The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-09-07
LITERARY LEAVES.
IDENTIFICATION or CHARACTERS
IN FICTION.

I
the matter Of that, says the London
Standard. we believe it is the case that
story-teller relates his own expert
ences in his earlier efforts. But, more
than that, it is certainly true that many
of the characters most familiar to us in
the English novel have had originals "a
actual life. II is no doubt true that lit
.le more is taken from life by genuine
artist tran those delicate nuances
Of character which make the por-
trait more delicateiy finished. A
single study may. indeed, com
bine experiences of fifty people
and il is thus always possible for a no.
vesist 20 deny the soft impeachme nj
| that he has been guilty OF portralture'
But it has not seldom happened that q
denial has been in vair. Every body
| knows the story of Miss Voucher.
and there are probably few people who
envy Dickens feelings when he discoy-
cred the pain he lad given TO the ec-
centric littlc peuon who served as ms
unconscious model for that creation. Ii
mattered little that he was able 10 ex-
plain that Miss Voucher Ain { vol
atileY" was a fayorite utterance OF an
other person altogether and that other
traits were not berJ at all. the photo
rraph was too exact for i.s lden-
iifcation TO be disputed. aud II
is not little characteristic of
the grea. noyeiist's kindness OF
heart that. by way of atOncment, G
should have altered his original con-
certi0n oi tire character altogether.
Harold SkimpOle. too. is another OF
Dickens characters which underwent
considerable modification for much
The same reason. II was immediatelJ
recognized as q portrait Of Leigh Hunt.
or. rather. as a graphic caticature OF
some OF his leading traits. Forster de
clares that Dickens had 10 unkind in
teution. and erred only from thought
lessness. But IL is undoubtedly true
that Hunt. who w85 made acquainted
By gOod-natured friends with the fact
thar he had been taken off by Dick
ems. was deeply panied. Dickens
did his best 90 repair the wrong,
and pointed out many traits in Skim
poles character with which Hunt
had nothing in common. The diary
writing, for instance, he declares he had
taken from Hayden. Although the
time fer wholesale redress had gone by
he revised the whole story and sOftened
down words here and there in the vain
attempt 90 make the portrait as unlike
the original as possible. but he cannot
be said to have succeeded In dong
much more than marTing the symmetry
of mastery conception. Pleasant
Leigh Hunt, with an ms faults and
foiblcs. might well object To- the Odious
| qualities with which bis portrait was
filled up. but the world is the loser from
I this restriction of The nOvelist's license
Every stOry-telier is liable to be con
santly checked because he repro
ducos traits that are traceable
10 some one Of his acquaintance, ana
the difficulty O. the study of char
acter rs thus greatly increased. A die.
tiuguished living novelist has put a
distinguished living critic into one of
1 his stories. with the result that, absurd
as 10 may seem. the relations between
them are considerably strained. But
few people, perhaps, would be pleased
TO sae themselves as others see them.
Nearly every story teller must, Of
course. pat something of his own en-
viroument into his books. Smollet, 10 is
SAID. recorded his own adventures. but
III this Toe so he was O cuIiouslY candid
writer. Fielding. again, pat something
Of his wife into aii his neroines. and in
Amelia he drew her even down TO
the accident which al tigur d her
beauty. His"P4rson Adams, - too. was
drawn from his friend Young. and
"Irulliber was q copy Of a living
model. Then Scott drew something
from almost every one of his acquainl-
3nce. % give minuter reality 20 the peO-
pie Of his fancy.
Even IN autobiography few authors
have been exact. Dickens put much Of
himself iHto David CopperGeld." Bat
although there were reproduced many
ot Che hard experiences OF his bOyh0Cd
ia that inimitaOle story. experiences
iicu. iGdecd. appear. IN part. at least,
M many of his stories. 10 is difficult to
identify Dickens at ail closely with his
hero. There was certainly no intention
Of -pOrtraitnre. and an that was ac-
piished unc0nsciOusl Every boy. in
deed. has some thing Of q C0pperliell il
him, acd u is in this that the strength
o: The part lies. Dickens was too great
% master Clumeily tO confuse fact with
fiction. In the same way again, how
TAR did George Eliot reproduce herself
ga Maggie Tollvtr;' Slerne parodied
himself n ~ -ick, and Charlotte
B.onte put much of her own sad story
INTO Jane Eyre: but none Of these
characterlzati0ns can be said TO be re-
productions OF real people IN fiction.
Parents. however, seem o havecOme
of les fortunately. 40 man 1t j.
said. knows another man better than
his own SON. and it was this very
knowledge that tempted Dickens to re
produce bis father IN Mr.. Mlcawber and
his mother DO Mrs. NIckleby. And per-
haps be took Liberties with his parent
IN some of his MicAW6er flights. The
flourishes OF speech which have immor-
taliz q the character were wholly char
acteTistic of john Dickens. But d. is
easy underlying the surface TO see that
-Micawber. with all ms foliies. WAS
sketched with q kindly hand. Less
pleasing. perhaps, is the representation
o. Mrs. NIckleby, but the portrait is
very faint. If, again. George Eliot took
her father as model for both Adam
Bede and Caleb Garth her step
mother 90 her prototype for
Mrs. TullVer, and Elizabeth
Evans as the original Of Dinah Morris.
can any of these be declared 10 be sim
pie p0r.raitsy As she herself tells US:
Adam is not my father any more than
DiDah is my aunt" Indeed. there is
hardly single true portrait in all
George Ello,'5 stories, although traits
innumeraD.e can be recognized in
many OF her characters similar to those
of people in real life A Mr.. Jones.
for instance. recognized d deceas ID
brother in "Mc. Tryan. but the author,
when accused OF the portraiture. in
denying il, replied that if Mr. Jones
deceased brother was like Mr.. Tryan so
much the better, for he was made of
human natures finer clay" Cola
smith certainly found ia his father,
Charles. the original Of ms Vicar |
# Wakefield" and we can be- |
lava fhat lhnra pltat bava