In February this year, Charles Dickens made a short bachelor excursion
with Mr. Leech and the Hon. Spencer Lyttelton to Paris, from whence we
give a letter to his wife. She was at this time in very bad health, and
the little infant Dora had a serious illness during the winter. The
child rallied for the time, but Mrs. Dickens continued so ill that she
was advised to try the air--and water--of Malvern. And early in March,
she and her sister were established in lodgings there, the children
being left in London, and Charles Dickens dividing his time between
Devonshire Terrace and Malvern. He was busily occupied before this time
in superintending the arrangements for Mr. Macready's last appearance on
the stage at Drury Lane, and for a great dinner which was given to Mr.
Macready after it on the 1st March, at which the chair was taken by Sir
Edward Bulwer Lytton. With him Charles Dickens was then engaged in
maturing a scheme, which had been projected at the time of the amateur
play at Knebworth, of a Guild of Literature and Art, which was to found
a provident fund for literary men and artists; and to start which, a
series of dramatic performances by the amateur company was proposed. Sir
E. B. Lytton wrote a comedy, "Not so Bad as We Seem," for the purpose,
to be played in London and the provinces; and the Duke of Devonshire
turned one of the splendid rooms in Devonshire House into a theatre, for
the first occasion of its performance. It was played early in May before
her Majesty and the Prince Consort, and a large audience. Later in the
season, there were several representations of the comedy (with a farce,
"Mr. Nightingale's Diary," written by Charles Dickens for himself and
Mr. Mark Lemon) in the Hanover Square Rooms.
But in the interval between the Macready banquet and the play at
Devonshire House, Charles Dickens underwent great family trouble and
sorrow. His father, whose health had been declining for some time,
became seriously ill, and Charles Dickens was summoned from Malvern to
attend upon him. Mr. John Dickens died on the 31st March. On the 14th
April, Charles Dickens had gone from Malvern to preside at the annual
dinner of the General Theatrical Fund, and found his children all well
at Devonshire Terrace. He was playing with his baby, Dora, before he
went to the dinner; soon after he left the house the child died suddenly
in her nurse's arms. The sad news was communicated to the father after
his duties at the dinner were over. The next day, Mr. Forster went to
Malvern to break the news to Mrs. Dickens, and she and her sister
returned with him to London, and the Malvern lodgings were given up. But
Mrs. Dickens being still out of health, and London being more than
usually full (this being the year of the Great Exhibition), Charles
Dickens decided to let the town house again for a few months, and
engaged the Fort House, Broadstairs, from the beginning of May until
November. This, which was his longest sojourn at Broadstairs, was also
the last, as the following summer he changed his seaside resort, and
never returned to that pretty little watering-place, although he always
retained an affectionate interest in it.
The lease of the Devonshire Terrace house was to expire this year. It was
now too small for his family, so he could not renew it, although he left
it with regret. From the beginning of the year, he had been in negotiation
for a house in Tavistock Square, in which his friend Mr. Frank Stone had
lived for some years. Many letters which follow are on the subject of this
house and the improvements Charles Dickens made in it. His brother-in-law,
Henry Austin--himself an architect--superintended the "works" at Tavistock
House, as he did afterwards those at Gad's Hill--and there are many
characteristic letters to Mr. Austin while these works were in progress.
In the autumn, as a letter written in August to Mr. Stone will show, an
exchange of houses was made--Mr. Stone removing with his family to
Devonshire Terrace until his own new house was ready--while the
alterations in Tavistock House went on, and Charles Dickens removed into
it from Broadstairs, in November.
His eldest son was now an Eton boy. He had been one of the party and
had played a small part in the play at Rockingham Castle, in the
Christmas holidays, and his father's letters to Mrs. Watson at the
beginning of this year have reference to this play.
This year he wrote and published the "Haunted Man," which he had found
himself unable to finish for the previous Christmas. It was the last of
the Christmas _books_. He abandoned them in favour of a Christmas number
of "Household Words," which he continued annually for many years in
"Household Words" and "All the Year Round," and in which he had the
collaboration of other writers. The "Haunted Man" was dramatised and
produced at the Adelphi Theatre, under the management of Mr. Benjamin
Webster. Charles Dickens read the book himself, at Tavistock House, to a
party of actors and actresses.
At the end of the year he wrote the first number of "Bleak House,"
although it was not published until March of the following year. With
the close attention and the hard work he gave, from the time of its
starting, to his weekly periodical, he found it to be most desirable,
now, in beginning a new monthly serial, that he should be ready with
some numbers in advance before the appearance of the first number.
A provincial tour for the "Guild" took place at the end of the year. A
letter to his wife, from Clifton, in November, gives a notion of the
general success and enthusiasm with which the plays were attended. The
"new Hardman," to whom he alludes as taking that part in Sir E. B.
Lytton's comedy in the place of Mr. Forster, was Mr. John Tenniel, who
was a new addition, and a very valuable and pleasant one, to the
company. Mr. Topham, the delightful water-colour painter, Mr. Dudley
Costello, and Mr. Wilkie Collins were also new recruits to the company
of "splendid strollers" about this time. A letter to Mr. Wills, asking
him to take a part in the comedy, is given here. He never did _act_ with
the company, but he complied with Charles Dickens's desire that he
should be "in the scheme" by giving it all sorts of assistance, and
almost invariably being one of the party in the provincial tours.
[Sidenote: The Hon. Mrs. Watson.]