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diff --git a/25853-8.txt b/25853-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf10750 --- /dev/null +++ b/25853-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17818 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Letters of Charles Dickens, by Charles Dickens + +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 Letters of Charles Dickens + Vol. 2 (of 3), 1857-1870 + +Author: Charles Dickens + +Editor: Mamie Dickens + Georgina Hogarth + +Release Date: June 20, 2008 [EBook #25853] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS *** + + + + +Produced by Susan Skinner, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +For the reader: Things that were handwritten are denoted in the text as +HW: + + + + +THE LETTERS + +OF + +[Illustration: HW: Charles Dickens] + + + + +THE LETTERS + +OF + +CHARLES DICKENS. + +EDITED BY + +HIS SISTER-IN-LAW AND HIS ELDEST DAUGHTER. + +=In Two Volumes.= + +VOL. II. + +1857 TO 1870. + + + + London: + CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. + 1880. + +[_The Right of Translation is Reserved._] + + + + +CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS. + + + + +ERRATA. + +VOL. II. + + + Page 84, line 35. For "South Kensington + Museum," _read_ "the South Kensington Museum." + + " 108, line 26. For "frequent contributor," + _read_ "a frequent contributor." + + " 113, lines 6, 7. For "great remonstrance," + _read_ "Great Remonstrance." + + " 130, line 10. For "after," _read_ "afore." + + " 160, " 32. For "a head," _read_ "ahead." + + " 247, " 12. For "Shea," _read_ "Shoe." + + " 292, " 12. For "Mabel's progress," _read_ + "Mabel's Progress." + + + + +=Book II.=--_Continued._ + + + + +THE + +LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS. + + + + +1857. + +NARRATIVE. + + +This was a very full year in many ways. In February, Charles Dickens +obtained possession of Gad's Hill, and was able to turn workmen into it. +In April he stayed, with his wife and sister-in-law, for a week or two +at Wate's Hotel, Gravesend, to be at hand to superintend the beginning +of his alterations of the house, and from thence we give a letter to +Lord Carlisle. He removed his family, for a summer residence in the +house, in June; and he finished "Little Dorrit" there early in the +summer. One of his first visitors at Gad's Hill was the famous writer, +Hans Christian Andersen. In January "The Frozen Deep" had been played at +the Tavistock House theatre with such great success, that it was +necessary to repeat it several times, and the theatre was finally +demolished at the end of that month. In June Charles Dickens heard, with +great grief, of the death of his dear friend Douglas Jerrold; and as a +testimony of admiration for his genius and affectionate regard for +himself, it was decided to organise, under the management of Charles +Dickens, a series of entertainments, "in memory of the late Douglas +Jerrold," the fund produced by them (a considerable sum) to be +presented to Mr. Jerrold's family. The amateur company, including many +of Mr. Jerrold's colleagues on "Punch," gave subscription performances +of "The Frozen Deep;" the Gallery of Illustration, in Regent Street, +being engaged for the purpose. Charles Dickens gave two readings at St. +Martin's Hall of "The Christmas Carol" (to such immense audiences and +with such success, that the idea of giving public readings for his _own_ +benefit first occurred to him at this time). The professional actors, +among them the famous veteran actor, Mr. T. P. Cooke, gave a performance +of Mr. Jerrold's plays of "The Rent Day" and "Black-eyed Susan," in +which Mr. T. P. Cooke sustained the character in which he had originally +made such great success when the play was written. A lecture was given +by Mr. Thackeray, and another by Mr. W. H. Russell. Finally, the Queen +having expressed a desire to see the play, which had been much talked of +during that season, there was another performance before her Majesty and +the Prince Consort at the Gallery of Illustration in July, and at the +end of that month Charles Dickens read his "Carol" in the Free Trade +Hall, at Manchester. And to wind up the "Memorial Fund" entertainments, +"The Frozen Deep" was played again at Manchester, also in the great Free +Trade Hall, at the end of August. For the business of these +entertainments he secured the assistance of Mr. Arthur Smith, of whom he +writes to Mr. Forster, at this time: "I have got hold of Arthur Smith, +as the best man of business I know, and go to work with him to-morrow +morning." And when he began his own public readings, both in town and +country, he felt himself most fortunate in having the co-operation of +this invaluable man of business, and also of his zealous friendship and +pleasant companionship. + +In July, his second son, Walter Landor, went to India as a cadet in the +"Company's service," from which he was afterwards transferred to the +42nd Royal Highlanders. His father and his elder brother went to see him +off, to Southampton. From this place Charles Dickens writes to Mr. +Edmund Yates, a young man in whom he had been interested from his +boyhood, both for the sake of his parents and for his own sake, and for +whom he had always an affectionate regard. + +In September he made a short tour in the North of England, with Mr. +Wilkie Collins, out of which arose the "Lazy Tour of Two Idle +Apprentices," written by them jointly, and published in "Household +Words." Some letters to his sister-in-law during this expedition are +given here, parts of which (as is the case with many letters to his +eldest daughter and his sister-in-law) have been published in Mr. +Forster's book. + +The letters which follow are almost all on the various subjects +mentioned in our notes, and need little explanation. + +His letter to Mr. Procter makes allusion to a legacy lately left to that +friend. + +The letters to Mr. Dilke, the original and much-respected editor of "The +Athenæum," and to Mr. Forster, on the subject of the "Literary Fund," +refer, as the letters indicate, to a battle which they were carrying on +together with that institution. + +A letter to Mr. Frank Stone is an instance of his kind, patient, and +judicious criticism of a young writer, and the letter which follows it +shows how thoroughly it was understood and how perfectly appreciated by +the authoress of the "Notes" referred to. Another instance of the same +kind criticism is given in a second letter this year to Mr. Edmund +Yates. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. B. W. Procter.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _January 2nd, 1857._ + +MY DEAR PROCTER, + +I have to thank you for a delightful book, which has given me unusual +pleasure. My delight in it has been a little dashed by certain farewell +verses, but I have made up my mind (and you have no idea of the +obstinacy of my character) not to believe them. + +Perhaps it is not taking a liberty--perhaps it is--to congratulate you +on Kenyon's remembrance. Either way I can't help doing it with all my +heart, for I know no man in the world (myself excepted) to whom I would +rather the money went. + + Affectionately yours ever. + + +[Sidenote: Sir James Emerson Tennent.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _January 9th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR TENNENT, + + +I must thank you for your earnest and affectionate letter. It has given +me the greatest pleasure, mixing the play in my mind confusedly and +delightfully with Pisa, the Valetta, Naples, Herculanæum--God knows what +not. + +As to the play itself; when it is made as good as my care can make it, I +derive a strange feeling out of it, like writing a book in company; a +satisfaction of a most singular kind, which has no exact parallel in my +life; a something that I suppose to belong to the life of a labourer in +art alone, and which has to me a conviction of its being actual truth +without its pain, that I never could adequately state if I were to try +never so hard. + +You touch so kindly and feelingly on the pleasure such little pains +give, that I feel quite sorry you have never seen this drama in progress +during the last ten weeks here. Every Monday and Friday evening during +that time we have been at work upon it. I assure you it has been a +remarkable lesson to my young people in patience, perseverance, +punctuality, and order; and, best of all, in that kind of humility which +is got from the earned knowledge that whatever the right hand finds to +do must be done with the heart in it, and in a desperate earnest. + +When I changed my dress last night (though I did it very quickly), I was +vexed to find you gone. I wanted to have secured you for our green-room +supper, which was very pleasant. If by any accident you should be free +next Wednesday night (our last), pray come to that green-room supper. It +would give me cordial pleasure to have you there. + + Ever, my dear Tennent, very heartily yours. + + +[Sidenote: M. de Cerjat.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Monday Night, Jan, 17th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR CERJAT, + +So wonderfully do good (epistolary) intentions become confounded with +bad execution, that I assure you I laboured under a perfect and most +comfortable conviction that I had answered your Christmas Eve letter of +1855. More than that, in spite of your assertions to the contrary, I +still strenuously believe that I did so! I have more than half a mind +("Little Dorrit" and my other occupations notwithstanding) to charge you +with having forgotten my reply!! I have even a wild idea that Townshend +reproached me, when the last old year was new, with writing to you +instead of to him!!! We will argue it out, as well as we can argue +anything without poor dear Haldimand, when I come back to Elysée. In any +case, however, don't discontinue your annual letter, because it has +become an expected and a delightful part of the season to me. + +With one of the prettiest houses in London, and every conceivable (and +inconceivable) luxury in it, Townshend is voluntarily undergoing his own +sentence of transportation in Nervi, a beastly little place near Genoa, +where you would as soon find a herd of wild elephants in any villa as +comfort. He has a notion that he _must_ be out of England in the winter, +but I believe him to be altogether wrong (as I have just told him in a +letter), unless he could just take his society with him. + +Workmen are now battering and smashing down my theatre here, where we +have just been acting a new play of great merit, done in what I may call +(modestly speaking of the getting-up, and not of the acting) an +unprecedented way. I believe that anything so complete has never been +seen. We had an act at the North Pole, where the slightest and greatest +thing the eye beheld were equally taken from the books of the Polar +voyagers. Out of thirty people, there were certainly not two who might +not have gone straight to the North Pole itself, completely furnished +for the winter! It has been the talk of all London for these three +weeks. And now it is a mere chaos of scaffolding, ladders, beams, +canvases, paint-pots, sawdust, artificial snow, gas-pipes, and +ghastliness. I have taken such pains with it for these ten weeks in all +my leisure hours, that I feel now shipwrecked--as if I had never been +without a play on my hands before. A third topic comes up as this +ceases. + +Down at Gad's Hill, near Rochester, in Kent--Shakespeare's Gad's Hill, +where Falstaff engaged in the robbery--is a quaint little country-house +of Queen Anne's time. I happened to be walking past, a year and a half +or so ago, with my sub-editor of "Household Words," when I said to him: +"You see that house? It has always a curious interest for me, because +when I was a small boy down in these parts I thought it the most +beautiful house (I suppose because of its famous old cedar-trees) ever +seen. And my poor father used to bring me to look at it, and used to say +that if I ever grew up to be a clever man perhaps I might own that +house, or such another house. In remembrance of which, I have always in +passing looked to see if it was to be sold or let, and it has never been +to me like any other house, and it has never changed at all." We came +back to town, and my friend went out to dinner. Next morning he came to +me in great excitement, and said: "It is written that you were to have +that house at Gad's Hill. The lady I had allotted to me to take down to +dinner yesterday began to speak of that neighbourhood. 'You know it?' I +said; 'I have been there to-day.' 'O yes,' said she, 'I know it very +well. I was a child there, in the house they call Gad's Hill Place. My +father was the rector, and lived there many years. He has just died, has +left it to me, and I want to sell it.' 'So,' says the sub-editor, 'you +must buy it. Now or never!'" I did, and hope to pass next summer there, +though I may, perhaps, let it afterwards, furnished, from time to time. + +All about myself I find, and the little sheet nearly full! But I know, +my dear Cerjat, the subject will have its interest for you, so I give it +its swing. Mrs. Watson was to have been at the play, but most +unfortunately had three children sick of gastric fever, and could not +leave them. She was here some three weeks before, looking extremely well +in the face, but rather thin. I have not heard of your friend Mr. +Percival Skelton, but I much misdoubt an amateur artist's success in +this vast place. I hope you detected a remembrance of our happy visit to +the Great St. Bernard in a certain number of "Little Dorrit"? Tell Mrs. +Cerjat, with my love, that the opinions I have expressed to her on the +subject of cows have become matured in my mind by experience and +venerable age; and that I denounce the race as humbugs, who have been +getting into poetry and all sorts of places without the smallest reason. +Haldimand's housekeeper is an awful woman to consider. Pray give him our +kindest regards and remembrances, if you ever find him in a mood to take +it. "Our" means Mrs. Dickens's, Georgie's, and mine. We often, often +talk of our old days at Lausanne, and send loving regard to Mrs. Cerjat +and all your house. + + Adieu, my dear fellow; ever cordially yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _January 28th, 1857._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +Your friend and servant is as calm as Pecksniff, saving for his knitted +brows now turning into cordage over Little Dorrit. The theatre has +disappeared, the house is restored to its usual conditions of order, the +family are tranquil and domestic, dove-eyed peace is enthroned in this +study, fire-eyed radicalism in its master's breast. + +I am glad to hear that our poetess is at work again, and shall be very +much pleased to have some more contributions from her. + +Love from all to your dear sister, and to Katie, and to all the house. + +We dined yesterday at Frederick Pollock's. I begged an amazing +photograph of you, and brought it away. It strikes me as one of the most +ludicrous things I ever saw in my life. I think of taking a +public-house, and having it copied larger, for the size. You may +remember it? Very square and big--the Saracen's Head with its hair cut, +and in modern gear? Staring very hard? As your particular friend, I +would not part with it on any consideration. I will never get such a +wooden head again. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Mary Boyle.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _February 7th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR MARY, + + +Half-a-dozen words on this, my birthday, to thank you for your kind and +welcome remembrance, and to assure you that your Joseph is proud of it. + +For about ten minutes after his death, on each occasion of that event +occurring, Richard Wardour was in a floored condition. And one night, to +the great terror of Devonshire, the Arctic Regions, and Newfoundland +(all of which localities were afraid to speak to him, as his ghost sat +by the kitchen fire in its rags), he very nearly did what he never did, +went and fainted off, dead, again. But he always plucked up, on the turn +of ten minutes, and became facetious. + +Likewise he chipped great pieces out of all his limbs (solely, as I +imagine, from moral earnestness and concussion of passion, for I never +know him to hit himself in any way) and terrified Aldersley[1] to that +degree, by lunging at him to carry him into the cave, that the said +Aldersley always shook like a mould of jelly, and muttered, "By G----, +this is an awful thing!" + + Ever affectionately. + +P.S.--I shall never cease to regret Mrs. Watson's not having been there. + + +[Sidenote: Rev. James White.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Sunday, Feb. 8th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR WHITE, + +I send these lines by Mary and Katey, to report my love to all. + +Your note about the _Golden Mary_ gave me great pleasure; though I don't +believe in one part of it; for I honestly believe that your story, as +really belonging to the rest of the narrative, had been generally +separated from the other stories, and greatly liked. I had not that +particular shipwreck that you mention in my mind (indeed I doubt if I +know it), and John Steadiman merely came into my head as a staunch sort +of name that suited the character. The number has done "Household Words" +great service, and has decidedly told upon its circulation. + +You should have come to the play. I much doubt if anything so complete +will ever be seen again. An incredible amount of pains and ingenuity was +expended on it, and the result was most remarkable even to me. + +When are you going to send something more to H. W.? Are you lazy?? +Low-spirited??? Pining for Paris???? + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. C. W. Dilke.] + + OFFICE OF "HOUSEHOLD WORDS," _Thursday, March 19th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR MR. DILKE, + +Forster has another notion about the Literary Fund. Will you name a day +next week--that day being neither Thursday nor Saturday--when we shall +hold solemn council there at half-past four? + +For myself, I beg to report that I have my war-paint on, that I have +buried the pipe of peace, and am whooping for committee scalps. + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The Earl of Carlisle.] + + GRAVESEND, KENT, _Wednesday, April 15th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR LORD CARLISLE, + +I am writing by the river-side for a few days, and at the end of last +week ---- appeared here with your note of introduction. I was not in the +way; but as ---- had come express from London with it, Mrs. Dickens +opened it, and gave her (in the limited sense which was of no use to +her) an audience. She did not quite seem to know what she wanted of me. +But she said she had understood at Stafford House that I had a theatre +in which she could read; with a good deal of modesty and diffidence she +at last got so far. Now, my little theatre turns my house out of window, +costs fifty pounds to put up, and is only two months taken down; +therefore, is quite out of the question. This Mrs. Dickens explained, +and also my profound inability to do anything for ---- readings which +they could not do for themselves. She appeared fully to understand the +explanation, and indeed to have anticipated for herself how powerless I +must be in such a case. + +She described herself as being consumptive, and as being subject to an +effusion of blood from the lungs; about the last condition, one would +think, poor woman, for the exercise of public elocution as an art. + +Between ourselves, I think the whole idea a mistake, and have thought so +from its first announcement. It has a fatal appearance of trading upon +Uncle Tom, and am I not a man and a brother? which you may be by all +means, and still not have the smallest claim to my attention as a public +reader. The town is over-read from all the white squares on the +draught-board; it has been considerably harried from all the black +squares--now with the aid of old banjoes, and now with the aid of Exeter +Hall; and I have a very strong impression that it is by no means to be +laid hold of from this point of address. I myself, for example, am the +meekest of men, and in abhorrence of slavery yield to no human creature, +and yet I don't admit the sequence that I want Uncle Tom (or Aunt +Tomasina) to expound "King Lear" to me. And I believe my case to be the +case of thousands. + +I trouble you with this much about it, because I am naturally desirous +you should understand that if I could possibly have been of any service, +or have suggested anything to this poor lady, I would not have lost the +opportunity. But I cannot help her, and I assure you that I cannot +honestly encourage her to hope. I fear her enterprise has no hope in it. + +In your absence I have always followed you through the papers, and felt +a personal interest and pleasure in the public affection in which you +are held over there.[2] At the same time I must confess that I should +prefer to have you here, where good public men seem to me to be dismally +wanted. I have no sympathy with demagogues, but am a grievous Radical, +and think the political signs of the times to be just about as bad as +the spirit of the people will admit of their being. In all other +respects I am as healthy, sound, and happy as your kindness can wish. So +you will set down my political despondency as my only disease. + +On the tip-top of Gad's Hill, between this and Rochester, on the very +spot where Falstaff ran away, I have a pretty little old-fashioned +house, which I shall live in the hope of showing to you one day. Also I +have a little story respecting the manner in which it became mine, which +I hope (on the same occasion in the clouds) to tell you. Until then and +always, I am, dear Lord Carlisle, + + Yours very faithfully and obliged. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John Forster.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _May 13th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR FORSTER, + +I have gone over Dilke's memoranda, and I think it quite right and +necessary that those points should be stated. Nor do I see the least +difficulty in the way of their introduction into the pamphlet. But I do +not deem it possible to get the pamphlet written and published before +the dinner. I have so many matters pressing on my attention, that I +cannot turn to it immediately on my release from my book just finished. +It shall be done and distributed early next month. + +As to anything being lost by its not being in the hands of the people +who dine (as you seem to think), I have not the least misgiving on that +score. They would say, if it were issued, just what they will say +without it. + +Lord Granville is committed to taking the chair, and will make the best +speech he can in it. The pious ---- will cram him with as many +distortions of the truth as his stomach may be strong enough to receive. +----, with Bardolphian eloquence, will cool his nose in the modest +merits of the institution. ---- will make a neat and appropriate speech +on both sides, round the corner and over the way. And all this would be +done exactly to the same purpose and in just the same strain, if twenty +thousand copies of the pamphlet had been circulated. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Rev. James White.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Friday, May 22nd, 1857._ + +MY DEAR WHITE, + +My emancipation having been effected on Saturday, the ninth of this +month, I take some shame to myself for not having sooner answered your +note. But the host of things to be done as soon as I was free, and the +tremendous number of ingenuities to be wrought out at Gad's Hill, have +kept me in a whirl of their own ever since. + +We purpose going to Gad's Hill for the summer on the 1st of June; as, +apart from the master's eye being a necessary ornament to the spot, I +clearly see that the workmen yet lingering in the yard must be squeezed +out by bodily pressure, or they will never go. How will this suit you +and yours? If you will come down, we can take you all in, on your way +north; that is to say, we shall have that ample verge and room enough, +until about the eighth; when Hans Christian Andersen (who has been +"coming" for about three years) will come for a fortnight's stay in +England. I shall like you to see the little old-fashioned place. It +strikes me as being comfortable. + +So let me know your little game. And with love to Mrs. White, Lotty, and +Clara, + + Believe me, ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Frank Stone, A.R.A.] + + OFFICE OF "HOUSEHOLD WORDS," _Monday, June 1st, 1857._ + +MY DEAR STONE, + +I know that what I am going to say will not be agreeable; but I rely on +the authoress's good sense; and say it, knowing it to be the truth. + +These "Notes" are destroyed by too much smartness. It gives the +appearance of perpetual effort, stabs to the heart the nature that is in +them, and wearies by the manner and not by the matter. It is the +commonest fault in the world (as I have constant occasion to observe +here), but it is a very great one. Just as you couldn't bear to have an +épergne or a candlestick on your table, supported by a light figure +always on tiptoe and evidently in an impossible attitude for the +sustainment of its weight, so all readers would be more or less +oppressed and worried by this presentation of everything in one smart +point of view, when they know it must have other, and weightier, and +more solid properties. Airiness and good spirits are always delightful, +and are inseparable from notes of a cheerful trip; but they should +sympathise with many things as well as see them in a lively way. It is +but a word or a touch that expresses this humanity, but without that +little embellishment of good nature there is no such thing as humour. In +this little MS. everything is too much patronised and condescended to, +whereas the slightest touch of feeling for the rustic who is of the +earth earthy, or of sisterhood with the homely servant who has made her +face shine in her desire to please, would make a difference that the +writer can scarcely imagine without trying it. The only relief in the +twenty-one slips is the little bit about the chimes. It _is_ a relief, +simply because it is an indication of some kind of sentiment. You don't +want any sentiment laboriously made out in such a thing. You don't want +any maudlin show of it. But you do want a pervading suggestion that it +is there. It makes all the difference between being playful and being +cruel. Again I must say, above all things--especially to young people +writing: For the love of God don't condescend! Don't assume the attitude +of saying, "See how clever I am, and what fun everybody else is!" Take +any shape but that. + +I observe an excellent quality of observation throughout, and think the +boy at the shop, and all about him, particularly good. I have no doubt +whatever that the rest of the journal will be much better if the writer +chooses to make it so. If she considers for a moment within herself, she +will know that she derived pleasure from everything she saw, because she +saw it with innumerable lights and shades upon it, and bound to humanity +by innumerable fine links; she cannot possibly communicate anything of +that pleasure to another by showing it from one little limited point +only, and that point, observe, the one from which it is impossible to +detach the exponent as the patroness of a whole universe of inferior +souls. This is what everybody would mean in objecting to these notes +(supposing them to be published), that they are too smart and too +flippant. + +As I understand this matter to be altogether between us three, and as I +think your confidence, and hers, imposes a duty of friendship on me, I +discharge it to the best of my ability. Perhaps I make more of it than +you may have meant or expected; if so, it is because I am interested and +wish to express it. If there had been anything in my objection not +perfectly easy of removal, I might, after all, have hesitated to state +it; but that is not the case. A very little indeed would make all this +gaiety as sound and wholesome and good-natured in the reader's mind as +it is in the writer's. + + Affectionately always. + + +[Sidenote: Anonymous.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM, _Thursday, June 4th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR ---- + +Coming home here last night, from a day's business in London, I found +your most excellent note awaiting me, in which I have had a pleasure to +be derived from none but good and natural things. I can now honestly +assure you that I believe you will write _well_, and that I have a +lively hope that I may be the means of showing you yourself in print one +day. Your powers of graceful and light-hearted observation need nothing +but the little touches on which we are both agreed. And I am perfectly +sure that they will be as pleasant to you as to anyone, for nobody can +see so well as you do, without feeling kindly too. + +To confess the truth to you, I was half sorry, yesterday, that I had +been so unreserved; but not half as sorry, yesterday, as I am glad +to-day. You must not mind my adding that there is a noble candour and +modesty in your note, which I shall never be able to separate from you +henceforth. + + Affectionately yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry Austin.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Saturday, June 6th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR HENRY, + +Here is a very serious business on the great estate respecting the water +supply. Last night, they had pumped the well dry merely in raising the +family supply for the day; and this morning (very little water having +been got into the cisterns) it is dry again! It is pretty clear to me +that we must look the thing in the face, and at once bore deeper, dig, +or do some beastly thing or other, to secure this necessary in +abundance. Meanwhile I am in a most plaintive and forlorn condition +without your presence and counsel. I raise my voice in the wilderness +and implore the same!!! + +Wild legends are in circulation among the servants how that Captain +Goldsmith on the knoll above--the skipper in that crow's-nest of a +house--has millions of gallons of water always flowing for him. Can he +have damaged my well? Can we imitate him, and have our millions of +gallons? Goldsmith or I must fall, so I conceive. + +If you get this, send me a telegraph message informing me when I may +expect comfort. I am held by four of the family while I write this, in +case I should do myself a mischief--it certainly won't be taking to +drinking water. + + Ever affectionately (most despairingly). + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Monday, July 13th, 1857._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +Many thanks for your Indian information. I shall act upon it in the most +exact manner. Walter sails next Monday. Charley and I go down with him +to Southampton next Sunday. We are all delighted with the prospect of +seeing you at Gad's Hill. These are my Jerrold engagements: On Friday, +the 24th, I have to repeat my reading at St. Martin's Hall; on Saturday, +the 25th, to repeat "The Frozen Deep" at the Gallery of Illustration for +the last time. On Thursday, the 30th, or Friday, the 31st, I shall +probably read at Manchester. Deane, the general manager of the +Exhibition, is going down to-night, and will arrange all the +preliminaries for me. If you and I went down to Manchester together, and +were there on a Sunday, he would give us the whole Exhibition to +ourselves. It is probable, I think (as he estimates the receipts of a +night at about seven hundred pounds), that we may, in about a fortnight +or so after the reading, play "The Frozen Deep" at Manchester. But of +this contingent engagement I at present know no more than you do. + +Now, will you, upon this exposition of affairs, choose your own time for +coming to us, and, when you have made your choice, write to me at Gad's +Hill? I am going down this afternoon for rest (which means violent +cricket with the boys) after last Saturday night; which was a teaser, +but triumphant. The St. Martin's Hall audience was, I must confess, a +very extraordinary thing. The two thousand and odd people were like one, +and their enthusiasm was something awful. + +Yet I have seen that before, too. Your young remembrance cannot recall +the man; but he flourished in my day--a great actor, sir--a noble +actor--thorough artist! I have seen him do wonders in that way. He +retired from the stage early in life (having a monomaniacal delusion +that he was old), and is said to be still living in your county. + +All join in kindest love to your dear sister and all the rest. + + Ever, my dearest Macready, + Most affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edmund Yates.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Sunday, July 19th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR YATES, + +Although I date this ashore, I really write it from Southampton (don't +notice this fact in your reply, for I shall be in town on Wednesday). I +have come here on an errand which will grow familiar to you before you +know that Time has flapped his wings over your head. Like me, you will +find those babies grow to be young men before you are quite sure they +are born. Like me, you will have great teeth drawn with a wrench, and +will only then know that you ever cut them. I am here to send Walter +away over what they call, in Green Bush melodramas, "the Big Drink," and +I don't at all know this day how he comes to be mine, or I his. + +I don't write to say this--or to say how seeing Charley, and he going +aboard the ship before me just now, I suddenly came into possession of a +photograph of my own back at sixteen and twenty, and also into a +suspicion that I had doubled the last age. I merely write to mention +that Telbin and his wife are going down to Gad's Hill with us, about +mid-day next Sunday, and that if you and Mrs. Yates will come too, we +shall be delighted to have you. We can give you a bed, and you can be in +town (if you have such a savage necessity) by twenty minutes before ten +on Monday morning. + +I was very much pleased (as I had reason to be) with your account of the +reading in _The Daily News_. I thank you heartily. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. T. P. Cooke.] + + IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE LATE MR. DOUGLAS JERROLD. + + COMMITTEE'S OFFICE, GALLERY OF ILLUSTRATION, + REGENT STREET, _Thursday, July 30th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR MR. COOKE, + +I cannot rest satisfied this morning without writing to congratulate you +on your admirable performance of last night. It was so fresh and +vigorous, so manly and gallant, that I felt as if it splashed against my +theatre-heated face along with the spray of the breezy sea. What I felt +everybody felt; I should feel it quite an impertinence to take myself +out of the crowd, therefore, if I could by any means help doing so. But +I can't; so I hope you will feel that you bring me on yourself, and have +only yourself to blame. + + Always faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Compton.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, + _Sunday Night, Aug 2nd, 1857._ + +MY DEAR MRS. COMPTON, + +We are going to play "The Frozen Deep" (pursuant to requisition from +town magnates, etc.) at Manchester, at the New Free Trade Hall, on the +nights of Friday and Saturday, the 21st and 22nd August. + +The place is out of the question for my girls. Their action could not be +seen, and their voices could not be heard. You and I have played, there +and elsewhere, so sociably and happily, that I am emboldened to ask you +whether you would play my sister-in-law Georgina's part (Compton and +babies permitting). + +We shall go down in the old pleasant way, and shall have the Art +Treasures Exhibition to ourselves on the Sunday; when even "he" (as +Rogers always called every pretty woman's husband) might come and join +us. + +What do you say? What does he say? and what does baby say? When I use +the term "baby," I use it in two tenses--present and future. + +Answer me at this address, like the Juliet I saw at Drury Lane--when was +it?--yesterday. And whatever your answer is, if you will say that you +and Compton will meet us at the North Kent Station, London Bridge, next +Sunday at a quarter before one, and will come down here for a breath of +sweet air and stay all night, you will give your old friends great +pleasure. Not least among them, + + Yours faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, + _Monday, Aug. 3rd, 1857._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +I write to you in reference to your last note, as soon as I positively +know our final movements in the Jerrold matter. + +We are going to wind up by acting at Manchester (on solemn requisition) +on the evenings of Friday and Saturday, the 21st and 22nd (actresses +substituted for the girls, of course). We shall have to leave here on +the morning of the 20th. You thought of coming on the 16th; can't you +make it a day or two earlier, so as to be with us a whole week? Decide +and pronounce. Again, cannot you bring Katey with you? Decide and +pronounce thereupon, also. + +I read at Manchester last Friday. As many thousand people were there as +you like to name. The collection of pictures in the Exhibition is +wonderful. And the power with which the modern English school asserts +itself is a very gratifying and delightful thing to behold. The care for +the common people, in the provision made for their comfort and +refreshment, is also admirable and worthy of all commendation. But they +want more amusement, and particularly (as it strikes me) _something in +motion_, though it were only a twisting fountain. The thing is too still +after their lives of machinery, and art flies over their heads in +consequence. + +I hope you have seen my tussle with the "Edinburgh." I saw the chance +last Friday week, as I was going down to read the "Carol" in St. +Martin's Hall. Instantly turned to, then and there, and wrote half the +article. Flew out of bed early next morning, and finished it by noon. +Went down to Gallery of Illustration (we acted that night), did the +day's business, corrected the proofs in Polar costume in dressing-room, +broke up two numbers of "Household Words" to get it out directly, played +in "Frozen Deep" and "Uncle John," presided at supper of company, made +no end of speeches, went home and gave in completely for four hours, +then got sound asleep, and next day was as fresh as you used to be in +the far-off days of your lusty youth. + +All here send kindest love to your dear good sister and all the house. + + Ever and ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Frank Stone, A.R.A.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Sunday Afternoon, Aug. 9th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR STONE, + +Now here, without any preface, is a good, confounding, stunning question +for you--would you like to play "Uncle John" on the two nights at +Manchester? + +It is not a long part. You could have a full rehearsal on the Friday, +and I could sit in the wing at night and pull you through all the +business. Perhaps you might not object to being in the thing in your own +native place, and the relief to me would be enormous. + +This is what has come into my head lying in bed to-day (I have been in +bed all day), and this is just my plain reason for writing to you. + +It's a capital part, and you are a capital old man. You know the play as +we play it, and the Manchester people don't. Say the word, and I'll send +you my own book by return of post. + +The agitation and exertion of Richard Wardour are so great to me, that I +cannot rally my spirits in the short space of time I get. The strain is +so great to make a show of doing it, that I want to be helped out of +"Uncle John" if I can. Think of yourself far more than me; but if you +half think you are up to the joke, and half doubt your being so, then +give me the benefit of the doubt and play the part. + +Answer me at Gad's Hill. + + Ever affectionately. + +P.S.--If you play, I shall immediately announce it to all concerned. If +you don't, I shall go on as if nothing had happened, and shall say +nothing to anyone. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry Austin.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, _Saturday, Aug. 15th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR HENRY, + +At last, I am happy to inform you, we have got at a famous spring!! It +rushed in this morning, ten foot deep. And our friends talk of its +supplying "a ton a minute for yourself and your family, sir, for +nevermore." + +They ask leave to bore ten feet lower, to prevent the possibility of +what they call "a choking with sullage." Likewise, they are going to +insert "a rose-headed pipe;" at the mention of which implement, I am +(secretly) well-nigh distracted, having no idea of what it means. But I +have said "Yes," besides instantly standing a bottle of gin. Can you +come back, and can you get down on Monday morning, to advise and +endeavour to decide on the mechanical force we shall use for raising the +water? I would return with you, as I shall have to be in town until +Thursday, and then to go to Manchester until the following Tuesday. + +I send this by hand to John, to bring to you. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Frank Stone, A.R.A.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, _Monday, Aug. 17th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR STONE, + +I received your kind note this morning, and write this reply here to +take to London with me and post in town, being bound for that village +and three days' drill of the professional ladies who are to succeed the +Tavistock girls. + +My book I enclose. There is a slight alteration (which does not affect +you) at the end of the first act, in order that the piece may be played +through without having the drop curtain down. You will not find the +situations or business difficult, with me on the spot to put you right. + +Now, as to the dress. You will want a pair of pumps, and a pair of white +silk socks; these you can get at Manchester. The extravagantly and +anciently-frilled shirts that I have had got up for the part, I will +bring you down; large white waistcoat, I will bring you down; large +white hat, I will bring you down; dressing-gown, I will bring you down; +white gloves and ditto choker you can get at Manchester. There then +remain only a pair of common nankeen tights, to button below the calf, +and blue wedding-coat. The nankeen tights you had best get made at once; +my "Uncle John" coat I will send you down in a parcel by to-morrow's +train, to have altered in Manchester to your shape and figure. You will +then be quite independent of Christian chance and Jewish Nathan, which +latter potentate is now at Canterbury with the cricket amateurs, and +might fail. + +A Thursday's rehearsal is (unfortunately) now impracticable, the passes +for the railway being all made out, and the company's sailing orders +issued. But, as I have already suggested, with a careful rehearsal on +Friday morning, and with me at the wing at night to put you right, you +will find yourself sliding through it easily. There is nothing in the +least complicated in the business. As to the dance, you have only to +knock yourself up for a twelvemonth and it will go nobly. + +After all, too, if you _should_, through any unlucky breakdown, come to +be afraid of it, I am no worse off than I was before, if I have to do it +at last. Keep your pecker up with that. + +I am heartily obliged to you, my dear old boy, for your affectionate and +considerate note, and I wouldn't have you do it, really and +sincerely--immense as the relief will be to me--unless you are quite +comfortable in it, and able to enjoy it. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Frank Stone, A.R.A.] + + OFFICE OF "HOUSEHOLD WORDS," _Tuesday, Aug. 18th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR STONE, + +I sent you a telegraph message last night, in total contradiction of the +letter you received from me this morning. + +The reason was simply this: Arthur Smith and the other business men, +both in Manchester and here, urged upon me, in the strongest manner, +that they were afraid of the change; that it was well known in +Manchester that I had done the part in London; that there was a danger +of its being considered disrespectful in me to give it up; also that +there was a danger that it might be thought that I did so at the last +minute, after an immense let, whereas I might have done it at first, +etc. etc. etc. Having no desire but for the success of our object, and a +becoming recognition on my part of the kind Manchester public's +cordiality, I gave way, and thought it best to go on. + +I do so against the grain, and against every inclination, and against +the strongest feeling of gratitude to you. My people at home will be +miserable too when they hear I am going to do it. If I could have heard +from you sooner, and got the bill out sooner, I should have been firmer +in considering my own necessity of relief. As it is, I sneak under; and +I hope you will feel the reasons, and approve. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry Austin.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, _Wednesday, Sept. 2nd, 1857._ + +MY DEAR HENRY, + +The second conspirator has been here this morning to ask whether you +wish the windlass to be left in the yard, and whether you will want him +and his mate any more, and, if so, when? Of course he says (rolling +something in the form of a fillet in at one broken tooth all the while, +and rolling it out at another) that they could wish fur to have the +windlass if it warn't any ways a hill conwenience fur to fetch her away. +I have told him that if he will come back on Friday he shall have your +reply. Will you, therefore, send it me by return of post? He says he'll +"look up" (as if he was an astronomer) "a Friday arterdinner." + +On Monday I am going away with Collins for ten days or a fortnight, on a +"tour in search of an article" for "Household Words." We have not the +least idea where we are going; but _he_ says, "Let's look at the Norfolk +coast," and _I_ say, "Let's look at the back of the Atlantic." I don't +quite know what I mean by that; but have a general impression that I +mean something knowing. + +I am horribly used up after the Jerrold business. Low spirits, low +pulse, low voice, intense reaction. If I were not like Mr. Micawber, +"falling back for a spring" on Monday, I think I should slink into a +corner and cry. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + ALLONBY, CUMBERLAND, _Wednesday Night, Sept. 9th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR GEORGY, + + * * * * * + +Think of Collins's usual luck with me! We went up a Cumberland mountain +yesterday--a huge black hill, fifteen hundred feet high. We took for a +guide a capital innkeeper hard by. It rained in torrents--as it only +does rain in a hill country--the whole time. At the top, there were +black mists and the darkness of night. It then came out that the +innkeeper had not been up for twenty years, and he lost his head and +himself altogether; and we couldn't get down again! What wonders the +Inimitable performed with his compass until it broke with the heat and +wet of his pocket no matter; it did break, and then we wandered about, +until it was clear to the Inimitable that the night must be passed +there, and the enterprising travellers probably die of cold. We took our +own way about coming down, struck, and declared that the guide might +wander where he would, but we would follow a watercourse we lighted +upon, and which must come at last to the river. This necessitated +amazing gymnastics; in the course of which performances, Collins fell +into the said watercourse with his ankle sprained, and the great +ligament of the foot and leg swollen I don't know how big. + +How I enacted Wardour over again in carrying him down, and what a +business it was to get him down; I may say in Gibbs's words: "Vi lascio +a giudicare!" But he was got down somehow, and we got off the mountain +somehow; and now I carry him to bed, and into and out of carriages, +exactly like Wardour in private life. I don't believe he will stand for +a month to come. He has had a doctor, and can wear neither shoe nor +stocking, and has his foot wrapped up in a flannel waistcoat, and has a +breakfast saucer of liniment, and a horrible dabbling of lotion +incessantly in progress. We laugh at it all, but I doubt very much +whether he can go on to Doncaster. It will be a miserable blow to our H. +W. scheme, and I say nothing about it as yet; but he is really so +crippled that I doubt the getting him there. We have resolved to fall +to work to-morrow morning and begin our writing; and there, for the +present, that point rests. + +This is a little place with fifty houses, five bathing-machines, five +girls in straw hats, five men in straw hats, and no other company. The +little houses are all in half-mourning--yellow stone on white stone, and +black; and it reminds me of what Broadstairs might have been if it had +not inherited a cliff, and had been an Irishman. But this is a capital +little homely inn, looking out upon the sea; and we are really very +comfortably lodged. I can just stand upright in my bedroom. Otherwise, +it is a good deal like one of Ballard's top-rooms. We have a very +obliging and comfortable landlady; and it is a clean nice place in a +rough wild country. We came here haphazard, but could not have done +better. + +We lay last night at a place called Wigton--also in half-mourning--with +the wonderful peculiarity that it had no population, no business, no +streets to speak of; but five linendrapers within range of our small +windows, one linendraper's next door, and five more linendrapers round +the corner. I ordered a night-light in my bedroom. 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, an no gootther, nor no waste, nor ony sike a thing, if you can +creedit what I say, seein' the airticle." + +Of course _I_ shall go to Doncaster, whether or no (please God), and my +postage directions to you remain unchanged. Love to Mamey, Katey, +Charley, Harry, and the darling Plorn. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + LANCASTER, _Saturday Night, Sept. 12th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR GEORGY, + +I received your letter at Allonby yesterday, and was delighted to get +it. We came back to Carlisle last night (to a capital inn, kept by +Breach's brother), and came on here to-day. We are on our way to +Doncaster; but Sabbath observance throws all the trains out; and +although it is not a hundred miles from here, we shall have, as well as +I can make out the complicated lists of trains, to sleep at Leeds--which +I particularly detest as an odious place--to-morrow night. + +Accustomed as you are to the homage which men delight to render to the +Inimitable, you would be scarcely prepared for the proportions it +assumes in this northern country. Station-masters assist him to alight +from carriages, deputations await him in hotel entries, innkeepers bow +down before him and put him into regal rooms, the town goes down to the +platform to see him off, and Collins's ankle goes into the newspapers!!! + +It is a great deal better than it was, and he can get into new hotels +and up the stairs with two thick sticks, like an admiral in a farce. His +spirits have improved in a corresponding degree, and he contemplates +cheerfully the keeping house at Doncaster. I thought (as I told you) he +would never have gone there, but he seems quite up to the mark now. Of +course he can never walk out, or see anything of any place. We have done +our first paper for H. W., and sent it up to the printer's. + +The landlady of the little inn at Allonby lived at Greta Bridge, in +Yorkshire, when I went down there before "Nickleby," and was smuggled +into the room to see me, when 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. I think it was the +dullest little place I ever entered; and what with the monotony of an +idle sea, and what with the monotony of another sea in the room +(occasioned by Collins's perpetually holding his ankle over a pail of +salt water, and laving it with a milk jug), I struck yesterday, and came +away. + +We are in a very remarkable old house here, with genuine old rooms and +an uncommonly quaint staircase. I have a state bedroom, with two +enormous red four-posters in it, each as big as Charley's room at Gad's +Hill. Bellew is to preach here to-morrow. "And we know he is a friend of +yours, sir," said the landlord, when he presided over the serving of the +dinner (two little salmon trout; a sirloin steak; a brace of partridges; +seven dishes of sweets; five dishes of dessert, led off by a bowl of +peaches; and in the centre an enormous bride-cake--"We always have it +here, sir," said the landlord, "custom of the house.") (Collins turned +pale, and estimated the dinner at half a guinea each.) + +This is the stupidest of letters, but all description is gone, or going, +into "The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices." + +Kiss the darling Plorn, who is often in my thoughts. Best love to +Charley, Mamey, and Katie. I will write to you again from Doncaster, +where I shall be rejoiced to find another letter from you. + + Ever affectionately, my dearest Georgy. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + ANGEL HOTEL, DONCASTER, _Tuesday, Sept. 15th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR GEORGY, + +I found your letter here on my arrival yesterday. I had hoped that the +wall would have been almost finished by this time, and the additions to +the house almost finished too--but patience, patience! + +We have very good, clean, and quiet apartments here, on the second +floor, looking down into the main street, which is full of horse +jockeys, bettors, drunkards, and other blackguards, from morning to +night--and all night. The races begin to-day and last till Friday, which +is the Cup Day. I am not going to the course this morning, but have +engaged a carriage (open, and pair) for to-morrow and Friday. + +"The Frozen Deep's" author gets on as well as could be expected. He can +hobble up and down stairs when absolutely necessary, and limps to his +bedroom on the same floor. He talks of going to the theatre to-night in +a cab, which will be the first occasion of his going out, except to +travel, since the accident. He sends his kind regards and thanks for +enquiries and condolence. I am perpetually tidying the rooms after him, +and carrying all sorts of untidy things which belong to him into his +bedroom, which is a picture of disorder. You will please to imagine +mine, airy and clean, little dressing-room attached, eight water-jugs (I +never saw such a supply), capital sponge-bath, perfect arrangement, and +exquisite neatness. We breakfast at half-past eight, and fall to work +for H. W. afterwards. Then I go out, and--hem! look for subjects. + +The mayor called this morning to do the honours of the town, whom it +pleased the Inimitable to receive with great courtesy and affability. He +propounded invitation to public _déjeûner_, which it did _not_ please +the Inimitable to receive, and which he graciously rejected. + +That's all the news. Everything I can describe by hook or by crook, I +describe for H. W. So there is nothing of that sort left for letters. + +Best love to dear Mamey and Katey, and to Charley, and to Harry. Any +number of kisses to the noble Plorn. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Arthur Ryland.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, _Saturday Evening, Oct. 3rd, 1857._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I have had the honour and pleasure of receiving your letter of the 28th +of last month, informing me of the distinction that has been conferred +upon me by the Council of the Birmingham and Midland Institute. + +Allow me to assure you with much sincerity, that I am highly gratified +by having been elected one of the first honorary members of that +establishment. Nothing could have enhanced my interest in so important +an undertaking; but the compliment is all the more welcome to me on that +account. + +I accept it with a due sense of its worth, with many acknowledgments and +with all good wishes. + + I am ever, my dear Sir, very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edmund Yates.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Monday Night, Nov. 16th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR YATES, + +I retain the story with pleasure; and I need not tell you that you are +not mistaken in the last lines of your note. + +Excuse me, on that ground, if I say a word or two as to what I think (I +mention it with a view to the future) might be better in the paper. The +opening is excellent. But it passes too completely into the Irishman's +narrative, does not light it up with the life about it, or the +circumstances under which it is delivered, and does not carry through +it, as I think it should with a certain indefinable subtleness, the +thread with which you begin your weaving. I will tell Wills to send me +the proof, and will try to show you what I mean when I shall have gone +over it carefully. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Frank Stone, A.R.A.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Wednesday, Dec. 13th, 1857._ + +MY DEAR STONE, + +I find on enquiry that the "General Theatrical Fund" has relieved +non-members in one or two instances; but that it is exceedingly +unwilling to do so, and would certainly not do so again, saving on some +very strong and exceptional case. As its trustee, I could not represent +to it that I think it ought to sail into those open waters, for I very +much doubt the justice of such cruising, with a reference to the +interests of the patient people who support it out of their small +earnings. + + Affectionately ever. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The part played in "The Frozen Deep" by its author, Mr. Wilkie +Collins. + +[2] The Earl of Carlisle was at this time Viceroy of Ireland. + + + + +Book III. + +1858 TO 1870. + + + + +1858. + +NARRATIVE. + + +All through this year, Charles Dickens was constantly moving about from +place to place. After much and careful consideration, he had come to the +determination of, for the future, giving readings for his own benefit. +And although in the spring of this year he gave one reading of his +"Christmas Carol" for a charity, all the other readings, beginning from +the 29th April, and ever after, were for himself. In the autumn of this +year he made reading tours in England, Scotland, and Ireland, always +accompanied by his friend and secretary, Mr. Arthur Smith. At Newcastle, +Charles Dickens was joined by his daughters, who accompanied him in his +Scotch tour. The letters to his sister-in-law, and to his eldest +daughter, are all given here, and will be given in all future reading +tours, as they form a complete diary of his life and movements at these +times. To avoid the constant repetition of the two names, the beginning +of the letters will be dispensed with in all cases where they follow +each other in unbroken succession. The Mr. Frederick Lehmann mentioned +in the letter written from Sheffield, had married a daughter of Mr. +Robert Chambers, and niece of Mrs. Wills. Coming to settle in London a +short time after this date, Mr. and Mrs. Lehmann became intimately known +to Charles Dickens and his family--more especially to his eldest +daughter, to whom they have been, and are, the kindest and truest of +friends. The "pretty little boy" mentioned as being under Mrs. Wills's +care, was their eldest son. + +We give the letter to Mr. Thackeray, not because it is one of very great +interest, but because, being the only one we have, we are glad to have +the two names associated together in this work. + +The "little speech" alluded to in this first letter to Mr. Macready was +one made by Charles Dickens at a public dinner, which was given in aid +of the Hospital for Sick Children, in Great Ormond Street. He afterwards +(early in April) gave a reading from his "Christmas Carol" for this same +charity. + +The Christmas number of "Household Words," mentioned in a letter to Mr. +Wilkie Collins, was called "A House to Let," and contained stories +written by Charles Dickens, Mr. Wilkie Collins, and other contributors +to "Household Words." + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. Wilkie Collins.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Sunday, Jan. 17th, 1858._ + +MY DEAR WILKIE, + +I am very sorry to receive so bad an account of the foot. But I hope it +is all in the past tense now. + +I met with an incident the other day, which I think is a good deal in +your way, for introduction either into a long or short story. Dr. +Sutherland and Dr. Monro went over St. Luke's with me (only last +Friday), to show me some distinctly and remarkably developed types of +insanity. Among other patients, we passed a deaf and dumb man, now +afflicted with incurable madness too, of whom they said that it was only +when his madness began to develop itself in strongly-marked mad actions, +that it began to be suspected. "Though it had been there, no doubt, some +time." This led me to consider, suspiciously, what employment he had +been in, and so to ask the question. "Aye," says Dr. Sutherland, "that +is the most remarkable thing of all, Mr. Dickens. He was employed in the +transmission of electric-telegraph messages; and it is impossible to +conceive what delirious despatches that man may have been sending about +all over the world!" + +Rejoiced to hear such good report of the play. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edmund Yates.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Tuesday, Feb. 2nd, 1858._ + +MY DEAR YATES, + +Your quotation is, as I supposed, all wrong. The text is _not_ "which +his 'owls was organs." When Mr. Harris went into an empty dog-kennel, to +spare his sensitive nature the anguish of overhearing Mrs. Harris's +exclamations on the occasion of the birth of her first child (the +Princess Royal of the Harris family), "he never took his hands away from +his ears, or came out once, till he was showed the baby." On +encountering that spectacle, he was (being of a weakly constitution) +"took with fits." For this distressing complaint he was medically +treated; the doctor "collared him, and laid him on his back upon the +airy stones"--please to observe what follows--"and she was told, to ease +her mind, his 'owls was organs." + +That is to say, Mrs. Harris, lying exhausted on her bed, in the first +sweet relief of freedom from pain, merely covered with the counterpane, +and not yet "put comfortable," hears a noise apparently proceeding from +the back-yard, and says, in a flushed and hysterical manner: "What 'owls +are those? Who is a-'owling? Not my ugebond?" Upon which the doctor, +looking round one of the bottom posts of the bed, and taking Mrs. +Harris's pulse in a reassuring manner, says, with much admirable +presence of mind: "Howls, my dear madam?--no, no, no! What are we +thinking of? Howls, my dear Mrs. Harris? Ha, ha, ha! Organs, ma'am, +organs. Organs in the streets, Mrs. Harris; no howls." + + Yours faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. M. Thackeray.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Tuesday, Feb. 2nd, 1858._ + +MY DEAR THACKERAY, + +The wisdom of Parliament, in that expensive act of its greatness which +constitutes the Guild, prohibits that corporation _from doing anything_ +until it shall have existed in a perfectly useless condition for seven +years. This clause (introduced by some private-bill magnate of official +might) seemed so ridiculous, that nobody could believe it to have this +meaning; but as I felt clear about it when we were on the very verge of +granting an excellent literary annuity, I referred the point to counsel, +and my construction was confirmed without a doubt. + +It is therefore needless to enquire whether an association in the nature +of a provident society could address itself to such a case as you +confide to me. The prohibition has still two or three years of life in +it. + +But, assuming the gentleman's title to be considered as an "author" as +established, there is no question that it comes within the scope of the +Literary Fund. They would habitually "lend" money if they did what I +consider to be their duty; as it is they only give money, but they give +it in such instances. + +I have forwarded the envelope to the Society of Arts, with a request +that they will present it to Prince Albert, approaching H.R.H. in the +Siamese manner. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John Forster.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Wednesday Night, Feb. 3rd, 1858._ + +MY DEAR FORSTER, + +I beg to report two phenomena: + +1. An excellent little play in one act, by Marston, at the Lyceum; +title, "A Hard Struggle;" as good as "La Joie fait Peur," though not at +all like it. + +2. Capital acting in the same play, by Mr. Dillon. Real good acting, in +imitation of nobody, and honestly made out by himself!! + +I went (at Marston's request) last night, and cried till I sobbed again. +I have not seen a word about it from Oxenford. But it is as wholesome +and manly a thing altogether as I have seen for many a day. (I would +have given a hundred pounds to have played Mr. Dillon's part). + +Love to Mrs. Forster. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Dr. Westland Marston.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Wednesday, Feb. 3rd, 1858._ + +MY DEAR MARSTON, + +I most heartily and honestly congratulate you on your charming little +piece. It moved me more than I could easily tell you, if I were to try. +Except "La Joie fait Peur," I have seen nothing nearly so good, and +there is a subtlety in the comfortable presentation of the child who is +to become a devoted woman for Reuben's sake, which goes a long way +beyond Madame de Girardin. I am at a loss to let you know how much I +admired it last night, or how heartily I cried over it. A touching idea, +most delicately conceived and wrought out by a true artist and poet, in +a spirit of noble, manly generosity, that no one should be able to study +without great emotion. + +It is extremely well acted by all concerned; but Mr. Dillon's +performance is really admirable, and deserving of the highest +commendation. It is good in these days to see an actor taking such +pains, and expressing such natural and vigorous sentiment. There is only +one thing I should have liked him to change. I am much mistaken if any +man--least of all any such man--would crush a letter written by the hand +of the woman he loved. Hold it to his heart unconsciously and look about +for it the while, he might; or he might do any other thing with it that +expressed a habit of tenderness and affection in association with the +idea of her; but he would never crush it under any circumstances. He +would as soon crush her heart. + +You will see how closely I went with him, by my minding so slight an +incident in so fine a performance. There is no one who could approach +him in it; and I am bound to add that he surprised me as much as he +pleased me. + +I think it might be worth while to try the people at the Français with +the piece. They are very good in one-act plays; such plays take well +there, and this seems to me well suited to them. If you would like +Samson or Regnier to read the play (in English), I know them well, and +would be very glad indeed to tell them that I sent it with your sanction +because I had been so much struck by it. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Monsieur Regnier.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, LONDON, W.C., _Thursday, Feb. 11th, 1858._ + +MY DEAR REGNIER, + +I want you to read the enclosed little play. You will see that it is in +one act--about the length of "La Joie fait Pour." It is now acting at +the Lyceum Theatre here, with very great success. The author is Mr. +Westland Marston, a dramatic writer of reputation, who wrote a very +well-known tragedy called "The Patrician's Daughter," in which Macready +and Miss Faucit acted (under Macready's management at Drury Lane) some +years ago. + +This little piece is so very powerful on the stage, its interest is so +simple and natural, and the part of Reuben is such a very fine one, that +I cannot help thinking you might make one grand _coup_ with it, if with +your skilful hand you arranged it for the Français. I have communicated +this idea of mine to the author, "_et là-dessus je vous écris_." I am +anxious to know your opinion, and shall expect with much interest to +receive a little letter from you at your convenience. + +Mrs. Dickens, Miss Hogarth, and all the house send a thousand kind loves +and regards to Madame Regnier and the dear little boys. You will bring +them to London when you come, with all the force of the Français--will +you not? + + Ever, my dear Regnier, faithfully your Friend. + + +[Sidenote: Monsieur Regnier.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Saturday, Feb. 20th, 1858._ + +MY DEAR REGNIER, + +Let me thank you with all my heart for your most patient and kind +letter. I made its contents known to Mr. Marston, and I enclose you his +reply. You will see that he cheerfully leaves the matter in your hands, +and abides by your opinion and discretion. + +You need not return his letter, my friend. There is great excitement +here this morning, in consequence of the failure of the Ministry last +night to carry the bill they brought in to please your Emperor and his +troops. _I_, for one, am extremely glad of their defeat. + +"Le vieux P----," I have no doubt, will go staggering down the Rue de la +Paix to-day, with his stick in his hand and his hat on one side, +predicting the downfall of everything, in consequence of this event. His +handwriting shakes more and more every quarter, and I think he mixes a +great deal of cognac with his ink. He always gives me some astonishing +piece of news (which is never true), or some suspicious public prophecy +(which is never verified), and he always tells me he is dying (which he +never is). + +Adieu, my dear Regnier, accept a thousand thanks from me, and believe +me, now and always, + + Your affectionate and faithful Friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _March 15th, 1858._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +I have safely received your cheque this morning, and will hand it over +forthwith to the honorary secretary of the hospital. I hope you have +read the little speech in the hospital's publication of it. They had it +taken by their own shorthand-writer, and it is done verbatim. + +You may be sure that it is a good and kind charity. It is amazing to me +that it is not at this day ten times as large and rich as it is. But I +hope and trust that I have happily been able to give it a good thrust +onward into a great course. We all send our most affectionate love to +all the house. I am devising all sorts of things in my mind, and am in a +state of energetic restlessness incomprehensible to the calm +philosophers of Dorsetshire. What a dream it is, this work and strife, +and how little we do in the dream after all! Only last night, in my +sleep, I was bent upon getting over a perspective of barriers, with my +hands and feet bound. Pretty much what we are all about, waking, I +think? + +But, Lord! (as I said before) you smile pityingly, not bitterly, at this +hubbub, and moralise upon it, in the calm evenings when there is no +school at Sherborne. + + Ever affectionately and truly. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs Hogge.[3]] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Wednesday, April 14th, 1858._ + +MY DEAR MRS. HOGGE, + +After the profoundest cogitation, I come reluctantly to the conclusion +that I do not know that orphan. If you were the lady in want of him, I +should certainly offer _myself_. But as you are not, I will not hear of +the situation. + +It is wonderful to think how many charming little people there must be, +to whom this proposal would be like a revelation from Heaven. Why don't +I know one, and come to Kensington, boy in hand, as if I had walked (I +wish to God I had) out of a fairy tale! But no, I do _not_ know that +orphan. He is crying somewhere, by himself, at this moment. I can't dry +his eyes. He is being neglected by some ogress of a nurse. I can't +rescue him. + +I will make a point of going to the Athenæum on Monday night; and if I +had five hundred votes to give, Mr. Macdonald should have them all, for +your sake. + +I grieve to hear that you have been ill, but I hope that the spring, +when it comes, will find you blooming with the rest of the flowers. + + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edmund Yates.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Wednesday, April 28th, 1858._ + +MY DEAR YATES, + +For a good many years I have suffered a great deal from charities, but +never anything like what I suffer now. The amount of correspondence they +inflict upon me is really incredible. But this is nothing. Benevolent +men get behind the piers of the gates, lying in wait for my going out; +and when I peep shrinkingly from my study-windows, I see their +pot-bellied shadows projected on the gravel. Benevolent bullies drive up +in hansom cabs (with engraved portraits of their benevolent institutions +hanging over the aprons, like banners on their outward walls), and stay +long at the door. Benevolent area-sneaks get lost in the kitchens and +are found to impede the circulation of the knife-cleaning machine. My +man has been heard to say (at The Burton Arms) "that if it was a +wicious place, well and good--_that_ an't door work; but that wen all +the Christian wirtues is always a-shoulderin' and a-helberin' on you in +the 'all, a-tryin' to git past you and cut upstairs into master's room, +why no wages as you couldn't name wouldn't make it up to you." + + Persecuted ever. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs Yates.] + +(THE CHARMING ACTRESS, THE MOTHER OF MR. EDMUND YATES.) + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, W.C., + _Saturday Evening, May 15th, 1858._ + +MY DEAR MRS. YATES, + +Pray believe that I was sorry with all my heart to miss you last +Thursday, and to learn the occasion of your absence; also that, whenever +you can come, your presence will give me a new interest in that evening. +No one alive can have more delightful associations with the lightest +sound of your voice than I have; and to give you a minute's interest and +pleasure, in acknowledgment of the uncountable hours of happiness you +gave me when you were a mysterious angel to me, would honestly gratify +my heart. + + Very faithfully and gratefully yours. + + +[Sidenote: M. de Cerjat.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Wednesday, July 7th, 1858._ + +MY DEAR CERJAT, + +I should vainly try to tell you--so I _won't_ try--how affected I have +been by your warm-hearted letter, or how thoroughly well convinced I +always am of the truth and earnestness of your friendship. I thank you, +my dear, dear fellow, with my whole soul. I fervently return that +friendship and I highly cherish it. + +You want to know all about me? I am still reading in London every +Thursday, and the audiences are very great, and the success immense. On +the 2nd of August I am going away on a tour of some four months in +England, Ireland, and Scotland. I shall read, during that time, not +fewer than four or five times a week. It will be sharp work; but +probably a certain musical clinking will come of it, which will mitigate +the hardship. + +At this present moment I am on my little Kentish freehold (_not_ in +top-boots, and not particularly prejudiced that I know of), looking on +as pretty a view out of my study window as you will find in a long day's +English ride. My little place is a grave red brick house (time of George +the First, I suppose), which I have added to and stuck bits upon in all +manner of ways, so that it is as pleasantly irregular, and as violently +opposed to all architectural ideas, as the most hopeful man could +possibly desire. It is on the summit of Gad's Hill. The robbery was +committed before the door, on the man with the treasure, and Falstaff +ran away from the identical spot of ground now covered by the room in +which I write. A little rustic alehouse, called The Sir John Falstaff, +is over the way--has been over the way, ever since, in honour of the +event. Cobham Woods and Park are behind the house; the distant Thames in +front; the Medway, with Rochester, and its old castle and cathedral, on +one side. The whole stupendous property is on the old Dover Road, so +when you come, come by the North Kent Railway (not the South-Eastern) to +Strood or Higham, and I'll drive over to fetch you. + +The blessed woods and fields have done me a world of good, and I am +quite myself again. The children are all as happy as children can be. My +eldest daughter, Mary, keeps house, with a state and gravity becoming +that high position; wherein she is assisted by her sister Katie, and by +her aunt Georgina, who is, and always has been, like another sister. Two +big dogs, a bloodhound and a St. Bernard, direct from a convent of that +name, where I think you once were, are their principal attendants in the +green lanes. These latter instantly untie the neckerchiefs of all tramps +and prowlers who approach their presence, so that they wander about +without any escort, and drive big horses in basket-phaetons through +murderous bye-ways, and never come to grief. They are very curious about +your daughters, and send all kinds of loves to them and to Mrs. Cerjat, +in which I heartily join. + +You will have read in the papers that the Thames in London is most horrible. +I have to cross Waterloo or London Bridge to get to the railroad when I +come down here, and I can certify that the offensive smells, even in +that short whiff, have been of a most head-and-stomach-distending +nature. Nobody knows what is to be done; at least everybody knows a +plan, and everybody else knows it won't do; in the meantime cartloads of +chloride of lime are shot into the filthy stream, and do something I +hope. You will know, before you get this, that the American telegraph +line has parted again, at which most men are sorry, but very few +surprised. This is all the news, except that there is an Italian Opera +at Drury Lane, price eighteenpence to the pit, where Viardot, by far the +greatest artist of them all, sings, and which is full when the dear +opera can't let a box; and except that the weather has been +exceptionally hot, but is now quite cool. On the top of this hill it has +been cold, actually cold at night, for more than a week past. + +I am going over to Rochester to post this letter, and must write another +to Townshend before I go. My dear Cerjat, I have written lightly +enough, because I want you to know that I am becoming cheerful and +hearty. God bless you! I love you, and I know that you love me. + + Ever your attached and affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + WEST HOE, PLYMOUTH, _Thursday, Aug. 5th, 1858._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +I received your letter this morning with the greatest pleasure, and read +it with the utmost interest in all its domestic details. + +We had a most wonderful night at Exeter. It is to be regretted that we +cannot take the place again on our way back. It was a prodigious cram, +and we turned away no end of people. But not only that, I think they +were the finest audience I have 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. It was really a very +remarkable sight, and I shall always look back upon it with pleasure. + +Last night here was not so bright. There are quarrels of the strangest +kind between the Plymouth people and the Stonehouse people. The room is +at Stonehouse (Tracy says the wrong room; there being a Plymouth room in +this hotel, and he being a Plymouthite). We had a fair house, but not at +all a great one. All the notabilities come this morning to "Little +Dombey," for which we have let one hundred and thirty stalls, which +local admiration of local greatness considers very large. For "Mrs. Gamp +and the Boots," to-night, we have also a very promising let. But the +races are on, and there are two public balls to-night, and the yacht +squadron are all at Cherbourg to boot. Arthur is of opinion that "Two +Sixties" will do very well for us. I doubt the "Two Sixties" myself. +_Mais nous verrons._ + +The room is a very handsome one, but it is on the top of a windy and +muddy hill, leading (literally) to nowhere; and it looks (except that it +is new and _mortary_) as if the subsidence of the waters after the +Deluge might have left it where it is. I have to go right through the +company to get to the platform. Big doors slam and resound when anybody +comes in; and all the company seem afraid of one another. Nevertheless +they were a sensible audience last night, and much impressed and +pleased. + +Tracy is in the room (wandering about, and never finishing a sentence), +and sends all manner of sea-loves to you and the dear girls. I send all +manner of land-loves to you from myself, out of my heart of hearts, and +also to my dear Plorn and the boys. + +Arthur sends his kindest love. He knows only two characters. He is +either always corresponding, like a Secretary of State, or he is +transformed into a rout-furniture dealer of Rathbone Place, and drags +forms about with the greatest violence, without his coat. + +I have no time to add another word. + + Ever, dearest Georgy, your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + LONDON, _Saturday, Aug. 7th, 1858._ + +MY DEAREST MAMEY, + +The closing night at Plymouth was a very great scene, and the morning +there was exceedingly good too. You will be glad to hear that at Clifton +last night, a torrent of five hundred shillings bore Arthur away, +pounded him against the wall, flowed on to the seats over his body, +scratched him, and damaged his best dress suit. All to his unspeakable +joy. + +This is a very short letter, but I am going to the Burlington Arcade, +desperately resolved to have all those wonderful instruments put into +operation on my head, with a view to refreshing it. + +Kindest love to Georgy and to all. + + Ever your affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + SHREWSBURY, _Thursday, Aug. 12th, 1858._ + +A wonderful audience last night at Wolverhampton. If such a thing can +be, they were even quicker and more intelligent than the audience I had +in Edinburgh. They were so wonderfully good and were so much on the +alert this morning by nine o'clock for another reading, that we are +going back there at about our Bradford time. I never saw such people. +And the local agent would take no money, and charge no expenses of his +own. + +This place looks what Plorn would call "ortily" dull. Local agent +predicts, however, "great satisfaction to Mr. Dickens, and excellent +attendance." I have just been to look at the hall, where everything was +wrong, and where I have left Arthur making a platform for me out of +dining-tables. + +If he comes back in time, I am not quite sure but that he is himself +going to write to Gad's Hill. We talk of coming up from Chester _in the +night to-morrow, after the reading_; and of showing our precious selves +at an apparently impossibly early hour in the Gad's Hill breakfast-room +on Saturday morning. + +I have not felt the fatigue to any extent worth mentioning; though I +get, every night, into the most violent heats. We are going to dine at +three o'clock (it wants a quarter now) and have not been here two +hours, so I have seen nothing of Clement. + +Tell Georgy with my love, that I read in the same room in which we +acted, but at the end opposite to that where our stage was. We are not +at the inn where the amateur company put up, but at The Lion, where the +fair Miss Mitchell was lodged alone. We have the strangest little rooms +(sitting-room and two bed-rooms all together), the ceilings of which I +can touch with my hand. The windows bulge out over the street, as if +they were little stern-windows in a ship. And a door opens out of the +sitting-room on to a little open gallery with plants in it, where one +leans over a queer old rail, and looks all downhill and slant-wise at +the crookedest black and yellow old houses, all manner of shapes except +straight shapes. To get into this room we come through a china closet; +and the man in laying the cloth has actually knocked down, in that +repository, two geraniums and Napoleon Bonaparte. + +I think that's all I have to say, except that at the Wolverhampton +theatre they played "Oliver Twist" last night (Mr. Toole the Artful +Dodger), "in consequence of the illustrious author honouring the town +with his presence." We heard that the device succeeded very well, and +that they got a good many people. + +John's spirits have been equable and good since we rejoined him. Berry +has always got something the matter with his digestion--seems to me the +male gender of Maria Jolly, and ought to take nothing but Revalenta +Arabica. Bottled ale is not to be got in these parts, and Arthur is +thrown upon draught. + +My dearest love to Georgy and to Katey, also to Marguerite. Also to all +the boys and the noble Plorn. + + Ever your affectionate Father. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Wednesday Morning, Aug. 18th, 1858._ + +I write this hurried line before starting, to report that my cold is +decidedly better, thank God (though still bad), and that I hope to be +able to stagger through to-night. After dinner yesterday I began to +recover my voice, and I think I sang half the Irish Melodies to myself, +as I walked about to test it. I got home at half-past ten, and +mustard-poulticed and barley-watered myself tremendously. + +Love to the dear girls, and to all. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, _Friday Night, Aug. 20th, 1858._ + +I received your welcome and interesting letter to-day, and I write you a +very hurried and bad reply; but it is _after the reading_, and you will +take the will for the deed under these trying circumstances, I know. + +We have had a tremendous night; the largest house I have ever had since +I first began--two thousand three hundred people. To-morrow afternoon, +at three, I read again. + +My cold has been oppressive, and is not yet gone. I have been very hard +to sleep too, and last night I was all but sleepless. This morning I was +very dull and seedy; but I got a good walk, and picked up again. It has +been blowing all day, and I fear we shall have a sick passage over to +Dublin to-morrow night. + +Tell Mamie (with my dear love to her and Katie) that I will write to her +from Dublin--probably on Sunday. Tell her too that the stories she told +me in her letter were not only capital stories in themselves, but +_excellently told_ too. + +What Arthur's state has been to-night--he, John, Berry, and Boylett, all +taking money and going mad together--you _cannot_ imagine. 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. He +has kept quite well, I am happy to say, and sends a hundred loves. + +In great haste and fatigue. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + MORRISON'S HOTEL, DUBLIN, _Monday, Aug. 23rd, 1858._ + +We had a nasty crossing here. We left Holyhead at one in the morning, +and got here at six. Arthur was incessantly sick the whole way. I was +not sick at all, but was in as healthy a condition otherwise as humanity +need be. We are in a beautiful hotel. Our sitting-room is exactly like +the drawing-room at the Peschiere in all its dimensions. I never saw two +rooms so exactly resembling one another in their proportions. Our +bedrooms too are excellent, and there are baths and all sorts of +comforts. + +The Lord Lieutenant is away, and the place looks to me as if its +professional life were away too. Nevertheless, there are numbers of +people in the streets. Somehow, I hardly seem to think we are going to +do enormously here; but I have scarcely any reason for supposing so +(except that a good many houses are shut up); and I _know_ nothing about +it, for Arthur is now gone to the agent and to the room. The men came by +boat direct from Liverpool. They had a rough passage, were all ill, and +did not get here till noon yesterday. Donnybrook Fair, or what remains +of it, is going on, within two or three miles of Dublin. They went out +there yesterday in a jaunting-car, and John described it to us at +dinner-time (with his eyebrows lifted up, and his legs well asunder), as +"Johnny Brooks's Fair;" at which Arthur, who was drinking bitter ale, +nearly laughed himself to death. Berry is always unfortunate, and when I +asked what had happened to Berry on board the steamboat, it appeared +that "an Irish gentleman which was drunk, and fancied himself the +captain, wanted to knock Berry down." + +I am surprised by finding this place very much larger than I had +supposed it to be. Its bye-parts are bad enough, but cleaner, too, than +I had supposed them to be, and certainly very much cleaner than the old +town of Edinburgh. 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 you plase, sir, +it's the foor coorts o' looyers, where Misther O'Connell stood his trial +wunst, ye'll remimber, sir, afore I tell ye of it." When we got into the +Phoenix Park, he looked round him as if it were his own, and said: +"THAT'S a park, sir, av yer plase." I complimented it, and he said: +"Gintlemen tills me as they'r bin, sir, over Europe, and never see a +park aqualling ov it. 'Tis eight mile roond, sir, ten mile and a half +long, and in the month of May the hawthorn trees are as beautiful as +brides with their white jewels on. Yonder's the vice-regal lodge, sir; +in them two corners lives the two sicretirries, wishing I was them, 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!" + +You should have heard John in my bedroom this morning endeavouring to +imitate a bath-man, who had resented his interference, and had said as +to the shower-bath: "Yer'll not be touching _that_, young man. Divil a +touch yer'll touch o' that insthrument, young man!" It was more +ridiculously unlike the reality than I can express to you, yet he was so +delighted with his powers that he went off in the absurdest little +gingerbeery giggle, backing into my portmanteau all the time. + +My dear love to Katie and to Georgy, also to the noble Plorn and all the +boys. I shall write to Katie next, and then to Aunty. My cold, I am +happy to report, is very much better. I lay in the wet all night on +deck, on board the boat, but am not as yet any the worse for it. Arthur +was quite insensible when we got to Dublin, and stared at our luggage +without in the least offering to claim it. He left his kindest love for +all before he went out. I will keep the envelope open until he comes in. + + Ever, my dearest Mamie, + Your most affectionate Father. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + MORRISON'S HOTEL, DUBLIN, _Wednesday, Aug. 25th, 1858._ + +I begin my letter to you to-day, though I don't know when I may send it +off. We had a very good house last night, after all, that is to say, a +great rush of shillings and good half-crowns, though the stalls were +comparatively few. For "Little Dombey," this morning, we have an immense +stall let--already more than two hundred--and people are now fighting in +the agent's shop to take more. Through some mistake of our printer's, +the evening reading for this present Wednesday was dropped, in a great +part of the announcements, and the agent opened no plan for it. I have +therefore resolved not to have it at all. Arthur Smith has waylaid me +in all manner of ways, but I remain obdurate. I am frightfully tired, +and really relieved by the prospect of an evening--overjoyed. + +They were a highly excitable audience last night, but they certainly did +not comprehend--internally and intellectually comprehend--"The Chimes" +as a London audience do. I am quite sure of it. I very much doubt the +Irish capacity of receiving the pathetic; but of their quickness as to +the humorous there can be no doubt. I shall see how they go along with +Little Paul, in his death, presently. + +While I was at breakfast this morning, a general officer was announced +with great state--having a staff at the door--and came in, booted and +plumed, and covered with Crimean decorations. It was Cunninghame, whom +we knew in Genoa--then a captain. He was very hearty indeed, and came to +ask me to dinner. Of course I couldn't go. Olliffe has a brother at +Cork, who has just now (noon) written to me, proposing dinners and +excursions in that neighbourhood which would fill about a week; I being +there a day and a half, and reading three times. The work will be very +severe here, and I begin to feel depressed by it. (By "here," I mean +Ireland generally, please to observe.) + +We meant, as I said in a letter to Katie, to go to Queenstown yesterday +and bask on the seashore. But there is always so much to do that we +couldn't manage it after all. We expect a tremendous house to-morrow +night as well as to-day; and Arthur is at the present instant up to his +eyes in business (and seats), and, between his regret at losing +to-night, and his desire to make the room hold twice as many as it +_will_ hold, is half distracted. I have become a wonderful +Irishman--must play an Irish part some day--and his only relaxation is +when I enact "John and the Boots," which I consequently do enact all day +long. 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 forty-six I look like an old man. _He_ is a rum customer, +I think. + +The Rutherfords are living here, and wanted me to dine with them, which, +I needn't say, could not be done; all manner of people have called, but +I have seen only two. John has given it up altogether as to rivalry with +the Boots, and did not come into my room this morning at all. Boots +appeared triumphant and alone. He was waiting for me at the hotel-door +last night. "Whaa't sart of a hoose, sur?" he asked me. "Capital." "The +Lard be praised fur the 'onor o' Dooblin!" + +Arthur buys bad apples in the streets and brings them home and doesn't +eat them, and then I am obliged to put them in the balcony because they +make the room smell faint. Also he meets countrymen with honeycomb on +their heads, and leads them (by the buttonhole when they have one) to +this gorgeous establishment and requests the bar to buy honeycomb for +his breakfast; then it stands upon the sideboard uncovered and the flies +fall into it. He buys owls, too, and castles, and other horrible +objects, made in bog-oak (that material which is not appreciated at +Gad's Hill); and he is perpetually snipping pieces out of newspapers and +sending them all over the world. While I am reading he conducts the +correspondence, and his great delight is to show me seventeen or +eighteen letters when I come, exhausted, into the retiring-place. Berry +has not got into any particular trouble for forty-eight hours, except +that he is all over boils. I have prescribed the yeast, but +ineffectually. It is indeed a sight to see him and John sitting in +pay-boxes, and surveying Ireland out of pigeon-holes. + + _Same Evening before Bed-time._ + +Everybody was at "Little Dombey" to-day, and although I had some little +difficulty to work them up in consequence of the excessive crowding of +the place, and the difficulty of shaking the people into their seats, +the effect was unmistakable and profound. The crying was universal, and +they were extraordinarily affected. There is no doubt we could stay here +a week with that one reading, and fill the place every night. Hundreds +of people have been there to-night, under the impression that it would +come off again. It was a most decided and complete success. + +Arthur has been imploring me to stop here on the Friday after Limerick, +and read "Little Dombey" again. But 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 was sick of it to-day before I began, then got myself into +wonderful train. + +Here follows a dialogue (but it requires imitation), which I had +yesterday morning with a little boy of the house--landlord's son, I +suppose--about Plorn's age. I am sitting on the sofa writing, and find +him sitting beside me. + + INIMITABLE. Holloa, old chap. + + YOUNG IRELAND. Hal-loo! + + INIMITABLE (_in his delightful way_). What a + nice old fellow you are. I am very fond of + little boys. + + YOUNG IRELAND. Air yer? Ye'r right. + + INIMITABLE. What do you learn, old fellow? + + YOUNG IRELAND (_very intent on Inimitable, and + always childish, except in his brogue_). I + lairn wureds of three sillibils, and wureds of + two sillibils, and wureds of one sillibil. + + INIMITABLE (_gaily_). Get out, you humbug! You + learn only words of one syllable. + + YOUNG IRELAND (_laughs heartily_). You may say + that it is mostly wureds of one sillibil. + + INIMITABLE. Can you write? + + YOUNG IRELAND. Not yet. Things comes by + deegrays. + + INIMITABLE. Can you cipher? + + YOUNG IRELAND (_very quickly_). Wha'at's that? + + INIMITABLE. Can you make figures? + + YOUNG IRELAND. I can make a nought, which is + not asy, being roond. + + INIMITABLE. 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? + + YOUNG IRELAND (_cogitating deeply_). Was it a + very good cap? + + INIMITABLE. Yes. + + YOUNG IRELAND. Did it fit unkommon? + + INIMITABLE. Yes. + + YOUNG IRELAND. Dat was me! + +There are two stupid old louts at the room, to show people into their +places, whom John calls "them two old Paddies," and of whom he says, +that he "never see nothing like them (snigger) hold idiots" (snigger). +They bow and walk backwards before the grandees, and our men hustle them +while they are doing it. + +We walked out last night, with the intention of going to the theatre; +but the Piccolomini establishment (they were doing the "Lucia") looked +so horribly like a very bad jail, and the Queen's looked so +blackguardly, that we came back again, and went to bed. I seem to be +always either in a railway carriage, or reading, or going to bed. I get +so knocked up, whenever I have a minute to remember it, that then I go +to bed as a matter of course. + +I send my love to the noble Plorn, and to all the boys. To dear Mamie +and Katie, and to yourself of course, in the first degree. I am looking +forward to the last Irish reading on Thursday, with great impatience. +But when we shall have turned this week, once knocked off Belfast, I +shall see land, and shall (like poor Timber in the days of old) "keep up +a good heart." I get so wonderfully hot every night in my dress clothes, +that they positively won't dry in the short interval they get, and I +have been obliged to write to Doudney's to make me another suit, that I +may have a constant change. + + Ever, my dearest Georgy, most affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + BELFAST, _Saturday, Aug. 28th, 1858._ + +When I went down to the Rotunda at Dublin on Thursday night, I said to +Arthur, who came rushing at me: "You needn't tell me. I know all about +it." The moment I had come out of the door of the hotel (a mile off), I +had come against the stream of people turned away. I had struggled +against it to the room. There, the crowd in all the lobbies and passages +was so great, that I had a difficulty in getting in. They had broken all +the glass in the pay-boxes. They had offered frantic prices for stalls. +Eleven bank-notes were thrust into that pay-box (Arthur saw them) 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. You never saw +such a sight. And the reading went tremendously! It is much to be +regretted that we troubled ourselves to go anywhere else in Ireland. We +turned away people enough to make immense houses for a week. + +We arrived here yesterday at two. The room will not hold more than from +eighty to ninety pounds. The same scene was repeated with the additional +feature, that the people are much rougher here than in Dublin, and that +there was a very great uproar at the opening of the doors, which, the +police in attendance being quite inefficient and only looking on, it was +impossible to check. Arthur was in the deepest misery because shillings +got into stalls, and half-crowns got into shillings, and stalls got +nowhere, and there was immense confusion. It ceased, however, the moment +I showed myself; and all went most brilliantly, in spite of a great +piece of the cornice of the ceiling falling with a great crash within +four or five inches of the head of a young lady on my platform (I was +obliged to have people there), and in spite of my gas suddenly going out +at the time of the game of forfeits at Scrooge's nephew's, through some +Belfastian gentleman accidentally treading on the flexible pipe, and +needing to be relighted. + +We shall not get to Cork before mid-day on Monday; it being difficult to +get from here on a Sunday. We hope to be able to start away to-morrow +morning to see the Giant's Causeway (some sixteen miles off), and in +that case we shall sleep at Dublin to-morrow night, leaving here by the +train at half-past three in the afternoon. Dublin, you must understand, +is on the way to Cork. This is a fine place, surrounded by lofty hills. +The streets are very wide, and the place is very prosperous. The whole +ride from Dublin here is through a very picturesque and various country; +and the amazing thing is, that it is all particularly neat and orderly, +and that the houses (outside at all events) are all brightly whitewashed +and remarkably clean. I want to climb one of the neighbouring hills +before this morning's "Dombey." I am now waiting for Arthur, who has +gone to the bank to remit his last accumulation of treasure to London. + +Our men are rather indignant with the Irish crowds, because in the +struggle they don't sell books, and because, in the pressure, they can't +force a way into the room afterwards to sell them. They are deeply +interested in the success, however, and are as zealous and ardent as +possible. I shall write to Katie next. Give her my best love, and kiss +the darling Plorn for me, and give my love to all the boys. + + Ever, my dearest Mamie, + Your most affectionate Father. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + MORRISON'S HOTEL, DUBLIN, _Sunday Night, Aug. 29th, 1858._ + +I am so delighted to find your letter here to-night (eleven o'clock), +and so afraid that, in the wear and tear of this strange life, I have +written to Gad's Hill in the wrong order, and have not written to you, +as I should, that I resolve to write this before going to bed. You will +find it a wretchedly stupid letter; but you may imagine, my dearest +girl, that I am tired. + +The success at Belfast has been equal to the success here. Enormous! We +turned away half the town. I think them a better audience, on the whole, +than Dublin; and the personal affection there was something +overwhelming. I wish you and the dear girls could have seen the people +look at me in the street; or heard them ask me, as I hurried to the +hotel after reading last night, to "do me the honour 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." 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 "Little Dombey," they mounted the +platform, after I was gone, and picked them all up as keepsakes! + +I have never seen _men_ go in to cry so undisguisedly as they did at +that reading yesterday afternoon. They made no attempt whatever to hide +it, and certainly cried more than the women. As to the "Boots" at night, +and "Mrs. Gamp" too, it was just one roar with me and them; for they +made me laugh so that sometimes I _could not_ compose my face to go on. + +You must not let the new idea of poor dear Landor efface the former +image of the fine old man. I wouldn't blot him out, in his tender +gallantry, as he sat upon that bed at Forster's that night, for a +million of wild mistakes at eighty years of age. + +I hope to be at Tavistock House before five o'clock next Saturday +morning, and to lie in bed half the day, and come home by the 10.50 on +Sunday. + +Tell the girls that Arthur and I have each ordered at Belfast a trim, +sparkling, slap-up _Irish jaunting-car_!!! I flatter myself we shall +astonish the Kentish people. It is the oddest carriage in the world, and +you are always falling off. But it is gay and bright in the highest +degree. Wonderfully Neapolitan. + +What with a sixteen mile ride before we left Belfast, and a sea-beach +walk, and a two o'clock dinner, and a seven hours' railway ride since, I +am--as we say here--"a thrifle weary." But I really am in wonderful +force, considering the work. For which I am, as I ought to be, very +thankful. + +Arthur was exceedingly unwell last night--could not cheer up at all. He +was so very unwell that he left the hall(!) and became invisible after +my five minutes' rest. I found him at the hotel in a jacket and +slippers, and with a hot bath just ready. He was in the last stage of +prostration. The local agent was with me, and proposed that he (the +wretched Arthur) should go to his office and balance the accounts then +and there. He went, in the jacket and slippers, and came back in twenty +minutes, _perfectly well_, in consequence of the admirable balance. He +is now sitting opposite to me ON THE BAG OF SILVER, forty pounds (it +must be dreadfully hard), writing to Boulogne. + +I suppose it is clear that the next letter I write is Katie's. Either +from Cork or from Limerick, it shall report further. At Limerick I read +in the theatre, there being no other place. + +Best love to Mamie and Katie, and dear Plorn, and all the boys left when +this comes to Gad's Hill; also to my dear good Anne, and her little +woman. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. Wilkie Collins.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Monday, Sept. 6th, 1858._ + +MY DEAR WILKIE, + +First, let me report myself here for something less than eight-and-forty +hours. I come last (and direct--a pretty hard journey) from Limerick. +The success in Ireland has been immense. + +The work is very hard, sometimes overpowering; but I am none the worse +for it, and arrived here quite fresh. + +Secondly, will you let me recommend the enclosed letter from Wigan, as +the groundwork of a capital article, in your way, for H. W.? There is +not the least objection to a plain reference to him, or to Phelps, to +whom the same thing happened a year or two ago, near Islington, in the +case of a clever and capital little daughter of his. I think it a +capital opportunity for a discourse on gentility, with a glance at those +other schools which advertise that the "sons of gentlemen only" are +admitted, and a just recognition of the greater liberality of our public +schools. There are tradesmen's sons at Eton, and Charles Kean was at +Eton, and Macready (also an actor's son) was at Rugby. Some such title +as "Scholastic Flunkeydom," or anything infinitely contemptuous, would +help out the meaning. Surely such a schoolmaster must swallow all the +silver forks that the pupils are expected to take when they come, and +are not expected to take away with them when they go. And of course he +could not exist, unless he had flunkey customers by the dozen. + +Secondly--no, this is thirdly now--about the Christmas number. I have +arranged so to stop my readings, as to be available for it on _the 15th +of November_, which will leave me time to write a good article, if I +clear my way to one. Do you see your way to our making a Christmas +number of this idea that I am going very briefly to hint? Some +disappointed person, man or woman, prematurely disgusted with the world, +for some reason or no reason (the person should be young, I think) +retires to an old lonely house, or an old lonely mill, or anything you +like, with one attendant, resolved to shut out the world, and hold no +communion with it. The one attendant sees the absurdity of the idea, +pretends to humour it, but really thus to slaughter it. Everything that +happens, everybody that comes near, every breath of human interest that +floats into the old place from the village, or the heath, or the four +cross-roads near which it stands, and from which belated travellers +stray into it, shows beyond mistake that you can't shut out the world; +that you are in it, to be of it; that you get into a false position the +moment you try to sever yourself from it; and that you must mingle with +it, and make the best of it, and make the best of yourself into the +bargain. + +If we could plot out a way of doing this together, I would not be afraid +to take my part. If we could not, could we plot out a way of doing it, +and taking in stories by other hands? If we could not do either (but I +think we could), shall we fall back upon a round of stories again? That +I would rather not do, if possible. Will you think about it? + +And can you come and dine at Tavistock House _on Monday, the 20th +September, at half-past five_? I purpose being at home there with the +girls that day. + +Answer this, according to my printed list for the week. I am off to +Huddersfield on Wednesday morning. + +I think I will now leave off; merely adding that I have got a splendid +brogue (it really is exactly like the people), and that I think of +coming out as the only legitimate successor of poor Power. + + Ever, my dear Wilkie, affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Mary Boyle.] + + STATION HOTEL, YORK, _Friday, Sept. 10th, 1858._ + +DEAREST MEERY, + +First let me tell you that all the magicians and spirits in your employ +have fulfilled the instructions of their wondrous mistress to +admiration. Flowers have fallen in my path wherever I have trod; and +when they rained upon me at Cork I was more amazed than you ever saw me. + +Secondly, receive my hearty and loving thanks for that same. (Excuse a +little Irish in the turn of that sentence, but I can't help it). + +Thirdly, I have written direct to Mr. Boddington, explaining that I am +bound to be in Edinburgh on the day when he courteously proposes to do +me honour. + +I really cannot tell you how truly and tenderly I feel your letter, and +how gratified I am by its contents. Your truth and attachment are +always so precious to me that I can_not_ get my heart out on my sleeve +to show it you. It is like a child, and, at the sound of some familiar +voices, "goes and hides." + +You know what an affection I have for Mrs. Watson, and how happy it made +me to see her again--younger, much, than when I first knew her in +Switzerland. + +God bless you always! + + Ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + ROYAL HOTEL, SCARBOROUGH, _Sunday, Sept. 11th, 1858._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +We had a very fine house indeed at York. All kinds of applications have +been made for another reading there, and no doubt it would be +exceedingly productive; but it cannot be done. At Harrogate yesterday; +the queerest place, with the strangest people in it, leading the oddest +lives of dancing, newspaper reading, and tables d'hôte. The piety of +York obliging us to leave that place for this at six this morning, and +there being no night train from Harrogate, we had to engage a special +engine. We got to bed at one, and were up again before five; which, +after yesterday's fatigues, leaves me a little worn out at this present. + +I have no accounts of this place as yet, nor have I received any letter +here. But the post of this morning is not yet delivered, I believe. We +have a charming room, overlooking the sea. Leech is here (living within +a few doors), with the partner of his bosom, and his young family. I +write at ten in the morning, having been here two hours; and you will +readily suppose that I have not seen him. + +Of news, I have not the faintest breath. I seem to have been doing +nothing all my life but riding in railway-carriages and reading. The +railway of the morning brought us through Castle Howard, and under the +woods of Easthorpe, and then just below Malton Abbey, where I went to +poor Smithson's funeral. It was a most lovely morning, and, tired as I +was, I couldn't sleep for looking out of window. + +Yesterday, at Harrogate, two circumstances occurred which gave Arthur +great delight. Firstly, he chafed his legs sore with his black bag of +silver. Secondly, the landlord asked him as a favour, "If he could +oblige him with a little silver." He obliged him directly with some +forty pounds' worth; and I suspect the landlord to have repented of +having approached the subject. After the reading last night we walked +over the moor to the railway, three miles, leaving our men to follow +with the luggage in a light cart. They passed us just short of the +railway, and John was making the night hideous and terrifying the +sleeping country, by _playing the horn_ in prodigiously horrible and +unmusical blasts. + +My dearest love, of course, to the dear girls, and to the noble Plorn. +Apropos of children, there was one gentleman at the "Little Dombey" +yesterday morning, 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 of thirty or so, too, who found something so very ludicrous +in "Toots," that he _could not_ 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 he came he gave a kind of cry, as if it were too much for him. It +was uncommonly droll, and made me laugh heartily. + + Ever, dear Georgy, your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + SCARBOROUGH ARMS, LEEDS, _Wednesday, Sept. 15th, 1858._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +I have added a pound to the cheque. I would recommend your seeing the +poor railway man again and giving him ten shillings, and telling him to +let you see him again in about a week. If he be then still unable to +lift weights and handle heavy things, I would then give him another ten +shillings, and so on. + +Since I wrote to Georgy from Scarborough, we have had, thank God, +nothing but success. The Hull people (not generally considered +excitable, even on their own showing) were so enthusiastic, that we were +obliged to promise to go back there for two readings. I have positively +resolved not to lengthen out the time of my tour, so we are now +arranging to drop some small places, and substitute Hull again and York +again. But you will perhaps have heard this in the main from Arthur. I +know he wrote to you after the reading last night. This place I have +always doubted, knowing that we should come here when it was recovering +from the double excitement of the festival and the Queen. But there is a +very large hall let indeed, and the prospect of to-night consequently +looks bright. + +Arthur told you, I suppose, that he had his shirt-front and waistcoat +torn off last night? He was perfectly enraptured in consequence. Our men +got so knocked about that he gave them five shillings apiece on the +spot. John passed several minutes upside down against a wall, with his +head amongst the people's boots. He came out of the difficulty in an +exceedingly touzled condition, and with his face much flushed. For all +this, and their being packed as you may conceive they would be packed, +they settled down the instant I went in, and never wavered in the +closest attention for an instant. It was a very high room, and required +a great effort. + +Oddly enough, I slept in this house three days last year with Wilkie. +Arthur has the bedroom I occupied then, and I have one two doors from +it, and Gordon has the one between. Not only is he still with us, but he +_has_ talked of going on to Manchester, going on to London, and coming +back with us to Darlington next Tuesday!!! + +These streets look like a great circus with the season just finished. +All sorts of garish triumphal arches were put up for the Queen, and they +have got smoky, and have been looked out of countenance by the sun, and +are blistered and patchy, and half up and half down, and are hideous to +behold. Spiritless men (evidently drunk for some time in the royal +honour) are slowly removing them, and on the whole it is more like the +clearing away of "The Frozen Deep" at Tavistock House than anything +within your knowledge--with the exception that we are not in the least +sorry, as we were then. Vague ideas are in Arthur's head that when we +come back to Hull, we are to come here, and are to have the Town Hall (a +beautiful building), and read to the million. I can't say yet. That +depends. I remember that when I was here before (I came from Rockingham +to make a speech), I thought them a dull and slow audience. I hope I may +have been mistaken. I never saw better audiences than the Yorkshire +audiences generally. + +I am so perpetually at work or asleep, that I have not a scrap of news. +I saw the Leech family at Scarboro', both in my own house (that is to +say, hotel) and in theirs. They were not at either reading. Scarboro' is +gay and pretty, and I think Gordon had an idea that we were always at +some such place. + +Kiss the darling Plorn for me, and give him my love; dear Katie too, +giving her the same. I feel sorry that I cannot get down to Gad's Hill +this next time, but I shall look forward to our being there with Georgy, +after Scotland. Tell the servants that I remember them, and hope they +will live with us many years. + + Ever, my dearest Mamie, + Your most affectionate Father. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + KING'S HEAD, SHEFFIELD, _Friday, Sept. 17th, 1858._ + +I write you a few lines to Tavistock House, thinking you may not be +sorry to find a note from me there on your arrival from Gad's Hill. + +Halifax was too small for us. I never saw such an audience though. They +were really worth reading to for nothing, though I didn't do exactly +that. It is as horrible a place as I ever saw, I think. + +The run upon the tickets here is so immense that Arthur is obliged to +get great bills out, signifying that no more can be sold. It will be by +no means easy to get into the place the numbers who have already paid. +It is the hall we acted in. Crammed to the roof and the passages. We +must come back here towards the end of October, and are again altering +the list and striking out small places. + +The trains are so strange and unintelligible in this part of the country +that we were obliged to leave Halifax at eight this morning, and +breakfast on the road--at Huddersfield again, where we had an hour's +wait. Wills was in attendance on the platform, and took me (here at +Sheffield, I mean) out to Frederick Lehmann's house to see Mrs. Wills. +She looked pretty much the same as ever, I thought, and was taking care +of a very pretty little boy. The house and grounds are as nice as +anything _can_ be in this smoke. A heavy thunderstorm is passing over +the town, and it is raining hard too. + +This is a stupid letter, my dearest Georgy, but I write in a hurry, and +in the thunder and lightning, and with the crowd of to-night before me. + + Ever most affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + STATION HOTEL, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, + _Sunday, Sept. 26th, 1858._ + + EXTRACT. + +The girls (as I have no doubt they have already told you for themselves) +arrived here in good time yesterday, and in very fresh condition. They +persisted in going to the room last night, though I had arranged for +their remaining quiet. + +We have done a vast deal here. I suppose you know that we are going to +Berwick, and that we mean to sleep there and go on to Edinburgh on +Monday morning, arriving there before noon? If it be as fine to-morrow +as it is to-day, the girls will see the coast piece of railway between +Berwick and Edinburgh to great advantage. I was anxious that they +should, because that kind of pleasure is really almost the only one they +are likely to have in their present trip. + +Stanfield and Roberts are in Edinburgh, and the Scottish Royal Academy +gave them a dinner on Wednesday, to which I was very pressingly +invited. But, of course, my going was impossible. I read twice that day. + +Remembering what you do of Sunderland, you will be surprised that our +profit there was very considerable. I read in a beautiful new theatre, +and (I thought to myself) quite wonderfully. Such an audience I never +beheld for rapidity and enthusiasm. The room in which we acted +(converted into a theatre afterwards) was burnt to the ground a year or +two ago. We found the hotel, so bad in our time, really good. I walked +from Durham to Sunderland, and from Sunderland to Newcastle. + +Don't you think, as we shall be at home at eleven in the forenoon this +day fortnight, that it will be best for you and Plornish to come to +Tavistock House for that Sunday, and for us all to go down to Gad's Hill +next day? My best love to the noble Plornish. If he is quite reconciled +to the postponement of his trousers, I should like to behold his first +appearance in them. But, if not, as he is such a good fellow, I think it +would be a pity to disappoint and try him. + +And now, my dearest Georgy, I think I have said all I have to say before +I go out for a little air. I had a very hard day yesterday, and am +tired. + + Ever your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John Forster.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, + _Sunday, Oct. 10th, 1858._ + +MY DEAR FORSTER, + +As to the truth of the readings, I cannot tell you what the +demonstrations of personal regard and respect are. How the densest and +most uncomfortably-packed crowd will be hushed in an instant when I show +my face. How the youth of colleges, and the old men of business in the +town, seem equally unable to get near enough to me when they cheer me +away at night. How common people and gentlefolks will stop me in the +streets and say: "Mr. Dickens, will you let me touch the hand that has +filled my home with so many friends?" And if you saw the mothers, and +fathers, and sisters, and brothers in mourning, who invariably come to +"Little Dombey," and if you studied the wonderful expression of comfort +and reliance with which they hang about me, as if I had been with them, +all kindness and delicacy, at their own little death-bed, you would +think it one of the strangest things in the world. + +As to the mere effect, of course I don't go on doing the thing so often +without carefully observing myself and the people too in every little +thing, and without (in consequence) greatly improving in it. + +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 nobility came posting in from thirty miles round, and the +whole town came and filled an immense hall. As to the effect, if you had +seen them after Lilian died, in "The Chimes," or when Scrooge woke and +talked to the boy outside the window, I doubt if you would ever have +forgotten it. And at the end of "Dombey" 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 that astonishing +heartiness and fondness for me, 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 on one side as if a shock from without had shaken +the hall. + +The dear girls have enjoyed themselves immensely, and their trip has +been a great success. I hope I told you (but I forget whether I did or +no) how splendidly Newcastle[4] came out. I am reminded of Newcastle at +the moment because they joined me there. + +I am 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. But the fatigue, though +sometimes very great indeed, hardly tells upon me at all. And although +all our people, from Smith downwards, have given in, more or less, at +times, I have never been in the least unequal to the work, though +sometimes sufficiently disinclined for it. My kindest and best love to +Mrs. Forster. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + ROYAL HOTEL, DERBY, _Friday, Oct. 22nd, 1858._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +I am writing in a very poor condition; I have a bad cold all over me, +pains in my back and limbs, and a very sensitive and uncomfortable +throat. There was a great draught up some stone steps near me last +night, and I daresay that caused it. + +The weather on my first two nights at Birmingham was so intolerably +bad--it blew hard, and never left off raining for one single +moment--that the houses were not what they otherwise would have been. On +the last night the weather cleared, and we had a grand house. + +Last night at Nottingham was almost, if not quite, the most amazing we +have had. It is not a very large place, and the room is by no means a +very large one, but three hundred and twenty stalls were let, and all +the other tickets were sold. + +Here we have two hundred and twenty stalls let for to-night, and the +other tickets are gone in proportion. It is a pretty room, but not +large. + +I have just been saying to Arthur that if there is not a large let for +York, I would rather give it up, and get Monday at Gad's Hill. We have +telegraphed to know. If the answer comes (as I suppose it will) before +post time, I will tell you in a postscript what we decide to do. Coming +to London in the night of to-morrow (Saturday), and having to see Mr. +Ouvry on Sunday, and having to start for York early on Monday, I fear I +should not be able to get to Gad's Hill at all. You won't expect me till +you see me. + +Arthur and I have considered Plornish's joke in all the immense number +of aspects in which it presents itself to reflective minds. We have come +to the conclusion that it is the best joke ever made. Give the dear boy +my love, and the same to Georgy, and the same to Katey, and take the +same yourself. Arthur (excessively low and inarticulate) mutters that he +"unites." + +[We knocked up Boylett, Berry, and John so frightfully yesterday, by +tearing the room to pieces and altogether reversing it, as late as four +o'clock, that we gave them a supper last night. They shine all over +to-day, as if it had been entirely composed of grease.] + + Ever, my dearest Mamie, + Your most affectionate Father. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + WOLVERHAMPTON, _Wednesday, Nov. 3rd, 1858._ + +Little Leamington came out in the most amazing manner yesterday--turned +away hundreds upon hundreds of people. They are represented as the +dullest and worst of audiences. I found them very good indeed, even in +the morning. + +There awaited me at the hotel, a letter from the Rev. Mr. Young, +Wentworth Watson's tutor, saying that Mrs. Watson wished her boy to +shake hands with me, and that he would bring him in the evening. I +expected him at the hotel before the readings. But he did not come. He +spoke to John about it in the room at night. The crowd and confusion, +however, were very great, and I saw nothing of him. In his letter he +said that Mrs. Watson was at Paris on her way home, and would be at +Brighton at the end of this week. I suppose I shall see her there at the +end of next week. + +We find a let of two hundred stalls here, which is very large for this +place. The evening being fine too, and blue being to be seen in the sky +beyond the smoke, we expect to have a very full hall. Tell Mamey and +Katey that if they had been with us on the railway to-day between +Leamington and this place, they would have seen (though it is only an +hour and ten minutes by the express) fires and smoke indeed. We came +through a part of the Black Country that you know, and it looked at its +blackest. All the furnaces seemed in full blast, and all the coal-pits +to be working. + +It is market-day here, and the ironmasters are standing out in the +street (where they always hold high change), making such an iron hum and +buzz, that they confuse me horribly. In addition, there is a bellman +announcing something--not the readings, I beg to say--and there is an +excavation being made in the centre of the open place, for a statue, or +a pump, or a lamp-post, or something or other, round which all the +Wolverhampton boys are yelling and struggling. + +And here is Arthur, begging to have dinner at half-past three instead of +four, because he foresees "a wiry evening" in store for him. Under which +complication of distractions, to which a waitress with a tray at this +moment adds herself, I sink, and leave off. + +My best love to the dear girls, and to the noble Plorn, and to you. +Marguerite and Ellen Stone not forgotten. All yesterday and to-day I +have been doing everything to the tune of: + + And the day is dark and dreary. + + Ever, dearest Georgy, + Your most affectionate and faithful. + +P.S.--I hope the brazier is intolerably hot, and half stifles all the +family. Then, and not otherwise, I shall think it in satisfactory work. + + +[Sidenote: Rev. James White.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W. C., + _Friday, Nov. 5th, 1858._ + +MY DEAR WHITE, + +May I entreat you to thank Mr. Carter very earnestly and kindly in my +name, for his proffered hospitality; and, further, to explain to him +that since my readings began, I have known them to be incompatible with +all social enjoyments, and have neither set foot in a friend's house nor +sat down to a friend's table in any one of all the many places I have +been to, but have rigidly kept myself to my hotels. To this resolution I +must hold until the last. There is not the least virtue in it. It is a +matter of stern necessity, and I submit with the worst grace possible. + +Will you let me know, either at Southampton or Portsmouth, whether any +of you, and how many of you, if any, are coming over, so that Arthur +Smith may reserve good seats? Tell Lotty I hope she does not contemplate +coming to the morning reading; I always hate it so myself. + +Mary and Katey are down at Gad's Hill with Georgy and Plornish, and they +have Marguerite Power and Ellen Stone staying there. I am sorry to say +that even my benevolence descries no prospect of their being able to +come to my native place. + +On Saturday week, the 13th, my tour, please God, ends. + +My best love to Mrs. White, and to Lotty, and to Clara. + + Ever, my dear White, affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Frank Stone, A.R.A.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Monday, Dec. 13th, 1858._ + +MY DEAR STONE, + +Many thanks for these discourses. They are very good, I think, as +expressing what many men have felt and thought; otherwise not specially +remarkable. They have one fatal mistake, which is a canker at the foot +of their ever being widely useful. Half the misery and hypocrisy of the +Christian world arises (as I take it) from a stubborn determination to +refuse the New Testament as a sufficient guide in itself, and to force +the Old Testament into alliance with it--whereof comes all manner of +camel-swallowing and of gnat-straining. But so to resent this miserable +error, or to (by any implication) depreciate the divine goodness and +beauty of the New Testament, is to commit even a worse error. And to +class Jesus Christ with Mahomet is simply audacity and folly. I might as +well hoist myself on to a high platform, to inform my disciples that the +lives of King George the Fourth and of King Alfred the Great belonged to +one and the same category. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. B. W. Procter.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Sunday, Dec. 18th, 1858._ + +MY DEAR PROCTER, + +A thousand thanks for the little song. I am charmed with it, and shall +be delighted to brighten "Household Words" with such a wise and genial +light. I no more believe that your poetical faculty has gone by, than I +believe that you have yourself passed to the better land. You and it +will travel thither in company, rely upon it. So I still hope to hear +more of the trade-songs, and to learn that the blacksmith has hammered +out no end of iron into good fashion of verse, like a cunning workman, +as I know him of old to be. + + Very faithfully yours, my dear Procter. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Niece to the Rev. W. Harness. + +[4] The birthplace of Mr. Forster. + + + + +1859. + +NARRATIVE. + + +During the winter, Charles Dickens was living at Tavistock House, +removing to Gad's Hill for the summer early in June, and returning to +London in November. At this time a change was made in his weekly +journal. "Household Words" became absolutely his own--Mr. Wills being +his partner and editor, as before--and was "incorporated with 'All the +Year Round,'" under which title it was known thenceforth. The office was +still in Wellington Street, but in a different house. The first number +with the new name appeared on the 30th April, and it contained the +opening of "A Tale of Two Cities." + +The first letter which follows shows that a proposal for a series of +readings in America had already been made to him. It was carefully +considered and abandoned for the time. But the proposal was constantly +renewed, and the idea never wholly relinquished for many years before he +actually decided on making so distant a "reading tour." + +Mr. Procter contributed to the early numbers of "All the Year Round" +some very spirited "Songs of the Trades." We give notes from Charles +Dickens to the veteran poet, both in the last year, and in this year, +expressing his strong approval of them. + +The letter and two notes to Mr. (afterwards Sir Antonio) Panizzi, for +which we are indebted to Mr. Louis Fagan, one of Sir A. Panizzi's +executors, show the warm sympathy and interest which he always felt for +the cause of Italian liberty, and for the sufferings of the State +prisoners who at this time took refuge in England. + +We give a little note to the dear friend and companion of Charles +Dickens's daughters, "Lotty" White, because it is a pretty specimen of +his writing, and because the young girl, who is playfully "commanded" to +get well and strong, died early in July of this year. She was, at the +time this note was written, first attacked with the illness which was +fatal to all her sisters. Mamie and Kate Dickens went from Gad's Hill to +Bonchurch to pay a last visit to their friend, and he writes to his +eldest daughter there. Also we give notes of loving sympathy and +condolence to the bereaved father and mother. + +In the course of this summer Charles Dickens was not well, and went for +a week to his old favourite, Broadstairs--where Mr. Wilkie Collins and +his brother, Mr. Charles Allston Collins, were staying--for sea-air and +change, preparatory to another reading tour, in England only. His letter +from Peterborough to Mr. Frank Stone, giving him an account of a reading +at Manchester (Mr. Stone's native town), was one of the last ever +addressed to that affectionate friend, who died very suddenly, to the +great grief of Charles Dickens, in November. The letter to Mr. Thomas +Longman, which closes this year, was one of introduction to that +gentleman of young Marcus Stone, then just beginning his career as an +artist, and to whom the premature death of his father made it doubly +desirable that he should have powerful helping hands. + +Charles Dickens refers, in a letter to Mrs. Watson, to his portrait by +Mr. Frith, which was finished at the end of 1858. It was painted for Mr. +Forster, and is now in the "Forster Collection" at South Kensington +Museum. + +The Christmas number of this year, again written by several hands as +well as his own, was "The Haunted House." In November, his story of "A +Tale of Two Cities" was finished in "All the Year Round," and in +December was published, complete, with dedication to Lord John Russell. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Arthur Smith.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Wednesday, Jan. 26th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR ARTHUR, + +Will you first read the enclosed letters, having previously welcomed, +with all possible cordiality, the bearer, Mr. Thomas C. Evans, from New +York? + +You having read them, let me explain that Mr. Fields is a highly +respectable and influential man, one of the heads of the most classical +and most respected publishing house in America; that Mr. Richard Grant +White is a man of high reputation; and that Felton is the Greek +Professor in their Cambridge University, perhaps the most distinguished +scholar in the States. + +The address to myself, referred to in one of the letters, being on its +way, it is quite clear that I must give some decided and definite answer +to the American proposal. Now, will you carefully discuss it with Mr. +Evans before I enter on it at all? Then, will you dine here with him on +Sunday--which I will propose to him--and arrange to meet at half-past +four for an hour's discussion? + +The points are these: + +First. I have a very grave question within myself whether I could go to +America at all. + +Secondly. If I did go, I could not possibly go before the autumn. + +Thirdly. If I did go, how long must I stay? + +Fourthly. If the stay were a short one, could _you_ go? + +Fifthly. What is his project? What could I make? What occurs to you upon +his proposal? + +I have told him that the business arrangements of the readings have been +from the first so entirely in your hands, that I enter upon nothing +connected with them without previous reference to you. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: M. de Cerjat.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Tuesday, Feb. 1st, 1859._ + +MY DEAR CERJAT, + +I received your always welcome annual with even more interest than usual +this year, being (in common with my two girls and their aunt) much +excited and pleased by your account of your daughter's engagement. Apart +from the high sense I have of the affectionate confidence with which you +tell me what lies so tenderly on your own heart, I have followed the +little history with a lively sympathy and regard for her. I hope, with +you, that it is full of promise, and that you will all be happy in it. +The separation, even in the present condition of travel (and no man can +say how much the discovery of a day may advance it), is nothing. And so +God bless her and all of you, and may the rosy summer bring her all the +fulness of joy that we all wish her. + +To pass from the altar to Townshend (which is a long way), let me report +him severely treated by Bully, who rules him with a paw of iron; and +complaining, moreover, of indigestion. He drives here every Sunday, but +at all other times is mostly shut up in his beautiful house, where I +occasionally go and dine with him _tête-à-tête_, and where we always +talk of you and drink to you. That is a rule with us from which we never +depart. He is "seeing a volume of poems through the press;" rather an +expensive amusement. He has not been out at night (except to this house) +save last Friday, when he went to hear me read "The Poor Traveller," +"Mrs. Gamp," and "The Trial" from "Pickwick." He came into my room at +St. Martin's Hall, and I fortified him with weak brandy-and-water. You +will be glad to hear that the said readings are a greater _furore_ than +they ever have been, and that every night on which they now take +place--once a week--hundreds go away, unable to get in, though the hall +holds thirteen hundred people. I dine with ---- to-day, by-the-bye, +along with his agent; concerning whom I observe him to be always divided +between an unbounded confidence and a little latent suspicion. He always +tells me that he is a gem of the first water; oh yes, the best of +business men! and then says that he did not quite like his conduct +respecting that farm-tenant and those hay-ricks. + +There is a general impression here, among the best-informed, that war in +Italy, to begin with, is inevitable, and will break out before April. I +know a gentleman at Genoa (Swiss by birth), deeply in with the +authorities at Turin, who is already sending children home. + +In England we are quiet enough. There is a world of talk, as you know, +about Reform bills; but I don't believe there is any general strong +feeling on the subject. According to my perceptions, it is undeniable +that the public has fallen into a state of indifference about public +affairs, mainly referable, as I think, to the people who administer +them--and there I mean the people of all parties--which is a very bad +sign of the times. The general mind seems weary of debates and +honourable members, and to have taken _laissez-aller_ for its motto. + +My affairs domestic (which I know are not without their interest for +you) flow peacefully. My eldest daughter is a capital housekeeper, heads +the table gracefully, delegates certain appropriate duties to her sister +and her aunt, and they are all three devotedly attached. Charley, my +eldest boy, remains in Barings' house. Your present correspondent is +more popular than he ever has been. I rather think that the readings in +the country have opened up a new public who were outside before; but +however that may be, his books have a wider range than they ever had, +and his public welcomes are prodigious. Said correspondent is at present +overwhelmed with proposals to go and read in America. Will never go, +unless a small fortune be first paid down in money on this side of the +Atlantic. Stated the figure of such payment, between ourselves, only +yesterday. Expects to hear no more of it, and assuredly will never go +for less. You don't say, my dear Cerjat, when you are coming to England! +Somehow I feel that this marriage ought to bring you over, though I +don't know why. You shall have a bed here and a bed at Gad's Hill, and +we will go and see strange sights together. When I was in Ireland, I +ordered the brightest jaunting-car that ever was seen. It has just this +minute arrived per steamer from Belfast. Say you are coming, and you +shall be the first man turned over by it; somebody must be (for my +daughter Mary drives anything that can be harnessed, and I know of no +English horse that would understand a jaunting-car coming down a Kentish +hill), and you shall be that somebody if you will. They turned the +basket-phaeton over, last summer, in a bye-road--Mary and the other +two--and had to get it up again; which they did, and came home as if +nothing had happened. They send their loves to Mrs. Cerjat, and to you, +and to all, and particularly to the dear _fiancée_. So do I, with all my +heart, and am ever your attached and affectionate friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Antonio Panizzi.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Monday Night, March 14th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR PANIZZI, + +If you should feel no delicacy in mentioning, or should see no objection +to mentioning, to Signor Poerio, or any of the wronged Neapolitan +gentlemen to whom it is your happiness and honour to be a friend on +their arrival in this country, an idea that has occurred to me, I should +regard it as a great kindness in you if you would be my exponent. I +think you will have no difficulty in believing that I would not, on any +consideration, obtrude my name or projects upon any one of those noble +souls, if there were any reason of the slightest kind against it. And if +you see any such reason, I pray you instantly to banish my letter from +your thoughts. + +It seems to me probable that some narrative of their ten years' +suffering will, somehow or other, sooner or later, be by some of them +laid before the English people. The just interest and indignation alive +here, will (I suppose) elicit it. False narratives and garbled stories +will, in any case, of a certainty get about. If the true history of the +matter is to be told, I have that sympathy with them and respect for +them which would, all other considerations apart, render it unspeakably +gratifying to me to be the means of its diffusion. What I desire to lay +before them is simply this. If for my new successor to "Household Words" +a narrative of their ten years' trial could be written, I would take any +conceivable pains to have it rendered into English, and presented in the +sincerest and best way to a very large and comprehensive audience. It +should be published exactly as you might think best for them, and +remunerated in any way that you might think generous and right. They +want no mouthpiece and no introducer, but perhaps they might have no +objection to be associated with an English writer, who is possibly not +unknown to them by some general reputation, and who certainly would be +animated by a strong public and private respect for their honour, +spirit, and unmerited misfortunes. This is the whole matter; assuming +that such a thing is to be done, I long for the privilege of helping to +do it. These gentlemen might consider it an independent means of making +money, and I should be delighted to pay the money. + +In my absence from town, my friend and sub-editor, Mr. Wills (to whom I +had expressed my feeling on the subject), has seen, I think, three of +the gentlemen together. But as I hear, returning home to-night, that +they are in your good hands, and as nobody can be a better judge than +you of anything that concerns them, I at once decide to write to you and +to take no other step whatever. Forgive me for the trouble I have +occasioned you in the reading of this letter, and never think of it +again if you think that by pursuing it you would cause them an instant's +uneasiness. + + Believe me, very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Antonio Panizzi.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Tuesday, March 15th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR PANIZZI, + +Let me thank you heartily for your kind and prompt letter. I am really +and truly sensible of your friendliness. + +I have not heard from Higgins, but of course I am ready to serve on the +Committee. + + Always faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. B. W. Procter.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Saturday, March 19th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR PROCTER, + +I think the songs are simply ADMIRABLE! and I have no doubt of this +being a popular feature in "All the Year Round." I would not omit the +sexton, and I would not omit the spinners and weavers; and I would omit +the hack-writers, and (I think) the alderman; but I am not so clear +about the chorister. The pastoral I a little doubt finding audience for; +but I am not at all sure yet that my doubt is well founded. + +Had I not better send them all to the printer, and let you have proofs +kept by you for publishing? I shall not have to make up the first number +of "All the Year Round" until early in April. I don't like to send the +manuscript back, and I never do like to do so when I get anything that I +know to be thoroughly, soundly, and unquestionably good. I am hard at +work upon my story, and expect a magnificent start. With hearty thanks, + + Ever yours affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edmund Yates.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Tuesday, March 29th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR EDMUND, + +1. I think that no one seeing the place can well doubt that my house at +Gad's Hill is the place for the letter-box. The wall is accessible by +all sorts and conditions of men, on the bold high road, and the house +altogether is the great landmark of the whole neighbourhood. Captain +Goldsmith's _house_ is up a lane considerably off the high road; but he +has a garden _wall_ abutting on the road itself. + +2. "The Pic-Nic Papers" were originally sold to Colburn, for the benefit +of the widow of Mr. Macrone, of St. James's Square, publisher, deceased. +Two volumes were contributed--of course gratuitously--by writers who had +had transactions with Macrone. Mr. Colburn, wanting three volumes in all +for trade purposes, added a third, consisting of an American reprint. +Of that volume I didn't know, and don't know, anything. The other two I +edited, gratuitously as aforesaid, and wrote the Lamplighter's story in. +It was all done many years ago. There was a preface originally, +delicately setting forth how the book came to be. + +3. I suppose ---- to be, as Mr. Samuel Weller expresses it somewhere in +"Pickwick," "ravin' mad with the consciousness o' willany." Under their +advertisement in _The Times_ to-day, you will see, without a word of +comment, the shorthand writer's verbatim report of the judgment. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Antonio Panizzi.] + + "ALL THE YEAR ROUND" OFFICE, _Thursday, April 7th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR PANIZZI, + +If you don't know, I think you should know that a number of letters are +passing through the post-office, purporting to be addressed to the +charitable by "Italian Exiles in London," asking for aid to raise a fund +for a tribute to "London's Lord Mayor," in grateful recognition of the +reception of the Neapolitan exiles. I know this to be the case, and have +no doubt in my own mind that the whole thing is an imposture and a "do." +The letters are signed "Gratitudine Italiana." + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Miss White.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Monday, April 18th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR LOTTY, + +This is merely a notice to you that I must positively insist on your +getting well, strong, and into good spirits, with the least possible +delay. Also, that I look forward to seeing you at Gad's Hill sometime in +the summer, staying with the girls, and heartlessly putting down the +Plorn You know that there is no appeal from the Plorn's inimitable +father. What _he_ says must be done. Therefore I send you my love (which +please take care of), and my commands (which please obey). + + Ever your affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: The Hon. Mrs. Watson.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Tuesday, May 31st, 1859._ + +MY DEAR MRS. WATSON, + +You surprise me by supposing that there is ever latent a defiant and +roused expression in the undersigned lamb! Apart from this singular +delusion of yours, and wholly unaccountable departure from your usual +accuracy in all things, your satisfaction with the portrait is a great +pleasure to me. It has received every conceivable pains at Frith's +hands, and ought on his account to be good. It is a little too much (to +my thinking) as if my next-door neighbour were my deadly foe, uninsured, +and I had just received tidings of his house being afire; otherwise very +good. + +I cannot tell you how delighted we shall be if you would come to Gad's +Hill. You should see some charming woods and a rare old castle, and you +should have such a snug room looking over a Kentish prospect, with every +facility in it for pondering on the beauties of its master's beard! _Do_ +come, but you positively _must not_ come and go on the same day. + +We retreat there on Monday, and shall be there all the summer. + +My small boy is perfectly happy at Southsea, and likes the school very +much. I had the finest letter two or three days ago, from another of my +boys--Frank Jeffrey--at Hamburg. In this wonderful epistle he says: +"Dear papa, I write to tell you that I have given up all thoughts of +being a doctor. My conviction that I shall never get over my stammering +is the cause; all professions are barred against me. The only thing I +should like to be is a gentleman farmer, either at the Cape, in Canada, +or Australia. With my passage paid, fifteen pounds, a horse, and a +rifle, I could go two or three hundred miles up country, sow grain, buy +cattle, and in time be very comfortable." + +Considering the consequences of executing the little commission by the +next steamer, I perceived that the first consequence of the fifteen +pounds would be that he would be robbed of it--of the horse, that it +would throw him--and of the rifle, that it would blow his head off; +which probabilities I took the liberty of mentioning, as being against +the scheme. With best love from all, + + Ever believe me, my dear Mrs. Watson, + Your faithful and affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. White.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Sunday, June 5th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR MRS. WHITE, + +I do not write to you this morning because I have anything to say--I +well know where your consolation is set, and to what beneficent figure +your thoughts are raised--but simply because you are so much in my mind +that it is a relief to send you and dear White my love. You are always +in our hearts and on our lips. May the great God comfort you! You know +that Mary and Katie are coming on Thursday. They will bring dear Lotty +what she little needs with you by her side--love; and I hope their +company will interest and please her. There is nothing that they, or any +of us, would not do for her. She is a part of us all, and has belonged +to us, as well as to you, these many years. + + Ever your affectionate and faithful. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + GAD'S HILL, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Monday, June 11th, 1859._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +On Saturday night I found, very much to my surprise and pleasure, the +photograph on my table at Tavistock House. It is not a very pleasant or +cheerful presentation of my daughters; but it is wonderfully like for +all that, and in some details remarkably good. When I came home here +yesterday I tried it in the large Townshend stereoscope, in which it +shows to great advantage. It is in the little stereoscope at present on +the drawing-room table. One of the balustrades of the destroyed old +Rochester bridge has been (very nicely) presented to me by the +contractor for the works, and has been duly stonemasoned 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. The Plorn is highly excited +to-day by reason of an institution which he tells me (after questioning +George) is called the "Cobb, or Bodderin," holding a festival at The +Falstaff. He is possessed of some vague information that they go to +Higham Church, in pursuance of some old usage, and attend service there, +and afterwards march round the village. It so far looks probable that +they certainly started off at eleven very spare in numbers, and came +back considerably recruited, which looks to me like the difference +between going to church and coming to dinner. They bore no end of bright +banners and broad sashes, and had a band with a terrific drum, and are +now (at half-past two) dining at The Falstaff, partly in the side room +on the ground-floor, and partly in a tent improvised this morning. The +drum is hung up to a tree in The Falstaff garden, and looks like a +tropical sort of gourd. I have presented the band with five shillings, +which munificence has been highly appreciated. Ices don't seem to be +provided for the ladies in the gallery--I mean the garden; they are +prowling about there, endeavouring to peep in at the beef and mutton +through the holes in the tent, on the whole, in a debased and degraded +manner. + +Turk somehow cut his foot in Cobham Lanes yesterday, and Linda hers. +They are both lame, and looking at each other. Fancy Mr. Townshend not +intending to go for another three weeks, and designing to come down here +for a few days--with Henri and Bully--on Wednesday! I wish you could +have seen him alone with me on Saturday; he was so extraordinarily +earnest and affectionate on my belongings and affairs in general, and +not least of all on you and Katie, that he cried in a most pathetic +manner, and was so affected that I was obliged to leave him among the +flowerpots in the long passage at the end of the dining-room. It was a +very good piece of truthfulness and sincerity, especially in one of his +years, able to take life so easily. + +Mr. and Mrs. Wills are here now (but I daresay you know it from your +aunt), and return to town with me to-morrow morning. We are now going on +to the castle. Mrs. Wills was very droll last night, and told me some +good stories. My dear, I wish particularly to impress upon you and dear +Katie (to whom I send my other best love) that I hope your stay will not +be very long. I don't think it very good for either of you, though of +course I know that Lotty will be, and must be, and should be the first +consideration with you both. I am very anxious to know how you found her +and how you are yourself. + +Best love to dear Lotty and Mrs. White. The same to Mr. White and Clara. +We are always talking about you all. + + Ever, dearest Mamie, your affectionate Father. + + +[Sidenote: Rev. James White.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Thursday, July 7th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR WHITE, + +I send my heartiest and most affectionate love to Mrs. White and you, +and to Clara. You know all that I could add; you have felt it all; let +it be unspoken and unwritten--it is expressed within us. + +Do you not think that you could all three come here, and stay with us? +You and Mrs. White should have your own large room and your own ways, +and should be among us when you felt disposed, and never otherwise. I do +hope you would find peace here. Can it not be done? + +We have talked very much about it among ourselves, and the girls are +strong upon it. Think of it--do! + + Ever your affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John Forster.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Thursday Night, Aug. 25th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR FORSTER, + +Heartily glad to get your letter this morning. + +I cannot easily tell you how much interested I am by what you tell me of +our brave and excellent friend the Chief Baron, in connection with that +ruffian. I followed the case with so much interest, and have followed +the miserable knaves and asses who have perverted it since, with so much +indignation, that I have often had more than half a mind to write and +thank the upright judge who tried him. I declare to God that I believe +such a service one of the greatest that a man of intellect and courage +can render to society. Of course I saw the beast of a prisoner (with my +mind's eye) delivering his cut-and-dried speech, and read in every word +of it that no one but the murderer could have delivered or conceived +it. 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 +that black scoundrel and the gallows. I can_not_ believe--and my belief +in all wrong as to public matters is enormous--that such a thing will be +done. + +I am reminded of Tennyson, by thinking that King Arthur would have made +short work of the amiable ----, whom the newspapers strangely delight to +make a sort of gentleman of. How fine the "Idylls" are! Lord! what a +blessed thing it is to read a man who can write! I thought nothing could +be grander than the first poem till I came to the third; but when I had +read the last, it seemed to be absolutely unapproached and +unapproachable. + +To come to myself. I have written and begged the "All the Year Round" +publisher to send you directly four weeks' proofs beyond the current +number, that are in type. I hope you will like them. Nothing but the +interest of the subject, and the pleasure of striving with the +difficulty of the forms of treatment, nothing in the mere way of money, +I mean, could also repay the time and trouble of the incessant +condensation. But I set myself the little task of making a _picturesque_ +story, rising in every chapter with characters true to nature, but whom +the story itself 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 bestiality that _is_ +written under that pretence, pounding the characters out in its own +mortar, and beating their own interests out of them. If you could have +read the story all at once, I hope you wouldn't have stopped halfway. + +As to coming to your retreat, my dear Forster, think how helpless I am. +I am not well yet. I have an instinctive feeling that nothing but the +sea will restore me, and I am planning to go and work at Ballard's, at +Broadstairs, from next Wednesday to Monday. I generally go to town on +Monday afternoon. All Tuesday I am at the office, on Wednesday I come +back here, and go to work again. I don't leave off till Monday comes +round once more. I am fighting to get my story done by the first week in +October. On the 10th of October I am going away to read for a fortnight +at Ipswich, Norwich, Oxford, Cambridge, and a few other places. Judge +what my spare time is just now! + +I am very much surprised and very sorry to find from the enclosed that +Elliotson has been ill. I never heard a word of it. + +Georgy sends best love to you and to Mrs. Forster, so do I, so does +Plorn, so does Frank. The girls are, for five days, with the Whites at +Ramsgate. It is raining, intensely hot, and stormy. Eighteen creatures, +like little tortoises, have dashed in at the window and fallen on the +paper since I began this paragraph [Illustration: ink-blot] (that was +one!). I am a wretched sort of creature in my way, but it is a way that +gets on somehow. And all ways have the same fingerpost at the head of +them, and at every turning in them. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens and Miss Katie Dickens.] + + ALBION, BROADSTAIRS, _Friday, Sept. 2nd, 1859._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE AND KATIE, + +I have been "moved" here, and am now (Ballard having added to the hotel +a house we lived in three years) in our old dining-room and +sitting-room, and our old drawing-room as a bedroom. My cold is so bad, +both in my throat and in my chest, that I can't bathe in the sea; Tom +Collin dissuaded me--thought it "bad"--but I get a heavy shower-bath at +Mrs. Crampton's every morning. The baths are still hers and her +husband's, but they have retired and live in "Nuckells"--are going to +give a stained-glass window, value three hundred pounds, to St. Peter's +Church. Tom Collin is of opinion that the Miss Dickenses has growed two +fine young women--leastwise, asking pardon, ladies. An evangelical +family of most disagreeable girls prowl about here and trip people up +with tracts, which they put in the paths with stones upon them to keep +them from blowing away. Charles Collins and I having seen a bill +yesterday--about a mesmeric young lady who did feats, one of which was +set forth in the bill, in a line by itself, as + + THE RIGID LEGS, + +--were overpowered with curiosity, and resolved to go. It came off in +the Assembly Room, now more exquisitely desolate than words can +describe. Eighteen shillings was the "take." Behind a screen among the +company, we heard mysterious gurglings of water before the entertainment +began, and then a slippery sound which occasioned me to whisper C. C. +(who laughed in the most ridiculous manner), "Soap." It proved to be the +young lady washing herself. She must have been wonderfully dirty, for +she took a world of trouble, and didn't come out clean after all--in a +wretched dirty muslin frock, with blue ribbons. She was the alleged +mesmeriser, and a boy who distributed bills the alleged mesmerised. It +was a most preposterous imposition, but more ludicrous than any poor +sight I ever saw. The boy is clearly out of pantomime, and when he +pretended to be in the mesmeric state, made the company back by going +in among them head over heels, backwards, half-a-dozen times, in a most +insupportable way. The pianist had struck; and the manner in which the +lecturer implored "some lady" to play a "polker," and the manner in +which no lady would; and in which the few ladies who were there sat with +their hats on, and the elastic under their chins, as if it were going to +blow, is never to be forgotten. I have been writing all the morning, and +am going for a walk to Ramsgate. This is a beast of a letter, but I am +not well, and have been addling my head. + + Ever, dear Girls, your affectionate Father. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. Wilkie Collins.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Friday Night, Sept. 16th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR WILKIE, + +Just a word to say that I have received yours, and that I look forward +to the reunion on Thursday, when I hope to have the satisfaction of +recounting to you the plot of a play that has been laid before me for +commending advice. + +Ditto to what you say respecting the _Great Eastern_. I went right up to +London Bridge by the boat that day, on purpose that I might pass her. I +thought her the ugliest and most unshiplike thing these eyes ever +beheld. I wouldn't go to sea in her, shiver my ould timbers and rouse me +up with a monkey's tail (man-of-war metaphor), not to chuck a biscuit +into Davy Jones's weather eye, and see double with my own old toplights. + +Turk has been so good as to produce from his mouth, for the wholesome +consternation of the family, eighteen feet of worm. When he had brought +it up, he seemed to think it might be turned to account in the +housekeeping and was proud. Pony has kicked a shaft off the cart, and is +to be sold. Why don't you buy her? she'd never kick with you. + +Barber's opinion is, that them fruit-trees, one and all, is touchwood, +and not fit for burning at any gentleman's fire; also that the stocking +of this here garden is worth less than nothing, because you wouldn't +have to grub up nothing, and something takes a man to do it at +three-and-sixpence a day. Was "left desponding" by your reporter. + +I have had immense difficulty to find a man for the stable-yard here. +Barber having at last engaged one this morning, I enquired if he had a +decent hat for driving in, to which Barber returned this answer: + +"Why, sir, not to deceive you, that man flatly say that he never have +wore that article since man he was!" + +I am consequently fortified into my room, and am afraid to go out to +look at him. Love from all. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Monsieur Regnier.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Saturday, Oct. 15th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR REGNIER, + +You will receive by railway parcel the proof-sheets of a story of mine, +that has been for some time in progress in my weekly journal, and that +will be published in a complete volume about the middle of November. +Nobody but Forster has yet seen the latter portions of it, or will see +them until they are published. I want you to read it for two reasons. +Firstly, because I hope it is the best story I have written. Secondly, +because it treats of a very remarkable time in France; and I should very +much like to know what you think of its being dramatised for a French +theatre. If you should think it likely to be done, I should be glad to +take some steps towards having it well done. The story is an +extraordinary success here, and I think the end of it is certain to make +a still greater sensation. + +Don't trouble yourself to write to me, _mon ami_, until you shall have +had time to read the proofs. Remember, they are _proofs_, and _private_; +the latter chapters will not be before the public for five or six weeks +to come. + +With kind regards to Madame Regnier, in which my daughters and their +aunt unite, + + Believe me, ever faithfully yours. + +P.S.--The story (I daresay you have not seen any of it yet) is called +"A Tale of Two Cities." + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Frank Stone, A.R.A.] + + PETERBOROUGH, _Wednesday Evening, Oct. 19th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR STONE, + +We had a splendid rush last night--exactly as we supposed, with the +pressure on the two shillings, of whom we turned a crowd away. They were +a far finer audience than on the previous night; I think the finest I +have ever read to. They took every word of the "Dombey" in quite an +amazing manner, and after the child's death, paused a little, and then +set up a shout that it did one good to hear. Mrs. Gamp then set in with +a roar, which lasted until I had done. I think everybody for the time +forgot everything but the matter in hand. It was as fine an instance of +thorough absorption in a fiction as any of us are likely to see ever +again. + +---- (in an exquisite red mantle), accompanied by her sister (in another +exquisite red mantle) and by the deaf lady, (who leaned a black +head-dress, exactly like an old-fashioned tea-urn without the top, +against the wall), was charming. HE couldn't get at her on account of +the pressure. HE tried to peep at her from the side door, but she (ha, +ha, ha!) was unconscious of his presence. I read to her, and goaded him +to madness. He is just sane enough to send his kindest regards. + +This is a place which--except the cathedral, with the loveliest front I +ever saw--is like the back door to some other place. It is, I should +hope, the deadest and most utterly inert little town in the British +dominions. The magnates have taken places, and the bookseller is of +opinion that "such is the determination to do honour to Mr. Dickens, +that the doors _must_ be opened half an hour before the appointed time." +You will picture to yourself Arthur's quiet indignation at this, and the +manner in which he remarked to me at dinner, "that he turned away twice +Peterborough last night." + +A very pretty room--though a Corn Exchange--and a room we should have +been glad of at Cambridge, as it is large, bright, and cheerful, and +wonderfully well lighted. + +The difficulty of getting to Bradford from here to-morrow, at any time +convenient to us, turned out to be so great, that we are all going in +for Leeds (only three-quarters of an hour from Bradford) to-night after +the reading, at a quarter-past eleven. We are due at Leeds a quarter +before three. + +So no more at present from, + + Yours affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. R. Sculthorpe.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Thursday, Nov. 10th, 1859._ + +DEAR SIR, + +Judgment must go by default. I have not a word to plead against Dodson +and Fogg. I am without any defence to the action; and therefore, as law +goes, ought to win it. + +Seriously, the date of your hospitable note disturbs my soul. But I have +been incessantly writing in Kent and reading in all sorts of places, and +have done nothing in my own personal character these many months; and +now I come to town and our friend[5] is away! Let me take that +defaulting miscreant into council when he comes back. + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Monsieur Regnier.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Wednesday, Nov. 16th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR REGNIER, + +I send you ten thousand thanks for your kind and explicit letter. What I +particularly wished to ascertain from you was, whether it is likely the +Censor would allow such a piece to be played in Paris. In the case of +its being likely, then I wished to have the piece as well done as +possible, and would even have proposed to come to Paris to see it +rehearsed. But I very much doubted whether the general subject would not +be objectionable to the Government, and what you write with so much +sagacity and with such care convinces me at once that its representation +would be prohibited. Therefore I altogether abandon and relinquish the +idea. But I am just as heartily and cordially obliged to you for your +interest and friendship, as if the book had been turned into a play five +hundred times. I again thank you ten thousand times, and am quite sure +that you are right. I only hope you will forgive my causing you so much +trouble, after your hard work. + +My girls and Georgina send their kindest regards to Madame Regnier and +to you. My Gad's Hill house (I think I omitted to tell you, in reply to +your enquiry) is on the very scene of Falstaff's robbery. There is a +little _cabaret_ at the roadside, still called The Sir John Falstaff. +And the country, in all its general features, is, at this time, what it +was in Shakespeare's. I hope you will see the house before long. It is +really a pretty place, and a good residence for an English writer, is it +not? + +Macready, we are all happy to hear from himself, is going to leave the +dreary tomb in which he lives, at Sherborne, and to remove to +Cheltenham, a large and handsome place, about four or five hours' +railway journey from London, where his poor girls will at least see and +hear some life. Madame Céleste was with me yesterday, wishing to +dramatise "A Tale of Two Cities" for the Lyceum, after bringing out the +Christmas pantomime. I gave her my permission and the book; but I fear +that her company (troupe) is a very poor one. + +This is all the news I have, except (which is no news at all) that I +feel as if I had not seen you for fifty years, and that + + I am ever your attached and faithful Friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. T. Longman.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Monday, Nov. 28th, 1859._ + +MY DEAR LONGMAN, + +I am very anxious to present to you, with the earnest hope that you will +hold him in your remembrance, young Mr. Marcus Stone, son of poor Frank +Stone, who died suddenly but a little week ago. You know, I daresay, +what a start this young man made in the last exhibition, and what a +favourable notice his picture attracted. He wishes to make an additional +opening for himself in the illustration of books. He is an admirable +draughtsman, has a most dexterous hand, a charming sense of grace and +beauty, and a capital power of observation. These qualities in him I +know well of my own knowledge. He is in all things modest, punctual, and +right; and I would answer for him, if it were needful, with my head. + +If you will put anything in his way, you will do it a second time, I am +certain. + + Faithfully yours always. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] Mr. Edmund Yates. + + + + +1860. + +NARRATIVE. + + +This winter was the last spent at Tavistock House. Charles Dickens had +for some time been inclining to the idea of making his home altogether +at Gad's Hill, giving up his London house, and taking a furnished house +for the sake of his daughters for a few months of the London season. +And, as his daughter Kate was to be married this summer to Mr. Charles +Collins, this intention was confirmed and carried out. He made +arrangements for the sale of Tavistock House to Mr. Davis, a Jewish +gentleman, and he gave up possession of it in September. Up to this time +Gad's Hill had been furnished merely as a temporary summer +residence--pictures, library, and all best furniture being left in the +London house. He now set about beautifying and making Gad's Hill +thoroughly comfortable and homelike. And there was not a year +afterwards, up to the year of his death, that he did not make some +addition or improvement to it. He also furnished, as a private +residence, a sitting-room and some bedrooms at his office in Wellington +Street, to be used, when there was no house in London, as occasional +town quarters by himself, his daughter, and sister-in-law. + +He began in this summer his occasional papers for "All the Year Round," +which he called "The Uncommercial Traveller," and which were continued +at intervals in his journal until 1869. + +In the autumn of this year he began another story, to be published +weekly in "All the Year Round." The letter to Mr. Forster, which we +give, tells him of this beginning and gives him the name of the book. +The first number of "Great Expectations" appeared on the 1st December. +The Christmas number, this time, was written jointly by himself and Mr. +Wilkie Collins. The scene was laid at Clovelly, and they made a journey +together into Devonshire and Cornwall, for the purpose of this story, in +November. + +The letter to Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton is, unfortunately, the only one +we have as yet been able to procure. The present Lord Lytton, the +Viceroy of India, has kindly endeavoured to help us even during his +absence from England. But it was found to be impossible without his own +assistance to make the necessary search among his father's papers. And +he has promised us that, on his return, he will find and lend to us, +many letters from Charles Dickens, which are certainly in existence, to +his distinguished fellow-writer and great friend. We hope, therefore, it +may be possible for us at some future time to be able to publish these +letters, as well as those addressed to the present Lord Lytton (when he +was Mr. Robert Lytton, otherwise "Owen Meredith," and frequent +contributor to "Household Words" and "All the Year Round"). We have the +same hope with regard to letters addressed to Sir Henry Layard, at +present Ambassador at Constantinople, which, of course, for the same +reason, cannot be lent to us at the present time. + +We give a letter to Mr. Forster on one of his books on the Commonwealth, +the "Impeachment of the Five Members;" which, as with other letters +which we are glad to publish on the subject of Mr. Forster's own works, +was not used by himself for obvious reasons. + +A letter to his daughter Mamie (who, after her sister's marriage, paid a +visit with her dear friends the White family to Scotland, where she had +a serious illness) introduces a recent addition to the family, who +became an important member of it, and one to whom Charles Dickens was +very tenderly attached--her little white Pomeranian dog "Mrs. Bouncer" +(so called after the celebrated lady of that name in "Box and Cox"). It +is quite necessary to make this formal introduction of the little pet +animal (who lived to be a very old dog and died in 1874), because future +letters to his daughter contain constant references and messages to +"Mrs. Bouncer," which would be quite unintelligible without this +explanation. "Boy," also referred to in this letter, was his daughter's +horse. The little dog and the horse were gifts to Mamie Dickens from her +friends Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Smith, and the sister of the latter, Miss +Craufurd. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Monday, Jan. 2nd, 1860._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +A happy New Year to you, and many happy years! I cannot tell you how +delighted I was to receive your Christmas letter, or with what pleasure +I have received Forster's emphatic accounts of your health and spirits. +But when was I ever wrong? And when did I not tell you that you were an +impostor in pretending to grow older as the rest of us do, and that you +had a secret of your own for reversing the usual process! It happened +that I read at Cheltenham a couple of months ago, and that I have rarely +seen a place that so attracted my fancy. I had never seen it before. +Also I believe the character of its people to have greatly changed for +the better. All sorts of long-visaged prophets had told me that they +were dull, stolid, slow, and I don't know what more that is +disagreeable. I found them exactly the reverse in all respects; and I +saw an amount of beauty there--well--that is not to be more specifically +mentioned to you young fellows. + +Katie dined with us yesterday, looking wonderfully well, and singing +"Excelsior" with a certain dramatic fire in her, whereof I seem to +remember having seen sparks afore now. Etc. etc. etc. + + With kindest love from all at home to all with you, + Ever, my dear Macready, your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. Wilkie Collins.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Saturday Night, Jan. 7th, 1860._ + +MY DEAR WILKIE, + +I have read this book with great care and attention. There cannot be a +doubt that it is a very great advance on all your former writing, and +most especially in respect of tenderness. In character it is excellent. +Mr. Fairlie as good as the lawyer, and the lawyer as good as he. Mr. +Vesey and Miss Halcombe, in their different ways, equally meritorious. +Sir Percival, also, is most skilfully shown, though I doubt (you see +what small points I come to) whether any man ever showed uneasiness by +hand or foot without being forced by nature to show it in his face too. +The story is very interesting, and the writing of it admirable. + +I seem to have noticed, here and there, that the great pains you take +express themselves a trifle too much, and you know that I always contest +your disposition to give an audience credit for nothing, which +necessarily involves the forcing of points on their attention, and which +I have always observed them to resent when they find it out--as they +always will and do. But on turning to the book again, I find it +difficult to take out an instance of this. It rather belongs to your +habit of thought and manner of going about the work. Perhaps I express +my meaning best when I say that the three people who write the +narratives in these proofs have a DISSECTIVE property in common, which +is essentially not theirs but yours; and that my own effort would be to +strike more of what is got _that way_ out of them by collision with one +another, and by the working of the story. + +You know what an interest I have felt in your powers from the beginning +of our friendship, and how very high I rate them? _I_ know that this is +an admirable book, and that it grips the difficulties of the weekly +portion and throws them in masterly style. No one else could do it half +so well. I have stopped in every chapter to notice some instance of +ingenuity, or some happy turn of writing; and I am absolutely certain +that you never did half so well yourself. + +So go on and prosper, and let me see some more, when you have enough +(for your own satisfaction) to show me. I think of coming in to back you +up if I can get an idea for my series of gossiping papers. One of those +days, please God, we may do a story together; I have very odd +half-formed notions, in a mist, of something that might be done that +way. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John Forster.] + + 11, WELLINGTON STREET, NORTH STRAND, LONDON, W.C., + _Wednesday, May 2nd, 1860._ + +MY DEAR FORSTER, + +It did not occur to me in reading your most excellent, interesting, and +remarkable book, that it could with any reason be called one-sided. If +Clarendon had never written his "History of the Rebellion," then I can +understand that it might be. But just as it would be impossible to +answer an advocate who had misstated the merits of a case for his own +purpose, without, in the interests of truth, and not of the other side +merely, re-stating the merits and showing them in their real form, so I +cannot see the practicability of telling what you had to tell without +in some sort championing the misrepresented side, and I think that you +don't do that as an advocate, but as a judge. + +The evidence has been suppressed and coloured, and the judge goes +through it and puts it straight. It is not _his_ fault if it all goes +one way and tends to one plain conclusion. Nor is it his fault that it +goes the further when it is laid out straight, or seems to do so, +because it was so knotted and twisted up before. + +I can understand any man's, and particularly Carlyle's, having a +lingering respect that does not like to be disturbed for those (in the +best sense of the word) loyal gentlemen of the country who went with the +king and were so true to him. But I don't think Carlyle sufficiently +considers that the great mass of those gentlemen _didn't know the +truth_, that it was a part of their loyalty to believe what they were +told on the king's behalf, and that it is reasonable to suppose that the +king was too artful to make known to _them_ (especially after failure) +what were very acceptable designs to the desperate soldiers of fortune +about Whitehall. And it was to me a curious point of adventitious +interest arising out of your book, to reflect on the probability of +their having been as ignorant of the real scheme in Charles's head, as +their descendants and followers down to this time, and to think with +pity and admiration that they believed the cause to be so much better +than it was. This is a notion I was anxious to have expressed in our +account of the book in these pages. For I don't suppose Clarendon, or +any other such man to sit down and tell posterity something that he has +not "tried on" in his own time. Do you? + +In the whole narrative I saw nothing anywhere to which I demurred. I +admired it all, went with it all, and was proud of my friend's having +written it all. I felt it to be all square and sound and right, and to +be of enormous importance in these times. Firstly, to the people who +(like myself) are so sick of the shortcomings of representative +government as to have no interest in it. Secondly, to the humbugs at +Westminster who have come down--a long, long way--from those men, as you +know. When the great remonstrance came out, I was in the thick of my +story, and was always busy with it; but I am very glad I didn't read it +then, as I shall read it now to much better purpose. All the time I was +at work on the "Two Cities," I read no books but such as had the air of +the time in them. + +To return for a final word to the Five Members. I thought the marginal +references overdone. Here and there, they had a comical look to me for +that reason, and reminded me of shows and plays where everything is in +the bill. + +Lastly, I should have written to you--as I had a strong inclination to +do, and ought to have done, immediately after reading the book--but for +a weak reason; of all things in the world I have lost heart in one--I +hope no other--I cannot, times out of calculation, make up my mind to +write a letter. + + Ever, my dear Forster, affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: M. de Cerjat.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Thursday, May 3rd, 1860._ + +MY DEAR CERJAT, + +The date of this letter would make me horribly ashamed of myself, if I +didn't know that _you_ know how difficult letter-writing is to one whose +trade it is to write. + +You asked me on Christmas Eve about my children. My second daughter is +going to be married in the course of the summer to Charles Collins, the +brother of Wilkie Collins, the novelist. The father was one of the most +famous painters of English green lanes and coast pieces. He was bred an +artist; is a writer, too, and does "The Eye Witness," in "All the Year +Round." He is a gentleman, accomplished, and amiable. My eldest daughter +has not yet started any conveyance on the road to matrimony (that I know +of); but it is likely enough that she will, as she is very agreeable and +intelligent. They are both very pretty. My eldest boy, Charley, has been +in Barings' house for three or four years, and is now going to Hong +Kong, strongly backed up by Barings, to buy tea on his own account, as a +means of forming a connection and seeing more of the practical part of a +merchant's calling, before starting in London for himself. His brother +Frank (Jeffrey's godson) I have just recalled from France and Germany, +to come and learn business, and qualify himself to join his brother on +his return from the Celestial Empire. The next boy, Sydney Smith, is +designed for the navy, and is in training at Portsmouth, awaiting his +nomination. He is about three foot high, with the biggest eyes ever +seen, and is known in the Portsmouth parts as "Young Dickens, who can do +everything." + +Another boy is at school in France; the youngest of all has a private +tutor at home. I have forgotten the second in order, who is in India. He +went out as ensign of a non-existent native regiment, got attached to +the 42nd Highlanders, one of the finest regiments in the Queen's +service; has remained with them ever since, and got made a lieutenant by +the chances of the rebellious campaign, before he was eighteen. Miss +Hogarth, always Miss Hogarth, is the guide, philosopher, and friend of +all the party, and a very close affection exists between her and the +girls. I doubt if she will ever marry. I don't know whether to be glad +of it or sorry for it. + +I have laid down my pen and taken a long breath after writing this +family history. I have also considered whether there are any more +children, and I don't think there are. If I should remember two or three +others presently, I will mention them in a postscript. + +We think Townshend looking a little the worse for the winter, and we +perceive Bully to be decidedly old upon his legs, and of a most +diabolical turn of mind. When they first arrived the weather was very +dark and cold, and kept them indoors. It has since turned very warm and +bright, but with a dusty and sharp east wind. They are still kept +indoors by this change, and I begin to wonder what change will let them +out. Townshend dines with us every Sunday. You may be sure that we +always talk of you and yours, and drink to you heartily. + +Public matters here are thought to be rather improving; the deep +mistrust of the gentleman in Paris being counteracted by the vigorous +state of preparation into which the nation is getting. You will have +observed, of course, that we establish a new defaulter in respect of +some great trust, about once a quarter. The last one, the cashier of a +City bank, is considered to have distinguished himself greatly, a +quarter of a million of money being high game. + +No, my friend, I have not shouldered my rifle yet, but I should do so on +more pressing occasion. Every other man in the row of men I know--if +they were all put in a row--is a volunteer though. There is a tendency +rather to overdo the wearing of the uniform, but that is natural enough +in the case of the youngest men. The turn-out is generally very +creditable indeed. At the ball they had (in a perfectly unventilated +building), their new leather belts and pouches smelt so fearfully that +it was, as my eldest daughter said, like shoemaking in a great prison. +She, consequently, distinguished herself by fainting away in the most +inaccessible place in the whole structure, and being brought out +(horizontally) by a file of volunteers, like some slain daughter of +Albion whom they were carrying into the street to rouse the indignant +valour of the populace. + +Lord, my dear Cerjat, when I turn to that page of your letter where you +write like an ancient sage in whom the fire has paled into a meek-eyed +state of coolness and virtue, I half laugh and half cry! _You_ old! +_You_ a sort of hermit? Boh! Get out. + +With this comes my love and all our loves, to you and Mrs. Cerjat, and +your daughter. I add my special and particular to the sweet "singing +cousin." When shall you and I meet, and where? Must I come to see +Townshend? I begin to think so. + + Ever, my dear Cerjat, your affectionate and faithful. + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Tuesday, June 5th, 1860._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +I am very much interested and gratified by your letter concerning "A +Tale of Two Cities." I do not quite agree with you on two points, but +that is no deduction from my pleasure. + +In the first place, although the surrender of the feudal privileges (on +a motion seconded by a nobleman of great rank) was the occasion of a +sentimental scene, I see no reason to doubt, but on the contrary, many +reasons to believe, that some of these privileges had been used to the +frightful oppression of the peasant, quite as near to the time of the +Revolution as the doctor's narrative, which, you will remember, dates +long before the Terror. And surely when the new philosophy was the talk +of the salons and the slang of the hour, it is not unreasonable or +unallowable to suppose a nobleman wedded to the old cruel ideas, and +representing the time going out, as his nephew represents the time +coming in; as to the condition of the peasant in France generally at +that day, I take it that if anything be certain on earth it is certain +that it was intolerable. No _ex post facto_ enquiries and provings by +figures will hold water, surely, against the tremendous testimony of men +living at the time. + +There is a curious book printed at Amsterdam, written to make out no +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 Tableau de Paris." Rousseau is the +authority for the peasant's shutting up his house when he had a bit of +meat. The tax-taker was the authority for the wretched creature's +impoverishment. + +I am not clear, and I never have been clear, respecting that 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 emotion of the character, where it is strictly consistent +with the whole design, and arises out of some culminating proceeding on +the part of the character 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 that +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_ the design, and seemed to be in the fitness of things. + +Now, as to the reading. I am sorry to say that it is out of the question +this season. I have had an attack of rheumatism--quite a stranger to +me--which remains hovering about my left side, after having doubled me +up in the back, and which would disable me from standing for two hours. +I have given up all dinners and town engagements, and come to my little +Falstaff House here, sensible of the necessity of country training all +through the summer. Smith would have proposed any appointment to see you +on the subject, but he has been dreadfully ill with tic. Whenever I read +in London, I will gladly put a night aside for your purpose, and we will +plot to connect your name with it, and give it some speciality. But this +could not be before Christmas time, as I should not be able to read +sooner, for in the hot weather it would be useless. Let me hear from you +about this when you have considered it. It would greatly diminish the +expenses, remember. + + Ever affectionately and faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: The Lord John Russell.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, June 17th, 1860._ + +MY DEAR LORD JOHN RUSSELL, + +I cannot thank you enough for your kind note and its most welcome +enclosure. My sailor-boy comes home from Portsmouth to-morrow, and will +be overjoyed. His masters have been as anxious for getting his +nomination as though it were some distinction for themselves. + + Ever your faithful and obliged. + + +[Sidenote: The Earl of Carlisle.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Wednesday, Aug. 8th, 1860._ + +MY DEAR LORD CARLISLE, + +Coming back here after an absence of three days in town, I find your +kind and cordial letter lying on my table. I heartily thank you for it, +and highly esteem it. I understand that the article on the spirits to +which you refer was written by ---- (he played an Irish porter in one +scene of Bulwer's comedy at Devonshire House). Between ourselves, I +think it must be taken with a few grains of salt, imperial measure. The +experiences referred to "came off" at ----, where the spirit of ---- +(among an extensive and miscellaneous bodiless circle) _dines_ +sometimes! Mr. ----, the high priest of the mysteries, I have some +considerable reason--derived from two honourable men--for mistrusting. +And that some of the disciples are very easy of belief I know. + +This is Falstaff's own Gad's Hill, and I live on the top of it. All goes +well with me, thank God! I should be thoroughly delighted to see you +again, and to show you where the robbery was done. My eldest daughter +keeps my house, and it is one I was extraordinarily fond of when a +child. + + My dear Lord Carlisle, ever affectionately yours. + +P.S.--I am prowling about, meditating a new book. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Tuesday, Sept. 4th, 1860._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +Your description of your sea-castle makes your room here look uncommonly +dusty. Likewise the costermongers in the street outside, and the one +customer (drunk, with his head on the table) in the Crown Coffee House +over the way, in York Street, have an earthy, and, as I may say, a +land-lubberly aspect. Cape Horn, to the best of _my_ belief, is a +tremendous way off, and there are more bricks and cabbage-leaves between +this office and that dismal point of land than _you_ can possibly +imagine. + +Coming here from the station this morning, I met, coming from the +execution of the Wentworth murderer, such a tide of ruffians as never +could have flowed from any point but the gallows. Without any figure of +speech it turned one white and sick to behold them. + +Tavistock House is cleared to-day, and possession delivered up. I must +say that in all things the purchaser has behaved thoroughly well, and +that I cannot call to mind any occasion when I have had money dealings +with a Christian that have been so satisfactory, considerate, and +trusting. + +I am ornamented at present with one of my most intensely preposterous +and utterly indescribable colds. If you were to make a voyage from Cape +Horn to Wellington Street, you would scarcely recognise in the bowed +form, weeping eyes, rasped nose, and snivelling wretch whom you would +encounter here, the once gay and sparkling, etc. etc. + +Everything else here is as quiet as possible. Business reports you +receive from Holsworth. Wilkie looked in to-day, going to +Gloucestershire for a week. The office is full of discarded curtains and +coverings from Tavistock House, which Georgina is coming up this evening +to select from and banish. Mary is in raptures with the beauties of +Dunkeld, but is not very well in health. The Admiral (Sydney) goes up +for his examination to-morrow. If he fails to pass with credit, I will +never believe in anybody again, so in that case look out for your own +reputation with me. + +This is really all the news I have, except that I am lazy, and that +Wilkie dines here next Tuesday, in order that we may have a talk about +the Christmas number. + +I beg to send my kind regard to Mrs. Wills, and to enquire how she likes +wearing a hat, which of course she does. I also want to know from her +in confidence whether _Crwllm festidiniog llymthll y wodd_? + +Yesterday I burnt, in the field at Gad's Hill, the accumulated letters +and papers of twenty years. They sent up a smoke like the genie when he +got out of the casket on the seashore; and as it was an exquisite day +when I began, and rained very heavily when I finished, I suspect my +correspondence of having overcast the face of the heavens. + + Ever faithfully. + +P.S.--Kind regard to Mr. and Mrs. Novelli.[6] + +I have just sent out for _The Globe_. No news. + +Hullah's daughter (an artist) tells me that certain female students have +addressed the Royal Academy, entreating them to find a place for their +education. I think it a capital move, for which I can do something +popular and telling in _The Register_. Adelaide Procter is active in the +business, and has a copy of their letter. Will you write to her for +that, and anything else she may have about it, telling her that I +strongly approve, and want to help them myself? + + +[Sidenote: The Hon. Mrs. Watson.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Friday Night, Sept. 14th, 1860._ + +MY DEAR MRS. WATSON, + +I lose no time in answering your letter; and first as to business, the +school in the High Town at Boulogne was excellent. The boys all English, +the two proprietors an old Eton master and one of the Protestant +clergymen of the town. The teaching unusually sound and good. The manner +and conduct developed in the boys quite admirable. But I have never +seen a gentleman so perfectly acquainted with boy-nature as the Eton +master. There was a perfect understanding between him and his charges; +nothing pedantic on his part, nothing slavish on their parts. The result +was, that either with him or away from him, the boys combined an ease +and frankness with a modesty and sense of responsibility that was really +above all praise. Alfred went from there to a great school at Wimbledon, +where they train for India and the artillery and engineers. Sydney went +from there to Mr. Barrow, at Southsea. In both instances the new masters +wrote to me of their own accord, bearing quite unsolicited testimony to +the merits of the old, and expressing their high recognition of what +they had done. These things speak for themselves. + +Sydney has just passed his examination as a naval cadet and come home, +all eyes and gold buttons. He has twelve days' leave before going on +board the training-ship. Katie and her husband are in France, and seem +likely to remain there for an indefinite period. Mary is on a month's +visit in Scotland; Georgina, Frank, and Plorn are at home here; and we +all want Mary and her little dog back again. I have sold Tavistock +House, am making this rather complete in its way, and am on the restless +eve of beginning a new big book; but mean to have a furnished house in +town (in some accessible quarter) from February or so to June. May we +meet there. + +Your handwriting is always so full of pleasant memories to me, that when +I took it out of the post-office at Rochester this afternoon it quite +stirred my heart. But we must not think of old times as sad times, or +regard them as anything but the fathers and mothers of the present. We +must all climb steadily up the mountain after the talking bird, the +singing tree, and the yellow water, and must all bear in mind that the +previous climbers who were scared into looking back got turned into +black stone. + +Mary Boyle was here a little while ago, as affectionate at heart as +ever, as young, and as pleasant. Of course we talked often of you. So +let me know when you are established in Halfmoon Street, and I shall be +truly delighted to come and see you. + +For my attachments are strong attachments and never weaken. In right of +bygones, I feel as if "all Northamptonshire" belonged to me, as all +Northumberland did to Lord Bateman in the ballad. In memory of your +warming your feet at the fire in that waste of a waiting-room when I +read at Brighton, I have ever since taken that watering-place to my +bosom as I never did before. And you and Switzerland are always one to +me, and always inseparable. + +Charley was heard of yesterday, from Shanghai, going to Japan, intending +to meet his brother Walter at Calcutta, and having an idea of beguiling +the time between whiles by asking to be taken as an amateur with the +English Chinese forces. Everybody caressed him and asked him everywhere, +and he seemed to go. With kind regards, my dear Mrs. Watson, + + Ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edmund Yates.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, Sept. 23rd, 1860._ + + ON THE DEATH OF HIS MOTHER. + +MY DEAR E. Y., + +I did not write to you in your bereavement, because I knew that the +girls had written to you, and because I instinctively shrunk from making +a form of what was so real. _You_ knew what a loving and faithful +remembrance I always had of your mother as a part of my youth--no more +capable of restoration than my youth itself. All the womanly goodness, +grace, and beauty of my drama went out with her. To the last I never +could hear her voice without emotion. I think of her as of a beautiful +part of my own youth, and this dream that we are all dreaming seems to +darken. + +But it is not to say this that I write now. It comes to the point of my +pen in spite of me. + +"Holding up the Mirror" is in next week's number. I have taken out all +this funeral part of it. Not because I disliked it (for, indeed, I +thought it the best part of the paper), but because it rather grated on +me, going over the proof at that time, as a remembrance that would be +better reserved a little while. Also because it made rather a mixture of +yourself as an individual, with something that does not belong or attach +to you as an individual. You can have the MS.; and as a part of a paper +describing your own juvenile remembrances of a theatre, there it is, +needing no change or adaption. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, Sept. 23rd, 1860._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +If you had been away from us and ill with anybody in the world but our +dear Mrs. White, I should have been in a state of the greatest anxiety +and uneasiness about you. But as I know it to be impossible that you +could be in kinder or better hands, I was not in the least restless +about you, otherwise than as it grieved me to hear of my poor dear +girl's suffering such pain. I hope it is over now for many a long day, +and that you will come back to us a thousand times better in health than +you left us. + +Don't come back too soon. Take time and get well restored. There is no +hurry, the house is not near to-rights yet, and though we all want you, +and though Boy wants you, we all (including Boy) deprecate a fatiguing +journey being taken too soon. + +As to the carpenters, they are absolutely maddening. They are always at +work, yet never seem to do anything. Lillie was down on Friday, and said +(his eye fixed on Maidstone, and rubbing his hand 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 the window. Your aunt tells you all the news, +and leaves me no chance of distinguishing myself, I know. You have been +told all about my brackets in the drawing-room, all about the glass +rescued from the famous stage-wreck of Tavistock House, all about +everything here and at the office. The office is really a success. As +comfortable, cheerful, and private as anything of the kind can possibly +be. + +I took the Admiral (but this you know too, no doubt) to Dollond's, the +mathematical instrument maker's, last Monday, to buy that part of his +outfit. His sextant (which is about the size and shape of a cocked hat), +on being applied to his eye, entirely concealed him. Not the faintest +vestige of the distinguished officer behind it was perceptible to the +human vision. All through the City, people turned round and stared at +him with the sort of pleasure people take in a little model. We went on +to Chatham this day week, in search of some big man-of-war's-man who +should be under obligation to salute him--unfortunately found none. But +this no doubt you know too, and all my news falls flat. + +I am driven out of my room by paint, and am writing in the best spare +room. The whole prospect is excessively wet; it does not rain now, but +yesterday it did tremendously, and it rained very heavily in the night. +We are even muddy; and that is saying a great deal in this dry country +of chalk and sand. Everywhere the corn is lying out and saturated with +wet. The hops (nearly everywhere) look as if they had been burnt. + +In my mind's eye I behold Mrs. Bouncer, still with some traces of her +late anxiety on her faithful countenance, balancing herself a little +unequally on her bow fore-legs, pricking up her ears, with her head on +one side, and slightly opening her intellectual nostrils. I send my +loving and respectful duty to her. + +To dear Mrs. White, and to White, and to Clara, say anything from me +that is loving and grateful. + + My dearest Mamie, + Ever and ever your most affectionate Father. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Monday Night, Sept. 24th, 1860._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +At the Waterloo station we were saluted with "Hallo! here's Dickens!" +from divers naval cadets, and Sir Richard Bromley introduced himself to +me, who had his cadet son with him, a friend of Sydney's. We went down +together, and the boys were in the closest alliance. Bromley being +Accountant-General of the Navy, and having influence on board, got their +hammocks changed so that they would be serving side by side, at which +they were greatly pleased. The moment we stepped on board, the "Hul-lo! +here's Dickens!" was repeated on all sides, and the Admiral (evidently +highly popular) shook hands with about fifty of his messmates. Taking +Bromley for my model (with whom I fraternised in the most pathetic +manner), I gave Sydney a sovereign before stepping over the side. He was +as little overcome as it was possible for a boy to be, and stood waving +the gold-banded cap as we came ashore in a boat. + +There is no denying that he looks very small aboard a great ship, and +that a boy must have a strong and decided speciality for the sea to take +to such a life. Captain Harris was not on board, but the other chief +officers were, and were highly obliging. We went over the ship. I should +say that there can be little or no individuality of address to any +particular boy, but that they all tumble through their education in a +crowded way. The Admiral's servant (I mean our Admiral's) had an idiotic +appearance, but perhaps it did him injustice (a mahogany-faced marine by +station). The Admiral's washing apparatus is about the size of a +muffin-plate, and he could easily live in his chest. The meeting with +Bromley was a piece of great good fortune, and the dear old chap could +not have been left more happily. + + Ever, my dearest Georgy, your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Power.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Tuesday, Sept. 25th, 1860._ + +MY DEAR MARGUERITE, + +I like the article exceedingly, and think the translations +_admirable_--spirited, fresh, bold, and evidently faithful. I will get +the paper into the next number I make up, No. 78. I will send a proof to +you for your correction, either next Monday or this day week. Or would +you like to come here next Monday and dine with us at five, and go over +to Madame Céleste's opening? Then you could correct your paper on the +premises, as they drink their beer at the beer-shops. + +Some of the introductory remarks on French literature I propose to +strike out, as a little too essayical for this purpose, and likely to +throw out a large portion of the large audience at starting, as +suggesting some very different kind of article. My daring pen shall have +imbued its murderous heart with ink before you see the proof. + + With kind regards, + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John Forster.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Thursday, Oct. 4th, 1860._ + +MY DEAR FORSTER, + +It would be a great pleasure to me to come to you, an immense pleasure, +and to sniff the sea I love (from the shore); but I fear I must come +down one morning and come back at night. I will tell you why. + +Last week, I got to work on a new story. 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 a +story, the length of the "Tale of Two Cities," on the 1st of +December--begin publishing, that is. I must make the most I can out of +the book. When I come down, I will bring you the first two or three +weekly parts. The name is, "GREAT EXPECTATIONS." I think a good name? + +Now the preparations to get ahead, combined with the absolute necessity +of my giving a good deal of time to the Christmas number, will tie me to +the grindstone pretty tightly. It will be just as much as I can hope to +do. Therefore, what I had hoped would be a few days at Eastbourne +diminish to a few hours. + +I took the Admiral down to Portsmouth. Every maritime person in the town +knew him. He seemed to know every boy on board the _Britannia_, and was +a tremendous favourite evidently. It was very characteristic of him that +they good-naturedly helped him, he being so very small, into his hammock +at night. But he couldn't rest in it on these terms, and got out again +to learn the right way of getting in independently. Official report +stated that "after a few spills, he succeeded perfectly, and went to +sleep." He is perfectly happy on board, takes tea with the captain, +leads choruses on Saturday nights, and has an immense marine for a +servant. + +I saw Edmund Yates at the office, and he told me that during all his +mother's wanderings of mind, which were almost incessant at last, she +never once went back to the old Adelphi days until she was just dying, +when he heard her say, in great perplexity: "I can _not_ get the words." + +Best love to Mrs. Forster. + + Ever, my dear Forster, affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. Wilkie Collins.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Wednesday, Oct. 24th, 1860._ + +MY DEAR WILKIE, + +I have been down to Brighton to see Forster, and found your letter there +on arriving by express this morning. I also found a letter from +Georgina, describing that Mary's horse went down suddenly on a stone, +and how Mary was thrown, and had her riding-habit torn to pieces, and +has a deep cut just above the knee--fortunately not in the knee itself, +which is doing exceedingly well, but which will probably incapacitate +her from walking for days and days to come. It is well it was no worse. +The accident occurred at Milton, near Gravesend, and they found Mary in +a public-house there, wonderfully taken care of and looked after. + +I propose that we start on Thursday morning, the 1st of November. The +train for Penzance leaves the Great Western terminus at a quarter-past +nine in the morning. It is a twelve hours' journey. Shall we meet at the +terminus at nine? I shall be here all the previous day, and shall dine +here. + +Your account of your passage goes to my heart through my stomach. What a +pity I was not there on board to present that green-visaged, but +sweet-tempered and uncomplaining spectacle of imbecility, at which I am +so expert under stormy circumstances, in the poet's phrase: + + As I sweep + Through the deep, + When the stormy winds do blow. + +What a pity I am not there, at Meurice's, to sleep the sleep of infancy +through the long plays where the gentlemen stand with their backs to the +mantelpieces. What a pity I am not with you to make a third at the Trois +Frères, and drink no end of bottles of Bordeaux, without ever getting a +touch of redness in my (poet's phrase again) "innocent nose." But I must +go down to Gad's to-night, and get to work again. Four weekly numbers +have been ground off the wheel, and at least another must be turned +before we meet. They shall be yours in the slumberous railway-carriage. + +I don't think Forster is at all in good health. He was tremendously +hospitable and hearty. I walked six hours and a half on the downs +yesterday, and never stopped or sat. Early in the morning, before +breakfast, I went to the nearest baths to get a shower-bath. They kept +me waiting longer than I thought reasonable, and seeing a man in a cap +in the passage, I went to him and said: "I really must request that +you'll be good enough to see about this shower-bath;" and it was Hullah! +waiting for another bath. + +Rumours were brought into the house on Saturday night, that there was a +"ghost" up at Larkins's monument. Plorn was frightened to death, and I +was apprehensive of the ghost's spreading and coming there, and causing +"warning" and desertion among the servants. Frank was at home, and +Andrew Gordon was with us. Time, nine o'clock. Village talk and +credulity, amazing. I armed the two boys with a short stick apiece, and +shouldered my double-barrelled gun, well loaded with shot. "Now +observe," says I to the domestics, "if anybody is playing tricks and has +got a head, I'll blow it off." Immense impression. New groom evidently +convinced that he has entered the service of a bloodthirsty demon. We +ascend to the monument. Stop at the gate. Moon is rising. Heavy shadows. +"Now, look out!" (from the bloodthirsty demon, in a loud, distinct +voice). "If the ghost is here and I see him, so help me God I'll fire at +him!" Suddenly, as we enter the field, a most extraordinary noise +responds--terrific noise--human noise--and yet superhuman noise. B. T. +D. brings piece to shoulder. "Did you hear that, pa?" says Frank. "I +did," says I. Noise repeated--portentous, derisive, dull, dismal, +damnable. We advance towards the sound. Something white comes lumbering +through the darkness. An asthmatic sheep! Dead, as I judge, by this +time. Leaving Frank to guard him, I took Andrew with me, and went all +round the monument, and down into the ditch, and examined the field +well, thinking it likely that somebody might be taking advantage of the +sheep to frighten the village. Drama ends with discovery of no one, and +triumphant return to rum-and-water. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + BIDEFORD, NORTH DEVON, _Thursday Night, Nov. 1st, 1860._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +I write (with the most impracticable iron pen on earth) to report our +safe arrival here, in a beastly hotel. We start to-morrow morning at +nine on a two days' posting between this and Liskeard in Cornwall. We +are due in Liskeard (but nobody seems to know anything about the roads) +on Saturday afternoon, and we purpose making an excursion in that +neighbourhood on Sunday, and coming up from Liskeard on Monday by Great +Western fast train, which will get us to London, please God, in good +time on Monday evening. There I shall hear from you, and know whether +dear Mamie will move to London too. + +We had a pleasant journey down here, and a beautiful day. No adventures +whatever. Nothing has happened to Wilkie, and he sends love. + +We had stinking fish for dinner, and have been able to drink nothing, +though we have ordered wine, beer, and brandy-and-water. There is +nothing in the house but two tarts and a pair of snuffers. The landlady +is playing cribbage with the landlord in the next room (behind a thin +partition), and they seem quite comfortable. + + Ever, my dearest Georgy, your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Mary Boyle.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Friday, Dec. 28th, 1860._ + +MY DEAR MARY, + +I cannot tell you how much I thank you for the beautiful cigar-case, and +how seasonable, and friendly, and good, and warm-hearted it looked when +I opened it at Gad's Hill. Besides which, it is a cigar-case, and will +hold cigars; two crowning merits that I never yet knew to be possessed +by any article claiming the same name. For all of these reasons, but +more than all because it comes from you, I love it, and send you +eighteen hundred and sixty kisses, with one in for the new year. + +Both excellent stories and perfectly new. Your Joe swears that he never +heard either--never a word or syllable of either--after he laughed at +'em this blessed day. + +I have no news, except that I am not quite well, and am being doctored. +Pray read "Great Expectations." I think it is very droll. It is a very +great success, and seems universally liked. I suppose because it opens +funnily, and with an interest too. + +I pass my time here (I am staying here alone) in working, taking physic, +and taking a stall at a theatre every night. On Boxing Night I was at +Covent Garden. A dull pantomime was "worked" (as we say) better than I +ever saw a heavy piece worked on a first night, until suddenly and +without a moment's warning, every scene on that immense stage fell over +on its face, and disclosed chaos by gaslight behind! There never was +such a business; about sixty people who were on the stage being +extinguished in the most remarkable manner. Not a soul was hurt. In the +uproar, some moon-calf rescued a porter pot, six feet high (out of which +the clown had been drinking when the accident happened), and stood it on +the cushion of the lowest proscenium box, P.S., beside a lady and +gentleman, who were dreadfully ashamed of it. The moment the house knew +that nobody was injured, they directed their whole attention to this +gigantic porter pot in its genteel position (the lady and gentleman +trying to hide behind it), and roared with laughter. When a modest +footman came from behind the curtain to clear it, and took it up in his +arms like a Brobdingnagian baby, we all laughed more than ever we had +laughed in our lives. I don't know why. + +We have had a fire here, but our people put it out before the +parish-engine arrived, like a drivelling perambulator, with _the beadle +in it_, like an imbecile baby. Popular opinion, disappointed in the fire +having been put out, snowballed the beadle. God bless it! + +Over the way at the Lyceum, there is a very fair Christmas piece, with +one or two uncommonly well-done nigger songs--one remarkably gay and +mad, done in the finale to a scene. Also a very nice transformation, +though I don't know what it means. + +The poor actors waylay me in Bow Street, to represent their necessities; +and I often see one cut down a court when he beholds me coming, cut +round Drury Lane to face me, and come up towards me near this door in +the freshest and most accidental way, as if I was the last person he +expected to see on the surface of this globe. The other day, there thus +appeared before me (simultaneously with a scent of rum in the air) one +aged and greasy man, with a pair of pumps under his arm. He said he +thought if he could get down to somewhere (I think it was Newcastle), he +would get "taken on" as Pantaloon, the existing Pantaloon being "a +stick, sir--a mere muff." I observed that I was sorry times were so bad +with him. "Mr. Dickens, you know our profession, sir--no one knows it +better, sir--there is no right feeling in it. I was Harlequin on your +own circuit, sir, for five-and-thirty years, and was displaced by a boy, +sir!--a boy!" + +So no more at present, except love to Mrs. Watson and Bedgey Prig and +all, from my dear Mary. + + Your ever affectionate + JOE. + +P.S.--DON'T I pine neither? + +P.P.S.--I did my best to arouse Forster's worst feelings; but he had got +into a Christmas habit of mind, and wouldn't respond. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] With whom Mr. and Mrs. Wills were staying at Aberystwith. + + + + +NARRATIVE. + +1861. + + +This, as far as his movements were concerned, was again a very unsettled +year with Charles Dickens. He hired a furnished house in the Regent's +Park, which he, with his household, occupied for some months. During the +season he gave several readings at St. James's Hall. After a short +summer holiday at Gad's Hill, he started, in the autumn, on a reading +tour in the English provinces. Mr. Arthur Smith, being seriously ill, +could not accompany him in this tour; and Mr. Headland, who was formerly +in office at the St. Martin's Hall, was engaged as business-manager of +these readings. Mr. Arthur Smith died in October, and Charles Dickens's +distress at the loss of this loved friend and companion is touchingly +expressed in many of his letters of this year. + +There are also sorrowful allusions to the death of his brother-in-law, +Mr. Henry Austin, which sad event likewise happened in October. And the +letter we give to Mrs. Austin ("Letitia") has reference to her sad +affliction. + +In June of this year he paid a short visit to Sir E. B. Lytton at +Knebworth, accompanied by his daughter and sister-in-law, who also +during his autumn tour joined him in Edinburgh. But this course of +readings was brought rather suddenly to an end on account of the death +of the Prince Consort. + +Besides being constantly occupied with the business of these readings, +Charles Dickens was still at work on his story of "Great Expectations," +which was appearing weekly in "All the Year Round." The story closed on +the 3rd of August, when it was published as a whole in three volumes, +and inscribed to Mr. Chauncey Hare Townshend. The Christmas number of +"All the Year Round" was called "Tom Tiddler's Ground," to which Charles +Dickens contributed three stories. + +Our second letter in this year is given more as a specimen of the claims +which were constantly being made upon Charles Dickens's time and +patience, than because we consider the letter itself to contain much +public interest; excepting, indeed, as showing his always considerate +and courteous replies to such constant applications. + +"The fire" mentioned in the letter to Mr. Forster was the great fire in +Tooley Street. The "Morgan" was an American sea-captain, well known in +those days, and greatly liked and respected. It may interest our readers +to know that the character of Captain Jorgan, in the Christmas number of +the previous year, was suggested by this pleasant sailor, for whom +Charles Dickens had a hearty liking. Young Mr. Morgan was, during the +years he passed in England, a constant visitor at Gad's Hill. The +"Elwin" mentioned in the letter written from Bury St. Edmunds, was the +Rev. Whitwell Elwin, a Norfolk gentleman, well known in the literary +world, and who was for many years editor of "The Quarterly Review." + +The explanation of the letter to Mr. John Agate, of Dover, we give in +that gentleman's own words: + +"There are few public men with the strain upon their time and energies +which he had particularly (and which I know better now that I have read +his life), who would have spared the time to have written such a long +courteous letter. + +"I wrote to him rather in anger, and left the letter myself at The Lord +Warden, as I and my family were very much disappointed, after having +purchased our tickets so long before, to find we could not got into the +room, as money was being received, but his kind letter explained all." + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Wednesday, Jan. 9th, 1861._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +"We" are in the full swing of stopping managers from playing "A Message +from the Sea." I privately doubt the strength of our position in the +Court of Chancery, if we try it; but it is worth trying. + +I am aware that Mr. Lane of the Britannia sent an emissary to Gad's Hill +yesterday. It unfortunately happens that the first man "we" have to +assert the principle against is a very good man, whom I really respect. + +I have no news, except that I really hope and believe I am gradually +getting well. If I have no check, I hope to be soon discharged by the +medico. + + Ever affectionately. + +P.S.--Best love to Mamie, also to the boys and Miss Craufurd. + + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," 26, WELLINGTON STREET, W.C., + _Tuesday Evening, Jan. 9th, 1861._ + +DEAR SIR, + +I feel it quite hopeless to endeavour to present my position before you, +in reference to such a letter as yours, in its plain and true light. +When you suppose it would have cost Mr. Thackeray "but a word" to use +his influence to obtain you some curatorship or the like, you fill me +with the sense of impossibility of leading you to a more charitable +judgment of Mr. Dickens. + +Nevertheless, I will put the truth before you. Scarcely a day of my life +passes, or has passed for many years, without bringing me some letters +similar to yours. Often they will come by dozens--scores--hundreds. My +time and attention would be pretty well occupied without them, and the +claims upon me (some very near home), for all the influence and means of +help that I do and do not possess, are not commonly heavy. I have no +power to aid you towards the attainment of your object. It is the simple +exact truth, and nothing can alter it. So great is the disquietude I +constantly undergo from having to write to some new correspondent in +this strain, that, God knows, I would resort to another relief if I +could. + +Your studies from nature appear to me to express an excellent +observation of nature, in a loving and healthy spirit. But what then? +The dealers and dealers' prices of which you complain will not be +influenced by that honest opinion. Nor will it have the least effect +upon the President of the Royal Academy, or the Directors of the School +of Design. Assuming your supposition to be correct that these +authorities are adverse to you, I have no more power than you have to +render them favourable. And assuming them to be quite disinterested and +dispassionate towards you, I have no voice or weight in any appointment +that any of them make. + +I will retain your packet over to-morrow, and will then cause it to be +sent to your house. I write under the pressure of occupation and +business, and therefore write briefly. + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: M. de Cerjat.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," _Friday, Feb. 1st, 1861._ + +MY DEAR CERJAT, + +You have read in the papers of our heavy English frost. At Gad's Hill it +was so intensely cold, that in our warm dining-room on Christmas Day we +could hardly sit at the table. In my study on that morning, long after a +great fire of coal and wood had been lighted, the thermometer was I +don't know where below freezing. The bath froze, and all the pipes +froze, and remained in a stony state for five or six weeks. The water in +the bedroom-jugs froze, and blew up the crockery. The snow on the top of +the house froze, and was imperfectly removed with axes. My beard froze +as I walked about, and I couldn't detach my cravat and coat from it +until I was thawed at the fire. My boys and half the officers stationed +at Chatham skated away without a check to Gravesend--five miles off--and +repeated the performance for three or four weeks. At last the thaw came, +and then everything split, blew up, dripped, poured, perspired, and got +spoilt. Since then we have had a small visitation of the plague of +servants; the cook (in a riding-habit) and the groom (in a dress-coat +and jewels) having mounted Mary's horse and mine, in our absence, and +scoured the neighbouring country at a rattling pace. And when I went +home last Saturday, I innocently wondered how the horses came to be out +of condition, and gravely consulted the said groom on the subject, who +gave it as his opinion "which they wanted reg'lar work." We are now +coming to town until midsummer. Having sold my own house, to be more +free and independent, I have taken a very pretty furnished house, No. 3, +Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park. This, of course, on my daughter's +account. For I have very good and cheerful bachelor rooms here, with an +old servant in charge, who is the cleverest man of his kind in the +world, and can do anything, from excellent carpentery to excellent +cookery, and has been with me three-and-twenty years. + +The American business is the greatest English sensation at present. I +venture to predict that the struggle of violence will be a very short +one, and will be soon succeeded by some new compact between the Northern +and Southern States. Meantime the Lancashire mill-owners are getting +very uneasy. + +The Italian state of things is not regarded as looking very cheerful. +What from one's natural sympathies with a people so oppressed as the +Italians, and one's natural antagonism to a pope and a Bourbon (both of +which superstitions I do suppose the world to have had more than enough +of), I agree with you concerning Victor Emmanuel, and greatly fear that +the Southern Italians are much degraded. Still, an united Italy would be +of vast importance to the peace of the world, and would be a rock in +Louis Napoleon's way, as he very well knows. Therefore the idea must be +championed, however much against hope. + +My eldest boy, just home from China, was descried by Townshend's Henri +the moment he landed at Marseilles, and was by him borne in triumph to +Townshend's rooms. The weather was snowy, slushy, beastly; and +Marseilles was, as it usually is to my thinking, well-nigh intolerable. +My boy could not stay with Townshend, as he was coming on by express +train; but he says: "I sat with him and saw him dine. He had a leg of +lamb, and a tremendous cold." That is the whole description I have been +able to extract from him. + +This journal is doing gloriously, and "Great Expectations" is a great +success. I have taken my third boy, Frank (Jeffrey's godson), into this +office. If I am not mistaken, he has a natural literary taste and +capacity, and may do very well with a chance so congenial to his mind, +and being also entered at the Bar. + +Dear me, when I have to show you about London, and we dine _en garçon_ +at odd places, I shall scarcely know where to begin. Only yesterday I +walked out from here in the afternoon, and thought I would go down by +the Houses of Parliament. When I got there, the day was so beautifully +bright and warm, that I thought I would walk on by Millbank, to see the +river. I walked straight on _for three miles_ on a splendid broad +esplanade overhanging the Thames, with immense factories, railway works, +and what-not erected on it, and with the strangest beginnings and ends +of wealthy streets pushing themselves into the very Thames. When I was a +rower on that river, it was all broken ground and ditch, with here and +there a public-house or two, an old mill, and a tall chimney. I had +never seen it in any state of transition, though I suppose myself to +know this rather large city as well as anyone in it. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: Mr. E. M. Ward, R.A.] + + 3, HANOVER TERRACE, REGENT'S PARK, + _Saturday Night, March 9th, 1861._ + +MY DEAR WARD, + +I cannot tell you how gratified I have been by your letter, and what a +splendid recompense it is for any pleasure I am giving you. Such +generous and earnest sympathy from such a brother-artist gives me true +delight. I am proud of it, believe me, and moved by it to do all the +better. + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + "ALL THE YEAR ROUND" OFFICE, _Tuesday, June 11th, 1861._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +There is little doubt, I think, of my reading at Cheltenham somewhere +about November. I submit myself so entirely to Arthur Smith's +arrangements for me, that I express my sentiments on this head with +modesty. But I think there is scarcely a doubt of my seeing you then. + +I have just finished my book of "Great Expectations," and am the worse +for wear. Neuralgic pains in the face have troubled me a good deal, and +the work has been pretty close. But I hope that the book is a good book, +and I have no doubt of very soon throwing off the little damage it has +done me. + +What with Blondin at the Crystal Palace and Léotard at Leicester Square, +we seem to be going back to barbaric excitements. I have not seen, and +don't intend to see, the Hero of Niagara (as the posters call him), but +I have been beguiled into seeing Léotard, and it is at once the most +fearful and most graceful thing I have ever seen done. + +Clara White (grown pretty) has been staying with us. + +I am sore afraid that _The Times_, by playing fast and loose with the +American question, has very seriously compromised this country. The +Americans northward are perfectly furious on the subject; and Motley the +historian (a very sensible man, strongly English in his sympathies) +assured me the other day that he thought the harm done very serious +indeed, and the dangerous nature of the daily widening breach scarcely +calculable. + +Kindest and best love to all. Wilkie Collins has just come in, and sends +best regard. + + Ever most affectionately, my dearest Macready. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John Forster.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Monday, July 1st, 1861._ + +MY DEAR FORSTER, + + * * * * * + +You will be surprised to hear that I have changed the end of "Great +Expectations" from and after Pip's return to Joe's, and finding his +little likeness there. + +Bulwer (who has been, as I think I told you, extraordinarily taken by +the book), so strongly urged it upon me, after reading the proofs, and +supported his views 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 a +very pretty piece of writing, and I have no doubt the story will be more +acceptable through the alteration. + +I have not seen Bulwer's changed story. I brought back the first month +with me, and I know the nature of his changes throughout; but I have not +yet had the revised proofs. He was in a better state at Knebworth than I +have ever seen him in all these years, a little weird occasionally +regarding magic and spirits, but perfectly fair and frank under +opposition. He was talkative, anecdotical, and droll; looked young and +well, laughed heartily, and enjoyed some games we played with great +zest. In his artist character and talk he was full of interest and +matter, but that he always is. Socially, he seemed to me almost a new +man. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and so did Georgina and Mary. + +The fire I did not see until the Monday morning, but it was blazing +fiercely then, and was blazing hardly less furiously when I came down +here again last Friday. I was here on the night of its breaking out. If +I had been in London I should have been on the scene, pretty surely. + +You will be perhaps surprised to hear that it is Morgan's conviction +(his son was here yesterday), that the North will put down the South, +and that speedily. In his management of his large business, he is +proceeding steadily on that conviction. He says that the South has no +money and no credit, and that it is impossible for it to make a +successful stand. He may be all wrong, but he is certainly a very shrewd +man, and he has never been, as to the United States, an enthusiast of +any class. + +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 towards +Brougham, and Lyndhurst, and Pollock. + +I will add no more to this, or I know I shall not send it; for I am in +the first desperate laziness of having done my book, and think of +offering myself to the village school as a live example of that vice for +the edification of youth. + + Ever, my dear Forster, affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: The Hon. Mrs. Watson.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Monday, July 8th, 1861._ + +MY DEAR MRS. WATSON, + +I have owed you a letter for so long a time that I fear you may +sometimes have misconstrued my silence. But I hope that the sight of the +handwriting of your old friend will undeceive you, if you have, and will +put that right. + +During the progress of my last story, I have been working so hard that +very, very little correspondence--except enforced correspondence on +business--has passed this pen. And now that I am free again, I devote a +few of my first leisure moments to this note. + +You seemed in your last to think that I had forgotten you in respect of +the Christmas number. Not so at all. I discussed with them here where +you were, how you were to be addressed, and the like; finally left the +number in a blank envelope, and did not add the address to it until it +would have been absurd to send you such stale bread. This was my fault, +but this was all. And I should be so pained at heart if you supposed me +capable of failing in my truth and cordiality, or in the warm +remembrance of the time we have passed together, that perhaps I make +more of it than you meant to do. + +My sailor-boy is at home--I was going to write, for the holidays, but I +suppose I must substitute "on leave." Under the new regulations, he must +not pass out of the _Britannia_ before December. The younger boys are +all at school, and coming home this week for the holidays. Mary keeps +house, of course, and Katie and her husband surprised us yesterday, and +are here now. Charley is holiday-making at Guernsey and Jersey. He has +been for some time seeking a partnership in business, and has not yet +found one. The matter is in the hands of Mr. Bates, the managing partner +in Barings' house, and seems as slow a matter to adjust itself as ever I +looked on at. Georgina is, as usual, the general friend and confidante +and factotum of the whole party. + +Your present correspondent read at St. James's Hall in the beginning of +the season, to perfectly astounding audiences; but finding that fatigue +and excitement very difficult to manage in conjunction with a story, +deemed it prudent to leave off reading in high tide and mid-career, the +rather by reason of something like neuralgia in the face. At the end of +October I begin again; and if you are at Brighton in November, I shall +try to see you there. I deliver myself up to Mr. Arthur Smith, and I +know it is one of the places for which he has put me down. + +This is all about me and mine, and next I want to know why you never +come to Gad's Hill, and whether you are never coming. The stress I lay +on these questions you will infer from the size of the following note of +interrogation[HW: =?=] + +I am in the constant receipt of news from Lausanne. Of Mary Boyle, I +daresay you have seen and heard more than I have lately. Rumours +occasionally reach me of her acting in every English shire incessantly, +and getting in a harvest of laurels all the year round. Cavendish I have +not seen for a long time, but when I did see him last, it was at +Tavistock House, and we dined together jovially. Mention of that +locality reminds me that when you DO come here, you will see the +pictures looking wonderfully better, and more precious than they ever +did in town. Brought together in country light and air, they really are +quite a baby collection and very pretty. + +I direct this to Rockingham, supposing you to be there in this summer +time. If you are as leafy in Northamptonshire as we are in Kent, you are +greener than you have been for some years. I hope you may have seen a +large-headed photograph with little legs, representing the undersigned, +pen in hand, tapping his forehead to knock an idea out. It has just +sprung up so abundantly in all the shops, that I am ashamed to go about +town looking in at the picture-windows, which is my delight. It seems to +me extraordinarily ludicrous, and much more like than the grave portrait +done in earnest. It made me laugh when I first came upon it, until I +shook again, in open sunlighted Piccadilly. + +Pray be a good Christian to me, and don't be retributive in measuring +out the time that shall pass before you write to me. And believe me +ever, + + Your affectionate and faithful. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. Wilkie Collins.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Wednesday, Aug. 28th, 1861._ + +MY DEAR WILKIE, + +I have been going to write to you ever since I received your letter from +Whitby, and now I hear from Charley that you are coming home, and must +be addressed in the Rue Harley. Let me know whether you will dine here +this day week at the usual five. I am at present so addle-headed (having +hard Wednesday work in Wills's absence) that I can't write much. + +I have got the "Copperfield" reading ready for delivery, and am now +going to blaze away at "Nickleby," which I don't like half as well. +Every morning I "go in" at these marks for two or three hours, and then +collapse and do nothing whatever (counting as nothing much cricket and +rounders). + +In my time that curious railroad by the Whitby Moor was so much the more +curious, that you were balanced against a counter-weight of water, and +that you did it like Blondin. But in these remote days the one inn of +Whitby was up a back-yard, and oyster-shell grottoes were the only view +from the best private room. Likewise, sir, I have posted to Whitby. +"Pity the sorrows of a poor old man." + +The sun is glaring in at these windows with an amount of ferocity +insupportable by one of the landed interest, who lies upon his back with +an imbecile hold on grass, from lunch to dinner. Feebleness of mind and +head are the result. + + Ever affectionately. + +P.S.--The boys have multiplied themselves by fifty daily, and have +seemed to appear in hosts (especially in the hottest days) round all the +corners at Gad's Hill. I call them the prowlers, and each has a +distinguishing name attached, derived from his style of prowling. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Arthur Smith.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Tuesday, Sept. 3rd, 1861._ + +MY DEAR ARTHUR, + +I cannot tell you how sorry I am to receive your bad account of your +health, or how anxious I shall be to receive a better one as soon as you +can possibly give it. + +If you go away, don't you think in the main you would be better here +than anywhere? You know how well you would be nursed, what care we +should take of you, and how perfectly quiet and at home you would be, +until you become strong enough to take to the Medway. Moreover, I think +you would be less anxious about the tour, here, than away from such +association. I would come to Worthing to fetch you, I needn't say, and +would take the most careful charge of you. I will write no more about +this, because I wish to avoid giving you more to read than can be +helped; but I do sincerely believe it would be at once your wisest and +least anxious course. As to a long journey into Wales, or any long +journey, it would never do. Nice is not to be thought of. Its dust, and +its sharp winds (I know it well), towards October are very bad indeed. + +I send you the enclosed letters, firstly, because I have no circular to +answer them with, and, secondly, because I fear I might confuse your +arrangements by interfering with the correspondence. I shall hope to +have a word from you very soon. I am at work for the tour every day, +except my town Wednesdays. + + Ever faithfully. + +P.S.--Kindest regards from all. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John Watkins.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Saturday Night, Sept. 28th, 1861._ + +DEAR MR. WATKINS, + +In reply to your kind letter I must explain that I have not yet brought +down any of your large photographs of myself, and therefore cannot +report upon their effect here. I think the "cartes" are all liked. + +A general howl of horror greeted the appearance of No. 18, and a riotous +attempt was made to throw it out of window. I calmed the popular fury +by promising that it should never again be beheld within these walls. I +think I mentioned to you when you showed it to me, that I felt persuaded +it would not be liked. It has a grim and wasted aspect, and perhaps +might be made useful as a portrait of the Ancient Mariner. + +I feel that I owe you an apology for being (innocently) a difficult +subject. When I once excused myself to Ary Scheffer while sitting to +him, he received the apology as strictly his due, and said with a vexed +air: "At this moment, _mon cher_ Dickens, you look more like an +energetic Dutch admiral than anything else;" for which I apologised +again. + +In the hope that the pains you have bestowed upon me will not be thrown +away, but that your success will prove of some use to you, believe me, + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edmund Yates.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, Oct. 6th, 1861._ + + AFTER THE DEATH OF MR. ARTHUR SMITH. + +MY DEAR EDMUND, + +Coming back here to-day, I find your letter. + +I was so very much distressed last night in thinking of it all, and I +find it so very difficult to preserve my composure when I dwell in my +mind on the many times fast approaching when I shall sorely miss the +familiar face, that I am hardly steady enough yet to refer to the +readings like a man. But your kind reference to them makes me desirous +to tell you that I took Headland (formerly of St. Martin's Hall, who has +always been with us in London) to conduct the business, when I knew that +our poor dear fellow could never do it, even if he had recovered +strength to go; and that I consulted with himself about it when I saw +him for the last time on earth, and that it seemed to please him, and he +said: "We couldn't do better." + +Write to me before you come; and remember that I go to town Wednesday +mornings. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Thursday, Oct. 10th, 1861._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +I received your affectionate little letter here this morning, and was +very glad to get it. Poor dear Arthur is a sad loss to me, and indeed I +was very fond of him. But the readings must be fought out, like all the +rest of life. + + Ever your affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, Oct. 13th, 1861._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +This is a short note. But the moment I know for certain what is designed +for me at Cheltenham, I write to you in order that you may know it from +me and not by chance from anyone else. + +I am to read there on the evening of Friday, the 3rd of January, and on +the morning of Saturday, the 4th; as I have nothing to do on Thursday, +the 2nd, but come from Leamington, I shall come to you, please God, for +a quiet dinner that day. + +The death of Arthur Smith has caused me great distress and anxiety. I +had a great regard for him, and he made the reading part of my life as +light and pleasant as it _could_ be made. I had hoped to bring him to +see you, and had pictured to myself how amused and interested you would +have been with his wonderful tact and consummate mastery of arrangement. +But it's all over. + +I begin at Norwich on the 28th, and am going north in the middle of +November. I am going to do "Copperfield," and shall be curious to test +its effect on the Edinburgh people. It has been quite a job so to piece +portions of the long book together as to make something continuous out +of it; but I hope I have got something varied and dramatic. I am also +(not to slight _your_ book) going to do "Nickleby at Mr. Squeers's." It +is clear that both must be trotted out at Cheltenham. + +With kindest love and regard to all your house, + + Ever, my dearest Macready, your most affectionate. + +P.S.--Fourth edition of "Great Expectations" almost gone! + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + ANGEL HOTEL, BURY ST. EDMUNDS, + _Wednesday, Oct. 13th, 1861._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +I have just now received your welcome letter, and I hasten to report +(having very little time) that we had a splendid hall last night, and +that I think "Nickleby" tops all the readings. Somehow 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. + +We are full here for to-night. + +Fancy this: last night at about six, who should walk in but Elwin! He +was exactly in his usual state, only more demonstrative than ever, and +had been driven in by some neighbours who were coming to the reading. I +had tea up for him, and he went down at seven with me to the dismal den +where I dressed, and sat by the fire while I dressed, and was childishly +happy in that great privilege! During the reading he sat on a corner of +the platform and roared incessantly. He brought in a lady and gentleman +to introduce while I was undressing, and went away in a perfect and +absolute rapture. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + ROYAL HOTEL, NORWICH, _Tuesday, Oct. 29th, 1861._ + +I cannot say that we began well last night. We had not a good hall, and +they were a very lumpish audience indeed. This did not tend to cheer the +strangeness I felt in being without Arthur, and I was not at all myself. +We have a large let for to-night, I think two hundred and fifty stalls, +which is very large, and I hope that both they and I will go better. I +could have done perfectly last night, if the audience had been bright, +but they were an intent and staring audience. They laughed though very +well, and the storm made them shake themselves again. But they were not +magnetic, and the great big place was out of sorts somehow. + +To-morrow I will write you another short note, however short. It is +"Nickleby" and the "Trial" to-night; "Copperfield" again to-morrow. A +wet day here, with glimpses of blue. I shall not forget Katey's health +at dinner. A pleasant journey down. + + Ever, my dearest Georgy, your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + THE GREAT WHITE HORSE, IPSWICH, _Friday, Nov. 1st, 1861._ + +I cannot quite remember in the whirl of travelling and reading, whether +or no I wrote you a line from Bury St. Edmunds. But I think (and hope) +I did. We had a fine room there, and "Copperfield" made a great +impression. At mid-day we go on to Colchester, where I shall expect the +young Morgans. I sent a telegram on yesterday, after receiving your +note, to secure places for them. The answer returned by telegraph was: +"No box-seats left but on the fourth row." If they prefer to sit on the +stage (for I read in the theatre, there being no other large public +room), they shall. Meantime I have told John, who went forward this +morning with the other men, to let the people at the inn know that if +three travellers answering that description appear before my +dinner-time, they are to dine with me. + +Plorn's admission that he likes the school very much indeed, is the +great social triumph of modern times. + +I am looking forward to Sunday's rest at Gad's, and shall be down by the +ten o'clock train from town. I miss poor Arthur dreadfully. It is +scarcely possible to imagine how much. It is not only that his loss to +me socially is quite irreparable, but that the sense I used to have of +compactness and comfort about me while I was reading is quite gone. And +when I come out for the ten minutes, when I used to find him always +ready for me with something cheerful to say, it is forlorn. I cannot but +fancy, too, that the audience must miss the old speciality of a +pervading gentleman. + +Nobody I know has turned up yet except Elwin. I have had many +invitations to all sorts of houses in all sorts of places, and have of +course accepted them every one. + +Love to Mamie, if she has come home, and to Bouncer, if _she_ has come; +also Marguerite, who I hope is by this time much better. + + Ever, my dear Georgy, your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Henry Austin.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Sunday, Nov. 3rd, 1861._ + +EXTRACT. + +I am heartily glad to hear that you have been out in the air, and I hope +you will go again very soon and make a point of continuing to go. There +is a soothing influence in the sight of the earth and sky, which God put +into them for our relief when He made the world in which we are all to +suffer, and strive, and die. + +I will not fail to write to you from many points of my tour, and if you +ever want to write to me you may be sure of a quick response, and may be +certain that I am sympathetic and true. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + FOUNTAIN HOTEL, CANTERBURY, _Windy Night, Nov. 4th, 1861._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +A word of report before I go to bed. An excellent house to-night, and an +audience positively perfect. The greatest part of it stalls, and an +intelligent and delightful response in them, like the touch of a +beautiful instrument. "Copperfield" wound up in a real burst of feeling +and delight. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John Agate.] + + LORD WARDEN HOTEL, DOVER, _Wednesday, Nov. 6th, 1861._ + +SIR, + +I am exceedingly sorry to find, from the letter you have addressed to +me, that you had just cause of complaint in being excluded from my +reading here last night. It will now and then unfortunately happen when +the place of reading is small (as in this case), that some confusion +and inconvenience arise from the local agents over-estimating, in +perfect good faith and sincerity, the capacity of the room. Such a +mistake, I am assured, was made last night; and thus all the available +space was filled before the people in charge were at all prepared for +that circumstance. + +You may readily suppose that I can have no personal knowledge of the +proceedings of the people in my employment at such a time. But I wish to +assure you very earnestly, that they are all old servants, well +acquainted with my principles and wishes, and that they are under the +strongest injunction to avoid any approach to mercenary dealing; and to +behave to all comers equally with as much consideration and politeness +as they know I should myself display. The recent death of a +much-regretted friend of mine, who managed this business for me, and on +whom these men were accustomed to rely in any little difficulty, caused +them (I have no doubt) to feel rather at a loss in your case. Do me the +favour to understand that under any other circumstances you would, as a +matter of course, have been provided with any places whatever that could +be found, without the smallest reference to what you had originally +paid. This is scanty satisfaction to you, but it is so strictly the +truth, that yours is the first complaint of the kind I have ever +received. + +I hope to read in Dover again, but it is quite impossible that I can +make any present arrangement for that purpose. Whenever I may return +here, you may be sure I shall not fail to remember that I owe you a +recompense for a disappointment. In the meanwhile I very sincerely +regret it. + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + BEDFORD HOTEL, BRIGHTON, _Thursday, Nov. 7th, 1861._ + +MY DEAR GEORGY, + + * * * * * + +The Duchess of Cambridge comes to-night to "Copperfield." The bad +weather has not in the least touched us, and beyond all doubt a great +deal of money has been left untaken at each place. + +The storm was most magnificent at Dover. All the great side of The Lord +Warden next the sea had to be emptied, the break of the sea was so +prodigious, and the noise was 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. Miss Birmingham and I +saw, among other things, a very pretty brass-bound chest being thrown +about like a feather. On Tuesday night, the unhappy Ostend packet could +not get in, neither could she go back, and she beat about the Channel +until noon yesterday. I saw her come in then, _with five men at the +wheel_; such a picture of misery, as to the crew (of passengers there +were no signs), as you can scarcely imagine. + +Tho effect at Hastings and at 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. 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 really laughed when Squeers read +the boys' letters, with such cordial enjoyment, that the contagion +extended to me, for one couldn't hear them without laughing too. + +So, thank God, all goes well, and the recompense for the trouble is in +every way great. There is rather an alarming breakdown at Newcastle, in +respect of all the bills having been, in some inscrutable way, lost on +the road. I have resolved to send Berry there, with full powers to do +all manner of things, early next week. + +The amended route-list is not printed yet, because I am trying to get +off Manchester and Liverpool; both of which I strongly doubt, in the +present state of American affairs. Therefore I can't send it for +Marguerite; but I can, and do, send her my love and God-speed. This is +addressed to the office because I suppose you will be there to-morrow. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: The Earl of Carlisle.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _November 15th, 1861._ + +MY DEAR LORD CARLISLE, + +You know poor Austin, and what his work was, and how he did it. If you +have no private objection to signing the enclosed memorial (which will +receive the right signatures before being presented), I think you will +have no public objection. I shall be heartily glad if you can put your +name to it, and shall esteem your doing so as a very kind service. Will +you return the memorial under cover to Mr. Tom Taylor, at the Local +Government Act Office, Whitehall? He is generously exerting himself in +furtherance of it, and so delay will be avoided. + + My dear Lord Carlisle, faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Mary Boyle.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, Nov. 17th, 1861._ + +MY DEAR MARY, + +I am perfectly enraptured with the quilt. It is one of the most +tasteful, lively, elegant things I have ever seen; and I need not tell +you that while it is valuable to me for its own ornamental sake, it is +precious to me as a rainbow-hint of your friendship and affectionate +remembrance. + +Please God you shall see it next summer occupying its allotted place of +state in my brand-new bedroom here. You shall behold it then, with all +cheerful surroundings, the envy of mankind. + +My readings have been doing absolute wonders. Your Duchess and Princess +came to hear first "Nickleby" and the "Pickwick Trial," then +"Copperfield," at Brighton. I think they were pleased with me, and I am +sure I was with them; for they are the very best audience one could +possibly desire. I shall always have a pleasant remembrance of them. + +On Wednesday I am away again for the longest part of my trip. + +Yes, Mary dear, I must say that I like my Carton, and I have a faint +idea sometimes that if I had acted him, I could have done something with +his life and death. + + Believe me, ever your affectionate and faithful + JOE. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + QUEEN'S HEAD, NEWCASTLE, _Friday, Nov. 22nd, 1861._ + +I received your letter this morning, and grieve to report that the +unlucky Headland has broken down most awfully! + +First, as perhaps you remember, this is the place where the bills were +"lost" for a week or two. The consequence has been that the agent could +not announce all through the "Jenny Lind" time (the most important for +announcing), and could but stand still and stare when people came to ask +what I was going to read. Last night I read "Copperfield" to the most +enthusiastic and appreciative audience imaginable, but in numbers about +half what they might have been. To-night we shall have a famous house; +but we might have had it last night too. To-morrow (knowing by this time +what can, of a certainty, be done with "Copperfield"), I had, of course, +given out "Copperfield" to be read again. Conceive my amazement and +dismay when I find the printer to have announced "Little Dombey"!!! +This, I declare, I had no more intention of reading than I had of +reading an account of the solar system. And this, after a sensation last +night, of a really extraordinary nature in its intensity and delight! + +Says the unlucky Headland to this first head of misery: "Johnson's +mistake" (Johnson being the printer). + +Second, I read at Edinburgh for the first time--observe the day--_next +Wednesday_. Jenny Lind's concert at Edinburgh is to-night. This morning +comes a frantic letter from the Edinburgh agent. "I have no bills, no +tickets; I lose all the announcement I would have made to hundreds upon +hundreds of people to-night, all of the most desirable class to be well +informed beforehand. I can't announce what Mr. Dickens is going to read; +I can answer no question; I have, upon my responsibility, put a dreary +advertisement into the papers announcing that he _is_ going to read so +many times, and that particulars will shortly be ready; and I stand +bound hand and foot." "Johnson's mistake," says the unlucky Headland. + +Of course, I know that the man who never made a mistake in poor Arthur's +time is not likely to be always making mistakes now. But I have written +by this post to Wills, to go to him and investigate. I have also +detached Berry from here, and have sent him on by train at a few +minutes' notice to Edinburgh, and then to Glasgow (where I have no doubt +everything is wrong too). Glasgow we may save; Edinburgh I hold to be +irretrievably damaged. If it can be picked up at all, it can only be at +the loss of the two first nights, and by the expenditure of no end of +spirits and force. And this is the harder, because it is impossible not +to see that the last readings polished and prepared the audiences in +general, and that I have not to work them up in any place where I have +been before, but that they start with a London intelligence, and with a +respect and preparation for what they are going to hear. + +I hope by the time you and Mamie come to me, we shall have got into some +good method. I must take the thing more into my own hands and look after +it from hour to hour. If such a thing as this Edinburgh business could +have happened under poor Arthur, I really believe he would have fallen +into a fit, or gone distracted. No one can ever know what he was but I +who have been with him and without him. Headland is so anxious and so +good-tempered that I cannot be very stormy with him; but it is the +simple fact that he has no notion of the requirements of such work as +this. Without him, and with a larger salary to Berry (though there are +objections to the latter as _first_ man), I could have done a hundred +times better. + +As Forster will have a strong interest in knowing all about the +proceedings, perhaps you will send him this letter to read. There is no +very tremendous harm, indeed, done as yet. At Edinburgh I KNOW what I +can do with "Copperfield." I think it is not too much to say that for +every one who does come to hear it on the first night, I can get back +fifty on the second. And whatever can be worked up there will tell on +Glasgow. Berry I shall continue to send on ahead, and I shall take +nothing on trust and more as being done. + +On Sunday morning at six, I have to start for Berwick. From Berwick, in +the course of that day, I will write again; to Mamie next time. + +With best love to her and Mrs. B. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + QUEEN'S HEAD, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, + _Saturday, Nov. 23rd, 1861._ + +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 was 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 few 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, Boylett 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." + +A telegram from Berry at Edinburgh yesterday evening, to say that he +had got the bills, and that they would all be up and dispersed yesterday +evening under his own eyes. So no time was lost in setting things as +right as they can be set. He has now gone on to Glasgow. + +P.S.--Duty to Mrs. Bouncer. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + BERWICK-ON-TWEED, _Monday, Nov. 25th, 1861._ + +I write (in a gale of wind, with a high sea running), to let you know +that we go on to Edinburgh at half-past eight to-morrow morning. + +A most ridiculous room was designed for me in this odd out-of-the-way +place. An immense Corn Exchange made of glass and iron, round, +dome-topped, 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 _me_! 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 five hundred +people) or not at all. Terrified local agents glowered, but fell +prostrate. + +Berry has this moment come back from Edinburgh and Glasgow with hopeful +accounts. He seems to have done the business extremely well, and he says +that it was quite curious and cheering to see how the Glasgow people +assembled round the bills the instant they were posted, and evidently +with a great interest in them. + +We left Newcastle yesterday morning in the dark, when it was intensely +cold and froze very hard. So it did here. But towards night the wind +went round to the S.W., and all night it has been blowing very hard +indeed. So it is now. + +Tell Mamie that I have the same sitting-room as we had when we came here +with poor Arthur, and that my bedroom is the room out of it which she +and Katie had. Surely it is the oddest town to read in! But it is taken +on poor Arthur's principle that a place in the way pays the expenses of +a through journey; and the people would seem to be coming up to the +scratch gallantly. It was a dull Sunday, though; O it _was_ a dull +Sunday, without a book! For I had forgotten to buy one at Newcastle, +until it was too late. So after dark I made a jug of whisky-punch, and +drowned the unlucky Headland's remembrance of his failures. + +I shall hope to hear very soon that the workmen have "broken through," +and that you have been in the state apartments, and that upholstery +measurements have come off. + +There has been a horrible accident in Edinburgh. One of the seven-storey +old houses in the High Street fell when it was full of people. Berry was +at the bill-poster's house, a few doors off, waiting for him to come +home, when he heard what seemed like thunder, and then the air was +darkened with dust, "as if an immense quantity of steam had been blown +off," and then all that dismal quarter set up shrieks, which he says +were most dreadful. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + WATERLOO HOTEL, EDINBURGH, _Wednesday, Nov. 27th, 1861._ + +Mrs. Bouncer must decidedly come with you to Carlisle. She shall be +received with open arms. Apropos of Carlisle, let me know _when_ you +purpose coming there. We shall be there, please God, on the Saturday in +good time, as I finish at Glasgow on the Friday night. + +I have very little notion of the state of affairs here, as Headland +brought no more decisive information from the agents yesterday (he never +_can_ get decisive information from any agents), than "the teeckets air +joost moving reecht and left." I hope this may be taken as satisfactory. +Jenny Lind carried off a world of money from here. Miss Glyn, or Mrs. +Dallas, is playing Lady Macbeth at the theatre, and Mr. Shirley Brooks +is giving two lectures at the Philosophical Society on the House of +Commons and Horace Walpole. Grisi's farewell benefits are (I think) on +my last two nights here. + +Gordon dined with me yesterday. He is, if anything, rather better, I +think, than when we last saw him in town. He was immensely pleased to be +with me. I went with him (as his office goes anywhere) right into and +among the ruins of the fallen building yesterday. They were still at +work trying to find two men (brothers), a young girl, and an old woman, +known to be all lying there. On the walls two or three common clocks are +still hanging; one of them, judging from the time at which it stopped, +would seem to have gone for an hour or so after the fall. Great interest +had been taken in a poor linnet in a cage, hanging in the wind and rain +high up against the broken wall. A fireman got it down alive, and great +exultation had been raised over it. One woman, who was dug out unhurt, +staggered into the street, stared all round her, instantly ran away, and +has never been heard of since. It is a most extraordinary sight, and of +course makes a great sensation. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + WATERLOO HOTEL, EDINBURGH, _Friday, Nov. 29th, 1861._ + +I think it is my turn to write to you, and I therefore send a brief +despatch, like a telegram, to let you know that in a gale of wind and a +fierce rain, last night, we turned away a thousand people. There was no +getting into the hall, no getting near the hall, no stirring among the +people, no getting out, no possibility of getting rid of them. And yet, +in spite of all that, and of their being steaming wet, they never +flagged for an instant, never made a complaint, and took up the trial +upon their very shoulders, to the last word, in a triumphant roar. + +The talk about "Copperfield" rings through the whole place. It is done +again to-morrow night. To-morrow morning I read "Dombey." To-morrow +morning is Grisi's "farewell" morning concert, and last night was her +"farewell" evening concert. Neither she, nor Jenny Lind, nor anything, +nor anybody seems to make the least effect on the draw of the readings. + +I lunch with Blackwood to-day. He was at the reading last night; a +capital audience. Young Blackwood has also called here. A very good +young fellow, I think. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + CARRICK'S ROYAL HOTEL, GLASGOW, _Tuesday, Dec. 3rd, 1861._ + +I send you by this post another _Scotsman_. From a paragraph in it, a +letter, and an advertisement, you may be able to form some dim guess of +the scene at Edinburgh last night. 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 it. While I addressed +the crowd in the room, Gordon 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 Blackwood +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 picnic; 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 confusion was decidedly owing to the local agents. But I think it +may have been a little heightened by Headland's way of sending them the +tickets to sell in the first instance. + +Now, as I must read again in Edinburgh on Saturday night, your +travelling arrangements are affected. So observe carefully (you and +Mamie) all that I am going to say. It appears to me that the best course +will be for you to come to _Edinburgh_ on Saturday; taking the fast +train from the Great Northern station at nine in the morning. This would +bring you to the Waterloo at Edinburgh, at about nine or so at night, +and I should be home at ten. We could then have a quiet Sunday in +Edinburgh, and go over to Carlisle on the Monday morning. + +The expenditure of lungs and spirits was (as you may suppose) rather +great last night, and to sleep well was out 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. + +Give my love to Mamie. To her question, "Will there be war with +America?" I answer, "Yes;" I fear the North to be utterly mad, and war +to be unavoidable. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + VICTORIA HOTEL, PRESTON, _Friday, Dec. 13th, 1861._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +The news of the Christmas number is indeed glorious, and nothing can +look brighter or better than the prospects of the illustrious +publication. + +Both Carlisle and Lancaster have come out admirably, though I doubted +both, as you did. But, unlike you, I always doubted this place. I do so +still. It is a poor place at the best (you remember?), and the mills are +working half time, and trade is very bad. The expenses, however, will be +a mere nothing. The accounts from Manchester for to-morrow, and from +Liverpool for the readings generally, are very cheering indeed. + +The young lady who sells the papers at the station is just the same as +ever. Has orders for to-night, and is coming "with a person." "_The_ +person?" said I. "Never _you_ mind," said she. + +I was so charmed with Robert Chambers's "Traditions of Edinburgh" (which +I read _in_ Edinburgh), that I was obliged to write to him and say so. + +Glasgow finished nobly, and the last night in Edinburgh was signally +successful and positively splendid. + +Will you give my small Admiral, on his personal application, one +sovereign? I have told him to come to you for that recognition of his +meritorious services. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, _Sunday, Dec. 15th, 1861._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +I sent you a telegram to-day, and I write before the answer has come to +hand. + +I have been very doubtful what to do here. We have a great let for +to-morrow night. The Mayor recommends closing to-morrow, and going on on +Tuesday and Wednesday, so does the town clerk, so do the agents. But I +have a misgiving that they hardly understand what the public general +sympathy with the Queen will be. Further, I feel personally that the +Queen has always been very considerate and gracious to me, and I would +on no account do anything that might seem unfeeling or disrespectful. I +shall attach great weight, in this state of indecision, to your +telegram. + +A capital audience at Preston. Not a capacious room, but full. Great +appreciation. + +The scene at Manchester last night was really magnificent. I had had the +platform carried forward to our "Frozen Deep" point, and my table and +screen built in with a proscenium and room scenery. When I went in +(there was a very fine hall), they applauded in the most tremendous +manner; and the extent to which they were taken aback and taken by storm +by "Copperfield" was really a thing to see. + +The post closes early here on a Sunday, and I shall close this also +without further reference to "a message from the" W. H. W. being +probably on the road. + +Radley is ill, and supposed to be fast declining, poor fellow. The house +is crammed, the assizes on, and troops perpetually embarking for Canada, +and their officers passing through the hotel. + + Kindest regards, ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Mary Boyle.] + + GAD'S HILL, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Saturday, Dec. 28th, 1861._ + +MY DEAR MARY, + +On Monday (as you know) I am away again, but I am not sorry to see land +and a little rest before me; albeit, these are great experiences of the +public heart. + +The little Admiral has gone to visit America in the _Orlando_, supposed +to be one of the foremost ships in the Service, and the best found, best +manned, and best officered that ever sailed from England. He went away +much gamer than any giant, attended by a chest in which he could easily +have stowed himself and a wife and family of his own proportions. + + Ever and always, your affectionate + JOE. + + + + +1862. + +NARRATIVE. + + +At the beginning of this year, Charles Dickens resumed the reading tour +which he had commenced at the close of the previous year and continued +up to Christmas. The first letter which follows, to Mr. Wills, a New +Year's greeting, is written from a railway station between one town and +another on this journey. Mr. Macready, who had married for the second +time not very long before this, was now settled at Cheltenham. Charles +Dickens had arranged to give readings there, chiefly for the pleasure of +visiting him, and of having him as one of his audience. + +This reading tour went on until the beginning of February. One of the +last of the series was in his favourite "beautiful room," the St. +George's Hall at Liverpool. In February, he made an exchange of houses +with his friends Mr. and Mrs. Hogge, they going to Gad's Hill, and he +and his family to Mr. Hogge's house in Hyde Park Gate South. In March he +commenced a series of readings at St. James's Hall, which went on until +the middle of June, when he, very gladly, returned to his country home. + +A letter beginning "My dear Girls," addressed to some American ladies +who happened to be at Colchester, in the same inn with him when he was +reading there, was published by one of them under the name of "Our +Letter," in the "St. Nicholas Magazine," New York, in 1877. We think it +best to explain it in the young lady's own words, which are, therefore, +appended to the letter. + +Mr. Walter Thornbury was one of Charles Dickens's most valuable +contributors to "All the Year Round." His letters to him about the +subjects of his articles for that journal, are specimens of the minute +and careful attention and personal supervision, never neglected or +distracted by any other work on which he might be engaged, were it ever +so hard or engrossing. + +The letter addressed to Mr. Baylis we give chiefly because it has, since +Mr. Baylis's death, been added to the collection of MSS. in the British +Museum. He was a very intimate and confidential friend of the late Lord +Lytton, and accompanied him on a visit to Gad's Hill in that year. + +We give an extract from another letter from Charles Dickens to his +sister, as a beautiful specimen of a letter of condolence and +encouragement to one who was striving, very bravely, but by very slow +degrees, to recover from the overwhelming grief of her bereavement. Mr. +Wilkie Collins was at this time engaged on his novel of "No Name," which +appeared in "All the Year Round," and was threatened with a very serious +breakdown in health. Charles Dickens wrote the letter which we give, to +relieve Mr. Collins's mind as to his work. Happily he recovered +sufficiently to make an end to his own story without any help; but the +true friendship and kindness which suggested the offer were none the +less appreciated, and may, very likely, by lessening his anxiety, have +helped to restore his health. At the end of October in this year, +Charles Dickens, accompanied by his daughter and sister-in-law, went to +reside for a couple of months in Paris, taking an apartment in the Rue +du Faubourg St. Honoré. From thence he writes to M. Charles Fechter. He +had been greatly interested in this fine artist from the time of his +first appearance in England, and was always one of his warmest friends +and supporters during his stay in this country. M. Fechter was, at this +time, preparing for the opening of the Lyceum Theatre, under his own +management, at the beginning of the following year. + +Just before Christmas, Charles Dickens returned to Gad's Hill. The +Christmas number for this year was "Somebody's Luggage." + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + + AT THE BIRMINGHAM STATION, _Thursday, Jan. 2nd, 1862._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +Being stationed here for an hour, on my way from Leamington to +Cheltenham, I write to you. + +Firstly, to reciprocate all your cordial and affectionate wishes for the +New Year, and to express my earnest hope that we may go on through many +years to come, as we have gone on through many years that are gone. And +I think we can say that we doubt whether any two men can have gone on +more happily and smoothly, or with greater trust and confidence in one +another. + +A little packet will come to you from Hunt and Roskell's, almost at the +same time, I think, as this note. + +The packet will contain a claret-jug. I hope it is a pretty thing in +itself for your table, and I know that you and Mrs. Wills will like it +none the worse because it comes from me. + +It is not made of a perishable material, and is so far expressive of our +friendship. I have had your name and mine set upon it, in token of our +many years of mutual reliance and trustfulness. It will never be so full +of wine as it is to-day of affectionate regard. + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + CHELTENHAM, _Friday, Jan. 3rd, 1862._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +Mrs. Macready in voice is very like poor Mrs. Macready dead and gone; +not in the least like her otherwise. She is perfectly satisfactory, and +exceedingly winning. Quite perfect in her manner with him and in her +ease with his children, sensible, gay, pleasant, sweet-tempered; not in +the faintest degree stiff or pedantic; accessible instantly. I have very +rarely seen a more agreeable woman. The house is (on a smaller scale) +any house we have known them in. Furnished with the old furniture, +pictures, engravings, mirrors, tables, and chairs. Butty is too tall for +strength, I am afraid, but handsome, with a face of great power and +character, and a very nice girl. Katie you know all about. Macready, +decidedly much older and infirm. Very much changed. His old force has +gone out of him strangely. I don't think I left off talking a minute +from the time of my entering the house to my going to bed last night, +and he was as much amused and interested as ever I saw him; still he +was, and is, unquestionably aged. + +And even now I am obliged to cut this letter short by having to go and +look after Headland. It would never do to be away from the rest of them. +I have no idea what we are doing here; no notion whether things are +right or wrong; no conception where the room is; no hold of the business +at all. For which reason I cannot rest without going and looking after +the worthy man. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + TORQUAY, _Wednesday, Jan. 8th, 1862._ + +You know, I think, that I was very averse to going to Plymouth, and +would not have gone there again but for poor Arthur. But on the last +night I read "Copperfield," and positively enthralled the people. It was +a most overpowering effect, and poor Andrew[7] came behind the screen, +after the storm, and cried in the best and manliest manner. Also there +were two or three lines of his shipmates and other sailors, and they +were extraordinarily affected. But its culminating effect was on +Macready at Cheltenham. When I got home after "Copperfield," I found him +quite unable to speak, and able to do nothing but square his dear old +jaw all on one side, and roll his eyes (half closed), like Jackson's +picture of him. And when I said something light about it, he returned: +"No--er--Dickens! I swear to Heaven that, as a piece of passion and +playfulness--er--indescribably mixed up together, it does--er--no, +really, Dickens!--amaze me as profoundly as it moves me. But as a piece +of art--and you know--er--that I--no, Dickens! By ----! have seen the +best art in a great time--it is incomprehensible to me. How is it got +at--er--how is it done--er--how one man can--well? It lays me on +my--er--back, and it is of no use talking about it!" With which he put +his hand upon my breast and pulled out his pocket-handkerchief, and I +felt as if I were doing somebody to his Werner. Katie, by-the-bye, is a +wonderful audience, and has a great fund of wild feeling in her. Johnny +not at all unlike Plorn. + +I have not yet seen the room here, but imagine it to be very small. +Exeter I know, and that is small also. 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 "Copperfield," that I might as well do Richard Wardour. + +You have now, my dearest Georgy, the fullest extent of my tidings. 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. + +Frightful intelligence has just been brought in by Boylett, concerning +the small size of the room. I have terrified Headland by sending him to +look at it, and swearing that if it's too small I will go away to +Exeter. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, _Tuesday, Jan. 28th, 1862._ + +The beautiful room was crammed to excess last night, and numbers were +turned away. Its beauty and completeness when it is lighted up are most +brilliant to behold, and for a reading it is simply perfect. You +remember that a Liverpool audience is usually dull, but they put me on +my mettle last night, for I never saw such an audience--no, not even in +Edinburgh! + +I slept horribly last night, and have been over to Birkenhead for a +little change of air to-day. My head is dazed and worn by gas and heat, +and I fear that "Copperfield" and "Bob" together to-night won't mend it. + +Best love to Mamie and Katie, if still at Gad's. I am going to bring the +boys some toffee. + + +[Sidenote: The Misses Armstrong] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Monday, Feb. 10th, 1862._ + +MY DEAR GIRLS, + +For if I were to write "young friends," it would look like a +schoolmaster; and if I were to write "young ladies," it would look like +a schoolmistress; and worse than that, neither form of words would look +familiar and natural, or in character with our snowy ride that +tooth-chattering morning. + +I cannot tell you both how gratified I was by your remembrance, or how +often I think of you as I smoke the admirable cigars. But I almost think +you must have had some magnetic consciousness across the Atlantic, of my +whiffing my love towards you from the garden here. + +My daughter says that when you have settled those little public affairs +at home, she hopes you will come back to England (possibly in united +states) and give a minute or two to this part of Kent. _Her_ words are, +"a day or two;" but I remember your Italian flights, and correct the +message. + +I have only just now finished my country readings, and have had nobody +to make breakfast for me since the remote ages of Colchester! + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +OUR LETTER. + +By M. F. ARMSTRONG. + +"From among all my treasures--to each one of which some pleasant history +is bound--I choose this letter, written on coarse blue paper. + +The letter was received in answer to cigars sent from America to Mr. +Dickens. + +The 'little public affairs at home' refers to the war of the Rebellion. + +At Colchester, he read 'The Trial' from 'Pickwick,' and selections from +'Nicholas Nickleby.' + +The lady, her two sisters, and her brother were Mr. Dickens's guests at +the queer old English inn at Colchester. + +Through the softly falling snow we came back together to London, and on +the railway platform parted, with a hearty hand-shaking, from the man +who will for ever be enshrined in our hearts as the kindest and most +generous, not to say most brilliant of hosts." + + +[Sidenote: M. de Cerjat.] + + 16, HYDE PARK GATE, SOUTH KENSINGTON GORE, + _Sunday, March 16th, 1862._ + +MY DEAR CERJAT, + +My daughter naturally liking to be in town at this time of year, I have +changed houses with a friend for three months. + +My eldest boy is in business as an Eastern merchant in the City, and +will do well if he can find continuous energy; otherwise not. My second +boy is with the 42nd Highlanders in India. My third boy, a good steady +fellow, is educating expressly for engineers or artillery. My fourth +(this sounds like a charade), a born little sailor, is a midshipman in +H.M.S. _Orlando_, now at Bermuda, and will make his way anywhere. +Remaining two at school, elder of said remaining two very bright and +clever. Georgina and Mary keeping house for me; and Francis Jeffrey (I +ought to have counted him as the third boy, so we'll take him in here as +number two and a half) in my office at present. Now you have the family +bill of fare. + +You ask me about Fechter and his Hamlet. It was a performance of +extraordinary merit; by far the most coherent, consistent, and +intelligible Hamlet I ever saw. Some of the delicacies with which he +rendered his conception clear were extremely subtle; and in particular +he avoided that brutality towards Ophelia which, with a greater or less +amount of coarseness, I have seen in all other Hamlets. As a mere _tour +de force_, it would have been very remarkable in its disclosure of a +perfectly wonderful knowledge of the force of the English language; but +its merit was far beyond and above this. Foreign accent, of course, but +not at all a disagreeable one. And he was so obviously safe and at ease, +that you were never in pain for him as a foreigner. Add to this a +perfectly picturesque and romantic "make up," and a remorseless +destruction of all conventionalities, and you have the leading virtues +of the impersonation. In Othello he did not succeed. In Iago he is very +good. He is an admirable artist, and far beyond anyone on our stage. A +real artist and a gentleman. + +Last Thursday I began reading again in London--a condensation of +"Copperfield," and "Mr. Bob Sawyer's Party," from "Pickwick," to finish +merrily. The success of "Copperfield" is astounding. It made an +impression that _I_ must not describe. I may only remark that I was half +dead when I had done; and that although I had looked forward, all +through the summer, when I was carefully getting it up, to its being a +London sensation; and that although Macready, hearing it at Cheltenham, +told me to be prepared for a great effect, it even went beyond my hopes. +I read again next Thursday, and the rush for places is quite furious. +Tell Townshend this with my love, if you see him before I have time to +write to him; and tell him that I thought the people would never let me +go away, they became so excited, and showed it so very warmly. I am +trying to plan out a new book, but have not got beyond trying. + + Yours affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Walter Thornbury.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Friday, April 18th, 1862._ + + +MY DEAR THORNBURY, + +The Bow Street runners ceased out of the land soon after the +introduction of the new police. I remember them very well as standing +about the door of the office in Bow Street. They had no other uniform +than a blue dress-coat, brass buttons (I am not even now sure that that +was necessary), and a bright red cloth waistcoat. The waistcoat was +indispensable, and the slang name for them was "redbreasts," in +consequence. + +They kept company with thieves and the like, much more than the +detective police do. I don't know what their pay was, but I have no +doubt their principal complements were got under the rose. It was a very +slack institution, and its head-quarters were The Brown Bear, in Bow +Street, a public-house of more than doubtful reputation, opposite the +police-office; and either the house which is now the theatrical costume +maker's, or the next door to it. + +Field, who advertises the Secret Enquiry Office, was a Bow Street +runner, and can tell you all about it; Goddard, who also advertises an +enquiry office, was another of the fraternity. They are the only two I +know of as yet existing in a "questionable shape." + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Baylis.] + + GAD'S HILL, ETC., _Wednesday, July 2nd, 1862._ + +MY DEAR MR. BAYLIS, + +I have been in France, and in London, and in other parts of Kent than +this, and everywhere but here, for weeks and weeks. Pray excuse my not +having (for this reason specially) answered your kind note sooner. + +After carefully cross-examining my daughter, I do NOT believe her to be +worthy of the fernery. Last autumn we transplanted into the shrubbery a +quantity of evergreens previously clustered close to the front of the +house, and trained more ivy about the wall and the like. When I ask her +where she would have the fernery and what she would do with it, the +witness falters, turns pale, becomes confused, and says: "Perhaps it +would be better not to have it at all." I am quite confident that the +constancy of the young person is not to be trusted, and that she had +better attach her fernery to one of her châteaux in Spain, or one of her +English castles in the air. None the less do I thank you for your more +than kind proposal. + +We have been in great anxiety respecting Miss Hogarth, the sudden +decline of whose health and spirits has greatly distressed us. Although +she is better than she was, and the doctors are, on the whole, cheerful, +she requires great care, and fills us with apprehension. The necessity +of providing change for her will probably take us across the water very +early in the autumn; and this again unsettles home schemes here, and +withers many kinds of fern. If they knew (by "they" I mean my daughter +and Miss Hogarth) that I was writing to you, they would charge me with +many messages of regard. But as I am shut up in my room in a ferocious +and unapproachable condition, owing to the great accumulation of letters +I have to answer, I will tell them at lunch that I have anticipated +their wish. As I know they have bills for me to pay, and are at present +shy of producing them, I wish to preserve a gloomy and repellent +reputation. + + My dear Mr. Baylis, faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Henry Austin.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Tuesday, Oct. 7th, 1862._ + + * * * * * + +I do not preach consolation because I am unwilling to preach at any +time, and know my own weakness too well. But in this world there is no +stay but the hope of a better, and no reliance but on the mercy and +goodness of God. Through those two harbours of a shipwrecked heart, I +fully believe that you will, in time, find a peaceful resting-place even +on this careworn earth. Heaven speed the time, and do you try hard to +help it on! It is impossible to say but that our prolonged grief for the +beloved dead may grieve them in their unknown abiding-place, and give +them trouble. The one influencing consideration in all you do as to +your disposition of yourself (coupled, of course, with a real earnest +strenuous endeavour to recover the lost tone of spirit) is, that you +think and feel you _can_ do. I do not in the least regard your change of +course in going to Havre as any evidence of instability. But I rather +hope it is likely that through such restlessness you will come to a far +quieter frame of mind. The disturbed mind and affections, like the +tossed sea, seldom calm without an intervening time of confusion and +trouble. + +But nothing is to be attained without striving. In a determined effort +to settle the thoughts, to parcel out the day, to find occupation +regularly or to make it, to be up and doing something, are chiefly to be +found the mere mechanical means which must come to the aid of the best +mental efforts. + +It is a wilderness of a day, here, in the way of blowing and raining, +and as darkly dismal, at four o'clock, as need be. My head is but just +now raised from a day's writing, but I will not lose the post without +sending you a word. + +Katie was here yesterday, just come back from Clara White's (that was), +in Scotland. In the midst of her brilliant fortune, it is too clear to +me that she is already beckoned away to follow her dead sisters. +Macready was here from Saturday evening to yesterday morning, older but +looking wonderfully well, and (what is very rare in these times) with +the old thick sweep of hair upon his head. Georgina being left alone +here the other day, was done no good to by a great consternation among +the servants. On going downstairs, she found Marsh (the stableman) +seated with great dignity and anguish in an arm-chair, and incessantly +crying out: "I am dead." To which the women servants said with great +pathos (and with some appearance of reason): "No, you ain't, Marsh!" And +to which he persisted in replying: "Yes, I am; I am dead!" Some +neighbouring vagabond was impressed to drive a cart over to Rochester +and fetch the doctor, who said (the patient and his consolers being all +very anxious that the heart should be the scene of affliction): +"Stomach." + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. Wilkie Collins.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Tuesday Night, Oct. 14th, 1862._ + +MY DEAR WILKIE, + +Frank Beard has been here this evening, of course since I posted my this +day's letter to you, and has told me that you are not at all well, and +how he has given you something which he hopes and believes will bring +you round. It is not to convey this insignificant piece of intelligence, +or to tell you how anxious I am that you should come up with a wet sheet +and a flowing sail (as we say at sea when we are not sick), that I +write. It is simply to say what follows, which I hope may save you some +mental uneasiness. For I was stricken ill when I was doing "Bleak +House," and I shall not easily forget what I suffered under the fear of +not being able to come up to time. + +Dismiss that fear (if you have it) altogether from your mind. Write to +me at Paris at any moment, and say you are unequal to your work, and +want me, and I will come to London straight and do your work. I am quite +confident that, with your notes and a few words of explanation, I could +take it up at any time and do it. Absurdly unnecessary to say that it +would be a makeshift! But I could do it at a pinch, so like you as that +no one should find out the difference. Don't make much of this offer in +your mind; it is nothing, except to ease it. If you should want help, I +am as safe as the bank. The trouble would be nothing to me, and the +triumph of overcoming a difficulty great. Think it a Christmas number, +an "Idle Apprentice," a "Lighthouse," a "Frozen Deep." I am as ready as +in any of these cases to strike in and hammer the hot iron out. + +You won't want me. You will be well (and thankless!) in no time. But +there I am; and I hope that the knowledge may be a comfort to you. Call +me, and I come. + +As Beard always has a sense of medical responsibility, and says anything +important about a patient in confidence, I have merely remarked here +that "Wilkie" is out of sorts. Charley (who is here with Katie) has no +other cue from me. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: M. Charles Fechter.] + + PARIS, RUE DU FAUBOURG ST. HONORÉ, 27, + _Tuesday, Nov. 4th, 1862._ + +MY DEAR FECHTER, + +You know, I believe, how our letters crossed, and that I am here until +Christmas. Also, you know with what pleasure and readiness I should have +responded to your invitation if I had been in London. + +Pray tell Paul Féval that I shall be charmed to know him, and that I +shall feel the strongest interest in making his acquaintance. It almost +puts me out of humour with Paris (and it takes a great deal to do that!) +to think that I was not at home to prevail upon him to come with you, +and be welcomed to Gad's Hill; but either there or here, I hope to +become his friend before this present old year is out. Pray tell him so. + +You say nothing in your note of your Lyceum preparations. I trust they +are all going on well. There is a fine opening for you, I am sure, with +a good beginning; but the importance of a good beginning is very great. +If you ever have time and inclination to tell me in a short note what +you are about, you can scarcely interest me more, as my wishes and +strongest sympathies are for and with your success--_mais cela va sans +dire_. + +I went to the Châtelet (a beautiful theatre!) the other night to see +"Rothomago," but was so mortally _gêné_ with the poor nature of the +piece and of the acting, that I came out again when there was a week or +two (I mean an hour or two, but the hours seemed weeks) yet to get +through. + + My dear Fechter, very faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Clarkson Stanfield, R.A.] + + PARIS, RUE DU FAUBOURG ST. HONORÉ, 27, + _Friday, Dec. 5th, 1862._ + +MY DEAR STANNY, + +We have been here for two months, and I shall probably come back here +after Christmas (we go home for Christmas week) and stay on into +February. But I shall write and propose a theatre before Christmas is +out, so this is to warn you to get yourself into working pantomime +order! + +I hope Wills has duly sent you our new Christmas number. As you may like +to know what I myself wrote of it, understand the Dick contributions to +be, _his leaving it till called for_, and _his wonderful end_, _his +boots_, and _his brown paper parcel_. + +Since you were at Gad's Hill I have been travelling a good deal, and +looking up many odd things for use. I want to know how you are in health +and spirits, and it would be the greatest of pleasures to me to have a +line under your hand. + +God bless you and yours with all the blessings of the time of year, and +of all times! + + Ever your affectionate and faithful + DICK. + + +[Sidenote: M. Charles Fechter.] + + PARIS, _Saturday, Dec. 6th, 1862._ + +MY DEAR FECHTER, + +I have read "The White Rose" attentively, and think it an extremely good +play. It is vigorously written with a great knowledge of the stage, and +presents many striking situations. I think the close particularly fine, +impressive, bold, and new. + +But I greatly doubt the expediency of your doing _any_ historical play +early in your management. By the words "historical play," I mean a play +founded on any incident in English history. Our public are accustomed to +associate historical plays with Shakespeare. In any other hands, I +believe they care very little for crowns and dukedoms. What you want is +something with an interest of a more domestic and general nature--an +interest as romantic as you please, but having a more general and wider +response than a disputed succession to the throne can have for +Englishmen at this time of day. Such interest culminated in the last +Stuart, and has worn itself out. It would be uphill work to evoke an +interest in Perkin Warbeck. + +I do not doubt the play's being well received, but my fear is that these +people would be looked upon as mere abstractions, and would have but a +cold welcome in consequence, and would not lay hold of your audience. +Now, when you _have_ laid hold of your audience and have accustomed them +to your theatre, you may produce "The White Rose," with far greater +justice to the author, and to the manager also. Wait. Feel your way. +Perkin Warbeck is too far removed from analogy with the sympathies and +lives of the people for a beginning. + + My dear Fechter, ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Mary Boyle.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Saturday, Dec. 27th, 1862._ + +MY DEAR MARY, + +I must send you my Christmas greeting and happy New Year wishes in +return for yours; most heartily and fervently reciprocating your +interest and affection. You are among the few whom I most care for and +best love. + +Being in London two evenings in the opening week, I tried to persuade my +legs (for whose judgment I have the highest respect) to go to an evening +party. But I _could not_ induce them to pass Leicester Square. The +faltering presentiment under which they laboured so impressed me, that +at that point I yielded to their terrors. They immediately ran away to +the east, and I accompanied them to the Olympic, where I saw a very good +play, "Camilla's Husband," very well played. Real merit in Mr. Neville +and Miss Saville. + +We came across directly after the gale, with the Channel all bestrewn +with floating wreck, and with a hundred and fifty sick schoolboys from +Calais on board. I am going back on the morning after Fechter's opening +night, and have promised to read "Copperfield" at the Embassy, for a +British charity. + +Georgy continues wonderfully well, and she and Mary send you their best +love. The house is pervaded by boys; and every boy has (as usual) an +unaccountable and awful power of producing himself in every part of the +house at every moment, apparently in fourteen pairs of creaking boots. + + My dear Mary, ever affectionately your + JOE. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Lieutenant Andrew Gordon, R.N., son of the Sheriff of Midlothian. + + + + +1863. + +NARRATIVE. + + +At the beginning of this year, Charles Dickens was in Paris for the +purpose of giving a reading at the English Embassy. + +He remained in Paris until the beginning of February, staying with his +servant "John" at the Hôtel du Helder. There was a series of readings in +London this season at the Hanover Square Rooms. The Christmas number of +"All the Year Round" was entitled "Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings," to which +Charles Dickens contributed the first and last chapter. + +The Lyceum Theatre, under the management of M. Fechter, was opened in +January with "The Duke's Motto," and the letter given here has reference +to this first night. + +We regret very much having no letters to Lady Molesworth, who was an old +and dear friend of Charles Dickens. But this lady explains to us that +she has long ceased to preserve any letters addressed to her. + +The "Mr. and Mrs. Humphery" (now Sir William and Lady Humphery) +mentioned in the first letter for this year, were dear and intimate +friends of his eldest daughter, and were frequent guests in her father's +house. Mrs. Humphery and her sister Lady Olliffe were daughters of the +late Mr. William Cubitt, M.P. + +We have in this year the first letter of Charles Dickens to Mr. Percy +Fitzgerald. This gentleman had been a valuable contributor to his +journal before he became personally known to Charles Dickens. The +acquaintance once made soon ripened into friendship, and for the future +Mr. Fitzgerald was a constant and always a welcome visitor to Gad's +Hill. + +The letter to Mr. Charles Reade alludes to his story, "Hard Cash," which +was then appearing in "All the Year Round." As a writer, and as a +friend, he was held by Charles Dickens in the highest estimation. + +Charles Dickens's correspondence with his solicitor and excellent +friend, Mr. Frederic Ouvry (now a vice-president of the Society of +Antiquaries), was almost entirely of a business character; but we are +glad to give one or two notes to that gentleman, although of little +public interest, in order to have the name in our book of one of the +kindest of our own friends. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + PARIS, HÔTEL DU HELDER, RUE DU HELDER, + _Friday, Jan. 16th, 1863._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +As I send a line to your aunt to-day and know that you will not see it, +I send another to you to report my safe (and neuralgic) arrival here. My +little rooms are perfectly comfortable, and I like the hotel better than +any I have ever put up at in Paris. John's amazement at, and +appreciation of, Paris are indescribable. He goes about with his mouth +open, staring at everything and being tumbled over by everybody. + +The state dinner at the Embassy, yesterday, coming off in the room where +I am to read, the carpenters did not get in until this morning. But +their platforms were ready--or supposed to be--and the preparations are +in brisk progress. I think it will be a handsome affair to look at--a +very handsome one. There seems to be great artistic curiosity in Paris, +to know what kind of thing the reading is. + +I know a "rela-shon" (with one weak eye), who is in the gunmaking line, +very near here. There is a strong family resemblance--but no muzzle. +Lady Molesworth and I have not begun to "toddle" yet, but have exchanged +affectionate greetings. I am going round to see her presently, and I +dine with her on Sunday. The only remaining news is, that I am beset by +mysterious adorers, and smuggle myself in and out of the house in the +meanest and basest manner. + +With kind regard to Mr. and Mrs. Humphery, + + Ever, my dearest Mamey, your affectionate Father. + +P.S.--_Hommage à Madame B.!_ + + +[Sidenote: Monsieur Regnier.] + + PARIS, _Sunday, Feb. 1st, 1863._ + +MY DEAR REGNIER, + +I was charmed by the receipt of your cordial and sympathetic letter, and +I shall always preserve it carefully as a most noble tribute from a +great and real artist. + +I wished you had been at the Embassy on Friday evening. The audience was +a fine one, and the "Carol" is particularly well adapted to the purpose. +It is an uncommon pleasure to me to learn that I am to meet you on +Tuesday, for there are not many men whom I meet with greater pleasure +than you. Heaven! how the years roll by! We are quite old friends now, +in counting by years. If we add sympathies, we have been friends at +least a thousand years. + + Affectionately yours ever. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + HÔTEL DU HELDER, PARIS, _Sunday, Feb. 1st, 1863._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +I cannot give you any idea of the success of the readings here, because +no one can imagine the scene of last Friday night at the Embassy. Such +audiences and such enthusiasm I have never seen, but the thing +culminated on Friday night in a two hours' storm of excitement and +pleasure. They actually recommenced and applauded right away into their +carriages and down the street. + +You know your parent's horror of being lionised, and will not be +surprised to hear that I am half dead of it. I cannot leave here until +Thursday (though I am every hour in danger of running away) because I +have to dine out, to say nothing of breakfasting--think of me +breakfasting!--every intervening day. But my project is to send John +home on Thursday, and then to go on a little perfectly quiet tour for +about ten days, touching the sea at Boulogne. When I get there, I will +write to your aunt (in case you should not be at home), saying when I +shall arrive at the office. I must go to the office instead of Gad's, +because I have much to do with Forster about Elliotson. + +I enclose a short note for each of the little boys. Give Harry ten +shillings pocket-money, and Plorn six. + +The Olliffe girls, very nice. Florence at the readings, prodigiously +excited. + + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + PARIS, _Sunday, Feb. 1st, 1863._ + +From my hurried note to Mamie, you will get some faint general idea of a +new star's having arisen in Paris. But of its brightness you can have no +adequate conception. + +[John has locked me up and gone out, and the little bell at the door is +ringing demoniacally while I write.] + +You have never heard me read yet. I have been twice goaded and lifted +out of myself into a state that astonished _me_ almost as much as the +audience. I have a cold, but no neuralgia, and am "as well as can be +expected." + +I forgot to tell Mamie that I went (with Lady Molesworth) to hear +"Faust" last night. It is a splendid work, in which that noble and sad +story is most nobly and sadly rendered, and perfectly delighted me. But +I think it requires too much of the audience to do for a London opera +house. The composer must be a very remarkable man indeed. Some +management of light throughout the story is also very poetical and fine. +We had Carvalho's box. I could hardly bear the thing, it affected me so. + +But, as a certain Frenchman said, "No weakness, Danton!" So I leave off. + + +[Sidenote: M. Charles Fechter.] + + PARIS, _Wednesday, Feb. 4th, 1863._ + +MY DEAR FECHTER, + +A thousand congratulations on your great success! Never mind what they +say, or do, _pour vous écraser_; you have the game in your hands. The +romantic drama, thoroughly well done (with a touch of Shakespeare now +and then), is the speciality of your theatre. Give the public the +picturesque, romantic drama, with yourself in it; and (as I told you in +the beginning) you may throw down your gauntlet in defiance of all +comers. + +It is a most brilliant success indeed, and it thoroughly rejoices my +heart! + +Unfortunately I cannot now hope to see "Maquet," because I am packing up +and going out to dinner (it is late in the afternoon), and I leave +to-morrow morning when all sensible people, except myself, are in bed; +and I do not come back to Paris or near it. I had hoped to see him at +breakfast last Monday, but he was not there. Paul Féval was there, and I +found him a capital fellow. If I can do anything to help you on with +"Maquet"[8] when I come back I will most gladly do it. + +My readings here have had the finest possible reception, and have +achieved a most noble success. I never before read to such fine +audiences, so very quick of perception, and so enthusiastically +responsive. + +I shall be heartily pleased to see you again, my dear Fechter, and to +share your triumphs with the real earnestness of a real friend. And so +go on and prosper, and believe me, as I truly am, + + + Most cordially yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Thursday, Feb. 19th, 1863._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +I have just come back from Paris, where the readings--"Copperfield," +"Dombey" and "Trial," and "Carol" and "Trial"--have made a sensation +which modesty (my natural modesty) renders it impossible for me to +describe. You know what a noble audience the Paris audience is! They +were at their very noblest with me. + +I was very much concerned by hearing hurriedly from Georgy that you +were ill. But when I came home at night, she showed me Katie's letter, +and that set me up again. Ah, you have the best of companions and +nurses, and can afford to be ill now and then for the happiness of being +so brought through it. But don't do it again yet awhile for all that. + +Legouvé (whom you remember in Paris as writing for the Ristori) was +anxious that I should bring you the enclosed. A manly and generous +effort, I think? Regnier desired to be warmly remembered to you. He +looks just as of yore. + +Paris generally is about as wicked and extravagant as in the days of the +Regency. Madame Viardot in the "Orphée," most splendid. An opera of +"Faust," a very sad and noble rendering of that sad and noble story. +Stage management remarkable for some admirable, and really poetical, +effects of light. In the more striking situations, Mephistopheles +surrounded by an infernal red atmosphere of his own. Marguerite by a +pale blue mournful light. The two never blending. After Marguerite has +taken the jewels placed in her way in the garden, a weird evening draws +on, and the bloom fades from the flowers, and the leaves of the trees +droop and lose their fresh green, and mournful shadows overhang her +chamber window, which was innocently bright and gay at first. I couldn't +bear it, and gave in completely. + +Fechter doing wonders over the way here, with a picturesque French +drama. Miss Kate Terry, in a small part in it, perfectly charming. You +may remember her making a noise, years ago, doing a boy at an inn, in +"The Courier of Lyons"? She has a tender love-scene in this piece, which +is a really beautiful and artistic thing. I saw her do it at about three +in the morning of the day when the theatre opened, surrounded by +shavings and carpenters, and (of course) with that inevitable hammer +going; and I told Fechter: "That is the very best piece of womanly +tenderness I have ever seen on the stage, and you'll find that no +audience can miss it." It is a comfort to add that it was instantly +seized upon, and is much talked of. + +Stanfield was very ill for some months, then suddenly picked up, and is +really rosy and jovial again. Going to see him when he was very +despondent, I told him the story of Fechter's piece (then in rehearsal) +with appropriate action; fighting a duel with the washing-stand, defying +the bedstead, and saving the life of the sofa-cushion. This so kindled +his old theatrical ardour, that I think he turned the corner on the +spot. + +With love to Mrs. Macready and Katie, and (be still my heart!) +Benvenuta, and the exiled Johnny (not too attentive at school, I hope?), +and the personally-unknown young Parr, + + Ever, my dearest Macready, your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Power.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Thursday, Feb. 26th, 1863._ + +MY DEAR MARGUERITE, + +I think I have found a first-rate title for your book, with an early and +a delightful association in most people's minds, and a strong suggestion +of Oriental pictures: + + "ARABIAN DAYS AND NIGHTS." + +I have sent it to Low's. If they have the wit to see it, do you in your +first chapter touch that string, so as to bring a fanciful explanation +in aid of the title, and sound it afterwards, now and again, when you +come to anything where Haroun al Raschid, and the Grand Vizier, and +Mesrour, the chief of the guard, and any of that wonderful _dramatis +personæ_ are vividly brought to mind. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Charles Knight.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Wednesday, March 4th, 1863._ + +MY DEAR CHARLES KNIGHT, + +At a quarter to seven on Monday, the 16th, a stately form will be +descried breathing birthday cordialities and affectionate amenities, as +it descends the broken and gently dipping ground by which the level +country of the Clifton Road is attained. A practised eye will be able to +discern two humble figures in attendance, which from their flowing +crinolines may, without exposing the prophet to the imputation of +rashness, be predicted to be women. Though certes their importance, +absorbed and as it were swallowed up in the illustrious bearing and +determined purpose of the maturer stranger, will not enthrall the gaze +that wanders over the forest of San Giovanni as the night gathers in. + + Ever affectionately, + G. P. R. JAMES. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Dallas.[9]] + + +EXTRACT. + +THE TIME OF THE PRINCESS ALEXANDRA'S ARRIVAL IN LONDON. + +It is curious to see London gone mad. Down in the Strand here, the +monomaniacal tricks it is playing are grievous to behold, but along +Fleet Street and Cheapside it gradually becomes frenzied, dressing +itself up in all sorts of odds and ends, and knocking itself about in a +most amazing manner. At London Bridge it raves, principally about the +Kings of Denmark and their portraits. I have been looking among them for +Hamlet's uncle, and have discovered one personage with a high nose, who +I think is the man. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Lehmann.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," NO. 26, WELLINGTON STREET, + STRAND, LONDON, W.C., + _Tuesday, March 10th, 1863._ + +DEAR MRS. LEHMANN, + +Two stalls for to-morrow's reading were sent to you by post before I +heard from you this morning. Two will always come to you while you +remain a Gummidge, and I hope I need not say that if you want more, none +could be better bestowed in my sight. + +Pray tell Lehmann, when you next write to him, that I find I owe him a +mint of money for the delightful Swedish sleigh-bells. They are the +wonder, awe, and admiration of the whole country side, and I never go +out without them. + +Let us make an exchange of child stories. I heard of a little fellow the +other day whose mamma had been telling him that a French governess was +coming over to him from Paris, and had been expatiating on the blessings +and advantages of having foreign tongues. After leaning his plump little +cheek against the window glass in a dreary little way for some minutes, +he looked round and enquired in a general way, and not as if it had any +special application, whether she didn't think "that the Tower of Babel +was a great mistake altogether?" + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Major.[10]] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," A WEEKLY JOURNAL, ETC. ETC., + 26, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND, + _Thursday, March 12th, 1863._ + +MY DEAR MARY, + +I am quite concerned to hear that you and your party (including your +brother Willie) paid for seats at my reading last night. You must +promise me never to do so any more. My old affections and attachments +are not so lightly cherished or so easily forgotten as that I can bear +the thought of you and yours coming to hear me like so many strangers. +It will at all times delight me if you will send a little note to me, or +to Georgina, or to Mary, saying when you feel inclined to come, and how +many stalls you want. You may always be certain, even on the fullest +nights, of room being made for you. And I shall always be interested and +pleased by knowing that you are present. + +Mind! You are to be exceedingly penitent for last night's offence, and +to make me a promise that it shall never be repeated. On which condition +accept my noble forgiveness. + +With kind regard to Mr. Major, my dear Mary, + + Affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Thursday, March 31st, 1863._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +I mean to go on reading into June. For the sake of the finer effects (in +"Copperfield" principally), I have changed from St. James's Hall to the +Hanover Square Room. The latter is quite a wonderful room for sound, and +so easy that the least inflection will tell anywhere in the place +exactly as it leaves your lips; but I miss my dear old shilling +galleries--six or eight hundred strong--with a certain roaring sea of +response in them, that you have stood upon the beach of many and many a +time. + +The summer, I hope and trust, will quicken the pace at which you grow +stronger again. I am but in dull spirits myself just now, or I should +remonstrate with you on your slowness. + +Having two little boys sent home from school "to see the illuminations" +on the marriage-night, I chartered an enormous van, at a cost of five +pounds, and we started in majesty from the office in London, fourteen +strong. We crossed Waterloo Bridge with the happy design of beginning +the sight at London Bridge, and working our way through the City to +Regent Street. In a by-street in the Borough, over against a dead wall +and under a railway bridge, we were blocked for four hours. We were +obliged to walk home at last, having seen nothing whatever. The wretched +van turned up in the course of the next morning; and the best of it was +that at Rochester here they illuminated the fine old castle, and really +made a very splendid and picturesque thing (so my neighbours tell me). + +With love to Mrs. Macready and Katie, + + Ever, my dearest Macready, your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. Wilkie Collins.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Wednesday, April 22nd, 1863._ + + + ON THE DEATH OF MR. EGG. + +EXTRACT. + +Ah, poor Egg! I knew what you would think and feel about it. When we saw +him in Paris on his way out I was struck by his extreme nervousness, and +derived from it an uneasy foreboding of his state. What a large piece of +a good many years he seems to have taken with him! How often have I +thought, since the news of his death came, of his putting his part in +the saucepan (with the cover on) when we rehearsed "The Lighthouse;" of +his falling out of the hammock when we rehearsed "The Frozen Deep;" of +his learning Italian numbers when he ate the garlic in the carriage; of +the thousands (I was going to say) of dark mornings when I apostrophised +him as "Kernel;" of his losing my invaluable knife in that beastly +stage-coach; of his posting up that mysterious book[11] every night! I +hardly know why, but I have always associated that volume most with +Venice. In my memory of the dear gentle little fellow, he will be (as +since those days he always has been) eternally posting up that book at +the large table in the middle of our Venice sitting-room, incidentally +asking the name of an hotel three weeks back! And his pretty house is to +be laid waste and sold. If there be a sale on the spot I shall try to +buy something in loving remembrance of him, good dear little fellow. +Think what a great "Frozen Deep" lay close under those boards we acted +on! My brother Alfred, Luard, Arthur, Albert, Austin, Egg. Even among +the audience, Prince Albert and poor Stone! "I heard the"--I forget what +it was I used to say--"come up from the great deep;" and it rings in my +ears now, like a sort of mad prophecy. + +However, this won't do. We must close up the ranks and march on. + + +[Sidenote: Rev. W. Brookfield.] + + GAD'S HILL, _May 17th, 1863._ + +MY DEAR BROOKFIELD, + +It occurs to me that you may perhaps know, or know of, a kind of man +that I want to discover. + +One of my boys (the youngest) now is at Wimbledon School. He is a +docile, amiable boy of fair abilities, but sensitive and shy. And he +writes me so very earnestly that he feels the school to be confusingly +large for him, and that he is sure he could do better with some +gentleman who gave his own personal attention to the education of +half-a-dozen or a dozen boys, as to impress me with the belief that I +ought to heed his conviction. + +Has any such phenomenon as a good and reliable man in this wise ever +come in your way? Forgive my troubling you, and believe me, + + Cordially yours. + + +[Sidenote: Rev. W. Brookfield.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _May 24th, 1863._ + +MY DEAR BROOKFIELD, + +I am most truly obliged to you for your kind and ready help. + +When I am in town next week, I will call upon the Bishop of Natal, more +to thank him than with the hope of profiting by that gentleman of whom +he writes, as the limitation to "little boys" seems to stop the way. I +want to find someone with whom this particular boy could remain; if +there were a mutual interest and liking, that would be a great point +gained. + +Why did the kings in the fairy tales want children? I suppose in the +weakness of the royal intellect. + +Concerning "Nickleby," I am so much of your mind (comparing it with +"Copperfield"), that it was a long time before I could take a pleasure +in reading it. But I got better, as I found the audience always taking +to it. I have been trying, alone by myself, the "Oliver Twist" murder, +but have got something so horrible out of it that I am afraid to try it +in public. + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: M. de Cerjat.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Thursday, May 28th, 1863._ + +MY DEAR CERJAT, + +I don't wonder at your finding it difficult to reconcile your mind to a +French Hamlet; but I assure you that Fechter's is a very remarkable +performance perfectly consistent with itself (whether it be my +particular Hamlet, or your particular Hamlet, or no), a coherent and +intelligent whole, and done by a true artist. I have never seen, I +think, an intelligent and clear view of the whole character so well +sustained throughout; and there is a very captivating air of romance and +picturesqueness added, which is quite new. Rely upon it, the public were +right. The thing could not have been sustained by oddity; it would have +perished upon that, very soon. As to the mere accent, there is far less +drawback in that than you would suppose. For this reason, he obviously +knows English so thoroughly that you feel he is safe. You are never in +pain for him. This sense of ease is gained directly, and then you think +very little more about it. + +The Colenso and Jowett matter is a more difficult question, but +here again I don't go with you. The position of the writers of "Essays +and Reviews" is, that certain parts of the Old Testament have done +their intended function in the education of the world _as it was_; +but that mankind, like the individual man, is designed by the Almighty +to have an infancy and a maturity, and that as it advances, the +machinery of its education must advance too. For example: inasmuch as +ever since there was a sun and there was vapour, there _must have_ been +a rainbow under certain conditions, so surely it would be better now to +recognise that indisputable fact. Similarly, Joshua might command the +sun to stand still, under the impression that it moved round the earth; +but he could not possibly have inverted the relations of the earth and +the sun, whatever his impressions were. Again, it is contended that the +science of geology is quite as much a revelation to man, as books of an +immense age and of (at the best) doubtful origin, and that your +consideration of the latter must reasonably be influenced by the former. +As I understand the importance of timely suggestions such as these, it +is, that the Church should not gradually shock and lose the more +thoughtful and logical of human minds; but should be so gently and +considerately yielding as to retain them, and, through them, hundreds +of thousands. This seems to me, as I understand the temper and tendency +of the time, whether for good or evil, to be a very wise and necessary +position. And as I understand the danger, it is not chargeable on those +who take this ground, but on those who in reply call names and argue +nothing. What these bishops and such-like say about revelation, in +assuming it to be finished and done with, I can't in the least understand. +Nothing is discovered without God's intention and assistance, and I +suppose every new knowledge of His works that is conceded to man to be +distinctly a revelation by which men are to guide themselves. Lastly, +in the mere matter of religious doctrine and dogmas, these men +(Protestants--protestors--successors of the men who protested against +human judgment being set aside) talk and write as if they were all +settled by the direct act of Heaven; not as if they had been, as we know +they were, a matter of temporary accommodation and adjustment among +disputing mortals as fallible as you or I. + +Coming nearer home, I hope that Georgina is almost quite well. She has +no attack of pain or flurry now, and is in all respects immensely +better. Mary is neither married nor (that I know of) going to be. She +and Katie and a lot of them have been playing croquet outside my window +here for these last four days, to a mad and maddening extent. My +sailor-boy's ship, the _Orlando_, is fortunately in Chatham Dockyard--so +he is pretty constantly at home--while the shipwrights are repairing a +leak in her. I am reading in London every Friday just now. Great crams +and great enthusiasm. Townshend I suppose to have left Lausanne +somewhere about this day. His house in the park is hermetically sealed, +ready for him. The Prince and Princess of Wales go about (wisely) very +much, and have as fair a chance of popularity as ever prince and +princess had. The City ball in their honour is to be a tremendously +gorgeous business, and Mary is highly excited by her father's being +invited, and she with him. Meantime the unworthy parent is devising all +kinds of subterfuges for sending her and getting out of it himself. A +very intelligent German friend of mine, just home from America, +maintains that the conscription will succeed in the North, and that the +war will be indefinitely prolonged. _I_ say "No," and that however mad +and villainous the North is, the war will finish by reason of its not +supplying soldiers. We shall see. The more they brag the more I don't +believe in them. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Percy Fitzgerald.] + + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, _Saturday Night, July 4th_, 1863. + +MY DEAR MR. FITZGERALD, + +I have been most heartily gratified by the perusal of your article on my +dogs. It has given me an amount and a kind of pleasure very unusual, and +for which I thank you earnestly. The owner of the renowned dog Cæsar +understands me so sympathetically, that I trust with perfect confidence +to his feeling what I really mean in these few words. You interest me +very much by your kind promise, the redemption of which I hereby claim, +to send me your life of Sterne when it comes out. If you should be in +England before this, I should be delighted to see you here on the top of +Falstaff's own Gad's Hill. It is a very pretty country, not thirty +miles from London; and if you could spare a day or two for its fine +walks, I and my two latest dogs, a St. Bernard and a bloodhound, would +be charmed with your company as one of ourselves. + + Believe me, very faithfully yours. + + + _Friday, July 10th, 1863._[12] + +DEAR MADAM, + +I hope you will excuse this tardy reply to your letter. It is often +impossible for me, by any means, to keep pace with my correspondents. I +must take leave to say, that if there be any general feeling on the part +of the intelligent Jewish people, that I have done them what you +describe as "a great wrong," they are a far less sensible, a far less +just, and a far less good-tempered people than I have always supposed +them to be. Fagin, in "Oliver Twist," is a Jew, because it unfortunately +was true of the time to which that story refers, that that class of +criminal almost invariably was a Jew. But surely no sensible man or +woman of your persuasion can fail to observe--firstly, that all the rest +of the wicked _dramatis personæ_ are Christians; and secondly, that he +is called the "Jew," not because of his religion, but because of his +race. If I were to write a story, in which I described a Frenchman or a +Spaniard as "the Roman Catholic," I should do a very indecent and +unjustifiable thing; but I make mention of Fagin as the Jew, because he +is one of the Jewish people, and because it conveys that kind of idea of +him which I should give my readers of a Chinaman, by calling him a +Chinese. + +The enclosed is quite a nominal subscription towards the good object in +which you are interested; but I hope it may serve to show you that I +have no feeling towards the Jewish people but a friendly one. I always +speak well of them, whether in public or in private, and bear my +testimony (as I ought to do) to their perfect good faith in such +transactions as I have ever had with them; and in my "Child's History of +England," I have lost no opportunity of setting forth their cruel +persecution in old times. + + Dear Madam, faithfully yours. + + +In reply to this, the Jewish lady thanks him for his kind letter and its +enclosure, still remonstrating and pointing out that though, as he +observes, "all the other criminal characters were Christians, they are, +at least, contrasted with characters of good Christians; this wretched +Fagin stands alone as the Jew." + +The reply to _this_ letter afterwards was the character of Riah, in "Our +Mutual Friend," and some favourable sketches of Jewish character in the +lower class, in some articles in "All the Year Round." + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Ouvry.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Wednesday Night, July 29th, 1863._ + +MY DEAR OUVRY, + +I have had some undefined idea that you were to let me know if you were +coming to the archæologs at Rochester. (I myself am keeping out of their +way, as having had enough of crowding and speech-making in London.) Will +you tell me where you are, whether you are in this neighbourhood or out +of it, whether you will come here on Saturday and stay till Monday or +till Tuesday morning? If you will come, I _know_ I can give you the +heartiest welcome in Kent, and I _think_ I can give you the best wine in +this part of it. Send me a word in reply. I will fetch you from +anywhere, at any indicated time. + +We have very pretty places in the neighbourhood, and are not +uncomfortable people (I believe) to stay with. + + Faithfully yours ever. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Charles Reade.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Wednesday, Sept. 30th, 1863._ + +MY DEAR READE, + +I _must_ write you one line to say how interested I am in your story, +and to congratulate you upon its admirable art and its surprising grace +and vigour. + +And to hint my hope, at the same time, that you will be able to find +leisure for a little dash for the Christmas number. It would be a really +great and true pleasure to me if you could. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Wednesday, Oct. 7th, 1863._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +You will see by to-day's _Times_ that it _was_ an earthquake that shook +me, and that my watch showed exactly the same time as the man's who +writes from Blackheath so near us--twenty minutes past three. + +It is a great satisfaction to me to make it out so precisely; I wish you +would enquire whether the servants felt it. I thought it was the voice +of the cook that answered me, but that was nearly half an hour later. I +am strongly inclined to think that there is a peculiar susceptibility in +iron--at all events in our part of the country--to the shock, as though +there were something magnetic in it. For, whereas my long iron bedstead +was so violently shaken, I certainly heard nothing rattle in the room. + +I will write about my return as soon as I get on with the still unbegun +"Uncommercial." + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Sunday, Dec. 20th, 1863._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +I am clear that you took my cold. Why didn't you do the thing +completely, and take it away from me? for it hangs by me still. + +Will you tell Mrs. Linton that in looking over her admirable account +(_most_ admirable) of Mrs. Gordon's book, I have taken out the +references to Lockhart, not because I in the least doubt their justice, +but because I knew him and he liked me; and because one bright day in +Rome, I walked about with him for some hours when he was dying fast, and +all the old faults had faded out of him, and the now ghost of the +handsome man I had first known when Scott's daughter was at the head of +his house, had little more to do with this world than she in her grave, +or Scott in his, or small Hugh Littlejohn in his. Lockhart had been +anxious to see me all the previous day (when I was away on the +Campagna), and as we walked about I knew very well that _he_ knew very +well why. He talked of getting better, but I never saw him again. This +makes me stay Mrs. Linton's hand, gentle as it is. + +Mrs. Lirriper is indeed a most brilliant old lady. God bless her. + +I am glad to hear of your being "haunted," and hope to increase your +stock of such ghosts pretty liberally. + + Ever faithfully. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] Alluding to a translation of a play by M. Maquet, which M. Fechter +was then preparing for his theatre. + +[9] Now Mrs. Dallas Glyn. + +[10] Formerly Miss Talfourd. + +[11] His travelling journal. + +[12] Answer to letter from Jewish lady, remonstrating with him on +injustice to the Jews, shown in the character of Fagin, and asking for +subscription for the benefit of the Jewish poor. + + + + +1864. + +NARRATIVE. + + +Charles Dickens was, as usual, at Gad's Hill, with a family and friendly +party, at the opening of this year, and had been much shocked and +distressed by the news of the sudden death of Mr. Thackeray, brought to +him by friends arriving from London on the Christmas Eve of 1863, the +day on which the sad event happened. He writes of it, in the first +letter of the year, to Mr. Wilkie Collins, who was passing the winter in +Italy. He tells him, also, of his having got well to work upon a new +serial story, the first number of which ("Our Mutual Friend") was +published on the 1st of May. + +The year began very sadly for Charles Dickens. On the 7th of February +(his own birthday) he received the mournful announcement of the death of +his second son, Walter Landor (a lieutenant in the 42nd Royal +Highlanders), who had died quite suddenly at Calcutta, on the last night +of the year of 1863, at the age of twenty-three. His third son, Francis +Jeffrey, had started for India at the end of January. + +His annual letter to M. de Cerjat contains an allusion to "another +generation beginning to peep above the table"--the children of his son +Charles, who had been married three years before, to Miss Bessie Evans. + +In the middle of February he removed to a house in London (57, +Gloucester Place, Hyde Park), where he made a stay of the usual +duration, up to the middle of June, all the time being hard at work upon +"Our Mutual Friend" and "All the Year Round." Mr. Marcus Stone was the +illustrator of the new monthly work, and we give a specimen of one of +many letters which he wrote to him about his "subjects." + +His old friend, Mr. Charles Knight, with whom for many years Charles +Dickens had dined on his birthday, was staying, this spring, in the Isle +of Wight. To him he writes of the death of Walter, and of another sad +death which happened at this time, and which affected him almost as +much. Clara, the last surviving daughter of Mr. and Mrs. White, who had +been happily married to Mr. Gordon, of Cluny, not more than two years, +had just died at Bonchurch. Her father, as will be seen by the touching +allusion to him in this letter, had died a short time after this +daughter's marriage. + +A letter to Mr. Edmund Ollier has reference to certain additions which +Charles Dickens wished him to make to an article (by Mr. Ollier) on +Working Men's Clubs, published in "All the Year Round." + +We are glad to have one letter to the Lord Chief Baron, Sir Frederick +Pollock, which shows the great friendship and regard Charles Dickens had +for him, and his admiration of his qualities in his judicial capacity. + +We give a pleasant letter to Mrs. Storrar, for whom, and for her +husband, Dr. Storrar, Charles Dickens had affectionate regard, because +we are glad to have their names in our book. The letter speaks for +itself and needs no explanation. + +The latter part of the year was uneventful. Hard at work, he passed the +summer and autumn at Gad's Hill, taking holidays by receiving visitors +at home (among them, this year, Sir J. Emerson Tennent, his wife and +daughter, who were kindly urgent for his paying them a return visit in +Ireland) and occasional "runs" into France. The last letters we give are +his annual one to M. de Cerjat, and a graceful little New Year's note to +his dear old friend "Barry Cornwall." + +The Christmas number was "Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy," the first and last +part written by himself, as in the case of the previous year's "Mrs. +Lirriper." + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. Wilkie Collins.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Monday, Jan. 24th, 1864._ + + EXTRACT. + +MY DEAR WILKIE, + +I am horribly behindhand in answering your welcome letter; but I have +been so busy, and have had the house so full for Christmas and the New +Year, and have had so much to see to in getting Frank out to India, +that I have not been able to settle down to a regular long letter, which +I mean this to be, but which it may not turn out to be, after all. + +First, I will answer your enquiries about the Christmas number and the +new book. The Christmas number has been the greatest success of all; has +shot ahead of last year; has sold about two hundred and twenty thousand; +and has made the name of Mrs. Lirriper so swiftly and domestically +famous as never was. I had a very strong belief in her when I wrote +about her, finding that she made a great effect upon me; but she +certainly has gone beyond my hopes. (Probably you know nothing about +her? which is a very unpleasant consideration.) Of the new book, I have +done the two first numbers, and am now beginning the third. It is a +combination of drollery with romance which requires a great deal of +pains and a perfect throwing away of points that might be amplified; but +I hope it is _very good_. I confess, in short, that I think it is. +Strange to say, I felt at first quite dazed in getting back to the large +canvas and the big brushes; and even now, I have a sensation as of +acting at the San Carlo after Tavistock House, which I could hardly have +supposed would have come upon so old a stager. + +You will have read about poor Thackeray's death--sudden, and yet not +sudden, for he had long been alarmingly ill. At the solicitation of Mr. +Smith and some of his friends, I have done what I would most gladly have +excused myself from doing, if I felt I could--written a couple of pages +about him in what was his own magazine. + +Concerning the Italian experiment, De la Rue is more hopeful than you. +He and his bank are closely leagued with the powers at Turin, and he has +long been devoted to Cavour; but he gave me the strongest assurances +(with illustrations) of the fusion between place and place, and of the +blending of small mutually antagonistic characters into one national +character, progressing cheeringly and certainly. Of course there must be +discouragements and discrepancies in the first struggles of a country +previously so degraded and enslaved, and the time, as yet, has been very +short. + +I should like to have a day with you at the Coliseum, and on the Appian +Way, and among the tombs, and with the Orvieto. But Rome and I are wide +asunder, physically as well as morally. I wonder whether the dramatic +stable, where we saw the marionettes, still receives the Roman public? +And Lord! when I think of you in that hotel, how I think of poor dear +Egg in the long front drawing-room, giving on to the piazza, posting up +that wonderful necromantic volume which we never shall see opened! + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Marcus Stone.] + + 57, GLOUCESTER PLACE, HYDE PARK,, HYDE PARK, + _Tuesday, Feb. 23rd, 1864._ + +MY DEAR MARCUS, + +I think the design for the cover _excellent_, and do not doubt its +coming out to perfection. The slight alteration I am going to suggest +originates in a business consideration not to be overlooked. + +The word "Our" in the title must be out in the open like "Mutual +Friend," making the title three distinct large lines--"Our" as big as +"Mutual Friend." This would give you too much design at the bottom. I +would therefore take out the dustman, and put the Wegg and Boffin +composition (which is capital) in its place. I don't want Mr. Inspector +or the murder reward bill, because these points are sufficiently +indicated in the river at the top. Therefore you can have an indication +of the dustman in Mr. Inspector's place. Note, that the dustman's face +should be droll, and not horrible. Twemlow's elbow will still go out of +the frame as it does now, and the same with Lizzie's skirts on the +opposite side. With these changes, work away! + +Mrs. Boffin, as I judge of her from the sketch, "very good, indeed." I +want Boffin's oddity, without being at all blinked, to be an oddity of a +very honest kind, that people will like. + +The doll's dressmaker is immensely better than she was. I think she +should now come extremely well. A weird sharpness not without beauty is +the thing I want. + + Affectionately always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Charles Knight.] + + 57, GLOUCESTER PLACE, W., + _Tuesday, March 1st, 1864._ + +MY DEAR KNIGHT, + +We knew of your being in the Isle of Wight, and had said that we should +have this year to drink your health in your absence. Rely on my being +always ready and happy to renew our old friendship in the flesh. In the +spirit it needs no renewal, because it has no break. + +Ah, poor Mrs. White! A sad, sad story! It is better for poor White that +that little churchyard by the sea received his ashes a while ago, than +that he should have lived to this time. + +My poor boy was on his way home from an up-country station, on sick +leave. He had been very ill, but was not so at the time. He was talking +to some brother-officers in the Calcutta hospital about his preparations +for home, when he suddenly became excited, had a rush of blood from the +mouth, and was dead. His brother Frank would arrive out at Calcutta, +expecting to see him after six years, and he would have been dead a +month. + +My "working life" is resolving itself at the present into another book, +in twenty green leaves. You work like a Trojan at Ventnor, but you do +that everywhere; and that's why you are so young. + +Mary and Georgina unite in kindest regard to you, and to Mrs. Knight, +and to your daughters. So do I. And I am ever, my dear Knight, + + Affectionately yours. + +P.S.--Serene View! What a placid address! + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edmund Ollier.] + + "ALL THE YEAR ROUND" OFFICE, _March, 1864._ + + EXTRACT. + +I want the article on "Working Men's Clubs" to refer back to "The Poor +Man and his Beer" in No. 1, and to maintain the principle involved in +that effort. + +Also, emphatically, to show that trustfulness is at the bottom of all +social institutions, and that to trust a man, as one of a body of men, +is to place him under a wholesome restraint of social opinion, and is a +very much better thing than to make a baby of him. + +Also, to point out that the rejection of beer in this club, tobacco in +that club, dancing or what-not in another club, are instances that such +clubs are founded on mere whims, and therefore cannot successfully +address human nature in the general, and hope to last. + +Also, again to urge that patronage is the curse and blight of all such +endeavours, and to impress upon the working men that they must originate +and manage for themselves. And to ask them the question, can they +possibly show their detestation of drunkenness better, or better strive +to get rid of it from among them, than to make it a hopeless +disqualification in all their clubs, and a reason for expulsion. + +Also, to encourage them to declare to themselves and their fellow +working men that they want social rest and social recreation for +themselves and their families; and that these clubs are intended for +that laudable and necessary purpose, and do not need educational +pretences or flourishes. Do not let them be afraid or ashamed of wanting +to be amused and pleased. + + +[Sidenote: The Lord Chief Baron.] + + 57, GLOUCESTER PLACE, _Tuesday, March 15th, 1864._ + +MY DEAR CHIEF BARON, + +Many thanks for your kind letter, which I find on my return from a +week's holiday. + +Your answer concerning poor Thackeray I will duly make known to the +active spirit in that matter, Mr. Shirley Brooks. + +Your kind invitation to me to come and see you and yours, and hear the +nightingales, I shall not fail to discuss with Forster, and with an eye +to spring. I expect to see him presently; the rather as I found a note +from him when I came back yesterday, describing himself somewhat +gloomily as not having been well, and as feeling a little out of heart. + +It is not out of order, I hope, to remark that you have been much in my +thoughts and on my lips lately? For I really have not been able to +repress my admiration of the vigorous dignity and sense and spirit, with +which one of the best of judges set right one of the dullest of juries +in a recent case. + + Believe me ever, very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John Forster.] + + 57, GLOUCESTER PLACE, _Tuesday, March 29th, 1864._ + +MY DEAR FORSTER, + +I meant to write to you last night, but to enable Wills to get away I +had to read a book of Fitzgerald's through before I went to bed. + +Concerning Eliot, I sat down, as I told you, and read the book through +with the strangest interest and the highest admiration. I believe it to +be as honest, spirited, patient, reliable, and gallant a piece of +biography as ever was written, the care and pains of it astonishing, the +completeness of it masterly; and what I particularly feel about it is +that the dignity of the man, and the dignity of the book that tells +about the man, always go together, and fit each other. This same quality +has always impressed me as the great leading speciality of the +Goldsmith, and enjoins sympathy with the subject, knowledge of it, and +pursuit of it in its own spirit; but I think it even more remarkable +here. I declare that apart from the interest of having been so put into +the time, and enabled to understand it, I personally feel quite as much +the credit and honour done to literature by such a book. It quite clears +out of the remembrance a thousand pitiful things, and sets one up in +heart again. I am not surprised in the least by Bulwer's enthusiasm. I +was as confident about the effect of the book when I closed the first +volume, as I was when I closed the second with a full heart. No man less +in earnest than Eliot himself could have done it, and I make bold to add +that it never could have been done by a man who was so distinctly born +to do the work as Eliot was to do his. + +Saturday at Hastings I must give up. I have wavered and considered, and +considered and wavered, but if I take that sort of holiday, I must have +a day to spare after it, and at this critical time I have not. If I were +to lose a page of the five numbers I have purposed 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 +bad fiction, that _will_ be thought of when I don't want to think of it, +that I am forced to take more care than I ever took. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Storrar.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday Morning, May 15th, 1864._ + +MY DEAR MRS. STORRAR, + +Our family dinner must come off at Gad's Hill, where I have improvements +to exhibit, and where I shall be truly pleased to see you and the doctor +again. I have deferred answering your note, while I have been scheming +and scheming for a day between this time and our departure. But it is +all in vain. My engagements have accumulated, and become such a whirl, +that no day is left me. Nothing is left me but to get away. I look +forward to my release from this dining life with an inexpressible +longing after quiet and my own pursuits. What with public speechifying, +private eating and drinking, and perpetual simmering in hot rooms, I +have made London too hot to hold me and my work together. Mary and +Georgina acknowledge the condition of imbecility to which we have become +reduced in reference to your kind reminder. They say, when I stare at +them in a forlorn way with your note in my hand: "What CAN you do!" To +which I can only reply, implicating them: "See what you have brought me +to!" + +With our united kind regard to yourself and Dr. Storrar, I entreat your +pity and compassion for an unfortunate wretch whom a too-confiding +disposition has brought to this pass. If I had not allowed my "cheeild" +to pledge me to all manner of fellow-creatures, I and my digestion might +have been in a state of honourable independence this day. + + Faithfully and penitently yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Percy Fitzgerald.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," ETC. ETC. ETC. + _Wednesday, July 27th, 1864._ + +MY DEAR MR. FITZGERALD, + +First, let me assure you that it gave us all real pleasure to see your +sister and you at Gad's Hill, and that we all hope you will both come +and stay a day or two with us when you are next in England. + +Next, let me convey to you the intelligence that I resolve to launch +"Miss Manuel," fully confiding in your conviction of the power of the +story. On all business points, Wills will communicate with you. I +purpose beginning its publication in our first September number, +therefore there is no time to be lost. + +The only suggestion I have to make as to the MS. in hand and type is, +that Captain Fermor wants relief. It is a disagreeable character, as you +mean it to be, and I should be afraid to do so much with him, if the +case were mine, without taking the taste of him, here and there, out of +the reader's mouth. It is remarkable that if you do not administer a +disagreeable character carefully, the public have a decided tendency to +think that the _story_ is disagreeable, and not merely the fictitious +person. + +What do you think of the title, + + NEVER FORGOTTEN? + +It is a good one in itself, would express the eldest sister's pursuit, +and glanced at now and then in the text, would hold the reader in +suspense. I would propose to add the line, + + BY THE AUTHOR OF BELLA DONNA. + +Let me know your opinion as to the title. I need not assure you that the +greatest care will be taken of you here, and that we shall make you as +thoroughly well and widely known as we possibly can. + + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Sir James Emerson Tennent.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Friday, Aug. 26th, 1864._ + +MY DEAR TENNENT, + +Believe me, I fully intended to come to you--did not doubt that I should +come--and have greatly disappointed Mary and her aunt, as well as +myself, by not coming. But I do not feel safe in going out for a visit. +The mere knowledge that I had such a thing before me would put me out. +It is not the length of time consumed, or the distance traversed, but it +is the departure from a settled habit and a continuous sacrifice of +pleasures that comes in question. This is an old story with me. I have +never divided a book of my writing with anything else, but have always +wrought at it to the exclusion of everything else; and it is now too +late to change. + +After receiving your kind note I resolved to make another trial. But the +hot weather and a few other drawbacks did not mend the matter, for I +have dropped astern this month instead of going ahead. So I have seen +Forster, and shown him my chains, and am reduced to taking exercise in +them, like Baron Trenck. + +I am heartily pleased that you set so much store by the dedication. You +may be sure that it does not make me the less anxious to take pains, and +to work out well what I have in my mind. + +Mary and Georgina unite with me in kindest regards to Lady Tennent and +Miss Tennent, and wish me to report that while they are seriously +disappointed, they still feel there is no help for it. I can testify +that they had great pleasure in the anticipation of the visit, and that +their faces were very long and blank indeed when I began to hint my +doubts. They fought against them valiantly as long as there was a +chance, but they see my difficulty as well as anyone not myself can. + + Believe me, my dear Tennent, ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Clarkson Stanfield, R.A.] + + THE ATHENÆUM, _Wednesday, Sept. 21st, 1864._ + +MY DEAR STANNY, + +I met George in the street a few days ago, and he gave me a wonderful +account of the effect of your natural element upon you at Ramsgate. I +expect you to come back looking about twenty-nine, and feeling about +nineteen. + +This morning I have looked in here to put down Fechter as a candidate, +on the chance of the committee's electing him some day or other. He is a +most devoted worshipper of yours, and would take it as a great honour if +you would second him. Supposing you to have not the least objection (of +course, if you should have any, I can in a moment provide a substitute), +will you write your name in the candidates' book as his seconder when +you are next in town and passing this way? + +Lastly, if you should be in town on his opening night (a Saturday, and +in all probability the 22nd of October), will you come and dine at the +office and see his new piece? You have not yet "pronounced" in the +matter of that new French stage of his, on which Calcott for the said +new piece has built up all manner of villages, camps, Versailles +gardens, etc. etc. etc. etc., with no wings, no flies, no looking off +in any direction. If you tell me that you are to be in town by that +time, I will not fail to refresh your memory as to the precise day. + + With kind regard to Mrs. Stanfield, + Believe me, my dear old boy, ever your affectionate + DICK. + + +[Sidenote: M. de Cerjat.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, + _Tuesday, Oct. 25th, 1864._ + +MY DEAR CERJAT, + +Here is a limping brute of a reply to your always-welcome Christmas +letter! But, as usual, when I have done my day's work, I jump up from my +desk and rush into air and exercise, and find letter-writing the most +difficult thing in my daily life. + +I hope that your asthmatic tendencies may not be strong just now; but +Townshend's account of the premature winter at Lausanne is not +encouraging, and with us here in England all such disorders have been +aggravated this autumn. However, a man of your dignity _must_ have +either asthma or gout, and I hope you have got the better of the two. + +In London there is, as you see by the papers, extraordinarily little +news. At present the apprehension (rather less than it was thought) of a +commercial crisis, and the trial of Müller next Thursday, are the two +chief sensations. I hope that gentleman will be hanged, and have hardly +a doubt of it, though croakers contrariwise are not wanting. It is +difficult to conceive any other line of defence than that the +circumstances proved, taken separately, are slight. But a sound judge +will immediately charge the jury that the strength of the circumstances +lies in their being put together, and will thread them together on a +fatal rope. + +As to the Church, my friend, I am sick of it. The spectacle presented by +the indecent squabbles of priests of most denominations, and the +exemplary unfairness and rancour with which they conduct their +differences, utterly repel me. And the idea of the Protestant +establishment, in the face of its own history, seeking to trample out +discussion and private judgment, is an enormity so cool, that I wonder +the Right Reverends, Very Reverends, and all other Reverends, who commit +it, can look in one another's faces without laughing, as the old +soothsayers did. Perhaps they can't and don't. How our sublime and +so-different Christian religion is to be administered in the future I +cannot pretend to say, but that the Church's hand is at its own throat I +am fully convinced. Here, more Popery, there, more Methodism--as many +forms of consignment to eternal damnation as there are articles, and all +in one forever quarrelling body--the Master of the New Testament put out +of sight, and the rage and fury almost always turning on the letter of +obscure parts of the Old Testament, which itself has been the subject of +accommodation, adaptation, varying interpretation without end--these +things cannot last. The Church that is to have its part in the coming +time must be a more Christian one, with less arbitrary pretensions and a +stronger hold upon the mantle of our Saviour, as He walked and talked +upon this earth. + +Of family intelligence I have very little. Charles Collins continuing in +a very poor way, and showing no signs of amendment. He and my daughter +Katie went to Wiesbaden and thence to Nice, where they are now. I have +strong apprehensions that he will never recover, and that she will be +left a young widow. All the rest are as they were. Mary neither married +nor going to be; Georgina holding them all together and perpetually +corresponding with the distant ones; occasional rallyings coming off +here, in which another generation begins to peep above the table. I once +used to think what a horrible thing it was to be a grandfather. Finding +that the calamity falls upon me without my perceiving any other change +in myself, I bear it like a man. + +Mrs. Watson has bought a house in town, to which she repairs in the +season, for the bringing out of her daughter. She is now at Rockingham. +Her eldest son is said to be as good an eldest son as ever was, and to +make her position there a perfectly independent and happy one. I have +not seen him for some years; her I often see; but he ought to be a good +fellow, and is very popular in his neighbourhood. + +I have altered this place very much since you were here, and have made a +pretty (I think an unusually pretty) drawing-room. I wish you would come +back and see it. My being on the Dover line, and my being very fond of +France, occasion me to cross the Channel perpetually. Whenever I feel +that I have worked too much, or am on the eve of overdoing it, and want +a change, away I go by the mail-train, and turn up in Paris or anywhere +else that suits my humour, next morning. So I come back as fresh as a +daisy, and preserve as ruddy a face as though I never leant over a sheet +of paper. When I retire from a literary life I think of setting up as a +Channel pilot. + +Pray give my love to Mrs. Cerjat, and tell her that I should like to go +up the Great St. Bernard again, and shall be glad to know if she is open +to another ascent. Old days in Switzerland are ever fresh to me, and +sometimes I walk with you again, after dark, outside the hotel at +Martigny, while Lady Mary Taylour (wasn't it?) sang within very +prettily. Lord, how the time goes! How many years ago! + + Affectionately yours. + + + _Wednesday, Nov. 16th, 1864._[13] + +DEAR MADAM, + +I have received your letter with great pleasure, and hope to be (as I +have always been at heart) the best of friends with the Jewish people. +The error you point out to me had occurred to me, as most errors do to +most people, when it was too late to correct it. But it will do no harm. +The peculiarities of dress and manner are fused together for the sake of +picturesqueness. + + Dear Madam, faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. B. W. Procter.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Saturday, Dec. 31st, 1864._ + +MY DEAR PROCTER, + +I have reserved my acknowledgment of your delightful note (the youngest +note I have had in all this year) until to-day, in order that I might +send, most heartily and affectionately, all seasonable good wishes to +you and to Mrs. Procter, and to those who are nearest and dearest to +you. Take them from an old friend who loves you. + +Mamie returns the tender compliments, and Georgina does what the +Americans call "endorse them." Mrs. Lirriper is proud to be so +remembered, and says over and over again "that it's worth twenty times +the trouble she has taken with the narrative, since Barry Cornwall, +Esquire, is pleased to like it." + +I got rid of a touch of neuralgia in France (as I always do there), but +I found no old friends in my voyages of discovery on that side, such as +I have left on this. + + My dear Procter, ever your affectionate. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] In answer to another letter from the "Jewish lady," in which she +gives her reasons for still being dissatisfied with the character of +Riah. + + + + +1865. + +NARRATIVE. + + +For this spring a furnished house in Somer's Place, Hyde Park, had been +taken, which Charles Dickens occupied, with his sister-in-law and +daughter, from the beginning of March until June. + +During the year he paid two short visits to France. + +He was still at work upon "Our Mutual Friend," two numbers of which had +been issued in January and February, when the first volume was +published, with dedication to Sir James Emerson Tennent. The remaining +numbers were issued between March and November, when the complete work +was published in two volumes. + +The Christmas number, to which Charles Dickens contributed three +stories, was called "Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions." + +Being out of health, and much overworked, Charles Dickens, at the end of +May, took his first short holiday trip into France. And on his way home, +and on a day afterwards so fatal to him, the 9th of June, he was in that +most terrible railway accident at Staplehurst. Many of our letters for +this year have reference to this awful experience--an experience from +the effects of which his nerves never wholly recovered. His letters to +Mr. Thomas Mitton and to Mrs. Hulkes (an esteemed friend and neighbour) +are graphic descriptions of this disaster. But they do NOT tell of the +wonderful presence of mind and energy shown by Charles Dickens when most +of the terrified passengers were incapable of thought or action, or of +his gentleness and goodness to the dead and dying. The Mr. Dickenson[14] +mentioned in the letter to Mrs. Hulkes soon recovered. He always +considers that he owes his life to Charles Dickens, the latter having +discovered and extricated him from beneath a carriage before it was too +late. + +Our first letter to Mr. Kent is one of congratulation upon his having +become the proprietor of _The Sun_ newspaper. + +Professor Owen has been so kind as to give us some notes, which we +publish for the sake of his great name. Charles Dickens had not much +correspondence with Professor Owen, but there was a firm friendship and +great mutual admiration between them. + +The letter to Mrs. Procter is in answer to one from her, asking Charles +Dickens to write a memoir of her daughter Adelaide, as a preface to a +collected edition of her poems. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Tuesday, Jan. 17th, 1865._ + +MY DEAR KENT, + +I meant to have written instantly on the appearance of your paper in its +beautiful freshness, to congratulate you on its handsome appearance, and +to send you my heartiest good wishes for its thriving and prosperous +career. Through a mistake of the postman's, that remarkable letter has +been tesselated into the Infernal Pavement instead of being delivered in +the Strand. + +We have been looking and waiting for your being well enough to propose +yourself for a mouthful of fresh air. Are you well enough to come on +Sunday? We shall be coming down from Charing Cross on Sunday morning, +and I shall be going up again at nine on Monday morning. + +It amuses me to find that you don't see your way with a certain "Mutual +Friend" of ours. I have a horrible suspicion that you may begin to be +fearfully knowing at somewhere about No. 12 or 13. But you shan't if I +can help it. + +Your note delighted me because it dwelt upon the places in the number +that _I_ dwell on. Not that that is anything new in your case, but it is +always new to me in the pleasure I derive from it, which is truly +inexpressible. + + Ever cordially yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Procter.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Wednesday, Feb. 15th, 1865._ + +MY DEAR MRS. PROCTER, + +Of course I will do it, and of course I will do it for the love of you +and Procter. You can give me my brief, and we can speak about its +details. Once again, of course I will do it, and with all my heart. + +I have registered a vow (in which there is not the least merit, for I +couldn't help it) that when I am, as I am now, very hard at work upon a +book, I never will dine out more than one day in a week. Why didn't you +ask me for the Wednesday, before I stood engaged to Lady Molesworth for +the Tuesday? + +It is so delightful to me to sit by your side anywhere and be brightened +up, that I lay a handsome sacrifice upon the altar of "Our Mutual +Friend" in writing this note, very much against my will. But for as many +years as can be made consistent with my present juvenility, I always +have given my work the first place in my life, and what can I do now at +35!--or at least at the two figures, never mind their order. + +I send my love to Procter, hoping you may appropriate a little of it by +the way. + + Affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Wednesday, March 1st, 1865._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +I have been laid up here with a frost-bitten foot (from hard walking in +the snow), or you would have heard from me sooner. + +My reply to Professor Agassiz is short, but conclusive. Daily seeing +improper uses made of confidential letters in the addressing of them to +a public audience that have no business with them, I made not long ago a +great fire in my field at Gad's Hill, and burnt every letter I +possessed. And now I always destroy every letter I receive not on +absolute business, and my mind is so far at ease. Poor dear Felton's +letters went up into the air with the rest, or his highly distinguished +representative should have had them most willingly. + +We never fail to drink old P.'s health on his birthday, or to make him +the subject of a thousand loving remembrances. With best love to Mrs. +Macready and Katie, + + Ever, my dearest Macready, + Your most affectionate Friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + 16, SOMER'S PLACE, HYDE PARK, + _Saturday Night, April 22nd, 1865._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +A thousand thanks for your kind letter, most heartily welcome. + +My frost-bitten foot, after causing me great inconvenience and much +pain, has begun to conduct itself amiably. I can now again walk my ten +miles in the morning without inconvenience, but am absurdly obliged to +sit shoeless all the evening--a very slight penalty, as I detest going +out to dinner (which killed the original old Parr by-the-bye). + +I am working like a dragon at my book, and am a terror to the household, +likewise to all the organs and brass bands in this quarter. Gad's Hill +is being gorgeously painted, and we are here until the 1st of June. I +wish I might hope you would be there any time this summer; I really +_have_ made the place comfortable and pretty by this time. + +It is delightful to us to hear such good news of Butty. She made so +deep an impression on Fechter that he always asks me what Ceylon has +done for her, and always beams when I tell him how thoroughly well it +has made her. As to _you_, you are the youngest man (worth mentioning as +a thorough man) that I know. Oh, let me be as young when I am as----did +you think I was going to write "old?" No, sir--withdrawn from the wear +and tear of busy life is my expression. + +Poole still holds out at Kentish Town, and says he is dying of solitude. +His memory is astoundingly good. I see him about once in two or three +months, and in the meantime he makes notes of questions to ask me when I +come. Having fallen in arrear of the time, these generally refer to +unknown words he has encountered in the newspapers. His three last (he +always reads them with tremendous difficulty through an enormous +magnifying-glass) were as follows: + + 1. What's croquet? + 2. What's an Albert chain? + 3. Let me know the state of mind of the Queen. + +When I had delivered a neat exposition on these heads, he turned back to +his memoranda, and came to something that the utmost power of the +enormous magnifying-glass couldn't render legible. After a quarter of an +hour or so, he said: "O yes, I know." And then rose and clasped his +hands above his head, and said: "Thank God, I am not a dram-drinker." + +Do think of coming to Gad's in the summer; and do give my love to Mrs. +Macready, and tell her I know she can make you come if she will. Mary +and Georgy send best and dearest loves to her, to you, and to Katie, and +to baby. Johnny we suppose to be climbing the tree of knowledge +elsewhere. + + My dearest Macready, ever yours most affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Monday, June 12th, 1865._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + + [_So far in his own writing._] + +Many thanks for your kind words of remembrance.[15] This is not all in +my own hand, because I am too much shaken to write many notes. Not by +the beating and dragging of the carriage in which I was--it did not go +over, but was caught on the turn, among the ruins of the bridge--but by +the work afterwards to get out the dying and dead, which was terrible. + + [_The rest in his own writing_.] + + Ever your affectionate Friend. + +P.S.--My love to Mrs. Macready. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Thomas Mitton.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Tuesday, June 13th, 1865._ + +MY DEAR MITTON, + +I should have written to you yesterday or the day before, if I had been +quite up to writing. + +I was in the only carriage that did not go over into the stream. It was +caught upon the turn by some of the ruin of the bridge, and hung +suspended and balanced in an apparently impossible manner. Two ladies +were my fellow-passengers, an old one and a young one. This is exactly +what passed. You may judge from it the precise length of the suspense: +Suddenly we were off the rail, and beating the ground as the car of a +half-emptied balloon might. The old lady cried out, "My God!" and the +young one screamed. I caught hold of them both (the old lady sat +opposite and the young one on my left), and said: "We can't help +ourselves, but we can be quiet and composed. Pray don't cry out." The +old lady immediately answered: "Thank you. Rely upon me. Upon my soul I +will be quiet." We were then all tilted down together in a corner of the +carriage, and stopped. I said to them thereupon: "You may be sure +nothing worse can happen. Our danger _must_ be over. Will you remain +here without stirring, while I get out of the window?" They both +answered quite collectedly, "Yes," and I got out without the least +notion what had happened. Fortunately I got out with great caution and +stood upon the step. Looking down I saw the bridge gone, and nothing +below me but the line of rail. Some people in the two other compartments +were madly trying to plunge out at window, and had no idea that there +was an open swampy field fifteen feet down below them, and nothing else! +The two guards (one with his face cut) were running up and down on the +down side of the bridge (which was not torn up) quite wildly. I called +out to them: "Look at me. Do stop an instant and look at me, and tell me +whether you don't know me." One of them answered: "We know you very +well, Mr. Dickens." "Then," I said, "my good fellow, for God's sake give +me your key, and send one of those labourers here, and I'll empty this +carriage." We did it quite safely, by means of a plank or two, and when +it was done I saw all the rest of the train, except the two baggage +vans, down in the stream. I got into the carriage again for my brandy +flask, took off my travelling hat for a basin, climbed down the +brickwork, and filled my hat with water. + +Suddenly I came upon a staggering man covered with blood (I think he +must have been flung clean out of his carriage), with such a frightful +cut across the skull that I couldn't bear to look at him. I poured some +water over his face and gave him some to drink, then gave him some +brandy, and laid him down on the grass, and he said, "I am gone," and +died afterwards. Then I stumbled over a lady lying on her back against a +little pollard-tree, with the blood streaming over her face (which was +lead colour) in a number of distinct little streams from the head. I +asked her if she could swallow a little brandy and she just nodded, and +I gave her some and left her for somebody else. The next time I passed +her she was dead. Then a man, examined at the inquest yesterday (who +evidently had not the least remembrance of what really passed), came +running up to me and implored me to help him find his wife, who was +afterwards found dead. No imagination can conceive the ruin of the +carriages, or the extraordinary weights under which the people were +lying, or the complications into which they were twisted up among iron +and wood, and mud and water. + +I don't want to be examined at the inquest, and I don't want to write +about it. I could do no good either way, and I could only seem to speak +about myself, which, of course, I would rather not do. I am keeping very +quiet here. I have a--I don't know what to call it--constitutional (I +suppose) presence of mind, and was not in the least fluttered at the +time. I instantly remembered that I had the MS. of a number with me, and +clambered back into the carriage for it. But in writing these scanty +words of recollection I feel the shake and am obliged to stop. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Walter Jones.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Saturday, June 17th, 1865_.[16] + +SIR, + +I beg you to assure the Committee of the Newsvendors' Benevolent and +Provident Institution, that I have been deeply affected by their special +remembrance of me in my late escape from death or mutilation, and that I +thank them with my whole heart. + + Faithfully yours and theirs. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Hulkes.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Sunday, June 18th, 1865._ + +MY DEAR MRS. HULKES, + +I return the _Examiner_ with many thanks. The account is true, except +that I _had_ brandy. By an extraordinary chance I had a bottle and a +half with me. I slung the half-bottle round my neck, and carried my hat +full of water in my hands. But I can understand the describer (whoever +he is) making the mistake in perfect good faith, and supposing that I +called for brandy, when I really called to the others who were helping: +"I have brandy here." The Mr. Dickenson mentioned had changed places +with a Frenchman, who did not like the window down, a few minutes before +the accident. The Frenchman was killed, and a labourer and I got Mr. +Dickenson out of a most extraordinary heap of dark ruins, in which he +was jammed upside down. He was bleeding at the eyes, ears, nose, and +mouth; but he didn't seem to know that afterwards, and of course I +didn't tell him. In the moment of going over the viaduct the whole of +his pockets were shaken empty! He had no watch, no chain, no money, no +pocket-book, no handkerchief, when we got him out. He had been choking +a quarter of an hour when I heard him groaning. If I had not had the +brandy to give him at the moment, I think he would have been done for. +As it was, I brought him up to London in the carriage with me, and +couldn't make him believe he was hurt. He was the first person whom the +brandy saved. As I ran back to the carriage for the whole full bottle, I +saw the first two people I had helped lying dead. A bit of shade from +the hot sun, into which we got the unhurt ladies, soon had as many dead +in it as living. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Arthur Ryland.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Wednesday, June 21st, 1865._ + +MY DEAR MR. RYLAND, + +I need not assure you that I regard the unanimous desire of the Town +Council Committee as a great honour, and that I feel the strongest +interest in the occasion, and the strongest wish to associate myself +with it. + +But, after careful consideration, I most unwillingly come to the +conclusion that I must decline. At the time in question I shall, please +God, either have just finished, or be just finishing, my present book. +Country rest and reflection will then be invaluable to me, before +casting about for Christmas. I am a little shaken in my nervous system +by the terrible and affecting incidents of the late railway accident, +from which I bodily escaped. I am withdrawing myself from engagements of +all kinds, in order that I may pursue my story with the comfortable +sense of being perfectly free while it is a-doing, and when it is done. +The consciousness of having made this engagement would, if I were to +make it, render such sense incomplete, and so open the way to others. +This is the real state of the case, and the whole reason for my +declining. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Lehmann.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Tuesday, June 29th, 1865._ + +DEAR MRS. LEHMANN, + +Come (with self and partner) on either of the days you name, and you +will be heartily welcomed by the humble youth who now addresses you, and +will then cast himself at your feet. + +I am quite right again, I thank God, and have even got my voice back; I +most unaccountably brought somebody else's out of that terrible scene. +The directors have sent me a Resolution of Thanks for assistance to the +unhappy passengers. + + With kind regards to Lehmann, ever yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Percy Fitzgerald.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Friday, July 7th, 1865._ + +MY DEAR FITZGERALD, + +I shall be delighted to see you at Gad's Hill on Sunday, and I hope you +will bring a bag with you and will not think of returning to London at +night. + +We are a small party just now, for my daughter Mary has been decoyed to +Andover for the election week, in the Conservative interest; think of my +feelings as a Radical parent! The wrong-headed member and his wife are +the friends with whom she hunts, and she helps to receive (and +_de_ceive) the voters, which is very awful! + +But in the week after next we shall be in great croquet force. I shall +hope to persuade you to come back to us then for a few days, and we will +try to make you some amends for a dull Sunday. Turn it over in your mind +and try to manage it. + + Sincerely yours ever. + + +[Sidenote: Professor Owen, F.R.S.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Wednesday, July 12th, 1865._ + +MY DEAR OWEN, + +Studying the gorilla last night for the twentieth time, it suddenly came +into my head that I had never thanked you for that admirable treatise. +This is to bear witness to my blushes and repentance. If you knew how +much interest it has awakened in me, and how often it has set me +a-thinking, you would consider me a more thankless beast than any +gorilla that ever lived. But happily you do _not_ know, and I am not +going to tell you. + + Believe me, ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The Earl Russell.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Wednesday, Aug. 16th, 1865._ + +MY DEAR LORD RUSSELL, + +Mr. Dallas, who is a candidate for the Scotch professional chair left +vacant by Aytoun's death, has asked me if I would object to introduce to +you the first volume of a book he has in the press with my publishers, +on "The Gay Science of Art and Criticism." I have replied I would _not_ +object, as I have read as many of the sheets as I could get, with +extreme pleasure, and as I know you will find it a very winning and +brilliant piece of writing. Therefore he will send the proofs of the +volume to you as soon as he can get them from the printer (at about the +end of this week I take it), and if you read them you will not be hard +upon me for bearing the responsibility of his doing so, I feel assured. + +I suppose Mr. Dallas to have some impression that his pleasing you with +his book might advance his Scottish suit. But all I know is, that he is +a gentleman of great attainments and erudition, much distinguished as +the writer of the best critical literary pieces in _The Times_, and +thoroughly versed in the subjects which Professor Aytoun represented +officially. + +I beg to send my regard to Lady Russell and all the house, and am ever, +my dear Lord Russell, + + Your faithful and obliged. + +P.S.--I am happy to report that my sailor-boy's captain, relinquishing +his ship on sick leave, departs from the mere form of certificate given +to all the rest, and adds that his obedience to orders is remarkable, +and that he is a highly intelligent and promising young officer. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Marcus Stone.] + + HÔTEL DU HELDER, PARIS, _Wednesday, Sept. 13th, 1865._ + +MY DEAR MARCUS, + +I leave here to-morrow, and propose going to the office by tidal train +_next Saturday evening_. Through the whole of next week, on and off, I +shall be at the office; when not there, at Gad's; but much oftener at +the office. The sooner I can know about the subjects you take for +illustration the better, as I can then fill the list of illustrations to +the second volume for the printer, and enable him to make up his last +sheet. Necessarily that list is now left blank, as I cannot give him the +titles of the subjects, not knowing them myself. + +It has been fearfully hot on this side, but is something cooler. + + Ever affectionately yours. + +P.S.--On glancing over this note, I find it very like the king's +love-letter in "Ruy Blas." "Madam, there is a high wind. I have shot six +wolves." + +I think the frontispiece to the second volume should be the dustyard +with the three mounds, and Mr. Boffin digging up the Dutch bottle, and +Venus restraining Wegg's ardour to get at him. Or Mr. Boffin might be +coming down with the bottle, and Venus might be dragging Wegg out of the +way as described. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Percy Fitzgerald.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Saturday, Sept. 23rd, 1865._ + +MY DEAR FITZGERALD, + +I cannot thank you too much for Sultan. He is a noble fellow, has fallen +into the ways of the family with a grace and dignity that denote the +gentleman, and came down to the railway a day or two since to welcome me +home (it was our first meeting), with a profound absence of interest in +my individual opinion of him which captivated me completely. I am going +home to-day to take him about the country, and improve his acquaintance. +You will find a perfect understanding between us, I hope, when you next +come to Gad's Hill. (He has only swallowed Bouncer once, and +temporarily.) + +Your hint that you were getting on with your story and liked it was more +than golden intelligence to me in foreign parts. The intensity of the +heat, both in Paris and the provinces, was such that I found nothing +else so refreshing in the course of my rambles. + +With many more thanks for the dog than my sheet of paper would hold, + + Believe me, ever very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Procter.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sept. 26th, 1865._ + +MY DEAR MRS. PROCTER, + +I have written the little introduction, and have sent it to my printer, +in order that you may read it without trouble. But if you would like to +keep the few pages of MS., of course they are yours. + +It is brief, and I have aimed at perfect simplicity, and an avoidance of +all that your beloved Adelaide would have wished avoided. Do not expect +too much from it. If there should be anything wrong in fact, or anything +that you would like changed for any reason, _of course you will tell me +so_, and of course you will not deem it possible that you can trouble me +by making any such request most freely. + +You will probably receive the proof either on Friday or Saturday. Don't +write to me until you have read it. In the meantime I send you back the +two books, with the two letters in the bound one. + + With love to Procter, + Ever your affectionate Friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edmund Yates.] + + HÔTEL DU HELDER, PARIS, _Wednesday, Sept. 30th, 1865._ + +MY DEAR EDMUND, + +I leave here to-morrow and purpose being at the office on Saturday +night; all next week I shall be there, off and on--"off" meaning Gad's +Hill; the office will be my last address. The heat has been excessive on +this side of the Channel, and I got a slight sunstroke last Thursday, +and was obliged to be doctored and put to bed for a day; but, thank God, +I am all right again. The man who sells the _tisane_ on the Boulevards +can't keep the flies out of his glasses, and as he wears them on his red +velvet bands, the flies work themselves into the ends of the tumblers, +trying to get through and tickle the man. If fly life were long enough, +I think they would at last. Three paving blouses came to work at the +corner of this street last Monday, pulled up a bit of road, sat down to +look at it, and fell asleep. On Tuesday one of the blouses spat on his +hands and seemed to be going to begin, but didn't. The other two have +shown no sign of life whatever. This morning the industrious one ate a +loaf. You may rely upon this as the latest news from the French capital. + + Faithfully ever. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.] + + 26, WELLINGTON STREET, _Monday, Nov. 6th, 1865._ + +MY DEAR KENT, + +_No_, I _won't_ write in this book, because I have sent another to the +binder's for you. + +I have been unwell with a relaxed throat, or I should have written to +you sooner to thank you for your dedication, to assure you that it +heartily, most heartily, gratifies me, as the sincere tribute of a true +and generous heart, and to tell you that I have been charmed with your +book itself. I am proud of having given a name to anything so +picturesque, so sympathetic and spirited. + +I hope and believe the "Doctor" is nothing but a good 'un. He has +perfectly astonished Forster, who writes: "Neither good, gooder, nor +goodest, but super-excellent; all through there is such a relish of you +at your best, as I could not have believed in, after a long story." + +I shall be charmed to see you to-night. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: M. de Cerjat.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _November 13th, 1865._ + + EXTRACT. + +MY DEAR CERJAT, + +Having achieved my book and my Christmas number, and having shaken +myself after two years' work, I send you my annual greeting. How are +you? Asthmatic, I know you will reply; but as my poor father (who was +asthmatic, too, and the jolliest of men) used philosophically to say, +"one must have something wrong, I suppose, and I like to know what it +is." + +In England we are groaning under the brigandage of the butcher, which is +being carried to that height that I think I foresee resistance on the +part of the middle-class, and some combination in perspective for +abolishing the middleman, whensoever he turns up (which is everywhere) +between producer and consumer. The cattle plague is the butcher's +stalking-horse, and it is unquestionably worse than it was; but seeing +that the great majority of creatures lost or destroyed have been cows, +and likewise that the rise in butchers' meat bears no reasonable +proportion to the market prices of the beasts, one comes to the +conclusion that the public is done. The commission has ended very weakly +and ineffectually, as such things in England rather frequently do; and +everybody writes to _The Times_, and nobody does anything else. + +If the Americans don't embroil us in a war before long it will not be +their fault. What with their swagger and bombast, what with their claims +for indemnification, what with Ireland and Fenianism, and what with +Canada, I have strong apprehensions. With a settled animosity towards +the French usurper, I believe him to have always been sound in his +desire to divide the States against themselves, and that we were +unsound and wrong in "letting I dare not wait upon I would." The Jamaica +insurrection is another hopeful piece of business. That +platform-sympathy with the black--or the native, or the devil--afar off, +and that platform indifference to our own countrymen at enormous odds in +the midst of bloodshed and savagery, makes me stark wild. Only the other +day, here was a meeting of jawbones of asses at Manchester, to censure +the Jamaica Governor for his manner of putting down the insurrection! So +we are badgered about New Zealanders and Hottentots, as if they were +identical with men in clean shirts at Camberwell, and were to be bound +by pen and ink accordingly. So Exeter Hall holds us in mortal submission +to missionaries, who (Livingstone always excepted) are perfect +nuisances, and leave every place worse than they found it. + +Of all the many evidences that are visible of our being ill-governed, no +one is so remarkable to me as our ignorance of what is going on under +our Government. What will future generations think of that enormous +Indian Mutiny being ripened without suspicion, until whole regiments +arose and killed their officers? A week ago, red tape, half-bouncing and +half pooh-poohing what it bounced at, would have scouted the idea of a +Dublin jail not being able to hold a political prisoner. But for the +blacks in Jamaica being over-impatient and before their time, the whites +might have been exterminated, without a previous hint or suspicion that +there was anything amiss. _Laissez aller_, and Britons never, never, +never!---- + +Meantime, if your honour were in London, you would see a great +embankment rising high and dry out of the Thames on the Middlesex shore, +from Westminster Bridge to Blackfriars. A really fine work, and really +getting on. Moreover, a great system of drainage. Another really fine +work, and likewise really getting on. Lastly, a muddle of railways in +all directions possible and impossible, with no general public scheme, +no general public supervision, enormous waste of money, no fixable +responsibility, no accountability but under Lord Campbell's Act. I think +of that accident in which I was preserved. Before the most furious and +notable train in the four-and-twenty hours, the head of a gang of +workmen takes up the rails. That train changes its time every day as the +tide changes, and that head workman is not provided by the railway +company with any clock or watch! Lord Shaftesbury wrote to me to ask me +what I thought of an obligation on railway companies to put strong walls +to all bridges and viaducts. I told him, of course, that the force of +such a shock would carry away anything that any company could set up, +and I added: "Ask the minister what _he_ thinks about the votes of the +railway interest in the House of Commons, and about his being afraid to +lay a finger on it with an eye to his majority." + +I seem to be grumbling, but I am in the best of humours. All goes well +with me and mine, thank God. + +Last night my gardener came upon a man in the garden and fired. The man +returned the compliment by kicking him in the groin and causing him +great pain. I set off, with a great mastiff-bloodhound I have, in +pursuit. Couldn't find the evil-doer, but had the greatest difficulty in +preventing the dog from tearing two policemen down. They were coming +towards us with professional mystery, and he was in the air on his way +to the throat of an eminently respectable constable when I caught him. + +My daughter Mary and her aunt Georgina send kindest regard and +remembrance. Katey and her husband are going to try London this winter, +but I rather doubt (for they are both delicate) their being able to +weather it out. It has been blowing here tremendously for a fortnight, +but to-day is like a spring day, and plenty of roses are growing over +the labourers' cottages. The _Great Eastern_ lies at her moorings beyond +the window where I write these words; looks very dull and unpromising. A +dark column of smoke from Chatham Dockyard, where the iron shipbuilding +is in progress, has a greater significance in it, I fancy. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Tuesday, Nov. 14th, 1865._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +As you want to know my views of the Sphinx, here they are. But I have +only seen it once; and it is so extraordinarily well done, that it ought +to be observed closely several times. + +Anyone who attentively notices the flower trick will see that the two +little high tables hung with drapery cover each a trap. Each of those +tables, during that trick, hides a confederate, who changes the paper +cone twice. When the cone has been changed as often as is required, the +trap is closed and the table can be moved. + +When the curtain is removed for the performance of the Sphinx trick, +there is a covered, that is, draped table on the stage, which is never +seen before or afterwards. In front of the middle of it, and between it +and the audience, stands one of those little draped tables covering a +trap; this is a third trap in the centre of the stage. The box for the +head is then upon IT, and the conjuror takes it off and shows it. The +man whose head is afterwards shown in that box is, I conceive, in the +table; that is to say, is lying on his chest in the thickness of the +table, in an extremely constrained attitude. To get him into the table, +and to enable him to use the trap in the table through which his head +comes into the box, the two hands of a confederate are necessary. That +confederate comes up a trap, and stands in the space afforded by the +interval below the stage and the height of the little draped table! his +back is towards the audience. The moment he has assisted the hidden man +sufficiently, he closes the trap, and the conjuror then immediately +removes the little draped table, and also the drapery of the larger +table; when he places the box on the last-named table _with the slide +on_ for the head to come into it, he stands with his back to the +audience and his face to the box, and masks the box considerably to +facilitate the insertion of the head. As soon as he knows the head to be +in its place, he undraws the slide. When the verses have been spoken and +the trick is done, he loses no time in replacing the slide. The curtain +is then immediately dropped, because the man cannot otherwise be got out +of the table, and has no doubt had quite enough of it. With kindest +regards to all at Penton, + + Ever your most affectionate. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Now Captain E. Newton Dickenson. + +[15] This was a circular note which he sent in answer to innumerable +letters of enquiry, after the accident. + +[16] This letter was written in reply to the Committee's congratulations +upon Mr. Dickens's escape from the accident to the tidal train from +Folkestone, at Staplehurst, just previous to this date. + + + + +1866. + +NARRATIVE. + + +The furnished house hired by Charles Dickens in the spring of this year +was in Southwick Place, Hyde Park. + +Having entered into negotiations with the Messrs. Chappell for a series +of readings to be given in London, in the English provinces, in Scotland +and Ireland, Charles Dickens had no leisure for more than his usual +editorial work for "All the Year Round." He contributed four parts to +the Christmas number, which was entitled, "Mugby Junction." + +For the future all his English readings were given in connection with +the Messrs. Chappell, and never in all his career had he more +satisfactory or more pleasant business relations than those connected +with these gentlemen. Moreover, out of this connection sprang a sincere +friendship on both sides. + +Mr. Dolby is so constantly mentioned in future letters, that they +themselves will tell of the cordial companionship which existed between +Charles Dickens and this able and most obliging "manager." + +The letter to "Lily" was in answer to a child's letter from Miss Lily +Benzon, inviting him to a birthday party. + +The play alluded to in the letter to M. Fechter was called "A Long +Strike," and was performed at the Lyceum Theatre. + +The "Sultan" mentioned in the letter to Mr. Fitzgerald was a noble Irish +bloodhound, presented by this gentleman to Charles Dickens. The story of +the dog's death is told in a letter to M. de Cerjat, which we give in +the following year. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Mary Boyle.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Saturday, Jan. 6th, 1866._ + +MY DEAR MARY, + +Feeling pretty certain that I shall never answer your letter unless I +answer it at once (I got it this morning), here goes! + +I did not dramatise "The Master of Ravenswood," though I did a good deal +towards and about the piece, having an earnest desire to put Scott, for +once, upon the stage in his own gallant manner. It is _an enormous +success_, and increases in attraction nightly. I have never seen the +people in all parts of the house so leaning forward, in lines sloping +towards the stage, earnestly and intently attractive, as while the story +gradually unfolds itself. But the astonishing circumstance of all is, +that Miss Leclercq (never thought of for Lucy till all other Lucies had +failed) is marvellously good, highly pathetic, and almost unrecognisable +in person! What note it touches in her, always dumb until now, I do not +pretend to say, but there is no one on the stage who could play the +contract scene better, or more simply and naturally, and I find it +impossible to see it without crying! Almost everyone plays well, the +whole is exceedingly picturesque, and there is scarcely a movement +throughout, or a look, that is not indicated by Scott. So you get a life +romance with beautiful illustrations, and I do not expect ever again to +see a book take up its bed and walk in like manner. + +I am charmed to learn that you have had a freeze out of my ghost story. +It rather did give me a shiver up the back in the writing. "Dr. +Marigold" has just now accomplished his two hundred thousand. My only +other news about myself is that I am doubtful whether to read or not in +London this season. If I decide to do it at all, I shall probably do it +on a large scale. + +Many happy years to you, my dear Mary. So prays + + Your ever affectionate + Jo. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Thursday, Jan. 18th, 1866._ + +MY DEAR KENT, + +I cannot tell you how grieved we all are here to know that you are +suffering again. Your patient tone, however, and the hopefulness and +forbearance of Ferguson's course, gives us some reassurance. Apropos of +which latter reference I dined with Ferguson at the Lord Mayor's, last +Tuesday, and had a grimly distracted impulse upon me to defy the +toast-master and rush into a speech about him and his noble art, when I +sat pining under the imbecility of constitutional and corporational +idiots. I did seize him for a moment by the hair of his head (in +proposing the Lady Mayoress), and derived some faint consolation from +the company's response to the reference. O! no man will ever know under +what provocation to contradiction and a savage yell of repudiation I +suffered at the hands of ----, feebly complacent in the uniform of +Madame Tussaud's own military waxers, and almost the worst speaker I +ever heard in my life! Mary and Georgina, sitting on either side of me, +urged me to "look pleasant." I replied in expressions not to be +repeated. Shea (the judge) was just as good and graceful, as he (the +member) was bad and gawky. + +Bulwer's "Lost Tales of Miletus" is a most noble book! He is an +extraordinary fellow, and fills me with admiration and wonder. + +It is of no use writing to you about yourself, my dear Kent, because you +are likely to be tired of that constant companion, and so I have gone +scratching (with an exceedingly bad pen) about and about you. But I come +back to you to let you know that the reputation of this house as a +convalescent hospital stands (like the house itself) very high, and that +testimonials can be produced from credible persons who have recovered +health and spirits here swiftly. Try us, only try us, and we are content +to stake the reputation of the establishment on the result. + + Ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Percy Fitzgerald.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Friday, Feb. 2nd, 1866._ + +MY DEAR FITZGERALD, + +I ought to have written to you days and days ago, to thank you for your +charming book on Charles Lamb, to tell you with what interest and +pleasure I read it as soon as it came here, and to add that I was +honestly affected (far more so than your modesty will readily believe) +by your intimate knowledge of those touches of mine concerning +childhood. + +Let me tell you now that I have not in the least cooled, after all, +either as to the graceful sympathetic book, or as to the part in it with +which I am honoured. It has become a matter of real feeling with me, and +I postponed its expression because I couldn't satisfactorily get it out +of myself, and at last I came to the conclusion that it must be left in. + + My dear Fitzgerald, faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," _Friday, Feb. 9th, 1866._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +I found your letter here when I came back on Wednesday evening, and was +extremely glad to get it. + +Frank Beard wrote me word that with such a pulse as I described, an +examination of the heart was absolutely necessary, and that I had better +make an appointment with him alone for the purpose. This I did. I was +not at all disconcerted, for I knew well beforehand that the effect +could not possibly be without that one cause at the bottom of it. There +seems to be degeneration of some functions of the heart. It does not +contract as it should. So I have got a prescription of iron, quinine, +and digitalis, to set it a-going, and send the blood more quickly +through the system. If it should not seem to succeed on a reasonable +trial, I will then propose a consultation with someone else. Of course I +am not so foolish as to suppose that all my work can have been achieved +without _some_ penalty, and I have noticed for some time a decided +change in my buoyancy and hopefulness--in other words, in my usual +"tone." + +I shall wait to see Beard again on Monday, and shall most probably come +down that day. If I should not, I will telegraph after seeing him. Best +love to Mamie. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Brookfield.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Tuesday, Feb. 20th, 1866._ + +MY DEAR MRS. BROOKFIELD, + +Having gone through your MS. (which I should have done sooner, but that +I have not been very well), I write these few following words about it. +Firstly, with a limited reference to its unsuitability to these pages. +Secondly, with a more enlarged reference to the merits of the story +itself. + +If you will take any part of it and cut it up (in fancy) into the small +portions into which it would have to be divided here for only a month's +supply, you will (I think) at once discover the impossibility of +publishing it in weekly parts. The scheme of the chapters, the manner of +introducing the people, the progress of the interest, the places in +which the principal places fall, are all hopelessly against it. It would +seem as though the story were never coming, and hardly ever moving. +There must be a special design to overcome that specially trying mode of +publication, and I cannot better express the difficulty and labour of it +than by asking you to turn over any two weekly numbers of "A Tale of Two +Cities," or "Great Expectations," or Bulwer's story, or Wilkie +Collins's, or Reade's, or "At the Bar," and notice how patiently and +expressly the thing has to be planned for presentation in these +fragments, and yet for afterwards fusing together as an uninterrupted +whole. + +Of the story itself I honestly say that I think highly. The style is +particularly easy and agreeable, infinitely above ordinary writing, and +sometimes reminds me of Mrs. Inchbald at her best. The characters are +remarkably well observed, and with a rare mixture of delicacy and +truthfulness. I observe this particularly in the brother and sister, and +in Mrs. Neville. But it strikes me that you constantly hurry your +narrative (and yet without getting on) _by telling it, in a sort of +impetuous breathless way, in your own person, when the people should +tell it and act it for themselves_. My notion always is, that when I +have made the people to play out the play, it is, as it were, their +business to do it, and not mine. Then, unless you really have led up to +a great situation like Basil's death, you are bound in art to make more +of it. Such a scene should form a chapter of itself. Impressed upon the +reader's memory, it would go far to make the fortune of the book. +Suppose yourself telling that affecting incident in a letter to a +friend. Wouldn't you describe how you went through the life and stir of +the streets and roads to the sick-room? Wouldn't you say what kind of +room it was, what time of day it was, whether it was sunlight, +starlight, or moonlight? Wouldn't you have a strong impression on your +mind of how you were received, when you first met the look of the dying +man, what strange contrasts were about you and struck you? I don't want +you, in a novel, to present _yourself_ to tell such things, but I want +the things to be there. You make no more of the situation than the index +might, or a descriptive playbill might in giving a summary of the +tragedy under representation. + +As a mere piece of mechanical workmanship, I think all your chapters +should be shorter; that is to say, that they should be subdivided. +Also, when you change from narrative to dialogue, or _vice versâ_, you +should make the transition more carefully. Also, taking the pains to sit +down and recall the principal landmarks in your story, you should then +make them far more elaborate and conspicuous than the rest. Even with +these changes I do not believe that the story would attract the +attention due to it, if it were published even in such monthly portions +as the space of "Fraser" would admit of. Even so brightened, it would +not, to the best of my judgment, express itself piecemeal. It seems to +me to be so constituted as to require to be read "off the reel." As a +book in two volumes I think it would have good claims to success, and +good chances of obtaining success. But I suppose the polishing I have +hinted at (not a meretricious adornment, but positively necessary to +good work and good art) to have been first thoroughly administered. + +Now don't hate me if you can help it. I can afford to be hated by some +people, but I am not rich enough to put you in possession of that +luxury. + + Ever faithfully yours. + +P.S.--The MS. shall be delivered at your house to-morrow. And your +petitioner again prays not to be, etc. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + ADELPHI, LIVERPOOL, _Friday, April 13th, 1866._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +The reception at Manchester last night was quite a magnificent sight; +the whole of the immense audience standing up and cheering. I thought +them a little slow with "Marigold," but believe it was only the +attention necessary in so vast a place. They gave a splendid burst at +the end. And after "Nickleby" (which went to perfection), they set up +such a call, that I was obliged to go in again. The unfortunate gasman, +a very steady fellow, got a fall off a ladder and sprained his leg. He +was put to bed in a public opposite, and was left there, poor man. + +This is the first very fine day we have had. I have taken advantage of +it by crossing to Birkenhead and getting some air upon the water. It was +fresh and beautiful. + +I send my best love to Mamie, and hope she is better. I am, of course, +tired (the pull of "Marigold" upon one's energy, in the Free Trade Hall, +was great); but I stick to my tonic, and feel, all things considered, in +very good tone. The room here (I mean the hall) being my special +favourite and extraordinarily easy, is _almost_ a rest! + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + ADELPHI, LIVERPOOL, _Saturday, April 14th, 1866._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +The police reported officially that three thousand people were turned +away from the hall last night. I doubt if they were so numerous as that, +but they carried in the outer doors and pitched into Dolby with great +vigour. I need not add that every corner of the place was crammed. They +were a very fine audience, and took enthusiastically every point in +"Copperfield" and the "Trial." They made the reading a quarter of an +hour longer than usual. One man advertised in the morning paper that he +would give thirty shillings (double) for three stalls, but nobody would +sell, and he didn't get in. + +Except that I cannot sleep, I really think myself in much better +training than I had anticipated. A dozen oysters and a little champagne +between the parts every night, constitute the best restorative I have +ever yet tried. John appears low, but I don't know why. A letter comes +for him daily; the hand is female; whether Smudger's, or a nearer one +still and a dearer one, I don't know. So it may or may not be the cause +of his gloom. + +"Miss Emily" of Preston is married to a rich cotton lord, rides in open +carriages in gorgeous array, and is altogether splendid. With this +effective piece of news I close. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + GLASGOW, _April 17th, 1866._ + +We arrived here at ten yesterday evening. I don't think the journey +shook me at all. Dolby provided a superb cold collation and "the best of +drinks," and we dined in the carriage, and I made him laugh all the way. + +The let here is very large. Every precaution taken to prevent my +platform from being captured as it was last time; but I don't feel at +all sure that it will not be stormed at one of the two readings. Wills +is to do the genteel to-night at the stalls, and Dolby is to stem the +shilling tide _if_ he can. The poor gasman cannot come on, and we have +got a new one here who is to go to Edinburgh with us. Of Edinburgh we +know nothing, but as its first night has always been shady, I suppose it +will stick to its antecedents. + +I like to hear about Harness and his freshness. The let for the next +reading at St. James's is "going," they report, "admirably." Lady +Russell asked me to dinner to-morrow, and I have written her a note +to-day. The rest has certainly done me good. I slept thoroughly well +last night, and feel fresh. What to-night's work, and every night's +work this week, may do contrariwise, remains to be seen. + +I hope Harry's knee may be in the way of mending, from what you relate +of it. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + WATERLOO HOTEL, EDINBURGH, _Wednesday, April 18th, 1866._ + +We had a tremendous house again last night at Glasgow; and turned away +great numbers. Not only that, but they were a most brilliant and +delicate audience, and took "Marigold" with a fine sense and quickness +not to be surpassed. The shillings pitched into Dolby again, and one man +writes a sensible letter in one of the papers this morning, showing to +_my_ satisfaction (?) that they really had, through the local agent, +some cause of complaint. Nevertheless, the shilling tickets are sold for +to-morrow, and it seems to be out of the question to take any money at +the doors, the call for all parts is so enormous. The thundering of +applause last night was quite staggering, and my people checked off my +reception by the minute hand of a watch, and stared at one another, +thinking I should never begin. I keep quite well, have happily taken to +sleeping these last three nights; and feel, all things considered, very +little conscious of fatigue. I cannot reconcile my town medicine with +the hours and journeys of reading life, and have therefore given it up +for the time. But for the moment, I think I am better without it. What +we are doing here I have not yet heard. I write at half-past one, and we +have been little more than an hour in the house. But I am quite prepared +for the inevitable this first Edinburgh night. Endeavours have been +made (from Glasgow yesterday) to telegraph the exact facts out of our +local agent; but hydraulic pressure wouldn't have squeezed a straight +answer out of him. "Friday and Saturday doing very well, Wednesday not +so good." This was all electricity could discover. + +I am going to write a line this post to Katie, from whom I have a note. +I hope Harry's leg will now step out in the manner of the famous cork +leg in the song. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + EDINBURGH, _Thursday, April 19th, 1866._ + +The house was more than twice better than any first night here +previously. They were, as usual here, remarkably intelligent, and the +reading went _brilliantly_. I have not sent up any newspapers, as they +are generally so poorly written, that you may know beforehand all the +commonplaces that they will write. But _The Scotsman_ has so pretty an +article this morning, and (so far as I know) so true a one, that I will +try to post it to you, either from here or Glasgow. John and Dolby went +over early, and Wills and I follow them at half-past eleven. It is cold +and wet here. We have laid half-crown bets with Dolby, that he will be +assaulted to-night at Glasgow. He has a surprising knowledge of what the +receipts will be always, and wins half-crowns every night. Chang is +living in this house. John (not knowing it) was rendered perfectly +drivelling last night, by meeting him on the stairs. The Tartar Dwarf is +always twining himself upstairs sideways, and drinks a bottle of whisky +per day, and is reported to be a surprising little villain. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + WATERLOO HOTEL, EDINBURGH, _Friday, April 20th, 1866._ + +No row at Glasgow last night. Great placards were posted about the town +by the anxious Dolby, announcing that no money would be taken at the +doors. This kept the crowd off. Two files of policemen and a double +staff everywhere did the rest, and nothing could be better-tempered or +more orderly. Tremendous enthusiasm with the "Carol" and "Trial." I was +dead beat afterwards, that reading being twenty minutes longer than +usual; but plucked up again, had some supper, slept well, and am quite +right to-day. It is a bright day, and the express ride over from Glasgow +was very pleasant. + +Everything is gone here for to-night. But it is difficult to describe +what the readings have grown to be. The let at St. James's Hall is not +only immense for next Tuesday, but so large for the next reading +afterwards, that Chappell writes: "That will be the greatest house of +the three." From Manchester this morning they write: "Send us more +tickets instantly, for we are sold out and don't know what to do with +the people." Last night the whole of my money under the agreement had +been taken. I notice that a great bank has broken at Liverpool, which +may hurt us there, but when last heard of it was going as before. And +the audience, though so enormous, do somehow express a personal +affection, which makes them very strange and moving to see. + +I have a story to answer you and your aunt with. Before I left Southwick +Place for Liverpool, I received a letter from Glasgow, saying, "Your +little Emily has been woo'd and married and a'! since you last saw her;" +and describing her house within a mile or two of the city, and asking +me to stay there. I wrote the usual refusal, and supposed Mrs. ---- to +be some romantic girl whom I had joked with, perhaps at Allison's or +where not. On the first night at Glasgow I received a bouquet from ----, +and wore one of the flowers. This morning at the Glasgow station, ---- +appeared, and proved to be the identical Miss Emily, of whose marriage +Dolby had told me on our coming through Preston. She was attired in +magnificent raiment, and presented the happy ----. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + LIVERPOOL, _Thursday, April 26th, 1866._ + +We noticed between London and Rugby (the first stoppage) something very +odd in our carriage yesterday, not so much in its motion as in its +sound. We examined it as well as we could out of both windows, but could +make nothing of it. On our arrival at Rugby, it was found to be on fire. +And as it was in the middle of the train, the train had to be broken to +get it off into a siding by itself and get another carriage on. With +this slight exception we came down all right. + +My voice is much better, I am glad to report, and I mean to try Beard's +remedy after dinner to-day. This is all my present news. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + DOWN HOTEL, CLIFTON, _Friday, May 11th, 1866._ + +I received your note before I left Birmingham this morning. It has been +very heavy work getting up at half-past six each morning after a heavy +night, and I am not at all well to-day. We had a tremendous hall at +Birmingham last night--two thousand one hundred people. I made a most +ridiculous mistake. Had "Nickleby" on my list to finish with, instead of +"Trial." Read "Nickleby" with great go, and the people remained. Went +back again at ten and explained the accident, and said if they liked, I +would give them the "Trial." They _did_ like, and I had another +half-hour of it in that enormous place. + +This stoppage of Overend and Gurney in the City will play the ---- with +all public gaieties, and with all the arts. + +My cold is no better. John fell off a platform about ten feet high +yesterday, and fainted. He looks all the colours of the rainbow to-day, +but does not seem much hurt beyond being puffed up one hand, arm, and +side. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Lily Benzon.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Monday, June 18th, 1866._ + +MY DEAR LILY, + +I am sorry that I cannot come to read to you "The Boots at the Holly +Tree Inn," as you ask me to do; but the truth is, that I am tired of +reading at this present time, and have come into the country to rest and +hear the birds sing. There are a good many birds, I daresay, in +Kensington Palace Gardens, and upon my word and honour they are much +better worth listening to than I am. So let them sing to you as hard as +ever they can, while their sweet voices last (they will be silent when +the winter comes); and very likely after you and I have eaten our next +Christmas pudding and mince-pies, you and I and Uncle Harry may all meet +together at St. James's Hall; Uncle Harry to bring you there, to hear +the "Boots;" I to receive you there, and read the "Boots;" and you (I +hope) to applaud very much, and tell me that you like the "Boots." So, +God bless you and me, and Uncle Harry, and the "Boots," and long life +and happiness to us all! + + Your affectionate Friend. + +P.S.--There's a flourish! + + +[Sidenote: Mr. B. W. Procter.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Monday, Aug. 13th, 1866._ + +MY DEAR PROCTER, + +I have read your biography of Charles Lamb with inexpressible pleasure +and interest. I do not think it possible to tell a pathetic story with a +more unaffected and manly tenderness. And as to the force and vigour of +the style, if I did not know you I should have made sure that there was +a printer's error in the opening of your introduction, and that the word +"seventy" occupied the place of "forty." + +Let me, my dear friend, most heartily congratulate you on your +achievement. It is not an ordinary triumph to do such justice to the +memory of such a man. And I venture to add, that the fresh spirit with +which you have done it impresses me as being perfectly wonderful. + + Ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Sir James Emerson Tennent.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Monday, Aug. 20th, 1866._ + +MY DEAR TENNENT, + +I have been very much interested by your extract, and am strongly +inclined to believe that the founder of the Refuge for Poor Travellers +meant the kind of man to which it refers. Chaucer certainly meant the +Pardonere to be a humbug, living on the credulity of the people. After +describing the sham reliques he carried, he says: + + But with these relikes whawne that he found + A poure personne dwelling up on lond + Upon a day he gat him more monnie + Than that the personne got in monthes time, + And thus, with fained flattering and japes + He made the personne, and the people, his apes. + +And the worthy Watts (founder of the charity) may have had these very +lines in his mind when he excluded such a man. + +When I last heard from my boy he was coming to you, and was full of +delight and dignity. My midshipman has just been appointed to the +_Bristol_, on the West Coast of Africa, and is on his voyage out to join +her. I wish it was another ship and another station. She has been +unlucky in losing men. + +Kindest regard from all my house to yours. + + Faithfully yours ever. + + +[Sidenote: M. Charles Fechter.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Tuesday, Sept. 4th, 1866._ + +MY DEAR FECHTER, + +This morning I received the play to the end of the telegraph scene, and +I have since read it twice. + +I clearly see the _ground_ of Mr. Boucicault's two objections; but I do +not see their _force_. + +First, as to the writing. If the characters did not speak in a terse and +homely way, their idea and language would be inconsistent with their +dress and station, and they would lose, as characters, before the +audience. The dialogue seems to be exactly what is wanted. Its +simplicity (particularly in Mr. Boucicault's part) is often very +effective; and throughout there is an honest, straight-to-the-purpose +ruggedness in it, like the real life and the real people. + +Secondly, as to the absence of the comic element. I really do not see +how more of it could be got into the story, and I think Mr. Boucicault +underrates the pleasant effect of his own part. The very notion of a +sailor, whose life is not among those little courts and streets, and +whose business does not lie with the monotonous machinery, but with the +four wild winds, is a relief to me in reading the play. I am quite +confident of its being an immense relief to the audience when they see +the sailor before them, with an entirely different bearing, action, +dress, complexion even, from the rest of the men. I would make him the +freshest and airiest sailor that ever was seen; and through him I can +distinctly see my way out of "the Black Country" into clearer air. (I +speak as one of the audience, mind.) I should like something of this +contrast to be expressed in the dialogue between the sailor and Jew, in +the second scene of the second act. Again, I feel Widdicomb's part +(which is charming, and ought to make the whole house cry) most +agreeable and welcome, much better than any amount in such a story, of +mere comicality. + +It is unnecessary to say that the play is done with a master's hand. Its +closeness and movement are quite surprising. Its construction is +admirable. I have the strongest belief in its making a great success. +But I must add this proviso: I never saw a play so dangerously depending +in critical places on strict natural propriety in the manner and +perfection in the shaping of the small parts. Those small parts cannot +take the play up, but they can let it down. I would not leave a hair on +the head of one of them to the chance of the first night, but I would +see, to the minutest particular, the make-up of every one of them at a +night rehearsal. + +Of course you are free to show this note to Mr. Boucicault, and I +suppose you will do so; let me throw out this suggestion to him and you. +Might it not ease the way with the Lord Chamberlain's office, and still +more with the audience, when there are Manchester champions in it, if +instead of "Manchester" you used a fictitious name? When I did "Hard +Times" I called the scene Coketown. Everybody knew what was meant, but +every cotton-spinning town said it was the other cotton-spinning town. + +I shall be up on Saturday, and will come over about mid-day, unless you +name any other time. + + Ever heartily. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Walter Thornbury] + + "ALL THE YEAR ROUND" OFFICE, _Saturday, Sept. 15th, 1866._ + +MY DEAR THORNBURY, + +Many thanks for your letter. + +In reference to your Shakespeare queries, I am not so much enamoured of +the first and third subjects as I am of the Ariosto enquiry, which +should be highly interesting. But if you have so got the matter in your +mind, as that its execution would be incomplete and unsatisfactory to +you unless you write all the three papers, then by all means write the +three, and I will most gladly take them. For some years I have had so +much pleasure in reading you, that I can honestly warrant myself as what +actors call "a good audience." + +The idea of old stories retold is decidedly a good one. I greatly like +the notion of that series. Of course you know De Quincey's paper on the +Ratcliffe Highway murderer? Do you know also the illustration (I have it +at Gad's Hill), representing the horrible creature as his dead body lay +on a cart, with a piece of wood for a pillow, and a stake lying by, +ready to be driven through him? + +I don't _quite_ like the title, "The Social History of London." I should +better like some title to the effect, "The History of London's Social +Changes in so many Years." Such a title would promise more, and better +express your intention. What do you think of taking for a first title, +"London's Changes"? You could then add the second title, "Being a +History," etc. + +I don't at all desire to fix a limit to the series of old stories +retold. I would state the general intention at the beginning of the +first paper, and go on like Banquo's line. + +Don't let your London title remind people, by so much as the place of +the word "civilisation," of Buckle. It seems a ridiculous caution, but +the indolent part of the public (a large part!) on such points tumble +into extraordinary mistakes. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Percy Fitzgerald.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Tuesday, Nov. 6th, 1866._ + +MY DEAR FITZGERALD, + +It is always pleasant to me to hear from you, and I hope you will +believe that this is not a mere fashion of speech. + +Concerning the green covers, I find the leaves to be budding--on +unquestionable newspaper authority; but, upon my soul, I have no other +knowledge of their being in embryo! Really, I do not see a chance of my +settling myself to such work until after I have accomplished forty-two +readings, to which I stand pledged. + +I hope to begin this series somewhere about the middle of January, in +Dublin. Touching the details of the realisation of this hope, will you +tell me in a line as soon as you can--_Is the exhibition room a good +room for speaking in?_ + +Your mention of the late Sultan touches me nearly. He was the finest dog +I ever saw, and between him and me there was a perfect understanding. +But, to adopt the popular phrase, it was so very confidential that it +"went no further." He would fly at anybody else with the greatest +enthusiasm for destruction. I saw him, muzzled, pound into the heart of +a regiment of the line; and I have frequently seen him, muzzled, hold a +great dog down with his chest and feet. He has broken loose (muzzled) +and come home covered with blood, again and again. And yet he never +disobeyed me, unless he had first laid hold of a dog. + +You heard of his going to execution, evidently supposing the procession +to be a party detached in pursuit of something to kill or eat? It was +very affecting. And also of his bolting a blue-eyed kitten, and making +me acquainted with the circumstance by his agonies of remorse (or +indigestion)? + +I cannot find out that there is anyone in Rochester (a sleepy old city) +who has anything to tell about Garrick, except what is not true. His +brother, the wine merchant, would be more in Rochester way, I think. How +on earth do you find time to do all these books? + +You make my hair stand on end; an agreeable sensation, for I am charmed +to find that I have any. Why don't you come yourself and look after +Garrick? I should be truly delighted to receive you. + + My dear Fitzgerald, always faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Friday, Dec. 28th, 1866._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +I have received your letter with the utmost pleasure and we all send our +most affectionate love to you, Mrs. Macready, Katie, Johnny, and the boy +of boys. All good Christmas and New Year greetings are to be understood +as included. + +You will be interested in knowing that, encouraged by the success of +summer cricket-matches, I got up a quantity of foot-races and rustic +sports in my field here on the 26th last past: as I have never yet had a +case of drunkenness, the landlord of The Falstaff had a drinking-booth +on the ground. All the prizes I gave were in money, too. We had two +thousand people here. Among the crowd were soldiers, navvies, and +labourers of all kinds. Not a stake was pulled up, or a rope slackened, +or one farthing's-worth of damage done. To every competitor (only) a +printed bill of general rules was given, with the concluding words: "Mr. +Dickens puts every man upon his honour to assist in preserving order." +There was not a dispute all day, and they went away at sunset rending +the air with cheers, and leaving every flag on a six hundred yards' +course as neat as they found it when the gates were opened at ten in the +morning. Surely this is a bright sign in the neighbourhood of such a +place as Chatham! + +"Mugby Junction" turned, yesterday afternoon, the extraordinary number +of two hundred and fifty thousand! + +In the middle of next month I begin a new course of forty-two readings. +If any of them bring me within reach of Cheltenham, with an hour to +spare, I shall come on to you, even for that hour. More of this when I +am afield and have my list, which Dolby (for Chappell) is now +preparing. + +Forster and Mrs. Forster were to have come to us next Monday, to stay +until Saturday. I write "were," because I hear that Forster (who had a +touch of bronchitis when he wrote to me on Christmas Eve) is in bed. +Katie, who has been ill of low nervous fever, was brought here yesterday +from London. She bore the journey much better than I expected, and so I +hope will soon recover. This is my little stock of news. + +I begin to discover in your riper years, that you have been secretly +vain of your handwriting all your life. For I swear I see no change in +it! What it always was since I first knew it (a year or two!) it _is_. +This I will maintain against all comers. + + Ever affectionately, my dearest Macready. + + + + +1867. + +NARRATIVE. + + +As the London and provincial readings were to be resumed early in the +year and continued until the end of March, Charles Dickens took no house +in London this spring. He came to his office quarters at intervals, for +the series in town; usually starting off again, on his country tour, the +day after a London reading. From some passages in his letters to his +daughter and sister-in-law during this country course, it will be seen +that (though he made very light of the fact) the great exertion of the +readings, combined with incessant railway travelling, was beginning to +tell upon his health, and he was frequently "heavily beaten" after +reading at his best to an enthusiastic audience in a large hall. + +During the short intervals between his journeys, he was as constantly +and carefully at work upon the business of "All the Year Round" as if he +had no other work on hand. A proof of this is given in a letter dated +"5th February." It is written to a young man (the son of a friend), who +wrote a long novel when far too juvenile for such a task, and had +submitted it to Charles Dickens for his opinion, with a view to +publication. In the midst of his own hard and engrossing occupation he +read the book, and the letter which he wrote on the subject needs no +remark beyond this, that the young writer received the adverse criticism +with the best possible sense, and has since, in his literary profession, +profited by the advice so kindly given. + +At this time the proposals to Charles Dickens for reading in America, +which had been perpetually renewed from the time of his first abandoning +the idea, became so urgent and so tempting, that he found at last he +must, at all events, give the subject his most serious consideration. He +took counsel with his two most confidential friends and advisers, Mr. +John Forster and Mr. W. H. Wills. They were both, at first, strongly +opposed to the undertaking, chiefly on the ground of the trial to his +health and strength which it would involve. But they could not deny the +counterbalancing advantages. And, after much deliberation, it was +resolved that Mr. George Dolby should be sent out by the Messrs. +Chappell, to take an impression, on the spot, as to the feeling of the +United States about the Readings. His report as to the undoubted +enthusiasm and urgency on the other side of the Atlantic it was +impossible to resist. Even his friends withdrew their opposition (though +still with misgivings as to the effect upon his health, which were but +too well founded!), and on the 30th September he telegraphed "Yes" to +America. + +The "Alfred" alluded to in a letter from Glasgow was Charles Dickens's +fourth son, Alfred Tennyson, who had gone to Australia two years +previously. + +We give, in April, the last letter to one of the friends for whom +Charles Dickens had always a most tender love--Mr. Stanfield. He was +then in failing health, and in May he died. + +Another death which affected him very deeply happened this summer. Miss +Marguerite Power died in July. She had long been very ill, but, until it +became impossible for her to travel, she was a frequent and beloved +guest at Gad's Hill. The Mrs. Henderson to whom he writes was Miss +Power's youngest sister. + +Before he started for America it was proposed to wish him God-speed by +giving him a public dinner at the Freemasons' Hall. The proposal was +most warmly and fully responded to. His zealous friend, Mr. Charles +Kent, willingly undertook the whole work of arrangement of this banquet. +It took place on the 2nd November, and Lord Lytton presided. + +On the 8th he left London for Liverpool, accompanied by his daughters, +his sister-in-law, his eldest son, Mr. Arthur Chappell, Mr. Charles +Collins, Mr. Wilkie Collins, Mr. Kent, and Mr. Wills. The next morning +the whole party took a final leave of Charles Dickens on board the +_Cuba_, which sailed that day. + +We give a letter which he wrote to Mr. J. L. Toole on the morning of the +dinner, thanking him for a parting gift and an earnest letter. That +excellent comedian was one of his most appreciative admirers, and, in +return, he had for Mr. Toole the greatest admiration and respect. + +The Christmas number for this year, "No Thoroughfare," was written by +Charles Dickens and Mr. Wilkie Collins. It was dramatised by Mr. Collins +chiefly. But, in the midst of all the work of preparation for departure, +Charles Dickens gave minute attention to as much of the play as could be +completed before he left England. It was produced, after Christmas, at +the Adelphi Theatre, where M. Fechter was then acting, under the +management of Mr. Benjamin Webster. + + +[Sidenote: M. de Cerjat.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _New Year's Day, 1867._ + +MY DEAR CERJAT, + +Thoroughly determined to be beforehand with "the middle of next summer," +your penitent friend and remorseful correspondent thus addresses you. + +The big dog, on a day last autumn, having seized a little girl (sister +to one of the servants) whom he knew, and was bound to respect, was +flogged by his master, and then sentenced to be shot at seven next +morning. He went out very cheerfully with the half-dozen men told off +for the purpose, evidently thinking that they were going to be the death +of somebody unknown. But observing in the procession an empty +wheelbarrow and a double-barrelled gun, he became meditative, and fixed +the bearer of the gun with his eyes. A stone deftly thrown across him by +the village blackguard (chief mourner) caused him to look round for an +instant, and he then fell dead, shot through the heart. Two posthumous +children are at this moment rolling on the lawn; one will evidently +inherit his ferocity, and will probably inherit the gun. The pheasant +was a little ailing towards Christmas Day, and was found dead under some +ivy in his cage, with his head under his wing, on the morning of the +twenty-seventh of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six. I, +proprietor of the remains of the two deceased, am working hard, getting +up "Barbox" and "The Boy at Mugby," with which I begin a new series of +readings in London on the fifteenth. Next morning I believe I start into +the country. When I read, I _don't_ write. I only edit, and have the +proof-sheets sent me for the purpose. Here are your questions answered. + +As to the Reform question, it should have been, and could have been, +perfectly known to any honest man in England that the more intelligent +part of the great masses were deeply dissatisfied with the state of +representation, but were in a very moderate and patient condition, +awaiting the better intellectual cultivation of numbers of their +fellows. The old insolent resource of assailing them and making the most +audaciously wicked statements that they are politically indifferent, +has borne the inevitable fruit. The perpetual taunt, "Where are they?" +has called them out with the answer: "Well then, if you _must_ know, +here we are." The intolerable injustice of vituperating the bribed to an +assembly of bribers, has goaded their sense of justice beyond endurance. +And now, what they would have taken they won't take, and whatever they +are steadily bent upon having they will get. Rely upon it, this is the +real state of the case. As to your friend "Punch," you will find him +begin to turn at the very selfsame instant when the new game shall +manifestly become the losing one. You may notice his shoes pinching him +a little already. + +My dear fellow, I have no more power to stop that mutilation of my books +than you have. It is as certain as that every inventor of anything +designed for the public good, and offered to the English Government, +becomes _ipso facto_ a criminal, to have his heart broken on the +circumlocutional wheel. It is as certain as that the whole Crimean story +will be retold, whenever this country again goes to war. And to tell the +truth, I have such a very small opinion of what the great genteel have +done for us, that I am very philosophical indeed concerning what the +great vulgar may do, having a decided opinion that they can't do worse. + +This is the time of year when the theatres do best, there being still +numbers of people who make it a sort of religion to see Christmas +pantomimes. Having my annual houseful, I have, as yet, seen nothing. +Fechter has neither pantomime nor burlesque, but is doing a new version +of the old "Trente Ans de la Vie d'un Joueur." I am afraid he will not +find his account in it. On the whole, the theatres, except in the +articles of scenery and pictorial effect, are poor enough. But in some +of the smaller houses there are actors who, if there were any dramatic +head-quarters as a school, might become very good. The most hopeless +feature is, that they have the smallest possible idea of an effective +and harmonious whole, each "going in" for himself or herself. The +music-halls attract an immense public, and don't refine the general +taste. But such things as they do are well done of their kind, and +always briskly and punctually. + +The American yacht race is the last sensation. I hope the general +interest felt in it on this side will have a wholesome interest on that. +It will be a woeful day when John and Jonathan throw their caps into the +ring. The French Emperor is indubitably in a dangerous state. His +Parisian popularity wanes, and his army are discontented with him. I +hear on high authority that his secret police are always making +discoveries that render him desperately uneasy. + +You know how we have been swindling in these parts. But perhaps you +don't know that Mr. ----, the "eminent" contractor, before he fell into +difficulties settled _one million of money_ on his wife. Such a good and +devoted husband! + +My daughter Katie has been very ill of nervous fever. On the 27th of +December she was in a condition to be brought down here (old high road +and post-horses), and has been steadily getting better ever since. Her +husband is here too, and is on the whole as well as he ever is or ever +will be, I fear. + +We played forfeit-games here, last night, and then pool. For a +billiard-room has been added to the house since you were here. Come and +play a match with me. + + Always affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, _Monday, Jan. 21st, 1867._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +First I send you my most affectionate wishes for many, many happy +returns of your birthday. That done, from my heart of hearts, I go on to +my small report of myself. + +The readings have produced such an immense effect here that we are +coming back for two more in the middle of February. "Marigold" and the +"Trial," on Friday night, and the "Carol," on Saturday afternoon, were a +perfect furore; and the surprise about "Barbox" has been amusingly +great. It is a most extraordinary thing, after the enormous sale of that +Christmas number, that the provincial public seems to have combined to +believe that it _won't_ make a reading. From Wolverhampton and Leeds we +have exactly the same expression of feelings _beforehand_. Exactly as I +made "Copperfield"--always to the poorest houses I had with Headland, +and against that luminary's entreaty--so I should have to make this, if +I hadn't "Marigold" always in demand. + +It being next to impossible for people to come out at night with horses, +we have felt the weather in the stalls, and expect to do so through this +week. The half-crown and shilling publics have crushed to their places +most splendidly. 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. + +Scott does very well indeed. As a dresser he is perfect. In a quarter of +an hour after I go into the retiring-room, where all my clothes are +airing and everything is set out neatly in its own allotted space, I am +ready; and he then goes softly out, and sits outside the door. In the +morning he is equally punctual, quiet, and quick. He has his needles and +thread, buttons, and so forth, always at hand; and in travelling he is +very systematic with the luggage. What with Dolby and what with this +skilful valet, everything is made as easy to me as it possibly _can_ be, +and Dolby would do anything to lighten the work, and does everything. + +There is great distress here among the poor (four thousand people +relieved last Saturday at one workhouse), and there is great anxiety +concerning _seven mail-steamers some days overdue_. Such a circumstance +as this last has never been known. It is supposed that some great +revolving storm has whirled them all out of their course. One of these +missing ships is an American mail, another an Australian mail. + + + _Same Afternoon._ + +We have been out for four hours in the bitter east wind, and walking on +the sea-shore, where there is a broad strip of great blocks of ice. My +hands are so rigid that I write with great difficulty. + +We have been constantly talking of the terrible Regent's Park accident. +I hope and believe that nearly the worst of it is now known. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + CHESTER, _Tuesday, Jan. 22nd, 1867._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +We came over here from Liverpool at eleven this forenoon. There was a +heavy swell in the Mersey breaking over the boat; the cold was nipping, +and all the roads we saw as we came along were wretched. We find a very +moderate let here; but I am myself rather surprised to know that a +hundred and twenty stalls have made up their minds to the undertaking of +getting to the hall. This seems to be a very nice hotel, but it is an +extraordinarily cold one. Our reading for to-night is "Marigold" and +"Trial." With amazing perversity the local agent said to Dolby: "They +hoped that Mr. Dickens _might_ have given them 'The Boy at Mugby.'" + +Barton, the gasman who succeeded the man who sprained his leg, sprained +_his_ leg yesterday!! And that, not at his work, but in running +downstairs at the hotel. However, he has hobbled through it so far, and +I hope will hobble on, for he knows his work. + +I have seldom seen a place look more hopelessly frozen up than this +place does. The hall is like a Methodist chapel in low spirits, and with +a cold in its head. A few blue people shiver at the corners of the +streets. And this house, which is outside the town, looks like an +ornament on an immense twelfth cake baked for 1847. + +I am now going to the fire to try to warm myself, but have not the least +expectation of succeeding. The sitting-room has two large windows in it, +down to the ground and facing due east. The adjoining bedroom (mine) has +also two large windows in it, down to the ground and facing due east. +The very large doors are opposite the large windows, and I feel as if I +were something to eat in a pantry. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + HEN AND CHICKENS, BIRMINGHAM, _Thursday, Jan. 24th, 1867._ + +At Chester we read in a snowstorm and a fall of ice. I think it was the +worst weather I ever saw. Nevertheless, the people were enthusiastic. At +Wolverhampton last night the thaw had thoroughly set in, and it rained +heavily. We had not intended to go back there, but have arranged to do +so on the day after Ash Wednesday. Last night I was again heavily +beaten. We came on here after the reading (it is only a ride of forty +minutes), 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. I am all right +this morning; and to-night, as you know, I have a rest. I trust that +Charley Collins is better, and that Mamie is strong and well again. +Yesterday I had a note from Katie, which seemed hopeful and encouraging. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + HEN AND CHICKENS, BIRMINGHAM, _Thursday, Jan. 24th, 1867._ + +Since I wrote to your aunt just now, I have received your note addressed +to Wolverhampton. We left the men there last night, and they brought it +on with them at noon to-day. + +The maimed gasman's foot is much swollen, but he limps about and does +his work. I have doctored him up with arnica. During the "Boy" last +night there was an escape of gas from the side of my top batten, which +caught the copper-wire and was within a thread of bringing down the +heavy reflector into the stalls. It was a very ticklish matter, though +the audience knew nothing about it. I saw it, and the gasman and Dolby +saw it, and stood at that side of the platform in agonies. We all three +calculated that there would be just time to finish and save it; when the +gas was turned out the instant I had done, the whole thing was at its +very last and utmost extremity. Whom it would have tumbled on, or what +might have been set on fire, it is impossible to say. + +I hope you rewarded your police escort on Tuesday night. It was the most +tremendous night I ever saw at Chester. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + LEEDS, _Friday, Feb. 1st, 1867._ + +We got here prosperously, and had a good (but not great) house for +"Barbox" and "Boy" last night. For "Marigold" and "Trial," to-night, +everything is gone. And I even have my doubts of the possibility of +Dolby's cramming the people in. For "Marigold" and "Trial" at +Manchester, to-morrow, we also expect a fine hall. + +I shall be at the office for next Wednesday. If Charley Collins should +have been got to Gad's, I will come there for that day. If not, I +suppose we had best open the official bower again. + +This is a beastly place, with a very good hotel. Except Preston, it is +one of the nastiest places I know. The room is like a capacious coal +cellar, and is incredibly filthy; but for sound it is perfect. + + +[Sidenote: Anonymous.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," _Tuesday, Feb. 5th, 1867._ + +DEAR SIR, + +I have looked at the larger half of the first volume of your novel, and +have pursued the more difficult points of the story through the other +two volumes. + +You will, of course, receive my opinion as that of an individual writer +and student of art, who by no means claims to be infallible. + +I think you are too ambitious, and that you have not sufficient +knowledge of life or character to venture on so comprehensive an +attempt. Evidences of inexperience in every way, and of your power being +far below the situations that you imagine, present themselves to me in +almost every page I have read. It would greatly surprise me if you found +a publisher for this story, on trying your fortune in that line, or +derived anything from it but weariness and bitterness of spirit. + +On the evidence thus put before me, I cannot even entirely satisfy +myself that you have the faculty of authorship latent within you. If you +have not, and yet pursue a vocation towards which you have no call, you +cannot choose but be a wretched man. Let me counsel you to have the +patience to form yourself carefully, and the courage to renounce the +endeavour if you cannot establish your case on a very much smaller +scale. You see around you every day, how many outlets there are for +short pieces of fiction in all kinds. Try if you can achieve any success +within these modest limits (I have practised in my time what I preach to +you), and in the meantime put your three volumes away. + + Faithfully yours. + +P.S.--Your MS. will be returned separately from this office. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + LIVERPOOL, _Friday, Feb. 15th, 1867._ + +My short report of myself is that we had an enormous turn-away last +night, and do not doubt about having a cram to-night. The day has been +very 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, 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, instead of (as one might have expected) less and less. + +The charming room here greatly lessens the fatigue of this fatiguing +week. I read last night with no more exertion than if I had been at +Gad's, and yet to eleven hundred people, and with astonishing effect. It +is "Copperfield" to-night, and Liverpool is the "Copperfield" +stronghold. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + GLASGOW, _Sunday, Feb. 17th, 1867._ + +We arrived here this morning at our time to the moment, five minutes +past ten. We turned away great numbers on both nights at Liverpool; and +Manchester last night was a splendid spectacle. 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 _was_ 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, and it really was not tedious. +The travelling was admirable, and a wonderful contrast to my friend the +Midland. + +I am not by any means knocked up, though 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. It is a mercy +that we were not both made really ill at Liverpool. On Friday morning I +was taken so faint and sick, that I was obliged to leave the table. On +the same afternoon the same thing happened to Dolby. We then found that +a part of the hotel close to us was dismantled for painting, and that +they were at that moment painting a green passage leading to our rooms, +with a most horrible mixture of white lead and arsenic. On pursuing the +enquiry, I found that the four lady book-keepers in the bar were all +suffering from the poison. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + BRIDGE OF ALLAN, _Tuesday, Feb. 19th, 1867._ + +I was very glad to get your letter before leaving Glasgow this morning. +This is a poor return for it, but the post goes out early, and we come +in late. + +Yesterday morning I was so unwell that I wrote to Frank Beard, from whom +I shall doubtless hear to-morrow. I mention it, only in case you should +come in his way, for I know how perversely such things fall out. I felt +it a little more exertion to read afterwards, and I passed a sleepless +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. The little inn in +which we are established seems a capital house of the best country sort. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + GLASGOW, _Thursday, Feb. 21st, 1867._ + +After two days' rest at the Bridge of Allan I am in renewed force, and +have nothing to complain of but inability to sleep. I have been in +excellent air all day since Tuesday at noon, and made an interesting +walk to Stirling yesterday, and saw its lions, and (strange to relate) +was not bored by them. Indeed, they left me so fresh that I knocked at +the gate of the prison, presented myself to the governor, and took Dolby +over the jail, to his unspeakable interest. We then walked back again +to our excellent country inn. + +Enclosed is a letter from Alfred, which you and your aunt will be +interested in reading, and which I meant to send you sooner but forgot +it. Wonderful as it is to mention, the sun shines here to-day! But to +counterbalance that phenomenon I am in close hiding from ----, who has +christened his infant son in my name, and, consequently, haunts the +building. He and Dolby have already nearly come into collision, in +consequence of the latter being always under the dominion of the one +idea that he is bound to knock everybody down who asks for me. + + * * * * * + + The "Jewish lady," wishing to mark her + "appreciation of Mr. Dickens's nobility of + character," presented him with a copy of + Benisch's Hebrew and English Bible, with this + inscription: "Presented to Charles Dickens, in + grateful and admiring recognition of his having + exercised the noblest quality man can + possess--that of atoning for an injury as soon + as conscious of having inflicted it." + + The acknowledgment of the gift is the following + letter: + +[Sidenote: Jewish Lady.] + + BRADFORD, YORKSHIRE, _Friday, March 1st, 1867._ + +MY DEAR MRS. ----, + +I am working through a series of readings, widely dispersed through +England, Scotland, and Ireland, and am so constantly occupied that it is +very difficult for me to write letters. I have received your highly +esteemed note (forwarded from my home in Kent), and should have replied +to it sooner but that I had a hope of being able to get home and see +your present first. As I have not been able to do so, however, and am +hardly likely to do so for two months to come, I delay no longer. It is +safely awaiting me on my own desk in my own quiet room. I cannot thank +you for it too cordially, and cannot too earnestly assure you that I +shall always prize it highly. The terms in which you send me that mark +of your remembrance are more gratifying to me than I can possibly +express to you; for they assure me that there is nothing but goodwill +left between you and me and a people for whom I have a real regard, and +to whom I would not wilfully have given an offence or done an injustice +for any worldly consideration. + + Believe me, very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, _Wednesday, March 6th, 1867._ + +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 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 +Doctor 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 ride. + +I am wonderfully well, and quite fresh and strong. Have had to doctor +Dolby for a bad cold; have not caught it (yet), and have set him on his +legs again. + +Scott is striking the tents and loading the baggages, so I must deliver +up my writing-desk. We meet, please God, on Tuesday. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + SHELBOURNE HOTEL, DUBLIN, _Friday, March 15th, 1867._ + +We made our journey through an incessant snowstorm on Wednesday night; +at last got snowed up among the Welsh mountains in a tremendous storm of +wind, came to a stop, and had to dig the engine out. We went to bed at +Holyhead at six in the morning of Thursday, and got aboard the packet at +two yesterday afternoon. It blew hard, but as the wind was right astern, +we only rolled and did not pitch much. As I walked about on the bridge +all the four hours, and had cold salt beef and biscuit there and +brandy-and-water, you will infer that my Channel training has not worn +out. + +Our "business" here is _very bad_, though at Belfast it is enormous. +There is no doubt that great alarm prevails here. This hotel is +constantly filling and emptying as families leave the country, and set +in a current to the steamers. There is apprehension of some disturbance +between to-morrow night and Monday night (both inclusive), and I learn +this morning that all the drinking-shops are to be closed from to-night +until Tuesday. It is rumoured here that the Liverpool people are very +uneasy about some apprehended disturbance there at the same time. Very +likely you will know more about this than I do, and very likely it may +be nothing. There is no doubt whatever that alarm prevails, and the +manager of this hotel, an intelligent German, is very gloomy on the +subject. On the other hand, there is feasting going on, and I have been +asked to dinner-parties by divers civil and military authorities. + +Don't _you_ be uneasy, I say once again. You may be absolutely certain +that there is no cause for it. We are splendidly housed here, and in +great comfort. + +Love to Charley and Katey. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + SHELBOURNE HOTEL, DUBLIN, _Saturday, March 16th, 1867._ + +I daresay you know already that I held many councils in London about +coming to Ireland at all, and was much against it. Everything looked as +bad here as need be, but we did very well last night after all. + +There is considerable alarm here beyond all question, and great +depression in all kinds of trade and commerce. To-morrow being St. +Patrick's Day, there are apprehensions of some disturbance, and croakers +predict that it will come off between to-night and Monday night. Of +course there are preparations on all sides, and large musters of +soldiers and police, though they are kept carefully out of sight. One +would not suppose, walking about the streets, that any disturbance was +impending; and yet there is no doubt that the materials of one lie +smouldering up and down the city and all over the country. [I have a +letter from Mrs. Bernal Osborne this morning, describing the fortified +way in which she is living in her own house in the County Tipperary.] + +You may be quite sure that your venerable parent will take good care of +himself. If any riot were to break out, I should immediately stop the +readings here. Should all remain quiet, I begin to think they will be +satisfactorily remunerative after all. At Belfast, we shall have an +enormous house. I read "Copperfield" and "Bob" here on Monday; +"Marigold" and "Trial" at Belfast, on Wednesday; and "Carol" and "Trial" +here, on Friday. This is all my news, except that I am in perfect force. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + SHELBOURNE HOTEL, DUBLIN, _Sunday, March 17th, 1867._ + +Everything remains in appearance perfectly quiet here. The streets are +gay all day, now that the weather is improved, and singularly quiet and +deserted at night. But the whole place is secretly girt in with a +military force. To-morrow night is supposed to be a critical time; but +in view of the enormous preparations, I should say that the chances are +at least one hundred to one against any disturbance. + +I cannot make sure whether I wrote to you yesterday, and told you that +we had done very well at the first reading after all, even in money. The +reception was prodigious, and the readings are the town talk. But I +rather think I did actually write this to you. My doubt on the subject +arises from my having deliberated about writing on a Saturday. + +The most curious, and for facilities of mere destruction, such as firing +houses in different quarters, the most dangerous piece of intelligence +imparted to me on authority is, that the Dublin domestic men-servants as +a class are all Fenians. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + BELFAST, _Wednesday, March 20th, 1867._ + +The post goes out at twelve, and I have only time to report myself. The +snow not lying between this and Dublin, we got here yesterday to our +time, after a cold but pleasant journey. Fitzgerald came on with us. I +had a really charming letter from Mrs. Fitzgerald, asking me to stay +there. She must be a perfectly unaffected and genuine lady. There are +kind messages to you and Mary in it. I have sent it on to Mary, who will +probably in her turn show it to you. We had a wonderful crowd at Dublin +on Monday, and the greatest appreciation possible. We have a good let, +in a large hall, here to-night. But I am perfectly convinced that the +worst part of the Fenian business is to come yet. + +All about the Fitzgeralds and everything else when we meet. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + BELFAST, _Thursday, March 21st, 1867._ + +In spite of public affairs and dismal weather, we are doing wonders in +Ireland. + +That the conspiracy is a far larger and more important one than would +seem from what it has done yet, there is no doubt. I have had a good +deal of talk with a certain colonel, whose duty it has been to +investigate it, day and night, since last September. That it will give a +world of trouble, and cost a world of money, I take to be (after what I +have thus learned) beyond all question. One regiment has been found to +contain five hundred Fenian soldiers every man of whom was sworn in the +barrack-yard. How information is swiftly and secretly conveyed all over +the country, the Government with all its means and money cannot +discover; but every hour it is found that instructions, warnings, and +other messages are circulated from end to end of Ireland. It is a very +serious business indeed. + +I have just time to send this off, and to report myself quite well +except for a slight cold. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + NORWICH, _Friday, March 29th, 1867._ + +The reception at Cambridge last night 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 far beyond even Manchester in the roars of +welcome and the rounds of cheers. All through the readings, the whole of +the assembly, old men as well as young, and women as well as men, took +everything with a heartiness of enjoyment not to be described. The place +was crammed, and the success the most brilliant I have ever seen. + +What we are doing in this sleepy old place I don't know, but I have no +doubt it is mild enough. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Walter Thornbury] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Monday, April 1st, 1867._ + +MY DEAR THORNBURY, + +I am very doubtful indeed about "Vaux," and have kept it out of the +number in consequence. The mere details of such a rascal's proceedings, +whether recorded by himself or set down by the Reverend Ordinary, are +not wholesome for a large audience, and are scarcely justifiable (I +think) as claiming to be a piece of literature. I can understand +Barrington to be a good subject, as involving the representation of a +period, a style of manners, an order of dress, certain habits of street +life, assembly-room life, and coffee-room life, etc.; but there is a +very broad distinction between this and mere Newgate Calendar. The +latter would assuredly damage your book, and be protested against to me. +I have a conviction of it, founded on constant observation and +experience here. + +Your kind invitation is extremely welcome and acceptable to me, but I am +sorry to add that I must not go a-visiting. For this reason: So +incessantly have I been "reading," that I have not once been at home at +Gad's Hill since last January, and am little likely to get there before +the middle of May. Judge how the master's eye must be kept on the place +when it does at length get a look at it after so long an absence! I hope +you will descry in this a reason for coming to me again, instead of my +coming to you. + +The extinct prize-fighters, as a body, I take to be a good subject, for +much the same reason as George Barrington. Their patrons were a class of +men now extinct too, and the whole ring of those days (not to mention +Jackson's rooms in Bond Street) is a piece of social history. Now Vaux +is not, nor is he even a phenomenon among thieves. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Clarkson Stanfield, R.A.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, + _Thursday, April 18th, 1867._ + +MY DEAR STANNY, + +The time of year reminds me how the months have gone, since I last heard +from you through Mrs. Stanfield. + +I hope you have not thought me unmindful of you in the meanwhile. I have +been almost constantly travelling and reading. England, Ireland, and +Scotland have laid hold of me by turns, and I have had no rest. As soon +as I had finished this kind of work last year, I had to fall to work +upon "All the Year Round" and the Christmas number. I was no sooner quit +of that task, and the Christmas season was but run out to its last day, +when I was tempted into another course of fifty readings that are not +yet over. I am here now for two days, and have not seen the place since +Twelfth Night. When a reading in London has been done, I have been +brought up for it from some great distance, and have next morning been +carried back again. But the fifty will be "paid out" (as we say at sea) +by the middle of May, and then I hope to see you. + +Reading at Cheltenham the other day, I saw Macready, who sent his love +to you. His face was much more massive and as it used to be, than when I +saw him previous to his illness. His wife takes admirable care of him, +and is on the happiest terms with his daughter Katie. His boy by the +second marriage is a jolly little fellow, and leads a far easier life +than the children you and I remember, who used to come in at dessert and +have each a biscuit and a glass of water, in which last refreshment I +was always convinced that they drank, with the gloomiest malignity, +"Destruction to the gormandising grown-up company!" + +I hope to look up your latest triumphs on the day of the Academy dinner. +Of course as yet I have had no opportunity of even hearing of what +anyone has done. I have been (in a general way) snowed up for four +months. The locomotive with which I was going to Ireland was dug out of +the snow at midnight, in Wales. Both passages across were made in a +furious snowstorm. The snow lay ankle-deep in Dublin, and froze hard at +Belfast. In Scotland it slanted before a perpetual east wind. In +Yorkshire, it derived novelty from thunder and lightning. Whirlwinds +everywhere I don't mention. + +God bless you and yours. If I look like some weather-beaten pilot when +we meet, don't be surprised. Any mahogany-faced stranger who holds out +his hand to you will probably turn out, on inspection, to be the old +original Dick. + + Ever, my dear Stanny, your faithful and affectionate. + +P.S.--I wish you could have been with me (of course in a snowstorm) one +day on the pier at Tynemouth. There was a very heavy sea running, and a +perfect fleet of screw merchantmen were plunging in and out on the turn +of the tide at high-water. Suddenly there came a golden horizon, and a +most glorious rainbow burst out, arching one large ship, as if she were +sailing direct for heaven. I was so enchanted by the scene, that I +became oblivious of a few thousand tons of water coming on in an +enormous roller, and was knocked down and beaten by its spray when it +broke, and so completely wetted through and through, that the very +pockets in my pocket-book were full of sea. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. George Stanfield.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Sunday, May 19th, 1867._ + + ON THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER. + +MY DEAR GEORGE, + +When I came up to the house this afternoon and saw what had happened, I +had not the courage to ring, though I had thought I was fully prepared +by what I heard when I called yesterday. No one of your father's friends +can ever have loved him more dearly than I always did, or can have +better known the worth of his noble character. + +It is idle to suppose that I can do anything for you; and yet I cannot +help saying that I am staying here for some days, and that if I could, +it would be a much greater relief to me than it could be a service to +you. + +Your poor mother has been constantly in my thoughts since I saw the +quiet bravery with which she preserved her composure. The beauty of her +ministration sank into my heart when I saw him for the last time on +earth. May God be with her, and with you all, in your great loss. + + Affectionately yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + _Thursday, June 6th, 1867._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +I cannot tell you how warmly I feel your letter, or how deeply I +appreciate the affection and regard in which it originates. I thank you +for it with all my heart. + +You will not suppose that I make light of any of your misgivings if I +present the other side of the question. Every objection that you make +strongly impresses me, and will be revolved in my mind again and again. + +When I went to America in '42, I was so much younger, but (I think) very +much weaker too. I had had a painful surgical operation performed +shortly before going out, and had had the labour from week to week of +"Master Humphrey's Clock." My life in the States was a life of continual +speech-making (quite as laborious as reading), and I was less patient +and more irritable then than I am now. My idea of a course of readings +in America is, that it would involve far less travelling than you +suppose, that the large first-class rooms would absorb the whole course, +and that the receipts would be very much larger than your estimate, +unless the demand for the readings is ENORMOUSLY EXAGGERATED ON ALL +HANDS. There is considerable reason for this view of the case. And I can +hardly think that all the speculators who beset, and all the private +correspondents who urge me, are in a conspiracy or under a common +delusion. + + * * * * * + +I shall never rest much while my faculties last, and (if I know myself) +have a certain something in me that would still be active in rusting and +corroding me, if I flattered myself that I was in repose. On the other +hand, I think that my habit of easy self-abstraction and withdrawal into +fancies has always refreshed and strengthened me in short intervals +wonderfully. I always seem to myself to have rested far more than I have +worked; and I do really believe that I have some exceptional faculty of +accumulating young feelings in short pauses, which obliterates a +quantity of wear and tear. + +My worldly circumstances (such a large family considered) are very good. +I don't want money. All my possessions are free and in the best order. +Still, at fifty-five or fifty-six, the likelihood of making a very great +addition to one's capital in half a year is an immense consideration.... +I repeat the phrase, because there should be something large to set +against the objections. + +I dine with Forster to-day, to talk it over. I have no doubt he will +urge most of your objections and particularly the last, though American +friends and correspondents he has, have undoubtedly staggered him more +than I ever knew him to be staggered on the money question. Be assured +that no one can present any argument to me which will weigh more +heartily with me than your kind words, and that whatever comes of my +present state of abeyance, I shall never forget your letter or cease to +be grateful for it. + + Ever, my dear Wills, faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, June 13th, 1867._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +I have read the first three numbers of Wilkie's story this morning, and +have gone minutely through the plot of the rest to the last line. It +gives a series of "narratives," but it is a very curious story, wild, +and yet domestic, with excellent character in it, and great mystery. It +is prepared with extraordinary care, and has every chance of being a +hit. It is in many respects much better than anything he has done. The +question is, how shall we fill up the blank between Mabel's progress and +Wilkie? What do you think of proposing to Fitzgerald to do a story three +months long? I daresay he has some unfinished or projected something by +him. + +I have an impression that it was not Silvester who tried Eliza Fenning, +but Knowles. One can hardly suppose Thornbury to make such a mistake, +but I wish you would look into the Annual Register. I have added a final +paragraph about the unfairness of the judge, whoever he was. I +distinctly recollect to have read of his "putting down" of Eliza +Fenning's father when the old man made some miserable suggestion in his +daughter's behalf (this is not noticed by Thornbury), and he also +stopped some suggestion that a knife thrust into a loaf adulterated with +alum would present the appearance that these knives presented. But I may +have got both these points from looking up some pamphlets in Upcott's +collection which I once had. + +Your account of your journey reminds me of one of the latest American +stories, how a traveller by stage-coach said to the driver: "Did you +ever see a snail, sir?" "Yes, sir." "Where did you meet him, sir?" "I +_didn't_ meet him, sir!" "Wa'al, sir, I think you did, if you'll excuse +me, for I'm damned if you ever overtook him." + +Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Henderson.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Thursday, July 4th, 1867._ + +MY DEAR MRS. HENDERSON, + +I was more shocked than surprised by the receipt of your mother's +announcement of our poor dear Marguerite's death. When I heard of the +consultation, and recalled what had preceded it and what I have seen +here, my hopes were very slight. + +Your letter did not reach me until last night, and thus I could not +avoid remaining here to-day, to keep an American appointment of unusual +importance. You and your mother both know, I think, that I had a great +affection for Marguerite, that we had many dear remembrances together, +and that her self-reliance and composed perseverance had awakened my +highest admiration in later times. No one could have stood by her grave +to-day with a better knowledge of all that was great and good in her +than I have, or with a more loving remembrance of her through all her +phases since she first came to London a pretty timid girl. + +I do not trouble your mother by writing to her separately. It is a sad, +sad task to write at all. God help us! + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Percy Fitzgerald.] + + GAD'S HILL, _July 21st, 1867._ + +MY DEAR FITZGERALD, + +I am heartily glad to get your letter, and shall be thoroughly well +pleased to study you again in the pages of A. Y. R. + +I have settled nothing yet about America, but am going to send Dolby out +on the 3rd of next month to survey the land, and come back with a report +on some heads whereon I require accurate information. Proposals (both +from American and English speculators) of a very tempting nature have +been repeatedly made to me; but I cannot endure the thought of binding +myself to give so many readings there whether I like it or no; and if I +go at all, am bent on going with Dolby single-handed. + +I have been doing two things for America; one, the little story to which +you refer; the other, four little papers for a child's magazine. I like +them both, and think the latter a queer combination of a child's mind +with a grown-up joke. I have had them printed to assure correct printing +in the United States. You shall have the proof to read, with the +greatest pleasure. On second thoughts, why shouldn't I send you the +children's proof by this same post? I will, as I have it here, send it +under another cover. When you return it, you shall have the short story. + + Believe me, always heartily yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Percy Fitzgerald.] + + EXTRACT. + + _July 28th, 1867._ + +I am glad you like the children, and particularly glad you like the +pirate. I remember very well when I had a general idea of occupying that +place in history at the same age. But I loved more desperately than +Boldheart. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, _Friday Night, Aug. 2nd, 1867._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +I cannot get a boot on--wear a slipper on my left foot, and consequently +am here under difficulties. My foot is occasionally painful, but not +very. I don't think it worth while consulting anybody about it as yet. I +make out so many reasons against supposing it to be gouty, that I really +do not think it is. + +Dolby begs me to send all manner of apologetic messages for his going to +America. He is very cheerful and hopeful, but evidently feels the +separation from his wife and child very much. His sister[17] was at +Euston Square this morning, looking very well. Sainton too, very light +and jovial. + +With the view of keeping myself and my foot quiet, I think I will not +come to Gad's Hill until Monday. If I don't appear before, send basket +to Gravesend to meet me, leaving town by the 12.10 on Monday. This is +important, as I couldn't walk a quarter of a mile to-night for five +hundred pounds. + +Love to all at Gad's. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Monday, Sept. 2nd, 1867._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +Like you, I was shocked when this new discovery burst upon me on Friday, +though, unlike you, I never could believe in ----, solely (I think) +because, often as I have tried him, I never found him standing by my +desk when I was writing a letter without trying to read it. + +I fear there is no doubt that since ----'s discharge, he (----) has +stolen money at the readings. A case of an abstracted shilling seems to +have been clearly brought home to him by Chappell's people, and they +know very well what _that_ means. I supposed a very clear keeping off +from Anne's husband (whom I recommended for employment to Chappell) to +have been referable only to ----; but now I see how hopeless and unjust +it would be to expect belief from him with two such cases within his +knowledge. + +But don't let the thing spoil your holiday. If we try to do our duty by +people we employ, by exacting their proper service from them on the one +hand, and treating them with all possible consistency, gentleness, and +consideration on the other, we know that we do right. Their doing wrong +cannot change our doing right, and that should be enough for us. + +So I have given _my_ feathers a shake, and am all right again. Give +_your_ feathers a shake, and take a cheery flutter into the air of +Hertfordshire. + +Great reports from Dolby and also from Fields! But I keep myself quite +calm, and hold my decision in abeyance until I shall have book, chapter, +and verse before me. Dolby hoped he could leave Uncle Sam on the 11th of +this month. + +Sydney has passed as a lieutenant, and appeared at home yesterday, all +of a sudden, with the consequent golden garniture on his sleeve, which +I, God forgive me, stared at without the least idea that it meant +promotion. + +I am glad you see a certain unlikeness to anything in the American +story. Upon myself it has made the strangest impression of reality and +originality!! And I feel as if I had read something (by somebody else), +which I should never get out of my mind!!! The main idea of the +narrator's position towards the other people was the idea that I _had_ +for my next novel in A. Y. R. But it is very curious that I did not in +the least see how to begin his state of mind until I walked into Hoghton +Towers one bright April day with Dolby. + + Faithfully ever. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. F. D. Finlay.] + + CONTRADICTING A NEWSPAPER REPORT OF HIS BEING IN A + CRITICAL STATE OF HEALTH. + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Tuesday, Sept. 3rd, 1867._ + +This is to certify that the undersigned victim of a periodical +paragraph-disease, which usually breaks out once in every seven years +(proceeding to England by the overland route to India and per Cunard +line to America, where it strikes the base of the Rocky Mountains, and, +rebounding to Europe, perishes on the steppes of Russia), is _not_ in a +"critical state of health," and has _not_ consulted "eminent surgeons," +and never was better in his life, and is _not_ recommended to proceed to +the United States for "cessation from literary labour," and has not had +so much as a headache for twenty years. + + CHARLES DICKENS. + + +[Sidenote: M. Charles Fechter.] + + "ALL THE YEAR ROUND" OFFICE, + _Monday, Sept. 16th, 1867._ + +MY DEAR FECHTER, + +Going over the prompt-book carefully, I see one change in your part to +which (on Lytton's behalf) I positively object, as I am quite certain he +would not consent to it. It is highly injudicious besides, as striking +out the best known line in the play. + +Turn to your part in Act III., the speech beginning + + Pauline, _by pride + Angels have fallen ere thy time_: by pride---- + +You have made a passage farther on stand: + + _Then did I seek to rise + Out of my mean estate. Thy bright image, etc._ + +I must stipulate for your restoring it thus: + + Then did I seek to rise + Out of the prison of my mean estate; + And, with such jewels as the exploring mind + Brings from the caves of knowledge, buy my ransom + From those twin jailers of the daring heart-- + Low birth and iron fortune. Thy bright image, etc. etc. + +The last figure has been again and again quoted; is identified with the +play; is fine in itself; and above all, I KNOW that Lytton would not let +it go. In writing to him to-day, fully explaining the changes in detail, +and saying that I disapprove of nothing else, I have told him that I +notice this change and that I immediately let you know that it must not +be made. + +(There will not be a man in the house from any newspaper who would not +detect mutilations in that speech, moreover.) + + Ever. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + _Monday, Sept. 30th, 1867._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +The telegram is despatched to Boston: "Yes. Go ahead." After a very +anxious consultation with Forster, and careful heed of what is to be +said for and against, I have made up my mind to see it out. I do not +expect as much money as the calculators estimate, but I cannot set the +hope of a large sum of money aside. + +I am so nervous with travelling and anxiety to decide something, that I +can hardly write. But I send you these few words as my dearest and best +friend. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," NO. 26, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND, + LONDON, W.C., + _Monday, Sept. 30th, 1867._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +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. I doubt the profit being as +great as the calculation makes it, but the prospect is sufficiently +alluring to turn the scale on the American side. + +Unless I telegraph to the contrary, I will come to Gravesend (send +basket there) by 12 train on Wednesday. Love to all. + +We have telegraphed "Yes" to Boston. + +I begin to feel myself drawn towards America, as Darnay, in the "Tale of +Two Cities," was attracted to the Loadstone Rock, Paris. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.] + + 26, WELLINGTON STREET, _Saturday, Oct. 19th, 1867._ + +MY DEAR KENT, + +In the midst of the great trouble you are taking in the cause of your +undersigned affectionate friend, I hope the reading of the enclosed may +be a sort of small godsend. Of course it is very strictly private. The +printers are not yet trusted with the name, but the name will be, "No +Thoroughfare." I have done the greater part of it; may you find it +interesting! + +My solicitor, a man of some mark and well known, is anxious to be on the +Committee: + + Frederic Ouvry, Esquire, + 66, Lincoln's Inn Fields. + + Ever affectionately yours. + +P.S.--My sailor son! + +I forgot him!! + +Coming up from Portsmouth for the dinner!!! + +Der--er--oo not cur--ur--urse me, I implore. + + Penitently. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Power.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Wednesday, Oct. 23rd, 1867._ + +MY DEAR MRS. POWER, + +I have a sad pleasure in the knowledge that our dear Marguerite so +remembered her old friend, and I shall preserve the token of her +remembrance with loving care. The sight of it has brought back many old +days. + +With kind remembrance to Mrs. Henderson, + + Believe me always, very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. J. L. Toole.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Saturday, Nov. 2nd, 1867._ + +MY DEAR MR. TOOLE, + +I heartily thank you for your elegant token of remembrance, and for your +earnest letter. Both have afforded me real pleasure, and the first-named +shall go with me on my journey. + +Let me take this opportunity of saying that on receipt of your letter +concerning to-day's dinner, I immediately forwarded your request to the +honorary secretary. I hope you will understand that I could not, in +delicacy, otherwise take part in the matter. + +Again thanking you most cordially, + + Believe me, always faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + 26, WELLINGTON STREET, _Sunday, Nov. 3rd, 1867._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +If you were to write me many such warm-hearted letters as you send this +morning, my heart would fail me! There is nothing that so breaks down my +determination, or shows me what an iron force I put upon myself, and how +weak it is, as a touch of true affection from a tried friend. + +All that you so earnestly say about the goodwill and devotion of all +engaged, I perceived and deeply felt last night. It moved me even more +than the demonstration itself, though I do suppose it was the most +brilliant ever seen. When I got up to speak, but for taking a desperate +hold of myself, I should have lost my sight and voice and sat down +again. + +God bless you, my dear fellow. I am, ever and ever, + + Your affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: The Hon. Mrs. Watson.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Tuesday, Nov. 5th, 1867._ + +MY DEAR MRS. WATSON, + +A thousand thanks for your kind letter, and many congratulations on your +having successfully attained a dignity which I never allow to be +mentioned in my presence. Charley's children are instructed from their +tenderest months only to know me as "Wenerables," which they sincerely +believe to be my name, and a kind of title that I have received from a +grateful country. + +Alas! I cannot have the pleasure of seeing you before I presently go to +Liverpool. Every moment of my time is preoccupied. But I send you my +sincere love, and am always truthful to the dear old days, and the +memory of one of the dearest friends I ever loved. + + Affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + ABOARD THE "CUBA," QUEENSTOWN HARBOUR, + _Sunday, Nov. 10th, 1867._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +We arrived here at seven this morning, and shall probably remain +awaiting our mail, until four or five this afternoon. The weather in the +passage here was delightful, and we had scarcely any motion beyond that +of the screw. + +We are nearly but not quite full of passengers. At table I sit next the +captain, on his right, on the outside of the table and close to the +door. My little cabin is big enough for everything but getting up in and +going to bed in. As it has a good window which I can leave open all +night, and a door which I can set open too, it suits my chief +requirements of it--plenty of air--admirably. On a writing-slab in it, +which pulls out when wanted, I now write in a majestic manner. + +Many of the passengers are American, and I am already on the best terms +with nearly all the ship. + +We began our voyage yesterday a very little while after you left us, +which was a great relief. The wind is S.E. this morning, and if it would +keep so we should go along nobly. My dearest love to your aunt, and +also to Katie and all the rest. I am in very good health, thank God, and +as well as possible. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + ABOARD THE "CUBA," FIVE DAYS OUT, + _Wednesday, Nov. 13th, 1867._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +As I wrote to Mamie last, I now write to you, or mean to do it, if the +motion of the ship will let me. + +We are very nearly halfway to-day. The weather was favourable for us +until yesterday morning, when we got a head-wind which still stands by +us. We have rolled and pitched, of course; but on the whole have been +wonderfully well off. I have had headache and have felt faint once or +twice, _but have not been sick at all_. My spacious cabin is very noisy +at night, as the most important working of the ship goes on outside my +window and over my head; but it is very airy, and if the weather be bad +and I can't open the window, I can open the door all night. If the +weather be fine (as it is now), I can open both door and window, and +write between them. Last night, I got a foot-bath under the dignified +circumstances of sitting on a camp-stool in my cabin, and having the +bath (and my feet) in the passage outside. The officers' quarters are +close to me, and, as I know them all, I get reports of the weather and +the way we are making when the watch is changed, and I am (as I usually +am) lying awake. The motion of the screw is at its slightest vibration +in my particular part of the ship. The silent captain, reported gruff, +is a very good fellow and an honest fellow. Kelly has been ill all the +time, and not of the slightest use, and is ill now. Scott always +cheerful, and useful, and ready; a better servant for the kind of work +there never can have been. Young Lowndes has been fearfully sick until +mid-day yesterday. His cabin is pitch dark, and full of blackbeetles. He +shares mine until nine o'clock at night, when Scott carries him off to +bed. He also dines with me in my magnificent chamber. This passage in +winter time cannot be said to be an enjoyable excursion, but I certainly +am making it under the best circumstances. (I find Dolby to have been +enormously popular on board, and to have known everybody and gone +everywhere.) + +So much for my news, except that I have been constantly reading, and +find that "Pierra" that Mrs. Hogge sent me by Katie to be a very +remarkable book, not only for its grim and horrible story, but for its +suggestion of wheels within wheels, and sad human mysteries. Baker's +second book not nearly so good as his first, but his first anticipated +it. + +We hope to get to Halifax either on Sunday or Monday, and to Boston +either on Tuesday or Wednesday. The glass is rising high to-day, and +everybody on board is hopeful of an easterly wind. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + _Saturday, 16th._ + +Last Thursday afternoon a heavy gale of wind sprang up and blew hard +until dark, when it seemed to lull. But it then came on again with great +violence, and blew tremendously all night. The noise, and the rolling +and plunging of the ship, were awful. Nobody on board could get any +sleep, and numbers of passengers were rolled out of their berths. Having +a side-board to mine to keep me in, like a baby, I lay still. But it was +a dismal night indeed, and it was curious to see the change it had made +in the faces of all the passengers yesterday. It cannot be denied that +these winter crossings are very trying and startling; while the +personal discomfort of not being able to wash, and the miseries of +getting up and going to bed, with what small means there are all +sliding, and sloping, and slopping about, are really in their way +distressing. + +This forenoon we made Cape Race, and are now running along at full speed +with the land beside us. Kelly still useless, and positively declining +to show on deck. Scott, with an eight-day-old moustache, more super like +than ever. My foot (I hope from walking on the boarded deck) in a very +shy condition to-day, and rather painful. I shaved this morning for the +first time since Liverpool; dodging at the glass, very much like +Fechter's imitation of ----. The white cat that came off with us in the +tender a general favourite. She belongs to the daughter of a Southerner, +returning with his wife and family from a two-years' tour in Europe. + + + _Sunday, 17th._ + +At four o'clock this morning we got into bad weather again, and the +state of things at breakfast-time was unutterably miserable. Nearly all +the passengers in their berths--no possibility of standing on +deck--sickness and groans--impracticable to pass a cup of tea from one +pair of hands to another. It has slightly moderated since (between two +and three in the afternoon I write), and the sun is shining, but the +rolling of the ship surpasses all imagination or description. + +We expect to be at Halifax about an hour after midnight, and this letter +shall be posted there, to make certain of catching the return mail on +Wednesday. Boston is only thirty hours from Halifax. + +Best love to Mamie, and to Katie and Charley. I know you will report me +and my love to Forster and Mrs. Forster. I write with great difficulty, +wedged up in a corner, and having my heels on the paper as often as the +pen. Kelly worse than ever, and Scott better than ever. + +My desk and I have just arisen from the floor. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + PARKER HOUSE, BOSTON, _Thursday, Nov. 21st, 1867._ + +I arrived here on Tuesday night, after a very slow passage from Halifax +against head-winds. All the tickets for the first four readings here +(all yet announced) were sold immediately on their being issued. + +You know that I begin on the 2nd of December with "Carol" and "Trial"? +Shall be heartily glad to begin to count the readings off. + +This is an immense hotel, with all manner of white marble public +passages and public rooms. I live in a corner high up, and have a hot +and cold bath in my bedroom (communicating with the sitting-room), and +comforts not in existence when I was here before. The cost of living is +enormous, but happily we can afford it. I dine to-day with Longfellow, +Emerson, Holmes, and Agassiz. Longfellow was here yesterday. Perfectly +white in hair and beard, but a remarkably handsome and notable-looking +man. The city has increased enormously in five-and-twenty years. It has +grown more mercantile--is like Leeds mixed with Preston, and flavoured +with New Brighton; but for smoke and fog you substitute an exquisitely +bright light air. I found my rooms beautifully decorated (by Mrs. +Fields) with choice flowers, and set off by a number of good books. I am +not much persecuted by people in general, as Dolby has happily made up +his mind that the less I am exhibited for nothing the better. So our men +sit outside the room door and wrestle with mankind. + +We had speech-making and singing in the saloon of the _Cuba_ after the +last dinner of the voyage. I think I have acquired a higher reputation +from drawing out the captain, and getting him to take the second in +"All's Well," and likewise in "There's not in the wide world" (your +parent taking first), than from anything previously known of me on these +shores. I hope the effect of these achievements may not dim the lustre +of the readings. We also sang (with a Chicago lady, and a strong-minded +woman from I don't know where) "Auld Lang Syne," with a tender +melancholy, expressive of having all four been united from our cradles. +The more dismal we were, the more delighted the company were. Once (when +we paddled i' the burn) the captain took a little cruise round the +compass on his own account, touching at the "Canadian Boat Song," and +taking in supplies at "Jubilate," "Seas between us braid ha' roared," +and roared like the seas themselves. Finally, I proposed the ladies in a +speech that convulsed the stewards, and we closed with a brilliant +success. But when you dine with Mr. Forster, ask him to read to you how +we got on at church in a heavy sea. Hillard has just been in and sent +his love "to those dear girls." He has grown much older. He is now +District Attorney of the State of Massachusetts, which is a very good +office. Best love to your aunt and Katie, and Charley and all his house, +and all friends. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + PARKER HOUSE, BOSTON, _Monday, Nov. 25th, 1867._ + +I cannot remember to whom I wrote last, but it will not much matter if I +make a mistake; this being generally to report myself so well, that I am +constantly chafing at not having begun to-night instead of this night +week. + +The tickets being all sold for next week, and no other announcement +being yet made, there is nothing new in that way to tell of. Dolby is +over at New York, where we are at our wits' end how to keep tickets out +of the hands of speculators. Morgan is staying with me; came yesterday +to breakfast, and goes home to-morrow. Fields and Mrs. Fields also dined +yesterday. She is a very nice woman, with a rare relish for humour and a +most contagious laugh. The Bostonians having been duly informed that I +wish to be quiet, really leave me as much so as I should be in +Manchester or Liverpool. This I cannot expect to last elsewhere; but it +is a most welcome relief here, as I have all the readings to get up. The +people are perfectly kind and perfectly agreeable. If I stop to look in +at a shop-window, a score of passers-by stop; and after I begin to read, +I cannot expect in the natural course of things to get off so easily. +But I every day take from seven to ten miles in peace. + +Communications about readings incessantly come in from all parts of the +country. We take no offer whatever, lying by with our plans until after +the first series in New York, and designing, if we make a furore there, +to travel as little as possible. I fear I shall have to take Canada at +the end of the whole tour. They make such strong representations from +Montreal and Toronto, and from Nova Scotia--represented by St. John's +and Halifax--of the slight it would be to them, if I wound up with the +States, that I am shaken. + +It is sad to see Longfellow's house (the house in which his wife was +burnt) with his young daughters in it, and the shadow of that terrible +story. The young undergraduates of Cambridge (he is a professor there) +have made a representation to him that they are five hundred strong, +and cannot get one ticket. I don't know what is to be done for them; I +suppose I must read there somehow. We are all in the clouds until I +shall have broken ground in New York, as to where readings will be +possible and where impossible. + +Agassiz is one of the most natural and jovial of men. I go out +a-visiting as little as I can, but still have to dine, and what is +worse, sup pretty often. Socially, I am (as I was here before) +wonderfully reminded of Edinburgh when I had many friends in it. + +Your account and Mamie's of the return journey to London gave me great +pleasure. I was delighted with your report of Wilkie, and not surprised +by Chappell's coming out gallantly. + +My anxiety to get to work is greater than I can express, because time +seems to be making no movement towards home until I shall be reading +hard. Then I shall begin to count and count and count the upward steps +to May. + +If ever you should be in a position to advise a traveller going on a sea +voyage, remember that there is some mysterious service done to the +bilious system when it is shaken, by baked apples. Noticing that they +were produced on board the _Cuba_, every day at lunch and dinner, I +thought I would make the experiment of always eating them freely. I am +confident that they did wonders, not only at the time, but in stopping +the imaginary pitching and rolling after the voyage is over, from which +many good amateur sailors suffer. I have hardly had the sensation at +all, except in washing of a morning. At that time I still hold on with +one knee to the washing-stand, and could swear that it rolls from left +to right. The _Cuba_ does not return until Wednesday, the 4th December. +You may suppose that every officer on board is coming on Monday, and +that Dolby has provided extra stools for them. His work is very hard +indeed. Cards are brought to him every minute in the day; his +correspondence is immense; and he is jerked off to New York, and I don't +know where else, on the shortest notice and the most unreasonable times. +Moreover, he has to be at "the bar" every night, and to "liquor up with +all creation" in the small hours. He does it all with the greatest good +humour, and flies at everybody who waylays the Chief, furiously. We have +divided our men into watches, so that one always sits outside the +drawing-room door. Dolby knows the whole Cunard line, and as we could +not get good English gin, went out in a steamer yesterday and got two +cases (twenty-four bottles) out of Cunard officers. Osgood and he were +detached together last evening for New York, whence they telegraph every +other hour about some new point in this precious sale of tickets. So +distracted a telegram arrived at three that I have telegraphed back, +"Explain yourselves," and am now waiting for the explanation. I think +you know that Osgood is a partner in Ticknor and Fields'. + +Tuesday morning.--Dolby has come back from New York, where the prospects +seem immense. We sell tickets there next Friday and Saturday, and a +tremendous rush is expected. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Charles Dickens.] + + PARKER HOUSE, BOSTON, U.S., _Saturday, Nov. 30th, 1867._ + +MY DEAR CHARLEY, + +You will have heard before now how fortunate I was on my voyage, and how +I was not sick for a moment. These screws are tremendous ships for +carrying on, and for rolling, and their vibration is rather distressing. +But my little cabin, being for'ard of the machinery, was in the best +part of the vessel, and I had as much air in it, night and day, as I +chose. The saloon being kept absolutely without air, I mostly dined in +my own den, in spite of my being allotted the post of honour on the +right hand of the captain. + +The tickets for the first four readings here (the only readings +announced) were all sold immediately, and many are now re-selling at a +large premium. The tickets for the first four readings in New York (the +only readings announced there also) were on sale yesterday, and were all +sold in a few hours. The receipts are very large indeed; but engagements +of any kind and every kind I steadily refuse, being resolved to take +what is to be taken myself. Dolby is nearly worked off his legs, is now +at New York, and goes backwards and forwards between this place and that +(about the distance from London to Liverpool, though they take nine +hours to do it) incessantly. Nothing can exceed his energy and good +humour, and he is extremely popular everywhere. My great desire is to +avoid much travelling, and to try to get the people to come to me, +instead of my going to them. If I can effect this to any moderate +extent, I shall be saved a great deal of knocking about. My original +purpose was not to go to Canada at all; but Canada is so up in arms on +the subject that I think I shall be obliged to take it at last. In that +case I should work round to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then take the +packet for home. + +As they don't seem (Americans who have heard me on their travels +excepted) to have the least idea here of what the readings are like, and +as they are accustomed to mere readings out of a book, I am inclined to +think the excitement will increase when I shall have begun. Everybody +is very kind and considerate, and I have a number of old friends here, +at the Bar and connected with the University. I am now negotiating to +bring out the dramatic version of "No Thoroughfare" at New York. It is +quite upon the cards that it may turn up trumps. + +I was interrupted in that place by a call from my old secretary in the +States, Mr. Putnam. It was quite affecting to see his delight in meeting +his old master again. And when I told him that Anne was married, and +that I had (unacknowledged) grandchildren, he laughed and cried +together. I suppose you don't remember Longfellow, though he remembers +you in a black velvet frock very well. He is now white-haired and +white-bearded, but remarkably handsome. He still lives in his old house, +where his beautiful wife was burnt to death. I dined with him the other +day, and could not get the terrific scene out of my imagination. She was +in a blaze in an instant, rushed into his arms with a wild cry, and +never spoke afterwards. + +My love to Bessie, and to Mekitty, and all the babbies. I will lay this +by until Tuesday morning, and then add a final line to it. + + Ever, my dear Charley, your affectionate Father. + + + _Tuesday, Dec. 3rd, 1867._ + +Success last night beyond description or exaggeration. The whole city is +quite frantic about it to-day, and it is impossible that prospects could +be more brilliant. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + PARKER HOUSE, BOSTON, _Sunday, Dec. 1st, 1867._ + +I received yours of the 18th November, yesterday. As I left Halifax in +the _Cuba_ that very day, you probably saw us telegraphed in _The Times_ +on the 19th. + +Dolby came back from another run to New York, this morning. The receipts +are very large indeed, far exceeding our careful estimate made at Gad's. +I think you had best in future (unless I give you intimation to the +contrary) address your letters to me, at the Westminster Hotel, Irving +Place, New York City. It is a more central position than this, and we +are likely to be much more there than here. I am going to set up a +brougham in New York, and keep my rooms at that hotel. The account of +Matilda is a very melancholy one, and really distresses me. What she +must sink into, it is sad to consider. However, there was nothing for it +but to send her away, that is quite clear. + +They are said to be a very quiet audience here, appreciative but not +demonstrative. I shall try to change their character a little. + +I have been going on very well. A horrible custom obtains in these parts +of asking you to dinner somewhere at half-past two, and to supper +somewhere else about eight. I have run this gauntlet more than once, and +its effect is, that there is no day for any useful purpose, and that the +length of the evening is multiplied by a hundred. Yesterday I dined with +a club at half-past two, and came back here at half-past eight, with a +general impression that it was at least two o'clock in the morning. Two +days before I dined with Longfellow at half-past two, and came back at +eight, supposing it to be midnight. To-day we have a state dinner-party +in our rooms at six, Mr. and Mrs. Fields, and Mr. and Mrs. Bigelow. (He +is a friend of Forster's, and was American Minister in Paris). There are +no negro waiters here, all the servants are Irish--willing, but not +able. The dinners and wines are very good. I keep our own rooms well +ventilated by opening the windows, but no window is ever opened in the +halls or passages, and they are so overheated by a great furnace, that +they make me faint and sick. The air is like that of a pre-Adamite +ironing-day in full blast. Your respected parent is immensely popular in +Boston society, and its cordiality and unaffected heartiness are +charming. I wish I could carry it with me. + +The leading New York papers have sent men over for to-morrow night with +instructions to telegraph columns of descriptions. Great excitement and +expectation everywhere. Fields says he has looked forward to it so long +that he knows he will die at five minutes to eight. + +At the New York barriers, where the tickets are on sale and the people +ranged as at the Paris theatres, speculators went up and down offering +"twenty dollars for anybody's place." The money was in no case accepted. +One man sold two tickets for the second, third, and fourth night for +"one ticket for the first, fifty dollars" (about seven pounds ten +shillings), "and a brandy cocktail," which is an iced bitter drink. The +weather has been rather muggy and languid until yesterday, when there +was the coldest wind blowing that I ever felt. In the night it froze +very hard, and to-day the sky is beautiful. + + + _Tuesday, Dec. 3rd._ + +Most magnificent reception last night, and most signal and complete +success. Nothing could be more triumphant. The people will hear of +nothing else and talk of nothing else. Nothing that was ever done here, +they all agree, evoked any approach to such enthusiasm. I was quite as +cool and quick as if I were reading at Greenwich, and went at it +accordingly. Tell your aunt, with my best love, that I have this morning +received hers of the 21st, and that I will write to her next. That will +be from New York. My love to Mr. and Mrs. Hulkes and the boy, and to Mr. +and Mrs. Malleson.[18] + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + BOSTON, _Wednesday, Dec. 4th, 1867._ + +I find that by going off to the _Cuba_ myself this morning I can send +you the enclosed for Mary Boyle (I don't know how to address her), whose +usual flower for my button-hole was produced in the most extraordinary +manner here last Monday night! All well and prosperous. "Copperfield" +and "Bob" last night; great success. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Mary Boyle.] + + BOSTON, _December 4th, 1867._ + +MY DEAR MEERY, + +You can have no idea of the glow of pleasure and amazement with which I +saw your remembrance of me lying on my dressing-table here last Monday +night. Whosoever undertook that commission accomplished it to a miracle. +But you must go away four thousand miles, and have such a token conveyed +to _you_, before you can quite appreciate the feeling of receiving it. +Ten thousand loving thanks. + +Immense success here, and unbounded enthusiasm. My largest expectations +far surpassed. + + Ever your affectionate + Jo. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + WESTMINSTER HOTEL, IRVING PLACE, NEW YORK CITY, + _Wednesday, Dec 11th, 1867._ + +Amazing success here. A very fine audience; _far better than that at +Boston_. Great reception. Great, "Carol" and "Trial," on the first +night; still greater, "Copperfield" and "Bob," on the second. Dolby +sends you a few papers by this post. You will see from their tone what a +success it is. + +I cannot pay this letter, because I give it at the latest moment to the +mail-officer, who is going on board the Cunard packet in charge of the +mails, and who is staying in this house. We are now selling (at the +hall) the tickets for the four readings of next week. At nine o'clock +this morning there were two thousand people in waiting, and they had +begun to assemble in the bitter cold as early as two o'clock. All night +long Dolby and our man have been stamping tickets. (Immediately over my +head, by-the-bye, and keeping me awake.) This hotel is quite as quiet as +Mivart's, in Brook Street. It is not very much larger. There are +American hotels close by, with five hundred bedrooms, and I don't know +how many boarders; but this is conducted on what is called "the European +principle," and is an admirable mixture of a first-class French and +English house. I keep a very smart carriage and pair; and if you were to +behold me driving out, furred up to the moustache, with furs on the +coach-boy and on the driver, and with an immense white, red, and yellow +striped rug for a covering, you would suppose me to be of Hungarian or +Polish nationality. + +Will you report the success here to Mr. Forster with my love, and tell +him he shall hear from me by next mail? + +Dolby sends his kindest regards. He is just come in from our ticket +sales, and has put such an immense untidy heap of paper money on the +table that it looks like a family wash. He hardly ever dines, and is +always tearing about at unreasonable hours. He works very hard. + +My best love to your aunt (to whom I will write next), and to Katie, and +to both the Charleys, and all the Christmas circle, not forgetting +Chorley, to whom give my special remembrance. You may get this by +Christmas Day. _We_ shall have to keep it travelling from Boston here; +for I read at Boston on the 23rd and 24th, and here again on the 26th. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + WESTMINSTER HOTEL, IRVING PLACE, NEW YORK CITY, + _Monday, Dec. 16th, 1867._ + +We have been snowed up here, and the communication with Boston is still +very much retarded. Thus we have received no letters by the Cunard +steamer that came in last Wednesday, and are in a grim state of mind on +that subject. + +Last night I was getting into bed just at twelve o'clock, when Dolby +came to my door to inform me that the house was on fire (I had +previously smelt fire for two hours). I got Scott up directly, told him +to pack the books and clothes for the readings first, dressed, and +pocketed my jewels and papers, while Dolby stuffed himself out with +money. Meanwhile the police and firemen were in the house, endeavouring +to find where the fire was. For some time it baffled their endeavours, +but at last, bursting out through some stairs, they cut the stairs away, +and traced it to its source in a certain fire-grate. By this time the +hose was laid all through the house 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 a little chopping and cutting with +axes and 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. And so we got to +bed again at about two. + +The excitement of the readings continues unabated, the tickets for +readings are sold as soon as they are ready, and the public pay treble +prices to the speculators who buy them up. They are a wonderfully fine +audience, even better than Edinburgh, and almost, if not quite, as good +as Paris. + +Dolby continues to be the most unpopular man in America (mainly because +he can't get four thousand people into a room that holds two thousand), +and is reviled in print daily. Yesterday morning a newspaper proclaims +of him: "Surely it is time that the pudding-headed Dolby retired into +the native gloom from which he has emerged." He takes it very coolly, +and does his best. Mrs. Morgan sent me, the other night, I suppose the +finest and costliest basket of flowers ever seen, made of white +camellias, yellow roses, pink roses, and I don't know what else. It is a +yard and a half round at its smallest part. + +I must bring this to a close, as I have to go to the hall to try an +enlarged background. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + BOSTON, _Sunday, Dec. 22nd, 1867._ + +Coming here from New York last night (after a detestable journey), I was +delighted to find your letter of the 6th. I read it at my ten o'clock +dinner with the greatest interest and pleasure, and then we talked of +home till we went to bed. + +Our tour is now being made out, and I hope to be able to send it in my +next letter home, which will be to Mamie, from whom I have _not_ heard +(as you thought I had) by the mail that brought out yours. After very +careful consideration I have reversed Dolby's original plan, and have +decided on taking Baltimore, Washington, Cincinnati, _Chicago_ (!), St. +Louis, and a few other places nearer here, instead of staying in New +York. My reason is that we are doing immensely, both at New York and +here, and that I am sure it is in the peculiar character of the people +to prize a thing the more the less easily attainable it is made. +Therefore, I want, by absence, to get the greatest rush and pressure +upon the five farewell readings in New York in April. All our announced +readings are already crammed. + +When we got here last Saturday night, we found that Mrs. Fields had not +only garnished the rooms with flowers, but also with holly (with real +red berries) and festoons of moss dependent from the looking-glasses and +picture frames. She is one of the dearest little women in the world. The +homely Christmas look of the place quite affected us. Yesterday we dined +at her house, and there was a plum-pudding, brought on blazing, and not +to be surpassed in any house in England. 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_. 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 although my voyage out was of that highly +hilarious description that you first made known to me, you may +_generally_ lend a more believing ear to the Philadelphia correspondent +of _The Times_. I don't know him, but I know the source from which he +derives his information, and it is a very respectable one. + +Did I tell you in a former letter from here, to tell Anne, with her old +master's love, that I had seen Putnam, my old secretary? Grey, and with +several front teeth out, but I would have known him anywhere. He is +coming to "Copperfield" to-night, accompanied by his wife and daughter, +and is in the seventh heaven at having his tickets given him. + +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 there at +four this morning, and I don't think a single night has passed since I +have been under the protection of the Eagle, but I have heard the fire +bells dolefully clanging all over the city. + +Dolby sends his kindest regard. His hair has become quite white, the +effect, I suppose, of the climate. He is so universally hauled over the +coals (for no reason on earth), that I fully expect to hear him, one of +these nights, assailed with a howl when he precedes me to the platform +steps. You may conceive what the low newspapers are here, when one of +them yesterday morning had, as an item of news, the intelligence: +"Dickens's Readings. The chap calling himself Dolby got drunk last +night, and was locked up in a police-station for fighting an Irishman." +I don't find that anybody is shocked by this liveliness. + +My love to all, and to Mrs. Hulkes and the boy. By-the-bye, when we left +New York for this place, Dolby called my amazed attention to the +circumstance that Scott was leaning his head against the side of the +carriage and weeping bitterly. I asked him what was the matter, and he +replied: "The owdacious treatment of the luggage, which was more +outrageous than a man could bear." I told him not to make a fool of +himself; but they do knock it about cruelly. I think every trunk we have +is already broken. + +I must leave off, as I am going out for a walk in a bright sunlight and +a complete break-up of the frost and snow. I am much better than I have +been during the last week, but have a cold. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + WESTMINSTER HOTEL, IRVING PLACE, NEW YORK CITY, + _Thursday, Dec. 26th, 1867._ + +I got your aunt's last letter at Boston yesterday, Christmas Day +morning, when I was starting at eleven o'clock to come back to this +place. I wanted it very much, for I had a frightful cold (English colds +are nothing to those of this country), and was exceedingly depressed and +miserable. Not that I had any reason but illness for being so, since the +Bostonians had been quite astounding in their demonstrations. I never +saw anything like them on Christmas Eve. But 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, and all the little windows closed, +and the hurrying and banging about are indescribable. The atmosphere is +detestable, and the motion often all but intolerable. However, we got +our dinner here at eight o'clock, and plucked up a little, and I made +some hot gin punch to drink a merry Christmas to all at home in. But it +must be confessed that we were both very dull. I have been in bed all +day until two o'clock, and here I am now (at three o'clock) a little +better. But I am not fit to read, and I must read to-night. After +watching the general character pretty closely, I became quite sure that +Dolby was wrong on the length of the stay and the number of readings we +had proposed in this place. I am quite certain that it is one of the +national peculiarities that what they want must be difficult of +attainment. I therefore a few days ago made a _coup d'état_, and altered +the whole scheme. We shall go to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, +also some New England towns between Boston and this place, away to the +falls of Niagara, and off far west to Chicago and St. Louis, before +coming back for ten farewell readings here, preceded by farewells at +Boston, leaving Canada altogether. This will not prolong the list beyond +eighty-four readings, the exact original number, and will, please God, +work it all out in April. In my next, I daresay, I shall be able to send +the exact list, so that you may know every day where we are. There has +been a great storm here for a few days, and the streets, though wet, are +becoming passable again. Dolby and Osgood are out in it to-day on a +variety of business, and left in grave and solemn state. Scott and the +gasman are stricken with dumb concern, not having received one single +letter from home since they left. What their wives can have done with +the letters they take it for granted they have written, is their stormy +speculation at the door of my hall dressing-room every night. + +If I do not send a letter to Katie by this mail, it will be because I +shall probably be obliged to go across the water to Brooklyn to-morrow +to see a church, in which it is proposed that I shall read!!! Horrible +visions of being put in the pulpit already beset me. And whether the +audience will be in pews is another consideration which greatly disturbs +my mind. No paper ever comes out without a leader on Dolby, who of +course reads them all, and never can understand why I don't, in which he +is called all the bad names in (and not in) the language. + +We always call him P. H. Dolby now, in consequence of one of these +graceful specimens of literature describing him as the "pudding-headed." + +I fear that when we travel he will have to be always before me, so that +I may not see him six times in as many weeks. However, I shall have done +a fourth of the whole this very next week! + +Best love to your aunt, and the boys, and Katie, and Charley, and all +true friends. + + + _Friday._ + +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. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + WESTMINSTER HOTEL, IRVING PLACE, NEW YORK, + _Monday, Dec. 30th, 1867._ + +I am getting all right again. I have not been well, been very low, and +have been obliged to have a doctor; a very agreeable fellow indeed, who +soon turned out to be an old friend of Olliffe's.[19] He has set me on +my legs and taken his leave "professionally," though he means to give me +a call now and then. + +In the library at Gad's is a bound book, "Remarkable Criminal Trials," +translated by Lady Duff Gordon, from the original by Fauerbach. I want +that book, and a copy of Praed's poems, to be sent out to Boston, care +of Ticknor and Fields. If you will give the "Criminal Trials" to Wills, +and explain my wish, and ask him to buy a copy of Praed's poems and add +it to the parcel, he will know how to send the packet out. I think the +"Criminal Trials" book is in the corner book-case, by the window, +opposite the door. + +No news here. All going on in the regular way. I read in that church I +told you of, about the middle of January. It is wonderfully seated for +two thousand people, and is as easy to speak in as if they were two +hundred. The people are seated in pews, and we let the pews. I stood on +a small platform from which the pulpit will be removed for the +occasion!! I emerge from the vestry!!! Philadelphia, Baltimore, and +another two nights in Boston will follow this coming month of January. +On Friday next I shall have read a fourth of my whole list, besides +having had twelve days' holiday when I first came out. So please God I +shall soon get to the half, and so begin to work hopefully round. + +I suppose you were at the Adelphi on Thursday night last. They are +pirating the bill as well as the play here, everywhere. I have +registered the play as the property of an American citizen, but the law +is by no means clear that I established a right in it by so doing; and +of course the pirates knew very well that I could not, under existing +circumstances, try the question with them in an American court of law. +Nothing is being played here scarcely that is not founded on my +books--"Cricket," "Oliver Twist," "Our Mutual Friend," and I don't know +what else, every night. I can't get down Broadway for my own portrait; +and yet I live almost as quietly in this hotel, as if I were at the +office, and go in and out by a side door just as I might there. + +I go back to Boston on Saturday to read there on Monday and Tuesday. +Then I am back here, and keep within six or seven hours' journey of +hereabouts till February. My further movements shall be duly reported as +the details are arranged. + +I shall be curious to know who were at Gad's Hill on Christmas Day, and +how you (as they say in this country) "got along." It is exceedingly +cold here again, after two or three quite spring days. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[17] Madame Sainton Dolby. + +[18] The nearest neighbour at Higham, and intimate friends. + +[19] Dr. Fordyce Barker. + + + + +1868. + +NARRATIVE. + + +Charles Dickens remained in America through the winter, returning home +from New York in the _Russia_, on the 19th of April. His letters show +how entirely he gave himself up to the business of the readings, how +severely his health suffered from the climate, and from the perpetual +travelling and hard work, and yet how he was able to battle through to +the end. These letters are also full of allusions to the many kind and +dear friends who contributed so largely to the pleasure of this American +visit, and whose love and attention gave a touch of _home_ to his +private life, and left such affection and gratitude in his heart as he +could never forget. Many of these friends paid visits to Gad's Hill; the +first to come during this summer being Mr. Longfellow, his daughters, +and Mr. Appleton, brother-in-law of Mr. Longfellow, and Mr. and Mrs. +Charles Eliot Norton, of Cambridge. + +For the future, there were to be no more Christmas numbers of "All the +Year Round." Observing the extent to which they were now copied in all +directions, Charles Dickens supposed them likely to become tiresome to +the public, and so determined that in his journal they should be +discontinued. + +While still in America, he made an agreement with the Messrs. Chappell +to give a series of farewell readings in England, to commence in the +autumn of this year. So, in October, Charles Dickens started off again +for a tour in the provinces. He had for some time been planning, by way +of a novelty for this series, a reading from the murder in "Oliver +Twist," but finding it so very horrible, he was fearful of trying its +effect for the first time on a public audience. It was therefore +resolved, that a trial of it should be made to a limited private +audience in St. James's Hall, on the evening of the 18th of November. +This trial proved eminently successful, and "The Murder from Oliver +Twist" became one of the most popular of his selections. But the +physical exertion it involved was far greater than that of any of his +previous readings, and added immensely to the excitement and exhaustion +which they caused him. + +One of the first letters of the year from America is addressed to Mr. +Samuel Cartwright, of surgical and artistic reputation, and greatly +esteemed by Charles Dickens, both in his professional capacity and as a +private friend. + +The letter written to Mrs. Cattermole, in May, tells of the illness of +Mr. George Cattermole. This dear old friend, so associated with Charles +Dickens and his works, died soon afterwards, and the letter to his widow +shows that Charles Dickens was exerting himself in her behalf. + +The play of "No Thoroughfare" having been translated into French under +the title of "L'Abîme," Charles Dickens went over to Paris to be present +at the first night of its production. + +On the 26th of September, his youngest son, Edward Bulwer Lytton (the +"Plorn" so often mentioned), started for Australia, to join his brother +Alfred Tennyson, who was already established there. It will be seen by +his own words how deeply and how sadly Charles Dickens felt this +parting. In October of this year, his son Henry Fielding entered Trinity +Hall, Cambridge, as an undergraduate. + +The Miss Forster mentioned in the letter to his sister-in-law, and for +whom the kind and considerate arrangements were suggested, was a sister +of Mr. John Forster, and a lady highly esteemed by Charles Dickens. The +illness from which she was then suffering was a fatal one. She died in +this same year, a few days before Christmas. + +Mr. J. C. Parkinson, to whom a letter is addressed, was a gentleman +holding a Government appointment, and contributing largely to journalism +and periodical literature. + +As our last letter for this year, we give one which Charles Dickens +wrote to his youngest son on his departure for Australia. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + WESTMINSTER HOTEL, IRVING PLACE, NEW YORK, + _Friday, Jan. 3rd, 1868._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +I received yours of the 19th from Gad's and the office this morning. I +read here to-night, and go back to Boston to-morrow, to read there +Monday and Tuesday. + +To-night, I read out the first quarter of my list. Our houses have been +very fine here, but have never quite recovered the Dolby uproar. It +seems impossible to devise any scheme for getting the tickets into the +people's hands without the intervention of speculators. The people _will +not_ help themselves; and, of course, the speculators and all other such +prowlers throw as great obstacles in Dolby's way (an Englishman's) as +they possibly can. He may 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 Kelly. It is against orders that anyone +employed in front should go out during the readings, 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 twenty in number) put on _their_ 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. + +We have a regular clerk, a Bostonian whose name is Wild. He, Osgood, +Dolby, Kelly, Scott, George the gasman, and perhaps a boy or two, +constitute my body-guard. It seems a large number of people, but the +business cannot be done with fewer. The speculators buying the front +seats to sell at a premium (and we have found instances of this being +done by merchants in good position!), and the public perpetually +pitching into Dolby for selling them back seats, the result is that they +won't have the back seats, send back their tickets, write and print +volumes on the subject, and deter others from coming. + +You may get an idea of the staff's work, by what is in hand now. They +are preparing, numbering, and stamping six thousand tickets for +Philadelphia, and eight thousand tickets for Brooklyn. The moment those +are done, another eight thousand tickets will be wanted for Baltimore, +and probably another six thousand for Washington. This in addition to +the correspondence, advertisements, accounts, travellings, and the +mighty business of the reading four times a week. + +The Cunard steamers being now removed from Halifax, I have decided _not_ +to go there, or to St. John's, New Brunswick. And as there would be a +perfect uproar if I picked out such a place in Canada as Quebec or +Montreal, and excluded those two places (which would guarantee three +hundred pounds a night), and further, as I don't want places, having +more than enough for my list of eighty-four, I have finally resolved not +to go to Canada either. This will enable me to embark for home in April +instead of May. + +Tell Plorn, with my love, that I think he will find himself much +interested at that college,[20] and that it is very likely he may make +some acquaintances there that will thereafter be pleasant and useful to +him. Sir Sydney Dacres is the best of friends. I have a letter from Mrs. +Hulkes by this post, wherein the boy encloses a violet, now lying on the +table before me. Let her know that it arrived safely, and retaining its +colour. I took it for granted that Mary would have asked Chorley for +Christmas Day, and am very glad she ultimately did so. I am sorry that +Harry lost his prize, but believe it was not his fault. Let _him_ know +_that_, with my love. I would have written to him by this mail in answer +to his, but for other occupation. Did I tell you that my landlord made +me a drink (brandy, rum, and snow the principal ingredients) called a +"Rocky Mountain sneezer"? Or that the favourite drink before you get up +is an "eye-opener"? Or that Roberts (second landlord), no sooner saw me +on the night of the first fire, than, with his property blazing, he +insisted on taking me down into a roomful of hot smoke to drink brandy +and water with him? We have not been on fire again, by-the-bye, more +than once. + +There has been another fall of snow, succeeded by a heavy thaw. I have +laid down my sledge, and taken up my carriage again, in consequence. I +am nearly all right, but cannot get rid of an intolerable cold in the +head. No more news. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + PARKER HOUSE, BOSTON, U.S., _Jan. 4th, 1868._ + +I write to you by this opportunity, though I really have nothing to tell +you. The work is hard and the climate is hard. We made a tremendous hit +last night with "Nickleby" and "Boots," which the Bostonians certainly +on the whole appreciate more than "Copperfield"! Dolby is always going +about with an immense bundle that looks like a sofa cushion, but it is +in reality paper money; and always works like a Trojan. His business at +night is a mere nothing, for these 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. I must add, too, that although there is a +conventional familiarity in the use of one's name in the newspapers as +"Dickens," "Charlie," and what not, I do not in the least see that +familiarity in the writers themselves. An inscrutable tone obtains in +journalism, which a stranger cannot understand. If I say in common +courtesy to one of them, when Dolby introduces, "I am much obliged to +you for your interest in me," or so forth, he seems quite shocked, and +has a bearing of perfect modesty and propriety. I am rather inclined to +think that they suppose their printed tone to be the public's love of +smartness, but it is immensely difficult to make out. All I can as yet +make out is, that my perfect freedom from bondage, and at any moment to +go on or leave off, or otherwise do as I like, is the only safe position +to occupy. + +Again; there are two apparently irreconcilable contrasts here. Down +below in this hotel every night are the bar loungers, dram drinkers, +drunkards, swaggerers, loafers, that one might find in a Boucicault +play. Within half an hour is Cambridge, where a delightful domestic +life--simple, self-respectful, cordial, and affectionate--is seen in an +admirable aspect. All New England is primitive and puritanical. All +about and around it is a puddle of mixed human mud, with no such quality +in it. Perhaps I may in time sift out some tolerably intelligible whole, +but I certainly have not done so yet. It is a good sign, may be, that it +all seems immensely more difficult to understand than it was when I was +here before. + +Felton left two daughters. I have only seen the eldest, a very sensible, +frank, pleasant girl of eight-and-twenty, perhaps, rather like him in +the face. A striking-looking daughter of Hawthorn's (who is also dead) +came into my room last night. The day has slipped on to three o'clock, +and I must get up "Dombey" for to-night. Hence this sudden break off. +Best love to Mamie, and to Katie and Charley Collins. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. Wilkie Collins.] + + WESTMINSTER HOTEL, NEW YORK, _Sunday, Jan. 12th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR WILKIE, + +First, of the play.[21] I am truly delighted to learn that it made so +great a success, and I hope I may yet see it on the Adelphi boards. You +have had a world of trouble and work with it, but I hope will be repaid +in some degree by the pleasure of a triumph. Even for the alteration at +the end of the fourth act (of which you tell me in your letter received +yesterday), I was fully prepared, for I COULD NOT see the original +effect in the reading of the play, and COULD NOT make it go. I agree +with Webster in thinking it best that Obenreizer should die on the +stage; but no doubt that point is disposed of. In reading the play +before the representation, I felt that it was too long, and that there +was a good deal of unnecessary explanation. Those points are, no doubt, +disposed of too by this time. + +We shall do nothing with it on this side. Pirates are producing their +own wretched versions in all directions, thus (as Wills would say) +anticipating and glutting "the market." I registered one play as the +property of Ticknor and Fields, American citizens. But, besides that the +law on the point is extremely doubtful, the manager of the Museum +Theatre, Boston, instantly announced his version. (You may suppose what +it is and how it is done, when I tell you that it was playing within ten +days of the arrival out of the Christmas number.) Thereupon, Ticknor and +Fields gave him notice that he mustn't play it. Unto which he replied, +that he meant to play it and would play it. Of course he knew very well +that if an injunction were applied for against him, there would be an +immediate howl against my persecution of an innocent, and he played it. +Then the noble host of pirates rushed in, and it is being done, in some +mangled form or other, everywhere. + +It touches me to read what you write of your poor mother. But, of +course, at her age, each winter counts heavily. Do give her my love, and +tell her that I asked you about her. + +I am going on here at the same great rate, but am always counting the +days that lie between me and home. I got through the first fourth of my +readings on Friday, January 3rd. I leave for two readings at +Philadelphia this evening. + +Being at Boston last Sunday, I took it into my head to go over the +medical school, and survey the holes and corners in which that +extraordinary murder was done by Webster. There was the +furnace--stinking horribly, as if the dismembered pieces were still +inside it--and there are all the grim spouts, and sinks, and chemical +appliances, and what not. At dinner, afterwards, Longfellow told me a +terrific story. He dined with Webster within a year of the murder, one +of a party of ten or twelve. As they sat at their wine, Webster suddenly +ordered the lights to be turned out, and a bowl of some burning mineral +to be placed on the table, that the guests might see how ghostly it made +them look. As each man stared at all the rest in the weird light, all +were horrified to see Webster _with a rope round his neck_, holding it +up, over the bowl, with his head jerked on one side, and his tongue +lolled out, representing a man being hanged! + +Poking into his life and character, I find (what I would have staked my +head upon) that he was always a cruel man. + +So no more at present from, + + My dear Wilkie, yours ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + WESTMINSTER HOTEL, NEW YORK, _Sunday, Jan. 12th, 1868._ + +As I am off to Philadelphia this evening, I may as well post my letter +here. I have scarcely a word of news. My cold steadily refuses to leave +me; but otherwise I am as right as one can hope to be under this heavy +work. My New York readings are over (except four farewell nights in +April), and I look forward to the relief of being out of my hardest +hall. Last Friday night, though it was only "Nickleby" and "Boots," 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. + +Having been in great trepidation about the play, I am correspondingly +elated by the belief that it really _is_ a success. No doubt the +unnecessary explanations will have been taken out, and the flatness of +the last act fetched up. At some points I could have done wonders to it, +in the way of screwing it up sharply and picturesquely, if I could have +rehearsed it. Your account of the first night interested me immensely, +but I was afraid to open the letter until Dolby rushed in with the +opened _Times_. + +On Wednesday I come back here for my four church readings at Brooklyn. +Each evening an enormous ferryboat will convey me and my state carriage +(not to mention half-a-dozen waggons, and any number of people, and a +few score of horses) across the river, 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 whisky. With this outfit _they lie +down in line on the pavement_ the whole night before the tickets are +sold, generally taking up their position at about ten. 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, out of which the people farthest off in +the line rushed bleeding when they saw a chance of displacing others +near the door, and put their mattresses in those places, and then held +on by the iron rails. At eight 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!" +etc. etc. etc., 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 again." This little journey (to Chicago) is fifteen hundred +miles on end, by railway, and back again! + +We have an excellent gasman, who is well up to that department. We have +enlarged the large staff by another clerk, yet even now the preparation +of such an immense number of new tickets constantly, and the keeping and +checking of the accounts, keep them hard at it. And they get so oddly +divided! Kelly is at Philadelphia, another man at Baltimore, two others +are stamping tickets at the top of this house, another is cruising over +New England, and Osgood will come on duty to-morrow (when Dolby starts +off) to pick me up after the reading, and take me to the hotel, and +mount guard over me, and bring me back here. You see that even such +wretched domesticity as Dolby and self by a fireside is broken up under +these conditions. + +Dolby has been twice poisoned, and Osgood once. Morgan's sharpness has +discovered the cause. When the snow is deep upon the ground, and the +partridges cannot get their usual food, they eat something (I don't know +what, if anybody does) which does not poison _them_, but which poisons +the people who eat them. The symptoms, which last some twelve hours, are +violent sickness, cold perspiration, and the formation of some +detestable mucus in the stomach. You may infer that partridges have been +banished from our bill of fare. The appearance of our sufferers was +lamentable in the extreme. + +Did I tell you that the severity of the weather, and the heat of the +intolerable furnaces, dry the hair and break the nails of strangers? +There is not a complete nail in the whole British suite, and my hair +cracks again when I brush it. (I am losing my hair with great rapidity, +and what I don't lose is getting very grey.) + +The _Cuba_ will bring this. She has a jolly new captain--Moody, of the +_Java_--and her people rushed into the reading, the other night, +captain-headed, as if I were their peculiar property. Please God I shall +come home in her, in my old cabin; leaving here on the 22nd of April, +and finishing my eighty-fourth reading on the previous night! It is +likely enough that I shall read and go straight on board. + +I think this is all my poor stock of intelligence. By-the-bye, on the +last Sunday in the old year, I lost my old year's pocket-book, "which," +as Mr. Pepys would add, "do trouble me mightily." Give me Katie's new +address; I haven't got it. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + PHILADELPHIA, _Monday, Jan. 13th, 1868._ + +I write you this note, a day later than your aunt's, not because I have +anything to add to the little I have told her, but because you may like +to have it. + +We arrived here last night towards twelve o'clock, more than an hour +after our time. This is one of the immense American hotels (it is called +the Continental); but I find myself just as quiet here as elsewhere. +Everything is very good indeed, the waiter is German, and the greater +part of the house 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 hard. All the tickets being sold here for six nights (three +visits of two nights each), the suite complain of want of excitement +already, having been here ten hours! Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams, with +a couple of servants, and a pretty little child-daughter, were in the +train each night, and I talked with them a good deal. They are reported +to have made an enormous fortune by acting among the Californian +gold-diggers. My cold is no better, for the cars are so intolerably hot, +that I was often obliged to go and stand upon the break outside, and +then the frosty air was biting indeed. The great man of this place is +one Mr. Childs, a newspaper proprietor, and he is so exactly like Mr. +Esse in all conceivable respects except being an inch or so taller, that +I was quite confounded when I saw him waiting for me at the station +(always called depôt here) with his carriage. During the last two or +three days, Dolby and I have been making up accounts, which are +excellently kept by Mr. Osgood, and I find them amazing, quite, in their +results. + +I was very much interested in the home accounts of Christmas Day. I +think I have already mentioned that we were in very low spirits on that +day. I began to be unwell with my cold that morning, and a long day's +travel did not mend the matter. We scarcely spoke (except when we ate +our lunch), and sat dolefully staring out of window. I had a few +affectionate words from Chorley, dated from my room, on Christmas +morning, and will write him, probably by this mail, a brief +acknowledgment. I find it necessary (so 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 is not easy. + +My best love to Katie, and to Charley, and to our Charley, and to all +friends. If I could only get to the point of being able to hold my head +up and dispense with my pocket-handkerchief for five minutes, I should +be all right. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Charles Dickens.] + + WESTMINSTER HOTEL, IRVING PLACE, NEW YORK, + _Wednesday, Jan. 15th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR CHARLEY, + +Finding your letter here this afternoon on my return from Philadelphia +(where I have been reading two nights), I take advantage of a spare +half-hour in which to answer it at once, though it will not leave here +until Saturday. I had previously heard of the play, and had _The Times_. +It was a great relief and delight to me, for I had no confidence in its +success; being reduced to the confines of despair by its length. If I +could have rehearsed it, I should have taken the best part of an hour +out of it. Fechter must be very fine, and I should greatly like to see +him play the part. + +I have not been very well generally, and am oppressed (and I begin to +think that I probably shall be until I leave) by a true American cold, +which I hope, for the comfort of human nature, may be peculiar to only +one of the four quarters of the world. The work, too, is very severe. +But I am going on at the same tremendous rate everywhere. The staff, +too, has had to be enlarged. Dolby was at Baltimore yesterday, is at +Washington to-day, and will come back in the night, and start away again +on Friday. We find it absolutely necessary for him to go on ahead. We +have not printed or posted a single bill here, and have just sold ninety +pounds' worth of paper we had got ready for bills. In such a rush a +short newspaper advertisement is all we want. "Doctor Marigold" made a +great hit here, and is looked forward to at Boston with especial +interest. I go to Boston for another fortnight, on end, the 24th of +February. The railway journeys distress me greatly. I get out into the +open air (upon the break), and it snows and blows, and the train bumps, +and the steam flies at me, until I am driven in again. + +I have finished here (except four farewell nights in April), and begin +four nights at Brooklyn, on the opposite side of the river, to-night; +and thus oscillate between Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, and +then cut into New England, and so work my way back to Boston for a +fortnight, after which come Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit and Cleveland, +and Buffalo, and then Philadelphia, Boston, and New York farewells. I +will not pass my original bound of eighty-four readings in all. My mind +was made up as to that long ago. It will be quite enough. Chicago is +some fifteen hundred miles from here. What with travelling, and getting +ready for reading, and reading, the days are pretty fully occupied. Not +the less so because I rest very indifferently at night. + +The people are exceedingly kind and considerate, and desire to be most +hospitable besides. But I cannot accept hospitality, and never go out, +except at Boston, or I should not be fit for the labour. If Dolby holds +out well to the last it will be a triumph, for he has to see everybody, +drink with everybody, sell all the tickets, take all the blame, and go +beforehand to all the places on the list. I shall not see him after +to-night for ten days or a fortnight, and he will be perpetually on the +road during the interval. When he leaves me, Osgood, a partner in +Ticknor and Fields' publishing firm, mounts guard over me, and has to go +into the hall from the platform door every night, and see how the public +are seating themselves. It is very odd to see how hard he finds it to +look a couple of thousand people in the face, on which head, by-the-bye, +I notice the papers to take "Mr. Dickens's extraordinary composure" +(their great phrase) rather ill, and on the whole to imply that it would +be taken as a suitable compliment if I would stagger on to the platform +and instantly drop, overpowered by the spectacle before me. + +Dinner is announced (by Scott, with a stiff neck and a sore throat), and +I must break off with love to Bessie and the incipient Wenerableses. You +will be glad to hear of your distinguished parent that Philadelphia has +discovered that "he is not like the descriptions we have read of him at +the little red desk. He is not at all foppish in appearance. He wears a +heavy moustache and a Vandyke beard, and looks like a well-to-do +Philadelphian gentleman." + + Ever, my dear Charley, your affectionate Father. + +P.S.--Your paper is remarkably good. There is not the least doubt that +you can write constantly for A. Y. R. I am very pleased with it. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + WESTMINSTER HOTEL, NEW YORK, _Friday, Jan, 18th, 1868._ + +This will be but a very short report, as I must get out for a little +exercise before dinner. + +My "true American catarrh" (the people seem to have a national pride in +it) sticks to me, but I am otherwise well. I began my church readings +last night, and it was very odd to see the pews crammed full of people, +all in a broad roar at the "Carol" and "Trial." + +Best love to all. I have written Charley a few lines by this mail, and +also Chorley. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + WESTMINSTER HOTEL, NEW YORK, _Tuesday, Jan. 21st, 1868._ + +I finished my church to-night. It is Mrs. Stowe's brother's, and a most +wonderful place to speak in. We had it enormously full last night +("Marigold" and "Trial"), but it scarcely required an effort. Mr. Ward +Beecher (Mrs. Stowe's brother's name) being present in his pew. I sent +to invite him to come round before he left; and I found him to be an +unostentatious, straightforward, and agreeable fellow. + +My cold sticks to me, and I can scarcely exaggerate what I sometimes +undergo from sleeplessness. The day before yesterday I could get no rest +until morning, and could not get up before twelve. This morning the +same. I rarely take any breakfast but an egg and a cup of tea, not even +toast or bread-and-butter. My dinner at three, and a little quail or +some such light thing when I come home at night, is my daily fare. At +the Hall I have established the custom of taking an egg beaten up in +sherry before going in, and another between the parts. I think that +pulls me up; at all events, I have since had no return of faintness. + +As the men work very hard, and always with their hearts cheerfully in +the business, I cram them into and outside of the carriage, to bring +them back from Brooklyn with me. The other night, Scott (with a +portmanteau across his knees and a wideawake hat low down upon his nose) +told me that he had presented himself for admission in the circus (as +good as Franconi's, by-the-bye), and had been refused. "The only +theayter," he said in a melancholy way, "as I was ever in my life turned +from the door of." Says Kelly: "There must have been some mistake, +Scott, because George and me went, and we said, 'Mr. Dickens's staff,' +and they passed us to the best seats in the house. Go again, Scott." +"No, I thank you, Kelly," says Scott, more melancholy than before, "I'm +not a-going to put myself in the position of being refused again. It's +the only theayter as I was ever turned from the door of, and it shan't +be done twice. But it's a beastly country!" "Scott," interposed Majesty, +"don't you express your opinions about the country." "No, sir," says +Scott, "I never do, please, sir, but when you are turned from the door +of the only theayter you was ever turned from, sir, and when the beasts +in railway cars spits tobacco over your boots, you (privately) find +yourself in a beastly country." + +I expect shortly to get myself snowed up on some railway or other, for +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 leave a pretty wide +margin of time for getting over the ferry to read. The dinner is coming +in, and I must leave off. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + PHILADELPHIA, _Thursday, Jan. 23rd, 1868._ + +When I wrote to your aunt by the last mail, I accidentally omitted to +touch upon the question of helping Anne. So I will begin in this present +writing with reference to her sad position. I think it will be best for +you to be guided by an exact knowledge of her _wants_. Try to ascertain +from herself what means she has, whether her sick husband gets what he +ought to have, whether she is pinched in the articles of necessary +clothing, bedding, or the like of that; add to this intelligence your +own observation of the state of things about her, and supply what she +most wants, and help her where you find the greatest need. The question, +in the case of so old and faithful a servant, is not one of so much or +so little money on my side, but how _most efficiently_ to ease her mind +and help _her_. To do this at once kindly and sensibly is the only +consideration by which you have to be guided. Take _carte blanche_ from +me for all the rest. + +My Washington week is the first week in February, beginning on Monday, +3rd. The tickets are sold, and the President is coming, and the chief +members of the Cabinet, and the leaders of parties, and so forth, are +coming; and, as the Holly Tree Boots says: "That's where it is, don't +you see!" + +In my Washington doubts I recalled Dolby for conference, and he joined +me yesterday afternoon, and we have been in great discussion ever since +on the possibility of giving up the Far West, and avoiding such immense +distances and fatigues as would be involved in travelling to Chicago and +Cincinnati. We have sketched another tour for the last half of March, +which would be infinitely easier for me, though on the other hand less +profitable, the places and the halls being smaller. The worst of it is, +that everybody one advises with has a monomania respecting Chicago. +"Good heaven, sir," the great Philadelphian authority said to me this +morning, "if you don't read in Chicago, the people will go into fits." +In reference to fatigue, I answered: "Well, I would rather they went +into fits than I did." But he didn't seem to see it at all. ---- alone +constantly writes me: "Don't go to the West; you can get what you want +so much more easily." How we shall finally decide, I don't yet know. My +Brooklyn church has been an immense success, and I found its minister +was a bachelor, a clever, unparsonic, and straightforward man, and a man +with a good knowledge of art into the bargain. + +We are not a bit too soon here, for the whole country is beginning to be +stirred and shaken by the presidential election, and trade is +exceedingly depressed, and will be more so. Fanny Kemble lives near this +place, but had gone away a day before my first visit here. _She_ is +going to read in February or March. Du Chaillu has been lecturing out +West about the gorilla, and has been to see me; I saw the Cunard steamer +_Persia_ out in the stream, yesterday, beautifully smart, her flags +flying, all her steam up, and she only waiting for her mails to slip +away. She gave me a horrible touch of home-sickness. + +When the 1st of March arrives, and I can say "next month," I shall begin +to grow brighter. A fortnight's reading in Boston, too (last week of +February and first week of March), will help me on gaily, I hope (the +work so far off tells). It is impossible for the people to be more +affectionately attached to a third, I really believe, than Fields and +his wife are to me; and they are a landmark in the prospect. + +Dolby sends kindest regards, and wishes it to be known that he has not +been bullied lately. We do _not_ go West at all, but take the easier +plan. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + BALTIMORE, _Wednesday, Jan. 29th, 1868._ + +As I have an hour to spare, before starting to Philadelphia, I begin my +letter this morning. It has been snowing hard for four-and-twenty hours, +though this place is as far south as Valentia in Spain; and Dolby, being +on his way to New York, has a good chance of being snowed up somewhere. + +They are a bright responsive people here, and very pleasant to read to. +I have rarely seen so many fine faces in an audience. I read here in a +charming little opera-house built by a society of Germans, quite a +delightful place for the purpose. I stand on the stage, with a 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 in the +ear. I go from here to Philadelphia to read to-morrow night and Friday, +come through here again on Saturday on my way 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. Distances and travelling have obliged us to reduce the list of +readings by two, leaving eighty-two in all. Of course we 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! + +Dolby and Osgood, who do the most ridiculous things to keep me in +spirits (I am often very heavy, and rarely sleep much), have decided to +have a walking-match at Boston, on Saturday, February 29th. Beginning +this design in joke, they have become tremendously in earnest, and Dolby +has actually sent home (much to his opponent's terror) for a pair of +seamless socks to walk in. Our men are hugely excited on the subject, +and continually make bets on "the men." Fields and I are to walk out six +miles, and "the men" are to turn and walk round us. Neither of them has +the least idea what twelve miles at a pace is. Being requested by both +to give them "a breather" yesterday, I gave them a stiff one of five +miles over a bad road in the snow, half the distance uphill. I took them +at a pace of four miles and a half an hour, and you never beheld such +objects as they were when we got back; both smoking like factories, and +both obliged to change everything before they could come to dinner. They +have the absurdest ideas of what are tests of walking power, and +continually get up in the maddest manner and see _how high they can +kick_ the wall! The wainscot here, in one place, is scored all over with +their pencil-marks. To see them doing this--Dolby, a big man, and +Osgood, a very little one, is ridiculous beyond description. + + + PHILADELPHIA, _Same Night._ + +We came on here through a snowstorm all the way, but up to time. Fanny +Kemble (who begins to read shortly) is coming to "Marigold" and "Trial" +to-morrow night. I have written her a note, telling her that if it will +at all assist _her_ movements to know _mine_, my list is at her +service. Probably I shall see her to-morrow. Tell Mamie (to whom I will +write next), with my love, that I found her letter of the 10th of this +month awaiting me here. The _Siberia_ that brought it is a new Cunarder, +and made an unusually slow passage out. Probably because it would be +dangerous to work new machinery too fast on the Atlantic. + + + _Thursday, 30th._ + +My cold still sticks to me. The heat of the railway cars and their +unventilated condition invariably brings it back when I think it going. +This morning my head is as stuffed and heavy as ever! A superb sledge +and four horses have been offered me for a ride, but I am afraid to take +it, lest I should make the "true American catarrh" worse, and should get +hoarse. So I am going to give Osgood another "breather" on foot instead. + +The communication with New York is not interrupted, so we consider the +zealous Dolby all right. You may imagine what his work is, when you hear +that he goes three times to every place we visit. Firstly, to look at +the hall, arrange the numberings, and make five hundred acquaintances, +whom he immediately calls by their christian-names; secondly, to sell +the tickets--a very nice business, requiring great tact and temper; +thirdly, with me. He will probably turn up at Washington next Sunday, +but only for a little while; for as soon as I am on the platform on +Monday night, he will start away again, probably to be seen no more +until we pass through New York in the middle of February. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Samuel Cartwright] + + BALTIMORE, _Wednesday, Jan. 29th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR CARTWRIGHT, + +As I promised to report myself to you from this side of the Atlantic, +and as I have some leisure this morning, I am going to lighten my +conscience by keeping my word. + +I am going on at a great pace and with immense success. Next week, at +Washington, I shall, please God, have got through half my readings. The +remaining half are all arranged, and they will carry me into the third +week of April. It is very hard work, but it is brilliantly paid. The +changes that I find in the country generally (this place is the least +changed of any I have yet seen) exceed my utmost expectations. I had +been in New York a couple of days before I began to recognise it at all; +and the handsomest part of Boston was a black swamp when I saw it +five-and-twenty years ago. Considerable advances, too, have been made +socially. Strange to say, the railways and railway arrangements (both +exceedingly defective) seem to have stood still while all other things +have been moving. + +One of the most comical spectacles I have ever seen in my life was +"church," with a heavy sea on, in the saloon of the Cunard steamer +coming out. The officiating minister, an extremely modest young man, was +brought in between two big stewards, exactly as if he were coming up to +the scratch in a prize-fight. The ship was rolling and pitching so, that +the two big stewards had to stop and watch their opportunity of making a +dart at the reading-desk with their reverend charge, during which pause +he held on, now by one steward and now by the other, with the feeblest +expression of countenance and no legs whatever. At length they made a +dart at the wrong moment, and one steward was immediately beheld alone +in the extreme perspective, while the other and the reverend gentleman +_held on by the mast_ in the middle of the saloon--which the latter +embraced with both arms, as if it were his wife. All this time the +congregation was breaking up into sects and sliding away; every sect (as +in nature) pounding the other sect. And when at last the reverend +gentleman had been tumbled into his place, the desk (a loose one, put +upon the dining-table) deserted from the church bodily, and went over to +the purser. The scene was so extraordinarily ridiculous, and was made so +much more so by the exemplary gravity of all concerned in it, that I was +obliged to leave before the service began. + +This is one of the places where Butler carried it with so high a hand in +the war, and where the ladies used to spit when they passed a Northern +soldier. It still wears, I fancy, a look of sullen remembrance. (The +ladies are remarkably handsome, with an Eastern look upon them, dress +with a strong sense of colour, and make a brilliant audience.) The ghost +of slavery haunts the houses; and the old, untidy, incapable, lounging, +shambling black serves you as a free man. Free of course he ought to be; +but the stupendous absurdity of making him a voter glares out of every +roll of his eye, stretch of his mouth, and bump of his head. I have a +strong impression that the race must fade out of the States very fast. +It never can hold its own against a striving, restless, shifty people. +In the penitentiary here, the other day, in a room full of all blacks +(too dull to be taught any of the work in hand), was one young brooding +fellow, very like a black rhinoceros. He sat glowering at life, as if it +were just endurable at dinner time, until four of his fellows began to +sing, most unmelodiously, a part song. He then set up a dismal howl, and +pounded his face on a form. I took him to have been rendered quite +desperate by having learnt anything. I send my kind regard to Mrs. +Cartwright, and sincerely hope that she and you have no new family +distresses or anxieties. My standing address is the Westminster Hotel, +Irving Place, New York City. And I am always, my dear Cartwright, + + Cordially yours. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + PHILADELPHIA, _Friday, Jan. 31st, 1868._ + +Since writing to your aunt I have received yours of the 7th, and am +truly glad to have the last news of you confirmed by yourself. + +From a letter Wilkie has written to me, it seems there can be no doubt +that the "No Thoroughfare" drama is a real, genuine, and great success. +It is drawing immensely, and seems to "go" with great effect and +applause. + +"Doctor Marigold" here last night (for the first time) was an immense +success, and all Philadelphia is going to rush at once for tickets for +the two Philadelphian farewells the week after next. The tickets are to +be sold to-morrow, and great excitement is anticipated in the streets. +Dolby not being here, a clerk will sell, and will probably wish himself +dead before he has done with it. + +It appears to me that Chorley[22] writes to you on the legacy question +because he wishes you to understand that there is no danger of his +changing his mind, and at the bottom I descry an honest desire to pledge +himself as strongly as possible. You may receive it in that better +spirit, or I am much mistaken. Tell your aunt, with my best love, that I +wrote to Chauncey weeks ago, in answer to a letter from him. I am now +going out in a sleigh (and four) with unconceivable dignity and +grandeur; mentioning which reminds me that I am informed by trusty +scouts that ---- intends to waylay me at Washington, and may even +descend upon me in the train to-morrow. + +Best love to Katie, the two Charleys, and all. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + WASHINGTON, _Tuesday, Feb. 4th, 1868._ + +I began here last night with great success. The hall being small, the +prices were raised to three dollars each ticket. The audience was a +superior one, composed of the foremost public men and their families. At +the end of the "Carol" they gave a great break out, and applauded, I +really believe, for five minutes. You would suppose them to be +Manchester shillings instead of Washington half-sovereigns. Immense +enthusiasm. + +A devoted adherent in this place (an Englishman) had represented to +Dolby that if I were taken to an hotel here it would be impossible to +secure me a minute's rest, and he undertook to get one Wheleker, a +German, who keeps a little Vérey's, to furnish his private dining-rooms +for the illustrious traveller's reception. Accordingly here we are, on +the first and second floor of a small house, with no one else in it but +our people, a French waiter, and a very good French cuisine. Perfectly +private, in the city of all the world (I should say) where the hotels +are intolerable, and privacy the least possible, and quite comfortable. +"Wheleker's Restaurant" is our rather undignified address for the +present week. + +I dined (against my rules) with Charles Sumner on Sunday, he having been +an old friend of mine. Mr. Secretary Staunton (War Minister) was there. +He is a man of a very remarkable memory, and famous for his +acquaintance with the minutest details of my books. Give him any passage +anywhere, and he will instantly cap it and go on with the context. He +was commander-in-chief of all the Northern forces concentrated here, and +never went to sleep at night without first reading something from my +books, which were always with him. I put him through a pretty severe +examination, but he was better up than I was. + +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 "Carol," a +most ridiculous incident occurred all of a sudden. I saw a dog look out +from among the seats into the centre aisle, and look very intently at +me. The general attention being fixed on me, I don't think anybody saw +the 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 very comic part of the book. +But when he bounced out into the centre aisle again, in an entirely new +place (still looking intently at me) and 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. + +The President has sent to me twice, and I am going to see him to-morrow. +He has a whole row for his family every night. Dolby rejoined his chief +yesterday morning, and will probably remain in the august presence until +Sunday night. He and Osgood, "training for the match," are ludicrous +beyond belief. I saw them just now coming up a street, each trying to +pass the other, and immediately fled. Since I have been writing this, +they have burst in at the door and sat down on the floor to blow. Dolby +is now writing at a neighbouring table, with his bald head smoking as if +he were on fire. Kelly (his great adherent) asked me, when he was last +away, whether it was quite fair that I should take Mr. Osgood out for +"breathers" when Mr. Dolby had no such advantage. I begin to expect that +half Boston will turn out on the 29th to see the match. In which case it +will be unspeakably droll. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + WASHINGTON, _my Birthday_, 1868. + (_And my cold worse than ever._) + +This will be but a short letter, as I have been to see the President +this morning, and have little time before the post goes. He had sent a +gentleman to me, most courteously begging me to make my own appointment, +and I did so. A man of very remarkable appearance indeed, of tremendous +firmness of purpose. Not to be turned or trifled with. + +As I mention my cold's being so bad, I will add that I have never had +anything the matter with me since I came here _but_ the cold. It is now +in my throat, and slightly on my chest. It occasions me great +discomfort, and you would suppose, seeing me in the morning, that I +could not possibly read at night. But I have always come up to the +scratch, have not yet missed one night, and have gradually got used to +that. I had got much the better of it; but the dressing-room at the hall +here is singularly cold and draughty, and so I have slid back again. + +The papers here having written about this being my birthday, the most +exquisite flowers came pouring in at breakfast time from all sorts of +people. The room is covered with them, made up into beautiful bouquets, +and arranged in all manner of green baskets. Probably I shall find +plenty more at the hall to-night. This is considered the dullest and +most apathetic place in America. _My_ audiences have been superb. + +I mentioned the dog on the first night here. Next night I thought I +heard (in "Copperfield") a suddenly suppressed bark. It happened in this +wise: Osgood, 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 _with another dog_; but our people were so sharply +on the look-out for him that he didn't get in. He had evidently promised +to pass the other dog free. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + BALTIMORE, U.S., _Tuesday, Feb. 11th, 1868._ + +The weather has been desperately severe, and my cold quite as bad as +ever. I couldn't help laughing at myself on my birthday at Washington. +It was observed as much as though I were a little boy. Flowers and +garlands (of the most exquisite kind) bloomed all 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. After "Boots," at night, the whole +audience rose and remained (Secretaries of State, President's family, +Judges of Supreme Court, and so forth) standing and cheering until I +went back to the table and made them a little speech. On the same +august day of the year I was received by the President, a man with a +very remarkable and determined face. Each of us looked at each other +very hard, and each of us managed the interview (I think) to the +satisfaction of the other. 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 he had been out in the +prairie with me five-and-twenty years ago. That afternoon 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 the dear Chief 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. + +I wish you would get from Homan and report to me, as near as he can +make, an approximate estimate is the right term in the trade, I believe, +of the following work: + +1. To re-cover, with red leather, all the dining-room chairs. + +2. To ditto, with green leather, all the library chairs and the couch. + +3. To provide and lay down new _Brussels_ carpets in the front spare and +the two top spares. Quality of carpet, quality of yours and mine. + +I have some doubts about the state of the hall floor-cloth, and also the +floor-cloth in the dining-room. Will you and your aunt carefully examine +both (calling in Homan too, if necessary), _and report to me_? + +It would seem that "No Thoroughfare" has really developed as a drama +into an amazing success. I begin to think that I shall see it. Dolby is +away this morning, to conquer or die in a terrific struggle with the +Mayor of Newhaven (where I am to read next week), who has assailed him +on a charge of false play in selling tickets. Osgood, my other keeper, +stands at the table to take me out, and have a "breather" for the +walking-match, so I must leave off. + +Think of my dreaming of Mrs. Bouncer each night!!! + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry Fielding Dickens.] + + BALTIMORE, U.S., _Tuesday, Feb. 11th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR HARRY, + +I should have written to you before now, but for constant and arduous +occupation. + +In reference to the cricket club's not being what it might be, I agree +with you in the main. There are some things to be considered, however, +which you have hardly taken into account. The first thing to be avoided +is, the slightest appearance of patronage (one of the curses of +England). The second thing to be avoided is, the deprival of the men of +their just right to manage their own affairs. I would rather have no +club at all, than have either of these great mistakes made. The way out +of them is this: Call the men together, and explain to them that the +club might be larger, richer, and better. Say that you think that more +of the neighbouring gentlemen could be got to be playing members. That +you submit to them that it would be better to have a captain who could +correspond with them, and talk to them, and in some sort manage them; +and that, being perfectly acquainted with the game, and having long +played it at a great public school, you propose yourself as captain, for +the foregoing reasons. That you propose to them to make the subscription +of the gentlemen members at least double that of the working men, for no +other reason than that the gentlemen can afford it better; but that both +classes of members shall have exactly the same right of voting equally +in all that concerns the club. Say that you have consulted me upon the +matter, and that I am of these opinions, and am ready to become chairman +of the club, and to preside at their meetings, and to overlook its +business affairs, and to give it five pounds a year, payable at the +commencement of each season. Then, having brought them to this point, +draw up the club's rules and regulations, amending them where they want +amendment. + +Discreetly done, I see no difficulty in this. But it can only be +honourably and hopefully done by having the men together. And I would +not have them at The Falstaff, but in the hall or dining-room--the +servants' hall, an excellent place. Whatever you do, let the men ratify; +and let them feel their little importance, and at once perceive how much +better the business begins to be done. + +I am very glad to hear of the success of your reading, and still more +glad that you went at it in downright earnest. I should never have made +my success in life if I had been shy of taking pains, or if I had not +bestowed upon the least thing I have ever undertaken exactly the same +attention and care that I have bestowed upon the greatest. Do everything +at your best. It was but this last year that I set to and learned every +word of my readings; and from ten years ago to last night, I have never +read to an audience but I have watched for an opportunity of striking +out something better somewhere. Look at such of my manuscripts as are +in the library at Gad's, and think of the patient hours devoted year +after year to single lines. + + * * * * * + +The weather is very severe here, and the work is very hard. Dolby, +having been violently pitched into by the Mayor of Newhaven (a town at +which I am to read next week), has gone bodily this morning with defiant +written instructions from me to inform the said mayor that, if he fail +to make out his case, he (Dolby) is to return all the money taken, and +to tell him that I will not set foot in his jurisdiction; whereupon the +Newhaven people will probably fall upon the mayor in his turn, and lead +him a pleasant life. + + Ever, my dear Harry, your affectionate Father. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + PHILADELPHIA, _Thursday, Feb. 13th, 1868._ + +We have got into an immense difficulty with the people of Newhaven. I +have a strong suspicion that one of our men (who sold there) has been +speculating all this while, and that he must have put front seats in his +pockets, and sold back ones. He denies what the mayor charges, but the +mayor holds on grimly. Dolby set off from Baltimore as soon as we found +out what was amiss, to examine and report; but some new feature of +difficulty must have come out, for this morning he telegraphs from New +York (where he had to sleep last night on his way to Newhaven), that he +is coming back for further consultation with the Chief. It will +certainly hurt us, and will of course be distorted by the papers into +all manner of shapes. My suspicion _may not_ be correct, but I have an +instinctive belief that it is. We shall probably have the old New York +row (and loss) over again, unless I can catch this mayor tripping in an +assertion. + +In this very place, we are half-distracted by the speculators. They have +been holding out for such high prices, that the public have held out +too; and now (frightened at what they have done) the speculators are +trying to sell their worst seats at half the cost price, so that we are +in the ridiculous situation of having sold the room out, and yet not +knowing what empty seats there may be. _We_ could sell at our box-office +to any extent; but _we_ can't buy back of the speculators, because we +informed the public that all the tickets were gone. And if we bought +_under_ our own price and _sold_ at our own price, we should at once be +in treaty with the speculators, and should be making money by it! Dolby, +the much bullied, will come back here presently, half bereft of his +senses; and I should be half bereft of mine, if the situation were not +comically disagreeable. + +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 I am going to read here, for the last time, to-morrow +night. + +There is a child of the Barney Williams's in this house--a little +girl--to whom I presented a black doll when I was here last. I have seen +her eye at the keyhole since I began writing this, and I think she and +the doll are 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 came 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 sticking stiffly out +in front of her, and glared at me and never spake word. Dolby found us +confronted in a sort of fascination, like serpent and bird. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + NEW YORK, _Monday, Feb. 17th, 1868._ + +I got your letter of the 3rd of February here this morning. As I am off +at seven to-morrow morning, I answer it at once, though indeed I have +nothing to say. + +"True American" still sticking to me. But I am always ready for my work, +and therefore don't much mind. Dolby and the Mayor of Newhaven +alternately embrace and exchange mortal defiances. In writing out some +advertisements towards midnight last night, he made a very good mistake. +"The reading will be comprised within two _minutes_, and the audience +are earnestly entreated to be seated ten _hours_ before its +commencement." + +The weather has been finer lately, but the streets are in a horrible +condition, through half-melted snow, and it is now snowing again. The +walking-match (next Saturday week) is already in the Boston papers! I +suppose half Boston will turn out on the occasion. As a sure way of not +being conspicuous, "the men" are going to walk in flannel! They are in a +mingled state of comicality and gravity about it that is highly +ridiculous. Yesterday being a bright cool day, I took Dolby for a +"buster" of eight miles. As everybody here knows me, the spectacle of +our splitting up the fashionable avenue (the only way out of town) +excited the greatest amazement. No doubt _that_ will be in the papers +to-morrow. I give a gorgeous banquet to eighteen (ladies and gentlemen) +after the match. Mr. and Mrs. Fields, Do. Ticknor, Longfellow and his +daughter, Lowell, Holmes and his wife, etc. etc. Sporting speeches to be +made, and the stakes (four hats) to be handed over to the winner. + +My ship will not be the _Cuba_ after all. She is to go into dock, and +the _Russia_ (a larger ship, and the latest built for the Cunard line) +is to take her place. + +Very glad to hear of Plorn's success. Best love to Mamie. + + +[Sidenote: M. Charles Fechter.] + + WASHINGTON, _February 24th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR FECHTER, + +Your letter reached me here yesterday. I have sent you a telegram +(addressed to the theatre) this morning, and I write this by the +earliest return mail. + +My dear fellow, consider yourself my representative. Whatever you do, or +desire to do, about the play, I fully authorise beforehand. Tell +Webster, with my regard, that I think his proposal honest and fair; that +I think it, in a word, like himself; and that I have perfect confidence +in his good faith and liberality. + +As to making money of the play in the United States here, Boucicault has +filled Wilkie's head with golden dreams that have _nothing_ in them. He +makes no account of the fact that, wherever I go, the theatres (with my +name in big letters) instantly begin playing versions of my books, and +that the moment the Christmas number came over here they pirated it and +played "No Thoroughfare." Now, I have enquired into the law, and am +extremely doubtful whether I _could_ have prevented this. Why should +they pay for the piece as you act it, when they have no actors, and when +all they want is my name, and they can get that for nothing? + +Wilkie has uniformly written of you enthusiastically. In a letter I had +from him, dated the 10th of January, he described your conception and +execution of the part in the most glowing terms. "Here Fechter is +magnificent." "Here his superb playing brings the house down." "I should +call even his exit in the last act one of the subtlest and finest things +he does in the piece." "You can hardly imagine what he gets out of the +part, or what he makes of his passionate love for Marguerite." These +expressions, and many others like them, crowded his letter. + +I never did so want to see a character played on the stage as I want to +see you play Obenreizer. As the play was going when I last heard of it, +I have some hopes that I MAY see it yet. Please God, your Adelphi +dressing-room will be irradiated with the noble presence of "Never +Wrong" (if you are acting), about the evening of Monday, the 4th of May! + +I am doing enormous business. It is a wearying life, away from all I +love, but I hope that the time will soon begin to spin away. Among the +many changes that I find here is the comfortable change that the people +are in general extremely considerate, and very observant of my privacy. +Even in this place, I am really almost as much my own master as if I +were in an English country town. Generally, they are very good audiences +indeed. They do not (I think) perceive touches of art to _be_ art; but +they are responsive to the broad results of such touches. "Doctor +Marigold" is a great favourite, and they laugh so unrestrainedly at "The +Trial" from "Pickwick" (which you never heard), that it has grown about +half as long again as it used to be. + +If I could send you a "brandy cocktail" by post I would. It is a highly +meritorious dram, which I hope to present to you at Gad's. My New York +landlord made me a "Rocky Mountain sneezer," which appeared to me to be +compounded of all the spirits ever heard of in the world, with bitters, +lemon, sugar, and snow. You can only make a true "sneezer" when the snow +is lying on the ground. + +There, my dear boy, my paper is out, and I am going to read +"Copperfield." Count always on my fidelity and true attachment, and look +out, as I have already said, for a distinguished visitor about Monday, +the 4th of May. + + Ever, my dear Fechter, + Your cordial and affectionate Friend. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + BOSTON, _Tuesday, Feb. 25th, 1868._ + +It is so very difficult to know, by any exercise of common sense, what +turn or height the political excitement may take next, and it may so +easily, and so soon, swallow up all other things, that I think I shall +suppress my next week's readings here (by good fortune not yet +announced) and watch the course of events. Dolby's sudden desponding +under these circumstances is so acute, that it is actually swelling his +head as I glance at him in the glass while writing. + +The catarrh is no better and no worse. The weather is intensely cold. +The walking-match (of which I will send particulars) is to come off on +Sunday. Mrs. Fields is more delightful than ever, and Fields more +hospitable. My room is always radiant with brilliant flowers of their +sending. I don't know whether I told you that the walking-match is to +celebrate the extinction of February, and the coming of the day when I +can say "next month." + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + BOSTON, _Thursday, Feb. 27th, 1868._ + +This morning at breakfast I received yours of the 11th from Palace Gate +House. I have very little news to give you in return for your budget. +The walking-match is to come off on Saturday, and Fields and I went over +the ground yesterday to measure the miles. We went at a tremendous pace. +The condition of the ground is something indescribable, from half-melted +snow, running water, and sheets and blocks of ice. The two performers +have not the faintest notion of the weight of the task they have +undertaken. I give a dinner afterwards, and have just now been settling +the bill of fare and selecting the wines. + +In the first excitement of the presidential impeachment, our houses +instantly went down. After carefully considering the subject, I decided +to take advantage of the fact that next week's four readings here have +not yet been announced, and to abolish them altogether. Nothing in this +country lasts long, and I think 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! +The Boston audiences have come to regard the readings and the reader as +their peculiar property; and you would be at once amused and pleased if +you could see the curious way in which they seem to plume themselves on +both. They have taken to applauding too whenever they laugh or cry, and +the result is very inspiriting. I shall remain here until Saturday, the +7th, but shall not read here, after to-morrow night, until the 1st of +April, when I begin my Boston farewells, six in number. + + + _Friday, 28th._ + +It has been snowing all night, and the city is in a miserable condition. +We had a fine house last night for "Carol" and "Trial," and such an +enthusiastic one that they persisted in a call after the "Carol," and, +while I was out, covered the little table with flowers. The "True +American" has taken a fresh start, as if it were quite a novelty, and is +on the whole rather worse than ever to-day. The Cunard packet, the +_Australasian_ (a poor ship), is some days overdue, and Dolby is +anxiously looking out for her. 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), Canada people bought tickets, +who had struggled across the frozen river and clambered over all sorts +of obstructions to get them. Some of those halls turn out to be smaller +than represented, but I have no doubt, to use an American expression, +that we shall "get along." + +To-morrow fortnight we purpose being at the Falls of Niagara, and then +we shall turn back and really begin to wind up. I have got to know the +"Carol" 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. This is all my news. + +Each of the pedestrians is endeavouring to persuade the other to take +something unwholesome before starting. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + BOSTON, _Monday, March 2nd, 1868._ + +A heavy gale of wind and a snowstorm oblige me to write suddenly for the +Cunard steamer a day earlier than usual. The railroad between this and +New York will probably be stopped somewhere. After all the hard weather +we have had, this is the worst day we have seen. + +The walking-match came off on Saturday, over tremendously difficult +ground, against a biting wind, and through deep snow-wreaths. It was so +cold, too, that our hair, beards, eyelashes, eyebrows, were frozen hard, +and hung with icicles. The course was thirteen miles. They were close +together at the turning-point, when Osgood went ahead at a splitting +pace and with extraordinary endurance, and won by half a mile. Dolby did +very well indeed, and begs that he may not be despised. In the evening I +gave a very splendid dinner. Eighteen covers, most magnificent flowers, +such table decoration as was never seen in these parts. The whole thing +was a great success, and everybody was delighted. + +I am holiday-making until Friday, when we start on the round of travel +that is to bring us back here for the 1st of April. My holiday-making +is simply thorough resting, except on Wednesday, when I dine with +Longfellow. There is still great political excitement, but I hope it may +not hurt us very much. My fear is that it may damage the farewell. Dolby +is not of my mind as to this, and I hope he may be right. We are not +quite determined whether Mrs. Fields did not desert our colours, by +coming on the ground in a carriage, and having _bread soaked in brandy_ +put into the winning man's mouth as he steamed along. She pleaded that +she would have done as much for Dolby, if _he_ had been ahead, so we are +inclined to forgive her. As she had done so much for me in the way of +flowers, I thought I would show her a sight in that line at the dinner. +You never saw anything like it. Two immense crowns; the base, of the +choicest exotics; and the loops, oval masses of violets. In the centre +of the table an immense basket, overflowing with enormous bell-mouthed +lilies; all round the table a bright green border of wreathed creeper, +with clustering roses at intervals; a rose for every button-hole, and a +bouquet for every lady. They made an exhibition of the table before +dinner to numbers of people. + +P. H. has just come in with a newspaper, containing a reference (in good +taste!) to the walking-match. He posts it to you by this post. + +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 sound of sleigh-bells even. + +Your account of Anne has greatly interested me. + + +[Sidenote: M. Charles Fechter.] + + SYRACUSE, U.S. OF AMERICA, + _Sunday Night, March 8th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR FECHTER, + +I am here in a most wonderful out-of-the-world place, which looks as if +it had begun to be built yesterday, and were going to be imperfectly +knocked together with a nail or two the day after to-morrow. I am in the +worst inn that ever was seen, and outside is a thaw that places the +whole country under water. I have looked out of window for the people, +and I can't find any people. I have tried all the wines in the house, +and there are only two wines, for which you pay six shillings a bottle, +or fifteen, according as you feel disposed to change the name of the +thing you ask for. (The article never changes.) The bill of fare is "in +French," and the principal article (the carte is printed) is "Paettie de +shay." I asked the Irish waiter what this dish was, and he said: "It was +the name the steward giv' to oyster patties--the Frinch name." These are +the drinks you are to wash it down with: "Mooseux," "Abasinthe," +"Curacco," "Marschine," "Annise," and "Margeaux"! + +I am growing very home-sick, and very anxious for the 22nd of April; on +which day, please God, I embark for home. I am beginning to be tired, +and have been depressed all the time (except when reading), and have +lost my appetite. I cannot tell you--but you know, and therefore why +should I?--how overjoyed I shall be to see you again, my dear boy, and +how sorely I miss a dear friend, and how sorely I miss all art, in these +parts. No disparagement to the country, which has a great future in +reserve, or to its people, who are very kind to me. + +I mean to take my leave of readings in the autumn and winter, in a final +series in England with Chappell. This will come into the way of literary +work for a time, for, after I have rested--don't laugh--it is a grim +reality--I shall have to turn my mind to--ha! ha! ha!--to--ha! ha! ha! +(more sepulchrally than before)--the--the CHRISTMAS NUMBER!!! I feel as +if I had murdered a Christmas number years ago (perhaps I did!) and its +ghost perpetually haunted me. Nevertheless in some blessed rest at +Gad's, we will talk over stage matters, and all matters, in an even way, +and see what we can make of them, please God. Be sure that I shall not +be in London one evening, after disembarking, without coming round to +the theatre to embrace you, my dear fellow. + +I have had an American cold (the worst in the world) since Christmas +Day. I read four times a week, with the most tremendous energy I can +bring to bear upon it. I travel about pretty heavily. I am very resolute +about calling on people, or receiving people, or dining out, and so save +myself a great deal. I read in all sorts of places--churches, theatres, +concert rooms, lecture halls. Every night I read I am described (mostly +by people who have not the faintest notion of observing) from the sole +of my boot to where the topmost hair of my head ought to be, but is not. +Sometimes I am described as being "evidently nervous;" sometimes it is +rather taken ill that "Mr. Dickens is so extraordinarily composed." My +eyes are blue, red, grey, white, green, brown, black, hazel, violet, and +rainbow-coloured. I am like "a well-to-do American gentleman," and the +Emperor of the French, with an occasional touch of the Emperor of China, +and a deterioration from the attributes of our famous townsman, Rufus W. +B. D. Dodge Grumsher Pickville. I say all sorts of things that I never +said, go to all sorts of places that I never saw or heard of, and have +done all manner of things (in some previous state of existence I +suppose) that have quite escaped my memory. You ask your friend to +describe what he is about. This is what he is about, every day and hour +of his American life. + +I hope to be back with you before you write to me! + + Ever, my dear Fechter, + Your most affectionate and hearty Friend. + +P.S.--Don't let Madame Fechter, or Marie, or Paul forget me! + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + SYRACUSE, _Sunday, March 8th, 1868._ + +As we shall probably be busy all day to-morrow, I write this to-day, +though it will not leave New York until Wednesday. This is a very grim +place in a heavy thaw, and a most depressing one. The hotel also is +surprisingly bad, quite a triumph in that way. We stood out for an hour +in the melting snow, and came in again, having to change completely. +Then we sat down by the stove (no fireplace), and there we are now. We +were so afraid to go to bed last night, the rooms were so close and +sour, that we played whist, double dummy, till we couldn't bear each +other any longer. We had an old buffalo for supper, and an old pig for +breakfast, and we are going to have I don't know what for dinner at six. +In the public rooms downstairs, a number of men (speechless) are sitting +in rocking-chairs, with their feet against the window-frames, staring +out at window and spitting dolefully at intervals. Scott is in tears, +and George the gasman is suborning people to go and clean the hall, +which is a marvel of dirt. And yet we have taken considerably over three +hundred pounds for to-morrow night! + +We were at Albany the night before last and yesterday morning; a very +pretty town, where I am to read on the 18th and 19th. This day week we +hope to wash out this establishment with the Falls of Niagara. And there +is my news, except that your _last letters_ to me in America must be +posted by the Cunard steamer, which will sail from Liverpool on +_Saturday, the 4th of April_. These I shall be safe to get before +embarking. + +I send a note to Katie (addressed to Mamie) by this mail. I wrote to +Harry some weeks ago, stating to him on what principles he must act in +remodelling the cricket club, if he would secure success. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + _Monday Morning, 9th._ + +Nothing new. Weather cloudy, and town more dismal than yesterday. It +froze again last night, and thaws again this morning. Somebody sent me +an Australian newspaper this morning--some citizen of Syracuse I +mean--because of a paragraph in it describing the taking of two +freebooters, at which taking Alfred was present. Though I do not make +out that he had anything in the world to do with it, except having his +name pressed into the service of the newspaper. + + + BUFFALO, _Thursday, March 12th, 1868._ + +I hope this may be in time for next Saturday's mail; but this is a long +way from New York, and rivers are swollen with melted snow, and +travelling is unusually slow. + +Just now (two o'clock in the afternoon) I received your sad news of the +death of poor dear Chauncey.[23] It naturally goes to my heart. It is +not a light thing to lose such a friend, and I truly loved him. In the +first unreasonable train of feeling, I dwelt more than I should have +thought possible on my being unable to attend his funeral. I know how +little this really matters; but I know he would have wished me to be +there with real honest tears for his memory, and I feel it very much. I +never, never, never was better loved by man than I was by him, I am +sure. Poor dear fellow, good affectionate gentle creature. + +I have not as yet received any letter from Henri, nor do I think he can +have written to New York by your mail. I believe that I am--I know that +I _was_--one of the executors. In that case Mr. Jackson, his agent, will +either write to me very shortly on Henri's information of my address, or +enquiry will be made at Gad's or at the office about it. + +It is difficult for me to write more just now. The news is a real shock +at such a distance, and I must read to-night, and I must compose my +mind. Let Mekitty know that I received her violets with great pleasure, +and that I sent her my best love and my best thanks. + +On the 25th of February I read "Copperfield" and "Bob" at Boston. Either +on that very day, or very close upon it, I was describing his +(Townshend's) house to Fields, and telling him about the great Danby +picture that he should see when he came to London. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + ROCHESTER, _Sunday, March 16th, 1868._ + +I found yours of the 28th February, when I came back here last night. We +have had two brilliant sunny days at Niagara, and have seen that +wonderful place under the finest circumstances. + +Enclosed I return you Homan's estimate; let all that work be done, +including the curtains. + +As to the hall, I have my doubts whether one of the parqueted floors +made by Aaron Smith's, of Bond Street, ought not to be better than +tiles, for the reason that perhaps the nature of the house's +construction might render the "bed" necessary for wooden flooring more +easy to be made than the "bed" necessary for tiles. I don't think you +can do better than call in the trusty Lillie to advise. Decide with your +aunt on which appears to be better, under the circumstances. Have +estimate made for _cash_, select patterns and colours, and let the work +be done out of hand. (Here's a prompt order; now I draw breath.) Let it +be thoroughly well done--no half measures. + +There is a great thaw all over the country here, and I think it has done +the catarrh good. I am to read at the famous Newhaven on Tuesday, the +24th. I hope without a row, but cannot say. The readings are running out +fast now, and we are growing very restless. + +This is a short letter, but we are pressed for time. It is two o'clock, +and we dine at three, before reading. To-morrow we rise at six, and have +eleven hours' railway or so. We have now come back from our farthest +point, and are steadily working towards home. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + SPRINGFIELD, MASS., _Saturday, March 21st, 1868._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +What with perpetual reading and travelling, what with a "true American +catarrh" (on which I am complimented almost boastfully), and what with +one of the severest winters ever known, your coals of fire received by +the last mail did not burn my head so much as they might have done +under less excusatory circumstances. But they scorched it too! + +You would find the general aspect of America and Americans decidedly +much improved. You would find immeasurably greater consideration and +respect for your privacy than of old. You would find a steady change for +the better everywhere, except (oddly enough) in the railroads generally, +which seem to have stood still, while everything else has moved. But +there is an exception westward. There the express trains have now a very +delightful carriage called a "drawing-room car," literally a series of +little private drawing-rooms, with sofas and a table in each, opening +out of a little corridor. In each, too, is a large plate-glass window, +with which you can do as you like. As you pay extra for this luxury, it +may be regarded as the first move towards two classes of passengers. +When the railroad straight away to San Francisco (in six days) shall be +opened through, it will not only have these drawing-rooms, but +sleeping-rooms too; a bell in every little apartment communicating with +a steward's pantry, a restaurant, a staff of servants, marble +washing-stands, and a barber's shop! I looked into one of these cars a +day or two ago, and it was very ingeniously arranged and quite complete. + +I left Niagara last Sunday, and travelled on to Albany, through three +hundred miles of flood, villages deserted, bridges broken, fences +drifting away, nothing but tearing water, floating ice, and absolute +wreck and ruin. The train gave in altogether at Utica, and the +passengers were let loose there for the night. As I was due at Albany, a +very active superintendent of works did all he could to "get Mr. Dickens +along," and in the morning we resumed our journey through the water, +with a hundred men in seven-league boots pushing the ice from before us +with long poles. How we got to Albany I can't say, but we got there +somehow, just in time for a triumphal "Carol" and "Trial." All the +tickets had been sold, and we found the Albanians in a state of great +excitement. You may imagine what the flood was when I tell you that we +took the passengers out of two trains that had their fires put out by +the water four-and-twenty hours before, and cattle from trucks that had +been in the water I don't know how long, but so long that the sheep had +begun to eat each other! It was a horrible spectacle, and the haggard +human misery of their faces was quite a new study. There was a fine +breath of spring in the air concurrently with the great thaw; but lo and +behold! last night it began to snow again with a strong wind, and to-day +a snowdrift covers this place with all the desolation of winter once +more. I never was so tired of the sight of snow. As to sleighing, I have +been sleighing about to that extent, that I am sick of the sound of a +sleigh-bell. + +I have seen all our Boston friends, except Curtis. Ticknor is dead. The +rest are very little changed, except that Longfellow has a perfectly +white flowing beard and long white hair. But he does not otherwise look +old, and is infinitely handsomer than he was. I have been constantly +with them all, and they have always talked much of you. It is the +established joke that Boston is my "native place," and we hold all sorts +of hearty foregatherings. They all come to every reading, and are always +in a most delightful state of enthusiasm. They give me a parting dinner +at the club, on the Thursday before Good Friday. To pass from Boston +personal to New York theatrical, I will mention here that one of the +proprietors of my New York hotel is one of the proprietors of Niblo's, +and the most active. Consequently I have seen the "Black Crook" and the +"White Fawn," in majesty, from an arm-chair in the first entrance, P.S., +more than once. Of these astonishing dramas, I beg to report (seriously) +that I have found no human creature "behind" who has the slightest idea +what they are about (upon my honour, my dearest Macready!), and that +having some amiable small talk with a neat little Spanish woman, who is +the _première danseuse_, I asked her, in joke, to let me measure her +skirt with my dress glove. Holding the glove by the tip of the +forefinger, I found the skirt to be just three gloves long, and yet its +length was much in excess of the skirts of two hundred other ladies, +whom the carpenters were at that moment getting into their places for a +transformation scene, on revolving columns, on wires and "travellers" in +iron cradles, up in the flies, down in the cellars, on every description +of float that Wilmot, gone distracted, could imagine! + +I have taken my passage for Liverpool from New York in the Cunarder +_Russia_, on the 22nd of April. I had the second officer's cabin on deck +coming out, and I have the chief steward's cabin on deck going home, +because it will be on the sunny side of the ship. I have experienced +nothing here but good humour and cordiality. In the autumn and winter I +have arranged with Chappells to take my farewell of reading in the +United Kingdom for ever and ever. + +I am delighted to hear of Benvenuta's marriage, and I think her husband +a very lucky man. Johnnie has my profound sympathy under his +examinatorial woes. The noble boy will give me Gavazzi revised and +enlarged, I expect, when I next come to Cheltenham. I will give you and +Mrs. Macready all my American experiences when you come to London, or, +better still, to Gad's. Meanwhile I send my hearty love to all, not +forgetting dear Katie. + +Niagara is not at all spoiled by a very dizzy-looking suspension bridge. +Is to have another still nearer to the Horse-shoe opened in July. My +last sight of that scene (last Sunday) was thus: We went up to the +rapids above the Horse-shoe--say two miles from it--and through the +great cloud of spray. Everything in the magnificent valley--buildings, +forest, high banks, air, water, everything--was _made of rainbow_. +Turner's most imaginative drawing in his finest day has nothing in it so +ethereal, so gorgeous in fancy, so celestial. We said to one another +(Dolby and I), "Let it for evermore remain so," and shut our eyes and +came away. + +God bless you and all dear to you, my dear old Friend! + + I am ever your affectionate and loving. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + PORTLAND, _Sunday, March 29th, 1868._ + +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 (fifty-five 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's train producing me in time to read, which +it just did. With the return of snow, nine days ago, the "true American" +(which had lulled) came back as bad as ever. I have coughed from two or +three in the morning until five or six, and have been absolutely +sleepless. I have had no appetite besides, and no taste. Last night here +I took some laudanum, and it is the only thing that has done me good. +But the life in this climate is so very hard. When I did manage to get +from Boston to New Bedford, I read with my utmost force and vigour. +Next morning, well or ill, I must turn out at seven to get back to +Boston on my way here. + +I dine at Boston at three, and at five must 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 start again to get back to Boston once more. But after +to-morrow night, I have only the Boston and New York farewells, thank +God! I am most grateful to think that when we came to devise the details +of the tour, I foresaw that it could never be done, as Dolby and Osgood +proposed, by one unassisted man, as if he were a machine. If I had not +cut out the work, and cut out Canada, I could never have gone there, I +am quite sure. Even as it is, I have just now written 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 +me, they _can not_ be got to comprehend that one's being able to do the +two hours with spirit when the time comes round, may be co-existent with +the consciousness of great depression and fatigue. I don't mind saying +all this, now that the labour is so nearly over. You shall have a +brighter account of me, please God, when I close this at Boston. + + + _Monday, March 30th._ + +Without any artificial aid, I got a splendid night's rest last night, +and consequently am very much freshened up to-day. Yesterday I had a +fine walk by the sea, and to-day I have had another on the heights +overlooking it. + + + BOSTON, _Tuesday, 31st._ + +I have safely arrived here, just in time to add a line to that effect, +and get this off by to-morrow's English mail from New York. Catarrh +rather better. Everything triumphant last night, except no sleep again. +I suppose Dolby to be now on his way back to join me here. I am much +mistaken if the political crisis do not damage the farewells by almost +one half. + +I hope that I am certainly better altogether. + +My room well decorated with flowers, of course, and Mr. and Mrs. Fields +coming to dinner. They are the most devoted of friends, and never in the +way and never out of it. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + BOSTON, _Wednesday, April 1st, 1868._ + +I received your letter of from the 14th to the 17th of March, here, last +night. My New York doctor has prescribed for me promptly, and I hope I +am better. I am certainly no worse. We shall do (to the best of my +belief) _very well_ with the farewells here and at New York, but not +greatly. Everything is at a standstill, pending the impeachment and the +next presidential election. I forgot whether I told you that the New +York press are going to give me a public dinner, on Saturday, the 18th. + +I hear (but not from himself) that Wills has had a bad fall in hunting, +and is, or has been, laid up. I am supposed, I take it, not to know this +until I hear it from himself. + + +_Thursday._ + +My notion of the farewells is pretty certain now to turn out right. It +is not at all probable that we shall do anything enormous. Every pulpit +in Massachusetts will resound to violent politics to-day and to-night. +You remember the Hutchinson family?[24] I have had a grateful letter +from John Hutchinson. He speaks of "my sister Abby" as living in New +York. The immediate object of his note is to invite me to the marriage +of his daughter, twenty-one years of age. + +You will see by the evidence of this piece of paper that I am using up +my stationery. Scott has just been making anxious calculations as to our +powers of holding out in the articles of tooth-powder, etc. The +calculations encourage him to believe that we shall just hold out, and +no more. I think I am still better to-day than I was yesterday; but I am +far from strong, and have no appetite. To see me at my little table at +night, you would think me the freshest of the fresh. And this is the +marvel of Fields' life. + +I don't forget that this is Forster's birthday. + + + _Friday Afternoon, 3rd._ + +Catarrh worse than ever! And we don't know (at four) whether I can read +to-night or must stop. Otherwise all well. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + BOSTON, _Tuesday, April 7th, 1868._ + +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 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 hope and +believe not. Consider the weather. There have been two snowstorms since +I wrote last, and to-day the town is blotted out in a ceaseless whirl of +snow and wind. + +I cannot eat (to anything like the ordinary extent), and have +established this system: At seven in the morning, in bed, a tumbler of +new cream and two tablespoonsful of rum. At twelve, a sherry cobbler and +a biscuit. At three (dinner time), a pint of champagne. At five minutes +to eight, 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 +ten, soup, and anything to drink that I can fancy. I don't eat more than +half a pound of solid food in the whole four-and-twenty hours, if so +much. + +If I hold out, as I hope to do, I shall be greatly pressed in leaving +here and getting over to New York before next Saturday's mail from +there. Do not, therefore, _if all be well_, expect to hear from me by +Saturday's mail, but look for my last letter from America by the mail of +the following Wednesday, the 15th. _Be sure_ that you shall hear, +however, by Saturday's mail, if I should knock up as to reading. I am +tremendously "beat," but I feel really and unaffectedly so much stronger +to-day, both in my body and hopes, that I am much encouraged. I have a +fancy that I turned my worst time last night. + +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 am the more hopeful +of my not having to relinquish a reading, because last night was +"Copperfield" and "Bob"--by a quarter of an hour the longest, and, in +consideration of the storm, by very much the most trying. Yet I was far +fresher afterwards than I have been these three weeks. + +I have "Dombey" 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. + + +[Sidenote: The Hon. Mrs. Watson.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, _Monday, May 11th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR MRS. WATSON, + +I am delighted to have your letter. It comes to me like a faithful voice +from dear old Rockingham, and awakens many memories. + +The work in America has been so very hard, and the winter there has been +so excessively severe, that I really have been very unwell for some +months. But I had not been at sea three days on the passage home when I +became myself again. + +If you will arrange with Mary Boyle any time for coming here, we shall +be charmed to see you, and I will adapt my arrangements accordingly. I +make this suggestion because she generally comes here early in the +summer season. But if you will propose yourself _anyhow_, giving me a +margin of a few days in case of my being pre-engaged for this day or +that, we will (as my American friends say) "fix it." + +What with travelling, reading night after night, and speech-making day +after day, I feel the peace of the country beyond all expression. On +board ship coming home, a "deputation" (two in number, of whom only one +could get into my cabin, while the other looked in at my window) came to +ask me to read to the passengers that evening in the saloon. I +respectfully replied that sooner than do it, I would assault the +captain, and be put in irons. + + Ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. George Cattermole.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Saturday, May 16th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR MRS. CATTERMOLE, + +On my return from America just now, I accidentally heard that George had +been ill. My sister-in-law had heard it from Forster, but vaguely. Until +I received your letter of Wednesday's date, I had no idea that he had +been very ill; and should have been greatly shocked by knowing it, were +it not for the hopeful and bright assurance you give me that he is +greatly better. + +My old affection for him has never cooled. The last time he dined with +me, I asked him to come again that day ten years, for I was perfectly +certain (this was my small joke) that I should not set eyes upon him +sooner. The time being fully up, I hope you will remind him, with my +love, that he is due. His hand is upon these walls here, so I should +like him to see for himself, and _you_ to see for _yourself_, and in +this hope I shall pursue his complete recovery. + +I heartily sympathise with you in your terrible anxiety, and in your +vast relief; and, with many thanks for your letter, am ever, my dear +Mrs. Cattermole, + + Affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Wednesday, June 10th, 1868._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +Since my return from America, I have been so overwhelmed with business +that I have not had time even to write to you. You may imagine what six +months of arrear are to dispose of; added to this, Wills has received a +concussion of the brain (from an accident in the hunting-field), and is +sent away by the doctors, and strictly prohibited from even writing a +note. Consequently all the business and money details of "All the Year +Round" devolve upon me. And I have had to get them up, for I have never +had experience of them. Then I am suddenly entreated to go to Paris, to +look after the French version of "No Thoroughfare" on the stage. And I +go, and come back, leaving it a great success. + +I hope Mrs. Macready and you have not abandoned the idea of coming here? +The expression of this hope is the principal, if not the only, object of +this present note. May the amiable secretary vouchsafe a satisfactory +reply! + +Katie, Mary, and Georgina send their very best love to your Katie and +Mrs. Macready. The undersigned is in his usual brilliant condition, and +indeed has greatly disappointed them at home here, by coming back "so +brown and looking so well." They expected a wreck, and were, at first, +much mortified. But they are getting over it now. + +To my particular friends, the noble boy and Johnny, I beg to be warmly +remembered. + + Ever, my dearest Macready, + Your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Henry Austin.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Tuesday, July 21st, 1868._ + + ON THE DEATH OF MR. HENRY AUSTIN.[25] + +MY DEAR LETITIA, + +You will have had a telegram from me to-day. I received your sad news by +this morning's post. They never, without express explanation, mind +"Immediate" on a letter addressed to the office, because half the people +who write there on business that does not press, or on no business at +all, so mark their letters. + +On Thursday I have people to see and matters to attend to, both at the +office and at Coutts', which, in Wills's absence, I cannot forego or +depute to another. But, _between ourselves_, I must add something else: +I have the greatest objection to attend a funeral in which my affections +are not strongly and immediately concerned. I have no notion of a +funeral as a matter of form or ceremony. And just as I should expressly +prohibit the summoning to my own burial of anybody who was not very near +or dear to me, so I revolt from myself appearing at that solemn rite +unless the deceased were very near or dear to me. I cannot endure being +dressed up by an undertaker as part of his trade show. I was not in this +poor good fellow's house in his lifetime, and I feel that I have no +business there when he lies dead in it. My mind is penetrated with +sympathy and compassion for the young widow, but that feeling is a real +thing, and my attendance as a mourner would not be--to myself. It would +be to you, I know, but it would not be to myself. I know full well that +you cannot delegate to me your memories of and your associations with +the deceased, and the more true and tender they are the more invincible +is my objection to become a form in the midst of the most awful +realities. + +With love and condolence from Georgina, Mary, and Katie, + + Believe me, ever your affectionate Brother. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. George Cattermole.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Wednesday, July 22nd, 1868._ + +MY DEAR MRS. CATTERMOLE, + +Of course I will sign your memorial to the Academy. If you take either +of the Landseers, certainly take Edwin (1, St. John's Wood Road, N.W.) +But, if you would be content with Frith, I have already spoken to him, +and believe that I can answer for him. I shall be at "All the Year +Round" Office, 26, Wellington Street, London, to-morrow, from eleven to +three. Frith will be here on Saturday, and I shall be here too. I spoke +to him a fortnight ago, and I found him most earnest in the cause. He +said he felt absolutely sure that the whole profession in its best and +highest representation would do anything for George. I sounded him, +having the opportunity of meeting him at dinner at Cartwright's. + + Ever yours affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + _Friday, July 31st, 1868._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +I had such a hard day at the office yesterday, that I had not time to +write to you before I left. So I write to-day. + +I am very unwilling to abandon the Christmas number, though even in the +case of my little Christmas books (which were immensely profitable) I +let the idea go when I thought it was wearing out. Ever since I came +home, I have hammered at it, more or less, and have been uneasy about +it. I have begun something which is very droll, but it manifestly shapes +itself towards a book, and could not in the least admit of even that +shadowy approach to a congruous whole on the part of other contributors +which they have ever achieved at the best. I have begun something else +(aboard the American mail-steamer); but I don't like it, because the +stories must come limping in after the old fashion, though, of course, +what I _have_ done will be good for A. Y. R. In short, I have cast about +with the greatest pains and patience, and I have been wholly unable to +find what I want. + +And yet I cannot quite make up my mind to give in without another fight +for it. I offered one hundred pounds reward at Gad's to anybody who +could suggest a notion to satisfy me. Charles Collins suggested one +yesterday morning, in which there is _something_, though not much. I +will turn it over and over, and try a few more starts on my own account. +Finally, I swear I will not give it up until August is out. Vow +registered. + +I am clear that a number by "various writers" would not do. If we have +not the usual sort of number, we must call the current number for that +date the Christmas number, and make it as good as possible. + +I sit in the Châlet,[26] like Mariana in the Moated Grange, and to as +much purpose. + +I am buying the freehold of the meadow at Gad's, and of an adjoining +arable field, so that I shall now have about eight-and-twenty freehold +acres in a ring-fence. No more now. + +I made up a very good number yesterday. You will see in it a very short +article that I have called "Now!" which is a highly remarkable piece of +description. It is done by a new man, from whom I have accepted another +article; but he will never do anything so good again. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: M. de Cerjat.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Wednesday, Aug. 26th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR CERJAT, + +I was happy to receive your esteemed letter a few days ago. + +The severity of the winter in America (which was quite exceptional even +in that rigorous climate), combined with the hard work I had to do, +tried me a good deal. Neuralgia and colds beset me, either by turns or +both together, and I had often much to do to get through at night. But +the sea voyage home again did wonders in restoring me, and I have been +very well indeed, though a little fatigued, ever since. I am now +preparing for a final reading campaign in England, Scotland, and +Ireland. It will begin on the 6th of October, and will probably last, +with short occasional intermissions, until June. + +The great subject in England for the moment is the horrible accident to +the Irish mail-train. It is now supposed that the petroleum (known to be +a powerful anæsthetic) rendered the unfortunate people who were burnt +almost instantly insensible to any sensation. My escape in the +Staplehurst accident of three years ago is not to be obliterated from my +nervous system. To this hour I have sudden vague rushes of terror, even +when riding in a hansom cab, which are perfectly unreasonable but quite +insurmountable. I used to make nothing of driving a pair of horses +habitually through the most crowded parts of London. I cannot now drive, +with comfort to myself, on the country roads here; and I doubt if I +could ride at all in the saddle. My reading secretary and companion +knows so well when one of these odd momentary seizures comes upon me in +a railway carriage, that he instantly produces a dram of brandy, which +rallies the blood to the heart and generally prevails. I forget whether +I ever told you that my watch (a chronometer) has never gone exactly +since the accident? So the Irish catastrophe naturally revives the +dreadful things I saw that day. + +The only other news here you know as well as I; to wit, that the country +is going to be ruined, and that the Church is going to be ruined, and +that both have become so used to being ruined, that they will go on +perfectly well. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," NO. 26, WELLINGTON STREET, + STRAND, LONDON, W.C., + _Saturday, Sept. 26th, 1868._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +I will add a line to this at the Athenæum, after seeing Plorn off, to +tell you how he went away. + + + ATHENÆUM, _Quarter to Six._ + +I can honestly report that he went away, poor dear fellow, as well as +could possibly be expected. He was pale, and had been crying, and (Harry +said) had broken down in the railway carriage after leaving Higham +station; but only for a short time. + +Just before the train started he cried a good deal, but not painfully. +(Tell dear Georgy that I bought him his cigars.) These are hard, hard +things, but they might have to be done without means or influence, and +then they would be far harder. God bless him! + + + PARLIAMENT. REPLY TO A PROPOSAL MADE THROUGH + ALEXANDER RUSSEL, OF "THE SCOTSMAN," THAT HE + SHOULD ALLOW HIMSELF TO BE PUT FORWARD AS A + CANDIDATE FOR THE REPRESENTATION OF EDINBURGH. + +[Sidenote: Mr. F. D. Finlay.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, Oct. 4th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR FINLAY, + +I am much obliged to you in all friendship and sincerity for your +letter. I have a great respect for your father-in-law and his paper, and +I am much attached to the Edinburgh people. You may suppose, therefore, +that if my mind were not fully made up on the parliamentary question, I +should waver now. + +But my conviction that I am more useful and more happy as I am than I +could ever be in Parliament is not to be shaken. I considered it some +weeks ago, when I had a stirring proposal from the Birmingham people, +and I then set it up on a rock for ever and a day. + +Do tell Mr. Russel that I truly feel this mark of confidence, and that I +hope to acknowledge it in person in Edinburgh before Christmas. There is +no man in Scotland from whom I should consider his suggestion a greater +honour. + + Ever yours. + + +[Sidenote: M. Charles Fechter.] + + * * * * * + +Poor Plorn is gone to Australia. It was a hard parting at the last. He +seemed to me to become once more my youngest and favourite little child +as the day drew near, and I did not think I could have been so shaken. +You were his idol to the hour of his departure, and he asked me to tell +you how much he wanted to bid you good-bye. + +Kindest love from all. + + Ever heartily. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Wednesday, Oct. 7th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR FECHTER, + +I got your letter sent to Gad's Hill this morning. Until I received it, +I supposed the piece to have been put into English from your French by +young Ben. If I understand that the English is yours, then I say that it +is extraordinarily good, written by one in another country. + +I do not read again in London until the 20th; and then "Copperfield." +But by that time you will be at work yourself. + +Let us dine at six to-day, in order that we may not have to hurry for +the comic dog. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + QUEEN'S HOTEL, MANCHESTER, _Sunday, Oct. 11th, 1868._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +We had a fine audience last night in the Free Trade Hall, though not +what we consider a large money-house. The let in Liverpool is extremely +good, and we are going over there at half-past one. We got down here +pleasantly enough and in good time; so all has gone well you see. + +Titiens, Santley, and an opera company of that class are at the theatre +here. They have been doing very poorly in Manchester. + +There is the whole of my scanty news. I was in wonderful voice last +night, but croak a little this morning, after so much speaking in so +very large a place. Otherwise I am all right. I find myself constantly +thinking of Plorn. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, _Monday, Oct. 12th, 1868._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +Our lets here are excellent, and we shall have a great house to-night. +We had a very fine and enthusiastic audience in the Free Trade Hall, at +Manchester, on Saturday; but our first nights there never count up in +money, as the rest do. Yesterday, "Charlotte," Sainton, and Piatti +stayed with us here; and they went on to Hull this morning. It was +pleasant to be alone again, though they were all very agreeable. + +The exertion of going on for two hours in that immense place at +Manchester being very great, I was hoarse all day yesterday, though I +was not much distressed on Saturday night. I am becoming melodious again +(at three in the afternoon) rapidly, and count on being quite restored +by a basin of turtle at dinner. + +I am glad to hear about Armatage, and hope that a service begun in a +personal attachment to Plorn may go on well. I shall never be +over-confident in such matters, I think, any more. + +The day is delicious here. We have had a blow on the Mersey this +morning, and exulted over the American steamers. With kind regard to Sir +William and Lady Humphery. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, _Tuesday, Oct. 13th, 1868._ + +As I sent a line to Mary yesterday, I enclose you Alfred's letter. +Please send it on to her when you next write to Penton. + +I have just now written to Mrs. Forster, asking her to explain to Miss +Forster how she could have an easy-chair or a sofa behind my side screen +on Tuesday, without occasioning the smallest inconvenience to anybody. +Also, how she would have a door close at hand, leading at once to cool +passages and a quiet room, etc. etc. etc. It is a sad story. + +We had a fine house here last night, and a large turn-away. "Marigold" +and "Trial" went immensely. I doubt if "Marigold" were ever more +enthusiastically received. "Copperfield" and "Bob" to-night, and a large +let. This notwithstanding election meetings and all sorts of things. + +My favourite room brought my voice round last night, and I am in +considerable force. + +Dolby sends kindest regard, and the message: "Everton toffee shall not +be forgotten." + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry Fielding Dickens.] + + ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, _Thursday, Oct. 15th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR HARRY, + +I have your letter here this morning. I enclose you another cheque for +twenty-five pounds, and I write to London by this post, ordering three +dozen sherry, two dozen port, and three dozen light claret, to be sent +down to you. + +Now, observe attentively. We must have no shadow of debt. Square up +everything whatsoever that it has been necessary to buy. Let not a +farthing be outstanding on any account, when we begin together with your +allowance. Be particular in the minutest detail. + +I wish to have no secret from you in the relations we are to establish +together, and I therefore send you Joe Chitty's letter bodily. Reading +it, you will know exactly what I know, and will understand that I treat +you with perfect confidence. It appears to me that an allowance of two +hundred and fifty pounds a year will be handsome for all your wants, if +I send you your wines. I mean this to include your tailor's bills as +well as every other expense; and I strongly recommend you to buy nothing +in Cambridge, and to take credit for nothing but the clothes with which +your tailor provides you. As soon as you have got your furniture +accounts in, let us wipe all those preliminary expenses clean out, and I +will then send you your first quarter. We will count in it October, +November, and December; and your second quarter will begin with the New +Year. If you dislike, at first, taking charge of so large a sum as +sixty-two pounds ten shillings, you can have your money from me +half-quarterly. + +You know how hard I work for what I get, and I think you know that I +never had money help from any human creature after I was a child. You +know that you are one of many heavy charges on me, and that I trust to +your so exercising your abilities and improving the advantages of your +past expensive education, as soon to diminish _this_ charge. I say no +more on that head. + +Whatever you do, above all other things keep out of debt and confide in +me. If you ever find yourself on the verge of any perplexity or +difficulty, come to me. You will never find me hard with you while you +are manly and truthful. + +As your brothers have gone away one by one, I have written to each of +them what I am now going to write to you. You know that you have never +been hampered with religious forms of restraint, and that with mere +unmeaning forms I have no sympathy. But I most strongly and +affectionately impress upon you the priceless value of the New +Testament, and the study of that book as the one unfailing guide in +life. Deeply respecting it, and bowing down before the character of our +Saviour, as separated from the vain constructions and inventions of men, +you cannot go very wrong, and will always preserve at heart a true +spirit of veneration and humility. Similarly I impress upon you the +habit of saying a Christian prayer every night and morning. These things +have stood by me all through my life, and remember that I tried to +render the New Testament intelligible to you and lovable by you when you +were a mere baby. + +And so God bless you. + + Ever your affectionate Father. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Monday, Nov. 16th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR KENT, + +I was on the eve of writing to you. + +We thought of keeping the trial private; but Oxenford has suggested to +Chappell that he would like to take the opportunity of to-morrow night's +reading, of saying something about "Oliver" in _Wednesday's paper_. +Chappell has told Levy of this, and also Mr. Tompkin, of _The Post_, +who was there. Consequently, on Wednesday evening your charming article +can come out to the best advantage. + +You have no idea of the difficulty of getting in the end of Sikes. As to +the man with the invaluable composition! my dear fellow, believe me, no +audience on earth could be held for ten minutes after the girl's death. +Give them time, and they would be revengeful for having had such a +strain put upon them. Trust me to be right. I stand there, and I know. + +Concerning Harry, I like to guide the boys to a distinct choice, rather +than to press it on them. That will be my course as to the Middle +Temple, of which I think as you do. + +With cordial thanks for every word in your letter, + + Affectionately yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. F. Lehmann.] + + KENNEDY'S HOTEL, EDINBURGH, _Sunday, Dec. 6th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR MRS. LEHMANN, + +I hope you will see Nancy with the light of a great audience upon her +some time between this and May; always supposing that she should not +prove too weird and woeful for the general public. + +You know the aspect of this city on a Sunday, and how gay and bright it +is. The merry music of the blithe bells, the waving flags, the +prettily-decorated houses with their draperies of various colours, and +the radiant countenances at the windows and in the streets, how charming +they are! The usual preparations are making for the band in the open +air, in the afternoon; and the usual pretty children (selected for that +purpose) are at this moment hanging garlands round the Scott monument, +preparatory to the innocent Sunday dance round that edifice, with which +the diversions invariably close. It is pleasant to think that these +customs were themselves of the early Christians, those early birds who +_didn't_ catch the worm--and nothing else--and choke their young with +it. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + KENNEDY'S HOTEL, EDINBURGH, _Sunday, Dec. 6th, 1868._ + +We got down here to our time to the moment; and, considering the length +of the journey, very easily. I made a calculation on the road, that the +railway travelling over such a distance involves something more than +thirty thousand shocks to the nerves. Dolby didn't like it at all. + +The signals for a gale were up at Berwick, and along the road between +there and here. It came on just as we arrived, and blew tremendously +hard all night. The wind is still very high, though the sky is bright +and the sun shining. We couldn't sleep for the noise. + +We are very comfortably quartered. I fancy that the "business" will be +on the whole better here than in Glasgow, where trade is said to be very +bad. But I think I shall be pretty correct in both places as to the run +being on the final readings. + +We are going up Arthur's Seat presently, which will be a pull for our +fat friend. + +Scott, in a new Mephistopheles hat, baffles imagination and description. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. Wilkie Collins.] + + KENNEDY'S HOTEL, EDINBURGH, _Tuesday, Dec. 8th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR WILKIE, + +I am hard at it here as usual, though with an audience so finely +perceptive that the labour is much diminished. I have got together in a +very short space the conclusion of "Oliver Twist" that you suggested, +and am trying it daily with the object of rising from that blank state +of horror into a fierce and passionate rush for the end. As yet I cannot +make a certain effect of it; but when I shall have gone over it as many +score of times as over the rest of that reading, perhaps I may strike +one out. + +I shall be very glad to hear when you have done your play, and I _am_ +glad to hear that you like the steamer. I agree with you about the +reading perfectly. In No. 3 you will see an exact account of some places +I visited at Ratcliffe. There are two little instances in it of +something comic rising up in the midst of the direst misery, that struck +me very humorously at the time. + +As I have determined not to do the "Oliver Murder" until after the 5th +of January, when I shall ascertain its effect on a great audience, it is +curious to notice how the shadow of its coming affects the Scotch mind. +There was such a disposition to hold back for it here (until I return to +finish in February) that we had next to no "let" when we arrived. It all +came with a rush yesterday. They gave me a most magnificent welcome back +from America last night. + +I am perpetually counting the weeks before me to be "read" through, and +am perpetually longing for the end of them; and yet I sometimes wonder +whether I shall miss something when they are over. + +It is a very, very bad day here, very dark and very wet. Dolby is over +at Glasgow, and I am sitting at a side window looking up the length of +Prince's Street, watching the mist change over the Castle and murdering +Nancy by turns. + + Ever affectionately. + +P.S.--I have read the whole of Fitzgerald's "Zero," and the idea is +exceedingly well wrought out. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + KENNEDY'S HOTEL, EDINBURGH, _Saturday, Dec. 12th, 1868._ + +I send another _Scotsman_ by this post, because it is really a good +newspaper, well written, and well managed. We had an immense house here +last night, and a very large turn-away. + +We have four guests to dinner to-day: Peter Fraser, Ballantyne, John +Blackwood, and Mr. Russel. Immense preparations are making in the +establishment, "on account," Mr. Kennedy says, "of a' four yon chiels +being chiels wha' ken a guid dinner." I enquired after poor Doctor Burt, +not having the least idea that he was dead. + +My voice holds out splendidly so far, and I have had no return of the +American. But I sleep very indifferently indeed. + +It blew appallingly here the night before last, but the wind has since +shifted northward, and it is now bright and cold. The _Star of Hope_, +that picked up those shipwrecked people in the boat, came into Leith +yesterday, and was received with tremendous cheers. Her captain must be +a good man and a noble fellow. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + KENNEDY'S HOTEL, EDINBURGH, _Monday, Dec. 14th, 1868._ + +The dinner-party of Saturday last was an immense success. Russel swore +on the occasion that he would go over to Belfast expressly to dine with +me at the Finlays'. Ballantyne informed me that he was going to send you +some Scotch remembrance (I don't know what) at Christmas! + +The Edinburgh houses are very fine. The Glasgow room is a big wandering +place, with five prices in it, which makes it the more aggravating, as +the people get into knots which they can't break, as if they were afraid +of one another. + +Forgery of my name is becoming popular. You sent me, this morning, a +letter from Russell Sturgis, answering a supposed letter of mine +(presented by "Miss Jefferies"), and assuring me of his readiness to +give not only the ten pounds I asked for, but any contribution I wanted, +towards sending that lady and her family back to Boston. + +I wish you would take an opportunity of forewarning Lady Tennent that +the first night's reading she will attend is an experiment quite out of +the way, and that she may find it rather horrible. + +The keeper of the Edinburgh Hall, a fine old soldier, presented me, on +Friday night, with the finest 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. + +The day is dark, wet, and windy. The weather is likely to be vile indeed +at Glasgow, where it always rains, and where the sun is never seen +through the smoke. We go over there to-morrow at ten. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + CARRICK'S ROYAL HOTEL, GLASGOW, + _Tuesday, Dec. 15th, 1868._ + +It occurs to me that my table at St. James's Hall might be appropriately +ornamented with a little holly next Tuesday. If the two front legs were +entwined with it, for instance, and a border of it ran round the top of +the fringe in front, with a little sprig by way of bouquet at each +corner, it would present a seasonable appearance. + +If you will think of this, and will have the materials ready in a little +basket, I will call for you at the office at half-past twelve on +Tuesday, and take you up to the hall, where the table will be ready for +you. + +No news, except that we had a great crush and a wonderful audience in +Edinburgh last night. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + CARRICK'S ROYAL HOTEL, GLASGOW, + _Wednesday, Dec. 16th, 1868._ + +This is to report all well, except that I have wretched nights. The +weather is diabolical here, and times are very bad. I cut "Copperfield" +with a bold dexterity that amazed myself and utterly confounded George +at the wing; knocking off that and "Bob" by ten minutes to ten. + +I don't know anything about the Liverpool banquet, except from _The +Times_. As I don't finish there in February (as they seem to have +supposed), but in April, it may, perhaps, stand over or blow over +altogether. Such a thing would be a serious addition to the work, and +yet refusal on my part would be too ungracious. + +The density and darkness of this atmosphere are fearful. I shall be +heartily glad to start for Edinburgh again on Friday morning. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + KENNEDY'S HOTEL, EDINBURGH, _Friday, Dec. 18th, 1868._ + +I am heartily glad to get back here this afternoon. The day is bright +and cheerful, and the relief from Glasgow inexpressible. The +affectionate regard of the people exceeds all bounds, and is shown in +every way. The manager of the railway being at the reading the other +night, wrote to me next morning, saying that a large saloon should be +prepared for my journey up, if I would let him know when I purposed +making the journey. On my accepting the offer he wrote again, saying +that he had inspected "our Northern saloons," and not finding them so +convenient for sleeping in as the best English, had sent up to King's +Cross for the best of the latter; which I would please consider my own +carriage as long as I wanted it. The audiences do everything but +embrace me, and take as much pains with the readings as I do. + +I find your Christmas present (just arrived) to be a haggis and +shortbread! + + +[Sidenote: Mr. J. C. Parkinson.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Christmas Day, 1868._ + +MY DEAR PARKINSON, + +When your letter was delivered at "All the Year Round" Office yesterday, +I was attending a funeral. It comes to hand here consequently to-day. + +I am diffident of addressing Mr. Gladstone on the subject of your desire +to be appointed to the vacant Commissionership of Inland Revenue, +because, although my respect for him and confidence in him are second to +those of no man in England (a bold word at this time, but a truthful +one), my personal acquaintance with him is very slight. But you may +make, through any of your friends, any use you please of this letter, +towards the end of bringing its contents under Mr. Gladstone's notice. + +In expressing my conviction that you deserve the place, and are in every +way qualified for it, I found my testimony upon as accurate a knowledge +of your character and abilities as anyone can possibly have acquired. In +my editorship both of "Household Words" and "All the Year Round," you +know very well that I have invariably offered you those subjects of +political and social interest to write upon, in which integrity, +exactness, a remarkable power of generalising evidence and balancing +facts, and a special clearness in stating the case, were indispensable +on the part of the writer. My confidence in your powers has never been +misplaced, and through all our literary intercourse you have never been +hasty or wrong. Whatever trust you have undertaken has been so +completely discharged, that it has become my habit to read your proofs +rather for my own edification than (as in other cases) for the detection +of some slip here or there, or the more pithy presentation of the +subject. + +That your literary work has never interfered with the discharge of your +official duties, I may assume to be at least as well known to your +colleagues as it is to me. It is idle to say that if the post were in my +gift you should have it, because you have had, for some years, most of +the posts of high trust that have been at my disposal. An excellent +public servant in your literary sphere of action, I should be heartily +glad if you could have this new opportunity of distinguishing yourself +in the same character. And this is at least unselfish in me, for I +suppose I should then lose you? + + Always faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens.] + + LETTER TO HIS YOUNGEST SON ON HIS DEPARTURE FOR + AUSTRALIA IN 1868.[27] + +MY DEAREST PLORN, + +I write this note to-day because your 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 beat fitted. I think its freedom and wildness more suited +to you than any experiment in a study or office would ever have been; +and without that training, you could have followed no other suitable +occupation. + +What you have already 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 do this out of this +determination, and I have never slackened in it since. + +Never take a mean advantage of anyone 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 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 men. + +You will remember that you have never at home been wearied 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. + + Your affectionate Father. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] The Agricultural College, Cirencester. + +[21] "No Thoroughfare." + +[22] The Mr. H. F. Chorley so often mentioned was the well-known musical +critic, and a dear and intimate friend of Charles Dickens and his +family. We have no letters to him, Mr. Chorley having destroyed all his +correspondence before his death. + +[23] Mr. Chauncey Hare Townshend. He was one of the dearest friends of +Charles Dickens and a very constant correspondent; but no letters +addressed to him are in existence. + +[24] An American family of brothers and a sister who came to London to +give a musical entertainment shortly after Charles Dickens's return from +his first visit to America. He had a great interest in, and liking for, +these young people. + +[25] Cousin and adopted child of Mr. and Mrs. Austin. + +[26] A model of a Swiss châlet, and a present from M. Charles Fechter, +used by Charles Dickens as a summer writing-room. + +[27] This letter has been already published by Mr. Forster in his +"Life." + + + + +1869. + +NARRATIVE. + + +The "Farewell Readings" in town and country were resumed immediately +after the beginning of this year, and were to have been continued until +the end of May. The work was even harder than it had ever been. Charles +Dickens began his country tour in Ireland early in January, and read +continuously in all parts of England and Scotland until the end of +April. A public dinner (in commemoration of his last readings in the +town) was given to him at Liverpool on the 10th April. Besides all this +severe country work, he was giving a series of readings at St. James's +Hall, and reading the "Murder" from "Oliver Twist," in London and in the +country, frequently four times a week. In the second week of February, a +sudden and unusually violent attack of the old trouble in his foot made +it imperatively necessary to postpone a reading at St. James's Hall, and +to delay for a day or two his departure for Scotland. The foot continued +to cause him pain and inconvenience, but, as will be seen from his +letters, he generally spoke of himself as otherwise well, until he +arrived at Preston, where he was to read on the 22nd of April. The day +before this appointed reading, he writes home of some grave symptoms +which he had observed in himself, and had reported to his doctor, Mr. F. +Carr Beard. That gentleman, taking alarm at what he considered +"indisputable evidences of overwork," wisely resolved not to content +himself with written consultations, but went down to Preston on the day +appointed for the reading there, and, after seeing his patient, +peremptorily stopped it, carried him off to Liverpool, and the next day +to London. There he consulted Sir Thomas Watson, who entirely +corroborated Mr. Beard's opinion. And the two doctors agreed that the +course of readings must be stopped for this year, and that reading, +_combined with travelling_, must be stopped _for ever_. Charles Dickens +had no alternative but to acquiesce in this verdict; but he felt it +keenly, not only for himself, but for the sake of the Messrs. Chappell, +who showed the most disinterested kindness and solicitude on the +occasion. He at once returned home to Gad's Hill, and the rest and quiet +of the country restored him, for the time, to almost his usual condition +of health and spirits. But it was observed, by all who loved him, that +from this time forth he never regained his old vigour and elasticity. +The attack at Preston was the "beginning of the end!" + +During the spring and summer of this year, he received visits from many +dearly valued American friends. In May, he stayed with his daughter and +sister-in-law for two or three weeks at the St. James's Hotel, +Piccadilly, having promised to be in London at the time of the arrival +of Mr. and Mrs. Fields, of Boston, who visited Europe, accompanied by +Miss Mabel Lowell (the daughter of the famous American poet) this year. +Besides these friends, Mr. and Mrs. Childs, of Philadelphia--from whom +he had received the greatest kindness and hospitality, and for whom he +had a hearty regard--Dr. Fordyce Barker and his son, Mr. Eytinge (an +illustrator of an American edition of Charles Dickens's works), and Mr. +Bayard Taylor paid visits to Gad's Hill, which were thoroughly enjoyed +by Charles Dickens and his family. This last summer was a very happy +one. He had the annual summer visitors and parties of his friends in the +neighbourhood. He was, as usual, projecting improvements in his beloved +country home; one, which he called the "crowning improvement of all," +was a large conservatory, which was to be added during the absence of +the family in London in the following spring. + +The state of Mr. Wills's health made it necessary for him now to retire +altogether from the editorship of "All the Year Round." Charles +Dickens's own letters express the regret which he felt at the +dissolution of this long and always pleasant association. Mr. Wills's +place at the office was filled by Charles Dickens's eldest son, now sole +editor and proprietor of the journal. + +In September Charles Dickens went to Birmingham, accompanied by his son +Harry, and presided at the opening of the session of (what he calls in +his letter to Mr. Arthur Ryland, "_our_ Institution") the Midland +Institute. He made a speech on education to the young students, and +promised to go back early in the following year and distribute the +prizes. In one of the letters which we give to Mr. Ryland, he speaks of +himself as "being in full force again," and "going to finish his +farewell readings soon after Christmas." He had obtained the sanction of +Sir Thomas Watson to giving twelve readings, _in London only_, which he +had fixed for the beginning of the following year. + +The letter to his friend Mr. Finlay, which opens the year, was in reply +to a proposal for a public banquet at Belfast, projected by the Mayor of +that town, and conveyed through Mr. Finlay. This gentleman was at that +time proprietor of _The Northern Whig_ newspaper at Belfast, and he was +son-in-law to Mr. Alexander Russel, editor of _The Scotsman_. + +Charles Dickens's letter this New Year to M. de Cerjat was his last. +That faithful and affectionate friend died very shortly afterwards. + +To Miss Mary Boyle he writes to acknowledge a New Year's gift, which he +had been much touched by receiving from her, at a time when he knew she +was deeply afflicted by the sudden death of her brother, Captain +Cavendish Boyle, for whom Charles Dickens had a true regard and +friendship. + +While he was giving his series of London readings in the spring, he +received a numerously signed circular letter from actors and actresses +of the various London theatres. They were very curious about his new +reading of the "Oliver Twist" murder, and representing to him the +impossibility of their attending an evening, requested him to give a +morning reading, for their especial benefit. We give his answer, +complying with the request. And the occasion was, to him, a most +gratifying and deeply interesting one. + +The letter to Mr. Edmund Ollier was in answer to an invitation to be +present at the inauguration of a bust of Mr. Leigh Hunt, which was to be +placed over his grave at Kensal Green. + +The letter to Mr. Shirley Brooks, the well-known writer, who succeeded +Mr. Mark Lemon as editor of "Punch," and for whom Charles Dickens had a +cordial regard, was on the subject of a memorial on behalf of Mrs. Peter +Cunningham, whose husband had recently died. + +The "remarkable story," of which he writes to his daughter in August, +was called "An Experience." It was written by a lady (who prefers to be +anonymous) who had been a contributor to "Household Words" from its +first starting, and was always highly valued in this capacity by Charles +Dickens. + +Our latest letters for this year are in October. One to Mr. Charles +Kent, sympathising with him on a disappointment which he had experienced +in a business undertaking, and one to Mr. Macready, in which he tells +him of his being in the "preliminary agonies" of a new book. The first +number of "Edwin Drood" was to appear before the end of his course of +readings in March; and he was at work so long beforehand with a view to +sparing himself, and having some numbers ready before the publication of +the first one. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. F. D. Finlay.] + + THE ATHENÆUM (CLUB), _New Year's Day, 1869._ + +MY DEAR FINLAY, + +First my heartfelt wishes for many prosperous and happy years. Next, as +to the mayor's kind intentions. I feel really grateful to him and +gratified by the whole idea, but acceptance of the distinction on my +part would be impracticable. My time in Ireland is all anticipated, and +I could not possibly prolong my stay, because I _must_ be back in London +to read on Tuesday fortnight, and then must immediately set forth for +the West of England. It is not likely, besides, that I shall get through +these farewells before the end of May. And the work is so hard, and my +voice is so precious, that I fear to add an ounce to the fatigue, or I +might be overweighted. The avoidance of gas and crowds when I am not in +the act of being cooked before those lights of mine, is an essential +part of the training to which (as I think you know) I strictly adhere, +and although I have accepted the Liverpool invitation, I have done so as +an exception; the Liverpool people having always treated me in our +public relations with a kind of personal affection. + +I am sincerely anxious that the Mayor of Belfast should know how the +case stands with me. If you will kindly set me straight and right, I +shall be truly obliged to you. + +My sister-in-law has been very unwell (though she is now much better), +and is recommended a brisk change. As she is a good sailor, I mean to +bring her to Ireland with me; at which she is highly delighted. + + Faithfully yours ever. + + +[Sidenote: M. de Cerjat.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Monday, Jan. 4th, 1869._ + +MY DEAR CERJAT, + +I will answer your question first. Have I done with my farewell +readings? Lord bless you, no; and I shall think myself well out of it if +I get done by the end of May. I have undertaken one hundred and six, and +have as yet only vanquished twenty-eight. To-morrow night I read in +London for the first time the "Murder" from "Oliver Twist," which I have +re-arranged for the purpose. Next day I start for Dublin and Belfast. I +am just back from Scotland for a few Christmas holidays. I go back there +next month; and in the meantime and afterwards go everywhere else. + +Take my guarantee for it, you may be quite comfortable on the subject of +papal aspirations and encroachments. The English people are in +unconquerable opposition to that church. They have the animosity in the +blood, derived from the history of the past, though perhaps +unconsciously. But they do sincerely want to win Ireland over if they +can. They know that since the Union she has been hardly used. They know +that Scotland has _her_ religion, and a very uncomfortable one. They +know that Scotland, though intensely anti-papal, perceives it to be +unjust that Ireland has not _her_ religion too, and has very +emphatically declared her opinion in the late elections. They know that +a richly-endowed church, forced upon a people who don't belong to it, is +a grievance with these people. They know that many things, but +especially an artfully and schemingly managed institution like the +Romish Church, thrive upon a grievance, and that Rome has thriven +exceedingly upon this, and made the most of it. Lastly, the best among +them know that there is a gathering cloud in the West, considerably +bigger than a man's hand, under which a powerful Irish-American body, +rich and active, is always drawing Ireland in that direction; and that +these are not times in which other powers would back our holding Ireland +by force, unless we could make our claim good in proving fair and equal +government. + +Poor Townshend charged me in his will "to publish without alteration his +religious opinions, which he sincerely believed would tend to the +happiness of mankind." To publish them without alteration is absolutely +impossible; for they are distributed in the strangest fragments through +the strangest note-books, pocket-books, slips of paper and what not, and +produce a most incoherent and tautological result. I infer that he must +have held some always-postponed idea of fitting them together. For these +reasons I would certainly publish nothing about them, if I had any +discretion in the matter. Having none, I suppose a book must be made. +His pictures and rings are gone to the South Kensington Museum, and are +now exhibiting there. + +Charley Collins is no better and no worse. Katie looks very young and +very pretty. Her sister and Miss Hogarth (my joint housekeepers) have +been on duty this Christmas, and have had enough to do. My boys are now +all dispersed in South America, India, and Australia, except Charley, +whom I have taken on at "All the Year Round" Office, and Henry, who is +an undergraduate at Trinity Hall, and I hope will make his mark there. +All well. + +The Thames Embankment is (faults of ugliness in detail apart) the finest +public work yet done. From Westminster Bridge to near Waterloo it is now +lighted up at night, and has a fine effect. They have begun to plant it +with trees, and the footway (not the road) is already open to the +Temple. Besides its beauty, and its usefulness in relieving the crowded +streets, it will greatly quicken and deepen what is learnedly called +the "scour" of the river. But the Corporation of London and some other +nuisances have brought the weirs above Twickenham into a very bare and +unsound condition, and they already begin to give and vanish, as the +stream runs faster and stronger. + +Your undersigned friend has had a few occasional reminders of his "true +American catarrh." Although I have exerted my voice very much, it has +not yet been once touched. In America I was obliged to patch it up +constantly. + +I like to read your patriarchal account of yourself among your Swiss +vines and fig-trees. You wouldn't recognise Gad's Hill now; I have so +changed it, and bought land about it. And yet I often think that if Mary +were to marry (which she won't) I should sell it and go genteelly +vagabondising over the face of the earth. Then indeed I might see +Lausanne again. But I don't seem in the way of it at present, for the +older I get, the more I do and the harder I work. + + Yours ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Mary Boyle.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Wednesday, Jan. 6th, 1869._ + +MY DEAR MARY, + +I was more affected than you can easily believe, by the sight of your +gift lying on my dressing-table on the morning of the new year. To be +remembered in a friend's heart when it is sore is a touching thing; and +that and the remembrance of the dead quite overpowered me, the one being +inseparable from the other. + +You may be sure that I shall attach a special interest and value to the +beautiful present, and shall wear it as a kind of charm. God bless you, +and may we carry the friendship through many coming years! + +My preparations for a certain murder that I had to do last night have +rendered me unfit for letter-writing these last few days, or you would +have heard from me sooner. The crime being completely off my mind and +the blood spilled, I am (like many of my fellow-criminals) in a highly +edifying state to-day. + + Ever believe me, your affectionate Friend. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + TORQUAY, _Wednesday, Jan. 27th, 1869._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +We have been doing immensely. + +This place is most beautiful, though colder now than one would expect. +This hotel, an immense place, built among picturesque broken rocks out +in the blue sea, is quite delicious. There are bright green trees in the +garden, and new peas a foot high. Our rooms are _en suite_, all +commanding the sea, and each with two very large plate-glass windows. +Everything good and well served. + +A _pantomime_ was being done last night, in the place where I am to read +to-night. It is something between a theatre, a circus, a riding-school, +a Methodist chapel, and a cow-house. I was so disgusted with its +acoustic properties on going in to look at it, that the whole +unfortunate staff have been all day, and now are, sticking up baize and +carpets in it to prevent echoes. + +I have rarely seen a more uncomfortable edifice than I thought it last +night. + +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 +borne out, stiff and rigid, at various times. It became quite +ridiculous. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + BATH, _Friday, Jan. 29th, 1869._ + +MY DEAREST GEORGY, + +You must not trust blank places in my list, because many have been, and +will be, gradually filled up. After the Tuesday's reading in London, I +have TWO for that same week in the country--Nottingham and Leicester. In +the following week I have none; but my arrangements are all at sea as +yet, for I must somehow and somewhere do an "Uncommercial" in that week, +and I also want to get poor Chauncey's "opinions" to the printer. + +This mouldy old roosting-place comes out mouldily as to let of course. I +hate the sight of the bygone assembly-rooms, and the Bath chairs +trundling the dowagers about the streets. As to to-morrow morning in the +daylight!---- + +I have no cold to speak of. Dolby sends kindest regard. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Lehmann.] + + OFFICE, _Wednesday, Feb. 3rd, 1869._ + +DEAR MRS. LEHMANN, + +Before getting your kind note, I had written to Lehmann, explaining why +I cannot allow myself any social pleasure while my farewell task is yet +unfinished. The work is so very hard, that every little scrap of rest +_and silence_ I can pick up is precious. And even those morsels are so +flavoured with "All the Year Round," that they are not quite the genuine +article. + +Joachim[28] came round to see me at the hall last night, and I told him +how sorry I was to forego the pleasure of meeting him (he is a noble +fellow!) at your pleasant table. + +I am glad you are coming to the "Murder" on the 2nd of March. (The house +will be prodigious.) Such little changes as I have made shall be +carefully presented to your critical notice, and I hope will be crowned +with your approval. But you are always such a fine audience that I have +no fear on that head. I saw Chorley yesterday in his own room. A sad and +solitary sight. The widowed Drake, with a certain _gin_coherence of +manner, presented a blooming countenance and buxom form in the passage; +so buxom indeed that she was obliged to retire before me like a modest +stopper, before I could get into the dining decanter where poor Chorley +reposed. + + Faithfully yours always. + +P.S.--My love to Rudie. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + GLASGOW, _Thursday, Feb. 25th, 1869._ + +I received your letter at Edinburgh this morning. I did not write to you +yesterday, as there had been no reading on the previous night. + +The foot bears the fatigue wonderfully well, and really occasions me no +inconvenience beyond the necessity of wearing the big work of art. Syme +saw me again this morning, and utterly scouted the gout notion +altogether. I think the Edinburgh audience understood the "Murder" +better last night than any audience that has heard it yet. "Business" is +enormous, and Dolby jubilant. + +It is a most deplorable afternoon here, deplorable even for Glasgow. A +great wind blowing, and sleet driving before it in a storm of heavy +blobs. We had to drive our train dead in the teeth of the wind, and got +in here late, and are pressed for time. + +Strange that in the North we have had absolutely no snow. There was a +very thin scattering on the Pentlands for an hour or two, but no more. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + EDINBURGH, _Friday, Feb. 26th, 1869._ + +Writing to-morrow morning would be all but impracticable for me; would +be quite so for Dolby, who has to go to the agents and "settle up" in +the midst of his breakfast. So I write to-day, in reply to your note +received at Glasgow this morning. + +The foot conducts itself splendidly. We had a most enormous cram at +Glasgow. Syme saw me again yesterday (before I left here for Glasgow), +and repeated "Gout!" with the greatest indignation and contempt, several +times. The aching is going off as the day goes on, if it be worth +mentioning again. The ride from Glasgow was charming this morning; the +sun shining brilliantly, and the country looking beautiful. + +I told you what the Nortons were. Mabel Lowell is a charming little +thing, and very retiring in manner and expression. + +We shall have a scene here to-night, no doubt. The night before last, +Ballantyne, unable to get in, 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. I have utterly left off _my_ champagne, +and, I think, with good results. Nothing during the readings but a very +little weak iced brandy-and-water. + +I hope you will find me greatly improved on Tuesday. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + BIRMINGHAM, _Friday, March 5th, 1869._ + +This is to send you my best love, and to wish you many and many happy +returns of to-morrow, which I miraculously remember to be your +birthday. + +I saw this morning a very pretty fan here. I was going to buy it as a +remembrance of the occasion, when I was checked by a dim misgiving that +you had a fan not long ago from Chorley. Tell me what you would like +better, and consider me your debtor in that article, whatever it may be. + +I have had my usual left boot on this morning, and have had an hour's +walk. It was in a gale of wind and a simoom of dust, but I greatly +enjoyed it. Immense enthusiasm at Wolverhampton last night over +"Marigold." Scott made a most amazing ass of himself yesterday. He +reported that he had left behind somewhere three books--"Boots," +"Murder," and "Gamp." We immediately telegraphed to the office. Answer, +no books there. As my impression was that he must have left them at St. +James's Hall, we then arranged to send him up to London at seven this +morning. Meanwhile (though not reproached), he wept copiously and +audibly. I had asked him over and over again, was he sure he had not put +them in my large black trunk? Too sure, too sure. Hadn't opened that +trunk after Tuesday night's reading. He opened it to get some clothes +out when I went to bed, and there the books were! He produced them with +an air of injured surprise, as if we had put them there. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + QUEEN'S HOTEL, MANCHESTER, _Sunday, March 7th, 1869._ + +We have had our sitting-room chimney afire this morning, and have had to +turn out elsewhere to breakfast; but the chamber has since been cleaned +up, and we are reinstated. Manchester is (_for_ Manchester) bright and +fresh. + +Tell Russell that a crop of hay is to be got off the meadow this year, +before the club use it. They did not make such use of it last year as +reconciles me to losing another hay-crop. So they must wait until the +hay is in, before they commence active operations. + +Poor Olliffe! I am truly sorry to read those sad words about his +suffering, and fear that the end is not far off. + +We are very comfortably housed here, and certainly that immense hall is +a wonderful place for its size. Without much greater expenditure of +voice than usual, I a little enlarged the action last night, and Dolby +(who went to all the distant points of view) reported that he could +detect no difference between it and any other place. As always happens +now--and did not at first--they were unanimously taken by Noah +Claypole's laugh. But the go, throughout, was enormous. Sims Reeves was +doing Henry Bertram at the theatre, and of course took some of our +shillings. It was a night of excitement for Cottonopolis. + +I received from Mrs. Keeley this morning a very good photograph of poor +old Bob. Yesterday I had a letter from Harry, reminding me that our +intended Cambridge day is the day next after that of the boat-race. +Clearly it must be changed. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + QUEEN'S HOTEL, MANCHESTER, _Saturday, March 20th, 1869._ + +Getting yours and its enclosure, Mary's note, at two this afternoon, I +write a line at once in order that you may have it on Monday morning. + +The Theatre Royal, Liverpool, will be a charming place to read in. +Ladies are to dine at the dinner, and we hear it is to be a very grand +affair. Dolby is doubtful whether it may not "hurt the business," by +drawing a great deal of money in another direction, which I think +possible enough. Trade is very bad _here_, and the gloom of the Preston +strike seems to brood over the place. The Titiens Company have been +doing wretchedly. I should have a greater sympathy with them if they +were not practising in the next room now. + +My love to Letitia and Harriette,[29] wherein Dolby (highly gratified by +being held in remembrance) joins with the same to you. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + MANCHESTER, _Sunday, March 21st, 1869._ + +Will you tell Mary that I have had a letter from Frith, in which he says +that he will be happy to show her his pictures "any day in the first +week of April"? I have replied that she will be proud to receive his +invitation. His object in writing was to relieve his mind about the +"Murder," of which he cannot say enough. + +Tremendous enthusiasm here last night, calling in the most thunderous +manner after "Marigold," and again after the "Trial," shaking the great +hall, and cheering furiously. + +Love to all. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John Clarke.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Wednesday, March 24th, 1869._ + +LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, + +I beg to assure you that I am much gratified by the desire you do me the +honour to express in your letter handed to me by Mr. John Clarke. + +Before that letter reached me, I had heard of your wish, and had +mentioned to Messrs. Chappell that it would be highly agreeable to me to +anticipate it, if possible. They readily responded, and we agreed upon +having three morning readings in London. As they are not yet publicly +announced, I add a note of the days and subjects: + +Saturday, May 1st. "Boots at the Holly-Tree Inn," and "Sikes and Nancy" +from "Oliver Twist." + +Saturday, May 8th. "The Christmas Carol." + +Saturday, May 22nd. "Sikes and Nancy" from "Oliver Twist," and "The +Trial" from "Pickwick." + +With the warmest interest in your art, and in its claims upon the +general gratitude and respect, + + Believe me, always faithfully your Friend. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, _Sunday, April 4th, 1869._ + +By this post I send to Mary the truly affecting account of poor dear +Katie Macready's death. It is as sorrowful as anything so peaceful and +trustful can be! + +Both my feet are very tender, and often feel as though they were in hot +water. But I was wonderfully well and strong, thank God! and had no end +of voice for the two nights running in that great Birmingham hall. We +had enormous houses. + +So far as I understand the dinner arrangements here, they are much too +long. As to the acoustics of that hall, and the position of the tables +(both as bad as bad can be), my only consolation is that, if anybody can +be heard, _I_ probably can be. The honorary secretary tells me that six +hundred people are to dine. The mayor, being no speaker and out of +health besides, hands over the toast of the evening to Lord Dufferin. +The town is full of the festival. The Theatre Royal, touched up for the +occasion, will look remarkably bright and well for the readings, and our +lets are large. It is remarkable that our largest let as yet is for +Thursday, not Friday. I infer that the dinner damages Friday, but Dolby +does not think so. There appears to be great curiosity to hear the +"Murder." (On Friday night last I read to two thousand people, and odd +hundreds.) + +I hear that Anthony Trollope, Dixon, Lord Houghton, Lemon, Esquiros (of +the _Revue des Deux Mondes_), and Sala are to be called upon to speak; +the last, for the newspaper press. All the Liverpool notabilities are to +muster. And Manchester is to be represented by its mayor with due +formality. + +I had been this morning to look at St. George's Hall, and suggest what +can be done to improve its acoustics. As usually happens in such cases, +their most important arrangements are already made and unchangeable. I +should not have placed the tables in the committee's way at all, and +could certainly have placed the daïs to much greater advantage. So all +the good I could do was to show where banners could be hung with some +hope of stopping echoes. Such is my small news, soon exhausted. We +arrived here at three yesterday afternoon; it is now mid-day; Chorley +has not yet appeared, but he had called at the local agent's while I was +at Birmingham. + +It is a curious little instance of the way in which things fit together +that there is a ship-of-war in the Mersey, whose flags and so forth are +to be brought up to St. George's Hall for the dinner. She is the +_Donegal_, of which Paynter told me he had just been captain, when he +told me all about Sydney at Bath. + +One of the pleasantest things I have experienced here this time, is the +manner in which I am stopped in the streets by working men, who want to +shake hands with me, and tell me they know my books. I never go out but +this happens. Down at the docks just now, a cooper with a fearful +stutter presented himself in this way. His modesty, combined with a +conviction that if he were in earnest I would see it and wouldn't repel +him, made up as true a piece of natural politeness as I ever saw. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.] + + IMPERIAL HOTEL, BLACKPOOL, _Wednesday, April 21st, 1869._ + +I send you this hasty line to let you know that 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; he +recognises, in the exact description I have given him, indisputable +evidences of overwork, which he would wish to treat immediately. So I +have said: "Go in and win." + +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. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + PRESTON, _Thursday Evening, April 22nd, 1869._ + +_Don't be in the least alarmed._ Beard has come down, and instantly +echoes my impression (perfectly unknown to him), that the readings must +be _stopped_. I have had symptoms that must not be disregarded. I go to +Liverpool to-night with him (to get away from here), and proceed to the +office to-morrow. + + +[Sidenote: The Lord John Russell.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Wednesday, May 26th, 1869._ + +MY DEAR LORD RUSSELL, + +I have delayed answering your kind letter, in order that you might get +home before I wrote. I am happy to report myself quite well again, and I +shall be charmed to come to Pembroke Lodge on any day that may be most +convenient to Lady Russell and yourself after the middle of June. + +You gratify me beyond expression by your reference to the Liverpool +dinner. I made the allusion to you with all my heart at least, and it +was most magnificently received. + +I beg to send my kind regard to Lady Russell, with many thanks for her +remembrance, and am ever, + + My dear Lord Russell, faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Thursday, June 24th, 1869._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +At a great meeting[30] compounded of your late "Chief," Charley, Morley, +Grieve, and Telbin, your letter was read to-day, and a very sincere +record of regret and thanks was placed on the books of the great +institution. + +Many thanks for the suggestion about the condition of churches. I am so +aweary of church questions of all sorts that I am not quite clear as to +tackling this. But I am turning it in my mind. I am afraid of two +things: firstly, that the thing would not be picturesquely done; +secondly, that a general cucumber-coolness would pervade the mind of our +circulation. + +Nothing new here but a speaking-pipe, a post-box, and a mouldy smell +from some forgotten crypt--an extra mouldy smell, mouldier than of yore. +Lillie sniffs, projects one eye into nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, +and does no more. + +I have been to Chadwick's, to look at a new kind of cottage he has built +(very ingenious and cheap). + +We were all much disappointed last Saturday afternoon by a neighbouring +fire being only at a carpenter's, and not at Drury Lane Theatre. +Ellen's[31] child having an eye nearly poked out by a young friend, and +being asked whether the young friend was not very sorry afterwards, +replied: "No. _She_ wasn't. _I_ was." + +London execrable. + + Ever affectionately yours. + +P.S.--Love to Mrs. Wills. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Shirley Brooks.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Tuesday, July 12th, 1869._ + +MY DEAR BROOKS, + +I have appended my sign manual to the memorial, which I think is very +discreetly drawn up. I have a strong feeling of sympathy with poor Mrs. +Cunningham, for I remember the pretty house she managed charmingly. She +has always done her duty well, and has had hard trials. But I greatly +doubt the success of the memorial, I am sorry to add. + +It was hotter here yesterday on this Kentish chalk than I have felt it +anywhere for many a day. Now it is overcast and raining hard, much to +the satisfaction of great farmers like myself. + +I am glad to infer from your companionship with the Cocked Hats, that +there is no such thing as gout within several miles of you. May it keep +its distance. + + Ever, my dear Brooks, faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Tuesday, July 20th, 1869._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +I have received your letter here to-day, and deeply feel with you and +for you the affliction of poor dear Katie's loss. I was not unprepared +for the sad news, but it comes in such a rush of old remembrances and +withered joys that strikes to the heart. + +God bless you! Love and youth are still beside you, and in that thought +I take comfort for my dear old friend. + +I am happy to report myself perfectly well and flourishing. We are just +now announcing the resumption and conclusion of the broken series of +farewell readings in a London course of twelve, beginning early in the +new year. + +Scarcely a day has gone by this summer in which we have not talked of +you and yours. Georgina, Mary, and I continually speak of you. In the +spirit we certainly are even more together than we used to be in the +body in the old times. I don't know whether you have heard that Harry +has taken the second scholarship (fifty pounds a year) at Trinity Hall, +Cambridge. The bigwigs expect him to do a good deal there. + +Wills having given up in consequence of broken health (he has been my +sub-editor for twenty years), I have taken Charley into "All the Year +Round." He is a very good man of business, and evinces considerable +aptitude in sub-editing work. + +This place is immensely improved since you were here, and really is now +very pretty indeed. We are sorry that there is no present prospect of +your coming to see it; but I like to know of your being at the sea, and +having to do--_from the beach_, as Mrs. Keeley used to say in "The +Prisoner of War"--with the winds and the waves and all their freshening +influences. + +I dined at Greenwich a few days ago with Delane. He asked me about you +with much interest. He looks as if he had never seen a printing-office, +and had never been out of bed after midnight. + +Great excitement caused here by your capital news of Butty. I suppose +Willy has at least a dozen children by this time. + +Our loves to the noble boy and to dear Mrs. Macready. + + Ever, my dearest Macready, + Your attached and affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edmund Ollier.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Tuesday, Aug. 3rd, 1869._ + +MY DEAR MR. OLLIER, + +I am very sensible of the feeling of the Committee towards me; and I +receive their invitation (conveyed through you) as a most acceptable +mark of their consideration. + +But I have a very strong objection to speech-making beside graves. I do +not expect or wish my feeling 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. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Dickens.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," NO. 26, WELLINGTON STREET, + STRAND, LONDON, W.C., + _Tuesday, Aug. 3rd, 1869._ + +MY DEAREST MAMIE, + +I send you the second chapter of the remarkable story. The printer is +late with it, and I have not had time to read it, and as I altered it +considerably here and there, I have no doubt there are some verbal +mistakes in it. However, they will probably express themselves. + +But I offer a prize of six pairs of gloves--between you, and your aunt, +and Ellen Stone, as competitors--to whomsoever will tell me what idea in +this second part is mine. I don't mean an idea in language, in the +turning of a sentence, in any little description of an action, or a +gesture, or what not in a small way, but an idea, distinctly affecting +the whole story _as I found it_. You are all to assume that I found it +in the main as you read it, with one exception. If I had written it, I +should have made the woman love the man at last. And I should have +shadowed that possibility out, by the child's bringing them a little +more together on that holiday Sunday. + +But I didn't write it. So, finding that it wanted something, I put that +something in. What was it? + +Love to Ellen Stone. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Arthur Ryland.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Friday, Aug. 13th, 1869._ + +MY DEAR MR. RYLAND, + +Many thanks for your letter. + +I have very strong opinions on the subject of speechification, and hold +that there is, everywhere, a vast amount too much of it. A sense of +absurdity would be so strong upon me, if I got up at Birmingham to make +a flourish on the advantages of education in the abstract for all sorts +and conditions of men, that I should inevitably check myself and present +a surprising incarnation of the soul of wit. But if I could interest +myself in the practical usefulness of the particular institution; in the +ways of life of the students; in their examples of perseverance and +determination to get on; in their numbers, their favourite studies, the +number of hours they must daily give to the work that must be done for a +livelihood, before they can devote themselves to the acquisition of new +knowledge, and so forth, then I could interest others. This is the kind +of information I want. Mere holding forth "I utterly detest, abominate, +and abjure." + +I fear I shall not be in London next week. But if you will kindly send +me here, at your leisure, the roughest notes of such points as I have +indicated, I shall be heartily obliged to you, and will take care of +their falling into shape and order in my mind. Meantime I "make a note +of" Monday, 27th September, and of writing to you touching your kind +offer of hospitality, three weeks before that date. + +I beg to send my kind regard to Mrs. and Miss Ryland, and am always, + + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Frederic Ouvry.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, Aug. 22nd, 1869._ + +MY DEAR OUVRY, + +I will expect a call from you at the office, on Thursday, at your own +most convenient hour. I admit the soft impeachment concerning Mrs. Gamp: +I likes my payments to be made reg'lar, and I likewise likes my +publisher to draw it mild. + + Ever yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Arthur Ryland.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Monday, Sept. 6th, 1869._ + +MY DEAR MR. RYLAND, + +I am sorry to find--I had a foreshadowing of it some weeks ago--that I +shall not be able to profit by your kind offer of hospitality when I +come to Birmingham for _our_ Institution. I must come down in time for a +quiet dinner at the hotel with my "Readings" secretary, Mr. Dolby, and +must away next morning. Besides having a great deal in hand just now +(the title of a new book among other things), I shall have visitors from +abroad here at the time, and am severely claimed by my daughter, who +indeed is disloyal to Birmingham in the matter of my going away at all. +Pray represent me to Mrs. Ryland as the innocent victim of +circumstances, and as sacrificing pleasure to the work I have to do, and +to the training under which alone I can do it without feeling it. + +You will see from the enclosed that I am in full force, and going to +finish my readings, please God, after Christmas. I am in the hope of +receiving your promised notes in due course, and continue in the +irreverent condition in which I last reported myself on the subject of +speech-making. Now that men not only make the nights of the session +hideous by what the Americans call "orating" in Parliament, but trouble +the peace of the vacation by saying over again what they said there +(with the addition of what they _didn't_ say there, and never will have +the courage to say there), I feel indeed that silence, like gold across +the Atlantic, is a rarity at a premium. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Thursday, Oct. 7th, 1869._ + +MY DEAR KENT, + +I felt that you would be deeply disappointed. I thought it better not to +make the first sign while you were depressed, but my mind has been +constantly with you. And not mine alone. You cannot think with what +affection and sympathy you have been made the subject of our family +dinner talk at Gad's Hill these last three days. Nothing could exceed +the interest of my daughters and my sister-in-law, or the earnestness of +their feeling about it. I have been really touched by its warm and +genuine expression. + +Cheer up, my dear fellow; cheer up, for God's sake. That is, for the +sake of all that is good in you and around you. + + Ever your affectionate Friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Monday, Oct. 18th, 1869._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +I duly received your letter nearly a fortnight ago, with the greatest +interest and pleasure. Above all things I am delighted with the prospect +of seeing you here next summer; a prospect which has been received with +nine times nine and one more by the whole house. You will hardly know +the place again, it is so changed. You are not expected to admire, but +there _is_ a conservatory building at this moment--be still, my soul! + +This leaves me in the preliminary agonies of a new book, which I hope to +begin publishing (in twelve numbers, not twenty) next March. The coming +readings being all in London, and being, after the first fortnight, only +once a week, will divert my attention very little, I hope. + +Harry has just gone up to Cambridge again, and I hope will get a +fellowship in good time. + +Wills is much gratified by your remembrance, and sends you his warm +regard. He wishes me to represent that he is very little to be pitied. +That he suffers no pain, scarcely inconvenience, even, so long as he is +idle. That he likes idleness exceedingly. He has bought a country place +by Welwyn in Hertfordshire, near Lytton's, and takes possession +presently. + +My boy Sydney is now a second lieutenant, the youngest in the Service, I +believe. He has the highest testimonials as an officer. + +You may be quite sure there will be no international racing in American +waters. Oxford knows better, or I am mistaken. The Harvard crew were a +very good set of fellows, and very modest. + +Ryland of Birmingham doesn't look a day older, and was full of interest +in you, and asked me to remind you of him. By-the-bye, at Elkington's I +saw a pair of immense tea-urns from a railway station (Stafford), sent +there to be repaired. They were honeycombed within in all directions, +and had been supplying the passengers, under the active agency of hot +water, with decomposed lead, copper, and a few other deadly poisons, for +heaven knows how many years! + +I must leave off in a hurry to catch the post, after a hard day's work. + + Ever, my dearest Macready, + Your most affectionate and attached. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[28] Herr Joseph Joachim, the renowned violinist. + +[29] His sister-in-law, Mrs. Augustus Dickens, always a welcome visitor +at Gad's Hill. + +[30] Of the Guild of Literature and Art. + +[31] The housekeeper at the office. + + + + +1870. + +NARRATIVE. + + +Charles Dickens passed his last Christmas and New Year's Day at Gad's +Hill, with a party of family and friends, in the usual way, except that +he was suffering again from an attack of the foot trouble, particularly +on Christmas Day, when he was quite disabled by it and unable to walk at +all--able only to join the party in the evening by keeping his room all +day. However, he was better in a day or two, and early in January he +went to London, where he had taken the house of his friends, Mr. and +Mrs. Milner Gibson, for the season. + +His series of "Farewell Readings" at St. James's Hall began in January, +and ended on the 16th March. He was writing "Edwin Drood" also, and was, +of course, constantly occupied with "All the Year Round" work. In the +beginning of January, he fulfilled his promise of paying a second visit +to Birmingham and making a speech, of which he writes in his last letter +to Mr. Macready. + +For his last reading he gave the "Christmas Carol" and "The Trial" from +"Pickwick," and at the end of the evening he addressed a few farewell +words to his audience. It was a memorable and splendid occasion. He was +very deeply affected by the loving enthusiasm of his greeting, and it +was a real sorrow to him to give up for ever the personal associations +with thousands of the readers of his books. But when the pain, mingled +with pleasure, of this last reading was over, he felt greatly the relief +of having undisturbed time for his own quieter pursuits, and looked +forward to writing the last numbers of "Edwin Drood" at Gad's Hill, +where he was to return in June. + +The last public appearance of any kind that he made was at the Royal +Academy dinner in May. He was at the time far from well, but he made a +great effort to be present and to speak, from his strong desire to pay a +tribute to the memory of his dear old friend Mr. Maclise, who died in +April. + +Her Majesty having expressed a wish, conveyed through Mr. Helps +(afterwards Sir Arthur Helps), to have a personal interview with Charles +Dickens, he accompanied Mr. Helps to Buckingham Palace one afternoon in +March. He was most graciously and kindly received by her Majesty, and +came away with a hope that the visit had been mutually agreeable. The +Queen presented him with a copy of her "Journal in the Highlands," with +an autograph inscription. And he had afterwards the pleasure of +requesting her acceptance of a set of his books. He attended a levée +held by the Prince of Wales in April, and the last time he dined out in +London was at a party given by Lord Houghton for the King of the +Belgians and the Prince of Wales, who had both expressed a desire to +meet Charles Dickens. All through the season he had been suffering, at +intervals, from the swollen foot, and on this occasion it was so bad, +that up to the last moment it was very doubtful whether he could fulfil +his engagement. + +We have very few letters for this year, and none of any very particular +interest, but we give them all, as they are _the last_. + +Mr. S. L. Fildes was his "new illustrator," to whom he alludes in a note +to Mr. Frith; we also give a short note to Mr. Fildes himself. + +The correspondence of Charles Dickens with Mrs. Dallas Glyn, the +celebrated actress, for whom he had a great friendship, is so much on +the subject of her own business, that we have only been able to select +two notes of any public interest. + +In explanation of _the last letter_, we give an extract from a letter +addressed to _The Daily News_ by Mr. J. M. Makeham, soon after the death +of Charles Dickens, as follows: "That the public may exactly understand +the circumstances under which Charles Dickens's letter to me was +written, I am bound to explain that it is in reply to a letter which I +addressed to him in reference to a passage in the tenth chapter of +"Edwin Drood," respecting which I ventured to suggest that he had, +perhaps, forgotten that the figure of speech alluded to by him, in a way +which, to my certain knowledge, was distasteful to some of his admirers, +was drawn from a passage of Holy Writ which is greatly reverenced by a +large number of his countrymen as a prophetic description of the +sufferings of our Saviour." + +The MS. of the little "History of the New Testament" is now in the +possession of his eldest daughter. She has (together with her aunt) +received many earnest entreaties, both from friends and strangers, that +this history might be allowed to be published, for the benefit of other +children. + +These many petitions have his daughter's fullest sympathy. But she knows +that her father wrote this history ONLY for his own children, that it +was his particular wish that it never should be published, and she +therefore holds this wish as sacred and irrevocable. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, LONDON, W., _Sunday, Jan. 23rd, 1870._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +In the note I had from you about Nancy and Sikes, you seem to refer to +some other note you had written me. Therefore I think it well merely to +mention that I have received no other note. + +I do not wonder at your not being up to the undertaking (even if you had +had no cough) under the wearing circumstances. It was a very curious +scene. The actors and actresses (most of the latter looking very pretty) +mustered in extraordinary force, and were a fine audience. I set myself +to carrying out of themselves and their observation, those who were bent +on watching how the effects were got; and I believe I succeeded. Coming +back to it again, however, I feel it was madness ever to do it so +continuously. My ordinary pulse is seventy-two, and it runs up under +this effort to one hundred and twelve. Besides which, it takes me ten or +twelve minutes to get my wind back at all; I being, in the meantime, +like the man who lost the fight--in fact, his express image. Frank Beard +was in attendance to make divers experiments to report to Watson; and +although, as you know, he stopped it instantly when he found me at +Preston, he was very much astonished by the effects of the reading on +the reader. + +So I hope you may be able to come and hear it before it is silent for +ever. It is done again on the evenings of the 1st February, 15th +February, and 8th March. I hope, now I have got over the mornings, that +I may be able to work on my book. But up to this time the great +preparation required in getting the subjects up again, and the twice a +week besides, have almost exclusively occupied me. + +I have something the matter with my right thumb, and can't (as you see) +write plainly. I sent a word to poor Robert Chambers,[32] and I send my +love to Mrs. Wills. + + Ever, my dear Wills, affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Dallas.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Wednesday, Jan. 16th, 1870._ + +MY DEAR MRS. DALLAS, + +It is perfectly delightful to me to get your fervent and sympathetic +note this morning. A thousand thanks for it. I will take care that two +places on the front row, by my daughter, are reserved for your occasion +next time. I cannot see you in too good a seat, or too often. + + Believe me, ever very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. S. L. Fildes.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Wednesday, Jan. 16th, 1870._ + +DEAR SIR, + +I beg to thank you for the highly meritorious and interesting specimens +of your art that you have had the kindness to send me. I return them +herewith, after having examined them with the greatest pleasure. + +I am naturally curious to see your drawing from "David Copperfield," in +order that I may compare it with my own idea. In the meanwhile, I can +honestly assure you that I entertain the greatest admiration for your +remarkable powers. + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry Fielding Dickens.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Thursday, Feb. 17th, 1870._ + +MY DEAR HARRY, + +I am extremely glad to hear that you have made a good start at the +Union. Take any amount of pains about it; open your mouth well and +roundly, speak to the last person visible, and give yourself time. + +Loves from all. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. C. Macready.] + + _Wednesday, March 2nd, 1870._ + +MY DEAREST MACREADY, + +This is to wish you and yours all happiness and prosperity at the +well-remembered anniversary to-morrow. You may be sure that loves and +happy returns will not be forgotten at _our_ table. + +I have been getting on very well with my book, and we are having immense +audiences at St. James's Hall. Mary has been celebrating the first +glimpses of spring by having the measles. She got over the disorder very +easily, but a weakness remains behind. Katie is blooming. Georgina is in +perfect order, and all send you their very best loves. It gave me true +pleasure to have your sympathy with me in the second little speech at +Birmingham. I was determined that my Radicalism should not be called in +question. The electric wires are not very exact in their reporting, but +at all events the sense was there. Ryland, as usual, made all sorts of +enquiries about you. + +With love to dear Mrs. Macready and the noble boy my particular friend, +and a hearty embrace to you, + + I am ever, my dearest Macready, + Your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. ----.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Wednesday, March 9th, 1870._ + +MY DEAR ----, + +You make me very uneasy on the subject of your new long story here, by +sowing your name broadcast in so many fields at once, and undertaking +such an impossible amount of fiction at one time. Just as you are coming +on with us, you have another story in progress in "The Gentleman's +Magazine," and another announced in "Once a Week." And so far as I know +the art we both profess, it cannot be reasonably pursued in this way. I +think the short story you are now finishing in these pages obviously +marked by traces of great haste and small consideration; and a long +story similarly blemished would really do the publication irreparable +harm. + +These considerations are so much upon my mind that I cannot forbear +representing them to you, in the hope that they may induce you to take a +little more into account the necessity of care and preparation, and some +self-denial in the quantity done. I am quite sure that I write fully as +much in your interest as in that of "All the Year Round." + + Believe me, always faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Friday, March 11th, 1870._ + +MY DEAR ----, + +Of course the engagement between us is to continue, and I am sure you +know me too well to suppose that I have ever had a thought to the +contrary. Your explanation is (as it naturally would be, being yours) +manly and honest, and I am both satisfied and hopeful. + + Ever yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Saturday, March 26th, 1870._ + +MY DEAR KENT, + +I received both copies of _The Sun_, with the tenderest pleasure and +gratification. + +Everything that I can let you have in aid of the proposed record[33] +(which, _of course_, would be far more agreeable to me if done by you +than by any other hand), shall be at your service. Dolby has all the +figures relating to America, and you shall have for reference the books +from which I read. They are afterwards going into Forster's +collection.[34] + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry Fielding Dickens.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Tuesday, March 29th, 1870._ + +MY DEAR HARRY, + +Your next Tuesday's subject is a very good one. I would not lose the +point that narrow-minded fanatics, who decry the theatre and defame its +artists, are absolutely the advocates of depraved and barbarous +amusements. For wherever a good drama and a well-regulated theatre +decline, some distorted form of theatrical entertainment will infallibly +arise in their place. In one of the last chapters of "Hard Times," Mr. +Sleary says something to the effect: "People will be entertained +thomehow, thquire. Make the betht of uth, and not the wortht." + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Shirley Brooks.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Friday, April 1st, 1870._ + +MY DEAR SHIRLEY BROOKS, + +I have written to Mr. Low, expressing my regret that I cannot comply +with his request, backed as it is by my friend S. B. But I have told him +what is perfectly true--that I leave town for the peaceful following of +my own pursuits, at the end of next month; that I have excused myself +from filling all manner of claims, on the ground that the public +engagements I could make for the season were very few and were all made; +and that I cannot bear hot rooms when I am at work. I have smoothed this +as you would have me smooth it. + +With your longing for fresh air I can thoroughly sympathise. May you get +it soon, and may you enjoy it, and profit by it half as much as I wish! + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. P. Frith, R.A.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Saturday, April 16th, 1870._ + +MY DEAR FRITH, + +I shall be happy to go on Wednesday evening, if convenient. + +You please me with what you say of my new illustrator, of whom I have +great hopes. + + Faithfully yours ever. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.] + + _Monday Morning, April 25th, 1870._ + +MY DEAR KENT, + +I received your book[35] with the greatest pleasure, and heartily thank +you for it. It is a volume of a highly prepossessing appearance, and a +most friendly look. I felt as if I should have taken to it at sight; +even (a very large even) though I had known nothing of its contents, or +of its author! + +For the last week I have been most perseveringly and ding-dong-doggedly +at work, making headway but slowly. The spring always has a restless +influence over me; and I weary, at any season, of this London dining-out +beyond expression; and I yearn for the country again. This is my excuse +for not having written to you sooner. Besides which, I had a baseless +conviction that I should see you at the office last Thursday. Not having +done so, I fear you must be worse, or no better? If you _can_ let me +have a report of yourself, pray do. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Frederick Pollock.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Monday, May 2nd, 1870._ + +MY DEAR MRS. POLLOCK, + +Pray tell the illustrious Philip van Artevelde, that I will deal with +the nefarious case in question if I can. I am a little doubtful of the +practicability of doing so, and frisking outside the bounds of the law +of libel. I have that high opinion of the law of England generally, +which one is likely to derive from the impression that it puts all the +honest men under the diabolical hoofs of all the scoundrels. It makes me +cautious of doing right; an admirable instance of its wisdom! + +I was very sorry to have gone astray from you that Sunday; but as the +earlier disciples entertained angels unawares, so the later often miss +them haphazard. + +Your description of La Font's acting is the complete truth in one short +sentence: Nature's triumph over art; reversing the copy-book axiom! But +the Lord deliver us from Plessy's mechanical ingenuousness!! + +And your petitioner will ever pray. + +And ever be, + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. E. M. Ward.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Wednesday, May 11th, 1870._ + +MY DEAR MRS. WARD, + +I grieve to say that I am literally laid by the heels, and incapable of +dining with you to-morrow. A neuralgic affection of the foot, which +usually seizes me about twice a year, and which will yield to nothing +but days of fomentation and horizontal rest, set in last night, and has +caused me very great pain ever since, and will too clearly be no better +until it has had its usual time in which to wear itself out. I send my +kindest regard to Ward, and beg to be pitied. + + Believe me, faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Tuesday, May 17th, 1870._ + +MY DEAR KENT, + +Many, many thanks! It is only my neuralgic foot. It has given me such a +sharp twist this time that I have not been able, in its extreme +sensitiveness, to put any covering upon it except scalding fomentations. +Having viciously bubbled and blistered it in all directions, I hope it +now begins to see the folly of its ways. + + Affectionately ever. + +P.S.--I hope the Sun shines. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Bancroft.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Thursday, May 31st, 1870._ + +MY DEAR MRS. BANCROFT,[36] + +I am most heartily obliged to you for your kind note, which I received +here only last night, having come here from town circuitously to get a +little change of air on the road. My sense of your interest cannot be +better proved than by my trying the remedy you recommend, and that I +will do immediately. As I shall be in town on Thursday, my troubling you +to order it would be quite unjustifiable. I will use your name in +applying for it, and will report the result after a fair trial. Whether +this remedy succeeds or fails as to the neuralgia, I shall always +consider myself under an obligation to it for having indirectly procured +me the great pleasure of receiving a communication from you; for I hope +I may lay claim to being one of the most earnest and delighted of your +many artistic admirers. + + Believe me, faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[32] On the death of his second wife. + +[33] Of the Readings. The intention was carried out. Mr. Kent's book, +"Charles Dickens as a Reader," was published in 1872. + +[34] No doubt Charles Dickens intended to add the Reading Books to the +legacy of his MSS. to Mr. Forster. But he did not do so, therefore the +"Readings" are not a part of the "Forster Collection" at the South +Kensington Museum. + +[35] A new collective edition of "Kent's Poems," dedicated to his +cousin, Colonel Kent, of the 77th Regiment. + +[36] Miss Marie Wilton. + + + + +TWO LAST LETTERS. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.] + + +[Illustration: Gad's Hill Place, + Higham by Rochester, Kent.[37] + + HW: Wednesday Eighth June 1870 + + +HW: Dear Kent + +Tomorrow is a very bad day for me to make a call, as, in addition to my +usual office business, I have a mass of accounts to settle with Wills. +But I hope I may be ready for you at 3 o'clock. If I can't be--why, then +I shan't be. + +You must really get rid of those Opal enjoyments. They are too +overpowering: + +"These violent delights have violent ends." + +I think it was a father of your churches who made the wise remark to a +young gentleman who got up early (or stayed out late) at Verona? + + Ever affectionately + Signature: ChD] + + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John M. Makeham.] + + =Gad's Hill Place,= + =Higham by Rochester, Kent.= + +[Illustration: HW: Wednesday Eighth June 1870 + +Dear Sir + +It would be quite inconceivable I think--but for your +letter--that any reasonable reader could possibly attach a scriptural +reference to a passage in a book of mine, reproducing a much abused +social figure of speech, impressed into all sorts of service on all +sorts of inappropriate occasions, without the faintest connexion of it +with its original source. I am truly shocked to find that any reader can +make the mistake + +I have always striven in my writings to express veneration for the life +and 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 + + Faithfully Yours, + Charles Dickens + +John M. Markham Esq.] + +All through this spring in London, Charles Dickens had been ailing in +health, and it was remarked by many friends that he had a weary look, +and was "aged" and altered. But he was generally in good spirits, and +his family had no uneasiness about him, relying upon the country quiet +and comparative rest at Gad's Hill to have their usual influence in +restoring his health and strength. On the 2nd June he attended a private +play at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Freake, where his two daughters were +among the actresses. The next day he went back to Gad's Hill. His +daughter Kate (whose home was there at all times when she chose, and +almost always through the summer months) went down on Sunday, the 5th +June, for a day's visit, to see the "great improvement of the +conservatory." Her father laughingly assured her she had now seen "the +last" improvement at Gad's Hill. At this time he was tolerably well, but +she remarked to her sister and aunt how strangely he was tired, and what +a curious grey colour he had in his face after a very short walk on that +Sunday afternoon. However, he seemed quite himself again in the evening. +The next day his daughter Kate went back, accompanied by her sister, who +was to pay her a short visit, to London. + +Charles Dickens was very hard at work on the sixth number of "Edwin +Drood." On the Monday and Tuesday he was well, but he was unequal to +much exercise. His last walk was one of his greatest favourites--through +Cobham Park and Wood--on the afternoon of Tuesday. + +On the morning of Wednesday, the 8th (one of the loveliest days of a +lovely summer), he was very well; in excellent spirits about his book, +of which he said he _must_ finish his number that day--the next +(Thursday) being the day of his weekly visit to "All the Year Round" +office. Therefore, he would write all day in the Châlet, and take no +walk or drive until the evening. In the middle of the day he came to the +house for an hour's rest, and smoked a cigar in the conservatory--out of +which new addition to the house he was taking the greatest personal +enjoyment--and seemed perfectly well, and exceedingly cheerful and +hopeful. When he came again to the house, about an hour before the time +fixed for the early dinner, he seemed very tired, silent, and absorbed. +But this was so usual with him after a day of engrossing work, that it +caused no alarm or surprise to his sister-in-law--the only member of his +household who happened to be at home. He wrote some letters--among them, +these last letters which we give--in the library of the house, and also +arranged many trifling business matters, with a view to his departure +for London the next morning. He was to be accompanied, on his return at +the end of the week, by Mr. Fildes, to introduce the "new illustrator" +to the neighbourhood in which many of the scenes of this last book of +Charles Dickens, as of his first, were laid. + +It was not until they were seated at the dinner-table that a striking +change in the colour and expression of his face startled his +sister-in-law, and on her asking him if he was ill, he said, "Yes, very +ill; I have been very ill for the last hour." But on her expressing an +intention of sending instantly for a doctor, he stopped her, and said: +"No, he would go on with dinner, and go afterwards to London." And then +he made an effort to struggle against the fit that was fast coming on +him, and talked, but incoherently, and soon very indistinctly. It being +now evident that he _was_ ill, and very seriously ill, his sister-in-law +begged him to come to his own room before she sent off for medical help. +"Come and lie down," she entreated. "Yes, on the ground," he said, very +distinctly--these were the last words he spoke--and he slid from her +arm, and fell upon the floor. + +The servants brought a couch into the dining-room, where he was laid. A +messenger was despatched for Mr. Steele, the Rochester doctor, and with +a telegram to his doctor in London, and to his daughters. This was a few +minutes after six o'clock. + +His daughters arrived, with Mr. Frank Beard, this same evening. His +eldest son the next morning, and his son Henry and his sister Letitia in +the evening of the 9th--too late, alas! + +All through the night, Charles Dickens never opened his eyes, or showed +a sign of consciousness. In the afternoon of the 9th, Dr. Russell +Reynolds arrived at Gad's Hill, having been summoned by Mr. Frank Beard +to meet himself and Mr. Steele. But he could only confirm their hopeless +verdict, and made his opinion known with much kind sympathy, to the +family, before returning to London. + +Charles Dickens remained in the same unconscious state until the evening +of this day, when, at ten minutes past six, the watchers saw a shudder +pass over him, heard him give a deep sigh, saw one tear roll down his +cheek, and he was gone from them. And as they saw the dark shadow steal +across his calm, beautiful face, not one among them--could they have +been given such a power--would have recalled his sweet spirit back to +earth. + +As his family were aware that Charles Dickens had a wish to be buried +near Gad's Hill, arrangements were made for his burial in the pretty +churchyard of Shorne, a neighbouring village, of which he was very fond. +But this intention was abandoned in consequence of a pressing request +from the Dean and Chapter of Rochester Cathedral that his remains might +be placed there. A grave was prepared and everything arranged, when it +was made known to the family, through Dean Stanley, that there was a +general and very earnest desire that Charles Dickens should find his +resting-place in Westminster Abbey. To such a fitting tribute to his +memory they could make no possible objection, although it was with great +regret that they relinquished the idea of laying him in a place so +closely identified with his life and his works. His name, +notwithstanding, is associated with Rochester, a tablet to his memory +having been placed by his executors on the wall of Rochester Cathedral. + +With regard to Westminster Abbey, his family only stipulated that the +funeral might be made as private as possible, and that the words of his +will, "I emphatically direct that I be buried in an inexpensive, +unostentatious, and strictly private manner," should be religiously +adhered to. And so they were. The solemn service in the vast cathedral +being as private as the most thoughtful consideration could make it. + +The family of Charles Dickens were deeply grateful to all in authority +who so carried out his wishes. And more especially to Dean Stanley and +to the (late) Lady Augusta Stanley, for the tender sympathy shown by +them to the mourners on this day, and also on Sunday, the 19th, when the +Dean preached his beautiful funeral sermon. + +As during his life Charles Dickens's fondness for air, light, and gay +colours amounted almost to a passion, so when he lay dead in the home he +had so dearly loved, these things were not forgotten. + +The pretty room opening into the conservatory (from which he had never +been removed since his seizure) was kept bright with the most beautiful +of all kinds of flowers, and flooded with the summer sun: + + "And nothing stirred in the room. The old, old + fashion. The fashion that came in with our + first garments, and will last unchanged until + our race has run its course, and the wide + firmament is rolled up like a scroll. The old, + old fashion--death! + + "Oh, thank God, all who see it, for that older + fashion yet, of immortality!" + +FOOTNOTES: + +[37] This letter has lately been presented by Mr. Charles Kent to the +British Museum. + + + + +INDEX. + + + A'Beckett, Gilbert, i. 134 + + Actors, Dickens a friend to poor, ii. 134 + + Affidavit, a facetious, i. 101 + + Agassiz, Professor, ii. 226, 309 + + Agate, John, ii. 136; + letter to, ii. 154 + + Ainsworth, W. H., letters to, i. 43, 75, 92 + + Alison, Sir Archibald, i. 170 + + "All the Year Round," commencement of, ii. 83; + "The Uncommercial Traveller" in, ii. 107; + Christmas Numbers of: "The Haunted House," ii. 84; + "A Message from the Sea," ii. 108, 137; + "Tom Tiddler's Ground," ii. 136; + "Somebody's Luggage," ii. 171; + "Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings," ii. 187; + "Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy," ii. 209, 210; + "Dr. Marigold's Prescriptions," ii. 224, 239, 246; + "Mugby Junction," ii. 244, 265; + "No Thoroughfare," ii. 268, 300, 327, 332, 334, 338, 350, 356, + 361, 362, 384; + and see ii. 386, + and see Charles Dickens as an Editor + + America, feeling for Dickens in the backwoods of, i. 40, 41; + Dickens's first visit to, i. 53; + his welcome in, i. 59; + his opinion of, i. 60-64; + freedom of opinion in, i. 61; + Dickens's levées in, i. 66; + change of temperature in, i. 66; + hotel charges in, i. 67; + midnight rambles in New York, i. 67; + descriptions of Niagara, i. 69, 70; ii. 372, 377; + a maid's views on Niagara, i. 72; + copyright in, i. 71, 73, 74; + Dickens's tribute to Mrs. Trollope's book on, i. 81; + press-ridden, i. 97; + absence of quiet in, i. 98; + criticisms of Dickens in, i. 151; + the great war in, ii. 142, 143; + feeling between England and, ii. 240; + Dickens's second visit to--the journey, ii. 302-306; + Dickens's letters on, ii. 306-382; + fires in, ii. 317, 320; + treatment of luggage in, ii. 321; + drinks in, ii. 329, 363; + literary piracy in, ii. 332; + walking-match between Dolby and Osgood in, ii. 346, 352, 353, + 360, 361, 364, 366, 377; + changes and improvements in since Dickens's first visit, + ii. 348, 374; + the negroes in, ii. 349; + personal descriptions of Dickens in, ii. 369; + travelling in, ii. 375; + and see Readings + + "American Notes," publication of, i. 54 + + Andersen, Hans Christian, ii. 3 + + "Animal Magnetism," tag to, written by Dickens, i. 238 + + Anne, Mrs. Dickens's maid, i. 72, 414; ii. 18, 25, 28, 343 + + "Apprentices, The Tour of the Two Idle," ii. 5, 32, 33 + + "Arabian Nights," a mistake in the, i. 88, 89 + + Armatage, Isaac, ii. 391 + + Armstrong, the Misses, letter to, ii. 175; + and see ii. 176 + + Astley's Theatre, description of a clown at, i. 116 + + Austin, Henry, i. 240; ii. 135, 157; + and see Letters + + Austin, Mrs. Henry, ii. 447; + letters to, ii. 154, 180, 384 + + Author, the highest reward of an, i. 41 + + Autobiography, a concise, of Dickens, i. 437 + + Autograph of Dickens in 1833, i. 2; + Dickens leaves his in Shakespeare's room, i. 13; + of Boz, i. 43; + of Dickens as Bobadil, i. 195; + facsimile of Dickens's handwriting in 1856, i. 421; + facsimile letters of Dickens written the day before his death, + ii. 443-445 + + + Babbage, Charles, letters to, i. 86, 87, 186 + + Ballantyne, ii. 415 + + Bancroft, Mrs., letter to, ii. 441 + + Banks, G., i. 273; letter to, i. 296 + + Barber, Dickens's gardener, ii. 102 + + Barker, Dr. Fordyce, ii. 378, 405 + + "Barnaby Rudge" written and published, i. 36; + Dickens's descriptions of the illustrations of: + the raven, i. 38; + the locksmith's house, i. 39; + rioters in The Maypole, i. 45; + scene in the ruins of the Warren, i. 46; + abduction of Dolly Varden, i. 48; + Lord George Gordon in the Tower, the duel, frontispiece, i. 50; + Hugh taken to gaol, i. 51 + + "Battle of Life, The," dedication of, i. 147, 157; + Dickens superintends rehearsals of the play of, i. 163, 165, 167; + sale of, i. 166, 176; + reception of the play of, i. 167 + + Baylis, Mr., ii. 170; + letter to, ii. 179 + + Beadle, a, in office, ii. 134 + + Beard, Frank, ii. 182, 405, 421, 434, 447 + + Beaucourt, M., i. 297, 357, 439 + + Bedstead, a German, i. 128 + + Beecher, Ward, ii. 341 + + Begging letters, Dickens's answers to, i. 148-150 + + Belgians, the King of the, ii. 432 + + Benzon, Miss Lily, letter to, ii. 258 + + Berry, one of Dickens's readings men, ii. 54, 159, 160 + + Bicknell, Henry, i. 215; + letter to, i. 229 + + Biographers, Dickens on, i. 190; + his opinion of John Forster as a biographer, i. 188-191 + + Birthday wishes, i. 51 + + "Black-eyed Susan," Dickens as T. P. Cooke in, i. 113; + a new version of, i. 114 + + Blackwood, Mr., ii. 165 + + Blair, General, ii. 355 + + Blanchard, Laman, letter to, i. 99 + + "Bleak House," commenced, i. 241; + publication of, i. 272; + Dickens's opinion of, i. 279; + circulation of, i. 289, 309, 317 + + Blessington, Lady, i. 171 + + Bobadil, Captain, Dickens plays, i. 134; + Dickens's remarks on, i. 144; + a letter after, i. 195 + + Book-backs, Dickens's imitation, i. 265, 266 + + Book Clubs, established, i. 94; + Dickens on, i. 104 + + Boucicault, Dion, ii. 260, 261 + + Boulogne, Dickens at, i. 271, 297, 304-312, 341, 414, 439-448; + a Shakespearian performance at, i. 308; + _en fête_, i. 315; + illuminations at, on the occasion of the Prince Consort's visit, + i. 362; + fire at, i. 364; + condition of, during the Crimean war, i. 365; + letters descriptive of, i. 305, 306, 309, 312, 357, 358, 360, 372 + + Bouncer, Mrs., Miss Dickens's dog, ii. 109, 126, 189, 356 + + Bow Street Runners, ii. 178 + + Boxall, Sir William, i. 233, 237 + + Boyle, Captain Cavendish, ii. 407 + + Boyle, Miss Mary, i. 211, 214, 227, 414; ii. 123, 145, 315, 406; + and see Letters + + Breach of Promise, a new sort of, i. 179 + + Breakfast, a Yorkshire, i. 9 + + Broadstairs, Dickens at, i. 4, 6, 17, 28, 36, 53, 134, 170, 185, + 213, 240; ii. 84, 99; + description of lodgings at, i. 33; + amusements of, i. 180, 182; + size of Fort House at, i. 254 + + Bromley, Sir Richard, ii. 126 + + Brookfield, Mrs., letter to, ii. 249 + + Brookfield, The Rev. W., letters to, ii. 199, 200 + + Brooks, Shirley, ii. 407; + letters to, ii. 423, 438 + + Brougham, Lord, i. 182; ii. 144 + + Browne, H. K., i. 6, 13 + + Buckstone, J. B., i. 360 + + Burnett, Mrs., i. 185 + + + Cabin, a, on board ship, i. 56 + + Campbell, Lord, ii, 144 + + Capital punishment, Dickens's views on, i. 209 + + Carlisle, the Earl of, letters to, i. 253, 281; ii. 12, 118, 157 + + Carlyle, Thomas, ii. 112 + + Cartwright, Samuel, ii. 326; + letter to, ii. 348 + + Castlereagh, Lord, i. 245 + + Cat-hunting, i. 449 + + Cattermole, George, i. 42, 143; ii. 327, 383; + and see Letters + + Cattermole, Mrs., letters to, ii. 383, 385 + + Céleste, Madame, ii. 106 + + Cerjat, M. de, i. 147; ii. 406; + and see Letters + + Chambers, Robert, ii. 167, 434 + + Chancery, Dickens on the Court of, i. 450 + + Chapman and Hall, Messrs., i. 3; + letter to, i. 55 + + Chappell, Messrs., ii. 244, 245, 267, 309, 326, 405 + + Charities, Dickens's sufferings from public, ii. 47 + + Children, stories of, i. 223, 365, 420; ii. 196, 359, 423 + + Childs, Mr., ii. 337, 405 + + "Chimes, The," written, i. 95; + an attack on cant, i. 118, 129; + Dickens's opinion of, i. 129, 133; + Dickens gives a private reading of, i. 133 + + Chorley, H. F., ii. 338, 350 + + "Christmas Carol, The," publication of, i. 85; + criticisms on, i. 99 + + Christmas greetings, i. 167 + + Church, Dickens on the, ii. 221; + service on board ship, ii. 348; + Dickens on the Romish, ii. 409, 410 + + Circumlocution, Dickens on, ii. 241, 270 + + Clarke, John, letter to, ii. 418 + + Cockspur Street Society, the, i. 85-87 + + Cold, effects of a, i. 92, 93; + remedy for a, i. 168 + + Colden, David, i. 64 + + Collins, C. A., ii. 84, 100, 113, 221, 242, 387, 410 + + Collins, Wilkie, i. 241, 272, 297, 332, 359, 376, 385, 388, 413, + 414, 447; ii. 33, 84, 108, 170, 268, 292; + and see Letters + + Comedy, Mr. Webster's offer for a prize, Dickens an imaginary + competitor, i. 86, 90 + + Compton, Mrs., letter to, ii. 22 + + Conjuring feats, i. 96; + and see ii. 243 + + Cooke, T. P., i. 113; ii. 4; + letter to, ii. 21 + + Copyright, i. 13; + Dickens's struggles to secure English, in America, i. 71, 73, 74 + + Costello, Dudley, i. 241; + letters to, i. 104, 205 + + Cottage, a cheap, i. 18 + + Coutts, Miss, i. 410 + + Covent Garden Theatre, Macready retires from management of, i. 18; + ruins of, i. 430; + a scene at, ii. 133 + + "Cricket on the Hearth, The," i. 135, 145 + + Croker, J. Crofton, i. 272; + letter to, i. 275 + + Cruikshank, George, i. 170 + + Cunningham, Mrs., ii. 423 + + Cunningham, Peter, i. 186, 407; + letters to, i. 195, 270, 312, 356 + + + Dacres, Sir Sydney, ii. 329 + + _Daily News, The_, started, i. 135 + + Dallas, Mrs., letters to, ii. 195, 434 + + Dallas, Mr., ii. 235 + + "David Copperfield," dedication of, i. 147; + purpose of Little Emily in, i. 211; + success of, i. 211; + reading of, i. 377, 382; + Dickens's favourite work, i. 382; + and see i. 204, 221, 227, 279 + + Deane, F. H., letter to, i. 68 + + Delane, John, i. 298; ii. 425; + letter to, i. 314 + + De la Rue, Mr., ii. 210 + + Devonshire, the Duke of, letters to, i. 437, 443, 457 + + Devrient, Emil, i. 277 + + Dickens, Charles, at Furnival's Inn, i. 1; + his marriage, i. 1; + employed as a parliamentary reporter, i. 1; + spends his honeymoon at Chalk, Kent, i. 1; + employed on _The Morning Chronicle_, i. 2; + removes to Doughty Street, i. 4; + writes for the stage, i. 4, 5, 7, 16, 17; + his visit to the Yorkshire schools, i. 6; + at Twickenham Park, i. 6; + his visits to Broadstairs, see Broadstairs; + his visit to Stratford-on-Avon and Kenilworth, i. 6, 12; + in Shakespeare's room, i. 13; + elected at the Athenæum Club, i. 12; + removes to Devonshire Terrace, i. 17; + portraits of, see Portraits; + visits to Scotland, i. 36, ii. 39, and see ii. 395; + personal feeling of for his characters, i. 36, 37, 42; + declines to enter Parliament, i. 37, 44; ii. 389; + public dinners to, i. 36, 53, 273; ii. 268, 301, 404, 406, 417, + 419, 420; + an enemy of cant, i. 88, 118, 129; + visits of to America, see America; + expedition of to Cornwall, i. 54; + his travels in Italy, see Italy; + political opinions of, i. 62, 63, 88, 104; + fancy signatures to letters of, i. 91, 146, 152, 181, 206, + 237, 425; ii. 195; + takes the chair at the opening of the Liverpool Mechanics' + Institute, i. 94, and see i. 100-102; + his theatrical performances, see Theatrical Performances; + effects of work on, i. 121,; ii. 248, 266, 325; + _The Daily News_, started by, i. 135; + his visits to Lausanne and Switzerland, i. 147, 297, and + see Switzerland; + his visits to Paris, see Paris; + as a stage, manager, i. 163, 167, 231, 232, 237; ii. 26; + at Chester Place, Regent's Park, i. 169; + takes the chair at the opening of the Leeds Mechanics' Institute, + and of the Glasgow Athenæum, i. 170; + at Brighton, i. 185, 213; + at Bonchurch, i, 204; + purchases Tavistock House, i. 240, and see Tavistock House; + as an editor, i. 246, 259, 269, 270, 285; ii. 127, 217, 262, 286, + 292; + his readings, see Readings; + illnesses of, i. 14, 297; ii. 404, 405, 421, 446; + in America, ii. 338, 341, 347, 353, 355, 360, 365, 373, 377, 380, + 381; + his visits to Boulogne, see Boulogne; + presentation of plate to, at Birmingham, i. 348; + purchases Gad's Hill, i. 377, 414, and see Gad's Hill; + delivers a speech on Administrative Reform, i. 377; + at Folkestone, i. 377, 378; + restlessness of, when at work, i. 402, 425; + tour of, in the North, ii. 5, 29-32; + his kindly criticisms of young writers, ii. 16, 34, 267, 277, + for other criticisms see i. 152, 188; ii. 14, 43, 215, 249; + elected a member of the Birmingham Institute, ii. 34; + religious views of, ii. 82, 202, 221, 394, 403, 444; + visit of, to Cornwall, ii. 108; + at Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, ii. 135; + visits Lord Lytton at Knebworth, ii. 136; + at Hyde Park Gate South, ii. 170; + at 57, Gloucester Place, Hyde Park, ii. 208; + at Somer's Place, Hyde Park, ii. 224; + in the Staplehurst accident, ii. 224; + at Southwick Place, Hyde Park, ii. 224; + his energy, ii. 291; + one of the secrets of the success of, ii. 357, 392; + the Midland Institute at Birmingham opened by, ii. 406, and + see ii. 427; + his last speech, at the Royal Academy dinner, ii. 432; + his interview with the Queen, ii. 432; + attends a levée of the Prince of Wales, ii. 432; + his last illness, ii. 446; + his death, ii. 448; + funeral of, ii. 448, 449; + and see Letters of + + Dickens, Mrs. Charles, marriage of, i. 1; + visit of, to America, i. 53; + at Rome, i. 135; + accident to, i. 215; + at Malvern, i. 239; + present to, at Birmingham, i. 298; + and see Letters + + Dickens, Charles, jun., birth of, i. 4; + nickname of, i. 76; + at Eton, i. 212, 240, 243, 255, 258; + at Leipsic, i. 297, 310, 319; + at Barings', i. 455; + marriage of, ii. 208; + on "All the Year Round," ii. 406, 410, 424; + and see i. 169, 233, 237, 243, 255, 258, 290, 347, 378, 405, 426; + ii. 88, 114, 123, 140, 145, 176, 447; + letters to, ii. 310, 338 + + Dickens, Kate, nickname of, i. 76; + marriage of, ii. 107, 113; + illness of, ii. 266, 271; and see ii. 39, 75, 77, 84, 221, 410, + 436, 446; + letters to, i. 178; ii. 99 + + Dickens, Mamie, nickname of, i. 76; + illnesses of, i. 363, 436; + accident to, ii. 129; + and see ii. 39, 49, 55, 75, 77, 84, 87, 114, 116, 120, 145, 179, + 234, 411, 447, and Letters + + Dickens, Walter, nickname of, i. 76; + goes to India, ii. 19, 21; + attached to the 42nd Highlanders, ii. 114, 176; + death of, ii. 208, 212; and see i. 268, 314, 378, 443; ii. 4 + + Dickens, Frank, nickname of, i. 126; + letter of, to Dickens, ii. 93; + in India, ii. 208, 212; and see ii. 114, 131, 140, 177 + + Dickens, Alfred, at Wimbledon School, ii. 122; + settles in Australia, ii. 327; and see ii. 177, 371 + + Dickens, Sydney, birth of, i. 169; + nickname of, i. 170; + death of, i. 171; + story of, i. 223; + a naval cadet, ii. 125, 126, 145, 167; + on board H.M.S. _Orlando_, ii. 169; and see i. 363; ii. 114, + 118, 122, 177, 202, 236, 260, 296, 430 + + Dickens, Henry, entered at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, ii. 327; + wins a scholarship, ii. 424, 430; + and see i. 363; ii. 177, 190, 254, 255, 329, 371, 389, 395, + 406, 410, 447; + letters to, ii. 356, 392, 435, 438 + + Dickens, Edward, nicknames of, i. 322, 338; + goes to Australia, ii. 327, 329; + Dickens's love for, ii. 389-391; + and see i. 353, 359, 365, 403, 420, 426, 439; ii. 53, 76, 79, + 92, 95, 153, 190, 199; + letter to, ii. 402 + + Dickens, Dora, birth of, i. 213; + death of, i. 240 + + Dickens, Alfred, sen., i. 184, 410; ii. 199 + + Dickens, Mrs. Augustus, ii. 418 + + Dickens, Fanny, see Mrs. Burnett + + Dickens, Frederick, i. 9 + + Dickens, John, i. 240, 437; ii. 240 + + Dickens, Mrs. John, ii. 333 + + Dickens, Letitia, see Mrs. Henry Austin + + Dickenson, Captain, ii. 224, 232 + + Dickson, David, letter to, i. 89 + + Diezman, S. A., letter to, i. 32 + + Dilke, C. W., ii. 5; + letter to, ii. 12 + + Dillon, C., ii. 42 + + Dinner, a search for a, i. 326; + ladies at public dinners, i. 103 + + Dogs, Dickens's, i. 67, 109, 110; ii. 50, 96, 101; ii. 203, 237, + 242, 245, 264, 269; + a plague of, i. 292; + stories of, i. 109, 352, 354, 455 + + Dolby, George, ii. 245, 252-255, 267, 273, 280, 295, 296, 308, 310, + 311, 317-323, 328, 330, 335, 336, 340, 345-347, 352-360, 363, + 367, 381 + + "Dombey and Son," i. 147; + success of, i. 156, 176; + sale of, i. 162 + + D'Orsay, Comte, i. 171, 244 + + Driver, Dickens's estimate of himself as a, i. 2 + + Drury Lane Theatre, the saloon at, i. 37; + suggestions for the saloon at, i. 52, 53 + + Dufferin, Lord, ii. 419 + + Dwarf, the Tartar, ii. 255 + + + Earthquake, an, in England, ii. 206 + + Edinburgh on a Sunday, ii. 395 + + Education, Dickens an advocate of, for the people, i. 104 + + "Edwin Drood," ii. 407, 431, 432, 446 + + Eeles, Mr., letters to, i. 265, 269 + + Egg, Augustus, i. 170, 172, 226, 297, 320, 332; ii. 198 + + Eliot, Sir John, Dickens on Forster's life of, ii. 215 + + Elliotson, Dr., i. 37, 149, ii. 99 + + Elton, Mr., i. 85, 92 + + Elwin, Rev. W., ii. 136, 151 + + Ely, Miss, letter to, i. 153 + + Emerson, Mr., ii. 306 + + Emery, Mr., i. 429 + + England, state of, in 1855, i. 391; + politically, i. 406 + + Epitaph, Dickens's, on a little child, i. 68 + + Executions, Dickens on public, i. 209, 212 + + Exhibition, an infant school at the, i. 257 + + Eytinge, Mr., ii. 405 + + + Fairy Tales, Dickens on, i. 307 + + "Faust," Gounod's, ii. 191, 193 + + Fechter, Charles, ii. 171, 177, 187, 193, 201, 219, 270, 386; and + see Letters + + Felton, Mr., ii. 85 + + Ferguson, Sir William, ii. 246, 247 + + Féval, Paul, ii. 183, 192 + + Fielding, Henry, i. 394 + + Fields, Cyrus W., ii. 85, 308, 344, 361, 364, 379, 405 + + Fields, Mrs., ii. 306, 308, 319, 344, 361, 364, 367, 379, 405 + + Fildes, S. L., ii. 432, 447; + letter to, ii. 435 + + Finlay, F. D., ii. 406; + letters to, ii. 297, 389, 408 + + Fitzgerald, Mrs., ii. 285 + + Fitzgerald, Percy, ii. 187, 397; + and see Letters + + Flunkeydom, scholastic, ii. 68 + + Forgues, M., i. 415, 421 + + Forster, Miss, ii. 327 + + Forster, John, i. 7, 10, 134, 143, 225, 240, 268, 428; ii. 108, 130, + 265; + and see Letters + + Franklin, Sir John, i. 373 + + Freake, Mr. and Mrs., ii. 446 + + French portraits of the English, i. 175 + + Friday, Dickens's lucky day, i. 414, 429 + + Frith, W. P., ii. 84, 93, 385, 418; + letters to, i. 79; ii. 439 + + Frost, the great, of 1861, ii. 139 + + Funerals, Dickens on state, i. 290; ii. 385 + + + Gad's Hill, purchase of, i. 377, 378, 414; + Dickens takes possession of, ii. 3; + his childish impressions of, ii. 8; + improvements in, ii. 107, 373, 406, 446; + sports at, ii. 205; + cricket club at, ii. 356; + letters concerning, i. 384, 410, 429; ii. 15, 18, 25, 28, 49, 106, + 119, 227 + + Gaskell, Mrs., i. 214; + and see Letters + + Germany, esteem felt for Dickens in, i. 32 + + Ghost, stalking a, ii. 131 + + Gibson, M., i. 315; ii. 121 + + Gibson, Mr. and Mrs. Milner, ii. 431 + + Gladstone, Right Hon. W. E., ii. 401 + + Goldsmith, Oliver, Dickens on Forster's Life of, i. 188; + on the works of, i. 380 + + Gordon, Andrew, ii. 131 + + Gordon, Mr. Sheriff, ii. 164 + + "Great Expectations," commenced, ii. 108, 136; + letters concerning, ii. 128, 133, 140, 142, 143, 151 + + Grief, the perversity of, exemplified, i. 18 + + Grimaldi, Life of, edited by Dickens, i. 4 + + Guild of Literature and Art, i. 239; + theatrical performances in aid of the, i. 239, 241, 248, 252, 268, + 271; + and see ii. 41 + + + Haldimand, Mr., i. 147, 169, 212, 380; + letters to, i. 157, 254 + + Halleck, Fitz-Greene, i. 59 + + "Hard Times," i. 341; + satire of, explained, i. 349; + letters concerning, i. 355, 371 + + Harley, J. P., letters to, i. 5, 23 + + Harness, Rev. W., ii. 253; + letters to, i. 37, 76, 361 + + "Haunted Man, The," i. 170, 185, 241; + subjects for illustrations in, described, i. 200, 201; + dramatisation of, i. 203 + + Headland, Mr., ii. 135, 149, 158, 160 + + Helps, Sir Arthur, ii. 432 + + Henderson, Mrs., letter to, ii. 293 + + Hewett, Captain, i. 57 + + "History of England, The Child's," i. 297 + + Hogarth, Mary, i. 4, 9 + + Hogarth, Georgina, i. 425; ii. 50, 114, 145, 179, 202, 408, 436; + and see Letters + + Hogge, Mrs., letter to, ii. 46 + + Holland, Lady, i. 11 + + Holmes, Mr., ii. 306 + + Home, longings for, i. 64, 70 + + Hood, Tom, i. 287; + letter to, i. 80 + + Horne, Mrs., letter to, i. 456 + + Horne, R. H., letter to, i. 93 + + Hospital, a dinner at a, i. 88; + Great Ormond Street, ii. 40, 46 + + Houghton, Lord, ii. 432; + letter to, i. 41 + + "Household Words," i. 148; + scheme of, i. 216; + suggested titles for, i. 219; + success of, i. 221; + Christmas numbers of, i. 241, 288; + "The Golden Mary," i. 414; ii. 11, + "A House to Let," ii. 40; + incorporated with "All the Year Round," ii. 83; + letters concerning, i. 219, 221, 250, 285, 286, 291-293, 295, 299, + 301, 334, 335, 353, 423, 452; ii. 68 + + Hughes, Master Hastings, letter to, i. 14 + + Hulkes, Mrs., ii. 224, 315, 329; + letter to, ii. 232 + + Hullah, John, i. 5; ii. 131 + + Humphery, Mr. and Mrs., afterwards Sir W. and Lady, ii. 187 + + Hunt, Leigh, ii. 407 + + Hutchinson, John, ii. 380 + + + _Illustrated London News_, offers to Dickens from, i. 150 + + Illustrations of Dickens's works, his descriptions for, i. 38-40, + 45, 46, 50, 51, 200-203; ii. 237 + + Impeachment of the Five Members, Dickens on Forster's, ii. 14 + + Ireland, a dialogue in, ii. 61; + feeling for Dickens in, ii. 65; + Fenianism in, ii. 282-286; + proposed banquet to Dickens in, ii. 406; + Dickens on the Established Church in, ii. 409; + and see ii. 57, 60, 64 + + Italy, Dickens's first visit to, i. 94; + the sky of, i. 106; + the colouring of, i. 106; + a sunset in, i. 106; + twilight in, i. 107; + frescoes in, i. 107; + churches in, i. 108; + fruit in, i. 109; + climate of, i. 111; + a coastguard in, i. 116; + Dickens at Albaro, i. 105-117; + at Genoa, i. 120-122, 134, 321; + at Venice and Verona, i. 119-121, 337; + at Naples, i. 134-141, 322; + an ascent of Vesuvius, i. 137-141; + at Rome, i. 134, 135, 325-333; + Dickens on the unity of, ii. 84, 89, 90, 140, 211; + and see i. 297, 346 + + + Jamaica, the insurrection in, ii. 241 + + Jeffrey, Lord, i. 184, 218 + + Jerrold, Douglas, i. 134, 225, 268, 390; ii. 3, 4, 19; + and see Letters + + Jews, Dickens's friendly feeling for, ii. 204, 223, 280 + + Joachim, Joseph, ii. 413 + + John, Dickens's manservant, ii. 54, 56, 57, 72, 153, 187, 188, 255 + + Joll, Miss, letter to, i. 209 + + Jones, Walter, letter to, ii. 232 + + + Keeley, Mrs., ii. 417 + + Keeley, Robert, i. 165; + letter to, i. 105 + + Kelly, Miss, i. 302, 303 + + Kelly, one of Dickens's readings men, ii. 305, 306, 342 + + Kemble, Fanny, ii. 344, 346 + + Kent, W. Charles, i. 186; ii. 225, 268, 407; + and see Letters + + Kinkel, Dr., i. 230 + + Knight, Charles, i. 94; ii. 208; + and see Letters + + Knowles, Sheridan, i. 214; + letter to, i. 215 + + + "Lady of Lyons, The," ii. 298 + + La Font, ii. 440 + + Lamartine, i. 187 + + Landor, Walter Savage, i. 268, 337; ii. 66; + and see Letters + + Landseer, Edwin, letter to, i. 103 + + Landseer, Tom, i. 27 + + Lansdowne, Lord, i. 275 + + Law, Dickens's opinion of English, ii. 440 + + Layard, A. H., i. 377; ii. 108; + letters to, i. 390, 391 + + Leclercq, Miss, ii. 246 + + Lectures, Dickens on public, i. 97 + + Leech, John, i. 134, 186, 225, 226, 239 + + Le Gros, Mr., i. 140, 332 + + Lehmann, Mrs., ii. 39, 75; + and see Letters + + Lehmann, F., ii. 39, 75 + + Lemaître, M., i. 386 + + Lemon, Mark, i. 134, 186, 225, 226, 376, 390; + and see Letters + + Lemon, Mrs., i. 419 + + Léotard, ii. 142 + + LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS TO: + Agate, John, ii. 154 + Ainsworth, W. H., i. 43, 75, 92 + Anonymous, i. 277; ii. 276 + Armstrong, the Misses, ii. 175 + Austin, Henry, i. 2, 69-73, 76, 262-264, 266, 361; ii. 18, 25, 28 + Austin, Mrs., ii. 154, 180, 384 + Babbage, Charles, i. 86, 87, 186 + Bancroft, Mrs., ii. 441 + Banks, G., i. 296 + Baylis, Mr., ii. 179 + Benzon, Miss, ii. 258 + Bicknell, H., i. 229 + Blanchard, Laman, i. 99 + Boyle, Miss, i. 224, 225, 227, 245, 265, 279, 345, 381, 423; + ii. 10, 132, 157, 169, 186, 245, 315, 411 + Brookfield, Mrs., ii. 249 + Brookfield, Rev. W., ii. 199, 200 + Brooks, Shirley, ii. 423, 438 + Carlisle, the Earl of, i. 253, 281; ii. 12, 118, 157 + Cartwright, Samuel, ii. 348 + Cattermole, Mrs., ii. 383, 385 + Cattermole, George, i. 22, 28-30, 31, 33-36, 38, 39, 42, 43, + 45-48, 50, 51, 81, 143 + Cerjat, M. de, i. 161, 210, 346, 378; ii. 7, 48, 86, 113, 138, + 176, 200, 220, 240, 268, 387, 409 + Chapman and Hall, i. 55 + Clarke, John, ii. 418 + Collins, Wilkie, i. 294, 358, 362, 397, 400, 403, 419, 437, 448; + ii. 40, 67, 101, 110, 129, 146, 182, 198, 209, 332, 397 + Compton, Mrs., ii. 22 + Cooke, T. P., ii. 21 + Costello, Dudley, i. 104, 205 + Croker, J. Crofton, i. 275 + Cunningham, Peter, i. 195, 270, 312, 356 + Dallas, Mrs., ii. 195, 434 + Deane, F. H., i. 68 + Delane, John, i. 314 + Devonshire, the Duke of, i. 437, 443, 457 + Dickens, Mrs. Charles, i. 12, 100, 123, 127, 130, 132, 165, 166, + 206, 223, 244, 249, 267, 330, 406, 433 + Dickens, Charles, ii. 310, 338 + Dickens, Edward, ii. 402 + Dickens, Henry, ii. 356, 392, 435, 438 + Dickens, Miss Kate, i. 178; ii. 99 + Dickens, Miss, i. 176, 178, 182, 199, 205, 453; ii. 52, 53, 56, + 63, 72, 78, 95, 99, 124, 150, 161, 163, 165, 188, 190, 243, + 252, 254, 256, 273, 275, 276, 278, 279, 283, 285, 299, 302, + 306, 313, 316, 321, 324, 337, 341, 343, 350, 351, 354, 363, + 366, 372, 377, 380, 389, 391, 399, 412, 415, 421, 426 + Dickson, David, i. 89 + Diezman, S. A., i. 32 + Dilke, C. W., ii. 12 + Eeles, Mr., i. 265, 269 + Ely, Miss, i. 153 + Fechter, Charles, ii. 183, 185, 191, 260, 297, 361, 368, 390 + Fildes, S. L., ii. 435 + Finlay, F. D., ii. 297, 389, 408 + Fitzgerald, Percy, ii. 203, 217, 234, 237, 247, 263, 293, 294 + Forster, John, i. 167, 188, 393; ii. 14, 42, 76, 97, 111, 128, + 142, 215 + Frith, W. P., i. 79; ii. 439 + Gaskell, Mrs., i. 216, 269, 270, 292, 293, 301, 355, 360, 381 + Haldimand, Mr., i. 157 + Halleck, Fitz-Greene, i. 59 + Harley, J. P., i. 5, 23 + Harness, Rev. W., i. 37, 76, 361 + Henderson, Mrs., ii. 293 + Hogarth, Catherine, i. 3 + Hogarth, Miss, i. 135, 177, 183, 319, 320, 322, 325, 337, 359, 385, + 426, 428, 429, 435; ii. 28, 31, 33, 51, 55, 58, 61, 65, 70, 74, + 75, 79, 126, 132, 137, 151, 152, 156, 158, 162, 165, 172-174, + 190, 206, 248, 251, 253, 255, 257, 272, 274, 277, 279, 281, + 282, 284-286, 295, 298, 303, 304, 307, 315, 317, 319, 327, 330, + 334, 341, 345, 353, 358, 360, 364, 370, 371, 379, 391, 392, 396, + 398, 400, 413-419, 421 + Hogge, Mrs., ii. 46 + Hood, Tom, i. 80 + Horne, Mrs., i. 456 + Horne, R. H., i. 93 + Hughes, Master, i. 14 + Hulkes, Mrs., ii. 232 + Jerrold, Douglas, i. 87, 90, 118, 154, 427 + Jewish Lady, a, ii. 204, 223, 280 + Joll, Miss, i. 209 + Jones, Walter, ii. 232 + Keeley, Robert, i. 105 + Kent, W. Charles, i. 188, 461; ii. 225, 239, 246, 299, 394, 429, + 437, 439, 441, 443 + Knight, Charles, i. 104, 152, 218, 259, 277, 280, 349, 351; ii. + 195, 212 + Knowles, Sheridan, i. 215 + Landor, Walter Savage, i. 157, 230, 313, 343, 441 + Landseer, Edwin, i. 103 + Layard, A. H., i. 390, 391 + Lehmann, Mrs. F., ii. 196, 234, 395, 413 + Lemon, Mark, i. 192, 203, 207, 243, 281, 394, 396, 416, 439, 440 + Longman, Thomas, i. 73; ii. 106 + Longman, William, i. 24 + Lovejoy, G., i. 44 + Lytton, Sir E. B., ii. 116 + Maclise, Daniel, i. 33, 105 + Macready, W. C., i. 5, 16, 17, 18, 24, 26, 27, 49, 52, 60, 77, 79, + 95, 117, 129, 141, 144, 146, 154, 183, 187, 194, 195, 198, 247, + 252, 273, 283, 300, 307, 368, 399, 404, 430, 431, 446, 451, 459; + ii. 10, 19, 22, 46, 109, 141, 150, 192, 197, 226, 227, 229, 265, + 373, 383, 424, 429, 436 + Major, Mrs., ii. 196 + Makeham, John, ii. 444 + Marston, Dr. Westland, ii. 43 + Milnes, R. Monckton, i. 41 + Mitton, Thomas, i. 10, 19, 56, 58, 65, 121, 136, 458; ii. 229 + Morpeth, Viscount, i. 92, 146, + and see Carlisle, The Earl of Ollier, Edmund, ii. 213, 425 + Ouvry, F., ii. 205, 427 + Owen, Professor, ii. 235 + Panizzi, Antonio, ii. 89, 90, 92 + Pardoe, Miss, i. 73 + Parkinson, J. C., ii. 401 + Pollock, Mrs. F., ii. 440 + Pollock, Sir F., ii. 214 + Poole, John, i. 236 + Power, Miss, i. 179, 181, 460; ii. 127, 194 + Power, Mrs., ii. 300 + Procter, Adelaide, i. 374 + Procter, B. W., i. 354; ii. 5, 82, 90, 223, 259 + Procter, Mrs., ii. 226, 238 + Reade, Charles, ii. 206 + Regnier, Monsieur, i. 302, 303, 383, 411; ii. 44, 45, 102, 105, 189 + Roberts, David, i. 215, 246, 248, 389 + Russell, Lord John, i. 277, 316; ii. 118, 235, 422 + Ryland, Arthur, i. 349, 382, 388; ii. 34, 233, 426, 428 + Sandys, William, i. 178 + Saunders, John, i. 366 + Sculthorpe, W. R., ii. 104 + Smith, Arthur, ii. 85, 147 + Smith, H. P., i. 74, 179, 181 + Stanfield, Clarkson, i. 92, 102, 113, 144, 151, 205, 299, 373, 394, + 395, 398; ii. 184, 219, 287 + Stanfield, George, ii. 289 + Stone, Marcus, i. 340; ii. 211, 236 + Stone, Frank, i. 199-201, 206, 259, 261, 295, 305, 355, 365, 396, + 397; ii. 16, 24, 25, 27, 35, 82, 103 + Storrar, Mrs., ii. 216 + "_Sun, The_," the editor of, i. 187 + Tagart, Edward, i. 111, 173 + Talfourd, Miss Mary, i. 51 + Talfourd, Serjeant, i. 10 + Tennent, Sir James Emerson, i. 329; ii. 6, 218, 259 + Thackeray, W. M., ii. 41 + Thornbury, Walter, ii. 178, 262, 286 + Tomlin, John, i. 40 + Toole, J. L., ii. 300 + Trollope, Mrs., i. 81, 397 + Viardot, Madame, i. 412 + Ward, E. M., ii. 141 + Ward, Mrs., ii. 441 + Watkins, John, i. 287; ii. 148 + Watson, Hon. Mrs., i. 171, 196, 209, 226, 228, 231, 234, 237, 242, + 254, 276, 282, 289, 309, 317, 343, 370, 402, 412, 453; ii. 93, + 121, 144, 301, 382 + Watson, Hon. R., i. 159 + White, Mrs., ii. 94 + White, Miss, ii. 92 + White, Rev. James, i. 149, 193, 208, 217, 220, 288, 291, 292, 350; + ii. 11, 15, 81, 97 + Wills, W. H., i. 148-150, 219, 221, 222, 244, 250, 285, 286, 292, + 295, 299, 303, 304, 307, 315, 333, 334, 352, 357, 384, 387, + 401, 407, 408, 410, 415, 433, 450, 452; ii. 119, 167, 168, 171, + 207, 290, 292, 295, 301, 386, 422, 433 + Wilson, Effingham, i. 199 + Yates, Edmund, ii. 20, 34, 41, 47, 91, 123, 149, 238 + Yates, Mrs., ii. 48 + + Lewes, G. H., i. 170 + + "Lighthouse, The," the play of, i. 337; + Dickens's prologue to, i. 461; + Dickens's "Song of the Wreck" in, i. 461; + and see ii. 198 + + Linton, Mrs., ii. 207 + + Lion, a chained, i. 144 + + Literary Fund, the, ii. 5, 12 + + "Little Dorrit," i. 378, 413, 415; + proposed name of, i. 402; + sale of, i. 426; + letters concerning, i. 402, 403, 406, 426 + + Lockhart, Mr., ii. 207 + + London, the Mayor of, from a French point of view, i. 175; + in September, i. 318; + Dickens's opinion of the Corporation of, i. 389; ii. 411; + facetious advice to country visitors to, i. 252 + + Longfellow, W. H., ii. 306, 308, 312, 326, 333, 361, 375 + + Longman, Thomas, letters to, i. 73; ii. 106 + + Longman, William, letter to, i. 24 + + Lovejoy, G., i. 44 + + Lowell, Miss Mabel, ii. 405, 415 + + Lyceum Theatre under Fechter, ii. 187, 191, 245; + and see Fechter + + Lyndhurst, Lord, i. 147; ii. 144 + + Lynn, Miss, i. 378 + + Lyttelton, Hon. Spencer, i. 239, 245 + + Lytton, the first Lord, i. 214, 239; ii. 108, 135, 143, 247, 268; + letter to, ii. 116 + + Lytton, Lord, ii. 108 + + + Maclise, Daniel, i. 18, 23, 80, 177, 370; ii. 432; + letters to, i. 33, 105 + + Macready, W. C., i. 94, 133, 239, 413; ii. 169, 172, 173; + and see Letters + + Macready, Benvenuta, i. 431; ii. 194 + + Macready, Kate, i. 415; ii. 193 + + Macready, Mrs., ii. 172, 288 + + Macready, Jonathan, ii. 376 + + Macready, Nina, i. 195 + + Macready, W., ii. 425 + + Major, Mrs., letter to, ii. 196 + + Makeham, J. M., ii. 432; + Dickens's last letter written to, ii. 444 + + Malleson, Mr. and Mrs., ii. 315 + + Marsh, Dickens's coachman, a story of, ii. 181 + + Marston, Dr. Westland, ii. 42, 44, 45; + letter to, ii. 43 + + Martineau, i. 61, 229 + + "Martin Chuzzlewit," i. 53; + dramatised, i. 95, 105; + a story of Mrs. Harris, ii. 41 + + "Master Humphrey's Clock," i. 28; + the plan of, described, i. 29; + letters concerning illustrations for, i. 29-31, 33-36, 38-40, + 45-47, 50-51 + + "Mémoires du Diable, Les," i. 444 + + Mesmerism, a séance of, ii. 100 + + Missionaries, Dickens on, i. 227; ii. 241 + + Mitton, Thomas, see Letters + + Molesworth, Lady, ii. 187, 189 + + Monuments, Dickens on, i. 287, 356 + + Moore, Tom, i. 163 + + Morgan, Captain, ii. 136, 143 + + Morgan, W., ii. 308, 336 + + Morley, Mr., i. 399 + + Morpeth, Viscount, letters to, i. 92, 146; + and see Carlisle, The Earl of + + Motley, Mr., ii. 142 + + Mountain, a hazardous ascent of a, ii. 29 + + Mulgrave, Earl of, i. 57 + + + Narrative, i. 1, 4, 6, 17, 28, 36, 53, 57, 85, 94, 134, 147, 169, + 185, 204, 213, 239, 271, 296, 341, 376, 413; ii. 3, 39, 83, + 107, 135, 169, 187, 208, 224, 244, 266, 325, 404, 431, 446 + + Nathan, Messrs. H. and L., i. 232, 233, 235 + + Neville, Mr., ii. 186 + + Newsvendors' Benevolent Institution, ii. 232 + + New Testament, Dickens's love for the, ii. 394, 403; + Dickens writes a history of the, for his children, ii. 433 + + "Nicholas Nickleby," publication of, i. 6; + rewards and punishments of characters in, i. 14; + Dickens at work on, i. 16; + dedication of, i, 26; + the Kenwigs in, i, 25; + and see ii. 200 + + Nicknames, Dickens's, of George Cattermole, i. 42, 143; + of his children, i. 76, 126, 170, 322, 338, 453; + nautical, i. 152; + of himself, i. 198, 206, 307, 362; + of Frank Stone, i. 214, 305 + + Norton, C. E., ii. 326 + + Noviomagians, the, i. 272 + + + "Old Curiosity Shop, The," Dickens engaged on, i. 28; + scenes in, described by Dickens for illustration, i. 21, 33-37, 42; + Dickens heartbroken over the story, i. 36, 37, 42 + + "Oliver Twist," publication of, i. 4; + Dickens at work on, i. 11; + the reading of "The Murder" from, ii. 326, 395, 397, 399 + + Ollier, Edmund, ii. 209, 407; + letters to, ii. 213, 425 + + Olliffe, Lady, ii. 187, 190 + + Olliffe, Sir J., ii. 417 + + Olliffe, the Misses, ii. 190 + + Organs, street, i. 104 + + Osgood, Mr., ii. 310, 336, 337, 340, 346, 352, 356, 366 + + "Our Mutual Friend," ii. 208, 210, 224; + and as to illustrations for, see ii. 211, 237 + + Ouvry, Frederic, ii. 188, 300; + letters to, ii. 205, 427 + + Overs, i. 37, 49 + + Owen, Professor, ii. 235 + + + Panizzi, Antonio, ii. 84; + letters to, ii. 89, 90, 92 + + Pardoe, Miss, letter to, i. 73 + + Paris, Dickens at, i. 130, 131, 147, 157-161, 169, 174, 239, 376, + 378, 385-387, 413, 406-425, 430, 431; ii. 171, 187; + house-hunting in, i. 158; + description of Dickens's house in, i. 159; + state of, in 1846, i. 160, 161; + feeling of people of, for Dickens, i. 411; + Dickens's reading at, ii. 187-190, 192 + + Parkinson, J. C., ii. 327; + letter to, ii. 401 + + Parrots, human, i. 87, 121 + + "Patrician's Daughter, The," prologue to, written by Dickens, + i. 55, 77 + + Patronage, the curse of England, ii. 213, 356 + + Paxton, Sir Joseph, i. 446 + + Phelps, J., i. 366 + + "Pickwick," origin and publication of, i. 1, 3; + first mention of Jingle, i. 3; + conclusion of, celebrated, i. 5; + the design of the Shepherd in, explained, i. 85, 89 + + Picnic, a, of the elements, i, 116; + with Eton boys, i. 255, 258 + + "Picnic Papers," Dickens's share of the, ii. 91 + + Plessy, Madame, i. 412; ii. 440 + + Pollock, Sir F., ii. 97, 144, 209; + letter to, ii. 10, 214 + + Pollock, Mrs. F., letter to, ii. 440 + + Poole, John, i. 298, 317; ii. 228; + letter to, i. 236 + + "Poor Travellers, The," i. 378; + sale of, i. 379 + + Portraits of Dickens, by Maclise, i. 18, 23; + by Frith, ii. 84, 93; + by Ary Scheffer, i. 414, 434; + by John Watkins, ii. 148; + a caricature, ii. 146 + + Postman, an Albaro, i. 112, 117 + + Power, Miss, i. 442; ii. 82, 293, 300; + and see Letters + + Power, Nelly, i. 443 + + Power, Mrs., letter to, ii. 300 + + Presence of mind of Dickens, ii. 161, 224, 230 + + Press, the, freedom of, i. 49; + in America, i. 97; + taxation of the, i. 274 + + Procter, Adelaide, i. 341; ii. 238; + letter to, i. 374 + + Procter, B. W., i. 341; ii. 83, 91; + and see Letters + + Procter, Mrs., letter to, ii. 226, 238 + + Publishing system, how to improve the, i. 86 + + Purse, the power of the, i. 88 + + Putnam, Mr., ii. 312 + + + Queen, the, Dickens's theatrical performance before, i. 239; + his feeling for, ii. 168; + his interview with, ii. 432 + + + Rae, Dr., i. 373 + + Railways, ii. 242 + + Reade, Charles, ii. 188; + letter to, ii. 206 + + Reader, Charles Dickens as a, ii. 437 + + Readings, Dickens's public, for charities, i. 297, 341, 377; ii. 4, + 169, 170; + first reading for his own benefit, ii. 39; + at Paris, ii. 187, 189, 192; + in America, ii. 267; + farewell series of readings in England, ii. 326, 404, 405; + trial reading of "The Murder" from "Oliver Twist," ii. 326; + reading to the actors, ii. 407, 418; + farewell reading, ii. 431; + effects of "The Murder" reading on Dickens, ii. 434; + books of the, ii. 438; + letters concerning the readings in England, Scotland, and Ireland, + i. 344, 348, 369, 371, 379, 382, 388, 413, 424; ii. 20, 49, + 51-67, 70-80, 87, 103, 145, 147, 151-168, 174, 178, 197, 200, + 251-258, 272-286; + letters concerning American, ii. 83, 85, 290, 294, 298, 299, + 306-382; + letters concerning the farewell series of, ii. 391, 392, 395-400, + 412-421 + + Reform, Dickens speaks on Administrative, i. 377, 399; + association for, i. 399; + Dickens on Parliamentary, ii. 87, 269 + + Refreshment rooms, i. 424 + + Regnier, M., i. 298; + and see Letters + + Reynolds, Dr. Russell, ii. 448 + + Richardson, Samuel, Dickens's opinion of, i. 175 + + "Rivals, The," a scene from, rewritten, i. 345 + + Roberts, David, i. 214; ii. 75; + letters to, i. 215, 246, 248, 389 + + "Robinson Crusoe," Dickens on, i. 443 + + Robson, F., i. 451 + + Roche, Dickens's courier, i. 95, 122-126, 139 + + Rochester Cathedral, proposed burial of Dickens in, ii. 448 + + Royal Academy, female students at the, ii. 121; + Dickens's last public appearance, at the dinner of the, ii. 431 + + Russel, Alexander, ii. 389, 390, 398, 406 + + Russell, Lord John, i. 272; ii. 85; + and see Letters + + Russell, W. H., ii. 4 + + Ryland, Arthur, ii. 4, 430; + and see Letters + + + Sainton-Dolby, Madame, ii. 295, 391 + + Sanatorium for art-students, i. 102 + + Sand, Georges, i. 420 + + Sandys, William, letter to, i. 178 + + Saunders, John, i. 341; + letter to, i. 366 + + Savage, i. 271 + + Saville, Miss, ii. 186 + + Scheffer, Ary, i. 414, 434; ii. 149 + + Schoolmistress, a Yorkshire, i. 8 + + Scott, Sir Walter, i. 22, 254 + + Scott, Dickens's dresser, ii. 272, 305, 306, 317, 321, 342, 370, 416 + + Scribe, Eugène, i. 430, 432 + + Sculthorpe, W. R., letter to, ii. 104 + + Seaside, the, in wet weather, i. 90 + + Sea voyage, a, i. 322 + + Shaftesbury, Lord, ii. 242 + + Shakespeare, Dickens in room of, i. 13; + Dickens's criticisms of Charles Knight's biography of, i. 152; + and see i. 178 + + Shea, Mr. Justice, ii. 247 + + Shower-bath, a perpetual, i. 207 + + "Sketches," publication of the, i. 1 + + Smith, Arthur, ii. 4, 39, 52, 53, 56-60, 64-67, 71, 72, 78, 80, + 104, 109, 135, 145, 149-153; + letters to, ii. 85, 147 + + Smith, H. P., letters to, i. 74, 179, 181 + + Smith, Sydney, i. 24 + + Smollett, Dickens on the works of, i. 356 + + Snevellicci, Miss, in real life, i. 13 + + Snore, a mighty, i. 158 + + Songs by Dickens: on Mark Lemon, i. 207; + of "The Wreck" in "The Lighthouse," i. 461 + + Speaking, Dickens on public, ii. 426, 428; + advice to his son Henry on public, ii. 435 + + Spencer, Lord, i. 242 + + Spider, a fearful, i. 180 + + Spiritualism, Dickens on, i. 350, 397 + + Stage-coach, American story of a, ii. 292 + + Stage suggestions, i. 79; + a stage mob, i. 174; + a piece of stage business, i. 156 + + Stanfield, Clarkson, i. 370, 377, 429, 435, 454; ii. 75, 194, 267; + and see Letters + + Stanfield, George, letter to, ii. 289 + + Stanley, Dean, ii. 448, 449 + + Stanley, Lady Augusta, ii. 449 + + Staplehurst, Dickens in the railway accident at, ii. 224; + description of the accident, ii. 229-233; + effects of the accident on Dickens, ii. 388 + + Staunton, Mr. Secretary, ii. 351 + + Steele, Sir Richard, Dickens on Forster's essay on, i. 393 + + Steele, Mr., ii. 447, 448 + + Stone, Arthur, i. 436 + + Stone, Ellen, ii. 81 + + Stone, Frank, i. 134, 143, 225, 240; ii. 84; + and see Letters + + Stone, Marcus, i. 299; ii. 84, 106, 208; + letters to, i. 340; ii. 211, 236 + + Storrar, Mrs., ii. 209; + letter to, ii. 216 + + "Strange Gentleman, The," farce written by Dickens and produced, i. 4; + price of, i. 5; + sent to Macready, i. 16 + + Strikes, Dickens on, i. 416 + + Sumner, Charles, ii. 351, 355 + + _Sun, The_, newspaper, ii. 225; + letter to editor of, i. 187 + + Switzerland, the Simplon Pass in, i. 127; + pleasant recollections of, i. 197, 218; + Dickens at Lausanne in, i. 147; + a revolution in, i. 155, 175; + friends in, i. 157; + Dickens's love for, i. 158; + letters concerning Lausanne in, i. 147, 154, 160, 172, 179 + + Sympathy, letters of, i. 193, 265, 282, 283, 394; ii. 94, 97, + 123, 154, 180, 289, 293 + + + Tagart, Edward, letters to, i. 111, 173 + + "Tale of Two Cities, A," ii. 83, 84, 158; + letters concerning, ii. 98, 102, 105, 106, 116 + + Talfourd, Miss Mary, letter to, i. 51 + + Talfourd, Mr. Justice, i. 7; + letter to, i. 10 + + Taüchnitz, Baron, i. 188, 195 + + Tavistock House, purchase of, i. 240; + sale of, ii. 107; + letters concerning, i. 259, 261-266 + + Taxation, Dickens on, i. 218; + of newspapers, i. 273 + + Taylor, Bayard, ii. 405 + + Telegraph, the dramatic side of the, i. 417 + + Tennent, Sir James Emerson, i. 298; ii. 209, 224; + letters to, i. 329; ii. 218, 259 + + Tenniel, John, i. 241 + + Tennyson, Alfred, Dickens's admiration for, ii. 98 + + Terry, Miss Kate, ii. 193 + + Thackeray, W. M., ii. 4, 39, 137, 208, 210, 214; + letter to, ii. 41 + + Thames, drainage of the, ii. 50; + embankment of the, ii. 410 + + Theatre, Dickens at the, i. 13; + Phiz's laughter at the, i. 13; + the saloon at Drury Lane, i. 37, 52; + scents of a, i. 96; + story of a, i. 144; + proposal for a national, i. 199; + Dickens on the, ii. 271, 438 + + Theatrical Fund, the, ii. 35 + + Theatrical performances of Charles Dickens: + at Montreal, i. 72; + at Miss Kelly's Theatre, i. 134; + "Fortunio" at Tavistock House, i. 376, 381; + "The Lighthouse," i. 377, 394-397; + "The Frozen Deep," i. 414; + for the Jerrold Memorial Fund, ii. 19, 23; + before the Queen, i. 239; + and see i. 170, 185, 239, 241, 271, 376, 377, 414; ii. 3; + letters concerning the, i. 141, 143, 144, 146, 181, 192, 196, + 224-228, 231, 232, 234, 244, 268, 398, 433, 453, 454, 457, + 459, 460; ii. 6, 11, 198 + + Thornbury, Walter, ii. 170, 292; + letters to, ii. 178, 262, 286 + + Tomlin, John, letter to, i. 40 + + Toole, J. L., ii. 54, 268; + letter to, ii. 300 + + Topham, F. W., i. 241, 269 + + Townshend, Chauncey Hare, ii. 7, 86, 96, 115, 136, 140, 371, 410 + + Trollope, Mrs., letters to, i. 80, 397 + + + "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Dickens on, i. 289 + + "Uncommercial Traveller, The," ii. 107 + + + Viardot, Madame, ii. 193; + letter to, i. 412 + + "Village Coquettes, The," operetta written by Dickens, i. 5; + and see i. 93 + + Volunteers, Dickens on the, ii. 115 + + + Waistcoat, a wonderful, i. 102; + the loan by Dickens of Macready's, i. 146 + + Wales, the Prince of, popularity of, ii. 203; + Dickens attends levée of, ii. 432 + + Wales, the Princess of, her arrival in England, ii. 195; + the illuminations in honour of, ii. 198; + popularity of, ii. 203 + + War, Dickens on the Russian, i. 379 + + Ward, E. M., i. 341; + letter to, ii. 141 + + Ward, Mrs., letter to, ii. 441 + + Watkins, John, i. 415; + letters to, i. 287; ii. 148 + + Watson, Hon. R., i. 147, 280; + letter to, i. 159 + + Watson, Hon. Mrs., i. 147; ii. 9, 70; + and see Letters + + Watson, Sir Thomas, ii. 405, 407 + + Watson, Wentworth, ii. 79 + + Watts's refuge for poor travellers, ii. 259 + + Webster, Benjamin, i. 85, 90, 434; ii. 361 + + Webster, a story of the murderer, ii. 333 + + Welcome home, a, i. 117 + + Westminster Abbey, burial of Dickens in, ii. 448 + + Whewell, Dr., i. 372 + + White, Clara, ii. 142, 181, 208 + + White, Rev. James, i. 149, 413; ii. 209; + and see Letters + + White, Mrs., ii. 212; + letter to, ii. 94 + + White, Miss, ii. 81, 84, 96; + letter to, ii. 92 + + White, Richard Grant, ii. 85 + + Wigan, Alfred, i. 429 + + Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Barney, ii. 337, 359 + + Wills, W. H., i. 148, 241, 375; ii. 83, 379, 383, 406, 430; + and see Letters + + Wills, Mrs., ii. 75, 96, 120 + + Wilson, Effingham, letter to, i. 199 + + Working men, clubs for, ii. 209, 213; + Dickens on the management of such clubs, ii. 356; + feeling of, for Dickens, ii. 420 + + + Yates, Edmund, i. 414, 426; ii. 5, 129; + and see Letters + + Yates, Mrs., ii. 129; + letter to, ii. 48 + + +THE END. + +CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE +PRESS. + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Page 142, "Leotard" changed to "Léotard" twice (Palace and Léotard) and +(into seeing Léotard) + +Page 181, "shefound" changed to "she found" (she found Marsh) + +Page 432, "levee" changed to "levée" (a levée held) + +Page 453, "Celeste" changed to "Céleste" (Céleste, Madame) + +Page 454-455, entries for "Dickens, Mamie" and "Dickens, Kate" were +originally not in alphabetically order. This was corrected. + +Page 456, "Fitzgreene" changed to "Fitz-Greene" (Halleck, Fitz-Greene) + +Page 458, "Fitzgreene" changed to "Fitz-Greene" (Halleck, Fitz-Greene) + +Page 460, "Lyttleton" changed to "Lyttelton" (Lyttleton, Hon. Spencer) + +Page 462, "Shee" changed to "Shea" (Shea, Mr. Justice) + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Letters of Charles Dickens, by Charles Dickens + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS *** + +***** This file should be named 25853-8.txt or 25853-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/8/5/25853/ + +Produced by Susan Skinner, Emmy 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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