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diff --git a/old/dslas10.txt b/old/dslas10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f01ecc6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/dslas10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8279 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Speeches: Literary and Social, by Charles Dickens +(#20 in our series by Charles Dickens) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Speeches: Literary and Social + +Author: Charles Dickens + +Release Date: February, 1997 [EBook #824] +[This file was first posted on March 1, 1997] +[Most recently updated: September 25, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SPEECHES: LITERARY AND SOCIAL *** + + + + +Transcribed from the 1880 Chatto and Windus edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + +SPEECHES: LITERARY AND SOCIAL BY CHARLES DICKENS + + + + +SPEECH: EDINBURGH, JUNE 25, 1841. + + + +[At a public dinner, given in honour of Mr. Dickens, and presided +over by the late Professor Wilson, the Chairman having proposed his +health in a long and eloquent speech, Mr. Dickens returned thanks +as follows:-] + +If I felt your warm and generous welcome less, I should be better +able to thank you. If I could have listened as you have listened +to the glowing language of your distinguished Chairman, and if I +could have heard as you heard the "thoughts that breathe and words +that burn," which he has uttered, it would have gone hard but I +should have caught some portion of his enthusiasm, and kindled at +his example. But every word which fell from his lips, and every +demonstration of sympathy and approbation with which you received +his eloquent expressions, renders me unable to respond to his +kindness, and leaves me at last all heart and no lips, yearning to +respond as I would do to your cordial greeting--possessing, heaven +knows, the will, and desiring only to find the way. + +The way to your good opinion, favour, and support, has been to me +very pleasing--a path strewn with flowers and cheered with +sunshine. I feel as if I stood amongst old friends, whom I had +intimately known and highly valued. I feel as if the deaths of the +fictitious creatures, in which you have been kind enough to express +an interest, had endeared us to each other as real afflictions +deepen friendships in actual life; I feel as if they had been real +persons, whose fortunes we had pursued together in inseparable +connexion, and that I had never known them apart from you. + +It is a difficult thing for a man to speak of himself or of his +works. But perhaps on this occasion I may, without impropriety, +venture to say a word on the spirit in which mine were conceived. +I felt an earnest and humble desire, and shall do till I die, to +increase the stock of harmless cheerfulness. I felt that the world +was not utterly to be despised; that it was worthy of living in for +many reasons. I was anxious to find, as the Professor has said, if +I could, in evil things, that soul of goodness which the Creator +has put in them. I was anxious to show that virtue may be found in +the bye-ways of the world, that it is not incompatible with poverty +and even with rags, and to keep steadily through life the motto, +expressed in the burning words of your Northern poet - + + +"The rank is but the guinea stamp, +The man's the gowd for a' that." + + +And in following this track, where could I have better assurance +that I was right, or where could I have stronger assurance to cheer +me on than in your kindness on this to me memorable night? + +I am anxious and glad to have an opportunity of saying a word in +reference to one incident in which I am happy to know you were +interested, and still more happy to know, though it may sound +paradoxical, that you were disappointed--I mean the death of the +little heroine. When I first conceived the idea of conducting that +simple story to its termination, I determined rigidly to adhere to +it, and never to forsake the end I had in view. Not untried in the +school of affliction, in the death of those we love, I thought what +a good thing it would be if in my little work of pleasant amusement +I could substitute a garland of fresh flowers for the sculptured +horrors which disgrace the tomb. If I have put into my book +anything which can fill the young mind with better thoughts of +death, or soften the grief of older hearts; if I have written one +word which can afford pleasure or consolation to old or young in +time of trial, I shall consider it as something achieved--something +which I shall be glad to look back upon in after life. Therefore I +kept to my purpose, notwithstanding that towards the conclusion of +the story, I daily received letters of remonstrance, especially +from the ladies. God bless them for their tender mercies! The +Professor was quite right when he said that I had not reached to an +adequate delineation of their virtues; and I fear that I must go on +blotting their characters in endeavouring to reach the ideal in my +mind. These letters were, however, combined with others from the +sterner sex, and some of them were not altogether free from +personal invective. But, notwithstanding, I kept to my purpose, +and I am happy to know that many of those who at first condemned me +are now foremost in their approbation. + +If I have made a mistake in detaining you with this little +incident, I do not regret having done so; for your kindness has +given me such a confidence in you, that the fault is yours and not +mine. I come once more to thank you, and here I am in a difficulty +again. The distinction you have conferred upon me is one which I +never hoped for, and of which I never dared to dream. That it is +one which I shall never forget, and that while I live I shall be +proud of its remembrance, you must well know. I believe I shall +never hear the name of this capital of Scotland without a thrill of +gratitude and pleasure. I shall love while I have life her people, +her hills, and her houses, and even the very stones of her streets. +And if in the future works which may lie before me you should +discern--God grant you may!--a brighter spirit and a clearer wit, I +pray you to refer it back to this night, and point to that as a +Scottish passage for evermore. I thank you again and again, with +the energy of a thousand thanks in each one, and I drink to you +with a heart as full as my glass, and far easier emptied, I do +assure you. + + +[Later in the evening, in proposing the health of Professor Wilson, +Mr. Dickens said:-] + + +I have the honour to be entrusted with a toast, the very mention of +which will recommend itself to you, I know, as one possessing no +ordinary claims to your sympathy and approbation, and the proposing +of which is as congenial to my wishes and feelings as its +acceptance must be to yours. It is the health of our Chairman, and +coupled with his name I have to propose the literature of Scotland- +-a literature which he has done much to render famous through the +world, and of which he has been for many years--as I hope and +believe he will be for many more--a most brilliant and +distinguished ornament. Who can revert to the literature of the +land of Scott and of Burns without having directly in his mind, as +inseparable from the subject and foremost in the picture, that old +man of might, with his lion heart and sceptred crutch--Christopher +North. I am glad to remember the time when I believed him to be a +real, actual, veritable old gentleman, that might be seen any day +hobbling along the High Street with the most brilliant eye--but +that is no fiction--and the greyest hair in all the world--who +wrote not because he cared to write, not because he cared for the +wonder and admiration of his fellow-men, but who wrote because he +could not help it, because there was always springing up in his +mind a clear and sparkling stream of poetry which must have vent, +and like the glittering fountain in the fairy tale, draw what you +might, was ever at the full, and never languished even by a single +drop or bubble. I had so figured him in my mind, and when I saw +the Professor two days ago, striding along the Parliament House, I +was disposed to take it as a personal offence--I was vexed to see +him look so hearty. I drooped to see twenty Christophers in one. +I began to think that Scottish life was all light and no shadows, +and I began to doubt that beautiful book to which I have turned +again and again, always to find new beauties and fresh sources of +interest. + + +[In proposing the memory of the late Sir David Wilkie, Mr. Dickens +said:-] + + +Less fortunate than the two gentlemen who have preceded me, it is +confided to me to mention a name which cannot be pronounced without +sorrow, a name in which Scotland had a great triumph, and which +England delighted to honour. One of the gifted of the earth has +passed away, as it were, yesterday; one who was devoted to his art, +and his art was nature--I mean David Wilkie. {1} He was one who +made the cottage hearth a graceful thing--of whom it might truly be +said that he found "books in the running brooks," and who has left +in all he did some breathing of the air which stirs the heather. +But however desirous to enlarge on his genius as an artist, I would +rather speak of him now as a friend who has gone from amongst us. +There is his deserted studio--the empty easel lying idly by--the +unfinished picture with its face turned to the wall, and there is +that bereaved sister, who loved him with an affection which death +cannot quench. He has left a name in fame clear as the bright sky; +he has filled our minds with memories pure as the blue waves which +roll over him. Let us hope that she who more than all others +mourns his loss, may learn to reflect that he died in the fulness +of his time, before age or sickness had dimmed his powers--and that +she may yet associate with feelings as calm and pleasant as we do +now the memory of Wilkie. + + + +SPEECH: JANUARY, 1842. + + + +[In presenting Captain Hewett, of the Britannia, {2} with a service +of plate on behalf of the passengers, Mr. Dickens addressed him as +follows:] + +Captain Hewett,--I am very proud and happy to have been selected as +the instrument of conveying to you the heartfelt thanks of my +fellow-passengers on board the ship entrusted to your charge, and +of entreating your acceptance of this trifling present. The +ingenious artists who work in silver do not always, I find, keep +their promises, even in Boston. I regret that, instead of two +goblets, which there should be here, there is, at present, only +one. The deficiency, however, will soon be supplied; and, when it +is, our little testimonial will be, so far, complete. + +You are a sailor, Captain Hewett, in the truest sense of the word; +and the devoted admiration of the ladies, God bless them, is a +sailor's first boast. I need not enlarge upon the honour they have +done you, I am sure, by their presence here. Judging of you by +myself, I am certain that the recollection of their beautiful faces +will cheer your lonely vigils upon the ocean for a long time to +come. + +In all time to come, and in all your voyages upon the sea, I hope +you will have a thought for those who wish to live in your memory +by the help of these trifles. As they will often connect you with +the pleasure of those homes and fire sides from which they once +wandered, and which, but for you, they might never have regained, +so they trust that you will sometimes associate them with your +hours of festive enjoyment; and, that, when you drink from these +cups, you will feel that the draught is commended to your lips by +friends whose best wishes you have; and who earnestly and truly +hope for your success, happiness, and prosperity, in all the +undertakings of your life. + + + +SPEECH: FEBRUARY 1842. + + + +[At dinner given to Mr. Dickens by the young men of Boston. The +company consisted of about two hundred, among whom were George +Bancroft, Washington Allston, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. The toast +of "Health, happiness, and a hearty welcome to Charles Dickens," +having been proposed by the chairman, Mr. Quincy, and received with +great applause, Mr. Dickens responded with the following address:] + +Gentlemen,--If you had given this splendid entertainment to anyone +else in the whole wide world--if I were to-night to exult in the +triumph of my dearest friend--if I stood here upon my defence, to +repel any unjust attack--to appeal as a stranger to your generosity +and kindness as the freest people on the earth--I could, putting +some restraint upon myself, stand among you as self-possessed and +unmoved as I should be alone in my own room in England. But when I +have the echoes of your cordial greeting ringing in my ears; when I +see your kind faces beaming a welcome so warm and earnest as never +man had--I feel, it is my nature, so vanquished and subdued, that I +have hardly fortitude enough to thank you. If your President, +instead of pouring forth that delightful mixture of humour and +pathos which you have just heard, had been but a caustic, ill- +natured man--if he had only been a dull one--if I could only have +doubted or distrusted him or you, I should have had my wits at my +fingers' ends, and, using them, could have held you at arm's- +length. But you have given me no such opportunity; you take +advantage of me in the tenderest point; you give me no chance of +playing at company, or holding you at a distance, but flock about +me like a host of brothers, and make this place like home. Indeed, +gentlemen, indeed, if it be natural and allowable for each of us, +on his own hearth, to express his thoughts in the most homely +fashion, and to appear in his plainest garb, I have a fair claim +upon you to let me do so to-night, for you have made my home an +Aladdin's Palace. You fold so tenderly within your breasts that +common household lamp in which my feeble fire is all enshrined, and +at which my flickering torch is lighted up, that straight my +household gods take wing, and are transported there. And whereas +it is written of that fairy structure that it never moved without +two shocks--one when it rose, and one when it settled down--I can +say of mine that, however sharp a tug it took to pluck it from its +native ground, it struck at once an easy, and a deep and lasting +root into this soil; and loved it as its own. I can say more of +it, and say with truth, that long before it moved, or had a chance +of moving, its master--perhaps from some secret sympathy between +its timbers, and a certain stately tree that has its being +hereabout, and spreads its broad branches far and wide--dreamed by +day and night, for years, of setting foot upon this shore, and +breathing this pure air. And, trust me, gentlemen, that, if I had +wandered here, unknowing and unknown, I would--if I know my own +heart--have come with all my sympathies clustering as richly about +this land and people--with all my sense of justice as keenly alive +to their high claims on every man who loves God's image--with all +my energies as fully bent on judging for myself, and speaking out, +and telling in my sphere the truth, as I do now, when you rain down +your welcomes on my head. + +Our President has alluded to those writings which have been my +occupation for some years past; and you have received his allusions +in a manner which assures me--if I needed any such assurance--that +we are old friends in the spirit, and have been in close communion +for a long time. + +It is not easy for a man to speak of his own books. I daresay that +few persons have been more interested in mine than I, and if it be +a general principle in nature that a lover's love is blind, and +that a mother's love is blind, I believe it may be said of an +author's attachment to the creatures of his own imagination, that +it is a perfect model of constancy and devotion, and is the +blindest of all. But the objects and purposes I have had in view +are very plain and simple, and may be easily told. I have always +had, and always shall have, an earnest and true desire to +contribute, as far as in me lies, to the common stock of healthful +cheerfulness and enjoyment. I have always had, and always shall +have, an invincible repugnance to that mole-eyed philosophy which +loves the darkness, and winks and scowls in the light. I believe +that Virtue shows quite as well in rags and patches, as she does in +purple and fine linen. I believe that she and every beautiful +object in external nature, claims some sympathy in the breast of +the poorest man who breaks his scanty loaf of daily bread. I +believe that she goes barefoot as well as shod. I believe that she +dwells rather oftener in alleys and by-ways than she does in courts +and palaces, and that it is good, and pleasant, and profitable to +track her out, and follow her. I believe that to lay one's hand +upon some of those rejected ones whom the world has too long +forgotten, and too often misused, and to say to the proudest and +most thoughtless--"These creatures have the same elements and +capacities of goodness as yourselves, they are moulded in the same +form, and made of the same clay; and though ten times worse than +you, may, in having retained anything of their original nature +amidst the trials and distresses of their condition, be really ten +times better;" I believe that to do this is to pursue a worthy and +not useless vocation. Gentlemen, that you think so too, your +fervent greeting sufficiently assures me. That this feeling is +alive in the Old World as well as in the New, no man should know +better than I--I, who have found such wide and ready sympathy in my +own dear land. That in expressing it, we are but treading in the +steps of those great master-spirits who have gone before, we know +by reference to all the bright examples in our literature, from +Shakespeare downward. + +There is one other point connected with the labours (if I may call +them so) that you hold in such generous esteem, to which I cannot +help adverting. I cannot help expressing the delight, the more +than happiness it was to me to find so strong an interest awakened +on this side of the water, in favour of that little heroine of +mine, to whom your president has made allusion, who died in her +youth. I had letters about that child, in England, from the +dwellers in log-houses among the morasses, and swamps, and densest +forests, and deep solitudes of the far west. Many a sturdy hand, +hard with the axe and spade, and browned by the summer's sun, has +taken up the pen, and written to me a little history of domestic +joy or sorrow, always coupled, I am proud to say, with something of +interest in that little tale, or some comfort or happiness derived +from it, and my correspondent has always addressed me, not as a +writer of books for sale, resident some four or five thousand miles +away, but as a friend to whom he might freely impart the joys and +sorrows of his own fireside. Many a mother--I could reckon them +now by dozens, not by units--has done the like, and has told me how +she lost such a child at such a time, and where she lay buried, and +how good she was, and how, in this or that respect, she resembles +Nell. I do assure you that no circumstance of my life has given me +one hundredth part of the gratification I have derived from this +source. I was wavering at the time whether or not to wind up my +Clock, {3} and come and see this country, and this decided me. I +felt as if it were a positive duty, as if I were bound to pack up +my clothes, and come and see my friends; and even now I have such +an odd sensation in connexion with these things, that you have no +chance of spoiling me. I feel as though we were agreeing--as +indeed we are, if we substitute for fictitious characters the +classes from which they are drawn--about third parties, in whom we +had a common interest. At every new act of kindness on your part, +I say to myself "That's for Oliver; I should not wonder if that was +meant for Smike; I have no doubt that is intended for Nell;" and so +I become a much happier, certainly, but a more sober and retiring +man than ever I was before. + +Gentlemen, talking of my friends in America, brings me back, +naturally and of course, to you. Coming back to you, and being +thereby reminded of the pleasure we have in store in hearing the +gentlemen who sit about me, I arrive by the easiest, though not by +the shortest course in the world, at the end of what I have to say. +But before I sit down, there is one topic on which I am desirous to +lay particular stress. It has, or should have, a strong interest +for us all, since to its literature every country must look for one +great means of refining and improving its people, and one great +source of national pride and honour. You have in America great +writers--great writers--who will live in all time, and are as +familiar to our lips as household words. Deriving (as they all do +in a greater or less degree, in their several walks) their +inspiration from the stupendous country that gave them birth, they +diffuse a better knowledge of it, and a higher love for it, all +over the civilized world. I take leave to say, in the presence of +some of those gentleman, that I hope the time is not far distant +when they, in America, will receive of right some substantial +profit and return in England from their labours; and when we, in +England, shall receive some substantial profit and return in +America for ours. Pray do not misunderstand me. Securing to +myself from day to day the means of an honourable subsistence, I +would rather have the affectionate regard of my fellow men, than I +would have heaps and mines of gold. But the two things do not seem +to me incompatible. They cannot be, for nothing good is +incompatible with justice; there must be an international +arrangement in this respect: England has done her part, and I am +confident that the time is not far distant when America will do +hers. It becomes the character of a great country; FIRSTLY, +because it is justice; SECONDLY, because without it you never can +have, and keep, a literature of your own. + +Gentlemen, I thank you with feelings of gratitude, such as are not +often awakened, and can never be expressed. As I understand it to +be the pleasant custom here to finish with a toast, I would beg to +give you: AMERICA AND ENGLAND, and may they never have any +division but the Atlantic between them. + + + +SPEECH: FEBRUARY 7, 1842. + + + +Gentlemen,--To say that I thank you for the earnest manner in which +you have drunk the toast just now so eloquently proposed to you--to +say that I give you back your kind wishes and good feelings with +more than compound interest; and that I feel how dumb and powerless +the best acknowledgments would be beside such genial hospitality as +yours, is nothing. To say that in this winter season, flowers have +sprung up in every footstep's length of the path which has brought +me here; that no country ever smiled more pleasantly than yours has +smiled on me, and that I have rarely looked upon a brighter summer +prospect than that which lies before me now, {4} is nothing. + +But it is something to be no stranger in a strange place--to feel, +sitting at a board for the first time, the ease and affection of an +old guest, and to be at once on such intimate terms with the family +as to have a homely, genuine interest in its every member--it is, I +say, something to be in this novel and happy frame of mind. And, +as it is of your creation, and owes its being to you, I have no +reluctance in urging it as a reason why, in addressing you, I +should not so much consult the form and fashion of my speech, as I +should employ that universal language of the heart, which you, and +such as you, best teach, and best can understand. Gentlemen, in +that universal language--common to you in America, and to us in +England, as that younger mother-tongue, which, by the means of, and +through the happy union of our two great countries, shall be spoken +ages hence, by land and sea, over the wide surface of the globe--I +thank you. + +I had occasion to say the other night in Boston, as I have more +than once had occasion to remark before, that it is not easy for an +author to speak of his own books. If the task be a difficult one +at any time, its difficulty, certainly, is not diminished when a +frequent recurrence to the same theme has left one nothing new to +say. Still, I feel that, in a company like this, and especially +after what has been said by the President, that I ought not to pass +lightly over those labours of love, which, if they had no other +merit, have been the happy means of bringing us together. + +It has been often observed, that you cannot judge of an author's +personal character from his writings. It may be that you cannot. +I think it very likely, for many reasons, that you cannot. But, at +least, a reader will rise from the perusal of a book with some +defined and tangible idea of the writer's moral creed and broad +purposes, if he has any at all; and it is probable enough that he +may like to have this idea confirmed from the author's lips, or +dissipated by his explanation. Gentlemen, my moral creed--which is +a very wide and comprehensive one, and includes all sects and +parties--is very easily summed up. I have faith, and I wish to +diffuse faith in the existence--yes, of beautiful things, even in +those conditions of society, which are so degenerate, degraded, and +forlorn, that, at first sight, it would seem as though they could +not be described but by a strange and terrible reversal of the +words of Scripture, "God said, Let there be light, and there was +none." I take it that we are born, and that we hold our +sympathies, hopes, and energies, in trust for the many, and not for +the few. That we cannot hold in too strong a light of disgust and +contempt, before the view of others, all meanness, falsehood, +cruelty, and oppression, of every grade and kind. Above all, that +nothing is high, because it is in a high place; and that nothing is +low, because it is in a low one. This is the lesson taught us in +the great book of nature. This is the lesson which may be read, +alike in the bright track of the stars, and in the dusty course of +the poorest thing that drags its tiny length upon the ground. This +is the lesson ever uppermost in the thoughts of that inspired man, +who tells us that there are + + +"Tongues in the trees, books in the running brooks, +Sermons in stones, and good in everything." + + +Gentlemen, keeping these objects steadily before me, I am at no +loss to refer your favour and your generous hospitality back to the +right source. While I know, on the one hand, that if, instead of +being what it is, this were a land of tyranny and wrong, I should +care very little for your smiles or frowns, so I am sure upon the +other, that if, instead of being what I am, I were the greatest +genius that ever trod the earth, and had diverted myself for the +oppression and degradation of mankind, you would despise and reject +me. I hope you will, whenever, through such means, I give you the +opportunity. Trust me, that, whenever you give me the like +occasion, I will return the compliment with interest. + +Gentlemen, as I have no secrets from you, in the spirit of +confidence you have engendered between us, and as I have made a +kind of compact with myself that I never will, while I remain in +America, omit an opportunity of referring to a topic in which I and +all others of my class on both sides of the water are equally +interested--equally interested, there is no difference between us, +I would beg leave to whisper in your ear two words: INTERNATIONAL +COPYRIGHT. I use them in no sordid sense, believe me, and those +who know me best, best know that. For myself, I would rather that +my children, coming after me, trudged in the mud, and knew by the +general feeling of society that their father was beloved, and had +been of some use, than I would have them ride in their carriages, +and know by their banker's books that he was rich. But I do not +see, I confess, why one should be obliged to make the choice, or +why fame, besides playing that delightful REVEIL for which she is +so justly celebrated, should not blow out of her trumpet a few +notes of a different kind from those with which she has hitherto +contented herself. + +It was well observed the other night by a beautiful speaker, whose +words went to the heart of every man who heard him, that, if there +had existed any law in this respect, Scott might not have sunk +beneath the mighty pressure on his brain, but might have lived to +add new creatures of his fancy to the crowd which swarm about you +in your summer walks, and gather round your winter evening hearths. + +As I listened to his words, there came back, fresh upon me, that +touching scene in the great man's life, when he lay upon his couch, +surrounded by his family, and listened, for the last time, to the +rippling of the river he had so well loved, over its stony bed. I +pictured him to myself, faint, wan, dying, crushed both in mind and +body by his honourable struggle, and hovering round him the +phantoms of his own imagination--Waverley, Ravenswood, Jeanie +Deans, Rob Roy, Caleb Balderstone, Dominie Sampson--all the +familiar throng--with cavaliers, and Puritans, and Highland chiefs +innumerable overflowing the chamber, and fading away in the dim +distance beyond. I pictured them, fresh from traversing the world, +and hanging down their heads in shame and sorrow, that, from all +those lands into which they had carried gladness, instruction, and +delight for millions, they brought him not one friendly hand to +help to raise him from that sad, sad bed. No, nor brought him from +that land in which his own language was spoken, and in every house +and hut of which his own books were read in his own tongue, one +grateful dollar-piece to buy a garland for his grave. Oh! if every +man who goes from here, as many do, to look upon that tomb in +Dryburgh Abbey, would but remember this, and bring the recollection +home! + +Gentlemen, I thank you again, and once again, and many times to +that. You have given me a new reason for remembering this day, +which is already one of mark in my calendar, it being my birthday; +and you have given those who are nearest and dearest to me a new +reason for recollecting it with pride and interest. Heaven knows +that, although I should grow ever so gray, I shall need nothing to +remind me of this epoch in my life. But I am glad to think that +from this time you are inseparably connected with every recurrence +of this day; and, that on its periodical return, I shall always, in +imagination, have the unfading pleasure of entertaining you as my +guests, in return for the gratification you have afforded me to- +night. + + + +SPEECH: NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 18, 1842. + + + +[At a dinner presided over by Washington Irving, when nearly eight +hundred of the most distinguished citizens of New York were +present, "Charles Dickens, the Literary Guest of the Nation," +having been "proferred as a sentiment" by the Chairman, Mr. Dickens +rose, and spoke as follows:] + +Gentlemen,--I don't know how to thank you--I really don't know how. +You would naturally suppose that my former experience would have +given me this power, and that the difficulties in my way would have +been diminished; but I assure you the fact is exactly the reverse, +and I have completely baulked the ancient proverb that "a rolling +stone gathers no moss;" and in my progress to this city I have +collected such a weight of obligations and acknowledgment--I have +picked up such an enormous mass of fresh moss at every point, and +was so struck by the brilliant scenes of Monday night, that I +thought I could never by any possibility grow any bigger. I have +made, continually, new accumulations to such an extent that I am +compelled to stand still, and can roll no more! + +Gentlemen, we learn from the authorities, that, when fairy stories, +or balls, or rolls of thread, stopped of their own accord--as I do +not--it presaged some great catastrophe near at hand. The precedent +holds good in this case. When I have remembered the short time I +have before me to spend in this land of mighty interests, and the +poor opportunity I can at best have of acquiring a knowledge of, +and forming an acquaintance with it, I have felt it almost a duty +to decline the honours you so generously heap upon me, and pass +more quietly among you. For Argus himself, though he had but one +mouth for his hundred eyes, would have found the reception of a +public entertainment once a-week too much for his greatest +activity; and, as I would lose no scrap of the rich instruction and +the delightful knowledge which meet me on every hand, (and already +I have gleaned a great deal from your hospitals and common jails),- +-I have resolved to take up my staff, and go my way rejoicing, and +for the future to shake hands with America, not at parties but at +home; and, therefore, gentlemen, I say to-night, with a full heart, +and an honest purpose, and grateful feelings, that I bear, and +shall ever bear, a deep sense of your kind, your affectionate and +your noble greeting, which it is utterly impossible to convey in +words. No European sky without, and no cheerful home or well- +warmed room within shall ever shut out this land from my vision. I +shall often hear your words of welcome in my quiet room, and +oftenest when most quiet; and shall see your faces in the blazing +fire. If I should live to grow old, the scenes of this and other +evenings will shine as brightly to my dull eyes fifty years hence +as now; and the honours you bestow upon me shall be well remembered +and paid back in my undying love, and honest endeavours for the +good of my race. + +Gentlemen, one other word with reference to this first person +singular, and then I shall close. I came here in an open, honest, +and confiding spirit, if ever man did, and because I felt a deep +sympathy in your land; had I felt otherwise, I should have kept +away. As I came here, and am here, without the least admixture of +one-hundredth part of one grain of base alloy, without one feeling +of unworthy reference to self in any respect, I claim, in regard to +the past, for the last time, my right in reason, in truth, and in +justice, to approach, as I have done on two former occasions, a +question of literary interest. I claim that justice be done; and I +prefer this claim as one who has a right to speak and be heard. I +have only to add that I shall be as true to you as you have been to +me. I recognize in your enthusiastic approval of the creatures of +my fancy, your enlightened care for the happiness of the many, your +tender regard for the afflicted, your sympathy for the downcast, +your plans for correcting and improving the bad, and for +encouraging the good; and to advance these great objects shall be, +to the end of my life, my earnest endeavour, to the extent of my +humble ability. Having said thus much with reference to myself, I +shall have the pleasure of saying a few words with reference to +somebody else. + +There is in this city a gentleman who, at the reception of one of +my books--I well remember it was the Old Curiosity Shop--wrote to +me in England a letter so generous, so affectionate, and so manly, +that if I had written the book under every circumstance of +disappointment, of discouragement, and difficulty, instead of the +reverse, I should have found in the receipt of that letter my best +and most happy reward. I answered him, {5} and he answered me, and +so we kept shaking hands autographically, as if no ocean rolled +between us. I came here to this city eager to see him, and [laying +his hand it upon Irving's shoulder] here he sits! I need not tell +you how happy and delighted I am to see him here to-night in this +capacity. + +Washington Irving! Why, gentlemen, I don't go upstairs to bed two +nights out of the seven--as a very creditable witness near at hand +can testify--I say I do not go to bed two nights out of the seven +without taking Washington Irving under my arm; and, when I don't +take him, I take his own brother, Oliver Goldsmith. Washington +Irving! Why, of whom but him was I thinking the other day when I +came up by the Hog's Back, the Frying Pan, Hell Gate, and all these +places? Why, when, not long ago, I visited Shakespeare's +birthplace, and went beneath the roof where he first saw light, +whose name but HIS was pointed out to me upon the wall? Washington +Irving--Diedrich Knickerbocker--Geoffrey Crayon--why, where can you +go that they have not been there before? Is there an English farm- +-is there an English stream, an English city, or an English +country-seat, where they have not been? Is there no Bracebridge +Hall in existence? Has it no ancient shades or quiet streets? + +In bygone times, when Irving left that Hall, he left sitting in an +old oak chair, in a small parlour of the Boar's Head, a little man +with a red nose, and an oilskin hat. When I came away he was +sitting there still!--not a man LIKE him, but the same man--with +the nose of immortal redness and the hat of an undying glaze! +Crayon, while there, was on terms of intimacy with a certain +radical fellow, who used to go about, with a hatful of newspapers, +wofully out at elbows, and with a coat of great antiquity. Why, +gentlemen, I know that man--Tibbles the elder, and he has not +changed a hair; and, when I came away, he charged me to give his +best respects to Washington Irving! + +Leaving the town and the rustic life of England--forgetting this +man, if we can--putting out of mind the country church-yard and the +broken heart--let us cross the water again, and ask who has +associated himself most closely with the Italian peasantry and the +bandits of the Pyrenees? When the traveller enters his little +chamber beyond the Alps--listening to the dim echoes of the long +passages and spacious corridors--damp, and gloomy, and cold--as he +hears the tempest beating with fury against his window, and gazes +at the curtains, dark, and heavy, and covered with mould--and when +all the ghost-stories that ever were told come up before him--amid +all his thick-coming fancies, whom does he think of? Washington +Irving. + +Go farther still: go to the Moorish Mountains, sparkling full in +the moonlight--go among the water-carriers and the village gossips, +living still as in days of old--and who has travelled among them +before you, and peopled the Alhambra and made eloquent its shadows? +Who awakes there a voice from every hill and in every cavern, and +bids legends, which for centuries have slept a dreamless sleep, or +watched unwinkingly, start up and pass before you in all their life +and glory? + +But leaving this again, who embarked with Columbus upon his gallant +ship, traversed with him the dark and mighty ocean, leaped upon the +land and planted there the flag of Spain, but this same man, now +sitting by my side? And being here at home again, who is a more +fit companion for money-diggers? and what pen but his has made Rip +Van Winkle, playing at nine-pins on that thundering afternoon, as +much part and parcel of the Catskill Mountains as any tree or crag +that they can boast? + +But these are topics familiar from my boyhood, and which I am apt +to pursue; and lest I should be tempted now to talk too long about +them, I will, in conclusion, give you a sentiment, most +appropriate, I am sure, in the presence of such writers as Bryant, +Halleck, and--but I suppose I must not mention the ladies here - + + +THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA: + + +She well knows how to do honour to her own literature and to that +of other lands, when she chooses Washington Irving for her +representative in the country of Cervantes. + + + +SPEECH: MANCHESTER, OCTOBER 5, 1843. + + + +[This address was delivered at a soiree of the members of the +Manchester, Athenaeum, at which Mr. Dickens presided. Among the +other speakers on the occasion were Mr. Cobden and Mr. Disraeli.] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--I am sure I need scarcely tell you that I am +very proud and happy; and that I take it as a great distinction to +be asked to come amongst you on an occasion such as this, when, +even with the brilliant and beautiful spectacle which I see before +me, I can hail it as the most brilliant and beautiful circumstance +of all, that we assemble together here, even here, upon neutral +ground, where we have no more knowledge of party difficulties, or +public animosities between side and side, or between man and man, +than if we were a public meeting in the commonwealth of Utopia. + +Ladies and gentlemen, upon this, and upon a hundred other grounds, +this assembly is not less interesting to me, believe me--although, +personally, almost a stranger here--than it is interesting to you; +and I take it, that it is not of greater importance to all of us +than it is to every man who has learned to know that he has an +interest in the moral and social elevation, the harmless +relaxation, the peace, happiness, and improvement, of the community +at large. Not even those who saw the first foundation of your +Athenaeum laid, and watched its progress, as I know they did, +almost as tenderly as if it were the progress of a living creature, +until it reared its beautiful front, an honour to the town--not +even they, nor even you who, within its walls, have tasted its +usefulness, and put it to the proof, have greater reason, I am +persuaded, to exult in its establishment, or to hope that it may +thrive and prosper, than scores of thousands at a distance, who-- +whether consciously or unconsciously, matters not--have, in the +principle of its success and bright example, a deep and personal +concern. + +It well becomes, particularly well becomes, this enterprising town, +this little world of labour, that she should stand out foremost in +the foremost rank in such a cause. It well becomes her, that, +among her numerous and noble public institutions, she should have a +splendid temple sacred to the education and improvement of a large +class of those who, in their various useful stations, assist in the +production of our wealth, and in rendering her name famous through +the world. I think it is grand to know, that, while her factories +re-echo with the clanking of stupendous engines, and the whirl and +rattle of machinery, the immortal mechanism of God's own hand, the +mind, is not forgotten in the din and uproar, but is lodged and +tended in a palace of its own. That it is a structure deeply fixed +and rooted in the public spirit of this place, and built to last, I +have no more doubt, judging from the spectacle I see before me, and +from what I know of its brief history, than I have of the reality +of these walls that hem us in, and the pillars that spring up about +us. + +You are perfectly well aware, I have no doubt, that the Athenaeum +was projected at a time when commerce was in a vigorous and +flourishing condition, and when those classes of society to which +it particularly addresses itself were fully employed, and in the +receipt of regular incomes. A season of depression almost without +a parallel ensued, and large numbers of young men employed in +warehouses and offices suddenly found their occupation gone, and +themselves reduced to very straitened and penurious circumstances. +This altered state of things led, as I am told, to the compulsory +withdrawal of many of the members, to a proportionate decrease in +the expected funds, and to the incurrence of a debt of 3,000 +pounds. By the very great zeal and energy of all concerned, and by +the liberality of those to whom they applied for help, that debt is +now in rapid course of being discharged. A little more of the same +indefatigable exertion on the one hand, and a little more of the +same community of feeling upon the other, and there will be no such +thing; the figures will be blotted out for good and all, and, from +that time, the Athenaeum may be said to belong to you, and to your +heirs for ever. + +But, ladies and gentlemen, at all times, now in its most thriving, +and in its least flourishing condition--here, with its cheerful +rooms, its pleasant and instructive lectures, its improving library +of 6,000 volumes, its classes for the study of the foreign +languages, elocution, music; its opportunities of discussion and +debate, of healthful bodily exercise, and, though last not least-- +for by this I set great store, as a very novel and excellent +provision--its opportunities of blameless, rational enjoyment, here +it is, open to every youth and man in this great town, accessible +to every bee in this vast hive, who, for all these benefits, and +the inestimable ends to which they lead, can set aside one sixpence +weekly. I do look upon the reduction of the subscription, and upon +the fact that the number of members has considerably more than +doubled within the last twelve months, as strides in the path of +the very best civilization, and chapters of rich promise in the +history of mankind. + +I do not know whether, at this time of day, and with such a +prospect before us, we need trouble ourselves very much to rake up +the ashes of the dead-and-gone objections that were wont to be +urged by men of all parties against institutions such as this, +whose interests we are met to promote; but their philosophy was +always to be summed up in the unmeaning application of one short +sentence. How often have we heard from a large class of men wise +in their generation, who would really seem to be born and bred for +no other purpose than to pass into currency counterfeit and +mischievous scraps of wisdom, as it is the sole pursuit of some +other criminals to utter base coin--how often have we heard from +them, as an all-convincing argument, that "a little learning is a +dangerous thing?" Why, a little hanging was considered a very +dangerous thing, according to the same authorities, with this +difference, that, because a little hanging was dangerous, we had a +great deal of it; and, because a little learning was dangerous, we +were to have none at all. Why, when I hear such cruel absurdities +gravely reiterated, I do sometimes begin to doubt whether the +parrots of society are not more pernicious to its interests than +its birds of prey. I should be glad to hear such people's estimate +of the comparative danger of "a little learning" and a vast amount +of ignorance; I should be glad to know which they consider the most +prolific parent of misery and crime. Descending a little lower in +the social scale, I should be glad to assist them in their +calculations, by carrying them into certain gaols and nightly +refuges I know of, where my own heart dies within me, when I see +thousands of immortal creatures condemned, without alternative or +choice, to tread, not what our great poet calls the "primrose path" +to the everlasting bonfire, but one of jaded flints and stones, +laid down by brutal ignorance, and held together, like the solid +rocks, by years of this most wicked axiom. + +Would we know from any honourable body of merchants, upright in +deed and thought, whether they would rather have ignorant or +enlightened persons in their own employment? Why, we have had +their answer in this building; we have it in this company; we have +it emphatically given in the munificent generosity of your own +merchants of Manchester, of all sects and kinds, when this +establishment was first proposed. But are the advantages derivable +by the people from institutions such as this, only of a negative +character? If a little learning be an innocent thing, has it no +distinct, wholesome, and immediate influence upon the mind? The +old doggerel rhyme, so often written in the beginning of books, +says that + + +"When house and lands are gone and spent, +Then learning is most excellent;" + + +but I should be strongly disposed to reform the adage, and say that + + +"Though house and lands be never got, +Learning can give what they canNOT." + + +And this I know, that the first unpurchasable blessing earned by +every man who makes an effort to improve himself in such a place as +the Athenaeum, is self-respect--an inward dignity of character, +which, once acquired and righteously maintained, nothing--no, not +the hardest drudgery, nor the direst poverty--can vanquish. Though +he should find it hard for a season even to keep the wolf--hunger-- +from his door, let him but once have chased the dragon--ignorance-- +from his hearth, and self-respect and hope are left him. You could +no more deprive him of those sustaining qualities by loss or +destruction of his worldly goods, than you could, by plucking out +his eyes, take from him an internal consciousness of the bright +glory of the sun. + +The man who lives from day to day by the daily exercise in his +sphere of hands or head, and seeks to improve himself in such a +place as the Athenaeum, acquires for himself that property of soul +which has in all times upheld struggling men of every degree, but +self-made men especially and always. He secures to himself that +faithful companion which, while it has ever lent the light of its +countenance to men of rank and eminence who have deserved it, has +ever shed its brightest consolations on men of low estate and +almost hopeless means. It took its patient seat beside Sir Walter +Raleigh in his dungeon-study in the Tower; it laid its head upon +the block with More; but it did not disdain to watch the stars with +Ferguson, the shepherd's boy; it walked the streets in mean attire +with Crabbe; it was a poor barber here in Lancashire with +Arkwright; it was a tallow-chandler's son with Franklin; it worked +at shoemaking with Bloomfield in his garret; it followed the plough +with Burns; and, high above the noise of loom and hammer, it +whispers courage even at this day in ears I could name in Sheffield +and in Manchester. + +The more the man who improves his leisure in such a place learns, +the better, gentler, kinder man he must become. When he knows how +much great minds have suffered for the truth in every age and time, +and to what dismal persecutions opinion has been exposed, he will +become more tolerant of other men's belief in all matters, and will +incline more leniently to their sentiments when they chance to +differ from his own. Understanding that the relations between +himself and his employers involve a mutual duty and responsibility, +he will discharge his part of the implied contract cheerfully, +satisfactorily, and honourably; for the history of every useful +life warns him to shape his course in that direction. + +The benefits he acquires in such a place are not of a selfish kind, +but extend themselves to his home, and to those whom it contains. +Something of what he hears or reads within such walls can scarcely +fail to become at times a topic of discourse by his own fireside, +nor can it ever fail to lead to larger sympathies with man, and to +a higher veneration for the great Creator of all the wonders of +this universe. It appears to his home and his homely feeling in +other ways; for at certain times he carries there his wife and +daughter, or his sister, or, possibly, some bright-eyed +acquaintance of a more tender description. Judging from what I see +before me, I think it is very likely; I am sure I would if I could. +He takes her there to enjoy a pleasant evening, to be gay and +happy. Sometimes it may possibly happen that he dates his +tenderness from the Athenaeum. I think that is a very excellent +thing, too, and not the least among the advantages of the +institution. In any case, I am sure the number of bright eyes and +beaming faces which grace this meeting to-night by their presence, +will never be among the least of its excellences in my +recollection. + +Ladies and gentlemen, I shall not easily forget this scene, the +pleasing task your favour has devolved upon me, or the strong and +inspiring confirmation I have to-night, of all the hopes and +reliances I have ever placed upon institutions of this nature. In +the latter point of view--in their bearing upon this latter point-- +I regard them as of great importance, deeming that the more +intelligent and reflective society in the mass becomes, and the +more readers there are, the more distinctly writers of all kinds +will be able to throw themselves upon the truthful feeling of the +people and the more honoured and the more useful literature must +be. At the same time, I must confess that, if there had been an +Athenaeum, and if the people had been readers, years ago, some +leaves of dedication in your library, of praise of patrons which +was very cheaply bought, very dearly sold, and very marketably +haggled for by the groat, would be blank leaves, and posterity +might probably have lacked the information that certain monsters of +virtue ever had existence. But it is upon a much better and wider +scale, let me say it once again--it is in the effect of such +institutions upon the great social system, and the peace and +happiness of mankind, that I delight to contemplate them; and, in +my heart, I am quite certain that long after your institution, and +others of the same nature, have crumbled into dust, the noble +harvest of the seed sown in them will shine out brightly in the +wisdom, the mercy, and the forbearance of another race. + + + +SPEECH: LIVERPOOL, FEBRUARY 26, 1844. + + + +[The following address was delivered at a soiree of the Liverpool +Mechanics' Institution, at which Mr. Dickens presided.] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--It was rather hard of you to take away my +breath before I spoke a word; but I would not thank you, even if I +could, for the favour which has set me in this place, or for the +generous kindness which has greeted me so warmly,--because my first +strong impulse still would be, although I had that power, to lose +sight of all personal considerations in the high intent and meaning +of this numerous assemblage, in the contemplation of the noble +objects to which this building is devoted, of its brilliant and +inspiring history, of that rough, upward track, so bravely trodden, +which it leaves behind, and that bright path of steadily-increasing +usefulness which lies stretched out before it. My first strong +impulse still would be to exchange congratulations with you, as the +members of one united family, on the thriving vigour of this +strongest child of a strong race. My first strong impulse still +would be, though everybody here had twice as many hundreds of hands +as there are hundreds of persons present, to shake them in the +spirit, everyone, always, allow me to say, excepting those hands +(and there are a few such here), which, with the constitutional +infirmity of human nature, I would rather salute in some more +tender fashion. + +When I first had the honour of communicating with your Committee +with reference to this celebration, I had some selfish hopes that +the visit proposed to me might turn out to be one of +congratulation, or, at least, of solicitous inquiry; for they who +receive a visitor in any season of distress are easily touched and +moved by what he says, and I entertained some confident expectation +of making a mighty strong impression on you. But, when I came to +look over the printed documents which were forwarded to me at the +same time, and with which you are all tolerably familiar, these +anticipations very speedily vanished, and left me bereft of all +consolation, but the triumphant feeling to which I have referred. +For what do I find, on looking over those brief chronicles of this +swift conquest over ignorance and prejudice, in which no blood has +been poured out, and no treaty signed but that one sacred compact +which recognises the just right of every man, whatever his belief, +or however humble his degree, to aspire, and to have some means of +aspiring, to be a better and a wiser man? I find that, in 1825, +certain misguided and turbulent persons proposed to erect in +Liverpool an unpopular, dangerous, irreligious, and revolutionary +establishment, called a Mechanics' Institution; that, in 1835, +Liverpool having, somehow or other, got on pretty comfortably in +the meantime, in spite of it, the first stone of a new and spacious +edifice was laid; that, in 1837, it was opened; that, it was +afterwards, at different periods, considerably enlarged; that, in +1844, conspicuous amongst the public beauties of a beautiful town, +here it stands triumphant, its enemies lived down, its former +students attesting, in their various useful callings and pursuits, +the sound, practical information it afforded them; its members +numbering considerably more than 3,000, and setting in rapidly for +6,000 at least; its library comprehending 11,000 volumes, and daily +sending forth its hundreds of books into private homes; its staff +of masters and officers, amounting to half-a-hundred in themselves; +its schools, conveying every sort of instruction, high and low, +adapted to the labour, means, exigencies, and convenience of nearly +every class and grade of persons. I was here this morning, and in +its spacious halls I found stores of the wonders worked by nature +in the air, in the forest, in the cavern, and in the sea--stores of +the surpassing engines devised by science for the better knowledge +of other worlds, and the greater happiness of this--stores of those +gentler works of art, which, though achieved in perishable stone, +by yet more perishable hands of dust, are in their influence +immortal. With such means at their command, so well-directed, so +cheaply shared, and so extensively diffused, well may your +Committee say, as they have done in one of their Reports, that the +success of this establishment has far exceeded their most sanguine +expectations. + +But, ladies and gentlemen, as that same philosopher whose words +they quote, as Bacon tells us, instancing the wonderful effects of +little things and small beginnings, that the influence of the +loadstone was first discovered in particles of iron, and not in +iron bars, so they may lay it to their hearts, that when they +combined together to form the institution which has risen to this +majestic height, they issued on a field of enterprise, the glorious +end of which they cannot even now discern. Every man who has felt +the advantages of, or has received improvement in this place, +carries its benefits into the society in which he moves, and puts +them out at compound interest; and what the blessed sum may be at +last, no man can tell. Ladies and gentlemen, with that Christian +prelate whose name appears on your list of honorary Members; that +good and liberal man who once addressed you within these walls, in +a spirit worthy of his calling, and of his High Master--I look +forward from this place, as from a tower, to the time when high and +low, and rich and poor, shall mutually assist, improve, and educate +each other. + +I feel, ladies and gentlemen, that this is not a place, with its +3,200 members, and at least 3,200 arguments in every one, to enter +on any advocacy of the principle of Mechanics' Institutions, or to +discuss the subject with those who do or ever did object to them. +I should as soon think of arguing the point with those untutored +savages whose mode of life you last year had the opportunity of +witnessing; indeed, I am strongly inclined to believe them by far +the more rational class of the two. Moreover, if the institution +itself be not a sufficient answer to all such objections, then +there is no such thing in fact or reason, human or divine. Neither +will I venture to enter into those details of the management of +this place which struck me most on the perusal of its papers; but I +cannot help saying how much impressed and gratified I was, as +everybody must be who comes to their perusal for the first time, by +the extraordinary munificence with which this institution has been +endowed by certain gentlemen. + +Amongst the peculiar features of management which made the greatest +impression on me, I may observe that that regulation which empowers +fathers, being annual subscribers of one guinea, to introduce their +sons who are minors; and masters, on payment of the astoundingly +small sum of five shillings annually, in like manner their +apprentices, is not the least valuable of its privileges; and, +certainly not the one least valuable to society. And, ladies and +gentlemen, I cannot say to you what pleasure I derived from the +perusal of an apparently excellent report in your local papers of a +meeting held here some short time since, in aid of the formation of +a girls' school in connexion with this institution. This is a new +and striking chapter in the history of these institutions; it does +equal credit to the gallantry and policy of this, and disposes one +to say of it with a slight parody on the words of Burns, that + + +"Its 'prentice han' it tried on man, +And then it TAUGHT the lasses, O." + + +That those who are our best teachers, and whose lessons are +oftenest heeded in after life, should be well taught themselves, is +a proposition few reasonable men will gainsay; and, certainly, to +breed up good husbands on the one hand, and good wives on the +other, does appear as reasonable and straightforward a plan as +could well be devised for the improvement of the next generation. + +This, and what I see before me, naturally brings me to our fairer +members, in respect of whom I have no doubt you will agree with me, +that they ought to be admitted to the widest possible extent, and +on the lowest possible terms; and, ladies, let me venture to say to +you, that you never did a wiser thing in all your lives than when +you turned your favourable regard on such an establishment as this- +-for wherever the light of knowledge is diffused, wherever the +humanizing influence of the arts and sciences extends itself, +wherever there is the clearest perception of what is beautiful, and +good, and most redeeming, amid all the faults and vices of mankind, +there your character, your virtues, your graces, your better +nature, will be the best appreciated, and there the truest homage +will be proudly paid to you. You show best, trust me, in the +clearest light; and every ray that falls upon you at your own +firesides, from any book or thought communicated within these +walls, will raise you nearer to the angels in the eyes you care for +most. + +I will not longer interpose myself, ladies and gentlemen, between +you and the pleasure we all anticipate in hearing other gentlemen, +and in enjoying those social pleasures with which it is a main part +of the wisdom of this society to adorn and relieve its graver +pursuits. We all feel, I am sure, being here, that we are truly +interested in the cause of human improvement and rational +education, and that we pledge ourselves, everyone as far as in him +lies, to extend the knowledge of the benefits afforded in this +place, and to bear honest witness in its favour. To those who yet +remain without its walls, but have the means of purchasing its +advantages, we make appeal, and in a friendly and forbearing spirit +say, "Come in, and be convinced - + + +'Who enters here, leaves DOUBT behind.'" + + +If you, happily, have been well taught yourself, and are superior +to its advantages, so much the more should you make one in sympathy +with those who are below you. Beneath this roof we breed the men +who, in the time to come, must be found working for good or evil, +in every quarter of society. If mutual respect and forbearance +among various classes be not found here, where so many men are +trained up in so many grades, to enter on so many roads of life, +dating their entry from one common starting-point, as they are all +approaching, by various paths, one common end, where else can that +great lesson be imbibed? Differences of wealth, of rank, of +intellect, we know there must be, and we respect them; but we would +give to all the means of taking out one patent of nobility, and we +define it, in the words of a great living poet, who is one of us, +and who uses his great gifts, as he holds them in trust, for the +general welfare - + + +"Howe'er it be, it seems to me +'Tis only noble to be good: +True hearts are more than coronets, +And simple faith than Norman blood." {6} + + + +SPEECH: BIRMINGHAM, FEBRUARY 28, 1844. + + + +[The following speech was delivered at a Conversazione, in aid of +the funds of the Birmingham Polytechnic Institution, at which Mr +Dickens presided.] + +You will think it very unwise, or very self-denying in me, in such +an assembly, in such a splendid scene, and after such a welcome, to +congratulate myself on having nothing new to say to you: but I do +so, notwithstanding. To say nothing of places nearer home, I had +the honour of attending at Manchester, shortly before Christmas, +and at Liverpool, only the night before last, for a purpose similar +to that which brings you together this evening; and looking down a +short perspective of similar engagements, I feel gratification at +the thought that I shall very soon have nothing at all to say; in +which case, I shall be content to stake my reputation, like the +Spectator of Addison, and that other great periodical speaker, the +Speaker of the House of Commons, on my powers of listening. + +This feeling, and the earnest reception I have met with, are not +the only reasons why I feel a genuine, cordial, and peculiar +interest in this night's proceedings. The Polytechnic Institution +of Birmingham is in its infancy--struggling into life under all +those adverse and disadvantageous circumstances which, to a greater +or less extent, naturally beset all infancy; but I would much +rather connect myself with it now, however humble, in its days of +difficulty and of danger, than look back on its origin when it may +have become strong, and rich, and powerful. I should prefer an +intimate association with it now, in its early days and apparent +struggles, to becoming its advocate and acquaintance, its fair- +weather friend, in its high and palmy days. I would rather be able +to say I knew it in its swaddling-clothes, than in maturer age. +Its two elder brothers have grown old and died: their chests were +weak--about their cradles nurses shook their heads, and gossips +groaned; but the present institution shot up, amidst the ruin of +those which have fallen, with an indomitable constitution, with +vigorous and with steady pulse; temperate, wise, and of good +repute; and by perseverance it has become a very giant. Birmingham +is, in my mind and in the minds of most men, associated with many +giants; and I no more believe that this young institution will turn +out sickly, dwarfish, or of stunted growth, than I do that when the +glass-slipper of my chairmanship shall fall off, and the clock +strike twelve to-night, this hall will be turned into a pumpkin. I +found that strong belief upon the splendid array of grace and +beauty by which I am surrounded, and which, if it only had one- +hundredth part of the effect upon others it has upon me, could do +anything it pleased with anything and anybody. I found my strong +conviction, in the second place, upon the public spirit of the town +of Birmingham--upon the name and fame of its capitalists and +working men; upon the greatness and importance of its merchants and +manufacturers; upon its inventions, which are constantly in +progress; upon the skill and intelligence of its artisans, which +are daily developed; and the increasing knowledge of all portions +of the community. All these reasons lead me to the conclusion that +your institution will advance--that it will and must progress, and +that you will not be content with lingering leagues behind. + +I have another peculiar ground of satisfaction in connexion with +the object of this assembly; and it is, that the resolutions about +to be proposed do not contain in themselves anything of a sectarian +or class nature; that they do not confine themselves to any one +single institution, but assert the great and omnipotent principles +of comprehensive education everywhere and under every circumstance. +I beg leave to say that I concur, heart and hand, in those +principles, and will do all in my power for their advancement; for +I hold, in accordance with the imperfect knowledge which I possess, +that it is impossible for any fabric of society to go on day after +day, and year after year, from father to son, and from grandfather +to grandson, punishing men for not engaging in the pursuit of +virtue and for the practice of crime, without showing them what +virtue is, and where it best can be found--in justice, religion, +and truth. The only reason that can possibly be adduced against it +is one founded on fiction--namely, the case where an obdurate old +geni, in the "Arabian Nights," was bound upon taking the life of a +merchant, because he had struck out the eye of his invisible son. +I recollect, likewise, a tale in the same book of charming fancies, +which I consider not inappropriate: it is a case where a powerful +spirit has been imprisoned at the bottom of the sea, in a casket +with a leaden cover, and the seal of Solomon upon it; there he had +lain neglected for many centuries, and during that period had made +many different vows: at first, that he would reward magnificently +those who should release him; and at last, that he would destroy +them. Now, there is a spirit of great power--the Spirit of +Ignorance--which is shut up in a vessel of leaden composition, and +sealed with the seal of many, many Solomons, and which is +effectually in the same position: release it in time, and it will +bless, restore, and reanimate society; but let it lie under the +rolling waves of years, and its blind revenge is sure to lead to +certain destruction. That there are classes which, if rightly +treated, constitute strength, and if wrongly, weakness, I hold it +impossible to deny--by these classes I mean industrious, +intelligent, and honourably independent men, in whom the higher +classes of Birmingham are especially interested, and bound to +afford them the means of instruction and improvement, and to +ameliorate their mental and moral condition. Far be it from me +(and I wish to be most particularly understood) to attempt to +depreciate the excellent Church Instruction Societies, or the +worthy, sincere, and temperate zeal of those reverend gentlemen by +whom they are usually conducted; on the contrary, I believe that +they have done, and are doing, much good, and are deserving of high +praise; but I hope that, without offence, in a community such as +Birmingham, there are other objects not unworthy in the sight of +heaven, and objects of recognised utility which are worthy of +support--principles which are practised in word and deed in +Polytechnic Institutions--principles for the diffusion of which +honest men of all degrees and of every creed might associate +together, on an independent footing and on neutral ground, and at a +small expense, for the better understanding and the greater +consideration of each other, and for the better cultivation of the +happiness of all: for it surely cannot be allowed that those who +labour day by day, surrounded by machinery, shall be permitted to +degenerate into machines themselves, but, on the contrary, they +should assert their common origin from their Creator, at the hands +of those who are responsible and thinking men. There is, indeed, +no difference in the main with respect to the dangers of ignorance +and the advantages of knowledge between those who hold different +opinions--for it is to be observed, that those who are most +distrustful of the advantages of education, are always the first to +exclaim against the results of ignorance. This fact was pleasantly +illustrated on the railway, as I came here. In the same carriage +with me there sat an ancient gentleman (I feel no delicacy in +alluding to him, for I know that he is not in the room, having got +out far short of Birmingham), who expressed himself most mournfully +as to the ruinous effects and rapid spread of railways, and was +most pathetic upon the virtues of the slow-going old stage coaches. +Now I, entertaining some little lingering kindness for the road, +made shift to express my concurrence with the old gentleman's +opinion, without any great compromise of principle. Well, we got +on tolerably comfortably together, and when the engine, with a +frightful screech, dived into some dark abyss, like some strange +aquatic monster, the old gentleman said it would never do, and I +agreed with him. When it parted from each successive station, with +a shock and a shriek as if it had had a double-tooth drawn, the old +gentleman shook his head, and I shook mine. When he burst forth +against such new-fangled notions, and said no good could come of +them, I did not contest the point. But I found that when the speed +of the engine was abated, or there was a prolonged stay at any +station, up the old gentleman was at arms, and his watch was +instantly out of his pocket, denouncing the slowness of our +progress. Now I could not help comparing this old gentleman to +that ingenious class of persons who are in the constant habit of +declaiming against the vices and crimes of society, and at the same +time are the first and foremost to assert that vice and crime have +not their common origin in ignorance and discontent. + +The good work, however, in spite of all political and party +differences, has been well begun; we are all interested in it; it +is advancing, and cannot be stopped by any opposition, although it +may be retarded in this place or in that, by the indifference of +the middle classes, with whom its successful progress chiefly +rests. Of this success I cannot entertain a doubt; for whenever +the working classes have enjoyed an opportunity of effectually +rebutting accusations which falsehood or thoughtlessness have +brought against them, they always avail themselves of it, and show +themselves in their true characters; and it was this which made the +damage done to a single picture in the National Gallery of London, +by some poor lunatic or cripple, a mere matter of newspaper +notoriety and wonder for some few days. This, then, establishes a +fact evident to the meanest comprehension--that any given number of +thousands of individuals, in the humblest walks of life in this +country, can pass through the national galleries or museums in +seasons of holiday-making, without damaging, in the slightest +degree, those choice and valuable collections. I do not myself +believe that the working classes ever were the wanton or +mischievous persons they were so often and so long represented to +be; but I rather incline to the opinion that some men take it into +their heads to lay it down as a matter of fact, without being +particular about the premises; and that the idle and the +prejudiced, not wishing to have the trouble of forming opinions for +themselves, take it for granted--until the people have an +opportunity of disproving the stigma and vindicating themselves +before the world. + +Now this assertion is well illustrated by what occurred respecting +an equestrian statue in the metropolis, with respect to which a +legend existed that the sculptor hanged himself, because he had +neglected to put a girth to the horse. This story was currently +believed for many years, until it was inspected for altogether a +different purpose, and it was found to have had a girth all the +time. + +But surely if, as is stated, the people are ill-disposed and +mischievous, that is the best reason that can be offered for +teaching them better; and if they are not, surely that is a reason +for giving them every opportunity of vindicating their injured +reputation; and no better opportunity could possibly be afforded +than that of associating together voluntarily for such high +purposes as it is proposed to carry out by the establishment of the +Birmingham Polytechnic Institution. In any case--nay, in every +case--if we would reward honesty, if we would hold out +encouragement to good, if we would eradicate that which is evil or +correct that which is bad, education--comprehensive, liberal +education--is the one thing needful, and the only effective end. +If I might apply to my purpose, and turn into plain prose some +words of Hamlet--not with reference to any government or party (for +party being, for the most part, an irrational sort of thing, has no +connexion with the object we have in view)--if I might apply those +words to education as Hamlet applied them to the skull of Yorick, I +would say--"Now hie thee to the council-chamber, and tell them, +though they lay it on in sounding thoughts and learned words an +inch thick, to this complexion they must come at last." + + +In answer to a vote of thanks, {7} Mr. Dickens said, at the close +of the meeting - + +"Ladies and gentlemen, we are now quite even--for every effect +which I may have made upon you, the compliment has been amply +returned to me; but at the same time I am as little disposed to say +to you, 'go and sin no more,' as I am to promise for myself that 'I +will never do so again.' So long as I can make you laugh and cry, +I will; and you will readily believe me, when I tell you, you +cannot do too much on your parts to show that we are still cordial +and loving friends. To you, ladies of the Institution, I am deeply +and especially indebted. I sometimes [pointing to the word 'Boz' +in front of the great gallery] think there is some small quantity +of magic in that very short name, and that it must consist in its +containing as many letters as the three graces, and they, every one +of them, being of your fair sisterhood. + +A story is told of an eastern potentate of modern times, who, for +an eastern potentate, was a tolerably good man, sometimes +bowstringing his dependants indiscriminately in his moments of +anger, but burying them in great splendour in his moments of +penitence, that whenever intelligence was brought him of a new plot +or turbulent conspiracy, his first inquiry was, 'Who is she?' +meaning that a woman was at the bottom. Now, in my small way, I +differ from that potentate; for when there is any good to be +attained, the services of any ministering angel required, my first +inquiry is, 'Where is she?' and the answer invariably is, 'Here.' +Proud and happy am I indeed to thank you for your generosity - + +'A thousand times, good night; +A thousand times the worse to want your light.' + + + +SPEECH: GARDENERS AND GARDENING. LONDON, JUNE 14, 1852. + + + +[The Ninth Anniversary Dinner of the Gardeners' Benevolent +Institution was held on the above date at the London Tavern. The +company numbered more than 150. The dessert was worthy of the +occasion, and an admirable effect was produced by a profuse display +of natural flowers upon the tables and in the decoration of the +room. The chair was taken by Mr. Charles Dickens, who, in +proposing the toast of the evening, spoke as follows:-] + +For three times three years the Gardeners' Benevolent Institution +has been stimulated and encouraged by meetings such as this, and by +three times three cheers we will urge it onward in its prosperous +career. [The cheers were warmly given.] + +Occupying the post I now do, I feel something like a counsel for +the plaintiff with nobody on the other side; but even if I had been +placed in that position ninety times nine, it would still be my +duty to state a few facts from the very short brief with which I +have been provided. + +This Institution was founded in the year 1838. During the first +five years of its existence, it was not particularly robust, and +seemed to have been placed in rather a shaded position, receiving +somewhat more than its needful allowance of cold water. In 1843 it +was removed into a more favourable position, and grafted on a +nobler stock, and it has now borne fruit, and become such a +vigorous tree that at present thirty-five old people daily sit +within the shelter of its branches, and all the pensioners upon the +list have been veritable gardeners, or the wives of gardeners. It +is managed by gardeners, and it has upon its books the excellent +rule that any gardener who has subscribed to it for fifteen years, +and conformed to the rules, may, if he will, be placed upon the +pensioners' list without election, without canvass, without +solicitation, and as his independent right. I lay very great +stress upon that honourable characteristic of the charity, because +the main principle of any such institution should be to help those +who help themselves. That the Society's pensioners do not become +such so long as they are able to support themselves, is evinced by +the significant fact that the average age of those now upon the +list is seventy-seven; that they are not wasteful is proved by the +fact that the whole sum expended on their relief is but 500 pounds +a-year; that the Institution does not restrict itself to any narrow +confines, is shown by the circumstance, that the pensioners come +from all parts of England, whilst all the expenses are paid from +the annual income and interest on stock, and therefore are not +disproportionate to its means. + +Such is the Institution which appeals to you through me, as a most +unworthy advocate, for sympathy and support, an Institution which +has for its President a nobleman {8} whose whole possessions are +remarkable for taste and beauty, and whose gardener's laurels are +famous throughout the world. In the list of its vice-presidents +there are the names of many noblemen and gentlemen of great +influence and station, and I have been struck in glancing through +the list of its supporters, with the sums written against the names +of the numerous nurserymen and seedsmen therein comprised. I hope +the day will come when every gardener in England will be a member +of the charity. + +The gardener particularly needs such a provision as this +Institution affords. His gains are not great; he knows gold and +silver more as being of the colour of fruits and flowers than by +its presence in his pockets; he is subjected to that kind of labour +which renders him peculiarly liable to infirmity; and when old age +comes upon him, the gardener is of all men perhaps best able to +appreciate the merits of such an institution. + +To all indeed, present and absent, who are descended from the first + + +"gardener Adam and his wife," + + +the benefits of such a society are obvious. In the culture of +flowers there cannot, by their very nature, be anything, solitary +or exclusive. The wind that blows over the cottager's porch, +sweeps also over the grounds of the nobleman; and as the rain +descends on the just and on the unjust, so it communicates to all +gardeners, both rich and poor, an interchange of pleasure and +enjoyment; and the gardener of the rich man, in developing and +enhancing a fruitful flavour or a delightful scent, is, in some +sort, the gardener of everybody else. + +The love of gardening is associated with all conditions of men, and +all periods of time. The scholar and the statesman, men of peace +and men of war, have agreed in all ages to delight in gardens. The +most ancient people of the earth had gardens where there is now +nothing but solitary heaps of earth. The poor man in crowded +cities gardens still in jugs and basins and bottles: in factories +and workshops people garden; and even the prisoner is found +gardening in his lonely cell, after years and years of solitary +confinement. Surely, then, the gardener who produces shapes and +objects so lovely and so comforting, should have some hold upon the +world's remembrance when he himself becomes in need of comfort. + +I will call upon you to drink "Prosperity to the Gardeners' +Benevolent Institution," and I beg to couple with that toast the +name of its noble President, the Duke of Devonshire, whose worth is +written in all his deeds, and who has communicated to his title and +his riches a lustre which no title and no riches could confer. + +[Later in the evening, Mr. Dickens said:-] + +My office has compelled me to burst into bloom so often that I +could wish there were a closer parallel between myself and the +American aloe. It is particularly agreeable and appropriate to +know that the parents of this Institution are to be found in the +seed and nursery trade; and the seed having yielded such good +fruit, and the nursery having produced such a healthy child, I have +the greatest pleasure in proposing the health of the parents of the +Institution. + +[In proposing the health of the Treasurers, Mr. Dickens said:-] + +My observation of the signboards of this country has taught me that +its conventional gardeners are always jolly, and always three in +number. Whether that conventionality has reference to the Three +Graces, or to those very significant letters, L., S., D., I do not +know. Those mystic letters are, however, most important, and no +society can have officers of more importance than its Treasurers, +nor can it possibly give them too much to do. + + + +SPEECH: BIRMINGHAM, JANUARY 6, 1853. + + + +[On Thursday, January 6, 1853, at the rooms of the Society of +Artists, in Temple Row, Birmingham, a large company assembled to +witness the presentation of a testimonial to Mr. Charles Dickens, +consisting of a silver-gilt salver and a diamond ring. Mr. Dickens +acknowledged the tribute, and the address which accompanied it, in +the following words:-] + +Gentlemen, I feel it very difficult, I assure you, to tender my +acknowledgments to you, and through you, to those many friends of +mine whom you represent, for this honour and distinction which you +have conferred upon me. I can most honestly assure you, that it is +in the power of no great representative of numbers of people to +awaken such happiness in me as is inspired by this token of +goodwill and remembrance, coming to me direct and fresh from the +numbers themselves. I am truly sensible, gentlemen, that my +friends who have united in this address are partial in their +kindness, and regard what I have done with too great favour. But I +may say, with reference to one class--some members of which, I +presume, are included there--that I should in my own eyes be very +unworthy both of the generous gift and the generous feeling which +has been evinced, and this occasion, instead of pleasure, would +give me nothing but pain, if I was unable to assure them, and those +who are in front of this assembly, that what the working people +have found me towards them in my books, I am throughout my life. +Gentlemen, whenever I have tried to hold up to admiration their +fortitude, patience, gentleness, the reasonableness of their +nature, so accessible to persuasion, and their extraordinary +goodness one towards another, I have done so because I have first +genuinely felt that admiration myself, and have been thoroughly +imbued with the sentiment which I sought to communicate to others. + +Gentlemen, I accept this salver and this ring as far above all +price to me, as very valuable in themselves, and as beautiful +specimens of the workmanship of this town, with great emotion, I +assure you, and with the liveliest gratitude. You remember +something, I daresay, of the old romantic stories of those charmed +rings which would lose their brilliance when their wearer was in +danger, or would press his finger reproachfully when he was going +to do wrong. In the very improbable event of my being in the least +danger of deserting the principles which have won me these tokens, +I am sure the diamond in that ring would assume a clouded aspect to +my faithless eye, and would, I know, squeeze a throb of pain out of +my treacherous heart. But I have not the least misgiving on that +point; and, in this confident expectation, I shall remove my own +old diamond ring from my left hand, and in future wear the +Birmingham ring on my right, where its grasp will keep me in mind +of the good friends I have here, and in vivid remembrance of this +happy hour. + +Gentlemen, in conclusion, allow me to thank you and the Society to +whom these rooms belong, that the presentation has taken place in +an atmosphere so congenial to me, and in an apartment decorated +with so many beautiful works of art, among which I recognize before +me the productions of friends of mine, whose labours and triumphs +will never be subjects of indifference to me. I thank those +gentlemen for giving me the opportunity of meeting them here on an +occasion which has some connexion with their own proceedings; and, +though last not least, I tender my acknowledgments to that charming +presence, without which nothing beautiful can be complete, and +which is endearingly associated with rings of a plainer +description, and which, I must confess, awakens in my mind at the +present moment a feeling of regret that I am not in a condition to +make an offer of these testimonials. I beg you, gentlemen, to +commend me very earnestly and gratefully to our absent friends, and +to assure them of my affectionate and heartfelt respect. + + +The company then adjourned to Dee's Hotel, where a banquet took +place, at which about 220 persons were present, among whom were +some of the most distinguished of the Royal Academicians. To the +toast of "The Literature of England," Mr. Dickens responded as +follows:- + +Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen, I am happy, on behalf of many labourers in +that great field of literature to which you have pledged the toast, +to thank you for the tribute you have paid to it. Such an honour, +rendered by acclamation in such a place as this, seems to me, if I +may follow on the same side as the venerable Archdeacon (Sandford) +who lately addressed you, and who has inspired me with a +gratification I can never forget--such an honour, gentlemen, +rendered here, seems to me a two-sided illustration of the position +that literature holds in these latter and, of course, "degenerate" +days. To the great compact phalanx of the people, by whose +industry, perseverance, and intelligence, and their result in +money-wealth, such places as Birmingham, and many others like it, +have arisen--to that great centre of support, that comprehensive +experience, and that beating heart, literature has turned happily +from individual patrons--sometimes munificent, often sordid, always +few--and has there found at once its highest purpose, its natural +range of action, and its best reward. Therefore it is right also, +as it seems to me, not only that literature should receive honour +here, but that it should render honour, too, remembering that if it +has undoubtedly done good to Birmingham, Birmingham has undoubtedly +done good to it. From the shame of the purchased dedication, from +the scurrilous and dirty work of Grub Street, from the dependent +seat on sufferance at my Lord Duke's table to-day, and from the +sponging-house or Marshalsea to-morrow--from that venality which, +by a fine moral retribution, has degraded statesmen even to a +greater extent than authors, because the statesman entertained a +low belief in the universality of corruption, while the author +yielded only to the dire necessity of his calling--from all such +evils the people have set literature free. And my creed in the +exercise of that profession is, that literature cannot be too +faithful to the people in return--cannot too ardently advocate the +cause of their advancement, happiness, and prosperity. I have +heard it sometimes said--and what is worse, as expressing something +more cold-blooded, I have sometimes seen it written--that +literature has suffered by this change, that it has degenerated by +being made cheaper. I have not found that to be the case: nor do +I believe that you have made the discovery either. But let a good +book in these "bad" times be made accessible,--even upon an +abstruse and difficult subject, so that it be one of legitimate +interest to mankind,--and my life on it, it shall be extensively +bought, read, and well considered. + +Why do I say this? Because I believe there are in Birmingham at +this moment many working men infinitely better versed in +Shakespeare and in Milton than the average of fine gentlemen in the +days of bought-and-sold dedications and dear books. I ask anyone +to consider for himself who, at this time, gives the greatest +relative encouragement to the dissemination of such useful +publications as "Macaulay's History," "Layard's Researches," +"Tennyson's Poems," "The Duke of Wellington's published +Despatches," or the minutest truths (if any truth can be called +minute) discovered by the genius of a Herschel or a Faraday? It is +with all these things as with the great music of Mendelssohn, or a +lecture upon art--if we had the good fortune to listen to one to- +morrow--by my distinguished friend the President of the Royal +Academy. However small the audience, however contracted the circle +in the water, in the first instance, the people are nearer the +wider range outside, and the Sister Arts, while they instruct them, +derive a wholesome advantage and improvement from their ready +sympathy and cordial response. I may instance the case of my +friend Mr. Ward's magnificent picture; {9} and the reception of +that picture here is an example that it is not now the province of +art in painting to hold itself in monastic seclusion, that it +cannot hope to rest on a single foundation for its great temple,-- +on the mere classic pose of a figure, or the folds of a drapery-- +but that it must be imbued with human passions and action, informed +with human right and wrong, and, being so informed, it may +fearlessly put itself upon its trial, like the criminal of old, to +be judged by God and its country. + +Gentlemen, to return and conclude, as I shall have occasion to +trouble you again. For this time I have only once again to repeat +what I have already said. As I begun with literature, I shall end +with it. I would simply say that I believe no true man, with +anything to tell, need have the least misgiving, either for himself +or his message, before a large number of hearers--always supposing +that he be not afflicted with the coxcombical idea of writing down +to the popular intelligence, instead of writing the popular +intelligence up to himself, if, perchance, he be above it;--and, +provided always that he deliver himself plainly of what is in him, +which seems to be no unreasonable stipulation, it being supposed +that he has some dim design of making himself understood. On +behalf of that literature to which you have done so much honour, I +beg to thank you most cordially, and on my own behalf, for the most +flattering reception you have given to one whose claim is, that he +has the distinction of making it his profession. + + +[Later in the evening, Mr. Dickens gave as a toast, "The +Educational Institutions of Birmingham," in the following speech:] + + +I am requested to propose--or, according to the hypothesis of my +friend, Mr. Owen, I am in the temporary character of a walking +advertisement to advertise to you--the Educational Institutions of +Birmingham; an advertisement to which I have the greatest pleasure +in calling your attention, Gentlemen, it is right that I should, in +so many words, mention the more prominent of these institutions, +not because your local memories require any prompting, but because +the enumeration implies what has been done here, what you are +doing, and what you will yet do. I believe the first is the King +Edward's Grammar School, with its various branches, and prominent +among them is that most admirable means of training the wives of +working men to be good wives and working wives, the prime ornament +of their homes, and the cause of happiness to others--I mean those +excellent girls' schools in various parts of the town, which, under +the excellent superintendence of the principal, I should most +sincerely desire to see in every town in England. Next, I believe, +is the Spring Hill College, a learned institution belonging to the +body of Independents, foremost among whose professors literature is +proud to hail Mr. Henry Rogers as one of the soundest and ablest +contributors to the Edinburgh Review. The next is the Queen's +College, which, I may say, is only a newly-born child; but, in the +hands of such an admirable Doctor, we may hope to see it arrive at +a vigorous maturity. The next is the School of Design, which, as +has been well observed by my friend Sir Charles Eastlake, is +invaluable in such a place as this; and, lastly, there is the +Polytechnic Institution, with regard to which I had long ago +occasion to express my profound conviction that it was of +unspeakable importance to such a community as this, when I had the +honour to be present, under the auspices of your excellent +representative, Mr. Scholefield. This is the last of what has been +done in an educational way. They are all admirable in their kind; +but I am glad to find that more is yet doing. A few days ago I +received a Birmingham newspaper, containing a most interesting +account of a preliminary meeting for the formation of a Reformatory +School for juvenile delinquents. You are not exempt here from the +honour of saving these poor, neglected, and wretched outcasts. I +read of one infant, six years old, who has been twice as many times +in the hands of the police as years have passed over his devoted +head. These are the eggs from which gaol-birds are hatched; if you +wish to check that dreadful brood, you must take the young and +innocent, and have them reared by Christian hands. + +Lastly, I am rejoiced to find that there is on foot a scheme for a +new Literary and Scientific Institution, which would be worthy even +of this place, if there was nothing of the kind in it--an +institution, as I understand it, where the words "exclusion" and +"exclusiveness" shall be quite unknown--where all classes may +assemble in common trust, respect, and confidence--where there +shall be a great gallery of painting and statuary open to the +inspection and admiration of all comers--where there shall be a +museum of models in which industry may observe its various sources +of manufacture, and the mechanic may work out new combinations, and +arrive at new results--where the very mines under the earth and +under the sea shall not be forgotten, but presented in little to +the inquiring eye--an institution, in short, where many and many of +the obstacles which now inevitably stand in the rugged way of the +poor inventor shall be smoothed away, and where, if he have +anything in him, he will find encouragement and hope. + +I observe with unusual interest and gratification, that a body of +gentlemen are going for a time to lay aside their individual +prepossessions on other subjects, and, as good citizens, are to be +engaged in a design as patriotic as well can be. They have the +intention of meeting in a few days to advance this great object, +and I call upon you, in drinking this toast, to drink success to +their endeavour, and to make it the pledge by all good means to +promote it. + +If I strictly followed out the list of educational institutions in +Birmingham, I should not have done here, but I intend to stop, +merely observing that I have seen within a short walk of this place +one of the most interesting and practical Institutions for the Deaf +and Dumb that has ever come under my observation. I have seen in +the factories and workshops of Birmingham such beautiful order and +regularity, and such great consideration for the workpeople +provided, that they might justly be entitled to be considered +educational too. I have seen in your splendid Town Hall, when the +cheap concerts are going on there, also an admirable educational +institution. I have seen their results in the demeanour of your +working people, excellently balanced by a nice instinct, as free +from servility on the one hand, as from self-conceit on the other. +It is a perfect delight to have need to ask a question, if only +from the manner of the reply--a manner I never knew to pass +unnoticed by an observant stranger. Gather up those threads, and a +great marry more I have not touched upon, and weaving all into one +good fabric, remember how much is included under the general head +of the Educational Institutions of your town. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, APRIL 30, 1853. + + + +[At the annual Dinner of the Royal Academy, the President, Sir +Charles Eastlake, proposed as a toast, "The Interests of +Literature," and selected for the representatives of the world of +letters, the Dean of St. Paul's and Mr. Charles Dickens. Dean +Milman having returned thanks.] + +Mr Dickens then addressed the President, who, it should be +mentioned, occupied a large and handsome chair, the back covered +with crimson velvet, placed just before Stanfield's picture of The +Victory. + +Mr. Dickens, after tendering his acknowledgments of the toast, and +the honour done him in associating his name with it, said that +those acknowledgments were not the less heartfelt because he was +unable to recognize in this toast the President's usual +disinterestedness; since English literature could scarcely be +remembered in any place, and, certainly, not in a school of art, +without a very distinct remembrance of his own tasteful writings, +to say nothing of that other and better part of himself, which, +unfortunately, was not visible upon these occasions. + +If, like the noble Lord, the Commander-in-Chief (Viscount +Hardinge), he (Mr. Dickens) might venture to illustrate his brief +thanks with one word of reference to the noble picture painted by a +very dear friend of his, which was a little eclipsed that evening +by the radiant and rubicund chair which the President now so +happily toned down, he would beg leave to say that, as literature +could nowhere be more appropriately honoured than in that place, so +he thought she could nowhere feel a higher gratification in the +ties that bound her to the sister arts. He ever felt in that place +that literature found, through their instrumentality, always a new +expression, and in a universal language. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 1, 1853 + + + +[At a dinner given by the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House, on the +above date, Mr. Justice Talfourd proposed as a toast "Anglo-Saxon +Literature," and alluded to Mr. Dickens as having employed fiction +as a means of awakening attention to the condition of the oppressed +and suffering classes:-] + +"Mr. Dickens replied to this toast in a graceful and playful +strain. In the former part of the evening, in reply to a toast on +the chancery department, Vice-Chancellor Wood, who spoke in the +absence of the Lord Chancellor, made a sort of defence of the Court +of Chancery, not distinctly alluding to Bleak House, but evidently +not without reference to it. The amount of what he said was, that +the Court had received a great many more hard opinions than it +merited; that they had been parsimoniously obliged to perform a +great amount of business by a very inadequate number of judges; but +that more recently the number of judges had been increased to +seven, and there was reason to hope that all business brought +before it would now be performed without unnecessary delay. + +"Mr. Dickens alluded playfully to this item of intelligence; said +he was exceedingly happy to hear it, as he trusted now that a suit, +in which he was greatly interested, would speedily come to an end. +I heard a little by-conversation between Mr. Dickens and a +gentleman of the bar, who sat opposite me, in which the latter +seemed to be reiterating the same assertions, and I understood him +to say, that a case not extraordinarily complicated might be got +through with in three months. Mr. Dickens said he was very happy +to hear it; but I fancied there was a little shade of incredulity +in his manner; however, the incident showed one thing, that is, +that the chancery were not insensible to the representations of +Dickens; but the whole tone of the thing was quite good-natured and +agreeable." {10} + + + +SPEECH: BIRMINGHAM, DECEMBER 30, 1853. + + + +[The first of the Readings generously given by Mr. Charles Dickens +on behalf of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, took place on +Tuesday evening, December 27, 1853, at the Birmingham Town Hall, +where, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, nearly two +thousand persons had assembled. The work selected was the +Christmas Carol. The high mimetic powers possessed by Mr. Dickens +enabled him to personate with remarkable force the various +characters of the story, and with admirable skill to pass rapidly +from the hard, unbelieving Scrooge, to trusting and thankful Bob +Cratchit, and from the genial fulness of Scrooge's nephew, to the +hideous mirth of the party assembled in Old Joe the Ragshop- +keeper's parlour. The reading occupied more than three hours, but +so interested were the audience, that only one or two left the Hall +previously to its termination, and the loud and frequent bursts of +applause attested the successful discharge of the reader's arduous +task. On Thursday evening Mr. Dickens read The Cricket on the +Hearth. The Hall was again well ruled, and the tale, though +deficient in the dramatic interest of the Carol, was listened to +with attention, and rewarded with repeated applause. On Friday +evening, the Christmas Carol was read a second time to a large +assemblage of work-people, for whom, at Mr. Dickens's special +request, the major part of the vast edifice was reserved. Before +commencing the tale, Mr. Dickens delivered the following brief +address, almost every sentence of which was received with loudly +expressed applause.] + +My Good Friends,--When I first imparted to the committee of the +projected Institute my particular wish that on one of the evenings +of my readings here the main body of my audience should be composed +of working men and their families, I was animated by two desires; +first, by the wish to have the great pleasure of meeting you face +to face at this Christmas time, and accompany you myself through +one of my little Christmas books; and second, by the wish to have +an opportunity of stating publicly in your presence, and in the +presence of the committee, my earnest hope that the Institute will, +from the beginning, recognise one great principle--strong in reason +and justice--which I believe to be essential to the very life of +such an Institution. It is, that the working man shall, from the +first unto the last, have a share in the management of an +Institution which is designed for his benefit, and which calls +itself by his name. + +I have no fear here of being misunderstood--of being supposed to +mean too much in this. If there ever was a time when any one class +could of itself do much for its own good, and for the welfare of +society--which I greatly doubt--that time is unquestionably past. +It is in the fusion of different classes, without confusion; in the +bringing together of employers and employed; in the creating of a +better common understanding among those whose interests are +identical, who depend upon each other, who are vitally essential to +each other, and who never can be in unnatural antagonism without +deplorable results, that one of the chief principles of a +Mechanics' Institution should consist. In this world a great deal +of the bitterness among us arises from an imperfect understanding +of one another. Erect in Birmingham a great Educational +Institution, properly educational; educational of the feelings as +well as of the reason; to which all orders of Birmingham men +contribute; in which all orders of Birmingham men meet; wherein all +orders of Birmingham men are faithfully represented--and you will +erect a Temple of Concord here which will be a model edifice to the +whole of England. + +Contemplating as I do the existence of the Artisans' Committee, +which not long ago considered the establishment of the Institute so +sensibly, and supported it so heartily, I earnestly entreat the +gentlemen--earnest I know in the good work, and who are now among +us,--by all means to avoid the great shortcoming of similar +institutions; and in asking the working man for his confidence, to +set him the great example and give him theirs in return. You will +judge for yourselves if I promise too much for the working man, +when I say that he will stand by such an enterprise with the utmost +of his patience, his perseverance, sense, and support; that I am +sure he will need no charitable aid or condescending patronage; but +will readily and cheerfully pay for the advantages which it +confers; that he will prepare himself in individual cases where he +feels that the adverse circumstances around him have rendered it +necessary; in a word, that he will feel his responsibility like an +honest man, and will most honestly and manfully discharge it. I +now proceed to the pleasant task to which I assure you I have +looked forward for a long time. + + +[At the close of the reading Mr. Dickens received a vote of thanks, +and "three cheers, with three times three." As soon as the +enthusiasm of the audience would allow him to speak, Mr. Dickens +said:-] + + +You have heard so much of my voice since we met to-night, that I +will only say, in acknowledgment of this affecting mark of your +regard, that I am truly and sincerely interested in you; that any +little service I have rendered to you I have freely rendered from +my heart; that I hope to become an honorary member of your great +Institution, and will meet you often there when it becomes +practically useful; that I thank you most affectionately for this +new mark of your sympathy and approval; and that I wish you many +happy returns of this great birthday-time, and many prosperous +years. + + + +SPEECH: COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS. LONDON, DECEMBER 30, 1854. + + + +[The following speech was made by Mr. Dickens at the Anniversary +Dinner in commemoration of the foundation of the Commercial +Travellers' Schools, held at the London Tavern on the above date. +Mr. Dickens presided on this occasion, and proposed the toasts.] + +I think it may be assumed that most of us here present know +something about travelling. I do not mean in distant regions or +foreign countries, although I dare say some of us have had +experience in that way, but at home, and within the limits of the +United Kingdom. I dare say most of us have had experience of the +extinct "fast coaches," the "Wonders," "Taglionis," and "Tallyhos," +of other days. I daresay most of us remember certain modest +postchaises, dragging us down interminable roads, through slush and +mud, to little country towns with no visible population, except +half-a-dozen men in smock-frocks, half-a-dozen women with umbrellas +and pattens, and a washed-out dog or so shivering under the gables, +to complete the desolate picture. We can all discourse, I dare +say, if so minded, about our recollections of the "Talbot," the +"Queen's Head," or the "Lion" of those days. We have all been to +that room on the ground floor on one side of the old inn yard, not +quite free from a certain fragrant smell of tobacco, where the +cruets on the sideboard were usually absorbed by the skirts of the +box-coats that hung from the wall; where awkward servants waylaid +us at every turn, like so many human man-traps; where county +members, framed and glazed, were eternally presenting that petition +which, somehow or other, had made their glory in the county, +although nothing else had ever come of it. Where the books in the +windows always wanted the first, last, and middle leaves, and where +the one man was always arriving at some unusual hour in the night, +and requiring his breakfast at a similarly singular period of the +day. I have no doubt we could all be very eloquent on the comforts +of our favourite hotel, wherever it was--its beds, its stables, its +vast amount of posting, its excellent cheese, its head waiter, its +capital dishes, its pigeon-pies, or its 1820 port. Or possibly we +could recal our chaste and innocent admiration of its landlady, or +our fraternal regard for its handsome chambermaid. A celebrated +domestic critic once writing of a famous actress, renowned for her +virtue and beauty, gave her the character of being an "eminently +gatherable-to-one's-arms sort of person." Perhaps some one amongst +us has borne a somewhat similar tribute to the mental charms of the +fair deities who presided at our hotels. + +With the travelling characteristics of later times, we are all, no +doubt, equally familiar. We know all about that station to which +we must take our ticket, although we never get there; and the other +one at which we arrive after dark, certain to find it half a mile +from the town, where the old road is sure to have been abolished, +and the new road is going to be made--where the old neighbourhood +has been tumbled down, and the new one is not half built up. We +know all about that party on the platform who, with the best +intentions, can do nothing for our luggage except pitch it into all +sorts of unattainable places. We know all about that short +omnibus, in which one is to be doubled up, to the imminent danger +of the crown of one's hat; and about that fly, whose leading +peculiarity is never to be there when it is wanted. We know, too, +how instantaneously the lights of the station disappear when the +train starts, and about that grope to the new Railway Hotel, which +will be an excellent house when the customers come, but which at +present has nothing to offer but a liberal allowance of damp mortar +and new lime. + +I record these little incidents of home travel mainly with the +object of increasing your interest in the purpose of this night's +assemblage. Every traveller has a home of his own, and he learns +to appreciate it the more from his wandering. If he has no home, +he learns the same lesson unselfishly by turning to the homes of +other men. He may have his experiences of cheerful and exciting +pleasures abroad; but home is the best, after all, and its +pleasures are the most heartily and enduringly prized. Therefore, +ladies and gentlemen, every one must be prepared to learn that +commercial travellers, as a body, know how to prize those domestic +relations from which their pursuits so frequently sever them; for +no one could possibly invent a more delightful or more convincing +testimony to the fact than they themselves have offered in founding +and maintaining a school for the children of deceased or +unfortunate members of their own body; those children who now +appeal to you in mute but eloquent terms from the gallery. + +It is to support that school, founded with such high and friendly +objects, so very honourable to your calling, and so useful in its +solid and practical results, that we are here to-night. It is to +roof that building which is to shelter the children of your +deceased friends with one crowning ornament, the best that any +building can have, namely, a receipt stamp for the full amount of +the cost. It is for this that your active sympathy is appealed to, +for the completion of your own good work. You know how to put your +hands to the plough in earnest as well as any men in existence, for +this little book informs me that you raised last year no less a sum +than 8000 pounds, and while fully half of that sum consisted of new +donations to the building fund, I find that the regular revenue of +the charity has only suffered to the extent of 30 pounds. After +this, I most earnestly and sincerely say that were we all authors +together, I might boast, if in my profession were exhibited the +same unity and steadfastness I find in yours. + +I will not urge on you the casualties of a life of travel, or the +vicissitudes of business, or the claims fostered by that bond of +brotherhood which ought always to exist amongst men who are united +in a common pursuit. You have already recognized those claims so +nobly, that I will not presume to lay them before you in any +further detail. Suffice it to say that I do not think it is in +your nature to do things by halves. I do not think you could do so +if you tried, and I have a moral certainty that you never will try. +To those gentlemen present who are not members of the travellers' +body, I will say in the words of the French proverb, "Heaven helps +those who help themselves." The Commercial Travellers having +helped themselves so gallantly, it is clear that the visitors who +come as a sort of celestial representatives ought to bring that aid +in their pockets which the precept teaches us to expect from them. +With these few remarks, I beg to give you as a toast, "Success to +the Commercial Travellers' School." + +[In proposing the health of the Army in the Crimea, Mr. Dickens +said:-] + +IT does not require any extraordinary sagacity in a commercial +assembly to appreciate the dire evils of war. The great interests +of trade enfeebled by it, the enterprise of better times paralysed +by it, all the peaceful arts bent down before it, too palpably +indicate its character and results, so that far less practical +intelligence than that by which I am surrounded would be sufficient +to appreciate the horrors of war. But there are seasons when the +evils of peace, though not so acutely felt, are immeasurably +greater, and when a powerful nation, by admitting the right of any +autocrat to do wrong, sows by such complicity the seeds of its own +ruin, and overshadows itself in time to come with that fatal +influence which great and ambitious powers are sure to exercise +over their weaker neighbours. + +Therefore it is, ladies and gentlemen, that the tree has not its +root in English ground from which the yard wand can be made that +will measure--the mine has not its place in English soil that will +supply the material of a pair of scales to weigh the influence that +may be at stake in the war in which we are now straining all our +energies. That war is, at any time and in any shape, a most +dreadful and deplorable calamity, we need no proverb to tell us; +but it is just because it is such a calamity, and because that +calamity must not for ever be impending over us at the fancy of one +man against all mankind, that we must not allow that man to darken +from our view the figures of peace and justice between whom and us +he now interposes. + +Ladies and gentlemen, if ever there were a time when the true +spirits of two countries were really fighting in the cause of human +advancement and freedom--no matter what diplomatic notes or other +nameless botherations, from number one to one hundred thousand and +one, may have preceded their taking the field--if ever there were a +time when noble hearts were deserving well of mankind by exposing +themselves to the obedient bayonets of a rash and barbarian tyrant, +it is now, when the faithful children of England and France are +fighting so bravely in the Crimea. Those faithful children are the +admiration and wonder of the world, so gallantly are they +discharging their duty; and therefore I propose to an assembly, +emphatically representing the interests and arts of peace, to drink +the health of the Allied Armies of England and France, with all +possible honours. + + +[In proposing the health of the Treasurer, Mr. Dickens said:-] + + +If the President of this Institution had been here, I should +possibly have made one of the best speeches you ever heard; but as +he is not here, I shall turn to the next toast on my list:- "The +health of your worthy Treasurer, Mr. George Moore," a name which is +a synonym for integrity, enterprise, public spirit, and +benevolence. He is one of the most zealous officers I ever saw in +my life; he appears to me to have been doing nothing during the +last week but rushing into and out of railway-carriages, and making +eloquent speeches at all sorts of public dinners in favour of this +charity. Last evening he was at Manchester, and this evening he +comes here, sacrificing his time and convenience, and exhausting in +the meantime the contents of two vast leaden inkstands and no end +of pens, with the energy of fifty bankers' clerks rolled into one. +But I clearly foresee that the Treasurer will have so much to do +to-night, such gratifying sums to acknowledge and such large lines +of figures to write in his books, that I feel the greatest +consideration I can show him is to propose his health without +further observation, leaving him to address you in his own behalf. +I propose to you, therefore, the health of Mr. George Moore, the +Treasurer of this charity, and I need hardly add that it is one +which is to be drunk with all the honours. + + +[Later in the evening, Mr. Dickens rose and said:-] + + +So many travellers have been going up Mont Blanc lately, both in +fact and in fiction, that I have heard recently of a proposal for +the establishment of a Company to employ Sir Joseph Paxton to take +it down. Only one of those travellers, however, has been enabled +to bring Mont Blanc to Piccadilly, and, by his own ability and good +humour, so to thaw its eternal ice and snow, as that the most timid +lady may ascend it twice a-day, "during the holidays," without the +smallest danger or fatigue. Mr. Albert Smith, who is present +amongst us to-night, is undoubtedly "a traveller." I do not know +whether he takes many orders, but this I can testify, on behalf of +the children of his friends, that he gives them in the most liberal +manner. + +We have also amongst us my friend Mr. Peter Cunningham, who is also +a traveller, not only in right of his able edition of Goldsmith's +"Traveller," but in right of his admirable Handbook, which proves +him to be a traveller in the right spirit through all the +labyrinths of London. We have also amongst us my friend Horace +Mayhew, very well known also for his books, but especially for his +genuine admiration of the company at that end of the room [Mr. +Dickens here pointed to the ladies gallery], and who, whenever the +fair sex is mentioned, will be found to have the liveliest personal +interest in the conversation. + +Ladies and gentlemen, I am about to propose to you the health of +these three distinguished visitors. They are all admirable +speakers, but Mr. Albert Smith has confessed to me, that on fairly +balancing his own merits as a speaker and a singer, he rather +thinks he excels in the latter art. I have, therefore, yielded to +his estimate of himself, and I have now the pleasure of informing +you that he will lead off the speeches of the other two gentlemen +with a song. Mr. Albert Smith has just said to me in an earnest +tone of voice, "What song would you recommend?" and I replied, +"Galignani's Messenger." Ladies and gentlemen, I therefore beg to +propose the health of Messrs. Albert Smith, Peter Cunningham, and +Horace Mayhew, and call on the first-named gentleman for a song. + + + +SPEECH: ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM. THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY LANE, +WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1855. + + + +I cannot, I am sure, better express my sense of the kind reception +accorded to me by this great assembly, than by promising to +compress what I shall address to it within the closest possible +limits. It is more than eighteen hundred years ago, since there +was a set of men who "thought they should be heard for their much +speaking." As they have propagated exceedingly since that time, +and as I observe that they flourish just now to a surprising extent +about Westminster, I will do my best to avoid adding to the numbers +of that prolific race. The noble lord at the head of the +Government, when he wondered in Parliament about a week ago, that +my friend, Mr. Layard, did not blush for having stated in this +place what the whole country knows perfectly well to be true, and +what no man in it can by possibility better know to be true than +those disinterested supporters of that noble lord, who had the +advantage of hearing him and cheering him night after night, when +he first became premier--I mean that he did officially and +habitually joke, at a time when this country was plunged in deep +disgrace and distress--I say, that noble lord, when he wondered so +much that the man of this age, who has, by his earnest and +adventurous spirit, done the most to distinguish himself and it, +did not blush for the tremendous audacity of having so come between +the wind and his nobility, turned an airy period with reference to +the private theatricals at Drury Lane Theatre. Now, I have some +slight acquaintance with theatricals, private and public, and I +will accept that figure of the noble lord. I will not say that if +I wanted to form a company of Her Majesty's servants, I think I +should know where to put my hand on "the comic old gentleman;" nor, +that if I wanted to get up a pantomime, I fancy I should know what +establishment to go to for the tricks and changes; also, for a very +considerable host of supernumeraries, to trip one another up in +that contention with which many of us are familiar, both on these +and on other boards, in which the principal objects thrown about +are loaves and fishes. But I will try to give the noble lord the +reason for these private theatricals, and the reason why, however +ardently he may desire to ring the curtain down upon them, there is +not the faintest present hope of their coming to a conclusion. It +is this:- The public theatricals which the noble lord is so +condescending as to manage are so intolerably bad, the machinery is +so cumbrous, the parts so ill-distributed, the company so full of +"walking gentlemen," the managers have such large families, and are +so bent upon putting those families into what is theatrically +called "first business"--not because of their aptitude for it, but +because they ARE their families, that we find ourselves obliged to +organize an opposition. We have seen the Comedy of Errors played +so dismally like a tragedy that we really cannot bear it. We are, +therefore, making bold to get up the School of Reform, and we hope, +before the play is out, to improve that noble lord by our +performance very considerably. If he object that we have no right +to improve him without his license, we venture to claim that right +in virtue of his orchestra, consisting of a very powerful piper, +whom we always pay. + +Sir, as this is the first political meeting I have ever attended, +and as my trade and calling is not associated with politics, +perhaps it may be useful for me to show how I came to be here, +because reasons similar to those which have influenced me may still +be trembling in the balance in the minds of others. I want at all +times, in full sincerity, to do my duty by my countrymen. If _I_ +feel an attachment towards them, there is nothing disinterested or +meritorious in that, for I can never too affectionately remember +the confidence and friendship that they have long reposed in me. +My sphere of action--which I shall never change--I shall never +overstep, further than this, or for a longer period than I do to- +night. By literature I have lived, and through literature I have +been content to serve my country; and I am perfectly well aware +that I cannot serve two masters. In my sphere of action I have +tried to understand the heavier social grievances, and to help to +set them right. When the Times newspaper proved its then almost +incredible case, in reference to the ghastly absurdity of that vast +labyrinth of misplaced men and misdirected things, which had made +England unable to find on the face of the earth, an enemy one- +twentieth part so potent to effect the misery and ruin of her noble +defenders as she has been herself, I believe that the gloomy +silence into which the country fell was by far the darkest aspect +in which a great people had been exhibited for many years. With +shame and indignation lowering among all classes of society, and +this new element of discord piled on the heaving basis of +ignorance, poverty and crime, which is always below us--with little +adequate expression of the general mind, or apparent understanding +of the general mind, in Parliament--with the machinery of +Government and the legislature going round and round, and the +people fallen from it and standing aloof, as if they left it to its +last remaining function of destroying itself, when it had achieved +the destruction of so much that was dear to them--I did and do +believe that the only wholesome turn affairs so menacing could +possibly take, was, the awaking of the people, the outspeaking of +the people, the uniting of the people in all patriotism and loyalty +to effect a great peaceful constitutional change in the +administration of their own affairs. At such a crisis this +association arose; at such a crisis I joined it: considering its +further case to be--if further case could possibly be needed--that +what is everybody's business is nobody's business, that men must be +gregarious in good citizenship as well as in other things, and that +it is a law in nature that there must be a centre of attraction for +particles to fly to, before any serviceable body with recognised +functions can come into existence. This association has arisen, +and we belong to it. What are the objections to it? I have heard +in the main but three, which I will now briefly notice. It is said +that it is proposed by this association to exercise an influence, +through the constituencies, on the House of Commons. I have not +the least hesitation in saying that I have the smallest amount of +faith in the House of Commons at present existing and that I +consider the exercise of such influence highly necessary to the +welfare and honour of this country. I was reading no later than +yesterday the book of Mr. Pepys, which is rather a favourite of +mine, in which he, two hundred years ago, writing of the House of +Commons, says: + + +"My cousin Roger Pepys tells me that it is matter of the greatest +grief to him in the world that he should be put upon this trust of +being a Parliament man; because he says nothing is done, that he +can see, out of any truth and sincerity, but mere envy and design." + + +Now, how it comes to pass that after two hundred years, and many +years after a Reform Bill, the house of Commons is so little +changed, I will not stop to inquire. I will not ask how it happens +that bills which cramp and worry the people, and restrict their +scant enjoyments, are so easily passed, and how it happens that +measures for their real interests are so very difficult to be got +through Parliament. I will not analyse the confined air of the +lobby, or reduce to their primitive gases its deadening influences +on the memory of that Honourable Member who was once a candidate +for the honour of your--and my--independent vote and interest. I +will not ask what is that Secretarian figure, full of +blandishments, standing on the threshold, with its finger on its +lips. I will not ask how it comes that those personal +altercations, involving all the removes and definitions of +Shakespeare's Touchstone--the retort courteous--the quip modest-- +the reply churlish--the reproof valiant--the countercheck +quarrelsome--the lie circumstantial and the lie direct--are of +immeasurably greater interest in the House of Commons than the +health, the taxation, and the education, of a whole people. I will +not penetrate into the mysteries of that secret chamber in which +the Bluebeard of Party keeps his strangled public questions, and +with regard to which, when he gives the key to his wife, the new +comer, he strictly charges her on no account to open the door. I +will merely put it to the experience of everybody here, whether the +House of Commons is not occasionally a little hard of hearing, a +little dim of sight, a little slow of understanding, and whether, +in short, it is not in a sufficiency invalided state to require +close watching, and the occasional application of sharp stimulants; +and whether it is not capable of considerable improvement? I +believe that, in order to preserve it in a state of real usefulness +and independence, the people must be very watchful and very jealous +of it; and it must have its memory jogged; and be kept awake when +it happens to have taken too much Ministerial narcotic; it must be +trotted about, and must be bustled and pinched in a friendly way, +as is the usage in such cases. I hold that no power can deprive us +of the right to administer our functions as a body comprising +electors from all parts of the country, associated together because +their country is dearer to them than drowsy twaddle, unmeaning +routine, or worn-out conventionalities. + +This brings me to objection number two. It is stated that this +Association sets class against class. Is this so? (Cries of +"No.") No, it finds class set against class, and seeks to +reconcile them. I wish to avoid placing in opposition those two +words--Aristocracy and People. I am one who can believe in the +virtues and uses of both, and would not on any account deprive +either of a single just right belonging to it. I will use, instead +of these words, the terms, the governors and the governed. These +two bodies the Association finds with a gulf between them, in which +are lying, newly-buried, thousands on thousands of the bravest and +most devoted men that even England ever bred. It is to prevent the +recurrence of innumerable smaller evils, of which, unchecked, that +great calamity was the crowning height and the necessary +consummation, and to bring together those two fronts looking now so +strangely at each other, that this Association seeks to help to +bridge over that abyss, with a structure founded on common justice +and supported by common sense. Setting class against class! That +is the very parrot prattle that we have so long heard. Try its +justice by the following example:- A respectable gentleman had a +large establishment, and a great number of servants, who were good +for nothing, who, when he asked them to give his children bread, +gave them stones; who, when they were told to give those children +fish, gave them serpents. When they were ordered to send to the +East, they sent to the West; when they ought to have been serving +dinner in the North, they were consulting exploded cookery books in +the South; who wasted, destroyed, tumbled over one another when +required to do anything, and were bringing everything to ruin. At +last the respectable gentleman calls his house steward, and says, +even then more in sorrow than in anger, "This is a terrible +business; no fortune can stand it--no mortal equanimity can bear +it! I must change my system; I must obtain servants who will do +their duty." The house steward throws up his eyes in pious horror, +ejaculates "Good God, master, you are setting class against class!" +and then rushes off into the servants' hall, and delivers a long +and melting oration on that wicked feeling. + +I now come to the third objection, which is common among young +gentlemen who are not particularly fit for anything but spending +money which they have not got. It is usually comprised in the +observation, "How very extraordinary it is that these +Administrative Reform fellows can't mind their own business." I +think it will occur to all that a very sufficient mode of disposing +of this objection is to say, that it is our own business we mind +when we come forward in this way, and it is to prevent it from +being mismanaged by them. I observe from the Parliamentary +debates--which have of late, by-the-bye, frequently suggested to me +that there is this difference between the bull of Spain the bull of +Nineveh, that, whereas, in the Spanish case, the bull rushes at the +scarlet, in the Ninevite case, the scarlet rushes at the bull--I +have observed from the Parliamentary debates that, by a curious +fatality, there has been a great deal of the reproof valiant and +the counter-check quarrelsome, in reference to every case, showing +the necessity of Administrative Reform, by whomsoever produced, +whensoever, and wheresoever. I daresay I should have no difficulty +in adding two or three cases to the list, which I know to be true, +and which I have no doubt would be contradicted, but I consider it +a work of supererogation; for, if the people at large be not +already convinced that a sufficient general case has been made out +for Administrative Reform, I think they never can be, and they +never will be. There is, however, an old indisputable, very well +known story, which has so pointed a moral at the end of it that I +will substitute it for a new case: by doing of which I may avoid, +I hope, the sacred wrath of St. Stephen's. Ages ago a savage mode +of keeping accounts on notched sticks was introduced into the Court +of Exchequer, and the accounts were kept, much as Robinson Crusoe +kept his calendar on the desert island. In the course of +considerable revolutions of time, the celebrated Cocker was born, +and died; Walkinghame, of the Tutor's Assistant, and well versed in +figures, was also born, and died; a multitude of accountants, book- +keepers, and actuaries, were born, and died. Still official +routine inclined to these notched sticks, as if they were pillars +of the constitution, and still the Exchequer accounts continued to +be kept on certain splints of elm wood called "tallies." In the +reign of George III. an inquiry was made by some revolutionary +spirit, whether pens, ink, and paper, slates and pencils, being in +existence, this obstinate adherence to an obsolete custom ought to +be continued, and whether a change ought not to be effected. + +All the red tape in the country grew redder at the bare mention of +this bold and original conception, and it took till 1826 to get +these sticks abolished. In 1834 it was found that there was a +considerable accumulation of them; and the question then arose, +what was to be done with such worn-out, worm-eaten, rotten old bits +of wood? I dare say there was a vast amount of minuting, +memoranduming, and despatch-boxing, on this mighty subject. The +sticks were housed at Westminster, and it would naturally occur to +any intelligent person that nothing could be easier than to allow +them to be carried away for fire-wood by the miserable people who +live in that neighbourhood. However, they never had been useful, +and official routine required that they never should be, and so the +order went forth that they were to be privately and confidentially +burnt. It came to pass that they were burnt in a stove in the +House of Lords. The stove, overgorged with these preposterous +sticks, set fire to the panelling; the panelling set fire to the +House of Lords; the House of Lords set fire to the House of +Commons; the two houses were reduced to ashes; architects were +called in to build others; we are now in the second million of the +cost thereof; the national pig is not nearly over the stile yet; +and the little old woman, Britannia, hasn't got home to-night. + +Now, I think we may reasonably remark, in conclusion, that all +obstinate adherence to rubbish which the time has long outlived, is +certain to have in the soul of it more or less that is pernicious +and destructive; and that will some day set fire to something or +other; which, if given boldly to the winds would have been +harmless; but which, obstinately retained, is ruinous. I believe +myself that when Administrative Reform goes up it will be idle to +hope to put it down, on this or that particular instance. The +great, broad, and true cause that our public progress is far behind +our private progress, and that we are not more remarkable for our +private wisdom and success in matters of business than we are for +our public folly and failure, I take to be as clearly established +as the sun, moon, and stars. To set this right, and to clear the +way in the country for merit everywhere: accepting it equally +whether it be aristocratic or democratic, only asking whether it be +honest or true, is, I take it, the true object of this Association. +This object it seeks to promote by uniting together large numbers +of the people, I hope, of all conditions, to the end that they may +better comprehend, bear in mind, understand themselves, and impress +upon others, the common public duty. Also, of which there is great +need, that by keeping a vigilant eye on the skirmishers thrown out +from time to time by the Party of Generals, they may see that their +feints and manoeuvres do not oppress the small defaulters and +release the great, and that they do not gull the public with a mere +field-day Review of Reform, instead of an earnest, hard-fought +Battle. I have had no consultation with any one upon the subject, +but I particularly wish that the directors may devise some means of +enabling intelligent working men to join this body, on easier terms +than subscribers who have larger resources. I could wish to see +great numbers of them belong to us, because I sincerely believe +that it would be good for the common weal. + +Said the noble Lord at the head of the Government, when Mr. Layard +asked him for a day for his motion, "Let the hon. gentleman find a +day for himself." + + +"Now, in the names of all the gods at once, +Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed +That he is grown so great?" + + +If our Caesar will excuse me, I would take the liberty of reversing +that cool and lofty sentiment, and I would say, "First Lord, your +duty it is to see that no man is left to find a day for himself. +See you, who take the responsibility of government, who aspire to +it, live for it, intrigue for it, scramble for it, who hold to it +tooth-and-nail when you can get it, see you that no man is left to +find a day for himself. In this old country, with its seething +hard-worked millions, its heavy taxes, its swarms of ignorant, its +crowds of poor, and its crowds of wicked, woe the day when the +dangerous man shall find a day for himself, because the head of the +Government failed in his duty in not anticipating it by a brighter +and a better one! Name you the day, First Lord; make a day; work +for a day beyond your little time, Lord Palmerston, and History in +return may then--not otherwise--find a day for you; a day equally +associated with the contentment of the loyal, patient, willing- +hearted English people, and with the happiness of your Royal +Mistress and her fair line of children." + + + +SPEECH: SHEFFIELD, DECEMBER 22, 1855. + + + +[On Saturday Evening Mr. Charles Dickens read his Christmas Carol +in the Mechanics' Hall in behalf of the funds of the Institute. + +After the reading the Mayor said, he had been charged by a few +gentlemen in Sheffield to present to Mr. Dickens for his acceptance +a very handsome service of table cutlery, a pair of razors, and a +pair of fish carvers, as some substantial manifestation of their +gratitude to Mr. Dickens for his kindness in coming to Sheffield. +Henceforth the Christmas of 1855 would be associated in his mind +with the name of that gentleman.] + +Mr. Charles Dickens, in receiving the presentation, said, he +accepted with heartfelt delight and cordial gratitude such +beautiful specimens of Sheffield-workmanship; and he begged to +assure them that the kind observations which had been made by the +Mayor, and the way in which they had been responded to by that +assembly, would never be obliterated from his remembrance. The +present testified not only to the work of Sheffield hands, but to +the warmth and generosity of Sheffield hearts. It was his earnest +desire to do right by his readers, and to leave imaginative and +popular literature associated with the private homes and public +rights of the people of England. The case of cutlery with which he +had been so kindly presented, should be retained as an heirloom in +his family; and he assured them that he should ever be faithful to +his death to the principles which had earned for him their +approval. In taking his reluctant leave of them, he wished them +many merry Christmases, and many happy new years. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, FEBRUARY 9, 1858. + + + +[At the Anniversary Festival of the Hospital for Sick Children, on +Tuesday, February the 9th, 1858, about one hundred and fifty +gentlemen sat down to dinner, in the Freemasons' Hall. Later in +the evening all the seats in the gallery were filled with ladies +interested in the success of the Hospital. After the usual loyal +and other toasts, the Chairman, Mr. Dickens, proposed "Prosperity +to the Hospital for Sick Children," and said:-] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--It is one of my rules in life not to believe +a man who may happen to tell me that he feels no interest in +children. I hold myself bound to this principle by all kind +consideration, because I know, as we all must, that any heart which +could really toughen its affections and sympathies against those +dear little people must be wanting in so many humanising +experiences of innocence and tenderness, as to be quite an unsafe +monstrosity among men. Therefore I set the assertion down, +whenever I happen to meet with it--which is sometimes, though not +often--as an idle word, originating possibly in the genteel languor +of the hour, and meaning about as much as that knowing social +lassitude, which has used up the cardinal virtues and quite found +out things in general, usually does mean. I suppose it may be +taken for granted that we, who come together in the name of +children and for the sake of children, acknowledge that we have an +interest in them; indeed, I have observed since I sit down here +that we are quite in a childlike state altogether, representing an +infant institution, and not even yet a grown-up company. A few +years are necessary to the increase of our strength and the +expansion of our figure; and then these tables, which now have a +few tucks in them, will be let out, and then this hall, which now +sits so easily upon us, will be too tight and small for us. +Nevertheless, it is likely that even we are not without our +experience now and then of spoilt children. I do not mean of our +own spoilt children, because nobody's own children ever were +spoilt, but I mean the disagreeable children of our particular +friends. We know by experience what it is to have them down after +dinner, and, across the rich perspective of a miscellaneous dessert +to see, as in a black dose darkly, the family doctor looming in the +distance. We know, I have no doubt we all know, what it is to +assist at those little maternal anecdotes and table entertainments +illustrated with imitations and descriptive dialogue which might +not be inaptly called, after the manner of my friend Mr. Albert +Smith, the toilsome ascent of Miss Mary and the eruption +(cutaneous) of Master Alexander. We know what it is when those +children won't go to bed; we know how they prop their eyelids open +with their forefingers when they will sit up; how, when they become +fractious, they say aloud that they don't like us, and our nose is +too long, and why don't we go? And we are perfectly acquainted +with those kicking bundles which are carried off at last +protesting. An eminent eye-witness told me that he was one of a +company of learned pundits who assembled at the house of a very +distinguished philosopher of the last generation to hear him +expound his stringent views concerning infant education and early +mental development, and he told me that while the philosopher did +this in very beautiful and lucid language, the philosopher's little +boy, for his part, edified the assembled sages by dabbling up to +the elbows in an apple pie which had been provided for their +entertainment, having previously anointed his hair with the syrup, +combed it with his fork, and brushed it with his spoon. It is +probable that we also have our similar experiences sometimes, of +principles that are not quite practice, and that we know people +claiming to be very wise and profound about nations of men who show +themselves to be rather weak and shallow about units of babies. + +But, ladies and gentlemen, the spoilt children whom I have to +present to you after this dinner of to-day are not of this class. +I have glanced at these for the easier and lighter introduction of +another, a very different, a far more numerous, and a far more +serious class. The spoilt children whom I must show you are the +spoilt children of the poor in this great city, the children who +are, every year, for ever and ever irrevocably spoilt out of this +breathing life of ours by tens of thousands, but who may in vast +numbers be preserved if you, assisting and not contravening the +ways of Providence, will help to save them. The two grim nurses, +Poverty and Sickness, who bring these children before you, preside +over their births, rock their wretched cradles, nail down their +little coffins, pile up the earth above their graves. Of the +annual deaths in this great town, their unnatural deaths form more +than one-third. I shall not ask you, according to the custom as to +the other class--I shall not ask you on behalf of these children to +observe how good they are, how pretty they are, how clever they +are, how promising they are, whose beauty they most resemble--I +shall only ask you to observe how weak they are, and how like death +they are! And I shall ask you, by the remembrance of everything +that lies between your own infancy and that so miscalled second +childhood when the child's graces are gone and nothing but its +helplessness remains; I shall ask you to turn your thoughts to +THESE spoilt children in the sacred names of Pity and Compassion. + +Some years ago, being in Scotland, I went with one of the most +humane members of the humane medical profession, on a morning tour +among some of the worst lodged inhabitants of the old town of +Edinburgh. In the closes and wynds of that picturesque place--I am +sorry to remind you what fast friends picturesqueness and typhus +often are--we saw more poverty and sickness in an hour than many +people would believe in a life. Our way lay from one to another of +the most wretched dwellings, reeking with horrible odours; shut out +from the sky, shut out from the air, mere pits and dens. In a room +in one of these places, where there was an empty porridge-pot on +the cold hearth, with a ragged woman and some ragged children +crouching on the bare ground near it--where, I remember as I speak, +that the very light, refracted from a high damp-stained and time- +stained house-wall, came trembling in, as if the fever which had +shaken everything else there had shaken even it--there lay, in an +old egg-box which the mother had begged from a shop, a little +feeble, wasted, wan, sick child. With his little wasted face, and +his little hot, worn hands folded over his breast, and his little +bright, attentive eyes, I can see him now, as I have seen him for +several years, look in steadily at us. There he lay in his little +frail box, which was not at all a bad emblem of the little body +from which he was slowly parting--there he lay, quite quiet, quite +patient, saying never a word. He seldom cried, the mother said; he +seldom complained; "he lay there, seemin' to woonder what it was a' +aboot." God knows, I thought, as I stood looking at him, he had +his reasons for wondering--reasons for wondering how it could +possibly come to be that he lay there, left alone, feeble and full +of pain, when he ought to have been as bright and as brisk as the +birds that never got near him--reasons for wondering how he came to +be left there, a little decrepid old man pining to death, quite a +thing of course, as if there were no crowds of healthy and happy +children playing on the grass under the summer's sun within a +stone's throw of him, as if there were no bright, moving sea on the +other side of the great hill overhanging the city; as if there were +no great clouds rushing over it; as if there were no life, and +movement, and vigour anywhere in the world--nothing but stoppage +and decay. There he lay looking at us, saying, in his silence, +more pathetically than I have ever heard anything said by any +orator in my life, "Will you please to tell me what this means, +strange man? and if you can give me any good reason why I should be +so soon, so far advanced on my way to Him who said that children +were to come into His presence and were not to be forbidden, but +who scarcely meant, I think, that they should come by this hard +road by which I am travelling; pray give that reason to me, for I +seek it very earnestly and wonder about it very much;" and to my +mind he has been wondering about it ever since. Many a poor child, +sick and neglected, I have seen since that time in this London; +many a poor sick child I have seen most affectionately and kindly +tended by poor people, in an unwholesome house and under untoward +circumstances, wherein its recovery was quite impossible; but at +all such times I have seen my poor little drooping friend in his +egg-box, and he has always addressed his dumb speech to me, and I +have always found him wondering what it meant, and why, in the name +of a gracious God, such things should be! + +Now, ladies and gentlemen, such things need not be, and will not +be, if this company, which is a drop of the life-blood of the great +compassionate public heart, will only accept the means of rescue +and prevention which it is mine to offer. Within a quarter of a +mile of this place where I speak, stands a courtly old house, where +once, no doubt, blooming children were born, and grew up to be men +and women, and married, and brought their own blooming children +back to patter up the old oak staircase which stood but the other +day, and to wonder at the old oak carvings on the chimney-pieces. +In the airy wards into which the old state drawing-rooms and family +bedchambers of that house are now converted are such little +patients that the attendant nurses look like reclaimed giantesses, +and the kind medical practitioner like an amiable Christian ogre. +Grouped about the little low tables in the centre of the rooms are +such tiny convalescents that they seem to be playing at having been +ill. On the doll's beds are such diminutive creatures that each +poor sufferer is supplied with its tray of toys; and, looking +round, you may see how the little tired, flushed cheek has toppled +over half the brute creation on its way into the ark; or how one +little dimpled arm has mowed down (as I saw myself) the whole tin +soldiery of Europe. On the walls of these rooms are graceful, +pleasant, bright, childish pictures. At the bed's heads, are +pictures of the figure which is the universal embodiment of all +mercy and compassion, the figure of Him who was once a child +himself, and a poor one. Besides these little creatures on the +beds, you may learn in that place that the number of small Out- +patients brought to that house for relief is no fewer than ten +thousand in the compass of one single year. In the room in which +these are received, you may see against the wall a box, on which it +is written, that it has been calculated, that if every grateful +mother who brings a child there will drop a penny into it, the +Hospital funds may possibly be increased in a year by so large a +sum as forty pounds. And you may read in the Hospital Report, with +a glow of pleasure, that these poor women are so respondent as to +have made, even in a toiling year of difficulty and high prices, +this estimated forty, fifty pounds. In the printed papers of this +same Hospital, you may read with what a generous earnestness the +highest and wisest members of the medical profession testify to the +great need of it; to the immense difficulty of treating children in +the same hospitals with grown-up people, by reason of their +different ailments and requirements, to the vast amount of pain +that will be assuaged, and of life that will be saved, through this +Hospital; not only among the poor, observe, but among the +prosperous too, by reason of the increased knowledge of children's +illnesses, which cannot fail to arise from a more systematic mode +of studying them. Lastly, gentlemen, and I am sorry to say, worst +of all--(for I must present no rose-coloured picture of this place +to you--I must not deceive you;) lastly, the visitor to this +Children's Hospital, reckoning up the number of its beds, will find +himself perforce obliged to stop at very little over thirty; and +will learn, with sorrow and surprise, that even that small number, +so forlornly, so miserably diminutive, compared with this vast +London, cannot possibly be maintained, unless the Hospital be made +better known; I limit myself to saying better known, because I will +not believe that in a Christian community of fathers and mothers, +and brothers and sisters, it can fail, being better known, to be +well and richly endowed. + +Now, ladies and gentlemen, this, without a word of adornment--which +I resolved when I got up not to allow myself--this is the simple +case. This is the pathetic case which I have to put to you; not +only on behalf of the thousands of children who annually die in +this great city, but also on behalf of the thousands of children +who live half developed, racked with preventible pain, shorn of +their natural capacity for health and enjoyment. If these innocent +creatures cannot move you for themselves, how can I possibly hope +to move you in their name? The most delightful paper, the most +charming essay, which the tender imagination of Charles Lamb +conceived, represents him as sitting by his fireside on a winter +night telling stories to his own dear children, and delighting in +their society, until he suddenly comes to his old, solitary, +bachelor self, and finds that they were but dream-children who +might have been, but never were. "We are nothing," they say to +him; "less than nothing, and dreams. We are only what might have +been, and we must wait upon the tedious shore of Lethe, millions of +ages, before we have existence and a name." "And immediately +awaking," he says, "I found myself in my arm chair." The dream- +children whom I would now raise, if I could, before every one of +you, according to your various circumstances, should be the dear +child you love, the dearer child you have lost, the child you might +have had, the child you certainly have been. Each of these dream- +children should hold in its powerful hand one of the little +children now lying in the Child's Hospital, or now shut out of it +to perish. Each of these dream-children should say to you, "O, +help this little suppliant in my name; O, help it for my sake!" +Well!--And immediately awaking, you should find yourselves in the +Freemasons' Hall, happily arrived at the end of a rather long +speech, drinking "Prosperity to the Hospital for Sick Children," +and thoroughly resolved that it shall flourish. + + + +SPEECH: EDINBURGH, MARCH, 26, 1858. + + + +[On the above date Mr. Dickens gave a reading of his Christmas +Carol in the Music Hall, before the members and subscribers of the +Philosophical Institution. At the conclusion of the reading the +Lord Provost of Edinburgh presented him with a massive silver +wassail cup. Mr. Dickens acknowledged the tribute as follows:] + +My Lord Provost, ladies, and gentlemen, I beg to assure you I am +deeply sensible of your kind welcome, and of this beautiful and +great surprise; and that I thank you cordially with all my heart. +I never have forgotten, and I never can forget, that I have the +honour to be a burgess and guild-brother of the Corporation of +Edinburgh. As long as sixteen or seventeen years ago, the first +great public recognition and encouragement I ever received was +bestowed on me in this generous and magnificent city--in this city +so distinguished in literature and so distinguished in the arts. +You will readily believe that I have carried into the various +countries I have since traversed, and through all my subsequent +career, the proud and affectionate remembrance of that eventful +epoch in my life; and that coming back to Edinburgh is to me like +coming home. + +Ladies and gentlemen, you have heard so much of my voice to-night, +that I will not inflict on you the additional task of hearing any +more. I am better reconciled to limiting myself to these very few +words, because I know and feel full well that no amount of speech +to which I could give utterance could possibly express my sense of +the honour and distinction you have conferred on me, or the +heartfelt gratification I derive from this reception. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, MARCH 29, 1858. + + + +[At the thirteenth anniversary festival of the General Theatrical +Fund, held at the Freemasons' Tavern, at which Thackeray presided, +Mr. Dickens made the following speech:] + +In our theatrical experience as playgoers we are all equally +accustomed to predict by certain little signs and portents on the +stage what is going to happen there. When the young lady, an +admiral's daughter, is left alone to indulge in a short soliloquy, +and certain smart spirit-rappings are heard to proceed immediately +from beneath her feet, we foretell that a song is impending. When +two gentlemen enter, for whom, by a happy coincidence, two chairs, +and no more, are in waiting, we augur a conversation, and that it +will assume a retrospective biographical character. When any of +the performers who belong to the sea-faring or marauding +professions are observed to arm themselves with very small swords +to which are attached very large hilts, we predict that the affair +will end in a combat. Carrying out the association of ideas, it +may have occurred to some that when I asked my old friend in the +chair to allow me to propose a toast I had him in my eye; and I +have him now on my lips. + +The duties of a trustee of the Theatrical Fund, an office which I +hold, are not so frequent or so great as its privileges. He is in +fact a mere walking gentleman, with the melancholy difference that +he has no one to love. If this advantage could be added to his +character it would be one of a more agreeable nature than it is, +and his forlorn position would be greatly improved. His duty is to +call every half year at the bankers', when he signs his name in a +large greasy inconvenient book, to certain documents of which he +knows nothing, and then he delivers it to the property man and +exits anywhere. + +He, however, has many privileges. It is one of his privileges to +watch the steady growth of an institution in which he takes great +interest; it is one of his privileges to bear his testimony to the +prudence, the goodness, the self-denial, and the excellence of a +class of persons who have been too long depreciated, and whose +virtues are too much denied, out of the depths of an ignorant and +stupid superstition. And lastly, it is one of his privileges +sometimes to be called on to propose the health of the chairman at +the annual dinners of the institution, when that chairman is one +for whose genius he entertains the warmest admiration, and whom he +respects as a friend, and as one who does honour to literature, and +in whom literature is honoured. I say when that is the case, he +feels that this last privilege is a great and high one. From the +earliest days of this institution I have ventured to impress on its +managers, that they would consult its credit and success by +choosing its chairmen as often as possible within the circle of +literature and the arts; and I will venture to say that no similar +institution has been presided over by so many remarkable and +distinguished men. I am sure, however, that it never has had, and +that it never will have, simply because it cannot have, a greater +lustre cast upon it than by the presence of the noble English +writer who fills the chair to-night. + +It is not for me at this time, and in this place, to take on myself +to flutter before you the well-thumbed pages of Mr. Thackeray's +books, and to tell you to observe how full they are of wit and +wisdom, how out-speaking, and how devoid of fear or favour; but I +will take leave to remark, in paying my due homage and respect to +them, that it is fitting that such a writer and such an institution +should be brought together. Every writer of fiction, although he +may not adopt the dramatic form, writes in effect for the stage. +He may never write plays; but the truth and passion which are in +him must be more or less reflected in the great mirror which he +holds up to nature. Actors, managers, and authors are all +represented in this company, and it maybe supposed that they all +have studied the deep wants of the human heart in many theatres; +but none of them could have studied its mysterious workings in any +theatre to greater advantage than in the bright and airy pages of +Vanity Fair. To this skilful showman, who has so often delighted +us, and who has charmed us again to-night, we have now to wish God +speed, and that he may continue for many years {11} to exercise his +potent art. To him fill a bumper toast, and fervently utter, God +bless him! + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, APRIL 29, 1858. + + + +[The reader will already have observed that in the Christmas week +of 1853, and on several subsequent occasions, Mr. Dickens had read +the Christmas Carol and the Chimes before public audiences, but +always in aid of the funds of some institution, or for other +benevolent purposes. The first reading he ever gave for his own +benefit took place on the above date, in St. Martin's Hall, (now +converted into the Queen's Theatre). This reading Mr. Dickens +prefaced with the following speech:-] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--It may perhaps be in known to you that, for +a few years past, I have been accustomed occasionally to read some +of my shorter books, to various audiences, in aid of a variety of +good objects, and at some charge to myself, both in time and money. +It having at length become impossible in any reason to comply with +these always accumulating demands, I have had definitively to +choose between now and then reading on my own account, as one of my +recognised occupations, or not reading at all. I have had little +or no difficulty in deciding on the former course. The reasons +that have led me to it--besides the consideration that it +necessitates no departure whatever from the chosen pursuits of my +life--are threefold: firstly, I have satisfied myself that it can +involve no possible compromise of the credit and independence of +literature; secondly, I have long held the opinion, and have long +acted on the opinion, that in these times whatever brings a public +man and his public face to face, on terms of mutual confidence and +respect, is a good thing; thirdly, I have had a pretty large +experience of the interest my hearers are so generous as to take in +these occasions, and of the delight they give to me, as a tried +means of strengthening those relations--I may almost say of +personal friendship--which it is my great privilege and pride, as +it is my great responsibility, to hold with a multitude of persons +who will never hear my voice nor see my face. Thus it is that I +come, quite naturally, to be here among you at this time; and thus +it is that I proceed to read this little book, quite as composedly +as I might proceed to write it, or to publish it in any other way. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 1, 1858. + + + +[The following short speech was made at the Banquet of the Royal +Academy, after the health of Mr. Dickens and Mr. Thackeray had been +proposed by the President, Sir Charles Eastlake:-] + +Following the order of your toast, I have to take the first part in +the duet to be performed in acknowledgment of the compliment you +have paid to literature. In this home of art I feel it to be too +much an interchange of compliments, as it were, between near +relations, to enter into any lengthened expression of our thanks +for the honour you have done us. I feel that it would be changing +this splendid assembly into a sort of family party. I may, +however, take leave to say that your sister, whom I represent, is +strong and healthy; that she has a very great affection for, and an +undying interest in you, and that it is always a very great +gratification to her to see herself so well remembered within these +walls, and to know that she is an honoured guest at your hospitable +board. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, JULY 21, 1858. + + + +[On the above date, a public meeting was held at the Princess's +Theatre, for the purpose of establishing the now famous Royal +Dramatic College. Mr. Charles Kean was the chairman, and Mr. +Dickens delivered the following speech:] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--I think I may venture to congratulate you +beforehand on the pleasant circumstance that the movers and +seconders of the resolutions which will be submitted to you will, +probably, have very little to say. Through the Report which you +have heard read, and through the comprehensive address of the +chairman, the cause which brings us together has been so very +clearly stated to you, that it can stand in need of very little, if +of any further exposition. But, as I have the honour to move the +first resolution which this handsome gift, and the vigorous action +that must be taken upon it, necessitate, I think I shall only give +expression to what is uppermost in the general mind here, if I +venture to remark that, many as the parts are in which Mr. Kean has +distinguished himself on these boards, he has never appeared in one +in which the large spirit of an artist, the feeling of a man, and +the grace of a gentleman, have been more admirably blended than in +this day's faithful adherence to the calling of which he is a +prosperous ornament, and in this day's manly advocacy of its cause. + +Ladies and gentlemen, the resolution entrusted to me is: + +"That the Report of the provisional committee be adopted, and that +this meeting joyfully accepts, and gratefully acknowledges, the +gift of five acres of land referred to in the said Report." {12} + +It is manifest, I take it, that we are all agreed upon this +acceptance and acknowledgment, and that we all know very well that +this generous gift can inspire but one sentiment in the breast of +every lover of the dramatic art. As it is far too often forgotten +by those who are indebted to it for many a restorative flight out +of this working-day world, that the silks, and velvets, and elegant +costumes of its professors must be every night exchanged for the +hideous coats and waistcoats of the present day, in which we have +now the honour and the misfortune of appearing before you, so when +we do meet with a nature so considerably generous as this donor's, +and do find an interest in the real life and struggles of the +people who have delighted it, so very spontaneous and so very +liberal, we have nothing to do but to accept and to admire, we have +no duty left but to "take the goods the gods provide us," and to +make the best and the most of them. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me +to remark, that in this mode of turning a good gift to the highest +account, lies the truest gratitude. + +In reference to this, I could not but reflect, whilst Mr. Kean was +speaking, that in an hour or two from this time, the spot upon +which we are now assembled will be transformed into the scene of a +crafty and a cruel bond. I know that, a few hours hence, the Grand +Canal of Venice will flow, with picturesque fidelity, on the very +spot where I now stand dryshod, and that "the quality of mercy" +will be beautifully stated to the Venetian Council by a learned +young doctor from Padua, on these very boards on which we now +enlarge upon the quality of charity and sympathy. Knowing this, it +came into my mind to consider how different the real bond of to-day +from the ideal bond of to-night. Now, all generosity, all +forbearance, all forgetfulness of little jealousies and unworthy +divisions, all united action for the general good. Then, all +selfishness, all malignity, all cruelty, all revenge, and all +evil,--now all good. Then, a bond to be broken within the compass +of a few--three or four--swiftly passing hours,--now, a bond to be +valid and of good effect generations hence. + +Ladies and gentlemen, of the execution and delivery of this bond, +between this generous gentleman on the one hand, and the united +members of a too often and too long disunited art upon the other, +be you the witnesses. Do you attest of everything that is liberal +and free in spirit, that is "so nominated in the bond;" and of +everything that is grudging, self-seeking, unjust, or unfair, that +it is by no sophistry ever to be found there. I beg to move the +resolution which I have already had the pleasure of reading. + + + +SPEECH: MANCHESTER, DECEMBER 3, 1858. + + + +[The following speech was delivered at the annual meeting of the +Institutional Association of Lancashire and Cheshire, held in the +Free-trade Hall on the evening of the above day, at which Mr. +Dickens presided.] + +It has of late years become noticeable in England that the autumn +season produces an immense amount of public speaking. I notice +that no sooner do the leaves begin to fall from the trees, than +pearls of great price begin to fall from the lips of the wise men +of the east, and north, and west, and south; and anybody may have +them by the bushel, for the picking up. Now, whether the comet has +this year had a quickening influence on this crop, as it is by some +supposed to have had upon the corn-harvest and the vintage, I do +not know; but I do know that I have never observed the columns of +the newspapers to groan so heavily under a pressure of orations, +each vying with the other in the two qualities of having little or +nothing to do with the matter in hand, and of being always +addressed to any audience in the wide world rather than the +audience to which it was delivered. + +The autumn having gone, and the winter come, I am so sanguine as to +hope that we in our proceedings may break through this enchanted +circle and deviate from this precedent; the rather as we have +something real to do, and are come together, I am sure, in all +plain fellowship and straightforwardness, to do it. We have no +little straws of our own to throw up to show us which way any wind +blows, and we have no oblique biddings of our own to make for +anything outside this hall. + +At the top of the public announcement of this meeting are the +words, "Institutional Association of Lancashire and Cheshire." +Will you allow me, in reference to the meaning of those words, to +present myself before you as the embodied spirit of ignorance +recently enlightened, and to put myself through a short, voluntary +examination as to the results of my studies. To begin with: the +title did not suggest to me anything in the least like the truth. +I have been for some years pretty familiar with the terms, +"Mechanics' Institutions," and "Literary Societies," but they have, +unfortunately, become too often associated in my mind with a body +of great pretensions, lame as to some important member or other, +which generally inhabits a new house much too large for it, which +is seldom paid for, and which takes the name of the mechanics most +grievously in vain, for I have usually seen a mechanic and a dodo +in that place together. + +I, therefore, began my education, in respect of the meaning of this +title, very coldly indeed, saying to myself, "Here's the old +story." But the perusal of a very few lines of my book soon gave +me to understand that it was not by any means the old story; in +short, that this association is expressly designed to correct the +old story, and to prevent its defects from becoming perpetuated. I +learnt that this Institutional Association is the union, in one +central head, of one hundred and fourteen local Mechanics' +Institutions and Mutual Improvement Societies, at an expense of no +more than five shillings to each society; suggesting to all how +they can best communicate with and profit by the fountain-head and +one another; keeping their best aims steadily before them; advising +them how those aims can be best attained; giving a direct end and +object to what might otherwise easily become waste forces; and +sending among them not only oral teachers, but, better still, boxes +of excellent books, called "Free Itinerating Libraries." I learned +that these books are constantly making the circuit of hundreds upon +hundreds of miles, and are constantly being read with inexpressible +relish by thousands upon thousands of toiling people, but that they +are never damaged or defaced by one rude hand. These and other +like facts lead me to consider the immense importance of the fact, +that no little cluster of working men's cottages can arise in any +Lancashire or Cheshire valley, at the foot of any running stream +which enterprise hunts out for water-power, but it has its +educational friend and companion ready for it, willing for it, +acquainted with its thoughts and ways and turns of speech even +before it has come into existence. + +Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is the main consideration that has +brought me here. No central association at a distance could +possibly do for those working men what this local association does. +No central association at a distance could possibly understand them +as this local association does. No central association at a +distance could possibly put them in that familiar and easy +communication one with another, as that I, man or boy, eager for +knowledge, in that valley seven miles off, should know of you, man +or boy, eager for knowledge, in that valley twelve miles off, and +should occasionally trudge to meet you, that you may impart your +learning in one branch of acquisition to me, whilst I impart mine +in another to you. Yet this is distinctly a feature, and a most +important feature, of this society. + +On the other hand, it is not to be supposed that these honest men, +however zealous, could, as a rule, succeed in establishing and +maintaining their own institutions of themselves. It is obvious +that combination must materially diminish their cost, which is in +time a vital consideration; and it is equally obvious that +experience, essential to the success of all combination, is +especially so when its object is to diffuse the results of +experience and of reflection. + +Well, ladies and gentlemen, the student of the present profitable +history of this society does not stop here in his learning; when he +has got so far, he finds with interest and pleasure that the parent +society at certain stated periods invites the more eager and +enterprising members of the local society to submit themselves to +voluntary examination in various branches of useful knowledge, of +which examination it takes the charge and arranges the details, and +invites the successful candidates to come to Manchester to receive +the prizes and certificates of merit which it impartially awards. +The most successful of the competitors in the list of these +examinations are now among us, and these little marks of +recognition and encouragement I shall have the honour presently of +giving them, as they come before you, one by one, for that purpose. + +I have looked over a few of those examination papers, which have +comprised history, geography, grammar, arithmetic, book-keeping, +decimal coinage, mensuration, mathematics, social economy, the +French language--in fact, they comprise all the keys that open all +the locks of knowledge. I felt most devoutly gratified, as to many +of them, that they had not been submitted to me to answer, for I am +perfectly sure that if they had been, I should have had mighty +little to bestow upon myself to-night. And yet it is always to be +observed and seriously remembered that these examinations are +undergone by people whose lives have been passed in a continual +fight for bread, and whose whole existence, has been a constant +wrestle with + + +"Those twin gaolers of the daring heart - +Low birth and iron fortune." {13} + + +I could not but consider, with extraordinary admiration, that these +questions have been replied to, not by men like myself, the +business of whose life is with writing and with books, but by men, +the business of whose life is with tools and with machinery. + +Let me endeavour to recall, as well as my memory will serve me, +from among the most interesting cases of prize-holders and +certificate-gainers who will appear before you, some two or three +of the most conspicuous examples. There are two poor brothers from +near Chorley, who work from morning to night in a coal-pit, and +who, in all weathers, have walked eight miles a-night, three nights +a-week, to attend the classes in which they have gained +distinction. There are two poor boys from Bollington, who begin +life as piecers at one shilling or eighteen-pence a-week, and the +father of one of whom was cut to pieces by the machinery at which +he worked, but not before he had himself founded the institution in +which this son has since come to be taught. These two poor boys +will appear before you to-night, to take the second-class prize in +chemistry. There is a plasterer from Bury, sixteen years of age, +who took a third-class certificate last year at the hands of Lord +Brougham; he is this year again successful in a competition three +times as severe. There is a wagon-maker from the same place, who +knew little or absolutely nothing until he was a grown man, and who +has learned all he knows, which is a great deal, in the local +institution. There is a chain-maker, in very humble circumstances, +and working hard all day, who walks six miles a-night, three nights +a-week, to attend the classes in which he has won so famous a +place. There is a moulder in an iron foundry, who, whilst he was +working twelve hours a day before the furnace, got up at four +o'clock in the morning to learn drawing. "The thought of my lads," +he writes in his modest account of himself, "in their peaceful +slumbers above me, gave me fresh courage, and I used to think that +if I should never receive any personal benefit, I might instruct +them when they came to be of an age to understand the mighty +machines and engines which have made our country, England, pre- +eminent in the world's history." There is a piecer at mule-frames, +who could not read at eighteen, who is now a man of little more +than thirty, who is the sole support of an aged mother, who is +arithmetical teacher in the institution in which he himself was +taught, who writes of himself that he made the resolution never to +take up a subject without keeping to it, and who has kept to it +with such an astonishing will, that he is now well versed in Euclid +and Algebra, and is the best French scholar in Stockport. The +drawing-classes in that same Stockport are taught by a working +blacksmith; and the pupils of that working blacksmith will receive +the highest honours of to-night. Well may it be said of that good +blacksmith, as it was written of another of his trade, by the +American poet: + + +"Toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing, +Onward through life he goes; +Each morning sees some task begun, +Each evening sees its clause. +Something attempted, something done, +Has earn'd a night's repose." + + +To pass from the successful candidates to the delegates from local +societies now before me, and to content myself with one instance +from amongst them. There is among their number a most remarkable +man, whose history I have read with feelings that I could not +adequately express under any circumstances, and least of all when I +know he hears me, who worked when he was a mere baby at hand-loom +weaving until he dropped from fatigue: who began to teach himself +as soon as he could earn five shillings a-week: who is now a +botanist, acquainted with every production of the Lancashire +valley: who is a naturalist, and has made and preserved a +collection of the eggs of British birds, and stuffed the birds: +who is now a conchologist, with a very curious, and in some +respects an original collection of fresh-water shells, and has also +preserved and collected the mosses of fresh water and of the sea: +who is worthily the president of his own local Literary +Institution, and who was at his work this time last night as +foreman in a mill. + +So stimulating has been the influence of these bright examples, and +many more, that I notice among the applications from Blackburn for +preliminary test examination papers, one from an applicant who +gravely fills up the printed form by describing himself as ten +years of age, and who, with equal gravity, describes his occupation +as "nursing a little child." Nor are these things confined to the +men. The women employed in factories, milliners' work, and +domestic service, have begun to show, as it is fitting they should, +a most decided determination not to be outdone by the men; and the +women of Preston in particular, have so honourably distinguished +themselves, and shown in their examination papers such an admirable +knowledge of the science of household management and household +economy, that if I were a working bachelor of Lancashire or +Cheshire, and if I had not cast my eye or set my heart upon any +lass in particular, I should positively get up at four o'clock in +the morning with the determination of the iron-moulder himself, and +should go to Preston in search of a wife. + +Now, ladies and gentlemen, these instances, and many more, daily +occurring, always accumulating, are surely better testimony to the +working of this Association, than any number of speakers could +possibly present to you. Surely the presence among us of these +indefatigable people is the Association's best and most effective +triumph in the present and the past, and is its noblest stimulus to +effort in the future. As its temporary mouth-piece, I would beg to +say to that portion of the company who attend to receive the +prizes, that the institution can never hold itself apart from +them;--can never set itself above them; that their distinction and +success must be its distinction and success; and that there can be +but one heart beating between them and it. In particular, I would +most especially entreat them to observe that nothing will ever be +further from this Association's mind than the impertinence of +patronage. The prizes that it gives, and the certificates that it +gives, are mere admiring assurances of sympathy with so many +striving brothers and sisters, and are only valuable for the spirit +in which they are given, and in which they are received. The +prizes are money prizes, simply because the Institution does not +presume to doubt that persons who have so well governed themselves, +know best how to make a little money serviceable--because it would +be a shame to treat them like grown-up babies by laying it out for +them, and because it knows it is given, and knows it is taken, in +perfect clearness of purpose, perfect trustfulness, and, above all, +perfect independence. + +Ladies and Gentlemen, reverting once more to the whole collective +audience before me, I will, in another two minutes, release the +hold which your favour has given me on your attention. Of the +advantages of knowledge I have said, and I shall say, nothing. Of +the certainty with which the man who grasps it under difficulties +rises in his own respect and in usefulness to the community, I have +said, and I shall say, nothing. In the city of Manchester, in the +county of Lancaster, both of them remarkable for self-taught men, +that were superfluous indeed. For the same reason I rigidly +abstain from putting together any of the shattered fragments of +that poor clay image of a parrot, which was once always saying, +without knowing why, or what it meant, that knowledge was a +dangerous thing. I should as soon think of piecing together the +mutilated remains of any wretched Hindoo who has been blown from an +English gun. Both, creatures of the past, have been--as my friend +Mr. Carlyle vigorously has it--"blasted into space;" and there, as +to this world, is an end of them. + +So I desire, in conclusion, only to sound two strings. In the +first place, let me congratulate you upon the progress which real +mutual improvement societies are making at this time in your +neighbourhood, through the noble agency of individual employers and +their families, whom you can never too much delight to honour. +Elsewhere, through the agency of the great railway companies, some +of which are bestirring themselves in this matter with a gallantry +and generosity deserving of all praise. Secondly and lastly, let +me say one word out of my own personal heart, which is always very +near to it in this connexion. Do not let us, in the midst of the +visible objects of nature, whose workings we can tell of in +figures, surrounded by machines that can be made to the thousandth +part of an inch, acquiring every day knowledge which can be proved +upon a slate or demonstrated by a microscope--do not let us, in the +laudable pursuit of the facts that surround us, neglect the fancy +and the imagination which equally surround us as a part of the +great scheme. Let the child have its fables; let the man or woman +into which it changes, always remember those fables tenderly. Let +numerous graces and ornaments that cannot be weighed and measured, +and that seem at first sight idle enough, continue to have their +places about us, be we never so wise. The hardest head may co- +exist with the softest heart. The union and just balance of those +two is always a blessing to the possessor, and always a blessing to +mankind. The Divine Teacher was as gentle and considerate as He +was powerful and wise. You all know how He could still the raging +of the sea, and could hush a little child. As the utmost results +of the wisdom of men can only be at last to help to raise this +earth to that condition to which His doctrine, untainted by the +blindnesses and passions of men, would have exalted it long ago; so +let us always remember that He set us the example of blending the +understanding and the imagination, and that, following it +ourselves, we tread in His steps, and help our race on to its +better and best days. Knowledge, as all followers of it must know, +has a very limited power indeed, when it informs the head alone; +but when it informs the head and the heart too, it has a power over +life and death, the body and the soul, and dominates the universe. + + + +SPEECH: COVENTRY, DECEMBER 4, 1858. + + + +[On the above evening, a public dinner was held at the Castle +Hotel, on the occasion of the presentation to Mr. Charles Dickens +of a gold watch, as a mark of gratitude for the reading of his +Christmas Carol, given in December of the previous year, in aid of +the funds of the Coventry Institute. The chair was taken by C. W. +Hoskyns, Esq. Mr. Dickens ackowledged the testimonial in the +following words:] + +Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice-chairman, and Gentlemen,--I hope your minds +will be greatly relieved by my assuring you that it is one of the +rules of my life never to make a speech about myself. If I +knowingly did so, under any circumstances, it would be least of all +under such circumstances as these, when its effect on my +acknowledgment of your kind regard, and this pleasant proof of it, +would be to give me a certain constrained air, which I fear would +contrast badly with your greeting, so cordial, so unaffected, so +earnest, and so true. Furthermore, your Chairman has decorated the +occasion with a little garland of good sense, good feeling, and +good taste; so that I am sure that any attempt at additional +ornament would be almost an impertinence. + +Therefore I will at once say how earnestly, how fervently, and how +deeply I feel your kindness. This watch, with which you have +presented me, shall be my companion in my hours of sedentary +working at home, and in my wanderings abroad. It shall never be +absent from my side, and it shall reckon off the labours of my +future days; and I can assure you that after this night the object +of those labours will not less than before be to uphold the right +and to do good. And when I have done with time and its +measurement, this watch shall belong to my children; and as I have +seven boys, and as they have all begun to serve their country in +various ways, or to elect into what distant regions they shall +roam, it is not only possible, but probable, that this little voice +will be heard scores of years hence, who knows? in some yet +unfounded city in the wilds of Australia, or communicating +Greenwich time to Coventry Street, Japan. + +Once again, and finally, I thank you; and from my heart of hearts, +I can assure you that the memory of to-night, and of your +picturesque and interesting city, will never be absent from my +mind, and I can never more hear the lightest mention of the name of +Coventry without having inspired in my breast sentiments of unusual +emotion and unusual attachment. + + +[Later in the evening, in proposing the health of the Chairman, Mr. +Dickens said:] + + +There may be a great variety of conflicting opinions with regard to +farming, and especially with reference to the management of a clay +farm; but, however various opinions as to the merits of a clay farm +may be, there can be but one opinion as to the merits of a clay +farmer,--and it is the health of that distinguished agriculturist +which I have to propose. + +In my ignorance of the subject, I am bound to say that it may be, +for anything I know, indeed I am ready to admit that it IS, +exceedingly important that a clay farm should go for a number of +years to waste; but I claim some knowledge as to the management of +a clay farmer, and I positively object to his ever lying fallow. +In the hope that this very rich and teeming individual may speedily +be ploughed up, and that, we shall gather into our barns and store- +houses the admirable crop of wisdom, which must spring up when ever +he is sown, I take leave to propose his health, begging to assure +him that the kind manner in which he offered to me your very +valuable present, I can never forget. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, MARCH 29, 1862. + + + +[At a Dinner of the Artists' General Benevolent Institution, the +following Address was delivered by Mr. Charles Dickens from the +chair.-] + +Seven or eight years ago, without the smallest expectation of ever +being called upon to fill the chair at an anniversary festival of +the Artists' General Benevolent Institution, and without the +remotest reference to such an occasion, I selected the +administration of that Charity as the model on which I desired that +another should be reformed, both as regarded the mode in which the +relief was afforded, and the singular economy with which its funds +were administered. As a proof of the latter quality during the +past year, the cost of distributing 1,126 pounds among the +recipients of the bounty of the Charity amounted to little more +than 100 pounds, inclusive of all office charges and expenses. The +experience and knowledge of those entrusted with the management of +the funds are a guarantee that the last available farthing of the +funds will be distributed among proper and deserving recipients. +Claiming, on my part, to be related in some degree to the +profession of an artist, I disdain to stoop to ask for charity, in +the ordinary acceptation of the term, on behalf of the Artists. In +its broader and higher signification of generous confidence, +lasting trustfulness, love and confiding belief, I very readily +associate that cardinal virtue with art. I decline to present the +artist to the notice of the public as a grown-up child, or as a +strange, unaccountable, moon-stricken person, waiting helplessly in +the street of life to be helped over the road by the crossing- +sweeper; on the contrary, I present the artist as a reasonable +creature, a sensible gentleman, and as one well acquainted with the +value of his time, and that of other people, as if he were in the +habit of going on high 'Change every day. The Artist whom I wish +to present to the notice of the Meeting is one to whom the perfect +enjoyment of the five senses is essential to every achievement of +his life. He can gain no wealth nor fame by buying something which +he never touched, and selling it to another who would also never +touch or see it, but was compelled to strike out for himself every +spark of fire which lighted, burned, and perhaps consumed him. He +must win the battle of life with his own hand, and with his own +eyes, and was obliged to act as general, captain, ensign, non- +commissioned officer, private, drummer, great arms, small arms, +infantry, cavalry, all in his own unaided self. When, therefore, I +ask help for the artist, I do not make my appeal for one who was a +cripple from his birth, but I ask it as part payment of a great +debt which all sensible and civilised creatures owe to art, as a +mark of respect to art, as a decoration--not as a badge--as a +remembrance of what this land, or any land, would be without art, +and as the token of an appreciation of the works of the most +successful artists of this country. With respect to the society of +which I am the advocate, I am gratified that it is so liberally +supported by the most distinguished artists, and that it has the +confidence of men who occupy the highest rank as artists, above the +reach of reverses, and the most distinguished in success and fame, +and whose support is above all price. Artists who have obtained +wide-world reputation know well that many deserving and persevering +men, or their widows and orphans, have received help from this +fund, and some of the artists who have received this help are now +enrolled among the subscribers to the Institution. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 20, 1862. + + + +[The following speech was made by Mr. Dickens, in his capacity as +chairman, at the annual Festival of the Newsvendors' and Provident +Institution, held at the Freemasons' Tavern on the above date.] + +When I had the honour of being asked to preside last year, I was +prevented by indisposition, and I besought my friend, Mr. Wilkie +Collins, to reign in my stead. He very kindly complied, and made +an excellent speech. Now I tell you the truth, that I read that +speech with considerable uneasiness, for it inspired me with a +strong misgiving that I had better have presided last year with +neuralgia in my face and my subject in my head, rather than preside +this year with my neuralgia all gone and my subject anticipated. +Therefore, I wish to preface the toast this evening by making the +managers of this Institution one very solemn and repentant promise, +and it is, if ever I find myself obliged to provide a substitute +again, they may rely upon my sending the most speechless man of my +acquaintance. + +The Chairman last year presented you with an amiable view of the +universality of the newsman's calling. Nothing, I think, is left +for me but to imagine the newsman's burden itself, to unfold one of +those wonderful sheets which he every day disseminates, and to take +a bird's-eye view of its general character and contents. So, if +you please, choosing my own time--though the newsman cannot choose +his time, for he must be equally active in winter or summer, in +sunshine or sleet, in light or darkness, early or late--but, +choosing my own time, I shall for two or three moments start off +with the newsman on a fine May morning, and take a view of the +wonderful broadsheets which every day he scatters broadcast over +the country. Well, the first thing that occurs to me following the +newsman is, that every day we are born, that every day we are +married--some of us--and that every day we are dead; consequently, +the first thing the newsvendor's column informs me is, that Atkins +has been born, that Catkins has been married, and that Datkins is +dead. But the most remarkable thing I immediately discover in the +next column, is that Atkins has grown to be seventeen years old, +and that he has run away; for, at last, my eye lights on the fact +that William A., who is seventeen years old, is adjured immediately +to return to his disconsolate parents, and everything will be +arranged to the satisfaction of everyone. I am afraid he will +never return, simply because, if he had meant to come back, he +would never have gone away. Immediately below, I find a mysterious +character in such a mysterious difficulty that it is only to be +expressed by several disjointed letters, by several figures, and +several stars; and then I find the explanation in the intimation +that the writer has given his property over to his uncle, and that +the elephant is on the wing. Then, still glancing over the +shoulder of my industrious friend, the newsman, I find there are +great fleets of ships bound to all parts of the earth, that they +all want a little more stowage, a little more cargo, that they have +a few more berths to let, that they have all the most spacious +decks, that they are all built of teak, and copper-bottomed, that +they all carry surgeons of experience, and that they are all A1 at +Lloyds', and anywhere else. Still glancing over the shoulder of my +friend the newsman, I find I am offered all kinds of house-lodging, +clerks, servants, and situations, which I can possibly or +impossibly want. I learn, to my intense gratification, that I need +never grow old, that I may always preserve the juvenile bloom of my +complexion; that if ever I turn ill it is entirely my own fault; +that if I have any complaint, and want brown cod-liver oil or +Turkish baths, I am told where to get them, and that, if I want an +income of seven pounds a-week, I may have it by sending half-a- +crown in postage-stamps. Then I look to the police intelligence, +and I can discover that I may bite off a human living nose cheaply, +but if I take off the dead nose of a pig or a calf from a shop- +window, it will cost me exceedingly dear. I also find that if I +allow myself to be betrayed into the folly of killing an +inoffensive tradesman on his own door-step, that little incident +will not affect the testimonials to my character, but that I shall +be described as a most amiable young man, and as, above all things, +remarkable for the singular inoffensiveness of my character and +disposition. Then I turn my eye to the Fine Arts, and, under that +head, I see that a certain "J. O." has most triumphantly exposed a +certain "J. O. B.," which "J. O. B." was remarkable for this +particular ugly feature, that I was requested to deprive myself of +the best of my pictures for six months; that for that time it was +to be hung on a wet wall, and that I was to be requited for my +courtesy in having my picture most impertinently covered with a wet +blanket. To sum up the results of a glance over my newsman's +shoulder, it gives a comprehensive knowledge of what is going on +over the continent of Europe, and also of what is going on over the +continent of America, to say nothing of such little geographical +regions as India and China. + +Now, my friends, this is the glance over the newsman's shoulders +from the whimsical point of view, which is the point, I believe, +that most promotes digestion. The newsman is to be met with on +steamboats, railway stations, and at every turn. His profits are +small, he has a great amount of anxiety and care, and no little +amount of personal wear and tear. He is indispensable to +civilization and freedom, and he is looked for with pleasurable +excitement every day, except when he lends the paper for an hour, +and when he is punctual in calling for it, which is sometimes very +painful. I think the lesson we can learn from our newsman is some +new illustration of the uncertainty of life, some illustration of +its vicissitudes and fluctuations. Mindful of this permanent +lesson, some members of the trade originated this society, which +affords them assistance in time of sickness and indigence. The +subscription is infinitesimal. It amounts annually to five +shillings. Looking at the returns before me, the progress of the +society would seem to be slow, but it has only been slow for the +best of all reasons, that it has been sure. The pensions granted +are all obtained from the interest on the funded capital, and, +therefore, the Institution is literally as safe as the Bank. It is +stated that there are several newsvendors who are not members of +this society; but that is true in all institutions which have come +under my experience. The persons who are most likely to stand in +need of the benefits which an institution confers, are usually the +persons to keep away until bitter experience comes to them too +late. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 11, 1864. + + + +[On the above date Mr. Dickens presided at the Adelphi Theatre, at +a public meeting, for the purpose of founding the Shakespeare +Schools, in connexion with the Royal Dramatic College, and +delivered the following address:] + +Ladies and gentlemen--Fortunately for me, and fortunately for you, +it is the duty of the Chairman on an occasion of this nature, to be +very careful that he does not anticipate those speakers who come +after him. Like Falstaff, with a considerable difference, he has +to be the cause of speaking in others. It is rather his duty to +sit and hear speeches with exemplary attention than to stand up to +make them; so I shall confine myself, in opening these proceedings +as your business official, to as plain and as short an exposition +as I can possibly give you of the reasons why we come together. + +First of all I will take leave to remark that we do not come +together in commemoration of Shakespeare. We have nothing to do +with any commemoration, except that we are of course humble +worshippers of that mighty genius, and that we propose by-and-by to +take his name, but by no means to take it in vain. If, however, +the Tercentenary celebration were a hundred years hence, or a +hundred years past, we should still be pursuing precisely the same +object, though we should not pursue it under precisely the same +circumstances. The facts are these: There is, as you know, in +existence an admirable institution called the Royal Dramatic +College, which is a place of honourable rest and repose for +veterans in the dramatic art. The charter of this college, which +dates some five or six years back, expressly provides for the +establishment of schools in connexion with it; and I may venture to +add that this feature of the scheme, when it was explained to him, +was specially interesting to his Royal Highness the late Prince +Consort, who hailed it as evidence of the desire of the promoters +to look forward as well as to look back; to found educational +institutions for the rising generation, as well as to establish a +harbour of refuge for the generation going out, or at least having +their faces turned towards the setting sun. The leading members of +the dramatic art, applying themselves first to the more pressing +necessity of the two, set themselves to work on the construction of +their harbour of refuge, and this they did with the zeal, energy, +good-will, and good faith that always honourably distinguish them +in their efforts to help one another. Those efforts were very +powerfully aided by the respected gentleman {14} under whose roof +we are assembled, and who, I hope, may be only half as glad of +seeing me on these boards as I always am to see him here. With +such energy and determination did Mr. Webster and his brothers and +sisters in art proceed with their work, that at this present time +all the dwelling-houses of the Royal Dramatic College are built, +completely furnished, fitted with every appliance, and many of them +inhabited. The central hall of the College is built, the grounds +are beautifully planned and laid out, and the estate has become the +nucleus of a prosperous neighbourhood. This much achieved, Mr. +Webster was revolving in his mind how he should next proceed +towards the establishment of the schools, when, this Tercentenary +celebration being in hand, it occurred to him to represent to the +National Shakespeare Committee their just and reasonable claim to +participate in the results of any subscription for a monument to +Shakespeare. He represented to the committee that the social +recognition and elevation of the followers of Shakespeare's own +art, through the education of their children, was surely a monument +worthy even of that great name. He urged upon the committee that +it was certainly a sensible, tangible project, which the public +good sense would immediately appreciate and approve. This claim +the committee at once acknowledged; but I wish you distinctly to +understand that if the committee had never been in existence, if +the Tercentenary celebration had never been attempted, those +schools, as a design anterior to both, would still have solicited +public support. + +Now, ladies and gentlemen, what it is proposed to do is, in fact, +to find a new self-supporting public school; with this additional +feature, that it is to be available for both sexes. This, of +course, presupposes two separate distinct schools. As these +schools are to be built on land belonging to the Dramatic College, +there will be from the first no charge, no debt, no incumbrance of +any kind under that important head. It is, in short, proposed +simply to establish a new self-supporting public school, in a +rapidly increasing neighbourhood, where there is a large and fast +accumulating middle-class population, and where property in land is +fast rising in value. But, inasmuch as the project is a project of +the Royal Dramatic College, and inasmuch as the schools are to be +built on their estate, it is proposed evermore to give their +schools the great name of Shakespeare, and evermore to give the +followers of Shakespeare's art a prominent place in them. With +this view, it is confidently believed that the public will endow a +foundation, say, for forty foundation scholars--say, twenty girls +and twenty boys--who shall always receive their education +gratuitously, and who shall always be the children of actors, +actresses, or dramatic writers. This school, you will understand, +is to be equal to the best existing public school. It is to be +made to impart a sound, liberal, comprehensive education, and it is +to address the whole great middle class at least as freely, as +widely, and as cheaply as any existing public school. + +Broadly, ladies and gentlemen, this is the whole design. There are +foundation scholars at Eton, foundation scholars at nearly all our +old schools, and if the public, in remembrance of a noble part of +our standard national literature, and in remembrance of a great +humanising art, will do this thing for these children, it will at +the same time be doing a wise and good thing for itself, and will +unquestionably find its account in it. Taking this view of the +case--and I cannot be satisfied to take any lower one--I cannot +make a sorry face about "the poor player." I think it is a term +very much misused and very little understood--being, I venture to +say, appropriated in a wrong sense by players themselves. +Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, I can only present the player to +you exceptionally in this wise--that he follows a peculiar and +precarious vocation, a vocation very rarely affording the means of +accumulating money--that that vocation must, from the nature of +things, have in it many undistinguished men and women to one +distinguished one--that it is not a vocation the exerciser of which +can profit by the labours of others, but in which he must earn +every loaf of his bread in his own person, with the aid of his own +face, his own limbs, his own voice, his own memory, and his own +life and spirits; and these failing, he fails. Surely this is +reason enough to render him some little help in opening for his +children their paths through life. I say their paths advisedly, +because it is not often found, except under the pressure of +necessity, or where there is strong hereditary talent--which is +always an exceptional case--that the children of actors and +actresses take to the stage. Persons therefore need not in the +least fear that by helping to endow these schools they would help +to overstock the dramatic market. They would do directly the +reverse, for they would divert into channels of public distinction +and usefulness those good qualities which would otherwise languish +in that market's over-rich superabundance. + +This project has received the support of the head of the most +popular of our English public schools. On the committee stands the +name of that eminent scholar and gentleman, the Provost of Eton. +You justly admire this liberal spirit, and your admiration--which I +cordially share--brings me naturally to what I wish to say, that I +believe there is not in England any institution so socially liberal +as a public school. It has been called a little cosmos of life +outside, and I think it is so, with the exception of one of life's +worst foibles--for, as far as I know, nowhere in this country is +there so complete an absence of servility to mere rank, to mere +position, to mere riches as in a public school. A boy there is +always what his abilities or his personal qualities make him. We +may differ about the curriculum and other matters, but of the +frank, free, manly, independent spirit preserved in our public +schools, I apprehend there can be no kind of question. It has +happened in these later times that objection has been made to +children of dramatic artists in certain little snivelling private +schools--but in public schools never. Therefore, I hold that the +actors are wise, and gratefully wise, in recognizing the capacious +liberality of a public school, in seeking not a little hole-and- +corner place of education for their children exclusively, but in +addressing the whole of the great middle class, and proposing to +them to come and join them, the actors, on their own property, in a +public school, in a part of the country where no such advantage is +now to be found. + +I have now done. The attempt has been a very timid one. I have +endeavoured to confine myself within my means, or, rather, like the +possessor of an extended estate, to hand it down in an +unembarrassed condition. I have laid a trifle of timber here and +there, and grubbed up a little brushwood, but merely to open the +view, and I think I can descry in the eye of the gentleman who is +to move the first resolution that he distinctly sees his way. +Thanking you for the courtesy with which you have heard me, and not +at all doubting that we shall lay a strong foundation of these +schools to-day, I will call, as the mover of the first resolution, +on Mr. Robert Bell. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 9, 1865. + + + +[On the above date Mr. Dickens presided at the Annual Festival of +the Newsvendors' Benevolent and Provident Association, and, in +proposing the toast of the evening, delivered the following +speech.] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--Dr. Johnson's experience of that club, the +members of which have travelled over one another's minds in every +direction, is not to be compared with the experience of the +perpetual president of a society like this. Having on previous +occasions said everything about it that he could possibly find to +say, he is again produced, with the same awful formalities, to say +everything about it that he cannot possibly find to say. It struck +me, when Dr. F. Jones was referring just now to Easter Monday, that +the case of such an ill-starred president is very like that of the +stag at Epping Forest on Easter Monday. That unfortunate animal +when he is uncarted at the spot where the meet takes place, +generally makes a point, I am told, of making away at a cool trot, +venturesomely followed by the whole field, to the yard where he +lives, and there subsides into a quiet and inoffensive existence, +until he is again brought out to be again followed by exactly the +same field, under exactly the same circumstances, next Easter +Monday. + +The difficulties of the situation--and here I mean the president +and not the stag--are greatly increased in such an instance as this +by the peculiar nature of the institution. In its unpretending +solidity, reality, and usefulness, believe me--for I have carefully +considered the point--it presents no opening whatever of an +oratorical nature. If it were one of those costly charities, so +called, whose yield of wool bears no sort of proportion to their +cry for cash, I very likely might have a word or two to say on the +subject. If its funds were lavished in patronage and show, instead +of being honestly expended in providing small annuities for hard- +working people who have themselves contributed to its funds--if its +management were intrusted to people who could by no possibility +know anything about it, instead of being invested in plain, +business, practical hands--if it hoarded when it ought to spend--if +it got by cringing and fawning what it never deserved, I might +possibly impress you very much by my indignation. If its managers +could tell me that it was insolvent, that it was in a hopeless +condition, that its accounts had been kept by Mr. Edmunds--or by +"Tom,"--if its treasurer had run away with the money-box, then I +might have made a pathetic appeal to your feelings. But I have no +such chance. Just as a nation is happy whose records are barren, +so is a society fortunate that has no history--and its president +unfortunate. I can only assure you that this society continues its +plain, unobtrusive, useful career. I can only assure you that it +does a great deal of good at a very small cost, and that the +objects of its care and the bulk of its members are faithful +working servants of the public--sole ministers of their wants at +untimely hours, in all seasons, and in all weathers; at their own +doors, at the street-corners, at every railway train, at every +steam-boat; through the agency of every establishment and the +tiniest little shops; and that, whether regarded as master or as +man, their profits are very modest and their risks numerous, while +their trouble and responsibility are very great. + +The newsvendors and newsmen are a very subordinate part of that +wonderful engine--the newspaper press. Still I think we all know +very well that they are to the fountain-head what a good service of +water pipes is to a good water supply. Just as a goodly store of +water at Watford would be a tantalization to thirsty London if it +were not brought into town for its use, so any amount of news +accumulated at Printing-house Square, or Fleet Street, or the +Strand, would be if there were no skill and enterprise engaged in +its dissemination. + +We are all of us in the habit of saying in our every-day life, that +"We never know the value of anything until we lose it." Let us try +the newsvendors by the test. A few years ago we discovered one +morning that there was a strike among the cab-drivers. Now, let us +imagine a strike of newsmen. Imagine the trains waiting in vain +for the newspapers. Imagine all sorts and conditions of men dying +to know the shipping news, the commercial news, the foreign news, +the legal news, the criminal news, the dramatic news. Imagine the +paralysis on all the provincial exchanges; the silence and +desertion of all the newsmen's exchanges in London. Imagine the +circulation of the blood of the nation and of the country standing +still,--the clock of the world. Why, even Mr. Reuter, the great +Reuter--whom I am always glad to imagine slumbering at night by the +side of Mrs. Reuter, with a galvanic battery under his bolster, +bell and wires to the head of his bed, and bells at each ear--think +how even he would click and flash those wondrous dispatches of his, +and how they would become mere nothing without the activity and +honesty which catch up the threads and stitches of the electric +needle, and scatter them over the land. + +It is curious to consider--and the thought occurred to me this day, +when I was out for a stroll pondering over the duties of this +evening, which even then were looming in the distance, but not +quite so far off as I could wish--I found it very curious to +consider that though the newsman must be allowed to be a very +unpicturesque rendering of Mercury, or Fame, or what-not +conventional messenger from the clouds, and although we must allow +that he is of this earth, and has a good deal of it on his boots, +still that he has two very remarkable characteristics, to which +none of his celestial predecessors can lay the slightest claim. +One is that he is always the messenger of civilization; the other +that he is at least equally so--not only in what he brings, but in +what he ceases to bring. Thus the time was, and not so many years +ago either, when the newsman constantly brought home to our doors-- +though I am afraid not to our hearts, which were custom-hardened-- +the most terrific accounts of murders, of our fellow-creatures +being publicly put to death for what we now call trivial offences, +in the very heart of London, regularly every Monday morning. At +the same time the newsman regularly brought to us the infliction of +other punishments, which were demoralising to the innocent part of +the community, while they did not operate as punishments in +deterring offenders from the perpetration of crimes. In those same +days, also, the newsman brought to us daily accounts of a regularly +accepted and received system of loading the unfortunate insane with +chains, littering them down on straw, starving them on bread and +water, damaging their clothes, and making periodical exhibitions of +them at a small charge; and that on a Sunday one of our public +resorts was a kind of demoniacal zoological gardens. They brought +us accounts at the same time of some damage done to the machinery +which was destined to supply the operative classes with employment. +In the same time they brought us accounts of riots for bread, which +were constantly occurring, and undermining society and the state; +of the most terrible explosions of class against class, and of the +habitual employment of spies for the discovery--if not for the +origination--of plots, in which both sides found in those days some +relief. In the same time the same newsmen were apprising us of a +state of society all around us in which the grossest sensuality and +intemperance were the rule; and not as now, when the ignorant, the +wicked, and the wretched are the inexcusably vicious exceptions--a +state of society in which the professional bully was rampant, and +when deadly duels were daily fought for the most absurd and +disgraceful causes. All this the newsman has ceased to tell us of. +This state of society has discontinued in England for ever; and +when we remember the undoubted truth, that the change could never +have been effected without the aid of the load which the newsman +carries, surely it is not very romantic to express the hope on his +behalf that the public will show to him some little token of the +sympathetic remembrance which we are all of us glad to bestow on +the bearers of happy tidings--the harbingers of good news. + +Now, ladies and gentlemen, you will be glad to hear that I am +coming to a conclusion; for that conclusion I have a precedent. +You all of you know how pleased you are on your return from a +morning's walk to learn that the collector has called. Well, I am +the collector for this district, and I hope you will bear in mind +that I have respectfully called. Regarding the institution on +whose behalf I have presented myself, I need only say technically +two things. First, that its annuities are granted out of its +funded capital, and therefore it is safe as the Bank; and, +secondly, that they are attainable by such a slight exercise of +prudence and fore-thought, that a payment of 25s. extending over a +period of five years, entitles a subscriber--if a male--to an +annuity of 16 pounds a-year, and a female to 12 pounds a-year. +Now, bear in mind that this is an institution on behalf of which +the collector has called, leaving behind his assurance that what +you can give to one of the most faithful of your servants shall be +well bestowed and faithfully applied to the purposes to which you +intend them, and to those purposes alone. + + + +SPEECH: NEWSPAPER PRESS FUND.--LONDON, MAY 20, 1865. + + + +[At the second annual dinner of the Institution, held at the +Freemasons' Tavern, on Saturday, the 20th May, 1865, the following +speech was delivered by the chairman, Mr. Charles Dickens, in +proposing the toast of the evening:] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--When a young child is produced after dinner +to be shown to a circle of admiring relations and friends, it may +generally be observed that their conversation--I suppose in an +instinctive remembrance of the uncertainty of infant life--takes a +retrospective turn. As how much the child has grown since the last +dinner; what a remarkably fine child it is, to have been born only +two or three years ago, how much stronger it looks now than before +it had the measles, and so forth. When a young institution is +produced after dinner, there is not the same uncertainty or +delicacy as in the case of the child, and it may be confidently +predicted of it that if it deserve to live it will surely live, and +that if it deserve to die it will surely die. The proof of desert +in such a case as this must be mainly sought, I suppose, firstly, +in what the society means to do with its money; secondly, in the +extent to which it is supported by the class with whom it +originated, and for whose benefit it is designed; and, lastly, in +the power of its hold upon the public. I add this lastly, because +no such institution that ever I heard of ever yet dreamed of +existing apart from the public, or ever yet considered it a +degradation to accept the public support. + +Now, what the Newspaper Press Fund proposes to do with its money is +to grant relief to members in want or distress, and to the widows, +families, parents, or other near relatives of deceased members in +right of a moderate provident annual subscription--commutable, I +observe, for a moderate provident life subscription--and its +members comprise the whole paid class of literary contributors to +the press of the United Kingdom, and every class of reporters. The +number of its members at this time last year was something below +100. At the present time it is somewhat above 170, not including +30 members of the press who are regular subscribers, but have not +as yet qualified as regular members. This number is steadily on +the increase, not only as regards the metropolitan press, but also +as regards the provincial throughout the country. I have observed +within these few days that many members of the press at Manchester +have lately at a meeting expressed a strong brotherly interest in +this Institution, and a great desire to extend its operations, and +to strengthen its hands, provided that something in the independent +nature of life assurance and the purchase of deferred annuities +could be introduced into its details, and always assuming that in +it the metropolis and the provinces stand on perfectly equal +ground. This appears to me to be a demand so very moderate, that I +can hardly have a doubt of a response on the part of the managers, +or of the beneficial and harmonious results. It only remains to +add, on this head of desert, the agreeable circumstance that out of +all the money collected in aid of the society during the last year +more than one-third came exclusively from the press. + +Now, ladies and gentlemen, in regard to the last claim--the last +point of desert--the hold upon the public--I think I may say that +probably not one single individual in this great company has failed +to-day to see a newspaper, or has failed to-day to hear something +derived from a newspaper which was quite unknown to him or to her +yesterday. Of all those restless crowds that have this day +thronged the streets of this enormous city, the same may be said as +the general gigantic rule. It may be said almost equally, of the +brightest and the dullest, the largest and the least provincial +town in the empire; and this, observe, not only as to the active, +the industrious, and the healthy among the population, but also to +the bedridden, the idle, the blind, and the deaf and dumb. Now, if +the men who provide this all-pervading presence, this wonderful, +ubiquitous newspaper, with every description of intelligence on +every subject of human interest, collected with immense pains and +immense patience, often by the exercise of a laboriously-acquired +faculty united to a natural aptitude, much of the work done in the +night, at the sacrifice of rest and sleep, and (quite apart from +the mental strain) by the constant overtasking of the two most +delicate of the senses, sight and hearing--I say, if the men who, +through the newspapers, from day to day, or from night to night, or +from week to week, furnish the public with so much to remember, +have not a righteous claim to be remembered by the public in +return, then I declare before God I know no working class of the +community who have. + +It would be absurd, it would be impertinent, in such an assembly as +this, if I were to attempt to expatiate upon the extraordinary +combination of remarkable qualities involved in the production of +any newspaper. But assuming the majority of this associated body +to be composed of reporters, because reporters, of one kind or +other, compose the majority of the literary staff of almost every +newspaper that is not a compilation, I would venture to remind you, +if I delicately may, in the august presence of members of +Parliament, how much we, the public, owe to the reporters if it +were only for their skill in the two great sciences of condensation +and rejection. Conceive what our sufferings, under an Imperial +Parliament, however popularly constituted, under however glorious a +constitution, would be if the reporters could not skip. Dr. +Johnson, in one of his violent assertions, declared that "the man +who was afraid of anything must be a scoundrel, sir." By no means +binding myself to this opinion--though admitting that the man who +is afraid of a newspaper will generally be found to be rather +something like it, I must still freely own that I should approach +my Parliamentary debate with infinite fear and trembling if it were +so unskilfully served up for my breakfast. Ever since the time +when the old man and his son took their donkey home, which were the +old Greek days, I believe, and probably ever since the time when +the donkey went into the ark--perhaps he did not like his +accommodation there--but certainly from that time downwards, he has +objected to go in any direction required of him--from the remotest +periods it has been found impossible to please everybody. + +I do not for a moment seek to conceal that I know this Institution +has been objected to. As an open fact challenging the freest +discussion and inquiry, and seeking no sort of shelter or favour +but what it can win, it has nothing, I apprehend, but itself, to +urge against objection. No institution conceived in perfect +honesty and good faith has a right to object to being questioned to +any extent, and any institution so based must be in the end the +better for it. Moreover, that this society has been questioned in +quarters deserving of the most respectful attention I take to be an +indisputable fact. Now, I for one have given that respectful +attention, and I have come out of the discussion to where you see +me. The whole circle of the arts is pervaded by institutions +between which and this I can descry no difference. The painters' +art has four or five such institutions. The musicians' art, so +generously and charmingly represented here, has likewise several +such institutions. In my own art there is one, concerning the +details of which my noble friend the president of the society and +myself have torn each other's hair to a considerable extent, and +which I would, if I could, assimilate more nearly to this. In the +dramatic art there are four, and I never yet heard of any objection +to their principle, except, indeed, in the cases of some famous +actors of large gains, who having through the whole period of their +successes positively refused to establish a right in them, became, +in their old age and decline, repentant suppliants for their +bounty. Is it urged against this particular Institution that it is +objectionable because a parliamentary reporter, for instance, might +report a subscribing M.P. in large, and a non-subscribing M.P. in +little? Apart from the sweeping nature of this charge, which, it +is to be observed, lays the unfortunate member and the unfortunate +reporter under pretty much the same suspicion--apart from this +consideration, I reply that it is notorious in all newspaper +offices that every such man is reported according to the position +he can gain in the public eye, and according to the force and +weight of what he has to say. And if there were ever to be among +the members of this society one so very foolish to his brethren, +and so very dishonourable to himself, as venally to abuse his +trust, I confidently ask those here, the best acquainted with +journalism, whether they believe it possible that any newspaper so +ill-conducted as to fail instantly to detect him could possibly +exist as a thriving enterprise for one single twelvemonth? No, +ladies and gentlemen, the blundering stupidity of such an offence +would have no chance against the acute sagacity of newspaper +editors. But I will go further, and submit to you that its +commission, if it be to be dreaded at all, is far more likely on +the part of some recreant camp-follower of a scattered, disunited, +and half-recognized profession, than when there is a public opinion +established in it, by the union of all classes of its members for +the common good: the tendency of which union must in the nature of +things be to raise the lower members of the press towards the +higher, and never to bring the higher members to the lower level. + +I hope I may be allowed in the very few closing words that I feel a +desire to say in remembrance of some circumstances, rather special, +attending my present occupation of this chair, to give those words +something of a personal tone. I am not here advocating the case of +a mere ordinary client of whom I have little or no knowledge. I +hold a brief to-night for my brothers. I went into the gallery of +the House of Commons as a parliamentary reporter when I was a boy +not eighteen, and I left it--I can hardly believe the inexorable +truth--nigh thirty years ago. I have pursued the calling of a +reporter under circumstances of which many of my brethren at home +in England here, many of my modern successors, can form no adequate +conception. I have often transcribed for the printer, from my +shorthand notes, important public speeches in which the strictest +accuracy was required, and a mistake in which would have been to a +young man severely compromising, writing on the palm of my hand, by +the light of a dark lantern, in a post-chaise and four, galloping +through a wild country, and through the dead of the night, at the +then surprising rate of fifteen miles an hour. The very last time +I was at Exeter, I strolled into the castle yard there to identify, +for the amusement of a friend, the spot on which I once "took," as +we used to call it, an election speech of my noble friend Lord +Russell, in the midst of a lively fight maintained by all the +vagabonds in that division of the county, and under such a pelting +rain, that I remember two goodnatured colleagues, who chanced to be +at leisure, held a pocket-handkerchief over my notebook, after the +manner of a state canopy in an ecclesiastical procession. I have +worn my knees by writing on them on the old back row of the old +gallery of the old House of Commons; and I have worn my feet by +standing to write in a preposterous pen in the old House of Lords, +where we used to be huddled together like so many sheep--kept in +waiting, say, until the woolsack might want re-stuffing. Returning +home from excited political meetings in the country to the waiting +press in London, I do verily believe I have been upset in almost +every description of vehicle known in this country. I have been, +in my time, belated on miry by-roads, towards the small hours, +forty or fifty miles from London, in a wheelless carriage, with +exhausted horses and drunken postboys, and have got back in time +for publication, to be received with never-forgotten compliments by +the late Mr. Black, coming in the broadest of Scotch from the +broadest of hearts I ever knew. + +Ladies and gentlemen, I mention these trivial things as an +assurance to you that I never have forgotten the fascination of +that old pursuit. The pleasure that I used to feel in the rapidity +and dexterity of its exercise has never faded out of my breast. +Whatever little cunning of hand or head I took to it, or acquired +in it, I have so retained as that I fully believe I could resume it +to-morrow, very little the worse from long disuse. To this present +year of my life, when I sit in this hall, or where not, hearing a +dull speech, the phenomenon does occur--I sometimes beguile the +tedium of the moment by mentally following the speaker in the old, +old way; and sometimes, if you can believe me, I even find my hand +going on the table-cloth, taking an imaginary note of it all. +Accept these little truths as a confirmation of what I know; as a +confirmation of my undying interest in this old calling. Accept +them as a proof that my feeling for the location of my youth is not +a sentiment taken up to-night to be thrown away to-morrow--but is a +faithful sympathy which is a part of myself. I verily believe--I +am sure--that if I had never quitted my old calling I should have +been foremost and zealous in the interests of this Institution, +believing it to be a sound, a wholesome, and a good one. Ladies +and gentlemen, I am to propose to you to drink "Prosperity to the +Newspaper Press Fund," with which toast I will connect, as to its +acknowledgment, a name that has shed new brilliancy on even the +foremost newspaper in the world--the illustrious name of Mr. +Russell. + + + +SPEECH: KNEBWORTH, JULY 29, 1865. + + + +[On the above date the members of the "Guild of Literature and Art" +proceeded to the neighbourhood of Stevenage, near the magnificent +seat of the President, Lord Lytton, to inspect three houses built +in the Gothic style, on the ground given by him for the purpose. +After their survey, the party drove to Knebworth to partake of the +hospitality of Lord Lytton. Mr. Dickens, who was one of the +guests, proposed the health of the host in the following words:] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--It was said by a very sagacious person, +whose authority I am sure my friend of many years will not impugn, +seeing that he was named Augustus Tomlinson, the kind friend and +philosopher of Paul Clifford--it was said by that remarkable man, +"Life is short, and why should speeches be long?" An aphorism so +sensible under all circumstances, and particularly in the +circumstances in which we are placed, with this delicious weather +and such charming gardens near us, I shall practically adopt on the +present occasion; and the rather so because the speech of my friend +was exhaustive of the subject, as his speeches always are, though +not in the least exhaustive of his audience. In thanking him for +the toast which he has done us the honour to propose, allow me to +correct an error into which he has fallen. Allow me to state that +these houses never could have been built but for his zealous and +valuable co-operation, and also that the pleasant labour out of +which they have arisen would have lost one of its greatest charms +and strongest impulses, if it had lost his ever ready sympathy with +that class in which he has risen to the foremost rank, and of which +he is the brightest ornament. + +Having said this much as simply due to my friend, I can only say, +on behalf of my associates, that the ladies and gentlemen whom we +shall invite to occupy the houses we have built will never be +placed under any social disadvantage. They will be invited to +occupy them as artists, receiving them as a mark of the high +respect in which they are held by their fellow-workers. As artists +I hope they will often exercise their calling within those walls +for the general advantage; and they will always claim, on equal +terms, the hospitality of their generous neighbour. + +Now I am sure I shall be giving utterance to the feelings of my +brothers and sisters in literature in proposing "Health, long life, +and prosperity to our distinguished host." Ladies and gentlemen, +you know very well that when the health, life, and beauty now +overflowing these halls shall have fled, crowds of people will come +to see the place where he lived and wrote. Setting aside the +orator and statesman--for happily we know no party here but this +agreeable party--setting aside all, this you know very well, that +this is the home of a very great man whose connexion with +Hertfordshire every other county in England will envy for many long +years to come. You know that when this hall is dullest and +emptiest you can make it when you please brightest and fullest by +peopling it with the creations of his brilliant fancy. Let us all +wish together that they may be many more--for the more they are the +better it will be, and, as he always excels himself, the better +they will be. I ask you to listen to their praises and not to +mine, and to let them, not me, propose his health. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, FEBRUARY 14, 1866. + + + +[On this occasion Mr. Dickens officiated as Chairman at the annual +dinner of the Dramatic, Equestrian, and Musical Fund, at Willis's +Rooms, where he made the following speech:] + +Ladies, before I couple you with the gentlemen, which will be at +least proper to the inscription over my head (St. Valentine's day)- +-before I do so, allow me, on behalf of my grateful sex here +represented, to thank you for the great pleasure and interest with +which your gracious presence at these festivals never fails to +inspire us. There is no English custom which is so manifestly a +relic of savage life as that custom which usually excludes you from +participation in similar gatherings. And although the crime +carries its own heavy punishment along with it, in respect that it +divests a public dinner of its most beautiful ornament and of its +most fascinating charm, still the offence is none the less to be +severely reprehended on every possible occasion, as outraging +equally nature and art. I believe that as little is known of the +saint whose name is written here as can well be known of any saint +or sinner. We, your loyal servants, are deeply thankful to him for +having somehow gained possession of one day in the year--for +having, as no doubt he has, arranged the almanac for 1866-- +expressly to delight us with the enchanting fiction that we have +some tender proprietorship in you which we should scarcely dare to +claim on a less auspicious occasion. Ladies, the utmost devotion +sanctioned by the saint we beg to lay at your feet, and any little +innocent privileges to which we may be entitled by the same +authority we beg respectfully but firmly to claim at your hands. + +Now, ladies and gentlemen, you need no ghost to inform you that I +am going to propose "Prosperity to the Dramatic, Musical, and +Equestrian Sick Fund Association," and, further, that I should be +going to ask you actively to promote that prosperity by liberally +contributing to its funds, if that task were not reserved for a +much more persuasive speaker. But I rest the strong claim of the +society for its useful existence and its truly charitable functions +on a very few words, though, as well as I can recollect, upon +something like six grounds. First, it relieves the sick; secondly, +it buries the dead; thirdly, it enables the poor members of the +profession to journey to accept new engagements whenever they find +themselves stranded in some remote, inhospitable place, or when, +from other circumstances, they find themselves perfectly crippled +as to locomotion for want of money; fourthly, it often finds such +engagements for them by acting as their honest, disinterested +agent; fifthly, it is its principle to act humanely upon the +instant, and never, as is too often the case within my experience, +to beat about the bush till the bush is withered and dead; lastly, +the society is not in the least degree exclusive, but takes under +its comprehensive care the whole range of the theatre and the +concert-room, from the manager in his room of state, or in his +caravan, or at the drum-head--down to the theatrical housekeeper, +who is usually to be found amongst the cobwebs and the flies, or +down to the hall porter, who passes his life in a thorough draught- +-and, to the best of my observation, in perpetually interrupted +endeavours to eat something with a knife and fork out of a basin, +by a dusty fire, in that extraordinary little gritty room, upon +which the sun never shines, and on the portals of which are +inscribed the magic words, "stage-door." + +Now, ladies and gentlemen, this society administers its benefits +sometimes by way of loan; sometimes by way of gift; sometimes by +way of assurance at very low premiums; sometimes to members, +oftener to non-members; always expressly, remember, through the +hands of a secretary or committee well acquainted with the wants of +the applicants, and thoroughly versed, if not by hard experience at +least by sympathy, in the calamities and uncertainties incidental +to the general calling. One must know something of the general +calling to know what those afflictions are. A lady who had been +upon the stage from her earliest childhood till she was a blooming +woman, and who came from a long line of provincial actors and +actresses, once said to me when she was happily married; when she +was rich, beloved, courted; when she was mistress of a fine house-- +once said to me at the head of her own table, surrounded by +distinguished guests of every degree, "Oh, but I have never +forgotten the hard time when I was on the stage, and when my baby +brother died, and when my poor mother and I brought the little baby +from Ireland to England, and acted three nights in England, as we +had acted three nights in Ireland, with the pretty creature lying +upon the only bed in our lodging before we got the money to pay for +its funeral." + +Ladies and gentlemen, such things are, every day, to this hour; +but, happily, at this day and in this hour this association has +arisen to be the timely friend of such great distress. + +It is not often the fault of the sufferers that they fall into +these straits. Struggling artists must necessarily change from +place to place, and thus it frequently happens that they become, as +it were, strangers in every place, and very slight circumstances--a +passing illness, the sickness of the husband, wife, or child, a +serious town, an anathematising expounder of the gospel of +gentleness and forbearance--any one of these causes may often in a +few hours wreck them upon a rock in the barren ocean; and then, +happily, this society, with the swift alacrity of the life-boat, +dashes to the rescue, and takes them off. Looking just now over +the last report issued by this society, and confining my scrutiny +to the head of illness alone, I find that in one year, I think, 672 +days of sickness had been assuaged by its means. In nine years, +which then formed the term of its existence, as many as 5,500 and +odd. Well, I thought when I saw 5,500 and odd days of sickness, +this is a very serious sum, but add the nights! Add the nights-- +those long, dreary hours in the twenty-four when the shadow of +death is darkest, when despondency is strongest, and when hope is +weakest, before you gauge the good that is done by this +institution, and before you gauge the good that really will be done +by every shilling that you bestow here to-night. Add, more than +all, that the improvidence, the recklessness of the general +multitude of poor members of this profession, I should say is a +cruel, conventional fable. Add that there is no class of society +the members of which so well help themselves, or so well help each +other. Not in the whole grand chapters of Westminster Abbey and +York Minster, not in the whole quadrangle of the Royal Exchange, +not in the whole list of members of the Stock Exchange, not in the +Inns of Court, not in the College of Physicians, not in the College +of Surgeons, can there possibly be found more remarkable instances +of uncomplaining poverty, of cheerful, constant self-denial, of the +generous remembrance of the claims of kindred and professional +brotherhood, than will certainly be found in the dingiest and +dirtiest concert room, in the least lucid theatre--even in the +raggedest tent circus that was ever stained by weather. + +I have been twitted in print before now with rather flattering +actors when I address them as one of their trustees at their +General Fund dinner. Believe me, I flatter nobody, unless it be +sometimes myself; but, in such a company as the present, I always +feel it my manful duty to bear my testimony to this fact--first, +because it is opposed to a stupid, unfeeling libel; secondly, +because my doing so may afford some slight encouragement to the +persons who are unjustly depreciated; and lastly, and most of all, +because I know it is the truth. + +Now, ladies and gentlemen, it is time we should what we +professionally call "ring down" on these remarks. If you, such +members of the general public as are here, will only think the +great theatrical curtain has really fallen and been taken up again +for the night on that dull, dark vault which many of us know so +well; if you will only think of the theatre or other place of +entertainment as empty; if you will only think of the "float," or +other gas-fittings, as extinguished; if you will only think of the +people who have beguiled you of an evening's care, whose little +vanities and almost childish foibles are engendered in their +competing face to face with you for your favour--surely it may be +said their feelings are partly of your making, while their virtues +are all their own. If you will only do this, and follow them out +of that sham place into the real world, where it rains real rain, +snows real snow, and blows real wind; where people sustain +themselves by real money, which is much harder to get, much harder +to make, and very much harder to give away than the pieces of +tobacco-pipe in property bags--if you will only do this, and do it +in a really kind, considerate spirit, this society, then certain of +the result of the night's proceedings, can ask no more. I beg to +propose to you to drink "Prosperity to the Dramatic, Equestrian, +and Musical Sick Fund Association." + + +[Mr. Dickens, in proposing the next toast, said:-] + + +Gentlemen: as I addressed myself to the ladies last time, so I +address you this time, and I give you the delightful assurance that +it is positively my last appearance but one on the present +occasion. A certain Mr. Pepys, who was Secretary for the Admiralty +in the days of Charles II., who kept a diary well in shorthand, +which he supposed no one could read, and which consequently remains +to this day the most honest diary known to print--Mr. Pepys had two +special and very strong likings, the ladies and the theatres. But +Mr. Pepys, whenever he committed any slight act of remissness, or +any little peccadillo which was utterly and wholly untheatrical, +used to comfort his conscience by recording a vow that he would +abstain from the theatres for a certain time. In the first part of +Mr. Pepys' character I have no doubt we fully agree with him; in +the second I have no doubt we do not. + +I learn this experience of Mr. Pepys from remembrance of a passage +in his diary that I was reading the other night, from which it +appears that he was not only curious in plays, but curious in +sermons; and that one night when he happened to be walking past St. +Dunstan's Church, he turned, went in, and heard what he calls "a +very edifying discourse;" during the delivery of which discourse, +he notes in his diary--"I stood by a pretty young maid, whom I did +attempt to take by the hand." But he adds--"She would not; and I +did perceive that she had pins in her pocket with which to prick me +if I should touch her again--and was glad that I spied her design." +Afterwards, about the close of the same edifying discourse, Mr. +Pepys found himself near another pretty, fair young maid, who would +seem upon the whole to have had no pins, and to have been more +impressible. + +Now, the moral of this story which I wish to suggest to you is, +that we have been this evening in St. James's much more timid than +Mr. Pepys was in St. Dunstan's, and that we have conducted +ourselves very much better. As a slight recompense to us for our +highly meritorious conduct, and as a little relief to our over- +charged hearts, I beg to propose that we devote this bumper to +invoking a blessing on the ladies. It is the privilege of this +society annually to hear a lady speak for her own sex. Who so +competent to do this as Mrs. Stirling? Surely one who has so +gracefully and captivatingly, with such an exquisite mixture of +art, and fancy, and fidelity, represented her own sex in +innumerable charities, under an infinite variety of phases, cannot +fail to represent them well in her own character, especially when +it is, amidst her many triumphs, the most agreeable of all. I beg +to propose to you "The Ladies," and I will couple with that toast +the name of Mrs. Stirling. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, MARCH 28, 1866. + + + +[The following speech was made by Mr. Dickens at the Annual +Festival of the Royal General Theatrical Fund, held at the +Freemasons' Tavern, in proposing the health of the Lord Mayor (Sir +Benjamin Phillips), who occupied the chair.] + +Gentlemen, in my childish days I remember to have had a vague but +profound admiration for a certain legendary person called the Lord +Mayor's fool. I had the highest opinion of the intellectual +capacity of that suppositious retainer of the Mansion House, and I +really regarded him with feelings approaching to absolute +veneration, because my nurse informed me on every gastronomic +occasion that the Lord Mayor's fool liked everything that was good. +You will agree with me, I have no doubt, that if this +discriminating jester had existed at the present time he could not +fail to have liked his master very much, seeing that so good a Lord +Mayor is very rarely to be found, and that a better Lord Mayor +could not possibly be. + +You have already divined, gentlemen, that I am about to propose to +you to drink the health of the right honourable gentleman in the +chair. As one of the Trustees of the General Theatrical Fund, I +beg officially to tender him my best thanks for lending the very +powerful aid of his presence, his influence, and his personal +character to this very deserving Institution. As his private +friends we ventured to urge upon him to do us this gracious act, +and I beg to assure you that the perfect simplicity, modesty, +cordiality, and frankness with which he assented, enhanced the gift +one thousand fold. I think it must also be very agreeable to a +company like this to know that the President of the night is not +ceremoniously pretending, "positively for this night only," to have +an interest in the drama, but that he has an unusual and thorough +acquaintance with it, and that he has a living and discerning +knowledge of the merits of the great old actors. It is very +pleasant to me to remember that the Lord Mayor and I once beguiled +the tedium of a journey by exchanging our experiences upon this +subject. I rather prided myself on being something of an old +stager, but I found the Lord Mayor so thoroughly up in all the +stock pieces, and so knowing and yet so fresh about the merits of +those who are most and best identified with them, that I readily +recognised in him what would be called in fistic language, a very +ugly customer--one, I assure you, by no means to be settled by any +novice not in thorough good theatrical training. + +Gentlemen, we have all known from our earliest infancy that when +the giants in Guildhall hear the clock strike one, they come down +to dinner. Similarly, when the City of London shall hear but one +single word in just disparagement of its present Lord Mayor, +whether as its enlightened chief magistrate, or as one of its +merchants, or as one of its true gentlemen, he will then descend +from the high personal place which he holds in the general honour +and esteem. Until then he will remain upon his pedestal, and my +private opinion, between ourselves, is that the giants will come +down long before him. + +Gentlemen, in conclusion, I would remark that when the Lord Mayor +made his truly remarkable, and truly manly, and unaffected speech, +I could not but be struck by the odd reversal of the usual +circumstances at the Mansion House, which he presented to our view, +for whereas it is a very common thing for persons to be brought +tremblingly before the Lord Mayor, the Lord Mayor presented himself +as being brought tremblingly before us. I hope that the result may +hold still further, for whereas it is a common thing for the Lord +Mayor to say to a repentant criminal who does not seem to have much +harm in him, "let me never see you here again," so I would propose +that we all with one accord say to the Lord Mayor, "Let us by all +means see you here again on the first opportunity." Gentlemen, I +beg to propose to you to drink, with all the honours, "The health +of the right hon. the Lord Mayor." + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 7, 1866. + + + +[The Members of the Metropolitan Rowing Clubs dining together at +the London Tavern, on the above date, Mr. Dickens, as President of +the Nautilus Rowing Club, occupied the chair. The Speech that +follows was made in proposing "Prosperity to the Rowing Clubs of +London." Mr. Dickens said that:-] + +He could not avoid the remembrance of what very poor things the +amateur rowing clubs on the Thames were in the early days of his +noviciate; not to mention the difference in the build of the boats. +He could not get on in the beginning without being a pupil under an +anomalous creature called a "fireman waterman," who wore an +eminently tall hat, and a perfectly unaccountable uniform, of which +it might be said that if it was less adapted for one thing than +another, that thing was fire. He recollected that this gentleman +had on some former day won a King's prize wherry, and they used to +go about in this accursed wherry, he and a partner, doing all the +hard work, while the fireman drank all the beer. The river was +very much clearer, freer, and cleaner in those days than these; but +he was persuaded that this philosophical old boatman could no more +have dreamt of seeing the spectacle which had taken place on +Saturday (the procession of the boats of the Metropolitan Amateur +Rowing Clubs), or of seeing these clubs matched for skill and +speed, than he (the Chairman) should dare to announce through the +usual authentic channels that he was to be heard of at the bar +below, and that he was perfectly prepared to accommodate Mr. James +Mace if he meant business. Nevertheless, he could recollect that +he had turned out for a spurt a few years ago on the River Thames +with an occasional Secretary, who should be nameless, and some +other Eton boys, and that he could hold his own against them. More +recently still, the last time that he rowed down from Oxford he was +supposed to cover himself with honour, though he must admit that he +found the "locks" so picturesque as to require much examination for +the discovery of their beauty. But what he wanted to say was this, +that though his "fireman waterman" was one of the greatest humbugs +that ever existed, he yet taught him what an honest, healthy, manly +sport this was. Their waterman would bid them pull away, and +assure them that they were certain of winning in some race. And +here he would remark that aquatic sports never entailed a moment's +cruelty, or a moment's pain, upon any living creature. Rowing men +pursued recreation under circumstances which braced their muscles, +and cleared the cobwebs from their minds. He assured them that he +regarded such clubs as these as a "national blessing." They owed, +it was true, a vast deal to steam power--as was sometimes proved at +matches on the Thames--but, at the same time, they were greatly +indebted to all that tended to keep up a healthy, manly tone. He +understood that there had been a committee selected for the purpose +of arranging a great amateur regatta, which was to take place off +Putney in the course of the season that was just begun. He could +not abstain from availing himself of this occasion to express a +hope that the committee would successfully carry on its labours to +a triumphant result, and that they should see upon the Thames, in +the course of this summer, such a brilliant sight as had never been +seen there before. To secure this there must be some hard work, +skilful combinations, and rather large subscriptions. But although +the aggregate result must be great, it by no means followed that it +need be at all large in its individual details. + +[In conclusion, Mr. Dickens made a laughable comparison between the +paying off or purification of the national debt and the +purification of the River Thames.] + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, JUNE 5, 1867. + + + +[On the above date Mr. Dickens presided at the Ninth Anniversary +Festival of the Railway Benevolent Society, at Willis's Rooms, and +in proposing the toast of the evening, made the following speech.] + +Although we have not yet left behind us by the distance of nearly +fifty years the time when one of the first literary authorities of +this country insisted upon the speed of the fastest railway train +that the Legisture might disastrously sanction being limited by Act +of Parliament to ten miles an hour, yet it does somehow happen that +this evening, and every evening, there are railway trains running +pretty smoothly to Ireland and to Scotland at the rate of fifty +miles an hour; much as it was objected in its time to vaccination, +that it must have a tendency to impart to human children something +of the nature of the cow, whereas I believe to this very time +vaccinated children are found to be as easily defined from calves +as they ever were, and certainly they have no cheapening influence +on the price of veal; much as it was objected that chloroform was a +contravention of the will of Providence, because it lessened +providentially-inflicted pain, which would be a reason for your not +rubbing your face if you had the tooth-ache, or not rubbing your +nose if it itched; so it was evidently predicted that the railway +system, even if anything so absurd could be productive of any +result, would infallibly throw half the nation out of employment; +whereas, you observe that the very cause and occasion of our coming +here together to-night is, apart from the various tributary +channels of occupation which it has opened out, that it has called +into existence a specially and directly employed population of +upwards of 200,000 persons. + +Now, gentlemen, it is pretty clear and obvious that upwards of +200,000 persons engaged upon the various railways of the United +Kingdom cannot be rich; and although their duties require great +care and great exactness, and although our lives are every day, +humanly speaking, in the hands of many of them, still, for the most +of these places there will be always great competition, because +they are not posts which require skilled workmen to hold. Wages, +as you know very well, cannot be high where competition is great, +and you also know very well that railway directors, in the bargains +they make, and the salaries which they pay, have to deal with the +money of the shareholders, to whom they are accountable. Thus it +necessarily happens that railway officers and servants are not +remunerated on the whole by any means splendidly, and that they +cannot hope in the ordinary course of things to do more than meet +the ordinary wants and hazards of life. But it is to be observed +that the general hazards are in their case, by reason of the +dangerous nature of their avocations, exceptionally great, so very +great, I find, as to be stateable, on the authority of a +parliamentary paper, by the very startling round of figures, that +whereas one railway traveller in 8,000,000 of passengers is killed, +one railway servant in every 2,000 is killed. + +Hence, from general, special, as well, no doubt, for the usual +prudential and benevolent considerations, there came to be +established among railway officers and servants, nine years ago, +the Railway Benevolent Association. I may suppose, therefore, as +it was established nine years ago, that this is the ninth occasion +of publishing from this chair the banns between this institution +and the public. Nevertheless, I feel bound individually to do my +duty the same as if it had never been done before, and to ask +whether there is any just cause or impediment why these two +parties--the institution and the public--should not be joined +together in holy charity. As I understand the society, its objects +are five-fold--first, to guarantee annuities which, it is always to +be observed, is paid out of the interest of invested capital, so +that those annuities may be secure and safe--annual pensions, +varying from 10 to 25 pounds, to distressed railway officers and +servants incapacitated by age, sickness, or accident; secondly, to +guarantee small pensions to distressed widows; thirdly, to educate +and maintain orphan children; fourthly, to provide temporary relief +for all those classes till lasting relief can be guaranteed out of +funds sufficiently large for the purpose; lastly, to induce railway +officers and servants to assure their lives in some well- +established office by sub-dividing the payment of the premiums into +small periodical sums, and also by granting a reversionary bonus of +10 pounds per cent. on the amount assured from the funds of the +institution. + +This is the society we are met to assist--simple, sympathetic, +practical, easy, sensible, unpretending. The number of its members +is large, and rapidly on the increase: they number 12,000; the +amount of invested capital is very nearly 15,000 pounds; it has +done a world of good and a world of work in these first nine years +of its life; and yet I am proud to say that the annual cost of the +maintenance of the institution is no more than 250 pounds. And now +if you do not know all about it in a small compass, either I do not +know all about it myself, or the fault must be in my "packing." + +One naturally passes from what the institution is and has done, to +what it wants. Well, it wants to do more good, and it cannot +possibly do more good until it has more money. It cannot safely, +and therefore it cannot honourably, grant more pensions to +deserving applicants until it grows richer, and it cannot grow rich +enough for its laudable purpose by its own unaided self. The thing +is absolutely impossible. The means of these railway officers and +servants are far too limited. Even if they were helped to the +utmost by the great railway companies, their means would still be +too limited; even if they were helped--and I hope they shortly will +be--by some of the great corporations of this country, whom +railways have done so much to enrich. These railway officers and +servants, on their road to a very humble and modest superannuation, +can no more do without the help of the great public, than the great +public, on their road from Torquay to Aberdeen, can do without +them. Therefore, I desire to ask the public whether the servants +of the great railways--who, in fact, are their servants, their +ready, zealous, faithful, hard-working servants--whether they have +not established, whether they do not every day establish, a +reasonable claim to liberal remembrance. + +Now, gentlemen, on this point of the case there is a story once +told me by a friend of mine, which seems to my mind to have a +certain application. My friend was an American sea-captain, and, +therefore, it is quite unnecessary to say his story was quite true. +He was captain and part owner of a large American merchant liner. +On a certain voyage out, in exquisite summer weather, he had for +cabin passengers one beautiful young lady, and ten more or less +beautiful young gentlemen. Light winds or dead calms prevailing, +the voyage was slow. They had made half their distance when the +ten young gentlemen were all madly in love with the beautiful young +lady. They had all proposed to her, and bloodshed among the rivals +seemed imminent pending the young lady's decision. On this +extremity the beautiful young lady confided in my friend the +captain, who gave her discreet advice. He said: "If your +affections are disengaged, take that one of the young gentlemen +whom you like the best and settle the question." To this the +beautiful young lady made reply, "I cannot do that because I like +them all equally well." My friend, who was a man of resource, hit +upon this ingenious expedient, said he, "To-morrow morning at mid- +day, when lunch is announced, do you plunge bodily overboard, head +foremost. I will be alongside in a boat to rescue you, and take +the one of the ten who rushes to your rescue, and then you can +afterwards have him." The beautiful young lady highly approved, +and did accordingly. But after she plunged in, nine out of the ten +more or less beautiful young gentlemen plunged in after her; and +the tenth remained and shed tears, looking over the side of the +vessel. They were all picked up, and restored dripping to the +deck. The beautiful young lady upon seeing them said, "What am I +to do? See what a plight they are in. How can I possibly choose, +because every one of them is equally wet?" Then said my friend the +captain, acting upon a sudden inspiration, "Take the dry one." I +am sorry to say that she did so, and they lived happy ever +afterwards. + +Now, gentleman, in my application of this story, I exactly reverse +my friend the captain's anecdote, and I entreat the public in +looking about to consider who are fit subjects for their bounty, to +give each his hand with something in it, and not award a dry hand +to the industrious railway servant who is always at his back. And +I would ask any one with a doubt upon this subject to consider what +his experience of the railway servant is from the time of his +departure to his arrival at his destination. I know what mine is. +Here he is, in velveteen or in a policeman's dress, scaling cabs, +storming carriages, finding lost articles by a sort of instinct, +binding up lost umbrellas and walking sticks, wheeling trucks, +counselling old ladies, with a wonderful interest in their affairs- +-mostly very complicated--and sticking labels upon all sorts of +articles. I look around--there he is, in a station-master's +uniform, directing and overseeing, with the head of a general, and +with the courteous manners of a gentleman; and then there is the +handsome figure of the guard, who inspires confidence in timid +passengers. I glide out of the station, and there he is again with +his flags in his hand at his post in the open country, at the level +crossing, at the cutting, at the tunnel mouth, and at every station +on the road until our destination is reached. In regard, +therefore, to the railway servants with whom we do come into +contact, we may surely have some natural sympathy, and it is on +their behalf that I this night appeal to you. I beg now to propose +"Success to the Railway Benevolent Society." + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, SEPTEMBER 17, 1867. + + + +[On presiding at a public Meeting of the Printers' Readers, held at +the Salisbury Hotel, on the above date, Mr. Dickens said:-] + +That as the meeting was convened, not to hear him, but to hear a +statement of facts and figures very nearly affecting the personal +interests of the great majority of those present, his preface to +the proceedings need be very brief. Of the details of the question +he knew, of his own knowledge, absolutely nothing; but he had +consented to occupy the chair on that occasion at the request of +the London Association of Correctors of the Press for two reasons-- +first, because he thought that openness and publicity in such cases +were a very wholesome example very much needed at this time, and +were highly becoming to a body of men associated with that great +public safeguard--the Press; secondly, because he knew from some +slight practical experience, what the duties of correctors of the +press were, and how their duties were usually discharged; and he +could testify, and did testify, that they were not mechanical, that +they were not mere matters of manipulation and routine; but that +they required from those who performed them much natural +intelligence, much super-added cultivation, readiness of reference, +quickness of resource, an excellent memory, and a clear +understanding. He most gratefully acknowledged that he had never +gone through the sheets of any book that he had written, without +having presented to him by the correctors of the press something +that he had overlooked, some slight inconsistency into which he had +fallen, some little lapse he had made--in short, without having set +down in black and white some unquestionable indication that he had +been closely followed through the work by a patient and trained +mind, and not merely by a skilful eye. And in this declaration he +had not the slightest doubt that the great body of his brother and +sister writers would, as a plain act of justice, readily concur. +For these plain reasons he was there; and being there he begged to +assure them that every one present--that every speaker--would have +a patient hearing, whatever his opinions might be. + +[The proceedings concluded with a very cordial and hearty vote of +thanks to Mr. Dickens for taking the chair on the occasion.] + +Mr. Dickens briefly returned thanks, and expressed the belief that +their very calm and temperate proceedings would finally result in +the establishment of relations of perfect amity between the +employers and the employed, and consequently conduce to the general +welfare of both. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, NOVEMBER 2, 1867. + + + +[On Saturday evening, November 2, 1867, a grand complimentary +farewell dinner was given to Mr. Dickens at the Freemasons' Tavern +on the occasion of his revisiting the United States of America. +Lord Lytton officiated as chairman, and proposed as a toast--"A +Prosperous Voyage, Health, and Long Life to our Illustrious Guest +and Countryman, Charles Dickens". The toast was drunk with all the +honours, and one cheer more. Mr. Dickens then rose, and spoke as +follows:] + +No thanks that I can offer you can express my sense of my reception +by this great assemblage, or can in the least suggest to you how +deep the glowing words of my friend the chairman, and your +acceptance of them, have sunk into my heart. But both combined +have so greatly shaken the composure which I am used to command +before an audience, that I hope you may observe in me some traces +of an eloquence more expressive than the richest words. To say +that I am fervently grateful to you is to say nothing; to say that +I can never forget this beautiful sight, is to say nothing; to say +that it brings upon me a rush of emotion not only in the present, +but in the thought of its remembrance in the future by those who +are dearest to me, is to say nothing; but to feel all this for the +moment, even almost to pain, is very much indeed. Mercutio says of +the wound in his breast, dealt him by the hand of a foe, that-- +"'Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but 'tis +enough, 'twill serve." {15} I may say of the wound in my breast, +newly dealt to me by the hands of my friends, that it is deeper +than the soundless sea, and wider than the whole Catholic Church. +I may safely add that it has for the moment almost stricken me +dumb. I should be more than human, and I assure you I am very +human indeed, if I could look around upon this brilliant +representative company and not feel greatly thrilled and stirred by +the presence of so many brother artists, not only in literature, +but also in the sister arts, especially painting, among whose +professors living and unhappily dead, are many of my oldest and +best friends. I hope that I may, without presumption, regard this +thronging of my brothers around me as a testimony on their part +that they believe that the cause of art generally has been safe in +my keeping, and that it has never been falsely dealt with by me. +Your resounding cheers just now would have been but so many cruel +reproaches to me if I could not here declare that, from the +earliest days of my career down to this proud night, I have always +tried to be true to my calling. Never unduly to assert it, on the +one hand, and never, on any pretence or consideration, to permit it +to be patronized in my person, has been the steady endeavour of my +life; and I have occasionally been vain enough to hope that I may +leave its social position in England better than I found it. +Similarly, and equally I hope without presumption, I trust that I +may take this general representation of the public here, through so +many orders, pursuits, and degrees, as a token that the public +believe that, with a host of imperfections and shortcomings on my +head, I have as a writer, in my soul and conscience, tried to be as +true to them as they have ever been true to me. And here, in +reference to the inner circle of the arts and the outer circle of +the public, I feel it a duty to-night to offer two remarks. I have +in my duty at odd times heard a great deal about literary sets and +cliques, and coteries and barriers; about keeping this man up, and +keeping that man down; about sworn disciples and sworn unbelievers, +and mutual admiration societies, and I know not what other dragons +in the upward path. I began to tread it when I was very young, +without influence, without money, without companion, introducer, or +adviser, and I am bound to put in evidence in this place that I +never lighted on these dragons yet. So have I heard in my day, at +divers other odd times, much generally to the effect that the +English people have little or no love of art for its own sake, and +that they do not greatly care to acknowledge or do honour to the +artist. My own experience has uniformly been exactly the reverse. +I can say that of my countrymen, though I cannot say that of my +country. + +And now passing to the immediate occasion of your doing me this +great honour, the story of my going again to America is very easily +and briefly told. Since I was there before a vast and entirely new +generation has arisen in the United States. Since I was there +before most of the best known of my books have been written and +published; the new generation and the books have come together and +have kept together, until at length numbers of those who have so +widely and constantly read me; naturally desiring a little variety +in the relationship between us, have expressed a strong wish that I +should read myself. This wish, at first conveyed to me through +public channels and business channels, has gradually become +enforced by an immense accumulation of letters from individuals and +associations of individuals, all expressing in the same hearty, +homely, cordial unaffected way, a kind of personal interest in me-- +I had almost said a kind of personal affection for me, which I am +sure you would agree with me it would be dull insensibility on my +part not to prize. Little by little this pressure has become so +great that, although, as Charles Lamb says, my household gods +strike a terribly deep root, I have torn them from their places, +and this day week, at this hour, shall be upon the sea. You will +readily conceive that I am inspired besides by a natural desire to +see for myself the astonishing change and progress of a quarter of +a century over there, to grasp the hands of many faithful friends +whom I left there, to see the faces of the multitude of new friends +upon whom I have never looked, and last, not least, to use my best +endeavour to lay down a third cable of intercommunication and +alliance between the old world and the new. Twelve years ago, when +Heaven knows I little thought I should ever be bound upon the +voyage which now lies before me, I wrote in that form of my +writings which obtains by far the most extensive circulation, these +words of the American nation:- "I know full well, whatever little +motes my beamy eyes may have descried in theirs, that they are a +kind, large-hearted, generous, and great people." In that faith I +am going to see them again; in that faith I shall, please God, +return from them in the spring; in that same faith to live and to +die. I told you in the beginning that I could not thank you +enough, and Heaven knows I have most thoroughly kept my word. If I +may quote one other short sentence from myself, let it imply all +that I have left unsaid, and yet most deeply feel. Let it, putting +a girdle round the earth, comprehend both sides of the Atlantic at +once in this moment, and say, as Tiny Tim observes, "God bless us +every one." + + + +SPEECH: BOSTON, APRIL 8, 1868. + + + +[Mr. Dickens gave his last Reading at Boston, on the above date. +On his entrance a surprise awaited him. His reading-stand had been +decorated with flowers and palm-leaves by some of the ladies of the +city. He acknowledged this graceful tribute in the following +words:- "Before allowing Dr. Marigold to tell his story in his own +peculiar way, I kiss the kind, fair hands unknown, which have so +beautifully decorated my table this evening." After the Reading, +Mr. Dickens attempted in vain to retire. Persistent hands demanded +"one word more." Returning to his desk, pale, with a tear in his +eye, that found its way to his voice, he spoke as follows:-] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--My gracious and generous welcome in America, +which can never be obliterated from my remembrance, began here. My +departure begins here, too; for I assure you that I have never +until this moment really felt that I am going away. In this brief +life of ours, it is sad to do almost anything for the last time, +and I cannot conceal from you, although my face will so soon be +turned towards my native land, and to all that makes it dear, that +it is a sad consideration with me that in a very few moments from +this time, this brilliant hall and all that it contains, will fade +from my view--for ever more. But it is my consolation that the +spirit of the bright faces, the quick perception, the ready +response, the generous and the cheering sounds that have made this +place delightful to me, will remain; and you may rely upon it that +that spirit will abide with me as long as I have sense and +sentiment left. + +I do not say this with any limited reference to private friendships +that have for years upon years made Boston a memorable and beloved +spot to me, for such private references have no business in this +public place. I say it purely in remembrance of, and in homage to, +the great public heart before me. + +Ladies and gentlemen, I beg most earnestly, most gratefully, and +most affectionately, to bid you, each and all, farewell + + + +SPEECH: NEW YORK, APRIL 18, 1863. + + + +[On the above date Mr. Dickens was entertained at a farewell dinner +at Delmonico's Hotel, previous to his return to England. Two +hundred gentlemen sat down to it; Mr. Horace Greeley presiding. In +acknowledgment of the toast of his health, proposed by the +chairman, Mr. Dickens rose and said:-] + +Gentlemen,--I cannot do better than take my cue to from your +distinguished president, and refer in my first remarks to his +remarks in connexion with the old, natural, association between you +and me. When I received an invitation from a private association +of working members of the press of New York to dine with them to- +day, I accepted that compliment in grateful remembrance of a +calling that was once my own, and in loyal sympathy towards a +brotherhood which, in the spirit, I have never quieted. To the +wholesome training of severe newspaper work, when I was a very +young man, I constantly refer my first successes; and my sons will +hereafter testify of their father that he was always steadily proud +of that ladder by which he rose. If it were otherwise, I should +have but a very poor opinion of their father, which, perhaps, upon +the whole, I have not. Hence, gentlemen, under any circumstances, +this company would have been exceptionally interesting and +gratifying to me. But whereas I supposed that, like the fairies' +pavilion in the "Arabian Nights," it would be but a mere handful, +and I find it turn out, like the same elastic pavilion, capable of +comprehending a multitude, so much the more proud am I of the +honour of being your guest; for you will readily believe that the +more widely representative of the press in America my entertainers +are, the more I must feel the good-will and the kindly sentiments +towards me of that vast institution. + +Gentlemen, so much of my voice has lately been heard in the land, +and I have for upwards of four hard winter months so contended +against what I have been sometimes quite admiringly assured was "a +true American catarrh "--a possession which I have throughout +highly appreciated, though I might have preferred to be naturalised +by any other outward and visible signs--I say, gentlemen, so much +of my voice has lately been heard, that I might have been contented +with troubling you no further from my present standing-point, were +it not a duty with which I henceforth charge myself, not only here +but on every suitable occasion whatsoever and wheresoever, to +express my high and grateful sense of my second reception in +America, and to bear my honest testimony to the national generosity +and magnanimity. Also, to declare how astounded I have been by the +amazing changes that I have seen around me on every side--changes +moral, changes physical, changes in the amount of land subdued and +peopled, changes in the rise of vast new cities, changes in the +growth of older cities almost out of recognition, changes in the +graces and amenities of life, changes in the press, without whose +advancement no advancement can be made anywhere. Nor am I, believe +me, so arrogant as to suppose that in five-and-twenty years there +have been no changes in me, and that I had nothing to learn and no +extreme impressions to correct when I was here first. + +And, gentlemen, this brings me to a point on which I have, ever +since I landed here last November, observed a strict silence, +though tempted sometimes to break it, but in reference to which I +will, with your good leave, take you into my confidence now. Even +the press, being human, may be sometimes mistaken or misinformed, +and I rather think that I have in one or two rare instances known +its information to be not perfectly accurate with reference to +myself. Indeed, I have now and again been more surprised by +printed news that I have read of myself than by any printed news +that I have ever read in my present state of existence. Thus, the +vigour and perseverance with which I have for some months past been +collecting materials for and hammering away at a new book on +America have much astonished me, seeing that all that time it has +been perfectly well known to my publishers on both sides of the +Atlantic that I positively declared that no consideration on earth +should induce me to write one. But what I have intended, what I +have resolved upon (and this is the confidence I seek to place in +you) is, on my return to England, in my own person, to bear, for +the behoof of my countrymen, such testimony to the gigantic changes +in this country as I have hinted at to-night. Also, to record that +wherever I have been, in the smallest places equally with the +largest, I have been received with unsurpassable politeness, +delicacy, sweet temper, hospitality, consideration, and with +unsurpassable respect for the privacy daily enforced upon me by the +nature of my avocation here, and the state of my health. This +testimony, so long as I live, and so long as my descendants have +any legal right in my books, I shall cause to be re-published, as +an appendix to every copy of those two books of mine in which I +have referred to America. And this I will do and cause to be done, +not in mere love and thankfulness, but because I regard it as an +act of plain justice and honour. + +Gentlemen, the transition from my own feelings towards and interest +in America to those of the mass of my countrymen seems to be a +natural one; but, whether or no, I make it with an express object. +I was asked in this very city, about last Christmas time, whether +an American was not at some disadvantage in England as a foreigner. +The notion of an American being regarded in England as a foreigner +at all, of his ever being thought of or spoken of in that +character, was so uncommonly incongruous and absurd to me, that my +gravity was, for the moment, quite overpowered. As soon as it was +restored, I said that for years and years past I hoped I had had as +many American friends and had received as many American visitors as +almost any Englishman living, and that my unvarying experience, +fortified by theirs, was that it was enough in England to be an +American to be received with the readiest respect and recognition +anywhere. Hereupon, out of half-a-dozen people, suddenly spoke out +two, one an American gentleman, with a cultivated taste for art, +who, finding himself on a certain Sunday outside the walls of a +certain historical English castle, famous for its pictures, was +refused admission there, according to the strict rules of the +establishment on that day, but who, on merely representing that he +was an American gentleman, on his travels, had, not to say the +picture gallery, but the whole castle, placed at his immediate +disposal. The other was a lady, who, being in London, and having a +great desire to see the famous reading-room of the British Museum, +was assured by the English family with whom she stayed that it was +unfortunately impossible, because the place was closed for a week, +and she had only three days there. Upon that lady's going to the +Museum, as she assured me, alone to the gate, self-introduced as an +American lady, the gate flew open, as it were magically. I am +unwillingly bound to add that she certainly was young and +exceedingly pretty. Still, the porter of that institution is of an +obese habit, and, according to the best of my observation of him, +not very impressible. + +Now, gentlemen, I refer to these trifles as a collateral assurance +to you that the Englishman who shall humbly strive, as I hope to +do, to be in England as faithful to America as to England herself, +has no previous conceptions to contend against. Points of +difference there have been, points of difference there are, points +of difference there probably always will be between the two great +peoples. But broadcast in England is sown the sentiment that those +two peoples are essentially one, and that it rests with them +jointly to uphold the great Anglo-Saxon race, to which our +president has referred, and all its great achievements before the +world. And if I know anything of my countrymen--and they give me +credit for knowing something--if I know anything of my countrymen, +gentlemen, the English heart is stirred by the fluttering of those +Stars and Stripes, as it is stirred by no other flag that flies +except its own. If I know my countrymen, in any and every relation +towards America, they begin, not as Sir Anthony Absolute +recommended that lovers should begin, with "a little aversion," but +with a great liking and a profound respect; and whatever the little +sensitiveness of the moment, or the little official passion, or the +little official policy now, or then, or here, or there, may be, +take my word for it, that the first enduring, great, popular +consideration in England is a generous construction of justice. + +Finally, gentlemen, and I say this subject to your correction, I do +believe that from the great majority of honest minds on both sides, +there cannot be absent the conviction that it would be better for +this globe to be riven by an earthquake, fired by a comet, overrun +by an iceberg, and abandoned to the Arctic fox and bear, than that +it should present the spectacle of these two great nations, each of +which has, in its own way and hour, striven so hard and so +successfully for freedom, ever again being arrayed the one against +the other. Gentlemen, I cannot thank your president enough or you +enough for your kind reception of my health, and of my poor +remarks, but, believe me, I do thank you with the utmost fervour of +which my soul is capable. + + + +SPEECH: NEW YORK, APRIL 20, 1868. + + + +[Mr. Dickens's last Reading in the United States was given at the +Steinway Hall on the above date. The task finished he was about to +retire, but a tremendous burst of applause stopped him. He came +forward and spoke thus:-] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--The shadow of one word has impended over me +this evening, and the time has come at length when the shadow must +fall. It is but a very short one, but the weight of such things is +not measured by their length, and two much shorter words express +the round of our human existence. When I was reading "David +Copperfield" a few evenings since, I felt there was more than usual +significance in the words of Peggotty, "My future life lies over +the sea." And when I closed this book just now, I felt most keenly +that I was shortly to establish such an alibi as would have +satisfied even the elder Mr. Weller. The relations which have been +set up between us, while they have involved for me something more +than mere devotion to a task, have been by you sustained with the +readiest sympathy and the kindest acknowledgment. + +Those relations must now be broken for ever. Be assured, however, +that you will not pass from my mind. I shall often realise you as +I see you now, equally by my winter fire and in the green English +summer weather. I shall never recall you as a mere public +audience, but rather as a host of personal friends, and ever with +the greatest gratitude, tenderness, and consideration. Ladies and +gentlemen, I beg to bid you farewell. God bless you, and God bless +the land in which I leave you. + + + +SPEECH: LIVERPOOL, APRIL 10, 1869. + + + +[The following speech was delivered by Mr. Dickens at a Banquet +held in his honour at St. George's Hall, Liverpool, after his +health had been proposed by Lord Dufferin.] + +Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, although I have been so well +accustomed of late to the sound of my own voice in this +neighbourhood as to hear it with perfect composure, the occasion +is, believe me, very, very different in respect of those +overwhelming voices of yours. As Professor Wilson once confided to +me in Edinburgh that I had not the least idea, from hearing him in +public, what a magnificent speaker he found himself to be when he +was quite alone--so you can form no conception, from the specimen +before you, of the eloquence with which I shall thank you again and +again in some of the innermost moments of my future life. Often +and often, then, God willing, my memory will recall this brilliant +scene, and will re-illuminate this banquet-hall. I, faithful to +this place in its present aspect, will observe it exactly as it +stands--not one man's seat empty, not one woman's fair face absent, +while life and memory abide by me. + +Mr. Mayor, Lord Dufferin in his speech so affecting to me, so +eloquently uttered, and so rapturously received, made a graceful +and gracious allusion to the immediate occasion of my present visit +to your noble city. It is no homage to Liverpool, based upon a +moment's untrustworthy enthusiasm, but it is the solid fact built +upon the rock of experience that when I first made up my mind, +after considerable deliberation, systematically to meet my readers +in large numbers, face to face, and to try to express myself to +them through the breath of life, Liverpool stood foremost among the +great places out of London to which I looked with eager confidence +and pleasure. And why was this? Not merely because of the +reputation of its citizens for generous estimation of the arts; not +merely because I had unworthily filled the chair of its great self- +educational institution long ago; not merely because the place had +been a home to me since the well-remembered day when its blessed +roofs and steeples dipped into the Mersey behind me on the occasion +of my first sailing away to see my generous friends across the +Atlantic twenty-seven years ago. Not for one of those +considerations, but because it had been my happiness to have a +public opportunity of testing the spirit of its people. I had +asked Liverpool for help towards the worthy preservation of +Shakespeare's house. On another occasion I had ventured to address +Liverpool in the names of Leigh Hunt and Sheridan Knowles. On +still another occasion I had addressed it in the cause of the +brotherhood and sisterhood of letters and the kindred arts, and on +each and all the response had been unsurpassably spontaneous, open- +handed, and munificent. + +Mr. Mayor, and ladies and gentlemen, if I may venture to take a +small illustration of my present position from my own peculiar +craft, I would say that there is this objection in writing fiction +to giving a story an autobiographical form, that through whatever +dangers the narrator may pass, it is clear unfortunately to the +reader beforehand that he must have come through them somehow else +he could not have lived to tell the tale. Now, in speaking fact, +when the fact is associated with such honours as those with which +you have enriched me, there is this singular difficulty in the way +of returning thanks, that the speaker must infallibly come back to +himself through whatever oratorical disasters he may languish on +the road. Let me, then, take the plainer and simpler middle course +of dividing my subject equally between myself and you. Let me +assure you that whatever you have accepted with pleasure, either by +word of pen or by word of mouth, from me, you have greatly improved +in the acceptance. As the gold is said to be doubly and trebly +refined which has seven times passed the furnace, so a fancy may be +said to become more and more refined each time it passes through +the human heart. You have, and you know you have, brought to the +consideration of me that quality in yourselves without which I +should but have beaten the air. Your earnestness has stimulated +mine, your laughter has made me laugh, and your tears have +overflowed my eyes. All that I can claim for myself in +establishing the relations which exist between us is constant +fidelity to hard work. My literary fellows about me, of whom I am +so proud to see so many, know very well how true it is in all art +that what seems the easiest done is oftentimes the most difficult +to do, and that the smallest truth may come of the greatest pains-- +much, as it occurred to me at Manchester the other day, as the +sensitive touch of Mr. Whitworth's measuring machine, comes at +last, of Heaven and Manchester and its mayor only know how much +hammering--my companions-in-arms know thoroughly well, and I think +it only right the public should know too, that in our careful toil +and trouble, and in our steady striving for excellence--not in any +little gifts, misused by fits and starts--lies our highest duty at +once to our calling, to one another, to ourselves, and to you. + +Ladies and gentlemen, before sitting down I find that I have to +clear myself of two very unexpected accusations. The first is a +most singular charge preferred against me by my old friend Lord +Houghton, that I have been somewhat unconscious of the merits of +the House of Lords. Now, ladies and gentlemen, seeing that I have +had some few not altogether obscure or unknown personal friends in +that assembly, seeing that I had some little association with, and +knowledge of, a certain obscure peer lately known in England by the +name of Lord Brougham; seeing that I regard with some admiration +and affection another obscure peer wholly unknown in literary +circles, called Lord Lytton; seeing also that I have had for some +years some slight admiration of the extraordinary judicial +properties and amazingly acute mind of a certain Lord Chief Justice +popularly known by the name of Cockburn; and also seeing that there +is no man in England whom I respect more in his public capacity, +whom I love more in his private capacity, or from whom I have +received more remarkable proofs of his honour and love of +literature than another obscure nobleman called Lord Russell; +taking these circumstances into consideration, I was rather amazed +by my noble friend's accusation. When I asked him, on his sitting +down, what amazing devil possessed him to make this charge, he +replied that he had never forgotten the days of Lord Verisopht. +Then, ladies and gentlemen, I understood it all. Because it is a +remarkable fact that in the days when that depreciative and +profoundly unnatural character was invented there was no Lord +Houghton in the House of Lords. And there was in the House of +Commons a rather indifferent member called Richard Monckton Milnes. + +Ladies and gentlemen, to conclude, for the present, I close with +the other charge of my noble friend, and here I am more serious, +and I may be allowed perhaps to express my seriousness in half a +dozen plain words. When I first took literature as my profession +in England, I calmly resolved within myself that, whether I +succeeded or whether I failed, literature should be my sole +profession. It appeared to me at that time that it was not so well +understood in England as it was in other countries that literature +was a dignified profession, by which any man might stand or fall. +I made a compact with myself that in my person literature should +stand, and by itself, of itself, and for itself; and there is no +consideration on earth which would induce me to break that bargain. + +Ladies and gentlemen, finally allow me to thank you for your great +kindness, and for the touching earnestness with which you have +drunk my health. I should have thanked you with all my heart if it +had not so unfortunately happened that, for many sufficient +reasons, I lost my heart at between half-past six and half-past +seven to-night. + + + +SPEECH: THE OXFORD AND HARVARD BOAT RACE. SYDENHAM, AUGUST 30, +1869. + + + +[The International University Boat Race having taken place on +August 27, the London Rowing Club invited the Crews to a Dinner at +the Crystal Palace on the following Monday. The dinner was +followed by a grand display of pyrotechnics. Mr. Dickens, in +proposing the health of the Crews, made the following speech:] + +Gentlemen, flushed with fireworks, I can warrant myself to you as +about to imitate those gorgeous illusions by making a brief spirt +and then dying out. And, first of all, as an invited visitor of +the London Rowing Club on this most interesting occasion, I will +beg, in the name of the other invited visitors present--always +excepting the distinguished guests who are the cause of our +meeting--to thank the president for the modesty and the courtesy +with which he has deputed to one of us the most agreeable part of +his evening's duty. It is the more graceful in him to do this +because he can hardly fail to see that he might very easily do it +himself, as this is a case of all others in which it is according +to good taste and the very principles of things that the great +social vice, speech-making, should hide it diminished head before +the great social virtue action. However, there is an ancient story +of a lady who threw her glove into an arena full of wild beasts to +tempt her attendant lover to climb down and reclaim it. The lover, +rightly inferring from the action the worth of the lady, risked his +life for the glove, and then threw it rightly in her face as a +token of his eternal adieu. {16} I take up the President's glove, +on the contrary, as a proof of his much higher worth, and of my +real interest in the cause in which it was thrown down, and I now +profess my readiness to do even injustice to the duty which he has +assigned me. + +Gentlemen, a very remarkable and affecting volume was published in +the United States within a short time before my last visit to that +hospitable land, containing ninety-five biographies of young men, +for the most part well-born and well nurtured, and trained in +various peaceful pursuits of life, who, when the flag of their +country waved them from those quiet paths in which they were +seeking distinction of various kinds, took arms in the dread civil +war which elicited so much bravery on both sides, and died in the +defence of their country. These great spirits displayed +extraordinary aptitude in the acquisition, even in the invention, +of military tactics, in the combining and commanding of great +masses of men, in surprising readiness of self-resource for the +general good, in humanely treating the sick and the wounded, and in +winning to themselves a very rare amount of personal confidence and +trust. They had all risen to be distinguished soldiers; they had +all done deeds of great heroism; they had all combined with their +valour and self-devotion a serene cheerfulness, a quiet modesty, +and a truly Christian spirit; and they had all been educated in one +school--Harvard University. + +Gentlemen, nothing was more remarkable in these fine descendants of +our forefathers than the invincible determination with which they +fought against odds, and the undauntable spirit with which they +resisted defeat. I ask you, who will say after last Friday that +Harvard University is less true to herself in peace than she was in +war? I ask you, who will not recognise in her boat's crew the +leaven of her soldiers, and who does not feel that she has now a +greater right than ever to be proud of her sons, and take these +sons to her breast when they return with resounding acclamations? +It is related of the Duke of Wellington that he once told a lady +who foolishly protested that she would like to see a great victory +that there was only one thing worse than a great victory, and that +was a great defeat. + +But, gentlemen, there is another sense in which to use the term a +great defeat. Such is the defeat of a handful of daring fellows +who make a preliminary dash of three or four thousand stormy miles +to meet great conquerors on their own domain--who do not want the +stimulus of friends and home, but who sufficiently hear and feel +their own dear land in the shouts and cheers of another--and who +strive to the last with a desperate tenacity that makes the beating +of them a new feather in the proudest cap. Gentlemen, you agree +with me that such a defeat is a great, noble part of a manly, +wholesome action; and I say that it is in the essence and life- +blood of such a defeat to become at last sure victory. + +Now, gentlemen, you know perfectly well the toast I am going to +propose, and you know equally well that in thus glancing first +towards our friends of the white stripes, I merely anticipate and +respond to the instinctive courtesy of Oxford towards our brothers +from a distance--a courtesy extending, I hope, and I do not doubt, +to any imaginable limits except allowing them to take the first +place in last Friday's match, if they could by any human and +honourable means be kept in the second. I will not avail myself of +the opportunity provided for me by the absence of the greater part +of the Oxford crew--indeed, of all but one, and that, its most +modest and devoted member--I will not avail myself of the golden +opportunity considerately provided for me to say a great deal in +honour of the Oxford crew. I know that the gentleman who attends +here attends under unusual anxieties and difficulties, and that if +he were less in earnest his filial affection could not possibly +allow him to be here. + +It is therefore enough for me, gentlemen, and enough for you, that +I should say here, and now, that we all unite with one accord in +regarding the Oxford crew as the pride and flower of England--and +that we should consider it very weak indeed to set anything short +of England's very best in opposition to or competition with +America; though it certainly must be confessed--I am bound in +common justice and honour to admit it--it must be confessed in +disparagement of the Oxford men, as I heard a discontented +gentleman remark--last Friday night, about ten o'clock, when he was +baiting a very small horse in the Strand--he was one of eleven with +pipes in a chaise cart--I say it must be admitted in disparagement +of the Oxford men on the authority of this gentleman, that they +have won so often that they could afford to lose a little now, and +that "they ought to do it, but they won't." + +Gentlemen, in drinking to both crews, and in offering the poor +testimony of our thanks in acknowledgment of the gallant spectacle +which they presented to countless thousands last Friday, I am sure +I express not only your feeling, and my feeling, and the feeling of +the Blue, but also the feeling of the whole people of England, when +I cordially give them welcome to our English waters and English +ground, and also bid them "God speed" in their voyage home. As the +greater includes the less, and the sea holds the river, so I think +it is no very bold augury to predict that in the friendly contests +yet to come and to take place, I hope, on both sides of the +Atlantic--there are great river triumphs for Harvard University yet +in store. Gentlemen, I warn the English portion of this audience +that these are very dangerous men. Remember that it was an +undergraduate of Harvard University who served as a common seaman +two years before the mast, {17} and who wrote about the best sea +book in the English tongue. Remember that it was one of those +young American gentlemen who sailed his mite of a yacht across the +Atlantic in mid-winter, and who sailed in her to sink or swim with +the men who believed in him. + +And now, gentlemen, in conclusion, animated by your cordial +acquiescence, I will take upon myself to assure our brothers from a +distance that the utmost enthusiasm with which they can be received +on their return home will find a ready echo in every corner of +England--and further, that none of their immediate countrymen--I +use the qualifying term immediate, for we are, as our president +said, fellow countrymen, thank God--that none of their compatriots +who saw, or who will read of, what they did in this great race, can +be more thoroughly imbued with a sense of their indomitable courage +and their high deserts than are their rivals and their hosts to- +night. Gentlemen, I beg to propose to you to drink the crews of +Harvard and Oxford University, and I beg to couple with that toast +the names of Mr. Simmons and Mr. Willan. + + + +SPEECH: BIRMINGHAM, SEPTEMBER 27, 1869. + + + +[Inaugural Address on the opening of the Winter Session of the +Birmingham and Midland Institute. + +One who was present during the delivery of the following speech, +informs the editor that "no note of any kind was referred to by Mr. +Dickens--except the Quotation from Sydney Smith. The address, +evidently carefully prepared, was delivered without a single pause, +in Mr. Dickens's best manner, and was a very great success."] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--We often hear of our common country that it +is an over-populated one, that it is an over-pauperized one, that +it is an over-colonizing one, and that it is an over-taxed one. +Now, I entertain, especially of late times, the heretical belief +that it is an over-talked one, and that there is a deal of public +speech-making going about in various directions which might be +advantageously dispensed with. If I were free to act upon this +conviction, as president for the time being of the great +institution so numerously represented here, I should immediately +and at once subside into a golden silence, which would be of a +highly edifying, because of a very exemplary character. But I +happen to be the institution's willing servant, not its imperious +master, and it exacts tribute of mere silver or copper speech--not +to say brazen--from whomsoever it exalts to my high office. Some +African tribes--not to draw the comparison disrespectfully--some +savage African tribes, when they make a king require him perhaps to +achieve an exhausting foot-race under the stimulus of considerable +popular prodding and goading, or perhaps to be severely and +experimentally knocked about the head by his Privy Council, or +perhaps to be dipped in a river full of crocodiles, or perhaps to +drink immense quantities of something nasty out of a calabash--at +all events, to undergo some purifying ordeal in presence of his +admiring subjects. + +I must confess that I became rather alarmed when I was duly warned +by your constituted authorities that whatever I might happen to say +here to-night would be termed an inaugural address on the entrance +upon a new term of study by the members of your various classes; +for, besides that, the phrase is something high-sounding for my +taste, I avow that I do look forward to that blessed time when +every man shall inaugurate his own work for himself, and do it. I +believe that we shall then have inaugurated a new era indeed, and +one in which the Lord's Prayer will become a fulfilled prophecy +upon this earth. Remembering, however, that you may call anything +by any name without in the least changing its nature--bethinking +myself that you may, if you be so minded, call a butterfly a +buffalo, without advancing a hair's breadth towards making it one-- +I became composed in my mind, and resolved to stick to the very +homely intention I had previously formed. This was merely to tell +you, the members, students, and friends of the Birmingham and +Midland Institute--firstly, what you cannot possibly want to know, +(this is a very popular oratorical theme); secondly, what your +institution has done; and, thirdly, what, in the poor opinion of +its President for the time being, remains for it to do and not to +do. + +Now, first, as to what you cannot possibly want to know. You +cannot need from me any oratorical declamation concerning the +abstract advantages of knowledge or the beauties of self- +improvement. If you had any such requirement you would not be +here. I conceive that you are here because you have become +thoroughly penetrated with such principles, either in your own +persons or in the persons of some striving fellow-creatures, on +whom you have looked with interest and sympathy. I conceive that +you are here because you feel the welfare of the great chiefly +adult educational establishment, whose doors stand really open to +all sorts and conditions of people, to be inseparable from the best +welfare of your great town and its neighbourhood. Nay, if I take a +much wider range than that, and say that we all--every one of us +here--perfectly well know that the benefits of such an +establishment must extend far beyond the limits of this midland +county--its fires and smoke,--and must comprehend, in some sort, +the whole community, I do not strain the truth. It was suggested +by Mr. Babbage, in his ninth "Bridgewater Treatise," that a mere +spoken word--a single articulated syllable thrown into the air--may +go on reverberating through illimitable space for ever and for +ever, seeing that there is no rim against which it can strike--no +boundary at which it can possibly arrive. Similarly it may be +said--not as an ingenious speculation, but as a stedfast and +absolute fact--that human calculation cannot limit the influence of +one atom of wholesome knowledge patiently acquired, modestly +possessed, and faithfully used. + +As the astronomers tell us that it is probable that there are in +the universe innumerable solar systems besides ours, to each of +which myriads of utterly unknown and unseen stars belong, so it is +certain that every man, however obscure, however far removed from +the general recognition, is one of a group of men impressible for +good, and impressible for evil, and that it is in the eternal +nature of things that he cannot really improve himself without in +some degree improving other men. And observe, this is especially +the case when he has improved himself in the teeth of adverse +circumstances, as in a maturity succeeding to a neglected or an +ill-taught youth, in the few daily hours remaining to him after ten +or twelve hours' labour, in the few pauses and intervals of a life +of toil; for then his fellows and companions have assurance that he +can have known no favouring conditions, and that they can do what +he has done, in wresting some enlightenment and self-respect from +what Lord Lytton finely calls - + + +"Those twin gaolers of the daring heart, +Low birth and iron fortune." + + +As you have proved these truths in your own experience or in your +own observation, and as it may be safely assumed that there can be +very few persons in Birmingham, of all places under heaven, who +would contest the position that the more cultivated the employed +the better for the employer, and the more cultivated the employer +the better for the employed; therefore, my references to what you +do not want to know shall here cease and determine. + +Next, with reference to what your institution has done on my +summary, which shall be as concise and as correct as my information +and my remembrance of it may render possible, I desire to lay +emphatic stress. Your institution, sixteen years old, and in which +masters and workmen study together, has outgrown the ample edifice +in which it receives its 2,500 or 2,600 members and students. It +is a most cheering sign of its vigorous vitality that of its +industrial-students almost half are artisans in the receipt of +weekly wages. I think I am correct in saying that 400 others are +clerks, apprentices, tradesmen, or tradesmen's sons. I note with +particular pleasure the adherence of a goodly number of the gentler +sex, without whom no institution whatever can truly claim to be +either a civilising or a civilised one. The increased attendance +at your educational classes is always greatest on the part of the +artisans--the class within my experience the least reached in any +similar institutions elsewhere, and whose name is the oftenest and +the most constantly taken in vain. But it is specially reached +here, not improbably because it is, as it should be, specially +addressed in the foundation of the industrial department, in the +allotment of the direction of the society's affairs, and in the +establishment of what are called its penny classes--a bold, and, I +am happy to say, a triumphantly successful experiment, which +enables the artisan to obtain sound evening instruction in subjects +directly bearing upon his daily usefulness or on his daily +happiness, as arithmetic (elementary and advanced), chemistry, +physical geography, and singing, on payment of the astoundingly low +fee of a single penny every time he attends the class. I beg +emphatically to say that I look upon this as one of the most +remarkable schemes ever devised for the educational behoof of the +artisan, and if your institution had done nothing else in all its +life, I would take my stand by it on its having done this. + +Apart, however, from its industrial department, it has its general +department, offering all the advantages of a first-class literary +institution. It has its reading-rooms, its library, its chemical +laboratory, its museum, its art department, its lecture hall, and +its long list of lectures on subjects of various and comprehensive +interest, delivered by lecturers of the highest qualifications. +Very well. But it may be asked, what are the practical results of +all these appliances? Now, let us suppose a few. Suppose that +your institution should have educated those who are now its +teachers. That would be a very remarkable fact. Supposing, +besides, it should, so to speak, have educated education all around +it, by sending forth numerous and efficient teachers into many and +divers schools. Suppose the young student, reared exclusively in +its laboratory, should be presently snapped up for the laboratory +of the great and famous hospitals. Suppose that in nine years its +industrial students should have carried off a round dozen of the +much competed for prizes awarded by the Society of Arts and the +Government department, besides two local prizes originating in the +generosity of a Birmingham man. Suppose that the Town Council, +having it in trust to find an artisan well fit to receive the +Whitworth prizes, should find him here. Suppose that one of the +industrial students should turn his chemical studies to the +practical account of extracting gold from waste colour water, and +of taking it into custody, in the very act of running away with +hundreds of pounds down the town drains. Suppose another should +perceive in his books, in his studious evenings, what was amiss +with his master's until then inscrutably defective furnace, and +should go straight--to the great annual saving of that master--and +put it right. Supposing another should puzzle out the means, until +then quite unknown in England, of making a certain description of +coloured glass. Supposing another should qualify himself to +vanquish one by one, as they daily arise, all the little +difficulties incidental to his calling as an electro-plater, and +should be applied to by his companions in the shop in all +emergencies under the name of the "Encyclopaedia." Suppose a long +procession of such cases, and then consider that these are not +suppositions at all, but are plain, unvarnished facts, culminating +in the one special and significant fact that, with a single +solitary exception, every one of the institution's industrial +students who have taken its prizes within ten years, have since +climbed to higher situations in their way of life. + +As to the extent to which the institution encourages the artisan to +think, and so, for instance, to rise superior to the little +shackling prejudices and observances perchance existing in his +trade when they will not bear the test of inquiry, that is only to +be equalled by the extent to which it encourages him to feel. +There is a certain tone of modest manliness pervading all the +little facts which I have looked through which I found remarkably +impressive. The decided objection on the part of industrial +students to attend classes in their working clothes, breathes this +tone, as being a graceful and at the same time perfectly +independent recognition of the place and of one another. And this +tone is admirably illustrated in a different way, in the case of a +poor bricklayer, who, being in temporary reverses through the +illness of his family, and having consequently been obliged to part +with his best clothes, and being therefore missed from his classes, +in which he had been noticed as a very hard worker, was persuaded +to attend them in his working clothes. He replied, "No, it was not +possible. It must not be thought of. It must not come into +question for a moment. It would be supposed, or it might be +thought, that he did it to attract attention." And the same man +being offered by one of the officers a loan of money to enable him +to rehabilitate his appearance, positively declined it, on the +ground that he came to the institution to learn and to know better +how to help himself, not otherwise to ask help, or to receive help +from any man. Now, I am justified in calling this the tone of the +institution, because it is no isolated instance, but is a fair and +honourable sample of the spirit of the place, and as such I put it +at the conclusion--though last certainly not least--of my +references to what your institution has indubitably done. + +Well, ladies and gentlemen, I come at length to what, in the humble +opinion of the evanescent officer before you, remains for the +institution to do, and not to do. As Mr. Carlyle has it towards +the closing pages of his grand history of the French Revolution, +"This we are now with due brevity to glance at; and then courage, +oh listener, I see land!" {18} I earnestly hope--and I firmly +believe--that your institution will do henceforth as it has done +hitherto; it can hardly do better. I hope and believe that it will +know among its members no distinction of persons, creed, or party, +but that it will conserve its place of assemblage as a high, pure +ground, on which all such considerations shall merge into the one +universal, heaven-sent aspiration of the human soul to be wiser and +better. I hope and believe that it will always be expansive and +elastic; for ever seeking to devise new means of enlarging the +circle of its members, of attracting to itself the confidence of +still greater and greater numbers, and never evincing any more +disposition to stand still than time does, or life does, or the +seasons do. And above all things, I hope, and I feel confident +from its antecedents, that it will never allow any consideration on +the face of the earth to induce it to patronise or to be +patronised, for I verily believe that the bestowal and receipt of +patronage in such wise has been a curse in England, and that it has +done more to prevent really good objects, and to lower really high +character, than the utmost efforts of the narrowest antagonism +could have effected in twice the time. + +I have no fear that the walls of the Birmingham and Midland +Institute will ever tremble responsive to the croakings of the +timid opponents of intellectual progress; but in this connexion +generally I cannot forbear from offering a remark which is much +upon my mind. It is commonly assumed--much too commonly--that this +age is a material age, and that a material age is an irreligious +age. I have been pained lately to see this assumption repeated in +certain influential quarters for which I have a high respect, and +desire to have a higher. I am afraid that by dint of constantly +being reiterated, and reiterated without protest, this assumption-- +which I take leave altogether to deny--may be accepted by the more +unthinking part of the public as unquestionably true; just as +caricaturists and painters, professedly making a portrait of some +public man, which was not in the least like him to begin with, have +gone on repeating and repeating it until the public came to believe +that it must be exactly like him, simply because it was like +itself, and really have at last, in the fulness of time, grown +almost disposed to resent upon him their tardy discovery--really to +resent upon him their late discovery--that he was not like it. I +confess, standing here in this responsible situation, that I do not +understand this much-used and much-abused phrase--the "material +age." I cannot comprehend--if anybody can I very much doubt--its +logical signification. For instance, has electricity become more +material in the mind of any sane or moderately insane man, woman, +or child, because of the discovery that in the good providence of +God it could be made available for the service and use of man to an +immeasurably greater extent than for his destruction? Do I make a +more material journey to the bed-side of my dying parent or my +dying child when I travel there at the rate of sixty miles an hour, +than when I travel thither at the rate of six? Rather, in the +swiftest case, does not my agonised heart become over-fraught with +gratitude to that Supreme Beneficence from whom alone could have +proceeded the wonderful means of shortening my suspense? What is +the materiality of the cable or the wire compared with the +materiality of the spark? What is the materiality of certain +chemical substances that we can weigh or measure, imprison or +release, compared with the materiality of their appointed +affinities and repulsions presented to them from the instant of +their creation to the day of judgment? When did this so-called +material age begin? With the use of clothing; with the discovery +of the compass; with the invention of the art of printing? Surely, +it has been a long time about; and which is the more material +object, the farthing tallow candle that will not give me light, or +that flame of gas which will? + +No, ladies and gentlemen, do not let us be discouraged or deceived +by any fine, vapid, empty words. The true material age is the +stupid Chinese age, in which no new or grand revelations of nature +are granted, because they are ignorantly and insolently repelled, +instead of being diligently and humbly sought. The difference +between the ancient fiction of the mad braggart defying the +lightning and the modern historical picture of Franklin drawing it +towards his kite, in order that he might the more profoundly study +that which was set before him to be studied (or it would not have +been there), happily expresses to my mind the distinction between +the much-maligned material sages--material in one sense, I suppose, +but in another very immaterial sages--of the Celestial Empire +school. Consider whether it is likely or unlikely, natural or +unnatural, reasonable or unreasonable, that I, a being capable of +thought, and finding myself surrounded by such discovered wonders +on every hand, should sometimes ask myself the question--should put +to myself the solemn consideration--can these things be among those +things which might have been disclosed by divine lips nigh upon two +thousand years ago, but that the people of that time could not bear +them? And whether this be so or no, if I am so surrounded on every +hand, is not my moral responsibility tremendously increased +thereby, and with it my intelligence and submission as a child of +Adam and of the dust, before that Shining Source which equally of +all that is granted and all that is withheld holds in His mighty +hands the unapproachable mysteries of life and death. + +To the students of your industrial classes generally I have had it +in my mind, first, to commend the short motto, in two words, +"Courage--Persevere." This is the motto of a friend and worker. +Not because the eyes of Europe are upon them, for I don't in the +least believe it; nor because the eyes of even England are upon +them, for I don't in the least believe it; not because their doings +will be proclaimed with blast of trumpet at street corners, for no +such musical performances will take place; not because self- +improvement is at all certain to lead to worldly success, but +simply because it is good and right of itself, and because, being +so, it does assuredly bring with it its own resources and its own +rewards. I would further commend to them a very wise and witty +piece of advice on the conduct of the understanding which was given +more than half a century ago by the Rev. Sydney Smith--wisest and +wittiest of the friends I have lost. He says--and he is speaking, +you will please understand, as I speak, to a school of volunteer +students--he says: "There is a piece of foppery which is to be +cautiously guarded against, the foppery of universality, of knowing +all sciences and excelling in all arts--chymistry, mathematics, +algebra, dancing, history, reasoning, riding, fencing, Low Dutch, +High Dutch, and natural philosophy. In short, the modern precept +of education very often is, 'Take the Admirable Crichton for your +model, I would have you ignorant of nothing.' Now," says he, "my +advice, on the contrary, is to have the courage to be ignorant of a +great number of things, in order that you may avoid the calamity of +being ignorant of everything." + +To this I would superadd a little truth, which holds equally good +of my own life and the life of every eminent man I have ever known. +The one serviceable, safe, certain, remunerative, attainable +quality in every study and in every pursuit is the quality of +attention. My own invention or imagination, such as it is, I can +most truthfully assure you, would never have served me as it has, +but for the habit of commonplace, humble, patient, daily, toiling, +drudging attention. Genius, vivacity, quickness of penetration, +brilliancy in association of ideas--such mental qualities, like the +qualities of the apparition of the externally armed head in +Macbeth, will not be commanded; but attention, after due term of +submissive service, always will. Like certain plants which the +poorest peasant may grow in the poorest soil, it can be cultivated +by any one, and it is certain in its own good season to bring forth +flowers and fruit. I can most truthfully assure you by-the-by, +that this eulogium on attention is so far quite disinterested on my +part as that it has not the least reference whatever to the +attention with which you have honoured me. + +Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have done. I cannot but reflect how +often you have probably heard within these walls one of the +foremost men, and certainly one of the very best speakers, if not +the very best, in England. I could not say to myself, when I began +just now, in Shakespeare's line - + + +"I will be BRIGHT and shining gold," + + +but I could say to myself, and I did say to myself, "I will be as +natural and easy as I possibly can," because my heart has all been +in my subject, and I bear an old love towards Birmingham and +Birmingham men. I have said that I bear an old love towards +Birmingham and Birmingham men; let me amend a small omission, and +add "and Birmingham women." This ring I wear on my finger now is +an old Birmingham gift, and if by rubbing it I could raise the +spirit that was obedient to Aladdin's ring, I heartily assure you +that my first instruction to that genius on the spot should be to +place himself at Birmingham's disposal in the best of causes. + + +[In acknowledging the vote of thanks, Mr. Dickens said:-] + + +Ladies and gentlemen, as I hope it is more than possible that I +shall have the pleasure of meeting you again before Christmas is +out, and shall have the great interest of seeing the faces and +touching the bands of the successful competitors in your lists, I +will not cast upon that anticipated meeting the terrible +foreshadowing of dread which must inevitably result from a second +speech. I thank you most heartily, and I most sincerely and +fervently say to you, "Good night, and God bless you." In +reference to the appropriate and excellent remarks of Mr. Dixon, I +will now discharge my conscience of my political creed, which is +contained in two articles, and has no reference to any party or +persons. My faith in the people governing is, on the whole, +infinitesimal; my faith in the People governed is, on the whole, +illimitable. + + + +SPEECH: BIRMINGHAM, JANUARY 6, 1870. + + + +[On the evening of the above date, Mr. Dickens, as President of the +Birmingham and Midland Institute, distributed the prizes and +certificates awarded to the most successful students in the first +year. The proceedings took place in the Town Hall: Mr. Dickens +entered at eight o'clock, accompanied by the officers of the +Institute, and was received with loud applause. After the lapse of +a minute or two, he rose and said:-] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--When I last had the honour to preside over a +meeting of the Institution which again brings us together, I took +occasion to remark upon a certain superabundance of public speaking +which seems to me to distinguish the present time. It will require +very little self-denial on my part to practise now what I preached +then; firstly, because I said my little say that night; and +secondly, because we have definite and highly interesting action +before us to-night. We have now to bestow the rewards which have +been brilliantly won by the most successful competitors in the +society's lists. I say the most successful, because to-night we +should particularly observe, I think, that there is success in all +honest endeavour, and that there is some victory gained in every +gallant struggle that is made. To strive at all involves a victory +achieved over sloth, inertness, and indifference; and competition +for these prizes involves, besides, in the vast majority of cases, +competition with and mastery asserted over circumstances adverse to +the effort made. Therefore, every losing competitor among my +hearers may be certain that he has still won much--very much--and +that he can well afford to swell the triumph of his rivals who have +passed him in the race. + +I have applied the word "rewards" to these prizes, and I do so, not +because they represent any great intrinsic worth in silver or gold, +but precisely because they do not. They represent what is above +all price--what can be stated in no arithmetical figures, and what +is one of the great needs of the human soul--encouraging sympathy. +They are an assurance to every student present or to come in your +institution, that he does not work either neglected or unfriended, +and that he is watched, felt for, stimulated, and appreciated. +Such an assurance, conveyed in the presence of this large assembly, +and striking to the breasts of the recipients that thrill which is +inseparable from any great united utterance of feeling, is a +reward, to my thinking, as purely worthy of the labour as the +labour itself is worthy of the reward; and by a sensitive spirit +can never be forgotten. + +[One of the prize-takers was a Miss Winkle, a name suggestive of +"Pickwick," which was received with laugher. Mr. Dickens made some +remarks to the lady in an undertone; and then observed to the +audience, "I have recommended Miss Winkle to change her name." The +prizes having been distributed, Mr. Dickens made a second brief +speech. He said:-] + +The prizes are now all distributed, and I have discharged myself of +the delightful task you have entrusted to me; and if the recipients +of these prizes and certificates who have come upon this platform +have had the genuine pleasure in receiving their acknowledgments +from my hands that I have had in placing them in theirs, they are +in a true Christian temper to-night. I have the painful sense upon +me, that it is reserved for some one else to enjoy this great +satisfaction of mind next time. It would be useless for the few +short moments longer to disguise the fact that I happen to have +drawn King this Twelfth Night, but that another Sovereign will very +soon sit upon my inconstant throne. To-night I abdicate, or, what +is much the same thing in the modern annals of Royalty--I am +politely dethroned. This melancholy reflection, ladies and +gentlemen, brings me to a very small point, personal to myself, +upon which I will beg your permission to say a closing word. + +When I was here last autumn I made, in reference to some remarks of +your respected member, Mr. Dixon, a short confession of my +political faith--or perhaps I should better say want of faith. It +imported that I have very little confidence in the people who +govern us--please to observe "people" there will be with a small +"p,"--but that I have great confidence in the People whom they +govern; please to observe "people" there with a large "P." This +was shortly and elliptically stated, and was with no evil +intention, I am absolutely sure, in some quarters inversely +explained. Perhaps as the inventor of a certain extravagant +fiction, but one which I do see rather frequently quoted as if +there were grains of truth at the bottom of it--a fiction called +the "Circumlocution Office,"--and perhaps also as the writer of an +idle book or two, whose public opinions are not obscurely stated-- +perhaps in these respects I do not sufficiently bear in mind +Hamlet's caution to speak by the card lest equivocation should undo +me. + +Now I complain of nobody; but simply in order that there may be no +mistake as to what I did mean, and as to what I do mean, I will re- +state my meaning, and I will do so in the words of a great thinker, +a great writer, and a great scholar, {19} whose death, +unfortunately for mankind, cut short his "History of Civilization +in England:"--"They may talk as they will about reforms which +Government has introduced and improvements to be expected from +legislation, but whoever will take a wider and more commanding view +of human affairs, will soon discover that such hopes are +chimerical. They will learn that lawgivers are nearly always the +obstructors of society instead of its helpers, and that in the +extremely few cases where their measures have turned out well their +success has been owing to the fact that, contrary to their usual +custom, they have implicitly obeyed the spirit of their time, and +have been--as they always should be--the mere servants of the +people, to whose wishes they are bound to give a public and legal +sanction." + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, APRIL 6, 1846. {20} + + + +[The first anniversary festival of the General Theatrical Fund +Association was held on the evening of the above date at the London +Tavern. The chair was taken by Mr. Dickens, who thus proposed the +principal toast:] + +Gentlemen,--In offering to you a toast which has not as yet been +publicly drunk in any company, it becomes incumbent on me to offer +a few words in explanation: in the first place, premising that the +toast will be "The General Theatrical Fund." + +The Association, whose anniversary we celebrate to-night, was +founded seven years ago, for the purpose of granting permanent +pensions to such of the corps dramatique as had retired from the +stage, either from a decline in their years or a decay of their +powers. Collected within the scope of its benevolence are all +actors and actresses, singers, or dancers, of five years' standing +in the profession. To relieve their necessities and to protect +them from want is the great end of the Society, and it is good to +know that for seven years the members of it have steadily, +patiently, quietly, and perseveringly pursued this end, advancing +by regular contribution, moneys which many of them could ill +afford, and cheered by no external help or assistance of any kind +whatsoever. It has thus served a regular apprenticeship, but I +trust that we shall establish to-night that its time is out, and +that henceforth the Fund will enter upon a flourishing and +brilliant career. + +I have no doubt that you are all aware that there are, and were +when this institution was founded, two other institutions existing +of a similar nature--Covent Garden and Drury Lane--both of long +standing, both richly endowed. It cannot, however, be too +distinctly understood, that the present Institution is not in any +way adverse to those. How can it be when it is only a wide and +broad extension of all that is most excellent in the principles on +which they are founded? That such an extension was absolutely +necessary was sufficiently proved by the fact that the great body +of the dramatic corps were excluded from the benefits conferred by +a membership of either of these institutions; for it was essential, +in order to become a member of the Drury Lane Society, that the +applicant, either he or she, should have been engaged for three +consecutive seasons as a performer. This was afterwards reduced, +in the case of Covent Garden, to a period of two years, but it +really is as exclusive one way as the other, for I need not tell +you that Covent Garden is now but a vision of the past. You might +play the bottle conjuror with its dramatic company and put them all +into a pint bottle. The human voice is rarely heard within its +walls save in connexion with corn, or the ambidextrous +prestidigitation of the Wizard of the North. In like manner, Drury +Lane is conducted now with almost a sole view to the opera and +ballet, insomuch that the statue of Shakespeare over the door +serves as emphatically to point out his grave as his bust did in +the church of Stratford-upon-Avon. How can the profession +generally hope to qualify for the Drury Lane or Covent Garden +institution, when the oldest and most distinguished members have +been driven from the boards on which they have earned their +reputations, to delight the town in theatres to which the General +Theatrical Fund alone extended? + +I will again repeat that I attach no reproach to those other Funds, +with which I have had the honour of being connected at different +periods of my life. At the time those Associations were +established, an engagement at one of those theatres was almost a +matter of course, and a successful engagement would last a whole +life; but an engagement of two months' duration at Covent Garden +would be a perfect Old Parr of an engagement just now. It should +never be forgotten that when those two funds were established, the +two great theatres were protected by patent, and that at that time +the minor theatres were condemned by law to the representation of +the most preposterous nonsense, and some gentlemen whom I see +around me could no more belong to the minor theatres of that day +than they could now belong to St. Bartholomew fair. + +As I honour the two old funds for the great good which they have +done, so I honour this for the much greater good it is resolved to +do. It is not because I love them less, but because I love this +more--because it includes more in its operation. + +Let us ever remember that there is no class of actors who stand so +much in need of a retiring fund as those who do not win the great +prizes, but who are nevertheless an essential part of the +theatrical system, and by consequence bear a part in contributing +to our pleasures. We owe them a debt which we ought to pay. The +beds of such men are not of roses, but of very artificial flowers +indeed. Their lives are lives of care and privation, and hard +struggles with very stern realities. It is from among the poor +actors who drink wine from goblets, in colour marvellously like +toast and water, and who preside at Barmecide beasts with wonderful +appetites for steaks,--it is from their ranks that the most +triumphant favourites have sprung. And surely, besides this, the +greater the instruction and delight we derive from the rich English +drama, the more we are bound to succour and protect the humblest of +those votaries of the art who add to our instruction and amusement. + +Hazlitt has well said that "There is no class of society whom so +many persons regard with affection as actors. We greet them on the +stage, we like to meet them in the streets; they almost always +recal to us pleasant associations." {21} When they have strutted +and fretted their hour upon the stage, let them not be heard no +more--but let them be heard sometimes to say that they are happy in +their old age. When they have passed for the last time from behind +that glittering row of lights with which we are all familiar, let +them not pass away into gloom and darkness,--but let them pass into +cheerfulness and light--into a contented and happy home. + +This is the object for which we have met; and I am too familiar +with the English character not to know that it will be effected. +When we come suddenly in a crowded street upon the careworn +features of a familiar face--crossing us like the ghost of pleasant +hours long forgotten--let us not recal those features with pain, in +sad remembrance of what they once were, but let us in joy recognise +it, and go back a pace or two to meet it once again, as that of a +friend who has beguiled us of a moment of care, who has taught us +to sympathize with virtuous grief, cheating us to tears for sorrows +not our own--and we all know how pleasant are such tears. Let such +a face be ever remembered as that of our benefactor and our friend. + +I tried to recollect, in coming here, whether I had ever been in +any theatre in my life from which I had not brought away some +pleasant association, however poor the theatre, and I protest, out +of my varied experience, I could not remember even one from which I +had not brought some favourable impression, and that, commencing +with the period when I believed the clown was a being born into the +world with infinite pockets, and ending with that in which I saw +the other night, outside one of the "Royal Saloons," a playbill +which showed me ships completely rigged, carrying men, and +careering over boundless and tempestuous oceans. And now, +bespeaking your kindest remembrance of our theatres and actors, I +beg to propose that you drink as heartily and freely as ever a +toast was drunk in this toast-drinking city "Prosperity to the +General Theatrical Fund." + + + +SPEECH: LEEDS, DECEMBER 1, 1847. + + + +[On the above evening a Soiree of the Leeds Mechanics' Institution +took place, at which about 1200 persons were present. The chair +was taken by Mr. Dickens, who thus addressed the meeting:] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--Believe me, speaking to you with a most +disastrous cold, which makes my own voice sound very strangely in +my ears--that if I were not gratified and honoured beyond +expression by your cordial welcome, I should have considered the +invitation to occupy my present position in this brilliant +assemblage in itself a distinction not easy to be surpassed. The +cause in which we are assembled and the objects we are met to +promote, I take, and always have taken to be, THE cause and THE +objects involving almost all others that are essential to the +welfare and happiness of mankind. And in a celebration like the +present, commemorating the birth and progress of a great +educational establishment, I recognise a something, not limited to +the spectacle of the moment, beautiful and radiant though it be-- +not limited even to the success of the particular establishment in +which we are more immediately interested--but extending from this +place and through swarms of toiling men elsewhere, cheering and +stimulating them in the onward, upward path that lies before us +all. Wherever hammers beat, or wherever factory chimneys smoke, +wherever hands are busy, or the clanking of machinery resounds-- +wherever, in a word, there are masses of industrious human beings +whom their wise Creator did not see fit to constitute all body, but +into each and every one of whom He breathed a mind--there, I would +fain believe, some touch of sympathy and encouragement is felt from +our collective pulse now beating in this Hall. + +Ladies and gentlemen, glancing with such feelings at the report of +your Institution for the present year sent to me by your respected +President--whom I cannot help feeling it, by-the-bye, a kind of +crime to depose, even thus peacefully, and for so short a time--I +say, glancing over this report, I found one statement of fact in +the very opening which gave me an uncommon satisfaction. It is, +that a great number of the members and subscribers are among that +class of persons for whose advantage Mechanics' Institutions were +originated, namely, persons receiving weekly wages. This +circumstance gives me the greatest delight. I am sure that no +better testimony could be borne to the merits and usefulness of +this Institution, and that no better guarantee could be given for +its continued prosperity and advancement. + +To such Associations as this, in their darker hours, there may yet +reappear now and then the spectral shadow of a certain dead and +buried opposition; but before the light of a steady trust in them +on the part of the general people, bearing testimony to the +virtuous influences of such Institutions by their own intelligence +and conduct, the ghost will melt away like early vapour from the +ground. Fear of such Institutions as these! We have heard people +sometimes speak with jealousy of them,--with distrust of them! +Imagine here, on either hand, two great towns like Leeds, full of +busy men, all of them feeling necessarily, and some of them +heavily, the burdens and inequalities inseparable from civilized +society. In this town there is ignorance, dense and dark; in that +town, education--the best of education; that which the grown man +from day to day and year to year furnishes for himself and +maintains for himself, and in right of which his education goes on +all his life, instead of leaving off, complacently, just when he +begins to live in the social system. Now, which of these two towns +has a good man, or a good cause, reason to distrust and dread? +"The educated one," does some timid politician, with a marvellously +weak sight, say (as I have heard such politicians say), "because +knowledge is power, and because it won't do to have too much power +abroad." Why, ladies and gentlemen, reflect whether ignorance be +not power, and a very dreadful power. Look where we will, do we +not find it powerful for every kind of wrong and evil? Powerful to +take its enemies to its heart, and strike its best friends down-- +powerful to fill the prisons, the hospitals, and the graves-- +powerful for blind violence, prejudice, and error, in all their +gloomy and destructive shapes. Whereas the power of knowledge, if +I understand it, is, to bear and forbear; to learn the path of duty +and to tread it; to engender that self-respect which does not stop +at self, but cherishes the best respect for the best objects--to +turn an always enlarging acquaintance with the joys and sorrows, +capabilities and imperfections of our race to daily account in +mildness of life and gentleness of construction and humble efforts +for the improvement, stone by stone, of the whole social fabric. + +I never heard but one tangible position taken against educational +establishments for the people, and that was, that in this or that +instance, or in these or those instances, education for the people +has failed. And I have never traced even this to its source but I +have found that the term education, so employed, meant anything but +education--implied the mere imperfect application of old, ignorant, +preposterous spelling-book lessons to the meanest purposes--as if +you should teach a child that there is no higher end in +electricity, for example, than expressly to strike a mutton-pie out +of the hand of a greedy boy--and on which it is as unreasonable to +found an objection to education in a comprehensive sense, as it +would be to object altogether to the combing of youthful hair, +because in a certain charity school they had a practice of combing +it into the pupils' eyes. + +Now, ladies and gentlemen, I turn to the report of this +Institution, on whose behalf we are met; and I start with the +education given there, and I find that it really is an education +that is deserving of the name. I find that there are papers read +and lectures delivered, on a variety of subjects of interest and +importance. I find that there are evening classes formed for the +acquisition of sound, useful English information, and for the study +of those two important languages, daily becoming more important in +the business of life,--the French and German. I find that there is +a class for drawing, a chemical class, subdivided into the +elementary branch and the manufacturing branch, most important +here. I find that there is a day-school at twelve shillings a +quarter, which small cost, besides including instruction in all +that is useful to the merchant and the man of business, admits to +all the advantages of the parent institution. I find that there is +a School of Design established in connexion with the Government +School; and that there was in January this year, a library of +between six and seven thousand books. Ladies and gentlemen, if any +man would tell me that anything but good could come of such +knowledge as this, all I can say is, that I should consider him a +new and most lamentable proof of the necessity of such +institutions, and should regard him in his own person as a +melancholy instance of what a man may come to by never having +belonged to one or sympathized with one. + +There is one other paragraph in this report which struck my eye in +looking over it, and on which I cannot help offering a word of +joyful notice. It is the steady increase that appears to have +taken place in the number of lady members--among whom I hope I may +presume are included some of the bright fair faces that are +clustered around me. Gentlemen, I hold that it is not good for man +to be alone--even in Mechanics' Institutions; and I rank it as very +far from among the last or least of the merits of such places, that +he need not be alone there, and that he is not. I believe that the +sympathy and society of those who are our best and dearest friends +in infancy, in childhood, in manhood, and in old age, the most +devoted and least selfish natures that we know on earth, who turn +to us always constant and unchanged, when others turn away, should +greet us here, if anywhere, and go on with us side by side. + +I know, gentlemen, by the evidence of my own proper senses at this +moment, that there are charms and graces in such greetings, such as +no other greeting can possess. I know that in every beautiful work +of the Almighty hand, which is illustrated in your lectures, and in +every real or ideal portraiture of fortitude and goodness that you +find in your books, there is something that must bring you home +again to them for its brightest and best example. And therefore, +gentlemen, I hope that you will never be without them, or without +an increasing number of them in your studies and your +commemorations; and that an immense number of new marriages, and +other domestic festivals naturally consequent upon those marriages, +may be traced back from time to time to the Leeds Mechanics' +Institution. + +There are many gentlemen around me, distinguished by their public +position and service, or endeared to you by frequent intercourse, +or by their zealous efforts on behalf of the cause which brings us +together; and to them I shall beg leave to refer you for further +observations on this happy and interesting occasion; begging to +congratulate you finally upon the occasion itself; upon the +prosperity and thriving prospects of your institution; and upon our +common and general good fortune in living in these times, when the +means of mental culture and improvement are presented cheaply, +socially, and cheerfully, and not in dismal cells or lonely +garrets. And lastly, I congratulate myself, I assure you most +heartily, upon the part with which I am honoured on an occasion so +congenial to my warmest feelings and sympathies, and I beg to thank +you for such evidences of your good-will, as I never can coldly +remember and never forget. + + +[In acknowledging the vote of thanks, Mr, Dickens said:-] + + +Ladies and Gentlemen,--It is a great satisfaction to me that this +question has been put by the Mayor, inasmuch as I hope I may +receive it as a token that he has forgiven me those extremely large +letters, which I must say, from the glimpse I caught of them when I +arrived in the town, looked like a leaf from the first primer of a +very promising young giant. + +I will only observe, in reference to the proceeding of this +evening, that after what I have seen, and the excellent speeches I +have heard from gentlemen of so many different callings and +persuasions, meeting here as on neutral ground, I do more strongly +and sincerely believe than I ever have in my life,--and that is +saying a great deal,--that institutions such as this will be the +means of refining and improving that social edifice which has been +so often mentioned to-night, until,--unlike that Babel tower that +would have taken heaven by storm,--it shall end in sweet accord and +harmony amongst all classes of its builders. + +Ladies and gentlemen, most respectfully and heartily I bid you good +night and good-bye, and I trust the next time we meet it will be in +even greater numbers, and in a larger room, and that we often shall +meet again, to recal this evening, then of the past, and remember +it as one of a series of increasing triumphs of your excellent +institution. + + + +SPEECH: GLASGOW, DECEMBER 28, 1847. + + + +[The first Soiree, commemorative of the opening of the Glasgow +Athenaeum took place on the above evening in the City Hall. Mr. +Charles Dickens presided, and made the following speech:] + +Ladies and gentlemen--Let me begin by endeavouring to convey to you +the assurance that not even the warmth of your reception can +possibly exceed, in simple earnestness, the cordiality of the +feeling with which I come amongst you. This beautiful scene and +your generous greeting would naturally awaken, under any +circumstances, no common feeling within me; but when I connect them +with the high purpose of this brilliant assembly--when I regard it +as an educational example and encouragement to the rest of +Scotland--when I regard it no less as a recognition on the part of +everybody here of the right, indisputable and inalienable, of all +those who are actively engaged in the work and business of life to +elevate and improve themselves so far as in them lies, by all good +means--I feel as if I stand here to swear brotherhood to all the +young men in Glasgow;--and I may say to all the young women in +Glasgow; being unfortunately in no position to take any tenderer +vows upon myself--and as if we were pledged from this time +henceforth to make common cause together in one of the most +laudable and worthy of human objects. + +Ladies and gentlemen, a common cause must be made in such a design +as that which brings us together this night; for without it, +nothing can be done, but with it, everything. It is a common cause +of right, God knows; for it is idle to suppose that the advantages +of such an institution as the Glasgow Athenaeum will stop within +its own walls or be confined to its own members. Through all the +society of this great and important city, upwards to the highest +and downwards to the lowest, it must, I know, be felt for good. +Downward in a clearer perception of, and sympathy with, those +social miseries which can be alleviated, and those wide-open doors +to vice and crime that can be shut and barred; and upward in a +greater intelligence, increased efficiency, and higher knowledge, +of all who partake of its benefits themselves, or who communicate, +as all must do, in a greater or less degree, some portion to the +circle of relatives or friends in which they move. + +Nor, ladies and gentlemen, would I say for any man, however high +his social position, or however great his attainments, that he +might not find something to be learnt even from immediate contact +with such institutions. If he only saw the goddess Knowledge +coming out of her secluded palaces and high places to mingle with +the throng, and to give them shining glimpses of the delights which +were long kept hoarded up, he might learn something. If he only +saw the energy and the courage with which those who earn their +daily bread by the labour of their hands or heads, come night after +night, as to a recreation, to that which was, perhaps, the whole +absorbing business of his youth, there might still be something +very wholesome for him to learn. But when he could see in such +places their genial and reviving influences, their substituting of +the contemplation of the beauties of nature and art, and of the +wisdom of great men, for mere sensual enjoyment or stupid idleness- +-at any rate he would learn this--that it is at once the duty and +the interest of all good members of society to encourage and +protect them. + +I took occasion to say at an Athenaeum in Yorkshire a few weeks +since, and I think it a point most important to be borne in mind on +such commemorations as these, that when such societies are objected +to, or are decried on the ground that in the views of the +objectors, education among the people has not succeeded, the term +education is used with not the least reference to its real meaning, +and is wholly misunderstood. Mere reading and writing is not +education; it would be quite as reasonable to call bricks and +mortar architecture--oils and colours art--reeds and cat-gut music- +-or the child's spelling-books the works of Shakespeare, Milton, or +Bacon--as to call the lowest rudiments of education, education, and +to visit on that most abused and slandered word their failure in +any instance; and precisely because they were not education; +because, generally speaking, the word has been understood in that +sense a great deal too long; because education for the business of +life, and for the due cultivation of domestic virtues, is at least +as important from day to day to the grown person as to the child; +because real education, in the strife and contention for a +livelihood, and the consequent necessity incumbent on a great +number of young persons to go into the world when they are very +young, is extremely difficult. It is because of these things that +I look upon mechanics' institutions and athenaeums as vitally +important to the well-being of society. It is because the +rudiments of education may there be turned to good account in the +acquisition of sound principles, and of the great virtues, hope, +faith, and charity, to which all our knowledge tends; it is because +of that, I take it, that you have met in education's name to-night. + +It is a great satisfaction to me to occupy the place I do in behalf +of an infant institution; a remarkably fine child enough, of a +vigorous constitution, but an infant still. I esteem myself +singularly fortunate in knowing it before its prime, in the hope +that I may have the pleasure of remembering in its prime, and when +it has attained to its lusty maturity, that I was a friend of its +youth. It has already passed through some of the disorders to +which children are liable; it succeeded to an elder brother of a +very meritorious character, but of rather a weak constitution, and +which expired when about twelve months old, from, it is said, a +destructive habit of getting up early in the morning: it succeeded +this elder brother, and has fought manfully through a sea of +troubles. Its friends have often been much concerned for it; its +pulse has been exceedingly low, being only 1250, when it was +expected to have been 10,000; several relations and friends have +even gone so far as to walk off once or twice in the melancholy +belief that it was dead. Through all that, assisted by the +indomitable energy of one or two nurses, to whom it can never be +sufficiently grateful, it came triumphantly, and now, of all the +youthful members of its family I ever saw, it has the strongest +attitude, the healthiest look, the brightest and most cheerful air. +I find the institution nobly lodged; I find it with a reading-room, +a coffee-room, and a news-room; I find it with lectures given and +in progress, in sound, useful and well-selected subjects; I find it +with morning and evening classes for mathematics, logic, grammar, +music, French, German, Spanish, and Italian, attended by upwards of +five hundred persons; but, best and first of all and what is to me +more satisfactory than anything else in the history of the +institution, I find that all, this has been mainly achieved by the +young men of Glasgow themselves, with very little assistance. And, +ladies and gentlemen, as the axiom, "Heaven helps those who help +themselves," is truer in no case than it is in this, I look to the +young men of Glasgow, from such a past and such a present, to a +noble future. Everything that has been done in any other +athenaeum, I confidently expect to see done here; and when that +shall be the case, and when there shall be great cheap schools in +connexion with the institution, and when it has bound together for +ever all its friends, and brought over to itself all those who look +upon it as an objectionable institution,--then, and not till then, +I hope the young men of Glasgow will rest from their labours, and +think their study done. + +If the young men of Glasgow want any stimulus or encouragement in +this wise, they have one beside them in the presence of their fair +townswomen, which is irresistible. It is a most delightful +circumstance to me, and one fraught with inestimable benefits to +institutions of this kind, that at a meeting of this nature those +who in all things are our best examples, encouragers, and friends, +are not excluded. The abstract idea of the Graces was in ancient +times associated with those arts which refine the human +understanding; and it is pleasant to see now, in the rolling of the +world, the Graces popularising the practice of those arts by their +example, and adorning it with their presence. + +I am happy to know that in the Glasgow Athenaeum there is a +peculiar bond of union between the institution and the fairest part +of creation. I understand that the necessary addition to the small +library of books being difficult and expensive to make, the ladies +have generally resolved to hold a fancy bazaar, and to devote the +proceeds to this admirable purpose; and I learn with no less +pleasure that her Majesty the Queen, in a graceful and womanly +sense of the excellence of this design, has consented that the +bazaar shall be held under her royal patronage. I can only say, +that if you do not find something very noble in your books after +this, you are much duller students than I take you to be. The +ladies--the single ladies, at least--however disinterested I know +they are by sex and nature, will, I hope, resolve to have some of +the advantages of these books, by never marrying any but members of +the Athenaeum. It seems to me it ought to be the pleasantest +library in the world. + +Hazlitt says, in speaking of some of the graceful fancies of some +familiar writer of fiction, "How long since I first became +acquainted with these characters; what old-fashioned friends they +seem; and yet I am not tired of them like so many other friends, +nor they of me." In this case the books will not only possess all +the attractions of their own friendships and charms, but also the +manifold--I may say womanfold--associations connected with their +donors. I can imagine how, in fact, from these fanciful +associations, some fair Glasgow widow may be taken for the remoter +one whom Sir Roger de Coverley could not forget; I can imagine how +Sophia's muff may be seen and loved, but not by Tom Jones, going +down the High Street on any winter day; or I can imagine the +student finding in every fair form the exact counterpart of the +Glasgow Athenaeum, and taking into consideration the history of +Europe without the consent of Sheriff Alison. I can imagine, in +short, how through all the facts and fictions of this library, +these ladies will be always active, and that + + +"Age will not wither them, nor custom stale +Their infinite variety." + + +It seems to me to be a moral, delightful, and happy chance, that +this meeting has been held at this genial season of the year, when +a new time is, as it were, opening before us, and when we celebrate +the birth of that divine and blessed Teacher, who took the highest +knowledge into the humblest places, and whose great system +comprehended all mankind. I hail it as a most auspicious omen, at +this time of the year, when many scattered friends and families are +re-assembled, for the members of this institution to be calling men +together from all quarters, with a brotherly view to the general +good, and a view to the general improvement; as I consider that +such designs are practically worthy of the faith we hold, and a +practical remembrance of the words, "On earth peace, and good will +toward men." I hope that every year which dawns on your +Institution, will find it richer in its means of usefulness, and +grayer-headed in the honour and respect it has gained. It can +hardly speak for itself more appropriately than in the words of an +English writer, when contemplating the English emblem of this +period of the year, the holly-tree:- + + +[Mr. Dickens concluded by quoting the last three stanzas of +Southey's poem, The Holly Tree. + +In acknowledging a vote of thanks proposed by Sir Archibald (then +Mr.) Alison, Mr. Dickens said:] + + +Ladies and Gentlemen,--I am no stranger--and I say it with the +deepest gratitude--to the warmth of Scottish hearts; but the warmth +of your present welcome almost deprives me of any hope of +acknowledging it. I will not detain you any longer at this late +hour; let it suffice to assure you, that for taking the part with +which I have been honoured in this festival, I have been repaid a +thousand-fold by your abundant kindness, and by the unspeakable +gratification it has afforded me. I hope that, before many years +are past, we may have another meeting in public, when we shall +rejoice at the immense progress your institution will have made in +the meantime, and look back upon this night with new pleasure and +satisfaction. I shall now, in conclusion, repeat most heartily and +fervently the quotation of Dr. Ewing, the late Provost of Glasgow, +which Bailie Nicol Jarvie, himself "a Glasgow body," observed was +"elegantly putten round the town's arms." + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, APRIL 14, 1851. + + + +[The Sixth Annual Dinner of the General Theatrical Fund was held at +the London Tavern on the above date. Mr. Charles Dickens occupied +the chair, and in giving the toast of the evening said:-] + +I have so often had the satisfaction of bearing my testimony, in +this place, to the usefulness of the excellent Institution in whose +behalf we are assembled, that I should be really sensible of the +disadvantage of having now nothing to say in proposing the toast +you all anticipate, if I were not well assured that there is really +nothing which needs be said. I have to appeal to you on the old +grounds, and no ingenuity of mine could render those grounds of +greater weight than they have hitherto successfully proved to you. + +Although the General Theatrical Fund Association, unlike many other +public societies and endowments, is represented by no building, +whether of stone, or brick, or glass, like that astonishing +evidence of the skill and energy of my friend Mr. Paxton, which all +the world is now called upon to admire, and the great merit of +which, as you learn from the best authorities, is, that it ought to +have fallen down long before it was built, and yet that it would by +no means consent to doing so--although, I say, this Association +possesses no architectural home, it is nevertheless as plain a +fact, rests on as solid a foundation, and carries as erect a front, +as any building, in the world. And the best and the utmost that +its exponent and its advocate can do, standing here, is to point it +out to those who gather round it, and to say, "judge for +yourselves." + +It may not, however, be improper for me to suggest to that portion +of the company whose previous acquaintance with it may have been +limited, what it is not. It is not a theatrical association whose +benefits are confined to a small and exclusive body of actors. It +is a society whose claims are always preferred in the name of the +whole histrionic art. It is not a theatrical association adapted +to a state of theatrical things entirely past and gone, and no more +suited to present theatrical requirements than a string of pack- +horses would be suited to the conveyance of traffic between London +and Birmingham. It is not a rich old gentleman, with the gout in +his vitals, brushed and got-up once a year to look as vigorous as +possible, and brought out for a public airing by the few survivors +of a large family of nephews and nieces, who afterwards double-lock +the street-door upon the poor relations. It is not a theatrical +association which insists that no actor can share its bounty who +has not walked so many years on those boards where the English +tongue is never heard--between the little bars of music in an +aviary of singing birds, to which the unwieldy Swan of Avon is +never admitted--that bounty which was gathered in the name and for +the elevation of an all-embracing art. + +No, if there be such things, this thing is not of that kind. This +is a theatrical association, expressly adapted to the wants and to +the means of the whole theatrical profession all over England. It +is a society in which the word exclusiveness is wholly unknown. It +is a society which includes every actor, whether he be Benedict or +Hamlet, or the Ghost, or the Bandit, or the court-physician, or, in +the one person, the whole King's army. He may do the "light +business," or the "heavy," or the comic, or the eccentric. He may +be the captain who courts the young lady, whose uncle still +unaccountably persists in dressing himself in a costume one hundred +years older than his time. Or he may be the young lady's brother +in the white gloves and inexpressibles, whose duty in the family +appears to be to listen to the female members of it whenever they +sing, and to shake hands with everybody between all the verses. Or +he may be the baron who gives the fete, and who sits uneasily on +the sofa under a canopy with the baroness while the fete is going +on. Or he may be the peasant at the fete who comes on the stage to +swell the drinking chorus, and who, it may be observed, always +turns his glass upside down before he begins to drink out of it. +Or he may be the clown who takes away the doorstep of the house +where the evening party is going on. Or he may be the gentleman +who issues out of the house on the false alarm, and is precipitated +into the area. Or, to come to the actresses, she may be the fairy +who resides for ever in a revolving star with an occasional visit +to a bower or a palace. Or the actor may be the armed head of the +witch's cauldron; or even that extraordinary witch, concerning whom +I have observed in country places, that he is much less like the +notion formed from the description of Hopkins than the Malcolm or +Donalbain of the previous scenes. This society, in short, says, +"Be you what you may, be you actor or actress, be your path in your +profession never so high, or never so low, never so haughty, or +never so humble, we offer you the means of doing good to +yourselves, and of doing good to your brethren." + +This society is essentially a provident institution, appealing to a +class of men to take care of their own interests, and giving a +continuous security only in return for a continuous sacrifice and +effort. The actor by the means of this society obtains his own +right, to no man's wrong; and when, in old age, or in disastrous +times, he makes his claim on the institution, he is enabled to say, +"I am neither a beggar, nor a suppliant. I am but reaping what I +sowed long ago." And therefore it is that I cannot hold out to you +that in assisting this fund you are doing an act of charity in the +common acceptation of that phrase. Of all the abuses of that much +abused term, none have more raised my indignation than what I have +heard in this room in past times, in reference to this institution. +I say, if you help this institution you will be helping the wagoner +who has resolutely put his own shoulder to the wheel, and who has +NOT stuck idle in the mud. In giving this aid you will be doing an +act of justice, and you will be performing an act of gratitude; and +this is what I solicit from you; but I will not so far wrong those +who are struggling manfully for their own independence as to +pretend to entreat from you an act of charity. + +I have used the word gratitude; and let any man ask his own heart, +and confess if he have not some grateful acknowledgments for the +actor's art? Not peculiarly because it is a profession often +pursued, and as it were marked, by poverty and misfortune--for +other callings, God knows, have their distresses--nor because the +actor has sometimes to come from scenes of sickness, of suffering, +ay, even of death itself, to play his part before us--for all of +us, in our spheres, have as often to do violence to our feelings +and to hide our hearts in fighting this great battle of life, and +in discharging our duties and responsibilities. But the art of the +actor excites reflections, sombre or grotesque, awful or humorous, +which we are all familiar with. If any man were to tell me that he +denied his acknowledgments to the stage, I would simply put to him +one question--whether he remembered his first play? + +If you, gentlemen, will but carry back your recollection to that +great night, and call to mind the bright and harmless world which +then opened to your view, we shall, I think, hear favourably of the +effect upon your liberality on this occasion from our Secretary. + +This is the sixth year of meetings of this kind--the sixth time we +have had this fine child down after dinner. His nurse, a very +worthy person of the name of Buckstone, who has an excellent +character from several places, will presently report to you that +his chest is perfectly sound, and that his general health is in the +most thriving condition. Long may it be so; long may it thrive and +grow; long may we meet (it is my sincere wish) to exchange our +congratulations on its prosperity; and longer than the line of +Banquo may be that line of figures which, as its patriotic share in +the national debt, a century hence shall be stated by the Governor +and Company of the Bank of England. + + + +SPEECH: THE ROYAL LITERARY FUND. LONDON, MARCH 12, 1856. + + + +[The Corporation of the Royal Literary Fund was established in +1790, its object being to administer assistance to authors of +genius and learning, who may be reduced to distress by unavoidable +calamities, or deprived, by enfeebled faculties or declining life, +of the power of literary exertion. At the annual general meeting +held at the house of the society on the above date, the following +speech was made by Mr. Charles Dickens:] + +Sir,--I shall not attempt to follow my friend Mr. Bell, who, in the +profession of literature, represents upon this committee a separate +and distinct branch of the profession, that, like + + +"The last rose of summer +Stands blooming alone, +While all its companions +Are faded and gone," + + +into the very prickly bramble-bush with which he has ingeniously +contrived to beset this question. In the remarks I have to make I +shall confine myself to four points: --1. That the committee find +themselves in the painful condition of not spending enough money, +and will presently apply themselves to the great reform of spending +more. 2. That with regard to the house, it is a positive matter +of history, that the house for which Mr. Williams was so anxious +was to be applied to uses to which it never has been applied, and +which the administrators of the fund decline to recognise. 3. +That, in Mr. Bell's endeavours to remove the Artists' Fund from the +ground of analogy it unquestionably occupies with reference to this +fund, by reason of their continuing periodical relief to the same +persons, I beg to tell Mr. Bell what every gentleman at that table +knows--that it is the business of this fund to relieve over and +over again the same people. + +MR. BELL: But fresh inquiry is always made first. + +MR. C. DICKENS: I can only oppose to that statement my own +experience when I sat on that committee, and when I have known +persons relieved on many consecutive occasions without further +inquiry being made. As to the suggestion that we should select the +items of expenditure that we complain of, I think it is according +to all experience that we should first affirm the principle that +the expenditure is too large. If that be done by the meeting, then +I will proceed to the selection of the separate items. Now, in +rising to support this resolution, I may state at once that I have +scarcely any expectation of its being carried, and I am happy to +think it will not. Indeed, I consider it the strongest point of +the resolution's case that it should not be carried, because it +will show the determination of the fund's managers. Nothing can +possibly be stronger in favour of the resolution than that the +statement should go forth to the world that twice within twelve +months the attention of the committee has been called to this great +expenditure, and twice the committee have considered that it was +not unreasonable. I cannot conceive a stronger case for the +resolution than this statement of fact as to the expenditure going +forth to the public accompanied by the committee's assertion that +it is reasonable. Now, to separate this question from details, let +us remember what the committee and their supporters asserted last +year, and, I hope, will re-assert this year. It seems to be rather +the model kind of thing than otherwise now that if you get 100 +pounds you are to spend 40 pounds in management; and if you get +1000 pounds, of course you may spend 400 pounds in giving the rest +away. Now, in case there should be any ill-conditioned people here +who may ask what occasion there can be for all this expenditure, I +will give you my experience. I went last year to a highly +respectable place of resort, Willis's Rooms, in St. James's, to a +meeting of this fund. My original intention was to hear all I +could, and say as little as possible. Allowing for the absence of +the younger and fairer portion of the creation, the general +appearance of the place was something like Almack's in the morning. +A number of stately old dowagers sat in a row on one side, and old +gentlemen on the other. The ball was opened with due solemnity by +a real marquis, who walked a minuet with the secretary, at which +the audience were much affected. Then another party advanced, who, +I am sorry to say, was only a member of the House of Commons, and +he took possession of the floor. To him, however, succeeded a +lord, then a bishop, then the son of a distinguished lord, then one +or two celebrities from the City and Stock Exchange, and at last a +gentleman, who made a fortune by the success of "Candide," +sustained the part of Pangloss, and spoke much of what he evidently +believed to be the very best management of this best of all +possible funds. Now it is in this fondness for being stupendously +genteel, and keeping up fine appearances--this vulgar and common +social vice of hanging on to great connexions at any price, that +the money goes. The last time you got a distinguished writer at a +public meeting, and he was called on to address you somewhere +amongst the small hours, he told you he felt like the man in plush +who was permitted to sweep the stage down after all the other +people had gone. If the founder of this society were here, I +should think he would feel like a sort of Rip van Winkle reversed, +who had gone to sleep backwards for a hundred years and woke up to +find his fund still lying under the feet of people who did nothing +for it instead of being emancipated and standing alone long ago. +This Bloomsbury house is another part of the same desire for show, +and the officer who inhabits it. (I mean, of course, in his +official capacity, for, as an individual, I much respect him.) +When one enters the house it appears to be haunted by a series of +mysterious-looking ghosts, who glide about engaged in some +extraordinary occupation, and, after the approved fashion of +ghosts, but seldom condescend to disclose their business. What are +all these meetings and inquiries wanted for? As for the authors, I +say, as a writer by profession, that the long inquiry said to be +necessary to ascertain whether an applicant deserves relief, is a +preposterous pretence, and that working literary men would have a +far better knowledge of the cases coming before the board than can +ever be attained by that committee. Further, I say openly and +plainly, that this fund is pompously and unnaturally administered +at great expense, instead of being quietly administered at small +expense; and that the secrecy to which it lays claim as its +greatest attribute, is not kept; for through those "two respectable +householders," to whom reference must be made, the names of the +most deserving applicants are to numbers of people perfectly well +known. The members have now got before them a plain statement of +fact as to these charges; and it is for them to say whether they +are justifiable, becoming, or decent. I beg most earnestly and +respectfully to put it to those gentlemen who belong to this +institution, that must now decide, and cannot help deciding, what +the Literary Fund is for, and what it is not for. The question +raised by the resolution is whether this is a public corporation +for the relief of men of genius and learning, or whether it is a +snug, traditional, and conventional party, bent upon maintaining +its own usages with a vast amount of pride; upon its own annual +puffery at costly dinner-tables, and upon a course of expensive +toadying to a number of distinguished individuals. This is the +question which you cannot this day escape. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, NOVEMBER 5, 1857. + + + +[At the fourth anniversary dinner of the Warehousemen and Clerks +Schools, which took place on Thursday evening, Nov. 5th, 1857, at +the London Tavern, and was very numerously attended, Mr. Charles +Dickens occupied the chair. On the subject which had brought the +company together Mr. Dickens spoke as follows:-] + +I must now solicit your attention for a few minutes to the cause of +your assembling together--the main and real object of this +evening's gathering; for I suppose we are all agreed that the motto +of these tables is not "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we +die;" but, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we live." It is +because a great and good work is to live to-morrow, and to-morrow, +and to-morrow, and to live a greater and better life with every +succeeding to-morrow, that we eat and drink here at all. +Conspicuous on the card of admission to this dinner is the word +"Schools." This set me thinking this morning what are the sorts of +schools that I don't like. I found them on consideration, to be +rather numerous. I don't like to begin with, and to begin as +charity does at home--I don't like the sort of school to which I +once went myself--the respected proprietor of which was by far the +most ignorant man I have ever had the pleasure to know; one of the +worst-tempered men perhaps that ever lived, whose business it was +to make as much out of us and put as little into us as possible, +and who sold us at a figure which I remember we used to delight to +estimate, as amounting to exactly 2 pounds 4s. 6d. per head. I +don't like that sort of school, because I don't see what business +the master had to be at the top of it instead of the bottom, and +because I never could understand the wholesomeness of the moral +preached by the abject appearance and degraded condition of the +teachers who plainly said to us by their looks every day of their +lives, "Boys, never be learned; whatever you are, above all things +be warned from that in time by our sunken cheeks, by our poor +pimply noses, by our meagre diet, by our acid-beer, and by our +extraordinary suits of clothes, of which no human being can say +whether they are snuff-coloured turned black, or black turned +snuff-coloured, a point upon which we ourselves are perfectly +unable to offer any ray of enlightenment, it is so very long since +they were undarned and new." I do not like that sort of school, +because I have never yet lost my ancient suspicion touching that +curious coincidence that the boy with four brothers to come always +got the prizes. In fact, and short, I do not like that sort of +school, which is a pernicious and abominable humbug, altogether. +Again, ladies and gentlemen, I don't like that sort of school--a +ladies' school--with which the other school used to dance on +Wednesdays, where the young ladies, as I look back upon them now, +seem to me always to have been in new stays and disgrace--the +latter concerning a place of which I know nothing at this day, that +bounds Timbuctoo on the north-east--and where memory always depicts +the youthful enthraller of my first affection as for ever standing +against a wall, in a curious machine of wood, which confined her +innocent feet in the first dancing position, while those arms, +which should have encircled my jacket, those precious arms, I say, +were pinioned behind her by an instrument of torture called a +backboard, fixed in the manner of a double direction post. Again, +I don't like that sort of school, of which we have a notable +example in Kent, which was established ages ago by worthy scholars +and good men long deceased, whose munificent endowments have been +monstrously perverted from their original purpose, and which, in +their distorted condition, are struggled for and fought over with +the most indecent pertinacity. Again, I don't like that sort of +school--and I have seen a great many such in these latter times-- +where the bright childish imagination is utterly discouraged, and +where those bright childish faces, which it is so very good for the +wisest among us to remember in after life--when the world is too +much with us, early and late {22}--are gloomily and grimly scared +out of countenance; where I have never seen among the pupils, +whether boys or girls, anything but little parrots and small +calculating machines. Again, I don't by any means like schools in +leather breeches, and with mortified straw baskets for bonnets, +which file along the streets in long melancholy rows under the +escort of that surprising British monster--a beadle, whose system +of instruction, I am afraid, too often presents that happy union of +sound with sense, of which a very remarkable instance is given in a +grave report of a trustworthy school inspector, to the effect that +a boy in great repute at school for his learning, presented on his +slate, as one of the ten commandments, the perplexing prohibition, +"Thou shalt not commit doldrum." Ladies and gentlemen, I confess, +also, that I don't like those schools, even though the instruction +given in them be gratuitous, where those sweet little voices which +ought to be heard speaking in very different accents, anathematise +by rote any human being who does not hold what is taught there. +Lastly, I do not like, and I did not like some years ago, cheap +distant schools, where neglected children pine from year to year +under an amount of neglect, want, and youthful misery far too sad +even to be glanced at in this cheerful assembly. + +And now, ladies and gentlemen, perhaps you will permit me to sketch +in a few words the sort of school that I do like. It is a school +established by the members of an industrious and useful order, +which supplies the comforts and graces of life at every familiar +turning in the road of our existence; it is a school established by +them for the Orphan and Necessitous Children of their own brethren +and sisterhood; it is a place giving an education worthy of them-- +an education by them invented, by them conducted, by them watched +over; it is a place of education where, while the beautiful history +of the Christian religion is daily taught, and while the life of +that Divine Teacher who Himself took little children on His knees +is daily studied, no sectarian ill-will nor narrow human dogma is +permitted to darken the face of the clear heaven which they +disclose. It is a children's school, which is at the same time no +less a children's home, a home not to be confided to the care of +cold or ignorant strangers, nor, by the nature of its foundation, +in the course of ages to pass into hands that have as much natural +right to deal with it as with the peaks of the highest mountains or +with the depths of the sea, but to be from generation to generation +administered by men living in precisely such homes as those poor +children have lost; by men always bent upon making that +replacement, such a home as their own dear children might find a +happy refuge in if they themselves were taken early away. And I +fearlessly ask you, is this a design which has any claim to your +sympathy? Is this a sort of school which is deserving of your +support? + +This is the design, this is the school, whose strong and simple +claim I have to lay before you to-night. I must particularly +entreat you not to suppose that my fancy and unfortunate habit of +fiction has anything to do with the picture I have just presented +to you. It is sober matter of fact. The Warehousemen and Clerks' +Schools, established for the maintaining, clothing, and educating +of the Orphan and Necessitous Children of those employed in the +wholesale trades and manufactures of the United Kingdom, are, in +fact, what I have just described. These schools for both sexes +were originated only four years ago. In the first six weeks of the +undertaking the young men of themselves and quite unaided, +subscribed the large sum of 3,000 pounds. The schools have been +opened only three years, they have now on their foundation thirty- +nine children, and in a few days they will have six more, making a +total of forty-five. They have been most munificently assisted by +the heads of great mercantile houses, numerously represented, I am +happy to say, around me, and they have a funded capital of almost +14,000 pounds. This is wonderful progress, but the aim must still +be upwards, the motto always "Excelsior." You do not need to be +told that five-and-forty children can form but a very small +proportion of the Orphan and Necessitous Children of those who have +been entrusted with the wholesale trades and manufactures of the +United Kingdom: you do not require to be informed that the house +at New-cross, rented for a small term of years, in which the +schools are at present established, can afford but most imperfect +accommodation for such a breadth of design. To carry this good +work through the two remaining degrees of better and best there +must be more work, more co-operation, more friends, more money. +Then be the friends and give the money. Before I conclude, there +is one other feature in these schools which I would commend to your +special attention and approval. Their benefits are reserved for +the children of subscribers; that is to say, it is an essential +principle of the institution that it must help those whose parents +have helped them, and that the unfortunate children whose father +has been so lax, or so criminal, as to withhold a subscription so +exceedingly small that when divided by weeks it amounts to only +threepence weekly, cannot, in justice, be allowed to jostle out and +shoulder away the happier children, whose father has had that +little forethought, or done that little kindness which was +requisite to secure for them the benefits of the institution. I +really cannot believe that there will long be any such defaulting +parents. I cannot believe that any of the intelligent young men +who are engaged in the wholesale houses will long neglect this +obvious, this easy duty. If they suppose that the objects of their +love, born or unborn, will never want the benefits of the charity, +that may be a fatal and blind mistake--it can never be an excuse, +for, supposing them to be right in their anticipation, they should +do what is asked for the sake of their friends and comrades around +them, assured that they will be the happier and the better for the +deed. + +Ladies and gentlemen, this little "labour of love" of mine is now +done. I most heartily wish that I could charm you now not to see +me, not to think of me, not to hear me--I most heartily wish that I +could make you see in my stead the multitude of innocent and +bereaved children who are looking towards these schools, and +entreating with uplifted hands to be let in. A very famous +advocate once said, in speaking of his fears of failure when he had +first to speak in court, being very poor, that he felt his little +children tugging at his skirts, and that recovered him. Will you +think of the number of little children who are tugging at my +skirts, when I ask you, in their names, on their behalf, and in +their little persons, and in no strength of my own, to encourage +and assist this work? + + +At a later period of the evening Mr. Dickens proposed the health of +the President of the Institution, Lord John Russell. He said he +should do nothing so superfluous and so unnecessary as to descant +upon his lordship's many faithful, long, and great public services, +upon the honour and integrity with which he had pursued his +straightforward public course through every difficulty, or upon the +manly, gallant, and courageous character, which rendered him +certain, in the eyes alike of friends and opponents, to rise with +every rising occasion, and which, like the seal of Solomon, in the +old Arabian story, enclosed in a not very large casket the soul of +a giant. In answer to loud cheers, he said he had felt perfectly +certain, that that would be the response for in no English assembly +that he had ever seen was it necessary to do more than mention the +name of Lord John Russell to ensure a manifestation of personal +respect and grateful remembrance. + + + +SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 8, 1858. + + + +[The forty-eighth Anniversary of the establishment of the Artists' +Benevolent Fund took place on the above date at the Freemasons' +Tavern. The chair was taken by Mr. Charles Dickens, who, after +having disposed of the preliminary toasts with his usual felicity, +proceeded to advocate the claims of the Institution in whose +interest the company had assembled, in the following terms:-] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--There is an absurd theatrical story which +was once told to me by a dear and valued friend, who has now passed +from this sublunary stage, and which is not without its moral as +applied to myself, in my present presidential position. In a +certain theatrical company was included a man, who on occasions of +emergency was capable of taking part in the whole round of the +British drama, provided he was allowed to use his own language in +getting through the dialogue. It happened one night that Reginald, +in the Castle Spectre, was taken ill, and this veteran of a hundred +characters was, of course, called up for the vacant part. He +responded with his usual promptitude, although knowing nothing +whatever of the character, but while they were getting him into the +dress, he expressed a not unreasonable wish to know in some vague +way what the part was about. He was not particular as to details, +but in order that he might properly pourtray his sufferings, he +thought he should have some slight inkling as to what really had +happened to him. As, for example, what murders he had committed, +whose father he was, of what misfortunes he was the victim,--in +short, in a general way to know why he was in that place at all. +They said to him, "Here you are, chained in a dungeon, an unhappy +father; you have been here for seventeen years, during which time +you have never seen your daughter; you have lived upon bread and +water, and, in consequence, are extremely weak, and suffer from +occasional lowness of spirits."--"All right," said the actor of +universal capabilities, "ring up." When he was discovered to the +audience, he presented an extremely miserable appearance, was very +favourably received, and gave every sign of going on well, until, +through some mental confusion as to his instructions, he opened the +business of the act by stating in pathetic terms, that he had been +confined in that dungeon seventeen years, during which time he had +not tasted a morsel of food, to which circumstance he was inclined +to attribute the fact of his being at that moment very much out of +condition. The audience, thinking this statement exceedingly +improbable, declined to receive it, and the weight of that speech +hung round him until the end of his performance. + +Now I, too, have received instructions for the part I have the +honour of performing before you, and it behoves both you and me to +profit by the terrible warning I have detailed, while I endeavour +to make the part I have undertaken as plain and intelligible as I +possibly can. + +As I am going to propose to you that we should now begin to connect +the business with the pleasure of the evening, by drinking +prosperity to the Artists' Benevolent Fund, it becomes important +that we should know what that fund is. It is an Association +supported by the voluntary gifts of those who entertain a critical +and admiring estimation of art, and has for its object the granting +of annuities to the widows and children of deceased artists--of +artists who have been unable in their lives to make any provision +for those dear objects of their love surviving themselves. Now it +is extremely important to observe that this institution of an +Artists' Benevolent Fund, which I now call on you to pledge, has +connected with it, and has arisen out of another artists' +association, which does not ask you for a health, which never did, +and never will ask you for a health, which is self-supporting, and +which is entirely maintained by the prudence and providence of its +three hundred artist members. That fund, which is called the +Artists' Annuity Fund, is, so to speak, a joint and mutual +Assurance Company against infirmity, sickness, and age. To the +benefits it affords every one of its members has an absolute right, +a right, be it remembered, produced by timely thrift and self- +denial, and not assisted by appeals to the charity or compassion of +any human being. On that fund there are, if I remember a right, +some seventeen annuitants who are in the receipt of eleven hundred +a-year, the proceeds of their own self-supporting Institution. In +recommending to you this benevolent fund, which is not self- +supporting, they address you, in effect, in these words:- "We ask +you to help these widows and orphans, because we show you we have +first helped ourselves. These widows and orphans may be ours or +they may not be ours; but in any case we will prove to you to a +certainty that we are not so many wagoners calling upon Jupiter to +do our work, because we do our own work; each has his shoulder to +the wheel; each, from year to year, has had his shoulder set to the +wheel, and the prayer we make to Jupiter and all the gods is simply +this--that this fact may be remembered when the wagon has stopped +for ever, and the spent and worn-out wagoner lies lifeless by the +roadside. + +"Ladies and Gentlemen, I most particularly wish to impress on you +the strength of this appeal. I am a painter, a sculptor, or an +engraver, of average success. I study and work here for no immense +return, while life and health, while hand and eye are mine. I +prudently belong to the Annuity Fund, which in sickness, old age, +and infirmity, preserves me from want. I do my duty to those who +are depending on me while life remains; but when the grass grows +above my grave there is no provision for them any longer." + +This is the case with the Artists' Benevolent Fund, and in stating +this I am only the mouthpiece of three hundred of the trade, who in +truth stands as independent before you as if they were three +hundred Cockers all regulated by the Gospel according to +themselves. There are in existence three artists' funds, which +ought never to be mentioned without respect. I am an officer of +one of them, and can speak from knowledge; but on this occasion I +address myself to a case for which there is no provision. I +address you on behalf of those professors of the fine arts who have +made provision during life, and in submitting to you their claims I +am only advocating principles which I myself have always +maintained. + +When I add that this Benevolent Fund makes no pretensions to +gentility, squanders no treasure in keeping up appearances, that it +considers that the money given for the widow and the orphan, should +really be held for the widow and the orphan, I think I have +exhausted the case, which I desire most strenuously to commend to +you. + +Perhaps you will allow me to say one last word. I will not consent +to present to you the professors of Art as a set of helpless +babies, who are to be held up by the chin; I present them as an +energetic and persevering class of men, whose incomes depend on +their own faculties and personal exertions; and I also make so bold +as to present them as men who in their vocation render good service +to the community. I am strongly disposed to believe there are very +few debates in Parliament so important to the public welfare as a +really good picture. I have also a notion that any number of +bundles of the driest legal chaff that ever was chopped would be +cheaply expended for one really meritorious engraving. At a highly +interesting annual festival at which I have the honour to assist, +and which takes place behind two fountains, I sometimes observe +that great ministers of state and other such exalted characters +have a strange delight in rather ostentatiously declaring that they +have no knowledge whatever of art, and particularly of impressing +on the company that they have passed their lives in severe studies. +It strikes me when I hear these things as if these great men looked +upon the arts as a sort of dancing dogs, or Punch's show, to be +turned to for amusement when one has nothing else to do. Now I +always take the opportunity on these occasions of entertaining my +humble opinion that all this is complete "bosh;" and of asserting +to myself my strong belief that the neighbourhoods of Trafalgar +Square, or Suffolk Street, rightly understood, are quite as +important to the welfare of the empire as those of Downing Street, +or Westminster Hall. Ladies and Gentlemen, on these grounds, and +backed by the recommendation of three hundred artists in favour of +the Benevolent Fund, I beg to propose its prosperity as a toast for +your adoption. + + + +SPEECH: THE FAREWELL READING. ST. JAMES'S HALL, MARCH 15, 1870. + + + +[With the "Christmas Carol" and "The Trial from Pickwick," Mr. +Charles Dickens brought to a brilliant close the memorable series +of public readings which have for sixteen years proved to audiences +unexampled in numbers, the source of the highest intellectual +enjoyment. Every portion of available space in the building was, +of course, last night occupied some time before the appointed hour; +but could the St. James's Hall have been specially enlarged for the +occasion to the dimensions of Salisbury Plain, it is doubtful +whether sufficient room would even then have been provided for all +anxious to seize the last chance of hearing the distinguished +novelist give his own interpretation of the characters called into +existence by his own creative pen. As if determined to convince +his auditors that, whatever reason had influenced his +determination, physical exhaustion was not amongst them, Mr. +Dickens never read with greater spirit and energy. His voice to +the last retained its distinctive clearness, and the transitions of +tone, as each personage in the story, conjured up by a word, rose +vividly before the eye, seemed to be more marvellous than ever. +The vast assemblage, hushed into breathless attention, suffered not +a syllable to escape the ear, and the rich humour and deep pathos +of one of the most delightful books ever written found once again +the fullest appreciation. The usual burst of merriment responsive +to the blithe description of Bob Cratchit's Christmas day, and the +wonted sympathy with the crippled child "Tiny Tim," found prompt +expression, and the general delight at hearing of Ebenezer +Scrooge's reformation was only checked by the saddening remembrance +that with it the last strain of the "carol" was dying away. After +the "Trial from Pickwick," in which the speeches of the opposing +counsel, and the owlish gravity of the judge, seemed to be +delivered and depicted with greater dramatic power than ever, the +applause of the audience rang for several minutes through the hall, +and when it had subsided, Mr. Dickens, with evidently strong +emotion, but in his usual distinct and expressive manner, spoke as +follows:-] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--It would be worse than idle--for it would be +hypocritical and unfeeling--if I were to disguise that I close this +episode in my life with feelings of very considerable pain. For +some fifteen years, in this hall and in many kindred places, I have +had the honour of presenting my own cherished ideas before you for +your recognition, and, in closely observing your reception of them, +have enjoyed an amount of artistic delight and instruction which, +perhaps, is given to few men to know. In this task, and in every +other I have ever undertaken, as a faithful servant of the public, +always imbued with a sense of duty to them, and always striving to +do his best, I have been uniformly cheered by the readiest +response, the most generous sympathy, and the most stimulating +support. Nevertheless, I have thought it well, at the full flood- +tide of your favour, to retire upon those older associations +between us, which date from much further back than these, and +henceforth to devote myself exclusively to the art that first +brought us together. Ladies and gentlemen, in but two short weeks +from this time I hope that you may enter, in your own homes, on a +new series of readings, at which my assistance will be +indispensable; {23} but from these garish lights I vanish now for +evermore, with a heartfelt, grateful, respectful, and affectionate +farewell. + +[Amidst repeated acclamations of the most enthusiastic description, +whilst hats and handkerchiefs were waving in every part of the +hall, Mr. Charles Dickens retired, withdrawing with him one of the +greatest intellectual treats the public ever enjoyed.] + + + +SPEECH: THE NEWSVENDORS' INSTITUTION, LONDON, APRIL 5, 1870. + + + +[The annual dinner in aid of the funds of the Newsvendors' +Benevolent and Provident Institution was held on the above evening, +at the Freemason's Tavern. Mr. Charles Dickens presided, and was +supported by the Sheriffs of the City of London and Middlesex. + +After the usual toasts had been given and responded to, + +The Chairman said that if the approved order of their proceedings +had been observed, the Corporation of the City of London would no +doubt have considered themselves snubbed if they were not toasted +by themselves. He was sure that a distinguished member of the +Corporation who was present would tell the company what the +Corporation were going to do; and he had not the slightest doubt +they were going to do something highly creditable to themselves, +and something highly serviceable to the whole metropolis; and if +the secret were not at present locked up in the blue chamber, they +would be all deeply obliged to the gentleman who would immediately +follow him, if he let them into it in the same confidence as he had +observed with respect to the Corporation of the City of London +being snubbed. He begged to give the toast of "The Corporation of +the City of London." + +Mr. Alderman Cotton, in replying to the toast, said for once, and +once only, had their chairman said an unkind word about the +Corporation of London. He had always reckoned Mr. Dickens to be +one of the warmest friends of the Corporation; and remembering that +he (Mr. Dickens) did really go through a Lord Mayor's Show in a +Lord Mayor's carriage, if he had not felt himself quite a Lord +Mayor, he must have at least considered himself next to one. + +In proposing the toast of the evening Mr, Dickens said:-] + +Ladies and gentlemen,--You receive me with so much cordiality that +I fear you believe that I really did once sit in a Lord Mayor's +state coach. Permit me to assure you, in spite of the information +received from Mr. Alderman Cotton, that I never had that honour. +Furthermore, I beg to assure you that I never witnessed a Lord +Mayor's show except from the point of view obtained by the other +vagabonds upon the pavement. Now, ladies and gentlemen, in spite +of this great cordiality of yours, I doubt if you fully know yet +what a blessing it is to you that I occupy this chair to-night, +because, having filled it on several previous occasions for the +society on whose behalf we are assembled, and having said +everything that I could think of to say about it, and being, +moreover, the president of the institution itself, I am placed to- +night in the modest position of a host who is not so much to +display himself as to call out his guests--perhaps even to try to +induce some among them to occupy his place on another occasion. +And, therefore, you may be safely sure that, like Falstaff, but +with a modification almost as large as himself, I shall try rather +to be the cause of speaking in others than to speak myself to- +night. Much in this manner they exhibit at the door of a snuff +shop the effigy of a Highlander with an empty mull in his hand, +who, having apparently taken all the snuff he can carry, and +discharged all the sneezes of which he is capable, politely invites +his friends and patrons to step in and try what they can do in the +same line. + +It is an appropriate instance of the universality of the newsman's +calling that no toast we have drunk to-night--and no toast we shall +drink to-night--and no toast we might, could, should, or would +drink to-night, is separable for a moment from that great inclusion +of all possible subjects of human interest which he delivers at our +doors every day. Further, it may be worthy the consideration of +everybody here who has talked cheerfully to his or her neighbour +since we have sat down at the table, what in the name of Heaven +should we have talked about, and how on earth could we have +possibly got on, if our newsman had only for one single day +forgotten us. Now, ladies and gentlemen, as our newsman is not by +any means in the habit of forgetting us, let us try to form a +little habit of not forgetting our newsman. Let us remember that +his work is very arduous; that it occupies him early and late; that +the profits he derives from us are at the best very small; that the +services he renders to us are very great; that if he be a master, +his little capital is exposed to all sorts of mischances, +anxieties, and hazards; and if he be a journeyman, he himself is +exposed to all manner of weathers, of tempers, and of difficult and +unreasonable requirements. + +Let me illustrate this. I was once present at a social discussion, +which originated by chance. The subject was, What was the most +absorbing and longest-lived passion in the human breast? What was +the passion so powerful that it would almost induce the generous to +be mean, the careless to be cautious, the guileless to be deeply +designing, and the dove to emulate the serpent? A daily editor of +vast experience and great acuteness, who was one of the company, +considerably surprised us by saying with the greatest confidence +that the passion in question was the passion of getting orders for +the play. + +There had recently been a terrible shipwreck, and very few of the +surviving sailors had escaped in an open boat. One of these on +making land came straight to London, and straight to the newspaper +office, with his story of how he had seen the ship go down before +his eyes. That young man had witnessed the most terrible +contention between the powers of fire and water for the destruction +of that ship and of every one on board. He had rowed away among +the floating, dying, and the sinking dead. He had floated by day, +and he had frozen by night, with no shelter and no food, and, as he +told his dismal tale, he rolled his haggard eyes about the room. +When he had finished, and the tale had been noted down from his +lips, he was cheered and refreshed, and soothed, and asked if +anything could be done for him. Even within him that master +passion was so strong that he immediately replied he should like an +order for the play. My friend the editor certainly thought that +was rather a strong case; but he said that during his many years of +experience he had witnessed an incurable amount of self-prostration +and abasement having no outer object, and that almost invariably on +the part of people who could well afford to pay. + +This made a great impression on my mind, and I really lived in this +faith until some years ago it happened upon a stormy night I was +kindly escorted from a bleak railway station to the little out-of- +the-way town it represented by a sprightly and vivacious newsman, +to whom I propounded, as we went along under my umbrella--he being +most excellent company--this old question, what was the one all- +absorbing passion of the human soul? He replied, without the +slightest hesitation, that it certainly was the passion for getting +your newspaper in advance of your fellow-creatures; also, if you +only hired it, to get it delivered at your own door at exactly the +same time as another man who hired the same copy four miles off; +and, finally, the invincible determination on the part of both men +not to believe the time was up when the boy called. + +Ladies and gentlemen, I have not had an opportunity of verifying +this experience with my friends of the managing committee, but I +have no doubt from its reception to-night that my friend the +newsman was perfectly right. Well, as a sort of beacon in a +sufficiently dark life, and as an assurance that among a little +body of working men there is a feeling of brotherhood and sympathy- +-which is worth much to all men, or they would herd with wolves-- +the newsvendors once upon a time established the Benevolent and +Provident Institution, and here it is. Under the Provident head, +certain small annuities are granted to old and hard-working +subscribers. Under the Benevolent head, relief is afforded to +temporary and proved distress. Under both heads, I am bound to say +the help rendered is very humble and very sparing, but if you like +it to be handsomer you have it in your power to make it so. Such +as it is, it is most gratefully received, and does a deal of good. +Such as it is, it is most discreetly and feelingly administered; +and it is encumbered with no wasteful charges for management or +patronage. + +You know upon an old authority, that you may believe anything +except facts and figures, but you really may believe that during +the last year we have granted 100 pounds in pensions, and some 70 +pounds in temporary relief, and we have invested in Government +securities some 400 pounds. But, touching this matter of +investments, it was suggested at the anniversary dinner, on the +high and kind authority of Sir Benjamin Phillips that we might +grant more pensions and invest less money. We urged, on the other +hand, that we wished our pensions to be certain and unchangeable-- +which of course they must be if they are always paid out of our +Government interest and never out of our capital. However, so +amiable is our nature, that we profess our desire to grant more +pensions and to invest more money too. The more you give us to- +night again, so amiable is our nature, the more we promise to do in +both departments. That the newsman's work has greatly increased, +and that it is far more wearing and tearing than it used to be, you +may infer from one fact, not to mention that we live in railway +times. It is stated in Mitchell's "Newspaper Press Directory," +that during the last quarter of a century the number of newspapers +which appeared in London had more than doubled, while the increase +in the number of people among whom they were disseminated was +probably beyond calculation. + +Ladies and gentlemen, I have stated the newsman's simple case. I +leave it in your hands. Within the last year the institution has +had the good fortune to attract the sympathy and gain the support +of the eminent man of letters I am proud to call my friend, {24} +who now represents the great Republic of America at the British +Court. Also it has the honour of enrolling upon its list of donors +and vice-presidents the great name of Longfellow. I beg to propose +to you to drink "Prosperity to the Newsvendors' Benevolent and +Provident Institution." + + + +SPEECH: MACREADY. LONDON, MARCH 1, 1851. + + + +[On the evening of the above day the friends and admirers of Mr. +Macready entertained him at a public dinner. Upwards of six +hundred gentlemen assembled to do honour to the great actor on his +retirement from the stage. Sir E. B. Lytton took the chair. Among +the other speakers were Baron Bunsen, Sir Charles Eastlake, Mr. +Thackeray, Mr. John Forster, Mr. W. J. Fox, and Mr. Charles +Dickens, who proposed "The Health of the Chairman" in the following +words:-] + +Gentlemen,--After all you have already heard, and so rapturously +received, I assure you that not even the warmth of your kind +welcome would embolden me to hope to interest you if I had not full +confidence in the subject I have to offer to your notice. But my +reliance on the strength of this appeal to you is so strong that I +am rather encouraged than daunted by the brightness of the track on +which I have to throw my little shadow. + +Gentlemen, as it seems to me, there are three great requisites +essential to the perfect realisation of a scene so unusual and so +splendid as that in which we are now assembled. The first, and I +must say very difficult requisite, is a man possessing the +stronghold in the general remembrance, the indisputable claim on +the general regard and esteem, which is possessed by my dear and +much valued friend our guest. The second requisite is the presence +of a body of entertainers,--a great multitude of hosts so cheerful +and good-humoured (under, I am sorry to say, some personal +inconvenience),--so warm-hearted and so nobly in earnest, as those +whom I have the privilege of addressing. The third, and certainly +not the least of these requisites, is a president who, less by his +social position, which he may claim by inheritance, or by fortune, +which may have been adventitiously won, and may be again +accidentally lost, than by his comprehensive genius, shall fitly +represent the best part of him to whom honour is done, and the best +part of those who unite in the doing of it. Such a president I +think we have found in our chairman of to-night, and I need +scarcely add that our chairman's health is the toast I have to +propose to you. + +Many of those who now hear me were present, I daresay, at that +memorable scene on Wednesday night last, {25} when the great vision +which had been a delight and a lesson,--very often, I daresay, a +support and a comfort to you, which had for many years improved and +charmed us, and to which we had looked for an elevated relief from +the labours of our lives, faded from our sight for ever. I will +not stop to inquire whether our guest may or may not have looked +backward, through rather too long a period for us, to some remote +and distant time when he might possibly bear some far-off likeness +to a certain Spanish archbishop whom Gil Blas once served. Nor +will I stop to inquire whether it was a reasonable disposition in +the audience of Wednesday to seize upon the words - + + +"And I have brought, +Golden opinions from all sorts of people, +Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, +Not cast aside so soon--" {26} + + +but I will venture to intimate to those whom I am addressing how in +my mind I mainly connect that occasion with the present. When I +looked round on the vast assemblage, and observed the huge pit +hushed into stillness on the rising of the curtain, and that mighty +surging gallery, where men in their shirt-sleeves had been striking +out their arms like strong swimmers--when I saw that. boisterous +human flood become still water in a moment, and remain so from the +opening to the end of the play, it suggested to me something +besides the trustworthiness of an English crowd, and the delusion +under which those labour who are apt to disparage and malign it: +it suggested to me that in meeting here to-night we undertook to +represent something of the all-pervading feeling of that crowd, +through all its intermediate degrees, from the full-dressed lady, +with her diamonds sparkling upon her breast in the proscenium-box, +to the half-undressed gentleman; who bides his time to take some +refreshment in the back row of the gallery. And I consider, +gentlemen, that no one who could possibly be placed in this chair +could so well head that comprehensive representation, and could so +well give the crowning grace to our festivities, as one whose +comprehensive genius has in his various works embraced them all, +and who has, in his dramatic genius, enchanted and enthralled them +all at once. + +Gentlemen, it is not for me here to recall, after what you have +heard this night, what I have seen and known in the bygone times of +Mr. Macready's management, of the strong friendship of Sir Bulwer +Lytton for him, of the association of his pen with his earliest +successes, or of Mr. Macready's zealous and untiring services; but +it may be permitted me to say what, in any public mention of him I +can never repress, that in the path we both tread I have uniformly +found him from the first the most generous of men; quick to +encourage, slow to disparage, ever anxious to assert the order of +which he is so great an ornament; never condescending to shuffle it +off, and leave it outside state rooms, as a Mussulman might leave +his slippers outside a mosque. + +There is a popular prejudice, a kind of superstition to the effect +that authors are not a particularly united body, that they are not +invariably and inseparably attached to each other. I am afraid I +must concede half-a-grain or so of truth I to that superstition; +but this I know, that there can hardly be--that there hardly can +have been--among the followers of literature, a man of more high +standing farther above these little grudging jealousies, which do +sometimes disparage its brightness, than Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton. + +And I have the strongest reason just at present to bear my +testimony to his great consideration for those evils which are +sometimes unfortunately attendant upon it, though not on him. For, +in conjunction with some other gentlemen now present, I have just +embarked in a design with Sir Bulwer Lytton, to smoothe the rugged +way of young labourers, both in literature and the fine arts, and +to soften, but by no eleemosynary means, the declining years of +meritorious age. And if that project prosper as I hope it will, +and as I know it ought, it will one day be an honour to England +where there is now a reproach; originating in his sympathies, being +brought into operation by his activity, and endowed from its very +cradle by his generosity. There are many among you who will have +each his own favourite reason for drinking our chairman's health, +resting his claim probably upon some of his diversified successes. +According to the nature of your reading, some of you will connect +him with prose, others will connect him with poetry. One will +connect him with comedy, and another with the romantic passions of +the stage, and his assertion of worthy ambition and earnest +struggle against those + + +"twin gaolers of the human heart, +Low birth and iron fortune." + + +Again, another's taste will lead him to the contemplation of Rienzi +and the streets of Rome; another's to the rebuilt and repeopled +streets of Pompeii; another's to the touching history of the +fireside where the Caxton family learned how to discipline their +natures and tame their wild hopes down. But, however various their +feelings and reasons may be, I am sure that with one accord each +will help the other, and all will swell the greeting, with which I +shall now propose to you "The Health of our Chairman, Sir Edward +Bulwer Lytton." + + + +SPEECH: SANITARY REFORM. LONDON, MAY 10, 1851. + + + +[The members and friends of the Metropolitan Sanitary Association +dined together on the above evening at Gore House, Kensington. The +Earl of Carlisle occupied the chair. Mr. Charles Dickens was +present, and in proposing "The Board of Health," made the following +speech:-] + +There are very few words for me to say upon the needfulness of +sanitary reform, or the consequent usefulness of the Board of +Health. That no man can estimate the amount of mischief grown in +dirt,--that no man can say the evil stops here or stops there, +either in its moral or physical effects, or can deny that it begins +in the cradle and is not at rest in the miserable grave, is as +certain as it is that the air from Gin Lane will be carried by an +easterly wind into Mayfair, or that the furious pestilence raging +in St. Giles's no mortal list of lady patronesses can keep out of +Almack's. Fifteen years ago some of the valuable reports of Mr. +Chadwick and Dr. Southwood Smith, strengthening and much enlarging +my knowledge, made me earnest in this cause in my own sphere; and I +can honestly declare that the use I have since that time made of my +eyes and nose have only strengthened the conviction that certain +sanitary reforms must precede all other social remedies, and that +neither education nor religion can do anything useful until the way +has been paved for their ministrations by cleanliness and decency. + +I do not want authority for this opinion: you have heard the +speech of the right reverend prelate {27} this evening--a speech +which no sanitary reformer can have heard without emotion. Of what +avail is it to send missionaries to the miserable man condemned to +work in a foetid court, with every sense bestowed upon him for his +health and happiness turned into a torment, with every month of his +life adding to the heap of evils under which he is condemned to +exist? What human sympathy within him is that instructor to +address? what natural old chord within him is he to touch? Is it +the remembrance of his children?--a memory of destitution, of +sickness, of fever, and of scrofula? Is it his hopes, his latent +hopes of immortality? He is so surrounded by and embedded in +material filth, that his soul cannot rise to the contemplation of +the great truths of religion. Or if the case is that of a +miserable child bred and nurtured in some noisome, loathsome place, +and tempted, in these better days, into the ragged school, what can +a few hours' teaching effect against the ever-renewed lesson of a +whole existence? But give them a glimpse of heaven through a +little of its light and air; give them water; help them to be +clean; lighten that heavy atmosphere in which their spirits flag +and in which they become the callous things they are; take the body +of the dead relative from the close room in which the living live +with it, and where death, being familiar, loses its awe; and then +they will be brought willingly to hear of Him whose thoughts were +so much with the poor, and who had compassion for all human +suffering. + +The toast which I have to propose, The Board of Health, is entitled +to all the honour which can be conferred upon it. We have very +near us, in Kensington, a transparent illustration that no very +great thing can ever be accomplished without an immense amount of +abuse being heaped upon it. In connexion with the Board of Health +we are always hearing a very large word which is always pronounced +with a very great relish--the word centralization. Now I submit +that in the time of the cholera we had a pretty good opportunity of +judging between this so called centralization and what I may, I +think, call "vestrylisation." I dare say the company present have +read the reports of the Cholera Board of Health, and I daresay they +have also read reports of certain vestries. I have the honour of +belonging to a constituency which elected that amazing body, the +Marylebone vestry, and I think that if the company present will +look to what was done by the Board of Health at Glasgow, and then +contrast those proceedings with the wonderful cleverness with which +affairs were managed at the same period by my vestry, there will be +very little difficulty in judging between them. My vestry even +took upon itself to deny the existence of cholera as a weak +invention of the enemy, and that denial had little or no effect in +staying the progress of the disease. We can now contrast what +centralization is as represented by a few noisy and interested +gentlemen, and what centralization is when worked out by a body +combining business habits, sound medical and social knowledge, and +an earnest sympathy with the sufferings of the working classes. + +Another objection to the Board of Health is conveyed in a word not +so large as the other,--"Delay." I would suggest, in respect to +this, that it would be very unreasonable to complain that a first- +rate chronometer didn't go when its master had not wound it up. +The Board of Health may be excellently adapted for going and very +willing and anxious to go, and yet may not be permitted to go by +reason of its lawful master having fallen into a gentle slumber and +forgotten to set it a going. One of the speakers this evening has +referred to Lord Castlereagh's caution "not to halloo until they +were out of the wood." As regards the Board of Trade I would +suggest that they ought not to halloo until they are out of the +Woods and Forests. In that leafy region the Board of Health +suffers all sorts of delays, and this should always be borne in +mind. With the toast of the Board of Health I will couple the name +of a noble lord (Ashley), of whose earnestness in works of +benevolence, no man can doubt, and who has the courage on all +occasions to face the cant which is the worst and commonest of all- +-the cant about the cant of philanthropy. + + + +SPEECH: GARDENING. LONDON, JUNE 9, 1851. + + + +[At the anniversary dinner of the Gardeners' Benevolent +Institution, held under the presidency of Mr., afterwards Sir +Joseph Paxton, Mr. Charles Dickens made the following speech:-] + +I feel an unbounded and delightful interest in all the purposes and +associations of gardening. Probably there is no feeling in the +human mind stronger than the love of gardening. The prisoner will +make a garden in his prison, and cultivate his solitary flower in +the chink of a wall. The poor mechanic will string his scarlet +bean from one side of his window to the other, and watch it and +tend it with unceasing interest. It is a holy duty in foreign +countries to decorate the graves of the dead with flowers, and +here, too, the resting-places of those who have passed away from us +will soon be gardens. From that old time when the Lord walked in +the garden in the cool of the evening, down to the day when a Poet- +Laureate sang - + + +"Trust me, Clara Vere de Vere, +From yon blue heaven above us bent +The gardener Adam and his wife +Smile at the claims of long descent," + + +at all times and in all ages gardens have been amongst the objects +of the greatest interest to mankind. There may be a few, but I +believe they are but a few, who take no interest in the products of +gardening, except perhaps in "London Pride," or a certain +degenerate kind of "Stock," which is apt to grow hereabouts, +cultivated by a species of frozen-out gardeners whom no thaw can +ever penetrate: except these, the gardeners' art has contributed +to the delight of all men in their time. That there ought to be a +Benevolent Provident Institution for gardeners is in the fitness of +things, and that such an institution ought to flourish and does +flourish is still more so. + +I have risen to propose to you the health of a gentleman who is a +great gardener, and not only a great gardener but a great man--the +growth of a fine Saxon root cultivated up with a power of intellect +to a plant that is at this time the talk of the civilized world--I +allude, of course, to my friend the chairman of the day. I took +occasion to say at a public assembly hard-by, a month or two ago, +in speaking of that wonderful building Mr. Paxton has designed for +the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, that it ought to have fallen +down, but that it refused to do so. We were told that the glass +ought to have been all broken, the gutters all choked up, and the +building flooded, and that the roof and sides ought to have been +blown away; in short that everything ought to have done what +everything obstinately persisted in not doing. Earth, air, fire, +and water all appear to have conspired together in Mr. Paxton's +favour--all have conspired together to one result, which, when the +present generation is dust, will be an enduring temple to his +honour, and to the energy, the talent, and the resources of +Englishmen. + +"But," said a gentleman to me the other day, "no doubt Mr. Paxton +is a great man, but there is one objection to him that you can +never get over, that is, he is a gardener." Now that is our case +to-night, that he is a gardener, and we are extremely proud of it. +This is a great age, with all its faults, when a man by the power +of his own genius and good sense can scale such a daring height as +Mr. Paxton has reached, and composedly place his form on the top. +This is a great age, when a man impressed with a useful idea can +carry out his project without being imprisoned, or thumb-screwed, +or persecuted in any form. I can well understand that you, to whom +the genius, the intelligence, the industry, and the achievements of +our friend are well known, should be anxious to do him honour by +placing him in the position he occupies to-night; and I assure you, +you have conferred great gratification on one of his friends, in +permitting him to have the opportunity of proposing his health, +which that friend now does most cordially and with all the honours. + + + +SPEECH: THE ROYAL ACADEMY DINNER. LONDON, MAY 2, 1870. + + + +[On the occasion of the Second Exhibition of the Royal Academy in +their new galleries in Piccadilly, the President, Sir F. Grant, and +the council gave their usual inaugurative banquet, and a very +distinguished company was present. The dinner took place in the +large central room, and covers were laid for 200 guests. The +Prince of Wales acknowledged the toast of his health and that of +the Princess, the Duke of Cambridge responded to the toast of the +army, Mr. Childers to the navy, Lord Elcho to the volunteers, Mr. +Motley to "The Prosperity of the United States," Mr. Gladstone to +"Her Majesty's Ministers," the Archbishop of York to, "The Guests," +and Mr. Dickens to "Literature." The last toast having been +proposed in a highly eulogistic speech, Mr. Dickens responded.] + +Mr. President, your Royal Highnesses, my Lords and Gentlemen,--I +beg to acknowledge the toast with which you have done me the great +honour of associating my name. I beg to acknowledge it on behalf +of the brotherhood of literature, present and absent, not +forgetting an illustrious wanderer from the fold, whose tardy +return to it we all hail with delight, and who now sits--or lately +did sit--within a few chairs of or on your left hand. I hope I may +also claim to acknowledge the toast on behalf of the sisterhood of +literature also, although that "better half of human nature," to +which Mr. Gladstone rendered his graceful tribute, is unworthily +represented here, in the present state of its rights and wrongs, by +the devouring monster, man. + +All the arts, and many of the sciences, bear witness that women, +even in their present oppressed condition, can attain to quite as +great distinction, and can attain to quite as lofty names as men. +Their emancipation (as I am given to understand) drawing very near, +there is no saying how soon they may "push us from our stools" at +these tables, or how soon our better half of human nature, standing +in this place of mine, may eloquently depreciate mankind, +addressing another better half of human nature sitting in the +president's chair. + +The literary visitors of the Royal Academy to-night desire me to +congratulate their hosts on a very interesting exhibition, in which +risen excellence supremely asserts itself, and from which promise +of a brilliant succession in time to come is not wanting. They +naturally see with especial interest the writings and persons of +great men--historians, philosophers, poets, and novelists, vividly +illustrated around them here. And they hope that they may modestly +claim to have rendered some little assistance towards the +production of many of the pictures in this magnificent gallery. +For without the patient labours of some among them unhistoric +history might have long survived in this place, and but for the +researches and wandering of others among them, the most +preposterous countries, the most impossible peoples, and the +absurdest superstitions, manners, and customs, might have usurped +the place of truth upon these walls. Nay, there is no knowing, Sir +Francis Grant, what unlike portraits you yourself might have +painted if you had been left, with your sitters, to idle pens, +unchecked reckless rumours, and undenounced lying malevolence. + +I cannot forbear, before I resume my seat, adverting to a sad theme +(the recent death of Daniel Maclise) to which his Royal Highness +the Prince of Wales made allusion, and to which the president +referred with the eloquence of genuine feeling. Since I first +entered the public lists, a very young man indeed, it has been my +constant fortune to number amongst my nearest and dearest friends +members of the Royal Academy who have been its grace and pride. +They have so dropped from my side one by one that I already, begin +to feel like the Spanish monk of whom Wilkie tells, who had grown +to believe that the only realities around him were the pictures +which he loved, and that all the moving life he saw, or ever had +seen, was a shadow and a dream. + +For many years I was one of the two most intimate friends and most +constant companions of the late Mr. Maclise. Of his genius in his +chosen art I will venture to say nothing here, but of his +prodigious fertility of mind and wonderful wealth of intellect, I +may confidently assert that they would have made him, if he had +been so minded, at least as great a writer as he was a painter. +The gentlest and most modest of men, the freshest as to his +generous appreciation of young aspirants, and the frankest and +largest-hearted as to his peers, incapable of a sordid or ignoble +thought, gallantly sustaining the true dignity of his vocation, +without one grain of self-ambition, wholesomely natural at the last +as at the first, "in wit a man, simplicity a child," no artist, of +whatsoever denomination, I make bold to say, ever went to his rest +leaving a golden memory more pure from dross, or having devoted +himself with a truer chivalry to the art goddess whom he +worshipped. + +[These were the last public words of Charles Dickens.] + + + + +Footnotes: + + + +{1} Sir David Wilkie died at sea, on board the Oriental, off +Gibraltar, on the 1st of June, 1841, whilst on his way back to +England. During the evening of the same day his body was committed +to the deep. --ED. + +{2} The Britannia was the vessel that conveyed Mr. Dickens across +the Atlantic, on his first visit to America--ED. + +{3} Master Humphrey's Clock, under which title the two novels of +Barnaby Rudge and The Old Curiosity Shop originally appeared.--ED. + +{4} "I shall always entertain a very pleasant and grateful +recollection of Hartford. It is a lovely place, and I had many +friends there, whom I can never remember with indifference. We +left it with no little regret." American Notes (Lond. 1842). Vol. +I, p. 182. + +{5} See the Life and Letters of Washington Irving (Lond. 1863), p. +644, where Irving speaks of a letter he has received "from that +glorious fellow Dickens, in reply to the one I wrote, expressing my +heartfelt delight with his writings, and my yearnings toward +himself." See also the letter itself, in the second division of +this volume.--ED. + +{6} TENNYSON, Lady Clara Vere de Vere, then newly published in +collection of 1842.--ED + +{7} "That this meeting, while conveying its cordial thanks to +Charles Dickens, Esq., for his presence this evening, and for his +able and courteous conduct as President, cannot separate without +tendering the warmest expression of its gratitude and admiration to +one whose writings have so loyally inculcated the lessons of +benevolence and virtue, and so richly contributed to the stores of +public pleasure and instructions." + +{8} The Duke of Devonshire. + +{9} Charlotte Corday going to Execution. + +{10} The above is extracted from Mrs. Stowe's "Sunny Memories of +Foreign Lands,", a book in which her eaves-dropping propensities +were already developed in a sufficiently ugly form.--ED. + +{11} Alas! the "many years" were to be barely six, when the +speaker was himself destined to write some memorial pages +commemorative of his illustrious friend (Cornhill Magazine, +February, 1864.)--ED. + +{12} Mr. Henry Dodd had proposed to give five acres of land in +Berkshire, but, in consequence of his desiring to attach certain +restrictions, after a long and unsatisfactory correspondence, the +Committee, on 13th January following, rejected the offer. +(Communicated.) + +{13} Claude Melnotte in The Lady of Lyons, Act iii. sc. 2. + +{14} Mr. B. Webster. + +{15} Romeo and Juliet, Act III. Sc. 1. + +{16} Robert Browning: Bells and Pomegranates. + +{17} R. H. + +{18} Carlyle's French Revolution. Book X., Chapter I. + +{19} Henry Thomas Buckle. + +{20} This and the Speeches which follow were accidentally omitted +in their right places. + +{21} Hazlitt's Round Table (Edinburgh, 1817, vol ii., p. 242), On +Actors and Acting. + +{22} An allusion to a well-known Sonnet of Wordsworth, beginning-- +"The world is too much with us--late and soon," &c.--ED. + +{23} Alluding to the forthcoming serial story of Edwin Drood. + +{24} The Honourable John Lothrop Motley. + +{25} February 26th, 1851. Mr. Macready's Farewell Benefit at +Drury Lane Theatre, on which occasion he played the part of +Macbeth.--ED. + +{26} MACBETH, Act I., sc. 7. + +{27} The Bishop of Ripon (Dr. Longley). + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SPEECHES: LITERARY AND SOCIAL *** + +This file should be named dslas10.txt or dslas10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, dslas11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, dslas10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/dslas10.zip b/old/dslas10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..277df3f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/dslas10.zip diff --git a/old/dslas10h.htm b/old/dslas10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd57f08 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/dslas10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7271 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Speeches: Literary and Social</title> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Speeches: Literary and Social, by Charles Dickens</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Speeches: Literary and Social, by Charles Dickens +(#20 in our series by Charles Dickens) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Speeches: Literary and Social + +Author: Charles Dickens + +Release Date: February, 1997 [EBook #824] +[This file was first posted on March 1, 1997] +[Most recently updated: September 25, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1880 Chatto and Windus edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<h1>SPEECHES: LITERARY AND SOCIAL BY CHARLES DICKENS</h1> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: EDINBURGH, JUNE 25, 1841.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[At a public dinner, given in honour of Mr. Dickens, and presided +over by the late Professor Wilson, the Chairman having proposed his +health in a long and eloquent speech, Mr. Dickens returned thanks as +follows:-]</p> +<p>If I felt your warm and generous welcome less, I should be better +able to thank you. If I could have listened as you have listened +to the glowing language of your distinguished Chairman, and if I could +have heard as you heard the “thoughts that breathe and words that +burn,” which he has uttered, it would have gone hard but I should +have caught some portion of his enthusiasm, and kindled at his example. +But every word which fell from his lips, and every demonstration of +sympathy and approbation with which you received his eloquent expressions, +renders me unable to respond to his kindness, and leaves me at last +all heart and no lips, yearning to respond as I would do to your cordial +greeting - possessing, heaven knows, the will, and desiring only to +find the way.</p> +<p>The way to your good opinion, favour, and support, has been to me +very pleasing - a path strewn with flowers and cheered with sunshine. +I feel as if I stood amongst old friends, whom I had intimately known +and highly valued. I feel as if the deaths of the fictitious creatures, +in which you have been kind enough to express an interest, had endeared +us to each other as real afflictions deepen friendships in actual life; +I feel as if they had been real persons, whose fortunes we had pursued +together in inseparable connexion, and that I had never known them apart +from you.</p> +<p>It is a difficult thing for a man to speak of himself or of his works. +But perhaps on this occasion I may, without impropriety, venture to +say a word on the spirit in which mine were conceived. I felt +an earnest and humble desire, and shall do till I die, to increase the +stock of harmless cheerfulness. I felt that the world was not +utterly to be despised; that it was worthy of living in for many reasons. +I was anxious to find, as the Professor has said, if I could, in evil +things, that soul of goodness which the Creator has put in them. +I was anxious to show that virtue may be found in the bye-ways of the +world, that it is not incompatible with poverty and even with rags, +and to keep steadily through life the motto, expressed in the burning +words of your Northern poet -</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“The rank is but the guinea stamp,<br />The man’s the +gowd for a’ that.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>And in following this track, where could I have better assurance +that I was right, or where could I have stronger assurance to cheer +me on than in your kindness on this to me memorable night?</p> +<p>I am anxious and glad to have an opportunity of saying a word in +reference to one incident in which I am happy to know you were interested, +and still more happy to know, though it may sound paradoxical, that +you were disappointed - I mean the death of the little heroine. +When I first conceived the idea of conducting that simple story to its +termination, I determined rigidly to adhere to it, and never to forsake +the end I had in view. Not untried in the school of affliction, +in the death of those we love, I thought what a good thing it would +be if in my little work of pleasant amusement I could substitute a garland +of fresh flowers for the sculptured horrors which disgrace the tomb. +If I have put into my book anything which can fill the young mind with +better thoughts of death, or soften the grief of older hearts; if I +have written one word which can afford pleasure or consolation to old +or young in time of trial, I shall consider it as something achieved +- something which I shall be glad to look back upon in after life. +Therefore I kept to my purpose, notwithstanding that towards the conclusion +of the story, I daily received letters of remonstrance, especially from +the ladies. God bless them for their tender mercies! The +Professor was quite right when he said that I had not reached to an +adequate delineation of their virtues; and I fear that I must go on +blotting their characters in endeavouring to reach the ideal in my mind. +These letters were, however, combined with others from the sterner sex, +and some of them were not altogether free from personal invective. +But, notwithstanding, I kept to my purpose, and I am happy to know that +many of those who at first condemned me are now foremost in their approbation.</p> +<p>If I have made a mistake in detaining you with this little incident, +I do not regret having done so; for your kindness has given me such +a confidence in you, that the fault is yours and not mine. I come +once more to thank you, and here I am in a difficulty again. The +distinction you have conferred upon me is one which I never hoped for, +and of which I never dared to dream. That it is one which I shall +never forget, and that while I live I shall be proud of its remembrance, +you must well know. I believe I shall never hear the name of this +capital of Scotland without a thrill of gratitude and pleasure. +I shall love while I have life her people, her hills, and her houses, +and even the very stones of her streets. And if in the future +works which may lie before me you should discern - God grant you may! +- a brighter spirit and a clearer wit, I pray you to refer it back to +this night, and point to that as a Scottish passage for evermore. +I thank you again and again, with the energy of a thousand thanks in +each one, and I drink to you with a heart as full as my glass, and far +easier emptied, I do assure you.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>[Later in the evening, in proposing the health of Professor Wilson, +Mr. Dickens said:-]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>I have the honour to be entrusted with a toast, the very mention +of which will recommend itself to you, I know, as one possessing no +ordinary claims to your sympathy and approbation, and the proposing +of which is as congenial to my wishes and feelings as its acceptance +must be to yours. It is the health of our Chairman, and coupled +with his name I have to propose the literature of Scotland - a literature +which he has done much to render famous through the world, and of which +he has been for many years - as I hope and believe he will be for many +more - a most brilliant and distinguished ornament. Who can revert +to the literature of the land of Scott and of Burns without having directly +in his mind, as inseparable from the subject and foremost in the picture, +that old man of might, with his lion heart and sceptred crutch - Christopher +North. I am glad to remember the time when I believed him to be +a real, actual, veritable old gentleman, that might be seen any day +hobbling along the High Street with the most brilliant eye - but that +is no fiction - and the greyest hair in all the world - who wrote not +because he cared to write, not because he cared for the wonder and admiration +of his fellow-men, but who wrote because he could not help it, because +there was always springing up in his mind a clear and sparkling stream +of poetry which must have vent, and like the glittering fountain in +the fairy tale, draw what you might, was ever at the full, and never +languished even by a single drop or bubble. I had so figured him +in my mind, and when I saw the Professor two days ago, striding along +the Parliament House, I was disposed to take it as a personal offence +- I was vexed to see him look so hearty. I drooped to see twenty +Christophers in one. I began to think that Scottish life was all +light and no shadows, and I began to doubt that beautiful book to which +I have turned again and again, always to find new beauties and fresh +sources of interest.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>[In proposing the memory of the late Sir David Wilkie, Mr. Dickens +said:-]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Less fortunate than the two gentlemen who have preceded me, it is +confided to me to mention a name which cannot be pronounced without +sorrow, a name in which Scotland had a great triumph, and which England +delighted to honour. One of the gifted of the earth has passed +away, as it were, yesterday; one who was devoted to his art, and his +art was nature - I mean David Wilkie. <a name="citation1"></a><a href="#footnote1">{1}</a> +He was one who made the cottage hearth a graceful thing - of whom it +might truly be said that he found “books in the running brooks,” +and who has left in all he did some breathing of the air which stirs +the heather. But however desirous to enlarge on his genius as +an artist, I would rather speak of him now as a friend who has gone +from amongst us. There is his deserted studio - the empty easel +lying idly by - the unfinished picture with its face turned to the wall, +and there is that bereaved sister, who loved him with an affection which +death cannot quench. He has left a name in fame clear as the bright +sky; he has filled our minds with memories pure as the blue waves which +roll over him. Let us hope that she who more than all others mourns +his loss, may learn to reflect that he died in the fulness of his time, +before age or sickness had dimmed his powers - and that she may yet +associate with feelings as calm and pleasant as we do now the memory +of Wilkie.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: JANUARY, 1842.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[In presenting Captain Hewett, of the <i>Britannia</i>, <a name="citation2"></a><a href="#footnote2">{2}</a> +with a service of plate on behalf of the passengers, Mr. Dickens addressed +him as follows:]</p> +<p>Captain Hewett, - I am very proud and happy to have been selected +as the instrument of conveying to you the heartfelt thanks of my fellow-passengers +on board the ship entrusted to your charge, and of entreating your acceptance +of this trifling present. The ingenious artists who work in silver +do not always, I find, keep their promises, even in Boston. I +regret that, instead of two goblets, which there should be here, there +is, at present, only one. The deficiency, however, will soon be +supplied; and, when it is, our little testimonial will be, so far, complete.</p> +<p>You are a sailor, Captain Hewett, in the truest sense of the word; +and the devoted admiration of the ladies, God bless them, is a sailor’s +first boast. I need not enlarge upon the honour they have done +you, I am sure, by their presence here. Judging of you by myself, +I am certain that the recollection of their beautiful faces will cheer +your lonely vigils upon the ocean for a long time to come.</p> +<p>In all time to come, and in all your voyages upon the sea, I hope +you will have a thought for those who wish to live in your memory by +the help of these trifles. As they will often connect you with +the pleasure of those homes and fire sides from which they once wandered, +and which, but for you, they might never have regained, so they trust +that you will sometimes associate them with your hours of festive enjoyment; +and, that, when you drink from these cups, you will feel that the draught +is commended to your lips by friends whose best wishes you have; and +who earnestly and truly hope for your success, happiness, and prosperity, +in all the undertakings of your life.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: FEBRUARY 1842.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[At dinner given to Mr. Dickens by the young men of Boston. +The company consisted of about two hundred, among whom were George Bancroft, +Washington Allston, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. The toast of “Health, +happiness, and a hearty welcome to Charles Dickens,” having been +proposed by the chairman, Mr. Quincy, and received with great applause, +Mr. Dickens responded with the following address:]</p> +<p>Gentlemen, - If you had given this splendid entertainment to anyone +else in the whole wide world - if I were to-night to exult in the triumph +of my dearest friend - if I stood here upon my defence, to repel any +unjust attack - to appeal as a stranger to your generosity and kindness +as the freest people on the earth - I could, putting some restraint +upon myself, stand among you as self-possessed and unmoved as I should +be alone in my own room in England. But when I have the echoes +of your cordial greeting ringing in my ears; when I see your kind faces +beaming a welcome so warm and earnest as never man had - I feel, it +is my nature, so vanquished and subdued, that I have hardly fortitude +enough to thank you. If your President, instead of pouring forth +that delightful mixture of humour and pathos which you have just heard, +had been but a caustic, ill-natured man - if he had only been a dull +one - if I could only have doubted or distrusted him or you, I should +have had my wits at my fingers’ ends, and, using them, could have +held you at arm’s-length. But you have given me no such +opportunity; you take advantage of me in the tenderest point; you give +me no chance of playing at company, or holding you at a distance, but +flock about me like a host of brothers, and make this place like home. +Indeed, gentlemen, indeed, if it be natural and allowable for each of +us, on his own hearth, to express his thoughts in the most homely fashion, +and to appear in his plainest garb, I have a fair claim upon you to +let me do so to-night, for you have made my home an Aladdin’s +Palace. You fold so tenderly within your breasts that common household +lamp in which my feeble fire is all enshrined, and at which my flickering +torch is lighted up, that straight my household gods take wing, and +are transported there. And whereas it is written of that fairy +structure that it never moved without two shocks - one when it rose, +and one when it settled down - I can say of mine that, however sharp +a tug it took to pluck it from its native ground, it struck at once +an easy, and a deep and lasting root into this soil; and loved it as +its own. I can say more of it, and say with truth, that long before +it moved, or had a chance of moving, its master - perhaps from some +secret sympathy between its timbers, and a certain stately tree that +has its being hereabout, and spreads its broad branches far and wide +- dreamed by day and night, for years, of setting foot upon this shore, +and breathing this pure air. And, trust me, gentlemen, that, if +I had wandered here, unknowing and unknown, I would - if I know my own +heart - have come with all my sympathies clustering as richly about +this land and people - with all my sense of justice as keenly alive +to their high claims on every man who loves God’s image - with +all my energies as fully bent on judging for myself, and speaking out, +and telling in my sphere the truth, as I do now, when you rain down +your welcomes on my head.</p> +<p>Our President has alluded to those writings which have been my occupation +for some years past; and you have received his allusions in a manner +which assures me - if I needed any such assurance - that we are old +friends in the spirit, and have been in close communion for a long time.</p> +<p>It is not easy for a man to speak of his own books. I daresay +that few persons have been more interested in mine than I, and if it +be a general principle in nature that a lover’s love is blind, +and that a mother’s love is blind, I believe it may be said of +an author’s attachment to the creatures of his own imagination, +that it is a perfect model of constancy and devotion, and is the blindest +of all. But the objects and purposes I have had in view are very +plain and simple, and may be easily told. I have always had, and +always shall have, an earnest and true desire to contribute, as far +as in me lies, to the common stock of healthful cheerfulness and enjoyment. +I have always had, and always shall have, an invincible repugnance to +that mole-eyed philosophy which loves the darkness, and winks and scowls +in the light. I believe that Virtue shows quite as well in rags +and patches, as she does in purple and fine linen. I believe that +she and every beautiful object in external nature, claims some sympathy +in the breast of the poorest man who breaks his scanty loaf of daily +bread. I believe that she goes barefoot as well as shod. +I believe that she dwells rather oftener in alleys and by-ways than +she does in courts and palaces, and that it is good, and pleasant, and +profitable to track her out, and follow her. I believe that to +lay one’s hand upon some of those rejected ones whom the world +has too long forgotten, and too often misused, and to say to the proudest +and most thoughtless - “These creatures have the same elements +and capacities of goodness as yourselves, they are moulded in the same +form, and made of the same clay; and though ten times worse than you, +may, in having retained anything of their original nature amidst the +trials and distresses of their condition, be really ten times better;” +I believe that to do this is to pursue a worthy and not useless vocation. +Gentlemen, that you think so too, your fervent greeting sufficiently +assures me. That this feeling is alive in the Old World as well +as in the New, no man should know better than I - I, who have found +such wide and ready sympathy in my own dear land. That in expressing +it, we are but treading in the steps of those great master-spirits who +have gone before, we know by reference to all the bright examples in +our literature, from Shakespeare downward.</p> +<p>There is one other point connected with the labours (if I may call +them so) that you hold in such generous esteem, to which I cannot help +adverting. I cannot help expressing the delight, the more than +happiness it was to me to find so strong an interest awakened on this +side of the water, in favour of that little heroine of mine, to whom +your president has made allusion, who died in her youth. I had +letters about that child, in England, from the dwellers in log-houses +among the morasses, and swamps, and densest forests, and deep solitudes +of the far west. Many a sturdy hand, hard with the axe and spade, +and browned by the summer’s sun, has taken up the pen, and written +to me a little history of domestic joy or sorrow, always coupled, I +am proud to say, with something of interest in that little tale, or +some comfort or happiness derived from it, and my correspondent has +always addressed me, not as a writer of books for sale, resident some +four or five thousand miles away, but as a friend to whom he might freely +impart the joys and sorrows of his own fireside. Many a mother +- I could reckon them now by dozens, not by units - has done the like, +and has told me how she lost such a child at such a time, and where +she lay buried, and how good she was, and how, in this or that respect, +she resembles Nell. I do assure you that no circumstance of my +life has given me one hundredth part of the gratification I have derived +from this source. I was wavering at the time whether or not to +wind up my Clock, <a name="citation3"></a><a href="#footnote3">{3}</a> +and come and see this country, and this decided me. I felt as +if it were a positive duty, as if I were bound to pack up my clothes, +and come and see my friends; and even now I have such an odd sensation +in connexion with these things, that you have no chance of spoiling +me. I feel as though we were agreeing - as indeed we are, if we +substitute for fictitious characters the classes from which they are +drawn - about third parties, in whom we had a common interest. +At every new act of kindness on your part, I say to myself “That’s +for Oliver; I should not wonder if that was meant for Smike; I have +no doubt that is intended for Nell;” and so I become a much happier, +certainly, but a more sober and retiring man than ever I was before.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, talking of my friends in America, brings me back, naturally +and of course, to you. Coming back to you, and being thereby reminded +of the pleasure we have in store in hearing the gentlemen who sit about +me, I arrive by the easiest, though not by the shortest course in the +world, at the end of what I have to say. But before I sit down, +there is one topic on which I am desirous to lay particular stress. +It has, or should have, a strong interest for us all, since to its literature +every country must look for one great means of refining and improving +its people, and one great source of national pride and honour. +You have in America great writers - great writers - who will live in +all time, and are as familiar to our lips as household words. +Deriving (as they all do in a greater or less degree, in their several +walks) their inspiration from the stupendous country that gave them +birth, they diffuse a better knowledge of it, and a higher love for +it, all over the civilized world. I take leave to say, in the +presence of some of those gentleman, that I hope the time is not far +distant when they, in America, will receive of right some substantial +profit and return in England from their labours; and when we, in England, +shall receive some substantial profit and return in America for ours. +Pray do not misunderstand me. Securing to myself from day to day +the means of an honourable subsistence, I would rather have the affectionate +regard of my fellow men, than I would have heaps and mines of gold. +But the two things do not seem to me incompatible. They cannot +be, for nothing good is incompatible with justice; there must be an +international arrangement in this respect: England has done her part, +and I am confident that the time is not far distant when America will +do hers. It becomes the character of a great country; <i>firstly</i>, +because it is justice;<i> secondly</i>, because without it you never +can have, and keep, a literature of your own.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, I thank you with feelings of gratitude, such as are not +often awakened, and can never be expressed. As I understand it +to be the pleasant custom here to finish with a toast, I would beg to +give you: AMERICA AND ENGLAND, and may they never have any division +but the Atlantic between them.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: FEBRUARY 7, 1842.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Gentlemen, - To say that I thank you for the earnest manner in which +you have drunk the toast just now so eloquently proposed to you - to +say that I give you back your kind wishes and good feelings with more +than compound interest; and that I feel how dumb and powerless the best +acknowledgments would be beside such genial hospitality as yours, is +nothing. To say that in this winter season, flowers have sprung +up in every footstep’s length of the path which has brought me +here; that no country ever smiled more pleasantly than yours has smiled +on me, and that I have rarely looked upon a brighter summer prospect +than that which lies before me now, <a name="citation4"></a><a href="#footnote4">{4}</a> +is nothing.</p> +<p>But it is something to be no stranger in a strange place - to feel, +sitting at a board for the first time, the ease and affection of an +old guest, and to be at once on such intimate terms with the family +as to have a homely, genuine interest in its every member - it is, I +say, something to be in this novel and happy frame of mind. And, +as it is of your creation, and owes its being to you, I have no reluctance +in urging it as a reason why, in addressing you, I should not so much +consult the form and fashion of my speech, as I should employ that universal +language of the heart, which you, and such as you, best teach, and best +can understand. Gentlemen, in that universal language - common +to you in America, and to us in England, as that younger mother-tongue, +which, by the means of, and through the happy union of our two great +countries, shall be spoken ages hence, by land and sea, over the wide +surface of the globe - I thank you.</p> +<p>I had occasion to say the other night in Boston, as I have more than +once had occasion to remark before, that it is not easy for an author +to speak of his own books. If the task be a difficult one at any +time, its difficulty, certainly, is not diminished when a frequent recurrence +to the same theme has left one nothing new to say. Still, I feel +that, in a company like this, and especially after what has been said +by the President, that I ought not to pass lightly over those labours +of love, which, if they had no other merit, have been the happy means +of bringing us together.</p> +<p>It has been often observed, that you cannot judge of an author’s +personal character from his writings. It may be that you cannot. +I think it very likely, for many reasons, that you cannot. But, +at least, a reader will rise from the perusal of a book with some defined +and tangible idea of the writer’s moral creed and broad purposes, +if he has any at all; and it is probable enough that he may like to +have this idea confirmed from the author’s lips, or dissipated +by his explanation. Gentlemen, my moral creed - which is a very +wide and comprehensive one, and includes all sects and parties - is +very easily summed up. I have faith, and I wish to diffuse faith +in the existence - yes, of beautiful things, even in those conditions +of society, which are so degenerate, degraded, and forlorn, that, at +first sight, it would seem as though they could not be described but +by a strange and terrible reversal of the words of Scripture, “God +said, Let there be light, and there was none.” I take it +that we are born, and that we hold our sympathies, hopes, and energies, +in trust for the many, and not for the few. That we cannot hold +in too strong a light of disgust and contempt, before the view of others, +all meanness, falsehood, cruelty, and oppression, of every grade and +kind. Above all, that nothing is high, because it is in a high +place; and that nothing is low, because it is in a low one. This +is the lesson taught us in the great book of nature. This is the +lesson which may be read, alike in the bright track of the stars, and +in the dusty course of the poorest thing that drags its tiny length +upon the ground. This is the lesson ever uppermost in the thoughts +of that inspired man, who tells us that there are</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Tongues in the trees, books in the running brooks,<br />Sermons +in stones, and good in everything.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Gentlemen, keeping these objects steadily before me, I am at no loss +to refer your favour and your generous hospitality back to the right +source. While I know, on the one hand, that if, instead of being +what it is, this were a land of tyranny and wrong, I should care very +little for your smiles or frowns, so I am sure upon the other, that +if, instead of being what I am, I were the greatest genius that ever +trod the earth, and had diverted myself for the oppression and degradation +of mankind, you would despise and reject me. I hope you will, +whenever, through such means, I give you the opportunity. Trust +me, that, whenever you give me the like occasion, I will return the +compliment with interest.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, as I have no secrets from you, in the spirit of confidence +you have engendered between us, and as I have made a kind of compact +with myself that I never will, while I remain in America, omit an opportunity +of referring to a topic in which I and all others of my class on both +sides of the water are equally interested - equally interested, there +is no difference between us, I would beg leave to whisper in your ear +two words: <i>International Copyright</i>. I use them in no sordid +sense, believe me, and those who know me best, best know that. +For myself, I would rather that my children, coming after me, trudged +in the mud, and knew by the general feeling of society that their father +was beloved, and had been of some use, than I would have them ride in +their carriages, and know by their banker’s books that he was +rich. But I do not see, I confess, why one should be obliged to +make the choice, or why fame, besides playing that delightful <i>reveil</i> +for which she is so justly celebrated, should not blow out of her trumpet +a few notes of a different kind from those with which she has hitherto +contented herself.</p> +<p>It was well observed the other night by a beautiful speaker, whose +words went to the heart of every man who heard him, that, if there had +existed any law in this respect, Scott might not have sunk beneath the +mighty pressure on his brain, but might have lived to add new creatures +of his fancy to the crowd which swarm about you in your summer walks, +and gather round your winter evening hearths.</p> +<p>As I listened to his words, there came back, fresh upon me, that +touching scene in the great man’s life, when he lay upon his couch, +surrounded by his family, and listened, for the last time, to the rippling +of the river he had so well loved, over its stony bed. I pictured +him to myself, faint, wan, dying, crushed both in mind and body by his +honourable struggle, and hovering round him the phantoms of his own +imagination - Waverley, Ravenswood, Jeanie Deans, Rob Roy, Caleb Balderstone, +Dominie Sampson - all the familiar throng - with cavaliers, and Puritans, +and Highland chiefs innumerable overflowing the chamber, and fading +away in the dim distance beyond. I pictured them, fresh from traversing +the world, and hanging down their heads in shame and sorrow, that, from +all those lands into which they had carried gladness, instruction, and +delight for millions, they brought him not one friendly hand to help +to raise him from that sad, sad bed. No, nor brought him from +that land in which his own language was spoken, and in every house and +hut of which his own books were read in his own tongue, one grateful +dollar-piece to buy a garland for his grave. Oh! if every man +who goes from here, as many do, to look upon that tomb in Dryburgh Abbey, +would but remember this, and bring the recollection home!</p> +<p>Gentlemen, I thank you again, and once again, and many times to that. +You have given me a new reason for remembering this day, which is already +one of mark in my calendar, it being my birthday; and you have given +those who are nearest and dearest to me a new reason for recollecting +it with pride and interest. Heaven knows that, although I should +grow ever so gray, I shall need nothing to remind me of this epoch in +my life. But I am glad to think that from this time you are inseparably +connected with every recurrence of this day; and, that on its periodical +return, I shall always, in imagination, have the unfading pleasure of +entertaining you as my guests, in return for the gratification you have +afforded me to-night.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 18, 1842.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[At a dinner presided over by Washington Irving, when nearly eight +hundred of the most distinguished citizens of New York were present, +“Charles Dickens, the Literary Guest of the Nation,” having +been “proferred as a sentiment” by the Chairman, Mr. Dickens +rose, and spoke as follows:]</p> +<p>Gentlemen, - I don’t know how to thank you - I really don’t +know how. You would naturally suppose that my former experience +would have given me this power, and that the difficulties in my way +would have been diminished; but I assure you the fact is exactly the +reverse, and I have completely baulked the ancient proverb that “a +rolling stone gathers no moss;” and in my progress to this city +I have collected such a weight of obligations and acknowledgment - I +have picked up such an enormous mass of fresh moss at every point, and +was so struck by the brilliant scenes of Monday night, that I thought +I could never by any possibility grow any bigger. I have made, +continually, new accumulations to such an extent that I am compelled +to stand still, and can roll no more!</p> +<p>Gentlemen, we learn from the authorities, that, when fairy stories, +or balls, or rolls of thread, stopped of their own accord - as I do +not - it presaged some great catastrophe near at hand. The precedent +holds good in this case. When I have remembered the short time +I have before me to spend in this land of mighty interests, and the +poor opportunity I can at best have of acquiring a knowledge of, and +forming an acquaintance with it, I have felt it almost a duty to decline +the honours you so generously heap upon me, and pass more quietly among +you. For Argus himself, though he had but one mouth for his hundred +eyes, would have found the reception of a public entertainment once +a-week too much for his greatest activity; and, as I would lose no scrap +of the rich instruction and the delightful knowledge which meet me on +every hand, (and already I have gleaned a great deal from your hospitals +and common jails), - I have resolved to take up my staff, and go my +way rejoicing, and for the future to shake hands with America, not at +parties but at home; and, therefore, gentlemen, I say to-night, with +a full heart, and an honest purpose, and grateful feelings, that I bear, +and shall ever bear, a deep sense of your kind, your affectionate and +your noble greeting, which it is utterly impossible to convey in words. +No European sky without, and no cheerful home or well-warmed room within +shall ever shut out this land from my vision. I shall often hear +your words of welcome in my quiet room, and oftenest when most quiet; +and shall see your faces in the blazing fire. If I should live +to grow old, the scenes of this and other evenings will shine as brightly +to my dull eyes fifty years hence as now; and the honours you bestow +upon me shall be well remembered and paid back in my undying love, and +honest endeavours for the good of my race.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, one other word with reference to this first person singular, +and then I shall close. I came here in an open, honest, and confiding +spirit, if ever man did, and because I felt a deep sympathy in your +land; had I felt otherwise, I should have kept away. As I came +here, and am here, without the least admixture of one-hundredth part +of one grain of base alloy, without one feeling of unworthy reference +to self in any respect, I claim, in regard to the past, for the last +time, my right in reason, in truth, and in justice, to approach, as +I have done on two former occasions, a question of literary interest. +I claim that justice be done; and I prefer this claim as one who has +a right to speak and be heard. I have only to add that I shall +be as true to you as you have been to me. I recognize in your +enthusiastic approval of the creatures of my fancy, your enlightened +care for the happiness of the many, your tender regard for the afflicted, +your sympathy for the downcast, your plans for correcting and improving +the bad, and for encouraging the good; and to advance these great objects +shall be, to the end of my life, my earnest endeavour, to the extent +of my humble ability. Having said thus much with reference to +myself, I shall have the pleasure of saying a few words with reference +to somebody else.</p> +<p>There is in this city a gentleman who, at the reception of one of +my books - I well remember it was the Old Curiosity Shop - wrote to +me in England a letter so generous, so affectionate, and so manly, that +if I had written the book under every circumstance of disappointment, +of discouragement, and difficulty, instead of the reverse, I should +have found in the receipt of that letter my best and most happy reward. +I answered him, <a name="citation5"></a><a href="#footnote5">{5}</a> +and he answered me, and so we kept shaking hands autographically, as +if no ocean rolled between us. I came here to this city eager +to see him, and [<i>laying his hand it upon Irving’s shoulder</i>] +here he sits! I need not tell you how happy and delighted I am +to see him here to-night in this capacity.</p> +<p>Washington Irving! Why, gentlemen, I don’t go upstairs +to bed two nights out of the seven - as a very creditable witness near +at hand can testify - I say I do not go to bed two nights out of the +seven without taking Washington Irving under my arm; and, when I don’t +take him, I take his own brother, Oliver Goldsmith. Washington +Irving! Why, of whom but him was I thinking the other day when +I came up by the Hog’s Back, the Frying Pan, Hell Gate, and all +these places? Why, when, not long ago, I visited Shakespeare’s +birthplace, and went beneath the roof where he first saw light, whose +name but <i>his</i> was pointed out to me upon the wall? Washington +Irving - Diedrich Knickerbocker - Geoffrey Crayon - why, where can you +go that they have not been there before? Is there an English farm +- is there an English stream, an English city, or an English country-seat, +where they have not been? Is there no Bracebridge Hall in existence? +Has it no ancient shades or quiet streets?</p> +<p>In bygone times, when Irving left that Hall, he left sitting in an +old oak chair, in a small parlour of the Boar’s Head, a little +man with a red nose, and an oilskin hat. When I came away he was +sitting there still! - not a man <i>like</i> him, but the same man - +with the nose of immortal redness and the hat of an undying glaze! +Crayon, while there, was on terms of intimacy with a certain radical +fellow, who used to go about, with a hatful of newspapers, wofully out +at elbows, and with a coat of great antiquity. Why, gentlemen, +I know that man - Tibbles the elder, and he has not changed a hair; +and, when I came away, he charged me to give his best respects to Washington +Irving!</p> +<p>Leaving the town and the rustic life of England - forgetting this +man, if we can - putting out of mind the country church-yard and the +broken heart - let us cross the water again, and ask who has associated +himself most closely with the Italian peasantry and the bandits of the +Pyrenees? When the traveller enters his little chamber beyond +the Alps - listening to the dim echoes of the long passages and spacious +corridors - damp, and gloomy, and cold - as he hears the tempest beating +with fury against his window, and gazes at the curtains, dark, and heavy, +and covered with mould - and when all the ghost-stories that ever were +told come up before him - amid all his thick-coming fancies, whom does +he think of? Washington Irving.</p> +<p>Go farther still: go to the Moorish Mountains, sparkling full in +the moonlight - go among the water-carriers and the village gossips, +living still as in days of old - and who has travelled among them before +you, and peopled the Alhambra and made eloquent its shadows? Who +awakes there a voice from every hill and in every cavern, and bids legends, +which for centuries have slept a dreamless sleep, or watched unwinkingly, +start up and pass before you in all their life and glory?</p> +<p>But leaving this again, who embarked with Columbus upon his gallant +ship, traversed with him the dark and mighty ocean, leaped upon the +land and planted there the flag of Spain, but this same man, now sitting +by my side? And being here at home again, who is a more fit companion +for money-diggers? and what pen but his has made Rip Van Winkle, playing +at nine-pins on that thundering afternoon, as much part and parcel of +the Catskill Mountains as any tree or crag that they can boast?</p> +<p>But these are topics familiar from my boyhood, and which I am apt +to pursue; and lest I should be tempted now to talk too long about them, +I will, in conclusion, give you a sentiment, most appropriate, I am +sure, in the presence of such writers as Bryant, Halleck, and - but +I suppose I must not mention the ladies here -</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA:</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>She well knows how to do honour to her own literature and to that +of other lands, when she chooses Washington Irving for her representative +in the country of Cervantes.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: MANCHESTER, OCTOBER 5, 1843.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[This address was delivered at a soirée of the members of +the Manchester, Athenaeum, at which Mr. Dickens presided. Among +the other speakers on the occasion were Mr. Cobden and Mr. Disraeli.]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - I am sure I need scarcely tell you that I +am very proud and happy; and that I take it as a great distinction to +be asked to come amongst you on an occasion such as this, when, even +with the brilliant and beautiful spectacle which I see before me, I +can hail it as the most brilliant and beautiful circumstance of all, +that we assemble together here, even here, upon neutral ground, where +we have no more knowledge of party difficulties, or public animosities +between side and side, or between man and man, than if we were a public +meeting in the commonwealth of Utopia.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, upon this, and upon a hundred other grounds, +this assembly is not less interesting to me, believe me - although, +personally, almost a stranger here - than it is interesting to you; +and I take it, that it is not of greater importance to all of us than +it is to every man who has learned to know that he has an interest in +the moral and social elevation, the harmless relaxation, the peace, +happiness, and improvement, of the community at large. Not even +those who saw the first foundation of your Athenaeum laid, and watched +its progress, as I know they did, almost as tenderly as if it were the +progress of a living creature, until it reared its beautiful front, +an honour to the town - not even they, nor even you who, within its +walls, have tasted its usefulness, and put it to the proof, have greater +reason, I am persuaded, to exult in its establishment, or to hope that +it may thrive and prosper, than scores of thousands at a distance, who +- whether consciously or unconsciously, matters not - have, in the principle +of its success and bright example, a deep and personal concern.</p> +<p>It well becomes, particularly well becomes, this enterprising town, +this little world of labour, that she should stand out foremost in the +foremost rank in such a cause. It well becomes her, that, among +her numerous and noble public institutions, she should have a splendid +temple sacred to the education and improvement of a large class of those +who, in their various useful stations, assist in the production of our +wealth, and in rendering her name famous through the world. I +think it is grand to know, that, while her factories re-echo with the +clanking of stupendous engines, and the whirl and rattle of machinery, +the immortal mechanism of God’s own hand, the mind, is not forgotten +in the din and uproar, but is lodged and tended in a palace of its own. +That it is a structure deeply fixed and rooted in the public spirit +of this place, and built to last, I have no more doubt, judging from +the spectacle I see before me, and from what I know of its brief history, +than I have of the reality of these walls that hem us in, and the pillars +that spring up about us.</p> +<p>You are perfectly well aware, I have no doubt, that the Athenaeum +was projected at a time when commerce was in a vigorous and flourishing +condition, and when those classes of society to which it particularly +addresses itself were fully employed, and in the receipt of regular +incomes. A season of depression almost without a parallel ensued, +and large numbers of young men employed in warehouses and offices suddenly +found their occupation gone, and themselves reduced to very straitened +and penurious circumstances. This altered state of things led, +as I am told, to the compulsory withdrawal of many of the members, to +a proportionate decrease in the expected funds, and to the incurrence +of a debt of £3,000. By the very great zeal and energy of +all concerned, and by the liberality of those to whom they applied for +help, that debt is now in rapid course of being discharged. A +little more of the same indefatigable exertion on the one hand, and +a little more of the same community of feeling upon the other, and there +will be no such thing; the figures will be blotted out for good and +all, and, from that time, the Athenaeum may be said to belong to you, +and to your heirs for ever.</p> +<p>But, ladies and gentlemen, at all times, now in its most thriving, +and in its least flourishing condition - here, with its cheerful rooms, +its pleasant and instructive lectures, its improving library of 6,000 +volumes, its classes for the study of the foreign languages, elocution, +music; its opportunities of discussion and debate, of healthful bodily +exercise, and, though last not least - for by this I set great store, +as a very novel and excellent provision - its opportunities of blameless, +rational enjoyment, here it is, open to every youth and man in this +great town, accessible to every bee in this vast hive, who, for all +these benefits, and the inestimable ends to which they lead, can set +aside one sixpence weekly. I do look upon the reduction of the +subscription, and upon the fact that the number of members has considerably +more than doubled within the last twelve months, as strides in the path +of the very best civilization, and chapters of rich promise in the history +of mankind.</p> +<p>I do not know whether, at this time of day, and with such a prospect +before us, we need trouble ourselves very much to rake up the ashes +of the dead-and-gone objections that were wont to be urged by men of +all parties against institutions such as this, whose interests we are +met to promote; but their philosophy was always to be summed up in the +unmeaning application of one short sentence. How often have we +heard from a large class of men wise in their generation, who would +really seem to be born and bred for no other purpose than to pass into +currency counterfeit and mischievous scraps of wisdom, as it is the +sole pursuit of some other criminals to utter base coin - how often +have we heard from them, as an all-convincing argument, that “a +little learning is a dangerous thing?” Why, a little hanging +was considered a very dangerous thing, according to the same authorities, +with this difference, that, because a little hanging was dangerous, +we had a great deal of it; and, because a little learning was dangerous, +we were to have none at all. Why, when I hear such cruel absurdities +gravely reiterated, I do sometimes begin to doubt whether the parrots +of society are not more pernicious to its interests than its birds of +prey. I should be glad to hear such people’s estimate of +the comparative danger of “a little learning” and a vast +amount of ignorance; I should be glad to know which they consider the +most prolific parent of misery and crime. Descending a little +lower in the social scale, I should be glad to assist them in their +calculations, by carrying them into certain gaols and nightly refuges +I know of, where my own heart dies within me, when I see thousands of +immortal creatures condemned, without alternative or choice, to tread, +not what our great poet calls the “primrose path” to the +everlasting bonfire, but one of jaded flints and stones, laid down by +brutal ignorance, and held together, like the solid rocks, by years +of this most wicked axiom.</p> +<p>Would we know from any honourable body of merchants, upright in deed +and thought, whether they would rather have ignorant or enlightened +persons in their own employment? Why, we have had their answer +in this building; we have it in this company; we have it emphatically +given in the munificent generosity of your own merchants of Manchester, +of all sects and kinds, when this establishment was first proposed. +But are the advantages derivable by the people from institutions such +as this, only of a negative character? If a little learning be +an innocent thing, has it no distinct, wholesome, and immediate influence +upon the mind? The old doggerel rhyme, so often written in the +beginning of books, says that</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“When house and lands are gone and spent,<br />Then learning +is most excellent;”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>but I should be strongly disposed to reform the adage, and say that</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Though house and lands be never got,<br />Learning can give +what they can<i>not</i>.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>And this I know, that the first unpurchasable blessing earned by +every man who makes an effort to improve himself in such a place as +the Athenaeum, is self-respect - an inward dignity of character, which, +once acquired and righteously maintained, nothing - no, not the hardest +drudgery, nor the direst poverty - can vanquish. Though he should +find it hard for a season even to keep the wolf - hunger - from his +door, let him but once have chased the dragon - ignorance - from his +hearth, and self-respect and hope are left him. You could no more +deprive him of those sustaining qualities by loss or destruction of +his worldly goods, than you could, by plucking out his eyes, take from +him an internal consciousness of the bright glory of the sun.</p> +<p>The man who lives from day to day by the daily exercise in his sphere +of hands or head, and seeks to improve himself in such a place as the +Athenaeum, acquires for himself that property of soul which has in all +times upheld struggling men of every degree, but self-made men especially +and always. He secures to himself that faithful companion which, +while it has ever lent the light of its countenance to men of rank and +eminence who have deserved it, has ever shed its brightest consolations +on men of low estate and almost hopeless means. It took its patient +seat beside Sir Walter Raleigh in his dungeon-study in the Tower; it +laid its head upon the block with More; but it did not disdain to watch +the stars with Ferguson, the shepherd’s boy; it walked the streets +in mean attire with Crabbe; it was a poor barber here in Lancashire +with Arkwright; it was a tallow-chandler’s son with Franklin; +it worked at shoemaking with Bloomfield in his garret; it followed the +plough with Burns; and, high above the noise of loom and hammer, it +whispers courage even at this day in ears I could name in Sheffield +and in Manchester.</p> +<p>The more the man who improves his leisure in such a place learns, +the better, gentler, kinder man he must become. When he knows +how much great minds have suffered for the truth in every age and time, +and to what dismal persecutions opinion has been exposed, he will become +more tolerant of other men’s belief in all matters, and will incline +more leniently to their sentiments when they chance to differ from his +own. Understanding that the relations between himself and his +employers involve a mutual duty and responsibility, he will discharge +his part of the implied contract cheerfully, satisfactorily, and honourably; +for the history of every useful life warns him to shape his course in +that direction.</p> +<p>The benefits he acquires in such a place are not of a selfish kind, +but extend themselves to his home, and to those whom it contains. +Something of what he hears or reads within such walls can scarcely fail +to become at times a topic of discourse by his own fireside, nor can +it ever fail to lead to larger sympathies with man, and to a higher +veneration for the great Creator of all the wonders of this universe. +It appears to his home and his homely feeling in other ways; for at +certain times he carries there his wife and daughter, or his sister, +or, possibly, some bright-eyed acquaintance of a more tender description. +Judging from what I see before me, I think it is very likely; I am sure +I would if I could. He takes her there to enjoy a pleasant evening, +to be gay and happy. Sometimes it may possibly happen that he +dates his tenderness from the Athenaeum. I think that is a very +excellent thing, too, and not the least among the advantages of the +institution. In any case, I am sure the number of bright eyes +and beaming faces which grace this meeting to-night by their presence, +will never be among the least of its excellences in my recollection.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, I shall not easily forget this scene, the pleasing +task your favour has devolved upon me, or the strong and inspiring confirmation +I have to-night, of all the hopes and reliances I have ever placed upon +institutions of this nature. In the latter point of view - in +their bearing upon this latter point - I regard them as of great importance, +deeming that the more intelligent and reflective society in the mass +becomes, and the more readers there are, the more distinctly writers +of all kinds will be able to throw themselves upon the truthful feeling +of the people and the more honoured and the more useful literature must +be. At the same time, I must confess that, if there had been an +Athenaeum, and if the people had been readers, years ago, some leaves +of dedication in your library, of praise of patrons which was very cheaply +bought, very dearly sold, and very marketably haggled for by the groat, +would be blank leaves, and posterity might probably have lacked the +information that certain monsters of virtue ever had existence. +But it is upon a much better and wider scale, let me say it once again +- it is in the effect of such institutions upon the great social system, +and the peace and happiness of mankind, that I delight to contemplate +them; and, in my heart, I am quite certain that long after your institution, +and others of the same nature, have crumbled into dust, the noble harvest +of the seed sown in them will shine out brightly in the wisdom, the +mercy, and the forbearance of another race.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LIVERPOOL, FEBRUARY 26, 1844.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The following address was delivered at a soirée of the Liverpool +Mechanics’ Institution, at which Mr. Dickens presided.]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - It was rather hard of you to take away my +breath before I spoke a word; but I would not thank you, even if I could, +for the favour which has set me in this place, or for the generous kindness +which has greeted me so warmly, - because my first strong impulse still +would be, although I had that power, to lose sight of all personal considerations +in the high intent and meaning of this numerous assemblage, in the contemplation +of the noble objects to which this building is devoted, of its brilliant +and inspiring history, of that rough, upward track, so bravely trodden, +which it leaves behind, and that bright path of steadily-increasing +usefulness which lies stretched out before it. My first strong +impulse still would be to exchange congratulations with you, as the +members of one united family, on the thriving vigour of this strongest +child of a strong race. My first strong impulse still would be, +though everybody here had twice as many hundreds of hands as there are +hundreds of persons present, to shake them in the spirit, everyone, +always, allow me to say, excepting those hands (and there are a few +such here), which, with the constitutional infirmity of human nature, +I would rather salute in some more tender fashion.</p> +<p>When I first had the honour of communicating with your Committee +with reference to this celebration, I had some selfish hopes that the +visit proposed to me might turn out to be one of congratulation, or, +at least, of solicitous inquiry; for they who receive a visitor in any +season of distress are easily touched and moved by what he says, and +I entertained some confident expectation of making a mighty strong impression +on you. But, when I came to look over the printed documents which +were forwarded to me at the same time, and with which you are all tolerably +familiar, these anticipations very speedily vanished, and left me bereft +of all consolation, but the triumphant feeling to which I have referred. +For what do I find, on looking over those brief chronicles of this swift +conquest over ignorance and prejudice, in which no blood has been poured +out, and no treaty signed but that one sacred compact which recognises +the just right of every man, whatever his belief, or however humble +his degree, to aspire, and to have some means of aspiring, to be a better +and a wiser man? I find that, in 1825, certain misguided and turbulent +persons proposed to erect in Liverpool an unpopular, dangerous, irreligious, +and revolutionary establishment, called a Mechanics’ Institution; +that, in 1835, Liverpool having, somehow or other, got on pretty comfortably +in the meantime, in spite of it, the first stone of a new and spacious +edifice was laid; that, in 1837, it was opened; that, it was afterwards, +at different periods, considerably enlarged; that, in 1844, conspicuous +amongst the public beauties of a beautiful town, here it stands triumphant, +its enemies lived down, its former students attesting, in their various +useful callings and pursuits, the sound, practical information it afforded +them; its members numbering considerably more than 3,000, and setting +in rapidly for 6,000 at least; its library comprehending 11,000 volumes, +and daily sending forth its hundreds of books into private homes; its +staff of masters and officers, amounting to half-a-hundred in themselves; +its schools, conveying every sort of instruction, high and low, adapted +to the labour, means, exigencies, and convenience of nearly every class +and grade of persons. I was here this morning, and in its spacious +halls I found stores of the wonders worked by nature in the air, in +the forest, in the cavern, and in the sea - stores of the surpassing +engines devised by science for the better knowledge of other worlds, +and the greater happiness of this - stores of those gentler works of +art, which, though achieved in perishable stone, by yet more perishable +hands of dust, are in their influence immortal. With such means +at their command, so well-directed, so cheaply shared, and so extensively +diffused, well may your Committee say, as they have done in one of their +Reports, that the success of this establishment has far exceeded their +most sanguine expectations.</p> +<p>But, ladies and gentlemen, as that same philosopher whose words they +quote, as Bacon tells us, instancing the wonderful effects of little +things and small beginnings, that the influence of the loadstone was +first discovered in particles of iron, and not in iron bars, so they +may lay it to their hearts, that when they combined together to form +the institution which has risen to this majestic height, they issued +on a field of enterprise, the glorious end of which they cannot even +now discern. Every man who has felt the advantages of, or has +received improvement in this place, carries its benefits into the society +in which he moves, and puts them out at compound interest; and what +the blessed sum may be at last, no man can tell. Ladies and gentlemen, +with that Christian prelate whose name appears on your list of honorary +Members; that good and liberal man who once addressed you within these +walls, in a spirit worthy of his calling, and of his High Master - I +look forward from this place, as from a tower, to the time when high +and low, and rich and poor, shall mutually assist, improve, and educate +each other.</p> +<p>I feel, ladies and gentlemen, that this is not a place, with its +3,200 members, and at least 3,200 arguments in every one, to enter on +any advocacy of the principle of Mechanics’ Institutions, or to +discuss the subject with those who do or ever did object to them. +I should as soon think of arguing the point with those untutored savages +whose mode of life you last year had the opportunity of witnessing; +indeed, I am strongly inclined to believe them by far the more rational +class of the two. Moreover, if the institution itself be not a +sufficient answer to all such objections, then there is no such thing +in fact or reason, human or divine. Neither will I venture to +enter into those details of the management of this place which struck +me most on the perusal of its papers; but I cannot help saying how much +impressed and gratified I was, as everybody must be who comes to their +perusal for the first time, by the extraordinary munificence with which +this institution has been endowed by certain gentlemen.</p> +<p>Amongst the peculiar features of management which made the greatest +impression on me, I may observe that that regulation which empowers +fathers, being annual subscribers of one guinea, to introduce their +sons who are minors; and masters, on payment of the astoundingly small +sum of five shillings annually, in like manner their apprentices, is +not the least valuable of its privileges; and, certainly not the one +least valuable to society. And, ladies and gentlemen, I cannot +say to you what pleasure I derived from the perusal of an apparently +excellent report in your local papers of a meeting held here some short +time since, in aid of the formation of a girls’ school in connexion +with this institution. This is a new and striking chapter in the +history of these institutions; it does equal credit to the gallantry +and policy of this, and disposes one to say of it with a slight parody +on the words of Burns, that</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Its ’prentice han’ it tried on man,<br />And then +it <i>taught</i> the lasses, O.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>That those who are our best teachers, and whose lessons are oftenest +heeded in after life, should be well taught themselves, is a proposition +few reasonable men will gainsay; and, certainly, to breed up good husbands +on the one hand, and good wives on the other, does appear as reasonable +and straightforward a plan as could well be devised for the improvement +of the next generation.</p> +<p>This, and what I see before me, naturally brings me to our fairer +members, in respect of whom I have no doubt you will agree with me, +that they ought to be admitted to the widest possible extent, and on +the lowest possible terms; and, ladies, let me venture to say to you, +that you never did a wiser thing in all your lives than when you turned +your favourable regard on such an establishment as this - for wherever +the light of knowledge is diffused, wherever the humanizing influence +of the arts and sciences extends itself, wherever there is the clearest +perception of what is beautiful, and good, and most redeeming, amid +all the faults and vices of mankind, there your character, your virtues, +your graces, your better nature, will be the best appreciated, and there +the truest homage will be proudly paid to you. You show best, +trust me, in the clearest light; and every ray that falls upon you at +your own firesides, from any book or thought communicated within these +walls, will raise you nearer to the angels in the eyes you care for +most.</p> +<p>I will not longer interpose myself, ladies and gentlemen, between +you and the pleasure we all anticipate in hearing other gentlemen, and +in enjoying those social pleasures with which it is a main part of the +wisdom of this society to adorn and relieve its graver pursuits. +We all feel, I am sure, being here, that we are truly interested in +the cause of human improvement and rational education, and that we pledge +ourselves, everyone as far as in him lies, to extend the knowledge of +the benefits afforded in this place, and to bear honest witness in its +favour. To those who yet remain without its walls, but have the +means of purchasing its advantages, we make appeal, and in a friendly +and forbearing spirit say, “Come in, and be convinced -</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>‘Who enters here, leaves <i>doubt</i> behind.’”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>If you, happily, have been well taught yourself, and are superior +to its advantages, so much the more should you make one in sympathy +with those who are below you. Beneath this roof we breed the men +who, in the time to come, must be found working for good or evil, in +every quarter of society. If mutual respect and forbearance among +various classes be not found here, where so many men are trained up +in so many grades, to enter on so many roads of life, dating their entry +from one common starting-point, as they are all approaching, by various +paths, one common end, where else can that great lesson be imbibed? +Differences of wealth, of rank, of intellect, we know there must be, +and we respect them; but we would give to all the means of taking out +one patent of nobility, and we define it, in the words of a great living +poet, who is one of us, and who uses his great gifts, as he holds them +in trust, for the general welfare -</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Howe’er it be, it seems to me<br />’Tis only noble +to be good:<br />True hearts are more than coronets,<br />And simple +faith than Norman blood.” <a name="citation6"></a><a href="#footnote6">{6}</a></p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: BIRMINGHAM, FEBRUARY 28, 1844.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The following speech was delivered at a Conversazione, in aid of +the funds of the Birmingham Polytechnic Institution, at which Mr Dickens +presided.]</p> +<p>You will think it very unwise, or very self-denying in me, in such +an assembly, in such a splendid scene, and after such a welcome, to +congratulate myself on having nothing new to say to you: but I do so, +notwithstanding. To say nothing of places nearer home, I had the +honour of attending at Manchester, shortly before Christmas, and at +Liverpool, only the night before last, for a purpose similar to that +which brings you together this evening; and looking down a short perspective +of similar engagements, I feel gratification at the thought that I shall +very soon have nothing at all to say; in which case, I shall be content +to stake my reputation, like the Spectator of Addison, and that other +great periodical speaker, the Speaker of the House of Commons, on my +powers of listening.</p> +<p>This feeling, and the earnest reception I have met with, are not +the only reasons why I feel a genuine, cordial, and peculiar interest +in this night’s proceedings. The Polytechnic Institution +of Birmingham is in its infancy - struggling into life under all those +adverse and disadvantageous circumstances which, to a greater or less +extent, naturally beset all infancy; but I would much rather connect +myself with it now, however humble, in its days of difficulty and of +danger, than look back on its origin when it may have become strong, +and rich, and powerful. I should prefer an intimate association +with it now, in its early days and apparent struggles, to becoming its +advocate and acquaintance, its fair-weather friend, in its high and +palmy days. I would rather be able to say I knew it in its swaddling-clothes, +than in maturer age. Its two elder brothers have grown old and +died: their chests were weak - about their cradles nurses shook their +heads, and gossips groaned; but the present institution shot up, amidst +the ruin of those which have fallen, with an indomitable constitution, +with vigorous and with steady pulse; temperate, wise, and of good repute; +and by perseverance it has become a very giant. Birmingham is, +in my mind and in the minds of most men, associated with many giants; +and I no more believe that this young institution will turn out sickly, +dwarfish, or of stunted growth, than I do that when the glass-slipper +of my chairmanship shall fall off, and the clock strike twelve to-night, +this hall will be turned into a pumpkin. I found that strong belief +upon the splendid array of grace and beauty by which I am surrounded, +and which, if it only had one-hundredth part of the effect upon others +it has upon me, could do anything it pleased with anything and anybody. +I found my strong conviction, in the second place, upon the public spirit +of the town of Birmingham - upon the name and fame of its capitalists +and working men; upon the greatness and importance of its merchants +and manufacturers; upon its inventions, which are constantly in progress; +upon the skill and intelligence of its artisans, which are daily developed; +and the increasing knowledge of all portions of the community. +All these reasons lead me to the conclusion that your institution will +advance - that it will and must progress, and that you will not be content +with lingering leagues behind.</p> +<p>I have another peculiar ground of satisfaction in connexion with +the object of this assembly; and it is, that the resolutions about to +be proposed do not contain in themselves anything of a sectarian or +class nature; that they do not confine themselves to any one single +institution, but assert the great and omnipotent principles of comprehensive +education everywhere and under every circumstance. I beg leave +to say that I concur, heart and hand, in those principles, and will +do all in my power for their advancement; for I hold, in accordance +with the imperfect knowledge which I possess, that it is impossible +for any fabric of society to go on day after day, and year after year, +from father to son, and from grandfather to grandson, punishing men +for not engaging in the pursuit of virtue and for the practice of crime, +without showing them what virtue is, and where it best can be found +- in justice, religion, and truth. The only reason that can possibly +be adduced against it is one founded on fiction - namely, the case where +an obdurate old geni, in the “Arabian Nights,” was bound +upon taking the life of a merchant, because he had struck out the eye +of his invisible son. I recollect, likewise, a tale in the same +book of charming fancies, which I consider not inappropriate: it is +a case where a powerful spirit has been imprisoned at the bottom of +the sea, in a casket with a leaden cover, and the seal of Solomon upon +it; there he had lain neglected for many centuries, and during that +period had made many different vows: at first, that he would reward +magnificently those who should release him; and at last, that he would +destroy them. Now, there is a spirit of great power - the Spirit +of Ignorance - which is shut up in a vessel of leaden composition, and +sealed with the seal of many, many Solomons, and which is effectually +in the same position: release it in time, and it will bless, restore, +and reanimate society; but let it lie under the rolling waves of years, +and its blind revenge is sure to lead to certain destruction. +That there are classes which, if rightly treated, constitute strength, +and if wrongly, weakness, I hold it impossible to deny - by these classes +I mean industrious, intelligent, and honourably independent men, in +whom the higher classes of Birmingham are especially interested, and +bound to afford them the means of instruction and improvement, and to +ameliorate their mental and moral condition. Far be it from me +(and I wish to be most particularly understood) to attempt to depreciate +the excellent Church Instruction Societies, or the worthy, sincere, +and temperate zeal of those reverend gentlemen by whom they are usually +conducted; on the contrary, I believe that they have done, and are doing, +much good, and are deserving of high praise; but I hope that, without +offence, in a community such as Birmingham, there are other objects +not unworthy in the sight of heaven, and objects of recognised utility +which are worthy of support - principles which are practised in word +and deed in Polytechnic Institutions - principles for the diffusion +of which honest men of all degrees and of every creed might associate +together, on an independent footing and on neutral ground, and at a +small expense, for the better understanding and the greater consideration +of each other, and for the better cultivation of the happiness of all: +for it surely cannot be allowed that those who labour day by day, surrounded +by machinery, shall be permitted to degenerate into machines themselves, +but, on the contrary, they should assert their common origin from their +Creator, at the hands of those who are responsible and thinking men. +There is, indeed, no difference in the main with respect to the dangers +of ignorance and the advantages of knowledge between those who hold +different opinions - for it is to be observed, that those who are most +distrustful of the advantages of education, are always the first to +exclaim against the results of ignorance. This fact was pleasantly +illustrated on the railway, as I came here. In the same carriage +with me there sat an ancient gentleman (I feel no delicacy in alluding +to him, for I know that he is not in the room, having got out far short +of Birmingham), who expressed himself most mournfully as to the ruinous +effects and rapid spread of railways, and was most pathetic upon the +virtues of the slow-going old stage coaches. Now I, entertaining +some little lingering kindness for the road, made shift to express my +concurrence with the old gentleman’s opinion, without any great +compromise of principle. Well, we got on tolerably comfortably +together, and when the engine, with a frightful screech, dived into +some dark abyss, like some strange aquatic monster, the old gentleman +said it would never do, and I agreed with him. When it parted +from each successive station, with a shock and a shriek as if it had +had a double-tooth drawn, the old gentleman shook his head, and I shook +mine. When he burst forth against such new-fangled notions, and +said no good could come of them, I did not contest the point. +But I found that when the speed of the engine was abated, or there was +a prolonged stay at any station, up the old gentleman was at arms, and +his watch was instantly out of his pocket, denouncing the slowness of +our progress. Now I could not help comparing this old gentleman +to that ingenious class of persons who are in the constant habit of +declaiming against the vices and crimes of society, and at the same +time are the first and foremost to assert that vice and crime have not +their common origin in ignorance and discontent.</p> +<p>The good work, however, in spite of all political and party differences, +has been well begun; we are all interested in it; it is advancing, and +cannot be stopped by any opposition, although it may be retarded in +this place or in that, by the indifference of the middle classes, with +whom its successful progress chiefly rests. Of this success I +cannot entertain a doubt; for whenever the working classes have enjoyed +an opportunity of effectually rebutting accusations which falsehood +or thoughtlessness have brought against them, they always avail themselves +of it, and show themselves in their true characters; and it was this +which made the damage done to a single picture in the National Gallery +of London, by some poor lunatic or cripple, a mere matter of newspaper +notoriety and wonder for some few days. This, then, establishes +a fact evident to the meanest comprehension - that any given number +of thousands of individuals, in the humblest walks of life in this country, +can pass through the national galleries or museums in seasons of holiday-making, +without damaging, in the slightest degree, those choice and valuable +collections. I do not myself believe that the working classes +ever were the wanton or mischievous persons they were so often and so +long represented to be; but I rather incline to the opinion that some +men take it into their heads to lay it down as a matter of fact, without +being particular about the premises; and that the idle and the prejudiced, +not wishing to have the trouble of forming opinions for themselves, +take it for granted - until the people have an opportunity of disproving +the stigma and vindicating themselves before the world.</p> +<p>Now this assertion is well illustrated by what occurred respecting +an equestrian statue in the metropolis, with respect to which a legend +existed that the sculptor hanged himself, because he had neglected to +put a girth to the horse. This story was currently believed for +many years, until it was inspected for altogether a different purpose, +and it was found to have had a girth all the time.</p> +<p>But surely if, as is stated, the people are ill-disposed and mischievous, +that is the best reason that can be offered for teaching them better; +and if they are not, surely that is a reason for giving them every opportunity +of vindicating their injured reputation; and no better opportunity could +possibly be afforded than that of associating together voluntarily for +such high purposes as it is proposed to carry out by the establishment +of the Birmingham Polytechnic Institution. In any case - nay, +in every case - if we would reward honesty, if we would hold out encouragement +to good, if we would eradicate that which is evil or correct that which +is bad, education - comprehensive, liberal education - is the one thing +needful, and the only effective end. If I might apply to my purpose, +and turn into plain prose some words of Hamlet - not with reference +to any government or party (for party being, for the most part, an irrational +sort of thing, has no connexion with the object we have in view) - if +I might apply those words to education as Hamlet applied them to the +skull of Yorick, I would say - “Now hie thee to the council-chamber, +and tell them, though they lay it on in sounding thoughts and learned +words an inch thick, to this complexion they must come at last.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>In answer to a vote of thanks, <a name="citation7"></a><a href="#footnote7">{7}</a> +Mr. Dickens said, at the close of the meeting -</p> +<p>“Ladies and gentlemen, we are now quite even - for every effect +which I may have made upon you, the compliment has been amply returned +to me; but at the same time I am as little disposed to say to you, ‘go +and sin no more,’ as I am to promise for myself that ‘I +will never do so again.’ So long as I can make you laugh +and cry, I will; and you will readily believe me, when I tell you, you +cannot do too much on your parts to show that we are still cordial and +loving friends. To you, ladies of the Institution, I am deeply +and especially indebted. I sometimes [<i>pointing to the word</i> +‘<i>Boz</i>’ <i>in front of the great gallery</i>] think +there is some small quantity of magic in that very short name, and that +it must consist in its containing as many letters as the three graces, +and they, every one of them, being of your fair sisterhood.</p> +<p>A story is told of an eastern potentate of modern times, who, for +an eastern potentate, was a tolerably good man, sometimes bowstringing +his dependants indiscriminately in his moments of anger, but burying +them in great splendour in his moments of penitence, that whenever intelligence +was brought him of a new plot or turbulent conspiracy, his first inquiry +was, ‘Who is she?’ meaning that a woman was at the bottom. +Now, in my small way, I differ from that potentate; for when there is +any good to be attained, the services of any ministering angel required, +my first inquiry is, ‘Where is she?’ and the answer invariably +is, ‘Here.’ Proud and happy am I indeed to thank you +for your generosity -</p> +<p>‘A thousand times, good night;<br />A thousand times the worse +to want your light.’</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: GARDENERS AND GARDENING. LONDON, JUNE 14, 1852.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The Ninth Anniversary Dinner of the Gardeners’ Benevolent +Institution was held on the above date at the London Tavern. The +company numbered more than 150. The dessert was worthy of the +occasion, and an admirable effect was produced by a profuse display +of natural flowers upon the tables and in the decoration of the room. +The chair was taken by Mr. Charles Dickens, who, in proposing the toast +of the evening, spoke as follows:-]</p> +<p>For three times three years the Gardeners’ Benevolent Institution +has been stimulated and encouraged by meetings such as this, and by +three times three cheers we will urge it onward in its prosperous career. +[<i>The</i> <i>cheers were warmly given</i>.]</p> +<p>Occupying the post I now do, I feel something like a counsel for +the plaintiff with nobody on the other side; but even if I had been +placed in that position ninety times nine, it would still be my duty +to state a few facts from the very short brief with which I have been +provided.</p> +<p>This Institution was founded in the year 1838. During the first +five years of its existence, it was not particularly robust, and seemed +to have been placed in rather a shaded position, receiving somewhat +more than its needful allowance of cold water. In 1843 it was +removed into a more favourable position, and grafted on a nobler stock, +and it has now borne fruit, and become such a vigorous tree that at +present thirty-five old people daily sit within the shelter of its branches, +and all the pensioners upon the list have been veritable gardeners, +or the wives of gardeners. It is managed by gardeners, and it +has upon its books the excellent rule that any gardener who has subscribed +to it for fifteen years, and conformed to the rules, may, if he will, +be placed upon the pensioners’ list without election, without +canvass, without solicitation, and as his independent right. I +lay very great stress upon that honourable characteristic of the charity, +because the main principle of any such institution should be to help +those who help themselves. That the Society’s pensioners +do not become such so long as they are able to support themselves, is +evinced by the significant fact that the average age of those now upon +the list is seventy-seven; that they are not wasteful is proved by the +fact that the whole sum expended on their relief is but £500 a-year; +that the Institution does not restrict itself to any narrow confines, +is shown by the circumstance, that the pensioners come from all parts +of England, whilst all the expenses are paid from the annual income +and interest on stock, and therefore are not disproportionate to its +means.</p> +<p>Such is the Institution which appeals to you through me, as a most +unworthy advocate, for sympathy and support, an Institution which has +for its President a nobleman <a name="citation8"></a><a href="#footnote8">{8}</a> +whose whole possessions are remarkable for taste and beauty, and whose +gardener’s laurels are famous throughout the world. In the +list of its vice-presidents there are the names of many noblemen and +gentlemen of great influence and station, and I have been struck in +glancing through the list of its supporters, with the sums written against +the names of the numerous nurserymen and seedsmen therein comprised. +I hope the day will come when every gardener in England will be a member +of the charity.</p> +<p>The gardener particularly needs such a provision as this Institution +affords. His gains are not great; he knows gold and silver more +as being of the colour of fruits and flowers than by its presence in +his pockets; he is subjected to that kind of labour which renders him +peculiarly liable to infirmity; and when old age comes upon him, the +gardener is of all men perhaps best able to appreciate the merits of +such an institution.</p> +<p>To all indeed, present and absent, who are descended from the first</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“gardener Adam and his wife,”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>the benefits of such a society are obvious. In the culture +of flowers there cannot, by their very nature, be anything, solitary +or exclusive. The wind that blows over the cottager’s porch, +sweeps also over the grounds of the nobleman; and as the rain descends +on the just and on the unjust, so it communicates to all gardeners, +both rich and poor, an interchange of pleasure and enjoyment; and the +gardener of the rich man, in developing and enhancing a fruitful flavour +or a delightful scent, is, in some sort, the gardener of everybody else.</p> +<p>The love of gardening is associated with all conditions of men, and +all periods of time. The scholar and the statesman, men of peace +and men of war, have agreed in all ages to delight in gardens. +The most ancient people of the earth had gardens where there is now +nothing but solitary heaps of earth. The poor man in crowded cities +gardens still in jugs and basins and bottles: in factories and workshops +people garden; and even the prisoner is found gardening in his lonely +cell, after years and years of solitary confinement. Surely, then, +the gardener who produces shapes and objects so lovely and so comforting, +should have some hold upon the world’s remembrance when he himself +becomes in need of comfort.</p> +<p>I will call upon you to drink “Prosperity to the Gardeners’ +Benevolent Institution,” and I beg to couple with that toast the +name of its noble President, the Duke of Devonshire, whose worth is +written in all his deeds, and who has communicated to his title and +his riches a lustre which no title and no riches could confer.</p> +<p>[Later in the evening, Mr. Dickens said:-]</p> +<p>My office has compelled me to burst into bloom so often that I could +wish there were a closer parallel between myself and the American aloe. +It is particularly agreeable and appropriate to know that the parents +of this Institution are to be found in the seed and nursery trade; and +the seed having yielded such good fruit, and the nursery having produced +such a healthy child, I have the greatest pleasure in proposing the +health of the parents of the Institution.</p> +<p>[In proposing the health of the Treasurers, Mr. Dickens said:-]</p> +<p>My observation of the signboards of this country has taught me that +its conventional gardeners are always jolly, and always three in number. +Whether that conventionality has reference to the Three Graces, or to +those very significant letters, L., S., D., I do not know. Those +mystic letters are, however, most important, and no society can have +officers of more importance than its Treasurers, nor can it possibly +give them too much to do.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: BIRMINGHAM, JANUARY 6, 1853.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On Thursday, January 6, 1853, at the rooms of the Society of Artists, +in Temple Row, Birmingham, a large company assembled to witness the +presentation of a testimonial to Mr. Charles Dickens, consisting of +a silver-gilt salver and a diamond ring. Mr. Dickens acknowledged +the tribute, and the address which accompanied it, in the following +words:-]</p> +<p>Gentlemen, I feel it very difficult, I assure you, to tender my acknowledgments +to you, and through you, to those many friends of mine whom you represent, +for this honour and distinction which you have conferred upon me. +I can most honestly assure you, that it is in the power of no great +representative of numbers of people to awaken such happiness in me as +is inspired by this token of goodwill and remembrance, coming to me +direct and fresh from the numbers themselves. I am truly sensible, +gentlemen, that my friends who have united in this address are partial +in their kindness, and regard what I have done with too great favour. +But I may say, with reference to one class - some members of which, +I presume, are included there - that I should in my own eyes be very +unworthy both of the generous gift and the generous feeling which has +been evinced, and this occasion, instead of pleasure, would give me +nothing but pain, if I was unable to assure them, and those who are +in front of this assembly, that what the working people have found me +towards them in my books, I am throughout my life. Gentlemen, +whenever I have tried to hold up to admiration their fortitude, patience, +gentleness, the reasonableness of their nature, so accessible to persuasion, +and their extraordinary goodness one towards another, I have done so +because I have first genuinely felt that admiration myself, and have +been thoroughly imbued with the sentiment which I sought to communicate +to others.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, I accept this salver and this ring as far above all price +to me, as very valuable in themselves, and as beautiful specimens of +the workmanship of this town, with great emotion, I assure you, and +with the liveliest gratitude. You remember something, I daresay, +of the old romantic stories of those charmed rings which would lose +their brilliance when their wearer was in danger, or would press his +finger reproachfully when he was going to do wrong. In the very +improbable event of my being in the least danger of deserting the principles +which have won me these tokens, I am sure the diamond in that ring would +assume a clouded aspect to my faithless eye, and would, I know, squeeze +a throb of pain out of my treacherous heart. But I have not the +least misgiving on that point; and, in this confident expectation, I +shall remove my own old diamond ring from my left hand, and in future +wear the Birmingham ring on my right, where its grasp will keep me in +mind of the good friends I have here, and in vivid remembrance of this +happy hour.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, in conclusion, allow me to thank you and the Society to +whom these rooms belong, that the presentation has taken place in an +atmosphere so congenial to me, and in an apartment decorated with so +many beautiful works of art, among which I recognize before me the productions +of friends of mine, whose labours and triumphs will never be subjects +of indifference to me. I thank those gentlemen for giving me the +opportunity of meeting them here on an occasion which has some connexion +with their own proceedings; and, though last not least, I tender my +acknowledgments to that charming presence, without which nothing beautiful +can be complete, and which is endearingly associated with rings of a +plainer description, and which, I must confess, awakens in my mind at +the present moment a feeling of regret that I am not in a condition +to make an offer of these testimonials. I beg you, gentlemen, +to commend me very earnestly and gratefully to our absent friends, and +to assure them of my affectionate and heartfelt respect.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>The company then adjourned to Dee’s Hotel, where a banquet +took place, at which about 220 persons were present, among whom were +some of the most distinguished of the Royal Academicians. To the +toast of “The Literature of England,” Mr. Dickens responded +as follows:-</p> +<p>Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen, I am happy, on behalf of many labourers +in that great field of literature to which you have pledged the toast, +to thank you for the tribute you have paid to it. Such an honour, +rendered by acclamation in such a place as this, seems to me, if I may +follow on the same side as the venerable Archdeacon (Sandford) who lately +addressed you, and who has inspired me with a gratification I can never +forget - such an honour, gentlemen, rendered here, seems to me a two-sided +illustration of the position that literature holds in these latter and, +of course, “degenerate” days. To the great compact +phalanx of the people, by whose industry, perseverance, and intelligence, +and their result in money-wealth, such places as Birmingham, and many +others like it, have arisen - to that great centre of support, that +comprehensive experience, and that beating heart, literature has turned +happily from individual patrons - sometimes munificent, often sordid, +always few - and has there found at once its highest purpose, its natural +range of action, and its best reward. Therefore it is right also, +as it seems to me, not only that literature should receive honour here, +but that it should render honour, too, remembering that if it has undoubtedly +done good to Birmingham, Birmingham has undoubtedly done good to it. +From the shame of the purchased dedication, from the scurrilous and +dirty work of Grub Street, from the dependent seat on sufferance at +my Lord Duke’s table to-day, and from the sponging-house or Marshalsea +to-morrow - from that venality which, by a fine moral retribution, has +degraded statesmen even to a greater extent than authors, because the +statesman entertained a low belief in the universality of corruption, +while the author yielded only to the dire necessity of his calling - +from all such evils the people have set literature free. And my +creed in the exercise of that profession is, that literature cannot +be too faithful to the people in return - cannot too ardently advocate +the cause of their advancement, happiness, and prosperity. I have +heard it sometimes said - and what is worse, as expressing something +more cold-blooded, I have sometimes seen it written - that literature +has suffered by this change, that it has degenerated by being made cheaper. +I have not found that to be the case: nor do I believe that you have +made the discovery either. But let a good book in these “bad” +times be made accessible, - even upon an abstruse and difficult subject, +so that it be one of legitimate interest to mankind, - and my life on +it, it shall be extensively bought, read, and well considered.</p> +<p>Why do I say this? Because I believe there are in Birmingham +at this moment many working men infinitely better versed in Shakespeare +and in Milton than the average of fine gentlemen in the days of bought-and-sold +dedications and dear books. I ask anyone to consider for himself +who, at this time, gives the greatest relative encouragement to the +dissemination of such useful publications as “Macaulay’s +History,” “Layard’s Researches,” “Tennyson’s +Poems,” “The Duke of Wellington’s published Despatches,” +or the minutest truths (if any truth can be called minute) discovered +by the genius of a Herschel or a Faraday? It is with all these +things as with the great music of Mendelssohn, or a lecture upon art +- if we had the good fortune to listen to one to-morrow - by my distinguished +friend the President of the Royal Academy. However small the audience, +however contracted the circle in the water, in the first instance, the +people are nearer the wider range outside, and the Sister Arts, while +they instruct them, derive a wholesome advantage and improvement from +their ready sympathy and cordial response. I may instance the +case of my friend Mr. Ward’s magnificent picture; <a name="citation9"></a><a href="#footnote9">{9}</a> +and the reception of that picture here is an example that it is not +now the province of art in painting to hold itself in monastic seclusion, +that it cannot hope to rest on a single foundation for its great temple, +- on the mere classic pose of a figure, or the folds of a drapery - +but that it must be imbued with human passions and action, informed +with human right and wrong, and, being so informed, it may fearlessly +put itself upon its trial, like the criminal of old, to be judged by +God and its country.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, to return and conclude, as I shall have occasion to trouble +you again. For this time I have only once again to repeat what +I have already said. As I begun with literature, I shall end with +it. I would simply say that I believe no true man, with anything +to tell, need have the least misgiving, either for himself or his message, +before a large number of hearers - always supposing that he be not afflicted +with the coxcombical idea of writing down to the popular intelligence, +instead of writing the popular intelligence up to himself, if, perchance, +he be above it; - and, provided always that he deliver himself plainly +of what is in him, which seems to be no unreasonable stipulation, it +being supposed that he has some dim design of making himself understood. +On behalf of that literature to which you have done so much honour, +I beg to thank you most cordially, and on my own behalf, for the most +flattering reception you have given to one whose claim is, that he has +the distinction of making it his profession.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>[Later in the evening, Mr. Dickens gave as a toast, “The Educational +Institutions of Birmingham,” in the following speech:]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>I am requested to propose - or, according to the hypothesis of my +friend, Mr. Owen, I am in the temporary character of a walking advertisement +to advertise to you - the Educational Institutions of Birmingham; an +advertisement to which I have the greatest pleasure in calling your +attention, Gentlemen, it is right that I should, in so many words, mention +the more prominent of these institutions, not because your local memories +require any prompting, but because the enumeration implies what has +been done here, what you are doing, and what you will yet do. +I believe the first is the King Edward’s Grammar School, with +its various branches, and prominent among them is that most admirable +means of training the wives of working men to be good wives and working +wives, the prime ornament of their homes, and the cause of happiness +to others - I mean those excellent girls’ schools in various parts +of the town, which, under the excellent superintendence of the principal, +I should most sincerely desire to see in every town in England. +Next, I believe, is the Spring Hill College, a learned institution belonging +to the body of Independents, foremost among whose professors literature +is proud to hail Mr. Henry Rogers as one of the soundest and ablest +contributors to the Edinburgh Review. The next is the Queen’s +College, which, I may say, is only a newly-born child; but, in the hands +of such an admirable Doctor, we may hope to see it arrive at a vigorous +maturity. The next is the School of Design, which, as has been +well observed by my friend Sir Charles Eastlake, is invaluable in such +a place as this; and, lastly, there is the Polytechnic Institution, +with regard to which I had long ago occasion to express my profound +conviction that it was of unspeakable importance to such a community +as this, when I had the honour to be present, under the auspices of +your excellent representative, Mr. Scholefield. This is the last +of what has been done in an educational way. They are all admirable +in their kind; but I am glad to find that more is yet doing. A +few days ago I received a Birmingham newspaper, containing a most interesting +account of a preliminary meeting for the formation of a Reformatory +School for juvenile delinquents. You are not exempt here from +the honour of saving these poor, neglected, and wretched outcasts. +I read of one infant, six years old, who has been twice as many times +in the hands of the police as years have passed over his devoted head. +These are the eggs from which gaol-birds are hatched; if you wish to +check that dreadful brood, you must take the young and innocent, and +have them reared by Christian hands.</p> +<p>Lastly, I am rejoiced to find that there is on foot a scheme for +a new Literary and Scientific Institution, which would be worthy even +of this place, if there was nothing of the kind in it - an institution, +as I understand it, where the words “exclusion” and “exclusiveness” +shall be quite unknown - where all classes may assemble in common trust, +respect, and confidence - where there shall be a great gallery of painting +and statuary open to the inspection and admiration of all comers - where +there shall be a museum of models in which industry may observe its +various sources of manufacture, and the mechanic may work out new combinations, +and arrive at new results - where the very mines under the earth and +under the sea shall not be forgotten, but presented in little to the +inquiring eye - an institution, in short, where many and many of the +obstacles which now inevitably stand in the rugged way of the poor inventor +shall be smoothed away, and where, if he have anything in him, he will +find encouragement and hope.</p> +<p>I observe with unusual interest and gratification, that a body of +gentlemen are going for a time to lay aside their individual prepossessions +on other subjects, and, as good citizens, are to be engaged in a design +as patriotic as well can be. They have the intention of meeting +in a few days to advance this great object, and I call upon you, in +drinking this toast, to drink success to their endeavour, and to make +it the pledge by all good means to promote it.</p> +<p>If I strictly followed out the list of educational institutions in +Birmingham, I should not have done here, but I intend to stop, merely +observing that I have seen within a short walk of this place one of +the most interesting and practical Institutions for the Deaf and Dumb +that has ever come under my observation. I have seen in the factories +and workshops of Birmingham such beautiful order and regularity, and +such great consideration for the workpeople provided, that they might +justly be entitled to be considered educational too. I have seen +in your splendid Town Hall, when the cheap concerts are going on there, +also an admirable educational institution. I have seen their results +in the demeanour of your working people, excellently balanced by a nice +instinct, as free from servility on the one hand, as from self-conceit +on the other. It is a perfect delight to have need to ask a question, +if only from the manner of the reply - a manner I never knew to pass +unnoticed by an observant stranger. Gather up those threads, and +a great marry more I have not touched upon, and weaving all into one +good fabric, remember how much is included under the general head of +the Educational Institutions of your town.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, APRIL 30, 1853.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[At the annual Dinner of the Royal Academy, the President, Sir Charles +Eastlake, proposed as a toast, “The Interests of Literature,” +and selected for the representatives of the world of letters, the Dean +of St. Paul’s and Mr. Charles Dickens. Dean Milman having +returned thanks.]</p> +<p>Mr Dickens then addressed the President, who, it should be mentioned, +occupied a large and handsome chair, the back covered with crimson velvet, +placed just before Stanfield’s picture of <i>The Victory.</i></p> +<p>Mr. Dickens, after tendering his acknowledgments of the toast, and +the honour done him in associating his name with it, said that those +acknowledgments were not the less heartfelt because he was unable to +recognize in this toast the President’s usual disinterestedness; +since English literature could scarcely be remembered in any place, +and, certainly, not in a school of art, without a very distinct remembrance +of his own tasteful writings, to say nothing of that other and better +part of himself, which, unfortunately, was not visible upon these occasions.</p> +<p>If, like the noble Lord, the Commander-in-Chief (Viscount Hardinge), +he (Mr. Dickens) might venture to illustrate his brief thanks with one +word of reference to the noble picture painted by a very dear friend +of his, which was a little eclipsed that evening by the radiant and +rubicund chair which the President now so happily toned down, he would +beg leave to say that, as literature could nowhere be more appropriately +honoured than in that place, so he thought she could nowhere feel a +higher gratification in the ties that bound her to the sister arts. +He ever felt in that place that literature found, through their instrumentality, +always a new expression, and in a universal language.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 1, 1853</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[At a dinner given by the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House, on the +above date, Mr. Justice Talfourd proposed as a toast “Anglo-Saxon +Literature,” and alluded to Mr. Dickens as having employed fiction +as a means of awakening attention to the condition of the oppressed +and suffering classes:-]</p> +<p>“Mr. Dickens replied to this toast in a graceful and playful +strain. In the former part of the evening, in reply to a toast +on the chancery department, Vice-Chancellor Wood, who spoke in the absence +of the Lord Chancellor, made a sort of defence of the Court of Chancery, +not distinctly alluding to Bleak House, but evidently not without reference +to it. The amount of what he said was, that the Court had received +a great many more hard opinions than it merited; that they had been +parsimoniously obliged to perform a great amount of business by a very +inadequate number of judges; but that more recently the number of judges +had been increased to seven, and there was reason to hope that all business +brought before it would now be performed without unnecessary delay.</p> +<p>“Mr. Dickens alluded playfully to this item of intelligence; +said he was exceedingly happy to hear it, as he trusted now that a suit, +in which he was greatly interested, would speedily come to an end. +I heard a little by-conversation between Mr. Dickens and a gentleman +of the bar, who sat opposite me, in which the latter seemed to be reiterating +the same assertions, and I understood him to say, that a case not extraordinarily +complicated might be got through with in three months. Mr. Dickens +said he was very happy to hear it; but I fancied there was a little +shade of incredulity in his manner; however, the incident showed one +thing, that is, that the chancery were not insensible to the representations +of Dickens; but the whole tone of the thing was quite good-natured and +agreeable.” <a name="citation10"></a><a href="#footnote10">{10}</a></p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: BIRMINGHAM, DECEMBER 30, 1853.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The first of the Readings generously given by Mr. Charles Dickens +on behalf of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, took place on Tuesday +evening, December 27, 1853, at the Birmingham Town Hall, where, notwithstanding +the inclemency of the weather, nearly two thousand persons had assembled. +The work selected was the <i>Christmas Carol</i>. The high mimetic +powers possessed by Mr. Dickens enabled him to personate with remarkable +force the various characters of the story, and with admirable skill +to pass rapidly from the hard, unbelieving Scrooge, to trusting and +thankful Bob Cratchit, and from the genial fulness of Scrooge’s +nephew, to the hideous mirth of the party assembled in Old Joe the Ragshop-keeper’s +parlour. The reading occupied more than three hours, but so interested +were the audience, that only one or two left the Hall previously to +its termination, and the loud and frequent bursts of applause attested +the successful discharge of the reader’s arduous task. On +Thursday evening Mr. Dickens read <i>The Cricket on the Hearth</i>. +The Hall was again well ruled, and the tale, though deficient in the +dramatic interest of the <i>Carol</i>, was listened to with attention, +and rewarded with repeated applause. On Friday evening, the <i>Christmas +Carol</i> was read a second time to a large assemblage of work-people, +for whom, at Mr. Dickens’s special request, the major part of +the vast edifice was reserved. Before commencing the tale, Mr. +Dickens delivered the following brief address, almost every sentence +of which was received with loudly expressed applause.]</p> +<p>My Good Friends, - When I first imparted to the committee of the +projected Institute my particular wish that on one of the evenings of +my readings here the main body of my audience should be composed of +working men and their families, I was animated by two desires; first, +by the wish to have the great pleasure of meeting you face to face at +this Christmas time, and accompany you myself through one of my little +Christmas books; and second, by the wish to have an opportunity of stating +publicly in your presence, and in the presence of the committee, my +earnest hope that the Institute will, from the beginning, recognise +one great principle - strong in reason and justice - which I believe +to be essential to the very life of such an Institution. It is, +that the working man shall, from the first unto the last, have a share +in the management of an Institution which is designed for his benefit, +and which calls itself by his name.</p> +<p>I have no fear here of being misunderstood - of being supposed to +mean too much in this. If there ever was a time when any one class +could of itself do much for its own good, and for the welfare of society +- which I greatly doubt - that time is unquestionably past. It +is in the fusion of different classes, without confusion; in the bringing +together of employers and employed; in the creating of a better common +understanding among those whose interests are identical, who depend +upon each other, who are vitally essential to each other, and who never +can be in unnatural antagonism without deplorable results, that one +of the chief principles of a Mechanics’ Institution should consist. +In this world a great deal of the bitterness among us arises from an +imperfect understanding of one another. Erect in Birmingham a +great Educational Institution, properly educational; educational of +the feelings as well as of the reason; to which all orders of Birmingham +men contribute; in which all orders of Birmingham men meet; wherein +all orders of Birmingham men are faithfully represented - and you will +erect a Temple of Concord here which will be a model edifice to the +whole of England.</p> +<p>Contemplating as I do the existence of the Artisans’ Committee, +which not long ago considered the establishment of the Institute so +sensibly, and supported it so heartily, I earnestly entreat the gentlemen +- earnest I know in the good work, and who are now among us, - by all +means to avoid the great shortcoming of similar institutions; and in +asking the working man for his confidence, to set him the great example +and give him theirs in return. You will judge for yourselves if +I promise too much for the working man, when I say that he will stand +by such an enterprise with the utmost of his patience, his perseverance, +sense, and support; that I am sure he will need no charitable aid or +condescending patronage; but will readily and cheerfully pay for the +advantages which it confers; that he will prepare himself in individual +cases where he feels that the adverse circumstances around him have +rendered it necessary; in a word, that he will feel his responsibility +like an honest man, and will most honestly and manfully discharge it. +I now proceed to the pleasant task to which I assure you I have looked +forward for a long time.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>[At the close of the reading Mr. Dickens received a vote of thanks, +and “three cheers, with three times three.” As soon +as the enthusiasm of the audience would allow him to speak, Mr. Dickens +said:-]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>You have heard so much of my voice since we met to-night, that I +will only say, in acknowledgment of this affecting mark of your regard, +that I am truly and sincerely interested in you; that any little service +I have rendered to you I have freely rendered from my heart; that I +hope to become an honorary member of your great Institution, and will +meet you often there when it becomes practically useful; that I thank +you most affectionately for this new mark of your sympathy and approval; +and that I wish you many happy returns of this great birthday-time, +and many prosperous years.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS. LONDON, DECEMBER 30, 1854.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The following speech was made by Mr. Dickens at the Anniversary +Dinner in commemoration of the foundation of the Commercial Travellers’ +Schools, held at the London Tavern on the above date. Mr. Dickens +presided on this occasion, and proposed the toasts.]</p> +<p>I think it may be assumed that most of us here present know something +about travelling. I do not mean in distant regions or foreign +countries, although I dare say some of us have had experience in that +way, but at home, and within the limits of the United Kingdom. +I dare say most of us have had experience of the extinct “fast +coaches,” the “Wonders,” “Taglionis,” +and “Tallyhos,” of other days. I daresay most of us +remember certain modest postchaises, dragging us down interminable roads, +through slush and mud, to little country towns with no visible population, +except half-a-dozen men in smock-frocks, half-a-dozen women with umbrellas +and pattens, and a washed-out dog or so shivering under the gables, +to complete the desolate picture. We can all discourse, I dare +say, if so minded, about our recollections of the “Talbot,” +the “Queen’s Head,” or the “Lion” of those +days. We have all been to that room on the ground floor on one +side of the old inn yard, not quite free from a certain fragrant smell +of tobacco, where the cruets on the sideboard were usually absorbed +by the skirts of the box-coats that hung from the wall; where awkward +servants waylaid us at every turn, like so many human man-traps; where +county members, framed and glazed, were eternally presenting that petition +which, somehow or other, had made their glory in the county, although +nothing else had ever come of it. Where the books in the windows +always wanted the first, last, and middle leaves, and where the one +man was always arriving at some unusual hour in the night, and requiring +his breakfast at a similarly singular period of the day. I have +no doubt we could all be very eloquent on the comforts of our favourite +hotel, wherever it was - its beds, its stables, its vast amount of posting, +its excellent cheese, its head waiter, its capital dishes, its pigeon-pies, +or its 1820 port. Or possibly we could recal our chaste and innocent +admiration of its landlady, or our fraternal regard for its handsome +chambermaid. A celebrated domestic critic once writing of a famous +actress, renowned for her virtue and beauty, gave her the character +of being an “eminently gatherable-to-one’s-arms sort of +person.” Perhaps some one amongst us has borne a somewhat +similar tribute to the mental charms of the fair deities who presided +at our hotels.</p> +<p>With the travelling characteristics of later times, we are all, no +doubt, equally familiar. We know all about that station to which +we must take our ticket, although we never get there; and the other +one at which we arrive after dark, certain to find it half a mile from +the town, where the old road is sure to have been abolished, and the +new road is going to be made - where the old neighbourhood has been +tumbled down, and the new one is not half built up. We know all +about that party on the platform who, with the best intentions, can +do nothing for our luggage except pitch it into all sorts of unattainable +places. We know all about that short omnibus, in which one is +to be doubled up, to the imminent danger of the crown of one’s +hat; and about that fly, whose leading peculiarity is never to be there +when it is wanted. We know, too, how instantaneously the lights +of the station disappear when the train starts, and about that grope +to the new Railway Hotel, which will be an excellent house when the +customers come, but which at present has nothing to offer but a liberal +allowance of damp mortar and new lime.</p> +<p>I record these little incidents of home travel mainly with the object +of increasing your interest in the purpose of this night’s assemblage. +Every traveller has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it +the more from his wandering. If he has no home, he learns the +same lesson unselfishly by turning to the homes of other men. +He may have his experiences of cheerful and exciting pleasures abroad; +but home is the best, after all, and its pleasures are the most heartily +and enduringly prized. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, every +one must be prepared to learn that commercial travellers, as a body, +know how to prize those domestic relations from which their pursuits +so frequently sever them; for no one could possibly invent a more delightful +or more convincing testimony to the fact than they themselves have offered +in founding and maintaining a school for the children of deceased or +unfortunate members of their own body; those children who now appeal +to you in mute but eloquent terms from the gallery.</p> +<p>It is to support that school, founded with such high and friendly +objects, so very honourable to your calling, and so useful in its solid +and practical results, that we are here to-night. It is to roof +that building which is to shelter the children of your deceased friends +with one crowning ornament, the best that any building can have, namely, +a receipt stamp for the full amount of the cost. It is for this +that your active sympathy is appealed to, for the completion of your +own good work. You know how to put your hands to the plough in +earnest as well as any men in existence, for this little book informs +me that you raised last year no less a sum than £8000, and while +fully half of that sum consisted of new donations to the building fund, +I find that the regular revenue of the charity has only suffered to +the extent of £30. After this, I most earnestly and sincerely +say that were we all authors together, I might boast, if in my profession +were exhibited the same unity and steadfastness I find in yours.</p> +<p>I will not urge on you the casualties of a life of travel, or the +vicissitudes of business, or the claims fostered by that bond of brotherhood +which ought always to exist amongst men who are united in a common pursuit. +You have already recognized those claims so nobly, that I will not presume +to lay them before you in any further detail. Suffice it to say +that I do not think it is in your nature to do things by halves. +I do not think you could do so if you tried, and I have a moral certainty +that you never will try. To those gentlemen present who are not +members of the travellers’ body, I will say in the words of the +French proverb, “Heaven helps those who help themselves.” +The Commercial Travellers having helped themselves so gallantly, it +is clear that the visitors who come as a sort of celestial representatives +ought to bring that aid in their pockets which the precept teaches us +to expect from them. With these few remarks, I beg to give you +as a toast, “Success to the Commercial Travellers’ School.”</p> +<p>[In proposing the health of the Army in the Crimea, Mr. Dickens said:-]</p> +<p>IT does not require any extraordinary sagacity in a commercial assembly +to appreciate the dire evils of war. The great interests of trade +enfeebled by it, the enterprise of better times paralysed by it, all +the peaceful arts bent down before it, too palpably indicate its character +and results, so that far less practical intelligence than that by which +I am surrounded would be sufficient to appreciate the horrors of war. +But there are seasons when the evils of peace, though not so acutely +felt, are immeasurably greater, and when a powerful nation, by admitting +the right of any autocrat to do wrong, sows by such complicity the seeds +of its own ruin, and overshadows itself in time to come with that fatal +influence which great and ambitious powers are sure to exercise over +their weaker neighbours.</p> +<p>Therefore it is, ladies and gentlemen, that the tree has not its +root in English ground from which the yard wand can be made that will +measure - the mine has not its place in English soil that will supply +the material of a pair of scales to weigh the influence that may be +at stake in the war in which we are now straining all our energies. +That war is, at any time and in any shape, a most dreadful and deplorable +calamity, we need no proverb to tell us; but it is just because it is +such a calamity, and because that calamity must not for ever be impending +over us at the fancy of one man against all mankind, that we must not +allow that man to darken from our view the figures of peace and justice +between whom and us he now interposes.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, if ever there were a time when the true spirits +of two countries were really fighting in the cause of human advancement +and freedom - no matter what diplomatic notes or other nameless botherations, +from number one to one hundred thousand and one, may have preceded their +taking the field - if ever there were a time when noble hearts were +deserving well of mankind by exposing themselves to the obedient bayonets +of a rash and barbarian tyrant, it is now, when the faithful children +of England and France are fighting so bravely in the Crimea. Those +faithful children are the admiration and wonder of the world, so gallantly +are they discharging their duty; and therefore I propose to an assembly, +emphatically representing the interests and arts of peace, to drink +the health of the Allied Armies of England and France, with all possible +honours.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>[In proposing the health of the Treasurer, Mr. Dickens said:-]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>If the President of this Institution had been here, I should possibly +have made one of the best speeches you ever heard; but as he is not +here, I shall turn to the next toast on my list:- “The health +of your worthy Treasurer, Mr. George Moore,” a name which is a +synonym for integrity, enterprise, public spirit, and benevolence. +He is one of the most zealous officers I ever saw in my life; he appears +to me to have been doing nothing during the last week but rushing into +and out of railway-carriages, and making eloquent speeches at all sorts +of public dinners in favour of this charity. Last evening he was +at Manchester, and this evening he comes here, sacrificing his time +and convenience, and exhausting in the meantime the contents of two +vast leaden inkstands and no end of pens, with the energy of fifty bankers’ +clerks rolled into one. But I clearly foresee that the Treasurer +will have so much to do to-night, such gratifying sums to acknowledge +and such large lines of figures to write in his books, that I feel the +greatest consideration I can show him is to propose his health without +further observation, leaving him to address you in his own behalf. +I propose to you, therefore, the health of Mr. George Moore, the Treasurer +of this charity, and I need hardly add that it is one which is to be +drunk with all the honours.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>[Later in the evening, Mr. Dickens rose and said:-]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>So many travellers have been going up Mont Blanc lately, both in +fact and in fiction, that I have heard recently of a proposal for the +establishment of a Company to employ Sir Joseph Paxton to take it down. +Only one of those travellers, however, has been enabled to bring Mont +Blanc to Piccadilly, and, by his own ability and good humour, so to +thaw its eternal ice and snow, as that the most timid lady may ascend +it twice a-day, “during the holidays,” without the smallest +danger or fatigue. Mr. Albert Smith, who is present amongst us +to-night, is undoubtedly “a traveller.” I do not know +whether he takes many orders, but this I can testify, on behalf of the +children of his friends, that he gives them in the most liberal manner.</p> +<p>We have also amongst us my friend Mr. Peter Cunningham, who is also +a traveller, not only in right of his able edition of Goldsmith’s +“Traveller,” but in right of his admirable Handbook, which +proves him to be a traveller in the right spirit through all the labyrinths +of London. We have also amongst us my friend Horace Mayhew, very +well known also for his books, but especially for his genuine admiration +of the company at that end of the room [<i>Mr. Dickens here pointed +to the ladies gallery</i>], and who, whenever the fair sex is mentioned, +will be found to have the liveliest personal interest in the conversation.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, I am about to propose to you the health of +these three distinguished visitors. They are all admirable speakers, +but Mr. Albert Smith has confessed to me, that on fairly balancing his +own merits as a speaker and a singer, he rather thinks he excels in +the latter art. I have, therefore, yielded to his estimate of +himself, and I have now the pleasure of informing you that he will lead +off the speeches of the other two gentlemen with a song. Mr. Albert +Smith has just said to me in an earnest tone of voice, “What song +would you recommend?” and I replied, “Galignani’s +Messenger.” Ladies and gentlemen, I therefore beg to propose +the health of Messrs. Albert Smith, Peter Cunningham, and Horace +Mayhew, and call on the first-named gentleman for a song.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM. THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY LANE, +WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1855.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>I cannot, I am sure, better express my sense of the kind reception +accorded to me by this great assembly, than by promising to compress +what I shall address to it within the closest possible limits. +It is more than eighteen hundred years ago, since there was a set of +men who “thought they should be heard for their much speaking.” +As they have propagated exceedingly since that time, and as I observe +that they flourish just now to a surprising extent about Westminster, +I will do my best to avoid adding to the numbers of that prolific race. +The noble lord at the head of the Government, when he wondered in Parliament +about a week ago, that my friend, Mr. Layard, did not blush for having +stated in this place what the whole country knows perfectly well to +be true, and what no man in it can by possibility better know to be +true than those disinterested supporters of that noble lord, who had +the advantage of hearing him and cheering him night after night, when +he first became premier - I mean that he did officially and habitually +joke, at a time when this country was plunged in deep disgrace and distress +- I say, that noble lord, when he wondered so much that the man of this +age, who has, by his earnest and adventurous spirit, done the most to +distinguish himself and it, did not blush for the tremendous audacity +of having so come between the wind and his nobility, turned an airy +period with reference to the private theatricals at Drury Lane Theatre. +Now, I have some slight acquaintance with theatricals, private and public, +and I will accept that figure of the noble lord. I will not say +that if I wanted to form a company of Her Majesty’s servants, +I think I should know where to put my hand on “the comic old gentleman;” +nor, that if I wanted to get up a pantomime, I fancy I should know what +establishment to go to for the tricks and changes; also, for a very +considerable host of supernumeraries, to trip one another up in that +contention with which many of us are familiar, both on these and on +other boards, in which the principal objects thrown about are loaves +and fishes. But I will try to give the noble lord the reason for +these private theatricals, and the reason why, however ardently he may +desire to ring the curtain down upon them, there is not the faintest +present hope of their coming to a conclusion. It is this:- The +public theatricals which the noble lord is so condescending as to manage +are so intolerably bad, the machinery is so cumbrous, the parts so ill-distributed, +the company so full of “walking gentlemen,” the managers +have such large families, and are so bent upon putting those families +into what is theatrically called “first business” - not +because of their aptitude for it, but because they <i>are</i> their +families, that we find ourselves obliged to organize an opposition. +We have seen the <i>Comedy of Errors</i> played so dismally like a tragedy +that we really cannot bear it. We are, therefore, making bold +to get up the <i>School of Reform</i>, and we hope, before the play +is out, to improve that noble lord by our performance very considerably. +If he object that we have no right to improve him without his license, +we venture to claim that right in virtue of his orchestra, consisting +of a very powerful piper, whom we always pay.</p> +<p>Sir, as this is the first political meeting I have ever attended, +and as my trade and calling is not associated with politics, perhaps +it may be useful for me to show how I came to be here, because reasons +similar to those which have influenced me may still be trembling in +the balance in the minds of others. I want at all times, in full +sincerity, to do my duty by my countrymen. If <i>I</i> feel an +attachment towards them, there is nothing disinterested or meritorious +in that, for I can never too affectionately remember the confidence +and friendship that they have long reposed in me. My sphere of +action - which I shall never change - I shall never overstep, further +than this, or for a longer period than I do to-night. By literature +I have lived, and through literature I have been content to serve my +country; and I am perfectly well aware that I cannot serve two masters. +In my sphere of action I have tried to understand the heavier social +grievances, and to help to set them right. When the <i>Times</i> +newspaper proved its then almost incredible case, in reference to the +ghastly absurdity of that vast labyrinth of misplaced men and misdirected +things, which had made England unable to find on the face of the earth, +an enemy one-twentieth part so potent to effect the misery and ruin +of her noble defenders as she has been herself, I believe that the gloomy +silence into which the country fell was by far the darkest aspect in +which a great people had been exhibited for many years. With shame +and indignation lowering among all classes of society, and this new +element of discord piled on the heaving basis of ignorance, poverty +and crime, which is always below us - with little adequate expression +of the general mind, or apparent understanding of the general mind, +in Parliament - with the machinery of Government and the legislature +going round and round, and the people fallen from it and standing aloof, +as if they left it to its last remaining function of destroying itself, +when it had achieved the destruction of so much that was dear to them +- I did and do believe that the only wholesome turn affairs so menacing +could possibly take, was, the awaking of the people, the outspeaking +of the people, the uniting of the people in all patriotism and loyalty +to effect a great peaceful constitutional change in the administration +of their own affairs. At such a crisis this association arose; +at such a crisis I joined it: considering its further case to be - if +further case could possibly be needed - that what is everybody’s +business is nobody’s business, that men must be gregarious in +good citizenship as well as in other things, and that it is a law in +nature that there must be a centre of attraction for particles to fly +to, before any serviceable body with recognised functions can come into +existence. This association has arisen, and we belong to it. +What are the objections to it? I have heard in the main but three, +which I will now briefly notice. It is said that it is proposed +by this association to exercise an influence, through the constituencies, +on the House of Commons. I have not the least hesitation in saying +that I have the smallest amount of faith in the House of Commons at +present existing and that I consider the exercise of such influence +highly necessary to the welfare and honour of this country. I +was reading no later than yesterday the book of Mr. Pepys, which is +rather a favourite of mine, in which he, two hundred years ago, writing +of the House of Commons, says:</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“My cousin Roger Pepys tells me that it is matter of the greatest +grief to him in the world that he should be put upon this trust of being +a Parliament man; because he says nothing is done, that he can see, +out of any truth and sincerity, but mere envy and design.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Now, how it comes to pass that after two hundred years, and many +years after a Reform Bill, the house of Commons is so little changed, +I will not stop to inquire. I will not ask how it happens that +bills which cramp and worry the people, and restrict their scant enjoyments, +are so easily passed, and how it happens that measures for their real +interests are so very difficult to be got through Parliament. +I will not analyse the confined air of the lobby, or reduce to their +primitive gases its deadening influences on the memory of that Honourable +Member who was once a candidate for the honour of your - and my - independent +vote and interest. I will not ask what is that Secretarian figure, +full of blandishments, standing on the threshold, with its finger on +its lips. I will not ask how it comes that those personal altercations, +involving all the removes and definitions of Shakespeare’s Touchstone +- the retort courteous - the quip modest - the reply churlish - the +reproof valiant - the countercheck quarrelsome - the lie circumstantial +and the lie direct - are of immeasurably greater interest in the House +of Commons than the health, the taxation, and the education, of a whole +people. I will not penetrate into the mysteries of that secret +chamber in which the Bluebeard of Party keeps his strangled public questions, +and with regard to which, when he gives the key to his wife, the new +comer, he strictly charges her on no account to open the door. +I will merely put it to the experience of everybody here, whether the +House of Commons is not occasionally a little hard of hearing, a little +dim of sight, a little slow of understanding, and whether, in short, +it is not in a sufficiency invalided state to require close watching, +and the occasional application of sharp stimulants; and whether it is +not capable of considerable improvement? I believe that, in order +to preserve it in a state of real usefulness and independence, the people +must be very watchful and very jealous of it; and it must have its memory +jogged; and be kept awake when it happens to have taken too much Ministerial +narcotic; it must be trotted about, and must be bustled and pinched +in a friendly way, as is the usage in such cases. I hold that +no power can deprive us of the right to administer our functions as +a body comprising electors from all parts of the country, associated +together because their country is dearer to them than drowsy twaddle, +unmeaning routine, or worn-out conventionalities.</p> +<p>This brings me to objection number two. It is stated that this +Association sets class against class. Is this so? (<i>Cries +of</i> “No.”) No, it finds class set against +class, and seeks to reconcile them. I wish to avoid placing in +opposition those two words - Aristocracy and People. I am one +who can believe in the virtues and uses of both, and would not on any +account deprive either of a single just right belonging to it. +I will use, instead of these words, the terms, the governors and the +governed. These two bodies the Association finds with a gulf between +them, in which are lying, newly-buried, thousands on thousands of the +bravest and most devoted men that even England ever bred. It is +to prevent the recurrence of innumerable smaller evils, of which, unchecked, +that great calamity was the crowning height and the necessary consummation, +and to bring together those two fronts looking now so strangely at each +other, that this Association seeks to help to bridge over that abyss, +with a structure founded on common justice and supported by common sense. +Setting class against class! That is the very parrot prattle that +we have so long heard. Try its justice by the following example:- +A respectable gentleman had a large establishment, and a great number +of servants, who were good for nothing, who, when he asked them to give +his children bread, gave them stones; who, when they were told to give +those children fish, gave them serpents. When they were ordered +to send to the East, they sent to the West; when they ought to have +been serving dinner in the North, they were consulting exploded cookery +books in the South; who wasted, destroyed, tumbled over one another +when required to do anything, and were bringing everything to ruin. +At last the respectable gentleman calls his house steward, and says, +even then more in sorrow than in anger, “This is a terrible business; +no fortune can stand it - no mortal equanimity can bear it! I +must change my system; I must obtain servants who will do their duty.” +The house steward throws up his eyes in pious horror, ejaculates “Good +God, master, you are setting class against class!” and then rushes +off into the servants’ hall, and delivers a long and melting oration +on that wicked feeling.</p> +<p>I now come to the third objection, which is common among young gentlemen +who are not particularly fit for anything but spending money which they +have not got. It is usually comprised in the observation, “How +very extraordinary it is that these Administrative Reform fellows can’t +mind their own business.” I think it will occur to all that +a very sufficient mode of disposing of this objection is to say, that +it is our own business we mind when we come forward in this way, and +it is to prevent it from being mismanaged by them. I observe from +the Parliamentary debates - which have of late, by-the-bye, frequently +suggested to me that there is this difference between the bull of Spain +the bull of Nineveh, that, whereas, in the Spanish case, the bull rushes +at the scarlet, in the Ninevite case, the scarlet rushes at the bull +- I have observed from the Parliamentary debates that, by a curious +fatality, there has been a great deal of the reproof valiant and the +counter-check quarrelsome, in reference to every case, showing the necessity +of Administrative Reform, by whomsoever produced, whensoever, and wheresoever. +I daresay I should have no difficulty in adding two or three cases to +the list, which I know to be true, and which I have no doubt would be +contradicted, but I consider it a work of supererogation; for, if the +people at large be not already convinced that a sufficient general case +has been made out for Administrative Reform, I think they never can +be, and they never will be. There is, however, an old indisputable, +very well known story, which has so pointed a moral at the end of it +that I will substitute it for a new case: by doing of which I may avoid, +I hope, the sacred wrath of St. Stephen’s. Ages ago a savage +mode of keeping accounts on notched sticks was introduced into the Court +of Exchequer, and the accounts were kept, much as Robinson Crusoe kept +his calendar on the desert island. In the course of considerable +revolutions of time, the celebrated Cocker was born, and died; Walkinghame, +of the Tutor’s Assistant, and well versed in figures, was also +born, and died; a multitude of accountants, book-keepers, and actuaries, +were born, and died. Still official routine inclined to these +notched sticks, as if they were pillars of the constitution, and still +the Exchequer accounts continued to be kept on certain splints of elm +wood called “tallies.” In the reign of George III. +an inquiry was made by some revolutionary spirit, whether pens, ink, +and paper, slates and pencils, being in existence, this obstinate adherence +to an obsolete custom ought to be continued, and whether a change ought +not to be effected.</p> +<p>All the red tape in the country grew redder at the bare mention of +this bold and original conception, and it took till 1826 to get these +sticks abolished. In 1834 it was found that there was a considerable +accumulation of them; and the question then arose, what was to be done +with such worn-out, worm-eaten, rotten old bits of wood? I dare +say there was a vast amount of minuting, memoranduming, and despatch-boxing, +on this mighty subject. The sticks were housed at Westminster, +and it would naturally occur to any intelligent person that nothing +could be easier than to allow them to be carried away for fire-wood +by the miserable people who live in that neighbourhood. However, +they never had been useful, and official routine required that they +never should be, and so the order went forth that they were to be privately +and confidentially burnt. It came to pass that they were burnt +in a stove in the House of Lords. The stove, overgorged with these +preposterous sticks, set fire to the panelling; the panelling set fire +to the House of Lords; the House of Lords set fire to the House of Commons; +the two houses were reduced to ashes; architects were called in to build +others; we are now in the second million of the cost thereof; the national +pig is not nearly over the stile yet; and the little old woman, Britannia, +hasn’t got home to-night.</p> +<p>Now, I think we may reasonably remark, in conclusion, that all obstinate +adherence to rubbish which the time has long outlived, is certain to +have in the soul of it more or less that is pernicious and destructive; +and that will some day set fire to something or other; which, if given +boldly to the winds would have been harmless; but which, obstinately +retained, is ruinous. I believe myself that when Administrative +Reform goes up it will be idle to hope to put it down, on this or that +particular instance. The great, broad, and true cause that our +public progress is far behind our private progress, and that we are +not more remarkable for our private wisdom and success in matters of +business than we are for our public folly and failure, I take to be +as clearly established as the sun, moon, and stars. To set this +right, and to clear the way in the country for merit everywhere: accepting +it equally whether it be aristocratic or democratic, only asking whether +it be honest or true, is, I take it, the true object of this Association. +This object it seeks to promote by uniting together large numbers of +the people, I hope, of all conditions, to the end that they may better +comprehend, bear in mind, understand themselves, and impress upon others, +the common public duty. Also, of which there is great need, that +by keeping a vigilant eye on the skirmishers thrown out from time to +time by the Party of Generals, they may see that their feints and manoeuvres +do not oppress the small defaulters and release the great, and that +they do not gull the public with a mere field-day Review of Reform, +instead of an earnest, hard-fought Battle. I have had no consultation +with any one upon the subject, but I particularly wish that the directors +may devise some means of enabling intelligent working men to join this +body, on easier terms than subscribers who have larger resources. +I could wish to see great numbers of them belong to us, because I sincerely +believe that it would be good for the common weal.</p> +<p>Said the noble Lord at the head of the Government, when Mr. Layard +asked him for a day for his motion, “Let the hon. gentleman find +a day for himself.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Now, in the names of all the gods at once,<br />Upon what +meat doth this our Caesar feed<br />That he is grown so great?”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>If our Caesar will excuse me, I would take the liberty of reversing +that cool and lofty sentiment, and I would say, “First Lord, your +duty it is to see that no man is left to find a day for himself. +See you, who take the responsibility of government, who aspire to it, +live for it, intrigue for it, scramble for it, who hold to it tooth-and-nail +when you can get it, see you that no man is left to find a day for himself. +In this old country, with its seething hard-worked millions, its heavy +taxes, its swarms of ignorant, its crowds of poor, and its crowds of +wicked, woe the day when the dangerous man shall find a day for himself, +because the head of the Government failed in his duty in not anticipating +it by a brighter and a better one! Name you the day, First Lord; +make a day; work for a day beyond your little time, Lord Palmerston, +and History in return may then - not otherwise - find a day for you; +a day equally associated with the contentment of the loyal, patient, +willing-hearted English people, and with the happiness of your Royal +Mistress and her fair line of children.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: SHEFFIELD, DECEMBER 22, 1855.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On Saturday Evening Mr. Charles Dickens read his Christmas Carol +in the Mechanics’ Hall in behalf of the funds of the Institute.</p> +<p>After the reading the Mayor said, he had been charged by a few gentlemen +in Sheffield to present to Mr. Dickens for his acceptance a very handsome +service of table cutlery, a pair of razors, and a pair of fish carvers, +as some substantial manifestation of their gratitude to Mr. Dickens +for his kindness in coming to Sheffield. Henceforth the Christmas +of 1855 would be associated in his mind with the name of that gentleman.]</p> +<p>Mr. Charles Dickens, in receiving the presentation, said, he accepted +with heartfelt delight and cordial gratitude such beautiful specimens +of Sheffield-workmanship; and he begged to assure them that the kind +observations which had been made by the Mayor, and the way in which +they had been responded to by that assembly, would never be obliterated +from his remembrance. The present testified not only to the work +of Sheffield hands, but to the warmth and generosity of Sheffield hearts. +It was his earnest desire to do right by his readers, and to leave imaginative +and popular literature associated with the private homes and public +rights of the people of England. The case of cutlery with which +he had been so kindly presented, should be retained as an heirloom in +his family; and he assured them that he should ever be faithful to his +death to the principles which had earned for him their approval. +In taking his reluctant leave of them, he wished them many merry Christmases, +and many happy new years.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, FEBRUARY 9, 1858.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[At the Anniversary Festival of the Hospital for Sick Children, on +Tuesday, February the 9th, 1858, about one hundred and fifty gentlemen +sat down to dinner, in the Freemasons’ Hall. Later in the +evening all the seats in the gallery were filled with ladies interested +in the success of the Hospital. After the usual loyal and other +toasts, the Chairman, Mr. Dickens, proposed “Prosperity to the +Hospital for Sick Children,” and said:-]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - It is one of my rules in life not to believe +a man who may happen to tell me that he feels no interest in children. +I hold myself bound to this principle by all kind consideration, because +I know, as we all must, that any heart which could really toughen its +affections and sympathies against those dear little people must be wanting +in so many humanising experiences of innocence and tenderness, as to +be quite an unsafe monstrosity among men. Therefore I set the +assertion down, whenever I happen to meet with it - which is sometimes, +though not often - as an idle word, originating possibly in the genteel +languor of the hour, and meaning about as much as that knowing social +lassitude, which has used up the cardinal virtues and quite found out +things in general, usually does mean. I suppose it may be taken +for granted that we, who come together in the name of children and for +the sake of children, acknowledge that we have an interest in them; +indeed, I have observed since I sit down here that we are quite in a +childlike state altogether, representing an infant institution, and +not even yet a grown-up company. A few years are necessary to +the increase of our strength and the expansion of our figure; and then +these tables, which now have a few tucks in them, will be let out, and +then this hall, which now sits so easily upon us, will be too tight +and small for us. Nevertheless, it is likely that even we are +not without our experience now and then of spoilt children. I +do not mean of our own spoilt children, because nobody’s own children +ever were spoilt, but I mean the disagreeable children of our particular +friends. We know by experience what it is to have them down after +dinner, and, across the rich perspective of a miscellaneous dessert +to see, as in a black dose darkly, the family doctor looming in the +distance. We know, I have no doubt we all know, what it is to +assist at those little maternal anecdotes and table entertainments illustrated +with imitations and descriptive dialogue which might not be inaptly +called, after the manner of my friend Mr. Albert Smith, the toilsome +ascent of Miss Mary and the eruption (cutaneous) of Master Alexander. +We know what it is when those children won’t go to bed; we know +how they prop their eyelids open with their forefingers when they will +sit up; how, when they become fractious, they say aloud that they don’t +like us, and our nose is too long, and why don’t we go? +And we are perfectly acquainted with those kicking bundles which are +carried off at last protesting. An eminent eye-witness told me +that he was one of a company of learned pundits who assembled at the +house of a very distinguished philosopher of the last generation to +hear him expound his stringent views concerning infant education and +early mental development, and he told me that while the philosopher +did this in very beautiful and lucid language, the philosopher’s +little boy, for his part, edified the assembled sages by dabbling up +to the elbows in an apple pie which had been provided for their entertainment, +having previously anointed his hair with the syrup, combed it with his +fork, and brushed it with his spoon. It is probable that we also +have our similar experiences sometimes, of principles that are not quite +practice, and that we know people claiming to be very wise and profound +about nations of men who show themselves to be rather weak and shallow +about units of babies.</p> +<p>But, ladies and gentlemen, the spoilt children whom I have to present +to you after this dinner of to-day are not of this class. I have +glanced at these for the easier and lighter introduction of another, +a very different, a far more numerous, and a far more serious class. +The spoilt children whom I must show you are the spoilt children of +the poor in this great city, the children who are, every year, for ever +and ever irrevocably spoilt out of this breathing life of ours by tens +of thousands, but who may in vast numbers be preserved if you, assisting +and not contravening the ways of Providence, will help to save them. +The two grim nurses, Poverty and Sickness, who bring these children +before you, preside over their births, rock their wretched cradles, +nail down their little coffins, pile up the earth above their graves. +Of the annual deaths in this great town, their unnatural deaths form +more than one-third. I shall not ask you, according to the custom +as to the other class - I shall not ask you on behalf of these children +to observe how good they are, how pretty they are, how clever they are, +how promising they are, whose beauty they most resemble - I shall only +ask you to observe how weak they are, and how like death they are! +And I shall ask you, by the remembrance of everything that lies between +your own infancy and that so miscalled second childhood when the child’s +graces are gone and nothing but its helplessness remains; I shall ask +you to turn your thoughts to <i>these</i> spoilt children in the sacred +names of Pity and Compassion.</p> +<p>Some years ago, being in Scotland, I went with one of the most humane +members of the humane medical profession, on a morning tour among some +of the worst lodged inhabitants of the old town of Edinburgh. +In the closes and wynds of that picturesque place - I am sorry to remind +you what fast friends picturesqueness and typhus often are - we saw +more poverty and sickness in an hour than many people would believe +in a life. Our way lay from one to another of the most wretched +dwellings, reeking with horrible odours; shut out from the sky, shut +out from the air, mere pits and dens. In a room in one of these +places, where there was an empty porridge-pot on the cold hearth, with +a ragged woman and some ragged children crouching on the bare ground +near it - where, I remember as I speak, that the very light, refracted +from a high damp-stained and time-stained house-wall, came trembling +in, as if the fever which had shaken everything else there had shaken +even it - there lay, in an old egg-box which the mother had begged from +a shop, a little feeble, wasted, wan, sick child. With his little +wasted face, and his little hot, worn hands folded over his breast, +and his little bright, attentive eyes, I can see him now, as I have +seen him for several years, look in steadily at us. There he lay +in his little frail box, which was not at all a bad emblem of the little +body from which he was slowly parting - there he lay, quite quiet, quite +patient, saying never a word. He seldom cried, the mother said; +he seldom complained; “he lay there, seemin’ to woonder +what it was a’ aboot.” God knows, I thought, as I +stood looking at him, he had his reasons for wondering - reasons for +wondering how it could possibly come to be that he lay there, left alone, +feeble and full of pain, when he ought to have been as bright and as +brisk as the birds that never got near him - reasons for wondering how +he came to be left there, a little decrepid old man pining to death, +quite a thing of course, as if there were no crowds of healthy and happy +children playing on the grass under the summer’s sun within a +stone’s throw of him, as if there were no bright, moving sea on +the other side of the great hill overhanging the city; as if there were +no great clouds rushing over it; as if there were no life, and movement, +and vigour anywhere in the world - nothing but stoppage and decay. +There he lay looking at us, saying, in his silence, more pathetically +than I have ever heard anything said by any orator in my life, “Will +you please to tell me what this means, strange man? and if you can give +me any good reason why I should be so soon, so far advanced on my way +to Him who said that children were to come into His presence and were +not to be forbidden, but who scarcely meant, I think, that they should +come by this hard road by which I am travelling; pray give that reason +to me, for I seek it very earnestly and wonder about it very much;” +and to my mind he has been wondering about it ever since. Many +a poor child, sick and neglected, I have seen since that time in this +London; many a poor sick child I have seen most affectionately and kindly +tended by poor people, in an unwholesome house and under untoward circumstances, +wherein its recovery was quite impossible; but at all such times I have +seen my poor little drooping friend in his egg-box, and he has always +addressed his dumb speech to me, and I have always found him wondering +what it meant, and why, in the name of a gracious God, such things should +be!</p> +<p>Now, ladies and gentlemen, such things need not be, and will not +be, if this company, which is a drop of the life-blood of the great +compassionate public heart, will only accept the means of rescue and +prevention which it is mine to offer. Within a quarter of a mile +of this place where I speak, stands a courtly old house, where once, +no doubt, blooming children were born, and grew up to be men and women, +and married, and brought their own blooming children back to patter +up the old oak staircase which stood but the other day, and to wonder +at the old oak carvings on the chimney-pieces. In the airy wards +into which the old state drawing-rooms and family bedchambers of that +house are now converted are such little patients that the attendant +nurses look like reclaimed giantesses, and the kind medical practitioner +like an amiable Christian ogre. Grouped about the little low tables +in the centre of the rooms are such tiny convalescents that they seem +to be playing at having been ill. On the doll’s beds are +such diminutive creatures that each poor sufferer is supplied with its +tray of toys; and, looking round, you may see how the little tired, +flushed cheek has toppled over half the brute creation on its way into +the ark; or how one little dimpled arm has mowed down (as I saw myself) +the whole tin soldiery of Europe. On the walls of these rooms +are graceful, pleasant, bright, childish pictures. At the bed’s +heads, are pictures of the figure which is the universal embodiment +of all mercy and compassion, the figure of Him who was once a child +himself, and a poor one. Besides these little creatures on the +beds, you may learn in that place that the number of small Out-patients +brought to that house for relief is no fewer than ten thousand in the +compass of one single year. In the room in which these are received, +you may see against the wall a box, on which it is written, that it +has been calculated, that if every grateful mother who brings a child +there will drop a penny into it, the Hospital funds may possibly be +increased in a year by so large a sum as forty pounds. And you +may read in the Hospital Report, with a glow of pleasure, that these +poor women are so respondent as to have made, even in a toiling year +of difficulty and high prices, this estimated forty, fifty pounds. +In the printed papers of this same Hospital, you may read with what +a generous earnestness the highest and wisest members of the medical +profession testify to the great need of it; to the immense difficulty +of treating children in the same hospitals with grown-up people, by +reason of their different ailments and requirements, to the vast amount +of pain that will be assuaged, and of life that will be saved, through +this Hospital; not only among the poor, observe, but among the prosperous +too, by reason of the increased knowledge of children’s illnesses, +which cannot fail to arise from a more systematic mode of studying them. +Lastly, gentlemen, and I am sorry to say, worst of all - (for I must +present no rose-coloured picture of this place to you - I must not deceive +you;) lastly, the visitor to this Children’s Hospital, reckoning +up the number of its beds, will find himself perforce obliged to stop +at very little over thirty; and will learn, with sorrow and surprise, +that even that small number, so forlornly, so miserably diminutive, +compared with this vast London, cannot possibly be maintained, unless +the Hospital be made better known; I limit myself to saying better known, +because I will not believe that in a Christian community of fathers +and mothers, and brothers and sisters, it can fail, being better known, +to be well and richly endowed.</p> +<p>Now, ladies and gentlemen, this, without a word of adornment - which +I resolved when I got up not to allow myself - this is the simple case. +This is the pathetic case which I have to put to you; not only on behalf +of the thousands of children who annually die in this great city, but +also on behalf of the thousands of children who live half developed, +racked with preventible pain, shorn of their natural capacity for health +and enjoyment. If these innocent creatures cannot move you for +themselves, how can I possibly hope to move you in their name? +The most delightful paper, the most charming essay, which the tender +imagination of Charles Lamb conceived, represents him as sitting by +his fireside on a winter night telling stories to his own dear children, +and delighting in their society, until he suddenly comes to his old, +solitary, bachelor self, and finds that they were but dream-children +who might have been, but never were. “We are nothing,” +they say to him; “less than nothing, and dreams. We are +only what might have been, and we must wait upon the tedious shore of +Lethe, millions of ages, before we have existence and a name.” +“And immediately awaking,” he says, “I found myself +in my arm chair.” The dream-children whom I would now raise, +if I could, before every one of you, according to your various circumstances, +should be the dear child you love, the dearer child you have lost, the +child you might have had, the child you certainly have been. Each +of these dream-children should hold in its powerful hand one of the +little children now lying in the Child’s Hospital, or now shut +out of it to perish. Each of these dream-children should say to +you, “O, help this little suppliant in my name; O, help it for +my sake!” Well! - And immediately awaking, you should find +yourselves in the Freemasons’ Hall, happily arrived at the end +of a rather long speech, drinking “Prosperity to the Hospital +for Sick Children,” and thoroughly resolved that it shall flourish.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: EDINBURGH, MARCH, 26, 1858.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On the above date Mr. Dickens gave a reading of his Christmas Carol +in the Music Hall, before the members and subscribers of the Philosophical +Institution. At the conclusion of the reading the Lord Provost +of Edinburgh presented him with a massive silver wassail cup. +Mr. Dickens acknowledged the tribute as follows:]</p> +<p>My Lord Provost, ladies, and gentlemen, I beg to assure you I am +deeply sensible of your kind welcome, and of this beautiful and great +surprise; and that I thank you cordially with all my heart. I +never have forgotten, and I never can forget, that I have the honour +to be a burgess and guild-brother of the Corporation of Edinburgh. +As long as sixteen or seventeen years ago, the first great public recognition +and encouragement I ever received was bestowed on me in this generous +and magnificent city - in this city so distinguished in literature and +so distinguished in the arts. You will readily believe that I +have carried into the various countries I have since traversed, and +through all my subsequent career, the proud and affectionate remembrance +of that eventful epoch in my life; and that coming back to Edinburgh +is to me like coming home.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, you have heard so much of my voice to-night, +that I will not inflict on you the additional task of hearing any more. +I am better reconciled to limiting myself to these very few words, because +I know and feel full well that no amount of speech to which I could +give utterance could possibly express my sense of the honour and distinction +you have conferred on me, or the heartfelt gratification I derive from +this reception.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, MARCH 29, 1858.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[At the thirteenth anniversary festival of the General Theatrical +Fund, held at the Freemasons’ Tavern, at which Thackeray presided, +Mr. Dickens made the following speech:]</p> +<p>In our theatrical experience as playgoers we are all equally accustomed +to predict by certain little signs and portents on the stage what is +going to happen there. When the young lady, an admiral’s +daughter, is left alone to indulge in a short soliloquy, and certain +smart spirit-rappings are heard to proceed immediately from beneath +her feet, we foretell that a song is impending. When two gentlemen +enter, for whom, by a happy coincidence, two chairs, and no more, are +in waiting, we augur a conversation, and that it will assume a retrospective +biographical character. When any of the performers who belong +to the sea-faring or marauding professions are observed to arm themselves +with very small swords to which are attached very large hilts, we predict +that the affair will end in a combat. Carrying out the association +of ideas, it may have occurred to some that when I asked my old friend +in the chair to allow me to propose a toast I had him in my eye; and +I have him now on my lips.</p> +<p>The duties of a trustee of the Theatrical Fund, an office which I +hold, are not so frequent or so great as its privileges. He is +in fact a mere walking gentleman, with the melancholy difference that +he has no one to love. If this advantage could be added to his +character it would be one of a more agreeable nature than it is, and +his forlorn position would be greatly improved. His duty is to +call every half year at the bankers’, when he signs his name in +a large greasy inconvenient book, to certain documents of which he knows +nothing, and then he delivers it to the property man and exits anywhere.</p> +<p>He, however, has many privileges. It is one of his privileges +to watch the steady growth of an institution in which he takes great +interest; it is one of his privileges to bear his testimony to the prudence, +the goodness, the self-denial, and the excellence of a class of persons +who have been too long depreciated, and whose virtues are too much denied, +out of the depths of an ignorant and stupid superstition. And +lastly, it is one of his privileges sometimes to be called on to propose +the health of the chairman at the annual dinners of the institution, +when that chairman is one for whose genius he entertains the warmest +admiration, and whom he respects as a friend, and as one who does honour +to literature, and in whom literature is honoured. I say when +that is the case, he feels that this last privilege is a great and high +one. From the earliest days of this institution I have ventured +to impress on its managers, that they would consult its credit and success +by choosing its chairmen as often as possible within the circle of literature +and the arts; and I will venture to say that no similar institution +has been presided over by so many remarkable and distinguished men. +I am sure, however, that it never has had, and that it never will have, +simply because it cannot have, a greater lustre cast upon it than by +the presence of the noble English writer who fills the chair to-night.</p> +<p>It is not for me at this time, and in this place, to take on myself +to flutter before you the well-thumbed pages of Mr. Thackeray’s +books, and to tell you to observe how full they are of wit and wisdom, +how out-speaking, and how devoid of fear or favour; but I will take +leave to remark, in paying my due homage and respect to them, that it +is fitting that such a writer and such an institution should be brought +together. Every writer of fiction, although he may not adopt the +dramatic form, writes in effect for the stage. He may never write +plays; but the truth and passion which are in him must be more or less +reflected in the great mirror which he holds up to nature. Actors, +managers, and authors are all represented in this company, and it maybe +supposed that they all have studied the deep wants of the human heart +in many theatres; but none of them could have studied its mysterious +workings in any theatre to greater advantage than in the bright and +airy pages of <i>Vanity Fair</i>. To this skilful showman, who +has so often delighted us, and who has charmed us again to-night, we +have now to wish God speed, and that he may continue for many years +<a name="citation11"></a><a href="#footnote11">{11}</a> to exercise +his potent art. To him fill a bumper toast, and fervently utter, +God bless him!</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, APRIL 29, 1858.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The reader will already have observed that in the Christmas week +of 1853, and on several subsequent occasions, Mr. Dickens had read the +<i>Christmas</i> <i>Carol</i> and the <i>Chimes</i> before public audiences, +but always in aid of the funds of some institution, or for other benevolent +purposes. The first reading he ever gave for his own benefit took +place on the above date, in St. Martin’s Hall, (now converted +into the Queen’s Theatre). This reading Mr. Dickens prefaced +with the following speech:-]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - It may perhaps be in known to you that, for +a few years past, I have been accustomed occasionally to read some of +my shorter books, to various audiences, in aid of a variety of good +objects, and at some charge to myself, both in time and money. +It having at length become impossible in any reason to comply with these +always accumulating demands, I have had definitively to choose between +now and then reading on my own account, as one of my recognised occupations, +or not reading at all. I have had little or no difficulty in deciding +on the former course. The reasons that have led me to it - besides +the consideration that it necessitates no departure whatever from the +chosen pursuits of my life - are threefold: firstly, I have satisfied +myself that it can involve no possible compromise of the credit and +independence of literature; secondly, I have long held the opinion, +and have long acted on the opinion, that in these times whatever brings +a public man and his public face to face, on terms of mutual confidence +and respect, is a good thing; thirdly, I have had a pretty large experience +of the interest my hearers are so generous as to take in these occasions, +and of the delight they give to me, as a tried means of strengthening +those relations - I may almost say of personal friendship - which it +is my great privilege and pride, as it is my great responsibility, to +hold with a multitude of persons who will never hear my voice nor see +my face. Thus it is that I come, quite naturally, to be here among +you at this time; and thus it is that I proceed to read this little +book, quite as composedly as I might proceed to write it, or to publish +it in any other way.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 1, 1858.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The following short speech was made at the Banquet of the Royal +Academy, after the health of Mr. Dickens and Mr. Thackeray had been +proposed by the President, Sir Charles Eastlake:-]</p> +<p>Following the order of your toast, I have to take the first part +in the duet to be performed in acknowledgment of the compliment you +have paid to literature. In this home of art I feel it to be too +much an interchange of compliments, as it were, between near relations, +to enter into any lengthened expression of our thanks for the honour +you have done us. I feel that it would be changing this splendid +assembly into a sort of family party. I may, however, take leave +to say that your sister, whom I represent, is strong and healthy; that +she has a very great affection for, and an undying interest in you, +and that it is always a very great gratification to her to see herself +so well remembered within these walls, and to know that she is an honoured +guest at your hospitable board.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, JULY 21, 1858.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On the above date, a public meeting was held at the Princess’s +Theatre, for the purpose of establishing the now famous Royal Dramatic +College. Mr. Charles Kean was the chairman, and Mr. Dickens delivered +the following speech:]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - I think I may venture to congratulate you +beforehand on the pleasant circumstance that the movers and seconders +of the resolutions which will be submitted to you will, probably, have +very little to say. Through the Report which you have heard read, +and through the comprehensive address of the chairman, the cause which +brings us together has been so very clearly stated to you, that it can +stand in need of very little, if of any further exposition. But, +as I have the honour to move the first resolution which this handsome +gift, and the vigorous action that must be taken upon it, necessitate, +I think I shall only give expression to what is uppermost in the general +mind here, if I venture to remark that, many as the parts are in which +Mr. Kean has distinguished himself on these boards, he has never appeared +in one in which the large spirit of an artist, the feeling of a man, +and the grace of a gentleman, have been more admirably blended than +in this day’s faithful adherence to the calling of which he is +a prosperous ornament, and in this day’s manly advocacy of its +cause.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, the resolution entrusted to me is:</p> +<p>“That the Report of the provisional committee be adopted, and +that this meeting joyfully accepts, and gratefully acknowledges, the +gift of five acres of land referred to in the said Report.” <a name="citation12"></a><a href="#footnote12">{12}</a></p> +<p>It is manifest, I take it, that we are all agreed upon this acceptance +and acknowledgment, and that we all know very well that this generous +gift can inspire but one sentiment in the breast of every lover of the +dramatic art. As it is far too often forgotten by those who are +indebted to it for many a restorative flight out of this working-day +world, that the silks, and velvets, and elegant costumes of its professors +must be every night exchanged for the hideous coats and waistcoats of +the present day, in which we have now the honour and the misfortune +of appearing before you, so when we do meet with a nature so considerably +generous as this donor’s, and do find an interest in the real +life and struggles of the people who have delighted it, so very spontaneous +and so very liberal, we have nothing to do but to accept and to admire, +we have no duty left but to “take the goods the gods provide us,” +and to make the best and the most of them. Ladies and gentlemen, +allow me to remark, that in this mode of turning a good gift to the +highest account, lies the truest gratitude.</p> +<p>In reference to this, I could not but reflect, whilst Mr. Kean was +speaking, that in an hour or two from this time, the spot upon which +we are now assembled will be transformed into the scene of a crafty +and a cruel bond. I know that, a few hours hence, the Grand Canal +of Venice will flow, with picturesque fidelity, on the very spot where +I now stand dryshod, and that “the quality of mercy” will +be beautifully stated to the Venetian Council by a learned young doctor +from Padua, on these very boards on which we now enlarge upon the quality +of charity and sympathy. Knowing this, it came into my mind to +consider how different the real bond of to-day from the ideal bond of +to-night. Now, all generosity, all forbearance, all forgetfulness +of little jealousies and unworthy divisions, all united action for the +general good. Then, all selfishness, all malignity, all cruelty, +all revenge, and all evil, - now all good. Then, a bond to be +broken within the compass of a few - three or four - swiftly passing +hours, - now, a bond to be valid and of good effect generations hence.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, of the execution and delivery of this bond, +between this generous gentleman on the one hand, and the united members +of a too often and too long disunited art upon the other, be you the +witnesses. Do you attest of everything that is liberal and free +in spirit, that is “so nominated in the bond;” and of everything +that is grudging, self-seeking, unjust, or unfair, that it is by no +sophistry ever to be found there. I beg to move the resolution +which I have already had the pleasure of reading.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: MANCHESTER, DECEMBER 3, 1858.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The following speech was delivered at the annual meeting of the +Institutional Association of Lancashire and Cheshire, held in the Free-trade +Hall on the evening of the above day, at which Mr. Dickens presided.]</p> +<p>It has of late years become noticeable in England that the autumn +season produces an immense amount of public speaking. I notice +that no sooner do the leaves begin to fall from the trees, than pearls +of great price begin to fall from the lips of the wise men of the east, +and north, and west, and south; and anybody may have them by the bushel, +for the picking up. Now, whether the comet has this year had a +quickening influence on this crop, as it is by some supposed to have +had upon the corn-harvest and the vintage, I do not know; but I do know +that I have never observed the columns of the newspapers to groan so +heavily under a pressure of orations, each vying with the other in the +two qualities of having little or nothing to do with the matter in hand, +and of being always addressed to any audience in the wide world rather +than the audience to which it was delivered.</p> +<p>The autumn having gone, and the winter come, I am so sanguine as +to hope that we in our proceedings may break through this enchanted +circle and deviate from this precedent; the rather as we have something +real to do, and are come together, I am sure, in all plain fellowship +and straightforwardness, to do it. We have no little straws of +our own to throw up to show us which way any wind blows, and we have +no oblique biddings of our own to make for anything outside this hall.</p> +<p>At the top of the public announcement of this meeting are the words, +“Institutional Association of Lancashire and Cheshire.” +Will you allow me, in reference to the meaning of those words, to present +myself before you as the embodied spirit of ignorance recently enlightened, +and to put myself through a short, voluntary examination as to the results +of my studies. To begin with: the title did not suggest to me +anything in the least like the truth. I have been for some years +pretty familiar with the terms, “Mechanics’ Institutions,” +and “Literary Societies,” but they have, unfortunately, +become too often associated in my mind with a body of great pretensions, +lame as to some important member or other, which generally inhabits +a new house much too large for it, which is seldom paid for, and which +takes the name of the mechanics most grievously in vain, for I have +usually seen a mechanic and a dodo in that place together.</p> +<p>I, therefore, began my education, in respect of the meaning of this +title, very coldly indeed, saying to myself, “Here’s the +old story.” But the perusal of a very few lines of my book +soon gave me to understand that it was not by any means the old story; +in short, that this association is expressly designed to correct the +old story, and to prevent its defects from becoming perpetuated. +I learnt that this Institutional Association is the union, in one central +head, of one hundred and fourteen local Mechanics’ Institutions +and Mutual Improvement Societies, at an expense of no more than five +shillings to each society; suggesting to all how they can best communicate +with and profit by the fountain-head and one another; keeping their +best aims steadily before them; advising them how those aims can be +best attained; giving a direct end and object to what might otherwise +easily become waste forces; and sending among them not only oral teachers, +but, better still, boxes of excellent books, called “Free Itinerating +Libraries.” I learned that these books are constantly making +the circuit of hundreds upon hundreds of miles, and are constantly being +read with inexpressible relish by thousands upon thousands of toiling +people, but that they are never damaged or defaced by one rude hand. +These and other like facts lead me to consider the immense importance +of the fact, that no little cluster of working men’s cottages +can arise in any Lancashire or Cheshire valley, at the foot of any running +stream which enterprise hunts out for water-power, but it has its educational +friend and companion ready for it, willing for it, acquainted with its +thoughts and ways and turns of speech even before it has come into existence.</p> +<p>Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is the main consideration that has +brought me here. No central association at a distance could possibly +do for those working men what this local association does. No +central association at a distance could possibly understand them as +this local association does. No central association at a distance +could possibly put them in that familiar and easy communication one +with another, as that I, man or boy, eager for knowledge, in that valley +seven miles off, should know of you, man or boy, eager for knowledge, +in that valley twelve miles off, and should occasionally trudge to meet +you, that you may impart your learning in one branch of acquisition +to me, whilst I impart mine in another to you. Yet this is distinctly +a feature, and a most important feature, of this society.</p> +<p>On the other hand, it is not to be supposed that these honest men, +however zealous, could, as a rule, succeed in establishing and maintaining +their own institutions of themselves. It is obvious that combination +must materially diminish their cost, which is in time a vital consideration; +and it is equally obvious that experience, essential to the success +of all combination, is especially so when its object is to diffuse the +results of experience and of reflection.</p> +<p>Well, ladies and gentlemen, the student of the present profitable +history of this society does not stop here in his learning; when he +has got so far, he finds with interest and pleasure that the parent +society at certain stated periods invites the more eager and enterprising +members of the local society to submit themselves to voluntary examination +in various branches of useful knowledge, of which examination it takes +the charge and arranges the details, and invites the successful candidates +to come to Manchester to receive the prizes and certificates of merit +which it impartially awards. The most successful of the competitors +in the list of these examinations are now among us, and these little +marks of recognition and encouragement I shall have the honour presently +of giving them, as they come before you, one by one, for that purpose.</p> +<p>I have looked over a few of those examination papers, which have +comprised history, geography, grammar, arithmetic, book-keeping, decimal +coinage, mensuration, mathematics, social economy, the French language +- in fact, they comprise all the keys that open all the locks of knowledge. +I felt most devoutly gratified, as to many of them, that they had not +been submitted to me to answer, for I am perfectly sure that if they +had been, I should have had mighty little to bestow upon myself to-night. +And yet it is always to be observed and seriously remembered that these +examinations are undergone by people whose lives have been passed in +a continual fight for bread, and whose whole existence, has been a constant +wrestle with</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Those twin gaolers of the daring heart -<br />Low birth and +iron fortune.” <a name="citation13"></a><a href="#footnote13">{13}</a></p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>I could not but consider, with extraordinary admiration, that these +questions have been replied to, not by men like myself, the business +of whose life is with writing and with books, but by men, the business +of whose life is with tools and with machinery.</p> +<p>Let me endeavour to recall, as well as my memory will serve me, from +among the most interesting cases of prize-holders and certificate-gainers +who will appear before you, some two or three of the most conspicuous +examples. There are two poor brothers from near Chorley, who work +from morning to night in a coal-pit, and who, in all weathers, have +walked eight miles a-night, three nights a-week, to attend the classes +in which they have gained distinction. There are two poor boys +from Bollington, who begin life as piecers at one shilling or eighteen-pence +a-week, and the father of one of whom was cut to pieces by the machinery +at which he worked, but not before he had himself founded the institution +in which this son has since come to be taught. These two poor +boys will appear before you to-night, to take the second-class prize +in chemistry. There is a plasterer from Bury, sixteen years of +age, who took a third-class certificate last year at the hands of Lord +Brougham; he is this year again successful in a competition three times +as severe. There is a wagon-maker from the same place, who knew +little or absolutely nothing until he was a grown man, and who has learned +all he knows, which is a great deal, in the local institution. +There is a chain-maker, in very humble circumstances, and working hard +all day, who walks six miles a-night, three nights a-week, to attend +the classes in which he has won so famous a place. There is a +moulder in an iron foundry, who, whilst he was working twelve hours +a day before the furnace, got up at four o’clock in the morning +to learn drawing. “The thought of my lads,” he writes +in his modest account of himself, “in their peaceful slumbers +above me, gave me fresh courage, and I used to think that if I should +never receive any personal benefit, I might instruct them when they +came to be of an age to understand the mighty machines and engines which +have made our country, England, pre-eminent in the world’s history.” +There is a piecer at mule-frames, who could not read at eighteen, who +is now a man of little more than thirty, who is the sole support of +an aged mother, who is arithmetical teacher in the institution in which +he himself was taught, who writes of himself that he made the resolution +never to take up a subject without keeping to it, and who has kept to +it with such an astonishing will, that he is now well versed in Euclid +and Algebra, and is the best French scholar in Stockport. The +drawing-classes in that same Stockport are taught by a working blacksmith; +and the pupils of that working blacksmith will receive the highest honours +of to-night. Well may it be said of that good blacksmith, as it +was written of another of his trade, by the American poet:</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing,<br />Onward through life he +goes;<br />Each morning sees some task begun,<br />Each evening sees +its clause.<br />Something attempted, something done,<br />Has earn’d +a night’s repose.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>To pass from the successful candidates to the delegates from local +societies now before me, and to content myself with one instance from +amongst them. There is among their number a most remarkable man, +whose history I have read with feelings that I could not adequately +express under any circumstances, and least of all when I know he hears +me, who worked when he was a mere baby at hand-loom weaving until he +dropped from fatigue: who began to teach himself as soon as he could +earn five shillings a-week: who is now a botanist, acquainted with every +production of the Lancashire valley: who is a naturalist, and has made +and preserved a collection of the eggs of British birds, and stuffed +the birds: who is now a conchologist, with a very curious, and in some +respects an original collection of fresh-water shells, and has also +preserved and collected the mosses of fresh water and of the sea: who +is worthily the president of his own local Literary Institution, and +who was at his work this time last night as foreman in a mill.</p> +<p>So stimulating has been the influence of these bright examples, and +many more, that I notice among the applications from Blackburn for preliminary +test examination papers, one from an applicant who gravely fills up +the printed form by describing himself as ten years of age, and who, +with equal gravity, describes his occupation as “nursing a little +child.” Nor are these things confined to the men. +The women employed in factories, milliners’ work, and domestic +service, have begun to show, as it is fitting they should, a most decided +determination not to be outdone by the men; and the women of Preston +in particular, have so honourably distinguished themselves, and shown +in their examination papers such an admirable knowledge of the science +of household management and household economy, that if I were a working +bachelor of Lancashire or Cheshire, and if I had not cast my eye or +set my heart upon any lass in particular, I should positively get up +at four o’clock in the morning with the determination of the iron-moulder +himself, and should go to Preston in search of a wife.</p> +<p>Now, ladies and gentlemen, these instances, and many more, daily +occurring, always accumulating, are surely better testimony to the working +of this Association, than any number of speakers could possibly present +to you. Surely the presence among us of these indefatigable people +is the Association’s best and most effective triumph in the present +and the past, and is its noblest stimulus to effort in the future. +As its temporary mouth-piece, I would beg to say to that portion of +the company who attend to receive the prizes, that the institution can +never hold itself apart from them; - can never set itself above them; +that their distinction and success must be its distinction and success; +and that there can be but one heart beating between them and it. +In particular, I would most especially entreat them to observe that +nothing will ever be further from this Association’s mind than +the impertinence of patronage. The prizes that it gives, and the +certificates that it gives, are mere admiring assurances of sympathy +with so many striving brothers and sisters, and are only valuable for +the spirit in which they are given, and in which they are received. +The prizes are money prizes, simply because the Institution does not +presume to doubt that persons who have so well governed themselves, +know best how to make a little money serviceable - because it would +be a shame to treat them like grown-up babies by laying it out for them, +and because it knows it is given, and knows it is taken, in perfect +clearness of purpose, perfect trustfulness, and, above all, perfect +independence.</p> +<p>Ladies and Gentlemen, reverting once more to the whole collective +audience before me, I will, in another two minutes, release the hold +which your favour has given me on your attention. Of the advantages +of knowledge I have said, and I shall say, nothing. Of the certainty +with which the man who grasps it under difficulties rises in his own +respect and in usefulness to the community, I have said, and I shall +say, nothing. In the city of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, +both of them remarkable for self-taught men, that were superfluous indeed. +For the same reason I rigidly abstain from putting together any of the +shattered fragments of that poor clay image of a parrot, which was once +always saying, without knowing why, or what it meant, that knowledge +was a dangerous thing. I should as soon think of piecing together +the mutilated remains of any wretched Hindoo who has been blown from +an English gun. Both, creatures of the past, have been - as my +friend Mr. Carlyle vigorously has it - “blasted into space;” +and there, as to this world, is an end of them.</p> +<p>So I desire, in conclusion, only to sound two strings. In the +first place, let me congratulate you upon the progress which real mutual +improvement societies are making at this time in your neighbourhood, +through the noble agency of individual employers and their families, +whom you can never too much delight to honour. Elsewhere, through +the agency of the great railway companies, some of which are bestirring +themselves in this matter with a gallantry and generosity deserving +of all praise. Secondly and lastly, let me say one word out of +my own personal heart, which is always very near to it in this connexion. +Do not let us, in the midst of the visible objects of nature, whose +workings we can tell of in figures, surrounded by machines that can +be made to the thousandth part of an inch, acquiring every day knowledge +which can be proved upon a slate or demonstrated by a microscope - do +not let us, in the laudable pursuit of the facts that surround us, neglect +the fancy and the imagination which equally surround us as a part of +the great scheme. Let the child have its fables; let the man or +woman into which it changes, always remember those fables tenderly. +Let numerous graces and ornaments that cannot be weighed and measured, +and that seem at first sight idle enough, continue to have their places +about us, be we never so wise. The hardest head may co-exist with +the softest heart. The union and just balance of those two is +always a blessing to the possessor, and always a blessing to mankind. +The Divine Teacher was as gentle and considerate as He was powerful +and wise. You all know how He could still the raging of the sea, +and could hush a little child. As the utmost results of the wisdom +of men can only be at last to help to raise this earth to that condition +to which His doctrine, untainted by the blindnesses and passions of +men, would have exalted it long ago; so let us always remember that +He set us the example of blending the understanding and the imagination, +and that, following it ourselves, we tread in His steps, and help our +race on to its better and best days. Knowledge, as all followers +of it must know, has a very limited power indeed, when it informs the +head alone; but when it informs the head and the heart too, it has a +power over life and death, the body and the soul, and dominates the +universe.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: COVENTRY, DECEMBER 4, 1858.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On the above evening, a public dinner was held at the Castle Hotel, +on the occasion of the presentation to Mr. Charles Dickens of a gold +watch, as a mark of gratitude for the reading of his Christmas Carol, +given in December of the previous year, in aid of the funds of the Coventry +Institute. The chair was taken by C. W. Hoskyns, Esq. Mr. +Dickens ackowledged the testimonial in the following words:]</p> +<p>Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice-chairman, and Gentlemen, - I hope your minds +will be greatly relieved by my assuring you that it is one of the rules +of my life never to make a speech about myself. If I knowingly +did so, under any circumstances, it would be least of all under such +circumstances as these, when its effect on my acknowledgment of your +kind regard, and this pleasant proof of it, would be to give me a certain +constrained air, which I fear would contrast badly with your greeting, +so cordial, so unaffected, so earnest, and so true. Furthermore, +your Chairman has decorated the occasion with a little garland of good +sense, good feeling, and good taste; so that I am sure that any attempt +at additional ornament would be almost an impertinence.</p> +<p>Therefore I will at once say how earnestly, how fervently, and how +deeply I feel your kindness. This watch, with which you have presented +me, shall be my companion in my hours of sedentary working at home, +and in my wanderings abroad. It shall never be absent from my +side, and it shall reckon off the labours of my future days; and I can +assure you that after this night the object of those labours will not +less than before be to uphold the right and to do good. And when +I have done with time and its measurement, this watch shall belong to +my children; and as I have seven boys, and as they have all begun to +serve their country in various ways, or to elect into what distant regions +they shall roam, it is not only possible, but probable, that this little +voice will be heard scores of years hence, who knows? in some yet unfounded +city in the wilds of Australia, or communicating Greenwich time to Coventry +Street, Japan.</p> +<p>Once again, and finally, I thank you; and from my heart of hearts, +I can assure you that the memory of to-night, and of your picturesque +and interesting city, will never be absent from my mind, and I can never +more hear the lightest mention of the name of Coventry without having +inspired in my breast sentiments of unusual emotion and unusual attachment.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>[Later in the evening, in proposing the health of the Chairman, Mr. +Dickens said:]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>There may be a great variety of conflicting opinions with regard +to farming, and especially with reference to the management of a clay +farm; but, however various opinions as to the merits of a clay farm +may be, there can be but one opinion as to the merits of a clay farmer, +- and it is the health of that distinguished agriculturist which I have +to propose.</p> +<p>In my ignorance of the subject, I am bound to say that it may be, +for anything I know, indeed I am ready to admit that it <i>is</i>, exceedingly +important that a clay farm should go for a number of years to waste; +but I claim some knowledge as to the management of a clay farmer, and +I positively object to his ever lying fallow. In the hope that +this very rich and teeming individual may speedily be ploughed up, and +that, we shall gather into our barns and store-houses the admirable +crop of wisdom, which must spring up when ever he is sown, I take leave +to propose his health, begging to assure him that the kind manner in +which he offered to me your very valuable present, I can never forget.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, MARCH 29, 1862.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[At a Dinner of the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution, +the following Address was delivered by Mr. Charles Dickens from the +chair.-]</p> +<p>Seven or eight years ago, without the smallest expectation of ever +being called upon to fill the chair at an anniversary festival of the +Artists’ General Benevolent Institution, and without the remotest +reference to such an occasion, I selected the administration of that +Charity as the model on which I desired that another should be reformed, +both as regarded the mode in which the relief was afforded, and the +singular economy with which its funds were administered. As a +proof of the latter quality during the past year, the cost of distributing +£1,126 among the recipients of the bounty of the Charity amounted +to little more than £100, inclusive of all office charges and +expenses. The experience and knowledge of those entrusted with +the management of the funds are a guarantee that the last available +farthing of the funds will be distributed among proper and deserving +recipients. Claiming, on my part, to be related in some degree +to the profession of an artist, I disdain to stoop to ask for charity, +in the ordinary acceptation of the term, on behalf of the Artists. +In its broader and higher signification of generous confidence, lasting +trustfulness, love and confiding belief, I very readily associate that +cardinal virtue with art. I decline to present the artist to the +notice of the public as a grown-up child, or as a strange, unaccountable, +moon-stricken person, waiting helplessly in the street of life to be +helped over the road by the crossing-sweeper; on the contrary, I present +the artist as a reasonable creature, a sensible gentleman, and as one +well acquainted with the value of his time, and that of other people, +as if he were in the habit of going on high ‘Change every day. +The Artist whom I wish to present to the notice of the Meeting is one +to whom the perfect enjoyment of the five senses is essential to every +achievement of his life. He can gain no wealth nor fame by buying +something which he never touched, and selling it to another who would +also never touch or see it, but was compelled to strike out for himself +every spark of fire which lighted, burned, and perhaps consumed him. +He must win the battle of life with his own hand, and with his own eyes, +and was obliged to act as general, captain, ensign, non-commissioned +officer, private, drummer, great arms, small arms, infantry, cavalry, +all in his own unaided self. When, therefore, I ask help for the +artist, I do not make my appeal for one who was a cripple from his birth, +but I ask it as part payment of a great debt which all sensible and +civilised creatures owe to art, as a mark of respect to art, as a decoration +- not as a badge - as a remembrance of what this land, or any land, +would be without art, and as the token of an appreciation of the works +of the most successful artists of this country. With respect to +the society of which I am the advocate, I am gratified that it is so +liberally supported by the most distinguished artists, and that it has +the confidence of men who occupy the highest rank as artists, above +the reach of reverses, and the most distinguished in success and fame, +and whose support is above all price. Artists who have obtained +wide-world reputation know well that many deserving and persevering +men, or their widows and orphans, have received help from this fund, +and some of the artists who have received this help are now enrolled +among the subscribers to the Institution.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 20, 1862.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The following speech was made by Mr. Dickens, in his capacity as +chairman, at the annual Festival of the Newsvendors’ and Provident +Institution, held at the Freemasons’ Tavern on the above date.]</p> +<p>When I had the honour of being asked to preside last year, I was +prevented by indisposition, and I besought my friend, Mr. Wilkie Collins, +to reign in my stead. He very kindly complied, and made an excellent +speech. Now I tell you the truth, that I read that speech with +considerable uneasiness, for it inspired me with a strong misgiving +that I had better have presided last year with neuralgia in my face +and my subject in my head, rather than preside this year with my neuralgia +all gone and my subject anticipated. Therefore, I wish to preface +the toast this evening by making the managers of this Institution one +very solemn and repentant promise, and it is, if ever I find myself +obliged to provide a substitute again, they may rely upon my sending +the most speechless man of my acquaintance.</p> +<p>The Chairman last year presented you with an amiable view of the +universality of the newsman’s calling. Nothing, I think, +is left for me but to imagine the newsman’s burden itself, to +unfold one of those wonderful sheets which he every day disseminates, +and to take a bird’s-eye view of its general character and contents. +So, if you please, choosing my own time - though the newsman cannot +choose his time, for he must be equally active in winter or summer, +in sunshine or sleet, in light or darkness, early or late - but, choosing +my own time, I shall for two or three moments start off with the newsman +on a fine May morning, and take a view of the wonderful broadsheets +which every day he scatters broadcast over the country. Well, +the first thing that occurs to me following the newsman is, that every +day we are born, that every day we are married - some of us - and that +every day we are dead; consequently, the first thing the newsvendor’s +column informs me is, that Atkins has been born, that Catkins has been +married, and that Datkins is dead. But the most remarkable thing +I immediately discover in the next column, is that Atkins has grown +to be seventeen years old, and that he has run away; for, at last, my +eye lights on the fact that William A., who is seventeen years old, +is adjured immediately to return to his disconsolate parents, and everything +will be arranged to the satisfaction of everyone. I am afraid +he will never return, simply because, if he had meant to come back, +he would never have gone away. Immediately below, I find a mysterious +character in such a mysterious difficulty that it is only to be expressed +by several disjointed letters, by several figures, and several stars; +and then I find the explanation in the intimation that the writer has +given his property over to his uncle, and that the elephant is on the +wing. Then, still glancing over the shoulder of my industrious +friend, the newsman, I find there are great fleets of ships bound to +all parts of the earth, that they all want a little more stowage, a +little more cargo, that they have a few more berths to let, that they +have all the most spacious decks, that they are all built of teak, and +copper-bottomed, that they all carry surgeons of experience, and that +they are all A1 at Lloyds’, and anywhere else. Still glancing +over the shoulder of my friend the newsman, I find I am offered all +kinds of house-lodging, clerks, servants, and situations, which I can +possibly or impossibly want. I learn, to my intense gratification, +that I need never grow old, that I may always preserve the juvenile +bloom of my complexion; that if ever I turn ill it is entirely my own +fault; that if I have any complaint, and want brown cod-liver oil or +Turkish baths, I am told where to get them, and that, if I want an income +of seven pounds a-week, I may have it by sending half-a-crown in postage-stamps. +Then I look to the police intelligence, and I can discover that I may +bite off a human living nose cheaply, but if I take off the dead nose +of a pig or a calf from a shop-window, it will cost me exceedingly dear. +I also find that if I allow myself to be betrayed into the folly of +killing an inoffensive tradesman on his own door-step, that little incident +will not affect the testimonials to my character, but that I shall be +described as a most amiable young man, and as, above all things, remarkable +for the singular inoffensiveness of my character and disposition. +Then I turn my eye to the Fine Arts, and, under that head, I see that +a certain “J. O.” has most triumphantly exposed a certain +“J. O. B.,” which “J. O. B.” was remarkable +for this particular ugly feature, that I was requested to deprive myself +of the best of my pictures for six months; that for that time it was +to be hung on a wet wall, and that I was to be requited for my courtesy +in having my picture most impertinently covered with a wet blanket. +To sum up the results of a glance over my newsman’s shoulder, +it gives a comprehensive knowledge of what is going on over the continent +of Europe, and also of what is going on over the continent of America, +to say nothing of such little geographical regions as India and China.</p> +<p>Now, my friends, this is the glance over the newsman’s shoulders +from the whimsical point of view, which is the point, I believe, that +most promotes digestion. The newsman is to be met with on steamboats, +railway stations, and at every turn. His profits are small, he +has a great amount of anxiety and care, and no little amount of personal +wear and tear. He is indispensable to civilization and freedom, +and he is looked for with pleasurable excitement every day, except when +he lends the paper for an hour, and when he is punctual in calling for +it, which is sometimes very painful. I think the lesson we can +learn from our newsman is some new illustration of the uncertainty of +life, some illustration of its vicissitudes and fluctuations. +Mindful of this permanent lesson, some members of the trade originated +this society, which affords them assistance in time of sickness and +indigence. The subscription is infinitesimal. It amounts +annually to five shillings. Looking at the returns before me, +the progress of the society would seem to be slow, but it has only been +slow for the best of all reasons, that it has been sure. The pensions +granted are all obtained from the interest on the funded capital, and, +therefore, the Institution is literally as safe as the Bank. It +is stated that there are several newsvendors who are not members of +this society; but that is true in all institutions which have come under +my experience. The persons who are most likely to stand in need +of the benefits which an institution confers, are usually the persons +to keep away until bitter experience comes to them too late.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 11, 1864.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On the above date Mr. Dickens presided at the Adelphi Theatre, at +a public meeting, for the purpose of founding the Shakespeare Schools, +in connexion with the Royal Dramatic College, and delivered the following +address:]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen - Fortunately for me, and fortunately for you, +it is the duty of the Chairman on an occasion of this nature, to be +very careful that he does not anticipate those speakers who come after +him. Like Falstaff, with a considerable difference, he has to +be the cause of speaking in others. It is rather his duty to sit +and hear speeches with exemplary attention than to stand up to make +them; so I shall confine myself, in opening these proceedings as your +business official, to as plain and as short an exposition as I can possibly +give you of the reasons why we come together.</p> +<p>First of all I will take leave to remark that we do not come together +in commemoration of Shakespeare. We have nothing to do with any +commemoration, except that we are of course humble worshippers of that +mighty genius, and that we propose by-and-by to take his name, but by +no means to take it in vain. If, however, the Tercentenary celebration +were a hundred years hence, or a hundred years past, we should still +be pursuing precisely the same object, though we should not pursue it +under precisely the same circumstances. The facts are these: There +is, as you know, in existence an admirable institution called the Royal +Dramatic College, which is a place of honourable rest and repose for +veterans in the dramatic art. The charter of this college, which +dates some five or six years back, expressly provides for the establishment +of schools in connexion with it; and I may venture to add that this +feature of the scheme, when it was explained to him, was specially interesting +to his Royal Highness the late Prince Consort, who hailed it as evidence +of the desire of the promoters to look forward as well as to look back; +to found educational institutions for the rising generation, as well +as to establish a harbour of refuge for the generation going out, or +at least having their faces turned towards the setting sun. The +leading members of the dramatic art, applying themselves first to the +more pressing necessity of the two, set themselves to work on the construction +of their harbour of refuge, and this they did with the zeal, energy, +good-will, and good faith that always honourably distinguish them in +their efforts to help one another. Those efforts were very powerfully +aided by the respected gentleman <a name="citation14"></a><a href="#footnote14">{14}</a> +under whose roof we are assembled, and who, I hope, may be only half +as glad of seeing me on these boards as I always am to see him here. +With such energy and determination did Mr. Webster and his brothers +and sisters in art proceed with their work, that at this present time +all the dwelling-houses of the Royal Dramatic College are built, completely +furnished, fitted with every appliance, and many of them inhabited. +The central hall of the College is built, the grounds are beautifully +planned and laid out, and the estate has become the nucleus of a prosperous +neighbourhood. This much achieved, Mr. Webster was revolving in +his mind how he should next proceed towards the establishment of the +schools, when, this Tercentenary celebration being in hand, it occurred +to him to represent to the National Shakespeare Committee their just +and reasonable claim to participate in the results of any subscription +for a monument to Shakespeare. He represented to the committee +that the social recognition and elevation of the followers of Shakespeare’s +own art, through the education of their children, was surely a monument +worthy even of that great name. He urged upon the committee that +it was certainly a sensible, tangible project, which the public good +sense would immediately appreciate and approve. This claim the +committee at once acknowledged; but I wish you distinctly to understand +that if the committee had never been in existence, if the Tercentenary +celebration had never been attempted, those schools, as a design anterior +to both, would still have solicited public support.</p> +<p>Now, ladies and gentlemen, what it is proposed to do is, in fact, +to find a new self-supporting public school; with this additional feature, +that it is to be available for both sexes. This, of course, presupposes +two separate distinct schools. As these schools are to be built +on land belonging to the Dramatic College, there will be from the first +no charge, no debt, no incumbrance of any kind under that important +head. It is, in short, proposed simply to establish a new self-supporting +public school, in a rapidly increasing neighbourhood, where there is +a large and fast accumulating middle-class population, and where property +in land is fast rising in value. But, inasmuch as the project +is a project of the Royal Dramatic College, and inasmuch as the schools +are to be built on their estate, it is proposed evermore to give their +schools the great name of Shakespeare, and evermore to give the followers +of Shakespeare’s art a prominent place in them. With this +view, it is confidently believed that the public will endow a foundation, +say, for forty foundation scholars - say, twenty girls and twenty boys +- who shall always receive their education gratuitously, and who shall +always be the children of actors, actresses, or dramatic writers. +This school, you will understand, is to be equal to the best existing +public school. It is to be made to impart a sound, liberal, comprehensive +education, and it is to address the whole great middle class at least +as freely, as widely, and as cheaply as any existing public school.</p> +<p>Broadly, ladies and gentlemen, this is the whole design. There +are foundation scholars at Eton, foundation scholars at nearly all our +old schools, and if the public, in remembrance of a noble part of our +standard national literature, and in remembrance of a great humanising +art, will do this thing for these children, it will at the same time +be doing a wise and good thing for itself, and will unquestionably find +its account in it. Taking this view of the case - and I cannot +be satisfied to take any lower one - I cannot make a sorry face about +“the poor player.” I think it is a term very much +misused and very little understood - being, I venture to say, appropriated +in a wrong sense by players themselves. Therefore, ladies and +gentlemen, I can only present the player to you exceptionally in this +wise - that he follows a peculiar and precarious vocation, a vocation +very rarely affording the means of accumulating money - that that vocation +must, from the nature of things, have in it many undistinguished men +and women to one distinguished one - that it is not a vocation the exerciser +of which can profit by the labours of others, but in which he must earn +every loaf of his bread in his own person, with the aid of his own face, +his own limbs, his own voice, his own memory, and his own life and spirits; +and these failing, he fails. Surely this is reason enough to render +him some little help in opening for his children their paths through +life. I say their paths advisedly, because it is not often found, +except under the pressure of necessity, or where there is strong hereditary +talent - which is always an exceptional case - that the children of +actors and actresses take to the stage. Persons therefore need +not in the least fear that by helping to endow these schools they would +help to overstock the dramatic market. They would do directly +the reverse, for they would divert into channels of public distinction +and usefulness those good qualities which would otherwise languish in +that market’s over-rich superabundance.</p> +<p>This project has received the support of the head of the most popular +of our English public schools. On the committee stands the name +of that eminent scholar and gentleman, the Provost of Eton. You +justly admire this liberal spirit, and your admiration - which I cordially +share - brings me naturally to what I wish to say, that I believe there +is not in England any institution so socially liberal as a public school. +It has been called a little cosmos of life outside, and I think it is +so, with the exception of one of life’s worst foibles - for, as +far as I know, nowhere in this country is there so complete an absence +of servility to mere rank, to mere position, to mere riches as in a +public school. A boy there is always what his abilities or his +personal qualities make him. We may differ about the curriculum +and other matters, but of the frank, free, manly, independent spirit +preserved in our public schools, I apprehend there can be no kind of +question. It has happened in these later times that objection +has been made to children of dramatic artists in certain little snivelling +private schools - but in public schools never. Therefore, I hold +that the actors are wise, and gratefully wise, in recognizing the capacious +liberality of a public school, in seeking not a little hole-and-corner +place of education for their children exclusively, but in addressing +the whole of the great middle class, and proposing to them to come and +join them, the actors, on their own property, in a public school, in +a part of the country where no such advantage is now to be found.</p> +<p>I have now done. The attempt has been a very timid one. +I have endeavoured to confine myself within my means, or, rather, like +the possessor of an extended estate, to hand it down in an unembarrassed +condition. I have laid a trifle of timber here and there, and +grubbed up a little brushwood, but merely to open the view, and I think +I can descry in the eye of the gentleman who is to move the first resolution +that he distinctly sees his way. Thanking you for the courtesy +with which you have heard me, and not at all doubting that we shall +lay a strong foundation of these schools to-day, I will call, as the +mover of the first resolution, on Mr. Robert Bell.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 9, 1865.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On the above date Mr. Dickens presided at the Annual Festival of +the Newsvendors’ Benevolent and Provident Association, and, in +proposing the toast of the evening, delivered the following speech.]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - Dr. Johnson’s experience of that club, +the members of which have travelled over one another’s minds in +every direction, is not to be compared with the experience of the perpetual +president of a society like this. Having on previous occasions +said everything about it that he could possibly find to say, he is again +produced, with the same awful formalities, to say everything about it +that he cannot possibly find to say. It struck me, when Dr. F. +Jones was referring just now to Easter Monday, that the case of such +an ill-starred president is very like that of the stag at Epping Forest +on Easter Monday. That unfortunate animal when he is uncarted +at the spot where the meet takes place, generally makes a point, I am +told, of making away at a cool trot, venturesomely followed by the whole +field, to the yard where he lives, and there subsides into a quiet and +inoffensive existence, until he is again brought out to be again followed +by exactly the same field, under exactly the same circumstances, next +Easter Monday.</p> +<p>The difficulties of the situation - and here I mean the president +and not the stag - are greatly increased in such an instance as this +by the peculiar nature of the institution. In its unpretending +solidity, reality, and usefulness, believe me - for I have carefully +considered the point - it presents no opening whatever of an oratorical +nature. If it were one of those costly charities, so called, whose +yield of wool bears no sort of proportion to their cry for cash, I very +likely might have a word or two to say on the subject. If its +funds were lavished in patronage and show, instead of being honestly +expended in providing small annuities for hard-working people who have +themselves contributed to its funds - if its management were intrusted +to people who could by no possibility know anything about it, instead +of being invested in plain, business, practical hands - if it hoarded +when it ought to spend - if it got by cringing and fawning what it never +deserved, I might possibly impress you very much by my indignation. +If its managers could tell me that it was insolvent, that it was in +a hopeless condition, that its accounts had been kept by Mr. Edmunds +- or by “Tom,” - if its treasurer had run away with the +money-box, then I might have made a pathetic appeal to your feelings. +But I have no such chance. Just as a nation is happy whose records +are barren, so is a society fortunate that has no history - and its +president unfortunate. I can only assure you that this society +continues its plain, unobtrusive, useful career. I can only assure +you that it does a great deal of good at a very small cost, and that +the objects of its care and the bulk of its members are faithful working +servants of the public - sole ministers of their wants at untimely hours, +in all seasons, and in all weathers; at their own doors, at the street-corners, +at every railway train, at every steam-boat; through the agency of every +establishment and the tiniest little shops; and that, whether regarded +as master or as man, their profits are very modest and their risks numerous, +while their trouble and responsibility are very great.</p> +<p>The newsvendors and newsmen are a very subordinate part of that wonderful +engine - the newspaper press. Still I think we all know very well +that they are to the fountain-head what a good service of water pipes +is to a good water supply. Just as a goodly store of water at +Watford would be a tantalization to thirsty London if it were not brought +into town for its use, so any amount of news accumulated at Printing-house +Square, or Fleet Street, or the Strand, would be if there were no skill +and enterprise engaged in its dissemination.</p> +<p>We are all of us in the habit of saying in our every-day life, that +“We never know the value of anything until we lose it.” +Let us try the newsvendors by the test. A few years ago we discovered +one morning that there was a strike among the cab-drivers. Now, +let us imagine a strike of newsmen. Imagine the trains waiting +in vain for the newspapers. Imagine all sorts and conditions of +men dying to know the shipping news, the commercial news, the foreign +news, the legal news, the criminal news, the dramatic news. Imagine +the paralysis on all the provincial exchanges; the silence and desertion +of all the newsmen’s exchanges in London. Imagine the circulation +of the blood of the nation and of the country standing still, - the +clock of the world. Why, even Mr. Reuter, the great Reuter - whom +I am always glad to imagine slumbering at night by the side of Mrs. +Reuter, with a galvanic battery under his bolster, bell and wires to +the head of his bed, and bells at each ear - think how even he would +click and flash those wondrous dispatches of his, and how they would +become mere nothing without the activity and honesty which catch up +the threads and stitches of the electric needle, and scatter them over +the land.</p> +<p>It is curious to consider - and the thought occurred to me this day, +when I was out for a stroll pondering over the duties of this evening, +which even then were looming in the distance, but not quite so far off +as I could wish - I found it very curious to consider that though the +newsman must be allowed to be a very unpicturesque rendering of Mercury, +or Fame, or what-not conventional messenger from the clouds, and although +we must allow that he is of this earth, and has a good deal of it on +his boots, still that he has two very remarkable characteristics, to +which none of his celestial predecessors can lay the slightest claim. +One is that he is always the messenger of civilization; the other that +he is at least equally so - not only in what he brings, but in what +he ceases to bring. Thus the time was, and not so many years ago +either, when the newsman constantly brought home to our doors - though +I am afraid not to our hearts, which were custom-hardened - the most +terrific accounts of murders, of our fellow-creatures being publicly +put to death for what we now call trivial offences, in the very heart +of London, regularly every Monday morning. At the same time the +newsman regularly brought to us the infliction of other punishments, +which were demoralising to the innocent part of the community, while +they did not operate as punishments in deterring offenders from the +perpetration of crimes. In those same days, also, the newsman +brought to us daily accounts of a regularly accepted and received system +of loading the unfortunate insane with chains, littering them down on +straw, starving them on bread and water, damaging their clothes, and +making periodical exhibitions of them at a small charge; and that on +a Sunday one of our public resorts was a kind of demoniacal zoological +gardens. They brought us accounts at the same time of some damage +done to the machinery which was destined to supply the operative classes +with employment. In the same time they brought us accounts of +riots for bread, which were constantly occurring, and undermining society +and the state; of the most terrible explosions of class against class, +and of the habitual employment of spies for the discovery - if not for +the origination - of plots, in which both sides found in those days +some relief. In the same time the same newsmen were apprising +us of a state of society all around us in which the grossest sensuality +and intemperance were the rule; and not as now, when the ignorant, the +wicked, and the wretched are the inexcusably vicious exceptions - a +state of society in which the professional bully was rampant, and when +deadly duels were daily fought for the most absurd and disgraceful causes. +All this the newsman has ceased to tell us of. This state of society +has discontinued in England for ever; and when we remember the undoubted +truth, that the change could never have been effected without the aid +of the load which the newsman carries, surely it is not very romantic +to express the hope on his behalf that the public will show to him some +little token of the sympathetic remembrance which we are all of us glad +to bestow on the bearers of happy tidings - the harbingers of good news.</p> +<p>Now, ladies and gentlemen, you will be glad to hear that I am coming +to a conclusion; for that conclusion I have a precedent. You all +of you know how pleased you are on your return from a morning’s +walk to learn that the collector has called. Well, I am the collector +for this district, and I hope you will bear in mind that I have respectfully +called. Regarding the institution on whose behalf I have presented +myself, I need only say technically two things. First, that its +annuities are granted out of its funded capital, and therefore it is +safe as the Bank; and, secondly, that they are attainable by such a +slight exercise of prudence and fore-thought, that a payment of 25<i>s</i>. +extending over a period of five years, entitles a subscriber - if a +male - to an annuity of £16 a-year, and a female to £12 +a-year. Now, bear in mind that this is an institution on behalf +of which the collector has called, leaving behind his assurance that +what you can give to one of the most faithful of your servants shall +be well bestowed and faithfully applied to the purposes to which you +intend them, and to those purposes alone.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: NEWSPAPER PRESS FUND. - LONDON, MAY 20, 1865.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[At the second annual dinner of the Institution, held at the Freemasons’ +Tavern, on Saturday, the 20th May, 1865, the following speech was delivered +by the chairman, Mr. Charles Dickens, in proposing the toast of the +evening:]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - When a young child is produced after dinner +to be shown to a circle of admiring relations and friends, it may generally +be observed that their conversation - I suppose in an instinctive remembrance +of the uncertainty of infant life - takes a retrospective turn. +As how much the child has grown since the last dinner; what a remarkably +fine child it is, to have been born only two or three years ago, how +much stronger it looks now than before it had the measles, and so forth. +When a young institution is produced after dinner, there is not the +same uncertainty or delicacy as in the case of the child, and it may +be confidently predicted of it that if it deserve to live it will surely +live, and that if it deserve to die it will surely die. The proof +of desert in such a case as this must be mainly sought, I suppose, firstly, +in what the society means to do with its money; secondly, in the extent +to which it is supported by the class with whom it originated, and for +whose benefit it is designed; and, lastly, in the power of its hold +upon the public. I add this lastly, because no such institution +that ever I heard of ever yet dreamed of existing apart from the public, +or ever yet considered it a degradation to accept the public support.</p> +<p>Now, what the Newspaper Press Fund proposes to do with its money +is to grant relief to members in want or distress, and to the widows, +families, parents, or other near relatives of deceased members in right +of a moderate provident annual subscription - commutable, I observe, +for a moderate provident life subscription - and its members comprise +the whole paid class of literary contributors to the press of the United +Kingdom, and every class of reporters. The number of its members +at this time last year was something below 100. At the present +time it is somewhat above 170, not including 30 members of the press +who are regular subscribers, but have not as yet qualified as regular +members. This number is steadily on the increase, not only as +regards the metropolitan press, but also as regards the provincial throughout +the country. I have observed within these few days that many members +of the press at Manchester have lately at a meeting expressed a strong +brotherly interest in this Institution, and a great desire to extend +its operations, and to strengthen its hands, provided that something +in the independent nature of life assurance and the purchase of deferred +annuities could be introduced into its details, and always assuming +that in it the metropolis and the provinces stand on perfectly equal +ground. This appears to me to be a demand so very moderate, that +I can hardly have a doubt of a response on the part of the managers, +or of the beneficial and harmonious results. It only remains to +add, on this head of desert, the agreeable circumstance that out of +all the money collected in aid of the society during the last year more +than one-third came exclusively from the press.</p> +<p>Now, ladies and gentlemen, in regard to the last claim - the last +point of desert - the hold upon the public - I think I may say that +probably not one single individual in this great company has failed +to-day to see a newspaper, or has failed to-day to hear something derived +from a newspaper which was quite unknown to him or to her yesterday. +Of all those restless crowds that have this day thronged the streets +of this enormous city, the same may be said as the general gigantic +rule. It may be said almost equally, of the brightest and the +dullest, the largest and the least provincial town in the empire; and +this, observe, not only as to the active, the industrious, and the healthy +among the population, but also to the bedridden, the idle, the blind, +and the deaf and dumb. Now, if the men who provide this all-pervading +presence, this wonderful, ubiquitous newspaper, with every description +of intelligence on every subject of human interest, collected with immense +pains and immense patience, often by the exercise of a laboriously-acquired +faculty united to a natural aptitude, much of the work done in the night, +at the sacrifice of rest and sleep, and (quite apart from the mental +strain) by the constant overtasking of the two most delicate of the +senses, sight and hearing - I say, if the men who, through the newspapers, +from day to day, or from night to night, or from week to week, furnish +the public with so much to remember, have not a righteous claim to be +remembered by the public in return, then I declare before God I know +no working class of the community who have.</p> +<p>It would be absurd, it would be impertinent, in such an assembly +as this, if I were to attempt to expatiate upon the extraordinary combination +of remarkable qualities involved in the production of any newspaper. +But assuming the majority of this associated body to be composed of +reporters, because reporters, of one kind or other, compose the majority +of the literary staff of almost every newspaper that is not a compilation, +I would venture to remind you, if I delicately may, in the august presence +of members of Parliament, how much we, the public, owe to the reporters +if it were only for their skill in the two great sciences of condensation +and rejection. Conceive what our sufferings, under an Imperial +Parliament, however popularly constituted, under however glorious a +constitution, would be if the reporters could not skip. Dr. Johnson, +in one of his violent assertions, declared that “the man who was +afraid of anything must be a scoundrel, sir.” By no means +binding myself to this opinion - though admitting that the man who is +afraid of a newspaper will generally be found to be rather something +like it, I must still freely own that I should approach my Parliamentary +debate with infinite fear and trembling if it were so unskilfully served +up for my breakfast. Ever since the time when the old man and +his son took their donkey home, which were the old Greek days, I believe, +and probably ever since the time when the donkey went into the ark - +perhaps he did not like his accommodation there - but certainly from +that time downwards, he has objected to go in any direction required +of him - from the remotest periods it has been found impossible to please +everybody.</p> +<p>I do not for a moment seek to conceal that I know this Institution +has been objected to. As an open fact challenging the freëst +discussion and inquiry, and seeking no sort of shelter or favour but +what it can win, it has nothing, I apprehend, but itself, to urge against +objection. No institution conceived in perfect honesty and good +faith has a right to object to being questioned to any extent, and any +institution so based must be in the end the better for it. Moreover, +that this society has been questioned in quarters deserving of the most +respectful attention I take to be an indisputable fact. Now, I +for one have given that respectful attention, and I have come out of +the discussion to where you see me. The whole circle of the arts +is pervaded by institutions between which and this I can descry no difference. +The painters’ art has four or five such institutions. The +musicians’ art, so generously and charmingly represented here, +has likewise several such institutions. In my own art there is +one, concerning the details of which my noble friend the president of +the society and myself have torn each other’s hair to a considerable +extent, and which I would, if I could, assimilate more nearly to this. +In the dramatic art there are four, and I never yet heard of any objection +to their principle, except, indeed, in the cases of some famous actors +of large gains, who having through the whole period of their successes +positively refused to establish a right in them, became, in their old +age and decline, repentant suppliants for their bounty. Is it +urged against this particular Institution that it is objectionable because +a parliamentary reporter, for instance, might report a subscribing M.P. +in large, and a non-subscribing M.P. in little? Apart from the +sweeping nature of this charge, which, it is to be observed, lays the +unfortunate member and the unfortunate reporter under pretty much the +same suspicion - apart from this consideration, I reply that it is notorious +in all newspaper offices that every such man is reported according to +the position he can gain in the public eye, and according to the force +and weight of what he has to say. And if there were ever to be +among the members of this society one so very foolish to his brethren, +and so very dishonourable to himself, as venally to abuse his trust, +I confidently ask those here, the best acquainted with journalism, whether +they believe it possible that any newspaper so ill-conducted as to fail +instantly to detect him could possibly exist as a thriving enterprise +for one single twelvemonth? No, ladies and gentlemen, the blundering +stupidity of such an offence would have no chance against the acute +sagacity of newspaper editors. But I will go further, and submit +to you that its commission, if it be to be dreaded at all, is far more +likely on the part of some recreant camp-follower of a scattered, disunited, +and half-recognized profession, than when there is a public opinion +established in it, by the union of all classes of its members for the +common good: the tendency of which union must in the nature of things +be to raise the lower members of the press towards the higher, and never +to bring the higher members to the lower level.</p> +<p>I hope I may be allowed in the very few closing words that I feel +a desire to say in remembrance of some circumstances, rather special, +attending my present occupation of this chair, to give those words something +of a personal tone. I am not here advocating the case of a mere +ordinary client of whom I have little or no knowledge. I hold +a brief to-night for my brothers. I went into the gallery of the +House of Commons as a parliamentary reporter when I was a boy not eighteen, +and I left it - I can hardly believe the inexorable truth - nigh thirty +years ago. I have pursued the calling of a reporter under circumstances +of which many of my brethren at home in England here, many of my modern +successors, can form no adequate conception. I have often transcribed +for the printer, from my shorthand notes, important public speeches +in which the strictest accuracy was required, and a mistake in which +would have been to a young man severely compromising, writing on the +palm of my hand, by the light of a dark lantern, in a post-chaise and +four, galloping through a wild country, and through the dead of the +night, at the then surprising rate of fifteen miles an hour. The +very last time I was at Exeter, I strolled into the castle yard there +to identify, for the amusement of a friend, the spot on which I once +“took,” as we used to call it, an election speech of my +noble friend Lord Russell, in the midst of a lively fight maintained +by all the vagabonds in that division of the county, and under such +a pelting rain, that I remember two goodnatured colleagues, who chanced +to be at leisure, held a pocket-handkerchief over my notebook, after +the manner of a state canopy in an ecclesiastical procession. +I have worn my knees by writing on them on the old back row of the old +gallery of the old House of Commons; and I have worn my feet by standing +to write in a preposterous pen in the old House of Lords, where we used +to be huddled together like so many sheep - kept in waiting, say, until +the woolsack might want re-stuffing. Returning home from excited +political meetings in the country to the waiting press in London, I +do verily believe I have been upset in almost every description of vehicle +known in this country. I have been, in my time, belated on miry +by-roads, towards the small hours, forty or fifty miles from London, +in a wheelless carriage, with exhausted horses and drunken postboys, +and have got back in time for publication, to be received with never-forgotten +compliments by the late Mr. Black, coming in the broadest of Scotch +from the broadest of hearts I ever knew.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, I mention these trivial things as an assurance +to you that I never have forgotten the fascination of that old pursuit. +The pleasure that I used to feel in the rapidity and dexterity of its +exercise has never faded out of my breast. Whatever little cunning +of hand or head I took to it, or acquired in it, I have so retained +as that I fully believe I could resume it to-morrow, very little the +worse from long disuse. To this present year of my life, when +I sit in this hall, or where not, hearing a dull speech, the phenomenon +does occur - I sometimes beguile the tedium of the moment by mentally +following the speaker in the old, old way; and sometimes, if you can +believe me, I even find my hand going on the table-cloth, taking an +imaginary note of it all. Accept these little truths as a confirmation +of what I know; as a confirmation of my undying interest in this old +calling. Accept them as a proof that my feeling for the location +of my youth is not a sentiment taken up to-night to be thrown away to-morrow +- but is a faithful sympathy which is a part of myself. I verily +believe - I am sure - that if I had never quitted my old calling I should +have been foremost and zealous in the interests of this Institution, +believing it to be a sound, a wholesome, and a good one. Ladies +and gentlemen, I am to propose to you to drink “Prosperity to +the Newspaper Press Fund,” with which toast I will connect, as +to its acknowledgment, a name that has shed new brilliancy on even the +foremost newspaper in the world - the illustrious name of Mr. Russell.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: KNEBWORTH, JULY 29, 1865.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On the above date the members of the “Guild of Literature +and Art” proceeded to the neighbourhood of Stevenage, near the +magnificent seat of the President, Lord Lytton, to inspect three houses +built in the Gothic style, on the ground given by him for the purpose. +After their survey, the party drove to Knebworth to partake of the hospitality +of Lord Lytton. Mr. Dickens, who was one of the guests, proposed +the health of the host in the following words:]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - It was said by a very sagacious person, whose +authority I am sure my friend of many years will not impugn, seeing +that he was named Augustus Tomlinson, the kind friend and philosopher +of Paul Clifford - it was said by that remarkable man, “Life is +short, and why should speeches be long?” An aphorism so +sensible under all circumstances, and particularly in the circumstances +in which we are placed, with this delicious weather and such charming +gardens near us, I shall practically adopt on the present occasion; +and the rather so because the speech of my friend was exhaustive of +the subject, as his speeches always are, though not in the least exhaustive +of his audience. In thanking him for the toast which he has done +us the honour to propose, allow me to correct an error into which he +has fallen. Allow me to state that these houses never could have +been built but for his zealous and valuable co-operation, and also that +the pleasant labour out of which they have arisen would have lost one +of its greatest charms and strongest impulses, if it had lost his ever +ready sympathy with that class in which he has risen to the foremost +rank, and of which he is the brightest ornament.</p> +<p>Having said this much as simply due to my friend, I can only say, +on behalf of my associates, that the ladies and gentlemen whom we shall +invite to occupy the houses we have built will never be placed under +any social disadvantage. They will be invited to occupy them as +artists, receiving them as a mark of the high respect in which they +are held by their fellow-workers. As artists I hope they will +often exercise their calling within those walls for the general advantage; +and they will always claim, on equal terms, the hospitality of their +generous neighbour.</p> +<p>Now I am sure I shall be giving utterance to the feelings of my brothers +and sisters in literature in proposing “Health, long life, and +prosperity to our distinguished host.” Ladies and gentlemen, +you know very well that when the health, life, and beauty now overflowing +these halls shall have fled, crowds of people will come to see the place +where he lived and wrote. Setting aside the orator and statesman +- for happily we know no party here but this agreeable party - setting +aside all, this you know very well, that this is the home of a very +great man whose connexion with Hertfordshire every other county in England +will envy for many long years to come. You know that when this +hall is dullest and emptiest you can make it when you please brightest +and fullest by peopling it with the creations of his brilliant fancy. +Let us all wish together that they may be many more - for the more they +are the better it will be, and, as he always excels himself, the better +they will be. I ask you to listen to their praises and not to +mine, and to let them, not me, propose his health.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, FEBRUARY 14, 1866.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On this occasion Mr. Dickens officiated as Chairman at the annual +dinner of the Dramatic, Equestrian, and Musical Fund, at Willis’s +Rooms, where he made the following speech:]</p> +<p>Ladies, before I couple you with the gentlemen, which will be at +least proper to the inscription over my head (St. Valentine’s +day) - before I do so, allow me, on behalf of my grateful sex here represented, +to thank you for the great pleasure and interest with which your gracious +presence at these festivals never fails to inspire us. There is +no English custom which is so manifestly a relic of savage life as that +custom which usually excludes you from participation in similar gatherings. +And although the crime carries its own heavy punishment along with it, +in respect that it divests a public dinner of its most beautiful ornament +and of its most fascinating charm, still the offence is none the less +to be severely reprehended on every possible occasion, as outraging +equally nature and art. I believe that as little is known of the +saint whose name is written here as can well be known of any saint or +sinner. We, your loyal servants, are deeply thankful to him for +having somehow gained possession of one day in the year - for having, +as no doubt he has, arranged the almanac for 1866 - expressly to delight +us with the enchanting fiction that we have some tender proprietorship +in you which we should scarcely dare to claim on a less auspicious occasion. +Ladies, the utmost devotion sanctioned by the saint we beg to lay at +your feet, and any little innocent privileges to which we may be entitled +by the same authority we beg respectfully but firmly to claim at your +hands.</p> +<p>Now, ladies and gentlemen, you need no ghost to inform you that I +am going to propose “Prosperity to the Dramatic, Musical, and +Equestrian Sick Fund Association,” and, further, that I should +be going to ask you actively to promote that prosperity by liberally +contributing to its funds, if that task were not reserved for a much +more persuasive speaker. But I rest the strong claim of the society +for its useful existence and its truly charitable functions on a very +few words, though, as well as I can recollect, upon something like six +grounds. First, it relieves the sick; secondly, it buries the +dead; thirdly, it enables the poor members of the profession to journey +to accept new engagements whenever they find themselves stranded in +some remote, inhospitable place, or when, from other circumstances, +they find themselves perfectly crippled as to locomotion for want of +money; fourthly, it often finds such engagements for them by acting +as their honest, disinterested agent; fifthly, it is its principle to +act humanely upon the instant, and never, as is too often the case within +my experience, to beat about the bush till the bush is withered and +dead; lastly, the society is not in the least degree exclusive, but +takes under its comprehensive care the whole range of the theatre and +the concert-room, from the manager in his room of state, or in his caravan, +or at the drum-head - down to the theatrical housekeeper, who is usually +to be found amongst the cobwebs and the flies, or down to the hall porter, +who passes his life in a thorough draught - and, to the best of my observation, +in perpetually interrupted endeavours to eat something with a knife +and fork out of a basin, by a dusty fire, in that extraordinary little +gritty room, upon which the sun never shines, and on the portals of +which are inscribed the magic words, “stage-door.”</p> +<p>Now, ladies and gentlemen, this society administers its benefits +sometimes by way of loan; sometimes by way of gift; sometimes by way +of assurance at very low premiums; sometimes to members, oftener to +non-members; always expressly, remember, through the hands of a secretary +or committee well acquainted with the wants of the applicants, and thoroughly +versed, if not by hard experience at least by sympathy, in the calamities +and uncertainties incidental to the general calling. One must +know something of the general calling to know what those afflictions +are. A lady who had been upon the stage from her earliest childhood +till she was a blooming woman, and who came from a long line of provincial +actors and actresses, once said to me when she was happily married; +when she was rich, beloved, courted; when she was mistress of a fine +house - once said to me at the head of her own table, surrounded by +distinguished guests of every degree, “Oh, but I have never forgotten +the hard time when I was on the stage, and when my baby brother died, +and when my poor mother and I brought the little baby from Ireland to +England, and acted three nights in England, as we had acted three nights +in Ireland, with the pretty creature lying upon the only bed in our +lodging before we got the money to pay for its funeral.”</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, such things are, every day, to this hour; but, +happily, at this day and in this hour this association has arisen to +be the timely friend of such great distress.</p> +<p>It is not often the fault of the sufferers that they fall into these +straits. Struggling artists must necessarily change from place +to place, and thus it frequently happens that they become, as it were, +strangers in every place, and very slight circumstances - a passing +illness, the sickness of the husband, wife, or child, a serious town, +an anathematising expounder of the gospel of gentleness and forbearance +- any one of these causes may often in a few hours wreck them upon a +rock in the barren ocean; and then, happily, this society, with the +swift alacrity of the life-boat, dashes to the rescue, and takes them +off. Looking just now over the last report issued by this society, +and confining my scrutiny to the head of illness alone, I find that +in one year, I think, 672 days of sickness had been assuaged by its +means. In nine years, which then formed the term of its existence, +as many as 5,500 and odd. Well, I thought when I saw 5,500 and +odd days of sickness, this is a very serious sum, but add the nights! +Add the nights - those long, dreary hours in the twenty-four when the +shadow of death is darkest, when despondency is strongest, and when +hope is weakest, before you gauge the good that is done by this institution, +and before you gauge the good that really will be done by every shilling +that you bestow here to-night. Add, more than all, that the improvidence, +the recklessness of the general multitude of poor members of this profession, +I should say is a cruel, conventional fable. Add that there is +no class of society the members of which so well help themselves, or +so well help each other. Not in the whole grand chapters of Westminster +Abbey and York Minster, not in the whole quadrangle of the Royal Exchange, +not in the whole list of members of the Stock Exchange, not in the Inns +of Court, not in the College of Physicians, not in the College of Surgeons, +can there possibly be found more remarkable instances of uncomplaining +poverty, of cheerful, constant self-denial, of the generous remembrance +of the claims of kindred and professional brotherhood, than will certainly +be found in the dingiest and dirtiest concert room, in the least lucid +theatre - even in the raggedest tent circus that was ever stained by +weather.</p> +<p>I have been twitted in print before now with rather flattering actors +when I address them as one of their trustees at their General Fund dinner. +Believe me, I flatter nobody, unless it be sometimes myself; but, in +such a company as the present, I always feel it my manful duty to bear +my testimony to this fact - first, because it is opposed to a stupid, +unfeeling libel; secondly, because my doing so may afford some slight +encouragement to the persons who are unjustly depreciated; and lastly, +and most of all, because I know it is the truth.</p> +<p>Now, ladies and gentlemen, it is time we should what we professionally +call “ring down” on these remarks. If you, such members +of the general public as are here, will only think the great theatrical +curtain has really fallen and been taken up again for the night on that +dull, dark vault which many of us know so well; if you will only think +of the theatre or other place of entertainment as empty; if you will +only think of the “float,” or other gas-fittings, as extinguished; +if you will only think of the people who have beguiled you of an evening’s +care, whose little vanities and almost childish foibles are engendered +in their competing face to face with you for your favour - surely it +may be said their feelings are partly of your making, while their virtues +are all their own. If you will only do this, and follow them out +of that sham place into the real world, where it rains real rain, snows +real snow, and blows real wind; where people sustain themselves by real +money, which is much harder to get, much harder to make, and very much +harder to give away than the pieces of tobacco-pipe in property bags +- if you will only do this, and do it in a really kind, considerate +spirit, this society, then certain of the result of the night’s +proceedings, can ask no more. I beg to propose to you to drink +“Prosperity to the Dramatic, Equestrian, and Musical Sick Fund +Association.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>[Mr. Dickens, in proposing the next toast, said:-]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Gentlemen: as I addressed myself to the ladies last time, so I address +you this time, and I give you the delightful assurance that it is positively +my last appearance but one on the present occasion. A certain +Mr. Pepys, who was Secretary for the Admiralty in the days of Charles +II., who kept a diary well in shorthand, which he supposed no one could +read, and which consequently remains to this day the most honest diary +known to print - Mr. Pepys had two special and very strong likings, +the ladies and the theatres. But Mr. Pepys, whenever he committed +any slight act of remissness, or any little peccadillo which was utterly +and wholly untheatrical, used to comfort his conscience by recording +a vow that he would abstain from the theatres for a certain time. +In the first part of Mr. Pepys’ character I have no doubt we fully +agree with him; in the second I have no doubt we do not.</p> +<p>I learn this experience of Mr. Pepys from remembrance of a passage +in his diary that I was reading the other night, from which it appears +that he was not only curious in plays, but curious in sermons; and that +one night when he happened to be walking past St. Dunstan’s Church, +he turned, went in, and heard what he calls “a very edifying discourse;” +during the delivery of which discourse, he notes in his diary - “I +stood by a pretty young maid, whom I did attempt to take by the hand.” +But he adds - “She would not; and I did perceive that she had +pins in her pocket with which to prick me if I should touch her again +- and was glad that I spied her design.” Afterwards, about +the close of the same edifying discourse, Mr. Pepys found himself near +another pretty, fair young maid, who would seem upon the whole to have +had no pins, and to have been more impressible.</p> +<p>Now, the moral of this story which I wish to suggest to you is, that +we have been this evening in St. James’s much more timid than +Mr. Pepys was in St. Dunstan’s, and that we have conducted ourselves +very much better. As a slight recompense to us for our highly +meritorious conduct, and as a little relief to our over-charged hearts, +I beg to propose that we devote this bumper to invoking a blessing on +the ladies. It is the privilege of this society annually to hear +a lady speak for her own sex. Who so competent to do this as Mrs. +Stirling? Surely one who has so gracefully and captivatingly, +with such an exquisite mixture of art, and fancy, and fidelity, represented +her own sex in innumerable charities, under an infinite variety of phases, +cannot fail to represent them well in her own character, especially +when it is, amidst her many triumphs, the most agreeable of all. +I beg to propose to you “The Ladies,” and I will couple +with that toast the name of Mrs. Stirling.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, MARCH 28, 1866.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The following speech was made by Mr. Dickens at the Annual Festival +of the Royal General Theatrical Fund, held at the Freemasons’ +Tavern, in proposing the health of the Lord Mayor (Sir Benjamin Phillips), +who occupied the chair.]</p> +<p>Gentlemen, in my childish days I remember to have had a vague but +profound admiration for a certain legendary person called the Lord Mayor’s +fool. I had the highest opinion of the intellectual capacity of +that suppositious retainer of the Mansion House, and I really regarded +him with feelings approaching to absolute veneration, because my nurse +informed me on every gastronomic occasion that the Lord Mayor’s +fool liked everything that was good. You will agree with me, I +have no doubt, that if this discriminating jester had existed at the +present time he could not fail to have liked his master very much, seeing +that so good a Lord Mayor is very rarely to be found, and that a better +Lord Mayor could not possibly be.</p> +<p>You have already divined, gentlemen, that I am about to propose to +you to drink the health of the right honourable gentleman in the chair. +As one of the Trustees of the General Theatrical Fund, I beg officially +to tender him my best thanks for lending the very powerful aid of his +presence, his influence, and his personal character to this very deserving +Institution. As his private friends we ventured to urge upon him +to do us this gracious act, and I beg to assure you that the perfect +simplicity, modesty, cordiality, and frankness with which he assented, +enhanced the gift one thousand fold. I think it must also be very +agreeable to a company like this to know that the President of the night +is not ceremoniously pretending, “positively for this night only,” +to have an interest in the drama, but that he has an unusual and thorough +acquaintance with it, and that he has a living and discerning knowledge +of the merits of the great old actors. It is very pleasant to +me to remember that the Lord Mayor and I once beguiled the tedium of +a journey by exchanging our experiences upon this subject. I rather +prided myself on being something of an old stager, but I found the Lord +Mayor so thoroughly up in all the stock pieces, and so knowing and yet +so fresh about the merits of those who are most and best identified +with them, that I readily recognised in him what would be called in +fistic language, a very ugly customer - one, I assure you, by no means +to be settled by any novice not in thorough good theatrical training.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, we have all known from our earliest infancy that when +the giants in Guildhall hear the clock strike one, they come down to +dinner. Similarly, when the City of London shall hear but one +single word in just disparagement of its present Lord Mayor, whether +as its enlightened chief magistrate, or as one of its merchants, or +as one of its true gentlemen, he will then descend from the high personal +place which he holds in the general honour and esteem. Until then +he will remain upon his pedestal, and my private opinion, between ourselves, +is that the giants will come down long before him.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, in conclusion, I would remark that when the Lord Mayor +made his truly remarkable, and truly manly, and unaffected speech, I +could not but be struck by the odd reversal of the usual circumstances +at the Mansion House, which he presented to our view, for whereas it +is a very common thing for persons to be brought tremblingly before +the Lord Mayor, the Lord Mayor presented himself as being brought tremblingly +before us. I hope that the result may hold still further, for +whereas it is a common thing for the Lord Mayor to say to a repentant +criminal who does not seem to have much harm in him, “let me never +see you here again,” so I would propose that we all with one accord +say to the Lord Mayor, “Let us by all means see you here again +on the first opportunity.” Gentlemen, I beg to propose to +you to drink, with all the honours, “The health of the right hon. +the Lord Mayor.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 7, 1866.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The Members of the Metropolitan Rowing Clubs dining together at +the London Tavern, on the above date, Mr. Dickens, as President of the +Nautilus Rowing Club, occupied the chair. The Speech that follows +was made in proposing “Prosperity to the Rowing Clubs of London.” +Mr. Dickens said that:-]</p> +<p>He could not avoid the remembrance of what very poor things the amateur +rowing clubs on the Thames were in the early days of his noviciate; +not to mention the difference in the build of the boats. He could +not get on in the beginning without being a pupil under an anomalous +creature called a “fireman waterman,” who wore an eminently +tall hat, and a perfectly unaccountable uniform, of which it might be +said that if it was less adapted for one thing than another, that thing +was fire. He recollected that this gentleman had on some former +day won a King’s prize wherry, and they used to go about in this +accursed wherry, he and a partner, doing all the hard work, while the +fireman drank all the beer. The river was very much clearer, freër, +and cleaner in those days than these; but he was persuaded that this +philosophical old boatman could no more have dreamt of seeing the spectacle +which had taken place on Saturday (the procession of the boats of the +Metropolitan Amateur Rowing Clubs), or of seeing these clubs matched +for skill and speed, than he (the Chairman) should dare to announce +through the usual authentic channels that he was to be heard of at the +bar below, and that he was perfectly prepared to accommodate Mr. James +Mace if he meant business. Nevertheless, he could recollect that +he had turned out for a spurt a few years ago on the River Thames with +an occasional Secretary, who should be nameless, and some other Eton +boys, and that he could hold his own against them. More recently +still, the last time that he rowed down from Oxford he was supposed +to cover himself with honour, though he must admit that he found the +“locks” so picturesque as to require much examination for +the discovery of their beauty. But what he wanted to say was this, +that though his “fireman waterman” was one of the greatest +humbugs that ever existed, he yet taught him what an honest, healthy, +manly sport this was. Their waterman would bid them pull away, +and assure them that they were certain of winning in some race. +And here he would remark that aquatic sports never entailed a moment’s +cruelty, or a moment’s pain, upon any living creature. Rowing +men pursued recreation under circumstances which braced their muscles, +and cleared the cobwebs from their minds. He assured them that +he regarded such clubs as these as a “national blessing.” +They owed, it was true, a vast deal to steam power - as was sometimes +proved at matches on the Thames - but, at the same time, they were greatly +indebted to all that tended to keep up a healthy, manly tone. +He understood that there had been a committee selected for the purpose +of arranging a great amateur regatta, which was to take place off Putney +in the course of the season that was just begun. He could not +abstain from availing himself of this occasion to express a hope that +the committee would successfully carry on its labours to a triumphant +result, and that they should see upon the Thames, in the course of this +summer, such a brilliant sight as had never been seen there before. +To secure this there must be some hard work, skilful combinations, and +rather large subscriptions. But although the aggregate result +must be great, it by no means followed that it need be at all large +in its individual details.</p> +<p>[In conclusion, Mr. Dickens made a laughable comparison between the +paying off or purification of the national debt and the purification +of the River Thames.]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, JUNE 5, 1867.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On the above date Mr. Dickens presided at the Ninth Anniversary +Festival of the Railway Benevolent Society, at Willis’s Rooms, +and in proposing the toast of the evening, made the following speech.]</p> +<p>Although we have not yet left behind us by the distance of nearly +fifty years the time when one of the first literary authorities of this +country insisted upon the speed of the fastest railway train that the +Legisture might disastrously sanction being limited by Act of Parliament +to ten miles an hour, yet it does somehow happen that this evening, +and every evening, there are railway trains running pretty smoothly +to Ireland and to Scotland at the rate of fifty miles an hour; much +as it was objected in its time to vaccination, that it must have a tendency +to impart to human children something of the nature of the cow, whereas +I believe to this very time vaccinated children are found to be as easily +defined from calves as they ever were, and certainly they have no cheapening +influence on the price of veal; much as it was objected that chloroform +was a contravention of the will of Providence, because it lessened providentially-inflicted +pain, which would be a reason for your not rubbing your face if you +had the tooth-ache, or not rubbing your nose if it itched; so it was +evidently predicted that the railway system, even if anything so absurd +could be productive of any result, would infallibly throw half the nation +out of employment; whereas, you observe that the very cause and occasion +of our coming here together to-night is, apart from the various tributary +channels of occupation which it has opened out, that it has called into +existence a specially and directly employed population of upwards of +200,000 persons.</p> +<p>Now, gentlemen, it is pretty clear and obvious that upwards of 200,000 +persons engaged upon the various railways of the United Kingdom cannot +be rich; and although their duties require great care and great exactness, +and although our lives are every day, humanly speaking, in the hands +of many of them, still, for the most of these places there will be always +great competition, because they are not posts which require skilled +workmen to hold. Wages, as you know very well, cannot be high +where competition is great, and you also know very well that railway +directors, in the bargains they make, and the salaries which they pay, +have to deal with the money of the shareholders, to whom they are accountable. +Thus it necessarily happens that railway officers and servants are not +remunerated on the whole by any means splendidly, and that they cannot +hope in the ordinary course of things to do more than meet the ordinary +wants and hazards of life. But it is to be observed that the general +hazards are in their case, by reason of the dangerous nature of their +avocations, exceptionally great, so very great, I find, as to be stateable, +on the authority of a parliamentary paper, by the very startling round +of figures, that whereas one railway traveller in 8,000,000 of passengers +is killed, one railway servant in every 2,000 is killed.</p> +<p>Hence, from general, special, as well, no doubt, for the usual prudential +and benevolent considerations, there came to be established among railway +officers and servants, nine years ago, the Railway Benevolent Association. +I may suppose, therefore, as it was established nine years ago, that +this is the ninth occasion of publishing from this chair the banns between +this institution and the public. Nevertheless, I feel bound individually +to do my duty the same as if it had never been done before, and to ask +whether there is any just cause or impediment why these two parties +- the institution and the public - should not be joined together in +holy charity. As I understand the society, its objects are five-fold +- first, to guarantee annuities which, it is always to be observed, +is paid out of the interest of invested capital, so that those annuities +may be secure and safe - annual pensions, varying from £10 to +£25, to distressed railway officers and servants incapacitated +by age, sickness, or accident; secondly, to guarantee small pensions +to distressed widows; thirdly, to educate and maintain orphan children; +fourthly, to provide temporary relief for all those classes till lasting +relief can be guaranteed out of funds sufficiently large for the purpose; +lastly, to induce railway officers and servants to assure their lives +in some well-established office by sub-dividing the payment of the premiums +into small periodical sums, and also by granting a reversionary bonus +of £10 per cent. on the amount assured from the funds of the institution.</p> +<p>This is the society we are met to assist - simple, sympathetic, practical, +easy, sensible, unpretending. The number of its members is large, +and rapidly on the increase: they number 12,000; the amount of invested +capital is very nearly £15,000; it has done a world of good and +a world of work in these first nine years of its life; and yet I am +proud to say that the annual cost of the maintenance of the institution +is no more than £250. And now if you do not know all about +it in a small compass, either I do not know all about it myself, or +the fault must be in my “packing.”</p> +<p>One naturally passes from what the institution is and has done, to +what it wants. Well, it wants to do more good, and it cannot possibly +do more good until it has more money. It cannot safely, and therefore +it cannot honourably, grant more pensions to deserving applicants until +it grows richer, and it cannot grow rich enough for its laudable purpose +by its own unaided self. The thing is absolutely impossible. +The means of these railway officers and servants are far too limited. +Even if they were helped to the utmost by the great railway companies, +their means would still be too limited; even if they were helped - and +I hope they shortly will be - by some of the great corporations of this +country, whom railways have done so much to enrich. These railway +officers and servants, on their road to a very humble and modest superannuation, +can no more do without the help of the great public, than the great +public, on their road from Torquay to Aberdeen, can do without them. +Therefore, I desire to ask the public whether the servants of the great +railways - who, in fact, are their servants, their ready, zealous, faithful, +hard-working servants - whether they have not established, whether they +do not every day establish, a reasonable claim to liberal remembrance.</p> +<p>Now, gentlemen, on this point of the case there is a story once told +me by a friend of mine, which seems to my mind to have a certain application. +My friend was an American sea-captain, and, therefore, it is quite unnecessary +to say his story was quite true. He was captain and part owner +of a large American merchant liner. On a certain voyage out, in +exquisite summer weather, he had for cabin passengers one beautiful +young lady, and ten more or less beautiful young gentlemen. Light +winds or dead calms prevailing, the voyage was slow. They had +made half their distance when the ten young gentlemen were all madly +in love with the beautiful young lady. They had all proposed to +her, and bloodshed among the rivals seemed imminent pending the young +lady’s decision. On this extremity the beautiful young lady +confided in my friend the captain, who gave her discreet advice. +He said: “If your affections are disengaged, take that one of +the young gentlemen whom you like the best and settle the question.” +To this the beautiful young lady made reply, “I cannot do that +because I like them all equally well.” My friend, who was +a man of resource, hit upon this ingenious expedient, said he, “To-morrow +morning at mid-day, when lunch is announced, do you plunge bodily overboard, +head foremost. I will be alongside in a boat to rescue you, and +take the one of the ten who rushes to your rescue, and then you can +afterwards have him.” The beautiful young lady highly approved, +and did accordingly. But after she plunged in, nine out of the +ten more or less beautiful young gentlemen plunged in after her; and +the tenth remained and shed tears, looking over the side of the vessel. +They were all picked up, and restored dripping to the deck. The +beautiful young lady upon seeing them said, “What am I to do? +See what a plight they are in. How can I possibly choose, because +every one of them is equally wet?” Then said my friend the +captain, acting upon a sudden inspiration, “Take the dry one.” +I am sorry to say that she did so, and they lived happy ever afterwards.</p> +<p>Now, gentleman, in my application of this story, I exactly reverse +my friend the captain’s anecdote, and I entreat the public in +looking about to consider who are fit subjects for their bounty, to +give each his hand with something in it, and not award a dry hand to +the industrious railway servant who is always at his back. And +I would ask any one with a doubt upon this subject to consider what +his experience of the railway servant is from the time of his departure +to his arrival at his destination. I know what mine is. +Here he is, in velveteen or in a policeman’s dress, scaling cabs, +storming carriages, finding lost articles by a sort of instinct, binding +up lost umbrellas and walking sticks, wheeling trucks, counselling old +ladies, with a wonderful interest in their affairs - mostly very complicated +- and sticking labels upon all sorts of articles. I look around +- there he is, in a station-master’s uniform, directing and overseeing, +with the head of a general, and with the courteous manners of a gentleman; +and then there is the handsome figure of the guard, who inspires confidence +in timid passengers. I glide out of the station, and there he +is again with his flags in his hand at his post in the open country, +at the level crossing, at the cutting, at the tunnel mouth, and at every +station on the road until our destination is reached. In regard, +therefore, to the railway servants with whom we do come into contact, +we may surely have some natural sympathy, and it is on their behalf +that I this night appeal to you. I beg now to propose “Success +to the Railway Benevolent Society.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, SEPTEMBER 17, 1867.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On presiding at a public Meeting of the Printers’ Readers, +held at the Salisbury Hotel, on the above date, Mr. Dickens said:-]</p> +<p>That as the meeting was convened, not to hear him, but to hear a +statement of facts and figures very nearly affecting the personal interests +of the great majority of those present, his preface to the proceedings +need be very brief. Of the details of the question he knew, of +his own knowledge, absolutely nothing; but he had consented to occupy +the chair on that occasion at the request of the London Association +of Correctors of the Press for two reasons - first, because he thought +that openness and publicity in such cases were a very wholesome example +very much needed at this time, and were highly becoming to a body of +men associated with that great public safeguard - the Press; secondly, +because he knew from some slight practical experience, what the duties +of correctors of the press were, and how their duties were usually discharged; +and he could testify, and did testify, that they were not mechanical, +that they were not mere matters of manipulation and routine; but that +they required from those who performed them much natural intelligence, +much super-added cultivation, readiness of reference, quickness of resource, +an excellent memory, and a clear understanding. He most gratefully +acknowledged that he had never gone through the sheets of any book that +he had written, without having presented to him by the correctors of +the press something that he had overlooked, some slight inconsistency +into which he had fallen, some little lapse he had made - in short, +without having set down in black and white some unquestionable indication +that he had been closely followed through the work by a patient and +trained mind, and not merely by a skilful eye. And in this declaration +he had not the slightest doubt that the great body of his brother and +sister writers would, as a plain act of justice, readily concur. +For these plain reasons he was there; and being there he begged to assure +them that every one present - that every speaker - would have a patient +hearing, whatever his opinions might be.</p> +<p>[The proceedings concluded with a very cordial and hearty vote of +thanks to Mr. Dickens for taking the chair on the occasion.]</p> +<p>Mr. Dickens briefly returned thanks, and expressed the belief that +their very calm and temperate proceedings would finally result in the +establishment of relations of perfect amity between the employers and +the employed, and consequently conduce to the general welfare of both.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, NOVEMBER 2, 1867.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On Saturday evening, November 2, 1867, a grand complimentary farewell +dinner was given to Mr. Dickens at the Freemasons’ Tavern on the +occasion of his revisiting the United States of America. Lord +Lytton officiated as chairman, and proposed as a toast - “A Prosperous +Voyage, Health, and Long Life to our Illustrious Guest and Countryman, +Charles Dickens”. The toast was drunk with all the honours, +and one cheer more. Mr. Dickens then rose, and spoke as follows:]</p> +<p>No thanks that I can offer you can express my sense of my reception +by this great assemblage, or can in the least suggest to you how deep +the glowing words of my friend the chairman, and your acceptance of +them, have sunk into my heart. But both combined have so greatly +shaken the composure which I am used to command before an audience, +that I hope you may observe in me some traces of an eloquence more expressive +than the richest words. To say that I am fervently grateful to +you is to say nothing; to say that I can never forget this beautiful +sight, is to say nothing; to say that it brings upon me a rush of emotion +not only in the present, but in the thought of its remembrance in the +future by those who are dearest to me, is to say nothing; but to feel +all this for the moment, even almost to pain, is very much indeed. +Mercutio says of the wound in his breast, dealt him by the hand of a +foe, that - “’Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as +a church door; but ’tis enough, ’twill serve.” <a name="citation15"></a><a href="#footnote15">{15}</a> +I may say of the wound in my breast, newly dealt to me by the hands +of my friends, that it is deeper than the soundless sea, and wider than +the whole Catholic Church. I may safely add that it has for the +moment almost stricken me dumb. I should be more than human, and +I assure you I am very human indeed, if I could look around upon this +brilliant representative company and not feel greatly thrilled and stirred +by the presence of so many brother artists, not only in literature, +but also in the sister arts, especially painting, among whose professors +living and unhappily dead, are many of my oldest and best friends. +I hope that I may, without presumption, regard this thronging of my +brothers around me as a testimony on their part that they believe that +the cause of art generally has been safe in my keeping, and that it +has never been falsely dealt with by me. Your resounding cheers +just now would have been but so many cruel reproaches to me if I could +not here declare that, from the earliest days of my career down to this +proud night, I have always tried to be true to my calling. Never +unduly to assert it, on the one hand, and never, on any pretence or +consideration, to permit it to be patronized in my person, has been +the steady endeavour of my life; and I have occasionally been vain enough +to hope that I may leave its social position in England better than +I found it. Similarly, and equally I hope without presumption, +I trust that I may take this general representation of the public here, +through so many orders, pursuits, and degrees, as a token that the public +believe that, with a host of imperfections and shortcomings on my head, +I have as a writer, in my soul and conscience, tried to be as true to +them as they have ever been true to me. And here, in reference +to the inner circle of the arts and the outer circle of the public, +I feel it a duty to-night to offer two remarks. I have in my duty +at odd times heard a great deal about literary sets and cliques, and +coteries and barriers; about keeping this man up, and keeping that man +down; about sworn disciples and sworn unbelievers, and mutual admiration +societies, and I know not what other dragons in the upward path. +I began to tread it when I was very young, without influence, without +money, without companion, introducer, or adviser, and I am bound to +put in evidence in this place that I never lighted on these dragons +yet. So have I heard in my day, at divers other odd times, much +generally to the effect that the English people have little or no love +of art for its own sake, and that they do not greatly care to acknowledge +or do honour to the artist. My own experience has uniformly been +exactly the reverse. I can say that of my countrymen, though I +cannot say that of my country.</p> +<p>And now passing to the immediate occasion of your doing me this great +honour, the story of my going again to America is very easily and briefly +told. Since I was there before a vast and entirely new generation +has arisen in the United States. Since I was there before most +of the best known of my books have been written and published; the new +generation and the books have come together and have kept together, +until at length numbers of those who have so widely and constantly read +me; naturally desiring a little variety in the relationship between +us, have expressed a strong wish that I should read myself. This +wish, at first conveyed to me through public channels and business channels, +has gradually become enforced by an immense accumulation of letters +from individuals and associations of individuals, all expressing in +the same hearty, homely, cordial unaffected way, a kind of personal +interest in me - I had almost said a kind of personal affection for +me, which I am sure you would agree with me it would be dull insensibility +on my part not to prize. Little by little this pressure has become +so great that, although, as Charles Lamb says, my household gods strike +a terribly deep root, I have torn them from their places, and this day +week, at this hour, shall be upon the sea. You will readily conceive +that I am inspired besides by a natural desire to see for myself the +astonishing change and progress of a quarter of a century over there, +to grasp the hands of many faithful friends whom I left there, to see +the faces of the multitude of new friends upon whom I have never looked, +and last, not least, to use my best endeavour to lay down a third cable +of intercommunication and alliance between the old world and the new. +Twelve years ago, when Heaven knows I little thought I should ever be +bound upon the voyage which now lies before me, I wrote in that form +of my writings which obtains by far the most extensive circulation, +these words of the American nation:- “I know full well, whatever +little motes my beamy eyes may have descried in theirs, that they are +a kind, large-hearted, generous, and great people.” In that +faith I am going to see them again; in that faith I shall, please God, +return from them in the spring; in that same faith to live and to die. +I told you in the beginning that I could not thank you enough, and Heaven +knows I have most thoroughly kept my word. If I may quote one +other short sentence from myself, let it imply all that I have left +unsaid, and yet most deeply feel. Let it, putting a girdle round +the earth, comprehend both sides of the Atlantic at once in this moment, +and say, as Tiny Tim observes, “God bless us every one.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: BOSTON, APRIL 8, 1868.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[Mr. Dickens gave his last Reading at Boston, on the above date. +On his entrance a surprise awaited him. His reading-stand had +been decorated with flowers and palm-leaves by some of the ladies of +the city. He acknowledged this graceful tribute in the following +words:- “Before allowing Dr. Marigold to tell his story in his +own peculiar way, I kiss the kind, fair hands unknown, which have so +beautifully decorated my table this evening.” After the +Reading, Mr. Dickens attempted in vain to retire. Persistent hands +demanded “one word more.” Returning to his desk, pale, +with a tear in his eye, that found its way to his voice, he spoke as +follows:-]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - My gracious and generous welcome in America, +which can never be obliterated from my remembrance, began here. +My departure begins here, too; for I assure you that I have never until +this moment really felt that I am going away. In this brief life +of ours, it is sad to do almost anything for the last time, and I cannot +conceal from you, although my face will so soon be turned towards my +native land, and to all that makes it dear, that it is a sad consideration +with me that in a very few moments from this time, this brilliant hall +and all that it contains, will fade from my view - for ever more. +But it is my consolation that the spirit of the bright faces, the quick +perception, the ready response, the generous and the cheering sounds +that have made this place delightful to me, will remain; and you may +rely upon it that that spirit will abide with me as long as I have sense +and sentiment left.</p> +<p>I do not say this with any limited reference to private friendships +that have for years upon years made Boston a memorable and beloved spot +to me, for such private references have no business in this public place. +I say it purely in remembrance of, and in homage to, the great public +heart before me.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, I beg most earnestly, most gratefully, and +most affectionately, to bid you, each and all, farewell</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: NEW YORK, APRIL 18, 1863.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On the above date Mr. Dickens was entertained at a farewell dinner +at Delmonico’s Hotel, previous to his return to England. +Two hundred gentlemen sat down to it; Mr. Horace Greeley presiding. +In acknowledgment of the toast of his health, proposed by the chairman, +Mr. Dickens rose and said:-]</p> +<p>Gentlemen, - I cannot do better than take my cue to from your distinguished +president, and refer in my first remarks to his remarks in connexion +with the old, natural, association between you and me. When I +received an invitation from a private association of working members +of the press of New York to dine with them to-day, I accepted that compliment +in grateful remembrance of a calling that was once my own, and in loyal +sympathy towards a brotherhood which, in the spirit, I have never quieted. +To the wholesome training of severe newspaper work, when I was a very +young man, I constantly refer my first successes; and my sons will hereafter +testify of their father that he was always steadily proud of that ladder +by which he rose. If it were otherwise, I should have but a very +poor opinion of their father, which, perhaps, upon the whole, I have +not. Hence, gentlemen, under any circumstances, this company would +have been exceptionally interesting and gratifying to me. But +whereas I supposed that, like the fairies’ pavilion in the “Arabian +Nights,” it would be but a mere handful, and I find it turn out, +like the same elastic pavilion, capable of comprehending a multitude, +so much the more proud am I of the honour of being your guest; for you +will readily believe that the more widely representative of the press +in America my entertainers are, the more I must feel the good-will and +the kindly sentiments towards me of that vast institution.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, so much of my voice has lately been heard in the land, +and I have for upwards of four hard winter months so contended against +what I have been sometimes quite admiringly assured was “a true +American catarrh ” - a possession which I have throughout highly +appreciated, though I might have preferred to be naturalised by any +other outward and visible signs - I say, gentlemen, so much of my voice +has lately been heard, that I might have been contented with troubling +you no further from my present standing-point, were it not a duty with +which I henceforth charge myself, not only here but on every suitable +occasion whatsoever and wheresoever, to express my high and grateful +sense of my second reception in America, and to bear my honest testimony +to the national generosity and magnanimity. Also, to declare how +astounded I have been by the amazing changes that I have seen around +me on every side - changes moral, changes physical, changes in the amount +of land subdued and peopled, changes in the rise of vast new cities, +changes in the growth of older cities almost out of recognition, changes +in the graces and amenities of life, changes in the press, without whose +advancement no advancement can be made anywhere. Nor am I, believe +me, so arrogant as to suppose that in five-and-twenty years there have +been no changes in me, and that I had nothing to learn and no extreme +impressions to correct when I was here first.</p> +<p>And, gentlemen, this brings me to a point on which I have, ever since +I landed here last November, observed a strict silence, though tempted +sometimes to break it, but in reference to which I will, with your good +leave, take you into my confidence now. Even the press, being +human, may be sometimes mistaken or misinformed, and I rather think +that I have in one or two rare instances known its information to be +not perfectly accurate with reference to myself. Indeed, I have +now and again been more surprised by printed news that I have read of +myself than by any printed news that I have ever read in my present +state of existence. Thus, the vigour and perseverance with which +I have for some months past been collecting materials for and hammering +away at a new book on America have much astonished me, seeing that all +that time it has been perfectly well known to my publishers on both +sides of the Atlantic that I positively declared that no consideration +on earth should induce me to write one. But what I have intended, +what I have resolved upon (and this is the confidence I seek to place +in you) is, on my return to England, in my own person, to bear, for +the behoof of my countrymen, such testimony to the gigantic changes +in this country as I have hinted at to-night. Also, to record +that wherever I have been, in the smallest places equally with the largest, +I have been received with unsurpassable politeness, delicacy, sweet +temper, hospitality, consideration, and with unsurpassable respect for +the privacy daily enforced upon me by the nature of my avocation here, +and the state of my health. This testimony, so long as I live, +and so long as my descendants have any legal right in my books, I shall +cause to be re-published, as an appendix to every copy of those two +books of mine in which I have referred to America. And this I +will do and cause to be done, not in mere love and thankfulness, but +because I regard it as an act of plain justice and honour.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, the transition from my own feelings towards and interest +in America to those of the mass of my countrymen seems to be a natural +one; but, whether or no, I make it with an express object. I was +asked in this very city, about last Christmas time, whether an American +was not at some disadvantage in England as a foreigner. The notion +of an American being regarded in England as a foreigner at all, of his +ever being thought of or spoken of in that character, was so uncommonly +incongruous and absurd to me, that my gravity was, for the moment, quite +overpowered. As soon as it was restored, I said that for years +and years past I hoped I had had as many American friends and had received +as many American visitors as almost any Englishman living, and that +my unvarying experience, fortified by theirs, was that it was enough +in England to be an American to be received with the readiest respect +and recognition anywhere. Hereupon, out of half-a-dozen people, +suddenly spoke out two, one an American gentleman, with a cultivated +taste for art, who, finding himself on a certain Sunday outside the +walls of a certain historical English castle, famous for its pictures, +was refused admission there, according to the strict rules of the establishment +on that day, but who, on merely representing that he was an American +gentleman, on his travels, had, not to say the picture gallery, but +the whole castle, placed at his immediate disposal. The other +was a lady, who, being in London, and having a great desire to see the +famous reading-room of the British Museum, was assured by the English +family with whom she stayed that it was unfortunately impossible, because +the place was closed for a week, and she had only three days there. +Upon that lady’s going to the Museum, as she assured me, alone +to the gate, self-introduced as an American lady, the gate flew open, +as it were magically. I am unwillingly bound to add that she certainly +was young and exceedingly pretty. Still, the porter of that institution +is of an obese habit, and, according to the best of my observation of +him, not very impressible.</p> +<p>Now, gentlemen, I refer to these trifles as a collateral assurance +to you that the Englishman who shall humbly strive, as I hope to do, +to be in England as faithful to America as to England herself, has no +previous conceptions to contend against. Points of difference +there have been, points of difference there are, points of difference +there probably always will be between the two great peoples. But +broadcast in England is sown the sentiment that those two peoples are +essentially one, and that it rests with them jointly to uphold the great +Anglo-Saxon race, to which our president has referred, and all its great +achievements before the world. And if I know anything of my countrymen +- and they give me credit for knowing something - if I know anything +of my countrymen, gentlemen, the English heart is stirred by the fluttering +of those Stars and Stripes, as it is stirred by no other flag that flies +except its own. If I know my countrymen, in any and every relation +towards America, they begin, not as Sir Anthony Absolute recommended +that lovers should begin, with “a little aversion,” but +with a great liking and a profound respect; and whatever the little +sensitiveness of the moment, or the little official passion, or the +little official policy now, or then, or here, or there, may be, take +my word for it, that the first enduring, great, popular consideration +in England is a generous construction of justice.</p> +<p>Finally, gentlemen, and I say this subject to your correction, I +do believe that from the great majority of honest minds on both sides, +there cannot be absent the conviction that it would be better for this +globe to be riven by an earthquake, fired by a comet, overrun by an +iceberg, and abandoned to the Arctic fox and bear, than that it should +present the spectacle of these two great nations, each of which has, +in its own way and hour, striven so hard and so successfully for freedom, +ever again being arrayed the one against the other. Gentlemen, +I cannot thank your president enough or you enough for your kind reception +of my health, and of my poor remarks, but, believe me, I do thank you +with the utmost fervour of which my soul is capable.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: NEW YORK, APRIL 20, 1868.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[Mr. Dickens’s last Reading in the United States was given +at the Steinway Hall on the above date. The task finished he was +about to retire, but a tremendous burst of applause stopped him. +He came forward and spoke thus:-]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - The shadow of one word has impended over +me this evening, and the time has come at length when the shadow must +fall. It is but a very short one, but the weight of such things +is not measured by their length, and two much shorter words express +the round of our human existence. When I was reading “David +Copperfield” a few evenings since, I felt there was more than +usual significance in the words of Peggotty, “My future life lies +over the sea.” And when I closed this book just now, I felt +most keenly that I was shortly to establish such an <i>alibi</i> as +would have satisfied even the elder Mr. Weller. The relations +which have been set up between us, while they have involved for me something +more than mere devotion to a task, have been by you sustained with the +readiest sympathy and the kindest acknowledgment.</p> +<p>Those relations must now be broken for ever. Be assured, however, +that you will not pass from my mind. I shall often realise you +as I see you now, equally by my winter fire and in the green English +summer weather. I shall never recall you as a mere public audience, +but rather as a host of personal friends, and ever with the greatest +gratitude, tenderness, and consideration. Ladies and gentlemen, +I beg to bid you farewell. God bless you, and God bless the land +in which I leave you.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LIVERPOOL, APRIL 10, 1869.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The following speech was delivered by Mr. Dickens at a Banquet held +in his honour at St. George’s Hall, Liverpool, after his health +had been proposed by Lord Dufferin.]</p> +<p>Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, although I have been so well accustomed +of late to the sound of my own voice in this neighbourhood as to hear +it with perfect composure, the occasion is, believe me, very, very different +in respect of those overwhelming voices of yours. As Professor +Wilson once confided to me in Edinburgh that I had not the least idea, +from hearing him in public, what a magnificent speaker he found himself +to be when he was quite alone - so you can form no conception, from +the specimen before you, of the eloquence with which I shall thank you +again and again in some of the innermost moments of my future life. +Often and often, then, God willing, my memory will recall this brilliant +scene, and will re-illuminate this banquet-hall. I, faithful to +this place in its present aspect, will observe it exactly as it stands +- not one man’s seat empty, not one woman’s fair face absent, +while life and memory abide by me.</p> +<p>Mr. Mayor, Lord Dufferin in his speech so affecting to me, so eloquently +uttered, and so rapturously received, made a graceful and gracious allusion +to the immediate occasion of my present visit to your noble city. +It is no homage to Liverpool, based upon a moment’s untrustworthy +enthusiasm, but it is the solid fact built upon the rock of experience +that when I first made up my mind, after considerable deliberation, +systematically to meet my readers in large numbers, face to face, and +to try to express myself to them through the breath of life, Liverpool +stood foremost among the great places out of London to which I looked +with eager confidence and pleasure. And why was this? Not +merely because of the reputation of its citizens for generous estimation +of the arts; not merely because I had unworthily filled the chair of +its great self-educational institution long ago; not merely because +the place had been a home to me since the well-remembered day when its +blessed roofs and steeples dipped into the Mersey behind me on the occasion +of my first sailing away to see my generous friends across the Atlantic +twenty-seven years ago. Not for one of those considerations, but +because it had been my happiness to have a public opportunity of testing +the spirit of its people. I had asked Liverpool for help towards +the worthy preservation of Shakespeare’s house. On another +occasion I had ventured to address Liverpool in the names of Leigh Hunt +and Sheridan Knowles. On still another occasion I had addressed +it in the cause of the brotherhood and sisterhood of letters and the +kindred arts, and on each and all the response had been unsurpassably +spontaneous, open-handed, and munificent.</p> +<p>Mr. Mayor, and ladies and gentlemen, if I may venture to take a small +illustration of my present position from my own peculiar craft, I would +say that there is this objection in writing fiction to giving a story +an autobiographical form, that through whatever dangers the narrator +may pass, it is clear unfortunately to the reader beforehand that he +must have come through them somehow else he could not have lived to +tell the tale. Now, in speaking fact, when the fact is associated +with such honours as those with which you have enriched me, there is +this singular difficulty in the way of returning thanks, that the speaker +must infallibly come back to himself through whatever oratorical disasters +he may languish on the road. Let me, then, take the plainer and +simpler middle course of dividing my subject equally between myself +and you. Let me assure you that whatever you have accepted with +pleasure, either by word of pen or by word of mouth, from me, you have +greatly improved in the acceptance. As the gold is said to be +doubly and trebly refined which has seven times passed the furnace, +so a fancy may be said to become more and more refined each time it +passes through the human heart. You have, and you know you have, +brought to the consideration of me that quality in yourselves without +which I should but have beaten the air. Your earnestness has stimulated +mine, your laughter has made me laugh, and your tears have overflowed +my eyes. All that I can claim for myself in establishing the relations +which exist between us is constant fidelity to hard work. My literary +fellows about me, of whom I am so proud to see so many, know very well +how true it is in all art that what seems the easiest done is oftentimes +the most difficult to do, and that the smallest truth may come of the +greatest pains - much, as it occurred to me at Manchester the other +day, as the sensitive touch of Mr. Whitworth’s measuring machine, +comes at last, of Heaven and Manchester and its mayor only know how +much hammering - my companions-in-arms know thoroughly well, and I think +it only right the public should know too, that in our careful toil and +trouble, and in our steady striving for excellence - not in any little +gifts, misused by fits and starts - lies our highest duty at once to +our calling, to one another, to ourselves, and to you.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, before sitting down I find that I have to clear +myself of two very unexpected accusations. The first is a most +singular charge preferred against me by my old friend Lord Houghton, +that I have been somewhat unconscious of the merits of the House of +Lords. Now, ladies and gentlemen, seeing that I have had some +few not altogether obscure or unknown personal friends in that assembly, +seeing that I had some little association with, and knowledge of, a +certain obscure peer lately known in England by the name of Lord Brougham; +seeing that I regard with some admiration and affection another obscure +peer wholly unknown in literary circles, called Lord Lytton; seeing +also that I have had for some years some slight admiration of the extraordinary +judicial properties and amazingly acute mind of a certain Lord Chief +Justice popularly known by the name of Cockburn; and also seeing that +there is no man in England whom I respect more in his public capacity, +whom I love more in his private capacity, or from whom I have received +more remarkable proofs of his honour and love of literature than another +obscure nobleman called Lord Russell; taking these circumstances into +consideration, I was rather amazed by my noble friend’s accusation. +When I asked him, on his sitting down, what amazing devil possessed +him to make this charge, he replied that he had never forgotten the +days of Lord Verisopht. Then, ladies and gentlemen, I understood +it all. Because it is a remarkable fact that in the days when +that depreciative and profoundly unnatural character was invented there +was no Lord Houghton in the House of Lords. And there was in the +House of Commons a rather indifferent member called Richard Monckton +Milnes.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, to conclude, for the present, I close with +the other charge of my noble friend, and here I am more serious, and +I may be allowed perhaps to express my seriousness in half a dozen plain +words. When I first took literature as my profession in England, +I calmly resolved within myself that, whether I succeeded or whether +I failed, literature should be my sole profession. It appeared +to me at that time that it was not so well understood in England as +it was in other countries that literature was a dignified profession, +by which any man might stand or fall. I made a compact with myself +that in my person literature should stand, and by itself, of itself, +and for itself; and there is no consideration on earth which would induce +me to break that bargain.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, finally allow me to thank you for your great +kindness, and for the touching earnestness with which you have drunk +my health. I should have thanked you with all my heart if it had +not so unfortunately happened that, for many sufficient reasons, I lost +my heart at between half-past six and half-past seven to-night.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: THE OXFORD AND HARVARD BOAT RACE. SYDENHAM, AUGUST +30, 1869.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The International University Boat Race having taken place on August +27, the London Rowing Club invited the Crews to a Dinner at the Crystal +Palace on the following Monday. The dinner was followed by a grand +display of pyrotechnics. Mr. Dickens, in proposing the health +of the Crews, made the following speech:]</p> +<p>Gentlemen, flushed with fireworks, I can warrant myself to you as +about to imitate those gorgeous illusions by making a brief spirt and +then dying out. And, first of all, as an invited visitor of the +London Rowing Club on this most interesting occasion, I will beg, in +the name of the other invited visitors present - always excepting the +distinguished guests who are the cause of our meeting - to thank the +president for the modesty and the courtesy with which he has deputed +to one of us the most agreeable part of his evening’s duty. +It is the more graceful in him to do this because he can hardly fail +to see that he might very easily do it himself, as this is a case of +all others in which it is according to good taste and the very principles +of things that the great social vice, speech-making, should hide it +diminished head before the great social virtue action. However, +there is an ancient story of a lady who threw her glove into an arena +full of wild beasts to tempt her attendant lover to climb down and reclaim +it. The lover, rightly inferring from the action the worth of +the lady, risked his life for the glove, and then threw it rightly in +her face as a token of his eternal adieu. <a name="citation16"></a><a href="#footnote16">{16}</a> +I take up the President’s glove, on the contrary, as a proof of +his much higher worth, and of my real interest in the cause in which +it was thrown down, and I now profess my readiness to do even injustice +to the duty which he has assigned me.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, a very remarkable and affecting volume was published in +the United States within a short time before my last visit to that hospitable +land, containing ninety-five biographies of young men, for the most +part well-born and well nurtured, and trained in various peaceful pursuits +of life, who, when the flag of their country waved them from those quiet +paths in which they were seeking distinction of various kinds, took +arms in the dread civil war which elicited so much bravery on both sides, +and died in the defence of their country. These great spirits +displayed extraordinary aptitude in the acquisition, even in the invention, +of military tactics, in the combining and commanding of great masses +of men, in surprising readiness of self-resource for the general good, +in humanely treating the sick and the wounded, and in winning to themselves +a very rare amount of personal confidence and trust. They had +all risen to be distinguished soldiers; they had all done deeds of great +heroism; they had all combined with their valour and self-devotion a +serene cheerfulness, a quiet modesty, and a truly Christian spirit; +and they had all been educated in one school - Harvard University.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, nothing was more remarkable in these fine descendants +of our forefathers than the invincible determination with which they +fought against odds, and the undauntable spirit with which they resisted +defeat. I ask you, who will say after last Friday that Harvard +University is less true to herself in peace than she was in war? +I ask you, who will not recognise in her boat’s crew the leaven +of her soldiers, and who does not feel that she has now a greater right +than ever to be proud of her sons, and take these sons to her breast +when they return with resounding acclamations? It is related of +the Duke of Wellington that he once told a lady who foolishly protested +that she would like to see a great victory that there was only one thing +worse than a great victory, and that was a great defeat.</p> +<p>But, gentlemen, there is another sense in which to use the term a +great defeat. Such is the defeat of a handful of daring fellows +who make a preliminary dash of three or four thousand stormy miles to +meet great conquerors on their own domain - who do not want the stimulus +of friends and home, but who sufficiently hear and feel their own dear +land in the shouts and cheers of another - and who strive to the last +with a desperate tenacity that makes the beating of them a new feather +in the proudest cap. Gentlemen, you agree with me that such a +defeat is a great, noble part of a manly, wholesome action; and I say +that it is in the essence and life-blood of such a defeat to become +at last sure victory.</p> +<p>Now, gentlemen, you know perfectly well the toast I am going to propose, +and you know equally well that in thus glancing first towards our friends +of the white stripes, I merely anticipate and respond to the instinctive +courtesy of Oxford towards our brothers from a distance - a courtesy +extending, I hope, and I do not doubt, to any imaginable limits except +allowing them to take the first place in last Friday’s match, +if they could by any human and honourable means be kept in the second. +I will not avail myself of the opportunity provided for me by the absence +of the greater part of the Oxford crew - indeed, of all but one, and +that, its most modest and devoted member - I will not avail myself of +the golden opportunity considerately provided for me to say a great +deal in honour of the Oxford crew. I know that the gentleman who +attends here attends under unusual anxieties and difficulties, and that +if he were less in earnest his filial affection could not possibly allow +him to be here.</p> +<p>It is therefore enough for me, gentlemen, and enough for you, that +I should say here, and now, that we all unite with one accord in regarding +the Oxford crew as the pride and flower of England - and that we should +consider it very weak indeed to set anything short of England’s +very best in opposition to or competition with America; though it certainly +must be confessed - I am bound in common justice and honour to admit +it - it must be confessed in disparagement of the Oxford men, as I heard +a discontented gentleman remark - last Friday night, about ten o’clock, +when he was baiting a very small horse in the Strand - he was one of +eleven with pipes in a chaise cart - I say it must be admitted in disparagement +of the Oxford men on the authority of this gentleman, that they have +won so often that they could afford to lose a little now, and that “they +ought to do it, but they won’t.”</p> +<p>Gentlemen, in drinking to both crews, and in offering the poor testimony +of our thanks in acknowledgment of the gallant spectacle which they +presented to countless thousands last Friday, I am sure I express not +only your feeling, and my feeling, and the feeling of the Blue, but +also the feeling of the whole people of England, when I cordially give +them welcome to our English waters and English ground, and also bid +them “God speed” in their voyage home. As the greater +includes the less, and the sea holds the river, so I think it is no +very bold augury to predict that in the friendly contests yet to come +and to take place, I hope, on both sides of the Atlantic - there are +great river triumphs for Harvard University yet in store. Gentlemen, +I warn the English portion of this audience that these are very dangerous +men. Remember that it was an undergraduate of Harvard University +who served as a common seaman two years before the mast, <a name="citation17"></a><a href="#footnote17">{17}</a> +and who wrote about the best sea book in the English tongue. Remember +that it was one of those young American gentlemen who sailed his mite +of a yacht across the Atlantic in mid-winter, and who sailed in her +to sink or swim with the men who believed in him.</p> +<p>And now, gentlemen, in conclusion, animated by your cordial acquiescence, +I will take upon myself to assure our brothers from a distance that +the utmost enthusiasm with which they can be received on their return +home will find a ready echo in every corner of England - and further, +that none of their immediate countrymen - I use the qualifying term +immediate, for we are, as our president said, fellow countrymen, thank +God - that none of their compatriots who saw, or who will read of, what +they did in this great race, can be more thoroughly imbued with a sense +of their indomitable courage and their high deserts than are their rivals +and their hosts to-night. Gentlemen, I beg to propose to you to +drink the crews of Harvard and Oxford University, and I beg to couple +with that toast the names of Mr. Simmons and Mr. Willan.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: BIRMINGHAM, SEPTEMBER 27, 1869.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[Inaugural Address on the opening of the Winter Session of the Birmingham +and Midland Institute.</p> +<p>One who was present during the delivery of the following speech, +informs the editor that “no note of any kind was referred to by +Mr. Dickens - except the Quotation from Sydney Smith. The address, +evidently carefully prepared, was delivered without a single pause, +in Mr. Dickens’s best manner, and was a very great success.”]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - We often hear of our common country that +it is an over-populated one, that it is an over-pauperized one, that +it is an over-colonizing one, and that it is an over-taxed one. +Now, I entertain, especially of late times, the heretical belief that +it is an over-talked one, and that there is a deal of public speech-making +going about in various directions which might be advantageously dispensed +with. If I were free to act upon this conviction, as president +for the time being of the great institution so numerously represented +here, I should immediately and at once subside into a golden silence, +which would be of a highly edifying, because of a very exemplary character. +But I happen to be the institution’s willing servant, not its +imperious master, and it exacts tribute of mere silver or copper speech +- not to say brazen - from whomsoever it exalts to my high office. +Some African tribes - not to draw the comparison disrespectfully - some +savage African tribes, when they make a king require him perhaps to +achieve an exhausting foot-race under the stimulus of considerable popular +prodding and goading, or perhaps to be severely and experimentally knocked +about the head by his Privy Council, or perhaps to be dipped in a river +full of crocodiles, or perhaps to drink immense quantities of something +nasty out of a calabash - at all events, to undergo some purifying ordeal +in presence of his admiring subjects.</p> +<p>I must confess that I became rather alarmed when I was duly warned +by your constituted authorities that whatever I might happen to say +here to-night would be termed an inaugural address on the entrance upon +a new term of study by the members of your various classes; for, besides +that, the phrase is something high-sounding for my taste, I avow that +I do look forward to that blessed time when every man shall inaugurate +his own work for himself, and do it. I believe that we shall then +have inaugurated a new era indeed, and one in which the Lord’s +Prayer will become a fulfilled prophecy upon this earth. Remembering, +however, that you may call anything by any name without in the least +changing its nature - bethinking myself that you may, if you be so minded, +call a butterfly a buffalo, without advancing a hair’s breadth +towards making it one - I became composed in my mind, and resolved to +stick to the very homely intention I had previously formed. This +was merely to tell you, the members, students, and friends of the Birmingham +and Midland Institute - firstly, what you cannot possibly want to know, +(this is a very popular oratorical theme); secondly, what your institution +has done; and, thirdly, what, in the poor opinion of its President for +the time being, remains for it to do and not to do.</p> +<p>Now, first, as to what you cannot possibly want to know. You +cannot need from me any oratorical declamation concerning the abstract +advantages of knowledge or the beauties of self-improvement. If +you had any such requirement you would not be here. I conceive +that you are here because you have become thoroughly penetrated with +such principles, either in your own persons or in the persons of some +striving fellow-creatures, on whom you have looked with interest and +sympathy. I conceive that you are here because you feel the welfare +of the great chiefly adult educational establishment, whose doors stand +really open to all sorts and conditions of people, to be inseparable +from the best welfare of your great town and its neighbourhood. +Nay, if I take a much wider range than that, and say that we all - every +one of us here - perfectly well know that the benefits of such an establishment +must extend far beyond the limits of this midland county - its fires +and smoke, - and must comprehend, in some sort, the whole community, +I do not strain the truth. It was suggested by Mr. Babbage, in +his ninth “Bridgewater Treatise,” that a mere spoken word +- a single articulated syllable thrown into the air - may go on reverberating +through illimitable space for ever and for ever, seeing that there is +no rim against which it can strike - no boundary at which it can possibly +arrive. Similarly it may be said - not as an ingenious speculation, +but as a stedfast and absolute fact - that human calculation cannot +limit the influence of one atom of wholesome knowledge patiently acquired, +modestly possessed, and faithfully used.</p> +<p>As the astronomers tell us that it is probable that there are in +the universe innumerable solar systems besides ours, to each of which +myriads of utterly unknown and unseen stars belong, so it is certain +that every man, however obscure, however far removed from the general +recognition, is one of a group of men impressible for good, and impressible +for evil, and that it is in the eternal nature of things that he cannot +really improve himself without in some degree improving other men. +And observe, this is especially the case when he has improved himself +in the teeth of adverse circumstances, as in a maturity succeeding to +a neglected or an ill-taught youth, in the few daily hours remaining +to him after ten or twelve hours’ labour, in the few pauses and +intervals of a life of toil; for then his fellows and companions have +assurance that he can have known no favouring conditions, and that they +can do what he has done, in wresting some enlightenment and self-respect +from what Lord Lytton finely calls -</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Those twin gaolers of the daring heart,<br />Low birth and +iron fortune.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>As you have proved these truths in your own experience or in your +own observation, and as it may be safely assumed that there can be very +few persons in Birmingham, of all places under heaven, who would contest +the position that the more cultivated the employed the better for the +employer, and the more cultivated the employer the better for the employed; +therefore, my references to what you do not want to know shall here +cease and determine.</p> +<p>Next, with reference to what your institution has done on my summary, +which shall be as concise and as correct as my information and my remembrance +of it may render possible, I desire to lay emphatic stress. Your +institution, sixteen years old, and in which masters and workmen study +together, has outgrown the ample edifice in which it receives its 2,500 +or 2,600 members and students. It is a most cheering sign of its +vigorous vitality that of its industrial-students almost half are artisans +in the receipt of weekly wages. I think I am correct in saying +that 400 others are clerks, apprentices, tradesmen, or tradesmen’s +sons. I note with particular pleasure the adherence of a goodly +number of the gentler sex, without whom no institution whatever can +truly claim to be either a civilising or a civilised one. The +increased attendance at your educational classes is always greatest +on the part of the artisans - the class within my experience the least +reached in any similar institutions elsewhere, and whose name is the +oftenest and the most constantly taken in vain. But it is specially +reached here, not improbably because it is, as it should be, specially +addressed in the foundation of the industrial department, in the allotment +of the direction of the society’s affairs, and in the establishment +of what are called its penny classes - a bold, and, I am happy to say, +a triumphantly successful experiment, which enables the artisan to obtain +sound evening instruction in subjects directly bearing upon his daily +usefulness or on his daily happiness, as arithmetic (elementary and +advanced), chemistry, physical geography, and singing, on payment of +the astoundingly low fee of a single penny every time he attends the +class. I beg emphatically to say that I look upon this as one +of the most remarkable schemes ever devised for the educational behoof +of the artisan, and if your institution had done nothing else in all +its life, I would take my stand by it on its having done this.</p> +<p>Apart, however, from its industrial department, it has its general +department, offering all the advantages of a first-class literary institution. +It has its reading-rooms, its library, its chemical laboratory, its +museum, its art department, its lecture hall, and its long list of lectures +on subjects of various and comprehensive interest, delivered by lecturers +of the highest qualifications. Very well. But it may be +asked, what are the practical results of all these appliances? +Now, let us suppose a few. Suppose that your institution should +have educated those who are now its teachers. That would be a +very remarkable fact. Supposing, besides, it should, so to speak, +have educated education all around it, by sending forth numerous and +efficient teachers into many and divers schools. Suppose the young +student, reared exclusively in its laboratory, should be presently snapped +up for the laboratory of the great and famous hospitals. Suppose +that in nine years its industrial students should have carried off a +round dozen of the much competed for prizes awarded by the Society of +Arts and the Government department, besides two local prizes originating +in the generosity of a Birmingham man. Suppose that the Town Council, +having it in trust to find an artisan well fit to receive the Whitworth +prizes, should find him here. Suppose that one of the industrial +students should turn his chemical studies to the practical account of +extracting gold from waste colour water, and of taking it into custody, +in the very act of running away with hundreds of pounds down the town +drains. Suppose another should perceive in his books, in his studious +evenings, what was amiss with his master’s until then inscrutably +defective furnace, and should go straight - to the great annual saving +of that master - and put it right. Supposing another should puzzle +out the means, until then quite unknown in England, of making a certain +description of coloured glass. Supposing another should qualify +himself to vanquish one by one, as they daily arise, all the little +difficulties incidental to his calling as an electro-plater, and should +be applied to by his companions in the shop in all emergencies under +the name of the “Encyclopaedia.” Suppose a long procession +of such cases, and then consider that these are not suppositions at +all, but are plain, unvarnished facts, culminating in the one special +and significant fact that, with a single solitary exception, every one +of the institution’s industrial students who have taken its prizes +within ten years, have since climbed to higher situations in their way +of life.</p> +<p>As to the extent to which the institution encourages the artisan +to think, and so, for instance, to rise superior to the little shackling +prejudices and observances perchance existing in his trade when they +will not bear the test of inquiry, that is only to be equalled by the +extent to which it encourages him to feel. There is a certain +tone of modest manliness pervading all the little facts which I have +looked through which I found remarkably impressive. The decided +objection on the part of industrial students to attend classes in their +working clothes, breathes this tone, as being a graceful and at the +same time perfectly independent recognition of the place and of one +another. And this tone is admirably illustrated in a different +way, in the case of a poor bricklayer, who, being in temporary reverses +through the illness of his family, and having consequently been obliged +to part with his best clothes, and being therefore missed from his classes, +in which he had been noticed as a very hard worker, was persuaded to +attend them in his working clothes. He replied, “No, it +was not possible. It must not be thought of. It must not +come into question for a moment. It would be supposed, or it might +be thought, that he did it to attract attention.” And the same +man being offered by one of the officers a loan of money to enable him +to rehabilitate his appearance, positively declined it, on the ground +that he came to the institution to learn and to know better how to help +himself, not otherwise to ask help, or to receive help from any man. +Now, I am justified in calling this the tone of the institution, because +it is no isolated instance, but is a fair and honourable sample of the +spirit of the place, and as such I put it at the conclusion - though +last certainly not least - of my references to what your institution +has indubitably done.</p> +<p>Well, ladies and gentlemen, I come at length to what, in the humble +opinion of the evanescent officer before you, remains for the institution +to do, and not to do. As Mr. Carlyle has it towards the closing +pages of his grand history of the French Revolution, “This we +are now with due brevity to glance at; and then courage, oh listener, +I see land!” <a name="citation18"></a><a href="#footnote18">{18}</a> +I earnestly hope - and I firmly believe - that your institution will +do henceforth as it has done hitherto; it can hardly do better. +I hope and believe that it will know among its members no distinction +of persons, creed, or party, but that it will conserve its place of +assemblage as a high, pure ground, on which all such considerations +shall merge into the one universal, heaven-sent aspiration of the human +soul to be wiser and better. I hope and believe that it will always +be expansive and elastic; for ever seeking to devise new means of enlarging +the circle of its members, of attracting to itself the confidence of +still greater and greater numbers, and never evincing any more disposition +to stand still than time does, or life does, or the seasons do. +And above all things, I hope, and I feel confident from its antecedents, +that it will never allow any consideration on the face of the earth +to induce it to patronise or to be patronised, for I verily believe +that the bestowal and receipt of patronage in such wise has been a curse +in England, and that it has done more to prevent really good objects, +and to lower really high character, than the utmost efforts of the narrowest +antagonism could have effected in twice the time.</p> +<p>I have no fear that the walls of the Birmingham and Midland Institute +will ever tremble responsive to the croakings of the timid opponents +of intellectual progress; but in this connexion generally I cannot forbear +from offering a remark which is much upon my mind. It is commonly +assumed - much too commonly - that this age is a material age, and that +a material age is an irreligious age. I have been pained lately +to see this assumption repeated in certain influential quarters for +which I have a high respect, and desire to have a higher. I am +afraid that by dint of constantly being reiterated, and reiterated without +protest, this assumption - which I take leave altogether to deny - may +be accepted by the more unthinking part of the public as unquestionably +true; just as caricaturists and painters, professedly making a portrait +of some public man, which was not in the least like him to begin with, +have gone on repeating and repeating it until the public came to believe +that it must be exactly like him, simply because it was like itself, +and really have at last, in the fulness of time, grown almost disposed +to resent upon him their tardy discovery - really to resent upon him +their late discovery - that he was not like it. I confess, standing +here in this responsible situation, that I do not understand this much-used +and much-abused phrase - the “material age.” I cannot +comprehend - if anybody can I very much doubt - its logical signification. +For instance, has electricity become more material in the mind of any +sane or moderately insane man, woman, or child, because of the discovery +that in the good providence of God it could be made available for the +service and use of man to an immeasurably greater extent than for his +destruction? Do I make a more material journey to the bed-side +of my dying parent or my dying child when I travel there at the rate +of sixty miles an hour, than when I travel thither at the rate of six? +Rather, in the swiftest case, does not my agonised heart become over-fraught +with gratitude to that Supreme Beneficence from whom alone could have +proceeded the wonderful means of shortening my suspense? What +is the materiality of the cable or the wire compared with the materiality +of the spark? What is the materiality of certain chemical substances +that we can weigh or measure, imprison or release, compared with the +materiality of their appointed affinities and repulsions presented to +them from the instant of their creation to the day of judgment? +When did this so-called material age begin? With the use of clothing; +with the discovery of the compass; with the invention of the art of +printing? Surely, it has been a long time about; and which is +the more material object, the farthing tallow candle that will not give +me light, or that flame of gas which will?</p> +<p>No, ladies and gentlemen, do not let us be discouraged or deceived +by any fine, vapid, empty words. The true material age is the +stupid Chinese age, in which no new or grand revelations of nature are +granted, because they are ignorantly and insolently repelled, instead +of being diligently and humbly sought. The difference between +the ancient fiction of the mad braggart defying the lightning and the +modern historical picture of Franklin drawing it towards his kite, in +order that he might the more profoundly study that which was set before +him to be studied (or it would not have been there), happily expresses +to my mind the distinction between the much-maligned material sages +- material in one sense, I suppose, but in another very immaterial sages +- of the Celestial Empire school. Consider whether it is likely +or unlikely, natural or unnatural, reasonable or unreasonable, that +I, a being capable of thought, and finding myself surrounded by such +discovered wonders on every hand, should sometimes ask myself the question +- should put to myself the solemn consideration - can these things be +among those things which might have been disclosed by divine lips nigh +upon two thousand years ago, but that the people of that time could +not bear them? And whether this be so or no, if I am so surrounded +on every hand, is not my moral responsibility tremendously increased +thereby, and with it my intelligence and submission as a child of Adam +and of the dust, before that Shining Source which equally of all that +is granted and all that is withheld holds in His mighty hands the unapproachable +mysteries of life and death.</p> +<p>To the students of your industrial classes generally I have had it +in my mind, first, to commend the short motto, in two words, “Courage +- Persevere.” This is the motto of a friend and worker. +Not because the eyes of Europe are upon them, for I don’t in the +least believe it; nor because the eyes of even England are upon them, +for I don’t in the least believe it; not because their doings +will be proclaimed with blast of trumpet at street corners, for no such +musical performances will take place; not because self-improvement is +at all certain to lead to worldly success, but simply because it is +good and right of itself, and because, being so, it does assuredly bring +with it its own resources and its own rewards. I would further +commend to them a very wise and witty piece of advice on the conduct +of the understanding which was given more than half a century ago by +the Rev. Sydney Smith - wisest and wittiest of the friends I have lost. +He says - and he is speaking, you will please understand, as I speak, +to a school of volunteer students - he says: “There is a piece +of foppery which is to be cautiously guarded against, the foppery of +universality, of knowing all sciences and excelling in all arts - chymistry, +mathematics, algebra, dancing, history, reasoning, riding, fencing, +Low Dutch, High Dutch, and natural philosophy. In short, the modern +precept of education very often is, ‘Take the Admirable Crichton +for your model, I would have you ignorant of nothing.’ Now,” +says he, “my advice, on the contrary, is to have the courage to +be ignorant of a great number of things, in order that you may avoid +the calamity of being ignorant of everything.”</p> +<p>To this I would superadd a little truth, which holds equally good +of my own life and the life of every eminent man I have ever known. +The one serviceable, safe, certain, remunerative, attainable quality +in every study and in every pursuit is the quality of attention. +My own invention or imagination, such as it is, I can most truthfully +assure you, would never have served me as it has, but for the habit +of commonplace, humble, patient, daily, toiling, drudging attention. +Genius, vivacity, quickness of penetration, brilliancy in association +of ideas - such mental qualities, like the qualities of the apparition +of the externally armed head in <i>Macbeth</i>, will not be commanded; +but attention, after due term of submissive service, always will. +Like certain plants which the poorest peasant may grow in the poorest +soil, it can be cultivated by any one, and it is certain in its own +good season to bring forth flowers and fruit. I can most truthfully +assure you by-the-by, that this eulogium on attention is so far quite +disinterested on my part as that it has not the least reference whatever +to the attention with which you have honoured me.</p> +<p>Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have done. I cannot but reflect +how often you have probably heard within these walls one of the foremost +men, and certainly one of the very best speakers, if not the very best, +in England. I could not say to myself, when I began just now, +in Shakespeare’s line -</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“I will be BRIGHT and shining gold,”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>but I could say to myself, and I did say to myself, “I will +be as natural and easy as I possibly can,” because my heart has +all been in my subject, and I bear an old love towards Birmingham and +Birmingham men. I have said that I bear an old love towards Birmingham +and Birmingham men; let me amend a small omission, and add “and +Birmingham women.” This ring I wear on my finger now is +an old Birmingham gift, and if by rubbing it I could raise the spirit +that was obedient to Aladdin’s ring, I heartily assure you that +my first instruction to that genius on the spot should be to place himself +at Birmingham’s disposal in the best of causes.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>[In acknowledging the vote of thanks, Mr. Dickens said:-]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, as I hope it is more than possible that I shall +have the pleasure of meeting you again before Christmas is out, and +shall have the great interest of seeing the faces and touching the bands +of the successful competitors in your lists, I will not cast upon that +anticipated meeting the terrible foreshadowing of dread which must inevitably +result from a second speech. I thank you most heartily, and I +most sincerely and fervently say to you, “Good night, and God +bless you.” In reference to the appropriate and excellent +remarks of Mr. Dixon, I will now discharge my conscience of my political +creed, which is contained in two articles, and has no reference to any +party or persons. My faith in the people governing is, on the +whole, infinitesimal; my faith in the People governed is, on the whole, +illimitable.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: BIRMINGHAM, JANUARY 6, 1870.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On the evening of the above date, Mr. Dickens, as President of the +Birmingham and Midland Institute, distributed the prizes and certificates +awarded to the most successful students in the first year. The +proceedings took place in the Town Hall: Mr. Dickens entered at eight +o’clock, accompanied by the officers of the Institute, and was +received with loud applause. After the lapse of a minute or two, +he rose and said:-]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - When I last had the honour to preside over +a meeting of the Institution which again brings us together, I took +occasion to remark upon a certain superabundance of public speaking +which seems to me to distinguish the present time. It will require +very little self-denial on my part to practise now what I preached then; +firstly, because I said my little say that night; and secondly, because +we have definite and highly interesting action before us to-night. +We have now to bestow the rewards which have been brilliantly won by +the most successful competitors in the society’s lists. +I say the most successful, because to-night we should particularly observe, +I think, that there is success in all honest endeavour, and that there +is some victory gained in every gallant struggle that is made. +To strive at all involves a victory achieved over sloth, inertness, +and indifference; and competition for these prizes involves, besides, +in the vast majority of cases, competition with and mastery asserted +over circumstances adverse to the effort made. Therefore, every +losing competitor among my hearers may be certain that he has still +won much - very much - and that he can well afford to swell the triumph +of his rivals who have passed him in the race.</p> +<p>I have applied the word “rewards” to these prizes, and +I do so, not because they represent any great intrinsic worth in silver +or gold, but precisely because they do not. They represent what +is above all price - what can be stated in no arithmetical figures, +and what is one of the great needs of the human soul - encouraging sympathy. +They are an assurance to every student present or to come in your institution, +that he does not work either neglected or unfriended, and that he is +watched, felt for, stimulated, and appreciated. Such an assurance, +conveyed in the presence of this large assembly, and striking to the +breasts of the recipients that thrill which is inseparable from any +great united utterance of feeling, is a reward, to my thinking, as purely +worthy of the labour as the labour itself is worthy of the reward; and +by a sensitive spirit can never be forgotten.</p> +<p>[One of the prize-takers was a Miss Winkle, a name suggestive of +“Pickwick,” which was received with laugher. Mr. Dickens +made some remarks to the lady in an undertone; and then observed to +the audience, “I have recommended Miss Winkle to change her name.” +The prizes having been distributed, Mr. Dickens made a second brief +speech. He said:-]</p> +<p>The prizes are now all distributed, and I have discharged myself +of the delightful task you have entrusted to me; and if the recipients +of these prizes and certificates who have come upon this platform have +had the genuine pleasure in receiving their acknowledgments from my +hands that I have had in placing them in theirs, they are in a true +Christian temper to-night. I have the painful sense upon me, that +it is reserved for some one else to enjoy this great satisfaction of +mind next time. It would be useless for the few short moments +longer to disguise the fact that I happen to have drawn King this Twelfth +Night, but that another Sovereign will very soon sit upon my inconstant +throne. To-night I abdicate, or, what is much the same thing in +the modern annals of Royalty - I am politely dethroned. This melancholy +reflection, ladies and gentlemen, brings me to a very small point, personal +to myself, upon which I will beg your permission to say a closing word.</p> +<p>When I was here last autumn I made, in reference to some remarks +of your respected member, Mr. Dixon, a short confession of my political +faith - or perhaps I should better say want of faith. It imported +that I have very little confidence in the people who govern us - please +to observe “people” there will be with a small “p,” +- but that I have great confidence in the People whom they govern; please +to observe “people” there with a large “P.” +This was shortly and elliptically stated, and was with no evil intention, +I am absolutely sure, in some quarters inversely explained. Perhaps +as the inventor of a certain extravagant fiction, but one which I do +see rather frequently quoted as if there were grains of truth at the +bottom of it - a fiction called the “Circumlocution Office,” +- and perhaps also as the writer of an idle book or two, whose public +opinions are not obscurely stated - perhaps in these respects I do not +sufficiently bear in mind Hamlet’s caution to speak by the card +lest equivocation should undo me.</p> +<p>Now I complain of nobody; but simply in order that there may be no +mistake as to what I did mean, and as to what I do mean, I will re-state +my meaning, and I will do so in the words of a great thinker, a great +writer, and a great scholar, <a name="citation19"></a><a href="#footnote19">{19}</a> +whose death, unfortunately for mankind, cut short his “History +of Civilization in England:” - “They may talk as they will +about reforms which Government has introduced and improvements to be +expected from legislation, but whoever will take a wider and more commanding +view of human affairs, will soon discover that such hopes are chimerical. +They will learn that lawgivers are nearly always the obstructors of +society instead of its helpers, and that in the extremely few cases +where their measures have turned out well their success has been owing +to the fact that, contrary to their usual custom, they have implicitly +obeyed the spirit of their time, and have been - as they always should +be - the mere servants of the people, to whose wishes they are bound +to give a public and legal sanction.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, APRIL 6, 1846. <a name="citation20"></a><a href="#footnote20">{20}</a></h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The first anniversary festival of the General Theatrical Fund Association +was held on the evening of the above date at the London Tavern. +The chair was taken by Mr. Dickens, who thus proposed the principal +toast:]</p> +<p>Gentlemen, - In offering to you a toast which has not as yet been +publicly drunk in any company, it becomes incumbent on me to offer a +few words in explanation: in the first place, premising that the toast +will be “The General Theatrical Fund.”</p> +<p>The Association, whose anniversary we celebrate to-night, was founded +seven years ago, for the purpose of granting permanent pensions to such +of the <i>corps dramatique</i> as had retired from the stage, either +from a decline in their years or a decay of their powers. Collected +within the scope of its benevolence are all actors and actresses, singers, +or dancers, of five years’ standing in the profession. To +relieve their necessities and to protect them from want is the great +end of the Society, and it is good to know that for seven years the +members of it have steadily, patiently, quietly, and perseveringly pursued +this end, advancing by regular contribution, moneys which many of them +could ill afford, and cheered by no external help or assistance of any +kind whatsoever. It has thus served a regular apprenticeship, +but I trust that we shall establish to-night that its time is out, and +that henceforth the Fund will enter upon a flourishing and brilliant +career.</p> +<p>I have no doubt that you are all aware that there are, and were when +this institution was founded, two other institutions existing of a similar +nature - Covent Garden and Drury Lane - both of long standing, both +richly endowed. It cannot, however, be too distinctly understood, +that the present Institution is not in any way adverse to those. +How can it be when it is only a wide and broad extension of all that +is most excellent in the principles on which they are founded? +That such an extension was absolutely necessary was sufficiently proved +by the fact that the great body of the dramatic corps were excluded +from the benefits conferred by a membership of either of these institutions; +for it was essential, in order to become a member of the Drury Lane +Society, that the applicant, either he or she, should have been engaged +for three consecutive seasons as a performer. This was afterwards +reduced, in the case of Covent Garden, to a period of two years, but +it really is as exclusive one way as the other, for I need not tell +you that Covent Garden is now but a vision of the past. You might +play the bottle conjuror with its dramatic company and put them all +into a pint bottle. The human voice is rarely heard within its +walls save in connexion with corn, or the ambidextrous prestidigitation +of the Wizard of the North. In like manner, Drury Lane is conducted +now with almost a sole view to the opera and ballet, insomuch that the +statue of Shakespeare over the door serves as emphatically to point +out his grave as his bust did in the church of Stratford-upon-Avon. +How can the profession generally hope to qualify for the Drury Lane +or Covent Garden institution, when the oldest and most distinguished +members have been driven from the boards on which they have earned their +reputations, to delight the town in theatres to which the General Theatrical +Fund alone extended?</p> +<p>I will again repeat that I attach no reproach to those other Funds, +with which I have had the honour of being connected at different periods +of my life. At the time those Associations were established, an +engagement at one of those theatres was almost a matter of course, and +a successful engagement would last a whole life; but an engagement of +two months’ duration at Covent Garden would be a perfect Old Parr +of an engagement just now. It should never be forgotten that when +those two funds were established, the two great theatres were protected +by patent, and that at that time the minor theatres were condemned by +law to the representation of the most preposterous nonsense, and some +gentlemen whom I see around me could no more belong to the minor theatres +of that day than they could now belong to St. Bartholomew fair.</p> +<p>As I honour the two old funds for the great good which they have +done, so I honour this for the much greater good it is resolved to do. +It is not because I love them less, but because I love this more - because +it includes more in its operation.</p> +<p>Let us ever remember that there is no class of actors who stand so +much in need of a retiring fund as those who do not win the great prizes, +but who are nevertheless an essential part of the theatrical system, +and by consequence bear a part in contributing to our pleasures. +We owe them a debt which we ought to pay. The beds of such men +are not of roses, but of very artificial flowers indeed. Their +lives are lives of care and privation, and hard struggles with very +stern realities. It is from among the poor actors who drink wine +from goblets, in colour marvellously like toast and water, and who preside +at Barmecide beasts with wonderful appetites for steaks, - it is from +their ranks that the most triumphant favourites have sprung. And +surely, besides this, the greater the instruction and delight we derive +from the rich English drama, the more we are bound to succour and protect +the humblest of those votaries of the art who add to our instruction +and amusement.</p> +<p>Hazlitt has well said that “There is no class of society whom +so many persons regard with affection as actors. We greet them +on the stage, we like to meet them in the streets; they almost always +recal to us pleasant associations.” <a name="citation21"></a><a href="#footnote21">{21}</a> +When they have strutted and fretted their hour upon the stage, let them +not be heard no more - but let them be heard sometimes to say that they +are happy in their old age. When they have passed for the last +time from behind that glittering row of lights with which we are all +familiar, let them not pass away into gloom and darkness, - but let +them pass into cheerfulness and light - into a contented and happy home.</p> +<p>This is the object for which we have met; and I am too familiar with +the English character not to know that it will be effected. When +we come suddenly in a crowded street upon the careworn features of a +familiar face - crossing us like the ghost of pleasant hours long forgotten +- let us not recal those features with pain, in sad remembrance of what +they once were, but let us in joy recognise it, and go back a pace or +two to meet it once again, as that of a friend who has beguiled us of +a moment of care, who has taught us to sympathize with virtuous grief, +cheating us to tears for sorrows not our own - and we all know how pleasant +are such tears. Let such a face be ever remembered as that of +our benefactor and our friend.</p> +<p>I tried to recollect, in coming here, whether I had ever been in +any theatre in my life from which I had not brought away some pleasant +association, however poor the theatre, and I protest, out of my varied +experience, I could not remember even one from which I had not brought +some favourable impression, and that, commencing with the period when +I believed the clown was a being born into the world with infinite pockets, +and ending with that in which I saw the other night, outside one of +the “Royal Saloons,” a playbill which showed me ships completely +rigged, carrying men, and careering over boundless and tempestuous oceans. +And now, bespeaking your kindest remembrance of our theatres and actors, +I beg to propose that you drink as heartily and freely as ever a toast +was drunk in this toast-drinking city “Prosperity to the General +Theatrical Fund.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LEEDS, DECEMBER 1, 1847.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On the above evening a Soirée of the Leeds Mechanics’ +Institution took place, at which about 1200 persons were present. +The chair was taken by Mr. Dickens, who thus addressed the meeting:]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - Believe me, speaking to you with a most disastrous +cold, which makes my own voice sound very strangely in my ears - that +if I were not gratified and honoured beyond expression by your cordial +welcome, I should have considered the invitation to occupy my present +position in this brilliant assemblage in itself a distinction not easy +to be surpassed. The cause in which we are assembled and the objects +we are met to promote, I take, and always have taken to be, <i>the</i> +cause and <i>the</i> objects involving almost all others that are essential +to the welfare and happiness of mankind. And in a celebration +like the present, commemorating the birth and progress of a great educational +establishment, I recognise a something, not limited to the spectacle +of the moment, beautiful and radiant though it be - not limited even +to the success of the particular establishment in which we are more +immediately interested - but extending from this place and through swarms +of toiling men elsewhere, cheering and stimulating them in the onward, +upward path that lies before us all. Wherever hammers beat, or +wherever factory chimneys smoke, wherever hands are busy, or the clanking +of machinery resounds - wherever, in a word, there are masses of industrious +human beings whom their wise Creator did not see fit to constitute all +body, but into each and every one of whom He breathed a mind - there, +I would fain believe, some touch of sympathy and encouragement is felt +from our collective pulse now beating in this Hall.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, glancing with such feelings at the report of +your Institution for the present year sent to me by your respected President +- whom I cannot help feeling it, by-the-bye, a kind of crime to depose, +even thus peacefully, and for so short a time - I say, glancing over +this report, I found one statement of fact in the very opening which +gave me an uncommon satisfaction. It is, that a great number of +the members and subscribers are among that class of persons for whose +advantage Mechanics’ Institutions were originated, namely, persons +receiving weekly wages. This circumstance gives me the greatest +delight. I am sure that no better testimony could be borne to +the merits and usefulness of this Institution, and that no better guarantee +could be given for its continued prosperity and advancement.</p> +<p>To such Associations as this, in their darker hours, there may yet +reappear now and then the spectral shadow of a certain dead and buried +opposition; but before the light of a steady trust in them on the part +of the general people, bearing testimony to the virtuous influences +of such Institutions by their own intelligence and conduct, the ghost +will melt away like early vapour from the ground. Fear of such +Institutions as these! We have heard people sometimes speak with +jealousy of them, - with distrust of them! Imagine here, on either +hand, two great towns like Leeds, full of busy men, all of them feeling +necessarily, and some of them heavily, the burdens and inequalities +inseparable from civilized society. In this town there is ignorance, +dense and dark; in that town, education - the best of education; that +which the grown man from day to day and year to year furnishes for himself +and maintains for himself, and in right of which his education goes +on all his life, instead of leaving off, complacently, just when he +begins to live in the social system. Now, which of these two towns +has a good man, or a good cause, reason to distrust and dread? +“The educated one,” does some timid politician, with a marvellously +weak sight, say (as I have heard such politicians say), “because +knowledge is power, and because it won’t do to have too much power +abroad.” Why, ladies and gentlemen, reflect whether ignorance +be not power, and a very dreadful power. Look where we will, do +we not find it powerful for every kind of wrong and evil? Powerful +to take its enemies to its heart, and strike its best friends down - +powerful to fill the prisons, the hospitals, and the graves - powerful +for blind violence, prejudice, and error, in all their gloomy and destructive +shapes. Whereas the power of knowledge, if I understand it, is, +to bear and forbear; to learn the path of duty and to tread it; to engender +that self-respect which does not stop at self, but cherishes the best +respect for the best objects - to turn an always enlarging acquaintance +with the joys and sorrows, capabilities and imperfections of our race +to daily account in mildness of life and gentleness of construction +and humble efforts for the improvement, stone by stone, of the whole +social fabric.</p> +<p>I never heard but one tangible position taken against educational +establishments for the people, and that was, that in this or that instance, +or in these or those instances, education for the people has failed. +And I have never traced even this to its source but I have found that +the term education, so employed, meant anything but education - implied +the mere imperfect application of old, ignorant, preposterous spelling-book +lessons to the meanest purposes - as if you should teach a child that +there is no higher end in electricity, for example, than expressly to +strike a mutton-pie out of the hand of a greedy boy - and on which it +is as unreasonable to found an objection to education in a comprehensive +sense, as it would be to object altogether to the combing of youthful +hair, because in a certain charity school they had a practice of combing +it into the pupils’ eyes.</p> +<p>Now, ladies and gentlemen, I turn to the report of this Institution, +on whose behalf we are met; and I start with the education given there, +and I find that it really is an education that is deserving of the name. +I find that there are papers read and lectures delivered, on a variety +of subjects of interest and importance. I find that there are +evening classes formed for the acquisition of sound, useful English +information, and for the study of those two important languages, daily +becoming more important in the business of life, - the French and German. +I find that there is a class for drawing, a chemical class, subdivided +into the elementary branch and the manufacturing branch, most important +here. I find that there is a day-school at twelve shillings a +quarter, which small cost, besides including instruction in all that +is useful to the merchant and the man of business, admits to all the +advantages of the parent institution. I find that there is a School +of Design established in connexion with the Government School; and that +there was in January this year, a library of between six and seven thousand +books. Ladies and gentlemen, if any man would tell me that anything +but good could come of such knowledge as this, all I can say is, that +I should consider him a new and most lamentable proof of the necessity +of such institutions, and should regard him in his own person as a melancholy +instance of what a man may come to by never having belonged to one or +sympathized with one.</p> +<p>There is one other paragraph in this report which struck my eye in +looking over it, and on which I cannot help offering a word of joyful +notice. It is the steady increase that appears to have taken place +in the number of lady members - among whom I hope I may presume are +included some of the bright fair faces that are clustered around me. +Gentlemen, I hold that it is not good for man to be alone - even in +Mechanics’ Institutions; and I rank it as very far from among +the last or least of the merits of such places, that he need not be +alone there, and that he is not. I believe that the sympathy and +society of those who are our best and dearest friends in infancy, in +childhood, in manhood, and in old age, the most devoted and least selfish +natures that we know on earth, who turn to us always constant and unchanged, +when others turn away, should greet us here, if anywhere, and go on +with us side by side.</p> +<p>I know, gentlemen, by the evidence of my own proper senses at this +moment, that there are charms and graces in such greetings, such as +no other greeting can possess. I know that in every beautiful +work of the Almighty hand, which is illustrated in your lectures, and +in every real or ideal portraiture of fortitude and goodness that you +find in your books, there is something that must bring you home again +to them for its brightest and best example. And therefore, gentlemen, +I hope that you will never be without them, or without an increasing +number of them in your studies and your commemorations; and that an +immense number of new marriages, and other domestic festivals naturally +consequent upon those marriages, may be traced back from time to time +to the Leeds Mechanics’ Institution.</p> +<p>There are many gentlemen around me, distinguished by their public +position and service, or endeared to you by frequent intercourse, or +by their zealous efforts on behalf of the cause which brings us together; +and to them I shall beg leave to refer you for further observations +on this happy and interesting occasion; begging to congratulate you +finally upon the occasion itself; upon the prosperity and thriving prospects +of your institution; and upon our common and general good fortune in +living in these times, when the means of mental culture and improvement +are presented cheaply, socially, and cheerfully, and not in dismal cells +or lonely garrets. And lastly, I congratulate myself, I assure +you most heartily, upon the part with which I am honoured on an occasion +so congenial to my warmest feelings and sympathies, and I beg to thank +you for such evidences of your good-will, as I never can coldly remember +and never forget.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>[In acknowledging the vote of thanks, Mr, Dickens said:-]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Ladies and Gentlemen, - It is a great satisfaction to me that this +question has been put by the Mayor, inasmuch as I hope I may receive +it as a token that he has forgiven me those extremely large letters, +which I must say, from the glimpse I caught of them when I arrived in +the town, looked like a leaf from the first primer of a very promising +young giant.</p> +<p>I will only observe, in reference to the proceeding of this evening, +that after what I have seen, and the excellent speeches I have heard +from gentlemen of so many different callings and persuasions, meeting +here as on neutral ground, I do more strongly and sincerely believe +than I ever have in my life, - and that is saying a great deal, - that +institutions such as this will be the means of refining and improving +that social edifice which has been so often mentioned to-night, until, +- unlike that Babel tower that would have taken heaven by storm, - it +shall end in sweet accord and harmony amongst all classes of its builders.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, most respectfully and heartily I bid you good +night and good-bye, and I trust the next time we meet it will be in +even greater numbers, and in a larger room, and that we often shall +meet again, to recal this evening, then of the past, and remember it +as one of a series of increasing triumphs of your excellent institution.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: GLASGOW, DECEMBER 28, 1847.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The first Soirée, commemorative of the opening of the Glasgow +Athenaeum took place on the above evening in the City Hall. Mr. +Charles Dickens presided, and made the following speech:]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen - Let me begin by endeavouring to convey to +you the assurance that not even the warmth of your reception can possibly +exceed, in simple earnestness, the cordiality of the feeling with which +I come amongst you. This beautiful scene and your generous greeting +would naturally awaken, under any circumstances, no common feeling within +me; but when I connect them with the high purpose of this brilliant +assembly - when I regard it as an educational example and encouragement +to the rest of Scotland - when I regard it no less as a recognition +on the part of everybody here of the right, indisputable and inalienable, +of all those who are actively engaged in the work and business of life +to elevate and improve themselves so far as in them lies, by all good +means - I feel as if I stand here to swear brotherhood to all the young +men in Glasgow; - and I may say to all the young women in Glasgow; being +unfortunately in no position to take any tenderer vows upon myself - +and as if we were pledged from this time henceforth to make common cause +together in one of the most laudable and worthy of human objects.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, a common cause must be made in such a design +as that which brings us together this night; for without it, nothing +can be done, but with it, everything. It is a common cause of +right, God knows; for it is idle to suppose that the advantages of such +an institution as the Glasgow Athenaeum will stop within its own walls +or be confined to its own members. Through all the society of +this great and important city, upwards to the highest and downwards +to the lowest, it must, I know, be felt for good. Downward in +a clearer perception of, and sympathy with, those social miseries which +can be alleviated, and those wide-open doors to vice and crime that +can be shut and barred; and upward in a greater intelligence, increased +efficiency, and higher knowledge, of all who partake of its benefits +themselves, or who communicate, as all must do, in a greater or less +degree, some portion to the circle of relatives or friends in which +they move.</p> +<p>Nor, ladies and gentlemen, would I say for any man, however high +his social position, or however great his attainments, that he might +not find something to be learnt even from immediate contact with such +institutions. If he only saw the goddess Knowledge coming out +of her secluded palaces and high places to mingle with the throng, and +to give them shining glimpses of the delights which were long kept hoarded +up, he might learn something. If he only saw the energy and the +courage with which those who earn their daily bread by the labour of +their hands or heads, come night after night, as to a recreation, to +that which was, perhaps, the whole absorbing business of his youth, +there might still be something very wholesome for him to learn. +But when he could see in such places their genial and reviving influences, +their substituting of the contemplation of the beauties of nature and +art, and of the wisdom of great men, for mere sensual enjoyment or stupid +idleness - at any rate he would learn this - that it is at once the +duty and the interest of all good members of society to encourage and +protect them.</p> +<p>I took occasion to say at an Athenaeum in Yorkshire a few weeks since, +and I think it a point most important to be borne in mind on such commemorations +as these, that when such societies are objected to, or are decried on +the ground that in the views of the objectors, education among the people +has not succeeded, the term education is used with not the least reference +to its real meaning, and is wholly misunderstood. Mere reading +and writing is not education; it would be quite as reasonable to call +bricks and mortar architecture - oils and colours art - reeds and cat-gut +music - or the child’s spelling-books the works of Shakespeare, +Milton, or Bacon - as to call the lowest rudiments of education, education, +and to visit on that most abused and slandered word their failure in +any instance; and precisely because they were not education; because, +generally speaking, the word has been understood in that sense a great +deal too long; because education for the business of life, and for the +due cultivation of domestic virtues, is at least as important from day +to day to the grown person as to the child; because real education, +in the strife and contention for a livelihood, and the consequent necessity +incumbent on a great number of young persons to go into the world when +they are very young, is extremely difficult. It is because of +these things that I look upon mechanics’ institutions and athenaeums +as vitally important to the well-being of society. It is because +the rudiments of education may there be turned to good account in the +acquisition of sound principles, and of the great virtues, hope, faith, +and charity, to which all our knowledge tends; it is because of that, +I take it, that you have met in education’s name to-night.</p> +<p>It is a great satisfaction to me to occupy the place I do in behalf +of an infant institution; a remarkably fine child enough, of a vigorous +constitution, but an infant still. I esteem myself singularly +fortunate in knowing it before its prime, in the hope that I may have +the pleasure of remembering in its prime, and when it has attained to +its lusty maturity, that I was a friend of its youth. It has already +passed through some of the disorders to which children are liable; it +succeeded to an elder brother of a very meritorious character, but of +rather a weak constitution, and which expired when about twelve months +old, from, it is said, a destructive habit of getting up early in the +morning: it succeeded this elder brother, and has fought manfully through +a sea of troubles. Its friends have often been much concerned +for it; its pulse has been exceedingly low, being only 1250, when it +was expected to have been 10,000; several relations and friends have +even gone so far as to walk off once or twice in the melancholy belief +that it was dead. Through all that, assisted by the indomitable +energy of one or two nurses, to whom it can never be sufficiently grateful, +it came triumphantly, and now, of all the youthful members of its family +I ever saw, it has the strongest attitude, the healthiest look, the +brightest and most cheerful air. I find the institution nobly +lodged; I find it with a reading-room, a coffee-room, and a news-room; +I find it with lectures given and in progress, in sound, useful and +well-selected subjects; I find it with morning and evening classes for +mathematics, logic, grammar, music, French, German, Spanish, and Italian, +attended by upwards of five hundred persons; but, best and first of +all and what is to me more satisfactory than anything else in the history +of the institution, I find that all, this has been mainly achieved by +the young men of Glasgow themselves, with very little assistance. +And, ladies and gentlemen, as the axiom, “Heaven helps those who +help themselves,” is truer in no case than it is in this, I look +to the young men of Glasgow, from such a past and such a present, to +a noble future. Everything that has been done in any other athenaeum, +I confidently expect to see done here; and when that shall be the case, +and when there shall be great cheap schools in connexion with the institution, +and when it has bound together for ever all its friends, and brought +over to itself all those who look upon it as an objectionable institution, +- then, and not till then, I hope the young men of Glasgow will rest +from their labours, and think their study done.</p> +<p>If the young men of Glasgow want any stimulus or encouragement in +this wise, they have one beside them in the presence of their fair townswomen, +which is irresistible. It is a most delightful circumstance to +me, and one fraught with inestimable benefits to institutions of this +kind, that at a meeting of this nature those who in all things are our +best examples, encouragers, and friends, are not excluded. The +abstract idea of the Graces was in ancient times associated with those +arts which refine the human understanding; and it is pleasant to see +now, in the rolling of the world, the Graces popularising the practice +of those arts by their example, and adorning it with their presence.</p> +<p>I am happy to know that in the Glasgow Athenaeum there is a peculiar +bond of union between the institution and the fairest part of creation. +I understand that the necessary addition to the small library of books +being difficult and expensive to make, the ladies have generally resolved +to hold a fancy bazaar, and to devote the proceeds to this admirable +purpose; and I learn with no less pleasure that her Majesty the Queen, +in a graceful and womanly sense of the excellence of this design, has +consented that the bazaar shall be held under her royal patronage. +I can only say, that if you do not find something very noble in your +books after this, you are much duller students than I take you to be. +The ladies - the single ladies, at least - however disinterested I know +they are by sex and nature, will, I hope, resolve to have some of the +advantages of these books, by never marrying any but members of the +Athenaeum. It seems to me it ought to be the pleasantest library +in the world.</p> +<p>Hazlitt says, in speaking of some of the graceful fancies of some +familiar writer of fiction, “How long since I first became acquainted +with these characters; what old-fashioned friends they seem; and yet +I am not tired of them like so many other friends, nor they of me.” +In this case the books will not only possess all the attractions of +their own friendships and charms, but also the manifold - I may say +womanfold - associations connected with their donors. I can imagine +how, in fact, from these fanciful associations, some fair Glasgow widow +may be taken for the remoter one whom Sir Roger de Coverley could not +forget; I can imagine how Sophia’s muff may be seen and loved, +but not by Tom Jones, going down the High Street on any winter day; +or I can imagine the student finding in every fair form the exact counterpart +of the Glasgow Athenaeum, and taking into consideration the history +of Europe without the consent of Sheriff Alison. I can imagine, +in short, how through all the facts and fictions of this library, these +ladies will be always active, and that</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Age will not wither them, nor custom stale<br />Their infinite +variety.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>It seems to me to be a moral, delightful, and happy chance, that +this meeting has been held at this genial season of the year, when a +new time is, as it were, opening before us, and when we celebrate the +birth of that divine and blessed Teacher, who took the highest knowledge +into the humblest places, and whose great system comprehended all mankind. +I hail it as a most auspicious omen, at this time of the year, when +many scattered friends and families are re-assembled, for the members +of this institution to be calling men together from all quarters, with +a brotherly view to the general good, and a view to the general improvement; +as I consider that such designs are practically worthy of the faith +we hold, and a practical remembrance of the words, “On earth peace, +and good will toward men.” I hope that every year which +dawns on your Institution, will find it richer in its means of usefulness, +and grayer-headed in the honour and respect it has gained. It +can hardly speak for itself more appropriately than in the words of +an English writer, when contemplating the English emblem of this period +of the year, the holly-tree:-</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>[Mr. Dickens concluded by quoting the last three stanzas of Southey’s +poem<i>, The Holly Tree</i>.</p> +<p>In acknowledging a vote of thanks proposed by Sir Archibald (then +Mr.) Alison, Mr. Dickens said:]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Ladies and Gentlemen, - I am no stranger - and I say it with the +deepest gratitude - to the warmth of Scottish hearts; but the warmth +of your present welcome almost deprives me of any hope of acknowledging +it. I will not detain you any longer at this late hour; let it +suffice to assure you, that for taking the part with which I have been +honoured in this festival, I have been repaid a thousand-fold by your +abundant kindness, and by the unspeakable gratification it has afforded +me. I hope that, before many years are past, we may have another +meeting in public, when we shall rejoice at the immense progress your +institution will have made in the meantime, and look back upon this +night with new pleasure and satisfaction. I shall now, in conclusion, +repeat most heartily and fervently the quotation of Dr. Ewing, the late +Provost of Glasgow, which Bailie Nicol Jarvie, himself “a Glasgow +body,” observed was “elegantly putten round the town’s +arms.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, APRIL 14, 1851.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The Sixth Annual Dinner of the General Theatrical Fund was held +at the London Tavern on the above date. Mr. Charles Dickens occupied +the chair, and in giving the toast of the evening said:-]</p> +<p>I have so often had the satisfaction of bearing my testimony, in +this place, to the usefulness of the excellent Institution in whose +behalf we are assembled, that I should be really sensible of the disadvantage +of having now nothing to say in proposing the toast you all anticipate, +if I were not well assured that there is really nothing which needs +be said. I have to appeal to you on the old grounds, and no ingenuity +of mine could render those grounds of greater weight than they have +hitherto successfully proved to you.</p> +<p>Although the General Theatrical Fund Association, unlike many other +public societies and endowments, is represented by no building, whether +of stone, or brick, or glass, like that astonishing evidence of the +skill and energy of my friend Mr. Paxton, which all the world is now +called upon to admire, and the great merit of which, as you learn from +the best authorities, is, that it ought to have fallen down long before +it was built, and yet that it would by no means consent to doing so +- although, I say, this Association possesses no architectural home, +it is nevertheless as plain a fact, rests on as solid a foundation, +and carries as erect a front, as any building, in the world. And +the best and the utmost that its exponent and its advocate can do, standing +here, is to point it out to those who gather round it, and to say, “judge +for yourselves.”</p> +<p>It may not, however, be improper for me to suggest to that portion +of the company whose previous acquaintance with it may have been limited, +what it is not. It is not a theatrical association whose benefits +are confined to a small and exclusive body of actors. It is a +society whose claims are always preferred in the name of the whole histrionic +art. It is not a theatrical association adapted to a state of +theatrical things entirely past and gone, and no more suited to present +theatrical requirements than a string of pack-horses would be suited +to the conveyance of traffic between London and Birmingham. It +is not a rich old gentleman, with the gout in his vitals, brushed and +got-up once a year to look as vigorous as possible, and brought out +for a public airing by the few survivors of a large family of nephews +and nieces, who afterwards double-lock the street-door upon the poor +relations. It is not a theatrical association which insists that +no actor can share its bounty who has not walked so many years on those +boards where the English tongue is never heard - between the little +bars of music in an aviary of singing birds, to which the unwieldy Swan +of Avon is never admitted - that bounty which was gathered in the name +and for the elevation of an all-embracing art.</p> +<p>No, if there be such things, this thing is not of that kind. +This is a theatrical association, expressly adapted to the wants and +to the means of the whole theatrical profession all over England. +It is a society in which the word exclusiveness is wholly unknown. +It is a society which includes every actor, whether he be Benedict or +Hamlet, or the Ghost, or the Bandit, or the court-physician, or, in +the one person, the whole King’s army. He may do the “light +business,” or the “heavy,” or the comic, or the eccentric. +He may be the captain who courts the young lady, whose uncle still unaccountably +persists in dressing himself in a costume one hundred years older than +his time. Or he may be the young lady’s brother in the white +gloves and inexpressibles, whose duty in the family appears to be to +listen to the female members of it whenever they sing, and to shake +hands with everybody between all the verses. Or he may be the +baron who gives the fête, and who sits uneasily on the sofa under +a canopy with the baroness while the fete is going on. Or he may +be the peasant at the fête who comes on the stage to swell the +drinking chorus, and who, it may be observed, always turns his glass +upside down before he begins to drink out of it. Or he may be +the clown who takes away the doorstep of the house where the evening +party is going on. Or he may be the gentleman who issues out of +the house on the false alarm, and is precipitated into the area. +Or, to come to the actresses, she may be the fairy who resides for ever +in a revolving star with an occasional visit to a bower or a palace. +Or the actor may be the armed head of the witch’s cauldron; or +even that extraordinary witch, concerning whom I have observed in country +places, that he is much less like the notion formed from the description +of Hopkins than the Malcolm or Donalbain of the previous scenes. +This society, in short, says, “Be you what you may, be you actor +or actress, be your path in your profession never so high, or never +so low, never so haughty, or never so humble, we offer you the means +of doing good to yourselves, and of doing good to your brethren.”</p> +<p>This society is essentially a provident institution, appealing to +a class of men to take care of their own interests, and giving a continuous +security only in return for a continuous sacrifice and effort. +The actor by the means of this society obtains his own right, to no +man’s wrong; and when, in old age, or in disastrous times, he +makes his claim on the institution, he is enabled to say, “I am +neither a beggar, nor a suppliant. I am but reaping what I sowed +long ago.” And therefore it is that I cannot hold out to +you that in assisting this fund you are doing an act of charity in the +common acceptation of that phrase. Of all the abuses of that much +abused term, none have more raised my indignation than what I have heard +in this room in past times, in reference to this institution. +I say, if you help this institution you will be helping the wagoner +who has resolutely put his own shoulder to the wheel, and who has <i>not</i> +stuck idle in the mud. In giving this aid you will be doing an +act of justice, and you will be performing an act of gratitude; and +this is what I solicit from you; but I will not so far wrong those who +are struggling manfully for their own independence as to pretend to +entreat from you an act of charity.</p> +<p>I have used the word gratitude; and let any man ask his own heart, +and confess if he have not some grateful acknowledgments for the actor’s +art? Not peculiarly because it is a profession often pursued, +and as it were marked, by poverty and misfortune - for other callings, +God knows, have their distresses - nor because the actor has sometimes +to come from scenes of sickness, of suffering, ay, even of death itself, +to play his part before us - for all of us, in our spheres, have as +often to do violence to our feelings and to hide our hearts in fighting +this great battle of life, and in discharging our duties and responsibilities. +But the art of the actor excites reflections, sombre or grotesque, awful +or humorous, which we are all familiar with. If any man were to +tell me that he denied his acknowledgments to the stage, I would simply +put to him one question - whether he remembered his first play?</p> +<p>If you, gentlemen, will but carry back your recollection to that +great night, and call to mind the bright and harmless world which then +opened to your view, we shall, I think, hear favourably of the effect +upon your liberality on this occasion from our Secretary.</p> +<p>This is the sixth year of meetings of this kind - the sixth time +we have had this fine child down after dinner. His nurse, a very +worthy person of the name of Buckstone, who has an excellent character +from several places, will presently report to you that his chest is +perfectly sound, and that his general health is in the most thriving +condition. Long may it be so; long may it thrive and grow; long +may we meet (it is my sincere wish) to exchange our congratulations +on its prosperity; and longer than the line of Banquo may be that line +of figures which, as its patriotic share in the national debt, a century +hence shall be stated by the Governor and Company of the Bank of England.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: THE ROYAL LITERARY FUND. LONDON, MARCH 12, 1856.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The Corporation of the Royal Literary Fund was established in 1790, +its object being to administer assistance to authors of genius and learning, +who may be reduced to distress by unavoidable calamities, or deprived, +by enfeebled faculties or declining life, of the power of literary exertion. +At the annual general meeting held at the house of the society on the +above date, the following speech was made by Mr. Charles Dickens:]</p> +<p>Sir, - I shall not attempt to follow my friend Mr. Bell, who, in +the profession of literature, represents upon this committee a separate +and distinct branch of the profession, that, like</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“The last rose of summer<br />Stands blooming alone,<br />While +all its companions<br />Are faded and gone,”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>into the very prickly bramble-bush with which he has ingeniously +contrived to beset this question. In the remarks I have to make +I shall confine myself to four points: - 1. That the committee +find themselves in the painful condition of not spending enough money, +and will presently apply themselves to the great reform of spending +more. 2. That with regard to the house, it is a positive +matter of history, that the house for which Mr. Williams was so anxious +was to be applied to uses to which it never has been applied, and which +the administrators of the fund decline to recognise. 3. +That, in Mr. Bell’s endeavours to remove the Artists’ Fund +from the ground of analogy it unquestionably occupies with reference +to this fund, by reason of their continuing periodical relief to the +same persons, I beg to tell Mr. Bell what every gentleman at that table +knows - that it is the business of this fund to relieve over and over +again the same people.</p> +<p>MR. BELL: But fresh inquiry is always made first.</p> +<p>MR. C. DICKENS: I can only oppose to that statement my own experience +when I sat on that committee, and when I have known persons relieved +on many consecutive occasions without further inquiry being made. +As to the suggestion that we should select the items of expenditure +that we complain of, I think it is according to all experience that +we should first affirm the principle that the expenditure is too large. +If that be done by the meeting, then I will proceed to the selection +of the separate items. Now, in rising to support this resolution, +I may state at once that I have scarcely any expectation of its being +carried, and I am happy to think it will not. Indeed, I consider +it the strongest point of the resolution’s case that it should +not be carried, because it will show the determination of the fund’s +managers. Nothing can possibly be stronger in favour of the resolution +than that the statement should go forth to the world that twice within +twelve months the attention of the committee has been called to this +great expenditure, and twice the committee have considered that it was +not unreasonable. I cannot conceive a stronger case for the resolution +than this statement of fact as to the expenditure going forth to the +public accompanied by the committee’s assertion that it is reasonable. +Now, to separate this question from details, let us remember what the +committee and their supporters asserted last year, and, I hope, will +re-assert this year. It seems to be rather the model kind of thing +than otherwise now that if you get £100 you are to spend £40 +in management; and if you get £1000, of course you may spend £400 +in giving the rest away. Now, in case there should be any ill-conditioned +people here who may ask what occasion there can be for all this expenditure, +I will give you my experience. I went last year to a highly respectable +place of resort, Willis’s Rooms, in St. James’s, to a meeting +of this fund. My original intention was to hear all I could, and +say as little as possible. Allowing for the absence of the younger +and fairer portion of the creation, the general appearance of the place +was something like Almack’s in the morning. A number of +stately old dowagers sat in a row on one side, and old gentlemen on +the other. The ball was opened with due solemnity by a real marquis, +who walked a minuet with the secretary, at which the audience were much +affected. Then another party advanced, who, I am sorry to say, +was only a member of the House of Commons, and he took possession of +the floor. To him, however, succeeded a lord, then a bishop, then +the son of a distinguished lord, then one or two celebrities from the +City and Stock Exchange, and at last a gentleman, who made a fortune +by the success of “Candide,” sustained the part of Pangloss, +and spoke much of what he evidently believed to be the very best management +of this best of all possible funds. Now it is in this fondness +for being stupendously genteel, and keeping up fine appearances - this +vulgar and common social vice of hanging on to great connexions at any +price, that the money goes. The last time you got a distinguished +writer at a public meeting, and he was called on to address you somewhere +amongst the small hours, he told you he felt like the man in plush who +was permitted to sweep the stage down after all the other people had +gone. If the founder of this society were here, I should think +he would feel like a sort of Rip van Winkle reversed, who had gone to +sleep backwards for a hundred years and woke up to find his fund still +lying under the feet of people who did nothing for it instead of being +emancipated and standing alone long ago. This Bloomsbury house +is another part of the same desire for show, and the officer who inhabits +it. (I mean, of course, in his official capacity, for, as an individual, +I much respect him.) When one enters the house it appears to be +haunted by a series of mysterious-looking ghosts, who glide about engaged +in some extraordinary occupation, and, after the approved fashion of +ghosts, but seldom condescend to disclose their business. What +are all these meetings and inquiries wanted for? As for the authors, +I say, as a writer by profession, that the long inquiry said to be necessary +to ascertain whether an applicant deserves relief, is a preposterous +pretence, and that working literary men would have a far better knowledge +of the cases coming before the board than can ever be attained by that +committee. Further, I say openly and plainly, that this fund is +pompously and unnaturally administered at great expense, instead of +being quietly administered at small expense; and that the secrecy to +which it lays claim as its greatest attribute, is not kept; for through +those “two respectable householders,” to whom reference +must be made, the names of the most deserving applicants are to numbers +of people perfectly well known. The members have now got before +them a plain statement of fact as to these charges; and it is for them +to say whether they are justifiable, becoming, or decent. I beg +most earnestly and respectfully to put it to those gentlemen who belong +to this institution, that must now decide, and cannot help deciding, +what the Literary Fund is for, and what it is not for. The question +raised by the resolution is whether this is a public corporation for +the relief of men of genius and learning, or whether it is a snug, traditional, +and conventional party, bent upon maintaining its own usages with a +vast amount of pride; upon its own annual puffery at costly dinner-tables, +and upon a course of expensive toadying to a number of distinguished +individuals. This is the question which you cannot this day escape.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>SPEECH: LONDON, NOVEMBER 5, 1857.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[At the fourth anniversary dinner of the Warehousemen and Clerks +Schools, which took place on Thursday evening, Nov. 5th, 1857, at the +London Tavern, and was very numerously attended, Mr. Charles Dickens +occupied the chair. On the subject which had brought the company +together Mr. Dickens spoke as follows:-]</p> +<p>I must now solicit your attention for a few minutes to the cause +of your assembling together - the main and real object of this evening’s +gathering; for I suppose we are all agreed that the motto of these tables +is not “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die;” but, +“Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we live.” It +is because a great and good work is to live to-morrow, and to-morrow, +and to-morrow, and to live a greater and better life with every succeeding +to-morrow, that we eat and drink here at all. Conspicuous on the +card of admission to this dinner is the word “Schools.” +This set me thinking this morning what are the sorts of schools that +I don’t like. I found them on consideration, to be rather +numerous. I don’t like to begin with, and to begin as charity +does at home - I don’t like the sort of school to which I once +went myself - the respected proprietor of which was by far the most +ignorant man I have ever had the pleasure to know; one of the worst-tempered +men perhaps that ever lived, whose business it was to make as much out +of us and put as little into us as possible, and who sold us at a figure +which I remember we used to delight to estimate, as amounting to exactly +£2 4s. 6d. per head. I don’t like that sort of school, +because I don’t see what business the master had to be at the +top of it instead of the bottom, and because I never could understand +the wholesomeness of the moral preached by the abject appearance and +degraded condition of the teachers who plainly said to us by their looks +every day of their lives, “Boys, never be learned; whatever you +are, above all things be warned from that in time by our sunken cheeks, +by our poor pimply noses, by our meagre diet, by our acid-beer, and +by our extraordinary suits of clothes, of which no human being can say +whether they are snuff-coloured turned black, or black turned snuff-coloured, +a point upon which we ourselves are perfectly unable to offer any ray +of enlightenment, it is so very long since they were undarned and new.” +I do not like that sort of school, because I have never yet lost my +ancient suspicion touching that curious coincidence that the boy with +four brothers to come always got the prizes. In fact, and short, +I do not like that sort of school, which is a pernicious and abominable +humbug, altogether. Again, ladies and gentlemen, I don’t +like that sort of school - a ladies’ school - with which the other +school used to dance on Wednesdays, where the young ladies, as I look +back upon them now, seem to me always to have been in new stays and +disgrace - the latter concerning a place of which I know nothing at +this day, that bounds Timbuctoo on the north-east - and where memory +always depicts the youthful enthraller of my first affection as for +ever standing against a wall, in a curious machine of wood, which confined +her innocent feet in the first dancing position, while those arms, which +should have encircled my jacket, those precious arms, I say, were pinioned +behind her by an instrument of torture called a backboard, fixed in +the manner of a double direction post. Again, I don’t like +that sort of school, of which we have a notable example in Kent, which +was established ages ago by worthy scholars and good men long deceased, +whose munificent endowments have been monstrously perverted from their +original purpose, and which, in their distorted condition, are struggled +for and fought over with the most indecent pertinacity. Again, +I don’t like that sort of school - and I have seen a great many +such in these latter times - where the bright childish imagination is +utterly discouraged, and where those bright childish faces, which it +is so very good for the wisest among us to remember in after life - +when the world is too much with us, early and late <a name="citation22"></a><a href="#footnote22">{22}</a> +- are gloomily and grimly scared out of countenance; where I have never +seen among the pupils, whether boys or girls, anything but little parrots +and small calculating machines. Again, I don’t by any means +like schools in leather breeches, and with mortified straw baskets for +bonnets, which file along the streets in long melancholy rows under +the escort of that surprising British monster - a beadle, whose system +of instruction, I am afraid, too often presents that happy union of +sound with sense, of which a very remarkable instance is given in a +grave report of a trustworthy school inspector, to the effect that a +boy in great repute at school for his learning, presented on his slate, +as one of the ten commandments, the perplexing prohibition, “Thou +shalt not commit doldrum.” Ladies and gentlemen, I confess, +also, that I don’t like those schools, even though the instruction +given in them be gratuitous, where those sweet little voices which ought +to be heard speaking in very different accents, anathematise by rote +any human being who does not hold what is taught there. Lastly, +I do not like, and I did not like some years ago, cheap distant schools, +where neglected children pine from year to year under an amount of neglect, +want, and youthful misery far too sad even to be glanced at in this +cheerful assembly.</p> +<p>And now, ladies and gentlemen, perhaps you will permit me to sketch +in a few words the sort of school that I do like. It is a school +established by the members of an industrious and useful order, which +supplies the comforts and graces of life at every familiar turning in +the road of our existence; it is a school established by them for the +Orphan and Necessitous Children of their own brethren and sisterhood; +it is a place giving an education worthy of them - an education by them +invented, by them conducted, by them watched over; it is a place of +education where, while the beautiful history of the Christian religion +is daily taught, and while the life of that Divine Teacher who Himself +took little children on His knees is daily studied, no sectarian ill-will +nor narrow human dogma is permitted to darken the face of the clear +heaven which they disclose. It is a children’s school, which +is at the same time no less a children’s home, a home not to be +confided to the care of cold or ignorant strangers, nor, by the nature +of its foundation, in the course of ages to pass into hands that have +as much natural right to deal with it as with the peaks of the highest +mountains or with the depths of the sea, but to be from generation to +generation administered by men living in precisely such homes as those +poor children have lost; by men always bent upon making that replacement, +such a home as their own dear children might find a happy refuge in +if they themselves were taken early away. And I fearlessly ask +you, is this a design which has any claim to your sympathy? Is +this a sort of school which is deserving of your support?</p> +<p>This is the design, this is the school, whose strong and simple claim +I have to lay before you to-night. I must particularly entreat +you not to suppose that my fancy and unfortunate habit of fiction has +anything to do with the picture I have just presented to you. +It is sober matter of fact. The Warehousemen and Clerks’ +Schools, established for the maintaining, clothing, and educating of +the Orphan and Necessitous Children of those employed in the wholesale +trades and manufactures of the United Kingdom, are, in fact, what I +have just described. These schools for both sexes were originated +only four years ago. In the first six weeks of the undertaking +the young men of themselves and quite unaided, subscribed the large +sum of £3,000. The schools have been opened only three years, +they have now on their foundation thirty-nine children, and in a few +days they will have six more, making a total of forty-five. They +have been most munificently assisted by the heads of great mercantile +houses, numerously represented, I am happy to say, around me, and they +have a funded capital of almost £14,000. This is wonderful +progress, but the aim must still be upwards, the motto always “Excelsior.” +You do not need to be told that five-and-forty children can form but +a very small proportion of the Orphan and Necessitous Children of those +who have been entrusted with the wholesale trades and manufactures of +the United Kingdom: you do not require to be informed that the house +at New-cross, rented for a small term of years, in which the schools +are at present established, can afford but most imperfect accommodation +for such a breadth of design. To carry this good work through +the two remaining degrees of better and best there must be more work, +more co-operation, more friends, more money. Then be the friends +and give the money. Before I conclude, there is one other feature +in these schools which I would commend to your special attention and +approval. Their benefits are reserved for the children of subscribers; +that is to say, it is an essential principle of the institution that +it must help those whose parents have helped them, and that the unfortunate +children whose father has been so lax, or so criminal, as to withhold +a subscription so exceedingly small that when divided by weeks it amounts +to only threepence weekly, cannot, in justice, be allowed to jostle +out and shoulder away the happier children, whose father has had that +little forethought, or done that little kindness which was requisite +to secure for them the benefits of the institution. I really cannot +believe that there will long be any such defaulting parents. I +cannot believe that any of the intelligent young men who are engaged +in the wholesale houses will long neglect this obvious, this easy duty. +If they suppose that the objects of their love, born or unborn, will +never want the benefits of the charity, that may be a fatal and blind +mistake - it can never be an excuse, for, supposing them to be right +in their anticipation, they should do what is asked for the sake of +their friends and comrades around them, assured that they will be the +happier and the better for the deed.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, this little “labour of love” of +mine is now done. I most heartily wish that I could charm you +now not to see me, not to think of me, not to hear me - I most heartily +wish that I could make you see in my stead the multitude of innocent +and bereaved children who are looking towards these schools, and entreating +with uplifted hands to be let in. A very famous advocate once +said, in speaking of his fears of failure when he had first to speak +in court, being very poor, that he felt his little children tugging +at his skirts, and that recovered him. Will you think of the number +of little children who are tugging at my skirts, when I ask you, in +their names, on their behalf, and in their little persons, and in no +strength of my own, to encourage and assist this work?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>At a later period of the evening Mr. Dickens proposed the health +of the President of the Institution, Lord John Russell. He said +he should do nothing so superfluous and so unnecessary as to descant +upon his lordship’s many faithful, long, and great public services, +upon the honour and integrity with which he had pursued his straightforward +public course through every difficulty, or upon the manly, gallant, +and courageous character, which rendered him certain, in the eyes alike +of friends and opponents, to rise with every rising occasion, and which, +like the seal of Solomon, in the old Arabian story, enclosed in a not +very large casket the soul of a giant. In answer to loud cheers, +he said he had felt perfectly certain, that that would be the response +for in no English assembly that he had ever seen was it necessary to +do more than mention the name of Lord John Russell to ensure a manifestation +of personal respect and grateful remembrance.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: LONDON, MAY 8, 1858.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The forty-eighth Anniversary of the establishment of the Artists’ +Benevolent Fund took place on the above date at the Freemasons’ +Tavern. The chair was taken by Mr. Charles Dickens, who, after +having disposed of the preliminary toasts with his usual felicity, proceeded +to advocate the claims of the Institution in whose interest the company +had assembled, in the following terms:-]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - There is an absurd theatrical story which +was once told to me by a dear and valued friend, who has now passed +from this sublunary stage, and which is not without its moral as applied +to myself, in my present presidential position. In a certain theatrical +company was included a man, who on occasions of emergency was capable +of taking part in the whole round of the British drama, provided he +was allowed to use his own language in getting through the dialogue. +It happened one night that Reginald, in the <i>Castle Spectre</i>, was +taken ill, and this veteran of a hundred characters was, of course, +called up for the vacant part. He responded with his usual promptitude, +although knowing nothing whatever of the character, but while they were +getting him into the dress, he expressed a not unreasonable wish to +know in some vague way what the part was about. He was not particular +as to details, but in order that he might properly pourtray his sufferings, +he thought he should have some slight inkling as to what really had +happened to him. As, for example, what murders he had committed, +whose father he was, of what misfortunes he was the victim, - in short, +in a general way to know why he was in that place at all. They +said to him, “Here you are, chained in a dungeon, an unhappy father; +you have been here for seventeen years, during which time you have never +seen your daughter; you have lived upon bread and water, and, in consequence, +are extremely weak, and suffer from occasional lowness of spirits.” +- “All right,” said the actor of universal capabilities, +“ring up.” When he was discovered to the audience, +he presented an extremely miserable appearance, was very favourably +received, and gave every sign of going on well, until, through some +mental confusion as to his instructions, he opened the business of the +act by stating in pathetic terms, that he had been confined in that +dungeon seventeen years, during which time he had not tasted a morsel +of food, to which circumstance he was inclined to attribute the fact +of his being at that moment very much out of condition. The audience, +thinking this statement exceedingly improbable, declined to receive +it, and the weight of that speech hung round him until the end of his +performance.</p> +<p>Now I, too, have received instructions for the part I have the honour +of performing before you, and it behoves both you and me to profit by +the terrible warning I have detailed, while I endeavour to make the +part I have undertaken as plain and intelligible as I possibly can.</p> +<p>As I am going to propose to you that we should now begin to connect +the business with the pleasure of the evening, by drinking prosperity +to the Artists’ Benevolent Fund, it becomes important that we +should know what that fund is. It is an Association supported +by the voluntary gifts of those who entertain a critical and admiring +estimation of art, and has for its object the granting of annuities +to the widows and children of deceased artists - of artists who have +been unable in their lives to make any provision for those dear objects +of their love surviving themselves. Now it is extremely important +to observe that this institution of an Artists’ Benevolent Fund, +which I now call on you to pledge, has connected with it, and has arisen +out of another artists’ association, which does not ask you for +a health, which never did, and never will ask you for a health, which +is self-supporting, and which is entirely maintained by the prudence +and providence of its three hundred artist members. That fund, +which is called the Artists’ Annuity Fund, is, so to speak, a +joint and mutual Assurance Company against infirmity, sickness, and +age. To the benefits it affords every one of its members has an +absolute right, a right, be it remembered, produced by timely thrift +and self-denial, and not assisted by appeals to the charity or compassion +of any human being. On that fund there are, if I remember a right, +some seventeen annuitants who are in the receipt of eleven hundred a-year, +the proceeds of their own self-supporting Institution. In recommending +to you this benevolent fund, which is not self-supporting, they address +you, in effect, in these words:- “We ask you to help these widows +and orphans, because we show you we have first helped ourselves. +These widows and orphans may be ours or they may not be ours; but in +any case we will prove to you to a certainty that we are not so many +wagoners calling upon Jupiter to do our work, because we do our own +work; each has his shoulder to the wheel; each, from year to year, has +had his shoulder set to the wheel, and the prayer we make to Jupiter +and all the gods is simply this - that this fact may be remembered when +the wagon has stopped for ever, and the spent and worn-out wagoner lies +lifeless by the roadside.</p> +<p>“Ladies and Gentlemen, I most particularly wish to impress +on you the strength of this appeal. I am a painter, a sculptor, +or an engraver, of average success. I study and work here for +no immense return, while life and health, while hand and eye are mine. +I prudently belong to the Annuity Fund, which in sickness, old age, +and infirmity, preserves me from want. I do my duty to those who +are depending on me while life remains; but when the grass grows above +my grave there is no provision for them any longer.”</p> +<p>This is the case with the Artists’ Benevolent Fund, and in +stating this I am only the mouthpiece of three hundred of the trade, +who in truth stands as independent before you as if they were three +hundred Cockers all regulated by the Gospel according to themselves. +There are in existence three artists’ funds, which ought never +to be mentioned without respect. I am an officer of one of them, +and can speak from knowledge; but on this occasion I address myself +to a case for which there is no provision. I address you on behalf +of those professors of the fine arts who have made provision during +life, and in submitting to you their claims I am only advocating principles +which I myself have always maintained.</p> +<p>When I add that this Benevolent Fund makes no pretensions to gentility, +squanders no treasure in keeping up appearances, that it considers that +the money given for the widow and the orphan, should really be held +for the widow and the orphan, I think I have exhausted the case, which +I desire most strenuously to commend to you.</p> +<p>Perhaps you will allow me to say one last word. I will not +consent to present to you the professors of Art as a set of helpless +babies, who are to be held up by the chin; I present them as an energetic +and persevering class of men, whose incomes depend on their own faculties +and personal exertions; and I also make so bold as to present them as +men who in their vocation render good service to the community. +I am strongly disposed to believe there are very few debates in Parliament +so important to the public welfare as a really good picture. I +have also a notion that any number of bundles of the driest legal chaff +that ever was chopped would be cheaply expended for one really meritorious +engraving. At a highly interesting annual festival at which I +have the honour to assist, and which takes place behind two fountains, +I sometimes observe that great ministers of state and other such exalted +characters have a strange delight in rather ostentatiously declaring +that they have no knowledge whatever of art, and particularly of impressing +on the company that they have passed their lives in severe studies. +It strikes me when I hear these things as if these great men looked +upon the arts as a sort of dancing dogs, or Punch’s show, to be +turned to for amusement when one has nothing else to do. Now I +always take the opportunity on these occasions of entertaining my humble +opinion that all this is complete “bosh;” and of asserting +to myself my strong belief that the neighbourhoods of Trafalgar Square, +or Suffolk Street, rightly understood, are quite as important to the +welfare of the empire as those of Downing Street, or Westminster Hall. +Ladies and Gentlemen, on these grounds, and backed by the recommendation +of three hundred artists in favour of the Benevolent Fund, I beg to +propose its prosperity as a toast for your adoption.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: THE FAREWELL READING. ST. JAMES’S HALL, MARCH +15, 1870.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[With the “Christmas Carol” and “The Trial from +Pickwick,” Mr. Charles Dickens brought to a brilliant close the +memorable series of public readings which have for sixteen years proved +to audiences unexampled in numbers, the source of the highest intellectual +enjoyment. Every portion of available space in the building was, +of course, last night occupied some time before the appointed hour; +but could the St. James’s Hall have been specially enlarged for +the occasion to the dimensions of Salisbury Plain, it is doubtful whether +sufficient room would even then have been provided for all anxious to +seize the last chance of hearing the distinguished novelist give his +own interpretation of the characters called into existence by his own +creative pen. As if determined to convince his auditors that, +whatever reason had influenced his determination, physical exhaustion +was not amongst them, Mr. Dickens never read with greater spirit and +energy. His voice to the last retained its distinctive clearness, +and the transitions of tone, as each personage in the story, conjured +up by a word, rose vividly before the eye, seemed to be more marvellous +than ever. The vast assemblage, hushed into breathless attention, +suffered not a syllable to escape the ear, and the rich humour and deep +pathos of one of the most delightful books ever written found once again +the fullest appreciation. The usual burst of merriment responsive +to the blithe description of Bob Cratchit’s Christmas day, and +the wonted sympathy with the crippled child “Tiny Tim,” +found prompt expression, and the general delight at hearing of Ebenezer +Scrooge’s reformation was only checked by the saddening remembrance +that with it the last strain of the “carol” was dying away. +After the “Trial from Pickwick,” in which the speeches of +the opposing counsel, and the owlish gravity of the judge, seemed to +be delivered and depicted with greater dramatic power than ever, the +applause of the audience rang for several minutes through the hall, +and when it had subsided, Mr. Dickens, with evidently strong emotion, +but in his usual distinct and expressive manner, spoke as follows:-]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - It would be worse than idle - for it would +be hypocritical and unfeeling - if I were to disguise that I close this +episode in my life with feelings of very considerable pain. For +some fifteen years, in this hall and in many kindred places, I have +had the honour of presenting my own cherished ideas before you for your +recognition, and, in closely observing your reception of them, have +enjoyed an amount of artistic delight and instruction which, perhaps, +is given to few men to know. In this task, and in every other +I have ever undertaken, as a faithful servant of the public, always +imbued with a sense of duty to them, and always striving to do his best, +I have been uniformly cheered by the readiest response, the most generous +sympathy, and the most stimulating support. Nevertheless, I have +thought it well, at the full flood-tide of your favour, to retire upon +those older associations between us, which date from much further back +than these, and henceforth to devote myself exclusively to the art that +first brought us together. Ladies and gentlemen, in but two short +weeks from this time I hope that you may enter, in your own homes, on +a new series of readings, at which my assistance will be indispensable; +<a name="citation23"></a><a href="#footnote23">{23}</a> but from these +garish lights I vanish now for evermore, with a heartfelt, grateful, +respectful, and affectionate farewell.</p> +<p>[Amidst repeated acclamations of the most enthusiastic description, +whilst hats and handkerchiefs were waving in every part of the hall, +Mr. Charles Dickens retired, withdrawing with him one of the greatest +intellectual treats the public ever enjoyed.]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: THE NEWSVENDORS’ INSTITUTION, LONDON, APRIL 5, 1870.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The annual dinner in aid of the funds of the Newsvendors’ +Benevolent and Provident Institution was held on the above evening, +at the Freemason’s Tavern. Mr. Charles Dickens presided, +and was supported by the Sheriffs of the City of London and Middlesex.</p> +<p>After the usual toasts had been given and responded to,</p> +<p>The Chairman said that if the approved order of their proceedings +had been observed, the Corporation of the City of London would no doubt +have considered themselves snubbed if they were not toasted by themselves. +He was sure that a distinguished member of the Corporation who was present +would tell the company what the Corporation were going to do; and he +had not the slightest doubt they were going to do something highly creditable +to themselves, and something highly serviceable to the whole metropolis; +and if the secret were not at present locked up in the blue chamber, +they would be all deeply obliged to the gentleman who would immediately +follow him, if he let them into it in the same confidence as he had +observed with respect to the Corporation of the City of London being +snubbed. He begged to give the toast of “The Corporation +of the City of London.”</p> +<p>Mr. Alderman Cotton, in replying to the toast, said for once, and +once only, had their chairman said an unkind word about the Corporation +of London. He had always reckoned Mr. Dickens to be one of the +warmest friends of the Corporation; and remembering that he (Mr. +Dickens) did really go through a Lord Mayor’s Show in a Lord Mayor’s +carriage, if he had not felt himself quite a Lord Mayor, he must have +at least considered himself next to one.</p> +<p>In proposing the toast of the evening Mr, Dickens said:-]</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, - You receive me with so much cordiality that +I fear you believe that I really did once sit in a Lord Mayor’s +state coach. Permit me to assure you, in spite of the information +received from Mr. Alderman Cotton, that I never had that honour. +Furthermore, I beg to assure you that I never witnessed a Lord Mayor’s +show except from the point of view obtained by the other vagabonds upon +the pavement. Now, ladies and gentlemen, in spite of this great +cordiality of yours, I doubt if you fully know yet what a blessing it +is to you that I occupy this chair to-night, because, having filled +it on several previous occasions for the society on whose behalf we +are assembled, and having said everything that I could think of to say +about it, and being, moreover, the president of the institution itself, +I am placed to-night in the modest position of a host who is not so +much to display himself as to call out his guests - perhaps even to +try to induce some among them to occupy his place on another occasion. +And, therefore, you may be safely sure that, like Falstaff, but with +a modification almost as large as himself, I shall try rather to be +the cause of speaking in others than to speak myself to-night. +Much in this manner they exhibit at the door of a snuff shop the effigy +of a Highlander with an empty mull in his hand, who, having apparently +taken all the snuff he can carry, and discharged all the sneezes of +which he is capable, politely invites his friends and patrons to step +in and try what they can do in the same line.</p> +<p>It is an appropriate instance of the universality of the newsman’s +calling that no toast we have drunk to-night - and no toast we shall +drink to-night - and no toast we might, could, should, or would drink +to-night, is separable for a moment from that great inclusion of all +possible subjects of human interest which he delivers at our doors every +day. Further, it may be worthy the consideration of everybody +here who has talked cheerfully to his or her neighbour since we have +sat down at the table, what in the name of Heaven should we have talked +about, and how on earth could we have possibly got on, if our newsman +had only for one single day forgotten us. Now, ladies and gentlemen, +as our newsman is not by any means in the habit of forgetting us, let +us try to form a little habit of not forgetting our newsman. Let +us remember that his work is very arduous; that it occupies him early +and late; that the profits he derives from us are at the best very small; +that the services he renders to us are very great; that if he be a master, +his little capital is exposed to all sorts of mischances, anxieties, +and hazards; and if he be a journeyman, he himself is exposed to all +manner of weathers, of tempers, and of difficult and unreasonable requirements.</p> +<p>Let me illustrate this. I was once present at a social discussion, +which originated by chance. The subject was, What was the most +absorbing and longest-lived passion in the human breast? What +was the passion so powerful that it would almost induce the generous +to be mean, the careless to be cautious, the guileless to be deeply +designing, and the dove to emulate the serpent? A daily editor +of vast experience and great acuteness, who was one of the company, +considerably surprised us by saying with the greatest confidence that +the passion in question was the passion of getting orders for the play.</p> +<p>There had recently been a terrible shipwreck, and very few of the +surviving sailors had escaped in an open boat. One of these on +making land came straight to London, and straight to the newspaper office, +with his story of how he had seen the ship go down before his eyes. +That young man had witnessed the most terrible contention between the +powers of fire and water for the destruction of that ship and of every +one on board. He had rowed away among the floating, dying, and +the sinking dead. He had floated by day, and he had frozen by +night, with no shelter and no food, and, as he told his dismal tale, +he rolled his haggard eyes about the room. When he had finished, +and the tale had been noted down from his lips, he was cheered and refreshed, +and soothed, and asked if anything could be done for him. Even +within him that master passion was so strong that he immediately replied +he should like an order for the play. My friend the editor certainly +thought that was rather a strong case; but he said that during his many +years of experience he had witnessed an incurable amount of self-prostration +and abasement having no outer object, and that almost invariably on +the part of people who could well afford to pay.</p> +<p>This made a great impression on my mind, and I really lived in this +faith until some years ago it happened upon a stormy night I was kindly +escorted from a bleak railway station to the little out-of-the-way town +it represented by a sprightly and vivacious newsman, to whom I propounded, +as we went along under my umbrella - he being most excellent company +- this old question, what was the one all-absorbing passion of the human +soul? He replied, without the slightest hesitation, that it certainly +was the passion for getting your newspaper in advance of your fellow-creatures; +also, if you only hired it, to get it delivered at your own door at +exactly the same time as another man who hired the same copy four miles +off; and, finally, the invincible determination on the part of both +men not to believe the time was up when the boy called.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, I have not had an opportunity of verifying +this experience with my friends of the managing committee, but I have +no doubt from its reception to-night that my friend the newsman was +perfectly right. Well, as a sort of beacon in a sufficiently dark +life, and as an assurance that among a little body of working men there +is a feeling of brotherhood and sympathy - which is worth much to all +men, or they would herd with wolves - the newsvendors once upon a time +established the Benevolent and Provident Institution, and here it is. +Under the Provident head, certain small annuities are granted to old +and hard-working subscribers. Under the Benevolent head, relief +is afforded to temporary and proved distress. Under both heads, +I am bound to say the help rendered is very humble and very sparing, +but if you like it to be handsomer you have it in your power to make +it so. Such as it is, it is most gratefully received, and does +a deal of good. Such as it is, it is most discreetly and feelingly +administered; and it is encumbered with no wasteful charges for management +or patronage.</p> +<p>You know upon an old authority, that you may believe anything except +facts and figures, but you really may believe that during the last year +we have granted £100 in pensions, and some £70 in temporary +relief, and we have invested in Government securities some £400. +But, touching this matter of investments, it was suggested at the anniversary +dinner, on the high and kind authority of Sir Benjamin Phillips that +we might grant more pensions and invest less money. We urged, +on the other hand, that we wished our pensions to be certain and unchangeable +- which of course they must be if they are always paid out of our Government +interest and never out of our capital. However, so amiable is +our nature, that we profess our desire to grant more pensions and to +invest more money too. The more you give us to-night again, so +amiable is our nature, the more we promise to do in both departments. +That the newsman’s work has greatly increased, and that it is +far more wearing and tearing than it used to be, you may infer from +one fact, not to mention that we live in railway times. It is +stated in Mitchell’s “Newspaper Press Directory,” +that during the last quarter of a century the number of newspapers which +appeared in London had more than doubled, while the increase in the +number of people among whom they were disseminated was probably beyond +calculation.</p> +<p>Ladies and gentlemen, I have stated the newsman’s simple case. +I leave it in your hands. Within the last year the institution +has had the good fortune to attract the sympathy and gain the support +of the eminent man of letters I am proud to call my friend, <a name="citation24"></a><a href="#footnote24">{24}</a> +who now represents the great Republic of America at the British Court. +Also it has the honour of enrolling upon its list of donors and vice-presidents +the great name of Longfellow. I beg to propose to you to drink +“Prosperity to the Newsvendors’ Benevolent and Provident +Institution.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: MACREADY. LONDON, MARCH 1, 1851.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On the evening of the above day the friends and admirers of Mr. +Macready entertained him at a public dinner. Upwards of six hundred +gentlemen assembled to do honour to the great actor on his retirement +from the stage. Sir E. B. Lytton took the chair. Among the +other speakers were Baron Bunsen, Sir Charles Eastlake, Mr. Thackeray, +Mr. John Forster, Mr. W. J. Fox, and Mr. Charles Dickens, who proposed +“The Health of the Chairman” in the following words:-]</p> +<p>Gentlemen, - After all you have already heard, and so rapturously +received, I assure you that not even the warmth of your kind welcome +would embolden me to hope to interest you if I had not full confidence +in the subject I have to offer to your notice. But my reliance +on the strength of this appeal to you is so strong that I am rather +encouraged than daunted by the brightness of the track on which I have +to throw my little shadow.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, as it seems to me, there are three great requisites essential +to the perfect realisation of a scene so unusual and so splendid as +that in which we are now assembled. The first, and I must say +very difficult requisite, is a man possessing the stronghold in the +general remembrance, the indisputable claim on the general regard and +esteem, which is possessed by my dear and much valued friend our guest. +The second requisite is the presence of a body of entertainers, - a +great multitude of hosts so cheerful and good-humoured (under, I am +sorry to say, some personal inconvenience), - so warm-hearted and so +nobly in earnest, as those whom I have the privilege of addressing. +The third, and certainly not the least of these requisites, is a president +who, less by his social position, which he may claim by inheritance, +or by fortune, which may have been adventitiously won, and may be again +accidentally lost, than by his comprehensive genius, shall fitly represent +the best part of him to whom honour is done, and the best part of those +who unite in the doing of it. Such a president I think we have +found in our chairman of to-night, and I need scarcely add that our +chairman’s health is the toast I have to propose to you.</p> +<p>Many of those who now hear me were present, I daresay, at that memorable +scene on Wednesday night last, <a name="citation25"></a><a href="#footnote25">{25}</a> +when the great vision which had been a delight and a lesson, - very +often, I daresay, a support and a comfort to you, which had for many +years improved and charmed us, and to which we had looked for an elevated +relief from the labours of our lives, faded from our sight for ever. +I will not stop to inquire whether our guest may or may not have looked +backward, through rather too long a period for us, to some remote and +distant time when he might possibly bear some far-off likeness to a +certain Spanish archbishop whom Gil Blas once served. Nor will +I stop to inquire whether it was a reasonable disposition in the audience +of Wednesday to seize upon the words -</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“And I have brought,<br />Golden opinions from all sorts of +people,<br />Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,<br />Not +cast aside so soon - ” <a name="citation26"></a><a href="#footnote26">{26}</a></p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>but I will venture to intimate to those whom I am addressing how +in my mind I mainly connect that occasion with the present. When +I looked round on the vast assemblage, and observed the huge pit hushed +into stillness on the rising of the curtain, and that mighty surging +gallery, where men in their shirt-sleeves had been striking out their +arms like strong swimmers - when I saw that. boisterous human flood +become still water in a moment, and remain so from the opening to the +end of the play, it suggested to me something besides the trustworthiness +of an English crowd, and the delusion under which those labour who are +apt to disparage and malign it: it suggested to me that in meeting here +to-night we undertook to represent something of the all-pervading feeling +of that crowd, through all its intermediate degrees, from the full-dressed +lady, with her diamonds sparkling upon her breast in the proscenium-box, +to the half-undressed gentleman; who bides his time to take some refreshment +in the back row of the gallery. And I consider, gentlemen, that +no one who could possibly be placed in this chair could so well head +that comprehensive representation, and could so well give the crowning +grace to our festivities, as one whose comprehensive genius has in his +various works embraced them all, and who has, in his dramatic genius, +enchanted and enthralled them all at once.</p> +<p>Gentlemen, it is not for me here to recall, after what you have heard +this night, what I have seen and known in the bygone times of Mr. Macready’s +management, of the strong friendship of Sir Bulwer Lytton for him, of +the association of his pen with his earliest successes, or of Mr. Macready’s +zealous and untiring services; but it may be permitted me to say what, +in any public mention of him I can never repress, that in the path we +both tread I have uniformly found him from the first the most generous +of men; quick to encourage, slow to disparage, ever anxious to assert +the order of which he is so great an ornament; never condescending to +shuffle it off, and leave it outside state rooms, as a Mussulman might +leave his slippers outside a mosque.</p> +<p>There is a popular prejudice, a kind of superstition to the effect +that authors are not a particularly united body, that they are not invariably +and inseparably attached to each other. I am afraid I must concede +half-a-grain or so of truth I to that superstition; but this I know, +that there can hardly be - that there hardly can have been - among the +followers of literature, a man of more high standing farther above these +little grudging jealousies, which do sometimes disparage its brightness, +than Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.</p> +<p>And I have the strongest reason just at present to bear my testimony +to his great consideration for those evils which are sometimes unfortunately +attendant upon it, though not on him. For, in conjunction with +some other gentlemen now present, I have just embarked in a design with +Sir Bulwer Lytton, to smoothe the rugged way of young labourers, both +in literature and the fine arts, and to soften, but by no eleemosynary +means, the declining years of meritorious age. And if that project +prosper as I hope it will, and as I know it ought, it will one day be +an honour to England where there is now a reproach; originating in his +sympathies, being brought into operation by his activity, and endowed +from its very cradle by his generosity. There are many among you +who will have each his own favourite reason for drinking our chairman’s +health, resting his claim probably upon some of his diversified successes. +According to the nature of your reading, some of you will connect him +with prose, others will connect him with poetry. One will connect +him with comedy, and another with the romantic passions of the stage, +and his assertion of worthy ambition and earnest struggle against those</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“twin gaolers of the human heart,<br />Low birth and iron fortune.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Again, another’s taste will lead him to the contemplation of +Rienzi and the streets of Rome; another’s to the rebuilt and repeopled +streets of Pompeii; another’s to the touching history of the fireside +where the Caxton family learned how to discipline their natures and +tame their wild hopes down. But, however various their feelings +and reasons may be, I am sure that with one accord each will help the +other, and all will swell the greeting, with which I shall now propose +to you “The Health of our Chairman, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: SANITARY REFORM. LONDON, MAY 10, 1851.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[The members and friends of the Metropolitan Sanitary Association +dined together on the above evening at Gore House, Kensington. +The Earl of Carlisle occupied the chair. Mr. Charles Dickens was +present, and in proposing “The Board of Health,” made the +following speech:-]</p> +<p>There are very few words for me to say upon the needfulness of sanitary +reform, or the consequent usefulness of the Board of Health. That +no man can estimate the amount of mischief grown in dirt, - that no +man can say the evil stops here or stops there, either in its moral +or physical effects, or can deny that it begins in the cradle and is +not at rest in the miserable grave, is as certain as it is that the +air from Gin Lane will be carried by an easterly wind into Mayfair, +or that the furious pestilence raging in St. Giles’s no mortal +list of lady patronesses can keep out of Almack’s. Fifteen +years ago some of the valuable reports of Mr. Chadwick and Dr. Southwood +Smith, strengthening and much enlarging my knowledge, made me earnest +in this cause in my own sphere; and I can honestly declare that the +use I have since that time made of my eyes and nose have only strengthened +the conviction that certain sanitary reforms must precede all other +social remedies, and that neither education nor religion can do anything +useful until the way has been paved for their ministrations by cleanliness +and decency.</p> +<p>I do not want authority for this opinion: you have heard the speech +of the right reverend prelate <a name="citation27"></a><a href="#footnote27">{27}</a> +this evening - a speech which no sanitary reformer can have heard without +emotion. Of what avail is it to send missionaries to the miserable +man condemned to work in a foetid court, with every sense bestowed upon +him for his health and happiness turned into a torment, with every month +of his life adding to the heap of evils under which he is condemned +to exist? What human sympathy within him is that instructor to +address? what natural old chord within him is he to touch? Is +it the remembrance of his children? - a memory of destitution, of sickness, +of fever, and of scrofula? Is it his hopes, his latent hopes of +immortality? He is so surrounded by and embedded in material filth, +that his soul cannot rise to the contemplation of the great truths of +religion. Or if the case is that of a miserable child bred and +nurtured in some noisome, loathsome place, and tempted, in these better +days, into the ragged school, what can a few hours’ teaching effect +against the ever-renewed lesson of a whole existence? But give +them a glimpse of heaven through a little of its light and air; give +them water; help them to be clean; lighten that heavy atmosphere in +which their spirits flag and in which they become the callous things +they are; take the body of the dead relative from the close room in +which the living live with it, and where death, being familiar, loses +its awe; and then they will be brought willingly to hear of Him whose +thoughts were so much with the poor, and who had compassion for all +human suffering.</p> +<p>The toast which I have to propose, The Board of Health, is entitled +to all the honour which can be conferred upon it. We have very +near us, in Kensington, a transparent illustration that no very great +thing can ever be accomplished without an immense amount of abuse being +heaped upon it. In connexion with the Board of Health we are always +hearing a very large word which is always pronounced with a very great +relish - the word centralization. Now I submit that in the time +of the cholera we had a pretty good opportunity of judging between this +so called centralization and what I may, I think, call “vestrylisation.” +I dare say the company present have read the reports of the Cholera +Board of Health, and I daresay they have also read reports of certain +vestries. I have the honour of belonging to a constituency which +elected that amazing body, the Marylebone vestry, and I think that if +the company present will look to what was done by the Board of Health +at Glasgow, and then contrast those proceedings with the wonderful cleverness +with which affairs were managed at the same period by my vestry, there +will be very little difficulty in judging between them. My vestry +even took upon itself to deny the existence of cholera as a weak invention +of the enemy, and that denial had little or no effect in staying the +progress of the disease. We can now contrast what centralization +is as represented by a few noisy and interested gentlemen, and what +centralization is when worked out by a body combining business habits, +sound medical and social knowledge, and an earnest sympathy with the +sufferings of the working classes.</p> +<p>Another objection to the Board of Health is conveyed in a word not +so large as the other, - “Delay.” I would suggest, +in respect to this, that it would be very unreasonable to complain that +a first-rate chronometer didn’t go when its master had not wound +it up. The Board of Health may be excellently adapted for going +and very willing and anxious to go, and yet may not be permitted to +go by reason of its lawful master having fallen into a gentle slumber +and forgotten to set it a going. One of the speakers this evening +has referred to Lord Castlereagh’s caution “not to halloo +until they were out of the wood.” As regards the Board of +Trade I would suggest that they ought not to halloo until they are out +of the Woods and Forests. In that leafy region the Board of Health +suffers all sorts of delays, and this should always be borne in mind. +With the toast of the Board of Health I will couple the name of a noble +lord (Ashley), of whose earnestness in works of benevolence, no man +can doubt, and who has the courage on all occasions to face the cant +which is the worst and commonest of all - the cant about the cant of +philanthropy.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: GARDENING. LONDON, JUNE 9, 1851.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[At the anniversary dinner of the Gardeners’ Benevolent Institution, +held under the presidency of Mr., afterwards Sir Joseph Paxton, Mr. +Charles Dickens made the following speech:-]</p> +<p>I feel an unbounded and delightful interest in all the purposes and +associations of gardening. Probably there is no feeling in the +human mind stronger than the love of gardening. The prisoner will +make a garden in his prison, and cultivate his solitary flower in the +chink of a wall. The poor mechanic will string his scarlet bean +from one side of his window to the other, and watch it and tend it with +unceasing interest. It is a holy duty in foreign countries to +decorate the graves of the dead with flowers, and here, too, the resting-places +of those who have passed away from us will soon be gardens. From +that old time when the Lord walked in the garden in the cool of the +evening, down to the day when a Poet-Laureate sang -</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Trust me, Clara Vere de Vere,<br />From yon blue heaven above +us bent<br />The gardener Adam and his wife<br />Smile at the claims +of long descent,”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>at all times and in all ages gardens have been amongst the objects +of the greatest interest to mankind. There may be a few, but I +believe they are but a few, who take no interest in the products of +gardening, except perhaps in “London Pride,” or a certain +degenerate kind of “Stock,” which is apt to grow hereabouts, +cultivated by a species of frozen-out gardeners whom no thaw can ever +penetrate: except these, the gardeners’ art has contributed to +the delight of all men in their time. That there ought to be a +Benevolent Provident Institution for gardeners is in the fitness of +things, and that such an institution ought to flourish and does flourish +is still more so.</p> +<p>I have risen to propose to you the health of a gentleman who is a +great gardener, and not only a great gardener but a great man - the +growth of a fine Saxon root cultivated up with a power of intellect +to a plant that is at this time the talk of the civilized world - I +allude, of course, to my friend the chairman of the day. I took +occasion to say at a public assembly hard-by, a month or two ago, in +speaking of that wonderful building Mr. Paxton has designed for the +Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, that it ought to have fallen down, but +that it refused to do so. We were told that the glass ought to +have been all broken, the gutters all choked up, and the building flooded, +and that the roof and sides ought to have been blown away; in short +that everything ought to have done what everything obstinately persisted +in not doing. Earth, air, fire, and water all appear to have conspired +together in Mr. Paxton’s favour - all have conspired together +to one result, which, when the present generation is dust, will be an +enduring temple to his honour, and to the energy, the talent, and the +resources of Englishmen.</p> +<p>“But,” said a gentleman to me the other day, “no +doubt Mr. Paxton is a great man, but there is one objection to him that +you can never get over, that is, he is a gardener.” Now +that is our case to-night, that he is a gardener, and we are extremely +proud of it. This is a great age, with all its faults, when a +man by the power of his own genius and good sense can scale such a daring +height as Mr. Paxton has reached, and composedly place his form on the +top. This is a great age, when a man impressed with a useful idea +can carry out his project without being imprisoned, or thumb-screwed, +or persecuted in any form. I can well understand that you, to +whom the genius, the intelligence, the industry, and the achievements +of our friend are well known, should be anxious to do him honour by +placing him in the position he occupies to-night; and I assure you, +you have conferred great gratification on one of his friends, in permitting +him to have the opportunity of proposing his health, which that friend +now does most cordially and with all the honours.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SPEECH: THE ROYAL ACADEMY DINNER. LONDON, MAY 2, 1870.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>[On the occasion of the Second Exhibition of the Royal Academy in +their new galleries in Piccadilly, the President, Sir F. Grant, and +the council gave their usual inaugurative banquet, and a very distinguished +company was present. The dinner took place in the large central +room, and covers were laid for 200 guests. The Prince of Wales +acknowledged the toast of his health and that of the Princess, the Duke +of Cambridge responded to the toast of the army, Mr. Childers to the +navy, Lord Elcho to the volunteers, Mr. Motley to “The Prosperity +of the United States,” Mr. Gladstone to “Her Majesty’s +Ministers,” the Archbishop of York to, “The Guests,” +and Mr. Dickens to “Literature.” The last toast having +been proposed in a highly eulogistic speech, Mr. Dickens responded.]</p> +<p>Mr. President, your Royal Highnesses, my Lords and Gentlemen, - I +beg to acknowledge the toast with which you have done me the great honour +of associating my name. I beg to acknowledge it on behalf of the +brotherhood of literature, present and absent, not forgetting an illustrious +wanderer from the fold, whose tardy return to it we all hail with delight, +and who now sits - or lately did sit - within a few chairs of or on +your left hand. I hope I may also claim to acknowledge the toast +on behalf of the sisterhood of literature also, although that “better +half of human nature,” to which Mr. Gladstone rendered his graceful +tribute, is unworthily represented here, in the present state of its +rights and wrongs, by the devouring monster, man.</p> +<p>All the arts, and many of the sciences, bear witness that women, +even in their present oppressed condition, can attain to quite as great +distinction, and can attain to quite as lofty names as men. Their +emancipation (as I am given to understand) drawing very near, there +is no saying how soon they may “push us from our stools” +at these tables, or how soon our better half of human nature, standing +in this place of mine, may eloquently depreciate mankind, addressing +another better half of human nature sitting in the president’s +chair.</p> +<p>The literary visitors of the Royal Academy to-night desire me to +congratulate their hosts on a very interesting exhibition, in which +risen excellence supremely asserts itself, and from which promise of +a brilliant succession in time to come is not wanting. They naturally +see with especial interest the writings and persons of great men - historians, +philosophers, poets, and novelists, vividly illustrated around them +here. And they hope that they may modestly claim to have rendered +some little assistance towards the production of many of the pictures +in this magnificent gallery. For without the patient labours of +some among them unhistoric history might have long survived in this +place, and but for the researches and wandering of others among them, +the most preposterous countries, the most impossible peoples, and the +absurdest superstitions, manners, and customs, might have usurped the +place of truth upon these walls. Nay, there is no knowing, Sir +Francis Grant, what unlike portraits you yourself might have painted +if you had been left, with your sitters, to idle pens, unchecked reckless +rumours, and undenounced lying malevolence.</p> +<p>I cannot forbear, before I resume my seat, adverting to a sad theme +(the recent death of Daniel Maclise) to which his Royal Highness the +Prince of Wales made allusion, and to which the president referred with +the eloquence of genuine feeling. Since I first entered the public +lists, a very young man indeed, it has been my constant fortune to number +amongst my nearest and dearest friends members of the Royal Academy +who have been its grace and pride. They have so dropped from my +side one by one that I already, begin to feel like the Spanish monk +of whom Wilkie tells, who had grown to believe that the only realities +around him were the pictures which he loved, and that all the moving +life he saw, or ever had seen, was a shadow and a dream.</p> +<p>For many years I was one of the two most intimate friends and most +constant companions of the late Mr. Maclise. Of his genius in +his chosen art I will venture to say nothing here, but of his prodigious +fertility of mind and wonderful wealth of intellect, I may confidently +assert that they would have made him, if he had been so minded, at least +as great a writer as he was a painter. The gentlest and most modest +of men, the freshest as to his generous appreciation of young aspirants, +and the frankest and largest-hearted as to his peers, incapable of a +sordid or ignoble thought, gallantly sustaining the true dignity of +his vocation, without one grain of self-ambition, wholesomely natural +at the last as at the first, “in wit a man, simplicity a child,” +no artist, of whatsoever denomination, I make bold to say, ever went +to his rest leaving a golden memory more pure from dross, or having +devoted himself with a truer chivalry to the art goddess whom he worshipped.</p> +<p>[These were the last public words of Charles Dickens.]</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p><a name="footnote1"></a><a href="#citation1">{1}</a> Sir David +Wilkie died at sea, on board the <i>Oriental</i>, off Gibraltar, on +the 1st of June, 1841, whilst on his way back to England. During +the evening of the same day his body was committed to the deep. +- ED.</p> +<p><a name="footnote2"></a><a href="#citation2">{2}</a> The <i>Britannia</i> +was the vessel that conveyed Mr. Dickens across the Atlantic, on his +first visit to America - ED.</p> +<p><a name="footnote3"></a><a href="#citation3">{3}</a> <i>Master +Humphrey’s Clock</i>, under which title the two novels of Barnaby +Rudge and The Old Curiosity Shop originally appeared. - ED.</p> +<p><a name="footnote4"></a><a href="#citation4">{4}</a> “I +shall always entertain a very pleasant and grateful recollection of +Hartford. It is a lovely place, and I had many friends there, +whom I can never remember with indifference. We left it with no +little regret.” <i>American Notes</i> (Lond. 1842). +Vol. I, p. 182.</p> +<p><a name="footnote5"></a><a href="#citation5">{5}</a> See the +<i>Life and Letters of Washington Irving</i> (Lond. 1863), p. 644, where +Irving speaks of a letter he has received “from that glorious +fellow Dickens, in reply to the one I wrote, expressing my heartfelt +delight with his writings, and my yearnings toward himself.” +See also the letter itself, in the second division of this volume. - +ED.</p> +<p><a name="footnote6"></a><a href="#citation6">{6}</a> <i>TENNYSON, +Lady Clara Vere de Vere</i>, then newly published in collection of 1842. +- ED</p> +<p><a name="footnote7"></a><a href="#citation7">{7}</a> “That +this meeting, while conveying its cordial thanks to Charles Dickens, +Esq., for his presence this evening, and for his able and courteous +conduct as President, cannot separate without tendering the warmest +expression of its gratitude and admiration to one whose writings have +so loyally inculcated the lessons of benevolence and virtue, and so +richly contributed to the stores of public pleasure and instructions.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote8"></a><a href="#citation8">{8}</a> The Duke +of Devonshire.</p> +<p><a name="footnote9"></a><a href="#citation9">{9}</a> <i>Charlotte +Corday going to Execution.</i></p> +<p><a name="footnote10"></a><a href="#citation10">{10}</a> The +above is extracted from Mrs. Stowe’s “Sunny Memories of +Foreign Lands,”, a book in which her eaves-dropping propensities +were already developed in a sufficiently ugly form. - ED.</p> +<p><a name="footnote11"></a><a href="#citation11">{11}</a> Alas! +the “many years” were to be barely six, when the speaker +was himself destined to write some memorial pages commemorative of his +illustrious friend (Cornhill Magazine, February, 1864.) - ED.</p> +<p><a name="footnote12"></a><a href="#citation12">{12}</a> Mr. +Henry Dodd had proposed to give five acres of land in Berkshire, but, +in consequence of his desiring to attach certain restrictions, after +a long and unsatisfactory correspondence, the Committee, on 13th January +following, rejected the offer. (<i>Communicated</i>.)</p> +<p><a name="footnote13"></a><a href="#citation13">{13}</a> Claude +Melnotte in <i>The Lady of Lyons</i>, Act iii. sc. 2.</p> +<p><a name="footnote14"></a><a href="#citation14">{14}</a> Mr. +B. Webster.</p> +<p><a name="footnote15"></a><a href="#citation15">{15}</a> <i>Romeo +and Juliet</i>, Act III. Sc. 1.</p> +<p><a name="footnote16"></a><a href="#citation16">{16}</a> Robert +Browning: <i>Bells and Pomegranates.</i></p> +<p><a name="footnote17"></a><a href="#citation17">{17}</a> R. +H.</p> +<p><a name="footnote18"></a><a href="#citation18">{18}</a> <i>Carlyle’s +French Revolution</i>. Book X., Chapter I.</p> +<p><a name="footnote19"></a><a href="#citation19">{19}</a> Henry +Thomas Buckle.</p> +<p><a name="footnote20"></a><a href="#citation20">{20}</a> This +and the Speeches which follow were accidentally omitted in their right +places.</p> +<p><a name="footnote21"></a><a href="#citation21">{21}</a> Hazlitt’s +Round Table (Edinburgh, 1817, vol ii., p. 242), <i>On Actors and Acting.</i></p> +<p><a name="footnote22"></a><a href="#citation22">{22}</a> An +allusion to a well-known Sonnet of Wordsworth, beginning - “The +world is too much with us - late and soon,” &c. - ED.</p> +<p><a name="footnote23"></a><a href="#citation23">{23}</a> Alluding +to the forthcoming serial story of <i>Edwin Drood.</i></p> +<p><a name="footnote24"></a><a href="#citation24">{24}</a> The +Honourable John Lothrop Motley.</p> +<p><a name="footnote25"></a><a href="#citation25">{25}</a> February +26th, 1851. Mr. Macready’s Farewell Benefit at Drury Lane +Theatre, on which occasion he played the part of Macbeth. - ED.</p> +<p><a name="footnote26"></a><a href="#citation26">{26}</a> MACBETH, +Act I., sc. 7.</p> +<p><a name="footnote27"></a><a href="#citation27">{27}</a> The +Bishop of Ripon (Dr. Longley).</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<p>End of the Project Gutenberg eBook The Speeches of Charles Dickens</p> +<p>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SPEECHES: LITERARY AND SOCIAL ***</p> +<pre> + +******This file should be named dslas10h.htm or dslas10h.zip****** +Corrected EDITIONS of our EBooks get a new NUMBER, dslas11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, dslas10ah.htm + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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