The summer of this year was also spent at Boulogne, M. Beaucourt being
again the landlord; but the house, though still on the same "property,"
stood on the top of the hill, above the Moulineaux, and was called the
Villa du Camp de Droite.
In the early part of the year Charles Dickens paid several visits to the
English provinces, giving readings from his books at many of the large
manufacturing towns, and always for some good and charitable purpose.
He was still at work upon "Hard Times," which was finished during the
summer, and was constantly occupied with "Household Words." Many of our
letters for this year are to the contributors to this journal. The last
is an unusually interesting one. He had for some time past been much
charmed with the writings of a certain Miss Berwick, who, he knew, to be
a contributor under a feigned name. When at last the lady confided her
real name, and he discovered in the young poetess the daughter of his
dear friends, Mr.[16] and Mrs. Procter, the "new sensation" caused him
intense surprise, and the greatest pleasure and delight. Miss Adelaide
Procter was, from this time, a frequent contributor to "Household
Words," more especially to the Christmas numbers.
There are really very few letters in this year requiring any explanation
from us--many explaining themselves, and many having allusion to
incidents in the past year, which have been duly noted by us for 1853.
The portrait mentioned in the letter to Mr. Collins, for which he was
sitting to Mr. E. M. Ward, R.A., was to be one of a series of oil
sketches of the then celebrated literary men of the day, in their
studies. We believe this portrait to be now in the possession of Mrs.
Ward.
In explanation of the letter to Mr. John Saunders on the subject of the
production of the latter's play, called "Love's Martyrdom," we will
give the dramatist's own words:
"Having printed for private circulation a play
entitled 'Love's Martyrdom,' and for which I
desired to obtain the independent judgment of
some of our most eminent literary men, before
seeking the ordeal of the stage, I sent a copy
to Mr. Dickens, and the letter in question is
his acknowledgment.
* * * * *
"He immediately took steps for the introduction
of the play to the theatre. At first he
arranged with Mr. Phelps, of Sadler's Wells,
but subsequently, with that gentleman's
consent, removed it to the Haymarket. There it
was played with Miss Helen Faucit in the
character of Margaret, Miss Swanborough (who
shortly after married and left the stage) as
Julia, Mr. Barry Sullivan as Franklyn, and Mr.
Howe as Laneham.
"As far as the play itself was concerned, it
was received on all sides as a genuine dramatic
and poetic success, achieved, however, as an
eminent critic came to my box to say, through
greater difficulties than he had ever before
seen a dramatic work pass through. The time has
not come for me to speak freely of these, but I
may point to two of them: the first being the
inadequate rehearsals, which caused Mr. Dickens
to tell me on the stage, four or five days only
before the first performance, that the play was
not then in as good a state as it would have
been in at Paris three weeks earlier. The other
was the breakdown of the performer of a most
important secondary part; a collapse so
absolute that he was changed by the management
before the second representation of the piece."
This ill-luck of the beginning, pursued the play to its close.
"The Haymarket Theatre was at the time in the
very lowest state of prostration, through the
Crimean War; the habitual frequenters were
lovers of comedy, and enjoyers of farce and
burlesque; and there was neither the money nor
the faith to call to the theatre by the usual
methods, vigorously and discriminatingly
pursued, the multitudes that I believed could
have been so called to a better and more
romantic class of comedy.
"Even under these and other, similarly
depressing circumstances, the nightly receipts
were about L60, the expenses being L80; and on
the last--an author's--night, there was an
excellent and enthusiastic house, yielding, to
the best of my recollection, about L140, but
certainly between L120 and L140. And with that
night--the sixth or seventh--the experiment
ended."
[Sidenote: Mr. Walter Savage Landor.]