The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-10

part in the piece, rendered highly
amusing by his admirable acting. On March 6,
1887, was brought out, at the st. James Thea
tire, farce called Is She His Wife; or, Some
thing Singular, in which Harley played the
principal character, "Felix Tapkins," a flirting
bachelor, and sang song in the character of
Pickwick, written expressly for him by Boz"
The name of the author was not given in the
playbil. But the celebrity so rapidly acquired
by Mr.. Charles Dickens in other departments
of literature kept his pen from this time too
constantly in request to enable him to follow up
these early dramatic ventures,
1.-THE Pickwick Papers,"
The freshness, humor, and vivacity of the
sketches of London life, and the dramatic power
indicated by The Village Coquette attracted
the attention of Mr.. Hall, a member
of the well-known publishing firm of Chapman
& Hail. who applied to "Boz" to prepare for
them a serial story to be issued in monthly parts.
The work was begun without any definite plan,
as is almost patent to the casual reader in the
early chapters. Itwas suggested to Mr.. Dickens
that the adventures and mishaps OF a club made
up of original and eccentric characters would
afford happy medium for displaying not only
the powers of the author, but also those of the
artist who was engaged to illustrate them, MIR.
Seymour, popular comic draughtsman. With
this hint the first number of the "Posthumous
Memoirs of the Pickwick Club" was prepared
and given to the world, but before the second
appeared the artist died by his own hand, and
Mr.. Hablot X. Browne, who was known
under the name of PHI" was engaged to
illustrate the succeeding numbers, which he did
with all the spirit and vivacity inaugurated by
his predecessor.
The work was completed and published in q
no11o N,1
finished, it had attained a degree of popularity
to which nothing in English literature since the
appearance of the Waverley Novels afforded
parallel. Between the appearance of the first
and last numbers of the work the author rose at
one giant stride to the recognized position of
the most popular living writer in the Ian
guage, position which he successfully main
tanned to the day of his death. The wit, pathos,
originality and accuracy of his pictures of
| English life and manners, both high and low,
touched the hearts and captvated the fancy of
all classes. All England and America were
thrown into an ecstatic laughter over
| the mishaps of Mr.. Pickwick
and his companions, the rare at
fractions of the great trial scene Of Bardell vs..
Pickwick, and the quaint sayings, grotesque
| comparisons, and inimitable conversations of
| the two Wellers father and son. The sayings
| of the Incompatible Samivel were quoted by
speakers in the houses of Parliament and by the
ragged gaYninS in the slums of London. In less
than six months from the appearance of the first
number, the names of Wrinkle, Wardle, Weller,
Snodgrass, Dodson, and Fogg had become fami-
liar as household terms. "Pickwick chintzes"
figured in shop windows, and 'Weller cordu-
roys' in tailors' advertisements; "Boz cabs
were rattling through the streets of London, and
~. 81. 4f Dali xw
"Crichton" in the omnibuses we're scraped down
or pasted over, to make room for those of the
new popular favorite. A fresh vein ol
| humor had been opened, an
original genius had sprung up,
and even the heavy Quarterly ReUieao ac-
knowledged that "the most cursory reference tc
preceding English writers of the comic order
would show that, in his own peculiar walk, Mr.
Dickens is not simply the most distinguished
but the first" And the man who had thul
thrown not only London but every English
speaking community in the w0rld, into ar
almost unparalleled ftrOre, was but twenty-five
years old, and this was his first serious effort il
the walks of literature. Taking into considera
tiOn his youth and his surroundings, his suddeI
fame was fairly without parallel in the whole
hi story of letters.
The Appearance of SOLVER Twist"
The name of the author of the "Pickwicl
Papers' was not announced until 1888, but a
soon as they were fairly under, way PROPOSAL
from the leading London publishers flowed il
upon him with unexampled rapidity. HI
accepted from among all these the offer of Mr.
Bentley, and became editor of BentLeys Miscel
lang, in the second number of which, for Feb
ruary 1887, appeared the first instalment o
"Oliver Twist" The story, admirably illustrates
by George Crmkshank, at once became
favorite, and is still regarded as one of tn
J authors most striking novels. This novel full
sustained the high reputation acquired by tn
'Pickwick Papers" Although its humo
was not so rich, nor so abundant
nor so genial, as that displayed in the preceding
work, it possessed a deeper tragic power espe
cially in the painting of the deeper passions c
the soul and the terrible retributions OF crime
. In "Oliyer Twist" as in "Nicholas Niekleby,
which was issued in shilling numbers, uniforI
} with "Pickwiek," shortly after the completio
of that work, Mr.. Dickens dealt with abuses an
crueties which prevailed in certain public il
: stitutions, and was happily instrumental in II
! pealing laws that sanctioned gross jnjus.ie'