The first number came out on January 21, 1846,--a copy in the recent "d.i.c.kens Fellowship Exhibition" (London. 1903) bore the following inscription in Mrs. d.i.c.kens" autograph: "Brought home by Charles at two o"clock in the morning.--Catherine d.i.c.kens. 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 d.i.c.kens 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 circ.u.mstance of contemporary interest to Americans occurred during d.i.c.kens" 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 d.i.c.kens, described as "The Gad"s Hill Gasper," is made umpire.
One of the most famous and interesting portraits of d.i.c.kens 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 d.i.c.kens 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 d.i.c.kens 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 d.i.c.kens"
"bright young men" in a.s.sociation with him in the conduct of _Household Words_ was originally composed of members of the Athenaeum Club, of whom the following knew d.i.c.kens 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 d.i.c.kens: the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava (since died), Lord Brompton, Hamilton Aide, Alfred Austin, Sir Squire Bancroft, Arthur a Beckett, Frances...o...b..rger, Henry Fielding d.i.c.kens, 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 endors.e.m.e.nt of the esteem with which d.i.c.kens was held among his friends and contemporaries was contributed to the special d.i.c.kens" memorial number of _Household Words_ by Frances...o...b..rger, who composed the incidental music which accompanied Wilkie Collins" play, "The Frozen Deep," in which d.i.c.kens himself appeared in 1857:
"I saw a great deal of Charles d.i.c.kens 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 cla.s.ses, and found romance in the lowest ranks of life.
"I regard d.i.c.kens 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 d.i.c.kens well. It may unquestionably be accepted as his greatest eulogy.
None of d.i.c.kens" contemporaries are more remembered and revered than the ill.u.s.trators of his stories. Admitting all that can possibly be said of the types which we have come to recognize as being "d.i.c.kenesque," he would be rash who would affirm that none of their success was due to their pictorial delineation.
d.i.c.kens himself has said that he would have preferred that his stories were not ill.u.s.trated, 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 d.i.c.kens" death, has there ever been a more sympathetic ill.u.s.trator?
The greatest of these was undoubtedly George Cruikshank, whose drawings for "Oliver Twist," the last that he did for d.i.c.kens" writings, were perhaps more in keeping with the spirit of d.i.c.kens" 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 c.o.c.kney sportsmen" was conceived by the senior partner of the firm of Chapman and Hall, and that d.i.c.kens 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" ill.u.s.trations, 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 Hablot K. Browne, known in connection with his work for the d.i.c.kens 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 ill.u.s.trations for the tales, either as etchings or wood-blocks. His familiar signature identifies his work to all who are acquainted with d.i.c.kens. George Cattermole supplied the ill.u.s.trations to "The Old Curiosity Shop" and "Barnaby Rudge." Of these d.i.c.kens 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 ill.u.s.trations 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 p.r.o.nounced 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 ill.u.s.trated 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 ill.u.s.trations to d.i.c.kens"
writings during his lifetime, it is notable that three were "Royal Academicians,"--Stanfield, Maclise, and Landseer,--one an "a.s.sociate of the Royal Academy," and, besides those already mentioned, there were in addition Richard (d.i.c.ky) 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 d.i.c.kens.
In creating the characters of his novels, as is well known, d.i.c.kens 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 d.i.c.kens" 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.
d.i.c.kens 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.
d.i.c.kens 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 ent.i.tled "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 d.i.c.kens" 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 d.i.c.kens, no one perhaps will deny.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 a.s.sociated with the great novelist.
Charles d.i.c.kens 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. d.i.c.kens" 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 d.i.c.kens,"--which an English writer coined many years since,--it may well be indiscriminately applied to d.i.c.kens" 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.
d.i.c.kens" 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 d.i.c.kens, without tending toward mere description. This no one has ever had the temerity to lay to d.i.c.kens" 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 d.i.c.kens, 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.
d.i.c.kens, 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 a.s.sociations and experiences in London. The neighbourhood of Charing Cross will be first called to mind.