The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-08-01
RELIC WORSHIP.

hu3 IAObt IcuAIhADl1 WIlJSIs VI Lub DEtStuJ
century. A favorable foreign critic of our
manners spoke with appreciation Of the
warmth Of public sentiment excited by his
death, and the patriotic pride thus indicated
IN the glory of our most popular writer.
Against this we have nothing to say. The
memory of Mr.. Dickens is naturally and
rightly valued by a very large class, and no.
thing can be more proper than tnat this
regard should be freely manifested. But with
the general and becoming expressions of re-
greet there mingle some manifestations so
grotesque that it is impossible to pass them
over without a moments notice. We find,
tor example, that at q sale Of Mr.. Dickens
property a Chinese gong sold for thirty-one
guineas, or about ten times its market
value. Certain silver ladies orna-
mented with figures of the heroes of the
''Pickwick Papers" sold for prices varying
from 1913 to $50; from which it appears that
Mr.. Pickwick is held to be just three times
as valuable as Wrinkle. The most remark
able price, however, was given for a stuffed
raven, the bird being, as we are told, the
original: of "Grip" in 'Barnaby Ridge" and
selling in consequence for 100 guineas. The
raven, we are informed, was not q very meri-
tOrious animal himself; and though we must
confess ourselves to be anything but compe-
tent judges of the value of stuffed ravens,
we presume that he must have sold for at
least $40 times his natural value. Never was
raven so highly honored before. We should
commend the anecdote to the consideration
Of Mr.. Barnum, if that enterprising person
still honors the world with his presence, aud
would suggest to him the propriety of dis
covering the original Of Edgar Poe's raven. If
q still more daring flight of Imagination be
within his powers, perhaps he might discover
the bird of which Shakespeare was thinking
when he talked about the hoarse raven who
croaked the fatal entrance of Duncan. A
search through the farmhouses in the neigh
borhood of Standardization would surely
reveal some venerable bird which may be
supposed to have perched on the hand Of the
divine Williams. Meanwhile we should
rather like to know what the fortunate pos
SCISSOR Of this animal will do with him. OF
course he will try in some way to get 100
guineas' worth Of pleasure out Of his 'inte-
resting relic" He hopes, it may be, to be
known throughout the metropolis as the
fortunate holder of the raven. For
some purposes it may possibly pay
TO enjoy such notoriety. There is
ahe ~well-known case of the New York halter,
who made his fortune by giving we forget
how many dollars for admission to one of
Jenny Linds concerts. But if he expects the
simple qualification of showing the bird to
his friends, and saying to every fresh visitor,
This is O. raven which was described by
Charles Dickens, we will warn him in a
friendly spirit that it is just possible that he
may become something of O bore, and that
rash persons will perhaps be found after a
time to declare that ravens described by Mr..
Dickens have a singular family resemblance
to those ravens which Mr.. Dickens never
described. Meanwhile he had better take
means to identify his precious possession, for
if it is once generally known that q Barnaby
Rudge raven may fetch 100 guineas, the mar
ket will speedily be glutted with true original
Barnaby Nudge ravens, and possibly the last
vestiges of a highly respectable race of birds
may be e~xtirpated from the British islands.
Enough snuff-boxes have been made from
the wood of the Royal George to build two or
three first-rates, and the rope which hung
Palmer is said to have been somewhere about
8 mile in length, if all the fragments We're
genuine. We fear that the mind of the bold
Spectator may speedily be huhnbted by-a
whole flock of spurious limitations.
The worship of relics is undoubtedly a
common, though a very singular. and IRA
tional, phenomenon. Sir Walter Scott, as we
know, had the misfortune to sit upon the
wineglass which his sacred Majesty King
George ~ had sanctified with the touch of
his lips Ga fate from which the raven may, we
will hope, be preseryed), and thereby pre-
maturely squelched one relic of which the
market value at the present day may be esti-
mated by the curious. In some cases, in
.NOONo " I'LL loi oAJ AZ iOOh-
ing. The writing of a great man may be
characteristic; even the coat which he wore
may incidentally make our knowledge of him
a trife more vivid; but when it comes to the
great mans raven, We can only wonder
in dumb surprise. Let us, however,
endeavor very shortly to estimate
the true value of this kind of
alteration. What is the state of mind of a
man who thinks that any trife connected in
any way with one of Mr.. Dickens least popu-
lar works deserves to be bought at so extrava-
CANT q price? Is it the kind of idolatry which
Mr.. Dickens would have chosen himself, or
which his friends would desire to be paid to
him? Or, we would rather ask, is it a symp-
tom that the admiration, though extravagant,
is of a healthy kind, or that it belongs to that
class of sentiment upon which the great
Barnum is alone worthy to bestow a name?
The proverbial valet might take an
interest in the shoes which he has once
blacked for his hero; but the Wallets admira-
ton is not generally supposed to be accord
ing to knowledge. In proportion as a people
values its great writer's with a discriminating
zeal, or has a predominant desire to advertise
its admiration by ludicrous extravaganza, we
may Judge in some degree of the value of
popular enthusiasm, and possibly, in some
degree also, of the value of its object. From
this point of view even our raven-purchasing
friend may serve for a few minutes as the
text of some serious reflection.
Now, that MIR. Dickens was a man of extra
ordinary talents is too evident to be repeated.
Nobody ever possessed certain powers in a
higher degree, though whether he possessed
powers OF the highest kind is of course an
other question. Nobody again in this CEN
fury, and perhaps no English writer in any
other century, has caused so many hearty
anI snn.4-k l,,,-I. N,la1~ IT, -,