The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-11 00:00:00

NO THOROUGHFARE.

The Christmas Number of All the Year Round. 13Y

Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins.
A story of absorbing interest has been penned
conjointly by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collie:'
as the extra Christmas double number of 411 t*6
Year Round. It is not only a story of absorbing
interest, but one remarkable for the extraordilorl
art evidenced in its dramatic construction. Its e 4;
cellence in this particular is in fact so remarke"
that we cannot wonder in the least that its adaPt%
tion to the stage in a dramatised version of it viesde
matter decided upon before the original tale made
its appearance—the play founded upon it having,,,
point of fact betn mapped out with admiasilf:
dexterity by the hand of Charles Dickens hilnee,
who did it, so to speak, " at a heat" just ienediste,l
before he took his departure for America, and 1131:
ing been since then turned into dialogue by his
laborateur Wilkie Collins, for the now fast °P:
proaching Christmas piece at the Theatre Sole'
Adelphi, where Mr. Fechter has happily been re
tamed by Mr. Webster for the impersonatioe f
the hero of the narrative. One thrillingly bresthießs
incident there is in the printed narrative, and, agit
matter of course, in the dramatic version awe
—an incident, to the pathetic beauty of which be
may rest assured, the fullest possible justice vinl
done, no less by the pencil of Mr. Greive (the see;
painter who has been specially reserved for the e,
casion) than by the plaintive accents, the Plc
turesque attitudes, the whole appearance, in -act by
the lover-hero of the drama as impersonated „,
Mr. Fechter. Reverting, however, from these 8:0
ticipatory allusions to " No Thoroughfare" 06
acting drama, and considering it purely and sole 11
33,
in its present point of view as the Christmas 1311:56
ber for 1867 of All the Year Round, we recogn,lo
in it one or two peculiarities of a very notice
kind, distinguishing it from among all its nomec
predecessors—that is among all the Christmas 111/:„-D
hers of Mr. Dickens's weekly serial publicato;
whether during the period of its first phase ullnd
the name of Household Words, or during its seliess
epoch as a periodical under the name of the n°
it bse
popular All the Year Round. Firstly, thee,
this distinctive peculiarity about it—that unlike d
the other Christmas numbers in that long
rearm
brilliant series—the present one, the Cliris,,ho
number for 1867, entitled " No Thoroughfare, 0,
been penned not by a group of story tellers, Intbat
tialled by the greatest Christmas Story TelleLod,
ever breathed, but almost entirely by his own 'ex
aided, here and there, by the hand of that, tel
thralling raconteur, who once upon a time re,°oo
the history of " The Woman in White," and o
several years ago in association (then) with Chletotir
Dickens made one in a certain laughter-reeving 0.
of Two Idle Apprentices, the record of whose to
derings together we have often since lonCheit
see reprinted in some form or another. tol
association, then, as joint narrators—in a rowed
prose Beaumont and Fletcher partnership-411°Apci
how thoroughly well they could work together. ;le
now again they have demonstrated that agree 0e
fact in these thirteen chapters, or rather in 'bole
four acts subdivided into a dozen scenes, thew led
preceded by an Overture under the whimsical 020,
"No Thoroughfare." As affording a rapid gliultbe
of the synopsis or syllabus of the prelection (for ere
tale would read admirably) the contents wall re.
be very appropriately summarised. Act the
veals itself to us sectionally, as we may sal-then
manner following :—" The Curtain Rises"rrbe
" Enter the Housekeeper" afterwards, {Do
Housekeeper Speaks"—" New Characters on
0 Scene"—" Exit Wilding." Act 11. and Act 01
each comprises within it no more than a couple
scenes or situations—in the former "
Makes Love," and afterwards " Makes MisehLa,,p
in the latter, that is in Act 111., we are first coo
the Valley," and then (this being the great 500
already alluded to, as certain to create a seva:iglit
when actually brought to view within our the
and hearing on the boards of the Adelphi) "
Clod`
Mountain !" Lastly, in Act IV., we have the tiori
Lock" revealed to us—we have then the Part.ciez of
of " Obenreizer's Victory," and, finally, the "tori
the Curtain. In regard to the plot of the ea oee
—a plot of singular ingenuity by the way, and the
intensely original of its kind—we have 00 tell
smallest intention in the world here of plaYing to
tale. The mystery of it we shall give no keel to
whatever. We don't, in the least, clesikr tbo
supply, in this place, any clue throtignool
intricate windings of this curiously that
labyrinth. Enough for our purpose if we saidoao
the scene—opening in the streets of London'
Bloomsbury way, bard by the Foundling 0°44 of
in fact—after carrying the reader into the heawitli
the City, and familiarising him incidental-if 00
one of the Soho interiors, changes, 1:4°40
close of the narrative, to the wild and des the
solitudes of the Alpine mountains, trodden viord,
sandalled feet of the monks of St. 13eroble
and haunted no less notably by those Pate
four-footed companions of theirs, who Partileit
so directly (mere dogs though they are) ialt,ricii•
sublime and beneficent labours. It may seenl.l_ frol°
ous to say so, but for no reason can we refrain
are
here at once remarking that in " No Therongia Oct
there is discoverable neither a Dr. Marigold pe
tol
a Mrs. Lirriper. But then Mrs. Lirriper o
Marigold are creatures that gladden the goad
readers just once in a generation, we had cr
said just once in a life-time, or in a century lost'
theless, though taking rank in no resPeeLis /JO'
ever with those two famous originals, tnivettlif
Christmas story has creations of its own, VI,. 00
of note. There is poor Sally, to begin with, t 'eel 0
from the Foundling, who is delineated hi Ine
touch or two, but those the touches of a trtl,..,oofi
ter of his art as a portrayer of character ter%
humble, gentle-hearted Sally, who is own sia.tosaci'
we may say, to that harmless, scatter-brained I,ol°
ant of Little Dorrit's, Maggy, who doats 11011,,e titi°
Dorrit, almost as a superior being, under tPtierito
of Little Mother. Then there is Mall eag
Gev ,
the heroine of the tale, and her lover,
raittioo
Vendale, the wine-merchant, and the 01001°
Obenreizer, Marguerite's Guardian, and coee'
Dor of the broad-back, her duenna or ellaritd/
and Mrs. Goldstraw, the housekeeper, Ladle
best of the whole bunch of them—the low"vale;
character among the dramatis persona, Joel 0
the wine-merchant's Cellarman I Thllae Aloia
stumble across him, first of all th
, down in t, drool);
vaults among the pendulous gouts of cobweb 030 at'
ing from the roof in that vinous subterrnijw At
mosphere, as we come upon him
weedacleis7o Veell
turning among the bins, where u,..„
wandering awhile at the heels of V erh
I
" Oh! You are here, are you, Joey ?" are at;
"Oughtn't it rather to go, Oh ! You're Ile'
Master George ?' For it's my business to be be
ain't yourn." alf
"Don't grumble, Joey." usrolll.l3 the
" Oh! I don't grumble," returned the ,broug o 0
anything grumbles, it's what I've took in 0,05
P ;it ain't me. Have a care as aoraeti",,ere'
don't begin a-grumbling, Master George. stop ;
enough for the wapours to work, and they'll
.be 1,0 Pay
His present occupation consisted of Polciti Ole);
endale
into the bine, making measurements and Ine.ll,o,loe'
tions, and entering them in a rhinoceros-11'
foci
note-book, like a piece of himself.
" They'll be at it," he resumed, laying thcracti:g
that he measured with across two casks, en' we! ~to
g
calculation, and straightening his back, t
e 9,5,
iu
so you've regularly come into the burin
George ?" ? ore
" o
"Regularly. I hope you don't obj. Joey oat
"I don't, bless you. But Wapouri object:
fedi
too eung. You're both on you too young' day , ,
" ire shall get over Ibat objection day by'ay get t
able
"Aye, Master George; but I shall day 1-11,c, be co 2
the objection that I'm too old, and so I slit' fortl'
of seeing much improvement iu you. otbeer
The retort so tickled Joey Ladle that he
!bora, Pe
00,
a laugh and delivered it again,
laug Joe
h after the second edition of " irnPr°Y y
gruntingen%
cot ie
As affording a still better notion of ite'4
whimsical character, take the followilirlarg f
De/..aer
by
upon the effect produced on Joey
s
singing : se s°llg f
Not oven over Vendale himself did the
cast a more potent spell than over Jo,'Y Ltial
rent way. bteadily refusing- to muddle
taking any share in it, and evincing the :°_,:veic•-•"_t at!.
tempt for scales and such-like rudiments 01"1 did °_,,llol°
gini(vieeeudp, stllel)mi'nhoclaeptbiuv:itneemssevfeorliastbeuade.rsTe-Pj.:::ftrYyalobtilee; 13
of the performers for a set of howling 11