New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-01-10
Charles DICKENS.

,o,r,pco among us has subsidized. and the impress
eions one receives from q remarkable man, and
from the remarkable spectacle OF great author
embodying and enacting his own literary concep-
tions. are becoming more dispassonate. Adj
miration begets fault-fnding. Questions out
side the true merits Of the readings come up.
Is the reader as perfect in acting as he Is pow
e,ful in writing7 AS an artist is he superior
or inferior to Fanny Kemble1 Other questions,
foo. Was it fair or generous in man who
had been received with adulation at his iirst
coming among us, to reproye SO Sharply as he
did in his American NotesP Can one
gather n fair estimate of American character
from the pages of Martin ChuzzleWlt
We are thin-skinned nation yet Young
! people and young nations generally are. Yet
we ought by this time to feel sufficiently as
surcd of our position to get over weak sehsi-
tiyeness under reproof. Sharp reproof Is whole
some. at shall make me set surer guard on
myself, and keep better watch on my actions
said brave old Ben JOnsOn. Were our national
foibles and vices exaggerated in Dickens's pic
lures of Western life and pioneer spectators
We need to look at our faults and tollies
through powerful lens, in order to be
awakened to their magnitude and stirred 10
their correction. Shall we deny to Mast merit
as an artist, or power as n censor because he
| is q caricaturstl 1t is a n0yellsts privilege
and part Of n novelist's duty, to shoot folly
| "as il flicsr And las he who dealt severely with
us spared his own cOuntrymenP Is Dickens
to be set down rs lacking patriotism. because
! he held up to the world the terrible scenes OF
Dotheboy's IIall7 Are We to infer thence
that such is the ordinary character OF private
schools throughout Englandf Or Is the stolid
Judge who presided at the Pickwick trial to be
taken ms n fair sample Of the intellect and the
dignity of the English bench? But again, IS it
! necessary to settle the question, whether or not
there can be found better actors, more power
full dcclaimers, than Charles Dickensl We
might ms well undertake to decide the relative
charms of moonlight and of Sunshine as to de-
terminc whether he or Mrs. Kemble Ia the more
artistic reader. Both are wonderful in their
line Both have the magical power to enchain
an audience spclbound from the first word to
the last. Each is sovereign; able
10 rule Ike n wizard, the world Of the heart.
And call mp its sunshine and bring down Its showers
And Dickens has this advantage that, while
Fanny Kemble did but interpret the msplra-
tons of others, lac presents to us, in all their
charming freshness, his own.
The main question between the admirers and
the disparagers Of Dickens is scarcely touched
by these side issues. Some hundred and fifty
thousand people VIII probably hear him before
he leaves MS. What influence Will lie have
exerted upon thcmP Interested, amused. we
know they will be; no theatcr is more attract
| i've than these readings; but will they go away
permanently benefited! more cheerful IN spintG
warmer in heart, with impulses more
friendly, with bcDcvolence more active
Very surely they will. Are we to ignore
| the debts which humanity owes to Dickens,
! because some actor may, in his own profession,
excel the great novelist, or because that novelist
has been severe on our faults! And how the
magnitude of the debt due by human kind to
! this man looms mp when one sits under the
sound of his voice. Take his opening subjects
the Christmas Carol and the Trial Scene from
Pickwck. Look at the faces of the audience
! while they listen. Fairly won out OF them
selves; electrified. And the victory is altogether
| in The interests of civilization. What n Christ
mas gift was that Carol TO the English people
| to the world What teachings from the pull
Dit purer. noblor, more Christian, And what
sermon half 80 powerful. Let fashionable
audience Of two thousand SIT down be-
fore the abIest preacher we have,
and listen TO Il sermon. finely conceived, elo-
qucntly expressed against misery greed, on
the duties of employers 10 their dependents, of
the rich TO the suffering; on the duty, especi-
ally, when q National festival approaches, to
make it season of rejoicing to the poor and
the needy, as well IA TO those who are clothed
in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuousy
every day; let all this be faithfully and
soemnly enforced; and will the hearts Of that
congregation burn within them as did the
hearts of the two thousand who sat last Thurs
day evening listening TO a two-hours sermon
in Stcinway HALF
Let us look to practical effects. Certainly we
do not recommend that tho clergy should adopt
the action, the gestures of the stage; we do
not wish for frolicking humor in the pulpit.
But let not the pulpit undervalue its active
allies outside, nor yet the arms these may
carry, merely because it would be unsuitable
for It's inmates to employ any such. They are
efficient arms, and win many battle in which
artillery of heavier caliber cannot be brought
to bear. HumOr is weapon keen and far
reaching. IL may he employed in q bad cause,
as intellect or eloqucnce may. But it may also
become powerful agent TO convince, to re-
generate. Buloonery is low, mere drollery is for
children; but genuine humor-restdcted to
man, not to be found in the lower animals-is
an attribute of the noblest minds. Witness
Shakespeare, Burns. Without humor Dickens
would lhave lost half his power TO reform
to ciyilizc. Where he now reaches tens
of thousands he might have reached hund-
reds only; and of what avail books, however
wise. that lie uncut on the shelvesf Suppose