>^^ 
 
>.A^ 
 
DIOKENSIAI^A 
 
Fac-simile of Charles Dickens's Book-Plate. 
 
DICKENSIANA 
 
 Jl *3tbUagraph}) of the pteraturc 
 
 RELATING TQ 
 
 CHARLES DICKENS AND HIS WRITINGS 
 
 COMPILED BY 
 
 FRED. G. KITTON 
 
 AUIHOE OF "phiz (HABLOT K. BROWNE) : A MEMOIR," AND "JOHN LEECH, 
 
 ARTIST AND HUMOURIST 
 
 _. OF THE 
 
 Willi a Portrait of '^Bo?^^ from a Drawing 
 Samuel Lawrence 
 
 GEORGE REDWAY 
 YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN 
 
 1886- ■ 
 
7^ f J«_ 
 
 (500 m^(s otiti/ pinkd.) 
 
CHARLES DICKENS, ESQ., 
 
 ELDEST SON OF THE FAMOUS NOVELIST, 
 
 THIS WORK 
 
 IS 
 
 BY 
 A SINCERE ADMIRER OF 
 
 HIS FATHER'S GENIUS. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PoKTKAiT OF " Boz," CIS Frontispiece. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory - - - - ► . - ix 
 
 Personal. 
 Writings, mainly of a biographical character, relating to 
 
 Charles Dickens ..... 1 
 
 Critical, 
 Division I. — Essays and Reviews, criticising Charles 
 
 Dickens as a Novelist, and his Writings generally - 90 
 
 Dir'mon II. — Essays and Reviews, criticising particular 
 
 Works by Charles Dickens .... ^4 
 
 Division III. — Articles reviewing Forster's "Life of 
 
 Charles Dickens " - - - . .314 
 
 Division IV. — Articles reviewing the ** Letters of Charles 
 
 Dickens" ...... 328 
 
 Poetical. 
 
 Poetical Tributes and Memorial Verses, relating to Charles 
 
 Dickens - . - ► . . 340 
 
 Anthological. 
 
 Works containing Selections from, and Adaptations of, 
 
 the Writings of Charles Dickens - - - 349 
 
VIU CONTENTS. 
 
 Musical. 
 
 Songs and other Musical Compositions founded on, or sug- 
 gested by, the Works of Charles Dickens - - 354 
 
 Dramatic. 
 
 A List of Plays founded on the Writings of Charles 
 
 Dickens, and on Incidents contained therein - - 362 
 
 Plagiaristic, etc. 
 
 Plagiaristic Titles, Parodies, Sequels, and other Works 
 having titular connection with the Writings of Charles 
 Dickens - - - - - - 383 
 
 Testimonies. 
 
 The published Opinions of famous litterateurs and others 
 
 respecting Charles Dickens and his Writings - - 406 
 
 "Notes and Queries." 
 
 A Reprint from "Notes and Queries," of some interesting 
 queries and replies relating to Charles Dickens and 
 his Works ...... m 
 
 Omniana. 
 
 Brief Notes, selected principally from ephemeral literature, 
 
 relating to Charles Dickens and his Writings - 474 
 
 Addenda ....... 493 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 " Posthumous Fame ! Proud words — yet may they 
 
 in a humble spirit. The common lot of man is, after death 
 — oblivion. Yet genius, however small its sphere, if con- 
 versant with the conditions of the human heart, may 
 vivify with indestructible life some happy delineations, that 
 shall continue to be held dear by successive sorrowers in 
 this vale of tears. If the name of the delineator continue 
 to have something sacred in its sound — obscure to the 
 many as it may be, or non-existent — the hope of such 
 posthumous fame is sufficient to one who overrates not his 
 own endowments. And as the hope has its root in love 
 and sympathy, he who by his writings has inspired towards 
 himself when in life, some of these feelings in the hearts 
 of not a few who never saw his face, seems to be justified 
 in believing that even after final obliteration of Hie Jacet 
 from his tombstone, his memory will be regarded with 
 something of the same affection in his Remains." 
 
 Cheistopher North. 
 
 Although the sentiments above quoted were not 
 meant to have any direct personal application, they 
 could not be more appropriately associated than with 
 the name and fame of Charles Dickens. His genius 
 has, indeed, vivified with indestructible life many 
 happy delineations that shall continue to be held 
 dear by readers of future generations, and, by his 
 
X INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 writings, he has inspired towards himself feelings of 
 love and sympathy in many who never saw his face. 
 Thackeray records an incident confirming this. He 
 once heard two women speak of the " Christmas 
 Carol." Neither knew the other, or the author, and 
 both said by way of criticism, " God bless him !" 
 The sentiments of the entire civilised world find 
 expression in the lady who stopped our novelist in the 
 streets of York, and said, ^''Mr. Dickens, will you let 
 me touch the hand that has filled my house with 
 many friends?"; in the warm-hearted Irishman, who 
 ran after him as he hurried to the Belfast Hotel, and 
 asked him to "Do me the honour to shake hands, 
 Mr. Dickens; and God bless you, sir, not only for 
 the light you've been to me this night, but for the 
 light you've been in my house, sir (and God love your 
 face !), this many a year !" To what mortal man has 
 been meted out fame and honour, and personal affec- 
 tionate regard, in greater measure than this? It would, 
 perhaps, be no exaggeration to say that the writings of 
 Dickens have obtained a popularity hitherto un- 
 paralleled in the history of literature. 
 
 The surest indication of the nature and extent of 
 that popularity must necessarily be presented by a com- 
 plete list of the published writings relating to the 
 novelist and his works, and the present compilation is 
 an attempt to chronicle all such writings, whether bio- 
 graphical or critical, both in England and abroad. In 
 order that such a catalogue should possess a value and 
 interest beyond that appertaining to a mere list of 
 
INTRODUCTORY. XI 
 
 titles, full particulars of each item are given, and any 
 noteworthy feature is recorded. 
 
 I. The first section of this work, entitled "Personal," 
 consists of writings, mainly of a biographical character, 
 relating to Charles Dickens, the majority of which 
 were published in English and American journals. 
 Their authors have viewed the novelist from almost 
 every standpoint, and have discussed his merits as a 
 Reader, as an Actor, as a "Humaniser," as a Journalist, 
 as a Moralist, as a Dramatist and Poet, as an Editor, 
 as a Literary Exemplar, and as a Dramatic Critic. 
 Then we have several accounts of visits to Gad's Hill 
 (including one recorded by Hans Andersen), and of 
 Dinners and Balls given in honour of Dickens. 
 After his death, many of his friends and acquaintances 
 published their " Eecollections " and " Memories " of 
 the genius who had passed away. Among the most 
 interesting of such records are Mr. Dolby's "Charles 
 Dickens as I knew him,"* and " Charles Dickens at 
 Home,"t by his eldest daughter, the former being 
 an account of what may be called the public side of 
 the last four years of the novelist's life, with especial 
 reference to public readings in England and America ; 
 and the latter referring more particularly to his private 
 life and the character of his relations with children. 
 
 In giving particulars of a publication entitled 
 " Parley's Penny Library,"^ in which a notice of 
 Dickens appeared, the compiler of that work, who 
 
 * See No. 101. f See No. 102. + See No. 103. 
 
XU INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 80 scandalously ignored the laws of copyright, is 
 erroneously confounded with " Peter Parley " (Samuel 
 Griswold Goodrich), well-known in connexion with 
 boys' literature. Since going to press, Mr. E. L. 
 Blanchard has kindly sent me the following letter, 
 giving some interesting information concerning this 
 now forgotten publication : — 
 
 *' 6, Adelphi-terrace, Strand, 
 
 "Nov. 21, 1885. 
 " I remember the * Parley Penny Library' of 1841 very 
 well. It was printed by Lee and Haddock, of Craven-yard, 
 Drury-lane, and the * copy ' was furnished by a Mr. Hewitt, 
 previously connected with a Manchester paper. 
 
 "The original Peter Parley (Goodrich, of America,) had 
 nothing to do with the publication. Hewitt published in the 
 'Penny Parley' compressed novels by popular writers, and 
 having thus curtailed and re-written one by Charles Dickens, 
 he brought an action for invasion of copyright, and gained his 
 cause with heavy damages in 1842. This closed the career of 
 that publication, the printers dissolved partnership, and one of 
 them — Haddock — next year brought out the ' New Parley 
 Library,' a penny paper, size quarto, conducted on quite a 
 different principle. This was edited, and the novels therein 
 written by 
 
 * ' Yours faithfully, 
 
 "E. L. Blanchard." 
 
 "A Letter from Hop- o'-my- Thumb to Charles 
 Dickens, Esq.,"* recalls the unfortunate misunderstand- 
 ing that arose between the novelist and George 
 Cruikshauk, originating in a protest of Dickens 
 against Cruikshank's disfigurement of the text of the 
 Fairy Tales which he was then illustrating. This 
 
 * See No. 104. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. xiil 
 
 *•' Letter," written by CruikshaDk, and published in his 
 short-lived ." Magazine," was an attempt to defend 
 himself for his departure from the original version of 
 these stories and his endeavour to make them accord 
 with his own views of morality. It is to be feared that 
 the rupture thus caused between author and artist was 
 never entirely healed, as far at least as the latter was 
 concerned. 
 
 11. The second section (entitled "Critical") com- 
 prises four divisions, the first (a) consisting of Essays 
 and Ee views, criticising Charles Dickens's novels, and 
 his writings generally. From these extracts are given, 
 printed verbatim from the original text. It is interest- 
 ing to note the curious conflict of opinion thus ex- 
 hibited respecting the novelist's merits and demerits. 
 Some remarkable instances may be noted in illustration 
 of this extraordinary diversity. 
 
 HUMOUR AND PATHOS. 
 
 Favourable. Adverse. 
 
 "We doubt if there ever "When we compare Mr. 
 
 were so great a humourist Dickens to the world's great 
 
 in the world before, Aristo- humourists, Aristophanes, Mo- 
 
 phanes and Shakespeare not liere, Swift, Cervantes and 
 
 excepted." Shakespeare, then we see how 
 
 Sj)ectator, April 17, 1889. far short he comes of the 
 
 highest rank of genius." 
 
 " He has naturally great Westminster Revieiv, April, 
 
 powers of pathos." 1866. 
 
 National Rerietc, Oct., 1858. 
 
 "Mr. Dickens's pathos we 
 can only regard as a complete 
 and absolute failure." 
 
 Contemporary Revieiv, Feb., 
 1869. 
 
XIV 
 
 INTKODUCTOIIY. 
 
 RURAL SCENERY. 
 
 Favourable. Adveese. 
 
 " He can give you a land- 
 scape proper — a piece of the 
 rural English earth in its 
 summer or in its winter dress, 
 with a bit of water and a 
 pretty village spire in it." 
 
 North British Revie^o, May, 
 1851. 
 
 ' ' His descriptions of rural 
 felicity and country scenery... 
 are... overlaboured and out of 
 nature." 
 
 Quarterly Revieio, June, 1839. 
 
 TONE. 
 
 *' We recollect no passage 
 which ought to cause pain to 
 the most sensitive delicacy, if 
 read aloud in female society." 
 
 Edinburgh Revieiv, Oct. , 1838. 
 
 "We observe... some jokes, 
 incidents and allusions, which 
 could hardly be read by a 
 modest woman without blush- 
 ing." 
 
 Eclectic Revieio, April, 1837. 
 
 CHARACTERIZATION. 
 
 '* While we live, Sam Weller 
 and Dick Swiveller, Mr. Peck- 
 sniff and Mrs. Gamp, the 
 Micawbers and the Squeerses, 
 can never die... They are more 
 real than we are ourselves, and 
 will outlive and outlast us, 
 as they have outlived their 
 creator." 
 
 Blachioood's Edinburgh Maga- 
 :^ine, June, 1871. 
 
 " It is nonsense to say of 
 his characters generally, in- 
 tending the observation for 
 praise, that they are life-like. 
 They are nothing of the kind. . . 
 There never was a real Mr. 
 Pickwick, a real Sam Weller, 
 a real Mrs. Nickleby, a real 
 Quilp, a real Micawber, a real 
 Uriah Heep, a real Toots." 
 
 North British Review, May, 
 1851. 
 
 ** It seems scarcely possible 
 to believe that there were 
 never any such persons as Mr. 
 Pickwick and Mrs. Nickleby 
 and Mrs. Gamp. They are to 
 
 *'Who ever knew a Little 
 Nell, or a Dick Swiveller, or a 
 Marchioness ? Who can say 
 he believes Sam Weller to be 
 drawn from life, or Kate 
 
IXTKODUCTORY. XV 
 
 Favourable. Adverse. 
 
 us not only types of English Nickleby, or Smike, or Made- 
 life, but types actually exist- line Bray ? It is true, they 
 ing." live and move upon the stage 
 
 Saturday Review, June 11, as human beings ; else they 
 1870. would be but the marionettes 
 
 of a puppet-show, pulled by 
 wires — lay figures, that would 
 be hooted from the view." 
 
 North American Review, Oct. 
 1853. 
 
 We are somewhat unprepared to find that even our 
 old favourite Sam Weller, whom we had always be- 
 lieved to be the very essence of humour, does not 
 escape censure. Mr. Eichard Grant White, a leading 
 American journalist, has described him as " a monster^ 
 as monstrous as those human forms with wings that 
 we call angels, or those horses with long spiral horns 
 growing from their foreheads that we call unicorns."* 
 Another critic asks, " Will any candid reader assert 
 that he finds Sam Weller comic in the only way 
 worth having — freely, freshly comic, without delay or 
 second thought in our laughter ft 
 
 Many writers on this subject have essayed to draw 
 comparisons between the style, power of characteriza- 
 tion, and kindred peculiarities exhibited in the works 
 of Dickens with similar qualities in those of some of 
 his literary contemporaries, such as Charles Lamb^ 
 Carlyle, Bulwer, Disraeli and Thackeray. We also 
 find that each of the more prominent characteristics of 
 
 * See No. 186. f See No. 234. 
 
XVI INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 our novelist's writings, that is, his Genius, Philosophy, 
 Nomenclature, " Secularistic " Teaching, and power of 
 Versification, has formed a subject for discussion and 
 controversy. 
 
 With our present knowledge of Dickens, and of the 
 result of his life-work, we have reason to be amused 
 by the suppositions as to his identity, and by the 
 prophecies made by the critics during the early period of 
 his literary career. In the second division (5), relatiug 
 to Essays and Reviews criticising particular works 
 of Charles Dickens, we find some instances of this. For 
 example, in 1837, the readers of a popular journal* are 
 informed that " Eoz " is the fictitious signature of a 
 young man named Dickens, who may not be a native 
 of London, but has, at least b}'" his residence ther,', 
 made himself minutely familiar with the peculiarities 
 of the people. In the same year, a writer in an 
 American raagazinet ^ attacked our young author for 
 assuming the nom de guerre of " Boz," and in the 
 course of his remarks, written in a purely vindictive 
 spirit, he inquires " What man, capable of refinement, 
 would choose to be a buffoon 1" and suspects such a 
 man as he who calls himself by such a mountebank 
 designation as " Boz " to be some clown of a circus 
 or bear-garden, escaped from his employer. " What 
 right," he asks, " has he that we should suppose him 
 anything better than the Jack-Pudding of a drunken 
 club?" A perusal of this article will sufficiently 
 
 * "Chambers's Journal " (See No. 250). 
 
 + See No. 251. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. XVll 
 
 demonstrate how a critic's mind may be warped and 
 prejudiced by trivialities : in this particular case, the 
 reviewer, having aroused a host of enemies, who cen- 
 sured him for his spleen, was eventually compelled to 
 acknowledge, however grudgingly, the considerable 
 powers of the novelist. In 1842, an opinion was 
 expressed that, when Dickens dropped the nom de 
 guerre of " Boz," and assumed his own name, there 
 was a decline in the merit of his works, and that 
 between the writings of the unknown "Boz" and 
 the popular Charles Dickens, there is a similarity 
 which betokens plagiarism, and a difference which 
 marks deterioration ; the writer apparently supposing 
 that the mere fact of changing his name impaired 
 the novelist's powers, an inference that might 
 reasonably be disputed. The personality of "Boz" 
 soon became apparent, for in the style of " Pickwick," 
 the first work to which Dickens attached his name, 
 there was sufficient evidence to prove that its author 
 and the author of " Sketches by Boz " were one and the 
 same person. In reviewing the novelist's productions at 
 this period, the "London and Westminster Review ""^ 
 expresses its conviction of the fact, and says that " the 
 world may now feel at rest as to both the personality 
 and unity of * Boz.' Mr. Charles Dickens is the 
 acknowledged author of these works." In the same year 
 (1837) the "Quarterly Review,"! in the course of its 
 criticism of "Pickwick" and the "Sketches," ventured 
 to prophesy that the author " has risen like a rocket, 
 
 * See No. 252. f See No. 254. 
 
 6 
 
XVm INTRODUCTOEY. 
 
 and he will come down like the stick,"* a prediction, 
 happily, not fulfilled, or the present volume could 
 never have seen the light. 
 
 A curious analysis of some of the characters and 
 incidents in "Bleak House" was published in an 
 American journal, f The writer declares that, after 
 the startling manner with which Dickens had disposed 
 of the majority of those characters by such methods as 
 shooting, poisoning, and spontaneous combustion, the 
 final catastrophe is not so alarmingly strong as might 
 be expected, and he concludes by exhorting some one 
 to *'get up, and write a match against Bulwer and 
 Dickens, for it is not half so difficult as it looks."' 
 One of the most severe criticisms ever published ap- 
 peared in the " Saturday Eeview,"j in a notice of *' A 
 Tale of Two Cities," where the writer unhesitatingly 
 expressed his unfavourable opinion of that work in 
 language more forcible than justifiable, in consequence 
 of which, an amusing but unfounded report was cir- 
 culated to the effect that, after reading the review in 
 question, Dickens retired to bed and remained for 
 months in a state of hopeless lethargy ; that it needed 
 the constant application of warm flannels and bathings 
 of mustard and turpentine, and the united influence of 
 at least a dozen physicians, to restore him to conscious- 
 ness. 
 
 * Mr. G. A. Sala attributes this familiar prophecy to Croker 
 (the founder of the " Quarterly," by whom, doubtless, the 
 article in question was written), but see Appendix, p. 47 0» 
 " Notes and Queries." 
 
 t See No. 303. t See No. 311. 
 
INTRODUCTOKY. XIX 
 
 It has been positively asserted that Dickens was ex- 
 tremely sensitive to criticism, and that he generally 
 avoided reading opinions expressed concerning his 
 works. This suggests the question whether an author, 
 having a mission with his pen, should shun or study 
 the judgments of his critics? To avoid them seems 
 weakness, and may make him sorer and more vulnerable. 
 Besides, much may be gained even from enemies^ 
 although adverse criticisms do not necessarily emanate 
 from the pens of enemies. Macaulay acknowledged 
 a feeling of regard for Dickens, but his opinion of 
 " Hard Times," although not publicly expressed, was by 
 no means favourable. He described it as containing "one 
 excessively touching, heart-breaking passage, and the 
 rest sullen socialism. The evils he attacks he carica- 
 tures grossly and with little humour." On the other 
 hand, Mr. Ruskin says that "persons interested in 
 social questions will find in this work much that is 
 partial, and apparently unjust ; but if they examine all 
 the evidence on the other side, it will appear that 
 Dickens's view was the finally right one, grossly and 
 sharply told." It seems difficult to comprehend 
 how the minds of thoughtful and learned men 
 can so clash, and equally difficult to form from 
 these conclusions a just opinion of the merits of the 
 work. Every writer of sense will, of course, welcome 
 a manly and impartial criticism, which seeks his good, 
 and that of others, by pointing out both beauties and 
 faults, and giving judgment according to fair standards. 
 
 All admirers of our novelist will feel disposed to agree 
 
 62 
 
XX INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 with Mr. Hollingsliead's belief, that " when the turmoil 
 of the present century, with all the virulence of its political 
 debate, and all the petty jealousies of its literature, shall 
 have passed away ; when those who penned the stincj- 
 ing epigram or the caustic satire shall be weak, or dead, 
 or dying — dying, and anxious to give worlds to cancel 
 many a brilliant injustice which their hasty pens have 
 put upon record, then, and not till then, shall we arrive 
 at a calm estimate of the value of the writings of Charles 
 Dickens." 
 
 The unfinished romance of *' Edwin Drood" has 
 opened a field of inquiry respecting the author's inten- 
 tions in the conduct of the unwritten part of the story. 
 Many suggestions for a conclusion have been published, 
 and, as no authoritative clue has been forthcoming as 
 to the sequence of events, the scope for such inquiry 
 appears to be unlimited. Mr. Thomas Foster seems to 
 have specially interested himself in this direction, for 
 he has published a paper* devoted to a consideration of 
 some of the subtle indications as to the general direc- 
 tion of the path along which the story was to be con- 
 ducted, and its final goal. The same writer subse- 
 quently revived the subject in " Knowledge,"t when 
 his essay assumed the character of a " quasi-scientific 
 inquiry." 
 
 The third and fourth divisions of this section (c — d) 
 consist of reviews of Forster's " Life of Charles 
 Dickens " and the " Letters of Charles Dickens " re- 
 spectively. The biography is generally pronounced to 
 * See No. 331. t See No. 343. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. XXI 
 
 be a trustworthy, interesting and valuable record, 
 although the perpetual intrusion of the biographer into 
 the pages of his work, together with the marked exclusion 
 of other friends equally intimate, has been somewhat 
 severely commented on. That the late Mr. Forster per- 
 formed his task faithfully and well, and gave a true esti- 
 mate of the novelist's literary genius, no one can reasonably 
 deny. The " Letters of Charles Dickens " have been 
 rightly described as forming a supplement to Forster's 
 biography, and, further, in this work we come nearer 
 to the man as he was than any biographer could have 
 brought us. It has been said that these Letters betray 
 self-consciousness, and a doubt has been expressed, if as 
 many letters of any of the men worthy to be ranked as 
 the compeers of Dickens could be collected, whether 
 they would show such a limited concern for the world 
 in which he personally played no part. The Letters- 
 were, however, universally accepted as the best possible 
 testimony to the true character of the man, who is there 
 presented in a very favourable light, both as a father 
 and friend. 
 
 IIL In the third section of this work is contained a 
 list of Poetical Tributes and Memorial Verses, some of 
 the former being of a dedicatory character. At the 
 time of the novelist's death, many journals, both 
 serious and comic, praised him in verse, and our old 
 friend *' Punch," ever ready to add his tribute to the 
 memory of departed genius, was to the front on this 
 occasion with a memorial poem, full of graceful and 
 tender allusions, testifying his appreciation of 
 
XXll INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 *' The large heart o'er which the large brain held iiile, 
 The fancy by whose side clear sense sat throned." 
 
 IV. The writings of Dickens have afforded material 
 for the manufacture of several books comprising selections 
 from them. The fourth section, entitled " Anthological," 
 contains a list of these compilations, and, as a 
 strange coincidence, it may be noted that both the first 
 and the last of these publications are associated with 
 Sam Weller. With respect to the first item, entitled 
 the " Beauties of Pickwick," the editors stated that this 
 selection of articles which they had reprinted had been 
 compiled from the newspapers in which they appeared 
 from time to time, thus ingeniously evading the copy- 
 right laws. Among the more important works in this 
 section is Mr. Charles Kent's "Humour and Pathos 
 of Charles Dickens," which, as a volume of over four 
 hundred pages, is a very tangible proof, notwithstand- 
 ing the opinions expressed by certain reviewers, of the 
 existence of those qualities in our novelist's writings. 
 
 V. The songs and other musical compositions founded 
 on Dickens's writings are unexpectedly numerous, there 
 being no fewer than twenty-three of them. "Pick- 
 wick," more than any other of his works, seems to have 
 suggested sentiments for musical adaptation, and the 
 song of " The Ivy Green," introduced in Chapter VI. 
 as a recitation by the clergyman of Dingley Dell, has 
 been rendered in five different vrays. The romance 
 which, next to this, has provided most subjects for the 
 composer is '* Little Dorrit," four songs having been 
 written founded on incidents contained in it. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. XXIH 
 
 yi. The public appreciation of Dickens's stories has 
 resulted in their frequent dramatization, for which they 
 are peculiarly adapted. In the sixth section it has 
 been my endeavour to supply a complete list of the 
 plays founded on these stories, with the dates of their 
 first representation. Of these, nine are from "Pick- 
 wick," eight from " Martin Chuzzlewit," and five from 
 *' Nicholas Nickleby " and " Bleak House " respec- 
 tively. The comedy of "Tom Pinch" is rendered 
 additionally interesting by the fact that, when per- 
 formed at the Crystal Palace in 1883, the part of Euth 
 Pinch, Tom's affectionate sister, was taken by Miss Mary 
 Dickens, a grand-daughter of the novelist, this being 
 her first appearance as a professional actress. Mr. 
 Porster relates that what Dickens suffered from these 
 adaptations of his books, multiplied remorselessly at 
 every theatre, was the subject of complaint with him 
 incessantly. It is true that he gave help to the drama- 
 tization of some of his Christmas stories, but only in 
 order to render more tolerable what he had no power 
 to prevent. 
 
 The popularity of the "Pickwick Papers" far ex- 
 ceeded that attending any subsequent work of Dickens. 
 The enthusiastic fervour with which this publication 
 was received could not be ignored by tradesmen on the 
 look out for novelties, and presently Pickwick chintzes 
 figured in linendrapers' windows, Weller corduroys in 
 breeches-makers' advertisements, and the Pickwick 
 cigar — the Penny Pickwick as it was called-^was in- 
 troduced, as a compliment to our author, by a London 
 
XXIV INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 tobacco-manufacturer in Leman-street, Minories. Then 
 there were Pickwick hats, with narrow brims curved up^ 
 at the sides ; Pickwick canes, with tassels ; and Pick- 
 wick coats, with brass and horn buttons, and the cloth 
 invariably dark green or dark plum. Kor was the 
 author of " Pickwick " forgotten by these enterprising 
 tradesmen, for Boz cabs rattled along the streets ; and 
 even lately there existed a racehorse named Dickens : a 
 species of hyacinth, similarly named, is a tangible 
 reality, and Pickwick and Dickens cigar-lights are 
 purchasable to-day. But this kind of popularity soon 
 assumed another aspect, namely, the publication of 
 numerous works, with plagiaristic titles, in attempted 
 imitation of the style of Dickens. Such works were 
 " written," to use Mr. Sala's phrase, " by some gutter- 
 blood hack," vilely illustrated by coarse woodcuts, 
 the vendors of low-class literature doing a good stroke 
 of business by the sale of these mutilations, forgeries, 
 and parodies. Dickens naturally resented this treat- 
 ment, and, in 1841, dropped down upon the publishers 
 and completely crushed them. These fabrications, 
 however, may have served to increase his popularity, 
 the extent of which was testified by their commercial 
 success. 
 
 VII. The present scarcity of these worthless pro- 
 ductions is remarkable, considering the large number 
 circulated. By diligent research, I have obtained a 
 clue to many of them, which has enabled me to examine 
 and obtain particulars of them, as well as parodies, 
 sequels, and other works having a titular connexion 
 
INTRODUCTORY. XXV 
 
 with the writings of Dickens. " Pickwick " seems to 
 have afforded considerable scope for this kind of treat- 
 ment, and was particularly suitable for the operations of 
 the plagiarist, who made the most of that opportunity, 
 as no fewer than fourteen publications with Pick- 
 wickian titles were issued. With " Dombey and Son " 
 came " Dombey and Daughter," by Eenton Nicholson 
 (Lord Chief Earon of the Judge and Jury Club), 
 *' Dombey and Son Finished," a burlesque, and, later 
 on, "Dolby and Father," published in New York. 
 America is responsible for other works of this class, 
 for Bret Harte has parodied *' The Haunted Man," 
 and Orpheus C. Kerr has selected " The Mystery of 
 Edwin Drood " for purposes of adaptation and carica- 
 ture. Of the six different versions of the last-named 
 story, treated both seriously and humorously, the most 
 strikingly original conception is that stated to have been 
 written by "The Spirit Pen of Charles Dickens, through 
 a Medium, and Embracing also that Part of the Work 
 which was published prior to the Termination of the 
 Author's Earth-Life." This is also an American pro- 
 duction. 
 
 Having thus given a resum6 of the contents of the 
 present volume, and briefly alluded to its more interesting 
 features, let me conclude with a reference to the nature 
 and extent of the influence exercised by the writings of 
 Dickens in every department of life. If we look at 
 what he, by those writings, has helped to accomplish, 
 we must place him in the front rank of social reformers; 
 the influence of his early works has reacted for good 
 
XXVI INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 upon the national mind. Many of the scenes he has 
 depicted, often painful and repulsive in character, 
 were drawn with a distinct and deliberate purpose, 
 that of exposing and denouncing flagrant social 
 evils. In many cases, as Mr. Sala has pointed out, 
 the end he had in view, that of obtaining the 
 redress of the evil he denounced, was either directly 
 or remotely obtained ; for his novels acted upon 
 journalism, journalism reacted upon public opinion, 
 public opinion became at last a pressure, and that 
 pressure was ultimately adequate to change or to abro- 
 gate old laws or to enact new ones. There cannot be 
 the slightest doubt that Yorkshire schools were knocked 
 on the head by the portraiture of Dotheboys Hall, and 
 it is equally incontrovertible that the movements to 
 which we owe Eefuges and Eeformatories, the Indus- 
 trial Schools Act, and the reforms in the Court of 
 Chancery, and the Ecclesiastical Courts, and the Abolition 
 of Imprisonment for Debt, and, lastly, the revision of the 
 law respecting Patents, received a direct and powerful 
 impetus from his writings. What abuses has he thus 
 helped to sweep away ! How many a nook and corner 
 of the world has he thus made brighter and happier ! 
 
 He has entered into our everyday life in a manner 
 which no other living author has done. Much of his 
 phraseology has become common property, and allusions 
 to his works and quotations from them are made by 
 everybody, and in all places. The personages in his stories 
 are recognised as types, a reference to which enables us, 
 more readily than lengthy descriptions, to realize the 
 
INTRODUCTORY. XXVll 
 
 peculiar characteristics of people we have known or 
 seen ; thus Micawberism conveys a sense of recklessness 
 and impecuniosity, by Mark Tapleyism is meant a de- 
 termination to be jolly under all circumstances, l^Sfik- 
 sniff is always associated in our minds with hypocrisy 
 and meanness, and Podsnapper?/ signifies a combination 
 of pomposity, narrow-mindedness and conceit. Among 
 other instances of this kind may be included such 
 words as *' Eed-tape^sm," as referring to official routine, 
 and " Bumble(iom," such power as] that exercised by 
 ignorant municipal officers over the helpless poor. We 
 still speak of an offensive phrase or utterance as being 
 used in a " Pickwickian sense," and an expression of 
 Captain Cattle's, " when found, make a note of," is fre- 
 quently quoted, and furnishes the motto for that 
 learned and recondite journal, " Notes and Queries." 
 Government formality and routine is typified by the 
 Circumlocution Office and ** how not to do it ;" 
 everyone knows that a clumsy, unwieldy umbrella is 
 known generally by the cognomen of a " Mrs. Gamp," 
 and that Dolly Varden's name has been given to 
 specially-designed dresses and hats. Mr. Toots and 
 characters like him, are a type, and allusions to them 
 in the concrete are understood in the abstract. 
 
 The influence of Dickens's writings can sometimes 
 be traced where it would be least suspected . Who, for 
 example, would imagine that the main feature of the plot 
 of Mr. Herman's drama of "Claudian," recently per- 
 formed in London, was suggested by an incident in one 
 of Dickens's Christmas-books 1 Who would have asso- 
 
XXVm INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 ciated such gorgeously-depicted scenes in the life of a 
 Koman emperor with a simple and unaffected story of 
 Christian charity and repentance 1 Yet such is the 
 case ; for Mr. Herman thus relates how he obtained the 
 more beautiful and more pathetic portion of his concep- 
 tion of the hero of the drama. He had found the idea 
 of Claudian's eternal youth, and had connected it with 
 the first glimpse of the great curse. He felt that the idea 
 was fine, that it was dramatic ; but it was hard and 
 unsympathetic. He had been walking in his garden ; 
 it was a brilliant, hot summer day, and to get into 
 complete shade for a while he went into his library. 
 Mechanically his fingers wandered over the shelves, 
 and, quite by accident, he took out " The Christmas 
 Carol " and opened it. His attention was arrested by 
 the little incident in Marlow's visit to Scrooge — an 
 incident barely referred to — of the ghost of the fat 
 alderman, who floats about the air with his great chain 
 of ledgers and cash-boxes, and who cries bitterly be- 
 cause he cannot relieve the wants of a poor woman 
 who is sitting in the snow on the pavement. In a 
 second, Mr. Herman's conception of Claudian was com- 
 plete. The pathos of the fate of a man who desired to 
 do good, and could not do so, gave birth to the idea of 
 the man every one of whose charitable actions turned 
 to bane, as a punishment for his past crimes. From 
 the ghost of the fat alderman to Claudian is a long dis- 
 tance ; but human pathos and passion were the same 
 fifteen hundred years ago as now, and the true poetry 
 of a story, especially its true dramatic poetry, is oftener 
 
INTRODUCTORY. XXIX 
 
 in the treatment of an idea than in the actual ide^ 
 itself. 
 
 The influence of Dickens is also remarkable for the 
 manner in which it has extended to all parts of the 
 civilized world ; and the avidity with which transla- 
 tions of his works are bought and read in all regions of 
 the earth is a proof of his popularity in nations not 
 speaking the Anglo-Saxon tongue. Wherever there are 
 people of English origin, there the genius of Charles 
 Dickens is one of the important facts of life. As evi- 
 dence of this far-extending influence, it is related that 
 during the great novelist's first visit to America he went 
 with some companions to view the Falls of Niagara. 
 They travelled in carriages, and were occasionally com- 
 pelled to change horses. One of these halting-places 
 was a log-tavern and stable, standing all alone in the 
 forest. Here they alighted for a few minutes, and en- 
 tered, being received by an elderly woman, who kindly 
 offered them seats. In an adjoining room there were 
 two tall, good-looking young girls, her daughters, 
 spinning, who seemed quite desirous to know, but were 
 too bashful to ask, who the strangers were. Being curi- 
 ous to see if, in the midst of the almost unbroken forests 
 of Northern Ohio, the inmates of tjiat lone cabin had ever 
 heard of Charles Dickens, one of the party incidentally 
 mentioned his name. " Is it, indeed ]" said the girls, 
 and with brightened eyes, and looks of pleasure on their 
 handsome faces, they came and sat down where they 
 could see the man whose books they had read so eagerly 
 and loved so much. 
 
XXX INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Another extraordinary proof of the extent of this in- 
 fluence is related by an American gentleman,* whose 
 profession as a Government surveyor necessitated a 
 journey across the Sierra Nevada mountains during a 
 severe winter. They were snowbound on the summit, 
 and were compelled to leave their waggons and proceed 
 to the valleys, a long and difficult task, occupying 
 several days. On the second day, in a spot where they 
 expected to find nothing more human than a grizzly 
 bear or an elk, they found a little hut, built of pine- 
 boughs and a few rough boards clumsily hewn out of 
 small trees with an axe. The hut was covered with 
 snow many feet deep, excepting only the hole in the 
 roof which served for a chimney, and a small pit-like 
 place in front to permit egress. The occupant came 
 forth to hail them and to solicit whisky and tobacco. He 
 was dressed in a suit made entirely of flour-sacks, and 
 was curiously labelled on various parts of his person 
 " Best Family Flour — Extra." His head was covered 
 by a wolf's-skin drawn from the brute's head — with the 
 ears standing erect in a -fierce alert manner. He in- 
 formed the new arrivals that he had not seen a human 
 being in four months, and that he lived on bear and 
 elk meat, and flour, laid in during his short summer. 
 They asked him how he passed his time, and he went 
 to a barrel and produced *' Nicholas Nickleby " and 
 ** Pickwick," both of which he knew almost by heart ! 
 
 A similar story has been lately recorded by the Lon- 
 don press, the main difi'erence being that the scene is 
 * Vide Forster's "Life of Charles Dickens." 
 
INTRODUCTORY. XXxi 
 
 laid within a few miles of the metropolis. A man was 
 discovered on the roof of a school-house, where it seems 
 he had been living for five years, subsisting on the 
 fragments of food obtained by nightly visits to the 
 interior of the building. It was found that his furni- 
 ture consisted of a copy of the Bible, ''Mcholas 
 Mckleby," and a dark lantern. 
 
 That a prophet is not without honour save in his own 
 country is, it should seem, the irony of fate. That the 
 works of Dickens may remain unfamiliar even to one 
 whose life has been passed a;lmost under the shadow 
 of Gad's-Hill-Place is a fact, however, that has 
 come under my own immediate notice. Being at 
 Rochester a short time since, I had occasion to 
 visit a professor of the tonsorial art. Having a 
 natural curiosity to learn all I could of the famous 
 novelist, I asked a few questions concerning his visits 
 to that old city, immortalised in " Pickwick " and 
 " Edwin Drood," when ray informant drily remarked 
 that he had never read any of Dickens's books, but 
 supposed that " he is considered a clever sort o' man, 
 isn't he, sir]" 
 
 Much has been written concerning the future fame 
 of Dickens, and it has been asserted that his popularity 
 must inevitably decline as the manners he describes 
 become obsolete, and the scenes of English life he 
 depicts disappear. However that may be, his fame 
 must continue to exist as long as we retain any sense of 
 humour or any sympathy for the poor and suffering 
 classes. The admirers of Dickens will heartily sub- 
 
XXXU INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 scribe to the words of Mr. Sala, when he says : " I 
 have ventured to predict for him such a perpetuity of 
 renown as has heen the guerdon of the great writers of 
 antiquity ; as has been the portion of those who wrote 
 *' Hamlet " and " Paradise Lost." ... I maintain that 
 his renown will be progressive, and that he will March. 
 He will march in the great company — with rare Ben 
 Jonson, with glorious John Dry den, with kind Moliere, 
 and patient Cervantes, with noble "Walter Scott, with 
 gentle William Thackeray — with all great humourists, 
 all great masters of pathos, all good and honest men. 
 H'e will march until not only the vast empire which is 
 to be in Australia, but the extremest limits of a new- 
 civilized China, the farthest borders of a re-civilized 
 Hindustan, shall be full of the sound of the footsteps of 
 
 his fame." 
 
 FRED. G. KITTON. 
 
 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. 
 Christmas, 1885. ' 
 
 Note. 
 
 In the lists of undated writings relating to Dickens are in- 
 cluded many articles to which I have been unable to refer. The 
 majority of these were published in America, and were probably 
 reprinted from English journals ; but I cannot verify this 
 supposition, for the reason just stated. 
 
 I am naturally indebted to Mr. Shepherd's "Bibliography of 
 Dickens," and Mr. James Cook's "Bibliography of the Writings 
 of Charles Dickens," for a clue to some of the items here enu- 
 merated. My thanks are also due to Mr. John Jarvis for 
 according me the privilege of examining and obtaining parti- 
 culars of many of the plagiaristic writings in his possession, and 
 to Mr. Hutt for a similar obligation in connexion with Mrs. 
 Seymour's scarce tract. (See No. 345. ) 
 
PERSONAL. 
 
 1 
 Eeport of the Dinner given to Charles Dickens in 
 Boston, February 1, 1842. Reported by Thomas 
 Gill and William English, reporters of the Morning 
 Post. 
 
 Boston : William Crosby and Co. 1842. pp. 66. 
 Most of the speeches were revised by their authors. 
 
 2 
 The American's Apostrophe to Boz. A Poem of 
 sixty-six lines. The Booh of Ballads. Edited by 
 Bon Gaultier (Theodore Martin and W. E. 
 Aytoun). 
 
 London : Wm. S. Orr and Co. 1845. pp. 81, 86. 
 The poem is thus prefaced : — 
 
 *' Eapidly as oblivion does its work nowadays, the burst of 
 
 1 
 
/V2' ; ■ . .PEESDNAL. 
 
 amiable indignation with which enlightened America received 
 the issue of Boz's Notes, can scarcely be forgotten. Not con- 
 tent with waging a universal rivalry in the piracy of the work, 
 Columbia showered upon its author the riches of its own choice 
 vocabulary of abuse ; while some of her more fiery spirits threw 
 out playful hints as to the propriety of gouging the "strannger," 
 and furnishing him with a lasting suit of tar and feathers, in 
 the event of his paying them a second visit. The perusal of these 
 delightful expressions of free opinion suggested the following 
 lines, which those who remember Boz's book, and the festivities 
 with which he was all but hunted to death, will at once under- 
 stand. We hope we have done justice to the bitterness and 
 'immortal hate ' of these thin-skinned sons of freedom." 
 The first four lines run thus : — 
 
 Sneak across the wide Atlantic, worthless London's puling 
 
 child. 
 Better that its waves should bear thee than the land thou hast 
 
 reviled ; 
 Better in the stifling cabin, on the sofa should'st thou lie. 
 Sickening as the fetid nigger bears the greens and bacon by. 
 
 3 
 Proceedings at the Sixth Anniversary Festival of 
 the General Theatrical Fund, held at the 
 London Tavern, Bishopsgate Street, on Monday, 
 April, 14, 1851. Charles Dickens, Esq., in the 
 Chair. 
 
 London : Printed by Edward Brewster, Hand 
 Court, Dowgate. 1851. pp. 36. 
 
 Containing a full report of the proceedings, including the 
 
PERSONAL. 3 
 
 speeches made on that occasion by Charles Dickens, John 
 Forster, Benjamin Webster, John B. Buckstone, and others. 
 
 4 
 
 Devonshire House Theatricals. 
 
 liondon : Bentley's Miscellany. June, 1851. pp. 
 
 660, 667. 
 
 Containing a critical account of two theatrical performances 
 ^iven in Devonshire House, in Piccadilly (the town-house of 
 the Duke of Devonshire), in aid of funds for founding the Guild 
 of Literature and Art. This scheme, actively promoted by 
 Dickens, was intended to benefit artists and litterateurs. The 
 first performance took place on the 16th of May, 1851, in the 
 presence of the Queen and Prince Albert, and the receipts 
 on that occasion amounted to £1,250. Great praise is here 
 bestowed upon Dickens's impersonation of a Mrs. Gamp-like 
 character in 3Ir. Nightingale's Diary. 
 
 5 
 
 Lives of the Illustrious : Charles Dickens. By 
 
 J. H. F. 
 
 The BiograpJiical Magazine. Vol. ii. London : J. 
 
 Passmore Edwards. 1852. pp. 276, 297. 
 
 This notice concludes with the following passage : — 
 "... For lasting purposes of good, the literary man has a 
 noble opportunity, and nobly has Dickens used it. England 
 does not feel sufficiently proud of her literary talent. They 
 have done much to prevent such scenes as Paris has witnessed, 
 and to avert convulsions which might shake down civilization 
 itself. Amongst these benefactors and lords of mind Dickens 
 is one of the foremost, and his character is best expressed by 
 the words of his only dedication (to Samuel Rogers) of the 
 
 1—2 
 
4 PERSONAL. 
 
 Curiosity Shojy — ' one whose writings (as all the world knows) 
 are replete with generous and earnest feeling ; and a man whose 
 daily life (as all the world does not know) is one of active 
 sympathy with the poorest and hvmiblest of his kind. . .' " 
 
 6 
 Englische Dichter : Charles Dickens. With a 
 portrait. 
 Leipsic : Die Gartenlauhe. No, 6. 1856. pp, 
 73, 75. 
 
 Sly's King's Arms Hotel, Lancaster. Extracts 
 
 from Household JFords, relating to Mr. Charles 
 
 Dickens's Visit to Lancaster. With engravings 
 
 of the Entrance Hall and Ancient Staircase in 
 
 the Hotel. Keprinted from Nos. 395 and 39G 
 
 of HouseJiold Words, October, 1857. pp. 7. In 
 
 Illustrated Wrapper. " Presented by J. Sly, King's 
 
 Arms Hotel, Lancaster." 
 
 Prefaced by the following Note, entitled "The Good Old 
 Town, and its Good Old Inn, in Lancaster." — *' The reader is 
 perhaps aware that Mr. Charles Dickens and his friend Mr. 
 Wilkie Collins, in the year 1857, visited Lancaster, and during 
 their sojourn stopped at Mr. Sly's, King's Arms Hotel. In 
 the October number of Household Words, under the title of 
 The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices, Mr. Dickens presents 
 his readers with a remarkable story of a Bridal Chamber, from 
 whence the following extracts are taken." 
 
PERSONAL. 5 
 
 ^ 8 
 
 KoYAL Literary Fund. A Summary of Facts 
 drawn from the records of the Society, and issued 
 by the Committee in answer to allegations con- 
 tained in a pamphet entitled The Case of the Re- 
 formers of the Literary Fund: stated hy Charles W. 
 Dilhe, Charles DicJcens, and John Forster" together 
 with a Report of the Proceedings of the last 
 Annual Meeting, March 12, 1858 (privately 
 printed), pp. 34. - 
 
 9 
 
 Mr. Charles Dickens. 
 London: Toivn Talk June 19, 1858. p. 76. 
 
 Kelating to the separation from his wife, which caused a 
 great deal of scandal and idle gossip, and gave "occasion for 
 the fabrication of certain lies, so preposterous in their malice 
 as almost to defeat the desig-n of their concoctors ; but the very- 
 nature of which, involving as it did the names of most innocent 
 iind worthy persons, demanded instant denial. This denial Mr. 
 Dickens has made in a most solemn and earnest public state- 
 ment {vide Household Words, June 12, 1858) ; a statement 
 breathing truth in every line. Such a denial was neces- 
 sary. ..." 
 
 10 
 Charles Dickens, Esq. With a portrait engraved on 
 steel by D. J. Pound, from a photograph by Mayall. 
 
G PERSONAL. 
 
 London : The Joint Stock Xewspaper Company. 
 1858. pp. 2. 
 
 Issued as a Supplement to the Illustrated News of the World, 
 October 9, ] 858, in which journal a series of similar biographies 
 and portraits was published. 
 
 11 
 
 Charles Dickens. A Critical Biography. With a 
 portrait engraved on wood, and facsimile of auto- 
 graph. 
 London : Blayney and Fryer, 12, Warwick Square. 
 
 1858. pp. 82. 
 
 The first of a series of biographies (afterward discontinued) 
 entitled "Our Contemporaries: Literary — Political — Artistic — 
 etc., etc." The most personal passages in the work were sup- 
 plied by Dickens himself. 
 
 12 
 Mr. Charles Dickens as a Eeader. 
 London : The Critic. No. 426. Published at 29, 
 Essex Street, Strand. 1858. pp. 537, 538. 
 
 13 
 
 Judge Lynch (of America), his two Letters to 
 Charles Dickens (of England) upon the Subject 
 of The Court of Chancery. 
 London : Arthur Hall, Virtue and Co. 1859. 
 
 pp. 26. 
 
PERSONAL. 7 
 
 Prefaced by an address (dated '* London, December 15, 
 1859"), "To the Thinking People of England," and signed 
 " Under the Signature of A Retired Merchant, commonly called 
 Olim Mercator." The letters (dated "London, 24th May, 
 1859," and "London, 19th July, 1859," respectively) express 
 the sympathy of the writer with Dickens in his denunciation of 
 the system pursued by the Chancery Courts. 
 
 u 
 
 A Visit to Charles Dickens by Hans Christian 
 Andersen. 
 London : Bentley^s Miscellany. August, 1860. pp. 
 181, 185. Eeprinted in LittelVs Living Age (Boston). 
 September 15, 1860. pp. 692, 695; and in the 
 Eclectic Magazine (New York). May, 1864. pp. 
 110, 114. 
 
 An account of Hans Andersen's visit to Dickens at Gads- 
 hill. 
 
 15 
 Eine Vorlesung von Charles Dickens. By 
 Corvin. With a portrait of Dickens as a Eeader. 
 Leipsic : Die Gartenlauhe. No. 39. 1861. pp. 
 612, 614. 
 An account of " A Reading by Charles Dickens." 
 
 16 
 
 Charles Dickens. 
 New York : Harper's New Monthly Magazine. 
 August, 1862. pp. 376, 380. 
 
B PERSOXAL. 
 
 Containing a description of various incidents in connection 
 with Dickens's visit to America. The following extract refers 
 to his writings which resulted from that visit : — 
 
 "... The spirit of the American portions of Chuzzlewit was 
 not acceptable to our countrymen. It was thought to be un- 
 kind ; and (especially after it had been followed by the Ameri^ 
 can Notes*) it was deemed an ungrateful return for the atten- 
 tions which had been bestowed upon the author in every part 
 of the country. It could not be denied, however, and in fact 
 was not denied, that much of the satire, particularly the political 
 parts of it — the egotism, for example, of candidates, and their 
 ridiculous ideas of the effect which their ' speeches ' were to 
 have upon the ' policy ' of the British Queen and the British 
 Government, should the interrogated author ' dare to lay them 
 before Her Majesty and the British Parliament ' — these things 
 were really * well put ;' and, however distasteful as facts, were 
 admitted to be scarcely distorted likenesses. How many pomp- 
 ous political ' Elijah Pograms ' have been recognised, ticketed, 
 and labelled, since the first publication of Chuzzlewit !" 
 
 17 
 Speech op Charles Dickens as Chairman of the 
 Anniversary Festival Dinner of the Royal Free 
 Hospital, held at the Freemasons' Tavern on the 
 6th May, 1863. pp. 8. (Privately printed.) 
 
 With prefatory remarks, dated ' Royal Free Hospital, Gray's 
 Inn Road, London, June 24, 1870,' and signed 'James S. Blyth, 
 Secretary.' 
 
 * The writer errs respecting this, for the publication of Ameri- 
 Notes preceded that of Martin Chuzzlewit. 
 
 can 
 
PERSONAL. 9 
 
 18 
 
 Biographical Sketch of Charles Dickens. With 
 a portrait engraved on steel. 
 New York: The Eclectic Magazine. May, 1864. 
 pp. 115, 117. 
 
 19 
 
 The Dickens Controversy. 
 
 Philadelphia : The American PuUishers^ Circular. 
 
 June 1, 1867. pp. 68, 69. Keprinted in the form 
 
 of an addendum of six pages to R. S. Mackenzie's 
 
 Life of Charles DicTcens. (See No. 107.) 
 
 Relating to a discussion concerning the payment to Dickens 
 of past profits der^ed from the sale of his works in America. 
 
 "... Mr. Dickens, in his published letter to Ticknor and 
 Fields, not only speaks in a most disparaging and flippant 
 manner of substantial payment received by him from this 
 country, but, in our judgment, deals with the facts in a style 
 that is almost next-of-kin to dishonesty. . ." 
 
 20 
 The Home of Charles Dickens. By John D. 
 
 Sherwood. " Visits to the Homes of Authors." 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 New York: Hours at Home. July, 1867. pp. 
 239, 242. 
 
 "... At the time of the visits of which I am now speaking, 
 he was just preparing to make his hurried trip to this country — 
 
10 PERSONAL. 
 
 a trip comprised between January and June ; cramming himself 
 with all sorts of information to fit himself for observing and for 
 writing American Notes, which he was then under contract to 
 produce within the coming eight months. 
 
 " His study was piled with Marryatt's, TroUope's, Fidler's, 
 Hall's, and other Travels in and Descriptions of America, and 
 blazed with highly-coloured maps of the United States, whose 
 staring blues, reds, and yellows, so much in contrast with the 
 colorless maps of Europe, greatly amused him. * I could light 
 my cigar against the red-hot State of Ohio,' he said. He was 
 anxiously in quest of knowledge respecting this country ; de- 
 siring to bring within the compass of his brief stay here as wide 
 a reach of space, and as great a variety of subjects, as possible. 
 He expressed his inability to go into the Gulf States, as his 
 policy of life insurance forbade it — an interdict which he had, 
 he said, in vain endeavoured to remove. . ." 
 
 ** Various topics were broached — frank and unrestrained al- 
 lusions made to persons, living cotemporaries on both sides the 
 water ; and subjects, still unsettled into History, interplayed 
 through the flitting phases of conversation. To draw these 
 from the sheltering veil of private life, the law which I have 
 prescribed to myself forbids. 
 
 ** Geniality, kindness of heart, and natural humour, which 
 glinted out, just as a brook sings, marked Mr. Dickens's manner 
 and conversation. One easily learned, in looking into the depths 
 of his black eyes, emitting a steady light or flashing a sudden 
 glow over his face, then pale and marked in all its lines by deep 
 sensibility, the source of that inspiration which lifts up lowly 
 life, which hates and smites class injustice, and brands so in- 
 cisively the sleek self-complacency of well-fed social pride. As 
 he sat, chattily pouring out ready thoughts and shedding a 
 sunny humour over them as these thoughts reached forward 
 and down into philosophic generalization, or shimmered in 
 genial play along topics momentarily started up and pleasantly 
 dismissed, it was manifest that Dickens did not hoard up his 
 
PERSONAL. 11 
 
 mental jewels for his works. He has no need of such frugality. 
 From his quick, prodigal mind he can afford to throw lavishly 
 out the pearls which each new wave brings to the shore. ^ ." 
 
 21 
 
 The "Boz" Ball. By P. M. W. 1. The Pre- 
 liminary Meeting of Citizens. 2. Tiie Reception. 
 Morrisanin, KY. The Hlstmical Magazine. August 
 
 and November, 1867. pp. 110, 113, and 291, 294. 
 
 A full account of the an-angements for a Ball given in New 
 York in honour of Charles Dickens, and of his reception. The 
 following is an extract from the Report : — " To heighten tho 
 effect, and in compliance with the desire universally expressed^ 
 it is recommended that the Ball Room represent various com- 
 partments of the Curiosity Shop, in which the production of 
 * Boz ' may be illustrated. In order to add a strikingly novel 
 and agreeable feature to the intended fete, it is suggested that a 
 number of Tableaux Vivaflts be formed by competent artists in 
 the intervals of the dance, drawn from the Novels, Sketches, 
 Poems, and Dramas of Mr. Dickens, and shadowing forth, in 
 living pictures, the graphic and glorious delineation of this 
 singularly gifted and original author. . ." 
 
 22 
 The Charles Dickens Dinner. An Authentic 
 Record of the Public Banquet given to Mr. 
 Charles Dickens, at the Freemasons' Hall, Lon- 
 don, on Saturday, November 2, 1867, prior to 
 his departure for the United States. With a 
 
12 PEKSONAL. 
 
 Eeport of the Speeches from special shorthand 
 notes. 
 
 London : Chapman and Hall. 1867. Boston : 
 
 Ticknor and Fields. 1867. pp. 32. 
 
 With a Preface signed C. K. (Charles Kent), in which the 
 writer says that " the mere catalogue of the names of the 
 Stewards was in itself a noble tribute to the fame, the genius, 
 and the popularity of Charles Dickens. It was a List made up 
 almost entirely of Representative Men. It comprised within it 
 upwards of one hundred celebrities." The Lord Lytton acted 
 as Chairman, and among those present were the following dis- 
 tinguished guests : The Duke of Argyll, The Lord Chief Baron, 
 Shirley Brooks, Eobert Chambers, Wilkie Collins, The Earl 
 Darnley, Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, Eev. Alexander Dyce, 
 Thomas Faed, R.A., Percy Fitzgerald, John Forster, W. P. 
 Frith, R.A., The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., J. 
 Goodall, R.A., Sir Francis Grant, P.R.A., The Earl Gran- 
 ville, K.G., The Lord Houghton, The Lord Chief Justice of 
 England, Charles Knight, Charles Landseer, R.A., Sir Edwin 
 Landseer, R.A., Mark Lemon, G. H. Lewes, Frederick Locker, 
 Daniel Maclise, R.A., W. C. Macready, The Baron Marochetti, 
 R.A., The Master of the Mint, The Right Hon. the Lord 
 Mayor, J. E. Millais, R.A., Professor Henry Morley, Sir 
 Roderick Murchison, Bt., K.C.B,, John Murray, Professor Owen, 
 The Rt. Hon. Sir Fred. Pollock, Bart.,: P. F. Poole, R.A., Dr. 
 Priestly, B. W. Proctor, Charles Reade, D.C.L., The Earl 
 Russell, K.G., G. A. Sala, The Earl Stanhope, Marcus Stone, 
 Tom Taylor, John Tenniel, Alfred Tennyson, Sir Henry Thomp- 
 son, Anthony TroUope, E. M, Ward, R.A., Benjamin Webster, 
 Erasmus Wilson, F.R.S., Dr. Forbes Winslow, D.C.L., and 
 Edmund Yates. 
 
 The Hall was tastefully decorated for the occasion, one note- 
 worthy feature being the treatment of the panels, round which 
 
PERSONAL. 13 
 
 a border of laurel leaves Avas placed, and in the arched top of 
 each was introduced in gold letters the name of one of Dickens's 
 works, the post of honour over the chair being given to the 
 immortal Pickwick. The principal speakers, besides the 
 noble Chairman and the honoured Guest, were Sir Charles 
 Russell, Tom Taylor, Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, Bart., The 
 Lord Mayor, Sir Francis Grant, Anthony TroUope, Sir Edvdn 
 Landseer, Benjamin Webster, Sir Alexander Cockburn, Bart., 
 (The Lord Chief Justice), and J. B. Buckstone. 
 
 23 
 
 Charles Dickens. With a portrait. 
 
 New York : Har;per''s TFeeTchj. November 30, 1867. 
 
 p. 757. Eeprintecl in LittelVs Living Age (Boston). 
 
 December 14, 1867. pp. 688, 690. 
 
 24 
 
 Dickens in New York. (J. R. Dennet.) 
 
 New York : The Nation. December, 12, 1867. 
 
 pp. 482, 483. 
 
 A critical account of a public reading given by Dickens 
 in New York. ". . . To pronounce judgment on Mr. 
 Dickens as a reader we are not in all respects competent. 
 But we may say that as we listened to him it seemed to 
 us that in the level passages he was not extraordinarily good : 
 that his voice is not a particularly fine one ; that many 
 of his inflections and the spirit in which he reads many 
 passages are not at all what we should have expected or 
 what we liked, but that wherever his admirable histrionic 
 abilities could supplement or almost take the place of his abilities 
 as a reader merely — then all things were done at least well, 
 many things excellently well, and some things done so well that 
 we have not as yet conceived of their being done better, , . ," 
 
14 PERSONAL. 
 
 "A thousand things might be said of the impressions which 
 Monday evening made upon Mr. Dickens's audience, most of 
 whom saw for the first time a friend whom they had long loved. 
 To us the most impressive thing was the burst of applause which 
 followed the mention of Sam Weller's name. It was such an 
 unaffected tribute of admiration as few authors have ever 
 •obtained. Mr. Dickens stood before us in the flesh — listening 
 to that voice of human sympathy and admiration which only 
 the posterity of most other great men hear. ..." 
 
 25 
 Pen Photographs of Charles Dickens's Eeadings. 
 Taken from Life by Kate Field (an American). 
 Boston : Loring. ] 868. pp. 58 (double columns). 
 A New and Enlarged Edition, with steel portrait and 
 ten illustrations, was afterwards published by Triib- 
 ner and Co., London, and James E. Osgood and 
 Company, Boston, U.S. 1871. pp. iv. 152. (Pre- 
 face dated " December 25, 1870.") 
 
 The writer gives an account of the welcome accorded to 
 Dickens on his arrival at Boston, and a description of "The 
 Desk and the Reader" and the Readings. An interesting 
 feature of the work is a textual illustration of the emphasis 
 ^nd intonations which Dickens employed in his Readings. 
 
 26 
 Mr. Charles Dickens's New Eeading. By 
 Edmund Yates. With three illustrations engraved 
 on wood. 
 
PERSONAL. 15 
 
 London : Tinsleifs Magazine. February,' 1869. 
 pp. 60, 64. 
 
 The illustrations represent the facial expressions adopted by- 
 Dickens during the reading of " Sikes and Nancy." 
 
 The reading which Mr. Yates here describes was given for 
 the Reader's own benefit, on April 29, 1858, at St. Martin's 
 Hall, afterwards converted into the New Queen's Theatre. 
 
 27 
 Speeches, Letters, and Sayings of Charles 
 Dickens. To which are added a sketch of the 
 Author by George Augustus Sala, and Dean Stan- 
 ley's Sermon. 
 
 New York : Harper Brothers. 1870. pp. viii. 
 147. 
 
 The sketch by Mr. Sala is reprinted from his little work en- 
 titled Charles Dickens, published in 1870 (see No. 112). 
 There are also included in this compilation an " Introduction " 
 of a critical character, and chapters on " Charles Dickens as a 
 Poet " and " Charles Dickens's Readings." (See No. 175.) 
 
 28 
 
 Charles Dickens : A Sketch of His Life and Works. 
 By F. B. Perkins. With a portrait and vignette of 
 Gad's-hill. 
 
 New York : G. P. Putnam and Sons. 1870. pp. 
 264. 
 
16 PEKSONxVL. 
 
 29 
 
 Mr. Dickens's Last Readings. . 
 London: The Grajyhic, February 12, 1870. p. 250. 
 
 30 
 Charles Dickens. (By J. R Dennet.) 
 New York : The Nation. June 16, 1870. pp. 380, 
 381. 
 
 On the death of Dickens, and reviewing his cax-eer. 
 
 31 
 
 Charles Dickens. By the Editor. With a 
 
 portrait, engraved on wood. 
 
 London : The Graphic. June 18, 1870. p. 687. 
 
 "... Even if a greater humourist than Dickens should come 
 in this generation — a most unlikely event — he could not excite 
 the same enthusiasm, because we are so cloyed in these days 
 with a superabundance of pictorial writing. . ." 
 
 " . . . The first time I saw the idolized Boz in the flesh was 
 at a Fancy Fair, in the Painted Hall of Greenwich Hospital, 
 held, I think, for the benefit of the Shipwrecked Mariners* 
 Society. He was then a handsome young man, with piercing 
 bright eyes and carefully arranged hair, much, in fact, as he is 
 represented in Maclise's picture. The last time I saw him wa& 
 a few weeks since, when I had the pleasure of meeting him at 
 dinner. To all outward appearance he then looked like a man 
 who would live and work until he was fourscore. I was espe- 
 cially struck by the brilliancy and vivacity of his eyes. There 
 seemed as much life and animation in them as in twenty ordinary 
 pairs of eyes. I was also struck by his sailor-like aspect, a 
 peculiarity observed by many other persons. Yet, except his 
 
PERSONAL. 17 
 
 two voyages to America, he had not been much on the sea, and 
 was not, I believe, a particularly good sailor. But we all know 
 his sympathy for seamen ; and I think, without being fanciful, 
 that his nautical air may in part be attributed to early Ports- 
 mouth associations. . ." 
 
 " . . . His chief merit, to my thinking, lies in the fact that in 
 4ill his creations, humorous or pathetic, he irresistibly drew the 
 sympathies of his readers towards the cause of the humble, the 
 ■suffering, and the oppressed, and I firmly believe that much of 
 the beneficent legislation of late years is due to his teach- 
 ing. . ." „ 
 
 Sermon preached by Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, JD.D., 
 Dean of Westminster, in Westminster Abbey, June 
 19, 1870, being the Sunday following the Funeral 
 of Charles Dickens. 
 London: Macmillan and Co. 1870. pp. 16. 
 
 Printed by request. (See Appendix — Testimonies VIT. ) 
 
 33 
 Dickens in Poets' Corner. With two illustra- 
 
 trations. 
 London : The Illustraial London JS^ews. June 25, 
 1870. pp. 652, and 662, 6G3. 
 
 The illustrations'are, " The Grave of Charles Dickens in Poets 
 Corner, Westminster Abbey," and a " Plan of Poets' Corner," 
 showing the relative positions of Dickens's grave and of those of 
 other celebrities. 
 
 A description is given of the graves in this hallowed spot, and 
 
 2 
 
18 PERSONAL. 
 
 the names of the most celebrated persons whose remains are- 
 deposited there. '* The grave of Dickens is adjacent to those 
 of Handel, Sheridan, and Cumberland the dramatist ; whose 
 names occupy, with those of Henderson the actor, David 
 Garrick, Samuel Johnson, and General Sir A. Campbell, the 
 eight flat tombstones in front of the door leading to St. Faith's- 
 Chapel. . . ." An extract from Dean Stanley's funeral sermon 
 is also included. 
 
 34 
 
 Charles Dickens : The Story of His Life. By the 
 author of the " Life of Thackeray." With Illustra- 
 tions and Facsimiles. 
 London : John Camden Hotten. (" Preliminary " 
 
 Note dated " London, 29th June, 1870.") pp. 367. 
 
 Compiled by the publisher from materials supplied by Mr. 
 H. T. Taverner and others. The illusti^ations, fourteen in 
 number, comprise a photographic reproduction, as frontispiece, 
 of the picture by C. R. Leslie, R.A., representing Charles 
 Dickens as " Captain Bobadil," four portraits of Dickens, views 
 of his various residences, facsimiles of original wrappers of 
 Sunday under Three Heads and Pickioich, and one of Dickens's- 
 letters. A page of "Dickens's Characters," drawn by Hablot 
 K. JBrowne ("Phiz"), is also included. The volume concludes 
 with an appendix, consisting of "Anecdotes and Reminis- 
 cences " relating to the novelist. 
 
 A " Popular Edition " of this work was subsequently 
 issued by the same publisher, but without the illustrations. 
 
 35 
 
 Charles Dickens, ^tat, February 7, 1812 ; obit, 
 
 June 9, 1870. With a portrait. 
 
PERSONAL. 19 
 
 London: The Gentleman's Journal. July 1, 1870, 
 pp. 21, 22. 
 
 Reviewing his career. 
 
 36 
 In Memoriam. By A. H. (Arthur Helps.) 
 London : Macmillan's Magazine. July, 1870. pp. 
 236, 240. 
 
 "... As is generally the case with imaginative men, I 
 believe that he lived a great deal with the creatures of his 
 imagination, and that they surrounded him at all times. 
 Such men live in two worlds, the actual and the imaginative ; 
 and he lived intensely in both. 
 
 " I am strongly confirmed in this opinion by a reply he once 
 made to me. I jestingly remarked to him that I was very 
 superior to him, as I read my Pickwick and my David Copper- 
 Jield, whereas he only wrote them. To which he replied that I 
 did not know the pleasure he had received from what he had 
 Avritten, and added words, which I do not recollect, but which 
 impressed me at the time with the conviction that he lived a 
 good deal with the people of his brain, and found them very 
 amusing society. ..." 
 
 " Think of this precise, accurate, orderly, methodical man, de^ 
 picting so lovingly such a disorderly, feckless, reckless, un- 
 methodical character as that of Dick Swiveller, and growing 
 more enamoured of it as he went on depicting ! I rather think 
 that in this he was superior to Sir Walter Scott, for in almost all 
 Scott's characters there appear one or the other, or both com- 
 bined, of Scott's princij3al characteristics, namely, nobility of 
 nature and shrewdness. . . . We doubt whether there has ever 
 been a writer of fiction who took such a real and living interest 
 in the actual world about him. Its many sorrows, its terrible 
 
20 PERSONAL. 
 
 injustice, its sufferings, its calamities, went to his heart. Care 
 for the living people about him — for his " neighbour," if I may 
 so express it — sometimes even diminished his power as an artist ; 
 a diminution of power for which, considering the cause, we ought 
 to love his memory all the more. ..." ' 
 
 37 
 Boz. By J. T. 
 
 London : The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine. 
 July 1, 1870. pp. 14, 16. 
 
 Of a biographical nature. In conclusion the writer says : — 
 *'But Charles Dickens is not dead. He lives in his marvellous 
 creations. Prospero might break his staff, or bury it five 
 fathoms deep, but the creator of all the men and women which 
 Boz has conjured into life could not destroy them if he would, 
 and would not if he could. He lives in them. To li7e in 
 what we leave behind is not to die. He has found his way 
 to the hearts of all people." 
 
 38 
 
 A Catalogue of the Beautiful Collection of Modern 
 Pictures, Water-colour Drawings, and Objects of 
 Art of Charles Dickens, deceased. Sold by 
 Messrs. Christie, Manson, and Woods, 8, King 
 Street, St. James's Square, London. July 9, 1870. 
 pp. 11. Reprinted by Messrs. Field and Tuer, 
 50, Leadenhall Street, London. 1870. pp. 11. 
 With the names of the purchasers and prices 
 realised appended to each lot. Reprinted a 
 
PERSONAL. 21 
 
 second time by Messrs. Field and Tuer. (1885) 
 pp. 11 (See No. 233). 
 
 Of the pictures, "Dolly Varden," by W. P. Frith, K.A., 
 which was painted for Dickens, was purchased by Messrs. 
 Thomas Agnew and Sons for £1,050, being the largest sum 
 paid for any picture in this collection, the next in importance 
 being the "Eddystone Lighthouse," by C. Stanfield, R.A., who 
 presented it to Dickens. This painting was purchased by Mr. 
 E. Attenborough for £1,039 10s. Amongst the most interest- 
 ing items in the sale were the Pickwick Ladles, so called be- 
 cause the handles consist of silver-gilt figures representing 
 the principal characters in the Pichivick Papers. They were 
 presented to the novelist by his publishers, Messrs. Chapman 
 and Hall, on the completion of that work. Great excitement 
 prevailed when Dickens's stuffed raven (immortalized as "Grip" 
 in Barnahy Budge) was brought to the hammer, and it eventu- 
 ally realized the enormous sum of £120. It was purchased by 
 the London Stereoscopic Company. 
 
 39 
 
 Charles Dickens. In Memoriam. By Blanchard 
 
 Jerrold. 
 
 London : The Gentleman^ s Magazine. July, 1870. 
 
 pp. 228, 241. Eeprinted in A Day with Dichns {The 
 
 Beit of all Good Company). (See Xo. 58.) 
 
 Reminiscences of the writer's intimacy with Dickens, and an 
 expression of his opinions relative to the novelist's merits, literary 
 and social. 
 
 " . . . When Ada, Lady Lovelace, was dying, and suffering 
 the tortures cf a slow internal disease, she expressed a craving to 
 see Charles Dickens, and talk with him. He went to her, and 
 found a mourning house. The lady was stretched upon a couch, 
 
22 PERSONAL. 
 
 heroically enduring her agony. The appearance of Dickens's 
 earnest, sympathetic face was immediate relief. She asked him. 
 whether the attendant had left a basin of ice and a spoon. She 
 had. * Then give me some now and then, and don't notice me 
 when I crush it between my teeth : it soothes my pain ; and we 
 can talk.' " 
 
 "The womanly tenderness — the wholeness — with which 
 Dickens would enter into the delicacies of such a situation — will 
 rise instantly to the mind of all who knew him. That he was 
 at the same moment the most careful of nurses, and the most 
 sympathetic and sustaining of comforters, who can doubt ? 
 
 " Do you ever pray ?" the poor lady asked. 
 
 " Every morning and every evening," was Dickens's answer, 
 in that rich sonorous voice which crowds happily can remember, 
 but of which they can best understand all the eloquence who 
 knew how simple and devout he was when he spoke of sacred 
 things : of suffering, of wrong, or of misfortune. ..." 
 
 ** . . . The last time I sat with him on a business occasion was 
 at a council meeting of the Guild of Literature and Art. There 
 had been an application from the wife of a literary brother. 
 The wrecked man of letters was suffering from that which would 
 never relax its hold upon him, but it could not be said that his 
 misconduct had not brought on the blow. The firmness and 
 delicacy with which Dickens sketched the case to the Council, 
 passing wholly over the cause, to get at once to the imploring 
 part upon which our hearts could not be closed, left in my mind 
 a delightful sense of his abounding goodness. He spoke of the 
 wife, and her heroic self-abandonment to her husband, through 
 years which would have tried beyond endurance very many 
 wives ; he begged that the utmost might be done ; and at the 
 same time he remained firmly just. What were the objects of 
 the fund as laid down in the rules? Did the case come strictly 
 within the limits of our mission ? Friendship, sympathy apart, 
 was it a proper and deserving case ? The points were argued 
 with the greatest care ; and all the time an acute anxiety was 
 
PERSONAL. 23 
 
 xipon the face of the Chairman. When at length we saw our 
 way to afford the help desired, Dickens's face brightened as he 
 became busy with his minutes and his books, and his secretary, 
 who was at hand ; and he remarked cheerily how glad he was 
 Ave had seen our way to do something. 
 
 ** Another occasion thrusts itself through a crowd of recollec- 
 tions. A very dear friend of mine, and of many others to whom 
 literature is a staff, had died. To say that his family had claims 
 on Charles Dickens is to say that they were pi-omptly acknow- 
 ledged, and satisfied with the grace and heartiness which double 
 the gift, sweeten the bread, and warm the wine. I asked a con- 
 nection of our dear friend whether he had seen the poor wife 
 and children. " Seen them !" he answered, " I was there to- 
 day. They are removed into a charming cottage : they have 
 everything about them : and, just think of this ! when I burst 
 into one of the parlours, in my eager survey of the new house, I 
 HAW a man in his shirt-sleeves, up some steps, hammering away 
 lustily. He turned : it was Charles Dickens, and he was hang- 
 ing the pictures for the widow." 
 
 40 
 
 At Dickens's Sale. 
 Edinburgh: Chambers's Journal. August 6, 1870. 
 pp. 502, 505. 
 
 An interesting account of the sale of Dickens's pictures, etc., 
 which took place at Christie's Sale Rooms shortly after the 
 novelist's death. The following was, perhaps, the most interest- 
 ing feature of the proceedings : '• The most moving scene of all 
 was when we saw his favourite raven — the Grip of Barnahy 
 Budge, and of all the world — the very bird which, when it was 
 ^live, he must have stroked and fed with his own hands ; the 
 actual model which sat for one of his own characters ; we could 
 hardly have been more excited if there had been presented to us 
 the original of Sam Weller stuffed ! 
 
24 • PERSONAL. 
 
 "Seriously, the power of genius could scarce have been more 
 strikingly exhibited than in the rapturous cheers which hailed 
 the appearance of this unprepossessing bird. * Grip, Grip, Grij), 
 Grip,' burst forth from all sides, as though the poor creature 
 could really hear them call him. His sayings, * I'm a devil, I'm 
 a devil,' und ' Never say die,' were freely quoted. It was nar- 
 rated how he had perished from * swallowing in splinters a 
 wooden staircase of six steps and a landing.' Fifty pounds ! 
 Sixty, seventy, a hundred pounds ! — at which gigantic bid there 
 was a storm of applause. . . . He was purchased at last, amid a 
 whirlwind of applause, for £120. 'Name, name!' cried the 
 crowd, eager to know who was the enthusiast ; and immensely 
 disgusted they were to find that he was connected with the 
 Stereoscopic Company. And yefc the circumstance, though an 
 indirect, in place of a direct, tribute to the genius of ' Grip's '' 
 master, was even a greater proof of his popularity, since the pur- 
 chaser intended to trade upon it, and evidently felt confident of 
 seeing his money back. . . ." 
 
 "No living Englishman for certain, and perhaps no English- 
 man of the future, will ever see such a sale asrain." 
 
 41 
 Mr. DiOKEXS AND Chauncy Hare Townshexd. 
 London : London Society (" The Piccadilly Papers.") 
 August, 1870. pp. 157, 159. 
 
 Eeferring to the revision and arrangement which a certain 
 book, entitled Relvjious Opinions of the late Reverend Cha^incy 
 Hare Tmonshend, underwent in the hands of Dickens, a work 
 which, the writer says, being of a j)hilosophical and theological 
 character, is the last with which we should expect his name lo 
 be associated. He was, however, appointed by ^Ir. Townshend 
 as his literary executor, and therefore undertook the task. 
 
PERSONAL. 25 
 
 42 
 
 Some Memories of Charles Dickens. By J. T. 
 Fields, his American Publisher. 
 'Boston '. The Atlantic Monthly. August, 1870. pp. 
 235, 245. Reprinted in the Piccadilly Annual. Lon- 
 don : J. C. Hotten (1870). pp. Q^, 72. Also, in an 
 extended form_, in Yesterdays with Authors. 1872. 
 (See No. Q^.) 
 
 43 
 The Death of Charles Dickens. Articles reprinted 
 
 from the Saturday Bevieic, the Spectator, the Daily 
 
 News, and the Times. 
 
 'New York: The Eclectic Magazine. August, 1870. 
 pp. 217, 224. 
 
 44 
 Charles Dickens. By D. G. Mitchell. 
 New York : Iloiirs at Home. August, 1870. pp. 
 363, 368. 
 
 "... Of the particulars of the matrimonial troubles of Mr, 
 Dickens, though knowTi to a great many, it is fitting that silence 
 should be kept still. The letter of Mr. Dickens, which was 
 widely published at the time, and which has since — in the eager- 
 ness which everything relating to the deceased has been sought 
 after — been brought to light ancAv, was frank, even to over- 
 frankness. We may say without impropriety that it was one of 
 those unfortunate cases of thorough, complete, irreconcilable in- 
 
2Q PERSONAL. 
 
 •compatibility j and that the children who had reached maturity 
 shared in the belief that separation was the best course. Mrs. 
 Dickens has since resided in London, the elder son of Mr. 
 Dickens being most of the time an inmate of her house, and pro- 
 viding for her comfort with the means put at her disposal by Mr. 
 Dickens (this is understood to be an annuity of £1,000). 
 
 "The critics may lash and tie him as they will ; one, we observe, 
 queries if he is to be ranked as a great novelist at all ; another, 
 still more fearfully astute, questions if he could lay any claim to 
 genius. 
 
 " Well, well ; let them have their talk ; the tormenting flies 
 may buzz all through our August — they cannot steal away our 
 sunshine. 
 
 " The English reading people everywhere have taken Charles 
 Dickens to their hearts, and they will hold him there. 
 
 " God bless his memory ! It shall be green for us always." 
 
 45 
 Charles Dickens. By " Meteor." 
 London : The Illustrated Magazine. September, 
 1870. pp. 164, 165. 
 
 An obituary notice, written in an appreciative spirit. 
 
 46 
 A Pilgrimage. By Barton Hill. With two illustra- 
 tions. 
 Philadelphia : TAppincott's Magazine. September 
 1870. pp. 288, 293. . 
 
 An account of a visit to Dickens's house at Gadshill, with 
 plans of Gadshill Place, and of the graves in Poets' Corner, 
 Westminster Abbey. 
 
PERSONAL. 27 
 
 47 
 
 Footprints of Charles Dickens. By M. D. Con- 
 way. 
 
 New York : Harper^s Neio Monthly Magazine, Sep- 
 tember, 1870. pp. 610, 616. 
 
 The writer describes the various residences which Dickens 
 •occupied at different times during his career, and gives an 
 account of a visit to the novelist's house at Gadshill about a 
 month after his death. 
 
 ". r . I begin to feel," he said, when Maclise died, "like 
 the Spanish monk of whom Wilkie tells, who had grown to be- 
 lieve that the only realities around him were the pictures which 
 he loved, and that all the moving life he saw, or ever had seen, 
 was a shadow and a dream." They were words that might have 
 seen the shadows of the brothers whose names and forms now 
 •encircle his in the abbey beckoning to him. 
 
 " When a beloved one is dead, it is a sad but a real satisfaction 
 to trace over each step he has gone by cur side, to touch the 
 empty chair, to sit in the empty room, to read the volume he 
 used to love. . . ." 
 
 " One can observe with each change of residence another rung 
 in the upward ladder gained. Forty -eight. Doughty Street, 
 where he lived from 1837 to 1840, is a plain brick house, such 
 as one may see miles of in London ; number one, Devonshire 
 Terrace, where he lived from 1840 to 1850, is much more ele- 
 gant, the home of a middle-class English gentleman ; and still 
 more elegant, with pleasant courtyards about it, is Tavistock 
 House, Tavistock Square, where he resided from 1850 to 1860. 
 But, after all, these houses do not represent the vestiges of 
 Charles Dickens in London. For these one must walk the 
 streets of which he was the poet, and of these the lowest. ..." 
 
 "The writer of those books seems to me to be so far removed 
 
28 PERSONAL. 
 
 beyond all other mortals that, when I was one day told that 
 he was actually, and in the flesh, to pass through our little 
 Virginian town, I should have been less amazed to hear that the 
 man in the moon was to do the same. I remember the day on 
 which he came — and went — for I marked it around with char- 
 coal, as that on which I first knew the iron touch of tragedy. 
 
 " To have set eyes on the man who wrote Oliver Twist would 
 for me have enriched life immeasurably. The thought of seeing 
 him alight from the stage-coach at the hotel was a possible joy 
 so great that it winged my feet as I went up that day to the 
 schoolmaster, and asked release for one small half -hour for that 
 purpose. But the old teacher had never heard of Dickens, and 
 he said "No." Alas! old master, you have long ago passed 
 into the grave, and I cannot even remember other blows you 
 miay have inflicted ; but this one which the boy of ten received 
 is still hard for the man to forgive — impossible to forget ! The 
 word "No" filled up the place of the sun that day. Under a 
 mad impulse I leaped from the window of the schoolroom and 
 ran towards the hotel where the author was to appear ; but with 
 each step the struggle between Ahriman and Ormuzd in my 
 breast grew fiercer, until at last the latter prevailed and carried 
 me back a penitent to the school. The old teacher was moved 
 as I entered : "You can go, sir, and see the man," says he. 
 I ran like lightning : but it was too late ; I heard only the 
 hurrah of a group of people — only saw a carriage wheeling 
 swiftly away with the one man on earth in it whom I wished 
 to see. When twenty years afterward I grasped the hand of 
 that man, and listened often to the magic of his voice, there 
 seemed a heavy injustice wiped out of my life. . . ." 
 
 "A few years ago, when Mr. Carlyle was somewhat dejected, 
 and, as his friends thought, confining himself too much at 
 home, he was persuaded to go and hear Dickens read, and I 
 heard him relate his experience thereof. "It didn't have a 
 very attractive look at first," he said, " this of hearing a man 
 read his works ; but I pretty soon found that * reading *■ 
 
PERSONAL. 29 
 
 was a very insufficient description of the thing provided for 
 ixfi. The man's face and voice were made into a kind of 
 stage, and he called up his people upon it so that we might see 
 them act their parts. His characters seemed, indeed, to be re- 
 lated to his physiognomy, the further projections of him, to be 
 mastered at will, like his tongue and eyes. Such alternations of 
 drollery and pathos, such ingenious grotesque sidlings into all 
 the corners and crannies of human eccentricity and sentiment, 
 one would have imagined quite impossible to any one man. . . .'* 
 
 48 
 
 Four Months with Charles Dickens : During his 
 first visit to America (in 1842). By his Secretary 
 (G. W. Putnam). In Two Parts. 
 Boston : The Atlantic Monthly. October, 1870. pp. 
 
 476,482. November, 1870. pp. 591, 599. 
 
 A record of the principal incidents that happened in connec- 
 tion with the novelist's travels in America in 1842, many of which 
 he afterwards included in his American Notes. 
 
 The following anecdote, which conclusively proves that his 
 popularity had already extended across the Atlantic, relates to 
 the painting of his portrait soon after his arrival in Boston ; — 
 ''Mr. Dickens had appointed ten o'clock, on the Tuesday morn- 
 ing succeeding his arrival, for the first sitting to Alexander, . . . 
 The newspapers had announced the fact, and, long before the 
 appointed hour, a crowd of people were around the hotel and 
 arranged along the sidewalk to see him pass. The doorway and 
 .ctairs leading to the painter's studio were thronged with ladies 
 and gentlemen, eagerly awaiting his appearance, and as he 
 passed they were to the last degree silent and respectful. It 
 was no vulgar curiosity to see a great and famous man, but an 
 
30 PERSONAL. 
 
 earnest, intelligent, and commendable desire to look upon the 
 author whose writings — already enlisted in the great cause of 
 humanity — had won their dear respect, and endeared him to 
 their hearts. He pleasantly acknowledged the compliment their 
 presence paid him, bowing slightly as he passed, his bright, dark 
 eyes glancing through and through the crowd, searching every 
 face, and reading character with wonderful quickness, while the 
 arch smiles played over his handsome face. On arriving at the 
 anteroom Mr. Dickens found a large number of the personal 
 friends of the artist waiting for the honour of an introduction, 
 and he passed from group to group in a most kind and pleasant 
 way. . . . The crowd waited till the sitting was over, and saw 
 him back again to the Tremont ; and this was repeated every 
 morning while he was sitting for his picture." 
 
 An interesting account is also given of the modelling of his 
 bust by Dexter : — " In one corner of the room. Dexter, the 
 sculptor, was earnestly at work modelling the bust of Mr. 
 Dickens. Several others of the most eminent artists of our 
 country had urgently requested Mr. Dickens to sit to them for 
 his picture and bust, but having consented to do so to Alexander 
 and Dexter, he was obliged to refuse all others for want of 
 time. 
 
 "While Mr. Dickens ate his breakfast, read his letters and dic- 
 tated the answers, Dexter was watching with the utmost earnest- 
 ness the play of every feature, and comparing his model with 
 the original. Often during the meal he would come to Dickens 
 with a solemn business-like air, stoop down and look at him 
 sideways, pass round and take a look at the other side of his 
 face, and then go back to his model and work away for a few 
 minutes ; then come again and take another look, and go back 
 to his model ; and soon he would come again with his callipers 
 and measure Dickens's nose, and go and try it on the nose of 
 the model ; then come again with the callipers, go and try the 
 width of the temples, or the distance from the nose to the chin, 
 and back again to his work, eagerly shaping and correcting his 
 
PEKSONAL. 31 
 
 model. ' The whole soul of the artist was engaged in his task^ 
 and the result was a splendid bust of the great author." 
 
 Here is an amusing description of a public "levee " (a scene 
 afterwards introduced in Martin Chuzzleiuit), for which Dickens 
 was totally unprepared : — "A day or two after his arrival in Phila- 
 delphia, an individual somewhat prominent in city politics came 
 with others and obtained an introduction. On taking his leave, he 
 asked Mr. Dickens if he would grant him the favour to receive 
 a few personal friends the next day ; and Mr. Dickens assented. 
 The next morning it was announced through the papers that Mr, 
 Dickens would ' receive the public ' at a certain hour ! At the 
 time specified the street in front was crowded with people, and 
 the offices and halls of the hotel filled. Mr. Dickens asked the 
 cause of the assembling, and was astonished and indignant when 
 he learned that all this came of his permission to the individual 
 above mentioned to * bring a few personal friends for an intro- 
 duction,' and he positively refused to hold a ' levee.' But the 
 landlord of the house and others came and represented to him 
 that his refusal would doubtless create a riot, and that great in- 
 jury would be done to the house by the enraged populace ; and 
 so at last Mr. Dickens consented, and, taking his place in one of 
 the large parlours upstairs, prepared himself for the ordeal. Up 
 the people came, and soon the humorous smiles played over his 
 face, for, tedious and annoying as it was, the thing had its 
 comic side, and while he shook hands incessantly, he, as usual, 
 studied human character. For two mortal hours or more the 
 crowd poured in, and he shook hands and exchanged words 
 with all, while the dapper little author of the scene stood smil- 
 ing by, giving hundreds and thousands of introductions, and 
 making, no doubt, much social and political capital out of his 
 supposed intimacy with the great English author. . . ." 
 
 "... From Philadelphia Mr, Dickens went direct to Washing- 
 ton. On reaching Baltimore the cars stopped while in the 
 market-place. In a couple of minutes word had passed through 
 the crowd that 'Dickens was on board the train.' Instantly 
 
32 TERSOXAL. 
 
 the windows were darkened with faces, and all sorts of com- 
 ments — but mostly kind and respectful — were made upon his 
 looks and general appearance. 
 
 " A market-woman near by, seeing the rush, came up close 
 to the windows, but she could not make out what all the excite- 
 ment was about, and calling to a friend who was standing at 
 the window near me, she loudly asked, * What's the matter ? 
 AVhat is it all about, John, what is it ?' * Why,' answered the 
 man, looking over his shoulder, * they've got Boz here !' ' Got' 
 Boz !' said she ; ' what's Boz ? What do you mean ?' ' W^hy,' 
 said the man, 'it's Dickens. They've got him in here !' * Well, 
 •what has he been doing ?' said she. * He ain't been doing 
 nothing,' answered the man. * He writes books.' * Oh,' said 
 the woman, indignantly, ' is that all ? What do they make 
 such a row about that for, I should like to know V " 
 
 49 
 A Visit to Charles Dickens. By Hans Christian 
 Andersen. 
 London : Temple Bar. December, 1870. pp. 27, 
 46. Reprinted in the Eclectic Magazine (New York). 
 February, 1871. pp. 183, 19 G. Every Saturday (Bos- 
 ton). Vol. 9. p. 874, etc.; and as an Appendix to 
 Pictures of Travel in Siceden, etc. (New York : Hurd 
 and Houghten, 1871.) 
 
 This visit was paid just when Dickens had concluded the 
 writing of Little Dorrit^ in 1857. Hans Andersen thus refers to 
 his arrival at Higham Station:-- " Are you the foreign gentleman 
 who is going to Mr. Dickens's ?" asked the porter, who knew 
 that I was expected. There was no such thing as a fly to be 
 had at Higham, so the man proposed that I should either wait 
 
PEKSOXAL. 33 
 
 liere till lie fetched me some conveyance fi'om Dickens's house, 
 or else follow him there on foot. The station, he said, was two 
 English miles from Gadshill, where Mr. Dickens lived. I 
 decided on walking. The porter hoisted my box on his back, 
 and slung my carpet-bag and hat-box over his shoulders, and 
 off we trudged, uphill the whole way, between hedges of wild- 
 rose and honeysuckle in full bloom." 
 
 And of Mr. and Mrs. Dickens he says : — " As I was stepping 
 into the house Dickens came to meet me, with bright looks and 
 a hearty greeting. He looked a little older than when we said 
 good-bye ten years ago ; but that was partly owing to the 
 beard he had grown. His eyes were bright as ever; the smile 
 on his lips was the same; his frank voice was just as friendly — 
 ay, and if possible, more winning still. He was now in the 
 prime of manhood, in his 45th year ; full of youth and life and 
 -eloquence, and rich in a rare humour that glowed with kindli- 
 ness. I know not how to describe him better than in the 
 words of one of my first letters home : * Take the best out of alii 
 Dickens's writings, combine them into the picture of a man,^' 
 a,nd there thou hast Charles Dickens.' And such as in the first' 
 hour he stood before me, the very same he remained all the 
 time of my visit; ever genuine, and cheerful, and sympathetic. 
 
 " It is a great pleasure to find in an author's innermost circle 
 the types of those characters that have delighted one in his 
 works. I had previously heard many people remark that Agnes 
 in David Copperjield was like Dickens's own wife ; and although 
 he may not have chosen her deliberately as a model for Agnes, 
 yet still I can think of no one else in his books so near akin to 
 her in all that is graceful and amiable. Mrs. Dickens had a 
 certain soft, womanly repose and reserve about her ; but when- 
 ever she spoke there came such a light into her lar^e eyes, and 
 such a smile upon her lips, and there was such a charm in the 
 tones of her voice, that henceforth I shall always connect her 
 and Agnes together." 
 
 3 
 
34 PEESONAL. 
 
 The rest is a record of a most enjoyable risit, during which 
 the two distinguished writers spent much of the time in each 
 other's society, and went to several places of entertainment to- 
 gether. In conclusion, the writer thus describes the scene of 
 their final parting : — " Dickens had the horses put to his little 
 carriage, and himself drove me to Maidstone, whence I went by 
 rail to Folkestone, where the steamers depart for the Continent. 
 Dickens and I had thus the opportunity of being together yet a 
 few hours in the loveliest part of Kent, amid rich, fields and 
 splendid woodland. Dickens was bright and cheerful, but I 
 could not overcome my dejection ; I felt that the parting 
 moment drew nigh. At the railway-station we embraced each 
 other. I looked into the true eyes of him in whom I admire 
 the poet and love the man. Once more we pressed each other's 
 hands, and he drove away. I rushed off with the train. Past 
 — past — and so will all stories be !" 
 
 50 
 
 A Christmas Memorial of Charles Dickens. With 
 a Facsimile of his Last Letter. By A. B. Hume. 
 London : F. Pitman, 20, Paternoster Eow ; and E. 
 
 W. Allen, Stationers' Hall Court. 1870. pp. 30. 
 
 With a Preface dated " Christmas, 1870." 
 
 Presumably this pamphlet was intended for publication, but 
 it was never thus issued, only a few copies having been printed 
 for presentation to the author's friends. Besides a facsimile of 
 the letter, the little work comprises an "Ode to the Memory 
 of Charles Dickens," an account of "An Assize in Poets' 
 Corner, briefly reported," and some "Notes on Charles Dickens's 
 Last Letter." The latter is a reply to an accusation against 
 Dickens, made by John W. Makeham, Esq., and has reference 
 to a figure of speech introduced in the tenth chapter of Edwin 
 
PEKSONAL. 35 
 
 Drood, which, as Mr. Makeham alleged, the author had for- 
 gotten was drawn from a passage of Holj "Writ, and had hero 
 been irreverently used, Dickens naturally resented this, and 
 expressed his sorrow tliat he was thus misunderstood when he 
 reproduced "a much-abused figure of speech, impressed into 
 all sorts of service on all sorts of inappropriate occasions with- 
 out the faintest connection of it with the original source." The 
 offending expression was, "led like a lamb to the slaughter." 
 
 That portion of the work relating to the *' Assize " purports 
 to be a description of an imaginary scene as witnessed by the 
 author, of "the proceedings of a certain Assize [which the 
 reader must suppose to have been held in a certain Abbey not a 
 thousand miles from Westminster] by a ghostly Court, during 
 ghostly hours, with the ghostly accessories indispensable to such 
 a locality.'' The case before this visionary assembly is one which 
 is to decide the worthiness of the claims of Dickens (or of his 
 remains) as a candidate for admission into the precincts of 
 Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. The witnesses who are 
 first called upon to give evidence in the matter are personages 
 whom Dickens, in a literary sense, held up to ridicule and treated 
 with contempt, such as Squeers, Pecksniff, Uriah Heep, etc., etc., 
 and who therefore object to such an honour being conferred 
 upon their creator. The other side of the question is then 
 heard, the witnesses being selected from those of whom the 
 novelist had made heroes and heroines, members of the poor 
 and humble class of human beings, for whose cause he had so 
 earnestly pleaded. The evidence of this beneficent treatment 
 at his hands is overwhelming, and a unanimous decision arrived 
 at in favour of the bestowal of the much-desired distinction. 
 
 51 
 
 Charles Dickens's Study. By C. C. With an 
 eDgraviug drawn by S. L. Tildes, and entitled 
 
 3—2 
 
36 PERSONAL. 
 
 ''The Empty Chair, Gad's Hill— Ninth of June, 
 
 1870." 
 
 London : The Graphic Christmas Number. December 
 25, 1870. p. U. 
 
 Mr. Tildes was the artist selected by Dickens to illustrate 
 Edwin Drood. 
 
 *' . . .It was his (Dickens's) custom to make use on different 
 occasions of three several apartments in his house as work-rooms, 
 just as inclination or convenience dictated. In a secluded part of 
 the shrubbery at Gad's Hill there stood, as most people know, a 
 chdlet, given to him by his friend Fechter, and which was sent 
 over from Paris in no less than ninety pieces, all numbered with 
 true French precision, and fitting together like the joints in a 
 puzzle. The upper room in this chdlet was his ordinary summer 
 study, but as it had no fireplace he could only use it when the 
 weather was warm. In winter he wrote either in his bedroom — 
 at all times, and wherever he lived, a favourite working-place 
 with him — or in this very apartment of which the portrait is 
 before the reader ... a bright, cheerful place, brilliantly 
 lighted by three great windows occupying one side of it, in front 
 of which was the desk at which Dickens sat, undazzled, in such 
 a blaze of light as would have made anybody else in the world 
 giddy and bewildered. . . . Let into the door of the apartment, 
 and introduced into other nooks and corners where there was 
 not sufficient depth of wall for the reception of real books, were 
 several rows of sham volumes, the titles of which were devised 
 by Dickens himself, and some of which were exceedingly 
 grotesque and funny. There was a very long series to begin 
 with, occupying more than a single row, and entitled The 
 History of a ^^ Short " Chancery Suit. Another very extensive 
 collection proclaimed itself as Hansard's Guide to Refreshing 
 Sleep. Cats' Lives was also a long series, being, of course, in 
 nine volumes. Among the works on a smaller scale were 
 
PERSONAL. 37 
 
 Groundsel, by the author of Ohickweed ; and Chlckweed, by the 
 author of Groundsel, Five Minutes in China, The Quarrelly 
 Review, and a couple of 'backs,' intended as a satire on the 
 elaborate disq[uisitions on all things Shakespearian with which 
 the press used to teem, and which were labelled respectively. 
 Was Shakespeare's Mother Fat ? and Had Shakespeare's Uncle 
 a Singing Face ? The same spirit of exuberant fun appeared in 
 these false book titles, which showed itself in a certain inscrip- 
 tion placed by Dickens on the frame of a very bad picture, 
 which hung formerly in the hall of one of his houses, and an 
 allusion to which is suggested by the mention of these 'backs.' 
 The picture was a very grim 'old master,' one of those which it 
 is morally impossible that any human being can really derive 
 pleasure from contemplating ; and on its frame, printed in large 
 characters, appeared these memorable words : You are not 
 expected to admire this ! To how many such works, at home 
 and abroad, might a similar inscription be appended with 
 advantage. ..." 
 
 52 
 
 Parables of Fiction : A Memorial Discourse on 
 
 Charles Dickens. By J. Panton Ham. 
 
 London : Triibner and Co. 1870. pp. 16 
 
 (Published by request). 
 
 This discourse was delivered in Essex Street Chapel, Strand, 
 oti Sunday, July 3, 1870. The author considered that there 
 was some propriety in his preaching a memorial discourse on 
 tliat eminent novelist, as Charles Dickens was, at one time, one 
 of the regular attendants at Essex Street Chapel. 
 
 53 
 Charles Dickens. 
 London: The Annual Register. 1870. pp. 151, 153. 
 An obituary notice, reviewing the novelist's career. 
 
38 PERSONAL. 
 
 Seasonable Words about Dickens. By N. S. 
 Dodge. 
 San Frrancisco : The Overland Monthly. January, 
 1871. pp. 72, 82. 
 
 "... Whether he were right or wrong— and he was too 
 self-reliant to discuss the question — he knew that he was being 
 judged by a court that admitted no plea of mental superiority 
 in abatement of its verdict. . . ." 
 
 " Did he anticipate the end? Was the wing of the dread 
 angel casting its darkness over his thoughts ? We have his 
 last testament before us. Ilis ' warning,' a year ago, must 
 have been in his mind every day. The long walks mean some- 
 thing — walks, irregular indeed, but, whenever taken, constantly 
 increasedin length. Then there were the morethan usually careful 
 arrangement of papers, noticeable after his death ; the collection 
 and filing of loose household accounts ; memoranda on slips of 
 paper, evidently not for his own use ; gifts made to friends as 
 keepsakes ; verbal instructions to Miss Hogarth, to be acted 
 upon in certain cases, as if he were not to be present ; sugges- 
 tions to his eldest son of what was best to be done with All the 
 Year Bound, in case of need ; instructions of horticultural and 
 landscape-garden changes to be made in tlie future at G-ads- 
 hill ; hints, during leisure morning hours, of the value and 
 disposition of works of art and virtu that adoi'ued his house; 
 estimates of the value of copyrights and other property j and 
 plans communicated to his publishers of what, in certain events, 
 should or should not be done ; all telling of a parenthesis in 
 calculations for the future, which, to say the least, had never 
 before the last twelve months been noticeable. The thougbt in 
 which he dressed himself during those last few weeks was not 
 drunk. He knew he was burning the candle at both ends. 
 
PERSONAL. 39 
 
 There was the perpetual brain-work going on without in- 
 termission day by day. There was also the fondness for 
 good living, inherited from his father, encouraged by 
 friends and acquaintances, and confirmed by habit. It 
 Is folly to deny it, Charles Dickens lived fast. His 
 domestic troubles may have helped this life on. It cer- 
 tainly increased after his wife left him. There were two parties 
 upon the question to blame, and, though he was too proud to 
 seek advice, it irked him to feel that he stood condemned by 
 many whose opinions he once valued. A coolness grew up 
 between him and his publishers. Neighbouring gentry fell oif 
 from intimacy. Society criticised the relations existing between 
 him and his wife's sister. Matrimonial connections formed- 
 by two of his older children were disturbed. His literary pre- 
 eminence, always acknowledged, failed to pi*event a social dis- 
 tance every day increasing between him and the circle in which 
 he had been the leader. ..." 
 
 65 
 
 Mr. Dickens's A3iateur Theatricals. A Eeminis- 
 cence. 
 
 London: Macmillan^s Magazine. January, 1871. 
 pp. 206, 215. Eeprinted in the Eclectic Magazine (New 
 York). March, 1871. pp. 322, 330. 
 
 An interesting record of many incidents in connection with 
 the private theatricals in which Dickens and his colleagues took 
 prominent parts. The farce of Mr. Nightingale's Diary (the 
 joint production of Dickens and Mark Lemon), and the acting 
 in it, are fully described by the writer, who also participated in 
 these festivities. He thus expresses his opinion of Dickens's 
 acting abilities : — "To say that his acting was amateurish is to 
 
40 PERSONAL. 
 
 depreciate it in the view of a professional actor, but it is not 
 necessarily to disparage it. No one who heard the public read- 
 ings from his own books which Mr. Dickens subsequently gave 
 with so much success needs to be told what rare natural quali- 
 fications for the task he possessed. Fine features and a strik- 
 ing presence, with a Toice of great flexibility, were added to a 
 perfect mastery over the sense of his author, because that 
 author was himself. ... If there was a certain ease and handi- 
 ness which the practice of the art as a profession might have 
 brought to him, he at least escaped the tyranny of those con- 
 ventionalisms which the best authors (at least of our own time) 
 have not been able to resist. Mr. Dickens's acting— certainly 
 his serious acting — might have failed in a large theatre, just as a 
 picture painted by Creswick or Cooke would have been ineffec- 
 tive if used as a scene in that theatre. In both cases, broader 
 effects and less carefulness in details would have been needed to 
 produce the desired effect. ..." 
 
 5.6 
 
 Bygone Celebrities : I. The Guild of Literature 
 AND Art. By E. H. Home. 
 London : The Gentleman's Magazine. February, 1871, 
 pp. 247, 262. 
 
 An account of the origin and object of the '' Guild," and of 
 several amusing incidents that occurred in the course of the re- 
 hearsals of the plays. In this article are also included a few ex- 
 tracts from, and passing comments on. Lord Lytton's comedy 
 of Not so Bad as We Seem ; or. Many Sides to a Character. 
 
 ** This Guild, which commenced with the highest prospects 
 of success, was founded (though the idea had been originated years 
 before by theSvriter of the present paper) by Lord Lytton and 
 Charles Dickens. The former, at that time Sir E. L. Bulwer 
 
PERSONAL. 41 
 
 Lytton, proposed to give land upon oue of Lis estates in a 
 locality suitable for the erection of a college, and to write a 
 comedy, to be acted with a view to raising a preliminary fund 
 in aid of the object in question ; and in the first instances the 
 performers were to be celebrated authors and artists. All thia 
 was undertaken by Mr. Charles Dickens, and the following — 
 shall we say melancholy list ? It would be painful to put the 
 record in a gloomy light. Neither would this be wise or 
 necessary. Let us suppose the figures to gleam forth upon the 
 richly painted wiadows of some beautiful old cathedral, with 
 the organ softly and deeply breathing consecrating strains, as if 
 from a distant cloud, while the spectator beholds the bright 
 images of those who will never more appear upon this earthly 
 scene. The artists who were engaged on Lord Lytton's comedy 
 of Not so Bad as We Seem ; or. Many Sides to a Character, were 
 Daniel Maclise, E.A., Clarkson Stanfield, E,.A., John Leech, 
 Augustus Egg, E.A., Mr. Topham, Mr. Frank Stone, and Mr. 
 Tenniei. The authors were : Charles Dickens, Mark Lemon, 
 Dudley Costello, Eobert Bell, Douglas Jerrold (all gone!), 
 and Mr. John Forster, Mr. Charles Knight, and the writer of 
 the present brief chronicle. Mr. Wilkie Collins, and two or 
 three others, were engaged in subsequent performances ; but 
 the above list comprises, I think, all those who appeared in 
 the first instance, when the play was represented at Devon- 
 shire House. The stage architect and machinist was Sir 
 Joseph Paxton ; and to his name among the * past and gone * 
 we have to add that of our most kind and munificent patron, 
 the late Duke of Devonshire. It will hence appear that the 
 only survivors of those who inaugurated the G-uild are Lord 
 Lytton and the three authors previously indicated. 
 
 "The Duke gave us the use of his large picture-gallery, to 
 be fitted up with seats for the audience ; and his library ad- 
 joining for the erection of the theatre. The latter room being 
 larger than required for the stage and its scenery, the back 
 
42 PERSONAL. 
 
 portion of it was screened off for a ' green room.' Sir Josepli 
 Paxton was most assiduous and careful in the erection of the 
 theatre and seats. There was a special box for the Queen. 
 None of the valuable paintings in the picture-gallery (arranged 
 for the auditorium) were removed, but all of them were faced 
 with planks, and covered with crimson velvet draperies.' In 
 the erection of the theatre, not a nail was allowed to be 
 hammered into the floor or Walls, the lateral supports being by 
 the pressure from end to end, of padded beams ; and the uprights, 
 or stanchions, were fitted with iron feet, firmly fixed to the 
 floor by copper screws. The lamps and their oil were well 
 considered, so that the smoke should not be offensive or in- 
 jurious — in fact, I think the oil was slightly scented, and there 
 was a profusion of wax candles. Sir Joseph Paxton also 
 arranged the ventilation in the most skilful manner, and, with 
 some assistance from a theatrical machinist, he put up all the 
 scenes, curtains, and flies. Mr. Dickens was unanimously 
 dubbed general manager, and Mr. Mark Lemon stage manager. 
 We had a professional gentleman for prompter, as none of the 
 amateurs could be entrusted with so technical, tactical, ticklish, 
 and momentous a series of duties. . . ." 
 
 57 
 
 Bygone Celebrities : 11. Mr. Nightingale's Diary. 
 By E. H. Home. 
 
 London : The Gentleman's Magazine. May, 1871. 
 pp, 660, 672. 
 
 A full description of the plot of, and characters in, Mr. 
 Nightingale's Diary ^ a farce written conjointly by Charles 
 Dickens and Mark Lemon, and performed in aid of the funds of 
 the "Gruild of Literature and Art." The writer, who was 
 
PERSONAL. 43 
 
 himself an actor in the play, thus describes Dickens's principal 
 impersonations : 
 
 *' The character that prodiiced the greatest effect was that of 
 a woman who had no name awarded to her in the piece, but to 
 whom Mr. Dickens always alluded as Mrs. Gramp, although to 
 our thinking she was not the real Mrs. Gamp, but only a near 
 relation. Mr. Dickens's make-up in this character was not to 
 be surpassed, unless indeed by one other which he personated, 
 and by that of a wretched half-starved charity-boy represented 
 by Mr. Egg. The woman, so far as I can remember, was ac- 
 cusing Mr. Nightingale of paternity in this matter, and she 
 calls the boy to come forward and show himself as the living 
 proof of her declaration. Thus summoned, a pale, miserable 
 face, with hair cropped close, like a convict, and wearing a 
 little round workhouse-cap, peeped forth at one wing. By 
 stealthy degrees the object advanced in a sidelong way, half 
 retreating at times, and finally getting behind Mr. Nightingale's 
 chair, and only showing himself now and then when lugged 
 forth by his mother. Mr. Egg was naturally short and attenu- 
 ated, but how he contrived to make such, a skeleton-like ap- 
 pearance was a marvel to all who looked upon him. Over his 
 own face he had literally painted another face, and one so woe- 
 ful and squalid was surely never seen upon the stage of a 
 theatre. The acting was equally perfect, for not only did he 
 enter like 'a thing forbid,' but all his movements kept up this 
 appearance of abject self-consciousness and furtive evasion of all 
 eyes. He crouched down behind or at the side of Mr. Nightin- 
 gale's chair, like a starved hound, too terrified and apprehensive 
 even to eat if it were offered to him, and finally he skulked and 
 bolted off the stage at long strides, looking back as though he 
 expected to be shot at like some intruding reptile. Altogether 
 the thing was too real ; it was more painful than amusing, or 
 at all events pleasurable, and so far passed the true bounds of 
 Art. But the speech of the woman, as delivered by Mr. 
 
4-1 PERSONAL. 
 
 Dickens, amplj made up for the pain caused by her wretched- 
 looking boy. This speech, often repeated afterwards, waa 
 never heard to the end, from the incessant laughter it caused, 
 not only among the audience, but among all the ' Guild' behind 
 the scenes. When not in front to hear it, we used to congre- 
 gate at the wings of the stage. It was uttered with unbroken 
 volubility, very nearly in the following words : — 
 
 *' * Don't speak to me, sir ! now, don't go to argify with me f 
 don't pertend to consolate or reason with a unperteckted woman, 
 which her naytural feelings is too much for her to support I 
 Leave your 'ouse ! No, sir, I will not leave the 'ouse without 
 seeing my child, my boy, righted in all his rights!— that dear 
 boy, sir, as you just saw, which lie was his mother's hope and 
 his father's pride, and no one as I knows on's joy. And the 
 name as was guv to this blessedest of infants, and vorked in 
 best Vitechapel mixed, upon a pin-cushion, were Abjalom, after 
 his own parential father, Mr. Nightingale, and likewise Mr. 
 Skylark who, no otherwise than by being guv to drinking, lost 
 an 'ole day's work at the veelwright business, vich it wos but 
 limited, being veels of donkey-chaises and goats ; and vun on 
 'em was even drawn by geese for a wager, and came up the ile 
 of the parish church one Sunday during arternoon sarvice, by 
 reason of the perwersity of the hanimals, as could be testified 
 by Mr. Vix the beadle, afore he died of drawing on new 
 Yellington boots after a 'arty meal of boiled beef and pickle 
 cabbage, to which he was not accustomed. Yes, Mr. Robin 
 Redbreast, I means Nightingale, in the marble founting of that 
 werry church wos he baptized Abjalom, vich never can be un- 
 done I am proud to declare, not to please nor give ofience to 
 no one, nohows and noveres, sir. No sir, no sir, I says, for 
 affliction sore long time Maria Nightingale bore ; physicianers 
 was in vain, and one, sir, in partickler vich she tore the 'air by 
 'andfuls out of his edd by reason of disagreement with his per- 
 ficriptions on the character of her complaint ; and dead she is, 
 
PERSONAL. 45 
 
 and will be, as the 'osts of the Egyptian fairies, as I shall prove 
 to you all by the hevydence of my brother the sexton, who I 
 «hall here perduce to your confusion in the twinkling of a star 
 or humin hye! . . . .' 
 
 " And now, in a remarkably brief time after his exit as the 
 woman, Mr. Dickens again enters as her brother, the sexton. 
 He appears to be at least ninety years of age, not merely by the 
 common stage make-up of long white hair, large white eye- 
 brows, blinking pink eyelids, and painted wrinkles and furrows, 
 but by feebleness of limbs, a body pressed down by the weights 
 and workings of time, and suffering from accumulated infir- 
 mities. He is supported carefully by one arm, and now and 
 then on each side, as he very slowly comes forward. The old 
 sexton is hopelessly deaf, and his voice has a on ailing, garrulous 
 fatuity. He evidently likes to talk when an opportunity 
 •occurs, but it is quite obvious that he cannot hear himself speak 
 any better than he can hear those who speak to him, When some- 
 body bawls in his ear a certain question about burying, he replies 
 in a soft, mild, quavering voice, ' It's of no use whispering to 
 me, young man.' The effect of these few words was very 
 •striking, being at once pathetic and ludicrous. Tears struggle, 
 not quite ineffectually, with laughter. This sexton is the 
 character that the late Miss Mitford pronounced as something 
 wonderful in the truthfulness of its representation . After re- 
 peated shoutings of the word 'buried,' he suddenly fancies he 
 has caught the meaning, and the worn and withered counten- 
 ance feebly lights up with the exclamation, * Brewed ! Oh, 
 jes, sir, I have brewed many a good gallon of ale in my time. 
 The last batch I brewed, sir, was finer than all the rest — the 
 best ale ever brewed in the county. It used to be called in our 
 parts here, " Samson with his hair on !" — in allusion — in allu- 
 sion ' (here his excitement shook the tremulous frame into 
 
 coughing and weezing) *in allusion to its great strength.' He 
 Jooked from face to face to see if his feat was dily appreciated. 
 
46 PERSONAL. 
 
 and his venerable jest understood by those around; and then, 
 softly repeating, with a glimmering smile, ' in allusion to its 
 great strength,' he turned slowly about, and made his exit, like 
 one moving towards his own grave while he thinks he is follow- 
 ing the funeral of another. ..." 
 
 This goodly company of amateur actors, during their pro- 
 vincial tours, were accustomed to relieve their pent-up feelings, 
 after supper, by indulging in games and pastimes, and the 
 following is an amusing instance of such frivolity : — " I have 
 alluded to some ' games ' that were occasionally played among 
 ourselves after supper ; and the reader who imagines that 
 whist, billiards, cribbage, chess, backgammon, or even a 'round 
 game * were played, will by no means have hit upon the fact. 
 And yet, in one sense, it no doubt was a round game, for the 
 favourite game on these particular occasions was leap-fi'og, 
 which we played all round the supper-table. Very much of the 
 fun of this consisted in special difficulties, with their conse- 
 quent disasters ; for Dickens was fond of giving a * high-back,' 
 which, though practicable enough for the more active, was not 
 easily surmounted by others, especially after a substantial 
 supper ; while the immense breadth and bulk of Mark Lemon's 
 back presented a sort of bulwark to the progress of the majority. 
 ISTow, as everyone was bound to run at the 'frog-back' given, 
 and do his best, it often happened that a gentleman landed 
 upon the top of Mark's back, and there remained ; while with 
 regard to the ' high-back ' given by Mr. Dickens, it frequently 
 occurred that the leaping frog never attained the centre, but 
 slipped off on one side ; and we well remember a certain occasion 
 when a very vigorous run at it failing to carry the individual over, 
 the violent concussion sent the high-arched 'frog* flying under 
 the table, followed headlong by the unsuccessful leaper. Mr. 
 Dickens rose with perfect enjoyment at the disaster, admirably 
 imitating the action in pantomimes under similar circumstances, 
 and exclaiming that it was just as he expected ! But the acci- 
 
PEESONAL. 47 
 
 dents attending Mark Lemon were far more numerou8, for while 
 his breadth and length of back were a most arduous undertaking 
 for any but the very long-legged ones to leap over, his bulk and 
 weight, when it came to his turn to leap, were of a kind to bring 
 down the backs of all but the very strongest frogs." 
 
 Occasionally, during these performances, slight accidents 
 occurred, which sometimes had a humorous side, as the follow- 
 ing will testify : — "A scene was described in my first article on 
 this subject as liaving occurred in ' Will's Coffee-room,' and 
 that there was a fireplace at the remote end, where the semblance 
 of a fire was burning briglitly. This was effected by the painted 
 transparency of a fire, with a large lamp standing close to it 
 behind the scene. One night a certain gentleman, who was 
 rather late in his dressing, and who ought to have been ready to 
 enter on the other side, rushed by so flurriedly that he thrust 
 the lamp aslant against the scene. The glass cracked and 
 opened, and the flame caught the scene, which at once took fire. 
 Smoke and tumult were just commencing, when Mark Lemon 
 and Mr. Dickens simultaneously rushed upon the stage ; one or 
 other caught up a thick overcoat, which was flung upon the 
 rising flames, and then they both jumped upon it, and, without 
 being aware of their excited performance, literally danced up 
 and down together upon the smothered flames, and the smashed 
 lamp, the glass of which kept up a ridiculous crackle all the 
 time. ..." 
 
 58 
 A Day with Charles Dickens. One of ^ Series of 
 Daily Comimnions, the Best of All Good ComjMny. 
 Edited by Blanchard Jerrold. With vignette por- 
 trait on wrapper, and, as frontispiece, a facsimile of 
 Charles Dickens's handwriting, being a page of MS. 
 
48 PERSONAL. 
 
 addressed to Blancliard Jerrold, and relating to the 
 intimacy that existed between the novelist and 
 Douglas Jerrold. 
 
 London : The Useful Knowledge Company, 10 and 
 11, Crane Court, Fleet Street, E.C. (June, 1871.) 
 pp. 56. Reprinted by Houlston and Sons, London. 
 1872. i3p. 80. 
 
 Contents: — Charles Dickens; In Memoriam. (By the 
 Editor. Reprinted from the Gentleman^ s Magazine, July, 1870. 
 See Iso. 39.) His Life and Works. Dickens, the Speaker. 
 Charles Dickens and Douglas Jerrold. June 9, 1870. The 
 Moral of His Life. And His Bequest to Posterity. (See 
 Appendix — Testimonies XIX.) 
 
 59 • 
 
 Mr. Dickens and Mr. Bentley. 
 
 London : December 7, 1871. pp. 4. 
 
 A letter published by George Bentley (jun.), addressed to the 
 editor of the Times, criticising the remark in Forster's Life of 
 Charles Dickens which refers to the connection between the 
 novelist and Mr. Bentley, sen. 
 
 60 
 
 Memoir of Charles Dickens. By F. H. Ahn. With 
 
 a portrait. 
 
 Mentz : Florian Kupferberg. 1871. pp.56. 
 
 Published, as prefatory matter, in an English edition of the 
 Christmas Carol issued in Germany. 
 
PERSONAL. 49 
 
 61 
 
 Charles Dickens. By S. C. Hall, F.S.A., etc. 
 
 A Book of Memories of Great Men and Women of the 
 ^QCj f'om Personal Acquaintance. By S. C. Hall. 
 London, 1871. pp. 449, 452. (See Appendix — 
 Testimonies XXV.) 
 
 62 f^ 
 
 Oarlyle and Dickens. A Pen and Ink Sketch. 
 By David Macrae. 
 Home and Abroad; Sketches and Gleanings. By 
 David Macrae. Glasgow : John S. Marr and Sons. 
 Edinburgh : John Menzies and Co. London : Simp- 
 kin, Marshall and Co. 1871. pp. 122, 128. 
 
 The first portion of this essay is devoted to a description of 
 the scene at the inauguration of Thomas Carljle as Lord Rector 
 of Edinburgh University, and in the second portion is described 
 the scene at the City Hall, Glasgow, when Charles Dickens gave 
 his public reading of the Christmas Carol and "Trial from 
 Pickivick." 
 
 "Before the excitement of Carlyle's visit was over, Charles 
 Dickens was in Scotland giving public readings from his works. 
 The conjunction was not inappropriate. Brought, thougli 
 these two men were, from the opposite poles of hterature, tlie 
 work of both had been largely the same — the unmasking of cant 
 and hypocrisy, the leading of men on (or back, if that be the 
 right way) to honesty and truth. . . . But otherwise — what 
 different men the two ! Dickens full of sunshine and laughter ; 
 Carlyle portentous as a thunder-cloud, grim and terrible even 
 in his mirth." 
 
 4 
 
50 TERSOXAL, 
 
 63 
 Eeminiscenges of Charles Dickens. From a 
 Young Lady's Diary. By E. E. C. 
 
 London : Tlie Englishtcoman's Domestic Magazine, 
 Yol. X. 1871. pp. 336, 344. 
 
 A record of the writer's impressions of the novehst during the 
 period of a few months (in 1842) when she was in daily in- 
 tercourse with him and his family. The following description 
 is here given of Mr. and Mrs. Dickens : — "I was first intro- 
 duced to his wife in the sanctuary of the bedroom, where I was 
 arranging my hair before the glass. I thought her a pretty 
 little woman, with the heavy-lidded large blue eyes so much 
 admired by men. The nose was a little retrousse, the foreliead 
 good, mouth small, round, and red-lipped, with a pleasant 
 smiling expression, notwithstanding the sleepy look of the slow- 
 moving eyes. The weakest part of the face was the chin, which 
 melted too suddenly into the throat. She took kindly notice cf 
 me, and I went down with a fluttering heart to be introduced to 
 «Boz.' 
 
 *^The first ideas that flashed through me were, ' What a fine 
 characteristic face ! What marvellotis eyes ! And what horrid 
 taste in dress 1' 
 
 " He wore his hair long, in * admired disorder,' and it 
 suited the picturesque style of his head ; but he had on a sur- 
 tout with a very wide collar, very much thrown back, showing 
 a vast expanse of waistcoat, drab trouser?, and drab boots with 
 patent leather toes, and the whole eff'ect (apart from his fine 
 head) gave evidence of a loud taste in costume, and was not 
 proper for evening dress. '^ 
 
 *' . . . He did not speak much, and his utterance was low- 
 toned and rapid, with a certain thickness, as if the tongue were 
 too large for the mouth. I foimd afterwards that this was a 
 
PERSONAL. 51 
 
 family characteristic ; and he had a habit of sucking his tongue 
 when thinking, and at the same time running his fingers through 
 his hair till it stood out in most leonine fashion. 
 
 *•'. . . Before utteringan amusingspeechlnoticedaraosthumor- 
 ous scintillation gleaming in his eyes, accompanied by a comic 
 elevation of one eyebrow ; but he did not strike one as possessing 
 the sarcastic, searching exp\'ession that I expected. I discovered 
 afterwards, that without appearing to notice what was going on 
 around, nothing escaped him ; and at times when his eyes had 
 a far-olF look, wide-opened and almost stony in their fixity, he 
 was in reality making mental notes of his surroundings. . . ." 
 
 64 
 
 Charles Dickens : Notes and Correspondence. 
 
 London : The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine. 
 
 Vol. Xr. 1871. pp. 91, 95. 
 
 Letters from Dickens to Professor Felton, of Cambridge 
 (LT.S.) University, written during the novelist's American visit 
 in 1812. With notes thereon by Mr. C. T. Field (? J. T. 
 Fields) of Boston and New York. 
 
 65 
 
 Another Gossip about Dickens. 
 
 London : The Englishwoman s Domestic Magazine. 
 
 Vol. XII. 1872. pp. 78, 83. 
 
 An account of a visit to Dickens, and descriptions of Grads- 
 hill, Gobham, Eochester, and Canterbury, with anecdotes of 
 the novelist. 
 
 Charles Dickens as a Eeader. By Charles Kent. 
 
 4—2 
 
52 PERSONAL. 
 
 With two facsimiles of marked pages from Read- 
 ings of ''Little Dombey" and "Bob Sawyer's 
 Party." 
 
 London : Chapman and Hall. 1872. pp. vii. 
 271. 
 
 The first two chapters are descriptive of "Dickens as a 
 Reader," and of the *'* Readings" generally, and in the last 
 chapter an account is given of the "Farewell Reading"; the 
 remainder of the work is devoted to a glance at the sixteen 
 best known of the famous Readings. In the Preface it is stated 
 that a commemorative volume of the same character was pro- 
 jected by the writer two years previously, which met with the 
 hearty approval of Dickens, who wrote to the author offer- 
 ing his services in aid of the proposed record. 
 
 67 
 
 Charles Dickens. Sa Vie et ses CEuvres. Par 
 Andre Joubert. Extrait du Correspondant. 
 Paris : C. Douniol et Cie. 1872. pp. 23. 
 68 
 Yesterdays with Authors. By James T. Fields. 
 London : Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle. 
 1872. Boston: James E. Osgood and Co, 1873. 
 pp. 125, 250. A New Edition (with numerous por- 
 traits engraved on steel, including two of Dickens) 
 was subsequently issued by Houghton, Miffler and 
 Company, Boston. 1882. 
 
PERSONAL. 53 
 
 The writer, who was personally acquainted with Dickens, 
 gives, in this work, interesting anecdotes of the novelist, 
 many of which were first printed in the Atlantic Monthly, 
 August, 1870. (See No. 42). 
 
 **. . . The extent and variety of Dickens's tones were 
 wonderful. Once he described to me in an inimitable way a 
 scene he witnessed many years ago at a London theatre, and I 
 am certain no professional ventriloquist could have reproduced it 
 better. I could never persuade him to repeat the description 
 in presence of others ; but he did it for me several times during 
 our walks into the country, where he was, of course, unobserved ; 
 his recital of the incident was irresistibly droll, and no words of 
 mine can give the situation even, as he gave it. He said he 
 was once sitting in the pit of a London theatre, when two vc^eM 
 came in and took places directly in front of him. Both were 
 evidently strangers from the country, and not very familiar with 
 the stage. One of them was stone deaf, and relied entirely 
 upon his friend to keep him informed of the dialogue and the 
 story of the play as it went on, by having bawled into his ear, 
 word for word, as near as possible what the actors and actresses 
 were saying. The man that could hear became intensely in- 
 terested in the play, and kept close watch of the stage. The 
 deaf man also shared in the progressive action of the drama, 
 and rated his friend soundly, in a loud voice, if a stitch in the 
 story of the play were inadvertently dropped. . Dickens gave 
 the two voices of these two spectators with his best comic and 
 dramatic power. Notwithstanding the roars of the audience, 
 for the scene in the pit grew immensely funny to them as it 
 went on, the deaf man and his friend were too much interested 
 in the main business of the evening to observe that they were 
 noticed. One bawled louder, and the other, with his elevated 
 ear-trumpet, listened more intently than ever. At length the 
 scene culminated in a most unexpected manner. *Now,* 
 screamed the hearing man to the deaf one, ' they are going to 
 
54 PERSONAL. 
 
 elope !* ' W/^o is going to elope ?' asked the deaf man, in a 
 loud, vehement tone. ' Why, them two, the young man in the 
 red coat and the girl in the white gown, that's a-talking together 
 now, and just going off the stage!' 'Well, then, you must 
 have missed telling me something they've said before,' roared 
 the other in an enraged and stentorian voice ; * for there was 
 nothing in their conduct all the evening, as you have been repre- 
 senting it to me, that would warrant them in such a proceeding !' 
 At which the audience could not bear it any longer, and screamed 
 their delight till the curtain fell. ..." 
 
 " Sometimes he would pull my arm while we were walking to- 
 gether and whisper, * Let us avoid Mr. Pumblechook, who is 
 crossing the street to meet us '; or * Mr. Micawber is coming ; 
 let us turn down this alley to get out of his way.' He always 
 seemed to enjoy the fun of his comic people, and had unceasing 
 mirth over Mr. Pickwick's misadventures. In answer one day 
 to a question, prompted by psychological curiosity, if he ever 
 dreamed of any of liis characters, his reply was, ' Never ; and I 
 am convinced that no writer (judging from my own experience, 
 ■which cannot be altogether singular, but must be a type of the 
 experience of others) has ever dreamed of the creatures of his 
 own imagination. It would,' he went on to say, 'be like a 
 man's dreaming of meeting himself, which is clearly an impos- 
 sibility. Things exterior to one's self must always be the basis 
 of dreams.' The growing up of characters in his mind never 
 lost for him a sense of the marvellous. ' What an unfathom- 
 able mystery there is in it all!' he said one day. Taking up 
 a wineglass, he continued: 'Suppose I choose to call this a 
 character, fancy it a man, endue it with certain qualities ; and 
 soon the fine filmy webs of thought, almost impalpable, coming 
 from every direction, we know not whence, spin and weave 
 about it, until it assumes form and beauty, and becomes instinct 
 with life. . . .'" 
 
 " There were certain books of which Dickens liked to talk 
 
PERSONAL. OO 
 
 during his walks. Among his especial favorites -were the 
 writings of Cobbett, De Quincey, the Lectures on Moral Philo- 
 sophy by Sydney Smith, and Carlyle's French Revolution. Of 
 this latter Dickens said it was the book of all others which he 
 read perpetually, and of which he never tired — the book which 
 always appeared more imaginative in proportion to the fresh 
 imagination be brought to it, a book for inexhaustibleness to be 
 placed before every other book. When writing the Tale of Two 
 Cities, he asked Carlyle if he might see one of the works to 
 which he referred in his history ; whereupon Carlyle packed up 
 and send down to Gradshill all his reference volumes, and 
 Dickens read them faithfully. But the more lie read the more 
 he was astonished to find how the facts had passed through the 
 alembic of Carlyle's brain and had come out and fitted them- 
 selves, each as a part of one great whole, making a compact 
 result, indestructible and unrivalled ; and he alsvays found him- 
 self turning away from the books of reference, and re-reading, 
 with increased wonder, the marvellous new growth. There 
 were certain books particularly hateful to him, and of which he 
 never spoke except in terms of most ludicrous raillery. Mr. 
 Barlow, in Sandford and Merton, he said, was the favourite 
 •enemy of his boyhood and his first experience of a bore. He 
 had an almost supernatural hatred for Barlow, ' because ho 
 was 60 very instructive, and always hinting doubts with regard 
 to the veracity of * Sinbad the Sailor,' and no belief whatever in 
 'The Wonderful Lamp ' or ' The Euchanted Horse.' ' Dickens 
 rattling his mental cane over the head of Mr. Barlow was as 
 much better than any play as can be well imagined. ..." 
 
 "Throughout his life Dickens was continually receiving tri- 
 butes from those he had benefited, either by his books or by his 
 friendship. There is an odd and very pretty story (vouched for 
 here as true) connected with the influence he so widely exerted. 
 In the winter of 1869, soon after he came up to London to 
 reside for a few months, he received a letter from a man telling 
 
56 PERSONAL. 
 
 liim that lie had begun h'fe in the most humble way possible^ 
 and that he considered he owed his subsequent great success, 
 and such education as he had given himself, entirely to the en- 
 couragement and cheering influence he had derived from 
 Dickens's books, of which he had been a constant reader from 
 liis childhood. He had been made a partner in his master'* 
 business, and when the head of the house died, the other day,, 
 it was found he had left the whole of his large property to this 
 man. As soon as he came into possession of this fortune, his 
 mind turned to Dickens, whom he looked upon as his benefactor 
 and teacher, and his first desii'c was to tender him some testi- 
 monial of gratitude and veneration. He then begged Dickens 
 to accept a large sum of money. Dickens declined to receive 
 the money, but his unknown friend sent him instead two silver 
 table ornaments of great intrinsic value, bearing this inscription i 
 "To Charles Dickens, from one who has been cheered and 
 stimulated by his writings, and held the author amongst his 
 first remembrances when he became prosperous." One of these 
 silver ornaments was supported by three figures, representing 
 three seasons. In the original design there were, of course, 
 four, but the donor was so averse to associating the idea of 
 winter in any sense with Dickens that he caused the workman 
 to alter the design and leave only the cheerful seasons. No 
 event in the great author's career was ever more gratifying and 
 pleasant to him. ..." 
 
 69 
 The Life of Charles Dickens. By John Forster. 
 
 Illustrated with numerous engravings on steel and 
 
 wood. Three volumes. 
 
 London: Chapman and Hall. 1872, 1873,1874. 
 Vol. L (1812-1842), pp. xviii., 398. Vol. IL (1842- 
 
PERSONAL. 57 
 
 1852), pp. XX., 462. Vol. III. (1852-1870), pp. xv., 
 552. 
 
 Dickens liad always said that if he fell first he should -wish 
 Forster to be his biogrfipher. The latter outlived the novelist 
 nearlj six years. 
 
 The illustrations in these volumes comprise three portraits of 
 Dickens, as frontispieces, engraved on steel, two of which are 
 from paintings by Maclise and Frith, and the third from a 
 photograph taken in America. They represent him at the ages 
 of 27, 47, and 56, respectively. There are also facsimiles of 
 letters, autographs, M3S. of novels and of plans of novels, in- 
 vitations, playbills, sketch by Maclise of the "Apotheosis of 
 Grip " the raven, and engravings of Charles Dickens with his 
 wife and her sister, of his various residences, of " Fancies " for 
 Mr. Dombey (designed by H. K.Browne — "Phiz"), and of the 
 grave of Charles Dickens in Poets' Corner, engraved on steel 
 by J. Saddler, from an original water-colour drawing specially 
 executed for the work by S. L. Filde?. 
 
 The third volume concludes with a bibliography of the 
 writings of Charles Dickens, and a copy of his will. 
 
 70 
 Anecdote Biographies of Thackeray and 
 Dickens. (Bric-a-Brac Series.) Edited by 
 Richard Henry Stoddart. 
 New York : Scribner, Armstrong, and Co. 1874. 
 
 The portion devoted to Dickens occupies pp. 197, 299. 
 
 The following are the subjects dealt with : Dickens's earliest 
 writings, Popularity oi Pickwick, Pickwick dramatized. First Hint 
 of Pickwick, Dickens a dramatist, Oliver Twist, Poetical 
 Epistle from " Father Prout," Dickens and Irving, Dickens as^n 
 
58 PERSONAL. 
 
 actor, Dickens as a journalist, Dickens and Thackeray, Julian 
 Young on Dickens and Thackeray, iYo^ so Bad as We Seem, Dickens 
 and Leigh Hunt, Gadshill Place, Birds of a feather, Dickens as a 
 smasher, Dickens and the Queen, Dickens's benevolence, Manner 
 of literary composition, Blanchard Jerrold on Dickens, Sir Arthur 
 Helps on Dickens, Reminiscences of Dickens, Obituary Poems. 
 
 71 
 
 In and Out of Doors with Charles Dickens. By 
 
 James T. Fields. 
 
 Boston : James E. Osgood and Co. 1876. pp. 1 70. 
 
 Re-issued from Yesterdays 2vUh Authors (London, 1872). 
 
 (See No. 68.) 
 
 An account is here given of Dickens's visits to America, and 
 included in the work are several letters written by the novelist 
 to C. Felton and the author, with numerous anecdotes and 
 personal recollections of Charles Dickens. Mr. Fields also 
 describes the incidents that took place while he was the guest of 
 Dickens, and their rambles in London. 
 
 72 
 Charles Dickens and his Letters. Part I. By 
 Mary Covvden Clarke. 
 London: The Gentleman's Magazine. December, 
 1876. pp. 708, 713. 
 
 This was apparently discontinued, but was afterwards pub- 
 lished in an extended form in 1878, under the title of Recollec- 
 tions of Writers. (See No. 75.) The author principally 
 describes the associations between herself and Dickens, which 
 weye of a theatrical nature. 
 
TERSONAL. 59 
 
 73 
 Our Letter. By M. F. Armstrong. 
 New York : St. Nicholas, Scrihnefs Illustrated Maga- 
 zine for Girls and Boys. May, 1877. pp. 438, 441. 
 
 With a facsimile of a letter dated " Gadshill Place, Monday, 
 lOth February, 1862," and signed "Charles Dickens." The 
 ■writer of this article gives an account of a meeting between 
 Dickens and herself, who, with her brother and sister, after- 
 wards attended one of his public readings. The purport of the 
 letter is an expression of thanks for the gift of a box of cigars 
 which they had sent to Dickens. The letter, with an extract from 
 the narrative preceding it, is reprinted in the Letters of Charles 
 Dickens, Vol. II., pp. 175, 176. 
 
 74 
 
 The Shadow on Dickens's Life. By Edwin P. 
 
 Whipple. 
 
 Boston : The Atlantic Monthl I/. August, 1877. pp. 
 
 •227, 233. 
 
 Relating to the separation of Dickens from his wife, and the 
 supposed causes thereof, and including letters on the subject 
 written by Dickens to John Forster and Arthur Smith, the 
 first business manager of his public readings. ; 
 
 75 
 Charles Dickens and his Letters. By Charles 
 and Mary Cowden Clarke. With a facsimile of a 
 letter written by Dickens to Mrs. Clarke and Miss 
 
 Novello. 
 
60 PERSONAL. 
 
 HecoUedions of Writers. London : Sampson Low, 
 Marston, Searle and Rivington. 1878. pp. 295, 341. 
 
 r A portion of this article first appeared in the Gentleman's 
 Magazine, December, 1876. (See No. 72.) Eelating, for the 
 most part, to theatrical matters. 
 
 76 
 Charles Dickens. By Moy Thomas. With a por- 
 trait, views of Gadshill Place, and of the grave in 
 Westminster Abbey. 
 
 London : Social Notes. October 25, 1879. pp. 114, 
 117. 
 Being No. 57 of a series of biographies of "Benefactors." 
 
 77 
 
 Charles Dickens as a Journalist, By Charles 
 
 Kent. 
 
 London : The Journalist^ a Monthly Phonographic 
 Magazine. (F. Pitman.) December, 1879. Vol. I., 
 pp. 17, 25. 
 
 This article is printed in the phonographic character, and the 
 subjects dealt -with are : — His choice of journalism, Learns 
 Grurney's shortliand, His first note, In the *' Gallery," On the 
 Morning Chronicle, Eeporting at Edinburgh, His reporting re- 
 miniscences, Ability as a reporter. Sketches ly Boz, Pickwick 
 Papers, Retires from the '* Glallery." 
 
PERSONAL. 61 
 
 78 
 
 Mr. Charles Dickens. "Eminent Persons." Bio- 
 graphies reprinted from the TimeSy 1870 — 1879. 
 London : The Times Office. 1880. pp, 10, 12. 
 
 Originally published in the Times, on Saturday, June 11, 
 1870, as an obituary notice. 
 
 "... His great characters have struck fast root in the hearts 
 of his countrymen, for this above all other reasons, that they 
 are natural — natural both relatively to the writer who created 
 them and to the station in life in which they are supposed to 
 live. Like the giant who revived as soon as he touched his 
 mother earth, Charles Dickens was never so strong as when he 
 threw himself back on the native soil of the social class among 
 which he had been born and bred, whose virtues, faults, and 
 foibles he could portray with a truth and vigour denied to any 
 other man. That he was eminently successful may be proved 
 by his works. He is gone, indeed, but they remain behind, and 
 will long speak for him. Every day will only add to the 
 universal feeling that he wrote not for this age alone, but for all 
 time, and that this generation, in losing sight of him, will hardly 
 look upon his like again. ..." 
 
 "During the whole of Wednesday Mr. Dickens had manifested 
 signs of illness, saying that he felt dull, and that the work on 
 which he was engaged was burdensome to him. He came to 
 the dinner-table at six o'clock, and his sister-in-law, Miss 
 Hogarth, observed that his eyes were full of tears. She did 
 not like to mention this to him, but watched him anxiously, 
 until, alarmed by the expression of his face, she proposed send- 
 ing for medical assistance. He said, "No," but said it witli 
 imperfect articulation. The next moment he complained of 
 toothache, put his hand to the side of his head, and desired 
 that the window might be shut. It was shut immediately, and 
 Miss Hogarth went to him, and took his arm, intending to lead 
 
62 PERSONAL. 
 
 him from the room. After one or two steps he suddenly fell 
 lieavily on his left side, and remained unconscious and speech- 
 less until his death, which came at ten minutes past six on 
 Thursday, just twenty-four hours after the attack. As soon as 
 he fell a telegram was despatched to his old friend and constant 
 medical attendant, Mr. F. Carr Beard, of Welbeck Street, who 
 went to G-adsbill immediately, but found the condition of hi& 
 patient to be past hope. Mr. Steele, of Strood, was already in 
 attendance ; and Dr. Russell Reynolds went down on Thursday, 
 Mr. Beard himself remaining until the last. The pupil of the 
 right eye was much dilated, that of the left contracted, the 
 breathing stertorous, the limbs flaccid until half an hour before 
 death, when some convulsion occurred. Tbe symptoms 
 point conclusively to the giving way of a blood-vessel in the 
 brain, and to consequent large hemorrhage, or, in other words, 
 to what is called apoplexy." 
 
 79 
 Great Novelists : Scott, Thackeray, Dickens, 
 Lytton. By James Crabb Watt. 
 Edinburgh : Macniven and Wallace. 1880. 
 
 The chapter on Dickens occupies pp. 163-218. 
 
 Of a biographical nature, the facts, in all essential particulars, 
 having been verified by reference to Forster's Life of Charles 
 Dickens. 
 
 The author thus comments on the novelist's married life : — 
 ** The first few years after his marriage passed happily enough. 
 His wife was a woman of some intelligence, and could pass 
 opinions, which he valued, on scenes he read from his manu- 
 script ; but time does not seem to have drawn them more 
 closely together ; and some years before his death Dickens, who 
 had succeeded in everything else he undertook, confessed that 
 
PERSONAL. 6S 
 
 lie had failed in this most vital element of human peace. In- 
 compatibility was the skeleton in his closet, and it grew more 
 gruesome as the years wore on. It is idle to speculate whether 
 he went into the state of matrimony from the heat and impulse 
 of youth, or after long and sober reflection. He laid some store 
 by his exact and practical wisdom, and probably in that he was 
 superior to most authors. Nor was he one to plunge into the 
 ocean of wedded possibility without retiring to some remote and 
 tranquil inlet where he might adjust compasses before setting 
 sail. Yet his incongruous incapability in erotic affairs in 
 general must, we think, have given an oblique turn to any cal- 
 culations he had formed on this subject ; at all events, his 
 romance, so far as his wife was concerned, does not seem to 
 have extended much beyond the honeymoon. He never speaks 
 of her with fondness ; there was no ethereal mixing of souls, 
 such as we find in the biographies of other equally gifted and 
 ecstatic pairs. We are left in the dark as to the causes of the 
 estrangement ; there are only occasional murmurs of extrava- 
 gant housekeeping on the one side and nervous irritability on 
 the other. The former was of course a risk he faced, and a 
 burden from which, however vexatious it might be, he should 
 not have flinched. On the other hand, it does not say a great 
 deal for the sympathy or patience of any wife, especially an 
 intellectual one, that she did not understand or, failing to 
 understand, that she did not bear with, a failing which many 
 great thinkers and writers have found inseparable from the in- 
 dulgence of fanciful or philosophic thought. 
 
 "Mr. Forster leaves this matter almost blanks and his friend- 
 ship exonerates him from any charge of mere finical delicacy ; 
 but biography, being the exponent of character, ought to throw 
 the best light possible on the inner nature of the subject, namely, 
 that which is shed by his home life and his deportment under 
 petty worries and conflicts. Otherwise the light is but a rush- 
 light at best. Dickens was a man of strong individuality, and 
 
64 PERSONAL. 
 
 must have had some rare hidden experiences ; of these we 
 regret we know nothing, for as the test of great genius is breadtli, 
 so the test of real goodness is temper. Light and shade are 
 necessary in our hves ; the man Dickens would have little merit 
 indeed if he had never had anything to overcome; without 
 struggles and conflicts, and light and shade, his life would have 
 been something very like a grand primeval forest, dull, and 
 monotonous, and very imposing, but without an occasional 
 blink of the blue sky, or any little flowers springing up to 
 lighten the way with their innocent and humble smile." 
 
 The Forster Collection. Handbook of the Dyce and 
 Fm^ster Collections in the South Kensington Museum. 
 By W. M. With engravings and facsimiles. 
 London: Chapman and Hall (1880). pp. 88, 91, 
 
 and 104, 105. 
 
 Besides a memoir of the novelist's biographer, Mr. John 
 Forster, by his friend, Professor Ilenry Morley, this volume 
 contains chapters descriptive of Mr. Forster's library (with fac- 
 similes of scarce autograplis) and of his collection of paintings 
 and drawings. Several of the original manuscripts of Dickens's 
 stories eventually came into the possession of Mr. Forster, and 
 a list of them is here given, with facsimiles of portions of Oliver 
 Twist, Hard Times, and David Copperjield, the last named 
 showing Dickens's method of correcting proofs. 
 
 The chapter relating to the paintings and drawings contains 
 an illustration, a facsimile of a sketch by D. Maclise, E-.A., on 
 the playbill of an amateur performance of Ben Jonson's Every 
 Man in his Humour, in which is represented Mr. Dickens aa 
 "Bobabil," and Mr. Forster as "Kitely." As an Appendix, 
 a copy of this playbill is also included. 
 
PERSONAL. 65 
 
 81 
 Charles Dickens at Gadshill Place. 
 
 London: Life. December, 18, 1880. pp. 1005, 
 1006. 
 
 A description of the house and grounds at Q-adshill. 
 
 82 
 Charles Dickens Reading to his Daughters on 
 the Lawn at Gadshill. A poem of eight 
 verses. By the Editor (C. W.). With a photo- 
 type from a photograph taken from life shortly 
 before the novelist's death. 
 London : Life. December 18, 1880. p. 1005. 
 
 The illustration represents the novelist reading to his 
 daughters. Miss Dickens is in a kneeling posture, while her 
 aunt, Miss Hogarth, stands behind. 
 
 83 
 
 A Short Life of Charles Dickens. With Selec- 
 tions from his Letters. By Charles H. Jones. 
 
 New York : D. Appleton and Company (AppleMs 
 New Handy-Volume Series). 1880. pp.260. 
 
 Compiled from various works relating to Dickens which had 
 been published in England and America. 
 
 5 
 
66 PERSONAL. 
 
 84 
 Charles Dickens and Rochester. By Robert 
 Langton. With numerous illustrations from 
 original drawings by William Hull and the 
 Author. 
 
 London: Chapman and Hall. 1880. pp. 24. Re- 
 printed, with additions, from the Papers of the Man- 
 chester Literary Club. Vol. VI. 1880. 
 
 Containing fifteen illustrations engraved on wood by the 
 author, who points out the association of Dickens with Rochester, 
 and the connection between that city and some of the novelist's 
 works. 
 
 85 
 The Letters of Charles Dickens. Edited by his 
 Sister-in-Law, and his Eldest Daughter (Georgina 
 Hogarth and Mamie Dickens). In Two Volumes. 
 
 London : Chapman and Hall. 1880. Vol. I. 
 (1833 to 1856), pp. 463. Vol. IL (1857 to 1870), 
 pp. 464. 
 
 These volumes appeared in November, 1879. A third volume 
 was subsequently issued in 1881. (See No. 90.) In the 
 Preface, dated "London: October, 1879," the compilers 
 state that their intention is that this collection of letters 
 ehould be a supplement to Forster's Life of Charles Dickens. 
 
PERSONAL. 67 
 
 86 
 In Kent with Charles Dickens. By Thomas Frost. 
 London : Tinsley Brothers. 1880. pp. viii., 312. 
 
 An account of Dickens's associations -witli Kent, and of the 
 various scenes and places in that county which are immor- 
 talized in his works. 
 
 87 
 Charles Dickens in the Editor's Chair. (By 
 Percy Fitzgerald.) 
 London : The Gentleman's Magazine. June, 1881. 
 pp. 725, 742. 
 
 An account of Dickens's editorship of Household Words, and 
 of the manner in which he conduetcc'.^that journal ; also of his 
 relations with writers in his periodical. The author thus speaks 
 of the "chief" in his capacity as editor: — "There was ever 
 the same uniform good nature and ardour, the eagerness to 
 welcome and second any plan, a reluctance to dismiss it, and 
 this done with apologies j all, too, in the strangest contrast to 
 the summary and plain-spoken fashion of the ordinary editor." 
 ". . . Many of his friends were tempted to become 'literary.' 
 They even hadj Meir friends who desired to become literarj' 
 and under pressure would introduce to this great writer imma- 
 ture and unprofitable efforts which be had to put aside witk 
 what excuses he could. Then there were his * literary brethren,' 
 each with his 'novel' or short paper, which it would occur to 
 him some morning ' be would send off to Dickens.' These had 
 to be considered, and his good nature or his courtesy drawn 
 upon. As for the general herd of scribblers, the postman on 
 * this beat ' could give due account of the packages of MS. that 
 
 5—2 
 
68 PERSONAL. 
 
 daily arrived. It was no wonder that he had to compose a sort 
 of special circular answer, which was duly lithographed and re- 
 turned with their productions to the various candidates. I 
 believe every composition was seriously glanced at, and some 
 estimate made — and many an obscure clever girl was surprised 
 to find her efforts appreciated. ..." 
 
 " The time when ' the Christmas number ' (of Household 
 Words) had to be got ready was always one of pleasant expec- 
 tancy and alacrity. It was an object for all to have a seat in * a 
 vehicle ' which travelled every road, and reached the houses of 
 a quarter of a million persons. With his usual conscientious 
 feeling of duty to the public, he laboured hard, first, to secure 
 a good and telling idea ; and, second, to work it out on the 
 small but effective scale with which he had latterly grown un- 
 familiar, owing to his habit of dealing with large canvases. ..." 
 
 " Another trait in him was his unfailing pleasure in communi- 
 cating some little composition with which he was particularly 
 pleased ; or he would tell of some remarkable story that he had 
 been sent, or would send one of his own which he fancied 
 hugely. It was a source, too, of pleasant, welcome surprise to 
 find how he retained in his memory, and would quote, various 
 and sundry of your own humbler efforts — those that had passed 
 into his own stock associations. These generally referred to 
 some experience or humorous adventure, or it might be some 
 account of a dog. ..." 
 
 88 
 
 Charles Dickens at Home. (By Percy Fitzgerald.) 
 
 London : The Gentlema'nJs Magazine. November, 
 1881. pp. 562, 583. 
 
 Interesting reminiscences of Dickens at Q-adshiU. The author 
 gives the following description of the novelist : — "There never 
 
PERSONAL. 69 
 
 "Was a man so unlike a professional writer. A tall, wiry, ener- 
 getic figure ; brisk in movement ; a head well set on ; a face 
 rather bronzed or sunburnt; keen, bright, searching eyes, 
 and a mouth which was full of expression, though hidden 
 behind a wiry moustache and grizzled beard. Thus the French 
 painter's remark, that ' he was more like one of the old Dutch 
 admirals we see in the picture galleries than a man of letters/ 
 conveyed an admirably true idea to his friends. 
 
 " He had, indeed, much of the quiet resolute manner of com- 
 mand of a captain of a ship. He strode along briskly as he 
 walked ; as he listened, his searching eye rested on you, and the 
 delicate nerves in his face quivered, much as those in the deli- 
 cately formed nostrils of a dog do. There was a curl or two 
 in his hair on each side which was characteristic ; and the 
 jaunty way he wore his little morning hat, rather on one side, 
 added to the effect. But when there was anything droll sug- 
 gested, a delightful sparkle of lurking humour began to kindle 
 and spread to his mouth, so that, even before he uttered any- 
 thing, you felt that something irresistibly droll was at hand. 
 No one ever told a story so drolly, and, what is not so common, 
 relished another man's story so heartily. A man of his great 
 reputation and position might have chosen what company he 
 pleased, and would have been welcome in the highest circles ; 
 but he never was so happy as with one or two intimate friends 
 who understood him, who were in good spirits or good humour, 
 He was always grateful, as it were, to hear a good thing. . . ." 
 " One day he was not very well, and said he would lie on his 
 sofa at the hotel, and nurse himself. As a great treat he had 
 sent for a copy of The Bride of Laminermoor, a work, he 
 said, he had not read for a vast number of years, and of which 
 he had almost forgotten the details. It would be a rare treat, 
 therefore. It was amazing to find at the close of that long day 
 how he had been desillusionne , and it was pleasant and instruc- 
 tive to hear his criticism. The strength of the story was there. 
 
70 PERSONAL. 
 
 but, he said, the clumsy shifts and inartistic treatment of the 
 machinery ! Many have felt the same feeling on returning to 
 some old favourite. And there can be no doubt that much, of 
 the Waverley Novels would fall under the slang definition of 
 * padding.' A favourite book of his, and one which, he almost 
 delighted in, was Tom Cringle's Log, and, I think, Tico 
 Years before the Mast, these having tlie true briny element. . ." 
 " Looking back to the incidents of my knowledge of him, there 
 is nothing, as I have so often said, but what is pleasant and 
 agreeable to think of. He was ever ready, not so much with 
 a jest or joke, as with a sympathetic good humour so much 
 more welcome. . . " 
 
 89 
 Charles Dickens and James T. Fields. Biographi- 
 cal Notes and Personal Sketches, By James T Fields. 
 Boston : Houghton, Mifflin, and Co. 1881. 
 
 The portion relating to Dickens occupies pp. 152, 160, and 
 consists of a series of extracts from the diary of Mr. Fields 
 (dating from November 19, 1867), in which he records his inti- 
 macy with Diet ens during his stay in America, and various 
 incidents in connection with the novelist's readings in that 
 country. 
 
 90 
 
 The Lettees of Charles Dickens. Edited by his 
 
 Sister-in-Law and his Eldest Daughter. Third 
 
 Volume. 
 
 London : Chapman and Hall. 1882. pp. 308. 
 
 Supplementing the first issue of two volumes, published in 
 1880. (See No. 85.) These letters, written between 1836 
 
PERSONAL. 71 
 
 and 1870, were not immediately procurable at the time of 
 the publication of tlie previous volumes. A new edition was 
 issued ia May, 1882, which comprehends the substance, redis- 
 tributed and rearranged, of the original edition, a few entire 
 letters and passages of letters being omitted, and some added 
 for the first time. 
 
 91 
 Dickens. By Adolphus William Ward. {English 
 Men of Letters Series, edited by John Morley.) 
 London : Macmillan and Co. 1882. pp. viii., 224. 
 
 With a preface dated " Manchester, March, 1882." Besides 
 a biography of Dickens, the author has written a chapter on 
 "The Future of Dickens's Fame," in which he asserts that *' it 
 would of course be against all experience to suppose that to 
 future generations Dickens, as a writer, will be all that he was 
 to his own. Much that constitutes the subject, or, at least, 
 furnishes the background, of his pictures of English life, like 
 the Fleet Prison and the Marshalsea, has vanished, or is being 
 improved off the face of the land. The form, again, of Dickens's 
 principal works may become obsolete, as it was in a sense acci- 
 dental. He was the most popular novelist of his day; but 
 should prose fiction, or even the full and florid species of it 
 which has enjoyed so long-lived a favour, ever be out of season 
 the popularity of Dickens's books must experience an inevitable 
 diminution." 
 
 92 
 Charles Dickens as an Editor; Charles Dickens 
 AT Home. Recreations of a Literary Man, by Percy 
 Fitzgerald. In Two Volumes. 
 
72 PEESONAL. 
 
 London : Chatto and Windus. 1882. 
 
 The two papers, as above, appear in Vol. I., pp, 48, 96, and 
 pp. 97, 171. They were first published anonymously in the 
 Gentleman! s Magazine^ June and November, 1881. (See Nos. 
 87 and 88.) The second paper here assumes much larger pro- 
 portions. In this volume is also included a facsimile of one of the 
 numbers of the Gadshill Gazette^ a little journal conducted and 
 published by one of Dickens's younger children, Henry Field- 
 ing Dickens, now a clever and prosperous barrister. It con- 
 tains a pleasant official record for acquaintances of what went 
 on at Gadshill. A friend had made the lad a present of a 
 small printing-press, and his father was glad to encourage this 
 dawning literary taste. 
 
 93 
 
 Phrenological Delineations of Eminent Persons. 
 — The Late Charles Dickens. Phrenology : Its 
 Truthfulness and Usefulness, by Stackpool E. O'Dell. 
 
 London : Published at the Phrenological Institute. 
 
 1882. 
 
 The article on Dickens (No. 105) occupies a part of p. 39. 
 
 "... Literature of a lighter, still of an educational nature, 
 such as Dickens's style, is at the present time forming the 
 minds of the masses of mankind, civilizing and humanising 
 them, purging t)ie dross, and refining the coarse. Do we want 
 to know Dickens's character phrenologically ? then let us read 
 his Christmas Carol. If he had not large human nature, or a 
 thorough knowledge of the human mind, he could not have 
 described characters in so many shades and varieties, com- 
 mencing with the schoolboy, and going through the various 
 
PERSONAL. 7S 
 
 stages till the old and hardened miser is reached ; and then, 
 ■with a sudden change to the philanthropist, the truly bencTolent 
 old man. . . . He cultivated his knowledge of the human mind, 
 just as phrenologists do, by studying character outside himself, 
 and his writings will prove him to have been a true phreno- 
 logist. . . ." , 
 
 ** Another characteristic of Dickens's is benevolence, and here 
 in his Christmas Carol we see it : peace, charity, good-will, does 
 he not revel in it ? does he not give way to joyous raptures, 
 shout and sing ? Yes ; and even dances with delight at the 
 happiness of others. Does he not get right to the heart, and 
 enter into every little detail of joy ; and does he not send bub- 
 bling up pleasures and delights, which are in themselves the 
 best Christmas anthems ever sung ? Oh ! you churches, you 
 chapels, you classic priests and white-robed choirs, I have heard 
 your anthems for many a Christmas-Day — your shrill tenors and 
 deep basses, together with the swelling peals of your soul-thrilling 
 organs, and often has the marrow in my bones run up and down 
 like the quicksilver in a barometer, and the brain-cells have 
 cracked and burst till I thought I was all brain ; but you all 
 come far short of the beneficial eifect which Dickens's Christmas^ 
 Carol has upon the mind, opening every kindly thought, join- 
 ing sundered hearts, cementing still closer the bonds of friend- 
 ship, awakening and increasing our sympathies for the poor and 
 suffering, and making our goodness the source of such glad- 
 ness as to cause us to wish to be doubly good, so that we would 
 be doubly glad. ' Is life worth living for ?' I would say to 
 the originator of this question, read Dickens's Christmas Caroly 
 and you will see a hundred reasons for living, if not for yourself, 
 for others. If every rich man reads this book one week before 
 Christmas, every poor man would be richer for it, and each 
 would be happier. If every Christian would read and act up 
 to it this Christmas, a gospel of glad-tidings would be acted as 
 would bring warmth to many a cold hearth, gladness to many a 
 
74 PERSONAL. 
 
 sorrowing heart, and Christian anthems would be sung by mul- 
 titudes of anxious mourners. We have Dickens's whole clia- 
 racter — every organ in his head — represented in his Christmas 
 Carol:' 
 
 94 
 
 A Dickens Evening. Amateur Theatricals by the 
 Grandchildren of Charles Dickens and Mark Lemon. 
 By Luke Sharp. 
 London : The Detroit Free Press. January 20, 
 
 1883. 
 
 An account of a theatrical performance given in the Town 
 Hall, Kilburn, in aid of the funds of the Home for Incurable 
 Children. Among the principal performers were Mr. Charles 
 Dickens, jun. (eldest son of the novelist), the Misses Mary, 
 Ethel, and Daisy Dickens, and the Misses Martin, grand- 
 daughters of Mark Lemon. 
 
 95 
 
 A Tramp with Dickens. Through London by 
 
 Night with the Great Novelist. 
 
 London : The Detroit Free Press. April 7, 1883. 
 
 An account given by State Senator Henry Manistre, of St. 
 Louis (who is an old Londoner), of a night walk with Dickens. 
 They were accompanied by four other gentlemen. " It was in 
 the spring of 1840, I think, and the night was cold, raw, and 
 blustering. . . . With our great-coats closely buttoned up, we 
 started from Horsemonger Lane Yard. . . . We crossed 
 London Bridge from the Sussex (? Surrey) side, then through. 
 Cheapside, Fleet Street, and the Strand, clear out to Sturge 
 Lane, actually walking through London. We dropped in aU 
 
PERSONAL. 75 
 
 the saloons — ' gin palaces ' they call them there — and ran across 
 all grades of humanity, from scions of nobility on a lark, in 
 some pretentious establishment, to grovelling, degraded humanity 
 in noisome dens that fairly reeked with filth and the vile vapours 
 from their vile poisons. ..." 
 
 96 
 
 Charles Dickens as a Dramatic Critic. By Dut- 
 
 ton Cook. 
 
 London : Longman's Magazine. May, 1883. pp* 
 29, 42. 
 
 The writer here records the opinions expressed by Dickens of 
 various celebrated contemporary actors and actresses, among 
 whom may be named Rachel, Madame Eistori, and Macready. 
 His views respecting certain operas and plays are also here 
 disclosed, and the novelist's passion for the stage commented 
 on. 
 
 97 
 
 Unpublished Letters of Dickens. 
 London : The Times. October 27, 1883. 
 
 An account of the purchase, by Mr. J. W. Bouton (the well- 
 known publisher of Broadway, New York), of a collection of a 
 hundred and seventy-seven letters by Charles Dickens, of which 
 scarcely any had then been printed, and a hundred and forty- 
 nine letters addressed to Dickens from various celebrities, 
 many of which have not been published. This collection, part 
 of which is here reprinted, was formerly the property of the 
 late Mr. Frederick Ouvry, F.S.A., who was the solicitor and in- 
 timate friend of the novelist for many years. 
 
76 PEKSONAL. 
 
 98 
 
 Childhood and Youth of Charles Dickens. 
 With Retrospective Notes and Elucidations from 
 his Books and Letters. By Robert Langton, 
 F.R.Hist.Soc. With a portrait, and numerous 
 illustrations by William Hull, the Author, and 
 others. 
 
 Manchester: Published by the Author. 1883. 
 pp. xviii., 250. 
 
 This work is an extended form of Mr. Langton's Charles 
 Dickens and Rochester, published in 1880. (See No. 84.) 
 The illustrations that appeared there are also introduced in this 
 volume, with many others specially executed. In the preface 
 tlie author acknowledges his indebtedness to Forster's Life of 
 Charles *Dickens, although many of the statements which he 
 puts forward are totally at variance with Mr. Forster's text and 
 with that of numerous writers who followed in his wake. Mr. 
 Langton gives much information that is quite new, especially 
 in connection with the novelist's early years at Chatham. 
 
 '99 
 The Boyhood of Dickens. Brave Lives and Nolle, 
 by Miss C. L. Mateaux. With a portrait and illus- 
 trations. 
 London : Cassell and Co. 1883. 
 
 The chapter relating to Dickens occupies pp. 313, 320. Bret 
 Harte's Poem, *' Dickens in Camp," is here reprinted. 
 
PERSONAL. 77 
 
 100 
 A Dickens Chapter. Edmund Yates : His Recollec- 
 tions and Experiences. By Edmund Yates. 
 London : Eichard Bentley and Son. 1884. 
 
 This chapter on Dickens occupies pp. 91, 128, being Chapter 
 III., Vol. II. Analysis : — My intimacy with Dickens — Nineteen 
 years ray senior— Dickens's regard for Forster as friend rather 
 than companion — To me always affectionate; always interested 
 — Easily bored, and imperious to outsiders — First invitation : a 
 delightful day — Strained state of affairs — Not an emotional man 
 — Publishes his ** statement ": badly advised ; no necessity for 
 recalling details — First paid reading : calm and composed ; the 
 Carol essentially a Christmas book ; the Crichet ; a great suc- 
 cess — Provincial tour— G-adshill Place: life there ; the Chalet 
 — Long Walks — The murder in Cobham Park — Dogs— Talk 
 about his books — Correcting a quotation — "In the name of 
 charity" — Heat in Paris — Liking for actors — A holiday with 
 Dickens — Presence of mind — Asleep ? — The trained elephant — 
 The Bosjesman — Dickens as editor ; as after-dinner speaker ; 
 his readiness ; saved ! — Farewell banquet to Dickens — " The 
 young lions " — With Dickens to Liverpool — A testimonial : 
 thorough — Dickens home from America — We meet at Leeds — 
 Change in his appearance ; he tries to rouse ; stricken down ; 
 better — His hatred of being thought ill — Bad symptoms : will 
 not have gout ; his self-deception — Last meetings — His public 
 farewell — His last dinner in London — Always considerate — His 
 death : what hastened it ; why ? — His fame— His fortune — My 
 ideas on the subject — The author and the man. 
 
 101 
 
 Charles Dickens as I Knew Him. The Story of 
 
78 PERSONAL. 
 
 the Eeading Tours in Great Britain and America 
 (1866-70). By George Dolby. 
 London : T. Fisher Unwin, 26, Paternoster Square, 
 E.O. 1884. pp. xiii., 466. With a Preface of two 
 
 An agreeable and amusing record of what may be called the 
 public side of the last four years of the novelist's life. Mr. 
 Dolby was Dickens's business manager during those reading 
 tours, and the major portion of his book is devoted to a de- 
 scription of four of them, viz., the first two English tours in 
 1866 and 1867, and the American tours in 1867 and 1868, con- 
 cluding with the " final farewell " tour in the United Kingdom 
 from 1868 to 1870. The writer has included many interesting 
 and humorous anecdotes in connection with these readings. 
 
 102 
 Charles Dickens at Home. With Especial Eefer- 
 
 ence to his Eelations with Children. By his Eldest 
 
 Daughter. 
 
 London : The Cornhill Magazine. January, 1885. 
 pp. 32, 51. 
 
 ". . . He had a wonderful attraction for children, and a quick 
 perception of their character and disposition ; a most winning 
 and easy way with them, full of fun, but also of a graver sym- 
 pathy with their many small troubles and perplexities, which 
 made them recognise a friend in him at once. I have often 
 seen mere babies, who would look at no other stranger present, 
 put out their tinr arms to liim with unbounded confidence, or 
 place a small hand in his and trot away with him, quite pi'oud 
 and contented at having found such a companion ; and although 
 
PERSONAL. 79 
 
 with his own children he had sometimes a sterner manner than 
 he had with others, there was not one of them who feared to go 
 to him for help and advice, knowing well that there was no 
 trouble too trivial too claim his attention, and that in him they 
 would always find unvarying justice and love. . . ." 
 
 *' One year, before a Twelfth Night dance, when his two 
 daughters were quite tiny girls, he took it into his head that 
 they must teach him and his friend, John Leech, the polka. 
 The lessons were begun as soon as thought of, and continued 
 for some time. It must have been rather a funny sight to see 
 the two small children teaching these two men — Mr. Leech 
 was over six feet — to dance, all four as solemn and staid as 
 possible. . . ." 
 
 " During the years spent at Tavistock House one of his 
 daughters was, for a time, a great invalid, and after a worse 
 attack of illness than usual, her father suggested that she 
 should be carried as far as the study, and lie on the sofa there, 
 wliile he was at work. This was of course considered an immense 
 privilege, and even if she had not felt as weak and ill as she 
 did, she would have been bound to remain as still and quiet as 
 possible. For some time there was no sound to be heard in the 
 room but the rapid working of the pen, when suddenly he jumped 
 up, went to the looking-glass, rushed back to his writing-table 
 and jotted down a few words ; back to the glass again, this 
 time talking to his own reflection, or rather to the simulated 
 expression he saw there, and was trying to catch before draw- 
 ing it in words, then back again to his writing. After a little 
 he got up again, and stood with his back to the glass, talking 
 softly and rapidly for a long time, then looking at his daughter, 
 but certainly never seeing her, then once more back to his 
 table, and to steady writing until luncheon time. It was a 
 curious experience, and a wonderful thing to see him throwing 
 himself so entirely out of himself and into the character he was 
 writing about. . . . Often, after a hard morning's writing. 
 
so PEKSONAL. 
 
 •when he has been alone with his family, and no visitors in the 
 house, he has come in to luncheon and gone through the meal 
 without uttering a word, and then has gone back again to the 
 work in which be was so completely absorbed. Then again, 
 there have been times when his nerves have been strung up to 
 such a pitch that any sudden noise, such as the dropping of a 
 spoon or the clatter of a plate, seemed to cause him real agony. 
 He never could bear the least noise when he was writing, and 
 waged a fierce war against all organ-grinders, bands, etc. . . ." 
 
 "Charles Dickens was very fond of music, and not only of 
 classical music. He loved national airs, old tunes, songs, and 
 ballads, and was easily moved by anything pathetic in a song or 
 tune, and was never tired of hearing his special favourites sung 
 or played. He used to like to have music of an evening, and 
 duets used to be played for hours together, while he would read 
 or walk up and down the room. A member of his family was 
 singing a ballad one evening while he was apparently deep in his 
 book, when he suddenly got up, saying, * You don't make 
 enough of that word,' and he sat down by the piano, showed 
 her the way in which he wished it to be emphasized, and did not 
 leave the instrument until it had been sung to his satisfaction. 
 Whenever this song was sung, which it often was, as it became 
 a favourite with him, he would always listen for that word, with 
 his head a little on one side, as much as to say, * I wonder if 
 she will remember !' . . ." 
 
 " The first thing he did every morning, before going to work, 
 was to make a complete circuit of the garden, and then to go 
 over the whole house, to see that everything was in its 
 place. . ." 
 
 " He was great at games, and many of the evenings were 
 spent in playing at ' Yes and IS'o,' ' Proverbs,' * Eussian 
 Scandal,' 'Crambo,' 'Dumb Crambo' — in this he was most 
 exquisitely funny — and a game of 'Memory,' which he par- 
 ticularly liked. . . ." 
 
PERSONAL. 81 
 
 UNDATED. 
 
 103 
 
 Charles Dickens. With a portrait engraved on 
 
 wood from Maclise's painting. 
 
 Parley's Penny Library, Vol. I. London. N.D. 
 
 {circa 1841). 
 
 "Peter Parley" (Samuel G-riswold Q-oodricli) was denounced 
 in very strong terms by Dickens in one of his letters, for intro- 
 ducing in this volume selections, in the form of dialogues, from 
 the works of the novelist, which was done in extenso. The 
 works thus treated -were Barndby Rudge (with twenty engrav- 
 ings), The Old Curiosity Shop (with three engravings), and the 
 Picnic Papers. Dickens was naturally incensed at this whole- 
 sale piracy, and promised " Parley " a summary ejectment from 
 his door should he present himself there. Dickens was not to be 
 conciliated even by a fulsome dedication to the "Living Shake- 
 speare " by which the almost verbatim reprints were prefaced. 
 
 104 
 A Letter prom Hop-o'-my-Thumb to Charles 
 Dickens, Esq., Upon "Frauds on the Fairies," 
 '* Whole Hogs," etc. (By George Cruikshank.) 
 With two woodcut illustrations drawn by the 
 Author. 
 
 London : George CruikshanJc's Magazine. February 
 (1854). pp. 74, 80. Eeprinted in pamphlet form by 
 
 6 
 
82 PERSONAL. 
 
 D. Bogue, 86, Fleet Street; W.Tweedie, 337, Strand. 
 N.D. (1854). pp. 8. 
 
 In this letter (which commences with ** Eight Trusty, Well- 
 beloved, Much-Read, and Admired Sir," and is signed " Hop- 
 o'-my-Thumb ") the writer, George Cruikshank, attempts to 
 defend himself against the attacks made by Dickens in two 
 articles entitled "Whole Hogs," and "Frauds on the Fairies," 
 published in Household Words, August 23, 1851, and October 
 1, 1853, in which he accused the artist, in his new editions of 
 the Fairy Tales which he was then illustrating, of departing 
 from the original version of those stories, in order that they 
 should accord with his own views of morality. It is recorded 
 that this published rebuke from the pen of Dickens most 
 seriously affected the sale of the Fairy Tales, and that it 
 originated the quarrel between the novelist and the artist, and 
 permanently affected the friendship that had hitherto existed 
 between them. 
 
 105 
 Charles Dickens. By Eenton Nicholson, the famous 
 
 Lord Chief Baron, President of the Coal Hole 
 
 Judge and Jury Club. With a portrait group of 
 
 celebrities, including Dickens. 
 
 Nicholson's Sketches of Celebrated Characters. London. 
 N.D. (circa 1856). p. 11. 
 
 Besides a short biographical notice, as above, a poem of six- 
 teen lines is introduced, written fourteen years previously, in 
 praise of Dickens. 
 
 The portrait group of celebrities is the Key to a picture of 
 
PERSONAL. S3 
 
 assembled famous men during a sitting of the Judge and Jury- 
 Society, for so many years held at the Garrick's Head, Bow- 
 Street, and afterwards at the Coal Hole Tavern, Fountain 
 Court, Strand (opposite Exeter Hall). The picture was painted 
 by Mr. Archibald Henning, one of the first artists on the staff 
 of Punch. He was fifteen years in executing the work, and 
 exhibited it gratuitously, when completed, in Wellington Street* 
 Strand. In the Key to the picture the portrait of Dickens is 
 lettered I. 
 
 106 
 Charles Dickens. With a portrait, engraved on 
 
 steel from a photograph taken at the time when 
 
 he was writing David Copjjerfield. 
 
 The WoMs Great Men. London : The London 
 
 Printing and Publishing Company, Limited. N.D. 
 
 pp. 125, 128. 
 
 This work was completed in six divisions, and contains 
 more than a hundred portraits and biographies. That of 
 Dickens appeared in the second division. The portrait was first 
 issued as a supplement in the Illustrated News of the World. 
 (See No. 10.) 
 
 107 
 
 Life of Charles Dickens. By E. Shelton Mac- 
 kenzie, LL.D., Literary Editor of the Fhiladel^hia 
 Press. With a portrait and autograph of Dickens. 
 Philadelphia : T. B. Paterson and Brothers. N.D. 
 
 (1870). pp. 484. 
 This volume contains some very interesting information re- 
 
 6—2 
 
34 PERSONAL. 
 
 specting the novelist, and includes a reprint of some of bis 
 minor writings, which had not hitherto been pubbshed in auy 
 English edition of his works. 
 
 An article entitled "The Dickens Controversy " is inserted at 
 the end of the work, having been reprinted from the American 
 Publishers' Circular, 1867. (See No. 19.) 
 
 108 
 
 Little Boys and Great Men. By C. L. M. With 
 a full-page illustration of " Little Charles Dickens. 
 Saturday Night." 
 
 London: Little Folks. No. 64. N.D. pp. 186, 
 187. 
 
 109 
 
 Little Boys and Great Men. By C. L. M. With 
 
 an illustration representing "Thames Mudlarks." 
 
 London : Little Folks. No. 65. N.D. pp. 205, 
 206. 
 
 This article is a continuation of the preceding one, and 
 relates to the early days of Dickens. 
 
 110 
 
 Stemmen uit het Koning Willems-huis. No. 1. 
 Zie op het einde, naar Charles Dickens, door C. S. 
 Adama van Scheltema. 
 
PERSONAL. 85 
 
 Amsterdam : W. H. Kirberger. N.D. {circa 1872). 
 pp. 20. 
 
 With a woodcut on wrapper of " King William's House." 
 Ill 
 
 The Life of Charles Dickens — The Great English 
 Novelist. By H. W. D. With a portrait. 
 
 London : Ward, Lock, and Co. KD. (1883). pp. 
 513, 528. 
 
 One of a series of penny biographies. 
 
 On the title-page Dickens is described as "The Fearless 
 Denouncer of Meanness, Tyranny, and Wrong— The Eloquent 
 Advocate of Grentleness, Justice, and Right. Who could write 
 with genial Mirth the deepest lessons of Wisdom and Truth." 
 
 112 
 
 Charles Dickens. By George Augustus Sala. 
 With a portrait on wrapper. 
 
 London : George Eoutledge and Sons. KD. 
 (1870). pp. X., 144. 
 
 The preface contains a letter written in 1856 by Dickens, and 
 addressed to Mr. Sala when the latter was in Brussels. It 
 refers to a misunderstanding that had arisen between them re- 
 specting Mr. Sala's property in the copyright of a series of papers 
 called "A Journey Due North." 
 
 This work is a republication, amplified to more than four 
 times its original length, of an article on the G-enius and Character 
 
S6 PEESONAL. 
 
 of Charles Dickens, which Mr. Sala wrote for the Daily 
 Telegraph on the day following the novelist's death. 
 
 113 
 Charles Dickens. With Anecdotes and Recollec- 
 tions of His Life. Written and Compiled by 
 William Watkins. With a portrait on wrapper, 
 and including a memorial poem. 
 
 London : The London Newsvendors' Publishing 
 Company. N.D. (1870). pp. 64. 
 
 Chiefly of a personal and biographical character, with an 
 account of Dickens's death and burial. 
 
 114 
 
 The Life and Times of Charles Dickens. Being 
 the complete Life, both Public and Private, of that 
 Great Novelist. With a portrait. 
 
 London : G. Purkess {Police News Edition). N.D. 
 (1870). pp. 16. 
 
 This work contains, besides a biography, a reprint of the 
 obituary notices that appeared as leading articles in the Times, 
 Daily Telegraph, and Daily News. There are also included a 
 letter to the editor of the last-named journal on "Charles 
 Dickens's Last Words," and the Hymn of the Wiltshire 
 Labourers, written by the novelist for that journal in 181-6. 
 
PEESONAL. 87 
 
 115 
 Charles Dickens. 
 Boston : Every Saturday. Vol. I. p. 79. (? date.) 
 
 116 
 Dickens at Home. 
 Boston : Every Saturday. Vol. II. p. 396. 
 (? date.) 
 
 117 
 
 Farewell Banquet to Charles Dickens, 1867. 
 Boston : Every Saturday. Vol. lY. p. 705. 
 (] date.) 
 
 118 
 Charles Dickens. 
 Boston: Every Saturday. Vol. IX. p. 225. 
 (?date.) 
 
 119 
 Home of Charles Dickens. 
 Boston : Every Saturday, Vol. IX. p. 228. 
 (1 date.) 
 
 120 
 Dickens's Farewell Eeading in London. 
 Boston: Every Saturday. Vol. IX. pp. 242 and 
 260. (?date.) 
 
88 PERSONAL. 
 
 121 
 
 Charles Dickens with the Newsvendors. ^ 
 Boston : Every Saturday. Vol. IX. p. 318. 
 (? date.) 
 
 122 
 Death of Charles Dickens. 
 Boston : Every Saturday. Vol. IX. p. 450. 
 (? date.) 
 
 123 
 Sale of the Effects of Charles Dickens. 
 Boston : Every Saturday. Vol. IX. p. 557. 
 (? date.) 
 
 124 
 Dickens's Amateur Theatricals. 
 Boston : Every Saturday. Vol. X. p. 70. (}. date.) 
 
 125 
 
 Charles Dickens as " Captain Bobadil." With a 
 ■ portrait. 
 Boston: Every Saturday. Vol. XL p. 295. 
 (?date.) 
 
 126 
 Early Life of Charles Dickens. 
 Boston : Every Saturday. Vol. XII. p. 60. 
 Odate.) 
 
PERSONAL. 8D 
 
 127 
 Readings by Charles Dickens. By T. C. De 
 Leon. 
 Charlotte, N.C.: Land We Love. Vol. IV. p. 42L 
 
 128 (^A^; 
 
 Dickens and his Debt of Honour. 
 Charlotte, N.C.: Land We Love. Vol. V. p. 414. 
 (?date.) 
 
 129 
 Death of Charles Dickens. 
 New York : The Eclectic Magazine. Vol. LXXV. 
 p. 217. Odate.) 
 
 130 
 Charles Dickens. By P. Godwin. 
 New York : Putnam's Monthly Magazine. Vol. X VI» 
 p. 231. (?date.), 
 
 131 
 
 Charles Dickens. By B. Jerrold. 
 
 Baltimore : The New Eclectic. Vol. VII. p. 332. 
 (? date.) 
 
CEITICAL. 
 
 DIVISION I. — Relating to Charles Dickens as a Writer, and 
 his Writings generally. 
 
 132 
 
 Charles Dickens and His Works. 
 
 London : Fmser's Magazine. April, 1840. pp. 381, 
 
 400. 
 
 *'. . . What the critical reader of Boz's novels objects to is, 
 that whatever we may think of the come-and-go characters, 
 the standing characters are not like the men and the women of 
 the real world. Dr. Slammer, of the 79th, and a great many 
 more of the incidental sketches, are consistent : we have seen 
 such people, and their peculiarities are well hit off. But beyond 
 supporting a character consistently through three or four con- 
 secutive scenes Mr. Dickens's power does not extend. . . . Mr. 
 Pickwick, as originally designed by Mr. Dickens, is a mere butt 
 for caricature, making ridiculous speeches, and getting into 
 ridiculous situations. Such is a tolerably fair and intelligible 
 character, and he is surrounded by fitting companions. . . . All 
 their sayings and doings are fit material for the caricaturist — 
 created for fun, and fun only ; they are not furnished with a 
 single gentleman-like accomplishment, or possessed of a single 
 gentleman-like feeling. As for honour or pathos, or even 
 
CRITICAL. 91 
 
 common sense, in anything in which they are concerned, it must 
 be wholly out of the question. ..." 
 
 "... Phiz is consistent in his conception of Mr. Pickwick 
 throughout : he is the same idiotic lump of bland blockheadism 
 unrelieved by thought or feeling, from beginning to end. In 
 the hands of Boz, he commences as a butt and ends as a hero. 
 . . . Mr. Pickwick begins as a burlesque man, who never was 
 intended seriously as a representative of anything that ever 
 existed — sometimes well-drawn, and sometimes ill-drawn, as 
 chance may be ; whom the author makes an awkward effort to 
 convert, at the end of his work, into a representative of a 
 man, acting upon real principles of honour and prudence. . 
 The office which he has assigned Pickwick — that of principal 
 jackass in a club of jackasses — could never have given him many 
 opportunities, or, indeed, any opportunities at all, of displaying 
 his worthy inclinations. . . . There are no such characters in 
 the world as Pickwick, Snodgrass, or Winkle. The transforma- 
 tions effected by the magic wand of Harlequin are nothing to 
 the transformations which these personages undergo, in their 
 progress from the beginning to the end of the volume in which 
 they appear. ..." 
 
 "... Mr, Dickens may perhaps now perceive that the 
 objection to the Pickwick Papers, as a whole, is not that 
 " the characters come and go like the men and women we 
 encounter in the real world," but that they do not. He may, 
 perhaps, also find, on reflecting, that this objection never was 
 made to the works of some or any of the greatest novelists in 
 the English language, except by those who do not read them, or 
 cannot understand them. ..." 
 
 " In Oliver Twist, Mr. Dickens has just the same defect — 
 one which certainly cannot be urged against the great novelists. 
 ... In Nicholas Nichleby the alteration of character is less 
 striking, for the hero himself has no character at all, being but 
 the walking thread-paper to convey the various threads of the 
 story. Kate is no better ; and the best-drawn characters in the 
 
92 CEITICAL. 
 
 book, Mantalini and Mrs. Nickleby, have only caricature parts 
 to play ; and, in preserving them, there is no great diffi- 
 culty. . . ." 
 
 " We may remark, in general, that when Boz meddles with 
 law he is always unfortunate. It must have been a very queer 
 jury that gave the plaintiff £700 damages, in the case of Bardell 
 and Pickwick, upon such evidence as is adduced in the report of 
 the case ; and Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz, who is not by any means 
 Mr. Serjeant Bumpus, must be looked upon as a very queer 
 counsel to lead as evidence the opposite party's own friends, and, 
 after having called them, to browbeat and puzzle his own wit- 
 nesses. Indeed, the proceedings in the case, from the very 
 beginning to the summary commitment of Mrs. Bardell to the 
 Fleet for her attorney's costs, without giving her any previous 
 warning, or taking her into previous custody, are such as to lead 
 us to think that the author has not much more knowledge of the 
 doings of gentlemen of the long robe, or the workings of the 
 writ of have-his-carcase, than had the erudite head of the house 
 of WeUer. ..." 
 
 "... We can hardly believe him (Boz) implicitly when he 
 tells us that the artists designed after his hints. In fact, many 
 of his sketches are little more than catalogues of what we find 
 in the pictures, done with the minuteness of an appraiser. The 
 picture, in fact, sold the number ; and the writing was a matter 
 of secondary consideration, so far as sale was concerned. ..." 
 
 133 
 Philosophy of Fiction. By A. P. P. 
 Boston : The Christian Examiner. March, 1842. 
 pp. 1, 19. 
 
 Principally reviewing Master Humjphrey^s Clock. The writer 
 says ; *' We know of no author who handles the pathetic with 
 more art, or rather with less art and more truth to nature, than 
 
CRITICAL. 93 
 
 Dickens. . . . He shows us, more clearly than any other author 
 whom we can name, what Fancy, baptized with a truly Chris- 
 tian spirit, may achieve towards reconciling man to man, and, 
 through love of the brother whom we have seen, towards leading 
 us to the purer love of the Father, whom we have not seen. . ." 
 
 134 
 The Eeception of Mr. Dickens. With a portrait 
 engraved on steel, from a bust by Dexter. 
 New York : United States Magazine and Democratic 
 Review. April, 1842. pp. 315, 320. 
 
 The portrait, not being completed in time for insertion in this 
 number, was published in the succeeding one. 
 
 "... The chief secret of his extraordinary success is to be 
 found in the accordance of the Spirit generally pervading his 
 writings with the democratic genius now everywhere rapidly 
 developing itself as the principle of that new civilization whose 
 dawn is just brightening upon the world. We see that his 
 mind is strongly possessed with a true sense of the unjust suf- 
 fering, moral and physical, by which the mass of mankind is 
 everywhere pressed down to the dust, and especially in the 
 country to which hitherto the scope of his observation has been 
 confined, with a kindly and brotherly sorrow for the hapless fate 
 of its victims, and a righteous and manly, indignation against 
 its causes. This is that deep chord in the mighty lyre of the 
 great popular heart, from which his touch has drawn forth a 
 note at the same time so powerful, and attuned to so fine and 
 sweet a harmony with the spontaneous sympathies of millions. 
 We warn Wellington and Peel, we warn Toryism in general, 
 against this young writer. ..." 
 
 "... There is that in all his books which is calculated to 
 hasten on the great crisis of the English Revolution (speed the 
 
94 CRITICAL. 
 
 hour !), far more effectively than any of the open assaults of 
 Kadicalism or Chartism. The great idea they all assert is that 
 idea of human equality, under the influence of the progress of 
 which the regal palaces and baronial castles of the whole world 
 are crumbling, and destined to crumble, to ruin. ..." 
 
 "... There is one striking defect in his writings which, in 
 the present undiscriminating applause bestowed on both him 
 and them, we will not omit to notice. We refer to the atrocious 
 exaggeration of his bad characters. There are no such creatures 
 ,in the world or in nature. . . . We protest against Mr. Dickens 
 'introducing such people to our acquaintance, and insisting on 
 bringing them with him so intimately whenever he comes. True, 
 we cannot close our doors against either him or them, if we 
 would ; but we should greatly prefer the unmitigated pleasure 
 of his own visits, with those troops of other dear friends whom 
 he has taught us to love and delight in, without having to pay 
 for it the price of tolerating the presence of all these nightmare 
 monstrosities in his train. . . . There are no such characters in 
 human life or human nature ; and the moral effect of exhibiting 
 such to the imagination is very bad, and a serious drawback on 
 the useful influences of the rest of his writings." 
 
 135 
 Modern Novels. Including the "Pickwick Papers," 
 
 "Nicholas Nickleby," and "Master Humphrey's 
 
 Clock." 
 
 London : The Christian Remembrancer. December, 
 1842. pp. 581, 596. 
 
 " He certainly is the true successor to Sir Walter Scott, as the 
 chief novel-writer of his time. ..." 
 
 " In truth, Mr. Dickens is a man of thoroughly original genius ; 
 and like every ether man of real genius, his powers oscillate 
 
CRITICAL. 95 
 
 between great pathos and great humour. His fictions are nearly- 
 all alive; his characters real, distinct flesh and blood, at least 
 when placed in the sphere, and surrounded by the circumstances^ 
 to which his observation has extended. . . ." 
 
 "If Nicholas NicMeby possesses no character altogether equal 
 to Mr. Pickwick, it is on the whole a far superior work. Indeed, 
 no other tale of our author's can boast so consistent and well- 
 developed a plot, so sustained an interest in the action, and so 
 ample and varied an assemblage of characters. . . ." 
 
 " His faults, however, are numerous. His religion, whenever 
 any is introduced, is for the most part such mere pagan senti- 
 mentalism, that we should be better pleased by its absence. He 
 is also a Radical, probably of the better sort ; not a mere pan- 
 derer to popular passions, nor worshipper of the popular will, but 
 with some grave convictions as to the evil of much in our present 
 social system, which he is too earnest a man altogether to con- 
 ceal even when writing for popularity and amusement, 
 
 " Whenever, then, Mr. Dickens comes in contact with any of 
 the objects against which the popular will is most easily tempted 
 into hostility, the privileged classes, recognised officials, ancient 
 institutions, the laws and their administration, it is more or less 
 to disparage them. 
 
 " The clergy are never introduced otherwise than with a sneer. 
 Has the author to describe a pauper's funeral ? The curate 
 keeps it waiting on a cold wet day for more than an hour. A 
 city churchyard suggests the reflection of the numbers of dead 
 who lie huddled together there, ' all dear brothers and sisters of 
 the clergyman who read the service so fast,' etc; while the 
 Ordinary at Newgate is described as bigoted and unfeeling in his 
 estimate of men in their dying moments. Now, we do not deny 
 that there may be cases of careless and unfeeling clergymen 
 keeping mourners waiting in the cold and wet, though we believe 
 them to be of very rare occurrence, the clergyman in respect to 
 time being notoriously, on such occasions, nearly always the party 
 aggrieved. Nor do we deny but what others may read the 
 
96 CRITICAL. 
 
 bvTrial service hurriedly and heartlessly ; or that some may be 
 deficient in delicate consideration whilst preparing the dying for 
 death. But — and once more we beg Mr. Dickens to remember 
 by what classes his writings are read — is it well never to allude 
 to the order except to exhibit it in some light of this sort ? a 
 proceeding the unfairness of which is fully equalled by its 
 danger. ..." 
 
 136 
 
 Charles Dickens. (With selections from "Oliver 
 Twist " and " American Notes.'') 
 Edinburgh : Chambers's Cydopcedia of English Litera- 
 ture. Vol. ii., 1844. pp. 630, 633. 
 
 137 
 
 Charles Dickens. With portrait, after a drawing 
 
 by Miss M. Gillies. 
 
 A New Spirit of the Age, edited by E. H. Home. 
 
 London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1844. Vol. i., 
 
 pp. 1, 76. 
 
 The writer points out the similarity of conception in the pic- 
 tures of Hogarth and the works of Dickens. "... There are 
 no caricatures in the portraits of Hogarth, nor are there any in 
 those of Dickens. The most striking thing in both is their 
 apparently inexhaustible variety and truth of character. ..." 
 
 " That Mr. Dickens often caricatures has been said by many 
 people ; but if they examined their own minds they would be 
 very likely to find that this opinion chiefly originated in, and was 
 supported by, certain undoubted caricatures among the illustra- 
 tions. ..." 
 
CRITICAL. 97 
 
 " To several of the characters he has drawn, objections have 
 often been made that they were exaggerations, or otherwise not 
 perfectly true to nature. It is a mistake to think them untrue : 
 they are, for the most part, facsimile creations, built up with 
 materials from the life, as retained by a most tenacious 
 memory. ^ . ." 
 
 "So far as a single epithet can convey an impression of the 
 operation of his genius, it may be said that Mr. Dickens is an 
 instinctive writer. His best things are suddenly revealed to 
 him ; he does not search for them in his mind — they come to 
 him ; they break suddenly upon him, or drop out of his pen. 
 He does not tax his brain ; he transcribes what he finds writing 
 itself there. This is the peculiar prerogative of a true creative 
 genius. ..." 
 
 138 
 Boz versus Dickens. 
 London : Parker's London Magazine. No. II. Feb- 
 ruary, 1845. pp. 122, 128. 
 
 After an attempt to prove that, when Dickens dropped the 
 nom-de-plume of '* Boz " and assumed his proper name, there 
 was a decline in the merit of his works, the writer says : "... It 
 appears that, between the works of the unknown Eoz and the 
 popular Charles Dickens, there is a similarity which betokens 
 plagiarism, and a difference which marks deterioration. That 
 there are to be found in his later works passages of great 
 eloquence and of good feeling, we will not deny to any of his 
 admirers: We will even go further, and say that there may be 
 genius here and there in his later works of more sparkling 
 beauty and more sterling worth than are to be found in his 
 earlier productions. But they are as one or two brilliants in a 
 tiara of glass beads : they draw all attention to themselves, 
 without lending their attractions to enhance the appearance of 
 
 7 
 
98 CRITICAL. 
 
 the tinsel amid which they are found. It would seem that Mr. 
 Dickens has written too fast, and, to use an expressive phrase, 
 has written himself out. He has had to fall back upon his early 
 works for materials, instead of waiting, and seeking in Nature's 
 wide and ample field for treasures as rich as those which, in his 
 first works, he displayed in such abundance. ..." 
 
 139 
 Writings of Charles Dickens. (By J. Cleghom.) 
 Edinburgh : The North British Review. May, 1845. 
 pp. 65, 87. Reprinted in LittelVs Living Age (Boston), 
 June, 1845. pp. 601, 610. 
 
 **. . . Certainly no one can read even a single chapter of 
 Martin Chuzzlewit without perceiving a very striking declension 
 from the purity and unassuming excellence which marked his 
 earlier compositions. This is apparent, first, in various impurities 
 of expression, and even some gross ofiences against the English 
 language. For iristance, many words, in themselves good and 
 classical, are used in such a collocation that, to make any sense 
 of Ihem at all, we must suppose that the author has imported 
 some new meaning of them from America during his trans- 
 atlantic trip. Thus we have impracticable niglitcaps, impossible 
 tables and exploded chests of drawers, mad closets, inscrutable 
 harpsichords, undeniable chairs, highly geological home-made 
 cakes, remote suggestions of tobacco lingering within a spittoon, 
 and the recesses and vacations of a toothpick. . . ." ' 
 
 "... But he goes further, and offends grievously against 
 the rules of grammar. Catching the infection from his own 
 actors, he adopts their forms of expression, and offends the 
 shade of Lindley Murray with such barbarisms as, ' It had not 
 been painted or papered, hadn't Todgers', past the memory of 
 man j' * She was the most artless creature, was the youngest 
 
CRITICAL. 99 
 
 Miss Pecksniff;' ' Nature played them off against each other ; 
 they had no hand in it, the two Miss Pecksniffs. ' . . ." 
 
 "... The frequent occurrence of ludicrous minuteness in 
 the trivial descriptive details induces us to compare Mr. 
 Dickens's style of delineation to a photographic landscape. 
 There everything within the field of view is copied with unfail- 
 ing but mechanical fidelity. Not a leaf, or stone, or nail is 
 ■wanting, or out of place ; the very bird is arrested as it flits 
 across the sky. But, then, the imitating agent takes exactly 
 the same pains with the dunghill and the gutter as with the 
 palace and the forest tree ; and it is as busy with the latchet of 
 the shoe and the pattern of the waistcoat as with the noble 
 features of the human face. Mr. Dickens's pencil is often as 
 faithful, and not more discriminating. He lavishes as much 
 attention on what is trivial or useless as on the more important 
 parts of the picture, as if he could not help painting everything 
 with equal exactness. Neglecting the effective outline, the 
 charm of harmonious grouping, and of contrasted light and 
 shade, he crowds his canvas with figures, and notes the very 
 hat and neckcloth and coat-buttous of each ; dwelling upon his 
 city scenes, whether connected or not with the business in hand, 
 till he has enumerated the tables and chairs, and even counted 
 the panes of glass. There is no judicious perspective, and with- 
 drawing from view of disagreeable particulars. We stand as 
 close to the most offensive object, and see its details as nakedly, 
 as if it was the most agreeable. . . ." 
 
 "... We do not say that the chief evil to be apprehended 
 from Mr. Dickens's works is that they will teach people, at least 
 of the higher ranks, to commit crimes. Yet it is not impossible 
 that they may give suggestions to vice. . . . We will not un- 
 dertake to say that some may not have imbibed a lesson of 
 callous dissimulation from Sir John Chester, or learned to * pass 
 the rosy ' with Dick Swiveller, or to go a * fogle-hunting ' with 
 the Artful Dodger. The chief evil, however, undoubtedly is 
 
 7—2 
 
100 CRITICAL. 
 
 that the perceptions of moral purity are blunted, exactly as 
 when we mix in company with profligate persons of wit and 
 agreeable manners : the delicate sense of right and wrong, and 
 the instinctive feeling of honour and propriety, are lost ; the 
 blusli ceases to rise spontaneously on the female cheek at a 
 coarse jest or depraved allusion ; and vice can be made a sub- 
 ject of merriment in place of causing sorrow and indignation. 
 The voice of true wisdom will tell us to be averse to all such 
 objects of contemplation as abound in these volumes, to forbid 
 our imaginations to dwell on what is degraded and impure, 
 however conveyed, and rather to occupy our thoughts with 
 habitual study of the qualities and actions of the noble and 
 pious, which will enable us to imbibe their spirit and follow 
 their example. ..." 
 
 "... The good characters in Mr. Dickens's novels do not 
 seem to have a wholesome moral tendency. The reason is that 
 many of them— all the author's favourites — exliibit an excellence 
 flowing from constitution and temperament, and not from the 
 influence of moral or religious motive. They act from impulse, 
 not from principle. They present no struggle of contending 
 passions ; they are instinctively incapable of evil ; they are 
 therefore not constituted like other human beings, and do not 
 feel the force of temptation as it assails our less perfect breasts. 
 It is this that makes them unreal — 
 
 " 'Eaultless monsters, that the world ne'er saw.' 
 This is tbe true meaning of * the simple heart ' which Mr. 
 Dickens so perpetually eulogizes. Indeed, they often degenerate 
 into simpletons, sometimes into mere idiots. Such characters 
 are unin<structive, for in contemplating them we lose sight of 
 the great fact of the corruption of human nature; from which 
 it follows that virtue, whether in the Christian or the heathen 
 breast, consists in the triumph of good principle over evil pi'O- 
 pensity, and the victory of moral and religious motives over the 
 allurements of temptation. ..." 
 
CRITICAL. I'Ol 
 
 *' Another error is the undue prominence given to good 
 temper and kindness, which are constantly made substitutes for 
 all other virtues, and an atonement for want of them ; while a 
 defect in these good qualities is the signal for instant condem- 
 nation and the charge of hypocrisy. It is unfortunate also 
 that Mr. Dickens so frequently represents persons with pre- 
 tensions to virtue and piety as mere rogues and hypocrites, and 
 never depicts any whose station as clergymen, or reputation for 
 piety, is consistently adorned and verified. It is not surprising 
 if he has thus created in the minds of some an impression that 
 he holds the claims of religion itself in contempt. . . ." 
 
 "... The story * abounds with mannerism, but with the 
 best as well as the less pleasing characteristics of the author. 
 We have, no doubt, his carelessness and incorrectness of style, 
 but then all his copiousness and variety ; his tendency to over- 
 strained and extravagant imagery — but then, his unrivalled 
 exuberance of life and animation ; his occasional petulant sneers 
 at religious people and the strict observance of Sunday — but 
 then, liis own touching mode of awakening sympathy with the 
 joys and sorrows of the poor. . . ." 
 
 ** . . . We do not care to criticize itsf style minutely, or to 
 inquire whether its views are not a little one-sided, and the 
 sentimental passages a little vague and rhapsodical ; it is enough 
 that there is a tendency to awaken those emotions of kindness 
 towards the poor which are now too feebly, and can never be 
 too strongly, felt by the richer classes ; and seeing him engaged 
 in so good a work, we heartily wish him success." 
 
 140 
 Dickens's Christmas Books. {" The Cliristmas 
 Carol," " The Chimes," and " The Cricket on the 
 Hearth.") 
 * A Christmas Carol. f The Chimes. 
 
102 CRITICAL. 
 
 London : The Union Magazine, No. II. February, 
 1846. pp. 223, 236. 
 
 Reviewed in conjunction with works by other writers. 
 
 141 
 
 Charles Dickens. (" The People's Portrait Gallery.") 
 By William Howitt. AVith a portrait engraved 
 by W. J. Linton, from a picture by Margaret 
 Gillies. 
 
 London: The People's Journal. 1846. Vol. I., 
 pp. 8, 12. 
 
 " .- . . . We ask, What is it that has made Mr. Dickens so 
 popular ? In nothing does there seem to be so little of nijstery 
 as in this. Nobody can take up a story by the author of Pick- 
 wick without feeling almost instantaneously the exuberant wit, 
 the genuine humour of the man, his intimate knowledge of the 
 life and habits of the masses, and his admirable application of 
 the fruits of his experience. . . ." 
 
 "... His writings are a continual preaching from the text 
 of Burns : 
 
 ' A man's a man for a' that !' 
 
 While they tend to call forth the best feelings of the wealthier 
 cla'Sses, they tend equally to elevate the self-respect and estima- 
 tion of the people. They make them feel that humanity is 
 paramount to all artificial distinctions, and that, spite of the 
 harshest treatment of fortune, if we maintain our inward worth 
 we ftever can become contemptible. ..." 
 
CRITICAL. 103 
 
 142' 
 
 The Living Authors of England. By Thomas 
 Powell. 
 
 New York : Appleton and Co. 1849. pp. 153, 
 178. Keprinted by Messrs. Partridge and Oakey. 
 London. 1851. (See No. 145.) 
 
 Twenty-five pages are devoted to a consideration of the 
 writings of Dickens. 
 
 "... 3^0 man can write simpler and stronger English than 
 the celebrated Boz ; and this renders us the more annoyed at 
 those manifold vulgarities and slipshod errors of style which 
 unhappily have of late years so disfigured his productions. ..." 
 
 **. . . It is impossible to avoid noticing the strong family 
 likeness existing between the writings of an American author 
 and Mr. Dickens. When this was first pointed out to us, 
 with true English partiality we, of course, unhesitatingly 
 pronounced him to be an imitator of the author of Pickwick. 
 We were therefore proportionately surprised when, on com- 
 paring dates, we found that the American, although a much 
 younger man, was in the field before his brother English- 
 man. . . ." 
 
 "To sum up his capabilities in a few words : as a man, he 
 is good-tempered, vain, fickle, which makes him at times appear 
 to be insincere ; on the other hand, it must in justice be stated 
 that he forgets with kindly facility an offence ; but the impres- 
 sion on the minds of those who have known him longest is, that 
 he is deficient in all those striking qualities of the heart which 
 sanctify the memory of man. . . ." 
 
104 CRITICAL. 
 
 143 
 
 The Writings of Charles Dickens. By E. M. 
 Heavisides. Tlie Poetical and Prose Remains of 
 Edward Marsh Heavisides. 
 
 London : Longman, Brown, Green and Longman. 
 1850. 
 
 Mr. Heavisides' essay on Dickens's writings occupies five 
 chapters in this work (pp. 1 to 27). A poem of eight verses, 
 entitled *' Little Nell," is also included (pp. 131, 132). 
 
 144 
 
 Charles Dickens and "David Copperfield." 
 London : Frasefs Magazine. December, 1850. 
 pp. 698, 710. Keprinted in The Eclectic Magazine 
 (New York). February, 1851. pp. 247, 258. 
 
 *' . . . There is not a fireside in the kingdom where the 
 cunning fellow has not contrived to secure a corner for himself 
 as one of the dearest, and, by this time, one of the oldest friends 
 of the family. In his company the country squire shakes his 
 jolly sides, the City merchant smooths his care-wrinkled fore- 
 head ; as he tells his tales to misses in their teens, mammas, 
 grandmammas, and maiden aunts — Grod bless them all ! — their 
 eyes glisten and flow over with the precious diamond-drops of 
 sympathy. ..." 
 
 " How are we to account for this wide-spread popularity ? 
 Not because the author is faultless — he is too human for that ; 
 
CRITICAL. 105 
 
 not because his plots are of absorbing interest — neither Shake- 
 speare's nor Scott's are so : but because of his kindly, all- 
 pervading charity, which would cover a multitude of failings ; 
 because of his genial humour and exquisite comprehension of 
 the national character and manuers ; because of his tenderness ; 
 because of his purity ; and, above all, because of his deep rever- 
 ence for the household sanctities, his enthusiastic worship of 
 the household gods. . . ." 
 
 "Boz, and men like Boz, are the true humanizers, and there- 
 fore the true pacificators, of the world. They sweep away the 
 prejudices of class and caste, and disclose the common ground 
 of humanity which lies beneath factitious social and national 
 systems. ..." 
 
 "This, the last {David Copperfield), is, in our opinion, the 
 best of all the author's fictions. . . ." 
 
 " We have several reasons for suspecting that, here and theie, 
 under the name of David Copperfield, we have been favoured 
 with passages from the personal history, adventures, and ex- 
 perience of Charles Dickens. Indeed, this conclusion is in a 
 manner forced upon us by the peculiar professions selected for 
 the ideal character, who is first a newspaper reporter and then 
 a famous novelist. There is, moreover, an air of reality per- 
 vading the whole book to a degree never attained in any of his 
 previous works, and which cannot be entirely attributed to 
 the mere foy^m of narration. . . .'* 
 
 " It is certain that no one has been more instrumental than 
 Dickens in fostering that spirit of kindly charity which impels a 
 man to do what he can, however narrow his sphere of action 
 may be, to relieve the sufferings and to instruct the ignorance 
 of his brethren ; while Carlyle, on the other hand, treats all 
 such efforts with lofty disdain, and would call them mere 
 attempts to tap an ocean by gimlet-holes, or some such dis'i 
 paraging metaphor, ..." 
 
106 CRITICAL. 
 
 145 
 Pictures of the Living Authors " of Britain. 
 By Thomas Powell. Reprinted from The Living 
 Authors of England, by Thomas Powell. 1849. 
 (See No. 142.) 
 London: Partridge and Oakey. 1851. pp. 18, 
 115. 
 
 146 
 
 " David Copperfield." " History of Pendennis." 
 
 (By David Masson, M.A.) 
 
 Edinburgh : The North British Review. May, 1851. 
 
 pp. 57, 89. Reprinted m LittelVs Living Age (Boston). 
 
 July 19, 1851. pp. 97, 110. 
 
 A comparison is made between the writings of Dickens and 
 Thackeray, and their characteristics discussed. 
 
 "Although following exactly the same literary walk, and 
 both great favourites with the public, there are perhaps no two 
 writers so dissimilar as Mr. Dickens and Mr. Tliackeray. To 
 begin with a matter which, though in the order of strict science 
 it comes last, as involving and depending on all the others — the 
 matter of style or language : here everybody must recognise a 
 remarkable diflference between the two authors. ..." 
 
 " Mr. Thackeray is the more terse and idiomatic, and Mr. 
 Dickens the more diffuse and luxuriant writer. Both seem to 
 be easy penmen, and to have language very readily at their 
 command. Both also seem to convey their meaning as simply 
 as they can, and to be careful, according to their notions of 
 verbal accuracy ; but in Mr. Dickens's sentences there is a leafi- 
 
CRITICAL. 107 
 
 ness — a tendency to words and images for their own sake ; 
 whereas in Mr. Thackeray's one sees the stem and outhne of 
 the thought better. ..." 
 
 *' Copperfield is one of his most pleasing productions, and a 
 decided improvement on its predecessor, Dombey, Not only is 
 the spirit of the book more gentle and mellow, but the style is 
 more continuous and careful, with fewer of those recurring 
 tricks of expression, the dead remnants of former felicities, 
 which constituted what was called his mannerism. Nor must 
 we omit to remark, also, that in passages where higher feeling 
 is called into play, Mr. Dickens's style always rises into greater 
 purity and vigour, the weakness and the superfluity disappearing 
 before the concentrating force of passion, and the language 
 often pouring itself forth in a clear and flowing song. . . ." 
 
 " . . . The artistic faculty of Dickens is more comprehensive, 
 goes over a wider range of the whole field of art, than that of 
 Thackeray. Take Dickens, for example, in the landscape or 
 background department. Here he is capable of great variety. He 
 can give you a landscape proper — a piece of the rural English 
 earth in its summer or in its winter dress, with a bit of water 
 and a pretty village spire in it ; he can give you — what painters 
 seldom attempt — a great patch of flat country by night, with 
 the red trail of a railway-train traversing the darkness ; he can 
 even succeed in a sea-piece ; he can describe the crowded 
 quarter of a city, or a main street of a country town, by night 
 or by day ; he can paint a garden, sketch the interior of a ca- 
 thedral, or daguerreotype the interior of a hut or drawing-room 
 with equal ease ; he can even be minute in his delineations of 
 single articles of dress or furniture. Take him, again, in the 
 figure department. Here he can be an animal-painter with 
 Landseer when he likes, as witness his dogs, ponies, and ravens j 
 he can be an historical painter, as witness his description of the 
 Gordon riots ; he can be a portrait-painter or a caricaturist 
 like Leech j he can give you a bit of village or country life like 
 
108 CRITICAL. 
 
 Wilkie ; he can paint a haggard or squalid scene of low city 
 life 80 as to remind one of some of the Dutch artists, Rem- 
 brandt included, or a pleasant family scene, gay or sentimental, 
 reminding one of Maclise or Frank Stone ; he can body forth 
 romantic conceptions of terror or beauty that have risen in his 
 own imagination ; he can compose a fantastic fairy-piece ; he 
 can even succeed in a powerful dream or allegory, where the 
 figures are hardly human. The range of Tliackeray, on the 
 other hand, is more restricted. In the landscape department 
 he can give you a quiet little bit of background, such as a park, 
 a clump of trees, or the vicinity of a country house, with a 
 village seen in the sunset ; a London street also, by day or by 
 night, is familiar to his eye ; but, upon the whole, his scenes 
 are laid in those more habitual places of resort, where the busi- 
 ness or pleasure of aristocratic or middle-class society goes on — 
 a pillared club-house in Pall Mall, the box or pit of a theatre, a 
 brilliant salon in Mayfair, a public dancing-room, a newspaper 
 office, a shop in Paternoster Eow, the deck of a steamer, the 
 interior of a married man's house, or a bachelor's chambers in 
 the Temple. And his choice of subjects from the life corre- 
 sponds with this. Men and women as they are, and as they 
 behave daily, especially in the charmed circles of rank, litera- 
 ture, and fashion, are the subjects of Mr. Thackeray's pencil ; 
 and in his delineations of them he seems to unite the strong 
 and fierce characteristics of Hogarth with a touch both of 
 Wilkie and Maclise, and not a little of that regular grace and 
 fine sense of colour which charms us in the groups of Wat- 
 teau. . . ." 
 
 <'It is nonsense to say of his (Dickens's) characters generally, 
 intending the observation for praise, that they are life-like. 
 They are nothing of the kiu3. Not only are his serious or 
 tragic creations — his Old Humphreys, his Maypole Hughs, his 
 little Nells, etc. — persons of romance, but even his comic or 
 satiric portraitures do not come within the strict bounds of the 
 
CRITICAL. 109 
 
 real. There never was a real Mr. Pickwick, a real Sam Waller, 
 a real Mrs. Nickleby, a real Quilp, a real Micawber, a real 
 Uriah Heap, or a real Toots, in the same accurate sense that 
 there has bean or might be a real Major Pendennis, a real 
 Captain Costigan, a real Becky, a real Sir Pitt Crawley, and a 
 real Mr. Foker. Nature may, indeed, hara furnished hints of 
 Wallers and Pickwicks — may hare scattered the germs or indi- 
 cations of such odd fish abroad ; and, having once added such 
 characters to our gallery of fictitious portraits, we cannot move 
 a step in actual life without stumbling upon individuals to 
 whom they will apply most aptly as nicknames : good-humoured, 
 bald-headed old gentlemen, who remind us of Pickwick ; care- 
 less, easy spendthrifts of the Micawber type ; fawning rascals of 
 the Heep species, or bashful young gentlemen like Toots. But, 
 at most, these characters are real only thus far : that they are 
 transcendental renderings of certain hints furnished by nature. 
 Seizing the notion of some oddity as seen in the real world, Mr. 
 Dickens has run away with it into a kind of outer or ideal 
 region, there to play with it and work it out at leisure as ex- 
 travagantly as he might choose, without the least impediment 
 from any facts except his own story. ..." 
 
 147 
 
 On the Genius of Charles Dickens. By F. W. 
 Shelton. 
 
 New York : The Knickerbocker. May, 1852. pp. 
 421, 431. 
 
 "... Highest genius consists in ability to illustrate principles 
 of widest application by types or language most universally 
 understood. If this definition be correct (as it is), Dickens is 
 destined to stand in the first rank of authors. ..." 
 
110 CRITICAL. 
 
 148 
 Charles Dickens. Eine Charakteristik von Dr. 
 Julian Schmidt. 
 Leipsig: Verlag von Carl B. Lorck. 1852. pp. 74. 
 
 149 
 Dickens and Thackeray. A second series of Essays 
 reprinted from the Times. 
 London: John Murray. 1854. pp. 320, 338. 
 
 These Essays are selected from the literary papers which have 
 appeared in the Times, the concluding one being devoted to a 
 general criticism of the characters in the works of the two 
 novelists. 
 
 150 
 The Genius of Charles Dickens. (By G. F. 
 Talbot.) 
 New York : Putnam's MontUij Magazine. March 
 1855. pp. 263, 272. 
 
 "... Among the writers of English of the present time, 
 Charles Dickens seems, to our apprehension, to be endowed 
 with the richest gifts of genius, and to hold the best pledges of 
 fame. ..." 
 
 "... The sprightly narrative, the frank and captivating 
 personality, and the delicate touches of satire, which relieve 
 our political essays and sermons of the staid and formal dulness 
 of an earlier style, is directly traceable to the Dickens dispen- 
 ation. ..." 
 
 "... The Pickwick novels are more dramatic than the 
 dramas of Shakespeare. The finest and most memorable 
 
CRITICAL. Ill 
 
 passages of the poet are his own declamations, metaphysical 
 speculations, and moral reflections. He takes the rdle out of 
 the lips of his hero, and in the intensity of his own feelings 
 declaims, denounces, and soliloquizes. Dickens's fancied person- 
 ages never overstep the limits of their nature ; and no incon- 
 gruous sentiment gets smuggled into their speech. ..." 
 
 151 
 Charles Dickens. 
 .Edinburgh: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. April, 
 1855. pp. 451, 4:QQ. Eeprinted in the Eclectic Maga- 
 zine (New York). June, 1855. pp. 200, 214. 
 
 Reviewing the works of Dickens. The writer thus speaks of 
 Hard Times : 
 
 " We cannot but express our conviction that it is to the fact 
 that he (Dickens) represents a class that he owes his speedy eleva- 
 tion to the top of the wave of popular favour. He is a man of 
 very liberal sentiments — an assailer of constituted wrongs and 
 authorities — one of the advocates in the plea of Poor versus 
 Rich, to the progress of which he has lent no small aid in his 
 day. But he is, notwithstanding, perhaps more distinctly than 
 any other author of the time, a class writer, the historian and 
 representative of one circle in the many ranks of our social scale. 
 Despite their descents into the lowest class, and their occasional 
 flights in the less familiar ground of fashion, it is the air and the 
 breath of middle-class respectability which fills the books of Mr. 
 Dickens. ..." 
 
 " . . . He is less the author of Pickwick, of Copperjield, of 
 Bleak House, than he is Charles Dickens ; and we confess that 
 we cannot regard him with the same affection or the same in- 
 dulgence in the latter character as in the former. The man 
 who is not content with giving to the world many admirable 
 
112 CHITICAL. 
 
 pictures of its own living and breathing progress — who is not 
 satisfied with his power of creating a real man, a real woman, 
 and throwing upon these creations of his genius that ideal purity 
 and generous grace which ought to be the very highest aim of 
 the writer of fiction — this man must do something better than 
 indifferent and doubtful pieces of philanthropy and social refor- 
 mation before he can hope to establish for himself — the man as 
 separate from the writer — a second reputation. From the author 
 who has conferred a great many pleasures upon us — who has 
 added so largely to our acquaintance, and given us so many types 
 of real and individual existence with which to enrich our minds 
 and conversation — we are prepared to receive everything with 
 the respect which he merits ; but our relative position is very 
 different when we come to be placed opposite, not the writer, 
 but the man. . . ." 
 
 " Mr. Dickens is the favourite and spoiled child of the popular 
 heart. There is a long ring of applause echoing after him wherever 
 it pleases him to go ; but for the sake of his great and well- 
 deserved reputation, we think it would be well for Mr. Dickens 
 to discover on which foundation it is that he stands most 
 secure. . . ." 
 
 *' The book [Hard Times) is more palpably a made book than 
 any of the many manufactured articles we have lately seen. It 
 is neither born out of the natural fruition of a mind and fancy 
 ahvays astir — nor, after it has begun to be, do its characters 
 and events proceed with the natural compulsion and impulse of 
 life." 
 
 152 
 
 Charles Dickens and his Philosophy. Discourses 
 on Special Occasions and Miscellaneous Pajpers. By C. 
 Van Santvoord, 
 New York : 185G. pp. 333, 359. 
 
CRITICAL. 113 
 
 153 
 
 Remonstrance with Dickens. 
 Edinburgh : Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. April, 
 1857. pp. 490, 503. Reprinted in LittelVs Living 
 Age (Boston). May 23, 1857. pp. 480, 492. 
 
 ** . . . In his later productions he aims at being, besides 
 artist and novelist, politician, philosopher, and ultra-philan- 
 thropist. If we direct attention to his weakness in these latter 
 characters, it is solely because he has for years past evinced 
 more and more his tendency to abandon his strong point a 
 humourist and comic writer, and to base his pretensions o: 
 grounds which we consider utterly false and unstable. Tor a 
 a humourist we prefer Dickens to all living men — as artist, 
 moralist, politician, philosopher, and ultra-philanthropist, we 
 prefer many living men, women, and children to Dickens. It 
 is because we so cordially recognised, and so keenly enjoyed, 
 his genius in his earlier works, tliat we now protest against the 
 newer phase he chooses to appear in. Formerly his impulses 
 came from within. What his unerring eye saw, as it glanced 
 round the world, was represented in a medium of the richest 
 humour. But gradually his old characteristics have slipped from 
 him, supplanted by others totally different in origin and result. 
 All his inspiration now seems to come from without. We 
 always imagine him beset, while planning a new book, by 
 critics selected from the most ill-judging of his readers, into 
 whose hands he commits himself, and begins writing to 
 order. . . ." 
 
 ** . . . And if you take our advice, and give your rare powers 
 fair play, laying aside your pen for awhile, collecting fitting 
 materials in your own fields, without wandering into regions 
 strange to you, and, when fully ripe, expressing the results of 
 your marvellous faculty of observation in your old natural, 
 
 8 
 
114 CRITICAL. 
 
 humorous, graphic, pathetic way, we, as we read, gladdest of 
 your readers, that matured evidence of your genius, will bow 
 ourselves before you, and (while secretly exulting in the fruit 
 our words have borne) will humbly crave forgiveness for our 
 bold though honest remonstrance, rejoicing more over your 
 repentance than over ninety -and-nine respectable writers who 
 have never gone astray. But if you do not take our advice, 
 and mean to go on building streets of Bleak Houses, and creating 
 crowds of Little Dorrits, then we recommend you to inscribe on 
 your next serial * A Banter on the British Public. By Charles 
 Dickens. In Twenty Parts.' " 
 
 154 
 
 The Modern Novel : Dickens, Bulwer, Thacke- 
 ray. Essays in Biograjphy and Criticism, by Peter 
 Bayne, M.A. First Series. 
 Boston : Gould and Lincoln. 1857. pp. 363, 392. 
 
 The author defines the requisite characteristics of a novel, 
 and criticizes the writings of Dickens, Bulwer, and Thackeray, 
 whom he considers the greatest of living romancers. 
 
 "... We do not know any instance of imaginative power 
 on which we would more willingly rely, which we could more 
 absolutely trust, than that of Dickens. Yet when he leaves the 
 alleys of St. G-iles and the office in Bow Street, which he has 
 seen, and sets himself to depict what he merely imagines to 
 exist, how strange is the work he produces !" 
 
 '' . . . His early works are all aglow with genius. The 
 supreme potency with which he commands it is shown in the 
 total absence of effort, in the classic chasteness and limpid flow 
 of thought, fancy, and diction. You are in a meadow just after 
 dawn 5 the flowers are fresh as if they had awakened from 
 slumber, and the dew is on them all. A word, an idea, a 
 
CRITICAL. 115 
 
 glimpse of beauty, is always at hand ; the writer never tarries 
 a moment ; yet there is no display, no profusion of opulence. 
 You do not see him waving the wand : the tear or the smile is 
 on your cheek before you are aware. The distinctive power ot 
 Dickens lies, we think, in a sympathy of extraordinary range, 
 exquisite delicacy, and marvellous truth. He does not so much 
 as look, with steady, unparticipating gaze, until he knows and 
 remembers the exact features of life : he feels. With all human 
 sorrow he could weep : with all human mirth he could laugh ; 
 and when he came to write, emotion he aimed at exciting was 
 made sure by being first experienced in his own breast. ..." 
 
 155 
 Charles Dickens. With a portrait of Dickens 
 writing, from a photograph by Watkins. 
 London: The Critic, No. 426. Published at 29, 
 Essex Street, Strand. 1858. pp. 534, 537. 
 
 156 
 Mr. Dickens. 
 
 London: The Saturday Beview. May 8, 1858. pp. 
 
 474, 475. Reprinted in LitteWs Living Age (Boston). 
 July 24, 1858. pp. 263, 265. 
 
 Reviewing the works of Charles Dickens. 
 
 "... If popularity is to be taken as the test of merit, Mr. 
 Dickens must be ranked next to Sir Walter Scott in the list of 
 English novelists. ..." 
 
 " . . . Mr. Dickens is the very Avatar of chafi", and bigwigs 
 of every description are his game. The joviality, the animal 
 
 8—2 
 
116 CRITICAL. 
 
 spirits, and the freshness with which he acted this part in his 
 earliest books are wonderful. We cannot mention any carica- 
 ture so perfect and so ludicrous as the description of Messrs. 
 Dodson and Fogg, and that of the trial of Bard ell v. Pick- 
 wick. ..." 
 
 ** . . . It does not appear to us certain that his books will 
 live, nor do we think that his place in literary history will be by 
 the side of such men as Defoe and Fiel ling, the founders of the 
 school to which he belongs. . . ." 
 
 '* . . He can only conceive of virtues and vices in their 
 very simplest forms. The goodness of his good men is always 
 running over their beards, like Aaron's ointment ; the wicked- 
 ness of his villains is always flaming and blazing like a house 
 on fire. The mixed characters, the confusion, the incomplete- 
 ness, wliich meet us at every step in real life, never occur in 
 his pages. You understand what he means on the first reading 
 far better than on any other. The only characters drawn from 
 real observation belong to one or two classes of life. All the 
 oddities of London he has sketched with inimitable vigour ; 
 but class characteristics and local peculiarities are of a very 
 transient nature. Forty years hence most of his wit will be 
 harder to understand than the allusions in the Bunciad ; and 
 our grandchildren will wonder what their ancestors could have 
 meant by putting Mr. Dickens at the head of the novelists of 
 the day. . . ." 
 
 "... Mr. Dickens's writings are the apotheosis of what has 
 been called newspaper English. He makes points everywhere, 
 gives unfamiliar names to the commonest objects, and lavishes 
 a marvellous quantity of language on the most ordinary inci- 
 (lents, , . ." 
 
CRITICAL. 117 
 
 157 
 Charles Dickens. (By ^Y. Bagehot.) 
 London : The National Review, October, 1858. 
 pp. 458, 486. Eeprinted in LittelVs Living Age 
 (Boston). November 27, 1858. pp. 643, 659. And 
 in Literary Studies hy the late Walter Bagehot, M.A. 
 1879. (See No. 214.) 
 
 Beviewing the works of Charles Dickens. 
 
 " . , . There is no contemporary English writer whose works 
 are read so generally through the whole house, who can give 
 pleasure to the servants as well as to the mistress, to the chil- 
 dren as well as to the master. Mr. Thackeray, without doubt, 
 exercises a more potent and plastic fascination within his sphere ; 
 but that sphere is limited. ..." 
 
 "... His (Dickens's) genius is essentially irregular and 
 unsymmetrical. , Hardlj any English writer, perhaps, is much 
 more so. His style is an example of it. It is descriptive, racy, 
 and flowing ; it is instinct with new imagery and singular illus- 
 tration ; but it does not indicate that due proportion of the 
 faculties to one another which is a beauty in itself, and which 
 cannot help diffusing beauty over every happy word and moulded 
 clause. . . . His range is very varied. He has attempted to 
 describe every kind of scene in English life, from quite the 
 lowest to almost the highest. He has not endeavoured to secure 
 success by confining himself to a single path, nor wearied the 
 public with repetitions of the subjects by the delineation of 
 which he originally obtained fame. In his earlier works he 
 never writes long without saying something well — something 
 which no other man would have said. But even in them it is 
 the characteristic of his power that it is apt to fail him at once j 
 from masterly strength we pass without interval to almost iu- 
 
118 CRITICAL. 
 
 fantine weakness — something like disgust succeeds in a moment 
 to an extreme admiration. . . . He is often troubled -with the 
 idea that he must reflect; and his reflections are, perhaps, the 
 worst reading in the world. There is a sentimental confusion 
 about them ; we never find the consecutive precision of mature 
 theory, or the cold distinctness of clear thought. Vivid facts 
 stand out in his imagination, and a fresh, illustrative style 
 brings them home to the imagination of his readers ; but his 
 continuous philosophy utterly fails in the attempt to harmonize 
 tliem — to educe a theory or elaborate a precept from them. . . . 
 His abstract understanding is so far inferior to his picturesque 
 imagination as to give, even to his best works, the sense of jar 
 and incompleteness, and to deprive them altogether of the crys- 
 talline finish which is characteristic of the clear and cultured 
 understanding. . . . His shrewdness in some things, especially 
 in traits and small things, is wonderful. His works are full of 
 acute remarks on petty doings, and well exemplify the telling 
 power of minute circumstantiality. . . ." 
 
 "... When he rises from the toiling to the luxurious 
 classes, his genius in most cases deserts him. The delicate 
 refinement and discriminating taste of the idling orders are not 
 in his way; he knows the dry arches of London Bridge better 
 than Belgravia. He excels in inventories of poor furniture, 
 and is learned in pawnbrokers' tickets. . . . There are scarcely 
 anywhere such pictures of London as he draws. The writer 
 ha|p equally comprehended the artistic material which is given 
 by its extent, its congregation of diflerent elements, its mouldi- 
 ness, its brilliancy. . . . He describes London like a special 
 correspondent for posterity. . . . His marvellous power of 
 observation has been exercised upon men and women even 
 more than upon town or country ; and the store of human 
 detail, so to speak, in his books is endless and enormous. . . . 
 He has a very peculiar power of taking hold of some particular 
 traits and making a character out of them. . . . The idea of 
 
CRITICAL. 119 
 
 traits and trades may seem . . . poor and meagre. Anybody 
 . . . can do that. But how would they do it? * Whose fancy 
 would not break down in a page — in five lines? Who could 
 carry on the vivification with zest and energy and humour for 
 volume after volume? Endless fertility in laughter-causing 
 detail is Mr. Dickens's most astonishing peculiarity. It re- 
 quires a continuous and careful reading of his works to be aware 
 of his enormous wealth. Writers have attained the greatest 
 reputation for wit and humour whose whole works do not con- 
 tain so much of either as is to be found in a very few pages of 
 his. ..." ^ 
 
 *' . . .In the cases in which Mr. Dickens has attempted to 
 make a long connected story, or to develop into scenes or inci- 
 dents a plan in any degree elaborate, the result has been a 
 complete failure. . . . The defect of plot is heightened by Mr. 
 Dickdns's great — we might say complete — inability to make a 
 love-story. . . . Mr. Dickens is not only unable to make lovers 
 talk, 'but to describe hei'oines in mere narrative. . . . Most 
 men can make a tumble of blue eyes and fair hair and pearly 
 teeth, that does very well for a young lady, at least for a good 
 while; but Mr. Dickens will not, probably cannot, attain even 
 to this humble measure of descriptive art. He vitiates the 
 repose by broad humour, or disenchants the delicacy by an 
 unctuous admiration. . . ." 
 
 "... He has naturally great powers of pathos ; his imagina- 
 tion is familiar with the common sorts of human suffering, and 
 his marvellous conversancy with the detail of existence enables 
 him to describe sick-beds and death-beds with an excellence 
 very rarely seen in literature. ... A few pedantic critics have 
 regretted that Mr. Dickens had not received what they call a 
 regular education. ... It would have been absurd to have 
 shut up this observant youth within the walls of a college. 
 They would have taught him nothing about Mrs. G-amp there ; 
 Sam Waller took no degree. . . ." 
 
120 CRITICAL. 
 
 158 
 Novels and Novelists, from Elizabeth to Victoria. 
 By J. Cordy Jeaffreson. With a portrait of Dickens 
 as frontispiece, engraved by J. H. Baker. 
 
 London: Hurst and Blackett. 1858. Vol. II. 
 pp. 303, 334. 
 
 "... WhereTer there are men of English origin, speaking 
 the English tongue, there the genius of Charles Dickens is one 
 of the important facts of life. The avidity also with which 
 translations of his works are bought a)id read in all regions of 
 the earth where there is a literature to translate them into, is 
 an evidence of his popularity in nations not speaking the Anglo- 
 Saxon, that everyone is aware of ; but it is amongst ourselves 
 and our near kin that we naturally expect him, and find him 
 to be most cordially and enthusiastically admired. And how 
 deep and all embracing is that sentiment ! Throughout the 
 length and breadth of the land, what genuine and unswerving 
 loyalty there is to Charles Dickens ! It is the same in the hall 
 and the hamlet ; only, in the dwellings of the poor that love, 
 like every other affection, is more earnest and out-speaking. 
 The humble toilers of manufacturing towns are by no means 
 the especial and only adherents of the great author among the 
 poor; for the simple peasants of secluded districts, where no 
 labour is performed that is not in some way or other connected 
 with the culture of the soil, believe in him with a hearty con- 
 fidence that is a touching satire on the infidelity and scepticism 
 in vogue amongst the refined. There is none whose name so 
 thrills their honest hearts ; none whom their horny hands and 
 slow tongues would so obstinately defend. The writer of these 
 pages knows cottages on bleak wolds, over which the winter's 
 winds scream terribly, and cabins fixed in hollows beside damp 
 
CRITICAL. 121 
 
 lanes, where every evening odd numbers, black and greasy as an 
 old fustian jacket from being thumbed, of the works of Boz — 
 and even stray leaves, sacredly preserved — are spelt out and 
 sobbed over by a family circle. And when the reading is over, 
 they talk first of the story, and then of its writer ; whereupon 
 some rugged patriarch of the plough — whose voice is respected, 
 though he does not know a letter of the alphabet, and has 
 learnt the sad story of Ham and Emily through the lips of his 
 little granddaughter (who reads like a * scholard ') — tells out 
 slowly to his attentive audience how Charles Dickens is * one 
 on 'em, and nought can take him from 'em, for his heart ia 
 right set ;' and to us it has ever seemed far nobler to rule naen's 
 minds with words than to drive their bodies with bayonets. . .* 
 
 "... Mr. Dickens is always new and without precedent in 
 his conceptions J he never, as it is termed, 'reproduces him- 
 self.' ..." 
 
 "... Certain it is that, in the entire range of our noble 
 literature, Shakespeare alone can be for a moment compai*ed 
 with Dickens as a noble and prolific delineator of human cha- 
 racter. ..." 
 
 ** . . . Of all the novelists now figuring in our literature, 
 there is not one who is not largely indebted to him ; and the 
 popular and applauded ones are not few, whose characters, 
 plots, tricks of handling, modes of description, even to the 
 slightest mannerisms of expression, may be immediately traced 
 to him, although their artistic aspirations may be the exact 
 reverse of his elevated and benevolent ones. . . ." 
 
 159 
 British Novelists and their Styles : being a 
 Critical Sketch of the History of British Proie 
 Fiction. By David Masson, M.A. • 
 
122 CRITICAL. 
 
 Cambridge: Macmillan and Co. 1859. pp. 233, 
 
 253. 
 
 Containing a chapter devoted to a consideration of Dickens 
 and Thackeray. The substance of these pages was delivered in 
 the form of lectures to the members of the Philosophical Insti- 
 tute in the months of March and April, 1858. The greater part 
 of this essay first appeared in the North British Review, May, 
 1851. (See No. 146.) 
 
 160 
 
 The Collected Works of Charles Dickens. 
 
 London : The British Quarterly Review. January, 
 
 1862. pp. 135, 159. 
 
 "... The literature of fiction has indeed been looked up 
 since the days when its utter extinction was so confidently pro- 
 phesied, and the writers now take their due place among our 
 literary men. High among these stands Charles Dickens, a 
 novelist unknown to i'ame when Sir Walter Scott laid down 
 his pen, but who has since achieved a popularity even greater 
 than his, and occupies with Thackeray the foremost rank among 
 our writers of fiction. ..." 
 
 161 
 
 Dickens's Dogsj or, The Landseer of Fiction. 
 With six illustrations, drawn by Walter Crane, of 
 some dogs that Dickens portrayed in his works. 
 
 London: London Society. July, 1863. pp. 48, 61. 
 
 The writer gives an account of the dogs which Dickens 
 has so cleverly described. *' That the old, low canine is out 
 
CRITICAL. 123 
 
 of fashion, and a more enlightened sentiment has come in its 
 place, must be no doubt set to the account of what is called the 
 spirit of the age. But for the thorough propagation and 
 wholesale popularization of these views, their extension through 
 the yilla districts — in short, for the preaching of the new evangel 
 through the length and breadth of the land, two persons — two 
 incomparable artists each in his own walk — are more directly 
 responsible. To Mr. Charles Dickens and Sir Edwin Landseer 
 a grateful canine posterity, if ever it should reach to the neces- 
 sary development, shall set up the bronze statue or commemo- 
 ration pillar ! . . . The painter has pleaded by his canvas and 
 his multiplied engravings, the writer by a broad flood of stories 
 poured out over the face of the land. The one preaches from 
 the wall; the other, with a far greater command of eye and 
 heart, from a pulpit by the fireside. The painter, with all his 
 wonderful skill, sets his animals in attitudes— gives but canine 
 poses plastiques — the quick eye an"d intelligent look ; he mani- 
 pulates the hair and skin with a brush infinitely marvellous. . . . 
 Yet with the novelist is ,a far greater power, and an infinitely 
 broader variety. ... By some mystery the grand magician is 
 assumed to have special knowledge of the interior working of 
 the motives and emotions of the tribe, and by a pleasant fiction 
 reproduces the whole interior idiosyncrasy with a delightful 
 authority which no one seems prepared to question. . . ." 
 
 162 
 
 HiSTOIRE DE LA LiTTERATURE AnGLAISE. Par H. 
 
 Taine. Tom. TV. "Les Contemporains." Livre 
 v., chapitre 1. " Le Roman : Dickens." (See No. 
 195.) 
 
 Paris: 1864. pp. 3, 69. 
 
124 CRITICAL. 
 
 163 
 
 Modern Novelists : Charles Dickens. 
 
 London: The Westminster Review. October, 1864. 
 pp. 414, 441. Eeprinted in the Eclectic Magazine (New- 
 York). January, 1865. pp. 42, 59. 
 
 *' ... . His genius is entirely original. It is scarcely an 
 exaggeration to say that the light literature of the present 
 generation has been created and moulded under the influence 
 of his style. Pickwick has been to us very much wliat the Rape 
 of the Loch was to the poets of the last century. It has revo- 
 lutionized comic writing, and introduced a new standard of 
 humour. . . . He has entered into our every-day life in a manner 
 which no other living author lias done. Much of his phrase- 
 ology has become common property. Allusions to his works 
 and quotations from them are. made by everybody, and in all 
 places. If Sir Edward Bulwer had never written a line there 
 would be a blank on our shelves, and perhaps in some of our 
 thoughts; but assuredly there would be no perceptible diflPerence 
 in our conversation. Eut take away Fickwick or Martin 
 Chuzzlewit, and the change would be noticed any day in Cheap- 
 side " 
 
 "The happy choice of subject has had much to do with his 
 success. In his later works he has always mixed up with his 
 unrivalled descriptions a serious element, or, to speak more 
 strictly, he has made the descriptions themselves subservient to 
 a moral or political purpose. It is but fair to say that this 
 habit seems to have been gradually forced upon him by the 
 character of his genius. . . ." 
 
 " It must be admitted that he sometimes spoils both his wit 
 and his humour by putting them in the mouth of the wrong 
 person. This arises from the fact that he often begins a book 
 
CRITICAL. 125 
 
 without having formed a clear notion of it as a whole. He 
 introduces a character with no defined intention as to the use 
 that is to be made of him. . . . Next to his wit and humour, 
 the leading quality of Mr. Dickens's mind is undoubtedly his 
 imagination. . . . His genesis of character, like his description 
 of Nature, is exactly what might be expected in a writer of his 
 peculiar endowments. It is imaginative, brilliant, effective, 
 but it is altogether wanting in analytical depth, and has at best 
 an air of half truth about it. He rarely shows many of the 
 more delicate springs of action. There is too much consistency 
 for life, and too much violent contrast for art. The gradation, 
 the shading, the secondary lights are wanting. It always re- 
 minds one of Martin's pictures, in which the world is tumbling 
 about in the presence of a mixed assembly of demons and 
 angels. He paints his scenes minutely. He conceives his 
 characters strongly. But he works at them as if each, like the 
 alligator, were itself an epic self-contained. . . ." 
 
 " When Mr. Dickens writes on principle, with an object 
 before him, and, above all, when he tries to enlist our sympathy 
 or dislike, he signally fails. We search in vain throughout 
 these sixteen novels for any one man or woman whom we really 
 admire, really fear, or whom we should at all desire to imitate. 
 If the figures in a tailor's shop were to become suddenly ani- 
 mated, they would be exceedingly like Mr. Dickens's heroes. . . . 
 The reason of this is that Mr. Dickens has trusted not to his 
 observation, but to his imagination, and he has exercised his 
 imagination on a subject of which he has no special know- 
 ledge. . . ." 
 
 "It is hard to be obliged to find fault with Mr. Dickens. 
 We ov/e him too much. He is a man of genius ; in many 
 respects rarely gift e||». He has exceptional powers of observation 
 and^escription, great imagination, and an intuitive tact in 
 appreciating many of the more delicate shades of passion. On 
 the other hand, his intellect is, we will not say ruled, but 
 
126 CRITICAL. 
 
 crushed and dwarfed by his emotional facultiea. Partly from 
 a defective education, and partly from a constitutional bias, he 
 seems unable to take either an extensive or an intensive view 
 of any eubject ; neither grasping it as a whole, nor thoroughly 
 exhausting any single part. His writings show the same union 
 of strength and weakness ; his plots inartificial, his genesis of 
 character rude and unphilosophic, his literary execution oscillat- 
 ing with tolerable evenness between the intensely vulgar and 
 commonplace, and passages of the most striking beauty. . . . 
 We cannot think that he will live as an English classic. He 
 deals too much in accidental manifestations and too little in 
 universal principles. Before long hia language will have passed 
 away, and the manners he depicts will only be found in a 
 dictionary of antiquities. And we do not at all anticipate that 
 he vrill be rescued from oblivion either by his artistic powers or 
 by his political sagacity." 
 
 164 
 Two English Essayists : Charles Lamb and 
 
 Charles Dickens. By Percy Fitzgerald. The 
 
 Afternoon Lectures on Literature and Art, Second 
 
 Series. 
 
 London : Bell and Daldy. 1864. pp. 85, 100. 
 
 "... The world is familiar with the works of the great 
 English story-teller — with the stream of tales which the enchanter 
 of the Thousand-and-one English Nights' Entertainments ha-s 
 poured out with an amazing variety, and an abundance of 
 fancy which, even now, seems like a newly-discovered store- 
 house. Where other men fall away and drop out of fashion, 
 his prestige has only increased ; he has controlled the habitual 
 fickleness of his great public ; and at the first page of every 
 new book he acknowledges to having had an audience larger by 
 
CRITICAL, 127 
 
 many thousands than for his last. His men and women are as 
 distinct and about as sure of living as are the men and women 
 of history : and his stories will draw tears and laughter so long 
 as pathos and humour shall have power to exact that homage. 
 Not so familiar, perhaps because chiefly anonymous, are the 
 light essays and sketches which dot the well-known journal so 
 long associated with his name. Yet, though more or less sub- 
 ject to the fatal butterfly destiny which waits on all periodical 
 literature, they are yet marvellously artistic, are quite worthy 
 of his more serious works, and have besides all the charm of a 
 pleasant absence of grave responsibility. . . ." 
 
 165 
 Mr. Dickens and his Critics. Mr. Dickens as 
 A Reader. By John Hollingshead. To-Bay : 
 Essays and Miscellanies (Yol. II. " Night Thoughts "), 
 by John Hollingshead. 
 
 London : Groombridge and Sons. 1865. pp.277, 
 283 ; and 284, 296. 
 
 The first article takes the form of a dialogue carried on by 
 Hylas and Philonous, who discuss the merits of Dickens's 
 creations, and condemn the injustice done to them by the 
 critics. 
 
 Hylas says : " When the turmoil of the present century, 
 with all the virulence of its political debate, and all the petty 
 jealousies of its literature, shall have passed away ; when those 
 who penned the stinging epigram or the caustic satire shall be 
 weak, or dead, or dying — dying, and anxious to give worlds to 
 cancel many a brilliant injustice, which their hasty pens have 
 put upon record, then, and not till thien, shall we arrive at a 
 
128 CRITICAL. 
 
 calm estimate of the value of the writings of Charles Dickens." 
 — In the article on " Dickens as a Reader," the writer says : 
 " Language is a wonderful and powerful instrument in the 
 hands of a master; but it always leaves something unconveyed 
 of tlie brightest concept ions of the liighest inventive genius, and 
 this something Mr. Dickens is enabled to add through the 
 medium of his talent as an elocutionary illustrator." 
 
 166 
 
 The Genius of Dickens. By E. P. Whipple. 
 
 Boston : The Atlantic Monthly. May, 1867. pp. 
 546, 554. 
 
 "... Alone among his contemporaries, Charles Dickens 
 seems to possess that instinctive sympathy with whatever is 
 human and humane which is the fundamental condition of 
 genial and varied characterization. In impersonated abstrac- 
 tions of humanity which satisfy our ideal of human nature, he 
 may be exceeded ; in individualities which make us in love 
 with our kind, he is unapproached. . > . No writer stamps the 
 character of his genius on everything he writes more plainly 
 than he. It is impossible to mistake his style, his method, his 
 sentiment, his humour, his characters. His observing power, 
 when extended beyond the range of his sympathies, becomes 
 * objective,' it is true, but ceases to be creative. In his genuine 
 productions he not only embodies all that he knows, but com- 
 municates all that he is. The reality of his personages comes 
 from the vividness of his conceptions, and not from any phcCto- 
 graphic quality in his method of representation. Observation 
 affords him materials; but he always modifies these materials, 
 and often works them up into the most fantastic shapes. Indi- 
 viduals, incidents, scenery, the very pavement of his streets, the 
 very bricks of his houses, the very furniture of his apartments, 
 are all haunted by Dickens's spirit. To read one of his 
 
CRITICAL. 129 
 
 romances is to see everything through the author's eyes ; the 
 most familiar objects take an air of strangeness when surveyed 
 through such a medium ; and the interest excited by the view- 
 has always in it a kind of fascination. We may dissent, criti- 
 cize, protest, but still his clatch on our attention is never 
 relaxed.'' 
 
 ** . . . His general opinions are those of a man of sound sense 
 and wholesome sensibility ; his general attitude towards the 
 world is that of one who sympathizes and enjoys. ..." 
 
 " . ... The very excess of his characterizing power has led 
 some critics to deny to him its possession. He so surcharges 
 his characters with vitality that they seem like persons who 
 have taken something to drink ; and, as they burst into the 
 more decorous society delineated by other English novelists, 
 there is a cry raised for the critical police. This exaggeration, 
 however, is not caricature, for caricature never gives the im- 
 pression of reality. . . . Dickens caricatures only when his 
 special object is to satirize. . . . Indeed, so close and minute, 
 as well as vivid, is Dickens's method of delineation, that it is 
 impossible not to perceive and realize his creations. The critic 
 who decries them must be conscious, all the time, that they 
 are more real to him than the carefully- drawn characters he 
 praises i^ other novelists of the time. ..." 
 
 " The plots of his romances, though frequently improbable 
 in themselves, always seem probable in relation to the characters 
 they are devised to bring vividly out. . . ." 
 
 "The impression left by all his books is not only humane, 
 but humanizing. He is a philanthropist, both positively and 
 negatively; ..." 
 
 "In the representation of love Dickens is masterly only in 
 exhibiting its affectionate side ; and in this no contemporary, 
 English or French, approaches him. . . ." 
 
 9 
 
130 CRITICAL. 
 
 167 
 
 Charles Dickens. (By J. Hain Friswell.) Being 
 No. VII. of a series of critical biographies, entitled 
 " Men of Mark." 
 London: The London Review. November 16, 1867. 
 
 pp. 546, 550. Eeprinted in LitteU's Living Age. 
 
 (Boston.) December 14, 1867. pp. 681, 688. 
 
 This essay was reprinted, with additions, in Friswell's Modern 
 Mm of Letters Honestly Criticized. 1870. (See No. 187.) 
 
 ' * . . . The creatures begotten in his fertile brain have 
 peopled ours, and have and do fill the thoughts of the sailor 
 on his lonely watch, of the squatter as he sits solitary in 
 his hut miles away from human help, of the miner below the 
 earth, of the wrapped-up traveller as he hurries on at hurricane 
 speed above its surface. Positive mental rest, happiness, sound- 
 ness, pleasantness, and sunshine this man has given to a larger 
 number of his brothers and sisters than any other living soul. 
 G-od gifted him at his birth with genius and activity, and he 
 has been true to his trust. The talents have multiplied a thou- 
 sand-fold. Of how many great ones can we say as much ? Of 
 no man can we say more." 
 
 168 
 Charles Dickens. (By C. E. Norton.) 
 'Boston'. The North American Review. April, 1868. 
 pp. 671, 672. 
 
 The writer thus concludes an article eulogizing the happy 
 influence of the novelist's works : — " . . . We offer our thanks 
 to him who is giving such pleasure to us, and who is so dear 
 
CKITICAL. 131 
 
 and well-known to us all. May it be long before this benefactor 
 of mankind is taken from a world which he has done so much 
 to make better and happier !" 
 
 169 
 
 Charles Dickens. By George Stott. 
 
 London: The Contemporary Revieiv. February, 1869. 
 
 pp. 203, 225. Eeprinted in LittelVs Living Age 
 
 (Boston). March 20, 1869. pp. 707, 720. 
 
 "... In spite of all his imperfections and faults, his mani- 
 fold sins of commission as well as of omission, we still hold him 
 to be emphatically a man of genius. ..." 
 
 ** . . .He has a Theory of Life ; he has strong, though 
 vague and uninstructed, notions upon what he considers certain 
 abuses and wants in our political and social system. He is, in 
 his own way, an ardent reformer ; and his convictions have, 
 from the first, impressed themselves as motive principles on his 
 books. Nearly every one has even partaken of the nature of 
 the political essay. ..." 
 
 •* . . . We are introduced (in his writings) to a state of things 
 quite inconsistent with fact — a world peopled by grotesque 
 impossibilities. Of course, the objection might be urged that 
 this was due to clumsiness and want of power on the part of the 
 writer. His aims were the aims of the realist, and failure the 
 most stupendous could only prove him a bad artist, not an 
 artist of a difi'erent school. ..." 
 
 " Mr. Dickens's genius seems to us essentially akin to that of 
 the farce-writer and the caricaturist. Of course the caricature 
 must be like the thing caricatured, else it would altogether miss 
 fire ; but it seizes on some one or two striking points in its 
 object, and, by bringing them out with exaggerated prominence, 
 destroys the relation in which they actually stand to the 
 rest. . . ." 
 
132 CRITICAL. 
 
 "... Merely as stories, his novels are generally excellent ; 
 and when content to rely for his effects on his vis comica^ he is 
 at no loss for incidents and situations exquisitely amusing, and 
 adapted to bring out just those features of the actors he wishes 
 us to look at. But for pictures of life ! Why, Box and Cox 
 itself, with its two heroes habitually occupying the same room, 
 and only by the merest accident discovering one another's 
 existence, is hardly more ludicrously extravagant. . . ." 
 
 '• . . . The causes of this curious mixture of success and 
 failure, of striking merit and glaring imperfection, in Mr. 
 Dickens's productions, are not far to seek. We have already 
 partly indicated them in characterizing his genius as akin to 
 that of the caricaturist and the farce-writer, but the point 
 requires a fuller elucidation. We have said that his realism is 
 illusory ; we may now add that his idealism is arbitrary. He 
 seeks to produce the effects of idealistic art by idealizing that 
 which is not legitimately susceptible of idealization at all, or at 
 any rate, to more than a very limited extent. Mr. Dickens 
 works from the eye, not the imagination. . . ." 
 
 "... Mr. Dickens does certainly succeed in producing strong 
 an.d telling effects — effects in their way sui generis — and be- 
 tokening powers of no common order. It is probably from a 
 latent consciousness of the true bent of his genius — for, once 
 more, genius it assuredly is — that he shows so marked a pre- 
 dilection for peopling his pages with * oddities.' In dealing 
 with these, Mr. Dickens stands, we think, unrivalled. . . ." 
 
 * * . . . As well-framed stories, perhaps there are no better 
 models than some of his earlier and greater novels, David 
 Copperfield, Martin Chuzzlewit, or Dombey and Son. This part 
 of the work shows the conscientious labour characteristic of the 
 true artist. . . ." 
 
 "... A humourist he most certainly is, and in his own line 
 excellent ; but then this line does not seem to us a very high 
 one. His humour is hardly ever anything more than burlesque 
 
CRITICAL. 133 
 
 and caricature ; and depending, therefore, as it necessarily 
 must, altogether on exaggeration, is somewhat coarse and super- 
 ficial. » , . His only aim is to be * funny ' and make us laugh ; 
 and, BOr long as this result is gained, he seems indifferent as to 
 the means. Of course, he generally succeeds ; on a first read- 
 ing almost always ; and there are touches here and there 
 which, even after years of familiarity, we still find irresistibly 
 comic. ..." 
 
 " Mr. Dickens's pathos we can only regard as a complete and 
 absolute failure. It is unnatural and unlovely. He attempts 
 to make a stilted phraseology "and weak and sickly sentimen- 
 tality do duty for genuine emotion. The result is that, when 
 he would move us most deeply, he is apt to become rather a 
 bore. Hard-hearted as it may sound, we must confess to having 
 found little Paul Dombey, little Nell, and Tiny Tim exceedingly 
 tiresome, and to have been glad to be rid of them on any terms. 
 The subject is too insignificant for the treatment it receives. 
 Even as sentimentalism the art is a failure, from being so much 
 overdone. Mr. Dickens sets himself to work to make us cry 
 just as openly and deliberately as to make us laugh ; but his 
 resources for producing the two efiects are anything but equal. 
 The pathos is * stagey ' ; it lacks simplicity, grace, dignity. 
 Mr. Dickens cannot make sorrow beautiful, and does not seem 
 to have realized that if he failed in doing this he ran a great 
 risk of making it vulgar. Not all the * damnable iteration' with 
 which he dwells on the woes of his Florence Dombey, and 
 Esther Summerson, and the like, save them from appearing 
 utterly silly and commonplace young women. . . ." 
 
 "... Mr. Dickens's range of thought and experience has 
 manifestly been limited, and he has been very little indebted to 
 the wisdom of others. This is, no doubt, the cause in no small 
 measure of his striking originality. It is no more than natural 
 that he should show no signs of having imitated or been in- 
 fluenced by writers whom he had never read. In all his works 
 
134 CRITICAL. 
 
 there is hardly a quotation or an allusion, except occasionally 
 from Shakespeare, and the best known parts of the Bible. And, 
 as we before had occasion to remark, imagination does not help 
 him where observation fails. What lies beyond the limits of 
 his own experience he neither understands nor cares for. Theo- 
 logy, philosophy, science, history, seem all closed books to him. 
 He is quite content that they should be ; and, to all appearance, 
 thinks his ignorance of such unmeaning rubbish very much to 
 his credit. That his instincts are generous and kindly, and 
 revolt from baseness and cruelty, this of course we grant most 
 readily ; but we can think of no writer of mark who shows a 
 more uninstructed mind, or on whose judgment on any question 
 involving mastery of facts, or breadth of view, or critical acumen, 
 we should set less store. ..." 
 
 ** . . . Mr. Dickens has very possibly not fully grasped the 
 bearing of the doctrines he has laid down in one part of his 
 works and another ; but if he had the power to reform the 
 world according to his own principles, the result would be to 
 turn it into the vulgar Arcadia we have been depicting — fit 
 habitation only for those benevolent but eccentric elderly 
 gentlemen, virtuous artizans, and gushing young ladies, on 
 whom his warmest admirations are lavished. All that gives 
 interest to life, and makes it worth the living, would be 
 gone. ..." 
 
 170 
 The Genius and Writings of Charles Dickens. 
 By David Pryde. 
 
 Edinburgh : Ogle and Murray — Oliver and Boyd. 
 1869. pp. 24. 
 
CRITICAL. 135 
 
 171! 
 Charles Dickens's Moral Services to Litera- 
 ture. 
 London: The Spectatm\ April 17, 1869. pp. 474, 
 475. Eeprinted in the Eclectic Magazine (New York). 
 July, 1869. pp. 103, 106. 
 
 "... No one can appreciate more highly the wonderful 
 and inexhaustible humour of Mr. Dickens's creations than we 
 do. "We doubt if there eyer were so great a humourist in the 
 world before, Aristophanes and Shakespeare not excepted. But 
 to speak of Mr. Dickens's humour as only revealing more dis- 
 tinctly the depths of passion in his nature, seems to us a singular 
 misunderstanding of his genius. ..." 
 
 ** . . . But take bis great and wonderfully productire genius 
 all in all, and we scarcely know any genius approaching his in 
 richness, so utterly devoid of passion, — so almost certain to be 
 theatrical and falsetto in its tone whenever it attempts passion. 
 And^as for saying that Mr. Dickens's humour is another aspect 
 — an indirect expression — of his passion, it is impossible in our 
 minds to conceive a more erroneous analysis. . . ." 
 
 "... That Dickens's moral influence has been, on the whole, 
 healthy and good, we heartily believe. It has been certainly 
 profoundly humane. ..." 
 
 "... Mr. Dickens has brought people to think that there 
 is a sort of piety in being gushing and maudlin, and this is 
 anything but a useful contribution to the morality of the 
 age. . . ," 
 
 " . . . In one word, it seems to us that Mr. Dickens's highest 
 and lowest moral influences arise from the same cause, his 
 wonderful genius for caricature. All vices arising from simple 
 motives he makes contemptible and hideous — avarice, cruelty, 
 selfishness, hypocrisy, especially religious hypocrisy. . . ." 
 
136 CRITICAL. 
 
 "... His morality concentrates itself on the two strong 
 points we have named, a profound horror of cruelty, and a 
 profound contempt for humbug ; but Mr. Dickens has a fine 
 perception for the inward shades of humbug — relaxed and 
 cosseted emotions." 
 
 " His greatesb service to English literature will, after all, be 
 not his high morality, which is altogether wanting in delicacy 
 of insight, but in the complete harmlessness and purity of the 
 immeasurable humour into which he moulds his enormous stores 
 of acute observation. . . ." 
 
 172 
 Charles Dickens's Use of the Bible. 
 
 London : Temple Bar. September, 1869. pp.225, 
 234. Reprinted in Appleto'n/s Journal (New York). 
 October 16 and 23, 1869. pp. 265, 267 j and 294, 
 295 ; and in Every Saturday (Boston). Vol. 8, p. 411. 
 
 The writer quotes passages from the works of Dickens, proving 
 that many of the novelist's characters are represented as being in 
 the habit either of regularly reading and studying the Bible, or 
 of having it read to them by some one else. 
 
 "... Our Saviour's life and teaching supply so many interest- 
 ing illustrations to Charles Dickens that our great difficulty . . . 
 is to make a good selection. . . ." 
 
 " . . .To think of Charles Dickens's writings as containing 
 no religious teaching is to do them a great injustice. It is true 
 that many of his readers may possibly have been startled by 
 what he has written with regard to the Christian ministry and 
 missionary work as associated with Stiggins, Chadband, Mrs. 
 Jellyby, and some of the observations of Sam Weller's father. 
 But with reference to these, and such as these, a paragraph in 
 
CRITICAL. 137 
 
 the Preface to one of the earliest of his works — The Pichwich 
 Papers — is quite sufficient to reassure his startled readers, and 
 dispel from their minds all idea of religion or religious work 
 being referred to only to be ridiculed. ..." 
 
 173 
 
 Speeches on Literary and Social Occasions in England 
 and America, by Charles Dickens. Now first col- 
 lected. With chapters on Charles Dickens as 
 a Letter - writer and as a Poet ; and Charles 
 DiCKEN s's Readings. (With an account of his first 
 public reading, by one who heard it. This reading 
 was given in Peterborough in 1853.) Also includ- 
 ing a Bibliography of the Writings of Charles 
 Dickens, arranged in order of publication. With 
 a portrait on wrapper, 
 
 London : John Camden Hotten. (With an Intro- 
 duction of 47 pp., dated " December, 1869.") pp. 
 372. 
 
 174 
 The "Two Green Leaves." With a portrait of 
 Charles Dickens, from a photograph by Mr. John 
 Watkins. 
 
 London : The Graphic. March 26, 1870. pp. 388, 
 390. 
 The title of this article naturally refers to the covers in which 
 
138 CRITICAL. 
 
 the monthly parts of Dickens's works were issued. The ap- 
 proaching publication of Edwin Brood is here announced, and 
 the novelist's early efforts in literature commented on. 
 
 175 
 Studien tjBER Dickens und den Humor. Von 
 
 Julian Schmidt. With a portrait engraved on 
 
 wood. 
 
 Brunswick: Westermann's Jahrhuch der Illustrirten 
 Deutschen Monatshefte. April, 1870. pp. 32, 40. 
 May, 1870. pp. 128, 138. June, 1870. pp. 245, 
 256. July, 1870. pp. 423, 437. 
 
 176 
 The Death of Mr. Dickens. 
 London : The Saturday Eeview. June 11, 1870. 
 pp. 760, 761. 
 
 "... The language of Mr. Dickens has become part of the 
 language of every class and rank of his countrymen. The cha- 
 racters of Mr. Dickens are a portion of our contemporaries. It 
 seems scarcely possible to believe that there were never any 
 such persons as Mr. Pickwick and Mrs. Nickleby and Mrs. 
 G^amp. They are to us not only types of English life, but types 
 actually existing. They at once revealed the existence of such 
 people, and made them thoroughly comprehensible. They were 
 not studies of persons, but persons. And yet they were ideal- 
 ized in the sense that the reader did not think that they were 
 drawn from the life. 
 
CRITICAL. 139 
 
 • * They were alive ; they were themselves. And then the 
 atmosphere in which they lived was one of such boundless fun, 
 humour, and geniality. No book ever was or will be like Pickwick 
 in this respect, and Mr. Dickens wrote it when he was twenty- 
 four. Age did not certainly improve Mr. Dickens's powers, 
 for, as must necessarily happen, his works were very unequal, 
 and some of his later works were his worst. But it is astonish- 
 ing to think what an extraordinary wealth of creations of cha- 
 racter of the first order of excellence he has left behind him. 
 With the single exception of Little Dorrit there is not one of his 
 numerous stories that has not touches of the master-hand, and 
 strokes of indisputable genius. To a degree unequalled by any 
 other novelist except perhaps Scott, he had the power of making 
 the reader feel thoroughly at home in an imaginary world, and 
 of being and living and moving in it naturally. . . ." 
 
 177 
 
 Charles Dickens. 
 
 London: The Spectator. June 11, 1870. pp. 716, 
 
 717. 
 
 "... He has taught us by his humour, as nothing else could 
 have taught us, how fuU to overflowing what is called 'vulgar' 
 life is of all the human qualities, good and evil, which make up 
 the interest of human existence. His delight in the grotesque 
 has done far more than ever Mr. John Stuart Mill by any philo- 
 sophical defence of liberty could do, to make us tolerant towards 
 individual eccentricity of almost every shade, and even to teach 
 us to pat it with something like parental fondness. And he 
 has given a greater impulse than any man of his generation to 
 that righteous hatred of caste-feeling and class-cruelty which ^, 
 more and more distinguishes modern society, though he did not ' 
 quite rise perhaps to that ' enthusiasm of humanity' which some 
 regard as the essence of Christianity itself." 
 
140 CRITICAL. 
 
 178 
 The Late Charles Dickens. With a portrait, and 
 
 view of Gadsliill Place. 
 
 London : The Illustrated London News. June 18, 
 1870. p. 639. 
 
 *'. . . We esteem Dickens, next after Shakespeare, as the 
 greatest of English humourists — that is to say, with reference 
 to literary history, the greatest of all humourists ; for none of 
 the foreigners, ancient or modern — Aristophanes, Boccaccio, 
 Eabelais, Cervantes, or Jean Paul— have come near Shakespeare 
 in this faculty, though possessing it in a large measure. That 
 none of the English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century — not 
 even Swift or Fielding, much less Smollett or Sterne — is to be 
 compared with Dickens in this respect, we believe Thackeray 
 himself would have been ready to admit. Hogarth, if the two 
 arts of painting and novel-writing allow their comparison, may 
 be deemed a precursor of Dickens. ..." 
 
 ". . . Shakespeare's clowns and his foolishvarlets or blundering 
 louts are, equally with his heroes, the creation of a great poet. 
 Shall we not say the same of Pickwick, of Sam Weller, of 
 Pecksniff, of Mrs. Gramp, and of many other queer characters 
 which only a mightily creative imagination could have 
 formed? . . ." 
 
 "... Dickens is always a great writer; but he is a most 
 successful creator in the department of quaint figures and odd 
 habits, curious bits of human life picked up in corners of the 
 world, often torn and trampled into fantastic shapes, and soiled 
 with the mire and soot of the London streets. In this depart- 
 ment he excels Balzac and Victor Hugo, while he resembles the 
 latter and differs from the former in his respect for the humanity 
 clothed in such a ragged garb of such uncomely aspect and un- 
 gainly demeanour. ..." 
 
CRITICAL. 141 
 
 "... In the amount of his native genius, there can be no 
 question, Charles Dickens alone outweighs all the writers of 
 fiction in his time. . . ." 
 
 179 
 
 The Genius of Dickens. 
 London : The Spectator. June 18, 1870. pp. 749, 
 751. 
 
 "... Let any man seriously number the acquaintances the 
 continued right of personal intercourse with whom he would 
 buy at the cost of renouncing for ever the acquaintance of 
 Dickens's best creations, and he will soon become conscious of 
 the greatness of the sacrifice which would be required of him. . . 
 We are certain we are speaking well within the mark when we 
 say that there are at least a hundred of Dickens's figures in 
 every reading Englishman's mind, no one of whom would he 
 consent to lose to keep the acquaintance of one half of the living 
 men whom he would speak to with friendly greeting if lie met 
 them in the streets. And if you add to the definite loss of 
 typical forms, the even greater indefinite loss in the sense of 
 humour which these creations have stimulated, or even generated, 
 in otherwise dull-minded, matter-of-fact Britons, the debt of 
 ever-accumulating mental wealth which we owe to the works 
 of the great man who has just left us becomes immeasurable. 
 What was the secret — if it be possible in any brief way to 
 describe th.e secret — of a genius so rich to overflowing in the 
 creation of English types of humour ? Mainly it was, we think,/ 
 due to three great literary gifts combined — a sense of humour 
 as delicate as Charles Lamb's, and much more inventive and 
 active, which was at the basis of Dickens's genius, and by which 
 he sorted his conceptions j a power of observation so enormous 
 that he could photograph almost everything he saw; and, perhaps j 
 
142 CRITICAL. 
 
 partly as the result of these two powers in combination, but 
 
 jpartly, it may be, of some others, a marvellous faculty of multi- 
 
 /plying at will, and yet with an infinity of minute variety, new 
 
 I illustrations of any trait, the type of which he had once well 
 
 I mastered. ..." 
 
 **. . . We more than doubt whether Dickens can be called 
 a great master of pathos at all. There is no true lyrical, no 
 poetic touch, about his pathos ; it is, in the main, the over- 
 strained pathos of melodrama. ... In the delineation of remorse 
 he is much nearer the truth of nature than in the delineation of 
 grief. ... In general there is no delicate painting of emotion in) 
 Dickens. His love-passages are simply detestable. ..." | 
 
 "... He could always accumulate round a single abstract 
 type the most wonderful wealth of humorous illustration in the 
 utmost detail, and it is his figures of this kind which will live 
 for ever, not as men, but as impersonations. Moliere's Tartuffe 
 is poor and thin compared with Dickens's PecksniflT." 
 
 180 
 
 Charles Dickens. With a Portrait. 
 Stuttgart : Ueber Land und Meer. No. 42. 1870. 
 p. 19. 
 
 181 
 Charles Dickens. 
 "London'. Frasefs Magazine. July, 1870. pp. 130^ 
 134. 
 
 "... Perhaps of the many qualities that combined to pro- 
 duce his unrivalled success, not the highest but the most un- 
 mistakable and most telling, is his] constant flow of animal 
 spirits — his vivacity, his clearness and grip. . . ." 
 
CKITICAL. 143 
 
 "... His way is to catch a type (and he has caught a won- 
 derful number of distinct ones), grip it fast, put it into a number 
 of appropriate situations, and illustrate by means of an endless 
 play of fancies. His characters are all humouristic, so to speak. 
 He has no dereloped tragic character, and no pathetic, but he 
 often places his personages in tragic and pathetic situations, 
 and makes a strong impression mainly by his own conviction 
 and earnestness, and his thorough working-out of his intention. 
 The upper classes were almost entirely omitted from his early 
 writings, and play but a small and not very dignified set of 
 parts in the whole series. ... On the other hand, there was 
 nothing perhaps our author enjoyed so much, or that is more 
 characteristic in him, than his loving portrayal of quiet, honest,, 
 cheerful, unselfish people, not polished by any means, not 
 clever even, often decidedly slow-witted, but sound and after 
 their own way shrewd of intellect, and with their hearts (as the 
 saying is) emphatically in the right place. . . . The ladies of 
 a graver and higher style are apt to be tiresomely fine-spoken, 
 either in a sentimental or a tragical vein ; but the old women 
 are exquisite. ..." 
 
 ''His tastes were strongly, though not blindly, middle-class 
 British, and he was nowise ashamed of them. He made no 
 pretence of caring for old pictures, or classic music, or poetry 
 as a special thing. He enjoyed a brisk dance tune, a simple 
 song, and admired cheerful pictures like those of Frith, Stan- 
 field, and Maclise. In literature he liked what most people 
 like ; in scientific matters he knew what most people know. 
 He spent no thought on religious doctrines or religious reforms^ 
 but regarded the Sermon on the Mount as good teaching, had 
 a regard for the village church and churchyard, and quarrelled 
 with nothing but intolerance. In politics he took no side, but 
 perhaps might be described as a practical, not at all a specula- 
 tive Eadical, who desired to get rid of humbug and inefficiency 
 in all departments, and to extend — not patronage, which he 
 
144 CRITICAL. 
 
 loathed — but natural justice and brotherly help to all honest 
 working people, to secure them fair wages, fit leisure, good 
 shelter, good diet, good drainage, good amusement, and good 
 education for their children. ..." 
 
 182 
 Charles Dickens. By Anthony ^Trollope. 
 ILondon: St. Paurs Magazine. July, 1870. pp.370, 
 375. Reprinted in the Eclectic Magazine (New York). 
 September, 1870. pp. 297, 301. (See Appendix- 
 Testimonies, XVIII. ) 
 
 183 
 Charles Dickens. By Alfred Austin. 
 
 London ; Temple Bar. July, 1870. pp. 554, 562. 
 
 "... The writer of these lines need not conceal that he is 
 one of those who think that the later works of this great master 
 are not equal to those with which he first delighted the world, 
 but he is glad that the minority to which he belongs should 
 have been a minority as long as Charles Dickens lived. 
 Dickens was first favourite to the last, and he deserved to be. 
 Both by genius and hard work he maintained to the end the 
 position he reached quite in early manhood. The Muse may 
 justly claim for her successful clients a rank of honour unattain- 
 able by those who covet a less difficult service ; but it may, 
 perhaps, be said that in this one great matter of genius, no 
 prose writer in any language can be named as the superior, and 
 few prose writers in any language can be named as the equals, 
 of him the pain of whose loss is still upon us. . . . He is, with- 
 out any exception, the most original writer in the language. 
 
CRITICAL. 145 
 
 The sources of his genius, and of the form his genius assumed, 
 are as hidden, from our eyes at least, as were once from all 
 eyes the sources of the Nile. ... Of his pathos we cannot 
 candidly speak in such glowing terms as of his humour — not, 
 however, because his pathos was not good, but because his 
 humour was so matchless. He was humouristic by nature, and 
 because he could not help himself. He was pathetic by art, 
 and because pathos is indispensable to the writer of fiction. 
 . . . Dickens, far from being a realistic writer, was one of the 
 most intensely idealistic writers that ever existed. ..." 
 
 "Dickens was a man of visions, and hence his greatness. 
 Hence the height he attained, to which the realistic novelist 
 cannot even look up. It is for this reason that, were the 
 possibilities of prose equal to the possibilities of verse, Dickens 
 would be as great as Shakespeare. Of course he is not — he is 
 unspeakably below him ; but he is unquestionably as far above 
 all other English novelists, as Shakespeare is above all other 
 English dramatists. ..." 
 
 184 
 
 Charles Dickens. With a portrait 
 London: St. Jameses Magazine. August, 1870." 
 pp. 696, 699. 
 
 "... On a shelf, close to where we write, stand in their 
 accustomed places Dickens's books. There they are, leading 
 ofi" the goodly muster of * the Victorians ' who are gathered 
 beside them — Thackeray and Evans, Tennyson, the Brownings, 
 Carlyle. As a mere matter of duty, and recollecting all that 
 has been written in the great man's praise during the last seven 
 weeks, and all that was written to depreciate him for seven - 
 and-twenty years before, we have been asking ourselves. What 
 books out of that slender collection would we place before the 
 
 10 
 
146 CRITICAL. 
 
 works of Dickens ? It has been a hard struggle to decide, and 
 the decision is one which will not be popular with many. 
 Nevertheless, let us have In Memoriam and Pendennis before 
 any other books of the present generation, and after that, let 
 Dickens come first with David Copperfield and Pickwick. This, 
 however, does not represent the true place of Dickens in the 
 estimation of the world. He comes before Tennyson, before 
 Tbackeray, in the opinion of the majority of readers. The 
 general verdict makes him first and greatest of the Victorians. 
 And certainly he was greater than any of his contemporaries, 
 inasmuch as in one department he had achieved a greatness 
 which we believe to be absolutely unrivalled by any other 
 English author. Asa humourist, he came before Shakespeare 
 himself. What greater literary praise could be given to any 
 man ? . . ." 
 
 *' All his books are household words ; all his characters are 
 our friends or our foes ; his greatest characters are something 
 more — they are, let who will deny it, amongst the most splendid 
 creations of English genius. . . ." 
 
 "We know not what view posterity will take of Charles 
 Dickens. Yet we believe that he will be looked back upon as 
 foremost amongst the great novelists of this age of novel- 
 writers. We venture to think, indeed, that the day will never 
 come whilst the English language is spoken in which Waverley 
 and Pickwick will cease to command tlieir circle of readers : — 
 and who would not rather have written Pickwick than Waver- 
 ley ? ..." 
 
 185 
 Charles Dickens. By Edward Eoscoe. 
 London : The Victoria Magazine. August. 1870. 
 pp. 357, 363. 
 
CEITICAL. 147 
 
 ' * . . . "Well has Charles Dickens, in his peculiar sphere, 
 been likened to Shakespeare. We say peculiar sphere, for as 
 there are no plays which are Shakespearian by rirtue of original 
 genius, there have not been, and there is small likelihood of there 
 being, any writers we may venture to compare with Dickens. 
 He held the mirror up to modern life, and its enchanted surface 
 Teflected what we had need, but not power, to behold. Grey- 
 bearded sins, long-enduring institutions of misery, nurseries of 
 crime, carelessness, selfishness, solemn mockeries in the laws 
 and customs of our land, all stood out in new and startling 
 colours, yet the living pictures are unblemished by the harshness 
 and misanthropy so often (and naturally) infecting the utter- 
 ances of keenly sensitive genius when fighting the good fight for 
 mankind. . . ." 
 
 ' ' The best tribute we can render to his memory is the reading 
 of his works, with an enlarged, charitable, and humble mind, 
 in something of the spirit in which they were written, and alive 
 to the truth, that, however gifted to amuse, and successful in 
 amusing, sad teaching was the refrain and object of the great 
 author we now deplore. . . ." 
 
 186 
 The Styles of Disraeli and of Dickens. By 
 
 Eichard Grant White. 
 
 New York : The Galaxy.- August, 1870. pp. 253, 
 263. 
 
 "... As a painter of character, Mr. Dickens was exactly 
 what Mr. Disraeli is not, and was not exactly what Mr. Disraeli 
 is. In this respect, as in most others, they were direct opposites. 
 For Mr. Dickens's personages have a vitality and a seeming 
 reality that, when we consider what they are, is amazing. For 
 they are mostly extravagant caricatures; often, too, not the 
 
 10—2 
 
148 CRITICAL. 
 
 caricature of a whole man, but of one trait or even trick of a 
 man, as all caricatures are apt to be. Most of them, nearly all 
 of them, are such creatures as never did exist, and could by no 
 possibility exist. Sam Weller, for example, the personage who 
 first made Mr. Dickens known the world over, is a monster, as 
 monstrous as those human forms with wings that we call angels, 
 or those horses with long spiral horns growing from their fore- 
 heads that we call unicorns. He is monstrous and impossible 
 in two ways : first from within, by the law of his own being, 
 which would not permit such a development as must have pro- 
 duced the creature Dickens has shown us ; next from without ; 
 the conditions of life would restrain and repress such develop- 
 ment, even if the germ of it existed. So of Dick Swiveller, 
 Mrs. Nickleby, Quilp, Betsy Trotwood, Mr. Micawber, Captain 
 Cuttle, and so forth, including nearly every personage within 
 that range of character that is peculiar to Mr. Dickens. He 
 was mainly a caricaturist, and his written caricatures are far 
 more extravagant and exaggerated than any that John Leech, 
 or even Eichard Doyle, drew for Punches pages. And extrava- 
 gant to absurdity as we know them to be, even while we acknow- 
 ledge this, how real they seem ! Monsters although they are, 
 they are living monsters. We do know them, Sam Weller, Mrs. 
 Nickleby, Captain Cuttle, Sairey Gamp, live in our memories, 
 creatures of flesh and blood more real than half our acquaint- 
 ances ; while Mr. Disraeli's personages, who are no more im- 
 possible than many of our dearest and dullest friends, are so 
 lifeless that they fade out of our memories without giving us 
 the preliminary trouble of dropping them or going to their 
 funerals. The reason of the difierence can be told, but cannot 
 be explained. It is simply that Dickens had imagination, 
 genius ; and that Disraeli has not imagination, and has only 
 talent. . . ." 
 
 *'Mr. Dickens, however, wrote one book so noble in its 
 spirit, so grand and graphic in its style, and filled with a pathos 
 
CKITICAL. 149 
 
 so profound and simple, tliat it deserves, and will surely take, 
 a place among the great serious works of imagination. The Tale 
 of Two Cities, his shortest story, and the one least thought of 
 by the public of his own day, is the work that will secure him 
 an enduring fame. It has little humour, and that is not of its 
 author's best ; but its picture of the fierce passion of the first 
 French Revolution, of the hideous oppression which provoked 
 that outbreak of ruthless revenge on the part of a whole people, 
 and above all its portrayal of the noble-natured castaway, Sidney 
 Carton, make it almost a peerless book in modern literature, 
 and give it a place among the highest examples of all literary 
 art. . . ." 
 
 " Disraeli and Dickens were not quite as unlike in their styles 
 — their use of language — as they were in their cast of thought 
 and their ideals of literary art. The style of neither is very 
 good ; but the better of the two is not that of the highly-edu- 
 cated son of the distinguished author of The Curiosities of 
 Literature, but that of the son of the newspaper reporter, whose 
 education was chiefly hard work as an attorney's clerk. Both 
 of them manifested a certain vulgarity, intellectual vulgarity, 
 in their use of language : but of the two the Tory Premier is 
 the greater ofiender in this respect. ..." 
 
 187 
 
 Charles Dickens. By J. Hain Friswell. Modern 
 
 " Men of Letters Honestly Criticised. By J. Hain 
 
 Friswell. 
 
 London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1870. pp. 1, 
 
 45. 
 
 The chief part of this essay first appeared in the London Iteview, 
 November 16, 1867. (See No. 167.) The author commences 
 
150 CRITICAL. 
 
 by reviewing the writings of Dickens, and says : " Truly, per> 
 haps, the most wholly beautiful production of Dickens's is his 
 Christmas Carol. If ever any individual story warmed a Christ- 
 mas hearth, that was the one ; if ever solitary self was converted 
 by a book, and made to be merry and childlike at that season 
 * when its blessed Founder was Himself a child,' he surely was 
 by that. * We are all charmed with your Carol,^ wrote Lord 
 Jefiery to its author, * chiefly, I think, for the genuine goodness 
 which breathes all through it, and is the true inspiring angel by 
 which its genius has been awakened. . . . You should be happy 
 yourself, for to be sure,you have done more good, and not only 
 fostered more kindly feelings, but prompted more positive acts 
 of benevolence by this little publication than can be traced to 
 all the pulpits and confessionals since Christmas, 1842.' Per- 
 haps not that ; but the story filled many old hearts with the 
 vigorous youth of charity, and thrilled young souls with a sym- 
 pathetic love of man that drew them nearer to Gl-od. . . ." 
 
 " We can instance Fielding, Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens, 
 as essentially poets in tenderness and creative power — as men 
 who had the truest enjoyment of life, and in the midst of all 
 their merriment the tenderest feeling for the woes of others. 
 No man saw a thing so quickly and so comically as Dickens ; 
 and what he saw he described as faithfully. Such are the in- 
 numerable happy touches of habit which give so life-like a 
 character to his creations. . . ." 
 
 " Dickens was very often exaggerative and pantomimic. lie 
 saw things in so very comical a light that we of sober brains 
 and less extensive experience were quite behind him in percep- 
 tiveness. But the humour was the humour of a pantomime, 
 full of fun which delights children and hurts nobody. . . ." 
 
 "He never wrote an improper word, or penned a sentence 
 that could give rise to an improper thought. His was a manly 
 way of treating things ; a manly, open, sunshiny style ; he 
 made no prurient secrets ; he did not profess to be above or 
 
CKITICAL. 151 
 
 beyond Nature; nor to be feverishly full of heat, nor frigidly 
 full of unnatural sanctity. Ho abounded in honest, health;^ 
 good tone, like an upright English gentleman ; he described a 
 sweep with all his soot about him, or a miller with his white 
 jacket and dusty hair, face, and hands ; but these honest work- 
 men brought no contagion with them ; they did not come from 
 the fever court, nor were they reeking with the foul oaths of the 
 casual ward. Another great merit of Charles Dickens is that he 
 does not look down upon people. The men and women he de- 
 scribes are various, and some of them placed in such degraded 
 positions that one might almost sicken at them. Yet the great 
 author just passed away always had an almost Shakespearian 
 faculty of making his readers look upon the bright side of his 
 rogues. . . ." 
 
 i88y 
 
 Charles Dickens. A Jjecture by Professor Ward. 
 Delivered in the Hulme Town Hall, Manchester, 
 November 30, 1870. 
 Manchester: John Heywood, 1870. pp. 92. 
 
 Chiefly of a biographical character. 
 
 Mr. Forster, in his Life of Charles Dickens, says that this 
 lecture contained the best criticism of Dickens that he had seen 
 since the novelist's death, and quotes the following passages : 
 
 "... Dickens possessed an imagination unsurpassed, not 
 only in vividness but in swiftness. I have intentionally avoided 
 all needless comparisons of his works with those of other writers 
 of his time, some of whom have gone before him to their rest, 
 while others survive to gladden the darkness and relieve the 
 monotony of our daily life. But in the power of his imagina- 
 tion — of this I am convinced — he surpassed them one and all. 
 That imagination would call up at will those associations, whicli, 
 
152 CRITICAL. 
 
 could we but summon them in their full number, would bind 
 together the human family, and make that expression no 
 longer a name but a living reality. . . . Such associations 
 sympathy alone can warm into life, and imagination alone can 
 at times discern. The great humourist reveals them to every 
 one of us. And his genius is indeed an inspiration from no 
 liuman source, in that it enables him to render this service to 
 the brotherhood of mankind. But more than this. So mar- 
 vellously has this earth become the inheritance of mankind, that 
 tliere is not a thing upon it, animate or inanimate, with which, 
 or with the likeness of which, man's mind has not come into 
 contact, . . . with which human feelings, aspirations, and 
 thoughts have not acquired an endless variety of single or subtle 
 associations. . . . These, also, which we imperfectly divine or 
 carelessly pass by, the imagination of genius distinctly reveals 
 to us, and powerfully impresses upon us. When they appeal 
 directly to the emotions of the heart, it is the power of pathos 
 which has awakened them ; and when the suddenness, the 
 unexpectedness, the apparent oddity of the one by the side of 
 the other, strike the mind with irresistible force, it is the equally 
 divine gift of humour which has touched the spring of laughter 
 by the side of the spring of tears. . . ." 
 
 189 
 Charles Dickens in Eelation to Christmas. 
 London : The Gi'aphic Christinas Number. December 
 25, 1870. p. 19. 
 
 " To him we certainly owe the popularization of those kindly 
 charities, the condoning of injuries, and reconciliations insinuated 
 rather than preached through the inviting agency of charming 
 pictures, sweet, gracious, and touching stories, which encouraged 
 a softened tone of thought and sympathy. . . . Let us turn to 
 
CilITICAL. 153 
 
 tliat incomparable, entire, and perfect chrysolite — poem more 
 than story — touched so delicately, so artistically, so nicely 
 balanced, so tender, so full of an airy and delightful gaiety — 
 the Christmas Carol. It can be tried by the test which makes the 
 glory of the Vicar of WaJcefield, and can be read again and again 
 without bringing the fatigue of familiarity. To read it over at any 
 season of the year conjures up, as by an incantation, the whole 
 bloom and fragrance ; but to hear it read by him, at Christmas- 
 time itself, with the holly in the windows and the snow on the 
 ground, and the joy-bells only just at rest — to hear his inspiring 
 voice telling of the marvellous change in Sci'ooge — was like the 
 sound of those very bells. Even in its shape that little book 
 is original. Worked out with consummate art it stands 
 alone. . . ." 
 
 " He must have had some extraordinary affection for this 
 great festival, and, indeed, he may have felt that anyone who 
 cultivates such a liking will not soon grow old in heart. Such 
 entertainment keeps the sympathies from stiffening into selfish- 
 ness. Little stray pictures of Christmas are always breaking in 
 on us in his works, dwelt on with a zest that shows his relish 
 and enjoyment of the subject. ... No one, too, has treated 
 this subject in such infinite variety of ways suited to the festival, 
 from that lower one associated with plum-puddings and barons 
 of beef, to the holy and religious one, which is the true basis of 
 the whole. It would be hard to enumerate all the charming 
 passages in which he has strayed away to this favourite topic ; 
 but in his own journal he always found a suitable corner at 
 these anniversaries wherein to indulge in one of these pretty 
 dreamy speculations. ..." 
 
 190 
 The Voice of Christmas Past. By Mrs. Z. B. 
 Buddington. With eighteen illustrations, including 
 
154 CRITICAL. 
 
 a portrait, and the grave of Dickens in Westminster 
 Abbey. 
 
 New York : Harper's New Monthly Magazine. January, 
 1871. pp. 187, 200. 
 
 Describing the various characters that appeared in Dickens's 
 writings. 
 
 191 
 
 Charles Dickens. 
 
 London : The London Quarterly Review. January, 
 1871. pp. 265, 286. 
 
 " Dickens's representations were not often either very great 
 truly noble, or thoroughly faithful. But he saw things with 
 an eye receptive of the whole surface, whether the object were 
 a character or a landscape, and he painted the same things 
 with a hand reproductive of a whole surface in perfect distinct- 
 ness, often rising to an impetuous vividness peculiarly his own : 
 but his representations leave generally the impression, not so 
 much of men and women whose life is a deep and a serious thing, 
 but of persons who have assembled on a stage to amuse other 
 persons, or to appeal to the senses of the same. ..." 
 
 *' The writings of Charles Dickens, on the other hand, have 
 no subtlety ; their humour is obvious and broad — their wit 
 independent of cultivation in the reader : and correspondingly 
 the pathetic conceptions are presented in types characterized by 
 no refinement that goes to the heart of the cultivated man by 
 force of deep sympathy, shown or evoked, but marked by that 
 surface melancholy that is calculated to touch the rougher 
 heart. . . ." 
 
 ''Looked at superficially, his characters are all possible 
 characters in the main ; but they are dissevered from the rank 
 
CRITICAL. 155 
 
 of characters that reflect one's self to one's self by the fact 
 that every one of them is marked by peculiarities more pro- 
 nounced than the faults or eccentricities a person sees or 
 deplores in himself. ..." 
 
 *' His works want that deep truth and earnestness that carries 
 a fictitious life-lesson home to the man or woman to whom it is 
 most appropriate, and thus they steer clear of a great quicksand 
 of offence. ..." 
 
 "We are aware that we are laying ourselves open to a 
 torrent of censure, and provoking the ready question, 'How is it 
 that, if things are as you represent, Dickens has managed to 
 make people all over the English-speaking world — ay, and else- 
 where — think him the greatest fictionist of this or any other 
 age? Is he not the greatest fictionist the human race has 
 yet produced, and is not this fact the undescribed something 
 about him that has seized the whole world ?' But we are pre- 
 pared for the torrents of censure, while to the question our 
 reply is — that, though Dickens's works are still by far the most 
 popular of the age, we have never met a single man of high 
 cultivation who regarded Dickens in the light of an artist at all, 
 or looked upon his books as greatly worth the attention of 
 persons capable of appreciating better things : tlie undescribed 
 something we have above attempted to analyse into its com- 
 ponent parts, but however important any of those parts may 
 be as elements in the question, we hold that the culminating 
 and indispensable part is the enabling of everyone to have, 
 when so disposed, a 'jolly good laugh at people and things in 
 general,' as the treat may with apposite inelegance be termed. 
 This Dickens certainly does do, and to imitate him as nearly 
 as possible in this is what we should recommend to all authors 
 who aspire to the gratuitous circulation of their portraits on 
 cigar-boxes and mustard-tins, or to what is still more desirable 
 from a pecuniary standpoint — the dramatising of their produc- 
 tions under the auspices of Mr. Dion Boucicault. ..." 
 
156 CRITICAL. 
 
 "It has been observed that this cleverest literary caricaturist 
 of modern times, or indeed of any times, never succeeded in 
 painting a gentleman ; and, although the observation would at 
 first sight seem to smack of triviality, and that very spirit of 
 caste in warring against which he won well-merited praise, it is 
 not really so, for the term * gentleman ' is used, not in its sense 
 of a well-dressed person of polished manners, but in the older 
 sense, as implying fineness of disposition and superior elegance 
 of soul. There are persons who bear 
 
 " Without abuse 
 The grand old name of gentleman 
 Defiled by every charlatan. 
 And soiled with all ignoble use," 
 
 and plenty of such persons, too ; but these Dickens never 
 apparently met with, or if he did, he has not painted them in 
 sufiicient truth and attractiveness to produce the converse 
 sympathies to those which his books constantly arouse. G-enial, 
 good, charitable people he has depicted over and over again ; 
 but people whose geniality, goodness, charity, have passed 
 through the refiner's fire of noble manners and lofty thought 
 and deep calm beauty of sentiment would seem to have been 
 beyond the reach of his vivid and versatile pencil. ..." 
 
 "He inculcates nothing that can be called elevating or en- 
 nobling in any high sense. He seems to see no necessity for 
 religion properly so called. Discarding almost entirely all 
 ideas of fervent faith and ardent worship, such as we know the 
 soul needs, he confers on good-fellowship andjoviality, on what- 
 ever one does to benefit one's neighbour's bodily state and 
 make him for the moment more happy, an ideal and paramount 
 importance such as would seem well-nigh to point to some mon- 
 strous worship of the senses and appetites. . . ." 
 
 "His works tend to excite or to strengthen a sympathy 
 for those who are, conventionally speaking, beneath us— a 
 sympathy which should exist in every human heart, but which 
 
k 
 
 CEITICAL. 157 
 
 is unhappily excluded from the uncultivated precincts of a 
 great many hearts magnified by courtesy with the splendid 
 epithet * human.' , . ." 
 
 *' In no qualities is a man more individual than in the style 
 of his jocularity and the quality of his emotional expression ; 
 and in David Copperfield there is not, more than elsewhere in 
 Dickens's works, any refinement or largeness or depth in these 
 qualities : it is invariably and unmistakably Dickens's wit and 
 DicJcens's pathos. ..." 
 
 " It is impossible to concede to David Copperfield the standing 
 of a work of high art, nor do we think that such a standing has 
 been, or will be, seriously claimed for it. It has not to our 
 thinking any of the higher qualities of art : its texture and style 
 are loose with the looseness of mere panorama-painting : and 
 its humanity, though often simple and wholesome, is at innu- 
 merable points altogether distorted and unwholesome. And 
 yet we are told that this is Dickens's masterpiece : and we 
 admit the position. . . ." 
 
 " There is one quality in Dickens's works, in David Copperfield 
 neither more nor less apparent than elsewhere, whereon some 
 have based, thoughtlessly enough, claims for the author to be 
 ranked as a great artist ; and this] one quality, as much as any 
 other, will in our opinion operate finally against his holding 
 any such rank ; we refer to the puerile anthropomorphism of his 
 furniture and other inanimate objects. We have seen his com- 
 plete want of real science advanced as one of the greatest re- 
 commendations his works possess, and we have seen great stress 
 laid on the fact that his touch on things inanimate galvanises 
 them to immediate life. We can recognise no merit in such 
 effete fetishism, nor can we think that it will have any merit in 
 the eyes of a posterity not likely to be less educated or more 
 unscientific than its ancestors of this generation — a posterity 
 who will probably rather regard as subserving no purpose. 
 
158 CRITICAL. 
 
 artistic or utilitarian, -these various small matters that tickle 
 and deceive the present hosts of Dickens's readers. . . ." 
 
 " Dickens has already, like Shakespeare and others, passed 
 into the fabric of the English language; and wherever it is 
 spoken he must continue for centuries to exist even after his 
 name shall be forgotten. To us, now, he seems to have done 
 work too good on the whole, and too wide for quick oblivion, 
 even on the part of generations unsympathizing with his manner 
 and with the details of his craft : but there will not probably 
 be a long series of future generations to whom more than a 
 sound of foregone wit and geniality, an echo of minute social 
 work once accomplished, a dim sense of fatherhood to many 
 proverbial personalities and phrases, will be conveyed in the 
 now universally significant name of Charles Dickens." 
 
 192 
 Dickens as a Moralist. 
 Boston : Old and New. April, 1871. pp. 480, 
 483. 
 
 " . , . The moral influence of a novelist depends mainly on 
 his success in presenting heroism, sanctity, delicate honour, 
 enlightened philanthropy, and the union of high intellectual 
 and religious culture in such beautiful embodiments as fix his 
 readers' attention and win their hearts. Dickens attempts this 
 but seldom, and then fails invariably and utterly. His inability 
 to portray exalted excellence, like his disregard of the tendencies 
 of any virtue or vice not immediately affecting domestic com- 
 fort, does not arise from his humour, but ratJaer from his senti- 
 mentalism. When he is not trying to make his readers laugli, 
 he is trying to make them cry. He knew that self-sacrifice 
 would win tears of admiration, but not self-control or self- 
 culture ; the victims of avarice and fanaticism receive more 
 
CRITICAL. 159 
 
 / 
 pity than those of fraud and falsehood ; and generous and 
 loving hearts appeal more warmly to his readers' feelings than 
 the most heroic, gifted, and saintly souls. All that was too 
 grand and holy to be laughed at or cried over lay entirely out 
 cf his horizon. ..." 
 
 193 
 
 Two English 1:^0 VELiSTS : Dickens and Thackeray. 
 
 Dublin : The Dublin Review. April, 1871. pp. 315, 
 
 350. 
 
 "... Both were more than novelists and humourists ; both 
 were preachers, in the sense in which every great writer of fiction 
 must be, whether intentionally or not. ..." 
 
 " Dickens waS certainly a moral writer, and he did laud the 
 household virtues ; but there is a higher aspect of morality, one 
 in which Catholic readers are bound to regard every book whicli 
 professes to deal with the condition of men, and, so regarded, 
 Mr. Dickens's works are as false as any of those of the undis- 
 guisedly materialistic writers of the day. . . ." 
 
 "... Which is the greater of the two (Dickens and Thacke- 
 ray), is a question which each of their readers will, for some 
 time to come, answer according to his individual taste, and the 
 majority of voices will be for Mr. Dickens, because in this use 
 of it 'great' is an undefined quantity, a loose expression, yet 
 inevitable, for there is something invidious in Mr. Fronde's 
 nicely-calculated phrase, *a considerable man,' as applied to 
 either of them. Mr. Thackeray's works are unknown to thou- 
 sands to whom Mr. Dickens's creations are household words ; 
 and we believe that the future will prove these last to be incom- 
 parably more popular, and considerably sooner obsolete, than 
 the finished and scholarly productions of the novelist who 
 quizzes sentiment, ignores low life, has no taste for rurality, 
 avoids local colouring with such skill and success that it never 
 
160 CRITICAL. 
 
 occurs to bis readers to think where the people are in whose 
 life-drama he is absorbed. . . ." 
 
 " A greater number of persons, at various stages of life, read 
 and enjoy Mr. Dickens's novels, but there are chords in the 
 human heart touched, mysterious recesses of the human spirit 
 sounded by Mr. Thackeray, -which the other never sought to 
 reach, of whose very existence he does not seem to have 
 been aware. . . ." 
 
 " ^ . . The Shakespearian quality which has been claimed for 
 Mr. Dickens as a humourist we do not quite understand. The 
 word has so much general and so little practical meaning, that 
 it is impossible to define the thought of the critics who employ 
 it; but the thing which we take it to signify is decidedly 
 wanting in Mr. Thackeray. If it means that Mr. Dickens 
 took a very wide range of subjects, and made them 
 forcible, dramatic, and so entirely individual by his treatment 
 that anyone and everyone must' see and understand them ; 
 that he took possession of them first, and then of the reader, in- 
 troducing him to them as of living people whose faces and ways 
 would henceforth be familiar and real to him ; if this be 
 " Shakespearian," and it is, at least, a bit of Shakespearianism, 
 then Mr. Thackeray is assuredly not Shakespearian. His works 
 never can be universally popular, the enjoyment of them will 
 always be restricted to certain classes ; and the more artificial 
 society grows, the more the shams he detected and ridiculed 
 become prevalent, the more the struggles he respected and mildly 
 quizzed become necessary, the more his works will be appreci- 
 ated. . . ." 
 
 "... Mr. Dickens's works abound in local colouring, and 
 we welcome and delight in it. All his life he was in the habit 
 of walking a great deal, and his descriptions of scenery by day 
 and by night are such as could only be given by an observer 
 at such close quarters. There is no exaggeration, no staginess, 
 no sickliness, no inflation in them. He sometimes peoples the 
 
CRITICAL. 161 
 
 places he tells of with absurdities, but the places are real and 
 beautiful. Such effects as he never approached! by any machi- 
 nery of human emotion or passion, he accomplishes by his 
 descriptions of the face of the earth and the sky, by his sug- 
 gestions of the scents and sounds and hues of nature, and man's 
 susceptibility of them through his nerves, his feelings, and his 
 conscience. When Mr. Dickens turns aside^from the action of 
 his story, to draw the portrait of a country road for us, or to 
 describe the route of a journey, we do not count it a digression, 
 we do not resent it, we linger over it in delight, f. . ." 
 
 "... Mr. Dickens's plots are all better than Mr. Thackeray's, 
 but two among their number are very superior to the rest. 
 They are Barnaby Rudge (one of his two romances) ; and A Tale 
 of Two Cities. . . ." 
 
 **. . . Among his short stories the Christmas Carol is the 
 only remarkable production. ..." 
 
 "... Little Dorrit and Our Mutual Friend are the only two 
 books which leave no impression of humour upon the reader's 
 mind, which present hitn with nothing but caricatures. We 
 do not want to remember them, or any of the people in 
 them. . . ." 
 
 "... In certain respects this [Pickwick) is Mr. Dickens's 
 best, and it will probably be long regarded as his typical work. 
 But we have a serious quarrel with it. Never was there a 
 more earthy book. Not only is it thoroughly vulgar — that is, 
 in its plan and of its essence, and pardonable — but it is grovel- 
 ling. It would be relieved by some of the sentimenta^ty with 
 which we are impatient in Mr. Dickens's other works ; any- 
 thing would be welcome which should temper its pot-house . 
 flavour. Sam Weller's best sayings would be much better if 
 they were not always an accompaniment to pipes and beer ; his 
 father could have been made as amusing without being perpetu- 
 ally represented ordering, consuming, and dispensing liquor ; and 
 the journeys of Mr. Pickwick and his friends would be less 
 
 11 
 
162 CRITICAL. 
 
 monotonous if the eating and drinking at every stage of tiiem 
 did not occupy so prominent and continuous a place in the 
 narrative. Mr. Pickwick is an amiable person, no doubt, but no 
 mental quality of his is so forcibly depicted as his faculty for 
 drinking brandy and water, and he is never described with so 
 much relish and humour as when he returns to Dingley Dell 
 in a state of intoxication, and again when he is driven off to the 
 pound dead drunk. Every man in the book is perpetually 
 drinking ; kindness, compassion, charity, exhibit themselves in 
 orders for drink ; all the entertainments are drinking bouts, and 
 the subject which is made most elaborately ridiculous — the 
 subject of a long, laboured, and execrably bad joke — is a Tem- 
 perance Society. Such powers of humour as Mr. Dickens 
 displayed in this book, in which the coarsest material pleasures 
 occupy an inordinate space, are indeed lamentably employed in 
 surrounding such worthless and degrading lives with an irresist- 
 ible attraction of whimsicality and laughter. We hold it to be 
 a public misfortune that a book in which a habit admitted by 
 public opinion to be vile and demoralizing, and which is like- 
 wise a deadly sin, is treated jocularly, as good fun, and without 
 a hint of its danger and disgrace, should be so widely popular 
 as the Pickwick Papers. . . ." 
 
 194 
 Charles Dickens. 
 Edinburgh ; Blachvood's Edinhurgh Magazine. June, 
 1871. pp. 673, 695. 'Reiprinted in the Eclectic Magazine 
 (New York). September, 1871. pp. 257, 274. And 
 in LittelVs Living Age (Boston). July 1, 1871. pp. 
 29, 44. 
 
 A clever and impartial criticism of Dickens's powers as a 
 novelist, and of his writings. The writer considers that Dick 
 
CRITICAL. 163 
 
 Swiveller is the most successful of Dickens's creations, tlie 
 next in importance, in his estimation, being Mr. and Mrs. 
 Micawber. 
 
 "... The curious thing in the works of Mr. Dickens is, 
 that whereas he has added a flood of people to the population 
 of the world, he has not added one to that lofty rank where 
 dwell the best of humanity. He has given us the most amusing 
 fools that this generation knows, the most charmingly genial 
 people in difficulties, the most intolerable and engaging of 
 bores. But he has scarcely left us one character which is above 
 ridicule, or of which we think with a smile and a tear mingled, 
 as it is the highest boast of your true humourist to mingle 
 smiles and tears. Not to ascend to any Shakespearian heights, 
 there is not even such a light as Uncle Toby shining out of his 
 pages ; there is nothing like Thomas Newcome. He tries hard, 
 and strains, and makes many an ejQPort to cover the deficiency ; 
 but what he produces is sham, not real — it is maudlin, not 
 pathetic. His highest ideal has a quaver, as of semi-intoxica- 
 tion, in its voice ; its virtue is smug, self-conscious, surrounded 
 by twittering choruses of praise. There is not even a woman 
 among the many in his books that would bear putting up by 
 the side of the women who are to live for ever ; and how 
 strangely wanting must be the man of genius who cannot frame 
 one woman, at least, worth placing in the crowd where Una is ! 
 This is the strange drawback, the one huge deficiency, which 
 must always taint the reputation of the much -worshipped 
 novelist. Mrs. Gamp, no doubt, is great ; but she will not 
 serve our turn here. He has represented with the most graphic 
 and vivid clearness almost every grade of the species Fool. He 
 has painted ridiculous people, silly people, selfish people, 
 people occupied with one idea, oddities, eccentricities, a thou- 
 sand varieties — but among all these has never once stumbled 
 upon the simple, true, ideal woman, or any noble type of man. 
 Looking at his real power, his undeniable genius, the wonderful 
 
 11—2 
 
164 CRITICAL. 
 
 fertility of his imagination, the spectator asks with a certain 
 surprise, How is it that he never fell upon one such accidentally, 
 as we do in the world ? The wonder seems how he could miss 
 it. But miss it he did, with the curious persistency of those 
 fate-directed steps, which are fain to enter every path but one. 
 This is the first characteristic of Dickens among his compeers 
 in the world of literature. He has given us pictures as powerful, 
 individualities as distinct, as any have done. Perhaps he has 
 added to our common talk a larger number of side reflections, 
 from the thoughts and experiences of fictitious persons, than 
 most writers even of equal power. But he has not created 
 one character so close to us, yet so much above us, that we can 
 feel him a positive gain to humanity. . . . Yet with all his 
 limitations and deficiencies the genius of Dickens was one of 
 which England has reason to be proud. When he held the 
 mirror up to Nature, he never showed, it is true, anything 
 heroic, or of the highest strain of virtue and nobleness : but he 
 showed such a picture of the teeming animated world as few 
 men have been able to do — he expounded and cleared to us 
 some unseen corners of the soul, so as to make them great in 
 the perfectness of the revelation ; and here and there he 
 cleared away the rubbish from some genial, sunshiny spots 
 where the flowers can grow. We may apply to him, without 
 doubt, the surest test to which the maker can be subject ; 
 were all his books swept by some intellectual catastrophe 
 out of the world, there would still exist in the world 
 some score at least of people, with all whose ways and 
 sayings we are more intimately acquainted than with those of 
 our brothers and sisters, who would owe to him their being. 
 While we live, Sam Weller and Dick Swiveller, Mr. Pecksniff 
 and Mrs. Gramp, the Micawbers and the Squeerses, can never die. 
 They are not lofty personages, perhaps, nor can they do us 
 much good now that they are here. But here they are, and 
 nothing can destroy them. They are more real than we are our- 
 
CEITICAL. 165 
 
 selves, and will outlive and outlast us, as they have outlived 
 their creator. This is the one proof of genius which no critic, 
 not the most carping or dissatisfied, can gainsay. "Would 
 there had been among them even one soul of higher pretensions 
 to give dignity to the group ! but such as they are they are 
 indestructible and beyond the power of decay. These are 
 Dickens's evidences of the reality of his vocation, and they are 
 such as even the devil's advocate could not assail. Yain would 
 be the hand and futile the attempt of the critic who strove to 
 shut upon a spirit thus attended the doors of the temple of 
 fame !" 
 
 195 
 History of English Literature. By H. A. Taine, 
 
 D.C.L. Translated from the French by H. Van 
 
 Laun. Vol. IV. Chapter I. "The Novel — 
 
 Dickens." 
 
 Edinburgh : Edmonston and Douglas. 1871. pp. 
 
 338, 365. (See No. 162.) 
 
 *' . . . An imagination so lucid and energetic cannot but 
 animate inanimate objects without an effort. It provokes in the 
 mind in which it works extraordinary emotions, and the author 
 pours over the objects which he figures to himself something of 
 the ever-welling passion which overflows in him. Stones for 
 him take a voice, white walls swell out into big phantoms, black 
 wells yawn hideously and mysteriously in the darkness, legions 
 of strange creatures whirl shuddering over the fantastic land- 
 scape, black nature is peopled, inert matter moves. But the 
 images remain clear : in this madness there is nothing vague or 
 disorderly ; imaginary objects are designed with outlines as 
 precise and details as numerous as real objects, and the dream 
 is equal to the truth. ..." 
 
1 66 CRITICAL. 
 
 \ 
 
 "He makes a story out of them, and it is not the first. 
 Dickens is a poet : he is as much at home in the imaginative 
 world as in the actual. . . ." 
 
 ** The imagination of Dickens is like that of monomaniacs. 
 To plunge one's self into an idea, to be absorbed by it, to see 
 nothing else, to repeat it under a hundred forms, to enlarge it, 
 to carry it thus enlarged to the eye of the spectator, to dazzle 
 and overwhelm him with it, to stamp it upon him so tenacious 
 and impressive that he can never again tear it from his me- 
 mory — these are the great features of this imagination and 
 style. ..." 
 
 " Dickens does not perceive great things : this is the second 
 feature of his imagination. Enthusiasm seizes him in connec- 
 tion with everything, especially in connection with vulgar 
 objects, a curiosity-shop, a sign-post, a town-crier. He has 
 vigour : he does not attain beauty. His instrument gives 
 vibrating sounds, but not harmonious. If he is describing a 
 house, he will draw it with geometrical clearness ; he will put 
 all its colours in relief, discover a face and thought in the 
 shutters and the pipes j he will make a sort of human being 
 out of the house, grimacing and forcible, which will chain our 
 regard, and which we shall never forget ; but he will not see 
 the grandeur of the long monumental lines, the calm majesty of 
 the broad shadows boldly divided by the white plaster, the 
 cheerfulness of the light which covers them, and becomes 
 palpable in the black niches in which it is poured as though 
 to rest and sleep. If he is painting a landscape he will perceive 
 the haws which dot with their red fruit the leafless hedges, the 
 thin vapour streaming from a distant stream, the motions of an 
 insect in the grass ; but the deep poetry which would have 
 seized the author of Valentine and Andre will escape him. He 
 will be lost, like the painters of his country, in the minute and 
 impassioned observation of small things ; he will have no love 
 of beautiful forms and fine colours. . . . ' 
 
CRITICAL. 167 
 
 " Yet there is no writer who knows better how to touch 
 and melt ; he makes us weep, absolutely shed tears ; before 
 reading him we did not know there was so much pity in the 
 heart. . , ." 
 
 ** It is our end and yours, and the list of your characters will 
 have rather the effect of a book of satires than of a portrait 
 gallery. 
 
 ' ' For the same reason these satires, though united, will con- 
 tinue effectually detached, and will not constitute a genuine 
 collection. You began with essays, and your larger novels are 
 only essays tagged together. The only means of composing a 
 natural and solid whole is to write the history of a passion oi 
 of a character, to take them up at their birth, to see them in- 
 crease, alter, become destroyed, to understand the inner neces- 
 sity of their development. You do not follow this development ; 
 you always keep your character in the same attitude ; he is a 
 miser, or a hypocrite, or a good man to the end, and always 
 after the same fashion : thus he has no history. You can only 
 change the circumstances in which he is met with, you do not 
 change him ; he remains motionless, and at every shock that 
 touches him emits the same sound. The variety of events 
 which you contrive is therefore only an amusing phantasma- 
 goria; they have no connection, they do not form a system, 
 they are but a heap. You will only write lives, adventures, 
 memoirs, sketches, collections of scenes, and you will not be 
 able to compose an action. But if the literary tastes of your 
 nation, added to the natural directions of your genius, imposes 
 upon you moral intentions, forbids you the lofty depicture of 
 characters, vetoes the composition of united aggregates, it pre- 
 sents to your observation, sensibility, and satire, a succession of 
 original figures which belong only to England, which, drawn by 
 your hand, will form a unique gallery, and which with the 
 stamp of your genius will offer that of your country and of your 
 time. . . ." 
 
168 CRITICAL. 
 
 " Take away the grotesque characters, who are only intro- 
 duced to fill up and to excite laughter, and you will find all 
 Dickens's characters belong to two classes — people who have 
 feelings and emotions, and people who have none. He contrasts 
 the souls which nature creates with those which society de- 
 forms. ..." 
 
 "In reality, the novels of Dickens can all be reduced to one 
 phrase, to wit : Be good and love ; there is genuine joy only in 
 the emotions of the heart ; sensibility is the whole man. Leave 
 science to the wise, pride to the nobles, luxury to the rich ; 
 have compassion on humble wretchedness : the smallest and 
 most despised being may in himself be worth as much as thou- 
 sands of the powerful and the proud. Take care not to bruise 
 the delicate souls which flourish in all conditions, under all 
 costumes, in all ages. Believe that humanity, pity, forgiveness, 
 are the finest things in man ; believe that intimacy, expansion, 
 tenderness, tears, are the finest things in the world. To live 
 is nothing ; to be powerful, learned, illustrious, is little : to 
 be useful is not enough. He alone has lived and is a 
 man who has wept at the remembrance of a benefit given or 
 received. ..." 
 
 196 
 
 The "Good Genie" of Fiction. (Thoughts while 
 reading Forster's " Life of Charles Dickens.") By 
 Eobert Buchanan. 
 
 London : *S^. PauVs Magazine. February, 1872. 
 pp. 130, 148. 
 
 197 
 
 Dickens in Eelation to Criticism. By George 
 
 Henry Lewes. 
 
CRITICAL. 169 
 
 London: The Fortnightly Review. February, 1872. 
 pp. 141, 154. Eeprinted in the Eclectic Magazine 
 (New York). April, 1872. pp. 445, 453. And in 
 Evenj Saturday (Boston). Vol. XII. pp. 246, etc. 
 (See Appendix — Testimonies IV.). 
 
 198 
 
 Charles Dickens. Vortrag, gehalten in Rathhaus 
 
 zu Zurich. Von H. Behn-Eschenburg. 
 
 Basel : Schweighauserische Verlagsbuchlandlung 
 (Benno Schwabe). 1872. pp. 42. 
 
 A Lecture given in the Town Hall of Zurich by H. Behn- 
 Eschenburg. 
 
 199 
 Charles Dickens's Nomenclature. In Two 
 Parts. By W. F. Peacock. 
 London: Belgravia. Part I., April, 1873. pp. 267, 
 276. Part IL, May, 1873. pp. 393, 402. 
 
 Prefaced by the following remarks : — *' These articles were 
 written nearly two years ago, and put to press, but unavoidably 
 delayed — long before the appearance of Mr. Forster's inimitable 
 biography of the great novelist. In that work it is asserted, 
 and truly, that Dickens adopted many real names. Admittedly, 
 as herein stated ; yet at the same time the fact is clear that the 
 noveHst coined the bulk of his cognomense. It cannot be 
 doubted. Save in the story, where can be found a Tappertit, a 
 
170 CRITICAL. 
 
 Micawber, a Swiveller, a Sweedlepipes ? Another fact. Previ- 
 ously to the publication in America of the Dickens Dictionary, 
 the writer of these articles had been engaged for three years in 
 the preparation of an exhaustive, and altogether dissimilar, 
 Concordance to the Works of Charles Dickens. The compilers of 
 the American Dictionary assert most randomly that the Dickens 
 characters number fifteen hundred. This statement is not 
 ■correct. The invented characters are nine hundred and seventy- 
 one, as herein stated, neither more nor less. In the Dictionary, 
 places and institutions, public matters and things, are counted 
 in, as also some personages reckoned thrice over, as Noah 
 Clay pole ; while realities are added, as Eliza Grrimwood, H. K. 
 Browne, Miss Martineau, George IV., and Dickens' s father T 
 
 200 
 
 Charles Dickens. By George Barnett Smith. 
 London : The Gentleman's Magazine. March, 1874. 
 pp. 301, 316. 
 
 Observations upon the genius and character of Dickens, 
 €Lpropos of Forster's Life. " Most authors fail to beget in us a 
 strong personal interest, and the author of Pickwick stood 
 quite alone in modern times for the wide range of his sympa- 
 thizers. To account for the extraordinary fervour with which 
 his name was everywhere greeted, and his immense, his world- 
 wide popularity, we are compelled to fall back upon the con- 
 clusion that this man must have stamped more of his own 
 individual human character upon his work than is the case with 
 most writers. When we read his novels we are irresistibly led 
 to think of the man who has lived and moved so much among 
 his species as to reproduce with a fidelity completely unparalleled 
 the habits, manners, and appearance of his myriad characters. 
 We are introduced to real men and women — oftentimes, it must 
 
CRITICAL. 171 
 
 be admitted, of an exaggerated type — and treated to real ex- 
 perience by one who has evidently made the acquaintance of the 
 persons and scenes he professes to depict. . . ." 
 
 " While claiming this for him, however, let us also admit that 
 there has been in past times a kind of glamour, almost akin to 
 worship, thrown about this man, which is equally incompre- 
 liensible with the detraction practised towards him in a few 
 quarters by those who acted either from jealousy or incapacity 
 to perceive the genius which was patent to the vast majority of 
 mankind. The adulation which was poured upon Dickens 
 seems to us to have overshot its mark. He was a great man ; 
 gi'eat in the sense of being a true reproducer of the human 
 nature which he beheld, but he was not one of the very greatest 
 type. Yet the terms in which he has been frequently described 
 would not be too enthusiastic if they were employed in indicating 
 our feeling for Shakespeare or Fielding. . . . His readers, too, 
 haye been of the most cosmopolitan character. The highest 
 and the lowest in the social scalg of all ages and of all countries 
 have been charmed by his stories, and moved by his laughter 
 and his pathos. No man ever succeeded in doing this admirably 
 who was not renowned for his appreciation of human nature in 
 its manifold guises, and with its numberless failings and virtues. 
 . . . Underlying aU the rich humour with which his works 
 abound, one discerns the moral teacher and the moral regenera- 
 tor. He was nearly always striking a blow at some national 
 vice or social disgrace. And the way in which he accomplished 
 his purpose was excellent; for scarcely any author has given us 
 so little of moral disquisition with so much of actual re- 
 proof. ..." 
 
 "... It may be somewhat hypercritical, but we are bound 
 to confess that Mr. Forster throws a little too rosy a hue round 
 his late hero. In reading these volumes, we almost instinctively 
 come to the conclusion that we are reading of a man who had 
 no faults. At any rate, there is scarcely an inkling of them. 
 
172 CRITICAL. 
 
 Allowance must of course be made for intimate friendship ; and 
 perhaps, after all, there is no necessity to enlarge upon a man's 
 faults, when we know he must have them, whether they are 
 registered as part of his being and mental organization or no. 
 We should have said, for instance, that Dickens was a man who 
 possessed a considerable amount of self-esteem — most people, 
 we imagine, would also have gathered that from his works, and 
 what they have read of him — but Mr. Forster intimates that 
 he was not so endowed. Yet, of course, it would be more 
 than interesting — it would be somewhat startling and unusual 
 — to find either in fiction or biographies anything admitted in 
 tlie slightest degree inconsistent with the most perfect character 
 of the heroes. ..." 
 
 *'His influence upon our literature is one we would not 
 willingly let die. Neither is there any fear that such a disas- 
 trous consummation will ever arrive. E,arely have so many 
 excellent qualities been combined with such an utter absence of 
 the objectionable as are found in his novels. We have no fear 
 of his future fame. His gallery of characters may not be full 
 of perfect portraits, but there are many whose truth and natural- 
 ness will be attested through all time. . . . Amongst those who 
 will hold a high place in the esteem of posterity, it is no pre- 
 sumption to include Charles Dickens." 
 
 201 
 
 Charles Dickens. By Walter Irving. 
 
 Edinburgh : Maclaclilan and Stewart. London : 
 
 Simpkin, Marshall and Co. 1874. pp. 30. 
 
 ". . .It is realism which gives vitality to all Dickens's 
 characters. They are no mere puppets formed to play their 
 short-lived pranks upon a narrow stage, to disappear, perhaps, 
 before the hand which made them had ceased its powers. They 
 
CRITICAL. 173 
 
 display the characteristic qualities -which form individuality ; 
 and their circumstances are influenced, and their dispositions 
 tempered, by the actualities of life. They are meant to live 
 down into time, to vrarn and to admonish. They are impelled 
 and repulsed both by internal and external forces. Many of 
 them have made the goblins which haunt and torment them ; 
 many have reaped the misery which was sown by their own 
 hands ; and many have saddened the lives of others when they 
 might have gladdened them. Between the characters of Dickens 
 and Thackeray there is a great gulf. Thackeray's characters 
 are, in the words of Puff, ' all great people.' You cannot open 
 a page of Thackeray but you are saluted by perfumed dowagers, 
 scented fops, used-up rou^s, and powdered lackeys. The rank 
 perfume of the ball-room flits after him wherever he goes. He 
 lives in a world of glitter and scandal. No one but Thackeray 
 would have had the heart to recall the weakness and folly of 
 hereditary origin, to hold it up to public scorn, to jeer, and 
 gibe, and make merry over it. None of his characters are 
 capable of explaining themselves, for, like Puff, he unceasingly 
 stops the play to explain what has been, and what is to be done. 
 He has to tell us that this one is deeply moved by anger, this 
 other by sorrow, and this by fear, because not the slightest 
 traces of any such emotion can be discovered in the individuals 
 who are suffering so wofully from such a variety of conflicting 
 passions. He betrays no dramatic capacity. He appears more 
 as a retailer of boudoir secrets and drawing-room talk. If you 
 remember anything at all about his heroes and heroines, it is 
 because you have been pulled after them through seven or eight 
 hundred pages. It is not difficult, after such a tuition, to re- 
 member the names of the principal puppets ; but you never 
 realize any power of personality sufficiently strong or natural 
 to create belief in their existence. Dickens, on the other hand, 
 possessed the power of expressing individuality and distinctive- 
 ness of character, by means of developing natural differences of 
 
174 CRITICAL. 
 
 disposition and intelligence, to a degree which has only been 
 surpassed by Shakespeare. Thackeray scented and rouged his 
 characters until he made them thoroughly respectable. No one 
 could so deftly provide a suit of gentility, with all the ap- 
 pendages necessary to a person of quality. He gave this 
 department of his profession the benefit of his special super- 
 vision. Had he willed it, he could have placed the father of 
 the Fotheringay within the magic circle of titledom as easily as 
 to make him run up a waterspout. No one could have detected 
 the trick, so clever was the adept at this species of jugglery. 
 Thackeray leaves the world of fashion as he found it. He 
 laughed at it, showed what a stupid world it is, how it dined, 
 and danced, how it spent its Saturdays and Sundays, how it 
 came into existence^ and how it went out of it ; but he suffered 
 himself to be carried along with it, and never made an attempt 
 to befriend any of its votaries. There is no earnestness secreting 
 itself under his silks and satins. In this particular there is a 
 wide contrast between him and Dickens. Thackeray has given 
 us the incidents of life, the manners and customs of a class ; 
 but he fails as an exponent of human nature. His imagination 
 was cramped, so that he could not assimilate what his observa- 
 tion had perceived. Satire is destructive to humour, and by 
 frequent use narrows the faculties of the mind, checks sympathy 
 and generosity, and makes geniality and warm-heartedness im- 
 possible. Thackeray was a satirist and a wit, not a humourist. 
 He had not breadth enough for a genuine humourist. The 
 humourist is born ; the wit is manufactured. That which 
 excited the sneer of Thackeray gained the commiseration of 
 Dickens. ..." 
 
 ** Satirists have stormed against the abuses of the court, and 
 governments, the intrigues of statesmen, and the intolerance of 
 the pulpit. But Dickens was the first to employ fiction as an 
 instrument to tell the dark history of those human beings who 
 herd in the loathsome alleys of our great cities, to sho w that 
 
CRITICAL. 175 
 
 men are allowed to rot out of life into eternity because a duty 
 was neglected which, love ought to have dictated. . . .'* 
 
 202 
 
 BULWER AND DiCKENS. A Contrast. 
 
 London : Temple Bar. January, 1875. pp. 168^ 
 
 180. 
 
 The writer shows that, by comparing the careers of the two 
 novelists, a strong contrast is presented. Their literary successes 
 were also of a diflPerent character, for Dickens shot into notoriety 
 with PicJcwich, and his first success was as dazzling even as any 
 he afterwards enjoyed. It was not so with Bulwer, who tells 
 us that his first efibrts at prose composition were refused admis- 
 sion into a magazine, his first novel was very little read, his 
 first poetry was thought detestable, and his first play very 
 nearly escaped being damned. The writer concludes by saying 
 that Bulwer "looked at life with the eyes of an aristocrat, and 
 jealousy or envy was accordingly foreign to his disposition. He 
 hated the base, and he loathed the mean ; but he would have 
 wished to reconcile anything and everybody not base or mean 
 by the ties of a common nobleness and kinship. We rather 
 shrink from bringing out this portion of the contrast too 
 sharply. But it would remain very imperfect if we did not 
 recall the fact that all Dickens's genius, all his success, all his 
 experience, all his native kindliness, did not save him from 
 being as narrow and exclusive in his judgment of 'classes' as 
 he was narrow and exclusive in his occupations and his tastes. 
 He wrote with the greatest scorn of people and institutions of 
 whom he knew absolutely nothing, and concerning whom he 
 would not condescend to learn anything — we will not use the 
 term politically ; for politics are quite foreign to our subject. 
 But he had cherished the radical and levelling mind, and never 
 
176 CRITICAL. 
 
 trained or permitted himself to appreciate what he did himself 
 possess. Doubtless much must be forgiven him by reason of 
 liis early difficulties. But, as we have said, the drawbacks 
 incidental to them might hiave been overcome, and Dickens might 
 at fifty have been as large-minded even as Bulwer himself. 
 There are those who think his native genius was greater, much 
 greater, than that of Bulwer. This is a matter not easily 
 ascertained or solved, and we shall not attempt to solve it. We 
 certainly think his native genius was quite as great as that of 
 Bulwer. But the results, taken in their entirety, were not so 
 satisfactory. And whilst the life and career of Dickens, in so 
 far as they can be imitated, should serve, for the most part, 
 rather as a warning than an example, the literary career of 
 Bulwer may, for the most part, be set up as a noble and lofty 
 pattern that can lead no one astray." 
 
 203 
 Charles Dickens on Bells. By George Delamere 
 Cowan. 
 , London : Belgravia. January, 1876. pp. 380, 
 387. 
 
 "... To a greater extent than any other author, Charles 
 Dickens recognises and plays with the beauty of tlie bells. His 
 poetic mind has surrounded those commonplace and familiar 
 objects with, a throng of tender fancies and dramatic associations 
 which in themselves constitute a complete bell- philosophy. 
 From their lofty pulpits, church-bells expounded to him daily, 
 liourly, the grandest homilies on human life, compelling him 
 to recognise in each, cadence floating and eddying in the air 
 above a something infinitely beyond a fugitive melody ; for in 
 the alternate reverberations of the chimes, jocund, melancholy, 
 menacing, condoling, foreboding, he hears and reveals a musical 
 commentary on the bright and dark sides of life. . . ." 
 
CRITICAL. 177 
 
 204 
 
 Dickens's London; or, London in the Works of 
 
 Charles Dickens. By T. Edgar Pemberton. 
 
 London: Samuel Tinsley. 1876. pp. 260. 
 
 The author has gone in turn through each of the great boolxs 
 of Dickens, and has dwelt "on those London sites and streets 
 vvliich in his pages have a home." 
 
 205 
 Charles Dickens's Manuscripts. 
 
 Edinburgh : Chambers's Journal. November 10, 
 
 1877. pp. 710, 712. Eeprinted in the Eclectic 
 Magazine (New York). January, 1878. pp. 80, 82 ; 
 ^nd in LitleWs Living Age (Boston). January 26, 
 
 1878. pp. 252, 254. 
 
 A description of the original manuscripts of Dickens's novels 
 tiiat are included in the Forster Collection in the South Ken- 
 sington Museum. The writer describes the pecuUarities of 
 each manuscript, both in respect to caligraphy and the altera- 
 tions and interlineations with which the pages abound — a con- 
 clusive proof 01 the care with which Dickens prepared his 
 writings for the press. 
 
 206 
 Dickens's Secularistic Teaching. By Harriet T. 
 Law. With a portrait. 
 
 12 
 
1 78 CRITICAL. 
 
 London : The Secular Chronicle. December 16^ 
 1877. pp. 289, 291. 
 
 "... Dickens liked neither church bells nor churches, 
 and was not much of an admirer of 'religious training' for 
 children. ..." 
 
 "... Dickens preferred to have Lis portion with ordinary 
 mortals rather than with the ' sour saints whose manner is- 
 starched, but whose linen is not,' as he said of the Shepherd 
 .... The memory of every reader of his works — and 
 who is there who has not read and does not love them ? — 
 will supply an ample store of passages corroborative of the 
 assertion. We leave our subject with regret, as we entered 
 upon it with avidity, in the full faith that Secularists will 
 acknowledge that it is no light thing to have so much genius, 
 wit, energy, and earnestness as Dickens displayed enlisted on 
 our side. Let us appreciate the blessing as it deserves, and 
 strive in our smaller orbits and humbler spheres to second the 
 efforts he made for the advancement of mankind." 
 
 207 
 Charles Dickens's Verse. 
 
 London : The Spectator. December 29^ 1877. pp. 
 1651, 1653. Eeprinted in LiitelVs Living Age 
 (Boston). January 26, 1878. pp. 237, 241. 
 
 "... Dickens does not seem to have written as much verse 
 as Thackeray, nor is there among his efforts of this kind any 
 piece which even approaches in merit some half-dozen or more 
 of Thackeray's little poems. ..." 
 
 "... In his own way, Dickens surpassed any humourist 
 whom England, or perhaps the world, has produced. But 
 then that way was a peculiar way, and depended much more 
 
CRITICAL. 179 
 
 on illimitable resources for harping on the same string -without 
 ever saying the same thing a second time, and this without 
 ever swerving from his original idea, than on any fineness of 
 insight into the dissolving colours of human emotion. . . . 
 What remains of Dickens's poetry is, without exception, pic- 
 turesque or pathetic in its motive j and whether in tlie 
 picturesque or in the pathetic vein, Dickens was apt to be so self- 
 conscious that he almost always fell into melodramatic pictures 
 or melodramatic sentiment; and it is this which spoils liis 
 poetry, whether his poetic prose or his verse itself. Perhaps 
 the most deservedly popular of all his few poems is the one 
 called '' The Ivy Green" in Fickwick, which is really graceful, but 
 has a conventional sort of plaintiveness that does not ring like 
 true feeling. The half-murderous and ogreish temper attri- 
 buted to the ivy in that song is, however, a bit of commonplace 
 As the ivy is seen in its richest life where there is most decay, 
 it would occur to anyone to depict it as feeding on time and 
 death, and this idea is worked out in every verse. But if that were 
 really the most natural idea suggested, we should regard ivy with 
 more disgust tlian pleasure, — much as we regard the rank and 
 noxious weeds which really suggest neglect as well as age ; and 
 we need not say that that is not really the sentiment with whicJi 
 a plant is regarded that we all cultivate so carefully, and are so 
 glad to see covering bare walls, and enveloping the most beau- 
 tiful and stately of buildings. In fact, Dickens fastened on a 
 commonplace idea which was not really appropriate to his 
 subject, and then worked it out with his usual skill and smart- 
 ness. . . ." 
 
 "The truth is, that Dickens's poetry, like his humour, is due 
 to fancy working on the suggestion of external circumstances. 
 He feels the melancholy of a sweet child's death or a neglected 
 boy's early fate, and immediately his fancy sets to work to 
 accumulate round such a theme all the thoughts which conven- 
 tional associations suggest. Eat he had little real dramatic 
 
 12—2 
 
180 CRITICAL. 
 
 insight, as command of those strange rushes of human feeling 
 which defy the presentiment of the world, and therefore tlie 
 secret of true poetic pathos, which depends on holding the key 
 to these strange ebbs and flows of human feeling, was denied 
 him. ..." 
 
 " On the wliole, we think Dickens's verse best when he 
 intends to be neither pathetic nor amusing, but to point a 
 moral with some sharpness. He miglit hare written yerse of 
 the didactic-epigrammatic kind, we suspect, with much success." 
 
 "... He had not the finely modulated mind needful for a lyric 
 poet; nor the knowledge of the heart needful for the dramatic 
 poet, and in satire he was apt to be vulgar. . . . But he had a 
 strong didactic impulse, and keen wit to give it edge and 
 incisiveness." 
 
 208 
 
 Charles Dickens as a Dramatist and a Poet. 
 
 By Percy Fitzgerald. 
 
 London : The Gentleman's Magazine. January, 1878. 
 pp. 61, 77. 
 
 The writer gives a selection from Dickens's poems, thus 
 proving how manj'-sided was his talent in that direction ; and 
 from his prose writings, indicating that many tender passages 
 contained therein are virtually blank verse. 
 
 209 
 
 Novel-Reading : The Works of Charles Dickens; 
 
 The Works of W. Makepeace Thackeray. By 
 
 Anthony Trollope. 
 
 London : The Nineteenth Century. January, 1879. 
 pp. 24, 43. 
 
CRITICAL. 181 
 
 The greater portion of this paper is devoted to a dissertation 
 on novelists and novel-reading. Mr. Trollope concludes by 
 expressing his opinions as to the relative merits of the works of 
 Dickens and Thackeray, and says : " Of all Dickens's novels, 
 Olicer Twist is perhaps artistically the best, as in it the author 
 adlieres most tenaciously to one story, and interests us most 
 thoroughly by his plot. But the characters are less efficacious 
 for the teaching of lessons than in his other tales. . . ." 
 
 " . . .It may be admitted, in regard to Dickens's youD| 
 ladies, that tliey lack nature. Dora, Nelly, Little Dorrit, 
 Florence Dombey, and a host of others, crowd upon our memory, 
 not as shadows of people we have really known — as do Jeanie 
 Deans, for instance, and Jane Ejre — but they have affected tis^ 
 as personifications of tenderness and gentle feminine gifts. "We 
 have felt each character to contain, not a woman, but somethhig 
 which will help to make many women. The Boythorn?, 
 Tulkinghorns, Cheerybles, and Pickwicks may be as unlike 
 nature as they will. They are unlike nature. But they never- 
 theless charm the reader, and leave behind on the palate of his 
 mind a sweet savour of humanity. Our author's heroes, down 
 to Smike, are often outrageous in their virtues. But their 
 virtues are virtues. Truth, gratitude, courage, and manly self- 
 respect are qualities which a young man will be made not only 
 to admire, but to like, by his many hours spent over these 
 novels. And so it will be with young women as to modesty, 
 reticence, and unselfish devotion. 
 
 The popularity of Tliackeray has been very much less ex- 
 tended than that of Dickens, and the lessons which he has 
 tauglit have not, therefore, been scattered afield so widel3\ 
 Dickens, to use a more common phrase, has tapped a stratum 
 lower in education and wealth, and therefore much wider than 
 that reached by his rival. The genius of Thackeray was of a 
 natui-e altogether different. Dickens delighted much in de- 
 picting with very broad lines very well-known vices under 
 
182 crviTiCAL. 
 
 impossible characters, but was, perhaps, still more thoroughly 
 at home in representing equally well-known virtues after the 
 same fashion. His Pinches and Cheerjbles were nearer to him 
 than his Ralph Nicklebys and his Pecksniffs. It seems spe- 
 cially to have been the work of Thackeray to cover with scorn 
 the vices which in his hands were displayed in personages wlto 
 were only too realistic. With him there is no touch of melo- 
 drama. ..." 
 
 210 
 Studies of English Authors.— No. V. Charles 
 
 Dickens. By Peter Bayne, LL.D. In eleven 
 
 chapters. 
 
 Loudon : The Literary JFoiid — Chapter I. Charles 
 Dickens. March 21, 1879, pp. 184, 186.— 
 Chapter II. Fickwick March 28, 1879. pp. 200, 
 202.— Chapter III. The second half of Fld- 
 ivich. M. Taine reprimanding Dickens. Oliver 
 Twist. April 4, 1879. pp. 216, 218.— Chapter IV. 
 Dickens in Edinburgh and the Highlands. April 1 1 , 
 1879. pp. 232, 234.— Chapter V. ■NicJiolas NicEehi/. 
 April 18, 1879. pp. 248, 250.— Chapter VI. Defects 
 o^ Nicholas Nichlehy — The Christmas Stories. April 
 25, 1879. pp. 264, 266.— Chapter VII. Dickens in 
 America. The American Notes. Martin ChuzzlevAt. 
 May 2, 1879. pp. 280, 282.— Chapter VIII. Letter 
 on the Localities and Characters of Dickens. David 
 
GillTICAL. 183 
 
 Oojjperfielcl May 9, 1879. pp. 296, 298.— Chapter 
 IX. David Cop;perfield (continued). May 16, 1879. 
 pp. 312, 314. — Chapter X. Dombey and Son. M. 
 Taine's criticism. May 23, 1879. pp. 328, 331.— 
 Chapter XL Bleak House. Miscellaneous incidents. 
 Conclusion. Carlyle on Dickens. May 30, 1879. 
 pp. 344, 346. 
 
 211 
 Charles Dickens as a Humaniser. By Arnold 
 
 Quamoclit. 
 
 London : St. Jameds Magazine. April, 1879. pp. 
 281, 291. 
 
 "... No man was better acquainted with human nature 
 than Charles Dickens, and no man was so gifted as he with the 
 power to describe it. ..." 
 
 **He drew pictures— this Landseer of literature— at whicli 
 tlie people are never tired of looking, and he pointed out to 
 men in what guises and in what distorted forms human baseness 
 may be detected, and how to shun and counteract the evil 
 influences which are so widely and so destructively at work. A 
 man among men, he had studied humankind in all the varied 
 forms in which it lias existed, and from the results of that study 
 his vigorous mind drew conclusions and pointed inferences sucli 
 as man had never thought of before him. . . ." 
 
 " What is remembered as a prominent trait in his character, 
 and one of which the world will be slow to lose sight, is that, 
 his desire was ever that others should benefit as well as himself 
 'by what he wrote, that they should be guided by his experience 
 
1 84 CRITICAL. 
 
 — and a wide experience it was — into the paths of uprightness 
 charity, and rectitude in tliis world. Unlike many writers £ 
 his own and other days, he did not allow himself to be drawr 
 away to that which would result simply in his own private 
 aggrandisement, and minister to his own selfish ends : but he 
 made it a life-study to benefit his fellow-men, not only by his 
 example — and a shining one it was — but by producing something 
 which should dignify and ennoble, as well as charm and please 
 —something which should, whilst raising the world to a better 
 appreciation of herself, show to her people that they were 
 created for worthier and holier ends than those of a mere- 
 mechanical existence, and to show it better than anything which 
 liad yet been. He endeavoured to bring his fellow-men to a 
 true and just conception of what there is that is brigltt and 
 beautiful and lasting in this fleeting world, as well as bringing 
 a livelihood and lasting fame to himself. This is what Dickens 
 strove to do, and how well and how nobly he did it all the 
 world knows. . . ." 
 
 212 
 Bibliography of the Writings of Charles 
 Dickens, with many curious and interesting 
 particulars relating to his works. By James Cook. 
 With a portrait on title-page, and a frontispiece. 
 
 London : Frank Kerslake. Paisley : J. and J. 
 Cook. 1879. pp. 88. 
 
 The frontispiece is a woodcut illustration by "Phiz," as in 
 the original prospectus of Master Sumphreif s Cloch. Besides 
 the bibliography, some interesting information is given respect- 
 ing the various editions of the works of Dickens. The work 
 also comprises a list of published biographies and portraits of 
 
CRITICAL. 185 
 
 tlie novelist, and of original paintings and drawings illustrating 
 his writings ; verses by, and poetical addresses to, Dickens ; 
 iiii account of the Dickens manuscripts, and of the sale of hi* 
 library. In the addenda, prepared after the previous matter 
 had gone to press^ some particulars are given conceiming 
 plagiaristic titles and extra illustrations to Dickens's works. 
 
 213 
 Charles Dickens and his Illustrators. With 
 nine illustrations. 
 London: The Christmas Bookseller. 1879. pp. 
 15, 21. 
 
 The illustrations, printed from the original plates and 
 wood-blocks, are introduced as specimens of the work of 
 Dickens's illustrators. 
 
 Besides the enumeration of the artists employed in embellishing^ 
 the English editions of Dickens's works, the illustrators of the 
 American, Dutch, and Hungarian issues are also included, and 
 their designs commented on. Some details are here given of 
 the '* extra illustrations " to Dickens, by Heath, Crowquill,. 
 Richardson, Sibson, Parallel, Onwhyn, and Barnard, and 
 reference made to the illustrations in certain piracies and 
 plagiarisms. 
 
 "... Cruikshank on several occasions laid claim to be 
 considered the originator of Oliver Twist and the Jew, which 
 claim Dickens so strenuously denied and repudiated that the 
 fi'iendship hitherto existing between author and artist was, for 
 a while at least, estranged. It is vain and useless now ta 
 speculate upon the topic ; but one thing is certain — the sketch 
 of the arch-criminal in the condemned cell, so terrible in its 
 intensity, so vividly true to nature, so wonderfully graphic, 
 largely contributed to the success of the story. That there- 
 
186 CRITICAL. 
 
 really was some foundation for Cruiksliank's contention seems 
 probable : and from the fulness of his fame Dickens might have 
 spared the modest share claimed by the artist. ..." 
 
 In reference to the current story of the origin of Cruikshank's 
 conception of Fagin in the condemned cell, the editor of the 
 Bookseller says : — '* On asking him if the story was true, Mr. 
 Cruiksbank said it was absurd ; its only truth was the fact of 
 his standing before the glass and biting his nails to see how 
 the picture would look best : whether Fagin's abject fear and 
 despair were best expressed by biting his thumb-nail from the 
 lower jaw, or biting the nails of two fingers from the upper." 
 According to the original story, this " inspiration " was the 
 result of accident, the artist having caught sight of his own 
 face in a looking-glass while cogitating over the subject of 
 the picture. 
 
 "... Can any critic say how much of his popularity 
 Dickens owed to his illustrators ? The measure of their influ- 
 ence upon the public mind cannot now, and possibly at no 
 time could, be estimated ; but that the happy portraits of 
 Pickwick and Sam Weller, Dombey and Mr. Carker, Dick 
 S livelier, and the rest, especially the sketch of Fagin the Jew, 
 contributed materially to the public understanding and appre- 
 ciation of the tales in which they appeared, there can be no 
 manner of doubt. ..." 
 
 214 
 €harles Dickens. (1858). Literary Studies hy the 
 late Walter Bacjeliot, M.A. Reprinted from the 
 National Beview, October, 1858. (See No. 157.) 
 
 London : Longmans and Co. 1879. Vol. 11. 
 pp. 184, 220. 
 
CRITICAL. 187 
 
 215 
 Mr. Charles Dickens. ** Eminent Persons": 
 Biographies Reprinted from the Times, 1870 — 1879. 
 London : The Times Office. 1880. pp. 8, 10. 
 
 Originally published in the Times on Friday, June 10, 1870, 
 as a leading article. 
 
 "... Statesmen, men of science, philanthropists, tbe 
 acknowledged benefactors of their race might pass away, and 
 yet not leave the void which will be caused by the death of 
 Dickens. They may have earned the esteem of mankind; their 
 days may have been passed in power, honour, and prosperity ; 
 tliey may have been surrounded by troops of friends, but, how- 
 ever pre-eminent in station, ability, or publ'C services, they will 
 not have been, like our great and genial novelist, the intimate of 
 every household. Indeed, sucli a position is attained not even by 
 one man in an age. It needs an extraordinary combination of 
 intellectual and moral qualities to gain the hearts of the public 
 as Dickens has gained them. Extraordinary and very original 
 genius must be united with good sense, consummate skill, a 
 well-balanced mind, and proofs of a noble and affectionate dis- 
 position, before the world will consent to enthrone a man as 
 their unassailable and enduring favourite. This is the position 
 wliich Mr. Dickens has occupied with the English and also 
 with the American public for the third of a century. ..." 
 
 216 
 The Bibliography of Dickens. A Bibliographical 
 List, arranged in chronological order, of the pub- 
 lished writings in prose and verse of Charles 
 Dickens (from 1834 to 1880). By Eichard Heme 
 
188 ClUTICAL. 
 
 Shepherd. 1880. (No publisher's imprint.) pp. 
 viii. 107. Preface dated " Easter, 1880." 
 
 Comprising a list of the Works, Letters, and Speeches of 
 Dickens, and of writings relating to the novelist. In ilie 
 last-named section of his work, Mr. Shepherd includes Mr. 
 James Cook's Bihliography^ a similarly constructed work (seo 
 No. 212), which he thus somewhat unreasonably condemns : — 
 ** For the more recondite matters which give the chief if not 
 tlie sole value to a compilation of this kind, the reader will 
 search this bulky brochure in vain. Nor is the record of more 
 commonly known and accessible details anywhere thoroughly 
 reliable either as to accuracy or completeness. And the sins of 
 commission are as great and grievous as the sins of omission. 
 Mr. Cook's unwieldy pamphlet may be said to resemble a waste 
 ground, with a notice-board attracting the passers' ejes, and 
 bearing the legend, ' Eubbish shot here.' " 
 
 217 
 
 Philosophy of Charles Dickens. By the Hon. 
 Albert S. G. Canning. 
 
 London : Smith, Elder, and Co. 1880. pp. 335. 
 
 The works of Dickens are separately considered, and 
 their principal features discussed. The writer says : — 
 " Perhaps no one has succeeded better, or discovered a more 
 effectual plan of drawing popular attention to public abuse?, 
 evils, and wrongs, than Dickens has done by mingling terrible 
 descriptions of London misery and crime with the most amusing 
 sketches of London life." 
 
CRITICAL. 189 
 
 218 
 Dickens und Daudet in deutscher Uebersetzung. 
 Yon Louis Weizmani). 
 
 Berlin : Druck und Yerlag von H. S. Hermann. 
 1880. pp. 44. 
 
 219 
 About England with Dickens. By B. E. Mar' 
 With illustrations by Charles A. Vanderhoof. 
 
 New York : Scribner's Monthly. August, 1880. 
 pp. 494, 503. 
 
 The illustrations comprise the following scenes, which Dickens 
 lias introduced in his works :— Earnet, where Oliver Twist met 
 the Artful Dodger— The Clock of St. Andrew's (Holborn)— 
 Seven Dials — Kew Bridge on the Thames — London Bridge, the 
 Landing Stairs — Newgate Prison, the Old Bailey — " That part 
 of the Thames on which the church at Rotherhithe abuts." 
 
 220 
 Mr. Pickwick and Nicholas Nickleby. By B. E. 
 
 Martin. With illustrations by Alfred Rimmer and 
 
 Charles A. Yanderhoof. 
 
 New York : Scrihnefs Monthly. September, 1880. 
 pp. 641, 656. 
 
 The illustrations comprise the following subjects, which 
 were introduced by Dickens in TickwicJc and Nichlehy : — Cop- 
 
190 CRITICAL. 
 
 perfield's Recollections of Canterbury — Rochester Castle — 
 Bull Inn at Rochester — White Hart Inn, High Street — Dean'a 
 Court, Doctors' Commons — The Abbey Grate, Bury St. Ed- 
 mund's — The Gt-reen Gate, St. Clement's Churchyard, Ipswich 
 — "The opposite side of Groswell Street" — Gray's Inn— Gate 
 way, Lincoln's Inn — George Inn — New Inn — Dotheboys Hall — • 
 Pump at Dotheboys Hall — Theatre at Portsmouth — Ralph 
 Nickleby's Mansion. 
 
 221 
 
 The Pressmen of Dickens and Thackeray. By 
 T. H. North. 
 
 London: The Graphic. January 29, 1881. p. 
 116. 
 
 A comparison is here instituted between the journalists, or 
 "pressmen," which the two novelists introduced in their 
 works. " . , . Pressmen deserved better at the hands o( 
 Dickens than they received. His laughter rings in everybody's 
 ears. , . . Thackeray's satire heals while it cauterises, but 
 Dickens's laugh selects the victim for the horseplay of tlie 
 multitude. . . ." 
 
 222 
 
 In London with Dickens. " A matter of identi- 
 fication." By B. E. Martin. AVitli illustrations l>y 
 Charles A. Vanderhoof. 
 New York: Scrihier's Monthhj. March, 1881. i>p. 
 
 649, 664. 
 
CRITICAL. 191 
 
 The illustrations comprise the following subjects : — *' The 
 Most Ancient Part of Holborn" — Courtyard of the Marshalsea 
 Prison — Church Street, Millbank — Limehouse Hole, near the 
 Eiver — The Hall of Lincoln's Inn — Mr. Tulkinghorn's House 
 — Chancery Lane — Clifford's Inn — The Nook of Staple Inn. 
 
 223 
 
 In and Out of London with Dickens. " Splendid 
 Strolling." By B. E. Martin. With illustrations 
 by Charles A. Vanderhoof. 
 
 New York: Scrihnefs Monthly. May, 1881. p}). 
 32, 45. 
 
 The illustrations comprise the following subjects: — "The 
 Old Curiosity Shop " — Sairey Gamp's — Fountain Court, the 
 Temple — A "Little Wooden Midshipman"— Peggotty's House, 
 Yarmouth — White Horse Inn, Ipswich — Entrance to Hendon 
 Churchyard — Hatfield, Hertfordshire— Cooling Churchyard. 
 
 224 
 
 *'Phiz" (Habl6t Knight Browne). A Memoir. In- 
 cluding a Selection from his Correspondence, and 
 Notes on his Principal Works. By Fred. G. 
 Kitton. With a portrait and numerous illustra- 
 tions. 
 London : William' Satchel), Tavistock Street. 1882. 
 
 pp.32. With a Preface dated "August, 1882." (A 
 
192 CRITICAL. 
 
 *'Note," chiefly of a biographical character, was 
 
 issued with the second edition.) 
 
 In this brochure an account is given of the relationship that 
 •existed between Dickens and his principal illustrator. There 
 are also included a selection from the previously unpublished 
 •correspondence of " Phiz " with Diekenp, a reprint of some of 
 the original illustrations to Master Humphrey's Clock, and some 
 *' Fancies for Mr. Dombey," concluding with Notes on his 
 illustrations to Dickens's works, etc. 
 
 225 
 
 The Plays and Poems of Charles Dickens. 
 With a few Miscellanies in Prose. Now first col- 
 lected. Edited, prefaced, and annotated by Richard 
 Heme Shepherd. In Two Volumes. 
 London : W. H. Allen and Co. 1882. Vol. I. pp. 
 
 406. Vol. II. pp. vi. 420. 
 
 This work was withdrawn from circulation a few weeks after 
 publication (August, 1882), because it contains copyright 
 matter, which, was expunged in a new edition recently issued 
 <1885). 
 
 226 
 
 Charles Dickens. By Mowbray Morris. 
 London: The Fortnightly Bevietv. December, 1882. 
 pp. 762, 779. 
 
 ** . . . Profound as is my admiration for Thackeray, and 
 ever fresh the pleasure with which I go back again and again 
 
L 
 
 CRITICAL. 193 
 
 to his writings, it seems to me impossible to deny that Dickens 
 was the more abundantly gifted of tlie two ; he had, I mean, a 
 larger proportion of the gifts which go to make the writer of 
 iiction, and those he had in which the other was wanting, or 
 possessed, at least, in a less degree, are precisely those which 
 commend themselves most immediately and vividly to the 
 majority of readers, which take soonest hold of the popular 
 imagination and sympathy, and keep them longest. But the 
 true artis.t's touch, the sense of limitation, of symmetry, the 
 self-control, the sure perception, in a word, of the exact 
 moment when * the rest should be silence,' which so powerfully 
 impresses us in Thackeray's best work — in such works as Vanity 
 Fair, and Esmond, and Barry Lyndon — we never, or hardly 
 €ver, find in Dickens. . . ." 
 
 *' Scott, when he describes a scene or an incident, does so iu 
 a few broad strokes ; Dickens with an extraordinary number 
 of minute touches, each one of astonishing accuracy and fine- 
 ness, such as would have occurred probably to no other man. 
 In reading Scott we are not at the moment struck with the 
 felicity or the power of any particular touch, but the general 
 impression left upon our imagination is singularly precise and 
 luminous. On the other hand, in reading Dickens, we are 
 continually pausing to wonder at the quickness, the accuracy, 
 the range of his vision ; but tlie general impression is often 
 vague and confusing from this very many-sidedness. He seems, 
 as it were, to see too many things, and to see them all too 
 instantaneously, to allow his reader to get a clear recollec- 
 tion of any one. . . ." 
 
 *' Those qualities which so endeared his writings to the great 
 mass of his contemporaries, and won the respect even of those 
 who could not always admire the method and direction of their 
 employment, will have for posterity no more attraction than 
 will many of the subjects on which he so lavishly and daunt- 
 lessly expended them. Our descendants will have, we may be 
 
 13 
 
194 CRITICAL . 
 
 Terj sure, too frequent and too real claims upon their compas- 
 sion to let them spare many tears for those rather theatrical 
 personages which Dickens too often employed to point his^ 
 moral. Harsh as it may seem to say, whatever his writinga 
 may actually have done to reduce the sum of human suffering 
 will tell against rather than for the'D. It will always be so with 
 those who employ fiction for the purpose of some particular 
 social or political reformation ; for the wrongs they help to 
 remove, and the evils they help to redress, will seem slight and 
 unreal in the pages of fiction, ^because they have so long ceased 
 to form a part of actual existence. ... It is inevitable that 
 much of his serious and sentimental work will have for future 
 generations neither the attraction nor the solidity that it had 
 for its own. For the tears'he sought to draw, the graver feelings. 
 he sought to move, he^^went too often, if I may use the word> 
 to local sources, too often to artificial. . . ." 
 
 227 
 About England with Dickens. By Alfred Rim- 
 nier. With a [Portrait and fifty-eight illustrations 
 by C. A. Yanderhoof, Alfred Rimmer, and others. 
 
 London : Chatto and Windus. 1883. pj). ix. 
 307. 
 
 The illustrations are, with a few exceptions, reprinted from 
 articles which ^were'previously published in Scribner's Mont/flf/ 
 (see Nos. 219, 220, 222, 223), and comprise a vignette portrait 
 of Dickens on title-page, views of his various residences, and of 
 scenes in London and the provinces, which he has described 
 in his writings. A page of Dickens' Characters, drawn by 
 *'Phiz," is also'included. 
 
I 
 
 CKITICAL. 195 
 
 228 
 The Wouks of Charles Dickens. 
 
 London : The Scottish Review. December, 1883. 
 pp. 125, 147. 
 
 Reviewed in conjunction -with Forster's Life of Charles 
 Dickens; the Letters of Charles Dichens ; Professor Ward's 
 Dickens ; and Alfred Rimmer's About England with Dichens. 
 
 229 
 Storia Universale della Letteratura. De 
 Angelo de Gubernatis. Vols. V. to XII. Poesia 
 Epica; Novellum Popolari; RoMANZOj Storia della 
 Storia. 
 
 Milan : Hoepli. 1883-4. 
 
 Containing a criticism of the writings of Dickens, in which 
 David Copperfield is justly selected as being the most typical of 
 his works. 
 
 230 
 
 The Speeches of Charles Dickens. (1841-1870.) 
 
 Edited and prefaced by Eichard Heme Shepherd. 
 
 With a new Bibliography, revised and enlarged. 
 
 London : Chatto and Windus. 1884. pp. 378. 
 
 The Preface, in the form of an " Introduction," occupies pp. 
 1, 45, and is both biographical and critical. 
 
 13—2 
 
196 CRITICAL. 
 
 231 
 
 Life and Labours of Hablot Knight Browne — 
 *'Phiz." By David Croal Thomson. With one 
 hundred and thirty illustrations, and a portrait 
 etched by C. O. Murray, from a painting by Walter 
 G. Browne. (Dedicated to the fifth Earl of Rose- 
 bery.) 
 London: Chapman and Hall. 1884. pp.245. With 
 
 a Preface dated "August 1, 1884." 
 
 The first portion of this work is devoted to a Memoir of 
 "Phiz," in ■which is related his association with. Dickens as 
 illustrator of his writings. An important feature of Mr. 
 Thomson's book is a series of illustrations to Dickens, printed 
 from the original plates and blocks, and facsimiles of many of 
 the first conceptions of those illustrations. Some of the artist's 
 early drawings and humorous designs are here published for the 
 first time. 
 
 232 
 
 Hints to Collectors of Original Editions of the 
 Works of Charles Dickens. By Charles Plumptre 
 Johnson. 
 London : George Redway, York Street, Covcnt 
 
 Garden. 1885. pp. 56. 
 
 With an Introduction dated ** 11th February, 1885." Besides 
 the useful "Hints," the author has included in this work a 
 list of seventy-three portraits of Dickens in his possession, and 
 of plays founded on the novelist's works. 
 
CRITICAL. 197 
 
 UNDATED. 
 
 233 
 
 Darwin, Carlyle, and Dickens, with other Essays. 
 
 By Samuel Davey, F.E.S.L., etc. 
 
 London: James Clarke and Co., 13, Fleet Street. 
 
 N. D. 
 
 The Chapter on Dickens occupies pp. 119 — 156. 
 
 ". . . One of the secrets of Dickens's success was that he 
 knew something of the huinan heart, ' its tricks and manners j' 
 that he could move us to laughter or tears at the commonest 
 things. If he could not sound the depth or tumult of the soul, 
 he could touch those lighter feelings which play upon the sur- 
 face of our nature, and which are common to us all. He could 
 write first-rate nonsense — a gift which is not to be despised, for 
 nonsense is the very essence of mirth. . . ." 
 
 "Dickens's early works are brimful of genuine English 
 laughter — * a laughter holding both its sides.' Gifted originally 
 with a joyous temperament, great animal spirits, and a keen 
 sense of the ludicrous, he has been enabled to show us the fun, 
 fr(>lic and sunny side of human life, yet he does not forget the 
 uses of laughter. He has laughed down abuses where crying 
 and preaching had been of little avail. If some of his characters 
 are not lovable, they are at least laughable ; if we cannot laugli 
 with them, he can make us laugh at them ; but it is a laughter 
 in which there is no malice — which tickles, but leaves no sting 
 behind. . . ." 
 
 *'But it is not for laughter that we prize our author; shall 
 we not bless him also for the tears he has evoked ? He has 
 caused us to shed tears of love for those who hare departed — 
 those long-buried, beauteous forms, upon whom ' the mossy 
 
198 ' CRITICAL. 
 
 marbles rest,' and fond memory lias ' cleansed from the dis- 
 honours of the grave.' Many a mother has wept afresh ' a 
 fountain of sweet tears ' for her lost darling over the grave of 
 Little Nell. Many a man bowed in sorrow, whose heart's foun- 
 tain has been long dry in the barrenness of busy life, has wept 
 afi'esh in remembrance of Paul Dombey. We feel that such 
 tears are not maudlin, for they make the heart better. ..." 
 
 " In the street and market, in church and chapel, in society 
 and in the family, we meet, rub shoulders, and recognise the 
 Pecksniffs, Micawbers, Swivellers, the Nicklebys, etc. They 
 are not caricatures, for a caricaturist rarely presents but a bare 
 outline or grotesque exaggeration of sotne peculiarity which 
 marks the man, without representing him ; while Dickens pre- 
 sents the man, the actual features and lineaments, though 
 exaggerated in small details, yet perfect as a whole. We feci 
 that it is almost impossible to believe that such persons as Mrs. 
 G-amp, Mr. Micawber, Pecksniff, or the Wallers, never had an 
 existence, and this belief was sliared by none more than by 
 Dickens himself. . . ." 
 
 "If he has depicted the religious hypocrite, it was not for 
 want of reverence for true religion, but because the religions 
 devil is the worst of all devils. . . ." 
 
 " In Pickwick there is more fun and frolic than in any other 
 single book of Dickens, or perhaps any other author. It is in- 
 flated with the laughing-gas of wit and humour. From begin- 
 ning to end the * mirth is fast and furious.' After reading it one 
 ipay measure his capacity for laughter ever afterwards. It is a 
 comedy presenting a series of shifting scenes — now in the coun- 
 try, now in the town, in the farm-house, or in streets, gardens, 
 law courts, offices, and hotels— one humorous adventure fol- 
 lowing another in rapid succession, interspersed with comic 
 scenes and startling surprises, yet connected with scarcely any 
 plot. Every page is alive with charactei", and what variety is 
 there. . . ." 
 
CRITICAL. 190 
 
 "Tate any of Dickens' principal character?, and we always 
 find the same freshness and originality, as if stamped from 
 Nature's mint. . . ." 
 
 ** One remarkable characteristic of Dickens' writings is his 
 habit of personification, so as to give a human interest to in- 
 •iiaimate things, clothing them with the attributes of flesh and 
 blood. ..." 
 
 "A want of condensation is a fault which is often found with 
 Dickens. This may arise, in a great measure, from his writing 
 his novels in periodical numbers, so that he had often to write 
 against time, and which perhaps caused him sometimes to spin 
 out page after page of wearisome dialogue. lie grows tediou?, 
 also, in depicting high life, as if out of his element. His lords 
 are merely stuflfed figures. Perhaps he intended them only to 
 be such. They are ugly all over with afiectation, and may 
 be classed with his fops and toadies, who lisp and stammer 
 out the double-distilled brainless twaddle of the drawing- 
 room. ..." 
 
 " Dickens's success was as great in pathos as in humour ; his 
 glance was as quick to detect the beautiful as the grotesque and 
 the ludicrous. His perception of moral beauty was as refined 
 as his conceptions were in their finer traits tender and natural — 
 they sprung up in his soul as efibrtless as woodland nooks send 
 violets up and paint them blue. . . ." 
 
 "If we look at what Dickens, by his writings, has helped to 
 accomplish, we must place him in the front rank of social re- 
 formers ; the influence of his early works has re-acted for good 
 upon the national mind. What abuses has he helped to sweep 
 away ! How many a nook and corner of the world has he made 
 brighter and happier ! "What was bad he strove to make good, 
 and what was good he took pains to improve by love, charity, 
 and good humour. Truly he left the world better than he 
 found it, and had the satisfaction to know that he contributed 
 no inconsiderable share in making it so. ..." 
 
200 CRITICAL. 
 
 234 
 Dickens Memento. \Yith an Introduction hy 
 Francis Phillimore, a chapter on " Hints to Dickens 
 Collectors," by John F. Dexter, and a Reprint of the 
 Catalogue of the Dickens Sale, with purchasers' 
 names and prices realized, of the Pictures, Draw- 
 ings, and Objects of Art of Charles Dickens, dis- 
 persed at Christie, Manson, and Woods in 1870. 
 
 London : Field and Tuer. K D. (1885.) ''Intro- 
 duction," pp. 5. " Hints," pp. 7, 35. " Catalogue," 
 pp. 11. 
 
 Ill the Introduction, Mr. Phillimore thus writes regarding the- 
 fame of Dickens : " The fame of Dickens has had its bound and 
 rebound. It has now probably settled down to its place and 
 measure. In liis youth his name was one to conjure with. To- 
 wards his later years his popularity, though it lost something of 
 its furiousness, took a wider, larger, and deeper range. But 
 after his death, when his old friends began to follow him, one by 
 one ; when the personal memories of his first victories lived in 
 fewer and fewer minds ; when the artificialities and the doubt- 
 ful justice and the elaborate candour of the " Life," by Forster, 
 had caused a certain revulsion of feeling among even the enthu- 
 siastic — a younger generation was rising, with calmer opinior,s, 
 a somewhat different code of taste, and a very different sense of 
 liumour. ..." 
 
 •* . , . Sam Weller, rather than any other single figure in, 
 Pickvnck, made Dickens's first enormous fame ; and yet will any 
 candid reader assert that he finds Sam Weller comic in the only 
 way worth having — freely, freshly comic, without delay or- 
 
CRITICAL. 201 
 
 second thought in our laughter ? Or will he aver that Bob 
 Sawyer's humours give much food for modern mirth ? On the 
 other hand, almost all that belongs to Mr. Pickwick himself has- 
 kept its indefinable quality of fun. ... So, too, we laugli at 
 Pecksniff and at his daughters, and at a few of the American 
 passages in the same book, and at Mr. Augustus Moddle ; but 
 we hesitate at Mrs. G-amp. And Mrs. Nickleby compels us to 
 the laughter which the Kenwigs family cannot win fi^om 
 us. . . ." 
 
 A valuable feature of this work, especially to "Dickens- 
 Collectors," is Mr. Dexter's chapter of "Hints," in which he 
 gives some interesting and useful information concerning first 
 and other editions of the novelist's works. The most exhaus- 
 tive analysis in this respect is that relating to the Pichwick 
 Tapers^ of which work it seems that a first edition is a rara avis, 
 or, to use an expression of the writer, "as rare as hen's teeth,"" 
 for>n authority has stated that only four hundred of the first 
 part were stitched up and put in the wrappers, thus accounting 
 for the scarcity of the Seymour etchings that should accompany 
 it. It will be remembered that these etchings were afterwards^ 
 reproduced by "Phiz" for subsequent editions, the facsimiles- 
 being often mistaken for tlie work of Seymour. Mr. Dexter 
 thus refers to Dickens's earliest literary efforts : — 
 
 "The earliest manuscript of Dickens that I know of, and a 
 portion of which I have seen, is the first sheet of a burlesque of 
 'Othello,' now in possession of a friend of mine, who had it 
 given to him by John Dickens, with whom he was well 
 acquainted when living at Alphington, near Exeter. It is not a 
 little singular that Dickens must have entirely forgotten the 
 existence of this, as well as of many others that were written at 
 this period of his life (1830-33)." 
 
202 CRITICAL. 
 
 235 
 Dickens as a Literary Exemplar. By F. A. 
 
 Walker. 
 New Haven : The University Quarterly. Vol. I., 
 p. 91. (?date.) 
 
 236 
 Least Known Writings of Charles Dickens. 
 
 Boston : Every Saturday. Vol. IX., p. 471. 
 (? date.) 
 
 237 
 English Magazines on Dickens, 1870. 
 
 Boston: Every Saturday. Vol. IX., p. 482 (?date.) 
 
 238 
 Poetic Element in the Style of Dickens. 
 Boston: Every Saturday. Vol. IX., p. 811. 
 <? date.) 
 
 239 
 Genius of Dickens. 
 Baltimore : The New Eclectic. Vol. VII., p. 257. 
 <?date.) 
 
CRITICAL. 203 
 
 240 
 The Works of Charles Dickens. By H. Den- 
 nison. 
 New York: The National Q.uarterlij Revletv. Vol. I., 
 p. 91. (Mate.) 
 
 241 
 Manuscripts of Charles Dickens. 
 Philadelphia: Potter'' s American Monthly. Vol. X., 
 p. 156. (?date.) 
 
 242 
 Dickens and Thackeray. 
 Boston : LittelVs Living Age. Vol. XXI., p. 224. 
 
 (]date.) 
 
 243 
 Dickens as a Moral Teacher. By J. H. Morison. 
 Boston : The Monthly Religious Magazine. Vol. 
 XLIV.,p. 129. (?date.) 
 
CRITICAL, 
 
 Division II. Relating to the Individual Works 
 OF Charles Dickens. - 
 
 244 
 " Sketches by Boz." 
 hondion: The Monthly Review. March, 1836. pp. 
 350, 357. 
 
 "... His knowledge is extensive, his observations acute, and 
 his sentiments sound and instructive ; but yet, we do not 
 generally find that he has made the most of his subject, or 
 come up to what might be expected from his head and his pen. 
 We admit that he paints gloomy scenes with great power and 
 with a severe truth ; but even in these instances he has some- 
 how rather made his pictures repulsive than pathetic, or eleva- 
 ting ; which, we think, is owing to the want of the most advan- 
 tageous subordination, or keeping, in the parts." 
 
 " The choice of the subjects, too, as well as the treatment of 
 them, gives these volumes rather an unattractive character. The 
 tales, for the most part, are gloomy and sombre, or somewhat 
 misanthropic and scornful. . ." 
 
 "... The sketches in these volumes are numerous, and there 
 is not one of them in which a considerable degree of ability and 
 knowledge of human nature is not apparent. There is, how- 
 ever, a somewhat tiresome sameness of style and thought felt, 
 
CRITICAL. 205 
 
 as one proceeds from chapter to chapter. Several of the charac- 
 ters and incidents are exaggerations and caricatures, rather than 
 strong and felicitous outlines. Still, the work is talented, and 
 superior to a vast number of those light efforts that are con- 
 stantly teending from the press. . . ." 
 
 " . . . We must, without reserve, say that besides the un- 
 dignified character of his subjects, and the gloomy contemptuous 
 and disparaging tone of his descriptions, the author exhibits a 
 vulgarity of sentiment too often, which is more displeasing 
 still ; all which, from the use which he makes of his eyes, and 
 the readiness with which he handles his pen, he might avoid, 
 and must do, if he intends to give a faithful portraiture of real 
 life, even although he may never have been twenty miles from 
 Temple Bar, which, indeed, is not unlikely, if one is to judge 
 from these Sketches.'" 
 
 245 
 "The Boarding House." ("Sketches by Boz.") 
 Edinburgh : Chamlers^s EdinhurgJi Journal. April 9, 
 1836. pp. 83, 84. 
 
 This is mainly an abridgment of one of the Sketches, pre- 
 faced by the following criticism : — "This work appears to be an 
 •early — perhaps a first — attempt of some new writer : if so, we 
 would recommend him to proceed, for, unless he fall off very 
 miserably in his subsequent efforts, he can scarcely fail to be- 
 <'ome a successful and popular author. His chief object in the 
 present publication has been to depict life and character, as 
 •exemplified in the ranks of the metropolis ; and this he has 
 accomplished in a style, which, bating a little caricature and 
 exaggeration, strikes us as extremely happy. He has much 
 <;omic power, perceives traits which are not consciously noted 
 by ordinary observers, and yet, when mentioned, remind every- 
 bodv of the thing described." 
 
206 CRITICAL. 
 
 246 
 **Watkins ToTTLE,"and other Sketches. (American 
 edition.) 
 Richmond, Ya. : Tlie Southern LUeranj Messenger. 
 June, 1836. pp. 457, 460. 
 
 " This book is a re-publication from the English original, and 
 many of its sketches are with us old and highly esteemed ac- 
 quaintances. In regard to their author we know nothing more 
 than that he is a far more pungent, more witty, and better 
 disciplined writer of sly articles than nine-tenths of the Maga- 
 zine writers in Great Britain — which is saying much, it must be 
 allowed, when we consider the great variety of genuine talent 
 and earnest application brought to bear upon the periodical 
 literature of the mother country. . ." 
 
 *' . . . The Sketches hy Boz are all exceedingly well managed, 
 and never failed to tell as the author intended. . . There are 
 here some as well conceived and well written papers as can h& 
 found in any other collection of the kind — many of them we 
 would especially recommend, as a study, to those who turn their 
 attention to Magazine writing — a department in which, generally,, 
 the English as far excel us as Hyperion a Satyr. . ." 
 
 247 
 "The Pickwick Club." 
 Richmond, Va. : The Southern Literary Messenger. 
 November, 1836. pp. 787, 788. 
 
 "... The author possesses nearly every desirable quality in 
 a writer of fiction, and has withal a thousand negative virtues. 
 In his delineation of Cockney life he is rivalled only by the 
 author of Peter Snook, while in efforts of a far loftier and more 
 
ClilTICAL. 207 
 
 difficult nature he has greatly surpassed the best of the brief 
 tragic pieces of Bulwer or of Warren. Just now, however, we 
 can only express our opinion that his general powers as a prose 
 writer are equalled by few. . ." 
 
 248 
 " Pickwick Club ;" " Sketches by Boz " (Second 
 
 Series); "Bentley's Miscellany" (No. I). 
 
 London : The Monthly Ilevieiv. February, 1837. 
 pp. 153, 163. 
 
 "... He (Dickens) really deserves to be ranked as an origi- 
 nalist, although we are far from according to this distinction a 
 very high station, as respects the amusement or the lasting- 
 benefit of mankind. ..." 
 
 ** The most striking excellence in these papers consists of cer- 
 tain tints in colouring, which, although they be seemingly un- 
 studied and unobstrusive, convey a perfect index of character— 
 a character, too, that aptly becomes the head of a generalized 
 class. ..." 
 
 " In the next short and plain notices there is quite enough of 
 precise evidence to shoAv that Boz has such a penetrating eye, 
 and picturesque fancy, as can seize at once and at any time or 
 place upon a few of the most descriptive features by which any 
 subject or scene is to be delineated, or brought home to the re- 
 collective faculties of those who may have formerly made similar 
 observations. ..." 
 
 249 
 " Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club." 
 London: The Eclectic Review. April, 1837. pp. 
 339, 355. 
 
208 CRITICAL. 
 
 "... The author has evidently seen a great deal of human 
 life, and viewed it with a very keen and observant eye. We 
 have very rarely met with a writer who more quickly seizes 
 peculiarities of character, or, what is quite as difficult to seize, 
 the external marks (often trifling enough) by which those pecu- 
 liarities are indicated, and in which they are embodied. So 
 completely is our author master of this latter art, that a few 
 slight dashes will often give us a stronger conception of the 
 character he designs to set before us than the longest and most 
 elaborate descriptions. His personages impress us with all the 
 force and vividness of reality. They are not described — they 
 are exhibited. He has also been equally happy in seizing those 
 peculiarities which discriminate different classes of the com- 
 munity from one another ; which mark the various species as 
 strongly as other peculiarities do the individual. . ." 
 
 "... There are some short tales interspersed with the main 
 «tory (Pickwick), which possess considerable pathos ; still, the 
 -author's pathos is by no means equal to his humour. . ." 
 
 "... We observe some few instances of profanity which we 
 could readily dispense with ; and some jokes, incidents, and 
 allusions which could hardly be read by a modest woman with- 
 out blushing. . ." 
 
 "... In one or two places he has undertaken the dangerous 
 task of making sport of fanaticism and hypocrisy. . ." 
 
 "... We observe, also, some of the little tasteless artifices of 
 the Cockney school here and there resorted to ; such as the 
 repetition of some trifling conceit ad nauseam ; or a frequent 
 use of those hackneyed, threadbare, and silly phrases, * organs of 
 vision,' for eyes ; 'auricular organs,' for ears, etc., where plain 
 simple language would be in far triier taste, and have a far greater 
 effect." 
 
CRITICAL. 209 
 
 250 
 "The Pickwick Papers." 
 
 Edinburgh : Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. April 
 29, 1837. pp. 109, 110. 
 
 "... "We are extremely glad to find that the distinguished 
 success of Boz's first production has encouraged him to launch 
 forth as a regular contributor to tlie public amusement. At the 
 present moment he is unrivalled in the peculiar line he lias 
 selected, and, to the wonder of everybody, has risen from com- 
 parative obscurity to a high point of fame in the short space of 
 a single year. Town readers are so well acquainted with Boz 
 und his writings, that it may look like impertinence for us to 
 say anything regarding either the one or the other ; but as, in 
 all likelihood, there are some forty or fifty thousand of our 
 Scotch and country friends who hardly ever heard of his exist- 
 ence, we take the liberty of adverting to his style of writing, 
 and the subjects he has lately been engaged upon. 
 
 "Boz is tlie fictitious signature of a young man named 
 Dickens, who was for some years engaged as a writer in one of 
 the London newspapers, which he enlivened with his humorous 
 and graphic sketches. We are not aware that he is a native of 
 London, but he has, at least by his residence there, made him- 
 self minutely familiar with the peculiarities of the people, chiefly 
 of the middle and lower ranks, which he has the knack of 
 hitting ofi" in a singularly droll and happy manner. . . . The 
 chief talent of this clever writer consists in close perception, 
 not only of character, but of every minute circumstance anil 
 local peculiarity. Nothing escapes his notice, or fails to ba 
 made the subject of humorous observation. ..." 
 
 14 
 
210 CIUTICAL. 
 
 251 
 
 " TULRUMBLE," AND " OLIVER TwiST." 
 
 Richmond, Va. : The Southern Literary Messenger^ 
 May, 1837. pp. 323, 325. 
 
 This review, of which the following are extracts, is evidently 
 from the pen of a much severer critic than he who favourably 
 criticised Wathins Tottle and the Pickwick Club (see Nos. 246 
 and 247). His spleen seems, however, to be principally caused 
 by the fact of Dickens having assumed the nom de plume of 
 ♦'Boz." 
 
 "A writer, who chooses to be known to the literary world by 
 the name of *Boz,' has, for some time past, been exhibiting his 
 antics before the public. We have never sought his acquaint- 
 ance, for the same reason that we should avoid a fellow who. 
 might thrust himself into an assembly-room, and invite the 
 notice of the company by the dress and grimaces of a Merry- 
 Andrew. We would ask ourselves, in such a case, what man, 
 capable of refinement, would choose to be a buffoon? What 
 man, possessing a particle of self-respect, would descend to an 
 exhibition so degrading and disgusting ? We would certainly 
 suspect the intruder to be some clown of a circus or bear- 
 garden, escaped from his employer, and hold ourselves in readi- 
 ness, at the first hint from the managers, to put him out. 
 
 " Can we be blamed for coming to a somewhat similar con- 
 clusion in the case of a writer who thinks proper to announce 
 himself by such a mountebank designation as that of ' Boz ' ? 
 What right has he that we should suppose him anything better 
 than the Jack-Pudding of a drunken Club ? . , ." 
 
 "... We are always ready to defer to authority, though we 
 cannot lay aside our tastes. We determined, therefore, to man 
 ourselves to the task, and to make the acquaintance of the 
 grotesque stranger. Yet we had our misgivings, and wished to 
 
CKITICAL. 211 
 
 qualify ourselves, on the easiest terms, to say that we were ac- 
 quainted with this very popular and much admired Mr. Boz. 
 Observing that in each of the volumes {Beiitley's Miscellany, 
 American edition) before us there was one tale, and one only 
 from his pen, and finding that one of these consisted of eighteen 
 and the other of twenty-five pages, small duodecimo, we took 
 up the volume with a light heart, and went to work with some- 
 thing like the same consolation with which Fergus M'lvor went 
 to the scaffold. * Let them spin out the business as they will,' 
 said he, ' they cannot make it last much over half an hour.' 
 
 " Thus it was that we became acquainted with the Public Life 
 of Mr. Tulrumble, and the Progress of Oliver Twist, the Parish 
 Boy. The result of this was, that we were not only confirmed 
 in our suspicions of the true character of the writer, but that 
 our indignation was strongly excited against the critic who had 
 palmed him on our notice. We felt called upon to expose the 
 onei, and denounce the other as proper objects for the contempt 
 and indignation of the public. To qualify ourselves for the 
 duty, and to secure ourselves against any possibility of injustice, 
 we undertook, and faithfully accomplished, the loathsome task 
 of reading these volumes through. Having completed it, we 
 determined that if, from this time forth, any of our readers 
 staffers himself to be cheated out of his money or his time by 
 Mr, Boz himself, or any of his associates, aiders and abetters, it 
 shall not be our fault. . ." 
 
 "... They all have this common quality of being the worst 
 told stories that we ever read. There is scarcely one of them of 
 which a marginal abstract would not be decidedly better than 
 the tale itself as told — not one that would not be improved by 
 being condensed into one or two pages. Such of them as are 
 worth telling at all, might be told over a bottle at midnight, 
 and a good story-teller would not give five minutes to one of 
 them. . ." 
 
 "... Mr. Boz is obviously the criterion writer by whom the 
 
 14—2 
 
212 CRITICAL. 
 
 I rest would like to be estimated. We can hardly think that Mr. 
 
 || Whitehead* would choose to be valued by the same standard. 
 I We therefore warn him against his associates, and call upon 
 
 j I him to * come out from among them, for he is not of them.' 
 
 ' ^ " This advice will probably never reach him, but it may be of 
 service to our readers hereafter to recognise the name of Mi*. 
 Charles Whitehead as that of one who can write, and does 
 write interestingly, and in good taste. It may serve an opposite 
 and more important purpose to know, that the gentlemen who 
 have chosen Mr. Boz as their exemplar, as far as their names 
 are given, are Samuel Lover, T. Haynes Bayly, Douglas Jerrold, 
 T. S. Coyne, Alexander Campbell, J. A. Wade, and Hamilton 
 Reynolds. We hope that our readers will remember, and shun 
 them as we shall do. They are bad company, and dull com- 
 pany ; such as we may suppose assembled at the Boar's Head 
 in Eastcheap, when the Prince and old Jack were both absent, 
 and with them all the spirit and all the wit of the club. 
 Bardolph's red nose and the ' humours ' of Corporal Nym make 
 the whole entertainment." 
 
 252 
 *' Sketches by Boz;"/'Pickwick Club/' "Oliver 
 Twist." 
 London : The London and Westminster Review. Jul}^ 
 1837. pp. 191, 215. 
 
 "... The world may now feel at rest as to both the person- 
 ality and the unity of ' Boz.' Mr. Charles Dickens is the 
 acknowledged author of these works ; and in connecting the 
 
 -'' Charles Whitehead — a novelist who has been recently the 
 subject of a work entitled A Forgotten Genius, by Mackenzie 
 Bell. 
 
CKITICAL. 213 
 
 writings of *Boz,' henceforth, with the person and name of 
 this gentleman, the public may have the additional happiness of 
 knowing that the youth of the writer gives reasons to expect 
 both a greater degree of excellence from his maturer labours 
 and also a long supply of amusement from their continuance. . ." 
 
 " He is the Washington Irving of English low life ; and as his 
 observations appear to have been confined to that depart- 
 ment, his knowledge of it appears to be more copious, and 
 his descriptions of it, while more varied and ample, are not 
 quite so completely finished as some of the few given by 
 Irving. . ." 
 
 " He is the literary Teniers of the Metropolis ; and he paints 
 the humours of the lower orders of London with all the exact- 
 ness and all the comic effects with which his prototype has 
 handed down to us the comic peculiarities of the Dutch boors of 
 his time. . ." 
 
 *' The genius of ' Boz ' is, however, essentially comic ; and his 
 taste seems to be chiefly directed to observing and depicting 
 that which is ludicrous in nature. It is true that he has a vein 
 of tragedy as well as of comedy, and indulges, both in his 
 Sl'etches and in his Pichwich Papers, in many scenes and tales 
 of a pathetic nature. But his attempts of this kind appear less 
 in accordance with his general disposition, however consonant 
 they may be to his momentary inclination. His pathetic de- 
 scriptions seem to us very frequently to want that truth which 
 so strikingly characterizes those of a humorous kind ; they are 
 frequently strained and artificial, and seem to have been copied 
 from books rather than from nature. Even where he evidently I 
 draws from reality, and his wonderful descriptive power enables ' 
 him to draw faithfully, his taste does not direct him to select 
 his subjects with judgment. Many of his pathetic sketches are 
 simply painful ; he describes accurately, but he describes what 
 we would rather not have described at all : and instead of 
 working on our minds by images of a sublime or of a tender 
 nature, he produces an impression of mere horror. Some of 
 
214 CRITICAL. 
 
 these sketches, which incidentally describe scenes of siiffering or 
 scenes which are neither comic nor tragic, have great merit. 
 But the pathetic tales, especially those with which the Pickvnck 
 Papers are interspersed, appear to us to be generally complete 
 failures. . ." 
 
 ** The most remarkable of the qualities of Boz certainly is his 
 humour. But he displays also much and very fine wit. He 
 not only exhibits in action the follies and absurdities of human 
 beings, but intersperses his narrative with remarks on men and 
 things characterized by great point and shrewdness. ..." 
 
 253 
 "The Pickwick Papers." 
 
 Eichmond, Ya. : The Southern Literary Messenger. 
 September, 1837. pp. 525, 532. 
 
 The following effusion is from the pen of the same writer Vv^ho 
 heaped insults on the head of ' Boz ' and his literary contem- 
 poraries, in his notice of Tulruinhle and Oliver Twist (see No. 
 251), which naturally excited a good deal of indignation : — 
 
 "... We have said that we had thought ourselves fairly en- 
 titled to public thanks for the operation already performed on 
 Tulrumhh and Twist. The reader will therefore appreciate our 
 astonishment on finding that this very act had aroused a host of 
 enemies, by whom a shower of puny missiles have been launched 
 against us. We ought indeed to have anticij^ated it, for we 
 might have learned from our friend Paulding, ' that so soon as 
 you catch a gander by the tail, the whole flock, geese, goslings, 
 and all, have a fellow-feeling, and begin to cackle and hiss like 
 so many devils bewitched.' ..." 
 
 "... Now we beg leave to assure the reader, that among our 
 numerous censors, we have found no one who has hinted his 
 dissent from our judgment of the works we reviewed, or at- 
 
CRITICAL. 215 
 
 tempted to vindicate the wretched taste indicated by the as- 
 sumed name of ' Boz.' At the same time we are roundly and 
 rudely censured, because of the alleged merit of a work* which 
 we, professedly, had never seen. It seems, too, that we are to 
 look for the highest proof of excellence, even in that work, to a 
 volume which, we believe, had not issued from the press when 
 -our article was penned. It certainly had not then made its 
 appearance in the South, and it was not until some weeks after- 
 wards that we saw it announced in the papers. Then it came 
 with a flourishing of trumpets, with the cabalistic name * Boz ! 
 Boz ! ! Boz ! ! !' prefixed to the annunciation. Under these 
 circumstances we procured and read it ; and, that we might do 
 it all justice, we read the two preceding volumes. We now 
 proceed to examine it ; and when we have got through our work, 
 we hope not to be told that it is in the Tuggs's at Ramsgate, or 
 Wathbis TottU, or some other piece of low buffoonery that we 
 are to look for evidences of the writer's merit. ..." 
 
 "... What shall we say to a writer who, having a name de- 
 rived from his ancestors, and another conferred by his sponsors 
 in baptism, renounces both, and takes by preference the vulgar 
 designation of ' Boz'? We feel that the assumption of such a 
 name was an insult to his countrymen. The republication of 
 his vulgar absurdities was an insult to the people of Phila- 
 'delphia, and the dissemination of them is an insult to the whole 
 continent. We trust that Virginia will resent such part of it as 
 falls to her share, and that the failure of this attempt to palm on 
 her the disgusting trash contained in these volumes may dis- 
 courage the like attempts in future. It shall not be our fault 
 if a copy of this publication is sold on this side of the Poto- 
 mac. ..." 
 
 "... There is nothing from which Mr. Dickens draws so 
 largely as the ludicrous of situation. This is one of the same 
 
 The PickwicTc Papers. 
 
216 CRITICAL. 
 
 nature with that practical wit, commonly called horse -play^ 
 which consists in the dexterous removal of a gentleman's chair as 
 he is in the act of sitting down, and such like feats. If Mr, 
 .Dickens can exhibit a character with his heels in the air, he 
 laughs and chuckles, and rubs his hands, and thinks he has 
 achieved a great chapter. Now Mr. Winkle, the third of Mr. 
 Pickwick's colleagues, is the chosen subject for this sort of 
 merriment. He is a mere fool, and of all imaginable fools the 
 mo.st insipid. He is put upon a tall horse, and made to dis- 
 mount that he may not be able to get up again. He is provided 
 with a gun to shoot his friend Tupman by accident (a capital 
 joke !). He is set on skates to be laid sprawling on the ice. He 
 is represented as the greatest coward in the world, and is made 
 to go through the motions of a duel, and is on the point of being- 
 shot, because, having shut his eyes in very fear, he cannot per- 
 ceive that the challenger is a man he had never seen. His 
 adversary, however, discovers the mistake : and so poor Mr. 
 Winkle escapes with his life. ..." 
 
 ". . . The only characters of any pith in the whole book are 
 Sam Weller and his father. . . ." 
 
 "... We should be vinjvTst to Mr. Dickens if we failed to 
 notice the character of old Wardle, an honest, hearty, hospitable 
 country gentleman of small estate. It is admirably drawn, 
 and the Christmas gambols at his house are delightful. We 
 have seen nothing like it from the pen of any writer of this 
 century. . . ." 
 
 "... The author of this work is a writer of considerable 
 power. In many tales which are dispersed through it, he dis- 
 plays this power in a very high degree. There is a moral horror 
 n some of them of which none but a master is capable. ..." 
 
 "... We repeat that we have no quarrel with Mr. D., and 
 admit that he has considerable powers. Our quarrel is not with 
 him, but with (he must excuse the word) his keepers. It is his 
 misfortune to possess a talent, the abuse of which renders him 
 acceptable to that class of readers by whom meretricious arts. 
 
CRITICAL. 217 
 
 are preferred to modest grace. This is therefore his public. By 
 tliis he is debauched and corrupted, and to this he prostitutes 
 himself. We pity him, and we would, if it were possible, shame 
 them. ..." 
 
 254 
 "Pickwick Papers" and "Sketches by Boz."' 
 (Nos. 1 to 17.) 
 London : The Quarterly Bevievj. October, 1837. 
 pp. 484, 518. 
 
 The writer says of the Wellers, father and son, that "they both 
 talk a language and employ allusions utterly irreconcilable with 
 their habits and station . . . and we constantly detect both in 
 the nice and even critical use of words and images borrowed 
 from sources wholly inaccessible to them." 
 
 ". . . Asa describer and portrait-painter ; he (Dickens) too 
 frequently condescends to be a copyist, and almost always 
 on such occasions betrays a marked inferiority to his proto- 
 types. ..." 
 
 "... What is the talent or quality that has procured him sa 
 unprecedented a share of popularity ? In our opinion he has 
 obtained and well merited it, by being the first to turn to account 
 the rich and varied stores of wit and humour discoverable amongst 
 the lower classes of the Metropolis, whose language has been 
 hitherto condemned as a poor, bald, disjointed, unadorned, and 
 nearly unintelligible slang, utterly destitute of feeling, fancy, or 
 force. . . . Having made up our minds as to the origin of Mr. 
 Dickens's popularity, it remains to add a word or two as to its 
 durability, of which many warm admirers are already beginning 
 to doubt — not, it must be owned, without reason ; for the last 
 three or four numbers (Nos. 14, 15, 16, 17, of Pichwich) are 
 
218 " CRITICAL. 
 
 ■certainly much inferior to the former ones, and indications are 
 not wanting that the particular vein of humour which has 
 hitherto yielded so much attractive metal is worked out. . . ." 
 
 " . . . In them {Sketches by Boz) we find much of the same 
 nicety of observation and quaint perception of the ludicrous as 
 in the Pickwick Papers ; but the essays distinguished by these 
 qualities bear a small proportion to those in which the laboured, 
 the common-place, or the imitative style predominates. . . . 
 There is a sustained power, a range of observation, and a con- 
 tinuity of interest in this series which we seek in vain in any 
 other of his works. The fact is, Mr. Dickens writes too often 
 •and too fast ; on the principle, we presume, of making hay 
 while the sun shines, he seems to have accepted at once all 
 engagements that were offered to him, and the consequence is, 
 that in too many instances he has been compelled to 
 
 " Forestall the blighted harvest of the brain," 
 
 ■and put forth, in their crude, unfinished, undigested state, 
 thoughts, feelings, observations, and plans which it required 
 time and study to mature — or supply the allotted number of 
 pages with original matter of the most common-place descrip- 
 tion, or hints caught from others and diluted to make them pass 
 for his own. If he persists much longer in this course, it re- 
 quires no gift of prophecy to foretell his fate — he has risen like a 
 rocket, and he will come down like the stick ; but let him give 
 his capacity fair play, and it is rich, vigorous, and versatile 
 ■enough to ensure him a high and enduring reputation." 
 
 255 
 Dickens's Tales. (" Sketches by Boz," " Pickwick 
 Papers," *' Nicholas Nickleby," and " Oliver 
 
 Twist.") 
 
CEITICAL. 210 
 
 Edinburgh : The Edinhirgh Review. October, 1838. 
 pp. 75, 97. 
 
 "... We think him a very original writer — well entitled to 
 his popularity — and not likely to lose it — and the truest and 
 most spirited delineator of English life, amongst the middle and 
 lower classes, since the days of Smollett and Fielding. He has 
 remarkable powers of observation, and great skill in communi- 
 cating what he has observed — a keen sense of the ludicrous — 
 exuberant humour — and that mastery in the pathetic which, 
 though it seems opposed to the gift of humour, is often found in 
 conjunction with it. Add to these qualities an unaffected style, 
 fluent, easy, spirited, and terse — a good deal of dramatic power 
 —and great truthfulness and ability in description. We know 
 no other English writer to whom he bears a marked resem- 
 blance. . ." 
 
 ". . . We would compare him rather with the painter Hogarth. 
 What Hogarth was in painting, such very nearly is Mr. Dickens 
 in prose fiction. The same turn of mind — the same species of 
 power — displays itself strongly in each. Like Hogarth, he takes 
 a keen and practical view of life — is an able satirist — very suc- 
 cessful in depicting the ludicrous side in human nature, and 
 rendering its follies more apparent by humorous exaggeration 
 — peculiarly skilful in his management of details, throwing in 
 circumstance*! which serve, not only to complete the picture 
 before us, but to suggest indirectly antecedent events which 
 cannot be brought before our eyes. . ." 
 
 " It is fair, in making this comparison, to add, that it does not 
 hold good throughout ; and that Mr. Dickens is exempt from 
 two of Hogarth's least agreeable qualities — his cynicism and his 
 coarseness. There is no misanthropy in his satire, and no coarse- 
 ness in his descriptions — a merit enhanced by the nature of his 
 subjects. His works are chiefly pictures of humble life — fre- 
 quently of the humblest. The reader is led through scenes of 
 poverty and crime, and all the characters are made to discourse 
 
220 CRITICAL. 
 
 in the appropriate language of their respective classes — and yet 
 we recollect no passage which ought to cause pain to the most 
 sensitive delicacy, if read aloud in female society. , ." 
 
 "... One of the qualities we the most admire in him is his 
 comprehensive spirit of humanity. The tendency of his writings 
 is to make us practically benevolent — to excite our sympathy in 
 behalf of the aggrieved and suffering in all classes ; and espe- 
 cially in those who are most removed from observation. . ." 
 
 ". . . If he will endeavour to supply whatever may be effected 
 by care and study — avoid imitation of other writers — keep 
 nature steadily before his eyes — and check all dispositions to 
 exaggerate — we know no writer who seems likely to attain 
 higher success in that rich and useful department of fiction 
 which is founded on faithful representations of human char- 
 acter, as exemplified in the aspects of English life," 
 
 256 
 
 "Oliver Twist," by "Boz." 
 Dublin : The Dablin University Magazine. December, 
 1838. pp. 699, 723. 
 
 " . . . It is a jumble of striking scenes, many of them highly 
 graphic, and some containing exquisite touches of nature, but 
 carelessly thrown together, and obviously framed with little 
 regard to mutual dependence or sequence, one upon the other. 
 The plot, if it can be so called, is singularly unskilful, the inci- 
 dents mostly improbable, and the catastrophe forced and un- 
 natural in the highest degree. Yet, with all these defects, 
 Oliver Twist is a work which probably could not come from any 
 other pen than that of Mr. Dickens, and possesses strong and 
 available claims for public support. It shows that its author is 
 endowed in a high degree with that first of qualifications for a 
 writer of fiction — the power of making a faithful transcript upon 
 paper of his own close and accurate observations of nature. . . 
 
CRITICAL. ' 221 
 
 257 
 " Oliver Twist ; or, the Parish Boy's Progress." 
 London : The Monthly Review. January, 1839. 
 pp. 29, 41. 
 
 ". . . In the present tale, or string of stories, it looks as if he j 
 revelled, while painting low or degraded nature, among objects' 
 which, unless merely subservient to finer and higher elements 
 equally well drawn and furnished, never can awaken our nobler 
 sympathies, nor prune and invigorate the wings of these 
 awakened sensibilities. On this account, we cannot place our 
 author among those novelists who are models in regard to the 
 inculcation of moral sentiments and the lessons that refine while 
 they delight. 
 
 " Not that Mr. Dickens is an immoral writer. It is not in his 
 nature to be such ; it is the furthest possible thing from his in- 
 tention, evidently, to write for the mere sake of gain, of enter- 
 tainment, or of merely harmless fiction. He has high and pure 
 aims ; nor can he have failed of doing good, morally speak- 
 ing. . ." 
 
 "... Whoever supposes that the history of the Parish Boy's 
 Progress — after reading it at one or two sittings, or without any 
 considerable intervals, from beginning to end — will be as popular 
 twenty years hence as it has been and is now, has tastes and 
 expectations very different from those entertained by us. The 
 production may continue to find favour among pure Londoners ; 
 but elsewhere we have no idea of its maintaining its past popu- 
 larity, nor that it, or its brethren, will ever add much future 
 reputation to England and its array of fictionists. " 
 
 258 
 
 " Oliver Twist," by " Boz." 
 London: The Quarterly Review. June, 1839. pp. 
 
c 
 
 222 • CRITICAL. 
 
 83, 102. Eeprinted in the Southern Literary Mes- 
 senger. (Richmond, Ya.) : October, 1839. pp. 704, 
 
 705. 
 
 "... His works are a sign of the times ; their periodical re- 
 turn excites more interest than that of Halley's Comet. They, 
 like good sermons, contribute to our moral health, for mirth,, 
 cakes, ale, and ginger hot in the mouth do us good, Mr. Froude's 
 negation of negus to the contrary notwithstanding. The works 
 of Boz came out in numbers, suited to this age of division of 
 labour, cheap and not too long — double merits ; there is just 
 enough to make us rise from the feast, as all doctors of divinity 
 and medicine do from dinner, with an appetite for more : in 
 fact, Boz is the only loorh which the superficial acres of t}^e, 
 called newspapers, leave the human race time to peruse. His 
 popularity is unbounded — net that that of itself is a test of 
 either honesty or talent ; O'Connell is the delight of Tipperary, 
 and the Whigs were not unpopular in England. 
 
 *' Boz fills the print-shops — Boz furnishes subjects to plaj-- 
 wrights and farce-writers ; he is the play himself, now that 
 brutes feed where Garrick trod ; he brings home to us tragedy, 
 comedy, and farce ; the movmtain comes to Mahomet, to us in 
 our easy chairs, by our fires and wives' sides, unpoisoned by the 
 gas and galleries, unheadached by the music and bill of the 
 play. . ." 
 
 "... Boz sketches localities, particularly in London, with 
 marvellous effect ; he concentrates with the power of a camera 
 lucida. Born with an organic bump for distinct observation of 
 men and things, he sees with the eye and writes with the pen of 
 an artist — we mean with artistic skill, and not as artists 
 write. . ." 
 
 "... The circumstantiality of the murder of Xancy is more 
 harrowing than the bulletin of 50,000 men killed at Borodino. . . 
 Boz fails whenever he attempts to write for effect ; his descrip- 
 
CKITICAL. 223 
 
 tions of rural felicity and country scenery, of which he clearly 
 knows much less than of London, where he is quite at home and 
 wide awake, are, except when comical, overlaboured and out of 
 nature. His '* gentle and genteel folks " are unendurable ; they 
 are devoid of the grace, repose, and ease of good society. . . 
 Boz is, nevertheless, very vulgar when treating on subjects which 
 are avowedly vulgar. He deals truly with human nature, which 
 never can degrade ; he takes up everything, good, bad, or in- 
 different, which he works up into a rich alluvial deposit. . . We 
 are bound to admit that Boz's young ladies are awful — Kate 
 Nickleby is the best of them — but they are all bad enough ; but 
 we must also admit that, both in fiction and reality, these bread- 
 and-butter budding beauties are most difficult to deal with^ 
 except we are in love with them. . ." 
 
 " Oliver Twist is directed against the poor-law and workhouse 
 system, and in our opinion with much unfairness. The abuses 
 which he ridicules are not only exaggerated, but in nineteen 
 cases out of twenty do not at all exist. . ." 
 
 " The whole tale rivals in improbabilities those stories in which 
 the hero, at his birth, is cursed by a wicked fairy, and protected 
 by a good one ; but Oliver himself, to whom all these improba- 
 bilities happen, is the most improbable of all. He is represented 
 to be a pattern of modern excellence, guileless himself, and 
 measuring others by his own innocence ; delicate and high -minded, 
 affectionate, noble, brave, generous, with the manners of a son 
 of a most distinguished gentleman, not only uncorrupted, but 
 incorruptible : less absurd would it be to expect to gather grapesi 
 on thorns, to find pearls on dunghills, violets in Drury Lane, or 
 make silk purses of sow's ears. . ." 
 
 "... Our apprehension is that, in spite of honest intentions, 
 he majr be found practically a co-operator with those whose aim 
 is to degrade the national mind — well knowing that in a pure 
 and healthy atmosphere of opinion their own gaudy fictions must 
 wither as soon as blown. . . We object in toto to the staple of 
 Oliver Tivist — a series of representations which must familiarize 
 
224: CRITICAL. 
 
 the rising generation with the haunts, deeds, language, and 
 characters of the very dregs of the community. . . " 
 
 "... Notwithstanding that the greater tendency in woman 
 towards the gentler affections renders a Nancy somewhat less 
 improbable than an Oliver, we fear that both characters must be 
 considered contrary to the laws of human nature and experience 
 everywhere, and particularly in England. . . The character of 
 Bill Sykes, the housebreaker and murderer, is drawn, we con- 
 ceive, with equal power and accuracy. . . These matter-of-fact, 
 everyday occurrences, which the conscience-haunted outcast ap- 
 plies to self -accusation, heighten the truth of the picture, and 
 convince that close observation of incidents and perceptions of 
 characters and professions so remarkable in our author. . . " 
 
 259 
 " Oliver Twist." By J. S. D. 
 Boston: The Christian Examiner. November, 1839. 
 pp. 161, 174. 
 
 *' . . . His sketches from real life (and such are all his works) 
 are so vivid, reflecting the characteristic features always, and 
 that with such ease and freedom as to betray no art or conscious 
 •effort ; his groups fall together co naturally ; his characters 
 «tand out so distinct and individual ; his lights and shades 
 relieve each other so undesignedly ; his most burlesque extrava- 
 ganzas so serve to bring out and emphasize, without exaggerat- 
 ing, the significant points in every-day sights, that we wonder 
 why this obvious faculty should be his alone ; it seems as if we 
 all should have it, since we too have eyes, and memory, and 
 language, and a world about us to draw from. ..." 
 
 " This writer is one of the very few who see things. Think 
 liow much this implies. In the first place, a full, harmonious 
 activity of all one's faculties, such as is only found in childhood, 
 and there only under the conditions of a fine organization^ 
 
CRITICAL. 225 
 
 health, and genial influences from without, — an activity, not, as 
 in most cases, occasional and forced, and waiting for motives, 
 not restless and self -exhausting, but for ever of its own accord 
 diffusing itself about like air. Then interest in men and things, 
 collectively and singly — a something deeper and better than 
 curiosity — a power to shout out the dogging phantom of one's 
 own egotism, while he enters into every little group or corner, 
 and lives in it till it becomes a woi'ld to him. Then a great 
 deal of faith ; a cheerful, hopeful, trustful spirit ; a wise and 
 uncomplaining optimism, that can afford to linger among the 
 depravities, petty limitations and exceptions in life, merging 
 such refractory details in its boiindless confidence in a principle, 
 that ultimately all is good, and never allowing itself to get be- 
 littled and drawn down by them into the cold fog of sneers, cen- 
 soriousness, and small hope. 
 
 " If in any class of character he fails, it is in those of sentiment 
 and higher culture. There is most life in his knaves, his drolls, 
 his vulgar officials, and eccentric folks. But his gentlemen and 
 ladies are almost characterless. Rose Maylie and her lover, 
 though they relieve the lowering, lurid monotony of a tale of so 
 much guilt with a little sunlight, yet are, it must be confessed, 
 rather tame in themselves. This part of the book would never 
 be read for its own sake. Their images do not present them- 
 selves before us in our vacant hours ; while the beadle, the 
 whole-hearted doctor, good Mr. Brownlow, and his crusty old 
 crony, Mr. Grimwig, with his worst side out, and the whole 
 group of the Jew and his associates are portraits hung up in a 
 very strong light in the chambers of our memory, which we look 
 at daily as we pass. ..." 
 
 260 
 German Translation of the "Pickwick Papers." 
 Dublin: The Dublin Review. February, 1840. pp. 
 160, 188. 
 
 15 
 
226 CRITICAL. 
 
 The writer endeavours to show the difl&culty experienced by 
 the translator in rendering into German the various slang words 
 and expressions introduced in the Pichvnck Papers, and 
 draws attention to various omissions in the translation. The 
 German title reads thus : — Boz Sdmmtliche Werke, Erster Theil 
 — Die Pickwickier : oder Herrn Pickivick's mid der correspon- 
 derenden. Mitglieder des Pickwick Chd)S Kreuz- und Quer- 
 ziige, Ahentheuer und Theafen. Nach den Ueberlieferungen 
 des Pickwick Clubs von Boz. 
 
 261 
 
 "Master Humphrey's Clock." 
 
 London : The Monthly Review. May, 1840. pp. 
 35, 43. 
 
 "... God knows he has succeeded in selecting a truly novel 
 method of introducing his tales to the readers : whether it will 
 prove a useful one we cannot as yet say. . . ." 
 
 " Master Humphrey's Clock supplies the place of the Sultana 
 in the Arabian Nights, of the ladies in the Decameron, and of 
 Tadladeen in Lalla Rookh. ..." 
 
 " After a considerable deal of difficulty Magog is induced to tell 
 a story to wile away an hour or two ; and here we have the 
 finest illustration of the idea, Parturiunt monies, nascetur 
 ridiculus mus, that was ever presented for our consideration. 
 All this nonsense about the giants is only to usher in one of the 
 weakest and most unfortunate tales — the vilest attempt at pathos 
 — the veriest abortion in the shape of an endeavour to create 
 interest or afford amusement that ever was perpetrated. How 
 Dickens, with his talents and experience, could have suffered 
 such a thi7ig to go forth under the sanction of his name is to us 
 a matter of unfeigned marvel. . . ." 
 
CRITICAL. 227 
 
 262 
 Dickens in France. With two illustrations. 
 
 London : Fraser's Magazine. March, 1842. pp. 
 342, 352. Eeprinted in Every Saturday (Boston* 
 U. S.). Vol. iii., p. 737. 
 
 An account of the acting of Nicholas NicMeby in Paris. 
 
 263 
 Boz IN America. By the Editor (Thomas Hood). 
 
 London : The New Monthly Magazine. November, 
 1842. pp. 396, 406. Eeview oi American Notes. 
 
 "... An impartial account of America and the Americans 
 was still to seek, and accordingly the reading public on both 
 sides of the Atlantic looked forward with anxiety and eagerness 
 for the opinions of a writer who had proved by a series of 
 wholesome fictions that his heart was in the right place, that 
 his head was not in the wrong one, and that his hand was a 
 good hand at description. One thing at least was certain, that 
 nothing would be set down in malice ; for, compared with modern 
 authors in general, Boz is remarkably free from sectarian or 
 antisocial prejudices, and as to politics, he seems to have taken 
 the long pledge against party spirit. And doubtless one of the 
 causes of his vast popularity has been the social and genial tone 
 of his works, showing that he feels and acts on the true prin« 
 ciple of the homo sum, a sum too generally worked as one in 
 long division instead of addition. ..." 
 
 " In the very first half-dozen pages the reader will find an 
 example of that cheerful practical philosophy which makes the 
 best of the worst — that happy healthy spirit which, instead of 
 
 15—2 
 
228 CEITICAL. 
 
 morbidly resenting the deception of a too flattering artist, who- 
 had lithographed the ship's accommodation, joined with him in 
 converting a floating cupboard into a state-room, and a cabin 
 ' like a hearse with windows in it,' into a handsome- 
 saloon. ..." 
 
 264 
 
 Dickens's " American Notes." 
 
 London : Fraser^s Magazine. November, 1842. 
 pp. 617, 629. 
 
 *' Nine-tenths of Mr. Dickens's work are about himself, either 
 in his abstract individuality or in relation to some thing or 
 person. It is Yo, el Dickens Catolico ! with a vengeance. We 
 put aside this portion of the performance for the present. A 
 tithe, or thereabout, has reference to America and the Ameri- 
 cans, apart from their visitor. What do we learn from this that 
 has not been already told in pretty nearly every form, shape, 
 and way, and is as notorious as Paul's ? Nothing — positively, 
 nothing ! We solemnly declare, that any litterateur who had 
 read Halliburton, Hamilton, Marryat, TroUope, Martineau — to 
 say nothing of Stuart, Silk Buckingham, Tyrone Power, Robert 
 Keeley, and Fanny Kemble — might have written the whole of 
 this portion of the work Mr. Dickens calls his own, without 
 ever passing out of ear-shot of the sounds of Bow bells. Can- 
 didly, however, we confess, that after the labours of these 
 persons, it would have been very difiicult for Mr. Dickens to 
 have written anything new of America and the Americans : and 
 we humbly consider the United States ought, after what had 
 been already done, to be regarded as peculiarly tabooed ground 
 to novelists and actors. . ." 
 
 " Mr. Dickens has given us a small ricliauffi of all those 
 matters we were so familiarly acquainted with before, but he 
 
CRITICAL. 229 
 
 lias not added one new ingredient. Therefore, so far as the 
 communication of any information to us about America and the 
 Americans is concerned, Mr. Dickens might just as well have 
 remained this side of the Atlantic. . ." 
 
 " There is certainly this to distinguish this book on America 
 from all its predecessors, and which recommends it potently to 
 the multitudinous admirers of Boz. Though it contains nothing 
 intrinsically new, ever3rthing is made to wear a new face from 
 the way in which it is painted, and patched, and frizzed, and 
 powdered, before it is brought upon the stage. Everything is 
 made to wear Boz's peculiar colours, and is stamped with his 
 idiosyncrasy. This is very much admired by some of our en- 
 lightened critics. Certainly it is 'Pickwickian.' We do not 
 know what else we should be disposed to say in favour of 
 it. But this, we are aware, will be taken as all-sufficing 
 praise. . ." 
 
 265 
 . " American Notes for General Circula- 
 tion." 
 
 London : The Monthly Review. November, 1842. 
 pp. 392, 403. 
 
 "... More vivid description, more life-like scenes, more distinct 
 colouring, a happier collocation of words, and a more strikingly 
 felicitous use of images for the writer's particular purposes, it is 
 impossible to find or to desire in any book. One necessary re- 
 sult is, that the most familiar things, the subjects that have 
 been handled hundreds of times by voyagers and travellers 
 present in these pages new points, and set the mind upon 
 trains of cogitation and reflection that never were suggested 
 •before. . . 
 
230 CRITICAL. 
 
 266 
 Dickens's Notes on America. (Two articles). 
 
 Edinburgh : Chambers's Edinburgh Journal Novem- 
 ber 19, 1842. pp. 348, 349. November 26, 1842. 
 pp. 356, 357. 
 
 267 
 Dickens's Works. By J. S. (James Spedding.) 
 
 London : The London University Magazine. Yol. I.. 
 1842. pp. 378, 398. 
 
 Principally reviewing American Notes. 
 
 "... He embraces in the range of his affections every beauty 
 of our nature, and cherishes the most homely, watching even 
 Anth a peculiar solicitude over those which, from their alliance 
 with weakness or error, are apt to be overlooked or despised ; 
 but never attempting to conceal the inevitable evil influence of 
 vice on those who are so unfortunate as to be brought into fre- 
 quent contact with it, never stooping to screen it from the hatred 
 which it deserves, or to create for guilt a meretricious interest, 
 by uniting it with impossible and inconsistent virtues. . ." 
 
 ". . . Mr. Dickens's acknowledged talents consist in the keenest 
 perception and most graphic description, uniting themselves at 
 one time with the most exuberant humour, and again with the 
 truest pathos; or borrowing from his heartfelt hatred for in- 
 justice, and sympathy with suffering, the power of indignant, 
 satire or true tragedy. He is eminently successful in catching 
 the habits of thought or expression belonging to particular 
 classes of men or callings ; while his keen sense of the comic 
 
CRITICAL. 231 
 
 enables him to give a highly humorous, and generally not too 
 palpable, exaggeration of them. . ." 
 
 "... His own style is original ; and, among other reasons, we 
 believe, because it is unstudied ; he has formed it on no model ; 
 it consists in the inartificial communication of his own thoughts 
 and feelings, and the results of his own observation. . . " 
 
 "... In many of his characters he does not sufficiently re- 
 strain his tendency to caricature ; some want vigour in their 
 composition, as well as correctness, and we occasionally find him 
 falling into the error of making one of the characters of the tale 
 utter sentiments called forth by the circumstances which he is 
 describing, but unsuited to the character to whom he has assigned 
 them. . ." 
 
 "... We must confess that, on the whole, we have been dis- 
 appointed with the result of Mr. Dickens's travels in the States. 
 What we looked forward to, with especial interest, was the re- 
 sult of his observations on American character, as influenced by 
 the political institutions and the habits of the people. From his 
 great and acknowledged powers of observation, and from the 
 good-humoured impartiality which, it could not be doubted, 
 would be brought to their aid, we had hoped for the production 
 of a work, containing general views and impressions, which 
 might have proved common ground for all parties to judge and 
 argue from, on the questions involved in the great social and 
 political experiments now at work in America. In such ex- 
 pectations we need hardly say that we have been disappointed ; 
 perhaps we expected too much from a six-months' absence from 
 home ; and certainly the modest title of American Notes ought 
 to have forewarned us that we had raised our hopes too high. 
 As it is, the book is (with the exception of the two last chapters) 
 an amusing and interesting tour, which we would fain have had 
 much longer; fairly sustaining, without, at the same time, 
 adding to, its author's reputation as an acute, brilliant, and 
 humorous sketcher. . ." 
 
232 CRITICAL. 
 
 268 
 "American Notes for General Circulation." 
 By Q. Q. Q. 
 
 Edinburgh : Blachvood's Edinburgh Magazine. De- 
 cember, 1842. pp. 783, 801. 
 
 **. , . When the cruel and subtle grimalkin, roused from her 
 slumbers by some sudden impulse of hunger, meditates an ex- 
 pedition to the regions which she knows to be occupied by mice, 
 do you think she foolishly frustrates her purpose by heralding 
 her approach, shoeing herself, as it were, with walnut-shells, 
 clattering, mewing, spitting and sputtering ? Alas, unhappy 
 mice ! no ; but she glides suddenly, unseen, and noiselessly into 
 your dusky territories ; and you are not made aware of the 
 terrible visitation you have experienced, save by her hasty de- 
 parture, bearing in her ensanguined jaws the crushed writhing 
 bodies of one or two of perhaps your best citizens, uttering faint 
 and dying squeaks. Now, to compare small things with great 
 (the former grimalkin, the latter Boz), when we first heard it 
 breathed that he was going to America, we thought within our- 
 selves thus : — If roe had the admirable talent for observation and 
 description, and the great reputation (to give universal currency 
 to our Notes) of Boz — a man who has amused, for several years, 
 a greater number and more various classes of his fellow-crea- 
 tures than anyone we have for some years known, heard, or 
 read of — and had intended to break up new ground in America, 
 we should have imitated the aforesaid cat, in all except her bloody 
 designs and doings. In plain English, we should have resolved 
 to take — good-naturedly — Brother Jonathan off his guard ; and 
 transmuting Mr. Charles Dickens into Mr. John Johnson or 
 Mr. Benjamin Brown, gone away without allowing a hint of our 
 visit to transpire either at home or abroad. We should thus 
 have entered America, and made all our most important obse r- 
 
CRITICAL. 233 
 
 vations, under a strict incofjnito. A month before quitting it, 
 however, we might perhaps have resumed our character of 
 'Charles Dickens, Esquire,' and, presenting the best letters of 
 introduction with which we had come provided, mixed in the 
 best society in our own proper person. Thus we should have 
 seen Jonathan asleep, in dishabille ; and also wide awake, and 
 in his best clothes and his best manners. And we hereby give 
 him notice that, if ever we go over the water, this will be the 
 plan of our proceeding ; and our American friends will be un- 
 conscious, while we are doing it, that 
 
 " A chifel's amang them takin' * notes,' 
 An' faith he'll prent them." 
 
 "... But what did our good friend Boz do ? Why, alas ! to our 
 inexpressible concern and vexation, we saw him formally an- 
 nounce his intentions to the whole world, months before he set 
 off ; nor was there a newspaper in Great Britain which did not 
 contain paragraphs intimating the fact, the time, and the manner, 
 of this amusing satirist's departure for the scene of his interest- 
 ing observations. From that moment (as we then said to those 
 around us) we gave up all expectations of any such product as 
 Mr. Dickens's qualifications and opportunities, prudently used, 
 would have entitled us to rely upon. He was hamstrung and 
 hoodwinked at starting ; he doubtless unconsciously prepared 
 himself for a triumphal progress through America — all having 
 long before been put on their guard, and by a thousand devices 
 of courtesy, hospitality, and flattery disabling their admired 
 visitor from taking, or communicating to his countrymen, just 
 and true observations on the men and manners of America. 
 * •)«•** * 
 
 ". . . His Sketches, several portions of his Pichwich and of his 
 -Oliver Twist, we believe, cannot be equalled, in their way, by 
 any living writer ; and in producing them, Mr. Dickens became 
 his own greatest rival. Quantity^ not quality, seemed subse- 
 quently, however, to become his object — to win * golden opinions 
 
234 CRITICAL. 
 
 of one sort, at least, from his innumerable and enthusiastic 
 admirers. ..." 
 
 " There can be no doubt that, originally and all along, he has^ 
 been greatly indebted for his popularity, among his numerous 
 i^eaders in the lower classes of society, to the spirited and often 
 admirable illustrations with which all his writings have been 
 accompanied, by Cruikshank and others, at once rousing and 
 sustaining the most dull and torpid fancy, giving form and sub- 
 stance, and corporeal and tangible shape and reality, to his 
 characters. They have, however, had also another effect, not 
 hitherto, perhaps, adverted to by either Mr. Dickens himself or 
 his readers. The constant presence of these pictorial illustrations 
 has unconsciously influenced his own fancy while at work in 
 drawing his ideal characters ; which are insensibly moulded by, 
 and accommodated to, the grotesque, quaint, and exaggerated 
 figures and attitudes of the caricaturist's pencil. The writer's 
 ' miniVs eye ' becomes thus obedient, insensibly, to the eye of 
 his body ; and the result is, a perpetual and unconscious strain- 
 ing after situations and attitudes which will admit of being 
 similarly illustrated. Thus the writer follows the caricaturist, 
 instead of the caricaturist following the writer ; and principal 
 and accessory change places. . ." 
 
 "Alas, how very sad it is to have to own- the feelings of 
 chagrin and disappointment with which we have risen from 
 the perusal of these volumes of Mr. Dickens, and to express 
 our fears that such will be the result of the perusal of them 
 by the Americans ! We perceive in every step he takes, in 
 whatever he says or does, and all that he has written, the 
 blighting effects of his original blunder in proclaiming before- 
 hand his going to America, ..." 
 
 " It is so very flimsy a performance — we must speak the 
 disagreeable and painful truth — that nothing but our strong 
 feelings of kindliness and respect for a gentleman of his un- 
 questionable talents, and of gratitude for the amusement which 
 his better and earlier works have afforded us, could have in- 
 
CRITICAL. 235 
 
 duced us to bestow the pains which were requisite to present 
 so full an account of it as that which we have above given 
 our readers, . . ." 
 
 269 
 " American Notes for General Circulation." 
 London : The Christian Remenibramer. December^ 
 1842. pp. 679, 680. 
 
 "... For Mr. Dickens, personally, we are by no means with- 
 out respect. His excellences are his own ; his faults, the pre- 
 judices of his situation and the results of an imperfect education: 
 of the effects of the writings with which his name is universally 
 associated we entertain the most fearful auguries. They have 
 created a taste for caricature, which is corrupting all truth and 
 soberness ; and among the herd of writers who will follow in 
 his wake, it may safely be predicted that none will be re- 
 strained by those good feelings which he possesses in an eminent 
 degree, from availing themselves of an engine so ready for assail- 
 ing whatever is good and holy. , . ." 
 
 270 
 
 Dickens's "American Notes." (By Jamea 
 Spedding.) 
 
 Edinburgh: The Edinburgh Review. January, 1843. 
 pp. 497, 522. Eeprinted in Reviews and DiscussionSy 
 Literary^ Political, and Historical, by James Spedding. 
 1879. (See No. 332.) 
 
236 CRITICAL. 
 
 ". . . To us it appears that Mr. Dickens deserves great praise 
 for the care with which he has avoided all offensive topics, and 
 abstained from amusing his readers at the expense of his enter- 
 tainers : and if we had an account of the temptations in this 
 kind which he has resisted, we do not doubt that the reserve 
 and self-control which he has exercised would appear scarcely 
 less than heroical. But, on the other hand, we cannot say that 
 his book throws any new light on his subject. He has done 
 little more than confide to the public what should have been a 
 series of letters for the entertainment of his private friends. 
 Very agreeable and amusing letters they have been ; and as 
 such, had they been posthumously published, would have been 
 read with interest and pleasure. As it is, . . . we cannot 
 help feeling that we should have respected Mr. Dickens more 
 if he had kept his book to himself : if he had been so far 
 dissatisfied with these American Notes as to shrink from the 
 * general circulation ' of them ; if he had felt unwilling to 
 stand by and see them trumpeted to all comers of the earth 
 — quoted and criticized in every newspaper — passing through 
 edition after edition in England — and settling in clouds of 
 sixpenny copies all over the United States. . . ." 
 
 " Still, even this is not without its value. To know the im- 
 pression made by the first aspect of a country upon a mind 
 like his, is to know something of the country itself. ..." 
 
 "Of the manners of the mass of the people Mr. Dickens 
 gives many amusing illustrations, most of which have been 
 already quoted in various publications and have made us al- 
 very merry. It is but justice to him, however, to say, that 
 he saw all these things in their true light ; and that, while 
 indulging his sense of the ludicrous by a hearty English laugh, 
 he was not betrayed by them into any foolish conclusions or 
 illiberal (we wish we could add un-English) contempt. . . ." 
 
 The writer of this criticism stated that Dickens went to 
 America as a "Missionary in the cause of International Copy- 
 right," an assertion which the novelist denied in very forcible 
 
CRITICAL. 237 
 
 terms, in a letter to the Editor of the Times, published January 
 16, 1843. This letter induced the critic to retract the state- 
 ment in the succeeding number of the Edinburgh Review. (See 
 No. 274.) 
 
 271 
 
 Dickens's Notes on America. (By J. P. Thompson.) 
 Boston and New York : The New Englander. 
 January, 1843. pp. 64, 84. 
 
 " We have been greatly disappointed in the perusal of these 
 American Notes. "We were well aware that there are some de- 
 fects in our social organization which might be hit off to advan- 
 tage by a master-hand, and we had hoped that Mr, Dickens's 
 keen perception of the ludicrous would be exercised at our 
 present expense, though for our ultimate profit. We should 
 have thanked him for a humorous exhibition of our weak points 
 of national character : but he seems either to have failed to ap- 
 prehend them, or to have felt an unwonted reserve in making 
 his 'police reports.' . . ." 
 
 * ' The little information to be gleaned from these two volumes, 
 with few exceptions, might be gained much more advantage- 
 ously from the map and gazetteer. The perusal of them has 
 served chiefly to lower our estimate of the man, and to fill us 
 with contempt for such a compound of egotism, coxcombry, and 
 cockneyism. . ." 
 
 " We have never read a book, professing to give an account of 
 any country, which, in respect to its natural features, its towns 
 and cities, its manners and customs, its social, civil, and re- 
 ligious institutions — in short, in respect to everything about 
 which the reader wishes to receive information, or at least to 
 ascertain the opinions of the author, is so profoundly silent as 
 
238 CRITICAL. 
 
 the book before us. We should hardly have thought it possible 
 for so many pages of Notes on America to be written, and so 
 little to be said in them which is of the least importance to the 
 reader. The experiment, however, has been successfully made, 
 and Mr, Dickens has proved himself to be utterly incompetent 
 to write anything which does not savour strongly of his former 
 occupation. In gaols and almshouses, amid scenes of vice and 
 crime, he is perfectly at home, and often paints with a master's 
 hand. He is more graphic and eloquent in describing the habits 
 of the pigs that roam through the streets of New York than in 
 portrajdng the more elevated manners and refined amusements 
 of the Gothamites themselves. ..." 
 
 " We regret that Mr. Dickens has published these volumes, for 
 they bear the mark of hasty composition, evince no genius, add 
 nothing to the author's reputation as a writer, and exhibit his 
 moral character in a most undesirable light. . . ." 
 
 " Mr. Dickens has written much that is worthy of praise ; yet 
 we cannot but lament the extensive circulation of his works, and 
 their evident influence on society. At least one benefit of the 
 international copyright law which he is so anxious to secure 
 would be, that it would prevent the republication of many of his 
 productions, or limit their circulation to the judicious few." 
 
 272 
 
 ''American Notes for General Circulation." 
 Eichmond, Va. : The Southern Literary Messenger, 
 January, 1843. pp. 58, 62. 
 
 Two notices, the second signed "Laon," Columbia, S.C. 
 
 Prefaced by the following editorial remark : — 
 "As an earnest of our disposition to do Mr. Dickens justice, 
 and to let him have fair play, we give two notices of his Notes 
 —one from the North, the other from the South, by which he 
 
CRITICAL. 239 
 
 may perceive that they do not pass current in either section." — 
 Ed. Sou. Lit. Mess. 
 
 Extracts from First Notice. 
 
 ". . . In this work, we see a young and ardent Englishman, 
 with a sensitive and benevolent heart, and a fancy which, with 
 balloon -like expansibility, inflates itself by vaporizing the smallest 
 fact, and gives itself to the wildest and most rapid wander- 
 ings. . ." 
 
 ". . . It is impossible that such a writer can be really truth- 
 ful, however great his determination to be so ; truth may be his 
 purpose, but imagination involuntarily touches the point of his 
 pen. . ." 
 
 Extracts from Second Noikce. 
 
 ". . . It is one of the most suicidal productions ever deliber- 
 ately published by an author who has the least reputation to 
 lose. Not that the whole work exhibits the impress of wilful 
 malignity and deliberate injustice towards a nation from which, 
 both as an author and a man, he has received the highest favours ; 
 but because it is utterly weak, frivolous, and inconclusive through- 
 out, adding another to the many proofs of the fact, that he who 
 attempts to perform a task, for which both his frame of mind 
 and previous opportunities have rendered him unfit, can only 
 succeed in making himself ridiculous, and detracting from the 
 real merit which he may possess. As a writer of a peculiar class 
 of fiction, and master of the comic, * Boz ' has had no rival ; 
 but when, after a four months' run over a country like ours, he 
 presumes to pass judgment on our national character and institu- 
 tions, amazement at his audacity is only merged into pity for his 
 folly, and the reader is irresistibly reminded of a similar under- 
 taking, which he himself has graphically described on the part 
 of a certain Pickwick Cluh, to perform the same service for the 
 * unexplored parishes ' of England ; with a similar result, since 
 the hero of the 'Notes for General Circulation,' is a facsimile 
 
240 CRITICAL.' 
 
 of Mr. Pickwick in every particular, but the * gaiters ' and the 
 benevolence, which that individual is made to possess, . ." 
 
 ". . . Although the greater part of this book should only call 
 forth a pitying smile at the vanity and folly of its author, his 
 bitter assaults and foul calumnies in relation to an institution 
 which he has not troubled himself to understand in any of its 
 bearings deserve the indignant scorn of an insulted and slandered 
 people." 
 
 273 
 Charles Dickens. ("American Notes.") 
 Boston: The North American Review. January, 
 1843. pp. 212, 237. 
 
 "... Like Shakespeare, he knows well how to throw in a 
 few gentle traits to soften the terrors of his tragic passages, by 
 lingering on which the mind relieves its overwrought feelings. 
 He looks into the condition of the poor, and he sees that they 
 have their humble joys as well as sorrows, and these he paints 
 in brighter colours than they have ever been painted in before. 
 He is sometimes called the delineator of low life ; he should 
 rather be called the delineator of human life. But there is truth, 
 too, in the former appellation. For no writer has so truly set 
 forth the virtues, temptations, sufferings, and characters of the 
 lower and poorer classes as he. . ." 
 
 "... A peculiarity of Dickens's writings, which has often been 
 dwelt upon with praise and pleasure, is their freedom from ex- 
 pressions and allusions which offend a fastidious delicacy. Con- 
 sidering the regions of life where many of his scenes are laid, 
 this is a most remarkable fact. . ." 
 
 ". . . Persons wh© expected from Dickens long disquisitions 
 upon what are called American institutions — philosophical 
 tirades upon the working of the republican machine of govern- 
 ment — or the future prospects of the woi'ld as affected by what 
 
CRITICAL. 241 
 
 we style the great experiment of self-government — expected 
 what they had no right to look for from the author of Picli- 
 wicJc. . ." 
 
 "... We had a right ... to expect from him, not a didactic 
 work, but a book full of graphic touches, good feeling, and plea- 
 sant observation ; and in this expectation we have not been dis- 
 -appointed. . ." 
 
 Note to the article on Mr. Dickens's " American 
 Notes," in No. 154. 
 
 Edinburgh: The Edinburgh Review. February, 1843. 
 p. 301. (See No. 270.) 
 
 " In the above article, we happened to state that Mr. Dickens 
 went to America as a ' Missionary in the cause of International 
 Copyright.' We have since found that we were misinformed 
 in saying so. We had no intention, however, to disparage a 
 gentleman, whose character and genius we alike esteem, by that 
 statement. We thought the cause a good cause, and that we 
 had sufficient authority for what we stated. But as it would be 
 very wrong to ascribe Mr. Dickeus's visit to America to an 
 erroneous cause, we willingly retract the statement, and regret 
 that it was made." 
 
 275 
 
 Dickens's " American Notes." By H. 
 
 London : The Westminster Review. February, 1843. 
 
 pp. 146, 160. 
 
 "... Some have been pleased and grieved ; grieved, or rather 
 disappointed, that Mr. Dickens did not produce a work of higher 
 
 16 
 
242 CRITICAL. 
 
 intellectual power. We do not belong to the latter class. We 
 did not expect from Mr, Dickens a profound philosophical or 
 metaphysical work on the United States. He did not go to 
 America with the mission of De Tocqueville, and he acted wisely 
 in avoiding the error of Mr. Buckingham, that of overwhelming 
 his readers with the extent of his topographical and historical 
 researches. . ." 
 
 276 
 " American Notes for General Circulation." 
 London: The Quarterly Beview. March, 1843. pp. 
 502, 522. 
 
 ". . . It was with no particular pleasure that we heard we were 
 to have a picture of America from the pen of Mr. Dickens. Mr. 
 Dickens is, as everybody knows, the author of some popular 
 stories published originally in periodical parts — remarkable as 
 clever exhibitions of very low life — treated, however, generally 
 speaking, with better taste and less vulgarity than the subjects 
 seem to promise. We must say, en passant, that we have very 
 little taste for the class of works that take their heroes from 
 Newgate and St. Giles's. . . Of Mr. Dickens, however, it is but 
 justice to say that little or nothing of this offensive character 
 can be charged against him — he manages his most ticklish situa- 
 tions with dexterous decency — his scenes, though low, are not 
 immoral — his characters are original without being unnatural — 
 the pleasantry is broad, but never indelicate, and seldom forced 
 — the pathos is frequent and touching, but not maudlin — and in 
 the peculiar walk which it has been his taste or his chance to 
 adopt, he has, we think, fewer faults and more merits than any 
 of his imitators or competitors. But we must confess that we 
 doubt whether the powers — or perhaps we should say the habits 
 of his mind — are equal to any sustained exertion. His best 
 
CRITICAL. 243 
 
 things, to our taste, are some short tales published under the 
 absurd pseudonym of Boz — in which a single anecdote, lively 
 or serious, is told with humour or tenderness, as the subject may 
 require, but always with ease and felicity. His longer works 
 owe, we are afraid, much of their popularity to their having been 
 published in numbers. There is in them, as in the others, con- 
 siderable truth, but in the long run somewhat of sameness ; and 
 the continuous repetition of scenes of low life — though, as we 
 have said — seldom vulgarly treated — becomes at last exceedingly 
 tedious. . . We are inclined to predict of works of this style* 
 both in England and France, that an ephemeral popularity will 
 be followed by early oblivion. . ." 
 
 "... The work {American Notes) has very little of Mr. 
 Dickens's peculiar merit, and still less, we are sorry to say, of 
 any other. It seems to us an entire failure ; and yet, para- 
 doxical as it may appear, the failure is probably more creditable 
 to his personal character than a high degree of literai-y success 
 might have been. . . " 
 
 277 
 "A Christmas Carol, in Prose." 
 Duhlin : The Dublin Beview. December, 1843. pp. 
 510, 529. 
 
 278 
 " A Christmas Carol." 
 London : Hood's Magazine. January, 1844. pp. 
 68, 75. 
 
 " It was a blessed inspiration that put such a book into the 
 head of Charles Dickens ; a happy inspiration of the heart, that 
 warms every page. It is impossible to read, without a glowing 
 
 16—2 
 
244 CKITICAL. 
 
 bosom and burning cheeks, between love and shame for our 
 kind, with perhaps a little touch of misgiving whether we are 
 not personally open, a crack or so, to the reproach of Words- 
 worth, 
 
 * The world is too much with us, early and late, 
 Getting and spending.' 
 
 Whether our own heads have not become more inaccessible, our 
 hearts more impregnable, our ears and eyes more dull and blind 
 to sounds and sights of human misery ; if our Charity altogether 
 is not too much of a Clari, thinking of home, home, home, and 
 no place but home. In a word, whether we have not grown 
 Scroogey ?" 
 
 279 
 A Box OF Novels. (Including "A Christmas 
 Carol.") By M. A. T. (Michael Angelo Titmarsh 
 — otherwise William Makepeace Thackeray). 
 
 London : Frasefs Magazine. February, 1844. pp. 
 167, 169. (See Appendix — Testimonies III.) 
 
 280 
 **A Christmas Carol, in Prose." (By S. G. 
 Clark.) 
 New York : The KnickerhocJcer. March, 1844, pp. 
 276, 281. 
 
 "... If in every alternate work that Mr. Dickens sent to the 
 London press he should find occasion to indulge in ridicule 
 against alleged American peculiarities, or broad caricatures of 
 our actual vanities, or other follies, we should with the utmost 
 
CRITICAL. 245 
 
 cheerfulness pass them by unnoted and uncondemned, if he 
 would only now and then present us with an intellectual creation 
 so touching and beautiful as the one before us. Indeed, we can 
 with truth say, that in our deliberate judgment the Christmas 
 Carol is the most striking, the most picturesque, the most truth- 
 ful of all the limnings which have proceeded from its author's 
 pen ..." 
 
 281 
 " The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzle- 
 
 WIT." 
 
 London : The Monthly Review. September, 1844 
 pp. 137, 146. 
 
 "To display the destructive effects of avarice and the depravity 
 of selfishness, on the one hand, and the beauty of benevolence 
 and kindness on the other, is evidently the aim of the worthy 
 writer of Martin Chuzzlewit; and happily the weapons which 
 he uses to accomplish his good purpose are of so effectual a 
 nature, as to strip the one of its fancied advantages, and invest 
 the other with a lasting and attractive splendour. ..." 
 
 " Let us not, however, forget to notice that * reether crumby 
 piece of humanity, Mrs. Gamp, and her ideal friend, Mrs. Harris. 
 Mr. Dickens has a happy knack (and it is no reproach to him to 
 say so) in catching the peculiarities of the vulgar. Like a 
 sensible man, he does not merely catch the foibles and follies of 
 the great and wealthy, but exposes even the professional delin- 
 quencies of a monthly nurse. What can be compared with her 
 peculiar jargon — her self-praises, cunningly introduced under the 
 nominal sanction of Mrs. Harris's extended knowledge ? We 
 are afraid this is too true a portrait of this class of people ; their 
 carelessness of their patients' wants, the absolute cruelty they 
 daily practise, and their habitual drinking as displayed in Martin 
 Chuzzlewit, are, we are assured, not merely fictitiovis. ..." 
 
246 CRITICAL. 
 
 * How thoroughly disgusted must our author be with his experi- 
 ence of that land of enlightened liberty — America ! He could 
 not suffer this opportunity to pass without showering his heavy 
 sarcasm at their hollow pretensions and professions. Surely, if 
 Jefferson Brick and Elijah Pogram are in any degree true speci- 
 mens of American politicians and statesmen, we can with grati- 
 tude reflect on our much superior position. ..." 
 
 282 
 ^' The Chimes." 
 
 Dublin : The Dublin Eevietv. December, 1844. pp. 
 
 560, 568. 
 
 " We prefer it to the Christmas Carol ; like that, it is a vision, 
 but of a more condensed and earnest character. Not contented 
 with exciting the warm sympathies of feeling, Mr. Dickens has 
 here tried in earnest to direct them so as best to serve the poor, 
 the objects of his unfailing love ; every species of cant, worldly- 
 mindedness, and affectation of humanity, and all the mere talk 
 which has so often made the heart to sink and the hope to flag, 
 are here keenly exposed. ..." 
 
 "The Christmas Carol may be taken as a fair specimen of 
 Mr. Dickens's powers ; and exhibits on a small scale almost all 
 the beauties and all the defects of his manner. ..." 
 
 ' ' We may say, once for all, that it is long since we read prose 
 or poetry which pleased us more. There is one want, however, 
 which we must be excused for observing. We fear Mr. Dickens's 
 spirits are too earthly to be real visitors from another world. 
 They seem to think too much of the creature comforts of Christ- 
 mas, and to have forgotten altogether the higher and holier in- 
 fluences of the season — to place the enjoyment of the Christmas 
 time in the mirth and jollity which accompany it — in the beef, 
 and poultry, and pudding — the games and i)uzzles and forfeits 
 
CRITICAL. 247 
 
 <ji the evening fireside — without once adverting to the Christian 
 character of the festival, or the joy of spirit and peace of con- 
 science which constitute its true and genuine happiness. ..." 
 
 283 
 
 The Fictions of Dickens upon Solitary Con- 
 finement. " Prisons and Prisoners," by Joseph 
 Adshead. 
 London : Longman and Co. 1845. pp. 95, 12L 
 
 A criticism of Dickens's remarks in his American Notes con- 
 ■cerning prison discipline in America, especially that of the 
 Eastern Penitentiary, Pennsylvania. 
 
 "... From the manner in which that writer has chosen to treat 
 the subject of prison discipline, we should have considered his 
 statements altogether unworthy of notice, possessing, as we did, 
 the means of irrefragably confuting them, had it not been for 
 the importance attached to his writings as an authority upon 
 the point. ..." 
 
 " We uphold, with as much tenacity as Mr. Dickens can do, the 
 right of private judgment, and the title which Mr. Dickens has 
 to declare his sentiments ; but we also maintain, that the forma- 
 tion of correct opinion should be based on the immovable foun- 
 dation of fact and experience. ..." 
 
 284 
 "The Chimes." 
 
 Edinburgh : The Edinburgh Review. January, 1845. 
 pp. 181, 189. Eeprinted in The Eclectic Magazine 
 New York). May, 1845. pp. 33, 38. 
 
248 CRITICAL. 
 
 ". . . We do not know the earnestness to compare with his^ 
 (Dickens's) for the power of its manifestation and its uses. It 
 is delightful to see it in his hands, and observe by what tenure 
 he secures the popularity it has given him. Generous sympathies 
 and kindest thoughts are the constant renewal of his fame ; and 
 in such wise fashion as the little book before us, he does komage 
 for his title and his territory. A noble homage ! Filling suc- 
 cessive years with merciful charities, and giving to thousands of 
 hearts new and just resolves. 
 
 " This is the lesson of his Chimes, as of his delightful Carol ; 
 but urged with more intense purpose and a wider scope of appli- 
 cation. . ." 
 
 " We do not know that we should agree with Mr. Dickens's 
 system of Political Economy, if he has one ; but he teaches 
 what before all economies it is needful to know, and brings all 
 systems to the proof of the at once solemn and hearty lesson of 
 human brotherhood. . ." 
 
 285 
 " The Chimes." 
 
 London: The Eclectic Beview. January, 1845. pp. 
 70, 88. 
 
 " There are few men (besides Dickens) who can so successfully 
 work out an effective tale from slender materials. His graphic 
 powers are unsurpassed. A suggestion, a mere hint, suffices for 
 his purpose : there is no elaboration needed, no long array of 
 personages or complexity of plot. A sentence, or even a word, 
 an old church, a wretched dwelling, a garret or a cellar, a pam- 
 pered menial, or a half-starved and trembling beggar, accom- 
 plishes his design. He sets before us, without apparent effort, 
 in all the distinctness and vivid colouring of actual life, the 
 scene or the character which he wishes to describe. We behold 
 
CRITICAL. 24^ 
 
 the street, the wretched court, the dilapidated staircase, the cold 
 and unfurnished garret to which he introduces us, or talk and 
 exchange looks with the persons whom he brings on the stage. 
 The truthfulness of his sketches is not outward and superficial. 
 It descends to the inner man, embraces the qualities of the 
 individual, and sets him before us in all the minute as well as 
 the more prominent features of his person and character. This 
 constitutes a leading element in the popularity of Mr. Dickens, 
 and is illustrated in several instances in the volume before 
 us. . ." 
 
 286 
 
 Mr. Dickens's New Christmas Tale. ("The 
 Cricket on the Hearth.") 
 
 Edinburgh : Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. January 
 17,1846. pp. 44, 48. 
 
 287 
 Dickens's "Pictures from Italy." 
 Edinburgh : Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. June 20, 
 1846. pp. 389, 391. 
 
 " Pictures from Italy. 
 Edinburgh : Taifs Edinburgh Magazine. July, 1846. 
 pp. 461, 463. 
 
 " On these * Pictures ' Mr. Dickens has bestowed much greater 
 pains than on the careless American running notes of the spoiled 
 young author. Whether the result may, by increased popularity, 
 reward the pains bestowed, it is not easy to say ; or at least not 
 
250 CRITICAL. 
 
 for those critics who look more to the matter than the manner 
 of a book — to the spirit than the mere dexterity of execu- 
 tion. . ." 
 
 289 
 Dickens's " Pictures from Italy." 
 
 Dublin : The Dublin Review. September, 1846. 
 pp. 184, 201. 
 
 The writer of this notice is evidently prejudiced in favour of 
 Roman Catholicism, and naturally objects to the ridicule which 
 Dickens showered upon that religious faith. 
 
 "... A production like this, exhibiting, from beginning to 
 end, such extreme narrowness, littleness, one-sidedness of mind ; 
 so much cockney trifling and sneering on topics regarded by a 
 hundred and fifty millions of Christians as of a solemn and 
 sacred character — that such a production should have come to 
 us, under the sanction of a name so honoured by us, and, as we 
 fondly thought, so deserving of honour, has confounded and 
 shocked us more than we can express. . ." 
 
 '*. . . The first thing that would strike an impartial reader of 
 this bock— a reader fully prepared to adopt whatever views, 
 favourable or unfavourable, might be borne out by unexception- 
 able testimony — is, that it is the work of a light-headed, giggling 
 person, rambling about in quest of mere amusement and excite- 
 ment, accustomed to view and capable of understanding only a 
 certain ridiculous aspect which his own fancy creates in every- 
 thing about him ; to whom laughing is living, and to tickle and 
 be tickled by wit's feather the highest enjoyment of human 
 existence. . ." 
 
 *'. . . It is no excuse to say, as Mr. Dickens says, that in 
 treating of the ceremonies of the Holy Week, * he merely treats 
 of their effect, and does not challenge the good and learned Dr. 
 
CKITICAL. 251 
 
 Wiseman's intei'prefation of them.' Their effect on whom < 
 OA the mind of an Irish or English Catholic — of an Italian 
 Catholic — of an Oxford Protestant — of any Protestant with an 
 ordinary Christian feeling ? No ; but their effect on the fancy 
 of a single English Protestant satirist, whose whole life has been 
 consumed in making out grotesque analogies and comparisons, 
 and picking out from all things, great and small, under the sun, 
 something to play with, and compress or expand into the most 
 ludicrous proportions — until his soul has become a mere fairy 
 trickster, a little laughing echo ! He may tell us he has a right 
 to indulge his own humour, and to view things in the light that 
 affords himself most amusement. Be it so. But he has no 
 right to publish his little rambling nonsense and call it a 
 picture. He has no right to publish in the face of Christendom 
 the puerile and contemptible madcap freaks of his own goblin 
 imagination, in contemplating sights and scenes which all 
 Christendom has agreed to admire, if not to reverence. . ." 
 
 ". . . Everything Catholic, everything connected with the 
 Catholic religion, is impleasant to Mr. Dickens's eyes, is held 
 up by him to ridicule, or contempt, or abomination. The secular 
 clergy — the friars — the monks — the Jesuits — the cardinals — the 
 pope at High Mass in St. Peter's — the pope washing the feet of 
 the twelve pilgrims — the pope carried in solemn procession — the 
 pope imparting his solemn benediction — their head-dress — their 
 vestments — their every-day clothing — their walking — their sit- 
 ting — their standing — their silence — their speaking — their 
 gestures — their looks — their chanting of the sacred service, and 
 their performance of the sacred ceremonies ; the churches — the 
 altars — the shrines — the relics — the oblations of the faithful — 
 the charitable institutions — the confraternities for burying the 
 dead, and for other works of godlike mercy and charity ; the 
 posture of the faithful at their devotions — their mingling of 
 practices of Christian piety with their" ordinary occupations — 
 their manner of kneeling, and the order in which they kneel ; 
 the pictures and statues of saints in the highway, in churches, 
 
252 CRITICAL. 
 
 and in streets — the tombs of the martyrs — monasteries and 
 nunneries, with all that belongs to them — the confessional — f;he 
 signing with the cross — representations of the instruments and 
 circumstances of the passion of our Lord — the alms-boxes for 
 the poor or for the support of divine worship : he ridicules them 
 all, and spits on them. Whenever he speaks of any of these 
 things, his mouth stretches from ear to ear. He finds nothing 
 to praise, nothing to say one kind word of, nothing to kindle a 
 generovis enthusiasm. There is not a single noble sentiment in 
 his book, from the first catchpenny woodcut to the last, on any 
 Catholic theme whatever ; cold, little, heartless throughout, a 
 bombastic proser or a humourless jester, he resembles nothing 
 so much as a beardless vignette of Momus carved on a block of 
 dirty ice. . ." 
 
 290 
 
 "DOMBEY AND SON." 
 
 Edinburgh : Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. October 
 24, 1846. PP.-269, 270. 
 
 291 
 " The Battle of Life." (Reviewed in conjunction 
 with Thackeray's " Mrs. Perkins's Ball.") 
 Edinburgh : Taifs Edinburgh Magazine. January^ 
 1847. pp. 55, 60. 
 
 The reviewer gives the preference to Thackeray's production,. 
 as a story for Christmas. 
 
 ". . . If Mr. Dickens really believes that a modest and discreet 
 young lady could leave" a ball-room on a winter night ; make 
 off with the greatest rake in the parish ; take refuge in the old 
 lady's, her aunt's ; remain there concealed for a number of years 
 
CRITICAL. 253 
 
 — half a dozen — leaving for a long period her nearest relatives 
 in anxiety for her fate, and her former neighbours in no doubt 
 regarding her character — from no other motive than merely to 
 give her elder sister an opportunity of marrying her lover ; and 
 if his numerous readers imagine the story within the range of 
 probabilities, or the conduct of the heroine worthy of imitation, 
 we have nothing to say between them, except that the engrav- 
 ings of the volume are well executed. . ." 
 
 292 
 
 " DOMBEY AND SON " ; " ThE BaTTLE OF LiFE," etc. 
 
 (Eeviewed in conjunction with several works by 
 various authors.) 
 
 Edinburgh : The North British Review. May, 1847. 
 pp. 110, 136. 
 
 "... Mr. Dickens seems like another Antaeus, to renew his 
 strength on touching familiar ground. Nowhere has he painted 
 with a more vivid pencil, than in drawing the picture, in the 6th 
 Number {Domhey and Son\, of poor forsaken Florence. . . This, 
 indeed, shows a master's touch, and, for the sake of this ex- 
 quisite portrait we can forgive Domhey and Son the tameness 
 of its earlier Numbers. It has revived our flagging interest in 
 the story ; and we now wait with no small anxiety to see how 
 the author will deal with this child of his fancy. . . Were the 
 picture of the bereaved girl less beautiful than it is, we should 
 pass by its defects of principle unnoticed, because unfelt. But 
 now, it is the very triumph of the artist's skill that we grieve 
 over his Florence as if we saw a real sufferer, wounded as deeply 
 as she, and yet so ignorant of the healing balm. The gloomy 
 sky that overhangs the scene is not merely the cloud of afflic- 
 tion ; it is the darkness of a miserable pantheism, wilfully shut- 
 
254 CRITICAL. 
 
 ting out the light of truth. Poor Florence ! — ' Oh, how alone T 
 praying only that * one angel might love her and remember 
 her !' What is this but a highly coloured view of heathen feel- 
 ing — of what man's griefs might hai^e been, if the Gospel had 
 not been sent into the world? This cannot be an accidental 
 omission. For the mere beauty's sake, as was well known to a 
 greater than he — Sir Walter Scott — it was well worth the 
 author's while to avail himself of the effect of a religious colour- 
 ing. Mr Dickens, we fear, is either blind even to the poetry of 
 the Gospel, or else so bitterly opposed to its scheme of doctrine 
 that he will rather injure a masterpiece than be indebted ta 
 Christianity for an embellishment. Be this as it may, the 
 public taste is equally in danger. Nor can we pass on without 
 reminding his admirers that poetry and sentiment are not re- 
 ligion, but most miserable substitutes for it. . ." 
 
 ** The Battle of Life ! It was a noble title, suggestive of high 
 thoughts. We looked for a picture of some lofty nature sorely 
 tried — placed struggling between temptation and duty, between 
 passion and principle, between the promptings of selfishness and 
 the whispers of self-sacrificing love. And we longed to see a 
 battle such as this fought out in the glowing page, as many such 
 are fought and won, unrecorded, in daily life. Instead of this, 
 what have we ? Our pen refuses the task of analysis. We have 
 first a description of a real field of battle — very prettily drawn, 
 indeed ; then enter a father and two daughters — then the affi- 
 anced lover of the younger — a parting — mysterious innuendoes — 
 at last, on the day of his return, she elopes with a stranger — 
 — misery — mystery — her betrothed marries her sister — finally 
 she re-appears, not lost or dishonoured ; and lo ! it was no elope- 
 ment at all ; but, thinking in her wisdom that her sister loved 
 him, she had vanished to break his tie to her, that that sister 
 might fill her place ! And this is The Battle of Life ! This is 
 A Love S 07^y ! Were ever noble titles worse profaned ? Did 
 ever booK issue from an eminent writer's pen more fatal to his 
 claims to the character of a master in his art ? . . ." 
 
CKITICAL. 255 
 
 293 
 Notice of the final (double) number (Parts xix-xx) of 
 
 " DOMBEY AND SON." 
 
 London : The Sun. Thursday evening, April 13, 
 1848. 
 
 This notice was written by Mr. Charles Kent. Dickens 
 was so much pleased with it that he wrote a warm letter of 
 thanks, which he desired the editor to convey to the then un- 
 known anonjmious writer. This led to a life-long friendship 
 between the novelist and his reviewer. Mr. Kent, since that 
 time, has produced several works relating to Dickens. In 1872 
 he published a work entitled Charles Dickens as a Header ; 
 in 1879, he contributed an article, " Charles Dickens as a Jour- 
 nalist " to the Journalist, a Mo7ithly Phonographic Magazine, and 
 recently, a compilation of The Humour and Pathos of Charles 
 Dickens. Mr. Kent was the recipient of one of the four letters 
 which Dickens wrote on the day of his death, 
 
 294 
 
 Humourists : Dickens and Thackeray. (Reviews 
 of " Dombey and Son " and " Vanity Fair." 
 London : The English Review. December, 1848. 
 pp. 257, 275. Reprinted in The Eclectic Magazine 
 (New York). March, 1849. .pp. 370, 379. 
 
 ". . . Let us not hesitate to avow, and at once, that there is 
 much we cannot approve of in this author's* writings. We do 
 
 * Dickens. 
 
256 CRITICAL. 
 
 not allude to the tendency to vague and pernicious sentiment- 
 alism apparent in his Battle of Life and other recent pro- 
 ductions, but rather to that absence of direct reference to the 
 highest motives, which led a critic to observe that Sunday 
 seemed to be struck out of the week in all the tales of Mr. 
 Dickens. There is an improvement, and we are happy to record 
 the fact, in this respect. . . . We have heard that Mr. Dickens 
 was not, but has now become, a member of our Church. If this 
 be so, we thank God that he has been led to such visible com- 
 munion with us, and venture to pray that he may receive a 
 more and more abundant revelation of Gospel, and therefore 
 Catholic, truth. We believe that he is a friend of order, we are 
 sure that his instincts are devotional ; why, then, should he not 
 be 'one of us,' in the terrible strife approaching betwixt un- 
 belief and lawlessness and the spirit of obedience to our 
 God? . . ." 
 
 ". . . General sympathy with his fellow-men, and more espe- 
 cially with the pure and lovely, under a homely garb, and wear- 
 ing the aspect of infantine innocence, is his predominant charac- 
 teristic. No man, probably, has ever understood and portrayed 
 children so well ; realizing and dramatically rendering their 
 sweet simplicity, their charming artlessness, and all their 
 winning ' words and ways.' No man has ever depicted child- 
 like characters, in various aspects and positions, with such 
 truthfulness and delightful geniality, with such noble and 
 genuine admiration and love. ..." 
 
 ". . . It is,* in some respects, better written, though with 
 more apparent labour, than any of the works that have gone 
 before it. Its general purpose, to teach the valuelessness, in 
 themselves, of the greatest earthly possessions, is highly to be 
 commended ; and the character of ' Mr. Dombey,' which eluci- 
 dates this moral, is drawn with a master-hand, though the 
 portraiture is exaggerated. 'Mrs. Dombey' we think over- 
 
 * Domhey and Son. 
 
CRITICAL. 257 
 
 •drawn, and her line of conduct appears to us most un- 
 natural, . . ." 
 
 ". . . Both* are honours to their age ; both are standard 
 classics of their country. Dickens, affectionate, earnest, at times 
 sublime, speaks to rich and poor, high and low ; to all, perhaps, 
 save some of the middle classes, who think him ' vulgar.' His 
 sphere of operation is almost boundless ; he may be said to write 
 for all and work for all ; and should keep before him this one 
 great truth, that he is addressing the most mighty audience that 
 ever yet listened to the voice of an uninspired mortal. Thacke- 
 ray writes, on the contrary, for the elect of mankind — for keen 
 intellects and lofty minds. He exercises the most potent in- 
 fluence over the greatest of his contemporaries, over those who 
 in their turn are like to sway the mental world. Many indeed 
 will admire, but not many will appreciate him. Dickens, then, 
 is like corn, and wine, and oil, which refresh the heart of the 
 human race ; but Thackeray is refined gold. May Heaven bless, 
 sustain, and enlighten both of them !" 
 
 295 
 Schools ; or, Teachers and Taught. 
 
 liondon : The Fcmiibj Herald. July 28, 1849. pp. 
 204, 205. 
 
 The writer rebukes Dickens for reviving, in the third 
 number of David Copperfield, "that irreverent and persecut- 
 ing spirit for the instructors of youth which formed the peculiar 
 feature of one of his earlier productions. ..." 
 
 ". . . What particular object Mr. Dickens can have in view in 
 fabricating such unfounded and apparently malignant slanders 
 against the class of teachers, it is difficult to say. Does he cal- 
 
 * Dickens and Thackeray. 
 
 17 
 
258 CRITICAL. 
 
 culate upon the utter ignorance of the rich and the educated 
 classes, who never visit a school from one year's end to another ? 
 Or does he merely study the art of stage or dramatic effect, and 
 take his ideas of nature from burlesque and farce, Buckstone 
 and Wright ? It is very dramatic, no doubt, and very amusing, 
 Ms first half at Salem House Academy, and no doubt it will be 
 represented on the boards of minor theatres ; but we appeal to 
 the common sense of our readers, and the conscience of Mr. 
 Dickens, to say whether it be possible that such a school as that 
 of Salem House, or such a teacher as Mr. Creakle, can have an 
 existence on this side of purgatory. ..." 
 
 ". . . It would be well for Charles Dickens's present usefulness 
 as a moral teacher if he were to take his sketches more frequently 
 from nature, and less frequently from the boards of the old Globe,. 
 or with an eye to the modern Adelphi Theatre. ..." 
 
 296 
 Novels and Novelists : Charles Dickens. (By 
 E. P. Whipple.) 
 Boston and New York : North American BevieuK 
 October, 1849. pp. 383, 407. Eeprinted in Litera- 
 ture and Life, a series of essays by E. P. Whipple. 
 1851. (See No. 298.) 
 
 Criticising novels and novelists generally, and Domhey and Son 
 inparticular. 
 ^ " Dickens as a novelist and prose poet is to be classed in the 
 front rank of the noble company to which he belongs. He has 
 revived the novel of genuine practical life, as it existed in the 
 works of rielding, Smollett, and Goldsmith ; but at the same 
 time has given to his materials an individual colouring and ex- 
 \ pression peculiarly his own. . , ," 
 
CKITICAL. ' 259 
 
 " It is not the least of Dickens's merits, that he excelled all his 
 conteriiporaries, not by attempting to "rival them on their own 
 selected vantage ground, but by availing himself of matter 
 which they deemed worthy only of pitying contempt. He in- 
 troduced the people of England to its aristocracy : and though 
 there were not wanting dainty and vulgar spirits to call his 
 novels " low," he soon not only gained the popular voice, but he 
 overthrew the fashionable novelists in their own circles, and his 
 Wellers and Swivellers, edging their way into boudoirs and 
 parlours, supplanted Pelhams and Cecils in the estimation of 
 countesses. In thus representing life and character, there aie 
 two characteristics of his genius which startle every reader by 
 their obviousness and power — his humour and pathos ; but, in 
 respect to the operation of these qualities in his delineations, 
 critics have sometimes objected that his humour is apt to run 
 into fantastic exaggeration, and his pathos into sentimental 
 excess. Indeed, in regard to his humorous characters, it may 
 be said that the vivid intensity with which he conceives them, 
 and the overflowing abundance of joy and merriment which 
 spring instinctively up from the very foundations of his being at 
 the slightest point of the ludicrous, sometimes lead him to 
 the very verge of caricature. He seems himself to be taken by 
 surprise as his glad and genial fancies throng into his brain, and 
 to laugh and exult with the beings he has called into existence 
 in the spirit of a man observing, not creating. Squeers and 
 Pecksniff, Sim Tappertit and Mark Tapley, Tony Weller, and 
 old Joe Willet, although painted with such distinctness that we 
 seem to see them with the bodily eye, we still feel to be some- 
 what overcharged in the description. They are caricatured 
 more in appearance than reality, and, if grotesque in form, are 
 true and natural at heart. Such caricature as this is to cha- 
 racter what epigram is to fact — a mode of conveying truth more 
 distinctly by suggestion through a brilliant exaggeration. . . ." 
 
 " It {Domhpy and Son) is a fresh creation of his unexhausted 
 mind, in which the old manner is reproduced to introduce new 
 
 17—2 
 
260 • CRITICAL. 
 
 matter. Here, as in his other novels, the characters are every- 
 thing and the story nothing ; but the characters are sufficiently 
 original, various, and numerous to compensate for far greater 
 defects of plot and design. . .. ." 
 
 "The beauty and pathos of the work cluster around Paul and 
 Florence, and in these exquisite creations Dickens has exceeded 
 the previous promise of his powers. The defects of the novel 
 are partly owing to the ingrained peculiarities of the author, 
 and partly to his mode of publication. Every part he is com- 
 pelled to make interesting and effective in itself, without due 
 regard to the general impression of the whole, and accordingly 
 he often overdoes his humorous scenes, and reduces events to 
 incidents. Some of the characters, also, refer to persons with 
 whom he has not sufficient imaginative sympathy to delineate 
 vitally. . ." 
 
 297 
 
 Notice of "Barnaby Rudge." By Edgar Allan 
 Poe. Included in The Literati^ some honest opinions 
 about autorial merits and demerits^ etc. By Edgar 
 Allan Poe. 
 
 New York : 1850. pp. 464, 482. 
 
 (In consequence of the rarity of this work, I have been unable 
 to examine a copy, and, consequently, to give the opinion of 
 Barnaby Rudge as expressed by this writer. — F. G. K.)^ 
 
 298 
 
 Novels and Novelists : Charles Dickens. A 
 Lecture by Edwin P. AVhipple. Delivered before 
 
CRITICAL. 261 
 
 the Boston Mercantile Literary Association, De- 
 cember, 1844. Introduced as the second lecture of 
 a series on Literature and Life. 
 
 London : John Chapman, 142, Strand. 1851. 
 pp. 20, 41. 
 
 Reprinted from llie North American Review (Boston and 
 New York), October, 1849. (See No. 296.) 
 
 299 
 
 David Copperfield and Pendennis. 
 
 London : The Prospective Beview. July, 1851. 
 .pp. 157, 191. 
 
 Dickens and Thackeray compared. 
 
 "... The manner in which both Thackeray and Dickens 
 people their canvas, the cloud of persons who are watching the 
 action of the story, touching it at detached points, or merely 
 subjected to the observation of the actors, and the way in which 
 that cloud resolves itself into touches, each quivering with its 
 own distinctive individual life, characterize very peculiarly the 
 genius of both authors. It is this wonderful aflluence of creative 
 power which will give them a place in the motley history of 
 modern imaginative literature above that of many producers of 
 more complete works of art. While we may well experience 
 some apprehension and regret in considering how plainly their 
 works bear the marks of an unquiet and chaotic time, they are 
 entitled to respect as representing the indigenous epic and dra- 
 matic genius of our country at the present day. . . " 
 
 *'. . . In the creation and presentment of character, Dickens 
 
262 CRITICAL. 
 
 appears to have much the wider range of conception ; Thackeray 
 to execute more naturally, simply, and perfectly that which is 
 within his more limited sphere. Dickens is perhaps too anxious 
 to invest all his characters with some particular interest, or to 
 distinguish them by some striking quality ; Thackeray is apt to 
 weary us by his profusion of common -place people. Dickens 
 marks his men and women by direct eccentricities of speech and 
 person, and too seldom gives us the quiet, easy, level flow of 
 talk and action with which a true representation of life must to 
 a great degree be filled ; Thackeray astonishes us by the manner 
 in which he contrives to give individuality to his persons with- 
 out having recourse to much variety of type. Dickens seems to 
 conceive deep and strong and original characters more easily 
 than he puts into their mouths the words which they are to 
 speak ; Thackeray never attempts a character whom he cannot 
 make to speak the language of an ordinary Londoner of some 
 kind or other. . ." 
 
 ". . . The book {David Copperjield), as everybody is aware, 
 purports to be an autobiography, and by the adoption of this 
 difficult form of writing the author has secured a unity and 
 completeness which we have never seen equalled in a serial tale. 
 It is in truth a very fine specimen of constructive skill. Com- 
 plicated as the story is, and numerous as are the characters, all 
 flows naturally from the mouth of the narrator, never leaving 
 us to wonder how he got his information, and scarcely ever 
 encumbered with devices to supply the gaps in his personal 
 knowledge. Wonderfully well has the author succeeded in 
 identifying himself with his principal personage. Every line is 
 coloured with the hues of memory, and a subdued tone of a 
 distant view is given to the whole ; while sufficient strength of 
 outline and vividness of colour are preserved to enable us to feel 
 a powerful interest in the progress of the story. . ." 
 
CRITICAL. 263 
 
 300 
 David Copperfield and Arthur Pendennis. 
 Eichmond, Va. : The Southern Literary Messenger. 
 August, 1851. pp. 499, 504. 
 
 This notice is thus prefaced : — The following parallel run be- 
 tween Dickens and Thackeray, in the works whose names form 
 the caption, we take from the London Times. It does not go 
 much below the surface, but plays very brilliantly about it, and 
 is altogether a more satisfactory though less laboured perform- 
 ance than the article which recently appeared in the Xorth 
 British Review. — [Ed. So. Lit. Mess.l 
 
 ". . . In David Copperfield there are more contrasts of character, 
 more varieties of intellect, a more diverse scenery, and more 
 picturesqueness of detail. It is the whole world rather than a 
 bit of it, which you see before you. There is first the childhood, 
 vividly painted, happy and unsuspicious, with its ideas and feel- 
 ings not at all overdone : in Pendennis, on the contrary, you 
 have rather the fact that he was once a child than childhood 
 described. There are, secondly — and it is an artifice of which 
 Mr. Dickens is somewhat too fond — some people without wit in 
 his tale. With Mr. Batley we find no fault, for he is a pendant 
 to Miss Trotwood, who could ill be spared : but Dora is an 
 infliction. . ." 
 
 •' As he goes lower in the scale of intellect and manners, so also 
 Mr. Dickens rises higher than Mr. Thackeray — his hero is 
 greater than Pendennis, and his heroine than Laura, while ' my 
 Aunt ' might alike, on the score of eccentricities and kindliness, 
 take the shine out of Lady Rockminster. . ." 
 
 "Perfect as Pendennis is in execution, we are bound, when 
 weighing it with Copperfield, to adjudge the chief merit where 
 the most universal interest is conciliated and the most exalted 
 teaching hidden beneath the tale. The epic is greater than the 
 satire." 
 
264 * CRITICAL. 
 
 301 
 »' Uncle Tom's Cabin," " Bleak House," Slavery 
 and Slave Trade. (By Lord Denman.) (Six articlea 
 reprinted from the Standard.) 
 London : Longmans. 1853. pp. 51. 
 
 Lord Denman was an enthusiastic promoter of the anti-slavery 
 movement, and thus refers to Dickens's method of dealing with 
 a similar subject in Bleah House, : — 
 
 "... His present romance, though as wonderfully rich as any 
 of his former in observations on life arid character, has some of 
 his old faults in an aggravated form, and some which have not 
 appeared before. His story is, as usual, inartificial ; his mys- 
 teries perplex much more than they interest ; his love of low life 
 seems to grow upon him. We are detained too long in filthy 
 corners, and surprised too unceremoniously at finding the 
 delicacy of virtuous sentiment in the lowest depths of human 
 degradation. . ." 
 
 *' . . . In one particular instance ... he exerts his powers to- 
 obstruct the great cause of human improvement — that cause 
 which in general he cordially advocates. He does his best to. 
 replunge the world into the most barbarous abuse that ever 
 afflicted it. We do not say that he actually defends slavery or- 
 the slave-trade ; but he takes pains to discourage, by ridicule, 
 the effort now making to put them down. We believe, indeed^ 
 that in general terms he expresses just hatred for both ; but so. 
 do all those who profit or wish to profit by them, and who, by 
 that general professing, prevent the detail of particulars too. 
 atrocious to be endured. The disgusting picture of a woman* 
 who pretends zeal for the happiness of Africa, and is constantly 
 
 * Mrs. Jellaby in Bleah House. 
 
CRITICAL. 265 
 
 employed in securing a life of misery to her own children, is a 
 laboured work of art in his present exhibition. It may possibly 
 be the daguerreotype portrait of some disagreeable and boring 
 formal Pharisee with whom Mr. Dickens may have the mis- 
 fortune to be acquainted. If a real likeness, it was hardly 
 worth the taking, certainly not worth the publishing, nor does 
 the silly exaggeration thrown into it compensate for the tire- 
 some labour of contemplating the image of so rare an original. 
 But if meant to represent a class, we believe that no representa- 
 tion was ever more false. The noble matrons of the middle - 
 class in England, whose feelings have been moved even to agony 
 by these sorrows, far from neglecting their domestic relations, 
 have always been those most exemplary in the performance of 
 them. If the object was to deter from the neglect of home 
 duties by running after chimeras, the warning is utterly thrown 
 away, because wholly uncalled-for, and merely ofifensive. Per- 
 haps it was intended to deter from the waste of benevolence 
 upon distant objects, while there are more pressing calls for it 
 always at hand. Mr. Dickens may think it more judicious to 
 bestow his charity on other objects, as guilds and industrial 
 schools ; and his opinion may be right. But he would find it 
 difficult to prove that a warm interest in the fate of Africa has 
 any tendency to prevent benevolence from flowing in the channel 
 preferred by himself. . ." 
 
 302 
 Dickens's " Bleak House." (By George Brimley.) 
 
 Jjondiors.: The S;pectator, September 24, 1853. pp. 
 
 923, 925. Eeprinted in Essays hy the late George 
 
 Brimley. 1858. (See No. 310.) 
 
 ". . . Bleak House would be a heavy book to read through at 
 once, as a properly constructed novel ought to be read. But we 
 
266 CRITICAL. 
 
 >^inust plead guilty to having found it dull and wearisome as a 
 J^ \. serial, though certainly not from its want of cleverness or point. 
 On the contrary, almost everybody in the book is excessively 
 funny that is not very wicked or very miserable. ..." 
 
 "... The love of strong effect, and the habit of seizing pecu- 
 /> liarities and presenting them instead of characters, pervade Mr. 
 
 ^^ Dickens's gravest and most amiable portraits as well as those 
 
 expressly intended to be ridiculous and grotesque. His heroine 
 in Bleak House is a model of unconscious goodness, sowing love 
 and reaping it wherever she goes, diffusing round her an atmosphere 
 of happiness and a sweet perfume of a pure and kindly nature. 
 Her unconsciousness and sweet humility of disposition are so pro- 
 found that scarc«ly a page of her autobiography is free from a 
 record of these admirable qualities. With delightful naivete 
 she writes down the praises that are showered upon her on all 
 hands ; and it is impossible to doubt the simplicity of her 
 nature, because she never omits to assert it with emphasis. This 
 is not only coarse portraiture, but utterly untrue and incon- 
 sistent. Such a girl would not write her own memoirs, and 
 certainly would not bore one with her goodness till a wicked 
 wish arises that she would either do something ' spicy,' or confine 
 herself to superintending the jam-pots at Bleak House. ..." 
 
 ". . . Mr. Tulkinghorn, the Dedlock confidential solicitor, is an 
 admirable study of mere outward characteristics of a class ; but 
 his motives and character are quite incomprehensible, and we 
 strongly suspect that Mr. Dickens had him shot out of the way 
 as the only possible method of avoiding an enigma of his own 
 setting which he could not solve. Tulkinghom's fate excites 
 precisely the same emotion as the death of a noxious brute. He 
 is a capital instance of an old trick of Mr. Dickens, by which 
 the supposed tendencies and influences of a trade or profession 
 are made incarnate in a man, and not only is 'the dyer's hand 
 subdued to that which it works in,' but the dyer is altogether 
 eliminated, and his powers of motion, his shape, speech, and 
 bodily functions, are translated into the dye-tub. ..." 
 
CRITICAL. 267 
 
 "... Poor Jo, the street-sweeping urchin, is drawn with a 
 skill that is never more effectively exercised than when the out- 
 casts of humanity are its subjects ; a skill which seems to depart 
 in proportion as the author rises in the scale of society depicted. 
 Dickens has never yet succeeded in catching a tolerable likeness 
 of man or woman whose lot is cast among the high-born and 
 wealthy. Whether it is that the lives of such present less that 
 is outwardly funny or grotesque, less that strikes the eye of a 
 man on the look-out for oddity and point, or that he knows 
 nothing of their lives, certain it is that his people of station are 
 the vilest daubs ; and Sir Leicester Dedlock, Baronet, with his 
 wife and family circle, are no exceptions. . . ." 
 
 "... Clever he undoubtedly is ; many of his portraits excite 
 pity, and suggest the existence of crying social sins ; but of 
 almost all we are obliged to say that they border on and fre- 
 quently reach caricature, of which the essence is to catch a 
 striking likeness by exclusively selecting and exaggerating 
 a peculiarity that makes the man but does not represent 
 him. . . ." 
 
 303 
 
 *' Bleak House " (A Criticism of the Cliaracters in). 
 
 New York : The United States Magazine and Demo- 
 cratic Review, September, 1853. pp. 276, 280. 
 
 *' At length our anxiety is relieved, our fearful excitement is 
 quieted ! Mr. Charles Dickens has shut up Bleak House, and 
 put the key in his pocket. 
 
 ' ' The curtain has fallen on the last and twentieth act of the 
 interesting melodrama : the novel of Bleah House is ended. 
 
 " Harper's Magazine, which, like the moon, shines by borrowed 
 (not to say stolen) lights, has lost its brightest star, and must 
 cruise in search of some new British prize wherewith to enter- 
 
268 CRITICAL. 
 
 tain us poor American savages who can't even write our own 
 magazines, if great book -publishers are to be credited. 
 
 "The final catastrophe is not so alarmingly strong as might 
 have been expected. In fact, we were rather disappointed at not 
 getting something more startling as a finale from a gentleman 
 who had 
 
 " 1. Killed Mr. Krook, by spontaneous combustion. 
 
 *' 2. Poisoned off a mysterious opium-eater and law-writer. 
 
 " 3. Sent a mad Chancery suitor beyond the troubles of this 
 world and all earthly litigation. 
 
 "4. * Moved on ' poor Jo to such an extent, that he had (as 
 the spirit-rappers say) begun to move ' in quite another sphere.' 
 
 " 5. Caused a lady of fashion to die at the door of a graveyard. 
 
 " 6, Made a French lady's-maid shoot old Mr. Tullcinghom, 
 the attorney, with an old Roman in fresco for her accomplice. 
 
 * ' Not to mention the death of a baby or two, with some less 
 important characters, and a young lady's beauty destroyed by 
 the small-pox, scarcely the least cruel feature of Mr. Dickens's 
 most murderous system of novelism ! 
 
 "Well, after all this slaughter of men, women, babies, and 
 beauty, we certainly did expect a consistent ending to so con- 
 sistent a beginning and middle. 
 
 " But Mr. Dickens laughs at consistency. 
 
 " He writes on as hard as he can, without looking behind him, 
 till he finds that he has full a couple of sheets to wind up in. 
 Now, in the space of two sheets, a dexterous author might surely 
 kill off the balance of his personages, leaving of course, one alive 
 to tell the fatal story. Eugene Sue would have done it in a 
 page if necessary. We could have done it ourselves in a sheet, 
 even though we had resorted to the boldest devices ; such, for 
 example, as an earthquake, a plague, a famine, or any other 
 form of battle, murder, and sudden death. But Dickens fails 
 ingloriously at the conclusion of his campaign. ' He caves in, * 
 if we may use the expression in a solemn critical article, and 
 not only leaves the young lady, whose autobiography he writes^ 
 
•CRITICAL. ■ 260 
 
 alive (though marked with small-pox), but actually married and 
 happy. It is true, that since Moses authors have not been in 
 the habit of describing their own deaths. But why spare old 
 Jarndyce ? As for Ada, she is, of course, left alive. And why 
 of course ? Because the death, at the close, of her adored hus- 
 band, the unfortunate young Rick, victim of Vholes and Chan- 
 cery, renders her life not worth taking, so dreary and sad is its 
 future to contemplate. . ." 
 
 *' When Leigh Hunt slandered his deceased friend and bene- 
 factor, Bja'on, one might have imagined that the contempt of all 
 noble and good men was in itself sufficient punishment. But, 
 behold ! the great painter of men and manners of the age comes, 
 with a whip of scorpions, to lash once more the poor disreputable 
 old libeller, ere his departure to that mysterious world of which 
 so much has been said and written, whilst so little is actually 
 known — so little that, in fact, we need not attempt to describe 
 it. . ." 
 
 1' Dickens is — to use a German formula — a terrible objective 
 writer. He describes the external, aa an indication of the 
 ternal : but profound analysis of thought or feeling is strange to 
 him. He hardly draws his characters from a just point of view. '^ 
 He takes them as they may be, or appear to be, and gives as it 
 were a hasty impression. . ." 
 
 " Homer and Shakespeare will be always read, because valour 
 and heroism and grand storms of passion will always necessarily 
 interest human nature. But Bulwer and Dickens will pass 
 away with the manners they describe. They are no poets, not 
 because they do not write verse (which, 'perlia'ps, is merely an 
 imperfect sort of prose after all), but because they do not lorite 
 tvell, because they spin out their works for money, because their 
 standard of excellence is low — their styles diffuse, vulgar, and 
 cockney fied. There is an open field for genius. 
 
 ' * Get up, some one, and write a match against Bulwer and 
 Dickens ! In sober earnest, it is not half so difficult as it 
 looks. . . ." 
 
 tive I 
 in- \ 
 
270 CRITICAL. 
 
 304 
 
 "Bleak House." (By W. Sargent.) 
 
 Boston : The North American Review. October, 
 1853. pp. 409, 439. 
 
 *'. . . There is no great writer living who aifords a stronger 
 proof of the danger of disregarding the Horatian maxim — 
 nocturna versate manu, versate diurna — than Mr, Dickens. 
 His books bear upon their face abundant evidence of the manner 
 of their composition ; all are plainly written currente calamo. 
 In any author, we believe this to be an ill-considered habit, but 
 in one of his peculiar mind it becomes doubly amenable to just 
 criticism. For, to us, it seems that his genius is marked by 
 characteristics so entirely its own, so unlike anything that we 
 have ever met with in any other, that, considering their effects, 
 we are almost free to consider them in any other regard than as 
 desirable attributes. His mind, we conceive, is essentially de- 
 ficient in the capacity of taking that broad, philosophical view 
 of his subject which so eminently distinguishes his great rival 
 and admirer, the author of Vanity Fair. Each has made human 
 folly and weakness the object of his study ; each is keen in un- 
 folding to the world the intricacies of the mingled warp and 
 woof of the soul, in pointing out the stains which disfigure the 
 texture, in ridiculing the burlesque or enormous proportions of 
 the pattern, or thrusting a finger — monstrare digito — through 
 the holes or rotten places in the fabric. But the one holds the 
 pencil of a Hogarth or a Watteau ; the other but wields the 
 graver of Gilray or H. B. Mr. Dickens is, so io spea-k, only a 
 caricaturist ; Mr. Thackeray is a'gfand social satirist. . ." 
 
 ". . . Who ever knew a Little Nell, or a Dick Swiveller, or a 
 Marchioness ? Who can say he believes Sam Weller to be 
 drawn from the life ; or Kate Nickleby, or Smike, or Madeline 
 Bray ? It is true, they live and move upon the stage as human 
 
CRITICAL. 271 
 
 beings ; else they would be but the marionettes of a puppet- 
 show, pulled with wires — lay figures, that would be hooted from 
 the view. . ." 
 
 ". . . If the author writes in the spirit which he ought to 
 write in, if he seeks for the approbation of posterity as well as 
 the applause of to-day, he is pursuing a wrong course. There 
 can be but one result to it ; nothing, bearing such constant and 
 glaring marks of haste and inelegancy, can possibly win, or 
 merit to win, aught but the ill-judging, and often merely tacit, 
 approbation which it receives from the crowd, to whose present 
 and immediate appetite it panders. A book may thus please 
 for a day ; but the desire will cease to operate, and, with it, the 
 unhealthy, meretricious pabulum that served to gratify but a 
 momentary Itist must cease to please, pass away, and be for- 
 gotten. . ." 
 
 **. . . In point of literary mgri t we th i nk Bl eak House is aN 
 falling off from its predecessors. In fact, ever since Nicholas 
 NicMeby and the OlcT Curiosity Shop, we are of opinion that 
 Mr. Dickens's works have declined in interest. That they are 
 all clever is not to be denied : people would not endure the 
 continual jargon in which the tale is told, were it not that the 
 mass is leavened by constant sprightliness of thought, and not 
 unfrequently by exhibitions of positive genius. . ." 
 
 ". . . There is one feature in Mr. Dickens's novels that, we 
 think, must have struck every reader. It is the ready way in 
 which a refractory character is disposed of, the moment he be- 
 comes troublesome. There is no need of resorting to any of 
 those agreeable, but slightly improbable, expedients described in 
 the tales of our childhood, where, by merely clapping one's hands 
 thrice, a genius, or a griffin, or a hundred black slaves clothed in 
 white, bearing jars of jewels on their heads, enter, prepared to 
 fulfil the most preposterous behest. No ; the days of Prince 
 Camaralzaman and the Princess of China are gone by for ever ; 
 our author simply calls in the aid of some of Death's am- 
 
272 CRITICAL. 
 
 bassadors extraordinary or ministers plenipotentiary, and, presto ! 
 the deed is done. . ."" 
 
 In the concluding portion of this notice, the writer expresses 
 his views regarding •' spontaneous combustion " and the causes 
 thereof, and gives the opinion of various authorities on the sub- 
 ject, and some notable instances of death thus effected. 
 
 305 
 Characters in " Bleak House." (By C. F. Riggs.) 
 New York : Putnam's Monthly Magazine. Novem- 
 ber, 1853. pp. 558, 562. 
 
 ". . . As a delineator of persons, and the creator of distinct 
 types of humanity, he (Dickens) stands second only to Shake- 
 speare ; while in fertility of invention he is fully the equal of 
 the great poet of humanity. . ." 
 
 " Such are the attractive and winning graces of his style, that 
 he can, when character and incident fail him, always secure the 
 reader's attention by mere profuseness of riotous rhetoric, which 
 has no other use than that of diverting his reader. There are 
 pages and pages of such writing in Bleak liotise, as there are 
 in many of his other marvellous productions. Marvellous they 
 are, beyond dispute, for it is a wonderful power that enables a 
 writer, who has nothing new to tell the world, whose style has 
 lost its novelty, if not its charm, to keep possession of the at- 
 tention of the reading world through twenty months, while he 
 is doling out to them, every thirty days, bits of a story which 
 in itself has hardly any intrinsic interest. . ." 
 
 " In Bleak House, Dickens exhibits his greatest defects, and 
 his greatest excellencies, as a novelist ; in none of his works are 
 the characters more strongly marked, or the plot more loosely 
 and inartistically constructed. One-half of the personages might 
 be ruled out without their loi^s being perceived, for, although 
 
CRITICAL. 273 
 
 they are all introduced with a flourish, as though they had an 
 important part to perform, yet there would be no halt in the 
 story if they were dropped by the way, as some of them 
 are. . ." 
 
 "Poor Jo, down in Tom-all-alone's, has already become a 
 pt-overb. We read the death of a good many eminent men 
 without an emotion — the newspapers accustom us to such events — 
 but we cannot withhold a tear when we read the death of poor 
 Jo, and when he is ' moved on ' for the last time we too are 
 moved. Yet we know all the time that poor Jo is an unreal 
 phantom-^Bfcere shadowy outline, raised by a few strokes of a 
 steel pen ^^Fwe weep over him and give him the sympathies 
 which we withhold from the real Jo's we encounter in our daily 
 walks. 
 
 " The chief personage of Bleak House is Esther Summerson, a 
 gentle, loving, true-hearted, and womanly creation ; she possesses 
 all the good points of the feminine character ; and it was no 
 wonder that Mr. Guppy should, at last, entertain so strong an 
 affection for her. It was a redeeming trait in that gentleman's 
 character, and we like him for it. But nothing can be more 
 palpable than the strange contrast between the character of this 
 estimable lady, and the manner in which she narrates it herself, 
 confessing that she never was good for anything, that she is 
 awkward and so on, and then going deliberately to work to draw 
 her own portrait in the most flattering manner, all the time per- 
 fectly conscious, too, that she was doing it. Esther is a perfect 
 character, and naturally developed, with the sole exception that 
 her picture of herself is an unnatural contrivance. ..." 
 
 " They are not mere names, nor lay figures, but distinct and 
 striking individuals, who are remembered and alluded to as real 
 personages who have impressed themselves upon us by their 
 characteristics of mind and manner. . ." 
 
 18 
 
274 CRITICAL. 
 
 306 
 
 " Bleak House." 
 
 London : The Eclectic Review. December, 1853. 
 pp. 665, 679. 
 
 " It is doubtful whether, in any circumstances, he (Dickens) 
 could work out a good plot. He is not very capable, we should 
 think, of looking right through his story, and marshalling his 
 characters and incidents in their proper order. He sees so much 
 of every part, and takes such delight in dwelling on it, that he 
 is apt to forget the relation it bears to others. . ." 
 
 " Yet, in this, he has admirably succeeded. The work is 
 Dickens throughout ; but in parts it is the Dickens whose 
 portrait we have seen ; while, in others, it is Dickens disguised 
 in the dress of a sisterly form — the light of the quiet drawing- 
 room moving about in household preparations, or silently going 
 on errands of love and mercy. And not only is it her attire 
 that is thrown around him, but a stream of womanly thought 
 and feeling seems to have passed into his very heart. We know 
 of none but himself who could have eXxJbited, in this respect, 
 such a delicate conception of the female mind. . ." 
 
 " The gem of Bleak House is ' poor Jo,' the crossing-sweeper, 
 hapless representative of a class whose very existence from gene- 
 ration to generation cries shame on the land in which they 
 dwell. . ." 
 
 * ' We should not do justice to our own feelings, nor to the book 
 under notice, if we did not indicate our opinion that as an artist 
 Mr. Dickens is not perfect ; while as a teacher his lessons are 
 not always to be relied on. One of the faults with which he may 
 be charged is that of exaggeration. ..." 
 
 "Mr. Dickens has found it convenient before to introduce' the 
 ministers of Bethels, Zions, and Ebenezers to his readers ; and 
 we regret that he has not been charitable enough to give a fairer 
 
CRITICAL. 275 
 
 example of them than is to be found in Mr. Chadband, a man 
 whose principal characteristics are, speaking abominable English, 
 stuffing himself with hot muffins, drinking we know not how 
 many cups of tea, and rejoicing when he can get a stiff portion 
 of a stronger beverage. The pages of Bleak House will be read 
 by many whose knowledge of the clergy is derived from inter- 
 course with nothing lower than the dignified gentlemanly rector 
 or vicar ; and we are afraid that the writer may wish to sug- 
 gest to them that the personage he has described is a sample of 
 a class which numbers thousands in this land. If so, we can 
 only say that it is an insinuation which there are hundreds of 
 thousands qualified and prepared to deny. We suppose Mr. 
 Dickens has not had opportunities for judging fairly of the men 
 whom he caricatures. We advise him to leave them alone, and 
 to eschew allusions to matters which are beyond his reach. We 
 understand what he means ; and we can tell him that the viola-, 
 tion of good taste, by what better informed people know to be 
 scandalously false and mischievous insinuations, reflects no credit 
 on his intelligence, and can gratify none but the ignorant and 
 irreligious vulgar in any rank of life. . ." 
 
 307 
 " Hard Times." 
 London: The JFestminster Review. October, 1854. 
 pp. 604, 608. 
 
 Keviewed in conjunction with works by other writers. 
 
 " At the very commencement of Hard Times, we find ourselves 
 introduced to a set of hard uncouth personages, of whose exist- 
 ence as a class no one is aware, who are engaged in cutting and 
 paring young souls after their own ugly pattern, and refusing 
 them all other nourishment but facts and figures. The unplea- 
 sant impression caused by being thus suddenly introduced into 
 
 18—2 
 
276 CRITICAL. 
 
 this cold and uncongenial atmosphere is never effaced by the 
 subsequent charm of narrative and well-painted characters of 
 the tale. . . ." 
 
 " The most successful characters in Hard Times, as is usual 
 with Mr. Dickens, are those which are the simplest and least cul- 
 tivated. ..." 
 
 " His characters, even when they are only of the bourgeois class 
 are nearly always furnished with some peculiarity, which, like 
 the weight of a Dutch clock, is their ever-gravitating principle 
 of action. The consequence is, they have, most of them, the 
 appearance of puppets which Mr. Dickens has constructed ex- 
 pressly for his present purpose. Mr. Bounderby, for example, 
 is a most outrageous character : who can believe in the pos- 
 sibility of such a man? . . ." 
 
 308 
 The License of Modern Novelists. 
 Edinburgh : The Edinhurgh Revieiv. July, 1857. 
 pp. 124, 156. 
 
 A review of Little Dorrlt, in conjunction with Charles 
 Reade's It is Never too Late to Mend and Mrs. Gaskell's Life 
 of Charlotte Bronte. The writer prefaces his criticism by con- 
 demning the influence which certain novels exercise over the 
 moral and political opinions of the young, the ignorant, and the 
 inexperienced. He instances the two first named as cases in 
 point, and his opinion is that they tend to beget hasty general- 
 izations and false conclusions. Then, referring more imme- 
 diately to Dickens, he says : — " In every new novel he selects 
 one or two of the popular cries of the day, to serve as seasoning 
 to the dish which he sets before his readers. ... If there was 
 a popular cry against the management of a hospital, he would 
 
CRITICAL. 277 
 
 no doubt M^rite a novel, on a month's warning, about the ignor- 
 ance and temerity with which surgical operations are performed ; 
 and if his lot had been cast in the days when it was fashionable 
 to call the English law the perfection of reason, he would pro- 
 bably have published monthly denunciations of Lord Mansfield's 
 judgment in Perrin v. Blake, in blue covers adorned with 
 curious hieroglyphics, intended to represent springing uses, ex- 
 ecutory devices, and contingent remainders. We recommend 
 him to draw the materials of his next work from Dr. Hassall on 
 the Adulteration of Food, or the Report on Scotch Lunatics^ 
 Even the catastrophe in Little Dorrit is evidently borrowed 
 from the recent fall of houses in Tottenham Court Road, which 
 happens to have appeared in the newspapers at a convenient 
 moment. . . ." 
 
 The principal feature of this criticism of Little Dorrit is, 
 however, the writer's denunciation of Dickens's "imputations 
 against the Government, the judges, and private individuals, so 
 grave, so unjust, so cruel, that we think it is the duty of criticism 
 to expose them ;" and he does so by ridiculing the happy phrase 
 of " the Circumlocution Office " which Dickens had *' stumbled 
 on " as an impersonation of the Government, how he " strikes 
 out the brilliant thought, repeated just ten times in twenty- 
 three lines, that whereas ordinary people want to know how to 
 do their business, the whole art of Government lies in discover- 
 ing * how not to do it ;' and with these somewhat unnecessary 
 phrases he proceeds to describe, in a light and playful tone, the 
 Government of his country. . . . The Circumlocution Office 
 forms one of the standing decorations of the work in which it is 
 depicted. The cover of the book is adorned by a picture, repre- 
 senting, among other things, Britannia iji a bath chair, drawn 
 by a set of effete idiots, an old woman, a worn-out cripple in a 
 military uniform, and a supercilious young dandy, who buries 
 the head of his cane in his moustaches. The chair is pushed on 
 behind by six men in fools' -caps, who are followed by a crowd of 
 all ages and both sexes, intended, we presume, to represent that 
 
278 CRITICAL. 
 
 universal system of jobbing and favouritism which was intro- 
 duced into the public service by Sir Charles Trevelyan and Sir 
 Stafford Northcote, shortly before the time when Mr. Dickens 
 began his novel. The spirit of the whole book is the same. 
 The Circumlocution Office is constantly introduced as a splen- 
 did example of all that is base and stupid. ..." 
 
 As an instance of the ease with which any great system or 
 organization could be denounced as utterly corrupt and effete, 
 the writer gives the following : — "Imagine Mr. Dickens ideal- 
 izing Redpaths, and filling in the intervals of his story with racy 
 descriptions of the opposition between the North-Western, the 
 Great Northern, and the Great "Western ; sketches of trucks 
 laid across the line for engines to run into ; speculations as to 
 the reasons which induce directors always to send in a coal train 
 ten minutes before they despatch an express ; tyrannical inva- 
 sions of private property, and authentic comparisons of the sums 
 spent in law expenses, with the returns from the branches for 
 which those expenses obtained Acts of Parliament ! Let the 
 background of the picture be filled in with broken-hearted lovers 
 mourning over a fall in the price of shares, by which their union 
 is prevented for ever, and angelic widows reading with agonized 
 hearts accounts of the ' smash ' which had deprived them for 
 ever of the society of that virtuous bagman, whose faithful purity 
 and earnestness had for hundreds of pages moved our contempt 
 for the heartless aristocrats with whom he was contrasted. 
 Such a description of English railways would be, neither in 
 kind nor in degree, one whit more unjust, and would not be 
 in its results one-hundredth part as injurious, as the descrip- 
 tion given in Little Dorr it of the Executive Government of 
 this country. ..." 
 
 The writer then cites the case of Mr. Rowland Hill, and asks, 
 " Did the Circumlocution Office neglect him, traduce him, 
 break his heart, and ruin his fortune ? They adopted his 
 scheme, and gave him the leading share in carrying it out, 
 
CRITICAL. 279 
 
 and yet this is the Government which Mr. Dickens declares 
 to be a sworn foe to talent, and a systematic enemy to in- 
 genuity." 
 
 This severe criticism and rebuke extorted a reply from 
 Dickens. In an article entitled " Curious misprint in the 
 Edinburgh Review," which the novelist printed in Household 
 ifords, August 1, 1857, he succeeded in refuting these state- 
 ments, and pointed out that, so far as the fall of houses in 
 Tottenham Court Road was concerned, on a critical examina- 
 tion of the pages of Little Dorrit, it will be seen that the 
 catastrophe there referred to was " carefully prepared for from 
 the very first presentation of the old house in the story, , . . 
 that the catastrophe was written, was engraven on steel, was 
 printed, had passed through the hands of compositors, readers 
 for the press, and pressmen, and was in type and in proof in 
 the printing house of Messrs. Bradbury and Evans, before 
 the accident in Tottenham Court Road occurred." The refer- 
 ence to Mr. Rowland Hill by the reviewer gave Dickens a 
 splendid opportunity of presenting a further illustration, if one 
 were required, of those very characteristics of the Govera- 
 ment (or " Circumlocution Office ") which he had endeavoured 
 to pourtray, and which pourtrayal the reviewer had so severely 
 censured. He said, " The curious misprint here, is the name 
 of Mr. Rowland Hill," and proves that the Government had 
 treated him in the manner of the " Circumlocution Office," and 
 if he had not been "in toughness a man of a hundred thou- 
 sand . . . the Circumlocution Office would have made a dead 
 man of him long and long ago," and, after it had adopted 
 his penny-postage scheme, " it summarily dismissed Mr. Row- 
 land Hill altogether !" Dickens concludes this trenchant 
 defence with a hint that the Edinburgh Review should correct 
 this curious misprint and substitute the right name, and, 
 moreover, should also "take its next opportunity of manfully 
 expressing its regret that in too distempered a zeal for the 
 
280 CRITICAL. 
 
 Circumlocution Office, it has been betrayed, as to that Tottenham 
 Court Road assertion, into a hasty substitution of untruth for 
 truth. ..." 
 
 In the succeeding number of the Eevieiv, this advice was 
 followed, so far as the " Tottenham Court Road disaster " is 
 concerned, but the writer was silent concerning Mr. Rowland 
 Hill. (See No. 309.) 
 
 309 
 
 Note on His Answer. 
 
 Edinburgh: The Edinlurgh Review. October, 1857. 
 p. 594. 
 
 "In answer to some of the remarks contained in our review of 
 Little Dorrit, Mr. Dickens states, in the Household Words of 
 the 1st of August, that the catastrophe of that tale formed part 
 &f his original plan, and was not suggested by a contemporary 
 occurrence. The coincidence we pointed out was therefore 
 accidental." (See No. 308.) 
 
 310 
 Dickens's "Bleak House." Essays by the Late 
 George Brimley. (Librarian of Trinity College. 
 Cambridge.) Edited by W. G. Clarke. Reprinted 
 from the Spectator^ September 24, 1853. (See No. 
 302.) 
 
 Cambridge: Macmillan & Co. 1858. pp. 289, 
 301. 
 
CRITICAL. 281 
 
 311 
 
 "A Tale of Two Cities." 
 
 London : The Saturday Review. December 17, 
 
 1859. pp. 741, 743. Eeprinted in LittelVs Living 
 
 Age (Boston). February 11, 1860. pp. 366, 369. 
 
 "In the Tale of Two Cities Mr. Dickens has reached the 
 Castle Dangerous stage without Sir Walter Scott's excuse ; and 
 instead of wholesome food ill dressed, he has put before his 
 readers dishes of which the quality is not disguised by the cook- 
 ing. About a year ago, he thought proper to break up an old 
 and to establish a new periodical, upon grounds which, if the 
 statement — and, as far as we are aware, the uncontradicted 
 statement — of Messrs. Bradbury and Evans is true, were most 
 discreditable to his character for good feeling, and we might 
 almost say for common decency, and in order to extend the 
 circulation of the new periodical he published in it the story 
 which now lies before us. It has the merit of being much 
 shorter than its predecessors, and the consequence is, that the 
 satisfaction which both the author and his readers must feel at 
 its conclusion was deferred for a considerably less period than 
 usual. It is a most curious production, whether it is considered 
 in a literary, in a moral, or in an historical point of view. If it 
 had not borne Mr. Dickens's name, it would in all probability 
 have hardly met with a single reader ; and if it has any popu- 
 larity at all, it must derive it from the circumstance that it 
 stands in the same relation to his other books as salad dressing 
 stands in towards a complete salad. It is a bottle of the sauce • 
 in which Pickwick and Nicholas Nickleby were dressed, and to 
 which they owed much of their popularity ; and though it has 
 stood open on the sideboard for a very long time, and has lost a 
 good deal of its original favour, the philosophic inquirer who is 
 
282 CRITICAL. 
 
 willing to go through the penance of tasting it will be, to a 
 certain extent, repaid. He will have an opportunity of study- 
 ing in its elements a system of cookery which procured for its 
 ingenious inventor unparalleled popularity, and enabled him to 
 infect the literature of his country with a disease which mani- 
 fests itself in such repulsive symptoms that it has gone far to 
 invert the familiar doctrines of the Latin Grammar about in- 
 genuous arts, and to siibstitute for them the conviction that the 
 principal results of a persistent devotion to literature are an 
 incurable vulgarity of mind and of taste, and intolerable arrogance 
 of temper. . ." 
 
 *'. . . It would perhaps be hard to imagine a clumsier or more 
 disjointed framework for the display of the tawdry wares which 
 form Mr. Dickens's stock-in-trade. The broken-backed way in 
 which the story maunders along from 1775 to 1792, and back 
 again to 1760 or thereabouts, is an excellent instance of the 
 complete disregard of the rules of literary composition which 
 have marked the whole of Mr, Dickens's career as an author. 
 No portion of his popularity is due to intellectual excellence. 
 The higher pleasures which novels are capable of giving are 
 those which are derived from the development of a skilfully 
 constructed plot, or the careful and moderate delineation of 
 character ; and neither of these is to be found in Mr, Dickens'^s 
 works, nor has his influence over his contemporaries had the 
 slightest tendency to promote the cultivation by others of the 
 qualities which produce them. The two main sources of his 
 popularity are his power of working upon the feelings by the 
 coarsest stimulants, and his power of setting common occur- 
 rences in a grotesque and unexpected light. In his earlier 
 works, the skill and vigour with which these operations were 
 performed were so remarkable as to make it difficult to analyse 
 the precise means by which the effect was produced on the mind 
 of the reader. Now that familiarity has deprived his books of 
 the gloss and freshness which they formerly possessed, the 
 mechanism is laid bare ; and the fact that the means by which 
 
CRITICAL. Z«d 
 
 the effect is produced are really mechanical has become pain- 
 fully apparent. It would not, indeed, be matter of much diffi- 
 culty to frame from such a book as the Tale of Two Cities 
 regular recipes for grotesque and pathetic writing, by which any 
 required quantity of the article might be produced with in- 
 fallible certainty. The production of pathos is the simpler 
 operation of the two. With a little practice and a good deal 
 of determination, it would really be as easy to harrow up 
 people's feelings as to poke the fire. The whole art is to take 
 a melancholy subject, and rub the reader's nose in it, and this 
 does not require any particular amount of skill or know- 
 ledge. . ." 
 
 ". . . To be grotesque is a rather more difficult trick than to 
 be pathetic ; but it is just as much a trick, capable of being 
 learned and performed almost mechanically. One principal 
 element of grotesqueness is unexpected incongruity ; and inas- 
 much as most things are different from most other things, there 
 is in nature a supply of this element of grotesqueness which is 
 absolutely inexhaustible. Whenever Mr. Dickens writes a novel, 
 he makes two or three comic characters just as he might cut a pig 
 out of a piece of orange-peel. In the present story there are two 
 comic characters, one of whom is amusing by reason of the facts 
 that his name is Jerry Cruncher, that his hair sticks out like 
 iron spikes, and that, having reproached his wife for 'flopping 
 down on her knees ' to pray, he goes on for seventeen years 
 speaking of prajdng as ' flopping. ' If, instead of saying that 
 his hair was like iron spikes, Mr. Dickens had said that his ears 
 were like mutton-chops, or his nose like a Bologna sausage, the 
 effect would have been much the same. ' One of his former 
 characters was identified by a habit of staring at things and 
 people with his teeth, and another by a propensity to draw his 
 moustache up under his nose, and his nose down over his mous- 
 tache. As there are many members in one body, Mr. Dickens 
 may possibly live long enough to have a character for each of 
 them, so that he may have one character identified by his eye- 
 
284 CRITICAL. 
 
 brows, another by his nostrils, and another by his toe-nails. 
 No popularity can disguise the fact that this is the very lowest 
 of low styles of art. It is a step below Cato's full wig and 
 lacquered chair, which shook the pit and made the gallery stare, 
 and in point of artistic merit stands on precisely the same level 
 with the deformities which inspire the pencils of the prolific 
 artists who supply valentines to the million at a penny a 
 piece. . ." 
 
 ". . . England as well as France comes in for Mr. Dickens's 
 favours. He takes a sort of pleasure, which appears to us in- 
 solent and unbecoming in the extreme, in drawing the attention 
 of his readers exclusively to the bad and weak points in the 
 history and character of their immediate ancestors. The grand- 
 fathers of the present generation were, according to him, a sort 
 of savages, or very little better. They were cruel, bigoted, un- 
 just, ill-governed, oppressed, and neglected in every possible 
 way. The childish delight with which Mr. Dickens acts Jack 
 Horner, and says, 'What a good boy am I,' in comparison with 
 my benighted ancestors, is thoroughly contemptible. . ." 
 
 The writer of this scathing notice also utterly condemns the 
 illustrations by "Phiz." 
 
 312 
 "Martin Chuzzlewit." 
 London: The National Review. July, 1861. pp. 
 134, 150. 
 
 '* We venture to think this is the most brilliant and entertain- 
 ing of all the works of Mr. Dickens, and his most characteristic 
 work. ..." 
 
 " Mr. Dickens is, however, principally known to the public as 
 a comic writer : and, like inferior comic writers, he sometimes 
 
CRITICAL. 285 
 
 carries comic writing to an unpleasant length. There is a 
 peculiar style which he has introduced into English composition, 
 and which consists in giving what is conventionally accepted as 
 a funny turn to language, without there being any fun whatever 
 in the thought. ..." 
 
 "The contest between the matter and the style is painfully 
 marked, and the opening chapter of Martin Chuzzlewit is one of 
 the very worst things Mr. Dickens has written. The reason is be- 
 cause it is entirely away from the story, and is all about nothing. 
 The fun is entirely in the language, and the funny language is as 
 flat as funny language about nothing is apt to be. ..." 
 
 " In order to mark off his less prominent characters, he is apt 
 to select one salient external feature in their appearance, to 
 which he makes constant reference, or he introduces them as 
 perpetually making use of some phrase by which they are to be 
 recognised. ..." 
 
 "Mrs. Gamp is among the very best creations of Mr. Dickens. 
 We should venture to pronounce it the best of all, only that 
 these decrees of the critic are not generally very valuable or 
 acceptable to other people. ..." 
 
 313 
 Charles Dickens's " Great Expectations." 
 London : Tlie Eclectic Review. October, 1861. pp. 
 458, 477. 
 
 "... A furious assault was made upon him (Dickens) some 
 two years since by the Saturday Review (See No. 311), and 
 it may be in the memory of readers that a report for some 
 time obtained, that after reading that review Mr. Dickens re- 
 tired to bed and remained for months in a state of hopeless 
 lethargy, that it needed the constant application of warm 
 flannels and bathings of mustard and turpentine, and the united 
 
286 CRITICAL. 
 
 influence of at least a dozen physicians, to restore him to con- 
 sciousness. We are glad, however, to find that he has survived 
 the attack, and comes before the world with a work equalling, 
 perhaps, in every way, any of the cheerful creations of his observ- 
 ant mind and graphic pen. ..." 
 
 ". . . We firmly believe Mr. Dickens knows as much of the 
 ways and manners of religious people as a Hottentot (a gentle 
 critic reminded us, when we said so, that * we love him so much 
 we wish he knew more ') ; and when he paints religious people, 
 or attempts to do so, he draws entirely upon the stores of his 
 infinite fancy. ..." 
 
 ". . . iLisjiot too nauch^to-SiayJie i.§4he_epic _poet of cit y^life. 
 He loves to haunt the pave ment, t o watch the varying lights 
 and shades of human countenans^. ..." ^ 
 
 ". . . To paint, in rapid succession, so many figures is not 
 perhaps so extraordinary ; but to preserve their identity — to 
 shoot a separate soul into every one, tJds is extraordinary — nay, 
 it is what not only, only Dickens could do, but he only in a great 
 city. How amazing is this variety of nature ! . . . " 
 
 ". . . Eccentricity is only another word for the Over Soul ; 
 and our writer realizes this. He pours forth an infinite tide of 
 surplus energy. He delights in giving shape and body to his 
 volitions and his fancies. He delights to create a body, in order 
 that the ideas within may become organic. ..." 
 
 ". . . No reader of Dickens has to be told to notice how he 
 piles absurdities in rapid succession upon each other, like the 
 very bricks of his humorous building. He sees in the most 
 out-of-the-way objects j^rotesqu e^ an d queer, and comical ana- 
 logies ; he sets but light store by them, for they roll and tumble 
 about like waves over and through all his works. Indeed, 
 many will be inclined to regard them as one of his chief excel- 
 lences ; on the contrary, they are the vice of his writings. His 
 profusion of absurdity, his perception of the ludicrous analogies 
 of things, is not short of amazing. . . ." 
 
CRITICAL. " 287 
 
 314 
 Mr. Dickens's Last Novel. {''Great Expec- 
 tations.") 
 Dublin : The DuUin University Magazine. December, 
 1861. pp. 685, 693. 
 
 ". . . On the whole to us, not expecting very great things, this 
 novel has proved an agreeable surprise. More compact than 
 usual in its structure, it contains a good many striking passages, 
 a few racy and one or two masterly portraits, a story for the 
 most part cleverly sustained and wrought out to no lame or dis- 
 jointed issues. In his characters, Mr. Dickens repeats himself 
 least of all living novelists — a virtue which time has not yet im- 
 paired, and on which too great a stress can hardly be laid. 
 Those in his present work are for the most part not more dis- 
 tinct from each other than from any to be found in former works. 
 His plot, like his characters, however improbable, has a kind of 
 artistic unity and clear purpose, enhanced in this case by the 
 absence of much fine-drawn sentiment and the scarcity of sur- 
 plus details. If the author must keep on writing novels to the 
 last, we shall be quite content to gauge the worth of his future 
 essays by the standard furnished to us in Great Expecta- 
 tions. ..." 
 
 " After a careful reading of Gr^'at Expectations, we must own 
 to having found the book in most ways better than our very 
 small expectations could have foreboded. But, in saying this 
 much, we are very far from endorsing the notion that it comes 
 in any way near those earlier works which made, and which 
 alone are likely hereafter to keep alive, their author's fame." 
 
288 * CRITICAL. 
 
 315 
 
 Mr. Dickens's Romance of a Dust-Hear. (" Our 
 
 Mutual Friend.") 
 
 London : The Eclectic Review. November, 1865. 
 pp. 455, 476. 
 
 "Mr. Dickens has now, to our knowledge, for sixteen years 
 been haunted by a great dust-heap. In the Household Words 
 for 1850 first appeared the account of that amazing mound. All 
 his li^'e long, at any rate in all that portion of it with which the 
 public 'is acquainted, our writer has been industriously engaged 
 in attempting to ferret out the bright things in dirty places ; he 
 has been like a very Parisian chiffbnnier, industriously search- 
 ing, with intense eye, among the sweepings, the odds and ends 
 and puddles of society, if haply some overlooked and undis- 
 covered loveliness might not be found there. ..." 
 
 " In the sixteenth number of the Household Words for 1850, 
 he surprised many of his readers by a description of some of 
 those huge suburban heaps and mounds, more common and 
 conspicuous, we fancy, then than now. We should think that 
 our readers have not forgotten the paper. A dust-heap, he 
 told his readers, was very frequently worth thousands of 
 pounds. ..." 
 
 *' Perhaps, as a story, it is quite equal to any Mr. Dickens 
 has told: it is sustained throughout ; there is nothing in the plot 
 too strained or unnatural. ..." 
 
 "There are many things in the writings of Mr. Dickens, perhaps 
 in these volumes, which we regret, and from which we are free 
 to dissent ; but, true in these, his last essays, to the spirit of his 
 earliest works, the poor — the poor, lowly, unknown outcasts 
 and offcasts — seem to be the objects of intensest interest to 
 him. ..." 
 
 " Our admiration of him is not unconsciousness of other qualities 
 
CRITICAL. 289 
 
 possessed by other writers, and which he does not possess 5 but' 
 in the feeling of the infinite ease with which he manipulates his 
 own material — the rapid spring and dart of his social sympathies, 
 and of that overflowing kindness of heart which his wide know- 
 ledge of man in all his relations, that shrewd glance into social 
 foibles and appalling sins, are unable to impair or prevent. . ." 
 *'We close the volumes, and put them by with gratitude for 
 much pleasure, and more especially with thankfulness that Mr. 
 Dickens, being where he is, and what he is, is able so courage- 
 ously to speak, and preach to, and reprove some of our great 
 social sins ; and with thankfulness too, for the hope that he 
 may yet be spared for many years to do the work of a max. tond 
 a brother, in the work of an artist." 
 
 316 
 
 " Our Mutual Friend." 
 New York: The Nation. December 21, 1865. 
 pp. 786, 787. 
 
 " Our Mutual Friend is, to our perception, the poorest of Mr. 
 Dickens's works. And it is poor with the poverty not of 
 momentary embarrassment, but of permanent exhaustion. It is 
 wanting in inspiration. For the last ten years it has seemed to 
 us that Mr. Dickens has been unmistakably forcing himself. 
 Bleak House was forced ; Little Dorrit was laboured ; the pre- 
 sent work is dug out as with a spade and pickaxe. Of course — 
 to anticipate the usual argument — who but Dickens could have 
 written it ? Who, indeed ? Who else would have established a 
 lady in business in a novel on the admirably solid basis of her 
 always putting on gloves and tying a handkerchief round her 
 head in moments of grief, and of her habitually addressing her 
 family with ' Peace ! hold !' . . ." 
 
 ". . . It is hardly too much to say that every character here 
 
 19 
 
290 CRITICAL. 
 
 put before us is a mere bundle of eccentricities, animated by no 
 principle of nature whatever. ..." 
 
 ". . . The word humanity strikes us as strangely discordant 
 in the midst of these pages, for, let us boldly declare it, there is no 
 humanity here. ..." 
 
 *'. . . He is master of but two alternatives ; he reconciles us to 
 what is commonplace, and he reconciles us to what is odd. The 
 value of the former service is questionable ; and the manner in 
 w^hich Mr. Dickens performs it sometimes conveys a certain im- 
 pression of charlatanism. The value of the latter service is in- 
 contestable, and here Mr. Dickens is an honest, an admirable 
 artist. But what is the condition of the truly great novelist ? 
 For him there are no alternatives, for him there are no oddities, 
 for him there is nothing outside of humanity. He cannot shirk 
 it ; it imposes itself upon him. For him alone, therefore, there 
 is a true and a false ; for him alone it is possible to be right, 
 because it is possible to be wrong. Mr. Dickens is a great 
 observer and a great humourist, but he is nothing of a philo- 
 sopher." 
 
 317 
 " Our Mutual Friend." 
 London: The Westminster Bevlew. April, 1866. 
 pp. 582, 585. 
 
 Reviewed in conjunction with works by other authors. 
 
 ". . . His severest critics, we suppose, will not deny Mr. Dickens's 
 genius, not of the highest indeed, but still of a very rare order. 
 When we look back upon his long gallery of portraits, Sam 
 Weller, Chadband, Pecksniff, Pickwick, and Mrs. Gamp ; when 
 we consider how much we should lose if deprived of all these, 
 and all their whims and fancies, we must confess that their 
 creator does not belong to the common roll of authors. But, on 
 the other hand, when we compare Mr. Dickens to the word's 
 
CRITICAL. • 291 
 
 great humourists, Aristophanes, Molifere, Swift, Cervantes, and 
 Shakespeare, then we see how far short he comes of the higher 
 rank of genius. Pecksniff weighs as chaff in the balance against 
 Tartuffe, and Pickwick is a mere monster beside the Don of 
 Spain, The more we study Falstaff, Gullira, and Sancho Panza, 
 the more we perceive the art of the artist and thinker ; but the 
 closer we look at Mr. Dickens's characters, the more we detect 
 the trickery of an artificer. The more we analyse Mr. Dickens, 
 the more we perceive that his humour runs into riotous extrava- 
 gance, whilst his pathos degenerates into sentimentality. His 
 characters, in fact, are a bundle of deformities. And he appears, 
 too, to value them because they are deformed, as some minds 
 value a crooked sixpence more than a sound coin. He has made 
 the fatal mistake against which Goethe warned the artist. 
 Everything with him is not supra naturam, but extra 
 naturam. His whole art is founded upon false principles, , , ," 
 
 ", , . A number of automatons are moving about, who are all, 
 so to speak, tattooed with various characteristics. There is the 
 great automaton, Podsnap, who is tattooed with a flourish of the 
 right arm and a flush of the face, and the minor automaton, Mr 
 Lammle, who is tattooed with ginger eyebrows. Dancers are 
 called * bathers,' and one of them is distinguished by his 
 ambling. In fact, Mr, Dickens here seems to regard his cha- 
 racters as Du Fresne says the English did their dogs, quanta 
 deformiores eo meliores cestimant. , , ." 
 
 ". , . Who is to separate in a novel fiction from fact, romance 
 from reality ? If Mr. Dickens knows anything of human nature, 
 he must know that the practical English mind, is, as a rule 
 repelled by any advocacy in the shape of fiction. And to at- 
 tempt to alter the Poor Law by a novel is about as absurd as it 
 would be to call out the militia to stop the cattle disease. ..." 
 
 ". . . We believe that all England would have been deeply 
 shocked had Mr. Dickens been killed in the Staplehurst accident. 
 But many minds will be equally shocked by the melodramatic 
 
 19-2 
 
292 CRITICAL. 
 
 way in which he speaks of his escape. Those who are curioua 
 to understand the tricks of his style should analyse the last 
 section. He first endeavours to raise a joke about Mr. and Mrs. 
 Lammle, * in their manuscript dress,' and his other fictitious 
 chciracters being rescued from the railway carriage, and then 
 turns oflf to moralize and improve upon his own escape, conclud- 
 ing the whole with a theatrical tag about ' The End,' which refers 
 both to the conclusion of the book and his life. We write this 
 in no carping spirit, but because it so fully explains to us the 
 cause of Mr. Dickens's failures — a want of sincerity, and a deter- 
 mination to raise either a laugh or a tear at the expense of the 
 most sacred of things, ..." 
 
 318 
 Some Notes on America to be Ee- written : Sug- 
 gested, with respect, to Charles Dickens, Esq. 
 Philadelphia : Sherman and Co., printers. 1868. 
 pp. 20. 
 
 The author points out to Dickens what he considers as discre- 
 pancies and misstatements in his -4 wencawJV^ofes, and concludes 
 with a suggestion that the novelist should write for " general 
 circulation " some fresh "Notes on America." 
 
 319 
 
 Mr. Dickens's New Story. (Eeview of "Edwin 
 
 Drood." 
 
 London : The Graphic. April 9, 1870. p. 438. 
 
 "... On the whole, it must be acknowledged that the 
 opening of The Mystery of Edwin Drood is in some respects 
 disappointing. ..." 
 
CRITICAL. 293 
 
 "... The grotesque and comic element, which it is Mr. 
 Dickens's invariable custom to interweave almost chapter with 
 chapter with the elements of sentiment and pathos, are, in 
 Edwin Drood, remarkably prominent. . . ." 
 
 320 
 
 The Pickwick Papers. By W. S. (W. Sawyer). 
 
 London: Belgravia. July, 1870. pp. 33, 36. 
 
 An account of the origin of the Pickwick Papers^ and of some 
 6i the leading incidents that took place in connection with that 
 publication during the early phases of its career, notably 
 the change of illustrators. 
 
 321 
 
 The Portrait of Mr. Pickwick. By George 
 Augustus Sala. 
 London : Belgravia. August, 1870. pp. 165, 171. 
 
 Mr. Sala here points out the similarity existing between the 
 characters of Don Quixote and Mr. Pickwick, Sancho and Sam 
 Weller, and notes " that there is not a personage in Pickwick 
 who wears a moustache, and that from the beginning to the end 
 of the work nob a single reference is made to the existence of 
 such, an institution as a West End club, or to any house of 
 entertainment (in London, at least) approaching what we should 
 term nowadays a first-class hotel." 
 
 In conclusion, he says : " There are people who — like the face 
 of tlie Queen on the postage stamps — never grow older. They 
 are eternal ; for they are the children of genius ; and it matters 
 little if the portrait of Mr. Pickwick were surmounted by a 
 towering periwig, or encircled by an Elizabethan ruflf, or draped 
 in a Roman toga : it would still be one of those portraits which 
 break Time's heart, and make Death gnaw his bony digits in 
 
294 CRITICAL. 
 
 322 
 " The Mystery of Edwin Drood." 
 London: The Spectator. October 1, 1870. pp. 
 1176, 1177. 
 
 "... The publishers have hardly given to the future readers 
 of Mr. Dickens's latest fragment even as much clue as to the 
 past readei's. We thiuk that, under the circumstances of a 
 story so carefully and apparently so skilfully plotted and so 
 remarkably broken off, they were bound to have given a facsimile 
 of the vignetted cover in which tlie course of the story is evi- 
 dently prefigured. And to this might surely have been added 
 any instructions received by the artist who prepared that 
 vignetted cover — for some such instructions there must clearly 
 have been. Several of the scenes in the actually completed parts 
 are distinctly represented on the cover, and the drift of those 
 which are not must have been more or less explained by Mr. 
 Dickens to the artist who designed them for him. . . ." 
 
 ". . . So far as we can judge by close observation of those 
 who now read Edwin Drood at the same age at which most of us 
 first learnt to enjoy the Old Curiosity Shop and Martin Chuzzle- 
 wit, there does not seem to be any deficiency in the capacity of 
 the rising generation to enter heartily into its still fresh humour. 
 . . . Edwin Drood does seem to us nearer the standard of his 
 first few works than anything he had written for many years 
 back. ..." 
 
 "... No doubt there are all Mr. Dickens's faults in this 
 story quite unchanged. He never learned to draw a human 
 being as distinct from an oddity, and all his characters which 
 are not oddities are false. Again he never learned the dis- 
 tinguished signs of genuine sentiment ; and just as nothing can 
 be vulgarer than the sentimental passages in Nicholas Nickleby 
 
CRITICAL. 295 
 
 and Martin CJmzzlewit, so nothing can, at any rate, be much 
 falser or in worst taste than the sentimental scenes in Edwin 
 Brood. ..." 
 
 323 
 " The Mystery of Edwin Dkood." (By George 
 
 B. Woods.) 
 
 Boston : Old and New. November, 1870. pp. 
 530, 533. 
 
 *' . . . It may be held, and cannot be absolutely disputed, 
 that Mr. Dickens's genius was incapable of matching in his later 
 years those great achievements of his youth and prime ; but if 
 his last unfinished effort contains no such full-length portrait, it 
 has an abundance of such delicious cabinet pictures and graceful 
 little sketches as shows that there was at least no deterioration 
 in the quality of his humour. ..." « 
 
 324 
 
 An Examination Paper. (On the "Posthumous 
 Papers of the Pickwick Club.") Dated "Cam- 
 bridge, 1857." 
 Fly Leaves. By C. S. Calverley. Cambridge : 
 
 Deighton, Bell, and Co. London : Bell and Daldy, 
 
 1872. (Second edition), pp. 121, 124. 
 
 The following are selected from the thirty questions given in 
 this paper : — 
 
 1. Mention any occasions in which it is specified that tlie 
 Fat Boy was not asleep; and that (1) Mr. Pickwick and (2* 
 Mr. Weller, sen., ran. Deduce from expressions used on one 
 occasion Mr. Pickwick's maximum of speed. 
 
296 CRITICAL. 
 
 2. Translate into coherent English, adding a note wherever a 
 word, a construction, or an allusion requires it : 
 
 ** Go on, Jemmy — like black-eyed Susan — all in the 
 
 Downs — — " 
 '* Smart chap, that cabman — handled his fives well — but if 
 I'd been your friend on the green jemmy — punch his 
 head — pig's whisper — pieman, too." 
 Elucidate the expressions, *' the Spanish Traveller" and the 
 " narcotic bedstead." 
 
 21. How many lumps of sugar went into the Shepherd's 
 liquor as a rule ? and is any exception recorded ? 
 
 25. *' IIpo(3aToyv(oiJnov, a good judge of cattle; hence, a 
 good judge of character." Note on -(Esch. Ag. — Illustrate 
 the theory involved, by a remark of the parent Weller. 
 
 28. Deduce from a remark of Mr. Weller, junior, the price per 
 mile of cabs at the period. 
 
 M-f. James Payn, the popular novelist, and editor of the 
 Cornhill Magazine, in his " Literary Eecollectiona " published in 
 that journal (June, 1884), thus refers to the Examination Paper 
 and its author: — *'My late friend Calverley, the C. S. C. of 
 Poems and Translations and Flj/ Leaves, when lecturer of Christ 
 College, issued a paper on Pic&wicJc after the model of the usual 
 examination paper, containing the most out-of-the-way details, 
 and forming a crucial test of scholarship . . . The prizes were 
 a * first edition ' of Pickwick, and it will be interesting to learn 
 that the two prizemen were Walter Besant and Professor 
 Skeat. If Pickwick were to-day made a text-book for 'exams.' 
 in general, the replies would no doubt be satisfactory, for there 
 is now a concordance for the whole of Dickens ; but in 1857 
 there was no need of cramming, for everyone knew the book and 
 quoted it. I have the vanity to believe, had I been qualified as 
 a candidate, I should have gained a prize ; at all events, I had 
 my Dickens at my fingers' ends. , . ." 
 
CRITICAL. 297 
 
 325 
 "Our Mutual Friend" in Manuscript. (By Kate 
 
 Field). 
 
 New York : Scribner's Monthly Magazine. August, 
 1874. pp. 472, 475. 
 
 A description, in detail, of the original manuscript of Our 
 Mutual Friend, which was presented by Dickens to Mr. E. S. 
 Dallas, a brilliant journalist, as an acknowledgment of an appre- 
 ciative review of that novel which he wrote for the London 
 Times. This manuscript eventually fouad its way across the 
 Atlantic, and became the property of Mr. George W. Childs, of 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 326 
 
 Dickens and the " Pickwick Papers." By Edwin 
 
 P. Whipple. 
 
 Boston: The Atlantic Monthly. August, 1876. pp. 
 219, 224. 
 
 Prefaced by a biographical sketch of the novelist. 
 
 "... The great humourist of our time, the man who has 
 domesticated himself as a genial companion at millions of fire- 
 sides, the man who has provoked so many bursts of humane 
 laughter, and unsealed the springs of so many purifying 
 tears, would have been a wiser guide, both in what he laughed 
 at and in what he wept over, had his early culture been such as 
 to furnish, at the start, with demonstrated general principles in 
 matters of history, government, political economy, and philo- 
 sophy. Such knowledge would have checked and corrected the 
 fallacies into which he was sometimes whirled by the intensity 
 of his perception of unrelated facts, and the un withholding 
 
298 CRITICAL. 
 
 warmth with which he threw himself into the delineation of 
 exceptional individuals, . . . He converted his experiences into 
 commodities; and the Pickwick Papers are to a great extent 
 the record of his humorously idealized perception of the 
 various kinds of life he met in city and country while engaged 
 in his duties as a reporter. ... In the Pickwick Papers, the 
 first example of his presentation of characters thoroughly 
 matured is Mr. Wardle, of Manor Farm, Dingley Dell ; then, 
 in Chapter X., we are introduced to Sam Weller ; and finally, 
 in Chapter XV., we are made acquainted with one of the great 
 masterpieces of humorous genius, Tony Weller. In each of 
 these cases the character is unchangeably formed, and all they 
 say and do might be deduced from the logic of the character. 
 Mr. Pickwick comes gradually into the same category, and 
 Tupman, Winkle, and Snodgrass solidify by degrees, from per- 
 sonified jokes into human beings. There is a question whether 
 Weller, the son, is superior or inferior to Weller, the father ; 
 but no discriminating reader can fail to see that Sam's humour 
 consists in what he says, while Tony's consists not so much in 
 what he says as in what he is. Tony's mere bodily appearance, 
 as surveyed by the eye of imagination, is more richly ludicrous 
 than any of Sam's jokes ; and when he does condescend to 
 furnish us with a single maxim from his accumulated stores of 
 wisdom, the remark owes nine-tenths of its wit to our vivid 
 conception of the person by whom it is uttered. . . ." 
 
 " . . . In the Pickwick Papers there are certain peculiarities 
 of style, description, narrative, and characterization, which 
 gradually deepened, in the novels which succeeded, into per- 
 manent traits of Dickens's genius. . . ." 
 
 327 
 " Oliver Twist." (By Edwin P. Whipple.) 
 Boston : The Atlantic Monthly. October, 1876. pp. 
 474, 479. 
 
CRITICAL. 299 
 
 "... Oliver Twist was the first of Dickens's romances which 
 was subjected to the revision of his dear friend and biographer, 
 Jolm Forster, an accomplished man of letters, recently deceased. 
 Forster read and suggested corrections to everything which 
 Dickens afterwards wrote, and the text of Oliver Twist may be 
 supposed to have specially engaged his critical sagacity, as it 
 was the first story on which it was exercised. Yet the text of 
 Oliver Twist is left in a slovenly condition, discreditable to both 
 author and reviser. The reader needs to go no further than the 
 opening paragraph to understand what we mean. The fre- 
 quent use of the colon for the comma in the punctuation of the 
 narrative is particularly exasperating. The plot of Oliver Twist 
 is both improbable and melodramatic. . . . Certainly the read- 
 ing of Oliver Twist can corrupt nobody. The representation of 
 criminals is so vivid and true ; but what is wicked is not asso- 
 ciated with what is alluring, and the moral tone and purpose 
 are often in artistically obvious. The morality of the novel is 
 not only sound, but the moral taste of the writer, his fine sense 
 of what is becoming, prevents him from putting into the 
 mouths of his criminal characters language which would be 
 appropriate to them — language which Fielding and Smollett 
 would not have hesitated to use, but which the manners of our 
 day have banished from contemporary books. That he should 
 have portrayed such characters in their hideous reality, and 
 still have denied to them their favourite outlets of expression in 
 ribaldry and blasphemy, proves both his skill in characterization 
 and his instinctive perception of the verbal proprieties de- 
 manded by modern taste. Dickens, however, was never on 
 more perilous ground than in this novel ; and that he escaped 
 certain dangers inherent in its design is evident from the failure 
 of a host of imitators whom his success stimulated to make 
 their romances of rascality either morally or artistically justi- 
 fiable. ..." 
 
300 CRITICAL. 
 
 328 
 Dickens's " Hard Times." By Edwin P. Whipple. 
 Boston : The Atlantic Monthly. March, 1877. pp. 
 353, 358. 
 
 "... Whatever Dickens understands he humorously repre- 
 sents ; whatever he does not understand he humorously mis- 
 represents ; but in either case, whether he conceives or mis- 
 conceives, he conveys to the general reader an impression that 
 he is as great in those characters in which he personifies 
 his antipathies as in those in which he embodies his sym- 
 pathies. ..." 
 
 '* . . . It is ridiculous to assert, as Euskin asserts, thsit Hard 
 Times is Dickens's greatest work ; for it is the one of all his 
 works which should be distinguished from the others as specially 
 wanting in that power of real characterization on which his 
 reputation as a vivid delineator of human character and liuman 
 life depends. The whole effect of the story, though it lacks 
 neither amusing nor pathetic incidents, and though it contains 
 passages of description which rank with his best efforts in com- 
 bining truth of fact with truth of imagination, is ungenial and 
 unpleasant. ..." 
 
 "... "We may warmly praise the book as one of the most 
 perfect of its kind. ..." 
 
 329 
 
 Dickens's "American Notes." By Edwin P. 
 
 Whipple. 
 
 Boston : The Atlantic Monthly. April, 1877. pp. 
 462, 466. 
 
 ** . . . There are passages here and there — such as the nobly 
 pathetic one describing the emigrants he observed on the 
 
CRITICAL. 301 
 
 steamer between Montreal and Quebec — which are in his best 
 vein ; but generally the account of his adventures by stage 
 and steamboat is but the disappointing record of ' a most 
 scattering and unsure observance.' His genius is not 
 there. ..." 
 
 330 
 
 Dickens's " Great Expectations." By Edwin P. 
 
 Whipple. 
 
 Boston: The Atlantic Monthhj. September, 1877. 
 pp. 327, 333. 
 
 "... There is much of Dickens's best writing in Great 
 Expectations. The characterization is forcible even when it is 
 least attractive . . ." 
 
 "... The plot of Great Expectations is more ingeniously 
 complicated than any other of Dickens's novels except Bleak 
 Bouse. ..." 
 
 331 
 
 "The Mystery of Edwin Drood." (By Thomas 
 
 Foster.) 
 
 London : Belgmvia. June, 1878. pp. 453, 473. 
 
 This paper is devoted to a consideration of some of the subtle 
 indications, sufficient for the guidance of the understanding 
 reader, as to the general direction of the path along which the 
 story was to be conducted, and its final goal. The writer, who 
 subsequently revived the subject in Knowledge (see Nos. 337, 
 343), concludes by expressing his opinion that, even in its pre- 
 sent fragmentary form, this story is better worth close and 
 careful study, and presents more truthful and delicate delinea- 
 tions of character and descriptions of scenery, than some 
 finished works of his which yet have deservedly ranked as 
 favourites. 
 
302 CRITICAL. 
 
 332 
 
 Dickens's "American Notes." By James Spedding. 
 
 Reviews and Bisoussions, Literary, Political, and 
 Historical, by James Spedding. London : C. Kegan 
 Paul and Co. 1879. pp. 240, 276. (Reprinted 
 from the Edinburgh Review, January, 1843. See 
 No. 270.) 
 
 With a long added Note by the writer. 
 
 333 
 
 From Faust to Mr. Pickwick. By Matthew 
 
 Browne. 
 
 London : The Conteinjwrarij Review. July, 1880. 
 pp. J 62, 176. 
 
 A critical comparison made between Groetbe's Faust and 
 Dickens's Pickwick. The writer says : "It would, perhaps, be 
 impossible to name any modern book, dealing with life on a 
 wide scale, which contains so little humour as Groethe's Faust ; 
 and we may, perhaps without a qualification, affirm that no 
 book of any age or purport contains so much humour as the 
 Pickwick Papers. There is, of course, mockery in Faust, and 
 there is some humour in the dialogues between Mephistopheles 
 and Martha but it is of the unpleasant caustic order, and 
 when the odious Martha disappears we feel that the case is 
 decidedly one in which enough is as good as a feast. In Pich- 
 loich there is, of course, some vulgarity, and there are many 
 blunders and false touches ; but it is a great mistake to treat the 
 book merely as a collection of Cockney caricatures. This 
 character has clung to it, chiefly, if not exclusively, in conse- 
 
CRITICAL. 303 
 
 quence of the circumstances under which the story (such as it 
 is) was begun — namely, as justificatory letterpress to certain 
 sketches of Mr. Seymour's. Fortunately for the world, this 
 plan fell through, and Mr. Pickwick is before us. . . ." 
 
 ** It must be almost comically obvious to remark that between 
 Pickwick and Faust there is a gulf of distance which might 
 be set down as thrice from the centre to the utmost pole. 
 . . . Nothing can well be more superficial as to the ' motive ' 
 and ' movement,' or less avowedly intellectual than PicTcwich. 
 Nothing can well be more intense or more intellectual, both as 
 to motive and movement, than Faust. If Faust escapes our 
 contempt — and he barely escapes it in some passages of the 
 Second Part — it is purely by intellectual force, and by what he 
 stands for. The part which is played in the Dickens squib by 
 the good and simple-hearted Pickwick is in the great poem 
 played by Grretchen. In Pichwick there is no problem put at 
 all ; but we feel that the problem put by our own hearts is 
 solved for us. In the great poem, the j -oblem is put in a hun- 
 dred forms ; in the Second Part tiresomely and fantastically — 
 till we come to the end. . ." 
 
 334 
 A Lost Work of Charles Dickens. By Kichard 
 
 Heme Shepherd. 
 
 London : The Pen; a Journal of Literature. Octo- 
 ber, 1880. pp. 311, 312. 
 
 The work referred to by Mr. Shepherd is a Comic Burletta, 
 written by Dickens in 1836—7, and entitled. Is She His Wife? 
 or, Something Singular, which seems to have beeu unrecorded by 
 Forster in his Life of Charles Dickens. Mr. Shepherd says 
 tliat " the existence of such a piece first became vaguely known 
 to or vaguely suspected by me from a loose mention of it in the 
 
304 CRITICAL. 
 
 Era Almanack of 1868-69, or thereabouts, at the time when I 
 was preparing for the press a collection of Dickens's Speeches, 
 in the introduction to which I reproduced without addition or 
 comment the same lax statement, which, howeTer, has since 
 proved to be perfectly accurate." In 1877, this little work was 
 reprinted in America by Messrs. Osgood and Co,, from a pam- 
 phlet copy published in England, which was originally pur- 
 chased for six pounds. Mr. Shepherd thus concludes : ''So far, 
 and no farther, I have at present prosecuted my researches on 
 this very recondite and interesting little point of Dickens's biblio- 
 graphy. It now remains to be seen whether collectors, at last 
 having the clue, are to give up the quest, and to add this to the 
 tantalising list of lost or * introuvable ' books that have hitherto 
 baffled the ardent search of bibliographers.'* 
 
 335 
 
 A Pickwickian Pilgrimage. By John R. G. 
 
 Hassard. 
 
 Boston : James E. Osgood. 1881. pp.155. 
 
 With a Preface, dated ** January, 1881." Relating to the 
 Characters and Scenes in the Pickwick Papers. 
 
 336 
 
 The Wooden Midshipman (of "Dombey and 
 
 Son"). (By S. Sterry). 
 
 London: All the Year Bound. October 29, 1881. 
 
 pp. 173, 179. 
 
 An interesting account of a visit to Sol G-ills' establishment 
 in Leadenhall Street, and a description of the various rooms 
 which have been immortalised in the pages of Dombey and Son, 
 The writer thus refers to the well-known figure from which this 
 article takes its title : — ■ 
 
CRITICAL. 305 
 
 "Everyone knows the Wooden Midshipman, and everyone 
 knows the important figure it makes in Bombey and Son. To 
 myself this shop is especially interesting. When I was a boy, 
 the very first book of Dickens's that I read was Bombey and Son. 
 Passing down Leadenhall Street shortly afterwards, I noted the 
 Wooden Midshipman, and at once ' spotted ' it as the original 
 of Sol Grills' residence. The description is so vivid and exact 
 that it is unmistakable. It was many years after that I knew 
 for an actual fact that this was really the shop that was so 
 graphically sketched in the novel. 
 
 " Passing down the street only the other day, I paused once 
 more at the door of the Wooden Midshipman. I looked in at 
 the window. Everything looked pretty much as usual. But 
 stay ! I see a white placard in a prominent position, which 
 startles me as if I had seen a ghost. The placard is to the eifect 
 that the business is being removed to One Hundred and Fifty- 
 six, Minories, on account of the premises being pulled down for 
 improvement. *He was a callous, obdurate, conceited mid- 
 shipman, intent on his own discoveries, and caring as little for 
 what went on about him, terrestrially, as Archimedes at the 
 taking of Syracuse.' He is *a callous, obdurate, conceited mid- 
 shipman,' for despite this unlooked-for catastrophe, this terrible 
 calamity, he stands at the door looking as blithe and gay and 
 contented as he has looked any time, I suppose, during the 
 past century. Men may come and men may go, but he observes 
 for ever. ..." 
 
 "This quaint, old-fashioned shop is almost the last of a 
 number of quaint, old-fashioned buildings which, but a few 
 years ago, abounded in Leadenhall Street, especially on this side 
 of the way. It has but little changed in appearance since it was 
 first established in 1773, only six years after the publication of 
 the first Nautical Almanac. It was established by Mr. William 
 Heather as a * sea-chart, map, and a mathematical instrument 
 warehouse,' ' where may be had,' we are informed, * Hadley's 
 
 20 
 
306 CRITICAL. 
 
 Quadrants and Sextants of all Sizes, neatly mounted with two 
 Parallel Glasses, accurately divided by the Patent Machines 
 and warranted good ; Qunter's Scales, Sliding Scales, Sectors 
 Cases of Instruments, and Compasses of all Sorts ; Sea Tele 
 scopes from One to Three Feet long, with Four or Six Glasses 
 etc' Mr. Heather was succeeded by Mr. J. W. Norie in 1814 
 who was joined by Mr. George Wilson in 1834. Hence the 
 firm of Norie and Wilson, under which style the business is 
 still carried on by Mr. Charles Wilson and his sons. . . ." 
 
 " A more popular little officer in his own domain than our 
 friend it would be difficult to find. He is reverentially regarded 
 and carefully looked after by all. Fifty years ago the street- 
 boys did not treat him with- respect ; they jeered at him and 
 gave him sly taps as they passed by. Old Sam, an eccentric 
 shopman — there have been a good many extraordinary charac- 
 ters connected with this place, notably an old-fashioned manager, 
 who, it is said, bore an extraordinary resemblance to Sol Gills 
 — was always lying in wait for these rascals (as Betsy Trotwood 
 did for the donkey-boys), and many a time has he chased them 
 down Cornhill with a good stout cane, and soundly belarrupped 
 them over against St. Michael's Alley. At one time the Little 
 Man used to get his knuckles severely abraded by passing 
 porters carrying loads, and was continually being sent into dock 
 to have a fresh set of knuctles provided. But still, except for 
 these accidents and his going to get a new coat, he was always 
 at his post all day long. If he were absent, the inquiries would 
 be frequent. Old pupils, who had become distinguished naval 
 officers— and the academy has turned out not a few in its time 
 — would pop in to inquii-e what had become of the genius of the 
 place, and many have been the offers to buy him outright and 
 remove him. Several Americans have been in lately and have 
 ofTered his proprietors very large sums if they might be allowed 
 to purchase him and take him to New York, It is furthermore 
 on record that King William the Fourtli, on passing through 
 
CRITICAL. S07 
 
 Leadenhall Street to the Trinity House, raised his hat to him 
 as he passed by. ..." 
 
 Ill conclusion, the reader is informed of the immediate 
 demolition (since carried out) of the Leadenhall Street premises, 
 and tlje removal of the nautical instrument business to No. 156, 
 Minories, when The Wooden Midshipman, as Dickens described 
 him, will exist only in the pages of Dombey and Son. 
 
 337 
 " The Mystery of Edwin Drood." By Thomas 
 
 Foster. 
 
 Leisure Readings. London : Wyman and Sons. 
 N.D. (Preface dated "December, 1882"). pp. 297, 
 344. 
 
 These ** Readings " are selected for the most part from among 
 tlie contributions to Knowledge, a weekly Scientific Journal, 
 edited by Mr. E,. A. Proctor. Mr. Foster, in the above Essay, 
 has applied the "scientific method" to the "sohition of a 
 literary problem," and subsequently revived the subject in 
 Knowledge, September 12, 188i, «&:c. (See No. 343.) 
 
 338 
 
 On the Origin of Sam Weller, and the Eeal 
 Cause of the Success of the " Posthumous Papers of 
 the Pickwick Club." By a Lover of Charles 
 Dickens's works. AVith a frontispiece representing 
 " Mr. Samuel Weller composing his Love-letter," 
 etched by F. W. Pailthorpe. "With a reprint of the 
 Beauties of Pickwick (first issued in 1 838). 
 
 London: J. W. Jarvis and Son. 1883. pp. 8. 
 
 20—2 
 
308 CRITICAL. 
 
 The writer suggests that the original of Sam Weller wa^ 
 Samuel Yale, the comic actor of the Surrey Theatre, who took 
 the part of "Simon Spatterdash " in a farce, entitled "The 
 Boarding House." This character is made to utter queer com- 
 parisons, as was customary with his prototype, Sam Weller, and 
 the writer therefore concludes that Dickens availed himself of 
 that conception. This suggestion was originally made by 
 Mr. E. L. Blanchard, in an article on "London Amusements," 
 published in the Birmingham Daily Gazette^ April 7, 1882, and 
 partly reprinted in Notes and Queries, May 20, 1882. (See 
 Appendix — Notes and Queries, " Sam Yale and Sam Weller.") 
 
 339 
 
 "The Old Curiosity Shop." With an illustration. 
 
 London: The Pall Mall Gazette. January 1, 1884. 
 
 pp. 11, 12. 
 
 An account of the intended demolition of the supposed 
 original "Old Curiosity Shop," wliich Dickens immortalized in 
 his novel of that name. The house in question is situated in 
 Portsmouth Street (No. 14), Lincoln's Inn Fields, London ; but 
 there is no reason whatever to suppose that this is the building 
 which Dickens introduced in his work. The writer of this 
 article, after giving a full description of the interior, discards 
 the notion that it is the original of the story. In Scribner's 
 Monthly for May, 1881, an illustration is given of the same 
 building, but in the description there is considerable reservation 
 as to its being the famous " Shop " referred to by the novelist. 
 
 340 
 
 The Old Lady of Fetter Lane. With two illus- 
 trations. 
 London : Tlie Pall Mall Gazette. January 5, 1884. 
 
 p. 4. 
 
CRITICAL. 309 
 
 Au account of an Old Curiosity Shop at No. 21', Fetter Lane 
 *' which exhibits a far better claim to be considered the Curiosity- 
 Shop than the one you described the other day. (See No. 339.) 
 It was once a circulating library, which Dickens is said to have 
 frequented." The " Old Lady," Mrs. Haines, proprietress of 
 the establishment, is interviewed, and the information which 
 «lie gives concerning Dickens is here given. The illustrations 
 represent the interior of the ** Shop," and " Dickens's Chair," 
 which he is said to have invariably used during his visits to the 
 ■circulating library. 
 
 341 
 How "Edwin Drood" was Illustrated. By 
 
 Alice Meynell. With eight illustrations (facsimiles 
 
 of original sketches for Edivin Drood). 
 
 New York and London : The Century Magazine. 
 February, 1884. pp. 522, 528. 
 
 An account of the association that existed between Dickens 
 and the illustrator oi Edwin Drood, Mr. S. L. Fildes. The writer 
 says that Dickens " was surprised at the way in which his mind 
 found itself mirrored in that of his artist, both as regards the 
 historical exactness of inanimate things and the appreciation of 
 individual human character." 
 
 **. . Of Mr. Fildes's work for Charles Dickens's book, our 
 own opinion is that it is the best illustrative interpretation 
 which has ever been made of the author, albeit old and fine 
 reputations belong to the former associations of artists' names 
 with the great series of the Dickens novels. In addition to all 
 those qualities of appreciation, apprehension, and intelligence, 
 which must distinguish all really worthy work done — as is the 
 work of an illusti'ator — in admiration of another mind, and 
 which Mr. Fildes's designs possess so fully, these illustrations 
 
310 CRITICAL. 
 
 have a merit which present judgment is less prepared to dispenser 
 with tlian was the opinion of our fathers' time — that of serious 
 and sound draughtmanship. . . ." 
 
 342 
 "The Mystery of Edwin Drood." Suggestions 
 
 for a Conclusion. 
 
 London: The CornJtiU Magazine: March, 1884. 
 I)p. 308, 317. 
 
 "... This article has been written from the point of view of 
 a mere reader of this unfinished storj, and the solution here 
 suggested is based on internal evidence only. Indeed, the article 
 itself is the result of the fascination the mjstery had on the 
 writer's mind whieu he lately read it for the first time. He 
 believes that this is the first attempt to solve the mystery that 
 has contented itself simply and solely with the story as left by 
 Charles Dickens, and the writer has merely endeavoured to do, 
 in the form of a short article, what every reader of Edwin Drood 
 endeavours to do in his head, viz., to deduce a correct con- 
 clusion from somewhat incomplete premises. . . -." 
 
 343 
 
 Dickens's Story Left Half Told, A quasi- 
 scientific inquiry into "Tlie Mystery of Edwin 
 Drood." By Thomas Foster. 
 
 London : Knowledge. September 12, 1884. pp. 
 209, 210. September 19. pp. 235, 236. Septem- 
 ber 26. pp. 257, 258. October 3. pp. 276, 277. 
 October 10. pp. 297, 298. October 17. pp. 313, 
 
CRITICAL. 311 
 
 314. October 24. pp. 340, 342. October 31. pp. 
 356, 358. November 7. pp. 386, 387. November 
 14. (With illustrations.) pp. 400, 401. 
 
 The greater part of the reasoning presented in these papers 
 on the subject of Dickens's last story is independent of the 
 evidence advanced in an article on the same subject (see No. 
 337), previously published by Mr. Foster in the Knoivledge 
 Library {Leisure Readings). The latter originally appeared, in 
 a rudimenta'-y form, in the Belgravia Magazine, June, 1878 
 (see No. 331). The writer, after duly criticizing previous 
 efforts on the part of others who have endeavoured to solve the 
 ** Mystery," proceeds to give his own views on the subject. 
 
 344 
 
 The Origin of the "Pickwick Papers." (By 
 
 E. H. Shepherd.) 
 
 London : Society. October 4, 1884. pp. 18, 20. 
 
 An account of many ineidftnts that took place in connection 
 with the publication of the Pickwick Pa23ers, of Seymour's 
 claim to having been its originator, and of Dickens's defence ; 
 and concluding with extracts from S, C. Calverley's Pickwick 
 "Examination Paper." (See No. 324.) 
 
 UNDATED. 
 
 345 
 An Account of the Origin of the "Pickwick 
 Papers." By Mrs. Seymour, widow of the Dis- 
 tinguished Artist who Originated the Work. 
 With Mr. Dickens's version, and her reply thereto, 
 
312 CRITICAL. 
 
 showing the fallacy of his statements ; also letters 
 of her husband's and other distinguished men. 
 London : Printed for the Author, 2, Drayton Villas, 
 Old Brompton. N.D. pp. 36. 
 
 The following extract from this scarce pamphlet shows how 
 Mrs. Seymour attempted to prove that the honour of having 
 originated the Pickwick Papers should belong to her husband : — 
 " Mr. Dickens edited a work called the Pickwick Papers, which 
 was originated solely by my husband in the summer of 1835, 
 and but for a cold (which brought on a severe illness) which he 
 caught on Lord Mayor's Day, on taking his children to view the 
 procession from the Star Chamber, would have been written, as 
 well as embellished, by himself; this cause alone prevented him 
 from doing so, as the numerous periodicals he was constantly 
 engaged upon had greatly accumulated during his illness." 
 
 Everyone is more or less familiar with the fact that G-eorge 
 Cruikshank laid claim to the original ideas and characters in 
 Oliver Twist; but it is not so generally known that he, as well as 
 Seymour, also claimed the credit of being the originator of the 
 Pickwick Papers. 
 
 346 
 Boz, THE Cockney Phenomenon. The Literati, by 
 William Colpitts Child. 
 
 G. Berger. N.D. (circa 1836). pp. 16. 
 
 Mr. Child is the author of the papers in Eraser's Magazine 
 under the title of " The Northern Political Union." A corre- 
 spondent in Notes and Queries (June 21, 1884) says, respecting 
 this production : — *' This adverse critique is certainly very 
 amusing. . . . The author, Mr. Child, appears to have threatened 
 a further literary lashing of Dickens (whom he accused of 
 
CRITICAL. 313 
 
 plagiarism from Washington Irving and Leigh Hunt), as he 
 winds up his pamphlet with the statement . * In our next, the 
 Pickwick get-up, and for Mr. Dickens the wind-up.' " 
 
 347 
 
 "The Pickwick Papers." 
 Boston : LittelVs Museum of Foreign Literature. Vol. 
 XXXII. p. 195. (?date.) 
 
 348 
 "American Notes." 
 New York : The Eclectic Museum. Vol. I. p, 230. 
 (? date.) 
 
 349 
 Grip, the Eaven — in "Barnaby Rudge." 
 Boston : Every Saturday. Vol. IX pp. 542, 
 742, and 749. (?date.) 
 
 350 
 " The Mystery of Edwin Drood." 
 Boston : Every Saturday. Vol. IX. pp. 291 
 and 594. (? date.) 
 
 351 
 " The Mystery of Edwin Drood." 
 Baltimore : The Southern Magazine. Vol XIV. p. 
 219. (Uate.) 
 
CRITICAL. 
 
 Division III. Forster's "Life of Charles 
 Dickens." 
 
 352 
 Forster's " Life of Dickens." (Vol. I.) By Her- 
 bert Wilson. 
 
 London : The Exammer, December 9, 1871. pp. 
 1217, 1218. Eeprinted in the Eclectic Magazine (New- 
 York). February, 1872. pp. 237, 240. 
 
 "... The memoir promises, when completed, to be as de- 
 lightful and as valuable an one as can be found in our language. 
 The Life of Oliver Goldsmith is a masterpiece ; but The 
 Life of Charles Dickens is likely to be in every way its equal 
 as a literary production, while the theme is of far greater in- 
 terest to readers of our day, and the writer is able to bring to it 
 that personal knowledge which the most diligent book-study — 
 even of such a book-student as Mr. Forster — cannot replace. 
 All the thousand touches that can only be inspired by close 
 intimacy and the hearty sympathy of friend with friend are 
 here, by one of the subtlest and most powerful literary artista 
 of the time, given to a marvellously vigorous picture of a man 
 whose real portrait all the world will be glad to see, and will 
 be better for seeing. . . ." 
 
CKITICAL. 315 
 
 353 
 
 The Youth of Dickens. (By James Payn.) In 
 
 Two Parts. 
 
 Edinburgh : Chambers's Journal. January 13, 1872. 
 
 pp. 17, 21 ; and January 20, 1872. pp. 40, 45. 
 
 Reviewing Vol. I. of Forster's Life of Charles Dickens. 
 
 "... We have before us the very image of England's most 
 popular wi'iter, drawn by a hand as familiar and loving as it is 
 skilful ; and, what is much more than even all this, we have 
 touches of the great master's own — autobiographical descrip- 
 tions, and other literary material supplied by Dickens himself 
 — a * personality ' richer far than any of which we read in the 
 obituaries, and which Mr. John Forster, as his literary executor, 
 is alone entitled to use. ..." 
 
 354 
 
 FoRSTER's "Life of Dickens." (Vol. I.) 
 
 London : The Quarterly Review. January, 1872. pp. 
 
 125,147. 
 
 355 
 
 Forster's Dickens. (Vol. I) 
 New York : The Nation. January 18, 1872. pp. 
 42, 43. 
 
 356 
 Forster's ''Life of Charles Dickens. (Vol. I.) 
 By J. Herbert Stack. 
 
 London : The Fortnightly Review. January, 1872. 
 pp. 117, 120. 
 
316 CRITICAL. 
 
 357 
 The Early Life of Charles Dickens. 
 
 London : Frasers Magazine. January, 1872. j^p. 
 105, 113. Reprinted in the Eclectic Magazine (New 
 York). March, 1872. pp. 277, 284. 
 
 Reviewing Vol. I. of Porster's Life of Charles Dickens. 
 
 " It is one of the peculiarities of the series of writings now 
 known and thrice famous as The Works of Charles Dickens that 
 the earliest of them show in full force all the very same qualities 
 of mind, and are as well written, too, in a literary sense, as any 
 that followed. The surprising observation of external details, 
 the quaint fancy, the delight in oddities, the humour (always 
 depending much on exaggeration), the clearness, brightness, 
 vivacity, animal spirits, are all completely represented in the 
 Sketches by Boz ; his sympathy with the poor and struggling is 
 strongly manifest, and the peculiar tones of his pathos and 
 tragedy are also heard. . . . Possibly a certain masterly free- 
 dom of handling may be recognised in some passages of his 
 later writings, which thus excel, in point of style, anything in 
 his earliest. But, on the other hand, there was certainly an 
 increase of mannerism, and none of that great desideratum^ good 
 taste J and, in the self-complacence of an actor sure of applause, 
 the most artificial efforts at humour and pathos were produced 
 without any gauging of their worth. We have written the 
 word ' actor ' ; and it is no inappropriate term in this case. 
 Never were books so like plays as these — author, stage-manager, 
 scene-painter, property-man, and the whole troup of actors all 
 comprised in one man's energetic person. . . ." 
 
 "... Dickens is the least bookish of all famous writers, at 
 least in modern times ; and in saying this we indicate some of 
 his most delightful and popular qualities and some of his most 
 
CRITICAL. 317 
 
 noticeable defects. As to his education, it was perhaps the 
 most suitable on the whole, considering the character of his 
 mind and the career that proved to lie before him, that he 
 could possibly have received. He had no capacity for medita- 
 tion, none for reasoning ; he had no longing to deepen or extend 
 his mental powers by varied culture, either by means of study 
 or conversation. His objects in life were hard work in his 
 metier of story-teller, and consequent success and fame, lively 
 amusement of a 'jolly ' kind, and a circle of friends consisting 
 exclusively of those who, in a greater or less degree, fitted in 
 with and furthered his own views and enterprises. ..." 
 
 358 
 
 "The Life of Charles Dickens." (Vol. I.) 
 
 Toronto : The Canadian Monthly. February, 1872. 
 pp. 179, 182. 
 
 "... It is due to the biographer to give him at once, and 
 in the first place, our humble tribute to the careful and dis- 
 criminating style of his book. Many faults, though they could 
 be detected here, would be forgiven in Mr. Forster, because he 
 has loved much. A man who could have attracted the strong 
 and manly affection displayed by the biographer must have 
 had a warm and generous nature ; and although we are inclined 
 to think that Mr. Forster's heart has sometimes got the better 
 of his head, it has not often done so; his narrative is quite as 
 impartial as we could expect — perhaps we may add, as we could 
 wish it to be. ..." 
 
 "Some remarks have been made on the tender affection 
 Dickens felt for the memory of his sister-in-law. Miss Mary 
 Hogartli. One critic thinks that Mr. Forster ought to have 
 suppressed the references to it in Dickens's letters. We are of 
 a different opinion. It appears to us that the passages objected 
 
318 CRITICAL. 
 
 to throw considerable light upon the character of the man j 
 perhaps we may go so far as to say that they ought to disabuse 
 the public mind of any lingering impression made by a slander 
 promulgated during his lifetime. . . ." 
 
 359 
 " The Life of Charles Dickens." (Vol. I.) 
 Chicago: The Lahensicle Monthly. April, 1872. pp. 
 336, 340. 
 
 360 
 Forster's "Life of Charles Dickens." (Vol. L) 
 By George B. Merrill. 
 San Francisco : The Overland Monthly. May, 1872. 
 pp. 443, 451. 
 
 "... Mr. Forster cannot keep himself out of his book for a 
 moment. He forgets that nobody cares anything about John 
 Forster, or about anyone else, except in great subordination to 
 the subject of the biography. ..." 
 
 " If there was much of anything in the life of Charles Dickens 
 worth telling, the life of that person is yet to be written. This 
 one may be prolonged even to four volumes — giving to Mr. 
 Forster, from some quarters, a certain temporary reputation — 
 and, it may be, the more volumes there are, the more money 
 will be made by the present biographer. The new Life will be 
 much less bulky, will be included in one volume, whose dimen- 
 sions we believe quite ample enough to tell best the life of the 
 best man ; it will have very little to say of Mr. John Forster, 
 and may live far beyond that person's little immortality ; it will 
 tell us of Charles Dickens, the man, and will prove to us, if it 
 be so, that he had many virtues of the heart ; it will connect 
 
CRITICAL. 31 9 
 
 him somewhat intimately with the men of his own generation, 
 besides Mr. Forster, if in life he was so. And yet it may be 
 that the world will really have had enough already, when this 
 interminable Life shall be finished ; and that the genius glowing 
 on his pages, and the talk that will for many years, more or 
 less, float about the world, will satisfy the curiosity of most 
 people as to what and who was Mr. Charles Dickens. ..." 
 
 361 
 Forster's "Life of Dickens." (Vol. II.) 
 London: The Examiner. November 16, 1872. pp. 
 1132, 1133. 
 
 362 
 
 Forster's "Dickens." (Vol. IL) 
 
 l^ew York: The Nation. January 9, 1873. pp.28, 
 
 29. 
 
 "Mr. Forster, thinking that the best way of making the real 
 Dickens known to us — thinking that for him, at least, it is the 
 best way — has far too thoroughly lost sight of everybody but 
 Dickens and himself, and by so doing has fallen a prey to a 
 danger which only great skill would have enabled him to avoid, 
 and makes everybody say, as he puts down the book, that it is 
 more than half about Mr. John Forster, whose biography every- 
 body hopes it may be long before anybody shall be called on to 
 read. . . ." 
 
 363 
 
 The Middle Age of Dickens. (By James Payn.) 
 
 Edinburgh : Chambers^ s Journal. February 1, 1873. 
 
 pp. 74, 79. 
 
320 CRITICAL. 
 
 Eeviewing Yol. II. of Forster's Life of Charles Dickens. 
 
 Respecting the career of Dickens as narrated in this second 
 volume, the writer says: "It is a common observation that 
 this gentleman (Mr. Forster) has too much confined his volumes 
 to the relations between their subject and himself, to the exclu- 
 sion of other intimate associates of our great humourist. But 
 it is undeniable that Charles Dickens had a stronger attachment 
 to John Forster than to any other man. ... If proof indeed 
 were needed of the extraordinary sympathy between Dickens 
 and his biographer, it would be in the power of the writer of 
 the present notice to supply it. . . ." 
 
 364 
 
 "The Life of Charles Dickens." (Vol. II.) 
 
 Toronto: The Canadian Monthly. February, 1873. 
 
 pp. 171, 173. 
 
 "... Some of the aspersions cast upon the biographer seem 
 to owe their origin to political animosity ; others are merely 
 examples of a tendency in the professional critic to take revenge, 
 by injustice to the living, for the tribute they are obliged to pay 
 to the memory of the dead. In any case, Mr. Forster has one 
 consolation, of which no critic can deprive him — that the spirit 
 and style of his work would have been warmly approved by his 
 deceased friend. . . ." 
 
 365 
 
 " The Life of Charles Dickens." (Vols. I. and II.) 
 
 London : Temjple Bar. May, 1873. pp. 169, 
 
 185. 
 
 An extremely adverse criticism of Forster's Life of Charles 
 Dickens, and, in a measure, of some of Dickens's personal 
 characteristics, as described by his biographer. 
 
ClilTICAL. 821 
 
 "... The book could hardly be more damaging to the 
 memory of its subject if it had been written by an enemy 
 instead of a friend. Without impeaching Mr. Forster's sin- 
 cerity in any respect or degree, without imputing to him a 
 particle of the treacherous ingratitude and deadly damaging 
 cunning which made Leigh Hunt's Life of Byron notorious, 
 it may be gravely doubted whether the little poet dealt the 
 great one's memory a more cruel blow than Mr. Forster, in the 
 character of a mourning mentor out of work, has dealt the 
 memory of Telemachus Dickens. To all unprejudiced persons, 
 with just notions of the relations of men with their fellows, he 
 presents the object of his preposterously inflated praise in an 
 aspect both painful and surprising. ..." 
 
 " Mr. Dickens ought to have had no other intimate associate 
 than his future biographer throughout the long term of years 
 during which he was constantly appealing to his judgment, 
 adopting his corrections, yielding to his advice, and gushing 
 about walks, rides, dinners, and drinks in his company. There 
 are no people in the book but these two ; the rest are merely 
 names to which casual reference is made in records of jovial 
 dinners and meetings, for the purpose of unlimited flattery. . . . 
 Not only is the one-sidedness common to biographies conspicuous 
 in this one, but the two large volumes published up to the present 
 time are as scanty in one sense as they are diffuse in another. 
 Did Mr. Dickens correspond with no one but Mr. Forster ? 
 Has no one preserved letters from him to which hig biographer 
 might have procured access ? Were there no side-lights to be 
 had ? The most fantastic of his own creations is hardly les.^ 
 like a living, responsible man than the excited, restless, hysteri- 
 cal, self -engrossed, quarrelsome, unreasonable egotist shown ti) 
 the world as the real Charles Dickens throughout at least three - 
 fourths of these two volumes ; shown, it is true, upon the 
 evidence of his own letters — perhaps the most wonderful records 
 of human vanity which have ever seen the light of print— but 
 
 21 
 
322 CRITICAL. 
 
 shown also, through the fault of his biographer, in appalling 
 nakedness, by his strict limitation of Mr. Dickens's * Life ' to the 
 chronicle of his relations with Mr. Forster. . . ." 
 
 * * In one more volume this warmly welcomed, eagerly read 
 biography is to be completed. That volume must necessarily be 
 a more difficult and responsible task than its predecessors. It is 
 to be hoped that it will fulfil the expectations of the public more 
 satisfactorily, and that it will do more justice to Mr. Dickens by 
 doing less injustice to all with whom he was concerned. It is 
 to be hoped that it will put before the world a more substantial 
 representation of the great novelist who was so variously gifted ; 
 that it will leave its readers able in some measure to respect and 
 esteem its subject as a man, for real qualities, while ceasing to 
 urge an imaginary claim to misplaced consideration ; and especi- 
 ally that it will be free from the faint siiggestion which pervaded 
 the present volumes, that, essentially, ' Codlin was the friend — 
 not Short.' " 
 
 366 
 
 Forster's " Life of Dickens." (Vol. III.) 
 
 London: The Examiner. February, 14, 1874. pp. 
 
 161, 162. 
 
 " Mr. Forster has at length completed what must undoubtedly 
 be considered as his best and most interesting biography. . . . 
 There is amply sufficient in these pages to satisfy all the expec- 
 tations which could reasonably have been formed. Mr. Forster 
 has done his work most admirably. ... If all biographies were 
 as wholesome in their tone, as just and impartial in every respect, 
 as the one before us, it would be an immense gain to literature. . ." 
 
CRITICAL. 323 
 
 367 
 
 Forster's "Dickens." (Vol. III.) 
 
 New York: The Nation. March 12, 1874. pp. 
 175, 176. 
 
 "... On the whole, we have in Mr. Forster's biography a 
 difficult work well done. We believe it gives with candour the 
 means of forming a sound judgment of the nature and character 
 of its subject. That it gives the true estimate of his literary 
 genius, and of the quality and rank of his various works, we, 
 for one, shall not say ; but it would be strange indeed if the 
 avei'age reader and student of an author should think so highly 
 of him and feel so warmly about him as his intimate friend, 
 admirer, and biographer, with all a biographer's and all a friend's 
 fealty and fondness. . . ." 
 
 368 
 
 Dickens's Life. Conclusion. (By James Payn.) 
 
 Edinburgh : Chambers's Journal. March 21, 1874. 
 
 pp. 177, 180. 
 
 Reviewing Vol. III. of Forster's Life of Charles Dickens. 
 
 " . . . In this last volume, the biographer glances at what he 
 could not well escape — the painful incident of Dickens putting 
 away his wife and mother of his children, for no other assigned 
 reason than mutual incompatibility of feeling. The discovery 
 of this incompatibility must be allowed to have come rather late 
 in the day. The circumstance is one with which no properly 
 constituted mind can sympathise, more particularly when it 
 is known, as we happen to know, that Mrs. Dickens is a person 
 of amiable temperament, lady-like in manners, and wholly irre- 
 proachable in her life and conversation. We say it sorrowfully, 
 
 21—2 
 
324 CKITICAL. 
 
 this affair, which Dickens ostentatiously, and even offensively, 
 obtruded on public notice, forms, with concurrent and well-known 
 circumstances, the sad blot on his character. How a man with 
 so many good qualities should have so conducted himself, has 
 appeared almost inexplicable. His behaviour is perhaps signi- 
 ficant of the mental peculiarity, that, in virtue of his acknow- 
 ledged abilities, he considered himself entitled to do as he liked 
 in matters which are usually regulated by a certain prescribed 
 canon of decency and pi-opriety. Surely, no apology can be 
 offered for what is in effect a public outrage, a blazoned defiance 
 of all ordinary rules of conduct ; for such was his treatment of 
 his wife. Nor is it well that the greatest distinction in literature 
 or art, any amount of popularity, should be pleaded as an exemp- 
 tion from the plain rules of moral and social responsibility. If 
 there be any extenuation, it is, that Dickens was in a degree 
 intoxicated with universal applause, as well as spoiled by the 
 sycophants who hung about him and sanctioned his vagaries. 
 A certain * restlessness of character ' may likewise have had 
 something to do with it. I am * very human,' he acknowledged 
 in the speech he made before departing for America. Accej)t- 
 ing that meagre avowal of infirmity, we gladly drop the sub- 
 ject. . . ." 
 
 369 
 
 Forster's " Life of Charles Dickens. (Vol. III.) 
 Toronto : The Canadian Monthly. A.\n\\, 1874. pp. 
 364, 366. 
 
 "Mr. Forster has at length completed the arduous task im- 
 posed upon him by his departed friend. In our opinion he has per- 
 formed it faithfully and well. The work, in itself, was, no doubt, 
 a labour, of love ; but it has been attended during its progress 
 by some unpleasantness, not to say soreness — the result of un- 
 
CRITICAL. 825 
 
 friendly criticism. There was a two-fold objection taken to the 
 biography, as soon as the first volume made its appearance. 
 The character and genius of the novelist, and his proper place 
 in English literature, were made the subject of warm dispute. 
 Nor was this all, or even the worst. Mr. Forster himself was 
 charged with desiring to gain personal capital out of the fame 
 of his friend, and with thrusting himself too prominently for- 
 ward in the course of the biography. We can easily understand 
 that this accusation was exquisitely painful to him. That, in 
 the conscientious endeavour to lay before the public the facts of 
 Dickens's life, as nearly as possible in his own words, the 
 biographer should have met the reproach of vanity and self- 
 seeking, must have touched him nearly. Whatever his censors 
 may say, the gi-eat English-speaking peoples on both sides of the 
 Atlantic will, we believe, acquit him without a moment's hesita- 
 tion. If it be the function of biography to present to the world 
 a faithful portraiture of its subject, that is, to exhibit him as a 
 living being, with all his merits, all his faults, all his hopes, 
 anxieties and fears, all his triumphs, and all his failures, Mr. 
 Forster has succeeded in his undertaking, and offered a fitting 
 tribute to the memory of Charles Dickens. ..." 
 
 370 
 " The Life of Charles Dickens." 
 New York : The International Review. May, 1874. 
 pp. 417, 420. 
 
 ". . . It appears to us that no man living could have per- 
 formed the task better. We believe that he has been conscien- 
 tious, industrious, discriminating, and delicate; and if he has 
 not given us a true portrait of Charles Dickens, socially and 
 intellectually, as far as the nature of his relations permitted, 
 then is a faithful picture impossible. ..." 
 
326 CltlTICAL. 
 
 "... Ml". Dickens was certainly a shrewd judge of men and 
 things, and knew perfectly well what he did when he took Mr. 
 Forster to his heart, entrusted to him his autobiography, con- 
 sulted him about all his writings, and for thirty-three years con- 
 tinued with him the most sacred and intimate confidences of 
 friendship. The result is a minute picture, not by a weak, 
 toadying, and garrulous Boswell, but plainly by a man who could 
 admire without idolizing, and point out the faults of a genius to 
 whom he was enthusiastically devoted. Such a faithful friend 
 is more invakiable to a writer than a writer can ever by any 
 possibility be to him. And if there are certain passages of 
 Mr. Dickens's life suppressed in these volumes, we are relieved 
 from stories of scandals over which the veil had better rest at 
 present, and perhaps for ever. ..." 
 
 371 
 The Youth and Middle Age of Charles Dickens. 
 By James Payn. 
 Edinburgh: Chambers, 1883. pp. 18. Fifty 
 copies printed. Reprinted from Chambers's Journal^ 
 January, 13, 20, 1872; February 1, 1873; March 
 21, 1874. (See Xos. 353, 363, 368.) 
 
 372 
 Forster's "Life of Charles Dickens." By 
 F. Sheldon. 
 Boston : The NortJt American Eeview. Vol. CXIV. 
 p. 413. (]date.) 
 
CRITICAL. 327 
 
 373 
 FoRSTER's "Life of Charles Dickens." 
 Boston : Every Saturday. Vol. XIY. p. 608 
 (?date.) 
 
 374 
 Forster's "Life of Charles Dickens." 
 'New York : Armrican Bibllopolisf. Vol. IV". p. 125 
 (? date.) 
 
 375 
 
 Life and Letters of Charles Dickens. By J. 
 R G. Hassard. 
 
 New York : The Catholic World. Vol. XXX. p. 
 692. (?date.) 
 
CKITICAL. 
 
 Division IV. " The Letters of Charles Di.ckens." 
 
 376 
 
 **The Letters of Charles Dickens." By William 
 
 Minto. 
 
 London : The Fortnightly Revieiu. December 1, 
 
 1879. pp. 845, 862. Reprinted in LitteWs Living 
 
 Age (Boston). January, 1880. pp. 3, 13 ; and in 
 
 the Eclectic Magazine (N'ew York). February, 1880. 
 
 pp. 165, 175. 
 
 •*. . . No formal portrait could be half so vivid. In this 
 book, which was never intended to be a book, we come nearer 
 to the man as he was than biographer would have brought us. 
 ... It has sometimes been imputed to Dickens as a defect in 
 his private character that he was self-conscious, that he was 
 always behaving as if the eye of the world were upon him, that 
 he was never natural, but always posing for effect, showing 
 himself aware that his smallest action would be handed down 
 to posterity. The expression to Mr. Forster, * Put that in my 
 biography ' — after telling him how he jumped out of bed one 
 night to practise a step which he had been learning in view of 
 festivities on the birthday of one of his children — has often 
 
CRITICAL. 329 
 
 been quoted iu proof of this unbecoming immodestv. I must 
 say I can never hear such folly talked without feeling inclined 
 to repeat Charles Lamb's frantic pantomime of surprise when 
 a respectable gentleman asked him whether he did not after all 
 consider that Milton was a poet. How could Dickens have 
 been otherwise than conscious of what was proclaimed by the 
 universal voice? How could he have ignored tlie fact that his 
 smallest action was noted with interest when he had seen an 
 audience scrambling for the petals of a flower which had 
 dropped from his button-hole ? Probably no human being was 
 ever put in so trying a position as Charles Dickens when he 
 was suddenly lifted from drudging obscurity into an unparalleled, 
 absolutely unparalleled, blaze of fame, and found himself 
 received every whei'e with the honours usually reserved for 
 royal personages, popular ministers, or great generals after 
 glorious victory. He could not take refuge in state ceremonial, 
 for no awe was mingled with the enthusiasm of the multitude ; 
 the creator of Pickwick and Sam Weller was not a being to be 
 gazed at with distant respect, but a man and a brother to be 
 inobbed, huzzaed, welcomed with affectionate smile and broad 
 grins of sympathy. It was a trying position, and no man 
 could have borne liis honours with more manly and unaffected 
 simplicity than Dickens did. He frankly accepted the situa- 
 tion, and never sought to disguise his delight in his fame. He 
 did not allow it to overpower him into a preposterous affecta- 
 :tion of humilit}', or stiffen him into a frigid assumption of 
 dignity ; but he gloried in it, and made a joke of it among his 
 familiar friends. In public he took applause and attention as 
 his natural right; in his private letters, in which he gave un- 
 restrained vent to his sense of fun, we find many scenes and 
 dialogues where he figures under such nicknames as 'The Inimit- 
 able,' ' The Sparkler of Albion,' and the rest. . . ." 
 
 "... The letters, however, do not show us Dickens at work, 
 but Dickens at play, relieved from the strain of facing the 
 
330 CRITICAL. 
 
 public, and tossing off the impressions of the moment for the 
 sympatlieiic appreciation of his own inner circle. ... It ia a 
 cliaracteriutic circumstance that the most boisterously cheerful 
 letters were written to the correspondents who liad most need 
 of cheering. . . ." 
 
 "... A certain shadow hangs over the letters written in 
 the last years of Dickens's life. The old buoyancy is still there, 
 but its flashes are more intermittent. The tone is, on the 
 whole, sadder. We cannot wonder; rather we must admire 
 the courage with which he defied all warning symptoms, and 
 stuck to his work and his mirthfulness to the last. Nor must 
 it be supposed that the spirit of mirthfulness is the only spirit 
 that is revealed in these letters. I have dwelt upon the lavish 
 way in which Dickens employed his genius to brighten hi» 
 own inner circle. But it would have been easy to select from 
 his correspondence instances of helpfulness of a more sub- 
 stantial kind, instances, of the readiness with which, in the 
 midst of his own engrossing work, he turned aside to assist 
 those who needed assistance. The letters now published 
 corroborate Mr. Carlyle's estimate of ' his rare and great worth 
 as a brother-man ; a most cordial, sincere, clear-sighted, quietly 
 decisive, just, and loving man. . . .' ' 
 
 377 
 The Letters of Dickens. (By W. C. Brownell.) 
 New York : The Nation. December 4, 1879. pp. 
 388, 390. 
 
 "... Few of us have any doubt, we suppose, that, on how- 
 ever different grounds, many of his creations will be as much 
 admired and found to be as admirable in the next century as 
 they have been in this ; they contain, even if they do not 
 consistently and completely embody, a union of truth and 
 freshness, of originality and nature, upon which the lasting 
 
CRITICAL. 331 
 
 fame of literary creations has always built securely. But ten 
 years are nearly enough to show that in Dickens himself the 
 future admirers of his works will take almost no interest at 
 all. In reading through these letters one's irresistible feeling is 
 that it is at least well that their publication was not delayed 
 longer, if, indeed, it has not been delayed too long already. 
 They present the man very adequately, we imagine, and, in 
 presenting him. inevitably betray how slight was the real 
 foundation for the great personal interest taken in him during 
 the last tliirty or forty years. . . But though the lapse of time 
 is slow, it is also certain, and, unless we ai'e mistaken about the 
 fact, popular interest in the man has already appreciatively 
 declined, if it has not subsided. There are probably few who 
 will read these two volumes from cover to cover." 
 
 " Nevertheless, no small portion of them is worth reading. 
 They will not materially modify the discerning reader's notion 
 of Dickens, but they will empliasize, point, and explain it ; 
 and we are tempted to add, out of their emptiness. They 
 throw, too, some light on what is after all a curious problem, how 
 such a man, namely, could have written such books ; they show 
 how loose are our stock ideas of such matters, and how entirely 
 possible it is for a writer of remarkable genius, high spirits, and 
 humour to be at the same time a rather coarse-fibred and con- 
 ventional kind of man, from acute interest in whom all but his 
 friends may be dispensed. ..." 
 
 *'. . . It would be hard to find a more striking example of 
 the conscious man ; all that he seems to have been unconscious 
 of was his own self-consciousness and the esteem in which 
 a betrayal of self-consciousness is held by certain fastidious 
 people. ..." 
 
 "... We doubt if as many letters of any of the men worthy 
 to be ranked as his compeers could be collected which would 
 show such a limited concern for the world in which he 
 personally played no part. ..." 
 
332 CRITICAL. 
 
 378 
 "The Letters of Charles Dickens." 
 London: The Literary World. December 12, 1879. 
 pp. 369, 371. 
 
 **. . . No man, as the editor observes, expressed himself 
 more iu his letters than Charles Dickens. It was impossible 
 that it could be otherwise. Dickens was a genius, and he knew 
 himself to be such. . . ." 
 
 "Everywhere we see the same jolly, good-natured man, over- 
 flowing with animal spirits, ready to do a good turn to anyone, 
 ready for any amount of fun, and at the same time endowed 
 with enduring power of work, and that attention to details 
 which is one of the chief attributes of genius, and without 
 which it is of little avail." 
 
 ". . . Everywhere we see indications of the genuine, 
 affectionate cliaracter of the man, the deep interest which he 
 took in the welfare of even the humblest around him ; how, at 
 all times, he was full of wit and humour. . . ." 
 
 379 
 **The Letters of Charles Dickens." 
 New York : Scrihner's Monthly. January, 1880. 
 pp. 470, 471. 
 
 " If the late John Forster was, as many think, a skilful 
 biographer, his skill deserted him when he sat down to write 
 his Life of Dickens. It is a disagreeable book, in that it 
 destroys respect for its subject j and a disappointing book, in 
 that it excludes all knowledge of Idm other than that possessed 
 by Forster himself. He sought to monopolize Dickens as much 
 as Boswell sought to monopolize Johnson, and succeeded in 
 doing so as far as his own book is concerned ; for it contains 
 nothing but Dickens and Forster, and considerably more 
 Forster than Dickens. That Dickens had other friends and 
 
CKITICAL. 333 
 
 other correspondents never entered into his biographical 
 calculation ; neither did lie admit the possibility of his mis- 
 understanding so complex and contradictory a nature. His 
 book satisfied him, we suppose, from the vein of arrogant 
 complacency which runs through it ; but it satisfied no one else, 
 for the least sympathetic reader could not but feel an irreconcil- 
 able difference between the man as he portrayed him and his 
 work as the world knows it. This cannot be Dickens we said 
 to ourselves — certainly not Dickens as he appeared to his 
 friends. We have heard what Forster has to say ; we will wait 
 now and hear what they have to say. They liave not spoken 
 yet after his voluminous fashion, but they have given us some 
 reminiscences of Dickens from time to time, and have led us 
 to distrust the judgment of Forster. We have revised it al- 
 together since veeread these letters, which reveal the personality 
 of their writer as we find it in his books, and show him to have 
 been a bright-minded, warm-hearted gentleman, a cheery, 
 affectionate friend, and a tender, loving husband and father. 
 We accept their testimony because it is unconsciously given, 
 and because it is consistent with itself. It is a trying ordeal 
 to the memory of any writer to have his private correspon- 
 dence printed as fullj' as it is here ; but it is an ordeal through 
 which the memory of Dickens has passed triumphantly. We 
 know him now more intimately than ever before, and are glad of 
 the knowledge that we have obtained, for it is honourable alike to 
 his head and his heart. . . There are passages in these delightful 
 letters — picturesque bits of description, sparkling scintillations 
 of wit and humour, curious and felicitous terms of expression, 
 etc. — which are equal to anything that Dickens ever wrote. . . 
 They are frank, manly, and affectionate ; and though com- 
 municative, as such letters should be, are not in the least 
 egotistical. They authenticate themselves, in short, as un- 
 conscious revealments of the fine disposition, the hearty nature, 
 and the beautiful genius of Charles Dickens." 
 
334 CRITICAL. 
 
 380 
 "The Letters of Charles Dickens." 
 
 New York : Appleton's Journal of Literakire. 
 January, 1880. pp. 72, 81. 
 
 "Fortunately for Dickens and for the public, there were in 
 existence ample materials for repairing the deficiencies and 
 correcting the mistakes of Mr. Forster's work ; and these 
 materials could hardly have been used to greater advantsge 
 than in the Letters of Charles Dickens, which his sister-in-law 
 law and his daughter have brought together in two stout 
 volumegi. . . ." 
 
 ** If the alternative were placed before the reader of dis- 
 carding either Mr. Forster's biography or his correspondence, 
 we should feel no hesitation in advising him to retain the cor- 
 respondence, as presenting on tlie whole a fairer, more adequate, 
 more trustworthy, and more pleasing picture of Dickens's 
 character and life. ..." 
 
 " Regarded merely as literature, apart from their personal 
 bearing, Dickens's Letters are nearly as good and quite as 
 entertaining as anything he ever wrote. . . ." 
 
 '* Taken as a whole, they portray with wonderful vividness 
 and fidelity nearly all possible phases of the author's thoughts 
 and feelings, and it may be confidently said, in conclusion, that 
 there are very few men whose hearts and lives could be laid so 
 bare as in this corrrespondence, and yet leave upon the readers 
 so consistently pleasing an impression. . . .*' 
 
 381 
 
 *'The Leiters of the late Mr, Dickens." By 
 
 Matthew Browne. 
 
 London : 2'he Contemporary Beview. January, 1880. 
 
 pp. 77, 85. 
 
CRITICAL. 335 
 
 "... But, after all, published collections of private letters 
 are usually disappointing things ; and these two large volumes, 
 interesting as they are, constitute no exception to the general 
 rule. We do, indeed, obtain glimpses of physical suffering and 
 ill-health, for which the general public were quite unprepared ; 
 but the Dickens of these pages is the Dickens we already 
 knew, and we have not the key to his interior life ; while we are 
 helped to discern inconsistencies of opinion and conduct of which 
 there is no accessible explanation. ..." 
 
 " One point, however, is deeply emphasized by much of the 
 matter contained in these letters. We knew it before, but now 
 we know it better. We mean his love of the young, his hearty 
 understanding of them, his fine sense of the humour there is in 
 their way of looking at life, and his passionate desire to see 
 them well treated, and openly and fully sympathised with. . . . 
 The first impression one receives on turning over the pages is 
 that of an immense egotism. But Dickens was, in respect of 
 tendency to frank outpouring, a really child-like man, and, in 
 addition, the majority of the letters are written to members of 
 the family, or very dear old friends who, he knew and felt at the 
 moment of writing, would listen to his rattle about himself and 
 his successes with something better than indulgence, with, namely, 
 the interest of something like conscious oneness. A man is not 
 an egotist when he tells the story of his adventures to his wife 
 or sister. ..." 
 
 "... One thing is exceedingly obvious on the face of these 
 letters, as, indeed, it is obvious in the books, and was obvious in 
 the life of Dickens. He had but little secretiveness. That is, 
 undoubtedly, a disadvantage to a man, when the question is 
 once raised whether he is an egotist or not. This want caused 
 his books to be destitute of whatever charm ' the retarding art ' 
 can give ; and, as a rule, even the best effects of even his most 
 homely writing leap into your eyes, as the French phrase goes, 
 Avhen you would rather they stole upon you. ..." 
 
336 CRITICAL. 
 
 "... Upon these volumes, considered as literary memorials, 
 a word or two will be sufficient. The lady editors have wisely 
 prefixed to the letters of each year, from 1833-4 to 1870, an 
 introductory chapter of explanation. These chapters are good ; 
 but the reader wishes them longer and fuller, to say nothing of 
 points left unexplained, which call for explanation. If about 
 half the collection, as it stands, were omitted, and such of the 
 more private letters as could properly be made public were 
 printed, we should receive a much more nearly perfect impres- 
 sion of the man. It often happens that ' chops and tomato- 
 sauce ' contains a volume of meaning, which you would vainly 
 look for in a score of set epistles. ..." 
 
 382 
 "The Letters of Charles Dickens." By Eugene 
 
 L. Didier. 
 
 New York : The North American Review. March, 
 1880. pp. 302, 306. 
 Reviewed in conjunction with works by other writers. 
 
 "We did not expect much from The Letters of Charles DicJcens, 
 and were not disappointed. Yet, as a revelation of his own 
 character by one of the most popular authors of this century, it 
 is one of the most remarkable works that has appeared since 
 The Life and Letters of Byron delighted the world fifty years 
 ago. . . ." 
 
 '* Charles Dickens was an excellent correspondent — punctual, 
 regular — and when he had said all that w^as necessary, he 
 stopped. His letters are easy, simple, and unaffected, and show 
 him to have been a frank, genial, vain, generous, egotistical 
 fellow. His spirits were high, his enjoyment of life keen, and 
 he was an industrious and indefatigable literary worker : in the 
 latter respect he was like Scott, but he differed from the author 
 of WaverJey in being a very painstaking and laborious writer. 
 
CRITICAL. 837 
 
 These letters open to us glimpses of Dickens's domestic life, 
 which are calculated to increase our interest in their author. 
 He was essentially a domestic man ; his children ever occupied 
 the first place in his thoughts ; and, when absent from them, his 
 letters were frequent, and evinced the deepest interest in all that 
 concerned them. ..." 
 
 " These letters show that Dickens was completely spoiled by 
 his amazing success, both as an author and a reader : his con- 
 stant complaint about small things is childish ; especially is this 
 the case during his last visit to America in 1867-68, when a 
 ' cold in the head ' is mentioned in every letter ^vritten about 
 that time. We regret to say that nothing in his correspondence 
 removes from our mind the impression that Dickens's feeling 
 towards America was something like Dean Swift's feeling for 
 mankind — he hated mankind, but loved a few men — Pope, Gay, 
 Bolingbroke, etc. : so Dickens disliked America, but he liked a 
 few Americans — Irving, Longfellow, Fields, and 'one Mr. 
 Childs,' a newspaper proprietor. . . ," 
 
 " Although these letters will add nothing to the literary 
 reputation of Dickens, they will show him in a very favourable 
 light, both as a father and friend. We have already spoken of 
 him as a father ; as a friend, he was equally admirable. The 
 friends he had, and their adoption tried, he grappled to his soul 
 with hooks of steel. The friends of his youth remained his 
 friends until they or he died. ..." 
 
 383 
 
 " The Letters of Charles Dickens." (Vol. I.) 
 
 London : The Westminster Review. April 1, 1880. 
 
 pp. 423, 448. Reprinted in LittelVs Living Age 
 
 (Boston). June, 1880. pp. 707, 720. 
 
 22 
 
338 CRITICAL. 
 
 384 
 
 "The Letters of Charles Dickens." (By 
 Cardinal Cullen.) 
 
 BMm: The Dublin Beview. April, 1880. pp.409, 
 438. 
 
 ** . . . That remarkable character, and the career that half 
 formed it, and half was formed by it, are nowhere so wonder- 
 fully illustrated as in his own letters. His biographer gave his 
 view of him, and it guided the world's opinion ; but his own 
 view of his own life is of greater interest than either that of 
 Mr. Forster or of the critical world at large. That view may 
 be found, written as the years went by, in the letters now pub- 
 lished, to form a supplement to the well-known biography. 
 Some objectors will declare that the canons of good letter- 
 writing, according to the Macaulay, Gray, and Cowper style, 
 are not observed here ; that the letters do not deal largely in 
 description, or discourse often on subjects of general and abiding 
 interest ; that few other eminent lives are illustrated by them ; 
 that they are filled with bygone trivialities, and savour of ego- 
 tism. There is ground for some of these objections, but it is 
 narrow ground. The days are gone when there was an art that 
 ought to have been called by the heavy name of epistolary com- 
 position. . . . All we want to illustrate is, not the men and 
 things and social state of his time, which is our own time still, 
 but his own self, since he is here no longer. And nothing 
 illustrates a life so well as its smallest incidents ; just as it is 
 from lines, and shades, and distinctions inappreciably little that 
 every face takes its individuality. Such letters as these are a 
 character-sketch and life-sketch of himself, drawn by the man's 
 own hand ; and their interest is of far greater degree, but the 
 same in kind, as that attaching to a portrait. Yiewed in this 
 
CRITICAL, 339 
 
 light, there is no egotism in the letters, except that which is 
 legitimate in all letter-writing, and, perhaps, in tliat alone. . . ." 
 
 385 
 
 Letters of a Great Novelist. By the Kev. 
 
 John G. Macleod. 
 
 London : The Month. May, 1880. pp. 81, 97. 
 
 *' Dickens's amiahle love of children, his cleverness in amusing 
 them and winning their affections, were intensified when ex- 
 hibited towards his own family circle. Every letter home 
 contains some message or remark intended for the ear of one or 
 other of his little boys, hardly to be recognised under the quaint 
 name which his father's fancy had invented for him. As fre- 
 quently does he express his hearty appreciation of some domestic 
 joke, plan for amusement, or comical catastrophe. ..." 
 
 " Dickens was certainly not indifferent to tlie question of 
 religion ; but it seemed to be with him more a matter of vague 
 and tender feeling, a reverential turning of his heart and mind 
 towards God, witliout any acknowledgment of the existence of 
 a Church in tangible foi'm, or the profession of any really fixed 
 and clear system of belief. . . ." 
 
 386 
 
 " The Letters of Charles Dickens." By J. S. 
 Morse, Jun. 
 
 New York : The International Revieiv. Vol. YIII., 
 p. 271. (? date.) 
 
 22—2 
 
POETICAL. 
 
 Poetical Tributes and Memorial Yerses. 
 
 387 
 Impromptu. Ey C. J. Davids. 
 London : Bentley's Miscellany, No. 2. March, 1837. 
 p. 297. 
 
 IMPEOMPTU. 
 Who the dicTcens " Boz " could be 
 
 Puzzled many a learned elf, 
 Till time revealed the mystery, 
 And " Boz " appeared as Diclcens* self. 
 
 388 
 Impromptu. A Humorous Verse of six lines. 
 Vide Dr. Mackenzie's Life of Charles Lichens. Phil- 
 adelphia (1870). p. 97. 
 
 "Some wit, unable to resist the temptation of putting a 
 quotation from Virgil into an ej^igram, and not unwilling, per- 
 haps, to have a sly hit at his late colleague in * the gallery,* 
 wrote as follows : — 
 
POETICAL. 341 
 
 Oh, Dickens, dear, 
 I sadly fear 
 That great will be our loss 
 
 When we shall say — 
 
 Alas, the day ! — 
 " Procumbit humi Boz.^' 
 
 389 
 
 Poetical Epistle from Father Prout to *' Boz." 
 A Poem of seven verses. (Signed " Father Prout.") 
 London: Bentley's Miscellanij. January, 1838. p. 71. 
 
 390 
 
 To Charles Dickens, on his " Oliver Twist." By T. 
 :N". Talfourd. (Christmas Day, 1838.) 
 Tragedies ; to which are added a few Sonnets and 
 VerseSj by T. R Talfourd. London : Edward Moxon. 
 1844. p. 244. 
 
 391 
 
 A Tribute to Charles Dickens. A Poem of twelve 
 lines. By the Hon. Mrs. Norton. 
 London : English Bijou Almanac. 1842. 
 
 392 
 
 To Charles Dickens, on his proposed Voyage to 
 America, 1842. By Thomas Hood. 
 
342 POETICAL. 
 
 London: The Neiv Monthly Magazine. February 
 1842. p. 217. 
 
 Pshaw ! Away with leaf and berry, 
 
 And the sober-sided cup ! 
 Bring a Goblet, and bright Sherry ! 
 
 And a bumper fill me up. — 
 Though I had a pledge to shiver, 
 
 And the largest ever was, — 
 Ere his vessel leaves our river, 
 
 I will drink a health to Boz ! 
 
 Here's success to all his antics, 
 
 Since it pleases him to roam. 
 And to paddle o'er Atlantics, 
 
 After such a sale at home ! 
 May he shun all rocks whatever, 
 
 And the shallow sand that lurks, — 
 And the Passage be as clever 
 
 As the best among his works ! 
 
 393 
 To Charles Dickens, on his " Christmas Carol." A 
 Poem of fifteen lines. By W. W. G. 
 London : The Illuminated Magazine. February, 
 
 1844. p. 189. 
 
 394 
 
 To Charles Dickens. A Sonnet. 
 London : Douglas JerrolcVs Shilling Magazine. March, 
 
 1845. p. 250. 
 
POETICAL. 343 
 
 395 
 
 To Charles Dickens. A Dedicatory Sonnet (dated 
 
 "March, 1848 "). By John Forster. 
 
 The Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith, by John 
 Forster. 1848. 
 
 396 
 
 To Charles Dickens. A Dedicatory Poem of two 
 verses (dated "Edinburgh, February, 1856"). By 
 James Ballantine. 
 Poems, by James Ballantine. Edinburgh : Thomas 
 
 Constable and Co. London : Hamilton, Adams, and 
 
 Co. 1856. 
 
 397 
 
 Au Revoir. a Poem of four verses. 
 
 London : Judy, or the London Serio-comic JournaL 
 October 30, 1867. p. 37. 
 
 Published at the time of Dickens's departure for America. 
 A cartoon, drawn by T. Proctor, accompanied the verses, re- 
 presenting Dickens about to embark, surrounded by the principal 
 personages in his book as fellow-passengers, with Farmer " John 
 Bull" grasping his hands and bidding him " Au Revoir." (Re- 
 printed in Harper's Weekly (New York), December 14, 1867.) 
 
344 POETICAL. 
 
 398 
 
 A Welcome to Dickens. A Poem of eighty-four lines. 
 
 By r. J. Parmentier. 
 
 New York : Harjper's Weeldy. November 30, 1867. 
 
 pp. 757, 758. 
 
 The names of the various characters in Dickens's books are 
 skilfully introduced in this poem. 
 
 399 
 
 Memorial Verses. June 9, 1870. Fifteen verses. 
 
 By P. T. P. 
 
 London : The Daily News. June 18, 1870. p. 5. 
 
 400 
 Charles Dickens. Eorn February 7, 1812. Died 
 
 June 9, 1870. — A Memorial Poem of fourteen verses. 
 
 London: Punchy w the London Charivari. June 18, 
 1870. p. 244. 
 
 The fourth verse runs thus : 
 
 Chaeles Dickens is dead ! It is as if a light 
 
 In every English home were quenched to-day ; 
 As if a face all knew had passed from sight, 
 A hand all loved to press were turned to clay. 
 
 401 
 
 In Memoriam. June 9, 1870. A Poem of six verses. 
 
 London: The Graj^hic. June 18, 1870. p. 678. 
 
POETICAL. 345 
 
 402 
 
 Charles Dickens. Born 7 th February, 1812 ; died 
 9th June, 1870. A Memorial Sonnet. 
 London : Judy ; or^ the London Serio-comic Journal, 
 
 June 22, 1870. p. 91. 
 
 A two-page cartoon, drawn by William Brunton, accompanies 
 the poem, representing Dickens's chair, surrounded by the 
 principal characters in his works. 
 
 403 
 
 In Memory. A Poem of ten verses. With an illus- 
 tration by F. Barnard. 
 London : Fun (New Series). June 25, 1870. 
 
 p. 157. 
 
 The illustration is entitled "Charles Dickens's Legacy to 
 England," and represents the novelist sitting at his writing- 
 table, surrounded by several of his most prominent creations. 
 
 404 
 
 In Memoriam. Charles Dickens. Ohiit June 
 
 9, 1870. Five verses. 
 
 Charles DlcJcenSj with Anecdotes and Becollections of his 
 Life. By William Watkins. (1870.) p. 64. (See 
 No. 113.) 
 
346 POETICAL. 
 
 405 
 In Memoriam: A Poem of seventy lines. By H. M. C. 
 London : The Gentleman's Journal. July 1, 1870. 
 p. 22. 
 
 406 
 Dickens in Camp. A Poem of ten verses (dated " July, 
 1870"). By F. Bret Harte. 
 Poems, by F. Bret Harte. Boston : James Osgood 
 and Co. 1871. pp. 32, 35. 
 
 An exquisite poem, full of sentiment, describing a reading 
 " aloud " of the Old Curiosity Shop by one of a party of settlers 
 round a camp-fire in the wilds of California. The fourth verse 
 runs thus : — 
 
 And then, while round them shadows gathered faster, 
 
 And as the fire-light fell, 
 He read aloud the book wherein the Master 
 
 Had writ of " Little Nell." 
 
 Mr. Forster, in his Life of Charles Dichens, says of this pro- 
 duction : — 
 
 " There is hardly any form of posthumous tribute which I 
 can imagine likely to have better satisfied his desire of fame, 
 than one which should thus connect, with the special favourite 
 among all his heroines, the restraints and authority exerted by 
 his genius over the rudest and least civilized of competitors in 
 that far fierce race for wealth." 
 
POETICAL. 34)7 
 
 407 
 To His Memory. A Poem of five verses. 
 London: The Argosy. August, 1870. p. 114. 
 
 408 
 Ode to the Memory of Charles Dickens. 
 
 By A. B. Hume. 
 A Christmas Memorial of Charles Dickens^ by A. B. 
 Hume. 1870. pp. 3, 9. (See No. 50.) 
 
 409 
 A Man of the Crowd to Charles Dickens. A 
 
 Poem of a hundred and six lines. By E. J. Milliken. 
 
 London : The Gentleman's Magazine. August, 1870. 
 pp. 277, 279. 
 
 A well-rendered tribute to his genius. 
 
 410 
 
 Dickens. A Memorial Poem of two verses. 
 By 0. C. K. (Orpheus C. Kerr,) 
 The Piccadilly Annual. London: John Camden 
 Hotten. (December, 1870.) p. 72. 
 
 411 
 
 Dickens at Gadshill. A Poem of eighteen verses. 
 
 By C. K. (Charles Kent.) 
 
 London : The Athenceum. June 3, 1871. p. 687. 
 
348 POETICAL. 
 
 412 
 
 At Gad*s Hill. An Obituary Poem of fourteen 
 verses. By Eichard Henry Stoddard. 
 Anecdote Biograpldes of Thackeray and Dickens. By 
 
 R H. Stoddard. 1874. pp. 296, 299. (See No. 70.) 
 
 413 
 
 At the Grave of Dickens. A Sonnet. 
 By Clelia E. Crespi. (Eichmond, Va.) 
 London : The Detroit Free Press. July, 1884. 
 
 414 
 
 In Memoriam : Charles Dickens. Died June 9, 
 1870. A Sonnet. By C. K. 
 London : The Graphic. June 6, 1885. p. 586. 
 
 Suggested by the following passage in Thackeray's review of 
 the Christmas Carol (see Appendix, Testimonies III. ) : " The 
 last two people I heard speak of it were women ; neither knew 
 the other, or the author, and both said, by way of criticism, 
 * God bless him !' " 
 
ANTHOLOGTCAL. 
 
 Works containing Selections from, and Adapta- 
 tions OF, THE Writings of Charles Dickens. 
 
 415 
 
 The Beauties of Pickwick. Collected and arranged 
 
 by Sam Waller. 
 
 London : W. Morgan. 1838. pp. 16. 
 
 "The editors think it right to mention that the present 
 selection of articles has been compiled from the newspapers in 
 which they appeared from time to time." 
 
 416 
 Immortelles from Charles Dickens. By Icb. 
 London : John Moxon, 28, Maddox Street, Eegent 
 Street. 1856. pp. 195. 
 
 417 
 
 Child-Pictures from Dickens. Compiled by 
 T. W. Higginson. With a Prefatory Note by 
 Charles Dickens, and eight illustrations by S. 
 Ey tinge, jun. 
 
350 ANTHOLOGICAL. 
 
 Boston and New York : Ticknor and Fields, 
 1868. Ee-issued by Griffith, Farran, and Co., 1885. 
 
 In the Preface, Mr. Dickens says : " This compilation is made 
 for American children, with my free consent." The contents of 
 the volume comprise selections : Little Nell, The Marchioness, 
 Paul and Florence, Tiny Tim, Smike, Oliver Twist, and the 
 Fat Boy. 
 
 418 
 
 Dialogues from Dickens, for ScIjooI and Home 
 
 Amusement. Arranged by W. Elliot Fette, A.M. 
 
 With vignette. 
 
 Boston : Lee and Shepherd. 1870. pp. 260. 
 Dialogues FROM Dickens. Second Series. Dialogues 
 
 and Dramas. Arranged by W. Elliot Fette, A.M. 
 
 With frontispiece and vignette. 
 
 Boston : Lee and Shepherd. 1875. pp. 260. 
 
 419 
 The Dickens Dictionary. A Key to the Characters 
 
 and Principal Incidents in the Tales of Charles 
 
 Dickens. By Gilbert A. Pierce, with additions by 
 
 William A. Wheeler. Illustrated. 
 
 Boston : James E. Osgood and Co. 1872. pp. xv. 
 573. London; Chapman and Hall. 1878. (With 
 Preface by Charles Dickens, jun.) pp. xvi. 607. 
 
ANTHOLOGICAL. 351 
 
 The number of characters included in the Index to this 
 Dictionary exceeds 1,500 ; while the names of imaginary places, 
 societies, literary works, familiar phrases or sayings, and the 
 like, are upwards of 200 in number. All the more important 
 characters have a quotation in which they figure, extending to 
 some pages ; and in the case of others of less note there is 
 attached to the names some playful allusion or odd expression 
 to individualise them. 
 
 420 
 A Cyclopaedia of the Best Thoughts of Charles 
 
 Dickens. Compiled and alphabetically arranged by 
 
 r. G. de Fontaiue. 
 
 Ilow York : E. J. Hale and Son, Murray Street. 
 1873. pp. 564. 
 
 421 
 The Dickens Eeader. Character Readings from 
 the Stories of Charles Dickens. Selected, adapted, 
 and arranged by Nathan Sheppard. With nume- 
 rous illustrations by F. Barnard. 
 'New York : Harper and Brothers. December 30, 
 
 1881. pp. 83. 
 
 With a Preface, stating that " these selections comprise all the 
 leading, and most of the minor, characters drawn by Charles 
 Dickens, and are arranged for the convenience of those who give 
 Character Readings from Dickens, and those who manage 
 Dickens Parties or Costume Tableaux." 
 
352 ANTHOLOGICAL. 
 
 422 
 
 The Charles Dickens Birthday Book. Compiled 
 and Edited by his Eldest Daughter. With five 
 illustrations by his Youngest Daughter. 
 London : Chapman and Hall. 1882. (pp. 286.) 
 
 423 
 
 Tales from Charles Dickens's Works. (The 
 British Standard Library, First Series.) 
 London : J. and E. Maxwell, Shoe Lane, Fleet 
 Street. N.D. pp. 384. 
 
 Including ''Sam Weller — Joe, the Fat Boy — Stiggins, the 
 Shepherd — The Artful Dodger —Nancy Sikes — Bardell against 
 Pickwick — Dotheboys Hall — Tales from Pickwick — Mr. Winkle's 
 Wooing — The Infant Phenomenon — Kate Nickleby — Stories by 
 Boz." These tales, each][occupying thirty-two pages, are care- 
 fully derived from, and collated with, the original text. 
 
 424 
 
 Readings from the Works of Charles Dickens. 
 
 Condensed and adapted by John A. Jennings, B.A. 
 
 Dublin : Carson Brothers. London : Simpkin, 
 
 Marshall and Co., Hamilton, Adams and Co. N.D. 
 
 (1882.) pp. 256. 
 
 With a Preface of two pages, dated "Midsummer, 1882." A 
 portrait of Dickens is printed on the cover. 
 
ANTHOLOGICAL. 353 
 
 425 
 Chips from Dickens. Selected by Thomas Mason. 
 Glasgow; David Bryce and Son. N.D. (1884.) 
 pp. 126. 
 
 426 
 The Humour and Pathos of Charles Dickens: 
 with illustrations of His Mastery of the Terrible 
 and the Picturesque. Selected by Charles Kent. 
 With a portrait on steel. 
 London : Chapman and Hall. 1884. pp. 462. 
 
 427 
 
 Wellerisms. Edited, with Introduction, by Charles 
 
 Kent. 
 
 London : George Kedway. (Eedway's Shilling 
 Series, Vol. IV.) {In ^preparation.) 
 
 Comprising a collection of all the quaint expressions for which 
 the Wellers, pere etjils, are famous. 
 
 23 
 
MUSICAL. 
 
 Songs and other Musical Compositions, founded on 
 
 OR SUGGESTED BY THE WORKS OF ChARLES DiCKENS. 
 
 428 
 The Tuggs's at Eamsgate. Versified from *' Boz's" 
 Sketch. 
 Published with other pieces, 1852. 
 
 429 
 
 The Ivy Green. A Song. The Words by Charles 
 
 Dickens, Esq. ; Music by Mrs. Henry Dale. 
 
 London : E. Cocks and Co. N.D. (1840.) pp. 7. 
 
 See Chapter VI. of the PicTcwich Papers^ where the song was 
 first introduced as a recitation by the clergyman of Dingley 
 DeU. 
 
 430 
 
 The Ivy Green. A Song. Words, by permission, 
 from the " Pickwick Papers." By Charles Dickens, 
 Esq. Music by A. De Belfor. 
 London : Tregear and Lewis, 96, Cheapside. N.D. 
 
 (1843.) pp. 5. 
 
MUSICAL. 355 
 
 431 
 
 The Ivy Green. A Song. Written by "Boz.' 
 Music by W. Lovell Phillips. Dedicated to Charles 
 Dickens, Esq. 
 London : Leoni Lee, 48, Albemarle Street. N.D, 
 
 (1844.) pp. 5. 
 
 With a lithographed illustration on wrapper. 
 
 432 
 The Ivy Green. Introduction and Familiar Vari- 
 ations on "The Ivy Green." Arranged for the 
 pianoforte by Kicardo Linter. 
 London : DAlmaine and Co. N.D. (1844.) pp. 9. 
 
 433 
 The Ivy Green. A Sopg. Words by Charles 
 
 Dickens, Esq. ; Music by Henry Eussell. 
 
 London : J. Bingley, 37, Moneyers Street, Hoxton, 
 and W. Strange, 21, Paternoster Row. KD. (1846.) 
 The Musical Bouquet^ No. 9. pp. 33, 36. 
 
 With an illustration as heading, drawn by A. Ashley, and 
 engraved on steel by J. Bingley. 
 
 434 
 
 Gabriel Grub. The Story of the Goblins who 
 
 stole the Sexton. Cantata Seria Buffa. Adapted 
 
 23—2 
 
356 MUSICAL. 
 
 from Charles Dickens's story in "Pickwick" by 
 Frederick Wood. Music by George Fox. 
 London : B. Williams, GO, Paternoster Row, E.C. 
 N.D. (1881.) pp. 48. 
 
 Dedicated to Charles Dickens, Esq, by the author and com- 
 poser. With a lithographed illustration on wrapper. 
 
 435 
 Sam Weller's Adventures. A Song of the Pick- 
 wickians. Seven verses, with two illustrations. 
 Reprinted in The Life and Times of James Catnach, 
 by Charles Hindley. 1878. pp. 276, 278. 
 
 This humorous street-ballad is prefaced by the following 
 lines, parodying a familiar poem : 
 
 Who caused the smiles of rich and poor ? 
 Who made a hit so»slow, but sure ? 
 And rose the worth of literature ? 
 
 Sam Weller. 
 
 436 
 
 The Nicholas Nickleby Quadrilles and Nickleby 
 Galop. By Sydney Vernon. Humbly dedicated to 
 the Brothers Cheeryble. 
 London : Published by M. A. Fentum, 78, Strand. 
 
 1839. pp. 6. 
 
MUSICAL. 357 
 
 Each page, the last one excepted, bears the name, as title, of 
 a character in Nicholas NicJclehy, in the following order : Kate, 
 Mantalini, Nicholas, Smike, Squeers. The last page is entitled 
 " The Nickleby Galop." 
 
 437 
 
 Little Nell. A Melody. Composed by George 
 Linley, and arranged for the "pianoforte by Carlo 
 Zotti. 
 London : Cramer and Co. N.D. (1865.) pp.7. 
 
 438 
 
 Maypole Hugh. A Song. Words by Charles Brad- 
 berry ; Music by George Fox. 
 London : W. Morley, jun., and Co., 70, Upper 
 
 Street, N. N.D. (1881.) pp. 7. 
 
 439 
 
 Yankee Notes for English Circulation ; or, Boz 
 IN A-Merry-Key. a Comic Song by James 
 Briton. Music by Loder. With a portrait of 
 "Boz" on his journey, and with other Amusing 
 Ditties. N.D. 1842. 
 
358 MUSICAL. 
 
 440 
 
 A Christmas Carol. By Charles Dickens. A Song. 
 (Air, « Old King Cole.") 
 London : George Virtue. N.D. The Book of British 
 Song, Part 21 (ISTew Edition), pp. 73, 80. 
 
 With an illustration, a heading, drawn by A. Crowquill, and 
 engraved on wood by J. Lee. 
 
 441 
 
 The Celebrated Chimes Quadrille. Eespectfully 
 
 inscribed to Charles Dickens, Esq. 
 
 London: Musical Bouquet Office, 192, High Hol- 
 born ; and J. Allen, 20, Warwick Lane, Paternoster 
 Row. N.D. {circa 1845.) The Musical Bouquet^^o. 5. 
 pp. 17, 20. 
 
 With an illustration, as heading, drawn by A. Ashley, and 
 engraved on steel. 
 
 442 
 
 The Cricket on the Hearth. A New Christmas 
 Quadrille. By F. Lancelott. Respectfully inscribed 
 to Charles Dickens, Esq. 
 
 London : J. Bingley, 37, Money ers Street, Hoxton; 
 and W. Strange, 21, Paternoster Row. N.D. (1846.) 
 The Musical Bouquet, No. 57. pp. 33, 36. 
 
MUSICAL. 359 
 
 With an illustration, as heading, drawn by Alfred Ashley, and 
 engraved on steel. The melodies in this Quadrille that are not 
 original are from the works of Dr. Calcott, C. Horn, J. Barnett, 
 and the National Melodies of Scotland. 
 
 443 
 
 What are the Wild Waves Saying? A Vocal Duet. 
 Founded on an incident in the narrative of **Dombey 
 and Son." Written and respectfully inscribed to 
 Charles Dickens, Esq., by Joseph Edwards Carpenter. 
 The Music composed by Stephen Glover. 
 London : Eobert Cocks and Co., 6, New Burlington 
 
 Street. IST.D. {circa 1850.) pp. 9. 
 
 The following is the incident referred to, which appears in 
 Chapter VIII. of Domhey and Son : 
 
 "I want to know what it says — the sea — what is it that it keeps 
 on saying ?" 
 
 444 
 A Voice from the Waves. A Vocal Duet, in answer 
 
 to the above. Words by E. Eyan. Music by Stephen 
 
 Glover. 
 
 London : Eobert Cocks and Co., 6, New Burlington 
 Street. N.D. (circa 1850.) pp. 7. 
 
 445 
 Little Dorrit's Vigil. Written by John Barnes. 
 Composed by George Linley. 
 
SCO MUSICAL. 
 
 London : Cramer, Beale and Chappell. N.D. 
 (1856.) pp. 6. 
 
 446 
 
 My Dear Old Home. A Ballad. Words by J. E. 
 
 Carpenter ; Music by John Blockley. 
 
 London : Chappell, 50, New Bond Street. N.D. 
 (1857.) pp.5. 
 
 With a lithographed illustration on wrapper. This Ballad is 
 founded on the following passage in Little Dorrit (Chapter xxviii.) : 
 " You know how I am loved at home, and how I love home j 
 you can hardly think it, perhaps, dear Mr. Clennam, seeing me 
 going from it of my own free will and choice, but I do so dearly 
 love it. . . . All homes are not left with such a blank in them 
 as there will be in mine when I am gone." 
 
 447 
 
 Who Passes by this Eoad so Late? Blandois' 
 Song, from "Little Dorrit." Words by Charles 
 Dickens, Esq. ; Music by H. R. S. Dalton, Esq. 
 London : J. H. Jewell, 104, Great Eussell Street, 
 
 Bloomsbury. KD. (1857.) pp.4. 
 
 448 
 
 Floating Away. A Ballad. Words by J. E. Car- 
 penter ; Music by John Blockley. 
 
MUSICAL. 361 
 
 London : Cramer, Beale and Co., 201, Regent Street, 
 N.D. (1857.) pp. 5. 
 
 With a lithographed illustration on wrapper. This Ballad is 
 founded on the following passage in Little Dorr it {Cha,]^ter xxviii.): 
 • ' He put his hand in his breast, and tenderly took out the hand- 
 ful of roses, and gently launched them on the flowing river. 
 The flowers, pale and unreal in the moonlight, floated away ; and 
 thus do greater things that once were in our breasts, and near 
 our hearts, flow from us to the eternal seas." 
 
 449 
 
 All the Year Round ; or, The Search for Happi- 
 ness, A Song. Words by W. S. Passmore ; Music 
 by John Blockley. Inscribed, by permission, to 
 Charles Dickens, Esq. 
 London ; Addison, Hollier, and Lucas, 210, Regent 
 
 Street. N.D. (1860.) pp. 5. 
 
 With a series of lithographed illustrations on wrapper, by 
 A. Laby. 
 
 450 
 
 Dolly Varden. A Ballad. Words and music com- 
 posed by Cotsford Dick. 
 
 London : Boosey and Co. KD. (1880.) pp. 7. 
 Vide Barndby Rudge. 
 
DEAMATIC. 
 
 Plays founded on the Works of Charles Dickens, 
 AND ON Incidents contained therein. 
 
 " Of what he (Dickens) suffered from these adaptations of his 
 books, multiplied remorselessly at every theatre, I have forborne 
 to speak, but it was the subject of complaint with him in- 
 cessantly. ... It is true that to the dramatization of his next 
 {The Chimes) and other following Christmas stories he gave 
 help himself ; but, even then, all such efforts to assist special 
 representations were mere attempts to render more tolerable 
 what he had no power to prevent, and, with a few rare excep- 
 tions, they were never very successful." — ( F*o?e Forster's Life of 
 Charles Dickens.) 
 
 451 
 
 The Peregrinations of Pickwick. An Acting 
 
 Drama. By William Leman Rede, Esq. With a Scenic 
 
 Illustration taken in the Theatre ; engraved on 
 
 wood by W. C. Walker. 
 
 London : W. Strange, St. Paul's Churchyard. 1837. 
 pp. 32. 
 
 The Illustration, as frontispiece, represents "Weller at the 
 Inn." On the wrapper is an engraved reproduction of Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds' picture, " Garrick between Comedy and Tra- 
 
DKAMATIC. 363 
 
 gedy." This play was first performed at the Adelphi and Surrey 
 Theatres. 
 
 452 
 
 The Pickwick Club ; or, The Age we Live in. A 
 Burletta, in Three Acts. By E. Stirling, Esq. 
 With an etched frontispiece by Mr. Eindlay. 
 London : J. Duncombe and Co. (Duncombe's 
 
 British Theatre, Vol. 26.) N.D. (1837). pp. 52. 
 
 First produced at the City of London Theatre, April 27, 1837. 
 The illustration is an imitation of "Phiz's" etching of "Mr. Pick- 
 wick in the Pound." 
 
 453 
 
 Sam Weller; or, The Pickwickians. A Parcical 
 
 Comedy, in Three Acts. By W. T. MoncriefP. 
 
 London : Published for the Author. 1837. pp. 53. 
 
 Prefaced by six pages of "Advertisement," dated "98, 
 Waterloo Koad, August 21, 1837." First performed at the 
 Strand Theatre, July 17, 1837. 
 
 454 
 
 The Pickwickians; or. The Peregrinations of 
 
 Sam Weller. A Comic Drama, in Three Acts. 
 
 Arranged from Moncrieff's adaptation of Charles 
 
 Dickens's Work, by T. H. Lacy. 
 
 London : T. H. Lacy. N.D. (1837). pp. 60. 
 
 As performed at the Belfast, Cork, and Norwich Theatres 
 1837. 
 
364 DRAMATIC. 
 
 455 
 Barbell versus Pickwick ; Versified and Diversified. 
 
 In Two Acts. Songs and Choruses. Words by T. 
 
 H. Gem. Music by Frank Spinney. 
 
 Leamington : Barr, printer, Clarendon Street. N.D. 
 pp. 12. 
 
 456 
 Barbell v. Pickwick. A Farcical Sketch. In One 
 Act. By Charles Dickens. Arranged for the Stage 
 from the Author's Special Eeading Copy, by John 
 Hollingshead. 
 New York : E. M. De Witt. N.D. 
 
 457 
 Barbell v. Pickwick. Adapted from the " Pickwick 
 
 Papers " of Mr. C. Dickens. 
 
 Manchester : Abel Heywood and Son. London : 
 H. Yickers. N.D. pp. 15. 
 
 458 
 Barbell v. Pickwick. (In One Act.) Adapted 
 
 from the " Pickwick Papers " of Charles Dickens. 
 
 As represented at the London Theatres. 
 
 London: John Dicks, 313, Strand. (Dicks' Stan- 
 dard Plays.) N.D. pp. 6. Woodcut on title-page. 
 
DRAMATIC. 365 
 
 459 
 The Great Pickwick Case, arranged as a Comic 
 
 Operetta. From the " Pickwick Papers " of Charles 
 
 Dickens. The words of the Songs by Eobert Pollitt. 
 
 The Music arranged by Thomas Eawson. 
 
 Manchester : Abel Heywood and Son. N.D. pp. 
 45. 
 
 This musical adaptation of the famous trial of " Bardell v. 
 Pickwick" was published in December, 1884, and includes 
 several original songs for the principal characters, set to old airs 
 with new accompaniments. 
 
 460 
 
 Oliver Twist ; or, A Parish Boy's Progress. A 
 Domestic Drama, in Three Acts. Adapted from 
 "Boz's" Celebrated Tale, hfC. Z. Barnett. With 
 a frontispiece etched by Mr. Pindlay, from a drawl- 
 ing taken in the Theatre. 
 London : J. Duncombo and Co. (Duncombe's 
 
 British Theatre, Vol. 29.) N.D. pp. 38. London : 
 
 T. H. Lacy. KD. pp. 48. 
 
 First performed at the Pavilion Theatre, May 21, 1838. 
 
 461 
 Oliver Twist. A Serio-Comic Burletta, in Three 
 Acts. By George Almar, Comedian. With a 
 frontispiece etched by Pierce Egan the Younger, 
 
366 DRAMATIC. 
 
 from a drawing taken during the representation. 
 London ; Chapman and Hall. {The Acting National 
 Drama, Vol. 6.) N.D. pp. 60. 
 
 First performed at the Koyal Surrey Theatre, November 19, 
 1838. 
 
 462 
 
 Oliver Twist. A Serio-Comic Burletta, in Four 
 Acts. By George Almar, Comedian. 
 New York : Samuel French. N.D. pp. 44. 
 
 463 
 
 Bumble's Courtship. From Dickens's "Oliver Twist.'^ 
 A Comic Interlude, in One Act. By Frank E. 
 Emson. 
 London and New York : Samuel French. N.D. 
 
 pp. 11. 
 
 464 
 
 Nicholas Nickleby. A Farce, in Two Acts. Taken 
 from the Popular Work of that name by " Boz." By 
 Edward Stirling, Esq. With a frontispiece etched by 
 Pierce Egan the Younger, from a drawing taken during 
 the representation. Dedicated to Charles Dickens. 
 London : Chapman and Hall. (The Acting National 
 
 Drama, Vol. 5.) N.D. pp. 36. 
 
 First performed, November 19, 1838. 
 
DKAMATIC. 367 
 
 In his Life of Charles Diclens, Mr. Forster says of this play 
 that "an indecent assault had been committed on his book 
 (Dickens's Nicholas Nicklehy) by a theatrical adapter named 
 Stirling, who seized upon it without leave while yet only a third 
 of it was written ; hacked, cut, and garbled its dialogue to the 
 shape of one or two farcical actors ; invented for it a plot and an 
 ending of his own, and produced it at the Adelphi ; where the 
 outraged author, hard pressed as he was with an unfinished 
 number, had seen it in the interval between the two let.ters I 
 have quoted. He would not have run such a risk in later years, 
 but he threw off lightly, at present, even such offences to his 
 art ; and though I was with him at a representation of his 
 Oliver Twist, the following month, at the Surrey Theatre, when, 
 in the middle of the first scene, he laid himself down upon the 
 floor in a corner of the box and never rose from it until the drop- 
 scene fell, he had been able to sit through NicTclehy, and to see 
 a kind of merit in some of the actors. ..." 
 
 465 
 Nicholas Nickleby. A Drama in Four Acts. From 
 
 Charles Dickens's Great Work. Adapted by H. 
 
 Simms. 
 
 London: John Dicks, 313, Strand. (Dicks' Stan- 
 dard Plays.) N.D. pp. 29. Woodcut on title-page. 
 
 First performed at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, 1875. 
 
 466 
 .Nicholas Nickleby. An Episodic Sketch in Three 
 Tableaux, based upon an incident in "Nicholas 
 Nickleby." 
 Not published. 
 
368 DRAMATIC. 
 
 Tableau I. — London, " The Saracen's Head. " Tableau II. — 
 Yorkshire, "Do-the-Boys Hall." Tableau III. — London, 
 **Ealph Nickleby's Office." 
 
 Originally produced in America. The first performance in 
 London took place at the Strand Theatre, September 10, 1885. 
 
 467 
 
 The Infant Phenomenon ; or, A Eehearsal Ee- 
 hearsed. A Domestic Piece, in One Act. Being 
 an Episode in the Adventures of "Nicholas 
 Nickleby." Adapted by H. Horncastle. 
 London : John Dicks, 313, Strand (Dicks' Standard 
 
 Plays.) N.D. pp. 8. Woodcut on title-page. 
 First performed at the Strand Theatre, July 8, 1832. 
 
 468 
 
 The Fortunes of Smike; or, A Sequel to Nicholas 
 NlCKLEBY. A Drama, in Two Acts. By Edward 
 Stirling, Esq. "With a frontispiece etched by Pierce 
 Egan the Younger, from a drawing taken during the 
 representation. Dedicated to Mrs. Keeley. 
 London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper. {The Acting 
 
 National Drama, Vol. 9.) KD. pp. 41. 
 First performed on Monday, March 2, 1840. 
 
DRAMATIC. 369 
 
 469 
 
 Master Humphrey's Clock: A Domestic Drama, 
 in Two ActF. Ey Frederic Fox Cooper, Esq. With 
 a frontispiece etched by Mr. Findlay. 
 London : J. Duncombe and Co. (Duncombe's 
 
 Brithh Theatre, Vol. 41.) N.D. pp. 36. 
 
 First performed at the Victoria Theatre, May 26, 1840. 
 
 470 
 The Old Curiosity Shop. A Drama, in Two Acts. 
 
 By E. Stirling, Esq. With an etched frontispiece. 
 
 London : T. H. Lacy. (Lacy's Acting Edition^ 
 Vol. 77.) KD. pp. 39. 
 
 First performed at the Theatre Royal, Adelphi, on Monday 
 November 9, 1840. 
 
 471 
 The Old Curiosity Shop. A Drama, in Four 
 Acts. Adapted from Charles Dickens's Novel of 
 the same name, by G-eorge Lander. 
 London : John Dicks, 313, Strand (Dicks' Standard 
 Plays). N.D. pp. 20. Woodcut on title-page. 
 First performed at the Theatre Royal, York, May 14, 1877 
 
 24 
 
370 ^ DRAMATIC. 
 
 472 
 The Old Curiosity Shop. A Drama, in Four Acta. 
 
 Adapted by Mr. Charles Dickens, jun., from his 
 
 Father's Novel. 
 
 Not published. 
 
 First performed at the Opera Comique Theatre, 1884. 
 
 473 
 
 Mrs. Jarley's Far-Famed Collection of Wax- 
 Works. In Two Parts. Arranged by G. B. Bart- 
 lett, of Concord, Mass., and performed by Amateurs 
 under his direction, for charitable purposes, in most 
 of the Cities of the United States. Woodcut on 
 wrapper. 
 London and New York : Samuel French. N.D. 
 
 Part I, pp. 24 ; Part II., pp. 32. 
 
 To Part I. is added " A Novel Collection of Antique Marbles." 
 Pari II. is divided into four parts, viz., The Chamber of Beauty, 
 The Chamber of Horrors, The Historical Chamber, The Shaks- 
 pearian Chamber. The impersonators of the characters here 
 included have to dress in imitation of waxwork figures and 
 sculpture, and are exhibited by one who acts as Mrs, Jarley. 
 
 474 
 Barnaby Eudge. a Domestic Drama, in Three Acts. 
 By Charles Selby and Charles Melville. 
 
DRAMATIC. 371 
 
 Loudon and New York : Samuel French. N.D. 
 pp. 46. 
 First performed at the English Opera House, June 28, 1841. 
 
 475 
 Barnaby Rudge; or, The Murder at the Warren. 
 
 A Drama, in Three Acta. Adapted from Dickens's 
 
 Celebrated Work, by Thomas Higgie. With etched 
 
 frontispiece. 
 
 London : Thomas Hailes Lacy. IT.D. pp. 56. 
 
 476 
 Yankee Notes for English Circulation. A Farce, 
 
 in One Act. By E. Stirling, Esq. With etched 
 
 frontispiece by Mr. Eindlay. 
 
 London : John Duncombe, 10, Middle Eow, Hol- 
 born. (Duncombe's British Theatre, Vol. 46.) N.D. 
 pp. 20. 
 
 First performed at the Royal Adelphi Theatre, 1843. 
 
 477 
 Martin Chuzzlewit ; or, His Wills and His Ways, 
 What he Did, and What he Didn't. A Domestic 
 Drama, in Three Acts, founded on Charles Dickens's 
 Popular Story. By Thomas Higgie and Thomas 
 Hailes Lacy. 
 
 London : T. H. Lacy. N.D. pp. 54. 
 
 24—2 
 
3t2 DRAMATIC. 
 
 478 
 Martin Chuzzlewit. A Drama, in Three Acts. By 
 Charles Webb, Esq. 
 London : Earth. N.D. pp. 60. 
 
 479 
 Martin Chuzzlewit. A Drama, in Three Acts. 
 Adapted from C. Dickens, Esq.'s, Celebrated Work, 
 by Edward Stirling, Esq. 
 
 London : Thomas Hailes Laoy. N.D. pp. 48. 
 First performed at the Lyceum Theatre, July 8, 1844. 
 
 480 
 Mrs. Sarah Gamp's Tea and Turn Out. A Bozzian 
 
 Sketch, in One Act. By B. Webster, Esq. With 
 
 an engraving by Mr. Brewer. 
 
 London : Webster and Co., 19, Suffolk Street. {The 
 Acting National Drama, Yo\. l'^.) N.D. pp.20. 
 
 First performed on Monday, October 26, 1846. 
 The illustration represents a dancing scene in Mrs. Gamp's 
 room. 
 
 481 
 Mrs. Gamp's Party. (Adapted from "Martin 
 
 Chuzzlewit.") In One Act. 
 
 Manchester : Abel Heywood and Son. London : 
 H, Vickers. KD. pp. 12. 
 
DRAMATIC. 373 
 
 482 
 Tartuffe Junior, oder Martin Geldermann und seine 
 
 Erben. Lustspiel in fiinf Aufziigen von H. Clir. L. 
 
 Klein. 
 
 Neuwied und Leipzig. Coblenz. Verlag der T. H. 
 Heuser'schen Buchbandlung. 1864. pp. 144. 
 
 A Five-act Comedy in verse, founded on Dickens's Martin 
 ChuzzUwit. 
 
 483 
 Mrs. Harris. A Farce, in One Act. By Edward 
 
 Stirling, Esq. (Adapted from Dickens's "Martin 
 
 Chnzzlewit.") With a frontispiece etched by Mr. 
 
 T. Jones. 
 
 London : J. Duncombe and Co. (Duncombe's 
 British Theatre, Vol. 57.) N. D. pp. 22, and one page 
 unnumbered. 
 
 First performed at the Lyceum Theatre, October, 1846. 
 
 484 
 Tom Pinch. A Domestic Comedy, in Three Acts. 
 Adapted by Messrs. Dilley and Clifton, from 
 Charles Dickens's " Martin Chuzzlewit." 
 London and New York : Samuel French. N.D. 
 
 pp. 46. 
 
 First produced at the Vaudeville Theatre, March 10, 1881. 
 
374 DRAMATIC. 
 
 At a performance held in ths Crystal Palace, in September^ 
 1883, the part of Ruth Pinch was taken by Miss Mary Dickens^ 
 a granddaughter of the novelist. This was her first appearance 
 in public as an actress. 
 
 485 
 A Christmas Carol; or, The Miser's Warning. 
 A Drama, in Two Acts. Adapted from Charles 
 Dickens's Celebrated Work, by C. Z. Earnett^ 
 With an etched frontispiece by Mr. Findlay. 
 London : T. H. Lacy. N.D. pp. 26. 
 
 First performed at the Eoyal Surrey Theatre, February 5^ 
 1844. 
 
 The illustration represents Scrooge confronted by the Ghost. 
 
 Dickens thus expressed himself to Forster, respecting a 
 dramatic performance of the Carol at the Adelphi : " I saw the 
 Carol last night. Better than usual, and Wright seems to enjoy 
 Bob Cratchit, but heart-hrealdng to me. O Heaven ! if any 
 forecast of this was ever in my mind ! Yet O. Smith was 
 drearily better than I expected. It is a great comfort to have 
 that kind of meat underdone ; and his face is quite perfect." 
 
 4S6 
 The Chimes ; a Goblin Story. A Drama, in Four 
 
 Quarters. Dramatised by Mark Lemon and Gilbert 
 
 A. a'Beckett. With a frontispiece engraved on 
 
 wood, drawn by Mr. Clayton. 
 
 London: 19, Suffolk Street, Pall Mall East. {The 
 Acting National Drama, Yo]. 11.) KD. pp.44. 
 
DRAMATIC. 375 
 
 With a Prologue — spoken (as a Spirit of the Chimes) by Miss 
 E. Chaplin. 
 
 First performed at the Adelphi Theatre, December 19, 1844. 
 
 487 
 
 The Cricket on the Hearth ; a Fairy Tale of 
 Home. In Two Acts. By Edward Stirling, Esq. 
 With an etched frontispiece by Mr. G. Dorrington. 
 London : Webster and Co., 19, Suffolk Street. 
 
 {The Acting National Drama, Vol. 12.) KD. pp. 36. 
 
 The frontispiece is a copy of Leech's illustration in the first 
 edition of the original story, and represents Caleb at work. 
 First performed on Wednesday, December 31, 1845. 
 
 488 
 
 The Cricket on the Hearth ; or, a Fairy Tale of 
 Home. A Drama, in Three Acts. Dramatized by 
 Albert Smith, Esq., by the express permission of 
 the Author, Charles Dickens, Esq. 
 New York : Samuel French. N.D. 
 First performed at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, 1845. 
 
 489 
 The Cricket on the Hearth; a Fairy Tale of 
 Home. In Three Chirps. Adapted from Mr. Charles 
 Dickens's Popular Story, by W. T. Townsend. With 
 an etched frontispiece by T. H. Jones. 
 
376 DRAMATIC. 
 
 London : T. H. Lacy. N.D. pp. 24. 
 
 First performed at the City of London Theatre, January 7, 
 1846. 
 
 490 
 Dot. a Fairy Tale of Home. A Drama, in Three 
 Acts. From the "Cricket on the Hearth," by 
 Charles Dickens. Dramatized by Dion Boucicault. 
 Not published. 
 
 491 
 
 The Battle of Life. A Drama, in Three Acts, and in 
 
 Verse. Founded on the New Christmas Annual of 
 
 Charles Dickens, Esq. Dramatized by Albert Smith, 
 
 Esq. 
 
 London: W. S. Johnson. 1846. pp. 38. 
 
 "As performed at the Theatre Royal, Lyceum, on Monday, 
 December 21, 1846." 
 
 492 
 
 The Battle of Life. A Drama, in Three Acts. 
 
 (Founded on Mr. Dickens's Celebrated Work.) By 
 
 Edward Stirling, Esq. With a frontispiece etched 
 
 by T. Jones. 
 
 London : J. Duncombe and Co. (Duncombe's 
 British Theatre, Vol. 57.) N.D. pp. 35. 
 
 First performed at the Surrey Theatre, January, 1847. 
 
DRAMATIC. 377 
 
 493 
 La Bataille de la Vie. Piece en Trois Actes, melee 
 
 de chant. Par MM. Melesville et Andre de Goy. 
 
 Paris : Beck, Libraire, Eue des Grands- Augustins, 20. 
 1853. pp. 32. 
 
 Founded on Dickens's Battle of Life. 
 
 Represented, for the first time, at the Vaudeville Theatre, 
 Paris, September 3, 1853. 
 
 494 
 Dombey and Son. In Three Acts. Dramatized 
 from Dickens's Novel, by John Brougham, Esq. 
 New York : Samuel French. N.D. pp. 31. 
 First performed at Burton's Theatre, New York, 1850. 
 
 495 
 
 Captain Cuttle. A Comic Drama, in One Act. 
 Being a few more Scenes from the Moral of 
 " Dombey and Son." By John Brougham. 
 London : John Dicks, 313, Strand (Dicks' Standard 
 
 Plays). N.D. pp. 8. Woodcut on title-page. 
 
 First performed at Burton's Theatre, New York, January 14, 
 1850. 
 
 496 
 
 David Copperfield. A Drama, in Three Acts. 
 
 Adapted from Dickens's Popular Work of the same 
 
 name, by John Brougham, Esq. 
 
378 DRAMATIC. 
 
 London and New York: Samuel French. IST.D. 
 pp. 24. 
 
 First performed at Brougham's Lyceum, January 6, 1851. 
 
 497 
 
 Little Em'ly. A Drama, in Four Acts. Adapted 
 
 from Charles Dickens's "David Copperfield," by 
 
 Andrew Halliday. 
 
 New York : De Witt. N.D. 
 498 
 The Haunted Man. A Drama. Adapted from 
 
 Charles Dickens's Christmas Story. 
 
 Not published. 
 
 499 
 Bleak House ; or, Poor " Jo." A Drama, in Four 
 
 Acts. Adapted from Charles Dickens's Celebrated 
 
 Novel of " Bleak House," by George Lander. 
 
 London : John Dicks, 313, Strand (Dicks' Standard 
 Plays). N.D. pp. 22. Woodcut on title-page. 
 
 First performed at the Pavilion Theatre, March 27, 1876. 
 500 
 
 Jo. A Drama, in Three Acts. Adapted from 
 Charles Dickens's "Bleak House," by J. P. 
 Burnett. 
 Not published. 
 
DRAMATIC. 379 
 
 501 
 
 Poor " Jo." A Drama, in Three Acts. Adapted by 
 Mr. Terry Hurst from the late Charles Dickens's 
 Novel of "Bleak House." 
 Not published. 
 
 502 
 
 *' Move On /' or, Jo, the Outcast. (From '* Bleak 
 House," by Charles Dickens.) A Drama, in Three 
 Acts. Adapted by James Mortimer. 
 Not published. 
 
 503 
 
 Lady Dedlock's Secret. A Drama, in Four Acts. 
 
 Founded on an Episode in Charles Dickens's " Bleak 
 
 House." By J. Palgrave Simpson^ 
 
 London and New York: Samuel French. N.D. 
 pp. 52. 
 
 The play was first acted in the beginning of 1884 by the 
 " Windsor Strollers," but its first representation on the London 
 stage took place on March 26, 1884, at the Opera Coraique 
 Theatre, in aid of the School of Dramatic Art. The play is 
 skilfully put together, and throws into a thoroughly workable 
 shape that part of Dickens's novel which deals with Lady Ded- 
 lock, her secret, her sin, and her remorse. 
 
380 DKAMATIC. 
 
 504 
 
 A Tale of Two Cities. A Drama, in Three Acts and 
 
 a Prologue. Adapted from Mr. Charles Dickens's 
 
 Story, by Henry J. Eivers. With a lithographed 
 
 portrait, as frontispiece, of Madame Celeste as 
 
 " Madame Defarge." 
 
 London: Davidson, Peter's Hill, E.C. KD. pp. 62. 
 
 Prefaced by " Remarks " by D. G., referring to the nature of 
 the original story. 
 
 505 
 
 A Tale of Two Cities. A Drama, in Two Acts and 
 a Prologue. Adapted from the Story of that name by 
 Charles Dickens, Esq. By Tom Taylor, Esq. 
 London : T. H. Lacy. (Lacy's Acting Edition, Vol. 
 
 45.) N.D. pp. 5G. 
 
 First performed at^the Lyceum Theatre, Monday, January 30, 
 1860, and Dickens superintended its production. 
 
 506 
 
 Great Expectations. A Drama, in Three Acts and 
 a Prologue. Adapted from Charles Dickens's Story, 
 by Mr. W. S. Gilbert. 
 Not published. 
 
DEAMATIC. 381 
 
 507 
 A Message from the Sea. A Drama, in Three Acts. 
 
 Founded on Dickens's Story bearing that name. By 
 
 C. Dickens and Wilkie Collins. 
 
 London : G. Hols worth, Wellington Street, Strand. 
 1861. 
 
 508 
 The Dead Witness ; or, Sin and its Shadow. A 
 Drama, in Three Acts. Founded on " The Widow's 
 
 Story," in The Seven Poor Travellers^ by Charles 
 
 Dickens. The Drama written by Wybert Eeeve. 
 
 London and New York : Samuel French. N.D. 
 
 pp. 35. 
 
 First performed at the Theatre Royal, Sheffield, under the 
 management of Mr. Charles Pitt. 
 
 509 
 No Thorough Fare. A Drama, in Five Acts and 
 
 a Prologue. By Charles Dickens and Wilkie 
 
 Collins. 
 
 New York : Robert M. de Witt, Publisher, No. 33, 
 Rose Street. N.D. pp. 40. 
 
 First performed at the New Adelphi Theatre, London, 
 December 26, 1867. Afterwards translated into French, and 
 produced at the Vaudeville Theatre, in Paris, in June, 1868. 
 
382 DRAMATIC. 
 
 iTor the purpose of superintending the rehearsals, and assisting 
 at the first representation, Dickens went to Paris, and was de- 
 lighted with the success which the play met with there. 
 
 510 
 
 Identity; or, No Thoroughfare. A Drama, in 
 
 Four Acts. By Louis Lequel. Dramatized from 
 
 the Christmas Story of Charles Dickens and Wilkie 
 
 Collins. 
 
 New York : Samuel French. N.D. pp. 44. 
 
 First performed at F. B. Conway's Park Theatre, Brooklyn, 
 January 6, 1868. 
 
 511 
 L'Abbie. Drame en Cinq Actes, en Onze Tableaux. 
 
 Par Charles Dickens. 
 
 Paris : Michel L^vy Freres, Libraires Editeurs, 
 Eue Vivienne, 2 bis, et Boulevard des Italiens, 
 15, a la Librairie Nouvelle, 1868. 
 
 In 1838, a penny weekly publication was issued by W. 
 Strange, Paternoster Row, entitled Actors by Gaslight ; or, 
 ** Bo7^ " in the Boxes, containing rough woodcut portraits of 
 famous actors and actresses in the characters they assumed. 
 Among them were Mr. Lee as " Jingle," Mr. Attwood as *' Job 
 Trotter," Mr. W. J. Hammond as "Sam Weller," Mr. O. 
 Smith as "Newman Noggs," and Miss Shaw as "Madame 
 Mantalini." 
 
PLAGIARISTIC, etc. 
 
 Plagiaristic Titles, Parodies, Sequels, and other 
 Works having Titular Connection with the 
 Writings of Charles Dickens. 
 
 The popularity of Dickens's earlier productions in- 
 duced several enterprising publishers to issue works 
 bearing similar titles, and having an attempted resem- 
 blance to the style of the famous novelist, thus 
 endeavouring to obtain a pecuniary advantage from 
 the reputation that the works thus plagiarised had 
 already gained. Such proceedings gave Dickens con- 
 siderable annoyance, and caused him, in an announce- 
 ment of the immediate publication of Nicholas NicUehyy 
 to declaim against such practices in the form of a 
 Proclamation. 
 
 Whereas we are the only true and lawful " Boz." 
 And Whereas it hath been reported to us, who are commencing 
 a New Work to be called — The 
 
 Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, 
 That some dishonest dullards, resident in the by-streets and cellars 
 of this town, impose upon the unwary and credulous, by pro- 
 
384 
 
 ducing cheap and wretched imitations of our delectable Works. 
 And Whereas we derive but small comfort under this injury, from 
 the knowledge that the dishonest dullards aforesaid cannot, by 
 reason of their mental smallness, follow near our heels, but are 
 constrained to creep along by dirty and little-frequented ways^ 
 at a most respectful and humble distance behind. 
 
 And Whereas, in like manner, as some other vermin are not 
 worth the killing for the sake of their carcases, so these kennel 
 pirates are not worth the powder and shot of the law, inasmuch 
 as whatever damages they may commit, they are in no condition 
 to pay any. 
 
 He then proceeds to "Give Notice" 
 
 To Pirates. 
 That we have at length devised a mode of execution for them, 
 so summary and terrible, that if any gang or gangs thereof pre- 
 sume to hoist but one shred of the colours of the good ship 
 Nickleby, we will hang them on gibbets so lofty and enduring, 
 that their remains shall be a monument of our just vengeance to 
 all succeeding ages ; and it shall not lie in the power of any 
 Lord High Admiral on earth to cause them to be taken down 
 again. 
 
 This proclamation had very little effect, for the 
 piracies were continued until 1841, when Dickens 
 dropped down upon the publishers, and completely 
 crushed them ; not, however, before they had issued 
 a valedictory address in the fourth part of Mister 
 Humfries' Clock, by Bos, wherein they state their 
 grievances, accept the situation, and pose in the light 
 of " injured innocents." Mr. Dexter, in his Hints to 
 
« PLAGIARISTIC, ETC. 385 
 
 DicJcens CollectorSy says that he believes that most of 
 the piracies were written by a Mr. J. P. Prest, and 
 published by one Lloyd, who, it has been stated, was 
 the founder of Lloyd^s Weekly N'etvs. 
 
 512 
 
 Sketch Book by •' Bos," containing a Great Number 
 of Highly Interesting and Original Tales, Sketches, 
 etc., etc. With seventeen woodcut illustrations. 
 London: E. Lloyd, 44, Wych Street. KD. (1837.) 
 
 pp. 92. 
 
 Completed in eleven parts. Preface signed " ' Bos,' Brompton 
 Square." 
 
 The contents of No. I. are as follows: — "The Gentleman 
 in Difficulties ; or, a Race from a Bailiff." "The Miser of the 
 Old Stone House, a Tragedy of Real Life." " The Curse." 
 
 613 
 Posthumous Papers of the Cadger's Club. With 
 sixteen engravings. 
 
 London : E. Lloyd, 62y Broad Street, Bloomsbury. 
 KD. (1837.) pp. 94. 
 
 514 
 Pickwick in America : Detailing Adventures of that 
 Illustrious Individual and his Learned Companions in 
 the United States, Extraordinary Jonathanisms, col- 
 lected by Mr. Snodgrass j and the Sayings, Doings, 
 
 25 
 
386 PLAGIAEISTIC, ETC. 
 
 and Mems. of the facetious Sam Weller. Edited 
 
 by "Bos." With forty-six illustrations. 
 
 London: E. Lloyd, 62, Broad Street, Bloomsbury. 
 
 N.D. (1837.) pp.350. 
 
 Completed in forty-four numbers. With a Preface signed 
 "Bos." 
 
 515 
 
 Posthumous Papers of the Wonderful Discovery 
 Club, formerly of Camden Town, Established by 
 Sir Peter Patron. Edited by " Poz." With eleven 
 illustrations, designed by Squib, and engraved by 
 Point. 
 London : W. M. Clark, 17, Warwick Lane. 1838. 
 
 pp. 90. 
 
 516 
 The Pickwick Comic Almanac for 1838. With 
 
 twelve comic woodcut illustrations, drawn by E. 
 
 Cruikshank. 
 
 London : W. Marshall, 24, Tavistock Street, Covent 
 Garden. 1838. pp. 48. 
 
 This is prefixed to "Moore's Almanac for 1838," and contains 
 "Sam Weller's Diary of Fun and Pastime." Of the twelve 
 engravings, only three are Pickwickian. 
 
PLAGIAKISTIC, ETC. 387 
 
 517 
 Pickwick Abroad; or, The Tour in France. By 
 
 G. W. M. Eeynolds. Illustrated with forty-one steel 
 
 plates by Alfred Crowquill and John Phillips, and 
 
 with thirty- three woodcuts by Bonner. 
 
 London : Printed for Thomas Tegg, 73, Cheapside. 
 1839. pp. xvi. 528. 
 
 Preface dated "London, Aug. 29, 1839," in which the Author 
 writes : 
 
 "Many other works, in a similar strain, and advertised to be 
 published in a similar form, were issued from the press about 
 the same time ; but, in spite of the announcement that they 
 were to be completed in twenty numbers, they died of pure 
 inanition one after another. A partial feeling of satisfaction 
 and pride cannot therefore be denied the author of Pickivick 
 Abroad, when he contemplates the successful termination of his 
 labour in the twenty parts to which no other imitator of the 
 'Immortal Boz' has yet attained." 
 
 The work has often been republished without a date. 
 
 518 
 
 Pickwick Treasury or Wit; or, Joe Miller's Jest 
 Book. Comprising Eich Gems of Humour and the 
 most Spirited Witticisms. 
 Dublin: 1840. 
 
 25—2 
 
388 PLAGIAKISTIC, ETC. 
 
 519 
 
 Pickwick Songster. With portraits, designed by 
 
 C. J. Grant, of " Mr. Pickwick as Apollo " and " Sam 
 
 Weller brushing boots." 
 
 London : S. Eobins, 17, Barbican. N.D. 
 
 The Song-heads have a mask of "Mr. Pickwick," and the 
 characters distorted into letters forming the word "Pickwick." 
 
 520 
 
 Mr. Pickwick's Collection of Songs. With an 
 engraving on title-page of "Yates as Mr. Pick- 
 wick," and other woodcut illustrations. 
 London : Smeeton, Printer, 74, Tooley Street. N.D. 
 
 (1837.) pp. 8. 
 
 One of a series of collections of songs, published at intervals. 
 
 621 
 
 Lloyd's Pickwickian Songster : Containing all 
 the Popular, Rum, Comic, and Sentimental Songs 
 of the Day. With a woodcut illustration on title- 
 page, representing a dance by Pickwick characters. 
 London : E. Lloyd, 62, Broad Street, Holborn. 
 
 N.D. (1837.) pp. 8. 
 
PLAGIA3$ISTIC, ETC, 389 
 
 522 
 
 Sam Weller's Pickwick Jest-Book: Consisting 
 of the Choice Sayings of Sam and his Acquaint- 
 ances, and other Capital Jokes, Puns, Epigrams, 
 and Jeux d'Esprit, including Joe Miller's Best. 
 "With illustrations by Cruikshank, and portraits of 
 all the " Pickwick " characters. 
 London : Berger, Holywell Street, Strand ; Pigot 
 
 and Co., 59, Fleet Street ; M. W. Clarke, Warwick 
 
 Lane. 1837. 
 
 Issued in penny numbers of 16 pp. each. The first number 
 was published on November Ist, 1837. 
 
 523 
 
 Sam Weller's Favourite Song-Book. With an 
 engraving representing " Mr. Hammond as Sam 
 Weller," and other woodcuts in the style of Cruik- 
 shank. 
 London : Smeeton, Printer, 74, Tooley Street. KD. 
 
 (1837.) pp. 8. 
 
 524 
 The Sam Weller Scrap Sheet. With forty 
 woodcut portraits of " all the Pickwick Characters, 
 enriched with poetic effusions by A. Snodgrass, Esq., 
 M.P.C." 
 
390 PLAGIAEISTIC, ETC. 
 
 London: John Cleave, Shoe Lane, Fleet Street. 
 N.D. 
 
 Issued under the title of ** Cheap Illustrations to 'Boz.' " 
 
 525 
 Lloyd's Everlasting Entertainments ; or, Pick- 
 wickian Shadows. 
 
 Announced by advertisement as about to be issued in penny 
 numbers. 
 
 526 
 
 The Post-humourous Notes of the Pickwickian 
 Club. Containing the Humourous Adventures of 
 Christopher Pickwick, Esq., Percy Tupnall, Esq., 
 Matthew Winkletop, Esq. Edited by ''Bos." In Two 
 Volumes. With woodcut illustrations. 
 London : E Lloyd, 62, Broad Street, Bloomsbury. 
 
 N.D. (1842.) pp. 452. 
 
 With a Dedication, and a Preface signed "*Bos,' Rose Cottage, 
 St. John's Wood." 
 
 Completed in one-hundred-and-twelve numbers,' each bearing 
 the title of "The Penny Pickwick," and each containing two 
 illustrations. 
 
 Mr. G. A. Sala, in his little work on Charles Dickens (see 
 No. 112), thus refers to this production : 
 
 "When the popularity of the Pickwick Papers was at its 
 height, it occurred to a wretched bookseller in Bloomsbury, but 
 who should have lived in Holywell Street, that, although the 
 publication of the work was protected by the then existing 
 
PLAGIARISTIC, ETC. 391 
 
 (although very imperfect) copyright laws, a good stroke of 
 business might be done by mutilating, forging, and parodying 
 Charles Dickens ; and accordingly the Penny Ficlcwich appeared 
 in weekly numbers, written by some gutter-blood hack, and 
 illustrated in the first style of Seven Dials art. Forced by an 
 injunction to remove the title of Pichoick from the rag he put 
 forth, the publisher continued his forgery, under some name 
 which I am glad to forget, and in which the exquisitely 
 humorous creations of Dickens were vilely distorted and 
 mangled. This disgraceful fabrication had an enormous sale ; 
 and fraudulent as was the enterprise, and base as were the 
 motives of the publisher, they could not fail to testify to the 
 wonderful and universal popularity of Charles Dickens." 
 
 527 
 
 The Life and Adventures of Oliver Twiss, the 
 Workhouse Boy. Edited by " Bos." With numer- 
 ous illustrations. 
 London : E. Lloyd. N.D. (1839.) pp. 631. 
 
 With a Preface, signed " Bos," and dated "August 22, 1839." 
 Completed in seventy-nine numbers, each containing two 
 illustrations. 
 
 528 
 
 Characteristic Sketches of Young Gentlemen. 
 
 By Quiz Junior. With woodcut illustrations. 
 
 London : W. Kidd, Tavistock Street, Covent 
 Garden. N.D. (1838.) 
 
392 PLAGIAEISTIC, ETC. 
 
 529 
 
 Scenes from the Life of Nickleby Married : con- 
 taining certain remarkable passages and strange ad- 
 ventures that befell the Nickleby Family, being a 
 sequel to the "Life and Adventures of !N"icholas 
 Mckleby." Edited by " Guess." With twenty-one 
 etched illustrations by " Quiz." 
 London : Published by John Williams. 1840. pp. 
 
 vi. 516. 
 
 Issued in parts with green wrappers. The etchings are in the 
 style of " Phiz," but much inferior in merit. 
 
 530 
 
 NiCKELAS NiCKELBERY. By " Bos." Containing the 
 Adventures, Mis-adventures, — Chances, Mis-chances, 
 — Fortunes, Mis-fortunes, — Mys-teries, — Mis-eries, 
 — and Mis-cellaneous Manoeuvres of the Family of 
 iN'ickelbery. With forty-three woodcut illustrations. 
 London : E. Lloyd, 62, Broad Street, Bloomsbury, 
 
 N.D. 
 
 Issued in penny weekly numbers and fourpenny monthly 
 parts, and parodying the whole of the story and characters 
 under very slightly altered names. Thus Vincent Crummies 
 becomes Montmorency Crumples ; Smike becomes Snikes, Ralph 
 becomes Roger, etc, 
 
393 
 
 531 
 Mister Humfries' Clock. " Bos," Maker. A Mis- 
 cellany of Striking Interest. With woodcut illustra- 
 tions. 
 
 London : E. Lloyd, 44, Holywell St., Strand. 1840. 
 pp. ii. 92. 
 
 Issued in twelve parts with wrappers. With a Preface. 
 
 532 
 Master Timothy's Bookcase ; or, the Magic Lant^ 
 
 HORN OF the World. By G. W. M. Eeynolds. 
 
 With ten illustrations on steel. 
 
 London : William Emans, 12, Warwick Square. 
 1842. pp. iii. 593. 
 
 With a Preface. One of the tales introduced is ** Mr. Pick- 
 wick's Marriage." 
 
 533 
 Current American Notes, by " Buz." With four 
 woodcut illustrations. 
 London. N.D. pp. 80. 
 
 534 
 Change for the American Notes ; or, Letters from 
 London to New York. By an American Lady. 
 London : Wiley and Putnam. 1843. pp. 392. 
 
 -^r 
 
394 
 
 In the Preface, dated "July, 1843," the writer expresses a 
 hope " that the following familiar letters will show how several 
 writers on the United States have erred ; and that they will, 
 moreover, be found to present a fair, just, and unexaggerated 
 character of the English as they are. That the work will pro- 
 duce any impression upon the English themselves the authoress 
 has not for a moment contemplated; for when it is told of 
 themselves, they are a people singularly unmoved by — the 
 Truth." 
 
 Mr. George Augustus Sala, in his little volume entitled 
 Charles Dickens (see No. 112), informs us that this work was 
 not the production of an American, but of a gentleman of York- 
 shire, named Henry Wood, who subsequently became sub- 
 editor of Douglas Jerrold's WeeTcly Neivspaper. 
 
 A writer in the Quarterly Review, December, 1843, says : 
 
 " We shall set out by at once assuring our readers that this is 
 not the work of an American lady, nor even of an American 
 woman — that no such letters ever were written — and that, in 
 short, the whole affair is a clumsy fabrication. . . . Who 
 the real author may be we know not : the unscrupulous malig- 
 nity against England, which breaks out so frequently and so 
 violently, indicates a Transatlantic spirit ; and yet the writer 
 betrays, we think, that his knowledge of America is not very 
 practical, but almost as imperfect and superficial as his acquaint- 
 ance with England. This and some other slight indications 
 scattered through the volume incline us to suspect that the work 
 is a mere booJcseller^s speculation, got up on the sudden and in 
 the wake of Mr. Dickens, in which, for despatch, more than one 
 hand may have been employed, but of which the chief share has 
 been supplied by some Anglo-American, who has been long 
 enough in Europe to have forgotten of his own country every- 
 thing but its prejudices — and to have learned of ours nothing 
 but the vulgarities. . . . The immediate motive for this 
 publication is avowedly Mr. Dickens's American Notes ; but 
 instead of being, as might be expected, a refutation or even a 
 
PLAGIARISTIC, ETC. 395 
 
 denial of Mr. Dickens's statements, it turns out to be an attempt 
 at, not reyly, but retaUcdion. It is indeed very remarkable that 
 in a work undertaken professedly in resentment of Mr. Dickens's 
 publication there should be not, as we believe, one single 
 instance in which the perfect veracity of his statements is so 
 much as questioned." 
 
 A writer in the Monthly Review, August, 1843, says : 
 
 " The book, to be sure, has good and just things in it, mixed 
 up with nonsense and trash ; although after all its great fault is 
 the want of observation and consequent severity to expose and 
 to lecture. 
 
 "Liveliness and fitting remark are often to be met with ; but 
 the work is quite inadequate as a discoverer, a delineator, or a 
 denouncer. Certainly it cannot be taken in any critical, much 
 less in any exchanging sense for repayment of the American 
 Notes. Even the utterances about the arch-offender, 'Boz ' him- 
 self, are vapid, faint, without breadth and boldness, and altogether 
 unlike his honest, unrestrained expression of what he thought 
 and felt." 
 
 535 
 
 "Christmas Eve" with the Spirits ; or, the Canon's 
 Wanderings through Ways Unknown, with some 
 further tidings of the Lives of Scrooge and Tiny- 
 Tim. With five full-page illustrations. 
 London : Bull, Simmons, and Co., 9, Wigmore 
 
 Street, Cavendish Square, W. 1870. pp. vi. 90. 
 With a Preface dated " Christmas, 1869." 
 
396 PLAGIARISTIC, ETC. 
 
 536 
 
 Facts and Figures from Italy. By Don Jeremy 
 
 Savonarola, Benedictine Monk, addressed during 
 
 the last two winters to Charles Dickens, Esq., 
 
 being an Appendix to his " Pictures." 
 
 London: Eichard Bentley, 1847. pp. 309. 
 
 On a separate leaf is printed the following : 
 
 "Notice. 
 " Having engaged the Father, who signs himself * D. J. Savon- 
 arola,' to enter on this correspondence, it only remains for me 
 to say that these are his Letters. 
 
 " Chaeles Dickens. 
 " Broadstairs, Kent, July 1, 1847." 
 
 The volume concludes with a " Poetical Epistle from Savonarola 
 to 'Boz,'" dated "Genoa, December 14, 1837" (see No. 389). 
 This had already appeared in Bentley' 8 Miscellany, January* 
 1838, with the title of " Poetical Epistle from Father Prout to 
 ' Boz,' " under Dickens's editorship, and enables us to assign the 
 authorship of the whole volume to Father Prout. 
 
 537 
 January Eve, a Tale of the Times. By G. Soane, 
 
 Esq., B.A. "With woodcut illustrations. 
 
 London: E. Churton, 26, Holies Street. 1847. 
 pp. ii. 180. 
 
 An alleged plagiarism, with a Preface dated "October 28, 
 1846," in which the author thus refers to probable accusations 
 against him as an imitator of Dickens's Christmas Books : 
 
 **A little tale of mine, the Three Spirits, was thought by 
 
PLAGIARISTIC, ETC. 397 
 
 many to be in its general scope and subject exceedingly like 
 • Boz's ' Christmas Carol ; yet the Carol was not published 
 till some years after it. If then there be any imitation in the 
 case at all, it is ' Boz ' — glorious * Boz ' — who has taken a hint 
 from my writings. And so be it. Honour enough for me to 
 have ministered the least occasion for the workings of the master- 
 spirit of the day." 
 
 538 
 The Battle of London Life ; or, " Boz " and his 
 Secretary. By Morna. With a portrait and illus- 
 trations by G. A. Sala. 
 London : G. Peirce, 310, Strand 1849. pp. iv. 106. 
 
 With a Preface, and dedication "To John Bull." 
 The first chapter introduces *'Boz" with his Secretary, to 
 whom he remarks, " Since I've made the fortunes of these con- 
 founded publishers, they grant me neither peace nor time. To 
 satisfy them one must write, write, write for everlasting. It is 
 a terrific bore ! I hunt after subjects and ideas like a creditor 
 after his debtor." 
 
 The work describes, in a most interesting manner, supposed ad- 
 ventures of Dickens in search of characters, incidents, and scenes 
 to be utilized as subject-matter for his novels. Morna was the 
 worn de plume of a Capt. Thomas O'Keefe, a broken-down Irish 
 gentleman. 
 
 539 
 
 The Battle Won by the Wind, By Ch — s 
 
 D"^ck"^ns, author of " The Picnic Papsrs," " Barnaby 
 
 Fudge," etc. 
 
 Published in The Puppet Showman s Alhim, illus- 
 trated by Gavarni. N.D. 
 
398 PLAGIARISTIC, ETC. 
 
 640 
 
 DoMBEY AND DAUGHTER. A Moral Fiction. By 
 Eenton JSTicholson, " Lord Chief Baron of the 
 Famous Judge and Jury Club." "With twelve 
 woodcut illustration, and a pictorial wrapper. 
 London : Thomas Farris, 340, Strand. N.D. (1847.) 
 
 pp. 94. 
 
 During the publication of Domhey and Son, this production 
 was announced in the following terms : 
 
 " This work is from the pen of one of the first Periodical 
 writers of the day ; and is, in literary merit (although so low in 
 price), no way inferior to Mr. Dickens's admirable work, Domhey 
 and Son. Those who are reading Domhey and Son should most 
 assuredly order Domhey and Daughter ; it is a production of 
 exalted intellect, written to sustain moral example and virtuous 
 precept, deeply to interest, and sagely to instruct. Order of 
 any bookseller or newsvendor. One penny will test the truth of 
 this announcement." 
 
 The " Judge and Jury Club " was held at the Garrick's Head 
 Hotel, Bow Street, London. 
 
 541 
 DoMBEY AND SoN FINISHED. A Burlesque. Illus- 
 trated by Albert Smith. 
 
 London : The Man in the Moon. 1848. pp. 59-67. 
 542 
 Dolby and Father : or, " Incongruity." By " Buz." 
 
 New York : P. S. Wynkoop and Son. 1868. 
 pp. vi. 53. 
 
PLAGIAHISTTC, ETC. 399 
 
 With a woodcut on wrapper, representing a bisected plum- 
 pudding, on the inside surface of either half of which are in- 
 scribed the words " Borriboolagha " and " Uncongeniality." 
 
 543 
 The Haunted Man. By Ch-r-s D-c-k-n-s. (Part I. 
 —The First Phantom. Book II.— The Second 
 Phantom.) Condensed Novels^ and other Papers, by 
 F. Bret Harte. 
 
 New York : Carleton, Madison Square. London : 
 S. Low and Co. 1870. pp. 56, 66. 
 With a Preface dated " San Francisco," July, 1867. 
 
 5U 
 MiCAWBER Eedivivus ; or, How he made a Fortune 
 as a Middleman, Lost the Confidence of an En- 
 lightened Public, and Succumbed to Direct Supply. 
 By Jonathan Coalfield. With twenty-one illustra- 
 tions by W. Graham Simpson. 
 London: N.D. (1883.) pp. 122. 
 
 The writer has adopted this method of pointing out certain evils 
 existing in the coal trade, and condemning the " Middlemen " 
 and the "Coal Ring." 
 
 545 
 A Child's History of Germany: The Ancient Time 
 and the Middle Ages. By H. W. Friedlaender. 
 
400 PLAGIARISTIC, ETC. 
 
 Celle: Schulze'sche Bucliliandlung. 1861. pp. x. 
 222. 
 
 A Pendant to A ChilcVs History of England. 
 
 In the Preface the Author says that, owing to the success 
 which Dickens's book met with, not only in Great Britain and 
 America, but also in Germany, he was induced to try his hand 
 at a similar composition. 
 
 546 
 Bleak House : a Narrative of Eeal Life ; being a 
 faithful detail of facts connected with a suit in the 
 Irish Court of Chancery, from the year 1826 to 
 1851. Showing what a lawsuit really is, apart 
 from any circumstance of fiction or romance. 
 Published by H. Elliott. 1856. pp. 66. 
 
 547 
 Hard Times : (Eefinished). By Charles Diggens. 
 Published in " Our Miscellany " (which ought to 
 have come out, but didn't). Edited by E. H. 
 Yates and R B. Brough. 
 London : Eoutledge and Co. 1856. pp. 142, 156. 
 
 This parody on Hard Times occupies the thirty-fifth 
 chapter, and is signed "B " (? Brough). An editorial footnote 
 runs thus : 
 
 " It would seem that the striking want of poetical justice in 
 the usually received termination of this otherwise excellent 
 
401 
 
 story, wherein none of the good people were made happy, and 
 the wicked were most inadequately punished, had caused the 
 Author to tremble for his popularity among the female portion 
 of the community — who, it is well known, will stand no liberties 
 of that description. He has therefore (apparently) re-written it 
 on more orthodox principles ; or (not improbably) got somebody 
 else to re-write it for him ; or (as is barely possible) somebody 
 else has re -written it for him without asking his leave. We 
 have no means of ascertaining the exact state of the case. The 
 reader is requested to form his own opinion, and let us know 
 at his earliest convenience. Our business hours are from 
 twelve to half -past, and our address is a profound secret." — 
 Eds. 0. M. 
 
 548 
 
 A Girl at a Railway Junction's Reply. A New 
 
 Year's Story. By Lyulph. 
 
 London : R. J. Kennett, 14, York Street, Covent 
 
 Garden. KD. (1867). pp. 24. 
 
 A sequel to Mughy Junction, and issued in a style imitative 
 of that work. 
 
 549 
 
 No Thoroughfare : the Book in Eight Acts. With 
 
 a page of illustrations, including portraits of Charles 
 
 Dickens and Wilkie Collins. 
 
 London : The Mash February, 1868. pp. 14, 18. 
 A parody of the Christmas story. 
 
 550. 
 
 No Thoroughfare. By C S. D S, Bellamy 
 
 Brownjohn, and Domby. 
 
 26 
 
402 PLAGIARISTIC, ETC. 
 
 Boston (U.S.) : Loring, Publisher, 319, Washington 
 Street, 1868. (Second Edition.) pp. 15. 
 
 This parody has a "Prelude" by Bellamy Brownjohn, dated 
 •* Boston, January 1st, 1868," in which he states that " the 
 marvellous success of the first edition of this story has induced 
 the author to revise, correct, and enlarge it so that it may take 
 its place among the standard literature of the day. Without 
 consulting Judge Ames of the Probate Court, I have changed 
 the names of some of the characters, so as to give the narrative, 
 in its present form, an appearance of originality. . . . There is 
 really but one writer of the following story, but I have per- 
 mitted the names of mj associates who began the tale with me 
 to remain, as it may add to their popularity and increase 
 public curiosity to hear the readings. . . ." 
 
 551 
 
 The Cloven Foot : Being an Adaptation of the 
 English :^rovel, " The Mystery of Edwin Drood " 
 (by Charles Dickens), to American Scenes, Char- 
 acters, Customs, and Nomenclature, By Orpheus 
 C. Kerr. 
 New York : Carleton. London : S. Low, Son, and 
 
 Co. 1870. pp. 279. 
 
 Prefaced by an "Apology " of a somewhat critical character, 
 by two memorial verses to Dickens, and by a humorous 
 *' Sketch of the Adapter," from which the following is an 
 extract : 
 
 "The present residence of the successful Historian is Begad's 
 Hill, New Jersey ; and if not existing in Shakespeare's time, it 
 certainly looks old enough to have been built at about that 
 
PLAGIARISTIC, ETC. 403 
 
 period. Its architecture is of the no-capital Corinthian order ; 
 there are mortgages both front and back, and hot and cold water 
 at the nearest hotel. From the central front window, which 
 belongs to the Author's library, in which he keeps his Patent 
 Office Eeports, there is a fine view of the top of the porch ; 
 while from the rear casements you get a glimpse of blind-shutters 
 which won't open. It is reported of this fine old place, that the 
 present proprietor wished to own it even when a child ; never 
 dreaming the mortgaged halls would yet be his without a hope 
 of re-selling." 
 
 652 
 The Mystery of Mr. E. Drood. Specimen of an 
 Adaptation. Ey Orpheus C. Kerr. 
 London ; The Fkcadilly Anmial. J. C. Hotten, 
 Piccadilly. N.D. (December, 1870). pp. 59, 62. 
 
 553 
 The Mystery of Mr. E. Drood. An Adaptation. 
 By Orpheus C. Kerr. With frontispiece and vignette 
 engraved on wood. 
 
 London: Ward, Lock, and Tyler. N.D. pp.217. 
 554 
 John Jasper's Secret. A Sequel to Charles Dickens's 
 Unfinished Novel, " The Mystery of Edwin Drood." 
 With eighteen illustrations engraved on wood. 
 Philadelphia : T. B. Peterson and Brothers. N.D. 
 (1871). pp. 408. London: Publishing Offices, ^o. 
 342, Strand. 1872. pp. 252. 
 
 26—2 
 
404 
 
 The American issue contains a Preface, dated " London, 
 March, 1871," in which an explanation is given to the effect 
 that, although there were but few materials for working out 
 a conclusion to Drood, yet there had been hints afforded by 
 the author as to the scope of that work, which hints had fallen 
 into the hands of the writers of this concluding story, who 
 " trust they are conveying a benefit as well as a pleasure to 
 the world on setting partially at rest the multitudinous specula- 
 tions to which the non-explanation of the ' Mystery ' has given 
 rise." 
 
 This work was subsequently reprinted in London, and pub- 
 lished in eight monthly parts in green pictorial wrappers, dating 
 from October, 1871, to May, 1872 ; and with two additional illus- 
 trations, all of which were reprinted from the blocks utilized for 
 the American edition. The title was slightly changed, and runs 
 thus : John Jasper's Secret; being a narrative of Certain Events^ 
 folloiving and explaining " The Mystery of Edwin Drood." 
 
 The authorship of John Jasper'' s Secret has been attributed 
 to Mr. Wilkie Collins, but, it is believed, incorrectly so. 
 Mr. Torster, in his Life of Charles Dickens, refers to a dis- 
 covery, made by him after the novelist's death, of some pages 
 of nearly illegible manuscript, which, on close inspection, proved 
 to be part of the plan of the story, but nothing of the main 
 parts of the design had been written, except what was found in 
 the published numbers. (See also p. 466, Notes and Queries.) 
 
 555 
 
 The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Part the Second 
 by The Spirit Pen of Charles Dickens, through a 
 Medium j embracing also that Part of the Work 
 which was published prior to the Termination of the 
 Author's Earth-Life. 
 
TLAGIAEISTIC, ETC. 405 
 
 Brattleboro', Yt. (U.S.) : Published by T. P. James. 
 1873. pp. xvi. 488. 
 
 With two Prefaces ("Medium's" Preface of four pages, and 
 Author's Preface of three pages, signed "Thos. P. James, 
 Brattleboro', Vt. — September 25, 1873) " and a " Dedication to 
 the Poor." 
 
 556 
 
 A Great Mystery Solved : Being a Sequel to " The 
 Mystery of Edwin Drood." By Gillan Vase. In 
 Three Volumes. 
 London : Kemington and Co. 1878. pp. ii. 336. 
 
 In the Preface— dated. " Hanover, July 12, 1878 "—the 
 Author says that he commenced this work as an amusement, 
 but, when it eventually assumed large proportions, he was in- 
 duced to publish it. 
 
 557 
 Advice to an Intending Serialist. A Satire. 
 Edinburgh : Blackwood's Magazine. November, 1846. 
 pp. 590, 605. Eeprinted in the Eclectic Magazine 
 (New York), January, 1847. pp. 65, 78. 
 
 The reprinted article is thus prefaced : 
 
 " The following shrewd piece of bagatelle upon Mr. Dickens, 
 hitting off some of the foibles of his style, is attributed to Mr. 
 Warren, the celebrated Author of Ten Thousand a Year. 
 The celebrity of the Author, as well as the points of the satire, 
 will give it interest, if it does not carry conviction of its justice." 
 —Ed. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 TESTIMONIES. 
 The Published Opinions of Famous Litterateurs 
 
 AND OTHERS, RESPECTING ChARLES DiCKENS AND 
 
 HIS Works. 
 
 I. 
 
 Thomas Carlyle. 
 
 {Description of " Boz^) 
 
 Oarlyle first met Dickens at a dinner given by the Stanleys 
 in Dover Street, of which he wrote an account to his brother, 
 John Carlyle. In the letter, dated "Chelsea, March 17, 1840," 
 he thus describes " Boz " : — 
 
 "... Nay, Pickwick, too, was of the same dinner-party, 
 though they do not seem to heed him over-much. He is a fine 
 little fellow — Boz, I think. Clear blue, intelligent eyes, eye- 
 brows that he arches amazingly, large protrusive rather loose 
 mouth, a face of most extreme mobility, which he shuttles about — 
 eyebrows, eyes, mouth and all — in a very singular manner while 
 speaking. Surmount this with a loose coil of common-coloured 
 hair, and set it on a small compact figure, very small, and dressed 
 d la D'Orsay rather than well — this is Pickwick, Por the rest, 
 a quiet, shrewd-looking little fellow, who seems to guess pretty 
 well what he is and what others are. . . ." — J. A. Froude's 
 Thomas Carlyle, a History of His Life in London, 1834-1881. 
 (Vol. I., 1884.) 
 
TESTIMONIES. 407 
 
 The following letter was written to John Forster, in reply to 
 an invitation sent by him to Thomas Carlyle, asking him to be 
 present at a farewell dinner given in honour of Charles Dickens, 
 prior to his departure for Italy. 
 
 "Chelsea, 6 June, 1844. 
 ** Dear Forster, 
 
 " I truly love Dickens ; and discern in the inner man of 
 him a tone of real Music which struggles to express itself as it 
 may, in these bewildered, stupefied, and indeed very crusty and 
 distracted days, — better or worse ! This which makes him in my 
 estimation one of a thousand, I could with great joy and free- 
 dom testify to all persons, to himself first of all, in any good 
 way. But by dinner — at Greenwich — in the dog-days — under 
 Lord Mahogany — by leg-of-mutton eloquence : alas, my soul 
 dies away at the idea ; exclaims, ' Quae nunc abibis in locd V 
 
 pray you have me excused — 
 
 * « * 4e- * * 
 
 " The Lord love you. 
 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 "T. Carlyle." 
 
 {On his Acting.) 
 On April 29, 1863, he writes :— " I had to go yesterday to 
 Dickens's Reading, 8 p.m., Hanover Rooms, to the complete 
 upsetting of my evening habitudes and spiritual composure. 
 Dickens does do it capitally, such as it is ; acts better than any 
 Macready in the world ; a whole tragic, comic, heroic theatre 
 visible, performing under one hat, and keeping us laughing — in 
 a sorry way, some of us thought — the whole night. He is a good 
 creature, too, and makes fifty or sixty pounds by each of these 
 readings." — J. A. Fronde's Thomas Carlyle^ a History of His 
 Life in London, 1834-1881. (Vol. II., 1884.) 
 
 {On his Death.) 
 Among the consolations addressed to the friends and kmdre 
 
408 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 of Dickens at the time of the novelist's death, came these words 
 from Thomas Carlyle (July 4, 1870) : — 
 
 ** It is almost thirty years since my acquaintance with him 
 began ; and on my side, I may say, every new meeting ripened it 
 into more and more clear discernment of his rare and great 
 worth as a brother-man : a most cordial, sincere, clear-sighted, 
 quietly decisive, just and loving man : till at length he had 
 grown to such a recognition with me as I have rarely had for 
 any man of my time. This I can tell you three, for it is true 
 and will be welcome to you : to others less concerned I had as 
 soon not speak on the subject." 
 
 Again to John Forster (11th June, 1870) : — 
 
 " I am profoundly sorry for you, and indeed for myself and 
 for us all. It is an event world-wide ; a unique of talents 
 suddenly extinct ; and has * eclipsed ' we too may say, * the harmless 
 gaiety of nations !' No death, since 1866,'^ has fallen on me with 
 such a stroke. No literary man's hitherto ever did. The good, 
 the gentle, high-gifted, ever-friendly, noble Dickens, — every 
 inch of him an Honest Man." — Forster's Life of Charles 
 Dickens. (Vol. III., 1874.) 
 
 Again, to the same, on the completion of his third volume of 
 the Life of Charles Dickens : — 
 
 ". . . So long as Dickens is interesting to his fellow-men, 
 here will be seen face to face what Dickens's manner of existing 
 was. His bright and joyful sympathy with everything around 
 him ; his steady practicality, withal ; the singularly solid 
 business talent he continually had ; and, deeper than all, if one 
 has the eye to see deep enough, dark, fateful, silent elements, 
 tragical to look upon, and hiding, amid dazzling radiances as of 
 the sun, the elements of death itself. Those two American 
 journeys especially transcend in tragic interest, to a thinking 
 reader, most things one has seen in writing !" (February 16, 
 1874.) 
 
 '>' Mrs. Carlyle's. 
 
TESTIMONIES. 409 
 
 II. 
 
 John Ruskin. 
 {On ''Hard Times:') 
 " The essential value and truth of Dickens's writings have 
 been unwisely lost sight of by many thoughtful persons, merely 
 because he presents his truths with some colour of caricature. 
 Unwisely, because Dickens's caricature, though often gross, is 
 never mistaken. Allowing for his manner of telling them, the 
 things he tells us are always true. I wish that he could think 
 it right to limit his brilliant exaggeration to works written only 
 for public amusement ; and when he takes up a subject of high 
 national importance, such as that which he handled in Hard 
 Times, that he would use severer and more accurate analysis. 
 The usefulness of that work (to my mind, in several respects, the 
 greatest he has written) is with many persons seriously dimin- 
 ished because Mr. Bounderby is a dramatic monster, instead of 
 a characteristic example of a worldly master ; and Stephen 
 Blackpool a dramatic perfection, instead of a characteristic 
 example of an honest workman. But let us not lose the use of 
 Dickens's wit and insight, because he chooses to speak in a circle 
 of stage fire. He is entirely right in his main drift and purpose 
 in every book he' has written ; and all of them, but especially 
 Hard Times, should be studied with close and earnest care by 
 persons interested in social questions. They will find much 
 that is partial, and, because partial, apparently unjust ; but if 
 they examine all the evidence on the other side, which Dickens 
 seems to overlook, it will appear, after all their trouble, that his 
 view was the finally right one, grossly and sharply told." — Unto 
 this Last, 1862. 
 
 III. 
 
 "William Makepeace Thackeray. 
 {On the " Christmas Cai'ol.'') 
 "It is the work of the master of all the English humourists 
 now alive ; the young man who came and took his place calmly 
 
410 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 at the head of the whole tribe, and who has kept it. Think of 
 all we owe Mr. Dickens since those half-dozen years, the store 
 of happy hours that he has made us pass, the kindly and plea- 
 sant companions whom he has introduced to us ; the harmless 
 laughter, the generous wit, the frank, manly, human love which 
 he has taught us to feel ! Every month of those years has 
 brought us some kind token from this delightful genius. His 
 books may have lost in art, perhaps, but could we afford to wait ? 
 Since the days when the Spectator was produced by a man of 
 kindred mind and temper, what books have appeared that have 
 taken so affectionate a hold of the English public as these ? 
 
 ** Who can listen to objections regarding such a book as this ? 
 It seems to me a national" benefit, and to every man or woman 
 who reads it a personal kindness. The last two people I heard 
 speak of it were women ; neither knew the other, or the author, 
 and both said, by way of criticism, * God bless him !' . . . As 
 for Tiny Tim, there is a passage in the book regarding that 
 yoimg gentleman about which a man should hardly venture to 
 speak in print or in public, any more than he would of any other 
 affections of his private heart. There is not a reader in England 
 but that little creature will be a bond of union between the 
 author and him ; and he will say of Charles Dickens, as the 
 women just now, * God bless him !' What a feeling is this for 
 a v/riter to be able to inspire, and what a reward to reap !" — 
 Fraser's Magazine, July, 1844. 
 
 {0)1 " David Copperfiehl") 
 *' Have you read David Copperjield, by the way ? How 
 beautiful it is — how charmingly fresh and simple ! In those 
 admirable touches of tender humour, a mixture of love and wit 
 — who can equal this great genius ? There are little words and 
 phrases in his books which are like personal benefits to the 
 reader. What a place it is to hold in the affections of man ! 
 What an awful responsibility hanging over a writer ! What 
 man holding such a place, and knowing that his words go forth 
 
TESTIMONIES. 411 
 
 to vast congregations of mankind, to grown folks, to their chil- 
 dren, and perhaps to their children's children, but must think of 
 his calling with a solemn and humble heart ! May love and 
 truth guide such a man always ! It is an awful prayer ; may 
 heaven further its fulfilment ! And then, let the Record revile 
 him ''—Sketches and Travels in London, 1856. 
 
 The night after the Oxford election (1857), in which Thackeray 
 was an unsuccessful candidate, he gave some readings on behalf 
 of a fund then being raised to the memory of Douglas Jerrold, 
 in the course of which he thus alluded to the writings of Charles 
 Dickens : — 
 
 " I think of these past writers,* and of one who lives amongst 
 us now, and am grateful for the innocent laughter, and the sweet 
 and unsullied pages, which the author of David Copperfield 
 gives to my children."— CAarZes Dickens, the Story of Bis Life, 
 1870, 
 
 {On ^^ Domhey and Son.") 
 
 *' It was Thackeray's delight to read each number of Domhey 
 and Son with eagerness as it issued from the press. He had 
 often been heard to speak of the work in terms of the highest 
 praise, and when it had reached its fifth number, wherein Dickens 
 describes the end of little Paul with a depth of pathos which pro- 
 duced a vibrating emotion in the hearts of all who read it, 
 Thackeray seemed electrified at the thought that there was one 
 man living who could exercise so complete a control over him. 
 Putting No. 5 of Domhey and Son in his pocket, he hastened 
 down to the printing-office of Punch, and entering the editor's 
 room, he dashed it on the table with startling vehemence, and 
 exclaimed, * There's no writing against such power as this — one 
 has no chance ! Kead that chapter describing young Paul's 
 death : it is unsurpassed — it is stupendous !' " — Memories of My 
 Time, by George Hodder, 1870. 
 
 * Sterne and his " school." 
 
412 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 Mr. James Payn, the editor of the Comhill Magazine, in his 
 "Literary Recollections" published in that journal, quotes the 
 following opinion which Thackeray once expressed regarding the 
 influence of Dickens's writings : — 
 
 " As for the charities of Mr. Dickens, multiplied kindnesses 
 which he has conferred upon us all, upon our children, upon 
 people educated and uneducated, upon the myriads who speak 
 our common tongue, have not you, have not I, all of us, reason 
 to be thankful to this kind friend who so often cheered so many 
 hours, brought pleasure and sweet laughter to so many homes, 
 made such multitudes of children happy, endowed us with such 
 a sweet store of gracious thoughts, fair fancies, soft sympathies, 
 hearty enjoyments ? I may quarrel with Mr. Dickens's art a 
 thousand and a thousand times ; I delight and wonder at his 
 genius. I recognise it — I speak with awe and reverence — a 
 commission from that Divine Beneficence whose blessed task 
 we know it will one day be to wipe every tear from every eye. 
 Thankfully I take my share of the feast of love and kindness 
 which this noble and generous and charitable soul has con- 
 tributed to the happiness of the world. I take and enjoy my 
 share, and say a benediction for the meal !" — Comhill Maga- 
 zme, July, 1884. 
 
 lY. 
 
 George Henry Lewes. 
 {On his Writiiigs generally.) 
 In the Fortnightly Review for February, 1872, a paper, by 
 Mr. Lewes, was published, of which the object was to reconcile 
 each seeming inconsistency, to expound the inner meanings of 
 * Dickens in relation to Criticism,' and to show that, though he 
 had a splendid genius and a wonderful imagination, yet the 
 objectors were to be excused who called him only a stagy senti- 
 mentalist and a clever caricaturist. 'Mr. Forster, in the third 
 volume of his Life of Charles Dichens, refers to this scathing 
 article, and says that "during Dickens's life, especially when 
 
TESTIMONIES. 413 
 
 any fresh novelist could be found available for strained com- 
 parison with him, there were plenty of attempts to write him 
 down ; but the trick of studied depreciation was never carried so 
 far or made so odious as in this case, by intolerable assumptions 
 of an indulgent superiority." 
 
 Mr. Lewes first asserts "the noticeable fact that there probably 
 never was a writer of so vast a popularity whose genius was so 
 little appreciated by the critics. The very splendour of his 
 successes so deepened the shadow of his failures that to many 
 eyes the shadows supplanted the splendour. Fastidious readers 
 were loath to admit that a writer could be justly called great 
 whose defects were so glaring. They admitted, because it was 
 indisputable, that Dickens delighted thousands, that his admirers 
 were found in all classes and in all countries ; that he stirred 
 the sympathy of masses not easily reached through literature, 
 and always stirred healthy, generous emotions ; that he impressed 
 a new direction on popular writing, and modified the literature 
 of his age, in its spirit no less than in its form ; but they never- 
 theless insisted on his defects as if these outweighed all positive 
 qualities ; and spoke of him either with condescending patron- 
 age or with sneering irritation." 
 
 Then of his imaginative powers : — " Great as Dickens is in 
 fun, so great that Fielding and Smollett are small in comparison, 
 he would have been only a passing amusement for the world had 
 he not been gifted with JUi imagination of marvellous vividness, 
 and an emotional, sympathetic nature capable of furnishing that 
 imagination with elements of universal power. ) Of him it may 
 be said with less exaggeration than of most poets, that he was 
 of * imagination all compact ;' if the other higher faculties were 
 singularly deficient in him, this faculty was imperial. He was 
 a seer of visions ; and his visions were of objects at once familiar 
 and potent. Psychologists will understand both the extent and 
 the limitation of the remark, when I say that in no other per- 
 fectly sane mind (Blake, I believe, was not perfectly sane) have 
 I observed vividness of imagination approaching so closely to 
 
414 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 hallucination. ... I have never observed any trace of the 
 insane temperament in Dickens's works or life, they being 
 indeed singularly free even from the eccentricities which often 
 accompany exceptional powers; nevertheless, with all due limita- 
 tions, it is true that there is considerable light shed upon his 
 works by the action of the imagination in hallucination. To 
 him also revived images have the vividness of sensations ; to 
 him also created images have the coercive force of realities, ex- 
 cluding all control, all contradiction. What seemed prepos- 
 terous, impossible to us, seemed to him simple fact of observation. 
 When he imagined a street, a house, a room, a figure, he saw it 
 not in the vague schematic way of ordinary imagination, but in 
 the sharp definition of actual perception, all the salient details 
 obtruding themselves on his attention. He, seeing it thus 
 vividly, made us also see it ; and believing in its reality, how- 
 ever fantastic, he communicated something of his belief to us. 
 He presented it in such relief that we ceased to think of it as a 
 picture. So definite and insistent was the image, that even 
 while knowing it was false we could not help, for a moment, 
 being affected, as it were, by his hallucination. . . ." 
 
 ". . . It may be said of Dickens's human figures that 
 they too are wooden, and run on wheels ; but there are details 
 which scarcely disturb the belief of admirers. Just as the 
 wooden horse is brought within the range of the child's emotions, 
 and dramatizing tendencies, when he can handle and draw it, 
 so Dickens's figures are brought within the range of the reader's 
 interests, and receive from these interests a sudden illumina- 
 tion, when they are the puppets of a drama every incident of 
 which appeals to the sympathies. With a fine felicity of instinct 
 he seized upon situations having an irresistible hold over the 
 domestic affections and ordinary sympathies. He spoke in the 
 mother-tongue of the heart, and was always sure of ready 
 listeners. He painted the life he knew, the life everyone knew; 
 for if the scenes and manners were unlike those we were familiar 
 with, the feelings and motives, the joys and griefs, the mistakes 
 
TESTIMONIES. 415 
 
 and efforts of the actors were universal, and therefore tiniversally 
 inteUigible ; so that even critical spectators, who complained that 
 these broadly painted pictures were artistic daubs, could not 
 wholly resist their effective suggestiveness. He set in motion 
 the secret springs of sympathy by touching the domestic affec 
 tions. He painted nothing ideal, heroic ; but all the resource 
 of bourgeois epic were in his grasp. The world of thought and 
 passion lay beyond his horizon. But the joys and pains of child- 
 hood, the petty tyrannies of ignoble natures, the genial plea- 
 santries of happy natures, the life of the poor, the struggles of 
 the street and back parlour, the insolence of office, the sharp 
 social contrasts, east-wind and Christmas jollity, hunger, misery, 
 and hot punch — these he could deal with, so that we laughed 
 and cried, were startled at the revelation of familiar facts hitherto 
 unnoted, and felt our pulses quicken as we were hurried along 
 with him in his fanciful flight." 
 
 " . . . . It is indeed surprising that Dickens should have 
 observed man, and not been impressed with the fact that man 
 is, in the words of Montaigne, un itre ondoyant et diverse. And 
 the critic is distressed to observe the substitution of mechanism 
 for minds, puppets for characters. It is needless to dwell on 
 such monstrous failures as MantalinJ, Rosa Dartle, I^adj.^^^- 
 lock, Esther Summerson, Mr. Dick, Arthur Grub, Edith Dombey, 
 Mr. Carker — needless, because if one studies the successful 
 figures one finds even in them only touches of verisimilitude.. 
 When one thinks of Micawber always presenting himself in the 
 same situation, moved with the same springs, and uttering the 
 same sounds, always confident on something turning up, always 
 crushed and rebounding, always making punch — and his wife 
 always declaring she will never part from him, always referring 
 to his talents and her family — when one thinks of the * catch- 
 words ' personified as characters, one is reminded of the frogs 
 whose brains have been taken out for physiological purposes, and 
 whose actions henceforth want the distinctive peculiarity of 
 organic action — that of fluctuating spontaneity. Place one of 
 
416 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 these brainless frogs on his back and he will at once recover the 
 sitting posture ; draw a leg from under him, and he will draw 
 it back again ; tickle or prick him and he will push away the 
 object, or take one hop out of the way ; stroke his back, and he 
 will utter one croak. All these things resemble the actions of 
 the unmutilated frog, but they differ in being isolated actions, 
 and always the same : they are as uniform and calculable as the 
 movements of a machine. The uninjured frog may or may not 
 croak, may or may not hop away ; the result is never calculable, 
 and is rarely a single croak or a single hop. It is this com- 
 plexity of the organism which Dickens wholly fails to conceive ; 
 his characters have nothing fluctuating or incalculable in them, 
 even when they embody true observations ; and very often they 
 are creatures so fantastic that one is at a loss to understand how 
 he could, without hallucination, believe them to be like reality. 
 There are dialogues bearing the traces of straining effort at 
 effect, which in their incongruity painfully resemble the absurd 
 and eager expositions which insane patients pour into the 
 listener's ears when detailing their wrongs, or their schemes. 
 Dickens once declared to me that every word said by his cha- 
 racters was distinctly hea7'cl by him ; I was at first not a little 
 puzzled to account for the fact that he could hear language so 
 utterly unlike the language of real feeling, and not be aware of 
 its preposterousness ; but the surprise vanished when I thought 
 of the phenomena of hallucination. . . . His peculiarity is not 
 the incorrectness of his drawing, 'but the vividness of the 
 imagination which,"^while rendering that incorrectness insensible 
 to him, also renders it potent with multitudes of his fellow- 
 men. . . ." 
 
 "... He worked in delf, not in porcelain. But his prodigal 
 imagination created in delf forms which delighted thousands. 
 He only touched common life, but he touched it to ' fine issues ;' 
 and since we are all susceptible of being moved by pictures of 
 children in droll and pathetic situations, and by pictures of 
 common suffering and common joy, any writer who can paint 
 
TESTIMONIES. 417 
 
 such pictures with sufficient skill to awaken these emotions is 
 powerful in proportion to the emotion stirred. That Dickens had 
 this skill is undisputed ; and if critical reflection shows that the 
 means he employs are not such as will satisfy the technical 
 estimate, and consequently that the pictures will not move the 
 cultivated mind, nor give it the deep content which perfect Art 
 continues to create, making the work a 'joy for ever,' we must 
 still remember that in the present state of Literature, with 
 hundreds daily exerting their utmost efforts to paint such pic- 
 tures, it requires prodigious force and rare skill to impress 
 images that will stir the universal heart. . . . Readers to whom 
 all the refinement of Art and Literature are as meaningless 
 hieroglyphics, were at once laid hold of by the reproduction of 
 their own feelings, their own experiences, their own prejudices, 
 in the irradiating splendour of his imagination ; while readers 
 whose cultivated sensibilities were alive to the most delicate 
 and evanescent touches were, by virtue of their common nature, 
 ready to be moved and delighted at his pictures and sugges- 
 tions. The cultivated and uncultivated were affected by his 
 admirable mise- en- scene, his fertile invention, his striking selec- 
 tion of incident, his intense vision of physical details. . , . 
 Thought is strangely absent from his works, I do not suppose 
 a single thoughtful remark on life or character could be found 
 throughout the twenty volumes. Not only is there a marked 
 ^absence of the reflective tendency, but one sees no indications of 
 the past life of humanity having ever occupied him ; keenly as he 
 observes the objects before him, he never connects his observa- 
 tions into a general expression, never seems interested in 
 general relations of things. Compared with that of Fielding 
 or Thackeray, his was merely an animal intelligence, ^.e., 
 restricted to perceptions. On this ground his early education 
 was more fruitful and less injurious than it would have been to 
 a nature constructed on a more(^reflective and intellectual type) 
 It furnished him with rare and valuable experience, early de- 
 veloped his sympathies with the lowly and struggling, and did 
 
 27 
 
418 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 not starve any intellectual ambition. He never was and never 
 would have been a student. . . . Whatever faults he may have 
 committed, there were none attributable to carelessness. He 
 gave us his best. If the effort was sometimes too strained, and 
 the desire for effect too obtrusive, there was no lazy indulgence, 
 no trading on a great renown, no 'scumbling ' in his work," 
 
 The following is an account of two interviews which Mr. Lewes 
 had with Dickens : — " My acquaintance with him began soon after 
 the completion of PickwicTc. Something I had written on that 
 book pleased him, and caused him to ask me to call on him. , . . 
 He was then living in Doughty Street ; and those who remem- 
 ber him at that period will understand the somewhat disturbing 
 effect produced in my enthusiasm for the new author by the 
 sight of his bookshelves, on which were ranged nothing but 
 three-volume novels and books of travel, all obviously the pre- 
 sentation copies from authors and publishers, with none of the 
 treasures of the bookstall, each of which has its history, and all 
 giving the collection its individual physiognomy, A man's 
 library expresses much of his hidden life. I did not expect to 
 find a bookworm, nor even a student, in the marvellous * Boz ' ; 
 but nevertheless this collection of books was a shock. He 
 shortly came in, and his sunny presence quickly dispelled all 
 misgivings. He was then, as to the last, a delightful com- 
 panion, full of sagacity as well as animal spirits ; but I came 
 away more impressed with the fulness of life and energy than 
 with any sense of distinction, I believe I only saw him once 
 more before I went to Germany, and two years had elapsed 
 when next we met. While waiting in his library (in Devon- 
 shire Terrace), I of course glanced at his books. The well- 
 known paper boards of the three-volume novel no longer vulga- 
 rised the place ; a goodly array of standard works, well- 
 bound, showed a more respectable and conventional amBition ; 
 but there was no physiognomy in the collection, A greater 
 change was visible in Dickens himself. In these two years he 
 
TESTIMONIES. 419 
 
 had remarkably developed. His conversation turned on graver 
 subjects than theatres and actors, periodicals, and London life. 
 His interest in public affairs, especially in social questions, was 
 keener. He still remained completely outside philosophy, science, 
 and the higher literature, and was too unaffected a man to pre- 
 tend to feel any interest in them. But the vivacity and sagacity 
 which gave a charm to intercourse with him had become 
 weighted with a seriousness which from that time forward be- 
 came more and more prominent in his conversations and his 
 writings. He had already learned to look upon the world as a 
 scene where it was the duty of each man in his own way to 
 make the lot of the miserable Many a little less miserable ; and, 
 having learned that his genius gave him great power, he was 
 bent on using that power effectively. ..." 
 
 V. 
 
 George Eliot. 
 {On his Writings generally.) 
 
 In an article on "The Natural History of German Life," 
 having for its theme a careful study of Riehl, a famous novelist 
 of a quarter of a century ago, George Eliot protests against the 
 false views of life given by novelists and others, and thus refers 
 to Charles Dickens : — 
 
 " We have one great novelist who is gifted with the utmost 
 power of rendering the external traits of our town population ; 
 and if he could give us their psychological character — their con- 
 ceptions of life, and their emotions — with the same truth as their 
 idiom and manners, his books would be the greatest contribution 
 Art has ever made to the awakening of social sympathies. But 
 while he can copy Mrs. Plornish's colloquial style with the 
 delicate accuracy of a sun -picture, while there is the same 
 startling inspiration in his description of the gestures and 
 phrases of * Boots,' as in the speeches of Shakespeare's snobs or 
 numskulls, he scarcely ever passes from the humorous or external 
 
 27—2 
 
420 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 to the emotional and tragic without becoming as transcendent 
 in his unreality as he was a moment before in his artistic truth- 
 fulness. But for the precious salt of his humour, which com- 
 pels him to reproduce external traits that serve, in some degree, 
 as a corrective to his frequently false psychology, his pretematur- 
 ally virtuous poor children and artisans, his melo-dramatic boat- 
 men and courtesans, would be as noxious as Eugfene Sue's idea- 
 lized proletaires in encouraging the miserable fallacy that high 
 morality and refined sentiment can grow out of harsh social 
 relations, ignorance, and want ; or that the working classes are 
 in a condition to enter at once into a millennial state of altruism, 
 wherein everyone is caring for everyone else, and no one for 
 himself." (1884.) 
 
 VI. 
 
 Harriet Martineau. 
 {On his Writings generally.) 
 " Of Mr. Dickens I have' seen but little in face-to-face inter- 
 course ; but I am glad to have enjoyed that little. There may 
 be, and I believe there are, many who go beyond me in admira- 
 tion of his works — high and strong as is my delight in some of 
 them. Many can more enjoy his peculiar humour — delightful 
 as it is to me ; and few seem to miss as I do the pure plain day- 
 light in the atmosphere of his scenery. So many fine painters 
 have been mannerists as to atmosphere and colour that it mS,y 
 be unreasonable to object to one more ; but the very excellence 
 and diversity of Mr. Dickens's powers make one long that they 
 should exercise their full force under the broad open sky of 
 nature, instead of in the most brilliant palace of art. While he 
 tells us a world of things that are natural and even true, his 
 personages are generally, as I suppose is undeniable, profoundly 
 imreal. It is a curious speculation what effect his universally 
 read works will have on the foreign conception of English 
 character. Washington Irving came here expecting to find 
 the English life of Queen Anne's days, as his Sketch Book 
 
TESTIMONIES. 42 1 
 
 shows : and very unlike his preconception was the England he 
 found. And thus it must be with Germans, Americans, and 
 French, who take Mr. Dickens's books to be pictures of our real 
 life. Another vexation is his vigorous erroneousness about 
 matters of science, as shown in Oliver Twist about the new 
 poor-law (which he confounds with the abrogated old one) and 
 in Hard Times, about the controversies of employers. Nobody 
 wants to make Mr. Dickens a Political Economist ; but there 
 are many who wish that he would abstain from a set of difficult 
 subjects, on which all true sentiment must be underlain by a 
 sort of knowledge which he has not. The more fervent and in- 
 exhaustible his kindliness (and it is fervent and inexhaustible), 
 the more important it is that it should be well-informed and 
 well-directed, that no errors of his may mislead his readers on 
 the one hand, nor lessen his own genial influence on the other. 
 The finest thing in Mr. Dickens's case is that he, from time to 
 time, proves himself capable of progress,, however vast his pre- 
 ceding achievements had been. In humour, he will hardly sur- 
 pass Pickwick, simply because Pickwick is scarcely surpassable 
 in humour ; but in several crises, as it were, of his fame, when 
 everybody was disappointed, and his faults seemed running his 
 graces down, there has appeared something so prodigiously fine 
 as to make us all joyfully exclaim that Dickens can never per- 
 manently fail. It was so with Copperjield ; and I hope it may 
 be so again with the new work which my survivors will soon 
 have in their hands. Meantime, every indication seems to show 
 that the man himself is rising. He is a virtuous and happy 
 family man, in the first place. His glowing and generous heart 
 is kept steady by the best domestic influences : and we may 
 fairly hope now that he will fulfil the natural purpose of his 
 life, and stand by literature to the last ; and again, that he will 
 be an honour to the high vocation by prudence as well as by 
 power : so that the graces of genius and generosity may rest on 
 the finest basis of probity and prudence ; and that his old age 
 may be honoured as heartily as his youth and manhood have 
 
422 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 been admired. Nothing could exceed the frank kindness and 
 consideration shown by him in the correspondence and personal 
 intercourse we have had ; and my cordial regard has grown with 
 my knowledge of him." — Harriet MartineaiCs Autobiography, 
 1851. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Dean Stanley. 
 [On the Influence of his Writiiigs.) 
 On June 19, 1870, ten days after the death of Charles Dickens, 
 a sermon was preached in Westminister Abbey by Arthur 
 Penrhyn Stanley, D.D., Dean of Westminster, in the course of 
 which he spoke of " the gift of addressing mankind through 
 romance and novel and tale and fable," and that in no age or 
 country of the world has that gift been so much developed, and 
 with such striking effects as in our own. " The w^orks," he 
 said, "are so penetrating, so persuasive, none reach so many 
 homes, and attract so many readers, as the romance of modern 
 times." Alluding to Dickens, he thus spoke : — " But this leads 
 me to the further question of the special form which this 
 power assumed in him whose loss the country now deplores 
 with a grief so deep and genuine as to be itself a matter for 
 serious reflection. What was there in him which called forth 
 this wide-spread sympathy ? What is there in this sympathy 
 and in that which created it, worthy of our religious thoughts on 
 this day ? ... In this sacred place it is good to remember that^ 
 in the writings of him who is gone, we have had the most con- 
 vincing proof that it is possible to have moved old and young to 
 inextinguishable laughter without the use of a single expression 
 which could defile the purest, or shock the most sensitive. . . . 
 However deep into the dregs of Society his varied imagination 
 led him in his writings to descend, it still breathed an untainted 
 atmosphere. He was able to show us, by his own example, that 
 even in dealing with the darkest scenes and the most degraded 
 characters, genius could be clean, and mirth could be innocent. 
 
TESTIMONIES. 423 
 
 . . . In that long series of stirring tales, now for ever closed, 
 there was a profoundly serious — nay, may we not say a pro- 
 foundly Christian and Evangelical truth — of which we all need 
 to be reminded, and of which he was, in his own way, the special 
 teacher." 
 
 Referring to the novelist's advocacy of the poor and neglected 
 portion of humanity, the Dean remarked : — " By him that veil 
 was rent asunder which parts the various classes of society. 
 Through his genius the rich man, faring sumptuously every day, 
 was made to see and feel the presence of the Lazarus at his 
 gate. The unhappy inmates of the workhouse, the neglected 
 children in the dens and caves of our great cities, the starved 
 and ill-used boys in remote schools, far from the observation of 
 men, felt that a new ray of sunshine was poured on their dark 
 existence — a new interest awakened in their forlorn and desolate 
 lot. It was because an unknown friend had pleaded their cause 
 with a voice which rang through the palaces of the great, as 
 well as through the cottages of the poor. It was because, as by 
 a magician's wand, those gaunt figures and strange faces had 
 been, it may be sometimes in exaggerated forms, made to stand 
 and speak before those who hardly dreamed of their existence. 
 Nor was it mere compassion that was thus evoked. . . . The 
 same master hand which drew the sorrows of the English poor, 
 drew also the picture of the unselfish kindness, the courageous 
 patience, the tender thoughtfulness, that lie concealed behind 
 many a coarse exterior, in many a rough heart, in many a 
 degraded home. . . . He laboured to tell us all, in new, 
 very new, words, the old, old story that there is even in the 
 worst of capacity for goodness — a soul worth redeeming, worth 
 reclaiming, worth regenerating. He laboured to tell the rich, 
 the educated, how this better side was to be found and respected 
 even in the most neglected Lazarus. He laboured to tell the 
 poor no less, to respect this better part in themselves, to remem- 
 ber that they also have a call to be good and just, if they will 
 but hear it. If by any such means he has brought rich and poor 
 
424 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 nearer together, and made Englishmen feel more nearly as one 
 family, he will not assuredly have lived in vain, nor will his 
 bones in vain have been laid in this home and hearth of the 
 English nation. ..." 
 
 Quoting from Dickens's Will, that portion of it in which he 
 expresses a desire that he should not be made the subject of any 
 monument, memorial, or testimonial, but that he rested his 
 claims to the remembrance of his country upon his published 
 works, the Dean concluded by saying : — 
 
 " If any of you have learnt from his works the value, the 
 eternal value of generosity, purity, kindness, unselfishness, and 
 have learnt to show these in your own hearts and lives, these 
 are the best monuments, memorials and testimonials of the 
 friend whom you loved, and who loved, with a rare and touch- 
 ing love, his friends, his country, and his fellow-men — monu- 
 ments which he would not refuse, and which the humblest, the 
 poorest, the youngest, have it in their power to raise to his 
 memory." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Lord Macaulay. 
 [On ''Hard Times:') 
 
 Lord Macaulay, in his private diary, under the date of 
 "August 12, 1854," thus records his opinion regarding this 
 work : — 
 
 " I read Dickens's Hard Times. One excessively touching, 
 heart-breaking passage, and the rest sullen socialism. The evils 
 he attacks he caricatures grossly and with little humour." — 
 Atlantic Monthly, March, 1877. 
 
 (On " American Notes.''') 
 
 Lord Macaulay, before the work was published, thus wrote to 
 Macvey Napier, the editor of the Edinburgh Review : " I wish 
 Dickens's book to be kept for me. I have never written a word 
 on that subject, and I have a great deal in my head. Of course 
 I shall be courteous to Dickens, whom I know and whom I 
 
TESTIMONIES. 425 
 
 think both a man of genius and a good-hearted man, in spite of 
 some faults of taste." When the volumes appeared, he gave up 
 the idea of making them even the excuse for an article. " This 
 morning," he writes to Napier (October 19, 1842), " I received 
 Dickens's book. I have now read it. It is impossible for me 
 to review it, nor do I think that you would wish me to do so. I 
 cannot praise it, and I will not cut it up. I cannot praise it 
 though it contains a few lively dialogues and descriptions, for it 
 seems to be, on the whole, a failure. It is written like the 
 worst parts of Humphrey's Clock. What is meant to be easy 
 and sprightly is vulgar and flippant, as in the first two pages. 
 What is meant to be fine is a great deal too fine for me, as the 
 description of the Falls of Niagara. A reader who wants an 
 amusing account of the United States had better go to Mrs. 
 Trollope, coarse and malignant as she is. A reader who wants 
 information about American politics, manners, and literature 
 had better go even to so poor a creature as Buckingham. In 
 short, I pronounce the book, in spite of some claims to genius, 
 at once frivolous and dull. Therefore I will not praise it. 
 Neither will I attack it ; first, because I have eaten salt 
 with Dickens ; secondly, because he is a good man and a 
 man of real talent ; thirdly, because he hates slavery as 
 heartily as I do ; and fourthly, because I wish to see him en- 
 rolled in our blue-and-yellow corps, where he may do excellent 
 service as a skirmisher and sharp-shooter," — Atlantic Monthly, 
 April, 1877. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Professor Wilson (Christopher I^orth). 
 {On his Cha7'acteristics as a Wi^lter.) 
 Before the departure of Dickens for America, a farewell ban- 
 quet was given in his honour in Edinburgh, June 25, 1841. 
 Professor Wilson, better known as " Christopher North," pre- 
 sided on that occasion, and spoke of the young author in the 
 following terms : — 
 
426 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 ** Our friend has dealt with the common feelings and passions 
 of ordinary men in the common ordinary paths of life. He has 
 not sought — at least he has not yet sought — to deal with those 
 thoughts'and passions that are made conspicuous from afar by 
 the elevated stations of those who experience them. He has 
 mingled in the common walks of life ; he has made himself 
 familiar with the lower orders of society. He has not been 
 deterred by the aspect of vice and wickedness, and misery and 
 guilt, from seeking a spirit of good in things evil, but has en- 
 deavoured by the might of genius to transmute what was base 
 into what is precious as the beaten gold. ... I cannot express 
 in a few ineffectual words the delight which every human 
 bosom feels in the benign spirit which pervades all his creations. 
 How kind and good a man he is, I need not say ; nor what 
 .strength of genius he has acquired by that profound sympathy 
 with his fellow-creatures, whether in prosperity and happiness 
 or overwhelmed with unfortunate circumstances, but who do 
 not yet sink under their miseries, but trust to their own strength 
 of endurance, to that principle of truth and honour and integrity 
 which is no stranger to the uncultivated bosom, which is found 
 in the lowest abodes in as great strength as in the halls of the 
 nobles and the palaces of kings. 
 
 **Mr. Dickens is also a satirist. He satirizes human life, 
 but he does not satirize it to degrade it. He does not wish to 
 pull down what is high into the neighbourhood of what is low. 
 He does not seek to represent all virtue as a hollow thing, in 
 which no confidence can be placed. He satirizes only the 
 selfish, and the hard-hearted, and the cruel ; he exposes in a 
 hideous light that principle which, when acted upon, gives a 
 power to man in the lowest grades to carry on a more terrific 
 tyranny than if placed upon thrones. I shall not say — for I do 
 not feel — that our distinguished guest has done full and entire 
 justice to one subject — that he has entirely succeeded where I 
 have no doubt he would be most anxious to succeed — in a full 
 and complete delineation of the female character. But this he 
 
TESTIMONIES. 427 
 
 has done ; he has not endeavoured to represent women as charm- 
 ing merely by the aid of accomplishments, however elegant and 
 graceful. He has not depicted those accomplishments as the 
 essentials of their character, but has spoken of them rather as 
 always inspired by a love of domesticity, by fidelity, by purity, 
 by innocence, by charity, and by hope, which makes them dis- 
 charge, under the most difficult circumstances, their duties ; and 
 which brings over their path in this world some glimpses of the 
 light of heaven. Mr. Dickens may be assured that there is felt 
 for him all over Scotland a sentiment of kindness, affection, 
 admiration and love ; and I know for certain that the know- 
 ledge of these sentiments must make him happy." 
 
 X. 
 
 Lord Lytton. 
 
 At the Public Banquet given to Charles Dickens prior to his 
 departure for the United States, the Chairman (Lord Lytton) 
 in a speech which he delivered on that occasion, thus referred 
 to Dickens : — 
 
 "... How many hours in which pain aud sickness have 
 changed into cheerfulness and mirth beneath the wand of this 
 enchanter ! How many a combatant beaten down in the battle 
 of life — and nowhere is the battle of life more sharply waged 
 than in the commonwealth of America — has caught new hope, 
 new courage, new force from the manly lessons of this unobtru- 
 sive teacher ! It is no wonder that the rising generation of a 
 people who have learned to think and to feel in our language, 
 should eagerly desire to see face to face the man to whose 
 genius, from their very childhood, they have turned for warmth 
 and for light as instinctively as young plants turn to the sun." 
 
 XL 
 
 The Lord Chief Justice of England (Sir Alexander 
 Cockburn, Eart.). 
 On the same occasion, Sir Alexander Cockburn, said : — 
 "... To us who have met this evening to do honour to our 
 
428 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 illustrious guest, to testify our admiration of his great genius 
 and our appreciation of all the benefits he has conferred on 
 literature by those immortal works in which pathos and humour 
 are so happily blended that one knows not which most to 
 admire — which makes him, as it were, in literature what 
 Garrick was on the stage — those works by which he has not only 
 enriched the literature of his country, but has contributed to the 
 enjoyment of thousands, and in which that which I think is 
 most to be admired is that unfailing honesty of purpose which 
 has induced him never to pander to vicious tastes or evil 
 thoughts, and which has made him teach us — unconsciously, 
 perhaps — to admire only that which is beautiful and true, 
 while he holds up to our execration and our scorn that which is 
 loathsome, and vile, and base — those works in which, passing in 
 review the * scenes of many-coloured life,' he has known how to 
 infuse interest into all, and, by those ' touches of nature which 
 make the whole world kin,' has ever promoted those feelings 
 which bind man to man, and tend to develop that catholic, large, 
 and generous humanity which is the noblest attribute of man- 
 kind — to us who have come here to-night to do honour to such 
 an author, and to such a man, it must be a source of unbounded 
 satisfaction that upon such an occasion the chair has been filled 
 by my noble friend on my right* — himself a man of transcen- 
 dent genius, who has taken his place in the foremost rank in the 
 literature of the civilized world ; and who was, therefore, the 
 man to do justice to our friend, Charles Dickens. . . ." 
 
 XII. 
 Henry Wads worth Longfellow. 
 {On " Edwin Drood. ' ' ) 
 " 1 hope his book {Edwin Drood) is finished," wrote Long- 
 fellow, when the news of Dickens's death was flashed to America. 
 "It is certainly one of his most beautiful works, if not the 
 
 * Lord Lytton. 
 
TESTIMONIES. 429 
 
 most beautiful of all. It would be too sad to think the pen had 
 fallen from his hand, and left it incomplete !" — Forster's Life 
 of Charles Dickens. Vol. III., 1874. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Lord Russell. 
 
 {On his Letters.) 
 "I have read them," wrote Lord Kussell to Forster, "with 
 delight and pain. His heart, his imagination, his qualities of 
 painting what is noble, and finding diamonds hidden far away 
 are greater here than even his works convey to me. How I 
 lament he was not spared to us longer ! I shall have a fresh 
 grief when he dies in your volumes !" — Forster's Life of Charles 
 Dickens. Vol. III., 1874. 
 
 XIY. 
 
 Washington Irving. 
 {On the Value a7id Power of his Writings.) 
 Washington Irving, in a letter to Dickens, told him that he was 
 the only man he ever felt he could make an advance to. A 
 strong impulse had overpowered him. He asked in one place — 
 " What are my slight and erratic sketches to your ample and 
 complete pictures, which lay all the recesses of the human heart 
 before us ?" . . . " And then the practical utility, the operative 
 benevolence which pervade all your portraitures of the lowest 
 life, and give a value and dignity to your honest humour ; that 
 exquisite tact which enables you to carry your reader through 
 the veriest dens of vice and villainy without a breath to shock 
 the ear or a stain to sully the robe of the most shrinking delicacy. 
 It is a rare gift to be able to paint low life without being low, 
 and to be comic without the -least taint of vulgarity." After 
 speaking of the humorous creations of Dickens, Mr. Irving 
 said: — **I have been dwelling on your comic picturings, but 
 I have found yourself equally the master in the dark and 
 terrible of real life; not the robbers and villains of high- 
 strained romance and feudal times and castellated scenes. 
 
430 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 but the dangerous and desperate villainy that lurks in the 
 midst of the busy world and besets the every-day haunts of 
 society ; and starts up in the path of the plodding citizen, and 
 among the brick walls of the metropolis. And then the ex- 
 quisite pathos, so deep, but so pure and healthy, as carried 
 throughout the wanderings of little Barbara* and her poor old 
 grandfather. I declare to you there is a moral sublimity and 
 beauty wrought out with a matchless simplicity of fancies in 
 the whole of that story, that leaves me at a loss how sufficiently 
 to express my admiration — and then there are passages (like that 
 of the schoolmaster's remarks on neglected graves) which come 
 upon us so suddenly, and gleam forth apparently undesignedly, 
 but which are perfect gems of language." (From a collection 
 of Letters written to Charles Dickens, which has recently been 
 acquired by Mr. J. W. Bouton, Publisher, of New York.) 
 
 XV. 
 
 The Bishop of Manchester (Dr. James Eraser). 
 
 {On his Death, and the Moral Influence of his Writings.) 
 On the third day after Dickens's death, the Bishop delivered 
 a sermon in Westminster Abbey, and closed a plea for the tolera- 
 tion of differences of opinion where the foundations of religious 
 truth are accepted, with these words : " It will not be out of 
 harmony with the line of thought we have been pursuing — cer- 
 tainly it will be in keeping with the associations of this place, 
 dear to Englishmen, not only as one of the proudest Christian 
 temples, but as containing the memorials of so many who by 
 their genius in arts, or arms, or statesmanship, or literature, 
 have made England what she is — if in the simplest and briefest 
 words I allude to that sad and unexpected death which has 
 robbed English literature of one of its highest living ornaments, 
 and the news of which, two mornings ago, must have made 
 every household in England feel as though they had lost a per- 
 
 * Little Nell, in the Old Curiosity Shop. 
 
TESTIMONIES. 431 
 
 sonal friend. He has been called in one notice an apostle of 
 the people. I suppose it is meant that he had a mission, but in 
 a style and fashion of his own ; a gospel, a cheery, joyous, glad- 
 some message, which the people understood, and by which they 
 could hardly help being bettered ; for it was the gospel of kind- 
 liness, of brotherly love, of sympathy in the widest sense of the 
 word. I am sure I have felt in myself the healthful spirit of his 
 teaching. Possibly we might not have been able to subscribe 
 to the same creed in relation to God, but I think we should have 
 subscribed to the same creed in relation to man. He who 
 taught us our duty to our fellow-men better than we knew it 
 before, who knew so well to weep with them that wept, and to 
 rejoice with them that rejoiced, who hath shown forth in all his 
 knowledge of the dark corners of the earth how much sunshine 
 may rest upon the lowliest lot, who had such evident sjonpathy 
 with suffering, and such a natural instinct of purity that there 
 is scarcely a page of the thousands he has written which might 
 not be put into the hands of a little child, must be regarded 
 by those who recognise the diversity of the gifts of the spirit as 
 a teacher sent from God. He would have been welcomed as a 
 fellow -labourer in the common interests of humanity by Him 
 who asked the question, ' If a man love not his brother whom he 
 hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen ?' " — 
 Vide Forster's Life of Charles Dickens. Vol. Ill, 1874. 
 
 XVT. 
 Dr. Channing. 
 
 (Ow the Tendencies of his Writi7igs.) 
 Dr. Channing, the ascetic saint and sage of America, though 
 somewhat disturbed by the jollity of his writings, said of Dickens 
 that "his sympathies are such as to recommend him in an 
 especial manner to us. He seeks out that class in order to bene- 
 fit them, with whom American institutions and laws sympathize 
 most strongly ; and it is in the passions, sufferings, and virtues 
 of the mass that he has found his subjects of most thrilling 
 
432 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 interest. He shows that life in its rudest form may wear a 
 tragic grandeur ; that amidst follies and excuses, provoking 
 laughter or scorn, the moral feelings do not wholly die ; and 
 that the haunts of the blackest crime are sometimes lighted up 
 I by the presence and influence of the noblest souls. His pictures 
 I have a tendency to awaken sympathy with our race, and to 
 change the unfeeling indifference which has prevailed towards 
 the depressed multitude, into a sorrowful and indignant sensi- 
 bility to their wrongs and woes." — Vide Forster's Life of 
 Charles Dickens. Vol. I, 1872c 
 
 XYII. 
 
 Lord Chief Justice Campbell. 
 {On " Pickivickr) 
 The Lord Chief Justice (afterwards Lord Chancellor) Camp- 
 bell told Dickens that he would prefer the honour of having 
 written that book (Pickwick) to the honours which his profes- 
 sional exertions had obtained for him, that of being a peer of 
 Parliament and the nominal head of the law. — Atlantic Monthly, 
 March, 1877. 
 
 XVIIL 
 
 Anthony Trollope. 
 {071 the ^^Characters'' in his Works.) 
 " No other writer of English language except Shakespeare has 
 left so many tj^es of character as Dickens has done, — characters 
 which are known by their names familiarly as household words, 
 and which bring to our minds vividly and at once a certain 
 well-understood set of ideas, habits, phrases, and costumes, 
 making together a man, or woman, or child whom we know at a 
 glance and recognise at a sound — as we do our own intimate 
 friends. And it may be doubted whether even Shakespeare has 
 done this for so wide a circle of acquaintances. . . . Pickwick 
 and Sam Weller, Mrs. Nickleby, and Wackford Squeers, Fagin 
 and Bill Sikes, Micawber, Mrs. Gamp, Pecksniff, and Bucket 
 
TESTIMONIES. 433 
 
 the Detective, are persons so well known to us that we think 
 that they, who are in any way of the profession of these 
 worthies, are untrue to themselves if they depart in aught 
 from their recognised and understood portraits, Pickwick 
 can never be repeated ; — nuUi similes aut secundus, he is 
 among our dearest and nearest, and we expect no one to be 
 like him. But a * boots ' at an hotel is more of a boots the 
 closer he resembles Sam Weller. . . ." — St. PauVs Magazine, 
 July, 1870. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Blanch ARD Jerrold. \ "'^-^T' 
 
 {On his Personal Characteristics.) 
 "... Who knew him best and closest, saw how little he 
 would ever produce to the outer world of the bright, chivalrous, 
 engaging, and deep and tender heart that beat within his bosom. 
 The well of kindness was open to mankind, and from it genera- 
 tions will drink : but it was never fathomed. Charles Dickens, 
 as all writers about him have testified, was so graciously as well 
 as lavishly endowed by Nature that every utterance was sunny, 
 every sentiment pure, every emotional opinion instinctively 
 right — like a woman's. The head that governed the richly 
 stored heart was wise, prompt, and alert at the same time. He 
 communicated to all he did the delightful sense of ease with 
 power. Prodigal as he was, he seemed ever to reserve more love 
 and tenderness than he gave. His vigour was sustained, as well 
 as brilliant and daring. His mind, so marked in its self-respect and 
 equal poise, was never weak on great occasions, as the judicial 
 mind so often is. There was something feminine in the quality 
 that led him to the right verdict, the appropriate word, the core of 
 the heart of the question in hand. The air about him vibrated 
 with his activity, and his surprising vitality. In a difficulty men 
 felt safe, merely because he was present. Most easily, among all 
 thinkers it has been my fortune to know, was he master of every 
 situation in which he placed himself. Not only because of the 
 
 28 
 
 '^<ViA 
 
434 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 latent conscious power that was in him, and the knightly 
 cheerfulness which became the pure-minded servant of humanity 
 who had used himself to victory ; but because he adopted always 
 the old plain advice, and deliberated well before he acted with 
 the vigour which was inseparable from any activity of his." — 
 Charles Dickens : In Memoriam. By Blanchard Jerrold. 
 Gentleman'' s Magazine, July, 1870. 
 
 XX. 
 
 James Payn. 
 {On his Personal Characteristics.) 
 "... The chief figure in my literary Pantheon had been 
 always Dickens ... he had given me more pleasure than any 
 writer. . . . Contemptible as the confession may appear, I feel 
 the same love and admiration for Charles Dickens now (1884) as I 
 did then (1856). What indeed astonished even me, I remember, 
 at the time, was that personal acquaintance with him increased 
 rather than diminished his marvellous attraction for me. In 
 general society, especially if it had been of an artificial kind, I 
 have known his manner to betray some sense of effort, but in 
 the company of those with whom he could feel at home, I have 
 never met a man more natural or more charming. He never 
 wasted time in commonplaces — though a lively talker, he never 
 uttered a platitude — and what he had to say he said as if he meant 
 it. . . . Whatever there was of him was real, without padding, 
 and whatever was genuine in others had a sympathetic attraction 
 for him. . . .""—Some Literary Recollections. By James Payn, 
 1884. 
 
 xxr. 
 
 George Augustus Sala. 
 [On his Powers as a Writer.) 
 " He is gone, then ! — the gifted writer, the prince of story- 
 tellers, the most genial of essayists, the master of humour and 
 pathos, the compeller of laughter and of tears, the wisest and 
 
TESTIMONIES. 435 
 
 kindest of moralists. . . . The record of Charles Dickens is an 
 essential part of the nineteenth century and of the Victorian 
 era ; and it would be as difficult to obliterate from the chronicle 
 of our time the remembrance of who he was and what he did 
 as to ignore Fulton or Stephenson, Brewster or Faraday. . . ." 
 
 "He scarcely ever failed in anything he undertook. It 
 would be rash to say that he was born to succeed in anything he 
 might have attempted ; but it is certain that he had so brought 
 his powers under mastery, that he had so disciplined his capacity, 
 that he had so trained and developed the direction of his genius, 
 as to be able to ensure and to command a certain amount of 
 success in every one of his endeavours. His triumphs were 
 neither fortuitous nor accidental. They were premeditated, 
 consummated, and deserved. . . ." 
 
 "That Dickens could be, on occasion, not only irresistibly 
 comic, not only slily humorous, not only inimitably quaint, but 
 that he could be infinitely tender, graceful, and pathetic — that 
 he could be dramatic, tragical, and terrible. The hand which 
 drew Mr. Pickwick ' in the Pound ' gave us, almost simul- 
 taneously, Fagin in the condemned cell. From the same teem- 
 ing brain have come the death of Little Nell, and the marriage 
 of Mrs. M' Stinger ; the description of Mr. John Smawker's 
 ' Swarry,' and the picture of the Gordon Riots ; the terrific 
 combat of Mr. Crummies and his sons, and the storm in David 
 Copperjield ; the christening of little Paul Dombey, and the 
 murder of Mr. Tulkinghom. I conscientiously believe that, 
 had Charles Dickens never written Pickwick at all, his tenure of 
 the public mind and on the public love would have been as great 
 and as promising of permanence as it is now. . . . The pictures 
 he drew were clearly not imaginary, for no sooner were they 
 drawn than all the world recognised their amazing vividness 
 a,nd veracity, and only wondered that such scenes had not 
 occurred to them before ; and herein his greatness as an artist 
 was conspicuous, for it is one of the distinctive privileges of 
 genius to utter thoughts and to portray objects which at once 
 
 28—2 
 
486 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 appear to us obvious and familiar, but of which no definite idea 
 or impression had hitherto been presented to our minds. . . ." 
 
 "I have ventured to predict for him such a perpetuity of 
 renown as has been the guerdon of the great writers of 
 antiquity ; as has been the portion [of those who wrote Hamlet 
 and Paradise Lost. I can only plead that, if I have erred, the 
 error must be attributed to ignorance ; but to an ignorance 
 which may be palliated by its sincerity. I may be a dullard or 
 a zealot, but I believe in his greatness and in the universality of 
 his name — on this side the decay and the oblivion which must 
 sooner or later overtake all human things. . . . But I maintain 
 his renown will be progressive, and that he will March. He will 
 march in the great company — with rare Ben Jonson, with 
 glorious John Dryden, with kind Molifere, and patient Cervantes, 
 with noble Walter Scott, with gentle William Thackeray — all 
 great humourists, all great masters of pathos, all good and honest 
 men. He will march until not only this pin's head England, 
 not only the great American Republic, not only the vast empire 
 which is to be in Australia, but the extremest limits of a new 
 civilized China, the farthest borders of a re-civilized Hindustan, 
 shall be full of the sound of the footsteps of his fame." 
 
 Mr. Sala also gives the following description of Dickens's 
 personal appearance: " A bronzed, weather-worn, hardy man, 
 with somewhat of a seaman's air about him. His carriage was 
 remarkably upright, his mien almost aggressive in its confidence. 
 He was one of the few men whose individuality was not effaced 
 by the mournful conventionality of evening dress. . . . His 
 appearance in walking dress in the streets during his later years 
 was decidedly *odd,' and almost eccentric, being marked by 
 strongly pronounced colours, and a fashioning of the garments 
 which had somewhat of a sporting and somewhat of a theatrical 
 guise. 
 
 " To those who did not know that he was Charles Dickens, he 
 might have been some prosperous sea-captain home from a long 
 voyage, some Western senator on a tour in Europe, some 
 
TESTIMONIES. 437 
 
 country gentleman of Devon or Yorkshire who now and then 
 bred a colt or two, and won a cup, but never betted. But those 
 who could look far back remembered when Charles Dickens was 
 in countenance like Milton in his youth, ' eminently beautiful,' 
 and when in attire he was, next to Count D'Orsay, the choicest 
 and most tastefully dressed dandy in London." — CJiarles Dickens. 
 By G. A. Sala, 1870. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Mary Eussell Mitford. 
 {On " Pickwick.") 
 
 In a letter to a friend in Ireland (June, 1837), when Pick- 
 icick was in course of completion, Miss Mitford thus wrote con- 
 -cerning it : — 
 
 "So you never heard of the Pickwick Papers ! Well, they 
 publish a number once a month, and print 25,000. The book- 
 seller has made about £10,000 by the speculation. It is fun — ■ 
 London life — but without anything unpleasant ; a lady might 
 read it aloud ; and then so gTaphic, so individual, and so true that 
 jou could courtesy to all the people as you see them in the 
 streets. I did think there had not been a place where English 
 is spoken to which * Boz ' had not penetrated. All the boys 
 and girls talk his fun — the boys in the streets ; and yet those 
 who are of the highest taste like it most. Sir Benjamin Brodie 
 takes it to read in his carriage, between patient and patient ; 
 and Lord Denman studies Pickwick on the bench while the jury 
 are deliberating. Do take some means to borrow the Pickwick 
 Papers. It seems like not having heard of Hogarth, whom he re- 
 sembles greatly, except that he takes a far more cheerful view, a 
 Shakespearian view, of humanity. It is rather fragmentary, 
 except the trial (No. 11 or 12), which is as complete and perfect 
 as any bit of comic writing in the English language. You must 
 read the Pickwick Papers. . . ." — The Life of Mary Russell 
 Mitford, 1870. 
 
438 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Lord Jeffrey. 
 {Oil the " Christmas Carol" and the " Battle of Life.") 
 
 In a letter to Dickens, Lord Jeffrey thus wrote in reference 
 to the Christmas Carol: — "You should be happy yourself, for 
 you may be sure you have done more good by this little publica- 
 tion, fostered more kindly feelings, and prompted more positive 
 acts of beneficence, than can be traced to all the pulpits and con- 
 fessionals in Christendom since Christmas, 1842." 
 
 In another letter he praises the Battle of Life, at the time of 
 its publication : — " I like and admire the Battle extremely. It 
 is better than any other man aJive could have written, and has 
 passages as fine as anything that ever came from the man himself. 
 The dance of the sisters in that autumn orchard is of itself worth 
 a dozen inferior tales, and their reunion at the close, and indeed 
 all the serious parts, are beautiful, some traits of Clemency 
 charming." — F«r/e Forster's Life of Charles Dickens. Vol. II., 
 1873. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Dean Eamsay. 
 {On " Bleak House.") 
 "We have been reading Bleak House 'aloud,'" wrote the 
 Dean, shortly before his death, to John Forster. " Surely it is 
 one of his most powerful and successful ! What a triumph is 
 Jo ! Uncultured nature is there indeed ; the intimations of 
 true heart-feeling, the glimmerings of higher feeling, all are 
 there ; but everything still consistent and in harmony. Wonder- 
 ful is the genius that can show all this, yet keep it only and 
 really part of the character itself, low or common as it may be, 
 and use no morbid or fictitious colouring. To my mind, 
 nothing in the field of fiction is to be found in English literature 
 surpassing the death of Jo !" — Vide Forster's Life of Charles 
 Dickens. Vol. III., 1874. 
 
TESTIMONIES. 439 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Samuel Carter Hall. 
 {On the Value of his Works.) 
 
 " What a full, brilliant, useful life it was, that which endured 
 no longer here — on earth — than fifty-eight years ! What a pro- 
 digious bequest he has left — what a munificent gift, not to his 
 country alone, but to all the peoples of the world, mankind, 
 mankind his debtor to the end of time ! I have applied these 
 words to other great benefactors of the epoch ; to none with 
 greater force or truth than to this great master and guide of the 
 hearts and minds of millions. ..." 
 
 ** . . His many works have delighted and, what is of far 
 greater moment, instructed millions ; and the impress he has 
 left on the page of literary history will endure for centuries to 
 come — as long as the language in which his books are written — 
 a language that is now read and spoken by hundreds of millions, 
 and which probably will be, at no very distant period, the common 
 tongue of the half of human kind. 
 
 " The deaths— if the term must be applied to one who can never 
 die — of this largely gifted and large-hearted man carried deep 
 grief into every circle — not alone of the kingdom, but of the 
 world ; the highest and the lowest of society alike felt they had 
 lost a friend — one who not only ministered, and always rightly, 
 to their intellectual enjoyments, but was ever the firm yet 
 genial advocate of humanity. His sympathies were mainly, but 
 by no means exclusively, with the humbler classes j he was ever 
 on the side of all who suffered wrong — ever the enemy of those 
 by whom it was inflicted. His satire — and he was often a keen 
 satirist — was never personal, either as regarded himself or the 
 vices and follies he assailed. Of him may be truly said what 
 the poet said of Sheridan ; in the ' combat ' his wit — 
 ' Ne'er carried a heart-stain away on its blade j' 
 and it is no exaggeration to apply to Charles Dickens the line 
 that was applied to William Shakespeare,— 
 
 ' He was not for an aore, but for all time.' " 
 
440 TESTIMONIES. 
 
 — A Book of Memoirs of Great Men and Women of the A<je, 
 from Personal Acquaintance. By S. C. Hall, 1871. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Elihu Burritt. 
 {On Dickens as a Writer.) 
 " We now come to a writer who was to an unexplored world 
 of human life what Columbus was to a new hemisphere of the 
 earth. I say unexplored in an honest sense of appreciation. It 
 had been superficially glanced over to furnish low or comic 
 actors on the stage of exalted characters, as foils to bring out 
 their noble qualities in fuller relief. But Dickens, without 
 previous chart or example to guide him, landed on this half- 
 forgotten shore of human life, and, lighted by his own experi- 
 ence in its hardest and commonest walks, he presented to the 
 world a set of characters out of common men, and women, and 
 children, which have doubtless made a deeper, a more lasting 
 and healthful impression on the present age than all the ideals 
 taken from the ranks of aristocratic and titled fashion for the 
 last hundred years. There is no miry or thorny by-path of 
 poverty, there is no lane nor alley of hard and suffering life, in 
 which he has not found the material and suggestion for some 
 hero orheroine of minor virtue; some living impersonation of moral 
 courage, faith, patience, gentleness, tenderness, love, or purity. 
 There is no brilliant nor fashionable vice, no form of hypocrisy, 
 or untruthful pretension ; there is no iniquity established by a 
 lord ; no stingy habit, nor hard-hearted institution ; no sham 
 nor shameful inhumanity in private or public life, in school-house, 
 poor-house, or prison-house, which he has not impersonated in his 
 creations and shown to the world in their most repulsive aspects. I 
 think it is not too much to say, that no writer of fiction ever made 
 the public laugh with more healthy laughter, or weep with more 
 healthy tears, than Charles Dickens. For he makes no one 
 laugh at crime, or weep for experiences that are not true and 
 frequent in common life. Thus he has set more of the practical 
 
TESTIMONIES. 441 
 
 S3nnpathies of benevolence at work than any other novelist, 
 living or dead. It is just as impossible to measure the ameliorating 
 influences he brought to bear upon the spirit and discipline of 
 prisons, poor-houses, schools, law-courts, and other institutions 
 in Great Britain, as it is to measure the value of a day's rain in 
 summer on a dusty continent. His ideals met the urgent neces- 
 sities of his age and country. He produced them in the right 
 order of succession, and the public recognised in them imper- 
 sonations of qualities and characters that were true to nature 
 and common to society. His Old Curiosity Shop was full of 
 vivid ideals that seem strange ; but they were actual, living 
 facts, merely put under the microscopic power of his genius, 
 which magnified but did not distort them. Hundreds of mothers 
 on both sides of the Atlantic recognise the sweet, meek face of 
 his Little Nell in the little daughter they had loved and lost. 
 His Quilp was detested, hated, and avoided in every society. 
 "Who can tell the worth of his Pecksniff to an age much given to 
 shams and pretentious seeming ? Then, what novelist ever 
 lighted the lower walks of common life with such helpful and 
 attainable ideals as his Tom Pinch, Mark Tapley, Daniel Peg- 
 gotty, his Cheap Jack, Little Dorrit, Barnaby Rudge, and other 
 humble but brave heroes who battle with the hard lots of 
 common men." — Life and Labo7'S of Elihu Burritt. By C. 
 Northend, 1879. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Edmund Yates. 
 [On his Personal Characteristics.) 
 " I have heard Dickens described by those who knew him as 
 aggressive, imperious, and intolerant, and I can comprehend the 
 accusation ; but to me his temper was always of the sweetest 
 and kindest. He would, I doubt not, have been easily bored, 
 and would not have scrupled to show it ; but he never ran the 
 risk. He was imperious in the sense that his life was con- 
 ducted on the Sic volo sic jubeo principle, and that everything 
 
442 TESTIMONIES. . 
 
 gave way before him. The society in which he mixed, the hours 
 which he kept, the opinions which he held, his likes and dislikes, 
 his ideas of what should or should not be, were all settled by 
 himself, not merely for himself, but for all those brought into 
 connection with him, and it was never imagined they could be 
 called in question. Yet he was never regarded as a tyrant : he 
 had immense power of will, absolute mesmeric force, as he 
 proved beneficially more than once, and that he should lead and 
 govern seemed perfectly natural to us, . . ." 
 
 ". . . Dickens was not only a genius, but he had the volcanic 
 activity, the perturbed restlessness, the feverish excitability of 
 genius. What he created, that he was. His personages were, 
 as readers of his letters know, an integral part of his life. . . ." 
 
 " . . . In regard to the friendship which Dickens vouchsafed 
 me, I have been frequently asked, * Did he come up to the ex- 
 pectations you had formed of him ? Was Dickens the man as 
 lovable as Dickens the author?' and I have always replied, 'Yes ; 
 wholly. ' 
 
 " All the kindness of heart, geniality, generosity, appreciation 
 of whatever could be appreciated in others, manly independence, 
 hatred of humbug, all the leading qualities of his books are com- 
 ponent parts of his nature. For one holding a position so unique 
 in the world he was wonderfully modest ; and while he always 
 quietly and unostentatiously asserted his own dignity, I never 
 saw the smallest appearance of 'putting on airs,' ..." 
 
 "... What he was to the world the world knows ; to me he 
 was the most charming of companions, the kindest of friends." 
 
 Mr. Yates gives the following description of Dickens's per- 
 sonal appearance : — " There were no photographs of celebrities 
 to be purchased in those days, and I had formed my idea of 
 Dickens's personal appearance from the portrait of him, by 
 Maclise, prefixed to NicUeby : the soft and delicate face, with 
 the long hair, the immense stock, and the high -collared waistcoat. 
 He was nothing like that. Indeed, my mother, who saw him 
 
TESTIMONIES. 443 
 
 shortly after this, and who had not met him for fifteen years^ 
 declared she should not have recognised him, for, save his eyes, 
 there was no trace of the original Dickens about him. His hair, 
 though worn still somewhat long, was beginning to be sparse ; 
 his cheeks were shaved ; he had a moustache and a * door- 
 knocker ' beard encircling his mouth and chin. His eyes were 
 wonderfully bright and piercing, with a keen, eager outlook ; his 
 bearing hearty and somewhat aggressive." — Edmund Yates: His 
 Recollections and Expei'iences. 1884. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Matthew Arnold. 
 
 (On David Copper/ield.) 
 " There is a book familiar to us all, and the more familiar 
 now, probably, to many of us, because Mr. Gladstone solaced 
 himself with it after his illness, and so set all good Liberals (of 
 whom I wisli to be considered one) upon reading it over again. 
 I mean David Copperfield. Much as I have published, I do not 
 think it has ever happened to me .before to comment in print 
 upon any production of Charles Dickens. What a pleasure to 
 have the opportunity of praising a work so sound, a work so 
 rich in merits, as David Copperfield f Man lese nicht die mit- 
 strehende, mit-wirhende, says Groethe : do not read your fellow - 
 strivers, your fellow -workers. Of the contemporary rubbish 
 whicli is shot so plentifully all round us, we can, indeed, hardly 
 read too little. But to contemporarj> work so good as David 
 Copperfield we are in danger of perhaps not paying respect 
 enougli, of reading it (for who could help reading it?) too 
 hastily, and then putting it aside for something else and for- 
 getting it. What treasures of gaiety, invention, life, are in that 
 book ! what alertness and resource ! what a soul of good-nature 
 and kindness governing the whole !" — Nineteenth Century, June, 
 1881. 
 
" NOTES AND QUEEIES." 
 
 By the kind permission of the Proprietors of Notes 
 and Queries, the following have been selected from a 
 series of paragraphs relating to Charles Dickens and 
 his Works which have appeared in the columns of that 
 Journal. 
 
 Dickens's Names. — In Blackwood's Magazine for April, the 
 author of an article on the works of Charles Dickens asks where 
 he gets his names of characters ? In the Parliamentary inquiry 
 into the conduct of the Duke of York, 1809, I find the names 
 of Wardle, Lowten (a lawyer), and Dowler (a military officer) ; 
 and in another trial in the same volume a suspicious character 
 named Heyling is introduced. The readers of PichoicJc will at 
 once remember these names ; and I suspect that in a detailed 
 account of the proceedings in the Duke of York's case (which is 
 not given in the Annual Begiste?'), other similar instances might 
 be found in which the young author availed himself of names 
 he found there.— W. K. R. B. (June 9, 1855.) 
 
 Dr. Johnson and Charles Dickens. — It would seem rather 
 incredible to put down to Dr. Johnson's conversation one of the 
 wildly comic stories of Mr. Sam Weller, Junior, but to him it 
 undoubtedly belongs. All will remember in Pickwick — to 
 which I cannot refer, as it is not in my library — a narration, by 
 the inimitable Sam, of a gentleman who was so fond of muffins 
 
"NOTES AND QUERIES." . 445 
 
 that he endangered his life. His doctor thereon forbad the in- 
 dulgence, but the patient was obstinate : — ** Do you think two 
 shillings' worth of muffins would kill me, doctor ?" he asks. — 
 " It might," said the doctor. — " Half a crown's worth would, for 
 certain, then?" — "I should think it would," said the doctor. — 
 "Thereon the gentleman," says Sam, "bought three shillings' 
 worth of muffins, toasted, buttered, ate them, and blew his 
 brains out." — " God bless me !" cries Pickwick, " why did he 
 do that ?" — " To prove that the doctor was in the wrong !" 
 
 Now the exact origin of this is in Boswell's Johnson, vii. 238 
 (Murray's edition). Johnson was talking about suicide. Mr. 
 Beauclerk said : — 
 
 " That every wise man who intended to shoot himself took 
 two pistols, that he might be sure of doing it at once. Lord 
 
 's cook shot himself with one pistol, and lived ten days in 
 
 great agony, Mr. who loved buttered muffins, but durst 
 
 not eat them because they disagreed with his stomach, resolved 
 to shoot himself ; and then he eat three buttered muffins for 
 breakfast, before shooting himself, knowing that he should not 
 be troubled with indigestion. He had two charged pistols ; one 
 was found lying charged upon the table by him, after he had 
 shot himself with the other. — ' Well,' said Johnson, with an air 
 of triumph, * you see here one pistol was sufficient.' " 
 
 The three buttered muSins, in the humorous exaggeration of 
 Charles Dickens, expand into three shillings' worth ; but the 
 story is the same, and a very curious phase of the human mind 
 and heart it exhibits. That appetite must indeed be morbid 
 which is willing to purchase a solitary gratification, such as eat- 
 ing buttered mufiins, at the expense of life itself ! and yet how 
 many instances of such folly do we meet with ! Mr. Croker 
 declares that the gentleman who thus destroyed his life was 
 Johnson's old friend Mr. Fitzherbert, who killed himself January 
 2nd, 1772 ; and by such a suicide he has earned an immortality 
 — such as it is. — Hain Feiswell. (October 21, 1871.) 
 
 Buss's Illustrations to " Pickwick." — You made some 
 
446 ''NOTES AND QUERIES." 
 
 allusion to the connexion between my father and the Messrs. 
 Chapman and Hall in reference to the illustration of the Pick- 
 wick Papers. My father has left a record of this, of which I 
 venture to send an outline. After the distressing death of 
 Seymour, the publishers of the PicTcioicTc Papers increased the 
 amount of printed matter, and reduced the illustrations to two. 
 They then endeavoured to find some one to undertake the 
 etchings. Mr. John Jackson, the eminent wood-engraver, was 
 at that time engaged on work for Messrs. Chapman and Hall, 
 and before him they placed their dilemma. He mentioned Mr 
 Buss as the most fitting artist of his acquaintance for the pur 
 pose. A member of the firm, therefore, called upon my father, 
 and pressed upon him their need, promising, moreover, con 
 sideration for want of practice. After much pressure, Mr, 
 Buss consented to put aside the picture he was preparing for 
 exhibition, and to undertake the work. He began to practise 
 the various operations of etching and biting in, and produced a 
 plate with which the publishers expressed themselves satisfied. 
 Two subjects were then selected, ' The Cricket Match ' and 
 'The Fat Boy Watching Mr. Tupman and Miss Wardle.' 
 When, however, Mr. Buss began to etch them on the plate, he 
 found the ground break up under the etching -point, as he had 
 little or no experience in laying it. Time was precious, and, 
 nervously afraid of disappointing the publishers and the public, 
 the plates were put into the hands of an experienced engraver 
 to be etched and bitten in. Those, therefore, issued were Mr. 
 Buss's design, hut not a line of the etching was hy him, and, in 
 consequence, the touch of the original work was wanting. Had 
 opportunities been given, Mr. Buss would have cancelled those 
 plates, and issued fresh ones of his own etching. Designs were 
 made for the following number, when a note was received in- 
 forming Mr. Buss that the work of illustrating the Pichvick 
 Papers had been placed in other hands. Thus no consideration 
 was shown to the artist for putting aside his picture, which re- 
 mained unfinished, as the time had been consumed in endeavour- 
 
'^ NOTES AND QUERIES." 447 
 
 ing to master the difficulties of etching. Mr. Forster, in his 
 very interesting Life of Charles Dickens, suggests that Mr. 
 Buss's engagement was a temporary one. Mr. Buss could not 
 certainly have regarded it in this light. Is it reasonable to 
 suppose that he would have consented to devote three weeks of 
 his time, at the most valuable season to an artist, to the prac- 
 tice of an entirely new department of art, if it had been 
 clearly stated that his engagement was of the transitory nature 
 Mr. Forster would imply, and the more especially when we bear 
 in mind that the price to be paid for the etchings was only 
 15s. each?— Alfked G. Buss. (April 24, 1875.) 
 
 A " Coincidence " in the " Pickwick Papees." — Have I 
 found a mare's nest, or made a discovery ? and if it be " a find " 
 is it worth " making a note of " ? Lately, when glancing at the 
 index to Reget's Thesaurus, my eye caught the following : — 
 "Plagiarism, stealing"; "Plagiarism, borrowing." A milder 
 term, however, I find to be in general use, viz., " Coincidence." 
 Well, then, my " coincidence " is to be found in Dickens's — and 
 I write in no detractory spirit as "I loved the man, and do 
 honour his memory (on this side idolatry) as much as any " — 
 PicJcwick Papers, ed. 1861, vol. ii., pp. 187-8, in connection with 
 an anecdote of No. " Twenty," Fleet Prison, who was in the 
 habit of visiting a public-house parlour " outside," and returning 
 before the lock was on ; but after a time " he began to get so 
 precious jolly that he used to forget how the time vent," and 
 one night the indulgent turnkey was driven to administer a re- 
 buke in these memorable words : — "Now I don't wish to do 
 nothing harsh," he says, " but if you can't confine yourself to 
 steady circles, and find your vay back at reg'lar hours, as sure 
 as you're a-standin' there I'll shut you out altogether !" The 
 little man was seized with a violent fit o' trembling, and never 
 went outside the prison walls artervards !" 
 
 The " coincidence " is that these identical words are to be 
 found in Limbird's Mirror, Feb., 1824, vol. iii., p. 120. Noting 
 this one insignificant instance in the whole range of Dickens 
 
448 "NOTES AND QUERIES." 
 
 literature, I think the world may be challenged to produce an- 
 other. — Haery Sandars. (July 20, 1878.) 
 
 The tale of the Fleet is a well-known Joe Miller, which was 
 at the service of Dickens and everybody else to refer to and 
 quote without involving plagiarism any more than dealing with 
 a text of Scripture or of Shakespeare. — Hyde Clarke. (August 
 17, 1878.) 
 
 Is not the original of Mr. Pickwick's " immortal discovery " of 
 the broken stone, with the " very old " inscription, for which he 
 gave ten shillings {PicJcivick Paper's, vol. i., p. 164, Illus. Lib. 
 edit.), to be found in the memorable trick played by George 
 Steevens upon the antiquary Gough ? I refer to the famous 
 tombstone, a fragment of a chimney-slab, upon which were en- 
 graved (by a Mr. White, to deceive the antiquary) certain Saxon 
 characters, then placed in a broker's shop frequented by Gough, 
 immediately seen by him, and eagerly purchased for a trifle. 
 (D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, vol. iii,, p. 303, edit, of 
 1867).— H. G. H. (August 17, 1878.) 
 
 Sam Vale and Sam Weller. — In Mr. E. L. Blanchard's 
 interesting paper on "London Amusements," in the Birmingham 
 Daily Gazette, April 7th, is the following note concerning the 
 performance of Mr. B. Webster's version of Paul Clifford, pro- 
 duced at the Coburg Theatre, March 19, 1832. "Sam Vale, 
 the Surrey low-comedy actor, whose whimsical comparisons were 
 supposed to have suggested the idea of Sam Weller to Dickens, 
 represented Dummie Dunnaker." This suggestion may be new 
 to many, as it was to me. — Cuthbert Bede. (April 29, 1882.) 
 
 The following cutting from the Birmingham Daily Gazette, 
 May 9, contains a portion of Mr. E. L. Blanchard's article on 
 "London Amusements." The quotations from Mr. Beazley's 
 musical farce are singularly suggestive as the groundwork for 
 Charles Dickens's Sam Wellerisms ; and Sam Vale's popular 
 utterance of such peculiar sayings and comparisons may well 
 have given the hint to the author of Pickwick for the name of 
 the modern Sancho. Mr. Blanchard shows that Sam Vale and 
 
''NOTES AND QUERIES." 449 
 
 his sayings were highly popular during the few years prior to 
 the production of Pickwick, the first number of which (I may 
 remind the reader) was published very modestly, in an issue of 
 four hundred copies, on March 31, 1836 ; Sam Weller made 
 his appearance in No. 5, in July, and the marvellous popularity 
 of the Pickwick Papers was then secured. I have been a diligent 
 student of what I may term Pickwick literature, and I have 
 never met with the slightest reference to Sam Vale and his 
 droll sayings until I read Mr. E. L, Blanchard's article on 
 April 7. He has now amplified his first brief mention of that 
 actor, and has directed attention to a circumstance of great 
 literary interest. It seems to me that his remarks concerning 
 Sam Vale and Sam Weller ought to be preserved in the pages 
 of N. d; Q, 
 
 " In the last number of that always instructive and entertaining 
 periodical, Notes and Queries, I find the following agreeable 
 recognition of a recent contribution to those columns : — ' In Mr. 
 E. L. Blanchard's interesting paper on " London Amusements " 
 in the Birmingham Daily Gazette of April 7th, is the following 
 note concerning the performance of Mr. B. Webster's version 
 of Paul Clifford, produced at the Coburg Theatre, March 19th, 
 1832 : "Sam Vale, the Surrey low-comedy actor, whose whimsical 
 comparisons were supposed to have suggested the idea of Sam 
 Weller to Dickens, represented Dummie Dunnaker." This sug- 
 gestion may be new to many, as it was to me. — Cuthbert 
 Bede.' As others besides that well-known and accomplished 
 writer, who has been so long before the public under his familiar 
 pseudonym, may perhaps like to have some further information 
 on the subject, it may be as well to state in this place all that is 
 known to the present writer. No reference to Dummie 
 Dunnaker in Mr. B. Webster's adaptation of Paul Clifford 
 will throw any light on the subject, but the actor of that 
 character had some years previously acquired a provincial 
 reputation by impersonating Simon Spatterdash, a person who 
 indulged in novel whimsical comparisons ; and these peculiarities 
 
 29 
 
450 ^^ NOTES AND QUERIES/' 
 
 Mr. Samuel Vale afterwards introduced in his familiar talk 
 with his associates. The character of Simon Spatterdash, 9, 
 local militiaman, belonged to an amusing but long-forgotten 
 musical farce, written by Samuel Beazley, the architect, entitled 
 The Boarding House ; or, Five Hours at Brighton, and was 
 produced at the old Lyceum Theatre, on Tuesday, August 27th,. 
 1811. The music was composed by Mr. Charles Horn, and 
 among those who figured in the original cast were Miss H. 
 Kelly, Mrs, Orger, Miss Jones, Mrs. Chatterley, Mr. Penson, 
 Mr. Wewitzer, Mr. Oxberry, Mr. J. Smith, Mr. Lovegrove, and 
 Mr. Knight — 'Little Knight' as he was generally called, and 
 the composer of that once popular song, ' Sweet Kitty Clover, 
 she bothers me so ' — who played originally Simon Spatterdash. 
 . . . Turning to the text of Mr. Beazley's operetta — for such it 
 would be called nowadays — we shall find the following sayings set 
 down for Mr. Simon Spatterdash : * " Come on," as the man said 
 to his tight boot '; * " I know the world," as the monkey said when 
 he cut off his tail ' ; * " Be quick I well, I will," as the fly said when 
 he hopped out of the mustard-pot ' ; ' " I'm turned soger," as the 
 lobster said when he popped his head out of the boiler ' ; ' " I'm 
 down upon you," as the extinguisher said to the rushlight ' ; 
 * " Let everyone take care of themselves," as the donkey observed 
 when dancing among the chickens.' In the second act of The 
 Boarding House, Simon Spatterdash is made to remark, * " There 
 she is, musical and melancholy," as the cricket said to the tea- 
 kettle '; * " Off with a whisk," as the butcher said to the flies ' ; 
 * " Sharp work for the eyes," as the devil said when a broad- 
 wheeled waggon went over his nose '; * " Where shall we fly ?" as 
 the bullet said to the trigger '; « « I'm all over in a perspiration,' 
 as the mutton-chop said to the gridiron '; ' ** Why, here we are all 
 mustarded," as the roast beef said to the Welsh rabbit '; * "When a 
 man is ashamed to show the front of his face, let him turn round 
 and show the back of it," as the turnstile said to the weathercock.' 
 Now having, as Simon Spatterdash, obtained a distinctive pro- 
 vincial reputation as a propounder of curious comparisons in this 
 manner, Mr. Samuel Vale continued the practice afterwards in 
 
"NOTES AND QUERIES." 451 
 
 private life, and the latest ' Sam Valerism,' as it used to be called 
 in 1831 to 1836, found ready repetition from the lips of the fre- 
 quenters of theatrical taverns. From Samuel Vale, as he was 
 styled by his Surrey admirers, to ' Samivel Veller,' is not a very 
 abrupt transition, and it may, therefore, not be thought a 
 perfectly unlikely supposition that our great English novelist 
 found a suggestion for one of his most humorous personages in 
 Pickwick in the sayings of the droll actor who was always 
 endeavouring to establish a bond of union between things 
 apparently dissimilar in their nature. It may be added that 
 Mr. Samuel Vale, who for the richness of his humour has never 
 been surpassed by recent comedians, died at the age of fifty-one 
 in March, 1848. He had a mellowness of voice with an 
 unctuousness of utterance which gave his drolleries of expres- 
 sion an unusual value, and when transferred by Osbaldeston 
 from the Surrey to Covent Garden Theatre he was recognised 
 by West-End playgoers as an actor of genuine ability. As 
 one who worships the very name of Charles Dickens on this side 
 idolatry, let it not be imagined for an instant that any dis- 
 paragement of the genius of the greatest humourist of our 
 time is implied by reviving these reminiscences. They are only 
 placed on record as contributions to literary history, showing the 
 possibility at least of an idea being developed beyond the con- 
 ception of those to whom it was constantly familiar. Mr. 
 ' Cuthbert Bede ' will, I am sure, understand the spirit in which 
 these few lines are written, and I am gratified by a recognition 
 which has furnished occasion for affording further particulars 
 respecting one of the many things not generally known."* — 
 Cuthbert Bede (May 20th, 1882). 
 
 Fagin-ism in the Sixteenth Century. — In Ellis's Original 
 Letters, Mr. Recorder Fleetwood informs Lord Treasurer Burghley 
 that — "One Wotton, a gentilman borne . . . fallinge by tyme 
 into decay e, kepte an alehowse att Smart's keye neere Byllinges- 
 gate . . . and in the same howse he procured all the cutt-purses 
 
 * From the Birmingham Daily Gazette, May 9, 1882. 
 
 29—2 
 
452 *' NOTES AND QUERIES." 
 
 abowt this cittie to repaire to his said howse. There was a 
 schole howse sett iipp to learne younge boyes to cutt purses. 
 There were hung up two devises — the one was a pockett, the 
 other was a purse. The pockett had in yt certen cownters, and 
 was hunge aboute with hawkes bells, and over the toppe did 
 hannge a little sacring bell ; and he that could take owt a 
 cownter without any noyse, was allowed to be a puhlique 
 Hoyster : and he that could take a peece of sylver owt of the 
 purse without the noyse of any of the bells, he was adjudged a 
 judiciall Nypper. Note that a Hoister is a Pick -pockett, and 
 a nj^per is termed a Picke-purse or a Cut-purse." It is hard 
 not to believe that Dickens " when found, made a note of " this 
 passage, and turned it to good account in his Oliver Twist. — 
 Necne. (March 29, 1873.) 
 
 Oliver Twist. — It may be interesting to readers of fiction to 
 know that Oliver Twist is a person who once existed, though 
 long before the time of Charles Dickens, as the following entry, 
 amongst others relating to the same family, taken from the 
 parish register of Shelf ord, Nottinghamshire, shows : " 1563. 
 The vth of Januar., Dorothie Tvviste, daugh^ of Oliver Twiste." 
 — W. P. W. P. (June 9, 1877.) 
 
 Dickens on English Criminal Law. — The Saturday Review 
 of June 21 brings a charge against Dickens which, if there were 
 any foundation for it, would prove the great novelist to have 
 been guilty of a piece of gross ignorance ; but happily there is 
 no foundation for it, and as I do not think such an imputation 
 on Dickens's common sense should be allowed to go forth to the 
 world supported by the high authority of the Saturday Review, 
 I come forward, in the absence of a better champion, not only 
 to defend, but I trust entirely to clear Dickens from this stigma. 
 The Saturday, in the course of a review of Mr. Browning's 
 Di'amatic Idyls, says : " It was bad enough in Dickens, who 
 was wonderfully ignorant of many common things, to hang the 
 Jew Fagin for no definite offence except that he was one of the 
 villains of the novel ; but Fagin was tried in due form, though 
 
"NOTES AND QUERIES." 453 
 
 for some unknown crime, at the Old Bailey." So far the Satur- 
 day reviewer. Now mark what follows. In Oliver Twist, 
 Chap. L., I read : " ' The Sessions are on,' said Kags ; ' if they 
 get .the inquest over, and Bolter turns King's evidence — as of 
 course he will do from what he's said already — they can prove 
 Fagin an accessory before the fact, and get the trial on on 
 Friday, and he'll swing in six days from this.' " An accessory 
 before the fact in a case of wilful murder, so far from having 
 committed no " definite " offence, is regarded by the law of 
 England as a very definite offender indeed, and even in these 
 comparatively mild days he would be liable to be executed, 
 although he would probably get off with penal servitude for life. 
 At the date of Oliver Twist which is, I suppose, from forty to 
 fifty years ago, he would undoubtedly, in Mr. Kags's expressive 
 vernacular, have "swung" for it. — Jonathan Bouchier. (July 
 5, 1879.) 
 
 Squeers and Dotheboys Hall. — In Literary Recollections, 
 by the Rev. R. Warner, vol. i., and commencing at p. 24, there 
 is a description of a boarding-school and its master, bearing an 
 extraordinary resemblance to the renowned Squeers and Dothe- 
 boys Hall. Has this anything to do with the famous Yorkshire 
 seminary and its principal, and is it the original of that establish- 
 ment and its " head " ? Mr. Warner's book was published in 
 1830 by Longman. Dickens published many years after that 
 date. — S. Redmond. (March 15, 1862.) 
 
 [In the preface to the smaller edition of Nicholas NicTcleby, 
 published in 1848, Dickens tells us how the horrors and cruelties 
 of Yorkshire schools were brought under his notice when he 
 himself was but a boy ; and how, in after -years, when he found 
 he could command an audience, he travelled northwards to 
 gather information on the spot, with a view to call the attention 
 of the public to the nuisance. The idea seems to have been 
 taken up independently, and to have been honestly and fairly 
 worked out.] 
 
 A friend of mine was for two years in charge of the Bowes' 
 
454 ■** NOTES AND QUERIES." 
 
 Academy at Greta Bridge, the supposed original of Dickens's 
 Squeers. My friend tells me that the living was plain but 
 fairly abundant, and the amount and quality of the knowledge 
 instilled not great nor of much intellectual value. At the same 
 time Dickens's story, supposing Bowes's academy to be the 
 original of Dotheboys Hall, would of course be overdrawn, and 
 the facts he collected heightened with that dramatic colouring 
 which Dickens knew so well how to use with effect. Smike was 
 a lad without friends or relatives, and probably came in for more 
 kicks than halfpence. Although on one occasion, when a general 
 fund had been collected for the purchase of eggs, flour, and 
 milk, for the purpose of preparing a supply of pancakes, Shaw 
 surprised the party frying, Smike secreted his hot pancake under 
 his waistcoat, and, writhing with pain, at last succeeded in 
 escaping, and had the felicity of discussing his pancake in peace 
 and quietness, the price being a blistered chest. 
 
 In a copy of Nicholas Nichlehy lately sold at Puttick and 
 Simpson's, a long letter from Dickens to Mrs. S. C. Hall is in- 
 serted, in which a lengthy account is given of his visit to 
 Barnard Castle, and how he picked up some of the material for 
 his book. It is to be hoped that the present owner of the work 
 will allow the letter to be published. I forget the date, but I 
 think it was in 1840. My relative was an inmate of Bowes' in, 
 I think, 1830 or 1832, and certainly at that time Shaw did not 
 merit the severe castigation which Squeers receives at the hands 
 of Dickens, but board, lodging, washing, and education for 
 twenty pounds annually were not likely to be luxurious or high- 
 classed.— F. W. C. (September 17, 1870.) 
 
 I have recently received a letter from an old friend and 
 schoolfellow, which appears to me so far to exceed the interest 
 of a merely private letter that I have obtained his leave to send 
 a copy of it to N. ds Q. I am sure that all who feel an interest 
 in Dickens's writings will be glad to read a communication which 
 throws some light upon one of his most famous fictions. My friend 
 writes from Bowes, in the North Riding, a village in the neigh- 
 
"NOTES AND QUERIES." 453 
 
 boiirhood of the classic ground of Rokeby : — " We came here as 
 it is on the way to where we are going ; it is my father's birth- 
 place. It is a very fine country — fiesh mountain air. Dothehoys 
 Hall is still here, no longer a school. Mr. Shaw, the original of 
 Squeers, married a Miss Laidman, who was a sort of cousin of 
 my father. The school buildings are pulled down, but the house 
 (Dotheboys) is still a very nice handsome one, with large offices, 
 cow-houses, etc. We learn from our landlady that in the room 
 where we are now sitting (Unicorn Inn, Bowes) Dickens had 
 lunch the day he and a friend rode over from Barnard Castle to 
 see and make sketches of Mr. Shaw's school, and this same old 
 lady, Mrs. Highmoor, waited on them. Dickens was only there 
 that day, but he stayed longer in Barnard Castle, and got a 
 
 great deal of gossip, not too true, about the school from one , 
 
 a quondam usher of Shaw's, and a ' bad lot,' who had, indeed, 
 been turned off for bad conduct. 
 
 " Mrs. Highmoor tells me, as indeed my father always says, 
 that Dotheboys Hall is a most exaggerated caricature. But 
 somehow the description was in some respects so correct that 
 everybody recognised it. Poor Shaw quite took it to heart, and 
 did no more good, got childish and paralytic, and 'soon died. 
 The school went down fast. Mrs. Shaw also died broken- 
 hearted. But a good deal of money was left behind. Mrs. 
 Highmoor says there were an immense number of boys, that 
 Mr. Shaw chartered a special coach to bring them from London 
 (this place is one of the great coaching roads between York and 
 Glasgow), and that there was great joy in the village on the 
 arrival of the coach and its precious freight — quite the event, in 
 fact, it was. She says the boys were used very well, and fed as 
 well as could be expected for £20 a year ; that there might be 
 things wrong, but no complaints were ever made ; that Shaw 
 made money, because on his own farm he grazed the cows and 
 fed the pigs and sheep which supplied the boys' food. 
 
 " The house is at one end of the village. The coach-road runs 
 past the gable between the house and the stables. 
 
456 "NOTES AND QUERIES." 
 
 " My impression is that Yorkshire schools were bad, but not 
 so bad as Dickens makes out, and Shaw's was much better than 
 most of them. There is a strong feeling here of indignation 
 against Dickens, who, no doubt, ruined poor Shaw." 
 
 In his reply to my request to publish the above, my friend 
 Bays : — " By all means use my notes on Dotheboys. I think my 
 information is authentic, being gathered on the spot. There 
 were four large ' London schools ' (so called) in the village, all 
 knocked up by Nicholas NicMeby. The inhabitants furious, 
 and no wonder." 
 
 I should like by way of comment on my friend's interesting 
 notes, and in justice to Dickens, to remind your readers that 
 the great novelist, in his Preface to Nicholas Nickleby, says that 
 his description of Dotheboys Hall was not meant to apply to 
 any particular man or school, but that it was a tyipe of York- 
 shire cheap schools in general. He further distinctly and em- 
 phatically asserts that this description, so far from being ex- 
 aggerated, falls far short of the reality. It is quite possible that 
 Dickens unfortunately made his description in some respects too 
 much a portrait of Mr. Shaw, the result of which appears to have 
 been that the latter fell a victim to the obloquy which was due 
 to Yorkshire schoolmasters generally. If the comparison be 
 allowable, Shaw suffered like Louis XVI., who was guillotined 
 not so much for his own sins as for those of his scoundrel 
 ancestors ! But although Shaw may have been comparatively 
 innocent, I have no doubt that Dickens was in the main right, 
 and that Yorkshire schools and Yorkshire schoolmasters were, 
 on the whole, such as he describes them. That these gentry 
 and their " Caves of Despair " no longer exist is one of the 
 many debts of gratitude which his fellow-countrymen owe to 
 Charles Dickens. — Jonathan Bouchier. (October 25, 1873.) 
 
 Having seen it stated in N. dh Q. that the school at Bernard 
 Castle was that from which Dickens drew his description of 
 Dotheboys Hall, and remembering that my father had once 
 been a scholar of that now historical institution, I wrote to him 
 
"NOTES AND QUERIES." 457 
 
 to learn what he remembered about it. The following was his 
 reply : — " The school was close to Bernard Castle, but was first 
 at Bowes. Bowes is some five miles from the castle. I went to 
 the school in 1805 or 1806. Mr. Horn was the master. He 
 had three assistants, Robinson, Hardy, and a humpbacked 
 man — the latter a spiteful old fellow, who used to take much 
 pleasure in punishing the boys. I was a parlour-boarder. The 
 board was rather poor. For breakfast we had oatmeal porridge 
 with 'treacle.' Dinner consisted generally of pork and mashed 
 potatoes. On wash-days the latter meal was changed to bread 
 and milk, the quantity ad lib. The supper generally was brown 
 bread and milk. I was at the school about two years and a 
 half. After I had been at the school two years, it was removed 
 to Bernard Castle. The teacher and assistants remained un- 
 changed. This new school was at Stratford Hall, half a mile, or 
 a mile, from the bridge (over the Tees). Stratford Hall was a 
 fine old country place, a farm-house, and the teacher rented 
 some land with it, and kept some twenty cows. Many of the 
 scholars used to help in haymaking, for which they got an extra 
 pat of butter for their tea. The school had forty or fifty scholars, 
 twenty of the number being parlour-boarders. There was some 
 favour shown these parlour-boarders, above the other scholars. 
 Sometimes they got a pudding which the others did not parti- 
 cipate in. In the spring the boys had to take a dose of salts all 
 round, and two or three times in the summer a spoonful of 
 sulphur and molasses. The boys, however, were very healthy."* 
 There is a little picture, an engraving, hanging in my father's 
 house, bearing the title *' Bridge over the Tees at Bernard 
 Castle." I observe the contributors to JV. <&; Q. write the word 
 with an a, Barnard Castle. I am inclined to think the mode of 
 spelling with' an e the correct one. My father, however, with 
 the inaccuracy of pronunciation contracted in boyhood, always 
 called the place Bame^ Castle, which, I suppose, was the local 
 pronunciation. It was at tliis school the boys used to repeat 
 
 * See also p. 463. 
 
458 "NOTES AND QUERIES." 
 
 those lines upon " propria quae maribus," which are so full of 
 meaning : — 
 
 ' Propria quae maribus had a little dog, 
 Quae Genus was his name ; 
 Propria quae maribus piddled in the entry, 
 Quae Genus bore the blame." 
 
 The scholars at Christmas got a plum-pudding, but the plums 
 were so few in number that they were far removed from one 
 another, and sometimes a boy would facetiously say to his 
 neighbour (^Qde de rig eiTrecKei^, Idwv Ig TrXijaiov aXKov) as he 
 looked at the pudding so barren of plums, ** Now, Jack, take off 
 your jacket." By this remark it was intimated that the fruit 
 was so widely separated, that it was necessary to jump from one 
 plum to another, and, to render the effort easier, the jumper had 
 better remove some of his clothing. — J. H. S. (April 24, 1875.) 
 
 Are Dotheboys Hall and Mr. Squeers foreshadowed in the 
 following passage in Winter Evenings, published at Dublin in 
 1788 ? — " She declared in all companies that she thought it the 
 first of a mother's duties to take care that her children are well 
 educated. She therefore sent them outside passengers by the 
 stage-coach to an academy in Yorkshire, where she stipulated 
 that they should not come home in the holidays, and indeed not 
 till her husband arrived from abroad.'^ 
 
 Was this passage present to the mind of Charles Dickens ? — 
 E. Walfoed, M.A. (December 21, 1878.) 
 
 It is often said that Charles Dickens struck out quite an 
 original idea when he coined this name.* But may he not have 
 borrowed the form of it, more or less unconsciously, from 
 Bulwer Lytton's Pelham, where the hero of the novel contests 
 and carries the borough of " Buy email " ? — E. Walford, M.A. 
 (April 5, 1884.) 
 
 Charles Dickens and the "Memoirs of Geimaldi." 
 —It is a rather remarkable circumstance that two writers of 
 
 * Dotheboys Hall. 
 
"NOTES AND QUERIES." 459 
 
 sketches of Charles Dickens's literary career which appeared on 
 the day after his death in the morning journals should have 
 fallen into nearly the same error with respect to the nature of 
 his connection with the above work. One asserts that Dickens 
 actually wrote the Memoirs, whilst the other laments that he 
 should have been tempted by money to lend his name to 
 works of which he could never have written a line, citing the 
 Grimaldi Memoirs in illustration of his remark, and leading his 
 readers to the inevitable conclusion that Dickens's name appeared 
 as the author of the book. Now, although it is no matter of 
 surprise that gentlemen who are compelled to write currente 
 calamo should occasionally commit mistakes from the want of 
 opportunity of verifying their statements before committing 
 them to the press, yet it is nevertheless desirable that those 
 mistakes should be as speedily as possible rectified. 
 
 The fact is that Charles Dickens was merely the editor of the 
 Memoirs of Grimaldi, as may be seen from the title — Memoirs 
 of Joseph Grimaldi, edited by Boz. In the preface to the work 
 Dickens relates the history of the Memoirs, which is in substance 
 as follows : — Grimaldi during the latter years of his life employed 
 himself in writing his autobiography. He handed his manu- 
 script over to Mr. Thomas Egerton Wilks for revision and pre- 
 paration for the'press. That gentleman pruned it of its redund- 
 ancies (for Joe had been exceedingly diffuse), added some 
 matter which he had gleaned in conversations with its writer, 
 and fitted it for publication. Then Grimaldi died, and Wilks, 
 with the consent of Richard Hughes (Grimaldi's executor), dis- 
 posed of the manuscript to Messrs. Chapman and Hall, the pub- 
 lishers, who employed Charles Dickens to edit it. Dickens 
 further condensed it, made some trifling alterations in it, and 
 wrote the preface. 
 
 Nothing can be clearer than Dickens's statement of the 
 nature of his connection with the work, and there is certainly 
 nothing either on the title-page or elsewhere in the book to lead 
 even the most careless reader to suppose that he had written — 
 
460 "NOTES AND QUERIES." 
 
 in the ordinary acceptation of the term — any part of it. — W. H. 
 Husk. (July 2, 1870.) 
 
 A letter which appeared in N". <k Q. of the 2nd July escaped 
 my attention till within a few days ago. The statement therein is 
 incorrect in the most material points, and the writer must 
 pardon me for saying that, before he attempted to correct 
 others, he ought to have better informed himself of the facts 
 connected with the Life of Grimaldi. 
 
 First, the work was not, as stated, published by Messrs. Chap- 
 man and Hall, but by myself : and secondly, I know, and have 
 Mr. Dickens's autograph letters to prove the fact, that he did 
 ivrite a good deal of the work, and he speaks of the labour this 
 wearisome task imposed upon him. I placed Mr. Egerton 
 Wilks' Memoir in the hands of Mr. Dickens, and whatever is 
 good in it was the result of the correction, alterations, and in 
 many instances the re-writing the narrative. He did every- 
 thing that was possible to improve it, but it was not possible to 
 make it a book on which he could look with pleasure. 
 
 I parted with the copyright many years ago, and therefore 
 can speak on the subject without any interested motive. — 
 RiCHAKD Bentley. (July 23, 1870.) 
 
 Involuntary Versification. — Add to the instances noted 
 by Mr. Nichols* the following, which have been extracted from 
 the most popular works of Mr. Charles Dickens. They are 
 written in blank verse, of irregular metre and rhythms, common 
 with Southey, Shelley, and others : — 
 
 « NELLY'S FUNERAL. 
 
 (From Oliver Twist.) 
 " And now the bell — the bell 
 She had so often heard by night and day, 
 
 * Mr. W. L. Nichols, in N. <h Q., August 14, 1858, gives 
 some instances of involuntary versification to be found in the 
 prose writings of Milton and others. 
 
"NOTES AND queries/' 461 
 
 And listened to with solemn pleasure, 
 
 E'en as a living voice — 
 Rung its remorseless toll for her, 
 So young, so beautiful, so good. 
 
 ** Decrepit age, and vigorous life. 
 And blooming youth, and helpless infancy, 
 Poiu*ed forth — on crutches, in the pride of strength 
 
 And health, in the full blush 
 Of promise, the mere dawn of life— 
 To gather round her tomb. Old men were there. 
 Whose eyes were dim 
 And senses failing — 
 Grandames who might have died ten years ago, 
 And still been old— the deaf, the blind, the lame, 
 
 The palsied, 
 The living dead in many shapes and forms, 
 To see the closing of this early grave. 
 What was the death it would shut in 
 To that which still could crawl and creep above it ? 
 " Along the crowded path they bare her now ; 
 Pure as the new-fallen snow 
 That covered it ; whose day on earth 
 Had been as fleeting. 
 Under that porch, where she sat when Heaven 
 In mercy brought her to that peaceful spot, 
 She passed again, and the old church 
 Received her in its quiet shade. " 
 
 * * * » 
 
 " Oh ! it is hard to take to heart 
 The lesson that such deaths will teach, 
 
 But let no man reject it. 
 For it is one that all must learn. 
 And is a mighty, universal truth. 
 When Death strikes down the innocent and young, 
 
462 "NOTES AND QUERIES." 
 
 For every fragile form from which he lets 
 The parting spirit free, 
 
 A hundred virtues rise 
 In shapes of mercy, charity, and love 
 
 To walk the world and bless it. 
 
 ■ Of every tear 
 That sorrowing mortals shed on such green graves, 
 Some good is born, some gentler nature comes." 
 
 Throughout the whole of the above only two unimportant 
 words have been omitted — "in " and ^'its " ; " grandames " has 
 been substituted for "grandmothers," and "e'en" for "almost." 
 And the following is from the concluding paragraph of Nicholas 
 NicUehy : — 
 
 " The grass was green above the dead boy's grave 
 Trodden by feet so small and light, 
 That not a daisy drooped its head 
 Beneath their pressure. 
 Through all the spring and summer time 
 Garlands of fresh flowers, wreathed by infant hands. 
 Rested upon the stone." 
 
 A somewhat similar kind of versification in the prose may be 
 discovered in the 77th chapter of Barnahy Budge. — /3. (August 
 28, 1858.) 
 
 " Master Humphrey's Clock." — The readers of iV. <t- Q. 
 may be interested in the following communication which I pub- 
 lished a few days ago in the Daily News. Such scraps 
 occasionally prove useful to the biographer : — 
 
 To the Editor of the "Daily News." 
 
 " Sir, — In 1864, in the course of a tour, I arrived at the town 
 of Barnard Castle, in the county of Durham, late on a winter 
 evening, and put up at the principal hotel, a large, old-fashioned 
 structure, fronting the principal street. At breakfast the fol- 
 lowing morning I chanced to notice, on the opposite side of the 
 
"NOTES AND QUEKIES." 463 
 
 street, a large clock-face, with the name Humphrey surrounding 
 it, most conspicuously exhibited in front of a watch and clock 
 maker's shop. ' How odd !' I exclaimed to a gentleman seated 
 beside me; 'here is Master Humphrey's clock.' 'Of course,* 
 said the gentleman, ' and don't you know that Dickens resided 
 here for some weeks when he was collecting materials for his 
 Nicholas NicMeby, and that he chose his title for his next work 
 by observing that big clock-face from this window V After 
 breakfast I stepped across to the watchmaker, and asked him 
 whether I had been correctly informed respecting Mr. Dickens 
 and the clock. The worthy horologist entered into particulars. 
 ' My clock,' said he, ' suggested to Mr. Dickens the title of his 
 book of that name. I have a letter from him stating this, and a 
 copy of the work inscribed with his own hand. For some years 
 we corresponded. I got acquainted with him just by his 
 coming across from the hotel as you have done this morning, 
 and his asking me to inform him about the state of the neigh- 
 bouring boarding-schools.' Mr. Humphrey then entered into 
 many particulars respecting the condition of these schools. In- 
 sidentally, he said he had directed Mr. Dickens and his friend 
 Phiz ' to the school which the two travellers afterwards ren- 
 dered infamous by their pen and pencil ; but it was, he said, by 
 no means the worst of these institutions. The schoolmaster had 
 been very successful in obtaining pupils, and had become very 
 tyrannical, and even insolent, to strangers. He received Mr. 
 Dickens and his companion with extreme hauteur, and did not 
 so much as withdraw his eyes from the operation of pen- 
 making during their interview. But ' Phiz ' sketched him on his 
 nail, and reproduced him so exactly, that soon after the appear- 
 ance of the novel the school fell oflf and was ultimately deserted. 
 Since that period the * Do-the-Boys ' description of school had 
 altogether ceased in the district. Mr, Humphrey explained 
 how Mr. Dickens's attention had been called to the subject. He 
 much lauded Mr. Dickens, and in that quiet, genial manner 
 characteristic of an intelligent Englishman. I sincerely hope he 
 
464 " NOTES AND QUERIES." 
 
 still lives to read these lines, — I am, etc., Charles Rogers, LL.D." 
 (July 30, 1870.) 
 
 "The Old Curiosity Shop." — I had often wondered whether 
 Dickens had any particular church in view in his beautiful and 
 graphic description of the one in which Little Nell, after her 
 varied wanderings, finds a quiet resting-place. The difficulty 
 seems solved by the following extract from the Building News, 
 which I transcribe, thinking it will interest many readers of 
 N. t& Q. It is from an account of an excursion of the Birming- 
 ham Architectural Society, on Wednesday, September, 13, 1871, 
 to different places of interest, and amongst them to the church 
 at Tong, in the county of Salop. This is, according to the writer, 
 **the one which Dickens described, and Cattermole drew, in 
 connection with the story of Little Nell. Mr. Lawrence directed 
 attention to the traces of the cannon-balls of the great Civil 
 War ; the splendid carving of the old screen and miserere seats ; 
 the traces of the rich old colours still remaining on the stone 
 and wood ; the magnificent monuments of the Vernon family ; 
 the Golden Chapel with its rich pendants and fan vaulting, and 
 venerable remains of gold and green and blue on its quaintly 
 carved roof ; the rich old altar-cloth worked by pious fingers, 
 and pillaged by less pious hands of later days ; the curious old 
 * presses ' full of portly folios and squat quartos and damp duo- 
 decimos, which had so long formed the neglected ' Minister's ' 
 Library of Tong." — John Pickford, M.A. (October 21, 1871.) 
 
 Mrs. Gamp and Homer. — " There is nothing new under the 
 sun." Would it be too irreverent to point out the following 
 curious parallelism ? We remember Mrs. Gamp's habit of having 
 her refreshments within reach, that she " might put it to her 
 lips when she felt dispoged." Almost in the very same words 
 does Homer describe the arrangements made for the comfort of 
 the bard Demodocus (Od., viii. 70) : — Trap St deirag olvoio, Triaiv, 
 ore evfibg dvwyoi.—J. G. B. (September 22, 1883.) 
 
 Real and Ideal. — It is not often given to mortals to be on 
 speaking terms with beings embodied in works of fancy ; I 
 
"NOTES AND QUERIES." 465 
 
 believe, however, I am one so favoured, and thus it happens. 
 In Dickens's Bleah House (first published in 1851), chap. x. is 
 headed " Law- Writer." Snagsby, the law stationer, is running 
 over the names of some law-writers, and mentions that of 
 Packer (an uncommon name). Now in this neighbourhood 
 (Cursitor Street) the occupation of a law-writer was carried on 
 by one really named Packer, whom I well knew. Here, then, 
 is actual name, occupation, and locality described in a work of 
 fiction (going far beyond that of Pickwick, the coach-proprietor). 
 One is led, therefore, to think and wonder that this law-writer's 
 name had so made its impression on Dickens's memory as to 
 start up therein three-and-twenty years after his retirement 
 from Mr. Blackmore's, the solicitor, Gray's Inn, from whose 
 office he had probably taken many a draft deed to be engrossed 
 by the morning — it may have been to this same Packer's. And 
 observe, too, how well Dickens's memory must have served him 
 to remember that it was in the power of a single-handed law- 
 writer to fair copy forty-two common law folios (of seventy rtwo 
 words each) between " eight o'clock Wednesday night and 
 half -past nine next morning." In reference to Snags by 's ofiice, 
 one can hardly account for the novelist's speaking of it as 
 Cook's Court, when in truth it is Took's Court, Cursitor Street, 
 more especially seeing that midway between Mr. Tulkinghorn's 
 chambers, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and Mr. Snagsby's office there 
 really is a Cook's Court, out of Serle Street, a place more 
 affected, however, by lawyers than law-stationers. Probably, 
 however, the author intended not to be topographically correct. 
 As for Snagsby and his wife, I seem to have known them ; I 
 know a couple there, and to me they are depicted "as like as 
 rain to water." 
 
 Turning to NicTclehy for a moment, allow me to relate a 
 small incident, peradventure somewhat provocative of laughter. 
 In that work we have those charming characters, the amiable 
 and philanthropic Cheeryble Brothers, whose Christian names 
 were Charles and Edwin. Now, "will you be surprised to 
 
 30 
 
466 " NOTES AND QUEHIES." 
 
 learn " that a firm of two brothers (not a hundred miles from 
 St. Paul's), with the same Christian names as those published, 
 did thereafter in ordinary conversation assume to address each 
 other as "brother"? thus, "What is your opinion, brother?" 
 " Shall we do so and so, brother ?" " No, brother, I think I 
 would not," etc. — Haery Sandaes. (May 24, 1879.) 
 
 "John Jasper's Seceet." — The first appearance in England 
 of this American continuation of Dickens's Mystery of Edicin 
 Drood was in a'twopenny weekly journal ( The Chimney Corner\X\) ; 
 afterwards it was re-issued in shilling parts, of uniform size with 
 the original story. As a literary catchpenny it filled a gap, nothing 
 more. But when Mr. Mortimer Collins writes about the ** hack- 
 writer " and " scribbler " as one who had not " sense enough to 
 read the intended course of the story from the designs on the 
 cover, and could not even perceive that Mr. Datchery was Edwin 
 Drood in disguise " (see a previous note by Mortimer Collins in 
 N. (t Q.), he makes as great a blunder himself; for Edwin 
 Drood had been really murdered, and buried under the heap of 
 lime. The identification of the remains was to be secured by 
 the presence of the gold betrothal-ring concealed on his person ; 
 and therefore he could not be the spy, Datchery. Whether this 
 was to prove to be Mr. Grewgious's clerk, Bazzard, or some 
 second edition of Inspector Bucket, *' with a difference," it 
 avails not at present to determine. But the clever illustration 
 on the green cover only shows the search for the lost Edwin, un- 
 less the bottom group refers to a reality, and not to a ghostly 
 vision of the murderous opium-eater. See John Forster's Life 
 of Dickens, Vol. III., p. 426, for an emphatic declaration of the 
 murder, the burial, and "the last chapters to be written in the 
 condemned cell." In the American continuation Edwin Drood 
 survives to the end, and marries Miss Landless (whom Dickens 
 evidently intended for the Minor Canon, Mr. Crisparkle). 
 Rosa marries Tartar, John Jasper dies in an opium fit, and 
 Landless (instead of being killed as intended by his originator, 
 Charles Dickens) becomes a clergyman ! As being connected 
 
"NOTES AND QUERIES." 467 
 
 with the last work, unfinished, of Dickens, even this John 
 Jasper's Secret is not wholly valueless. — J. W. E. (February 
 13, 1875.) 
 
 J. W. E. writes rather ex cathedra. I may be wrong, but I 
 don't think so. The idea that Datchery was Edwin Drood is so 
 charmingly original a conception, that I should be very glad if 
 it were I and not Dickens to whom it occurred. As to calling 
 John Jasper's Secret " not wholly valueless," I call it simply 
 abominable. That any man should dare to continue the noble 
 work of a great and well-beloved writer, ought to arouse indig- 
 nation in every member of the Republic of Letters. — Moktimer 
 Collins. (February 27, 1875.) 
 
 Rhymes to Dickens and Thackeray. — I have heard the 
 following satires repeated, but without the name of the author. 
 Has it been given ? — 
 
 " A splendid muse of fiction has Charles Dickens ; 
 But now and then, just as the interests thickens, 
 He stilts his pathos, and the reader sickens. 
 
 " Who sees but ridicule in good, like Thackeray, 
 And gloats on human stains in black array. 
 Of Heaven's light most surely doth he lack a ray." 
 
 These are directed at the weak points of the two writers. I pro- 
 pose it as a problem to give six lines, with the same rhyme- 
 words, addressed to the strong points of the two. — M. (September 
 12, 1863.) 
 
 The challenge of M. is accepted. And first as to Dickens :- 
 
 " Home is made happier by the works of Dickens ; 
 Of one and all — the sire, the ' little chickens,* 
 Also * their dam ' — the joyous pulse he quickens." 
 
 Next, exercising the rhymer's license, and not being nice to a 
 letter, you have the following lines on the limner of The Four 
 Georges : — 
 
 30—2 
 
468 "NOTES AND QUERIES." 
 
 " Ah ! blest relief from pages and sacchary, 
 Give me the writings of that foe to quackery, 
 The bold, the keen-eyed, entertaining Thackeray." 
 
 Thus does the English language (and your correspondent) bend 
 to the wishes of M.— 0. (October 3, 1863.) 
 
 " His homely characters, our great Charles Dickens 
 Into real living Household inmates quickens — 
 Subtle as snakes, or innocent as chickens. 
 
 " With trenchant wit, our William Makepeace Thackeray 
 Heaps caustic truths in anythina: but slack array, 
 And in each gibe, of genius we can track a ray." 
 
 J. J. B. WoEKAED, (October 17, 1863.) 
 
 When the original verses on these two great names appeared 
 in AT". c& Q., with a proposal that other contributors should send 
 lines, " with the same rhyme-words, addressed to the strong 
 points of the two," I felt, as I have no doubt others did, that 
 while the former triplet merely touched one point in the 
 "mannerism" of Dickens, the lines on Thackeray went en- 
 tirely, without a word of reservation, to blacken his social, 
 moral, and religious character. M. stated that he had heard 
 the words repeated, but without the name of the author. We 
 are required to believe him ignorant of the authorship ; and, 
 therefore, nothing personal can be intended in the remark, that 
 whatever cynicism existed in the character of Thackeray, the 
 writer of the satire is not without the same weakness. 
 
 The challenge was taken up by C, and again by your able 
 correspondent, J. J. B. Workard ; but neither of them alluded 
 to the "Satyr with the poison-tooth." The difficulty of con- 
 structing verses indicative of the characters of two men of re- 
 markable genius within so brief a compass, and fettered by 
 given rhyme words, is undoubtedlj' great ; and it is no discredit 
 to C. that his lines are lame and limp. I prefer those by Mr, 
 Workard. 
 
"NOIES AND QUERIES." 469 
 
 Three months after the satire first appeared in N". ds Q., 1 
 saw the early remains of Thackeray consigned to their quiet 
 grave at Kensal Green, amidst the tears of a thousand repre- 
 sentatives of unnumbered myriads of absent mourners ; and, on 
 my way home, composed the following reply to the challenge of 
 M., taking only the liberty of adding an additional line : — 
 
 " Intensely human is thy soul, Charles Dickens ! 
 
 Moral and social good to life it quickens ! 
 
 The bond of common blood and nature thickens 
 
 In lordly halls and where the poor man sickens." j 
 
 * * * * 
 
 *' Who does not mourn departed Thackeray ? 
 And feel — though hid by clouds in black array — 
 His ' silver lined ' genius shall ne'er lack a ray ?" 
 
 This I immediately forwarded to N. c5 Q. with a remark that, 
 if the early and sudden death of Thackeray could have been 
 anticipated, I was sure the satire would not have been sent, or, 
 if sent, inserted. My manuscript was mislaid and lost, amongst 
 others of perhaps as little value. The draft of the lines has, 
 however, turned up among my own papers ; and, if worth print- 
 ing, is at the service of your readers. — W. Lee. (June 17, 
 1865.) 
 
 Gadshill Place, Higham, near Rochester, the residence of 
 the late Charles Dickens, will be sold by auction by Messrs. 
 Norton, Trist, Watney, and Co., at the Mart, Tokenhouse Yard, 
 in August next, in two lots. Besides being the favourite home 
 of Charles Dickens, Gadshill, from its connection with one of 
 Shakespeare's plays, Henry IV., is doubly historic. (July 2, 
 1870.) 
 
 Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.— One passage of the 
 will of Charles Dickens, quoted by the Dean of Westminster in 
 his sermon, will recall to many minds a similar one in the will 
 of Shakespeare : — 
 
470 "NOTES AND QUEEIES." 
 
 Dickens. 
 " I commend my soul to the mercy of God, through our Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 " I commend my soul into the hands of God my Creator, 
 hoping, and assuredly believing, through the only merits of 
 Jesus Christ my Saviour, to be made partaker of life everlast- 
 ing." 
 — A Desultoey Reader. (July 9, 1870.) 
 
 Prepunctuality. — In Mr. Arthur Helps's graceful " In 
 Memoriam" in this month's Macmillan, speaking of Charles 
 Dickens's more than punctuality, he has happily described the 
 quality by so characteristic a term, "prepunctuality," that the 
 word must henceforth assume a recognised place in our language. 
 The quality which it seems Mr. Helps shares — for it is introduced 
 into an anecdote illustrative of "the conjoint prepunctualities " 
 of himself and the great novelist — is the one, it will be remem- 
 bered, to which Nelson attributed all his success. Mr. Helps's 
 coinage reminds one of Hood's quaint mots. Speaking of the 
 Literary Gazette, which, when started, owed much of its success 
 to its anticipatory notices of books, a week or two before they 
 were actually published, he said : " Jordan does not review 
 books : he previews them." — T. (July 9, 1870.) 
 
 The late Mr. Charles Dickens. — In the early days of Mr. 
 Dickens's fame, some ill-natured person pretended to foretell 
 that, as he went up like a rocket, so he would come down like a 
 stick. But the words are not the churl's own. Tom Paine said 
 of Mr. Burke, that " as he rose like a rocket, he fell like the 
 stick."— B. (August 20, 1870.) 
 
 Charles Dickens and the late Mr. Tegg.— Among the ad- 
 mirers of the late Mr. Charles Dickens there are some who would 
 like to know still more, however trifling, about him, and for this 
 reason I beg to send you a copy of a letter addressed to the late 
 Mr. Thomas Tegg, upon the subject of Mr. Dickens writing a 
 
"NOTES AND QUERIES." 471 
 
 work for him entitled, Sergeant Bell and his Raree Show. I may 
 mention that the late Mr. Tegg was induced to communicate 
 with Mr. Dickens upon my suggestion, after reading his admir- 
 able articles in the Evening Chronicle. 
 
 15, Furnivals Inn, 
 
 Wednesday Morning. 
 Dear Sir, — I have made the nearest calculation in my power 
 of the length of the little work you speak of ; and guiding my 
 own demand by the nature of the arrangements I am in the 
 habit of making with other booksellers, I could not agree to do 
 it for less than a hundred and twenty pounds. 
 
 I am not aware what the profit is upon this description of book, 
 or whether it would, or would not, justify you in such an outlay. 
 If it would, I should be prepared to produce the whole by 
 Christmas, — the sale at that time of year, I apprehend, would 
 be important. 
 
 For many reasons I should agree with you in not wishing the 
 name of " Boz " to be appended to the work. 
 
 I shall be happy to receive your answer before I leave to 
 which will most probably be on Wednesday next. 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 
 Your very obedient Servant, 
 
 Charles Dickens. 
 Thomas Tegg, Esq. 
 
 The terms were agreed upon and accepted, but for some reason 
 it fell through.— William Tegg. (May 8, 1875.) 
 
 Charles Dickens, Senior, as Editor. — My friend, the late 
 Mr. Walter Thornbury, was once kind enough to give me a 
 letter of Dickens, written to Mr. Thornbury himself. The letter 
 refers to the series of ** Old Stories Re-told," which Mr. Thorn- 
 bury was at that time writing for All the Year Bound : — 
 
 " Gad's Hill Place, Higham by Rochester, Kent, 
 ''Monday, Fifth August, 1867. 
 "My dear Thornbury,— I think the Bottle Conjuror and 
 
472 "NOTES AND QUERIES." 
 
 Berners Street Hoax too well known. Ditto Daniel Lambert, 
 Miss BifEn, and Borolowski. The Wonderful Magazine and the 
 books of celebrated characters have used them up, with the 
 Misers. 
 
 " Wild Boys, yes. 
 
 " Ice Winters, yes, if compounded of several experiences. 
 
 " Balloons, I am doubtful about. The Nassau Voyage was 
 described in an (appropriately) inflated little book done by 
 Monck Mason, and much quoted at the time. 
 
 ** A Hurricane and an Earthquake might go together ? 
 
 " A Memorable Inundation, a good subject. 
 
 "And I very much like the idea of those Abyssinian notes. 
 Pray pursue it. 
 
 " Although I date as above, I really write from the office, 
 where I am stopped by a bad foot on my way homeward from 
 Liverpool. Henry Thompson insists on my sitting in absolute 
 repose until he releases me. May that be soon ! 
 " Very faithfully yours, 
 
 "Charles Dickens." 
 
 — Jonathan Bouchier. (April 28, 1877.) 
 
 Family op Dickens. — As I formerly lived for some years in 
 the parish of Bobbington, Staffordshire, I naturally take an 
 interest in anything that relates to it ; and I have also known 
 the parish of Churchill, Worcestershire, from my boyhood. The 
 following passage, on which I have just lighted, in Mr. John 
 Noake's account of the parish of Churchill, has, therefore, great 
 interest for me; it might also interest the readers of A'". c& Q., if 
 there is any authority for his statement concerning our great 
 novelist : — 
 
 " The Dickens family of Bobbington were lords of this manor 
 from 1432 to 1657, and it is said that from this family Mr. 
 Dickens, the author, is descended." — Rambler in Worcestershire, 
 iii. 251 (Longmans, 1854). 
 
 Mr. John Forster is silent as to the ancestry of Charles 
 Dickens. — Cuthbekt Bede. (March 13, 1880.) 
 
"NOTES AND QUERIES." 473 
 
 The Birthplace of Charles Dickens. — The following letter, 
 in reply to an expressed doubt as to the house in which the dis- 
 tinguished novelist was born, has appeared in the HampsJiire 
 Post, and deserves permanent record in N'. & Q. : — 
 
 Sir, — Having observed the paragraph in the Hampshire Post 
 of Friday last respecting the birthplace of the late celebrated 
 novelist, Charles Dickens, I feel it incumbent on me to come 
 forward and set this matter at rest. Charles Dickens was born 
 at No. 387, Mile End Terrace, Commercial Eoad, Landport, 
 Portsea. The house belonged to my late father, William Pearce ; 
 and in proof of the above statement I have his rent-book, which 
 shows that Mr. John Dickens, the father of the said Charles 
 Dickens, rented the house from Midsummer, 1808, to Mid- 
 summer, 1812, which includes the date of his son's birth, viz., the 
 7th February, 1812. Besides this, I have often heard my father 
 mention the circumstance. The above statement has also been 
 corroborated by the late Mrs. Purkis (monthly nurse), who 
 pointed out to my sisters (who still occupy the house) the room 
 in which this much -appreciated author was born. — I am, etc., 
 William Pearce, Solicitor. 
 
 13, Union Street, Portsea, 26th September, 1883. 
 -Tiny Tim. {October 6, 1883.) 
 
OMNIANA 
 
 The following items of Dickensian interest are 
 selected, for the most part, from various ephemeral 
 sources. 
 
 Peize Aceostic — " Chaeles Dickens." 
 
 Composed by T. Alderson Wilson, and published in the Weekly 
 Despatch, June 15th, 1884 
 
 Custom can stale thee not, nor age decay. 
 
 How should thy household words be blurred with blight, 
 
 As we, who conned them o'er with young delight, 
 Kead them more lovingly with hair grown grey ? 
 Life of our life, and of our past, are they. 
 
 Engraven on our hearts in lines of light ; 
 
 Sealed with death's signet, but, in death's despite, 
 Pear with the touch of dear hands passed away. 
 
 In thy child-voices once again we hear 
 Child- voices of our own, hushed long ago. 
 Kisses come back from lips long lost, and lo ! 
 
 Ever the days to come are bringing near 
 
 New friends, whose faces are as things we know, 
 
 Seen in thy magic glass for many a year. 
 
OMNI AN A. 475 
 
 A'S Adveetisement is the "Times" (February 7tli, 1841). 
 To the Brothers Cheeryble. 
 To the Brothers CheeryUe, or any who have hearts like theirs. 
 — A clergyman, who will gladly communicate his name and 
 address, desires to introduce the case of a Gentleman^ equal at 
 least to Nickleby in birth ; worthy, like him, for refinement of 
 character, even of the best descent; like him of spotless integrity, 
 and powerfully beloved by friends who cannot help him ; but 
 no longer, like Nickleby, sustained by the warm buoyancy of 
 youthful blood. The widowed father of young children, he has 
 spent his all in the struggles of an unsuccessful but honourable 
 business, and has now for eighteen months been vainly seeking 
 some stipendiary employment. To all who have ever known him 
 he can refer for commendation. Beingwell versed in accounts, 
 though possessed of education, talents, and experience, which 
 would render him invaluable as a private Secretary, he would 
 accept with gratitude even a clerk's stool with daily bread. — 
 Any communication addressed to the Rev. B. C, Post Office, 
 Cambridge, will procure full particulars, ample references, and 
 the introduction of the party, who is now in town and ignorant 
 of this attempt to serve him. 
 
 The "Six Poor Travellees," 1855. 
 
 The Maidstone Journal publishes the scheme approved of by 
 the Court of Chancery for the regulation and management of 
 Watts' Charity, at Eocliester, which has of late obtained some 
 notoriety from the last Christmas Story of Mr. Charles Dickens. 
 The provisions relating to the poor travellers are as follows : — 
 " The trustees, as heretofore, to provide every night suitable 
 and convenient lodgings for six poor travellers. To appoint a 
 master and matron at a salary not to exceed £25 per annum 
 each. The house shall be open every evening for the reception 
 of six poor travellers, or wayfaring men, not being common 
 rogues or vagabonds. Application for admission shall be made 
 
476 OMNIANA. 
 
 to the master before the hour of six o'clock in the evening ; 
 and, in selecting the persons to be admitted, care shall be taken 
 that, unless under special circumstances, the same person be 
 not admitted for more than one night, and in no case for more 
 than two consecutive nights. Every poor traveller admitted to 
 the house shall have a lodging for the night in a room by him- 
 self. A supper to be provided in the common room every 
 evening at seven o'clock for the poor travellers, each of vrhom 
 shall depart from the house by ten o'clock in the morning, and 
 shall on his departure receive from the master the sum of four- 
 pence." The first meeting of the new trustees was held on 
 Monday last, when it was agreed, amongst other things, that 
 supper to be provided for the poor travellers is to consist of 
 half a pound of boiled round of beef, one pound of bread, and 
 half a pint of porter each. 
 
 The ''Six Pooe Teavellees," 1884. 
 
 It is stated that the " Poor Travellers' " house here, men- 
 tioned by Charles Dickens in one of his Christmas Annuals, is 
 threatened with extinction. The Charity Commissioners have 
 drawn up a new scheme, in which they propose to apply the 
 funds of this ancient charity to the assistance of poor persons 
 desiring to emigrate, or to find them work at home, and to the 
 maintenance of sick persons in convalescent homes. — Daily 
 Telegraph, October 15th, 1884. 
 
 Dickens's Chaeactees. 
 
 Dickens pourtrayed, among other characters, twelve shrews, 
 fourteen swindlers, sixteen old maids, thirty-nine widows, and 
 thirty-five lawyers. 
 
 DiCEENS AS A " Smashes." 
 
 A story is told that on one pedestrian occasion he was taken 
 for a "smasher." He had retired to rest at G-ad's Hill, but 
 found he could not sleep, when he determined to turn out, 
 
OMNIANA. 477 
 
 dress, and walk up to London — some thirty miles. He reached 
 the suburbs in the grey morning, and applied at an "early" 
 coffee-house for some refreshment, tendering for the same a 
 sovereign, the smallest coin he happened to hare about him. 
 
 " It's a bad un," said the man, bitiug at it, and tryiog to 
 twist it in all directions, "and I shall give you in charge." 
 
 Sure enough the coin did have a suspicious look. Mr. 
 Dickens had carried some substance in his pocket which had 
 oxydized it. Seeing that matters looked awkward, he at once 
 said : 
 
 "But I am Charles Dickens !" 
 
 " Come, that won't do ; any man could say he was Charles 
 Dickens ! How do I know ?" 
 
 The man had been victimized only the week previously ; and 
 at length, at Mr. Dickens's suggestion, it was arranged that they 
 should go to a chemist, to have the coin tested with aqua fortis. 
 In due course, when the shops opened, a chemist was found, 
 who immediately recognised the great novelist — notwithstanding 
 his dusty appearance — and the coffee-house keeper was satis- 
 factorily coHvinced that he had not been entertaining a 
 "smasher." — Anecdote Biographies of ThacTieray and Dick ens, 
 by E, H. Stoddard, 1874. 
 
 A Description op Dickens. 
 (As he appeared at his Public Readings.) 
 
 " He is about forty -five years old, rather above the middle 
 height, and of a slight lithe figure. If you did not know who 
 he was, you would take him, at first glance, for some remarkable 
 man. His is a decidedly striking face, rather long and thin- 
 with shaved cheeks, a moustache and pointed beard. His hair 
 is light brown, long, and silky ; his forehead broad and high ; 
 but his eyes are his most remarkable feature, dark brown in 
 colour, and flashing, when he is animated, with extraordinary 
 brilliancy. His voice is deep and sonorous, capable of exquisite 
 modulation and of expressing the deepest feeling. The pathos 
 
478 OMNIANA. 
 
 which he throws into one short line in the Caj^ol, where the 
 Cratchit family are mourning their lost child — " The colour ? 
 Ah ! poor Tiny Tim !" cannot be described. One slight pecu- 
 liarity may be noticed — a hissing manner of pronouncing the 
 letter ' s.' ''—Town Talk, June 5th, 1858. 
 
 [The above is an extract from a biographical sketch of Dickens 
 written by Edmund Yates, which was the first of a series of 
 similar biographies produced for publication in Town Talk ; the 
 second related to Thackeray, and is memorable for its having 
 originated the famous quarrel between the two distinguished 
 novelists.] 
 
 A Living Dickens Chaeactee. 
 
 When Charles Dickens visited St. Louis in April, 1842, he 
 became interested in '* a little woman with a baby," his fellow- 
 passengers on a Mississippi steamer ; and learning the little 
 woman's romantic history, described it at length in American 
 Notes. The baby is still living in the person of Mr. Charles R. 
 Garrison, who was given a Dickens reception on his thirty- 
 ninth birthday recently, — North of England Advertiser^ 1881. 
 
 " Bleak House." 
 
 Fort House, better known to Broadstairs visitors as " Bleak 
 House," from its associations with the memory of the late 
 Charles Dickens, who frequently resided there, has just been 
 sold by auction by direction of the trustees under the will of 
 Captain Gr. G-ooch, and it realized £2,500. Lawn House, also 
 an occasional residence of Dickens, and forming part of the 
 same estate, was sold for £730. — Standard, August 15th, 1883. 
 
 "Boz." 
 
 " The absurdities of English pronunciation," says a German 
 critic, " are well exhibited in the case of the word * Boz,' which 
 is pronounced * Dickens.' " 
 
OMNI AN A. 479 
 
 "Boots at the Holly-tree Inn." 
 The foUoAving incident, recorded in a London newspaper last 
 year, proves that Charles Dickens did not exceed the bounds of 
 probability when he wrote the story, as related by the "Boots at 
 the Holly -tree Inn," of the juvenile runaway couple on marriage 
 intent, Master Harry Walmers, aged eight years, and Miss Norah, 
 aged seven : 
 
 A Romantic Elopement. — A romantic elopement has taken 
 place from Flintshire which will cause more than the usual nine 
 days' talk. A young gentleman, the son of wealthy parents 
 residing near Northop, who had just seen his seventh birthday, 
 fell in love with a charming young lady of Mold, just three 
 years his senior. As the contemplated union was not likely to 
 receive the paternal benediction, the interesting couple decided 
 to elope. The young gentleman dressed at half -past three, and 
 left his home, while the young lady joined him afterwards and 
 drove together to Wrexham, from whence they proceeded to 
 Liverpool. The parents of the young lovers got scent of their 
 whereabouts and hurriedly followed them, and after some ex- 
 hortation and remonstrance succeeded in inducing them to 
 return home. (July 26, 1884.) 
 
 An After- dinner Orator. 
 
 ** It's in the wonderful insight inter 'uman nature that Dickens 
 gets the pull over Thackeray ; but on t' other hand, it's in the 
 brilliant shafts o' satire, t'gether with a keen sense o' humour, 
 that Dickery gets the pull over Thackens. It's just this : 
 Thickey is the humourist j Dackens is the satirist. But, after 
 all, it's 'bsurd to instoot any comparison between Dackery and 
 Thickens." 
 
 Dickens and Mr. Holloway. 
 The death of the late Mr. Holloway recalls an incident which 
 was frequently related by Charles Dickens. During the publi- 
 cation of Dombey and Son in serial numbers, the great novelist 
 
480 OMNIANA. 
 
 received a letter from Mr, Holloway, suggesting that some 
 mention of his pills should appear in the forthcoming number 
 of the serial. It was stated in the letter that no expression of 
 opinion favourable to the medicine was desired, but all that was 
 asked for was a casual mention of the pills in any form which 
 the author might select ; and, as a consideration for the in- 
 sertion of such a notice, a cheque for £1,000 was enclosed in 
 the letter. The cheque was returned with thanks, though there 
 was nothing in the proposal at which the recipient either did or 
 could take offence. — West Middlesex Advertiser, March, 1884. 
 
 Dickens and Leigh Hunt. 
 "There was nothing in his literary life which Dickens re- 
 gretted so much as the unintentional wrong he did to Leigh 
 Hunt, in his portrait of Harold Skirapole. It was true that he 
 drew one side of it from his friend, but the other side — the 
 selfishness and the baseness — had nought to do with him. 
 They are, indeed, so utterly opposed to his character, that it 
 seemed to Dickens that no one could associate them with the 
 original of the picture. Nothing is more common than for a 
 novelist to paint in this way, and for the very purpose of the 
 concealment of identity ; but in this case the likeness was, in 
 some points, too striking to escape recognition, and the others 
 were taken for granted, whereat both painter and sitter were 
 cruelly pained." — JamesPayn, in the Cornhill Magazine, M.iiirchi 
 1884. 
 
 Dickens as a Pedestrian. 
 
 The favourite recreation of Charles Dickens was walking. 
 By day. Professor Ward points out, Dicknes found in the 
 London thoroughfares stimulative variety; and by night, in 
 seasons of intellectual excitement, he found in those same 
 streets the refreshment of isolation among crowds. "But the 
 walks he loved best were long stretches on the cliffs, or across 
 the downs by the sea, where, following the track of liis 
 
OMNIANA. 481 
 
 * breathers,' one half expects to meet him coming along against 
 the wind at four and a half miles an hour, the very embodiment 
 of energy and brimful of life." — Weekly Free Press, 1884. 
 
 Dickens and the Pice:pocket. 
 
 Charles Dickens, during one of his visits to Paris, had his 
 watch stolen from him at the theatre. This watch had been 
 given him by the Queen, and was, therefore, very much prized 
 by him. On returning to his hotel, Mr. Dickens found a small 
 parcel awaiting him, to which was pinned the following note : 
 
 SiE, — I hope you will excuse me, but I assure you I thought 
 I was dealing with a Frenchman, and not a countryman. Find- 
 ing out my mistake, I hasten to repair it as much as lies in my 
 power, by returning you herewith the watch I stole from you. 
 I beg you to accept the homage of my respect, and to belie /e 
 rae, my dear countryman, your humble and obedient servant, 
 
 A Pickpocket. 
 
 Dickens and Harpee. 
 
 Here is a story apropos of the American Copyright Bill : — 
 When Charles Dickens was in America for the first time, he 
 dined at the house of one of the Harper Brothers, the well- 
 known publishers. A little Harper came to the table ; Dickens 
 placed him on his knee, and said, "You are a very fine boy; 
 you are a very fine boy, indeed ; you are the son of the greatest 
 pirate on earth."— Pall Mall Gazette, 18S4. 
 
 An actual " DoTHEBOTS Hall." 
 
 Kichard Cobden spent five years of school life at an actual 
 "Dotheboys Hall" in Yorkshire, where he was *' ill fed, ill taught, 
 ill used ; he never saw parent or friend ; and once in each 
 quarter he was permitted to relieve his feelings by a letter 
 home."— Nor/ulJ: News, 1883. 
 
 31 
 
482 , OMNIANA. 
 
 Dickens out of Patience. 
 Those of the present generation, who are fortunate enough to 
 have been reckoned among the personal friends of the late 
 Charles Dickens, no less than his public admirers, will, no 
 doubt, be interested in the following characteristic example of 
 the great writer's humour. The circumstances which led 
 to the writing of this document were as follows : — Some 
 forty years ago, a well-known Royal Academician, who was 
 then just rising into fame, was commissioned by Dickens 
 to paint for him two small companion pictures — one to repre- 
 sent Dolly Varden, and the other Kate Nickleby. In due 
 course of time the commission was carried out, and the works 
 were hung in the dining-room of Dickens's house. Some time 
 afterwards, " Xate Nickleby " was required for the process of 
 engraving, and the picture was sent to Ireland for the purpose. 
 Then, as now, engravers declined to be hurried, and many 
 months elapsed before there seemed any pi'obability of the 
 return of the picture. Dickens became impatient at last, and 
 one morning the artist received the following document in the 
 well-known handwriting of the author of Nicholas Nicldeby : 
 
 ** Advertisement. To K— e N y,— The Young Lady in 
 
 Black. K. N., If you will return to your disconsolate friends 
 in Devonshire Terrace, your absence in Ireland will be forgotten 
 and forgiven, and you will be received with open arms. Think 
 of your dear sister Dolly, and how altered her appearance and 
 character are without you. She is not the same girl. Think, 
 too, of the author of your being, and what he must feel when 
 he sees your place empty every day ! — Tenth October, 1848." 
 
 Dickens's Amanuensis. 
 
 '* You were an amanuensis of Charles Dickens, were you 
 not ?" 
 
 "Yes; I did shorthand work for Mr. Dickens for eighteen 
 months. I did not take dictations for any one of his novels — 
 
OMNIANA. 483 
 
 only his fugitive pieces. He dictated to me most of his articles 
 in All the Year Round. He was a very kind man to those 
 under him. He always treated me very well indeed. Most 
 people seem to think Dickens was a ready writer. This was 
 by no means the case. He used to come into his office in 
 Catherine Street about eight o'clock in the morning and begin 
 dictating. He would walk up and down the floor several times 
 after dictating a sentence or a paragraph, and ask me to read it, 
 I would do so, and he would, in nine cases out of ten, order me 
 to strike out certain words and insert others. He was generally 
 tired out at eleven o'clock, and went down to his club in the 
 Strand. A very singular thing was, he never dictated the 
 closing paragraphs of his story. He always finished it himself. 
 I used to look in the paper for it, and find that he had changed 
 it very greatly from what he had dictated to me. 
 
 "Dickens had a very odd habit of combing his hair. He 
 would comb it a hundred times in a day. He seemed never to 
 tire of it. The first thing he did on coming into the office was 
 to comb his hair. I have seen him dictate a sentence or two, 
 and then begin combing. Wlien he got through he dictated 
 another sentence. He was very careful about his writings. He 
 wanted every sentence to be as perfect as possible before letting 
 it go to press. 
 
 "Dickens was an odd fellow regarding the company he 
 sought. I have known him, while I was employed by him, to 
 go down to the Seven Dials, about the worst place in London, 
 and sleep and eat there. He roasted his herring where the rest 
 did, and slept with the poorest. 
 
 '* He loved low society. He never seemed so happy as when 
 seated in a poor coffee-house, with a crowd of the lower classes 
 talking around him. He never missed a word that was said, 
 and was the closest observer I ever saw. Nothing escaped him. 
 When I was working for him, he was at the zenith of his fame — 
 just before his death ; and even then he loved these careless, 
 
 31—2 
 
484 OMNIANA. 
 
 rollicking rounds among the poor better than a high-toned 
 dinner." 
 
 "Was he as great a drinker as he has the reputation of 
 being?" 
 
 ** I never saw him di'unk myself. I have seen him several 
 times exhilarated, however. He only drank the best of wine, 
 but he drank that very freely. Sherry was his especial favourite, 
 and he never refused a glass of fine old sherry. He was an 
 insatiable cigarette-smoker, and when dictating to me always 
 had a cigarette in his mouth. He was a very spruce man, too. 
 He brushed his coat frequently, and changed his collars several 
 times in a day. He was every bit as humorous in his speech 
 as in his writings. When he was in a peculiarly fine humour 
 he could keep you laughing by the hour with his witty talk. 
 He was not one of those men who are above those they employ ; 
 he chatted as freely with me as with any member of his club on 
 the Strand. Dickens was undoubtedly the best after-dinner 
 speaker in England. I heard him at Whitehall once, the 
 occasion being the anniversary of the British Museum. There 
 was an enormous crowd, hardly standing room, and he kept 
 them in one continual roar. He was a fine actor, and this, 
 added to his wit^ made him irresistibly funny. He was a great 
 eater ; not an epicure, but a gourmand. He ate, and ate, and 
 ate, and cared little for quality, so there was enough before 
 him."— Tit-Bits, September 2, 1882. 
 
 Chaeles Dickens " Had Alite." 
 When Dickens was the lion of the day at Montreal, there 
 lived there a young man fond of collecting autographs. He 
 had a desire to get one from Dickens. This was no easy matter, 
 as multitudes bored him for his writing, and he had to refuse 
 with some sternness, or wholly ignore the application, and poor 
 Dickens was rather sold. The writer tried the patbetico- 
 illiteraturo dodge : — 
 
OMNIANA. 485 
 
 **Me. Dickens, sue, 
 
 " Me and my wife's got a boy, and wee've a-hear tell a 
 great deal about the beautiful books you've a- writ, and the good 
 you've a-tryed to do for us pore folk. Now we has a-thote 
 that it might so be that you mite let we give you're name to 
 our boy. We is no scoUerds, but we hope that, as wages is 
 good and learning is plenty, that he will some day read what 
 you've a-rit. An' so, Sir, we askes yu're pardin, and wishes 
 yu prosperity an' good luk. If so be as yoa rite, direc Andrew 
 
 H , Montreal Post Offis. So no more at present, from 
 
 you're humbel servints to commend. 
 
 • there * Andeew H , 
 
 'marks * 'MaeyH .' 
 
 This missive elicited the following reply : 
 
 " Deae Sie, 
 
 "I am much indebted to you for your gratifying and 
 welcome letter, and am proud to know that you have conferred 
 my name on your child in recollection of my writings. That 
 he may become all you wish him to be, and that he may in time 
 derive some entertainment and instruction from my poor en- 
 deavours to beguile the leisure time of children of a larger 
 growth, is my sincere and earnest wish. If I could ever learn 
 that I had happily been the means of awakening within him 
 any new love for his fellow-creatures, and desire to help and 
 assist them with his sympathy, I should feel much pleasure 
 from the knowledge. — Faithfully yours, 
 
 " Chaeles Dickens." 
 — Weekly Free Press, August 2, 1884. 
 
 Dickens and Paeliament. 
 
 Referring to the recent opening of Parliament, Mr. Rawlin- 
 eon, C.B., writes to a contemporary — **I received the following 
 letter from the late Charles Dickens on the date given. As it 
 
480 OMNI ANA. 
 
 bears on the opening of Parliament ceremonial by the Queen, 
 and embodies some views of Parliament by the great novelist, it 
 may both interest and amuse : — 
 
 "Tavistock House, 
 
 *^ January 25, 1854. 
 " My dear Sib, 
 
 " I assure you that we are all extremely sensible of your 
 kind remembrance, and much indebted to you for your invita- 
 tion ; but, though reasonably loyal, we do not much care for 
 such sights, and consequently feel that you ought to bestow the 
 places you so obligingly oifer us on some more deserving objects. 
 The last ceremony of that kind I ever saw was the Queen's 
 coronation, and I thought it looked poor in comparison with 
 my usual country walk. As to Parliament, it does so little and 
 talks so much that the most interesting ceremony I know of in 
 connection with it was performed (with very little state indeed) 
 by one man, who just cleared it out, locked up the place, and 
 put the keys in his pocket. — My dear Sir, very faithfully yours, 
 
 **Chaeles Dickens. 
 '* Eobert Rawlinson, Esq. " 
 
 " What the Dickens ?" 
 In answer to a correspondent who inquired the origin of the 
 expression " What the dickens ?" (associated in the minds of 
 most people with the name of a certain famous novelist), Mr. 
 G-. A. Sala gives the information that Shakespeare is the author 
 of the phrase, which may be found in the Merry Wives of 
 Windsor, Act III., Scene 2. Mr. Ford asks Mistress Page, 
 " Where had you this pretty weather-cocke ?" (meaning Falstaff). 
 Mistress Page replies, "I cannot tell what the dickens his 
 name is my husband had him of," etc. 
 
 A New View oe Charles Dickens. 
 A correspondent of the New York Herald, who says that his 
 father, Dickens, and Thackeray were all once Bohemians on 
 
OMNIANA. 487 
 
 the Morning Herald and Morning Chronicle, thus gives hi 
 opinion of Mr. and Mrs. Dickens : — ** The history of Charles 
 Dickens's marriage is simple enough. He was at that time 
 earning about thirty shillings a week, and met Mrs. Dickens 
 then a moon-faced, fair-haired, even-tempered, round-waisted, 
 good-natured, but very commonplace English girl ; one of those 
 women the lieight of whose ambition is a large family, a little 
 cottage, a new dress, a big bow, and a merry Christmas. She 
 was an honest, virtuous, simple-minded, slightly romantic 
 woman, whose heart was in her home. Charles Dickens at this 
 time was a young man of a very nervous temperament, with 
 unbounded self-esteem, and who would have made a good 
 husband had he not been successful. Charles Dickens was un- 
 deniably the beau ideal of the selfish, conceited, vain, 
 ambitious Londoner. It is all very well for Mr. Forster to 
 come forward now and endeavour to paint Charles Dickens as a 
 man of sweet and romantic characteristics, in whose company 
 life seemed but a dream. Dickens always was a cold, calculating 
 distant, showy man, who talked loud in society, who never 
 could dress like a gentleman, and who did the grand tour of 
 Europe and America as a business speculation. His American 
 Notes paid him, and American notes, on his second visit, con- 
 firmed his fortune. To his brother-authors he was cold and 
 distant, never having been known to come, like Thackeray, 
 with his purse, heart, and hand, and raise from the depths of 
 distress some man who once knew him as Charles Dickens 
 the reporter. He was a business man throughout, as the sale 
 of his effects before he was scarcely dead well testified, wliile 
 the Koyal Literary Fund was little else to him than a few senti- 
 mental speeches and addresses. — 1874." 
 
 Charles Dickens and the Medical Profession. 
 
 How true to nature, even to their most trivial details, almost 
 every character and every incident in the works of the great 
 
488 OMNIANA. 
 
 novelist, whose dust has just been laid to rest, really were, is 
 best known to those whose tastes or whose duties led them to 
 frequent the paths of life from which Dickens delighted to draw. 
 But none, except medical men, can judge of the rare fidelity 
 with which he followed the great Mother through the devious 
 paths of disease and death. In reading Oliver Twist and Domhey 
 and Son, or the Chimes, or even No Thoroughfare, the phy- 
 sician often felt tempted to say, "What a gain it would have 
 been to physic if one so keen to observe and so facile to describe 
 had devoted his powers to the medical art !" It must not be 
 forgotten that his description of hectic (in Oliver Twist) has 
 found its way into more than one standard work in both 
 medicine and surgery (Miller's Principles of Surgery, second 
 edition, p. 46 ; also Dr. Aitkin's Practice of Medicine, third 
 edition, vol. i., p. iii, ; also several American and French books) ; 
 that he anticipated the clinical researches of M. Dax, Broca, and 
 Hughlings Jackson, on the connection of right hemiplegia with 
 asphasia {vide Domhey and Son, for the last illness of Mrs. 
 Skewton) ; and that his descriptions of epilepsy in Walter 
 Wilding, and of moral and mental insanity in characters too 
 numerous to mention, show the hand of a master. It is feeble 
 praise to add that he was always just, and generally generous to 
 our profession. Even his description of our Bob Sawyers, and 
 their less reputable friends, always wanted the coarseness and, 
 let us add, the unreality of Albert Smith's ; so that we ourselves 
 could well afford to laugh with the man who sometimes laughed 
 at us, but laughed only as one who loved us. One of the later 
 efforts of his pen was to advance the interests of the East London 
 Hospital for Children ; and his sjnnpathies were never absent 
 from the sick and suffering of every age. — British Medical 
 Journal, 1870. 
 
 Charles Dickens and the Lawyeks. 
 
 The great novelist wrote not for one class only, but for all 
 classes, and lawyers as well as other persons read his works, A 
 
OMNIANA. 489 
 
 late eminent judge described the pleasure and profit he derived 
 from the perusal of a new Waverley, and a host of livin'g 
 lawyers will gratefully acknowledge how greatly they have been 
 refreshed and delighted by an hour with " Boz." In his youth 
 Mr. Dickens was for a short time in a solicitor's ofhce, but 
 happily soon turned his back on the law and devoted himself to 
 literature. He has left us a whole gallery of legal caricatures. 
 We have the wonderful trial of "Bardell v. Pickwick," intro- 
 ducing the fussy Buzfuz, and that rare phenomenon, a modest 
 junior. In the same book we have the smart Dodson and Fogg, the 
 excellent Mr. Perker, and the solicitor to the Wellers. In Bleak 
 House we have the great Chancery suit of " Jarndyce v. Jarn- 
 dyce," with gi^aphic descriptions of the court, of the lawyers 
 engaged in the suit, of the shrewd solicitor of the Dedlock 
 family, and of the poor law writer. In the Old Curiosity Shop 
 we have Sampson Brass, the masculine Sally Brass, and the 
 mirth-provoking Dick Swiveller. In Great Expectations we 
 have that wonderful character, Wemmick, and his well-con- 
 ceived employer, the Old Bailey attorney. We need not add to 
 the list. If sometimes Mr. Dickens appears bitter to lawyers, 
 we must remember how he hated double-dealing, and we may 
 be grateful to him for his exposure of the meanness and rascality 
 of the black sheep of the profession. Besides, Mr. Dickens could 
 appreciate a good lawyer as well as a good parson or a good 
 merchant. It would have been strange if it had been other- 
 wise, for he was on intimate terms with very many of our pro- 
 fession. Dickens was the intimate companion of Talfourd, and 
 the old, tried, and trusty friend of Lord Chief Justice Cockburn. 
 — Law Journal, 1870. 
 
 Chakles Dickens's Countky House. 
 
 It is announced that Dickens is about to dispose of Tavistock 
 House, London, and retire altogether to his pleasant retreat at 
 Gad's Hill. The latter residence has been the remote cause of all 
 the great novelist's domestic woes. In his boyhood, Dickens 
 
490 OMNIANA. 
 
 lived at Rochester, Kent, his father being then employed in the 
 Navy Yard at Chatham, contiguous to Rochester. The scenery 
 in the immediate neighbourhood had one unspeakable charm for 
 Dickens. He describes a portion of it in an early chapter of the 
 Pickwick Papers. As he advanced in life, and became familiar 
 with Shakespeare's Henry IV., Gad's Hill, in the vicinity of 
 Rochester, acquired a special interest in his eyes, and he 
 registered a vow that if ever he became rich he would build a 
 house there. But by the time he had obtained possession of the 
 means of realizing the object near his heart, Mrs. Dickens had 
 become so attached to London life that she positively refused to 
 go into the country. It was in vain that Dickens expostulated, 
 entreated, and explained how difficult it was for him to write in 
 London uninterruptedly, exposed as his popularity rendered him 
 to frequent visitors ; Mrs. Dickens was inflexible. Ultimately, 
 Mr. Dickens went to the new country house accompanied by 
 one of his daughters, and for her sake invited his sister-in-law 
 and a meritorious young actress to become inmates of their 
 dwelling. It was not long before this arrangement became a 
 subject of serious uneasiness to Mrs. Dickens. The " green-eyed 
 monster " is said to have possessed her, and thence arose those 
 serious misunderstandings which led to a dissolution of the 
 marriage compact, and the complete severance of Dickens from 
 London WiQ.—New York Post, 1860. 
 
 The Home of Chaeles Dickens, as seen just after his Death. 
 
 Higham, near Gad's Hill, is a lonely and forsaken -looking 
 spot. When you get out of the train there you seem as though 
 you were left in a chalk-pit, with a single chance of escape 
 through the mouth of a tunnel. From the poAvdery road leading 
 to the hill, a waggon comes to the station, the driver of which is 
 getting a sort of way-bill ready for the official in velveteens. 
 There is a hop-field and a railway tavern at one end of the bridge 
 over the line, at the other the road straggles up to Gad's Hill 
 Place. You never see much of the road ahead, and the sides are 
 
OMNIANA. 491 
 
 banked with shrubs and trees, until at odd times you come out 
 level with a field in which the sun has beaten the toilers, who are 
 taking a siesta under a cart. You pass a school-house ; and within 
 sight of the church of Upper Higham is a little chapel that looks 
 much like the sort of temple inscribed to Hymen on a valentine. 
 By the door is a tree full of perfume and of yellow blossoms. You 
 cannot see the Thames, but you do see the course of the stream 
 marked by the brown sails of boats. Still nearer the place is a 
 toy mansion with a wealth of roses before a toy lawn. And now 
 Cobham woods are above — Cobham, from which that flock of 
 geese has darted, and from which there is a constant coo-cooing 
 of pigeons. Here is a plain gate, and a plain brick country 
 house, which your pilgrim has come reverently to visit. Inside 
 the hall-door to the right is a room lined with empty book-shelves 
 and furnished with a desk and table. There is a chair before 
 this desk and this table, and something strikes you touching that 
 arrangement with the chill of a fresh recollection, which for the 
 moment makes the light, as it were, dim over the grass, and brings 
 into the spot itself a troop of shadows that have been with you 
 from the moment that you left the train at Higham. In the 
 hall are traces of the master who has had to go from it. That 
 habit of system in the smallest things of which we have read so 
 much is exemplified by the receptacles marked for various postal 
 deliveries, and the express injunctions as to the times when the 
 mails are sent from the neighbouring post-office. The drawing- 
 room is fresh and graceful in tone and furniture, and does not 
 seem to ^have been what it is merely for ceremony. From the 
 end you pass into a conservatory, and from that into the dining- 
 room. The housekeeper who accompanies the pilgrim to the 
 room mentions that here it was that he was beckoned off. He 
 was not removed from the room until dead. The grounds are 
 prettily and carefully laid out ; but what is definite and distinct 
 about Gad's Hill is at once its completeness and unpretentious - 
 ness. Looking at its snug red-brick house, the flower-beds, the 
 handsome conservatory, the garden seats, and listening to the 
 
492 OMNI AN A. 
 
 sounds of the summer noon, the mind drifted of its own accord 
 into the distance of the smoke panoply, where there was a giant 
 minster, and in it a grave but a few weeks old, on which the 
 wreaths had scarce yet withered. Opposite the house is a tunnel 
 leading into another set of gardens in which there is a Swiss 
 chalet, and in the chalet the owner of Gad's Hill spent his last 
 afternoon. To a literary student who is not merely curious, the 
 sight of the house and everything in connection with it is at 
 present sombre and depressing. 
 
 The Present Owner of Gad's Hill Place. 
 Gad's Hill Place, Higham, near Rochester, the last residence 
 of Charles Dickens, which had been long in the market, at length 
 found an owner in Captain Austin Budden, of the 12th Kent 
 Artillery, who has resided there for several years. 
 
 A Great Loss. 
 
 A few days after Dickens's death an Englishman, deeply 
 grieved at the event, made a sort of pilgrimage to Gad's Hill — 
 to the home of the great novelist. He went into the famous Sir 
 John Fa] staff Inn near at hand, and in the effusiveness of his 
 honest emotions he could not avoid taking the country waiter 
 into his confidence. 
 
 " A great loss this of Mr. Dickens," said the pilgrim. 
 
 '* A very great loss to us, sir," replied the waiter, shaking his 
 head ; "he had all his ale sent in from this house !" 
 
 Dickens and his Travelling Companion. 
 
 Mr. Henry R. Taylor, better known by his nom de plume of 
 **Hensar," in a lecture on "Charles Dickens," delivered at St. 
 James's Hall, under the presidency of the Right Hon. the Earl 
 of Clarendon, said — "Mr. Dickens, shortly before his death, told 
 me the following anecdote, which I will endeavour to relate as 
 nearly as possible in his own language : — 
 
 *' ' I had occasion to travel to Liverpool last winter, and the 
 
OMNIANA. 493 
 
 weather being cold, I took the precaution to put on a respirator 
 and to muffle myself well up to the throat, which somewhat 
 destroyed my identity. By the aid of Jehu I was conveyed to 
 Euston Sqiiare, and having taken my ticket, I proceeded to a 
 first-class carriage, in which I found only one occupant, a gen- 
 tleman apparently about forty years of age. The train at length 
 started, and for some time I occupied myself with reading. At 
 length I became weary, and observing that my companion 
 evinced similar symptoms, I commenced conversation with the 
 usual, " Very cold day, sir !" My companion cordially responded. 
 He was very voluble, and spoke on many subjects, and at 
 length turned to literature. He descanted on the merits of 
 Ljiiton, Thackeray, Lever, Tennyson, Browning, and a score of 
 other authors ; but added, " My favourite author is Dickens. 
 I have the pleasure of being a personal and intimate friend of 
 his, and have spent many happy days at Gad's Hill." Being 
 convinced that he had not identified me, I determined to pre- 
 serve my incognito, and, if possible, to chastise his impudence. 
 I ventured to observe that I also was a friend of Mr. Dickens, 
 and had known him some years. At this he stood up, grasped 
 my hand, and gave it a hearty shake, and said he was pleased 
 to make my acquaintance, as Mr. Dickens's friends were his 
 friends. He handed me his card, upon which I read, " Mr. 
 
 , No. — , Prince's Park, Liverpool," and requested that I 
 
 would honour him with a call. As he said this the train drew 
 into the station. We alighted, and saw our luggage placed on 
 our respective flys. I shook hands with my unknown friend, 
 who expressed the hope that I would give him an early call. 
 " But," said he, " you have not yet told me your name." " Oh !" 
 said I, "I really forgot. It is Charles Dickens !" The fly, 
 obedient to my signal, drove off, and as we passed out of the 
 station I looked out of the window and saw my friend gazing 
 after me, looking much horrified, and apparently heartily 
 ashamed of being detected in a misrepresentation.'" — Tit BitSy 
 January 28, 1882. 
 
494 OMNIANA. 
 
 Dickens's last Letter.* 
 
 Relatif e to the statement that Mr. Charles Kent was th 
 recipient of the last letter Dickens ever wrote, Mr. Makeham 
 sent the following infomation to the Echo : — 
 
 '* Having myself received from him (Dickens) a letter dated 
 the same day as that to Mr. Kent, I have been in the habit 
 of showing it to my friends as " Charles Dickens's last words," 
 believing, as I do, and always have done, that of the only four 
 letters which we have heard of his writing on that " most im- 
 memorial " day, this addressed to myself was probably unique, 
 insomuch that it referred to matters on which he was never in 
 the habit of speaking explicitly in his published books ; for as 
 he himself expressly states in the last phrase of his letter to 
 me, " I have never made proclamation of this from the house- 
 tops." Of the four letters he is publicly known to have written 
 (in the chalet presented to him by M. Fechter) on that fatal 
 8th June, 1870, one was addressed to his son at college, the 
 purport of which I know not, and shall not probably know till 
 the collection of his letters is published by his daughter and 
 Miss Hogarth ; another to Messrs. Pulvermacher, on a purely 
 business matter ; a third, that to Mr. Charles Kent, a poet, 
 editor also of a daily paper, and a friend of Dickens — the 
 letter above referred to — commixing humour, geniality, and 
 business together, in a way that carries no meaning whatever 
 to a mere occasional reader ; and, fourthly, his letter to me, 
 which having a special interest to all his readers, for the reason 
 already indicated, as was evidenced by the frequency with 
 which it was quoted by preachers at the time, I still consider 
 as being the most important of his last letters, whether it was 
 absolutely the last that proceeded from his pen or not. The 
 following is the letter referred to : 
 
 * See No. 50, p. 34. 
 
OMNIANA. 495 
 
 Gad's Hill Place, Higham by Rochester, Kent, 
 
 Wednesday, Sth June, 1870, 
 Dear Sir, — It would be quite inconceivable to me, but for 
 your letter, that any reasonable reader could possibly attach a 
 Scriptural reference to a passage in a book of mine, reproducing 
 a much-abused social figure of speech, impressed into all sorts 
 of service, on all sorts of inappropriate occasions, without the 
 faintest connection of it with its original source. I am truly 
 shocked to find that any reader can make the mistake. I have 
 always striven in my writings to express veneration for the 
 life and lessons of our Saviour, because I feel it ; and because 
 I re-wrote that history for my children — every one of whom 
 knew it from having it repeated to them long before they 
 could read and almost as soon as they could speak. But I 
 have never made proclamation of this from the housetops. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 Charles Dickens. 
 
 Dickens's Farewell Series of Readings. 
 
 (The following advertisement, which appeared in All the Year 
 Hound, October, 1868, indicates the energy displayed by Charles 
 Dickens in connection with his public readings.) 
 
 Messrs. Chappell and Co. have the honour to announce 
 that Mr. Dickens's Final Series of Readings will commence 
 at St. James's Hall, London, on Tuesday, October 6, and be 
 continued as follows :— Saturday, October 10, Free Trade Hall, 
 Manchester ; Monday, October 12, Tuesday, October 13, and 
 Wednesday, October 14, Liverpool ; Saturday, October 17, 
 Manchester ; Monday, October 19, Brighton ; Tuesday, October 
 20, St. James's Hall, London ; Thursday, October 22, Brighton ; 
 Saturday, October 24, Manchester ; Monday, October 26, Tues- 
 day, October 27, Wednesday, October 28, Liverpool ; Saturday, 
 October 31, Manchester ; Monday, November 2, Brighton ; 
 Tuesday, November 3, St. James's Hall, London ; Saturday 
 morning, November 7, Brighton ; Tuesday, November 17, St, 
 
496 OMNIANA. 
 
 James's Hall, London ; Tuesday, December 1, St. James's Hall, 
 London ; Monday, December 7, Thursday, December 1 0, Friday, 
 December 11, Monday, December 14, and Saturday morning, 
 December 19, Edinburgh ; Wednesday, December 9, Tuesday, 
 December 15, Wednesday, December 16, and Thursday, Decem- 
 ber 17, Glasgow. 
 
 All communications to be addressed to Messrs. Chappell 
 AND Co., 50, New Bond Street, London, W. 
 
 POPULAEITY OF DiCKENs's WoRKS. 
 
 It is stated, and on the very best -authority, that within the 
 twelve years that have passed since Dickens's death no less than 
 4,239,000 volumes of his works have been sold in England alone ! 
 A long way the first on this astonishing list stands PicJcwick, 
 while Daind Cojpperjield, the second, is almost equally far in 
 front of Domhey and Son ; Little Dorrit has found nearly as 
 many readers as Martin Chuzzlewit ; while, with the exception 
 of Edwin Drood, The Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations 
 take the lowest place. Nor has his popularity been confined to 
 England or to English-speaking people, French, German, and 
 Italian, Russian, and Swedish translations of his works appeared 
 during his lifetime ; when he was still but a young man the 
 pages of " Boz " were devoured, we have been told, with enthu- 
 siasm in Silesian villages ; PlcTcwich, it is said, and on no less 
 circumstantial authority, was found equal, when all else failed, 
 to the task of soothing the sleepless nights of Mehemet Ali ; 
 Mr. Forster has published a story of a strange half-human 
 recluse, who had built his cell amid the eternal snows of the 
 Sierra Nevada, and who found in Piclcwich and in Nicholas 
 NicTcleby the only intercourse with humanity that he desired. 
 If it were true, as has been said by one who has certainly 
 managed to refute his own words (Lord Jeffrey), if it were true 
 that present popularity is the only safe presage of future glory, 
 what an eternity of glory should await Charles Dickens ! — Mr. 
 Mowbray Morris, in the Fortnightly Review, December, 1882. 
 
OMNIANA. 497 
 
 Dickens's Fortune. 
 
 A writer in Truth, commenting on an article on the gains of 
 authors which has lately been going the rounds of the Press, 
 says : " Surprise is expressed that Dickens should not have left 
 a larger fortune than £80,000. I have the impression that 
 Dickens's total property amounted to nearly £100,000, but of 
 that a considerable proportion must have been derived from the 
 profits of Readings. There is no doubt that Dickens made 
 some very bad bargains with publishers in his early days, and I 
 know that his friend Talfourd once calculated that, during a* 
 period of five years, he ought to have been receiving £10,000 a 
 year from his works ; but one cannot form any estimate of his 
 total gains from literature by the amount of his possessions when 
 he died. It must be remembered that Dickens himself made 
 every shilling which he ever possessed, and he not only lived in 
 a very liberal style for forty years, keeping up a conaiderable 
 establishment and often travelling without much regard to cost, 
 but he also brought up a large and expensive family." 
 
 32 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 The folloio'ing items became Jcnoiun after the sheets ivere 
 p'epared for press. 
 
 PEESONAL. 
 
 558 
 Charles Dickens. Notice biographique et litt^raire, 
 
 par Amedee Pichot, Directeur de la Revue Britan- 
 
 nique, etc., etc. 
 
 Paris : Aux Bureaux de la Revue Britannique. 
 1851. pp. V. XX. 
 
 This sketch of Dickens and his writings is introduced as a 
 Preface to a French translation of David Copperfield. 
 
 559 
 
 Living Authors : No. 2. Charles Dickens. 
 ByB. 
 London : The Court Suburb Magazine. December, 
 1868. pp. 142, 143. 
 
 Briefly reviewing his career. 
 
ADDENDA. 499 
 
 560 
 Charles Dickens and Benjamin Disraeli. " Por- 
 trait Gallery, Representations of British Costume.'* 
 With an illustration. 
 
 London : The Tailor and C utter ^ an Index of Trade 
 and Fashion. July 16, 1870. pp. 401, 402. 
 
 The illustration is a "fashion-plate," and represents Dickens 
 and Disraeli walking in the grounds of Gads -Hill-Place, the 
 well-known residence of the former novelist appearing in the 
 background. Disraeli is supposed to be paying a quiet and 
 friendly visit to Dickens, and both are enjoying an evening 
 stroll. The following extract from the text accompanying this 
 picture will amuse those not possessing sartorial interests. 
 After briefly eulogising the genius of Dickens, the writer says : 
 *' Those who were acquainted with the personal appearance of 
 this lamented and distinguished author will admit that the 
 representation is a prototype of the original, as he might have 
 been seen shortly before his sudden and premature death. The 
 dress consists of a frock-coat of the most fashionable form, of 
 medium length in both waist and skirt, which are also plain ; 
 the lapels are made full and bold, and made to turn down. 
 The foreparts are cut small at the waist, as the coat is not 
 intended to button. The sleeve hands are furnished with cuffs 
 three and a quarter inches deep, and two holes and buttons are 
 worked in each. The vest is cut with a roll collar and to 
 button on medium height. The trousers are of the style most 
 appreciated by gentlemen of taste and those who are always 
 well-dressed, but never seen wearing garments possessing an 
 extreme character." 
 
 32—2 
 
500 ADDENDA. 
 
 561 
 
 Charles Dickens. By S. C. Hall. 
 
 London: The Art Journal. July, 1870. p. 224. 
 
 562 
 
 " Competition " Acrostic on the name of Charles 
 
 Dickens. Prize Competition No. 242. 
 
 London : The Weekly Dispatch. June 15, 1884. 
 
 The most successful are here printed, the prize being awarded 
 to Mr. T. Alderson Wilson. (See p. 474.) 
 
 563 
 
 Charles Dickens. By his Eldest Daughter (Mamie 
 
 Dickens). With a portrait. 
 
 London, etc. : Cassell and Company. 1885. pp. 
 128. 
 
 One of a series entitled "The World's Workers." This 
 volume is divided into Four Books. " Book I, Childhood. 
 Book II. Youth and Manhood. Book III. Devonshire Terrace, 
 and Sojourns Abroad. Book IV. Tavistock House and Gad's 
 Hill Days." Concluding with a " Summary of the Writings of 
 Charles Dickens." The portrait, as frontispiece, represents 
 Dickens seated at a table reading, and is reproduced from an 
 unpublished photograph taken by Charles Watkins, in 1861. 
 
 In the Preface, the writer states that she has written this 
 short biography of her father expressly for the young. " I have 
 tried to collect every incident which will be most likely to 
 interest and to appeal to young people ; and wherever I have 
 been able to use my father's own words, I have done so. If the 
 
ADDENDA. 501 
 
 reading of this little book be the means of making any boys and 
 girls love and venerate the Man — before they can know and 
 love and venerate the Author and the Genius — I shall have 
 accomplished my task with a thankful and a grateful heart." 
 
 564 
 
 The Life of Charles Dickens. With a portrait, 
 engraved on wood. 
 London : Haughton and Co., 10, Paternoster Row. 
 N.D. (1881). pp. 16. 
 
 One of a series of '• Popular Illustrated Biographies," pub- 
 lished at one penny. 
 
 565 
 
 Notice sur Charles Dickens. Contes de Noel, 
 traduction nouvelle par Am6d6e Chaillot. 
 Limoges et Paris : F. F. Ardant Freres. N.D. 
 pp. 5, 8. 
 
 The Notice is in the form of a Preface to a French transla- 
 tion of the Christmas Carol. 
 
 566 
 
 The Letters of Dickens. A Bemarkable Auto- 
 graph Collection. Unpublished Correspondence of 
 the Novelist and some of his most Famous Friends. 
 New York: New York Daily Tribune. Sunday, 
 
 October 7, 1883. 
 
 This collection was subsequently described in the Times. 
 (See No. 97.) 
 
602 ADDENDA. 
 
 CRITICAL. 
 
 Division I. 
 
 ' " 567 
 
 Living Literati : Nos. I. and IL Sm E. Bulwer 
 Lytton and Mr. Charles Dickens. 
 
 London : Eginton's Literary Railway Miscellany. 
 January, 1854. pp. 19, 25. February, 1854. pp. 
 174, 188. 
 
 The claims of these writers are considered and compared. 
 These papers form part of a series devoted to " an impartial, 
 earnest, and close investigation of the merits — moral, in- 
 tellectual, general, and individual — of the ' Eival Monarchs of 
 the Eealms of Thought,' " beginning with the living novelists of 
 the Victorian era. 
 
 568 
 Mr. Dickens and his Critics. " Dialogues of tlie 
 Living, No. IV." (By John Hollingshead.) 
 London : The Train. August, 1857. pp. 76, 79. 
 Reprinted in Essays and Miscellanies^ by John Hollings- 
 head. (See No. 165.) 
 
ADDENDA. 503 
 
 569 
 
 Charles Dickens. With a portrait, engraved on 
 
 wood. 
 
 London and Edinburgh : Chambers's CycIoj)cedia of 
 English Literature. Yo^. IT. 1860. pp. 645, 650. 
 
 A biographical and critical notice, with selections from hi;i 
 works. 
 
 570 
 " Boz " IN Paris. 
 
 London : The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine. 
 Vol. X. 1865. pp. 186, 189. 
 
 Keviewing M. Taine's criticism of Dickens's powers as a 
 novelist. (See No. 162.) 
 
 571 
 The Tension in Charles Dickens. 
 Boston: Every Saturday. December 21, 1872. pp. 
 678, 679. 
 
 ** A great sculptor, commenting to the present writer on the 
 physical features of the bust of Dickens, drew attention especi- 
 ally to the * whip-cord ' — * the race-horse tension ' — in all the 
 muscles ; — all the softer and vaguer tissues in the face and bust 
 were pruned away, and only the keen, strenuous, driving, pur- 
 pose-pursuing elements in it left. The second volume of Mr. 
 Forster's Life of Charles Dickens brings out that criticism with 
 extraordinary force. It is like reading the biography of a literary 
 
504 ADDENDA. 
 
 race-horse. The tension and strain go on through the whole ten 
 years, 1842-52, which the book covers. There is no rest in the 
 man's nature, even when he is professedly resting. ..." 
 
 "... Mr. Forster's admirable book will certainly carry one 
 trait of Dickens right home to every devourer of his biography, 
 — that all the veins and muscles in Dickens's nature were always 
 on the stretch towards some eager end. A mind with less rest 
 and less easy play in it, in spite of all its real fun and laughter, 
 is hardly conceivable." 
 
 572 
 The Eeligious Sentiments of Charles Dickens. 
 Collected from His Writings. By Charles H. 
 McKenzie. 
 
 London : Walter Scott, 14, Paternoster Square. 
 1884. pp. 171. 
 
 The author states in the Preface that the reason which stimu- 
 lated him to undertake his voluntary task was principally " to 
 do justice to the memory of Charles Dickens by establishing the 
 fact of his vital religious character, which, though a fact, is so 
 strangely ignored, misunderstood, and actually denied in places." 
 In the last chapter he takes each work of Dickens in succession, 
 and concisely indicates where scriptural references and analogies 
 may be found, thus proving how Dickens was influenced by re- 
 ligious sentiments. 
 
 573 
 
 *' Competition " Veeses on Some of the Characters 
 in Dickens's Novels or Christmas Stories. Prize 
 Competition No. 271. 
 
ADDENDA. 505 
 
 London : The Weekly Dispatch. January 4, 1885. 
 
 The most successful are here printed, the prize being awarded 
 to Mr. Henry Earle for his lines on " Caleb Plummer." 
 
 574 
 
 The Tendency of Dickens's Works. By A. D. 
 
 London : The Argosy. October, 1885. pp. 282, 
 292. 
 
 The writer says that the works of Dickens "form an art 
 gallery which we may wander through alone, and learn the great 
 lessons of morality and humanity such as the Great Master, 
 whom Charles Dickens humbly followed, loved to teach." 
 
 Having indicated, by copious extracts, how simply and natur- 
 ally Dickens brings us face to face with his characters, the writer 
 adds that " there are many other good points in Dickens's writings 
 which might be enlarged upon, such as their purity and healthy- 
 mindedness, the invariable triumph of good over evil; but I should 
 like to touch upon one or two general objections which have been 
 made to them. First, their seeming exaggeration. 
 
 " Now, this exaggeration does not lie in his artistic fancies ; 
 his descriptive pieces are true and life-like as any painted picture. 
 It doesn't lie in his broad effects. We cannot feel — looking at 
 his books as a whole — that the great wrongs, with their influ- 
 ences, which he delineated have been exaggerated. It is when 
 he comes to individual sketches that the fault is found. We 
 have, as I said before, correct outlines, faultless perspective, 
 with sometimes what at first looks like deep and rather extra 
 colouring. But I think it is a question as to whether these 
 pictures would have caught the eye of the nation and held it as 
 
506 ADDENDA. 
 
 they did if the colours had been toned dowTi and etherealised off 
 into a hazy mysticism. There are a very few nations whose 
 reading class, taken as a whole, would comprise a literary ma- 
 jority. Dickens was essentially a ^vriter for the people : for that 
 class of whose cause he was the lifelong advocate ; and though 
 the intellectual triumphs of his works won for him many laurels 
 from the higher classes, yet he never arranged his plots or moulded 
 his characters to impress a noble fancy or beguile an aristocratic 
 leisure. . , ." 
 
 "... The next objection, and one I cannot altogether answer, 
 is Dickens's graphic sketches of religious hypocrisy. His Chad- 
 band and Stiggins have touched not only the susceptible self- 
 righteousness of men with whom they might very distantly have 
 shaken hands, but the better feelings of others who think that 
 something like mockery was intended of what they justly held 
 in deepest reverence. No one can for a moment believe that 
 Charles Dickens ever intended to be irreverent, or had the re- 
 motest thought of casting the shadow of a slur on the religion 
 which actuated him all through life, and wholly possessed him 
 during the later years. He hated, with a whole-souled righteous 
 hatred, hypocrisy in any form in connection with anything ; 
 and the more injurious he thought its effect the greater was his 
 abhorrence of it, the more vivid his delineation, the more extreme 
 his caricature." 
 
 French Criticism of Charles Dickens. 
 
 London : The Peo^ple's Journal. Vol. Y. p. 228. 
 Eeprinted in Every Saturday (Boston). Vol. IX. 
 p. 478. (? date.) 
 
ADDENDA. 607 
 
 576 
 Prize Competition : Verses describing any one of. 
 
 the Characters in Charles Dickens's Christmas 
 
 Stories. 
 
 London : The Weekly Dispatch. December 27, 
 1885. 
 
 The most successful are here printed, the prize being awarded 
 to Mr. J. Pratt, for his lines on " Bob Cratchit." 
 
 CRITICAL. 
 
 Division II. 
 
 577 
 
 "Sketches by Boz." 
 
 London: The Mirror. April 16, 1836. pp. 249, 
 250. 
 
 "... We think them too numerous, or too every-day-ish : 
 they want relief, and their incidents border too closely on the 
 commonplace. . . . Here is too much Cockney vulgarity ; and 
 the incidents savour too strongly of low London life. ..." 
 
 578 
 
 " Little Dorrit." 
 London: The Leader. Jane 27, 1857. pp. 616, 
 617. 
 
508 ADDENDA. 
 
 579 
 '' Competition " Verses on the Death of Little 
 
 Paul in " Dombey and Son." Prize Competition 
 
 No. 205. 
 
 London : The Weehhj Dispatch. September 30, 
 
 1883. 
 
 The most successful are here printed, the prize being awarded 
 to Mrs. Esther Gould Lawrence. 
 
 580 
 
 *' Competition " Verses on *' The Convict's Eeturn " 
 
 (Chap. VL of "The Pickwick Papers"). Prize 
 
 Competition No. 235. 
 
 London : The Weekly Dispatch, April 27, 1884. 
 
 The most successful are here printed, the prize being awarded 
 to Mr. Jesse H. Wheeler. 
 
 POETICAL. 
 
 581 
 Lines on the Death of Charles Dickens. A 
 
 Poem of Three Verses. By William Herbert Delf. 
 
 London : The Norwich Penny Magazine. No. 7. 
 July, 1870. p. 87. 
 
ADDENDA. 509 
 
 582 
 
 Dickens. A Poem of two verses. By Orpheus C. 
 
 Kerr. 
 
 The Cloven Foot, by Orpheus C. Kerr. 1870. p. 17. 
 (See No. 551.) 
 
 ANTHOLOGICAL. 
 
 583 
 
 Characters from Dickens. With Illustrations by 
 
 A. B. (Alfred Bryan). 
 
 London : Jack arid Jill, an Illustrated Weekly Miscel- 
 lany for Everybody. 1885-6. 
 
 The illustrations consist of a series of Dickens characters, and 
 the text comprises selections from the stories in which those 
 characters are introduced. The following have been issued : 
 
 No. I. ''Fagin" {Oliver Twist). October 31, 1885. pp.205, 
 206. No. 11, " Sam WelleT" {Pickwick). November/, pp.217, 
 218, and 221. No. III. "Quilp"(TAe Old Curiosity Shop). 
 November 14. pp. 229, 230, and 233. No. IV. " Pecksniff '* 
 {Marti7i Chuzzlewit). November 21. pp. 241, 243, and 245. 
 No. V. "Squeers" {Nicholas NickUhy). November 28. pp. 
 253, 254. No. VI. " Mr. Weller, Sen." {Pickwick). Decem- 
 ber 19. pp. 289, 290. No. VII. "Little Nell" {The Old 
 Curiosity Shop). January 2, 1886. pp. 1, 2. No. VIII. 
 "Mr. Winkle" {Pickivick). January 9. pp. 13, 14, and 23. 
 ^n progress). 
 
510 ADDENDA. 
 
 PLAGIARISTIC, Etc. 
 
 584 
 A Christmas Carol : Being a few scattered staves, 
 from a familiar Composition, re-arranged for per- 
 formance, by a Distinguished Musical Amateur, 
 during the Holiday Season, at H-rw-rd-n. With 
 four illustrations by Harry Furniss. 
 
 London : Punch, or The London Charivari Decem- 
 ber 26, 1885. pp. 304, 305. 
 
 This political adaptation of Dickens's Carol is in five staves. 
 ''Stave I. Bendizzy's Ghost.— Stave II. The First of the Three 
 Spirits.— Stave III. The Second of the Three Spirits.— Stave IV. 
 The Last of the Spirits.— Stave V. The End of It." The 
 illustrations are in imitation of those by Leech in the original 
 story, and represent Gladstone as " Scrooge." 
 
EREATA. 
 
 Page 15, No, 11, for " 175," read " 173." 
 38, /or "233," read "234." 
 70. /or " Stoddart," read " Stoddard." 
 
 103, omit " Samuel Griswold Goodrich." For expla- 
 nation, see Preface, p. xii. 
 
 132 (last line), /or " honour," read "humour." 
 
 311 (last line), /or "favour," read "flavour." 
 
 400 (first line of verse), omit "is." 
 
 418, /or "Elliot," read "Eliot." 
 ,, for " Shepherd," read " Shepard." 
 „ for " 1875, pp. 260," read "1871, pp. 335." 
 
 15, 
 
 No, 
 
 21, 
 
 ,, 
 
 57, 
 
 J5 
 
 81, 
 
 
 90, 
 
 
 281, 
 
 ,, 
 
 344, 
 
 t; 
 
 350, 
 
 
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