The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-11-10

bocks and q small boy" He was dressed
rather IN the Swiyeller style with clothes
scant and jaunty, had c1ose-cropped hair
and looked 1.-THE very personifcation Of
close sailor to the wind He was, too, very
deferential to bis publisher, as became q
poor author. Indeed there had been talk
of disseminating "Pickwick;" it did not sell
sufficiently TO pay expense until the appear.
apce Of Sam Weller. That immortal char
acter--the best and most original type of a
shrewd London prough"-set all the pa
anecdotes, and "Pickwickiana" became
standing head in sll the journals. And the
book rose to quite unheard of popularity.
CHARACTERISTICS.
Dickens did not, at that time or afterward
affect TO conceal his poverty orythat of his
family. An old janitor of Furnivaps Inn,
now dead, used to tell some suggestive anec-
dotes of him at this period After joining
the staff of the Morning Chronicle there was
a great improvement -in-his dress. He
bought new hat and a very handsome blue
CLOAK then fashionable garmsnt). which
he threw over his shoulder I Is Espagnole
when walking. This cloak he not unfre-
quently pawned, in order to tide over some
temporary interval of impecuniosity. He
WIS very luuuStriOu-, very uOpclui AnQ I'LL
mtably self-confdent With his reportorial
friends he often supped at an oyster shop in
Hoiborn, the mistress of which they identi-
fled with the heroine of the Misplaced At
tachment of Mr.. John Douncera story in
the "Sketchesp L myself know retired
tailor, once of the neighborhood, who dis.
tinctly remembers refusing Dickens credit
for 8 suit of clothes. oil - rfi nF ire
TN. Cprp x-,e rrper x-xs,r -
Just before Willis visit, "Boz" had
much more distins uished visitor to his dingy
chamber in Furnivaps Inn (where, by the
way, l have forgotten to mention, John
Weslock lived subsequently, and entertained
Tom Pinch and his sister Ruth-the reader
viii find capital description of the inn in
that chapter of Martin Chuzzlewit'') :
Robert Seymour, the caricaturist, who sug-
gested "Pickwick" and began to illustrate
it, had committed suicide, and it was found
that Buss could not satisfactorily replace
him. tFheoriginal edition of the book con-
tains two scarce plates by this, artist, after
ward suppressed. Then Thackeray, who
was almost as poor ay Dung man as Dickens,
and trying 10 live by his pencil, in his own
words, walked up to his chambers with
two or three drawings in his hand, which,
strange to say, he did not find suitable"
eThis disappointment" he ades, "caused me
to directlny attention to a different walk of
artr-nameiy, literature. One wonders that
this notable interview has never formed
subject for a picture, -1-
THACKERAY's OPINION OF DICKENS.
Thackeray hardly took his rejection gra-
ciously, though he lived to joke about it
afterward. lie criticised both "Boz" and
"Phiz," his ertist, pretty freely. There is
sighting allusion TO the latter in ssAn Essay
on the Genius of George Cruiksbank," pub
lished in No. LXVI. of the Westminster
Review, and in companion article on.
'sFrench Caricaturen printed in the same
journal and year 1899 he advised Browne
TO study Daumier, who was certainly his in
ferior in execution. You will find the pas
sage in Partons "Caricature and Other
Comic Art" And Dickens, Thackeray fell
foul of in various articles in Fraser's Magas
zine, which are not generally known to be
from his hand.
In an article entitled "Charles Dickens
and His Works." published in April, 1910
(vol. 2l), he mercilessly dissected "Pick-
wick" .'Oliver Twist and s'Nicholas Nick
leby," dwelling at great length on the faults
of these novels, their improbabilities, incon-
sistencies of character, diffuse descriptions
and inartistic construction. He evidently
was acquainted with the origin of ''rhe
Pickwick Papers," and used that knowl-
edge rather ill-naturedly. "The pictures"
he says, Sin fact, sold the numbers, and the
writing was matter of secondary consider
alton :. The necessity of filing a GER
tain number of pages per month imposed
upon the writer great temptation to amplify
incidents and to well sentence after trifing
4. l., -
occupy space. The very spirit of penny
a-liner, for instance, breaks out in the pro-
lix descriptions of the various walks
through the streets of Lonon. $ In
short, the habits Of the reporter break cut
the copy is to be given in and what shall we
write Of but what we know2" Dickens could
hardly have liked these reflections on his
original profession; indeed he attempted to
answer Thackeray'sat tacks in prefaces to
subsequent editions of "Pickwick" and "Oli-
yer Twist" but heEwas not very successful,
and, in fact, rather lodged the objections.
Again. in "Going to See Man Hanged"
(COurvsisier, for the murder of Lord Will
liam RussellJ, an article published in the
same magazine for August, 1910, as in the
final remarks 10 his story Of Catherine"
Th4ckeray refers, and very unfavorably, to
SOLVER Twist" In fact, as he confessed,
he 'quarreled with Dickens art thousand
and thousand times" while he delighted
and wondered at his genius Although he
was more popular than Thackeray ever ex-
pected to become, the latter always expressed
himself in unmistakable terms regarding
him. Dickens Is making $40, 900 year."
be would remark. He is very angry at
me for say ing so; but will say it, for 1t is
true. He doesn't like me He knows that
my books are a protest against his-thst if
the one set are true the other must be false.
But 'Pick wick" he afterward added, sis
an exception. 1t is like glass of good Eng
lish ale." And he lived to pay noble
tribute to his great rival in his lecture on
"Charity and Humor"
THAcKERAY's JEALOUSY OF DICKENS.
In short, must the truth be admitted?
Thackeray was jealous of Dickens. Itseems
almost incredible that so large mind should
have been guilty of SO miserable a weakness.
But such was the fact Lord William Lem
nox relates striking anecdote in proof
Hearing some hattery of Dickens going on
at a dinner where both were present, Thack-
cray turned to this nobleman and said, in
voice full of bitterness: Did your hear that?
l go nowhere but | am subject TO it. /