The sun., 1919-07-20

Friendships, by Mr.. John William Thorn
as Ley, British journalist, who has de-
voted the leisure of a lifetime to the study
and exposition of the life, character and
writings of Dickens.
Charles Dickens possessed an extraor-
binary capacity for friendship, beyond a
doubt; but one must read this volume to
appreciate the large number and rare
quality of the friends he made year after
year In his brilliant and successful literary
career. There is no reason to believe
that he ever sought acquaintance among
the great simply because they were great;
on the contrary, great men seem to have
been drawn 10 him, like bits of steel to a
magnet, simply by the powerful attrac-
tiveness of his own personal qualities.
To enumerate the friends of Charles
Dickens is practically to give a list of the
prominent men and women of the Vic
torian period who were the contempt
raries of the novelist A glance at the
table of contents of Mr.. Ley's book gives
an idea Of the sort of persons they were.
There we find mention of William Har-
rison Ainsworth and Walter Savage Ian
dor; Robert Browning and Samuel ROg-
ers; Thackeray and Carlyle; Thomas
Hood and Leigh Hunt; Bulwer Lytton
and Macready, the actor; and among
Americans Irving, Longfellow, Holmes
and Lowell. Many lesser lights are in
eluded. The names emphasize the apt
ness of Brander Matthews's warning in
a notice of this very book that ut would
be well for the strenuous souls of to-day
to glance down the vista before parading
their contempt for Victorian literature
There were giants in those days"
II.
Mr.. Ley is quite justified in placing
Thackeray among the friends Of Dickens,
notwithstanding the arrangement which
grew out of the Intervention of Dickens
in club quarrel between Thackeray and
Edmund Yates. The story is told fairly
without any attempt TO defend the unwise
conduct of Dickens in the matter. No one
had ever written kinder words of Dickens
than Thackeray before this falling out
Thackeray had been frequent visitor at
Dickens's house; he was present at the
dinner to celebrate the publication of the
first number of Darid COpperfeld; and
he had endeared himself to the children
of the Dickens household, in whose juve-
nile theatrical performances he took the
greatest interest.
There Is presentation copy Of A
Christmas Carol in existence which con-
tains this inscription in the handwriting
Of the author: ,'W. NJ. Thackeray, from
Charles Dickens Whom he made very
happy once q long way from home)."
Mr.. Ley has been unable to trace the al
fusion; but he tells US that when Thack-
eray's belongings we're sold at auction
after his death Queen Victoria sent an
unlimited commission to buy this copy of
the Carol, and it was purchased for her
for f25 los. There was a reconciliation
only thirteen days before Thackeray died,
when Sir Theodore Martin saw Thaekeray
aecost Dickens in the hall of the Athe-
naum Club and shake hands with him.
Reams have been written concerning
the alleged rivalry and jealousy of these
great men; but the truth seems to be that
each found much to admire, combined
with something he did not quite approve
of, in the other. At all events, TEackeray
was a welcome guest at Dickens's home
for twenty years, so there is ample justi-
fcation for including him within the
Dickens Circle"
The inclusion of George Cruikshank,
the famous artist, is not so easy to JUS
tify. 1t is true he illustrated Oliver TtOist
and Sketches by Boz when his eollabora-
ton was highly beneficial to the author;
but his subsequent preposterous assertion
that be was the real author Of Olioer
Tuist was incompatible with any genuine