The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-05-06


which the chlld throws over a wooden horse.
TIL IL really represents TO him the living ant
mall Rather should the popularity be attrib-
uted to the wonderful breadth Of real life
which Dickens was able to lay under con-
tribution for the illustration OF his va
rious tyres; for he had little or no
power OF throwing q deceptive glamour
Of enthusiasm over Inadequate descriptions.
All that could be known By the help of as
founding capacity for swift. sudden. and keen
vision, and through that large sense OF humor
which brings an Indefinite range OF analogy
and contrast within the field Of view at any
one moment. Dickens knew and painted. The
result was that he easily OWNED the secret OF
almost every crotchety and superficial vein OF
character that came within his view. Every
one tells you that they have met with real
Mrs. Nickleby and with real Mr.. Micawher.
80. too, all the secrets OF any professional life
with which he was familiar were made By
Dickens completely his own. Nothing so per-
feet as his pawnbrokers and his undertakers.
his beadles and his matrons. his boarding
house keepers and his hone artlculators. his
dolls dressmakers, bis Yorkshire schoolmns-
ters. his travelling players and his waX-work
men. and his fre-eating editors were ever pro-
duced before. But then all these characters
are photographs from a superficial stratum OF
real life. which he hardly ever goes beneath.
and where. IL he does go beneath 1t. he Is apt
to fail While he sticks to his local color he Is q
wonder and delight to his readers. The mo-
ment. however. he tries to create anything In
which his swift. decisive knowledge OF detail
does not help him. anything In which a gen
eral knowledge OF the passions and heart and
intellect Of man is more needed than special
knowledge Of the dialect Of q profession or the
habits OF q class. he too often loses all his
a.. - ft1,,
nerist Compare. for instance. Nicholas and
Kate Nickieby with their mother and little
Miss La Creevy. The former are nobodes. the
latter great successes. Compare the merely
human beings in Martin Chuzzlewlt" with
the typical beings. and II 10 always the same
As for the good Characteristic young woman
who points upward" for example. in David
Copperncld are hardly ever tolerable
after their first appearance Dickens had
no special store OF experience from which
to paint them. and his general knowl-
edge OF the human heart and mind
was By no means profound. Does Mr.. Hutton.
then. mean to say that Dickens did not pro-
duce vast number Of really lifelike 1Rures2
It rather follows that he did Not only do &C.
centricities that are really moulded on the type
of Q few remarkable traits really exist. but
characters so much moulded by class as to
breathe. at first at least all the class flavor. all
the professional bouquet. which Dickens at
tributes to them. actually exist Sam Weller
himself is hardly more than the distilled life
OF sharp cockney servant, q wit OF the lower
class. who knows London trickery well and
never loses his temper; and the only defect
about Sam Weller Is one which no one would
feel who had not known such u person In
timately enough to find out that he had pas
siors and superstitions and affections OF his
rrht ,h al ~ nj afn Ix tntp
typical framework. and which were apt some
times to break through It. Who're Dickens
fails is In giving the breadth OF ordinary life to
ordinary characters. Ho never drew n mere
artisan. or o mere laborer or laborer's wife. or
q mere shopke eper. or mere gentleman or
LADY. or a mere man or woman Of rank. but
whatever exceptions are taken to Dickenss
realism. no attempt is made by Mr.. Hutton to
his humor. 1t Is admitted that the
wealth and subtlety of his contrasts. tho fine
aim OF his exaggerations. the presence OF
mind displayed In his satire. the oxquisitely
professional flavor OF the sentiments and
m eta phors which fall from his characters. the
combined audacity and microscopic delicacy
OF his shading in caricature. the quaint flights
OF his fancy In illustrating q monstrous abb
surdity. the suddenness Of his strokes at one
moment the cumulative perseverance OF his
touches at another. all make him such q hu-
morlst as many centuries are not lik ely to re-
produce.
Passing from the genius to tho character OF
Dickens. the author OF these papers makes
much Of Forster's admission that there was
for him no city OF the mind for inner con soda
ton and shelter against outward Ills" This
is but kindly way OF saying that dickens de-
pended more than most men on the stimulus
which outer things provided for him: first, on
ha anf hy ha lin rif af
his books and on that which he drew from his
own personal friends private appreciation;
then on tho applause which attended his act
Ings and readings. the intensity OF the eager
a ess to hear him and the emotion he aroused;
and, lastly, on the exultation caused by the
counting up OF the almost fabulous sums
which the readings produced, These see N to
have been the moral drains without security
Tor which life would have lost for Dickens all
It's spring and interest. and It is suggested
that as his literary productiveness began to