A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land Part 34

15. _Edwin Drood_--unfinished, with memoranda, and headings for chapters.

John Forster says:--"The last page of _Edwin Drood_ was written in the chalet in the afternoon of his last day of consciousness."

Of the above-mentioned, the calligraphy of Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, is seen at a glance to be larger, bolder, and to have fewer corrections. In Nos.

5 to 15 it is smaller, and more confused by numerous alterations.

According to Forster--"His greater pains and elaboration of writing became first very obvious in the later parts of _Martin Chuzzlewit_."

The ma.n.u.scripts of the earliest works of the Author, _Sketches by Boz_, _Pickwick_, _Nicholas Nickleby_, &c., were evidently not considered at the time worth preserving. The ma.n.u.script of _Our Mutual Friend_, given by d.i.c.kens to Mr. E. S. Dallas--in grateful acknowledgment of an appreciative review which (according to an article in _Scribner_, ent.i.tled "Our Mutual Friend in Ma.n.u.script") Mr. Dallas wrote of the novel for _The Times_, which largely increased the sale of the book, and fully established its success,--is in the library of Mr. G. W. Childs of Philadelphia; and that of _A Christmas Carol_--given by d.i.c.kens to his old friend and school-fellow, Tom Mitton--was for sale in Birmingham a few years ago, and might have been purchased for two hundred and fifty guineas! It is now owned by Mr. Stuart M. Samuel, and has since been beautifully reproduced in fac-simile, with an Introduction by my friend and fellow-tramp, Mr. F. G. Kitton. Mr. Wright, of Paris, is the fortunate possessor of _The Battle of Life_. The proof-sheets of _Great Expectations_ are in the Museum at Wisbech. Messrs. Jarvis and Son, of King William Street, Strand, sold some time since four of the MSS. of minor articles contributed by d.i.c.kens to _Household Words_ in 1855-6, viz. _The Friend of the Lions_, _Demeanour of Murderers_, _That other Public_, and _Our Commission_, for 10 each.

At the sale of the late Mr. Wilkie Collins's ma.n.u.scripts and library by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge, 18th June, 1890, the ma.n.u.script of _The Frozen Deep_, by Wilkie Collins and Charles d.i.c.kens, 1856 (first performed at Tavistock House, 6th January, 1857), together with the narrative written for _Temple Bar_, 1874, and Prompt Book of the same play, was sold for 300. A poem written by Charles d.i.c.kens, as a Prologue to the same play, and _The Song of the Wreck_, also written by Charles d.i.c.kens, were sold for 11 11_s._ each. _The Perils of Certain English Prisoners_, a joint production of Wilkie Collins and Charles d.i.c.kens, for the Christmas number of _Household Words_, 1857, realized 200; and the drama of _No Thoroughfare_ (imperfect), also a joint production, fetched 22.

The ma.n.u.scripts now belonging to the Nation at South Kensington are placed in a glazed cabinet, standing in the middle of the room, on the right of which looks down the life-like portrait of the great novelist, painted by W. P. Frith, R.A., in 1859. The ma.n.u.script volumes are laid open in an appropriate manner, so that we have an opportunity of examining and comparing them with one another, and of observing how the precious thoughts which flowed from the fertile brain took shape and became realities.

Where corrections have been made, the original ideas are so obscured that it is scarcely possible to decipher them. This is effected, not by the simple method of an obliteration of the words, as is common with some authors, by means of a line or two run through them at one stroke of the pen, but by a series of connected circles, or scroll-work flourishes, thus, [Ill.u.s.tration] which must have caused greater muscular labour in execution. Let any one try the two methods for himself.

d.i.c.kens was fond of flourishes, as witness his first published autograph, under the portrait which was issued with _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1839). Some evidence of "writer's cramp," as it is termed, appears where the C in Charles becomes almost a G, and where the line-like flourishes to the signature thirty years later, under the portrait forming the frontispiece to _Edwin Drood_, are much shorter and less elaborate. All the earlier ma.n.u.scripts are in black ink--the characteristic _blue_ ink, which he was so fond of using in later years, not appearing until _Hard Times_ was written (1854), and this continued to be (with one exception, _Little Dorrit_) his favourite writing medium, for the reason, it is said, that it was fluent to write with and dried quickly.

From a valuable collection of letters (more than a dozen--recently in the possession of Messrs. Noel Conway and Co., of Martineau Street, Birmingham, and kindly shown to me by Mr. Charles Fendelow), written by the novelist between 1832 and 1833 to a friend of his earlier years--Mr.

W. H. Kolle--and not hitherto published, it appears that he had not then acquired that precise habit of inscribing the place, day of the week, month, and the year which marked his later correspondence (as has been pointed out by Miss Hogarth and Miss d.i.c.kens in the preface to the _Letters of Charles d.i.c.kens_), very few of the letters to Mr. Kolle bearing any record whatever except the day of the week, occasionally preceded by Fitzroy Street or Bentinck Street, where he resided at the time. It would be extremely interesting to ascertain the reason which subsequently led him to adopt the extraordinarily precise method which almost invariably marked his correspondence from the year 1840 until the close of his life. Possibly arrangements with publishers and others may have given him the exact habit which afterwards became automatic.

In addition to the ma.n.u.scripts in the Forster Collection in the Museum there are corrected proofs of a portion of the _Pickwick Papers_, _Dombey and Son_, _David Copperfield_, _Bleak House_, and _Little Dorrit_. Some of the corrections in _Dombey and Son_ are said to be in the handwriting of Mr. Forster. All these proofs show marvellous attention to detail--one of the most conspicuous of d.i.c.kens's characteristics. Nothing with him was worth doing unless it was done well. As an ill.u.s.tration of work in this direction, it may be mentioned that a proof copy of the speech delivered at the meeting of the Administrative Reform a.s.sociation at Drury Lane Theatre on Wednesday, June 27th, 1855, in the possession of the writer of these lines, has over a hundred corrections on the nine pages of which it consists, and many of these occur in punctuation. On careful examination, the alterations show that the correction in every case is a decided improvement on the original. The following _fac-similes_ from the _Hand-Book_ to the _Dyce and Forster Collection_, and from Forster's _Life_, ill.u.s.trate the earlier, later, and latest handwritings of Charles d.i.c.kens as shown in the MSS. of _Oliver Twist_, 1837, _Hard Times_, 1854, and _Edwin Drood_, 1870.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "OLIVER TWIST," 1837, vol. i. ch. xii.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: "HARD TIMES," 1854, vol. i. ch. i.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: "DAVID COPPERFIELD," 1850 (corrected proof), ch. xiv.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: "EDWIN DROOD," 1870, ch. xxiii. p. 189 (_last MS.

page_).]

A proof of the fourteenth Chapter of _David Copperfield_, 1850, shows that the allusion to "King Charles the First's head"--about which Mr.

d.i.c.k was so much troubled--was _not_ contained in the first draft of the story, for the pa.s.sage originally had reference to "the date when that bull got into the china warehouse and did so much mischief." The subsequent reference to King Charles's head was a happy thought of d.i.c.kens, and furthered Mr. d.i.c.k's idea of the mistake "of putting some of the trouble out of King Charles's head" into his own.

Mr. R. F. Sketchley, the able and courteous custodian of the collection, allows us to see some of the other rarities in the museum not displayed in the cabinet--prefaces, dedications, and memoranda relating to the novels; letters addressed by d.i.c.kens to Forster, Maclise, and others; rare play-bills; and the originals of invitations to the public dinner and ball at New York, which d.i.c.kens received on the occasion of his first visit to America in 1842. After turning these over with reverential care, we regretfully leave behind us one of the most interesting and important literary collections ever presented to the Nation.

We next visit the Prerogative Registry of the United Kingdom at Somerset House, wherein is filed the original Will of Charles d.i.c.kens. The search for this interesting doc.u.ment pursued by a stranger under pressure of time, strongly reminds one of the "Circ.u.mlocution Office" so graphically described in _Bleak House_. But we are enthusiastic, and at length obtain a clue to it in a folio volume (Letter D), containing the names of testators who died in the year 1870, where the Will is briefly recorded (at number 468) as that of "d.i.c.kens, Charles, otherwise Charles John Huffham, Esquire." We pay our fees, and take our seats in the reading-room, when the original is presently placed in our hands. It is one of a series of three doc.u.ments fastened together by a bit of green silk cord, and secured by the seal of the office, as is customary when there are two or more papers filed. The first doc.u.ment is the Will itself, dated 12th May, 1869, written throughout by the novelist very plainly and closely in the characteristic blue ink on a medium sheet of faint blue quarto letter paper, having the usual legal folded margin, and exactly covering the four pages. It is free from corrections, and is signed, "Charles d.i.c.kens," under which is the never-to-be-mistaken flourish. The testatum is signed by G. Holsworth, 26 Wellington Street, Strand, and Henry Walker, 26 Wellington Street, Strand, which points to the fact that the Will was written and executed at the office of _All the Year Round_. He appoints "Georgina Hogarth and John Forster executrix and executor, and guardians of the persons of my children during their respective minorities."

The second doc.u.ment is the Oath of John Forster, testifying that Charles d.i.c.kens, otherwise Charles John Huffham d.i.c.kens, is one and the same person. The third doc.u.ment is a Codicil dated 2nd June, 1870 (only a week before his death), in which the novelist bequeaths "to my son Charles d.i.c.kens, the younger, all my share and interest in the weekly journal called _All the Year Round_." The Codicil is witnessed by the same persons. The Will and Codicil are both given in extenso in vol.

iii. of Forster's _Life_--the gross amount of the real and personal estate being calculated at 93,000.[38]

Avery short tramp from Somerset House brings us to the last object of our pilgrimage--the grave of Charles d.i.c.kens in Westminster Abbey. Surely no admirer of his genius can omit this final mark of honour to the memory of the mighty dead. Many years have rolled by since "the good, the gentle, highly gifted, ever friendly, n.o.ble d.i.c.kens" pa.s.sed away; and we stand by the grave in the calm September evening, with "jewels cast upon the pavement of the nave from stained gla.s.s by the declining sun," and look down at the dark flat stone lying at our feet, on which is inscribed "in plain English letters," the simple record:--

CHARLES d.i.c.kENS, BORN FEBRUARY THE SEVENTH, 1812.

DIED JUNE THE NINTH, 1870.

We recall with profoundly sympathetic interest that quietly impressive ceremony as recorded by Forster in the final pages of his able biography. "Before mid-day on Tuesday, the 14th June, 1870, with knowledge of those only who took part in the burial, all was done. The solemnity had not lost by the simplicity. Nothing so grand or so touching could have accompanied it, as the stillness and the silence of the vast Cathedral." And he further describes the wonderful gathering subsequently:--"Then later in the day, and all the following day, came unbidden mourners in such crowds that the Dean had to request permission to keep open the grave until Thursday; but after it was closed they did not cease to come, and all day long." Dean Stanley wrote:--"On the 17th there was a constant pressure to the spot, and many flowers were strewn upon it by unknown hands, many tears shed from unknown eyes."

What poet, what philosopher, what monarch even, might not envy this loving tribute to the influence of the great writer, to the personal respect for the man, and to the affection for the friend who, by the sterling nature of his work for nearly thirty-five years, had the power to create and sustain such sympathy?

Forster thus admiringly concludes the memoir of his hero:

"The highest a.s.sociations of both the arts he loved surround him where he lies. Next to him is Richard c.u.mberland. Mrs. Pritchard's monument looks down upon him, and immediately behind is David Garrick's. Nor is the actor's delightful art more worthily represented than the n.o.bler genius of the author. Facing the grave, and on its left and right, are the monuments of Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Dryden, the three immortals who did most to create and settle the language to which Charles d.i.c.kens has given another undying name."

"Of making many books there is no end," said the wise man of old; and certainly, if we may estimate the popularity of Charles d.i.c.kens by the works of all kinds relating to him, written since his death, the number may be counted by hundreds. It may also be said that probably no other English writer save Shakespeare has been the cause of so much posthumous literature. The sayings of his characters permeate our everyday life, and they continue to be as fresh as when they were first recorded. The original editions of his writings in some cases realize high prices which are simply amazing, and--judging by statistics--his readers are as numerous as ever they were. Higher testimony to the worth "of the most popular novelist of the century, and one of the greatest humourists that England has produced," and to the continued interest which the reading public still evince in the minutest detail relating to him and to his books, can scarcely be uttered; but what is better still--"his sympathies were generally on the right side;"--he has left an example that all may follow;--he did his utmost to leave the world a little better than he found it;--as he said by one of his characters, "the best of men can do no more"--and now he peacefully rests as one

"Of those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

FOOTNOTE:

[38] Mr. Dolby, in his _Charles d.i.c.kens as I knew him_, estimates that 45,000 was realized by d.i.c.kens's Readings.

L'ENVOI.

WE--my fellow-tramp and I--naturally feel a pang of regret now that our pleasant visit to "d.i.c.kens-Land" is terminated. With a parting grasp of the hand I express to the companion of my travels a cordial wish that ere long we may, "PLEASE G.o.d," renew our delightful experience, and again go over the ground hallowed by d.i.c.kens a.s.sociations; to which my friend, as cordially a.s.senting, replies "SURELY, SURELY!"

With these two favourite expressions of Charles d.i.c.kens (quoted above) I conclude the book, trusting that it will prove worthy of some kindly appreciation at the hands of my readers.

THE END.