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diff --git a/25854.txt b/25854.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..777320c --- /dev/null +++ b/25854.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11981 @@ +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. 3 (of 3), 1836-1870 + +Author: Charles Dickens + +Editor: Mamie Dickens + Georgina Hogarth + +Release Date: June 20, 2008 [EBook #25854] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** 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 + + + + + + + + + + + + +THE LETTERS + +OF + +Charles Dickens + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE LETTERS + +OF + +CHARLES DICKENS. + +EDITED BY + +HIS SISTER-IN-LAW AND HIS ELDEST DAUGHTER + +VOL. III. + +1836 TO 1870. + + London: + CHAPMAN AND HALL, LIMITED, + 11, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN. + 1882. + +[_The Right of Translation is Reserved._] + + CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, + CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Since our publication of "The Letters of Charles Dickens" we have +received the letters addressed to the late Lord Lytton, which we were +unable to procure in time for our first two volumes in consequence of +his son's absence in India. We thank the Earl of Lytton cordially for +his kindness in sending them to us very soon after his return. We also +offer our sincere thanks to Sir Austen H. Layard, and to the senders of +many other letters, which we now publish for the first time. + +With a view to making our selection as complete as possible, we have +collected together the letters from Charles Dickens which have already +been published in various Biographies, and have chosen and placed in +chronological order among our new letters those which we consider to be +of the greatest interest. + +As our Narrative was finished in our second volume, this volume consists +of Letters _only_, with occasional foot-notes wherever there are +allusions requiring explanation. + + MAMIE DICKENS. + GEORGINA HOGARTH. + + LONDON: _September, 1881._ + + + + +ERRATA. + +VOL. III. + + + Page 87, line 5. For "J. W. Leigh Murray," _read_ "Mr. Leigh Murray." + " 111, line 8. For "annoying," _read_ "amazing." + " 243, line 10. For "Tarass Boulla," _read_ "Tarass Boulba." + " 259, line 6, and in footnote. For "Hazlett," _read_ "Hazlitt." + " 261, line 2. For "procters," _read_ "proctors." + + + + +THE + +LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS. + + + + +1836 to 1839. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. John Hullah.] + + FURNIVAL'S INN, _Sunday Evening (1836)_ (?). + +MY DEAR HULLAH, + +Have you seen _The Examiner_? It is rather depreciatory of the opera; +but, like all inveterate critiques against Braham, so well done that I +cannot help laughing at it, for the life and soul of me. I have seen +_The Sunday Times_, _The Dispatch_, and _The Satirist_, all of which +blow their critic trumpets against unhappy me most lustily. Either I +must have grievously awakened the ire of all the "adapters" and their +friends, or the drama must be decidedly bad. I haven't made up my mind +yet which of the two is the fact. + +I have not seen the _John Bull_ or any of the Sunday papers except _The +Spectator_. If you have any of them, bring 'em with you on Tuesday. I am +afraid that for "dirty Cummins'" allusion to Hogarth I shall be reduced +to the necessity of being valorous the next time I meet him. + + Believe me, most faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + FURNIVAL'S INN, _Monday Afternoon, 7 o'clock (1836)._ + +MY DEAR HULLAH, + +Mr. Hogarth has just been here, with news which I think you will be glad +to hear. He was with Braham yesterday, who was _far more full_ of the +opera[1] than he was; speaking highly of my works and "fame" (!), and +expressing an earnest desire to be the first to introduce me to the +public as a dramatic writer. He said that he intended opening at +Michaelmas; and added (unasked) that it was his intention to produce the +opera within _one month_ of his first night. He wants a low comedy part +introduced--without singing--thinking it will take with the audience; +but he is desirous of explaining to me what he means and who he intends +to play it. I am to see him on Sunday morning. Full particulars of the +interview shall be duly announced. + +Perhaps I shall see you meanwhile. I have only time to add that I am + + Most faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + PETERSHAM, _Monday Evening (1836)._ + +DEAR HULLAH, + +Since I called on you this morning I have not had time to look over the +words of "The Child and the Old Man." It occurs to me, as I shall see +you on Wednesday morning, that the best plan will be for you to bring +the music (if you possibly can) without the words, and we can put them +in then. Of course this observation applies only to that particular +song. + +Braham having sent to me about the farce, I called on him this morning. +Harley wrote, when he had read the whole of the opera, saying: "It's a +sure card--nothing wrong there. Bet you ten pound it runs fifty nights. +Come; don't be afraid. You'll be the gainer by it, and you mustn't mind +betting; it's a capital custom." They tell the story with infinite +relish. I saw the fair manageress,[2] who is fully of Harley's opinion, +so is Braham. The only difference is, that they are far more +enthusiastic than Harley--far more enthusiastic than ourselves even. +That is a bold word, isn't it? It is a true one, nevertheless. + +"Depend upon it, sir," said Braham to Hogarth yesterday, when he went +there to say I should be in town to-day, "depend upon it, sir, that +there has been no such music since the days of Sheil, and no such piece +since "The Duenna."" "Everybody is delighted with it," he added, to me +to-day. "I played it to Stansbury, who is by no means an excitable +person, and he was charmed." This was said with great emphasis, but I +have forgotten the grand point. It was not, "I played it to Stansbury," +but, "I sang it--_all through_!!!" + +I begged him, as the choruses are to be put into rehearsal directly the +company get together, to let us have, through Mrs. Braham, the necessary +passports to the stage, which will be forwarded. He leaves town on the +_8th of September_. He will be absent a month, and the first rehearsal +will take place immediately on his return; previous to it (I mean the +first rehearsal--not the return) I am to read the piece. His only +remaining suggestion is, that Miss Rainforth will want another song when +the piece is in rehearsal--"a bravura--something in the 'Soldier Tired' +way." We must have a confab about this on Wednesday morning. + +Harley called in Furnival's Inn, to express his high delight and +gratification, but unfortunately we had left town. I shall be at +head-quarters by 12 Wednesday noon. + + Believe me, dear Hullah, + Most faithfully yours. + +P.S.--Tell me on Wednesday when you can come down here, for a day or +two. Beautiful place--meadow for exercise, horse for your riding, boat +for your rowing, room for your studying--anything you like. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. George Hogarth.] + + [3]13, FURNIVAL'S INN, _Tuesday Evening, January 20th, 1837._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +As you have begged me to write an original sketch for the first number +of the new evening paper, and as I trust to your kindness to refer my +application to the proper quarter, should I be unreasonably or +improperly trespassing upon you, I beg to ask whether it is probable +that if I commenced a series of articles, written under some attractive +title, for _The Evening Chronicle_, its conductors would think I had any +claim to some additional remuneration (of course, of no great amount) +for doing so? + +Let me beg of you not to misunderstand my meaning. Whatever the reply +may be, I promised you an article, and shall supply it with the utmost +readiness, and with an anxious desire to do my best, which I honestly +assure you would be the feeling with which I should always receive any +request coming personally from yourself. I merely wish to put it to the +proprietors, first, whether a continuation of light papers in the style +of my "Street Sketches" would be considered of use to the new paper; +and, secondly, if so, whether they do not think it fair and reasonable +that, taking my share of the ordinary reporting business of _The +Chronicle_ besides, I should receive something for the papers beyond my +ordinary salary as a reporter. + +Begging you to excuse my troubling you, and taking this opportunity of +acknowledging the numerous kindnesses I have already received at your +hands since I have had the pleasure of acting under you, + + I am, my dear Sir, very sincerely yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Hogarth.] + + DOUGHTY STREET, _Thursday Night, October 26th, 1837._ + +MY DEAR MRS. HOGARTH, + +I need not thank you for your present[4] of yesterday, for you know the +sorrowful pleasure I shall take in wearing it, and the care with which I +shall prize it, until--so far as relates to this life--I am like her. + +I have never had her ring off my finger by day or night, except for an +instant at a time, to wash my hands, since she died. I have never had +her sweetness and excellence absent from my mind so long. I can solemnly +say that, waking or sleeping, I have never lost the recollection of our +hard trial and sorrow, and I feel that I never shall. + +It will be a great relief to my heart when I find you sufficiently calm +upon this sad subject to claim the promise I made you when she lay dead +in this house, never to shrink from speaking of her, as if her memory +must be avoided, but rather to take a melancholy pleasure in recalling +the times when we were all so happy--so happy that increase of fame and +prosperity has only widened the gap in my affections, by causing me to +think how she would have shared and enhanced all our joys, and how proud +I should have been (as God knows I always was) to possess the affections +of the gentlest and purest creature that ever shed a light on earth. I +wish you could know how I weary now for the three rooms in Furnival's +Inn, and how I miss that pleasant smile and those sweet words which, +bestowed upon our evening's work, in our merry banterings round the +fire, were more precious to me than the applause of a whole world would +be. I can recall everything she said and did in those happy days, and +could show you every passage and line we read together. + +I see _now_ how you are capable of making great efforts, even against +the afflictions you have to deplore, and I hope that, soon, our words +may be where our thoughts are, and that we may call up those old +memories, not as shadows of the bitter past, but as lights upon a +happier future. + + Believe me, my dear Mrs. Hogarth, + Ever truly and affectionately yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] "The Village Coquettes." + +[2] Mrs. Braham. + +[3] Printed in "Forty Years' Recollections of Life, Literature, and +Public Affairs," by Charles Mackay. + +[4] A chain made of Mary Hogarth's hair, sent to Charles Dickens on the +first anniversary of her birthday, after her death. + + + + +[5]DIARY--1838. + + + _Monday, January 1st, 1838._ + +A sad New Year's Day in one respect, for at the opening of last year +poor Mary was with us. Very many things to be grateful for since then, +however. Increased reputation and means--good health and prospects. We +never know the full value of blessings till we lose them (we were not +ignorant of this one when we had it, I hope). But if she were with us +now, the same winning, happy, amiable companion, sympathising with all +my thoughts and feelings more than anyone I knew ever did or will, I +think I should have nothing to wish for, but a continuance of such +happiness. But she is gone, and pray God I may one day, through his +mercy, rejoin her. I wrote to Mrs. Hogarth yesterday, taking advantage +of the opportunity afforded me by her sending, as a New Year's token, a +pen-wiper of poor Mary's, imploring her, as strongly as I could, to +think of the many remaining claims upon her affection and exertions, and +not to give way to unavailing grief. Her answer came to-night, and she +seems hurt at my doing so--protesting that in all useful respects she is +the same as ever. Meant it for the best, and still hope I did right. + + + _Saturday, January 6th, 1838._ + +Our boy's birthday--one year old. A few people at night--only Forster, +the De Gex's, John Ross, Mitton, and the Beards, besides our +families--to twelfth-cake and forfeits. + +This day last year, Mary and I wandered up and down Holborn and the +streets about for hours, looking after a little table for Kate's +bedroom, which we bought at last at the very first broker's which we had +looked into, and which we had passed half-a-dozen times because I +_didn't like_ to ask the price. I took her out to Brompton at night, as +we had no place for her to sleep in (the two mothers being with us); she +came back again next day to keep house for me, and stopped nearly the +rest of the month. I shall never be so happy again as in those chambers +three storeys high--never if I roll in wealth and fame. I would hire +them to keep empty, if I could afford it. + + + _Monday, January 8th, 1838._ + +I began the "Sketches of Young Gentlemen" to-day. One hundred and +twenty-five pounds for such a little book, without my name to it, is +pretty well. This and the "Sunday"[6] by-the-bye, are the only two +things I have not done as Boz. + + + _Tuesday, January 9th, 1838._ + +Went to the Sun office to insure my life, where the Board seemed +disposed to think I work too much. Made Forster and Pickthorn, my +Doctor, the references--and after an interesting interview with the +Board and the Board's Doctor, came away to work again. + + + _Wednesday, January 10th, 1838._ + +At work all day, and to a quadrille party at night. City people and +rather dull. Intensely cold coming home, and vague reports of a fire +somewhere. Frederick says the Royal Exchange, at which I sneer most +sagely; for---- + + + _Thursday, January 11th, 1838._ + +To-day the papers are full of it, and it _was_ the Royal Exchange, +Lloyd's, and all the shops round the building. Called on Browne and went +with him to see the ruins, of which we saw as much as we should have +done if we had stopped at home. + + + _Sunday, January 14th, 1838._ + +To church in the morning, and when I came home I wrote the preceding +portion of this diary, which henceforth I make a steadfast resolution +not to neglect, or _paint_. I have not done it yet, nor will I; but say +what rises to my lips--my mental lips at least--without reserve. No +other eyes will see it, while mine are open in life, and although I +daresay I shall be ashamed of a good deal in it, I should like to look +over it at the year's end. + +In Scott's diary, which I have been looking at this morning, there are +thoughts which have been mine by day and by night, in good spirits and +bad, since Mary died. + +"Another day, and a bright one to the external world again opens on us; +the air soft, and the flowers smiling, and the leaves glittering. They +cannot refresh her to whom mild weather was a natural enjoyment. +Cerements of lead and of wood already hold her; cold earth must have her +soon. But it is not . . . (she) who will be laid among the ruins. . . . +She is sentient and conscious of my emotions _somewhere_--where, we cannot +tell, how, we cannot tell; yet would I not at this moment renounce the +mysterious yet certain hope that I shall see her in a better world, for +all that this world can give me. + + * * * * * + +"I have seen her. There is the same symmetry of form, though those limbs +are rigid which were once so gracefully elastic; but that yellow masque +with pinched features, which seems to mock life rather than emulate it, +can it be the face that was once so full of lively expression? I will +not look upon it again." + +I know but too well how true all this is. + + + _Monday, January 15th, 1838._ + +Here ends this brief attempt at a diary. I grow sad over this checking +off of days, and can't do it. + + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. L. Sammins.] + + 48, DOUGHTY STREET, LONDON, _January 31st, 1839._ + +SIR, + +Circumstances have enabled me to relinquish my old connection with the +"Miscellany"[7] at an earlier period than I had expected. I am no longer +its editor, but I have referred your paper to my successor, and marked +it as one "requiring attention." I have no doubt it will receive it. + +With reference to your letter bearing date on the 8th of last October, +let me assure you that I have delayed answering it--not because a +constant stream of similar epistles has rendered me callous to the +anxieties of a beginner, in those doubtful paths in which I walk +myself--but because you ask me to do that which I would scarce do, of my +own unsupported opinion, for my own child, supposing I had one old +enough to require such a service. To suppose that I could gravely take +upon myself the responsibility of withdrawing you from pursuits you have +already undertaken, or urging you on in a most uncertain and hazardous +course of life, is really a compliment to my judgment and inflexibility +which I cannot recognize and do not deserve (or desire). I hoped that a +little reflection would show you how impossible it is that I could be +expected to enter upon a task of so much delicacy, but as you have +written to me since, and called (unfortunately at a period when I am +obliged to seclude myself from all comers), I am compelled at last to +tell you that I can do nothing of the kind. + +If it be any satisfaction to you to know that I have read what you sent +me, and read it with great pleasure, though, as you treat of local +matters, I am necessarily in the dark here and there, I can give you the +assurance very sincerely. With this, and many thanks to you for your +obliging expressions towards myself, + + I am, Sir, + Your very obedient Servant. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. J. P. Harley.] + + DOUGHTY STREET, _Thursday Morning._[8] + +MY DEAR HARLEY, + +This is my birthday. Many happy returns of the day to you and me. + +I took it into my head yesterday to get up an impromptu dinner on this +auspicious occasion--only my own folks, Leigh Hunt, Ainsworth, and +Forster. I know you can't dine here in consequence of the tempestuous +weather on the Covent Garden shores, but if you will come in when you +have done Trinculizing, you will delight me greatly, and add in no +inconsiderable degree to the "conviviality" of the meeting. + +Lord bless my soul! Twenty-seven years old. Who'd have thought it? I +_never_ did! + +But I grow sentimental. + + Always yours truly. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edward Chapman.] + + 1, DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _27th December, 1839._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +The place where you pledge yourself to pay for my beef and mutton when I +eat it, and my ale and wine when I drink it, is the Treasurer's Office +of the Middle Temple, the new building at the bottom of Middle Temple +Lane on the right-hand side. You walk up into the first-floor and say +(boldly) that you come to sign Mr. Charles Dickens's bond--which is +already signed by Mr. Sergeant Talfourd. I suppose I should formally +acquaint you that I have paid the fees, and that the responsibility you +incur is a very slight one--extending very little beyond my good +behaviour, and honourable intentions to pay for all wine-glasses, +tumblers, or other dinner-furniture that I may break or damage. + +I wish you would do me another service, and that is to choose, at the +place you told me of, a reasonable copy of "The Beauties of England and +Wales." You can choose it quite as well as I can, or better, and I shall +be much obliged to you. I should like you to send it at once, as I am +diving into all kinds of matters at odd minutes with a view to our +forthcoming operations. + + Faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] This fragment of a diary was found amongst some papers which have +recently come to light. The Editors give only those paragraphs which are +likely to be of any public interest. The original manuscript has been +added to "The Forster Collection," at the South Kensington Museum. + +[6] "Sunday, under Three Heads," a small pamphlet published about this +time. + +[7] "Bentley's Miscellany." + +[8] No other date, but it must have been 7th February, 1839. + + + + +1840. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. H. G. Adams.[9]] + + 1, DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, YORK GATE, REGENT'S PARK, + _Saturday, Jan. 18th, 1840._ + +DEAR SIR, + +The pressure of other engagements will, I am compelled to say, prevent +me from contributing a paper to your new local magazine.[10] But I beg +you to set me down as a subscriber to it, and foremost among those whose +best wishes are enlisted in your cause. It will afford me real pleasure +to hear of your success, for I have many happy recollections connected +with Kent, and am scarcely less interested in it than if I had been a +Kentish man bred and born, and had resided in the county all my life. + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Thompson.[11]] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _Tuesday, 15th December, 1840._ + +MY DEAR THOMPSON, + +I have received a most flattering message from the head turnkey of the +jail this morning, intimating that "there warn't a genelman in all +London he'd be gladder to show his babies to, than Muster Dickins, and +let him come wenever he would to that shop he wos welcome." But as the +Governor (who is a very nice fellow and a gentleman) is not at home this +morning, and furthermore as the morning itself has rather gone out of +town in respect of its poetical allurements, I think we had best +postpone our visit for a day or two. + + Faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] Mr. Adams, the Hon. Secretary of the Chatham Mechanics' Institute, +which office he held for many years. + +[10] "The Kentish Coronal." + +[11] An intimate friend. + + + + +1841. + + +[Sidenote: Rev. Thomas Robinson.[12]] + + 1, DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, YORK GATE, REGENT'S PARK, + _Thursday, April 8th, 1841._ + +DEAR SIR, + +I am much obliged to you for your interesting letter. Nor am I the less +pleased to receive it, by reason that I cannot find it in my conscience +to agree in many important respects with the body to which you belong. + +In the love of virtue and hatred of vice, in the detestation of cruelty +and encouragement of gentleness and mercy, all men who endeavour to be +acceptable to their Creator in any way, may freely agree. There are more +roads to Heaven, I am inclined to think, than any sect believes; but +there can be none which have not these flowers garnishing the way. + +I feel it a great tribute, therefore, to receive your letter. It is most +welcome and acceptable to me. I thank you for it heartily, and am proud +of the approval of one who suffered in his youth, even more than my poor +child. + +While you teach in your walk of life the lessons of tenderness you have +learnt in sorrow, trust me that in mine, I will pursue cruelty and +oppression, the enemies of all God's creatures of all codes and creeds, +so long as I have the energy of thought and the power of giving it +utterance. + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The Countess of Blessington.] + + [13]DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _June 2nd, 1841._ + +DEAR LADY BLESSINGTON, + +The year goes round so fast, that when anything occurs to remind me of +its whirling, I lose my breath, and am bewildered. So your handwriting +last night had as startling an effect upon me, as though you had sealed +your note with one of your own eyes. + +I remember my promise, as in cheerful duty bound, and with Heaven's +grace will redeem it. At this moment, I have not the faintest idea how, +but I am going into Scotland on the 19th to see Jeffrey, and while I am +away (I shall return, please God, in about three weeks) will look out +for some accident, incident, or subject for small description, to send +you when I come home. You will take the will for the deed, I know; and, +remembering that I have a "Clock" which always wants winding up, will +not quarrel with me for being brief. + +Have you seen Townshend's magnetic boy? You heard of him, no doubt, from +Count D'Orsay. If you get him to Gore House, don't, I entreat you, have +more than eight people--four is a better number--to see him. He fails in +a crowd, and is _marvellous_ before a few. + +I am told that down in Devonshire there are young ladies innumerable, +who read crabbed manuscripts with the palms of their hands, and +newspapers with their ankles, and so forth; and who are, so to speak, +literary all over. I begin to understand what a blue-stocking means, and +have not the smallest doubt that Lady ---- (for instance) could write +quite as entertaining a book with the sole of her foot as ever she did +with her head. I am a believer in earnest, and I am sure you would be if +you saw this boy, under moderately favourable circumstances, as I hope +you will, before he leaves England. + + Believe me, dear Lady Blessington, + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. L. Gaylord Clark.] + + _September 28th, 1841._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I condole with you from my heart on the loss[14] you have sustained, and +I feel proud of your permitting me to sympathise with your affliction. +It is a great satisfaction to me to have been addressed, under similar +circumstances, by many of your countrymen since the "Curiosity Shop" +came to a close. Some simple and honest hearts in the remote wilds of +America have written me letters on the loss of children--so numbering my +little book, or rather heroine, with their household gods; and so +pouring out their trials and sources of comfort in them, before me as a +friend, that I have been inexpressibly moved, and am whenever I think of +them, I do assure you. You have already all the comfort, that I could +lay before you; all, I hope, that the affectionate spirit of your +brother, now in happiness, can shed into your soul. + +On the 4th of next January, if it please God, I am coming with my wife +on a three or four months' visit to America. The British and North +American packet will bring me, I hope, to Boston, and enable me, in the +third week of the new year, to set my foot upon the soil I have trodden +in my day-dreams many times, and whose sons (and daughters) I yearn to +know and to be among. + +I hope you are surprised, and I hope not unpleasantly. + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Hogarth.] + + [15]DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _Sunday, October 24th, 1841._ + +MY DEAR MRS. HOGARTH, + +For God's sake be comforted, and bear this well, for the love of your +remaining children. + +I had always intended to keep poor Mary's grave for us and our dear +children, and for you. But if it will be any comfort to you to have poor +George buried there, I will cheerfully arrange to place the ground at +your entire disposal. Do not consider me in any way. Consult only your +own heart. Mine seems to tell me that as they both died so young and so +suddenly, they ought both to be buried together. + +Try--do try--to think that they have but preceded you to happiness, and +will meet you with joy in heaven. There _is_ consolation in the +knowledge that you have treasure there, and that while you live on +earth, there are creatures among the angels, who owed their being to +you. + + Always yours with true affection. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Washington Irving.] + +MY DEAR SIR,[16] + +There is no man in the world who could have given me the heartfelt +pleasure you have, by your kind note of the 13th of last month. There is +no living writer, and there are very few among the dead, whose +approbation I should feel so proud to earn. And with everything you have +written upon my shelves, and in my thoughts, and in my heart of hearts, +I may honestly and truly say so. If you could know how earnestly I write +this, you would be glad to read it--as I hope you will be, faintly +guessing at the warmth of the hand I autobiographically hold out to you +over the broad Atlantic. + +I wish I could find in your welcome letter some hint of an intention to +visit England. I can't. I have held it at arm's length, and taken a +bird's-eye view of it, after reading it a great many times, but there is +no greater encouragement in it this way than on a microscopic +inspection. I should love to go with you--as I have gone, God knows how +often--into Little Britain, and Eastcheap, and Green Arbour Court, and +Westminster Abbey. I should like to travel with you, outside the last of +the coaches down to Bracebridge Hall. It would make my heart glad to +compare notes with you about that shabby gentleman in the oilcloth hat +and red nose, who sat in the nine-cornered back-parlour of the Masons' +Arms; and about Robert Preston and the tallow-chandler's widow, whose +sitting-room is second nature to me; and about all those delightful +places and people that I used to walk about and dream of in the daytime, +when a very small and not over-particularly-taken-care-of boy. I have a +good deal to say, too, about that dashing Alonzo de Ojeda, that you +can't help being fonder of than you ought to be; and much to hear +concerning Moorish legend, and poor unhappy Boabdil. Diedrich +Knickerbocker I have worn to death in my pocket, and yet I should show +you his mutilated carcass with a joy past all expression. + +I have been so accustomed to associate you with my pleasantest and +happiest thoughts, and with my leisure hours, that I rush at once into +full confidence with you, and fall, as it were naturally, and by the +very laws of gravity, into your open arms. Questions come thronging to +my pen as to the lips of people who meet after long hoping to do so. I +don't know what to say first or what to leave unsaid, and am constantly +disposed to break off and tell you again how glad I am this moment has +arrived. + +My dear Washington Irving, I cannot thank you enough for your cordial +and generous praise, or tell you what deep and lasting gratification it +has given me. I hope to have many letters from you, and to exchange a +frequent correspondence. I send this to say so. After the first two or +three I shall settle down into a connected style, and become gradually +rational. + +You know what the feeling is, after having written a letter, sealed it, +and sent it off. I shall picture your reading this, and answering it +before it has lain one night in the post-office. Ten to one that before +the fastest packet could reach New York I shall be writing again. + +Do you suppose the post-office clerks care to receive letters? I have my +doubts. They get into a dreadful habit of indifference. A postman, I +imagine, is quite callous. Conceive his delivering one to himself, +without being startled by a preliminary double knock! + + Always your faithful Friend. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[12] A Dissenting minister, once himself a workhouse boy, and writing on +the character of Oliver Twist. This letter was published in "Harper's +New Monthly Magazine," in 1862. + +[13] This, and all other Letters addressed to the Countess of +Blessington, were printed in "Literary Life and Correspondence of the +Countess of Blessington." + +[14] The death of his correspondent's twin-brother, Willis Gaylord +Clark. + +[15] On the occasion of the sudden death of Mrs. Hogarth's son, George. + +[16] This, and all other Letters addressed to Mr. Washington Irving, +were printed in "The Life and Letters of Washington Irving," edited by +his nephew, Pierre M. Irving. + + + + +1842. + + +[Sidenote: Professor Felton.] + + FULLER'S HOTEL, WASHINGTON, _Monday, March 14th, 1842._ + +MY DEAR FELTON,[17] + +I was more delighted than I can possibly tell you, to receive (last +Saturday night) your welcome letter. We and the oysters missed you +terribly in New York. You carried away with you more than half the +delight and pleasure of my New World; and I heartily wish you could +bring it back again. + +There are very interesting men in this place--highly interesting, of +course--but it's not a comfortable place; is it? If spittle could wait +at table we should be nobly attended, but as that property has not been +imparted to it in the present state of mechanical science, we are rather +lonely and orphan-like, in respect of "being looked arter." A blithe +black was introduced on our arrival, as our peculiar and especial +attendant. He is the only gentleman in the town who has a peculiar +delicacy in intruding upon my valuable time. It usually takes seven +rings and a threatening message from ---- to produce him; and when he +comes he goes to fetch something, and, forgetting it by the way, comes +back no more. + +We have been in great distress, really in distress, at the non-arrival +of the _Caledonia_. You may conceive what our joy was, when, while we +were dining out yesterday, H. arrived with the joyful intelligence of +her safety. The very news of her having really arrived seemed to +diminish the distance between ourselves and home, by one half at least. + +And this morning (though we have not yet received our heap of +despatches, for which we are looking eagerly forward to this night's +mail)--this morning there reached us unexpectedly, through the +Government bag (Heaven knows how they came there!), two of our many and +long-looked-for letters, wherein was a circumstantial account of the +whole conduct and behaviour of our pets; with marvellous narrations of +Charley's precocity at a Twelfth Night juvenile party at Macready's; and +tremendous predictions of the governess, dimly suggesting his having got +out of pot-hooks and hangers, and darkly insinuating the possibility of +his writing us a letter before long; and many other workings of the same +prophetic spirit, in reference to him and his sisters, very gladdening +to their mother's heart, and not at all depressing to their father's. +There was, also, the doctor's report, which was a clean bill; and the +nurse's report, which was perfectly electrifying; showing as it did how +Master Walter had been weaned, and had cut a double tooth, and done many +other extraordinary things, quite worthy of his high descent. In short, +we were made very happy and grateful; and felt as if the prodigal father +and mother had got home again. + +What do you think of this incendiary card being left at my door last +night? "General G. sends compliments to Mr. Dickens, and called with two +literary ladies. As the two L. L.'s are ambitious of the honour of a +personal introduction to Mr. D., General G. requests the honour of an +appointment for to-morrow." I draw a veil over my sufferings. They are +sacred. We shall be in Buffalo, please Heaven, on the 30th of April. If +I don't find a letter from you in the care of the postmaster at that +place, I'll never write to you from England. + +But if I _do_ find one, my right hand shall forget its cunning, before I +forget to be your truthful and constant correspondent; not, dear Felton, +because I promised it, nor because I have a natural tendency to +correspond (which is far from being the case), nor because I am truly +grateful to you for, and have been made truly proud by, that +affectionate and elegant tribute which ---- sent me, but because you are +a man after my own heart, and I love you _well_. And for the love I bear +you, and the pleasure with which I shall always think of you, and the +glow I shall feel when I see your handwriting in my own home, I hereby +enter into a solemn league and covenant to write as many letters to you +as you write to me, at least. Amen. + +Come to England! Come to England! Our oysters are small, I know; they +are said by Americans to be coppery; but our hearts are of the largest +size. We are thought to excel in shrimps, to be far from despicable in +point of lobsters, and in periwinkles are considered to challenge the +universe. Our oysters, small though they be, are not devoid of the +refreshing influence which that species of fish is supposed to exercise +in these latitudes. Try them and compare. + + Affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Washington Irving.] + + WASHINGTON, _Monday Afternoon, March 21st, 1842._ + +MY DEAR IRVING, + +We passed through--literally passed through--this place again to-day. I +did not come to see you, for I really have not the heart to say +"good-bye" again, and felt more than I can tell you when we shook hands +last Wednesday. + +You will not be at Baltimore, I fear? I thought, at the time, that you +only said you might be there, to make our parting the gayer. + +Wherever you go, God bless you! What pleasure I have had in seeing and +talking with you, I will not attempt to say. I shall never forget it as +long as I live. What would I give, if we could have but a quiet week +together! Spain is a lazy place, and its climate an indolent one. But if +you have ever leisure under its sunny skies to think of a man who loves +you, and holds communion with your spirit oftener, perhaps, than any +other person alive--leisure from listlessness, I mean--and will write to +me in London, you will give me an inexpressible amount of pleasure. + + Your affectionate friend. + + +[Sidenote: Professor Felton.] + + MONTREAL, _Saturday, 21st May, 1842._ + +MY DEAR FELTON, + +I was delighted to receive your letter yesterday, and was well pleased +with its contents. I anticipated objection to Carlyle's[18] letter. I +called particular attention to it for three reasons. Firstly, because he +boldly _said_ what all the others _think_, and therefore deserved to be +manfully supported. Secondly, because it is my deliberate opinion that I +have been assailed on this subject in a manner in which no man with any +pretensions to public respect or with the remotest right to express an +opinion on a subject of universal literary interest would be assailed in +any other country. . . . + +I really cannot sufficiently thank you, dear Felton, for your warm and +hearty interest in these proceedings. But it would be idle to pursue +that theme, so let it pass. + +The wig and whiskers are in a state of the highest preservation. The +play comes off next Wednesday night, the 25th. What would I give to see +you in the front row of the centre box, your spectacles gleaming not +unlike those of my dear friend Pickwick, your face radiant with as broad +a grin as a staid professor may indulge in, and your very coat, +waistcoat, and shoulders expressive of what we should take together when +the performance was over! I would give something (not so much, but still +a good round sum) if you could only stumble into that very dark and +dusty theatre in the daytime (at any minute between twelve and three), +and see me with my coat off, the stage manager and universal director, +urging impracticable ladies and impossible gentlemen on to the very +confines of insanity, shouting and driving about, in my own person, to +an extent which would justify any philanthropic stranger in clapping me +into a strait-waistcoat without further inquiry, endeavouring to goad H. +into some dim and faint understanding of a prompter's duties, and +struggling in such a vortex of noise, dirt, bustle, confusion, and +inextricable entanglement of speech and action as you would grow giddy +in contemplating. We perform "A Roland for an Oliver," "A Good Night's +Rest," and "Deaf as a Post." This kind of voluntary hard labour used to +be my great delight. The _furor_ has come strong upon me again, and I +begin to be once more of opinion that nature intended me for the lessee +of a national theatre, and that pen, ink, and paper have spoiled a +manager. + +Oh, how I look forward across that rolling water to home and its small +tenantry! How I busy myself in thinking how my books look, and where +the tables are, and in what positions the chairs stand relatively to the +other furniture; and whether we shall get there in the night, or in the +morning, or in the afternoon; and whether we shall be able to surprise +them, or whether they will be too sharply looking out for us; and what +our pets will say; and how they'll look, and who will be the first to +come and shake hands, and so forth! If I could but tell you how I have +set my heart on rushing into Forster's study (he is my great friend, and +writes at the bottom of all his letters: "My love to Felton"), and into +Maclise's painting-room, and into Macready's managerial ditto, without a +moment's warning, and how I picture every little trait and circumstance +of our arrival to myself, down to the very colour of the bow on the +cook's cap, you would almost think I had changed places with my eldest +son, and was still in pantaloons of the thinnest texture. I left all +these things--God only knows what a love I have for them--as coolly and +calmly as any animated cucumber; but when I come upon them again I shall +have lost all power of self-restraint, and shall as certainly make a +fool of myself (in the popular meaning of that expression) as ever +Grimaldi did in his way, or George the Third in his. + +And not the less so, dear Felton, for having found some warm hearts, and +left some instalments of earnest and sincere affection, behind me on +this continent. And whenever I turn my mental telescope hitherward, +trust me that one of the first figures it will descry will wear +spectacles so like yours that the maker couldn't tell the difference, +and shall address a Greek class in such an exact imitation of your +voice, that the very students hearing it should cry, "That's he! Three +cheers. Hoo-ray-ay-ay-ay-ay!" + +About those joints of yours, I think you are mistaken. They _can't_ be +stiff. At the worst they merely want the air of New York, which, being +impregnated with the flavour of last year's oysters, has a surprising +effect in rendering the human frame supple and flexible in all cases of +rust. + +A terrible idea occurred to me as I wrote those words. The +oyster-cellars--what do they do when oysters are not in season? Is +pickled salmon vended there? Do they sell crabs, shrimps, winkles, +herrings? The oyster-openers--what do _they_ do? Do they commit suicide +in despair, or wrench open tight drawers and cupboards and +hermetically-sealed bottles for practice? Perhaps they are dentists out +of the oyster season. Who knows? + + Affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + 1, DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, YORK GATE, REGENT'S PARK, + LONDON, _Sunday, July 31st, 1842._ + +MY DEAR FELTON, + +Of all the monstrous and incalculable amount of occupation that ever +beset one unfortunate man, mine has been the most stupendous since I +came home. The dinners I have had to eat, the places I have had to go +to, the letters I have had to answer, the sea of business and of +pleasure in which I have been plunged, not even the genius of an ---- or +the pen of a ---- could describe. + +Wherefore I indite a monstrously short and wildly uninteresting epistle +to the American Dando; but perhaps you don't know who Dando was. He was +an oyster-eater, my dear Felton. He used to go into oyster-shops, +without a farthing of money, and stand at the counter eating natives, +until the man who opened them grew pale, cast down his knife, staggered +backward, struck his white forehead with his open hand, and cried, "You +are Dando!!!" He has been known to eat twenty dozen at one sitting, and +would have eaten forty, if the truth had not flashed upon the +shopkeeper. For these offences he was constantly committed to the House +of Correction. During his last imprisonment he was taken ill, got worse +and worse, and at last began knocking violent double knocks at Death's +door. The doctor stood beside his bed, with his fingers on his pulse. +"He is going," says the doctor. "I see it in his eye. There is only one +thing that would keep life in him for another hour, and that +is--oysters." They were immediately brought. Dando swallowed eight, and +feebly took a ninth. He held it in his mouth and looked round the bed +strangely. "Not a bad one, is it?" says the doctor. The patient shook +his head, rubbed his trembling hand upon his stomach, bolted the oyster, +and fell back--dead. They buried him in the prison-yard, and paved his +grave with oyster-shells. + +We are all well and hearty, and have already begun to wonder what time +next year you and Mrs. Felton and Dr. Howe will come across the briny +sea together. To-morrow we go to the seaside for two months. I am +looking out for news of Longfellow, and shall be delighted when I know +that he is on his way to London and this house. + +I am bent upon striking at the piratical newspapers with the sharpest +edge I can put upon my small axe, and hope in the next session of +Parliament to stop their entrance into Canada. For the first time within +the memory of man, the professors of English literature seem disposed to +act together on this question. It is a good thing to aggravate a +scoundrel, if one can do nothing else, and I think we _can_ make them +smart a little in this way. . . . + +I wish you had been at Greenwich the other day, where a party of friends +gave me a private dinner; public ones I have refused. C---- was +perfectly wild at the reunion, and, after singing all manner of marine +songs, wound up the entertainment by coming home (six miles) in a +little open phaeton of mine, _on his head_, to the mingled delight and +indignation of the metropolitan police. We were very jovial indeed; and +I assure you that I drank your health with fearful vigour and energy. + +On board that ship coming home I established a club, called the United +Vagabonds, to the large amusement of the rest of the passengers. This +holy brotherhood committed all kinds of absurdities, and dined always, +with a variety of solemn forms, at one end of the table, below the mast, +away from all the rest. The captain being ill when we were three or four +days out, I produced my medicine-chest and recovered him. We had a few +more sick men after that, and I went round "the wards" every day in +great state, accompanied by two Vagabonds, habited as Ben Allen and Bob +Sawyer, bearing enormous rolls of plaster and huge pairs of scissors. We +were really very merry all the way, breakfasted in one party at +Liverpool, shook hands, and parted most cordially. . . . + + Affectionately your faithful friend. + +P.S.--I have looked over my journal, and have decided to produce my +American trip in two volumes. I have written about half the first since +I came home, and hope to be out in October. This is "exclusive news," to +be communicated to any friends to whom you may like to intrust it, my +dear F----. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + 1, DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, YORK GATE, REGENT'S PARK, + LONDON, _September 1st, 1842._ + +MY DEAR FELTON, + +Of course that letter in the papers was as foul a forgery as ever felon +swung for. . . . I have not contradicted it publicly, nor shall I. When +I tilt at such wringings out of the dirtiest mortality, I shall be another +man--indeed, almost the creature they would make me. + +I gave your message to Forster, who sends a despatch-box full of kind +remembrances in return. He is in a great state of delight with the first +volume of my American book (which I have just finished), and swears +loudly by it. It is _True_ and Honourable I know, and I shall hope to +send it you, complete, by the first steamer in November. + +Your description of the porter and the carpet-bags prepares me for a +first-rate facetious novel, brimful of the richest humour, on which I +have no doubt you are engaged. What is it called? Sometimes I imagine +the title-page thus: + + OYSTERS + + IN + + EVERY STYLE + + OR + + OPENINGS + + OF + + LIFE + + BY + + YOUNG DANDO. + +As to the man putting the luggage on his head, as a sort of sign, I +adopt it from this hour. + +I date this from London, where I have come, as a good profligate, +graceless bachelor, for a day or two; leaving my wife and babbies at the +seaside. . . . Heavens! if you were but here at this minute! A piece of +salmon and a steak are cooking in the kitchen; it's a very wet day, and +I have had a fire lighted; the wine sparkles on a side table; the room +looks the more snug from being the only _un_dismantled one in the house; +plates are warming for Forster and Maclise, whose knock I am momentarily +expecting; that groom I told you of, who never comes into the house, +except when we are all out of town, is walking about in his +shirt-sleeves without the smallest consciousness of impropriety; a great +mound of proofs are waiting to be read aloud, after dinner. With what a +shout I would clap you down into the easiest chair, my genial Felton, if +you could but appear, and order you a pair of slippers instantly! + +Since I have written this, the aforesaid groom--a very small man (as the +fashion is), with fiery red hair (as the fashion is _not_)--has looked +very hard at me and fluttered about me at the same time, like a giant +butterfly. After a pause, he says, in a Sam Wellerish kind of way: "I +vent to the club this mornin', sir. There vorn't no letters, sir." "Very +good, Topping." "How's missis, sir?" "Pretty well, Topping." "Glad to +hear it, sir. _My_ missis ain't wery well, sir." "No!" "No, sir, she's +a goin', sir, to have a hincrease wery soon, and it makes her rather +nervous, sir; and ven a young voman gets at all down at sich a time, +sir, she goes down wery deep, sir." To this sentiment I replied +affirmatively, and then he adds, as he stirs the fire (as if he were +thinking out loud): "Wot a mystery it is! Wot a go is natur'!" With +which scrap of philosophy, he gradually gets nearer to the door, and so +fades out of the room. + +This same man asked me one day, soon after I came home, what Sir John +Wilson was. This is a friend of mine, who took our house and servants, +and everything as it stood, during our absence in America. I told him an +officer. "A wot, sir?" "An officer." And then, for fear he should think +I meant a police-officer, I added, "An officer in the army." "I beg your +pardon, sir," he said, touching his hat, "but the club as I always drove +him to wos the United Servants." + +The real name of this club is the United Service, but I have no doubt he +thought it was a high-life-below-stairs kind of resort, and that this +gentleman was a retired butler or superannuated footman. + +There's the knock, and the Great Western sails, or steams rather, +to-morrow. Write soon again, dear Felton, and ever believe me. . . . + + Your affectionate friend. + +P.S.--All good angels prosper Dr. Howe! He, at least, will not like me +the less, I hope, for what I shall say of Laura. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + 1, DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, YORK GATE, REGENT'S PARK, + LONDON, _31st December, 1842._ + +MY DEAR FELTON, + +Many and many happy New Years to you and yours! As many happy children +as may be quite convenient (no more!), and as many happy meetings +between them and our children, and between you and us, as the kind fates +in their utmost kindness shall favourably decree! + +The American book (to begin with that) has been a most complete and +thorough-going success. Four large editions have now been sold _and paid +for_, and it has won golden opinions from all sorts of men, except our +friend in F----, who is a miserable creature; a disappointed man in +great poverty, to whom I have ever been most kind and considerate (I +need scarcely say that); and another friend in B----, no less a person +than an illustrious gentleman named ----, who wrote a story called ----. +They have done no harm, and have fallen short of their mark, which, of +course, was to annoy me. Now I am perfectly free from any diseased +curiosity in such respects, and whenever I hear of a notice of this +kind, I never read it; whereby I always conceive (don't you?) that I get +the victory. With regard to your slave-owners, they may cry, till they +are as black in the face as their own slaves, that Dickens lies. Dickens +does not write for their satisfaction, and Dickens will not explain for +their comfort. Dickens has the name and date of every newspaper in +which every one of those advertisements appeared, as they know perfectly +well; but Dickens does not choose to give them, and will not at any time +between this and the day of judgment. . . . + +I have been hard at work on my new book, of which the first number has +just appeared. The Paul Joneses who pursue happiness and profit at other +men's cost will no doubt enable you to read it, almost as soon as you +receive this. I hope you will like it. And I particularly commend, my +dear Felton, one Mr. Pecksniff and his daughters to your tender regards. +I have a kind of liking for them myself. + +Blessed star of morning, such a trip as we had into Cornwall, just after +Longfellow went away! The "we" means Forster, Maclise, Stanfield (the +renowned marine painter), and the Inimitable Boz. We went down into +Devonshire by the railroad, and there we hired an open carriage from an +innkeeper, patriotic in all Pickwick matters, and went on with +post-horses. Sometimes we travelled all night, sometimes all day, +sometimes both. I kept the joint-stock purse, ordered all the dinners, +paid all the turnpikes, conducted facetious conversations with the +post-boys, and regulated the pace at which we travelled. Stanfield (an +old sailor) consulted an enormous map on all disputed points of +wayfaring; and referred, moreover, to a pocket-compass and other +scientific instruments. The luggage was in Forster's department; and +Maclise, having nothing particular to do, sang songs. Heavens! If you +could have seen the necks of bottles--distracting in their immense +varieties of shape--peering out of the carriage pockets! If you could +have witnessed the deep devotion of the post-boys, the wild attachment +of the hostlers, the maniac glee of the waiters! If you could have +followed us into the earthy old churches we visited, and into the +strange caverns on the gloomy sea-shore, and down into the depths of +mines, and up to the tops of giddy heights where the unspeakably green +water was roaring, I don't know how many hundred feet below! If you +could have seen but one gleam of the bright fires by which we sat in the +big rooms of ancient inns at night, until long after the small hours had +come and gone, or smelt but one steam of the hot punch (not white, dear +Felton, like that amazing compound I sent you a taste of, but a rich, +genial, glowing brown) which came in every evening in a huge broad china +bowl! I never laughed in my life as I did on this journey. It would have +done you good to hear me. I was choking and gasping and bursting the +buckle off the back of my stock, all the way. And Stanfield (who is very +much of your figure and temperament, but fifteen years older) got into +such apoplectic entanglements that we were often obliged to beat him on +the back with portmanteaus before we could recover him. Seriously, I do +believe there never was such a trip. And they made such sketches, those +two men, in the most romantic of our halting-places, that you would +have sworn we had the Spirit of Beauty with us, as well as the Spirit of +Fun. But stop till you come to England--I say no more. + +The actuary of the national debt couldn't calculate the number of +children who are coming here on Twelfth Night, in honour of Charley's +birthday, for which occasion I have provided a magic lantern and divers +other tremendous engines of that nature. But the best of it is that +Forster and I have purchased between us the entire stock-in-trade of a +conjurer, the practice and display whereof is intrusted to me. And O my +dear eyes, Felton, if you could see me conjuring the company's watches +into impossible tea-caddies, and causing pieces of money to fly, and +burning pocket-handkerchiefs without hurting 'em, and practising in my +own room, without anybody to admire, you would never forget it as long +as you live. In those tricks which require a confederate, I am assisted +(by reason of his imperturbable good humour) by Stanfield, who always +does his part exactly the wrong way, to the unspeakable delight of all +beholders. We come out on a small scale, to-night, at Forster's, where +we see the old year out and the new one in. Particulars shall be +forwarded in my next. + +I have quite made up my mind that F---- really believes he _does_ know +you personally, and has all his life. He talks to me about you with such +gravity that I am afraid to grin, and feel it necessary to look quite +serious. Sometimes he _tells_ me things about you, doesn't ask me, you +know, so that I am occasionally perplexed beyond all telling, and begin +to think it was he, and not I, who went to America. It's the queerest +thing in the world. + +The book I was to have given Longfellow for you is not worth sending by +itself, being only a Barnaby. But I will look up some manuscript for you +(I think I have that of the American Notes complete), and will try to +make the parcel better worth its long conveyance. With regard to +Maclise's pictures, you certainly are quite right in your impression of +them; but he is "such a discursive devil" (as he says about himself) and +flies off at such odd tangents, that I feel it difficult to convey to +you any general notion of his purpose. I will try to do so when I write +again. I want very much to know about ---- and that charming girl. . . . +Give me full particulars. Will you remember me cordially to Sumner, and +say I thank him for his welcome letter? The like to Hillard, with many +regards to himself and his wife, with whom I had one night a little +conversation which I shall not readily forget. The like to Washington +Allston, and all friends who care for me and have outlived my book. . . . +Always, my dear Felton, + + With true regard and affection, yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Tom Hood.] + +MY DEAR HOOD, + +I can't state in figures (not very well remembering how to get beyond a +million) the number of candidates for the Sanatorium matronship, but if +you will ask your little boy to trace figures in the beds of your +garden, beginning at the front wall, going down to the cricket-ground, +coming back to the wall again, and "carrying over" to the next door, and +will then set a skilful accountant to add up the whole, the product, as +the Tutor's Assistants say, will give you the amount required. I have +pledged myself (being assured of her capability) to support a near +relation of Miss E----'s; otherwise, I need not say how glad I should +have been to forward any wish of yours. + + Very faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[17] This, and all other Letters addressed to Professor Felton, were +printed in Mr. Field's "Yesterdays with Authors," originally published +in _The Atlantic Monthly Magazine_. + +[18] On the subject of International Copyright. + + + + +1843. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Macvey Napier.] + + [19]DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, LONDON, _January 21st, 1843._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +Let me hasten to say, in the fullest and most explicit manner, that you +have acted a most honourable, open, fair and manly part in the matter of +my complaint,[20] for which I beg you to accept my best thanks, and the +assurance of my friendship and regard. I would on no account publish the +letter you have sent me for that purpose, as I conceive that by doing +so, I should not reciprocate the spirit in which you have written to me +privately. But if you should, upon consideration, think it not +inexpedient to set the _Review_ right in regard to this point of fact, +by a note in the next number, I should be glad to see it there. + +In reference to the article itself, it did, by repeating this statement, +hurt my feelings excessively; and is, in this respect, I still conceive, +most unworthy of its author. I am at a loss to divine who its author is. +I _know_ he read in some cut-throat American paper, this and other +monstrous statements, which I could at any time have converted into +sickening praise by the payment of some fifty dollars. I know that he is +perfectly aware that his statement in the _Review_ in corroboration of +these lies, would be disseminated through the whole of the United +States; and that my contradiction will never be heard of. And though I +care very little for the opinion of any person who will set the +statement of an American editor (almost invariably an atrocious +scoundrel) against my character and conduct, such as they may be; still, +my sense of justice does revolt from this most cavalier and careless +exhibition of me to a whole people, as a traveller under false +pretences, and a disappointed intriguer. The better the acquaintance +with America, the more defenceless and more inexcusable such conduct is. +For, I solemnly declare (and appeal to any man but the writer of this +paper, who has travelled in that country, for confirmation of my +statement) that the source from which he drew the "information" so +recklessly put forth again in England, is infinitely more obscene, +disgusting, and brutal than the very worst Sunday newspaper that has +ever been printed in Great Britain. Conceive _The Edinburgh Review_ +quoting _The Satirist_, or _The Man about Town_, as an authority against +a man with one grain of honour, or feather-weight of reputation. + +With regard to yourself, let me say again that I thank you with all +sincerity and heartiness, and fully acquit you of anything but kind and +generous intentions towards me. In proof of which, I do assure you that +I am even more desirous than before to write for the _Review_, and to +find some topic which would at once please me and you. + + Always faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Professor Felton.] + + 1, DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, YORK GATE, REGENT'S PARK, + LONDON, _March 2nd, 1843._ + +MY DEAR FELTON, + +I don't know where to begin, but plunge headlong with a terrible splash +into this letter, on the chance of turning up somewhere. + +Hurrah! Up like a cork again, with _The North American Review_ in my +hand. Like you, my dear ----, and I can say no more in praise of it, +though I go on to the end of the sheet. You cannot think how much notice +it has attracted here. Brougham called the other day, with the number +(thinking I might not have seen it), and I being out at the time, he +left a note, speaking of it, and of the writer, in terms that warmed my +heart. Lord Ashburton (one of whose people wrote a notice in the +_Edinburgh_ which they have since publicly contradicted) also wrote to +me about it in just the same strain. And many others have done the like. + +I am in great health and spirits and powdering away at Chuzzlewit, with +all manner of facetiousness rising up before me as I go on. As to news, +I have really none, saving that ---- (who never took any exercise in his +life) has been laid up with rheumatism for weeks past, but is now, I +hope, getting better. My little captain, as I call him--he who took me +out, I mean, and with whom I had that adventure of the cork soles--has +been in London too, and seeing all the lions under my escort. Good +heavens! I wish you could have seen certain other mahogany-faced men +(also captains) who used to call here for him in the morning, and bear +him off to docks and rivers and all sorts of queer places, whence he +always returned late at night, with rum-and-water tear-drops in his +eyes, and a complication of punchy smells in his mouth! He was better +than a comedy to us, having marvellous ways of tying his +pocket-handkerchief round his neck at dinner-time in a kind of jolly +embarrassment, and then forgetting what he had done with it; also of +singing songs to wrong tunes, and calling land objects by sea names, and +never knowing what o'clock it was, but taking midnight for seven in the +evening; with many other sailor oddities, all full of honesty, +manliness, and good temper. We took him to Drury Lane Theatre to see +"Much Ado About Nothing." But I never could find out what he meant by +turning round, after he had watched the first two scenes with great +attention, and inquiring "whether it was a Polish piece." . . . + +On the 4th of April I am going to preside at a public dinner for the +benefit of the printers; and if you were a guest at that table, wouldn't +I smite you on the shoulder, harder than ever I rapped the well-beloved +back of Washington Irving at the City Hotel in New York! + +You were asking me--I love to say asking, as if we could talk +together--about Maclise. He is such a discursive fellow, and so +eccentric in his might, that on a mental review of his pictures I can +hardly tell you of them as leading to any one strong purpose. But the +annual Exhibition of the Royal Academy comes off in May, and then I will +endeavour to give you some notion of him. He is a tremendous creature, +and might do anything. But, like all tremendous creatures, he takes his +own way, and flies off at unexpected breaches in the conventional wall. + +You know H----'s Book, I daresay. Ah! I saw a scene of mingled +comicality and seriousness at his funeral some weeks ago, which has +choked me at dinner-time ever since. C---- and I went as mourners; and +as he lived, poor fellow, five miles out of town, I drove C---- down. It +was such a day as I hope, for the credit of nature, is seldom seen in +any parts but these--muddy, foggy, wet, dark, cold, and unutterably +wretched in every possible respect. Now, C---- has enormous whiskers, +which straggle all down his throat in such weather, and stick out in +front of him, like a partially unravelled bird's-nest; so that he looks +queer enough at the best, but when he is very wet, and in a state +between jollity (he is always very jolly with me) and the deepest +gravity (going to a funeral, you know), it is utterly impossible to +resist him; especially as he makes the strangest remarks the mind of man +can conceive, without any intention of being funny, but rather meaning +to be philosophical. I really cried with an irresistible sense of his +comicality all the way; but when he was dressed out in a black cloak +and a very long black hat-band by an undertaker (who, as he whispered me +with tears in his eyes--for he had known H---- many years--was a +"character, and he would like to sketch him"), I thought I should have +been obliged to go away. However, we went into a little parlour where +the funeral party was, and God knows it was miserable enough, for the +widow and children were crying bitterly in one corner, and the other +mourners--mere people of ceremony, who cared no more for the dead man +than the hearse did--were talking quite coolly and carelessly together +in another; and the contrast was as painful and distressing as anything +I ever saw. There was an Independent clergyman present, with his bands +on and a bible under his arm, who, as soon as we were seated, addressed +---- thus, in a loud emphatic voice: "Mr. C----, have you seen a +paragraph respecting our departed friend, which has gone the round of +the morning papers?" "Yes, sir," says C----, "I have," looking very hard +at me the while, for he had told me with some pride coming down that it +was his composition. "Oh!" said the clergyman. "Then you will agree with +me, Mr. C----, that it is not only an insult to me, who am the servant +of the Almighty, but an insult to the Almighty, whose servant I am." +"How is that, sir?" said C----. "It is stated, Mr. C----, in that +paragraph," says the minister, "that when Mr. H---- failed in business +as a bookseller, he was persuaded by _me_ to try the pulpit; which is +false, incorrect, unchristian, in a manner blasphemous, and in all +respects contemptible. Let us pray." With which, my dear Felton, and in +the same breath, I give you my word, he knelt down, as we all did, and +began a very miserable jumble of an extemporary prayer. I was really +penetrated with sorrow for the family, but when C---- (upon his knees, +and sobbing for the loss of an old friend) whispered me, "that if that +wasn't a clergyman, and it wasn't a funeral, he'd have punched his +head," I felt as if nothing but convulsions could possibly relieve +me. . . . + + Faithfully always, my dear Felton. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Hogarth.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _8th May, 1843._ + +MY DEAR MRS. HOGARTH, + +I was dressing to go to church yesterday morning--thinking, very sadly, +of that time six years--when your kind note and its accompanying packet +were brought to me. The best portrait that was ever painted would be of +little value to you and me, in comparison with that unfading picture we +have within us; and of the worst (which ----'s really is) I can only +say, that it has no interest in my eyes, beyond being something which +she sat near in its progress, full of life and beauty. In that light, I +set some store by the copy you have sent me; and as a mark of your +affection, I need not say I value it very much. As any record of that +dear face, it is utterly worthless. + +I trace in many respects a strong resemblance between her mental +features and Georgina's--so strange a one, at times, that when she and +Kate and I are sitting together, I seem to think that what has happened +is a melancholy dream from which I am just awakening. The perfect like +of what she was, will never be again, but so much of her spirit shines +out in this sister, that the old time comes back again at some seasons, +and I can hardly separate it from the present. + +After she died, I dreamed of her every night for many months--I think +for the better part of a year--sometimes as a spirit, sometimes as a +living creature, never with any of the bitterness of my real sorrow, but +always with a kind of quiet happiness, which became so pleasant to me +that I never lay down at night without a hope of the vision coming back +in one shape or other. And so it did. I went down into Yorkshire, and +finding it still present to me, in a strange scene and a strange bed, I +could not help mentioning the circumstance in a note I wrote home to +Kate. From that moment I have never dreamed of her once, though she is +so much in my thoughts at all times (especially when I am successful, +and have prospered in anything) that the recollection of her is an +essential part of my being, and is as inseparable from my existence as +the beating of my heart is. + + Always affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Professor Felton.] + + BROADSTAIRS, KENT, _September 1st, 1843._ + +MY DEAR FELTON, + +If I thought it in the nature of things that you and I could ever agree +on paper, touching a certain Chuzzlewitian question whereupon F---- +tells me you have remarks to make, I should immediately walk into the +same, tooth and nail. But as I don't, I won't. Contenting myself with +this prediction, that one of these years and days, you will write or say +to me: "My dear Dickens, you were right, though rough, and did a world +of good, though you got most thoroughly hated for it." To which I shall +reply: "My dear Felton, I looked a long way off and not immediately +under my nose." . . . At which sentiment you will laugh, and I shall +laugh; and then (for I foresee this will all happen in my land) we shall +call for another pot of porter and two or three dozen of oysters. + +Now, don't you in your own heart and soul quarrel with me for this long +silence? Not half so much as I quarrel with myself, I know; but if you +could read half the letters I write to you in imagination, you would +swear by me for the best of correspondents. The truth is, that when I +have done my morning's work, down goes my pen, and from that minute I +feel it a positive impossibility to take it up again, until imaginary +butchers and bakers wave me to my desk. I walk about brimful of letters, +facetious descriptions, touching morsels, and pathetic friendships, but +can't for the soul of me uncork myself. The post-office is my rock +ahead. My average number of letters that _must_ be written every day is, +at the least, a dozen. And you could no more know what I was writing to +you spiritually, from the perusal of the bodily thirteenth, than you +could tell from my hat what was going on in my head, or could read my +heart on the surface of my flannel waistcoat. + +This is a little fishing-place; intensely quiet; built on a cliff, +whereon--in the centre of a tiny semicircular bay--our house stands; the +sea rolling and dashing under the windows. Seven miles out are the +Goodwin Sands (you've heard of the Goodwin Sands?) whence floating +lights perpetually wink after dark, as if they were carrying on +intrigues with the servants. Also there is a big lighthouse called the +North Foreland on a hill behind the village, a severe parsonic light, +which reproves the young and giddy floaters, and stares grimly out upon +the sea. Under the cliff are rare good sands, where all the children +assemble every morning and throw up impossible fortifications, which the +sea throws down again at high water. Old gentlemen and ancient ladies +flirt after their own manner in two reading-rooms and on a great many +scattered seats in the open air. Other old gentlemen look all day +through telescopes and never see anything. In a bay-window in a one-pair +sits, from nine o'clock to one, a gentleman with rather long hair and no +neckcloth, who writes and grins as if he thought he were very funny +indeed. His name is Boz. At one he disappears, and presently emerges +from a bathing-machine, and may be seen--a kind of salmon-coloured +porpoise--splashing about in the ocean. After that he may be seen in +another bay-window on the ground-floor, eating a strong lunch; after +that, walking a dozen miles or so, or lying on his back in the sand +reading a book. Nobody bothers him unless they know he is disposed to be +talked to; and I am told he is very comfortable indeed. He's as brown as +a berry, and they _do_ say is a small fortune to the innkeeper who sells +beer and cold punch. But this is mere rumour. Sometimes he goes up to +London (eighty miles, or so, away), and then I'm told there is a sound +in Lincoln's Inn Fields at night, as of men laughing, together with a +clinking of knives and forks and wine-glasses. + +I never shall have been so near you since we parted aboard the _George +Washington_ as next Tuesday. Forster, Maclise, and I, and perhaps +Stanfield, are then going aboard the Cunard steamer at Liverpool, to bid +Macready good-bye, and bring his wife away. It will be a very hard +parting. You will see and know him of course. We gave him a splendid +dinner last Saturday at Richmond, whereat I presided with my accustomed +grace. He is one of the noblest fellows in the world, and I would give a +great deal that you and I should sit beside each other to see him play +Virginius, Lear, or Werner, which I take to be, every way, the greatest +piece of exquisite perfection that his lofty art is capable of +attaining. His Macbeth, especially the last act, is a tremendous +reality; but so indeed is almost everything he does. You recollect, +perhaps, that he was the guardian of our children while we were away. I +love him dearly. . . . + +You asked me, long ago, about Maclise. He is such a wayward fellow in +his subjects, that it would be next to impossible to write such an +article as you were thinking of about him. I wish you could form an idea +of his genius. One of these days a book will come out, "Moore's Irish +Melodies," entirely illustrated by him, on every page. _When_ it comes, +I'll send it to you. You will have some notion of him then. He is in +great favour with the Queen, and paints secret pictures for her to put +upon her husband's table on the morning of his birthday, and the like. +But if he has a care, he will leave his mark on more enduring things +than palace walls. + +And so L---- is married. I remember _her_ well, and could draw her +portrait, in words, to the life. A very beautiful and gentle creature, +and a proper love for a poet. My cordial remembrances and +congratulations. Do they live in the house where we breakfasted? . . . + +I very often dream I am in America again; but, strange to say, I never +dream of you. I am always endeavouring to get home in disguise, and have +a dreary sense of the distance. _A propos_ of dreams, is it not a +strange thing if writers of fiction never dream of their own creations; +recollecting, I suppose, even in their dreams, that they have no real +existence? _I_ never dreamed of any of my own characters, and I feel it +so impossible that I would wager Scott never did of his, real as they +are. I had a good piece of absurdity in my head a night or two ago. I +dreamed that somebody was dead. I don't know who, but it's not to the +purpose. It was a private gentleman, and a particular friend; and I was +greatly overcome when the news was broken to me (very delicately) by a +gentleman in a cocked hat, top boots, and a sheet. Nothing else. "Good +God!" I said, "is he dead?" "He is as dead, sir," rejoined the +gentleman, "as a door-nail. But we must all die, Mr. Dickens, sooner or +later, my dear sir." "Ah!" I said. "Yes, to be sure. Very true. But what +did he die of?" The gentleman burst into a flood of tears, and said, in +a voice broken by emotion: "He christened his youngest child, sir, with +a toasting-fork." I never in my life was so affected as at his having +fallen a victim to this complaint. It carried a conviction to my mind +that he never could have recovered. I knew that it was the most +interesting and fatal malady in the world; and I wrung the gentleman's +hand in a convulsion of respectful admiration, for I felt that this +explanation did equal honour to his head and heart! + +What do you think of Mrs. Gamp? And how do you like the undertaker? I +have a fancy that they are in your way. Oh heaven! such green woods as I +was rambling among down in Yorkshire, when I was getting that done last +July! For days and weeks we never saw the sky but through green boughs; +and all day long I cantered over such soft moss and turf, that the +horse's feet scarcely made a sound upon it. We have some friends in that +part of the country (close to Castle Howard, where Lord Morpeth's father +dwells in state, _in_ his park indeed), who are the jolliest of the +jolly, keeping a big old country house, with an ale cellar something +larger than a reasonable church, and everything, like Goldsmith's bear +dances, "in a concatenation accordingly." Just the place for you, +Felton! We performed some madnesses there in the way of forfeits, +picnics, rustic games, inspections of ancient monasteries at midnight, +when the moon was shining, that would have gone to your heart, and, as +Mr. Weller says, "come out on the other side." . . . + +Write soon, my dear Felton; and if I write to you less often than I +would, believe that my affectionate heart is with you always. Loves and +regards to all friends, from yours ever and ever. + + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Macvey Napier.] + + BROADSTAIRS, _September 16th, 1843._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I hinted, in a letter of introduction I gave Mr. Hood to you, that I had +been thinking of a subject for the _Edinburgh_. Would it meet the +purposes of the _Review_ to come out strongly against any system of +education based exclusively on the principles of the Established Church? +If it would, I should like to show why such a thing as the Church +Catechism is wholly inapplicable to the state of ignorance that now +prevails; and why no system but one, so general in great religious +principles as to include all creeds, can meet the wants and +understandings of the dangerous classes of society. This is the only +broad ground I could hold, consistently with what I feel and think on +such a subject. But I could give, in taking it, a description of certain +voluntary places of instruction, called "the ragged schools," now +existing in London, and of the schools in jails, and of the ignorance +presented in such places, which would make a very striking paper, +especially if they were put in strong comparison with the effort making, +by subscription, to maintain exclusive Church instruction. I could show +these people in a state so miserable and so neglected, that their very +nature rebels against the simplest religion, and that to convey to them +the faintest outlines of any system of distinction between right and +wrong is in itself a giant's task, before which mysteries and squabbles +for forms _must_ give way. Would this be too much for the _Review_? + + Faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[19] This, and all other Letters addressed to Mr. Macvey Napier, were +printed in "Selection from the Correspondence of the late Macvey Napier, +Esq.," editor of _The Edinburgh Review_, edited by his son Macvey +Napier. + +[20] His complaint was that the reviewer of his "American Notes," in the +number for January, 1843, had represented him as having gone to America +as a missionary in the cause of international copyright--an allegation +which Charles Dickens repudiated, and which was rectified in the way he +himself suggested. + + + + +1844. + + +[Sidenote: Professor Felton.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, LONDON, _January 2nd, 1844._ + +MY VERY DEAR FELTON, + +You are a prophet, and had best retire from business straightway. +Yesterday morning, New Year's Day, when I walked into my little workroom +after breakfast, and was looking out of window at the snow in the +garden--not seeing it particularly well in consequence of some +staggering suggestions of last night, whereby I was beset--the postman +came to the door with a knock, for which I denounced him from my heart. +Seeing your hand upon the cover of a letter which he brought, I +immediately blessed him, presented him with a glass of whisky, inquired +after his family (they are all well), and opened the despatch with a +moist and oystery twinkle in my eye. And on the very day from which the +new year dates, I read your New Year congratulations as punctually as if +you lived in the next house. Why don't you? + +Now, if instantly on the receipt of this you will send a free and +independent citizen down to the Cunard wharf at Boston, you will find +that Captain Hewett, of the _Britannia_ steamship (my ship), has a small +parcel for Professor Felton of Cambridge; and in that parcel you will +find a Christmas Carol in prose; being a short story of Christmas by +Charles Dickens. Over which Christmas Carol Charles Dickens wept and +laughed and wept again, and excited himself in a most extraordinary +manner in the composition; and thinking whereof he walked about the +black streets of London, fifteen and twenty miles many a night when all +the sober folks had gone to bed. . . . Its success is most prodigious. +And by every post all manner of strangers write all manner of letters +to him about their homes and hearths, and how this same Carol is read +aloud there, and kept on a little shelf by itself. Indeed, it is the +greatest success, as I am told, that this ruffian and rascal has ever +achieved. + +Forster is out again; and if he don't go in again, after the manner in +which we have been keeping Christmas, he must be very strong indeed. +Such dinings, such dancings, such conjurings, such blindman's-buffings, +such theatre-goings, such kissings-out of old years and kissings-in of +new ones, never took place in these parts before. To keep the Chuzzlewit +going, and do this little book, the Carol, in the odd times between two +parts of it, was, as you may suppose, pretty tight work. But when it was +done I broke out like a madman. And if you could have seen me at a +children's party at Macready's the other night, going down a country +dance with Mrs. M., you would have thought I was a country gentleman of +independent property, residing on a tiptop farm, with the wind blowing +straight in my face every day. . . . + +Your friend, Mr. P----, dined with us one day (I don't know whether I +told you this before), and pleased us very much. Mr. C---- has dined +here once, and spent an evening here. I have not seen him lately, though +he has called twice or thrice; for K---- being unwell and I busy, we +have not been visible at our accustomed seasons. I wonder whether H---- +has fallen in your way. Poor H----! He was a good fellow, and has the +most grateful heart I ever met with. Our journeyings seem to be a dream +now. Talking of dreams, strange thoughts of Italy and France, and maybe +Germany, are springing up within me as the Chuzzlewit clears off. It's a +secret I have hardly breathed to anyone, but I "think" of leaving +England for a year, next midsummer, bag and baggage, little ones and +all--then coming out with _such_ a story, Felton, all at once, no parts, +sledgehammer blow. + +I send you a Manchester paper, as you desire. The report is not exactly +done, but very well done, notwithstanding. It was a very splendid sight, +I assure you, and an awful-looking audience. I am going to preside at a +similar meeting at Liverpool on the 26th of next month, and on my way +home I may be obliged to preside at another at Birmingham. I will send +you papers, if the reports be at all like the real thing. + +I wrote to Prescott about his book, with which I was perfectly charmed. +I think his descriptions masterly, his style brilliant, his purpose +manly and gallant always. The introductory account of Aztec civilisation +impressed me exactly as it impressed you. From beginning to end the +whole history is enchanting and full of genius. I only wonder that, +having such an opportunity of illustrating the doctrine of visible +judgments, he never remarks, when Cortes and his men tumble the idols +down the temple steps and call upon the people to take notice that their +gods are powerless to help themselves, that possibly if some intelligent +native had tumbled down the image of the Virgin or patron saint after +them nothing very remarkable might have ensued in consequence. + +Of course you like Macready. Your name's Felton. I wish you could see +him play Lear. It is stupendously terrible. But I suppose he would be +slow to act it with the Boston company. + +Hearty remembrances to Sumner, Longfellow, Prescott, and all whom you +know I love to remember. Countless happy years to you and yours, my dear +Felton, and some instalment of them, however slight, in England, in the +loving company of + + THE PROSCRIBED ONE. + Oh, breathe not his name! + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer.] + + ATHENAEUM, _Thursday Afternoon, 25th January, 1844._ + +MY DEAR SIR EDWARD, + +I received your kind cheque yesterday, in behalf of the Elton family; +and am much indebted to you on their behalf. + +Pray do not believe that the least intentional neglect has prevented me +from calling on you, or that I am not sincerely desirous to avail myself +of any opportunity of cultivating your friendship. I venture to say this +to you in an unaffected and earnest spirit, and I hope it will not be +displeasing to you. + +At the time when you called, and for many weeks afterwards, I was so +closely occupied with my little Carol (the idea of which had just +occurred to me), that I never left home before the owls went out, and +led quite a solitary life. When I began to have a little time and to go +abroad again, I knew that you were in affliction, and I then thought it +better to wait, even before I left a card at your door, until the +pressure of your distress had past. + +I fancy a reproachful spirit in your note, possibly because I knew that +I may appear to deserve it. But _do_ let me say to you that it would +give me real pain to retain the idea that there was any coldness between +us, and that it would give me heartfelt satisfaction to know the +reverse. + +I shall make a personal descent upon you before Sunday, in the hope of +telling you this myself. But I cannot rest easy without writing it also. +And if this should lead to a better knowledge in each of us, of the +other, believe me that I shall always look upon it as something I have +long wished for. + + Always faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Thompson.] + + [21]LIVERPOOL, _Wednesday Night, 28th February, + Half-past ten at night._ + +MY DEAR THOMPSON, + +There never were such considerate people as they are here. After +offering me unbounded hospitality and my declining it, they leave me to +myself like gentlemen. They saved me from all sorts of intrusion at the +Town Hall--brought me back--and left me to my quiet supper (now on the +table) as they had left me to my quiet dinner. + +I wish you had come. It was really a splendid sight. The Town Hall was +crammed to the roof by, I suppose, two thousand persons. The ladies were +in full dress and immense numbers; and when Dick showed himself, the +whole assembly stood up, rustling like the leaves of a wood. Dick, with +the heart of a lion, dashed in bravely. He introduced that about the +genie in the casket with marvellous effect; and was applauded to the +echo, which did applaud again. He was horribly nervous when he arrived +at Birmingham,[22] but when he stood upon the platform, I don't believe +his pulse increased ten degrees. A better and quicker audience never +listened to man. + +The ladies had hung the hall (do you know what an immense place it is?) +with artificial flowers all round. And on the front of the great +gallery, immediately fronting this young gentleman, were the words in +artificial flowers (you'll observe) "Welcome Boz" in letters about six +feet high. Behind his head, and about the great organ, were immense +transparencies representing several Fames crowning a corresponding +number of Dicks, at which Victoria (taking out a poetic licence) was +highly delighted. + + * * * * * + +I am going to bed. The landlady is not literary, and calls me Mr. +Digzon. In other respects it is a good house. + + My dear Thompson, always yours. + + +[Sidenote: Countess of Blessington.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _March 10th, 1844._ + +MY DEAR LADY BLESSINGTON, + +I have made up my mind to "see the world," and mean to decamp, bag and +baggage, next midsummer for a twelvemonth. I purpose establishing my +family in some convenient place, from whence I can make personal ravages +on the neighbouring country, and, somehow or other, have got it into my +head that Nice would be a favourable spot for head-quarters. You are so +well acquainted with these matters, that I am anxious to have the +benefit of your kind advice. I do not doubt that you can tell me whether +this same Nice be a healthy place the year through, whether it be +reasonably cheap, pleasant to look at and to live in, and the like. If +you will tell me, when you have ten minutes to spare for such a client, +I shall be delighted to come to you, and guide myself by your opinion. I +will not ask you to forgive me for troubling you, because I am sure +beforehand that you will do so. I beg to be kindly remembered to Count +D'Orsay and to your nieces--I was going to say "the Misses Power," but +it looks so like the blue board at a ladies' school, that I stopped +short. + + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Thompson.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _March 13th, 1844._ + +MY DEAR THOMPSON, + +Think of Italy! Don't give that up! Why, my house is entered at +Phillips's and at Gillow's to be let for twelve months; my letter of +credit lies ready at Coutts's; my last number of Chuzzlewit comes out in +June; and the first week, if not the first day in July, sees me, God +willing, steaming off towards the sun. + +Yes. We must have a few books, and everything that is idle, sauntering, +and enjoyable. We must lie down at the bottom of those boats, and devise +all kinds of engines for improving on that gallant holiday. I see myself +in a striped shirt, moustache, blouse, red sash, straw hat, and white +trousers, sitting astride a mule, and not caring for the clock, the day +of the month, or the week. Tinkling bells upon the mule, I hope. I look +forward to it day and night, and wish the time were come. Don't _you_ +give it up. That's all. + + * * * * * + + Always, my dear Thompson, + Faithfully your friend. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _Sunday, March 24th, 1844._ + +MY DEAR THOMPSON, + +My study fireplace having been suddenly seized with symptoms of +insanity, I have been in great affliction. The bricklayer was called in, +and considered it necessary to perform an extensive operation without +delay. I don't know whether you are aware of a peculiar bricky +raggedness (not unaccompanied by pendent stalactites of mortar) which is +exposed to view on the removal of a stove, or are acquainted with the +suffocating properties of a kind of accidental snuff which flies out of +the same cavernous region in great abundance. It is very distressing. I +have been walking about the house after the manner of the dove before +the waters subsided for some days, and have no pens or ink or paper. +Hence this gap in our correspondence which I now repair. + +What are you doing??? When are you coming away???? Why are you stopping +there????? Do enlighten me, for I think of you constantly, and have a +true and real interest in your proceedings. + +D'Orsay, who knows Italy very well indeed, strenuously insists there is +no such place for headquarters as Pisa. Lady Blessington says so also. +What do you say? On the first of July! The first of July! Dick turns his +head towards the orange groves. + + * * * * * + +Daniel not having yet come to judgment, there is no news stirring. Every +morning I proclaim: "At home to Mr. Thompson." Every evening I ejaculate +with Monsieur Jacques[23]: "But he weel come. I know he weel." After +which I look vacantly at the boxes; put my hands to my gray wig, as if +to make quite sure that it is still on my head, all safe: and go off, +first entrance O.P. to soft music. + + * * * * * + + Always faithfully your friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Ebenezer Jones.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, YORK GATE, REGENT'S PARK, + _Monday, 15th April, 1844._ + +DEAR SIR, + +I don't know how it has happened that I have been so long in +acknowledging the receipt of your kind present of your poems[24]; but I +_do_ know that I have often thought of writing to you, and have very +often reproached myself for not carrying that thought into execution. + +I have not been neglectful of the poems themselves, I assure you, but +have read them with very great pleasure. They struck me at the first +glance as being remarkably nervous, picturesque, imaginative, and +original. I have frequently recurred to them since, and never with the +slightest abatement of that impression. I am much flattered and +gratified by your recollection of me. I beg you to believe in my +unaffected sympathy with, and appreciation of, your powers; and I +entreat you to accept my best wishes, and genuine though tardy thanks. + + Dear Sir, faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Charles Babbage.] + + 9, OSNABURGH TERRACE, NEW ROAD, _28th May, 1844._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I regret to say that we are placed in the preposterous situation of +being obliged to postpone our little dinner-party on Saturday, by reason +of having no house to dine in. We have not been burnt out; but a +desirable widow (as a tenant, I mean) proposed, only last Saturday, to +take our own house for the whole term of our intended absence abroad, on +condition that she had possession of it to-day. We fled, and were driven +into this place, which has no convenience for the production of any +other banquet than a cold collation of plate and linen, the only +comforts we have not left behind us. + +My consolation lies in knowing what sort of dinner you would have had if +you had come _here_, and in looking forward to claiming the fulfilment +of your kind promise when we are again at home. + + Always believe me, my dear Sir, faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Countess of Blessington.] + + MILAN, _Wednesday, November 20th, 1844._ + +MY DEAR LADY BLESSINGTON, + +Appearances are against me. Don't believe them. I have written you, in +intention, fifty letters, and I can claim no credit for anyone of them +(though they were the best letters you ever read), for they all +originated in my desire to live in your memory and regard. Since I heard +from Count D'Orsay, I have been beset in I don't know how many ways. +First of all, I went to Marseilles and came back to Genoa. Then I moved +to the Peschiere. Then some people, who had been present at the +Scientific Congress here, made a sudden inroad on that establishment, +and overran it. Then they went away, and I shut myself up for a month, +close and tight, over my little Christmas book, "The Chimes." All my +affections and passions got twined and knotted up in it, and I became as +haggard as a murderer, long before I wrote "The End." When I had done +that, like "_The_ man of Thessaly," who having scratched his eyes out in +a quickset hedge, plunged into a bramble-bush to scratch them in again, +I fled to Venice, to recover the composure I had disturbed. From thence +I went to Verona and to Mantua. And now I am here--just come up from +underground, and earthy all over, from seeing that extraordinary tomb in +which the dead saint lies in an alabaster case, with sparkling jewels +all about him to mock his dusty eyes, not to mention the twenty-franc +pieces which devout votaries were ringing down upon a sort of sky-light +in the cathedral pavement above, as if it were the counter of his +heavenly shop. You know Verona? You know everything in Italy, _I_ know. +The Roman Amphitheatre there delighted me beyond expression. I never saw +anything so full of solemn ancient interest. There are the +four-and-forty rows of seats, as fresh and perfect as if their occupants +had vacated them but yesterday--the entrances, passages, dens, rooms, +corridors, the numbers over some of the arches. An equestrian troop had +been there some days before, and had scooped out a little ring at one +end of the arena, and had their performances in that spot. I should +like to have seen it, of all things, for its very dreariness. Fancy a +handful of people sprinkled over one corner of the great place (the +whole population of Verona wouldn't fill it now); and a spangled +cavalier bowing to the echoes, and the grass-grown walls! I climbed to +the topmost seat, and looked away at the beautiful view for some +minutes; when I turned round, and looked down into the theatre again, it +had exactly the appearance of an immense straw hat, to which the helmet +in the Castle of Otranto was a baby; the rows of seats representing the +different plaits of straw, and the arena the inside of the crown. I had +great expectations of Venice, but they fell immeasurably short of the +wonderful reality. The short time I passed there went by me in a dream. +I hardly think it possible to exaggerate its beauties, its sources of +interest, its uncommon novelty and freshness. A thousand and one +realisations of the Thousand and one Nights, could scarcely captivate +and enchant me more than Venice. + +Your old house at Albaro--Il Paradiso--is spoken of as yours to this +day. What a gallant place it is! I don't know the present inmate, but I +hear that he bought and furnished it not long since, with great +splendour, in the French style, and that he wishes to sell it. I wish I +were rich and could buy it. There is a third-rate wine shop below +Byron's house, and the place looks dull and miserable, and ruinous +enough. Old ---- is a trifle uglier than when I first arrived. He has +periodical parties, at which there are a great many flowerpots and a few +ices--no other refreshments. He goes about, constantly charged with +extemporaneous poetry, and is always ready, like tavern dinners, on the +shortest notice and the most reasonable terms. He keeps a gigantic harp +in his bedroom, together with pen, ink, and paper, for fixing his ideas +as they flow, a kind of profane King David, but truly good-natured and +very harmless. + +Pray say to Count D'Orsay everything that is cordial and loving from me. +The travelling purse he gave me has been of immense service. It has been +constantly opened. All Italy seems to yearn to put its hand in it. I +think of hanging it, when I come back to England, on a nail as a trophy, +and of gashing the brim like the blade of an old sword, and saying to my +son and heir, as they do upon the stage: "You see this notch, boy? Five +hundred francs were laid low on that day, for post-horses. Where this +gap is, a waiter charged your father treble the correct amount--and got +it. This end, worn into teeth like the rasped edge of an old file, is +sacred to the Custom Houses, boy, the passports, and the shabby soldiers +at town-gates, who put an open hand and a dirty coat-cuff into the coach +windows of all 'Forestieri.' Take it, boy. Thy father has nothing else +to give!" + +My desk is cooling itself in a mail-coach, somewhere down at the back +of the cathedral, and the pens and ink in this house are so detestable, +that I have no hope of your ever getting to this portion of my letter. +But I have the less misery in this state of mind, from knowing that it +has nothing in it to repay you for the trouble of perusal. + + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + COVENT GARDEN, _Sunday, Noon (December, 1844)._ + +MY DEAR LADY BLESSINGTON, + +Business for other people (and by no means of a pleasant kind) has held +me prisoner during two whole days, and will so detain me to-day, in the +very agony of my departure for Italy again, that I shall not even be +able to reach Gore House once more, on which I had set my heart. I +cannot bear the thought of going away without some sort of reference to +the happy day you gave me on Monday, and the pleasure and delight I had +in your earnest greeting. I shall never forget it, believe me. It would +be worth going to China--it would be worth going to America, to come +home again for the pleasure of such a meeting with you and Count +D'Orsay--to whom my love, and something as near it to Miss Power and her +sister as it is lawful to send. It will be an unspeakable satisfaction +to me (though I am not maliciously disposed) to know under your own +hand at Genoa that my little book made you cry. I hope to prove a better +correspondent on my return to those shores. But better or worse, or any +how, I am ever, my dear Lady Blessington, in no common degree, and not +with an every-day regard, yours. + + Very faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[21] On the occasion of a great meeting of the Mechanics' Institution at +Liverpool, with Charles Dickens in the chair. + +[22] He had also presided two evenings previously at a meeting of the +Polytechnic Institution at Birmingham. + +[23] A character in a Play, well known at this time. + +[24] "Studies of Sensation and Event." + + + + +1845. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + GENOA, _May 9th, 1845._ + +MY DEAR LADY BLESSINGTON, + +Once more in my old quarters, and with rather a tired sole to my foot, +from having found such an immense number of different resting-places for +it since I went away. I write you my last Italian letter for this bout, +designing to leave here, please God, on the ninth of next month, and to +be in London again by the end of June. I am looking forward with great +delight to the pleasure of seeing you once more, and mean to come to +Gore House with such a swoop as shall astonish the poodle, if, after +being accustomed to his own size and sense, he retain the power of being +astonished at anything in the wide world. You know where I have been, +and every mile of ground I have travelled over, and every object I have +seen. It is next to impossible, surely, to exaggerate the interest of +Rome; though, I think, it _is_ very possible to find the main source of +interest in the wrong things. Naples disappointed me greatly. The +weather was bad during a great part of my stay there. But if I had not +had mud, I should have had dust, and though I had had sun, I must still +have had the Lazzaroni. And they are so ragged, so dirty, so abject, so +full of degradation, so sunken and steeped in the hopelessness of better +things, that they would make heaven uncomfortable, if they could ever +get there. I didn't expect to see a handsome city, but I expected +something better than that long dull line of squalid houses, which +stretches from the Chiaja to the quarter of the Porta Capuana; and while +I was quite prepared for a miserable populace, I had some dim belief +that there were bright rays among them, and dancing legs, and shining +sun-browned faces. Whereas the honest truth is, that connected with +Naples itself, I have not one solitary recollection. The country round +it charmed me, I need not say. Who can forget Herculaneum and Pompeii? + +As to Vesuvius, it burns away in my thoughts, beside the roaring waters +of Niagara, and not a splash of the water extinguishes a spark of the +fire; but there they go on, tumbling and flaming night and day, each in +its fullest glory. + +I have seen so many wonders, and each of them has such a voice of its +own, that I sit all day long listening to the roar they make as if it +were in a sea-shell, and have fallen into an idleness so complete, that +I can't rouse myself sufficiently to go to Pisa on the twenty-fifth, +when the triennial illumination of the Cathedral and Leaning Tower, and +Bridges, and what not, takes place. But I have already been there; and +it cannot beat St. Peter's, I suppose. So I don't think I shall pluck +myself up by the roots, and go aboard a steamer for Leghorn. Let me +thank you heartily for the "Keepsake" and the "Book of Beauty." They +reached me a week or two ago. I have been very much struck by two papers +in them--one, Landor's "Conversations," among the most charming, +profound, and delicate productions I have ever read; the other, your +lines on Byron's room at Venice. I am as sure that you wrote them from +your heart, as I am that they found their way immediately to mine. + +It delights me to receive such accounts of Maclise's fresco. If he will +only give his magnificent genius fair play, there is not enough cant and +dulness even in the criticism of art from which Sterne prayed kind +heaven to defend him, as the worst of all the cants continually canted +in this canting world--to keep the giant down an hour. + +Our poor friend, the naval governor,[25] has lost his wife, I am sorry +to hear, since you and I spoke of his pleasant face. Do not let your +nieces forget me, if you can help it, and give my love to Count D'Orsay, +with many thanks to him for his charming letter. I was greatly amused by +his account of ----. There was a cold shade of aristocracy about it, and +a dampness of cold water, which entertained me beyond measure. + + Always faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Macvey Napier.] + + 1, DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _July 28th, 1845._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +As my note is to bear reference to business, I will make it as short and +plain as I can. I think I could write a pretty good and a well-timed +article on the _Punishment of Death_, and sympathy with great criminals, +instancing the gross and depraved curiosity that exists in reference to +them, by some of the outrageous things that were written, done, and said +in recent cases. But as I am not sure that my views would be yours, and +as their statement would be quite inseparable from such a paper, I will +briefly set down their purport that you may decide for yourself. + +Society, having arrived at that state in which it spares bodily torture +to the worst criminals, and having agreed, if criminals be put to death +at all, to kill them in the speediest way, I consider the question with +reference to society, and not at all with reference to the criminal, +holding that, in a case of cruel and deliberate murder, he is already +mercifully and sparingly treated. But, as a question for the deliberate +consideration of all reflective persons, I put this view of the case. +With such very repulsive and odious details before us, may it not be +well to inquire whether the punishment of death be beneficial to +society? I believe it to have a horrible fascination for many of those +persons who render themselves liable to it, impelling them onward to the +acquisition of a frightful notoriety; and (setting aside the strong +confirmation of this idea afforded in individual instances) I presume +this to be the case in very badly regulated minds, when I observe the +strange fascination which everything connected with this punishment, or +the object of it, possesses for tens of thousands of decent, virtuous, +well-conducted people, who are quite unable to resist the published +portraits, letters, anecdotes, smilings, snuff-takings, of the bloodiest +and most unnatural scoundrel with the gallows before him. I observe that +this strange interest does not prevail to anything like the same degree +where death is not the penalty. Therefore I connect it with the dread +and mystery surrounding death in any shape, but especially in this +avenging form, and am disposed to come to the conclusion that it +produces crime in the criminally disposed, and engenders a diseased +sympathy--morbid and bad, but natural and often irresistible--among the +well-conducted and gentle. Regarding it as doing harm to both these +classes, it may even then be right to inquire, whether it has any +salutary influence on those small knots and specks of people, mere +bubbles in the living ocean, who actually behold its infliction with +their proper eyes. On this head it is scarcely possible to entertain a +doubt, for we know that robbery, and obscenity, and callous indifference +are of no commoner occurrence anywhere than at the foot of the scaffold. +Furthermore, we know that all exhibitions of agony and death have a +tendency to brutalise and harden the feelings of men, and have always +been the most rife among the fiercest people. Again, it is a great +question whether ignorant and dissolute persons (ever the great body of +spectators, as few others will attend), seeing _that_ murder done, and +not having seen the other, will not, almost of necessity, sympathise +with the man who dies before them, especially as he is shown, a martyr +to their fancy, tied and bound, alone among scores, with every kind of +odds against him. + +I should take all these threads up at the end by a vivid little sketch +of the origin and progress of such a crime as Hooker's, stating a +somewhat parallel case, but an imaginary one, pursuing its hero to his +death, and showing what enormous harm he does _after_ the crime for +which he suffers. I should state none of these positions in a positive +sledge-hammer way, but tempt and lure the reader into the discussion of +them in his own mind; and so we come to this at last--whether it be for +the benefit of society to elevate even this crime to the awful dignity +and notoriety of death; and whether it would not be much more to its +advantage to substitute a mean and shameful punishment, degrading the +deed and the committer of the deed, and leaving the general compassion +to expend itself upon the only theme at present quite forgotten in the +history, that is to say, the murdered person. + +I do not give you this as an outline of the paper, which I think I could +make attractive. It is merely an exposition of the inferences to which +its whole philosophy must tend. + + Always faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Thompson.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _17th October, 1845._ + +MY DEAR THOMPSON, + +Roche has not returned; and from what I hear of your movements, I fear I +cannot answer for his being here in time for you. + +I enclose you, lest I should forget it, the letter to the Peschiere +agent. He is the Marquis Pallavicini's man of business, and speaks the +most abominable Genoese ever heard. He is a rascal of course; but a +more reliable villain, in his way, than the rest of his kind. + +You recollect what I told you of the Swiss banker's wife, the English +lady? If you would like Christiana[26] to have a friend at Genoa in the +person of a most affectionate and excellent little woman, and if you +would like to have a resource in the most elegant and comfortable family +there, I need not say that I shall be delighted to give you a letter to +those who would die to serve me. + + Always yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. H. P. Smith.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _4th November, 1845._ + +MY DEAR SMITH, + +My chickens and their little aunt will be delighted to do honour to the +Lord Mayor on the ninth. So should I be, but I am hard at it, grinding +my teeth. + +I came down with Thompson the other day, hoping to see you. You are +keeping it up, however, in some holiday region, and your glass-case +looked like a large pantry, out of which some giant had stolen the meat. + +Best regards to Mrs. Smith from all of us. Kate quite hearty, and the +baby, like Goldsmith's bear, "in a concatenation" accordingly. + + Always, my dear Smith, faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Macvey Napier.] + + _November 10th, 1845._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I write to you in great haste. I most bitterly regret the being obliged +to disappoint and inconvenience you (as I fear I shall do), but I find +it will be _impossible_ for me to write the paper on Capital Punishment +for your next number. The fault is really not mine. I have been involved +for the last fortnight in one maze of distractions, which nothing could +have enabled me to anticipate or prevent. Everything I have had to do +has been interfered with and cast aside. I have never in my life had so +many insuperable obstacles crowded into the way of my pursuits. It is as +little my fault, believe me, as though I were ill and wrote to you from +my bed. And pray bear as gently as you can with the vexation I occasion +you, when I tell you how very heavily it falls upon myself. + + Faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[25] Lieut. Tracey, R.N., who was at this time Governor of Tothill +Fields Prison. + +[26] Mrs. Thompson. + + + + +1846. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. J. Fox.] + + OFFICE OF THE "DAILY NEWS," WHITEFRIARS, + _21st January, 1846._ + +MY DEAR FOX,[27] + +The boy is in waiting. I need not tell you how our Printer failed us +last night.[28] I hope for better things to-night, and am bent on a fight +for it. If we can get a good paper to-morrow, I believe we are as safe +as such a thing can be. + +Your leader most excellent. I made bold to take out ---- for reasons +that I hinted at the other day, and which I think have validity in them. +He is unscrupulous and indiscreet. Cobden never so. + +It didn't offend you? + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Thompson.] + + ROSEMONT, _Tuesday Morning._ + +MY DEAR THOMPSON, + +All kinds of hearty and cordial congratulations on the event.[29] We are +all delighted that it is at last well over. There is an uncertainty +attendant on angelic strangers (as Miss Tox says) which it is a great +relief to have so happily disposed of. + + Ever yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + 48, RUE DE COURCELLES, ST. HONORE, PARIS, + _2nd December, 1846._ + +MY DEAR THOMPSON, + +We got to Paris, in due course, on the Friday evening. We had a pleasant +and prosperous journey, having rather cold weather in Switzerland and on +the borders thereof, and a slight detention of three hours and a half at +the frontier Custom House, atop of a mountain, in a hard frost and a +dense fog. We came into this house last Thursday. It has a pretty +drawing-room, approached through four most extraordinary chambers. It is +the most ridiculous and preposterous house in the world, I should think. +It belongs to a Marquis Castellane, but was fitted (so Paul Pry Poole +said, who dined here yesterday) by ---- in a fit of temporary insanity, +I have no doubt. The dining-room is mere midsummer madness, and is +designed to represent a bosky grove. + +At this present writing, snow is falling in the street, and the weather +is very cold, but not so cold as it was yesterday. I dined with Lord +Normanby on Sunday last. Everything seems to be queer and uncomfortable +in the diplomatic way, and he is rather bothered and worried, to my +thinking. I found young Sheridan (Mrs. Norton's brother) the attache. I +know him very well, and he is a good man for my sight-seeing purposes. +There are to be no theatricals unless the times should so adjust +themselves as to admit of their being French, to which the Markis seems +to incline, as a bit of conciliation and a popular move. + +Lumley, of Italian opera notoriety, also dined here yesterday, and seems +hugely afeard of the opposition opera at Covent Garden, who have already +spirited away Grisi and Mario, which he affects to consider a great +comfort and relief. I gave him some uncompromising information on the +subject of his pit, and told him that if he didn't conciliate the middle +classes, he might depend on being damaged, very decidedly. The danger of +the Covent Garden enterprise seems to me to be that they are going in +for ballet too, and I really don't think the house is large enough to +repay the double expense. + +Forster writes me that Mac has come out with tremendous vigour in the +Christmas Book, and took off his coat at it with a burst of such +alarming energy that he has done four subjects! Stanfield has done +three. Keeleys are making that "change"[30] I was so hot upon at +Lausanne, and seem ready to spend money with bold hearts, but the cast +(as far as I know it, at present) would appear to be black despair and +moody madness. J. W. Leigh Murray, from the Princess's, is to be the +Alfred, and Forster says there is a Mrs. Gordon at Bolton's who must be +got for Grace. I am horribly afraid ---- will do one of the lawyers, and +there seems to be nobody but ---- for Marion. I shall run over and carry +consternation into the establishment, as soon as I have done the number. +But I have not begun it yet, though I hope to do so to-night, having +been quite put out by chopping and changing about, and by a vile touch +of biliousness, that makes my eyes feel as if they were yellow bullets. +"Dombey" has passed its thirty thousand already. Do you remember a +mysterious man in a straw hat low-crowned, and a Petersham coat, who was +a sort of manager or amateur man-servant at Miss Kelly's? Mr. Baynton +Bolt, sir, came out, the other night, as Macbeth, at the Royal Surrey +Theatre. + +There's all my news for you! Let me know, in return, whether you have +fought a duel yet with your milingtary landlord, and whether Lausanne is +still that giddy whirl of dissipation it was wont to be, also full +particulars of your fairer and better half, and of the baby. I will send +a Christmas book to Clermont as soon as I get any copies. And so no more +at present from yours ever. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[27] Mr. W. J. Fox, afterwards M.P. for Oldham, well known for his +eloquent advocacy of the Repeal of the Corn Laws, was engaged to write +the political articles in the first numbers of the _Daily News_. + +[28] The first issue of the _Daily News_ was a sad failure, as to +printing. + +[29] The birth, at Lausanne, of Mr. Thompson's eldest daughter, +Elizabeth Thompson, now Mrs. Butler, the celebrated artist. + +[30] In the dramatised "Battle of Life." + + + + +1847. + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _January 12th, 1847._ + +MY DEAR SIR EDWARD, + +The Committee of the General Theatrical Fund (who are all actors) are +anxious to prefer a petition to you to preside at their next annual +dinner at the London Tavern, and having no personal knowledge of you, +have requested me, as one of their Trustees, through their Secretary, +Mr. Cullenford, to give them some kind of presentation to you. + +I will only say that I have felt great interest in their design, which +embraces all sorts and conditions of actors from the first, and it has +been maintained by themselves with extraordinary perseverance and +determination. It has been in existence some years, but it is only two +years since they began to dine. At their first festival I presided, at +their second, Macready. They very naturally hold that if they could +prevail on you to reign over them now they would secure a most powerful +and excellent advocate, whose aid would serve and grace their cause +immensely. I sympathise with their feeling so cordially, and know so +well that it would certainly be mine if I were in their case (as, +indeed, it is, being their friend), that I comply with their request +for an introduction. And I will not ask you to excuse my troubling you, +feeling sure that I may use this liberty with you. + + Believe me always, very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Countess of Blessington.] + + 48, RUE DE COURCELLES, PARIS, _January 24th, 1847._ + +MY DEAR LADY BLESSINGTON, + +I feel very wicked in beginning this note, and deeply remorseful for not +having begun and ended it long ago. But _you_ know how difficult it is +to write letters in the midst of a writing life; and as you know too (I +hope) how earnestly and affectionately I always think of you, wherever I +am, I take heart, on a little consideration, and feel comparatively good +again. + +Forster has been cramming into the space of a fortnight every +description of impossible and inconsistent occupation in the way of +sight-seeing. He has been now at Versailles, now in the prisons, now at +the opera, now at the hospitals, now at the Conservatoire, and now at +the Morgue, with a dreadful insatiability. I begin to doubt whether I +had anything to do with a book called "Dombey," or ever sat over number +five (not finished a fortnight yet) day after day, until I half began, +like the monk in poor Wilkie's story, to think it the only reality in +life, and to mistake all the realities for short-lived shadows. + +Among the multitude of sights, we saw our pleasant little bud of a +friend, Rose Cheri, play Clarissa Harlowe the other night. I believe she +does it in London just now, and perhaps you may have seen it. A most +charming, intelligent, modest, affecting piece of acting it is, with a +death superior to anything I ever saw on the stage, except Macready's +Lear. The theatres are admirable just now. We saw "Gentil Bernard" at +the Varietes last night, acted in a manner that was absolutely perfect. +It was a little picture of Watteau, animated and talking from beginning +to end. At the Cirque there is a new show-piece called the "French +Revolution," in which there is a representation of the National +Convention, and a series of battles (fought by some five hundred people, +who look like five thousand) that are wonderful in their extraordinary +vigour and truth. Gun-cotton gives its name to the general annual jocose +review at the Palais Royal, which is dull enough, saving for the +introduction of Alexandre Dumas, sitting in his study beside a pile of +quarto volumes about five feet high, which he says is the first tableau +of the first act of the first piece to be played on the first night of +his new theatre. The revival of Moliere's "Don Juan," at the Francais, +has drawn money. It is excellently played, and it is curious to observe +how different _their_ Don Juan and valet are from our English ideas of +the master and man. They are playing "Lucretia Borgia" again at the +Porte St. Martin, but it is poorly performed and hangs fire drearily, +though a very remarkable and striking play. We were at Victor Hugo's +house last Sunday week, a most extraordinary place, looking like an old +curiosity shop, or the property-room of some gloomy, vast, old theatre. +I was much struck by Hugo himself, who looks like a genius as he is, +every inch of him, and is very interesting and satisfactory from head to +foot. His wife is a handsome woman, with flashing black eyes. There is +also a charming ditto daughter of fifteen or sixteen, with ditto eyes. +Sitting among old armour and old tapestry, and old coffers, and grim old +chairs and tables, and old canopies of state from old palaces, and old +golden lions going to play at skittles with ponderous old golden balls, +they made a most romantic show and looked like a chapter out of one of +his own books. + + * * * * * + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Edward Chapman.] + + CHESTER PLACE, _Monday, 3rd May, 1847._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +Here is a young lady--Miss Power, Lady Blessington's niece--has "gone +and been" and translated a story by Georges Sand, the French writer, +which she has printed, and got four woodcuts engraved ready for. She +wants to get it published--something in the form of the Christmas books. +I know the story, and it is a very fine one. + +Will you do it for her? There is no other risk than putting a few covers +on a few copies. Half-profits is what she expects and no loss. She has +made appeal to me, and if there is to be a hard-hearted ogre in the +business at all, I would rather it should be you than I; so I have told +her I would make proposals to your mightiness. + +Answer this straightway, for I have no doubt the fair translator thinks +I am tearing backwards and forwards in a cab all day to bring the +momentous affair to a conclusion. + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. James Sheridan Knowles.] + + [31]148, KING'S ROAD, BRIGHTON, _26th May, 1847._ + +MY DEAR KNOWLES, + +I have learned, I hope, from the art we both profess (if you will +forgive this classification of myself with you) to respect a man of +genius in his mistakes, no less than in his triumphs. You have so often +read the human heart well that I can readily forgive your reading mine +ill, and greatly wronging me by the supposition that any sentiment +towards you but honour and respect has ever found a place in it. + +You write as few lines which, dying, you would wish to blot, as most +men. But if you ever know me better, as I hope you may (the fault shall +not be mine if you do not), I know you will be glad to have received the +assurance that some part of your letter has been written on the sand and +that the wind has already blown over it. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Dr. Hodgson.[32]] + + REGENT'S PARK, LONDON, _Friday, 4th June, 1847._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I have rarely, if ever, seen a more remarkable effort of what I may call +intellectual memory than the enclosed. It is evidence, I think, of very +uncommon power. I have read it with the greatest interest and surprise, +and I am truly obliged to you for giving me the opportunity. If you +should see no objection to telling the young lady herself this much, +pray do so, as it is sincere praise. + +Your criticism of Coombe's pamphlet is as justly felt as it is +earnestly and strongly written. I undergo more astonishment and disgust +in connection with that question of education almost every day of my +life than is awakened in me by any other member of the whole magazine of +social monsters that are walking about in these times. + +You were in my thoughts when your letter arrived this morning, for we +have a half-formed idea of reviving our old amateur theatrical company +for a special purpose, and even of bringing it bodily to Manchester and +Liverpool, on which your opinion would be very valuable. If we should +decide on Monday, when we meet, to pursue our idea in this warm weather, +I will explain it to you in detail, and ask counsel of you in regard of +a performance at Liverpool. Meantime it is mentioned to no one. + +Your interest in "Dombey" gives me unaffected pleasure. I hope you will +find no reason to think worse of it as it proceeds. There is a great +deal to do--one or two things among the rest that society will not be +the worse, I hope, for thinking about a little. + +May I beg to be remembered to Mrs. Hodgson? You always remember me +yourself, I hope, as one who has a hearty interest in all you do and in +all you have so admirably done for the advancement of the best objects. + + Always believe me very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + REGENT'S PARK, LONDON, _June 12th, 1847._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I write to you in reference to a scheme to which you may, perhaps, +already have seen some allusion in the London _Athenaeum_ of to-day. + +The party of amateurs connected with literature and art, who acted in +London two years ago, have resolved to play again at one of the large +theatres here for the benefit of Leigh Hunt, and to make a great appeal +to all classes of society in behalf of a writer who should have received +long ago, but has not yet, some enduring return from his country for all +he has undergone and all the good he has done. It is believed that such +a demonstration by literature on behalf of literature, and such a mark +of sympathy by authors and artists, for one who has written so well, +would be of more service, present and prospective, to Hunt than almost +any other means of help that could be devised. And we know, from +himself, that it would be most gratifying to his own feelings. + +The arrangements are, as yet, in an imperfect state; for the date of +their being carried out depends on our being able to get one of the +large theatres before the close of the present London season. In the +event of our succeeding, we purpose acting in London, on Wednesday the +14th of July, and on Monday the 19th. On the first occasion we shall +play "Every Man in His Humour," and a farce; on the second, "The Merry +Wives of Windsor," and a farce. + +But we do not intend to stop here. Believing that Leigh Hunt has done +more to instruct the young men of England, and to lend a helping hand to +those who educate themselves, than any writer in England, we are +resolved to come down, in a body, to Liverpool and Manchester, and to +act one night at each place. And the object of my letter is, to ask you, +as the representative of the great educational establishment of +Liverpool, whether we can count on your active assistance; whether you +will form a committee to advance our object; and whether, if we send you +our circulars and addresses, you will endeavour to secure us a full +theatre, and to enlist the general sympathy and interest in behalf of +the cause we have at heart? + +I address, by this post, a letter, which is almost the counterpart of +the present, to the honorary secretaries of the Manchester Athenaeum. If +we find in both towns such a response as we confidently expect, I would +propose, on behalf of my friends, that the Liverpool and Manchester +Institutions should decide for us, at which town we shall first appear, +and which play we shall act in each place. + +I forbear entering into any more details, however, until I am favoured +with your reply. + + Always believe me, my dear Sir, + faithfully your Friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Alexander Ireland.] + + REGENT'S PARK, LONDON, _June 17th, 1847._ + +DEAR SIR,[33] + +In the hope that I may consider myself personally introduced to you by +Dr. Hodgson, of Liverpool, I take the liberty of addressing you in this +form. + +I hear from that friend of ours, that you are greatly interested in all +that relates to Mr. Leigh Hunt, and that you will be happy to promote +our design in reference to him. Allow me to assure you of the +gratification with which I have received this intelligence, and of the +importance we shall all attach to your valuable co-operation. + +I have received a letter from Mr. Langley, of the Athenaeum, informing me +that a committee is in course of formation, composed of directors of +that institution (acting as private gentlemen) and others. May I hope to +find that you are one of this body, and that I may soon hear of its +proceedings, and be in communication with it? + +Allow me to thank you beforehand for your interest in the cause, and to +look forward to the pleasure of doing so in person, when I come to +Manchester. + + Dear Sir, very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + ATHENAEUM CLUB, LONDON, _Saturday, June 26th, 1847._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +The news of Mr. Hunt's pension is quite true. We do not propose to act +in London after this change in his affairs, but we do still distinctly +propose to act in Manchester and Liverpool. I have set forth the plain +state of the case in a letter to Mr. Robinson by this post (a +counterpart of which I have addressed to Liverpool), and to which, in +the midst of a most laborious correspondence on the subject, I beg to +refer you. + +It will be a great satisfaction to us to believe that we shall still be +successful in Manchester. There is great and urgent need why we should +be so, I assure you. + +If you can help to bring the matter speedily into a practical and plain +shape, you will render Hunt the greatest service. + +I fear, in respect to your kind invitation, that neither Jerrold nor I +will feel at liberty to accept it. There was a pathetic proposal among +us that we should "keep together;" and, as president of the society, I +am bound, I fear, to stand by the brotherhood with particular constancy. +Nor do I think that we shall have more than one very short evening in +Manchester. + +I write in great haste. The sooner I can know (at Broadstairs, in Kent) +the Manchester and Liverpool nights, and what the managers say, the +better (I hope) will be the entertainments. + + My dear Sir, very faithfully yours. + +P.S.--I enclose a copy of our London circular, issued before the +granting of the pension. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + BROADSTAIRS, KENT, _July 11th, 1847._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I am much indebted to you for the present of your notice of Hunt's +books. I cannot praise it better or more appropriately than by saying it +is in Hunt's own spirit, and most charmingly expressed. I had the most +sincere and hearty pleasure in reading it.[34] + +Your announcement of "The Working Man's Life" had attracted my attention +by reason of the title, which had a great interest for me.[35] I hardly +know if there is something wanting to my fancy in a certain genuine +simple air I had looked for in the first part. But there is great +promise in it, and I shall be earnest to know how it proceeds. + +Now, to leave these pleasant matters, and resume my managerial +character, which I shall be heartily glad (between ourselves) to lay +down again, though I have none but pleasant correspondents, and the most +easily governable company of actors on earth. + +I have written to Mr. Robinson by this post that I wish these words, +from our original London circular, to stand at top of the bills, after +"For the Benefit of Mr. Leigh Hunt": + +"It is proposed to devote a portion of the proceeds of this benefit to +the assistance of another celebrated writer, whose literary career is at +an end, and who has no provision for the decline of his life." + +I have also told him that there is no objection to its being known that +this is Mr. Poole, the author of "Paul Pry," and "Little Pedlington," +and many comic pieces of great merit, and whose farce of "Turning the +Tables" we mean to finish with in Manchester. Beyond what he will get +from these benefits, he has no resource in this wide world, _I know_. +There are reasons which make it desirable to get this fact abroad, and +if you see no objection to paragraphing it at your office (sending the +paragraph round, if you should please, to the other Manchester papers), +I should be much obliged to you. + +You may like to know, as a means of engendering a more complete +individual interest in our actors, who they are. Jerrold and myself you +have heard of; Mr. George Cruikshank and Mr. Leech (the best +caricaturists of any time perhaps) need no introduction. Mr. Frank Stone +(a Manchester man) and Mr. Egg are artists of high reputation. Mr. +Forster is the critic of _The Examiner_, the author of "The Lives of the +Statesmen of the Commonwealth," and very distinguished as a writer in +_The Edinburgh Review_. Mr. Lewes is also a man of great attainments in +polite literature, and the author of a novel published not long since, +called "Ranthorpe." Mr. Costello is a periodical writer, and a gentleman +renowned as a tourist. Mr. Mark Lemon is a dramatic author, and the +editor of _Punch_--a most excellent actor, as you will find. My brothers +play small parts, for love, and have no greater note than the Treasury +and the City confer on their disciples. Mr. Thompson is a private +gentleman. You may know all this, but I thought it possible you might +like to hold the key to our full company. Pray use it as you will. + + My dear Sir, + Faithfully yours always. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[31] Written to Mr. Sheridan Knowles after some slight misunderstanding, +the cause of which is unknown to the Editors. + +[32] Dr. Hodgson, then Principal of the Liverpool Institute, and +Principal of the Chorlton High School, Manchester. + +[33] Mr. Alexander Ireland, the manager and one of the proprietors of +_The Manchester Examiner_. + +[34] This refers to an essay on "The Genius and Writings of Leigh Hunt," +contributed to _The Manchester Examiner_. + +[35] The "Autobiography of a Working Man," by "One who has whistled at +the Plough" (Alex. Somerville), originally appeared in _The Manchester +Examiner_, and afterwards was published as a volume, 1848. + + + + +1848. + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _10th April, 1848, Monday Evening._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +I confess to small faith in any American profits having international +copyright for their aim. But I will carefully consider Blackwood's +letter (when I get it) and will call upon you and tell you what occurs +to me in reference to it, before I communicate with that northern light. + +I have been "going" to write to you for many a day past, to thank you +for your kindness to the General Theatrical Fund people, and for your +note to me; but I have waited until I should hear of your being +stationary somewhere. What you said of the "Battle of Life" gave me +great pleasure. I was thoroughly wretched at having to use the idea for +so short a story. I did not see its full capacity until it was too late +to think of another subject, and I have always felt that I might have +done a great deal better if I had taken it for the groundwork of a more +extended book. But for an insuperable aversion I have to trying back in +such a case, I should certainly forge that bit of metal again, as you +suggest--one of these days perhaps. + +I have not been special constable myself to-day--thinking there was +rather an epidemic in that wise abroad. I walked over and looked at the +preparations, without any baggage of staff, warrant, or affidavit. + + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Cowden Clarke.] + + [36]DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _14th April, 1848._ + +DEAR MRS. COWDEN CLARKE, + +I did not understand, when I had the pleasure of conversing with you the +other evening, that you had really considered the subject, and desired +to play. But I am very glad to understand it now; and I am sure there +will be a universal sense among us of the grace and appropriateness of +such a proceeding. Falstaff (who depends very much on Mrs. Quickly) may +have in his modesty, some timidity about acting with an amateur actress. +But I have no question, as you have studied the part, and long wished to +play it, that you will put him completely at his ease on the first night +of your rehearsal. Will you, towards that end, receive this as a solemn +"call" to rehearsal of "The Merry Wives" at Miss Kelly's theatre, +to-morrow (Saturday) _week_ at seven in the evening? + +And will you let me suggest another point for your consideration? On the +night when "The Merry Wives" will _not_ be played, and when "Every Man +in his Humour" _will_ be, Kenny's farce of "Love, Law, and Physic" will +be acted. In that farce there is a very good character (one Mrs. Hilary, +which I have seen Mrs. Orger, I think, act to admiration), that would +have been played by Mrs. C. Jones, if she had acted Dame Quickly, as we +at first intended. If you find yourself quite comfortable and at ease +among us, in Mrs. Quickly, would you like to take this other part too? +It is an excellent farce, and is safe, I hope, to be very well done. + +We do not play to purchase the house[37] (which may be positively +considered as paid for), but towards endowing a perpetual curatorship of +it, for some eminent literary veteran. And I think you will recognise in +this even a higher and more gracious object than the securing, even, of +the debt incurred for the house itself. + + Believe me, very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Alexander Ireland.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _May 22nd, 1848._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +You very likely know that my company of amateurs have lately been +playing, with a great reputation, in London here. The object is, "The +endowment of a perpetual curatorship of Shakespeare's house, to be +always held by some one distinguished in literature, and more especially +in dramatic literature," and we have already a pledge from the +Shakespeare House Committee that Sheridan Knowles shall be recommended +to the Government as the first curator. This pledge, which is in the +form of a minute, we intend to advertise in our country bills. + +Now, on Monday, the 5th of June, we are going to play at Liverpool, +where we are assured of a warm reception, and where an active committee +for the issuing of tickets is already formed. Do you think the +Manchester people would be equally glad to see us again, and that the +house could be filled, as before, at our old prices? _If yes, would you +and our other friends go, at once, to work in the cause?_ The only night +on which we could play in Manchester would be Saturday, the 3rd of June. +It is possible that the depression of the times may render a performance +in Manchester unwise. In that case I would immediately abandon the idea. +But what I want to know, _by return of post_ is, is it safe or unsafe? +If the former, here is the bill as it stood in London, with the +addition, on the back, of a paragraph I would insert in Manchester, of +which immediate use can be made. If the latter, my reason for wishing to +settle the point immediately is that we may make another use of that +Saturday night. + +Assured of your generous feeling I make no apology for troubling you. A +sum of money, got together by these means, will insure to literature (I +will take good care of that) a proper expression of itself in the +bestowal of an essentially literary appointment, not only now but +henceforth. Much is to be done, time presses, and the least added the +better. + +I have addressed a counterpart of this letter to Mr. Francis Robinson, +to whom perhaps you will communicate the bill. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Cowden Clarke.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _Monday Evening, + July 22nd, 1848._ + +MY DEAR MRS. CLARKE, + +I have no energy whatever, I am very miserable. I loathe domestic +hearths. I yearn to be a vagabond. Why can't I marry Mary?[38] Why have I +seven children--not engaged at sixpence a-night apiece, and dismissable +for ever, if they tumble down, not taken on for an indefinite time at a +vast expense, and never,--no never, never,--wearing lighted candles +round their heads.[39] I am deeply miserable. A real house like this is +insupportable, after that canvas farm wherein I was so happy. What is a +humdrum dinner at half-past five, with nobody (but John) to see me eat +it, compared with _that_ soup, and the hundreds of pairs of eyes that +watched its disappearance? Forgive this tear.[40] It is weak and foolish, +I know. + +Pray let me divide the little excursional excesses of the journey among +the gentlemen, as I have always done before, and pray believe that I +have had the sincerest pleasure and gratification in your co-operation +and society, valuable and interesting on all public accounts, and +personally of no mean worth, nor held in slight regard. + +You had a sister once, when we were young and happy--I think they called +her Emma. If she remember a bright being who once flitted like a vision +before her, entreat her to bestow a thought upon the "Gas" of departed +joys. I can write no more. + + Y. G.[41] THE (DARKENED) G. L. B.[42] + +P.S.--"I am completely _blase_--literally used up. I am dying for +excitement. Is it possible that nobody can suggest anything to make my +heart beat violently, my hair stand on end--but no!" + +Where did I hear those words (so truly applicable to my forlorn +condition) pronounced by some delightful creature? In a previous state +of existence, I believe. + +Oh, Memory, Memory! + + Ever yours faithfully. + +Y--no C. G.--no D. C. D. I think it is--but I don't know--"there's +nothing in it." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[36] This and following letters to Mr. and Mrs. Cowden Clarke appeared +in a volume entitled "Recollections of Writers." + +[37] The house in which Shakespeare was born, at Stratford-on-Avon. + +[38] A character in "Used Up." + +[39] As fairies in "Merry Wives." + +[40] A huge blot of smeared ink. + +[41] "Young Gas."} + +[42] "Gas-Light Boy."} Names he had playfully given himself. + + + + +1849. + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _23rd February, 1849._ + +MY DEAR SIR EDWARD, + +I have not written sooner to thank you for "King Arthur" because I felt +sure you would prefer my reading it before I should do so, and because I +wished to have an opportunity of reading it with the sincerity and +attention which such a composition demands. + +This I have done. I do not write to express to you the measure of my +gratification and pleasure (for I should find that very difficult to be +accomplished to my own satisfaction), but simply to say that I have read +the poem, and dwelt upon it with the deepest interest, admiration, and +delight; and that I feel proud of it as a very good instance of the +genius of a great writer of my own time. I should feel it as a kind of +treason to what has been awakened in me by the book, if I were to try to +set off my thanks to you, or if I were tempted into being diffuse in its +praise. I am too earnest on the subject to have any misgiving but that I +shall convey something of my earnestness to you in the briefest and most +unaffected flow of expression. + +Accept it for what a genuine word of homage is worth, and believe me, + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. C. Cowden Clarke.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _May 5th, 1849._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I am very sorry to say that my Orphan Working School vote is promised in +behalf of an unfortunate young orphan, who, after being canvassed for, +polled for, written for, quarrelled for, fought for, called for, and +done all kind of things for, by ladies who wouldn't go away and wouldn't +be satisfied with anything anybody said or did for them, was floored at +the last election and comes up to the scratch next morning, for the next +election, fresher than ever. I devoutly hope he may get in, and be lost +sight of for evermore. + +Pray give my kindest regards to my quondam Quickly, and believe me, + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Joseph C. King.[43]] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _Saturday, December 1st, 1849._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I hasten to let you know what took place at Eton to-day. I found that I +_did_ stand in some sort committed to Mr. Evans, though not so much so +but that I could with perfect ease have declined to place Charley in his +house if I had desired to do so. I must say, however, that after seeing +Mr. Cookesley (a most excellent man in his way) and seeing Mr. Evans, +and Mr. Evans's house, I think I should, under any circumstances, have +given the latter the preference as to the domestic part of Charley's +life. I would certainly prefer to try it. I therefore thought it best to +propose to have Mr. Cookesley for his tutor, and to place him as a +boarder with Mr. Evans. Both gentlemen seemed satisfied with this +arrangement, and Dr. Hawtrey expressed his approval of it also. + +Mr. Cookesley, wishing to know what Charley could do, asked me if I +would object to leaving him there for half-an-hour or so. As Charley +appeared not at all afraid of this proposal, I left him then and there. +On my return, Mr. Cookesley said, in high and unqualified terms, that he +had been thoroughly well grounded and well taught--that he had examined +him in Virgil and Herodotus, and that he not only knew what he was about +perfectly well, but showed an intelligence in reference to those authors +which did his tutor great credit. He really appeared most interested and +pleased, and filled me with a grateful feeling towards you, to whom +Charley owes so much. + +He said there were certain verses in imitation of Horace (I really +forget what sort of verses) to which Charley was unaccustomed, and which +were a little matter enough in themselves, but were made a great point +of at Eton, and could be got up well in a month "_from an Old Etonian_." +For this purpose he would desire Charley to be sent every day to a +certain Mr. Hardisty, in Store Street, Bedford Square, to whom he had +already (in my absence) prepared a note. Between ourselves, I must not +hesitate to tell you plainly that this appeared to me to be a +conventional way of bestowing a little patronage. But, of course, I had +nothing for it but to say it should be done; upon which, Mr. Cookesley +added that he was then certain that Charley, on coming after the +Christmas holidays, would be placed at once in "the remove," which +seemed to surprise Mr. Evans when I afterwards told him of it as a high +station. + +I will take him to this gentleman on Monday, and arrange for his going +there every day; but, if you will not object, I should still like him to +remain with you, and to have the advantage of preparing these annoying +verses under your eye until the holidays. That Mr. Cookesley may have +his own way thoroughly, I will send Charley to Mr. Hardisty daily until +the school at Eton recommences. + +Let me impress upon you in the strongest manner, not only that I was +inexpressibly delighted myself by the readiness with which Charley went +through this ordeal with a stranger, but that I also saw you would have +been well pleased and much gratified if you could have seen Mr. +Cookesley afterwards. He had evidently not expected such a result, and +took it as not at all an ordinary one. + + My dear Sir, yours faithfully and obliged. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Alexander Ireland.] + + [Private.] + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, LONDON, _24th December, 1849._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +You will not be offended by my saying that (in common with many other +men) I think "our London correspondent" one of the greatest nuisances of +this kind, inasmuch as our London correspondent, seldom knowing +anything, feels bound to know everything, and becomes in consequence a +very reckless gentleman in respect of the truthfulness of his +intelligence. + +In your paper, sent to me this morning, I see the correspondent mentions +one ----, and records how I was wont to feast in the house of the said +----. As I never was in the man's house in my life, or within five miles +of it that I know of, I beg you will do me the favour to contradict +this. + +You will be the less surprised by my begging you to set this right, when +I tell you that, hearing of his book, and knowing his history, I wrote +to New York denouncing him as "a forger and a thief;" that he thereupon +put the gentleman who published my letter into prison, and that having +but one day before the sailing of the last steamer to collect the proofs +printed in the accompanying sheet (which are but a small part of the +villain's life), I got them together in short time, and sent them out to +justify the character I gave him. It is not agreeable to me to be +supposed to have sat at this amiable person's feasts. + + Faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[43] Mr. Joseph Charles King, the friend of many artists and literary +men, conducted a private school, at which the sons of Mr. Macready and +of Charles Dickens were being educated at this time. + + + + +1850. + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.] + + BROADSTAIRS, KENT, _Tuesday, 3rd September, 1850._ + +MY DEAR SIR EDWARD, + +I have had the long-contemplated talk with Forster about the play, and +write to assure you that I shall be delighted to come down to Knebworth +and do Bobadil, or anything else, provided it would suit your +convenience to hold the great dramatic festival in the last week of +October. The concluding number of "Copperfield" will prevent me from +leaving here until Saturday, the 26th of that month. If I were at my own +disposal, I hope I need not say I should be at yours. + +Forster will tell you with what men we must do the play, and what +laurels we would propose to leave for the gathering of new aspirants; of +whom I hope you have a reasonable stock in your part of the country. + +Do you know Mary Boyle--daughter of the old Admiral? because she is the +very best actress I ever saw off the stage, and immeasurably better than +a great many I have seen on it. I have acted with her in a country house +in Northamptonshire, and am going to do so again next November. If you +know her, I think she would be more than pleased to play, and by giving +her something good in a farce we could get her to do Mrs. Kitely. In +that case my little sister-in-law would "go on" for the second lady, +and you could do without actresses, besides giving the thing a +particular grace and interest. + +If we could get Mary Boyle, we would do "Used Up," which is a delightful +piece, as the farce. But maybe you know nothing about the said Mary, and +in that case I should like to know what you would think of doing. + +You gratify me more than I can tell you by what you say about +"Copperfield," the more so as I hope myself that some heretofore-deficient +qualities are there. You are not likely to misunderstand me when I say +that I like it very much, and am deeply interested in it, and that I +have kept and am keeping my mind very steadily upon it. + + Believe me always, very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _Sunday Night, + November 3rd, 1850._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +I should have waited at home to-day on the chance of your calling, but +that I went over to look after Lemon; and I went for this reason: the +surgeon opines that there is no possibility of Mrs. Dickens being able +to play, although she is going on "as well as possible," which I +sincerely believe. + +Now, _when_ the accident happened, Mrs. Lemon told my little +sister-in-law that she would gladly undertake the part if it should +become necessary. Going after her to-day, I found that she and Lemon had +gone out of town, but will be back to-night. I have written to her, +earnestly urging her to the redemption of her offer. I have no doubt of +being able to see her well up in the characters; and I hope you approve +of this remedy. If she once screws her courage to the sticking place, I +have no fear of her whatever. This is what I would say to you. If I +don't see you here, I will write to you at Forster's, reporting +progress. Don't be discouraged, for I am full of confidence, and resolve +to do the utmost that is in me--and I well know they all will--to make +the nights at Knebworth _triumphant_. Once in a thing like this--once in +everything, to my thinking--it must be carried out like a mighty +enterprise, heart and soul. + +Pray regard me as wholly at the disposal of the theatricals, until they +shall be gloriously achieved. + +My unfortunate other half (lying in bed) is very anxious that I should +let you know that she means to break her heart if she should be +prevented from coming as one of the audience, and that she has been +devising means all day of being brought down in the brougham with her +foot upon a T. + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + OFFICE OF "HOUSEHOLD WORDS," _Wednesday Evening, + November 13th, 1850._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +On the principle of postponing nothing connected with the great scheme, +I have been to Ollivier's, where I found our friend the choremusicon in +a very shattered state--his mouth wide open--the greater part of his +teeth out--his bowels disclosed to the public eye--and his whole system +frightfully disordered. In this condition he is speechless. I cannot, +therefore, report touching his eloquence, but I find he is a piano as +well as a choremusicon--that he requires to pass through no intermediate +stage between choremusicon and piano, and therefore that he can easily +and certainly accompany songs. + +Now, will you have it? I am inclined to believe that on the whole, it is +the best thing. + +I have not heard of anything else having happened to anybody. + +If I should not find you gone to Australia or elsewhere, and should not +have occasion to advertise in the third column of _The Times_, I shall +hope not to add to your misfortunes--I dare not say to afford you +consolation--by shaking hands with you to-morrow night, and afterwards +keeping every man connected with the theatrical department to his duty. + + Ever faithfully yours. + + + + +1851. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _Sunday Night, + January 5th, 1851._ + +MY DEAR BULWER, + +I am so sorry to have missed you! I had gone down to Forster, comedy in +hand. + +I think it _most admirable_.[44] Full of character, strong in interest, +rich in capital situations, and _certain to go nobly_. You know how +highly I thought of "Money," but I sincerely think these three acts +finer. I did not think of the slight suggestions you make, but I said, +_en passant_, that perhaps the drunken scene might do better on the +stage a little concentrated. I don't believe it would require even that, +with the leading-up which you propose. I cannot say too much of the +comedy to express what I think and feel concerning it; and I look at it, +too, remember, with the yellow eye of an actor! I should have taken to +it (need I say so!) _con amore_ in any case, but I should have been +jealous of your reputation, exactly as I appreciate your generosity. If +I had a misgiving of ten lines I should have scrupulously mentioned it. + +Stone will take the Duke capitally; and I will answer for his being got +into doing it _very well_. Looking down the perspective of a few winter +evenings here, I am confident about him. Forster will be thoroughly +sound and real. Lemon is so surprisingly sensible and trustworthy on +the stage, that I don't think any actor could touch his part as he will; +and I hope you will have opportunities of testing the accuracy of this +prediction. Egg ought to do the Author to absolute perfection. As to +Jerrold--there he stands in the play! I would propose Leech (well made +up) for Easy. He is a good name, and I see nothing else for him. + +This brings me to my own part. If we had anyone, or could get anyone, +for Wilmot, I could do (I think) something so near your meaning in Sir +Gilbert, that I let him go with a pang. Assumption has charms for me--I +hardly know for how many wild reasons--so delightful, that I feel a loss +of, oh! I can't say what exquisite foolery, when I lose a chance of +being someone in voice, etc., not at all like myself. But--I speak quite +freely, knowing you will not mistake me--I know from experience that we +could find nobody to hold the play together in Wilmot if I didn't do it. +I think I could touch the gallant, generous, careless pretence, with the +real man at the bottom of it, so as to take the audience with him from +the first scene. I am quite sure I understand your meaning; and I am +absolutely certain that as Jerrold, Forster, and Stone came in, I could, +as a mere little bit of mechanics, present them better by doing that +part, and paying as much attention to their points as my own, than +another amateur actor could. Therefore I throw up my cap for Wilmot, and +hereby devote myself to him, heart and head! + +I ought to tell you that in a play we once rehearsed and never played +(but rehearsed several times, and very carefully), I saw Lemon do a +piece of reality with a rugged pathos in it, which I felt, as I stood on +the stage with him to be extraordinarily good. In the serious part of +Sir Gilbert he will surprise you. And he has an intuitive discrimination +in such things which will just keep the suspicious part from being too +droll at the outset--which will just show a glimpse of something in the +depths of it. + +The moment I come back to town (within a fortnight, please God!) I will +ascertain from Forster where you are. Then I will propose to you that we +call our company together, agree upon one general plan of action, and +that you and I immediately begin to see and book our Vice-Presidents, +etc. Further, I think we ought to see about the Queen. I would suggest +our playing first about three weeks before the opening of the +Exhibition, in order that it may be the town talk before the country +people and foreigners come. Macready thinks with me that a very large +sum of money may be got in London. + +I propose (for cheapness and many other considerations) to make a +theatre expressly for the purpose, which we can put up and take +down--say in the Hanover Square Rooms--and move into the country. As +Watson wanted something of a theatre made for his forthcoming Little Go, +I have made it a sort of model of what I mean, and shall be able to test +its working powers before I see you. Many things that, for portability, +were to be avoided in Mr. Hewitt's theatre, I have replaced with less +expensive and weighty contrivances. + +Now, my dear Bulwer, I have come to the small hours, and am writing +alone here, as if _I_ were writing something to do what your comedy +will. At such a time the temptation is strong upon me to say a great +deal more, but I will only say this--in mercy to you--that I do devoutly +believe that this plan carried, will entirely change the status of the +literary man in England, and make a revolution in his position, which no +Government, no power on earth but his own, could ever effect. I have +implicit confidence in the scheme--so splendidly begun--if we carry it +out with a steadfast energy. I have a strong conviction that we hold in +our hands the peace and honour of men of letters for centuries to come, +and that you are destined to be their best and most enduring benefactor. + +Oh! what a procession of New Years might walk out of all this, after we +are very dusty! + + Ever yours faithfully. + +P.S.--I have forgotten something. I suggest this title: "Knowing the +World; or, Not So Bad As We Seem." + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _Tuesday Night, March 4th, 1851._ + +MY DEAR BULWER, + +I know you will be glad to hear what I have to tell you. + +I wrote to the Duke of Devonshire this morning, enclosing him the rough +proof of the scheme, and plainly telling him what we wanted, _i.e._, to +play for the first time at his house, to the Queen and Court. Within a +couple of hours he wrote me as follows: + + "DEAR SIR, + + "I have read with very great interest the + prospectus of the new endowment which you have + confided to my perusal. + + "Your manner of doing so is a proof that I am + honoured by your goodwill and approbation. + + "I'm truly happy to offer you my earnest and + sincere co-operation. My services, my house, + and my subscription will be at your orders. And + I beg you to let me see you before long, not + merely to converse upon this subject, but + because I have long had the greatest wish to + improve our acquaintance, which has, as yet, + been only one of crowded rooms." + +This is quite princely, I think, and will push us along as brilliantly +as heart could desire. Don't you think so too? + +Yesterday Lemon and I saw the Secretary of the National Provident +Institution (the best Office for the purpose, I am inclined to think) +and stated all our requirements. We appointed to meet the chairman and +directors next Tuesday; so on the day of our reading and dining I hope +we shall have that matter in good time. + +The theatre is also under consultation; and directly after the reading +we shall go briskly to work in all departments. + +I hear nothing but praises of your Macready speech--of its eloquence, +delicacy, and perfect taste, all of which it is good to hear, though I +know it all beforehand as well as most men can tell it me. + + Ever cordially. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _Tuesday Morning, 25th March, 1851._ + +MY DEAR BULWER, + +Coming home at midnight last night after our first rehearsal, I find +your letter. I write to entreat you, if you make any change in the first +three acts, to let it be only of the slightest kind. Because we are now +fairly under way, everybody is already drilled into his place, and in +two or three rehearsals those acts will be in a tolerably presentable +state. + +It is of vital importance that we should get the last two acts _soon_. +The Queen and Prince are coming--Phipps wrote me yesterday the most +earnest letter possible--the time is fearfully short, and we _must_ have +the comedy in such a state as that it will go like a machine. Whatever +you do, for heaven's sake don't be persuaded to endanger that! + +Even at the risk of your falling into the pit with despair at beholding +anything of the comedy in its present state, if you can by any +possibility come down to Covent Garden Theatre to-night, do. I hope you +will see in Lemon the germ of a very fine presentation of Sir Geoffrey. +I think Topham, too, will do Easy admirably. + +We really did wonders last night in the way of arrangement. I see the +ground-plan of the first three acts distinctly. The dressing and +furnishing and so forth, will be a perfect picture, and I will answer +for the men in three weeks' time. + + In great haste, my dear Bulwer, + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Cowden Clarke.] + + GREAT MALVERN, _29th March, 1851._ + +MY DEAR MRS. COWDEN CLARKE, + +Ah, those were days indeed, when we were so fatigued at dinner that we +couldn't speak, and so revived at supper that we couldn't go to bed; +when wild in inns the noble savage ran; and all the world was a stage, +gas-lighted in a double sense--by the Young Gas and the old one! When +Emmeline Montague (now Compton, and the mother of two children) came to +rehearse in our new comedy[45] the other night, I nearly fainted. The +gush of recollection was so overpowering that I couldn't bear it. + +I use the portfolio[46] for managerial papers still. That's something. + +But all this does not thank you for your book.[47] I have not got it yet +(being here with Mrs. Dickens, who has been very unwell), but I shall be +in town early in the week, and shall bring it down to read quietly on +these hills, where the wind blows as freshly as if there were no Popes +and no Cardinals whatsoever--nothing the matter anywhere. I thank you a +thousand times, beforehand, for the pleasure you are going to give me. I +am full of faith. Your sister Emma, she is doing work of some sort on +the P.S. side of the boxes, in some dark theatre, _I know_, but where, I +wonder? W.[48] has not proposed to her yet, has he? I understood he was +going to offer his hand and heart, and lay his leg[49] at her feet. + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Mitton.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _19th April, 1851._ + +MY DEAR MITTON, + +I have been in trouble, or I should have written to you sooner. My wife +has been, and is, far from well. My poor father's death caused me much +distress. I came to London last Monday to preside at a public +dinner--played with little Dora, my youngest child, before I went--and +was told when I left the chair that she had died in a moment. I am quite +happy again, but I have undergone a good deal. + +I am not going back to Malvern, but have let this house until September, +and taken the "Fort," at Broadstairs. + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.] + + DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _Monday, 28th April, 1851._ + +MY DEAR BULWER, + +I see you are so anxious, that I shall endeavour to send you this letter +by a special messenger. I think I can relieve your mind completely. + +The Duke has read the play. He asked for it a week ago, and had it. He +has been at Brighton since. He called here before eleven on Saturday +morning, but I was out on the play business, so I went to him at +Devonshire House yesterday. He almost knows the play by heart. He is +supremely delighted with it, and critically understands it. In proof of +the latter part of this sentence I may mention that he had made two or +three memoranda of trivial doubtful points, _every one of which had +attracted our attention in rehearsal_, as I found when he showed them to +me. He thoroughly understands and appreciates the comedy of the +Duke--threw himself back in his chair and laughed, as I say of Walpole, +"till I thought he'd have choked," about his first Duchess, who was a +Percy. He suggested that he shouldn't say: "You know how to speak to the +heart of a Noble," because it was not likely that he would call himself +a Noble. He thought we might close up the Porter and Softhead a little +more (already done) and was so charmed and delighted to recall the +comedy that he was more pleased than any boy you ever saw when I +repeated two or three of the speeches in my part for him. He is coming +to the rehearsal to-day (we rehearse now at Devonshire House, three days +a-week, all day long), and, since he read the play, has conceived a most +magnificent and noble improvement in the Devonshire House plan, by +which, I daresay, we shall get another thousand or fifteen hundred +pounds. There is not a grain of distrust or doubt in him. I am perfectly +certain that he would confide to me, and does confide to me, his whole +mind on the subject. + +More than this, the Duke comes out the best man in the play. I am happy +to report to you that Stone does the honourable manly side of that +pride inexpressibly better than I should have supposed possible in him. +The scene where he makes that reparation to the slandered woman is +_certain_ to be an effect. He is _not_ a jest upon the order of Dukes, +but a great tribute to them. I have sat looking at the play (as you may +suppose) pretty often, and carefully weighing every syllable of it. I +see, in the Duke, the most estimable character in the piece. I am as +sure that I represent the audience in this as I am that I hear the words +when they are spoken before me. The first time that scene with Hardman +was seriously done, it made an effect on the company that quite +surprised and delighted me; and whenever and wherever it is done (but +most of all at Devonshire House) the result will be the same. + +Everyone is greatly improved. I wrote an earnest note to Forster a few +days ago on the subject of his being too loud and violent. He has since +subdued himself with the most admirable pains, and improved the part a +thousand per cent. All the points are gradually being worked and +smoothed out with the utmost neatness all through the play. They are all +most heartily anxious and earnest, and, upon the least hitch, will do +the same thing twenty times over. The scenery, furniture, etc., are +rapidly advancing towards completion, and will be beautiful. The dresses +are a perfect blaze of colour, and there is not a pocket-flap or a scrap +of lace that has not been made according to Egg's drawings to the +quarter of an inch. Every wig has been made from an old print or +picture. From the Duke's snuff-box to Will's Coffee-house, you will +find everything in perfect truth and keeping. I have resolved that +whenever we come to a weak place in the acting, it must, somehow or +other, be made a strong one. The places that I used to be most afraid of +are among the best points now. + +Will you come to the dress rehearsal on the Tuesday evening before the +Queen's night? There will be no one present but the Duke. + +I write in the greatest haste, for the rehearsal time is close at hand, +and I have the master carpenter and gasman to see before we begin. + +Miss Coutts is one of the most sensible of women, and if I had not seen +the Duke yesterday, I would have shown her the play directly. But there +can't be any room for anxiety on the head that has troubled you so much. +You may clear it from your mind as completely as Gunpowder Plot. + + In great haste, ever cordially. + + +[Sidenote: The Hon. Miss Eden.[50]] + + BROADSTAIRS, _Sunday, 28th September, 1851._ + +MY DEAR MISS EDEN, + +Many thanks for the grapes; which must have come from the identical vine +a man ought to sit under. They were a prodigy of excellence. + +I have been concerned to hear of your indisposition, but thought the +best thing I could do, was to make no formal calls when you were really +ill. I have been suffering myself from another kind of malady--a severe, +spasmodic, house-buying-and-repairing attack--which has left me +extremely weak and all but exhausted. The seat of the disorder has been +the pocket. + +I had the kindest of notes from the kindest of men this morning, and am +going to see him on Wednesday. Of course I mean the Duke of Devonshire. +Can I take anything to Chatsworth for you? + + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Frank Stone.] + + EXTRACT FROM LETTER TO MR. STONE. + + _8th September, 1851._ + +You never saw such a sight as the sands between this and Margate +presented yesterday. This day fortnight a steamer laden with cattle +going from Rotterdam to the London market, was wrecked on the +Goodwin--on which occasion, by-the-bye, the coming in at night of our +Salvage Luggers laden with dead cattle, which where hoisted up upon the +pier where they lay in heaps, was a most picturesque and striking sight. +The sea since Wednesday has been very rough, blowing in straight upon +the land. Yesterday, the shore was strewn with hundreds of oxen, sheep, +and pigs (and with bushels upon bushels of apples), in every state and +stage of decay--burst open, rent asunder, lying with their stiff hoofs +in the air, or with their great ribs yawning like the wrecks of +ships--tumbled and beaten out of shape, and yet with a horrible sort of +humanity about them. Hovering among these carcases was every kind of +water-side plunderer, pulling the horns out, getting the hides off, +chopping the hoofs with poleaxes, etc. etc., attended by no end of +donkey carts, and spectral horses with scraggy necks, galloping wildly +up and down as if there were something maddening in the stench. I never +beheld such a demoniacal business! + + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry Austin.] + + BROADSTAIRS, _Monday, 8th September, 1851._ + +MY DEAR HENRY, + +Your letter, received this morning, has considerably allayed the anguish +of my soul. Our letters crossed, of course, as letters under such +circumstances always do. + +I am perpetually wandering (in fancy) up and down the house[51] and +tumbling over the workmen; when I feel that they are gone to dinner I +become low, when I look forward to their total abstinence on Sunday, I +am wretched. The gravy at dinner has a taste of glue in it. I smell +paint in the sea. Phantom lime attends me all the day long. I dream that +I am a carpenter and can't partition off the hall. I frequently dance +(with a distinguished company) in the drawing-room, and fall into the +kitchen for want of a pillar. + +A great to-do here. A steamer lost on the Goodwins yesterday, and our +men bringing in no end of dead cattle and sheep. I stood a supper for +them last night, to the unbounded gratification of Broadstairs. They +came in from the wreck very wet and tired, and very much disconcerted by +the nature of their prize--which, I suppose, after all, will have to be +recommitted to the sea, when the hides and tallow are secured. One +lean-faced boatman murmured, when they were all ruminative over the +bodies as they lay on the pier: "Couldn't sassages be made on it?" but +retired in confusion shortly afterwards, overwhelmed by the execrations +of the bystanders. + + Ever affectionately. + +P.S.--Sometimes I think ----'s bill will be too long to be added up +until Babbage's calculating machine shall be improved and finished. +Sometimes that there is not paper enough ready made, to carry it over +and bring it forward upon. + +I dream, also, of the workmen every night. They make faces at me, and +won't do anything. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Austen Henry Layard.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, _16th December, 1851._ + +MY DEAR LAYARD,[52] + +I want to renew your recollection of "the last time we parted"--not at +Wapping Old Stairs, but at Miss Coutts's--when we vowed to be more +intimate after all nations should have departed from Hyde Park, and I +should be able to emerge from my cave on the sea-shore. + +Can you, and will you, be in town on Wednesday, the last day of the +present old year? If yes, will you dine with us at a quarter after six, +and see the New Year in with such extemporaneous follies of an exploded +sort (in genteel society) as may occur to us? Both Mrs. Dickens and I +would be really delighted if this should find you free to give us the +pleasure of your society. + + Believe me always, very faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[44] "Not So Bad As We Seem; or, Many Sides to a Character." + +[45] "Not So Bad As We Seem." + +[46] An embroidered blotting-book given by Mrs. Cowden Clarke. + +[47] One of the series in "The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines," +dedicated to Charles Dickens. + +[48] Wilmot, the clever veteran prompter, who was engaged to accompany +the acting-tours. + +[49] A wooden one. + +[50] Miss Eden had a cottage at Broadstairs, and was residing there at +this time. + +[51] Tavistock House. + +[52] Now Sir Austen Henry Layard. + + + + +1852. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. James Bower Harrison.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, _5th January, 1852._ + +DEAR SIR, + +I have just received the work[53] you have had the kindness to send me, +and beg to thank you for it, and for your obliging note, cordially. It +is a very curious little volume, deeply interesting, and written (if I +may be allowed to say so) with as much power of knowledge and plainness +of purpose as modesty. + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Sunday Night, 15th February, 1852._ + +MY DEAR BULWER, + +I left Liverpool at four o'clock this morning, and am so blinded by +excitement, gas, and waving hats and handkerchiefs, that I can hardly +see to write, but I cannot go to bed without telling you what a triumph +we have had. Allowing for the necessarily heavy expenses of all kinds, I +believe we can hardly fund less than a Thousand Pounds out of this trip +alone. And, more than that, the extraordinary interest taken in the idea +of the Guild by "this grand people of England" down in these vast hives, +and the enthusiastic welcome they give it, assure me that we may do what +we will if we will only be true and faithful to our design. There is a +social recognition of it which I cannot give you the least idea of. I +sincerely believe that we have the ball at our feet, and may throw it up +to the very Heaven of Heavens. And I don't speak for myself alone, but +for all our people, and not least of all for Forster, who has been +absolutely stunned by the tremendous earnestness of these great places. + +To tell you (especially after your affectionate letter) what I would +have given to have had you there would be idle. But I can most seriously +say that all the sights of the earth turned pale in my eyes, before the +sight of three thousand people with one heart among them, and no +capacity in them, in spite of all their efforts, of sufficiently +testifying to you how they believe you to be right, and feel that they +cannot do enough to cheer you on. They understood the play (_far better +acted by this time than ever you have seen it_) as well as you do. They +allowed nothing to escape them. They rose up, when it was over, with a +perfect fury of delight, and the Manchester people sent a requisition +after us to Liverpool to say that if we will go back there in May, when +we act at Birmingham (as of course we shall) they will joyfully +undertake to fill the Free Trade Hall again. Among the Tories of +Liverpool the reception was equally enthusiastic. We played, two nights +running, to a hall crowded to the roof--more like the opera at Genoa or +Milan than anything else I can compare it to. We dined at the Town Hall +magnificently, and it made no difference in the response. I said what we +were quietly determined to do (when the Guild was given as the toast of +the night), and really they were so noble and generous in their +encouragement that I should have been more ashamed of myself than I hope +I ever shall be, if I could have felt conscious of having ever for a +moment faltered in the work. + +I will answer for Birmingham--for any great working town to which we +chose to go. We have won a position for the idea which years upon years +of labour could not have given it. I believe its worldly fortunes have +been advanced in this last week fifty years at least. I feebly express +to you what Forster (who couldn't be at Liverpool, and has not those +shouts ringing in his ears) has felt from the moment he set foot in +Manchester. Believe me we may carry a perfect fiery cross through the +North of England, and over the Border, in this cause, if need be--not +only to the enrichment of the cause, but to the lasting enlistment of +the people's sympathy. + +I have been so happy in all this that I could have cried on the shortest +notice any time since Tuesday. And I do believe that our whole body +would have gone to the North Pole with me if I had shown them good +reason for it. + +I hope I am not so tired but that you may be able to read this. I have +been at it almost incessantly, day and night for a week, and I am afraid +my handwriting suffers. But in all other respects I am only a giant +refreshed. + +We meet next Saturday you recollect? Until then, and ever afterwards, + + Believe me, heartily yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Cowden Clarke.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _3rd March, 1852._ + +MY DEAR MRS. CLARKE, + +It is almost an impertinence to tell you how delightful your flowers +were to me; for you who thought of that beautiful and delicately-timed +token of sympathy and remembrance, must know it very well already. + +I do assure you that I have hardly ever received anything with so much +pleasure in all my life. They are not faded yet--are on my table +here--but never can fade out of my remembrance. + +I should be less than a Young Gas, and more than an old Manager--that +commemorative portfolio is here too--if I could relieve my heart of half +that it could say to you. All my house are my witnesses that you have +quite filled it, and this note is my witness that I can _not_ empty it. + + Ever faithfully and gratefully your friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. James Bower Harrison.] + + LONDON, TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _26th March, 1852._ + +DEAR SIR, + +I beg to thank you for your interesting pamphlet, and to add that I +shall be very happy to accept an article from you on the subject[54] for +"Household Words." I should already have suggested to you that I should +have great pleasure in receiving contributions from one so well and +peculiarly qualified to treat of many interesting subjects, but that I +felt a delicacy in encroaching on your other occupations. Will you +excuse my remarking that to make an article on this particular subject +useful, it is essential to address the employed as well as the +employers? In the case of the Sheffield grinders the difficulty was, for +many years, not with the masters, but the men. Painters who use white +lead are with the greatest difficulty persuaded to be particular in +washing their hands, and I daresay that I need not remind you that one +could not generally induce domestic servants to attend to the commonest +sanitary principles in their work without absolutely forcing them to +experience their comfort and convenience. + + Dear Sir, very faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[53] The "Medical Aspects of Death, and the Medical Aspects of the Human +Mind." + +[54] The injurious effects of the manufacture of lucifer matches on the +employed. + + + + +1853. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + 1, JUNCTION PARADE, BRIGHTON, + _Thursday night, 4th March, 1853._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +I am sorry, but Brutus sacrifices unborn children of his own as well as +those of other people. "The Sorrows of Childhood," long in type, and +long a mere mysterious name, must come out. The paper really is, like +the celebrated ambassadorial appointment, "too bad." + +"A Doctor of Morals," _impossible of insertion as it stands_. A mere +puff, with all the difficult facts of the question blinked, and many +statements utterly at variance with what I am known to have written. It +is exactly because the great bulk of offences in a great number of +places are committed by professed thieves, that it will not do to have +pet prisoning advocated without grave remonstrance and great care. That +class of prisoner is not to be reformed. We must begin at the beginning +and prevent, by stringent correction and supervision of wicked parents, +that class of prisoner from being regularly supplied as if he were a +human necessity. + +Do they teach trades in workhouses and try to fit _their_ people (the +worst part of them) for society? Come with me to Tothill Fields +Bridewell, and I will show you what a workhouse girl is. Or look to my +"Walk in a Workhouse" (in "H. W.") and to the glance at the youths I saw +in one place positively kept like wolves. + +Mr. ---- thinks prisons could be made nearly self-supporting. Have you +any idea of the difficulty that is found in disposing of Prison-work, or +does he think that the Treadmills didn't grind the air because the State +or the Magistracy objected to the competition of prison-labour with +free-labour, but because the work _could not be got_? + +I never can have any kind of prison-discipline disquisition in "H. W." +that does not start with the first great principle I have laid down, +and that does not protest against Prisons being considered _per se_. +Whatever chance is given to a man in a prison must be given to a man in +a refuge for distress. + +The article in itself is very good, but it must have these points in it, +otherwise I am not only compromising opinions I am known to hold, but +the journal itself is blowing hot and cold, and playing fast and loose +in a ridiculous way. + +"Starting a Paper in India" is very droll to us. But it is full of +references that the public don't understand, and don't in the least care +for. Bourgeois, brevier, minion, and nonpareil, long primer, turn-ups, +dunning advertisements, and reprints, back forme, imposing-stone, and +locking-up, are all quite out of their way, and a sort of slang that +they have no interest in. + +Let me see a revise when you have got it together, and if you can +strengthen it--do. I mention all the objections that occur to me as I go +on, not because you can obviate them (except in the case of the +prison-paper), but because if I make a point of doing so always you will +feel and judge the more readily both for yourself and me too when I take +an Italian flight. + + YOU: + How are the eyes getting on? + + ME: + I have been at work all day. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + BOULOGNE, _Sunday, 7th August, 1853._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +Can't possibly write autographs until I have written "Bleak House." My +work has been very hard since I have been here; and when I throw down my +pen of a day, I throw down myself, and can take up neither article. + +The "C. P." is very well done, but I cannot make up my mind to lend my +blow to the great Forge-bellows of puffery at work. I so heartily desire +to have nothing to do with it, that I wish you would cancel this article +altogether, and substitute something else. As to the guide-books, I +think they are a sufficiently flatulent botheration in themselves, +without being discussed. A lurking desire is always upon me to put Mr. +----'s speech on Accidents to the public, as chairman of the Brighton +Railway, against his pretensions as a chairman of public instructors and +guardians. And I don't know but that I may come to it at some odd time. +This strengthens me in my wish to avoid the bellows. + +How two men can have gone, one after the other, to the Camp, and have +written nothing about it, passes my comprehension. I have been in great +doubt about the end of ----. I wish you would suggest to him from me, +when you see him, how wrong it is. Surely he cannot be insensible to the +fact that military preparations in England at this time mean Defence. +Woman, says ----, means Home, love, children, Mother. Does he not find +any protection for these things in a wise and moderate means of +Defence; and is not the union between these things and those means one +of the most natural, significant, and plain in the world? + +I wish you would send friend Barnard here a set of "Household Words," in +a paid parcel (on the other side is an inscription to be neatly pasted +into vol. i. before sending), with a post-letter beforehand from +yourself, saying that I had begged you to forward the books, feeling so +much obliged to him for his uniform attention and politeness. Also that +you will not fail to continue his set, as successive volumes appear. + + ASPECTS OF NATURE. + +We have had a tremendous sea here. Steam-packet in the harbour frantic, +and dashing her brains out against the stone walls. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Rev. James White.] + + BOULOGNE, _September 30th, 1853._ + +MY DEAR WHITE, + +As you wickedly failed in your truth to the writer of books you adore, I +write something that I hoped to have said, and meant to have said, in +the confidence of the Pavilion among the trees. + +Will you write another story for the Christmas No.? It will be exactly +(I mean the Xmas No.) on the same plan as the last. + +I shall be at the office from Monday to Thursday, and shall hope to +receive a cheery "Yes," in reply. + +Loves from all to all, and my particular love to Mrs. White. + + Ever cordially yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Charles Dickens.] + + HOTEL DE LONDRES, CHAMOUNIX, + _Thursday Night, 20th October, 1853._ + +MY DEAREST KATE, + +We[55] came here last night after a very long journey over very bad +roads, from Geneva, and leave here (for Montigny, by the Tete Noire) at +6 to-morrow morning. Next morning early we mean to try the Simplon. + +After breakfast to-day we ascended to the Mer de Glace--wonderfully +different at this time of the year from when we saw it--a great portion +of the ascent being covered with snow, and the climbing very difficult. +Regardless of my mule, I walked up and walked down again, to the great +admiration of the guides, who pronounced me "an Intrepid." The little +house at the top being closed for the winter, and Edward having +forgotten to carry any brandy, we had nothing to drink at the top--which +was a considerable disappointment to the Inimitable, who was streaming +with perspiration from head to foot. But we made a fire in the snow with +some sticks, and after a not too comfortable rest came down again. It +took a long time--from 10 to 3. + +The appearance of Chamounix at this time of year is very remarkable. The +travellers are over for the season, the inns are generally shut up, all +the people who can afford it are moving off to Geneva, the snow is low +on the mountains, and the general desolation and grandeur +extraordinarily fine. I wanted to pass by the Col de Balme, but the snow +lies too deep upon it. + +You would have been quite delighted if you could have seen the warmth of +our old Lausanne friends, and the heartiness with which they crowded +down on a fearfully bad morning to see us off. We passed the night at +the Ecu de Geneve, in the rooms once our old rooms--at that time (the +day before yesterday) occupied by the Queen of the French (ex- I mean) +and Prince Joinville and his family. + +Tell Sydney that all the way here from Geneva, and up to the Sea of Ice +this morning, I wore his knitting, which was very comfortable indeed. I +mean to wear it on the long mule journey to Martigny to-morrow. + +We get on extremely well. Edward continues as before. He had never been +here, and I took him up to the Mer de Glace this morning, and had a mule +for him. + +I shall leave this open, as usual, to add a word or two on our arrival +at Martigny. We have had an amusingly absurd incident this afternoon. +When we came here, I saw added to the hotel--our old hotel, and I am now +writing in the room where we once dined at the table d'hote--some baths, +cold and hot, down on the margin of the torrent below. This induced us +to order three hot baths. Thereupon the keys of the bath-rooms were +found with immense difficulty, women ran backwards and forwards across +the bridge, men bore in great quantities of wood, a horrible furnace was +lighted, and a smoke was raised which filled the whole valley. This +began at half-past three, and we congratulated each other on the +distinction we should probably acquire by being the cause of the +conflagration of the whole village. We sat by the fire until half-past +five (dinner-time), and still no baths. Then Edward came up to say that +the water was as yet only "tippit," which we suppose to be tepid, but +that by half-past eight it would be in a noble state. Ever since the +smoke has poured forth in enormous volume, and the furnace has blazed, +and the women have gone and come over the bridge, and piles of wood have +been carried in; but we observe a general avoidance of us by the +establishment which still looks like failure. We have had a capital +dinner, the dessert whereof is now on the table. When we arrived, at +nearly seven last night, all the linen in the house, newly washed, was +piled in the sitting-room, all the curtains were taken down, and all +the chairs piled bottom upwards. They cleared away as much as they could +directly, and had even got the curtains up at breakfast this morning. + +I am looking forward to letters at Genoa, though I doubt if we shall get +there (supposing all things right at the Simplon) before Monday night or +Tuesday morning. I found there last night what F---- would call "Mr. +Smith's" story of Mont Blanc, and took it to bed to read. It is +extremely well and unaffectedly done. You would be interested in it. + + + MARTIGNY, _Friday Afternoon, October 21st._ + +Safely arrived here after a most delightful day, without a cloud. I +walked the whole way. The scenery most beautifully presented. We are in +the hotel where our old St. Bernard party assembled. + +I should like to see you all very much indeed. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + HOTEL DE LA VILLE, MILAN, _25th October, 1853._ + +MY DEAREST CATHERINE, + +The road from Chamounix here takes so much more time than I supposed +(for I travelled it day and night, and my companions don't at all +understand the idea of never going to bed) that we only reached Milan +last night, though we had been travelling twelve and fifteen hours a +day. We crossed the Simplon on Sunday, when there was not (as there is +not now) a particle of cloud in the whole sky, and when the pass was as +nobly grand and beautiful as it possibly can be. There was a good deal +of snow upon the top, but not across the road, which had been cleared. +We crossed the Austrian frontier yesterday, and, both there and at the +gate of Milan, received all possible consideration and politeness. + +I have not seen Bairr yet. He has removed from the old hotel to a larger +one at a few hours' distance. The head-waiter remembered me very well +last night after I had talked to him a little while, and was greatly +interested in hearing about all the family, and about poor Roche. The +boy we used to have at Lausanne is now seventeen-and-a-half--very tall, +he says. The elder girl, fifteen, very like her mother, but taller and +more beautiful. He described poor Mrs. Bairr's death (I am speaking of +the head-waiter before mentioned) in most vivacious Italian. It was all +over in ten minutes, he said. She put her hands to her head one day, +down in the courtyard, and cried out that she heard little bells ringing +violently in her ears. They sent off for Bairr, who was close by. When +she saw him, she stretched out her arms, said in English, "Adieu, my +dear!" and fell dead. He has not married again, and he never will. She +was a good woman (my friend went on), excellent woman, full of charity, +loved the poor, but _un poco furiosa_--that was nothing! + +The new hotel is just like the old one, admirably kept, excellently +furnished, and a model of comfort. I hope to be at Genoa on Thursday +morning, and to find your letter there. We have agreed to drop Sicily, +and to return home by way of Marseilles. Our projected time for reaching +London is the 10th of December. + +As this house is full, I daresay we shall meet some one we know at the +table d'hote to-day. It is extraordinary that the only travellers we +have encountered, since we left Paris, have been one horribly vapid +Englishman and wife whom we dropped at Basle, one boring Englishman whom +we found (and, thank God, left) at Geneva, and two English maiden +ladies, whom we found sitting on a rock (with parasols) the day before +yesterday, in the most magnificent part of the Gorge of Gondo, the most +awful portion of the Simplon--there awaiting their travelling chariot, +in which, with their money, their parasols, and a perfect shop of +baskets, they were carefully _locked up_ by an English servant in sky +blue and silver buttons. We have been in the most extraordinary +vehicles--like swings, like boats, like Noah's arks, like barges and +enormous bedsteads. After dark last night, a landlord, where we changed +horses, discovered that the luggage would certainly be stolen from +_questo porco d'uno carro_--this pig of a cart--his complimentary +description of our carriage, unless cords were attached to each of the +trunks, which cords were to hang down so that we might hold them in our +hands all the way, and feel any tug that might be made at our treasures. +You will imagine the absurdity of our jolting along some twenty miles in +this way, exactly as if we were in three shower-baths and were afraid to +pull the string. + +We are going to the Scala to-night, having got the old box belonging to +the hotel, the old key of which is lying beside me on the table. There +seem to be no singers of note here now, and it appears for the time to +have fallen off considerably. I shall now bring this to a close, hoping +that I may have more interesting jottings to send you about the old +scenes and people, from Genoa, where we shall stay two days. You are +now, I take it, at Macready's. I shall be greatly interested by your +account of your visit there. We often talk of you all. + +Edward's Italian is (I fear) very weak. When we began to get really into +the language, he reminded me of poor Roche in Germany. But he seems to +have picked up a little this morning. He has been unfortunate with the +unlucky Egg, leaving a pair of his shoes (his favourite shoes) behind in +Paris, and his flannel dressing-gown yesterday morning at Domo d'Ossola. +In all other respects he is just as he was. + +Egg and Collins have gone out to kill the lions here, and I take +advantage of their absence to write to you, Georgie, and Miss Coutts. +Wills will have told you, I daresay, that Cerjat accompanied us on a +miserably wet morning, in a heavy rain, down the lake. By-the-bye, the +wife of one of his cousins, born in France of German parents, living in +the next house to Haldimand's, is one of the most charming, natural, +open-faced, and delightful women I ever saw. Madame de ---- is set up as +the great attraction of Lausanne; but this capital creature shuts her up +altogether. We have called her (her--the real belle), ever since, the +early closing movement. + +I am impatient for letters from home; confused ideas are upon me that +you are going to White's, but I have no notion when. + +Take care of yourself, and God bless you. + + Ever most affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + CROCE DI MALTA, GENOA, + _Friday Night, October 29th, 1853._ + +MY DEAREST CATHERINE, + +As we arrived here later than I had expected (in consequence of the +journey from Milan being most horribly slow) I received your welcome +letter only this morning. I write this before going to bed, that I may +be sure of not being taken by any engagement off the post time +to-morrow. + +We came in last night between seven and eight. The railroad to Turin is +finished and opened to within twenty miles of Genoa. Its effect upon +the whole town, and especially upon that part of it lying down beyond +the lighthouse and away by San Pietro d'Arena, is quite wonderful. I +only knew the place by the lighthouse, so numerous were the new +buildings, so wide the streets, so busy the people, and so thriving and +busy the many signs of commerce. To-day I have seen ----, the ----, the +----, and the ----, the latter of whom live at Nervi, fourteen or +fifteen miles off, towards Porto Fino. First, of the ----. They are just +the same, except that Mrs. ----'s face is larger and fuller, and her +hair rather gray. As I rang at their bell she came out walking, and +stared at me. "What! you don't know me?" said I; upon which she +recognised me very warmly, and then said in her old quiet way: "I +expected to find a ruin. We heard you had been so ill; and I find you +younger and better-looking than ever. But it's so strange to see you +without a bright waistcoat. Why haven't you got a bright waistcoat on?" +I apologised for my black one, and was sent upstairs, when ---- +presently appeared in a hideous and demoniacal nightdress, having turned +out of bed to greet his distinguished countryman. After a long talk, in +the course of which I arranged to dine there on Sunday early, before +starting by the steamer for Naples, and in which they told me every +possible and impossible particular about their minutest affairs, and +especially about ----'s marriage, I set off for ----, at ----. I had +found letters from him here, and he had been here over and over again, +and had driven out no end of times to the Gate to leave messages for me, +and really is (in his strange uncouth way) crying glad to see me. I +found him and his wife in a little comfortable country house, +overlooking the sea, sitting in a small summer-house on wheels, exactly +like a bathing machine. I found her rather pretty, extraordinarily cold +and composed, a mere piece of furniture, _talking broken English_. +Through eight months in the year they live in this country place. She +never reads, never works, never talks, never gives an order or directs +anything, has only a taste for going to the theatre (where she never +speaks either) and buying clothes. They sit in the garden all day, dine +at four, _smoke their cigars_, go in at eight, sit about till ten, and +then go to bed. The greater part of this I had from ---- himself in a +particularly unintelligible confidence in the garden, the only portion +of which that I could clearly understand were the words "and one thing +and another," repeated one hundred thousand times. He described himself +as being perfectly happy, and seemed very fond of his wife. "But that," +said ---- to me this morning, looking like the figure-head of a ship, +with a nutmeg-grater for a face, "that he ought to be, and must be, and +is bound to be--he couldn't help it." + +Then I went on to the ----'s, and found them living in a beautiful +situation in a ruinous Albaro-like palace. Coming upon them unawares, I +found ----, with a pointed beard, smoking a great German pipe, in a pair +of slippers; the two little girls very pale and faint from the climate, +in a singularly untidy state--one (heaven knows why!) without stockings, +and both with their little short hair cropped in a manner never before +beheld, and a little bright bow stuck on the top of it. ---- said she +had invented this headgear as a picturesque thing, adding that perhaps +it was--and perhaps it was not. She was greatly flushed and agitated, +but looked very well, and seems to be greatly liked here. We had +disturbed her at her painting in oils, and I rather received an +impression that, what with that, and what with music, the household +affairs went a little to the wall. ---- was teaching the two little +girls the multiplication table in a disorderly old billiard-room with +all manner of maps in it. + +Having obtained a gracious permission from the lady of the school, I am +going to show my companions the Sala of the Peschiere this morning. It +is raining intensely hard in the regular Genoa manner, so that I can +hardly hope for Genoa's making as fine an impression as I could desire. +Our boat for Naples is a large French mail boat, and we hope to get +there on Tuesday or Wednesday. If the day after you receive this you +write to the Poste Restante, Rome, it will be the safest course. +Friday's letter write Poste Restante, Florence. You refer to a letter +you suppose me to have received from Forster--to whom my love. No letter +from him has come to hand. + +I will resume my report of this place in my next. In the meantime, I +will not fail to drink dear Katey's health to-day. Edward has just come +in with mention of an English boat on Tuesday morning, superior to +French boat to-morrow, and faster. I shall inquire at ---- and take the +best. When I next write I will give you our route in detail. + +I am pleased to hear of Mr. Robson's success in a serious part, as I +hope he will now be a fine actor. I hope you will enjoy yourself at +Macready's, though I fear it must be sometimes but a melancholy visit. + +Good-bye, my dear, and believe me ever most affectionately. + + + _Sunday, 30th October._ + +We leave for Naples to-morrow morning by the Peninsular and Oriental +Company's steamer the _Valletta_. I send a sketch of our movements that +I have at last been able to make. + +Mrs. ---- quite came out yesterday. So did Mrs. ---- (in a different +manner), by violently attacking Mrs. ---- for painting ill in oils when +she might be playing well on the piano. It rained hard all yesterday, +but is finer this morning. We went over the Peschiere in the wet +afternoon. The garden is sorely neglected now, and the rooms are all +full of boarding-school beds, and most of the fireplaces are closed up, +but the old beauty and grandeur of the place were in it still. + +This will find you, I suppose, at Sherborne. My heartiest love to dear +Macready, and to Miss Macready, and to all the house. I hope my godson +has not forgotten me. + +I will think of Charley (from whom I have heard here) and soon write to +him definitely. At present I think he had better join me at Boulogne. I +shall not bring the little boys over, as, if we keep our time, it would +be too long before Christmas Day. + +With love to Georgy, ever most affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + HOTEL DES ETRANGERS, NAPLES, + _Friday Night, November 4th, 1853._ + +MY DEAREST CATHERINE, + +We arrived here at midday--two days after our intended time, under +circumstances which I reserve for Georgina's letter, by way of +variety--in what Forster used to call good health and sp--p--pirits. We +have a charming apartment opposite the sea, a little lower down than the +Victoria--in the direction of the San Carlo Theatre--and the windows are +now wide open as on an English summer night. The first persons we found +on board at Genoa, were Emerson Tennent, Lady Tennent, their son and +daughter. They are all here too, in an apartment over ours, and we have +all been constantly together in a very friendly way, ever since our +meeting. We dine at the table d'hote--made a league together on +board--and have been mutually agreeable. They have no servant with them, +and have profited by Edward. He goes on perfectly well, is always +cheerful and ready, has been sleeping on board (upside down, I believe), +in a corner, with his head in the wet and his heels against the side of +the paddle-box--but has been perpetually gay and fresh. + +As soon as we got our luggage from the custom house, we packed complete +changes in a bag, set off in a carriage for some warm baths, and had a +most refreshing cleansing after our long journey. There was an odd +Neapolitan attendant--a steady old man--who, bringing the linen into my +bath, proposed to "soap me." Upon which I called out to the other two +that I intended to have everything done to me that could be done, and +gave him directions accordingly. I was frothed all over with Naples +soap, rubbed all down, scrubbed with a brush, had my nails cut, and all +manner of extraordinary operations performed. He was as much +disappointed (apparently) as surprised not to find me dirty, and kept on +ejaculating under his breath, "Oh, Heaven! how clean this Englishman +is!" He also remarked that the Englishman is as fair as a beautiful +woman. Some relations of Lord John Russell's, going to Malta, were +aboardship, and we were very pleasant. Likewise there was a Mr. Young +aboard--an agreeable fellow, not very unlike Forster in person--who +introduced himself as the brother of the Miss Youngs whom we knew at +Boulogne. He was musical and had much good-fellowship in him, and we +were very agreeable together also. On the whole I became decidedly +popular, and was embraced on all hands when I came over the side this +morning. We are going up Vesuvius, of course, and to Herculaneum and +Pompeii, and the usual places. The Tennents will be our companions in +most of our excursions, but we shall leave them here behind us. Naples +looks just the same as when we left it, except that the weather is much +better and brighter. + +On the day before we left Genoa, we had another dinner with ---- at his +country place. He was the soul of hospitality, and really seems to love +me. You would have been quite touched if you could have seen the honest +warmth of his affection. On the occasion of this second banquet, Egg +made a brilliant mistake that perfectly convulsed us all. I had +introduced all the games with great success, and we were playing at the +"What advice would you have given that person?" game. The advice was +"Not to bully his fellow-creatures." Upon which, Egg triumphantly and +with the greatest glee, screamed, "Mr. ----!" utterly forgetting ----'s +relationship, which I had elaborately impressed upon him. The effect was +perfectly irresistible and uncontrollable; and the little woman's way of +humouring the joke was in the best taste and the best sense. While I am +upon Genoa I may add, that when we left the Croce the landlord, in +hoping that I was satisfied, told me that as I was an old inhabitant, he +had charged the prices "as to a Genoese." They certainly were very +reasonable. + +Mr. and Mrs. Sartoris have lately been staying in this house, but are +just gone. It is kept by an English waiting-maid who married an Italian +courier, and is extremely comfortable and clean. I am getting impatient +to hear from you with all home news, and shall be heartily glad to get +to Rome, and find my best welcome and interest at the post-office there. + +That ridiculous ---- and her mother were at the hotel at Leghorn the day +before yesterday, where the mother (poor old lady!) was so ill from the +fright and anxiety consequent on her daughter's efforts at martyrdom, +that it is even doubtful whether she will recover. I learnt from a lady +friend of ----, that all this nonsense originated at Nice, where she was +stirred up by Free Kirk parsons--itinerant--any one of whom I take her +to be ready to make a semi-celestial marriage with. The dear being who +told me all about her was a noble specimen--single, forty, in a clinging +flounced black silk dress, which wouldn't drape, or bustle, or fall, or +do anything of that sort--and with a leghorn hat on her head, at least +(I am serious) _six feet round_. The consequence of its immense size, +was, that whereas it had an insinuating blue decoration in the form of a +bow in front, it was so out of her knowledge behind, that it was all +battered and bent in that direction--and, viewed from that quarter, she +looked drunk. + +My best love to Mamey and Katey, and Sydney the king of the nursery, and +Harry and the dear little Plornishghenter. I kiss almost all the +children I encounter in remembrance of their sweet faces, and talk to +all the mothers who carry them. I hope to hear nothing but good news +from you, and to find nothing but good spirits in your expected letter +when I come to Rome. I already begin to look homeward, being now at the +remotest part of the journey, and to anticipate the pleasure of return. + + Ever most affectionately. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[55] Charles Dickens, Mr. Wilkie Collins, Mr. Augustus Egg, and Edward +the courier. + + + + +1854. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Frederick Grew.[56]] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, LONDON, _13th January, 1854._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I beg, through you, to assure the artizans' committee in aid of the +Birmingham and Midland Institute, that I have received the resolution +they have done me the honour to agree upon for themselves and their +fellow-workmen, with the highest gratification. I awakened no pleasure +or interest among them at Birmingham which they did not repay to me with +abundant interest. I have their welfare and happiness sincerely at +heart, and shall ever be their faithful friend. + + Your obedient servant. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Gaskell.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _February 18th, 1854._ + +MY DEAR MRS. GASKELL, + +I am sorry to say that I am not one of the Zoologicals, or I should have +been delighted to have had a hand in the introduction of a child to the +lions and tigers. But Wills shall send up to the gardens this morning, +and see if Mr. Mitchell, the secretary, can be found. If he be +producible I have no doubt that I can send you what you want in the +course of the day. + +Such has been the distraction of _my_ mind in _my_ story, that I have +twice forgotten to tell you how much I liked the Modern Greek Songs. The +article is printed and at press for the very next number as ever is. + +Don't put yourself out at all as to the division of the story into +parts; I think you had far better write it in your own way. When we come +to get a little of it into type, I have no doubt of being able to make +such little suggestions as to breaks of chapters as will carry us over +all that easily. + + My dear Mrs. Gaskell, + Always faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Rev. W. Harness.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Friday Evening, May 19th, 1854._ + +MY DEAR HARNESS, + +On Thursday, the first of June, we shall be delighted to come. (Might I +ask for the mildest whisper of the dinner-hour?) I am more than ever +devoted to your niece, if possible, for giving me the choice of two +days, as on the second of June I am a fettered mortal. + +I heard a manly, Christian sermon last Sunday at the Foundling--with +_great satisfaction_. If you should happen to know the preacher of it, +pray thank him from me. + + Ever cordially yours. + + +[Sidenote: Rev. James White.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _May 26th, 1854._ + +MY DEAR WHITE, + +Here is Conolly in a dreadful state of mind because you won't dine with +him on the 7th of June next to meet Stratford-on-Avon people, writing to +me, to ask me to write to you and ask you what you mean by it. + +What _do_ you mean by it? + +It appears to Conolly that your supposing you _can_ have anything to do +is a clear case of monomania, one of the slight instances of perverted +intellect, wherein a visit to him cannot fail to be beneficial. After +conference with my learned friend I am of the same opinion. + +Loves from all in Tavistock to all in Bonchurch. + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + BOULOGNE, _Wednesday, August 2nd, 1854._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +I will endeavour to come off my back (and the grass) to do an opening +paper for the starting number of "North and South." I can't positively +answer for such a victory over the idleness into which I have +delightfully sunk, as the achievement of this feat; but let us hope. + +During a fete on Monday night the meteor flag of England (forgotten to +be struck at sunset) was _stolen!!!_ + +Manage the proofs of "H. W." so that I may not have to correct them on a +Sunday. I am not going over to the Sabbatarians, but like the haystack +(particularly) on a Sunday morning. + +I should like John to call on M. Henri, Townshend's servant, 21, Norfolk +Street, Park Lane, and ask him if, when he comes here with his master, +he can take charge of a trap bat and ball. If yea, then I should like +John to proceed to Mr. Darke, Lord's Cricket Ground, and purchase said +trap bat and ball of the best quality. Townshend is coming here on the +15th, probably will leave town a day or two before. + +Pray be in a condition to drink a glass of the 1846 champagne when _you_ +come. + +I think I have no more to say at present. I cannot sufficiently admire +my prodigious energy in coming out of a stupor to write this letter. + + Ever faithfully. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[56] Secretary to the Artizans' Committee in aid of the Birmingham and +Midland Institute. + + + + +1855. + + +[Sidenote: Miss King.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Friday Evening, + February 9th, 1855._ + +MY DEAR MISS KING, + +I wish to get over the disagreeable part of my letter in the beginning. +I have great doubts of the possibility of publishing your story in +portions. + +But I think it possesses _very great merit_. My doubts arise partly from +the nature of the interest which I fear requires presentation as a +whole, and partly on your manner of relating the tale. The people do not +sufficiently work out their own purposes in dialogue and dramatic +action. You are too much their exponent; what you do for them, they +ought to do for themselves. With reference to publication in detached +portions (or, indeed, with a reference to the force of the story in any +form), that long stoppage and going back to possess the reader with the +antecedents of the clergyman's biography, are rather crippling. I may +mention that I think the boy (the child of the second marriage) a little +too "slangy." I know the kind of boyish slang which belongs to such a +character in these times; but, considering his part in the story, I +regard it as the author's function to elevate such a characteristic, and +soften it into something more expressive of the ardour and flush of +youth, and its romance. It seems to me, too, that the dialogues between +the lady and the Italian maid are conventional but not natural. This +observation I regard as particularly applying to the maid, and to the +scene preceding the murder. Supposing the main objection surmountable, I +would venture then to suggest to you the means of improvement in this +respect. + +The paper is so full of good touches of character, passion, and natural +emotion, that I very much wish for a little time to reconsider it, and +to try whether condensation here and there would enable us to get it say +into four parts. I am not sanguine of this, for I observed the +difficulties as I read it the night before last; but I am very +unwilling, I assure you, to decline what has so much merit. + +I am going to Paris on Sunday morning for ten days or so. I purpose +being back again within a fortnight. If you will let me think of this +matter in the meanwhile, I shall at least have done all I can to satisfy +my own appreciation of your work. + +But if, in the meantime, you should desire to have it back with any +prospect of publishing it through other means, a letter--the shortest in +the world--from you to Mr. Wills at the "Household Words" office will +immediately produce it. I repeat with perfect sincerity that I am much +impressed by its merits, and that if I had read it as the production of +an entire stranger, I think it would have made exactly this effect upon +me. + + My dear Miss King, + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _24th February, 1855._ + +MY DEAR MISS KING, + +I have gone carefully over your story again, and quite agree with you +that the episode of the clergyman could be told in a very few lines. +Startling as I know it will appear to you, I am bound to say that I +think the purpose of the whole tale would be immensely strengthened by +great compression. I doubt if it could not be told more forcibly in half +the space. + +It is certainly too long for "Household Words," and I fear my idea of it +is too short for you. I am, if possible, more unwilling than I was at +first to decline it; but the more I have considered it, the longer it +has seemed to grow. Nor can I ask you to try to present it free from +that objection, because I already perceive the difficulty, and pain, of +such an effort. + +To the best of my knowledge, you are wrong about the Lady at last, and +to the best of my observation, you do not express what you explain +yourself to mean in the case of the Italian attendant. I have met with +such talk in the romances of Maturin's time--certainly never in Italian +life. + +These, however, are slight points easily to be compromised in an hour. +The great obstacle I must leave wholly to your own judgment, in looking +over the tale again. + + Believe me always, very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. M. Thackeray.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Friday Evening, 23rd March, 1855._ + +MY DEAR THACKERAY,[57] + +I have read in _The Times_ to-day an account of your last night's +lecture, and cannot refrain from assuring you in all truth and +earnestness that I am profoundly touched by your generous reference to +me. I do not know how to tell you what a glow it spread over my heart. +Out of its fulness I do entreat you to believe that I shall never forget +your words of commendation. If you could wholly know at once how you +have moved me, and how you have animated me, you would be the happier I +am very certain. + + Faithfully yours ever. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Forster.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Friday, 29th March, 1855._ + +MY DEAR FORSTER, + +I have hope of Mr. Morley,[58] whom one cannot see without knowing to be +a straightforward, earnest man. _I_ also think Higgins[59] will +materially help them.[60] Generally, I quite agree with you that they +hardly know what to be at; but it is an immensely difficult subject to +start, and they must have every allowance. At any rate, it is not by +leaving them alone and giving them no help, that they can be urged on to +success. (Travers, too, I think, a man of the Anti-Corn-Law-League +order.) + +Higgins told me, after the meeting on Monday night, that on the previous +evening he had been closeted with ----, whose letter in that day's paper +he had put right for _The Times_. He had never spoken to ---- before, he +said, and found him a rather muddle-headed Scotchman as to his powers of +conveying his ideas. He (Higgins) had gone over his documents +judicially, and with the greatest attention; and not only was ---- wrong +in every particular (except one very unimportant circumstance), but, in +reading documents to the House, had stopped short in sentences where no +stop was, and by so doing had utterly perverted their meaning. + +This is to come out, of course, when said ---- gets the matter on. I +thought the case so changed, before I knew this, by his letter and that +of the other shipowners, that I told Morley, when I went down to the +theatre, that I felt myself called upon to relieve him from the +condition I had imposed. + +For the rest, I am quite calmly confident that I only do justice to the +strength of my opinions, and use the power which circumstances have +given me, conscientiously and moderately, with a right object, and +towards the prevention of nameless miseries. I should be now +reproaching myself if I had not gone to the meeting, and, having been, I +am very glad. + +A good illustration of a Government office. ---- very kindly wrote to me +to suggest that "Houses of Parliament" illustration. After I had dined +on Wednesday, and was going to jog slowly down to Drury Lane, it +suddenly came into my head that perhaps his details were wrong. I had +just time to turn to the "Annual Register," and _not one of them was +correct_! + +This is, of course, in close confidence. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Winter.] + + _Tuesday, 3rd April, 1855._ + +MY DEAR MARIA,[61] + +A necessity is upon me now--as at most times--of wandering about in my +old wild way, to think. I could no more resist this on Sunday or +yesterday than a man can dispense with food, or a horse can help himself +from being driven. I hold my inventive capacity on the stern condition +that it must master my whole life, often have complete possession of me, +make its own demands upon me, and sometimes, for months together, put +everything else away from me. If I had not known long ago that my place +could never be held, unless I were at any moment ready to devote myself +to it entirely, I should have dropped out of it very soon. All this I +can hardly expect you to understand--or the restlessness and waywardness +of an author's mind. You have never seen it before you, or lived with +it, or had occasion to think or care about it, and you cannot have the +necessary consideration for it. "It is only half-an-hour,"--"It is only +an afternoon,"--"It is only an evening," people say to me over and over +again; but they don't know that it is impossible to command one's self +sometimes to any stipulated and set disposal of five minutes,--or that +the mere consciousness of an engagement will sometimes worry a whole +day. These are the penalties paid for writing books. Whoever is devoted +to an art must be content to deliver himself wholly up to it, and to +find his recompense in it. I am grieved if you suspect me of not wanting +to see you, but I can't help it; I must go my way whether or no. + +I thought you would understand that in sending the card for the box I +sent an assurance that there was nothing amiss. I am pleased to find +that you were all so interested with the play. My ladies say that the +first part is too painful and wants relief. I have been going to see it +a dozen times, but have never seen it yet, and never may. Madame Celeste +is injured thereby (you see how unreasonable people are!) and says in +the green-room, "M. Dickens est artiste! Mais il n'a jamais vu 'Janet +Pride!'" + +It is like a breath of fresh spring air to know that that unfortunate +baby of yours is out of her one close room, and has about half-a-pint of +very doubtful air per day. I could only have become her Godfather on the +condition that she had five hundred gallons of open air at any rate +every day of her life; and you would soon see a rose or two in the face +of my other little friend, Ella, if you opened all your doors and +windows throughout the whole of all fine weather, from morning to night. + +I am going off; I don't know where or how far, to ponder about I don't +know what. Sometimes I am half in the mood to set off for France, +sometimes I think I will go and walk about on the seashore for three or +four months, sometimes I look towards the Pyrenees, sometimes +Switzerland. I made a compact with a great Spanish authority last week, +and vowed I would go to Spain. Two days afterwards Layard and I agreed +to go to Constantinople when Parliament rises. To-morrow I shall +probably discuss with somebody else the idea of going to Greenland or +the North Pole. The end of all this, most likely, will be, that I shall +shut myself up in some out-of-the-way place I have not yet thought of, +and go desperately to work there. + +Once upon a time I didn't do such things you say. No. But I have done +them through a good many years now, and they have become myself and my +life. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Wednesday, June 30th, 1855._ + +MY DEAR MRS. WINTER, + +I am truly grieved to hear of your affliction in the loss of your +darling baby. But if you be not, even already, so reconciled to the +parting from that innocent child for a little while, as to bear it +gently and with a softened sorrow, I know that that not unhappy state of +mind must soon arise. The death of infants is a release from so much +chance and change--from so many casualties and distresses--and is a +thing so beautiful in its serenity and peace--that it should not be a +bitterness, even in a mother's heart. The simplest and most affecting +passage in all the noble history of our Great Master, is His +consideration for little children, and in reference to yours, as many +millions of bereaved mothers poor and rich will do in reference to +theirs until the end of time, you may take the comfort of the generous +words, "And He took a child, and set it in the midst of them." + +In a book, by one of the greatest English writers, called "A Journey +from this World to the Next," a parent comes to the distant country +beyond the grave, and finds the little girl he had lost so long ago, +engaged in building a bower to receive him in, when his aged steps +should bring him there at last. He is filled with joy to see her, so +young--so bright--so full of promise--and is enraptured to think that +she never was old, wan, tearful, withered. This is always one of the +sources of consolation in the deaths of children. With no effort of the +fancy, with nothing to undo, you will always be able to think of the +pretty creature you have lost, _as a child_ in heaven. + +A poor little baby of mine lies in Highgate cemetery--and I laid her +just as you think of laying yours, in the catacombs there, until I made +a resting-place for all of us in the free air. + +It is better that I should not come to see you. I feel quite sure of +that, and will think of you instead. + +God bless and comfort you! Mrs. Dickens and her sister send their +kindest condolences to yourself and Mr. Winter. I add mine with all my +heart. + + Affectionately your friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Wilkie Collins.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Sunday, 8th July, 1855._ + +MY DEAR COLLINS, + +I don't know whether you may have heard from Webster, or whether the +impression I derived from Mark's manner on Friday may be altogether +correct. But it strongly occurred to me that Webster was going to +decline the play, and that he really has worried himself into a fear of +playing Aaron. + +Now, when I got this into my head--which was during the rehearsal--I +considered two things:--firstly, how we could best put about the success +of the piece more widely and extensively even than it has yet reached; +and secondly, how you could be best assisted against a bad production +of it hereafter, or no production of it. I thought I saw immediately, +that the point would be to have this representation noticed in the +newspapers. So I waited until the rehearsal was over and we had +profoundly astonished the family, and then asked Colonel Waugh what he +thought of sending some cards for Tuesday to the papers. He highly +approved, and I yesterday morning directed Mitchell to send to all the +morning papers, and to some of the weekly ones--a dozen in the whole. + +I dined at Lord John's yesterday (where Meyerbeer was, and said to me +after dinner: "Ah, mon ami illustre! que c'est noble de vous entendre +parler d'haute voix morale, a la table d'un ministre!" for I gave them a +little bit of truth about Sunday that was like bringing a Sebastopol +battery among the polite company), I say, after this long parenthesis, I +dined at Lord John's, and found great interest and talk about the play, +and about what everybody who had been here had said of it. And I was +confirmed in my decision that the thing for you was the invitation to +the papers. Hence I write to tell you what I have done. + +I dine at home at half-past five if you are disengaged, and I shall be +at home all the evening. + + Ever faithfully. + + NOTE (by Mr. Wilkie Collins).--This + characteristically kind endeavour to induce + managers of theatres to produce "The + Lighthouse," after the amateur performances of + the play, was not attended with any immediate + success. The work remained in the author's desk + until Messrs. Robson and Emden undertook the + management of the Olympic Theatre. They opened + their first season with "The Lighthouse;" the + part of Aaron Gurnock being performed by Mr. F. + Robson.--W. C. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Emily Jolly.] + + 3, ALBION VILLAS, FOLKESTONE, KENT, + _Tuesday, 17th July, 1855._ + +DEAR MADAM,[62] + +Your manuscript, entitled a "Wife's Story," has come under my own +perusal within these last three or four days. I recognise in it such +great merit and unusual promise, and I think it displays so much power +and knowledge of the human heart, that I feel a strong interest in you +as its writer. + +I have begged the gentleman, who is in my confidence as to the +transaction of the business of "Household Words," to return the MS. to +you by the post, which (as I hope) will convey this note to you. My +object is this: I particularly entreat you to consider the catastrophe. +You write to be read, of course. The close of the story is unnecessarily +painful--will throw off numbers of persons who would otherwise read it, +and who (as it stands) will be deterred by hearsay from so doing, and is +so tremendous a piece of severity, that it will defeat your purpose. All +my knowledge and experience, such as they are, lead me straight to the +recommendation that you will do well to spare the life of the husband, +and of one of the children. Let her suppose the former dead, from seeing +him brought in wounded and insensible--lose nothing of the progress of +her mental suffering afterwards when that doctor is in attendance upon +her--but bring her round at last to the blessed surprise that her +husband is still living, and that a repentance which can be worked out, +_in the way of atonement for the misery she has occasioned to the man +whom she so ill repaid for his love, and made so miserable_, lies before +her. So will you soften the reader whom you now as it were harden, and +so you will bring tears from many eyes, which can only have their spring +in affectionately and gently touched hearts. I am perfectly certain that +with this change, all the previous part of your tale will tell for +twenty times as much as it can in its present condition. And it is +because I believe you have a great fame before you if you do justice to +the remarkable ability you possess, that I venture to offer you this +advice in what I suppose to be the beginning of your career. + +I observe some parts of the story which would be strengthened, even in +their psychological interest, by condensation here and there. If you +will leave that to me, I will perform the task as conscientiously and +carefully as if it were my own. But the suggestion I offer for your +acceptance, no one but yourself can act upon. + +Let me conclude this hasty note with the plain assurance that I have +never been so much surprised and struck by any manuscript I have read, +as I have been by yours. + + Your faithful Servant. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + 3, ALBION VILLAS, FOLKESTONE, _July 21st, 1855._ + +DEAR MADAM, + +I did not enter, in detail, on the spirit of the alteration I propose in +your story; because I thought it right that you should think out that +for yourself if you applied yourself to the change. I can now assure you +that you describe it exactly as I had conceived it; and if I had wanted +anything to confirm me in my conviction of its being right, our both +seeing it so precisely from the same point of view, would be ample +assurance to me. + +I would leave her new and altered life to be inferred. It does not +appear to me either necessary or practicable (within such limits) to do +more than that. Do not be uneasy if you find the alteration demanding +time. I shall quite understand that, and my interest will keep. _When_ +you finish the story, send it to Mr. Wills. Besides being in daily +communication with him, I am at the office once a week; and I will go +over it in print, before the proof is sent to you. + + Very faithfully yours. + + + 1855.[63] + +[Sidenote: Captain Morgan.] + +DEAR FRIEND,[64] + +I am always delighted to hear from you. Your genial earnestness does me +good to think of. And every day of my life I feel more and more that to +be thoroughly in earnest is everything, and to be anything short of it +is nothing. You see what we have been doing to our valiant soldiers.[65] +You see what miserable humbugs we are. And because we have got involved +in meshes of aristocratic red tape to our unspeakable confusion, loss, +and sorrow, the gentlemen who have been so kind as to ruin us are going +to give us a day of humiliation and fasting the day after to-morrow. I +am sick and sour to think of such things at this age of the world. . . . +I am in the first stage of a new book, which consists in going round and +round the idea, as you see a bird in his cage go about and about his +sugar before he touches it. + + Always most cordially yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[57] The Editors have great pleasure in publishing another note to Mr. +Thackeray, which has been found and sent to them by his daughter, Mrs. +Ritchie, since the publication of the first two volumes. + +[58] Chairman of the "Administrative Reform League" Meeting at Drury +Lane Theatre. + +[59] Mr. Higgins, best known as a writer in _The Times_, under the name +of "Jacob Omnium." + +[60] The Members of the Administrative Reform League. + +[61] Mrs. Winter, a very dear friend and companion of Charles Dickens in +his youth. + +[62] Miss Emily Jolly, authoress of "Mr. Arle," and many other clever +novels. + +[63] This, and another Letter to Captain Morgan which appears under date +of 1860, were published in _Scribner's Monthly_, October, 1877. + +[64] Captain Morgan was a captain in the American Merchant Service. He +was an intimate friend of Mr. Leslie, R.A. (the great painter), by whom +he was made known to Charles Dickens. + +[65] This Letter was written during the Crimean war. + + + + +1856. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. T. Ross. Mr. J. Kenny.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Monday, 19th May, 1856._ + +GENTLEMEN, + +I have received a letter signed by you (which I assume to be written +mainly on behalf of what are called Working-Men and their families) +inviting me to attend a meeting in our Parish Vestry Hall this evening +on the subject of the stoppage of the Sunday bands in the Parks. + +I thoroughly agree with you that those bands have afforded an innocent +and healthful enjoyment on the Sunday afternoon, to which the people +have a right. But I think it essential that the working people should, +of themselves and by themselves, assert that right. They have been +informed, on the high authority of their first Minister (lately rather +in want of House of Commons votes I am told) that they are almost +indifferent to it. The correction of that mistake, if official +omniscience can be mistaken, lies with themselves. In case it should be +considered by the meeting, which I prefer for this reason not to attend, +expedient to unite with other Metropolitan parishes in forming a fund +for the payment of such expenses as may be incurred in peaceably and +numerously representing to the governing powers that the harmless +recreation they have taken away is very much wanted, I beg you to put +down my name as a subscriber of ten pounds. + + And I am, your faithful Servant. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Washington Irving.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _London, July 5th, 1856._ + +MY DEAR IRVING, + +If you knew how often I write to you individually and personally in my +books, you would be no more surprised in seeing this note than you were +in seeing me do my duty by that flowery julep (in what I dreamily +apprehend to have been a former state of existence) at Baltimore. + +Will you let me present to you a cousin of mine, Mr. B----, who is +associated with a merchant's house in New York? Of course he wants to +see you, and know you. How can _I_ wonder at that? How can anybody? + +I had a long talk with Leslie at the last Academy dinner (having +previously been with him in Paris), and he told me that you were +flourishing. I suppose you know that he wears a moustache--so do I for +the matter of that, and a beard too--and that he looks like a portrait +of Don Quixote. + +Holland House has four-and-twenty youthful pages in it now--twelve for +my lord, and twelve for my lady; and no clergyman coils his leg up under +his chair all dinner-time, and begins to uncurve it when the hostess +goes. No wheeled chair runs smoothly in with that beaming face in it; +and ----'s little cotton pocket-handkerchief helped to make (I believe) +this very sheet of paper. A half-sad, half-ludicrous story of Rogers is +all I will sully it with. You know, I daresay, that for a year or so +before his death he wandered, and lost himself like one of the Children +in the Wood, grown up there and grown down again. He had Mrs. Procter +and Mrs. Carlyle to breakfast with him one morning--only those two. Both +excessively talkative, very quick and clever, and bent on entertaining +him. When Mrs. Carlyle had flashed and shone before him for about +three-quarters of an hour on one subject, he turned his poor old eyes on +Mrs. Procter, and pointing to the brilliant discourser with his poor old +finger, said (indignantly), "Who is _she_?" Upon this, Mrs. Procter, +cutting in, delivered (it is her own story) a neat oration on the life +and writings of Carlyle, and enlightened him in her happiest and airiest +manner; all of which he heard, staring in the dreariest silence, and +then said (indignantly, as before), "And who are _you_?" + + Ever, my dear Irving, + Most affectionately and truly yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Frank Stone, A.R.A] + + VILLE DES MOULINEAUX, BOULOGNE, + _Wednesday, 9th July, 1856._ + +MY DEAR STONE, + +I have got a capital part for you in the farce,[66] not a difficult one +to learn, as you never say anything but "Yes" and "No." You are called +in the _dramatis personae_ an able-bodied British seaman, and you are +never seen by mortal eye to do anything (except inopportunely producing +a mop) but stand about the deck of the boat in everybody's way, with +your hair immensely touzled, one brace on, your hands in your pockets, +and the bottoms of your trousers tucked up. Yet you are inextricably +connected with the plot, and are the man whom everybody is inquiring +after. I think it is a very whimsical idea and extremely droll. It made +me laugh heartily when I jotted it all down yesterday. + +Loves from all my house to all yours. + + Ever affectionately. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[66] The farce alluded to, however, was never written. It had been +projected to be played at the Amateur Theatricals at Tavistock House. + + + + +1857. + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Wednesday, 28th January, 1857._ + +MY DEAR BULWER, + +I thought Wills had told you as to the Guild (for I begged him to) that +he can do absolutely nothing until our charter is seven years old. It is +the stringent and express prohibition of the Act of Parliament--for +which things you members, thank God, are responsible and not I. When I +observed this clause (which was just as we were going to grant a +pension, if we could agree on a good subject), I caused our Counsel's +opinion to be taken on it, and there is not a doubt about it. I +immediately recommended that there should be no expenses--that the +interest on the capital should be all invested as it accrued--that the +chambers should be given up and the clerk discharged--and that the Guild +should have the use of the "Household Words" office rent free, and the +services of Wills on the same terms. All of which was done. + +A letter is now copying, to be sent round to all the members, +explaining, with the New Year, the whole state of the thing. You will +receive this. It appears to me that it looks wholesome enough. But if a +strong idiot comes and binds your hands, or mine, or both, for seven +years, what is to be done against him? + +As to greater matters than this, however--as to all matters on this +teeming Earth--it appears to me that the House of Commons and Parliament +altogether, is just the dreariest failure and nuisance that has bothered +this much-bothered world. + + Ever yours. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Emily Jolly.] + + GRAVESEND, KENT, _10th April, 1857._ + +DEAR MADAM, + +As I am away from London for a few days, your letter has been forwarded +to me. + +I can honestly encourage and assure you that I believe the depression +and want of confidence under which you describe yourself as labouring +to have no sufficient foundation. + +First as to "Mr. Arle." I have constantly heard it spoken of with great +approval, and I think it a book of considerable merit. If I were to tell +you that I see no evidence of inexperience in it, that would not be +true. I think a little more stir and action to be desired also; but I am +surprised by your being despondent about it, for I assure you that I had +supposed it (always remembering that it is your first novel) to have met +with a very good reception. + +I can bring to my memory--here, with no means of reference at hand--only +two papers of yours that have been unsuccessful at "Household Words." I +think the first was called "The Brook." It appeared to me to break down +upon a confusion that pervaded it, between a Coroner's Inquest and a +Trial. I have a general recollection of the mingling of the two, as to +facts and forms that should have been kept apart, in some inextricable +manner that was beyond my powers of disentanglement. The second was +about a wife's writing a Novel and keeping the secret from her husband +until it was done. I did not think the incident of sufficient force to +justify the length of the narrative. But there is nothing fatal in +either of these mischances. + +Mr. Wills told me when I spoke to him of the latter paper that you had +it in contemplation to offer a longer story to "Household Words." If you +should do so, I assure you I shall be happy to read it myself, and that +I shall have a sincere desire to accept it, if possible. + +I can give you no better counsel than to look into the life about you, +and to strive for what is noblest and true. As to further encouragement, +I do not, I can most strongly add, believe that you have any reason to +be downhearted. + + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, _Saturday Morning, 30th May, 1857._ + +DEAR MADAM, + +I read your story, with all possible attention, last night. I cannot +tell you with what reluctance I write to you respecting it, for my +opinion of it is _not_ favourable, although I perceive your heart in it, +and great strength. + +Pray understand that I claim no infallibility. I merely express my own +honest opinion, formed against my earnest desire. I do not lay it down +as law for others, though, of course, I believe that many others would +come to the same conclusion. It appears to me that the story is one that +cannot possibly be told within the compass to which you have limited +yourself. The three principal people are, every one of them, in the +wrong with the reader, and you cannot put any of them right, without +making the story extend over a longer space of time, and without +anatomising the souls of the actors more slowly and carefully. Nothing +would justify the departure of Alice, but her having some strong reason +to believe that in taking that step, _she saved her lover_. In your +intentions as to that lover's transfer of his affections to Eleanor, I +descry a striking truth; but I think it confusedly wrought out, and all +but certain to fail in expressing itself. Eleanor, I regard as forced +and overstrained. The natural result is, that she carries a train of +anti-climax after her. I particularly notice this at the point when she +thinks she is going to be drowned. + +The whole idea of the story is sufficiently difficult to require the +most exact truth and the greatest knowledge and skill in the colouring +throughout. In this respect I have no doubt of its being extremely +defective. The people do not talk as such people would; and the little +subtle touches of description which, by making the country house and the +general scene real, would give an air of reality to the people (much to +be desired) are altogether wanting. The more you set yourself to the +illustration of your heroine's passionate nature, the more indispensable +this attendant atmosphere of truth becomes. It would, in a manner, +oblige the reader to believe in her. Whereas, for ever exploding like a +great firework without any background, she glares and wheels and hisses, +and goes out, and has lighted nothing. + +Lastly, I fear she is too convulsive from beginning to end. Pray +reconsider, from this point of view, her brow, and her eyes, and her +drawing herself up to her full height, and her being a perfumed +presence, and her floating into rooms, also her asking people how they +dare, and the like, on small provocation. When she hears her music being +played, I think she is particularly objectionable. + +I have a strong belief that if you keep this story by you three or four +years, you will form an opinion of it not greatly differing from mine. +There is so much good in it, so much reflection, so much passion and +earnestness, that, if my judgment be right, I feel sure you will come +over to it. On the other hand, I do not think that its publication, as +it stands, would do you service, or be agreeable to you hereafter. + +I have no means of knowing whether you are patient in the pursuit of +this art; but I am inclined to think that you are not, and that you do +not discipline yourself enough. When one is impelled to write this or +that, one has still to consider: "How much of this will tell for what I +mean? How much of it is my own wild emotion and superfluous energy--how +much remains that is truly belonging to this ideal character and these +ideal circumstances?" It is in the laborious struggle to make this +distinction, and in the determination to try for it, that the road to +the correction of faults lies. [Perhaps I may remark, in support of the +sincerity with which I write this, that I am an impatient and impulsive +person myself, but that it has been for many years the constant effort +of my life to practise at my desk what I preach to you.] + +I should not have written so much, or so plainly, but for your last +letter to me. It seems to demand that I should be strictly true with +you, and I am so in this letter, without any reservation either way. + + Very faithfully yours. + + + + +1858. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Albert Smith.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Wednesday Night, 1st December, 1858._ + +MY DEAR ALBERT, + +I cannot tell you how grieved I am for poor dear Arthur (even you can +hardly love him better than I do), or with what anxiety I shall wait for +further news of him. + +Pray let me know how he is to-morrow. Tell them at home that Olliffe is +the kindest and gentlest of men--a man of rare experience and +opportunity--perfect master of his profession, and to be confidently and +implicitly relied upon. There is no man alive, in whose hands I would +more thankfully trust myself. + +I will write a cheery word to the dear fellow in the morning. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Arthur Smith.] + + TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, LONDON, W.C., + _Thursday, 2nd December, 1858._ + +MY DEAR ARTHUR, + +I cannot tell you how surprised and grieved I was last night to hear +from Albert of your severe illness. It is not my present intention to +give you the trouble of reading anything like a letter, but I MUST send +you my loving word; and tell you how we all think of you. + +And here am I going off to-morrow to that meeting at Manchester without +_you!_ the wildest and most impossible of moves as it seems to me. And +to think of my coming back by Coventry, on Saturday, to receive the +chronometer--also without you! + +If you don't get perfectly well soon, my dear old fellow, I shall come +over to Paris to look after you, and to tell Olliffe (give him my love, +and the same for Lady Olliffe) what a Blessing he is. + +With kindest regards to Mrs. Arthur and her sister, + + Ever heartily and affectionately yours. + + + + +1859. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. P. Frith, R.A.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, + _Wednesday, 12th January, 1859._ + +MY DEAR FRITH, + +At eleven on Monday morning next, the gifted individual whom you will +transmit to posterity,[67] will be at Watkins'. Table also shall be +there, and chair. Velvet coat likewise if the tailor should have sent it +home. But the garment is more to be doubted than the man whose signature +here follows. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Cowden Clark.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _21st August, 1859._ + +MY DEAR MRS. COWDEN CLARKE, + +I cannot tell you how much pleasure I have derived from the receipt of +your earnest letter. Do not suppose it possible that such praise can be +"less than nothing" to your old manager. It is more than all else. + +Here in my little country house on the summit of the hill where Falstaff +did the robbery, your words have come to me in the most appropriate and +delightful manner. When the story can be read all at once, and my +meaning can be better seen, I will send it to you (sending it to Dean +Street, if you tell me of no better way), and it will be a hearty +gratification to think that you and your good husband are reading it +together. For you must both take notice, please, that I have a reminder +of you always before me. On my desk, here, stand two green leaves[68] +which I every morning station in their ever-green place at my elbow. The +leaves on the oak-trees outside the window are less constant than these, +for they are with me through the four seasons. + +Lord! to think of the bygone day when you were stricken mute (was it not +at Glasgow?) and, being mounted on a tall ladder at a practicable +window, stared at Forster, and with a noble constancy refused to utter +word! Like the Monk among the pictures with Wilkie, I begin to think +_that_ the real world, and this the sham that goes out with the lights. + +God bless you both. + + Ever faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[67] The portrait by Mr. Frith is now in the Forster Collection, at the +South Kensington Museum. + +[68] A porcelain paper-weight with two green leaves enamelled on it, +between which were placed the initials C. D. A present from Mrs. C. +Clarke. + + + + +1860. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry F. Chorley.] + + [69]TAVISTOCK HOUSE, TAVISTOCK SQUARE, W.C., + _Friday Night, Feb. 3, 1860._ + +MY DEAR CHORLEY, + +I can most honestly assure you that I think "Roccabella" a very +remarkable book indeed. Apart--quite apart--from my interest in you, I +am certain that if I had taken it up under any ordinarily favourable +circumstances as a book of which I knew nothing whatever, I should +not--could not--have relinquished it until I had read it through. I had +turned but a few pages, and come to the shadow on the bright sofa at the +foot of the bed, when I knew myself to be in the hands of an artist. +That rare and delightful recognition I never lost for a moment until I +closed the second volume at the end. I am "a good audience" when I have +reason to be, and my girls would testify to you, if there were need, +that I cried over it heartily. Your story seems to me remarkably +ingenious. I had not the least idea of the purport of the sealed paper +until you chose to enlighten me; and then I felt it to be quite natural, +quite easy, thoroughly in keeping with the character and presentation of +the Liverpool man. The position of the Bell family in the story has a +special air of nature and truth; is quite new to me, and is so +dexterously and delicately done that I find the deaf daughter no less +real and distinct than the clergyman's wife. The turn of the story round +that damnable Princess I pursued with a pleasure with which I could +pursue nothing but a true interest; and I declare to you that if I were +put upon finding anything better than the scene of Roccabella's death, I +should stare round my bookshelves very much at a loss for a long time. +Similarly, your characters have really surprised me. From the lawyer to +the Princess, I swear to them as true; and in your fathoming of Rosamond +altogether, there is a profound wise knowledge that I admire and respect +with a heartiness not easily overstated in words. + +I am not quite with you as to the Italians. Your knowledge of the +Italian character seems to me surprisingly subtle and penetrating; +but I think we owe it to those most unhappy men and their political +wretchedness to ask ourselves mercifully, whether their faults +are not essentially the faults of a people long oppressed and +priest-ridden;--whether their tendency to slink and conspire is not a +tendency that spies in every dress, from the triple crown to a lousy +head, have engendered in their ancestors through generations? Again, +like you, I shudder at the distresses that come of these unavailing +risings; my blood runs hotter, as yours does, at the thought of the +leaders safe, and the instruments perishing by hundreds; yet what is to +be done? Their wrongs are so great that they _will_ rise from time to +time somehow. It would be to doubt the eternal providence of God to +doubt that they will rise successfully at last. Unavailing struggles +against a dominant tyranny precede all successful turning against it. +And is it not a little hard in us Englishman, whose forefathers have +risen so often and striven against so much, to look on, in our own +security, through microscopes, and detect the motes in the brains of men +driven mad? Think, if you and I were Italians, and had grown from +boyhood to our present time, menaced in every day through all these +years by that infernal confessional, dungeons, and soldiers, could we be +better than these men? Should we be so good? I should not, I am afraid, +if I know myself. Such things would make of me a moody, bloodthirsty, +implacable man, who would do anything for revenge; and if I compromised +the truth--put it at the worst, habitually--where should I ever have had +it before me? In the old Jesuits' college at Genoa, on the Chiaja at +Naples, in the churches of Rome, at the University of Padua, on the +Piazzo San Marco at Venice, where? And the government is in all these +places, and in all Italian places. I have seen something of these men. I +have known Mazzini and Gallenga; Manin was tutor to my daughters in +Paris; I have had long talks about scores of them with poor Ary +Scheffer, who was their best friend. I have gone back to Italy after ten +years, and found the best men I had known there exiled or in jail. I +believe they have the faults you ascribe to them (nationally, not +individually), but I could not find it in my heart, remembering their +miseries, to exhibit those faults without referring them back to their +causes. You will forgive my writing this, because I write it exactly as +I write my cordial little tribute to the high merits of your book. If +it were not a living reality to me, I should care nothing about this +point of disagreement; but you are far too earnest a man, and far too +able a man, to be left unremonstrated with by an admiring reader. You +cannot write so well without influencing many people. If you could tell +me that your book had but twenty readers, I would reply, that so good a +book will influence more people's opinions, through those twenty, than a +worthless book would through twenty thousand; and I express this with +the perfect confidence of one in whose mind the book has taken, for good +and all, a separate and distinct place. + +Accept my thanks for the pleasure you have given me. The poor +acknowledgment of testifying to that pleasure wherever I go will be my +pleasure in return. And so, my dear Chorley, good night, and God bless +you. + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Sir John Bowring.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Wednesday, 31st October, 1860._ + +MY DEAR SIR JOHN,[70] + +First let me congratulate you on your marriage and wish you all +happiness and prosperity. + +Secondly, I must tell you that I was greatly vexed with the Chatham +people for not giving me early notice of your lecture. In that case I +should (of course) have presided, as President of the Institution, and I +should have asked you to honour my Falstaff house here. But when they +made your kind intention known to me, I had made some important business +engagements at the "All the Year Round" office for that evening, which I +could not possibly forego. I charged them to tell you so, and was going +to write to you when I found your kind letter. + +Thanks for your paper, which I have sent to the Printer's with much +pleasure. + +We heard of your accident here, and of your "making nothing of it." I +said that you didn't make much of disasters, and that you took poison +(from natives) as quite a matter of course in the way of business. + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. A. H. Layard.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Tuesday, 4th December, 1860._ + +MY DEAR LAYARD, + +I know you will readily believe that I would come if I could, and that I +am heartily sorry I cannot. + +A new story of my writing, nine months long, is just begun in "All the +Year Round." A certain allotment of my time when I have that +story-demand upon me, has, all through my author life, been an essential +condition of my health and success. I have just returned here to work +so many hours every day for so many days. It is really impossible for me +to break my bond. + +There is not a man in England who is more earnestly your friend and +admirer than I am. The conviction that you know it, helps me out through +this note. You are a man of so much mark to me, that I even regret your +going into the House of Commons--for which assembly I have but a scant +respect. But I would not mention it to the Southwark electors if I could +come to-morrow; though I should venture to tell them (and even that your +friends would consider very impolitic) that I think them very much +honoured by having such a candidate for their suffrages. + +My daughter and sister-in-law want to know what you have done with your +"pledge" to come down here again. If they had votes for Southwark they +would threaten to oppose you--but would never do it. I was solemnly +sworn at breakfast to let you know that we should be delighted to see +you. Bear witness that I kept my oath. + + Ever, my dear Layard, + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Captain Morgan.] + +DEAR FRIEND, + +I am heartily obliged to you for your seasonable and welcome +remembrance. It came to the office (while I was there) in the +pleasantest manner, brought by two seafaring men as if they had swum +across with it. I have already told ---- what I am very well assured of +concerning you, but you are such a noble fellow that I must not pursue +that subject. But you will at least take my cordial and affectionate +thanks. . . . We have a touch of most beautiful weather here now, and +this country is most beautiful too. I wish I could carry you off to a +favourite spot of mine between this and Maidstone, where I often smoke +your cigars and think of you. We often take our lunch on a hillside +there in the summer, and then I lie down on the grass--a splendid +example of laziness--and say, "Now for my Morgan!" + +My daughter and her aunt declare that they know the true scent of the +true article (which I don't in the least believe), and sometimes they +exclaim, "That's not a Morgan," and the worst of it is they were once +right by accident. . . . I hope you will have seen the Christmas number +of "All the Year Round."[71] Here and there, in the description of the +sea-going hero, I have given a touch or two of remembrance of Somebody +you know; very heartily desiring that thousands of people may have some +faint reflection of the pleasure I have for many years derived from the +contemplation of a most amiable nature and most remarkable man. + + With kindest regards, believe me, dear Morgan, + Ever affectionately yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[69] This and all other Letters addressed to Mr. H. F. Chorley, were +printed in "Autobiography, Memoir, and Letters of Henry Fothergill +Chorley," compiled by Mr. H. G. Hewlett. + +[70] Sir John Bowring, formerly Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary in China, +and Governor of Hong Kong. + +[71] "A Message from the Sea." + + + + +1861. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Malleson.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Monday, 14th January, 1861._ + +MY DEAR MRS. MALLESON, + +I am truly sorry that I cannot have the pleasure of dining with you on +Thursday. Although I consider myself quite well, and although my doctor +almost admits the fact when I indignantly tax him with it, I am not +discharged. His treatment renders him very fearful that I should take +cold in going to and fro; and he makes excuses, therefore (as I darkly +suspect), for keeping me here until said treatment is done with. This +morning he tells me he must see me "once more, on Wednesday." As he has +said the like for a whole week, my confidence is not blooming enough at +this present writing to justify me in leaving a possibility of Banquo's +place at your table. Hence this note. It is screwed out of me. + +With kind regards to Mr. Malleson, believe me, + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Wednesday, 23rd January, 1861._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +I am delighted to receive your letter, and to look forward with +confidence to having such a successor in August. I can honestly assure +you that I never have been so pleased at heart in all my literary life, +as I am in the proud thought of standing side by side with you before +this great audience. + +In regard of the story,[72] I have perfect faith in such a master-hand as +yours; and I know that what such an artist feels to be terrible and +original, is unquestionably so. You whet my interest by what you write +of it to the utmost extent. + + Believe me ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + 3, HANOVER TERRACE, REGENT'S PARK, + _Sunday, 28th April, 1861._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +My story will finish in the first week in August. Yours ought to begin +in the last week of July, or the last week but one. Wilkie Collins will +be at work to follow you. The publication has made a very great success +with "Great Expectations," and could not present a finer time for you. + +The question of length may be easily adjusted. + +Of the misgiving you entertain I cannot of course judge until you give +me leave to rush to the perusal. I swear that I never thought I had half +so much self-denial as I have shown in this case! I think I shall come +out at Exeter Hall as a choice vessel on the strength of it. In the +meanwhile I have quickened the printer and told him to get on fast. + +You cannot think how happy you make me by what you write of "Great +Expectations." There is nothing like the pride of making such an effect +on such a writer as you. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + 3, HANOVER TERRACE, REGENT'S PARK, + _Wednesday, 8th May, 1861._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +I am anxious to let you know that Mr. Frederic Lehmann, who is coming +down to Knebworth to see you (with his sister Mrs. Benzon) is a +particular friend of mine, for whom I have a very high and warm regard. +Although he will sufficiently enlist your sympathy on his own behalf, I +am sure that you will not be the less interested in him because I am. + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + 3, HANOVER TERRACE, _Sunday, 12th May, 1861._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +I received your revised proofs only yesterday, and I sat down to read +them last night. And before I say anything further I may tell you that I +COULD NOT lay them aside, but was obliged to go on with them in my +bedroom until I got into a very ghostly state indeed. This morning I +have taken them again and have gone through them with the utmost +attention. + +Of the beauty and power of the writing I say not a word, or of its +originality and boldness, or of its quite extraordinary constructive +skill. I confine myself solely to your misgiving, and to the question +whether there is any sufficient foundation for it. + +On the last head I say, without the faintest hesitation, most decidedly +there is NOT sufficient foundation for it. I do not share it in the +least. I believe that the readers who have here given their minds (or +perhaps had any to give) to those strange psychological mysteries in +ourselves, of which we are all more or less conscious, will accept your +wonders as curious weapons in the armoury of fiction, and will submit +themselves to the Art with which said weapons are used. Even to that +class of intelligence the marvellous addresses itself from a very strong +position; and that class of intelligence is not accustomed to find the +marvellous in such very powerful hands as yours. On more imaginative +readers the tale will fall (or I am greatly mistaken) like a spell. By +readers who combine some imagination, some scepticism, and some +knowledge and learning, I hope it will be regarded as full of strange +fancy and curious study, startling reflections of their own thoughts and +speculations at odd times, and wonder which a master has a right to +evoke. In the last point lies, to my thinking, the whole case. If you +were the Magician's servant instead of the Magician, these potent +spirits would get the better of you; but you _are_ the Magician, and +they don't, and you make them serve your purpose. + +Occasionally in the dialogue I see an expression here and there which +might--always solely with a reference to your misgiving--be better away; +and I think that the vision, to use the word for want of a better--in +the museum, should be made a little less abstruse. I should not say +that, if the sale of the journal was below the sale of _The Times_ +newspaper; but as it is probably several thousands higher, I do. I would +also suggest that after the title we put the two words--A ROMANCE. It is +an absurdly easy device for getting over your misgiving with the +blockheads, but I think it would be an effective one. I don't, on +looking at it, like the title. Here are a few that have occurred to me. + +"The Steel Casket." + +"The Lost Manuscript." + +"Derval Court." + +"Perpetual Youth." + +"Maggie." + +"Dr. Fenwick." + +"Life and Death." + +The four last I think the best. There is an objection to "Dr. Fenwick" +because there has been "Dr. Antonio," and there is a book of Dumas' +which repeats the objection. I don't think "Fenwick" startling enough. +It appears to me that a more startling title would take the (John) Bull +by the horns, and would be a serviceable concession to your misgiving, +as suggesting a story off the stones of the gas-lighted Brentford Road. + +The title is the first thing to be settled, and cannot be settled too +soon. + +For the purposes of the weekly publication the divisions of the story +will often have to be greatly changed, though afterwards, in the +complete book, you can, of course, divide it into chapters, free from +that reference. For example: I would end the first chapter on the third +slip at "and through the ghostly streets, under the ghostly moon, went +back to my solitary room." The rest of what is now your first chapter +might be made Chapter II., and would end the first weekly part. + +I think I have become, by dint of necessity and practice, rather cunning +in this regard; and perhaps you would not mind my looking closely to +such points from week to week. It so happens that if you had written the +opening of this story expressly for the occasion its striking incidents +could not possibly have followed one another better. One other merely +mechanical change I suggest now. I would not have an initial letter for +the town, but would state in the beginning that I gave the town a +fictitious name. I suppose a blank or a dash rather fends a good many +people off--because it always has that effect upon me. + +Be sure that I am perfectly frank and open in all I have said in this +note, and that I have not a grain of reservation in my mind. I think the +story a very fine one, one that no other man could write, and that there +is no strength in your misgiving for the two reasons: firstly, that the +work is professedly a work of Fancy and Fiction, in which the reader is +not required against his will to take everything for Fact; secondly, +that it is written by the man who can write it. The Magician's servant +does not know what to do with the ghost, and has, consequently, no +business with him. The Magician does know what to do with him, and has +all the business with him that he can transact. + +I am quite at ease on the points that you have expressed yourself as not +at ease upon. Quite. I cannot too often say that if they were carried on +weak shoulders they would break the bearer down. But in your mastering +of them lies the mastery over the reader. + +This will reach you at Knebworth, I hope, to-morrow afternoon. Pray give +your doubts to the winds of that high spot, and believe that if I had +them I would swarm up the flag-staff quite as nimbly as Margrave and +nail the Fenwick colours to the top. + + Ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + 3, HANOVER TERRACE, REGENT'S PARK, + _Monday, Twentieth May, 1861._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +I did not read from Australia till the end, because I was obliged to be +hard at work that day, and thought it best that the MS. should come back +to you rather than that I should detain it. Of course, I _can_ read it, +whenever it suits you. As to Isabel's dying and Fenwick's growing old, I +would say that, beyond question, whatever the meaning of the story tends +to, is the proper end. + +All the alterations you mention in your last, are excellent. + +As to title, "Margrave, a Tale of Mystery," would be sufficiently +striking. I prefer "Wonder" to "Mystery," because I think it suggests +something higher and more apart from ordinary complications of plot, or +the like, which "Mystery" might seem to mean. Will you kindly remark +that the title PRESSES, and that it will be a great relief to have it as +soon as possible. The last two months of my story are our best time for +announcement and preparation. Of course, it is most desirable that your +story should have the full benefit of them. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Lady Olliffe.] + + LORD WARDEN HOTEL, DOVER, + _Sunday, Twenty-sixth May, 1861._ + +MY DEAR LADY OLLIFFE, + +I have run away to this sea-beach to get rid of my neuralgic face. + +Touching the kind invitations received from you this morning, I feel +that the only course I can take--without being a Humbug--is to decline +them. After the middle of June I shall be mostly at Gad's Hill--I know +that I cannot do better than keep out of the way of hot rooms and late +dinners, and what would you think of me, or call me, if I were to accept +and not come! + +No, no, no. Be still my soul. Be virtuous, eminent author. Do _not_ +accept, my Dickens. She is to come to Gad's Hill with her spouse. Await +her _there_, my child. (Thus the voice of wisdom.) + + My dear Lady Olliffe, + Ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Milner Gibson.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Monday, Eighth July, 1861._ + +MY DEAR MRS. GIBSON, + +I want very affectionately and earnestly to congratulate you on your +eldest daughter's approaching marriage. Up to the moment when Mary told +me of it, I had foolishly thought of her always as the pretty little +girl with the frank loving face whom I saw last on the sands at +Broadstairs. I rubbed my eyes and woke at the words "going to be +married," and found I had been walking in my sleep some years. + +I want to thank you also for thinking of me on the occasion, but I feel +that I am better away from it. I should really have a misgiving that I +was a sort of shadow on a young marriage, and you will understand me +when I say so, and no more. + +But I shall be with you in the best part of myself, in the warmth of +sympathy and friendship--and I send my love to the dear girl, and +devoutly hope and believe that she will be happy. The face that I +remember with perfect accuracy, and could draw here, if I could draw at +all, was made to be happy and to make a husband so. + +I wonder whether you ever travel by railroad in these times! I wish Mary +could tempt you to come by any road to this little place. + + With kind regard to Milner Gibson, believe me ever, + Affectionately and faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Tuesday, Seventeenth September, 1861._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +I am delighted with your letter of yesterday--delighted with the +addition to the length of the story--delighted with your account of it, +and your interest in it--and even more than delighted by what you say of +our working in company. + +Not one dissentient voice has reached me respecting it. Through the +dullest time of the year we held our circulation most gallantly. And it +could not have taken a better hold. I saw Forster on Friday (newly +returned from thousands of provincial lunatics), and he really was more +impressed than I can tell you by what he had seen of it. Just what you +say you think it will turn out to be, _he_ was saying, almost in the +same words. + +I am burning to get at the whole story;--and you inflame me in the +maddest manner by your references to what I don't know. The exquisite +art with which you have changed it, and have overcome the difficulties +of the mode of publication, has fairly staggered me. I know pretty well +what the difficulties are; and there is no other man who could have done +it, I ween. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. H. G. Adams.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, Sixth October, 1861._ + +MY DEAR MR. ADAMS, + +My readings are a sad subject to me just now, for I am going away on the +28th to read fifty times, and I have lost Mr. Arthur Smith--a friend +whom I can never replace--who always went with me, and transacted, as no +other man ever can, all the business connected with them, and without +whom, I fear, they will be dreary and weary to me. But this is not to +the purpose of your letter. + +I desire to be useful to the Institution of the place with which my +childhood is inseparably associated, and I will serve it this next +Christmas if I can. Will you tell me when I could do you most good by +reading for you? + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. B. W. Procter.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Tuesday, Twelfth November, 1861._ + +MY DEAR PROCTER, + +I grieve to reply to your note, that I am obliged to read at Newcastle +on the 21st. Poor Arthur Smith had pledged me to do so before I knew +that my annual engagement with you was being encroached on. I am +heartily sorry for this, and shall miss my usual place at your table, +quite as much (to say the least) as my place can possibly miss me. You +may be sure that I shall drink to my dear old friend in a bumper that +day, with love and best wishes. Don't leave me out next year for having +been carried away north this time. + + Ever yours affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.] + + QUEEN'S HEAD HOTEL, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, + _Wednesday Night, Twentieth November, 1861._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +I have read here, this evening, very attentively, Nos. 19 and 20. I have +not the least doubt of the introduced matter; whether considered for its +policy, its beauty, or its wise bearing on the story, it is decidedly a +great improvement. It is at once very suggestive and very new to have +these various points of view presented to the reader's mind. + +That the audience is good enough for anything that is well presented to +it, I am quite sure. + +When you can avoid _notes_, however, and get their substance into the +text, it is highly desirable in the case of so large an audience, simply +because, as so large an audience necessarily reads the story in small +portions, it is of the greater importance that they should retain as +much of its argument as possible. Whereas the difficulty of getting +numbers of people to read notes (which they invariably regard as +interruptions of the text, not as strengtheners or elucidators of it) is +wonderful. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + "ALL THE YEAR ROUND" OFFICE, + _Eighteenth December_, 1861. + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +I have not had a moment in which to write to you. Even now I write with +the greatest press upon me, meaning to write in detail in a day or two. + +But I have _read_, at all events, though not written. And I say, Most +masterly and most admirable! It is impossible to lay the sheets down +without finishing them. I showed them to Georgina and Mary, and they +read and read and never stirred until they had read all. There cannot be +a doubt of the beauty, power, and artistic excellence of the whole. + +I counsel you most strongly NOT to append the proposed dialogue between +Fenwick and Faber, and NOT to enter upon any explanation beyond the +title-page and the motto, unless it be in some very brief preface. +Decidedly I would not help the reader, if it were only for the reason +that that anticipates his being in need of help, and his feeling +objections and difficulties that require solution. Let the book explain +itself. It speaks _for_ itself with a noble eloquence. + + Ever affectionately. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[72] "A Strange Story." + + + + +1862. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Friday, Twenty-fourth January, 1862._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +I have considered your questions, and here follow my replies. + +1. I think you undoubtedly _have_ the right to forbid the turning of +your play into an opera. + +2. I do _not_ think the production of such an opera in the slightest +degree likely to injure the play or to render it a less valuable +property than it is now. If it could have any effect on so standard and +popular a work as "The Lady of Lyons," the effect would, in my judgment, +be beneficial. But I believe the play to be high above any such +influence. + +3. Assuming you do consent to the adaptation, in a desire to oblige +Oxenford, I would not recommend your asking any pecuniary compensation. +This for two reasons: firstly, because the compensation could only be +small at the best; secondly, because your taking it would associate you +(unreasonably, but not the less assuredly) with the opera. + +The only objection I descry is purely one of feeling. Pauline trotting +about in front of the float, invoking the orchestra with a limp +pocket-handkerchief, is a notion that makes goose-flesh of my back. Also +a yelping tenor going away to the wars in a scene a half-an-hour long is +painful to contemplate. Damas, too, as a bass, with a grizzled bald +head, blatently bellowing about + + Years long ago, + When the sound of the drum + First made his blood glow + With a rum ti tum tum-- + +rather sticks in my throat; but there really seems to me to be no other +objection, if you can get over this. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Baylis.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Saturday, First February, 1862._ + +MY DEAR MR. BAYLIS, + +I have just come home. Finding your note, I write to you at once, or you +might do me the wrong of supposing me unmindful of it and you. + +I agree with you about Smith himself, and I don't think it necessary to +pursue the painful subject. Such things are at an end, I think, for the +time being;--fell to the ground with the poor man at Cremorne. If they +should be resumed, then they must be attacked; but I hope the fashion +(far too much encouraged in its Blondin-beginning by those who should +know much better) is over. + +It always appears to me that the common people have an excuse in their +patronage of such exhibitions which people above them in condition have +not. Their lives are full of physical difficulties, and they like to see +such difficulties overcome. They go to see them overcome. If I am in +danger of falling off a scaffold or a ladder any day, the man who claims +that he can't fall from anything is a very wonderful and agreeable +person to me. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry F. Chorley.] + + 16, HYDE PARK GATE, SOUTH KENSINGTON GORE, W., + _Saturday, 1st March, 1862._ + +MY DEAR CHORLEY, + +I was at your lecture[73] this afternoon, and I hope I may venture to +tell you that I was extremely pleased and interested. Both the matter of +the materials and the manner of their arrangement were quite admirable, +and a modesty and complete absence of any kind of affectation pervaded +the whole discourse, which was quite an example to the many whom it +concerns. If you could be a very little louder, and would never let a +sentence go for the thousandth part of an instant until the last word +is out, you would find the audience more responsive. + +A spoken sentence will never run alone in all its life, and is never to +be trusted to itself in its most insignificant member. See it _well +out_--with the voice--and the part of the audience is made surprisingly +easier. In that excellent description of the Spanish mendicant and his +guitar, as well as the very happy touches about the dance and the +castanets, the people were really desirous to express very hearty +appreciation; but by giving them rather too much to do in watching and +listening for latter words, you stopped them. I take the liberty of +making the remark, as one who has fought with beasts (oratorically) in +divers arenas. For the rest nothing could be better. Knowledge, +ingenuity, neatness, condensation, good sense, and good taste in +delightful combination. + + Affectionately always. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Austin.] + + PARIS, RUE DU FAUBOURG ST. HONORE, 27, + _Friday, Seventh November, 1862._ + +MY DEAR LETITIA, + +I should have written to you from here sooner, but for having been +constantly occupied. + +Your improved account of yourself is very cheering and hopeful. Through +determined occupation and action, lies the way. Be sure of it. + +I came over to France before Georgina and Mary, and went to Boulogne to +meet them coming in by the steamer on the great Sunday--the day of the +storm. I stood (holding on with both hands) on the pier at Boulogne, +five hours. The Sub-Marine Telegraph had telegraphed their boat as +having come out of Folkestone--though the companion boat from Boulogne +didn't try it--and at nine o'clock at night, she being due at six, there +were no signs of her. My principal dread was, that she would try to get +into Boulogne; which she could not possibly have done without carrying +away everything on deck. The tide at nine o'clock being too low for any +such desperate attempt, I thought it likely that they had run for the +Downs and would knock about there all night. So I went to the Inn to dry +my pea-jacket and get some dinner anxiously enough, when, at about ten, +came a telegram from them at Calais to say they had run in there. To +Calais I went, post, next morning, expecting to find them half-dead (of +course, they had arrived half-drowned), but I found them elaborately got +up to come on to Paris by the next Train, and the most wonderful thing +of all was, that they hardly seem to have been frightened! Of course, +they had discovered at the end of the voyage, that a young bride and her +husband, the only other passengers on deck, and with whom they had been +talking all the time, were an officer from Chatham whom they knew very +well (when dry), just married and going to India! So they all set up +house-keeping together at Dessin's at Calais (where I am well known), +and looked as if they had been passing a mild summer there. + +We have a pretty apartment here, but house-rent is awful to mention. +Mrs. Bouncer (muzzled by the Parisian police) is also here, and is a +wonderful spectacle to behold in the streets, restrained like a raging +Lion. + +I learn from an embassy here, that the Emperor has just made an earnest +proposal to our Government to unite with France (and Russia, if Russia +will) in an appeal to America to stop the brutal war. Our Government's +answer is not yet received, but I think I clearly perceive that the +proposal will be declined, on the ground "that the time has not yet +come." + + Ever affectionately. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[73] The first of the series on "National Music." + + + + +1863. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry F. Chorley.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Friday, December 18th, 1863._ + +MY DEAR CHORLEY, + +This is a "Social Science" note, touching prospective engagements. + +If you are obliged, as you were last year, to go away between Christmas +Day and New Year's Day, then we rely upon your coming back to see the +old year out. Furthermore, I rely upon you for this: Lady Molesworth +says she will come down for a day or two, and I have told her that I +shall ask you to be her escort, and to arrange a time. Will you take +counsel with her, and arrange accordingly? After our family visitors are +gone, Mary is going a-hunting in Hampshire; but if you and Lady +Molesworth could make out from Saturday, the 9th of January, as your day +of coming together, or for any day between that and Saturday, the 16th, +it would be beforehand with her going and would suit me excellently. +There is a new officer at the dockyard, _vice_ Captain ---- (now an +admiral), and I will take that opportunity of paying him and his wife +the attention of asking them to dine in these gorgeous halls. For all of +which reasons, if the Social Science Congress of two could meet and +arrive at a conclusion, the conclusion would be thankfully booked by the +illustrious writer of these lines. + +On Christmas Eve there is a train from your own Victoria Station at 4.35 +p.m., which will bring you to Strood (Rochester Bridge Station) in an +hour, and there a majestic form will be descried in a Basket. + + Yours affectionately. + + + + +1864. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. H. Wills.] + + LORD WARDEN HOTEL, DOVER, + _Sunday, 16th October, 1864._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +I was unspeakably relieved, and most agreeably surprised to get your +letter this morning. I had pictured you as lying there waiting full +another week. Whereas, please God, you will now come up with a wet sheet +and a flowing sail--as we say in these parts. + +My expectations of "Mrs. Lirriper's" sale are not so mighty as yours, +but I am heartily glad and grateful to be honestly able to believe that +she is nothing but a good 'un. It is the condensation of a quantity of +subjects and the very greatest pains. + +George Russell knew nothing whatever of the slightest doubt of your +being elected at the Garrick. Rely on my probing the matter to the +bottom and ascertaining everything about it, and giving you the fullest +information in ample time to decide what shall be done. Don't bother +yourself about it. I have spoken. On my eyes be it. + +As next week will not be my working-time at "Our Mutual Friend," I shall +devote the day of Friday (_not_ the evening) to making up news. +Therefore I write to say that if you would rather stay where you are +than come to London, _don't come_. I shall throw my hat into the ring at +eleven, and shall receive all the punishment that can be administered by +two Nos. on end like a British Glutton. + + Ever. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Wednesday, 30th November, 1864._ + +MY DEAR WILLS, + +I found the beautiful and perfect Brougham[74] awaiting me in triumph at +the Station when I came down yesterday afternoon. Georgina and Marsh +were both highly mortified that it had fallen dark, and the beauties of +the carriage were obscured. But of course I had it out in the yard the +first thing this morning, and got in and out at both the doors, and let +down and pulled up the windows, and checked an imaginary coachman, and +leaned back in a state of placid contemplation. + +It is the lightest and prettiest and best carriage of the class ever +made. But you know that I value it for higher reasons than these. It +will always be dear to me--far dearer than anything on wheels could ever +be for its own sake--as a proof of your ever generous friendship and +appreciation, and a memorial of a happy intercourse and a perfect +confidence that have never had a break, and that surely never can have +any break now (after all these years) but one. + + Ever your faithful. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Mary Boyle.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Saturday, 31st December, 1864._ + +MY DEAR MARY, + +Many happy years to you and those who are near and dear to you. These +and a thousand unexpressed good wishes of his heart from the humble Jo. + +And also an earnest word of commendation of the little Christmas +book.[75] Very gracefully and charmingly done. The right feeling, the +right touch; a very neat hand, and a very true heart. + + Ever your affectionate. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[74] A present from Mr. Wills. + +[75] The book was called "Woodland Gossip." + + + + +1865. + + +[Sidenote: Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Thursday, 20th July, 1865._ + +MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON, + +I am truly sorry to reply to your kind and welcome note that we cannot +come to Knebworth on a visit at this time: firstly, because I am tied by +the leg to my book. Secondly, because my married daughter and her +husband are with us. Thirdly, because my two boys are at home for their +holidays. + +But if you would come out of that murky electioneering atmosphere and +come to us, you don't know how delighted we should be. You should have +your own way as completely as though you were at home. You should have a +cheery room, and you should have a Swiss chalet all to yourself to write +in. _Smoking regarded as a personal favour to the family._ Georgina is +so insupportably vain on account of being a favourite of yours, that you +might find _her_ a drawback; but nothing else would turn out in that +way, I hope. + +_Won't_ you manage it? _Do_ think of it. If, for instance, you would +come back with us on that Guild Saturday. I have turned the house upside +down and inside out since you were here, and have carved new rooms out +of places then non-existent. Pray do think of it, and do manage it. I +should be heartily pleased. + +I hope you will find the purpose and the plot of my book very plain when +you see it as a whole piece. I am looking forward to sending you the +proofs complete about the end of next month. It is all sketched out and +I am working hard on it, giving it all the pains possible to be bestowed +on a labour of love. Your critical opinion two months in advance of the +public will be invaluable to me. For you know what store I set by it, +and how I think over a hint from you. + +I notice the latest piece of poisoning ingenuity in Pritchard's case. +When he had made his medical student boarders sick, by poisoning the +family food, he then quietly walked out, took an emetic, and made +himself sick. This with a view to ask them, in examination on a +possible trial, whether he did not present symptoms at the time like the +rest?--A question naturally asked for him and answered in the +affirmative. From which I get at the fact. + +If your constituency don't bring you in they deserve to lose you, and +may the Gods continue to confound them! I shudder at the thought of such +public life as political life. Would there not seem to be something +horribly rotten in the system of it, when one stands amazed how any +man--not forced into it by position, as you are--can bear to live it? + +But the private life here is my point, and again I urge upon you. Do +think of it, and Do come. + +I want to tell you how I have been impressed by the "Boatman." It haunts +me as only a beautiful and profound thing can. The lines are always +running in my head, as the river runs with me. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry F. Chorley.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + NO. 26, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND, W.C., + _Saturday, 28th of October, 1865._ + +MY DEAR CHORLEY, + +I find your letter here only to-day. I shall be delighted to dine with +you on Tuesday, the 7th, but I cannot answer for Mary, as she is staying +with the Lehmanns. To the best of my belief, she is coming to Gad's +this evening to dine with a neighbour. In that case, she will +immediately answer for herself. I have seen the _Athenaeum_, and most +heartily and earnestly thank you. Trust me, there is nothing I could +have wished away, and all that I read there affects and delights me. I +feel so generous an appreciation and sympathy so very strongly, that if +I were to try to write more, I should blur the words by seeing them +dimly. + + Ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Procter.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Sunday, 29th October, 1865._ + +MY DEAR MRS. PROCTER, + +The beautiful table-cover was a most cheering surprise to me when I came +home last night, and I lost not a moment in finding a table for it, +where it stands in a beautiful light and a perfect situation. Accept my +heartiest thanks for a present on which I shall set a peculiar and +particular value. + +Enclosed is the MS. of the introduction.[76] The printers have cut it +across and mended it again, because I always expect them to be quick, +and so they distribute my "copy" among several hands, and apparently +not very clean ones in this instance. + +Odd as the poor butcher's feeling appears, I think I can understand it. +Much as he would not have liked his boy's grave to be without a +tombstone, had he died ashore and had a grave, so he can't bear him to +drift to the depths of the ocean unrecorded. + +My love to Procter. + + Ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. W. B. Rye.[77]] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Friday, 3rd November, 1865._ + +DEAR SIR, + +I beg you to accept my cordial thanks for your curious "Visits to +Rochester." As I peeped about its old corners with interest and wonder +when I was a very little child, few people can find a greater charm in +that ancient city than I do. + + Believe me, yours faithfully and obliged. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[76] Written by Charles Dickens for a new edition of Miss Adelaide +Procter's Poems, which was published after her death. + +[77] Late keeper of printed books at the British Museum, now of Exeter. + + + + +1866. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Forster.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Friday, 26th January, 1866._ + +MY DEAR FORSTER, + +I most heartily hope that your doleful apprehensions will prove +unfounded. These changes from muggy weather to slight sharp frost, and +back again, touch weak places, as I find by my own foot; but the touch +goes by. May it prove so with you! + +Yesterday Captain ----, Captain ----, and Captain ----, dined at Gad's. +They are, all three, naval officers of the highest reputation. ---- is +supposed to be the best sailor in our Service. I said I had been +remarking at home, _a propos_ of the _London_, that I knew of no +shipwreck of a large strong ship (not carrying weight of guns) in the +open sea, and that I could find none such in the shipwreck books. They +all agreed that the unfortunate Captain Martin _must_ have been +unacquainted with the truth as to what can and what can not be done with +a Steamship having rigging and canvas; and that no sailor would dream of +turning a ship's stern to such a gale--_unless his vessel could run +faster than the sea_. ---- said (and the other two confirmed) that the +_London_ was the better for everything that she lost aloft in such a +gale, and that with her head kept to the wind by means of a storm +topsail--which is hoisted from the deck and requires no man to be sent +aloft, and can be set under the worst circumstances--the disaster could +not have occurred. If he had no such sail, he could have improvised it, +even of hammocks and the like. They said that under a Board of Enquiry +into the wreck, any efficient witness must of necessity state this as +the fact, and could not possibly avoid the conclusion that the +seamanship was utterly bad; and as to the force of the wind, for which I +suggested allowance, they all had been in West Indian hurricanes and in +Typhoons, and had put the heads of their ships to the wind under the +most adverse circumstances. + +I thought you might be interested in this, as you have no doubt been +interested in the case. They had a great respect for the unfortunate +Captain's character, and for his behaviour when the case was hopeless, +but they had not the faintest doubt that he lost the ship and those two +hundred and odd lives. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. R. M. Ross.[78]] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Monday, 19th February, 1866._ + +DEAR SIR, + +I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your obliging letter +enclosing a copy of the Resolution passed by the members of the St. +George Club on my last past birthday. Do me the kindness to assure +those friends of mine that I am touched to the heart by their +affectionate remembrance, and that I highly esteem it. To have +established such relations with readers of my books is a great happiness +to me, and one that I hope never to forfeit by being otherwise than +manfully and truly in earnest in my vocation. + + I am, dear sir, + Your faithful servant. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. R. Browning.] + + 6, SOUTHWICK PLACE, HYDE PARK, + _Monday, 12th March, 1866._ + +MY DEAR BROWNING,[79] + +Will you dine here next Sunday at half-past six punctually, instead of +with Forster? I am going to read Thirty times, in London and elsewhere, +and as I am coming out with "Doctor Marigold," I had written to ask +Forster to come on Sunday and hear me sketch him. Forster says (with his +own boldness) that he is sure it would not bore you to have that taste +of his quality after dinner. I should be delighted if this should prove +true. But I give warning that in that case I shall exact a promise from +you to come to St. James's Hall one evening in April or May, and hear +"David Copperfield," my own particular favourite. + + Ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Lord Lytton.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Monday, 16th July, 1866._ + +MY DEAR LYTTON, + +First, let me congratulate you on the honour which Lord Derby has +conferred upon the peerage. And next, let me thank you heartily for your +kind letter. + +I am very sorry to report that we are so encumbered with engagements in +the way of visitors coming here that we cannot see our way to getting to +Knebworth yet. + +Mary and Georgina send you their kind regard, and hope that the delight +of coming to see you is only deferred. + +Fitzgerald will be so proud of your opinion of his "Mrs. Tillotson," and +will (I know) derive such great encouragement from it that I have +faithfully quoted it, word for word, and sent it on to him in Ireland. +He is a very clever fellow (you may remember, perhaps, that I brought +him to Knebworth on the Guild day) and has charming sisters and an +excellent position. + + Ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Rusden.[80]] + + _September, 1866._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +Again I have to thank you very heartily for your kindness in writing to +me about my son. The intelligence you send me concerning him is a great +relief and satisfaction to my mind, and I cannot separate those +feelings from a truly grateful recognition of the advice and assistance +for which he is much beholden to you, or from his strong desire to +deserve your good opinion. + + Believe me always, my dear sir, + Your faithful and truly obliged. + + +[Sidenote: Anonymous.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Thursday, 27th December, 1866._ + +DEAR MADAM,[81] + +You make an absurd, though common mistake, in supposing that any human +creature can help you to be an authoress, if you cannot become one in +virtue of your own powers. I know nothing about "impenetrable barrier," +"outsiders," and "charmed circles." I know that anyone who can write +what is suitable to the requirements of my own journal--for instance--is +a person I am heartily glad to discover, and do not very often find. And +I believe this to be no rare case in periodical literature. I cannot +undertake to advise you in the abstract, as I number my unknown +correspondents by the hundred. But if you offer anything to me for +insertion in "All the Year Round," you may be sure that it will be +honestly read, and that it will be judged by no test but its own merits +and adaptability to those pages. + +But I am bound to add that I do not regard successful fiction as a thing +to be achieved in "leisure moments." + + Faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[78] The honorary secretary of the St. George Club, Manchester. + +[79] Robert Browning, the Poet, a dear and valued friend. + +[80] Mr. Rusden was, at this time, Clerk to the House of Parliament, in +Melbourne. He was the kindest of friends to the two sons of Charles +Dickens, in Australia, from the time that the elder of the two first +went out there. And Charles Dickens had the most grateful regard for +him, and maintained a frequent correspondence with him--as a +friend--although they never saw each other. + +[81] Anonymous. + + + + +1867. + + +[Sidenote: Hon. Robert Lytton.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Wednesday, 17th April, 1867._ + +MY DEAR ROBERT LYTTON,[82] + +It would have been really painful to me, if I had seen you and yours at +a Reading of mine in right of any other credentials than my own. Your +appreciation has given me higher and purer gratification than your +modesty can readily believe. When I first entered on this interpretation +of myself (then quite strange in the public ear) I was sustained by the +hope that I could drop into some hearts, some new expression of the +meaning of my books, that would touch them in a new way. To this hour +that purpose is so strong in me, and so real are my fictions to myself, +that, after hundreds of nights, I come with a feeling of perfect +freshness to that little red table, and laugh and cry with my hearers, +as if I had never stood there before. You will know from this what a +delight it is to be delicately understood, and why your earnest words +cannot fail to move me. + +We are delighted to be remembered by your charming wife, and I am +entrusted with more messages from this house to her, than you would care +to give or withhold, so I suppress them myself and absolve you from the +difficulty. + + Affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry W. Phillips.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Thursday, 16th April, 1867._ + +MY DEAR MR. PHILLIPS,[83] + +Although I think the scheme has many good points, I have this doubt: +Would boys so maintained at any one of our great public schools stand at +a decided disadvantage towards boys not so maintained? Foundation +Scholars, in many cases, win their way into public schools and so +enforce respect and even assert superiority. In many other cases their +patron is a remote and misty person, or Institution, sanctioned by Time +and custom. But the proposed position would be a very different one for +a student to hold, and boys are too often inconsiderate, proud, and +cruel. I should like to know whether this point has received +consideration from the projectors of the design? + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Henry F. Chorley.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, June 2nd, 1867._ + +MY DEAR CHORLEY, + +Thank God I have come triumphantly through the heavy work of the +fifty-one readings, and am wonderfully fresh. I grieve to hear of your +sad occupation. You know where to find rest, and quiet, and sympathy, +when you can change the dreary scene. + +I saw poor dear Stanfield (on a hint from his eldest son) in a day's +interval between two expeditions. It was clear that the shadow of the +end had fallen on him. + +It happened well that I had seen, on a wild day at Tynemouth, a +remarkable sea-effect, of which I wrote a description to him, and he had +kept it under his pillow. This place is looking very pretty. The +freshness and repose of it, after all those thousands of gas-lighted +faces, sink into the soul.[84] + + +[Sidenote: Mr. James T. Fields.] + + _September 3rd, 1867._ + +MY DEAR FIELDS,[85] + +Your cheering letter of the 21st of August arrived here this morning. A +thousand thanks for it. I begin to think (nautically) that I "head +west'ard." You shall hear from me fully and finally as soon as Dolby +shall have reported personally. + +The other day I received a letter from Mr. ----, of New York (who came +over in the winning yacht, and described the voyage in _The Times_), +saying he would much like to see me. I made an appointment in London, +and observed that when he _did_ see me he was obviously astonished. +While I was sensible that the magnificence of my appearance would fully +account for his being overcome, I nevertheless angled for the cause of +his surprise. He then told me that there was a paragraph going round the +papers to the effect that I was "in a critical state of health." I asked +him if he was sure it wasn't "cricketing" state of health. To which he +replied, Quite. I then asked him down here to dinner, and he was again +staggered by finding me in sporting training; also much amused. + +Yesterday's and to-day's post bring me this unaccountable paragraph from +hosts of uneasy friends, with the enormous and wonderful addition that +"eminent surgeons" are sending me to America for "cessation from +literary labour"!!! So I have written a quiet line to _The Times_, +certifying to my own state of health, and have also begged Dixon to do +the like in _The Athenaeum_. I mention the matter to you, in order that +you may contradict, from me, if the nonsense should reach America +unaccompanied by the truth. But I suppose that _The New York Herald_ +will probably have got the letter from Mr. ---- aforesaid. . . . + +Charles Reade and Wilkie Collins are here; and the joke of the time is +to feel my pulse when I appear at table, and also to inveigle innocent +messengers to come over to the summer-house, where I write (the place is +quite changed since you were here, and a tunnel under the highroad +connects this shrubbery with the front garden), to ask, with their +compliments, how I find myself _now_. + +If I come to America this next November, even you can hardly imagine +with what interest I shall try Copperfield on an American audience, or, +if they give me their heart, how freely and fully I shall give them +mine. We will ask Dolby then whether he ever heard it before. + +I cannot thank you enough for your invaluable help to Dolby. He writes +that at every turn and moment the sense and knowledge and tact of Mr. +Osgood are inestimable to him. + + Ever, my dear Fields, faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Lord Lytton.] + + "ALL THE YEAR ROUND" OFFICE, + _Tuesday, 17th September, 1867._ + +MY DEAR LYTTON, + +I am happy to tell you that the play was admirably done last night, and +made a marked impression. Pauline is weak, but so carefully trained and +fitted into the picture as to be never disagreeable, and sometimes (as +in the last scene) very pathetic. Fechter has played nothing nearly so +well as Claude since he played in Paris in the "Dame aux Camelias," or +in London as Ruy Blas. He played the fourth act as finely as Macready, +and the first much better. The dress and bearing in the fifth act are +quite new, and quite excellent. + +Of the Scenic arrangements, the most noticeable are:--the picturesque +struggle of the cottage between the taste of an artist, and the domestic +means of poverty (expressed to the eye with infinite tact);--the view of +Lyons (Act v. Scene 1), with a foreground of quay wall which the +officers are leaning on, waiting for the general;--and the last scene--a +suite of rooms giving on a conservatory at the back, through which the +moon is shining. You are to understand that all these scenic appliances +are subdued to the Piece, instead of the Piece being sacrificed to them; +and that every group and situation has to be considered, not only with a +reference to each by itself, but to the whole story. + +Beauseant's speaking the original contents of the letter was a decided +point, and the immense house was quite breathless when the Tempter and +the Tempted stood confronted as he made the proposal. + +There was obviously a great interest in seeing a Frenchman play the +part. The scene between Claude and Gaspar (the small part very well +done) was very closely watched for the same reason, and was loudly +applauded. I cannot say too much of the brightness, intelligence, +picturesqueness, and care of Fechter's impersonation throughout. There +was a remarkable delicacy in his gradually drooping down on his way home +with his bride, until he fell upon the table, a crushed heap of shame +and remorse, while his mother told Pauline the story. His gradual +recovery of himself as he formed better resolutions was equally well +expressed; and his being at last upright again and rushing +enthusiastically to join the army, brought the house down. + +I wish you could have been there. He never spoke English half so well as +he spoke your English; and the audience heard it with the finest +sympathy and respect. I felt that I should have been very proud indeed +to have been the writer of the Play. + + Ever affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. James T. Fields.] + + [86]_October, 1867._ + +MY DEAR FIELDS, + +I hope the telegraph clerks did not mutilate out of recognition or +reasonable guess the words I added to Dolby's last telegram to Boston. +"_Tribune_ London correspondent totally false." Not only is there not a +word of truth in the pretended conversation, but it is so absurdly +unlike me that I cannot suppose it to be even invented by anyone who +ever heard me exchange a word with mortal creature. For twenty years I +am perfectly certain that I have never made any other allusion to the +republication of my books in America than the good-humoured remark, +"that if there had been international copyright between England and the +States, I should have been a man of very large fortune, instead of a +man of moderate savings, always supporting a very expensive public +position." Nor have I ever been such a fool as to charge the absence of +international copyright upon individuals. Nor have I ever been so +ungenerous as to disguise or suppress the fact that I have received +handsome sums for advance sheets. When I was in the States, I said what +I had to say on the question, and there an end. I am absolutely certain +that I have never since expressed myself, even with soreness, on the +subject. Reverting to the preposterous fabrication of the London +correspondent, the statement that I ever talked about "these fellows" +who republished my books or pretended to know (what I don't know at this +instant) who made how much out of them, or ever talked of their sending +me "conscience money," is as grossly and completely false as the +statement that I ever said anything to the effect that I could not be +expected to have an interest in the American people. And nothing can by +any possibility be falser than that. Again and again in these pages +("All the Year Round") I have expressed my interest in them. You will +see it in the "Child's History of England." You will see it in the last +preface to "American Notes." Every American who has ever spoken with me +in London, Paris, or where not, knows whether I have frankly said, "You +could have no better introduction to me than your country." And for +years and years when I have been asked about reading in America, my +invariable reply has been, "I have so many friends there, and +constantly receive so many earnest letters from personally unknown +readers there, that, but for domestic reasons, I would go to-morrow." I +think I must, in the confidential intercourse between you and me, have +written you to this effect more than once. + +The statement of the London correspondent from beginning to end is +false. It is false in the letter and false in the spirit. He may have +been misinformed, and the statement may not have originated with him. +With whomsoever it originated, it never originated with me, and +consequently is false. More than enough about it. + +As I hope to see you so soon, my dear Fields, and as I am busily at work +on the Christmas number, I will not make this a longer letter than I can +help. I thank you most heartily for your proffered hospitality, and need +not tell you that if I went to any friend's house in America, I would go +to yours. But the readings are very hard work, and I think I cannot do +better than observe the rule on that side of the Atlantic which I +observe on this, of never, under such circumstances, going to a friend's +house, but always staying at a hotel. I am able to observe it here, by +being consistent and never breaking it. If I am equally consistent +there, I can (I hope) offend no one. + +Dolby sends his love to you and all his friends (as I do), and is +girding up his loins vigorously. + + Ever, my dear Fields, + Heartily and affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Thornbury.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Saturday, 5th October, 1867._ + +MY DEAR THORNBURY, + +Behold the best of my judgment on your questions.[87] + +Susan Hopley and Jonathan Bradford? No. Too well known. + +London Strikes and Spitalfields Cutters? Yes. + +Fighting FitzGerald? Never mind him. + +Duel of Lord Mohun and Duke of Hamilton? Ye-e-es. + +Irish Abductions? I think not. + +Brunswick Theatre? More Yes than No. + +Theatrical Farewells? Yes. + +Bow Street Runners (as compared with Modern Detectives)? Yes. + +Vauxhall and Ranelagh in the Last Century? Most decidedly. Don't forget +Miss Burney. + +Smugglers? No. Overdone. + +Lacenaire? No. Ditto. + +Madame Laffarge? No. Ditto. + +Fashionable Life Last Century? Most decidedly yes. + +Debates on the Slave Trade? Yes, generally. But beware of the Pirates, +as we did them in the beginning of "Household Words." + +Certainly I acquit you of all blame in the Bedford case. But one cannot +do otherwise than sympathise with a son who is reasonably tender of his +father's memory. And no amount of private correspondence, we must +remember, reaches the readers of a printed and published statement. + +I told you some time ago that I believed the arsenic in Eliza Fenning's +case to have been administered by the apprentice. I never was more +convinced of anything in my life than of the girl's innocence, and I +want words in which to express my indignation at the muddle-headed story +of that parsonic blunderer whose audacity and conceit distorted some +words that fell from her in the last days of her baiting. + + Ever faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Lord Lytton.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Monday, 14th October, 1867._ + +MY DEAR LYTTON, + +I am truly delighted to find that you are so well pleased with Fechter +in "The Lady of Lyons." It was a labour of love with him, and I hold him +in very high regard. + +_Don't_ give way to laziness, and _do_ proceed with that play. There +never was a time when a good new play was more wanted, or had a better +opening for itself. Fechter is a thorough artist, and what he may +sometimes want in personal force is compensated by the admirable whole +he can make of a play, and his perfect understanding of its +presentation as a picture to the eye and mind. + +I leave London on the 8th of November early, and sail from Liverpool on +the 9th. + + Ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + "ALL THE YEAR ROUND" OFFICE, + _Friday, 25th October, 1867._ + +MY DEAR LYTTON, + +I have read the Play[88] with great attention, interest, and admiration; +and I need not say to _you_ that the art of it--the fine +construction--the exquisite nicety of the touches--with which it is +wrought out--have been a study to me in the pursuit of which I have had +extraordinary relish. + +Taking the Play as it stands, I have nothing whatever to add to your +notes and memoranda of the points to be touched again, except that I +have a little uneasiness in that burst of anger and inflexibility +consequent on having been deceived, coming out of Hegio. I see the kind +of actor who _must_ play Hegio, and I see that the audience will not +believe in his doing anything so serious. (I suppose it would be +impossible to get this effect out of the mother--or through the +mother's influence, instead of out of the godfather of Hegiopolis?) + +Now, as to the classical ground and manners of the Play. I suppose the +objection to the Greek dress to be already--as Defoe would write it, +"gotten over" by your suggestion. I suppose the dress not to be +conventionally associated with stilts and boredom, but to be new to the +public eye and very picturesque. Grant all that;--the names remain. Now, +not only used such names to be inseparable in the public mind from +stately weariness, but of late days they have become inseparable in the +same public mind from silly puns upon the names, and from Burlesque. You +do not know (I hope, at least, for my friend's sake) what the Strand +Theatre is. A Greek name and a break-down nigger dance, have become +inseparable there. I do not mean to say that your genius may not be too +powerful for such associations; but I do most positively mean to say +that you would lose half the play in overcoming them. At the best you +would have to contend against them through the first three acts. The old +tendency to become frozen on classical ground would be in the best part +of the audience; the new tendency to titter on such ground would be in +the worst part. And instead of starting fair with the audience, it is my +conviction that you would start with them against you and would have to +win them over. + +Furthermore, with reference to your note to me on this head, you take up +a position with reference to poor dear Talfourd's "Ion" which I +altogether dispute. It never was a popular play, I say. It derived a +certain amount of out-of-door's popularity from the circumstances under +which, and the man by whom, it was written. But I say that it never was +a popular play on the Stage, and never made out a case of attraction +there. + +As to changing the ground to Russia, let me ask you, did you ever see +the "Nouvelles Russes" of Nicolas Gogol, translated into French by Louis +Viardot? There is a story among them called "Tarass Boulla," in which, +as it seems to me, all the conditions you want for such transplantation +are to be found. So changed, you would have the popular sympathy with +the Slave or Serf, or Prisoner of War, from the first. But I do not +think it is to be got, save at great hazard, and with lamentable waste +of force on the ground the Play now occupies. + +I shall keep this note until to-morrow to correct my conviction if I can +see the least reason for correcting it; but I feel very confident indeed +that I cannot be shaken in it. + + * * * * * + + + _Saturday._ + +I have thought it over again, and have gone over the play again with an +imaginary stage and actors before me, and I am still of the same mind. +Shall I keep the MS. till you come to town? + + Believe me, ever affectionately yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Fechter.] + + PARKER HOUSE, BOSTON, _3rd December, 1867._ + +MY DEAR FECHTER, + +I have been very uneasy about you, seeing in the paper that you were +taken ill on the stage. But a letter from Georgy this morning reassures +me by giving me a splendid account of your triumphant last night at the +Lyceum. + +I hope to bring out our Play[89] with Wallack in New York, and to have it +played in many other parts of the States. I have sent to Wilkie for +models, etc. If I waited for time to do more than write you my love, I +should miss the mail to-morrow. Take my love, then, my dear fellow, and +believe me ever + + Your affectionate. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[82] The Hon. Robert Lytton--now the Earl of Lytton--in literature well +known as "Owen Meredith." + +[83] Mr. Henry W. Phillips, at this time secretary of the Artists' +General Benevolent Society. He was eager to establish some educational +system in connection with that institution. + +[84] The remainder has been cut off for the signature. + +[85] This and all other Letters to Mr. J. T. Fields were printed in Mr. +Fields' "In and Out of Doors with Charles Dickens." + +[86] A ridiculous paragraph in the papers following close on the public +announcement that Charles Dickens was coming to America in November, +drew from him this letter to Mr. Fields, dated early in October. + +[87] As to subjects for articles in "All the Year Round." + +[88] The Play referred to is founded on the "Captives" of Plautus, and +is entitled "The Captives." It has never been acted or published. + +[89] "No Thoroughfare." + + + + +1868. + + + _3rd February, 1868._ + +[90]Articles of Agreement entered into at Baltimore, in the United States +of America, this third day of February in the year of our Lord one +thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, between ---- ----, British +subject, _alias_ the man of Ross, and ---- ---- ----, American citizen, +_alias_ the Boston Bantam. + +Whereas, some Bounce having arisen between the above men in reference to +feats of pedestrianism and agility, they have agreed to settle their +differences and prove who is the better man, by means of a walking-match +for two hats a side and the glory of their respective countries; and +whereas they agree that the said match shall come off, whatsoever the +weather, on the Mill Dam Road outside Boston, on Saturday, the +twenty-ninth day of this present month; and whereas they agree that the +personal attendants on themselves during the whole walk, and also the +umpires and starters and declarers of victory in the match shall be ---- +---- of Boston, known in sporting circles as Massachusetts Jemmy, and +Charles Dickens of Falstaff's Gad's Hill, whose surprising performances +(without the least variation) on that truly national instrument, the +American catarrh, have won for him the well-merited title of the Gad's +Hill Gasper: + +1. The men are to be started, on the day appointed, by Massachusetts +Jemmy and The Gasper. + +2. Jemmy and The Gasper are, on some previous day, to walk out at the +rate of not less than four miles an hour by The Gasper's watch, for one +hour and a half. At the expiration of that one hour and a half they are +to carefully note the place at which they halt. On the match's coming +off they are to station themselves in the middle of the road, at that +precise point, and the men (keeping clear of them and of each other) are +to turn round them, right shoulder inward, and walk back to the +starting-point. The man declared by them to pass the starting-point +first is to be the victor and the winner of the match. + +3. No jostling or fouling allowed. + +4. All cautions or orders issued to the men by the umpires, starters, +and declarers of victory to be considered final and admitting of no +appeal. + +A sporting narrative of the match to be written by The Gasper within one +week after its coming off, and the same to be duly printed (at the +expense of the subscribers to these articles) on a broadside. The said +broadside to be framed and glazed, and one copy of the same to be +carefully preserved by each of the subscribers to these articles. + +6. The men to show on the evening of the day of walking at six o'clock +precisely, at the Parker House, Boston, when and where a dinner will be +given them by The Gasper. The Gasper to occupy the chair, faced by +Massachusetts Jemmy. The latter promptly and formally to invite, as soon +as may be after the date of these presents, the following guests to +honour the said dinner with their presence; that is to say [here follow +the names of a few of his friends, whom he wished to be invited]. + +Now, lastly. In token of their accepting the trusts and offices by these +articles conferred upon them, these articles are solemnly and formally +signed by Massachusetts Jemmy and by the Gad's Hill Gasper, as well as +by the men themselves. + +Signed by the Man of Ross, otherwise ----. + +Signed by the Boston Bantam, otherwise ----. + +Signed by Massachusetts Jemmy, otherwise ----. + +Signed by the Gad's Hill Gasper, otherwise Charles Dickens. + +Witness to the signatures, ----. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Charles Lanman.] + + WASHINGTON, _February 5th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +Allow me to thank you most cordially for your kind letter, and for its +accompanying books. I have a particular love for books of travel, and +shall wander into the "Wilds of America" with great interest. I have +also received your charming Sketch with great pleasure and admiration. +Let me thank you for it heartily. As a beautiful suggestion of nature +associated with this country, it shall have a quiet place on the walls +of my house as long as I live. + +Your reference to my dear friend Washington Irving renews the vivid +impressions reawakened in my mind at Baltimore the other day. I saw his +fine face for the last time in that city. He came there from New York to +pass a day or two with me before I went westward, and they were made +among the most memorable of my life by his delightful fancy and genial +humour. Some unknown admirer of his books and mine sent to the hotel a +most enormous mint julep, wreathed with flowers. We sat, one on either +side of it, with great solemnity (it filled a respectable-sized paper), +but the solemnity was of very short duration. It was quite an enchanted +julep, and carried us among innumerable people and places that we both +knew. The julep held out far into the night, and my memory never saw him +afterward otherwise than as bending over it, with his straw, with an +attempted gravity (after some anecdote, involving some wonderfully droll +and delicate observation of character), and then, as his eyes caught +mine, melting into that captivating laugh of his which was the brightest +and best I have ever heard. + + Dear Sir, with many thanks, faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Pease.] + + BALTIMORE, _9th February, 1868._ + +DEAR MADAM, + +Mr. Dolby has _not_ come between us, and I have received your letter. My +answer to it is, unfortunately, brief. I am not coming to Cleveland or +near it. Every evening on which I can possibly read during the remainder +of my stay in the States is arranged for, and the fates divide me from +"the big woman with two smaller ones in tow." So I send her my love (to +be shared in by the two smaller ones, if she approve--but not +otherwise), and seriously assure her that her pleasant letter has been +most welcome. + + Dear madam, faithfully your friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. James T. Fields.] + + ABOARD THE "RUSSIA," BOUND FOR LIVERPOOL, + _Sunday, 26th April, 1868._ + +MY DEAR FIELDS, + +In order that you may have the earliest intelligence of me, I begin this +note to-day in my small cabin, purposing (if it should prove +practicable) to post it at Queenstown for the return steamer. + +We are already past the Banks of Newfoundland, although our course was +seventy miles to the south, with the view of avoiding ice seen by +Judkins in the _Scotia_ on his passage out to New York. The _Russia_ is +a magnificent ship, and has dashed along bravely. We had made more than +thirteen hundred and odd miles at noon to-day. The wind, after being a +little capricious, rather threatens at the present time to turn against +us, but our run is already eighty miles ahead of the _Russia's_ last run +in this direction--a very fast one. . . . To all whom it may concern, +report the _Russia_ in the highest terms. She rolls more easily than +the other Cunard Screws, is kept in perfect order, and is most carefully +looked after in all departments. We have had nothing approaching to +heavy weather, still one can speak to the trim of the ship. Her captain, +a gentleman; bright, polite, good-natured, and vigilant. . . . + +As to me, I am greatly better, I hope. I have got on my right boot +to-day for the first time; the "true American" seems to be turning +faithless at last; and I made a Gad's Hill breakfast this morning, as a +further advance on having otherwise eaten and drunk all day ever since +Wednesday. + +You will see Anthony Trollope, I daresay. What was my amazement to see +him with these eyes come aboard in the mail tender just before we +started! He had come out in the _Scotia_ just in time to dash off again +in said tender to shake hands with me, knowing me to be aboard here. It +was most heartily done. He is on a special mission of convention with +the United States post-office. + +We have been picturing your movements, and have duly checked off your +journey home, and have talked about you continually. But I have thought +about you both, even much, much more. You will never know how I love you +both; or what you have been to me in America, and will always be to me +everywhere; or how fervently I thank you. + +All the working of the ship seems to be done on my forehead. It is +scrubbed and holystoned (my head--not the deck) at three every morning. +It is scraped and swabbed all day. Eight pairs of heavy boots are now +clattering on it, getting the ship under sail again. Legions of +ropes'-ends are flopped upon it as I write, and I must leave off with +Dolby's love. + + * * * * * + + + _Thursday, 30th._ + +Soon after I left off as above we had a gale of wind which blew all +night. For a few hours on the evening side of midnight there was no +getting from this cabin of mine to the saloon, or _vice versa_, so +heavily did the sea break over the decks. The ship, however, made +nothing of it, and we were all right again by Monday afternoon. Except +for a few hours yesterday (when we had a very light head-wind), the +weather has been constantly favourable, and we are now bowling away at a +great rate, with a fresh breeze filling all our sails. We expect to be +at Queenstown between midnight and three in the morning. + +I hope, my dear Fields, you may find this legible, but I rather doubt +it, for there is motion enough on the ship to render writing to a +landsman, however accustomed to pen and ink, rather a difficult +achievement. Besides which, I slide away gracefully from the paper, +whenever I want to be particularly expressive. . . . + +----, sitting opposite to me at breakfast, always has the following +items: A large dish of porridge into which he casts slices of butter and +a quantity of sugar. Two cups of tea. A steak. Irish stew. Chutnee and +marmalade. Another deputation of two has solicited a reading to-night. +Illustrious novelist has unconditionally and absolutely declined. More +love, and more to that, from your ever affectionate friend. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + "ALL THE YEAR ROUND" OFFICE, _May 15th, 1868._ + +MY DEAR FIELDS, + +I have found it so extremely difficult to write about America (though +never so briefly) without appearing to blow trumpets on the one hand, or +to be inconsistent with my avowed determination _not_ to write about it +on the other, that I have taken the simple course enclosed. The number +will be published on the 6th of June. It appears to me to be the most +modest and manly course, and to derive some graceful significance from +its title. + +Thank my dear Mrs. Fields for me for her delightful letter received on +the 16th. I will write to her very soon, and tell her about the dogs. I +would write by this post, but that Wills' absence (in Sussex, and +getting no better there as yet) so overwhelms me with business that I +can scarcely get through it. + +Miss me? Ah, my dear fellow, but how do I miss _you_! We talk about you +both at Gad's Hill every day of our lives. And I never see the place +looking very pretty indeed, or hear the birds sing all day long and the +nightingales all night, without restlessly wishing that you were both +there. + +With best love, and truest and most enduring regard, ever, my dear +Fields, + + Your most affectionate. + +. . . I hope you will receive by Saturday's Cunard a case containing: + +1. A trifling supply of the pen-knibs that suited your hand. + +2. A do. of unfailing medicine for cockroaches. + +3. Mrs. Gamp, for ----. + +The case is addressed to you at Bleecker Street, New York. If it should +be delayed for the knibs (or nibs) promised to-morrow, and should be too +late for the Cunard packet, it will in that case come by the next +following Inman steamer. + +Everything here looks lovely, and I find it (you will be surprised to +hear) really a pretty place! I have seen "No Thoroughfare" twice. +Excellent things in it, but it drags to my thinking. It is, however, a +great success in the country, and is now getting up with great force in +Paris. Fechter is ill, and was ordered off to Brighton yesterday. Wills +is ill too, and banished into Sussex for perfect rest. Otherwise, thank +God, I find everything well and thriving. You and my dear Mrs. Fields +are constantly in my mind. Procter greatly better. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Fechter.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Friday, 22nd May, 1868._ + +MY DEAR FECHTER, + +I have an idea about the bedroom act, which I should certainly have +suggested if I had been at our "repetitions" here.[91] I want it done _to +the sound of the Waterfall_. I want the sound of the Waterfall louder +and softer as the wind rises and falls, to be spoken through--like the +music. I want the Waterfall _listened to when spoken of, and not looked +out at_. The mystery and gloom of the scene would be greatly helped by +this, and it would be new and picturesquely fanciful. + +I am very anxious to hear from you how the piece seems to go,[92] and how +the artists, who are to act it, seem to understand their parts. Pray +tell me, too, when you write, how you found Madame Fechter, and give all +our loves to all. + + Ever heartily yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. James T. Fields.] + + GAD'S HILL, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _25th May, 1868._ + +MY DEAR MRS. FIELDS, + +As you ask me about the dogs, I begin with them. When I came down first, +I came to Gravesend, five miles off. The two Newfoundland dogs, coming +to meet me with the usual carriage and the usual driver, and beholding +me coming in my usual dress out at the usual door, it struck me that +their recollection of my having been absent for any unusual time was at +once cancelled. They behaved (they are both young dogs) exactly in their +usual manner; coming behind the basket phaeton as we trotted along, and +lifting their heads to have their ears pulled--a special attention which +they receive from no one else. But when I drove into the stable-yard, +Linda (the St. Bernard) was greatly excited; weeping profusely, and +throwing herself on her back that she might caress my foot with her +great fore-paws. Mamie's little dog, too, Mrs. Bouncer, barked in the +greatest agitation on being called down and asked by Mamie, "Who is +this?" and tore round and round me, like the dog in the Faust outlines. +You must know that all the farmers turned out on the road in their +market-chaises to say, "Welcome home, sir!" and that all the houses +along the road were dressed with flags; and that our servants, to cut +out the rest, had dressed this house so that every brick of it was +hidden. They had asked Mamie's permission to "ring the alarm-bell" (!) +when master drove up, but Mamie, having some slight idea that that +compliment might awaken master's sense of the ludicrous, had recommended +bell abstinence. But on Sunday the village choir (which includes the +bell-ringers) made amends. After some unusually brief pious reflections +in the crowns of their hats at the end of the sermon, the ringers bolted +out, and rang like mad until I got home. There had been a conspiracy +among the villagers to take the horse out, if I had come to our own +station, and draw me here. Mamie and Georgy had got wind of it and +warned me. + +Divers birds sing here all day, and the nightingales all night. The +place is lovely, and in perfect order. I have put five mirrors in the +Swiss chalet (where I write) and they reflect and refract in all kinds +of ways the leaves that are quivering at the windows, and the great +fields of waving corn, and the sail-dotted river. My room is up among +the branches of the trees; and the birds and the butterflies fly in and +out, and the green branches shoot in, at the open windows, and the +lights and shadows of the clouds come and go with the rest of the +company. The scent of the flowers, and indeed of everything that is +growing for miles and miles, is most delicious. + +Dolby (who sends a world of messages) found his wife much better than he +expected, and the children (wonderful to relate!) perfect. The little +girl winds up her prayers every night with a special commendation to +Heaven of me and the pony--as if I must mount him to get there! I dine +with Dolby (I was going to write "him," but found it would look as if I +were going to dine with the pony) at Greenwich this very day, and if +your ears do not burn from six to nine this evening, then the Atlantic +is a non-conductor. We are already settling--think of this!--the details +of my farewell course of readings. I am brown beyond belief, and cause +the greatest disappointment in all quarters by looking so well. It is +really wonderful what those fine days at sea did for me! My doctor was +quite broken down in spirits when he saw me, for the first time since my +return, last Saturday. "Good Lord!" he said, recoiling, "seven years +younger!" + +It is time I should explain the otherwise inexplicable enclosure. Will +you tell Fields, with my love (I suppose he hasn't used _all_ the pens +yet?), that I think there is in Tremont Street a set of my books, sent +out by Chapman, not arrived when I departed. Such set of the immortal +works of our illustrious, etc., is designed for the gentleman to whom +the enclosure is addressed. If T., F. and Co., will kindly forward the +set (carriage paid) with the enclosure to ----'s address, I will invoke +new blessings on their heads, and will get Dolby's little daughter to +mention them nightly. + +"No Thoroughfare" is very shortly coming out in Paris, where it is now +in active rehearsal. It is still playing here, but without Fechter, who +has been very ill. The doctor's dismissal of him to Paris, however, and +his getting better there, enables him to get up the play there. He and +Wilkie missed so many pieces of stage-effect here, that, unless I am +quite satisfied with his report, I shall go over and try my +stage-managerial hand at the Vaudeville Theatre. I particularly want the +drugging and attempted robbing in the bedroom scene at the Swiss inn to +be done to the sound of a waterfall rising and falling with the wind. +Although in the very opening of that scene they speak of the waterfall +and listen to it, nobody thought of its mysterious music. I could make +it, with a good stage-carpenter, in an hour. + +My dear love to Fields once again. Same to you and him from Mamie and +Georgy. I cannot tell you both how I miss you, or how overjoyed I should +be to see you here. + + Ever, my dear Mrs. Fields, + Your most affectionate friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Alexander Ireland.] + + THE ATHENAEUM, _Saturday, 30th May, 1868._ + +DEAR MR. IRELAND, + +Many thanks for the book[93] you have kindly lent me. My interest in its +subject is scarcely less than your own, and the book has afforded me +great pleasure. I hope it will prove a very useful tribute to Hazlett +and Hunt (in extending the general knowledge of their writings), as well +as a deservedly hearty and loving one. + +You gratify me much by your appreciation of my desire to promote the +kindest feelings between England and America. But the writer of the +generous article in _The Manchester Examiner_ is quite mistaken in +supposing that I intend to write a book on the United States. The fact +is exactly the reverse, or I could not have spoken without some +appearance of having a purpose to serve. + + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. James T. Fields.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, _Tuesday, 7th July, 1868._ + +MY DEAR FIELDS, + +I have delayed writing to you (and Mrs. Fields, to whom my love) until I +should have seen Longfellow. When he was in London the first time he +came and went without reporting himself, and left me in a state of +unspeakable discomfiture. Indeed, I should not have believed in his +having been here at all, if Mrs. Procter had not told me of his calling +to see Procter. However, on his return he wrote to me from the Langham +Hotel, and I went up to town to see him, and to make an appointment for +his coming here. He, the girls, and Appleton, came down last Saturday +night and stayed until Monday forenoon. I showed them all the +neighbouring country that could be shown in so short a time, and they +finished off with a tour of inspection of the kitchens, pantry, +wine-cellar, pickles, sauces, servants' sitting-room, general household +stores, and even the Cellar Book, of this illustrious establishment. +Forster and Kent (the latter wrote certain verses to Longfellow, which +have been published in _The Times_, and which I sent to D----) came down +for a day, and I hope we all had a really "good time." I turned out a +couple of postillions in the old red jacket of the old red royal Dover +Road, for our ride; and it was like a holiday ride in England fifty +years ago. Of course we went to look at the old houses in Rochester, and +the old cathedral, and the old castle, and the house for the six poor +travellers who, "not being rogues or procters, shall have lodging, +entertainment, and four pence each." + +Nothing can surpass the respect paid to Longfellow here, from the Queen +downward. He is everywhere received and courted, and finds (as I told +him he would, when we talked of it in Boston) the working-men at least +as well acquainted with his books as the classes socially above +them. . . . + +Last Thursday I attended, as sponsor, the christening of Dolby's son and +heir--a most jolly baby, who held on tight by the rector's left whisker +while the service was performed. What time, too, his little sister, +connecting me with the pony, trotted up and down the centre aisle, +noisily driving herself as that celebrated animal, so that it went very +hard with the sponsorial dignity. + +Wills is not yet recovered from that concussion of the brain, and I have +all his work to do. This may account for my not being able to devise a +Christmas number, but I seem to have left my invention in America. In +case you should find it, please send it over. I am going up to town +to-day to dine with Longfellow. And now, my dear Fields, you know all +about me and mine. + +You are enjoying your holiday? and are still thinking sometimes of our +Boston days, as I do? and are maturing schemes for coming here next +summer? A satisfactory reply to the last question is particularly +entreated. + +I am delighted to find you both so well pleased with the Blind Book +scheme.[94] I said nothing of it to you when we were together, though I +had made up my mind, because I wanted to come upon you with that little +burst from a distance. It seemed something like meeting again when I +remitted the money and thought of your talking of it. + +The dryness of the weather is amazing. All the ponds and surface-wells +about here are waterless, and the poor people suffer greatly. The people +of this village have only one spring to resort to, and it is a couple of +miles from many cottages. I do not let the great dogs swim in the canal, +because the people have to drink of it. But when they get into the +Medway it is hard to get them out again. The other day Bumble (the son, +Newfoundland dog) got into difficulties among some floating timber, and +became frightened. Don (the father) was standing by me, shaking off the +wet and looking on carelessly, when all of a sudden he perceived +something amiss, and went in with a bound and brought Bumble out by the +ear. The scientific way in which he towed him along was charming. + + Ever your loving. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. J. E. Millais, R.A.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, 19th July, 1868._ + +MY DEAR MILLAIS,[95] + +I received the enclosed letter yesterday, and I have, perhaps +unjustly--some vague suspicions of it. As I know how faithful and +zealous you have been in all relating to poor Leech, I make no apology +for asking you whether you can throw any light upon its contents. + +You will be glad to hear that Charles Collins is decidedly better +to-day, and is out of doors. + + Believe me always, faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Serle.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Wednesday, 29th July, 1868._ + +MY DEAR SERLE,[96] + +I do not believe there is the slightest chance of an international +Copyright law being passed in America for a long time to come. Some +Massachusetts men do believe in such a thing, but they fail (as I +think) to take into account the prompt western opposition. + +Such an alteration as you suggest in the English law would give no +copyright in America, you see. The American publisher could buy no +absolute _right_ of priority. Any American newspaper could (and many +would, in a popular case) pirate from him, as soon as they could get the +matter set up. He could buy no more than he buys now when he arranges +for advance sheets from England, so that there may be simultaneous +publication in the two countries. And success in England is of so much +importance towards the achievement of success in America, that I greatly +doubt whether previous publications in America would often be worth more +to an American publisher or manager than simultaneous publication. +Concerning the literary man in Parliament who would undertake to bring +in a Bill for such an amendment of our copyright law, with weight enough +to keep his heart unbroken while he should be getting it through its +various lingering miseries, all I can say is--I decidedly don't know +him. + +On that horrible Staplehurst day, I had not the slightest idea that I +knew anyone in the train out of my own compartment. Mrs. Cowden +Clarke[97] wrote me afterwards, telling me in the main what you tell me, +and I was astonished. It is remarkable that my watch (a special +chronometer) has never gone quite correctly since, and to this day there +sometimes comes over me, on a railway--in a hansom cab--or any sort of +conveyance--for a few seconds, a vague sense of dread that I have no +power to check. It comes and passes, but I cannot prevent its coming. + + Believe me, always faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Rusden.] + + _24th August, 1868._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I should have written to you much sooner, but that I have been home from +the United States barely three months, and have since been a little +uncertain as to the precise time and way of sending my youngest son out +to join his brother Alfred. + +It is now settled that he shall come out in the ship _Sussex_, 1000 +tons, belonging to Messrs. Money, Wigram, and Co. She sails from +Gravesend, but he will join her at Plymouth on the 27th September, and +will proceed straight to Melbourne. Of this I apprise Alfred by this +mail. . . . I cannot sufficiently thank you for your kindness to Alfred. +I am certain that a becoming sense of it and desire to deserve it, has +done him great good. + +Your report of him is an unspeakable comfort to me, and I most heartily +assure you of my gratitude and friendship. + +In the midst of your colonial seethings and heavings, I suppose you have +some leisure to consult equally the hopeful prophets and the dismal +prophets who are all wiser than any of the rest of us as to things at +home here. My own strong impression is that whatsoever change the new +Reform Bill may effect will be very gradual indeed and quite wholesome. + +Numbers of the middle class who seldom or never voted before will vote +now, and the greater part of the new voters will in the main be wiser as +to their electoral responsibilities and more seriously desirous to +discharge them for the common good than the bumptious singers of "Rule +Britannia," "Our dear old Church of England," and all the rest of it. + +If I can ever do anything for any accredited friend of yours coming to +the old country, command me. I shall be truly glad of any opportunity of +testifying that I do not use a mere form of words in signing myself, + + Cordially yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Russell Sturgis.] + + KENNEDY'S HOTEL, EDINBURGH, + _Monday, 14th December, 1868._[98] + +MY DEAR MR. RUSSELL STURGIS, + +I am "reading" here, and shall be through this week. Consequently I am +only this morning in receipt of your kind note of the 10th, forwarded +from my own house. + +Believe me I am as much obliged to you for your generous and ready +response to my supposed letter as I should have been if I had really +written it. But I know nothing whatever of it or of "Miss Jeffries," +except that I have a faint impression of having recently noticed that +name among my begging-letter correspondents, and of having associated it +in my mind with a regular professional hand. Your caution has, I hope, +disappointed this swindler. But my testimony is at your service if you +should need it, and I would take any opportunity of bringing one of +those vagabonds to punishment; for they are, one and all, the most +heartless and worthless vagabonds on the face of the earth. + + Believe me, faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. James T. Fields.] + + GLASGOW, _Wednesday, December 16, 1868._ + +MY DEAR MRS. FIELDS, + +. . . First, as you are curious about the Oliver murder, I will tell you +about that trial of the same at which you _ought_ to have assisted. +There were about a hundred people present in all. I have changed my +stage. Besides that back screen which you know so well, there are two +large screens of the same colour, set off, one on either side, like the +"wings" at a theatre. And besides these again, we have a quantity of +curtains of the same colour, with which to close in any width of room +from wall to wall. Consequently, the figure is now completely isolated, +and the slightest action becomes much more important. This was used for +the first time on the occasion. But behind the stage--the orchestra +being very large and built for the accommodation of a numerous +chorus--there was ready, on the level of the platform, a very long +table, beautifully lighted, with a large staff of men ready to open +oysters and set champagne-corks flying. Directly I had done, the screens +being whisked off by my people, there was disclosed one of the prettiest +banquets you can imagine; and when all the people came up, and the gay +dresses of the ladies were lighted by those powerful lights of mine, the +scene was exquisitely pretty; the hall being newly decorated, and very +elegantly; and the whole looking like a great bed of flowers and +diamonds. + +Now, you must know that all this company were, before the wine went +round, unmistakably pale, and had horror-stricken faces. Next morning +Harness (Fields knows--Rev. William--did an edition of Shakespeare--old +friend of the Kembles and Mrs. Siddons), writing to me about it, and +saying it was "a most amazing and terrific thing," added, "but I am +bound to tell you that I had an almost irresistible impulse upon me to +_scream_, and that, if anyone had cried out, I am certain I should have +followed." He had no idea that, on the night, P----, the great ladies' +doctor, had taken me aside and said: "My dear Dickens, you may rely upon +it that if only one woman cries out when you murder the girl, there will +be a contagion of hysteria all over this place." It is impossible to +soften it without spoiling it, and you may suppose that I am rather +anxious to discover how it goes on the 5th of January!!! We are afraid +to announce it elsewhere, without knowing, except that I have thought it +pretty safe to put it up once in Dublin. I asked Mrs. K----, the famous +actress, who was at the experiment: "What do _you_ say? Do it or not?" +"Why, of course, do it," she replied. "Having got at such an effect as +that, it must be done. But," rolling her large black eyes very slowly, +and speaking very distinctly, "the public have been looking out for a +sensation these last fifty years or so, and by Heaven they have got it!" +With which words, and a long breath and a long stare, she became +speechless. Again, you may suppose that I am a little anxious! + +Not a day passes but Dolby and I talk about you both, and recall where +we were at the corresponding time of last year. My old likening of +Boston to Edinburgh has been constantly revived within these last ten +days. There is a certain remarkable similarity of _tone_ between the two +places. The audiences are curiously alike, except that the Edinburgh +audience has a quicker sense of humour and is a little more genial. No +disparagement to Boston in this, because I consider an Edinburgh +audience perfect. + +I trust, my dear Eugenius, that you have recognised yourself in a +certain Uncommercial, and also some small reference to a name rather +dear to you? As an instance of how strangely something comic springs up +in the midst of the direst misery, look to a succeeding Uncommercial, +called "A Small Star in the East," published to-day, by-the-bye. I have +described, _with exactness_, the poor places into which I went, and how +the people behaved, and what they said. I was wretched, looking on; and +yet the boiler-maker and the poor man with the legs filled me with a +sense of drollery not to be kept down by any pressure. + +The atmosphere of this place, compounded of mists from the highlands and +smoke from the town factories, is crushing my eyebrows as I write, and +it rains as it never does rain anywhere else, and always does rain here. +It is a dreadful place, though much improved and possessing a deal of +public spirit. Improvement is beginning to knock the old town of +Edinburgh about, here and there; but the Canongate and the most +picturesque of the horrible courts and wynds are not to be easily +spoiled, or made fit for the poor wretches who people them to live in. +Edinburgh is so changed as to its notabilities, that I had the only +three men left of the Wilson and Jeffrey time to dine with me there, +last Saturday. + +I think you will find "Fatal Zero" (by Percy Fitzgerald) a very curious +analysis of a mind, as the story advances. A new beginner in "A. Y. R." +(Hon. Mrs. Clifford, Kinglake's sister), who wrote a story in the series +just finished, called "The Abbot's Pool," has just sent me another +story. I have a strong impression that, with care, she will step into +Mrs. Gaskell's vacant place. Wills is no better, and I have work enough +even in that direction. + +God bless the woman with the black mittens for making me laugh so this +morning! I take her to be a kind of public-spirited Mrs. Sparsit, and as +such take her to my bosom. God bless you both, my dear friends, in this +Christmas and New Year time, and in all times, seasons, and places, and +send you to Gad's Hill with the next flowers! + + Ever your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Russell Sturgis.] + + KENNEDY'S HOTEL, EDINBURGH, + _Friday, 18th December, 1868._ + +MY DEAR MR. RUSSELL STURGIS, + +I return you the forged letter, and devoutly wish that I had to flog the +writer in virtue of a legal sentence. I most cordially reciprocate your +kind expressions in reference to our future intercourse, and shall hope +to remind you of them five or six months hence, when my present labours +shall have gone the way of all other earthly things. It was particularly +interesting to me when I was last at Boston to recognise poor dear +Felton's unaffected and genial ways in his eldest daughter, and to +notice how, in tender remembrance of him, she is, as it were, +Cambridge's daughter. + + + Believe me always, faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[90] It was at Baltimore that Charles Dickens first conceived the idea +of a walking-match, which should take place on his return to Boston, and +he drew up a set of humorous "articles." + +[91] The Play of "No Thoroughfare," was produced at the Adelphi Theatre, +under the management of Mr. Webster. + +[92] Mr. Fechter was, at this time, superintending the production of a +French version of "No Thoroughfare," in Paris. It was called "L'Abime." + +[93] The volume referred to is a "List of the Writings of William +Hazlett and Leigh Hunt, chronologically arranged, with Notes, +descriptive, critical, and explanatory, etc." + +[94] A copy of "The Old Curiosity Shop," in raised letters for the use +of the Blind, had been printed by Charles Dickens's order at the +"Perkins Institution for the Blind" in Boston, and presented by him to +that institution in this year. + +[95] John Everett Millais, R.A. (The Editors make use of this note, as +it is the only one which Mr. Millais has been able to find for them, and +they are glad to have the two names associated together). + +[96] A dramatic author, who was acting manager of Covent Garden Theatre +in 1838, when his acquaintance with Charles Dickens first began. This +letter is in answer to some questions put to Charles Dickens by Mr. +Serle on the subject of the extension of copyright to the United States +of America. + +[97] Mrs. Cowden Clarke wrote to tell Charles Dickens that her sister, +Miss Sabilla Novello, and her brother, Mr. Alfred Novello, were also in +the train, and escaped without injury. + +[98] A forged letter from Charles Dickens, introducing an impostor, had +been addressed to Mr. Russell Sturgis. + + + + +1869. + + +[Sidenote: Mrs. Forster.] + + QUEEN'S HOTEL, MANCHESTER, + _Monday, 8th March, 1869._ + +MY DEAR MRS. FORSTER, + +A thousand thanks for your note, which has reached me here this +afternoon. At breakfast this morning Dolby showed me the local paper +with a paragraph in it recording poor dear Tennent's[99] death. You may +imagine how shocked I was. Immediately before I left town this last +time, I had an unusually affectionate letter from him, enclosing one +from Forster, and proposing the friendly dinner since appointed for the +25th. I replied to him in the same spirit, and felt touched at the time +by the gentle earnestness of his tone. It is remarkable that I talked of +him a great deal yesterday to Dolby (who knew nothing of him), and that +I reverted to him again at night before going to bed--with no reason +that I know of. Dolby was strangely impressed by this, when he showed me +the newspaper. + +God be with us all! + + Ever your affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. H. A. Layard.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Saturday, 13th March, 1869._ + +MY DEAR LAYARD, + +Coming to town for a couple of days, from York, I find your beautiful +present.[100] With my heartiest congratulations on your marriage, accept +my most cordial thanks for a possession that I shall always prize +foremost among my worldly goods; firstly, for your sake; secondly, for +its own. + +Not one of these glasses shall be set on table until Mrs. Layard is +there, to touch with her lips the first champagne that any of them shall +ever hold! This vow has been registered in solemn triumvirate at Gad's +Hill. + +The first week in June will about see me through my present work, I +hope. I came to town hurriedly to attend poor dear Emerson Tennent's +funeral. You will know how my mind went back, in the York up-train at +midnight, to Mount Vesuvius and our Neapolitan supper. + +I have given Mr. Hills, of Oxford Street, the letter of introduction to +you that you kindly permitted. He has immense local influence, and could +carry his neighbours in favour of any good design. + + My dear Layard, ever cordially yours. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Florence Olliffe.] + + 26, WELLINGTON STREET, _Tuesday, 16th March, 1869._ + +MY DEAR FLORENCE,[101] + +I have received your kind note this morning, and I hasten to thank you +for it, and to assure your dear mother of our most cordial sympathy with +her in her great affliction, and in loving remembrance of the good man +and excellent friend we have lost. The tidings of his being very ill +indeed had, of course, been reported to me. For some days past I had +taken up the newspaper with sad misgivings; and this morning, before I +got your letter, they were realised. + +I loved him truly. His wonderful gentleness and kindness, years ago, +when we had sickness in our household in Paris, has never been out of my +grateful remembrance. And, socially, his image is inseparable from some +of the most genial and delightful friendly hours of my life. I am almost +ashamed to set such recollections by the side of your mother's great +bereavement and grief, but they spring out of the fulness of my heart. + +May God be with her and with you all! + + Ever yours affectionately. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. James T. Fields.] + + ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, _Friday, April 9th, 1869._ + +MY DEAR FIELDS, + +The faithful _Russia_ will bring this out to you, as a sort of warrant +to take you into loving custody and bring you back on her return trip. + +I rather think that when the 12th of June shall have shaken off these +shackles,[102] there _will_ be borage on the lawn at Gad's. Your heart's +desire in that matter, and in the minor particulars of Cobham Park, +Rochester Castle, and Canterbury, shall be fulfilled, please God! The +red jackets shall turn out again upon the turnpike-road, and picnics +among the cherry-orchards and hop-gardens shall be heard of in Kent. +Then, too, shall the Uncommercial resuscitate (being at present nightly +murdered by Mr. W. Sikes) and uplift his voice again. + +The chief officer of the _Russia_ (a capital fellow) was at the Reading +last night, and Dolby specially charged him with the care of you and +yours. We shall be on the borders of Wales, and probably about Hereford, +when you arrive. Dolby has insane projects of getting over here to meet +you; so amiably hopeful and obviously impracticable, that I encourage +him to the utmost. The regular little captain of the _Russia_, Cook, is +just now changed into the _Cuba_, whence arise disputes of seniority, +etc. I wish he had been with you, for I liked him very much when I was +his passenger. I like to think of your being in _my_ ship! + +---- and ---- have been taking it by turns to be "on the point of +death," and have been complimenting one another greatly on the fineness +of the point attained. My people got a very good impression of ----, and +thought her a sincere and earnest little woman. + +The _Russia_ hauls out into the stream to-day, and I fear her people may +be too busy to come to us to-night. But if any of them do, they shall +have the warmest of welcomes for your sake. (By-the-bye, a very good +party of seamen from the Queen's ship _Donegal_, lying in the Mersey, +have been told off to decorate St. George's Hall with the ship's +bunting. They were all hanging on aloft upside down, holding to the +gigantically high roof by nothing, this morning, in the most wonderfully +cheerful manner.) + +My son Charley has come for the dinner, and Chappell (my Proprietor, +as--isn't it Wemmick?--says) is coming to-day, and Lord Dufferin (Mrs. +Norton's nephew) is to come and make _the_ speech. I don't envy the +feelings of my noble friend when he sees the hall. Seriously, it is less +adapted to speaking than Westminster Abbey, and is as large. . . . + +I hope you will see Fechter in a really clever piece by Wilkie.[103] Also +you will see the Academy Exhibition, which will be a very good one; and +also we will, please God, see everything and more, and everything else +after that. I begin to doubt and fear on the subject of your having a +horror of me after seeing the murder. I don't think a hand moved while I +was doing it last night, or an eye looked away. And there was a fixed +expression of horror of me, all over the theatre, which could not have +been surpassed if I had been going to be hanged to that red velvet +table. It is quite a new sensation to be execrated with that unanimity; +and I hope it will remain so! + +[Is it lawful--would that woman in the black gaiters, green veil, and +spectacles, hold it so--to send my love to the pretty M----?] + +Pack up, my dear Fields, and be quick. + + Ever your most affectionate. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Rusden.] + + PRESTON, _Thursday, 22nd April, 1869._ + +MY DEAR SIR, + +I am finishing my Farewell Readings--to-night is the seventy-fourth out +of one hundred--and have barely time to send you a line to thank you +most heartily for yours of the 30th January, and for your great kindness +to Alfred and Edward. The latter wrote by the same mail, on behalf of +both, expressing the warmest gratitude to you, and reporting himself in +the stoutest heart and hope. I never can thank you sufficiently. + +You will see that the new Ministry has made a decided hit with its +Budget, and that in the matter of the Irish Church it has the country at +its back. You will also see that the "Reform League" has dissolved +itself, indisputably because it became aware that the people did not +want it. + +I think the general feeling in England is a desire to get the Irish +Church out of the way of many social reforms, and to have it done _with_ +as already done _for_. I do not in the least believe myself that +agrarian Ireland is to be pacified by any such means, or can have it got +out of its mistaken head that the land is of right the peasantry's, and +that every man who owns land has stolen it and is therefore to be shot. +But that is not the question. + +The clock strikes post-time as I write, and I fear to write more, lest, +at this distance from London, I should imperil the next mail. + + Cordially yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Thomas Chappell.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Monday, 3rd May, 1869._ + +MY DEAR MR. CHAPPELL, + +I am really touched by your letter. I can most truthfully assure you +that your part in the inconvenience of this mishap has given me much +more concern than my own; and that if I did not hope to have our London +Farewells yet, I should be in a very gloomy condition on your account. + +Pray do not suppose that _you_ are to blame for my having done a little +too much--a wild fancy indeed! The simple fact is, that the rapid +railway travelling was stretched a hair's breadth too far, and that _I_ +ought to have foreseen it. For, on the night before the last night of +our reading in America, when Dolby was cheering me with a review of the +success, and the immediate prospect of the voyage home, I told him, to +his astonishment: "I am too far gone, and too worn out to realise +anything but my own exhaustion. Believe me, if I had to read but twice +more, instead of once, I couldn't do it." We were then just beyond our +recent number. And it was the travelling that I had felt throughout. + +The sharp precautionary remedy of stopping instantly, was almost as +instantly successful the other day. I told Dr. Watson that he had never +seen me knocked out of time, and that he had no idea of the rapidity +with which I should come up again. + +Just as three days' repose on the Atlantic steamer made me, in my +altered appearance, the amazement of the captain, so this last week has +set me up, thank God, in the most wonderful manner. The sense of +exhaustion seems a dream already. Of course I shall train myself +carefully, nevertheless, all through the summer and autumn. + +I beg to send my kind regards to Mrs. Chappell, and I shall hope to see +her and you at Teddington in the long bright days. It would disappoint +me indeed if a lasting friendship did not come of our business +relations. + +In the spring I trust I shall be able to report to you that I am ready +to take my Farewells in London. Of this I am pretty certain: that I +never will take them at all, unless with you on your own conditions. + +With an affectionate regard for you and your brother, believe me always, + + Very faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Rusden.] + + "ALL THE YEAR ROUND" OFFICE, + _Tuesday, 18th May, 1869._ + +MY DEAR MR. RUSDEN, + +As I daresay some exaggerated accounts of my having been very ill have +reached you, I begin with the true version of the case. + +I daresay I _should_ have been very ill if I had not suddenly stopped my +Farewell Readings when there were yet five-and-twenty remaining to be +given. I was quite exhausted, and was warned by the doctors to stop (for +the time) instantly. Acting on the advice, and going home into Kent for +rest, I immediately began to recover, and within a fortnight was in the +brilliant condition in which I can now--thank God--report myself. + +I cannot thank you enough for your care of Plorn. I was quite prepared +for his not settling down without a lurch or two. I still hope that he +may take to colonial life. . . . In his letter to me about his leaving +the station to which he got through your kindness, he expresses his +gratitude to you quite as strongly as if he had made a wonderful +success, and seems to have acquired no distaste for anything but the one +individual of whom he wrote that betrayed letter. But knowing the boy, I +want to try him fully. + +You know all our public news, such as it is, at least as well as I do. +Many people here (of whom I am one) do not like the look of American +matters. + +What I most fear is that the perpetual bluster of a party in the States +will at last set the patient British back up. And if our people begin to +bluster too, and there should come into existence an exasperating +war-party on both sides, there will be great danger of a daily-widening +breach. + +The first shriek of the first engine that traverses the San Francisco +Railroad from end to end will be a death-warning to the disciples of Jo +Smith. The moment the Mormon bubble gets touched by neighbours it will +break. Similarly, the red man's course is very nearly run. A scalped +stoker is the outward and visible sign of his utter extermination. Not +Quakers enough to reach from here to Jerusalem will save him by the term +of a single year. + +I don't know how it may be with you, but it is the fashion here to be +absolutely certain that the Emperor of the French is fastened by +Providence and the fates on a throne of adamant expressly constructed +for him since the foundations of the universe were laid. + +He knows better, and so do the police of Paris, and both powers must be +grimly entertained by the resolute British belief, knowing what they +have known, and doing what they have done through the last ten years. +What Victor Hugo calls "the drop-curtain, behind which is constructing +the great last act of the French Revolution," has been a little shaken +at the bottom lately, however. One seems to see the feet of a rather +large chorus getting ready. + +I enclose a letter for Plorn to your care, not knowing how to address +him. Forgive me for so doing (I write to Alfred direct), and believe me, +my dear Mr. Rusden, + + Yours faithfully and much obliged. + + +[Sidenote: Miss Emily Jolly.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Thursday, 22nd July, 1869._ + +DEAR MISS JOLLY, + +Mr. Wills has retired from here (for rest and to recover his health), +and my son, who occupies his place, brought me this morning a story[104] +in MS., with a request that I would read it. I read it with +extraordinary interest, and was greatly surprised by its uncommon merit. +On asking whence it came, I found that it came from you! + +You need not to be told, after this, that I accept it with more than +readiness. If you will allow me I will go over it with great care, and +very slightly touch it here and there. I think it will require to be +divided into three portions. You shall have the proofs and I will +publish it immediately. I think so VERY highly of it that I will have +special attention called to it in a separate advertisement. I +congratulate you most sincerely and heartily on having done a very +special thing. It will always stand apart in my mind from any other +story I ever read. I write with its impression newly and strongly upon +me, and feel absolutely sure that I am not mistaken. + + Believe me, faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Hon. Robert Lytton.] + + 26, WELLINGTON STREET, LONDON, + _Thursday, 2nd September, 1869._ + +MY DEAR ROBERT LYTTON, + +"John Acland" is most willingly accepted, and shall come in to the next +monthly part. I shall make bold to condense him here and there +(according to my best idea of story-telling), and particularly where he +makes the speech:--And with the usual fault of being too long, here and +there, I think you let the story out too much--prematurely--and this I +hope to prevent artfully. I think your title open to the same objection, +and therefore propose to substitute: + + THE DISAPPEARANCE + OF JOHN ACLAND. + +This will leave the reader in doubt whether he really _was_ murdered, +until the end. + +I am sorry you do not pursue the other prose series. You can do a great +deal more than you think for, with whatever you touch; and you know +where to find a firmly attached and admiring friend always ready to take +the field with you, and always proud to see your plume among the +feathers in the Staff. + +Your account of my dear Boffin[105] is highly charming:--I had been +troubled with a misgiving that he was good. May his shadow never be more +correct! + +I wish I could have you at the murder from "Oliver Twist." + + I am always, my dear Robert Lytton, + Affectionately your friend. + + * * * * * + +Pray give my kindest regards to Fascination Fledgeby, who (I have no +doubt) has by this time half-a-dozen new names, feebly expressive of his +great merits. + + +[Sidenote: The same.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + 26, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND, LONDON, + _Friday, 1st October, 1869._ + +MY DEAR ROBERT LYTTON, + +I am assured by a correspondent that "John Acland" has been done before. +Said correspondent has evidently read the story--and is almost confident +in "Chambers's Journal." This is very unfortunate, but of course cannot +be helped. There is always a possibility of such a malignant conjunction +of stars when the story is a true one. + +In the case of a good story--as this is--liable for years to be told at +table--as this was--there is nothing wonderful in such a mischance. Let +us shuffle the cards, as Sancho says, and begin again. + +You will of course understand that I do not tell you this by way of +complaint. Indeed, I should not have mentioned it at all, but as an +explanation to you of my reason for winding the story up (which I have +done to-day) as expeditiously as possible. You might otherwise have +thought me, on reading it as published, a little hard on Mr. Doilly. I +have not had time to direct search to be made in "Chambers's;" but as to +the main part of the story having been printed somewhere, I have not the +faintest doubt. And I believe my correspondent to be also right as to +the where. You could not help it any more than I could, and therefore +will not be troubled by it any more than I am. + +The more I get of your writing, the better I shall be pleased. + + Do believe me to be, as I am, + Your genuine admirer + And affectionate friend. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Rusden.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Sunday, 24th October, 1869._ + +MY DEAR MR. RUSDEN, + +This very day a great meeting is announced to come off in London, as a +demonstration in favour of a Fenian "amnesty." No doubt its numbers and +importance are ridiculously over-estimated, but I believe the gathering +will turn out to be big enough to be a very serious obstruction in the +London streets. I have a great doubt whether such demonstrations ought +to be allowed. They are bad as a precedent, and they unquestionably +interfere with the general liberty and freedom of the subject. + +Moreover, the time must come when this kind of threat and defiance will +have to be forcibly stopped, and when the unreasonable toleration of it +will lead to a sacrifice of life among the comparatively innocent +lookers-on that might have been avoided but for a false confidence on +their part, engendered in the damnable system of _laisser-aller_. You +see how right we were, you and I, in our last correspondence on this +head, and how desperately unsatisfactory the condition of Ireland is, +especially when considered with a reference to America. The Government +has, through Mr. Gladstone, just now spoken out boldly in reference to +the desired amnesty. (So much the better for them or they would +unquestionably have gone by the board.) Still there is an uneasy feeling +abroad that Mr. Gladstone himself would grant this amnesty if he dared, +and that there is a great weakness in the rest of their Irish policy. +And this feeling is very strong amongst the noisiest Irish howlers. +Meanwhile, the newspapers go on arguing Irish matters as if the Irish +were a reasonable people, in which immense assumption I, for one, have +not the smallest faith. + +Again, I have to thank you most heartily for your kindness to my two +boys. It is impossible to predict how Plorn will settle down, or come +out of the effort to do so. But he has unquestionably an affectionate +nature, and a certain romantic touch in him. Both of these qualities +are, I hope, more impressible for good than for evil, and I trust in God +for the rest. + +The news of Lord Derby's death will reach you, I suppose, at about the +same time as this letter. A rash, impetuous, passionate man; but a great +loss for his party, as a man of mind and mark. I was staying last June +with Lord Russell--six or seven years older, but (except for being +rather deaf) in wonderful preservation, and brighter and more +completely armed at all points than I have seen him these twenty years. + +As this need not be posted till Friday, I shall leave it open for a +final word or two; and am until then, and then, and always afterwards, +my dear Mr. Rusden, + + Your faithful and much obliged. + + + _Thursday, 28th._ + +We have no news in England except two slight changes in the Government +consequent on Layard's becoming our Minister at Madrid. He is not long +married to a charming lady, and will be far better in Spain than in the +House of Commons. The Ministry are now holding councils on the Irish +Land Tenure question, which is the next difficulty they have to deal +with, as you know. Last Sunday's meeting was a preposterous failure; +still, it brought together in the streets of London all the ruffian part +of the population of London, and that is a serious evil which any one of +a thousand accidents might render mischievous. There is no existing law, +however, to stop these assemblages, so that they keep moving while in +the streets. + +The Government was undoubtedly wrong when it considered it had the right +to close Hyde Park; that is now universally conceded. + +I write to Alfred and Plorn both by this mail. They can never say enough +of your kindness when they write to me. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. A. H. Layard.] + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, _Monday, 8th November, 1869._ + +MY DEAR LAYARD, + +On Friday or Saturday next I can come to you at any time after twelve +that will suit your convenience. I had no idea of letting you go away +without my God-speed; but I knew how busy you must be; and kept in the +background, biding my time. + +I am sure you know that there is no man living more attached to you than +I am. After considering the subject with the jealousy of a friend, I +have a strong conviction that your change[106] is a good one; ill as you +can be spared from the ranks of men who are in earnest here. + +With kindest regards to Mrs. Layard. + + Ever faithfully yours. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[99] Sir James Emerson Tennent. + +[100] Some Venetian glass champagne tumblers. + +[101] Miss Florence Olliffe, who wrote to announce the death of her +father, Sir Joseph Olliffe. + +[102] The Readings. + +[103] The "piece" here alluded to was called "Black and White." It was +presented at the Adelphi Theatre. The outline of the plot was suggested +by Mr. Fechter. + +[104] The story was called "An Experience." + +[105] "Boffin" and "Fascination Fledgeby," were nicknames given to his +children by Mr. Robert Lytton at this time. + +[106] Mr. Layard's appointment as British Minister at Madrid. + + + + +1870. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. James T. Fields.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, LONDON, W., + _Friday, January 14th, 1870._ + +MY DEAR FIELDS, + +We live here (opposite the Marble Arch) in a charming house until the +1st of June, and then return to Gad's. The conservatory is completed, +and is a brilliant success; but an expensive one! + +I should be quite ashamed of not having written to you and my dear Mrs. +Fields before now, if I didn't know that you will both understand how +occupied I am, and how naturally, when I put my papers away for the day, +I get up and fly. I have a large room here, with three fine windows, +overlooking the Park--unsurpassable for airiness and cheerfulness. + +You saw the announcement of the death of poor dear Harness. The +circumstances are curious. He wrote to his old friend the Dean of Battle +saying he would come to visit him on that day (the day of his death). +The Dean wrote back: "Come next day, instead, as we are obliged to go +out to dinner, and you will be alone." Harness told his sister a little +impatiently that he _must_ go on the first-named day; that he had made +up his mind to go, and MUST. He had been getting himself ready for +dinner, and came to a part of the staircase whence two doors +opened--one, upon another level passage; one, upon a flight of stone +steps. He opened the wrong door, fell down the steps, injured himself +very severely, and died in a few hours. + +You will know--_I_ don't--what Fechter's success is in America at the +time of this present writing. In his farewell performances at the +Princess's he acted very finely. I thought the three first acts of his +Hamlet very much better than I had ever thought them before--and I +always thought very highly of them. We gave him a foaming stirrup cup at +Gad's Hill. + +Forster (who has been ill with his bronchitis again) thinks No. 2 of the +new book ("Edwin Drood") a clincher,--I mean that word (as his own +expression) for _Clincher_. There is a curious interest steadily working +up to No. 5, which requires a great deal of art and self-denial. I think +also, apart from character and picturesqueness, that the young people +are placed in a very novel situation. So I hope--at Nos. 5 and 6, the +story will turn upon an interest suspended until the end. + +I can't believe it, and don't, and won't, but they say Harry's +twenty-first birthday is next Sunday. I have entered him at the Temple +just now; and if he don't get a fellowship at Trinity Hall when his time +comes, I shall be disappointed, if in the present disappointed state of +existence. + +I hope you may have met with the little touch of Radicalism I gave them +at Birmingham in the words of Buckle? With pride I observe that it makes +the regular political traders, of all sorts, perfectly mad. Such was my +intentions, as a grateful acknowledgment of having been misrepresented. + +I think Mrs. ----'s prose very admirable; but I don't believe it! No, I +do _not_. My conviction is that those islanders get frightfully bored by +the islands, and wish they had never set eyes upon them! + +Charley Collins has done a charming cover for the monthly part of the +new book. At the very earnest representations of Millais (and after +having seen a great number of his drawings) I am going to engage with a +new man; retaining of course, C. C.'s cover aforesaid.[107] Katie has made +some more capital portraits, and is always improving. + +My dear Mrs. Fields, if "He" (made proud by chairs and bloated by +pictures) does not give you my dear love, let us conspire against him +when you find him out, and exclude him from all future confidences. +Until then, + + Ever affectionately yours and his. + + +[Sidenote: Lord Lytton.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, _Monday, 14th February, 1870._ + +MY DEAR LYTTON, + +I ought to have mentioned in my hurried note to you, that my knowledge +of the consultation[108] in question only preceded yours by certain hours; +and that Longman asked me if I would make the design known to you, as he +thought it might be a liberty to address you otherwise. This I did +therefore. + +The class of writers to whom you refer at the close of your note, have +no copyright, and do not come within my case at all. I quite agree with +you as to their propensities and deserts. + +Indeed, I suppose in the main that there is very little difference +between our opinions. I do not think the present Government worse than +another, and I think it better than another by the presence of Mr. +Gladstone; but it appears to me that our system fails. + + Ever yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Frederic Chapman.] + + 5, HYDE PARK PLACE, _Monday, 14th March, 1870._ + +DEAR FREDERIC CHAPMAN, + +Mr. Fildes has been with me this morning, and without complaining of +---- or expressing himself otherwise than as being obliged to him for +his care in No. 1, represents that there is a brother-student of his, a +wood-engraver, perfectly acquainted with his style and well +understanding his meaning, who would render him better. + +I have replied to him that there can be no doubt that he has a claim +beyond dispute to our employing whomsoever he knows will present him in +his best aspect. Therefore, we must make the change; the rather because +the fellow-student in question has engraved Mr. Fildes' most successful +drawings hitherto. + + Faithfully yours. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Charles Mackay.] + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + _Thursday, 21st April, 1870._ + + +MY DEAR MACKAY, + +I have placed "God's Acre." The prose paper, "The False Friend," has +lingered, because it seems to me that the idea is to be found in an +introduced story of mine called "The Baron of Grogzwig" in "Pickwick." + +Be pleasant with the Scottish people in handling Johnson, because I love +them. + + Ever faithfully. + + +[Sidenote: Sir John Bowring.] + + GAD'S HILL, _Thursday, 5th May, 1870._ + +MY DEAR SIR JOHN, + +I send you many cordial thanks for your note, and the very curious +drawing accompanying it. I ought to tell you, perhaps, that the opium +smoking I have described, I saw (exactly as I have described it, penny +ink-bottle and all) down in Shadwell this last autumn. A couple of the +Inspectors of Lodging-Houses knew the woman and took me to her as I was +making a round with them to see for myself the working of Lord +Shaftesbury's Bill. + + Believe me, always faithfully yours. + + + +[Sidenote: Mr. J. B. Buckstone.] + + [109]_Sunday, 15th May, 1870._ + +MY DEAR BUCKSTONE, + +I send a duplicate of this note to the Haymarket, in case it should miss +you out of town. For a few years I have been liable, at wholly uncertain +and incalculable times, to a severe attack of neuralgia in the foot, +about once in the course of a year. It began in an injury to the finer +muscles or nerves, occasioned by over-walking in the deep snow. When it +comes on I cannot stand, and can bear no covering whatever on the +sensitive place. One of these seizures is upon me now. Until it leaves +me I could no more walk into St. James's Hall than I could fly in the +air. I hope you will present my duty to the Prince of Wales, and assure +his Royal Highness that nothing short of my being (most unfortunately) +disabled for the moment would have prevented my attending, as trustee of +the Fund,[110] at the dinner, and warmly expressing my poor sense of the +great and inestimable service his Royal Highness renders to a most +deserving institution by so kindly commending it to the public. + + Faithfully yours always. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Rusden.] + + ATHENAEUM, _Friday Evening, 20th May, 1870._ + +MY DEAR MR. RUSDEN, + +I received your most interesting and clear-sighted letter about Plorn +just before the departure of the last mail from here to you. I did not +answer then because another incoming mail was nearly due, and I expected +(knowing Plorn so well) that some communication from him such as he made +to you would come to me. I was not mistaken. The same arguing of the +squatter question--vegetables and all--appeared. This gave me an +opportunity of touching on those points by this mail, without in the +least compromising you. I cannot too completely express my concurrence +with your excellent idea that his correspondence with you should be +regarded as confidential. Just as I could not possibly suggest a word +more neatly to the point, or more thoughtfully addressed, to such a +young man than your reply to his letter, I hope you will excuse my +saying that it is a perfect model of tact, good sense, and good feeling. +I had been struck by his persistently ignoring the possibility of his +holding any other position in Australasia than his present position, and +had inferred from it a homeward tendency. What is most curious to me is +that he is very sensible, and yet does not seem to understand that he +has qualified himself for no public examinations in the old country, and +could not possibly hold his own against any competition for anything to +which I could get him nominated. + +But I must not trouble you about my boys as if they were yours. It is +enough that I can never thank you for your goodness to them in a +generous consideration of me. + +I believe the truth as to France to be that a citizen Frenchman never +forgives, and that Napoleon will never live down the _coup d'etat_. This +makes it enormously difficult for any well-advised English newspaper to +support him, and pretend not to know on what a volcano his throne is +set. Informed as to his designs on the one hand, and the perpetual +uneasiness of his police on the other (to say nothing of a doubtful +army), _The Times_ has a difficult game to play. My own impression is +that if it were played too boldly for him, the old deplorable national +antagonism would revive in his going down. That the wind will pass over +his Imperiality on the sands of France I have not the slightest doubt. +In no country on the earth, but least of all there, can you seize people +in their houses on political warrants, and kill in the streets, on no +warrant at all, without raising a gigantic Nemesis--not very reasonable +in detail, perhaps, but none the less terrible for that. + +The commonest dog or man driven mad is a much more alarming creature +than the same individuality in a sober and commonplace condition. + +Your friend ---- ---- is setting the world right generally all round +(including the flattened ends, the two poles), and, as a Minister said +to me the other day, "has the one little fault of omniscience." + +You will probably have read before now that I am going to be everything +the Queen can make me.[111] If my authority be worth anything believe on +it that I am going to be nothing but what I am, and that that includes +my being as long as I live, + + Your faithful and heartily obliged. + + +[Sidenote: Mr. Alfred Tennyson Dickens.] + + ATHENAEUM CLUB, _Friday Night, 20th May, 1870._ + +MY DEAR ALFRED,[112] + +I have just time to tell you under my own hand that I invited Mr. Bear +to a dinner of such guests as he would naturally like to see, and that +we took to him very much, and got on with him capitally. + +I am doubtful whether Plorn is taking to Australia. Can you find out his +real mind? I notice that he always writes as if his present life were +the be-all and the end-all of his emigration, and as if I had no idea of +you two becoming proprietors, and aspiring to the first positions in the +colony, without casting off the old connection. + +From Mr. Bear I had the best accounts of you. I told him that they did +not surprise me, for I had unbounded faith in you. For which take my +love and blessing. + +They will have told you all the news here, and that I am hard at work. +This is not a letter so much as an assurance that I never think of you +without hope and comfort. + + Ever, my dear Alfred, + Your affectionate Father. + + * * * * * + +This Letter did not reach Australia until after these two absent sons of +Charles Dickens had heard, by telegraph, the news of their father's +death. + + +THE END. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[107] Mr. Charles Collins was obliged to give up the illustrating of +"Edwin Drood," on account of his failing health. + +[108] A meeting of Publishers and Authors to discuss the subject of +International Copyright. + +[109] Printed in Mackenzie's "Life of Dickens." + +[110] The General Theatrical Fund. + +[111] An allusion to an unfounded rumour. + +[112] Charles Dickens's son, Alfred Tennyson. + + + + +INDEX. + + + Acrobats, 213 + + Adams, Mr. H. G., letters to, 15, 208 + + Agreement, a sporting, 244 + + Ainsworth, Mr. W. H., 13 + + Air, Dickens's love of fresh, 169 + + Allston, Mr. Washington, 42 + + America, feeling for the "Curiosity Shop" in, 19; + projected visit to, 20; + description of life in, 24; + how Dickens was interviewed in, 26; + amateur theatricals in, 28; + friends in, 30, 238; + voyage home from, 34; + second visit of Dickens to, 234, 241, 244-249; + Dickens's feeling for the people of, 237; + the great walking-match in, 244; + second journey home from, 249-252; + desire on the part of Dickens to promote friendly relations between + England and, 259; + letters from, 24, 27, 28, 244-249 + + "American Notes, The," success of, 38; + criticisms on, 38, 43; + and see 34, 35, 237 + + Appleton, Mr., 260 + + Ashburton, Lord, 46 + + Austin, Mr. Henry, letter to, 130 + + Austin, Mrs., letter to, 214 + + Author, dreams of an, 55; + penalties of an, 168 + + + Babbage, Mr. Charles, letter to, 69 + + Bairr, Mrs., 146 + + Bath, a, abroad, 144; + at Naples, 155 + + "Battle of Life, The," the drama of, 87; + Dickens on, 102 + + Baylis, Mr., letter to, 212 + + Bear, Mr., 299 + + Beard, Mr., 9 + + Begging-letter Writers, Dickens on, 267 + + "Bentley's Miscellany," Dickens's connection with, 12 + + Benzon, Mrs., 199 + + Biliousness, an effect of, 87 + + Birmingham, meeting of Polytechnic Institution at, 64; + the Institute at, 158 + + Birthday greeting, a, 226 + + "Black and White," Fechter in Wilkie Collins's play of, 277 + + "Bleak House," 140 + + Blessington, the Countess of, 68; + letters to, 17, 65, 70, 74, 75, 89 + + Blue-stockings, Dickens on, 18 + + Boulogne, Dickens at, 140, 141, 161 + + Bouncer, Mrs., Miss Dickens's dog, 216, 255 + + Bowring, Sir John, letters to, 193, 295 + + Boy, the Magnetic, 18 + + Boyle, Miss Mary, 113; + letter to, 220 + + Braham, Mr., 1-3 + + Braham, Mrs., 3 + + Breakfast, a, aboard ship, 251 + + Broadstairs, description of, 53; + life at, 54, 125; + a wreck at, 129, 131 + + Brougham, Lord, 46 + + Browning, Mr. Robert, letter to, 227 + + Buckstone, Mr., letter to, 296 + + Bulwer, Sir Edward Lytton, letter to, 62; + and see Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer, and Lytton, Lord + + Butler, Mrs., 85 + + + Calculation, a long, 43 + + Captain, a sea, 47 + + "Captives, The," Dickens's criticism on Lord Lytton's play of, 241 + + Carlyle, Mr. Thomas, 28 + + Carlyle, Mrs., 179 + + Celeste, Madame, 168 + + Cerjat, M. de, 148 + + Chapman, Mr. Edward, letters to, 14, 91 + + Chapman, Mr. Frederic, letter to, 294 + + Chappell, Mr. T., 277; + letter to, 279 + + Charity, a vote for a, 108 + + Cheri, Rose, 90 + + Children, Dickens on the death of, 170 + + "Child's History of England, A," 237 + + "Chimes, The," Dickens at work on, 71; + his interest in, 71 + + Chorley, Mr. Henry F., letters to, 190, 213, 216, 222, 231 + + Christening, a boisterous, 261 + + "Christmas Carol, The," Dickens at work on, 59, 63; + success of, 60 + + Christmas keeping, 60 + + _Chronicle, The Evening_, Dickens's connection with, 5 + + Clark, Mr. L. Gaylord, letter to, 19 + + Clark, Mr. W. Gaylord, 19 + + Clarke, Mrs. Cowden, 264; + and see Letters + + Clifford, Hon. Mrs., 271 + + Cobden, Mr. Richard, 84 + + Collins, Mr. Charles, 292 + + Collins, Mr. Wilkie, 142, 148, 198, 233, 244, 258; + letter to, 171 + + Conjurer, Dickens as a, 41 + + Conolly, Mr., 160 + + Cookesley, Mr., 109 + + Copyright, Dickens on international, 28, 33, 44, 102, 237, 263, 293 + + Corn Laws, the Repeal of the, 84 + + Cornwall, a trip to, 39 + + Costello, Mr., 101 + + Coutts, Miss, 128, 132, 148 + + Covent Garden Opera, commencement of the, 86 + + Criticism, on Dickens's opera, 1; + Dickens on American, 44; + on art, 77; + Dickens's appreciation of Thackeray's, 165; + by Chorley on Dickens, 223 + + Cruikshank, Mr. George, 101 + + Cullenford, Mr., 88 + + + _Daily News, The_, first issue of, 84 + + "Dando," the oyster-eater, 32, 35 + + "David Copperfield," Dickens at work on, 113; + Dickens's feeling for, 114; + his liking for the reading of, 227, 234 + + Death, Dickens on the punishment of, 78 + + De Gex, Mr., 9 + + Derby, Lord, Dickens's opinion of, 288 + + Devonshire, the Duke of, 121, 128, 129 + + Diary, fragments of Dickens's, 8-12 + + Dickens, Alfred, 265, 278, 289; + letter to, 299 + + Dickens, Charles, his affection for Mary Hogarth, 6-9, 11, 50; + his diary, 8-12; + his relations with _The Chronicle_, 5; + his "Sketches of Young Gentlemen," 9; + his "Sunday in Three Parts," 9; + insures his life, 10; + his connection with "Bentley's Miscellany," 12; + is entered at the Middle Temple, 14; + his feeling for Kent, 15; + his religious views, 16, 17; + the purpose of his writing, 17; + his childhood, 22; + his first visit to America, 24-31; + as a stage-manager, 29, 100, 127; + dinner to, at Greenwich, 33; + takes a trip to Cornwall, 39; + as a conjuror, 41; + on American criticism, 44; + facetious description of himself, 53; + at Broadstairs, 54, 125; + his views on education, 58; + at work on "The Christmas Carol," 59; + in Italy, 70-78; + at work on "The Chimes," 71; + in Paris, 85, 89; + organises theatricals for the benefit of Leigh Hunt, 95, 97, 98, + 100, 103; + organises theatricals to found a curatorship of Shakespeare's house, + 104; + acts in theatricals at Knebworth, 113, 114, 116; + theatricals in aid of the Guild of Literature and Art, 118-128, + 133-135; + as an editor, 137-140, 159, 162-164, 173-175, 181, 183, 202, 229, + 239, 284, 286, 295; + at Boulogne, 140, 141, 161; + his expedition to Switzerland and Italy, 142-158; + his excitability when at work, 169; + his love of fresh air, 169; + on the death of children, 170; + on red tape, 176; + on Sunday bands, 177; + sits to Frith for his portrait, 188; + his readings, 208, 227, 230, 232, 238; + at work on "Our Mutual Friend," 218, 221; + readings in America, 234; + his love for the American people, 237; + his second visit to America, 241, 244, 252; + at Gad's Hill, 256; + farewell course of readings, 256, 278; + his reminiscences of the Staplehurst accident, 264; + his reading of the murder from "Oliver Twist," 268; + serious illness of, 280, 281; + great physical power of, 280 + + Dickens, Charles, jun., 9, 25, 41, 109, 154, 277; + at "All the Year Round" office, 283 + + Dickens, Mrs. Charles, 9, 51, 114, 115, 124, 125, 171; + and see Letters + + Dickens, Dora, death of, 125 + + Dickens, Edward, nicknamed Plorn, 158, 265, 273, 281, 288, 289, 297 + + Dickens, Henry F., 157; + entered at the Temple, 292 + + Dickens, Kate, 153, 157, 293 + + Dickens, Miss, 157, 196, 205, 210, 215, 217, 222, 228, 255, 256, 258 + + Dickens, Sydney, 143, 157 + + Dickens, Walter, 25 + + Disease, a new form of, 129 + + Dissent, Dickens's views on, 16 + + "Doctor Marigold," reading of, 227 + + Dogs, Dickens's, 255, 262; + Don, the Newfoundland, rescues his son, 262 + + Dolby, Mr. George, 234, 238, 248, 256, 261, 270, 273, 276 + + "Dombey and Son," sale of, 87; + see also 89, 94 + + D'Orsay, Count, 18, 66, 68, 70, 73, 74, 78 + + Dream, an absurd, 56 + + Dufferin, Lord, 277 + + Dumas, Alexandre, 90 + + + Earnestness, Dickens on, 176 + + Eden, the Hon. Miss, letter to, 128 + + Edinburgh, 270 + + Editor, Dickens as an, 137-140, 159, 162-164, 173-175, 181, 183, + 202, 229, 239, 284-286, 295 + + Education, Dickens on, 58 + + Edward, the courier, 142-144, 148, 155 + + "Edwin Drood," Dickens on, 292; + the opium scene in, 295 + + Egg, Mr. A., 101, 118, 127, 142, 148, 156 + + Evans, Mr., 109 + + "Experience, An," 283 + + + "Fatal Zero," by Percy Fitzgerald, 291 + + Fechter, Mr. Charles, in "The Lady of Lyons," 234, 240; + Dickens's admiration of, 240; + and see 253, 257, 277, 291; + letters to, 244, 254 + + Fechter, Madame, 254 + + Felton, Professor, 272; + and see Letters + + Felton, Mrs., 33 + + Fenian Amnesty, meeting in favour of a, 287, 289 + + Fields, Mr. James T.; see Letters + + Fields, Mrs., 252, 260, 291; + letter to, 255 + + Fildes, Mr., 294 + + Fitzgerald, Mr. Percy, 228, 271 + + Forster, Mr. John, 9, 10, 13, 30, 35, 36, 39, 41, 54, 60, 86, 89, 101, + 113, 117, 127, 133, 154, 188, 207, 227, 260, 292; + letters to, 165, 225 + + Forster, Mrs., letter to, 273 + + Fox, Mr. W. J., letter to, 84 + + Frith, R.A., Mr. W. P., letter to, 188 + + Funeral, the comic side of a, 48 + + + Gad's Hill, descriptions of, 252, 256; + Dickens's writing-room at, 256; + Longfellow's visit to, 260; + and see 276 + + Gallenga, Monsieur, 192 + + "Gamp, Mrs.," 56 + + Gaskell, Mrs., 271; + letter to, 159 + + General Theatrical Fund, the, 88, 102, 296 + + Gibson, Mrs. Milner, letter to, 205 + + "Girlhood of Shakespeare's heroines, The," 124 + + Gladstone, Mr., 258, 294 + + Glasgow, 270 + + Gordon, Mrs., 87 + + "Great Expectations," 198 + + Greenwich, Dinner to Dickens at, 33 + + Grew, Mr. Frederick, letter to, 158 + + Grisi, Madame, 86 + + Guide Books, 140 + + Guild of Literature and Art, the, 120, 180; + theatricals in aid of, 118-128, 133-135 + + + Hardisty, Mr., 111 + + Harley, Mr. J. P., 3, 4; + letter to, 13 + + Harness, Rev. W., 269, 291; + letter to, 159 + + Harrison, Mr. James Bower, letters to, 132, 136 + + Hat, a Leghorn, 157 + + Hazlett, Mr. William, 259 + + Higgins, Mr., 165, 166 + + Hillard, Mr., 42 + + Hills, Mr., 274 + + Hodgson, Dr., 97; + letters to, 93, 95 + + Hogarth, Mr., 2 + + Hogarth, George, 20; + letter to, 5 + + Hogarth, Georgina, 51, 154, 196, 210, 215, 219, 221, 228, 244, 256, 258 + + Hogarth, Mary, 6-9, 11, 20, 50 + + Hogarth, Mrs., letters to, 6, 20, 50 + + Holland House, 178 + + Home, thoughts of, 29; + a welcome to, 255 + + Hood, Mr. Tom, letter to, 43 + + House of Commons, the, Dickens's opinion of, 181, 194 + + Howe, Dr., 33, 37 + + Hugo, Victor, Dickens's opinion of, 91; + and see 283 + + Hullah, Mr. John, letters to, 1-3 + + Hunt, Mr. Leigh, 13, 95, 97-100, 259 + + Hyde Park, closing of, by the Government in 1869, 289 + + + Ireland, Mr. Alexander; see Letters + + Ireland, Dickens on, 279; + in 1869, 288; + land tenure in, 289 + + Irish Church, the, the Disestablishment of, 279 + + Irving, Mr. Washington, 47, 247; + letters to, 21, 27, 178 + + Italian patriots, Dickens on, 191 + + Italy, visions of holiday life in, 66; + proposed visit to, 66, 68; + Dickens in, 70-78, 145-158; + the Peschiere Palace at Genoa in, 153; + a bath at Naples in, 155 + + + Jerrold, Mr. Douglas, 98, 101, 118 + + "John Acland," by the Hon. Robert Lytton, 284, 286 + + Jolly, Miss Emily, letters to, 173, 175, 181, 183, 283 + + Jones, Mr. Ebenezer, letter to, 68 + + + Keeley, Mr. and Mrs., 87 + + Kenny, Mr. J., letter to, 177 + + Kent, Mr. C., 260 + + Kent, Dickens's affection for, 15 + + "Kentish Coronal, The," 15 + + King, Mr. Joseph C., letter to, 109 + + King, Miss, letters to, 162, 164 + + "King Arthur," Dickens's opinion of Lord Lytton's poem of, 107 + + King David, a profane, 73 + + Knowles, Mr. James Sheridan, 104; + letter to, 92 + + + "Lady of Lyons, The," Dickens on the proposed opera of, 211; + Fechter in, 234, 240 + + Landor, Mr. Walter, 77 + + Langley, Mr., 97 + + Lanman, Mr. Charles, letter to, 247 + + Lausanne, friends in, 143 + + Layard, Mr. Austen Henry, 169, 289; + and see Letters + + Layard, Mrs., 274 + + Leech, Mr. John, 101, 118 + + Lehmann, Mr. Frederic, 199, 223 + + Lemon, Mr. Mark, 101, 114, 118, 119, 122, 123 + + Lemon, Mrs., 114 + + Leslie, R.A., Mr., 176, 178 + + LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS TO: + Adams, Mr. H. G., 15, 208 + Anonymous, 229 + Austin, Mr. Henry, 130 + Austin, Mrs., 214 + Babbage, Mr. Charles, 69 + Baylis, Mr., 212 + Blessington, the Countess of, 17, 65, 70, 74, 75, 89 + Bowring, Sir John, 193, 295 + Boyle, Miss Mary, 220 + Browning, Mr. Robert, 227 + Buckstone, Mr., 296 + Bulwer, Sir Edward Lytton, 62; + and see Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer, and Lytton, Lord + Chapman, Mr. Edward, 14, 91 + Chapman, Mr. Frederic, 294 + Chappell, Mr. Tom, 279 + Chorley, Mr. Henry F., 190, 213, 216, 222, 231 + Clark, Mr. L. Gaylord, 19 + Clarke, Mrs. Cowden, 103, 106, 108, 123, 136, 188 + Collins, Mr. Wilkie, 171 + Dickens, Alfred, 299 + Dickens, Mrs. Charles, 142, 145, 149, 153, 154 + Eden, the Hon. Miss, 128 + Fechter, Mr. Charles, 244, 254 + Felton, Professor, 24, 28, 32, 35, 38, 46, 52, 59 + Fields, Mr. James T., 232, 236, 249, 252, 260, 268, 270, 290 + Fields, Mrs. James T., 255 + Forster, Mr. John, 165, 225 + Forster, Mrs. John, 273 + Fox, Mr. W. J., 84 + Frith, R.A., Mr. W. P., 188 + Gaskell, Mrs., 159 + Gibson, Mrs. Milner, 205 + Grew, Mr. Frederick, 158 + Harley, Mr. J. P., 13 + Harness, Rev. W., 159 + Harrison, Mr. James Bower, 132, 136 + Hodgson, Dr., 93, 95 + Hogarth, Mr. George, 5 + Hogarth, Mrs., 6, 20, 50 + Hood, Mr. Tom, 43 + Hullah, Mr. John, 1-3 + Ireland, Mr. Alexander, 97-99, 104, 112, 259 + Irving, Mr. Washington, 21, 27, 178 + Jolly, Miss Emily, 173, 175, 181, 183, 283 + Jones, Mr. Ebenezer, 68 + Kenny, Mr. J., and Ross, Mr. T., 177 + King, Mr. Joseph C., 109 + King, Miss, 162, 164 + Knowles, Mr. James Sheridan, 92 + Lanman, Mr. Charles, 247 + Layard, Mr. Austen Henry, 132, 194, 274, 290 + Lytton, Hon. Robert, 230, 281, 286 + Lytton, Lord, 228, 234, 240, 241, 293; + see also Bulwer, Sir Edward Lytton, and Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer + Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer, 88, 102, 107, 113, 114, 116, 117, 121, + 122, 125, 133, 180, 198-200, 204, 207, 209-211, 220; + see also Bulwer, Sir Edward Lytton, and Lytton, Lord + Mackay, Mr. Charles, 295 + Malleson, Mrs., 197 + Millais, R.A., Mr. J. E., 263 + Mitton, Mr., 125 + Morgan, Captain, 176, 195 + Napier, Mr. Macvey, 43, 57, 78, 83 + Olliffe, Lady, 205 + Olliffe, Miss, 275 + Pease, Mrs., 248 + Phillips, Mr. Henry W., 231 + Procter, Mr. B. W., 208 + Procter, Mrs., 223 + Robinson, Rev. Thomas, 16 + Ross, Mr. R. M., 226 + Rusden, Mr., 228, 265, 278, 281, 287, 289, 297 + Rye, Mr. W. B., 224 + Sammins, Mr. W. L., 12 + Serle, Mr., 263 + Smith, Mr. Albert, 186 + Smith, Mr. Arthur, 187 + Smith, Mr. H. P., 82 + Stone, Mr. Frank, 129, 179 + Sturgis, Mr. Russell, 267, 272 + Thackeray, Mr. W. M., 165 + Thompson, Mr., 16, 64, 66, 67, 81, 85 + Thornbury, Mr. Walter, 239 + White, Rev. James, 141, 160 + Wills, Mr. W. H., 137, 140, 161, 218, 219 + Winter, Mrs., 167, 170 + + Lewes, Mr., 101 + + "Lighthouse, The," production of, at the Olympic, 172 + + "Lirriper, Mrs.," 218 + + Liverpool, meeting of the Mechanics' Institute at, 64; + theatricals at, 96, 98 + + _London_, the, wreck of, 225 + + Longfellow, Mr., 33, 39, 42, 62, 260, 261 + + Longman, Mr., 293 + + Lumley, Mr., 86 + + Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer; see Letters; + see also Bulwer, Sir Edward Lytton, and Lytton, Lord + + Lytton, Lord; see Letters + + Lytton, Hon. Robert, letters to, 230, 284, 286 + + + Mackay, Mr. Charles, letter to, 295 + + Maclise, R.A., Mr. Daniel, 30, 36, 39, 42, 47, 54, 55, 77, 86 + + Macready, Mr. W., 25, 30, 54, 60, 62, 88, 90, 119, 153, 234 + + Macready, Miss, 153 + + Malleson, Mrs., letter to, 197 + + "Man about Town, The," 45 + + Manchester, Dickens at, 61; + theatricals at, 96, 98, 105 + + Manin, M., 192 + + Mario, Signor, 86 + + Martin, Captain, 225 + + "Martin Chuzzlewit," 39, 46, 52, 66 + + Mazzini, M., 192 + + "Medical Aspects of Death, The," 132 + + "Message from the Sea, A," 196 + + Meyerbeer, M., 172 + + Millais, R.A., Mr. J. E., 292; + letter to, 263 + + Mistake, a common, among would-be authors, 229 + + Mitton, Mr., 9; + letter to, 125 + + "Modern Greek Songs," 159 + + Molesworth, Lady, 216 + + "Money," Dickens on Lord Lytton's play of, 117 + + Montague, Miss Emmeline, 124 + + Morgan, Captain, letters to, 176, 195 + + Morley, Mr., 165, 166 + + Morpeth, Lord, 57 + + "Mrs. Tillotson," by Percy Fitzgerald, 228 + + "Much Ado about Nothing," a captain's views on, 47 + + Murray, Mr. Leigh, 87 + + + Napier, Mr. Macvey, letters to, 43, 67, 78, 83 + + Naples, Dickens at, 76 + + Napoleon the Third, Dickens prophesies the overthrow of, 298 + + "National Music," Mr. Chorley's lecture on, 213 + + Nature, Topping, the groom, on, 36 + + Niagara, the falls of, 76 + + Nicknames, of Professor Felton, 32; + Dickens's, of himself, 62, 64, 107, 124, 143; + of his son Edward, 158, 281 + + Normanby, Lord, 86 + + "No Thoroughfare," the play of, 244, 253, 254, 257 + + "Not sSo Bad As We Seem," Dickens's opinion of Lord Lytton's comedy + of, 117; + Dickens plays in, 118, 124 + + Novello, Mr. Alfred, 264 + + Novello, Miss Sabilla, 264 + + Novel-writing, Dickens on, 185 + + + "Old Curiosity Shop, The," feeling for, in America, 19 + + "Oliver Twist," 16; + the reading of the murder from, 268; + effect of the murder reading, 278 + + Olliffe, Sir J., 186, 187 + + Olliffe, Lady, 187; + letter to, 205 + + Olliffe, Miss, letter to, 275 + + Osgood, Mr., 234 + + "Our London Correspondent," Dickens on, 112 + + "Our Mutual Friend," 218, 221 + + Oyster cellars out of season, 31 + + Oysters, 26, 35 + + + Paris, Dickens in, 85, 89; + the drama in, 90 + + Pease, Mrs., letter to, 248 + + Phillips, Mr. Henry W., letter to, 231 + + Pickthorn, Dr., 10 + + Picnic, a, in Kent, 260 + + Political Life, Dickens's opinion of, 222 + + Political meetings, Dickens on, 287 + + Poole, Mr., 85, 100 + + Portrait of Dickens, by Frith, 188 + + Power, Miss, 66, 74, 91 + + Prescott, Dickens's admiration for, 61 + + Prince Consort, the, 123 + + Prince of Wales, the, 296 + + Prisons, Dickens on discipline in, 138 + + Pritchard the poisoner, 221 + + Procter, Mr. B. W., 253, 260; + letter to, 208 + + Procter, Mrs., 179, 223, 260 + + Procter, Miss Adelaide, 223 + + Puffery, Dickens's hatred of, 140 + + Punishment of death, Dickens on the, 78 + + Purse, a theatrical, 73 + + + Queen, the, Maclise and, 55; + her reception of Longfellow, 261; + and see 119, 121, 123, 299 + + + Rainforth, Miss, 4 + + Reade, Mr. Charles, 233 + + Readings, Dickens's public, 208, 227, 230, 231; + the object of the, 230; + the proposed series of, in America, 234; + the labour of the, 238; + farewell series of, 256, 278, 281; + the trial reading of the murder, 268, 276; + effect of the reading of the murder on the audience, 278 + + Red tape, Dickens on, 176 + + Reform Bill, Dickens on the, 266 + + Reform meeting at Drury-lane Theatre, 165 + + Religion, Dickens on, 17 + + _Review_, _The North American_, 46; + _The Edinburgh_, 43, 46, 57, 58, 78, 83 + + Robinson, Mr., 98, 100, 105 + + Robinson, Rev. Thomas, letter to, 16 + + Robson, Mr. F., 153, 172 + + "Roccabella," Dickens's opinion of Mr. Chorley's story of, 190 + + Roche, the courier, 146 + + Rogers, Mr. Samuel, 178 + + Rome, Dickens at, 76 + + Ross, Mr. John, 9 + + Ross, Mr. R. M., letter to, 226 + + Ross, Mr. T., letter to, 177 + + Royal Exchange, the, fire at, 10 + + Rusden, Mr.; see Letters + + Russell, Mr. George, 218 + + Russell, Lord John, 172, 288 + + _Russia_, s.s., the, 249, 276 + + Rye, Mr. W. B., letter to, 224 + + + Sammins, Mr. W. L., letter to, 12 + + Sartoris, Mr. and Mrs., 157 + + _Satirist, The_, 45 + + Sausage, a questionable, 131 + + Scheffer, Ary, 192 + + Schools, Dickens on ragged, 58 + + Scotland, Dickens's love for the people of, 295 + + Scott, Sir Walter, extracts from the diary of, 11, 56 + + Serle, Mr., letter to, 263 + + Shakespeare, curatorship of house of, 104 + + Sheridan, 86 + + "Sketches of Young Gentlemen," by Dickens, 9 + + Slave-owners, Dickens on, 38 + + Smith, Mr. Albert, letter to, 186 + + Smith, Mr. Arthur, 186, 208; + letter to, 187 + + Smith, Mr. H. P., letter to, 82 + + Speaking, Dickens on public, 214 + + Stage-manager, Dickens as a, 29, 100, 127 + + Stanfield, Mr. Clarkson, 39, 41, 54, 86, 232 + + Stansbury, Mr., 4 + + Staplehurst, the railway accident at, 264 + + Stone, Mr. Frank, 101, 117, 127; + letters to, 129, 179 + + "Strange Story, A," Dickens's criticism on, 198, 204, 207, 210 + + "Studies of Sensation and Event," 69 + + Sturgis, Mr. Russell, letters to, 267, 272 + + Sumner, Mr., 42, 62 + + Sunday bands, 177 + + "Sunday under Three Heads," by Charles Dickens, 9 + + Switzerland, expedition to, 142-145; + ascent of the Mer de Glace, 142; + a hot bath in, 144; + passage of the Simplon, 146; + travellers in, 147; + carriages in, 147 + + Sympathy, letters of, 19, 20, 170, 275 + + + Tavistock House, 130 + + Temple, the, Dickens becomes a student at, 14 + + Tennent, Sir Emerson, 154, 273, 274 + + Tennent, Lady, 154 + + Thackeray, Mr. W. M., letter to, 165 + + Theatricals, in America, 28; + Dickens as a stage-manager, 29; + for the benefit of Leigh Hunt, 95, 97, 98, 100, 101, 103; + for the endowment of a curatorship of Shakespeare's house, 104; + reminiscences of, 106; + at Knebworth, 113, 114, 116; + for the Guild of Literature, 118-128, 133-135; + at Tavistock House, 179 + + Thompson, Mr.; see Letters + + Thompson, Mrs., 82 + + Thompson, Miss Elizabeth, 85 + + Thornbury, Mr. Walter, letter to, 239 + + Topham, Mr., 123 + + Topping, the groom, on nature, 36 + + Townshend, Mr., 161 + + Tracey, Lieutenant, 77 + + Travers, Mr., 166 + + + "Uncommercial Traveller, The," 270, 276 + + "United Vagabonds, The," 34 + + + Venice, Dickens at, 72 + + Verona, Dickens at, 71 + + Vesuvius, Dickens's ascent of, 76 + + "Village Coquettes," Braham's opinion of Dickens's opera of, 2; + Harley's opinion of, 3 + + "Visits to Rochester," 224 + + + Waistcoats, Dickens's fondness for bright, 150 + + Waterfall, a, as a stage effect, 254, 258 + + Watson, Dr., 280 + + White, Rev. James, letters to, 141, 160 + + White, Mrs., 142 + + "Wilds of America," 247 + + Wills, Mr. W. H., 159, 175, 180, 253, 261, 271, 283; + and see Letters + + Wilmot, Mr., 124 + + Wilson, Sir John, 37 + + Winter, Mrs., letters to, 167, 170 + + "Woodland Gossip," Dickens's criticism on, 220 + + Work, Dickens at, 168, 185 + + "Working Man's Life, The," 99 + + + Young, Mr., 155 + + +CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS. + + + _11, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C._ + (_Late 193, Piccadilly, W._) + + _NOVEMBER, 1881._ + + + + CATALOGUE OF BOOKS + + PUBLISHED BY + + CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED, + + INCLUDING + + DRAWING EXAMPLES, DIAGRAMS, MODELS, + INSTRUMENTS, ETC. + + ISSUED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF + + THE SCIENCE AND ART DEPARTMENT, + SOUTH KENSINGTON, + + FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND ART AND SCIENCE CLASSES. + + + + +NEW NOVELS. + + +Just ready, in 3 vols., + +_THE VICAR'S PEOPLE: A Story of a Stain._ + + BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN, + Author of "The Parson o' Dumford." + + * * * * * + +Just ready, in 1 vol., + +_THE MISSING NOTE._ + + +BY MRS. 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MURDOCK SMITH, R.E. Second Edition, with + additional Illustrations. Large crown 8vo, 2s. + + FREE EVENING LECTURES. Delivered in connection with the Special Loan + Collection of Scientific Apparatus, 1876. Large crown 8vo, 8s. + + * * * * * + +CARLYLE'S (THOMAS) WORKS. + +CHEAP AND UNIFORM EDITION. + +_In 23 vols., Crown 8vo, cloth, L7 5s._ + + THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: A History. 2 vols., 12s. + + OLIVER CROMWELL'S LETTERS AND SPEECHES, with Elucidations, &c. 3 vols., + 18s. + + LIVES OF SCHILLER AND JOHN STERLING. 1 vol., 6s. + + CRITICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 4 vols., L1 4s. + + SARTOR RESARTUS AND LECTURES ON HEROES. 1 vol., 6s. + + LATTER-DAY PAMPHLETS. 1 vol., 6s. + + CHARTISM AND PAST AND PRESENT. 1 vol., 6s. + + TRANSLATIONS FROM THE GERMAN OF MUSAEUS, TIECK, AND RICHTER. 1 vol., 6s. + + WILHELM MEISTER, by Goethe. A Translation. 2 vols., 12s. + + HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH THE SECOND, called Frederick the Great. 7 vols., + L2 9s. + + * * * * * + +LIBRARY EDITION COMPLETE. + +Handsomely printed in 34 vols., demy 8vo, cloth, L15. + + * * * * * + + SARTOR RESARTUS. The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdroeckh. With + a Portrait, 7s. 6d. + + THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. A History. 3 vols., each 9s. + + LIFE OF FREDERICK SCHILLER AND EXAMINATION OF HIS WORKS. With + Supplement of 1872. Portrait and Plates, 9s. + + CRITICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. With Portrait. 6 vols., each 9s. + + ON HEROES, HERO WORSHIP, AND THE HEROIC IN HISTORY. 7s. 6d. + + PAST AND PRESENT. 9s. + + OLIVER CROMWELL'S LETTERS AND SPEECHES. With Portraits. 5 vols., each + 9s. + + LATTER-DAY PAMPHLETS. 9s. + + LIFE OF JOHN STERLING. With Portrait, 9s. + + HISTORY OF FREDERICK THE SECOND. 10 vols., each 9s. + + TRANSLATIONS FROM THE GERMAN. 3 vols., each 9s. + + GENERAL INDEX TO THE LIBRARY EDITION. 8vo, cloth, 6s. + + * * * * * + +EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY: also AN ESSAY ON THE PORTRAITS OF JOHN KNOX. +Crown 8vo, with Portrait Illustrations, 7s. 6d. + + * * * * * + +=PEOPLE'S EDITION.= + +_In 37 vols., small Crown 8vo. Price 2s. each vol., bound in cloth; or +in sets of 37 vols. in 19, cloth gilt, for L3 14s._ + + SARTOR RESARTUS. + + FRENCH REVOLUTION. 3 vols. + + LIFE OF JOHN STERLING. + + OLIVER CROMWELL'S LETTERS AND SPEECHES. 5 vols. + + ON HEROES AND HERO WORSHIP. + + PAST AND PRESENT. + + CRITICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 7 vols. + + LATTER-DAY PAMPHLETS. + + LIFE OF SCHILLER. + + FREDERICK THE GREAT. 10 vols. + + WILHELM MEISTER. 3 vols. + + TRANSLATIONS FROM MUSAEUS, TIECK, AND RICHTER. 2 vols. + + THE EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY; Essay on the Portraits of Knox; and + General Index. + + + + +DICKENS'S (CHARLES) WORKS. + +ORIGINAL EDITIONS. + +_In Demy 8vo._ + + THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. With Illustrations by S. L. Fildes, and + a Portrait engraved by Baker. Cloth, 7s. 6d. + + OUR MUTUAL FRIEND. With Forty Illustrations by Marcus Stone. Cloth, + L1 1s. + + THE PICKWICK PAPERS. With Forty-three Illustrations by Seymour and + Phiz. Cloth, L1 1s. + + NICHOLAS NICKLEBY. With Forty Illustrations by Phiz. Cloth, L1 1s. + + SKETCHES BY "BOZ." With Forty Illustrations by George Cruikshank. + Cloth, L1 1s. + + MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. With Forty Illustrations by Phiz. Cloth, L1 1s. + + DOMBEY AND SON. With Forty Illustrations by Phiz. Cloth, L1 1s. + + DAVID COPPERFIELD. With Forty Illustrations by Phiz. Cloth, L1 1s. + + BLEAK HOUSE. With Forty Illustrations by Phiz. Cloth, L1 1s. + + LITTLE DORRIT. With Forty Illustrations by Phiz. Cloth, L1 1s. + + THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP. With Seventy-five Illustrations by George + Cattermole and H. K. Browne. A New Edition. Uniform with the + other volumes, L1 1s. + + BARNABY RUDGE: a Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty. With Seventy-eight + Illustrations by George Cattermole and H. K. Browne. Uniform + with the other volumes, L1 1s. + + CHRISTMAS BOOKS: Containing--The Christmas Carol; The Cricket on the + Hearth; The Chimes; The Battle of Life; The Haunted House. With + all the original Illustrations. Cloth, 12s. + + OLIVER TWIST and TALE OF TWO CITIES. In one volume. Cloth, L1 1s. + + OLIVER TWIST. Separately. With Twenty-four Illustrations by George + Cruikshank. Cloth, 11s. + + A TALE OF TWO CITIES. Separately. With Sixteen Illustrations by Phiz. + Cloth, 9s. + +[***] _The remainder of Dickens's Works were not originally printed in +Demy 8vo._ + + +LIBRARY EDITION. + +_In Post 8vo. With the Original Illustrations, 30 vols., cloth, L12._ + + _s._ _d._ + + PICKWICK PAPERS 43 Illustrns., 2 vols. 16 0 + NICHOLAS NICKLEBY 39 " 2 vols. 16 0 + MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT 40 " 2 vols. 16 0 + OLD CURIOSITY SHOP & REPRINTED PIECES 36 " 2 vols. 16 0 + BARNABY RUDGE and HARD TIMES 36 " 2 vols. 16 0 + BLEAK HOUSE 40 " 2 vols. 16 0 + LITTLE DORRIT 40 " 2 vols. 16 0 + DOMBEY AND SON 38 " 2 vols. 16 0 + DAVID COPPERFIELD 38 " 2 vols. 16 0 + OUR MUTUAL FRIEND 40 " 2 vols. 16 0 + SKETCHES BY "BOZ" 39 " 1 vol. 8 0 + OLIVER TWIST 24 " 1 vol. 8 0 + CHRISTMAS BOOKS 17 " 1 vol. 8 0 + A TALE OF TWO CITIES 16 " 1 vol. 8 0 + GREAT EXPECTATIONS 8 " 1 vol. 8 0 + PICTURES FROM ITALY & AMERICAN NOTES 8 " 1 vol. 8 0 + UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER 8 " 1 vol. 8 0 + CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND 8 " 1 vol. 8 0 + EDWIN DROOD and MISCELLANIES 12 " 1 vol. 8 0 + CHRISTMAS STORIES from "Household + Words," &c. 14 " 1 vol. 8 0 + THE LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. By JOHN FORSTER. With Illustrations. + Uniform with this Edition. 1 vol., 10s. 6d. + + +THE "CHARLES DICKENS" EDITION. + +_In Crown 8vo. In 21 vols., cloth, with Illustrations, L3 16s._ + + _s._ _d._ + PICKWICK PAPERS 8 Illustrations 4 0 + MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT 8 " 4 0 + DOMBEY AND SON 8 " 4 0 + NICHOLAS NICKLEBY 8 " 4 0 + DAVID COPPERFIELD 8 " 4 0 + BLEAK HOUSE 8 " 4 0 + LITTLE DORRIT 8 " 4 0 + OUR MUTUAL FRIEND 8 " 4 0 + BARNABY RUDGE 8 " 3 6 + OLD CURIOSITY SHOP 8 " 3 6 + A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND 4 " 3 6 + EDWIN DROOD and OTHER STORIES 8 " 3 6 + CHRISTMAS STORIES, from "Household Words" 8 " 3 6 + SKETCHES BY "BOZ" 8 " 3 6 + AMERICAN NOTES and REPRINTED PIECES 8 " 3 6 + CHRISTMAS BOOKS 8 " 3 6 + OLIVER TWIST 8 " 3 6 + GREAT EXPECTATIONS 8 " 3 6 + TALE OF TWO CITIES 8 " 3 0 + HARD TIMES and PICTURES FROM ITALY 8 " 3 0 + UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER 4 " 3 0 + +THE LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS. Uniform with this Edition, with Numerous +Illustrations. 2 vols. + + +THE ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY EDITION. + +_Complete in 30 Volumes. Demy 8vo, 10s. each; or set, L15._ + +This Edition is printed on a finer paper and in a larger type than has +been employed in any previous edition. The type has been cast especially +for it, and the page is of a size to admit of the introduction of all +the original illustrations. + +No such attractive issue has been made of the writings of Mr. Dickens, +which, various as have been the forms of publication adapted to the +demands of an ever widely-increasing popularity, have never yet been +worthily presented in a really handsome library form. + +The collection comprises all the minor writings it was Mr. Dickens's +wish to preserve. + + SKETCHES BY "BOZ." With 40 Illustrations by George Cruikshank. + + PICKWICK PAPERS. 2 vols. With 42 Illustrations by Phiz. + + OLIVER TWIST. With 24 Illustrations by Cruikshank. + + NICHOLAS NICKLEBY. 2 vols. With 40 Illustrations by Phiz. + + OLD CURIOSITY SHOP and REPRINTED PIECES. 2 vols. With Illustrations + by Cattermole, &c. + + BARNABY RUDGE and HARD TIMES. 2 vols. With Illustrations by Cattermole, + &c. + + MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 2 vols. With 4 Illustrations by Phiz. + + AMERICAN NOTES and PICTURES FROM ITALY. 1 vol. With 8 Illustrations. + + DOMBEY AND SON. 2 vols. With 40 Illustrations by Phiz. + + DAVID COPPERFIELD. 2 vols. With 40 Illustrations by Phiz. + + BLEAK HOUSE. 2 vols. With 40 Illustrations by Phiz. + + LITTLE DORRIT. 2 vols. With 40 Illustrations by Phiz. + + A TALE OF TWO CITIES. With 16 Illustrations by Phiz. + + THE UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER. With 8 Illustrations by Marcus Stone. + + GREAT EXPECTATIONS. With 8 Illustrations by Marcus Stone. + + OUR MUTUAL FRIEND. 2 vols. With 40 Illustrations by Marcus Stone. + + CHRISTMAS BOOKS. With 17 Illustrations by Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A. + Maclise, R.A., &c. &c. + + HISTORY OF ENGLAND. With 8 Illustrations by Marcus Stone. + + CHRISTMAS STORIES. (From "Household Words" and "All the Year Round.") + With 14 Illustrations. + + EDWIN DROOD AND OTHER STORIES. With 12 Illustrations by S. L. Fildes. + + +HOUSEHOLD EDITION. + +_Complete in 22 Volumes. Crown 4to, cloth, L4 8s. 6d._ + + MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT, with 59 Illustrations, cloth, 5s. + + DAVID COPPERFIELD, with 60 Illustrations and a Portrait, cloth, 5s. + + BLEAK HOUSE, with 61 Illustrations, cloth, 5s. + + LITTLE DORRIT, with 58 Illustrations, cloth, 5s. + + PICKWICK PAPERS, with 56 Illustrations, cloth, 5s. + + OUR MUTUAL FRIEND, with 58 Illustrations, cloth, 5s. + + NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, with 59 Illustrations, cloth, 5s. + + DOMBEY AND SON, with 61 Illustrations, cloth, 5s. + + EDWIN DROOD; REPRINTED PIECES; and other Stories, with 30 + Illustrations, cloth, 5s. + + THE LIFE OF DICKENS. By JOHN FORSTER. With 40 Illustrations. Cloth, 5s. + + BARNABY RUDGE, with 46 Illustrations, cloth, 4s. + + OLD CURIOSITY SHOP, with 32 Illustrations, cloth, 4s. + + CHRISTMAS STORIES, with 23 Illustrations, cloth, 4s. + + OLIVER TWIST, with 28 Illustrations, cloth, 3s. + + GREAT EXPECTATIONS, with 26 Illustrations, cloth, 3s. + + SKETCHES BY "BOZ," with 36 Illustrations, cloth, 3s. + + UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER, with 26 Illustrations, cloth, 3s. + + CHRISTMAS BOOKS, with 28 Illustrations, cloth, 3s. + + THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, with 15 Illustrations, cloth, 3s. + + AMERICAN NOTES and PICTURES FROM ITALY, with 18 Illustrations, cloth, + 3s. + + A TALE OF TWO CITIES, with 25 Illustrations, cloth, 2s. 6d. + + HARD TIMES, with 20 Illustrations, cloth, 2s. 6d. + + +MR. DICKENS'S READINGS. + +_Fcap. 8vo, sewed._ + + CHRISTMAS CAROL IN PROSE. 1s. + + CRICKET ON THE HEARTH. 1s. + + CHIMES: A GOBLIN STORY. 1s. + + STORY OF LITTLE DOMBEY. 1s. + + POOR TRAVELLER, BOOTS AT THE HOLLY-TREE INN, and MRS. GAMP. 1s. + + * * * * * + +A CHRISTMAS CAROL, with the Original Coloured Plates; being a reprint of +the Original Edition. Small 8vo, red cloth, gilt edges, 5s. + + + +THE POPULAR LIBRARY EDITION + +OF THE WORKS OF + +CHARLES DICKENS, + +_In 30 Vols., large crown 8vo, price L6; separate Vols. 4s. each._ + +An Edition printed on good paper, containing Illustrations selected from +the Household Edition, on Plate Paper. Each Volume has about 450 pages +and 16 full-page Illustrations. + + SKETCHES BY "BOZ." + + PICKWICK. 2 vols. + + OLIVER TWIST. + + NICHOLAS NICKLEBY. 2 vols. + + MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 2 vols. + + DOMBEY AND SON. 2 vols. + + DAVID COPPERFIELD. 2 vols. + + CHRISTMAS BOOKS. + + OUR MUTUAL FRIEND. 2 vols. + + CHRISTMAS STORIES. + + BLEAK HOUSE. 2 vols. + + LITTLE DORRIT. 2 vols. + + OLD CURIOSITY SHOP AND REPRINTED PIECES. 2 vols. + + BARNABY RUDGE. 2 vols. + + UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER. + + GREAT EXPECTATIONS. + + TALE OF TWO CITIES. + + CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. + + EDWIN DROOD and MISCELLANIES. + + PICTURES FROM ITALY AND AMERICAN NOTES. + + * * * * * + +_The Cheapest and Handiest Edition of_ + +THE WORKS OF CHARLES DICKENS. + +The Pocket Volume Edition of Charles Dickens's Works. + +_In 30 Vols., small fcap. 8vo, L2 5s._ + +_List of Books, Drawing Examples, Diagrams, Models, Instruments, &c.,_ + + +INCLUDING + +THOSE ISSUED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE SCIENCE AND ART DEPARTMENT, +SOUTH KENSINGTON, FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND ART AND SCIENCE CLASSES. + + + * * * * * + + CATALOGUE OF MODERN WORKS ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. 8vo, sewed, 1s. + + _BENSON (W.)_-- + PRINCIPLES OF THE SCIENCE OF COLOUR. Small 4to, cloth, 15s. + MANUAL OF THE SCIENCE OF COLOUR. Coloured Frontispiece and + Illustrations. 12mo, cloth, 2s. 6d. + + _BRADLEY (THOMAS), of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich_-- + ELEMENTS OF GEOMETRICAL DRAWING. In Two Parts, with 60 Plates. Oblong + folio, half-bound, each part 16s. + Selections (from the above) of 20 Plates, for the use of the Royal + Military Academy, Woolwich. Oblong folio, half-bound, 16s. + + _BURCHETT_-- + LINEAR PERSPECTIVE. With Illustrations. Post 8vo, cloth, 7s. + PRACTICAL GEOMETRY. Post 8vo, cloth, 5s. + DEFINITIONS OF GEOMETRY. Third Edition. 24mo, sewed, 5d. + + _CARROLL (JOHN)_-- + FREEHAND DRAWING LESSONS FOR THE BLACK BOARD. 6s. + + _CUBLEY (W. H.)_-- + A SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY DRAWING. With Illustrations and Examples. + Imperial 4to, sewed, 8s. + + _DAVISON (ELLIS A.)_-- + DRAWING FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. Post 8vo, cloth, 3s. + MODEL DRAWING. 12mo, cloth, 3s. + THE AMATEUR HOUSE CARPENTER: A Guide in Building, Making, and + Repairing. With numerous Illustrations, drawn on Wood by the + Author. Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. + + _DELAMOTTE (P. H.)_-- + PROGRESSIVE DRAWING-BOOK FOR BEGINNERS. 12mo, 3s. 6d. + + _DICKSEE (J. R.)_-- + SCHOOL PERSPECTIVE. 8vo, cloth, 5s. + + _DYCE_-- + DRAWING-BOOK OF THE GOVERNMENT SCHOOL OF DESIGN: ELEMENTARY OUTLINES + OF ORNAMENT. 50 Plates. Small folio, sewed, 5s.; mounted, 18s. + INTRODUCTION TO DITTO. Fcap. 8vo, 6d. + + _FOSTER (VERE)_-- + DRAWING-BOOKS: + (a) Forty-two Numbers, at 1d. each. + (b) Forty-six Numbers, at 3d. each. The set _b_ includes the + subjects in _a_. + DRAWING-CARDS: + Freehand Drawing: First Grade, Sets I., II., III., price 1s. each; + in cloth cases, 1s. 6d. each. + Second Grade, Set I., price 2s.; in cloth case, 3s. + + _HENSLOW (PROFESSOR)_-- + ILLUSTRATIONS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE PRACTICAL LESSONS ON BOTANY. + Prepared for South Kensington Museum. Post 8vo, sewed, 6d. + + _JACOBSTHAL (E.)_-- + GRAMMATIK DER ORNAMENTE, in 7 Parts of 20 Plates each. Price, + unmounted, L3 13s. 6d.; mounted on cardboard, L11 4s. The Parts can + be had separately. + + _JEWITT_-- + HANDBOOK OF PRACTICAL PERSPECTIVE. 18mo, cloth, 1s. 6d. + + _KENNEDY (JOHN)_-- + FIRST GRADE PRACTICAL GEOMETRY, 12mo, 6d. + FREEHAND DRAWING-BOOK. 16mo, cloth, 1s. 6d. + + _LINDLEY (JOHN)_-- + SYMMETRY OF VEGETATION: Principles to be Observed in the Delineation + of Plants. 12mo, sewed, 1s. + + _MARSHALL_-- + HUMAN BODY. Text and Plates reduced from the large Diagrams. 2 vols., + cloth, L1 1s. + + _NEWTON (E. TULLEY, F.G.S.)_-- + THE TYPICAL PARTS IN THE SKELETONS OF A CAT, DUCK, AND CODFISH, being + a Catalogue with Comparative Descriptions arranged in a Tabular + Form. Demy 8vo, 3s. + + _OLIVER (PROFESSOR)_-- + ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 109 Plates. Oblong 8vo, cloth. + Plain, 16s.; coloured, L1 6s. + + _POYNTER (E. J., R.A.), issued under the superintendence of_-- + ELEMENTARY, FREEHAND, ORNAMENT: + Book I. Simple Geometrical Forms, 6d. + " II. Conventionalised Floral Forms, &c., 6d. + + FREEHAND--FIRST GRADE: + Book I. Simple Objects and Ornament, 6d. + " II. Various Objects, 6d. + " III. Objects and Architectural Ornaments, 6d. + " IV. Architectural Ornament, 6d. + " V. Objects of Glass and Pottery, 6d. + " VI. Common Objects, 6d. + + FREEHAND--SECOND GRADE: + Book I. Various Forms of Anthermion, &c., 1s. + " II. Greek, Roman, and Venetian, 1s. + " III. Italian Renaissance, 1s. + " IV. Roman, Italian, Japanese, &c. 1s. + + THE SOUTH KENSINGTON DRAWING CARDS, + Containing the same examples as the books: + Elementary Freehand Cards. Four packets, 9d. each. + First Grade Freehand Cards. Six packets, 1s. each. + Second Grade Freehand Cards. Four packets, 1s. 6d. each. + + _PUCKETT (R. CAMPBELL)_-- + SCIOGRAPHY, OR RADIAL PROJECTION OF SHADOWS. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. + + _REDGRAVE_-- + MANUAL AND CATECHISM ON COLOUR. Fifth Edition. 24mo, sewed, 9d. + + _ROBSON (GEORGE)_-- + ELEMENTARY BUILDING CONSTRUCTION. Oblong folio, sewed, 8s. + + _WALLIS (GEORGE)_-- + DRAWING-BOOK. Oblong, sewed, 3s. 6d.; mounted, 8s. + + _WORNUM (R. N.)_-- + THE CHARACTERISTICS OF STYLES: An Introduction to the Study of the + History of Ornamental Art. Royal 8vo, cloth, 8s. + + DRAWING FOR YOUNG CHILDREN. Containing 150 Copies. 16mo, cloth, 3s. 6d. + + EDUCATIONAL DIVISION OF SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM: CLASSIFIED CATALOGUE + OF. Ninth Edition. 8vo, 7s. + + ELEMENTARY DRAWING COPY-BOOKS, for the Use of Children from four years + old and upwards, in Schools and Families. Compiled by a Student + certificated by the Science and Art Department as an Art Teacher. + Seven Books in 4to, sewed: + + Book I. Letters, 8d. + " II. Ditto, 8d. + " III. Geometrical and Ornamental Forms, 8d. + " IV. Objects, 8d. + " V. Leaves, 8d. + " VI. Birds, Animals, &c., 8d. + " VII. Leaves, Flowers, and Sprays, 8d. + [***] Or in Sets of Seven Books, 4s. 6d. + + ENGINEER AND MACHINIST DRAWING-BOOK, 16 Parts, 71 Plates. Folio, L1 + 12s.; mounted, L3 4s. + + PRINCIPLES OF DECORATIVE ART. Folio, sewed, 1s. + + DIAGRAM OF THE COLOURS OF THE SPECTRUM, with Explanatory Letterpress, + on roller, 10s. 6d. + + COPIES FOR OUTLINE DRAWING: + DYCE'S ELEMENTARY OUTLINES OF ORNAMENT, 50 Selected Plates, mounted + back and front, 18s.; unmounted, sewed, 5s. + WEITBRICHT'S OUTLINES OF ORNAMENT, reproduced by Herman, 12 Plates, + mounted back and front, 8s. 6d.; unmounted, 2s. + MORGHEN'S OUTLINES OF THE HUMAN FIGURE reproduced by Herman, 20 + Plates, mounted back and front, 15s.; unmounted, 3s. 4d. + ONE SET OF FOUR PLATES, Outlines of Tarsia, from Gruner, mounted, 3s. + 6d. unmounted, 7d. + ALBERTOLLI'S FOLIAGE, one set of Four Plates, mounted, 3s. 6d.; + unmounted, 5d. + OUTLINE OF TRAJAN FRIEZE, mounted, 1s. + WALLIS'S DRAWING-BOOK, mounted, 8s., unmounted, 3s. 6d. + OUTLINE DRAWINGS OF FLOWERS, Eight Sheets, mounted, 3s. 6d.; + unmounted, 8d. + + COPIES FOR SHADED DRAWING: + COURSE OF DESIGN. By Ch. Bargue (French), 20 Selected Sheets, 11 at + 2s. and 9 at 3s. each. L2 9s. + ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES. By J. B. Tripon. 10 Plates, L1. + MECHANICAL STUDIES. By J. B. Tripon. 15s. per dozen. + FOLIATED SCROLL FROM THE VATICAN, unmounted, 5d.; mounted, 1s. 3d. + TWELVE HEADS after Holbein, selected from his Drawings in Her + Majesty's Collection at Windsor. Reproduced in Autotype. Half + imperial, L1 16s. + LESSONS IN SEPIA, 9s. per dozen, or 1s. each. + + COLOURED EXAMPLES: + A SMALL DIAGRAM OF COLOUR, mounted, 1s. 6d.; unmounted, 9d. + TWO PLATES OF ELEMENTARY DESIGN, unmounted, 1s.; mounted, 3s. 9d. + CAMELLIA, mounted, 3s. 9d.; unmounted, 2s. 9d. + COTMAN'S PENCIL LANDSCAPES (set of 9), mounted, 15s. + " SEPIA DRAWINGS (set of 5), mounted, L1. + ALLONGE'S LANDSCAPES IN CHARCOAL (Six), at 4s. each, or the set, + L1 4s. + + +SOLID MODELS, &c.: + +*Box of Models, L1 4s. + +A Stand with a universal joint, to show the solid models, &c., L1 18s. + +*One Wire Quadrangle, with a circle and cross within it, and one +straight wire. One solid cube. One Skeleton Wire Cube. One Sphere. One +Cone. One Cylinder. One Hexagonal Prism. L2 2s. + +Skeleton Cube in wood, 3s. 6d. + +18-inch Skeleton Cube in wood, 12s. + +*Three objects of form in Pottery: + + Indian Jar, } + Celadon Jar, } 18s. 6d. + Bottle, } + +*Five selected Vases in Majolica Ware, L2 11s. + +*Three selected Vases in Earthenware, 18s. + +Imperial Deal Frames, glazed, without sunk rings, 10s. each. + +*Davidson's Smaller Solid Models, in Box, L2, containing-- + + 2 Square Slabs. + 9 Oblong Blocks (steps). + 2 Cubes. + 4 Square Blocks. + Octagon Prism. + Cylinder. + Cone. + Jointed Cross. + Triangular Prism. + Pyramid, Equilateral. + Pyramid, Isosceles. + Square Block. + +*Davidson's Advanced Drawing Models, L9.--The following is a brief +description of the Models:--An Obelisk--composed of 2 Octagonal Slabs, +26 and 20 inches across, and each 3 inches high; 1 Cube, 12 inches edge; +1 Monolith (forming the body of the obelisk) 3 feet high; 1 Pyramid, 6 +inches base; the complete object is thus nearly 5 feet high. A Market +Cross--composed of 3 Slabs, 24, 18, and 12 inches across, and each 3 +inches high; 1 Upright, 3 feet high; 2 Cross Arms, united by mortise and +tenon joints; complete height, 3 feet 9 inches. A Step-Ladder, 23 inches +high. A Kitchen Table, 14 1/2 inches high. A Chair to correspond. A +Four-legged Stool, with projecting top and cross rails, height 14 +inches. A Tub, with handles and projecting hoops, and the divisions +between the staves plainly marked. A strong Trestle, 18 inches high. A +Hollow Cylinder, 9 inches in diameter, and 12 inches long, divided +lengthwise. A Hollow Sphere, 9 inches in diameter, divided into +semi-spheres, one of which is again divided into quarters; the +semi-sphere, when placed on the cylinder, gives the form and principles +of shading a dome, whilst one of the quarters placed on half the +cylinder forms a niche. + +*Davidson's Apparatus for Teaching Practical Geometry (22 models), L5. + +*Binn's Models for Illustrating the Elementary Principles of +Orthographic Projection as applied to Mechanical Drawing, in box, L1 +10s. + +Miller's Class Drawing Models.--These Models are particularly adapted +for teaching large classes; the stand is very strong, and the universal +joint will hold the Models in any position. _Wood Models_: Square Prism, +12 inches side, 18 inches high; Hexagonal Prism, 14 inches side, 18 +inches high; Cube, 14 inches side; Cylinder, 13 inches diameter, 16 +inches high; Hexagon Pyramid, 14 inches diameter, 22 1/2 inches side; +Square Pyramid, 14 inches side, 22 1/2 inches side; Cone, 13 inches +diameter, 22 1/2 inches side; Skeleton Cube, 19 inches solid wood 1 3/4 +inch square; Intersecting Circles, 19 inches solid wood 2 1/4 by 1 1/2 +inches. _Wire Models_: Triangular Prism, 17 inches side, 22 inches high; +Square Prism, 14 inches side, 20 inches high; Hexagonal Prism, 16 inches +diameter, 21 inches high; Cylinder, 14 inches diameter, 21 inches high; +Hexagon Pyramid, 18 inches diameter, 24 inches high; Square Pyramid, 17 +inches side, 24 inches high; Cone, 17 inches side, 24 inches high; +Skeleton Cube, 19 inches side; Intersecting Circles, 19 inches side; +Plain Circle, 19 inches side; Plain Square, 19 inches side. Table, 27 +inches by 21 1/2 inches. Stand. The set complete, L14 13s. + +Vulcanite Set Square, 5s. + +Large Compasses, with chalk-holder, 5s. + +*Slip, two set squares and =T= square, 5s. + +*Parkes's Case of Instruments, containing 6-inch compasses with pen and +pencil leg, 5s. + +*Prize Instrument Case, with 6-inch compasses, pen and pencil leg, 2 +small compasses, pen and scale, 18s. + +6-inch Compasses, with shifting pen and point, 4s. 6d. + +Small Compass, in case, 1s. + + +* Models, &c., entered as sets, can only be supplied in sets. + + +LARGE DIAGRAMS. + + ASTRONOMICAL: + TWELVE SHEETS. By JOHN DREW, Ph. Dr., F.R.S.A. Prepared for the + Committee of Council on Education. Sheets, L2 8s.; on rollers + and varnished, L4 4s. + + + BOTANICAL: + NINE SHEETS. Illustrating a Practical Method of Teaching Botany. + By Professor HENSLOW, F.L.S. L2; on rollers and varnished, L3 3s. + + CLASS. DIVISION. SECTION. DIAGRAM. + + { { Thalamifloral 1 + Dicotyledon { Angiospermous { Calycifloral 2 & 3 + { { Corollifloral 4 + { { Incomplete 5 + { Gymnospermous 6 + + { Petaloid { Superior 7 + { { Inferior 8 + Monocotyledons { + { Glumaceous 9 + + BUILDING CONSTRUCTION: + TEN SHEETS. By WILLIAM J. GLENNY, Professor of Drawing, King's + College. In sets, L1 1s. + + LAXTON'S EXAMPLES OF BUILDING CONSTRUCTION IN TWO DIVISIONS, + containing 32 Imperial Plates, L1. + + BUSBRIDGE'S DRAWINGS OF BUILDING CONSTRUCTION, 11 Sheets. 2s. 9d. + Mounted, 5s. 6d. + + + GEOLOGICAL: + DIAGRAM OF BRITISH STRATA. By H. W. BRISTOW, F.R.S., F.G.S. A Sheet, + 4s.; on roller and varnished, 7s. 6d. + + + MECHANICAL: + DIAGRAMS OF THE MECHANICAL POWERS, AND THEIR APPLICATIONS IN MACHINERY + AND THE ARTS GENERALLY. By DR. JOHN ANDERSON. + 8 Diagrams, highly coloured on stout paper, 3 feet 6 inches by 2 + feet 6 inches. Sheets L1 per set; mounted on rollers, L2. + + DIAGRAMS OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. By Professor GOODEVE and Professor + SHELLEY. Stout paper, 40 inches by 27 inches, highly coloured. + Sets of 41 Diagrams (52 1/2 Sheets), L6 6s.; varnished and mounted + on rollers, L11 11s. + + MACHINE DETAILS. By Professor UNWIN. 16 Coloured Diagrams. Sheets, + L2 2s.; mounted on rollers and varnished, L3 14s. + + SELECTED EXAMPLES OF MACHINES, OF IRON AND WOOD (French). By STANISLAS + PETTIT. 60 Sheets, L3 5s.; 13s. per dozen. + + BUSBRIDGE'S DRAWINGS OF MACHINE CONSTRUCTION. 50 Sheets, 12s. 6d. + Mounted, L1 5s. + + LESSONS IN MECHANICAL DRAWING. By STANISLAS PETTIT. 1s. per dozen; + also larger Sheets, more advanced copies, 2s. per dozen. + + LESSONS IN ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING. By STANISLAS PETTIT. 1s. per dozen; + also larger Sheets, more advanced copies, 2s. per dozen. + + PHYSIOLOGICAL: + ELEVEN SHEETS. Illustrating Human Physiology, Life Size and Coloured + from Nature. Prepared under the direction of JOHN MARSHALL, F.R.S., + F.R.C.S., &c. Each Sheet, 12s. 6d. On canvas and rollers, + varnished, L1 1s. + 1. THE SKELETON AND LIGAMENTS. + 2. THE MUSCLES, JOINTS, AND ANIMAL MECHANICS. + 3. THE VISCERA IN POSITION.--THE STRUCTURE OF THE LUNGS. + 4. THE ORGANS OF CIRCULATION. + 5. THE LYMPHATICS OR ABSORBENTS. + 6. THE ORGANS OF DIGESTION. + 7. THE BRAIN AND NERVES.--THE ORGANS OF THE VOICE. + 8. THE ORGANS OF THE SENSES. + 9. THE ORGANS OF THE SENSES. + 10. THE MICROSCOPIC STRUCTURE OF THE TEXTURES AND ORGANS. + 11. THE MICROSCOPIC STRUCTURE OF THE TEXTURES AND ORGANS. + + * * * * * + + HUMAN BODY, LIFE SIZE. By JOHN MARSHALL, F.R.S., F.R.C.S. Each Sheet, + 12s. 6d.; on canvas and rollers, varnished, L1 1s. Explanatory + Key, 1s. + 1. THE SKELETON, Front View. + 2. THE MUSCLES, Front View. + 3. THE SKELETON, Back View. + 4. THE MUSCLES, Back View. + 5. THE SKELETON, Side View. + 6. THE MUSCLES, Side View. + 7. THE FEMALE SKELETON, Front View. + + ZOOLOGICAL: + TEN SHEETS. Illustrating the Classification of Animals. By ROBERT + PATTERSON. L2; on canvas and rollers, varnished, L3 10s. + The same, reduced in size on Royal paper, in 9 Sheets, uncoloured, + 12s. + + +THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW + +Edited by JOHN MORLEY. + +THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW is published on the 1st of every month (the issue +on the 15th being suspended), and a Volume is completed every Six +Months. + +_The following are among the Contributors:_-- + + SIR RUTHERFORD ALCOCK. + MATHEW ARNOLD. + PROFESSOR BAIN. + PROFESSOR BEESLY. + DR. BRIDGES. + HON. GEORGE C. BRODRICK. + SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL, M.P. + J. CHAMBERLAIN, M.P. + PROFESSOR SIDNEY COLVIN. + MONTAGUE COOKSON, Q.C. + L. H. COURTNEY, M.P. + G. H. DARWIN. + F. W. FARRAR. + PROFESSOR FAWCETT, M.P. + EDWARD A. FREEMAN. + MRS. GARRET-ANDERSON. + M. E. GRANT DUFF, M.P. + THOMAS HARE. + F. HARRISON. + LORD HOUGHTON. + PROFESSOR HUXLEY. + PROFESSOR JEVONS. + EMILE DE LAVELEYE. + T. E. CLIFFE LESLIE. + RIGHT HON. R. LOWE, M.P. + SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, M.P. + LORD LYTTON. + SIR H. S. MAINE. + DR. MAUDSLEY. + PROFESSOR MAX MUeLLER. + PROFESSOR HENRY MORLEY. + G. OSBORNE MORGAN, Q.C., M.P. + WILLIAM MORRIS. + F. W. NEWMAN. + W. G. PALGRAVE. + WALTER H. PATER. + RT. HON. LYON PLAYFAIR, M.P. + DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI. + HERBERT SPENCER. + HON. E. L. STANLEY. + SIR J. FITZJAMES STEPHEN, Q.C. + LESLIE STEPHEN. + J. HUTCHISON STIRLING. + A. C. SWINBURNE. + DR. VON SYBEL. + J. A. SYMONDS. + W. T. THORNTON. + HON. LIONEL A. TOLLEMACHE. + ANTHONY TROLLOPE. + PROFESSOR TYNDALL. + THE EDITOR. + &c. &c. &c. + +THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW _is published at 2s. 6d._ + + * * * * * + +CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED, 11, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. + +CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,] [CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS. + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +Asterisms, three asterisks in a triangle formation, are indicated by [***]. + +Page7, "recal" changed to "recall" (I can recall everything) + +Page 63, "alway" changed to "always" (always look upon) + +Page 66, "an" changed to "and" (straw hat, and) + +Page 127, removed repeated word "it". (Original reads: wherever it it is +done) + +Page 154, "d'hote" changed to "d'hote" (the table d'hote) + +Page 212, "scena" changed to "scene a" (scene a half-an-hour) + +Page 217, "tha" changed to "that" (have told her that) + +Page 228, "withdraw" changed to "withdrawn" (withdrawn from the wear) + +Page 243, word "be" inserted into text (to be found) + +Page 292, "Sich" changed to "Such" (Such was my) + +Page 302, "conjuror" changed to "conjurer" to match text. (Conjuror, +Dickens as a) + +Page 306, "Not so Bad as we Seem" changed to "Not So Bad As We Seem" + +Page 307, "Rocabella" changed to "Roccabella" ("Roccabella," Dickens's +opini +on) + + + + + +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 25854.txt or 25854.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/8/5/25854/ + +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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