The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-10-04

The elder Dickens loved London Whether
or not his son inherited the same feeling
we cannot say, but certainly he loves the
great city, too, and has given evidence of
| the fact.
But the London of the elder Dickens and
| that of the son are very different Even
London is not beyond the ravages of the
modern Philistine real estate Spectators
| and builders. An so the Dickens land
marks have to large extent given way to
what is known as Progress" Charing
! Cross Station stands where The SWAMI
or "Swan and something else,' to quote
Copperheld, stood, dingy public" where
young David Copperfeld used to get his
ale and bread and cheese, according to
Dickens. The white Hart Inh," where
! PICKwICK MET THE IMMORTAL WELLER,
yielded way to modern progress couple of
years ago. According to the guide books
the Marshalsea prison no longer exists, but
some admirers of Dickens hold that it does
in the shape of two buildings in Borough
Southwark, although they, of course, no
longer hold insolvent debtors. And then
the Kings Bench prison, where Mr.. Mi
; cawber spent many an hour, and OF which
he said:
Gentlemen, when the shadows of that
iron work on the summit of the brick
structure has been reflected on the grades
of the parade, l have seen my children
thread the mazes of the intricate pattern,
avoiding the dark marks. l have been
familiar with every stone in the place."
Those stones are gone. The Kings Bench
prison was demolished several years ago.
THE Six jolly Fellowships Portersn is
said to exist, but the evidenceis not strong.
The house Of Mr.. Tulkinghorn, the lawyer,
: is in existence, but the pauper cemetery of
st. Clements Dawes, that figures so much
| in "BIeak House, is said to be covered by
Kings College Hospital
: So the London of Dickens is being swal-
lowed up by a greater London. There is a
body of enthusiastic admirers Of Dickens,
who are doing their best to Identify any
old views and resorts that were favorites
of the great novelist and that stand under
; other names, but so great have been the
: changes in London that the work is very
unsatisfactory.
1t may have been a.visbale passing OF the
London of a generstion ago that led the
younger Dickens TO take up the London Of
to-day. But the younger Dickens in the
work that he has compiled on London has
not entered the field that his father worked
} so we'll You will not see in the pinched
face Of Poor Joe as he ''moves on, nor the
shrinking figure of Nancy Sykes as she
makes her wayin the darkness to London
bridge, her footsteps logged by Noah Clay
pole, nor the form Of Mr.. Micawber wait
ing for something, nor
3 TIE UGLY FACE OF oUILP,
! or, indeed, any of those people with whom
London was peopled by Dickens fancy.
The younger Decking knew the limits by
7 which he was bound and gave no rein to
his fancy. His father bent London to suit
= his will. His son has written a handbook,
dictionary, or call it what you will, of Lon
don, that is a masterpiece in its way just
thaA ,.sf nclra hnn ho;,,z
=. What struck me as being peculiar was
that Dickens the younger should have sue
ceeded lis father as an authority on Lon
, don, although the nature of their work is SO
widely different. | mentioned this to Mr..
! Dickens when in conversation with him
, He laughed.
! This has never occurred to me-" he said
81 compiled my book because l thought il
) was needed and would make hit, which
fortunately it has"
= Gadshill, the home of the elder Dickens,
has this season been the Mecca of many
American pilgrims. Ii was and is still
beautiful home. Dickens loved every piece
of the wood used in building it. 1t was there
he lived the last years of his life and there
he died. He had entertained layishly there
and was happy in its possession. The ole
house has now passed into the possession Of
strangers 1t cost Dickens ABOUT $40, 900
and the money came from the profits Of his
The American who visits the home of the
great novelist cannot but wonder that the
Dickens family allowed the property t
pass out of their hands since
DICKENS HIMSELF LOVED IT so WELL
But even aside from its associat ions will
5 the novelist 1t is residence that any maj
might wish to have for his own.
All of US who have read Fosters Life
I OF Dickeus' will remember that Dicken,
himself has described how from his boy
hood he bad louged to own this house II
one of those inimitable letters that he usec
to write to his friends he describes how a,
= a boy he used 10 daily go out of his way t
: pass this house and admire it. That BIZ
+ should one day own it never occurred tc
" him In those, the days of his poverty anC
It youth. He relates how one day he passed
A. the house in company with his father, anC
Y how the latter pointed to it and said to the
boy:
10 IF you work real hard you may have {
is house like that
If But as the novelist himself said, /
n seemed madness to entertain such
If thought. Yet he was the owner of tina
IT very house long years before he died l
4, has changed but little since the time wher
,r Dickens as boy used to stand and admire
d 1t for hours at time. 1t is plain, old
Is fashioned two story brick building, with
If quaint wooden perch, the whole coveret
with vines making 1t almost invisible from
r, the road. The house commands fine view
of the country around and of the rive
Thames as it winds its crooked way dow
% 10 the sea. Just across the way is the rnil
h where Sir John Flagstaff laid the plot t.
e rob the pilgrims who were passing Gadsnil
Or on their way TO Canterbury.
- THE QUAINT TORCHES
u, that Dickens himself gave 20 the interio
le of the house are still to be seen, the en-
r graved tablet of which Forster speaks
is still in the hallway and reads:
~ This house, Gadshill Place, stands on tn
summit of Shakespeare's Gadsnill, eve
8, memorable for its association with Sir job
IF Falstaff in his noble fancy. But nv lads
IS my laos, to- morrow morning by O'clock
r early at Gadshill. There are pilgrims goin
i to Canterbury with rich offerings and trad
le ers riding to London with tat purses.
It have wizards for you ALL you have horse
e. for yourseives.'n
lie 1t was at this spot that Sir John met hi
n famous men in buckram, and on the stone
O.. about here that he hacked his sword 4
" order that he might show it to his comrade
Is as proof that he had been in the thick O
" the fray.
The library. ton. is much "a IL Uas ,yb a.