The Portland daily press., 1880-02-04
Dickens'S PathOs.

There was tenderness in Dickens, but 1t was
too often marred by the tendency to "work
up" to a given point Though he had the in
dustry of the artist, he had not the gentle re-
ceptive patience. His pathos has not the
.'dying, dying fall' which softly breaks the
heart-lhough people cry over it. There 10
more heartbreak in Thackeray's little ballads
cat the Church Gate,' than there is in all
Dickens. This may appear hard saying. and
indeed one can overhear the remark that
Thackeray never makes you cry. He does not,
and Dickens often does The references in
these letters to the cases, at publij or private
readings, in which men-sonetlmes 1t is
stranger, sometimes Macready or Landor-are
made to cry by the 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 tempera-
ment; and it was usually exercised for good
and useful purposes; but, after all, the ca
pacity to make one cry is a somewhat crude
test of pathetic power in writer. A better
criterion might perhaps be found by seekin.
answers to such questions as these: Is not
that the truest and highest pathos which affects
you most when you are alone? which, whether
it makes you cry of not, affects you as much or
more upon the tenth reading than upon the
first? 1t must be admitted, however, that
there is much uncertainty in criticism OF thus
kind. We have grown over-fastidious and too
self conscious in these matters. But II we can
not CRY over Paul Dombey or Little Nell, as
Landor and Jeffrey did, we can find plenty OF
other things in Dickens to stir the fountains OF
tenderness and pity. Only they are almost
obviously instances in which the author did
not aim at pathos at all. There was too much
insistence in him-there is 10 broken writing
in the more intimate portions OF these letters
Too much is said; and too little is left to those
sub-indicative touches which leave the heart OF
the reader or the listener the luxury OF gentle
freedom. The master OF the tragedy doth pro-
test too much. Something OF the same fault
there was in Canon Kingsey-that is to say,
in his prose; but when he wrote verse he usu-
ally got rid of the "false gallop," so mach may
the velvet fetters Of the necessity for perfection
of form do for a man. Considering the rhythmic
flow of much of Dickenss prose, 1t is little
curious that he did not write more verse-es-
pecially considering how well he did it. 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 insstence.
He could not wait for the effect he wanted.
When once he had tasted power in given
way, he was not patient enough to make fresh
experiments with his own gifts; or rather,
when he did happen to make any such expert
ment he dropped it upon the first signs OF fail.
ure: which with him would mean lack OF
strongly expressed admiration from others, or
falling off in the sale. He once or twice
tried dreamy manner, and dropped it; bGt it
is in the highest degree probable that il he
could have waited, and tried again and again,
he would have found both the means OF disci-
pine and a great source of power in that vein.
lie shows, to the very last, hankering after
it, and his letters are often those of great
dreamer.-Msttaew Browne, IN Contemporary
RauiaNY