The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1874-04-08

While his subsequent works embodied
creations of character and humor as fine
as any in his early days,-Marigold, Lir-
ripper, Pip,-he had lost the old free and
fertile method. So far as Mr.. Forster
noted, "there came from time to time in
tervals of unusual lmpatience and rest
lessness, strange to see in connection with
his home" Old pursuits were laid aside
for new occupations and excitements,-
political addresses, private theatricals,
readings, strolling, wandering ways"
craving to find some means by which
life might become easier. This craving
called from Forster the remonstrance of
friendship, and to one of these entreaties
we find Dickens, in 1851, saying, sadly:
81 have no relief but in action. am be-
come incapable of rest l should rust,
break and die if spared myself Much
better to die doing" Other letters
breathe strange yearnings. At one time
he wishes to live in the Pyrenees for six
months. Then he has some idea of living
in Switzerland, above the snow line, in
"some astonishing convent" cam alto
gether in disheveled state of mind
notes of new books in the dirty air."
"Why is it," he cries, "that sense al
ways crushing on me, as of one happiness
| have missed in life and one friend and
companion l have never made 2" Again
the "serious idea of a winter on the top
of Mount st. Bernard, with the monks
and dogs for whole winter. Another
time his fancy flies to Australia, only he
will finish Little Dorritt" before leaving
The old days the old days!" he means,
" shall ever, l wonder, get the frame of
mind back as it used to be then ?'' 81 feel
that the skeleton in my domestic closet is
pretty big one"
Then came the sorrowful avowal-not
altogether unexpected, says Mr.. Forster,
but Z" great shock, nevertheless" ''Poor
Catherine" writes Dickens Catherine
being his wife" and 1 are not made for
each other, and there is no help for it. 1t
is not only that she makes me uneasy
and unhappy, but that make her so, too,
and much more SO. She is exactly what
you know in the way of being amiable
and complying; but we are strangely as
sorted for the bond there is between us.
God knows she would have been a thou
sand times happier if she had married an
other kind of man, and that her avoidance
of this destiny would have been at least
equally good for us both. am often cut
to the heart by thinking what pity it is
for her sake, that ever fell in her way"
Nothing on earth could make her under
stand me or suit us to each other. Her |
temperament will not go with mine"
" What is now Detailing me have seen
steadily coming since Mary was born, and
l know too well that you cannot, and no
one can, help me-" Again another letter:
The years have not made it easier to
bear for either of us; and, for her sake as
well as mine, the wish will force itself
upon me that something might be done"
And again: 81 claim no immunity from
blame. There is plenty of fault on my
side, I dare say, in the way of thousand
caprices, and difficulties of
but only one thing will alter
all that, and that is, the end, which alters
everything"
This was in 1857. In 1853 Mr.. Dickens
and his wife lived apart. "The eldest son
went with his mother, Dickens at once
giving effect to her expressed wish in this
respect; and the other children remained
with himself, their intercourse with Mrs.
Dickens being left entirely with them
selves" They never met during the re-
nainder of their lives. She had lived
with him a quarter of a century and had
borne him ten children. She was the wife
If his youth and his fame. Before he
lied he coldly wrote these words about
Ter in his will: 81 desire here simply to
ecOrd the fact that my wife, since her ]
separation by consent, has been in the re- !
.eipt from me of an annual income of :
e6OO, while all the great charges of a nu- 8
nervous and expensive family have devolv- !
d wholly upon myself" The man who i
dismissed his wife and wrote these words, q
vas the creator of Agnes, and the sweet,
beautiful story of love and devotion which 9
hat fanciful life contained. 1t is not for s
IS to look deeply into the hearts of men
Ike Dickens, and Byron, or Shakespeare i
ut rather to take from their lives the in
piration of genius But this narrative, O
ven as Mr.. Forster tells it, is a sad story r
f impulse and selfshness, and it so dark
ms the character of Dickens that we turn q
ON its contemplation with bitter, bitter a
Y Herald's ReuieD of Fors- h
RS Life Of Dickens.
he Seven Wonders of the World. d