a name="FNanchor_252_252" id="FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_288" id="Page_3_288">[288]</a></span></p> +<p>Two lighter figures are very pleasantly touched. +"Set of circumstances which suddenly bring an easy, +airy fellow into near relations with people he knows +nothing about, and has never even seen. This, through +his being thrown in the way of the innocent young +personage of the story. 'Then there is Uncle Sam to +be considered,' says she. 'Aye to be sure,' says he, +'so there is! By Jupiter, I forgot Uncle Sam. He's +a rock ahead, is Uncle Sam. He must be considered, +of course; he must be smoothed down; he must be +cleared out of the way. To be sure. I never thought +of Uncle Sam.—By the bye, who <i>is</i> Uncle Sam?'"</p> + +<p>There are several such sketches as that, to set against +the groups of women; and some have Dickens's favourite +vein of satire in them. "The man whose vista is +always stopped up by the image of Himself. Looks +down a long walk, and can't see round himself, or over +himself, or beyond himself. Is always blocking up his +own way. Would be such a good thing for him, if he +could knock himself down." Another picture of selfishness +is touched with greater delicacy. "'Too good' +to be grateful to, or dutiful to, or anything else that +ought to be. 'I won't thank you: you are too good.'—'Don't +ask me to marry you: you are too good.'—In +short, I don't particularly mind ill-using you, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_289" id="Page_3_289">[289]</a></span> +being selfish with you: for you are <i>so</i> good. Virtue its +own reward!" A third, which seems to reverse the +dial, is but another face of it: frankly avowing faults, +which are virtues. "In effect—I admit I am generous, +amiable, gentle, magnanimous. Reproach me—I deserve +it—I know my faults—I have striven in vain to +get the better of them." Dickens would have made +much, too, of the working out of the next. "The +knowing man in distress, who borrows a round sum of +a generous friend. Comes, in depression and tears, +dines, gets the money, and gradually cheers up over his +wine, as he obviously entertains himself with the reflection +that his friend is an egregious fool to have lent it +to him, and that <i>he</i> would have known better." And +so of this other. "The man who invariably says apposite +things (in the way of reproof or sarcasm) <span class="smcap">that +he don't mean.</span> Astonished when they are explained +to him."</p> + +<p>Here is a fancy that I remember him to have been +more than once bent upon making use of: but the +opportunity never came. "The two men to be guarded +against, as to their revenge. One, whom I openly hold +in some serious animosity, whom I am at the pains to +wound and defy, and whom I estimate as worth wounding +and defying;—the other, whom I treat as a sort of +insect, and contemptuously and pleasantly flick aside +with my glove. But, it turns out to be the latter who +is the really dangerous man; and, when I expect the +blow from the other, it comes from <i>him</i>."</p> + +<p>We have the master hand in the following bit of +dialogue, which takes wider application than that for +which it appears to have been intended.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_290" id="Page_3_290">[290]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'There is some virtue in him too.'</p> + +<p>"'Virtue! Yes. So there is in any grain of seed in +a seedsman's shop—but you must put it in the ground, +before you can get any good out of it.'</p> + +<p>"'Do you mean that <i>he</i> must be put in the ground +before any good comes of <i>him?</i>'</p> + +<p>"'Indeed I do. You may call it burying him, or +you may call it sowing him, as you like. You must set +him in the earth, before you get any good of him.'"</p> + +<p>One of the entries is a list of persons and places +meant to have been made subjects for special description, +and it will awaken regret that only as to one +of them (the Mugby Refreshments) his intention was +fulfilled. "A Vestryman. A Briber. A Station Waiting-Room. +Refreshments at Mugby. A Physician's +Waiting-Room. The Royal Academy. An Antiquary's +house. A Sale Room. A Picture Gallery +(for sale). A Waste-paper Shop. A Post-Office. A +Theatre."</p> + +<p>All will have been given that have particular interest +or value, from this remarkable volume, when the +thoughts and fancies I proceed to transcribe have been +put before the reader.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"The man who is incapable of his own happiness. +Or who is always in pursuit of happiness. Result, +Where is happiness to be found then? Surely not +Everywhere? Can that be so, after all? Is <i>this</i> my +experience?"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"The people who persist in defining and analysing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_291" id="Page_3_291">[291]</a></span> +their (and everybody else's) moral qualities, motives +and what not, at once in the narrowest spirit and the +most lumbering manner;—as if one should put up an +enormous scaffolding for the building of a pigstye."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"The house-full of Toadies and Humbugs. They +all know and despise one another; but—partly to keep +their hands in, and partly to make out their own individual +cases—pretend not to detect one another."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"People realising immense sums of money, imaginatively—speculatively—counting +their chickens before +hatched. Inflaming each other's imaginations about +great gains of money, and entering into a sort of intangible, +impossible, competition as to who is the +richer."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"The advertising sage, philosopher, and friend: who +educates 'for the bar, the pulpit, or the stage.'"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"The character of the real refugee—not the conventional; +the real."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"The mysterious character, or characters, interchanging +confidences. 'Necessary to be very careful +in that direction.'—'In what direction?'—'B'—'You +don't say so. What, do you mean that C——?'—'Is +aware of D. Exactly.'"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_292" id="Page_3_292">[292]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The father and boy, as I dramatically see them. +Opening with the wild dance I have in my mind."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"The old child. That is to say, born of parents +advanced in life, and observing the parents of other +children to be young. Taking an old tone accordingly."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"A thoroughly sulky character—perverting everything. +Making the good, bad—and the bad, good."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"The people who lay all their sins negligences and +ignorances, on Providence."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"The man who marries his cook at last, after being +so desperately knowing about the sex."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"The swell establishment, frightfully mean and miserable +in all but the 'reception rooms.' Those very +showy."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"B. tells M. what my opinion is of his work, &c. +Quoting the man you have once spoken to as if he +had talked a life's talk in two minutes."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"A misplaced and mis-married man; always, as it +were, playing hide and seek with the world; and +never finding what Fortune seems to have hidden +when he was born."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_293" id="Page_3_293">[293]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Certain women in Africa who have lost children, +carry little wooden images of children on their heads, +and always put their food to the lips of those images, +before tasting it themselves. This is in a part of Africa +where the mortality among children (judging from the +number of these little memorials) is very great."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Two more entries are the last which he made. +"<span class="smcap">Available names</span>" introduces a wonderful list in +the exact following classes and order; as to which the +reader may be left to his own memory for selection of +such as found their way into the several stories from +<i>Little Dorrit</i> to the end. The rest, not lifted into that +higher notice by such favour of their creator, must remain +like any other undistinguished crowd. But among +them may perhaps be detected, by those who have +special insight for the physiognomy of a name, some +few with so great promise in them of fun and character +as will make the "mute inglorious" fate which has befallen +them a subject for special regret; and much +ingenious speculation will probably wait upon all. +Dickens has generally been thought, by the curious, +to display not a few of his most characteristic traits in +this particular field of invention.</p> + +<p>First there are titles for books; and from the list +subjoined were taken two for Christmas numbers and +two for stories, though <i>Nobody's Fault</i> had ultimately +to give way to <i>Little Dorrit</i>.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Titles for books"> +<tr><td align='left'>"THE LUMBER ROOM.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SOMEBODY'S LUGGAGE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TO BE LEFT TILL CALLED FOR.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SOMETHING WANTED.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">EXTREMES MEET.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">NOBODY'S FAULT.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">THE GRINDSTONE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_294" id="Page_3_294">[294]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ROKESMITH'S FORGE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">OUR MUTUAL FRIEND.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">THE CINDER HEAP.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TWO GENERATIONS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BROKEN CROCKERY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">DUST.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">THE HOME DEPARTMENT.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">THE YOUNG PERSON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">NOW OR NEVER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MY NEIGHBOURS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">THE CHILDREN OF THE FATHERS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">NO THOROUGHFARE."</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Then comes a batch of "Christian names": Girls +and Boys: which stand thus, with mention of the source +from which he obtained them. These therefore can +hardly be called pure invention. Some would have +been reckoned too extravagant for anything but reality.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />"<i>Girls from Privy Council Education lists.</i></div> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Girls' Names"> +<tr><td align='left'>"LELIA.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MENELLA.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">RUBINA.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">IRIS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">REBECCA.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ETTY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">REBINAH.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SEBA.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PERSIA.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ARAMANDA.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">DORIS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BALZINA.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PLEASANT.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">GENTILLA.</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='center'><br />"<i>Boys from Privy Council Education lists.</i></div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Boys' Names"> +<tr><td align='left'>"DOCTOR.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">HOMER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ODEN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BRADLEY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ZERUBBABEL.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MAXIMILIAN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">URBIN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SAMILIAS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PICKLES.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ORANGE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">FEATHER.</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='center'><br />"<i>Girls and Boys from Ditto.</i></div> + +<div class='center'> +"AMANDA, ETHLYNIDA; BOETIUS, BOLTIUS."<br /> +</div> + +<p>To which he adds supplementary lists that appear to +be his own.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />"<i>More Boys.</i></div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="More boys' names"> +<tr><td align='left'>"ROBERT LADLE.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">JOLY STICK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BILL MARIGOLD.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">STEPHEN MARQUICK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">JONATHAN KNOTWELL.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_295" id="Page_3_295">[295]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PHILIP BROWNDRESS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">HENRY GHOST.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">GEORGE MUZZLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WALTER ASHES.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ZEPHANIAH FERRY (or FURY).</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WILLIAM WHY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ROBERT GOSPEL.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">THOMAS FATHERLY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ROBIN SCUBBAM.</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='center'><br />"<i>More Girls.</i></div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="More Girls' Names"> +<tr><td align='left'>"SARAH GOLDSACKS.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ROSETTA DUST.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SUSAN GOLDRING.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">CATHERINE TWO.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MATILDA RAINBIRD.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MIRIAM DENIAL.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SOPHIA DOOMSDAY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ALICE THORNEYWORK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SALLY GIMBLET.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">VERITY HAWKYARD.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BIRDIE NASH.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">AMBROSINA EVENTS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">APAULINA VERNON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">NELTIE ASHFORD."</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>And then come the mass of his "available names," +which stand thus, without other introduction or comment:</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Yet more Names"> +<tr><td align='left'>"TOWNDLING.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MOOD.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">GUFF.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TREBLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">CHILBY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SPESSIFER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WODDER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WHELPFORD.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">FENNERCK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">GANNERSON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">CHINKERBLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BINTREY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">FLEDSON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">HIRLL.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BRAYLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MULLENDER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TRESLINGHAM.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BRANKLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SITTERN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">DOSTONE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">CAY-LON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SLYANT.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">QUEEDY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BESSELTHUR.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MUSTY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">GROUT.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TERTIUS JOBBER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">AMON HEADSTON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">STRAYSHOTT.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">HIGDEN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MORFIT.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">GOLDSTRAW.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BARREL.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">INGE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">JUMP.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">JIGGINS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BONES.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">COY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">DAWN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TATKIN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">DROWVEY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PUDSEY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PEDSEY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">DUNCALF.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TRICKLEBANK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SAPSEA.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">READYHUFF.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">DUFTY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">FOGGY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TWINN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BROWNSWORD.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PEARTREE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SUDDS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SILVERMAN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">KIMBER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">LAUGHLEY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">LESSOCK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TIPPINS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MINNITT.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">RADLOWE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PRATCHET.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MAWDETT.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_296" id="Page_3_296">[296]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WOZENHAM.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SNOWELL.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">LOTTRUM.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">LAMMLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">FROSER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">HOLBLACK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MULLEY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">REDWORTH.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">REDFOOT.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TARBOX (B).</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TINKLING.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">DUDDLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">JEBUS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">POWDERHILL.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">GRIMMER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SKUSE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TITCOOMBE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">CRABBLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SWANNOCK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TUZZEN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TWEMLOW.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SQUAB.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">JACKMAN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SUGG.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BREMMIDGE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SILAS BLODGET.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MELVIN BEAL.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BUTTRICK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">EDSON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SANLORN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">LIGHTWORD.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TITBULL.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BANGHAM.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">KYLE—NYLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PEMBLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MAXEY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ROKESMITH.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">CHIVERY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WABBLER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PEEX—SPEEX.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">GANNAWAY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MRS. FLINKS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">FLINX.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">JEE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">HARDEN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MERDLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MURDEN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">TOPWASH.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PORDAGE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">DORRET—DORRIT.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">CARTON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MINIFIE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SLINGO.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">JOAD.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">KINCH.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MAG.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">CHELLYSON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BLENNAM—CL.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BARDOCK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SNIGSWORTH.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SWENTON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">CASBY—PEACH.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">LOWLEIGH—LOWELY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PIGRIN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">YERBURY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PLORNISH.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MAROON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BANDY-NANDY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">STONEBURY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MAGWITCH.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MEAGLES.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PANCKS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">HAGGAGE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PROVIS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">STILTINGTON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">STILTWALK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">STILTINGSTALK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">STILTSTALKING.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">RAVENDER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PODSNAP.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">CLARRIKER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">COMPERY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">STRIVER-STRYVER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PUMBLECHOOK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WANGLER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BOFFIN.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">BANTINCK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">DIBTON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WILFER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">GLIBBERY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">MULVEY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">HORLICK.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">DOOLGE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">GANNERY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">GARGERY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WILLSHARD.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">RIDERHOOD.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">PRATTERSTONE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">CHINKIBLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WOPSELL.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WOPSLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WHELPINGTON.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WHELPFORD.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">GAYVERY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WEGG.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">HUBBLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">URRY.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">KIBBLE.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">SKIFFINS.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">WODDER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">ETSER.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">AKERSHEM."</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>The last of the Memoranda, and the last words +written by Dickens in the blank paper book containing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_297" id="Page_3_297">[297]</a></span> +them, are these. "'Then I'll give up snuff.' Brobity.—An +alarming sacrifice. Mr. Brobity's snuff-box. The +Pawnbroker's account of it?" What was proposed by +this must be left to conjecture; but "Brobity" is the +name of one of the people in his unfinished story, and +the suggestion may have been meant for some incident +in it. If so, it is the only passage in the volume which +can be in any way connected with the piece of writing +on which he was last engaged. Some names were taken +for it from the lists, but there is otherwise nothing to +recall <i>Edwin Drood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_298" id="Page_3_298">[298]</a></span></i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>THIRD SERIES OF READINGS.</h3> + +<h3>1864-1867.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Death of Thackeray—Dickens on Thackeray—Mother's Death—Death +of his Second Son—<i>Our Mutual Friend</i>—Revising a Play—Sorrowful +New Year—Lameness—Fatal Anniversary—New Readings +undertaken—Offer of Messrs. Chappell—Relieved from Management—Greater +Fatigues involved—A Memorable Evening—Mrs. +Carlyle—Offer for more Readings—Result of the Last—Grave +Warnings—At Liverpool—At Manchester—At Birmingham—In +Scotland—Exertion and its Result—An Old Malady—Audiences +at Newcastle—Scene at Tynemouth—In Dublin—At Cambridge—Close +of the Third Series—Desire in America to hear +Dickens read—Sends Agent to America—Warning unheeded—For +and against reading in America—Decision to go—Departure.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> sudden death of Thackeray on the Christmas +eve of 1863 was a painful shock to Dickens. It would +not become me to speak, when he has himself spoken, +of his relations with so great a writer and so old a +friend.</p> + +<p>"I saw him first, nearly twenty-eight years ago, +when he proposed to become the illustrator of my earliest +book. I saw him last,<a name="FNanchor_253_253" id="FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> shortly before Christmas, at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_299" id="Page_3_299">[299]</a></span> +Athenæum Club, when he told me that he had been in +bed three days . . . and that he had it in his mind to +try a new remedy which he laughingly described. He +was cheerful, and looked very bright. In the night of +that day week, he died. The long interval between +these two periods is marked in my remembrance of him +by many occasions when he was extremely humorous, +when he was irresistibly extravagant, when he was softened +and serious, when he was charming with children. . . . +No one can be surer than I, of the greatness and +goodness of his heart. . . . In no place should I take it upon +myself at this time to discourse of his books, of his refined +knowledge of character, of his subtle acquaintance +with the weaknesses of human nature, of his delightful +playfulness as an essayist, of his quaint and touching +ballads, of his mastery over the English language. . . . +But before me lies all that he had written of his latest +story . . . and the pain I have felt in perusing it has +not been deeper than the conviction that he was in the +healthiest vigour of his powers when he worked on this +last labour. . . . The last words he corrected in print +were 'And my heart throbbed with an exquisite bliss.' +God grant that on that Christmas Eve when he laid his +head back on his pillow and threw up his arms as he +had been wont to do when very weary, some consciousness +of duty done, and of Christian hope throughout<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_300" id="Page_3_300">[300]</a></span> +life humbly cherished, may have caused his own heart +so to throb, when he passed away to his Redeemer's +rest. He was found peacefully lying as above described, +composed, undisturbed, and to all appearance asleep."</p> + +<p>Other griefs were with Dickens at this time, and close +upon them came the too certain evidence that his own +health was yielding to the overstrain which had been +placed upon it by the occurrences and anxieties of the +few preceding years. His mother, whose infirm health +had been tending for more than two years to the close, +died in September 1863; and on his own birthday in +the following February he had tidings of the death of +his second son Walter, on the last day of the old year +in the officers' hospital at Calcutta; to which he had +been sent up invalided from his station, on his way +home. He was a lieutenant in the 26th Native Infantry +regiment, and had been doing duty with the +42nd Highlanders. In 1853 his father had thus written +to the youth's godfather, Walter Savage Landor: +"Walter is a very good boy, and comes home from +school with honorable commendation and a prize into +the bargain. He never gets into trouble, for he is a +great favourite with the whole house and one of the +most amiable boys in the boy-world. He comes out +on birthdays in a blaze of shirt pin." The pin was a +present from Landor; to whom three years later, when +the boy had obtained his cadetship through the kindness +of Miss Coutts, Dickens wrote again. "Walter +has done extremely well at school; has brought home +a prize in triumph; and will be eligible to 'go up' for +his India examination soon after next Easter. Having +a direct appointment he will probably be sent out soon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_301" id="Page_3_301">[301]</a></span> +after he has passed, and so will fall into that strange +life 'up the country' before he well knows he is alive, +or what life is—which indeed seems to be rather an advanced +state of knowledge." If he had lived another +month he would have reached his twenty-third year, +and perhaps not then the advanced state of knowledge +his father speaks of. But, never forfeiting his claim to +those kindly paternal words, he had the goodness and +simplicity of boyhood to the last.</p> + +<p>Dickens had at this time begun his last story in twenty +numbers, and my next chapter will show through what +unwonted troubles, in this and the following year, he +had to fight his way. What otherwise during its progress +chiefly interested him, was the enterprise of Mr. +Fechter at the Lyceum, of which he had become the +lessee; and Dickens was moved to this quite as much +by generous sympathy with the difficulties of such a +position to an artist who was not an Englishman, as by +genuine admiration of Mr. Fechter's acting. He became +his helper in disputes, adviser on literary points, +referee in matters of management; and for some years +no face was more familiar than the French comedian's +at Gadshill or in the office of his journal. But theatres +and their affairs are things of a season, and even Dickens's +whim and humour will not revive for us any +interest in these. No bad example, however, of the +difficulties in which a French actor may find himself +with English playwrights, will appear in a few amusing +words from one of his letters about a piece played at +the Princess's before the Lyceum management was +taken in hand.</p> + +<p>"I have been cautioning Fechter about the play<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_302" id="Page_3_302">[302]</a></span> +whereof he gave the plot and scenes to B; and out of +which I have struck some enormities, my account of +which will (I think) amuse you. It has one of the best +first acts I ever saw; but if he can do much with the +last two, not to say three, there are resources in his art +that <i>I</i> know nothing about. When I went over the +play this day week, he was at least 20 minutes, <i>in a +boat, in the last scene</i>, discussing with another gentleman +(also in the boat) whether he should kill him or +not; after which the gentleman dived overboard and +swam for it. Also, in the most important and dangerous +parts of the play, there was a young person of the +name of Pickles who was constantly being mentioned +by name, in conjunction with the powers of light or +darkness; as, 'Great Heaven! Pickles?'—'By Hell, +'tis Pickles!'—'Pickles? a thousand Devils!'—'Distraction! +Pickles?'"<a name="FNanchor_254_254" id="FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_303" id="Page_3_303">[303]</a></span></p> +<p>The old year ended and the new one opened sadly +enough. The death of Leech in November affected +Dickens very much,<a name="FNanchor_255_255" id="FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> and a severe attack of illness in +February put a broad mark between his past life and +what remained to him of the future. The lameness +now began in his left foot which never afterwards +wholly left him, which was attended by great suffering, +and which baffled experienced physicians. He had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_304" id="Page_3_304">[304]</a></span> +persisted in his ordinary exercise during heavy snow-storms, +and to the last he had the fancy that his illness +was merely local. But that this was an error is now +certain; and it is more than probable that if the +nervous danger and disturbance it implied had been +correctly appreciated at the time, its warning might +have been of priceless value to Dickens. Unhappily +he never thought of husbanding his strength except +for the purpose of making fresh demands upon it, and +it was for this he took a brief holiday in France during +the summer. "Before I went away," he wrote to +his daughter, "I had certainly worked myself into a +damaged state. But the moment I got away, I began, +thank God, to get well. I hope to profit by this experience, +and to make future dashes from my desk before +I want them." At his return he was in the terrible +railway accident at Staplehurst, on a day<a name="FNanchor_256_256" id="FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> which proved +afterwards more fatal to him; and it was with shaken +nerves but unsubdued energy he resumed the labour to +be presently described. His foot troubled him more +or less throughout the autumn;<a name="FNanchor_257_257" id="FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> he was beset by nervous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_305" id="Page_3_305">[305]</a></span> +apprehensions which the accident had caused to +himself, not lessened by his generous anxiety to assuage +the severer sufferings inflicted by it on others;<a name="FNanchor_258_258" id="FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> and +that he should nevertheless have determined, on the +close of his book, to undertake a series of readings +involving greater strain and fatigue than any hitherto, +was a startling circumstance. He had perhaps become +conscious, without owning it even to himself, that for +exertion of this kind the time left him was short; but, +whatever pressed him on, his task of the next three +years, self-imposed, was to make the most money in +the shortest time without any regard to the physical +labour to be undergone. The very letter announcing +his new engagement shows how entirely unfit he was to +enter upon it.</p> + +<p>"For some time," he wrote at the end of February +1866, "I have been very unwell. F. B. wrote me +word that with such a pulse as I described, an examination<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_306" id="Page_3_306">[306]</a></span> +of the heart was absolutely necessary. 'Want +of muscular power in the heart,' B said. 'Only +remarkable irritability of the heart,' said Doctor +Brinton of Brook-street, who had been called in to +consultation. I was not disconcerted; for I knew +well beforehand that the effect could not possibly be +without the one cause at the bottom of it, of some +degeneration of some function of the heart. Of course +I am not so foolish as to suppose that all my work can +have been achieved without <i>some</i> penalty, and I have +noticed for some time a decided change in my buoyancy +and hopefulness—in other words, in my usual +'tone.' But tonics have already brought me round. +So I have accepted an offer, from Chappells of Bond-street, +of £50 a night for thirty nights to read 'in +England, Ireland, Scotland, or Paris;' they undertaking +all the business, paying all personal expenses, +travelling and otherwise, of myself, John" (his office +servant), "and my gasman; and making what they +can of it. I begin, I believe, in Liverpool on the +Thursday in Easter week, and then come to London. +I am going to read at Cheltenham (on my own +account) on the 23rd and 24th of this month, staying +with Macready of course."</p> + +<p>The arrangement of this series of Readings differed +from those of its predecessors in relieving Dickens +from every anxiety except of the reading itself; but, +by such rapid and repeated change of nights at distant +places as kept him almost wholly in a railway carriage +when not at the reading-desk or in bed, it added +enormously to the physical fatigue. He would read +at St. James's Hall in London one night, and at Bradford<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_307" id="Page_3_307">[307]</a></span> +the next. He would read in Edinburgh, go on +to Glasgow and to Aberdeen, then come back to +Glasgow, read again in Edinburgh, strike off to Manchester, +come back to St. James's Hall once more, and +begin the same round again. It was labour that must +in time have broken down the strongest man, and +what Dickens was when he assumed it we have seen.</p> + +<p>He did not himself admit a shadow of misgiving. +"As to the readings" (11th of March), "all I have to +do is, to take in my book and read, at the appointed +place and hour, and come out again. All the business +of every kind, is done by Chappells. They take John +and my other man, merely for my convenience. I +have no more to do with any detail whatever, than you +have. They transact all the business at their own cost, +and on their own responsibility. I think they are disposed +to do it in a very good spirit, because, whereas +the original proposition was for thirty readings 'in +England, Ireland, Scotland, or Paris,' they wrote out +their agreement 'in London, the Provinces, or elsewhere, +<i>as you and we may agree</i>.' For this they pay +£1500 in three sums; £500 on beginning, £500 on the +fifteenth Reading, £500 at the close. Every charge of +every kind, they pay besides. I rely for mere curiosity +on <i>Doctor Marigold</i> (I am going to begin with +him in Liverpool, and at St. James's Hall). I have +got him up with immense pains, and should like to +give you a notion what I am going to do with him."</p> + +<p>The success everywhere went far beyond even the +former successes. A single night at Manchester, when +eight hundred stalls were let, two thousand five hundred +and sixty-five people admitted, and the receipts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_308" id="Page_3_308">[308]</a></span> +amounted to more than three hundred pounds, was +followed in nearly the same proportion by all the +greater towns; and on the 20th of April the outlay +for the entire venture was paid, leaving all that remained, +to the middle of the month of June, sheer +profit. "I came back last Sunday," he wrote on the +30th of May, "with my last country piece of work for +this time done. Everywhere the success has been the +same. St. James's Hall last night was quite a splendid +spectacle. Two more Tuesdays there, and I shall retire +into private life. I have only been able to get to +Gadshill once since I left it, and that was the day +before yesterday."</p> + +<p>One memorable evening he had passed at my house +in the interval, when he saw Mrs. Carlyle for the last +time. Her sudden death followed shortly after, and +near the close of April he had thus written to me from +Liverpool. "It was a terrible shock to me, and poor +dear Carlyle has been in my mind ever since. How +often I have thought of the unfinished novel. No one +now to finish it. None of the writing women come +near her at all." This was an allusion to what had +passed at their meeting. It was on the second of April, +the day when Mr. Carlyle had delivered his inaugural +address as Lord Rector of Edinburgh University, and +a couple of ardent words from Professor Tyndall had +told her of the triumph just before dinner. She came +to us flourishing the telegram in her hand, and the +radiance of her enjoyment of it was upon her all +the night. Among other things she gave Dickens the +subject for a novel, from what she had herself observed +at the outside of a house in her street; of which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_309" id="Page_3_309">[309]</a></span> +various incidents were drawn from the condition of its +blinds and curtains, the costumes visible at its windows, +the cabs at its door, its visitors admitted or rejected, its +articles of furniture delivered or carried away; and the +subtle serious humour of it all, the truth in trifling +bits of character, and the gradual progress into a half-romantic +interest, had enchanted the skilled novelist. +She was well into the second volume of her small +romance before she left, being as far as her observation +then had taken her; but in a few days exciting incidents +were expected, the denouement could not be far +off, and Dickens was to have it when they met again. +Yet it was to something far other than this amusing +little fancy his thoughts had carried him, when he +wrote of no one being capable to finish what she might +have begun. In greater things this was still more true. +No one could doubt it who had come within the fascinating +influence of that sweet and noble nature. With +some of the highest gifts of intellect, and the charm +of a most varied knowledge of books and things, there +was something "beyond, beyond." No one who knew +Mrs. Carlyle could replace her loss when she had passed +away.</p> + +<p>The same letter which told of his uninterrupted success +to the last, told me also that he had a heavy cold +upon him and was "very tired and depressed." Some +weeks before the first batch of readings closed, Messrs. +Chappell had already tempted him with an offer for +fifty more nights to begin at Christmas, for which he +meant, as he then said, to ask them seventy pounds a +night. "It would be unreasonable to ask anything +now on the ground of the extent of the late success,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_310" id="Page_3_310">[310]</a></span> +but I am bound to look to myself for the future. The +Chappells are speculators, though of the worthiest and +most honourable kind. They make some bad speculations, +and have made a very good one in this case, +and will set this against those. I told them when we +agreed: 'I offer these thirty Readings to you at fifty +pounds a night, because I know perfectly well beforehand +that no one in your business has the least idea of +their real worth, and I wish to prove it.' The sum +taken is £4720." The result of the fresh negotiation, +though not completed until the beginning of August, +may be at once described. "Chappell instantly accepts +my proposal of forty nights at sixty pounds a +night, and every conceivable and inconceivable expense +paid. To make an even sum, I have made it +forty-two nights for £2500. So I shall now try to +discover a Christmas number" (he means the subject +for one), "and shall, please Heaven, be quit of the +whole series of readings so as to get to work on a new +story for the new series of <i>All the Year Round</i> early in +the spring. The readings begin probably with the +New Year." These were fair designs, but the fairest +are the sport of circumstance, and though the subject +for Christmas was found, the new series of <i>All the +Year</i> Round never had a new story from its founder. +With whatever consequence to himself, the strong tide +of the Readings was to sweep on to its full. The +American war had ceased, and the first renewed offers +from the States had been made and rejected. Hovering +over all, too, were other sterner dispositions. "I +think," he wrote in September, "there is some strange +influence in the atmosphere. Twice last week I was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_311" id="Page_3_311">[311]</a></span> +seized in a most distressing manner—apparently in +the heart; but, I am persuaded, only in the nervous +system."</p> + +<p>In the midst of his ovations such checks had not +been wanting. "The police reported officially," he +wrote to his daughter from Liverpool on the 14th of +April, "that three thousand people were turned away +from the hall last night. . . . Except that I can <i>not</i> sleep, +I really think myself in very much better training than +I had anticipated. A dozen oysters and a little champagne +between the parts every night, seem to constitute +the best restorative I have ever yet tried." "Such a +prodigious demonstration last night at Manchester," +he wrote to the same correspondent twelve days later, +"that I was obliged (contrary to my principle in such +cases) to go back. I am very tired to-day; for it +would be of itself very hard work in that immense +place, if there were not to be added eighty miles of +railway and late hours to boot." "It has been very +heavy work," he wrote to his sister-in-law on the 11th +of May from Clifton, "getting up at 6.30 each morning +after a heavy night, and I am not at all well to-day. +We had a tremendous hall at Birmingham last night, +£230 odd, 2100 people; and I made a most ridiculous +mistake. Had <i>Nickleby</i> on my list to finish with, +instead of <i>Trial</i>. Read <i>Nickleby</i> with great go, <i>and +the people remained</i>. Went back again at 10 o'clock, +and explained the accident: but said if they liked I +would give them the <i>Trial</i>. They <i>did</i> like;—and I +had another half hour of it, in that enormous place. . . . +I have so severe a pain in the ball of my left eye +that it makes it hard for me to do anything after 100<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_312" id="Page_3_312">[312]</a></span> +miles shaking since breakfast. My cold is no better, +nor my hand either." It was his left eye, it will be +noted, as it was his left foot and hand; the irritability +or faintness of heart was also of course on the left side; +and it was on the same left side he felt most of the +effect of the railway accident.</p> + +<p>Everything was done to make easier the labour of +travel, but nothing could materially abate either the +absolute physical exhaustion, or the nervous strain. +"We arrived here," he wrote from Aberdeen (16th of +May), "safe and sound between 3 and 4 this morning. +There was a compartment for the men, and a charming +room for ourselves furnished with sofas and easy chairs. +We had also a pantry and washing-stand. This carriage +is to go about with us." Two days later he wrote +from Glasgow: "We halted at Perth yesterday, and +got a lovely walk there. Until then I had been in a +condition the reverse of flourishing; half strangled +with my cold, and dyspeptically gloomy and dull; but, +as I feel much more like myself this morning, we are +going to get some fresh air aboard a steamer on the +Clyde." The last letter during his country travel was +from Portsmouth on the 24th of May, and contained +these words: "You need have no fear about America." +The readings closed in June.</p> + +<p>The readings of the new year began with even increased +enthusiasm, but not otherwise with happier +omen. Here was his first outline of plan: "I start on +Wednesday afternoon (the 15th of January) for Liverpool, +and then go on to Chester, Derby, Leicester, and +Wolverhampton. On Tuesday the 29th I read in London +again, and in February I read at Manchester and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_313" id="Page_3_313">[313]</a></span> +then go on into Scotland." From Liverpool he wrote +on the 21st: "The enthusiasm has been unbounded. +On Friday night I quite astonished myself; but I was +taken so faint afterwards that they laid me on a sofa, at +the hall for half an hour. I attribute it to my distressing +inability to sleep at night, and to nothing worse. +Everything is made as easy to me as it possibly can be. +Dolby would do anything to lighten the work, and <i>does</i> +everything." The weather was sorely against him. +"At Chester," he wrote on the 24th from Birmingham, +"we read in a snow-storm and a fall of ice. I think it +was the worst weather I ever saw. . . . At Wolverhampton +last night the thaw had thoroughly set in, and it +rained furiously, and I was again heavily beaten. We +came on here after the reading (it is only a ride of forty +miles), and it was as much as I could do to hold out +the journey. But I was not faint, as at Liverpool. I +was only exhausted." Five days later he had returned +for his Reading in London, and thus replied to a summons +to dine with Macready at my house: "I am very +tired; cannot sleep; have been severely shaken on an +atrocious railway; read to-night, and have to read at +Leeds on Thursday. But I have settled with Dolby to +put off our going to Leeds on Wednesday, in the hope +of coming to dine with you, and seeing our dear old +friend. I say 'in the hope,' because if I should be a +little more used-up to-morrow than I am to-day, I +should be constrained, in spite of myself, to take to the +sofa and stick there."</p> + +<p>On the 15th of February he wrote to his sister-in-law +from Liverpool that they had had "an enormous turnaway" +the previous night. "The day has been very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_314" id="Page_3_314">[314]</a></span> +fine, and I have turned it to the wholesomest account +by walking on the sands at New Brighton all the morning. +I am not quite right within, but believe it to be +an effect of the railway shaking. There is no doubt of +the fact that, after the Staplehurst experience, it tells +more and more (railway shaking, that is) instead of, as +one might have expected, less and less." The last remark +is a strange one, from a man of his sagacity; but +it was part of the too-willing self-deception which he +practised, to justify him in his professed belief that +these continued excesses of labour and excitement were +really doing him no harm. The day after that last letter +he pushed on to Scotland, and on the 17th wrote +to his daughter from Glasgow. The closing night at +Manchester had been enormous. "They cheered to +that extent after it was over that I was obliged to huddle +on my clothes (for I was undressing to prepare for +the journey) and go back again. After so heavy a week, +it <i>was</i> rather stiff to start on this long journey at a +quarter to two in the morning; but I got more sleep +than I ever got in a railway-carriage before. . . . I have, +as I had in the last series of readings, a curious feeling +of soreness all round the body—which I suppose to +arise from the great exertion of voice . . ." Two days +later he wrote to his sister-in-law from the Bridge of +Allan, which he had reached from Glasgow that morning. +"Yesterday I was so unwell with an internal +malady that occasionally at long intervals troubles me +a little, and it was attended with the sudden loss of so +much blood, that I wrote to F. B. from whom I shall +doubtless hear to-morrow. . . . I felt it a little more +exertion to read, afterwards, and I passed a sleepless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_315" id="Page_3_315">[315]</a></span> +night after that again; but otherwise I am in good force +and spirits to-day: I may say, in the best force. . . . +The quiet of this little place is sure to do me good." +He rallied again from this attack, and, though he still +complained of sleeplessness, wrote cheerfully from Glasgow +on the 21st, describing himself indeed as confined +to his room, but only because "in close hiding from a +local poet who has christened his infant son in my +name, and consequently haunts the building." On +getting back to Edinburgh he wrote to me, with intimation +that many troubles had beset him; but that the +pleasure of his audiences, and the providence and forethought +of Messrs. Chappell, had borne him through. +"Everything is done for me with the utmost liberality +and consideration. Every want I can have on these +journeys is anticipated, and not the faintest spark of +the tradesman spirit ever peeps out. I have three men +in constant attendance on me; besides Dolby, who is +an agreeable companion, an excellent manager, and a +good fellow."</p> + +<p>On the 4th of March he wrote from Newcastle: +"The readings have made an immense effect in this +place, and it is remarkable that although the people are +individually rough, collectively they are an unusually +tender and sympathetic audience; while their comic +perception is quite up to the high London standard. +The atmosphere is so very heavy that yesterday we +escaped to Tynemouth for a two hours' sea walk. +There was a high north wind blowing, and a magnificent +sea running. Large vessels were being towed in +and out over the stormy bar, with prodigious waves +breaking on it; and, spanning the restless uproar of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_316" id="Page_3_316">[316]</a></span> +the waters, was a quiet rainbow of transcendent beauty. +The scene was quite wonderful. We were in the full +enjoyment of it when a heavy sea caught us, knocked +us over, and in a moment drenched us and filled even +our pockets. We had nothing for it but to shake ourselves +together (like Dr. Marigold), and dry ourselves +as well as we could by hard walking in the wind and +sunshine. But we were wet through for all that, when +we came back here to dinner after half-an-hour's railway +drive. I am wonderfully well, and quite fresh and +strong." Three days later he was at Leeds; from +which he was to work himself round through the most +important neighbouring places to another reading in +London, before again visiting Ireland.</p> + +<p>This was the time of the Fenian excitements; it was +with great reluctance he consented to go;<a name="FNanchor_259_259" id="FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> and he told<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_317" id="Page_3_317">[317]</a></span> +us all at his first arrival that he should have a complete +breakdown. More than 300 stalls were gone at Belfast +two days before the reading, but on the afternoon of +the reading in Dublin not 50 were taken. Strange to +say however a great crowd pressed in at night, he had +a tumultuous greeting, and on the 22nd of March I had +this announcement from him: "You will be surprised +to be told that we have done <span class="smcap">wonders</span>! Enthusiastic +crowds have filled the halls to the roof each night, and +hundreds have been turned away. At Belfast the night +before last we had £246 5<i>s.</i> In Dublin to-night everything +is sold out, and people are besieging Dolby to +put chairs anywhere, in doorways, on my platform, in +any sort of hole or corner. In short the Readings are +a perfect rage at a time when everything else is beaten +down." He took the Eastern Counties at his return, +and this brought the series to a close. "The reception +at Cambridge was something to be proud of in such a +place. The colleges mustered in full force, from the +biggest guns to the smallest; and went beyond even +Manchester in the roars of welcome and rounds of +cheers. The place was crammed, and all through the +reading everything was taken with the utmost heartiness +of enjoyment." The temptation of offers from America +had meanwhile again been presented to him so strongly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_318" id="Page_3_318">[318]</a></span> +and in such unlucky connection with immediate family +claims threatening excess of expenditure even beyond +the income he was making, that he was fain to write to +his sister-in-law: "I begin to feel myself drawn towards +America as Darnay in the <i>Tale of Two Cities</i> +was attracted to Paris. It is my Loadstone Rock." +Too surely it was to be so; and Dickens was not to be +saved from the consequence of yielding to the temptation, +by any such sacrifice as had rescued Darnay.</p> + +<p>The letter which told me of the close of his English +readings had in it no word of the farther enterprise, +yet it seemed to be in some sort a preparation for it. +"Last Monday evening" (14th May) "I finished the +50 Readings with great success. You have no idea +how I have worked at them. Feeling it necessary, as +their reputation widened, that they should be better +than at first, I have <i>learnt them all</i>, so as to have no +mechanical drawback in looking after the words. I +have tested all the serious passion in them by everything +I know; made the humorous points much more +humorous; corrected my utterance of certain words; +cultivated a self-possession not to be disturbed; and +made myself master of the situation. Finishing with +<i>Dombey</i> (which I had not read for a long time) I learnt +that, like the rest; and did it to myself, often twice a day, +with exactly the same pains as at night, over and over +and over again." . . . Six days later brought his reply +to a remark that no degree of excellence to which he +might have brought his readings could reconcile me to +what there was little doubt would soon be pressed upon +him. "It is curious" (20th May) "that you should +touch the American subject, because I must confess<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_319" id="Page_3_319">[319]</a></span> +that my mind is in a most disturbed state about it. +That the people there have set themselves on having +the readings, there is no question. Every mail brings +me proposals, and the number of Americans at St. +James's Hall has been surprising. A certain Mr. Grau, +who took Ristori out, and is highly responsible, wrote +to me by the last mail (for the second time) saying +that if I would give him a word of encouragement he +would come over immediately and arrange on the +boldest terms for any number I chose, and would deposit +a large sum of money at Coutts's. Mr. Fields +writes to me on behalf of a committee of private gentlemen +at Boston who wished for the credit of getting +me out, who desired to hear the readings and did not +want profit, and would put down as a guarantee +£10,000—also to be banked here. Every American +speculator who comes to London repairs straight to +Dolby, with similar proposals. And, thus excited, +Chappells, the moment this last series was over, proposed +to treat for America!" Upon the mere question +of these various offers he had little difficulty in making +up his mind. If he went at all, he would go on his +own account, making no compact with any one. +Whether he should go at all, was what he had to +determine.</p> + +<p>One thing with his usual sagacity he saw clearly +enough. He must make up his mind quickly. "The +Presidential election would be in the autumn of next +year. They are a people whom a fancy does not hold +long. They are bent upon my reading there, and they +believe (on no foundation whatever) that I am going +to read there. If I ever go, the time would be when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_320" id="Page_3_320">[320]</a></span> +the Christmas number goes to press. Early in this +next November." Every sort of enquiry he accordingly +set on foot; and so far came to the immediate +decision, that, if the answers left him no room to +doubt that a certain sum might be realized, he would +go. "Have no fear that anything will induce me to +make the experiment, if I do not see the most forcible +reasons for believing that what I could get by it, added +to what I have got, would leave me with a sufficient +fortune. I should be wretched beyond expression +there. My small powers of description cannot describe +the state of mind in which I should drag on +from day to day." At the end of May he wrote: +"Poor dear Stanfield!" (our excellent friend had +passed away the week before). "I cannot think even +of him, and of our great loss, for this spectre of doubt +and indecision that sits at the board with me and +stands at the bedside. I am in a tempest-tossed condition, +and can hardly believe that I stand at bay at +last on the American question. The difficulty of determining +amid the variety of statements made to me +is enormous, and you have no idea how heavily the +anxiety of it sits upon my soul. But the prize looks +so large!" One way at last seemed to open by which +it was possible to get at some settled opinion. "Dolby +sails for America" (2nd of July) "on Saturday the 3rd +of August. It is impossible to come to any reasonable +conclusion, without sending eyes and ears on the +actual ground. He will take out my MS. for the +<i>Children's Magazine</i>. I hope it is droll, and very +child-like; though the joke is a grown-up one besides. +You must try to like the pirate story, for I am very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_321" id="Page_3_321">[321]</a></span> +fond of it." The allusion is to his pleasant <i>Holiday +Romance</i> which he had written for Mr. Fields.</p> + +<p>Hardly had Mr. Dolby gone when there came that +which should have availed to dissuade, far more than +any of the arguments which continued to express my +objection to the enterprise. "I am laid up," he wrote +on the 6th of August, "with another attack in my foot, +and was on the sofa all last night in tortures. I cannot +bear to have the fomentations taken off for a moment. +I was so ill with it on Sunday, and it looked so fierce, +that I came up to Henry Thompson. He has gone +into the case heartily, and says that there is no doubt +the complaint originates in the action of the shoe, in +walking, on an enlargement in the nature of a bunion. +Erysipelas has supervened upon the injury; and the +object is to avoid a gathering, and to stay the erysipelas +where it is. Meantime I am on my back, and chafing. . . . +I didn't improve my foot by going down to +Liverpool to see Dolby off, but I have little doubt of +its yielding to treatment, and repose." A few days +later he was chafing still; the accomplished physician +he consulted having dropped other hints that somewhat +troubled him. "I could not walk a quarter of a mile +to-night for £500. I make out so many reasons against +supposing it to be gouty that I really do not think it is."</p> + +<p>So momentous in my judgment were the consequences +of the American journey to him that it seemed right to +preface thus much of the inducements and temptations +that led to it. My own part in the discussion was that +of steady dissuasion throughout: though this might +perhaps have been less persistent if I could have reconciled +myself to the belief, which I never at any time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_322" id="Page_3_322">[322]</a></span> +did, that Public Readings were a worthy employment +for a man of his genius. But it had by this time +become clear to me that nothing could stay the enterprise. +The result of Mr. Dolby's visit to America—drawn +up by Dickens himself in a paper possessing still +the interest of having given to the Readings when he +crossed the Atlantic much of the form they then assumed<a name="FNanchor_260_260" id="FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a>—reached +me when I was staying at Ross; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_323" id="Page_3_323">[323]</a></span> +upon it was founded my last argument against the +scheme. This he received in London on the 28th of +September, on which day he thus wrote to his eldest +daughter: "As I telegraphed after I saw you, I am off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_324" id="Page_3_324">[324]</a></span> +to Ross to consult with Mr. Forster and Dolby together. +You shall hear, either on Monday, or by Monday's +post from London, how I decide finally." The result +he wrote to her three days later: "You will have had +my telegram that I go to America. After a long discussion +with Forster, and consideration of what is to be +said on both sides, I have decided to go through with +it. We have telegraphed 'Yes' to Boston." Seven +days later he wrote to me: "The Scotia being full, I +do not sail until lord mayor's day; for which glorious +anniversary I have engaged an officer's cabin on deck +in the Cuba. I am not in very brilliant spirits at the +prospect before me, and am deeply sensible of your +motive and reasons for the line you have taken; but I +am not in the least shaken in the conviction that I +could never quite have given up the idea."</p> + +<p>The remaining time was given to preparations; on +the 2nd of November there was a Farewell Banquet in +the Freemasons' Hall over which Lord Lytton presided; +and on the 9th Dickens sailed for Boston. +Before he left he had contributed his part to the last +of his Christmas Numbers; all the writings he lived to +complete were done; and the interval of <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'hi'">his</ins> voyage +may be occupied by a general review of the literary +labour of his life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_325" id="Page_3_325">[325]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>DICKENS AS A NOVELIST.</h3> + +<h3>1836-1870.</h3> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Novels"> +<tr><td align='left'>THE TALE OF TWO CITIES. </td><td align='left'>OUR MUTUAL FRIEND.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>GREAT EXPECTATIONS.</td><td align='left'>DR. MARIGOLD AND TALES FOR AMERICA.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>CHRISTMAS SKETCHES.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<div class="blockquot">M. Taine's Criticism—What M. Taine overlooks—Anticipatory Reply +to M. Taine—Paper by Mr. Lewes—Plea for Objectors to Dickens—Dickens +a "Seer of Visions"—Criticised and Critic—An Opinion +on Mr. and Mrs. Micawber—Dickens in a Fit of Hallucination—Dickens's +Leading Quality—Dickens's Earlier Books—Mastery of +Dialogue—Realities of Fiction—Fielding and Dickens—Universality +of Micawber Experiences—Dickens's Enjoyment of his Own Humour—Origin +of <i>Tale of Two Cities</i>—Title-hunting—Success—Method +different from his Other Books—Reply to an Objection—Care +with which Dickens worked—<i>Tale of Two Cities</i> characterized—Opinion +of an American Critic—<i>Great Expectations</i>—Another +Boy-child for Hero—Groundwork of the Story—Masterly +Drawing of Character—Christmas Sketches—<i>Our Mutual Friend</i>—Germ +of Characters for it—Writing Numbers in Advance—Death +of Leech—Holiday in France—In the Staplehurst Accident—On +a Tale by Edmund About—Doctor Marigold—Minor Stories—Edwin +Drood—Purity of Dickens's Writings—True Province of +Humour—Dickens's Death—Effect of the News in America—A +Far-Western Admirer of Dickens.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">What</span> I have to say generally of Dickens's genius +as a writer may be made part of the notice, which still +remains to be given, of his writings from <i>The Tale of +Two Cities</i> to the time at which we have arrived,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_326" id="Page_3_326">[326]</a></span> +leaving <i>Edwin Drood</i> for mention in its place; and +this will be accompanied, as in former notices of individual +stories, by illustrations drawn from his letters +and life. His literary work was so intensely one with +his nature that he is not separable from it, and the +man and the method throw a singular light on each +other. But some allusion to what has been said of +these books, by writers assuming to speak with authority, +will properly precede what has to be offered +by me; and I shall preface this part of my task with +the hint of Carlyle, that in looking at a man out of the +common it is good for common men to make sure that +they "see" before they attempt to "oversee" him.</p> + +<p>Of the French writer, M. Henri Taine, it has before +been remarked that his inability to appreciate humour +is fatal to his pretensions as a critic of the English +novel. But there is much that is noteworthy in his +criticism notwithstanding, as well as remarkable in his +knowledge of our language; his position entitles him +to be heard without a suspicion of partizanship or intentional +unfairness; whatever the value of his opinion, +the elaboration of its form and expression is itself no +common tribute; and what is said in it of Dickens's +handling in regard to style and character, embodies +temperately objections which have since been taken +by some English critics without his impartiality and +with less than his ability. As to style M. Taine does +not find that the natural or simple prevails sufficiently. +The tone is too passionate. The imaginative or poetic +side of allusion is so uniformly dwelt on, that the descriptions +cease to be subsidiary, and the minute details +of pain or pleasure wrought out by them become active<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_327" id="Page_3_327">[327]</a></span> +agencies in the tale. So vivid and eager is the display +of fancy that everything is borne along with it; imaginary +objects take the precision of real ones; living +thoughts are controlled by inanimate things; the +chimes console the poor old ticket-porter; the cricket +steadies the rough carrier's doubts; the sea waves +soothe the dying boy; clouds, flowers, leaves, play +their several parts; hardly a form of matter without +a living quality; no silent thing without its voice. +Fondling and exaggerating thus what is occasional +in the subject of his criticism, into what he has evidently +at last persuaded himself is a fixed and universal +practice with Dickens, M. Taine proceeds to explain +the exuberance by comparing such imagination in its +vividness to that of a monomaniac. He fails altogether +to apprehend that property in Humour which involves +the feeling of subtlest and most affecting analogies, +and from which is drawn the rare insight into sympathies +between the nature of things and their attributes +or opposites, in which Dickens's fancy revelled with +such delight. Taking the famous lines which express +the lunatic, the lover, and the poet as "of Imagination +all compact," in a sense that would have startled not a +little the great poet who wrote them, M. Taine places +on the same level of creative fancy the phantoms of +the lunatic and the personages of the artist. He exhibits +Dickens as from time to time, in the several +stages of his successive works of fiction, given up to +one idea, possessed by it, seeing nothing else, treating +it in a hundred forms, exaggerating it, and so dazzling +and overpowering his readers with it that escape is +impossible. This he maintains to be equally the effect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_328" id="Page_3_328">[328]</a></span> +as Mr. Mell the usher plays the flute, as Tom Pinch +enjoys or exposes his Pecksniff, as the guard blows his +bugle while Tom rides to London, as Ruth Pinch +crosses Fountain Court or makes the beefsteak pudding, +as Jonas Chuzzlewit commits and returns from +the murder, and as the storm which is Steerforth's +death-knell beats on the Yarmouth shore. To the +same kind of power he attributes the extraordinary +clearness with which the commonest objects in all his +books, the most ordinary interiors, any old house, +a parlour, a boat, a school, fifty things that in the +ordinary tale-teller would pass unmarked, are made +vividly present and indelible; are brought out with a +strength of relief, precision, and force, unapproached +in any other writer of prose fiction; with everything +minute yet nothing cold, "with all the passion and +the patience of the painters of his country." And +while excitement in the reader is thus maintained to +an extent incompatible with a natural style or simple +narrative, M. Taine yet thinks he has discovered, in +this very power of awakening a feverish sensibility and +moving laughter or tears at the commonest things, +the source of Dickens's astonishing popularity. Ordinary +people, he says, are so tired of what is always +around them, and take in so little of the detail that +makes up their lives, that when, all of a sudden, there +comes a man to make these things interesting, and +turn them into objects of admiration, tenderness, or +terror, the effect is enchantment. Without leaving +their arm-chairs or their firesides, they find themselves +trembling with emotion, their eyes are filled with tears, +their cheeks are broad with laughter, and, in the discovery<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_329" id="Page_3_329">[329]</a></span> +they have thus made that they too can suffer, +love, and feel, their very existence seems doubled to +them. It had not occurred to M. Taine that to effect +so much might seem to leave little not achieved.</p> + +<p>So far from it, the critic had satisfied himself that +such a power of style must be adverse to a just delineation +of character. Dickens is not calm enough, he +says, to penetrate to the bottom of what he is dealing +with. He takes sides with it as friend or enemy, +laughs or cries over it, makes it odious or touching, +repulsive or attractive, and is too vehement and not +enough inquisitive to paint a likeness. His imagination +is at once too vivid and not sufficiently large. Its +tenacious quality, and the force and concentration with +which his thoughts penetrate into the details he desires +to apprehend, form limits to his knowledge, confine +him to single traits, and prevent his sounding all the +depths of a soul. He seizes on one attitude, trick, +expression, or grimace; sees nothing else; and keeps +it always unchanged. Mercy Pecksniff laughs at every +word, Mark Tapley is nothing but jolly, Mrs. Gamp +talks incessantly of Mrs. Harris, Mr. Chillip is invariably +timid, and Mr. Micawber is never tired of emphasizing +his phrases or passing with ludicrous brusqueness +from joy to grief. Each is the incarnation of +some one vice, virtue, or absurdity; whereof the display +is frequent, invariable, and exclusive. The language I +am using condenses with strict accuracy what is said by +M. Taine, and has been repeated <i>ad nauseam</i> by others, +professing admirers as well as open detractors. Mrs. +Gamp and Mr. Micawber, who belong to the first rank +of humorous creation, are thus without another word<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_330" id="Page_3_330">[330]</a></span> +dismissed by the French critic; and he shows no consciousness +whatever in doing it, of that very fault in +himself for which Dickens is condemned, of mistaking +lively observation for real insight.</p> + +<p>He has, however much concession in reserve, being +satisfied, by his observation of England, that it is to +the people for whom Dickens wrote his deficiencies in +art are mainly due. The taste of his nation had prohibited +him from representing character in a grand +style. The English require too much morality and +religion for genuine art. They made him treat love, +not as holy and sublime in itself, but as subordinate to +marriage; forced him to uphold society and the laws, +against nature and enthusiasm; and compelled him to +display, in painting such a seduction as in <i>Copperfield</i>, +not the progress, ardour, and intoxication of passion, +but only the misery, remorse, and despair. The result +of such surface religion and morality, combined with +the trading spirit, M. Taine continues, leads to so +many national forms of hypocrisy, and of greed as +well as worship for money, as to justify this great writer +of the nation in his frequent choice of those vices for +illustration in his tales. But his defect of method +again comes into play. He does not deal with vices in +the manner of a physiologist, feeling a sort of love for +them, and delighting in their finer traits as if they were +virtues. He gets angry over them. (I do not interrupt +M. Taine, but surely, to take one instance illustrative +of many, Dickens's enjoyment in dealing with +Pecksniff is as manifest as that he never ceases all the +time to make him very hateful.) He cannot, like +Balzac, leave morality out of account, and treat a passion,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_331" id="Page_3_331">[331]</a></span> +however loathsome, as that great tale-teller did, +from the only safe ground of belief, that it is a force, +and that force of whatever kind is good. It is essential +to an artist of that superior grade, M. Taine holds, no +matter how vile his subject, to show its education and +temptations, the form of brain or habits of mind that +have reinforced the natural tendency, to deduce it from +its cause, to place its circumstances around it, and to +develop its effects to their extremes. In handling such +and such a capital miser, hypocrite, debauchee, or +what not, he should never trouble himself about the +evil consequences of the vices. He should be too +much of a philosopher and artist to remember that he +is a respectable citizen. But this is what Dickens never +forgets, and he renounces all beauties requiring so corrupt +a soil. M. Taine's conclusion upon the whole +nevertheless is, that though those triumphs of art which +become the property of all the earth have not been +his, much has yet been achieved by him. Out of his +unequalled observation, his satire, and his sensibility, +has proceeded a series of original characters existing +nowhere but in England, which will exhibit to future +generations not the record of his own genius only, but +that of his country and his times.</p> + +<p>Between the judgment thus passed by the distinguished +French lecturer, and the later comment to be +now given from an English critic, certainly not in +arrest of that judgment, may fitly come a passage from +one of Dickens's letters saying something of the limitations +placed upon the artist in England. It may read +like a quasi-confession of one of M. Taine's charges, +though it was not written with reference to his own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_332" id="Page_3_332">[332]</a></span> +but to one of Scott's later novels. "Similarly" (15th +of August 1856) "I have always a fine feeling of the +honest state into which we have got, when some smooth +gentleman says to me or to some one else when I am +by, how odd it is that the hero of an English book is +always uninteresting—too good—not natural, &c. I +am continually hearing this of Scott from English people +here, who pass their lives with Balzac and Sand. +But O my smooth friend, what a shining impostor you +must think yourself and what an ass you must think +me, when you suppose that by putting a brazen face +upon it you can blot out of my knowledge the fact +that this same unnatural young gentleman (if to be +decent is to be necessarily unnatural), whom you meet +in those other books and in mine, <i>must</i> be presented +to you in that unnatural aspect by reason of your +morality, and is not to have, I will not say any of the +indecencies you like, but not even any of the experiences, +trials, perplexities, and confusions inseparable +from the making or unmaking of all men!"</p> + +<p>M. Taine's criticism was written three or four years +before Dickens's death, and to the same date belong +some notices in England which adopted more or less +the tone of depreciation; conceding the great effects +achieved by the writer, but disputing the quality and +value of his art. For it is incident to all such criticism +of Dickens to be of necessity accompanied by the +admission, that no writer has so completely impressed +himself on the time in which he lived, that he has made +his characters a part of literature, and that his readers +are the world.</p> + +<p>But, a little more than a year after his death, a paper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_333" id="Page_3_333">[333]</a></span> +was published of which the object was to reconcile such +seeming inconsistency, to expound the inner meanings +of "Dickens in relation to Criticism," and to show +that, though he had a splendid genius and a wonderful +imagination, yet the objectors were to be excused who +called him only a stagy sentimentalist and a clever +caricaturist. This critical essay appeared in the <i>Fortnightly +Review</i> for February 1872, with the signature +of Mr. George Henry Lewes; and the pretentious airs +of the performance, with its prodigious professions of +candour, force upon me the painful task of stating +what it really is. During Dickens's life, especially +when any fresh novelist could be found available for +strained comparison with him, there were plenty of +attempts to write him down: but the trick of studied +depreciation was never carried so far or made so odious +as in this case, by intolerable assumptions of an indulgent +superiority; and to repel it in such a form +once for all is due to Dickens's memory.</p> + +<p>The paper begins by the usual concessions—that he +was a writer of vast popularity, that he delighted no +end of people, that his admirers were in all classes and +all countries, that he stirred the sympathy of masses +not easily reached through literature and always to +healthy emotion, that he impressed a new direction on +popular writing, and modified the literature of his age +in its spirit no less than its form. The very splendour +of these successes, on the other hand, so deepened the +shadow of his failures, that to many there was nothing +but darkness. Was it unnatural? Could greatness be +properly ascribed, by the fastidious, to a writer whose +defects were so glaring, exaggerated, untrue, fantastic,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_334" id="Page_3_334">[334]</a></span> +and melodramatic? Might they not fairly insist on +such defects as outweighing all positive qualities, and +speak of him with condescending patronage or sneering +irritation? Why, very often such men, though their +talk would be seasoned with quotations from, and allusions +to, his writings, and though they would lay aside +their most favourite books to bury themselves in his +new "number," had been observed by this critic to be +as niggardly in their praise of him as they were lavish +in their scorn. He actually heard "<i>a very distinguished +man</i>," on one occasion, express measureless contempt +for Dickens, and a few minutes afterwards admit that +Dickens had "entered into his life." And so the critic +betook himself to the task of reconciling this immense +popularity and this critical contempt, which he does +after the following manner.</p> + +<p>He says that Dickens was so great in "fun" (humour +he does not concede to him anywhere) that Fielding +and Smollett are small in comparison, but that this +would only have been a passing amusement for the +world if he had not been "gifted with an imagination +of marvellous vividness, and an emotional sympathetic +nature capable of furnishing that imagination with elements +of universal power." To people who think that +words should carry some meaning it might seem, that, +if only a man could be "gifted" with all this, nothing +more need be said. With marvellous imagination, and +a nature to endow it with elements of universal power, +what secrets of creative art could possibly be closed to +him? But this is reckoning without your philosophical +critic. The vividness of Dickens's imagination M. +Taine found to be simply monomaniacal, and his follower<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_335" id="Page_3_335">[335]</a></span> +finds it to be merely hallucinative. Not the less +he heaps upon it epithet after epithet. He talks of its +irradiating splendour; calls it glorious as well as imperial +and marvellous; and, to make us quite sure he +is not with these fine phrases puffing-off an inferior +article, he interposes that such imagination is "common +to all great writers." Luckily for great writers in general, +however, their creations are of the old, immortal, +commonplace sort; whereas Dickens in his creative +processes, according to this philosophy of criticism, is +tied up hard and fast within hallucinative limits.</p> + +<p>"He was," we are told, "a seer of visions." Amid +silence and darkness, we are assured, he heard voices +and saw objects; of which the revived impressions to +him had the vividness of sensations, and the images +his mind created in explanation of them had the coercive +force of realities;<a name="FNanchor_261_261" id="FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> so that what he brought into +existence in this way, no matter how fantastic and +unreal, was (whatever this may mean) universally intelligible. +"His types established themselves in the +public mind like personal experiences. Their falsity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_336" id="Page_3_336">[336]</a></span> +was unnoticed in the blaze of their illumination. +Every humbug seemed a Pecksniff, every jovial improvident +a Micawber, every stinted serving-wench a +Marchioness." The critic, indeed, saw through it all, +but he gave his warnings in vain. "In vain critical +reflection showed these figures to be merely masks; not +characters, but personified characteristics; caricatures +and distortions of human nature. The vividness of +their presentation triumphed over reflection; their +creator managed to communicate to the public his own +unhesitating belief." What, however, is the public? +Mr Lewes goes on to relate. "Give a child a wooden +horse, with hair for mane and tail, and wafer-spots for +colouring, he will never be disturbed by the fact that +this horse does not move its legs but runs on wheels; +and this wooden horse, which he can handle and draw, +is believed in more than a pictured horse by a Wouvermanns +or an Ansdell(!!) It may be said of Dickens's +human figures that they too are wooden, and run on +wheels; but these are details which scarcely disturb the +belief of admirers. Just as the wooden horse is brought +within the range of the child's emotions, and dramatizing +tendencies, when he can handle and draw it, +so Dickens's figures are brought within the range of +the reader's interests, and receive from these interests +a sudden illumination, when they are the puppets of +a drama every incident of which appeals to the sympathies."</p> + +<p><i>Risum teneatis?</i> But the smile is grim that rises to +the face of one to whom the relations of the writer and +his critic, while both writer and critic lived, are known; +and who sees the drift of now scattering such rubbish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_337" id="Page_3_337">[337]</a></span> +as this over an established fame. As it fares with the +imagination that is imperial, so with the drama every +incident of which appeals to the sympathies. The one +being explained by hallucination, and the other by the +wooden horse, plenty of fine words are to spare by +which contempt may receive the show of candour. +When the characters in a play are puppets, and the +audiences of the theatre fools or children, no wise man +forfeits his wisdom by proceeding to admit that the +successful playwright, "with a fine felicity of instinct," +seized upon situations, for his wooden figures, having +"irresistible hold over the domestic affections;" that, +through his puppets, he spoke "in the mother-tongue +of the heart;" that, with his spotted horses and so forth, +he "painted the life he knew and everyone knew;" +that he painted, of course, nothing ideal or heroic, and +that the world of thought and passion lay beyond his +horizon; but that, with his artificial performers and his +feeble-witted audiences, "all the resources of the bourgeois +epic were in his grasp; the joys and pains of childhood, +the petty tyrannies of ignoble natures, the genial +pleasantries of happy natures, the life of the poor, the +struggles of the street and back parlour, the insolence +of office, the sharp social contrasts, east wind and +Christmas jollity, hunger, misery, and hot punch"—"so +that even critical spectators who complained that +these broadly painted pictures were artistic daubs could +not wholly resist their effective suggestiveness." Since +Trinculo and Caliban were under one cloak, there has +surely been no such delicate monster with two voices. +"His forward voice, now, is to speak well of his friend; +his backward voice is to utter foul speeches and to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_338" id="Page_3_338">[338]</a></span> +detract." One other of the foul speeches I may not +overlook, since it contains what is alleged to be a personal +revelation of Dickens made to the critic himself.</p> + +<p>"When one thinks of Micawber always presenting +himself in the same situation, moved with the same +springs and uttering the same sounds, always confident +of something turning up, always crushed and rebounding, +always making punch—and his wife always declaring +she will never part from him, always referring +to his talents and her family—when one thinks of the +'catchwords' personified as characters, one is reminded +of the frogs whose brains have been taken out for physiological +purposes, and whose actions henceforth want +the distinctive peculiarity of organic action, that of +fluctuating spontaneity." Such was that sheer inability +of Dickens, indeed, to comprehend this complexity of +the organism, that it quite accounted, in the view of +this philosopher, for all his unnaturalness, for the whole +of his fantastic people, and for the strained dialogues +of which his books are made up, painfully resembling +in their incongruity "the absurd and eager expositions +which insane patients pour into the listener's ear when +detailing their wrongs, or their schemes. Dickens once +declared to me," Mr. Lewes continues, "that every +word said by his characters was distinctly <i>heard</i> by him; +I was at first not a little puzzled to account for the fact +that he could hear language so utterly unlike the language +of real feeling, and not be aware of its preposterousness; +but the surprise vanished when I thought of +the phenomena of hallucination." Wonderful sagacity! +to unravel easily such a bewildering "puzzle"! And +so to the close. Between the uncultivated whom Dickens<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_339" id="Page_3_339">[339]</a></span> +moved, and the cultivated he failed to move; between +the power that so worked in <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'delf'">delft</ins> as to stir the universal +heart, and the commonness that could not meddle with +porcelain or aspire to any noble clay; the pitiful see-saw +is continued up to the final sentence, where, in the +impartial critic's eagerness to discredit even the value +of the emotion awakened in such men as Jeffrey by such +creations as Little Nell, he reverses all he has been +saying about the cultivated and uncultivated, and presents +to us a cultivated philosopher, in his ignorance +of the stage, applauding an actor whom every uncultivated +playgoing apprentice despises as stagey. But the +bold stroke just exhibited, of bringing forward Dickens +himself in the actual crisis of one of his fits of hallucination, +requires an additional word.</p> + +<p>To establish the hallucinative theory, he is said on +one occasion to have declared to the critic that every +word uttered by his characters was distinctly <i>heard</i> by +him before it was written down. Such an averment, +not credible for a moment as thus made, indeed simply +untrue to the extent described, may yet be accepted in +the limited and quite different sense which a passage in +one of Dickens's letters gives to it. All writers of +genius to whom their art has become as a second nature, +will be found capable of doing upon occasion what the +vulgar may think to be "hallucination," but hallucination +will never account for. After Scott began the +<i>Bride of Lammermoor</i> he had one of his terrible seizures +of cramp, yet during his torment he dictated<a name="FNanchor_262_262" id="FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_340" id="Page_3_340">[340]</a></span> +fine novel; and when he rose from his bed, and the +published book was placed in his hands, "he did not," +James Ballantyne explicitly assured Lockhart, "recollect +one single incident, character, or conversation it +contained." When Dickens was under the greatest +trial of his life, and illness and sorrow were contending +for the mastery over him, he thus wrote to me. "Of +my distress I will say no more than that it has borne a +terrible, frightful, horrible proportion to the quickness +of the gifts you remind me of. But may I not be forgiven +for thinking it a wonderful testimony to my being +made for my art, that when, in the midst of this trouble +and pain, I sit down to my book, some beneficent +power shows it all to me, and tempts me to be interested, +and I don't invent it—really do not—<i>but see it</i>, +and write it down. . . . It is only when it all fades away +and is gone, that I begin to suspect that its momentary +relief has cost me something."</p> + +<p>Whatever view may be taken of the man who wrote +those words, he had the claim to be judged by reference +to the highest models in the art which he studied. +In the literature of his time, from 1836 to 1870, he held +the most conspicuous place, and his claim to the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_341" id="Page_3_341">[341]</a></span> +popular one in the literature of fiction was by common +consent admitted. He obtained this rank by the sheer +force of his genius, unhelped in any way, and he held +it without dispute. As he began he closed. After he +had written for only four months, and after he had +written incessantly for four and thirty years, he was of +all living writers the most widely read. It is of course +quite possible that such popularity might imply rather +littleness in his contemporaries than greatness in him: +but his books are the test to judge by. Each thus far, +as it appeared, has had notice in these pages for its +illustration of his life, or of his method of work, or of +the variety and versatility in the manifestations of his +power. But his latest books remain still for notice, and +will properly suggest what is farther to be said of his +general place in literature.</p> + +<p>His leading quality was Humour. It has no mention +in either of the criticisms cited, but it was his +highest faculty; and it accounts for his magnificent +successes, as well as for his not infrequent failures, +in characteristic delineation. He was conscious of +this himself. Five years before he died, a great and +generous brother artist, Lord Lytton, amid much ungrudging +praise of a work he was then publishing, asked +him to consider, as to one part of it, if the modesties of +art were not a little overpassed. "I cannot tell you," +he replied, "how highly I prize your letter, or with +what pride and pleasure it inspires me. Nor do I for +a moment question its criticism (if objection so generous +and easy may be called by that hard name) +otherwise than on this ground—that I work slowly +and with great care, and never give way to my invention<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_342" id="Page_3_342">[342]</a></span> +recklessly, but constantly restrain it; and that I +think it is my infirmity to fancy or perceive relations +in things which are not apparent generally. Also, I +have such an inexpressible enjoyment of what I see in +a droll light, that I dare say I pet it as if it were a +spoilt child. This is all I have to offer in arrest of +judgment." To perceive relations in things which are +not apparent generally, is one of those exquisite properties +of humour by which are discovered the affinities +between the high and the low, the attractive and the +repulsive, the rarest things and things of every day, +which bring us all upon the level of a common humanity. +It is this which gives humour an immortal +touch that does not belong of necessity to pictures, +even the most exquisite, of mere character or manners; +the property which in its highest aspects Carlyle so +subtly described as a sort of inverse sublimity, exalting +into our affections what is below us as the other draws +down into our affections what is above us. But it has +a danger which Dickens also hints at, and into which +he often fell. All humour has in it, is indeed identical +with, what ordinary people are apt to call exaggeration; +but there is an excess beyond the allowable even +here, and to "pet" or magnify out of proper bounds +its sense of what is droll, is to put the merely grotesque +in its place. What might have been overlooked in a +writer with no uncommon powers of invention, was +thrown into overpowering prominence by Dickens's +wealth of fancy; and a splendid excess of his genius +came to be objected to as its integral and essential +quality.</p> + +<p>It cannot be said to have had any place in his earlier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_343" id="Page_3_343">[343]</a></span> +books. His powers were not at their highest and the +humour was less fine and subtle, but there was no such +objection to be taken. No misgiving interrupted the +enjoyment of the wonderful freshness of animal spirits +in <i>Pickwick;</i> but beneath its fun, laughter, and light-heartedness +were indications of power of the first rank +in the delineation of character. Some caricature was +in the plan; but as the circle of people widened beyond +the cockney club, and the delightful oddity of +Mr. Pickwick took more of an independent existence, +a different method revealed itself, nothing appeared +beyond the exaggerations permissible to humorous +comedy, and the art was seen which can combine +traits vividly true to particular men or women with +propensities common to all mankind. This has its +highest expression in Fielding: but even the first of +Dickens's books showed the same kind of mastery; +and, by the side of its life-like middle-class people +universally familiar, there was one figure before seen +by none but at once knowable by all, delightful for the +surprise it gave by its singularity and the pleasure it +gave by its truth; and, though short of the highest in +this form of art, taking rank with the class in which +live everlastingly the dozen unique inventions that +have immortalized the English novel. The groups in +<i>Oliver Twist</i>, Fagin and his pupils, Sikes and Nancy, +Mr. Bumble and his parish-boy, belong to the same +period; when Dickens also began those pathetic delineations +that opened to the neglected, the poor, and the +fallen, a world of compassion and tenderness. Yet I +think it was not until the third book, <i>Nickleby</i>, that he +began to have his place as a writer conceded to him;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_344" id="Page_3_344">[344]</a></span> +and that he ceased to be regarded as a mere phenomenon +or marvel of fortune, who had achieved success by +any other means than that of deserving it, and who +challenged no criticism better worth the name than +such as he has received from the Fortnightly reviewer. +It is to be added to what before was said of <i>Nickleby</i>, +that it established beyond dispute his mastery of dialogue, +or that power of making characters real existences, +not by describing them but by letting them +describe themselves, which belongs only to story-tellers +of the first rank. Dickens never excelled the easy +handling of the subordinate groups in this novel, and +he never repeated its mistakes in the direction of +aristocratic or merely polite and dissipated life. It +displayed more than before of his humour on the tragic +side; and, in close connection with its affecting scenes +of starved and deserted childhood, were placed those +contrasts of miser and spendthrift, of greed and generosity, +of hypocrisy and simple-heartedness, which he +handled in later books with greater power and fullness, +but of which the first formal expression was here. It +was his first general picture, so to speak, of the character +and manners of his time, which it was the design +more or less of all his books to exhibit; and it suffers +by comparison with his later productions, because the +humour is not to the same degree enriched by imagination; +but it is free from the not infrequent excess +into which that supreme gift also tempted its possessor. +None of the tales is more attractive throughout, and on +the whole it was a step in advance even of the stride +previously taken. Nor was the gain lost in the succeeding +story of the <i>Old Curiosity Shop</i>. The humorous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_345" id="Page_3_345">[345]</a></span> +traits of Mrs. Nickleby could hardly be surpassed: +but, in Dick Swiveller and the Marchioness, there was +a subtlety and lightness of touch that led to finer +issues; and around Little Nell<a name="FNanchor_263_263" id="FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> and her fortunes, +surpassingly touching and beautiful, let criticism object +what it will, were gathered some small characters that +had a deeper intention and more imaginative insight, +than anything yet done. Strokes of this kind were +also observable in the hunted life of the murderer in +<i>Barnaby Rudge;</i> and his next book, <i>Chuzzlewit</i>, was, +as it still remains, one of his greatest achievements. +Even so brief a retrospect of the six opening years of +Dickens's literary labour will help to a clearer judgment +of the work of the twenty-eight more years that +remained to him.</p> + +<p>To the special observations already made on the series +of stories which followed the return from America, +<i>Chuzzlewit</i>, <i>Dombey</i>, <i>Copperfield</i>, and <i>Bleak House</i>, in +which attention has been directed to the higher purpose +and more imaginative treatment that distinguished +them,<a name="FNanchor_264_264" id="FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> a general remark is to be added. Though the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_346" id="Page_3_346">[346]</a></span> +range of character they traverse is not wide, it is surrounded +by a fertility of invention and illustration +without example in any previous novelist; and it is +represented in these books, so to speak, by a number +and variety of existences sufficiently real to have taken +places as among the actual people of the world. Could +half as many known and universally recognisable men +and women be selected out of one story, by any other +prose writer of the first rank, as at once rise to the +mind from one of the masterpieces of Dickens? So +difficult of dispute is this, that as much perhaps will be +admitted; but then it will be added, if the reply is by +a critic of the school burlesqued by Mr. Lewes, that +after all they are not individual or special men and +women so much as general impersonations of men and +women, abstract types made up of telling catchwords or +surface traits, though with such accumulation upon them +of a wonderful wealth of humorous illustration, itself +filled with minute and accurate knowledge of life, that +the real nakedness of the land of character is hidden. +Well, what can be rejoined to this, but that the poverty +or richness of any territory worth survey will for the +most part lie in the kind of observation brought to it. +There was no finer observer than Johnson of the +manners of his time, and he protested of their greatest +delineator that he knew only the shell of life. Another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_347" id="Page_3_347">[347]</a></span> +of his remarks, after a fashion followed by the criticizers +of Dickens, places Fielding below one of his famous +contemporaries; but who will not now be eager to +reverse such a comparison, as that Fielding tells you +correctly enough what o'clock it is by looking at the +face of the dial, but that Richardson shows you how +the watch is made? There never was a subtler or a +more sagacious observer than Fielding, or who better +deserved what is generously said of him by Smollett, +that he painted the characters and ridiculed the follies +of life with equal strength, humour, and propriety. +But might it not be said of him, as of Dickens, that +his range of character was limited; and that his method +of proceeding from a central idea in all his leading +people, exposed him equally to the charge of now and +then putting human nature itself in place of the individual +who should only be a small section of it? This +is in fact but another shape of what I have expressed +on a former page, that what a character, drawn by a +master, will roughly present upon its surface, is frequently +such as also to satisfy its more subtle requirements; +and that when only the salient points or +sharper prominences are thus displayed, the great +novelist is using his undoubted privilege of showing +the large degree to which human intercourse is carried +on, not by men's habits or ways at their commonest, +but by the touching of their extremes. A definition +of Fielding's genius has been made with some accuracy +in the saying, that he shows common propensities in +connection with the identical unvarnished adjuncts +which are peculiar to the individual, nor could a more +exquisite felicity of handling than this be any man's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_348" id="Page_3_348">[348]</a></span> +aim or desire; but it would be just as easy, by employment +of the critical rules applied to Dickens, to transform +it into matter of censure. Partridge, Adams, +Trulliber, Squire Western, and the rest, present themselves +often enough under the same aspects, and use +with sufficient uniformity the same catchwords, to be +brought within the charge of mannerism; and though +M. Taine cannot fairly say of Fielding as of Dickens, +that he suffers from too much morality, he brings +against him precisely the charge so strongly put against +the later novelist of "looking upon the passions not as +simple forces but as objects of approbation or blame." +We must keep in mind all this to understand the worth +of the starved fancy, that can find in such a delineation +as that of Micawber only the man described by Mr. +Lewes as always in the same situation, moved with the +same springs and uttering the same sounds, always +confident of something turning up, always crushed and +rebounding, always making punch, and his wife always +declaring she will never part from him. It is not thus +that such creations are to be viewed; but by the light +which enables us to see why the country squires, village +schoolmasters, and hedge parsons of Fielding became +immortal. The later ones will live, as the earlier do, +by the subtle quality of genius that makes their doings +and sayings part of those general incentives which +pervade mankind. Who has not had occasion, however +priding himself on his unlikeness to Micawber, to +think of Micawber as he reviewed his own experiences? +Who has not himself waited, like Micawber, for something +to turn up? Who has not at times discovered, +in one or other acquaintance or friend, some one or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_349" id="Page_3_349">[349]</a></span> +other of that cluster of sagacious hints and fragments +of human life and conduct which the kindly fancy of +Dickens embodied in this delightful form? If the +irrepressible New Zealander ever comes over to achieve +his long promised sketch of St. Paul's, who can doubt +that it will be no other than our undying Micawber, +who had taken to colonisation the last time we saw +him, and who will thus again have turned up? There +are not many conditions of life or society to which his +and his wife's experiences are not applicable; and +when, the year after the immortal couple made their +first appearance on earth, Protection was in one of its +then frequent difficulties, declaring it could not live +without something widely different from existing circumstances +shortly turning up, and imploring its friends +to throw down the gauntlet and boldly challenge society +to turn up a majority and rescue it from its embarrassments, +a distinguished wit seized upon the likeness to +Micawber, showed how closely it was borne out by the +jollity and gin-punch of the banquets at which the +bewailings were heard, and asked whether Dickens had +stolen from the farmer's friends or the farmer's friends +had stolen from Dickens. "Corn, said Mr. Micawber, +may be gentlemanly, but it is not remunerative. . . . I +ask myself this question: if corn is not to be relied on, +what is? We must live. . . ." Loud as the general +laughter was, I think the laughter of Dickens himself +was loudest, at this discovery of so exact and unexpected +a likeness.<a name="FNanchor_265_265" id="FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_350" id="Page_3_350">[350]</a></span></p><p>A readiness in all forms thus to enjoy his own pleasantry +was indeed always observable (it is common to +great humourists, nor would it be easier to carry it +farther than Sterne did), and his own confession on +the point may receive additional illustration before proceeding +to the later books. He accounted by it, as we +have seen, for occasional even grotesque extravagances. +In another of his letters there is this passage: "I can +report that I have finished the job I set myself, and +that it has in it something—to me at all events—so +extraordinarily droll, that though I have been reading +it some hundred times in the course of the working, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_351" id="Page_3_351">[351]</a></span> +have never been able to look at it with the least composure, +but have always roared in the most unblushing +manner. I leave you to find out what it was." It was +the encounter of the major and the tax-collector in the +second Mrs. Lirriper. Writing previously of the papers +in <i>Household Words</i> called The Lazy Tour of Two Idle +Apprentices, after saying that he and Mr. Wilkie Collins +had written together a story in the second part, +"in which I think you would find it very difficult to +say where I leave off and he comes in," he had said +of the preceding descriptions: "Some of my own +tickle me very much; but that may be in great part +because I know the originals, and delight in their fantastic +fidelity." "I have been at work with such a +will" he writes later of a piece of humour for the holidays, +"that I have done the opening and conclusion +of the Christmas number. They are done in the +character of a waiter, and I think are exceedingly +droll. The thread on which the stories are to hang, is +spun by this waiter, and is, purposely, very slight; but +has, I fancy, a ridiculously comical and unexpected end. +The waiter's account of himself includes (I hope) everything +you know about waiters, presented humorously." +In this last we have a hint of the "fantastic fidelity" +with which, when a fancy "tickled" him, he would +bring out what Corporal Nym calls the humour of it +under so astonishing a variety of conceivable and inconceivable +aspects of subtle exaggeration, that nothing +was left to the subject but that special individual illustration +of it. In this, however, humour was not his +servant but his master; because it reproduced too +readily, and carried too far, the grotesque imaginings to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_352" id="Page_3_352">[352]</a></span> +which great humourists are prone; which lie indeed +deep in their nature; and from which they derive their +genial sympathy with eccentric characters that enables +them to find motives for what to other men is hopelessly +obscure, to exalt into types of humanity what the world +turns impatiently aside at, and to enshrine in a form +for eternal homage and love such whimsical absurdity +as Captain Toby Shandy's. But Dickens was too conscious +of these excesses from time to time, not zealously +to endeavour to keep the leading characters in his more +important stories under some strictness of discipline. +To confine exaggeration within legitimate limits was +an art he laboriously studied; and, in whatever proportions +of failure or success, during the vicissitudes +of both that attended his later years, he continued to +endeavour to practise it. In regard to mere description, +it is true, he let himself loose more frequently, +and would sometimes defend it even on the ground of +art; nor would it be fair to omit his reply, on one +occasion, to some such remonstrance as M. Taine has +embodied in his adverse criticism, against the too great +imaginative wealth thrown by him into mere narrative.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_353" id="Page_3_353">[353]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_266_266" id="FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> +"It does not seem to me to be enough to say of any +description that it is the exact truth. The exact truth +must be there; but the merit or art in the narrator, is +the manner of stating the truth. As to which thing in +literature, it always seems to me that there is a world +to be done. And in these times, when the tendency +is to be frightfully literal and catalogue-like—to make +the thing, in short, a sort of sum in reduction that any +miserable creature can do in that way—I have an idea +(really founded on the love of what I profess), that the +very holding of popular literature through a kind of +popular dark age, may depend on such fanciful treatment."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_354" id="Page_3_354">[354]</a></span></p> + +<div class='center'><br />THE TALE OF TWO CITIES.</div> + +<p>Dickens's next story to <i>Little Dorrit</i> was the <i>Tale of +Two Cities</i>, of which the first notion occurred to him +while acting with his friends and his children in the +summer of 1857 in Mr. Wilkie Collins's drama of <i>The +Frozen Deep</i>. But it was only a vague fancy, and the +sadness and trouble of the winter of that year were not +favourable to it. Towards the close (27th) of January +1858, talking of improvements at Gadshill in which +he took little interest, it was again in his thoughts. +"Growing inclinations of a fitful and undefined sort +are upon me sometimes to fall to work on a new book. +Then I think I had better not worry my worried mind +yet awhile. Then I think it would be of no use if I +did, for I couldn't settle to one occupation.—And that's +all!" "If I can discipline my thoughts," he wrote +three days later, "into the channel of a story, I have +made up my mind to get to work on one: always supposing +that I find myself, on the trial, able to do well. +Nothing whatever will do me the least 'good' in the +way of shaking the one strong possession of change +impending over us that every day makes stronger; but +if I could work on with some approach to steadiness, +through the summer, the anxious toil of a new book +would have its neck well broken before beginning to +publish, next October or November. Sometimes, I +think I may continue to work; sometimes, I think not. +What do you say to the title,<span class="smcap"> One of these DAYS</span>?" +That title held its ground very briefly. "What do you +think," he wrote after six weeks, "of <i>this</i> name for my +story—<span class="smcap">Buried Alive</span>? Does it seem too grim? Or,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_355" id="Page_3_355">[355]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">The Thread of Gold</span>? Or, <span class="smcap">The Doctor of Beauvais</span>?" +But not until twelve months later did he fairly +buckle himself to the task he had contemplated so long. +<i>All the Year Round</i> had taken the place of <i>Household +Words</i> in the interval; and the tale was then started to +give strength to the new weekly periodical for whose +pages it was designed.</p> + +<p>"This is merely to certify," he wrote on the 11th of +March 1859, "that I have got exactly the name for the +story that is wanted; exactly what will fit the opening +to a T. <span class="smcap">A Tale of Two Cities</span>. Also, that I have +struck out a rather original and bold idea. That is, at +the end of each month to publish the monthly part in +the green cover, with the two illustrations, at the old +shilling. This will give <i>All the Year Round</i> always the +interest and precedence of a fresh weekly portion during +the month; and will give me my old standing with my +old public, and the advantage (very necessary in this +story) of having numbers of people who read it in no +portions smaller than a monthly part. . . . My American +ambassador pays a thousand pounds for the first year, +for the privilege of republishing in America one day +after we publish here. Not bad?" . . . He had to +struggle at the opening through a sharp attack of illness, +and on the 9th of July progress was thus reported. +"I have been getting on in health very slowly and +through irksome botheration enough. But I think I +am round the corner. This cause—and the heat—has +tended to my doing no more than hold my ground, +my old month's advance, with the <i>Tale of Two Cities</i>. +The small portions thereof, drive me frantic; but I +think the tale must have taken a strong hold. The run<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_356" id="Page_3_356">[356]</a></span> +upon our monthly parts is surprising, and last month +we sold 35,000 back numbers. A note I have had from +Carlyle about it has given me especial pleasure." A +letter of the following month expresses the intention +he had when he began the story, and in what respect it +differs as to method from all his other books. Sending +in proof four numbers ahead of the current publication, +he adds: "I hope you will like them. Nothing but +the interest of the subject, and the pleasure of striving +with the difficulty of the form of treatment,—nothing +in the way of mere money, I mean,—could else repay +the time and trouble of the incessant condensation. +But I set myself the little task of making a <i>picturesque +story</i>, rising in every chapter, with characters true to +nature, but whom the story should express more than +they should express themselves by dialogue. I mean in +other words, that I fancied a story of incident might be +written (in place of the odious stuff that is written under +that pretence), pounding the characters in its own +mortar, and beating their interest out of them. If you +could have read the story all at once, I hope you +wouldn't have stopped halfway."<a name="FNanchor_267_267" id="FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> Another of his letters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_357" id="Page_3_357">[357]</a></span> +supplies the last illustration I need to give of the +design and meanings in regard to this tale expressed by +himself. It was a reply to some objections of which +the principal were, a doubt if the feudal cruelties came +sufficiently within the date of the action to justify his +use of them, and some question as to the manner of +disposing of the chief revolutionary agent in the plot. +"I had of course full knowledge of the formal surrender +of the feudal privileges, but these had been bitterly +felt quite as near to the time of the Revolution as the +Doctor's narrative, which you will remember dates long +before the Terror. With the slang of the new philosophy +on the one side, it was surely not unreasonable or +unallowable, on the other, to suppose a nobleman +wedded to the old cruel ideas, and representing the +time going out as his nephew represents the time coming +in. If there be anything certain on earth, I take +it that the condition of the French peasant generally at +that day was intolerable. No later enquiries or provings +by figures will hold water against the tremendous +testimony of men living at the time. There is a curious +book printed at Amsterdam, written to make out no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_358" id="Page_3_358">[358]</a></span> +case whatever, and tiresome enough in its literal dictionary-like +minuteness; scattered up and down the +pages of which is full authority for my marquis. This +is Mercier's <i>Tableau de Paris</i>. Rousseau is the authority +for the peasant's shutting up his house when he had +a bit of meat. The tax-tables are the authority for the +wretched creature's impoverishment. . . . I am not clear, +and I never have been clear, respecting the canon of +fiction which forbids the interposition of accident in +such a case as Madame Defarge's death. Where the +accident is inseparable from the passion and action of +the character; where it is strictly consistent with the +entire design, and arises out of some culminating proceeding +on the part of the individual which the whole +story has led up to; it seems to me to become, as it +were, an act of divine justice. And when I use Miss +Pross (though this is quite another question) to bring +about such a catastrophe, I have the positive intention +of making that half-comic intervention a part of the +desperate woman's failure; and of opposing that mean +death, instead of a desperate one in the streets which +she wouldn't have minded, to the dignity of Carton's. +Wrong or right, this was all design, and seemed to me +to be in the fitness of things."</p> + +<p>These are interesting intimations of the care with +which Dickens worked; and there is no instance in his +novels, excepting this, of a deliberate and planned +departure from the method of treatment which had +been pre-eminently the source of his popularity as a +novelist. To rely less upon character than upon incident, +and to resolve that his actors should be expressed +by the story more than they should express themselves<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_359" id="Page_3_359">[359]</a></span> +by dialogue, was for him a hazardous, and can hardly +be called an entirely successful, experiment. With +singular dramatic vivacity, much constructive art, and +with descriptive passages of a high order everywhere +(the dawn of the terrible outbreak in the journey of +the marquis from Paris to his country seat, and the +London crowd at the funeral of the spy, may be instanced +for their power), there was probably never a +book by a great humourist, and an artist so prolific in +the conception of character, with so little humour and +so few rememberable figures. Its merits lie elsewhere. +Though there are excellent traits and touches all +through the revolutionary scenes, the only full-length +that stands out prominently is the picture of the wasted +life saved at last by heroic sacrifice. Dickens speaks +of his design to make impressive the dignity of Carton's +death, and in this he succeeded perhaps even +beyond his expectation. Carton suffers himself to be +mistaken for another, and gives his life that the girl he +loves may be happy with that other; the secret being +known only to a poor little girl in the tumbril that +takes them to the scaffold, who at the moment has discovered +it, and whom it strengthens also to die. The +incident is beautifully told; and it is at least only fair +to set against verdicts not very favourable as to this +effort of his invention, what was said of the particular +character and scene, and of the book generally, by an +American critic whose literary studies had most familiarized +him with the rarest forms of imaginative +writing.<a name="FNanchor_268_268" id="FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> "Its pourtrayal of the noble-natured castaway<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_360" id="Page_3_360">[360]</a></span> +makes it almost a peerless book in modern literature, +and gives it a place among the highest examples +of literary art. . . . The conception of this character +shows in its author an ideal of magnanimity and of +charity unsurpassed. There is not a grander, lovelier +figure than the self-wrecked, self-devoted Sydney Carton, +in literature or history; and the story itself is so +noble in its spirit, so grand and graphic in its style, +and filled with a pathos so profound and simple, that +it deserves and will surely take a place among the great +serious works of imagination." I should myself prefer +to say that its distinctive merit is less in any of its +conceptions of character, even Carton's, than as a +specimen of Dickens's power in imaginative story-telling. +There is no piece of fiction known to me, in +which the domestic life of a few simple private people +is in such a manner knitted and interwoven with the +outbreak of a terrible public event, that the one seems +but part of the other. When made conscious of the +first sultry drops of a thunderstorm that fall upon a +little group sitting in an obscure English lodging, we +are witness to the actual beginning of a tempest which +is preparing to sweep away everything in France. And, +to the end, the book in this respect is really remarkable.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />GREAT EXPECTATIONS.</div> + +<p>The <i>Tale of Two Cities</i> was published in 1859; the +series of papers collected as the <i>Uncommercial Traveller</i> +were occupying Dickens in 1860; and it was while engaged +in these, and throwing off in the course of them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_361" id="Page_3_361">[361]</a></span> +capital "samples" of fun and enjoyment, he thus replied +to a suggestion that he should let himself loose +upon some single humorous conception, in the vein of +his youthful achievements in that way. "For a little +piece I have been writing—or am writing; for I hope +to finish it to-day—such a very fine, new, and grotesque +idea has opened upon me, that I begin to doubt whether +I had not better cancel the little paper, and reserve the +notion for a new book. You shall judge as soon as I +get it printed. But it so opens out before <i>me</i> that I +can see the whole of a serial revolving on it, in a most +singular and comic manner." This was the germ of +Pip and Magwitch, which at first he intended to make +the groundwork of a tale in the old twenty-number +form, but for reasons perhaps fortunate brought afterwards +within the limits of a less elaborate novel. "Last +week," he wrote on the 4th of October 1860, "I got +to work on the new story. I had previously very carefully +considered the state and prospects of <i>All the Year +Round</i>, and, the more I considered them, the less hope +I saw of being able to get back, <i>now</i>, to the profit of a +separate publication in the old 20 numbers." (A tale, +which at the time was appearing in his serial, had disappointed +expectation.) "However I worked on, +knowing that what I was doing would run into another +groove; and I called a council of war at the office on +Tuesday. It was perfectly clear that the one thing to +be done was, for me to strike in. I have therefore +decided to begin the story as of the length of the <i>Tale +of Two Cities</i> on the first of December—begin publishing, +that is. I must make the most I can out of the +book. You shall have the first two or three weekly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_362" id="Page_3_362">[362]</a></span> +parts to-morrow. The name is <span class="smcap">Great Expectations</span>. +I think a good name?" Two days later he wrote: +"The sacrifice of <i>Great Expectations</i> is really and truly +made for myself. The property of <i>All the Year Round</i> +is far too valuable, in every way, to be much endangered. +Our fall is not large, but we have a considerable +advance in hand of the story we are now +publishing, and there is no vitality in it, and no chance +whatever of stopping the fall; which on the contrary +would be certain to increase. Now, if I went into a +twenty-number serial, I should cut off my power of +doing anything serial here for two good years—and +that would be a most perilous thing. On the other +hand, by dashing in now, I come in when most wanted; +and if Reade and Wilkie follow me, our course will be +shaped out handsomely and hopefully for between two +and three years. A thousand pounds are to be paid +for early proofs of the story to America." A few more +days brought the first instalment of the tale, and explanatory +mention of it. "The book will be written +in the first person throughout, and during these first +three weekly numbers you will find the hero to be a +boy-child, like David. Then he will be an apprentice. +You will not have to complain of the want of humour +as in the <i>Tale of Two Cities</i>. I have made the opening, +I hope, in its general effect exceedingly droll. I +have put a child and a good-natured foolish man, in +relations that seem to me very funny. Of course I +have got in the pivot on which the story will turn too—and +which indeed, as you remember, was the grotesque +tragi-comic conception that first encouraged me. +To be quite sure I had fallen into no unconscious repetitions,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_363" id="Page_3_363">[363]</a></span> +I read <i>David Copperfield</i> again the other day, +and was affected by it to a degree you would hardly +believe."</p> + +<p>It may be doubted if Dickens could better have +established his right to the front rank among novelists +claimed for him, than by the ease and mastery with +which, in these two books of <i>Copperfield</i> and <i>Great +Expectations</i>, he kept perfectly distinct the two stories +of a boy's childhood, both told in the form of autobiography. +A subtle penetration into character marks +the unlikeness in the likeness; there is enough at once +of resemblance and of difference in the position and +surroundings of each to account for the divergences of +character that arise; both children are good-hearted, +and both have the advantage of association with models +of tender simplicity and oddity, perfect in their truth +and quite distinct from each other; but a sudden tumble +into distress steadies Peggotty's little friend, and as +unexpected a stroke of good fortune turns the head of +the small protégé of Joe Gargery. What a deal of +spoiling nevertheless, a nature that is really good at the +bottom of it will stand without permanent damage, is +nicely shown in Pip; and the way he reconciles his +determination to act very shabbily to his early friends, +with a conceited notion that he is setting them a moral +example, is part of the shading of a character drawn +with extraordinary skill. His greatest trial comes out +of his good luck; and the foundations of both are laid +at the opening of the tale, in a churchyard down by +the Thames, as it winds past desolate marshes twenty +miles to the sea, of which a masterly picture in half a +dozen lines will give only average example of the descriptive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_364" id="Page_3_364">[364]</a></span> +writing that is everywhere one of the charms +of the book. It is strange, as I transcribe the words, +with what wonderful vividness they bring back the +very spot on which we stood when he said he meant to +make it the scene of the opening of his story—Cooling +Castle ruins and the desolate Church, lying out among +the marshes seven miles from Gadshill! "My first +most vivid and broad impression . . . on a memorable +raw afternoon towards evening . . . was . . . that this +bleak place, overgrown with nettles, was the churchyard, +and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the +churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and +gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the +marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond, was the +river; and that the distant savage lair from which the +wind was rushing, was the sea. . . . On the edge of +the river . . . only two black things in all the prospect +seemed to be standing upright . . . one, the beacon by +which the sailors steered, like an unhooped cask upon +a pole, an ugly thing when you were near it; the other, +a gibbet with some chains hanging to it which had once +held a pirate." Here Magwitch, an escaped convict +from Chatham, terrifies the child Pip into stealing for +him food and a file; and though recaptured and transported, +he carries with him to Australia such a grateful +heart for the small creature's service, that on making a +fortune there he resolves to make his little friend a +gentleman. This requires circumspection; and is so +done, through the Old-Bailey attorney who has defended +Magwitch at his trial (a character of surprising novelty +and truth), that Pip imagines his present gifts and +"great expectations" to have come from the supposed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_365" id="Page_3_365">[365]</a></span> +rich lady of the story (whose eccentricities are the +unattractive part of it, and have yet a weird character +that somehow fits in with the kind of wrong she has +suffered). When therefore the closing scenes bring +back Magwitch himself, who risks his life to gratify his +longing to see the gentleman he has made, it is an +unspeakable horror to the youth to discover his benefactor +in the convicted felon. If any one doubts +Dickens's power of so drawing a character as to get to +the heart of it, seeing beyond surface peculiarities into +the moving springs of the human being himself, let +him narrowly examine those scenes. There is not a +grain of substitution of mere sentiment, or circumstance, +for the inner and absolute reality of the position +in which these two creatures find themselves. +Pip's loathing of what had built up his fortune, and +his horror of the uncouth architect, are apparent in +even his most generous efforts to protect him from +exposure and sentence. Magwitch's convict habits +strangely blend themselves with his wild pride in, and +love for, the youth whom his money has turned into a +gentleman. He has a craving for his good opinion; +dreads to offend him by his "heavy grubbing," or by +the oaths he lets fall now and then; and pathetically +hopes his Pip, his dear boy, won't think him "low": +but, upon a chum of Pip's appearing unexpectedly +while they are together, he pulls out a jack-knife by +way of hint he can defend himself, and produces afterwards +a greasy little clasped black Testament on which +the startled new-comer, being found to have no hostile +intention, is sworn to secrecy. At the opening +of the story there had been an exciting scene of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_366" id="Page_3_366">[366]</a></span> +the wretched man's chase and recapture among the +marshes, and this has its parallel at the close in his +chase and recapture on the river while poor Pip is +helping to get him off. To make himself sure of the +actual course of a boat in such circumstances, and +what possible incidents the adventure might have, +Dickens hired a steamer for the day from Blackwall +to Southend. Eight or nine friends and three or four +members of his family were on board, and he seemed +to have no care, the whole of that summer day (22nd +of May 1861), except to enjoy their enjoyment and +entertain them with his own in shape of a thousand +whims and fancies; but his sleepless observation was at +work all the time, and nothing had escaped his keen +vision on either side of the river. The fifteenth chapter +of the third volume is a masterpiece.</p> + +<p>The characters generally afford the same evidence +as those two that Dickens's humour, not less than his +creative power, was at its best in this book. The Old-Bailey +attorney Jaggers, and his clerk Wemmick (both +excellent, and the last one of the oddities that live in +everybody's liking for the goodheartedness of its humorous +surprises), are as good as his earliest efforts in +that line; the Pumblechooks and Wopsles are perfect +as bits of <i>Nickleby</i> fresh from the mint; and the scene +in which Pip, and Pip's chum Herbert, make up their +accounts and schedule their debts and obligations, is +original and delightful as Micawber himself. It is the +art of living upon nothing and making the best of it, +in the most pleasing form. Herbert's intentions to +trade east and west, and get himself into business +transactions of a magnificent extent and variety, are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_367" id="Page_3_367">[367]</a></span> +as perfectly warranted to us, in his way of putting +them, by merely "being in a counting-house and looking +about you," as Pip's means of paying his debts are +lightened and made easy by his method of simply +adding them up with a margin. "The time comes," +says Herbert, "when you see your opening. And you +go in, and you swoop upon it, and you make your +capital, and then there you are! When you have once +made your capital you have nothing to do but employ +it." In like manner Pip tells us "Suppose your debts +to be one hundred and sixty four pounds four and two-pence, +I would say, leave a margin and put them down +at two hundred; or suppose them to be four times as +much, leave a margin and put them down at seven +hundred." He is sufficiently candid to add, that, +while he has the highest opinion of the wisdom and +prudence of the margin, its dangers are that in the +sense of freedom and solvency it imparts there is a +tendency to run into new debt. But the satire that +thus enforces the old warning against living upon vague +hopes, and paying ancient debts by contracting new +ones, never presented itself in more amusing or kindly +shape. A word should be added of the father of the +girl that Herbert marries, Bill Barley, ex-ship's purser, +a gouty, bed-ridden, drunken old rascal, who lies on +his back in an upper floor on Mill Pond Bank by +Chinks's Basin, where he keeps, weighs, and serves out +the family stores or provisions, according to old professional +practice, with one eye at a telescope which is +fitted on his bed for the convenience of sweeping the +river. This is one of those sketches, slight in itself +but made rich with a wealth of comic observation, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_368" id="Page_3_368">[368]</a></span> +which Dickens's humour took especial delight; and to +all this part of the story, there is a quaint riverside +flavour that gives it amusing reality and relish.</p> + +<p>Sending the chapters that contain it, which open +the third division of the tale, he wrote thus: "It is a +pity that the third portion cannot be read all at once, +because its purpose would be much more apparent; +and the pity is the greater, because the general turn +and tone of the working out and winding up, will be +away from all such things as they conventionally go. +But what must be, must be. As to the planning out +from week to week, nobody can imagine what the difficulty +is, without trying. But, as in all such cases, +when it is overcome the pleasure is proportionate. +Two months more will see me through it, I trust. All +the iron is in the fire, and I have 'only' to beat it out." +One other letter throws light upon an objection taken +not unfairly to the too great speed with which the +heroine, after being married, reclaimed, and widowed, +is in a page or two again made love to, and remarried +by the hero. This summary proceeding was not originally +intended. But, over and above its popular acceptance, +the book had interested some whose opinions +Dickens specially valued (Carlyle among them, I remember);<a name="FNanchor_269_269" id="FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> +and upon Bulwer Lytton objecting to a +close that should leave Pip a solitary man, Dickens +substituted what now stands. "You will be surprised"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_369" id="Page_3_369">[369]</a></span> +he wrote "to hear that I have changed the end of +<i>Great Expectations</i> from and after Pip's return to Joe's, +and finding his little likeness there. Bulwer, who has +been, as I think you know, extraordinarily taken by +the book, so strongly urged it upon me, after reading +the proofs, and supported his view with such good +reasons, that I resolved to make the change. You shall +have it when you come back to town. I have put in +as pretty a little piece of writing as I could, and I have +no doubt the story will be more acceptable through the +alteration." This turned out to be the case; but the +first ending nevertheless seems to be more consistent +with the drift, as well as natural working out, of the +tale, and for this reason it is preserved in a note.<a name="FNanchor_270_270" id="FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_370" id="Page_3_370">[370]</a></span></p> +<div class='center'><br />CHRISTMAS SKETCHES.</div> + +<p>Between that fine novel, which was issued in three +volumes in the autumn of 1861, and the completion of +his next serial story, were interposed three sketches in +his happiest vein at which everyone laughed and cried +in the Christmas times of 1862, '3, and '4. Of the +waiter in <i>Somebody's Luggage</i> Dickens has himself +spoken; and if any theme is well treated, when, from +the point of view taken, nothing more is left to say +about it, that bit of fun is perfect. Call it exaggeration, +grotesqueness, or by what hard name you will, +laughter will always intercept any graver criticism. +Writing from Paris of what he was himself responsible +for in the articles left by Somebody with his wonderful +Waiter, he said that in one of them he had made the +story a camera obscura of certain French places and +styles of people; having founded it on something he +had noticed in a French soldier. This was the tale of +Little Bebelle, which had a small French corporal for +its hero, and became highly popular. But the triumph +of the Christmas achievements in these days was Mrs. +Lirriper. She took her place at once among people +known to everybody; and all the world talked of Major +Jemmy Jackman, and his friend the poor elderly lodging-house<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_371" id="Page_3_371">[371]</a></span> +keeper of the Strand, with her miserable +cares and rivalries and worries, as if they had both +been as long in London and as well known as Norfolk-street +itself. A dozen volumes could not have told +more than those dozen pages did. The <i>Legacy</i> followed +the <i>Lodgings</i> in 1864, and there was no falling off in +the fun and laughter.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />OUR MUTUAL FRIEND.</div> + +<p>The publication of <i>Our Mutual Friend</i>, in the form +of the earliest stories, extended from May 1864 to November +1865. Four years earlier he had chosen this +title as a good one, and he held to it through much +objection. Between that time and his actual commencement +there is mention, in his letters, of the three +leading notions on which he founded the story. In his +water-side wanderings during his last book, the many +handbills he saw posted up, with dreary description of +persons drowned in the river, suggested the 'long shore +men and their ghastly calling whom he sketched in +Hexam and Riderhood, "I think," he had written, +"a man, young and perhaps eccentric, feigning to be +dead, and <i>being</i> dead to all intents and purposes external +to himself, and for years retaining the singular view +of life and character so imparted, would be a good +leading incident for a story;" and this he partly did +in Rokesmith. For other actors in the tale, he had +thought of "a poor impostor of a man marrying a +woman for her money; she marrying <i>him</i> for <i>his</i> money; +after marriage both finding out their mistake, and entering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_372" id="Page_3_372">[372]</a></span> +into a league and covenant against folks in general:" +with whom he had proposed to connect some Perfectly +New people. "Everything new about them. If they +presented a father and mother, it seemed as if <span class="smcap">they</span> +must be bran new, like the furniture and the carriages—shining +with varnish, and just home from the manufacturers." +These groups took shape in the Lammles +and the Veneerings. "I must use somehow," is the +remark of another letter, "the uneducated father in +fustian and the educated boy in spectacles whom Leech +and I saw at Chatham;" of which a hint is in Charley +Hexam and his father. The benevolent old Jew whom +he makes the unconscious agent of a rascal, was meant +to wipe out a reproach against his Jew in <i>Oliver Twist</i> +as bringing dislike upon the religion of the race he +belonged to.<a name="FNanchor_271_271" id="FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a></p> + +<p>Having got his title in '61 it was his hope to have +begun in '62. "Alas!" he wrote in the April of that +year, "I have hit upon nothing for a story. Again and +again I have tried. But this odious little house" (he +had at this time for a few weeks exchanged Gadshill +for a friend's house near Kensington) "seems to have +stifled and darkened my invention." It was not until +the autumn of the following year he saw his way to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_373" id="Page_3_373">[373]</a></span> +beginning. "The Christmas number has come round +again" (30th of August 1863)—"it seems only yesterday +that I did the last—but I am full of notions besides +for the new twenty numbers. When I can clear the +Christmas stone out of the road, I think I can dash into +it on the grander journey." He persevered through +much difficulty; which he described six weeks later, +with characteristic glance at his own ways when writing, +in a letter from the office of his journal. "I came here +last night, to evade my usual day in the week—in fact +to shirk it—and get back to Gad's for five or six consecutive +days. My reason is, that I am exceedingly +anxious to begin my book. I am bent upon getting to +work at it. I want to prepare it for the spring; but +I am determined not to begin to publish with less +than five numbers done. I see my opening perfectly, +with the one main line on which the story is to turn; +and if I don't strike while the iron (meaning myself) is +hot, I shall drift off again, and have to go through all +this uneasiness once more."</p> + +<p>He had written, after four months, very nearly three +numbers, when upon a necessary rearrangement of his +chapters he had to hit upon a new subject for one of +them. "While I was considering" (25th of February) +"what it should be, Marcus,<a name="FNanchor_272_272" id="FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> who has done an excellent +cover, came to tell me of an extraordinary trade he had +found out, through one of his painting requirements.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_374" id="Page_3_374">[374]</a></span> +I immediately went with him to Saint Giles's to look at +the place, and found—what you will see." It was the +establishment of Mr. Venus, preserver of animals and +birds, and articulator of human bones; and it took +the place of the last chapter of No. 2, which was then +transferred to the end of No. 3. But a start with three +full numbers done, though more than enough to satisfy +the hardest self-conditions formerly, did not satisfy him +now. With his previous thought given to the story, +with his Memoranda to help him, with the people he +had in hand to work it with, and ready as he still was +to turn his untiring observation to instant use on its +behalf, he now moved, with the old large canvas before +him, somewhat slowly and painfully. "If I were to +lose" (29th of March) "a page of the five numbers I +have proposed to myself to be ready by the publication +day, I should feel that I had fallen short. I have grown +hard to satisfy, and write very slowly. And I have so +much—not fiction—that <i>will</i> be thought of, when I +don't want to think of it, that I am forced to take +more care than I once took."</p> + +<p>The first number was launched at last, on the first of +May; and after two days he wrote: "Nothing can be +better than <i>Our Friend</i>, now in his thirtieth thousand, +and orders flowing in fast." But between the first and +second number there was a drop of five thousand, +strange to say, for the larger number was again reached, +and much exceeded, before the book closed. "This +leaves me" (10th of June) "going round and round like +a carrier-pigeon before swooping on number seven." +Thus far he had held his ground; but illness came, +with some other anxieties, and on the 29th of July he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_375" id="Page_3_375">[375]</a></span> +wrote sadly enough. "Although I have not been +wanting in industry, I have been wanting in invention, +and have fallen back with the book. Looming large +before me is the Christmas work, and I can hardly +hope to do it without losing a number of <i>Our Friend</i>. +I have very nearly lost one already, and two would +take one half of my whole advance. This week I have +been very unwell; am still out of sorts; and, as I know +from two days' slow experience, have a very mountain +to climb before I shall see the open country of my +work." The three following months brought hardly +more favourable report. "I have not done my number. +This death of poor Leech (I suppose) has put me +out woefully. Yesterday and the day before I could +do nothing; seemed for the time to have quite lost the +power; and am only by slow degrees getting back into +the track to-day." He rallied after this, and satisfied +himself for a while; but in February 1865 that formidable +illness in his foot broke out which, at certain times +for the rest of his life, deprived him more or less of his +inestimable solace of bodily exercise. In April and +May he suffered severely; and after trying the sea went +abroad for more complete change. "Work and worry, +without exercise, would soon make an end of me. If +I were not going away now, I should break down. No +one knows as I know to-day how near to it I have +been."</p> + +<p>That was the day of his leaving for France, and the +day of his return brought these few hurried words. +"Saturday, tenth of June, 1865. I was in the terrific +Staplehurst accident yesterday, and worked for hours +among the dying and dead. I was in the carriage that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_376" id="Page_3_376">[376]</a></span> +did not go over, but went off the line, and hung over +the bridge in an inexplicable manner. No words can +describe the scene.<a name="FNanchor_273_273" id="FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> I am away to Gads." Though +with characteristic energy he resisted the effects upon +himself of that terrible ninth of June, they were for +some time evident; and, up to the day of his death on +its fatal fifth anniversary, were perhaps never wholly +absent. But very few complaints fell from him. "I +am curiously weak—weak as if I were recovering from +a long illness." "I begin to feel it more in my head. +I sleep well and eat well; but I write half a dozen notes, +and turn faint and sick." "I am getting right, though +still low in pulse and very nervous. Driving into +Rochester yesterday I felt more shaken than I have +since the accident." "I cannot bear railway travelling +yet. A perfect conviction, against the senses, that +the carriage is down on one side (and generally that is +the left, and <i>not</i> the side on which the carriage in the +accident really went over), comes upon me with anything<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_377" id="Page_3_377">[377]</a></span> +like speed, and is inexpressibly distressing." +These are passages from his letters up to the close of +June. Upon his book the immediate result was that +another lost number was added to the losses of the preceding +months, and "alas!" he wrote at the opening +of July, "for the two numbers you write of! There is +only one in existence. I have but just begun the +other." "Fancy!" he added next day, "fancy my +having under-written number sixteen by two and a +half pages—a thing I have not done since <i>Pickwick!</i>" +He did it once with <i>Dombey</i>, and was to do it yet again.</p> + +<p>The book thus begun and continued under adverse +influences, though with fancy in it, descriptive power, +and characters well designed, will never rank with his +higher efforts. It has some pictures of a rare veracity +of soul amid the lowest forms of social degradation, +placed beside others of sheer falsehood and pretence +amid unimpeachable social correctness, which lifted +the writer to his old place; but the judgment of it on +the whole must be, that it wants freshness and natural +development. This indeed will be most freely admitted +by those who feel most strongly that all the old cunning +of the master hand is yet in the wayward loving Bella +Wilfer, in the vulgar canting Podsnap, and in the dolls' +dressmaker Jenny Wren, whose keen little quaint weird +ways, and precocious wit sharpened by trouble, are +fitted into a character as original and delightfully conceived +as it is vividly carried through to the last. A +dull coarse web her small life seems made of; but even +from its taskwork, which is undertaken for childhood +itself, there are glittering threads cast across its woof +and warp of care. The unconscious philosophy of her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_378" id="Page_3_378">[378]</a></span> +tricks and manners has in it more of the subtler vein +of the satire aimed at in the book, than even the voices +of society which the tale begins and ends with. In her +very kindliness there is the touch of malice that shows +a childish playfulness familiar with unnatural privations; +this gives a depth as well as tenderness to her humours +which entitles them to rank with the writer's happiest +things; and though the odd little creature's talk is +incessant when she is on the scene, it has the individuality +that so seldom tires. It is veritably her own +small "trick" and "manner," and is never mistakeable +for any one else's. "I have been reading," Dickens +wrote to me from France while he was writing the +book, "a capital little story by Edmond About—<i>The +Notary's Nose</i>. I have been trying other books; but +so infernally conversational, that I forget who the +people are before they have done talking, and don't in +the least remember what they talked about before when +they begin talking again!" The extreme contrast to +his own art could not be defined more exactly; and +other examples from this tale will be found in the differing +members of the Wilfer family, in the riverside +people at the Fellowship Porters, in such marvellous +serio-comic scenes as that of Rogue Riderhood's restoration +from drowning, and in those short and simple +annals of Betty Higden's life and death which might +have given saving virtue to a book more likely than +this to perish prematurely. It has not the creative +power which crowded his earlier page, and transformed +into popular realities the shadows of his fancy; but the +observation and humour he excelled in are not wanting +to it, nor had there been, in his first completed work,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_379" id="Page_3_379">[379]</a></span> +more eloquent or generous pleading for the poor and +neglected, than this last completed work contains. +Betty Higden finishes what Oliver Twist began.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />DR. MARIGOLD AND TALES FOR AMERICA.</div> + +<p>He had scarcely closed that book in September, +wearied somewhat with a labour of invention which +had not been so free or self-sustaining as in the old +facile and fertile days, when his customary contribution +to Christmas became due from him; and his fancy, let +loose in a narrower field, resumed its old luxury of +enjoyment. Here are notices of it from his letters. +"If people at large understand a Cheap Jack, my part +of the Christmas number will do well. It is wonderfully +like the real thing, of course a little refined and +humoured." "I do hope that in the beginning and +end of this Christmas number you will find something +that will strike you as being fresh, forcible, and full of +spirits." He described its mode of composition afterwards. +"Tired with <i>Our Mutual</i>, I sat down to cast +about for an idea, with a depressing notion that I was, +for the moment, overworked. Suddenly, the little character +that you will see, and all belonging to it, came +flashing up in the most cheerful manner, and I had +only to look on and leisurely describe it." This was +<i>Dr. Marigold's Prescriptions</i>, one of the most popular +of all the pieces selected for his readings, and a splendid +example of his humour, pathos, and character. There +were three more Christmas pieces before he made his +last visit to America: <i>Barbox Brothers</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_380" id="Page_3_380">[380]</a></span> <i>The Boy at +Mugby Station</i>, and <i>No Thoroughfare:</i> the last a joint +piece of work with Mr. Wilkie Collins, who during +Dickens's absence in the States transformed it into a +play for Mr. Fechter, with a view to which it had been +planned originally. There were also two papers written +for first publication in America, <i>George Silverman's +Explanation</i>, and <i>Holiday Romance</i>, containing about +the quantity of half a shilling number of his ordinary +serials, and paid for at a rate unexampled in literature. +They occupied him not many days in the writing, and +he received a thousand pounds for them.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The year after his return, as the reader knows, saw +the commencement of the work which death interrupted. +The fragment will hereafter be described; +and here meanwhile may close my criticism—itself a +fragment left for worthier completion by a stronger +hand than mine.</p> + +<p>But at least I may hope that the ground has been +cleared by it from those distinctions and comparisons +never safely to be applied to an original writer, and +which always more or less intercept his fair appreciation. +It was long the fashion to set up wide divergences +between novels of incident and manners, and +novels of character; the narrower range being left to +Fielding and Smollett, and the larger to Richardson; +yet there are not many now who will accept such +classification. Nor is there more truth in other like +distinctions alleged between novelists who are assumed +to be real, or ideal, in their methods of treatment. +To any original novelist of the higher grade there is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_381" id="Page_3_381">[381]</a></span> +no meaning in these contrasted phrases. Neither mode +can exist at all perfectly without the other. No matter +how sensitive the mind to external impressions, or how +keen the observation to whatever can be seen, without +the rarer seeing of imagination nothing will be arrived +at that is real in any genuine artist-sense. Reverse the +proposition, and the result is expressed in an excellent +remark of Lord Lytton's, that the happiest effort of +imagination, however lofty it may be, is that which +enables it to be cheerfully at home with the real. I +have said that Dickens felt criticism, of whatever kind, +with too sharp a relish for the indifference he assumed +to it; but the secret was that he believed himself to be +entitled to higher tribute than he was always in the +habit of receiving. It was the feeling which suggested +a memorable saying of Wordsworth. "I am not at all +desirous that any one should write a critique on my +poems. If they be from above, they will do their own +work in course of time; if not, they will perish as they +ought."</p> + +<p>The something "from above" never seems to be +absent from Dickens, even at his worst. When the +strain upon his invention became apparent, and he +could only work freely in a more confined space than +of old, it was still able to assert itself triumphantly; +and his influence over his readers was continued by it +to the last day of his life. Looking back over the +series of his writings, the first reflection that rises to +the mind of any thoughtful person, is one of thankfulness +that the most popular of writers, who had carried +into the lowest scenes and conditions an amount of +observation, fun, and humour not approached by any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_382" id="Page_3_382">[382]</a></span> +of his contemporaries, should never have sullied that +world-wide influence by a hint of impurity or a possibility +of harm. Nor is there anything more surprising +than the freshness and variety of character which those +writings include, within the range of the not numerous +types of character that were the limit of their author's +genius. For, this also appears, upon any review of +them collectively, that the teeming life which is in +them is that of the time in which his own life was +passed; and that with the purpose of showing vividly +its form and pressure, was joined the hope and design +to leave it better than he found it. It has been objected +that humanity receives from him no addition to its best +types; that the burlesque humourist is always stronger +in him than the reflective moralist; that the light thrown +by his genius into out of the way corners of life never +steadily shines in its higher beaten ways; and that beside +his pictures of what man is or does, there is no +attempt to show, by delineation of an exalted purpose +or a great career, what man is able to be or to do. In +the charge abstractedly there is truth; but the fair remark +upon it is that whatever can be regarded as essential +in the want implied by it will be found in other +forms in his writings, that the perfect innocence of +their laughter and tears has been itself a prodigious +blessing, and that it is otherwise incident to so great a +humourist to work after the fashion most natural to the +genius of humour. What kind of work it has been in +his case, the attempt is made in preceding pages to +show; and on the whole it can be said with some certainty +that the best ideals in this sense are obtained, +not by presenting with added comeliness or grace the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_383" id="Page_3_383">[383]</a></span> +figures which life is ever eager to present as of its best, +but by connecting the singularities and eccentricities, +which ordinary life is apt to reject or overlook, with the +appreciation that is deepest and the laws of insight that +are most universal. It is thus that all things human are +happily brought within human sympathy. It was at the +heart of everything Dickens wrote. It was the secret +of the hope he had that his books might help to make +people better; and it so guarded them from evil, that +there is scarcely a page of the thousands he has written +which might not be put into the hands of a little child.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_384" id="Page_3_384">[384]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_274_274" id="FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> +It made him the intimate of every English household, +and a familiar friend wherever the language is spoken +whose stores of harmless pleasure he has so largely increased.</p> + +<p>"The loss of no single man during the present +generation, if we except Abraham Lincoln alone," said +Mr. Horace Greeley, describing the profound and +universal grief of America at his death, "has carried +mourning into so many families, and been so unaffectedly +lamented through all the ranks of society." +"The terrible news from England," wrote Longfellow +to me (Cambridge, Mass. 12th of June 1870), "fills us +all with inexpressible sadness. Dickens was so full of +life that it did not seem possible he could die, and yet +he has gone before us, and we are sorrowing for him. . . . +I never knew an author's death cause such general +mourning. It is no exaggeration to say that this whole +country is stricken with grief . . ." Nor was evidence +then wanting, that far beyond the limits of society on +that vast continent the English writer's influence had +penetrated. Of this, very touching illustration was +given in my first volume; and proof even more striking +has since been afforded to me, that not merely in +wild or rude communities, but in life the most savage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_385" id="Page_3_385">[385]</a></span> +and solitary, his genius had helped to while time +away.</p> + +<p>"Like all Americans who read," writes an American +gentleman, "and that takes in nearly all our people, I +am an admirer and student of Dickens. . . . Its perusal" +(that of my second volume) "has recalled an +incident which may interest you. Twelve or thirteen +years ago I crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains as a +Government surveyor under a famous frontiersman and +civil engineer—Colonel Lander. We were too early +by a month, and became snow-bound just on the very +summit. Under these circumstances it was necessary +to abandon the wagons for a time, and drive the stock +(mules) down the mountains to the valleys where there +was pasturage and running water. This was a long and +difficult task, occupying several days. On the second +day, in a spot where we expected to find nothing more +human than a grizzly bear or an elk, we found a little +hut, built of pine boughs and a few rough boards +clumsily hewn out of small trees with an axe. The hut +was covered with snow many feet deep, excepting only +the hole in the roof which served for a chimney, and a +small pit-like place in front to permit egress. The +occupant came forth to hail us and solicit whisky and +tobacco. He was dressed in a suit made entirely of +flour-sacks, and was curiously labelled on various parts +of his person <i>Best Family Flour</i>. <i>Extra.</i> His head was +covered by a wolf's skin drawn from the brute's head—with +the ears standing erect in a fierce alert manner. +He was a most extraordinary object, and told us he +had not seen a human being in four months. He lived +on bear and elk meat and flour laid in during his short<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_386" id="Page_3_386">[386]</a></span> +summer. Emigrants in the season paid him a kind of +ferry-toll. I asked him how he passed his time, and +he went to a barrel and produced <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i> +and <i>Pickwick</i>. I found he knew them almost by heart. +He did not know, or seem to care, about the author; +but he gloried in Sam Weller, despised Squeers, and +would probably have taken the latter's scalp with great +skill and cheerfulness. For Mr. Winkle he had no +feeling but contempt, and in fact regarded a fowling-piece +as only a toy for a squaw. He had no Bible; +and perhaps if he practised in his rude savage way all +Dickens taught, he might less have felt the want even +of that companion."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_387" id="Page_3_387">[387]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>AMERICA REVISITED: NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 1867.</h3> + +<h3>1867.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">In Boston—Warmth of the Greeting—Old and New Friends—Changes +since 1842—Sale of Tickets in New York—First Boston Reading—Profits—Scene +at First New York Sales—A Fire at the Hotel—Increase +of New York City—Story of <i>Black Crook</i>—Local and General +Politics—Railway Travelling—Police of New York—Again in +Boston—More Fires—New York Newspapers generally—Cities +chosen for Readings—The Webster Murder in 1849—Again at New +York—Illness—Mr. Fields's Account of Dickens while in America—Miseries +of American Travel.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is the intention of this and the following chapter +to narrate the incidents of the visit to America +in Dickens's own language, and in that only. They +will consist almost exclusively of extracts from his +letters written home, to members of his family and to +myself.</p> + +<p>On the night of Tuesday the 19th of November he +arrived at Boston, where he took up his residence at the +Parker House hotel; and his first letter (21st) stated +that the tickets for the first four Readings, all to that +time issued, had been sold immediately on their becoming +saleable. "An immense train of people waited +in the freezing street for twelve hours, and passed into +the office in their turns, as at a French theatre. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_388" id="Page_3_388">[388]</a></span> +receipts already taken for these nights exceed our calculation +by more than £250." Up to the last moment, +he had not been able to clear off wholly a shade of +misgiving that some of the old grudges might make +themselves felt; but from the instant of his setting +foot in Boston not a vestige of such fear remained. +The greeting was to the full as extraordinary as that of +twenty-five years before, and was given now, as then, +to the man who had made himself the most popular +writer in the country. His novels and tales were +crowding the shelves of all the dealers in books in +all the cities of the Union. In every house, in every +car, on every steamboat, in every theatre of America, +the characters, the fancies, the phraseology of Dickens +were become familiar beyond those of any other writer +of books. "Even in England," said one of the New +York journals, "Dickens is less known than here; and +of the millions here who treasure every word he has +written, there are tens of thousands who would make a +large sacrifice to see and hear the man who has made +happy so many hours. Whatever sensitiveness there +once was to adverse or sneering criticism, the lapse of +a quarter of a century, and the profound significance +of a great war, have modified or removed." The +point was more pithily, and as truly, put by Mr. +Horace Greeley in the <i>Tribune</i>. "The fame as a +novelist which Mr. Dickens had already created in +America, and which, at the best, has never yielded +him anything particularly munificent or substantial, is +become his capital stock in the present enterprise."</p> + +<p>The first Reading was appointed for the second of +December, and in the interval he saw some old friends<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_389" id="Page_3_389">[389]</a></span> +and made some new ones.<a name="FNanchor_275_275" id="FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> Boston he was fond of +comparing to Edinburgh as Edinburgh was in the days +when several dear friends of his own still lived there. +Twenty-five years had changed much in the American +city; some genial faces were gone, and on ground +which he had left a swamp he found now the most +princely streets; but there was no abatement of the +old warmth of kindness, and, with every attention and +consideration shown to him, there was no intrusion. +He was not at first completely conscious of the change +in this respect, or of the prodigious increase in the size +of Boston. But the latter grew upon him from day +to day, and then there was impressed along with it a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_390" id="Page_3_390">[390]</a></span> +contrast to which it was difficult to reconcile himself. +Nothing enchanted him so much as what he again saw +of the delightful domestic life of Cambridge, simple, +self-respectful, cordial, and affectionate; and it seemed +impossible to believe that within half an hour's distance +of it should be found what might at any time be witnessed +in such hotels as that which he was staying at: +crowds of swaggerers, loafers, bar-loungers, and dram-drinkers, +that seemed to be making up, from day to +day, not the least important-part of the human life of +the city. But no great mercantile resort in the States, +such as Boston had now become, could be without that +drawback; and fortunate should we account any place +to be, though even so plague-afflicted, that has yet so +near it the healthier influence of the other life which +our older world has wellnigh lost altogether.</p> + +<p>"The city has increased prodigiously in twenty-five +years," he wrote to his daughter Mary. "It has +grown more mercantile. It is like Leeds mixed with +Preston, and flavoured with New Brighton. Only, +instead of smoke and fog, there is an exquisitely +bright light air." "Cambridge is exactly as I left +it," he wrote to me. "Boston more mercantile, and +much larger. The hotel I formerly stayed at, and +thought a very big one, is now regarded as a very +small affair. I do not yet notice—but a day, you +know, is not a long time for observation!—any marked +change in character or habits. In this immense hotel +I live very high up, and have a hot and cold bath in +my bed room, with other comforts not in existence in +my former day. The cost of living is enormous." +"Two of the staff are at New York," he wrote to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_391" id="Page_3_391">[391]</a></span> +sister-in-law on the 25th of November, "where we are +at our wits' end how to keep tickets out of the hands +of speculators. We have communications from all +parts of the country, but we take no offer whatever. +The young under-graduates of Cambridge have made a +representation to Longfellow that they are 500 strong +and cannot get one ticket. I don't know what is to be +done, but I suppose I must read there, somehow. We +are all in the clouds until I shall have broken ground in +New York." The sale of tickets, there, had begun two +days before the first reading in Boston. "At the New +York barriers," he wrote to his daughter on the first +of December, "where the tickets were on sale and the +people ranged as at the Paris theatres, speculators went +up and down offering twenty dollars for any body's +place. The money was in no case accepted. But one +man sold two tickets for the second, third, and fourth +nights; his payment in exchange being one ticket for +the first night, fifty dollars (about £7 10<i>s.</i>), and a +'brandy-cocktail.'"</p> + +<p>On Monday the second of December he read for the +first time in Boston, his subjects being the <i>Carol</i> and +the <i>Trial from Pickwick;</i> and his reception, from an +audience than which perhaps none more remarkable +could have been brought together, went beyond all +expectations formed. "It is really impossible," he +wrote to me next morning, "to exaggerate the magnificence +of the reception or the effect of the reading. +The whole city will talk of nothing else and +hear of nothing else to-day. Every ticket for those +announced here, and in New York, is sold. All +are sold at the highest price, for which in our calculation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_392" id="Page_3_392">[392]</a></span> +we made no allowance; and it is impossible to +keep out speculators who immediately sell at a premium. +At the decreased rate of money even, we had +above £450 English in the house last night; and the +New York hall holds 500 people more. Everything +looks brilliant beyond the most sanguine hopes, and I +was quite as cool last night as though I were reading at +Chatham." The next night he read again; and also on +Thursday and Friday; on Wednesday he had rested; +and on Saturday he travelled to New York.</p> + +<p>He had written, the day before he left, that he was +making a clear profit of thirteen hundred pounds English +a week, even allowing seven dollars to the pound; +but words were added having no good omen in them, +that the weather was taking a turn of even unusual +severity, and that he found the climate, in the suddenness +of its changes, "and the wide leaps they take," +excessively trying. "The work is of course rather +trying too; but the sound position that everything must +be subservient to it enables me to keep aloof from invitations. +To-morrow," ran the close of the letter, "we +move to New York. We cannot beat the speculators +in our tickets. We sell no more than six to any one +person for the course of four readings; but these speculators, +who sell at greatly increased prices and make +large profits, will employ any number of men to buy. +One of the chief of them—now living in this house, +in order that he may move as we move!—can put on +50 people in any place we go to; and thus he gets 300 +tickets into his own hands." Almost while Dickens +was writing these words an eye-witness was describing +to a Philadelphia paper the sale of the New York<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_393" id="Page_3_393">[393]</a></span> +tickets. The pay-place was to open at nine on a Wednesday +morning, and at midnight of Tuesday a long +line of speculators were assembled in <i>queue;</i> at two in +the morning a few honest buyers had begun to arrive; +at five there were, of all classes, two lines of not less +than 800 each; at eight there were at least 5000 persons +in the two lines; at nine each line was more than +three-quarters of a mile in length, and neither became +sensibly shorter during the whole morning. "The +tickets for the course were all sold before noon. Members +of families relieved each other in the <i>queues;</i> +waiters flew across the streets and squares from the +neighbouring restaurant, to serve parties who were +taking their breakfast in the open December air; while +excited men offered five and ten dollars for the mere +permission to exchange places with other persons +standing nearer the head of the line!"</p> + +<p>The effect of the reading in New York corresponded +with this marvellous preparation, and Dickens characterised +his audience as an unexpected support to him; +in its appreciation quick and unfailing, and highly +demonstrative in its satisfactions. On the 11th of +December he wrote to his daughter: "Amazing success. +A very fine audience, far better than at Boston. +<i>Carol</i> and <i>Trial</i> on first night, great: still greater, +<i>Copperfield</i> and <i>Bob Sawyer</i> on second. For the tickets +of the four readings of next week there were, at nine +o'clock this morning, 3000 people in waiting, and they +had begun to assemble in the bitter cold as early as two +o'clock in the morning." To myself he wrote on the +15th, adding touches to the curious picture. "Dolby +has got into trouble about the manner of issuing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_394" id="Page_3_394">[394]</a></span> +tickets for next week's series. He cannot get four +thousand people into a room holding only two thousand, +he cannot induce people to pay at the ordinary +price for themselves instead of giving thrice as much +to speculators, and he is attacked in all directions . . . +I don't much like my hall, for it has two large balconies +far removed from the platform; but no one ever waylays +me as I go into it or come out of it, and it is kept +as rigidly quiet as the Français at a rehearsal. We have +not yet had in it less than £430 per night, allowing +for the depreciated currency! I send £3000 to England +by this packet. From all parts of the States, +applications and offers continually come in. We go to +Boston next Saturday for two more readings, and come +back here on Christmas Day for four more. I am not +yet bound to go elsewhere, except three times (each +time for two nights) to Philadelphia; thinking it wisest +to keep free for the largest places. I have had an action +brought against me by a man who considered himself +injured (and really may have been) in the matter of his +tickets. Personal service being necessary, I was politely +waited on by a marshal for that purpose; whom I received +with the greatest courtesy, apparently very much +to his amazement. The action was handsomely withdrawn +next day, and the plaintiff paid his own costs. . . . +Dolby hopes you are satisfied with the figures so +far; the profit each night exceeding the estimated +profit by £130 odd. He is anxious I should also tell +you that he is the most unpopular and best-abused man +in America." Next day a letter to his sister-in-law +related an incident too common in American cities to +disconcert any but strangers. He had lodged himself,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_395" id="Page_3_395">[395]</a></span> +I should have said, at the Westminster Hotel in Irving +Place. "Last night I was getting into bed just at 12 +o'clock, when Dolby came to my door to inform me +that the house was on fire. I got Scott up directly; +told him first to pack the books and clothes for the +Readings; dressed, and pocketed my jewels and papers; +while the manager stuffed himself out with money. +Meanwhile the police and firemen were in the house +tracing the mischief to its source in a certain fire-grate. +By this time the hose was laid all through from a great +tank on the roof, and everybody turned out to help. +It was the oddest sight, and people had put the +strangest things on! After chopping and cutting with +axes through stairs, and much handing about of water, +the fire was confined to a dining-room in which it had +originated; and then everybody talked to everybody +else, the ladies being particularly loquacious and cheerful. +I may remark that the second landlord (from +both, but especially the first, I have had untiring attention) +no sooner saw me on this agitating occasion, +than, with his property blazing, he insisted on taking +me down into a room full of hot smoke, to drink +brandy and water with him! And so we got to bed +again about 2."</p> + +<p>Dickens had been a week in New York before he +was able to identify the great city which a lapse of +twenty-five years had so prodigiously increased. "The +only portion that has even now come back to me," he +wrote, "is the part of Broadway in which the Carlton +Hotel (long since destroyed) used to stand. There is +a very fine new park in the outskirts, and the number +of grand houses and splendid equipages is quite surprising.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_396" id="Page_3_396">[396]</a></span> +There are hotels close here with 500 bedrooms +and I don't know how many boarders; but this +hotel is quite as quiet as, and not much larger than, +Mivart's in Brook Street. My rooms are all en suite, +and I come and go by a private door and private staircase +communicating with my bed-room. The waiters +are French, and one might be living in Paris. One +of the two proprietors is also proprietor of Niblo's +Theatre, and the greatest care is taken of me. Niblo's +great attraction, the <i>Black Crook</i>, has now been played +every night for 16 months(!), and is the most preposterous +peg to hang ballets on that was ever seen. +The people who act in it have not the slightest idea of +what it is about, and never had; but, after taxing my +intellectual powers to the utmost, I fancy that I have +discovered Black Crook to be a malignant hunchback +leagued with the Powers of Darkness to separate two +lovers; and that the Powers of Lightness coming (in +no skirts whatever) to the rescue, he is defeated. I +am quite serious in saying that I do not suppose there +are two pages of <i>All the Year Round</i> in the whole piece +(which acts all night); the whole of the rest of it being +ballets of all sorts, perfectly unaccountable processions, +and the Donkey out of last year's Covent Garden pantomime! +At the other theatres, comic operas, melodramas, +and domestic dramas prevail all over the city, +and my stories play no inconsiderable part in them. I +go nowhere, having laid down the rule that to combine +visiting with my work would be absolutely impossible. . . . +The Fenian explosion at Clerkenwell was telegraphed +here in a few hours. I do not think there is +any sympathy whatever with the Fenians on the part<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_397" id="Page_3_397">[397]</a></span> +of the American people, though political adventurers +may make capital out of a show of it. But no doubt +large sections of the Irish population of this State +are themselves Fenian; and the local politics of the +place are in a most depraved condition, if half of +what is said to me be true. I prefer not to talk of +these things, but at odd intervals I look round for +myself. Great social improvements in respect of manners +and forbearance have come to pass since I was +here before, but in public life I see as yet but little +change."</p> + +<p>He had got through half of his first New York readings +when a winter storm came on, and from this time +until very near his return the severity of the weather +was exceptional even for America. When the first +snow fell, the railways were closed for some days; and +he described New York crowded with sleighs, and the +snow piled up in enormous walls the whole length of +the streets. "I turned out in a rather gorgeous sleigh +yesterday with any quantity of buffalo robes, and made +an imposing appearance." "If you were to behold +me driving out," he wrote to his daughter, "furred up +to the moustache, with an immense white red-and-yellow-striped +rug for a covering, you would suppose me +to be of Hungarian or Polish nationality." These +protections nevertheless availed him little; and when +the time came for getting back to Boston, he found +himself at the close of his journey with a cold and +cough that never again left him until he had quitted +the country, and of which the effects became more and +more disastrous. For the present there was little allusion +to this, his belief at the first being strong that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_398" id="Page_3_398">[398]</a></span> +should overmaster it; but it soon forced itself into all +his letters.</p> + +<p>His railway journey otherwise had not been agreeable. +"The railways are truly alarming. Much worse +(because more worn I suppose) than when I was here +before. We were beaten about yesterday, as if we had +been aboard the Cuba. Two rivers have to be crossed, +and each time the whole train is banged aboard a big +steamer. The steamer rises and falls with the river, +which the railroad don't do; and the train is either +banged up hill or banged down hill. In coming off +the steamer at one of these crossings yesterday, we +were banged up such a height that the rope broke, and +one carriage rushed back with a run down-hill into the +boat again. I whisked out in a moment, and two or +three others after me; but nobody else seemed to care +about it. The treatment of the luggage is perfectly +outrageous. Nearly every case I have is already broken. +When we started from Boston yesterday, I beheld, to +my unspeakable amazement, Scott, my dresser, leaning +a flushed countenance against the wall of the car, and +<i>weeping bitterly</i>. It was over my smashed writing-desk. +Yet the arrangements for luggage are excellent, if the +porters would not be beyond description reckless." +The same excellence of provision, and flinging away +of its advantages, are observed in connection with +another subject in the same letter. "The halls are +excellent. Imagine one holding two thousand people, +seated with exact equality for every one of them, +and every one seated separately. I have nowhere, at +home or abroad, seen so fine a police as the police of +New York; and their bearing in the streets is above<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_399" id="Page_3_399">[399]</a></span> +all praise. On the other hand, the laws for regulation +of public vehicles, clearing of streets, and removal of +obstructions, are wildly outraged by the people for +whose benefit they are intended. Yet there is undoubtedly +improvement in every direction, and I am +taking time to make up my mind on things in general. +Let me add that I have been tempted out at three in +the morning to visit one of the large police station-houses, +and was so fascinated by the study of a horrible +photograph-book of thieves' portraits that I couldn't +shut it up."</p> + +<p>A letter of the same date (22nd) to his sister-in-law +told of personal attentions awaiting him on his return +to Boston by which he was greatly touched. He found +his rooms garnished with flowers and holly, with real +red berries, and with festoons of moss; and the homely +Christmas look of the place quite affected him. "There +is a certain Captain Dolliver belonging to the Boston +custom-house, who came off in the little steamer that +brought me ashore from the Cuba; and he took it into +his head that he would have a piece of English mistletoe +brought out in this week's Cunard, which should be +laid upon my breakfast-table. And there it was this +morning. In such affectionate touches as this, these +New England people are especially amiable. . . . As a +general rule you may lay it down that whatever you +see about me in the papers is not true; but you may +generally lend a more believing ear to the Philadelphia +correspondent of the <i>Times</i>, a well-informed gentleman. +Our hotel in New York was on fire again the other +night. But fires in this country are quite matters of +course. There was a large one in Boston at four this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_400" id="Page_3_400">[400]</a></span> +morning; and I don't think a single night has passed, +since I have been under the protection of the Eagle, +that I have not heard the Fire Bells dolefully clanging +all over both cities." The violent abuse of his manager +by portions of the press is the subject of the rest +of the letter, and receives farther illustration in one of +the same date to me. "A good specimen of the sort +of newspaper you and I know something of, came out +in Boston here this morning. The editor had applied +for our advertisements, saying that 'it was at Mr. D's +disposal for paragraphs.' The advertisements were not +sent; Dolby did not enrich its columns paragraphically; +and among its news to-day is the item that 'this chap +calling himself Dolby got drunk down town last night, +and was taken to the police station for fighting an +Irishman!' I am sorry to say that I don't find anybody +to be much shocked by this liveliness." It is +right to add what was said to me a few days later. +"The <i>Tribune</i> is an excellent paper. Horace Greeley +is editor in chief, and a considerable shareholder too. +All the people connected with it whom I have seen are +of the best class. It is also, a very fine property—but +here the <i>New York Herald</i> beats it hollow, hollow, +hollow! Another able and well edited paper is the +<i>New York Times</i>. A most respectable journal too is +Bryant's <i>Evening Post</i>, excellently written. There is +generally a much more responsible and respectable +tone than prevailed formerly, however small may be +the literary merit, among papers pointed out to me as +of large circulation. In much of the writing there is +certainly improvement, but it might be more widely +spread."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_401" id="Page_3_401">[401]</a></span></p> + +<p>The time had now come when the course his Readings +were to take independently of the two leading +cities must be settled, and the general tour made out. +His agent's original plan was that they should be in +New York every week. "But I say No. By the 10th +of January I shall have read to 35,000 people in that +city alone. Put the readings out of the reach of all +the people behind them, for the time. It is that one +of the popular peculiarities which I most particularly +notice, that they must not have a thing too easily. +Nothing in the country lasts long; and a thing is prized +the more, the less easy it is made. Reflecting therefore +that I shall want to close, in April, with farewell +readings here and in New York, I am convinced that +the crush and pressure upon these necessary to their +adequate success is only to be got by absence; and +that the best thing I can do is not to give either city +as much reading as it wants now, but to be independent +of both while both are most enthusiastic. I have therefore +resolved presently to announce in New York so +many readings (I mean a certain number) as the last +that can be given there, before I travel to promised +places; and that we select the best places, with the +largest halls, on our list. This will include, East here—the +two or three best New England towns; South—Baltimore +and Washington; West—Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, +Chicago, and St. Louis; and towards Niagara—Cleveland +and Buffalo. Philadelphia we are already +pledged to, for six nights; and the scheme will pretty +easily bring us here again twice before the farewells. I +feel convinced that this is the sound policy." (It was +afterwards a little modified, as will be seen, by public<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_402" id="Page_3_402">[402]</a></span> +occurrences and his own condition of health; the West, +as well as a promise to Canada, having to be abandoned; +but otherwise it was carried out.) "I read +here to-morrow and Tuesday; all tickets being sold to +the end of the series, even for subjects not announced. +I have not read a single time at a lower clear profit per +night (all deductions made) than £315. But rely upon +it I shall take great care not to read oftener than four +times a week—after this next week, when I stand committed +to five. The inevitable tendency of the staff, +when these great houses excite them, is, in the words +of an old friend of ours, to 'hurge the hartist hon;' +and a night or two ago I had to cut away five readings +from <i>their</i> list."</p> + +<p>An incident at Boston should have mention before +he resumes his readings in New York. In the interval +since he was first in America, the Harvard professor of +chemistry, Dr. Webster, whom he had at that visit met +among the honoured men who held chairs in their +Cambridge University, had been hanged for the murder, +committed in his laboratory in the college, of a +friend who had lent him money, portions of whose body +lay concealed under the lid of the lecture-room table +where the murderer continued to meet his students. +"Being in Cambridge," Dickens wrote to Lord Lytton, +"I thought I would go over the Medical School, and +see the exact localities where Professor Webster did +that amazing murder, and worked so hard to rid himself +of the body of the murdered man. (I find there +is of course no rational doubt that the Professor was +always a secretly cruel man.) They were horribly grim, +private, cold, and quiet; the identical furnace smelling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_403" id="Page_3_403">[403]</a></span> +fearfully (some anatomical broth in it I suppose) as if +the body were still there; jars of pieces of sour mortality +standing about, like the forty robbers in <i>Ali Baba</i> +after being scalded to death; and bodies near us ready +to be carried in to next morning's lecture. At the +house where I afterwards dined I heard an amazing and +fearful story; told by one who had been at a dinner-party +of ten or a dozen, at Webster's, less than a year +before the murder. They began rather uncomfortably, +in consequence of one of the guests (the victim of an +instinctive antipathy) starting up with the sweat pouring +down his face, and crying out, 'O Heaven! There's +a cat somewhere in the room!' The cat was found and +ejected, but they didn't get on very well. Left with +their wine, they were getting on a little better; when +Webster suddenly told the servants to turn the gas off +and bring in that bowl of burning minerals which he +had prepared, in order that the company might see how +ghastly they looked by its weird light. All this was +done, and every man was looking, horror-stricken, at +his neighbour; when Webster was seen bending over +the bowl with a rope round his neck, holding up the +end of the rope, with his head on one side and his +tongue lolled out, to represent a hanged man!"</p> + +<p>Dickens read at Boston on the 23rd and the 24th of +December, and on Christmas day travelled back to New +York where he was to read on the 26th. The last words +written before he left were of illness. "The low action +of the heart, or whatever it is, has inconvenienced me +greatly this last week. On Monday night, after the +reading, I was laid upon a bed, in a very faint and +shady state; and on the Tuesday I did not get up till<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_404" id="Page_3_404">[404]</a></span> +the afternoon." But what in reality was less grave +took outwardly the form of a greater distress; and the +effects of the cold which had struck him in travelling +to Boston, as yet not known to his English friends, +appear most to have alarmed those about him. I depart +from my rule in this narrative, otherwise strictly observed, +in singling out one of those friends for mention +by name: but a business connection with the Readings, +as well as untiring offices of personal kindness and +sympathy, threw Mr. Fields into closer relations with +Dickens from arrival to departure, than any other person +had; and his description of the condition of health +in which Dickens now quitted Boston and went through +the rest of the labour he had undertaken, will be a sad +though fit prelude to what the following chapter has to +tell. "He went from Boston to New York carrying +with him a severe catarrh contracted in our climate. +He was quite ill from the effects of the disease; but he +fought courageously against them. . . . His spirit was +wonderful, and, although he lost all appetite and could +partake of very little food, he was always cheerful and +ready for his work when the evening came round. A +dinner was tendered to him by some of his literary +friends in Boston; but he was so ill the day before that +the banquet had to be given up. The strain upon his +strength and nerves was very great during all the months +he remained, and only a man of iron will could have +accomplished what he did. He was accustomed to talk +and write a good deal about eating and drinking, but I +have rarely seen a man eat and drink less. He liked +to dilate in imagination over the brewing of a bowl of +punch, but when the punch was ready he drank less of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_405" id="Page_3_405">[405]</a></span> +it than any one who might be present. It was the +sentiment of the thing and not the thing itself that +engaged his attention. I scarcely saw him eat a hearty +meal during his whole stay. Both at Parker's hotel in +Boston, and at the Westminster in New York, everything +was arranged by the proprietors for his comfort, +and tempting dishes to pique his invalid appetite were +sent up at different hours of the day; but the influenza +had seized him with masterful power, and held the +strong man down till he left the country."</p> + +<p>When he arrived in New York on the evening of +Christmas Day he found a letter from his daughter. +Answering her next day he told her: "I wanted it +much, for I had a frightful cold (English colds are +nothing to those of this country) and was very miserable. . . . +It is a bad country to be unwell and travelling +in. You are one of, say, a hundred people in a heated +car with a great stove in it, all the little windows being +closed; and the bumping and banging about are indescribable, +the atmosphere detestable, the ordinary +motion all but intolerable." The following day this +addition was made to the letter. "I managed to read +last night, but it was as much as I could do. To-day I +am so very unwell that I have sent for a doctor. He has +just been, and is in doubt whether I shall not have to +stop reading for a while."</p> + +<p>His stronger will prevailed, and he went on without +stopping. On the last day of the year he announced +to us that though he had been very low he was getting +right again; that in a couple of days he should have +accomplished a fourth of the entire Readings; and that +the first month of the new year would see him through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_406" id="Page_3_406">[406]</a></span> +Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well as through two +more nights in Boston. He also prepared his English +friends for the startling intelligence they might shortly +expect, of four readings coming off in a church, before +an audience of two thousand people accommodated in +pews, and with himself emerging from a vestry.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_407" id="Page_3_407">[407]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>AMERICA REVISITED: JANUARY TO APRIL 1868.</h3> + +<h3>1868.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Speculators and the Public—Republican Self-help—Receipts affected +by Speculators—Again at Boston—Hit of <i>Marigold</i> and of <i>Boots at +Holly Tree</i>—Chapel Readings at Brooklyn—Energy of New York +Speculators—At Philadelphia—Irish Element in New York—Improved +Social Ways—Result of Thirty-four Readings—Shadow to +the Sunshine—Arrangements for Washington—At Baltimore—Success +in Philadelphia—Value of a Vote—Objections to Coloured +People—At Washington—With Sumner and Stanton—Lincoln's +last Cabinet Council—Lincoln's Dream—Interview with President +Johnson—Incident at First Reading—One of the Audience—A Day +at the Readings—Proposed Walking-match—In his Hotel at Philadelphia—Providence +and New Haven—North-west Tour—President's +Impeachment—Political Excitement—Boston Audiences—Struggle +for Tickets in Remote Places—At Rochester—At Syracuse +and Buffalo—American Female Beauty—Suspension Bridge at +Niagara—Final Impression of the Falls—At Utica—Reading at +Albany—New England Engagements—Again attacked by Lameness—Reading +at New Bedford—"Nearly used up"—Farewell Readings—Last +Boston Readings—New York Farewells—Receipts +throughout—Public Dinner to Dickens.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Reading on the third of January closed a fourth +of the entire series, and on that day Dickens wrote of +the trouble brought on them by the "speculators," +which to some extent had affected unfavourably the +three previous nights in New York. When adventurers +buy up the best places, the public resent it by refusing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_408" id="Page_3_408">[408]</a></span> +worst; to prevent it by first helping themselves, being +the last thing they ever think of doing. "We try to +withhold the best seats from the speculators, but the +unaccountable thing is that the great mass of the public +buy of them (prefer it), and the rest of the public are +injured if we have not got those very seats to sell them. +We have now a travelling staff of six men, in spite of +which Dolby, who is leaving me to-day to sell tickets +in Philadelphia to-morrow morning, will no doubt get +into a tempest of difficulties. Of course also, in such +a matter, as many obstacles as possible are thrown in +an Englishman's way; and he may himself be a little +injudicious into the bargain. Last night, for instance, +he met one of the 'ushers' (who show people to their +seats) coming in with one of our men. It is against +orders that any one employed in front should go out +during the reading, and he took this man to task in +the British manner. Instantly, the free and independent +usher put on his hat and walked off. Seeing +which, all the other free and independent ushers (some +20 in number) put on <i>their</i> hats and walked off; leaving +us absolutely devoid and destitute of a staff for to-night. +One has since been improvised: but it was a small +matter to raise a stir and ill-will about, especially as +one of our men was equally in fault; and really there +is little to be done at night. American people are so +accustomed to take care of themselves, that one of these +immense audiences will fall into their places with an +ease amazing to a frequenter of St. James's Hall; and +the certainty with which they are all in, before I go on, +is a very acceptable mark of respect. Our great labour +is outside; and we have been obliged to bring our staff<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_409" id="Page_3_409">[409]</a></span> +up to six, besides a boy or two, by employment of a +regular additional clerk, a Bostonian. The speculators +buying the front-seats (we have found instances of this +being done by merchants in good position), the public +won't have the back seats; return their tickets; write +and print volumes on the subject; and deter others from +coming. You are not to suppose that this prevails to +any great extent, as our lowest house here has been +£300; but it does hit us. There is no doubt about it. +Fortunately I saw the danger when the trouble began, +and changed the list at the right time. . . . You may +get an idea of the staff's work, by what is in hand now. +They are preparing, numbering, and stamping, 6000 +tickets for Philadelphia, and 8000 tickets for Brooklyn. +The moment those are done, another 8000 tickets will +be wanted for Baltimore, and probably another 6000 +for Washington; and all this in addition to the correspondence, +advertisements, accounts, travelling, and the +nightly business of the Readings four times a week. . . . +I cannot get rid of this intolerable cold! My +landlord invented for me a drink of brandy, rum, and +snow, called it a 'Rocky Mountain Sneezer,' and said +it was to put down all less effectual sneezing; but it has +not yet had the effect. Did I tell you that the favourite +drink before you get up is an Eye-Opener? There +has been another fall of snow, succeeded by a heavy +thaw."</p> + +<p>The day after (the 4th) he went back to Boston, and +next day wrote to me: "I am to read here on Monday +and Tuesday, return to New York on Wednesday, and +finish there (except the farewells in April) on Thursday +and Friday. The New York reading of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_410" id="Page_3_410">[410]</a></span> <i>Doctor Marigold</i> +made really a tremendous hit. The people doubted +at first, having evidently not the least idea what could +be done with it, and broke out at last into a perfect +chorus of delight. At the end they made a great shout, +and gave a rush towards the platform as if they were +going to carry me off. It puts a strong additional arrow +into my quiver. Another extraordinary success +has been <i>Nickleby</i> and <i>Boots at the Holly Tree</i> (appreciated +here in Boston, by the bye, even more than +<i>Copperfield</i>); and think of our last New York night +bringing £500 English into the house, after making +more than the necessary deduction for the present price +of gold! The manager is always going about with an +immense bundle that looks like a sofa-cushion, but is in +reality paper-money, and it had risen to the proportions +of a sofa on the morning he left for Philadelphia. Well, +the work is hard, the climate is hard, the life is hard: +but so far the gain is enormous. My cold steadily refuses +to stir an inch. It distresses me greatly at times, +though it is always good enough to leave me for the +needful two hours. I have tried allopathy, homœopathy, +cold things, warm things, sweet things, bitter +things, stimulants, narcotics, all with the same result. +Nothing will touch it."</p> + +<p>In the same letter, light was thrown on the ecclesiastical +mystery. "At Brooklyn I am going to read in +Mr. Ward Beecher's chapel: the only building there +available for the purpose. You must understand that +Brooklyn is a kind of sleeping-place for New York, +and is supposed to be a great place in the money way. +We let the seats pew by pew! the pulpit is taken down +for my screen and gas! and I appear out of the vestry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_411" id="Page_3_411">[411]</a></span> +in canonical form! These ecclesiastical entertainments +come off on the evenings of the 16th, 17th, 20th, and +21st, of the present month." His first letter after returning +to New York (9th of January) made additions +to the Brooklyn picture. "Each evening an enormous +ferry-boat will convey me and my state-carriage (not to +mention half a dozen wagons and any number of people +and a few score of horses) across the river to Brooklyn, +and will bring me back again. The sale of tickets there +was an amazing scene. The noble army of speculators +are now furnished (this is literally true, and I am quite +serious) each man with a straw mattress, a little bag of +bread and meat, two blankets, and a bottle of whiskey. +With this outfit, <i>they lie down in line on the pavement</i> +the whole of the night before the tickets are sold: generally +taking up their position at about 10. It being +severely cold at Brooklyn, they made an immense bonfire +in the street—a narrow street of wooden houses—which +the police turned out to extinguish. A general +fight then took place; from which the people farthest +off in the line rushed bleeding when they saw any +chance of ousting others nearer the door, put their +mattresses in the spots so gained, and held on by the +iron rails. At 8 in the morning Dolby appeared with +the tickets in a portmanteau. He was immediately +saluted with a roar of Halloa! Dolby! So Charley has +let you have the carriage, has he, Dolby? How is he, +Dolby? Don't drop the tickets, Dolby! Look alive, +Dolby! &c. &c. &c. in the midst of which he proceeded +to business, and concluded (as usual) by giving +universal dissatisfaction. He is now going off upon a +little journey to look over the ground and cut back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_412" id="Page_3_412">[412]</a></span> +again. This little journey (to Chicago) is twelve hundred +miles on end, by railway, besides the back again!" +It might tax the Englishman, but was nothing to the +native American. It was part of his New York landlord's +ordinary life in a week, Dickens told me, to go +to Chicago and look at his theatre there on a Monday; +to pelt back to Boston and look at his theatre there on +a Thursday; and to come rushing to New York on a +Friday, to apostrophize his enormous ballet.</p> + +<p>Three days later, still at New York, he wrote to his +sister-in-law. "I am off to Philadelphia this evening +for the first of three visits of two nights each, tickets +for all being sold. My cold steadily refuses to leave +me, but otherwise I am as well as I can hope to be under +this heavy work. My New York readings are over +(except the farewell nights), and I look forward to the +relief of being out of my hardest hall. On Friday I +was again dead beat at the end, and was once more laid +upon a sofa. But the faintness went off after a little +while. We have now cold bright frosty weather, without +snow; the best weather for me." Next day from +Philadelphia he wrote to his daughter that he was +lodged in The Continental, one of the most immense +of American hotels, but that he found himself just as +quiet as elsewhere. "Everything is very good, my +waiter is German, and the greater part of the servants +seem to be coloured people. The town is very clean, +and the day as blue and bright as a fine Italian day. +But it freezes very very hard, and my cold is not improved; +for the cars were so intolerably hot that I was +often obliged to stand upon the brake outside, and then +the frosty air bit me indeed. I find it necessary (so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_413" id="Page_3_413">[413]</a></span> +oppressed am I with this American catarrh as they call +it) to dine at three o'clock instead of four, that I may +have more time to get voice; so that the days are cut +short and letter-writing not easy."</p> + +<p>He nevertheless found time in this city to write to +me (14th of January) the most interesting mention he +had yet made of such opinions as he had been able to +form during his present visit, apart from the pursuit +that absorbed him. Of such of those opinions as were +given on a former page, it is only necessary to repeat +that while the tone of party politics still impressed +him unfavourably, he had thus far seen everywhere +great changes for the better socially. I will add other +points from the same letter. That he was unfortunate +in his time of visiting New York, as far as its politics +were concerned, what has since happened conclusively +shows. "The Irish element is acquiring such enormous +influence in New York city, that when I think of it, and +see the large Roman Catholic cathedral rising there, +it seems unfair to stigmatise as 'American' other monstrous +things that one also sees. But the general corruption +in respect of the local funds appears to be +stupendous, and there is an alarming thing as to some +of the courts of law which I am afraid is native-born. +A case came under my notice the other day in which +it was perfectly plain, from what was said to me by a +person interested in resisting an injunction, that his +first proceeding had been to 'look up the Judge.'" +Of such occasional provincial oddity, harmless in itself +but strange in large cities, as he noticed in the sort of +half disappointment at the small fuss made by himself +about the Readings, and in the newspaper references to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_414" id="Page_3_414">[414]</a></span> +"Mr. Dickens's extraordinary composure" on the +platform, he gives an illustration. "Last night here +in Philadelphia (my first night), a very impressible and +responsive audience were so astounded by my simply +walking in and opening my book that I wondered what +was the matter. They evidently thought that there +ought to have been a flourish, and Dolby sent in to +prepare for me. With them it is the simplicity of the +operation that raises wonder. With the newspapers +'Mr. Dickens's extraordinary composure' is not reasoned +out as being necessary to the art of the thing, +but is sensitively watched with a lurking doubt whether +it may not imply disparagement of the audience. Both +these things strike me as drolly expressive." . . .</p> + +<p>His testimony as to improved social habits and ways +was expressed very decidedly. "I think it reasonable +to expect that as I go westward, I shall find the old +manners going on before me, and may tread upon their +skirts mayhap. But so far, I have had no more intrusion +or boredom than I have when I lead the same life +in England. I write this in an immense hotel, but I +am as much at peace in my own rooms, and am left as +wholly undisturbed, as if I were at the Station Hotel +in York. I have now read in New York city to 40,000 +people, and am quite as well known in the streets there +as I am in London. People will turn back, turn again +and face me, and have a look at me, or will say to one +another 'Look here! Dickens coming!' But no one +ever stops me or addresses me. Sitting reading in the +carriage outside the New York post-office while one of +the staff was stamping the letters inside, I became conscious +that a few people who had been looking at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_415" id="Page_3_415">[415]</a></span> +turn-out had discovered me within. On my peeping +out good-humouredly, one of them (I should say a merchant's +book-keeper) stepped up to the door, took off +his hat, and said in a frank way: 'Mr. Dickens, I should +very much like to have the honour of shaking hands +with you'—and, that done, presented two others. +Nothing could be more quiet or less intrusive. In the +railway cars, if I see anybody who clearly wants to +speak to me, I usually anticipate the wish by speaking +myself. If I am standing on the brake outside (to +avoid the intolerable stove), people getting down will +say with a smile: 'As I am taking my departure, Mr. +Dickens, and can't trouble you for more than a moment, +I should like to take you by the hand sir.' And so +we shake hands and go our ways. . . . Of course many +of my impressions come through the readings. Thus +I find the people lighter and more humorous than +formerly; and there must be a great deal of innocent +imagination among every class, or they never could pet +with such extraordinary pleasure as they do, the Boots' +story of the elopement of the two little children. They +seem to see the children; and the women set up a +shrill undercurrent of half-pity and half-pleasure that +is quite affecting. To-night's reading is my 26th; but +as all the Philadelphia tickets for four more are sold, +as well as four at Brooklyn, you must assume that I am +at—say—my 35th reading. I have remitted to Coutts's +in English gold £10,000 odd; and I roughly calculate +that on this number Dolby will have another thousand +pounds profit to pay me. These figures are of +course between ourselves, at present; but are they +not magnificent? The expenses, always recollect, are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_416" id="Page_3_416">[416]</a></span> +enormous. On the other hand we never have occasion +to print a bill of any sort (bill-printing and posting +are great charges at home); and have just now sold +off £90 worth of bill-paper, provided beforehand, as a +wholly useless incumbrance."</p> + +<p>Then came, as ever, the constant shadow that still +attended him, the slave in the chariot of his triumph. +"The work is very severe. There is now no chance of +my being rid of this American catarrh until I embark for +England. It is very distressing. It likewise happens, +not seldom, that I am so dead beat when I come off +that they lay me down on a sofa after I have been +washed and dressed, and I lie there, extremely faint, +for a quarter of an hour. In that time I rally and come +right." One week later from New York, where he +had become due on the 16th for the first of his four +Brooklyn readings, he wrote to his sister-in-law. "My +cold sticks to me, and I can scarcely exaggerate what +I undergo from sleeplessness. I rarely take any breakfast +but an egg and a cup of tea—not even toast or +bread and butter. My small dinner at 3, and a little +quail or some such light thing when I come home at +night, is my daily fare; and at the hall I have established +the custom of taking an egg beaten up in sherry +before going in, and another between the parts, which +I think pulls me up. . . . It is snowing hard now, and I +begin to move to-morrow. There is so much floating +ice in the river, that we are obliged to have a pretty +wide margin of time for getting over the ferry to read." +The last of the readings over the ferry was on the day +when this letter was written. "I finished at my church +to-night. It is Mrs. Stowe's brother's, and a most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_417" id="Page_3_417">[417]</a></span> +wonderful place to speak in. We had it enormously +full last night (<i>Marigold</i> and <i>Trial</i>), but it scarcely required +an effort. Mr. Ward Beecher being present in +his pew, I sent to invite him to come round before he +left. I found him to be an unostentatious, evidently +able, straightforward, and agreeable man; extremely +well-informed, and with a good knowledge of art."</p> + +<p>Baltimore and Washington were the cities in which +he was now, on quitting New York, to read for the +first time; and as to the latter some doubts arose. The +exceptional course had been taken in regard to it, of +selecting a hall with space for not more than 700 and +charging everybody five dollars; to which Dickens, at +first greatly opposed, had yielded upon use of the argument, +"you have more people at New York, thanks to +the speculators, paying more than five dollars every +night." But now other suggestions came. "Horace +Greeley dined with me last Saturday," he wrote on +the 20th, "and didn't like my going to Washington, +now full of the greatest rowdies and worst kind of +people in the States. Last night at eleven came B. expressing +like doubts; and though they may be absurd +I thought them worth attention, B. coming so close on +Greeley." Mr. Dolby was in consequence sent express +to Washington with power to withdraw or go on, +as enquiry on the spot might dictate; and Dickens +took the additional resolve so far to modify the last +arrangements of his tour as to avoid the distances of +Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati, to content himself +with smaller places and profits, and thereby to get +home nearly a month earlier. He was at Philadelphia +on the 23rd of January, when he announced this intention.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_418" id="Page_3_418">[418]</a></span> +"The worst of it is, that everybody one advises +with has a monomania respecting Chicago. 'Good +heavens sir,' the great Philadelphia authority said to +me this morning, 'if you don't read in Chicago the +people will go into fits!' Well, I answered, I would +rather they went into fits than I did. But he didn't +seem to see it at all."</p> + +<p>From Baltimore he wrote to his sister-in-law on the +29th, in the hour's interval he had to spare before going +back to Philadelphia. "It has been snowing hard for +four and twenty hours—though this place is as far south +as Valentia in Spain; and my manager, being on his +way to New York, has a good chance of being snowed +up somewhere. This is one of the places where Butler +carried it with a high hand during the war, and where +the ladies used to spit when they passed a Northern +soldier. They are very handsome women, with an +Eastern touch in them, and dress brilliantly. I have +rarely seen so many fine faces in an audience. They +are a bright responsive people likewise, and very pleasant +to read to. My hall is a charming little opera +house built by a society of Germans; quite a delightful +place for the purpose. I stand on the stage, with the +drop curtain down, and my screen before it. The +whole scene is very pretty and complete, and the audience +have a 'ring' in them that sounds deeper than the +ear. I go from here to Philadelphia, to read to-morrow +night and Friday; come through here again on +Saturday on my way back to Washington; come back +here on Saturday week for two finishing nights; then +go to Philadelphia for two farewells—and so turn my +back on the southern part of the country. Our new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_419" id="Page_3_419">[419]</a></span> +plan will give 82 readings in all." (The real number +was 76, six having been dropped on subsequent political +excitements.) "Of course I afterwards discovered +that we had finally settled the list on a Friday. I shall +be halfway through it at Washington; of course on a +Friday also, and my birthday." To myself he wrote +on the following day from Philadelphia, beginning +with a thank Heaven that he had struck off Canada and +the West, for he found the wear and tear "enormous." +"Dolby decided that the croakers were wrong about +Washington, and went on; the rather as his raised +prices, which he put finally at three dollars each, gave +satisfaction. Fields is so confident about Boston, that +my remaining list includes, in all, 14 more readings +there. I don't know how many more we might not +have had here (where I have had attentions otherwise +that have been very grateful to me), if we had chosen. +Tickets are now being resold at ten dollars each. At +Baltimore I had a charming little theatre, and a very apprehensive +impulsive audience. It is remarkable to see +how the Ghost of Slavery haunts the town; and how +the shambling, untidy, evasive, and postponing Irrepressible +proceeds about his free work, going round +and round it, instead of at it. The melancholy absurdity +of giving these people votes, at any rate at +present, would glare at one out of every roll of their +eyes, chuckle in their mouths, and bump in their heads, +if one did not see (as one cannot help seeing in the +country) that their enfranchisement is a mere party +trick to get votes. Being at the Penitentiary the other +day (this, while we mention votes), and looking over +the books, I noticed that almost every man had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_420" id="Page_3_420">[420]</a></span> +'pardoned' a day or two before his time was up. Why? +Because, if he had served his time out, he would have +been <i>ipso facto</i> disfranchised. So, this form of pardon +is gone through to save his vote; and as every officer +of the prison holds his place only in right of his party, +of course his hopeful clients vote for the party that has +let them out! When I read in Mr. Beecher's church +at Brooklyn, we found the trustees had suppressed the +fact that a certain upper gallery holding 150 was 'the +Coloured Gallery,' On the first night not a soul could +be induced to enter it; and it was not until it became +known next day that I was certainly not going to read +there more than four times, that we managed to fill it. +One night at New York, on our second or third row, +there were two well-dressed women with a tinge of +colour—I should say, not even quadroons. But the +holder of one ticket who found his seat to be next +them, demanded of Dolby 'what he meant by fixing +him next to those two Gord darmed cusses of niggers?' +and insisted on being supplied with another good +place. Dolby firmly replied that he was perfectly certain +Mr. Dickens would not recognize such an objection +on any account, but he could have his money back, if +he chose. Which, after some squabbling, he had. In +a comic scene in the New York Circus one night, when +I was looking on, four white people sat down upon a +form in a barber's shop to be shaved. A coloured man +came as the fifth customer, and the four immediately +ran away. This was much laughed at and applauded. +In the Baltimore Penitentiary, the white prisoners dine +on one side of the room, the coloured prisoners on the +other; and no one has the slightest idea of mixing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_421" id="Page_3_421">[421]</a></span> +them. But it is indubitably the fact that exhalations +not the most agreeable arise from a number of coloured +people got together, and I was obliged to beat a quick +retreat from their dormitory. I strongly believe that +they will die out of this country fast. It seems, looking +at them, so manifestly absurd to suppose it possible +that they can ever hold their own against a restless, +shifty, striving, stronger race."</p> + +<p>On the fourth of February he wrote from Washington. +"You may like to have a line to let you know +that it is all right here, and that the croakers were +simply ridiculous. I began last night. A charming +audience, no dissatisfaction whatever at the raised +prices, nothing missed or lost, cheers at the end of the +<i>Carol</i>, and rounds upon rounds of applause all through. +All the foremost men and their families had taken +tickets for the series of four. A small place to read in. +£300 in it." It will be no violation of the rule of +avoiding private detail if the very interesting close of +this letter is given. Its anecdote of President Lincoln +was repeatedly told by Dickens after his return, and I +am under no necessity to withhold from it the authority +of Mr. Sumner's name. "I am going to-morrow to +see the President, who has sent to me twice. I dined +with Charles Sumner last Sunday, against my rule; and +as I had stipulated for no party, Mr. Secretary Stanton +was the only other guest, besides his own secretary. +Stanton is a man with a very remarkable memory, and +extraordinarily familiar with my books. . . . He and +Sumner having been the first two public men at the +dying President's bedside, and having remained with +him until he breathed his last, we fell into a very interesting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_422" id="Page_3_422">[422]</a></span> +conversation after dinner, when, each of them +giving his own narrative separately, the usual discrepancies +about details of time were observable. Then +Mr. Stanton told me a curious little story which will +form the remainder of this short letter.</p> + +<p>"On the afternoon of the day on which the President +was shot, there was a cabinet council at which he presided. +Mr. Stanton, being at the time commander-in-chief +of the Northern troops that were concentrated +about here, arrived rather late. Indeed they were +waiting for him, and on his entering the room, the +President broke off in something he was saying, and +remarked: 'Let us proceed to business, gentlemen.' +Mr. Stanton then noticed, with great surprise, that the +President sat with an air of dignity in his chair instead +of lolling about it in the most ungainly attitudes, as +his invariable custom was; and that instead of telling +irrelevant or questionable stories, he was grave and +calm, and quite a different man. Mr. Stanton, on +leaving the council with the Attorney-General, said to +him, 'That is the most satisfactory cabinet meeting I +have attended for many a long day! What an extraordinary +change in Mr. Lincoln!' The Attorney-General +replied, 'We all saw it, before you came in. +While we were waiting for you, he said, with his chin +down on his breast, "Gentlemen, something very extraordinary +is going to happen, and that very soon."' +To which the Attorney-General had observed, 'Something +good, sir, I hope?' when the President answered +very gravely: 'I don't know; I don't know. But it +will happen, and shortly too!' As they were all impressed +by his manner, the Attorney-General took him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_423" id="Page_3_423">[423]</a></span> +up again: 'Have you received any information, sir, +not yet disclosed to us?' 'No,' answered the President: +'but I have had a dream. And I have now had the +same dream three times. Once, on the night preceding +the Battle of Bull Run. Once, on the night preceding' +such another (naming a battle also not favourable to +the North). His chin sank on his breast again, and +he sat reflecting. 'Might one ask the nature of this +dream, sir?' said the Attorney-General. 'Well,' replied +the President, without lifting his head or changing his +attitude, 'I am on a great broad rolling river—and I +am in a boat—and I drift—and I drift!—But this is +not business—' suddenly raising his face and looking +round the table as Mr. Stanton entered, 'let us proceed +to business, gentlemen.' Mr. Stanton and the Attorney-General +said, as they walked on together, it +would be curious to notice whether anything ensued +on this; and they agreed to notice. He was shot that +night."</p> + +<p>On his birthday, the seventh of February, Dickens +had his interview with President Andrew Johnson. +"This scrambling scribblement is resumed this morning, +because I have just seen the President: who had +sent to me very courteously asking me to make my own +appointment. He is a man with a remarkable face, +indicating courage, watchfulness, and certainly strength +of purpose. It is a face of the Webster type, but +without the 'bounce' of Webster's face. I would have +picked him out anywhere as a character of mark. +Figure, rather stoutish for an American; a trifle under +the middle size; hands clasped in front of him; manner, +suppressed, guarded, anxious. Each of us looked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_424" id="Page_3_424">[424]</a></span> +at the other very hard. . . . It was in his own cabinet +that I saw him. As I came away, Thornton drove up +in a sleigh—turned out for a state occasion—to deliver +his credentials. There was to be a cabinet council at +12. The room was very like a London club's ante-drawing +room. On the walls, two engravings only: +one, of his own portrait; one, of Lincoln's. . . . In +the outer room was sitting a certain sunburnt General +Blair, with many evidences of the war upon him. He +got up to shake hands with me, and then I found that +he had been out on the Prairie with me five-and-twenty +years ago. . . . The papers having referred to my +birthday's falling to-day, my room is filled with most +exquisite flowers.<a name="FNanchor_276_276" id="FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> They came pouring in from all +sorts of people at breakfast time. The audiences here +are really very fine. So ready to laugh or cry, and +doing both so freely, that you would suppose them +to be Manchester shillings rather than Washington +half-sovereigns. Alas! alas! my cold worse than +ever." So he had written too at the opening of his +letter.</p> + +<p>The first reading had been four days earlier, and was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_425" id="Page_3_425">[425]</a></span> +described to his daughter in a letter on the 4th, with a +comical incident that occurred in the course of it. +"The gas was very defective indeed last night, and I +began with a small speech to the effect that I must +trust to the brightness of their faces for the illumination +of mine. This was taken greatly. In the <i>Carol</i> +a most ridiculous incident occurred. All of a sudden, +I saw a dog leap out from among the seats in the centre +aisle, and look very intently at me. The general attention +being fixed on me, I don't think anybody saw this +dog; but I felt so sure of his turning up again and +barking, that I kept my eye wandering about in search +of him. He was a very comic dog, and it was well for +me that I was reading a comic part of the book. But +when he bounced out into the centre aisle again, in an +entirely new place, and (still looking intently at me) +tried the effect of a bark upon my proceedings, I was +seized with such a paroxysm of laughter that it communicated +itself to the audience, and we roared at one +another, loud and long." Three days later the sequel +came, in a letter to his sister-in-law. "I mentioned +the dog on the first night here? Next night, I thought +I heard (in <i>Copperfield</i>) a suddenly-suppressed bark. +It happened in this wise:—One of our people, standing +just within the door, felt his leg touched, and +looking down beheld the dog, staring intently at me, +and evidently just about to bark. In a transport of +presence of mind and fury, he instantly caught him up +in both hands, and threw him over his own head, out +into the entry, where the check-takers received him +like a game at ball. Last night he came again, <i>with +another dog;</i> but our people were so sharply on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_426" id="Page_3_426">[426]</a></span> +look-out for him that he didn't get in. He had evidently +promised to pass the other dog, free."</p> + +<p>What is expressed in these letters, of a still active, +hopeful, enjoying, energetic spirit, able to assert itself +against illness of the body and in some sort to overmaster +it, was also so strongly impressed upon those +who were with him, that, seeing his sufferings as they +did, they yet found it difficult to understand the extent +of them. The sadness thus ever underlying his +triumph makes it all very tragical. "That afternoon +of my birthday," he wrote from Baltimore on the 11th, +"my catarrh was in such a state that Charles Sumner, +coming in at five o'clock, and finding me covered with +mustard poultice, and apparently voiceless, turned to +Dolby and said: 'Surely, Mr. Dolby, it is impossible +that he can read to-night!' Says Dolby: 'Sir, I have +told Mr. Dickens so, four times to-day, and I have been +very anxious. But you have no idea how he will change, +when he gets to the little table.' After five minutes of +the little table I was not (for the time) even hoarse. +The frequent experience of this return of force when it +is wanted, saves me a vast amount of anxiety; but I +am not at times without the nervous dread that I may +some day sink altogether." To the same effect in +another letter he adds: "Dolby and Osgood" (the +latter represented the publishing firm of Mr. Fields +and was one of the travelling staff), "who do the most +ridiculous things to keep me in spirits<a name="FNanchor_277_277" id="FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> (I am often very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_427" id="Page_3_427">[427]</a></span> +heavy, and rarely sleep much), are determined to have +a walking match at Boston on the last day of February +to celebrate the arrival of the day when I can say '<i>next</i> +month!' for home." The match ended in the Englishman's +defeat; which Dickens doubly commemorated, +by a narrative of the American victory in sporting-newspaper +style, and by a dinner in Boston to a party +of dear friends there.</p> + +<p>After Baltimore he was reading again at Philadelphia, +from which he wrote to his sister-in-law on the 13th as +to a characteristic trait observed in both places. +"Nothing will induce the people to believe in the farewells. +At Baltimore on Tuesday night (a very brilliant +night indeed), they asked as they came out: 'When +will Mr. Dickens read here again?' 'Never.' 'Nonsense! +Not come back, after such houses as these? +Come. Say when he'll read again.' Just the same +here. We could as soon persuade them that I am the +President, as that to-morrow night I am going to read +here for the last time. . . . There is a child in this +house—a little girl—to whom I presented a black doll +when I was here last; and as I have just seen her eye +at the keyhole since I began writing this, I think she +and the doll must be outside still. 'When you sent it +up to me by the coloured boy,' she said after receiving +it (coloured boy is the term for black waiter), 'I gave +such a cream that Ma come running in and creamed +too, 'cos she fort I'd hurt myself. But I creamed a +cream of joy.' She had a friend to play with her +that day, and brought the friend with her—to my infinite +confusion. A friend all stockings and much too +tall, who sat on the sofa very far back with her stockings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_428" id="Page_3_428">[428]</a></span> +sticking stiffly out in front of her, and glared at +me, and never spake a word. Dolby found us confronted +in a sort of fascination, like serpent and bird."</p> + +<p>On the 15th he was again at New York, in the thick +of more troubles with the speculators. They involved +even charges of fraud in ticket-sales at Newhaven and +Providence; indignation meetings having been held +by the Mayors, and unavailing attempts made by his +manager to turn the wrath aside. "I expect him back +here presently half bereft of his senses, and I should +be wholly bereft of mine if the situation were not +comical as well as disagreeable. We can sell at our +own box-office to any extent; but we cannot buy back +of the speculators, because we have informed the public +that all the tickets are gone; and even if we made +the sacrifice of buying at their price and selling at ours, +we should be accused of treating with them and of +making money by it." It ended in Providence by his +going himself to the town and making a speech; and +in Newhaven it ended by his sending back the money +taken, with intimation that he would not read until +there had been a new distribution of the tickets approved +by all the town. Fresh disturbance broke out +upon this; but he stuck to his determination to delay +the reading until the heats had cooled down, and what +should have been given in the middle of February he +did not give until the close of March.</p> + +<p>The Readings he had promised at the smaller outlying +places by the Canadian frontier and Niagara district, +including Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo, were +appointed for that same March month which was to be +the interval between the close of the ordinary readings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_429" id="Page_3_429">[429]</a></span> +and the farewells in the two leading cities. All that +had been promised in New York were closed when he +returned to Boston on the 23rd of February, ready for +the increase he had promised there; but the check of +a sudden political excitement came. It was the month +when the vote was taken for impeachment of President +Johnson. "It is well" (25th of February) "that the +money has flowed in hitherto so fast, for I have a misgiving +that the great excitement about the President's +impeachment will damage our receipts. . . . The vote +was taken at 5 last night. At 7 the three large theatres +here, all in a rush of good business, were stricken with +paralysis. At 8 our long line of outsiders waiting for +unoccupied places, was nowhere. To-day you hear all +the people in the streets talking of only one thing. I +shall suppress my next week's promised readings (by +good fortune, not yet announced), and watch the +course of events. Nothing in this country, as I before +said, lasts long; and I think it likely that the public +may be heartily tired of the President's name by the +9th of March, when I read at a considerable distance +from here. So behold me with a whole week's holiday +in view!" Two days later he wrote pleasantly to +his sister-in-law of his audiences. "They have come +to regard the Readings and the Reader as their peculiar +property; and you would be both amused and pleased +if you could see the curious way in which they show +this increased interest in both. Whenever they laugh +or cry, they have taken to applauding as well; and the +result is very inspiriting. I shall remain here until +Saturday the 7th; but after to-morrow night shall not +read here until the 1st of April, when I begin my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_430" id="Page_3_430">[430]</a></span> +farewells—six in number." On the 28th he wrote: +"To-morrow fortnight we purpose being at the Falls +of Niagara, and then we shall come back and really +begin to wind up. I have got to know the <i>Carol</i> so +well that I can't remember it, and occasionally go +dodging about in the wildest manner, to pick up lost +pieces. They took it so tremendously last night that +I was stopped every five minutes. One poor young +girl in mourning burst into a passion of grief about +Tiny Tim, and was taken out. We had a fine house, +and, in the interval while I was out, they covered the +little table with flowers. The cough has taken a fresh +start as if it were a novelty, and is even worse than +ever to-day. There is a lull in the excitement about +the President: but the articles of impeachment are to +be produced this afternoon, and then it may set in +again. Osgood came into camp last night from selling +in remote places, and reports that at Rochester and +Buffalo (both places near the frontier), tickets were +bought by Canada people, who had struggled across +the frozen river and clambered over all sorts of obstructions +to get them. Some of those distant halls +turn out to be smaller than represented; but I have no +doubt—to use an American expression—that we shall +'get along.' The second half of the receipts cannot +reasonably be expected to come up to the first; political +circumstances, and all other surroundings, considered."</p> + +<p>His old ill luck in travel pursued him. On the day +his letter was written a snow-storm began, with a heavy +gale of wind; and "after all the hard weather gone +through," he wrote on the 2nd of March, "this is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_431" id="Page_3_431">[431]</a></span> +worst day we have seen. It is telegraphed that the +storm prevails over an immense extent of country, and +is just the same at Chicago as here. I hope it may +prove a wind up. We are getting sick of the very +sound of sleigh-bells even." The roads were so bad +and the trains so much out of time, that he had to +start a day earlier; and on the 6th of March his tour +north-west began, with the gale still blowing and the +snow falling heavily. On the 13th he wrote to me +from Buffalo.</p> + +<p>"We go to the Falls of Niagara to-morrow for our +own pleasure; and I take all the men, as a treat. We +found Rochester last Tuesday in a very curious state. +Perhaps you know that the Great Falls of the Genessee +River (really very fine, even so near Niagara) are at +that place. In the height of a sudden thaw, an immense +bank of ice above the rapids refused to yield; +so that the town was threatened (for the second time +in four years) with submersion. Boats were ready in +the streets, all the people were up all night, and none +but the children slept. In the dead of the night a +thundering noise was heard, the ice gave way, the +swollen river came raging and roaring down the Falls, +and the town was safe. Very picturesque! but 'not very +good for business,' as the manager says. Especially as +the hall stands in the centre of danger, and had ten +feet of water in it on the last occasion of flood. But +I think we had above £200 English. On the previous +night at Syracuse—a most out of the way and unintelligible-looking +place, with apparently no people in it—we +had £375 odd. Here, we had last night, and shall +have to-night, whatever we can cram into the hall.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_432" id="Page_3_432">[432]</a></span></p> + +<p>"This Buffalo has become a large and important +town, with numbers of German and Irish in it. But it +is very curious to notice, as we touch the frontier, that +the American female beauty dies out; and a woman's +face clumsily compounded of German, Irish, Western +America, and Canadian, not yet fused together, and +not yet moulded, obtains instead. Our show of Beauty +at night is, generally, remarkable; but we had not a +dozen pretty women in the whole throng last night, +and the faces were all blunt. I have just been walking +about, and observing the same thing in the streets. . . . +The winter has been so severe, that the hotel on the +English side at Niagara (which has the best view of the +Falls, and is for that reason very preferable) is not yet +open. So we go, perforce, to the American: which +telegraphs back to our telegram: 'all Mr. Dickens's +requirements perfectly understood.' I have not yet +been in more than two <i>very bad</i> inns. I have been in +some, where a good deal of what is popularly called +'slopping round' has prevailed; but have been able to +get on very well. 'Slopping round,' so used, means +untidyness and disorder. It is a comically expressive +phrase, and has many meanings. Fields was asking +the price of a quarter-cask of sherry the other day. +'Wa'al Mussr Fields,' the merchant replies, 'that +varies according to quality, as is but nay'tral. If yer +wa'ant a sherry just to slop round with it, I can fix +you some at a very low figger.'"</p> + +<p>His letter was resumed at Rochester on the 18th. +"After two most brilliant days at the Falls of Niagara, +we got back here last night. To-morrow morning we +turn out at 6 for a long railway journey back to Albany.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_433" id="Page_3_433">[433]</a></span> +But it is nearly all 'back' now, thank God! I don't +know how long, though, before turning, we might have +gone on at Buffalo. . . . We went everywhere at the +Falls, and saw them in every aspect. There is a suspension +bridge across, now, some two miles or more +from the Horse Shoe; and another, half a mile nearer, +is to be opened in July. They are very fine but very +ticklish, hanging aloft there, in the continual vibration +of the thundering water: nor is one greatly reassured +by the printed notice that troops must not cross them +at step, that bands of music must not play in crossing, +and the like. I shall never forget the last aspect in +which we saw Niagara yesterday. We had been everywhere, +when I thought of struggling (in an open carriage) +up some very difficult ground for a good distance, +and getting where we could stand above the +river, and see it, as it rushes forward to its tremendous +leap, coming for miles and miles. All away to the +horizon on our right was a wonderful confusion of +bright green and white water. As we stood watching +it with our faces to the top of the Falls, our backs were +towards the sun. The majestic valley below the Falls, +so seen through the vast cloud of spray, was made of +rainbow. The high banks, the riven rocks, the forests, +the bridge, the buildings, the air, the sky, were all +made of rainbow. Nothing in Turner's finest water-colour +drawings, done in his greatest day, is so ethereal, +so imaginative, so gorgeous in colour, as what I then +beheld. I seemed to be lifted from the earth and to +be looking into Heaven. What I once said to you, as +I witnessed the scene five and twenty years ago, all +came back at this most affecting and sublime sight.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_434" id="Page_3_434">[434]</a></span> +The 'muddy vesture of our clay' falls from us as we +look. . . . I chartered a separate carriage for our men, +so that they might see all in their own way, and at their +own time.</p> + +<p>"There is a great deal of water out between Rochester +and New York, and travelling is very uncertain, +as I fear we may find to-morrow. There is again some +little alarm here on account of the river rising too fast. +But our to-night's house is far ahead of the first. Most +charming halls in these places; excellent for sight and +sound. Almost invariably built as theatres, with stage, +scenery, and good dressing-rooms. Audience seated to +perfection (every seat always separate), excellent doorways +and passages, and brilliant light. My screen and +gas are set up in front of the drop-curtain, and the most +delicate touches will tell anywhere. No creature but +my own men ever near me."</p> + +<p>His anticipation of the uncertainty that might beset +his travel back had dismal fulfilment. It is described +in a letter written on the 21st from Springfield to his +valued friend, Mr. Frederic Ouvry, having much interest +of its own, and making lively addition to the picture +which these chapters give. The unflagging spirit +that bears up under all disadvantages is again marvellously +shown. "You can hardly imagine what my life +is with its present conditions—how hard the work is, +and how little time I seem to have at my disposal. It +is necessary to the daily recovery of my voice that I +should dine at 3 when not travelling; I begin to prepare +for the evening at 6; and I get back to my hotel, pretty +well knocked up, at half-past 10. Add to all this, perpetual +railway travelling in one of the severest winters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_435" id="Page_3_435">[435]</a></span> +ever known; and you will descry a reason or two for +my being an indifferent correspondent. Last Sunday +evening I left the Falls of Niagara for this and two intervening +places. As there was a great thaw, and the +melted snow was swelling all the rivers, the whole +country for three hundred miles was flooded. On the +Tuesday afternoon (I had read on the Monday) the +train gave in, as under circumstances utterly hopeless, +and stopped at a place called Utica; the greater part +of which was under water, while the high and dry part +could produce nothing particular to eat. Here, some +of the wretched passengers passed the night in the train, +while others stormed the hotel. I was fortunate enough +to get a bed-room, and garnished it with an enormous +jug of gin-punch; over which I and the manager played +a double-dummy rubber. At six in the morning we +were knocked up: 'to come aboard and try it.' At +half-past six we were knocked up again with the tidings +'that it was of no use coming aboard or trying it.' At +eight all the bells in the town were set agoing, to summon +us to 'come aboard' instantly. And so we started, +through the water, at four or five miles an hour; seeing +nothing but drowned farms, barns adrift like Noah's +arks, deserted villages, broken bridges, and all manner +of ruin. I was to read at Albany that night, and all +the tickets were sold. A very active superintendent +of works assured me that if I could be 'got along' he +was the man to get me along: and that if I couldn't be +got along, I might conclude that it couldn't possibly +be fixed. He then turned on a hundred men in seven-league +boots, who went ahead of the train, each armed +with a long pole and pushing the blocks of ice away.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_436" id="Page_3_436">[436]</a></span> +Following this cavalcade, we got to land at last, and +arrived in time for me to read the <i>Carol</i> and <i>Trial</i> triumphantly. +My people (I had five of the staff with +me) turned to at their work with a will, and did a day's +labour in a couple of hours. If we had not come in as +we did, I should have lost £350, and Albany would +have gone distracted. You may conceive what the +flood was, when I hint at the two most notable incidents +of our journey:—1, We took the passengers out +of two trains, who had been in the water, immovable +all night and all the previous day. 2, We released a +large quantity of sheep and cattle from trucks that had +been in the water I don't know how long, but so long +that the creatures in them had begun to eat each other, +and presented a most horrible spectacle."<a name="FNanchor_278_278" id="FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a></p> + +<p>Beside Springfield, he had engagements at Portland, +New Bedford, and other places in Massachusetts, before +the Boston farewells began; and there wanted but two +days to bring him to that time, when he thus described +to his daughter the labour which was to occupy them. +His letter was from Portland on the 29th of March, +and it will be observed that he no longer compromises +or glozes over what he was and had been suffering. +During his terrible travel to Albany his cough had +somewhat spared him, but the old illness had broken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_437" id="Page_3_437">[437]</a></span> +out in his foot; and, though he persisted in ascribing +it to the former supposed origin ("having been lately +again wet, from walking in melted snow, which I suppose +to be the occasion of its swelling in the old way"), +it troubled him sorely, extended now at intervals to +the right foot also, and lamed him for all the time he +remained in the States. "I should have written to +you by the last mail, but I really was too unwell to do +it. The writing day was last Friday, when I ought to +have left Boston for New Bedford (55 miles) before +eleven in the morning. But I was so exhausted that I +could not be got up, and had to take my chance of an +evening train's producing me in time to read—which +it just did. With the return of snow, nine days ago, +my cough became as bad as ever. I have coughed +every morning from two or three till five or six, and +have been absolutely sleepless. I have had no appetite +besides, and no taste.<a name="FNanchor_279_279" id="FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> Last night here, I took some +laudanum; and it is the only thing that has done me +good, though it made me sick this morning. But the +life, in this climate, is so very hard! When I did +manage to get to New Bedford, I read with my utmost +force and vigour. Next morning, well or ill, I must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_438" id="Page_3_438">[438]</a></span> +turn out at seven, to get back to Boston on my way +here. I dined at Boston at three, and at five had to +come on here (a hundred and thirty miles or so) for +to-morrow night: there being no Sunday train. To-morrow +night I read here in a very large place; and +Tuesday morning at six I must again start, to get back +to Boston once more. But after to-morrow night I have +only the farewells, thank God! Even as it is, however, +I have had to write to Dolby (who is in New York) to +see my doctor there, and ask him to send me some +composing medicine that I can take at night, inasmuch +as without sleep I cannot get through. However sympathetic +and devoted the people are about one, they +<span class="smcap">can not</span> be got to comprehend, seeing me able to do +the two hours when the time comes round, that it may +also involve much misery." To myself on the 30th he +wrote from the same place, making like confession. +No comment could deepen the sadness of the story of +suffering, revealed in his own simple language. "I +write in a town three parts of which were burnt down +in a tremendous fire three years ago. The people lived +in tents while their city was rebuilding. The charred +trunks of the trees with which the streets of the old +city were planted, yet stand here and there in the new +thoroughfares like black spectres. The rebuilding is +still in progress everywhere. Yet such is the astonishing +energy of the people that the large hall in which I +am to read to-night (its predecessor was burnt) would +compare very favourably with the Free Trade Hall at +Manchester! . . . I am nearly used up. Climate, distance, +catarrh, travelling, and hard work, have begun +(I may say so, now they are nearly all over) to tell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_439" id="Page_3_439">[439]</a></span> +heavily upon me. Sleeplessness besets me; and if I +had engaged to go on into May, I think I must have +broken down. It was well that I cut off the Far West +and Canada when I did. There would else have been +a sad complication. It is impossible to make the +people about one understand, however zealous and devoted +(it is impossible even to make Dolby understand +until the pinch comes), that the power of coming up +to the mark every night, with spirits and spirit, may +coexist with the nearest approach to sinking under it. +When I got back to Boston on Thursday, after a very +hard three weeks, I saw that Fields was very grave +about my going on to New Bedford (55 miles) next +day, and then coming on here (180 miles) <i>next</i> day. +But the stress is over, and so I can afford to look back +upon it, and think about it, and write about it." On +the 31st he closed his letter at Boston, and he was at +home when I heard of him again. "The latest intelligence, +my dear old fellow, is, that I have arrived +here safely, and that I am certainly better. I consider +my work virtually over, now. My impression is, that +the political crisis will damage the farewells by about +one half. I cannot yet speak by the card; but my +predictions here, as to our proceedings, have thus far +been invariably right. We took last night at Portland, +£360 English; where a costly Italian troupe, using +the same hall to-night, had not booked £14! It is +the same all over the country, and the worst is not +seen yet. Everything is becoming absorbed in the +Presidential impeachment, helped by the next Presidential +election. Connecticut is particularly excited. +The night after I read at Hartford this last week, there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_440" id="Page_3_440">[440]</a></span> +were two political meetings in the town; meetings of +two parties; and the hotel was full of speakers coming +in from outlying places. So at Newhaven: the moment +I had finished, carpenters came in to prepare for +next night's politics. So at Buffalo. So everywhere +very soon."</p> + +<p>In the same tone he wrote his last letter to his sister-in-law +from Boston. "My notion of the farewells is +pretty certain now to turn out right. We had £300 +English here last night. To-day is a Fast Day, and +to-night we shall probably take much less. Then it is +likely that we shall pull up again, and strike a good +reasonable average; but it is not at all probable that +we shall do anything enormous. Every pulpit in +Massachusetts will resound with violent politics to-day +and to-night." That was on the second of April, and +a postscript was added. "Friday afternoon the 3rd. +Catarrh worse than ever! and we don't know (at four +o'clock) whether I can read to-night or must stop. +Otherwise, all well."</p> + +<p>Dickens's last letter from America was written to his +daughter Mary from Boston on the 9th of April, the +day before his sixth and last farewell night. "I not +only read last Friday when I was doubtful of being able +to do so, but read as I never did before, and astonished +the audience quite as much as myself. You never saw +or heard such a scene of excitement. Longfellow and +all the Cambridge men have urged me to give in. I +have been very near doing so, but feel stronger to-day. +I cannot tell whether the catarrh may have done me +any lasting injury in the lungs or other breathing +organs, until I shall have rested and got home. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_441" id="Page_3_441">[441]</a></span> +hope and believe not. Consider the weather! There +have been two snow storms since I wrote last, and to-day +the town is blotted out in a ceaseless whirl of snow +and wind. Dolby is as tender as a woman, and as +watchful as a doctor. He never leaves me during the +reading, now, but sits at the side of the platform, and +keeps his eye upon me all the time. Ditto George the +gasman, steadiest and most reliable man I ever employed. +I have <i>Dombey</i> to do to-night, and must go +through it carefully; so here ends my report. The +personal affection of the people in this place is charming +to the last. Did I tell you that the New York Press +are going to give me a public dinner on Saturday the +18th?"</p> + +<p>In New York, where there were five farewell nights, +three thousand two hundred and ninety-eight dollars +were the receipts of the last, on the 20th of April; +those of the last at Boston, on the 8th, having been +three thousand four hundred and fifty-six dollars. But +on earlier nights in the same cities respectively, these +sums also had been reached; and indeed, making +allowance for an exceptional night here and there, the +receipts varied so wonderfully little, that a mention of +the highest average returns from other places will give +no exaggerated impression of the ordinary receipts +throughout. Excluding fractions of dollars, the lowest +were New Bedford ($1640), Rochester ($1906), Springfield +($1970), and Providence ($2140). Albany and +Worcester averaged something less than $2400; while +Hartford, Buffalo, Baltimore, Syracuse, Newhaven, and +Portland rose to $2600. Washington's last night was +$2610, no night there having less than $2500. Philadelphia<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_442" id="Page_3_442">[442]</a></span> +exceeded Washington by $300, and Brooklyn +went ahead of Philadelphia by $200. The amount +taken at the four Brooklyn readings was 11,128 dollars.</p> + +<p>The New York public dinner was given at Delmonico's, +the hosts were more than two hundred, and +the chair was taken by Mr. Horace Greeley. Dickens +attended with great difficulty,<a name="FNanchor_280_280" id="FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> and spoke in pain. But +he used the occasion to bear his testimony to the +changes of twenty-five years; the rise of vast new +cities; growth in the graces and amenities of life; +much improvement in the press, essential to every +other advance; and changes in himself leading to +opinions more deliberately formed. He promised his +kindly entertainers that no copy of his <i>Notes</i>, or his +<i>Chuzzlewit</i>, should in future be issued by him without +accompanying mention of the changes to which he had +referred that night; of the politeness, delicacy, sweet +temper, hospitality, and consideration in all ways for +which he had to thank them; and of his gratitude for +the respect shown, during all his visit, to the privacy +enforced upon him by the nature of his work and the +condition of his health.</p> + +<p>He had to leave the room before the proceedings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_443" id="Page_3_443">[443]</a></span> +were over. On the following Monday he read to his +last American audience, telling them at the close that +he hoped often to recall them, equally by his winter +fire and in the green summer weather, and never as a +mere public audience but as a host of personal friends. +He sailed two days later in the "Russia," and reached +England in the first week of May 1868.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_444" id="Page_3_444">[444]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>LAST READINGS.</h3> + +<h3>1868-1870.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">At Home—Project for Last Readings—What the Readings did and +undid—Profit from all the Readings—Noticeable Changes—Proposed +Reading from <i>Oliver Twist</i>—Parting from his Youngest Son—Death +of his Brother Frederick—Old Friends—<i>Sikes and Nancy</i> +Reading—Reading stopped—Mr. Syme's Opinion of the Lameness—Emerson +Tennent's Funeral—Public Dinner in Liverpool—His +Description of his Illness—Brought to Town—Sir Thomas +Watson's Note of the Case—Close of Career as Public Reader.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Favourable</span> weather helped him pleasantly home. +He had profited greatly by the sea voyage, perhaps +greatly more by its repose; and on the 25th of May he +described himself to his Boston friends as brown beyond +belief, and causing the greatest disappointment in all +quarters by looking so well. "My doctor was quite +broken down in spirits on seeing me for the first time +last Saturday. <i>Good Lord! seven years younger!</i> said +the doctor, recoiling." That he gave all the credit to +"those fine days at sea," and none to the rest from +such labours as he had passed through, the close of the +letter too sadly showed. "We are already settling—think +of this!—the details of my farewell course of +readings."</p> + +<p>Even on his way out to America that enterprise was +in hand. From Halifax he had written to me. "I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_445" id="Page_3_445">[445]</a></span> +told the Chappells that when I got back to England, I +would have a series of farewell readings in town and +country; and then read No More. They at once offer +in writing to pay all expenses whatever, to pay the ten +per cent. for management, and to pay me, for a series +of 75, six thousand pounds." The terms were raised +and settled before the first Boston readings closed. +The number was to be a hundred; and the payment, +over and above expenses and per centage, eight thousand +pounds. Such a temptation undoubtedly was +great; and though it was a fatal mistake which Dickens +committed in yielding to it, it was not an ignoble one. +He did it under no excitement from the American +gains, of which he knew nothing when he pledged himself +to the enterprise. No man could care essentially +less for mere money than he did. But the necessary +provision for many sons was a constant anxiety; he +was proud of what the Readings had done to abridge +this care; and the very strain of them under which it +seems certain that his health had first given way, and +which he always steadily refused to connect especially +with them, had also broken the old confidence of being +at all times available for his higher pursuit. What +affected his health only he would not regard as part of +the question either way. That was to be borne as the +lot more or less of all men; and the more thorough he +could make his feeling of independence, and of ability +to rest, by what was now in hand, the better his final +chances of a perfect recovery would be. That was the +spirit in which he entered on this last engagement. It +was an opportunity offered for making a particular +work really complete before he should abandon it for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_446" id="Page_3_446">[446]</a></span> +ever. Something of it will not be indiscernible even +in the summary of his past acquisitions, which with a +pardonable exultation he now sent me.</p> + +<p>"We had great difficulty in getting our American +accounts squared to the point of ascertaining what +Dolby's commission amounted to in English money. +After all, we were obliged to call in the aid of a money-changer, +to determine what he should pay as his share +of the average loss of conversion into gold. With this +deduction made, I think his commission (I have not +the figures at hand) was £2,888; Ticknor and Fields +had a commission of £1,000, besides 5 per cent. on all +Boston receipts. The expenses in America to the day +of our sailing were 38,948 dollars;—roughly 39,000 +dollars, or £13,000. The preliminary expenses were +£614. The average price of gold was nearly 40 per +cent., and yet my profit was within a hundred or so of +£20,000. Supposing me to have got through the +present engagement in good health, I shall have made +by the Readings, <i>in two years, £</i>33,000: that is to say, +£13,000 received from the Chappells, and £20,000 +from America. What I had made by them before, I +could only ascertain by a long examination of Coutts's +books. I should say, certainly not less than £10,000: +for I remember that I made half that money in the first +town and country campaign with poor Arthur Smith. +These figures are of course between ourselves; but +don't you think them rather remarkable? The Chappell +bargain began with £50 a night and everything +paid; then became £60; and now rises to £80."</p> + +<p>The last readings were appointed to begin with October; +and at the request of an old friend, Chauncy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_447" id="Page_3_447">[447]</a></span> +Hare Townshend, who died during his absence in the +States, he had accepted the trust, which occupied him +some part of the summer, of examining and selecting +for publication a bequest of some papers on matters of +religious belief, which were issued in a small volume +the following year. There came also in June a visit +from Longfellow and his daughters, with later summer +visits from the Eliot Nortons; and at the arrival of +friends whom he loved and honoured as he did these, +from the great country to which he owed so much, infinite +were the rejoicings of Gadshill. Nothing could +quench his old spirit in this way. But in the intervals +of my official work I saw him frequently that summer, +and never without the impression that America had told +heavily upon him. There was manifest abatement of +his natural force, the elasticity of bearing was impaired, +and the wonderful brightness of eye was dimmed at +times. One day, too, as he walked from his office with +Miss Hogarth to dine at our house, he could read only +the halves of the letters over the shop doors that were +on his right as he looked. He attributed it to medicine. +It was an additional unfavourable symptom that +his right foot had become affected as well as the left, +though not to anything like the same extent, during the +journey from the Canada frontier to Boston. But all +this disappeared, upon any special cause for exertion; +and he was never unprepared to lavish freely for others +the reserved strength that should have been kept for +himself. This indeed was the great danger, for it +dulled the apprehension of us all to the fact that absolute +and pressing danger did positively exist.</p> + +<p>He had scarcely begun these last readings than he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_448" id="Page_3_448">[448]</a></span> +was beset by a misgiving, that, for a success large +enough to repay Messrs. Chappell's liberality, the enterprise +would require a new excitement to carry him +over the old ground; and it was while engaged in Manchester +and Liverpool at the outset of October that this +announcement came. "I have made a short reading +of the murder in <i>Oliver Twist</i>. I cannot make up my +mind, however, whether to do it or not. I have no +doubt that I could perfectly petrify an audience by +carrying out the notion I have of the way of rendering +it. But whether the impression would not be so horrible +as to keep them away another time, is what I cannot +satisfy myself upon. What do you think? It is in +three short parts: 1, Where Fagin sets Noah Claypole +on to watch Nancy. 2, The scene on London Bridge. +3, Where Fagin rouses Claypole from his sleep, to tell +his perverted story to Sikes. And the Murder, and the +Murderer's sense of being haunted. I have adapted +and cut about the text with great care, and it is very +powerful. I have to-day referred the book and the +question to the Chappells as so largely interested." I +had a strong dislike to this proposal, less perhaps on +the ground which ought to have been taken of the +physical exertion it would involve, than because such a +subject seemed to be altogether out of the province of +reading; and it was resolved, that, before doing it, +trial should be made to a limited private audience in +St. James's Hall. The note announcing this, from +Liverpool on the 25th of October, is for other reasons +worth printing. "I give you earliest notice that the +Chappells suggest to me the 18th of November" (the +14th was chosen) "for trial of the <i>Oliver Twist</i> murder,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_449" id="Page_3_449">[449]</a></span> +when everything in use for the previous day's reading +can be made available. I hope this may suit you? +We have been doing well here; and how it was arranged, +nobody knows, but we had £410 at St. James's +Hall last Tuesday, having advanced from our previous +£360. The expenses are such, however, on the +princely scale of the Chappells, that we never begin at a +smaller, often at a larger, cost than £180. . . . I have +not been well, and have been heavily tired. However, +I have little to complain of—nothing, nothing; though, +like Mariana, I am aweary. But think of this. If all +go well, and (like Mr. Dennis) I 'work off' this series +triumphantly, I shall have made of these readings +£28,000 in a year and a half." This did not better +reconcile me to what had been too clearly forced upon +him by the supposed necessity of some new excitement +to ensure a triumphant result; and even the private +rehearsal only led to a painful correspondence between +us, of which a few words are all that need now be preserved. +"We might have agreed," he wrote, "to +differ about it very well, because we only wanted to +find out the truth if we could, and because it was quite +understood that I wanted to leave behind me the recollection +of something very passionate and dramatic, +done with simple means, if the art would justify the +theme." Apart from mere personal considerations, +the whole question lay in these last words. It was +impossible for me to admit that the effect to be produced +was legitimate, or such as it was desirable to +associate with the recollection of his readings.</p> + +<p>Mention should not be omitted of two sorrows which +affected him at this time. At the close of the month<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_450" id="Page_3_450">[450]</a></span> +before the readings began his youngest son went forth +from home to join an elder brother in Australia. +"These partings are hard hard things" (26th of September), +"but they are the lot of us all, and might +have to be done without means or influence, and then +would be far harder. God bless him!" Hardly a +month later, the last of his surviving brothers, Frederick, +the next to himself, died at Darlington. "He +had been tended" (24th of October) "with the greatest +care and affection by some local friends. It was a +wasted life, but God forbid that one should be hard +upon it, or upon anything in this world that is not +deliberately and coldly wrong."</p> + +<p>Before October closed the renewal of his labour had +begun to tell upon him. He wrote to his sister-in-law +on the 29th of sickness and sleepless nights, and of its +having become necessary, when he had to read, that +he should lie on the sofa all day. After arrival at Edinburgh +in December he had been making a calculation +that the railway travelling over such a distance involved +something more than thirty thousand shocks to the +nerves; but he went on to Christmas, alternating these +far-off places with nights regularly intervening in London, +without much more complaint than of an inability +to sleep. Trade reverses at Glasgow had checked the +success there,<a name="FNanchor_281_281" id="FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> but Edinburgh made compensation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_451" id="Page_3_451">[451]</a></span> +"The affectionate regard of the people exceeds all +bounds and is shown in every way. The audiences do +everything but embrace me, and take as much pains +with the readings as I do. . . . The keeper of the +Edinburgh hall, a fine old soldier, presented me on +Friday night with the most superb red camellia for my +button-hole that ever was seen. Nobody can imagine +how he came by it, as the florists had had a considerable +demand for that colour, from ladies in the stalls, +and could get no such thing."</p> + +<p>The second portion of the enterprise opened with +the New Year, and the <i>Sikes and Nancy</i> scenes, everywhere +his prominent subject, exacted the most terrible +physical exertion from him. In January he was at +Clifton, where he had given, he told his sister-in-law, +"by far the best Murder yet done;" while at the same +date he wrote to his daughter: "At Clifton on Monday +night we had a contagion of fainting; and yet the +place was not hot. I should think we had from a dozen +to twenty ladies taken out stiff and rigid, at various +times! It became quite ridiculous." He was afterwards +at Cheltenham. "Macready is of opinion that +the Murder is two Macbeths. He declares that he +heard every word of the reading, but I doubt it. +Alas! he is sadly infirm." On the 27th he wrote to +his daughter from Torquay that the place into which +they had put him to read, and where a pantomime had +been played the night before, was something between +a Methodist chapel, a theatre, a circus, a riding-school, +and a cow-house. That day he wrote to me from Bath: +"Landor's ghost goes along the silent streets here before +me. . . . The place looks to me like a cemetery<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_452" id="Page_3_452">[452]</a></span> +which the Dead have succeeded in rising and taking. +Having built streets, of their old gravestones, they +wander about scantly trying to 'look alive.' A dead +failure."</p> + +<p>In the second week of February he was in London, +under engagement to return to Scotland (which he had +just left) after the usual weekly reading at St. James's +Hall, when there was a sudden interruption. "My +foot has turned lame again!" was his announcement +to me on the 15th, followed next day by this letter. +"Henry Thompson will not let me read to-night, and +will not let me go to Scotland to-morrow. Tremendous +house here, and also in Edinburgh. Here is +the certificate he drew up for himself and Beard to +sign. 'We the undersigned hereby certify that Mr. +C. D. is suffering from inflammation of the foot (caused +by over-exertion), and that we have forbidden his appearance +on the platform this evening, as he must keep +his room for a day or two.' I have sent up to the +Great Western Hotel for apartments, and, if I can get +them, shall move there this evening. Heaven knows +what engagements this may involve in April! It +throws us all back, and will cost me some five hundred +pounds."</p> + +<p>A few days' rest again brought so much relief, that, +against the urgent entreaties of members of his family +as well as other friends, he was in the railway carriage +bound for Edinburgh on the morning of the 20th of +February, accompanied by Mr. Chappell himself. "I +came down lazily on a sofa," he wrote to me from +Edinburgh next day, "hardly changing my position +the whole way. The railway authorities had done all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_453" id="Page_3_453">[453]</a></span> +sorts of things, and I was more comfortable than on the +sofa at the hotel. The foot gave me no uneasiness, and +has been quiet and steady all night."<a name="FNanchor_282_282" id="FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> He was nevertheless +under the necessity, two days later, of consulting +Mr. Syme; and he told his daughter that this great +authority had warned him against over-fatigue in the +readings, and given him some slight remedies, but +otherwise reported him in "joost pairfactly splendid +condition." With care he thought the pain might be +got rid of. "'Wa'at mad' Thompson think it was +goot?' he said often, and seemed to take that opinion +extremely ill." Again before leaving Scotland he saw +Mr. Syme, and wrote to me on the second of March +of the indignation with which he again treated the +gout diagnosis, declaring the disorder to be an affection +of the delicate nerves and muscles originating in +cold. "I told him that it had shewn itself in America +in the other foot as well. 'Noo I'll joost swear,' said +he, 'that ayond the fatigue o' the readings ye'd been +tramping i' th' snaw, within twa or three days.' I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_454" id="Page_3_454">[454]</a></span> +certainly had. 'Wa'al,' said he triumphantly, 'and +hoo did it first begin? I' th' snaw. Goot! Bah!—Thompson +knew no other name for it, and just ca'd it +Goot—Boh!' For which he took two guineas." Yet +the famous pupil, Sir Henry Thompson, went certainly +nearer the mark than the distinguished master, Mr. +Syme, in giving to it a more than local character.</p> + +<p>The whole of that March month he went on with the +scenes from <i>Oliver Twist</i>. "The foot goes famously," +he wrote to his daughter. "I feel the fatigue in it +(four Murders in one week<a name="FNanchor_283_283" id="FNanchor_283_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a>) but not overmuch. It +merely aches at night; and so does the other, sympathetically +I suppose." At Hull on the 8th he heard of +the death of the old and dear friend, Emerson Tennent, +to whom he had inscribed his last book; and on the +morning of the 12th I met him at the funeral. He had +read the <i>Oliver Twist</i> scenes the night before at York; +had just been able to get to the express train, after +shortening the pauses in the reading, by a violent rush +when it was over; and had travelled through the night. +He appeared to, me "dazed" and worn. No man +could well look more so than he did, that sorrowful +morning.</p> + +<p>The end was near. A public dinner, which will have +mention on a later page, had been given him in Liverpool +on the 10th of April, with Lord Dufferin in the +chair, and a reading was due from him in Preston on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_455" id="Page_3_455">[455]</a></span> +the 22nd of that month. But on Sunday the 18th we +had ill report of him from Chester, and on the 21st he +wrote from Blackpool to his sister-in-law. "I have +come to this Sea-Beach Hotel (charming) for a day's +rest. I am much better than I was on Sunday; but +shall want careful looking to, to get through the readings. +My weakness and deadness are all on the left +side; and if I don't look at anything I try to touch +with my left hand, I don't know where it is. I am in +(secret) consultation with Frank Beard, who says that +I have given him indisputable evidences of overwork +which he could wish to treat immediately; and so I +have telegraphed for him. I have had a delicious walk +by the sea to-day, and I sleep soundly, and have picked +up amazingly in appetite. My foot is greatly better +too, and I wear my own boot." Next day was appointed +for the reading at Preston; and from that +place he wrote to me, while waiting the arrival of Mr. +Beard. "Don't say anything about it, but the tremendously +severe nature of this work is a little shaking +me. At Chester last Sunday I found myself extremely +giddy, and extremely uncertain of my sense of touch, +both in the left leg and the left hand and arms. I had +been taking some slight medicine of Beard's; and immediately +wrote to him describing exactly what I felt, +and asking him whether those feelings <i>could be</i> referable +to the medicine? He promptly replied: 'There can +be no mistaking them from your exact account. The +medicine cannot possibly have caused them. I recognise +indisputable symptoms of overwork, and I wish to +take you in hand without any loss of time.' They +have greatly modified since, but he is coming down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_456" id="Page_3_456">[456]</a></span> +here this afternoon. To-morrow night at Warrington +I shall have but 25 more nights to work through. If +he can coach me up for them, I do not doubt that I shall +get all right again—as I did when I became free in +America. The foot has given me very little trouble. +Yet it is remarkable that it is <i>the left foot too;</i> and that +I told Henry Thompson (before I saw his old master +Syme) that I had an inward conviction that whatever +it was, it was not gout. I also told Beard, a year after +the Staplehurst accident, that I was certain that my +heart had been fluttered, and wanted a little helping. +This the stethoscope confirmed; and considering the +immense exertion I am undergoing, and the constant +jarring of express trains, the case seems to me quite +intelligible. Don't say anything in the Gad's direction +about my being a little out of sorts. I have +broached the matter of course; but very lightly. Indeed +there is no reason for broaching it otherwise."</p> + +<p>Even to the close of that letter he had buoyed himself +up with the hope that he might yet be "coached" +and that the readings need not be discontinued. But +Mr. Beard stopped them at once, and brought his +patient to London. On Friday morning the 23rd, the +same envelope brought me a note from himself to say +that he was well enough, but tired; in perfectly good +spirits, not at all uneasy, and writing this himself that +I should have it under his own hand; with a note from +his eldest son to say that his father appeared to him to +be very ill, and that a consultation had been appointed +with Sir Thomas Watson. The statement of that distinguished +physician, sent to myself in June 1872, +completes for the present the sorrowful narrative.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_457" id="Page_3_457">[457]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It was, I think, on the 23rd of April 1869 that I +was asked to see Charles Dickens, in consultation with +Mr. Carr Beard. After I got home I jotted down, from +their joint account, what follows.</p> + +<p>"After unusual irritability, C. D. found himself, last +Saturday or Sunday, giddy, with a tendency to go backwards, +and to turn round. Afterwards, desiring to put +something on a small table, he pushed it and the table +forwards, undesignedly. He had some odd feeling of +insecurity about his left leg, as if there was something +unnatural about his heel; but he could lift, and he did +not drag, his leg. Also he spoke of some strangeness +of his left hand and arm; missed the spot on which +he wished to lay that hand, unless he carefully looked +at it; felt an unreadiness to lift his hands towards his +head, especially his left hand—when, for instance, he +was brushing his hair.</p> + +<p>"He had written thus to Mr. Carr Beard.</p> + +<p>"'Is it possible that anything in my medicine can +have made me extremely giddy, extremely uncertain +of my footing, especially on the left side, and extremely +indisposed to raise my hands to my head. These symptoms +made me very uncomfortable on Saturday (qy. +Sunday?) night, and all yesterday, &c.'</p> + +<p>"The state thus described showed plainly that C. +D. had been on the brink of an attack of paralysis of +his left side, and possibly of apoplexy. It was, no +doubt, the result of extreme hurry, overwork, and +excitement, incidental to his Readings.</p> + +<p>"On hearing from him Mr. Carr Beard had gone at +once to Preston, or Blackburn (I am not sure which),<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_458" id="Page_3_458">[458]</a></span> +had forbidden his reading that same evening, and had +brought him to London.</p> + +<p>"When I saw him he <i>appeared</i> to be well. His mind +was unclouded, his pulse quiet. His heart was beating +with some slight excess of the natural impulse. He +told me he had of late sometimes, but rarely, lost or +misused a word; that he forgot names, and numbers, +but had always done that; and he promised implicit +obedience to our injunctions.</p> + +<p>"We gave him the following certificate.</p> + +<div class='blockquot'> +<p>"'The undersigned certify that Mr. Charles Dickens +has been seriously unwell, through great exhaustion and +fatigue of body and mind consequent upon his public +Readings and long and frequent railway journeys. In +our judgment Mr. Dickens will not be able with safety +to himself to resume his Readings for several months +to come.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +"'<span class="smcap">Thos. Watson, M.D.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">"'<span class="smcap">F. Carr Beard.</span>'</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>"However, after some weeks, he expressed a wish +for my sanction to his endeavours to redeem, in a +careful and moderate way, some of the reading engagements +to which he had been pledged before those +threatenings of brain-mischief in the North of England.</p> + +<p>"As he had continued uniformly to seem and to +feel perfectly well, I did not think myself warranted +to refuse that sanction: and in writing to enforce great +caution in the trials, I expressed some apprehension +that he might fancy we had been too peremptory in +our injunctions of mental and bodily repose in April;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_459" id="Page_3_459">[459]</a></span> +and I quoted the following remark, which occurs somewhere +in one of Captain Cook's Voyages. 'Preventive +measures are always invidious, for when most successful, +the necessity for them is the least apparent.'</p> + +<p>"I mention this to explain the letter which I send +herewith,<a name="FNanchor_284_284" id="FNanchor_284_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a> and which I must beg you to return to me, +as a precious remembrance of the writer with whom +I had long enjoyed very friendly and much valued +relations.</p> + +<p>"I scarcely need say that if what I have now written +can, <i>in any way</i>, be of use to you, it is entirely at your +service and disposal—nor need I say with how much +interest I have read the first volume of your late friend's +Life. I cannot help regretting that a great pressure of +professional work at the time, prevented my making a +fuller record of a case so interesting."</p> + +<p>The twelve readings to which Sir Thomas Watson +consented, with the condition that railway travel was +not to accompany them, were farther to be delayed +until the opening months of 1870. They were an offering +from Dickens by way of small compensation to +Messrs. Chappell for the breakdown of the enterprise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_460" id="Page_3_460">[460]</a></span> +on which they had staked so much. But here practically +he finished his career as a public reader, and what +remains will come with the end of what is yet to be +told. One effort only intervened, by which he hoped +to get happily back to his old pursuits; but to this, as +to that which preceded it, sterner Fate said also No, +and his Last Book, like his Last Readings, prematurely +closed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_461" id="Page_3_461">[461]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>LAST BOOK.</h3> + +<h3>1869-1870.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">First Fancy for <i>Edwin Drood</i>—Story as planned in his Mind—Nothing +written of his Intentions—Merits of the Fragment—Comparison +of his Early and his Late MSS.—Discovery of Unpublished +Scene—Probable Reason for writing it in Advance—How Mr. +Sapsea ceased to be a Member of the Eight Club.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> last book undertaken by Dickens was to be published, +in illustrated monthly numbers, of the old form, +but to close with the twelfth.<a name="FNanchor_285_285" id="FNanchor_285_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> It closed, unfinished,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_462" id="Page_3_462">[462]</a></span> +with the sixth number, which was itself underwritten +by two pages.</p> + +<p>His first fancy for the tale was expressed in a letter +in the middle of July. "What should you think of +the idea of a story beginning in this way?—Two people, +boy and girl, or very young, going apart from one another, +pledged to be married after many years—at the +end of the book. The interest to arise out of the +tracing of their separate ways, and the impossibility of +telling what will be done with that impending fate." +This was laid aside; but it left a marked trace on the +story as afterwards designed, in the position of Edwin +Drood and his betrothed.</p> + +<p>I first heard of the later design in a letter dated +"Friday the 6th of August 1869," in which after +speaking, with the usual unstinted praise he bestowed +always on what moved him in others, of a little tale +he had received for his journal,<a name="FNanchor_286_286" id="FNanchor_286_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_286_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> he spoke of the change<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_463" id="Page_3_463">[463]</a></span> +that had occurred to him for the new tale by himself. +"I laid aside the fancy I told you of, and have a very +curious and new idea for my new story. Not a communicable +idea (or the interest of the book would be +gone), but a very strong one, though difficult to work." +The story, I learnt immediately afterward, was to be +that of the murder of a nephew by his uncle; the +originality of which was to consist in the review of the +murderer's career by himself at the close, when its +temptations were to be dwelt upon as if, not he the +culprit, but some other man, were the tempted. The +last chapters were to be written in the condemned cell, +to which his wickedness, all elaborately elicited from +him as if told of another, had brought him. Discovery +by the murderer of the utter needlessness of the murder +for its object, was to follow hard upon commission of +the deed; but all discovery of the murderer was to be +baffled till towards the close, when, by means of a gold +ring which had resisted the corrosive effects of the lime +into which he had thrown the body, not only the person +murdered was to be identified but the locality of the +crime and the man who committed it.<a name="FNanchor_287_287" id="FNanchor_287_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_287_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> So much was +told to me before any of the book was written; and it +will be recollected that the ring, taken by Drood to be +given to his betrothed only if their engagement went +on, was brought away with him from their last interview.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_464" id="Page_3_464">[464]</a></span> +Rosa was to marry Tartar, and Crisparkle the +sister of Landless, who was himself, I think, to have +perished in assisting Tartar finally to unmask and seize +the murderer.</p> + +<p>Nothing had been written, however, of the main +parts of the design excepting what is found in the published +numbers; there was no hint or preparation for +the sequel in any notes of chapters in advance; and +there remained not even what he had himself so sadly +written of the book by Thackeray also interrupted by +death. The evidence of matured designs never to be +accomplished, intentions planned never to be executed, +roads of thought marked out never to be traversed, +goals shining in the distance never to be reached, was +wanting here. It was all a blank. Enough had been +completed nevertheless to give promise of a much +greater book than its immediate predecessor. "I +hope his book is finished," wrote Longfellow when +the news of his death was flashed to America. "It is +certainly one of his most beautiful works, if not the +most beautiful of all. It would be too sad to think +the pen had fallen from his hand, and left it incomplete." +Some of its characters were touched with +subtlety, and in its descriptions his imaginative power +was at its best. Not a line was wanting to the reality, +in the most minute local detail, of places the most +widely contrasted; and we saw with equal vividness +the lazy cathedral town and the lurid opium-eater's +den.<a name="FNanchor_288_288" id="FNanchor_288_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_288_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> Something like the old lightness and buoyancy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_465" id="Page_3_465">[465]</a></span> +of animal spirits gave a new freshness to the humour; +the scenes of the child-heroine and her luckless betrothed +had both novelty and nicety of character in +them; and Mr. Grewgious in chambers with his clerk +and the two waiters, the conceited fool Sapsea, and +the blustering philanthropist Honeythunder, were first-rate +comedy. Miss Twinkleton was of the family of +Miss La Creevy; and the lodging-house keeper, Miss +Billickin, though she gave Miss Twinkleton but a sorry +account of her blood, had that of Mrs. Todgers in her +veins. "I was put in life to a very genteel boarding-school, +the mistress being no less a lady than yourself, +of about your own age, or it may be, some years +younger, and a poorness of blood flowed from the +table which has run through my life." Was ever anything +better said of a school-fare of starved gentility?</p> + +<p>The last page of <i>Edwin Drood</i> was written in the +Châlet in the afternoon of his last day of consciousness; +and I have thought there might be some interest +in a facsimile of the greater part of this final page of +manuscript that ever came from his hand, at which he +had worked unusually late in order to finish the chapter. +It has very much the character, in its excessive care of +correction and interlineation, of all his later manuscripts;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_466" id="Page_3_466">[466]</a></span> +and in order that comparison may be made +with his earlier and easier method, I place beside it a +portion of a page of the original of <i>Oliver Twist</i>. His +greater pains and elaboration of writing, it may be +mentioned, become first very obvious in the later parts +of <i>Martin Chuzzlewit;</i> but not the least remarkable +feature in all his manuscripts, is the accuracy with +which the portions of each representing the several +numbers are exactly adjusted to the space the printer +had to fill. Whether without erasure or so interlined +as to be illegible, nothing is wanting, and there is +nothing in excess. So assured was the habit, that he +has himself remarked upon an instance the other way, +in <i>Our Mutual Friend</i>, as not having happened to him +for thirty years. But <i>Edwin Drood</i> more startlingly +showed him how unsettled the habit he most prized +had become, in the clashing of old and new pursuits. +"When I had written" (22nd of December 1869) +"and, as I thought, disposed of the first two Numbers +of my story, Clowes informed me to my horror that +they were, together, <i>twelve printed pages too short!</i>!! +Consequently I had to transpose a chapter from number +two to number one, and remodel number two altogether! +This was the more unlucky, that it came upon +me at the time when I was obliged to leave the book, +in order to get up the Readings" (the additional twelve +for which Sir Thomas Watson's consent had been obtained), +"quite gone out of my mind since I left them +off. However, I turned to it and got it done, and +both numbers are now in type. Charles Collins has +designed an excellent cover." It was his wish that his +son-in-law should have illustrated the story; but, this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_467" id="Page_3_467">[467]</a></span> +not being practicable, upon an opinion expressed by +Mr. Millais which the result thoroughly justified, choice +was made of Mr. S. L. Fildes.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_468" id="Page_3_468">[468]</a></span> +<a href="images/image26-larger.png"><img src="images/image26.png" width="600" height="369" alt="Handwritten Notes" title="Handwritten Notes" /> +</a></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_469" id="Page_3_469">[469]</a></span> +<a href="images/image27_twist-larger.png"><img src="images/image27_twist.png" width="600" height="435" alt="Handwritten Notes" title="Handwritten Notes" /> +</a></div> + +<p>This reference to the last effort of Dickens's genius +had been written as it thus stands, when a discovery of +some interest was made by the writer. Within the +leaves of one of Dickens's other manuscripts were +found some detached slips of his writing, on paper +only half the size of that used for the tale, so cramped, +interlined, and blotted as to be nearly illegible, which +on close inspection proved to be a scene in which Sapsea +the auctioneer is introduced as the principal figure, +among a group of characters new to the story. The +explanation of it perhaps is, that, having become a +little nervous about the course of the tale, from a fear +that he might have plunged too soon into the incidents +leading on to the catastrophe, such as the Datchery +assumption in the fifth number (a misgiving he had +certainly expressed to his sister-in-law), it had occurred +to him to open some fresh veins of character incidental +to the interest, though not directly part of it, and so to +handle them in connection with Sapsea as a little to +suspend the final development even while assisting to +strengthen it. Before beginning any number of a serial +he used, as we have seen in former instances, to plan +briefly what he intended to put into it chapter by chapter; +and his first number-plan of <i>Drood</i> had the following: +"Mr. Sapsea. Old Tory jackass. Connect Jasper +with him. (He will want a solemn donkey by and +by):" which was effected by bringing together both<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_470" id="Page_3_470">[470]</a></span> +Durdles and Jasper, for connection with Sapsea, in the +matter of the epitaph for Mrs. Sapsea's tomb. The +scene now discovered might in this view have been designed +to strengthen and carry forward that element in +the tale; and otherwise it very sufficiently expresses +itself. It would supply an answer, if such were needed, +to those who have asserted that the hopeless decadence +of Dickens as a writer had set in before his death. +Among the lines last written by him, these are the very +last we can ever hope to receive; and they seem to me +a delightful specimen of the power possessed by him in +his prime, and the rarest which any novelist can have, +of revealing a character by a touch. Here are a couple +of people, Kimber and Peartree, not known to us before, +whom we read off thoroughly in a dozen words; +and as to Sapsea himself, auctioneer and mayor of +Cloisterham, we are face to face with what before we +only dimly realised, and we see the solemn jackass, in +his business pulpit, playing off the airs of Mr. Dean in +his Cathedral pulpit, with Cloisterham laughing at the +impostor.</p> + + +<div class='center'> +"HOW MR. SAPSEA CEASED TO BE A MEMBER OF<br /> +THE EIGHT CLUB.<br /> +<br /> +"TOLD BY HIMSELF.<br /> +</div> + +<p>"Wishing to take the air, I proceeded by a circuitous +route to the Club, it being our weekly night of meeting. +I found that we mustered our full strength. We were +enrolled under the denomination of the Eight Club. +We were eight in number; we met at eight o'clock +during eight months of the year; we played eight +games of four-handed cribbage, at eightpence the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_471" id="Page_3_471">[471]</a></span> +game; our frugal supper was composed of eight rolls, +eight mutton chops, eight pork sausages, eight baked +potatoes, eight marrow-bones, with eight toasts, and +eight bottles of ale. There may, or may not, be a +certain harmony of colour in the ruling idea of this (to +adopt a phrase of our lively neighbours) reunion. It +was a little idea of mine.</p> + +<p>"A somewhat popular member of the Eight Club, +was a member by the name of Kimber. By profession, +a dancing-master. A commonplace, hopeful sort of +man, wholly destitute of dignity or knowledge of the +world.</p> + +<p>"As I entered the Club-room, Kimber was making +the remark: 'And he still half-believes him to be very +high in the Church.'</p> + +<p>"In the act of hanging up my hat on the eighth peg +by the door, I caught Kimber's visual ray. He lowered +it, and passed a remark on the next change of the +moon. I did not take particular notice of this at the +moment, because the world was often pleased to be a +little shy of ecclesiastical topics in my presence. For +I felt that I was picked out (though perhaps only +through a coincidence) to a certain extent to represent +what I call our glorious constitution in Church and +State. The phrase may be objected to by captious +minds; but I own to it as mine. I threw it off in +argument some little time back. I said: <span class="smcap">'Our Glorious +Constitution</span> in <span class="smcap">Church</span> and <span class="smcap">State</span>.'</p> + +<p>"Another member of the Eight Club was Peartree; +also member of the Royal College of Surgeons. Mr. +Peartree is not accountable to me for his opinions, and +I say no more of them here than that he attends the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_472" id="Page_3_472">[472]</a></span> +poor gratis whenever they want him, and is not the +parish doctor. Mr. Peartree may justify it to the +grasp of <i>his</i> mind thus to do his republican utmost to +bring an appointed officer into contempt. Suffice it +that Mr. Peartree can never justify it to the grasp of +<i>mine</i>.</p> + +<p>"Between Peartree and Kimber there was a sickly +sort of feeble-minded alliance. It came under my +particular notice when I sold off Kimber by auction. +(Goods taken in execution). He was a widower in a +white under-waistcoat, and slight shoes with bows, and +had two daughters not ill-looking. Indeed the reverse. +Both daughters taught dancing in scholastic establishments +for Young Ladies—had done so at Mrs. Sapsea's; +nay, Twinkleton's—and both, in giving lessons, presented +the unwomanly spectacle of having little fiddles +tucked under their chins. In spite of which, the +younger one might, if I am correctly informed—I will +raise the veil so far as to say I <span class="smcap">know</span> she might—have +soared for life from this degrading taint, but for having +the class of mind allotted to what I call the common +herd, and being so incredibly devoid of veneration as +to become painfully ludicrous.</p> + +<p>"When I sold off Kimber without reserve, Peartree +(as poor as he can hold together) had several prime +household lots knocked down to him. I am not to be +blinded; and of course it was as plain to me what he +was going to do with them, as it was that he was a +brown hulking sort of revolutionary subject who had +been in India with the soldiers, and ought (for the +sake of society) to have his neck broke. I saw the lots +shortly afterwards in Kimber's lodgings—through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_473" id="Page_3_473">[473]</a></span> +window—and I easily made out that there had been a +sneaking pretence of lending them till better times. A +man with a smaller knowledge of the world than myself +might have been led to suspect that Kimber had +held back money from his creditors, and fraudulently +bought the goods. But, besides that I knew for certain +he had no money, I knew that this would involve a +species of forethought not to be made compatible with +the frivolity of a caperer, inoculating other people with +capering, for his bread.</p> + +<p>"As it was the first time I had seen either of those +two since the sale, I kept myself in what I call Abeyance. +When selling him up, I had delivered a few +remarks—shall I say a little homely?—concerning +Kimber, which the world did regard as more than +usually worth notice. I had come up into my pulpit;, +it was said, uncommonly like—and a murmur of recognition +had repeated his (I will not name whose) title, +before I spoke. I had then gone on to say that all +present would find, in the first page of the catalogue +that was lying before them, in the last paragraph before +the first lot, the following words: 'Sold in pursuance +of a writ of execution issued by a creditor.' I had +then proceeded to remind my friends, that however +frivolous, not to say contemptible, the business by +which a man got his goods together, still his goods were +as dear to him, and as cheap to society (if sold without +reserve), as though his pursuits had been of a character +that would bear serious contemplation. I had then +divided my text (if I may be allowed so to call it) into +three heads: firstly, Sold; secondly, In pursuance of a +writ of execution; thirdly, Issued by a creditor; with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_474" id="Page_3_474">[474]</a></span> +a few moral reflections on each, and winding up +with, 'Now to the first lot' in a manner that was +complimented when I afterwards mingled with my +hearers.</p> + +<p>"So, not being certain on what terms I and Kimber +stood, I was grave, I was chilling. Kimber, however, +moving to me, I moved to Kimber. (I was +the creditor who had issued the writ. Not that it +matters.)</p> + +<p>"'I was alluding, Mr. Sapsea,' said Kimber, 'to a +stranger who entered into conversation with me in the +street as I came to the Club. He had been speaking +to you just before, it seemed, by the churchyard; and +though you had told him who you were, I could +hardly persuade him that you were not high in the +Church.'</p> + +<p>"'Idiot!' said Peartree.</p> + +<p>"'Ass!' said Kimber.</p> + +<p>"'Idiot and Ass!" said the other five members.</p> + +<p>"'Idiot and Ass, gentlemen,' I remonstrated, looking +around me, 'are strong expressions to apply to a +young man of good appearance and address.' My +generosity was roused; I own it.</p> + +<p>"'You'll admit that he must be a Fool,' said Peartree.</p> + +<p>"'You can't deny that he must be a Blockhead, +said Kimber.</p> + +<p>"Their tone of disgust amounted to being offensive. +Why should the young man be so calumniated? What +had he done? He had only made an innocent and +natural mistake. I controlled my generous indignation, +and said so.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_475" id="Page_3_475">[475]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Natural?' repeated Kimber; '<i>He's</i> a Natural!'</p> + +<p>"The remaining six members of the Eight Club +laughed unanimously. It stung me. It was a scornful +laugh. My anger was roused in behalf of an absent, +friendless stranger. I rose (for I had been sitting +down).</p> + +<p>"'Gentlemen,' I said with dignity, 'I will not remain +one of this Club allowing opprobrium to be cast +on an unoffending person in his absence. I will not +so violate what I call the sacred rites of hospitality. +Gentlemen, until you know how to behave yourselves +better, I leave you. Gentlemen, until then I withdraw, +from this place of meeting, whatever personal qualifications +I may have brought into it. Gentlemen, until +then you cease to be the Eight Club, and must make the +best you can of becoming the Seven.'</p> + +<p>"I put on my hat and retired. As I went down +stairs I distinctly heard them give a suppressed cheer. +Such is the power of demeanour and knowledge of +mankind. I had forced it out of them.</p> + + +<div class='center'> +"II.<br /> +</div> + +<p>"Whom should I meet in the street, within a few +yards of the door of the inn where the Club was held, +but the self-same young man whose cause I had felt it +my duty so warmly—and I will add so disinterestedly—to +take up.</p> + +<p>"Is it Mr. Sapsea,' he said doubtfully, 'or is +it——'</p> + +<p>"'It is Mr. Sapsea,' I replied.</p> + +<p>"'Pardon me, Mr. Sapsea; you appear warm, sir,'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_476" id="Page_3_476">[476]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'I have been warm,' I said, 'and on your account.' +Having stated the circumstances at some length (my +generosity almost overpowered him), I asked him his +name.</p> + +<p>"'Mr. Sapsea,' he answered, looking down, 'your +penetration is so acute, your glance into the souls of +your fellow men is so penetrating, that if I was hardy +enough to deny that my name is Poker, what would it +avail me?'</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I had quite exactly made out to +a fraction that his name <i>was</i> Poker, but I daresay I had +been pretty near doing it.</p> + +<p>"'Well, well,' said I, trying to put him at his ease +by nodding my head in a soothing way. 'Your +name is Poker, and there is no harm in being named +Poker.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh Mr. Sapsea!' cried the young man, in a very +well-behaved manner. 'Bless you for those words!' +He then, as if ashamed of having given way to his +feelings, looked down again.</p> + +<p>"'Come, Poker,' said I, 'let me hear more about +you. Tell me. Where are you going to, Poker? and +where do you come from?'</p> + +<p>"'Ah Mr. Sapsea!' exclaimed the young man. +'Disguise from you is impossible. You know already +that I come from somewhere, and am going somewhere +else. If I was to deny it, what would it avail me?'</p> + +<p>"'Then don't deny it,' was my remark.</p> + +<p>"'Or,' pursued Poker, in a kind of despondent rapture, +'or if I was to deny that I came to this town to see +and hear you sir, what would it avail me? Or if I was +to deny——'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_477" id="Page_3_477">[477]</a></span>"</p> + +<p>The fragment ends there, and the hand that could +alone have completed it is at rest for ever.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Some personal characteristics remain for illustration +before the end is briefly told.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_478" id="Page_3_478">[478]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS.</h3> + +<h3>1836-1870.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Dickens not a Bookish Man—Character of his Talk—Dickens made +to tell his Own Story—Lord Russell on Dickens's Letters—No Self-conceit +in Dickens—Letter to his Youngest Son—Personal Prayer—Hymn +in a Christmas Tale—Objection to Posthumous Honours—Source +of Quarrel with Literary Fund—Small Poets—On "Royalty" +Bargains—Editorship—Relations with Contributors—Foreign +Views of English People—Editorial Pleasures—Adverse Influences +of Periodical Writing—Anger and Satire—No desire to enter the +House of Commons—Reforms he took most Interest in—The Liverpool +Dinner in 1869—Tribute to Lord Russell—The People governing +and the People governed—Tone of Last Book—Alleged +Offers from the Queen—The Queen's Desire to see Dickens act—Her +Majesty's Wish to hear Dickens read—Interview with the +Queen—Dickens's Grateful Impression from it—"In Memoriam" +by Arthur Helps—Rural Enjoyments—A Winner in the Games—Dickens's +Habits of Life everywhere—Centre and Soul of his +Home—Daily Habits—London Haunts—First Attack of Lameness—How +it affected his Large Dogs—His Hatred of Indifference—At +Social Meetings—Agreeable Pleasantries—Ghost Stories—Marvels +of Coincidence—Predominant Impression of his Life—Effects on +his Career.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Objection</span> has been taken to this biography as likely +to disappoint its readers in not making them "talk to +Dickens as Boswell makes them talk to Johnson." But +where will the blame lie if a man takes up <i>Pickwick</i> and +is disappointed to find that he is not reading <i>Rasselas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_479" id="Page_3_479">[479]</a></span>?</i> +A book must be judged for what it aims to be, and not +for what it cannot by possibility be. I suppose so remarkable +an author as Dickens hardly ever lived who +carried so little of authorship into ordinary social intercourse. +Potent as the sway of his writings was over +him, it expressed itself in other ways. Traces or triumphs +of literary labour, displays of conversational or +other personal predominance, were no part of the influence +he exerted over friends. To them he was only the +pleasantest of companions, with whom they forgot that +he had ever written anything, and felt only the charm +which a nature of such capacity for supreme enjoyment +causes every one around it to enjoy. His talk was +unaffected and natural, never bookish in the smallest +degree. He was quite up to the average of well read +men, but as there was no ostentation of it in his writing, +so neither was there in his conversation. This was so +attractive because so keenly observant, and lighted up +with so many touches of humorous fancy; but, with +every possible thing to give relish to it, there were not +many things to bring away.</p> + +<p>Of course a book must stand or fall by its contents. +Macaulay said very truly that the place of books in the +public estimation is fixed, not by what is written about +them, but by what is written in them. I offer no complaint +of any remark made upon these volumes, but +there have been some misapprehensions. Though +Dickens bore outwardly so little of the impress of his +writings, they formed the whole of that inner life +which essentially constituted the man; and as in this +respect he was actually, I have thought that his biography +should endeavour to present him. The story of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_480" id="Page_3_480">[480]</a></span> +his books, therefore, at all stages of their progress, and +of the hopes or designs connected with them, was my +first care. With that view, and to give also to the +memoir what was attainable of the value of autobiography, +letters to myself, such as were never addressed +to any other of his correspondents, and covering all +the important incidents in the life to be retraced, were +used with few exceptions exclusively; and though the +exceptions are much more numerous in the present +volume, this general plan has guided me to the end. +Such were my limits indeed, that half even of those +letters had to be put aside; and to have added all such +others as were open to me would have doubled the size +of my book, not contributed to it a new fact of life or +character, and altered materially its design. It would +have been so much lively illustration added to the subject, +but out of place here. The purpose here was to +make Dickens the sole central figure in the scenes revived, +narrator as well as principal actor; and only by +the means employed could consistency or unity be given +to the self-revelation, and the picture made definite and +clear. It is the peculiarity of few men to be to their +most intimate friend neither more nor less than they +are to themselves, but this was true of Dickens; and +what kind or quality of nature such intercourse expressed +in him, of what strength, tenderness, and delicacy +susceptible, of what steady level warmth, of what +daily unresting activity of intellect, of what unbroken +continuity of kindly impulse through the change and +vicissitude of three-and-thirty years, the letters to myself +given in these volumes could alone express. +Gathered from various and differing sources, their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_481" id="Page_3_481">[481]</a></span> +interest could not have been as the interest of these; in +which everything comprised in the successive stages +of a most attractive career is written with unexampled +candour and truthfulness, and set forth in definite +pictures of what he saw and stood in the midst of, +unblurred by vagueness or reserve. Of the charge of +obtruding myself to which their publication has exposed +me, I can only say that I studied nothing so +hard as to suppress my own personality, and have to +regret my ill success where I supposed I had even too +perfectly succeeded. But we have all of us frequent +occasion to say, parodying Mrs. Peachem's remark, +that we are bitter bad judges of ourselves.</p> + +<p>The other properties of these letters are quite subordinate +to this main fact that the man who wrote them +is thus perfectly seen in them. But they do not lessen +the estimate of his genius. Admiration rises higher at +the writer's mental forces, who, putting so much of himself +into his work for the public, had still so much overflowing +for such private intercourse. The sunny health +of nature in them is manifest; its largeness, spontaneity, +and manliness; but they have also that which highest +intellects appreciate best. "I have read them," Lord +Russell wrote to me, "with delight and pain. His +heart, his imagination, his qualities of painting what is +noble, and finding diamonds hidden far away, are +greater here than even his works convey to me. How +I lament he was not spared to us longer. I shall have +a fresh grief when he dies in your volumes." Shallower +people are more apt to find other things. If the +bonhommie of a man's genius is obvious to all the +world, there are plenty of knowing ones ready to take<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_482" id="Page_3_482">[482]</a></span> +the shine out of the genius, to discover that after all +it is not so wonderful, that what is grave in it wants +depth, and the humour has something mechanical. +But it will be difficult even for these to look over letters +so marvellous in the art of reproducing to the sight +what has once been seen, so natural and unstudied in +their wit and fun, and with such a constant well-spring +of sprightly runnings of speech in them, point of epigram, +ingenuity of quaint expression, absolute freedom +from every touch of affectation, and to believe that the +source of this man's humour, or of whatever gave +wealth to his genius, was other than habitual, unbounded, +and resistless.</p> + +<p>There is another consideration of some importance. +Sterne did not more incessantly fall back from his +works upon himself than Dickens did, and undoubtedly +one of the impressions left by the letters is that of the +intensity and tenacity with which he recognized, realized, +contemplated, cultivated, and thoroughly enjoyed, +his own individuality in even its most trivial manifestations. +But if any one is led to ascribe this to self-esteem, +to a narrow exclusiveness, or to any other +invidious form of egotism, let him correct the impression +by observing how Dickens bore himself amid the +universal blazing-up of America, at the beginning and +at the end of his career. Of his hearty, undisguised, +and unmistakeable enjoyment of his astonishing and +indeed quite bewildering popularity, there can be as +little doubt as that there is not a particle of vanity in +it, any more than of false modesty or grimace.<a name="FNanchor_289_289" id="FNanchor_289_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_289_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> While<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_483" id="Page_3_483">[483]</a></span> +realizing fully the fact of it, and the worth of the fact, +there is not in his whole being a fibre that answers +falsely to the charmer's voice. Few men in the world, +one fancies, could have gone through such grand displays +of fireworks, not merely with so marvellous an +absence of what the French call <i>pose</i>, but unsoiled by +the smoke of a cracker. No man's strong individuality +was ever so free from conceit.</p> + +<p>Other personal incidents and habits, and especially +some matters of opinion of grave importance, will help +to make his character better known. Much questioning +followed a brief former reference to his religious +belief, but, inconsistent or illogical as the conduct +described may be, there is nothing to correct or to +modify in my statement of it;<a name="FNanchor_290_290" id="FNanchor_290_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> and, to what otherwise +appeared to be in doubt, explicit answer will be +afforded by a letter, written upon the youngest of his +children leaving home in September 1868 to join his +brother in Australia, than which none worthier appears +in his story. "I write this note to-day because your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_484" id="Page_3_484">[484]</a></span> +going away is much upon my mind, and because I want +you to have a few parting words from me, to think of +now and then at quiet times. I need not tell you that +I love you dearly, and am very, very sorry in my heart +to part with you. But this life is half made up of partings, +and these pains must be borne. It is my comfort +and my sincere conviction that you are going to +try the life for which you are best fitted. I think its +freedom and wildness more suited to you than any experiment +in a study or office would have been; and +without that training, you could have followed no other +suitable occupation. What you have always wanted until +now, has been a set, steady, constant purpose. I therefore +exhort you to persevere in a thorough determination +to do whatever you have to do, as well as you can do it. +I was not so old as you are now, when I first had to win +my food, and to do it out of this determination; and +I have never slackened in it since. Never take a mean +advantage of any one in any transaction, and never be +hard upon people who are in your power. Try to do +to others as you would have them do to you, and do +not be discouraged if they fail sometimes. It is much +better for you that they should fail in obeying the +greatest rule laid down by Our Saviour than that you +should. I put a New Testament among your books for +the very same reasons, and with the very same hopes, +that made me write an easy account of it for you, when +you were a little child. Because it is the best book +that ever was, or will be, known in the world; and because +it teaches you the best lessons by which any +human creature, who tries to be truthful and faithful +to duty, can possibly be guided. As your brothers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_485" id="Page_3_485">[485]</a></span> +have gone away, one by one, I have written to each such +words as I am now writing to you, and have entreated +them all to guide themselves by this Book, putting aside +the interpretations and inventions of Man. You will +remember that you have never at home been harassed +about religious observances, or mere formalities. I +have always been anxious not to weary my children +with such things, before they are old enough to form +opinions respecting them. You will therefore understand +the better that I now most solemnly impress +upon you the truth and beauty of the Christian Religion, +as it came from Christ Himself, and the impossibility +of your going far wrong if you humbly but +heartily respect it. Only one thing more on this +head. The more we are in earnest as to feeling it, +the less we are disposed to hold forth about it. Never +abandon the wholesome practice of saying your own +private prayers, night and morning. I have never +abandoned it myself, and I know the comfort of it. I +hope you will always be able to say in after life, that +you had a kind father. You cannot show your affection +for him so well, or make him so happy, as by doing +your duty." They who most intimately knew Dickens +will know best that every word there is written from +his heart, and is radiant with the truth of his nature.</p> + +<p>To the same effect, in the leading matter, he expressed +himself twelve years before, and again the day +before his death; replying in both cases to correspondents +who had addressed him as a public writer. A +clergyman, the Rev. R. H. Davies, had been struck by +the hymn in the Christmas tale of the Wreck of the +Golden Mary (<i>Household Words</i>, 1856). "I beg to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_486" id="Page_3_486">[486]</a></span> +thank you" Dickens answered (Christmas Eve, 1856) +"for your very acceptable letter—not the less gratifying +to me because I am myself the writer you refer to. . . . +There cannot be many men, I believe, who have a more +humble veneration for the New Testament, or a more +profound conviction of its all-sufficiency, than I have. +If I am ever (as you tell me I am) mistaken on this +subject, it is because I discountenance all obtrusive +professions of and tradings in religion, as one of the +main causes why real Christianity has been retarded in +this world; and because my observation of life induces +me to hold in unspeakable dread and horror, those unseemly +squabbles about the letter which drive the spirit +out of hundreds of thousands." In precisely similar +tone, to a reader of <i>Edwin Drood</i> (Mr. J. M. Makeham), +who had pointed out to him that his employment +as a figure of speech of a line from Holy Writ in his +tenth chapter might be subject to misconstruction, he +wrote from Gadshill on Wednesday the eighth of June, +1870. "It would be quite inconceivable to me, but +for your letter, that any reasonable reader could possibly +attach a scriptural reference to that passage. . . . 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 lessons of our Saviour; +because I feel it; and because I re-wrote that history +for my children—every one of whom knew it, from +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 house tops."<a name="FNanchor_291_291" id="FNanchor_291_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_487" id="Page_3_487">[487]</a></span></p> +<p>A dislike of all display was rooted in him; and his +objection to posthumous honours, illustrated by the instructions +in his will, was very strikingly expressed two +years before his death, when Mr. Thomas Fairbairn +asked his help to a proposed recognition of Rajah +Brooke's services by a memorial in Westminster Abbey. +"I am very strongly impelled" (24th of June 1868) +"to comply with any request of yours. But these +posthumous honours of committee, subscriptions, and +Westminster Abbey are so profoundly unsatisfactory in +my eyes that—plainly—I would rather have nothing to +do with them in any case. My daughter and her aunt +unite with me in kindest regards to Mrs. Fairbairn, and +I hope you will believe in the possession of mine until +I am quietly buried without any memorial but such as +I have set up in my lifetime." Asked a year later +(August 1869) to say something on the inauguration +of Leigh Hunt's bust at his grave in Kensal-green, he +told the committee that he had a very strong objection +to speech-making beside graves. "I do not expect or +wish my feelings in this wise to guide other men; still, +it is so serious with me, and the idea of ever being the +subject of such a ceremony myself is so repugnant to +my soul, that I must decline to officiate."</p> + +<p>His aversion to every form of what is called patronage +of literature<a name="FNanchor_292_292" id="FNanchor_292_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_292_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a> was part of the same feeling. A few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_488" id="Page_3_488">[488]</a></span> +months earlier a Manchester gentleman<a name="FNanchor_293_293" id="FNanchor_293_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_293_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> wrote for his +support to such a scheme. "I beg to be excused," was +his reply, "from complying with the request you do me +the honour to prefer, simply because I hold the opinion +that there is a great deal too much patronage in England. +The better the design, the less (as I think) +should it seek such adventitious aid, and the more composedly +should it rest on its own merits." This was +the belief Southey held; it extended to the support by +way of patronage given by such societies as the Literary +Fund, which Southey also strongly resisted; and it +survived the failure of the Guild whereby it was hoped +to establish a system of self-help, under which men engaged +in literary pursuits might be as proud to receive +as to give. Though there was no project of his life +into which he flung himself with greater eagerness than +the Guild, it was not taken up by the class it was meant +to benefit, and every renewed exertion more largely +added to the failure. There is no room in these pages +for the story, which will add its chapter some day to +the vanity of human wishes; but a passage from a letter +to Bulwer Lytton at its outset will be some measure +of the height from which the writer fell, when all hope +for what he had so set his heart upon ceased. "I do +devoutly believe that this plan, carried by the support +which I trust will be given to it, will change the status +of the literary man in England, and make a revolution +in his position which no government, no power on earth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_489" id="Page_3_489">[489]</a></span> +but his own, could ever effect. I have implicit confidence +in the scheme—so splendidly begun—if we carry +it out with a stedfast energy. I have a strong conviction +that we hold in our hands the peace and honour +of men of letters for centuries to come, and that you +are destined to be their best and most enduring benefactor. . . . +Oh what a procession of new years may +walk out of all this for the class we belong to, after we +are dust."</p> + +<p>These views about patronage did not make him more +indulgent to the clamour with which it is so often invoked +for the ridiculously small. "You read that life +of Clare?" he wrote (15th of August 1865). "Did +you ever see such preposterous exaggeration of small +claims? And isn't it expressive, the perpetual prating +of him in the book as <i>the Poet?</i> So another Incompetent +used to write to the Literary Fund when I was on +the committee: 'This leaves the Poet at his divine mission +in a corner of the single room. The Poet's father +is wiping his spectacles. The Poet's mother is weaving'—Yah!'" +He was equally intolerant of every +magnificent proposal that should render the literary +man independent of the bookseller, and he sharply +criticized even a compromise to replace the half-profits +system by one of royalties on copies sold. "What +does it come to?" he remarked of an ably-written +pamphlet in which this was urged (10th of November +1866): "what is the worth of the remedy after all? +You and I know very well that in nine cases out of ten +the author is at a disadvantage with the publisher because +the publisher has capital and the author has not. +We know perfectly well that in nine cases out of ten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_490" id="Page_3_490">[490]</a></span> +money is advanced by the publisher before the book is +producible—often, long before. No young or unsuccessful +author (unless he were an amateur and an independent +gentleman) would make a bargain for having +that royalty, to-morrow, if he could have a certain sum +of money, or an advance of money. The author who +could command that bargain, could command it to-morrow, +or command anything else. For the less fortunate +or the less able, I make bold to say—with some +knowledge of the subject, as a writer who made a publisher's +fortune long before he began to share in the +real profits of his books—that if the publishers met +next week, and resolved henceforth to make this royalty +bargain and no other, it would be an enormous hardship +and misfortune because the authors could not live while +they wrote. The pamphlet seems to me just another +example of the old philosophical chess-playing, with +human beings for pieces. 'Don't want money.' 'Be +careful to be born with means, and have a banker's account.' +'Your publisher will settle with you, at such +and such long periods according to the custom of his +trade, and you will settle with your butcher and baker +weekly, in the meantime, by drawing cheques as I do.' +'You must be sure not to want money, and then I have +worked it out for you splendidly.'"</p> + +<p>Less has been said in this work than might perhaps +have been wished, of the way in which his editorship +of <i>Household Words</i> and <i>All the Year Round</i> was discharged. +It was distinguished above all by liberality; +and a scrupulous consideration and delicacy, evinced +by him to all his contributors, was part of the esteem +in which he held literature itself. It was said in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_491" id="Page_3_491">[491]</a></span> +newspaper after his death, evidently by one of his contributors, +that he always brought the best out of a man +by encouragement and appreciation; that he liked his +writers to feel unfettered; and that his last reply to a +proposition for a series of articles had been: "Whatever +you see your way to, I will see mine to, and we +know and understand each other well enough to make +the best of these conditions." Yet the strong feeling +of personal responsibility was always present in his +conduct of both journals; and varied as the contents +of a number might be, and widely apart the writers, a +certain individuality of his own was never absent. He +took immense pains (as indeed was his habit about +everything) with numbers in which he had written +nothing; would often accept a paper from a young or +unhandy contributor, because of some single notion in +it which he thought it worth rewriting for; and in this +way, or by helping generally to give strength and attractiveness +to the work of others, he grudged no +trouble.<a name="FNanchor_294_294" id="FNanchor_294_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> "I have had a story" he wrote (22nd of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_492" id="Page_3_492">[492]</a></span> +June 1856) "to hack and hew into some form for +<i>Household Words</i> this morning, which has taken me +four hours of close attention. And I am perfectly +addled by its horrible want of continuity after all, and +the dreadful spectacle I have made of the proofs—which +look like an inky fishing-net." A few lines +from another letter will show the difficulties in which +he was often involved by the plan he adopted for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_493" id="Page_3_493">[493]</a></span> +Christmas numbers, of putting within a framework by +himself a number of stories by separate writers to whom +the leading notion had before been severally sent. +"As yet" (25th of November 1859), "not a story has +come to me in the least belonging to the idea (the +simplest in the world; which I myself described in +writing, in the most elaborate manner); and everyone +of them turns, by a strange fatality, on a criminal +trial!" It had all to be set right by him, and editorship +on such terms was not a sinecure.</p> + +<p>It had its pleasures as well as pains, however, and +the greatest was when he fancied he could descry unusual +merit in any writer. A letter will give one +instance for illustration of many; the lady to whom it +was addressed, admired under her assumed name of +Holme Lee, having placed it at my disposal. (Folkestone: +14th of August 1855.) "I read your tale with +the strongest emotion, and with a very exalted admiration +of the great power displayed in it. Both in +severity and tenderness I thought it masterly. It +moved me more than I can express to you. I wrote +to Mr. Wills that it had completely unsettled me for +the day, and that by whomsoever it was written, I felt +the highest respect for the mind that had produced it. +It so happened that I had been for some days at work +upon a character externally like the Aunt. And it was +very strange to me indeed to observe how the two +people seemed to be near to one another at first, and +then turned off on their own ways so wide asunder. I +told Mr. Wills that I was not sure whether I could +have prevailed upon myself to present to a large audience +the terrible consideration of hereditary madness,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_494" id="Page_3_494">[494]</a></span> +when it was reasonably probable that there must be +many—or some—among them whom it would awfully, +because personally, address. But I was not obliged to +ask myself the question, inasmuch as the length of the +story rendered it unavailable for <i>Household Words</i>. I +speak of its length in reference to that publication +only; relatively to what is told in it, I would not spare +a page of your manuscript. Experience shows me that +a story in four portions is best suited to the peculiar +requirements of such a journal, and I assure you it will +be an uncommon satisfaction to me if this correspondence +should lead to your enrolment among its contributors. +But my strong and sincere conviction of +the vigour and pathos of this beautiful tale, is quite +apart from, and not to be influenced by, any ulterior +results. You had no existence to me when I read it. +The actions and sufferings of the characters affected me +by their own force and truth, and left a profound impression +on me."<a name="FNanchor_295_295" id="FNanchor_295_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> The experience there mentioned +did not prevent him from admitting into his later +periodical, <i>All the Year Round</i>, longer serial stories +published with the names of known writers; and to +his own interference with these he properly placed +limits. "When one of my literary brothers does me +the honour to undertake such a task, I hold that he +executes it on his own personal responsibility, and for +the sustainment of his own reputation; and I do not +consider myself at liberty to exercise that control over +his text which I claim as to other contributions." Nor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_495" id="Page_3_495">[495]</a></span> +had he any greater pleasure, even in these cases, than +to help younger novelists to popularity. "You asked +me about new writers last night. If you will read +<i>Kissing the Rod</i>, a book I have read to-day, you will +not find it hard to take an interest in the author of +such a book." That was Mr. Edmund Yates, in whose +literary successes he took the greatest interest himself, +and with whom he continued to the last an intimate +personal intercourse which had dated from kindness +shown at a very trying time. "I think" he wrote of +another of his contributors, Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, for +whom he had also much personal liking, and of whose +powers he thought highly, "you will find <i>Fatal Zero</i> a +very curious bit of mental development, deepening as +the story goes on into a picture not more startling than +true." My mention of these pleasures of editorship +shall close with what I think to him was the greatest. +He gave to the world, while yet the name of the writer +was unknown to him, the pure and pathetic verse of +Adelaide Procter. "In the spring of the year 1853 I +observed a short poem among the proffered contributions, +very different, as I thought, from the shoal of +verses perpetually setting through the office of such a +periodical."<a name="FNanchor_296_296" id="FNanchor_296_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> The contributions had been large and +frequent under an assumed name, when at Christmas +1854 he discovered that Miss Mary Berwick was the +daughter of his old and dear friend Barry Cornwall.</p> + +<p>But periodical writing is not without its drawbacks, +and its effect on Dickens, who engaged in it largely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_496" id="Page_3_496">[496]</a></span> +from time to time, was observable in the increased impatience +of allusion to national institutions and conventional +distinctions to be found in his later books. +Party divisions he cared for less and less as life moved +on; but the decisive, peremptory, dogmatic style, into +which a habit of rapid remark on topics of the day +will betray the most candid and considerate commentator, +displayed its influence, perhaps not always +consciously to himself, in the underlying tone of bitterness +that runs through the books which followed <i>Copperfield</i>. +The resentment against remediable wrongs +is as praiseworthy in them as in the earlier tales; but +the exposure of Chancery abuses, administrative incompetence, +politico-economic shortcomings, and social +flunkeyism, in <i>Bleak House</i>, <i>Little Dorrit</i>, <i>Hard +Times</i>, and <i>Our Mutual Friend</i>, would not have been +made less odious by the cheerier tone that had struck +with much sharper effect at prison abuses, parish +wrongs, Yorkshire schools, and hypocritical humbug, +in <i>Pickwick</i>, <i>Oliver Twist</i>, <i>Nickleby</i>, and <i>Chuzzlewit</i>. +It will be remembered of him always that he desired to +set right what was wrong, that he held no abuse to be +unimprovable, that he left none of the evils named +exactly as he found them, and that to influences drawn +from his writings were due not a few of the salutary +changes which marked the age in which he lived; but +anger does not improve satire, and it gave latterly, +from the causes named, too aggressive a form to what, +after all, was but a very wholesome hatred of the cant +that everything English is perfect, and that to call a +thing <i>un</i>English is to doom it to abhorred extinction.</p> + +<p>"I have got an idea for occasional papers in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_497" id="Page_3_497">[497]</a></span> <i>Household Words</i> +called the Member for Nowhere. They +will contain an account of his views, votes, and +speeches; and I think of starting with his speeches on +the Sunday question. He is a member of the Government +of course. The moment they found such a +member in the House, they felt that he must be dragged +(by force, if necessary) into the Cabinet." "I give +it up reluctantly," he wrote afterwards, "and with it +my hope to have made every man in England feel +something of the contempt for the House of Commons +that I have. We shall never begin to do anything +until the sentiment is universal." That was in August +1854; and the break-down in the Crimea that winter +much embittered his radicalism. "I am hourly +strengthened in my old belief," he wrote (3rd of +February 1855) "that our political aristocracy and our +tuft-hunting are the death of England. In all this +business I don't see a gleam of hope. As to the popular +spirit, it has come to be so entirely separated from +the Parliament and Government, and so perfectly +apathetic about them both, that I seriously think it a +most portentous sign." A couple of months later: +"I have rather a bright idea, I think, for <i>Household +Words</i> this morning: a fine little bit of satire: an +account of an Arabic MS. lately discovered very like +the <i>Arabian Nights</i>—called the Thousand and One +Humbugs. With new versions of the best known +stories." This also had to be given up, and is only +mentioned as another illustration of his political discontents +and of their connection with his journal-work. +The influences from his early life which unconsciously +strengthened them in certain social directions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_498" id="Page_3_498">[498]</a></span> +has been hinted at, and of his absolute sincerity in the +matter there can be no doubt. The mistakes of +Dickens were never such as to cast a shade on his +integrity. What he said with too much bitterness, in +his heart he believed; and had, alas! too much ground +for believing. "A country," he wrote (27th of April +1855) "which is discovered to be in this tremendous +condition as to its war affairs; with an enormous black +cloud of poverty in every town which is spreading and +deepening every hour, and not one man in two thousand +knowing anything about, or even believing in, its +existence; with a non-working aristocracy, and a silent +parliament, and everybody for himself and nobody for +the rest; this is the prospect, and I think it a very +deplorable one." Admirably did he say, of a notorious +enquiry at that time: "O what a fine aspect of +political economy it is, that the noble professors of the +science on the adulteration committee should have +tried to make Adulteration a question of Supply and +Demand! We shall never get to the Millennium, sir, +by the rounds of that ladder; and I, for one, won't +hold by the skirts of that Great Mogul of impostors, +Master M'Culloch!" Again he wrote (30th of September +1855): "I really am serious in thinking—and I +have given as painful consideration to the subject as a +man with children to live and suffer after him can +honestly give to it—that representative government is +become altogether a failure with us, that the English +gentilities and subserviences render the people unfit for +it, and that the whole thing has broken down since +that great seventeenth-century time, and has no hope +in it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_499" id="Page_3_499">[499]</a></span></p> + +<p>With the good sense that still overruled all his +farthest extremes of opinion he yet never thought of +parliament for himself. He could not mend matters, +and for him it would have been a false position. The +people of the town of Reading and others applied to +him during the first half of his life, and in the last +half some of the Metropolitan constituencies. To one +of the latter a reply is before me in which he says: "I +declare that as to all matters on the face of this teeming +earth, it appears to me that the House of Commons and +Parliament altogether is become just the dreariest failure +and nuisance that ever bothered this much-bothered +world." To a private enquiry of apparently about the +same date he replied: "I have thoroughly satisfied +myself, having often had occasion to consider the question, +that I can be far more usefully and independently +employed in my chosen sphere of action than I could +hope to be in the House of Commons; and I believe +that no consideration would induce me to become a +member of that extraordinary assembly." Finally, +upon a reported discussion in Finsbury whether or +not he should be invited to sit for that borough, he +promptly wrote (November 1861): "It may save some +trouble if you will kindly confirm a sensible gentleman +who doubted at that meeting whether I was quite the +man for Finsbury. I am not at all the sort of man; +for I believe nothing would induce me to offer myself +as a parliamentary representative of that place, or of +any other under the sun." The only direct attempt +to join a political agitation was his speech at Drury-lane +for administrative reform, and he never repeated +it. But every movement for practical social reforms, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_500" id="Page_3_500">[500]</a></span> +obtain more efficient sanitary legislation, to get the +best compulsory education practicable for the poor, +and to better the condition of labouring people, he +assisted earnestly to his last hour; and the readiness +with which he took the chair at meetings having such +objects in view, the help he gave to important societies +working in beneficent ways for themselves or the community, +and the power and attractiveness of his oratory, +made him one of the forces of the time. His speeches +derived singular charm from the buoyancy of his perfect +self-possession, and to this he added the advantages +of a person and manner which had become as familiar +and as popular as his books. The most miscellaneous +assemblages listened to him as to a personal friend.</p> + +<p>Two incidents at the close of his life will show what +upon these matters his latest opinions were. At the +great Liverpool dinner after his country readings in +1869, over which Lord Dufferin eloquently presided, +he replied to a remonstrance from Lord Houghton +against his objection to entering public life,<a name="FNanchor_297_297" id="FNanchor_297_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a> that when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_501" id="Page_3_501">[501]</a></span> +he took literature for his profession he intended it to +be his sole profession; that at that time it did not +appear to him to be so well understood in England, as +in some other countries, that literature was a dignified +profession by which any man might stand or fall; and +he resolved that in his person at least it should stand +"by itself, of itself, and for itself;" a bargain which +"no consideration on earth would now induce him to +break." Here however he probably failed to see the +entire meaning of Lord Houghton's regret, which +would seem to have been meant to say, in more polite +form, that to have taken some part in public affairs +might have shown him the difficulty in a free state of +providing remedies very swiftly for evils of long growth. +A half reproach from the same quarter for alleged unkindly +sentiments to the House of Lords, he repelled +with vehement warmth; insisting on his great regard +for individual members, and declaring that there was +no man in England he respected more in his public +capacity, loved more in his private capacity, or from +whom he had received more remarkable proofs of his +honour and love of literature, than Lord Russell.<a name="FNanchor_298_298" id="FNanchor_298_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_502" id="Page_3_502">[502]</a></span> +Birmingham shortly after, discoursing on education to +the members of the Midland Institute, he told them +they should value self-improvement not because it led +to fortune but because it was good and right in itself; +counselled them in regard to it that Genius was not +worth half so much as Attention, or the art of taking +an immense deal of pains, which he declared to be, in +every study and pursuit, the one sole, safe, certain, +remunerative quality; and summed up briefly his political +belief.—"My faith in the people governing is, on +the whole, infinitesimal; my faith in the People governed +is, on the whole, illimitable." This he afterwards +(January 1870) explained to mean that he had +very little confidence in the people who govern us +("with a small p"), and very great confidence in the +People whom they govern ("with a large P"). "My +confession being shortly and elliptically stated, was, +with no evil intention I am absolutely sure, in some +quarters inversely explained." He added that his +political opinions had already been not obscurely stated +in an "idle book or two"; and he reminded his +hearers that he was the inventor "of a certain fiction +called the Circumlocution Office, said to be very extravagant, +but which I <i>do</i> see rather frequently quoted +as if there were grains of truth at the bottom of it." +It may nevertheless be suspected, with some confidence, +that the construction of his real meaning was not far +wrong which assumed it as the condition precedent to +his illimitable faith, that the people, even with the big +P, should be "governed." It was his constant complaint +that, being much in want of government, they +had only sham governors; and he had returned from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_503" id="Page_3_503">[503]</a></span> +his second American visit, as he came back from his +first, indisposed to believe that the political problem +had been solved in the land of the free. From the +pages of his last book, the bitterness of allusion so +frequent in the books just named was absent altogether; +and his old unaltered wish to better what was bad in +English institutions, carried with it no desire to replace +them by new ones.</p> + +<p>In a memoir published shortly after his death there +appeared this statement. "For many years past Her +Majesty the Queen has taken the liveliest interest in +Mr. Dickens's literary labours, and has frequently expressed +a desire for an interview with him. . . . This +interview took place on the 9th of April, when he +received her commands to attend her at Buckingham +Palace, and was introduced by his friend Mr. Arthur +Helps, the clerk of the Privy Council. . . . Since our +author's decease the journal with which he was formerly +connected has said: 'The Queen was ready to confer +any distinction which Mr. Dickens's known views and +tastes would permit him to accept, and after more than +one title of honour had been declined, Her Majesty +desired that he would, at least, accept a place in her +Privy Council.'" As nothing is too absurd<a name="FNanchor_299_299" id="FNanchor_299_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> for belief,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_504" id="Page_3_504">[504]</a></span> +it will not be superfluous to say that Dickens knew +of no such desire on her Majesty's part; and though all +the probabilities are on the side of his unwillingness to +accept any title or place of honour, certainly none was +offered to him.</p> + +<p>It had been hoped to obtain her Majesty's name for +the Jerrold performances in 1857, but, being a public<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_505" id="Page_3_505">[505]</a></span> +effort in behalf of an individual, assent would have involved +"either perpetual compliance or the giving of +perpetual offence." Her Majesty however then sent, +through Colonel Phipps, a request to Dickens that he +would select a room in the palace, do what he would +with it, and let her see the play there. "I said to Col. +Phipps thereupon" (21st of June 1857) "that the idea +was not quite new to me; that I did not feel easy as to +the social position of my daughters, &c. at a Court +under those circumstances; and that I would beg her +Majesty to excuse me, if any other way of her seeing +the play could be devised. To this Phipps said he had +not thought of the objection, but had not the slightest +doubt I was right. I then proposed that the Queen +should come to the Gallery of Illustration a week before +the subscription night, and should have the room entirely +at her own disposal, and should invite her own +company. This, with the good sense that seems to +accompany her good nature on all occasions, she resolved +within a few hours to do." The effect of the +performance was a great gratification. "My gracious +sovereign" (5th of July 1857) "was so pleased that she +sent round begging me to go and see her and accept +her thanks. I replied that I was in my Farce dress, +and must beg to be excused. Whereupon she sent +again, saying that the dress 'could not be so ridiculous +as that,' and repeating the request. I sent my duty in +reply, but again hoped her Majesty would have the +kindness to excuse my presenting myself in a costume +and appearance that were not my own. I was mighty +glad to think, when I woke this morning, that I had +carried the point."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_506" id="Page_3_506">[506]</a></span></p> + +<p>The opportunity of presenting himself in his own +costume did not arrive till the year of his death, another +effort meanwhile made having proved also unsuccessful. +"I was put into a state of much perplexity on +Sunday" (30th of March 1858). "I don't know who +had spoken to my informant, but it seems that the +Queen is bent upon hearing the <i>Carol</i> read, and has +expressed her desire to bring it about without offence; +hesitating about the manner of it, in consequence of +my having begged to be excused from going to her +when she sent for me after the <i>Frozen Deep</i>. I parried +the thing as well as I could; but being asked to be +prepared with a considerate and obliging answer, as it +was known the request would be preferred, I said, +'Well! I supposed Col. Phipps would speak to me +about it, and if it were he who did so, I should assure +him of my desire to meet any wish of her Majesty's, +and should express my hope that she would indulge me +by making one of some audience or other—for I +thought an audience necessary to the effect.' Thus it +stands: but it bothers me." The difficulty was not +surmounted, but her Majesty's continued interest in +the <i>Carol</i> was shown by her purchase of a copy of it +with Dickens's autograph at Thackeray's sale;<a name="FNanchor_300_300" id="FNanchor_300_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> and at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_507" id="Page_3_507">[507]</a></span> +last there came, in the year of his death, the interview +with the author whose popularity dated from her accession, +whose books had entertained larger numbers of +her subjects than those of any other contemporary +writer, and whose genius will be counted among the +glories of her reign. Accident led to it. Dickens had +brought with him from America some large and striking +photographs of the Battle Fields of the Civil War, +which the Queen, having heard of them through Mr. +Helps, expressed a wish to look at. Dickens sent them +at once; and went afterwards to Buckingham Palace +with Mr. Helps, at her Majesty's request, that she +might see and thank him in person.</p> + +<p>It was in the middle of March, not April. "Come +now sir, this is an interesting matter, do favour us with +it," was the cry of Johnson's friends after his conversation +with George the Third; and again and again the +story was told to listeners ready to make marvels of its +commonplaces. But the romance even of the eighteenth +century in such a matter is clean gone out of the +nineteenth. Suffice it that the Queen's kindness left a +strong impression on Dickens. Upon her Majesty's +regret not to have heard his Readings, Dickens intimated +that they were become now a thing of the past, +while he acknowledged gratefully her Majesty's compliment +in regard to them. She spoke to him of the +impression made upon her by his acting in the <i>Frozen +Deep;</i> and on his stating, in reply to her enquiry, that +the little play had not been very successful on the public<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_508" id="Page_3_508">[508]</a></span> +stage, said this did not surprise her, since it no longer +had the advantage of his performance in it. Then +arose a mention of some alleged discourtesy shown to +Prince Arthur in New York, and he begged her Majesty +not to confound the true Americans of that city with +the Fenian portion of its Irish population; on which +she made the quiet comment that she was convinced +the people about the Prince had made too much of the +affair. He related to her the story of President Lincoln's +dream on the night before his murder. She +asked him to give her his writings, and could she have +them that afternoon? but he begged to be allowed to +send a bound copy. Her Majesty then took from a +table her own book upon the Highlands, with an autograph +inscription "to Charles Dickens"; and, saying +that "the humblest" of writers would be ashamed to +offer it to "one of the greatest" but that Mr. Helps, +being asked to give it, had remarked that it would be +valued most from herself, closed the interview by placing +it in his hands. "Sir," said Johnson, "they may +say what they like of the young King, but Louis the +Fourteenth could not have shown a more refined courtliness"; +and Dickens was not disposed to say less of +the young King's granddaughter. That the grateful +impression sufficed to carry him into new ways, I had +immediate proof, coupled with intimation of the still +surviving strength of old memories. "As my sovereign +desires" (26th of March 1870) "that I should attend +the next levee, don't faint with amazement if you see +my name in that unwonted connexion. I have scrupulously +kept myself free for the second of April, in case +you should be accessible." The name appeared at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_509" id="Page_3_509">[509]</a></span> +levee accordingly, his daughter was at the drawing-room +that followed, and Lady Houghton writes to me +"I never saw Mr. Dickens more agreeable than at a +dinner at our house about a fortnight before his death, +when he met the King of the Belgians and the Prince +of Wales at the special desire of the latter." Up to +nearly the hour of dinner, it was doubtful if he could +go. He was suffering from the distress in his foot; and +on arrival at the house, being unable to ascend the +stairs, had to be assisted at once into the dining-room.</p> + +<p>The friend who had accompanied Dickens to Buckingham +Palace, writing of him<a name="FNanchor_301_301" id="FNanchor_301_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> after his death, briefly +but with admirable knowledge and taste, said that he +ardently desired, and confidently looked forward to, a +time when there would be a more intimate union than +exists at present between the different classes in the +state, a union that should embrace alike the highest +and the lowest. This perhaps expresses, as well as a +few words could, what certainly was always at his heart; +and he might have come to think it, when his life was +closing, more possible of realisation some day than he +ever thought it before. The hope of it was on his +friend Talfourd's lips when he died, and his own most +jarring opinions might at last have joined in the effort +to bring about such reconcilement. More on this head +it needs not to say. Whatever may be the objection +to special views held by him, he would, wanting even +the most objectionable, have been less himself. It was +by something of the despot seldom separable from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_510" id="Page_3_510">[510]</a></span> +genius, joined to a truthfulness of nature belonging to +the highest characters, that men themselves of a rare +faculty were attracted to find in Dickens what Sir +Arthur Helps has described, "a man to confide in, +and look up to as a leader, in the midst of any great +peril."</p> + +<p>Mr. Layard also held that opinion of him. He was +at Gadshill during the Christmas before Dickens went +for the last time to America, and witnessed one of those +scenes, not infrequent there, in which the master of the +house was pre-eminently at home. They took generally +the form of cricket matches; but this was, to use the +phrase of his friend Bobadil, more popular and diffused; +and of course he rose with the occasion. "The more +you want of the master, the more you'll find in him," +said the gasman employed about his readings. "Foot-races +for the villagers," he wrote on Christmas Day, +"come off in my field to-morrow. We have been all +hard at work all day, building a course, making countless +flags, and I don't know what else. Layard is chief +commissioner of the domestic police. The country +police predict an immense crowd." There were between +two and three thousand people; and somehow, +by a magical kind of influence, said Layard, Dickens +seemed to have bound every creature present, upon +what honour the creature had, to keep order. What +was the special means used, or the art employed, it +might have been difficult to say; but that was the +result. Writing on New Year's Day, Dickens himself +described it to me. "We had made a very pretty +course, and taken great pains. Encouraged by the +cricket matches experience, I allowed the landlord of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_511" id="Page_3_511">[511]</a></span> +the Falstaff to have a drinking-booth on the ground. +Not to seem to dictate or distrust, I gave all the prizes +(about ten pounds in the aggregate) in money. The +great mass of the crowd were labouring men of all +kinds, soldiers, sailors, and navvies. They did not, +between half-past ten, when we began, and sunset, +displace a rope or a stake; and they left every barrier +and flag as neat as they found it. There was not a +dispute, and there was no drunkenness whatever. I +made them a little speech from the lawn, at the end of +the games, saying that please God we would do it again +next year. They cheered most lustily and dispersed. +The road between this and Chatham was like a Fair all +day; and surely it is a fine thing to get such perfect +behaviour out of a reckless seaport town. Among +other oddities we had a Hurdle Race for Strangers. +One man (he came in second) ran 120 yards and leaped +over ten hurdles, in twenty seconds, <i>with a pipe in his +mouth, and smoking it all the time</i>. 'If it hadn't been +for your pipe,' I said to him at the winning-post, 'you +would have been first.' 'I beg your pardon, sir,' he +answered, 'but if it hadn't been for my pipe, I should +have been nowhere.'" The close of the letter had +this rather memorable announcement. "The sale of +the Christmas number was, yesterday evening, 255,380." +Would it be absurd to say that there is something in +such a vast popularity in itself electrical, and, though +founded on books, felt where books never reach?</p> + +<p>It is also very noticeable that what would have constituted +the strength of Dickens if he had entered public +life, the attractive as well as the commanding side of +his nature, was that which kept him most within the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_512" id="Page_3_512">[512]</a></span> +circle of home pursuits and enjoyments. This "better +part" of him had now long survived that sorrowful +period of 1857-8, when, for reasons which I have not +thought myself free to suppress, a vaguely disturbed +feeling for the time took possession of him, and occurrences +led to his adoption of other pursuits than those +to which till then he had given himself exclusively. It +was a sad interval in his life; but, though changes incident +to the new occupation then taken up remained, +and with them many adverse influences which brought +his life prematurely to a close, it was, with any reference +to that feeling, an interval only; and the dominant +impression of the later years, as of the earlier, takes +the marvellously domestic home-loving shape in which +also the strength of his genius is found. It will not do +to draw round any part of such a man too hard a line, +and the writer must not be charged with inconsistency +who says that Dickens's childish sufferings,<a name="FNanchor_302_302" id="FNanchor_302_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_302_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a> and the +sense they burnt into him of the misery of loneliness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_513" id="Page_3_513">[513]</a></span> +and a craving for joys of home, though they led to +what was weakest in him, led also to what was greatest. +It was his defect as well as his merit in maturer life not +to be able to live alone. When the fancies of his novels +were upon him and he was under their restless influence, +though he often talked of shutting himself up in out +of the way solitary places, he never went anywhere +unaccompanied by members of his family. His habits +of daily life he carried with him wherever he went. In +Albaro and Genoa, at Lausanne and Geneva, in Paris +and Boulogne, his ways were as entirely those of home +as in London and Broadstairs. If it is the property of +a domestic nature to be personally interested in every +detail, the smallest as the greatest, of the four walls +within which one lives, then no man had it so essentially +as Dickens. No man was so inclined naturally +to derive his happiness from home concerns. Even +the kind of interest in a house which is commonly +confined to women, he was full of. Not to speak of +changes of importance, there was not an additional +hook put up wherever he inhabited, without his knowledge, +or otherwise than as part of some small ingenuity +of his own. Nothing was too minute for his personal +superintendence. Whatever might be in hand, theatricals +for the little children, entertainments for those of +larger growth, cricket matches, dinners, field sports, +from the first new year's eve dance in Doughty Street +to the last musical party in Hyde Park Place, he was +the centre and soul of it. He did not care to take +measure of its greater or less importance. It was +enough that a thing was to do, to be worth his while +to do it as if there was nothing else to be done in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_514" id="Page_3_514">[514]</a></span> +world. The cry of Laud and Wentworth was his, alike +in small and great things; and to no man was more +applicable the German "Echt," which expresses reality +as well as thoroughness. The usual result followed, +in all his homes, of an absolute reliance on him for +everything. Under every difficulty, and in every +emergency, his was the encouraging influence, the +bright and ready help. In illness, whether of the +children or any of the servants, he was better than a +doctor. He was so full of resource, for which every +one eagerly turned to him, that his mere presence in +the sick-room was a healing influence, as if nothing +could fail if he were only there. So that at last, +when, all through the awful night which preceded his +departure, he lay senseless in the room where he had +fallen, the stricken and bewildered ones who tended +him found it impossible to believe that what they saw +before them alone was left, or to shut out wholly the +strange wild hope that he might again be suddenly +among them <i>like</i> himself, and revive what they could +not connect, even then, with death's despairing helplessness.</p> + +<p>It was not a feeling confined to the relatives whom +he had thus taught to have such exclusive dependence +on him. Among the consolations addressed to those +mourners came words from one whom in life he had +most honoured, and who also found it difficult to connect +him with death, or to think that he should never +see that blithe face anymore. "It is almost thirty +years," Mr. Carlyle wrote, "since my acquaintance +with him began; and on my side, I may say, every +new meeting ripened it into more and more clear discernment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_515" id="Page_3_515">[515]</a></span> +of his rare and great worth as a brother man: +a most cordial, sincere, clear-sighted, quietly decisive, +just and loving man: till at length he had grown to +such a recognition with me as I have rarely had for +any man of my time. This I can tell you three, for it +is true and will be welcome to you: to others less concerned +I had as soon <i>not</i> speak on such a subject." "I +am profoundly sorry, for <i>you</i>," Mr. Carlyle at the same +time wrote to me; "and indeed for myself and for us +all. It is an event world-wide; a <i>unique</i> of talents +suddenly extinct; and has 'eclipsed,' we too may say, +'the harmless gaiety of nations.' No death since 1866 +has fallen on me with such a stroke. No literary man's +hitherto ever did. The good, the gentle, high-gifted, +ever-friendly, noble Dickens,—every inch of him an +Honest Man."</p> + +<p>Of his ordinary habits of activity I have spoken, and +they were doubtless carried too far. In youth it was +all well, but he did not make allowance for years. This +has had abundant illustration, but will admit of a few +words more. To all men who do much, rule and order +are essential; method in everything was Dickens's peculiarity; +and between breakfast and luncheon, with +rare exceptions, was his time of work. But his daily +walks were less of rule than of enjoyment and necessity. +In the midst of his writing they were indispensable, and +especially, as it has often been shown, at night. Mr. +Sala is an authority on London streets, and, in the +eloquent and generous tribute he was among the first +to offer to his memory, has described himself encountering +Dickens in the oddest places and most inclement +weather, in Ratcliffe-highway, on Haverstock-hill, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_516" id="Page_3_516">[516]</a></span> +Camberwell-green, in Gray's-inn-lane, in the Wandsworth-road, +at Hammersmith Broadway, in Norton +Folgate, and at Kensal New Town. "A hansom +whirled you by the Bell and Horns at Brompton, and +there he was striding, as with seven-league boots, seemingly +in the direction of North-end, Fulham. The +Metropolitan Railway sent you forth at Lisson-grove, +and you met him plodding speedily towards the Yorkshire +Stingo. He was to be met rapidly skirting the +grim brick wall of the prison in Coldbath-fields, or +trudging along the Seven Sisters-road at Holloway, or +bearing, under a steady press of sail, underneath Highgate +Archway, or pursuing the even tenor of his way +up the Vauxhall-bridge-road." But he was equally at +home in the intricate byways of narrow streets and in +the lengthy thoroughfares. Wherever there was "matter +to be heard and learned," in back streets behind +Holborn, in Borough courts and passages, in city wharfs +or alleys, about the poorer lodging-houses, in prisons, +workhouses, ragged-schools, police-courts, rag-shops, +chandlers' shops, and all sorts of markets for the poor, +he carried his keen observation and untiring study. "I +was among the Italian Boys from 12 to 2 this morning," +says one of his letters. "I am going out to-night in +their boat with the Thames Police," says another. It +was the same when he was in Italy or Switzerland, as +we have seen; and when, in later life, he was in French +provincial places. "I walk miles away into the country, +and you can scarcely imagine by what deserted ramparts +and silent little cathedral closes, or how I pass over +rusty drawbridges and stagnant ditches out of and into +the decaying town." For several consecutive years I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_517" id="Page_3_517">[517]</a></span> +accompanied him every Christmas Eve to see the marketings +for Christmas down the road from Aldgate to +Bow; and he had a surprising fondness for wandering +about in poor neighbourhoods on Christmas-day, past +the areas of shabby genteel houses in Somers or Kentish +Towns, and watching the dinners preparing or coming +in. But the temptations of his country life led him on +to excesses in walking. "Coming in just now," he +wrote in his third year at Gadshill, "after twelve miles +in the rain, I was so wet that I have had to change and +get my feet into warm water before I could do anything." +Again, two years later: "A south-easter +blowing, enough to cut one's throat. I am keeping +the house for my cold, as I did yesterday. But the +remedy is so new to me, that I doubt if it does me +half the good of a dozen miles in the snow. So, if +this mode of treatment fails to-day, I shall try that +to-morrow." He tried it perhaps too often. In the +winter of 1865 he first had the attack in his left foot +which materially disabled his walking-power for the +rest of his life. He supposed its cause to be overwalking +in the snow, and that this had aggravated the suffering +is very likely; but, read by the light of what +followed, it may now be presumed to have had more +serious origin. It recurred at intervals, before America, +without any such provocation; in America it came +back, not when he had most been walking in the snow, +but when nervous exhaustion was at its worst with him; +after America, it became prominent on the eve of the +occurrence at Preston which first revealed the progress +that disease had been making in the vessels of the brain; +and in the last year of his life, as will immediately be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_518" id="Page_3_518">[518]</a></span> +seen, it was a constant trouble and most intense suffering, +extending then gravely to his left hand also, which +had before been only slightly affected.</p> + +<p>It was from a letter of the 21st of February 1865 I +first learnt that he was suffering tortures from a "frost-bitten" +foot, and ten days later brought more detailed +account. "I got frost-bitten by walking continually +in the snow, and getting wet in the feet daily. My +boots hardened and softened, hardened and softened, +my left foot swelled, and I still forced the boot on; +sat in it to write, half the day; walked in it through +the snow, the other half; forced the boot on again +next morning; sat and walked again; and being +accustomed to all sorts of changes in my feet, took no +heed. At length, going out as usual, I fell lame on the +walk, and had to limp home dead lame, through the +snow, for the last three miles—to the remarkable terror, +by-the-bye, of the two big dogs." The dogs were +Turk and Linda. Boisterous companions as they +always were, the sudden change in him brought them +to a stand-still; and for the rest of the journey they +crept by the side of their master as slowly as he did, +never turning from him. He was greatly moved by +the circumstance, and often referred to it. Turk's +look upward to his face was one of sympathy as well as +fear, he said; but Linda was wholly struck down.</p> + +<p>The saying in his letter to his youngest son that he +was to do to others what he would that they should do +to him, without being discouraged if they did not do +it; and his saying to the Birmingham people that they +were to attend to self-improvement not because it led +to fortune, but because it was right; express a principle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_519" id="Page_3_519">[519]</a></span> +that at all times guided himself. Capable of strong +attachments, he was not what is called an effusive man; +but he had no half-heartedness in any of his likings. +The one thing entirely hateful to him, was indifference. +"I give my heart to very few people; but I would +sooner love the most implacable man in the world than +a careless one, who, if my place were empty to-morrow, +would rub on and never miss me." There was nothing +he more repeatedly told his children than that they +were not to let indifference in others appear to justify +it in themselves. "All kind things," he wrote, "must +be done on their own account, and for their own sake, +and without the least reference to any gratitude." +Again he laid it down, while he was making some exertion +for the sake of a dead friend that did not seem +likely to win proper appreciation from those it was to +serve. "As to gratitude from the family—as I have +often remarked to you, one does a generous thing because +it is right and pleasant, and not for any response +it is to awaken in others." The rule in another form +frequently appears in his letters; and it was enforced +in many ways upon all who were dear to him. It is +worth while to add his comment on a regret of a member +of his family at an act of self-devotion supposed to +have been thrown away: "Nothing of what is nobly +done can ever be lost." It is also to be noted as in the +same spirit, that it was not the loud but the silent heroisms +he most admired. Of Sir John Richardson, one +of the few who have lived in our days entitled to the +name of a hero, he wrote from Paris in 1856. "Lady +Franklin sent me the whole of that Richardson memoir; +and I think Richardson's manly friendship, and love<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_520" id="Page_3_520">[520]</a></span> +of Franklin, one of the noblest things I ever knew in +my life. It makes one's heart beat high, with a sort +of sacred joy." (It is the feeling as strongly awakened +by the earlier exploits of the same gallant man to be +found at the end of Franklin's first voyage, and never +to be read without the most exalted emotion.) It was +for something higher than mere literature he valued the +most original writer and powerful teacher of the age. +"I would go at all times farther to see Carlyle than +any man alive."</p> + +<p>Of his attractive points in society and conversation +I have particularized little, because in truth they were +himself. Such as they were, they were never absent +from him. His acute sense of enjoyment gave such +relish to his social qualities that probably no man, not +a great wit or a professed talker, ever left, in leaving +any social gathering, a blank so impossible to fill up. +In quick and varied sympathy, in ready adaptation to +every whim or humour, in help to any mirth or game, +he stood for a dozen men. If one may say such a +thing, he seemed to be always the more himself for +being somebody else, for continually putting off his +personality. His versatility made him unique. What +he said once of his own love of acting, applied to him +equally when at his happiest among friends he loved; +sketching a character, telling a story, acting a charade, +taking part in a game; turning into comedy an incident +of the day, describing the last good or bad thing +he had seen, reproducing in quaint, tragical, or humorous +form and figure, some part of the passionate life +with which all his being overflowed. "Assumption +has charms for me so delightful—I hardly know for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_521" id="Page_3_521">[521]</a></span> +how many wild reasons—that I feel a loss of Oh I can't +say what exquisite foolery, when I lose a chance of +being some one not in the remotest degree like myself." +How it was, that, from one of such boundless resource +in contributing to the pleasure of his friends, there was +yet, as I have said, so comparatively little to bring +away, may be thus explained. But it has been also +seen that no one at times said better things, and to +happy examples formerly given I will add one or two +of a kind he more rarely indulged. "He is below par +on the Exchange," a friend remarked of a notorious +puffing actor; "he doesn't stand well at Lloyds." +"Yet no one stands so well with the under-writers," +said Dickens; a pun that Swift would have envied. +"I call him an Incubus!" said a non-literary friend, at a +loss to express the boredom inflicted on him by a +popular author. "Pen-and-ink-ubus, you mean," interposed +Dickens. So, when Stanfield said of his mid-shipman +son, then absent on his first cruise, "the boy +has got his sea-legs on by this time!" "I don't know," +remarked Dickens, "about his getting his sea-legs on; +but if I may judge from his writing, he certainly has +not got his A B C legs on."</p> + +<p>Other agreeable pleasantries might be largely cited +from his letters. "An old priest" (he wrote from +France in 1862), "the express image of Frederic Lemaitre +got up for the part, and very cross with the +toothache, told me in a railway carriage the other day, +that we had no antiquities in heretical England. 'None +at all?' I said. 'You have some ships however.' +'Yes; a few.' 'Are they strong?' 'Well,' said I, +'your trade is spiritual, my father: ask the ghost of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_522" id="Page_3_522">[522]</a></span> +Nelson.' A French captain who was in the carriage, +was immensely delighted with this small joke. I met +him at Calais yesterday going somewhere with a detachment; +and he said—Pardon! But he had been so +limited as to suppose an Englishman incapable of that +bonhommie!" In humouring a joke he was excellent, +both in letters and talk; and for this kind of enjoyment +his least important little notes are often worth preserving. +Take one small instance. So freely had +he admired a tale told by his friend and solicitor Mr. +Frederic Ouvry, that he had to reply to a humorous +proposal for publication of it, in his own manner, in +his own periodical. "Your modesty is equal to your +merit. . . . I think your way of describing that rustic +courtship in middle life, quite matchless. . . . A cheque +for £1000 is lying with the publisher. We would +willingly make it more, but that we find our law +charges so exceedingly heavy." His letters have also +examples now and then of what he called his conversational +triumphs. "I have distinguished myself" +(28th of April 1861) "in two respects lately. I took +a young lady, unknown, down to dinner, and, talking +to her about the Bishop of Durham's nepotism in the +matter of Mr. Cheese, I found she was Mrs. Cheese. +And I expatiated to the member for Marylebone, Lord +Fermoy, generally conceiving him to be an Irish member, +on the contemptible character of the Marylebone +constituency and Marylebone representation."</p> + +<p>Among his good things should not be omitted his +telling of a ghost story. He had something of a +hankering after them, as the readers of his briefer +pieces will know; and such was his interest generally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_523" id="Page_3_523">[523]</a></span> +in things supernatural that, but for the strong restraining +power of his common sense, he might have fallen +into the follies of spiritualism. As it was, the fanciful +side of his nature stopped short at such pardonable +superstitions as those of dreams, and lucky days, or +other marvels of natural coincidence; and no man +was readier to apply sharp tests to a ghost story or a +haunted house, though there was just so much tendency +to believe in any such, "well-authenticated," as made +perfect his manner of telling one. Such a story is related +in the 125th number of <i>All the Year Round</i>, +which before its publication both Mr. Layard and myself +saw at Gadshill, and identified as one related by +Lord Lytton. It was published in September, and in +a day or two led to what Dickens will relate. "The +artist himself who is the hero of that story" (to Lord +Lytton, 15th of September 1861) "has sent me in +black and white his own account of the whole experience, +so very original, so very extraordinary, so very +far beyond the version I have published, that all other +like stories turn pale before it." The ghost thus reinforced +came out in the number published on the 5th +of October; and the reader who cares to turn to it, +and compare what Dickens in the interval (17th of +September) wrote to myself, will have some measure +of his readiness to believe in such things. "Upon the +publication of the ghost story, up has started the portrait-painter +who saw the phantoms! His own written +story is out of all distance the most extraordinary that +ever was produced; and is as far beyond my version or +Bulwer's, as Scott is beyond James. Everything connected +with it is amazing; but conceive this—the portrait-painter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_524" id="Page_3_524">[524]</a></span> +had been engaged to write it elsewhere as +a story for next Christmas, and not unnaturally supposed, +when he saw himself anticipated in <i>All the Year +Round</i>, that there had been treachery at his printer's. +'In particular,' says he, 'how else was it possible +that the date, the 13th of September, could have been +got at? For I never told the date, until I wrote it.' +Now, <i>my</i> story had <span class="smcap">no date</span>; but seeing, when I looked +over the proof, the great importance of having <i>a</i> date, +I (C. D.) wrote in, unconsciously, the exact date on +the margin of the proof!" The reader will remember +the Doncaster race story; and to other like illustrations +of the subject already given, may be added this dream. +"Here is a curious case at first-hand" (30th of May +1863). "On Thursday night in last week, being at +the office here, I dreamed that I saw a lady in a red +shawl with her back towards me (whom I supposed to +be E.). On her turning round I found that I didn't +know her, and she said 'I am Miss Napier.' All the +time I was dressing next morning, I thought—What a +preposterous thing to have so very distinct a dream +about nothing! and why Miss Napier? for I never +heard of any Miss Napier. That same Friday night, I +read. After the reading, came into my retiring-room, +Mary Boyle and her brother, and <i>the</i> Lady in the red +shawl whom they present as 'Miss Napier!' These +are all the circumstances, exactly told."</p> + +<p>Another kind of dream has had previous record, with +no superstition to build itself upon but the loving devotion +to one tender memory. With longer or shorter +intervals this was with him all his days. Never from +his waking thoughts was the recollection altogether<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_525" id="Page_3_525">[525]</a></span> +absent; and though the dream would leave him for a +time, it unfailingly came back. It was the feeling of +his life that always had a mastery over him. What he +said on the sixth anniversary of the death of his sister-in-law, +that friend of his youth whom he had made his +ideal of all moral excellence, he might have said as truly +after twenty-six years more. In the very year before +he died, the influence was potently upon him. "She +is so much in my thoughts at all times, especially when +I am successful, and have greatly prospered in anything, +that the recollection of her is an essential part of my +being, and is as inseparable from my existence as the +beating of my heart is." Through later troubled years, +whatever was worthiest in him found in this an ark +of safety; and it was the nobler part of his being which +had thus become also the essential. It gave to success +what success by itself had no power to give; and +nothing could consist with it, for any length of time, +that was not of good report and pure. What more +could I say that was not better said from the pulpit of +the Abbey where he rests?</p> + +<p>"He whom we mourn was the friend of mankind, a +philanthropist in the true sense; the friend of youth, +the friend of the poor, the enemy of every form of +meanness and oppression. I am not going to attempt +to draw a portrait of him. Men of genius are different +from what we suppose them to be. They have greater +pleasures and greater pains, greater affections and +greater temptations, than the generality of mankind, +and they can never be altogether understood by their +fellow men. . . . But we feel that a light has gone out, +that the world is darker to us, when they depart.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_526" id="Page_3_526">[526]</a></span> +There are so very few of them that we cannot afford to +lose them one by one, and we look vainly round for +others who may supply their places. He whose loss +we now mourn occupied a greater space than any other +writer in the minds of Englishmen during the last thirty-three +years. We read him, talked about him, acted +him; we laughed with him; we were roused by him +to a consciousness of the misery of others, and to a +pathetic interest in human life. Works of fiction, indirectly, +are great instructors of this world; and we can +hardly exaggerate the debt of gratitude which is due to +a writer who has led us to sympathize with these good, +true, sincere, honest English characters of ordinary life, +and to laugh at the egotism, the hypocrisy, the false +respectability of religious professors and others. To +another great humourist who lies in this Church the +words have been applied that his death eclipsed the +gaiety of nations. But of him who has been recently +taken I would rather say, in humbler language, that no +one was ever so much beloved or so much mourned."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_527" id="Page_3_527">[527]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + +<h3>1869-1870.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot">Visit from Mr. and Mrs. Fields—Places shown to Visitor—Last +Paper in <i>All the Year Round</i>—Son Henry's Scholarship—A +Reading of <i>Edwin Drood</i>—Medical Attendance at Readings—Excitement +after <i>Oliver Twist</i> Scenes—Farewell Address—Results of +Over Excitement—Last Appearances in Public—Death of Daniel +Maclise—Temptations of London—Another Attack in the Foot—Noteworthy +Incident—Tribute of Gratitude for his Books—Last +Letter from him—Last Days—Thoughts on his Last Day of Consciousness—The +Close—General Mourning—Wish to bury him in +the Abbey—His Own Wish—The Burial—Unbidden Mourners—The +Grave.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> summer and autumn of 1869 were passed quietly +at Gadshill. He received there, in June, the American +friends to whom he had been most indebted for unwearying +domestic kindness at his most trying time in +the States. In August, he was at the dinner of the +International boat-race; and, in a speech that might +have gone far to reconcile the victors to changing places +with the vanquished, gave the healths of the Harvard +and the Oxford crews. He went to Birmingham, in +September, to fulfil a promise that he would open the +session of the Institute; and there, after telling his +audience that his invention, such as it was, never would +have served him as it had done, but for the habit of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_528" id="Page_3_528">[528]</a></span> +commonplace, patient, drudging attention, he declared +his political creed to be infinitesimal faith in the people +governing and illimitable faith in the People governed. +In such engagements as these, with nothing of the kind +of strain he had most to dread, there was hardly more +movement or change than was necessary to his enjoyment +of rest.</p> + +<p>He had been able to show Mr. Fields something of +the interest of London as well as of his Kentish home. +He went over its "general post-office" with him, took +him among its cheap theatres and poor lodging-houses, +and piloted him by night through its most notorious +thieves' quarter. Its localities that are pleasantest to a +lover of books, such as Johnson's Bolt-court and Goldsmith's +Temple-chambers, he explored with him; and, +at his visitor's special request, mounted a staircase he +had not ascended for more than thirty years, to show +the chambers in Furnival's Inn where the first page of +<i>Pickwick</i> was written. One more book, unfinished, +was to close what that famous book began; and the +original of the scene of its opening chapter, the opium-eater's +den, was the last place visited. "In a miserable +court at night," says Mr. Fields, "we found a +haggard old woman blowing at a kind of pipe made of +an old ink-bottle; and the words which Dickens puts +into the mouth of this wretched creature in <i>Edwin +Drood</i>, we heard her croon as we leaned over the tattered +bed in which she was lying."</p> + +<p>Before beginning his novel he had written his last +paper for his weekly publication. It was a notice of +my <i>Life of Landor</i>, and contained some interesting +recollections of that remarkable man. His memory at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_529" id="Page_3_529">[529]</a></span> +this time dwelt much, as was only natural, with past +pleasant time, as he saw familiar faces leaving us or +likely to leave; and, on the death of one of the comedians +associated with the old bright days of Covent +Garden, I had intimation of a fancy that had never +quitted him since the Cheltenham reading. "I see in +the paper to-day that Meadows is dead. I had a talk +with him at Coutts's a week or two ago, when he said +he was seventy-five, and very weak. Except for having +a tearful eye, he looked just the same as ever. My mind +still constantly misgives me concerning Macready. +Curiously, I don't think he has been ever, for ten minutes +together, out of my thoughts since I talked with +Meadows last. Well, the year that brings trouble +brings comfort too: I have a great success in the boy-line +to announce to you. Harry has won the second +scholarship at Trinity Hall, which gives him £50 a +year as long as he stays there; and I begin to hope that +he will get a fellowship." I doubt if anything ever +more truly pleased him than this little success of his +son Henry at Cambridge. Henry missed the fellowship, +but was twenty-ninth wrangler in a fair year, when +the wranglers were over forty.</p> + +<p>He finished his first number of <i>Edwin Drood</i> in the +third week of October, and on the 26th read it at my +house with great spirit. A few nights before we had +seen together at the Olympic a little drama taken from +his <i>Copperfield</i>, which he sat out with more than patience, +even with something of enjoyment; and another pleasure +was given him that night by its author, Mr. Halliday, +who brought into the box another dramatist, Mr. +Robertson, to whom Dickens, who then first saw him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_530" id="Page_3_530">[530]</a></span> +said that to himself the charm of his little comedies +was "their unassuming form," which had so happily +shown that "real wit could afford to put off any airs of +pretension to it." He was at Gadshill till the close of +the year; coming up for a few special occasions, such +as Procter's eighty-second birthday; and at my house +on new-year's eve he read to us, again aloud, a fresh +number of his book. Yet these very last days of December +had not been without a reminder of the grave +warnings of April. The pains in somewhat modified +form had returned in both his left hand and his left +foot a few days before we met; and they were troubling +him still on that day. But he made so light of them +himself; so little thought of connecting them with the +uncertainties of touch and tread of which they were +really part; and read with such an overflow of humour +Mr. Honeythunder's boisterous philanthropy; that there +was no room, then, for anything but enjoyment. His +only allusion to an effect from his illness was his mention +of a now invincible dislike which he had to railway +travel. This had decided him to take a London +house for the twelve last readings in the early months +of 1870, and he had become Mr. Milner-Gibson's +tenant at 5, Hyde Park Place.</p> + +<p>St. James's Hall was to be the scene of these Readings, +and they were to occupy the interval from the +11th of January to the 15th of March; two being given +in each week to the close of January, and the remaining +eight on each of the eight Tuesdays following. Nothing +was said of any kind of apprehension as the time approached; +but, with a curious absence of the sense of +danger, there was certainly both distrust and fear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_531" id="Page_3_531">[531]</a></span> +Sufficient precaution was supposed to have been taken<a name="FNanchor_303_303" id="FNanchor_303_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> +by arrangement for the presence, at each reading, of +his friend and medical attendant, Mr. Carr Beard; but +this resolved itself, not into any measure of safety, the +case admitting of none short of stopping the reading +altogether, but simply into ascertainment of the exact +amount of strain and pressure, which, with every fresh +exertion, he was placing on those vessels of the brain +where the Preston trouble too surely had revealed that +danger lay. No supposed force in reserve, no dominant +strength of will, can turn aside the penalties sternly +exacted for disregard of such laws of life as were here +plainly overlooked; and though no one may say that it +was not already too late for any but the fatal issue,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_532" id="Page_3_532">[532]</a></span> +there will be no presumption in believing that life +might yet have been for some time prolonged if these +readings could have been stopped.</p> + +<p>"I am a little shaken," he wrote on the 9th of January, +"by my journey to Birmingham to give away the +Institution's prizes on Twelfth Night, but I am in good +heart; and, notwithstanding Lowe's worrying scheme +for collecting a year's taxes in a lump, which they tell +me is damaging books, pictures, music, and theatres +beyond precedent, our 'let' at St. James's Hall is +enormous." He opened with <i>Copperfield</i> and the +<i>Pickwick Trial;</i> and I may briefly mention, from the +notes taken by Mr. Beard and placed at my disposal, +at what cost of exertion to himself he gratified the +crowded audiences that then and to the close made +these evenings memorable. His ordinary pulse on the +first night was at 72; but never on any subsequent +night was lower than 82, and had risen on the later +nights to more than 100. After <i>Copperfield</i> on the +first night it went up to 96, and after <i>Marigold</i> on the +second to 99; but on the first night of the <i>Sikes and +Nancy</i> scenes (Friday the 21st of January) it went +from 80 to 112, and on the second night (the 1st of +February) to 118. From this, through the six remaining +nights, it never was lower than 110 after the first +piece read; and after the third and fourth readings of +the <i>Oliver Twist</i> scenes it rose, from 90 to 124 on the +15th of February, and from 94 to 120 on the 8th of +March; on the former occasion, after twenty minutes' +rest, falling to 98, and on the latter, after fifteen minutes' +rest, falling to 82. His ordinary pulse on entering +the room, during these last six nights, was more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_533" id="Page_3_533">[533]</a></span> +than once over 100, and never lower than 84; from +which it rose, after <i>Nickleby</i> on the 22nd of February, +to 112. On the 8th of February, when he read <i>Dombey</i>, +it had risen from 91 to 114; on the 1st of March, +after <i>Copperfield</i>, it rose from 100 to 124; and when he +entered the room on the last night it was at 108, having +risen only two beats more when the reading was done. +The pieces on this occasion were the <i>Christmas Carol</i>, +followed by the <i>Pickwick Trial;</i> and probably in all +his life he never read so well. On his return from the +States, where he had to address his effects to audiences +composed of immense numbers of people, a certain loss +of refinement had been observable; but the old delicacy +was now again delightfully manifest, and a subdued +tone, as well in the humorous as the serious portions, +gave something to all the reading as of a quiet sadness +of farewell. The charm of this was at its height when +he shut the volume of <i>Pickwick</i> and spoke in his own +person. He said that for fifteen years he had been +reading his own books to audiences whose sensitive +and kindly recognition of them had given him instruction +and enjoyment in his art such as few men could +have had; but that he nevertheless thought it well +now to retire upon older associations, and in future to +devote himself exclusively to the calling which had +first made him known. "In but two short weeks from +this time I hope that you may enter, in your own +homes, on a new series of readings at which my assistance +will be indispensable; but from these garish +lights I vanish now for evermore, with a heartfelt, +grateful, respectful, affectionate farewell." The brief +hush of silence as he moved from the platform; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_534" id="Page_3_534">[534]</a></span> +the prolonged tumult of sound that followed suddenly, +stayed him, and again for another moment brought him +back; will not be forgotten by any present.</p> + +<p>Little remains to be told that has not in it almost +unmixed pain and sorrow. Hardly a day passed, while +the readings went on or after they closed, unvisited by +some effect or other of the disastrous excitement shown +by the notes of Mr. Beard. On the 23rd of January, +when for the last time he met Carlyle, he came to us +with his left hand in a sling; on the 7th of February, +when he passed with us his last birthday, and on the +25th, when he read the third number of his novel, the +hand was still swollen and painful; and on the 21st of +March, when he read admirably his fourth number, he +told us that as he came along, walking up the length +of Oxford-street, the same incident had recurred as on +the day of a former dinner with us, and he had not +been able to read, all the way, more than the right-hand +half of the names over the shops. Yet he had +the old fixed persuasion that this was rather the effect +of a medicine he had been taking than of any grave +cause, and he still strongly believed his other troubles +to be exclusively local. Eight days later he wrote: +"My uneasiness and hemorrhage, after having quite +left me, as I supposed, has come back with an aggravated +irritability that it has not yet displayed. You +have no idea what a state I am in to-day from a sudden +violent rush of it; and yet it has not the slightest effect +on my general health that I know of." This was a disorder +which troubled him in his earlier life; and during +the last five years, in his intervals of suffering from other +causes, it had from time to time taken aggravated form.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_535" id="Page_3_535">[535]</a></span></p> + +<p>His last public appearances were in April. On the +5th he took the chair for the Newsvendors, whom he +helped with a genial address in which even his apology +for little speaking overflowed with irrepressible humour. +He would try, he said, like Falstaff, "but with a modification +almost as large as himself," less to speak himself +than to be the cause of speaking in others. "Much +in this manner they exhibit at the door of a snuff-shop +the effigy of a Highlander with an empty mull in his +hand, who, apparently having taken all the snuff he +can carry, and discharged all the sneezes of which he +is capable, politely invites his friends and patrons to +step in and try what they can do in the same line." +On the 30th of the same month he returned thanks for +"Literature" at the Royal Academy dinner, and I may +preface my allusion to what he then said with what he +had written to me the day before. Three days earlier +Daniel Maclise had passed away. "Like you at Ely, +so I at Higham, had the shock of first reading at a +railway station of the death of our old dear friend and +companion. What the shock would be, you know too +well. It has been only after great difficulty, and after +hardening and steeling myself to the subject by at once +thinking of it and avoiding it in a strange way, that I +have been able to get any command over it or over +myself. If I feel at the time that I can be sure of the +necessary composure, I shall make a little reference to +it at the Academy to-morrow. I suppose you won't be +there."<a name="FNanchor_304_304" id="FNanchor_304_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_304_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> The reference made was most touching and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_536" id="Page_3_536">[536]</a></span> +manly. He told those who listened that since he first +entered the public lists, a very young man indeed, it +had been his constant fortune to number among his +nearest and dearest friends members of that Academy +who had been its pride; and who had now, one by +one, so dropped from his side that he was grown to +believe, with the Spanish monk of whom Wilkie spoke, +that the only realities around him were the pictures +which he loved, and all the moving life but a shadow +and a dream. "For many years I was one of the two +most intimate friends and most constant companions +of Mr. Maclise, to whose death the Prince of Wales +has made allusion, and the President has referred with +the eloquence of genuine feeling. Of his genius in his +chosen art, I will venture to say nothing here; but of +his fertility of mind and wealth of intellect I may confidently +assert that they would have made him, if he +had been so minded, at least as great a writer as he was +a painter. The gentlest and most modest of men, the +freshest as to his generous appreciation of young aspirants +and the frankest and largest hearted as to his peers, +incapable of a sordid or ignoble thought, gallantly sustaining<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_537" id="Page_3_537">[537]</a></span> +the true dignity of his vocation, without one +grain of self-ambition, wholesomely natural at the last +as at the first, 'in wit a man, simplicity a child,'—no +artist of whatsoever denomination, I make bold to say, +ever went to his rest leaving a golden memory more +pure from dross, or having devoted himself with a truer +chivalry to the art-goddess whom he worshipped." +These were the last public words of Dickens, and he +could not have spoken any worthier.</p> + +<p>Upon his appearance at the dinner of the Academy +had followed some invitations he was led to accept; +greatly to his own regret, he told me on the night (7th +of May) when he read to us the fifth number of <i>Edwin +Drood;</i> for he was now very eager to get back to the +quiet of Gadshill. He dined with Mr. Motley, then +American minister; had met Mr. Disraeli at a dinner +at Lord Stanhope's; had breakfasted with Mr. Gladstone; +and on the 17th was to attend the Queen's ball +with his daughter. But she had to go there without +him; for on the 16th I had intimation of a sudden +disablement. "I am sorry to report, that, in the old +preposterous endeavour to dine at preposterous hours +and preposterous places, I have been pulled up by a +sharp attack in my foot. And serve me right. I hope +to get the better of it soon, but I fear I must not think +of dining with you on Friday. I have cancelled everything +in the dining way for this week, and that is a +very small precaution after the horrible pain I have had +and the remedies I have taken." He had to excuse +himself also from the General Theatrical Fund dinner, +where the Prince of Wales was to preside; but at another +dinner a week later, where the King of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_538" id="Page_3_538">[538]</a></span> +Belgians and the Prince were to be present, so much +pressure was put upon him that he went, still suffering +as he was, to dine with Lord Houghton.</p> + +<p>We met for the last time on Sunday the 22nd of May, +when I dined with him in Hyde Park Place. The +death of Mr. Lemon, of which he heard that day, had +led his thoughts to the crowd of friendly companions +in letters and art who had so fallen from the ranks since +we played Ben Jonson together that we were left almost +alone. "And none beyond his sixtieth year," he said, +"very few even fifty." It is no good to talk of it, I +suggested. "We shall not think of it the less" was +his reply; and an illustration much to the point was +before us, afforded by an incident deserving remembrance +in his story. Not many weeks before, a correspondent +had written to him from Liverpool describing +himself as a self-raised man, attributing his prosperous +career to what Dickens's writings had taught him at its +outset of the wisdom of kindness, and sympathy for +others; and asking pardon for the liberty he took in +hoping that he might be permitted to offer some acknowledgment +of what not only had cheered and +stimulated him through all his life, but had contributed +so much to the success of it. The letter enclosed +£500. Dickens was greatly touched by this; and told +the writer, in sending back his cheque, that he would +certainly have taken it if he had not been, though not +a man of fortune, a prosperous man himself; but that +the letter, and the spirit of its offer, had so gratified +him, that if the writer pleased to send him any small +memorial of it in another form he would gladly receive +it. The memorial soon came. A richly worked basket<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_539" id="Page_3_539">[539]</a></span> +of silver, inscribed "from one who has been cheered +and stimulated by Mr. Dickens's writings, and held the +author among his first remembrances when he became +prosperous," was accompanied by an extremely handsome +silver centrepiece for the table, of which the +design was <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'for'">four</ins> figures representing the Seasons. But +the kindly donor shrank from sending Winter to one +whom he would fain connect with none but the brighter +and milder days, and he had struck the fourth figure +from the design. "I never look at it," said Dickens, +"that I don't think most of the Winter."</p> + +<p>A matter discussed that day with Mr. Ouvry was +briefly resumed in a note of the 29th of May, the last +I ever received from him; which followed me to +Exeter, and closed thus. "You and I can speak of it +at Gads by and by. Foot no worse. But no better." +The old trouble was upon him when we parted, and +this must have been nearly the last note written before +he quitted London. He was at Gadshill on the 30th +of May; and I heard no more until the telegram +reached me at Launceston on the night of the 9th of +June, which told me that the "by and by" was not to +come in this world.</p> + +<p>The few days at Gadshill had been given wholly to +work on his novel. He had been easier in his foot and +hand; and, though he was suffering severely from the +local hemorrhage before named, he made no complaint +of illness. But there was observed in him a very unusual +appearance of fatigue. "He seemed very weary." +He was out with his dogs for the last time on Monday +the 6th of June, when he walked with his letters into +Rochester. On Tuesday the 7th, after his daughter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_540" id="Page_3_540">[540]</a></span> +Mary had left on a visit to her sister Kate, not finding +himself equal to much fatigue, he drove to Cobhamwood +with his sister-in-law, there dismissed the carriage, +and walked round the park and back. He returned +in time to put up in his new conservatory some +Chinese lanterns sent from London that afternoon; +and, the whole of the evening, he sat with Miss Hogarth +in the dining-room that he might see their effect +when lighted. More than once he then expressed his +satisfaction at having finally abandoned all intention +of exchanging Gadshill for London; and this he had +done more impressively some days before. While he +lived, he said, he should like his name to be more and +more associated with the place; and he had a notion +that when he died he should like to lie in the little +graveyard belonging to the Cathedral at the foot of the +Castle wall.</p> + +<p>On the 8th of June he passed all the day writing in +the Châlet. He came over for luncheon; and, much +against his usual custom, returned to his desk. Of the +sentences he was then writing, the last of his long life +of literature, a portion has been given in facsimile on +a previous page; and the reader will observe with a +painful interest, not alone its evidence of minute labour +at this fast-closing hour of time with him, but the +direction his thoughts had taken. He imagines such +a brilliant morning as had risen with that eighth of +June shining on the old city of Rochester. He sees +in surpassing beauty, with the lusty ivy gleaming in the +sun, and the rich trees waving in the balmy air, its +antiquities and its ruins; its Cathedral and Castle. +But his fancy, then, is not with the stern dead forms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_541" id="Page_3_541">[541]</a></span> +of either; but with that which makes warm the cold +stone tombs of centuries, and lights them up with flecks +of brightness, "fluttering there like wings." To him, +on that sunny summer morning, the changes of glorious +light from moving boughs, the songs of birds, the +scents from garden, woods, and fields, have penetrated +into the Cathedral, have subdued its earthy odour, +and are preaching the Resurrection and the Life.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>He was late in leaving the Châlet; but before dinner, +which was ordered at six o'clock with the intention +of walking afterwards in the lanes, he wrote some letters, +among them one to his friend Mr. Charles Kent +appointing to see him in London next day; and dinner +was begun before Miss Hogarth saw, with alarm, a +singular expression of trouble and pain in his face. +"For an hour," he then told her, "he had been very +ill;" but he wished dinner to go on. These were the +only really coherent words uttered by him. They were +followed by some, that fell from him disconnectedly, +of quite other matters; of an approaching sale at a +neighbour's house, of whether Macready's son was +with his father at Cheltenham, and of his own intention +to go immediately to London; but at these latter +he had risen, and his sister-in-law's help alone prevented +him from falling where he stood. Her effort +then was to get him on the sofa, but after a slight +struggle he sank heavily on his left side. "On the +ground" were the last words he spoke. It was now a +little over ten minutes past six o'clock. His two +daughters came that night with Mr. Beard, who had +also been telegraphed for, and whom they met at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_542" id="Page_3_542">[542]</a></span> +station. His eldest son arrived early next morning, and +was joined in the evening (too late) by his younger +son from Cambridge. All possible medical aid had +been summoned. The surgeon of the neighbourhood +was there from the first, and a physician from London +was in attendance as well as Mr. Beard. But all human +help was unavailing. There was effusion on the brain; +and though stertorous breathing continued all night, +and until ten minutes past six o'clock on the evening +of Thursday the 9th of June, there had never been a +gleam of hope during the twenty-four hours. He had +lived four months beyond his 58th year.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The excitement and sorrow at his death are within +the memory of all. Before the news of it even reached +the remoter parts of England, it had been flashed +across Europe; was known in the distant continents +of India, Australia, and America; and not in English-speaking +communities only, but in every country of +the civilised earth, had awakened grief and sympathy. +In his own land it was as if a personal bereavement +had befallen every one. Her Majesty the Queen telegraphed +from Balmoral "her deepest regret at the sad +news of Charles Dickens's death;" and this was the +sentiment alike of all classes of her people. There was +not an English journal that did not give it touching +and noble utterance; and the <i>Times</i> took the lead in +suggesting<a name="FNanchor_305_305" id="FNanchor_305_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> that the only fit resting-place for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_543" id="Page_3_543">[543]</a></span> +remains of a man so dear to England was the Abbey +in which the most illustrious Englishmen are laid.</p> + +<p>With the expression thus given to a general wish, +the Dean of Westminster lost no time in showing ready +compliance; and on the morning of the day when it +appeared was in communication with the family and +representatives. The public homage of a burial in the +Abbey had to be reconciled with his own instructions +to be privately buried without previous announcement +of time or place, and without monument or memorial. +He would himself have preferred to lie in the small +graveyard under Rochester Castle wall, or in the little +churches of Cobham or Shorne; but all these were +found to be closed; and the desire of the Dean and +Chapter of Rochester to lay him in their Cathedral had +been entertained, when the Dean of Westminster's +request, and the considerate kindness of his generous +assurance that there should be only such ceremonial as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_544" id="Page_3_544">[544]</a></span> +would strictly obey all injunctions of privacy, made it +a grateful duty to accept that offer. The spot already +had been chosen by the Dean; and before mid-day on +the following morning, Tuesday the 14th of June, with +knowledge of those only who took part in the burial, +all was done. The solemnity had not lost by the simplicity. +Nothing so grand or so touching could have +accompanied it, as the stillness and the silence of the +vast Cathedral. Then, later in the day and all the +following day, came unbidden mourners in such crowds, +that the Dean had to request permission to keep open +the grave until Thursday; but after it was closed they +did not cease to come, and "all day long," Doctor +Stanley wrote on the 17th, "there was a constant pressure +to the spot, and many flowers were strewn upon it +by unknown hands, many tears shed from unknown +eyes." He alluded to this in the impressive funeral +discourse delivered by him in the Abbey on the morning +of Sunday the 19th, pointing to the fresh flowers +that then had been newly thrown (as they still are +thrown, in this fourth year after the death), and saying +that "the spot would thenceforward be a sacred one +with both the New World and the Old, as that of the +representative of the literature, not of this island only, +but of all who speak our English tongue." The stone +placed upon it is inscribed</p> + +<div class='center'> +<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Born February the Seventh 1812. Died June the<br /> +Ninth 1870.</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 373px;"> +<img src="images/image28_grave.jpg" width="373" height="600" alt="Grave" title="Grave" /> +</div> + +<p>The highest associations of both the arts he loved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_545" id="Page_3_545">[545]</a></span> +surround him where he lies. Next to him is <span class="smcap">Richard +Cumberland</span>. Mrs. <span class="smcap">Pritchard's</span> monument looks +down upon him, and immediately behind is <span class="smcap">David +Garrick's</span>. Nor is the actor's delightful art more +worthily represented than the nobler genius of the +author. Facing the grave, and on its left and right, +are the monuments of <span class="smcap">Chaucer</span>, <span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>, and +<span class="smcap">Dryden</span>, the three immortals who did most to create +and settle the language to which <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span> has +given another undying name.</p> + + +<div class='center'><b>FINIS.</b></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_546" id="Page_3_546">[546]</a></span></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_547" id="Page_3_547">[547]</a></span></p> +<h2>APPENDIX.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>I.</h2> + +<h3>THE WRITINGS OF CHARLES DICKENS.</h3> + + +<h3>1835.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Sketches by Boz.</span> Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day +People. (The detached papers collected under this title were +in course of publication during this year, in the pages of the +<i>Monthly Magazine</i> and the columns of the <i>Morning</i> and the +<i>Evening Chronicle</i>.) i. <a href="#Page_97">97</a>; <a href="#Page_104">104</a>; <a href="#Page_105">105</a>; <a href="#Page_107">107</a>; <a href="#Page_113">113</a>; <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1836.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Sketches by Boz.</span> Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day +People. Two volumes: Illustrations by George Cruikshank. +(Preface dated from Furnival's Inn, February 1836.) John +Macrone.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.</span> Edited by +Boz. With Illustrations by R. Seymour and Phiz (Hablot +Browne). (Nine numbers published monthly from April to +December.) Chapman and Hall.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Sunday under Three Heads.</span> As it is; as Sabbath Bills would +make it; as it might be made. By Timothy Sparks. Illustrated +by H. K. B. (Hablot Browne). Dedicated (June 1836) +to the Bishop of London. Chapman & Hall. i. <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Strange Gentleman.</span> A Comic Burletta, in two acts. By +"Boz." (Performed at the St. James's Theatre, 29th of September +1836, and published with the imprint of 1837.) Chapman +& Hall. i. <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Village Coquettes.</span> A Comic Opera, in two acts. By<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_548" id="Page_3_548">[548]</a></span> +Charles Dickens. The Music by John Hullah. (Dedication +to Mr. Braham is dated from Furnival's Inn, 15th of December +1836.) Richard Bentley. i. <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Sketches by Boz.</span> Illustrated by George Cruikshank. Second +Series. One volume. (Preface dated from Furnival's Inn, +17th of December 1836.) John Macrone.</div> + + +<h3>1837.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.</span> Edited by +Boz. (Eleven numbers, the last being a double number, published +monthly from January to November. Issued complete +in the latter month, with Dedication to Mr. Serjeant Talfourd +dated from Doughty-street, 27th of September, as <i>The +Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. By Charles Dickens.</i>) +Chapman & Hall. i. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>-<a href="#Page_113">113</a>; <a href="#Page_125">125</a>-<a href="#Page_132">132</a>. iii. <a href="#Page_3_343">343</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Oliver Twist; or the Parish Boy's Progress.</span> By Boz. +Begun in <i>Bentley's Miscellany</i> for January, and continued +throughout the year. Richard Bentley.</div> + + +<h3>1838.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Oliver Twist.</span> By Charles Dickens, Author of the Pickwick +Papers. With Illustrations by George Cruikshank. Three +volumes. (Had appeared in monthly portions, in the numbers +of <i>Bentley's Miscellany</i> for 1837 and 1838, with the title +of <i>Oliver Twist; or the Parish Boy's Progress</i>. By Boz. +Illustrated by George Cruikshank. The Third Edition, +with Preface dated Devonshire-terrace, March 1841, published +by Messrs. Chapman & Hall.) Richard Bentley. i. +<a href="#Page_121">121</a>; <a href="#Page_124">124</a>-<a href="#Page_126">126</a>; <a href="#Page_152">152</a>-<a href="#Page_164">164</a>. iii. <a href="#Page_3_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_3_25">25</a>; <a href="#Page_3_343">343</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi.</span> Edited by "Boz." Illustrated +by George Cruikshank. Two volumes. (For Dickens's +small share in the composition of this work, his preface to +which is dated from Doughty-street, February 1838, see i. +<a href="#Page_141">141</a>-<a href="#Page_143">143</a>.) Richard Bentley.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Sketches of Young Gentlemen.</span> Illustrated by Phiz. Chapman +& Hall. i. <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.</span> By Charles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_549" id="Page_3_549">[549]</a></span> +Dickens. With Illustrations by Phiz (Hablot Browne). (Nine +numbers published monthly from April to December.) Chapman +& Hall.</div> + + +<h3>1839.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.</span> (Eleven numbers, +the last being a double number, published monthly +from January to October. Issued complete in the latter +month, with dedication to William Charles Macready.) Chapman +& Hall. i. <a href="#Page_145">145</a>; <a href="#Page_165">165</a>-<a href="#Page_179">179</a>. ii. <a href="#Page_2_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_2_100">100</a>; <a href="#Page_2_102">102</a>. iii. <a href="#Page_3_344">344</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Sketches by Boz.</span> Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day +People. With forty Illustrations by George Cruikshank. +(The first complete edition, issued in monthly parts uniform +with <i>Pickwick</i> and <i>Nickleby</i>, from November 1837 to June +1839, with preface dated 15th of May 1839.) Chapman & +Hall. i. <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1840.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Sketches of Young Couples;</span> with an urgent Remonstrance to +the Gentlemen of England, being Bachelors or Widowers, at +the present alarming crisis. By the Author of Sketches of +Young Gentlemen. Illustrated by Phiz. Chapman & Hall, +i. <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1840-1841.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Master Humphrey's Clock.</span> By Charles Dickens. With Illustrations +by George Cattermole and Hablot Browne. Three +volumes. (First and second volume, each 306 pp.; third, +426 pp.) For the account of this work, published in 88 weekly +numbers, extending over the greater part of these two years, see +i. <a href="#Page_191">191</a>-<a href="#Page_203">203</a>; <a href="#Page_240">240</a>; <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>. In addition to occasional detached +papers and a series of sketches entitled <span class="smcap">Mr. Weller's Watch</span>, +occupying altogether about 90 pages of the first volume, 4 +pages of the second, and 5 pages of the third, which have not +yet appeared in any other collected form, this serial comprised +the stories of The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge; +each ultimately sold separately in a single volume, from which +the pages of the <i>Clock</i> were detached. Chapman and Hall.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_550" id="Page_3_550">[550]</a></span></div> + +<h3>I. <span class="smcap">Old Curiosity Shop</span> (1840).</h3> + +<div class='hang1'>Began at p. 37 of vol. i.; resumed at intervals up to the appearance +of the ninth chapter; from the ninth chapter at p. +133, continued without interruption to the close of the volume +(then issued with dedication to Samuel Rogers and preface +from Devonshire-terrace, dated September 1840); resumed +in the second volume, and carried on to the close of the tale +at p. 223. i. <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a href="#Page_216">216</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_3_345">345</a>.</div> + +<h3>II. <span class="smcap">Barnaby Rudge</span> (1841).</h3> + +<div class='hang1'>Introduced by brief paper from Master Humphrey (pp. 224-8), +and carried to end of Chapter XII. in the closing 78 pages of +volume ii., which was issued with a preface dated in March +1841. Chapter XIII. began the third volume, and the story +closed with its 82nd chapter at p. 420; a closing paper from +Master Humphrey (pp. 421—426) then winding up the Clock, +of which the concluding volume was published with a preface +dated November 1841. i. <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>; <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_149">149</a>; <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-<a href="#Page_163">163</a>; +<a href="#Page_223">223</a>-<a href="#Page_225">225</a>; <a href="#Page_232">232</a>-<a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1841.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Pic-Nic Papers</span> by Various Hands. Edited by Charles +Dickens. With Illustrations by George Cruikshank, Phiz, &c. +Three volumes. (To this Book, edited for the benefit of Mrs. +Macrone, widow of his old publisher, Dickens contributed a +preface and the opening story, the <i>Lamplighter</i>.) Henry +Colburn. i. <a href="#Page_124">124</a>; <a href="#Page_183">183</a>; <a href="#Page_240">240</a>; <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1842.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">American Notes for General Circulation.</span> By Charles +Dickens. Two volumes. Chapman and Hall. ii. <a href="#Page_2_21">21</a>-<a href="#Page_2_39">39</a>; <a href="#Page_2_50">50</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1843.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit.</span> With +Illustrations by Hablot Browne. (Begun in January, and, up +to the close of the year, twelve monthly numbers published). +Chapman & Hall.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_551" id="Page_3_551">[551]</a></span></div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Christmas Carol in Prose.</span> Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. +By Charles Dickens. With Illustrations by John Leech. +(Preface dated December 1843.) Chapman & Hall. ii. <a href="#Page_2_60">60</a>, +<a href="#Page_2_61">61</a>; <a href="#Page_2_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_2_72">72</a>; <a href="#Page_2_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_2_92">92</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1844.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit.</span> With +Illustrations by Hablot Browne. (Eight monthly numbers +issued; the last being a double number, between January and +July; in which latter month the completed work was published, +with dedication to Miss Burdett Coutts, and Preface +dated 25th of June.) Chapman & Hall. ii. <a href="#Page_2_44">44</a>-<a href="#Page_2_46">46</a>; <a href="#Page_2_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_2_51">51</a>; +<a href="#Page_2_63">63</a>-<a href="#Page_2_65">65</a>; <a href="#Page_2_74">74</a>-<a href="#Page_2_84">84</a>; <a href="#Page_2_99">99</a>-<a href="#Page_2_103">103</a>. iii. <a href="#Page_3_345">345</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Evenings of a Working Man.</span> By John Overs. With a Preface +relative to the Author, by Charles Dickens. (Dedication +to Doctor Elliotson, and Preface dated in June.) T. C. +Newby. ii. <a href="#Page_2_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_2_110">110</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Chimes:</span> a Goblin Story of some Bells that Rang an Old +Year out and a New Year in. By Charles Dickens. With +Illustrations by Maclise R.A., Stanfield R.A., Richard Doyle, +and John Leech. Chapman & Hall. ii. <a href="#Page_2_143">143</a>-<a href="#Page_2_147">147</a>; <a href="#Page_2_151">151</a>-<a href="#Page_2_157">157</a>; +<a href="#Page_2_160">160</a>-<a href="#Page_2_162">162</a>; <a href="#Page_2_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_2_175">175</a>; <a href="#Page_2_179">179</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1845.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Cricket on the Hearth.</span> A Fairy Tale of Home. By +Charles Dickens. With Illustrations by Maclise R.A., Stanfield +R.A., Edwin Landseer R.A., Richard Doyle, and John +Leech. (Dedication to Lord Jeffrey dated in December 1845.) +Bradbury & Evans (for the Author). ii. <a href="#Page_2_202">202</a>-<a href="#Page_2_204">204</a>; <a href="#Page_2_215">215</a>; <a href="#Page_2_445">445</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1846.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Pictures from Italy.</span> By Charles Dickens. (Published originally +in the <i>Daily News</i> from January to March 1846, with +the title of "Travelling Letters written on the Road.") Bradbury +& Evans (for the Author). ii. <a href="#Page_2_88">88</a>; <a href="#Page_2_105">105</a>; <a href="#Page_2_163">163</a>-<a href="#Page_2_167">167</a>; <a href="#Page_2_191">191</a>; +<a href="#Page_2_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_2_220">220</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son, Wholesale, +Retail, and for Exportation.</span> By Charles Dickens.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_552" id="Page_3_552">[552]</a></span> +With Illustrations by Hablot Browne. (Three monthly numbers +published, from October to the close of the year.) Bradbury +& Evans. (During this year Messrs. Bradbury & Evans +published "for the Author," in numbers uniform with the +other serials, and afterwards in a single volume, <i>The Adventures +of Oliver Twist, or the Parish Boy's Progress</i>. By +Charles Dickens. With 24 Illustrations by George Cruikshank. +A new Edition, revised and corrected.).</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Battle of Life.</span> A Love Story. By Charles Dickens. +Illustrated by Maclise R.A., Stanfield R.A., Richard Doyle, +and John Leech. (Dedicated to his "English Friends in +Switzerland.") Bradbury & Evans (for the Author). ii. <a href="#Page_2_230">230</a>; +<a href="#Page_2_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_2_242">242</a>; <a href="#Page_2_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_2_280">280</a>; <a href="#Page_2_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_2_285">285</a>; <a href="#Page_2_286">286</a>-<a href="#Page_2_289">289</a>; <a href="#Page_2_293">293</a>-<a href="#Page_2_297">297</a>; <a href="#Page_2_303">303</a>-<a href="#Page_2_311">311</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1847.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son.</span> (Twelve +numbers published monthly during the year.) Bradbury & +Evans.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">First Cheap Issue of the Works of Charles Dickens.</span> An +Edition, printed in double columns, and issued in weekly +three-halfpenny numbers. The first number, being the first +of <i>Pickwick</i>, was issued in April 1847; and the volume containing +that book, with preface dated September 1847, was +published in October. New prefaces were for the most part +prefixed to each story, and each volume had a frontispiece. +The first series (issued by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, and +closing in September 1852) comprised Pickwick, Nickleby, +Curiosity Shop, Barnaby Rudge, Chuzzlewit, Oliver Twist, +American Notes, Sketches by Boz, and Christmas Books. +The second (issued by Messrs. Bradbury & Evans, and +closing in 1861) contained Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, +Bleak House, and Little Dorrit. The third, issued by +Messrs. Chapman & Hall, has since included Great Expectations +(1863), Tale of Two Cities (1864), Hard Times and +Pictures from Italy (1865), Uncommercial Traveller (1865), +and Our Mutual Friend (1867). Among the Illustrators employed +for the Frontispieces were Leslie R.A., Webster R.A.,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_553" id="Page_3_553">[553]</a></span> +Stanfield R.A., George Cattermole, George Cruikshank, Frank +Stone A.R.A., John Leech, Marcus Stone, and Hablot +Browne. See ii. <a href="#Page_2_326">326</a> and <a href="#Page_2_388">388</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1848.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Dealings with the Firm of Dombey & Son: Wholesale, +Retail, and for Exportation.</span> (Five numbers issued +monthly, the last being a double number, from January to +April; in which latter month the complete work was published +with dedication to Lady Normanby and preface dated +Devonshire-terrace, 24th of March.) Bradbury & Evans, ii. +<a href="#Page_2_102">102</a>; <a href="#Page_2_107">107</a>; <a href="#Page_2_219">219</a>; <a href="#Page_2_220">220</a>; <a href="#Page_2_230">230</a>; <a href="#Page_2_241">241</a>; <a href="#Page_2_265">265</a>; <a href="#Page_2_278">278</a>; <a href="#Page_2_280">280</a>-<a href="#Page_2_282">282</a>; <a href="#Page_2_334">334</a>-<a href="#Page_2_336">336</a>; +<a href="#Page_2_337">337</a>-<a href="#Page_2_367">367</a>. iii. <a href="#Page_3_345">345</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain.</span> A Fancy +for Christmas Time. By Charles Dickens. Illustrated by +Stanfield R.A., John Tenniel, Frank Stone A.R.A., and +John Leech. Bradbury & Evans, ii. <a href="#Page_2_280">280</a>; <a href="#Page_2_388">388</a>-<a href="#Page_2_390">390</a>; <a href="#Page_2_419">419</a>; +<a href="#Page_2_442">442</a>-<a href="#Page_2_447">447</a>; <a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1849.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Personal History of David Copperfield.</span> By Charles +Dickens. With Illustrations by Hablot Browne. (Eight +parts issued monthly from May to December.) Bradbury & +Evans.</div> + + +<h3>1850.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Personal History of David Copperfield.</span> By Charles +Dickens. Illustrated by Hablot Browne. (Twelve numbers +issued monthly, the last being a double number, from January +to November; in which latter month the completed work +was published, with inscription to Mr. and Mrs. Watson of +Rockingham, and preface dated October.) Bradbury & Evans. +ii. <a href="#Page_2_102">102</a>; <a href="#Page_2_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_2_423">423</a>; <a href="#Page_2_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_2_435">435</a>; <a href="#Page_2_438">438</a>; <a href="#Page_2_447">447</a>; <a href="#Page_2_462">462</a>-<a href="#Page_2_466">466</a>; <a href="#Page_2_484">484</a>-<a href="#Page_2_487">487</a>; +<a href="#Page_2_494">494</a>. iii. <a href="#Page_3_21">21</a>-<a href="#Page_3_40">40</a>; <a href="#Page_3_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_3_349">349</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Household Words.</span> On Saturday the 30th of March in this +year the weekly serial of <span class="smcap">Household Words</span> was begun, and +was carried on uninterruptedly to the 28th of May 1859, when, +its place having been meanwhile taken by the serial in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_554" id="Page_3_554">[554]</a></span> +same form still existing, <span class="smcap">Household Words</span> was discontinued. +ii. <a href="#Page_2_201">201</a>-<a href="#Page_2_203">203</a>; <a href="#Page_2_449">449</a>-<a href="#Page_2_456">456</a>. iii. <a href="#Page_3_239">239</a>; <a href="#Page_3_490">490</a>-<a href="#Page_3_498">498</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>Household Words</i>. CHRISTMAS. To +this Dickens contributed <span class="smcap">A Christmas Tree</span>.</div> + + +<h3>1851.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>Household Words</i>. WHAT CHRISTMAS +IS. To this Dickens contributed <span class="smcap">What Christmas is as +we grow older</span>.</div> + + +<h3>1852.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Bleak House.</span> By Charles Dickens. With Illustrations by +Hablot Browne. (Ten numbers, issued monthly, from +March to December.) Bradbury & Evans.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>Household Words</i>. <span class="smcap">Stories for Christmas.</span> +To this Dickens contributed <span class="smcap">The Poor Relation's +Story</span>, and <span class="smcap">The Child's Story</span>.</div> + + +<h3>1853.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Bleak House.</span> By Charles Dickens. Illustrated by Hablot +Browne. (Ten numbers issued monthly, the last being a +double number, from January to September, in which latter +month, with dedication to his "Companions in the Guild of +Literature and Art," and preface dated in August, the completed +book was published.) Bradbury & Evans, ii. <a href="#Page_2_342">342</a>; +<a href="#Page_2_441">441</a>. iii. <a href="#Page_3_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_3_29">29</a>; <a href="#Page_3_40">40</a>-<a href="#Page_3_54">54</a>; <a href="#Page_3_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_3_59">59</a>; <a href="#Page_3_345">345</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Child's History of England.</span> By Charles Dickens. Three +vols. With frontispieces from designs by F. W. Topham. +Reprinted from <i>Household Words</i>, where it appeared between +the dates of the 25th of January 1851 and the 10th of +December 1853. (It was published first in a complete form +with dedication to his own children in 1854.) Bradbury & +Evans, iii. <a href="#Page_3_58">58</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>Household Words</i>. <span class="smcap">Christmas Stories.</span> +To this Dickens contributed <span class="smcap">The School Boy's +Story</span>, and <span class="smcap">Nobody's Story</span>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_555" id="Page_3_555">[555]</a></span></div> + + +<h3>1854.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Hard Times. For these Times.</span> By Charles Dickens. (This +tale appeared in weekly portions in <i>Household Words</i>, between +the dates of the 1st of April and the 12th of August +1854; in which latter month it was published complete, with +inscription to Thomas Carlyle.) Bradbury & Evans, iii. +<a href="#Page_3_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_3_70">70</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>Household Words:</i> <span class="smcap">The Seven Poor +Travellers.</span> To this Dickens contributed three chapters. +<span class="smcap">I. In the Old City of Rochester; II. The Story of +Richard Doubledick; III. The Road.</span> iii. <a href="#Page_3_154">154</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1855.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Little Dorrit.</span> By Charles Dickens. Illustrated by Hablot +Browne. The first number published in December. Bradbury +& Evans.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>Household Words</i>. <span class="smcap">The Holly-Tree</span>. +To this Dickens contributed three branches. I. <span class="smcap">Myself; +II. The Boots; III. The Bill.</span> iii. <a href="#Page_3_154">154</a>; <a href="#Page_3_415">415</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1856.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Little Dorrit.</span> By Charles Dickens. Illustrated by Hablot +Browne. (Twelve numbers issued monthly, between January +and December.) Bradbury & Evans.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>Household Words</i>. <span class="smcap">The Wreck Of The +Golden Mary.</span> To this Dickens contributed the leading +chapter: <span class="smcap">The Wreck.</span> iii. <a href="#Page_3_485">485</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1857.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Little Dorrit.</span> By Charles Dickens. Illustrated by Hablot +Browne. (Seven numbers issued monthly, the last being a +double number, from January to June, in which latter month +the tale was published complete, with preface, and dedication +to Clarkson Stanfield.) Bradbury & Evans, iii. <a href="#Page_3_72">72</a>; <a href="#Page_3_75">75</a>; <a href="#Page_3_96">96</a>; +<a href="#Page_3_115">115</a>; <a href="#Page_3_154">154</a>-<a href="#Page_3_164">164</a>; <a href="#Page_3_276">276</a>-<a href="#Page_3_278">278</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices,</span> in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_556" id="Page_3_556">[556]</a></span> <i>Household Words</i> +for October. To the first part of these papers Dickens contributed +all up to the top of the second column of page 316; to the +second part, all up to the white line in the second column of +page 340; to the third part, all except the reflections of Mr. +Idle (363-5); and the whole of the fourth part. All the rest +was by Mr. Wilkie Collins, iii. <a href="#Page_3_170">170</a>-<a href="#Page_3_176">176</a>; <a href="#Page_3_351">351</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>Household Words</i>. <span class="smcap">The Perils of Certain +English Prisoners.</span> To this Dickens contributed the +chapters entitled <span class="smcap">The Island of Silver-store</span>, and <span class="smcap">The +Rafts on the River.</span></div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The First Library Edition of the Works of Charles +Dickens.</span> The first volume, with dedication to John Forster, +was issued in December 1857, and the volumes appeared +monthly up to the 24th, issued in November 1859. The later +books and writings have been added in subsequent volumes, +and an addition has also been issued with the illustrations. +To the second volume of the Old Curiosity Shop, as issued +in this edition, were added 31 "<span class="smcap">Reprinted Pieces</span>" taken +from Dickens's papers in <i>Household Words;</i> which have +since appeared also in other collected editions. Chapman & +Hall. iii. <a href="#Page_3_236">236</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Authorized French Translation of the Works of Dickens.</span> +Translations of Dickens exist in every European language; +but the only version of his writings in a foreign +tongue authorized by him, or for which he received anything, +was undertaken in Paris. Nickleby was the first story published, +and to it was prefixed an address from Dickens to the +French public dated from Tavistock-house the 17th January +1857. Hachette. iii. <a href="#Page_3_121">121</a>; <a href="#Page_3_125">125</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1858.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>Household Words</i>. <span class="smcap">A House to Let.</span> +To this Dickens contributed the chapter entitled "<span class="smcap">Going +into Society.</span>" iii. <a href="#Page_3_250">250</a>; <a href="#Page_3_260">260</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1859.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">All the Year Round</span>, the weekly serial which took the place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_557" id="Page_3_557">[557]</a></span> +of <span class="smcap">Household Words</span>. Began on the 30th of April in this +year, went on uninterruptedly until Dickens's death, and is +continued under the management of his son. iii. <a href="#Page_3_239">239</a>-<a href="#Page_3_254">254</a>; +<a href="#Page_3_462">462</a>; <a href="#Page_3_490">490</a>-<a href="#Page_3_499">499</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Tale of Two Cities.</span> By Charles Dickens. Illustrated by +Hablot Browne. This tale was printed in weekly portions in +<i>All the Year Round</i>, between the dates of the 30th of April +and the 26th of November 1859; appearing also concurrently +in monthly numbers with illustrations, from June to December; +when it was published complete with dedication to +Lord John Russell, iii. <a href="#Page_2_243">243</a>; <a href="#Page_2_279">279</a>; <a href="#Page_2_353">353</a>-<a href="#Page_2_360">360</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>All the Year Round</i>. <span class="smcap">The Haunted +House.</span> To which Dickens contributed two chapters. <span class="smcap">I. +The Mortals in the House. II. The Ghost in Master +B's Room.</span> iii. <a href="#Page_3_246">246</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1860.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Hunted Down.</span> A Story in two Portions. (Written for an +American newspaper, and reprinted in the numbers of <i>All +the Year Round</i> for the 4th and the 11th of August. iii. +<a href="#Page_3_253">253</a>; <a href="#Page_3_279">279</a>.)</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Uncommercial Traveler.</span> By Charles Dickens. (Seventeen +papers, which had appeared under this title between +the dates of 28th of January and 13th of October 1860 in <i>All +the Year Round</i>, were published at the close of the year, in +a volume, with preface dated December. A later impression +was issued in 1868, as a volume of what was called the +Charles Dickens Edition; when eleven fresh papers, written +in the interval, were added; and promise was given, in a +preface dated December 1868, of the Uncommercial Traveller's +intention "to take to the road again before another winter +sets in." Between that date and the autumn of 1869, +when the last of his detached papers were written, <i>All the +Year Round</i> published seven "New Uncommercial Samples" +which have not yet been collected. Their title's were, +i. Aboard ship (which opened, on the 5th of December 1868, +the New Series of <i>All the Year Round</i>); ii. A Small Star in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_558" id="Page_3_558">[558]</a></span> +the East; iii. A Little Dinner in an Hour; iv. Mr. Barlow; +v. On an Amateur Beat; vi. A Fly-Leaf in a Life; vii. A +Plea for Total Abstinence. The date of the last was the 5th +of June 1869; and on the 24th of July appeared his last piece +of writing for the serial he had so long conducted, a paper +entitled <i>Landor's Life</i>.) iii. <a href="#Page_3_247">247</a>-<a href="#Page_3_252">252</a>; <a href="#Page_3_528">528</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>All the Year Round</i>. <span class="smcap">A Message from +the Sea.</span> To which Dickens contributed nearly all the first, +and the whole of the second and the last chapter: <span class="smcap">The Village, +the Money, and the Restitution;</span> the two intervening +chapters, though also with insertions from his hand, +not being his.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Great Expectations.</span> By Charles Dickens. Begun in <i>All the +Year Round</i> on the 1st of December, and continued weekly +to the close of that year.</div> + + +<h3>1861.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Great Expectations.</span> By Charles Dickens. Resumed on the +5th of January and issued in weekly portions, closing on the +3rd of August, when the complete story was published in +three volumes and inscribed to Chauncy Hare Townshend. +In the following year it was published in a single volume, +illustrated by Mr. Marcus Stone. Chapman & Hall. iii. +<a href="#Page_3_245">245</a>; <a href="#Page_3_259">259</a>; <a href="#Page_3_260">260</a> (the words there used "on Great Expectations +closing in June 1861" refer to the time when the +Writing of it was closed: it did not close in the Publication +until August, as above stated); <a href="#Page_3_360">360</a>-<a href="#Page_3_369">369</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>All the Year Round</i>, TOM TIDDLER'S +GROUND. To which Dickens contributed three of the seven +chapters. <span class="smcap">I. Picking up Soot and Cinders; II. Picking +up Miss Kimmeens; III. Picking up the Tinker.</span> iii. +<a href="#Page_3_245">245</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1862.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>All the Year Round</i>. <span class="smcap">Somebody's Luggage.</span> +To which Dickens contributed four chapters. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_559" id="Page_3_559">[559]</a></span><span class="smcap">I. His +Leaving it till called for; II. His Boots; III. His +Brown-paper Parcel; IV. His Wonderful End.</span> To +the chapter of His Umbrella he also contributed a portion. +iii. <a href="#Page_3_351">351</a>; <a href="#Page_3_370">370</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1863.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>All the Year Round</i>. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lirriper's +Lodgings.</span> To which Dickens contributed the first and the +last chapter. I. <span class="smcap">How Mrs. Lirriper carried on the +Business</span>; II. <span class="smcap">How the Parlours added a few words.</span> +iii. <a href="#Page_3_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_3_371">371</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1864.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Our Mutual Friend.</span> By Charles Dickens. With Illustrations +by Marcus Stone. Eight numbers issued monthly between +May and December. Chapman & Hall.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>All the Year Round:</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lirriper's +Legacy</span>: to which Dickens contributed the first and the last +chapter. I. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lirriper relates how she went on, +and went over</span>; II. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lirriper relates how Jemmy +topped up.</span> iii. <a href="#Page_3_371">371</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1865.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Our Mutual Friend</span>. By Charles Dickens. With Illustrations +by Marcus Stone. In Two Volumes. (Two more +numbers issued in January and February, when the first +volume was published, with dedication to Sir James Emerson +Tennent. The remaining ten numbers, the last being a double +number, were issued between March and November, when +the complete work was published in two volumes.) Chapman +& Hall. iii. <a href="#Page_3_271">271</a>; <a href="#Page_3_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_3_281">281</a>; <a href="#Page_3_301">301</a>.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>All the Year Round</i>. <span class="smcap">Doctor Marigold's +Prescriptions.</span> To this Dickens contributed three +portions. I. <span class="smcap">To be Taken Immediately</span>. II. <span class="smcap">To be Taken +for Life</span>; III. The portion with the title of <span class="smcap">To be Taken +with a Grain of Salt</span>, describing a Trial for Murder, was +also his. iii. <a href="#Page_3_379">379</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1866.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>All the Year Round</i>. <span class="smcap">Mugby Junction.</span> +To this Dickens contributed four papers. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_560" id="Page_3_560">[560]</a></span><span class="smcap">I. Barbox +Brothers</span>; <span class="smcap">II. Barbox Brothers and Co.</span>; III. +<span class="smcap">Main Line</span>—<span class="smcap">The Boy at Mugby. IV. No. 1 Branch +Line</span>—<span class="smcap">The Signal-man</span>. iii. <a href="#Page_3_379">379</a> (where a slight error is +made in not treating <i>Barbox</i> and the <i>Mugby Boy</i> as parts of +one Christmas piece).</div> + + +<h3>1867.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Charles Dickens Edition.</span> This collected edition, which +had originated with the American publishing firm of Ticknor +and Fields, was issued here between the dates of 1868 and +1870, with dedication to John Forster, beginning with Pickwick +in May 1868, and closing with the Child's History in +July 1870. The <span class="smcap">Reprinted Pieces</span> were with the volume +of <span class="smcap">American Notes</span>, and the <span class="smcap">Pictures from Italy</span> closed +the volume containing <span class="smcap">Hard Times</span>. Chapman & Hall.</div> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Christmas Number</span> of <i>All the Year Round</i>. <span class="smcap">No Thoroughfare</span>. +To this Dickens contributed, with Mr. Wilkie Collins, +in nearly equal portions. With the new series of <i>All +the Year Round</i>, which began on the 5th of December 1868, +Dickens discontinued the issue of Christmas Numbers. iii. +<a href="#Page_3_462">462</a> note.</div> + + +<h3>1868.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Holiday Romance. George Silverman's Explanation.</span> +Written respectively for a Child's Magazine, and for the Atlantic +Monthly, published in America by Messrs. Ticknor +and Fields. Republished in <i>All the Year Round</i> on the 25th +of January and the 1st and 8th of February 1868. iii. <a href="#Page_3_321">321</a>, +<a href="#Page_3_380">380</a>.</div> + + +<h3>1870.</h3> + +<div class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Mystery of Edwin Drood.</span> By Charles Dickens, with +twelve illustrations by S. L. Fildes. (Meant to have comprised +twelve monthly numbers, but prematurely closed by +the writer's death in June.) Issued in six monthly numbers, +between April and September. Chapman & Hall. iii. <a href="#Page_3_461">461</a>-<a href="#Page_3_477">477</a>.</div> + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_561" id="Page_3_561">[561]</a></span></p> +<h2>II.</h2> + +<h3>THE WILL OF CHARLES DICKENS.</h3> + + +<p>"I, <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>, of Gadshill Place, Higham in the +county of Kent, hereby revoke all my former Wills and Codicils +and declare this to be my last Will and Testament. I give the +sum of £1000 free of legacy duty to Miss Ellen Lawless Ternan, +late of Houghton Place, Ampthill Square, in the county of Middlesex. +I <span class="smcap">give</span> the sum of £19 19 0 to my faithful servant Mrs. +Anne Cornelius. I <span class="smcap">give</span> the sum of £19 19 0 to the daughter +and only child of the said Mrs. Anne Cornelius. I <span class="smcap">give</span> the sum of +£19 19 0 to each and every domestic servant, male and female, +who shall be in my employment at the time of my decease, and shall +have been in my employment for a not less period of time than +one year. I <span class="smcap">give</span> the sum of £1000 free of legacy duty to my +daughter Mary Dickens. I also give to my said daughter an annuity +of £300 a year, during her life, if she shall so long continue +unmarried; such annuity to be considered as accruing from day to +day, but to be payable half yearly, the first of such half-yearly payments +to be made at the expiration of six months next after my +decease. If my said daughter Mary shall marry, such annuity +shall cease; and in that case, but in that case only, my said +daughter shall share with my other children in the provision +hereinafter made for them. <span class="smcap">I give</span> to my dear sister-in-law +Georgina Hogarth the sum of £8000 free of legacy duty. I also +give to the said Georgina Hogarth all my personal jewellery not +hereinafter mentioned, and all the little familiar objects from my +writing-table and my room, and she will know what to do with +those things. <span class="smcap">I also give</span> to the said Georgina Hogarth all my +private papers whatsoever and wheresoever, and I leave her my +grateful blessing as the best and truest friend man ever had. I +<span class="smcap">give</span> to my eldest son Charles my library of printed books, and my +engravings and prints; and I also give to my son Charles the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_562" id="Page_3_562">[562]</a></span> +silver salver presented to me at Birmingham, and the silver cup +presented to me at Edinburgh, and my shirt studs, shirt pins, and +sleeve buttons. <span class="smcap">And I bequeath</span> unto my said son Charles and +my son Henry Fielding Dickens, the sum of £8000 upon trust to +invest the same, and from time to time to vary the investments +thereof, and to pay the annual income thereof to my wife during +her life, and after her decease the said sum of £8000 and the investments +thereof shall be in trust for my children (but subject as +to my daughter Mary to the proviso hereinbefore contained) who +being a son or sons shall have attained or shall attain the age of +twenty-one years or being a daughter or daughters shall have +attained or shall attain that age or be previously married, in equal +shares if more than one. <span class="smcap">I give</span> my watch (the gold repeater +presented to me at Coventry), and I give the chains and seals and +all appendages I have worn with it, to my dear and trusty friend +John Forster, of Palace Gate House, Kensington, in the county +of Middlesex aforesaid; and I also give to the said John Forster +such manuscripts of my published works as may be in my possession +at the time of my decease. <span class="smcap">And I devise and bequeath</span> +all my real and personal estate (except such as is vested in me as +a trustee or mortgagee) unto the said Georgina Hogarth and the +said John Forster, their heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns +respectively, upon trust that they the said Georgina Hogarth +and John Forster, or the survivor of them or the executors or administrators +of such survivor, do and shall, at their, his, or her +uncontrolled and irresponsible direction, either proceed to an immediate +sale or conversion into money of the said real and personal +estate (including my copyrights), or defer and postpone any +sale or conversion into money, till such time or times as they, he, +or she shall think fit, and in the meantime may manage and let +the said real and personal estate (including my copyrights), in such +manner in all respects as I myself could do, if I were living and +acting therein; it being my intention that the trustees or trustee +for the time being of this my Will shall have the fullest power +over the said real and personal estate which I can give to them, +him, or her. <span class="smcap">And I declare</span> that, until the said real and personal +estate shall be sold and converted into money, the rents<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_563" id="Page_3_563">[563]</a></span> +and annual income thereof respectively shall be paid and applied +to the person or persons in the manner and for the purposes to +whom and for which the annual income of the monies to arise +from the sale or conversion thereof into money would be payable +or applicable under this my Will in case the same were sold or +converted into money. <span class="smcap">And I declare</span> that my real estate shall +for the purposes of this my Will be considered as converted into +personalty upon my decease. <span class="smcap">And I declare</span> that the said +trustees or trustee for the time being, do and shall, with and out +of the monies which shall come to their, his, or her hands, under +or by virtue of this my Will and the trusts thereof, pay my just +debts, funeral and testamentary expenses, and legacies. <span class="smcap">And I +declare</span> that the said trust funds or so much thereof as shall +remain after answering the purposes aforesaid, and the annual +income thereof, shall be in trust for all my children (but subject +as to my daughter Mary to the proviso hereinbefore contained), +who being a son or sons shall have attained or shall attain the age +of twenty-one years, and being a daughter or daughters shall have +attained or shall attain that age or be previously married, in equal +shares if more than one. <span class="smcap">Provided always</span>, that, as regards my +copyrights and the produce and profits thereof, my said daughter +Mary, notwithstanding the proviso hereinbefore contained with +reference to her, shall share with my other children therein +whether she be married or not. <span class="smcap">And I devise</span> the estates vested +in me at my decease as a trustee or mortgagee unto the use of the +said Georgina Hogarth and John Forster, their heirs and assigns, +upon the trusts and subject to the equities affecting the same respectively. +<span class="smcap">And I appoint</span> the said <span class="smcap">Georgina Hogarth</span> and +<span class="smcap">John Forster</span> executrix and executor of this my Will, and +<span class="smcap">Guardians</span> of the persons of my children during their respective +minorities. <span class="smcap">And lastly</span>, as I have now set down the form of +words which my legal advisers assure me are necessary to the +plain objects of this my Will, I solemnly enjoin my dear children +always to remember how much they owe to the said Georgina +Hogarth, and never to be wanting in a grateful and affectionate +attachment to her, for they know well that she has been, +through all the stages of their growth and progress, their ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_564" id="Page_3_564">[564]</a></span> +useful self-denying and devoted friend. <span class="smcap">And I desire</span> here +simply to record the fact that my wife, since our separation by +consent, has been in the receipt from me of an annual income of +£600, while all the great charges of a numerous and expensive +family have devolved wholly upon myself. I emphatically direct +that I be buried in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly +private manner; that no public announcement be made of the +time or place of my burial; that at the utmost not more than three +plain mourning coaches be employed; and that those who attend +my funeral wear no scarf, cloak, black bow, long hat-band, or +other such revolting absurdity. I <span class="smcap">direct</span> that my name be inscribed +in plain English letters on my tomb, without the addition +of 'Mr.' or 'Esquire.' I conjure my friends on no account to +make me the subject of any monument, memorial, or testimonial +whatever. I rest my claims to the remembrance of my country +upon my published works, and to the remembrance of my friends +upon their experience of me in addition thereto. I commit my +soul to the mercy of God through our Lord and Saviour Jesus +Christ, and I exhort my dear children humbly to try to guide +themselves by the teaching of the New Testament in its broad +spirit, and to put no faith in any man's narrow construction of its +letter here or there. <span class="smcap">In witness</span> whereof I the said Charles +Dickens, the testator, have to this my last Will and Testament set +my hand this 12th day of May in the year of our Lord 1869.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>"Signed published and declared by<br />the above-named Charles Dickens the<br />testator as and for his last Will and Testament<br />in the presence of us (present together<br />at the same time) who in his presence<br />at his request and in the presence of<br />each other have hereunto subscribed our<br />names as witnesses.</td><td align='left'><div class="figcenter" style="width: 10px;"> +<img src="images/bracket-right.png" width="10" height="150" alt="Bracket" title="Bracket" /> +</div></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='unindent'> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"<span class="smcap">G. Holsworth</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"26 Wellington Street, Strand.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"<span class="smcap">Henry Walker</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"26 Wellington Street, Strand.<br /></span></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_565" id="Page_3_565">[565]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I, <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span> of Gadshill Place near Rochester in the +county of Kent Esquire declare this to be a Codicil to my last +Will and Testament which Will bears date the 12th day of May +1869. I <span class="smcap">give</span> to my son Charles Dickens the younger all my +share and interest in the weekly journal called 'All the Year +Round,' which is now conducted under Articles of Partnership +made between me and William Henry Wills and the said Charles +Dickens the younger, and all my share and interest in the stereotypes +stock and other effects belonging to the said partnership, he +defraying my share of all debts and liabilities of the said partnership +which may be outstanding at the time of my decease, and in +all other respects I confirm my said Will. <span class="smcap">In witness</span> whereof I +have hereunto set my hand the 2nd day of June in the year of our +Lord 1870.</p> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>"Signed and declared by the said<br /> +<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>, the testator as and<br /> +for a Codicil to his Will in the presence<br /> +of us present at the same time who at<br /> +his request in his presence and in the<br /> +presence of each other hereunto subscribe<br /> +our names as witnesses.<br /></td><td align='left'><div class="figcenter" style="width: 10px;"> +<img src="images/bracket-right.png" width="10" height="150" alt="Bracket" title="Bracket" /> +</div></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='unindent'> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"<span class="smcap">G. Holsworth</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"26 Wellington Street, Strand.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"<span class="smcap">Henry Walker</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"26 Wellington Street, Strand.<br /></span></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The real and personal estate,—taking the property bequeathed +by the last codicil at a valuation of something less than two years' +purchase; and of course before payment of the legacies, the (inconsiderable) +debts, and the testamentary and other expenses,—amounted, +as nearly as may be calculated, to, £93,000.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_566" id="Page_3_566">[566]</a></span></p> +<h2>III.</h2> + +<h3>CORRECTIONS MADE IN THE LATER EDITIONS +OF THE SECOND VOLUME.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">I regret</span> to have had no opportunity until now (May, 1873) of +making the corrections which appear in this impression of my +second volume. All the early reprints having been called for +before the close of 1872, the only change I at that time found +possible was amendment of an error at p. <a href="#Page_2_397">397</a>, as to the date of +the first performance at Devonshire House, and of a few others of +small importance at pp. <a href="#Page_2_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_2_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_2_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_2_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_2_444">444</a>, and <a href="#Page_2_446">446</a>.</p> + +<p>Premising that additional corrections, also unimportant, are now +made at pp. <a href="#Page_2_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_2_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_2_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_2_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_2_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_2_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_2_405">405</a>, and <a href="#Page_2_483">483</a>, I proceed +to indicate what may seem to require more detailed mention.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>P. <a href="#Page_2_50">50</a>. "Covent-garden" is substituted for "Drury-lane." The +<i>Chronicle</i> atoned for its present silence by a severe +notice of the man's subsequent appearance at the Haymarket; +and of this I am glad to be reminded by Mr. +Gruneisen, who wrote the criticism.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_50">50</a>. The son of the publican referred to (Mr. Whelpdale of +Streatham), pointing out my error in not having made +the Duke of Brunswick the defendant, says he was himself +a witness in the case, and has had pride in repeating +to his own children what the Chief Justice said of +his father.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_117">117</a>. The "limpet on the rock" and the "green boots" refer +to a wonderful piece by Turner in the previous year's +Academy, exhibiting a rock overhanging a magnificent +sea, a booted figure appearing on the rock, and at its +feet a blotch to represent a limpet: the subject being +Napoleon at St. Helena.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_567" id="Page_3_567">[567]</a></span></p> + +<p>P. <a href="#Page_2_168">168</a>. "Assumption" is substituted for "Transfiguration."</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_182">182</a>. Six words are added to the first note.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_2_194">194</a>. An error in my former statement of the circumstances +of Mr. Fletcher's death, which I much regret to +have made, is now corrected.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_195">195</a>. The proper names of the ship and her captain are here +given, as the Fantôme, commanded by Sir Frederick +(now Vice-Admiral) Nicolson.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_229">229</a>. A correspondent familiar with Lausanne informs me +that the Castle of Chillon is not visible from Rosemont, +and that Dickens in these first days must have mistaken +some other object for it. "A long mass of mountain +hides Chillon from view, and it only becomes visible +when you get about six miles from Lausanne on the +Vevay road, when a curve in the road or lake shows it +visible behind the bank of mountains." The error at p. +<a href="#Page_2_257">257</a>, now corrected, was mine.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_247">247</a>. "Clinking," the right word, replaces "drinking."</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_263">263</a>. A passage which stood in the early editions is removed, +the portrait which it referred to having been not that of the +lady mentioned, but of a relative bearing the same name.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_2_268">268</a>. I quote a letter to myself from one of the baronet's +family present at the outbreak goodnaturedly exaggerated +in Mr. Cerjat's account to Dickens. "I well remember +the dinner at Mr. Cerjat's alluded to in one of +the letters from Lausanne in your Life of Dickens. It +was not however our first acquaintance with the 'distinguished +writer,' as he came with his family to stay at +a Pension on the border of the Lake of Geneva where +my father and his family were then living, and notwithstanding +the gallant captain's 'habit' the families +subsequently became very intimate."</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_270">270</a>. Lord Vernon is more correctly described as the fifth +Baron, who succeeded to the title in 1835 and died in +1866 in his 64th year.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_283">283</a>. The distance of Mont Blanc from the Neuchâtel road is +now properly given as sixty not six miles.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_568" id="Page_3_568">[568]</a></span></p> + +<p>P. <a href="#Page_2_341">341</a>, second line from bottom. Not "subsequent" but "modified" +is the proper word.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_398">398</a>. In mentioning the painters who took an interest in the +Guild scheme I omitted the distinguished name of Mr. +E. M. Ward, R.A., by whom an admirable design, +taken from Defoe's life, was drawn for the card of +membership.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_455">455</a>, <a href="#Page_2_456">456</a>. In supposing that the Child's Dream of a Star was +not among Dickens's Reprinted Pieces, I fell into an +error, which is here corrected.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>. I did not mean to imply that Lady Graham was herself +a Sheridan. She was only connected with the family +she so well "represented" by being the sister of the +lady whom Tom Sheridan married.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The incident at Mr. Hone's funeral quoted at pp. <a href="#Page_2_31">31</a>-<a href="#Page_2_33">33</a> from a +letter to Mr. Felton written by Dickens shortly after the occurrence +(2nd of March, 1843), and published, a year before my volume, in +Mr. Field's <i>Yesterdays with Authors</i> (pp. <a href="#Page_2_146">146</a>-<a href="#Page_2_148">8</a>), has elicited from +the "Independent clergyman" referred to a counter statement of +the alleged facts, of which I here present an abridgement, omitting +nothing that is in any way material. "Though it is thirty +years since . . . several who were present survive to this day, and +have a distinct recollection of all that occurred. One of these is +the writer of this article—another, the Rev. Joshua Harrison. . . . +The Independent clergyman never wore bands, and had no Bible +under his arm. . . . An account of Mr. Hone had appeared in some +of the newspapers, containing an offensive paragraph to the effect +that one 'speculation' having failed, Mr. Hone was disposed, and +persuaded by the Independent clergyman, to try another, that +other being 'to try his powers in the pulpit.' This was felt by the +family to be an insult alike to the living and the dead. . . . Mr. +Harrison's account is, that the Independent clergyman was observed +speaking to Miss Hone about something apparently annoying +to both, and that, turning to Mr. Cruikshank, he said 'Have +you seen the sketch of Mr. Hone's life in the <i>Herald?</i>' Mr. C.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_569" id="Page_3_569">[569]</a></span> +replied 'Yes.' 'Don't you think it very discreditable? It is a +gross reflection on our poor friend, as if he would use the most +sacred things merely for a piece of bread; and it is a libel on me +and the denomination I belong to, as if we could be parties to +such a proceeding.' Mr. C. said in reply, 'I know something of +the article, but what you complain of was not in it originally—it +was an addition by another hand.' Mr. C. afterwards stated that +he wrote the article, 'but <i>not</i> the offensive paragraph.' The vulgar +nonsense put into the mouth of the clergyman by Mr. Dickens was +wound up, it is said, by 'Let us pray' . . . but this <i>cannot</i> be true; +and for this reason, the conversation with Mr. Cruikshank took +place before the domestic service, and that service, according to +Nonconformist custom, is always begun by reading an appropriate +passage of Scripture. . . . Mr. Dickens says that while they were +kneeling at prayer Mr. Cruikshank whispered to him what he +relates. Mr. C. denies it; and I believe him. . . . In addition to +the improbability, one of the company remembers that Mr. Dickens +and Mr. Cruikshank did not sit together, and could not have knelt +side by side." The reader must be left to judge between what is +said of the incident in the text and these recollections of it after +thirty years.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>At the close of the corrections to the first volume, prefixed to +the second, the intention was expressed to advert at the end of the +work to information, not in correction but in illustration of my +text, forwarded by obliging correspondents who had been scholars +at the Wellington House Academy (i. <a href="#Page_74">74</a>). But inexorable limits +of space prevent, for the present, a fulfilment of this intention.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +J. F.<br /> +</div><p><span class="smcap">Palace Gate House, Kensington</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>22nd of January 1874</i>.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_571" id="Page_3_571">[571]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_570" id="Page_3_570">[570]</a></span></p> +<h2>INDEX.</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'> +<span class="smcap">A'Beckett</span> (<span class="smcap">Gilbert</span>), at Miss Kelly's theatre, ii. <a href="#Page_2_210">210</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_119">119</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Aberdeen, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_234">234</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Actors and acting, i. <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_2_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_2_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_2_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_2_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_2_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_2_401">401</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Miss Kelly's theatre, ii. <a href="#Page_2_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French, iii. <a href="#Page_3_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_3_134">134</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Adams (John Quincey), i. <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Adelphi theatre, <i>Carol</i> dramatized at the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_96">96</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Africa, memorials of dead children in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_293">293</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Agassiz (M.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_389">389</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Agreements, literary, ii. <a href="#Page_2_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_2_88">88</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_240">240</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ainsworth (Harrison), i. <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Alamode beef-house (Johnson's), i. <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Albany (U. S.), reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_436">436</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Albaro, Villa Bagnerello at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_2_120">120</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the sirocco at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Angus Fletcher's sketch of the villa, ii. <a href="#Page_2_121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">English servants at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tradespeople at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_2_125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner at French consul's, ii. <a href="#Page_2_130">130</a>-<a href="#Page_2_132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception at the Marquis di Negri's, ii. <a href="#Page_2_132">132</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Albert (Prince), i. <a href="#Page_322">322</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Boulogne, iii. <a href="#Page_3_108">108</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Alison (Dr.), i. <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Alison (Sheriff), ii. <a href="#Page_2_391">391</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>All the Year Round</i>, titles suggested for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_241">241</a>-<a href="#Page_3_243">243</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first number of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">success of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difference between <i>Household Words</i> and, iii. <a href="#Page_3_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tales in, by eminent writers, iii. <a href="#Page_3_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of Christmas numbers of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's detached papers in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_247">247</a>-<a href="#Page_3_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_3_528">528</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charles Collins's papers in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">projected story for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_3_462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">new series of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_462">462</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">change of plan in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_462">462</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's last paper in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_528">528</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Allan (Sir William), i. <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>; ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Allonby (Cumberland), iii. <a href="#Page_3_173">173</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">landlady of inn at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_173">173</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Allston (Washington), i. <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Amateur theatricals, i. <a href="#Page_413">413</a>-<a href="#Page_417">417</a>; ii. <a href="#Page_2_481">481</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_62">62</a>-<a href="#Page_3_64">64</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ambigu (Paris), <i>Paradise Lost</i> at the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_3_131">131</a><br /> +<br /> +America, visit to, contemplated by Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wide-spread knowledge of Dickens's writings in, i. <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_384">384</a>-<a href="#Page_3_386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eve of visit to, i. <a href="#Page_284">284</a>-<a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit to, decided, i. <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed book about, i. <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrangements for journey, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rough passage to, i. <a href="#Page_292">292</a>-<a href="#Page_298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first impressions of, i. <a href="#Page_299">299</a>-<a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hotels in, i. <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_390">390</a>, <a href="#Page_3_396">396</a>, <a href="#Page_3_412">412</a>, <a href="#Page_3_435">435</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inns in, i. <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a> note, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_432">432</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's popularity in, i. <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_388">388</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second impressions of, i. <a href="#Page_310">310</a>-<a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">levees in, i. <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">outcry against Dickens in, i. <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_572" id="Page_3_572">[572]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slavery in, i. <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>-<a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">international copyright agitation in, i. <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">railway travelling in, i. <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_3_405">405</a>, <a href="#Page_3_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_3_436">436</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trying climate of, i. <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"located" Englishmen in, i. <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's dislike of, i. <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">canal-boat journeys in, i. <a href="#Page_358">358</a>-<a href="#Page_380">380</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's real compliment to, i. <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deference paid to ladies in, i. <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">duelling in, i. <a href="#Page_396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's opinion of country and people of,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in 1842, i. <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a> (and see <a href="#Page_401">401</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in 1868, ii. <a href="#Page_2_38">38</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_413">413</a>-<a href="#Page_3_416">416</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i> in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_2_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">desire in, to hear Dickens read, iii. <a href="#Page_3_319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mr. Dolby sent to, iii, <a href="#Page_3_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">result of Dolby's visit, iii. <a href="#Page_3_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_3_323">323</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revisited by Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_387">387</a>-<a href="#Page_3_443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">old and new friends in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">profits of readings in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fenianism in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">newspapers in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_400">400</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">planning the readings in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_401">401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nothing lasts long in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_401">401</a>, <a href="#Page_3_429">429</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">work of Dickens's staff in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_410">410</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the result of 34 readings in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_415">415</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's way of life in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_416">416</a>, <a href="#Page_3_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_3_437">437</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">value of a vote in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">objection to coloured people in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">female beauty in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_432">432</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">total expenses of reading tour, and profits from readings, iii. <a href="#Page_3_446">446</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>, <a href="#Page_3_442">442</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's departure from, iii. <a href="#Page_3_443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of Dickens's death in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_384">384</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Americanisms, i. <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>American Notes</i>, choicest passages of, i. <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">less satisfactory than Dickens's letters, i. <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in preparation, ii. <a href="#Page_2_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_2_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed dedication of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejected motto for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suppressed introductory chapter to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_34">34</a>-<a href="#Page_2_37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jeffrey's opinion of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">large sale of, <a href="#Page_2_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_2_38">38</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Americans, friendly, ii. <a href="#Page_2_177">177</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deaths of famous, since 1842, iii. <a href="#Page_3_389">389</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">homage to Dickens by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_465">465</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French contrasted with, ii. <a href="#Page_2_322">322</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Andersen (Hans), iii. <a href="#Page_3_167">167</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Anniversary, a birthday, i. <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_3_508">508</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a fatal, iii. <a href="#Page_3_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_3_376">376</a>, <a href="#Page_3_384">384</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Arnold (Dr.), Dickens's reverence for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_150">150</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Arras (France), a religious Richardson's show at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_273">273</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Art, conventionalities of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_169">169</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">limitations of, in England, iii. <a href="#Page_3_331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inferiority of English to French, iii. <a href="#Page_3_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_3_147">147</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Artists' Benevolent Fund dinner, iii. <a href="#Page_3_236">236</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ashburton (Lord), i. <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ashley (Lord) and ragged schools, i. <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ii. <a href="#Page_2_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_2_493">493</a>, <a href="#Page_2_494">494</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Astley's, a visit from, iii. <a href="#Page_3_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_3_165">165</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Mazeppa</i> at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_302">302</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>As You Like It</i>, French version of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_132">132</a>.<br /> +Atlantic, card-playing on the, i. <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Auber and Queen Victoria, iii. <a href="#Page_3_135">135</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Austin (Henry), i. <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">iii. <a href="#Page_3_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secretary to the Sanitary Commission, ii. <a href="#Page_2_385">385</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_3_262">262</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Australia, idea of settling in, entertained by Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_185">185</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scheme for readings in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_270">270</a> note (idea abandoned, iii. <a href="#Page_3_272">272</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Austrian police, the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_3_95">95</a><br /> +<br /> +Authors, American, i. <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Authorship, disquietudes of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_2_288">288</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Babbage</span> (<span class="smcap">Charles</span>)ii. <a href="#Page_2_108">108</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bagot (Sir Charles), i. <a href="#Page_412">412</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Balloon Club at Twickenham, i. <a href="#Page_182">182</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Baltimore (U. S.), women of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_418">418</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">readings at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_3_419">419</a>, <a href="#Page_3_427">427</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>);</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_573" id="Page_3_573">[573]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">white and coloured prisoners in Penitentiary at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_419">419</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bancroft (George), i. <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_467">467</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Banquets, Emile de Girardin's superb, iii. <a href="#Page_3_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_3_141">141</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bantams, reduced, iii. <a href="#Page_3_251">251</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Barham (Rev. Mr.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_2_175">175</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Barnaby Rudge</i>, agreement to write, i. <a href="#Page_135">135</a> (and see <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-<a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens at work on, i. <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>-<a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>-<a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agreement for, transferred to Chapman and Hall, i. <a href="#Page_223">223</a>-<a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the raven in, i. <a href="#Page_233">233</a>-<a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">constraints of weekly publication, i. <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">close of, i. <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the story characterised, i. <a href="#Page_244">244</a>-<a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bartlett (Dr.) on slavery in America, i. <a href="#Page_389">389</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bath, a fancy about, iii. <a href="#Page_3_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_3_452">452</a><br /> +<br /> +Bathing, sea, Dickens's love of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_2_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_2_138">138</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Battle of Life</i> title suggested for the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_251">251</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_295">295</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contemplated abandonment of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writing of, resumed, ii. <a href="#Page_2_293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">finished, ii. <a href="#Page_2_295">295</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">points in the story, <a href="#Page_2_296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jeffrey's opinion of the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_2_304">304</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch of the story, ii. <a href="#Page_2_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_2_305">305</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's own comments on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_306">306</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">date of the story, <a href="#Page_2_306">306</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reply to criticism on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_308">308</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">doubts as to third part of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dedication of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illustrated by Stanfield and Leech, <a href="#Page_2_310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">grave mistake made by Leech, ii. <a href="#Page_2_311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dramatized, ii. <a href="#Page_2_323">323</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bayham-street, Camden town, Dickens's early life in, i. <a href="#Page_30">30</a>-<a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Beale (Mr.), a proposal from, iii. <a href="#Page_3_196">196</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Beard (Mr. Carr), ii. <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Dickens's lameness, iii. <a href="#Page_3_455">455</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">readings stopped by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_456">456</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in constant attendance on Dickens at his last readings, iii. <a href="#Page_3_531">531</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_541">541</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Beard (Thos.), i. <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_256">256</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Beaucourt (M.), described by Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_99">99</a>-<a href="#Page_3_102">102</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his "Property," iii. <a href="#Page_3_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among the Putney market-gardeners, iii. <a href="#Page_3_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goodness of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_120">120</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bedrooms, American, i. <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Beecher (Ward), iii. <a href="#Page_3_410">410</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">readings in his church at Brooklyn, iii. <a href="#Page_3_417">417</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Beer, a dog's fancy for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_217">217</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Beggars, Italian, ii. <a href="#Page_2_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_2_183">183</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Begging-letter writers, i. <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_2_107">107</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Paris, ii. <a href="#Page_2_327">327</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Belfast, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_229">229</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Benedict (Jules), illness of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_466">466</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bentley (Mr.), Dickens's early relations with, i. <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_240">240</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendly feeling of Dickens to, in after life, ii <a href="#Page_2_481">481</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_241">241</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Bentley's Miscellany</i>, Dickens editor of, i. <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposal to write <i>Barnaby Rudge</i> in, i. <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">editorship of, transferred to Mr. Ainsworth, i. <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Berwick, Mary (Adelaide Procter), iii. <a href="#Page_3_495">495</a><br /> +<br /> +Berwick-on-Tweed, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_266">266</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Betting-men at Doncaster, iii. <a href="#Page_3_174">174</a>-<a href="#Page_3_176">176</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Beverley (William), at Wellington-house academy, i. <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Birds and low company, iii. <a href="#Page_3_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_3_252">252</a><br /> +<br /> +Birmingham, Dickens's promise to read at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_56">56</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">promise fulfilled (first public readings), iii. <a href="#Page_3_59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">another reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's speeches at Institute at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_2_95">95</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_527">527</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Birthday associations, i. <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_3_508">508</a><br /> +<br /> +Black (Adam), i. <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Black (Charles), ii. <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Black (John), i. <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_104">104</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early appreciation by, of Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_53">53</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Blacking-warehouse (at Hungerford Stairs), Dickens employed at, i. <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">described, i. <a href="#Page_51">51</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_512">512</a> note);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associates of Dickens at, i. <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_574" id="Page_3_574">[574]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed to Chandos-street, Covent-garden, i. <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens leaves, i. <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">what became of the business, i. <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Blackmore (Edward), Dickens employed as clerk by, i. <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his recollections of Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Blackpool, Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_455">455</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Blackwood's Magazine and Little Dorrit</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_163">163</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Blair (General), iii. <a href="#Page_3_424">424</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Blanchard (Laman). ii. <a href="#Page_2_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_2_175">175</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_187">187</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Literary Fund dinner described by, i. <a href="#Page_322">322</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Bleak House</i> begun, ii. <a href="#Page_2_441">441</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">originals of Boythorn and Skimpole in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_3_28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inferior to <i>Copperfield</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">handling of character in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_40">40</a>-<a href="#Page_3_50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defects of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dean Ramsay on, iii. <a href="#Page_3_47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">originals of Chancery abuses in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed titles for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_52">52</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">completion of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_53">53</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Blessington (Lady), lines written for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_52">52</a> note (and see <a href="#Page_2_93">93</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Blind Institution at Lausanne, inmates of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_2_240">240</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_78">78</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bonchurch, Dickens at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_425">425</a>-<a href="#Page_2_436">436</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of climate of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_431">431</a>-<a href="#Page_2_433">433</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entertainment at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_3_112">112</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Books, written and unwritten, hints for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_275">275</a>-<a href="#Page_3_297">297</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested titles in Memoranda for new, iii. <a href="#Page_3_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_3_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a complete list of Dickens's, iii. <a href="#Page_3_547">547</a>-<a href="#Page_3_560">560</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Booksellers, invitation to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_100">100</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Boots, absurdity of, i. <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Boots, a gentlemanly, at Calais, i. <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">a patriotic Irish, iii. <a href="#Page_3_227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Boots at the Holly-tree Inn</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_154">154</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reading of, at Boston (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_410">410</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bores, American, i. <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Boston (U. S.), first visit to, i. <a href="#Page_300">300</a>-<a href="#Page_309">309</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enthusiastic reception at, i. <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner at, i. <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes in, since 1842, iii. <a href="#Page_3_390">390</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first reading in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a remembrance of Christmas at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">walking-match at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">audiences at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_429">429</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last readings at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_440">440</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Bottle</i> (Cruikshank's), Dickens's opinion of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_2_384">384</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Boulogne, an imaginary dialogue at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_2_329">329</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_3_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_3_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_3_96">96</a>-<a href="#Page_3_120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Pier at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's liking for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">M. Beaucourt's "Property" at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_97">97</a>-<a href="#Page_3_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_3_115">115</a>-<a href="#Page_3_120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch of M. Beaucourt, iii. <a href="#Page_3_99">99</a>-<a href="#Page_3_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prices of provisions at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_102">102</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shakespearian performance at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pig-market at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thackeray at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_105">105</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">camp at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_3_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_3_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prince Albert at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_3_108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illuminations at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epidemic at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_119">119</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Boulogne Jest Book</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_65">65</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Bouquets, serviceable, iii. <a href="#Page_3_137">137</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bourse, victims of the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_142">142</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Boxall (William), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_126">126</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Boxing-match, a, ii. <a href="#Page_2_224">224</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Boyle (Mary), ii. <a href="#Page_2_481">481</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_524">524</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Boys, a list of <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'christian'">Christian</ins> names of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_3_295">295</a><br /> +<br /> +Boz, origin of the word, i. <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">facsimile of autograph signature, i. <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bradbury & Evans (Messrs.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_2_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_2_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_2_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_2_250">250</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a suggestion by, ii. <a href="#Page_2_71">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's agreements with, ii. <a href="#Page_2_88">88</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_289">289</a>), iii. <a href="#Page_3_56">56</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bradford, Dickens asked to read at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_61">61</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Brighton, Dickens's first visit to, i. <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">other visits, ii. <a href="#Page_2_421">421</a>, <a href="#Page_2_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_2_455">455</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theatre at, i. <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_263">263</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Bride of Lammermoor</i> (Scott's), composition of the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_3_340">340</a><br /> +<br /> +British Museum reading-room, frequented by Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_575" id="Page_3_575">[575]</a></span>Broadstairs, Dickens at, i. <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>-<a href="#Page_283">283</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_2_214">214</a> note, <a href="#Page_2_387">387</a>-<a href="#Page_2_389">389</a>, <a href="#Page_2_405">405</a>-<a href="#Page_2_421">421</a>, <a href="#Page_2_422">422</a>-<a href="#Page_2_424">424</a>, <a href="#Page_2_436">436</a>-<a href="#Page_2_441">441</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Nickleby</i> completed at, i. <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's house at, i. <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writing <i>American Notes</i> at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_23">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pony-chaise accident, ii. <a href="#Page_2_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_2_419">419</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">smuggling at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_439">439</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brobity's (Mr.) snuff-box, iii. <a href="#Page_3_297">297</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Brooklyn (New York), scene at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_411">411</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">readings in Mr. Ward Beecher's chapel, iii. <a href="#Page_3_417">417</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brougham (Lord), in Paris, ii. <a href="#Page_2_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_2_317">317</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "<i>Punch</i> people" and, ii. <a href="#Page_2_469">469</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Browne (H. K.) chosen to illustrate <i>Pickwick</i>, i. <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accompanies Dickens and his wife to Flanders, i. <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of, in a <i>Dombey</i> illustration, ii. <a href="#Page_2_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_2_355">355</a> (but see <a href="#Page_2_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_2_349">349</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch by, for Micawber, ii. <a href="#Page_2_435">435</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his sketch of Skimpole, iii. <a href="#Page_3_53">53</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Browning's (R. B.) <i>Blot on the 'Scutcheon</i>, Dickens's opinion of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_46">46</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bruce (Knight), ii. <a href="#Page_2_97">97</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Brunel (Isambard), ii. <a href="#Page_2_469">469</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Buckingham Palace, Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_508">508</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Buffalo (U. S.), reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_432">432</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Buller (Charles), ii. <a href="#Page_2_53">53</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Burdett (Sir Francis), advocacy of the poor, i. <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Burns festival, Prof. Wilson's speech at the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_136">136</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Buss (Mr.), <i>Pickwick</i> illustrations by, i. <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Byron's (Lord) Ada, ii. <a href="#Page_2_469">469</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Ça Ira</span>, the revolutionary tune of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_129">129</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cambridge, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_317">317</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cambridge (U. S.) and Boston contrasted, iii. <a href="#Page_3_390">390</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Webster murder at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_402">402</a>, <a href="#Page_3_403">403</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Camden-town, Dickens with Mrs. Roylance at, i. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Campbell (Lord), i. <a href="#Page_322">322</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the writings of Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_72">72</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_247">247</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Canada, emigrants in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_2_28">28</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Canal-boat journeys in America, i. <a href="#Page_358">358</a>-<a href="#Page_380">380</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a day's routine on, i. <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disagreeables of, i. <a href="#Page_367">367</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a pretty scene on board, i. <a href="#Page_390">390</a>-<a href="#Page_392">392</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cannibalism, an approach to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_326">326</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cannon-row, Westminster, incident at public-house in, i. <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Canterbury, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_264">264</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Car-driver, an Irish, iii. <a href="#Page_3_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_3_226">226</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Carlyle (Lord), ii. <a href="#Page_2_469">469</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Carlisle (Bishop of) and Colenso, iii. <a href="#Page_3_248">248</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Carlyle (Thomas), ii. <a href="#Page_2_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_2_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_2_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_2_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_2_174">174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a strange profane story, i. <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on international copyright, i. <a href="#Page_332">332</a>-<a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's admiration of, i. <a href="#Page_334">334</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_470">470</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a correction for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_440">440</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Dickens's acting, iii. <a href="#Page_3_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">grand teaching of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inaugural address of, at Edinburgh University, iii. <a href="#Page_3_308">308</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hint by, to common men, iii. <a href="#Page_3_326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on humour, iii. <a href="#Page_3_342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a hero to Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_520">520</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Dickens's death, iii. <a href="#Page_3_514">514</a>, <a href="#Page_3_515">515</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_110">110</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Carlyle (Mrs.), on the expression in Dickens's face, i. <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_308">308</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's last meeting, iii. <a href="#Page_3_309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Carriage, an unaccommodating, ii. <a href="#Page_2_232">232</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a wonderful, ii. <a href="#Page_2_270">270</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Carrick Fell (Cumberland), ascent of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_3_171">171</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accident on, iii. <a href="#Page_3_171">171</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Castle Spectre</i>, a judicious "tag" to the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_471">471</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Catholicism, Roman, the true objection to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_299">299</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cattermole (George), i. <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_113">113</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imitation of a cabstand waterman by, ii. <a href="#Page_2_423">423</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Caudle Lectures</i>, a suggestion for the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_136">136</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Cerjat (Mr.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_232">232</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_567">567</a>), <a href="#Page_2_252">252</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_576" id="Page_3_576">[576]</a></span>Chalk (Kent), Dickens's honeymoon spent at, i. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">revisited, i. <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Chambers, contemplated chapters on, i. <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chamounix, Dickens's trip to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_253">253</a>-<a href="#Page_2_256">256</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revisited, iii. <a href="#Page_3_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_3_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">narrow escape of Egg at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_77">77</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Chancery, Dickens's experience of a suit in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_97">97</a>-<a href="#Page_2_99">99</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">originals of the abuses exposed in <i>Bleak House</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_3_50">50</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Channing (Dr.) on Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chapman and Hall, overtures to Dickens by, i. <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advise purchase of the <i>Sketches</i> copyright from Mr. Macrone, i. <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early relations of Dickens with, i. <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">share of copyright in <i>Pickwick</i> conceded by, i. <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">payments by, for <i>Pickwick</i> and <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>, i. <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">outline of <i>Master Humphrey's Clock</i> submitted to, i. <a href="#Page_192">192</a>-<a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purchase of <i>Barnaby Rudge</i> by, i. <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's earliest and latest publishers, iii. <a href="#Page_3_240">240</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Chapman (Mr. Thomas), not the original of Mr. Dombey, ii. <a href="#Page_2_107">107</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_108">108</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Chappell (Messrs.), agreements with, iii. <a href="#Page_3_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_3_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_3_310">310</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrangement with, for course of final readings, iii. <a href="#Page_3_437">437</a> note (and see <a href="#Page_3_445">445</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amount received from, on account of readings, iii. <a href="#Page_3_446">446</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's tribute to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_531">531</a> note (and see <a href="#Page_3_315">315</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Charles Dickens as a Reader</i> (Charles Kent's), iii. <a href="#Page_3_236">236</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Chatham, Dickens's early impressions of, i. <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">day-school in Rome-lane, i. <a href="#Page_27">27</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mr. Giles's school at, i. <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cheeryble (Brothers) in <i>Nickleby</i>, originals of, i. <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chester, readings at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_3_313">313</a><br /> +<br /> +Chesterton (Mr.), i. <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_23">23</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chicago (U. S.), monomania respecting, iii. <a href="#Page_3_418">418</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chigwell, inn at, i. <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Children, powers of observation in, i. <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mortality of young, in London, iii. <a href="#Page_3_192">192</a> note, <a href="#Page_3_293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">old, iii. <a href="#Page_3_292">292</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Children-farming, Dickens on, iii. <a href="#Page_3_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_3_288">288</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Child's History</i>, the, finished, iii. <a href="#Page_3_59">59</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Child's night-lights, wonders of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_172">172</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chillon, Castle of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_2_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_2_258">258</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Chimes</i>, a title found for the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_143">143</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">design for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens hard at work on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first outline of the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_152">152</a>-<a href="#Page_2_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of, on Dickens's health, ii. <a href="#Page_2_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_2_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">objections to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">finished, ii. <a href="#Page_2_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">private readings of, at Lincoln's-inn fields, ii. <a href="#Page_2_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_2_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_2_175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jeffrey's opinion of the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_179">179</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Chimneys, the smoky, i. <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chinese Junk, ii. <a href="#Page_2_405">405</a>-<a href="#Page_2_408">408</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chorley (Henry), iii. <a href="#Page_3_256">256</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Christmas, Dickens's identity with, ii. <a href="#Page_2_90">90</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Christmas-eve and day, Dickens's accustomed walk on, iii. <a href="#Page_3_517">517</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Christmas Carol</i>, origin of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_60">60</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preparation of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_2_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale and accounts of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_2_87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jeffrey and Thackeray on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">message of the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the story characterized, ii. <a href="#Page_2_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dramatized at the Adelphi, ii. <a href="#Page_2_96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reading of, for the Hospital for Sick Children, iii. <a href="#Page_3_200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reading of, in Boston (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_429">429</a>, <a href="#Page_3_430">430</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thackeray's copy of, purchased by her Majesty, iii. <a href="#Page_3_506">506</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Christmas Sketches</i>, Dickens's, iii. <a href="#Page_3_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_3_371">371</a><br /> +<br /> +Christmas sports, ii. <a href="#Page_2_47">47</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Cicala, the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_118">118</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cincinnati (U. S.), i. <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">described, i. <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temperance festival at, i. <a href="#Page_383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bores at, i. <a href="#Page_385">385</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_577" id="Page_3_577">[577]</a></span>Circumlocution Office, the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_159">159</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Clay (Henry), i. <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on international copyright, i. <a href="#Page_323">323</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Clennam (Mrs.), in <i>Little Dorrit</i>, original of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_277">277</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cleveland (U. S.), rude reception of mayor of, i. <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Coachman, a Paris, ii. <a href="#Page_2_332">332</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Cobham-park, i. <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's last walk in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_540">540</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cockburn (Sir Alexander), iii. <a href="#Page_3_126">126</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Coffee-shops frequented by Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cogswell (Mr.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>, <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Coincidence, marvels of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_3_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_3_524">524</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Col de Balme Pass, ii. <a href="#Page_2_253">253</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Colden (David), i. <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_192">192</a> note, <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Colenso (Bishop) and the Bishop of Carlisle, iii. <a href="#Page_3_248">248</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Coleridge (Sara) on Little Nell, iii. <a href="#Page_3_345">345</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on <i>Chuzzlewit</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_345">345</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Collier (Payne) and Dickens in Hungerford Market, iii. <a href="#Page_3_512">512</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Collins (Charles Alston), marriage of, to Kate Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_255">255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">books by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Dickens's accompaniments of work, iii. <a href="#Page_3_211">211</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cover designed by, for <i>Edwin Drood</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_466">466</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_258">258</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Collins (Wilkie), Dickens's regard for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_402">402</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">holiday trip of, with Dickens and Egg, iii. <a href="#Page_3_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_3_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Boulogne, iii. <a href="#Page_3_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Paris, iii. <a href="#Page_3_126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Cumberland, iii. <a href="#Page_3_170">170</a>-<a href="#Page_3_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accident to, on Carrick Fell, iii. <a href="#Page_3_171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tales by, in <i>All the Year Round</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at his brother's wedding, iii. <a href="#Page_3_256">256</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Colquhoun (Mr.), i. <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Columbus (U. S.), levee at, i. <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Commercial Travellers' schools, admired by Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_247">247</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Commons, House of, Dickens's opinion of, i. <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_499">499</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Conjuror, a French, iii. <a href="#Page_3_110">110</a>-<a href="#Page_3_115">115</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Consumption, hops a supposed cure for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_208">208</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Conversion, a wonderful, ii. <a href="#Page_2_180">180</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Cooke, Mr. (of Astley's), iii. <a href="#Page_3_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_3_165">165</a><br /> +<br /> +Cooling Castle, ruins of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_3_220">220</a><br /> +<br /> +Cooling churchyard, Dickens's partiality for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_221">221</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Copyright, international, Dickens's views on, i. <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_50">50</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Henry Clay on, i. <a href="#Page_323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">petition to American Congress on, i. <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Carlyle on, i. <a href="#Page_332">332</a>-<a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">two obstacles to, i. <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_26">26</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">result of agitation, i. <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Corduroy-road, a, i. <a href="#Page_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cornwall (Barry), ii. <a href="#Page_2_187">187</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_27">27</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_495">495</a>, <a href="#Page_3_530">530</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Cornwall, Dickens's trip to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_40">40</a>-<a href="#Page_2_43">43</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Costello (Dudley), fancy sketch of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_383">383</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Coutts, Miss (Baroness Burdett-Coutts), great regard for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_58">58</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">true friendship of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">generosity of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_109">109</a> note, <a href="#Page_2_488">488</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_300">300</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_179">179</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Covent-garden theatre, Macready at, i. <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">farce written by Dickens for, i. <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner at the close of Mr. Macready's management, i. <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the editor of the <i>Satirist</i> hissed from stage of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens applies for an engagement at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_206">206</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Coventry, gold repeater presented to Dickens by watchmakers of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_237">237</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_562">562</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Crawford (Sir George), ii. <a href="#Page_2_172">172</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Cricket on the Hearth</i>, origin of the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_201">201</a>-<a href="#Page_2_204">204</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens busy on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reading of, in Ary Scheffer's studio, iii. <a href="#Page_3_148">148</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Crimean war, unpopular in France, iii. <a href="#Page_3_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_3_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_3_143">143</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cruikshank (George), illustrations by, to <i>Sketches</i>, i. <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_578" id="Page_3_578">[578]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">claim by, to the origination of <i>Oliver Twist</i>, i. <a href="#Page_154">154</a>-<a href="#Page_156">156</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_2_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_2_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_2_351">351</a> note (and see autograph letter of Dickens, ii. <a href="#Page_2_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_2_350">350</a>, and p. <a href="#Page_2_vii">vii.</a> of vol. ii.);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fancy sketch of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_2_381">381</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's opinion of his <i>Bottle</i> and <i>Drunkard's Children</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_2_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_2_411">411</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Cruize on Wheels</i> (Charles Collins's), iii, <a href="#Page_3_257">257</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cumberland, Dickens's trip in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_170">170</a>-<a href="#Page_3_173">173</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cunningham, Peter, character and life, iii. <a href="#Page_3_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_3_74">74</a><br /> +<br /> +Curry (Mr.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_2_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_2_172">172</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Custom-house-officers (continental), ii. <a href="#Page_2_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_2_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_2_315">315</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>Daily News</i> projected, ii. <a href="#Page_2_203">203</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">misgiving as to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_215">215</a>-<a href="#Page_2_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first number of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's short editorship, ii. <a href="#Page_2_215">215</a>-<a href="#Page_2_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeded by author of this book, ii. <a href="#Page_2_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_2_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_2_303">303</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dana (R. H.), i. <a href="#Page_304">304</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Danson (Dr. Henry), recollections by, of Dickens at school, i. <a href="#Page_81">81</a>-<a href="#Page_85">85</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter from Dickens to, i. <a href="#Page_85">85</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dansons (the), at work, iii. <a href="#Page_3_166">166</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>David Copperfield</i>, identity of Dickens with hero of, i. <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_69">69</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_33">33</a>-<a href="#Page_3_36">36</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characters and incidents in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_21">21</a>-<a href="#Page_3_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original of Dora in, i. <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name found for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_422">422</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinners in celebration of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_438">438</a>, <a href="#Page_2_439">439</a>, <a href="#Page_2_470">470</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_447">447</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">titles proposed for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_463">463</a>-<a href="#Page_2_465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">progress of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_483">483</a>-<a href="#Page_2_487">487</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord Lytton on, iii. <a href="#Page_3_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popularity of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original of Miss Moucher in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_23">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original of Mr. Micawber in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_30">30</a>-<a href="#Page_3_32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Bleak House</i> inferior to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a proposed opening of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fac-simile of plan prepared for first number of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_157">157</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +De Foe (Daniel), Dickens's opinion of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_135">135</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>History of the Devil</i>, i. <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Delane (John), ii. <a href="#Page_2_469">469</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Denman (Lord), ii. <a href="#Page_2_108">108</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Devonshire (Duke of) and the Guild of Literature and Art, ii. <a href="#Page_2_397">397</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Devonshire-terrace, Dickens removes from Doughty-street into, i. <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maclise's sketch of Dickens's house in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_41">41</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dick, a favourite canary, iii. <a href="#Page_3_117">117</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dickens (John), family of, i. <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">small but good library of, i. <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">money embarrassments of, i. <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, described by his son, i. <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrested for debt, i. <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">legacy to, i. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves the Marshalsea, i. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the education of his son, i. <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes a reporter, i. <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Devonshire home of, described, i. <a href="#Page_186">186</a>-<a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_489">489</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his grave at Highgate, ii. <a href="#Page_2_490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sayings of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_3_32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">respect entertained by his son for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_31">31</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Fanny), ii. <a href="#Page_2_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_2_456">456</a>, <a href="#Page_2_459">459</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected a pupil to the Royal Academy of Music, i. <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">obtains a prize thereat, i. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_2_320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her funeral, i. <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Alfred), i. <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>; death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_258">258</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dickens, Augustus, (died in America), ii. <a href="#Page_2_385">385</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Frederick), i. <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">narrow escape from drowning in the bay at Genoa, ii. <a href="#Page_2_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_450">450</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +DICKENS, CHARLES, birth of, at Portsea, i. <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reminiscences of childhood at Chatham, i. <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation of David Copperfield to, i. <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_33">33</a>-<a href="#Page_3_35">35</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his wish that his biography should be written by the author of this book, i. <a href="#Page_40">40</a> note.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first efforts at description, i. <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_579" id="Page_3_579">[579]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">account by himself of his boyhood, i. <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_69">69</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_205">205</a>-<a href="#Page_2_207">207</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_247">247</a>).</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illnesses of, i. <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>; ii. <a href="#Page_2_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_2_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_2_312">312</a> note; iii. <a href="#Page_3_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_3_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_3_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_3_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_3_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_3_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_3_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_3_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_3_355">355</a>, <a href="#Page_3_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_3_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_3_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_3_412">412</a>, <a href="#Page_3_416">416</a>, <a href="#Page_3_426">426</a>, <a href="#Page_3_427">427</a>, <a href="#Page_3_437">437</a>, <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>, <a href="#Page_3_450">450</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">clerk in an attorney's office, i. <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hopeless love of, i. <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">employed as a parliamentary reporter, i. <a href="#Page_96">96</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_512">512</a> note).</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his first attempts in literature, i. <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his marriage, i. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes for the stage, i. <a href="#Page_116">116</a> (and see <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>).</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">predominant impression of his life, i. <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>; ii. <a href="#Page_2_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_2_150">150</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_524">524</a>, <a href="#Page_3_525">525</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal habits of, i. <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>; ii. <a href="#Page_2_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_2_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_2_324">324</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_215">215</a>-<a href="#Page_3_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_3_513">513</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of, with his illustrators, i. <a href="#Page_154">154</a>-<a href="#Page_156">156</a>; ii. <a href="#Page_2_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_2_348">348</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portraits of, i. <a href="#Page_178">178</a> note; iii. <a href="#Page_3_148">148</a>-<a href="#Page_3_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_3_238">238</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">curious epithets given by, to his children, i. <a href="#Page_182">182</a> note; ii. <a href="#Page_2_248">248</a> note, <a href="#Page_2_266">266</a> note, <a href="#Page_2_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_2_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_2_324">324</a> note; iii. <a href="#Page_3_100">100</a> (and see i. <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>).</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his ravens, i. <a href="#Page_233">233</a>-<a href="#Page_239">239</a>; ii. <a href="#Page_2_215">215</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adventures in the Highlands, i. <a href="#Page_263">263</a>-<a href="#Page_276">276</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first visit to the United States, i. <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">domestic griefs of, i. <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an old malady of, i. <a href="#Page_288">288</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_3_534">534</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an admirable stage manager, i. <a href="#Page_414">414</a>-<a href="#Page_417">417</a>; ii. <a href="#Page_2_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_2_212">212</a>-<a href="#Page_2_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_2_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_2_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_2_393">393</a> note, <a href="#Page_2_400">400</a>, <a href="#Page_2_401">401</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his dogs, ii. <a href="#Page_2_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_2_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_2_134">134</a> note; iii. <a href="#Page_3_144">144</a> note, <a href="#Page_3_217">217</a>-<a href="#Page_3_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_3_222">222</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his Will, ii. <a href="#Page_2_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_2_60">60</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_561">561</a>).</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his accompaniments of work, ii. <a href="#Page_2_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_2_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_2_240">240</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_3_212">212</a> note.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religious views of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_2_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_2_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_2_150">150</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_484">484</a>-<a href="#Page_3_486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">turning-point of his career, ii. <a href="#Page_2_72">72</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writing in the <i>Chronicle</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_105">105</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fancy sketch of his biographer, ii. <a href="#Page_2_383">383</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sea-side holidays of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_403">403</a>-<a href="#Page_2_441">441</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_96">96</a>-<a href="#Page_3_120">120</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Italian travels, ii. <a href="#Page_2_111">111</a>-<a href="#Page_2_200">200</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_78">78</a>-<a href="#Page_3_95">95</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">craving for crowded streets, ii. <a href="#Page_2_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_2_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_2_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_2_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_2_313">313</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">political opinions of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_146">146</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_498">498</a>-<a href="#Page_3_503">503</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_528">528</a>).</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wish to become an actor, ii. <a href="#Page_2_205">205</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his long walks, ii. <a href="#Page_2_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_2_230">230</a> note, <a href="#Page_2_312">312</a> note; iii. <a href="#Page_3_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_3_515">515</a>-<a href="#Page_3_517">517</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first desire to become a public reader, ii. <a href="#Page_2_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_2_284">284</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_3_61">61</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">edits the <i>Daily News</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_218">218</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his home in Switzerland, ii. <a href="#Page_2_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_2_226">226</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">residence in Paris, ii. <a href="#Page_2_316">316</a>-<a href="#Page_2_336">336</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_3_153">153</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">underwriting numbers, ii. <a href="#Page_2_335">335</a> note, <a href="#Page_2_362">362</a>; iii. <a href="#Page_3_377">377</a>, <a href="#Page_3_466">466</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">overwriting numbers, ii. <a href="#Page_2_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_2_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_2_356">356</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first public readings, iii. <a href="#Page_3_60">60</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revisits Switzerland and Italy, iii. <a href="#Page_3_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_3_95">95</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his birds, iii. <a href="#Page_3_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_3_118">118</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">home disappointments, iii. <a href="#Page_3_177">177</a>-<a href="#Page_3_201">201</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_512">512</a>).</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">separation from his wife, iii. <a href="#Page_3_200">200</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purchases Gadshill-place, iii. <a href="#Page_3_205">205</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first paid Readings, iii. <a href="#Page_3_223">223</a>-<a href="#Page_3_238">238</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second series of Readings, iii. <a href="#Page_3_255">255</a>-<a href="#Page_3_274">274</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">third series of Readings, iii. <a href="#Page_3_298">298</a>-<a href="#Page_3_324">324</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revisits America, iii. <a href="#Page_3_387">387</a>-<a href="#Page_3_443">443</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">memoranda for stories first jotted down by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_180">180</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_275">275</a>-<a href="#Page_3_297">297</a>).</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his "violated letter," iii. <a href="#Page_3_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_3_231">231</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favourite walks of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_3_220">220</a>-<a href="#Page_3_222">222</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his mother's death, iii. <a href="#Page_3_300">300</a>.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_580" id="Page_3_580">[580]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his first attack of lameness, iii. <a href="#Page_3_304">304</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_3_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_3_376">376</a>, <a href="#Page_3_437">437</a>, <a href="#Page_3_442">442</a> note, <a href="#Page_3_453">453</a>, <a href="#Page_3_455">455</a>, <a href="#Page_3_456">456</a>, <a href="#Page_3_509">509</a>, <a href="#Page_3_514">514</a>, <a href="#Page_3_530">530</a>, <a href="#Page_3_537">537</a>).</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general review of his literary labours, iii. <a href="#Page_3_325">325</a>-<a href="#Page_3_386">386</a>, <a href="#Page_3_380">380</a>-<a href="#Page_3_386">386</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of his death in America, iii. <a href="#Page_3_384">384</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last readings of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_444">444</a>-<a href="#Page_3_460">460</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">noticeable changes in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_447">447</a>, <a href="#Page_3_455">455</a>, <a href="#Page_3_534">534</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison of his early and his late MSS., iii. <a href="#Page_3_466">466</a>, <a href="#Page_3_468">468</a>, <a href="#Page_3_469">469</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal characteristics of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_478">478</a>-<a href="#Page_3_526">526</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his interview with the Queen, iii. <a href="#Page_3_507">507</a>, <a href="#Page_3_508">508</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strain and excitement at the final readings at St. James's Hall, iii. <a href="#Page_3_532">532</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last days at Gadshill, iii. <a href="#Page_3_539">539</a>, <a href="#Page_3_543">543</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a tribute of gratitude to, for his books, iii. <a href="#Page_3_538">538</a>, <a href="#Page_3_539">539</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general mourning for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_542">542</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burial in Westminster Abbey, iii. <a href="#Page_3_544">544</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unbidden mourners at grave, iii. <a href="#Page_3_544">544</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Mrs.), i. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>-<a href="#Page_415">415</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_2_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_2_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_2_165">165</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_113">113</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reluctance to leave England, i. <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an admirable traveller, i. <a href="#Page_397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maclise's portrait of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the separation, iii. <a href="#Page_3_200">200</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_562">562</a>, <a href="#Page_3_564">564</a>.)</span><br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Charles, jun.), i. <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_179">179</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth of, i. <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">education of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_323">323</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_57">57</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_262">262</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Mary), birth of, i. <a href="#Page_149">149</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_471">471</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_561">561</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Kate), birth of, i. <a href="#Page_186">186</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_470">470</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_122">122</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_255">255</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Walter Landor), death of, i. <a href="#Page_250">250</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_3_301">301</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Francis Jeffrey), birth of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_61">61</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Alfred Tennyson), ii. <a href="#Page_2_215">215</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Lieut. Sydney), death of, at sea, ii. <a href="#Page_2_369">369</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Henry Fielding), birth of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_462">462</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acting of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scholarship at Cambridge won by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_529">529</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_562">562</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Edward Bulwer Lytton), birth of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_54">54</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dickens (Dora Annie), birth of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_487">487</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_492">492</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her grave at Highgate, ii. <a href="#Page_2_493">493</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_52">52</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Dickens in Camp</i> (Bret Harte's), i. <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dilke (Charles Wentworth), i. <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_303">303</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dilke (Sir Charles), ii. <a href="#Page_2_437">437</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Disraeli (Mr.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_537">537</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Doctors, Dickens's distrust of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_433">433</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Doctors' Commons, Dickens reporting in, i. <a href="#Page_92">92</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_219">219</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_39">39</a>).<br /> +<br /> +<i>Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions</i>, large sale of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_87">87</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's faith in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how written, iii. <a href="#Page_3_379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">success of the reading of, at New York, iii. <a href="#Page_3_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_3_410">410</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dogs, Dickens's, ii. <a href="#Page_2_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_2_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_2_134">134</a> note, iii. <a href="#Page_3_144">144</a> note, <a href="#Page_3_217">217</a>-<a href="#Page_3_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_3_222">222</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of his sudden lameness upon, iii. <a href="#Page_3_518">518</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dolby (Miss), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dolby, Mr. (Dickens's manager) sent to America, iii. <a href="#Page_3_320">320</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">troubles of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_3_400">400</a>, <a href="#Page_3_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_3_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_3_412">412</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the most unpopular man in America, iii. <a href="#Page_3_394">394</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">care and kindness of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">commission received by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_446">446</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Dombey and Son</i>, original of Mrs. Pipchin in, i. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_355">355</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">begun at Rosemont, ii. <a href="#Page_2_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens at work on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_2_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_2_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_2_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_2_314">314</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general idea for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hints to artist, ii. <a href="#Page_2_250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_581" id="Page_3_581">[581]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">a reading of first number of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">large sale of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_2_353">353</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_447">447</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a number under written, ii. <a href="#Page_2_335">335</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charwoman's opinion of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_2_336">336</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plan of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_337">337</a>-<a href="#Page_2_341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">progress of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_341">341</a>-<a href="#Page_2_367">367</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">artist-fancies for Mr. Dombey, ii. <a href="#Page_2_345">345</a>, <a href="#Page_2_346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">passage of original MS. omitted, ii. <a href="#Page_2_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_2_344">344</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a reading of second number of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_353">353</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_2_281">281</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jeffrey on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_2_359">359</a> and note, <a href="#Page_2_358">358</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characters in, and supposed originals of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_362">362</a>-<a href="#Page_2_367">367</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_107">107</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">profits of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">translated into Russian, ii. <a href="#Page_2_448">448</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Doncaster, the race-week at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_174">174</a>-<a href="#Page_3_176">176</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a "groaning phantom" at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_174">174</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dora, a real, i. <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changed to Flora in <i>Little Dorrit</i>, i. <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +D'Orsay (Count) and Roche the courier, ii. <a href="#Page_2_204">204</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_55">55</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Doughty-street, Dickens removes to, i. <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incident of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_252">252</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dover, Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_3_55">55</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">storm at, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original missing this reference">iii.</ins> <a href="#Page_3_264">264</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dowling (Vincent), i. <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dramatic College, Royal, Dickens's interest in the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_236">236</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dream, a vision in a, ii. <a href="#Page_2_148">148</a>-<a href="#Page_2_150">150</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_522">522</a>-<a href="#Page_3_524">524</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">President Lincoln's, iii. <a href="#Page_3_423">423</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Drunkard's Children</i> (Cruikshank's), Dickens's opinion of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_2_410">410</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Drury-lane theatre, opening of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_30">30</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dublin, Dickens's first impressions of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_225">225</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">humorous colloquies at Morrison's hotel in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_3_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reading in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_317">317</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_226">226</a> note, <a href="#Page_3_228">228</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Duelling in America, i. <a href="#Page_396">396</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dumas (Alexandre), tragedy of <i>Kean</i> by, ii. <a href="#Page_2_127">127</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_491">491</a> note);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Christine</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a supper with, ii. <a href="#Page_2_331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dundee, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_233">233</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Du Plessis (Marie), death of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_333">333</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dyce (Alexander), ii. <a href="#Page_2_473">473</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Eden</span> in <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>, original of, i. <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a worse swamp than, ii. <a href="#Page_2_77">77</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Edinburgh, public dinner in, to Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_249">249</a>-<a href="#Page_262">262</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presentation of freedom of, i. <a href="#Page_257">257</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_197">197</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wassail-bowl presented after <i>Carol</i> reading, iii. <a href="#Page_3_197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">readings at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_3_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_3_451">451</a>, and <a href="#Page_3_450">450</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scott monument at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_392">392</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Editorial troubles and pleasures, iii. <a href="#Page_3_493">493</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Editors, American, incursion of, i. <a href="#Page_300">300</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Education, two kinds of, i. <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's speeches on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_95">95</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Edwin Drood</i>, clause inserted in agreement for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_461">461</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_461">461</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amount paid for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_461">461</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first fancy for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the story as planned in Dickens's mind, iii. <a href="#Page_3_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_3_464">464</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Longfellow on, iii. <a href="#Page_3_464">464</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">merits of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_464">464</a>, <a href="#Page_3_465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">facsimile of portion of final page of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_466">466</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_468">468</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an unpublished scene for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_467">467</a>-<a href="#Page_3_476">476</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original of the opium-eater in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_528">528</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a reading of a number of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_530">530</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Egg (Augustus), fancy sketch of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_383">383</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">holiday trip of, with Dickens and Wilkie Collins, iii. <a href="#Page_3_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_3_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">narrow escape at Chamounix, iii. <a href="#Page_3_77">77</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Electric message, uses for an, iii. <a href="#Page_3_282">282</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Eliot (George), Dickens's opinion of her first book, ii. <a href="#Page_2_47">47</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Elliotson (Dr.), i. <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_2_109">109</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Elton (Mr.), Dickens's exertions for family of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_55">55</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Elwin (Rev. Whitwell), allusion to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_462">462</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Emerson (Ralph Waldo), ii. <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_582" id="Page_3_582">[582]</a></span>Emigrants in Canada, ii. <a href="#Page_2_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_2_28">28</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Emigration schemes, Dickens's belief in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_262">262</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Emmanuel (Victor), visit of, to Paris, iii. <a href="#Page_3_127">127</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Englishmen abroad, ii. <a href="#Page_2_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_2_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_2_266">266</a>-<a href="#Page_2_271">271</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Engravings, Dickens on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_2_168">168</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Evening Chronicle</i>, sketches contributed by Dickens to, i. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Evenings of a Working-man</i> (John Overs'), ii. <a href="#Page_2_109">109</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Every Man in his Humour</i>, private performances of, at Miss Kelly's theatre, ii. <a href="#Page_2_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_2_211">211</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_537">537</a>).<br /> +<br /> +<i>Examiner</i>, articles by Dickens in the, i. <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Executions, public, letter against, ii. <a href="#Page_2_479">479</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Exeter, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_224">224</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Eye-openers, iii. <a href="#Page_3_409">409</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Facsimiles</span>:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of letter written in boyhood by Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the autograph signature "Boz," i. <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of New York invitations to Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_308">308</a>-<a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of letter to George Cruikshank, ii. <a href="#Page_2_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_2_350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of plan prepared for first numbers of <i>Copperfield</i> and <i>Little Dorrit</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_3_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of portion of last page of <i>Edwin Drood</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_468">468</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_488">488</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of <i>Oliver Twist</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_469">469</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fairbairn (Thomas), letter of Dickens to, on posthumous honours, iii. <a href="#Page_3_487">487</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Fatal Zero</i> (Percy Fitzgerald's), iii. <a href="#Page_3_495">495</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Faucit (Helen), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fechter (Mr.), <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'chalet'">châlet</ins> presented by, to Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_3_212">212</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's friendly relations with, iii. <a href="#Page_3_302">302</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Feline foes, iii. <a href="#Page_3_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_3_118">118</a><br /> +<br /> +Felton (Cornelius C.), i. <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_192">192</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_269">269</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fenianism in Ireland, iii. <a href="#Page_3_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_3_317">317</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in America, iii. <a href="#Page_3_397">397</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_508">508</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Fermoy (Lord), iii. <a href="#Page_3_522">522</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fêtes at Lausanne, ii. <a href="#Page_2_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_2_246">246</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fiction, realities of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_346">346</a>-<a href="#Page_3_363">363</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Field (Kate), <i>Pen Photographs</i> by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_236">236</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Fielding (Henry), real people in novels of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_22">22</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">episodes introduced by, in his novels, iii. <a href="#Page_3_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dr. Johnson's opinion of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">M. Taine's opinion of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_348">348</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fields (James T.), <i>Yesterdays with Authors</i> by, ii. <a href="#Page_2_42">42</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Dickens's health in America, iii. <a href="#Page_3_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_3_405">405</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Gadshill, iii. <a href="#Page_3_527">527</a>, <a href="#Page_3_528">528</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fiesole, Landor's villa at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_189">189</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Fildes (S. L.), chosen to illustrate <i>Edwin Drood</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_467">467</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Finality, a type of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_408">408</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Finchley, cottage at, rented by Dickens, ii. <a href="#Page_2_51">51</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Fine Old English Gentleman</i>, political squib by Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fireflies in Italy, ii. <a href="#Page_2_196">196</a>, and note.<br /> +<br /> +Fires in America, frequency of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_3_400">400</a><br /> +<br /> +Fitzgerald (Percy), iii. <a href="#Page_3_218">218</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a contributor in <i>All the Year Round</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal liking of Dickens for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_495">495</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Fix," a useful word in America, i. <a href="#Page_370">370</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Flanders, Dickens's trip to, i. <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fletcher, (Angus), i. <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stay of, with Dickens at Broadstairs, i. <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdotes of, i. <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a> note, <a href="#Page_269">269</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_2_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_2_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_2_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_2_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_2_194">194</a> note);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pencil sketch by, of the Villa Bagnerello at Albaro, ii. <a href="#Page_2_121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_194">194</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Flies, plague of, at Lausanne, ii. <a href="#Page_2_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_2_245">245</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Fonblanque (Albany), i. <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_2_162">162</a>;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_583" id="Page_3_583">[583]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">wit of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_2_467">467</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_349">349</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Footman, a meek, ii. <a href="#Page_2_194">194</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fortescue (Miss), ii. <a href="#Page_2_96">96</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Fortnightly Review</i>, Mr. Lewes's critical essay on Dickens in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_332">332</a>-<a href="#Page_3_338">338</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fowls, eccentric, iii. <a href="#Page_3_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_3_252">252</a><br /> +<br /> +Fox (William Johnson), ii. <a href="#Page_2_53">53</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fox-under-the-<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Hill'">hill</ins> (Strand), reminiscence of, i. <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Franklin (Lady), iii. <a href="#Page_3_519">519</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fraser (Peter), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Freemasons' Hall, banquet to Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_324">324</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Freemasons' secret, a, ii. <a href="#Page_2_440">440</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Free-trade, Lord "Gobden" and, ii. <a href="#Page_2_312">312</a>.<br /> +<br /> +French and Americans contrasted, ii. <a href="#Page_2_322">322</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Frescoes, perishing, ii. <a href="#Page_2_119">119</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the Palazzo Peschiere, ii. <a href="#Page_2_140">140</a> note, <a href="#Page_2_141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maclise's, for the Houses of Parliament, iii. <a href="#Page_3_536">536</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Friday, important incidents of Dickens's life connected with, ii. <a href="#Page_2_441">441</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_3_419">419</a>, &c.<br /> +<br /> +Frith (W. P.), portrait of Dickens by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_238">238</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Funeral, scene at a, ii. <a href="#Page_2_31">31</a>-<a href="#Page_2_33">33</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an English, in Italy, ii. <a href="#Page_2_193">193</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Furnival's inn, room in, where the first page of <i>Pickwick</i> was written, iii, <a href="#Page_3_528">528</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Gadshill Place</span>, a vision of boyhood at, i. <a href="#Page_24">24</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_204">204</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dick's tomb at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_117">117</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first description of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch of porch at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purchase of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">antecedents of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">improvements and additions at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_208">208</a>-<a href="#Page_3_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch of <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Chalet'">Châlet</ins> at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nightingales at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's daily life at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_215">215</a>-<a href="#Page_3_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch of house and conservatory, iii. <a href="#Page_3_216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Study at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">games at, for the villagers, iii. <a href="#Page_3_510">510</a>, <a href="#Page_3_511">511</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's last days at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_539">539</a>-<a href="#Page_3_542">542</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Gambler's Life</i>, Lemaitre's acting in the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_122">122</a>-<a href="#Page_3_124">124</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gamp (Mrs.), original of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a masterpiece of English humour, ii. <a href="#Page_2_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_2_84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with the Strollers, ii. <a href="#Page_2_376">376</a>-<a href="#Page_2_384">384</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Gaskell (Mrs.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_2_470">470</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_54">54</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gasman's compliment to Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_265">265</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Gautier (Théophile), ii. <a href="#Page_2_331">331</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Geneva, Dickens at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_288">288</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolution at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_298">298</a>-<a href="#Page_2_301">301</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aristocracy of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_299">299</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Genoa described, ii. <a href="#Page_2_125">125</a>-<a href="#Page_2_128">128</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theatres at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_2_128">128</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_491">491</a> note);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religious houses at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rooms in the Palazzo Peschiere hired by Dickens, ii. <a href="#Page_2_129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">view over, ii. <a href="#Page_2_141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor's levee at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an English funeral at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nautical incident at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revisited by Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_78">78</a>-<a href="#Page_3_80">80</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>George Silverman's Explanation</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_380">380</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_253">253</a> note).<br /> +<br /> +Gibson (Milner), ii. <a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Gilbert Massenger</i> (Holme Lee's) remarks of Dickens on, iii. <a href="#Page_3_493">493</a>, <a href="#Page_3_494">494</a><br /> +<br /> +Giles (William), i. <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens at the school kept by, i. <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">snuff box presented to "Boz" by, i. <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Gipsy tracks, iii. <a href="#Page_3_250">250</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Girardin (Emile de), iii. <a href="#Page_3_142">142</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">banquets given by, in honour of Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_3_141">141</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Girls, American, i. <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Irish, iii. <a href="#Page_3_226">226</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">list of Christian names of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_3_295">295</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Gladstone (Mr.), and Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_537">537</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Glasgow, proposed dinner to Dickens at, i. <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens at meeting of Athenæum, ii. <a href="#Page_2_390">390</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Glencoe, Pass of, i. <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of, on Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Goldfinch, the, and his friend, iii. <a href="#Page_3_252">252</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_584" id="Page_3_584">[584]</a></span>Gondoliers at Venice, habits of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_90">90</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gordon (Lord George), character of, i. <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gordon (Sheriff), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gore-house, a party at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_334">334</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Gower-street-north, school in, opened by Dickens's mother, i. <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a dreary home, i. <a href="#Page_2_45">45</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">home broken up, i. <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Graham (Sir James), ii. <a href="#Page_2_109">109</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Graham (Lady), ii. <a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Grant (James), recollections of Dickens by, i. <a href="#Page_101">101</a> (and see <a href="#Page_108">108</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Graves, town, iii. <a href="#Page_3_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_3_52">52</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's dislike to speech-making at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_488">488</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Great Expectations</i>, original of Satis-house in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_220">220</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">germ of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_361">361</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the story characterized, iii. <a href="#Page_3_362">362</a>-<a href="#Page_3_369">369</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">close of, changed at Bulwer Lytton's suggestion, iii. <a href="#Page_3_369">369</a>, and note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Great Malvern, cold-waterers at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_487">487</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Greek war-ship, a, iii. <a href="#Page_3_82">82</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Greeley (Horace), iii. <a href="#Page_3_400">400</a>, <a href="#Page_3_442">442</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the effect in America of Dickens's death, iii. <a href="#Page_3_384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Dickens's fame as a novelist, iii. <a href="#Page_3_388">388</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a suggestion from, iii. <a href="#Page_3_417">417</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Grey (Lord), recollection of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_2_264">264</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Grimaldi, Life of</i>, edited by Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the editor's modest estimate of it, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original missing this reference">i.</ins> <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticisms on, i. <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Grip, Dickens's raven, i. <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original missing this reference">i.</ins> <a href="#Page_2_234">234</a>, 235;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">apotheosis, by Maclise, i. <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a second Grip, i. <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Grisi (Madame), ii. <a href="#Page_2_176">176</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Guild of Literature and Art, origin of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_395">395</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">princely help of the Duke of Devonshire to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_397">397</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_488">488</a>, <a href="#Page_3_489">489</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Hachette</span> (MM.), agreement with, for French translation of Dickens's works, iii. <a href="#Page_3_125">125</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Haghe (Louis), iii. <a href="#Page_3_85">85</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Haldimand (Mr.), seat of, at Lausanne, ii, <a href="#Page_2_232">232</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Halevy'">Halévy</ins> (M.), dinner to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_469">469</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Halifax, the "Britannia" aground off, i. <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the house of assembly at, i. <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hall (Mr. and Mrs. S. C.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hall (William), funeral of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_369">369</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hallam (Henry), loquacity of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_251">251</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Halleck (Fitz-Greene) on Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_482">482</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Halliday (Andrew), iii. <a href="#Page_3_529">529</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Hamlet</i>, an emendation for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_389">389</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">performance of, at Preston, iii. <a href="#Page_3_70">70</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hampstead Heath, Dickens's partiality for, i. <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_101">101</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hampstead-road, Mr. Jones's school in the, i. <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hansard (Mr.), letter from, concerning Mr. Macrone, ii. <a href="#Page_2_442">442</a>, <a href="#Page_2_443">443</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Hardwick (John), ii. <a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Hard Times</i>, proposed names for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_65">65</a>, and note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">title chosen, iii. <a href="#Page_3_65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">written for <i>Household Words</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ruskin's opinion of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_3_67">67</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Harley (Mr.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Harness (Rev. Wm.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_2_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_2_473">473</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Harrogate, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_230">230</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Harte (Bret), Dickens on, i. <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tribute by, to Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hartford (U. S.) levee at, i. <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Harvard and Oxford crews, the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_527">527</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hastings, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_264">264</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hatton-garden, Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_25">25</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Haunted Man</i>, first idea of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_280">280</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">large sale of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dramatized, ii. <a href="#Page_2_443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">teachings and moral of the story, ii. <a href="#Page_2_443">443</a>-<a href="#Page_2_446">446</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the christening dinner, ii. <a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hawthorne (N.), Dickens on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_440">440</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hayes (Catherine), ii. <a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_585" id="Page_3_585">[585]</a></span>Heaven, ambition to see into, ii. <a href="#Page_2_477">477</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Helps (Arthur), iii. <a href="#Page_3_245">245</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>In Memoriam</i> by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_509">509</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hereditary transmission, iii. <a href="#Page_3_179">179</a> note (and see <a href="#Page_3_493">493</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Highgate, Dora's grave at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_493">493</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_52">52</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Highlands, Dickens's adventures in the, i. <a href="#Page_263">263</a>-<a href="#Page_276">276</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hogarth, Dickens on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_413">413</a>, <a href="#Page_2_413">413</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hogarth (George), i. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens marries eldest daughter of, i. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hogarth (Georgina), ii. <a href="#Page_2_120">120</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_540">540</a>, <a href="#Page_3_541">541</a>, <a href="#Page_3_561">561</a>, <a href="#Page_3_563">563</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch taken from, ii. <a href="#Page_2_48">48</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maclise's portrait of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_2_49">49</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hogarth (Mary), death of, i. <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epitaph on tomb of, i. <a href="#Page_120">120</a> note (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_458">458</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's loving memory of, i. <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_2_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_2_458">458</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_525">525</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Holiday Romance and George Silverman's Explanation</i>, high price paid for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_380">380</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_253">253</a> note, and <a href="#Page_3_321">321</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Holland (Lady), a remembrance of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_194">194</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Holland (Lord), ii. <a href="#Page_2_190">190</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Holland (Captain), the <i>Monthly Magazine</i> conducted by, i. <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Holyhead, a Fenian at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_316">316</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Hone of the <i>Every Day Book</i>, scene at funeral of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_31">31</a>-<a href="#Page_2_33">33</a> (but see iii. <a href="#Page_3_568">568</a>, <a href="#Page_3_569">569</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Honesty under a cloud, ii. <a href="#Page_2_112">112</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hood (Thomas), ii. <a href="#Page_2_190">190</a>; his <i>Tylney Hall</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_264">264</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hop-pickers, iii. <a href="#Page_3_208">208</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Horne (R. H.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hospital for Sick Children, Dickens's exertions on behalf of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_192">192</a>-<a href="#Page_3_200">200</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a small patient at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Carol</i> reading for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_200">200</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hotels, American, i.<a href="#Page_30">30</a>4, iii. <a href="#Page_3_390">390</a>, <a href="#Page_3_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_3_412">412</a>, <a href="#Page_3_435">435</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extortion at, i. <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Houghton (Lord), ii. <a href="#Page_2_472">472</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_509">509</a>, <a href="#Page_3_538">538</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Household Words</i> in contemplation, ii. <a href="#Page_2_449">449</a>-<a href="#Page_2_453">453</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">title selected for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_454">454</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">names proposed for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_453">453</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first number of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_454">454</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early contributors to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_454">454</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Gaskell's story in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unwise printed statement in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">discontinued, iii. <a href="#Page_3_239">239</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_37">37</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Hudson (George), glimpse of, in exile, iii. <a href="#Page_3_274">274</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hugo (Victor), an evening with, ii. <a href="#Page_2_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_2_331">331</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hulkes (Mr.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_206">206</a> note, <a href="#Page_3_256">256</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hull, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_232">232</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Humour, Americans destitute of i. <a href="#Page_401">401</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a favourite bit of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the leading quality of Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_3_342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord Lytton on the employment of, by novelists, iii. <a href="#Page_3_350">350</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's enjoyment of his own, iii. <a href="#Page_3_350">350</a>-<a href="#Page_3_352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the true province of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_382">382</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hungerford-market, i. <a href="#Page_50">50</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_512">512</a> note).<br /> +<br /> +Hunt (Holman), iii. <a href="#Page_3_257">257</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hunt (Leigh), saying of, i. <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>, i. <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Civil-list pension given to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_369">369</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theatrical benefit for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_369">369</a>-<a href="#Page_2_373">373</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">result of performances, ii. <a href="#Page_2_373">373</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last glimpse of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_26">26</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter of Dickens to, in self-defence, iii. <a href="#Page_3_28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the original of Harold Skimpole in <i>Bleak House</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_26">26</a>-<a href="#Page_3_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inauguration of bust of, at Kensal-green, iii. <a href="#Page_3_487">487</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Hunted Down</i>, high price paid for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_253">253</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_279">279</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Imaginative</span> life, tenure of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_187">187</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Improprieties of speech, ii. <a href="#Page_2_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Incurable Hospital, patients in the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_287">287</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Inimitable, as applied to Dickens, origin of the term, i. <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Inn, a log-house, i. <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Innkeeper, a model, i. <a href="#Page_365">365</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Inns, American, Miss Martineau on, i. <a href="#Page_344">344</a> (and see <a href="#Page_366">366</a> note, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_432">432</a>);<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_586" id="Page_3_586">[586]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Highland, i. <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Italian, ii. <a href="#Page_2_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_2_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_2_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_2_181">181</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +International boat-race dinner, Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_527">527</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ireland, a timely word on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_260">260</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Irving (Washington), i. <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter from Dickens to, i. <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a bad public speaker, i. <a href="#Page_2_320">320</a>-<a href="#Page_2_322">322</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Literary Fund dinner in London, i. <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Richmond (U. S.), i. <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Italians hard at work, ii. <a href="#Page_2_197">197</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Italy, art and pictures in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_167">167</a>-<a href="#Page_2_169">169</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_3_92">92</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">private galleries in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_168">168</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cruelty to brutes in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_187">187</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wayside memorials in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_2_189">189</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">best season in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fire-flies in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's trip to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_3_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the noblest men of, in exile, iii. <a href="#Page_3_93">93</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Jack Straw's-castle</span> (Hampstead-heath), i. <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_2_101">101</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Jackson (Sir Richard), i. <a href="#Page_413">413</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Jeffrey (Lord), i. <a href="#Page_260">260</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">praise of Little Nell by, i. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presides at Edinburgh dinner to Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the <i>American Notes</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">praise by, of the <i>Carol</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the <i>Chimes</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his opinion of the <i>Battle of Life</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_2_304">304</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forecaste of <i>Dombey</i> by, ii. <a href="#Page_2_358">358</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Paul's death, ii. <a href="#Page_2_361">361</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the character of Edith in Dombey, ii. <a href="#Page_2_362">362</a>-<a href="#Page_2_364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">James Sheridan Knowles and, ii. <a href="#Page_2_392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">touching letter from, ii. <a href="#Page_2_428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_483">483</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jerrold (Douglas), ii. <a href="#Page_2_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_2_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_2_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_2_200">200</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Miss Kelly's theatre, ii. <a href="#Page_2_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_2_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fancy sketch of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_282">282</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_63">63</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last meeting with Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed memorial tribute to, and result, iii. <a href="#Page_3_168">168</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jesuits at Geneva, rising against the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_297">297</a>-<a href="#Page_2_301">301</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_2_180">180</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Johnson (President), interview of Dickens with, iii. <a href="#Page_3_423">423</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">impeachment of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_429">429</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Johnson (Reverdy), at Glasgow art-dinner, iii. <a href="#Page_3_453">453</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Jonson (Ben), an experience of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_352">352</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Jowett (Dr.), on Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_525">525</a>, <a href="#Page_3_526">526</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Karr</span> (<span class="smcap">Alphonse</span>), ii. <a href="#Page_2_331">331</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Keeley (Mrs.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>, i. <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_96">96</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Kelly (Fanny), theatre of, in Dean-street, Soho, ii. <a href="#Page_2_208">208</a>-<a href="#Page_2_214">214</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">whims and fancies of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_209">209</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Kemble (Charles) and his daughters, ii. <a href="#Page_2_473">473</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kemble (John), ii. <a href="#Page_2_473">473</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kensal-green, Mary Hogarth's tomb at, i. <a href="#Page_120">120</a> note, ii. <a href="#Page_2_458">458</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Kent (Charles), <i>Charles Dickens as a Reader</i> by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_235">235</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_541">541</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Kissing the Rod</i> (Edmund Yates'), iii. <a href="#Page_3_495">495</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Knebworth, private performances at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_396">396</a>, <a href="#Page_2_397">397</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_3_246">246</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Knight (Charles), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Knowles (James Sheridan), bankruptcy of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_392">392</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">civil-list pension granted to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">performances in aid of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_2_395">395</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Ladies</span>, American, i. <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eccentric, ii. <a href="#Page_2_291">291</a>-<a href="#Page_2_293">293</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Laing (Mr.), of Hatton Garden, iii. <a href="#Page_3_25">25</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lamartine (A., de), ii. <a href="#Page_2_331">331</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_135">135</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lameness, strange remedy for, i. <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lamert (James), private theatricals got up by, i. <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes young Dickens to the theatre, i. <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">employs Dickens at the blacking-warehouse, i. <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_587" id="Page_3_587">[587]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrel of John Dickens with, i. <a href="#Page_68">68</a> (and see <a href="#Page_228">228</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Lamplighter</i>, Dickens's farce of the, i. <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_207">207</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">turned into a tale for the benefit of Mrs. Macrone, i. <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Landor (Walter Savage), Dickens's visit to, at Bath, i. <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mystification of, i. <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">villa at Fiesole, ii. <a href="#Page_2_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_2_190">190</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_486">486</a> note);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the original of Boythorn in <i>Bleak House</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a fancy respecting, iii. <a href="#Page_3_451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forster's <i>Life</i> of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_189">189</a> note, iii. <a href="#Page_3_528">528</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Landport (Portsea), birth of Dickens at, i. <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Landseer (Charles), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Landseer (Edwin), i. <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_2_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_63">63</a> note, <a href="#Page_3_126">126</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Napoleon III., iii. <a href="#Page_3_147">147</a> note (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_238">238</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Land's-end, a sunset at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_40">40</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lankester (Dr.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_430">430</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lant-street, Borough, Dickens's lodgings in, i. <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the landlord's family reproduced in the Garlands in <i>Old Curiosity Shop</i>, i. <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lausanne, Dickens's home at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_2_226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">booksellers' shops at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the town described, ii. <a href="#Page_2_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of Rosemont, ii. <a href="#Page_2_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">girl drowned in lake at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_2_233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theatre at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_2_234">234</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fêtes at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_2_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_2_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_2_259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolution at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prison at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_2_235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blind Institution at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_236">236</a>-<a href="#Page_2_240">240</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">English colony at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_242">242</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plague of flies at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_2_245">245</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">earthquake at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_283">283</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">feminine smoking party, ii. <a href="#Page_2_292">292</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the town revisited, iii. <a href="#Page_3_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_3_78">78</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lawes (Rev. T. B.), club established by, at Rothamsted, iii. <a href="#Page_3_244">244</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Layard (A. H.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_83">83</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Gadshill, iii. <a href="#Page_3_510">510</a>, <a href="#Page_3_523">523</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lazy Tour projected, iii. <a href="#Page_3_170">170</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_351">351</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Lazzaroni, what they really are, ii. <a href="#Page_2_187">187</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Leech (John) at Miss Kelly's theatre, ii. <a href="#Page_2_210">210</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">grave mistake by, in <i>Battle of Life</i> illustration, ii. <a href="#Page_2_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_2_311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fancy sketch of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_381">381</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's opinion of his <i>Rising Generation</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_414">414</a>-<a href="#Page_2_418">418</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">what he will be remembered for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accident to, at Bonchurch, ii. <a href="#Page_2_435">435</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Boulogne, iii. <a href="#Page_3_105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_303">303</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_375">375</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Leeds, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_232">232</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Leeds Mechanics' Society, Dickens at meeting of the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_390">390</a>, <a href="#Page_2_390">390</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Legends and Lyrics</i> (Adelaide Procter's), iii. <a href="#Page_3_495">495</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Legerdemain in perfection, iii. <a href="#Page_3_112">112</a>-<a href="#Page_3_114">114</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_3_112">112</a> note).<br /> +<br /> +Leghorn, Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_3_81">81</a><br /> +<br /> +Legislatures, local, i. <a href="#Page_365">365</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lehmann (Frederic), iii. <a href="#Page_3_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_3_256">256</a><br /> +<br /> +Leigh (Percival), ii. <a href="#Page_2_210">210</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lemaitre (Frédéric), acting of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_122">122</a>-<a href="#Page_3_124">124</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_521">521</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Lemon (Mark), ii. <a href="#Page_2_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_2_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_2_263">263</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fancy sketch of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_382">382</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acting with children, iii. <a href="#Page_3_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_538">538</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lemon (Mrs.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_263">263</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Leslie (Charles Robert), iii. <a href="#Page_3_126">126</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Letter-opening at the General Post-Office, ii. <a href="#Page_2_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_2_108">108</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Levees in the United States, i. <a href="#Page_2_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_2_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_2_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_2_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_2_386">386</a>, <a href="#Page_2_398">398</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">queer customers at, i. <a href="#Page_373">373</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">what they are like, i. <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lever (Charles), tale by, in <i>All the Year Round</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_245">245</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lewes (George Henry), Dickens's regard for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">critical essay on Dickens, in the <i>Fortnightly Review</i>, noticed, iii. <a href="#Page_3_333">333</a>-<a href="#Page_3_339">339</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Library, a gigantic, ii. <a href="#Page_2_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_2_272">272</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Life of Christ</i>, written by Dickens for his children, ii. <a href="#Page_2_241">241</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Life-preservers, i. <a href="#Page_376">376</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Lighthouse</i>, Carlyle on Dickens's acting in the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_72">72</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_588" id="Page_3_588">[588]</a></span>Lincoln (President), curious story respecting, iii. <a href="#Page_3_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_3_423">423</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_508">508</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Lincoln's-inn-fields, a reading of the <i>Chimes</i> in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_2_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_2_175">175</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Linda, Dickens's dog, iii. <a href="#Page_3_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_3_219">219</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burial-place of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_222">222</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Liston (Robert), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Literary Fund dinner, i. <a href="#Page_321">321</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_488">488</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Literature, too much "patronage" of, in England, iii. <a href="#Page_3_488">488</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Littérateur, a fellow, ii. <a href="#Page_2_325">325</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Little Dorrit</i>, fac-simile of plan prepared for first number of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_158">158</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general design of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">weak points in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_3_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Von Moltke and, iii. <a href="#Page_3_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original of Mrs. Clennam in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">notions for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_278">278</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Little Nell, Florence Dombey and, ii. <a href="#Page_2_362">362</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sara Coleridge on, iii. <a href="#Page_3_345">345</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Liverpool, readings at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_3_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_3_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_3_313">313</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's speech at Mechanics' Institution at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_2_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Leigh Hunt's benefit at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_372">372</a>, <a href="#Page_2_373">373</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">public dinner to Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_3_500">500</a>, <a href="#Page_3_501">501</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Loch-earn-head, postal service at, i. <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Locock (Dr.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lodi, Dickens at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_166">166</a>-<a href="#Page_2_173">173</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Logan Stone, Stanfield's sketch of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_42">42</a>.<br /> +<br /> +London, pictures of, in Dickens's books, i. <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">readings in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_3_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_3_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_3_269">269</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Longfellow (Henry Wadsworth), i. <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_447">447</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among London thieves and tramps, ii. <a href="#Page_2_22">22</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_57">57</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Gadshill, iii. <a href="#Page_3_216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Dickens's death, iii. <a href="#Page_3_384">384</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Longman (Thomas), ii. <a href="#Page_2_469">469</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Louis Philippe, a glimpse of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_320">320</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dethronement of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_403">403</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lovelace (Lord), ii. <a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lowther, Mr. (chargé d'affaires at Naples), difficulty in finding house of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_83">83</a>-<a href="#Page_3_85">85</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lytton (Lord), ii. <a href="#Page_2_188">188</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_246">246</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prologue written by, for Ben Jonson's play, ii. <a href="#Page_2_372">372</a>, <a href="#Page_2_373">373</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's admiration for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_472">472</a>, <a href="#Page_2_488">488</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his opinion of <i>Copperfield</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_3_22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Strange Story</i> contributed to <i>All the Year Round</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's reply to remonstrance from, iii. <a href="#Page_3_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_3_342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defence by, of humourists, iii. <a href="#Page_3_350">350</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggestion as to close of <i>Great Expectations</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_369">369</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter of Dickens to, from Cambridge (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_402">402</a>, <a href="#Page_3_403">403</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lytton (Robert), iii. <a href="#Page_3_127">127</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Mackenzie</span> (Dr. <span class="smcap">Shelton</span>) and Cruikshank's illustrations to <i>Oliver Twist</i>, i. <a href="#Page_155">155</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rigmarole by, concerning Dickens and Her Majesty, iii. <a href="#Page_3_503">503</a>, <a href="#Page_3_504">504</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Maclise (Daniel), i. <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_2_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_2_200">200</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait of Dickens by, i. <a href="#Page_178">178</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">social charm of, i. <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his apotheosis of Grip, i. <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his play-scene in <i>Hamlet</i>, i. <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among London tramps, ii. <a href="#Page_2_23">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketches in Cornwall by, ii. <a href="#Page_2_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_2_43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter from, on the Cornwall trip, <a href="#Page_2_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_2_43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his "Girl at the Waterfall," ii, <a href="#Page_2_43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">paints Mrs. Dickens's portrait, ii. <a href="#Page_2_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pencil drawing of Charles Dickens, his wife, and her sister, ii. <a href="#Page_2_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's address to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_116">116</a>-<a href="#Page_2_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch of the private reading in Lincoln's-inn-fields, ii. <a href="#Page_2_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">house in Devonshire-terrace sketched by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_535">535</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tribute of Dickens to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_536">536</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Macmillan's Magazine</i>, paper in, on Dickens's amateur theatricals, iii. <a href="#Page_3_63">63</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Macrae (David), <i>Home and Abroad</i> by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_483">483</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Macready (William Charles), i. <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_2_177">177</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Covent-garden, i. <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner to, on his retirement from management, i. <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner to, prior to American visit, ii. <a href="#Page_2_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_2_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_589" id="Page_3_589">[589]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">an apprehended disservice to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in New Orleans, ii. <a href="#Page_2_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Paris, ii. <a href="#Page_2_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_2_177">177</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strange news for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdote of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_372">372</a>, <a href="#Page_2_373">373</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's affection for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_467">467</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">farewell dinner to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_488">488</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Sherborne, iii. <a href="#Page_3_185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his opinion of the <i>Sikes and Nancy</i> scenes, iii. <a href="#Page_3_451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">misgiving of Dickens respecting, iii. <a href="#Page_3_481">481</a>, <a href="#Page_3_529">529</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Macready (Mrs.), death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_55">55</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Macrone (Mr.), copyright of <i>Sketches by Boz</i> sold to, i. <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scheme to reissue <i>Sketches</i>, i. <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exorbitant demand by, i. <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_442">442</a>, <a href="#Page_2_443">443</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">close of dealings with, i. <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a friendly plea for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_443">443</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Magnetic experiments, i. <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Malleson (Mr.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_256">256</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Malthus philosophy, ii. <a href="#Page_2_262">262</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Managerial troubles, ii. <a href="#Page_2_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_2_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_2_400">400</a>-<a href="#Page_2_402">402</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Manby (Charles), pleasing trait of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_273">273</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Manchester, Dickens's speech at opening of Athenæum, ii. <a href="#Page_2_56">56</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_237">237</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Leigh Hunt's benefit at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_372">372</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Guild dinner at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_401">401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">readings at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_3_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_3_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_3_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_3_314">314</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Manchester (Bishop of) on Dickens's writings, iii. <a href="#Page_3_383">383</a>, <a href="#Page_3_384">384</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Manin (Daniel), iii. <a href="#Page_3_126">126</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mannings, execution of the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_479">479</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Manon Lescaut</i>, Auber's opera of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_136">136</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mansion-house dinner to "literature and art," ii. <a href="#Page_2_477">477</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">doubtful compliment at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_478">478</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suppressed letter of Dickens respecting, ii. <a href="#Page_2_478">478</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Marcet (Mrs.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_2_231">231</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Margate theatre, burlesque of classic tragedy at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_26">26</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_387">387</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Mario (Signor), ii. <a href="#Page_2_176">176</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Marryat (Captain) on the effect in America of the <i>Nickleby</i> dedication, ii. <a href="#Page_2_54">54</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fondness of, for children, ii. <a href="#Page_2_472">472</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_268">268</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_567">567</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Marshalsea prison, Dickens's first and last visits to the, i. <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_162">162</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an incident in, described by Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>-<a href="#Page_66">66</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_163">163</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Marston's (Mr. Westland) <i>Patrician's Daughter</i>, prologue to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_45">45</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Martineau (Harriet) on American inns, i. <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>, agreement for, i. <a href="#Page_282">282</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_2_65">65</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original of Eden in, i. <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fancy for opening of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_24">24</a> (and see i. <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first year of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_40">40</a>-<a href="#Page_2_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">names first given to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sydney Smith's opinion of first number of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original of Mrs. Gamp in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of, less than former books, ii. <a href="#Page_2_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_2_64">64</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_447">447</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unlucky clause in agreement for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's own opinion of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_2_70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the story characterized, ii. <a href="#Page_2_74">74</a>-<a href="#Page_2_84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thackeray's favourite scene in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intended motto for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">M. Taine on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">christening dinner, ii. <a href="#Page_2_109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sara Coleridge on, iii. <a href="#Page_3_345">345</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Master Humphrey's Clock</i>, projected, i. <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first sale of, i. <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first number published, i. <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original plan abandoned, i. <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner in celebration of, i. <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Clock</i> discontents, i. <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mazzini (Joseph), Dickens's interest in his school, ii. <a href="#Page_2_474">474</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mediterranean, sunset on the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_117">117</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Mémoires du Diable</i>, a pretty tag to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_3_134">134</a><br /> +<br /> +Memoranda, extracts from Dickens's book of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_275">275</a>-<a href="#Page_3_297">297</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">available names in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_293">293</a>-<a href="#Page_3_296">296</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mendicity Society, the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_106">106</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mesmerism, Dickens's interest in, i. <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_436">436</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_590" id="Page_3_590">[590]</a></span>Micawber (Mr.), in <i>David Copperfield</i>, original of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_30">30</a>-<a href="#Page_3_32">32</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison between Harold Skimpole and, iii. <a href="#Page_3_32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mr. G. H. Lewes on, iii. <a href="#Page_3_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_3_348">348</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on corn, iii. <a href="#Page_3_349">349</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Middle Temple, Dickens entered at, i. <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Midsummer Night's Dream</i> at the Opera Comique, Boulogne, iii. <a href="#Page_3_103">103</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Milnes (Monckton), ii. <a href="#Page_2_472">472</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Mirror of Parliament</i>, Dickens reporting for, i. <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mississippi, the, i. <a href="#Page_386">386</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mitton (Thomas), i. <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Moltke (Von) and <i>Little Dorrit</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_164">164</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Money</i> (Lord Lytton's), a performance of, at Doncaster, iii. <a href="#Page_3_175">175</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Mont Blanc, effect of, on Dickens, ii. <a href="#Page_2_254">254</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Montreal, private theatricals in, i. <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">facsimile of play-bill at, i. <a href="#Page_415">415</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Moore (George), business qualities and benevolence, iii. <a href="#Page_3_248">248</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Moore (Thomas), i. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Morgue at Paris, ii. <a href="#Page_2_321">321</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a tenant of the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_327">327</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Morning Chronicle</i>, Dickens a reporter for the, i. <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">liberality of proprietors, i. <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">change of editorship of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_2_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">articles by Dickens in the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_2_105">105</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Morris (Mowbray), ii. <a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Moulineaux, Villa des, iii. <a href="#Page_3_97">97</a>-<a href="#Page_3_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_3_115">115</a>-<a href="#Page_3_119">119</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mountain travelling, ii. <a href="#Page_2_253">253</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Mr. Nightingale's Diary</i>, the Guild farce of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_397">397</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_72">72</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_370">370</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Mugby Junction</i>, germ of, in Memoranda, iii. <a href="#Page_3_290">290</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mule-travelling in Switzerland, ii. <a href="#Page_2_253">253</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mulgrave (Lord), i. <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_469">469</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mumbo Jumbo, ii. <a href="#Page_2_440">440</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Murray (Lord), i. <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Music, effect of, on a deaf, dumb, and blind girl, ii. <a href="#Page_2_239">239</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vagrant, ii. <a href="#Page_2_387">387</a>, <a href="#Page_2_438">438</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Names</span>, available, iii. <a href="#Page_3_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_3_296">296</a><br /> +<br /> +Naples, burial place at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_186">186</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">filth of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_186">186</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_95">95</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_83">83</a>-<a href="#Page_3_85">85</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Napoleon III. at Gore-house, ii. <a href="#Page_2_334">334</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Boulogne, iii. <a href="#Page_3_108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Paris, iii. <a href="#Page_3_108">108</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edwin Landseer and, iii. <a href="#Page_3_147">147</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Nautical incident at Genoa, ii. <a href="#Page_2_195">195</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Neaves (Mr.), i. <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Negri (Marquis di), ii. <a href="#Page_2_130">130</a>-<a href="#Page_2_132">132</a>.<br /> +<br /> +New Bedford (U.S.), reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_437">437</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Newcastle, readings at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_3_315">315</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alarming scene at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_265">265</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Newhaven (U. S.), levee at, i. <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>New Sentimental Journey</i> (Collins's), iii. <a href="#Page_3_257">257</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Newspaper express, a, i. <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Newspapers, American, iii. <a href="#Page_3_400">400</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Newsvendors' dinner, Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_535">535</a>.<br /> +<br /> +New-year's day in Paris, iii. <a href="#Page_3_145">145</a>.<br /> +<br /> +New York, fac-similes of invitations to Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Carlton hotel in, i. <a href="#Page_315">315</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_361">361</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ball at, i. <a href="#Page_316">316</a>-<a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">life in, i. <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hotel bills in, i. <a href="#Page_331">331</a> (and see <a href="#Page_345">345</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">public institutions ill-managed at, i. <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prisons in, i. <a href="#Page_339">339</a>-<a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capital punishment in, i. <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of tickets for the readings, iii. <a href="#Page_3_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_3_392">392</a>-<a href="#Page_3_394">394</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first reading in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fire at the Westminster-hotel, iii. <a href="#Page_3_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_3_399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prodigious increase since Dickens's former visit, iii. <a href="#Page_3_395">395</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Niblo's theatre at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sleigh-driving at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">police of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_398">398</a> (and see i. <a href="#Page_3_339">339</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Irish element in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_413">413</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">farewell readings in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">public dinner to Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_442">442</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>New York Herald</i>, i. <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_400">400</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>New York Ledger</i>, high price paid for tale by Dickens in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_253">253</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_591" id="Page_3_591">[591]</a></span><i>New York Tribune</i>, Dickens's "violated letter" in the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_3_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +Niagara Falls, effect of, on Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_433">433</a>).<br /> +<br /> +<i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>, agreement for, i. <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first number of, i. <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of, i. <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the <i>Saturday Review</i> on, i. <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characters in, i. <a href="#Page_167">167</a>-<a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinions of Sydney Smith and Leigh Hunt on, i. <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens at work on, i. <a href="#Page_172">172</a>-<a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner-celebration of, i. <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">originals of the Brothers Cheeryble in, i. <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclamation on the eve of publication, ii. <a href="#Page_2_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_2_100">100</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of, in establishing Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_344">344</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_386">386</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Nicolson (Sir Frederick), ii. <a href="#Page_2_194">194</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Nightingales at Gadshill, iii. <a href="#Page_3_212">212</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Nobody's Fault</i>, the title first chosen for <i>Little Dorrit</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_155">155</a>.<br /> +<br /> +No-Popery riots, description of the, i. <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Normanby (Lord), ii. <a href="#Page_2_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_2_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_2_320">320</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Norton (Charles Eliot), iii. <a href="#Page_3_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_3_447">447</a><br /> +<br /> +Norwich, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_262">262</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>No Thoroughfare</i>, i. <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Novels, real people in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_22">22</a>-<a href="#Page_3_33">33</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">episodes in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_161">161</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Novelists, old, design for cheap edition of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_385">385</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Nugent (Lord), ii. <a href="#Page_2_473">473</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Ocean Spectre</span>," the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_369">369</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +O'Connell (Daniel), ii. <a href="#Page_2_135">135</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Odéon (Paris), Dickens at the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_3_129">129</a><br /> +<br /> +Ohio, on the, i. <a href="#Page_377">377</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Old Curiosity Shop</i>, original of the Marchioness in, i. <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">originals of the Garland family, i. <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original of the poet in Jarley's wax-work, i. <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the story commenced, i. <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disadvantages of weekly publication, i. <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes in proofs, i. <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dick Swiveller and the Marchioness, i. <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of story upon the writer, i. <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of Little Nell, i. <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">close of the tale, i. <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">success of, i. <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characterized, i. <a href="#Page_212">212</a>-<a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a tribute by Bret Harte, i. <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characters in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_345">345</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Old Monthly Magazine</i>, Dickens's first published piece in, i. <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">other sketches in, i. <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Oliver Twist</i>, commenced in <i>Bentley's Miscellany</i>, i. <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characters in, real to Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the story characterized, i. <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens at work on, i. <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the last chapter of, i. <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Cruikshank illustrations to, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>-<a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reputation of, i. <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reply to attacks against, i. <a href="#Page_160">160</a>-<a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">teaching of, i. <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"adapted" for the stage, i. <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">noticed in the <i>Quarterly Review</i>, i. <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">copyright of, repurchased, i. <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original of Mr. Fang, iii. <a href="#Page_3_25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character-drawing in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_343">343</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed reading from, iii. <a href="#Page_3_448">448</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">facsimile of portion of MS. of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_469">469</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Opium-den, an, iii. <a href="#Page_3_528">528</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_464">464</a> note).<br /> +<br /> +Osnaburgh-terrace, Dickens in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_106">106</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Our Mutual Friend</i>, title chosen for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_271">271</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hints for, in Memoranda, iii. <a href="#Page_3_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_3_281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first notion for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_371">371</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original of Mr. Venus in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marcus Stone chosen as illustrator, iii. <a href="#Page_3_373">373</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the story reviewed, iii. <a href="#Page_3_377">377</a>-<a href="#Page_3_379">379</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ouvry (Frederic), iii. <a href="#Page_3_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_3_539">539</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">clause inserted by, in agreement for <i>Edwin Drood</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_461">461</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">humorous letter of Dickens to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_522">522</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Overs (John), Dickens's interest in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_109">109</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_109">109</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Over-work, remains of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_297">297</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_592" id="Page_3_592">[592]</a></span>Owen (Prof.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_477">477</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Paintings</span>, Dickens on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_167">167</a>-<a href="#Page_2_169">169</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Paradise Lost</i> at the Ambigu, Paris, iii. <a href="#Page_3_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_3_131">131</a><br /> +<br /> +Paris, Dickens's first day in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_316">316</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sunday in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's house in, described, ii. <a href="#Page_2_317">317</a>-<a href="#Page_2_319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unhealthy political symptoms at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_2_334">334</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Morgue at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incident in streets of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hard frost at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's alarming neighbour, ii. <a href="#Page_2_325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">begging-letter writers in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sight-seeing at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_330">330</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theatres at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bibliothèque Royale, ii. <a href="#Page_2_333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Praslin tragedy in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's life in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_3_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's house in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_124">124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal attentions to Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_124">124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theatres of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_3_134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illumination of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New-year's day in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_3_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">results of imperial improvement in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_145">145</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Art Exposition at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_146">146</a>-<a href="#Page_3_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Duchess murdered in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_3_151">151</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Parliament, old Houses of, inconvenience of the, i. <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Parr (Harriet), iii. <a href="#Page_3_494">494</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Parry (John), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pawnbrokers, Dickens's early experience of, i. <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Peel (Sir Robert) and his party, i. <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord Ashley and, i. <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Whigs and, ii. <a href="#Page_2_261">261</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Pen Photographs</i> (Miss Field's) iii. <a href="#Page_3_235">235</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Perth, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_234">234</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Peschiere, Palazzo (Genoa), rooms in the, hired by Dickens, ii. <a href="#Page_2_129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a fellow-tenant in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">described, ii. <a href="#Page_2_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_2_142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revisited, iii. <a href="#Page_3_79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner-party at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">owner of the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_79">79</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Petersham, athletic sports at, i. <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Phelps (Mr.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Philadelphia, Dickens at, i. <a href="#Page_335">335</a>-<a href="#Page_344">344</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">penitentiary at, i. <a href="#Page_345">345</a>-<a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters from, iii. <a href="#Page_3_413">413</a>-<a href="#Page_3_415">415</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_2_39">39</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Pickwick Papers</i>, materials for, i. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first number of, i. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin of, i. <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour's illustrations to, i. <a href="#Page_111">111</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thackeray's offer to illustrate, i. <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the debtor's prison in, i. <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popularity of, i. <a href="#Page_129">129</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_385">385</a>, <a href="#Page_3_386">386</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reality of characters in, i. <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inferior to later books, i. <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mr. Pickwick an undying character, i. <a href="#Page_131">131</a> (and see <a href="#Page_112">112</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">piracies of, i. <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">completion of, i. <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">payments for, i. <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a holy brother of St. Bernard and, ii. <a href="#Page_2_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characters in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_343">343</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">where it was begun, iii. <a href="#Page_3_528">528</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Pictures from Italy</i>, original of the courier in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_171">171</a>-<a href="#Page_2_173">173</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">publication commenced in the <i>Daily News</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_219">219</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Pic Nic Papers</i> published, i. <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Piljians Projiss," a new, ii. <a href="#Page_2_376">376</a>-<a href="#Page_2_384">384</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pig-market at Boulogne, iii. <a href="#Page_3_104">104</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pipchin (Mrs.) in <i>Dombey</i>, original of, i. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_355">355</a>, <a href="#Page_2_356">356</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">various names proposed for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_355">355</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Pirates, literary, ii. <a href="#Page_2_97">97</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proceedings in Chancery against, ii. <a href="#Page_2_97">97</a>-<a href="#Page_2_99">99</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">warning to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_100">100</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Pisa, a jaunt to, iii, <a href="#Page_3_81">81</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pittsburg (U. S.), description of, i. <a href="#Page_373">373</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">solitary prison at, i. <a href="#Page_378">378</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Poets, small, iii. <a href="#Page_3_489">489</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pollock (Chief Baron) on the death of Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_247">247</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Poole (John), aid rendered to, by Dickens, ii. <a href="#Page_2_370">370</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">civil-list pension granted to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_393">393</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Poor, Dickens's sympathy with the, i. <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a> (and see <a href="#Page_250">250</a>), ii. <a href="#Page_2_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_2_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_2_240">240</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Popularity, distresses of, i. <a href="#Page_324">324</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Porte St. Martin (Paris), Dickens at the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_129">129</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Portland (U. S.) burnt and rebuilt, iii. <a href="#Page_3_438">438</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_593" id="Page_3_593">[593]</a></span>Portrait painter, story of a, iii. <a href="#Page_3_523">523</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Portsea, birth of Dickens at, i. <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Prairie, an American, i. <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pronunciations of the word, i. <a href="#Page_396">396</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Praslin tragedy in Paris, ii. <a href="#Page_2_386">386</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Prayer, Dickens on personal, iii. <a href="#Page_3_485">485</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Preston, a strike at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_3_70">70</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Hamlet</i> at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_70">70</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Primrose (Mr.), i. <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Printers' Pension fund dinner, presided over by Dickens, ii. <a href="#Page_2_55">55</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Prisons, London, visits to, i. <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">American, i. <a href="#Page_339">339</a>-<a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>-<a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison of systems pursued in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_234">234</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Procter (Bryan Waller), iii. <a href="#Page_3_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_3_28">28</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's affection for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_467">467</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Procter (Adelaide), Dickens's appreciation of poems by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_495">495</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Publishers, hasty compacts with, i. <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's agreements with, ii. <a href="#Page_2_88">88</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_56">56</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_240">240</a>-<a href="#Page_3_243">243</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Publishers, authors and, ii. <a href="#Page_2_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_2_72">72</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_489">489</a>, <a href="#Page_3_490">490</a><br /> +<br /> +Puddings, a choice of, i. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"<i>Punch</i> people," Lord Brougham and the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_469">469</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Mansion-house dinner, ii. <a href="#Page_2_477">477</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Q, Dickens's secretary in the United States, i. <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">described, i. <a href="#Page_410">410</a>-<a href="#Page_412">412</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_389">389</a> note).</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Quarterly Review</i>, prophecy in not fulfilled, i. <a href="#Page_139">139</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">notice of <i>Oliver Twist</i> in, i. <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Cruikshank and Leech, ii. <a href="#Page_2_418">418</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Queen (Her Majesty the) and Auber, iii. <a href="#Page_3_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_3_135">135</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alleged offers to Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_503">503</a>, and <a href="#Page_3_503">503</a>, <a href="#Page_3_504">504</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">desire of, to see Dickens act, iii. <a href="#Page_3_506">506</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thackeray's copy of the <i>Carol</i> purchased by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_506">506</a>, <a href="#Page_3_507">507</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's interview with, iii. <a href="#Page_3_507">507</a>, <a href="#Page_3_508">508</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">grief at Dickens's death, iii. <a href="#Page_3_542">542</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Rachel</span> (Madame), caprice of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_137">137</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ragged schools, Dickens's interest in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_57">57</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">results of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_57">57</a> note (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_494">494</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed paper on, by Dickens, declined by <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_58">58</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Railroads, American, ladies' cars on, i. <a href="#Page_338">338</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Railway travelling, effect on Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_450">450</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in America, i. <a href="#Page_336">336</a>-<a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_3_405">405</a>, <a href="#Page_3_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_3_436">436</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ramsay (Dean) on <i>Bleak House</i> and Jo, iii. <a href="#Page_3_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_3_48">48</a><br /> +<br /> +Ramsgate, entertainments at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_214">214</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Raven, death of Dickens's first, i. <a href="#Page_235">235</a>-<a href="#Page_239">239</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of second, ii. <a href="#Page_2_215">215</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Raymond (George), ii. <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Reade (Charles), <i>Hard Cash</i> contributed by, to <i>All the Year Round</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_245">245</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Readings, gratuitous, iii. <a href="#Page_3_61">61</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">private, in Scheffer's atelier, iii. <a href="#Page_3_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in Lincoln's-inn-fields, ii. <a href="#Page_2_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_2_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_2_175">175</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">public, Dickens's first thoughts of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_2_284">284</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">argument against paid, iii. <a href="#Page_3_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_3_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">idea of, revived, iii. <a href="#Page_3_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">opinions as to, asked and given, iii. <a href="#Page_3_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_3_190">190</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">disadvantages of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">proposal from Mr. Beale respecting, iii. <a href="#Page_3_196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">first rough notes as to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_3_199">199</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">various managers employed by Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">hard work involved by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_3_445">445</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">study given to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_318">318</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first series of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_223">223</a>-<a href="#Page_3_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">sale of books of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_232">232</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">subjects of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_235">235</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second series of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_255">255</a>-<a href="#Page_3_274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">what it comprised, iii. <a href="#Page_3_259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">new subjects for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_260">260</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">third series of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_298">298</a>-<a href="#Page_3_324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Messrs. Chappell's connection with, iii. <a href="#Page_3_306">306</a>-<a href="#Page_3_310">310</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">American, iii. <a href="#Page_3_388">388</a>-<a href="#Page_3_443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_594" id="Page_3_594">[594]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">result of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Readings given by Dickens:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Australian, contemplated, iii. <a href="#Page_3_270">270</a> note (but see <a href="#Page_3_272">272</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Bulwer's opinion of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_271">271</a> note.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last series of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_444">444</a>-<a href="#Page_3_460">460</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_437">437</a> note).</span><br /> +<br /> +Readings (alphabetical list of):<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aberdeen, iii. <a href="#Page_3_234">234</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Albany (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_435">435</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Baltimore (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_3_419">419</a>, <a href="#Page_3_427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Belfast, iii. <a href="#Page_3_229">229</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Berwick-on-Tweed, iii. <a href="#Page_3_266">266</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birmingham, iii. <a href="#Page_3_311">311</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boston (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_3_403">403</a>, <a href="#Page_3_440">440</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brighton, iii. <a href="#Page_3_263">263</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brooklyn (New York), iii. <a href="#Page_3_416">416</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_442">442</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Buffalo (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_431">431</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cambridge, iii. <a href="#Page_3_317">317</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Canterbury, iii. <a href="#Page_3_264">264</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chester, iii. <a href="#Page_3_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_3_313">313</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dover, iii. <a href="#Page_3_264">264</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dublin, iii. <a href="#Page_3_220">220</a>-<a href="#Page_3_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_3_317">317</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dundee, iii. <a href="#Page_3_233">233</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edinburgh, iii. <a href="#Page_3_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_3_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_3_451">451</a>, and <a href="#Page_3_450">450</a> note.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Exeter, iii. <a href="#Page_3_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_3_268">268</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Glasgow, iii. <a href="#Page_3_234">234</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harrogate, iii. <a href="#Page_3_230">230</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hartford (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Liverpool, iii. <a href="#Page_3_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_3_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_3_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_3_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_3_314">314</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">London, iii. <a href="#Page_3_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_3_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_3_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_3_269">269</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Manchester, iii. <a href="#Page_3_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_3_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_3_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_3_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_3_314">314</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Bedford (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_437">437</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Newcastle, iii. <a href="#Page_3_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_3_315">315</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Newhaven (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York, iii. <a href="#Page_3_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_3_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Norwich, iii. <a href="#Page_3_262">262</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paris, iii. <a href="#Page_3_272">272</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Perth, iii. <a href="#Page_3_234">234</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Philadelphia (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_3_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_3_427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Portland (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_438">438</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Providence (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rochester (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_431">431</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Springfield (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Syracuse (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_431">431</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Torquay, iii. <a href="#Page_3_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_3_451">451</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Washington (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_421">421</a>, <a href="#Page_3_425">425</a>, <a href="#Page_3_426">426</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">receipts at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Worcester (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_441">441</a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">York, iii. <a href="#Page_3_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_3_454">454</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Reeves (Sims), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Reformers, administrative, iii. <a href="#Page_3_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_3_71">71</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Regiments in the streets of Paris, iii. <a href="#Page_3_143">143</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Regnier (M.) of the Français, ii. <a href="#Page_2_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_2_429">429</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_3_137">137</a><br /> +<br /> +Rehearsals, troubles at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_371">371</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Religion, what is the true, ii. <a href="#Page_2_149">149</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Reporters' gallery, Dickens enters the, i. <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ceases connection with, i. <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Reporter's life, Dickens's own experience of a, i. <a href="#Page_99">99</a>-<a href="#Page_101">101</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_265">265</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Revolution at Geneva, ii. <a href="#Page_2_298">298</a>-<a href="#Page_2_301">301</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">traces left by, ii. <a href="#Page_2_300">300</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abettors of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_301">301</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Rhine, Dickens on the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_2_223">223</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">travelling Englishmen on the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_223">223</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Richard Doubledick, story of</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_154">154</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Richardson (Sir John), iii. <a href="#Page_3_519">519</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Richardson's show, a religious, iii. <a href="#Page_3_273">273</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Richmond (U. S.), levees at, i. <a href="#Page_354">354</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rifle-shooting, Lord Vernon's passion for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_270">270</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Lausanne, ii. <a href="#Page_2_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_2_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_2_299">299</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Rising Generation</i> (Leech's), Dickens on, ii. <a href="#Page_2_414">414</a>-<a href="#Page_2_418">418</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ristori (Mad.) in <i>Medea</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_137">137</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Roberts (David), iii. <a href="#Page_3_85">85</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Robertson (Peter), i. <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_595" id="Page_3_595">[595]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch of, i. <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Robertson (T. W.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_530">530</a>, <a href="#Page_3_531">531</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Robinson Crusoe</i>, Dickens's opinion of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_135">135</a> note (and see i. <a href="#Page_264">264</a> note).<br /> +<br /> +Roche (Louis), employed by Dickens as his courier in Italy, ii. <a href="#Page_2_106">106</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resources of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_2_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_2_199">199</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_2_325">325</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Count d'Orsay and, ii. <a href="#Page_2_204">204</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_421">421</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_255">255</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Rochester, early impressions of, i. <a href="#Page_28">28</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_213">213</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Watts's Charity at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_154">154</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Rochester Castle, adventure at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_22">22</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rochester Cathedral, brass tablet in, to Dickens's memory, iii. <a href="#Page_3_154">154</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Rochester (U. S.), alarming incident at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_431">431</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rockingham-castle, Dickens's visit to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_481">481</a>-<a href="#Page_2_483">483</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">private theatricals at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_481">481</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_83">83</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Rocky Mountain Sneezer, a, iii. <a href="#Page_3_409">409</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rogers (Samuel), i. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_190">190</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sudden illness of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_466">466</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_486">486</a> note).</span><br /> +<br /> +Rome, Dickens's first impressions of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_185">185</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_3_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a "scattering" party at Opera at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_3_87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marionetti at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_3_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">malaria at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_3_89">89</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Rosemont (Lausanne), taken by Dickens, ii. <a href="#Page_2_225">225</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's neighbours at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_2_242">242</a> note, <a href="#Page_2_252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Dombey</i> begun at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the landlord of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_246">246</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Rothamsted, Rev. Mr. Lawes's club at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_244">244</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Royal Academy dinner, Dickens's last public words spoken at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_537">537</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Roylance (Mrs.), the original of Mrs. Pipchin in <i>Dombey</i>, i. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_355">355</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ruskin (Mr.) on <i>Hard Times</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_3_67">67</a><br /> +<br /> +Russell (Lord J.), a friend of letters, ii. <a href="#Page_2_369">369</a>, <a href="#Page_2_393">393</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Dickens's letters, iii. <a href="#Page_3_481">481</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner with, ii. <a href="#Page_2_483">483</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's tribute to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_501">501</a>, and note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ryland (Arthur), letter of Dickens to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_56">56</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Sala</span> (G. A.), Dickens's opinion of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_454">454</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tribute by, to Dickens's memory, iii. <a href="#Page_3_516">516</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Salisbury Plain, superiority of, to an American prairie, i. <a href="#Page_394">394</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a ride over, ii. <a href="#Page_2_461">461</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sand (Georges), iii. <a href="#Page_3_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_3_139">139</a><br /> +<br /> +Sandusky (U. S.), discomforts of inn at, i. <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sardinians, Dickens's liking for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_92">92</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Satirist</i>, editor of, hissed from the Covent-garden stage, ii. <a href="#Page_2_50">50</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Saturday Review</i> on the realities of Dickens's characters, i. <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Scene-painting, iii. <a href="#Page_3_166">166</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Scheffer (Ary), portrait of Dickens by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_3_149">149</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reading of <i>Cricket on the Hearth</i> in atelier of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_149">149</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Scheffer (Henri), iii. <a href="#Page_3_150">150</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Schools, public, Dickens on, iii. <a href="#Page_3_236">236</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Scotland, readings in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_232">232</a>-<a href="#Page_3_235">235</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Scott (Sir W.), real people in novels of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_3_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Scott monument at Edinburgh, ii. <a href="#Page_2_392">392</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Scribe (M.), dinner to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_469">469</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">social intercourse of Dickens with, iii. <a href="#Page_3_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_3_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">author-anxieties of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a fine actor lost in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_138">138</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Scribe (Madame), iii. <a href="#Page_3_136">136</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sea-bathing and authorship, ii. <a href="#Page_2_28">28</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Seaside holidays, Dickens's, ii. <a href="#Page_2_403">403</a>-<a href="#Page_2_441">441</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_97">97</a>-<a href="#Page_3_120">120</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sebastopol, reception in France of supposed fall of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_110">110</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Serenades at Hartford and Newhaven (U. S.), i. <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_596" id="Page_3_596">[596]</a></span>Servants, Swiss, excellence of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_246">246</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Seven Dials, ballad literature of, i. <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Seymour (Mr.) and the <i>Pickwick Papers</i>, i. <a href="#Page_111">111</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, i. <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Shaftesbury (Lord) and ragged schools, i. <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_2_58">58</a> note, <a href="#Page_2_493">493</a>, <a href="#Page_2_494">494</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_494">494</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Shakespeare Society, the, i. <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Shakespeare on the actor's calling, iii. <a href="#Page_3_191">191</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Shakespeare's house, purchase of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_392">392</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sheffield, reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_232">232</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sheil (Richard Lalor), ii. <a href="#Page_2_53">53</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Shepherd's-bush, the home for fallen women at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_488">488</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sheridans (the), ii. <a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ship news, i. <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Short-hand, difficulties of, i. <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Shows, Saturday-night, i. <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Siddons (Mrs.), genius of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_473">473</a>, <a href="#Page_2_473">473</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sierra Nevada, strange encounter on the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_385">385</a>, <a href="#Page_3_386">386</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Sikes and Nancy</i> reading, proposed, iii. <a href="#Page_3_448">448</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Clifton, iii. <a href="#Page_3_451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Macready on the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at York, iii. <a href="#Page_3_454">454</a>, and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's pulse after, iii. <a href="#Page_3_532">532</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Simplon, passing the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_174">174</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Six," Bachelor, iii. <a href="#Page_3_124">124</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Sketches by Boz</i>, first collected and published, i. <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characterized, i. <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Slavery in America, i. <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>-<a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>-<a href="#Page_390">390</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the ghost of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_419">419</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Slaves, runaway, i. <a href="#Page_389">389</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sleeplessness, Dickens's remedy for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_249">249</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sleighs in New York, iii. <a href="#Page_3_397">397</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Slopping round,"iii. <a href="#Page_3_432">432</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Smallness of the world," i. <a href="#Page_372">372</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_222">222</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_204">204</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Small-pox, American story concerning, iii. <a href="#Page_3_305">305</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Smith (Albert), <i>Battle of Life</i> dramatized by, ii. <a href="#Page_2_323">323</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Smith (Arthur), iii. <a href="#Page_3_168">168</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first series of Dickens's readings under management of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_3_200">200</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_263">263</a> note);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">distresses of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_225">225</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first portion of second series planned by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_258">258</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">serious illness of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_3_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">touching incident at funeral, iii. <a href="#Page_3_261">261</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Smith (Bobus), ii. <a href="#Page_2_190">190</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Smith (O.), acting of, i. <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_96">96</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Smith (Porter), ii. <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Smith (Southwood), ii. <a href="#Page_2_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_2_53">53</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Smith (Sydney), i. <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_108">108</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>, i. <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_190">190</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Smithson (Mr.), i. <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_93">93</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Smoking party, a feminine, ii. <a href="#Page_2_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_2_292">292</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Smollett (Tobias), a recollection of, i. <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">real people in novels of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_22">22</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Snuff-shop readings, ii. <a href="#Page_2_336">336</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Solitary confinement, effects of, i. <a href="#Page_345">345</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_2_234">234</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Somebody's Luggage</i>, the Waiter in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_3_370">370</a><br /> +<br /> +Sortes Shandyanæ, ii. <a href="#Page_2_242">242</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sparks (Jared), i. <a href="#Page_304">304</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Speculators, American, iii. <a href="#Page_3_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_3_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_3_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_3_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_3_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_3_428">428</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Spiritual tyranny, ii. <a href="#Page_2_231">231</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Spittoons in America, i. <a href="#Page_338">338</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Squib Annual</i>, the, i. <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.<br /> +<br /> +St. Bernard, Great, proposed trip to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_271">271</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ascent of the mountain, ii. <a href="#Page_2_274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the convent, ii. <a href="#Page_2_274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scene at the top, ii. <a href="#Page_2_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_2_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bodies found in the snow, ii. <a href="#Page_2_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the convent a tavern in all but sign, ii. <a href="#Page_2_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's fancy of writing a book about the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_184">184</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +St. George (Madame), ii. <a href="#Page_2_176">176</a>.<br /> +<br /> +St. Giles's, Dickens's early attraction of repulsion to, i. <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original of Mr. Venus found in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_374">374</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +St. Gothard, dangers of the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_2_198">198</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_597" id="Page_3_597">[597]</a></span>St. James's Hall, Dickens's final readings at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_532">532</a>, <a href="#Page_3_533">533</a><br /> +<br /> +St. Leger, Dickens's prophecy at the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_175">175</a>.<br /> +<br /> +St. Louis (U. S.), levee at, i. <a href="#Page_386">386</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">slavery at, i. <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pretty scene at, i. <a href="#Page_390">390</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">duelling in, i. <a href="#Page_396">396</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Stage-coach, queer American, i. <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Stage, training for the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_2_214">214</a>, (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_191">191</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Stanfield (Clarkson), i. <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_47">47</a> note, <a href="#Page_2_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_2_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_2_175">175</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_521">521</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketches in Cornwall by, ii. <a href="#Page_2_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illustrations by, to <i>Battle of Life</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">price realized at the Dickens sale for the Lighthouse scenes, iii. <a href="#Page_3_71">71</a> note (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_296">296</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_3_243">243</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at work, iii. <a href="#Page_3_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_320">320</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Stanfield Hall, Dickens at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_462">462</a><br /> +<br /> +Stanley (Dr. A. P.), Dean of Westminster, compliance with general wish, iii. <a href="#Page_3_543">543</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter and sermon, iii. <a href="#Page_3_544">544</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Stanton (Secretary), curious story told by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_3_423">423</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_508">508</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Staplehurst accident, iii. <a href="#Page_3_304">304</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">effect on Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_376">376</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Staples (J. V.), letter from Dickens to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_90">90</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Statesmen, leading American, i. <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.<br /> +<br /> +State Trials, story from the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_3_284">284</a><br /> +<br /> +Stealing, Carlyle's argument against, i. <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Steamers, perils of, i. <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_80">80</a>-<a href="#Page_3_83">83</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Stevenage, visit to the hermit near, iii. <a href="#Page_3_246">246</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Stirling (Mr.), a theatrical adapter, i. <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Stone (Frank), ii. <a href="#Page_2_385">385</a>. iii. <a href="#Page_3_105">105</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch of Sydney Dickens by, ii. <a href="#Page_2_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_2_369">369</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fancy sketch of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_256">256</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Stone (Marcus), designs supplied by, to <i>Our Mutual Friend</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_373">373</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Streets, Dickens's craving for crowded, ii. <a href="#Page_2_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_2_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_2_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_2_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_2_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_2_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_2_287">287</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_515">515</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Strange Gentleman</i>, a farce written by Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Stuart (Lord Dudley), ii. <a href="#Page_2_472">472</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sue (Eugène), ii. <a href="#Page_2_331">331</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sumner (Charles), i. <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_421">421</a>, <a href="#Page_3_426">426</a><br /> +<br /> +Sunday, a French, ii. <a href="#Page_2_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_2_485">485</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Swinburne (Algernon), ii. <a href="#Page_2_428">428</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Switzerland; splendid scenery of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_198">198</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">villages in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens resolves to write new book in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early impressions of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_2_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">climate of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_244">244</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the people of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_2_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_2_259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mule-travelling in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_253">253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Protestant and Catholic cantons in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_260">260</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's last days in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_311">311</a>-<a href="#Page_2_315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pleasures of autumn in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revisited, iii. <a href="#Page_3_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_3_95">95</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Syme (Mr.), opinion of, as to Dickens's lameness, iii. <a href="#Page_3_453">453</a>, <a href="#Page_3_454">454</a><br /> +<br /> +Syracuse (U. S.), reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_431">431</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Tagart</span> (<span class="smcap">Edward</span>), ii. <a href="#Page_2_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_2_59">59</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Taine (M.), on <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_78">78</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticisms by, on Dickens, ii. <a href="#Page_2_102">102</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_251">251</a> note, iii. <a href="#Page_3_326">326</a>-<a href="#Page_3_331">331</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a hint for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_419">419</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Hard Times, iii. <a href="#Page_3_67">67</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fielding criticized by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_348">348</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Tale of Two Cities</i>, titles suggested for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_279">279</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first germ of Carton in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_280">280</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_360">360</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_354">354</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the story reviewed, iii. <a href="#Page_3_354">354</a>-<a href="#Page_3_360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">titles suggested for, iii. <a href="#Page_3_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_3_355">355</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Talfourd (Judge), i. <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_2_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_2_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_2_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_2_427">427</a>, <a href="#Page_2_470">470</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_509">509</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's affection for, ii. <a href="#Page_2_427">427</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Tatler</i> (Hunt's), sayings from, iii. <a href="#Page_3_26">26</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Tauchnitz (Baron), letter from, iii. <a href="#Page_3_57">57</a> note;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_598" id="Page_3_598">[598]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">intercourse of, with Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_462">462</a> note (and see <a href="#Page_3_125">125</a> note).</span><br /> +<br /> +Tavistock-house, sketch of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_54">54</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a scene outside, iii. <a href="#Page_3_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stanfield scenes at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">startling message from servant at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_276">276</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Taylor (Tom), ii. <a href="#Page_2_472">472</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Taylor (the Ladies), ii. <a href="#Page_2_271">271</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Telbin (William), at work, iii. <a href="#Page_3_166">166</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Temperance agitation, Dickens on the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_2_409">409</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Temperature, sudden changes of, in America, i. <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Temple (Hon. Mr.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_190">190</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tennent (Sir Emerson), ii. <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_80">80</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death and funeral of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_454">454</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tennyson (Alfred), Dickens's allegiance to, ii. <a href="#Page_2_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_2_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_2_472">472</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_357">357</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Ternan (Ellen Lawless), iii. <a href="#Page_3_561">561</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tête Noire Pass, ii. <a href="#Page_2_255">255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accident in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_2_257">257</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thackeray (W. M.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_188">188</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers to illustrate <i>Pickwick</i>, i. <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Maclise's portrait of Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_178">178</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the <i>Carol</i>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_89">89</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_2_470">470</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Boulogne, iii. <a href="#Page_3_105">105</a> note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Paris, iii. <a href="#Page_3_126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tribute to, by Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_298">298</a>-<a href="#Page_3_300">300</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">estrangement between Dickens and, iii. <a href="#Page_3_298">298</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thanet races, Dickens at the, ii. <a href="#Page_2_24">24</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Théâtre Français (Paris), conventionalities of the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_128">128</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Theatres, Italian, ii. <a href="#Page_2_182">182</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French, ii. <a href="#Page_2_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_2_331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Theatrical Fund dinner, Dickens's speech at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_491">491</a>, <a href="#Page_2_492">492</a> (and see <a href="#Page_2_221">221</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_537">537</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Theatricals, private, at Montreal, i. <a href="#Page_413">413</a>-<a href="#Page_415">415</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rockingham, ii. <a href="#Page_2_481">481</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Tavistock House, iii. <a href="#Page_3_62">62</a>-<a href="#Page_3_64">64</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_108">108</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Thomas (Owen P.), recollections of Dickens at school, i. <a href="#Page_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_81">81</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Thompson (Mr. T. I.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Thompson (Sir Henry), consulted by Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_321">321</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a reading of Dickens's stopped by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_452">452</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion as to Dickens's lameness, iii. <a href="#Page_3_453">453</a>, <a href="#Page_3_454">454</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ticknor (George), i. <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ticknor & Fields (Messrs.), commission received by, on the American readings, iii. <a href="#Page_3_446">446</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Timber Doodle (Dickens's dog), ii. <a href="#Page_2_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_2_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_2_28">28</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_134">134</a> note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_144">144</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Times</i>, the, on Dickens's death, iii. <a href="#Page_3_542">542</a>, <a href="#Page_3_543">543</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Tintoretto, Dickens on the works of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_168">168</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_92">92</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Titian's Assumption, effect of, on Dickens, ii. <a href="#Page_2_168">168</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tobin (Daniel), a schoolfellow of Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assists Dickens as amanuensis, but finally discarded, i. <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Toole (J. L.), encouragement given to in early life, by Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_54">54</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_302">302</a> note).<br /> +<br /> +Topping (Groom), i. <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Toronto, toryism of, i. <a href="#Page_412">412</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Torquay, readings at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_3_451">451</a><br /> +<br /> +Torrens (Mrs.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_476">476</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Tour in Italy</i> (Simond's), ii. <a href="#Page_2_116">116</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Townshend (Chauncy Hare), iii. <a href="#Page_3_256">256</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death and bequest of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_417">417</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tracey (Lieut.), i. <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_23">23</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tramps, ways of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_210">210</a> note, <a href="#Page_3_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_3_250">250</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tremont House (Boston, U. S.), Dickens at, i. <a href="#Page_300">300</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Trossachs, Dickens in the, i. <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>True Sun</i>, Dickens reporting for the, i. <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Turin, Dickens at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_3_93">93</a><br /> +<br /> +Turner (J. M. W.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_110">110</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tuscany, wayside memorials in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_188">188</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Twickenham, cottage at, occupied by Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_180">180</a>-<a href="#Page_182">182</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visitors at, i. <a href="#Page_180">180</a>-<a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">childish enjoyments at, i. <a href="#Page_182">182</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Twiss (Horace), ii. <a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tyler (President), i. <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_599" id="Page_3_599">[599]</a></span>Tynemouth, scene at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_3_316">316</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>Uncommercial Traveller</i>, Dickens's, iii. <a href="#Page_3_247">247</a>-<a href="#Page_3_253">253</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Uncommercial Traveller Upside Down</i>, contemplated, iii. <a href="#Page_3_270">270</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Undercliff (Isle of Wight), Dickens's first impressions of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_426">426</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">depressing effect of climate of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_431">431</a>-<a href="#Page_2_433">433</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Unitarianism adopted by Dickens for a short time, ii. <a href="#Page_2_59">59</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Upholsterer, visit to an, i. <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit from an, i. <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Up the Rhine</i> (Hood's), Dickens on, i. <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Utica (U. S.), hotel at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_435">435</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Vauxhall</span>, the Duke and party at, ii. <a href="#Page_2_470">470</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Venice, Dickens's impressions of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_163">163</a>-<a href="#Page_2_166">166</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_90">90</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">habits of gondoliers at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theatre at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_91">91</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Verdeil (M.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_233">233</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Vernet (Horace), iii. <a href="#Page_3_147">147</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Vernon (Lord), eccentricities of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_2_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_2_298">298</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Vesuvius, Mount, iii. <a href="#Page_3_83">83</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Viardot (Madame) in <i>Orphée</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_138">138</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Village Coquettes</i>, the story and songs for, written by Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Vote, value of a, in America, iii. <a href="#Page_3_420">420</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Wales</span>, Prince of, and Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_509">509</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wainewright (the murderer), recognized by Macready in Newgate, i. <a href="#Page_184">184</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_334">334</a> note);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">made the subject of a tale in the <i>New York Ledger</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_253">253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait of a girl by, ii. <a href="#Page_2_334">334</a> note (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_468">468</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_279">279</a>).</span><br /> +<br /> +Wales, North, tour in, i. <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ward (Professor) on Dickens, iii. <a href="#Page_3_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_3_353">353</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Washington (U. S.), hotel extortion at, i. <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">climate of, i. <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congress and Senate at, i. <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a comical dog at reading at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_425">425</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">readings at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_424">424</a>, <a href="#Page_3_425">425</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wassail-bowl presented to Dickens at Edinburgh, iii. <a href="#Page_3_197">197</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Waterloo, Battle of</i>, at Vauxhall, ii. <a href="#Page_2_470">470</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Watson, Mr. (of Rockingham), ii. <a href="#Page_2_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_2_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_2_479">479</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_55">55</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Watson (Sir Thomas), note by, of Dickens's illness in April, 1869, iii. <a href="#Page_3_457">457</a>-<a href="#Page_3_459">459</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">readings stopped by, iii. <a href="#Page_3_458">458</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">guarded sanction given to additional readings, iii. <a href="#Page_3_458">458</a> (and see <a href="#Page_3_466">466</a>, <a href="#Page_3_531">531</a> note);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's letter to, iii. <a href="#Page_3_459">459</a> note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Watts's Charity at Rochester, iii. <a href="#Page_3_154">154</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Webster (Daniel), Dickens on, i. <a href="#Page_308">308</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Webster (Mr.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Webster murder at Cambridge (U. S.), iii. <a href="#Page_3_402">402</a>, <a href="#Page_3_403">403</a><br /> +<br /> +Well-boring at Gadshill, iii. <a href="#Page_3_209">209</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Weller (Sam) a pre-eminent achievement in literature, i. <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wellington, Duke of, fine trait of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_264">264</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wellington House Academy (Hampstead-road), Dickens a day-scholar at, i. <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-<a href="#Page_84">84</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">described in <i>Household Words</i>, i. <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's schoolfellows at, i. <a href="#Page_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beverley painting scenes at, i. <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revisited after five-and-twenty years, i. <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Weyer (M. Van de), ii. <a href="#Page_2_477">477</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Whig jealousies, i. <a href="#Page_250">250</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_261">261</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Whitechapel workhouse, incident at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_75">75</a>.<br /> +<br /> +White-conduit-house, reminiscence of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_132">132</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Whitefriars, a small revolution in, ii. <a href="#Page_2_302">302</a>.<br /> +<br /> +White (Rev. James), character of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_424">424</a>-<a href="#Page_2_426">426</a> (and see ii. <a href="#Page_2_426">426</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_126">126</a>).<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3_600" id="Page_3_600">[600]</a></span>White (Grant) on the character of Carton in the <i>Tale of Two Cities</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_3_360">360</a><br /> +<br /> +Whitehead (Charles), i. <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Whitworth (Mr.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_475">475</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wieland the clown, death of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_166">166</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Wig experiences, ii. <a href="#Page_2_380">380</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wilkie (Sir David), on the genius of Dickens, i. <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, i. <a href="#Page_252">252</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Willis (N. P.), fanciful description of Dickens by, i. <a href="#Page_107">107</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Wills (W. H.), ii. <a href="#Page_2_453">453</a>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_3_493">493</a><br /> +<br /> +Wilson (Professor), i. <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch of, i. <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speeches of, i. <a href="#Page_255">255</a> note, ii. <a href="#Page_2_136">136</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wilson (Mr.) the hair-dresser, fancy sketch of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_379">379</a>-<a href="#Page_2_383">383</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wilton (Marie) as Pippo in the <i>Maid and Magpie</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_3_237">237</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Women, home for fallen, ii. <a href="#Page_2_488">488</a> (and see iii. <a href="#Page_3_286">286</a>).<br /> +<br /> +Wordsworth, memorable saying of, iii. <a href="#Page_3_381">381</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Worms, the city of, ii. <a href="#Page_2_223">223</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Yarmouth</span> first seen by Dickens, ii. <a href="#Page_2_462">462</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Yates (Edmund), tales by, in <i>All the Year Round</i>, iii. <a href="#Page_3_245">245</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickens's interest in, iii. <a href="#Page_3_495">495</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Yates (Mr.), acting of, i. <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, ii. <a href="#Page_2_96">96</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Yesterdays with Authors</i> (Fields'), ii. <a href="#Page_2_42">42</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +York, readings at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_3_454">454</a><br /> +<br /> +Yorkshire, materials gathered in, for <i>Nickleby</i>, i. <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Young Gentlemen</i> and <i>Young Couples</i>, sketches written by Dickens for Chapman & Hall, i. <a href="#Page_149">149</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Zoological</span> Gardens, feeding the serpents at, iii. <a href="#Page_3_169">169</a> note.<br /> +<br /> +Zouaves, Dickens's opinion of the, iii. <a href="#Page_3_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_3_144">144</a><br /> +<br /><br /></div> + + + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> "I shall cut this letter short, for they are playing Masaniello in the +drawing-room, and I feel much as I used to do when I was a small +child a few miles off, and Somebody (who, I wonder, and which way +did <i>She</i> go, when she died) hummed the evening hymn to me, and I +cried on the pillow,—either with the remorseful consciousness of having +kicked Somebody else, or because still Somebody else had hurt +my feelings in the course of the day." From Gadshill, 24 Sept. 1857. +"Being here again, or as much here as anywhere in particular."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> "The mistress of the establishment holds no place in our memory; +but, rampant on one eternal door-mat, in an eternal entry long and +narrow, is a puffy pug-dog, with a personal animosity towards us, who +triumphs over Time. The bark of that baleful Pug, a certain radiating +way he had of snapping at our undefended legs, the ghastly grinning +of his moist black muzzle and white teeth, and the insolence of his +crisp tail curled like a pastoral crook, all live and flourish. From an +otherwise unaccountable association of him with a fiddle, we conclude +that he was of French extraction, and his name <i>Fidèle</i>. He belonged +to some female, chiefly inhabiting a back parlor, whose life appears to +us to have been consumed in sniffing, and in wearing a brown beaver +bonnet."—<i>Reprinted Pieces</i>, 287. (In such quotations as are made +from his writings, the <i>Charles Dickens Edition</i> will be used.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "A few weeks' residence at home convinced me, who had till then +been an only child in the house of my grandfather, that a quarrel between +brothers was a very natural event."—Lockhart's <i>Life</i>, i. <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The reader will forgive my quoting from a letter of the date of the +22d April, 1848. "I desire no better for my fame, when my personal +dustiness shall be past the control of my love of order, than such a +biographer and such a critic." "You know me better," he wrote, resuming +the same subject on the 6th of July, 1862, "than any other +man does, or ever will." In an entry of my diary during the interval +between these years, I find a few words that not only mark the time +when I first saw in its connected shape the autobiographical fragment +which will form the substance of the second chapter of this biography, +but also express his own feeling respecting it when written: "20 January, +1849. The description may make none of the impression on +others that the reality made on him. . . . Highly probable that it may +never see the light. No wish. Left to J. F. or others." The first +number of <i>David Copperfield</i> appeared five months after this date; but +though I knew, even before he adapted his fragment of autobiography +to the eleventh number, that he had now abandoned the notion of +completing it under his own name, the "<i>no wish</i>," or the discretion +left me, was never in any way subsequently modified. What follows, +from the same entry, refers to the manuscript of the fragment: "No +blotting, as when writing fiction; but straight on, as when writing ordinary +letter."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The reader will probably think them worth subjoining. Dr. Danson +wrote: "<i>April, 1864.</i> <span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>, On the recent occasion of the +U. C. H. dinner, you would probably have been amused and somewhat +surprised to learn that one of those whom you addressed had +often accompanied you over that 'field of forty footsteps' to which you +so aptly and amusingly alluded. It is now some years since I was +accidentally reading a paper written by yourself in the <i>Household +Words</i>, when I was first impressed with the idea that the writer described +scenes and persons with which I was once familiar, and that +he must necessarily be the veritable Charles Dickens of 'our school,'—the +school of Jones! I did not then, however, like to intrude myself +upon you, for I could hardly hope that you would retain any recollection +of myself; indeed, it was only barely possible you should do +so, however vividly <i>I</i> might recall you in many scenes of fun and frolic +of my school-days. I happened to be present at the dinner of Tuesday +last (being interested as an old student in the school of the hospital), +and was seated very near you; I was tempted during the evening +to introduce myself to you, but feared lest an explanation such as this +in a public room might attract attention and be disagreeable to yourself. +A man who has attained a position and celebrity such as yours +will probably have many early associates and acquaintances claiming +his notice. I beg of you to believe that such is not my object, but +that having so recently met you I feel myself unable to repress the +desire to assure you that no one in the room could appreciate the +fame and rank you have so fairly won, or could wish you more +sincerely long life and happiness to enjoy them, than, Dear Sir, your +old schoolfellow, <span class="smcap">Henry Danson</span>." To this Dickens replied: "<span class="smcap">Gadshill +Place</span>, <i>Thursday, 5th May, 1864</i>. <span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>, I should have +assured you before now that the receipt of your letter gave me great +pleasure, had I not been too much occupied to have leisure for correspondence. +I perfectly recollect your name as that of an old schoolfellow, +and distinctly remember your appearance and dress as a boy, +and believe you had a brother who was unfortunately drowned in the +Serpentine. If you had made yourself personally known to me at the +dinner, I should have been well pleased; though in that case I should +have lost your modest and manly letter. Faithfully yours, <span class="smcap">Charles +Dickens.</span>"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> I take other fanciful allusions to the lady from two of his occasional +writings. The first from his visit to the city churches (written +during the Dombey time, when he had to select a church for the marriage +of Florence): "Its drowsy cadence soon lulls the three old +women asleep, and the unmarried tradesman sits looking out at +window, and the married tradesman sits looking at his wife's bonnet, +and the lovers sit looking at one another, so superlatively happy, that +I mind when I, turned of eighteen, went with my Angelica to a city +church on account of a shower (by this special coincidence that it was +in Huggin Lane), and when I said to my Angelica, 'Let the blessed +event, Angelica, occur at no altar but this!' and when my Angelica +consented that it should occur at no other—which it certainly never +did, for it never occurred anywhere. And O, Angelica, what has become +of you, this present Sunday morning when I can't attend to the +sermon? and, more difficult question than that, what has become of +Me as I was when I sat by your side?" The second, from his pleasant +paper on birthdays: "I gave a party on the occasion. She was there. +It is unnecessary to name Her, more particularly; She was older than +I, and had pervaded every chink and crevice of my mind for three or +four years. I had held volumes of Imaginary Conversations with her +mother on the subject of our union, and I had written letters more in +number than Horace Walpole's, to that discreet woman, soliciting her +daughter's hand in marriage. I had never had the remotest intention +of sending any of those letters; but to write them, and after a few +days tear them up, had been a sublime occupation."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> To this date belongs a visit paid him at Furnival's Inn in Mr. Macrone's +company by the notorious Mr. N. P. Willis, who calls him "a +young paragraphist for the <i>Morning Chronicle</i>," and thus sketches his +residence and himself: "In the most crowded part of Holborn, within +a door or two of the Bull-and-Mouth Inn, we pulled up at the entrance +of a large building used for lawyers' chambers. I followed by +a long flight of stairs to an upper story, and was ushered into an uncarpeted +and bleak-looking room, with a deal table, two or three +chairs and a few books, a small boy and Mr. Dickens, for the contents. +I was only struck at first with one thing (and I made a memorandum +of it that evening as the strongest instance I had seen of English +obsequiousness to employers), the degree to which the poor author +was overpowered with the honor of his publisher's visit! I remember +saying to myself, as I sat down on a rickety chair, 'My good fellow, +if you were in America with that fine face and your ready quill, you +would have no need to be condescended to by a publisher.' Dickens +was dressed very much as he has since described Dick Swiveller, +<i>minus</i> the swell look. His hair was cropped close to his head, his +clothes scant, though jauntily cut, and, after changing a ragged office-coat +for a shabby blue, he stood by the door, collarless and buttoned +up, the very personification, I thought, of a close sailer to the wind." +I remember, while my friend lived, our laughing heartily at this description, +hardly a word of which is true; and I give it now as no unfair +specimen of the kind of garbage that since his death also has been +served up only too plentifully by some of his own as well as by others +of Mr. Willis's countrymen.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Not quoted in detail, on that or any other occasion; though referred +to. It was, however, placed in my hands, for use if occasion +should arise, when Dickens went to America in 1867. The letter +bears date the 7th July, 1849, and was Mr. Chapman's answer to the +question Dickens had asked him, whether the account of the origin of +<i>Pickwick</i> which he had given in the preface to the cheap edition in +1847 was not strictly correct. "It is so correctly described," was Mr. +Chapman's opening remark, "that I can throw but little additional +light on it." The name of his hero, I may add, Dickens took from +that of a celebrated coach-proprietor of Bath.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The appeal was then made to him because of recent foolish statements +by members of Mr. Seymour's family, which Dickens thus contradicted: +"It is with great unwillingness that I notice some intangible +and incoherent assertions which have been made, professedly on behalf +of Mr. Seymour, to the effect that he had some share in the invention +of this book, or of anything in it, not faithfully described in the foregoing +paragraph. With the moderation that is due equally to my +respect for the memory of a brother-artist, and to my self-respect, I +confine myself to placing on record here the facts—That Mr. Seymour +never originated or suggested an incident, a phrase, or a word, to be +found in this book. That Mr. Seymour died when only twenty-four +pages of this book were published, and when assuredly not forty-eight +were written. That I believe I never saw Mr. Seymour's handwriting +in my life. That I never saw Mr. Seymour but once in my life, +and that was on the night but one before his death, when he certainly +offered no suggestion whatsoever. That I saw him then in the presence +of two persons, both living, perfectly acquainted with all these +facts, and whose written testimony to them I possess. Lastly, that Mr. +Edward Chapman (the survivor of the original firm of Chapman & Hall) +has set down in writing, for similar preservation, his personal knowledge +of the origin and progress of this book, of the monstrosity of the baseless +assertions in question, and (tested by details) even of the self-evident +impossibility of there being any truth in them." The "written +testimony" alluded to is also in my possession, having been inclosed to +me by Dickens, in 1867, with Mr. Chapman's letter here referred to.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Whether Mr. Chapman spelt the name correctly, or has unconsciously +deprived his fat beau of the letter "r," I cannot say; but experience +tells me that the latter is probable. I have been trying all my +life to get my own name spelt correctly, and have only very imperfectly +succeeded.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Her epitaph, written by him, remains upon a gravestone in the +cemetery at Kensal Green: "Young, beautiful, and good, God numbered +her among his angels at the early age of seventeen."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> I have a memorandum in Dickens's writing that five hundred +pounds was to have been given for it, and an additional two hundred +and fifty pounds on its sale reaching three thousand copies; but I feel +certain it was surrendered on more favorable terms.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> The allusion was to the supposed author of a paper in the <i>Quarterly +Review</i> (Oct. 1837), in the course of which there was much high +praise, but where the writer said at the close, "Indications are not +wanting that the particular vein of humor which has hitherto yielded +so much attractive metal is worked out. . . . The fact is, Mr. Dickens +writes too often and too fast. . . . If he persists much longer in this +course, it requires no gift of prophecy to foretell his fate:—he has risen +like a rocket, and he will come down like the stick."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, p. <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> There is an earlier allusion I may quote, from a letter in January, +for its mention of a small piece written by him at this time, but not included +in his acknowledged writings: "I am as badly off as you. I +have not done the <i>Young Gentlemen</i>, nor written the preface to <i>Grimaldi</i>, +nor thought of <i>Oliver Twist</i>, or even supplied a subject for the +plate." The <i>Young Gentlemen</i> was a small book of sketches which he +wrote anonymously as the companion to a similar half-crown volume +of <i>Young Ladies</i> (not written by him), for Messrs. Chapman & Hall. +He added subsequently a like volume of <i>Young Couples</i>, also without +his name.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, p. <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Here is another of the same month: "All day I have been at work +on <i>Oliver</i>, and hope to finish the chapter by bedtime. I wish you'd +let me know what Sir Francis Burdett has been saying about him at +some Birmingham meeting. B. has just sent me the <i>Courier</i> containing +some reference to his speech; but the speech I haven't seen."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Reproduced as below, in large type, and without a word of contradiction +or even doubt, in a biography of Mr. Dickens put forth by +Mr. Hotten: "Dr. Shelton McKenzie, in the American <i>Round Table</i>, +relates this anecdote of <i>Oliver Twist:</i> In London I was intimate with +the brothers Cruikshank, Robert and George, but more particularly +with the latter. Having called upon him one day at his house (it was +then in Myddelton Terrace, Pentonville), I had to wait while he was +finishing an etching, for which a printer's boy was waiting. To while +away the time, I gladly complied with his suggestion that I should look +over a portfolio crowded with etchings, proofs, and drawings, which +lay upon the sofa. Among these, carelessly tied together in a wrap of +brown paper, was a series of some twenty-five or thirty drawings, very +carefully finished, through most of which were carried the well-known +portraits of Fagin, Bill Sikes and his dog, Nancy, the Artful Dodger, +and Master Charles Bates—all well known to the readers of <i>Oliver +Twist</i>. There was no mistake about it; and when Cruikshank turned +round, his work finished, I said as much. He told me that it had long +been in his mind to show the life of a London thief by a series of +drawings engraved by himself, in which, without a single line of letter-press, +the story would be strikingly and clearly told. 'Dickens,' he +continued, 'dropped in here one day, just as you have done, and, +while waiting until I could speak with him, took up that identical portfolio, +and ferreted out that bundle of drawings. When he came to +that one which represents Fagin in the condemned cell, he studied it +for half an hour, and told me that he was tempted to change the whole +plot of his story; not to carry Oliver Twist through adventures in the +country, but to take him up into the thieves' den in London, show what +their life was, and bring Oliver through it without sin or shame. I +consented to let him write up to as many of the designs as he thought +would suit his purpose; and that was the way in which Fagin, Sikes, +and Nancy were created. My drawings suggested them, rather than +his strong individuality suggested my drawings.'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> This question has been partly solved, since my last edition, by +Mr. Cruikshank's announcement in the <i>Times</i>, that, though Dr. Mackenzie +had "confused some circumstances with respect to Mr. Dickens +looking over some drawings and sketches," the substance of his information +as to who it was that originated <i>Oliver Twist</i>, and all its +characters, had been derived from Mr. Cruikshank himself. The worst +part of the foregoing fable, therefore, has not Dr. Mackenzie for its +author; and Mr. Cruikshank is to be congratulated on the prudence +of his rigid silence respecting it as long as Mr. Dickens lived.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Upon receiving this letter I gently reminded him that I had made +objection at the time to the arrangement on the failure of which he +empowered me to bring about the settlement it was now proposed to +supersede. I cannot give his reply, as it would be unbecoming to repeat +the warmth of its expression to myself, but I preserve its first few +lines to guard against any possible future misstatement: "If you suppose +that anything in my letter could by the utmost latitude of construction +imply the smallest dissatisfaction on my part, for God's sake +dismiss such a thought from your mind. I have never had a momentary +approach to doubt or discontent where you have been mediating for +me. . . . I could say more, but you would think me foolish and rhapsodical; +and such feeling as I have for you is better kept within one's +own breast than vented in imperfect and inexpressive words."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> "I cannot call to mind now how I came to hear about Yorkshire +schools when I was a not very robust child, sitting in by-places near +Rochester castle, with a head full of Partridge, Strap, Tom Pipes, and +Sancho Panza; but I know that my first impressions of them were +picked up at that time."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Moore, in his <i>Diary</i> (April, 1837), describes Sydney crying down +Dickens at a dinner in the Row, "and evidently without having given +him a fair trial."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> This portrait was given to Dickens by his publishers, for whom it +was painted with a view to an engraving for <i>Nickleby</i>, which, however, +was poorly executed, and of a size too small to do the original any +kind of justice. To the courtesy of its present possessor, the Rev. Sir +Edward Repps Joddrell, and to the careful art of Mr. Robert Graves, +A.R.A., I owe the illustration at the opening of this volume, in which +the head is for the first time worthily expressed. In some sort to help +also the reader's fancy to a complete impression, Maclise having caught +as happily the figure as the face, a skillful outline of the painting has +been executed for the present page by Mr. Jeens. "As a likeness," +said Mr. Thackeray of the work, and no higher praise could be given +to it, "it is perfectly amazing. A looking-glass could not render a +better fac-simile. We have here the real identical man Dickens, the +inward as well as the outward of him."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> We had at Twickenham a balloon club for the children, of which +I appear to have been elected the president on condition of supplying +all the balloons, a condition which I seem so insufficiently to have +complied with as to bring down upon myself the subjoined resolution. +The Snodgering Blee and Popem Jee were the little brother and sister, +for whom, as for their successors, he was always inventing these surprising +descriptive epithets. "Gammon Lodge, Saturday evening, +June 23d, 1838. Sir, I am requested to inform you that at a numerous +meeting of the Gammon Aeronautical Association for the Encouragement +of Science and the Consumption of Spirits (of Wine)—Thomas +Beard Esquire, Mrs. Charles Dickens, Charles Dickens, Esquire, the +Snodgering Blee, Popem Jee, and other distinguished characters being +present and assenting, the vote of censure of which I inclose a copy +was unanimously passed upon you for gross negligence in the discharge +of your duty, and most unjustifiable disregard of the best interests +of the Society. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, Charles +Dickens, Honorary Secretary. To John Forster, Esquire."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Not Mr. Procter, as, by an oversight of his own, Dickens caused +to be said in an interesting paper on Wainewright which appeared in +his weekly periodical.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> I quote from a letter dated Llangollen, Friday morning, 3d Nov. +1838: "I wrote to you last night, but by mistake the letter has gone +on Heaven knows where in my portmanteau. I have only time to say, +go straight to Liverpool by the first Birmingham train on Monday +morning, and at the Adelphi Hotel in that town you will find me. I +trust to you to see my dear Kate and bring the latest intelligence of +her and the darlings. My best love to them."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> One of these disputes is referred to by Charles Knight in his Autobiography; +and I see in Dickens's letters the mention of another in +which I seem to have been turned by his kindly counsel from some +folly I was going to commit: "I need not, I am sure, impress upon +you the sincerity with which I make this representation. Our close and +hearty friendship happily spares me the necessity. But I will add this—that +feeling for you an attachment which no ties of blood or other +relationship could ever awaken, and hoping to be to the end of my life +your affectionate and chosen friend, I am convinced that I counsel you +now as you would counsel me if I were in the like case; and I hope +and trust that you will be led by an opinion which I am sure cannot +be wrong when it is influenced by such feelings as I bear towards you, +and so many warm and grateful considerations."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> This was the butler of Mr. Gilbert Winter, one of the kind Manchester +friends whose hospitality we had enjoyed with Mr. Ainsworth, +and whose shrewd, quaint, old-world ways come delightfully +back to me as I write his once well-known and widely-honored name.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> I have mentioned the fact in my <i>Life of Landor;</i> and to the passage +I here add the comment made by Dickens when he read it: "It +was at a celebration of his birthday in the first of his Bath lodgings, 35, +St. James's Square, that the fancy which took the form of Little Nell +in the <i>Curiosity Shop</i> first dawned on the genius of its creator. No +character in prose fiction was a greater favorite with Landor. He +thought that, upon her, Juliet might for a moment have turned her +eyes from Romeo, and that Desdemona might have taken her hair-breadth +escapes to heart, so interesting and pathetic did she seem to +him; and when, some years later, the circumstance I have named was +recalled to him, he broke into one of those whimsical bursts of comical +extravagance out of which arose the fancy of Boythorn. With tremendous +emphasis he confirmed the fact, and added that he had never +in his life regretted anything so much as his having failed to carry out +an intention he had formed respecting it; for he meant to have purchased +that house, 35, St. James's Square, and then and there to have +burnt it to the ground, to the end that no meaner association should +ever desecrate the birthplace of Nell. Then he would pause a little, +become conscious of our sense of his absurdity, and break into a +thundering peal of laughter." Dickens had himself proposed to tell +this story as a contribution to my biography of our common friend, +but his departure for America prevented him. "I see," he wrote to +me, as soon as the published book reached him, "you have told, with +what our friend would have called <i>won</i>-derful accuracy, the little St. +James's Square story, which a certain faithless wretch was to have +related."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Poems.</i> By Bret Harte (Boston: Osgood & Co., 1871), pp. 32-35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, p. <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> By way of a novelty to help off the stock, he had suggested (17th +June), "Would it not be best to print new title-pages to the copies +sheets and publish them as a new edition, with an interesting Preface? +I am talking about all this as though the treaty were concluded, but I +hope and trust that in effect it is, for negotiation and delay are worse +to me than drawn daggers." See my remark <i>ante</i>, p. <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> "Accept from me" (July 8, 1840), "as a slight memorial of your +attached companion, the poor keepsake which accompanies this. My +heart is not an eloquent one on matters which touch it most, but suppose +this claret-jug the urn in which it lies, and believe that its warmest +and truest blood is yours. This was the object of my fruitless search, +and your curiosity, on Friday. At first I scarcely knew what trifle +(you will deem it valuable, I know, for the giver's sake) to send you; +but I thought it would be pleasant to connect it with our jovial moments, +and to let it add, to the wine we shall drink from it together, a +flavor which the choicest vintage could never impart. Take it from +my hand,—filled to the brim and running over with truth and earnestness. +I have just taken one parting look at it, and it seems the most +elegant thing in the world to me, for I lose sight of the vase in the +crowd of welcome associations that are clustering and wreathing themselves +about it."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Already he had been the subject of similar reports on the occasion +of the family sorrow which compelled him to suspend the publication +of <i>Pickwick</i> for two months (<i>ante</i>, p. <a href="#Page_120">120</a>), when, upon issuing a brief +address in resuming his work (30th June, 1837), he said, "By one set +of intimate acquaintances, especially well informed, he has been killed +outright; by another, driven mad; by a third, imprisoned for debt; +by a fourth, sent per steamer to the United States; by a fifth, rendered +incapable of mental exertion for evermore; by all, in short, represented +as doing anything but seeking in a few weeks' retirement the restoration +of that cheerfulness and peace of which a sad bereavement had +temporarily deprived him."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, p. <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, pp. <a href="#Page_125">125</a> and <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Dickens refused to believe it at first. "My heart assures me +Wilkie liveth," he wrote. "He is the sort of man who will be <span class="smcap">very</span> +old when he dies"—and certainly one would have said so.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> The speeches generally were good, but the descriptions in the text +by himself will here be thought sufficient. One or two sentences +ought, however, to be given to show the tone of Wilson's praise, and +I will only preface them by the remark that Dickens's acknowledgments, +as well as his tribute to Wilkie, were expressed with great +felicity, and that Peter Robertson seems to have thrown the company +into convulsions of laughter by his imitation of Dominie Sampson's +<span class="smcap">Pro-di-gi-ous</span>, in a supposed interview between that worthy schoolmaster +and Mr. Squeers of Dotheboys. I now quote from Professor +Wilson's speech:</p> +<p> +"Our friend has mingled in the common walks of life; he has made +himself familiar with the lower orders of society. He has not been +deterred by the aspect of vice and wickedness, and misery and guilt, +from seeking a spirit of good in things evil, but has endeavored by the +might of genius to transmute what was base into what is precious as +the beaten gold. . . . But I shall be betrayed, if I go on much longer,—which +it would be improper for me to do,—into something like a +critical delineation of the genius of our illustrious guest. I shall not +attempt that; but I cannot but express, in a few ineffectual words, the +delight which every human bosom feels in the benign spirit which +pervades all his creations. How kind and good a man he is, I need +not say; nor what strength of genius he has acquired by that profound +sympathy with his fellow-creatures, whether in prosperity and happiness, +or overwhelmed with unfortunate circumstances, but who yet do +not sink under their miseries, but trust to their own strength of endurance, +to that principle of truth and honor and integrity which is no +stranger to the uncultivated bosom, and which is found in the lowest +abodes in as great strength as in the halls of nobles and the palaces of +kings. Mr. Dickens is also a satirist. He satirizes human life, but he +does not satirize it to degrade it. He does not wish to pull down what +is high into the neighborhood of what is low. He does not seek to +represent all virtue as a hollow thing, in which no confidence can be +placed. He satirizes only the selfish, and the hard-hearted, and the +cruel. Our distinguished guest may not have given us, as yet, a full +and complete delineation of the female character. But this he has +done: he has not endeavored to represent women as charming merely +by the aid of accomplishments, however elegant and graceful. He has +not depicted those accomplishments as their essentials, but has spoken +of them rather as always inspired by a love of domesticity, by fidelity, +by purity, by innocence, by charity, and by hope, which makes them +discharge, under the most difficult circumstances, their duties, and +which brings over their path in this world some glimpses of the light +of heaven. Mr. Dickens may be assured that there is felt for him all +over Scotland a sentiment of kindness, affection, admiration, and love; +and I know for certain that the knowledge of these sentiments must +make him happy."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> On this occasion, as he told me afterwards, the orchestra did a +double stroke of business, much to the amazement of himself and his +friends, by improvising at his entrance <i>Charley is my Darling</i>, amid +tumultuous shouts of delight.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Poor good Mr. Fletcher had, among his other peculiarities, a habit +of venting any particular emotion in a wildness of cry that went beyond +even the descriptive power of his friend, who referred to it frequently +in his Broadstairs letters. Here is an instance (20th Sept, 1840): +"Mrs. M. being in the next machine the other day heard him howl +like a wolf (as he does) when he first touched the cold water. I am +glad to have my former story in that respect confirmed. There is no +sound on earth like it. In the infernal regions there may be, but +elsewhere there is no compound addition of wild beasts that could +produce its like for their total. The description of the wolves in <i>Robinson +Crusoe</i> is the nearest thing; but it's feeble—very feeble—in comparison." +Of the generally amiable side to all his eccentricities I am +tempted to give an illustration from the same letter: "An alarming +report being brought to me the other day that he was preaching, I +betook myself to the spot, and found he was reading Wordsworth to a +family on the terrace, outside the house, in the open air and public +way. The whole town were out. When he had given them a taste +of Wordsworth, he sent home for Mrs. Norton's book, and entertained +them with selections from that. He concluded with an imitation of +Mrs. Hemans reading her own poetry, which he performed with a +pocket-handkerchief over his head to imitate her veil—all this in +public, before everybody."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> "M. was quite aghast last night (9th of September) at the brilliancy +of the C. & H. arrangement: which is worth noting perhaps."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, p. <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, p. <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> The initials used here are in no case those of the real names, being +employed in every case for the express purpose of disguising the +names. Generally the remark is applicable to all initials used in the +letters printed in the course of this work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> This word, applied to him by his old master; Mr. Giles (<i>ante</i>, p. +33), was for a long time the epithet we called him by.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> His descriptions of this school, and of the case of Laura Bridgeman, +will be found in the <i>Notes</i>, and have therefore been, of course, +omitted here.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> On the 22d of May, 1842.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> The dinner was on the 10th of May, and early the following morning +I had a letter about it from Mr. Blanchard, containing these +words: "Washington Irving couldn't utter a word for trembling, and +Moore was as little as usual. But, poor Tom Campbell—great +Heavens! what a spectacle! Amid roars of laughter he began a sentence +three times about something that Dugald Stewart or Lord Bacon +had said, and never could get beyond those words. The Prince was +capital, though deucedly frightened. He seems unaffected and amiable, +as well as very clever."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> At the top of the sheet, above the address and date, are the words +"Read on. We <i>have</i> your precious letters, but you'll think at first +we have not. C. D."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> The ship next in rotation to the Caledonia from Liverpool.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> This comparison is employed in another descriptive passage to be +found in the <i>Notes</i> (p. 57).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>Notes</i>, p. 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, p. <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> This was the Acadia with the Caledonia mails.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> At his second visit to America, when in Washington in February, +1868, Dickens, replying to a letter in which Irving was named, thus +describes the last meeting and leave-taking to which he alludes above: +"Your reference to my dear friend Washington Irving renews the vivid +impressions reawakened in my mind at Baltimore but the other day. +I saw his fine face for the last time in that city. He came there from +New York to pass a day or two with me before I went westward; and +they were made among the most memorable of my life by his delightful +fancy and genial humor. Some unknown admirer of his books and +mine sent to the hotel a most enormous mint-julep, wreathed with +flowers. We sat, one on either side of it, with great solemnity (it +filled a respectably-sized round table), but the solemnity was of very +short duration. It was quite an enchanted julep, and carried us +among innumerable people and places that we both knew. The julep +held out far into the night, and my memory never saw him afterwards +otherwise than as bending over it, with his straw, with an attempted +air of gravity (after some anecdote involving some wonderfully droll +and delicate observation of character), and then, as his eye caught +mine, melting into that captivating laugh of his, which was the brightest +and best I have ever heard."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, pp. <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, 308.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Miss Martineau was perhaps partly right, then? <i>Ante</i>, p. <a href="#Page_344">344</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Sixteen inches exactly.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> A young lady's account of this party, written next morning, and +quoted in one of the American memoirs of Dickens, enables us to +contemplate his suffering from the point of view of those who inflicted +it: "I went last evening to a party at Judge Walker's, given to the +hero of the day. . . . When we reached the house, Mr. Dickens had +left the crowded rooms, and was in the hall with his wife, about taking +his departure when we entered the door. We were introduced to him +in our wrapping; and in the flurry and embarrassment of the meeting, +one of the party dropped a parcel, containing shoes, gloves, etc. Mr. +Dickens, stooping, gathered them up and restored them with a laughing +remark, and we bounded up-stairs to get our things off. Hastening +down again, we found him with Mrs. Dickens seated upon a sofa, surrounded +by a group of ladies; Judge Walker having requested him +to delay his departure for a few moments, for the gratification of some +tardy friends who had just arrived, ourselves among the number. +Declining to re-enter the rooms where he had already taken leave of +the guests, he had seated himself in the hall. He is young and handsome, +has a mellow, beautiful eye, fine brow, and abundant hair. His +mouth is large, and his smile so bright it seemed to shed light and +happiness all about him. His manner is easy, negligent, but not elegant. +His dress was foppish; in fact, he was overdressed, yet his +garments were worn so easily they appeared to be a necessary part of +him. (!) He had a dark coat, with lighter pantaloons; a black waistcoat, +embroidered with colored flowers; and about his neck, covering +his white shirt-front, was a black neckcloth, also embroidered in colors, +in which were placed two large diamond pins connected by a chain. +A gold watch-chain, and a large red rose in his button-hole, completed +his toilet. He appeared a little weary, but answered the remarks +made to him—for he originated none—in an agreeable manner. Mr. +Beard's portrait of Fagin was so placed in the room that we could see +it from where we stood surrounding him. One of the ladies asked +him if it was his idea of the Jew. He replied, 'Very nearly.' Another, +laughingly, requested that he would give her the rose he wore, as a +memento. He shook his head and said, 'That will not do; he could +not give it to one; the others would be jealous.' A half-dozen then +insisted on having it, whereupon he proposed to divide the leaves +among them. In taking the rose from his coat, either by design or +accident, the leaves loosened and fell upon the floor, and amid considerable +laughter the ladies stooped and gathered them. He remained +some twenty minutes, perhaps, in the hall, and then took his leave. I +must confess to considerable disappointment in the personal of my +idol. I felt that his throne was shaken, although it never could be +destroyed." This appalling picture supplements and very sufficiently +explains the mournful passage in the text.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> "<span class="smcap">Runaway Negro in Jail</span>" was the heading of the advertisement +inclosed, which had a woodcut of master and slave in its +corner, and announced that Wilford Garner, sheriff and jailer of +Chicot County, Arkansas, requested owner to come and prove property—or——</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Ten dashes underneath the word.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, p. <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> "Cant as we may, and as we shall to the end of all things, it is very +much harder for the poor to be virtuous than it is for the rich; and the +good that is in them, shines the brighter for it. In many a noble +mansion lives a man, the best of husbands and of fathers, whose private +worth in both capacities is justly lauded to the skies. But bring him +here, upon this crowded deck. Strip from his fair young wife her +silken dress and jewels, unbind her braided hair, stamp early wrinkles +on her brow, pinch her pale cheek with care and much privation, array +her faded form in coarsely patched attire, let there be nothing but his +love to set her forth or deck her out, and you shall put it to the proof +indeed. So change his station in the world that he shall see, in those +young things who climb about his knee, not records of his wealth and +name, but little wrestlers with him for his daily bread; so many +poachers on his scanty meal; so many units to divide his every sum +of comfort, and farther to reduce its small amount. In lieu of the +endearments of childhood in its sweetest aspect, heap upon him all its +pains and wants, its sicknesses and ills, its fretfulness, caprice, and +querulous endurance: let its prattle be, not of engaging infant fancies, +but of cold, and thirst, and hunger: and if his fatherly affection outlive +all this, and he be patient, watchful, tender; careful of his children's +lives, and mindful always of their joys and sorrows; then send him +back to parliament, and pulpit, and to quarter sessions, and when he +hears fine talk of the depravity of those who live from hand to mouth, +and labour hard to do it, let him speak up, as one who knows, and tell +those holders-forth that they, by parallel with such a class, should be +high angels in their daily lives, and lay but humble siege to heaven at +last. . . . Which of us shall say what he would be, if such realities, +with small relief or change all through his days, were his! Looking +round upon these people: far from home, houseless, indigent, wandering, +weary with travel and hard living: and seeing how patiently they +nursed and tended their young children: how they consulted ever their +wants first, then half supplied their own; what gentle ministers of hope +and faith the women were; how the men profited by their example; +and how very, very seldom even a moment's petulance or harsh complaint +broke out among them: I felt a stronger love and honour of my +kind come glowing on my heart, and wished to God there had been +many atheists in the better part of human nature there, to read this +simple lesson in the book of life."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Printed in the <i>Atlantic Monthly</i> shortly after his death, and since +collected, by Mr. James T. Fields of Boston, with several of later date +addressed to himself, and much correspondence having reference to +other writers, into a pleasing volume entitled <i>Yesterdays with Authors</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> This is mentioned in Mr. O. Driscoll's agreeable little Memoir, +but supposed to refer to Maclise's portrait of Dickens.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> In one of the letters to his American friend Mr. Felton there is a +glimpse of Christmas sports which had escaped my memory, and for +which a corner may be found here, inasmuch as these gambols were +characteristic of him at the pleasant old season, and were frequently +renewed in future years. "The best of it is" (31 Dec. 1842) "that +Forster and I have purchased between us the entire stock-in-trade of +a conjuror, the practice and display whereof is entrusted to me. . . . +In those tricks which require a confederate I am assisted (by reason +of his imperturbable good humour) by Stanfield, who always does his +part exactly the wrong way, to the unspeakable delight of all beholders. +We come out on a small scale to-night, at Forster's, where +we see the old year out and the new one in." <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, July +1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> "I have heard, as you have, from Lady Blessington, for whose +behoof I have this morning penned the lines I send you herewith. +But I have only done so to excuse myself, for I have not the least idea +of their suiting her; and I hope she will send them back to you for +the <i>Ex.</i>" C. D. to J. F. July 1843. The lines are quite worth +preserving.</p> +<div class='center'> +A WORD IN SEASON. +</div> +<div class='poem2'> +They have a superstition in the East,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That Allah, written on a piece of paper,</span><br /> +Is better unction than can come of priest,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of rolling incense, and of lighted taper:</span><br /> +Holding, that any scrap which bears that name<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In any characters its front impress'd on,</span><br /> +Shall help the finder thro' the purging flame,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And give his toasted feet a place to rest on.</span><br /> +<br /> +Accordingly, they make a mighty fuss<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With every wretched tract and fierce oration,</span><br /> +And hoard the leaves—for they are not, like us<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A highly civilized and thinking nation:</span><br /> +And, always stooping in the miry ways<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To look for matter of this earthly leaven,</span><br /> +They seldom, in their dust-exploring days,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Have any leisure to look up to Heaven.</span><br /> +<br /> +So have I known a country on the earth<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where darkness sat upon the living waters,</span><br /> +And brutal ignorance, and toil, and dearth<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Were the hard portion of its sons and daughters:</span><br /> +And yet, where they who should have oped the door<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of charity and light, for all men's finding</span><br /> +Squabbled for words upon the altar-floor,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And rent The Book, in struggles for the binding.</span><br /> +<br /> +The gentlest man among those pious Turks<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">God's living image ruthlessly defaces;</span><br /> +Their best High-Churchman, with no faith in works,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bowstrings the Virtues in the market-places.</span><br /> +The Christian Pariah, whom both sects curse<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(They curse all other men, and curse each other),</span><br /> +Walks thro' the world, not very much the worse,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Does all the good he can, and loves his brother.</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> C. D. to Professor Felton (1st Sept. 1843), in <i>Atlantic Monthly</i> for +July 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> "After a period of 27 years, from a single school of five small +infants, the work has grown into a cluster of some 300 schools, an +aggregate of nearly 30,000 children, and a body of 3000 voluntary +teachers, most of them the sons and daughters of toil. . . . Of more +than 300,000 children which, on the most moderate calculation, we +have a right to conclude have passed through these schools since their +commencement, I venture to affirm that more than 100,000 of both +sexes have been placed out in various ways, in emigration, in the +marine, in trades, and in domestic service. For many consecutive +years I have contributed prizes to thousands of the scholars; and let +no one omit to call to mind what these children were, whence they +came, and whither they were going without this merciful intervention. +They would have been added to the perilous swarm of the wild, the +lawless, the wretched, and the ignorant, instead of being, as by God's +blessing they are, decent and comfortable, earning an honest livelihood, +and adorning the community to which they belong." <i>Letter +of Lord Shaftesbury in the Times of the 13th of November, 1871.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Chuffey. Sydney Smith had written to Dickens on the appearance +of his fourth number (early in April): "Chuffey is admirable. . . . +I never read a finer piece of writing: it is deeply pathetic +and affecting."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> It may interest the reader, and be something of a curiosity of literature, +if I give the expenses of the first edition of 6000, and of the 7000 +more which constituted the five following editions, with the profit of +the remaining 2000 which completed the sale of fifteen thousand:</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Christmas Carol costs"> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='5'>CHRISTMAS CAROL.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='5'>1st Edition, 6000 No.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1843.</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>£</td><td align='right'><i>s.</i></td><td align='right'><i>d.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dec.</td><td align='left'>Printing</td><td align='right'>74</td><td align='right'>2</td><td align='right'>9</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Paper</td><td align='right'>89</td><td align='right'>2</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Drawings and Engravings</td><td align='right'>49</td><td align='right'>18</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Two Steel Plates</td><td align='right'>1</td><td align='right'>4</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Printing Plates</td><td align='right'>15</td><td align='right'>17</td><td align='right'>6</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Paper for do</td><td align='right'>7</td><td align='right'>12</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Colouring Plates</td><td align='right'>120</td><td align='right'>0</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Binding</td><td align='right'>180</td><td align='right'>0</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Incidents and Advertising</td><td align='right'>168</td><td align='right'>7</td><td align='right'>8</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Commission</td><td align='right'>99</td><td align='right'>4</td><td align='right'>6</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right' colspan='3'>———————</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>£805</td><td align='right'>8</td><td align='right'>5</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right' colspan='3'>==============</td></tr> +</table></div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="7th Edition costs"> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='5'>2nd to the 7th Edition, making 7000 Copies.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1844.</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>£</td><td align='right'><i>s.</i></td><td align='right'><i>d.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Jan.</td><td align='left'>Printing</td><td align='right'>58</td><td align='right'>18</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Paper</td><td align='right'>103</td><td align='right'>19</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Printing Plates</td><td align='right'>17</td><td align='right'>10</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Paper</td><td align='right'>8</td><td align='right'>17</td><td align='right'>4</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Colouring Plates</td><td align='right'>140</td><td align='right'>0</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Binding</td><td align='right'>199</td><td align='right'>18</td><td align='right'>2</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Incidents and Advertising</td><td align='right'>83</td><td align='right'>5</td><td align='right'>8</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Commission</td><td align='right'>107</td><td align='right'>18</td><td align='right'>10</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right' colspan='3'>——————</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>£720</td><td align='right'>7</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right' colspan='3'>=============</td></tr> +</table></div></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<div class='unindent'> +Two thousand more, represented by the last item in the subjoined +balance, were sold before the close of the year, leaving a remainder of +70 copies.</div> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="1843"> +<tr><td align='left'>1843.</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>£</td><td align='right'><i>s.</i></td><td align='right'><i>d.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dec.</td><td align='left' colspan='2'>Balance of a/c to Mr. Dickens's credit</td><td align='right'>186</td><td align='right'>16</td><td align='right'>7</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1844.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Jan. to April.</td><td align='center'>Do.</td><td align='center'>Do.</td><td align='right'>349</td><td align='right'>12</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>May to Dec.</td><td align='center'>Do.</td><td align='center'>Do.</td><td align='right'>189</td><td align='right'>11</td><td align='right'>5</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right' colspan='3'>——————</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left' colspan='2'>Amount of Profit on the Work</td><td align='right'>£726</td><td align='right'>0</td><td align='right'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right' colspan='3'>=============</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> In November 1865 he wrote to me that the sale of his Christmas +fancy for that year (<i>Dr. Marigold's Prescriptions</i>) had gone up, in the +first week, to 250,000.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> A characteristic letter of this date, which will explain itself, has +been kindly sent to me by the gentleman it was written to, Mr. James +Verry Staples, of Bristol:—"Third of April, 1844. I have been very +much gratified by the receipt of your interesting letter, and I assure +you that it would have given me heartfelt satisfaction to have been in +your place when you read my little <i>Carol</i> to the Poor in your neighbourhood. +I have great faith in the poor; to the best of my ability I +always endeavour to present them in a favourable light to the rich; +and I shall never cease, I hope, until I die, to advocate their being +made as happy and as wise as the circumstances of their condition, in +its utmost improvement, will admit of their becoming. I mention this +to assure you of two things. Firstly, that I try to deserve their attention; +and secondly, that any such marks of their approval and confidence +as you relate to me are most acceptable to my feelings, and go +at once to my heart."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> In a letter on the subject of copyright published by Thomas Hood +after Dickens's return from America, he described what had passed +between himself and one of these pirates who had issued a Master +Humphrey's Clock edited by Bos. "Sir," said the man to Hood, "if +you had observed the name, it was <i>Bos</i>, not <i>Boz;</i> s, sir, not z; and, +besides, it would have been no piracy, sir, even with the z, because +<i>Master Humphrey's Clock</i>, you see, sir, was not published as by Boz, +but by Charles Dickens!"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> The reader may be amused if I add in a note what he said of the +pirates in those earlier days when grave matters touched him less +gravely. On the eve of the first number of <i>Nickleby</i> he had issued a +proclamation. "Whereas we are the only true and lawful Boz. And +whereas it hath been reported to us, who are commencing a new work, +that some dishonest dullards resident in the by-streets and cellars of +this town impose upon the unwary and credulous, by producing cheap +and wretched imitations of our delectable works. And whereas we +derive but small comfort under this injury from the knowledge that +the dishonest dullards aforesaid cannot, by reason of their mental +smallness, follow near our heels, but are constrained to creep along by +dirty and little-frequented ways, at a most respectful and humble distance +behind. And whereas, in like manner, as some other vermin +are not worth the killing for the sake of their carcases, so these kennel +pirates are not worth the powder and shot of the law, inasmuch as +whatever damages they may commit they are in no condition to pay +any. This is to give notice, that we have at length devised a mode of +execution for them, so summary and terrible, that if any gang or gangs +thereof presume to hoist but one shred of the colours of the good ship +<i>Nickleby</i>, we will hang them on gibbets so lofty and enduring that +their remains shall be a monument of our just vengeance to all succeeding +ages; and it shall not lie in the power of any lord high admiral, +on earth, to cause them to be taken down again." The last paragraph +of the proclamation informed the potentates of Paternoster-row, that +from the then ensuing day of the thirtieth of March, until farther +notice, "we shall hold our Levees, as heretofore, on the last evening +but one of every month, between the hours of seven and nine, at our +Board of Trade, number one hundred and eighty-six in the Strand, +London; where we again request the attendance (in vast crowds) of +their accredited agents and ambassadors. Gentlemen to wear knots +upon their shoulders; and patent cabs to draw up with their doors +towards the grand entrance, for the convenience of loading."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> This might seem not very credible if I did not give the passage +literally, and I therefore quote it from the careful translation of <i>Taine's +History of English Literature</i> by Mr. Van Laun, one of the masters +of the Edinburgh Academy, where I will venture to hope that other +authorities on English Literature are at the same time admitted. +"Jonas" (also in <i>Chuzzlewit</i>) "is on the verge of madness. There +are other characters quite mad. Dickens has drawn three or four +portraits of madmen, very agreeable at first sight, but so true that they +are in reality horrible. It needed an imagination like his, irregular, +excessive, capable of fixed ideas, to exhibit the derangements of +reason. Two especially there are, which make us laugh, and which +make us shudder. Augustus, the gloomy maniac, who is on the point +of marrying Miss Pecksniff; and poor Mr. Dick, half an idiot, half a +monomaniac, who lives with Miss Trotwood. . . . The play of these +shattered reasons is like the creaking of a dislocated door; it makes +one sick to hear it." (Vol. ii. p. <a href="#Page_2_346">346</a>.) The original was published +before Dickens's death, but he certainly never saw it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> He wrote from Marseilles (17th Dec. 1844). "When poor Overs +was dying he suddenly asked for a pen and ink and some paper, and +made up a little parcel for me which it was his last conscious act to +direct. She (his wife) told me this and gave it me. I opened it last +night. It was a copy of his little book in which he had written my +name, 'With his devotion.' I thought it simple and affecting of the +poor fellow." From a later letter a few lines may be added. "Mrs. +Overs tells me" (Monte Vacchi, 30th March, 1845) "that Miss Coutts +has sent her, at different times, sixteen pounds, has sent a doctor to +her children, and has got one of the girls into the Orphan School. +When I wrote her a word in the poor woman's behalf, she wrote me +back to the effect that it was a kindness to herself to have done so, 'for +what is the use of my means but to try and do some good with them?'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> He regretted one chance missed by his eccentric friend, which he +described to me just before he left Italy. "I saw last night an old +palazzo of the Doria, six miles from here, upon the sea, which De la +Rue urged Fletcher to take for us, when he was bent on that detestable +villa Bagnerello; which villa the Genoese have hired, time out of +mind, for one-fourth of what I paid, as they told him again and again +before he made the agreement. This is one of the strangest old palaces +in Italy, surrounded by beautiful <i>woods</i> of great trees (an immense +rarity here) some miles in extent: and has upon the terrace a high +tower, formerly a prison for offenders against the family, and a defence +against the pirates. The present Doria lets it as it stands for £40 +English—for the year. . . . And the grounds are no expense; being +proudly maintained by the Doria, who spends this rent, when he gets +it, in repairing the roof and windows. It is a wonderful house; full +of the most unaccountable pictures and most incredible furniture: +every room in it like the most quaint and fanciful of Cattermole's pictures; +and how many rooms I am afraid to say." 2nd of June, 1845.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> "We have had a London sky until to-day," he wrote on the 20th +of July, "gray and cloudy as you please: but I am most disappointed, +I think, in the evenings, which are as commonplace as need be; for +there is no twilight, and as to the stars giving more light here than +elsewhere, that is humbug." The summer of 1844 seems to have been, +however, an unusually stormy and wet season. He wrote to me on +the 21st of October that they had had, so far, only four really clear +days since they came to Italy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> "My faith on that-point is decidedly shaken, which reminds me to +ask you whether you ever read Simond's Tour in Italy. It is a most +charming book, and eminently remarkable for its excellent sense, and +determination not to give in to conventional lies." In a later letter he +says: "None of the books are unaffected and true but Simond's, which +charms me more and more by its boldness, and its frank exhibition of +that rare and admirable quality which enables a man to form opinions +for himself without a miserable and slavish reference to the pretended +opinions of other people. His notices of the leading pictures enchant +me. They are so perfectly just and faithful, and so whimsically +shrewd." Rome, 9th of March, 1845.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> +</p><div class='poem2'> +I send my heart up to thee, all my heart<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">In this my singing!</span><br /> +For the stars help me, and the sea bears part;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">The very night is clinging</span><br /> +Closer to Venice' streets to leave one space<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Above me, whence thy face</span><br /> +May light my joyous heart to thee its dwelling-place.<br /> +</div> +<p>Written to express Maclise's subject in the Academy catalogue.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> "Their house is next to ours on the right, with vineyard between; +but the place is so oddly contrived that one has to go a full mile round +to get to their door."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Not however, happily for them, in another important particular, +for on the eve of their return to England she declared her intention of +staying behind and marrying an Italian. "She will have to go to +Florence, I find" (12th of May 1845), "to be married in Lord Holland's +house: and even then is only married according to the English +law: having no legal rights from such a marriage, either in France or +Italy. The man hasn't a penny. If there were an opening for a nice +clean restaurant in Genoa—which I don't believe there is, for the +Genoese have a natural enjoyment of dirt, garlic, and oil—it would +still be a very hazardous venture; as the priests will certainly damage +the man, if they can, for marrying a Protestant woman. However, +the utmost I can do is to take care, if such a crisis should arrive, that +she shall not want the means of getting home to England. As my +father would observe, she has sown and must reap."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> He had carried with him, I may here mention, letters of introduction +to residents in all parts of Italy, of which I believe he delivered +hardly one. Writing to me a couple of months before he left the +country he congratulated himself on this fact. "We are living very +quietly; and I am now more than ever glad that I have kept myself +aloof from the 'receiving' natives always, and delivered scarcely any +of my letters of introduction. If I had, I should have seen nothing +and known less. I have observed that the English women who have +married foreigners are invariably the most audacious in the license +they assume. Think of one lady married to a royal chamberlain (not +here) who said at dinner to the master of the house at a place where I +was dining—that she had brought back his <i>Satirist</i>, but didn't think +there was quite so much 'fun' in it as there used to be. I looked at +the paper afterwards, and found it crammed with such vile obscenity +as positively made one's hair stand on end."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> What his poor little dog suffered should not be omitted from the +troubles of the master who was so fond of him. "Timber has had +every hair upon his body cut off because of the fleas, and he looks like +the ghost of a drowned dog come out of a pond after a week or so. It +is very awful to see him slide into a room. He knows the change upon +him, and is always turning round and round to look for himself. I think +he'll die of grief." Three weeks later: "Timber's hair is growing +again, so that you can dimly perceive him to be a dog. The fleas +only keep three of his legs off the ground now, and he sometimes +moves of his own accord towards some place where they don't want to +go." His improvement was slow, but after this continuous.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> A characteristic message for Jerrold came in a later letter (12th +of May, 1845): "I wish you would suggest to Jerrold for me as a +Caudle subject (if he pursue that idea). 'Mr. Caudle has incidentally +remarked that the house-maid is good-looking.'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Of the dangers of the bay he had before written to me (10th of +August). "A monk was drowned here on Saturday evening. He +was bathing with two other monks, who bolted when he cried out that +he was sinking—in consequence, I suppose, of his certainty of going +to Heaven."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> "Into which we might put your large room—I wish we could!—away +in one corner, and dine without knowing it."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> "Very vast you will say, and very dreary; but it is not so really. +The paintings are so fresh, and the proportions so agreeable to the eye, +that the effect is not only cheerful but snug. . . . We are a little incommoded +by applications from strangers to go over the interior. +The paintings were designed by Michael Angelo, and have a great +reputation. . . . Certain of these frescoes were reported officially to +the Fine Art Commissioners by Wilson as the best in Italy . . . I +allowed a party of priests to be shown the great hall yesterday . . . It +is in perfect repair, and the doors almost shut—which is quite a miraculous +circumstance. I wish you could see it, my dear F. Gracious +Heavens! if you could only <i>come back</i> with me, wouldn't I soon flash +on your astonished sight." (6th of October.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> "I began this letter, my dear friend" (he wrote it from Venice on +Tuesday night the 12th of November), "with the intention of describing +my travels as I went on. But I have seen so much, and travelled +so hard (seldom dining, and being almost always up by candle light), +that I must reserve my crayons for the greater leisure of the Peschiere +after we have met, and I have again returned to it. As soon as I have +fixed a place in my mind, I bolt—at such strange seasons and at such +unexpected angles, that the brave C stares again. But in this way, +and by insisting on having everything shewn to me whether or no, and +against all precedents and orders of proceeding, I get on wonderfully." +Two days before he had written to me from Ferrara, after the very +pretty description of the vineyards between Piacenza and Parma which +will be found in the <i>Pictures from Italy</i> (pp. 203-4): "If you want an +antidote to this, I may observe that I got up, this moment, to fasten +the window; and the street looked as like some byeway in Whitechapel—or—I +look again—like Wych Street, down by the little barber's +shop on the same side of the way as Holywell Street—or—I look again—as +like Holywell Street itself—as ever street was like to street, or +ever will be, in this world."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Four months later, after he had seen the galleries at Rome and the +other great cities, he sent me a remark which has since had eloquent +reinforcement from critics of undeniable authority. "The most +famous of the oil paintings in the Vatican you know through the +medium of the finest line-engravings in the world; and as to some of +them I much doubt, if you had seen them with me, whether you +might not think you had lost little in having only known them hitherto +in that translation. Where the drawing is poor and meagre, or alloyed +by time,—it is so, and it must be, often; though no doubt it is a heresy +to hint at such a thing—the engraving presents the forms and the idea +to you, in a simple majesty which such defects impair. Where this is +not the case, and all is stately and harmonious, still it is somehow in +the very grain and nature of a delicate engraving to suggest to you +(I think) the utmost delicacy, finish, and refinement, as belonging to +the original. Therefore, though the Picture in this latter case will +greatly charm and interest you, it does not take you by surprise. You +are quite prepared beforehand for the fullest excellence of which it is +capable." In the same letter he wrote of what remained always a +delight in his memory, the charm of the more private collections. He +found magnificent portraits and paintings in the private palaces, where +he thought them seen to greater advantage than in galleries; because +in numbers not so large as to distract attention or confuse the eye. +"There are portraits innumerable by Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt and +Vandyke; heads by Guido, and Domenichino, and Carlo Dolci; +subjects by Raphael, and Correggio, and Murillo, and Paul Veronese, +and Salvator; which it would be difficult indeed to praise too highly, +or to praise enough. It is a happiness to me to think that they cannot +be felt, as they should be felt, by the profound connoisseurs who fall +into fits upon the longest notice and the most unreasonable terms. +Such tenderness and grace, such noble elevation, purity, and beauty, +so shine upon me from some well-remembered spots in the walls of +these galleries, as to relieve my tortured memory from legions of +whining friars and waxy holy families. I forgive, from the bottom +of my soul, whole orchestras of earthy angels, and whole groves of St. +Sebastians stuck as full of arrows according to pattern as a lying-in +pincushion is stuck with pins. And I am in no humour to quarrel +even with that priestly infatuation, or priestly doggedness of purpose, +which persists in reducing every mystery of our religion to some literal +development in paint and canvas, equally repugnant to the reason and +the sentiment of any thinking man."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> The last two lines he has printed in the <i>Pictures</i>, p. 249, "certain +of" being inserted before "his employers."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> I find the evening mentioned in the diary which Mr. Barham's +son quotes in his Memoir. "December 5, 1844. Dined at Forster's +with Charles Dickens, Stanfield, Maclise, and Albany Fonblanque. +Dickens read with remarkable effect his Christmas story, the <i>Chimes</i>, +from the proofs. . . ." (ii. 191.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> In a previous letter he had told me that history. "Apropos of +servants, I must tell you of a child-bearing handmaiden of some friends +of ours, a thorough out and outer, who, by way of expiating her +sins, caused herself, the other day, to be received into the bosom of +the infallible church. She had two marchionesses for her sponsors; +and she is heralded in the Genoa newspapers as Miss B—, an English +lady, who has repented of her errors and saved her soul alive."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> "I feel the distance between us now, indeed. I would to Heaven, +my dearest friend, that I could remind you in a manner more lively +and affectionate than this dull sheet of paper can put on, that you have +a Brother left. One bound to you by ties as strong as ever Nature +forged. By ties never to be broken, weakened, changed in any way—but +to be knotted tighter up, if that be possible, until the same end +comes to them as has come to these. That end but the bright beginning +of a happier union, I believe; and have never more strongly and +religiously believed (and oh! Forster, with what a sore heart I have +thanked God for it) than when that shadow has fallen on my own +hearth, and made it cold and dark as suddenly as in the home of that +poor girl you tell me of. . . . When you write to me again, the pain +of this will have passed. No consolation can be so certain and so +lasting to you as that softened and manly sorrow which springs up +from the memory of the Dead. I read your heart as easily as if I held +it in my hand, this moment. And I know—I <i>know</i>, my dear friend—that +before the ground is green above him, you will be content that +what was capable of death in him, should lie there. . . . I am glad to +think it was so easy, and full of peace. What can we hope for more, +when our own time comes!—The day when he visited us in our old +house is as fresh to me as if it had been yesterday. I remember him +as well as I remember you. . . . I have many things to say, but cannot +say them now. Your attached and loving friend for life, and far, I +hope, beyond it. C. D." (8th of January, 1845.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> "A Yorkshireman, who talks Yorkshire Italian with the drollest +and pleasantest effect; a jolly, hospitable excellent fellow; as odd yet +kindly a mixture of shrewdness and simplicity as I have ever seen. He +is the only Englishman in these parts who has been able to erect an +English household out of Italian servants, but he has done it to admiration. +It would be a capital country-house at home; and for staying +in 'first-rate.' (I find myself inadvertently quoting <i>Tom Thumb</i>.) +Mr. Walton is a man of an extraordinarily kind heart, and has a compassionate +regard for Fletcher to whom his house is open as a home, +which is half affecting and half ludicrous. He paid the other day a +hundred pounds for him, which he knows he will never see a penny of +again." C. D. to J. F. (25th of January, 1845.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> "Do you think," he wrote from Ronciglione on the 29th January, +"in your state room, when the fog makes your white blinds yellow, +and the wind howls in the brick and mortar gulf behind that square +perspective, with a middle distance of two ladder-tops and a background +of Drury-lane sky—when the wind howls, I say, as if its eldest +brother, born in Lincoln's-inn-fields, had gone to sea and was making a +fortune on the Atlantic—at such times do you ever think of houseless +Dick?"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> He makes no mention in his book of the pauper burial-place at +Naples, to which the reference made in his letters is striking enough +for preservation. "In Naples, the burying place of the poor people is +a great paved yard with three hundred and sixty-five pits in it: every +one covered by a square stone which is fastened down. One of these +pits is opened every night in the year; the bodies of the pauper dead +are collected in the city; brought out in a cart (like that I told you +of at Rome); and flung in, uncoffined. Some lime is then cast down +into the pit; and it is sealed up until a year is past, and its turn again +comes round. Every night there is a pit opened; and every night that +same pit is sealed up again, for a twelvemonth. The cart has a red +lamp attached, and at about ten o'clock at night you see it glaring +through the streets of Naples: stopping at the doors of hospitals and +prisons, and such places, to increase its freight: and then rattling off +again. Attached to the new cemetery (a very pretty one, and well kept: +immeasurably better in all respects than Père-la-Chaise) there is +another similar yard, but not so large." . . . In connection with the +same subject he adds: "About Naples, the dead are borne along the +street, uncovered, on an open bier; which is sometimes hoisted on a +sort of palanquin, covered with a cloth of scarlet and gold. This exposure +of the deceased is not peculiar to that part of Italy; for about +midway between Rome and Genoa we encountered a funeral procession +attendant on the body of a woman, which was presented in its +usual dress, to my eyes (looking from my elevated seat on the box of +a travelling carriage) as if she were alive, and resting on her bed. An +attendant priest was chanting lustily—and as badly as the priests invariably +do. Their noise is horrible. . . ."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> "Thackeray praises the people of Italy for being kind to brutes. +There is probably no country in the world where they are treated with +such frightful cruelty. It is universal." (Naples, 2nd. Feb. 1845.) +Emphatic confirmation of this remark has been lately given by the +Naples correspondent of the <i>Times</i>, writing under date of February 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> The reader will perhaps think with me that what he noticed, on the +roads in Tuscany more than in any others, of wayside crosses and religious +memorials, may be worth preserving. . . . "You know that in +the streets and corners of roads, there are all sorts of crosses and similar +memorials to be seen in Italy. The most curious are, I think, in +Tuscany. There is very seldom a figure on the cross, though there is +sometimes a face; but they are remarkable for being garnished with +little models in wood of every possible object that can be connected +with the Saviour's death. The cock that crowed when Peter had +denied his master thrice, is generally perched on the tip-top; and an +ornithological phenomenon he always is. Under him is the inscription. +Then, hung on to the cross-beam, are the spear, the reed with the +sponge of vinegar and water at the end, the coat without seam for +which the soldiers cast lots, the dice-box with which they threw for it, +the hammer that drove in the nails, the pincers that pulled them out, +the ladder which was set against the cross, the crown of thorns, the +instrument of flagellation, the lantern with which Mary went to the +tomb—I suppose; I can think of no other—and the sword with which +Peter smote the high priest's servant. A perfect toyshop of little objects; +repeated at every four or five miles all along the highway."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Of his visit to Fiesole I have spoken in my <span class="smcap">Life of Landor</span>. +"Ten years after Landor had lost this home, an Englishman travelling +in Italy, his friend and mine, visited the neighbourhood for his sake, +drove out from Florence to Fiesole, and asked his coachman which was +the villa in which the Landor family lived. 'He was a dull dog, and +pointed to Boccaccio's. I didn't believe him. He was so deuced +ready that I knew he lied. I went up to the convent, which is on a +height, and was leaning over a dwarf wall basking in the noble view +over a vast range of hill and valley, when a little peasant girl came up +and began to point out the localities. <i>Ecco la villa Landora!</i> was +one of the first half-dozen sentences she spoke. My heart swelled as +Landor's would have done when I looked down upon it, nestling +among its olive-trees and vines, and with its upper windows (there are +five above the door) open to the setting sun. Over the centre of these +there is another story, set upon the housetop like a tower; and all Italy, +except its sea, is melted down into the glowing landscape it commands. +I plucked a leaf of ivy from the convent-garden as I looked; and here +it is. 'For Landor. With my love.' So wrote Mr. Dickens to me +from Florence on the and of April 1845; and when I turned over +Landor's papers in the same month after an interval of exactly twenty +years, the ivy-leaf was found carefully enclosed, with the letter in which +I had sent it." Dickens had asked him before leaving what he would +most wish to have in remembrance of Italy. "An ivy-leaf from Fiesole," +said Landor.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> One message sent me, though all to whom it refers have now +passed away, I please myself by thinking may still, where he might +most have desired it, be the occasion of pleasure. ". . . Give my love +to Colden, and tell him if he leaves London before I return I will ever +more address him and speak of him as <i>Colonel</i> Colden. Kate sends +<i>her</i> love to him also, and we both entreat him to say all the affectionate +things he can spare for third parties—using so many himself—when he +writes to Mrs. Colden: whom you ought to know, for she, as I have +often told you, is <span class="smcap">brilliant</span>. I would go five hundred miles to see +her for five minutes. I am deeply grieved by poor Felton's loss. His +letter is manly, and of a most rare kind in the dignified composure and +silence of his sorrow." (See Vol. I. p. <a href="#Page_315">315</a>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> "It matters little now," says Dickens, after describing this incident +in one of his minor writings, "for coaches of all colours are alike to +poor Kindheart, and he rests far north of the little cemetery with the +cypress trees, by the city walls where the Mediterranean is so beautiful." +What was said on a former page (<i>ante</i>, 182) may here be completed +by a couple of stories told to Dickens by Mr. Walton, suggestive +strongly of the comment that it required indeed a kind heart and +many attractive qualities (which undoubtedly Fletcher possessed) to +render tolerable such eccentricities. Dickens made one of these stories +wonderfully amusing. It related the introduction by Fletcher of an +unknown Englishman to the marble-merchant's house; the stay there +of the Englishman, unasked, for ten days; and finally the walking +off of the Englishman in a shirt, pair of stockings, neckcloth, pocket-handkerchief, +and other etceteras belonging to Mr. Walton, which +never reappeared after that hour. On another occasion, Fletcher confessed +to Mr. Walton his having given a bill to a man in Carrara for +£30; and the marble-merchant having asked, "And pray, Fletcher, +have you arranged to meet it when it falls due?" Fletcher at once replied, +"Yes," and to the marble-merchant's farther enquiry "how?" +added, in his politest manner, "I have arranged to blow my brains out +the day before!" The poor fellow did afterwards almost as much self-violence +without intending it, dying of fever caught in night-wanderings +through Liverpool half-clothed amid storms of rain.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Sydney died on the 22nd of February ('45), in his 77th year.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> A remark on this, made in my reply, elicited what follows in a +letter during his travel home: "Odd enough that remark of yours. I +had been wondering at Rome that Juvenal (which I have been always +lugging out of a bag, on all occasions) never used the fire-flies for an +illustration. But even now, they are only partially seen; and no where +I believe in such enormous numbers as on the Mediterranean coast-road, +between Genoa and Spezzia. I will ascertain for curiosity's sake, +whether there are any at this time in Rome, or between it and the +country-house of Mæcenas—on the ground of Horace's journey. I +know there is a place on the French side of Genoa, where they begin +at a particular boundary-line, and are never seen beyond it. . . . All +wild to see you at Brussels! What a meeting we will have, please +God!"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Count d'Orsay's note about Roche, replying to Dickens's recommendation +of him at his return, has touches of the pleasantry, wit, and +kindliness that gave such a wonderful fascination to its writer. "Gore +House, 6 July, 1845. <span class="smcap">Mon cher Dickens</span>, Nous sommes enchantés +de votre retour. Voici, thank God, Devonshire Place ressuscité. +Venez luncheoner demain à 1 heure, et amenez notre brave ami +Forster. J'attends la perle fine des couriers. Vous l'immortalisez +par ce certificat—la difficulté sera de trouver un maître digne de lui. +J'essayerai de tout mon cœur. La Reine devroit le prendre pour aller +en Saxe Gotha, car je suis convaincu qu'il est assez intelligent pour +pouvoir découvrir ce Royaume. Gore House vous envoye un cargo +d'amitiés des plus sincères. Donnez de ma part 100,000 kind regards +à Madame Dickens. Toujours votre affectionné, Ce <span class="smcap">D'Orsay</span>. +J'ai vu le courier, c'est le tableau de l'honnêteté, et de la bonne +humeur. Don't forget to be here at one to-morrow, with Forster."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> "Look here! Enclosed are two packets—a large one and a small +one. The small one, read first. It contains Stanny's renunciation as +an actor!!! After receiving it, at dinner time to-day" (22nd of August), +"I gave my brains a shake, and thought of George Cruikshank. +After much shaking, I made up the big packet, wherein I have put +the case in the artfullest manner. R-r-r-r-ead it! as a certain +Captain whom you know observes." The great artist was not for that +time procurable, having engagements away from London, and Mr. +Dudley Costello was substituted; Stanfield taking off the edge of his +desertion as an actor by doing valuable work in management and +scenery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> Characteristic glimpse of this Broadstairs holiday is afforded by a +letter of the 19th of August 1845. "Perhaps it is a fair specimen of +the odd adventures which befall the inimitable, that the cab in which +the children and the luggage were (I and my womankind being in the +other) got its shafts broken in the city, last Friday morning, through +the horse stumbling on the greasy pavement; <i>and was drawn to the +wharf (about a mile) by a stout man</i>, amid such frightful howlings and +derisive yellings on the part of an infuriated populace, as I never heard +before. Conceive the man in the broken shafts with his back towards +the cab; all the children looking out of the windows; and the muddy +portmanteaus and so forth (which were all tumbled down when the +horse fell) tottering and nodding on the box! The best of it was, that +<i>our</i> cabman, being an intimate friend of the damaged cabman, insisted +on keeping him company; and proceeded at a solemn walk, in front +of the procession; thereby securing to me a liberal share of the popular +curiosity and congratulation. . . . Everything here at Broadstairs is +the same as of old. I have walked 20 miles a day since I came down, +and I went to a circus at Ramsgate on Saturday night, where <i>Mazeppa</i> +was played in three long acts without an H in it: as if for a wager. +Evven, and edds, and errors, and ands, were as plentiful as blackberries; +but the letter H was neither whispered in Evven, nor muttered +in Ell, nor permitted to dwell in any form on the confines of the sawdust." +With this I will couple another theatrical experience of this +holiday, when he saw a Giant played by a village comedian with a +quite Gargantuesque felicity, and singled out for my admiration his +fine manner of sitting down to a hot supper (of children), with the self-lauding +exalting remark, by way of grace, "How pleasant is a quiet +conscience and an approving mind!"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> "We have hardly seen a cloud in the sky since you and I parted +at Ramsgate, and the heat has been extraordinary."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> "The green woods and green shades about here," he says in +another letter, "are more like Cobham in Kent, than anything we +dream of at the foot of the Alpine passes."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> To these the heat interposed occasional difficulties. "Setting off +last night" (5th of July) "at six o'clock, in accordance with my usual +custom, for a long walk, I was really quite floored when I got to the +top of a long steep hill leading out of the town—the same by which we +entered it. I believe the great heats, however, seldom last more than +a week at a time; there are always very long twilights, and very delicious +evenings; and now that there is moonlight, the nights are wonderful. +The peacefulness and grandeur of the Mountains and the +Lake are indescribable. There comes a rush of sweet smells with the +morning air too, which is quite peculiar to the country."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> "One of her brothers by the bye, now dead, had large property +in Ireland—all Nenagh, and the country about; and Cerjat told me, +as we were talking about one thing and another, that when he went +over there for some months to arrange the widow's affairs, he procured +a copy of the curse which had been read at the altar by the parish +priest of Nenagh, against any of the flock who didn't subscribe to the +O'Connell tribute."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> In a note may be preserved another passage from the same letter. +"I have been queer and had trembling legs for the last week. But it has +been almost impossible to sleep at night. There is a breeze to-day +(25th of July) and I hope another storm is coming up. . . . There is a +theatre here; and whenever a troop of players pass through the town, +they halt for a night and act. On the day of our tremendous dinner +party of eight, there was an infant phenomenon; whom I should otherwise +have seen. Last night there was a Vaudeville company; and +Charley, Roche, and Anne went. The Brave reports the performances +to have resembled Greenwich Fair. . . . There are some Promenade +Concerts in the open air in progress now: but as they are just above +one part of our garden we don't go: merely sitting outside the door +instead, and hearing it all where we are. . . . Mont Blanc has been +very plain lately. One heap of snow. A Frenchman got to the top, +the other day."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> +</p><div class='poem2'> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">". . . Ay, there's the rub;</span><br /> +For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,<br /> +When we have shuffled off this mortal coil. . . ."<br /> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> This was an abstract, in plain language for the use of his children, +of the narrative in the Four Gospels. Allusion was made, shortly after +his death, to the existence of such a manuscript, with expression of a +wish that it might be published; but nothing would have shocked +himself so much as any suggestion of that kind. The little piece was +of a peculiarly private character, written for his children, and exclusively +and strictly for their use only.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> So he described it. "I do not think," he adds, "we could have +fallen on better society. It is a small circle certainly, but quite large +enough. The Watsons improve very much on acquaintance. Everybody +is very well informed; and we are all as social and friendly as +people can be, and very merry. We play whist with great dignity and +gravity sometimes, interrupted only by the occasional facetiousness of +the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'inim table'">inimitable</ins>."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> "When it is very hot, it is hotter than in Italy. The over-hanging +roofs of the houses, and the quantity of wood employed in their construction +(where they use tile and brick in Italy), render them perfect +forcing-houses. The walls and floors, hot to the hand all the night +through, interfere with sleep; and thunder is almost always booming +and rumbling among the mountains." Besides this, though there were +no mosquitoes as in Genoa, there was at first a plague of flies, more +distressing even than at Albaro. "They cover everything eatable, fall +into everything drinkable, stagger into the wet ink of newly-written +words and make tracks on the writing paper, clog their legs in the +lather on your chin while you are shaving in the morning, and drive +you frantic at any time when there is daylight if you fall asleep."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> His preceding letter had sketched his landlord for me. . . . "There +was an annual child's fête at the Signal the other night: given by the +town. It was beautiful to see perhaps a hundred couple of children +dancing in an immense ring in a green wood. Our three eldest were +among them, presided over by my landlord, who was 18 years in the +English navy, and is the Sous Prefet of the town—a very good fellow +indeed; quite an Englishman. Our landlady, nearly twice his age, +used to keep the Inn (a famous one) at Zurich: and having made +£50,000 bestowed it on a young husband. She might have done +worse."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> The close of this letter sent family remembrances in characteristic +form. "Kate, Georgy, Mamey, Katey, Charley, Walley, Chickenstalker, +and Sampson Brass, commend themselves unto your Honour's +loving remembrance." The last but one, who continued long to bear +the name, was Frank; the last, who very soon will be found to have +another, was Alfred.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> The life of Paul was nevertheless prolonged to the fifth number.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> The mathematical-instrument-maker, who Mr. Taine describes +as a marine store dealer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> Poor fellow! he had latent disease of the heart, which developed +itself rapidly on Dickens's return to England.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> Out of the excitements consequent on the public festivities arose +some domestic inconveniences. I will give one of them. "Fanchette +the cook, distracted by the forthcoming fête, madly refused to buy a +duck yesterday as ordered by the Brave, and a battle of life ensued +between those two powers. The Brave is of opinion that 'datter +woman have went mad.' But she seems calm to-day; and I suppose +won't poison the family. . . ."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> Where he makes remark also on a class of offences which are still +most inadequately punished: "I hope you will follow up your idea +about the defective state of the law in reference to women, by some +remarks on the inadequate punishment of that ruffian flippantly called +by the liners the Wholesale Matrimonial Speculator. My opinion is, +that in any well-ordered state of society, and advanced spirit of social +jurisprudence, he would have been flogged more than once (privately), +and certainly sentenced to transportation for no less a term than the +rest of his life. Surely the man who threw the woman out of window +was no worse, if so bad."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> Ten days before there had been a visit from Mr. Ainsworth and +his daughters on their way to Geneva. "I breakfasted with him at +the hotel Gibbon next morning and they dined here afterwards, and +we walked about all day, talking of our old days at Kensal-lodge." +The same letter told me: "We had a regatta at Ouchy the other day, +mainly supported by the contributions of the English handfull. It +concluded with a rowing-match by women, which was very funny. I +wish you could have seen Roche appear on the Lake, rowing, in an +immense boat, Cook, Anne, two nurses, Katey, Mamey, Walley, +Chickenstalker, and Baby; no boatmen or other degrading assistance; +and all sorts of Swiss tubs splashing about them . . . Senior is coming +here to-morrow, I believe, with his wife; and they talk of Brunel and +his wife as on their way. We dine at Haldimand's to meet Senior—which +solitary and most interesting piece of intelligence is all the news +I know of . . . Take care you don't back out of your Paris engagement; +but that we really do have (please God) some happy hours +there. Kate, Georgy, Mamey, Katey, Charley, Walley, Chickenstalker, +and Baby, send loves. . . . I am all anxiety and fever to know +what we start <i>Dombey</i> with!"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> This was the fourth Baron Vernon, who succeeded to the title in +1829, and died seven years after the date of Dickens's description, in +his 74th year.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> Writing on Sunday he had said: "I hope to finish the second +number to-morrow, and to send it off bodily by Tuesday's post. On +Wednesday I purpose, please God, beginning the <i>Battle of Life</i>. I +shall peg away at that, without turning aside to <i>Dombey</i> again; and +<i>if</i> I can only do it within the month!" I had to warn him, on receiving +these intimations, that he was trying too much.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> The storm of rain formerly mentioned by him had not been repeated, +but the weather had become unsettled, and he thus referred +to the rainfall which made that summer so disastrous in England. +"What a storm that must have been in London! I wish we could get +something like it, here. . . . It is thundering while I write, but I fear +it don't look black enough for a clearance. The echoes in the mountains +are of such a stupendous sort, that a peal of thunder five or ten +minutes long, is here the commonest of circumstances. . . ." That +was early in August, and at the close of the month he wrote: "I +forgot to tell you that yesterday week, at half-past 7 in the morning, +we had a smart shock of an earthquake, lasting, perhaps, a quarter of +a minute. It awoke me in bed. The sensation was so curious and +unlike any other, that I called out at the top of my voice I was sure it +was an earthquake."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> "I may tell you," he wrote to me from Paris at the end of November, +"now it is all over. I don't know whether it was the hot summer, +or the anxiety of the two new books coupled with D. N. remembrances +and reminders, but I was in that state in Switzerland, when my spirits +sunk so, I felt myself in serious danger. Yet I had little pain in my +side; excepting that time at Genoa I have hardly had any since poor +Mary died, when it came on so badly; and I walked my fifteen miles +a day constantly, at a great pace."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> It had also the mention of another floating fancy for the weekly +periodical which was still and always present to his mind, and which +settled down at last, as the reader knows, into <i>Household Words</i>. +"As to the Review, I strongly incline to the notion of a kind of <i>Spectator</i> +(Addison's)—very cheap, and pretty frequent. We must have +it thoroughly discussed. It would be a great thing to found something. +If the mark between a sort of <i>Spectator</i>, and a different sort +of <i>Athenæum</i>, could be well hit, my belief is that a deal might be +done. But it should be something with a marked and distinctive and +obvious difference, in its design, from any other existing periodical."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Some smaller items of family news were in the same letter. +"Mamey and Katey have come out in Parisian dresses, and look very +fine. They are not proud, and send their loves. Skittles is cutting +teeth, and gets cross towards evening. Frankey is smaller than ever, +and Walter very large. Charley in statu quo. Everything is enormously +dear. Fuel, stupendously so. In airing the house, we burnt +five pounds' worth of firewood in one week!! We mix it with coal +now, as we used to do in Italy, and find the fires much warmer. To +warm the house thoroughly, this singular habitation requires fires on +the ground floor. We burn three. . . ."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> "I shall bring the Brave, though I have no use for him. He'd +die if I didn't."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> Dickens's first letter after my return described it to me. "Do you +remember my writing a letter to the prefet of police about that coachman? +I heard no more about it until this very day" (12th of February), +"when, at the moment of your letter arriving, Roche put his +head in at the door (I was busy writing in the Baronial drawing-room) +and said, 'Here is datter cocher!'—Sir, he had been in prison ever +since! and being released this morning, was sent by the police to pay +back the franc and a half, and to beg pardon, and to get a certificate +that he had done so, or he could not go on the stand again! Isn't this +admirable? But the culminating point of the story (it could happen +with nobody but me) is that he <span class="smcap">was drunk when he came</span>!! +Not very, but his eye was fixed, and he swayed in his sabots, and +smelt of wine, and told Roche incoherently that he wouldn't have done +it (committed the offence, that is) if the people hadn't made him. He +seemed to be troubled with a phantasmagorial belief that all Paris had +gathered round us that night in the Rue St. Honoré, and urged him +on with frantic shouts. . . . Snow, frost, and cold. . . . The Duke of +Bordeaux is very well, and dines at the Tuileries to-morrow. . . . <i>When</i> +I have done, I will write you a brilliant letter. . . . Loves from all. . . . +Your blue and golden bed looks desolate." The allusion to the Duc +de Bordeaux was to remind me pleasantly of a slip of his own during +our talk with Chateaubriand, when, at a loss to say something interesting +to the old royalist, he bethought him to enquire with sympathy +when he had last seen the representative of the elder branch of +Bourbons, as if he were resident in the city then and there!</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> This was on Sunday, the 21st of February, when a party were +assembled of whom I think the French Emperor, his cousin the Prince +Napoleon, Doctor Quin, Dickens's eldest son, and myself, are now the +only survivors. Lady Blessington had received the day before from +her brother Major Power, who held a military appointment in Hobart +Town, a small oil-painting of a girl's face by the murderer Wainewright +(mentioned on a former page as having been seen by us +together in Newgate), who was among the convicts there under sentence +of transportation, and who had contrived somehow to put the +expression of his own wickedness into the portrait of a nice kind-hearted +girl. Major Power knew nothing of the man's previous history +at this time, and had employed him on the painting out of a sort of +charity. As soon as the truth went back, Wainewright was excluded +from houses before open to him, and shortly after died very miserably. +What Reynolds said of portrait painting, to explain its frequent want +of refinement, that a man could only put into a face what he had in +himself, was forcibly shown in this incident. The villain's story altogether +moved Dickens to the same interest as it had excited in another +profound student of humanity (Sir Edward Lytton), and, as will be +seen, he also introduced him into one of his later writings.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> ". . . I am horrified to find that the first chapter makes <i>at least</i> +two pages less than I had supposed, and I have a terrible apprehension +that there will not be copy enough for the number! As it could +not possibly come out short, and as there would be no greater possibility +of sending to me, in this short month, to supply what may be +wanted, I decide—after the first burst of nervousness is gone—<i>to follow +this letter by Diligence to-morrow morning</i>. The malle poste is +full for days and days. I shall hope to be with you some time on +Friday." C. D. to J. F. Paris: Wednesday, 17th February, 1847.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> "He had already laid his hand upon the bell-rope to convey his +usual summons to Richards, when his eye fell upon a writing-desk, +belonging to his deceased wife, which had been taken, among other +things, from a cabinet in her chamber. It was not the first time that +his eye had lighted on it. He carried the key in his pocket; and he +brought it to his table and opened it now—having previously locked +the room door—with a well accustomed hand.</p> + +<p>"From beneath a heap of torn and cancelled scraps of paper, he +took one letter that remained entire. Involuntarily holding his breath +as he opened this document, and 'bating in the stealthy action something +of his arrogant demeanour, he sat down, resting his head upon +one hand, and read it through.</p> + +<p>"He read it slowly and attentively, and with a nice particularity to +every syllable. Otherwise than as his great deliberation seemed unnatural, +and perhaps the result of an effort equally great, he allowed +no sign of emotion to escape him. When he had read it through, he +folded and refolded it slowly several times, and tore it carefully into +fragments. Checking his hand in the act of throwing these away, he +put them in his pocket, as if unwilling to trust them even to the +chances of being reunited and deciphered; and instead of ringing, as +usual, for little Paul, he sat solitary all the evening in his cheerless +room." From the original MS. of <i>Dombey and Son</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> "I will now explain that 'Oliver Twist,' the ——, the ——, etc" +(naming books by another writer), "were produced in an entirely +different manner from what would be considered as the usual course; +<i>for I, the Artist, suggested to the Authors of those works the original +idea, or subject</i>, for them to write out—furnishing, at the same time, +the principal characters and the scenes. And then, as the tale had to +be produced in monthly parts, the <i>Writer</i>, or <i>Author</i>, and the Artist, +had every month to arrange and settle what scenes, or subjects, and +characters were to be introduced, and the Author had to <i>weave</i> in such +scenes as I wished to represent."—<i>The Artist and the Author</i>, by +George Cruikshank, p. 15. (Bell & Daldy: 1872.) The italics are Mr. +Cruikshank's own.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> I take, from his paper of notes for the number, the various names, +beginning with that of her real prototype, out of which the name +selected came to him at last. "Mrs. Roylance . . . House at the seaside. +Mrs. Wrychin. Mrs. Tipchin. Mrs. Alchin. Mrs. Somching. +Mrs. Pipchin." See Vol. I. p. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Some passages may be subjoined from the letter, as it does not +appear among those printed by Lord Cockburn. "<span class="smcap"><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Edi burgh'">Edinburgh</ins></span>, +<i>14th December</i>, '46. My dear, dear Dickens!—and dearer every day, +as you every day give me more pleasure and do me more good! You +do not wonder at this style? for you know that I have been <i>in love +with you</i>, ever since Nelly! and I do not care now who knows it. . . . +The Dombeys, my dear D! how can I thank you enough for them! +The truth, and the delicacy, and the softness and depth of the pathos +in that opening death-scene, could only come from one hand; and the +exquisite taste which spares all details, and breaks off just when the +effect is at its height, is wholly yours. But it is Florence on whom my +hopes chiefly repose; and in her I see the promise of another Nelly! +though reserved, I hope, for a happier fate, and destined to let us see +what a <i>grown-up</i> female angel is like. I expect great things, too, +from Walter, who begins charmingly, and will be still better I fancy +than young Nickleby, to whom as yet he bears most resemblance. I +have good hopes too of Susan Nipper, who I think has great capabilities, +and whom I trust you do not mean to drop. Dombey is rather +too hateful, and strikes me as a mitigated Jonas, without his brutal +coarseness and ruffian ferocity. I am quite in the dark as to what you +mean to make of Paul, but shall watch his development with interest. +About Miss Tox, and her Major, and the Chicks, perhaps I do not +care enough. But you know I always grudge the exquisite painting +you waste on such portraits. I love the Captain, tho', and his hook, +as much as you can wish; and look forward to the future appearances +of Carker Junior, with expectations which I know will not be disappointed. . . ."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> "<span class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>, <i>31st January</i>, 1847. Oh, my dear, dear Dickens! +what a No. 5 you have now given us! I have so cried and sobbed over +it last night, and again this morning; and felt my heart purified by +those tears, and blessed and loved you for making me shed them; and +I never can bless and love you enough. Since the divine Nelly was +found dead on her humble couch, beneath the snow and the ivy, there +has been nothing like the actual dying of that sweet Paul, in the +summer sunshine of that lofty room. And the long vista that leads us +so gently and sadly, and yet so gracefully and winningly, to the plain +consummation! Every trait so true, and so touching—and yet lightened +by the fearless innocence which goes <i>playfully</i> to the brink of the +grave, and that pure affection which bears the unstained spirit, on its +soft and lambent flash, at once to its source in eternity." . . . In the +same letter he told him of his having been reading the <i>Battle of Life</i> +again, charmed with its sweet writing and generous sentiments.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> "<i>Isn't Bunsby good?</i>" I heard Lord Denman call out, with unmistakable +glee and enjoyment, over Talfourd's table—I think to Sir +Edward Ryan; one of the few survivors of that pleasant dinner party +of May 1847.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> He entered the Royal Navy, and survived his father only a year +and eleven months. He was a Lieutenant, at the time of his death +from a sharp attack of bronchitis; being then on board the P. and O. +steamer "Malta," invalided from his ship the Topaze, and on his way +home. He was buried at sea on the 2nd of May, 1872. Poor fellow! +He was the smallest in size of all the children, in his manhood reaching +only to a little over five feet; and throughout his childhood was never +called by any other name than the "Ocean Spectre," from a strange +little weird yet most attractive look in his large wondering eyes, very +happily caught in a sketch in oils by the good Frank Stone, done at +Bonchurch in September 1849 and remaining in his aunt's possession. +"Stone has painted," Dickens then wrote to me, "the Ocean Spectre, +and made a very pretty little picture of him." It was a strange chance +that led his father to invent this playful name for one whom the ocean +did indeed take to itself at last.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> I think it right to place on record here Leigh Hunt's own allusion +to the incident (<i>Autobiography</i>, p. 432), though it will be thought to +have too favourable a tone, and I could have wished that other names +had also found mention in it. But I have already (p. <a href="#Page_2_211">211</a>) stated quite +unaffectedly my own opinion of the very modest pretensions of the +whole affair, and these kind words of Hunt may stand <i>valeant quantum</i>. +"Simultaneous with the latest movement about the pension was one on +the part of my admirable friend Dickens and other distinguished men, +Forsters and Jerrolds, who, combining kindly purpose with an amateur +inclination for the stage, had condescended to show to the public +what excellent actors they could have been, had they so pleased,—what +excellent actors, indeed, some of them were. . . . They proposed . . . a +benefit for myself, . . . and the piece performed on the +occasion was Ben Jonson's <i>Every Man in his Humour</i>. . . . If anything +had been needed to show how men of letters include actors, on +the common principle of the greater including the less, these gentlemen +would have furnished it. Mr. Dickens's Bobadil had a spirit in +it of intellectual apprehension beyond anything the existing stage has +shown . . . and Mr. Forster delivered the verses of Ben Jonson with +a musical flow and a sense of their grace and beauty unknown, I +believe, to the recitation of actors at present. At least I have never +heard anything like it since Edmund Kean's." . . . To this may be +added some lines from Lord Lytton's prologue spoken at Liverpool, +of which I have not been able to find a copy, if indeed it was printed +at the time; but the verses come so suddenly and completely back to +me, as I am writing after twenty-five years, that in a small way they +recall a more interesting effort of memory told me once by Macready. +On a Christmas night at Drury Lane there came a necessity to put up +the <i>Gamester</i>, which he had not played since he was a youth in his +father's theatre thirty years before. He went to rehearsal shrinking +from the long and heavy study he should have to undergo, when, with +the utterance of the opening sentence, the entire words of the part +came back, including even a letter which Beverly has to read, and +which it is the property-man's business to supply. My lines come +back as unexpectedly; but with pleasanter music than any in Mr. +Moore's dreary tragedy, as a few will show.</p> +<div class='poem2'> +"Mild amid foes, within a prison free,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">He comes . . . our grey-hair'd bard of Rimini!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Comes with the pomp of memories in his train,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Pathos and wit, sweet pleasure and sweet pain!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Comes with familiar smile and cordial tone,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Our hearths' wise cheerer!—Let us cheer his own!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Song links her children with a golden thread,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To aid the living bard strides forth the dead.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hark the frank music of the elder age—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Ben Jonson's giant tread sounds ringing up the stage!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hail! the large shapes our fathers loved! again</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Wellbred's <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'l ght'">light</ins> ease, and Kitely's jealous pain.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Cob shall have sense, and Stephen be polite,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Brainworm shall preach, and Bobadil shall fight—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Each, here, a merit not his own shall find,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And <i>Every Man</i> the <i>Humour</i> to be kind."</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Another, which for many reasons we may regret went also into +the limbo of unrealized designs, is sketched in the subjoined (7th of +January, 1848). "Mac and I think of going to Ireland for six weeks +in the spring, and seeing whether anything is to be done there, in the +way of a book? I fancy it might turn out well." The Mac of course +is Maclise.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> "Here we are" (23rd of August) "in the noble old premises; and +very nice they look, all things considered. . . . Trifles happen to me +which occur to nobody else. My portmanteau 'fell off' a cab last +night somewhere between London-bridge and here. It contained on +a moderate calculation £70 worth of clothes. I have no shirt to put +on, and am obliged to send out to a barber to come and shave me."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> "Do you see anything to object to in it? I have never had so +much difficulty, I think, in setting about any slight thing; for I really +didn't know that I had a word to say, and nothing seems to live 'twixt +what I <i>have</i> said and silence. The advantage of it is, that the latter +part opens an idea for future prefaces all through the series, and may +serve perhaps to make a feature of them." (7th of September, 1847.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> From his notes on these matters I may quote. "The Leeds appears +to be a very important institution, and I am glad to see that +George Stephenson will be there, besides the local lights, inclusive of all +the Baineses. They talk at Glasgow of 6,000 people." (26th of November.) +"You have got Southey's <i>Holly Tree</i>. I have not. Put it in +your pocket to-day. It occurs to me (up to the eyes in a mass of +Glasgow Athenæum papers) that I could quote it with good effect in +the North." (24th of December.) "A most brilliant demonstration +last night, and I think I never did better. Newspaper reports bad." +(29th of December.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> "Tremendous distress at Glasgow, and a truly damnable jail, exhibiting +the separate system in a most absurd and hideous form. +Governor practical and intelligent; very anxious for the associated +silent system; and much comforted by my fault-finding." (30th of +December.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> It would amuse the reader, but occupy too much space, to add to +my former illustrations of his managerial troubles; but from an elaborate +paper of rules for rehearsals, which I have found in his handwriting, +I quote the opening and the close. "Remembering the very +imperfect condition of all our plays at present, the general expectation +in reference to them, the kind of audience before which they +will be presented, and the near approach of the nights of performance, +I hope everybody concerned will abide by the following regulations, +and will aid in strictly carrying them out." Elaborate are the regulations +set forth, but I take only the three last. "Silence, on the stage and +in the theatre, to be faithfully observed; the lobbies &c. being always +available for conversation. No book to be referred to on the stage; +but those who are imperfect to take their words from the prompter. +Everyone to act, as nearly as possible, as on the night of performance; +everyone to speak out, so as to be audible through the house. +And every mistake of exit, entrance, or situation, to be corrected <i>three +times</i> successively." He closes thus. "All who were concerned in +the first getting up of <i>Every Man in his Humour</i>, and remember how +carefully the stage was always kept then, and who have been engaged +in the late rehearsals of the <i>Merry Wives</i>, and have experienced the +difficulty of getting on, or off: of being heard, or of hearing anybody +else: will, I am sure, acknowledge the indispensable necessity of these +regulations."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> I give the sums taken at the several theatres. Haymarket, £319 +14<i>s.;</i> Manchester, £266 12<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.;</i> Liverpool, £467 6<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.;</i> Birmingham, +£327 10<i>s.</i>, and £262 18<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.;</i> Edinburgh, £325 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.;</i> Glasgow, +£471 7<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i>, and (at half the prices of the first night) £210 10<i>s.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> "Those Rabbits have more nature in them than you commonly +find in Rabbits"—the self-commendatory remark of an aspiring animal-painter +showing his piece to the most distinguished master in that line—was +here in my friend's mind.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> Mr. Tonson was a small part in the comedy entrusted with much +appropriateness to Mr. Charles Knight, whose <i>Autobiography</i> has this +allusion to the first performance, which, as Mr. Pepys says, is "pretty +to observe." "The actors and the audience were so close together +that as Mr. Jacob Tonson sat in Wills's Coffee-house he could have +touched with his clouded cane the Duke of Wellington." (iii. 116.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> My friend Mr. Shirley Brooks sends me a "characteristic" cutting +from an autograph catalogue in which these few lines are given from +an early letter in the Doughty-street days. "I always pay my taxes +when they won't call any longer, in order to get a bad name in the +parish and so escape all honours." It is a touch of character, certainly; +but though his motive in later life was the same, his method +was not. He attended to the tax-collector, but of any other parochial +or political application took no notice whatever.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> Even in the modest retirement of a note I fear that I shall offend +the dignity of history, and of biography, by printing the lines in which +this intention was announced to me. They were written "in character;" +and the character was that of the "waterman" at the Charing-cross +cabstand, first discovered by George Cattermole, whose imitations +of him were a delight to Dickens at this time, and adapted themselves +in the exuberance of his admiration to every conceivable variety of +subject. The painter of the Derby Day will have a fullness of satisfaction +in remembering this. "Sloppy" the hero in question, had a +friend "Jack" in whom he was supposed to typify his own early and +hard experiences before he became a convert to temperance; and +Dickens used to point to "Jack" as the justification of himself and +Mrs. Gamp for their portentous invention of Mrs. Harris. It is +amazing nonsense to repeat; but to hear Cattermole, in the gruff +hoarse accents of what seemed to be the remains of a deep bass voice +wrapped up in wet straw, repeat the wild proceedings of Jack, was +not to be forgotten. "Yes sir, Jack went mad sir, just afore he +'stablished hisself by Sir Robert Peel's-s-s, sir. He was allis a callin' +for a pint o' beer sir, and they brings him water sir. Yes sir. And so +sir, I sees him dodgin' about one day sir, yes sir, and at last he gits a +hopportunity sir and claps a pitch-plaster on the mouth o' th' pump +sir, and says he's done for his wust henemy sir. Yes sir. And then +they finds him a-sittin' on the top o' the corn-chest sir, yes sir, a +crammin' a old pistol with wisps o' hay and horse-beans sir, and +swearin' he's a goin' to blow hisself to hattoms, yes sir, but he doesn't, +no sir. For I sees him arterwards a lyin' on the straw a manifacktrin' +Bengal cheroots out o' corn-chaff sir and swearin' he'd make 'em +smoke sir, but they hulloxed him off round by the corner of Drummins's-s-s-s-s-s +sir, just afore I come here sir, yes sir. And so you +never see'd us together sir, no sir." This was the remarkable dialect +in which Dickens wrote from Broadstairs on the 13th of July. "About +Saturday sir?—Why sir, I'm a-going to <i>Folkestone</i> a Saturday sir!—not +on accounts of the manifacktring of Bengal cheroots as there is +there but for the survayin' o' the coast sir. 'Cos you see sir, bein' +here sir, and not a finishin' my work sir till to-morrow sir, I couldn't +go afore! And if I wos to come home, and not go, and come back +agin sir, wy it would be nat'rally a hulloxing of myself sir. Yes sir. +Wy sir, I b'lieve that the gent as is a goin' to 'stablish hisself sir, in +the autumn, along with me round the corner sir (by Drummins's-s-s-s-s-s +bank) is a comin' down to Folkestone Saturday arternoon—Leech by +name sir—yes sir—another Jack sir—and if you wos to come down +along with him sir by the train as gits to Folkestone twenty minutes +arter five, you'd find me a smoking a Bengal cheroot (made of clover-chaff +and horse-beans sir) on the platform. You couldn't spend your +arternoon better sir. Dover, Sandgate, Herne Bay—they're all to be +wisited sir, most probable, till such times as a 'ouse is found sir. Yes +sir. Then decide to come sir, and say you will, and do it. I shall be +here till arter post time Saturday mornin' sir. Come on then!</p> +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 0.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Sloppy</span></span><br /> +"His x mark."<br /> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> It stood originally thus: "'Do you recollect the date,' said Mr. +Dick, looking earnestly at me, and taking up his pen to note it down, +'when that bull got into the china warehouse and did so much mischief?' +I was very much surprised by the inquiry; but remembering +a song about such an occurrence that was once popular at Salem +House, and thinking he might want to quote it, replied that I believed +it was on St. Patrick's Day. 'Yes, I know,' said Mr. Dick—'in the +morning; but what year?' I could give no information on this point." +Original MS. of <i>Copperfield</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> The mention of this name may remind me to state that I have +received, in reference to the account in my first volume of Dickens's +repurchase of his <i>Sketches</i> from Mr. Macrone, a letter from the solicitor +and friend of that gentleman so expressed that I could have greatly +wished to revise my narrative into nearer agreement with its writer's +wish. But farther enquiry, and an examination of the books of Messrs. +Chapman and Hall, have confirmed the statement given. Mr. Hansard +is in error in supposing that "unsold impressions" of the books +were included in the transaction (the necessary requirement being +simply that the small remainders on hand should be transferred with +a view to being "wasted"): I know myself that it could not have +included any supposed right of Mr. Macrone to have a novel written +for him, because upon that whole matter, and his continued unauthorised +advertisements of the tale, I decided myself the reference +against him: and Mr. Hansard may be assured that the £2000 was +paid for the copyright alone. For the same copyright, a year before, +Dickens had received £250, both the first and second series being included +in the payment; and he had already had about the same sum +as his half share of the profits of sales. I quote the close of Mr. Hansard's +letter. "Macrone no doubt was an adventurer, but he was +sanguine to the highest degree. He was a dreamer of dreams, putting +no restraint on his exultant hopes by the reflection that he was not +dealing justly towards others. But reproach has fallen upon him +from wrong quarters. He died in poverty, and his creditors received +nothing from his estate. But that was because he had paid away all +he had, and all he had derived from trust and credit, <i>to authors</i>." +This may have been so, but Dickens was not among the authors so +benefited. The <i>Sketches</i> repurchased for the high price I have named +never afterwards really justified such an outlay.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> Mr. Sala's first paper appeared in September 1851, and in the +same month of the following year I had an allusion in a letter from +Dickens which I shall hope to have Mr. Sala's forgiveness for printing. +"That was very good indeed of Sala's" (some essay he had written). +"He was twenty guineas in advance, by the bye, and I told Wills +delicately to make him a present of it. I find him a very conscientious +fellow. When he gets money ahead, he is not like the imbecile youth +who so often do the like in Wellington-street" (the office of <i>Household +Words</i>) "and walk off, but only works more industriously. I think +he improves with everything he does. He looks sharply at the alterations +in his articles, I observe; and takes the hint next time."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> I take the opportunity of saying that there was an omission of +three words in the epitaph quoted on a former page (vol. i. p. <a href="#Page_120">120</a>). +The headstone at the grave in Kensal-green bears this inscription: +"Young, beautiful, and good, God in His mercy numbered her among +His angels at the early age of seventeen."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> From letters of nearly the same date here is another characteristic +word: "Pen and ink before me! Am I not at work on <i>Copperfield!</i> +Nothing else would have kept me here until half-past two on such a +day. . . . Indian news bad indeed. Sad things come of bloody war. +If it were not for Elihu, I should be a peace and arbitration man."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> Here is really an only average specimen of the letters as published: +"I forgot to say, if you leave your chamber twenty times a +day, after using your basin, you would find it clean, and the pitcher +replenished on your return, and that you cannot take your clothes off, +but they are taken away, brushed, folded, pressed, and placed in the +bureau; and at the dressing-hour, before dinner, you find your candles +lighted, your clothes laid out, your shoes cleaned, and everything arranged +for use; . . . the dress-clothes brushed and folded in the nicest +manner, and cold water, and hot water, and clean napkins in the +greatest abundance. . . . Imagine an elegant chamber, fresh water in +basins, in goblets, in tubs, and sheets of the finest linen!"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> From this time to his death there was always friendly intercourse +with his old publisher Mr. Bentley.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> It may be proper to record the fact that he had made a short run +to Paris, with Maclise, at the end of June, of which sufficient farther +note will have been taken if I print the subjoined passages from a letter +to me dated 24th June, 1850, Hôtel Windsor, Rue de Rivoli. "There +being no room in the Hôtel Brighton, we are lodged (in a very good +apartment) here. The heat is absolutely frightful. I never felt anything +like it in Italy. Sleep is next to impossible, except in the day, +when the room is dark, and the patient exhausted. We purpose +leaving here on Saturday morning and going to Rouen, whence we +shall proceed either to Havre or Dieppe, and so arrange our proceedings +as to be home, please God, on Tuesday evening. We are going +to some of the little theatres to-night, and on Wednesday to the Français, +for Rachel's last performance before she goes to London. There +does not seem to be anything remarkable in progress, in the theatrical +way. Nor do I observe that out of doors the place is much changed, +except in respect of the carriages which are certainly less numerous. +I also think the Sunday is even much more a day of business than it +used to be. As we are going into the country with Regnier to-morrow, +I write this after letter-time and before going out to dine at the Trois +Frères, that it may come to you by to-morrow's post. The twelve +hours' journey here is astounding—marvellously done, except in respect +of the means of refreshment, which are absolutely none. Mac +is very well (extremely loose as to his waistcoat, and otherwise careless +in regard of buttons) and sends his love. De Fresne proposes a dinner +with all the notabilities of Paris present, but I <span class="smcap">won't</span> stand it! I really +have undergone so much fatigue from work, that I am resolved not +even to see him, but to please myself. I find, my child (as Horace +Walpole would say), that I have written you nothing here, but you will +take the will for the deed."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> The rest of the letter may be allowed to fill the corner of a note. +The allusions to Rogers and Landor are by way of reply to an invitation +I had sent him. "I am extremely sorry to hear about Fox. +Shall call to enquire, as I come by to the Temple. And will call on +you (taking the chance of finding you) on my way to that Seat of +Boredom. I wrote my paper for <i>H. W.</i> yesterday, and have begun +<i>Copperfield</i> this morning. Still undecided about Dora, but <span class="smcap">must</span> decide +to-day. La difficulté d'écrire l'Anglais m'est extrêmement ennuyeuse. +Ah, mon Dieu! si l'on pourrait toujours écrire cette belle +langue de France! Monsieur Rogere! Ah! qu'il est homme d'esprit, +homme de génie, homme des lettres! Monsieur Landore! Ah +qu'il parle Français—pas parfaitement comme un ange—un peu (peut-être) +comme un diable! Mais il est bon garçon—sérieusement, il est +un de la vraie noblesse de la nature. Votre tout dévoué, <span class="smcap">Charles</span>. +À Monsieur Monsieur Fos-tere."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> This letter is now in the possession of S. R. Goodman Esq. of +Brighton.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> Here are two passages taken from Hunt's writing in the <i>Tatler</i> +(a charming little paper which it was one of the first ventures of +the young firm of Chapman and Hall to attempt to establish for +Hunt in 1830), to which accident had unluckily attracted Dickens's +notice:—"Supposing us to be in want of patronage, and in possession +of talent enough to make it an honour to notice us, we would much +rather have some great and comparatively private friend, rich enough +to assist us, and amiable enough to render obligation delightful, than +become the public property of any man, or of any government. . . . +If a divinity had given us our choice we should have said—make us +La Fontaine, who goes and lives twenty years with some rich friend, +as innocent of any harm in it as a child, and who writes what he thinks +charming verses, sitting all day under a tree." Such sayings will not +bear to be deliberately read and thought over, but any kind of extravagance +or oddity came from Hunt's lips with a curious fascination. +There was surely never a man of so sunny a nature, who could draw +so much pleasure from common things, or to whom books were a +world so real, so exhaustless, so delightful. I was only seventeen +when I derived from him the tastes which have been the solace of all +subsequent years, and I well remember the last time I saw him at +Hammersmith, not long before his death in 1859, when, with his delicate, +worn, but keenly intellectual face, his large luminous eyes, his +thick shock of wiry grey hair, and a little cape of faded black silk over +his shoulders, he looked like an old French abbé. He was buoyant +and pleasant as ever; and was busy upon a vindication of Chaucer +and Spenser from Cardinal Wiseman, who had attacked them for +alleged sensuous and voluptuous qualities.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> In a paper in <i>All the Year Round</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> "O! Here's the boy, gentlemen! Here he is, very muddy, very +hoarse, very ragged. Now, boy!—But stop a minute. Caution. This +boy must be put through a few preliminary paces. Name, Jo. Nothing +else that he knows on. Don't know that everybody has two +names. Never heerd of sich a think. Don't know that Jo is short for +a longer name. Thinks it long enough for <i>him. He</i> don't find no +fault with it. Spell it? No. <i>He</i> can't spell it. No father, no +mother, no friends. Never been to school. What's home? Knows +a broom's a broom, and knows it's wicked to tell a lie. Don't recollect +who told him about the broom, or about the lie, but knows both. +Can't exactly say what'll be done to him arter he's dead if he tells a +lie to the gentleman here, but believes it'll be something wery bad to +punish him, and serve him right—and so he'll tell the truth. 'This +won't do, gentlemen,' says the coroner, with a melancholy shake of +the head. . . . '<i>Can't exactly say</i> won't do, you know. . . . It's terrible +depravity. Put the boy aside.' Boy put aside; to the great edification +of the audience;—especially of Little Swills, the Comic Vocalist."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> By W. Challinor Esq. of Leek in Staffordshire, by whom it has +been obligingly sent to me, with a copy of Dickens's letter acknowledging +the receipt of it from the author on the 11th of March 1852. +On the first of that month the first number of <i>Bleak House</i> had +appeared, but two numbers of it were then already written.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> I subjoin the dozen titles successively proposed for <i>Bleak House</i>. +1. "Tom-all-Alone's. The Ruined House;" 2. "Tom-all-Alone's. +The Solitary House that was always shut up;" 3. "Bleak House +Academy;" 4. "The East Wind;" 5. "Tom-all-Alone's. The Ruined +[House, Building, Factory, Mill] that got into Chancery and +never got out;" 6. "Tom-all-Alone's. The Solitary House where the +Grass grew;" 7. "Tom-all-Alone's. The Solitary House that was +always shut up and never Lighted;" 8. "Tom-all-Alone's. The Ruined +Mill, that got into Chancery and never got out;" 9. "Tom-all-Alone's. +The Solitary House where the Wind howled;" 10. "Tom-all-Alone's. +The Ruined House that got into Chancery and never +got out;" 11. "Bleak House and the East Wind. How they both +got into Chancery and never got out;" 12. "Bleak House."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> He was greatly interested in the movement for closing town and +city graves (see the close of the 11th chapter of <i>Bleak House</i>), and +providing places of burial under State supervision.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> The promise was formally conveyed next morning in a letter to +one who took the lead then and since in all good work for Birmingham, +Mr. Arthur Ryland. The reading would, he said in this letter +(7th of Jan. 1853), "take about two hours, with a pause of ten minutes +half way through. There would be some novelty in the thing, as I +have never done it in public, though I have in private, and (if I may +say so) with a great effect on the hearers."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> Baron Tauchnitz, describing to me his long and uninterrupted +friendly intercourse with Dickens, has this remark: "I give also a +passage from one of his letters written at the time when he sent his son +Charles, through my mediation, to Leipzig. He says in it what he +desires for his son. 'I want him to have all interest in, and to acquire +a knowledge of, the life around him, and to be treated like a gentleman +though pampered in nothing. By punctuality in all things, great +or small, I set great store.'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> From one of his letters while there I take a passage of observation +full of character. "Great excitement here about a wretched woman +who has murdered her child. Apropos of which I observed a curious +thing last night. The newspaper offices (local journals) had placards +like this outside:</p> +<div class='center'> +<small>CHILD MURDER IN BRIGHTON.</small><br /> +<small>INQUEST.</small><br /> +<small>COMMITTAL OF THE MURDERESS.</small><br /> +</div> +I saw so many common people stand profoundly staring at these lines +for half-an-hour together—and even go back to stare again—that I +feel quite certain they had not the power of thinking about the thing +at all connectedly or continuously, without having something about it +before their sense of sight. Having got that, they were considering +the case, wondering how the devil they had come into that power. I +saw one man in a smock frock lose the said power the moment he +turned away, and bring his hob-nails back again."</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> The reading occupied nearly three hours: double the time devoted +to it in the later years.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> "After correspondence with all parts of England, and every kind +of refusal and evasion on my part, I am now obliged to decide this +question—whether I shall read two nights at Bradford for a hundred +pounds. If I do, I may take as many hundred pounds as I choose." +27th of Jan. 1854.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> On the 28th of Dec. 1854 he wrote from Bradford: "The hall is +enormous, and they expect to seat 3700 people to-night! Notwithstanding +which, it seems to me a tolerably easy place—except that the +width of the platform is so very great to the eye at first." From Folkestone, +on his way to Paris, he wrote in the autumn of 1855: "16th of +Sept. I am going to read for them here, on the 5th of next month, +and have answered in the last fortnight thirty applications to do the +like all over England, Ireland, and Scotland. Fancy my having to +come from Paris in December, to do this, at Peterborough, Birmingham, +and Sheffield—old promises." Again: 23rd of Sept. "I am +going to read here, next Friday week. There are (as there are everywhere) +a Literary Institution and a Working Men's Institution, which +have not the slightest sympathy or connexion. The stalls are five +shillings, but I have made them fix the working men's admission at +threepence, and I hope it may bring them together. The event +comes off in a carpenter's shop, as the biggest place that can be got." +In 1857, at Paxton's request, he read his <i>Carol</i> at Coventry for the +Institute.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> +</p><div class='poem2'> +My name it is Tom Thumb,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Small my size,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Small my size,</span><br /> +My name it is Tom Thumb,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Small my size.</span><br /> +Yet though I am so small,<br /> +I have killed the giants tall;<br /> +And now I'm paid for all,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Small my size,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Small my size,</span><br /> +And now I'm paid for all,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Small my size.</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> This finds mention, I observe, in a pleasant description of "Mr. +Dickens's Amateur Theatricals," which appeared in <i>Macmillan's Magazine</i> +two years ago, by one who had been a member of the Juvenile +Company. I quote a passage, recommending the whole paper as very +agreeably written, with some shrewd criticism. "Mr. Planché had in +one portion of the extravaganza put into the mouth of one of the characters +for the moment a few lines of burlesque upon Macbeth, and we +remember Mr. Dickens's unsuccessful attempts to teach the performer +how to imitate Macready, whom he (the performer) had never seen! +And after the performance, when we were restored to our evening-party +costumes, and the school-room was cleared for dancing, still a +stray 'property' or two had escaped the vigilant eye of the property-man, +for Douglas Jerrold had picked up the horse's head (Fortunio's +faithful steed <i>Comrade</i>), and was holding it up before the greatest +living animal painter, who had been one of the audience, with 'Looks +as if it knew <i>you</i>, Edwin!'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> He went with the rest to Boulogne in the summer, and an anecdote +transmitted in one of his father's letters will show that he maintained +the reputation as a comedian which his early debut had +awakened. "<span class="smcap">Original Anecdote of the Plornishghenter.</span> +This distinguished wit, being at Boulogne with his family, made a +close acquaintance with his landlord, whose name was M. Beaucourt—the +only French word with which he was at that time acquainted. +It happened that one day he was left unusually long in a bathing-machine +when the tide was making, accompanied by his two young +brothers and little English nurse, without being drawn to land. The +little nurse, being frightened, cried 'M'soo! M'soo!' The two young +brothers being frightened, cried 'Ici! Ici!'. Our wit, at once perceiving +that his English was of no use to him under the foreign circumstances, +immediately fell to bawling 'Beau-court!' which he +continued to shout at the utmost pitch of his voice and with great +gravity, until rescued.—<i>New Boulogne Jest Book</i>, page 578."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> To show the pains he took in such matters I will give other titles +also thought of for this tale. 1. Fact; 2. Hard-headed Gradgrind; 3. +Hard Heads and Soft Hearts; 4. Heads and Tales; 5. Black and White.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> It is well to remember, too, what he wrote about the story to +Charles Knight. It had no design, he said, to damage the really +useful truths of Political Economy, but was wholly directed against +"those who see figures and averages, and nothing else; who would +take the average of cold in the Crimea during twelve months as a +reason for clothing a soldier in nankeen on a night when he would be +frozen to death in fur; and who would comfort the labourer in travelling +twelve miles a day to and from his work, by telling him that the +average distance of one inhabited place from another, on the whole +area of England, is not more than four miles."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> It is curious that with as strong a view in the opposite direction, +and with an equally mistaken exaltation, above the writer's ordinary +level, of a book which on the whole was undoubtedly below it, Mr. +Taine speaks of <i>Hard Times</i> as that one of Dickens's romances which +is a summary of all the rest: exalting instinct above reason, and the +intuitions of the heart above practical knowledge; attacking all education +based on statistic figures and facts; heaping sorrow and ridicule +on the practical mercantile people; fighting against the pride, hardness, +and selfishness of the merchant and noble; cursing the manufacturing +towns for imprisoning bodies in smoke and mud, and souls +in falsehood and factitiousness;—while it contrasts, with that satire of +social oppression, lofty eulogy of the oppressed; and searches out poor +workmen, jugglers, foundlings, and circus people, for types of good +sense, sweetness of disposition, generosity, delicacy, and courage, to +perpetual confusion of the pretended knowledge, pretended happiness, +pretended virtue, of the rich and powerful who trample upon them! +This is a fair specimen of the exaggerations with which exaggeration +is rebuked, in Mr. Taine's and much similar criticism.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> Here is a note at the close. "Tavistock House. Look at that! +Boulogne, of course. Friday, 14th of July, 1854. I am three parts +mad, and the fourth delirious, with perpetual rushing at <i>Hard Times</i>. +I have done what I hope is a good thing with Stephen, taking his story +as a whole; and hope to be over in town with the end of the book +on Wednesday night. . . . I have been looking forward through so +many weeks and sides of paper to this Stephen business, that now—as +usual—it being over, I feel as if nothing in the world, in the way of +intense and violent rushing hither and thither, could quite restore my +balance."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> "I have hope of Mr. Morley—whom one cannot see without +knowing to be a straightforward, earnest man. Travers, too, I think a +man of the Anti-corn-law-league order. I also think Higgins will materially +help them. Generally I quite agree with you that they hardly +know what to be at; but it is an immensely difficult subject to start, +and they must have every allowance. At any rate, it is not by leaving +them alone and giving them no help, that they can be urged on to +success." 29th of March 1855.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> "The Government hit took immensely, but I'm afraid to look at +the report, these things are so ill done. It came into my head as I +was walking about at Hampstead yesterday. . . . On coming away I +told B. we must have a toastmaster in future less given to constant +drinking while the speeches are going on. B. replied 'Yes sir, you +are quite right sir, he has no head whatever sir, look at him now sir'—Toastmaster +was weakly contemplating the coats and hats—'do +you not find it difficult to keep your hands off him sir, he ought to +have his head knocked against the wall sir,—and he should sir, I +assure you sir, if he was not in too debased a condition to be aware +of it sir.'" April 3rd 1855.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> For the scene of the Eddystone Lighthouse at this little play, afterwards +placed in a frame in the hall at Gadshill, a thousand guineas +was given at the Dickens sale. It occupied the great painter only one +or two mornings, and Dickens will tell how it originated. Walking +on Hampstead Heath to think over his Theatrical Fund speech, he +met Mr. Lemon, and they went together to Stanfield. "He has been +very ill, and he told us that large pictures are too much for him, and +he must confine himself to small ones. But I would not have this, I +declared he must paint bigger ones than ever, and what would he +think of beginning upon an act-drop for a proposed vast theatre at +Tavistock House? He laughed and caught at this, we cheered him +up very much, and he said he was quite a man again." April 1855.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> Sitting at Nisi Prius not long before, the Chief Justice, with the +same eccentric liking for literature, had committed what was called at +the time a breach of judicial decorum. (Such indecorums were less +uncommon in the great days of the Bench.) "The name," he said, +"of the illustrious Charles Dickens has been called on the jury, but he +has not answered. If his great Chancery suit had been still going on, +I certainly would have excused him, but, as that is over, he might +have done us the honour of attending here, that he might have seen +how we went on at common law."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> Prices are reported in one of the letters; and, considering what +they have been since, the touch of disappointment hinted at may raise +a smile. "Provisions are scarcely as cheap as I expected, though +very different from London: besides which, a pound weight here, is a +pound and a quarter English. So that meat at 7<i>d.</i> a pound, is actually +a fourth less. A capital dish of asparagus costs us about fivepence; a +fowl, one and threepence; a duck, a few halfpence more; a dish of fish, +about a shilling. The very best wine at tenpence that I ever drank—I +used to get it very good for the same money in Genoa, but not so +good. The common people very engaging and obliging."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> Besides the old friends before named, Thackeray and his family +were here in the early weeks, living "in a melancholy but very good +chateau on the Paris road, where their landlord (a Baron) has supplied +them, T. tells me, with one milk-jug as the entire crockery of the +establishment." Our friend soon tired of this, going off to Spa, and +on his return, after ascending the hill to smoke a farewell cigar with +Dickens, left for London and Scotland in October.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> Another of his letters questioned even the picturesqueness a little, +for he discovered that on a sunny day the white tents, seen from a distance, +looked exactly like an immense washing establishment with all +the linen put out to dry.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> "Whence it can be seen for miles and miles, to the glory of England +and the joy of Beaucourt."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> The picture had changed drearily in less than a year and a half, +when (17th of Feb. 1856) Dickens thus wrote from Paris. "I suppose +mortal man out of bed never looked so ill and worn as the Emperor +does just now. He passed close by me on horseback, as I was +coming in at the door on Friday, and I never saw so haggard a face. +Some English saluted him, and he lifted his hand to his hat as slowly, +painfully, and laboriously, as if his arm were made of lead. I think +he <i>must</i> be in pain."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> I permit myself to quote from the bill of one of his entertainments +in the old merry days at Bonchurch (ii. 425-434), of course drawn up +by himself, whom it describes as "The Unparalleled Necromancer +<span class="smcap">Rhia Rhama Rhoos</span>, educated cabalistically in the Orange Groves +of Salamanca and the Ocean Caves of Alum Bay," some of whose proposed +wonders it thus prefigures:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><div class='center'>THE LEAPING CARD WONDER. +</div><p> +Two Cards being drawn from the +Pack by two of the company, and +placed, with the Pack, in the Necromancer's +box, will leap forth at the +command of any lady of not less than +eight, or more than eighty, years of +age.</p> +<p> +<sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> <i>This wonder is the result of +nine years' seclusion in the mines of +Russia.</i></p> +<div class='center'> +THE PYRAMID WONDER. +</div><p> +A shilling being lent to the Necromancer +by any gentleman of not less +than twelve months, or more than one +hundred years, of age, and carefully +marked by the said gentleman, will +disappear from within a brazen box +at the word of command, and pass +through the hearts of an infinity of +boxes, which will afterwards build +themselves into pyramids and sink +into a small mahogany box, at the +Necromancer's bidding.</p> +<p> +<sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> <i>Five thousand guineas were +paid for the acquisition of this wonder, +to a Chinese Mandarin, who +died of grief immediately after parting +with the secret.</i></p> +<div class='center'> +THE CONFLAGRATION WONDER. +</div><p> +A Card being drawn from the Pack +by any lady, not under a direct and +positive promise of marriage, will be +immediately named by the Necromancer, +destroyed by fire, and reproduced +from its own ashes.</p> +<p> +<sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> <i>An annuity of one thousand +pounds has been offered to the Necromancer +by the Directors of the +Sun Fire Office for the secret of this +wonder—and refused!!!</i></p> +<div class='center'> +THE LOAF OF BREAD WONDER. +</div><p> +The watch of any truly prepossessing +lady, of any age, single or married, +being locked by the Necromancer in +a strong box, will fly at the word of +command from within that box into +the heart of an ordinary half-quartern +loaf, whence it shall be cut out in the +presence of the whole company, whose +cries of astonishment will be audible +at a distance of some miles.</p> +<p> +<sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> <i>Ten years in the Plains of +Tartary were devoted to the study +of this wonder.</i></p> +<div class='center'> +THE TRAVELLING DOLL WONDER. +</div><p> +The travelling doll is composed of +solid wood throughout, but, by putting +on a travelling dress of the simplest +construction, becomes invisible, performs +enormous journeys in half a +minute, and passes from visibility to +invisibility with an expedition so astonishing +that no eye can follow its +transformations.</p> +<p> +<sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> <i>The Necromancer's attendant +usually faints on beholding this wonder, +and is only to be revived by the +administration of brandy and water.</i></p> +<div class='center'> +THE PUDDING WONDER. +</div><p> +The company having agreed among +themselves to offer to the Necromancer, +by way of loan, the hat of any +gentleman whose head has arrived at +maturity of size, the Necromancer, +without removing that hat for an instant +from before the eyes of the delighted +company, will light a fire in it, +make a plum pudding in his magic +saucepan, boil it over the said fire, +produce it in two minutes, thoroughly +done, cut it, and dispense it in portions +to the whole company, for their consumption +then and there; returning +the hat at last, wholly uninjured by +fire, to its lawful owner.</p> +<p> +<sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> <i>The extreme liberality of this +wonder awakening the jealousy of +the beneficent Austrian Government, +when exhibited in Milan, the Necromancer +had the honour to be seized, +and confined for five years in the +fortress of that city.</i></p> +</div></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> Dick died at Gadshill in 1866, in the sixteenth year of his age, and +was honoured with a small tomb and epitaph.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> I cannot take leave of M. Beaucourt without saying that I am +necessarily silent as to the most touching traits recorded of him by +Dickens, because they refer to the generosity shown by him to an +English family in occupation of another of his houses, in connection +with whom his losses must have been considerable, but for whom +he had nothing but help and sympathy. Replying to some questions +about them, put by Dickens one day, he had only enlarged on their +sacrifices and self-denials. "Ah that family, unfortunate! 'And you, +Monsieur Beaucourt,' I said to him, 'you are unfortunate too, God +knows!' Upon which he said in the pleasantest way in the world, Ah, +Monsieur Dickens, thank you, don't speak of it!—And backed himself +down the avenue with his cap in his hand, as if he were going to +back himself straight into the evening star, without the ceremony of +dying first. I never did see such a gentle, kind heart."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> Twenty-one years before this date, in this same part, Lemaitre +had made a deep impression in London; and now, eighteen years +later, he is appearing in one of the revivals of Victor Hugo in Paris +(1873.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> "It is surprising what a change nine years have made in my notoriety +here. So many of the rising French generation now read English +(and <i>Chuzzlewit</i> is now being translated daily in the <i>Moniteur</i>), that +I can't go into a shop and give my card without being acknowledged in +the pleasantest way possible. A curiosity-dealer brought home some +little knick-knacks I had bought, the other night, and knew all about +my books from beginning to end of 'em. There is much of the personal +friendliness in my readers, here, that is so delightful at home; and I +have been greatly surprised and pleased by the unexpected discovery." +To this I may add a line from one of his letters six years later. "I +see my books in French at every railway station great and small."—13th +of Oct. 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> "I forget whether" (6th of Jan. 1856) "I have already told you +that I have received a proposal from a responsible bookselling house +here, for a complete edition, authorized by myself, of a French translation +of all my books. The terms involve questions of space and +amount of matter; but I should say, at a rough calculation, that I +shall get about £300 by it—perhaps £50 more." "I have arranged" +(30th of Jan.) "with the French bookselling house to receive, by +monthly payments of £40, the sum of £440 for the right to translate +all my books: that is, what they call my Romances, and what I call +my Stories. This does not include the Christmas Books, <i>American +Notes</i>, <i>Pictures from Italy</i>, or the <i>Sketches;</i> but they are to have the +right to translate them for extra payments if they choose. In consideration +of this venture as to the unprotected property, I cede them the +right of translating all future Romances at a thousand francs (£40) +each. Considering that I get so much for what is otherwise worth +nothing, and get my books before so clever and important a people, I +think this is not a bad move?" The first friend with whom he advised +about it, I should mention, was the famous Leipzig publisher, +M. Tauchnitz, in whose judgment, as well as in his honour and good +faith, he had implicit reliance, and who thought the offer fair. On the +17th of April he wrote: "On Monday I am going to dine with all my +translators at Hachette's, the bookseller who has made the bargain for +the complete edition, and who began this week to pay his monthly +£40 for a year. I don't mean to go out any more. Please to imagine +me in the midst of my French dressers." He wrote an address for the +Edition in which he praised the liberality of his publishers and expressed +his pride in being so presented to the French people whom +he sincerely loved and honoured. Another word may be added. "It +is rather appropriate that the French translation edition will pay my +rent for the whole year, and travelling charges to boot."—24th of Feb. +1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> He wrote a short and very comical account of one of these stock +performances at the Français in which he brought out into strong +relief all their conventionalities and formal habits, their regular surprises +surprising nobody, and their mysterious disclosures of immense +secrets known to everybody beforehand, which he meant for <i>Household +Words;</i> but it occurred to him that it might give pain to Regnier, +and he destroyed it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> Before he saw this he wrote: "That piece you spoke of (the <i>Médecin +des Enfants</i>) is one of the very best melodramas I have ever +read. Situations, admirable. I will send it to you by Landseer. I am +very curious indeed to go and see it; and it is an instance to me of +the powerful emotions from which art is shut out in England by the +conventionalities." After seeing it he writes: "The low cry of excitement +and expectation that goes round the house when any one of the +great situations is felt to be coming is very remarkable indeed. I suppose +there has not been so great a success of the genuine and worthy +kind (for the authors have really taken the French dramatic bull by +the horns, and put the adulterous wife in the right position), for many +years. When you come over and see it, you will say you never saw +anything so admirably done. There is one actor, Bignon (M. Delormel), +who has a good deal of Macready in him; sometimes looks +very like him; and who seems to me the perfection of manly good +sense." 17th of April 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> I subjoin from another of these French letters of later date a remark +on <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>. "You remember my saying to you some time ago +how curious I thought it that <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> should be the only instance +of an universally popular book that could make no one laugh +and could make no one cry. I have been reading it again just now, +in the course of my numerous refreshings at those English wells, and +I will venture to say that there is not in literature a more surprising +instance of an utter want of tenderness and sentiment, than the death +of Friday. It is as heartless as <i>Gil Blas</i>, in a very different and far +more serious way. But the second part altogether will not bear enquiry. +In the second part of <i>Don Quixote</i> are some of the finest +things. But the second part of <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> is perfectly contemptible, +in the glaring defect that it exhibits the man who was 30 +years on that desert island with no visible effect made on his character +by that experience. De Foe's women too—Robinson Crusoe's wife +for instance—are terrible dull commonplace fellows without breeches; +and I have no doubt he was a precious dry and disagreeable article +himself—I mean De Foe: not Robinson. Poor dear Goldsmith (I +remember as I write) derived the same impression."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> When in Paris six years later Dickens saw this fine singer in an +opera by Gluck, and the reader will not be sorry to have his description +of it. "Last night I saw Madame Viardot do Gluck's Orphée. +It is a most extraordinary performance—pathetic in the highest degree, +and full of quite sublime acting. Though it is unapproachably +fine from first to last, the beginning of it, at the tomb of Eurydice, is +a thing that I cannot remember at this moment of writing, without +emotion. It is the finest presentation of grief that I can imagine. +And when she has received hope from the Gods, and encouragement +to go into the other world and seek Eurydice, Viardot's manner of +taking the relinquished lyre from the tomb and becoming radiant +again, is most noble. Also she recognizes Eurydice's touch, when at +length the hand is put in hers from behind, like a most transcendant +genius. And when, yielding to Eurydice's entreaties she has turned +round and slain her with a look, her despair over the body is grand in +the extreme. It is worth a journey to Paris to see, for there is no such +Art to be otherwise looked upon. Her husband stumbled over me by +mere chance, and took me to her dressing-room. Nothing could have +happened better as a genuine homage to the performance, for I was +disfigured with crying."—30th of November 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> Here is another picture of Regiments in the Streets of which the +date is the 30th of January. "It was cold this afternoon, as bright as +Italy, and these Elysian Fields crowded with carriages, riders, and +foot passengers. All the fountains were playing, all the Heavens +shining. Just as I went out at 4 o'clock, several regiments that had +passed out at the Barrière in the morning to exercise in the country, +came marching back, in the straggling French manner, which is far +more picturesque and real than anything you can imagine in that way. +Alternately great storms of drums played, and then the most delicious +and skilful bands, 'Trovatore' music, 'Barber of Seville' music, all +sorts of music with well-marked melody and time. All bloused Paris +(led by the Inimitable, and a poor cripple who works himself up and +down all day in a big wheeled car) went at quick march down the +avenue, in a sort of hilarious dance. If the colours with the golden +eagle on the top had only been unfurled, we should have followed +them anywhere, in any cause—much as the children follow Punches +in the better cause of Comedy. Napoleon on the top of the Column +seemed up to the whole thing, I thought."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> Apropos of this, I may mention that the little shaggy white terrier +who came with him from America, so long a favourite in his household, +had died of old age a few weeks before (5th of Oct. 1855) in Boulogne.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> "We have wet weather here—and dark too for these latitudes—and +oceans of mud. Although numbers of men are perpetually +scooping and sweeping it away in this thoroughfare, it accumulates +under the windows so fast, and in such sludgy masses, that to get +across the road is to get half over one's shoes in the first outset of a +walk." . . . "It is difficult," he added (20th of Jan.) "to picture the +change made in this place by the removal of the paving stones (too +ready for barricades), and macadamization. It suits neither the climate +nor the soil. We are again in a sea of mud. One cannot cross the +road of the Champs Elysées here, without being half over one's boots." +A few more days brought a welcome change. "Three days ago the +weather changed here in an hour, and we have had bright weather and +hard frost ever since. All the mud disappeared with marvellous rapidity, +and the sky became Italian. Taking advantage of such a happy +change, I started off yesterday morning (for exercise and meditation) +on a scheme I have taken into my head, to walk round the walls of +Paris. It is a very odd walk, and will make a good description. Yesterday +I turned to the right when I got outside the Barrière de l'Etoile, +walked round the wall till I came to the river, and then entered Paris +beyond the site of the Bastille. To-day I mean to turn to the left when +I get outside the Barrière, and see what comes of that."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> This was much the tone of Edwin Landseer also, whose praise of +Horace Vernet was nothing short of rapture; and how well I remember +the humour of his description of the Emperor on the day when +the prizes were given, and, as his old friend the great painter came up, +the comical expression in his face that said plainly "What a devilish +odd thing this is altogether, isn't it?" composing itself to gravity as he +took Edwin by the hand, and said in cordial English "I am very glad +to see you." He stood, Landseer told us, in a recess so arranged as +to produce a clear echo of every word he said, and this had a startling +effect. In the evening of that day Dickens, Landseer, Boxall, Leslie +"and three others" dined together in the Palais Royal.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> The framework for this sketch was a graphic description, also done +by Dickens, of the celebrated Charity at Rochester founded in the sixteenth +century by Richard Watts, "for six poor travellers, who, not +being Rogues or Proctors, may receive gratis for one night, lodging, +entertainment, and fourpence each." A quaint monument to Watts +is the most prominent object on the wall of the south-west transept of +the cathedral, and underneath it is now placed a brass thus inscribed: +"<span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>. Born at Portsmouth, seventh of February +1812. Died at Gadshill Place by Rochester, ninth of June 1870. +Buried in Westminster Abbey. To connect his memory with the +scenes in which his earliest and his latest years were passed, and with +the associations of Rochester Cathedral and its neighbourhood which +extended over all his life, this Tablet, with the sanction of the Dean +and Chapter, is placed by his Executors."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> So curious a contrast, taking <i>Copperfield</i> for the purpose, I have +thought worth giving in fac-simile; and can assure the reader that the +examples taken express very fairly the general character of the Notes +to the two books respectively.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> In the same letter was an illustration of the ruling passion in death, +which, even in so undignified a subject, might have interested Pope. +"You remember little Wieland who did grotesque demons so well. +Did you ever hear how he died? He lay very still in bed with the +life fading out of him—suddenly sprung out of it, threw what is professionally +called a flip-flap, and fell dead on the floor."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> One of its incidents made such an impression on him that it will +be worth while to preserve his description of it. "I have been (by +mere accident) seeing the serpents fed to-day, with the live birds, +rabbits, and guinea pigs—a sight so very horrible that I cannot get rid +of the impression, and am, at this present, imagining serpents coming +up the legs of the table, with their infernal flat heads, and their tongues +like the Devil's tail (evidently taken from that model, in the magic +lanterns and other such popular representations), elongated for dinner. +I saw one small serpent, whose father was asleep, go up to a guinea +pig (white and yellow, and with a gentle eye—every hair upon him +erect with horror); corkscrew himself on the tip of his tail; open a +mouth which couldn't have swallowed the guinea pig's nose; dilate a +throat which wouldn't have made him a stocking; and show him what +his father meant to do with him when he came out of that ill-looking +Hookah into which he had resolved himself. The guinea pig backed +against the side of the cage—said 'I know it, I know it!'—and his eye +glared and his coat turned wiry, as he made the remark. Five small +sparrows crouching together in a little trench at the back of the cage, +peeped over the brim of it, all the time; and when they saw the guinea +pig give it up, and the young serpent go away looking at him over +about two yards and a quarter of shoulder, struggled which should +get into the innermost angle and be seized last. Everyone of +them then hid his eyes in another's breast, and then they all shook together +like dry leaves—as I daresay they may be doing now, for old +Hookah was as dull as laudanum. . . . Please to imagine two small +serpents, one beginning on the tail of a white mouse, and one on the +head, and each pulling his own way, and the mouse very much alive +all the time, with the middle of him madly writhing."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> There was a situation in the <i>Frozen Deep</i> where Richard Wardour, +played by Dickens, had thus to carry about Frank Aldersley in the +person of Wilkie Collins.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> The mention of a performance of Lord Lytton's <i>Money</i> at the +theatre will supply the farce to this tragedy. "I have rarely seen anything +finer than Lord Glossmore, a chorus-singer in bluchers, drab +trowsers, and a brown sack; and Dudley Smooth, in somebody else's +wig, hindside before. Stout also, in anything he could lay hold of. +The waiter at the club had an immense moustache, white trowsers, +and a striped jacket; and he brought everybody who came in, a vinegar-cruet. +The man who read the will began thus: 'I so-and-so, +being of unsound mind but firm in body . . .' In spite of all this, however, +the real character, humour, wit, and good writing of the comedy, +made themselves apparent; and the applause was loud and repeated, +and really seemed genuine. Its capital things were not lost altogether. +It was succeeded by a Jockey Dance by five ladies, who put their +whips in their mouths and worked imaginary winners up to the float—an +immense success."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> Anything more completely opposed to the Micawber type could +hardly be conceived, and yet there were moments (really and truly +only moments) when the fancy would arise that if the conditions of +his life had been reversed, something of a vagabond existence (using +the word in Goldsmith's meaning) might have supervened. It would +have been an unspeakable misery to him, but it might have come +nevertheless. The question of hereditary transmission had a curious +attraction for him, and considerations connected with it were frequently +present to his mind. Of a youth who had fallen into a +father's weaknesses without the possibility of having himself observed +them for imitation, he thus wrote on one occasion: "It suggests the +strangest consideration as to which of our own failings we are really +responsible, and as to which of them we cannot quite reasonably hold +ourselves to be so. What A. evidently derived from his father cannot +in his case be derived from association and observation, but must be +in the very principles of his individuality as a living creature."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> "You may as well know" (20th of March 1858) "that I went on" +(I designate the ladies by A and B respectively) "and propounded +the matter to A, without any preparation. Result.—'I am surprised, +and I should have been surprised if I had seen it in the newspaper +without previous confidence from you. But nothing more. N—no. +Certainly not. Nothing more. I don't see that there is anything +derogatory in it, even now when you ask me that question. I think +upon the whole that most people would be glad you should have the +money, rather than other people. It might be misunderstood here +and there, at first; but I think the thing would very soon express +itself, and that your own power of making it express itself would be +very great.' As she wished me to ask B, who was in another room, I +did so. She was for a moment tremendously disconcerted, '<i>under +the impression that it was to lead to the stage</i>' (!!). Then, without +knowing anything of A's opinion, closely followed it. That absurd +association had never entered my head or yours; but it might enter +some other heads for all that. Take these two opinions for whatever +they are worth. A (being very much interested and very anxious +to help to a right conclusion) proposed to ask a few people of +various degrees who know what the Readings are, what <i>they</i> think—not +compromising me, but suggesting the project afar-off, as an +idea in somebody else's mind. I thanked her, and said 'Yes,' of +course."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> +</p> +<div class='poem2'> +Oh! for my sake do you with Fortune chide<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,</span><br /> +That did not better for my life provide<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Than public means which public manners breeds.</span><br /> +Thence comes it that my name receives a brand;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And almost thence my nature is subdu'd</span><br /> +To what it works in, like the dyer's hand. . .<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pity me, then, and wish I were renew'd. . .</span><br /> +<div class='sig'>Sonnet cxi.</div></div> +<p> +And in the preceding Sonnet cx. +</p> +<div class='poem2'> +Alas, 'tis true I have gone here and there,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And made myself a motley to the view,</span><br /> +Gor'd mine own thoughts, sold cheap what is most dear. . .<br /> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> Vol. I. pp. <a href="#Page_72">72-3</a>. I repeat from that passage one or two sentences, +though it is hardly fair to give them without the modifications that +accompany them. "A too great confidence in himself, a sense that +everything was possible to the will that would make it so, laid occasionally +upon him self-imposed burdens greater than might be borne +by any one with safety. In that direction there was in him, at such +times, something even hard and aggressive; in his determinations a +something that had almost the tone of fierceness; something in his +nature that made his resolves insuperable, however hasty the opinions +on which they had been formed."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> The Board of Health returns, showing that out of every annual +thousand of deaths in London, the immense proportion of four +hundred were those of children under four years old, had established +the necessity for such a scheme. Of course the stress of this mortality +fell on the children of the poor, "dragged up rather than brought +up," as Charles Lamb expressed it, and perishing unhelped by the +way.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> Here is the rough note: in which the reader will be interested to +observe the limits originally placed to the proposal. The first Readings +were to comprise only the <i>Carol</i>, and for others a new story was +to be written. He had not yet the full confidence in his power or versatility +as an actor which subsequent experience gave him. "I propose +to announce in a short and plain advertisement (what is quite +true) that I cannot so much as answer the numerous applications that +are made to me to read, and that compliance with ever so few of them +is, in any reason, impossible. That I have therefore resolved upon a +course of readings of the <i>Christmas Carol</i> both in town and country, +and that those in London will take place at St. Martin's Hall on certain +evenings. Those evenings will be either four or six Thursdays, in +May and the beginning of June. . . . I propose an Autumn Tour, for +the country, extending through August, September, and October. It +would comprise the Eastern Counties, the West, Lancashire, Yorkshire, +and Scotland. I should read from 35 to 40 times in this tour, +at the least. At each place where there was a great success, I would +myself announce that I should come back, on the turn of Christmas, to +read a new Christmas story written for that purpose. This story I +should first read a certain number of times in London. I have the +strongest belief that by April in next year, a very large sum of money +indeed would be gained by these means. Ireland would be still untouched, +and I conceive America alone (if I could resolve to go there) +to be worth Ten Thousand Pounds. In all these proceedings, the +Business would be wholly detached from me, and I should never appear +in it. I would have an office, belonging to the Readings and to +nothing else, opened in London; I would have the advertisements +emanating from it, and also signed by some one belonging to it; and +they should always mention me as a third person—just as the Child's +Hospital, for instance, in addressing the public, mentions me."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> On New Year's Day he had written from Paris. "When in London +Coutts's advised me not to sell out the money for Gadshill Place +(the title of my estate sir, my place down in Kent) until the conveyance +was settled and ready."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> Two houses now stand on what was Sir Francis Head's estate, the +Great and Little Hermitage, occupied respectively by Mr. Malleson +and Mr. Hulkes, who became intimate with Dickens. Perry of the +<i>Morning Chronicle</i>, whose town house was in that court out of Tavistock-square +of which Tavistock House formed part, had occupied +the Great Hermitage previously.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> By the obliging correspondent who sent me this <i>History of Rochester</i>, +8vo. (Rochester, 1772), p. 302.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> "As to the carpenters," he wrote to his daughter in September +1860, "they are absolutely maddening. They are always at work yet +never seem to do anything, L. was down on Friday, and said (with +his eye fixed on Maidstone and rubbing his hands to conciliate his +moody employer) that 'he didn't think there would be very much left +to do after Saturday the 29th.' I didn't throw him out of window."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> A passage in his paper on Tramps embodies very amusingly experience +recorded in his letters of this brick-work tunnel and the sinking +of the well; but I can only borrow one sentence. "The current +of my uncommercial pursuits caused me only last summer to want a +little body of workmen for a certain spell of work in a pleasant part +of the country; and I was at one time honoured with the attendance +of as many as seven-and-twenty, who were looking at six." Bits of +wonderful observation are in that paper.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> This was at the beginning of 1865. "The <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'chalet'">châlet</ins>," he wrote to +me on the 7th of January, "is going on excellently, though the ornamental +part is more slowly put together than the substantial. It will +really be a very pretty thing; and in the summer (supposing it not to +be blown away in the spring), the upper room will make a charming +study. It is much higher than we supposed."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> As surely, however, as he did any work there, so surely his indispensable +little accompaniments of work (ii. 226) were carried along +with him; and of these I will quote what was written shortly after +his death by his son-in-law, Mr. Charles Collins, to illustrate a very +touching sketch by Mr. Fildes of his writing-desk and vacant chair. +"Ranged in front of, and round about him, were always a variety of +objects for his eye to rest on in the intervals of actual writing, and any +one of which he would have instantly missed had it been removed. +There was a French bronze group representing a duel with swords, +fought by a couple of very fat toads, one of them (characterised by +that particular buoyancy which belongs to corpulence) in the act of +making a prodigious lunge forward, which the other receives in the +very middle of his digestive apparatus, and under the influence of +which it seems likely that he will satisfy the wounded honour of his +opponent by promptly expiring. There was another bronze figure +which always stood near the toads, also of French manufacture, and +also full of comic suggestion. It was a statuette of a dog-fancier, +such a one as you used to see on the bridges or quays of Paris, with +a profusion of little dogs stuck under his arms and into his pockets, +and everywhere where little dogs could possibly be insinuated, all for +sale, and all, as even a casual glance at the vendor's exterior would +convince the most unsuspicious person, with some screw loose in their +physical constitutions or moral natures, to be discovered immediately +after purchase. There was the long gilt leaf with the rabbit sitting +erect upon its haunches, the huge paper-knife often held in his hand +during his public readings, and the little fresh green cup ornamented +with the leaves and blossoms of the cowslip, in which a few fresh +flowers were always placed every morning—for Dickens invariably +worked with flowers on his writing-table. There was also the register +of the day of the week and of the month, which stood always before +him; and when the room in the châlet in which he wrote his last paragraph +was opened, some time after his death, the first thing to be +noticed by those who entered was this register, set at 'Wednesday, +June 8'—the day of his seizure." It remains to this day as it was found.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> Dickens's interest in dogs (as in the habits and ways of all animals) +was inexhaustible, and he welcomed with delight any new trait. The +subjoined, told him by a lady friend, was a great acquisition. "I +must close" (14th of May 1867) "with an odd story of a Newfoundland +dog. An immense black good-humoured Newfoundland dog. +He came from Oxford and had lived all his life at a brewery. Instructions +were given with him that if he were let out every morning +alone, he would immediately find out the river; regularly take a swim; +and gravely come home again. This he did with the greatest punctuality, +but after a little while was observed to smell of beer. She was +so sure that he smelt of beer that she resolved to watch him. Accordingly, +he was seen to come back from his swim, round the usual corner, +and to go up a flight of steps into a beer-shop. Being instantly +followed, the beer-shop-keeper is seen to take down a pot (pewter +pot), and is heard to say: 'Well, old chap! Come for your beer as +usual, have you?' Upon which he draws a pint and puts it down, and +the dog drinks it. Being required to explain how this comes to pass, +the man says, 'Yes ma'am. I know he's your dog ma'am, but I didn't +when he first come. He looked in ma'am—as a Brickmaker might—and +then he come in—as a Brickmaker might—and he wagged his tail +at the pots, and he giv' a sniff round, and conveyed to me as he was +used to beer. So I draw'd him a drop, and he drunk it up. Next +morning he come agen by the clock and I drawed him a pint, and +ever since he has took his pint reglar.'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> This was the <i>Carol</i> and <i>Pickwick</i>. "We are reduced sometimes," +he adds, "to a ludicrous state of distress by the quantity of silver we +have to carry about. Arthur Smith is always accompanied by an immense +black leather-bag full." Mr. Smith had an illness a couple of +days later, and Dickens whimsically describes his rapid recovery on +discovering the state of their balances. "He is now sitting opposite +to me on a bag of £40 of silver. It must be dreadfully hard."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> A letter to his eldest daughter (23rd of Aug.) makes humorous +addition. "The man who drove our jaunting car yesterday hadn't a +piece in his coat as big as a penny roll, and had had his hat on (apparently +without brushing it) ever since he was grown-up. But he was +remarkably intelligent and agreeable, with something to say about +everything. For instance, when I asked him what a certain building +was, he didn't say 'Courts of Law' and nothing else, but 'Av yer +plase Sir, its the foor Coorts o' looyers, where Misther O'Connell +stood his trial wunst, as ye'll remimbir sir, afore I till ye ov it.' When +we got into the Phœnix Park, he looked round him as if it were his +own, and said '<span class="smcap">That's</span> a Park sir, av ye plase!' I complimented +it, and he said 'Gintlemen tills me as they iv bin, sir, over Europe and +never see a Park aqualling ov it. Yander's the Vice-regal Lodge, sir; +in thim two corners lives the two Sicretaries, wishing I was thim sir. +There's air here sir, av yer plase! There's scenery here sir! There's +mountains thim sir! Yer coonsider it a Park sir? It is that sir!'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> The Irish girls outdid the American (i. 385) in one particular. +He wrote to his sister-in-law: "Every night, by the bye, since I have +been in Ireland, the ladies have beguiled John out of the bouquet +from my coat; and yesterday morning, as I had showered the leaves +from my geranium in reading <i>Little Dombey</i>, they mounted the platform +after I was gone, and picked them all up as a keepsake." A +few days earlier he had written to the same correspondent: "The +papers are full of remarks upon my white tie, and describe it as being +of enormous size, which is a wonderful delusion; because, as you very +well know, it is a small tie. Generally, I am happy to report, the +Emerald press is in favour of my appearance, and likes my eyes. But +one gentleman comes out with a letter at Cork, wherein he says that +although only 46, I look like an old man."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> "They had offered frantic prices for stalls. Eleven bank-notes +were thrust into a paybox at one time for eleven stalls. Our men +were flattened against walls and squeezed against beams. Ladies +stood all night with their chins against my platform. Other ladies sat +all night upon my steps. We turned away people enough to make +immense houses for a week." Letter to his eldest daughter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> "Shillings get into stalls, and half-crowns get into shillings, and +stalls get nowhere, and there is immense confusion." Letter to his +daughter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> "I was brought very near to what I sometimes dream may be +my Fame," he says in a letter of later date to myself from York, +"when a lady whose face I had never seen stopped me yesterday in +the street, and said to me, <i>Mr. Dickens, will you let me touch the hand +that has filled my house with many friends</i>." October 1858.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> "That is no doubt immense, our expenses being necessarily large, +and the travelling party being always five." Another source of profit +was the sale of the copies of the several Readings prepared by himself. +"Our people alone sell eight, ten, and twelve dozen a night." +A later letter says: "The men with the reading books were sold out, +for about the twentieth time, at Manchester. Eleven dozen of the +<i>Poor Traveller</i>, <i>Boots</i>, and <i>Gamp</i> being sold in about ten minutes, +they had no more left; and Manchester became green with the little +tracts, in every bookshop, outside every omnibus, and passing along +every street. The sale of them, apart from us, must be very great." +"Did I tell you," he writes in another letter, "that the agents for our +tickets who are also booksellers, say very generally that the readings +decidedly increase the sale of the books they are taken from? We +were first told of this by a Mr. Parke, a wealthy old gentleman in a +very large way at Wolverhampton, who did all the business for love, and +would not take a farthing. Since then, we have constantly come upon +it; and M'Glashin and Gill at Dublin were very strong about it indeed."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> The last of them were given immediately after his completion of +the <i>Tale of Two Cities:</i> "I am a little tired; but as little, I suspect, +as any man could be with the work of the last four days, and perhaps +the change of work was better than subsiding into rest and rust. The +Norwich people were a noble audience. There, and at Ipswich and +Bury, we had the demonstrativeness of the great working-towns, and +a much finer perception."—14th of October 1859.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> Two pleasing little volumes may here be named as devoted to +special descriptions of the several Readings; by his friend Mr. Charles +Kent in England (<i>Charles Dickens as a Reader</i>), and by Miss Kate +Field in America (<i>Pen Photographs</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> Let me subjoin his own note of a less important incident of that +month which will show his quick and sure eye for any bit of acting out +of the common. The lady has since justified its closing prediction. +Describing an early dinner with Chauncy Townshend, he adds (17th +of December 1858): "I escaped at half-past seven, and went to the +Strand Theatre: having taken a stall beforehand, for it is always +crammed. I really wish you would go, between this and next Thursday, +to see the <i>Maid and the Magpie</i> burlesque there. There is the +strangest thing in it that ever I have seen on the stage. The boy, +Pippo, by Miss Wilton. While it is astonishingly impudent (must be, +or it couldn't be done at all), it is so stupendously like a boy, and unlike +a woman, that it is perfectly free from offence. I never have seen +such a thing. Priscilla Horton, as a boy, not to be thought of beside +it. She does an imitation of the dancing of the Christy Minstrels—wonderfully +clever—which, in the audacity of its thorough-going, is +surprising. A thing that you <i>can not</i> imagine a woman's doing at all; +and yet the manner, the appearance, the levity, impulse, and spirits of +it, are so exactly like a boy that you cannot think of anything like her +sex in association with it. It begins at 8, and is over by a quarter-past +9. I never have seen such a curious thing, and the girl's talent +is unchallengeable. I call her the cleverest girl I have ever seen on +the stage in my time, and the most singularly original."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> It is pleasant to have to state that it was still flourishing when I +received Mr. Lawes's letter, on the 18th of December 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> From the same letter, dated 1st of July 1861, I take what follows. +"Poor Lord Campbell's seems to me as easy and good a death as one +could desire. There must be a sweep of these men very soon, and +one feels as if it must fall out like the breaking of an arch—one stone +goes from a prominent place, and then the rest begin to drop. So, +one looks, not without satisfaction (in our sadness) at lives so rounded +and complete, towards Brougham, and Lyndhurst, and Pollock" . . . +Yet, of Dickens's own death, Pollock lived to write to me as the death +of "one of the most distinguished and honoured men England has +ever produced; in whose loss every man among us feels that he +has lost a friend and an instructor." Temple-Hatton, 10th of June +1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> If space were available here, his letters would supply many proofs +of his interest in Mr. George Moore's admirable projects; but I can +only make exception for his characteristic allusion to an incident that +tickled his fancy very much at the time. "I hope" (20th of Aug. 1863) +"you have been as much amused as I am by the account of the +Bishop of Carlisle at (my very particular friend's) Mr. George Moore's +schools? It strikes me as the funniest piece of weakness I ever saw, +his addressing those unfortunate children concerning Colenso. I cannot +get over the ridiculous image I have erected in my mind, of the +shovel-hat and apron holding forth, at that safe distance, to that safe +audience. There is nothing so extravagant in Rabelais, or so satirically +humorous in Swift or Voltaire."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> Eight years later he wrote "Holiday Romance" for a Child's +Magazine published by Mr. Fields, and "George Silverman's Explanation"—of +the same length, and for the same price. There are no other +such instances, I suppose, in the history of literature.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> "You will be grieved," he wrote (Saturday 19th of Nov. 1859) +"to hear of poor Stone. On Sunday he was not well. On Monday, +went to Dr. Todd, who told him he had aneurism of the heart. On +Tuesday, went to Dr. Walsh, who told him he hadn't. On Wednesday +I met him in a cab in the Square here, and he got out to talk to +me. I walked about with him a little while at a snail's pace, cheering +him up; but when I came home, I told them that I thought him much +changed, and in danger. Yesterday at 2 o'clock he died of spasm of +the heart. I am going up to Highgate to look for a grave for him."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> He was now hard at work on his story; and a note written from +Gadshill after the funeral shows, what so frequently was incident to +his pursuits, the hard conditions under which sorrow, and its claim on +his exertion, often came to him. "To-morrow I have to work against +time and tide and everything else, to fill up a No. keeping open for +me, and the stereotype plates of which must go to America on Friday. +But indeed the enquiry into poor Alfred's affairs; the necessity of +putting the widow and children somewhere; the difficulty of knowing +what to do for the best; and the need I feel under of being as composed +and deliberate as I can be, and yet of not shirking or putting +off the occasion that there is for doing a duty; would have brought +me back here to be quiet, under any circumstances."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> The same letter adds: "The fourth edition of <i>Great Expectations</i> +is now going to press; the third being nearly out. Bulwer's story +keeps us up bravely. As well as we can make out, we have even +risen fifteen hundred."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> "There was a very touching thing in the Chapel" (at Brompton). +"When the body was to be taken up and carried to the grave, there +stepped out, instead of the undertaker's men with their hideous paraphernalia, +the men who had always been with the two brothers at the +Egyptian Hall; and they, in their plain, decent, own mourning clothes, +carried the poor fellow away. Also, standing about among the gravestones, +dressed in black, I noticed every kind of person who had ever +had to do with him—from our own gas man and doorkeepers and +billstickers, up to Johnson the printer and that class of man. The +father and Albert and he now lie together, and the grave, I suppose, +will be no more disturbed I wrote a little inscription for the stone, +and it is quite full."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> Of his former manager he writes in the same letter: "I miss him +dreadfully. The sense I used to have of compactness and comfort +about me while I was reading, is quite gone; and on my coming out +for the ten minutes, when I used to find him always ready for me +with something cheerful to say, it is forlorn. . . . Besides which, H. +and all the rest of them are always somewhere, and he was always +everywhere."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> The more detailed account of the scene which he wrote to his +daughter is also well worth giving. "A most tremendous hall here +last night. Something almost terrible in the cram. A fearful thing +might have happened. Suddenly, when they were all very still over +Smike, my Gas Batten came down, and it looked as if the room were +falling. There were three great galleries crammed to the roof, and a +high steep flight of stairs; and a panic must have destroyed numbers +of people. A lady in the front row of stalls screamed, and ran out +wildly towards me, and for one instant there was a terrible wave in +the crowd. I addressed that lady, laughing (for I knew she was in +sight of everybody there), and called out as if it happened every night—'There's +nothing the matter I assure you; don't be alarmed; pray +sit down——' and she sat down directly, and there was a thunder of +applause. It took some five minutes to mend, and I looked on with +my hands in my pockets; for I think if I had turned my back for +a moment, there might still have been a move. My people were +dreadfully alarmed—Boycott" (the gas-man) "in particular, who I +suppose had some notion that the whole place might have taken fire—'but +there stood the master,' he did me the honour to say afterwards, +in addressing the rest, 'as cool as ever I see him a lounging at a Railway +Station.'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> The letter referred also to the death of his American friend Professor +Felton. "Your mention of poor Felton's death is a shock of +surprise as well as grief to me, for I had not heard a word about it. +Mr. Fields told me when he was here that the effect of that hotel disaster +of bad drinking water had not passed away; so I suppose, as +you do, that he sank under it. Poor dear Felton! It is 20 years since +I told you of the delight my first knowledge of him gave me, and it is +as strongly upon me to this hour. I wish our ways had crossed a little +oftener, but that would not have made it better for us now. Alas! +alas! all ways have the same finger-post at the head of them, and at +every turning in them."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> I give the letter in which he put the scheme formally before me, +after the renewed and larger offers had been submitted. "If there were +reasonable hope and promise, I could make up my mind to go to Australia +and get money. I would not accept the Australian people's +offer. I would take no money from them; would bind myself to nothing +with them; but would merely make them my agents at such +and such a per centage, and go and read there. I would take some +man of literary pretensions as a secretary (Charles Collins? What +think you?) and with his aid" (he afterwards made the proposal to his +old friend Mr. Thomas Beard) "would do, for <i>All the Year Round</i> +while I was away, The Uncommercial Traveller Upside Down. If the +notion of these speculators be anything like accurate, I should come +back rich. I should have seen a great deal of novelty to boot. I +should have been very miserable too. . . . Of course one cannot possibly +count upon the money to be realized by a six months' absence, +but, £12,000 is supposed to be a low estimate. Mr. S. brought me +letters from members of the legislature, newspaper editors, and the +like, exhorting me to come, saying how much the people talk of +me, and dwelling on the kind of reception that would await me. No +doubt this is so, and of course a great deal of curious experience for +after use would be gained over and above the money. Being my own +master too, I could 'work' myself more delicately than if I bound myself +for money beforehand. A few years hence, if all other circumstances +were the same, I might not be so well fitted for the excessive +wear and tear. This is about the whole case. But pray do not suppose +that I am in my own mind favourable to going, or that I have +any fancy for going." That was late in October. From Paris in November +(1862), he wrote: "I mentioned the question to Bulwer when +he dined with us here last Sunday, and he was all for going. He said +that not only did he think the whole population would go to the Readings, +but that the country would strike me in some quite new aspect +for a Book; and that wonders might be done with such book in the +way of profit, over there as well as here."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_249_249" id="Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> A person present thus described (1st of February 1863) the second +night to Miss Dickens. "No one can imagine the scene of last Friday +night at the Embassy . . . a two hours' storm of excitement and pleasure. +They actually murmured and applauded right away into their +carriages and down the street."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_250_250" id="Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> From the same authority proceeded, in answer to a casual question +one day, a description of the condition of his wardrobe of which +he has also made note in the Memoranda. "Well, sir, your clothes +is all shabby, and your boots is all burst."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_251_251" id="Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> The date when this fancy dropped into his Memoranda is fixed by +the following passage in a letter to me of the 25th of August 1862. +"I am trying to coerce my thoughts into hammering out the Christmas +number. And I have an idea of opening a book (not the Christmas +number—a book) by bringing together two strongly contrasted places +and two strongly contrasted sets of people, with which and with whom +the story is to rest, through the agency of an electric message. I think a +fine thing might be made of the message itself shooting over the land and +under the sea, and it would be a curious way of sounding the key note."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_252_252" id="Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> Following this in the "Memoranda" is an advertisement cut from +the <i>Times:</i> of a kind that always expressed to Dickens a child-farming +that deserved the gallows quite as much as the worst kind of +starving, by way of farming, babies. The fourteen guineas a-year, +"tender" age of the "dear" ones, maternal care, and no vacations or +extras, to him had only one meaning.</p> + +<div class="blockquot">EDUCATION FOR LITTLE CHILDREN.—Terms +14 to 18 guineas per annum; no extras or vacations. +The system of education embraces the wide range of each useful +and ornamental study suited to the tender age of the dear +children. Maternal care and kindness may be relied on.—X., +Heald's Library, Fulham-road.</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_253_253" id="Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> There had been some estrangement between them since the autumn +of 1858, hardly now worth mention even in a note. Thackeray, +justly indignant at a published description of himself by the member +of a club to which both he and Dickens belonged, referred it to the +Committee, who decided to expel the writer. Dickens, thinking expulsion +too harsh a penalty for an offence thoughtlessly given, and, as +far as might be, manfully atoned for by withdrawal and regret, interposed +to avert that extremity. Thackeray resented the interference, +and Dickens was justly hurt by the manner in which he did so. +Neither was wholly right, nor was either altogether in the wrong.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_254_254" id="Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> As I have thus fallen on theatrical subjects, I may add one or two +practical experiences which befell Dickens at theatres in the autumn +of 1864, when he sallied forth from his office upon these night wanderings +to "cool" a boiling head. "I went the other night" (8th of +October) "to see the <i>Streets of London</i> at the Princess's. A piece +that is really drawing all the town, and filling the house with nightly +overflows. It is the most depressing instance, without exception, of +an utterly degraded and debased theatrical taste that has ever come +under my writhing notice. For not only do the audiences—of all +classes—go, but they are unquestionably delighted. At Astley's there +has been much puffing at great cost of a certain Miss Ada Isaacs +Menkin, who is to be seen bound on the horse in <i>Mazeppa</i> 'ascending +the fearful precipices not as hitherto done by a dummy.' Last night, +having a boiling head, I went out from here to cool myself on Waterloo +Bridge, and I thought I would go and see this heroine. Applied +at the box-door for a stall. 'None left sir.' For a box-ticket. 'Only +standing-room sir.' Then the man (busy in counting great heaps of +veritable checks) recognizes me and says—'Mr. Smith will be very +much concerned when he hears that you went away sir'—'Never +mind; I'll come again.' 'You never go behind I think sir, or—?' +'No thank you, I never go behind.' 'Mr. Smith's box, sir—' 'No +thank you, I'll come again.' Now who do you think the lady is? If +you don't already know, ask that question of the highest Irish mountains +that look eternal, and they'll never tell you—<i>Mrs. Heenan!</i>" +This lady, who turned out to be one of Dickens's greatest admirers, +addressed him at great length on hearing of this occurrence, and afterwards +dedicated a volume of poems to him! There was a pleasanter +close to his letter. "Contrariwise I assisted another night at the +Adelphi (where I couldn't, with careful calculation, get the house up +to Nine Pounds), and saw quite an admirable performance of Mr. +Toole and Mrs. Mellon—she, an old servant, wonderfully like Anne—he, +showing a power of passion very unusual indeed in a comic actor, +as such things go, and of a quite remarkable kind."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_255_255" id="Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> Writing to me three months before, he spoke of the death of one +whom he had known from his boyhood (<i>ante</i>, i. <a href="#Page_47">47</a>-<a href="#Page_48">8</a>) and with whom +he had fought unsuccessfully for some years against the management +of the Literary Fund. "Poor Dilke! I am very sorry that the capital +old stout-hearted man is dead." Sorrow may also be expressed that +no adequate record should remain of a career which for steadfast purpose, +conscientious maintenance of opinion, and pursuit of public +objects with disregard of self, was one of very high example. So averse +was Mr. Dilke to every kind of display that his name appears to none +of the literary investigations which were conducted by him with an +acuteness wonderful as his industry, and it was in accordance with his +express instructions that the literary journal which his energy and self-denial +had established kept silence respecting him at his death.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_256_256" id="Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> One day before, the 8th of June 1865, his old friend Sir Joseph +Paxton had breathed his last.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_257_257" id="Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> Here are allusions to it at that time. "I have got a boot on to-day,—made +on an Otranto scale, but really not very discernible from +its ordinary sized companion." After a few days' holiday: "I began +to feel my foot stronger the moment I breathed the sea air. Still, +during the ten days I have been away, I have never been able to wear +a boot after four or five in the afternoon, but have passed all the evenings +with the foot up, and nothing on it. I am burnt brown and have +walked by the sea perpetually, yet I feel certain that if I wore a boot this +evening, I should be taken with those torments again before the night +was out." This last letter ended thus: "As a relief to my late dismal +letters, I send you the newest American story. Backwoods Doctor is +called in to the little boy of a woman-settler. Stares at the child some +time through a pair of spectacles. Ultimately takes them off, and +says to the mother: 'Wa'al Marm, this is small-pox. 'Tis Marm, +small-pox. But I am not posted up in Pustuls, and I do not know as +I could bring him along slick through it. But I'll tell you wa'at I can +do Marm:—I can send him a draft as will certainly put him into a +most etarnal Fit, and I am almighty smart at Fits, and we might git +round Old Grisly that way.'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_258_258" id="Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> I give one such instance: "The railway people have offered, in the +case of the young man whom I got out of the carriage just alive, all +the expenses and a thousand pounds down. The father declines to +accept the offer. It seems unlikely that the young man, whose destination +is India, would ever be passed for the Army now by the Medical +Board. The question is, how far will that contingency tell, under +Lord Campbell's Act?"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_259_259" id="Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> He wrote to me on the 15th of March from Dublin: "So profoundly +discouraging were the accounts from here in London last +Tuesday that I held several <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'counils'">councils</ins> with Chappell about coming at +all; had actually drawn up a bill announcing (indefinitely) the postponement +of the readings; and had meant to give him a reading to +cover the charges incurred—but yielded at last to his representations +the other way. We ran through a snow storm nearly the whole way, +and in Wales got snowed up, came to a stoppage, and had to dig the +engine out. . . . We got to Dublin at last, found it snowing and +raining, and heard that it had been snowing and raining since the first +day of the year. . . . As to outward signs of trouble or preparation, +they are very few. At Kingstown our boat was waited for by four +armed policemen, and some stragglers in various dresses who were +clearly detectives. But there was no show of soldiery. My people +carry a long heavy box containing gas-fittings. This was immediately +laid hold of; but one of the stragglers instantly interposed on seeing +my name, and came to me in the carriage and apologised. . . . The +worst looking young fellow I ever saw, turned up at Holyhead before +we went to bed there, and sat glooming and glowering by the coffee-room +fire while we warmed ourselves. He said he had been snowed +up with us (which we didn't believe), and was horribly disconcerted +by some box of his having gone to Dublin without him. We said to +one another 'Fenian:' and certainly he disappeared in the morning, +and let his box go where it would." What Dickens heard and saw in +Dublin, during this visit, convinced him that Fenianism and disaffection +had found their way into several regiments.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_260_260" id="Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> This renders it worth preservation in a note. He called it +</p> +<div class='center'> +"THE CASE IN A NUTSHELL.<br /> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><div class='hang1'>"1. I think it may be taken as proved, that general enthusiasm and +excitement are awakened in America on the subject of the +Readings, and that the people are prepared to give me a great +reception. <i>The New York Herald</i>, indeed, is of opinion that +'Dickens must apologise first'; and where a <i>New York Herald</i> +is possible, anything is possible. But the prevailing tone, both +of the press and of people of all conditions, is highly favourable. +I have an opinion myself that the Irish element in New +York is dangerous; for the reason that the Fenians would be +glad to damage a conspicuous Englishman. This is merely an +opinion of my own. +</div><div class='hang1'> +"2. All our original calculations were based on 100 Readings. But +an unexpected result of careful enquiry on the spot, is the discovery +that the month of May is generally considered (in the +large cities) bad for such a purpose. Admitting that what +governs an ordinary case in this wise, governs mine, this reduces +the Readings to 80, and consequently at a blow makes a +reduction of 20 per cent., in the means of making money within +the half year—unless the objection should not apply in my +exceptional instance. +</div><div class='hang1'> +"3. I dismiss the consideration that the great towns of America +could not possibly be exhausted—or even visited—within 6 +months, and that a large harvest would be left unreaped. Because +I hold a second series of Readings in America is to be +set down as out of the question: whether regarded as involving +two more voyages across the Atlantic, or a vacation of five +months in Canada. +</div><div class='hang1'> +"4. The narrowed calculation we have made, is this: What is the +largest amount of clear profit derivable, under the most advantageous +circumstances possible, as to their public reception, +from 80 Readings and no more? In making this calculation, +the expenses have been throughout taken on the New York +scale—which is the dearest; as much as 20 per cent., has been +deducted for management, including Mr. Dolby's commission; +and no credit has been taken for any extra payment on reserved +seats, though a good deal of money is confidently expected +from this source. But on the other hand it is to be observed +that four Readings (and a fraction over) are supposed to take +place every week, and that the estimate of receipts is based on +the assumption that the audiences are, on all occasions, as large +as the rooms will reasonably hold. +</div><div class='hang1'> +"5. So considering 80 Readings, we bring out the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'nett'">net</ins> profit of that +number, remaining to me after payment of all charges whatever, +as £15,500. +</div><div class='hang1'> +"6. But it yet remains to be noted that the calculation assumes +New York City, and the State of New York, to be good for a +very large proportion of the 80 Readings; and that the calculation +also assumes the necessary travelling not to extend +beyond Boston and adjacent places, New York City and adjacent +places, Philadelphia, Washington, and Baltimore. But, +if the calculation should prove too sanguine on this head, and +if these places should <i>not</i> be good for so many Readings, then +it may prove impracticable to get through 80 within the time: +by reason of other places that would come into the list, lying +wide asunder, and necessitating long and fatiguing journeys. +</div><div class='hang1'> +"7. The loss consequent on the conversion of paper money into +gold (with gold at the present ruling premium) is allowed for +in the calculation. It counts seven dollars to the pound."</div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_261_261" id="Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> I hope my readers will find themselves able to understand that, as +well as this which follows: "What seems preposterous, impossible to +us, seemed to him simple fact of observation. When he imagined a +street, a house, a room, a figure, he saw it not in the vague schematic +way of ordinary imagination, but in the sharp definition of actual perception, +all the salient details obtruding themselves on his attention. +He, seeing it thus vividly, made us also see it; and believing in its +reality however fantastic, he communicated something of his belief to +us. He presented it in such relief that we ceased to think of it as a +picture. So definite and insistent was the image, that even while +knowing it was false we could not help, for a moment, being affected, +as it were, by his hallucination."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_262_262" id="Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> "Though," John Ballantyne told Lockhart, "he often turned +himself on his pillow with a groan of torment, he usually continued +the sentence in the same breath. But when dialogue of peculiar animation +was in progress, spirit seemed to triumph altogether over matter—he +arose from his couch and walked up and down the room, raising +and lowering his voice, and as it were acting the parts." <i>Lockhart</i>, +vi. 67-8. The statement of James Ballantyne is at p. 89 of the same +volume. The original incidents on which Scott had founded the tale +he remembered, but "not a single character woven by the romancer, +not one of the many scenes and points of humour, nor anything with +which he was connected as the writer of the work."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_263_263" id="Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> "Do you know <i>Master Humphrey's Clock!</i> I admire Nell in the +<i>Old Curiosity Shop</i> exceedingly. The whole thing is a good deal +borrowed from <i>Wilhelm Meister</i>. But little Nell is a far purer, lovelier, +more <i>English</i> conception than Mignon, treasonable as the saying +would seem to some. No doubt it was suggested by Mignon."—Sara +Coleridge to Aubrey de Vere (<i>Memoirs and Letters</i>, ii. 269-70). Expressing +no opinion on this comparison, I may state it as within +my knowledge that the book referred to was not then known to +Dickens.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_264_264" id="Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> The distinction I then pointed out was remarked by Sara Coleridge +(<i>Memoirs and Letters</i>, ii. 169) in writing of her children. "They +like to talk to me . . . above all about the productions of Dickens, the +never-to-be-exhausted fun of <i>Pickwick</i>, and the capital new strokes of +<i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>. This last work contains, besides all the fun, some +very marked and available morals. I scarce know any book in which +the evil and odiousness of selfishness are more forcibly brought out, or +in a greater variety of exhibitions. In the midst of the merry quotations, +or at least on any fair opportunity, I draw the boys' attention to +these points."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_265_265" id="Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> All the remarks in my text had been some time in type when Lord +Lytton sent me what follows, from one of his father's manuscript (and +unpublished) note-books. Substantially it agrees with what I have +said; and such unconscious testimony of a brother novelist of so high +a rank, careful in the study of his art, is of special value. "The +greatest masters of the novel of modern manners have generally availed +themselves of Humour for the illustration of manners; and have, with +a deep and true, but perhaps unconscious, knowledge of art, pushed +the humour almost to the verge of caricature. For, as the serious +ideal requires a certain exaggeration in the proportions of the natural, +so also does the ludicrous. Thus Aristophanes, in painting the +humours of his time, resorts to the most poetical extravagance of +machinery, and calls the Clouds in aid of his ridicule of philosophy, +or summons Frogs and Gods to unite in his satire on Euripides. The +Don Quixote of Cervantes never lived, nor, despite the vulgar belief, +ever could have lived, in Spain; but the art of the portrait is in the +admirable exaltation of the humorous by means of the exaggerated. +With more or less qualification, the same may be said of Parson +Adams, of Sir Roger de Coverley, and even of the Vicar of Wakefield. . . . +It follows therefore that art and correctness are far from identical, +and that the one is sometimes proved by the disdain of the other. +For the ideal, whether humorous or serious, does not consist in the +imitation but in the exaltation of nature. And we must accordingly +enquire of art, not how far it resembles what we have seen, so much as +how far it embodies what we can imagine."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_266_266" id="Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> I cannot refuse myself the satisfaction of quoting, from the best +criticism of Dickens I have seen since his death, remarks very pertinent +to what is said in my text. "Dickens possessed an imagination +unsurpassed, not only in vividness, but in swiftness. I have intentionally +avoided all needless comparisons of his works with those of +other writers of his time, some of whom have gone before him to their +rest, while others survive to gladden the darkness and relieve the +monotony of our daily life. But in the power of his imagination—of +this I am convinced—he surpassed them, one and all. That imagination +could call up at will those associations which, could we but summon +them in their full number, would bind together the human family, +and make that expression no longer a name, but a living reality. . . . +Such associations sympathy alone can warm into life, and imagination +alone can at times discern. The great humourist reveals them to +every one of us; and his genius is indeed an inspiration from no +human source, in that it enables him to render this service to the +brotherhood of mankind. But more than this. So marvellously has +this earth become the inheritance of mankind, that there is not a thing +upon it, animate or inanimate, with which, or with the likeness of +which, man's mind has not come into contact; . . . with which +human feelings, aspirations, thoughts, have not acquired an endless +variety of single or subtle associations. . . . These also, which we +imperfectly divine or carelessly pass by, the imagination of genius distinctly +reveals to us, and powerfully impresses upon us. When they +appeal directly to the emotions of the heart, it is the power of Pathos +which has awakened them; and when the suddenness, the unexpectedness, +the apparent oddity of the one by the side of the other, strike +the mind with irresistible force, it is the equally divine gift of Humour +which has touched the spring of laughter by the side of the spring of +tears."—<i>Charles Dickens. A Lecture by Professor Ward. Delivered +in Manchester, 30th November, 1870.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_267_267" id="Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> The opening of this letter (25th of August 1859), referring to a +conviction for murder, afterwards reversed by a Home Office pardon +against the continued and steadily expressed opinion of the judge who +tried the case, is much too characteristic of the writer to be lost. "I +cannot easily tell you how much interested I am by what you tell +me of our brave and excellent friend. . . . I have often had more than +half a mind to write and thank that upright judge. I declare to +heaven that I believe such a service one of the greatest that a man of +intellect and courage can render to society. . . . Of course I have been +driving the girls out of their wits here, by incessantly proclaiming that +there needed no medical evidence either way, and that the case was +plain without it. . . . Lastly of course (though a merciful man—because +a merciful man, I mean), I would hang any Home Secretary, Whig, +Tory, Radical, or otherwise, who should step in between so black a +scoundrel and the gallows. . . . I am reminded of Tennyson by thinking +that King Arthur would have made short work of the amiable man! +How fine the Idylls are! Lord! what a blessed thing it is to read a +man who really can write. I thought nothing could be finer than the +first poem, till I came to the third; but when I had read the last, it +seemed to me to be absolutely unapproachable." Other literary +likings rose and fell with him, but he never faltered in his allegiance +to Tennyson.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_268_268" id="Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> Mr. Grant White, whose edition of Shakespeare has been received +with much respect in England.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_269_269" id="Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> A dear friend now gone, used laughingly to relate what outcry +there used to be, on the night of the week when a number was due, +for "that Pip nonsense!" and what roars of laughter followed, though +at first it was entirely put aside as not on any account to have time +wasted over it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_270_270" id="Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> There was no Chapter xx. as now; but the sentence which opens +it ("For eleven years" in the original, altered to "eight years") followed +the paragraph about his business partnership with Herbert, and +led to Biddy's question whether he is sure he does not fret for Estella +("I am sure and certain, Biddy" as originally written, altered to "O +no—I think not, Biddy"): from which point here was the close. "It +was two years more, before I saw herself. I had heard of her as leading +a most unhappy life, and as being separated from her husband +who had used her with great cruelty, and who had become quite renowned +as a compound of pride, brutality, and meanness. I had +heard of the death of her husband (from an accident consequent on +ill-treating a horse), and of her being married again to a Shropshire +doctor, who, against his interest, had once very manfully interposed, +on an occasion when he was in professional attendance on Mr. +Drummle, and had witnessed some outrageous treatment of her. I had +heard that the Shropshire doctor was not rich, and that they lived on +her own personal fortune. I was in England again—in London, and +walking along Piccadilly with little Pip—when a servant came running +after me to ask would I step back to a lady in a carriage who wished +to speak to me. It was a little pony carriage, which the lady was +driving; and the lady and I looked sadly enough on one another. +'I am greatly changed, I know; but I thought you would like to +shake hands with Estella too, Pip. Lift up that pretty child and let +me kiss it!' (She supposed the child, I think, to be my child.) I was +very glad afterwards to have had the interview; for, in her face and in +her voice, and in her touch, she gave me the assurance, that suffering +had been stronger than Miss Havisham's teaching, and had given her +a heart to understand what my heart used to be."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_271_271" id="Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> On this reproach, from a Jewish lady whom he esteemed, he had +written two years before. "Fagin, in <i>Oliver Twist</i>, is a Jew, because +it unfortunately was true, of the time to which that story refers, that +that class of criminal almost invariably <i>was</i> a Jew. But surely no +sensible man or woman of your persuasion can fail to observe—firstly, +that all the rest of the wicked <i>dramatis personæ</i> are Christians; and, +secondly, that he is called 'The Jew,' not because of his religion, but +because of his race."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_272_272" id="Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> Mr. Marcus Stone had, upon the separate issue of the <i>Tale of +Two Cities</i>, taken the place of Mr. Hablot Browne as his illustrator. +<i>Hard Times</i> and the first edition of <i>Great Expectations</i> were not illustrated; +but when Pip's story appeared in one volume, Mr. Stone contributed +designs for it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_273_273" id="Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> He thus spoke of it in his "Postscript in lieu of Preface" (dated +2nd of September 1865), which accompanied the last number of the +story under notice. "On Friday the ninth of June in the present +year, Mr. and Mrs. Boffin (in their manuscript dress of receiving Mr. +and Mrs. Lammle at breakfast) were on the South-Eastern Railway +with me, in a terribly destructive accident. When I had done what I +could to help others, I climbed back into my carriage—nearly turned +over a viaduct, and caught aslant upon the turn—to extricate the +worthy couple. They were much soiled, but otherwise unhurt. The +same happy result attended Miss Bella Wilfer on her wedding-day, +and Mr. Riderhood inspecting Bradley Headstone's red neckerchief +as he lay asleep. I remember with devout thankfulness that I can +never be much nearer parting company with my readers for ever, than +I was then, until there shall be written against my life the two words +with which I have this day closed this book—<span class="smcap">The End</span>."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_274_274" id="Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> I borrow this language from the Bishop of Manchester, who, on +the third day after Dickens's death, in the Abbey where he was so +soon to be laid, closed a plea for the toleration of differences of opinion +where the foundations of religious truth are accepted, with these words. +"It will not be out of harmony with the line of thought we have been +pursuing—certainly it will be in keeping with the associations of this +place, dear to Englishmen, not only as one of the proudest Christian temples, +but as containing the memorials of so many who by their genius +in arts, or arms, or statesmanship, or literature, have made England +what she is—if in the simplest and briefest words I allude to that sad +and unexpected death which has robbed English literature of one of +its highest living ornaments, and the news of which, two mornings ago, +must have made every household in England feel as though they had +lost a personal friend. He has been called in one notice an apostle +of the people. I suppose it is meant that he had a mission, but in a +style and fashion of his own; a gospel, a cheery, joyous, gladsome +message, which the people understood, and by which they could hardly +help being bettered; for it was the gospel of kindliness, of brotherly +love, of sympathy in the widest sense of the word. I am sure I have +felt in myself the healthful spirit of his teaching. Possibly we might +not have been able to subscribe to the same creed in relation to God, +but I think we should have subscribed to the same creed in relation to +man. He who has taught us our duty to our fellow men better than +we knew it before, who knew so well to weep with them that wept, +and to rejoice with them that rejoiced, who has shown forth in all his +knowledge of the dark corners of the earth how much sunshine may +rest upon the lowliest lot, who had such evident sympathy with suffering, +and such a natural instinct of purity that there is scarcely a page +of the thousands he has written which might not be put into the hands +of a little child, must be regarded by those who recognise the diversity +of the gifts of the spirit as a teacher sent from God. He would have +been welcomed as a fellow-labourer in the common interests of humanity +by Him who asked the question 'If a man love not his brother +whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_275_275" id="Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> Among these I think he was most delighted with the great +naturalist and philosopher, Agassiz, whose death is unhappily announced +while I write, and as to whom it will no longer be unbecoming +to quote his allusion. "Agassiz, who married the last Mrs. Felton's +sister, is not only one of the most accomplished but the most natural +and jovial of men." Again he says: "I cannot tell you how pleased +I was by Agassiz, a most charming fellow, or how I have regretted his +seclusion for a while by reason of his mother's death." A valued correspondent, +Mr. Grant Wilson, sends me a list of famous Americans +who greeted Dickens at his first visit, and in the interval had passed +away. "It is melancholy to contemplate the large number of American +authors who had, between the first and second visits of Mr. +Dickens, 'gone hence, to be no more seen.' The sturdy Cooper, the +gentle Irving, his friend and kinsman Paulding, Prescott the historian +and Percival the poet, the eloquent Everett, Nathaniel Hawthorne, +Edgar A. Poe, N. P. Willis, the genial Halleck, and many lesser lights, +including Prof. Felton and Geo. P. Morris, had died during the +quarter of a century that elapsed between Dickens's visits to this country, +leaving a new generation of writers to extend the hand of friendship +to him on his second coming."—Let me add to this that Dickens +was pleased, at this second visit, to see his old secretary who had +travelled so agreeably with him through his first tour of triumph. +"He would have known him anywhere."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_276_276" id="Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> few days later he described it to his daughter. "I couldn't +help laughing at myself on my birthday at Washington; it was observed +so much as though I were a little boy. Flowers and garlands +of the most exquisite kind, arranged in all manner of green baskets, +bloomed over the room; letters radiant with good wishes poured in; +a shirt pin, a handsome silver travelling bottle, a set of gold shirt studs, +and a set of gold sleeve links, were on the dinner table. Also, by +hands unknown, the hall at night was decorated; and after <i>Boots at the +Holly Tree</i>, the whole audience rose and remained, great people and +all, standing and cheering, until I went back to the table and made +them a little speech."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_277_277" id="Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> Mr. Dolby unconsciously contributed at this time to the same +happy result by sending out some advertisements in these exact words: +"The Reading will be comprised within <i>two minutes</i>, and the audience +are earnestly entreated to be seated <i>ten hours</i> before its commencement." +He had transposed the minutes and the hours.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_278_278" id="Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> What follows is from the close of the letter. "On my return, I +have arranged with Chappell to take my leave of reading for good and +all, in a hundred autumnal and winter Farewells <i>for ever</i>. I return +by the Cunard steam-ship 'Russia.' I had the second officer's cabin +on deck, when I came out; and I am to have the chief steward's going +home. Cunard was so considerate as to remember that it will be on +the sunny side of the vessel."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_279_279" id="Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> Here was his account of his mode of living for his last ten weeks +in America. "I cannot eat (to anything like the necessary extent) and +have established this system. At 7 in the morning, in bed, a tumbler +of new cream and two tablespoonsful of rum. At 12, a sherry cobbler +and a biscuit. At 3 (dinner time) a pint of champagne. At five minutes +to 8, an egg beaten up with a glass of sherry. Between the parts, +the strongest beef tea that can be made, drunk hot. At a quarter past +10, soup, and any little thing to drink that I can fancy. I do not eat +more than half a pound of solid food in the whole four-and-twenty +hours, if so much."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_280_280" id="Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> Here is the newspaper account: "At about five o'clock on Saturday +the hosts began to assemble, but at 5.30 news was received that +the expected guest had succumbed to a painful affection of the foot. +In a short time, however, another bulletin announced Mr. Dickens's +intention to attend the dinner at all hazards. At a little after six, +having been assisted up the stairs, he was joined by Mr. Greeley, and +the hosts forming in two lines silently permitted the distinguished gentlemen +to pass through. Mr. Dickens limped perceptibly; his right +foot was swathed, and he leaned heavily on the arm of Mr. Greeley. +He evidently suffered great pain."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_281_281" id="Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> "I think I shall be pretty correct in both places as to the run being +on the Final readings. We had an immense house here" (Edinburgh, +12th of December) "last night, and a very large turnaway. But Glasgow +being shady and the charges very great, it will be the most we can +do, I fancy, on these first Scotch readings, to bring the Chappells safely +home (as to them) without loss."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_282_282" id="Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> The close of the letter has an amusing picture which I may be +excused for printing in a note. "The only news that will interest you +is that the good-natured Reverdy Johnson, being at an Art Dinner in +Glasgow the other night, and falling asleep over the post-prandial +speeches (only too naturally), woke suddenly on hearing the name of +'Johnson' in a list of Scotch painters which one of the orators was +enumerating; at once plunged up, under the impression that somebody +was drinking his health; and immediately, and with overflowing +amiability, began returning thanks. The spectacle was then presented +to the astonished company, of the American Eagle being restrained by +the coat tails from swooping at the moon, while the smaller birds +endeavoured to explain to it how the case stood, and the cock robin in +possession of the chairman's eye twittered away as hard as he could +split. I am told that it was wonderfully droll."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_283_283" id="Footnote_283_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> I take from the letter a mention of the effect on a friend. "The +night before last, unable to get in, B. had a seat behind the screen, and +was nearly frightened off it, by the Murder. Every vestige of colour +had left his face when I came off, and he sat staring over a glass of +champagne in the wildest way."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_284_284" id="Footnote_284_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> In this letter Dickens wrote: "I thank you heartily" (23rd of June +1869) "for your great kindness and interest. It would really pain me +if I thought you could seriously doubt my implicit reliance on your +professional skill and advice. I feel as certain now as I felt when you +came to see me on my breaking down through over fatigue, that the +injunction you laid upon me to stop in my course of Readings was +necessary and wise. And to its firmness I refer (humanly speaking) +my speedy recovery from that moment. I would on no account have +resumed, even on the turn of this year, without your sanction. Your +friendly aid will never be forgotten by me; and again I thank you for +it with all my heart."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_285_285" id="Footnote_285_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> In drawing the agreement for the publication, Mr. Ouvry had, +by Dickens's wish, inserted a clause thought to be altogether needless, +but found to be sadly pertinent. It was the first time such a +clause had been inserted in one of his agreements. "That if the said +Charles Dickens shall die during the composition of the said work of +the <i>Mystery of Edwin Drood</i>, or shall otherwise become incapable of +completing the said work for publication in twelve monthly numbers as +agreed, it shall be referred to John Forster, Esq, one of Her Majesty's +Commissioners in Lunacy, or in the case of his death, incapacity, or +refusal to act, then to such person as shall be named by Her Majesty's +Attorney-General for the time being, to determine the amount which +shall be repaid by the said Charles Dickens, his executors or administrators, +to the said Frederic Chapman as a fair compensation for so +much of the said work as shall not have been completed for publication." +The sum to be paid at once for 25,000 copies was £7500; publisher +and author sharing equally in the profit of all sales beyond that +impression; and the number reached, while the author yet lived, was +50,000. The sum paid for early sheets to America was £1000; and +Baron Tauchnitz paid liberally, as he always did, for his Leipzig +reprint. "All Mr. Dickens's works," M. Tauchnitz writes to me, +"have been published under agreement by me. My intercourse with +him lasted nearly twenty-seven years. The first of his letters dates in +October 1843, and his last at the close of March 1870. Our long relations +were not only never troubled by the least disagreement, but +were the occasion of most hearty personal feeling; and I shall never +lose the sense of his kind and friendly nature. On my asking him his +terms for <i>Edwin Drood</i>, he replied 'Your terms shall be mine.'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_286_286" id="Footnote_286_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> "I have a very remarkable story indeed for you to read. It is in +only two chapters. A thing never to melt into other stories in the +mind, but always to keep itself apart." The story was published in +the 37th number of the new series of <i>All the Year Round</i>, with the +title of "An Experience." The "new series" had been started to +break up the too great length of volumes in sequence, and the only +change it announced was the discontinuance of Christmas Numbers. +He had tired of them himself; and, observing the extent to which they +were now copied in all directions (as usual with other examples set by +him), he supposed them likely to become tiresome to the public.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_287_287" id="Footnote_287_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> The reader curious in such matters will be helped to the clue for +much of this portion of the plot by reference to pp. 90, 103, and 109, +in Chapters XII, XIII, and XIV.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_288_288" id="Footnote_288_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> I subjoin what has been written to me by an American correspondent. +"I went lately with the same inspector who accompanied +Dickens to see the room of the opium-smokers, old Eliza and her Lascar +or Bengalee friend. There a fancy seized me to buy the bedstead +which figures so accurately in <i>Edwin Drood</i>, in narrative and picture. +I gave the old woman a pound for it, and have it now packed and +ready for shipment to New York. Another American bought a pipe. +So you see we have heartily forgiven the novelist his pleasantries at +our expense. Many military men who came to England from America +refuse to register their titles, especially if they be Colonels; all the +result of the basting we got on that score in <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i>."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_289_289" id="Footnote_289_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> Mr. Grant Wilson has sent me an extract from a letter by Fitz-Greene +Halleck (author of one of the most delightful poems ever +written about Burns) which exactly expresses Dickens as he was, not +only in 1842, but, as far as the sense of authorship went, all his life. +It was addressed to Mrs. Rush of Philadelphia, and is dated the 8th +of March 1842. "You ask me about Mr. Boz. I am quite delighted +with him. He is a thorough good fellow, with nothing of the author +about him but the reputation, and goes through his task as Lion with +exemplary grace, patience, and good nature. He has the brilliant +face of a man of genius. . . . His writings you know. I wish you had +listened to his eloquence at the dinner here. It was the only real +specimen of eloquence I have ever witnessed. Its charm was not in +its words, but in the manner of saying them."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_290_290" id="Footnote_290_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> In a volume called <i>Home and Abroad</i>, by Mr. David Macrae, is +printed a correspondence with Dickens on matters alluded to in the +text, held in 1861, which will be found to confirm all that is here said.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_291_291" id="Footnote_291_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> This letter is facsimile'd in <i>A Christmas Memorial of Charles +Dickens by A. B. Hume</i> (1870), containing an Ode to his Memory +written with feeling and spirit.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_292_292" id="Footnote_292_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> I may quote here from a letter (Newcastle-on-Tyne, 5th Sept. +1858) sent me by the editor of the <i>Northern Express</i>. "The view you +take of the literary character in the abstract, or of what it might and +ought to be, expresses what I have striven for all through my literary +life—never to allow it to be patronized, or tolerated, or treated like a +good or a bad child. I am always animated by the hope of leaving it +a little better understood by the thoughtless than I found it."—To +James B. Manson, Esq.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_293_293" id="Footnote_293_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> Henry Ryder-Taylor, Esq. Ph.D. 8th Sept. 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_294_294" id="Footnote_294_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> By way of instance I subjoin an amusing insertion made by him +in an otherwise indifferently written paper descriptive of the typical +Englishman on the foreign stage, which gives in more comic detail experiences +of his own already partly submitted to the reader (<a href="#Page_2_294">ii. 127</a>). +"In a pretty piece at the Gymnase in Paris, where the prime minister +of England unfortunately ruined himself by speculating in railway +shares, a thorough-going English servant appeared under that thorough-going +English name Tom Bob—the honest fellow having been christened +Tom, and born the lawful son of Mr. and Mrs. Bob. In an +Italian adaptation of <span class="smcap">Dumas</span>' preposterous play of <span class="smcap">Kean</span>, which we +once saw at the great theatre of Genoa, the curtain rose upon that +celebrated tragedian, drunk and fast asleep in a chair, attired in a dark +blue blouse fastened round the waist with a broad belt and a most prodigious +buckle, and wearing a dark red hat of the sugar-loaf shape, +nearly three feet high. He bore in his hand a champagne-bottle, with +the label <span class="smcap">Rhum</span>, in large capital letters, carefully turned towards the +audience; and two or three dozen of the same popular liquor, which +we are nationally accustomed to drink neat as imported, by the half +gallon, ornamented the floor of the apartment. Every frequenter of +the Coal Hole tavern in the Strand, on that occasion, wore a sword +and a beard. Every English lady, presented on the stage in Italy, +wears a green veil; and almost every such specimen of our fair countrywomen +carries a bright red reticule, made in the form of a monstrous +heart. We do not remember to have ever seen an Englishman +on the Italian stage, or in the Italian circus, without a stomach like +Daniel Lambert, an immense shirt-frill, and a bunch of watch-seals +each several times larger than his watch, though the watch itself was +an impossible engine. And we have rarely beheld this mimic Englishman, +without seeing present, then and there, a score of real Englishmen +sufficiently characteristic and unlike the rest of the audience, +to whom he bore no shadow of resemblance." These views as to +English people and society, of which Count d'Orsay used always to +say that an average Frenchman knew about as much as he knew of +the inhabitants of the moon, may receive amusing addition from one +of Dickens's letters during his last visit to France; which enclosed a +cleverly written Paris journal containing essays on English manners. +In one of these the writer remarked that he had heard of the venality +of English politicians, but could not have supposed it to be so shameless +as it is, for, when he went to the House of Commons, he heard +them call out "Places! Places!" "Give us Places!" when the Minister +entered.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_295_295" id="Footnote_295_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> The letter is addressed to Miss Harriet Parr, whose book called +<i>Gilbert Massenger</i> is the tale referred to.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_296_296" id="Footnote_296_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> See the introductory memoir from his pen now prefixed to every +edition of the popular and delightful <i>Legends and Lyrics</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_297_297" id="Footnote_297_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> On this remonstrance and Dickens's reply the <i>Times</i> had a leading +article of which the closing sentences find fitting place in his biography. +"If there be anything in Lord Russell's theory that Life Peerages are +wanted specially to represent those forms of national eminence which +cannot otherwise find fitting representation, it might be urged, for the +reasons we have before mentioned, that a Life Peerage is due to the +most truly national representative of one important department of +modern English literature. Something may no doubt be said in favour +of this view, but we are inclined to doubt if Mr. Dickens himself would +gain anything by a Life Peerage. Mr. Dickens is pre-eminently a +writer of the people and for the people. To our thinking, he is far +better suited for the part of the 'Great Commoner' of English fiction +than for even a Life Peerage. To turn Charles Dickens into Lord +Dickens would be much the same mistake in literature that it was in +politics to turn William Pitt into Lord Chatham."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_298_298" id="Footnote_298_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> One of the many repetitions of the same opinion in his letters may +be given. "Lord John's note" (September 1853) "confirms me in an +old impression that he is worth a score of official men; and has more +generosity in his little finger than a Government usually has in its +whole corporation." In another of his public allusions, Dickens +described him as a statesman of whom opponents and friends alike +felt sure that he would rise to the level of every occasion, however +exalted; and compared him to the seal of Solomon in the old Arabian +story inclosing in a not very large casket the soul of a giant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_299_299" id="Footnote_299_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> In a memoir by Dr. Shelton McKenzie which has had circulation +in America, there is given the following statement, taken doubtless +from publications at the time, of which it will be strictly accurate to +say, that, excepting the part of its closing averment which describes +Dickens sending a copy of his works to her Majesty by her own desire, +<i>there is in it not a single word of truth</i>. "Early in 1870 the Queen +presented a copy of her book upon the Highlands to Mr. Dickens, +with the modest autographic inscription, 'from the humblest to the +most distinguished author of England.' This was meant to be complimentary, +and was accepted as such by Mr. Dickens, who acknowledged +it in a manly, courteous letter. Soon after, Queen Victoria wrote +to him, requesting that he would do her the favour of paying her a +visit at Windsor. He accepted, and passed a day, very pleasantly, +in his Sovereign's society. It is said that they were mutually pleased, +that Mr. Dickens caught the royal lady's particular humour, that they +chatted together in a very friendly manner, that the Queen was never +tired of asking questions about certain characters in his books, that +they had almost a <i>tête-à-tête</i> luncheon, and that, ere he departed, the +Queen pressed him to accept a baronetcy (a title which descends to the +eldest son), and that, on his declining, she said, 'At least, Mr. Dickens, +let me have the gratification of making you one of my Privy Council.' +This, which gives the personal title of 'Right Honourable,' he also +declined—nor, indeed, did Charles Dickens require a title to give him +celebrity. The Queen and the author parted, well pleased with each +other. The newspapers reported that a peerage had been offered and +declined—<i>but even newspapers are not invariably correct</i>. Mr. Dickens +presented his Royal Mistress with a handsome set of all his works, +and, on the very morning of his death, a letter reached Gad's Hill, +written by Mr. Arthur Helps, by her desire, acknowledging the present, +and describing the exact position the books occupied at Balmoral—so +placed that she could see them before her when occupying the usual +seat in her sitting-room. When this letter arrived, Mr. Dickens was +still alive, but wholly unconscious. What to him, at that time, was +the courtesy of an earthly sovereign?" I repeat that the only morsel +of truth in all this rigmarole is that the books were sent by Dickens, +and acknowledged by Mr. Helps at the Queen's desire. The letter +did not arrive on the day of his death, the 9th of June, but was dated +from Balmoral on that day.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_300_300" id="Footnote_300_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> The book was thus entered in the catalogue. "<span class="smcap">Dickens (C.), +A Christmas Carol</span>, in prose, 1843; <i>Presentation Copy</i>, inscribed +'<i>W. M. Thackeray, from Charles Dickens (whom he made very happy +once a long way from home</i>).'" Some pleasant verses by his friend +had affected him much while abroad. I quote the Life of Dickens +published by Mr. Hotten. "Her Majesty expressed the strongest +desire to possess this presentation copy, and sent an unlimited commission +to buy it. The original published price of the book was 5<i>s.</i> +It became Her Majesty's property for £25 10<i>s.</i>, and was at once taken +to the palace."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_301_301" id="Footnote_301_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> "In Memoriam" by Arthur Helps, in <i>Macmillan's Magazine</i> for +July 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_302_302" id="Footnote_302_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> An entry, under the date of July 1833, from a printed but unpublished +Diary by Mr. Payne Collier, appeared lately in the <i>Athenæum</i>, +having reference to Dickens at the time when he first obtained employment +as a reporter, and connecting itself with what my opening +volume had related of those childish sufferings. "Soon afterwards +I observed a great difference in C. D.'s dress, for he had bought a new +hat and a very handsome blue cloak, which he threw over his shoulder +<i>à l' Espagnole</i>. . . . We walked together through Hungerford Market, +where we followed a coal-heaver, who carried his little rosy but grimy +child looking over his shoulder; and C. D. bought a halfpenny-worth +of cherries, and as we went along he gave them one by one to the +little fellow without the knowledge of the father. . . . He informed me +as we walked through it that he knew Hungerford Market well. . . . +He did not affect to conceal the difficulties he and his family had had +to contend against."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_303_303" id="Footnote_303_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> I desire to guard myself against any possible supposition that I +think these Readings might have been stopped by the exercise of medical +authority. I am convinced of the contrary. Dickens had pledged +himself to them; and the fact that others' interests were engaged rather +than his own supplied him with an overpowering motive for being +determinedly set on going through with them. At the sorrowful time +in the preceding year, when, yielding to the stern sentence passed by +Sir Thomas Watson, he had dismissed finally the staff employed on +his country readings, he had thus written to me. "I do believe" (3rd +of May 1869) "that such people as the Chappells are very rarely to be +found in human affairs. To say nothing of their noble and munificent +manner of sweeping away into space all the charges incurred uselessly, +and all the immense inconvenience and profitless work thrown +upon their establishment, comes a note this morning from the senior +partner, to the effect that they feel that my overwork has been 'indirectly +caused by them, and by my great and kind exertions to make +their venture successful to the extreme.' There is something so delicate +and fine in this, that I feel it deeply." That feeling led to his +resolve to make the additional exertion of these twelve last readings, +and nothing would have turned him from it as long as he could stand +at the desk.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_304_304" id="Footnote_304_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> I preserve also the closing words of the letter. "It is very strange—you +remember I suppose?—that the last time we spoke of him together, +you said that we should one day hear that the wayward life +into which he had fallen was over, and there an end of our knowledge +of it." The waywardness, which was merely the having latterly withdrawn +himself too much from old friendly intercourse, had its real +origin in disappointments connected with the public work on which he +was engaged in those later years, and to which he sacrificed every +private interest of his own. His was only the common fate of Englishmen, +so engaged, who do this; and when the real story of the "Fresco-painting +for the Houses of Parliament" comes to be written, it will +be another chapter added to our national misadventures and reproaches +in everything connected with Art and its hapless cultivators.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_305_305" id="Footnote_305_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> It is a duty to quote these eloquent words. "Statesmen, men of +science, philanthropists, the acknowledged benefactors of their race, +might pass away, and yet not leave the void which will be caused by +the death of Dickens. They may have earned the esteem of mankind; +their days may have been passed in power, honour, and prosperity; +they may have been surrounded by troops of friends; but, however +pre-eminent in station, ability, or public services, they will not have +been, like our great and genial novelist, the intimate of every household. +Indeed, such a position is attained not even by one man in an age. It +needs an extraordinary combination of intellectual and moral qualities . . . +before the world will thus consent to enthrone a man as their unassailable +and enduring favourite. This is the position which Mr. Dickens +has occupied with the English and also with the American public for +the third of a century. . . . Westminster Abbey is the peculiar resting-place +of English literary genius; and among those whose sacred dust +lies there, or whose names are recorded on the walls, very few are +more worthy than Charles Dickens of such a home. Fewer still, we +believe, will be regarded with more honour as time passes and his +greatness grows upon us."</p></div></div> +<p><br /></p> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> +<p>Varied hyphenation and capitalization of Devonshire Terrace was retained. Also fac-simile +and facsimile. Varied spelling of A'Beckett/A'Becket was retained.</p> +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. +I-III, Complete, by John Forster + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS *** + +***** This file should be named 25851-h.htm or 25851-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/8/5/25851/ + +Produced by Emmy, Juliet Sutherland, Andrew Templeton and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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