Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-04-26

/ AumNMCNGNn
r. Some dey, perhaps, Charles Dickens, fol-
lowing the example Of Sir Walter Scott. vii
! give his muldtQdinous readers some accodnt
Of the sources whence he derived his Incl.
denis and drew his leading characters
Writers Of fiction, all the world Knows, do
not invariably inUsnt Few stories have
been written without some foundation in
iacti few characters are drawn without some
! prototype, however dim, in actual life. II
has long been complained Of BuIwer thai
! t,'Is himself tho great sublime he drew
in Phethdul, and nearly every novelist has
been charged, by some persons, with having
had him in view whom writing. "They talked
ofme, am sure said ScrNb in the play,
because they leughed. .consu@edly." Il =
A friend Of Dickens, who knew him from
childhood and dearly loves him TO this hour,
| lately wrote to Us thus There does moi
live a larger hearted OF better minded man
than Dickens. He Is liberal TO q fault He
allowed his wifes relations to hang upon
bim, to. infest his house, and to drain his
| acter is ostentatiOn. With all his sagscity,
Dickens is eternslly afraid of being slighted.
| He never seems to be at his ease--not even
| in his own house. His restless eye wanders.
Ike comet in cage, beating the bars with
| bis eJelashes TO escape. He has ALWAYS
seemed to me as if he had something on his
mind as well as in it. He danced the tight
rope Of display, for years, just managing to
keep out of the claws of the bailiffs. He
has now carried out the plan suggested to
him by Talfourd, and also by Lord Jeffrey,
and lives out Of London, but near enough
TO enjoy 1t when he pleases. What has be-
come OF all his money is mystery to my
self and others. His reign has lasted fully
twenty-five years, and | am sure that un-
der estimate his income at an average of
$4,000 a year. Here is gross amount of
t2Oo,oO0-equal to ], 100000 of your Amer
icsn dollars. .--
Very little has Dickens TO show for all
this. He is compelled to go back to his
readings, which be now hates, and CON.
meI ced his season on the first Monday in
March, by reading his Christmas Carol and
the Boots ofthe Holy Tree Inn, at ST. James
Hall, Piccadilly. A more truly genial man
than Dickens does not live. He likes to see
others enjoy themselves, while Thackeray
seems to care only for enjoying himself
One constantly hears of kind actions done
by Dickens; never of Thackeray in that
way. In possession of a good heart, as we'll
as vast genius | think thst Dickens very
closely resembles Walter Scott"
1t was after receiving the letter from which
the above extract was taken that we lately
promised 10 mention something of the or
iginaIs of Diekens's leading characters. We
shall touch upon few of them now.
IL is affirmed, by those who knew the
family, that Mr.. Wilkins Micaw Der, in Dapid
CoPPtTfeld, was actually drawn from Mr..
John Dickens, father Of the author What
Is more 10 the purpose, the elder Dickens
knew and did not disappr0ve Of the sketch.
As regards the personal appearance of
Micawber, as drawn by "Phiz," there was
enough Of truth in it 70 identify the original
by. 1t will be remembered BY the readers
of DdUid CoPpegfeld, that though Mr.. Mic.
awber is represented as careless in money
matters, apt to get into debt, and addicted
to get out of it by means of bills and notes
of hand, he never says or does any thing at
variance with morality and probity. He is
eieTnally waiting "for something to turn
up" and shifting as best he can, in the mean
time. But be was never mean, false, or dis
honest, and it is his keen right that eveutu-
ally pieces him in triumphant antagonism
with that precious limb of the lava dis
grace TO an honorable professionally. Uriah
Heep.
Taking of lawyers, Mr. Justice Starleigh
who presided at the trial of the case of Pick
wick Us. Burnell, was small sized Judge,
nan Sir Stephen Gazelee, truly described
as being ''all face and waistcoat," who re-
mained on the Bench until be had become
stupid, somnolent, captious and half blind.
In Oiirer 7wist, the Mr.. Flag, before whom
Oliver was brought on charge of picking
| pockets, was Mr.. Laiug, London police
magistrate, with q most irritable temper,
whose escspades were constantly affording
! ground for newspaper censnre. Immediately
! after his appearance at full length in Oliver
| 2iDiSt, Mr.. Laing received an intimation
| from the Government that his resignation
would be accepted, and be retired on pen
sion. Alderman Cute, in The Chinese, {
Christmas Story, was undeniably none otnei
than Sir Peter Lawrie, Alderman and ex
Lord Mayor of London, who had publicl,
declared that he would "put down" suicide
by sending all who unsuccessfully attempted
it TO the House of Correc ion for six months
labor. -"'
1t has been presumed that Mr. Twaddles
the youthful friend of David Copperfeld
was intended for the late Sir 7. N. Talfourd
But this appears groundless conjecture.
In BGrnaby Rudge, we have Sir Johl
Chester, said to have been meant for the lat
Sir William Henry Msule, one of the Justice
of the Court of Common Pleas. There are
few points OF resemblance, but the sketch i
not good. Maule was neither a selfish nor
heaItess man. His chief fault was fond
ness for Port wire, and when he was one o
the officers Of the crown, the fire which tool
place in his chambers in Lincoln's Inn, de
stIoying numerous valuable papers OF hi
| cHenJS, was salu Ia nave Oeen caused Oy nj.
placing his candle-aiter the third bottle
under the bed, to extiDguish i'll 1t has beer
positively declared that Maule was the orig
inrl Chester; but it can scarcely be so,
In Bleak House, two characters are sale
TO have been drawn from life-Esther Sum
merson and Harold SBimpole. The first
one Of Dickens's best productions, is the
dagueIrotype of Miss Sophia lselin, author
OF a volume of poems published in lS47
Her sister was married TO Edward Moxon
the publisher, who benefited largely by
Samuel Rogers's testamenrary provision
and indeed, has been generally supposed t
be his SON albeit, the Bard of Memory
died bachelor. Sophia Isein has no caus,
to complain of her full length in BLeaJ
House. AS for Harold Skimpole, it is ad
mitted by Dickens that Leigh Hunt was ir
repTessibly in his mind when deveopin,
this selfish and INSCRIPTIONS sentimentist
though he endeavored to make the sketcl
not like the original. Careless as to none,
apparently ignorant of It's value-Leigl
Hunt may have been, but Harold Skimpol
is drawn with pen dipped in aqusfortis.
William and Daniel Grant, cotton spin
ners ard calico printers near Manchester
we're the originals of Oheeryble Brothers il
Nicholas Nickelby, and we believe tina
Dickens did not exaggerate the excellenc
of their kind dispositions, nor the wild
range of their practical and unobtrusiV
benevOlence. The history of the Grants
not without interest, but we must defer
with the true history of Fagan the Jew
and Mrs. Warder's account of the real Oh
WellerG to another day. Nor have we ye
| closed the subject of the original Dickensi