gentleman with rather long hair and no neckcloth, who writes and grins as
if he thought he were very funny indeed. His name is Boz.... He is brown
as a berry, and they _do_ say is a small fortune to the innkeeper who
sells beer and cold punch...."
Altogether a unique and impressive pen-portrait, and being from the hand
of one who knew his sitter, should be considered a truthful one.
In 1843 Maclise made that remarkable and winsome pencil sketch of Dickens,
his wife, and her sister Georgina, one of those fleeting impressions
which, for depicting character and sentiment, is worth square yards of
conventional portraiture, and which is reproduced here out of sheer
admiration for its beauty and power as a record _intime_. It has been
rather coarsely referred to in the past as Maclise's sketch of "Dickens
and his pair of petticoats," but we let that pass by virtue of its own
sweeping condemnation,--of its being anything more than a charming and
intimate record of a fleeting period in the novelist's life, too soon to
go--never to return.
Dickens' connection with the _Daily News_ was but of brief duration; true,
his partisans have tried to prove that it was under his leadership that it
was launched upon its career. This is true in a measure,--he was its first
editor,--but his tenure of office only lasted "_three short weeks_."
He was succeeded in the editorial chair by his biographer, Forster.
The first number came out on January 21, 1846,--a copy in the recent
"Dickens Fellowship Exhibition" (London. 1903) bore the following
inscription in Mrs. Dickens' autograph: "Brought home by Charles at two
o'clock in the morning.--Catherine Dickens. January 21." Thus it is that
each issue of a great newspaper is born, or made, though the use of the
midnight oil which was burned on this occasion was no novelty to Charles
Dickens himself. The issue in question contained the first of a series of
"Travelling Sketches--Written on the Road," which were afterward published
in book form as "Pictures from Italy."
A unique circumstance of contemporary interest to Americans occurred
during Dickens' second visit to America (1868) in "The Great International
Walking Match." A London bookseller at the present time (1903) has in his
possession the original agreement between George Dolby (British subject),
_alias_ "The Man of Ross," and James Ripley Osgood, _alias_ "The Boston
Bantam," wherein Charles Dickens, described as "The Gad's Hill Gasper," is
made umpire.
One of the most famous and interesting portraits of Dickens was that made
in pencil by Sir John Millais, A. R. A., in 1870. This was the last
presentment of the novelist, in fact, a posthumous portrait, and its
reproduction was for a long time not permitted. The original hangs in the
parlour of "The Leather Bottle," at Cobham, given to the present
proprietor by the Rev. A. H. Berger, M. A., Vicar of Cobham. Among other
famous portraits of Dickens were those by Ary Scheffer, 1856; a miniature
on ivory by Mrs. Barrow, 1830; a pencil study by "Phiz," 1837; a chalk
drawing by Samuel Lawrence, 1838; "The Captain Boabdil" portrait by
Leslie, 1846; an oil portrait by W. P. Frith, R. A., 1859; a pastel
portrait by J. G. Gersterhauer, 1861; and a chalk drawing by E. G. Lewis,
1869. This list forms a chronology of the more important items of Dickens
portraiture from the earliest to that taken after his death, subsequent
to which was made a plaster cast, from which Thomas Woolner, R. A.,
modelled the bust portrait.
The "Boz Club," founded in 1899 by Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, one of Dickens'
"bright young men" in association with him in the conduct of _Household
Words_ was originally composed of members of the Athenæum Club, of whom
the following knew Dickens personally, Lord James of Hereford, Mr. Marcus
Stone, R. A., and Mr. Luke Fildes, R. A., who, with others, foregathered
for the purpose of dining together and keeping green the memory of the
novelist.
Its membership has since been extended to embrace the following gentlemen,
who also had the pleasure and gratification of acquaintanceship with
Dickens: the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava (since died), Lord Brompton,
Hamilton Aide, Alfred Austin, Sir Squire Bancroft, Arthur à Beckett,
Francesco Berger, Henry Fielding Dickens, K. C., Edward Dicy, C. B., W. P.
Frith, R. A., William Farrow, Otto Goldschmidt, John Hollingshead, the
Very Reverend Dean Hole, Sir Henry Irving, Frederick A. Inderwick, K. C.,
Sir Herbert Jerningham, K. C., M. G., Charles Kent, Fred'k G. Kitton, Moy
Thomas, Right Honourable Sir Arthur Otway, Bart., Joseph C. Parkinson,
George Storey, A. R. A., J. Ashby Sterry, and Right Honourable Sir H.
Drummond Wolfe.
Perhaps the most whole-souled endorsement of the esteem with which Dickens
was held among his friends and contemporaries was contributed to the
special Dickens' memorial number of _Household Words_ by Francesco Berger,
who composed the incidental music which accompanied Wilkie Collins' play,
"The Frozen Deep," in which Dickens himself appeared in 1857:
"I saw a great deal of Charles Dickens personally for many years. He was
always most genial and most hearty, a man whose friendship was of the
warmest possible character, and who put his whole soul into every pursuit.
He was most generous, and his household was conducted on a very liberal
scale.
"I consider that, if not the first, he was among the first, who went out
of the highways into the byways to discover virtue and merit of every kind
among the lower classes, and found romance in the lowest ranks of life.
"I regard Dickens as the greatest social reformer in England I have ever
known outside politics. His works have tended to revolutionize for the
better our law courts, our prisons, our hospitals, our schools, our
workhouses, our government offices, etc.
"He was a fearless exposer of cant in every direction,--religious, social,
and political."
Such was the broad-gauge estimate of one who knew Dickens well. It may
unquestionably be accepted as his greatest eulogy.
None of Dickens' contemporaries are more remembered and revered than the
illustrators of his stories. Admitting all that can possibly be said of
the types which we have come to recognize as being "Dickenesque," he would
be rash who would affirm that none of their success was due to their
pictorial delineation.
Dickens himself has said that he would have preferred that his stories
were not illustrated, but, on the other hand, he had more than usual
concern with regard thereto when the characters were taking form under the
pencils of Seymour, Cruikshank, or "Phiz," or even the later Barnard, than
whom, since Dickens' death, has there ever been a more sympathetic
illustrator?
The greatest of these was undoubtedly George Cruikshank, whose drawings
for "Oliver Twist," the last that he did for Dickens' writings, were
perhaps more in keeping with the spirit of Dickens' text than was the work
of any of the others, not excepting the immortal character of Pickwick,
which conception is accredited to Seymour, who unfortunately died before
he had completed the quartette of drawings for the second number of the
serial.
In this same connection it is recalled that the idea of recounting the
adventures of a "club of Cockney sportsmen" was conceived by the senior
partner of the firm of Chapman and Hall, and that Dickens was only thought
of at first as being the possible author, in connection, among others,
with Leigh Hunt and Theodore Hook.
On the death of Seymour, one R. W. Buss, a draughtsman on wood, was
commissioned to continue the "Pickwick" illustrations, and he actually
made two etchings, which, in the later issues, were suppressed.
"Crowquill," Leech, and Thackeray all hoped to fill the vacancy, but the
fortunate applicant was Hablôt K. Browne, known in connection with his
work for the Dickens stories as "Phiz." This _nom de plume_ was supposed
to have been adopted in order to harmonize with "Boz."
"Phiz" in time became known as the artist-in-chief, and he it was who made
the majority of illustrations for the tales, either as etchings or
wood-blocks. His familiar signature identifies his work to all who are
acquainted with Dickens. George Cattermole supplied the illustrations to
"The Old Curiosity Shop" and "Barnaby Rudge." Of these Dickens has said
"that it was the very first time that any of the designs for which he had
written had touched him." Marcus Stone, R. A., provided the pictures for
"Our Mutual Friend."
John Leech, of _Punch_ fame, in one of his illustrations to "The Battle of
Life," one of the shorter pieces, made the mistake of introducing a wrong
character into one of the drawings, and a still more pronounced error was
in the Captain Cuttle plates, where the iron hook appears first on the
left and then on the right arm of the subject.
Leech illustrated the "Christmas Carol" complete, including the coloured
plates, and shared in contributing to the other Yule-tide stories.
Of the leading artists who contributed the illustrations to Dickens'
writings during his lifetime, it is notable that three were "Royal
Academicians,"--Stanfield, Maclise, and Landseer,--one an "Associate of
the Royal Academy," and, besides those already mentioned, there were in
addition Richard (Dicky) Doyle, John Leech, and (now Sir) John Tenniel,
Luke Fildes, and Sir Edwin Landseer, who did one drawing only, that for
"Boxer," the carrier-dog, in "The Cricket on the Hearth." Onwyn,
Crowquill, Sibson, Kenney Meadows, and F. W. Pailthorpe complete the list
of those artists best known as contemporary with Dickens.
In creating the characters of his novels, as is well known, Dickens often
drew upon his friends and acquaintances as models, and seldom did these
effigies give offence. On one occasion the reverse was the case, as in
"Bleak House," which was issued in 1857. Boythorne, who was drawn from his
friend Landor, and Skimpole, from Leigh Hunt, were presumably so pertinent
caricatures of the originals that they were subsequently modified in
consequence.
Another incident of more than unusual importance, though not strictly
dealing with any of Dickens' contemporaries, is a significant incident
relating to the living worth of his work. It is related that when Bismarck
and Jules Favre met under the walls of Paris, the former waiting to open
fire upon the city, the latter was seen to be busily engrossed, quite
oblivious of the situation, devouring "Little Dorrit." The story may be
taken for what it appears to be worth; it is doubtful if it could be
authenticated, but it serves to indicate the wide-spread and absorbing
interest of the novels, and serves again to indicate that the power of the
novel in general is one that will relax the faculties and provide the
stimulus which an active brain often fails to find otherwise.
Dickens had dedicated to Carlyle "Hard Times," which appeared as early as
1854, and paid a still further tribute to the Scotch genius when, in 1859,
he had begun "A Tale of Two Cities."
In it he hoped to add something to the popular and picturesque means of
understanding the terrible time of the French Revolution; "though no one,"
he said, "could hope to add anything to the philosophy of Carlyle's
wonderful book." To-day it is one of the most popular and most read of all
his works.
Dickens died on the 9th of June, 1870, leaving "Edwin Drood" unfinished.
What he had written of it appeared in the usual green paper parts and
afterward in volume form. In October, 1871, a continuation entitled "John
Jasper's Secret" began to appear, and occupied eight monthly parts,
produced uniformly with "Drood;" and recently a gentleman in Holland sent
the publishers--Messrs. Chapman and Hall--a completion written by himself.
There were other attempts of this nature, but Dickens' book must always
remain as he left it.
That a reference to the "Poets' Corner" in Westminster Abbey might
properly be included in a section of this book devoted to the
contemporaries of Charles Dickens, no one perhaps will deny.
[Illustration: PLAN OF "THE POETS' CORNER".]
It seems fitting, at least, that it should be mentioned here rather than
elsewhere, in that the work does not pretend to be a categorical guide to
even the more important sights of London, but merely that it makes mention
of those sights and scenes, places and peoples, more or less intimately
associated with the great novelist.
Charles Dickens was buried in Westminster Abbey on the 14th June, 1870,
since which time various other graves have been made, Browning and
Tennyson notably, and monuments and memorials put into place of Longfellow
and Ruskin.
The Poets' Corner occupies about half of the south transept of Westminster
Abbey. This famous place for the busts and monuments of eminent men
includes those of Chaucer, Spencer, Shakespeare, Drayton, Ben Jonson,
Milton, Butler, Davenant, Cowley, Dryden, Prior, Rowe, Gay, Addison,
Thomson, Goldsmith, Gray, Mason, Sheridan, Southey, Campbell, etc. Lord
Macaulay and Lord Palmerston were buried here in 1860 and 1865. Thackeray
is not buried here, but at Kensal Green, though his bust is placed next to
the statue of Joseph Addison. Dickens' grave is situated at the foot of
the coffin of Handel, and at the head of the coffin of R. B. Sheridan.
More recently, Doctor Livingstone, the celebrated African traveller, was
buried here. Near to England's great humourist, toward his feet, lie
Doctor Johnson and Garrick, while near them lies Thomas Campbell.
Shakespeare's monument is not far from the foot of the grave. Goldsmith's
is on the left.
THE LOCALE OF THE NOVELS
If one may make legitimate use of the term, "the topography of
Dickens,"--which an English writer coined many years since,--it may well
be indiscriminately applied to Dickens' own life and that of the
characters of his stories as well.
The subject has ever been a favourite one which has cropped up from time
to time in the "bitty" literature of the last quarter of a century.
To treat it exhaustively would be impossible; the changes and progress of
the times will not permit of this. Nothing would be final, and new shadows
would constantly be thrown upon the screen.
Dickens' observation, as is well known, was most keen, but he mostly saw
only those things which, in some degree, actually existed,--towns,
villages, streets, localities, and public and private houses. Not an
unusual method of procedure for many an author of repute, but few have had
the finesse to lay on local colour to the extent used by Dickens, without
tending toward mere description. This no one has ever had the temerity to
lay to Dickens' door.
Mention can be made herein of but a few of the localities, many of which
had existed to very near the present day.
To enumerate or to even attempt to trace them all would be practically
impossible, but enough has been authenticated to indicate a more
substantial reality than is found in the work of any other modern English
author.
If one is so minded, he can start out from the very hotel,--"The Golden
Cross" at Charing Cross,--from which Pickwick and Jingle started on their
coach ride to Rochester, and where Copperfield and Steerforth also stayed.
The "dark arches of the Adelphi," the Temple, and Fountain Court, remain
much as of yore.
Fleet Street was well known to Dickens, and has changed but little, and
Lincoln's Inn Fields, Bloomsbury, and many other localities have in
reality changed not at all in their relation to their environment. In
matters of detail they have, of course, in many instances undergone a
certain remoulding, which is no greater perhaps than the usual liberties
taken by the average author.
Dickens, in the main, changed the surroundings of his scenes--which he
may have given another name--but little.
"Copperfield" is redolent of his own early associations and experiences in
London. The neighbourhood of Charing Cross will be first called to mind.
Hungerford Market and Hungerford Bridge (as the present Charing Cross
Railway Bridge is often called by the old resident), and the "Adelphi,"
with its gruesome arches beneath, all give more than a suggestion of the
sights and scenes which met Dickens' own eye when his personality was
closely associated therewith.
Hence, regardless of whether it is biography or pure fiction, there are
to-day substantial reminders throughout London, not only of his life but
of the very scenes associated with the characters of his novels. More
particularly in the early novels, "Pickwick," "Nickleby," and
"Copperfield," are their topographical features to be most readily
recognized, because, in the first place, they are, presumably, the more
familiar; and secondly, because they are more vividly recalled.
It is a fact, however, that in Dickens' sketches and tales, and in many of
his minor works, as, for instance, in the pages of "Master Humphrey's
Clock," there are passages especially concerning persons and places in
London, which to-day have, as then, a stern reality, referring to such
familiar spots as the site of the Marshalsea Prison, or "The Old White
Horse," or Peggotty's Yarmouth home.
Reality or imagination,--it's all the same,--Dickens drew in his pictures,
after a veritable fashion, this too, in spite of the precedent of a former
generation of authors, who had for ages, one may say centuries, tilled the
field over and over. But it was not until Dickens "arrived" that the
reading world in general, and wherever found, acquired that nodding
acquaintance with London which has since so redounded to this author's
reputation. No such acquaintance was previously to be had with the
contemporary London life of the middle and lower classes, if one may be
pardoned for expressing it thus confidently.
The marvel is that some ardent spirit has not before now compiled an
out-and-out Dickens guide-book. One writer, at least, is recalled who is
competent to do it, and he, be it said, is an American, Doctor Benjamin S.
Martin, who many years ago contributed to an American monthly publication
a series of illuminating articles on what might with propriety be called
the local colour of Dickens. These were the forerunners and foster-parents
of most of the "scrappy" articles of a similar purport which appear
intermittently in the English and American periodical press.
The references and descriptions of certain of the localities connected
with the novels which follow are given without attempt at classification
or chronological arrangement. No other plan appears possible, where only a
selection can be given. As before said, the limitations of the bulk of
this book preclude a more extensive résumé.
The following references will be found to be fully classified in the index
which accompanies the book, and will perhaps prove suggestive, at least,
of further research on the part of the individual reader.
Further west, beyond Westminster and the Parliament Houses, is Millbank,
where is Church Street, running from the river to St. John's Church,
Westminster, that atrociously ill-mannered church of Queen Anne's day,
built it is said on the lines of a footstool overturned in one of that
lady's fits of petulant wrath. Down Church Street ran Martha, followed by
Copperfield and Peggotty, bent on suicide.
Not the slum it was when described by Dickens, it is to-day a sufficiently
"mean street" to be suggestive.
Here too, was Jenny Wren's house, on the left going toward the church in
Smith Square.
Vauxhall Bridge, also reminiscent of Dickens, is near by, though the
structure which formerly graced the site has given way to a temporary
ungainly thing, which is neither beautiful to look upon nor suitable to
its purpose.
In the neighbourhood of Charing Cross, on Craven Street, at No. 8, is
still the door-knocker which so looked, to Scrooge, like a human face.
In Chandos Street, till within the last eight or ten years, were two
old-time shops, to which Warren's Blacking Factory removed before the boy
Dickens left their employ.
In Chandos Street, too, were the "pudding-shop" and "à la mode beef-shop,"
of which Dickens made such emphatic mention to his biographer, Forster.
At the corner of Parliament Street and Whitehall, in Westminster, was,
until the beginning of the twentieth century, the "Old Red Lion" public
house, which calls to mind the episode of "the very best stunning ale" in
"Copperfield," but which is reputedly attributed as actually happening to
Dickens himself.
Chancery Lane is largely identified with the story of "Bleak House." The
garden of Lincoln's Inn was fondly referred to by little Miss Flite as
"her garden." Law offices, stationers' shops, and eating-houses abound in
the purlieus of Chancery Lane, which, though having undergone considerable
change in the last quarter-century, has still, in addition to the majesty
which is supposed to surround the law, something of those "disowned
relations of the law and hangers-on" of which Dickens wrote.
[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF JOHN FORSTER, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.]
In this immediate neighbourhood--in Lincoln's Inn Fields--was Mr.
Tulkinghorn's house, of which an illustration is here given, and which is
still standing (1903). This house, which is readily found,--it is still
No. 58,--is now given over to lawyers' offices, though formerly it was the
residence of Dickens' biographer, Forster, where Dickens gave what was
practically the first of his semi-public readings, on the occasion when he
came from Italy especially to read the "Christmas story," "The Chimes," to
a few favoured friends.
Hard by, just off the southwestern corner of the square, is the apocryphal
"Old Curiosity Shop," a notable literary shrine, as is mentioned
elsewhere, but not the original of the novel which bears the same name, as
Dickens himself has said.
The "Clare Market," an unsavoury locality which had somewhat to do with
"Pickwick," was near by, but has practically disappeared from view in a
virtuous clearing-up process which has recently been undertaken.
In Portugal Street, leading into Lincoln's Inn Fields, was Mr. Solomon's
headquarters; while further east, toward the city, we find the "George and
Vulture," mentioned in "Pickwick," existing to-day as "a very good
old-fashioned and comfortable house." Its present nomenclature is "Thomas'
Chop-House," and he who would partake of the "real thing" in good old
English fare, served on pewter plates, with the brightest of steel knives
and forks, could hardly fare better than in this ancient house in St.
Michael's Alley.
By one of those popular and ofttimes sentimental conclusions, "poor Jo's
crossing" has been located as being on Holborn, near where Chancery Lane
comes into that thoroughfare.
This may like enough be so, but as all crossings are much alike, and all
sweepers of that impoverished class which we recognize in the description
of "Jo" (now luckily disappearing), it would seem a somewhat doubtful
accomplishment in attempting to place such a spot definitely.
Mrs. Jellyby lived in Thavie's Inn,--"Only 'round the corner" from
Chancery Lane, said Guppy,--one of the seven inns allied with the four
great Inns of Court, all of which had a particular sentiment for Dickens,
both in his writings and his life. In fact, he began with "Pickwick" to
introduce these "curious little nooks" and "queer old places." Indeed, he
lived in Furnival's Inn when first married, and there wrote the most of
the "Boz" sketches as well as "Pickwick."
Clifford's Inn, too, now on the eve of departure, is also a reminder of
"Pickwick." One, "a tenant of a 'top set,' was a bad character--shut
himself in his bedroom closet and took a dose of arsenic," as is told in
"Pickwick," Chapter XXI.
To "Mr. Perker's chambers," in Gray's Inn,--which still endures as one of
the four great Inns of Court,--went Mr. Pickwick one afternoon, to find no
one at home but the laundress. In Holborn Court, in Gray's Inn, lived also
Traddles and his bride.
Pip was quartered in Barnard's Inn, called by him a "dingy collection of
shabby buildings."