The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-01-16


common absur6ities and their adherence to
tradition, he believed in them still. His own
genius was too dramatic for him not to have
strong sympathy with dramatic representa-
tlons, If at the same time his close OBJ
servation of human nature and his keen
sense of the ludicrous forced him to see
how little Elusive stage illusion commonly is
There is no theme on which he appears to love
more to dwell. "The Uncommercial Travel
Ter, and the miscellaneous papers which he
contributed to his periodical Household Words,
are full of exquisite instances in point He
cannot mention Dullborough as ''his boy
hoods home" without remembering that he
feels like tenor in an English opera when he
does so." He cannot pass the Dullborough
Theatre without calling to mind that there he
had first seen "the funny countryman, but
countryman of noble principles, in q lowered
waistcoast crunch up his little hat and throw it
on the ground, and pull off his coat saying,
Dom thee, Squire, COON on with thy fistes,
then!' At which the lovely young woman who
kept company with him (and who went out
cleaning in a narrow white muslin apron with
five beautiful bars of five, different colored
ribbons across it) was SO frightened for his
sake that she tainted away" And every one
has noted, in reading that uncomfortable and
rather dreary story lizard Times that the
part which the author himself really enjoyed
is that which deals with the interests of the
pOOI uOIbe-IluluS p0Oplo-nlr' pledty, OlSSy
Jupe, and Master Kidderminster. Mr.. Grad
grind's method of gauging all human nature
by statistics is a trihe caricatured, and the
boasts of MIR. Bounderby thought conven-
tional, but poor old asthmatic Mr.. Sleary's
account of his new scene in the circle as
he imparts it to Sissy Jupe, reveals at
once where the humorist was really strong
and rejoiced in his strength -'If you wsth
to thee our Children in the Wood, with
father a-6v nm
horthe-their uncle a receiving them ath
hith wardth upon a horthe-themthelyth
both agoin a blackberryin' on a horthe-
and the robinth o comm in to cover 'em
with leavth, upon a horthe-youd thay it
wath the completeth thing ever you thet
your eyeth on!" Dickens was drawn to-
ward all that multifarious class who live by
affording what he conceived to be innocent
amusement 1t was his favorite doctrine
that people must be amused-that they
needed it; and no form of Pharisaical pro-
priety was more irritating to him than that
which advocated the mechanics institute or
the lecture hall as the only legitimate relief
to the working mans g hours of labor.
The success of The Lighthouse, performed
at Tavistock House in the January of 1856,
and subsequently repeated at Campden
House, Kensington, for the benefit of the
Consumption Hospital at Bournemouth, in
duced Mr.. Wilkie Collins to try his dramatic
fortune once more, and the result was the
drama of Tile Frozen Deep, with an excellent
part for Mr.. Dickens and opportunity for
charming scenic effects by Mr.. Stanfeld and
Mr.. Telbin. The plot was of the slightest
young naval officer, "Richard Wardour, is
in love, and is aware that he has q rival in
the lady's affections, though he does not
know that rivals name. His ship is ordered
to take part in an expedition to the polar
regions, and, as we remember, the moody
and unhappy young officer, while chopping
down for frewood some part of what had
composed the sleeping compartment OF
wooden hut, discovers from a name carved
upon the timbers that his hated rival is with
him taking part in the expedition. His re-
solve to compass the others death gradually
| gives place to better spirit, and the drama
ends with his saving his rival from starvation
at the cost of his own life, himself living just
long enough to bestow his dying blessing on
the lovers the ladies whose brothers and
| lovers were on the expedition having Joined
them in Newfoundland. The character of
Orchard Wardour" afforded the actor oppor-
| tunity for fine display of mental struggle,
and gradual transition from moodiness to
vindictiveness, and finally, under the pressure
of suffering, to penitence and resignation,
and was represented by Mr.. Dickens with
! consummate skill.
The production of THE Frozen Deep has
literary interest for the reader of Dickens, as
marking the date of distinct advance in his
| career as an artist. 1t was during the per-
| Torrance of this play with his children and
friends, he tells us in the preface of his
| Tale of Two Cities, that the plot of that
! story took shape in his imagination. He
| does not copfide to us what was the precise
! connection between the two events. But
| the critical reader will have noticed that
! then, and from that time onwards, the
! novelist discovered manifest solicitude and
art in the construction of his plots which he
had not evinced up to that time In his ear
| lier works there is little or no constructive
ability. 'Pickwick" was merely series of
scenes from London life more or less loosely
strung together. ''Nicbolas Nickleby" was
in this respect little different. In Copper
field" there is more attention to this specially
dramatic faculty. but even in that novel the
! special skill of the constructor is exhibited
! rather in episodes of the story than in the
narrative as a whole. But from aud after the
''Tale of Two Cities, Mr.. Dickens manifests
diligent pursuit of that art of framing and
| developing a plot which there can be little
! doubt is traceable to the influence of his init
mate and valued friend Mr.. Wil1ie Collins. In
this special art Mr.. Collins has long held high
rank among living novelists. He is indeed, we
! think, open to the charge of sacrificing too
much to the composition of riddles, which,
! like riddles of another kind, lose much of
| their interest when once they have been
! solved And it is interesting to note that
while Mr.. Dickens was aiming at one special
! excellence of Mr.. Collins, the latter was
assimilatiDg his style in some other respects,
to that OF his brother novelist. Each, of
late years. seemed to be desirous of
the special dramatic faculty which the
| other possessed. Mr.. Dickens plots, Mr..
| CollinS, oharacfars and dialOouas hora mora