The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-11-10
DICKENS AND rHAcKERAY.
How the First Lived when He Was Poor
Young Man; and How the second Crit
tcIsed HIS EARLY writings -

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Young Man; and How the Second Crit
fcfsed HIS EARLY writings -
London Correspondence Of tbs Detroit Free Press
Dickens immense popularity has been
subject 10 q considerable discount since his
death, especially IN America, where he was
best loved. He is still rea0, and perhaps as
much or more than during his lifetime, but
with abated feelings The rising generation
can hardly realize the enthusiasm with
which he was regarded By his contempt
rsries; and in decadeor 50 his popularity
win be almost as much asthing Of the past
as Walter Scots. A great deal Of 1T was,
1t is true, honesty won, though some accrued
from our simplicity and uncritical ignor-
ance. The perihelion was SO brilliant that
we took it. for the sun. But, now that it has
disappeared, we.begin to reckon up thechar.
acteristics and shortcomings of such phe-
nemenon.
DICKENS LITERARY STANDING.
We have, so to speak, found him out.
Magnificent genius as he was, poet, humor-
Isl, Lord of Laughter and Tear, and farceur-
general to all men Of English speech, Dick
ems had his limits, his faults, his unveracities.
He was great egotist, whose sentimentalism
and love Of effect dominated his intellect
He could neither take an extensive on an
intensive view Of any subject; nor grasp it
as whole, nor thoroughly exhaust any
part; but .habitually earicatured and over
stated it. His plots were mostly ihartifcial,
hackneyed and stale, though from the ex-
ceeding richness of the characters and de-
tails, they assumed the guise of novelty.
He did not believe in nature, but thought it
necessary to satisfy his own wrong idea of
artistic effect by putting in refining touches,
which he invented, not found. His genesis
of character was rude and unphilosophic,
often contradictory. and impossible. He
was, as Lady Bulwer styled him, "the
Aristophanes of the Pothouse and the,
Plutarch of the. Pave" and weakened the
moral effect Of his pictures of vice by the
comic coloring given to them. his literary
execution, though often graphic and felici-.
tous and rising to passages OF the most strik-
ing beauty, commonly retained . faint of
exaggerative penny a-lining, and too fire.
quently sunk to sheer buffoonery. Finally,
dealing overmuch ir accidental manifesto
tions and too little in universal principles,
he win hardly live as an. English classic.
Nevertheless, those who were Dickens
contemporaries ind it hard to un-love him.
Even Americans, thought justly aggrieyed.
by his base disparagernent OF their country
as revealed to those selfish, posthumOus let
tiers. and the ugly contrast between his life
and writings, are still half-enthralled by his
genius. For them London is peopled with
the creations of his fancy; their England is
the England of Charles Dickens They
seek out the localities described -by-his pen
and haunt the scenes OF his. personal history.
For such good nstured, and, on the whole,
wise persons, this letter is written.
DICKENS EARLY LONDON HOME.
Most people know that Dickens lived in
chambers, at IFurnivalss- Inn, Holborn,
when, in early manhood, he achieved his
first success by writing the ''Pickwick Pa
pers." The place is easily found, but not
generally identified, even by 1ondOners,
who are rarely curious about such associa-
tions. l have recently visited the spot
and also obtained some information con-
corning the great novelist and his equally
famous contemporary and rival, Thackeray,
at this comparatively obscure but interest
ing period, which information has been ov
erlooked by other cleaners in the same
field.
Furnivars Inn is in or near the very CEN
ter of the metropolis. THE word inn, be it
remarked, is Saxon for house, habitation-
or lodging; and though now applied oaly to
law-places and taverns, formerly signited
great house, mansion or palace The French
still use hotel in the same sense). Situate on
the north side of HOlborn, at its widest,
about mid way between Gray's Inn Lane
and Hatton Garden, it is just opposite Bar
nard's Inn, where, it may be remembered,
"Bro" livedl, and just west Of that magni6-
cent viaduct, the construction of which abol-
ished Field Lane described in "Oiver
Twist'') the site of the Saracen's Head and
Snow Hill (introduced in Nicholas MCKEE
by') and many other localities celebrated
by Dickens. Southwark of Hstton Garden
is Thavies' Inn, whittier Mr.. Guppy con-
veyed the heroes and heroines of BLEAK
House, to the abode OF the Jellaby's A
little to the west of Furnival's Inn, on the
other side of the way, are the curious old
wooden houses which escaped the great fire
of London, alluded to in sour Mutual
Friend" Notable tenements they are, too,
as dry as chips, and with six brotherly black
gables rising grim and desolate above the
busy little shops that have nestled beneath
for at least three centuries. Five minutes
walk, still westward, up Holborn, brings
you to Kingsgate street, where Mrs. Camp
lodged with Poll Sweedlepipe,' the barber,
and had that immortal quarrel with Betsy
Prig. Here. then, in the heart of London.
like glorifed spider in spot which was
destined to become the center of web of
his own weaving. to enmesh all the world,
Dickens very appropriately lived.
THE CHAMBERS AT FURSIyAL's INN.
His chambers were on the third or top
story of No. 15-the center house on the
right or east side of the wide court leading
from the archway to the inner square, and
facing its western facade. There are but
THREE houses thus situated, each about thirty
feet wide, and of some what ornamental
appearance, being crossed by horizontal
lines and having stucco Ionic pilasters be-
tween the windows and the two middle
stories The doorway of No 10 is central,
having two windows on each eide of it,
and five on each of the upper floors. To the
third you ascend by what n. p. Willis truly
called "a long fight of stairs"-indeed, six
series of stone steps. about three feet wide,
accommodated with an iron ballustrade.
These bring you to central back landing
space, with a room on each side, lighted by
single window, looking eastward. Dick
ems chamber, the south front one, is reached
by passing through the eft of these two
rooms, the doors being contiguous near the
inner corner of the landing.
a. -