, 1872-12-01

nag nTngPoIs the preposterous charge,-skcs and hi
by Dicke1s until his finished book was en- tie eve
appearSno- As, however, tic distinguished artist
tbs letc, hag the Isfsssnsn o. M ~
~ statement of his friend, can only again Print
e1.a m me ?me Page which contains the strange Ian
himself repes its iiaputation on bis memory.
This he gives in facsimile reprint Of
letter, in which Dickens showed tia: the boo]
vas written before he saw the pictures fron
WHICH, Mr.. Cruilshan1i's iniudicious admire
asserted, we're drawn lis finest characters.
DICKENS AND SHAKESPEARE.
Ihere il something very Shakspearean in TIL
obdndon, the excess, the full-heartedness o
pleEens' imagination. Like Shakespeare, he il
possessed by bis own creatures, his sentences
cles; and he layishes On every charac
ter material enough to equip T. doze,
Ordinary billiards. He does not, OF course, pre-
seat Us the page that Shakespeare does, for th'
materials with which he wove we're deficient, and
eVen If We we're to indulge in cruda form O.
comparison, and say that Dickens was tho Shaks
@ReaEe Pea OF fiction, or that he was to the novel wha
tae latter was to the drama, We should use a1
exaggerated expression to indicate the re
eemb.anee. eea1,L But resemblance there was
plied to the writings Of George Eliot ~ =
OF whose "Scanes of Clerical Life, "by the way
Dickens said: "They are the best things I have
Eee1 SINCE began my COURSE" She deserves
the title IN one direction much more than Dick
ens Tor her insight into character is clearer anG
deeper than his; she deserves it less than Dick.
ems IN another direction, for, true and keen, anG
masterful as George Eiot's hand always is, il
l lacks that fierce enthusiasm Of fancy,
pcngs as shas rotops tasxs'9 e5av Il its ef @
ures, Which is SO strong q mental
bent in Shakespeare and Dickens. Our COM
Par1son and contrast Of Dickens and Shakespeare
has been almost immaterial re have no desire
Fa- l,.l =
strong similarity between them is their dramatic
| talent. Both were born actors.--born creators
OF dramatic action.
DICKENS AS AN ACTOR.
no" great an actor Dickens might have been,
We can only judge from his easy and full SUCCESS
IN Il the excursions he made upon the STAGE His
calling was perhaps higher, but it included tho
lower. He had the crentiye faculty in marvellous
development; What he desired to express he be-
came; can G whether It was Mrs Camp, Tom Pinch,
Mr: squeers, OF Fagin the Jew
The theatre had limits for Dickens he ycs
greater IN quiclness of assumption than stcadi-
ness OF delneatlon; but he was marvellous in
the exploits Of his theatrical holidays. His own
taste was so correct, and his senstiveness to bad
actlng SO tender that he suffered fearfully from
the spectacle, which he ventured to see only
his books. These we're multiplied remorseleslV' ] .I
and it vas the subject Of complaint with hin,
ceaselessly.
Another and graEer wrong IVES the piracy Of his
writings, every one Of which reproduced with
names Of characters believed to be sufficient to
eyade the law and adapt them to penuyn purchasers
TIL TIL had Il been going On ever since the days q
ter Dickens return from America, he described what
w who had issued Master Humphreys Clock edited
by Bos." sr, eaid the man to Hood, ii you had
oose5Seq ag htlsaa tie name it vas Eos mot not
even with the z, because Master Humphreys C,ocS
a you see, sr, was not published by Boz, but b.
course repeatedy urged by Talfourd aud myself was
81 LAT taken in the present year with the Christmas
such peculiar dagrancy, however that tie Vice Cha1-
celor would not hear Dickens counsel aud what
cost our dear friend Tafourd suppress Ills speech
exceeded very much the 1abor and pains with which he
had prepared it. Tho piseteso wrote Dickens to me-
after leaving tue Court On Tie 18th Of january, are
smashed, equelehcd, and utterly undoae. Knight
Bruce would not hear Tslfourd but instantly gave
Judgment. he had interrupted Anderlon constantly
BY asking him to produce passage which not IN
expanded or contracted idea from my book. And at
eye1y successive passage he cried out, THAT is ar.
WEE not shadow of doubt upon the matter; that |
there was authority which would Bear construc-
yious instancez."
, After all, though Dickens got legal victory,
be won no substantial fruits, for he vas obliged
to pay all his own costs, and as be afterwards |
said Il in asserting the plainest right on earth,
vas treated as II he were the robber instead Of
the robbed
GOING ON TIE STAGE.
What little things direct human destiny |
Probably but for q bad cold in the face, we
shond have lost Dickens the author in Dickens
the actor. In one Of his letters he says:
When WIS about 20, md knew three or four sue
ceEsive years Of Malhew6 At Homesn from sitting in
Tue pit to hear the.n wrote to Barley who was stage
aaa md ezactiy What t5ousht could do; md tiat
believed had strong perception OF character aud
oerzon what observed in Others There must have
oeen something in the letter that struck the author-
les, for BARLEY wrote to me, almost Immediately, TO
SO they wereH but that they would communicate with
ns sEsin' in nao.hs fortnight Punctua 10
pponeat to do anyiae came "a ,es T1h
pleased tefore him and Charles Kemble, certain
lay at The theatre II, sister Fanny tle secret
md Was to 60 with to play the songs was laid
lp When tie day came, with terrible Tad cold and an
nlamation Of the face the beginning, by the bye Of
hat annoyance in one ear to which / am subject at
his day. wrote to say so, and added that would
'eEune my application next season. I uadea great
+ 70 s 1 aa m h TIE ]
Ee newspaper, which made me Like it began to write
lidn't want money; had never thought Of the stage
ny thoughts that way and never resumed the idea
never told you this, did 1? See how near may have
'een to another sort Of life.
PRIVATE THEATR1cALs
eoNAA
'rivate play, Dickens would throw every energy
nd thought into his conception of the character.
If one of these plays Forster says:
T played Kitely," and Bobadil " fell to Dickens,
ho took upon him the redoubtable Captain long BE-
ore he stood in his dress at the footlghts hu1norne
ae eo1npletenesa Of bis assumption by talking and
ing Bobadi1, till the du1lest OF our pa1ty wfrn
oucned and stirred to something Of his hcarinesg
enjoyment.
BORN COMEDIAN.
Die eng, he thinks, had the title to be called q
or11 comedian, the turn for it being in his very
atnre." Still, his strength was rather in the I
ividneEs and variety of his assumption than in ,
ae completeness, finish, or identity he gave to
ny part Of them.
At the same time, this was in iteelf 50 thoroueb1y
nEune and enjoyable, and had in it such quickness
i'd keenness Of insight that Of its kind it was unr-
ll]ed and it enabled him to present in "Bobadiln
tera riehly-eolored picture Of bombastca eztravs-
lnce and COMIC exaltation in the earlier scenes a
nrast in the later Of tragica1 hui ity and abase-
eat, that had q wonderful effect. But greatly as t
8 acting contributed to the success Of tile | !
ght, this was nothing, to the service be a
ID rendered manager. It would be difficult to &
scribe it. He the life and soul Of the entire {
lair. seemed till then to have known his |
jrA3I In otoe1-