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

NO TROROUGHPARE.

The Christmas .Number of All the Year Round. 13/
Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins.
A story of absorbing interest has Leen penned
conjointly by Charles Dickens and Wilkie
as the extra Christmas double number of All the
Year Round. It is not only a story of absorbing
interest, but one remarkable for the extraordinary
art evidenced in its dramatic construction. Its el"
cellence in this particular is in fact so remarkable
that we cannot wonder in the least that its adaPte'
tion to the stage in a dramatised version of it wasis
matter decided upon before the original tale made
its appearance—the play founded upon it having le
point of fact been mapped out with admiral)le
dexterity by the hand of Charles Dickens himself,
who did it, so to speak, " at a heat" just immediately
before he took his departure for America, and hav'
iug been since then turned into dialogue by his ec).
laborateur Wilkie Collins, for the now fast 813
preaching Christmas piece at the Theatre Royal'
Adelphi, where Mr. Fechter has happily been re;
tamed by Mr. Webster for the impersonation e`
the hero of the narrative. One thrillingly breathiee:
incident there is in the printed narrative, and, as
matter of course, in the dramatic version of .t
—au incident, to the pathetic beauty of which'
°
may rest assured, the fullest possible justice Will
done, no less by the pencil of Mr. Greive (the scene
painter who has been specially reserved for the ec'
casion) than by the plaintive accents, the Pie•
turesque attitudes, the whole appearance, in fact,°
the lover-hero of the drama as impersonated by
Mr. Fechter. Reverting, however, from these ell.
ticipatory allusions to " No Thoroughfare" as as
acting drama, and considering it purely and sole'
in its present point of view as the Christmas Ole.
her for 1867 of All the Year Round, we recogl
in it one or two peculiarities of a very notieeab..,
kind, distinguishing it from among all its
predecessors—that is among all the Christmas nure.
bers of Mr. Dickens's weekly serial publicatil
whether during the period of its first phase unded
the name of Household Words, or during its 80%
epoch as a periodical under the name of the no leas
popular All the Year Round. Firstly, then, it
this distinctive peculiarity about it—that unlike i";
00
the other Christmas numbers in that long a 0
brilliant series—the present one, the Christre,_BBo
number for 1867, entitled " No Thoroughfare, Dr.
been penned not by a group of story tellers, mart
nutnerouo
tialled by the greatest Christmas Story Teller OP,
1, eel
ever breathed, but almost entirely by his own hand,
aided, here and there, by the hand of that en'
thrilling raconteur, who once risen a time related
o
the history of " The Woman in White," and Wes
several years ago in association (then) with Charl
tir
Dickens made one in a certain laughter-moving T°
of Two Idle Apprentices, the record of whose Weo;
derings together we have often since longed
cifto
see reprinted in some form or another. 11 of
association, then, as joint narrators—in a sort
fed
prose Beaumont and Fletcher partnership—sil°foa
how thoroughly well they could work together. 0.
able
now again they have demonstrated that agreet,o3
fact in these thirteen chapters, or rather in ties
four acts subdivided into a dozen scenes, the wa°„f
preceded by an Overture under the whimsical Owe
"No Thoroughfare." As affording a rapid gills
of the synopsis or syllabus of the prelection (for
tale would read admirably) the contents may bee,
be very appropriately summarised. Act I. the
veals itself to us sectionally, as we may say,
manner following :—" The Curtain Rises".---"
t‘Tbe
" Enter the Housekeeper" afterwards, the
Housekeeper Speaks"—" New Characters on
Scene"—" Exit Wilding." Act 11. and Act 101
each comprises within it no more than a coup
le
scenes or situations—in the former "
Makes Love," and afterwards " Makes Mischiel
in the latter, that is in Act 111., we are first no
the Valley," and then (this being the great geteioo
already alluded to, as certain to create a sensa,„ht
when actually brought to view within our s'boo
and hearing on the boards of the Adelphi) " 013104
Mountain !" Lastly, in Act IV., we have the "C iaro
Lock" revealed to us—we have then the partictig of
of " Obenreizer's Victory," and, finally, the F3'
store
the Curtain. In regard to the plot of the store
--a plot of singular ingenuity by the way, and the
intensely original of its kind—we have not
tel
smallest intention in the world here of playing to
tale. The mystery of it we shall give no kOr to
whatever. We don't, iu the least, desire
the
supply, in this place, any clue through
intricate windings of this curiously inv°ive t
labyrinth. Enough for our purpose if we saY, tb vio
the scene—opening in the streets of London, °°lol
Bloomsbury way, hard by the Foundling IleaPi of
in fact—after carrying the reader into the Heartb
the City, and familiarising him incidentally Woo
i
one of the Soho interiors, changes, before ato
close of the narrative, tb
to the wild and dese'o
solitudes of the Alpine mountains, trodden by rd,
sandalled feet of the monks of St. nernil
10
and haunted no less notably by those n° 00
four-footed companions of theirs, who particitl,3beit
so directly (mere dogs though they are) in jai.
sublime and beneficent labours. It may seem WIT fro re
ous to say so, but for no reason can we refrain o,
here at once remarking that in " No Thorougbf3rrior
there is discoverable neither a Dr. Marigold pr,
a Mrs. Lirriper. But then Mrs. Lirriper and, of
Marigold arc creatures that gladden the werl
iptoet
readers just once in a generation, we had,al fer•
said just once in a life-time, or in a century. 17'eltato
theless, though taking rank in no respect Woof
ever with those two famous originals, this rtbf
Christmas story has creations of its own, very vietiro
of note. There is poor Sally, to begin with, then ii 0
from the Foundling, who is delineated by n3ere•
In touch or two, but those the touches of a true mon
ter of his art as a portrayer of character--v
humble, gentle-hearted Sally, who is own sister;icl'
we may say, to that harmless, scatter-brained detittle
ant of Little Dorrit's, Maggy, who doats upon title
Dorrit, almost as a superior being, under the its,
of Little Mother. Then there is Dar, urge
the heroine of the tale, and her lover, uetioll
Vendale, the wine-merchant, and the enigra3 da 06
a
g
Obenreizer, Marguerite's Guardian, and roofs
Dor of the broad-back, her duenna or aged/
and Mrs. Goldstraw, the housekeeper, e.,0c11
best of the whole bunch of them—the 101/Pee—ale,
character among the dramatis personz, Joe'v
the wine-merchant's Cellarman 1 Thus 'fie°
stumble across him, first of all, down in the or
•
vaults among the pendulous gouts of cobweb dr „
ing from the roof in that vinous subterranea'at A
mosphere, as we come upon him suddenly Deeo
turning among the bins, where we have

wandering awhile at the heels of Vendale
"Oh! You are here, are you, Joey ?"
re ic
"Oughtn't it rather to go, Oh! You're here, a puti't
Master George ?' For it's my business to be We'

ain't yourn."
Don't grumble, Joey."
" Oh! I don't grumble," returned the Cellartnab
anything grumbles, it's what I've took iu thOuginkfii
pores ; it ain't me. Have a care as sotnethiug 1000
don't begin a-grumbling, Master George. Stop ilere A
enough for the wapours to work, and they'll be at ber
His present occupation consisted of poking 11.:1 t 113;
into the bins, making measurements and mentiti
tions, and entering them in a rhinoceros-hide-
note-book,
Aere
note-book, like a piece of himself.
"They'll be at it," he resumed, laying the W043',,ig10;
that ho measured with across two cask entering "I
calculation, and straightening his back, "trust 01 ijostet
so you've regularly come into the business,

George ?"
"Regularly. I hops you don't object, Jooy ?" .cou'r6
"I don't, bless you. But %Vapour,: objects Oa"
too young. You're both ou you too young."
Joel' et
"W e shall get over that objection day by day'
"Aye, Master George; but I shall day by daY g- Fab'
the objection that I'm too old, and so I shaxlt tlt
A Pry
of seeing much improment in you."
The retort so tickleved Joey Ladle that he grunter othat
a laugh and delivered it again, grunting fora' co*
laugh after the second edition of " improvement `1.,/3
As affording a still better notion of JOY ":0100
whimsical character, take the following c°l—eriti°
upon the effect produced on Joey by Oirgu
f bet°
singing : 0 ,
Not even over Vendale himself did theso songs. difio
•,' his
cast a more potent spell than over Jooy Lacil° „ow 0.•
rent way. Steadily refusing to muddle the lorl'ot 6°D,
taking any share in it, and evincing the suPl.c,/11,- irdlicAt
tempt for scales and such-like rudiments of intis'e- ,t Or"
did 'Ni
indeed, seldom captivate mere listeners—Joey A the {l'll
give up the whole business for a bad job, 8",s1;00. V
of the performers for sot of flowlipg Derr"-