Daily American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1852, 1852-05-29
Dickens.

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his time was born in February, 1872, at Land
port, Portsmouth. His father, the late Mr.. John
Dickens, IN the earlier part of his life enjoyed
post in the Navy Pay Department, the duties Of
which required that he should reside from time
to time in different seaports: now at Plymouth,
now at Portsmouth, and then at Sheerness "In
the glorious days" of the war with France, these
towns were full oflfe, hustle, and character; and
the father of " Boz" was at times fond of dila-
ting upon the strange things he had Witnessed s5
One of his stories described the sitting room he
once enjoyed at Bluetown, Sheerness, abutting
on the theatre. Of an evening he used to sit in
this room, and could hear what was passing ON
the stage, and join in the chorus of God save the
King and Britannia rules the waves--then the
favorite songs of Englishmen. The war being at
an end, amongst those who left the service with
"a pension was the father of our novelist Coming
to London, he subsequently found lucrative en-
ployment for his talents the press as report
er OF parliamentary debates. nga ...... ...
| Charles Dickens may therefore, be said to have
been in his youth familiarized with "copy ~ and
when his father, with parental anxiety for his
future career, took the preliminary steps for
making his son an attorney the dreariness of the
proposed occupation fell so heavily on the future
author that he induced his father to permit him
to resign the law and join the parliamentary
corps of daily newspaper.
His first engagement was on the True Sum- an
ultra-lberal paper, then carrying on a fierce
struggle for existence, from the staff Of which he
afterwards passed into the reporting ranks Of the
Morning Chronicle. On this paper he obtained
reputation as a frst-rate man---his reports being
exceedingly rapid, and no less correct In the
columns of the Chronicle he soon gave proofs of
other talents than those of a reporter; for in the
evening edition of that journal appeared the
Sketches of English Life and Character. after
wards collected to form the two well l-known vol
umes of Sketches by Boz, published respectively
in 1886 and 1887
These at once attracted considerable notice,
and obtained great success and the publisher
of the collected edition. anxious to make the most
of the prize which had fallen to his lot gladly came
to an arrangement with Dickens and Seymour
the comic draughtsman-the one to write and
the other to illustrate book which should ex-
hibit the adventures of party of Cockney sports
men. Hence the appearance of Pickwick, o book
which made its authors reputation, and the pub
lisher's fortune After the work had commenced
poor Seymour committed suicide, and Mr.. Hablot
H. Brown selected to continue the illustra-
tions, which he did under the signature of
{" PhiZ"
Meanwhile, Mr.. Dickens had courted and mar
ried the. daughter of Mr.. Hogarth, then and now
a musical writer-a man of considerable attain-
ments, and who, in his earliest days, whilst
writer to the Signet, in Edinburg, enjoyed the
intimate friendship of Sir Walter Scott, Jeffry,
and other literary notables Of the day adjoining
the Modern Athens The great success of Pick
wick brought down upon its author demands
from all sides for another work, and .Boz"
agreed to write Nicholas Nickleby, to be pub
lished in monthly parts. In the PREDATORY no.
tees, which gave additional value to the cheap
and elegant reprint of the works Of Dickens, we
are indulged with slight glimpses Of his own
personal and literary. 1t is unne-
cessary to note the titles of Mr. Dickens's subse-
quent works, all of which have justly obtained
popularity. ##