THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES ELIZABElHAN fiO<_ WftUKERAN CHARLES DICKENS AND CLARKSON STANFIELD f The Story of a Great Friendship CHARLES DICKENS AND CLARKSON STANFIELD WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY CUMBERLAND CLARK A FEW NOTES ON A GREAT FRIENDSHIP AND ON SEVEN ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED LETTERS CONTAINED HEREIN FROM THE AUTHOR TO THE ARTIST 1 845- 1 855 LONDON: PRINTED AT THE CHISWICK PRESS 1918 A3C9 CHAPTER 1 THE FRIENDS F all Charles Dickens' artist friends — and they numbered not a few distin- guished names — Clarkson Stanfield stands out as one of the most interest- ing and most intimate, and from an artistic point of view probably the one destined to hold the highest place in the history of marine painting. Of few of his friends did Dickens write so affec- tionately as he has done of the " Stanny " of these letters, calling him "the soul of frankness, gener- osity, and simplicity, the most loving and most lovable of men," and prefacing a letter from Italy with the words, "I love you so truly, and have such pride and joy of heart in your friendship, that I don't know how to begin writing to you." 5 SGB89i> And others of Stanfield's contemporaries prove that this was not mere friendly exaggeration, for all held him in love and respect; Tom Hood, for instance, referring to a perhaps now forgotten story of Mrs. Inchbald's, " Nature and Art," says, "What a fine edition of Nature and Art is in Stanfield." Dickens penned an eloquent tribute to his old friend in his article on "The late Mr. Stanfield" which appeared in "All the Year Round" for June 1867. As an artist Clarkson Stanfield is chiefly associ ated in the popular mind with marine subjects ; his name recalls charming seascapes such as those found in his "Coast Scenery," in the "Pictur- esque Annual," and other beautifully engraved publications of the period ; and one associates him vaguely with that prince of nautical writers, Cap- tain Marryat, some of whose breezy novels were illustrated by Stanfield's clever pencil. And as a marine painter he was peculiarly qualified, for from boyhood his two hobbies were painting and the sea, and he rode both well, joining the Merchant Service in 1808 at the age of fifteen, and spending a good ten years on the water. He was " pressed " for the British Navy after four years apprenticeship to Neptune, and only an accident which incapacit- 6 ated him from active service led to his retirement from the Navy and to his taking up seriously the profession for M^hich he was really born. While afloat he met an interesting companion in Douglas Jerrold, who happened to be serving with Stanfield in H.M.S. " Namur" in 1814, and we find one of these jolly tars stage-managing private theatricals on board ship while the other paints the scenery. About 1 81 8 Stanfield found a post as scene- painter to an East End theatre, the Royalty in Wellclose Square, and by 1822 Drury Lane itself commanded his services; he was ambitious of greater things, however, and pursued the higher branches of art with such success that in 1833 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, becoming a full-blown Academician in 1835. He may be said to have relinquished scene-painting as a profession in 1834, but his ready brush was always at the service of his friends, and he was especially connected with the many private and public theatrical undertakings in which Charles Dickens was concerned, among other things paint- ing some very fine scenery for two dramas by Wilkie Collins, "The Lighthouse" and "The Frozen Deep"; his drop-scene for "The Light- house " was an exquisite picture of the old Eddy- 7 stone Lighthouse, and at the Gadshlll sale fetched the considerable sum of a thousand guineas. In 1847 Stanfield settled down at Hampstead, where for twenty years he enjoyed the frequent company of Dickens and the many famous authors and artists associated with him. The life and letters of Dickens contain many re- collections and anecdotes of Stanfield, whose friend- ship dated from the early thirties when the novelist was delighting the world with his "Sketches by Boz " and planning his "Pickwick." Mention may be made of a juvenile birthday party in 1842 when "Stanny" played the "Confederate" to Dickens and Forster as "conjurors," and filled everyone with unspeakable delight by doing every- thing the wrong way; while he was very closely concerned in that historic trip to the wilds of Cornwall in the same year, being one of the famous quartette who enjoyed such a merry three weeks jaunt to the West, visiting the Lizard, St. Michael's Mount, Land's End, Tintagel, etc., etc. The other members of the party were Dickens, Maclise, and Forster, and though Stanfield (born as he was in 1793) was older than the others, he proved in spirit as youthful and jolly as any of them; in an amusing letter to Felton (the Professor of Greek at Cam- 8 bridge) describing their adventures, Dickens de- clares that while he himself laughed so much that he was choking and gasping and bursting the buckle off the back of his stock all the way, ''Stanfield got into such apoplectic entanglements that we were often obliged to beat him on the back with portmanteaus before we could recover him ! " Both the artists made many delightful sketches during the trip, one of them being Stanfield's well- known sketch of the party at the Logan Stone, with staid old John Forster perched on the top of the pendulous rock. Stanfield himself is depicted in another Dickensian picture, the interesting sketch by Maclise of Dickens reading "The Chimes" to a circle of friends. The novelist's esteem for his old friend is shown by the dedication of "Little Dorrit" (1857) to him; and Stanfield's influence and his fine character are exemplified in the very last chapter of his life, for on his death- bed in 1867 he begged Dickens to " Make it up" with Mark Lemon, from whom Dickens had been estranged for some time, and over the artist's grave Dickens and the editor of " Punch " clasped hands once more. Stanfield died just on the eve of the second American tour of Dickens. Apart from his scene-painting, Stanfield did no 9 « great amount of work for Dickens, but his charm- ing-little designs for '' The Chimes," " The Cricket on the Hearth," "The Battle of Life," and "The Haunted Man," no doubt added to the popularity of these Christmas books (Dickens wrote that he had "a perfect joy in them") and one is led to wish that he had essayed to illustrate more of his friend's work, for he was a most versatile and ac- complished artist. Among his best-known published work one may mention his "Views in France and Italy," and " Views on the Rhine," in addition to his famous "Coast Scenery" already referred to; while his most important painting is probably the well- known " Battle of Trafalgar," exhibited in 1836. Stanfield was often styled the "English Vande- velde," and a great feature of his pictures is their magnificent cloud effects, for which he is justly famous. 10 CHAPTER II THE LETTERS HESE seven unpublished letters of Dickens to '* My Dear Stanny," as he affectionately terms the artist, are all interesting (several of them par- ticularly so) and are typical examples of the author's breezy correspondence with his personal friends; in two of them it will be noted how amusingly Dickens introduces burlesque nautical expressions when writing to the one-time sailor; ''saline old Tarpaulin " is a delightful epithet. The first three letters are addressed from Devon- shire Terrace, the handsome house opposite Regent's Park in which Dickens lived from 1839 to 1 85 1, and were all written in 1845, being dated respectively 26 October, 21 November, and 28 II November. Two of them refer to Stanfield's drawings for "The Cricket on the Hearth," the third of the famous series of Christmas books, which was published by Bradbury and Evans in December 1845 (though it is dated 1846); there are references to the sketches, to the wood-blocks to be made from them, to the publishers, and to the printer's delay in sending the artist the proof of ''The Third Chirp," Dickens humorously promis- ing to insert a full-sized blue-bottle in the ear of the careless wight; Albert Smith is referred to, while " George," mentioned in both letters, may be George Cattermole, another artist friend and also a one-time illustrator of Dickens. The letter dated "Sunday, Twenty Sixth October, 1845" is, how- ever, the fascinating one, for it refers to that life-long " Hobby " of Dickens for amateur theatricals, and to one of the most famous of his enterprises in that direction, the revival of Ben Jonson's comedy " Every Man in his Humour," in which Charles Dickens played the part of "Captain Bobadil," and made a hit that many a professional actor might have envied. The unusual and at first sight mysterious signature, " Bob," to this letter is very characteristic; it is short for "Bobadil," and exemplifies Dickens' noteworthy habit of so throw- 12 ing himself heart and soul into anything he was doing, that the real Charles Dickens was, so to speak, submerged in whatever character was upper- most in his mind; when he was writing his novels he LIVED them, he laughed and cried with his creations, the puppets of his brain became flesh and blood to him; when he essayed theatricals he became for the nonce whomsoever he was playing on the stage; at this moment he was the braggart Captain Bobadil, and he would sign his letters thus. Dickens was, by all accounts, a born come- dian, full of vividness and variety, and. had he not become one of our greatest authors he could have won his laurels on the stage with equal facility. "Every Man in his Humour" was first pro- duced by Dickens on 21 September 1845 at the Old Royalty Theatre, the "little house in Dean Street" so long managed by Miss Frances Maria Kelly, a gifted actress and a friend of Charles Lamb; the cast included Dickens' brothers, Fred- erick and Augustus, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, John Forster, Douglas and W. B. Jerrold, John Leech, Gilbert A' Beckett, Frank Stone, George Cattermole, Percival Leigh, Dudley Costello, and Miss Fortescue, a brilliant company, indeed! Stanfield was to have played the part of *' Down- right," and indeed rehearsed it twice, but he found his time so fully occupied with the scenery that he had to relinquish it to Dudley Costello. Charles Dickens as " Bobadil " was a huge success; the critics were all enthusiastic, declaring such a Bobadil had not been seen within the memory of living man. Mrs. Cowden Clarke thought the Captain "a veritable piece of genius," and Leigh Hunt saw in it "a spirit of intellectual apprehen- sion beyond anything existing on the stage" ; an interesting portrait of Dickens in character was painted by C. R. Leslie, R.A. The "Command Performance " which this letter refers to was duly presented at the St. James's Theatre on 15 November, with Prince Albert present, and proved as great a success as the first one, so the amusing forebodings of Dickens were happily unfounded, " Stanny " evidently coming to the rescue like the "dear old boy" that Dickens used to call him. It may be mentioned that the comedy was played with equal success in Manchester and Liverpool, and in 1850 was also revived at the private theatricals at Knebworth, Lord Lytton's mansion, where a certain Mr. Henry Hawkins took the part of "Edward Knowell " (previously played by Fred. Dickens) — this was the future H Lord Chief Justice of England, later known as Baron Brampton ; while in the later performances we also find Mrs. Charles Dickens, Miss Hogarth, and Mrs. Mark Lemon appearing. Ten years is a long time, and many friendships wither and die in a decade, but the bonds which bound Dickens and Stanfield were of staunch stuff, and the next four letters, though dated 1854 and 1855, show their friendship as firm and true as ever, and these cheery epistles to " dear Stanny" are still signed " Ever affectionately, C. D." They are addressed from the new home, Tavistock House, where Dickens was by now well estab- lished, and are dated 5 February and 3 November 1854, 3 May and 7 May 1855. Arrangements for a dinner at Gravesend (perhaps one of those jolly outings which Dickens was so fond of, with old friends like Stanfield, Mark Lemon, Forster, Jerrold, and other famous people); another dinner engagement in which Mark Lemon was to have joined but which has unfortunately gone awry; and arrangements for a visit to Stanfield at his house at Hampstead, the theatre, and "a steak somewhere " — commonplace events enough, but the personality of Charles Dickens makes these letters most delightful reading; and then a very 15 interesting long letter mainly about Macready, the famous actor, and another very great friend of the novelist. This is altogether a charming letter, and displays Dickens' constant kindness and thoughtfulness towards his friends; nothing was ever too much trouble to him if he thought it would give them pleasure. It is a somewhat pathetic figure that he conjures up before us of Macready, once the idol of the town, now living in quiet retirement at Sherborne, his " light gone out," and his only interest in life the little village Institution. Dickens had been a close friend of Macready's for many years, intimate with him in both his public and private life; as long ago as 1839 Dickens had been the principal spokesman at the dinner given to the actor when he relinquished the management at Covent Garden Theatre ; Dickens took the chair at the dinner given to Macready on his departure for his American tour in 1843; and once again he spoke at the farewell banquet in 1851 (presided over by the Duke of Devonshire) when one of the greatest actors the English stage has produced made his final appear- ance before the public. Now Dickens is proposing to take a little family party down to Sherborne to cheer up the otherwise lonely Christmas of "dear 16 u-allant old Macready " (as he has elsewhere called him), and to read the ''Christmas Carol" at the Institution; and on this errand of mercy he would have *'Stanny" join him, his wife, and sister-in- law; he writes most earnestly of the pleasure this will gfive Macready, and we may be sure did not ask Stanfield's aid in vain, for the painter had no less sympathy and kindliness than the writer, and would never have given Dickens cause to call him in earnest " a mouldy swab as never broke biscuit or lay out on the foc'sel yardarm in a gfale of fair wind " ! What a host of interesting recollections a few letters of Dickens can conjure up! His remarkable versatility and his wide circle of friends are partly responsible for this, and make his letters the most interesting of any correspondence of the nineteenth century, for they are so full of references to liter- ary, artistic, and dramatic people and events that a volume could be written round many a single letter; while even a dinner appointment makes fascinating reading when wTitten by this prince of letter-writers, and perhaps signed " Ever most affectionately Yours, C. D. " CUMBERLAND CLARK. Devonshire Terrace Sunday Twenty Sixth October 1845. My DEAR Stanny, Here is the-Devil to pay. Prince Albert has written to say that he dies to see the amateur Performance on behalf of the Sanatorium, and can it be done on the fifteenth! Lord and Lady Lansdowne and the 'Tarnal Smash knows who, have taken boxes and on the fifteenth (three weeks from yesterday) it must come off. Write and tell me by Bearer, that you have no unlucky engagement that night — for it can't be done; and I'm a Dutchmen if I do it; without you. Yrs. faithfully BOB. 19 Dkvonshirp: Tkrrace, T'lventv First November 1845. My dear Stanxy, I am heartily indebted and bounden to you for thinking of me under such circumstances. I hadn't the heart to come near you, lest you should think I wanted to bore you for those drawings. Than which, nothing in the world was more distant from my thoughts. I have no doubt they can be easily copied on the blocks; and I will send them down to Bradbury's directly I am delighted to hear from George that you are so much better. Ever affectionately C. D. -21 Devonshire Terrace, T^venty Eighth November 1845. My dear Stanny, As Georg'e told me he would let me know when you became visible, I have not called at your house : fearing' to worry you. I will answer Albert Smith. And I will also in- sert a full-sized Blue Bottle in the ear of the Printer for not having sent you the Third chirp which shall come to you today, my Boy. Yours affectionately & heartily C. D. 23 Tavistock House Sunday Night Fifth February 1854. My Dear Stanny. Unless it should rain cats, doo's, pitchforks, and Cochin China poultry, — the Train which leaves Fenchurch Street at 12 on Tuesday and arrives at Blackwall (to meet a Gravesend boat) at \ past 12, is my means of going down. In case of very bad weather, or our not meeting through any other cause, observe that there is a Gravesend train from London Bridge Terminus at 2, and another at 3.40. The Rendezvous is Waite's Hotel, Graves- end, and the dinner hour 5. Ever affectionately C. D. Clarkson Stanfield Esq'^'^. 25 I) / Tavistock House Friday Night Third November 1854 My Dear Stanny First of all, here is enclosed a letter for Mrs. Stanfield, which if you don't immediately and faith- fully deliver, you will hear of in an unpleasant way from the Station House at the curve of the Hill above you. Secondly, this is not to remind you that we meet at the Athenaeum next Monday at 5 ; because none but a Mouldy Swab as never broke biscuit or lay out on the foc'sel yard arm in a gale of fair wind, ever forgot an appointment with a messmet. But what I want you to think of at your leisure, is this. When our dear old Macready was in town last, I saw it would give him so much interest and pleasure if I promised to go down and read my Xmas Carol to the little Sherborne Institution which is now one of the few active objects he has in the life about him, that I came out with that promise in a bold — I may say a swaggering — way. Consequently on Wednesday the 20*^ of December, I am going down to see him, with Kate and 27 Georgina : returning to town in good time for Christmas, on Saturday the 23"^^. Do you think you could manage to go and return with us? I really believe there is scarcely anything in the world, that w^ould give him such extraordinary pleasure as such a visit. And if you would em- power me to send him an intimation that he may expect it, he will have a daily joy in looking for- ward to the time (I am serious) such which we, whose light has not gone out, and who are among our old dear pursuits and associations, can scarcely estimate. I don't like to broach the idea in a careless way, and so I propose it thus and ask you to think of it. Ever most affectionately }Ours, C. D. Clarkson Stanfield Esquire 28 Tavistock House. Thursday Third May 1855 My Dear Stanny Mark is unfortunately engaged to dine with Charles Taylor and some other men, at the very identical G, on the very identical day. But this is not the worst of it. I — the exact, the unimpeachable, the correct, the balanced-and- worked-by-clock-work Dick — have made a horrible mistake and forgotten a previous claim for to- morrow! But I'll be down with you by |- past 8. In the meantime I will order your dinner of course — but only for two. Ever affecy. C. D. 29 Tavistock House Monday Seventh May 1855. My Dear Stanny. I don't know whether you understand our Hampstead engagement to hold for to day? Do you, you saline old Tarpaulin??? Because if you do, Mark is obliged to be in town all the morning- and can't manage it. But he pro- poses to go to the Adelphi to-night and see Wright. And we mean to meet here at 5, and get a steak somewhere before the Theatre. Now, I am coming up to Highgate at 2. I will come round to Hampstead, so as to call on you about half past 3. So if you accompany us, you and I will come back to town together. Do you understand? With this, I send five w^/Ze? handkerchiefs. Five red ones to make up ten, you shall have to-morrow. Ever affectionately C. D. 31 CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. i'lUlTlllKJI' i lIiJlJ i«^ 0C1|4^||3 DISCHARGE (K 'SEP 2 NOV 1 2001 URL 1977 M978 Form L9-5ot-12,'55(B6339s4)444 TH^ LIBRARY UNIVEP.SllT OF CALIF0R3SGUK f^OH ANGELES e^ 3 1 58 00193 6540 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 366 446