The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-02-13
DIcKENs AND THAUKERAY.
Their Different siyIes-Tcnderncss and

Their Different Siyles-Tcnderness and
PathoS.
Matthew Browne, in Contemporary Review.
There was a tenderness in Dickens, but
it was too often marred by the tendency
to "work up" to given point. Though
he had the industry Of an artist, he had
not the gentle receptive patience. His
pathos was not the dying, dying falP'
which softly breaks the heart-though
people cry over It. There is more heart
break in Thackeray's little ballad, "The
Church Gate" than there is in all
Dickens. This may appear hard saying,
and indeed one can oyerhear the remark
that Thackeray never makes you cry. He
does not, and Dickens often does. The
references in these letters to the cases, at
public or private readings, in which men
sometimes It Is stranger, sometime
Maoready or Iandor-are made TO cry by
tho pathos Of the writing, are
striking, as evidence OF the value
Dickens set upon his power in this
respect. No doubt 1t was great, even with
men OF fine temperament; and 1t was
usually exercised for good and useful pur.
poses, but, after all, the capacity to make
one cry Is a somewhat crude test OF pathe.
tic power In writer. A better criterion
might perhaps BIO found by seeking ans.
wers to such questions Us these: Is not
that the truest and highest pathos which
affects you most when you are alone
which, whether 1t makes you cry or not,
affects you as much or more upon the
tenth reading than upon the first? II
must be admitted, however, that there is
much uncertainty in criticism OF this
kind. Wehave grown over iastidious and
too seli.conscious In these matters, But
il we cannot cry over Paul Dombey" or
Little Nell, "as Lander and Jeffrey did we
can find plenty OF other things In Dickens
to stir the fountains oftenderness and pity,
Only they are almost obviously instances
in which the author did not aim at pathos
him-there is no broken writing in the
Too much Is said: and too little Is left to
those sub'indicative touches which leave
the heart OF the resder Or the listener the
luxury OF gentle freedom. The mas
ter Of the tragedy doth protest too
much. Something Of the same fault there
wasin Canon Kingsley-that Is to say, in
his prose; but when he wrote yerse, he
usually got rid OF the "ialse gallop" so
much may the velvet feeters OF the neces.
tity for the perfection OF form do for a
man. Considering the rythmic flow Of
much OF Dickins' prose, It Is little curl
Gus that he did not write more verse
especially considering how well he ana IL |
But the fact is that he was his own bond. |
slave and victim in this and in some
other matters. The letters are full Of the
tokens Of eager insistenCe. He could moi
wait for the effect he wanted. When once |
he had tasted power in given way, he |
was not patient enough to make fresh ex.
periments with his own gifts; or rather
when he did happen TO make any such
experiment, he dropped 1t upon the first
signs OF failure; which with him would
mean q lack OF strongly expressed admira.
ton from others, or q falling off in sales. |
He once or twice tried q dreamy manner,
and dropped Il, but II Is in the highest de- |
gree probable that II he could have wait,
ed, and tried again and again, he would |
have found both the means OF discipline
and great sourceoi power in that vein.
He shows to the very last, q hankering
after II; and his letters are often those OF
4 great dreamer,