At the beginning of the year Charles Dickens was still living in
Paris--Rue de Courcelles. His stay was cut shorter than he intended it
to have been, by the illness from scarlet fever of his eldest son, who
was at school in London. Consequent upon this, he and his wife went to
London at the end of February, taking up their abode at the Victoria
Hotel, Euston Square, the Devonshire Terrace house being still occupied
by its tenant, Sir James Duke, and the sick boy under the care of his
grandmother, Mrs. Hogarth, in Albany Street. The children, with their
aunt, remained in Paris, until a temporary house had been taken for the
family in Chester Place, Regent's Park; and Roche was then sent back to
take _all_ home. In Chester Place another son was born--Sydney Smith
Haldimand--his godfathers being Mr. Haldimand, of Lausanne, and Mr. H.
P. Smith, of the Eagle Life Assurance office. He was christened at the
same time as a daughter of Mr. Macready's, and the letters to Mr. Smith
have reference to the postponement of the christening on Mr. Smith's
account. In May, Charles Dickens had lodgings in Brighton for some
weeks, for the recovery of Mrs. Dickens's health; going there first with
his wife and sister-in-law and the eldest boy--now recovered from his
fever--and being joined at the latter part of the time by his two little
daughters, to whom there are some letters among those which follow
here. He removed earlier than usual this summer to Broadstairs, which
remained his head-quarters until October, with intervals of absence for
amateur theatrical tours (which Mr. Forster calls "splendid strolling"),
in which he was usually accompanied by his wife and sister-in-law.
Several new recruits had been added to the theatrical company, from
among distinguished literary men and artists, and it now included,
besides those previously named, Mr. George Cruikshank, Mr. George Henry
Lewes, and Mr. Augustus Egg; the supreme management and arrangement of
everything being always left to Charles Dickens. "Every Man in his
Humour" and farces were again played at Manchester and Liverpool, for
the benefit of Mr. Leigh Hunt, and the dramatic author, Mr. John Poole.
By the end of the Broadstairs holiday, the house in Devonshire Terrace
was vacant, and the family returned to it in October. All this year
Charles Dickens had been at work upon the monthly numbers of "Dombey and
Son," in spite of these many interruptions. He began at Broadstairs a
Christmas book. But he found that the engrossing interest of his novel
approaching completion made it impossible for him to finish the other
work in time. So he decided to let this Christmas pass without a story,
and postponed the publication of "The Haunted Man" until the following
year.
At the close of the year he went to Leeds, to take the chair at a
meeting of the Mechanics' Institute, and on the 28th December he
presided at the opening of the Glasgow Athenaeum; he and his wife being
the guests of the historian--_then_ Mr. Sheriff, afterwards Sir
Archibald Alison. From a letter to his sister-in-law, written from
Edinburgh, it will be seen that Mrs. Dickens was prevented by sudden
illness from being present at the "demonstration." At the end of that
letter there is another illustration of the odd names he was in the
habit of giving to his children, the last of the three, the "Hoshen
Peck," being a corruption of "Ocean Spectre"--a name which had,
afterwards, a sad significance, as the boy (Sydney Smith) became a
sailor, and died and was buried at sea two years after his father's
death.
The letters in this year need very little explanation. In the first
letter to Mrs. Watson, he alludes to a sketch which she had made from
"The Battle of Life," and had sent to Charles Dickens, as a remembrance,
when her husband paid a short visit to Paris in this winter.
And there are two letters to Miss Marguerite Power, the niece of the
Countess of Blessington--a lady for whom he had then, and until her
death, a most affectionate friendship and respect, for the sake of her
own admirable qualities, and in remembrance of her delightful
association with Gore House, where he was a frequent visitor. For Lady
Blessington he had a high admiration and great regard, and she was one
of his earliest appreciators; and Alfred, Comte D'Orsay, was also a
much-loved friend. His "own marchioness," alluded to in the second
letter to Miss Power, was the younger and very charming sister of his
correspondent.
We much regret having been unable to procure any letters addressed to
Mr. Egg. His intimacy with him began first in the plays of this year;
but he became, almost immediately, one of the friends for whom he had an
especial affection; and Mr. Egg was a regular visitor at his house and
at his seaside places of resort for many years after this date.
The letter to Mr. William Sandys has reference to an intention which
Charles Dickens _had_ entertained, of laying the scene of a story in
Cornwall; Mr. Sandys, himself a Cornishman, having proposed to send him
some books to help him as to the dialect.
[Sidenote: The Hon. Mrs. Watson.]