neM^ rlo^'t^ Uhmmi0'^nxtUn. Corneir University Library PR4581.D66 1887 Charrles Dickens as I knew him; the story 3 1924 013 473 636 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013473636 CHARLES DICKENS AS I KNEW HIM THE STORY OF THE READING TOURS IN ©:eat Britain anti anurica (i856-i8;o) BV GEORGE DOLBY POPULAR EDITION Eonoon T FISHER UNWIN 25 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1887 E.V, CO PREFACE. |Y Preface shall be a very brief one, but. I feel that two or three introductory words are necessary. And in the first rplace (and chiefly I must confess with a wish to disarm them), I will make an apology to any and all of my critics who may miss in these pages the flavour and essence of a genuine literary work. I am far from the affectation of claiming for my book that it Sihould rank as an artistic production. All that I have done is this : I have spent some months in, the effort to tell, as simply as possible, the story of the famous Reading Tours of Charles Dickens ; the most brilliantly success- ful enterprises of their kind that were ever undertaken. Had I the pen of a ready writer, I could have told my story a hundred times better than I have done ; but such as it is, it has been a labour of love to me. Dickens was my great hero — my "Chief" — in the pleasant bygone days when we were " on the road " iv PREFACE. together — by day and by night, week after week, month after month, right through the English and American tours ; and his memory ^s heroic now that he has gone. His death closed the brightest chapter of my life, and the warmth and vividness of my recollec- tions of that period of his career in which I was privi- leged to be very close to him, are the main explanation and excuse I have to offer for attempting to tell the story with which these pages are concerned. May I venture, in the second place, to hope that the personal references in this book, which I fear are not a few from first to last, will not be thought to have had any egotis- tical purpose ? I stood to my " Chief" in the relation of fnanager, and it is in the managerial capacity, and in that alone, that I have introduced myself, in obedience to the necessities of the narrative. Lastly, while I have trusted for the most part to a good memory and a copious store of notes, I have had occasion here and there, when traversing ground that has been partially covered before, to refer to three well- known works, viz., Mr. Forster's "Life of Charles Dickens," the " Letters of Charles Dickens," and " In and Out of Doors with Charles Dickens," by Mr. James T. Fields (Houghton and Co., Boston, Mass., U.S.A.), and I desire here to make a cordial acknowledgment of my indebtedness to them. CONTENTS. BOOK I. ^be Zvoo lenalisb ^ours (1866— 1867), CHAPTER I. My FIRST TOUR WITH THE CHIEF. Preliminary Arrangements — Tlie Manager — What to do with tlie Crowd ? — " Doctor Marigold " — We go down to Liverpool — The Two Hogarths — The Manager to the Rescue — His Favourite Hotel — We swear Friends — The Chief is fond of a Circus — The "Shilling" Tide — The Manager wins Half-crowns — "Why didn't he stay longer?" — Our Train takes Fire — The Origin of " The Boy at Mugby "—The Artful Sandwich, &c.— An Inter- rupted Hornpipe — The Chiefs Birth-place — Mr. Wills's Prison —The Close of the Tour ....... CHAPTER II. A GLIMPSE OF LIFE AT" GAD'S." The New Terms : " ^60 a Night "—An Incomparable Host— The Purchase of " Gad's " — A Peculiarity of the Household — " It was CONTENTS. PAGE all geniality at ' Gad's ' "—A Trial Reading— His Kindness to the Hop-pickers— The Dogs — The Execution of " Sultan " — The Conversion of " Bumble " 4^ CHAPTER III. ON TOUR IN SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. "Barbox Brothers"— I dub him "Chief"— A Catastrophe saved— We find ourselves in a Scottish Gaol — Shocking Occurrence in a Train — To Dublin in a Snow-storm — Dublin in a State of Siege — We travel with Irish Patriots — ^Singular Conduct of a Town Clerk — The Chief is always Cheerful — England or America ? — "Let Dolby go" 62 BOOK II. ^be Hmcrican XCour (1867—1868). CHAPTER IV. I GO TO AMERICA TO "PROSPECT" FOR THE CHIEF. Mr. Fields' Invitation — The Belgian Volunteers — Their Ruffianly Conduct — The Manager's Instructions — -The Manager's Depar- ture — Halifax — Fruit and Lobsters — The Boston Pilot — " Whicli is Dolby?" — Arrival at Boston — A Boston Dinner — The Tre- mont Temple — Nantucket^The Literary Shop-boy — A Floating Palace — First Glimpse of New York — -Broadway not quite the thing-rA good deal of Trotting — We inquire of the Oracles — The King of Showmen — "Willard's" — The Manager is "Sly, Sir" . .86 CHAPTER V. PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND AMERICAN TOUR. The Welcome at " Gad's "— " The Case in a Nutshell "—Estimated Net Profit, ;^i5,soo— Mr. Forster in Opposition— The Oracle CONTENTS. PAGB orders Lunch, and relents— Back to America— Two Tons of Yellow Paper 130 CHAPTER VI. THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SECOND AMERICAN TOUR. Subject to Pains in the Back — A Queue half a mile long — The Press, is in danger of Starving — The Skipper restores us to Life — It is all right with the Chief— The Pallid Curate— " These People have not changed" — Reunions — Bogus Tickets — Taking Stock of the Speculators — The Tickets go at a Premium — " P. H." — The First Night— An "Aside"— They revel in "Pickwick" — Boston at his Feet — We modify our Plans .... 145 CHAPTER VII. CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR. New York — The "Westminster" — We are served with a Summons — A Queue of three-quarters of a mile — "Sticking" the Specu- lators—A " Boss " Speculator—" Fire ! "—Quite a "One-horse" Fire, though — The Skirt of the Ballet-dancer — Christmas in Boston — The Pudding is sent from England — Rather Home-sick —The Entire City takes a " B. and S."— The Manager takes Poison twice — Mr. Beecher lends us his Church — A Fight for Tickets — Profits of the First Course, ;^io,ooo — Mr. Dickens meets Mr. Beecher — Washington will do 180 CHAPTER VIII. FURTHER AMERICAN EXPERIENCES. Chicago threatens to go into Fits — Manager and another go into Training — A Model American Gaol — The Baltimore Hotels — ■ The Chief's Health alarms us — There is no rest for the Manager — Mr. Secretary Staunton and his Memory — The Congressman who had Dined — Dog — An Audience of the President ^- The Chiefs Birthday— " Good-bye ! "—A Lunch at Whelcker's— A Matrimonial Agency — Riot at New Haven — The Gifted Mayor of New Haven — A Novel Sensation — " Those Horrid Specu- CONTENTS. lators "—The Printer's Little Joke— A Reminder of Bow Street- Political Hubbub — Two Hats a Side— The great Wallcing Match — Sporting Narrative — Badly Beaten — A Dinner at Long- fellow's — How to make a Speech — Qualification for Parliament 218 CHAPTER IX. THE CLOSE OF THE AMERICAN TOUR, AND THE RETURN HOME. Syracuse — A City under Water — The Little Game of the Sheriff's Officer — Buffalo Ladies, please Skip — Niagara — Utica — An American Deluge — Letters from Home — Getting near the End — Sickness and Misgivings — " The kind, fair hands unknown " — The Chiefs Gift to the Blind— Farewell to Boston— We return to New York — Our old Friends turn up again — The Manager beards the Collector— Another Threat of Arrest — The Press Dinner — Speech to the Press-men — New Impressions of America — Americans in England — The Last Reading in America — The Collector is Implacable — Mr. Commissioner Kennedy — "Two Rough-looking Men " — " Good-bye, Boz ! " — Home once more — Total Receipts, §228,000 276 BOOK III. JTbe ** jfinal farewell " ^our in tbe TUnitet) Ikingbom (1868—1870). CHAPTER X. EIGHT THOUSAND POUNDS FOR A HUNDRED READINGS. One Hundred more Readings — First Idea of the " Murder " Reading — Each Man his own Luncheon-bearer — "Plorn" — "Plorn" goes to Australia — In doubt about the " Murder " . . . 33-j CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER XI. THE LAST TOUR IN SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. PAGE " The Old Curiosity Shop "—Opinions on the " Murder "—Thirty Thousand Nerve Shocks — Scottish Cordiality — A Christmas Turkey — Prematurely cooked — " Sikes and Nancy" — To Ireland— Alarm of Fire — A Railway Scare .... 347 CHAPTER XII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. What Macready said — Smith — The Manager Entertains the Chief — Torquay— His Son's Promotion — Our first Break-down — The ChiefMends— Edinburgh Thrilled— Three "Murders" aWeek— London again — Hull — A Rapid Departure — The Undertaker's Man — The Liverpool Bagflu ct N '^tehle-SpeakerSjrTT.Sleepless Nights — In ConsultatioE^Blackpool^A Medical Examination — A Big Disappointment— ^afe-throCgn it — Decision of the Doctors 369 CHAPTER XIII. AMERICAN VISITORS AT " GAD'S" — THE LAST READINGS AND FAREWELL TO THE PUBLIC. Australia — Nocturnal Expeditions — Gad's Hill in June — Canterbury Pilgrims — An al fresco Luncheon — Canterbury — A Dance at "Gad's"— A Brilliant Match— The Chief's Grog— The Largest Sum ever paid — Education for the People — Chair — The Last Christmas Day — Fresh Danger — The Crowning Triumph — A Splendid Reception — Farewell Speech — Net Profits , . . 415 CHAPTER XIV. HYDE PARK PLACE -THE CHIEF'S LAST DAYS IN TOWN. Mr. Arthur Helps — An Audience of Her Majesty — The Queen's Gift — ^That Cocked Hat — A Bright Concert— Gad's Hill once more. 452 CHAPTER XV. THE END. The End 464 BOOK I. The Two English Totirs (1866-1867), CHAPTER I. MY FIRST TOUR WITH THE CHIEF. ARLY in the year 1866, Messrs. Chappell, of New Bond Street, London, learned that Mr. Dickens had determined, to resume his Public Readings — which had been relinquished four years previously, owing to the death of his old and valued friend and manager, Mr. Arthur Smith (brother of Albert Smith of Mont Blanc cele- brity) ; and that, could any arrangement be effected whereby he might be relieved of all business cares in connection with the Readings, Mr. Dickens was dis- posed to negotiate v/ith the firm for a series of about thirty Readings, to be given in London, the provinces, and, if necessary, in Paris. Messrs. Chappell had no doubt of the success of such an enterprise. Mr. Dickens's popularity was undimmed. The previous Readings had been brilliantly successful ; and when 2 2 CHARLES DICKENS. I\Iessrs. Chappell proposed that I should accompany the Reader as their representative and manager through- out the tour, it was without the slightest hesitation that I advised them to accept any terms Mr. Dickens might impose. The result of the negotiations was, that Mr. Dickens agreed to give thirty Readings in London, the provinces, or elsewhere, in consideration of the firm paying him the sum of ;^i5oo for the course, or ^50 a Reading ; they undertaking all responsibility and trouble, and paying all expenses, personal and otherwise, in con- nection with the tour ; thus liberating the reader from all anxiety, and leaving his mind free and untram- melled for the work he had before him — that is to say, as free as ever he allowed it to be, for, although all responsibility of the tour was removed from his shoul- ders, he had still the editing of " All the Year Round," and other literary duties ; and he was always anxious to make sure that the results of his agreement vi^ith Messrs. Chappell were such that they could not in any way regret their acceptance of his terms. The sum stipulated for — viz., £1500 — was to be paid as follows: :^5oo on the first Reading, ^500 on the fifteenth, and ;f5oo on the termination of the agreement. That Messrs. Chappell had met Mr. Dickens in a liberal manner, and that he perfectly understood the nature of his agreement, the great author's own words, written in a letter to a friend, will testify : PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS. 3 " As to the Readings, all I have to do is to take in my book and read at the appointed place and hour, and come out again. All the business of every kind is done by Chappells. They take John and my other man merely for my convenience. I have no more to do with any detail whatever, than you have. They transact the business at their own cost, and on their own responsibility. I think they are disposed to do it in a very good spirit, because, whereas the original pro- position was for thirty Readings ' in England, Ireland, Scotland, or Paris,' they wrote out their agreement in London, the provinces, or elsewhere^ as you and we ■may agree." That Messrs. Chappell had no reason to rue their bargain was shown by the fact that on the com- pletion of the tour the gross receipts amounted to nearly £5000, an average of £150 a Reading. Such a success had never been known in any similar enter- prise ; and it was all the more gratifying as Mr. Dickens had, with that consideration for the masses which ever characterized his actions, stipulated, at the commencement of the engagement, that shilling seat- holders should have as good' accommodation as those who were willing to pay higher sums for their evening's enjoyment ; " for," said he, " I have been the cham- pion and friend of the working man all through my career, and it would be inconsistent, if not unjust, to put any difficulty in the way of his attending- my Readings." 4 CHARLES DICKENS. The scheme comprised eight Readings in London (at St. James's Hall), and twenty-two in the provinces; at Liverpool five, three each at Edinburgh, Manchester, and Glasgow, with Readings at Birmingham, Aber- deen, Portsmouth, Clifton, &c., to complete the number. This plan was laid before Mr. Dickens in the early part of March, the public having become so impatient when once the cry of " Dickens is coming " was raised, that it was found necessary to hasten matters as much as possible, and issue a definite programme ; but this, of course, could not be done until Mr. Dickens had signi- fied his entire satisfaction with the arrangements. So there was an interview at the office of " All the Year Round " which I shall always look back upon with pleasure. Though I had known Mr. Dickens for some time previously, this was the first occasion on which I came into contact with him in a business matter ; and there was naturally a feeling of constraint which might have made our first interview tedious but for that geniality, that antidote to reserve, which formed one of his chief characteristics. He expressed himself thoroughly satisfied with all the plans, and told me that Mr. W. H. Wills, his friend and partner in " All the Year Round," would travel with him, not only for companionship, but to enable him the more easily to conduct the magazine during his absence from the metropolis. When I took leave of him, he shook me heartily by the hand, and with that deep earnest THE MANAGER. S look in his eyes which I have so often seen, said, " I hope we shall like each other on the termination of the tour as much as we seem to do now." Next day Mr. Dickens wrote to Messrs. Chappell that " he hoped Mr. Dolby was a man of resources, otherwise he would find considerable pressure put upon him, and the same difficulties would present them- selves as had caused the abandonment of the Readings for three years." It may be as well to explain here the matter to which this letter referred, and of what those difficulties consisted. At the commencement of one of his earlier Reading tours, in October, 1861, Mr. Dickens had the misfortune to lose his much-cherished and valued friend, Mr. Arthur Smith, a most astute business manager. Before his death Mr. Smith had expressed a wish that the gentleman who had acted as his subordinate and assistant might, in consideration of his knowledge of the business, be retained to carry out the arrangements for the tour then commencing. Mr. Dickens, out of respect for his dying friend, readily re- sponded to this wish, though it is but too apparent, from a letter written immediately after Mr. Arthur Smith's death, that his faith in his late manager's colleague was none of the strongest. " My Readings," he wrote, " are a sad subject to me now, for I am going away on the 28th, to read fifty times, and I have lost Arthur Smith — a friend whom I can never replace — who always went with me and transacted, as no other man 6 CHARLES DICKENS. ever can, all the business connected with them, and without whom I fear they will be dreary and weary to me." Mr. Dickens's forebodings were only too fully realized, for the new manager, though he had proved himself an admirable adjutant, was entirely unfitted for his new duties. Quite unwittingly, he caused great' trouble and anxiety to Mr. Dickens, especially as the blame for his shortcomings was laid by the dissatisfied public, not on the manager's, but the reader's shoulders. Thus, in Edinburgh, where two Readings were given, tickets, sufficient to fill the place, had been sold before the commencement of each Reading; but, as Edin- burgh audiences are shy of "first nights," and the tickets were not dated, many seatholders who should have attended the Reading on the first night, held aloof until the second, swelling the crowd on that night to an alarming extent. It was at such a time that the new manager was at a loss, and a scene of indescribable confusion always followed. Hundreds poured into a hall already crowded to suffocation, amid rent gar- ments, expostulations, threats, cries for " the manager," and " Where is- Mr. Dickens ? " It was a surging, roaring sea that overflowed everything, even the plat- form on which Mr. Dickens was to read. The atten- dants and men at the doors suffered much — to use Mr. Dickens's own words in telling the tale : " They were all torn to ribbons ; they had not a hat and scarcely a coat amongst them." Indeed, so futile were the efforts WHAT TO DO WITH THE CROWD? 7 of the attendants to control or in any way to stem the tide, that Mr. Dickens found it necessai'y to come forward and address those who were already in the hall, while an intimate friend, from a prominent posi- tion, endeavoured to instil reason into those who were outside. It was ,the recurrence of such scenes, en- tailing much worry and anxiety, and no inconsiderable expenditure of physical strength and energy, which often at the commencement of a Reading left Mr. Dickens almost in a state of collapse, and eventually forced him to discontinue his Readings until he could find a manager "who would not expose him to the risk of such disasters. Here I had better explain that the recbrd of the first " Dickens Readings " of which I had undertaken the management must necessarily relate more to business detail than to my intercourse with Mr. Dickens, as at the outset I was brought but very little into his society, owing to the • great stress put upon me at first by the difficulties which had overwhelmed poor Arthur Smith's colleagu'e. Still, these details may be interesting to many, and they are entirely essential to the purpose of this work. No time was lost in arranging the opening Reading, which was given in St. James's Hall, London, on Tuesday evening, April 10, 1866. Independently of the interest created by the reappearance of Mr. Dickens on the platform as a public reader, there was much excite- 8 CHARLES DICKENS. ment when it became generally known that he had de- cided upon- reading " Doctor Marigold" for the first time on this occasion. This Reading, like all the others, had been most carefully prepared ; and, in order to test its suitability for its purpose, a private rehearsal was given on March i8th, at Southwick Place, Hyde Park, in a furnished house which Mr. Dickens had taken for the season. This audience consisted of the members of his family, and Mr. Robert Browning, Mr. Wilkie Collins, Mr. Charles Fechter, Mr. John Forster, Mr. Arthur Chappell, Mr. Charles Kent, and myself. It is hardly necessary to say that the verdict was unanimously favourable. Everybody was astonished by the extra- ordinary ease and fluency with which the patter of the " Cheap Jack " was delivered, and the subtlety of the humour which pervaded the whole presentation. To those present, the surprise was no less great than the results were pleasing ; indeed, it is hard to see how it could well have been otherwise, for seldom, and but too seldom in the world's history, do we find a man gifted with such extraordinary powers, and, at the same time, possessed of such a love of method, such will, such energy, and such a capacity for taking pains. An example of this is the interesting fact that, although to many of his hearers at that eventful rehearsal of " Doctor Marigold" it was the first time it had been read, Mr. Dickens had, since its appearance as a Christmas number, only three months previously, adapted it as a "DOCTOR MARIGOLD." 9 Reading, and had rehearsed it to himself considerably over two hundred times — and this in addition to his ordinary work. Great as was the success of " Doctor Marigold's Pre- scriptions " as a Christmas number — the sale of which exceeded 250,000 copies in the first week — " Doctor Marigold," as a reading, more than realized the antici- pations of even the most sanguine of Mr. Dickens's friends, whilst the public, and those who in various ways were more immediately interested in the Readings, were convinced that up to that time they had had but a very faint conception of Mr. Dickens's powers either as an adapter or an elocutionist. Mr. Wills having been retained as " travelling com- panion," I was, on the occasion of the first London Reading of this series, brought but very little into contact with Mr. Dickens; indeed, beyond informing him at the appointed time that the audience were seated, and,^ in their eagerness to hear -him, and as a mark of the esteem in which they held him, had honoured the request which had been preferred in all announcement bills and tickets, and in all advertise- ments, that, as "the Reading would be comprised within two hours, the public were respectfully requested to be seated ten minutes before the commencement of the Reading," I took no active part, and indeed had little or nothing to do, in the management of the " platform." lo CHARLES DICKENS. " Doctor Marigold " was followed by "Mr. Bob Saw- yef's Party," which was read to an accompaniment of uproarious laughter and applause. The whole entertain- ment was a most gratifying success, the receipts, amounting to nearly ;£"300. So much was Mr. Dickens beloved and admired, so strongly had he taken pos- session of the hearts of the English people, that the astonishment of his audience at his skilful manipulation,, if I may use the expression, of " Doctor Marigold," and their appreciation of his rendering of the character, found vent in rounds of appilause and shouts of delight, Mr. Dickens being called over and over again to the-; platform to receive their vociferous congratulations. Next day, Messrs. Chappell's establishment in New Bond Street, and the various ticket agents-" ofBces in the City, were besieged by crowds of people, anxious to secure seats for future Readings, thus assuring, so far as London was concerned, the success of the enterprise, not only artistically as affecting Mr. Dickens, but financially as affecting Messrs. Chappell. In the same week, our plans included three Readings at Liverpool — on Wednesday the nth April, Friday the 13th, and the afternoon of Saturday the 14th — and one Reading at Manchester on the 12th. The journey to Liverpool, therefore, had to be made on the morning following the London Reading, and I was invited to^ travel in the same compartment with Mr, Dickens and his companion. I cannot at this distance of time, and' WE GO DOWN TO LIVERPOOL., n in affectionate remembrance of our after intimacy, look back upon that first journey, without experiencing a certain feeling of amusement at the recollection of the furtive manner in which we took stock of one another. First we digested the news in the daily papers, an operation never of great length with any one of the three who formed our little party ; more stocktaking and a cigar brought us to the time when we were due at Bletchley (forty miles' run from London). During this interim Mr. Dickens had worn an expression of anxiety and nervousness, which, after we had left Bletchley behind us, he explained was attributable to his reminiscences of the fearful railway accident in the previous year (1865) at Staplehui'st, in which he had figured so prominently, and from which he had so providentially and miraculously escaped. He never, he explained, had travelled since that memorable day (the 9th of June) without experiencing a nervous dread, to counteract which in some degree he carried in his travelling bag a brandy flask, from which it was his invariable habit, one hour after leaving his starting- point, when travelling by express train, to take a draught to nerve himself against any ordeal he might have to go through during the rest of the journey. Bletchley, then, having been passed, the flask was brought into requisition ; and, cheered by further cigars, we gave up the unpleasant system of merely " eyeing " one another, and fell freely into conversation on 13 CHARLES DICKENS. matters connected with the ulterior object of our journeyings. Mr. Wills, " the companion," was, however, doubtful as to the resources I had at command in the event of any unforeseen and sudden pressure being put upon us, also as to the convenience of our routes. With Mr. Dickens it was different : he had known me, and my reputation as a manager, for some years ; and Mr. Wills's volley of questions — and I must certainly confess he would have made a very good cross-examin- ing counsel — evidently had the effect of making Mr. Dickens somewhat uncomfortable and ill at ease. But he restored his serenity by launching out into anec- dotes, only one of which I shall reproduce here. The late Catherine Hayes's mother did not possess any talent in a remarkable degree, except perhaps that of committing astonishing blunders. Charles Dickens, whom she used to dub Carlo Dickens (for the old lady had been to Italy, and deemed perhaps that it was her duty, as the mother of a singer, to drag into her con- versation Italian names, which she spoke with a broad Irish accent) was somewhat of a favourite with her. One day she was at his house with her daughter, and expressed the great pleasure it gave her to be the guest of the "celebrated Carlo Dickens." Seeking to add compliment to compliment if possible, she turned to some paintings and drawings, by Stanfield, Millais, and Frith, which hung on the wails, and, after being loud THE TWO HOGARTHS. 13 in their praises, complimented Mr. Dickens on "the wonderful talent which his father-in-law possessed for making such beautiful pictures." Mr. Dickens's father- in-law was Mr. George Hogarth. After this entertainment we had the opportunity of regaling ourselves with sandwiches (and such sand- wiches they were in those days ! — two layers of com- pressed boxwood sawdust, with a layer of shoe leather in between them, would have been equally delectable) and a glass of sherry. Then I had another turn with Mr. Wills, in his role of " cross-examining counsel " (perhaps the boxwood sawdust and leather had caused slight indigestion). Another cigar whiled away the remaining time till we were at our journey's end, where we parted, to meet again at the small concert room in St. George's Hall within an hour to arrange the proper fitting of "the screen," battens, &c. — a task Mr. Dickens always superintended personally. As I believe it has not previously appeared in any work, either in this country or in America, I will give a description of the appurtenances of the platform. At the back was a large screen consisting of a series ,of woodwork frames covered with canvas ; this again was covered with a maroon-coloured cloth, tightly stretched. In the centre of the stage or platform was the table, on which was a slightly raised reading-desk. On the left hand of the reader, on either side of the table, were small projecting ledges — the one on the right for the 14 CHARLES DICKENS. water-bottle and glass, the other for his pocket-hand- kerchief and gloves. Further forward, and on each side of the stage, ran two uprights ; these were gas barrels, secured with copper wire "guys," securing the batten and reflector, and communicating above an d below with another rang* of lights with reflectors, so that the reader's face and figure were fully and equally distinct to the vision of the audience, and no eifects were marred either by too much light overhead or by a super-effulgence from below. Inquiries at the local ticket offices elicited the fact that enthusiasm had reached the highest pitch with regard to Mr. Dickens's reappearance, and that the tickets were all disposed of except " the shillings," an indication that there would be a tremendous " rush " when the doors were opened. Long before the time for opening arrived the crowd outside was so enormous that a large staff of police was unequal to the occasion, and the entrance to the hall (a large circular vestibule with staircases and galleries, and capable of holding some 3000 or 4000 people) was soon filled. The staircases leading to the hall were carefully guarded, and those with tickets passed in comfortably, leaving those who were anxious to purchase no alternative but' to get into the " scrimmage " at the pay-box. Perfect in itself as is the smaller room at St. George's Hall, Liverpool, which Mr. Dickens always spoke of, and with justice, as the most "perfect hall in the world," it THE MANAGER TO THE RESCUE. 15 is to be regretted that the convenience and safety of the public did not suggest the provision of suitable barriers and "pay-boxes" at the entrances, such as are enforced in the case of theatres and halls built by private enter- prise. On the occasion of which I am writing the scene was one of the most exciting description, and the " man of resources " had a very bad quarter of an hour. But a good staff of officials and police, and a great deal of good temper on the part of the crowd, soon put matters right ; and, although it looked at one time as if those who had tickets could not get in, and those who had not tickets could not get out, we managed eventually to clear the way. Now that the brunt of the battle was over, Mr. Wills suddenly appeared, and, without making any allowance for the confusion which the want of proper barriers at the entrances had caused, and without satisfying him- self whether the audience were seated or not, induced Mr. Dickens to go on to the platform punctually at eight o'clock, a course which necessitated his standing book in hand for some minutes before he could com- mence reading — a contretemps so distasteful to Mr. Dickens, as to elicit from him the expression of his determination " never again to go on the platform until Dolby puts me there," to which resolve he rigidly ad- hered. Great as was the success of "Doctor Marigold" in London, it was nothing in comparison with the furore it created at Liverpool ; the pleasure experienced from i6 CHARLES DICKENS. an artistic point of view being greatly enhanced, to the managerial mind, by a receipt of nearly ^240, and, according to police calculation, a " turn-away" of over 3000 people, who, as every manager is aware, would freely advertise the two remaining Readings, which were announced to take place on the following Friday evening and Saturday morning (the 13th and 14th April). It will not be surprising to any one who is conver- sant with Manchester to learn that the reception there was but a repetition of the London and Liverpool successes. Inquiries showed, on my arrival, that over eight hundred stalls were booked, and a proportionate number of second-seat tickets bought for the reading advertised to take place that evening — Thursday, April 12, 1866; — a circumstance which gave Mr. Dickens great satisfaction on his arrival later in the day. There was a prospect of another " rush," such as that at Liverpool, and it was realized, but with this differ- ence, that at " the Free Trade Hall," Manchester, the " appliances " and conveniences for the safety and comfort of the public and management were as perfect in that building as they were imperfect in the St. George's Hall, Liverpool. So spontaneous was the enthusiasm of the Manchester audience that, accus- - tomed as Mr. Dickens was to the most genial, hearty, and vociferous greetings, this affected him deeply : indeed, he was always so susceptible to a popular -tribute of this kind, that it. took him some moments to HIS FAVOURITE HOTEL. 17 recover himself sufficiently either to commence or cdn- tinue the reading. , Every word he uttered, and every look and gesture, always told with wonderful effect in that gigantic hall. So deeply were the Manchester people impressed that, when it became known that Mr. Dickens would return to Manchester that day fortnight (the 26th April), Messrs. Forsyth's estab- lishment in that city was besieged all the next and following days by people anxious to secure tickets for the second reading. After the Reading on the 12th, we returned the same night to Liverpool, as amongst the hotels in the large towns in England none was such a favourite with Mr. Dickens as the " Adelphi " at Liverpool — then kept by the late Mr. James Radley (son of a worthy sire, also dead), the man who by geniality and good management obtained for the hotel a popularity which, despite the fact (a most unusual circumstance as regards hotels) that it is managed under the provisions of the Joint Stock Act, it still retains. Railway ac- commodation, too, being so good between the two towns, it is not to be wondered at that Mr. Dickens should prefer to return to this his favourite hotel, and, except London, his favourite city — or perhaps as it was not a "city" then, I had better say "urban retreat" — rather than spend the night in the gloomy atmo- sphere of Manchester. When we arrived in Liverpool from Manchester, an 3 i!> CHARLES DICKENS. extellent supper awaited us — a pleasant finish to a day of hard work and excitement. Mr. Dickens brewed a bowl of punch, an accomplishment in which he stood pre-eminent, as in all matters to which he put his hand. And here, as in all probability the recurring mention of such luxuries as these may lead to misapprehension as to Mr. Dickens's character as an epicure, I must take the opportunity of stating that, although he so frequently both wrote and talked about eating and drinking, I have seldom met with a man who partook less freely of the kindly fare placed before him. In this observation I am not singular, as the following quotation from a letter written by a common friend, Mr. James T. Fields, of Boston (U.S.), will testify : " He liked to dilate in imagination over the brewing of a bowl of punch, but I always noticed that when the punch was ready he drank less of it than any one who might be present. It was the sentiment of the thing, and not the thing itself, that engaged his atten- tion." To the consideration of those who, from want of appreciation of a good man's heart, deprecate the frequent allusions in his writings to the good things of this life, I would seriously and earnestly commend this quotation. I look back with peculiar pleasure to that supper at Liverpool, because it was there that Mr. Wills showed that he no longer thought it necessary to play the barrister. From that time until the day of his WE SWEAR FRIENDS. 19 death, I am proud to say that I was honoured with Mr. Wills's confidence and friendship. The entente cordiale having been estabUshed, Mr. Dickens suggested that, as we were all staying at the same hotel, I should share their sitting-room ; for, said he, " It's all nonsense Wills and myself living alone together, with you in the same hotel ; let us in future travel together, and make our sitting-room yours, and have you living entirely with us " — a suggestion which was subsequently acted upon ; and from that day we lived together on terms of affectionate companionship and intimacy. The Readings announced for the two days following the Manchester Reading were " David Copperfield " and the " Trial from Pickwick '■' on Friday, April 13th, and on Saturday "morning," the 14th April, the " Story of Little Dombey," both at St. George's Hall, Liverpool, in the small concert room. It is well known with ■ what care and elaboration Mr. Dickens prepared his books, and the same system was carried out in the preparation of his Readings. He had a singular habit, too, of regarding his own books as the productions of some one else, and would almost refer to them as such. Chief among his favourites was " David Copperfield," so that it is not a matter of surprise that, when he presented it to the public as a Reading, he should throw into it all the colour, lightj and shade, of which his artistic nature was 30 CHARLES DICKENS. capable, until the word-painting made such a picture as has- never been surpassed. That wonderful com- bination of pathos and whimsicality was received with visible expressions of rapt interest on the part of the audience, until the termination of the Reading with the wreck and drowning of Steerforth, when he was greeted with a burst of applause almost as wild and boisterous as the gale of wind which the reader had, but a moment before, described. The "Trial from Pickwick," which closed that evening's Readings, was, it is hardly necessary to say, received with laughter of the most magnetic and contagious kind. The " Story of Little Dombey," from " Dombey and Son," given the following afternoon (Saturday, the 14th April), was .always a painful one to Mr. Dickens, and never read by him except by particular request and under the greatest of pressure. His intuitive identification of himself with his audience was the cause, in this particular instance, of the most acute suffering; and it was with the greatest relief that he drew his hearers from the thraldom of melan- choly, in which they were bound in the earlier part of the Reading, by introducing Mr. Toots and his boyish absurdities. But there was the inevitable relapse into the solemnity of the death of " little Paul ; " a shadow of sorrow which would be visible on the brow of the reader for some considerable time after the recital, especially when, as on the present occasion, there THE CHIEF IS FOND OF A CIRCUS. 21 was no after-piece of a character more genial and humorous, and so more in keeping with his nature. A complete and triumphant success was the result of the two days' Readings. There were the same crushing and jostling, the same discomfort, and the same dis- order, consequent upon the defective arrangements previously allud'ed to; but there were also the same good temper, the same hearty congratulations, the same furore, and the same inquiries as to his return. The Reading of the 14th of April having been given in the afternoon, we had thus an evening to ourselves, and a consultation was held as to the best means of whiling away the hour. Mr. Dickens's tastes being inclined to theatrp or circus, we repaired to the circus; for, appreciative as he was of thfe actor's art, he had an immense admiration for the equestrian, and never failed to visit a circus whenever the chance presented itself. The admiration he felt and the pleasure he derived from witnessing legitimate feats of horsemanship were, however, frequently marred by the indiscretions of the clown, who, as soon as it became known that Mr. Dickens was amongst the audience, would improvise some stupidly contrived ' pun having reference to his name or books, or would perpetrate an atrocity in the shape of a conundrum, such as, " Thuppose you was to see a 'ouse a-fire, what three authors would you be likely to mention ? Give it up ? Oh ! well, you would say, 'Dickens Howitt Burns!' " at which the audience 22 CHARLES DICKENS. would stamp and roar in an ecstasj- of delight. On such occasions it was amusing to watch Mr. Dickens's face. Immediately he became av/are of what the mountebank in the ring purposed, he would assume an air and expression of the utmost indifference and ennui; and his inattention and apparent deafness to the applause with which his name was greeted were usually a reproof that the clown and public invariably accepted, and he would be left to the enjoyment of the remainder of the entertainment, secure from further annoyance. On the following Monday, the l6th April, we journeyed northwards as far as Glasgow and' Edin- burgh, repeating, with the addition of the " Christmas Carol," the Readings already given during the previous week. This, the first long journey after the disap- pearance of that shadow of reserve which had fallen on us at the beginning, was far too short. Owing to the courtesy of the officials of the London and North Western Railway Company, I had been fortunate enough to secure a saloon carriage, and a luncheon (to be. partaken of en route) ; and here, for the first time, I had the opportunity of judging of the wonderful amount of energy Mr. Dickens could exercise in endeavouring to mark his appreciation of any extra attention shown to him. Describing the journey, Mr. Dickens wrote to a friend on the 17th of April, from Glasgow, " Dolby provided the lunch, with the * best of THE "SHILLING" TIDE. 23 di-inks,' and we dined in the carriage. I made him laugh all the way." The usual calls having been made at the offices of the ticket agents, the day after the arrival in Glasgow, the same prospects of success as in Liverpool arid Man- chester presented themselves ; and when the time came for opening the doors, the inevitable " shilling " rush was apparent. Mr. Wills, having had sufficient ex- perience in the shilling market, begged to be excused from assisting in that department on this particular occasion, alleging as his reason that he was anxious to see the effect of an English " Cheap Jack " (" Doctor Marigold ") on a Glasgow audience ; and, " leaving me in my glory," he went in for the " genteel," as Mr. Dickens described it in the letter above quoted. " Wills is to do the ' genteel ' to-night in the ' stalls,' and Dolby is to stem the shilling tide, if he can." What was the effect of " Doctor Marigold " on the Glasgow audience is best described in a letter written by Mr. Dickens, from Edinburgh, on the i8th of April. " We had a tremendous house again last night at Glas- gow and turned away great numbers; not only that, but they were a most brilliant and delicate audience, and took ' Marigold ' with a fine sense of quickness not to be surpassed. The' shillings pitched into Dolby again, and one man writes a sensible letter, in one of the papers this morning, showing to my satisfaction (?) that they really had through the local agent some cause 24 CHARLES DICKENS. of complaint. Nevertheless, the shilling tickets are sold for to-morrow, and it seems out of the question to take any money at the doors, the call for all parts is enormous." The "cause of complaint" referred to arose from the fact that the local agent, yielding to the pressure put upon him, had disobeyed his instructions and sold shilling tickets in advance, thereby causing great dis- satisfaction amongst those who had been standing in the streets for hours before the doors were opened. The first Reading in Edinburgh was most successful from an artistic point of view, but the rush was not so boisterous and determined as in the other places. It is a curious fact, which is always presenting itself to the managerial mind with regard to Edinburgh, that the first performance of any kind in that city is always, financially, attended with results the least satisfactory. This was always the case with Mr. Dickens's early Readings under the management of Arthur Smith, and the same thing occurred during my own period of management ; a circumstance, how- ever, which never caused us the least anxiety, for ultimate results always proved of a most satisfactory character. Mr. Dickens was also aware of this singu- larity of the Edinbro' people, and slightly refers to the fact in a letter, which he wrote on the igth of the month : " The house was more than twice better than any first night here previously. They were as usual THE MANAGER WINS HALF-CROWNS. 25 remarkably intelligent and the Reading went brilliantly. Dolby gone to Glasgow for to-night's Reading by an early train. Wills and I follow at half-past eleven. We have laid half-crown bets with Dolby that he will be assaulted to-night at Glasgow. He has a surprising knowledge of what the receipts will be always, and wins half-crowns every night." These innocent bets arose from the fact that Mr. Dickens (in the modesty of his nature in all matters appertaining to himself) never appreciated to the fullest extent his ability to attract large audiences, although he felt certain, in the main, of reaching a high standard of success. I always treated him with confidence as to the statistical results of each Reading; he was always surprised at the figures, and nothing gave him greater pleasure than to learn that a great financial success had been achieved, and that results were satisfactory, indeed more than satisfactory, and far . in excess of anything ever anticipated by Messrs. Chappell. On my arrival in Glasgow on the morning following the Edinburgh Reading, I found that every ticket was sold for all the available parts of the city hall, even to the shilling places ; and that the agents, in the hope of saving the public froih visiting the hall on a fruitless errand, and desiring to avoid a recurrence of those expressions of discontent which had been lavishly bestowed upon them on a former occasion, had, with 26 CHARLES DICKENS. a caution characteristic of their nationality, issued bills and advertisements to the effect that " no money would be taken at the doors." Notwithstanding the notice, however, large crowds collected, to be again disappointed. The Readings on this occasion were the " Christmas Carol " and the " Trial from Pickwick." The former, next to " David Copperfield," was the most popular with the author. He had learnt it so well, and read it so often, that he couldn't remember it, and used (as he said) " to go dodging about in the wildest manner to pick up lost pieces." This only occurred, however, when he had a thoroughly sympathetic audience, with which he could so identify himself as to be powerless to do other than laugh when they laughed, and cry when they cried. The scenes in which appeared "Tiny Tim" (a special favourite with him) aifected him and his audience alike, and it not unfrequently happened that he was -interrupted by loud sobs from the female portion of his audience (and occasionally, too, from men) who, perhaps, had experienced the inexpressible grief of losing a child. So artistically was this reading arranged, and so rapid was the transi- tion from grave to gay, that his hearers had scarcely time to dry their eyes after weeping before they were enjoying the fun of Scrooge's discovery of Christmas Day, and his conversation from his window with the boy in the court below. "WHY DIDN'T HE STAY LONGER?" 27 All these points told with wonderful effect, the irresistible manner of the reader enhancing a thousand times the subtle, magic with which the carol is written. Returning to Edinburgh the following day for the last Reading of the Scotch series, we found the usual state of affairs — every ticket was sold before the time for opening the doors. " Why was Mr. Dickens' stay in the city so short ? " grumbled the disappointed ones ; because, with true Edinbro' idiosyncrasy, they had thrown away their chances of hearing Mr. Dickens on the previous Wednesday, the i8th, and now wished to crowd some three thousand persons into a hall that would only hold half the number, or very little more ; and as they were not allowed to try the experiment of putting two people instead of one into each seat, they were thoroughly dissatisfied with everybody, except those to whom the disappointment was really attri- butable, i.e., themselves. A pleasant journey to London — in a saloon carriage, wherein was provided an excellent luncheon and most excellent company — ^was made next day; and thus terminated nearly a-third of the original scheme, with a most satisfactory profit ; the receipts amounting to rhore than sufficient to pay Mr. Dickens the sum he stipulated for, viz., ,^1500, and all other expenses which had so far been incurred ; thus leaving Messrs. Ghappell and Co. the proceeds of the remainder of the tour (twenty-one Readings), which, after the incidental 28 CHARLES DICKENS. expenses, hotel, travelling, local and otherwise, had been deducted, would be net profit. Part of the original scheme was to give " David Copperfield " for the second London Reading at St. James's Hall, on Tues- day, April 24th; but the success of " Doctor Marigold," at the first Reading, was so pronounced, and the desire on the part of the public for its repetition so evident, that Messrs. Chappell, notwithstanding the fact that " David Copperfield " had been already announced, acceded to the general expressed wish. Supplemented by the ever-welcome recital of the "Trial from Pick- wick," this reading excited, if possible, a greater furore than on the previous occasion. The " Trial Scene " was greeted with vociferous applause, as in other places ; but its effect was greatly increased here by the presence, amongst other dis- tinguished men, of the late Lord Chief Justice Cock- burn, an intimate friend of Mr. Dickens, whose readings. in London he never failed to attend. To the Lord Chief Justice the reader always addressed the most salient points of the selection ; and at the delightful re- unions in Mr. Dickens's dressing-room after the reading, none, save the members of Mr. Dickens's own family,, were so welcome as Sir Alexander Cockburn, whose judgment and opinion as a critic he most highly valued and appreciated. The following afternoon the travelling party were once again on their journeyings, en route for Manchester OUR TRAIN TAKES FIRE. 29 and Liverpool, at which latter place Mr. Dickens was announced to give two Readings, and at the former, one. On this journey a, slight accident to the train led to a circumstance which gave Mr. Dickens an opportunity, for which he had long heen looking, to write with the object of improving the commissariat at railway stations, which, it may be within the experience of my readers, was at that time conducted in a most unsatisfactory manner. On the arrival of the train at Rugby, it was discovered that the carriage in which we were travelling was on fire. Futile efforts were made to extinguish the flames, and it was at last found necessary to transfer the passengers to another carriage, and, with this view, to detach the burning one from the train, and replace it by another. Mr. Dickens, not being aware of this, had entered the refreshment-room with Mr, Wills to get some coffee. While I was busy superintending the transfer of the light baggage, Mr. Dickens came along the platform in a state of great excitement, and re- quested me to accompany him to the refreshment-room. Then, standing in the doorway, and pointing with his finger, he described the picture he particularly wished to impress on my mind. " You see, Dolby — stove to right hand — torn cocoanut matting on floor — counter across room — coffee-urn — tea-urn — plates of rusks — piles of sawdust sandwiches and shrunken-up oranges —bottles — tumblers — and glasses on counter — and, behind counter, note particularly our missis." To this |o CHARLES DICKENS. I might have added : two figures standing in the door- way — one, myself, whom my inherent modesty will not permit me to describe — the other, a man respectably attired in the usual lower garments, well cut and well made; over which a pea-jacket or "reefer," Count D'Orsay cloak, or " wrap-rascal," while a hat, soft felt of the " wideawake " species, " broad in the brim," and worn jauntily on one side, gave a sort of roving appearance, or " modernized gentlemanly pirate " look, to the wearer, who was tall, upright, and sinewy ; his face, adorned with a wiry moustache and grizzly beard, struck one at once ; deep lined and bronzed, it was a philosopher's ; the eyes, whose depths no man could fathom, were large and eloquent, and side by side lurked the iron will of a demon and the tender pity of an angel. His. face had all the romance of the ancient Norseman, while his whole mien reminded one of nothing so much as a Viking. When the train was fairly off again, Mr. Dickens proceeded to explain. Entering the refreshment-room, he and Mr. Wills had each asked for a cup of coffee, which was supplied to them. While Wills was feeling in his pocket for some small change wherewith to pay, Mr. Dickens reached across the counter for the sugar and milk, when both articles were suddenly snatched away from him and placed beneath the counter, while his ears were greeted with the remark, made in shrill and shrewish tones. " You sha'n't have THE ORIGIN OF "THE BOY AT MUGBY." 31 any milk and sugar 'till you two fellows have paid for your coffee." This speech was delivered by the woman whom he had pointed out to me as " our Missis," and it gave infinite amusement to a page in buttons, who, with that demoniacal spirit which seems to seize some boys at the idea of somebody else " catching it," was so overjoyed that he burst out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter; The discomfited travellers left their coffee on the counter, after an apology for making so free with the sugar-basin. But it was an evil day for that " buttons," for he figured as " The Boy at Mugby " in the next Christmas number of " All the Year Round ; " a num- ber which, produced in the same year, 1866, under the title of " Mugby Junction," and incorporating the stories of " Barbox Bros," and " Barbox Bros, and Co.," attained a circulation, in the first week of publica- tion, of over two hundred and fifty thousand copies. The same successful results, as on the previous visit to Manchester and Liverpool, attended the Readings on the 26th, 27th, and 28th of April ; " Doctor Marigold" and " David Copperfield " being the special favourites. Fourteen of the original thirty Readings had now been given, and Mr. Dickens proceeded to fulfil an engagement to return to Scotland. Considerable pressure having been put upon myself in order to induce me to arrange for a Reading at Aberdeen, that city was included in the scheme. In addition to these '* Scotch " 32 CHARLES DICKENS. Readings, we were obliged to arrange also to visit Birmingham and Clifton. An incident, wherein the Birmingham public had the advantage, may be men- tioned to show with what integrity and faithfulness Mr. Dickens carried out everything he undertook. The Readings announced were " Doctor Marigold " and the "Trial from Pickwick." From some unaccountable cause, in going on for the second Reading, Mr. Dickens took the wrong book to the platform with him, and before I had time to stop him he was well on with the story of Nicholas Nickleby at Mr, Squeers's school. There was nothing for it but to let the Reading proceed, as proceed it did, to the end, with perfect success. The immense audience, numbering 2100 people, remained seated, and the mistake that had been made was pointed out to Mr. Dickens by Mr. Wills ; upon which, with characteristic generosity, he at once returned to the platform, and, in one of his appropriate and good- humoured speeches, explained the accident to the audience, and put it to the vote, by a show of hands, whether they would like, after listening to him for two hours, to hear him for another half-hour in the " Trial from Pickwick." To use his own words whenever he told the story against himself, " they did like," as the ringing cheer of approval with which the little speech was received amply testified. So, after two hours' hard work, he buckled to once more, and amidst uproarious merriment read the famous " Trial." THE ARTFUL SANDWICH, ETC. 33 After the London Reading on the 14th of May, we started for Aberdeen on the following morning. The journey, being an unusually long one, occupying about eighteen hours, extra supplies were deemed necessary in the commissariat department, with a view to render- ing the party independent of the vagaries of the refreshment-rooms en route. Mr. Dickens undertook to provide the " artful sandwich " and the iced gin punch by way of a " tiffin," whilst I arranged to provide the more substantial part of the repast for ourselves and the men, i.e., Mr. Dickens' servant and the gasman. The early summer weather being exceptionally fine, . everything promised what our American friends would call " a good time." The first thing to be done, when we had fairly started on our journey, in the comfortable saloon carriage in which we spent all our hours of Scotch travel, was to "put the house in order," at which everybody worked hard. The baskets had to be unpacked, and the plates, linen, knives, forks, spoons, glasses, . &c., were carefully stowed away in the " pantry ; " a larder was improvised and the " sub- stantial comforts " placed within it. The wines were taken from the travelling basket, and placed with the gin punch, in ice, in the wash-hand-stand, so that the whole presented the appearance of a well-ordered house rather than of a railway carriage which was being dragged along at the rate of fifty miles an hour by the " Flying Scotchman." 4 34 CHARLES DICKENS. For the benefit of epicures a description of the " artful sandwich " (as Mr. Dickens was wont to call it) may not be out of place. A French roll, cut in slices and well buttered ; on the buttered side place chopped parsley ; and lastly, a hard-boiled egg, cut in slices, with the addition of either anchovy paste, or, better still, the anchovy fish itself. A pleasant game of three-handed cribbage having been enjoyed, with a modicum of gin punch and some of the " artfuls," we found ourselves at York ; and then thoughts were concentrated on the repast of the day. With some salmon mayonnaise, a plain lettuce salad, some pressed beef, cold fowls and tongue, and a cold cherry tart, with a little frontage de Rochefort to finish, together with some coffee, made by the aid of a spirit-lamp, we con- trived to pass the time very pleasantly until within a short distance of Newcastle-on-Tyne. The conversation turned upon the subject of dancing, and Mr. Dickens being an adept in the terpsichorean art, and, above all, in the performance of a " sailor's hornpipe," it was agreed that he should execute this national dance. Here, however, an unforeseen diffi- culty presented itself, for — though I had used every endeavour to make my arrangements for the journey as complete as possible — such a thing as an orchestra had never suggested itself as indispensable to travel. But it was settled that Mr. Wills and myself should form the orchestra ; so we supplied a whistling accom- AN INTERRUPTED HORNPIPE. 35 paniment while the dancer footed it merrily, in spite of the frequent collapses of the orchestra in explosive laughter at the absurdity of the situation and the pretended indignation of the dancer at the indifference of the music. The sudden "break -down" of the engine through the bursting of a pipe brought " the entertainment " to a close, and we had a walk in the fields and woods a little north of Morpeth for nearly half an hour, until another locomotive could be found somewhere to take the train on to Berwick. Ever memorable to me will be these my journeyings and their agreeable surroundings, and I trust they will enable me to give the reader some idea of a phase in Mr. Dickens's nature, which was apparent only to a limited circle of friends with whom he felt himself quite at his ease, and to entertain whom, in that genial way of which he seemed to be sole possessor, he would take any amount of pains and trouble. In all ,his actions the dominant motive was a consideration for others. As evening closed in, the party amused themselves ■with more games of cribbage and some " dummy " whist, and after ^supping upon the remains of the banquet, and partaking of a glass of grog, we " turned in " for a comfortable sleep on the sofas until we arrived at Aberdeen and found comfortable quarters at the Royal Hotel, a house then kept by the late Davy Robertson, the most genial of Scottish landlords, 36 CHARLES DICKENS. and patronized by the Royal Family, when journeying from London to Balmoral, before the railway system was completed as far as Ballater. The Reading itself, though a success from a monetary point of view, was perhaps the least enthu- siastically received of any given, before or since ; a fact which may perhaps be accounted for by the remark of the local agent when I questioned him about the prob- ability of success : " Weel, Misther Doalby, I'm no pra- pared t' state positively what yewr actiel receats '11 be, for ye see, sir, amangst ma ain freends there are vairy few wha ha' iver haird o' Chairles Dickens.'" This man held a good social and commercial position, and was con- nected with the best musical societies in Aberdeen ! Thinking that musical artists were perhaps more to his taste, I sounded his knowledge of the leading singers; by this means I discovered that those coming from Edinburgh and Glasgow were the most popular, while the name of Sims Reeves (so far the greatest, and deservedly the most popular, of English tenors) was even less known than that of Charles Dickens. On the following day. May 17th, there being no Reading, and nothing to do but to travel to Glasgow, it was determined to break the journey at Perth, with the intention of taking, on the banks of the Tay, one of those long walks in which Mr. Dickens so much delighted. It was a lovely day, and we enjoyed the walk thoroughly; also the early dinner in the coffee THE CHIEF'S BIRTH-PLACE. 37 room of the George Hotel ; from the windows of which there is a view of the quaint old bridge over the river, which is one of the most picturesque in my memory. On arriving in Glasgow Mr. Dickens was attacked by a severe cold, and it was with difficulty that he could get through the Reading; indeed, but for the fact that all the tickets had been sold, and that great inconvenience would result to so large a concourse of people in the event of his not giving his Reading, he would have postponed it. In the hope that a little fresh air and a change from the depressing effects of the Glasgow atmosphere would do him good, a trip in a private steamer was taken down the Clyde. This had the desired effect ; for in the evening he appeared on the platform in the best of spirits, and read with all his wonted vigour of freshness. After the Edinburgh Reading my first provincial tour with Mr. Dickens ended at Portsmouth, In the hope that the sea breezes might have the effect of relieving Mr. Dickens of the cold from which he was still suffering, we decided to visit Southsea before the Portsmouth Reading. And here two amusing incidents occurred. On the morning after our arrival we set out for a walk, and turning the corner of a street suddenly, found ourselves in Landport Terrace. The name of the street catching Mr. Dickens's eye, he suddenly exclaimed, "By Jove ! here is the place where I was born ; " and, acting 38 CHARLES DICKENS. on his suggestion, we walked up and down the terrace for some time, speculating as to which of the houses had the right to call itself his cradle. Beyond a recol- lection that there was a small front garden to the house he had no idea of the place — for he was only two years old when his father was removed to London from Ports- mouth. As the houses were nearly all alike, and each had a small front garden, we were not much helped in our quest by Mr. Dickens's recollections, and great was the laughter at his humorous conjectures. He must have lived in one house because " it looked so like his father ; " another one must have been his home because it looked like the birthplace of a man who had deserted it; a third was very like the cradle of a puny, weak youngster such as he had been ; and so on, through the row. According to his own account, Southsea had not contributed much to his physical strength, neither indeed had .Chatham ; for, he used to say, he always was a puny, weak youngster, and never used to join in games with the same zest that other boys seemed to have. He never was remarkable, according to his own account, during his younger days, for an3^hing but violent spas- modic attacks, which used to utterly prostrate him, and for indomitable energy in reading: — cricket, "chevy," top, marbles, " peg in the ring," " tor," " three holes," or any of the thousand and one boys' games, had no charm for him, save such as lay in watching others play. But as none of the houses in Landport Terrace MR. WILLS'S PRISON. 39 could cry out and say, as he recounted these facts, "That boy was born here!" the mystery remained unsolved, and we passed on. The other incident occurred in the course of the same walk. It is well known what interest Mr. Dickens took in all matters connected with prison life ; and Mr. Wills having mentioned that he was intimately ac- quainted with the governor of a military prison some- where in Gosport (the name of which, also the name of the governor, he had forgotten), a search was made, in the hope of refreshing Wills's memory. After walk- ing some distance through clouds of dust driven by a cold easterly wind (by no means unusual in England in the month of May), and meeting no one on the road, either of a civil, naval, or military character, able to give any information about the prison, it was suggested that this institution existed only in Wills's imagination ; a suspicion which broadened into a fact when inquiries were made of the landlord of a most comfortable-looking hostelry on the roadside. Returning to Southsea by another road, we suddenly found ourselves in a sort of elongated " square," that should be called " oblong," open at each end, such as is to be met with in Dutch towns ; the houses on each side resembled a scene "set" for the comic business of a pantomime ; they were of red brick, with clean windows and white window frames, while green jalousie blinds of the most dazzling description added a little to the 40 CHARLES DICKENS. •' tone " of the place. Here the temptation to Mr. Dickens to indulge his predilections for imitating the frolics of a Clown — of the Grimaldi, Flexmore, and Tom Matthews type — presented itself. The street heing entirely free from people, Mr. Dickens mounted three steps leading to one of the houses, which had an enormous brass plate on its green door; and, having given three raps on the doorpost, was proceeding to lie down on the upper step, clown fashion, when the door suddenly opened and a stout woman appeared, to the intense amusement of the " pantaloon " (myself) and Wills, who immediately beat a retreat in the style known in pantomime as a " rally," followed by Mr. Dickens with an imaginary policeman after him. The wind, which was very high at the time, added to the frolic, driving Mr. Dickens's hat before it, in the direction of the river, causing us to forget the situation and eagerly chase the hat to catch it ere the frolicsome blast drove it into the water. Then, and then only, we turned to take a parting look at the scene of action, when, to our dismay, we saw every doorstep and door- way occupied by the amused' tenants of the houses. There was another stampede, which was stopped by an open drain, from which emanated an odour of anything but a pleasant character, suddenly making the party pale as ghosts, and necessitating the administration, medicinally, of course, of a strong dose of brandy-and- water at the nearest hotel. THE CLOSE OF THE TOUR. 41 Three more Readings in London followed. On Tues- day, May 29th, " Doctor Marigold " and " Nicholas Nickleby at Mr. Squeers's School; " on Tuesday, June 5th, "David Copperfield" and "Boots at the Holly Tree Inn ; " and on Tuesday, June 12th, " Doctor Marigold " (by general desire) and the " Trial' from Pickwick." Thus the first engagement with Messrs. Chappell was completed to the satisfaction of every one concerned. Writing shortly before the close of the tour, Mr. Dickens said, " Everything is done for me with the utmost liberality and consideration ; every want I can have on these journeys is anticipated, and not the faintest spark of the tradesman spirit ever peeps out." It was, and is, a matter of pride with me that my efforts — supported by the liberality of the Messrs. Chappell — to make the tour a successful and, at the same time, a pleasing one to Mr. Dickens, should have been so appreciated by him; an appreciation which he showed, not only by his confidence, but by presenting me with a complete set of the Illustrated Library Edition of his works, and a letter which I cannot read, even at this distance of time, without a keen pang for the loss of so kind and true a friend, and for the bereavement which the world suffered by the death of one of the greatest of its social benefactors. CHAPTER II. A GLIMPSE OF LIFE AT " GAD'S." 3HE success of the first tour having proved to Mr. Dickens that the difficulties which had compelled him to give up his Readings for so long a time had been overcome, it was but natural that he should be desirous of continu- ing an enterprise which, in addition to the pleasure it afforded him, was a means of adding largely to his income ; and that, when Messrs. Chappell made a proposal to him for a second tour, under their manage- ment, it should be favourably considered, especially as Messrs. Chappell gave him to understand that, taking into consideration the facts of the great success of the first tour (at a season of the year not the best for indoor entertainments), they considered they would only be acting fairly to Mr. Dickens in augmenting the terms for the second tour, which they suggested should com- mence at the beginning of the coming year (1867), and THE NEW TERMS—" ^60 A NIGHT." 43 which they proposed should extend to " fifty Readings in Great Britain and Ireland " (and in Paris, as in the first engagement, if necessary). Mr. Dickens's first idea was to ask Messrs. Chappell seventy pounds each Reading, with all expenses paid as before ; but, at a conference which I had with him whilst on a visit to Gad's Hill, in the month of August, 1866 — wherein I held the dual position of agent, or manager, to Messrs. Chappell, and friend and adviser, in this respect, to Mr. Dickens — he decided on accept- ing an engagement with those gentlemen to give forty- two Readings for the round sum of :£"2,5oo ; and after- wards, writing to a friend who acted in all cases as his business adviser, he thus expressed his views : " It would be unreasonable to ask anything now on the ground of the extent of the late success, but I am bound to look to myself for the future. The Chappells are speculators, though of the worthiest and most honourable kind. They make some bad speculations, and have made a very good one in this case, and will set this against those. I told them when we agreed : ' I offer these thirty Readings to you at fifty pounds a night because I know perfectly well beforehand that no one in your business has the least idea of their real worth, and I wish to prove it.' " The result of the negotiations was thus described by Mr. Dickens : " Chappell instantly accepts my pro- posal for forty nights at sixty pounds a night, and every 44 CHARLES DICKENS. conceivable and inconceivable expense paid. To make an even sum I have made it forty-two nights fpr ^2,500 ; so I shall nov^f try to discover a Christmas number, and shall, please heaven, be quit of the wljole series of Readings, so as to get to work on a new story for the new series of ' All the Year Round,' early in the spring. The Readings begin . probably with the New Year." This arrangement being completed, as much of the interim as possible between the first and second tours was pleasantly passed in the society of Mr. Dickens. A personal sorrow which fell on myself at this time was greatly alleviated by frequent visits to " Gad's," and by a chat every Thursday at the office of " All the Year Round," in Wellington Street, Strand — Thursday being the day devoted by Mr. Dickens to the " making up " of the paper — an engagement that was never broken when both were in town, unless some unavoid- able circumstance occurred to prevent its observance. The domestic staff at the office of the "A. Y. R.," as he called it, was composed, at the time of which I am speaking, of a man-servant (the one who travelled with Mr. Dickens) and an old and valued female servant who was an excellent cook. The luncheon at Dne o'clock was of the simplest character, but its simplicity was made really luxurious by the geniality of the host. He seemed to invest everything with an odour of grateful- ness ; everything he placed before you seemed to be AN INCOMPARABLE HOST. 45 imbued with a virtue that nothing else in the world possessed ; the most ordinary things in life became special in his presence — he gave you a cigar, which you or I might have smoked the counterpart of many a time, still there never was such a cigar as the one he had just presented to you. A little brandy never rolled down man's throat before in the way in which that drop of liquor went down yours. You knew that you were being entertained by a connoisseur and a man of taste, and everything was doubly grateful; and yet, notwith- standing that he gave such choiceness to everything, he partook but sparingly himself, and seemed to parti- cipate in other people's enjoyment of what was laid before them, rather than to have any pleasure in the good things himself. The "office" having been spoken of, a few words about Gad's Hill may not be out of place ; and a reference to the way in which it became the property of its distinguished owner may not be uninteresting. Gad's Hill, as everybody knows, is situated about half way between Gravesend and Rochester, on the high - road to Dover from London ; which high - road divided the ground appertaining to the property into two parts — one of which contained the house, lawns, pleasure grounds, kitchen gardens, and walled-in croquet ground, stable-yard, stabling, &c. ; and the other consisted of a well-wooded piece of ground, forming a sort of wilderness, in which stood two 46 CHARLES DICKENS. magnificent cedars. There were also picturesque banks, on which grew ivy, and, in the summer, nas- turtiums, mignonette, and other flowers, affording a combination of colour as unusual as it was pleasing to the eye. The house itself was approached through massive oak gates, from either corner of the property, by a semi-circular carriage drive, and was a two-storeyed, plain, red-brick building, looking rather more ; n ient than it really was, with a belfry in the roof and a quaint-looking porch, approached by stone steps in front. At each side of the porch was a bay window, that to the left lighting the drawing-room, and that to the right the library — a room now more than ordi- narily celebrated by the publication in the " Graphic," at the time of Mr. Dickens's death, of the picture of " The Vacant Chair." The entrance hall — which was spacious and square, having a door opposite to the principal entrance, from which a staircase led to the back lawn — immediately impressed one with the idea of an amount of comfort, regularity, and order not usually met with in other houses ; while it also suggested a hospitality of the most genial character to come — a hospitality such as one might have been led to expect by the kindest of recep- tions from the host himself at the railway station of Higham, two and a half miles distant from the house. A drive through the pleasantest of the Kentish country, THE PURCHASE OF "GAD'S." 47 either on an "outside" Irish jaunting car; or, in fine weather, in a basket carriage, with the nattiest of ponies, driven by Mr. Dickens ; or, in wet weather, with a brougham drawn by the most knowing and best trained of cobs with a " hogmain ; " always escorted by three or four enormous dogs of the Mount St. Bernard, mastiff, or Newfoundland species, brought the visitor to the house. Gad's Hill Place, as the house was called, was the fancy of Mr. Dickens's boyish days ; for in his youth he had always had a longing to become possessor of the place, which longing was satisfied in a curious way. In 1856, Mr. Wills happened one day to be seated at table next to a lady slightly known to Mr. Dickens, who turned out to be the owner of the property. In the course of conversation with Mr, Wills this lady happened incidentally to mention that she was desirous of parting with the place, a fact which Mr. Wills took the earliest opportunity of communicating to Mr. Dickens, who gave instructions for negotiations to be entered into for its purchase and transfer, which Mr. Dickens regarded more in the light of an investment than anything else — as he had a house in London at the time, viz., Tavistock House, which he did not leave until i860. Having, however, disposed of Tavistock House, he determined on making " Gad's " his home, and set to work to effect such alterations as would be necessary 48 CHARLES DICKENS. to convert it into a fitting residence for himself and family. Since it had been built, somewhere about the year 1780, it had changed hands several times, but without being much improved. In fact, from the time Mr. Dickens abandoned the idea of regarding the property merely as an invest- ment, and decided to make the place his home, work- people of one kind or another were always employed in converting " Gad's" into the most perfect and com- fortable of houses to those privileged friends who were fortunate enough to be visitors there. Between the study and billiard-room doors, the walls were decorated with two notable paintings by Clarkson Stanfield, one of which represented the Eddystone Lighthouse, and had been used as an act drop in some private theatricals at Tavistock House, in 1855. Although it took the great painter less than a couple of days to execute, and that at a time when he was very ill, this picture fetched 1,000 guineas at the sale at Gad's Hill, after the 9th of June, 1870. The other picture was a scene used in the " Frozen Deep," also played at Tavistock House, and subsequently at the Gallery of Illustration in 1857, before Her Majesty the Queen, H.R.H. the Prince Consort, and the Court, for the " Jerrold Fund." In the hall, a conspicuous object was a letter-box, with a capacious mouth capable of receiving books, official letters, and parcels of manu- script, with the times of departure of the mail painted on A PECULIARITY OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 49 it in large figures. At the further end of the entrance- hall, a flight of steps led to the back lawn, which was divided from a field at the back by a stone wall, resem- bling a terrace with balustrades, and massive iron gates, which gave ingress to the field over a " haw-haw." A peculiarity of the household was the fact that, except at table, no servant was ever seen about. This was because the requirements of life were alwa}'s ready to hand, especially in the bed-rooms. Each of thece rooms contained the most comfortable of beds, a sofa, and easy-chair, caned-bottom chairs — in which Mr. Dickens had a great belief, always preferring to use one himself — a large-sized writing-table, profussly sup- plied with paper and envelopes of every conceivable size and description, and an almost daily change of new quill ,pens. There was a miniature library of books in each room, a comfortable fire in winter, with a shining copper kettle in each fireplace ; and on a side-table, cups, saucers, tea-caddy, teapot, sugar and milk, so that this refreshing beverage was always attainable, without even the trouble of asking for it. There was no specified time for the guests to be at breakfast, that meal being on the table from nine to ten, or half-past ; and unless some early excursion to a place of note in the neighbourhood had been arranged, the visitors were left to do as they pleased in the morn- ing ; Mr. Dickens, as a rule, taking a turn or two round the domain to see that everything was in order outside 5 50 CHARLES DICKENS. as well as inside the house, visiting, each in its turn, the gardens, stables, kennels, and afterwards devoting himself to his literary duties and correspondence. Luncheon was served at half-past one, when all were supposed to have got through their letters, reading, writing, or lounging, or whatever occupation might have engrossed their morning leisure ; and then the pleasure of the day began, or was arranged system- atically — for Mr. Dickens was always systematic — over that most pleasant of repasts, generally resulting in a walk through one of the beautiful woods which abound in that part of the country, such as Cobham Park — with its noble avenues, its rich green grassy slopes, its noble oaks and elms, beneath which the deer graze in peaceful security, and its magnificent old hall — the residence of Lord Darnley, who with characteristic generosity had presented Mr. Dickens with a private key to all the gates in the Park, so that, whether walking, driving, or riding, there was no " let or hindrance," so far as he and his friends were concerned, to their thorough enjoyment of the beauties of the place. For those for whom the place had a fascination, a visit to the " Leather Bottle," the retreat of the disappointed Tracy Tupman, to Rochester Castle, or some other distant place, or a game at croquet or bowls on the lawn, passed the hours agreeably till dinner-time, when, to use a theatrical phrase, everybody was supposed "to be on ; " and, whether the house were full of guests, or " IT WAS ALL GENIALITY AT 'GAD'S.'" 51 whether only one or two were staying thei'e, there was never any difference made in the arrangements, a fact which was apparent in the ease and order with which everything was done. The dinners were like everything else in the house — superlatively good, with a menu calculated to baffle the criticism of the most epicurean, and the conversation, under the generalship of such a host, never flagging for a moment. Then came an hour or two in the drawing-room^ where Miss Dickens and Miss Georgina Hogarth held their genial court — it was all geniality at " Gad's." After this the gentlemen adjourned to the billiard-room, where, before going to bed, some little time was spent in the enjoyment of some excellent cigars and a walk round the table to the " click " of the balls, either in a game at " pool " or a " contest " at billiards, Mr. Dickens being fond of contests, for, he used to say, " it brings out the mettle." Then, so far as the host was concerned, the day was done, for it was his invariable habit to retire to bed at midnight — but without imposing any condition upon his guests, that they should follow his example — the most intimate of his male friends present, if none of his sons were there, being delegated "host " in his absence, with strict injunctions to " see the gas out all right," and to take great c^re of the keys of the sideboard until morning. The billiard-room being far away from the residential part of the house, and with no sleeping rooms near it, except the "bache- 52 CHARLES DICKENS. lors' rooms," it not unfrequently happened, especially in summer-time, that the gas was " seen out " by the brilliance of the morning sun, which made the carrying of a night candlestick to the bed-room a matter of form. Under these circumstances it was amusing, and at times a trifle disconcerting, on entering the breakfast- room in the morning, to watch the merry twinkle in the host's eyes as he expressed a hope that " you had slept well," and remained in apparent ignorance of the fact that the guest so addressed had not been in bed. It is not surprising that such time as I had at disposal for runs down to " Gad's " was happily spent there ; and that those visits tended to render our friendship stronger and firmer, and promised well for a pleasant time during the business campaign in the coming winter. Over a dinner at the "Blue Posts," in Cork Street — a favourite establishment with Mr. Dickens — the plans and prospects for the forthcoming tour were fully discussed. The idea of giving Readings in Paris was abandoned, Mr. Dickens being of opinion that it would be useless to go to Paris for less than four Readings, which could not be given in a shorter space of time than two weeks, as there was so much to see and to do in that city. It was therefore decided to make Paris a special fieM for future operations, when he should have more time to spare- Thus matters went on pleasantly till the Christmas of 1866. " Barbox Brothers " and the " Boy at Mugby " A TRIAL READING. 53 having been " condensed " (to use the author's own word) into reading form, and " Gad's " being full of guests, and more than full — for not only was every available room in the house occupied, but extra rooms were engaged at the Falstaff Inn, which stood oppo- site the entrance-gates, for those who could not be quartered in the house — advantage was taken of these circumstances to give a private Reading, or trial, of the works so abridged. The members of Parliament in the district, naval and military officers from Chatham, and neighbours were invited ; and a grand entertainment, consisting of a dinner and a Reading afterwards, was provided. After dinner, the reading-desk, which had been specially sent down from London, was placed in the drawing-room, and a mimic Reading took place, resulting in a general verdict that " Barbox " and " The Boy " would, as Readings, rival " Doctor Marigold " — a prophecy regarded with considerable doubt and mis- givings by the author and certain of the more practical judges then present, who, as matters afterwards turned out, were justified in their scepticism. After the Read- ing there were some games. Mr. Dickens prided him- self on his skill in guessing a subject fixed upon during his absence from the room. His success in penetrating people's thoughts was so marked that it would by some have been termed " spiritualistic." For spiritualism Mr. Dickens had a profound contempt. Many times in taking part in this game with Mr. 54 CHARLES DICKENS. Dickens I have been astounded at the unerring cer- tainty with which he discovered the subject, however puzzling it might be. I remember he always men- tioned with great satisfaction his triumph over a " poser " invented, I believe, by Miss Georgina Ho- garth, viz., " the boot on the off-leg of a postillion." In a double way was he skilful at the game, for not only was he a very searching expositor of people's thoughts, but in the invention of subjects wherewith to puzzle others he was equally clever. A description of Gad's Hill, and the things thereat, would be more than imperfect without a reference to the dogs, which played a very important part in the life there ; not only on account of the love their master had for them individually, but on account also of his ap- preciation of their usefulness in protecting his property. No country road, perhaps, in England is so much tra- versed by tramps and beggars as the high-road be- tween Gravesend and Rochester, especially in the hop season, when London seems to pour out every avail- able kind of pauper — male, female, and child — for the hop-picking; although, be it said, amongst this class even, there were some to whom a deaf ear was never turned when they made their necessities known to the owner of " Gad's " or his amiable family. Amongst the beggars were many suffering from consumption, who would walk miles and endure unheard-of suffer- ings to find employment in a hop-garden, having a HIS KINDNESS TO THE HOP-PICKERS. 55 superstition that the dust of the newly-picked hop, flying into the throat of the picker, was a cure for this most malignant of diseases. Tramping long distances, without shoes in many cases, and invariably with little or no food, the men carried heavy bundles containing rags, more ragged perhaps than those on the backs of their owners, a tin kettle, and a pan or two for cooking purposes (whenever they could get anything to cook) ; the women were jaded and worn with the fatigue of carrying a baby, or two sometimes, while all too often liad the shiver which comes of sleeping under wet hedges and in wet grass, and which points only too surely to the one cure, if the end of a disease can be called a cure — the final one — death. Mr. Dickens's kindness of heart and his love of children (no matter of what class) always enlisted his sympathies with these people ; and, profligate though they might have been, he always had a kind and en- couraging word to say to them, and something to give by way of endorsing his principles in a practical way ; his wonderful judgment of character doubtless assisting him in this respect, and, if nothing else, his parting greeting of " God bless you," and the earnest way in which it was said, seemed to give the poor creatures a sense that there were yet kind hearts in the world, and that they poor sufferers were not so " low down " but that true sympathies were to be met with, even in the most unexpected quarters and under the most adverse circumstances. 56 CHARLES DICKENS. It was not only in the hop season though that the pedestrian element was of a "vagarious character." There seemed all the year round to be a perpetual tramping along that road, occasionally relieved by the march-past of a regiment of soldiers, either going to Gravesend for rifle practice or returning from it, or of a battery or two of artillery changing quarters between Woolwich and Chatham. Sometimes there came a load of Americans, who had snatched sufficient time from their London pleasures to run down to Gravesend, and, having chartered a cab, pulled up on the roadside to take a look at the place " where Dickens lived." Such of these as were enterprising enough — and there are very few of our " American cousins " who have not this qualification — to send in their cards (prompted as a rule to do so by the cabman, who, by the by, " just wanted to wash his horse's mouth out " at the " Fal- staff " opposite), asking permission to walk round the grounds and through the house, invariably met with a hearty response to their request ; and, while apologizing, as they generally did, for the seeming intrusion, were made to feel that their visit was a source of pleasure to Mr. Dickens and his family ; and, if he happened to be about, the visit was not the less appreciated for a few friendly words from him, in grateful remembrance of the many dear friends he had in America. The tramping and vagrant element made the dogs a necessity; not that they were (with one "exception) THE DOGS. 57 ferocious, unless " set on," which, however, was never necessary, for it was sufficient for a tramp to cast his eye over the stable-yard to be convinced of the pru- dence of not pursuing his inquiries any farther. Four or five big dogs of the mastiff or Newfoundland breed, attached to chains sufficiently long to cover any por- tion of the yard, acted as a deterrent to the inquisitive mind of any stranger of the beggar class, for the ani- mals hated rags, as do most dogs. These dogs were perfectly trained, and had the instinct never to forget a visitor to whom they were properly introduced, and who was accordingly allowed to go in and out of the yard as though the dogs had known him or her all their lives. So it was as much a duty on the part of the host to introduce his guests to the dogs as it was to introduce a stranger to his family and the other guests staying in the house. Thus the hospitality of " Gad's " included the stable- yard ; and it was a curious thing to notice the reten- tiveness of memorj' on the part of the dogs, save the ferocious exception " Sultan," who was always kept muzzled. When I first visited Gad's Hill " Linda " was the favourite, vice " Turk," who had been killed by a rail- way accident. She was the puppy of a great Mount St. Bernard brought to England by the late Albert Smith, and one of the dogs exhibited by that most excellent of " showmen " in his entertainment " Mont S8 CHARLES DICKENS. Blanc," at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, and since immortalized by the late John Leech, in one of his admirable " Pencillings from Punch." The mother of "Linda" and her companion are now, if not dead, receiv- ing royal hospitality at the hands of Her Majesty the Queen, at Windsor Castle. As an instance of the saga- city of these two dogs, Mr. Dickens, some three or four years before his death, used to relate how, when walking one day between Slough and Windsor, he met a royal groom on horseback accompanied by the dogs. The dogs recognized Mr. Dickens, and it was with difficulty that the groom could get them to leave him. But "Sultan," the Irish mastiff, was a most ferocious beast, and the only person who had any control or power over him was his master. This fellow was always kept muzzled, but on one occasion he broke his strong chain, rushed into the road at a moment when a regi- ment of soldiers were passing on their way to Grave- send, and made such havoc in the ranks by upsetting several of the men, that he escaped immediate anni- hilation only through the intervention of the officer in command, who, being in the habit of visiting at " Gad's," and knowing the dog, had him arrested and taken to his own yard in charge of an orderly guard. Having killed a favourite kitten, and, it is supposed, eaten it, for the kitten's remains were never found, and THE EXECUTION OF "SULTAN." 59 very nearly swallowed " Mrs. Bouncer," Miss Dickens's white Pomeranian dog, "Sultan" made a dash, one day, at a little girl, inflicting slight injury (the dog being muzzled), but giving the child a great fright. This last rash act sealed his doom, and, sorry as was his master to part with so handsome a beast, still law and order had to be maintained, and popular prejudice against ferocious dogs had to be supported. There was, therefore, nothing for it but to order the dog off for immediate execution ; the story of which tragedy was one which Dickens used to^ tell with a comical seriousness that made the listener feel sorry both for the dog and his master. The order for execution having been given, but with strict injunctions that the public were to be excluded, and no one in the house to know when it was to take place, a procession was formed, consisting of some six or seven men and boys from the stables and garden, a wheelbarrow, and a gun. The dog evidently thought, in the bloodthirstiness of his nature, on being let loose to join in the procession, that they were going to kill some one or something else ; and it was only when he had gone about half-way across the large field at the back of the house, that his eye rested on the wheel- barrow with a gun in it. It seemed to, strike him there was something wrong, and he at once became depressed, looked steadfastly at the gardener, and walked to his place of execution with his head down. 6o CHARLES DICKENS. Arrived at the corner of the field farthest from the house, one of the boys threw a large stone to induce the dog to go after it, or to lead him to believe there was something in the hedge where it struck. When "Sultan's" attention was thus diverted, two barrels were discharged into his heart, and he died without a struggle or a cry, deeply regretted by his loving master, who, be it said, was the only friend he had. He was buried in the field where he fell, and, despite the extraordinary precautions taken by the executioners not to disturb the family, the fatal shot was understood by them all, and a gloom rested on the house the whole of that day. Of another dog, " Bumble," there are many stories. Although well trained and obedient in every respect, he had a bad habit on returning from a long walk of eluding, if he could, his master's attention, and, when about two miles from home, would race there as fast as he could; whether to get his own dinner, and that of the other dogs as well, never could be ascertained. This freak had cost him many beatings from his master, and all to no purpose ; when, one day, after castigating him more severely than usual, it occurred to Mr. Dickens, that he would give him a strong dose of castor oil. The next day the dog was very ill, and could not take his meals, but he never again ran away. Whenever he came to a place which reminded him of his past iniquity, he invariably ran to his master's THE CONVERSION OF "BUMBLE." 6i heels, and nothing could induce him to leave them until he found himself in his own yard. In time "Bumble" became a parent, and one of his sons, christened by Mr. Dickens "Chops," was pre- sented to me. He gave me ample scope for studying the heredity of genius. CHAPTER III. ON TOUR IN SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. |R. DICKENS was a great lover of cricket, and in the summer of i856, he would often hurry back to Gad's Hill after a visit to town, in order to be present at a cricket match in the field at the back of his house — between his own Higham Club and some other club in the neighbourhood. This field was placed at the disposal of the Higham Club, the only condition being that a single case of drunkenness, or the use of bad language on the part of the members of the club, cancelled the privilege of using it ; and although there was a drinking booth on the ground, kept by the landlord of the Falstaff Inn, and notwithstanding that on match days, all kinds of people would be assembled there, including soldiers, sailors, and operatives from Chatham Dock- yard, no case of disorderly conduct ever occurred in that field. " BARBOX BROTHERS." 63 The summer over, our thoughts began to be seriously occupied with the renewal of the Readings, I have already described the experimental reading of " Barbox Brothers" and the " Boy at Mugby." Mr. Dickens "got it up " (as he would say) with his usual elaborate pains ; and, as if the work of this were not sufficient, with his other labours, he worked incessantly with Fechter in the production of a sensational drama at the Lyceum, entitled the " Long Strike " by Dion Boucicault ; which, however, did not prove such a success as the time and energy bestowed upon it should have justified. The first public Reading of "Barbox Brothers" took place in St. James's Hall, on Tuesday, January 15th, and justified the misgivings felt at the rehearsal. It was received cordially by the audience, but it was apparent that it would never take rank with the other works of its kind; and but for the extraordinary power possessed by the author in the rendering of his own works, and the curiosity which always attached to any- thing new from Mr. Dickens, it is doubtful whether the expression of opinion would not have been less favour- able than it was. He himself was conscious of this, and but for the fact that the Reading was already announced for some of the towns in the early part of the tour, it is probable that " Barbox " and " The Boy " would have been shelved, then and there. 64 CHARLES DICKENS. Liverpool endorsed the opinion of London, as did also Birmingham; and after one more trial in London, and another in Leeds, the work was condemned for Reading purposes, and has never been heard since. We were now once more on our travels,, and this time without Mr. Wills, whose time could be more profitably employed in conducting the affairs at the ofSce, in Mr. Dickens's absence, than in travelling about the country for mere companionship. In the intimacy which had sprung up between Mr. Dickens and myself, it was not always convenient, either in addressing him personally, in correspondence, or in speaking of him to our friends, to refer to him as " Mr." Dickens, and as my respect for him prevented my calling him "Charles" or "Dickens," and as he disliked being addressed as " Sir," except by strangers, I was at times in difficulties. A trifling circumstance came to my rescue in the early part of our second tour. It was at Chester, on January 22, 1867, a day memorable to many in all parts of England, as one of the most severe during the winter of that year. We had left Liverpool early in the day for a Reading in Chester, that evening, in a blinding snow-storm and a furious easterly gale ; so bad was it that the Mersey was lashed up into a tremendous sea, the waves dash- ing over the boat. Arrived at Chester, we went to the Queen's Hotel, and here I left Mr. Dickens in what I DUB HIM "CHIEF." 65 had the appearance of a most comfortable sitting-room, with a blazing fire, whilst I went into the city to attend to matters of business in connection with the evening's Reading. I had been absent about two hours, and on my return found him sitting on the hearthrug in front of the fire with my Turkish fez on his head, and a large coloured muffler round his neck, to protect him from a strong draught between the door and a double French window. As neither door nor window could be properly shut, the cold air had pretty much its own sportive way. I was amused to see him in this position, but when I asked him how he felt, he replied gruffly, "Like some- thing good to eat being kept cool in a larder. What do you think I look like ? " he asked. " Like an old chief," I replied, " but without his pipe." The idea of his looking like a chief seemed to please him, and from that time I always addressed him by this name, which was generally adopted by his associates, and proclaimed as his title in the office of " All the Year Round." In such fearful weather as we were then experi- encing, it is not surprising that even so potent a name as Charles Dickens should have failed to draw a large house in a country place, and the receipts on this occasion may be mentioned as the worst I ever knew during these tours. The snow on the ground was frozen, and, to make 6 66 CHARLES DICKENS. matters worse, a heavy rain-storm had set in, the rain freezing the moment it touched the ground. Such a thing as a cab, or a vehicle of any kind, it was im- possible to get, so that we had to walk to the hall as best we could, for the streets were like glass. Walking as cautiously as we did, it was impossible to keep from slipping occasionally, and in one of my efforts to save myself, I gave Mr. Dickens a back-hander below the chest. Although the blow was rather a serious one, his sense of the comic came to my relief. "The next time you want to chuck me under the chin, Dolby, have the kindness to do it a little higher, if you please." Two evenings after this, we were at the Town Hall, Birmingham, when " Barbox" and "The Boy" had another chance, and where a catastrophe very nearly occurred, which in its eifects might have been almost worse than the disappointing reception of this particular Reading. The reflector of the gas batten above Mr. Dickens's head was suspended from the supports by strong copper wire. By some mischance (probably owing to our having with us on this occasion a gas-man strange to the work, in place of our own man, invalided for the time) the copper wire was brought immediately over one of the gas jets of the batten, which caused it to get red-hot. This had passed unnoticed by every one, until close upon the conclusion of the Reading. As was my wont, I went to the side of the screen to A CATASTROPHE SAVED. 67 receive Mr. Dickens at the end of his task, and happening to cast my eye along the batten discovered the red-hot wire. Pointing to the place of danger, I Nivhispered, " How long shall you be ? " He saw the state of affairs in an instant, and without in the least pausing in his reading, or displaying the slightest uneasiness, held up two fingers to me, by which I knew he meant either two minutes or two seconds. It turned out to be the latter, for in the most inconceiv- able manner he altered much of the reading to suit the occasion, and brought it to a speedy termination. To turn the gas off after he had left the platform was the work of a moment, and thus prevented a heavy sheet of iron falling amongst the audience, and doing incal- culable damage. Mr. Dickens had seen the danger much sooner than I had, for he told me that he had been watching the heating process from the middle of the Reading, and had calculated in his mind how long the wire would" last ! It was on February 14th, after a Reading at St. James's Hall, that we started for Scotland, breaking our journey at Liverpool and Manchester, for three Readings. After this journey, Mr. Dickens complained very much of the effects of travelling by express trains, and he kept constantly referring to the Staplehurst acci- dent, which was ever present in his mind. It was decided between us that, so far as practicable, we would in future travel by slow trains. This plan seemed to 68 CHARLES DICKENS. dispel his nervousness to a great extent ; but it had to be given up, as the delay and the monotony of these journeys were almost worse than the shaking of the expresses. Travelling to Glasgow by night, after a Reading in Manchester on Saturday, February i6th, we arrived there early on Sunday morning for a day's rest ; and having two days to spare in the following week, we decided on spending them at the Bridge of Allan rather than in the gloomy atmosphere of Glasgow. Beipg fortunate in our weather, we passed a most enjoyable time, especially in the long walks so dear to Mr. Dickens. In one of these rambles we made our way into Stir- ling, and thoroughly explored the Castle, finishing up the afternoon with an inspection of the gaol. At the inhospitable-looking door a warder answered our knock, and Mr. Dickens sent in his card to the governor, who, with true politeness, came to the gate to receive us. Mr. Dickens explained that, though he had seen much of gaols, he had never been inside a Scottish gaol. There was no difficulty whatever about the rnatter, and the governor, with a couple of war- ders, conducted us personally through the establish- ment, opening all the cell doors and allowing us to converse with their tenants. Here and there Mr. Dickens said kind and comfort- ing words to the prisoners, which seemed to be a relief to them in their miserable position. WE FIND OURSELVES IN A SCOTTISH GAOL. 69 We were about to enter one cell to say a few words to a boy confined in it, but finding him reading a Bible, with a gentleman in clerical attire, we retired, thinking that perhaps .the boy was receiving spiritual consola- tion from the chaplain. When the door was locked, I observed an amused expression on the governor's face, and inquired of him the nature of the boy's offence. He was a London boy, who had been imported into Scotland by a gang of native burglars — London boys being more, expert in the " trade " than Scottish lads. The boy had not much hard labour in the exercise of his calling, for, like Oliver Twist, he was passed through a window to make an inspection of the interior of the house, and open a door, either back or front, to enable the burglars to enter without interference. Un- luckily for this particular boy, he did not understand the construction of Scotch houses, and during his first job got " lagged," whilst his friends contrived to escape. It was not at the boy, though, that the kind-hearted governor was laughing, but at Mr. Dickens and myself, and at our respectful demeanour to the boy's spiritual adviser, who was none other than a celebrated bank forger — a lithographer by trade — who had successfully forged bank-notes to a large amount, and had got off to America with the spoil. In New York he had repre- sented himself as a clergyman, and had been appointed ^o CHARLES DICKENS. with a large stipend to one of the leading churches in America, where he did duty for some time. Supposing that he and his crime had been forgotten, he returned to Glasgow to arrange some private affairs, and, in an unfortunate moment (for him), was recognized, arrested, and condemned to penal servitude. The criminal side of the gaol being disposed of, we were conducted to the " debtors' " side, and here incar- ceration had quite another aspect. Here were some fifteen or twenty persons in a large room, with a com- fortable blazing fire. Some were playing draughts and dominoes, others reading newspapers or books, and all seemed to enjoy themselves, and regard us as intruders on their happiness. One of the debtors recognized Mr. Dickens, who was very soon surrounded by this queer company. Some pointed out to him the folly and iniquity of con- fining them in prison until their debts were paid ; but most of them expressed themselves highly pleased with their lot, and. declared that so long as their creditors chose to pay for their maintenance, they were quite content to stay where they were ; for, except that they were deprived of the privilege of smoking, they were far happier, had better beds on which to sleep, and could get better food at a cheaper rate (out of their allowance) than many of them were in the habit of getting outside. The regret of our friends at parting with us appeared SHOCKING OCCURRENCE IN A TRAIN. 71 to be great, one of them pleasantly observing, " When I saw you gentlemen come in, I was in hopes we were going to have you as fellow-lodgers for a time at the ' Stirling Castle Hotel.'" Our trip to the Bridge of Allan was productive of the greatest benefit to Mr. Dickens's health, and he went back to his work on the platform With the old verve. The business was admirable, and the nightly reception by large and demonstrative audiences very cheering to Mr. Dickens ; but, although sorry to turn our backs on Scotland, we were glad, under the circumstances, to be once more journeying towards the south, where the climate was less severe. Our last Reading in Scotland, for the time being, was in Edinburgh, on Saturday afternoon, February 23rd ; and having to travel to London by the Limited Mail the same evening, we had no time for dinner. We therefore arranged to take it " on the road." When nearing Preston, Mr. ' Dickens was entertaining me with a song and dance (the drinking song from '' Der Freischutz "), with glass in hand, when the concussion of air, caused by the passing of an express train from the opposite direction, whisked a sealskin cap off his head, and away it flew into the darkness out of the opposite window. Finding himself bareheaded, he immediately suspected me of a practical joke ; but seeing me seated demurely in the opposite corner of the carriage, his 72 CHARLES DICKENS. surprise was all the greater. The cap being a valuable one, its loss was greatly deplored, and it was almost in vain that I promised the cap should be restored in the following week at Liverpool. Although the night was as dark as pitch, I could tell by the running time of the train pretty nearly the place where the cap had gone astray ; so on arrival at Preston I communicated with the station-master, indicating to him the precise moment when the cap disappeared, and offering a reward to any platelayer or workman on the line who should find it, and return it on a certain day. A few days after our arrival in Liverpool there came a parcel addressed to Mr. Dickens, containing the missing head- gear, much to his delight ; but he did not resume the interrupted song. Our travelling life had become so much a matter of system with us, that the routine of it became almost monotonous. Day after day we were doing the same things at the same time — packing our portmanteaus, travelling to a fresh town, unpacking the portmanteaus again, attending to preliminary matters of business in connection with the Readings, dining, and, after a rest for an hour or two, making for the hall, where the public sat expectant. But the monotony was a good deal relieved by the return of Mr. Wills to the scene of action. After a call at Bradford and Newcastle-on-Tyne, we were bound for a ten days' trip to Ireland; and Mr. TO DUBLIN IN A SNOW-STORM. 73 Wills, wanting a change, and having some business of his own to look after in Ireland, enlivened us with his company. As if in honour of the event, we had the additional excitement of visiting Dublin at a time when that city was in a state of semi-siege owing to an anti- cipated Fenian rising on St. Patrick's Day; and had it not been that the inconvenience and loss would have been greater in the postponement of our visit there than in carrying out our original designs, the trip would have been abandoned entirely, as Mr. Dickens was desirous it should be. Having overcome his scruples in this respect, we started off for Dublin by the night mail on Wednesday evening, March 13th, again in the most tempestuous of weather. Running along the Chester and Holyhead Railway, in the neighbourhood of Bangor, our train was blocked up by a snow-drift, making our position not only dangerous, but uncomfortable in the extreme. We had to sit patiently in our carriage until such time as a gang of workmen could clear the road, and dig our engine out of the snow, a performance that took some four hours. Arriving at Holyhead we were not in the humour to take the steamer which was in waiting ; for being nearly frozen to death, we allowed the furious gale from the east to overcome our valour, and make us stay at Holyhead until the middle of next day. As it turned out, this was the best thing we could have done ; for, when we did start, we slipped across with no 74 CHARLES DICKENS. other inconvenience than having to encounter a heavy, rolling sea. On arriving at Kingstown, we had a taste of the anti- cipated rising in Dublin, in the stoppage of some of our baggage on the quay there. The police, seeing some unusual-looking cases amongst the ordinary luggage of passengers, could not imagine that the box containing our gas-piping could be anything but fire-arms for the use of the Fenians, and insisted, in spite of our protests, on having it searched before they allowed the box to be put in the train. When nothing but the innocent gas- piping was discovered, the breathless bystanders seemed quite disappointed. When we got to Dublin, we could see that there were good grounds for alarm ; the whole city being aHve with constabulary and soldiery, and a visit to our local ticket agent on the following morning convinced me that for our first Reading certainly our house vs^ould not be very good; but as St. Patrick's Day would intervene between the first and second Reading, it was fair to suppose that unless some serious disturbance took place on that day, matters would speedily right themselves, and that Mr. Dickens's reception would be as cordial as it always was in Dublin. On the eve of St. Patrick's Day, a dinner party was given in Mr. Dickens's honour by an old and intimate friend, to which were invited all the luminaries of the city, and amongst them many of the official dignitaries DUBLIN IN A STATE OF SIEGE. 75 and several of the highest military authorities, amongst whom was a distinguished colonel of Guards, who up to that time had made the Fenian organization his special study, being reputed to know more about it than any one in the service. During the dinner orderlies were continually arriving at our host's house with despatches, giving such details as could be collected of the probable " rising" that night, and it was clear that had any such movement taken place, the authorities would have proved fully equal to the occasion. As a precautionary measure, the public-houses were ordered to be closed from Saturday evening, March i6th (St. Patrick's Eve), till the following Tuesday morning. The public buildings had strong forces within their.walls, and the troops were all confined to barracks. Notwithstanding all this, the city life went on as if no danger were anticipated, and hospitality played — as it always does in Dublin — a leading part in the affairs of life. At dinner, Mr. Dickens expressed a wish to make an inspection of the city, and as some of the guests at our friend's house had to do the same thing officially, his desire was very easily gratified. Returning to our hotel for a change of costume, we sallied forth in the dead of the night on outside cars, and under police care, to make a tour of the city ; and so effectual were the precautions taken by the Government, that in a drive from midnight until about two o'clock in the 76 CHARLES DICKENS. morning, we did not see more than about half a dozen persons in the streets, with the exception of the ordi- nary poHcemen on their beats. Several arrests of suspected persons had been made in the night, and some of these became our fellow-travellers in the Irish mail on our return to England. Contrary to our fears, the political disturbances had done no harm to Mr. Dickens's reputation in his capacity as a reader, for our audiences were quite up to the average of our visits to Ireland in quiet times ; and what at the outset looked most embarrassing, turned out a really enjoyable time, which was rendered not the less pleasant by a demonstrative reception in Belfast, where no trace of Fenianism could be discovered. As the mail boat leaves Kingstown for England at an inconveniently early hour in the morning, we decided on sleeping on board the steamer, on the night after the last Dublin Reading, and, accordingly, we drove down to Kingstown for this purpose. The intention was good, but the execution was a failure, for at about two o'clock in the morning we were awakened by the tramping of soldiers on the deck over- head, and as the sound was a disconcerting one in such a place and at such a time, we went up to see what was the matter. There we found a strong escort of marines in charge of some of the arrested Fenians of the previous week, on their way to England for safer custody. WE TRAVEL WITH IRISH PATRIOTS. ^^ These persons having been carefully stowed away in the lower part of the vessel, the marines and the police were free to roam about the ship at their will, and they created such a disturbance as to prevent anything like sleeping in comfort ; so Mr. Dickens and myself spent the three or four hours before daybreak in the saloon, playing cribbage, after which we started off for a walk round the harbour until the time for the sailing of the mail boat. Arrived at Holyhead, all the passengers were detained on the steamer until the Fenians were disposed of in the train, and at every stopping-place on the road from Holyhead to London there were strong escorts of police. At Euston Square we were all locked in our car- riages until the cavalcade of mounted police with the vans containing the prisoners had left the station, and then we were allowed to go our several ways, and glad we were to do so after ten days full of adventure, and many fears and anxieties as to the result of our visit to Ireland in troublesome times. The Irish business being over, our long journeys ceased with it, leaving only such places as Cambridge, Norwich, Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Swan- sea, Hereford, Wakefield, Preston, and Blackburn to be visited. The two last towns being only about twelve miles distant, we decided on performing this journey on foot, sending the men on alone with our effects. 78 CHARLES DICKENS. There was nothing particular on the road to interest us, the route lying almost entirely amongst factories and mills; and it was with no ordinary. degree of pleasure, when about seven miles on our way, that we discovered, high up on elevated ground to our left, the picturesque ruins of an old mansion, fast falling into decay, but standing out weird and melancholy on the summit of the precipice on which it was erected. Such a building had always a fascination for Mr. Dickens ; and inquiring of a native the name of the place, we ascertained that it was called Hoghton Tower. Having some knowledge of the history of the place, Mr. Dickens decided on making an inspection, if per- mission could be obtained. There was no trouble about this, for the habitable part of the place was in the occu- pation of a farmer, who readily assented to our request. We were allowed to roam about the curious old ruin at our leisure, much to the gratification of Mr. Dickens, who at that time was occupying himself with the con- struction of a new story which he had undertaken to write for America. This spot at once suggested to him the idea of making Hoghton Tower the scene of the tale, then imperfectly fixed in his mind ; and it is here that the story entitled " George Silverman's Explana- tion " found its local habitation. The story took him but a very few days to complete, and, when finished, did not exceed in quantity an ordinary number of " All the Year Round." SINGULAR CONDUCT OF A TOWN CLERK. 79 It was originally intended that it should appear in a New York periodical, and the price agreed upon was one thousand pounds, the largest amount ever paid for a story of similar length. The fate of " George Silverman's Explanation " was peculiar. In England it appeared in " All the Year Round " in the early part of 1868 ; but its adventures in America I shall have to describe in a subsequent chapter. One of the Lancashire towns had the honour of affording Mr. Dickens an unexpected entertainment. In choosing places for the Readings, it was my duty to write to the town a month or two in advance, to ascer- tain if the hall, concert or assembly room, was at liberty for the particular evening on which we required it. To the town clerk of the community in question, I wrote as usual, requesting the use of the Town Hall for a Reading by Charles Dickens from his own works. I was not a little surprised to receive an official letter from that functionary, informing me that " before the use of the Town Hall could be granted, it would be necessary to supply him with full particulars of the nature of Mr. Dickens's entertainment." The request was so unusual, and betrayed such extraordinary ignorance in an exalted official, that I did not feel equal to the task of satisfying this remark- able town clerk's scruples, so I referred the matter to Mr. Dickens for precise information on the subject, 8o CHARLES DICKENS. He enjo}'ed the joke immensely, and greatly relished the idea that the Town Hall might be polluted by the appearance of a fat woman, or a dwarf, or some other monstrosity. However, a serious assurance had to be given to the conscientious clerk, so Mr. Dickens dictated to me the following note — " In acknowledging the receipt of your letter I have to inform you that the subject matter of Mr. Dickens's Readings is to be fo'und in a long row of books published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, in Piccadilly, London." This reply was deemed satisfactory, and the use of the Town Hall being granted on the usual terms and conditions, the Reading came off with a result far from gratifying. Indeed, it was almost a pity that the town clerk's strange inquiry was not accepted at once as a criterion of the taste and intelligence of his fellow- townsmen. The hall was not full, and the audience wholly failed to understand the eccentric patter of " Doctor Marigold," preferring perhaps the talk of a real Cheap Jack, who had pitched his cart immediately in front of the Town Hall, and who from behind his glare of lamps was " convulsing " (to use Doctor Marigold's own word) a delighted mob. The " Trial from Pickwick," which was the second reading, was more successful, but that dull audience made such an impression on us that the town was always referred to afterwards, with ironical flattery, as the most cultivated of its class in the United kingdom. THE CHIEF IS ALWAYS CHEERFUL. 8i Everywhere else in Lancashire, Mr. Dickens was always enthusiastically received. At the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, Mr. Dickens always entered on his work with^ thorough enjoyment; and whether he was telling the story of " David Cop- perfield" and the "Christmas Carol," or revelling in the boisterous incidents connected with Squeers and John Brodie, or reciting the sombre story of " Little Dom- bey," to say nothing of the patter of " Marigold," and the humour of the "Trial from Pickwick" and "Mr. Bob Sawyer's Party," he felt that he had his public — never less than two thousand persons at a time — completely under control, so that the Reading was never in any sense a labour. The same may be said of Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin, and in fact all the large towns in England ; so that an audience such as that which was inspired by the never-to-be-forgotten town clerk was an inex- haustible wonder. An enterprise involving so much expense made it expedient to' visit such places as were likely to yield a good return, and personal comfort had sometimes to be sacrificed. But if circumstances took us into a miserable town with a bad hotel, Mr. Dickens invari- ably put the best construction on the discomforts he had to put up with, and in the most trying situations was always more cheerful and good-humoured than any public man with whom I have ever been associated. 7 82 CHARLES DICKENS. There was no difficulty which could not be overcome by patience and good temper, of which he had a large stock. An uncomfortable-looking sitting-room or bed-room in an hotel had to be made more comfortable by a re-arrangement of the furniture, and this was done without the assistance of the hotel servants. A badly- prepared dinner or a bad bottle of wine was something that had to be endured in the first case, and carefully neglected in the latter. A hall that seemed bad for sound had (on being tested in the early part of the day of reading) to be " cured " by means the secret of which he alone seemed to know. His spirit of cheer- fulness was contagious, and every one about him worked with a will that made everything run so smoothly that persons unaccustomed to our mode of life wondered how so much could be done with so little apparent labour. Nearly every week we were in London for a Reading in St. James's Hall, and on the following morning we were on our way to some provincial town. The visits to London were not visits of pleasure by any means. There was a mass of correspondence to be attended to, besides the work of " All the Year Round ; " and in the closing weeks of the tour, the idea of visiting America was beginning to engross the attention of Mr. Dickens, who constantly received letters and offers of engage- ment, which were the chief topic of our discussions. ENGLAND OR AMERICA? 83 The financial results of the English Readings were so satisfactory, that Mr. Dickens was disposed to devote his energies entirely to reading in the autumn and winter months ; but whether this time was to be spent in England or America was the grave question at issue. As so much money was easily obtainable in. England, the first objection was an. obvious one — Why go through the wear and tear merely to pluck fruit that grows on every bough at home ? The scheme was not one that could be disposed of hastily, but as it had taken firm hold on Mr. Dickens's mind it had to be discussed in all its points. The subject had been occupying his attention for the past eight years, and he deemed it advisable to settle the question one way or another; and, if after mature deliberation the visit to America was found to be impracticable for this present year, to dismiss the matter from his mind for ever. As many rumours had got afloat, more especially on the other side of the Atlantic, to the effect that Mr. Dickens was really going to America this year, he wrote to his friend, Mr. James T. Fields, of Boston, early in June as follows : — " I am trying hard so to free myself as to be able to come over to read this next winter ! Whether I may succeed in this endeavour or no I cannot yet say, but I am trying hard. So in the meantime don't contra- dict the rumour. In the course of a few mails I hope 84 CHARLES DICKENS. to be able to give you positive and definite information oft the subject." On the 13th of the same month he wrote to Mr. Fields :— " I have this morning resolved to send out to Boston in the first week in August, Mr. Dolby, the secretary and manager of my Readings. He is profoundly versed in the business of these delightful intellectual feasts (?), and will come straight to Ticknor and Fields, and will hold solemn council with them, and will then go to New York, Philadelphia, Hartford, Washington, &c., and see the rooms for himself and make his estimates. He will then telegraph to me, ' I see my way to such and such results ; shall I go on ? ' If I reply, ' Yes,' I shall stand committed to begin reading in America with the month of December. If I reply ' No,' it will be because I do not clearly see the game to be worth so large a candle. In either case he will come back to me. . . . " We mean to keep all this strictly secret, as I beg of you to do, until I finally decide for or against. I am beleaguered by every kind of speculator in such things on your side of the water ; and it is very likely they would take the rooms over our heads — to charge us heavily for them — or would set on foot unheard-of devices for buying up the tickets, &c., if the probabm- ties oozed out. This is exactly how the case stands now, and I confide it to you within a couple of hours "LET DOLBY GO." 85 after having so far resolved. Dolby quite understands that he is to confide in you similarly, without a particle of reserve." I give these quotations to show the practical cha- racter the enterprise had now assumed, and with what prudence and care it was proposed to negotiate in America. The same care was taken in England in sounding the feelings of such friends and counsellors as Forster and Wills, who took widely different views of the project. "But on the question of my going to judge for myself they were unanimous. BOOK II. The American Tottr (1867-1868). CHAPTER IV. I GO TO AMERICA TO " PROSPECT " FOR THE CHIEF. JURING the period described . in the fore- going pages, besides looking after the interests of Messrs. Chappell so far as Mr. Dickens's Readings were concerned, I was occupied in several other matters in connection with catering for the amusement of the public, and was consequently brought into daily intercourse, not only with all the great artists — literary, musical, and dramatic — but with most of the responsible managers and leading speculators from all parts of the world. It is not surprising then, under these circumstances, that I should meet with proposals respecting Mr. Dickens's Readings; but more especially pressing MR. FIELDS' INVITATION. 87 were the invitations from the American managers, who, being fully aware of the success of the English Readings, were most anxious to " run " Mr. Dickens in the States. These proposals were from time to time mentioned to Mr. Dickens as a matter of form. They were, however, not entertained in the slightest degree, until the pressure became so great, that discussing the subject seriously with Mr. Dickens in a conversation held during one of our journeys towards the end of the last tour, I discovered that he might be disposed to rescind his decision " never again to visit America," provided I would take the matter in hand, and upon further inquiry and consideration could report that there were any reasonable prospects of success. I may be allowed to recapitulate here the circum- stances, to some extent already made public, which had awakened the American expectation that Mr. Dickens would revisit the States. Mr. Dickens had, in 1857, given Readings of the " Christmas Carol," at St. James's Hall, London, and in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, for the benefit of the "Jerrold Fund." The fame of these Readings spread everywhere, and was so great that Mr. Fields, of Boston, although he had never heard him read, sent an agent to England to negotiate with Mr. Dickens for a series of Readings in America, Mr. Fields being anxious that his country- men should participate in an enjoyment of which 88 CHARLES DICKENS. report spoke so favourably. Mr. Fields's deputy was cordially received by Mr. Dickens ; but after much consideration the scheme was deemed impracticable and abandoned, at all events for the time being. Notwithstanding this, however, proposals were con- stantly coming from America, so that, through the persistency with which our friends on the other side " kept it up," as the boys say, the subject was ever present in Mr. Dickens's mind. Then came pressing letters from Mr. Grau, of New York, whose successes with Madame Ristori and other great artists in America, had rendered him not only a rich, but a responsible man. He declared that if Mr. Dickens would but give him " one word of encouragement," he would make a voyage to England for the special purpose of making arrangements on most liberal terms for a series of Readings in the principal cities of America ; and further, that he would deposit in the hands of Messrs. Coutts and Co., Mr. Dickens's bankers, satisfactory bonds for the faithful execution of any agreement he and Mr. Dickens might enter into. Further, Fields returned to the charge, and on behalf of himself and several gentlemen of private means in Boston offered to guarantee £10,000, and bank the money in England. But the greatest pressure of all came from his desire to do his duty in promoting fhe interests of an already expensive family, and his wish to leave them after his death as free as possible from THE BELGIAN VOLUNTEERS. 89 monetary cares — could self-sacrifice have done it, he would have left them free from every kind of care. So one July morning, during a walk with myself across Hyde Park,, from the Great Western Station at Paddington, to the office, he resolved, that if I would make a voyage to America at once, to examine the field of operations, he would consider the matter practically. At that time, however, I was so busily engaged in making arrangements for the reception in England of the Belgian volunteers, that it was a matter of impos- sibility for me to start at once. It was by no means a small or easy task upon which I was then engaged. Two thousand of these " brave warriors " had accepted the invitation which had been extended to them, while the committee entrusted with the charge of enter- taining them had overlooked . the fact that this increase of the British family would have to be pro- vided with board and lodging. Banquets, balls, garden parties, reviews, parades, had all been provided for ; but up to the last moment no thought had been given to the more immediate wants and necessities of life or comfort, in the shape of bed and breakfast. The use of the Wellington Barracks, in St. James's Park (then not occupied by the Guards), had been granted by the War Office. Lodging would thus have been fully provided for all the men — or such of them as had no personal friends in London to whom they could go — but for the fact, that within the barracks there was 90 CHARLES DICKENS. not an article of furniture left (except a few iron bed- steads), and no cooking appliances save the stoves and grates. The War Office, however, endeavoured partially to meet this difficulty by offering the com- mittee as much bed-iicking, ready made up for stuffing, as they might require. This idea of " stuffing " beds so overcame the committee — two thousand to provide for and nothing but " ticks " ! each to be " stuffed," singly and separately ; no blankets, no bolsters, and no sheets, to say nothing of victuals ! — that they declined the generous offer ; and looking round for a man upon whom they could throw the whole responsibility of housing and breakfasting the invited, they selected me only three days before the guests were due. So far as actual arrangements were concerned, however, a couple of days sufficed for my purpose, after which I was despatched to Antwerp. With me I had a staff of clerks travelling in saloon carriages on each side of the Channel, to make out billets en route and distribute them to the men on their arrival in the troopship Serapis, which had been placed at the disposal of the committee by the Admiralty, at Gravesend. Before leaving Antwerp an unforeseen difficulty arose. The Belgian Commander-in-Chief, Colonel Gregoire, and his staff were mislaid. He had been seen in Antwerp early on the morning of depar- ture galloping hither and thither, backwards and forwards, apparently without any fixed intent ; but THEIR RUFFIANLY CONDUCT. 91 when the moment for embarkation arrived, the staff, commander and all, were missing ; and as an army becomes a disorderly mob without a commander, so the noble Belgians behaved themselves in the most ruffia,nly manner on board the Serapis. The Admiralty had provided a plentiful supply of excellent provisions, yet it might have been supposed that we wanted to starve these warriors, who acted more like savages than trained and disciplined men. When the dinner hour was announced a general stampede took place, and in less than five minutes not a vestige of food was to be found on the tables. Men were seen seated on the floor gnawing at legs of mutton, roast or boiled; ducks and fowls were devoured without knife or fork touching them ; " sea-pies " were clawed and mawled to pieces, and the fragments were thrown out of the port-holes — dishes, spoons, knives, forks, and alL The whole scene was like a bear-pit, and it was a matter of regret to every one, except the volunteers themselves, that the sea was too calm to punish the stomachs of the voyagetirs. Nor was the scene less disgraceful as night closed in. The blankets which the Admiralty with a great deal of forethought had served in abundance were, on being distributed, almost torn to pieces by the men, who by this time had begun to feel the effects of the English beer which had been but too generously supplied to them ; and so, as midnight approached, they sank down one by 92 CHARLES DICKENS. one, and lay, like heroes, " where they fell," breaking the stillness of the night with the grunts and mut- terings of nightmai-e. Wrapped in their blankets, with their faces made ghastly by the light of a pale summer moon, they looked like corpses, each wrapped in its own winding sheet. When we arrived at Grayesend, at the invitation of the commander. Captain Soady, I remained on the ship to luncheon ; but such had been the orgies of the distinguished foreigners, that it was with difficulty that sufficient food could be collected to make a meal for the captain and his officers and guests. At Gravesend the visitors were received by the committee, and the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London, and a complete flotilla of penny steamboats. Here, despite the precautions to ensure order, the committee and corporation got mixed, and the wrong volunteers got into the wrong steamer — those who were billeted in the neighbourhood of Westminster Bridge being landed at London Bridge, and those who ought to have been landed at Blackfriars, in the neighbour- hood of De Keyser's Hotel, were taken on to Battersea and Cremorne ; the result being scenes of indescrib- able confusion, and an amount of bewilderment to the foreigners such as they will never forget. These incidents, which have little or nothing to do with the subject matter of this book, would not have been mentioned here but for the purpose of showing • THE MANAGER'S INSTRUCTIONS. 93 under what pressure I was labouring in one quarter alone at the time Mr. Dickens desired me to depart, and how impossible it was for me to leave England immediately to " prospect " for the tour in America. Arrangements were however made for my departure for Boston on the 3rd of August, in the Cunard steamer Java, then under the command of Ca:ptain Moodie, one of my dearest and most valued friends, who died, at his house in Birkenhead, in the summer of 1881, regretted, beloved, and respected by all who knew him. It may be as well to state that my instructions were simply to judge for myself as to the adaptability of the halls in the States for reading purposes^ and, if pos- sible, to ascertain, from observations on the spot, to what extent the Readings were likely to be a success.' There was no anxiety whatever about public feeling in America, and the "American Notes" and "Martin Chuzzlewit " had no more to do with Mr. Dickens's calculations than if they had never been written. The visit to America, or a decision to remain in England for another tour, which had been already planned, depended solely upon the report I might .make. For as the Presidential Election would take place in the autumn of the following year, it was deemed advisable that if the enterprise were to be undertaken, it should be in the coming winter, or not at all ; but so much had' been said and written to Mr. Dickens on the subject, 94 CHARLES DICKENS. that he had determined on settling the question of his going or not for himself, and the only way to settle it, to his mind, was to adopt the course he pursued ; resolving, as he did so, that, in the event of the report being satisfactory, he would not accept any of the tempting offers then before him, but go on his own account, thus leaving himself unfettered and untram- melled by any consideration other than his own convenience. Up to this time I had never visited America, and, although glad of the opportunity of so doing, especially under such conditions, the responsibility of the position was so great, that, what otherwise might have been regarded as a pleasure trip, became a matter of great anxiety. This anxiety was, however, to a certain extent, dispelled by the kindness of the passengers in the ^ava. Mr. Dickens, always thoughtful and considerate, determined to accompany me as far as Liverpool, and so great was his anxiety for my personal comfort and safety, and his curiosity as to the class of vessels then crossing the Atlantic, that he had, immediately we ar- rived in Liverpool the day before sailing, an irresistible desire to see the Java. This being impracticable at. the time, as the vessel was lying in the Sloyne, some two miles above Liverpool, an excursion was made to the Canada Dock, on the chance of there being some " Cunarders " lying there ; and, although he was very ill at the time, suffering from erysipelas in the foot, he THE MANAGER'S DEPARTURE. 95 insisted on carrying, out his idea in order to satisfy his mind that everything was likely to be all right. He had crossed the Atlantic in the Cunard sailing vessel Britannia, then commanded by Captain Hewett, twenty- five years previously, and he might have been a little curious to see how far the company had improved their vessels, and what effect a screw steamer would have on him if he decided on crossing. The following morning he accompanied me on board the steamer, and the interest he took in all the details of the departure was most amusing. He examined everything, even to the little bunk in the state-room, as if it had been a bed at Gad's' Hill, to see that it was comfortable. It was the season of the year when Americans return home after their European tours, and the Java had a full complement of passengers. As the greater portion of them were Bostonians, Mr. Dickens was speedily recognized ; and his lameness, which caused him to walk with a stick, having, attracted attention, many were the offers, during the short trip to the Sloyne on the tug, of a deck chair, or a seat relinquished by ladies, for his convenience. There was a hope amongst the passengers that Mr. Dickens would cross the Atlantic with them, and great was the disappointment when it was found such was not to be the case, for the Boston people dearly loved him, and seemed to regard him as a part of themselves. The moment of departure 96 CHARLES DICKENS. arrived, and after a most affectionate leave-taking between Mr. Dickens and njyself, with a repetition of the sole instruction I had for the journey embraced in three words — "judge for yourself" — there came a general shaking of hands between him and my fellow- passengers ; and, with the heartfelt wishes of all for his speedy recovery from his lameness, the tug bore him away back to Liverpool, leaving me, for the first time in my experience, to my meditations on an Atlantic steamer — outward bound ; a loneliness which, however, I was not suffered long to feel. That they had seen Mr. Dickens himself on the steamer was to the minds of the passengers conclusive evidence that he would read in America;' and in their anxiety to do him honour, they vied one with another, in the cheeriest manner, in making the voyage as pleasant as possible to his representative ; and upon this voyage I formed many friendships among our " cousins," which still exist in all their cordiality. On the tenth day from Liverpool (August 13th) at about 6 A.M., we steamed into the harbour of Halifax, in Nova Scotia. The firing of the saluting cannon and the stopping of the screw caused everybody to get up to take a glimpse oi terra firma, and very well worth the trouble of an early rise it was. It took a good hour to get the ship up to her wharf — where a curious medley of persons had congregated. The Java was a day over- HALIFAX. 97 due, having encountered some westerly gales in the latter part of the voyage to Halifax, and the signal gun had awakened the population of the little place. As we neared the wharf, English military officers in undress uniforms, and naval officers belonging to our own navy, were mingling with several officers belonging to a Russian monitor, which had encountered a gale of wind in the Bay of Fundy, on its way from Boston to some port in the Black Sea. This ironclad, which on the termination of the war had been sold to the Russians by the American Government, was as ugly a looking craft as it is possible to conceive, and had behaved so badly, nearly foundering in the bay, and knocking some of her men senseless with fright because they had to live below in perpetual darkness, that her commander had refused to take her any farther, and was now standing on the quay. Here, too, were lands- men of every kind and description, from officials in the employ of Mr. William Cunard — then representing the Cunard Company in Halifax — down to negroes and negresses. The heat was tropical, and though it had not in- convenienced us at sea, when the steamer stopped it became painful, even at that early hour of the morn- ing. Everybody wore white trousers (even the English General in command of the troops stationed there, who had honoured the arrival of the Java with his pre- sence), and those who were not in naval or military 8 98 CHARLES DICKENS. uniform also wore white Panama hats and white cotton suits, the whole forming a coup d'ceil of the most picturesque description. ' The mail cart, with sluggish-looking mules harnessed to it, was there to receive the mail bags. The mail agent, who all the voyage had been engaged with his assistant in sorting the letters, went ashore in his best uniform, and, taking a carriage, followed the mail cart at a short distance to the Post Office. The mails being landed, and the mail agent having been got rid of, the passengers who wished so to do were allowed to go ashore, and the shore people allowed to board the ship to see the remainder of the passengers from England take an early breakfast in the saloon — a privilege they availed themselves of very freely ; for in those days (and that seventeen years ago) only one "Cunarder" a fortnight went into Halifax (though none go there now), and whether she arrived there in the early morning or late at night there was always the same public interest. The business of the ship — unloading cargo, taking in fresh provisions, fruit, butter, &c., for the remaining two days of the voyage to Boston — demanded a stay at Halifax of some six or seven hours, during which time nearly all the passengers went ashore ; and very extraordinary and amusing were the sights that presented themselves. High change was being held in the market-place, and evidently there had been not only a great fruit season FRUIT AND LOBSTERS. 99 in Nova Scotia, but a most extraordinary "take" of lobsters as well. All the merchants seemed (when not smoking, chewing, or spitting) to be eating raspberries, strawberries, melons, peaches, or lobsters. Peaches were selling at 10 cents (5d.) a bushel, and other fruits at a proportionately low rate. Lobsters — large ones — were 5 cents (Zjd.) each, or 60 cents (2s. 6d.) for a wheelbarrow full. Nobody seemed to eat anything but the claws of the crustaceans, for the bodies were lying about in all directions; everybody was eating some- thing and throwing something else away, while the debris of peach stones, lobster bodies, claw shells, and melon rinds was far from improving either to the boots or dresses of the elegantly-attired lady passengers of the Java. Amongst the passengers on the ship were two Nova Scotians with their families (one of whom was an alderman, and the other a town councillor — most agreeable companions and excellent men), who, neglecting their own private affairs for some little time after their arrival, did the honours of Halifax to a select few of the new acquaintances they had made upon the voyage, and showed them all that there was to be seen in the place, which, however, did not amount to very much ; but, as I had the privilege of being included among the select, I can only pay tribute to the intention with which the hospitality of the place was offered — a hospitality which doubtless would TOO CHARLES DICKENS. have been very acceptable to every one had there been more time to enjoy it, but, as " time and tide wait for no man," a return to the ship and an early lunch were indispensable (except fruit and lobsters there seemed to be no available food in Halifax, and not even a good hotel). Aboard the jfava, a deputation of such of the municipality as could be got together awaited me, their object being to request that, in the event of Mr. Dickens visiting America, he would break his voyage at Halifax and give a Reading there. Money was no object, and if I would but give a promise that their wishes in this respect should be fulfilled, they would " plank " any sum that I might name before the Java left the port, or, if preferred, lodge it in the hands of Mr. William Cunard. Thanking the deputation and my friends, the alderman and councillor, for their good intentions, I told them that, in the then uncertain state of affairs, it was impossible for me to give any promise; and so, after several bottles of champagne had been disposed of, and a great deal of handshaking and " God-speeding " had been got through, the depu- tation withdrew, and the jfava, pursued her headlong course through the Bay of Fundy to the " Hub of the Universe" — as Boston is familiarly called. I may here remark that the Russian Admiral had not nearly " worn out the gale," but had left behind him a much larger quantity for the J^ava passengers than they expected or desired. THE BOSTON PILOT. loi The good ship was first-rate at rolling on the Atlantic in a gale, but she went through entirely new motions and gambols in the Bay of Fundy, rendering the 14th August, 1867, a remarkably disagreeable day to all, but notably so to the ladies. The next day, however (the day of arrival in Boston), was all that could be wished, or would have been so, perhaps, had the mercury in the thermometer been a trifle lower, for when the steamer " lay to " some hours before reaching Boston to receive the pilot, the heat had become almost in- tolerable. This shipping of the pilot caused great excite- ment. Immediately the pilot-boat was sighted some miles ahead bets were offered and taken as to her number, whether the pilot would put his left or his right foot first on the deck, and whether he would wear a tall hat, or a black satin waistcoat, or both, or neither. Such bets were not " square," as in those days the pilots always wore the articles of costume mentioned. Then the pilot-boat came up, the pilot stepped on board (looking pretty much like an undertaker), walked straight up to the bridge without even saying " good morning " to the officers awaiting to receive him on the gangway, but paying Captain Moodie the compliment of saluting him ; and when he reached the bridge proceeded straight to business, which was to take the ship to her wharf at East Boston. The solemnity with which he conducted this I02 CHARLES DICKENS. part of the task had something very comical about it. The ship had been under weigh again but a few moments when the pilot seemed to have forgotten something, and, hailing a passenger with a familiar " Say ! " felt in his pockets and produced a huge bundle of the latest Boston and New York papers, which he threw carelessly amongst a group of pas- sengers to be scrambled for — producing an effect more resembling a " scrap " in a game of football than the action of a lot of sober citizens returning to their homes after the holidays. But of this the pilot took not the slightest notice. On this day at noon the Java was on her- best behaviour, and so she ought to have been, for she was dressed in her best bunting. She steamed grandly into the Bay of Boston, and for the first time I saw the American flag in its native air, beautiful in its sim- plicity, floating proudly over a fort. Delightful as the voyage had been, with every augury of success before -ne in the kindness displayed by my fellow-passengers, the moment had arrived for immediate action, and there before me lay the mother city, as it were, of future success or failure, and I had determined it should be one or other entirely. The greater number of the passengers were busy with their own affairs in preparing to leave the ship, pack- ing up their state-room boxes, travelling bags, and valises, paying wine bills (on that voyage some of them "WHICH IS DOLBY?" 103 were of rather inordinate amounts), giving gratuities to state-room and saloon stewards, and putting on " shore clothes " to meet the friends awaiting them upon the wharf. While this was going on I was left compara- tively to myself, feeling almost a stranger in a strange land, leaning over the rail on the lower bridge, thinking of home and the dear ones there, and of the many kind friends left behind ; speculating, too, on the chances of success in the great task before me, and gazing all the while on the flag, be it confessed, with a lump in my throat. These and other thoughts were crowding through my brain, when suddenly the ship's cannon was discharged as a salutation to the flag at which I had been so intently gazing, a discharge that was fired from a port-hole immediately underneath the point where I was standing ! My first idea was that I had suddenly become a nonentity, and next that America, or certainly that part of it known as Boston Harbour, had exploded and " gone up ; " both ideas, however, were dispelled by the cheery voices of the doctor and purser who were standing by, and the inquiry of, " How's that, Dolby ? " — a question which I was totally unable to answer (not so much as know- ing at first what it was) until the doctor had taken me below and administered a dose of brandy " cocktail." Going on deck again, there was more excitement, for the Custom House tender was coming alongside with Judge Russell and his staff of officers, some of whom 104 CHARLES DICKENS. became intimate friends of both Mr. Dickehs and my- self during the Boston campaign undertaken later on. These gentlemen were received by their friends on board in a cordial manner, and their first inquiry was, "Which is Dolby?" "Dolby" was not difficult to find, and having been formally introduced by a fellow-passenger (Mr. Howse, of Boston), an adjournment was made to the saloon, where a welcome to America was tendered in their own names and that of the Boston citizens and my fellow-passengers on the voyage. A message was moreover sent to me from Mr. Fields and his firm to the effect that they were waiting for me on the wharf to give me — as the representative of my chief — a fitting welcome ; and Judge Russell further intimated that the hospitality of the Customs Department allowed my baggage to pass without examination, a privilege that many of the passengers on board doubtless wished had been extended to them, as, at that time, the duties on foreign goods were almost prohibitive, and the well- stocked trunks with Parisian and London novelties in articles of dress and jewellery were a source of many a pang to the heart and spasm to the pocket of the generous paterfamilias, or loving and confiding husband, who seemed to think, when he got into the clutches of the Custom House officers in his native land, that coming home after a pleasant voyage was not so funny after all. Much correspondence had taken place between Mr. ARRIVAL AT BOSTON. 105 Dickens and Mr. Fields on the subject of the Readings in America, as has been already mentioned ; and, al- though I had never before seen Mr. Fields or any of the partners of his firm, the letter of introduction sent to that gentleman by post the week prior to the sailing of the Java announcing my coming, was of such a character as to prevent any constraint or raise any doubts as to the nature of my reception ; and the kindly greetings on the steamer, while yet some dis- tance from the landing-place, justified me in my anti- cipations. As the steamer neared the wharf I could not help speculating and conjecturing in my own mind as to which among all the crowd of well-dressed people as- sembled there was Fields. Everybody on shore and on the steamer seemed to be waving handkerchiefs, and I settled it in my own mind that those who were not waving handkerchiefs would be the representatives of the firm of Ticknor and Fields, arguing, at the same time, that the fact of my not waving a handkerchief would point out to the firm that I was the Dolby they were expecting — forgetting entirely that the firm had other friends in the steamer than myself who were more worthy, in their estimation, of the white cambric salute than I might be. All was confusion on the shore. People were rushing about ; some shouting themselves hoarse in the vain endeavour to send a message to the ship in the form of io6 CHARLES DICKENS. the ridiculous inquiry whether " so-and-so " had been sea-sick ; others asking whether " so-and-so " had been seen in Paris or Rome ; in fabt, all sorts of ques- tions hurtled through the air that might have been kept for a more convenient time, and certainly until the Java had made up her mind to behave herself, either by being obedient to her commander in going where he wanted her to go, or by not making such a bellowing with her steam-pipe as to prevent the people on shore and the passengers on the ship from hearing anybody say anything. In all this confusion and noise it was impossible to make out anything, and it was only after a lot of tugging and hauling, and a lot of nautical shouting and apostrophizing, that ih.Q. Java was brought along- side and made fast to the wharf. Then I was brought face to face with my new friends, James T. Fields, Howard Ticknor, and James R. Osgood, who repre- sented the firm, and who did their best by their kindly welcome to make me feel at home. All preliminaries having been got through agreeably and satisfactorily, there came many injunctions from my late fellow-passengers to the firm to use their best endeavours to " get Dolby to induce Dickens to come out," injunctions that were quite unnecessary to them, for they had been working on the idea for several months previously, being most desirous to have Mr. Dickens once more amongst them, for his presence in A BOSTON DINNER. 107 America was calculated to give an additional value to his works, the only authorized American edition of which was published by Messrs. Ticknor and Fields. Moreover, there was a faint hope that his visit might lead to the much-desired International Copyright Act. Arrived at the Parker House Hotel I prepared for an early dinner at which I was to present my credentials, and at the same time to hand over the MS. of a new story, the " Holiday Romance," which Mr. Dickens had written for Messrs. Ticknor and Fields. It is needless to say that the dinner was a most enjoyable one, not only on account of the cordiality of my hosts, but also on account of the novelty of the dishes. " Gumbo " soup, " sheep's head," fish, stewed terrapin, " grass " birds, "Reed" birds and "peeps," yams, sweet potatoes, and "green corn " — the latter a most delicious vegetable which I soon learned to gnaw off the " cob." At this dinner the future plan of action was decided upon, and as I was consigned to the firm, I had no hesitation in accepting the proffered services of Mr. James R. Osgood as travelling companion, on the tour of inspection I had undertaken. This arrangement was an inestimable advantage to me, inasmuch as Mr. Osgood was, and is, one of the most popular men in ;America. It was decided that the remainder of the week should be devoted to resting after the voyage, and only such operations should be io8 CHARLES DICKENS. carried on as involved sight-seeing and making the ac- quaintance of the many distinguished literary men and artists of Boston. Most of them were absent, however, at their various places of resort during the holiday season. Fields himself was supposed to be in New Hampshire ; Professor Longfellow was at his beautiful retreat at Nantucket ; Professor Agassiz was somewhere, nobody knew where, but wherever he was everybody supposed he was pursuing some scientific research for the benefit of his fellow-man. Mr. James Russell Lowell was somewhere in Europe, and other notabilities were " some- where else ; " so that the literary family of Boston, so far as the celebrities were concerned, was considerably dispersed; still there were left behind such worthy representatives as Mr. Emerson, and the no less worthy and distinguished Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, to both of whom I speedily had the pleasure of an in- troduction. There were lesser planets, also in Boston, ready and willing to contribute to my personal enjoy- ment, amongst whom may be mentioned Donald Mitchell ("Ike Marvel "), Mr. Aldrich, the " Bad Boy," and author of several most charming poems, and Henry Clapp, the man who said the funniest things imaginable (for which ArtemusWard got the credit). To judge by the expressed opinion of these men of experience, there was no need to have any doubt, cer- tainly so far as Boston was concerned, as to the success of the Readings ; and the only thing to be done there THE TREMONT TEMPLE. 109 was to find a suitable hall or theatre in which to give them. Accordingly the various halls and theatres had to be inspected ; the first to engage our attention being called the " Music Hall," in which is erected the finest and largest organ — next, perhaps, to the one at Haarlem — in the world. This hall is a magnificent one, but much too large for Reading purposes, albeit for musical entertainments it is perfection. The Boston Theatre was next visited, and the same drawbacks, only in an exaggerated form, presented themselves ; for Drury Lane or Covent Garden Theatre in London could easily be placed inside of this one, and with space enough left to admit of a good-sized audience as well. As far as the principal theatre and the principal hall were concerned there was nothing to be done but give them up as being unsuitable for the purpose, or take them and ruin the enterprise by reducing the number of Readings in Boston, each of which would, be given at a disadvantage. There was another hall capable of holding a large number of people, but everybody said it was old- fashioned — that nobody would go to it since the Music Hall had been built, and everybody doubted if Boston could be induced to go to it even to hear Charles Dickens. This hall had to be seen, however, and it was seen ; and, in my estimation, possessed all the requisites necessary for the success of the business in no CHARLES DICKENS. hand. It was called the Tremont Temple ; it held over two thousand people, and the seats were so arranged, on a gradually rising floor, that every one in the house had a good view of the platform, and would be able not only to hear distinctly, but also to enjoy all the facial effects of the reader, without which Mr. Dickens's Readings would lose so much. Fashion then had to be sacrificed, for I at once decided that no other place in Boston than the Tremont Temple would suit the purpose ; a decision that did not turn out very erratic, when it is considered that twenty Readings in all were given in this hall within five months, with an average receipt of $3,000 each Reading. The Globe Theatre, then in course of construction, was one of the handsomest and most elegant theatres in the world. There was always a good stock company there, and when Mr. Dickens could get an evening to himself in Boston it was his habit to spend it in this theatre. In the great Boston fire of 1872 this charming theatre was destroyed, but it has since been rebuilt in, if possible, a more costly and more lavish style than before its destruction. Boston being disposed of for the present — so far as the purpose of my visit was concerned — arrangements were made for "the road;" and in a few days Mr. Osgood and myself were on the " tramp," but not before Boston had endeared itself to me so much as to cause me ever after to look upon it as my American NANTUCKET. in home ; and to the present day I regard it as such, not- withstanding that many dear and valued friends have " gone over to the majority " since I was last there. Before starting on the journey I had one pleasure, without which a visit to Boston would indeed have been incomplete. I went to Nantucket to see Long- fellow. He was not in good health at the time, and a letter had been received from him, expressing his regret at " not being able to travel to Boston to pay his respects to Dickens through his representative." Ac- cordingly, on a bright summer's day, I repaired to his house in company with Messrs. Fields and Osgood. This was the first railway journey I had taken in the States. I must confess that the travelling did not strike me as being very comfortable. In those days there was but one class and fare, everybody paying at the same rate. The Pullman system had not then been brought to its present state of perfection, at least for the short routes. At this time all classes travelled together in a long car, built to carry fifty-two passengers : there were thirteen seats on each side (with reversible backs to seat two persons each ; and a broad passage-way ran up the centre to a door at each end, giving the traveller an opportunity of walking the whole length of the train. At each end of the car was a stove, kept almost at a red heat during the winter months ; on the opposite side to the stove was a tank of iced water, a great luxury in hot weather ; for the dust at that time 113 CHARLES DICKENS. is terribly troublesome, as it comes in in clouds with the restlessly peripatetic dealers in newspapers, books, pamphlets, ivory pincushions, " pop corn," who give the traveller really no peace of mind on his journey, and make him long for its termination. Nantucket is a beautiful spot, and the position of Mr. Longfellow's place was worthy of its owner. The house (standing in its own grounds, which sloped gradually to the sea) is built somewhat in the Swiss style — and covered with Virginia creeper and wistaria — having verandah and balconies all around it over- looking the sea, on which Miss Longfellow's boat was riding jauntily, ready to convey its owner on an ex- cursion. On the arrival of the carriage at the house, the party were received by Mr. Longfellow and his daughter ; the dear old poet, bareheaded and looking like a veritable patriarch with his beautiful long white hair streaming in the balmy afternoon breeze. After a hearty welcome from himself and his daughter, we took a walk round the grounds, and then a repast at which was served some of the much-coveted "soft-shell crab" then in perfection. The interest taken by Mr. Longfellow in the idea that Mr. Dickens would read in America gave every one sincere pleasure. I had to answer questions as to every detail of Mr. Dickens's health, whether his mode of life was at all altered since Mr. Longfellow visited Gad's Hill, and all sorts of inquiries about Miss THE LITERARY SHOP-BOY. 113 Dickens and Miss Hogarth, and every member of the family, the servants, and even the horses, dogs, and birds. Before leaving, I had charge of all kinds of affectionate messages to my chief, added to the strictest injunctions and vs^arnings as to the inadvisa- bility of my ever showing my face again in Boston, at any future time after my return to England, except to announce that Dickens was coming over. Mr.' Longfellow has been so often described, and his portrait is so familiar to the public all over the civilized world, that any lengthened description of him is quite unnecessary. Suffice it to say that in appearance he was as unlike a poet, or the accepted ideal of what a poet should be like, as man could possibly be. Speak- ing of this on the return journey. Fields told a story which will bear repeating here. Ticknor and Fields had engaged the services of a new shop-boy, a regular New England lad. On one occasion, when the other members of the establishment being away at their midday meal, this lad was left in charge of the store, a white-haired gentleman entered and inquired, " Is Mr. Fields within ? " " Guess he ain't," replied the boy, without looking up from the book which he was reading. The gentleman modestly inquired if the boy could give him any idea when " Mr. Fields was likely to be in." As the boy "guessed he couldn't," and manifested symptoms of impatience at being disturbed in his reading, the gentleman requesting the boy to "kindly Q 114 CHARLES DICKENS. give that to Mr. Fields on his return," handed him a card. The boy stared at the card with the utmost indifference for a moment, but when his retina had clearly defined the words upon the card, " Professor Longfellow," he jumped off his office-stool, and, staring hard at the' owner of the card, said : " Say, old man ! do you mean to say you are really Longfellow ? " Mr. Longfellow assured him that such was the fact; the boy replied, in a half-soliloquy, " Wall ! I wouldn't have thought it ! " adding in louder tones, " Now, how old was you when you wrote ' Evangeline' ? that's, what I want to know." Having been satisfied on this point, he proceeded with his reading, leaving the visitor, more amused than angry, to find the way out of the store as best he could. Having enjoyed the rest in Boston, Mr. Osgood and I started on our tour. The places to be visited included New York and iijtervening cities, as far south as Wash- ington ; but as the war had terminated not long before, and matters financially were in a very troubled state, the- people were indisposed to patronize amusements, so we decided that it would be useless to go further south. To the westward we were to go as far as Chicago, if necessary calling at the intermediate cities, and arrangements were made to visit the smaller cities in the New England States. After many adieux of the friendliest kind — generally taking the form of " Good-bye, old man ; come back A FLOATING PALACE. 115 soon, and bring Dickens with you ! " — we travelled as far as New York, on the " Bristol Route," the plea- santest of journeys in summer, for only some three or four hours were spent in the train, the rest in one of tljose extraordinary floating palaces of steamboats. The steamer that conveyed us from the railway station, or " dep6t," at Bristol (Mass.), was an enormous "three decker," looking like a private hotel on a large scale. The main deck resembled a noble entrance-hall to a house, and was well carpeted with a thick velvet-pile carpet. Round this hall, and approached by a wide staircase — also carpeted, and having massive walnut wood banisters and balustrades — ran balconies. From these balconies passages led to the state-rooms, which were furnished in the most elegant style, some of them even having great " four posters " of carved oak. Then there were other balconies outside the vessel, where again were other state-rooms, most comfortable in hot weather. Below were hot and cold haths, barbers' shops, cigar and newspaper stands, book-stalls, and hosiery, estab- lishments. The saloons and retiring-rooms — not forgetting the drinking bars, where everything, from a bottle of ■champagne to a cocktail and " eye opener," could be ■obtained — were all fitted in a costly manner ; while the restaurant department would have done credit to the largest hotel on shore. The inevitable nigger, too, in ii6 CHARLES DICKENS. the white cotton suit, making the most attentive and amusing of waiters. A walk on deck, in the enjoyment of a cigar after supper, the liveliest of compagnons de voyage, and some- times songs, glees, and madrigals, filled up the tiipe until the hour for " turning in " arrived. There is a very mixed class, though, on these steamers, and with all the vigilance of the detectives, who are con- stantly travelling to and fro, robberies do sometimes occur. It is imprudent to go to sleep without first making the door of the state-room safe. If this pre- caution be not taken, especially in the outside rooms — one of which Mr. Osgood and I conjointly occupied — the passenger must not be astonished if, on dressing in the morning, he finds that some ingeniou§ hotel or steamboat thief "has gone through his pockets." This very nearly happened to us, for on nearing New York, at an early hour in the morning, I awoke, with an impression strong upon me, that some one was trying to push down the little green jalousie blind in front of the state-room window, which we had left open during the hot summer's night. Silent observation soon showed that my impression was not ill-founded ; so, reaching out for a bundle of sticks and umbrellas, and placing them, as noiselessly as possible, within reach, I feigned to be asleep, and waited patiently until Mr. Hotel Sneak should have succeeded in letting down the blind. This he soon accomplished, and a long arm FIRST GLIMPSE OF NEW YORK. 117 appeared, feeling at the sides of the room where the clothes were supposed to be hanging up. A smart rap with the umbrellas and sticks, over the intrusive wrist, and a howl of pain and disappointment from the out- side, had the effect of awakening Mr. Osgood from his slumbers ; but he, on being informed as to the cause of the noise, merely remarked, " Oh, it's only a watch collector ! " and proceeded to finish his night's rest. As it was then about six in the morning, I took advan- tage of the " early call " — so unceremoniously given — to get up, take a walk on deck, and catch my first glimpse of New York City, and its beautiful harbour, of which I had heard so much. The sun was shining brilliantly, and, as it was Sunday, the ships at the wharves were displaying their best bunting, in honour of the day. What a sight the city presents under these circumstances ! Flags of every nationality, streaming out in bold relief against the clear blue sky, which gives a power and tone to the bright colours that no other sky in the world (in my experience) can produce. The city looked as if it were fast asleep, but it was not — and never is ! The New Yorker is ever on the alert, for business or pleasure, and this being a pleasure day, as all Sundays are in New York, the streets were found, even at that early hour in the morning, to be quite alive with people hurrying to meet a steamer, or to catch a train in Jersey City, or elsewhere, to carry them off to the pretty country around Englefield, or some other ii8 CHARI^ES DICKENS. equally charming spot, or to take them up the famed Hudson River — one of the most beautiful in the world. The steamer was brought to at the wharf, as quietly as if she had a fear of waking up her living freight, most of whom were fast asleep, and, in some cases, snoring, in the comfortable state-rooms ; for on these vessels the passenger can remain in his room as long as his inclination dictates, and when he does get up, he has all the luxury of an hotel to fly to for his creature comforts. Mr. Osgood, with his usual consideration, sacrificed his own comfort, and was up betimes to conduct me to our hotel on Broadway — the " Metropolitan " — of which, as being a fair specimen of an American hotel, conducted on American principles, I had heard so much. Though we arrived here at the early hour of eight in the morning, everything was in full swing, the hotel being as busy at that hour as an English hotel at mid-, day ; for, on entering the, breakfast-room, there were some sixty or seventy persons partaking of their morn- ing meal. Mr. Osgood had his own house in New York, and it was only to gratify a whim on my part that I was allowed to put up at the " Metropolitan." There was another reason, however, for my staying there, inasmuch as a distinguished member of Congress, who was also a newspaper proprietor in New York, made this hotel his home, and with this gentleman Mr. Dickens had made an agreement to write the original BROADWAY NOT QUITE THE THING. ii^ story with the manuscript of which, as I have already- said, I was entrusted. For " George Silverman's Ex' planation," the sum of ;fi,ooo (gold) was to be paid on the delivery of the MS. Inquiries made in Boston as to the status of the paper and its proprietor, led to the suspicion that it would be as well not to part with the story except on the strictest business principles ; so, in order to give the member of Congress a fair chance in this respect, and to see the workings of one of the largest American hotels, Mr. Osgood's kind invitation to stay with him was declined. To what extent I was successful with the Congressman will be seen later on. Left to myself, in the early part of the day I took a turn in the streets of New York, and, be it confessed, was greatly disappointed with their general appearance* notably with that of the far-famed Broadway. Its style of architecture, or rather its absence of style, gave it a kind of "higgledy-piggledy" look. Mr. Dickens described it as "a sort of elongated New Cut." The pavements were horribly laid, no two stones having, apparently, been set by the same man ; or, if they had been, that man must have had very crude or very advanced ideas of the art of levelling. The c"arriage road was worse than the pavement, or " side walk," as it is locally termed. Here were to be found large holes, which gave one the impression that the stones had, at some time, been required for a particular purpose other than that of road-making, and that those in the road- 120 CHARLES DICKENS. way, being the readiest to hand, had been summarily appropriated. These holes gave the most disagreeable wrenches to carriage-springs, to say nothing of the discomfort of the people "enjoying" the drive; and this is the more to be regretted as the carriages in New York City, both public and private, are of the most luxurious and elegant description — and so they ought to be, for they are dear enough ! But nobody ever thinks of expense in New York; only give the people what they want, and they will pay anything for it in the most ungrudging manner ; but offer them what they do not want, and your dearest friend will avoid you. There is no poverty visible in New York, or any other American city, and a beggar in the streets is compara- tively unknown ; everybody is well dressed, in the best of materials, and it is a marvel where all the money comes from to support so much luxury as is everywhere to be met with. At the time of which I am writing — just after the war — gold was at thirty-nine per cent, premium and everything except articles of food was excessively dear. A hat cost (in English money) £3 ; a great coat, or a morning or dress suit, £10 to £x2 ; a pair of walk- ing boots, £4, and everything else in proportion. At Delmonico's Restaurant, and at the other first-class establishments of the same kind, a glass of brandy cost two shillings ; and a carriage drive of, say three miles, would cost as much as £x ; but, with all these draw- backs, elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen were to A GOOD DEAL OF TROTTING. 121 be seen driving about as if the charges were as moderate as in European cities. The excessive charges for car- riage driving may be due, in a measure, to the tramcar system, which is as cheap as the other is expensive, five cents (ajd.) being the charge for any distance, long or short ; but even this has its drawbacks, in the way the cars are overloaded, there being no regulation of the number of passengers. In the Central Park, which is too familiar to need description, no one is allowed to ride or drive at a higher rate of speed than five or six miles an hour; and, as the possession of a fast trotting-horse and " buggy " is much coveted by the wealthy inhabitants of New York, this prohibition renders a public road — where the owner of the " mare and buggy " can test the quality of his cattle — a necessity. Outside the park there is a long, straight, and wide road, where the New Yorker, as soon as he reaches it, lets his horse "go." Here disported themselves the late Commo- dore Vanderbilt, and other distinguished patrons of the turf, with their fast trotters, ready for a race with any one worthy of a tussle ; and many were the collisions generally resulting in the collapse, or " fold- ing-up," of one or more buggies, while the occupants were considered fortunate if nothing more serious happened to them. This road is the resort on Sun- day afternoons of the elite of New York society, who linger about on the long steps, or in the verandahs 122 CHARLES DICKENS of the many restaurants at each side, the tout ensemble presenting a scene of animation . and vivacity far ex- ceeding anything of the kind either in the Bois de Boulogne, in Paris, or in Hyde Park. Returning to the city from the park, through the fashionable quarters of the Fifth Avenue, and the squares in its neighbour- hood, I had reason to change my opinion respecting the street architecture of New York City (judging it, as I had done, from a Broadway point of view), for here is nothing but order and regularity in the arrangement of the streets, this part of the city being as unlike that part of Broadway from Castle Garden to Union Square as is Lancaster Gate to the purlieus of the New Cut. It was arranged that we should get to work early next morning to obtain the opinipns of the leading literary men and politicians then in New York. This enterprise promised a mixture of sentiments and ideas almost inexhaustible. New York City being regarded as the test place, by reason of the variety of opinion which prevails there. The first person we sought was Horace Greeley, then editor of the " New York Tri- bune," whose opinion — based upon his knowledge of the country and its people, on the one hand, and his admiration and personal affection for Mr. Dickens, on the other — rendered him the most fitting authority on so important an enterprise as the second visit of Charles Dickens to America. His reception of Mr. Osgood and myself was most cordial — that is, for him, WE INQUIRE OF THE ORACLES. 123 for he was not a man of the most enthusiastic sort (which, perhaps, slightly enhanced the value of his opinion), and he soon made up his. mind upon the point in question, expressing the belief that from a monetary point of view, the success would eclipse that of Jenny Lind. In a leading article in the "Tri- bune " he wrote : " The fame as a novelist which Mr. Dickens has already created in America, and which at the best has never yielded him anything particularly munificent or substantial, is become his capital stock in the present enterprise." The next person consulted was William CuUen Bryant, the poet, and editor and proprietor of the " Evening Post." This veteran was as enthusiastic as Horace Greeley, and freely placed his paper at the service of the undertaking. Another element had now to be sounded, the " New York Herald." The founder of this remarkable pro- perty, Mr. James Gordon Bennett, was then alive. This gentleman made an appointment with me for the purpose of talking matters over in connection with the " second coming of Dickens," as the " New York Herald " called it ; but it must here be remarked that Mr. Bennett's opinion had no weight with me, either one way or the other ; and it, was only a little curiosity to make the acquaintance of so remarkable a man that led me to " interview " him at all. "When the meeting took place, Mr. Bennett pretended 124 CHARLES DICKENS. to take the greatest interest in the subject, declaring that if " Dickens would first apologize to the American public for the * Notes ' and ' Martin Chuzzlewit,' he would make a large amount of money ; " but that even failing his inclination to do this, there was a possibility of his succeeding, if " he was in good hands," notably in those of Mr. Grau, who, Mr. Bennett had been given to understand, had made Mr. Dickens a very hand- some offer. I thanked Mr. Bennett for his disinterested opinion, and promised to forward it to the proper quarter to- gether with his advice " not to charge a cent less than ten dollars (!) a ticket to see and hear Dickens." The following morning's issue of the " New York Herald " was looked for with no small amount of curiosity ; the surprise, however, was far greater than was antici- pated, and amounted to a sensation ; Mr. Bennett, with native liberality, had presented the New York public with a reprint of the " American Notes," as a "special," free of cost! — an attention which I felt bound to acknowledge as speedily and handsomely as possible. This suggested to the enterprising mind of Mr. Os- good the idea of reproducing an edition of the "Notes " in a cheap form, which subsequently realized an enor- mous sale at the moderate price of twenty-five cents a copy. This edition was to be found on every book- stall, tramcar, and steamboat in the country ; and, for the first time, the " Notes " were read by the then THE KING OF SHOWMEN. 125 living population of the United States, and did more to cement that feeling of amity and friendship between Mr. Dickens and the American people (a friendship which, in his opinion, had never been severed) than anything else could have done. The " New York Times " (one of the most ably con- ducted newspapers in America) said on this subject : " Even in England Dickens is less known than here, and of the millions here who treasure every word he has written, there are tens of thousands who would make a large sacrifice to see and hear the man who has made happy so many homes. Whatever sensitiveness there once was to sneering criticism, the lapse of a quarter of a century, and a profound significance of a great war, have modified or removed." The newspaper and political elements having been consulted, and their opinions having been " boiled down," there was one other class still left, whose opinion would be well worthy of consideration, viz., the " showmen," as the managers of the theatres and caterers for public amusements are popularly termed. Foremost amongst these was Mr. P. T, Barnum, the evergreen showman, whose opinion on all matters connected with public life is priceless. Then came Mr. Bateman (the " Colonel "), who was busily en- gaged at the time with a French Opera Bouffe Com- pany, and who, in later years, became the lessee of the Lyceum Theatre in London, and the discoverer of our 126 CHARLES DICKENS. now justly celebrated Henry Irving. Harry Palmer was also in New York, making arrangements for the opening of his theatre (Niblo's Gardens) with his great spectacle of the " Black Crook," out of which he amassed an enormous fortune. Lafayette Harrison, the proprietor of Irving Hall, had to be consulted, and John Brougham, the most versatile of actors and authors, and a warm-hearted Irishman, was also taken, into council, and swelled the chorus of approval with which the enterprise was greeted. Being thus armed with encouragement by men of good business talent, and judges of what would suc- ceed and what would not, I felt that New York was certainly safe, if only a good room could be found for the Readings. The Cooper Institute was visited first, but the faults of the Boston Music Hall, Boston, were manifest here. Irving Hall was too small ; the theatres were all engaged, and the only available hall was the Steinway Hall, the property of the celebrated piano- forte makers of that name.; and this was eventually secured for the purpose. Of the other cities which I visited at this time, Washington presented the greatest novelty. Willard's Hotel was in those days the resort of officials from all parts of the civilized and uncivilized world ; members of Assembly, Congressmen, Indians from the, prairies '—trying to look like other people in the coat, waist- coat, and trousers, and the tall hat. of civilization. "WILLARD'S." 12.7 -which last they generally wear at the back of the head, for no other reason that I could make out than to make the war paint on their, faces appear more conspicuous. Add to these the loafer generally found about American hotels, and a more than usually large number of hotel thieves, and the reader can form some idea of what a large Washington hotel is like. The hotel thieves at " Willard's" evidently included. a considerable proportion of the guests, for they were important enough to have large printed notices posted about on the staircases, lobbies, and in the rooms, headed, "Caution to Hotel Thieves," and informing them that, if caught in the exercise of their " profession " in that hotel, they would be confined in a cage kept for the purpose, and placed in a conspicuous part of the build- ing, where they would be " on view " for a few days before being handed over to the police ! This was no idl'e notification eithfer, for there was one of the fra- ternity holding a levee in the cage at the time of my visit. Had, there been any doubt as to the success of Mr. . Dickens's Readings in America, it would have mani- fested itself in this " city of magnificent distances," and, thanksi to the energy of Mr. Franklin Philp, an Englishman holding a high position in Washington, the best advice was obtained, showing that Washington would prove no exception to the other cities which we had tested. According to my judgment, there was no necessity 128 CHARLES DICKENS. to pursue the inquiries any further, and certainly no occasion to travel so far west as Chicago and the other western cities, especially as the newspapers in those places were filled with words of welcome to Mr. Dickens and his representative. Moreover, I was anxious to get back to England and settle the matter ; so I decided to call at New York, and collect the £i,ooo in exchange for " George Silverman," or, at all events, to give the Congressman the chance of paying the money, and then go on to Boston, take leave of my friends there, and sail for home in the Cunard steamer Cuba, the week after leaving Washington. When I arrived at New York, I did not return to the " Metropolitan," but went to the Westminster Hotel, at the corner of 14th Street and Irving Place, in which Harry D. Palmer had invested a large amount of money. This hotel became the New York home of Mr. Dickens on his subsequent visit to America, sLnd was as com- fortable and as quiet as any private house could have been. During the few days' stay in New York, frequent letters were written to the Congressman, informing him of my intejition of returning to England in the course of the following week, and asking for his views with regard to the MS. This had, apparently, no effect on the legislator, as he never gave any signs of life until the very moment when I was about to leave the Westminster Hotel for the Bristol boat, when he suddenly appeared in the sitting-room at the hotel. THE MANAGER IS "SLY, SIR." 129 where a farewell party was being held, and, throwing a bag — supposed to contain one thousand sovereigns — on the table, claimed the MS. The Congressman's re- putation being patent to the company then assembled, there were indications of a " row ; " but I prevented this by informing him that it would take more time to count one thousand sovereigns, and to test their genuineness, than I had at disposal ; and, handing him back the bag with the intimation that Messrs. Ticknor and Fields had, in my absence, kindly under- taken to complete the business portion of the matter, the Congressman withdrew, saying " he would send a banker's order to Boston," which, it is almost un- necessary to add, he never did ; but in all probability used the sovereigns in playing faro, a game to which he was so devoted that he actually kept an establish- ment in which to gratify his taste, and that of any person who happened to be passing by, any time of the day or night, especially the latter. The MS. even- tually became the property of Messrs. Ticknor and Fields, and was published by them in the " Atlantic Monthly," and re-published in " All the Year Round," in the early part of 1868, while Mr. Dickens was in America. ro CHAPTER V. PREPARATIONS FOR THE AMERICAN TOUR. SAILED from Boston in the Cuba, under the command of Captain Stone, on Wed- nesday, the nth September. Before I left Boston, it was agreed with Messrs. Ticknor and Fields that a telegram containing either " Yes " or " No " was to be the pass-word for future action. If the former word, then Mr. Osgood had undertaken to secure such halls as had been agreed upon for the dates arranged, and so save any waste of time that might occur in communicating by mail ; if the latter, then to abandon the idea at once and for ever. A splendid run of a little over eight days, brought the Cuba safely to Queenstown, whence I telegraphed to Gad's Hill, announcing my arrival, and requesting that instructions as to future and immediate movements might be sent to the " Adelphi " at Liverpool, to await THE WELCOME AT "GAD'S." 131 my arrival there on the following (Saturday) morning. The telegram in reply was characteristic of Mr. Dickens's good-nature and thoughtfulness : " Welcome back, old boy ! Do not trouble about me, but go home to Ross first and see your wife and family, and come to me to 'Gad's' at your convenience." This entailed another telegram, to the effect that Mrs. Dolby was then on her way to London to meet me, and asking if the office, or " Gad's," would be the more convenient to talk matters over with the Chief on Monday morning. A prompt reply was awaiting my arrival in London : " Come on to 'Gad's ' this afternoon with your wife, and take a quiet day or two's rest, when we can discuss matters leisurely." This was accordingly done, and within a few hours of landing in Liverpool, I was cordially shaking the hand of my genial and loving friend at Higham Station, on the North Kent Line, whither he had driven in the basket carriage, escorted by a suffi- cient number of large dogs to have taken the prizes at all the dog shows in England. After all the work and excitement of my visit to America, the pretty Kentish country looked prettier than ever, and was well worth crossing the Atlantic for, independently of the greeting awaiting myself and wife at "Gad's" from the kindest women in the world, Miss Dickens and Miss Hogarth, who were standing under the porch to give a welcome to the traveller. Dinner was ready, and the gong was announcing thig 132 CHARLES DICKENS. fact as we drove up to the house, a circumstance which amused us all very much, suggesting, as Mr. Dickens said, " real show business ; " so the ceremony of dress- ing was dispensed with. Mr. Dickens was more intent on giving the news of theatrical, musical, and social events that had taken place during my absence, than in talking of matters of so much moment to himself, except so far as inquiring earnestly after the welfare of his old friends in America. Nothing, however, would induce him to enter on the most interesting subject, for he preferred, as he said, to give that a rest for a day or two, or at all events to defer it for a walk on the following day to Cobham village and through Cobham Park, returning by the "Leather Bottle," the inn where Mr. Tupman took refuge after his adventure with Miss Wardle. During this walk it was arranged that I should make an official report on the following day, or the day afterwards — at my convenience — which report would be forwarded to his friends, Mr. John Forster, Mr. Wills, and Mr. Frederic Ouvry (his solicitor), for their opinions, Mr. Dickens reserving the right of pleasing himself eventually. The report was a very voluminous one, and included plans of the various halls in the country ; also calculations as to results at various prices of admission* and calcula- tions of expenses on a liberal scale. Then there was the consideration that gold was then at thirty-nine per cent., which would necessitate a great loss in the conversion of "THE CASE IN A NUTSHELL." 133 greenbacks into gold, unless Mr. Dickens chose to turn speculator in American securities by purchasing " Five-twenty Bonds," then bearing interest at six per cent. — as he was strongly recommended to do by saga- cious business friends in America, and holding them until " matters pulled themselves round," as they un- doubtedly would, and did. As it was not possible, or convenient, to send the report with all its details to Messrs. Forster, Wills, and Ouvry, and as they could not be brought together conveniently (for Mr. Forster was at Ross, in Here- fordshire ; Mr. Wills was at his house at Dorking ; and Mr. Ouvry was, if I remember rightly, in Scotland), an idea occurred to Mr. Dickens to make a condensed report, for the consideration of these gentlemen, embody- ing all the features of the lengthened one ; and this he dictated to me, over the morning cigar, on the day after the first report had been handed to him. " The case in a nutshell," as he called it, tells the story so completely, that it would be an injustice to the reader not to give it in full, though it has already been published. " I. I think it may be taken as proved, that general enthusiasm and excitement are awakened in America on the subject of the Readings, and that the people are prepared to give me a great reception. The ' New York Herald,' indeed, is of opinion that ' Dickens must apologize first,' and where a 'New York Herald' is 134 CHARLES DICKENS. possible, anything is possible. But the prevailing tone, both of the press and of the people of all conditions, is highly favourable. I have an opinion myself that the Irish element in New York is dangerous — for the reason that the Fenians would be glad to damage a conspic- uous Englishman. This is merely an opinion of my own. " 2. All our original calculations were based on one hundred Readings. But an unexpected result of careful inquiry on the spot, is the discovery that the month of May is generally considered (in large cities) bad for such a purpose. Admitting that what governs an ordinary case in this wise governs mine, this reduces the Readings to eighty, and consequently at a blow makes a reduction of twenty per cent, in the means of making money in the half-year, unless the objection should not apply in my exceptional instance. "3. I dismiss the consideration that the great towns of America could not possibly be exhausted, or even visited, within six months, and that a large harvest would be left unreaped ; because I hold that a second series of Readings in America is to be set down as out of the question ; whether regarded as involving two more voyages across the Atlantic, or a vacation of five months in Canada. "4. The narrowed- calculation 'We have made is this: What is the largest amount of clear profit derivable, under the most advantageous circumstances possible as to their public reception, from eighty Readings, and no ESTIMATED NET PROFIT, £iS,Soo. 135 more ? In making this calculation the expenses have been throughout taken on the New York scale, which is the dearest ; as much as twenty per cent, has been deducted for management, including Mr. Dolby's com- mission ; and no credit has been taken for any extra payment on reserved seats, though a good deal of money is confidently expected from this source. But, on the other hand, it is to be observed that four Readings (and a fraction over) are supposed to take place every week, and that the estimate of receipts is based on the assumption that the audiences are, on all occasionsy as large as the rooms wiU reasonably hold. " 5. So considering eighty Readings, we bring out the net profit of that number remaining to me, after payment of all charges whatever, as ^15,500. " 6. But it yet. remains to be noted that the calcula- tion assumes New York City and the State of New York to he good for a very large proportion of the eighty Readings ; and that the calculation also assumes the necessary travelling not to extend beyond Boston- and adjacent places. New York City and adjacent places, Philadelphia, Washington, and Baltimore. But if the calculation should prove too sanguine on this head, and if these places should not be good for so many Readings, then it may prove impracticable to get through eighty within the time, by reason of other places that, would come into the list lying wide asunder, and necessitating long and fatiguing journeys. 136. CHARLES DICKENS. " 7. The loss consequent on the conversion of paper money into gold (with gold at the present ruling premium) is allowed for in the calculation. It counts seven dollars to the pound." After the "Case" had been sent off, I decided to return to my house at Ro§s, in which town, by an odd coincidence, Mr. Forster was staying for the benefit of his health. So arrangements were made for a meeting to take place between us in ten days after my arrival there. Up, to this time, I had only met Mr. Forster at the social gatherings at " Gad's " and at the office ; and, before the interview at his hotel at Ross, had not met him in a business capacity. Being perfectly aware of the intimate relations existing between Mr. Dickens and Mr. Forster, I regarded this interview with con- siderable anxiety, as, in my opinion, much depended on the view Mr. Forster should take of the matter. This anxiety was not allayed by the discovery that he had in the most unreasonable manner, and without any knowledge of the subject that I could see, made up his mind that the enterprise was not to be ; and a red rag could not have made a mad bull more ferocious than the discussion of the clauses in the moderate and business-like " case in a nutshell " made the biographer of the novelist. He had made up his mind, arid there was an end of the matter. He urged that ever since the Staplehurst accident Mr. Dickens had been in a MR. FORSTER IN OPPOSITION. 137 bad state of health, and that a sea-voyage was the very worst thing in the world for him. He had a personal dislike to America and the Americans ever since the Forrest-Macready riot; and as everybody in America knew of the intimacy between Dickens and Macready, the riots, he believed, would be revived. He was cer- tain there was no money in America, and, even if there "were, Mr. Dickens would not get any of it ; and if he did, the Irish (by some means I could not quite understand), and the booksellers, between them, would break into the hotel and rob him of it. Even if the money were deposited in a bank, the bank would fail on purpose. Then the calculation of 3^15,500 profit in eighty Readings was, in Mr. Forster's opinion, all nonsense, as the halls were not large enough, and, even if they were, there were not people enough in America to produce such a result. Mr. Dickens's desire to increase his property in such a short space of time, and in such a way, was unworthy of him, or, in fact, of any man of genius, as the business of reading was a degrading one. Besides, had, not the Americans "taken Mr. Dickens's books without paying any author's fees ; and why should they not do the same thing with the Readings ? The unreasonableness of these arguments, and the manner in which they were laid down, produced such an unpleasant effect on my mind that I felt relieved when Mr. Forster suggested that there " was no reason why the interview should be prolonged," as he had 138 CHARLES DICKENS. " fully made up Ws mind that Dickens should never go to America again." It was with a sense of relief that I heard the hotel waiter announce that luncheon was served, and with a much greater sense of satisfaction that I- declined an invitation to partake of that meal, and so ended a most disagreeable colloquy. As for Forster, his parting assurance was : " I shall write to Dickens by to-night's post, and tell him how fully I am opposed to the idea, and that he must give it up." Leaving the oracle to his reflections and his lunch, I proceeded at once to the telegraph .station, and sent the following telegram to Mr. Dickens: "I can make nothing of Forster ; be is utterly unreasonable and impracticable. Come down here and stay at my house, and we will tackle him together." Mr. Forster had kept his word and had sent his manifesto to Mr. Dickens, who on receipt of it tele- graphed to me that he would come to Ross by the afternoon train, as suggested ; but would stay with Forster at the hotel for fear of wounding his feelings. I met Mr. Dickens on the arrival of the train, and conducted him to the hotel, leaving him in the care of his friend Forster, who displayed a considerable amount of chagrin at the action I had taken. Next morning I learned from Mr. Dickens that Mr. Forster had conducted himself in the same unreasonable THE ORACLE ORDERS LUNCH AND RELENTS. 139 manner as before, leaving the matter where it was on the previous day. It may be mentioned that Mr. Dickens had received a letter from Mr. Wills, taking a sensible business view of the case, and suggesting that everything should be left entirely in my hands, relieving Mr. Dickens of all responsibility, on the understanding that all pre- cautions would be taken to make the enterprise a success. When we returned to Mr. Forster he remarked at once, " I see it's of no use for me to say anything further on the subject, for by your faces it is plain you have made up your minds." Being assured that such was the case, he resignedly ordered lunch, and nothing more was said about the matter on that occasion. Later in the day Mr. Dickens returned to London, and then a sudden change came over Mr. Forster's spirit. These good qualities which had endeared him to Mr. Dickens's heart began to manifest themselves, leaving an impression in my mind that the churlishness dis- played at our first interview was the outcome of his love and affection for Mr. Dickens and of an anxious desire for his welfare. The objections to the American tour were heard no more ; but when Mr. Forster was leaving Ross, he gave me at the railway station a parting injunction to take care of Mr. Dickens, which would have been really comic, but for the earnestness with which it was delivered. 140 CHARLES DICKENS. The word " Yes " was cabled to Messrs. Ticknor and Fields, and I was left to make the most speedy arrange- ments for my return to America, to carry out the work in which I took so much pleasure. About three weeks sufficed for the necessary arrange- ments for my departure. All casualties in the future, so far as the American enterprise was concerned, had to be provided for; and as Mr. Dickens did not wish to be embarrassed with the details of money matters during the tour, he, with characteristic liberality, made such provisions for my requirements in this respect as would leave him free from monetary cares until the conclusion of the engagement. On Saturday, October 12th, I left Liverpool in the Cunard steamer China, having secured for Mr. Dickens the second officer's room on the deck of the Cuba, which was to sail on the 9th November, under the command of Captain Stone. To Mr. Forster this arrangement was communicated early in October : " The Scotia being full, I do not sail until Lord Mayor's Day, for which glorious anniversary I have engaged an officer's cabin on deck in the Cuba. I am not in very brilliant spirits at the prospect before me ; and am deeply sensible of your motive and reasons for the line you have taken; but I am not in the least shaken in the conviction that I could never quite have given up the idea." So far as my voyage to America was concerned, it BACK TO AMERICA. , 141 had no particular novelty about it, until the arrival of the China at Halifax. The enthusiasm of the American passengers wsls far in excess of that experienced in the first voyage, for now the Reading tour in America was a settled fact ; and as the scheme had been largely dis- cussed not only in the States, but amongst Americans in all parts of Europe, the excitement was unbounded ; and many were the offers made in the China by men of position to " take a hand " in the speculation. At Halifax, the alderman and councillors having heard of my arrival there, and that Mr. Dickens had determined to revisit America, again waited on me in the hope of extracting a promise that he would give one or more Readings in their city. It was not possible to give any definite premise, so the deputation decided to wait on Mr. Dickens personally, when they had an opportunity. The China arrived at Boston at seven on the morning of Wednesday, October 23rd ; and early as the hour was, all the old friends, with the " firm " at their head, were in waiting at the wharf to give me a hearty re- ception, and over a private breakfast on the steamer many sanguine hopes were expressed, which were happily fulfilled to the fullest extent. During my absence from America, and during the return voyage, some ridiculous paragraphs had appeared in the English and American papers about Mr. Dickens's health, and also about an imaginary "interview," 142 CHARLES DICKENS. reported by the London correspondent of the "New York Tribune." My reception in Boston was of the most encouraging character, and was really demonstrative on my appear^ ance (as an invited guest), at the opening of the late Mr. Arthur Cheney's theatre (called Selwyn's Theatre, but since re-christened the Globe), on the Monday evening after my arrival ; where men of every class and denomination in literary and art life, not only in Boston, but from New York and the other large cities in America, were represented. On the receipt of the cablegram with a cabalistic "yes," Messrs. Ticknor and Fields (through their energetic partner, Mr. Osgood) had nearly perfected the tour arrangements, so far as securing the most important halls in the most important cities was con-- cerned, leaving only matters of detail concerning the smaller cities, the advertisements, the printing of tickets, and the distribution of them, to be attended to. In the matter of printing the bills and posters, an un- expected difficulty presented itself in the 'fact that no paper of Mr. Dickens's favourite colour (a light orange) was to be found in America; and as he always used this paper in all his English enterprises, whether for the " contents' bills " of " All the Year Round " or for reading purposes, I (being desirous of making him feel that the Readings in America were identical with those in England) was naturally anxious to have all the familiar details reproduced as far as possible. TWO TONS OF YELLOW PAPER. 143 After a diligent search amongst the factories of the principal paper-makers, for the desired colour, and finding it was not to be obtained, a calculation was made as to the quantity likely to be required, and an order for two tons was given. This was quite un- necessary, for after Boston and New York had been " billed " for the first series of Readings in those cities, not a bill or poster was printed the whole of the American tour; and on its termination the unused stock was sold for more money than it originally cost. The question of prices of admission had here to be taken into consideration, and as this matter was one on which a great deal depended in the future result of the enterprise, it was necessary to treat it with a great deal of caution. One authority gave it as his opinion that any charge over fifty cents a ticket with twenty- five cents extra for a reserved seat would be fatal to the success of the enterprise. Mr. James Gordon Bennett, as I have already said, believed, or affected to believe, that the public would eagerly fill every room in the country at ten dollars a ticket. Other persons suggested five dollars as being . the proper price to adopt, and so on ; until at last it became so evident that no one had any practical basis on which to found his calculations, that I decided on adopting a medium course, and fixed two dollars a ticket, to include a reserved seat, a decision that met with general approval as the results produced made clear. 144 CHARLES DICKENS. The intervals of travelling and making advance arrangements for the coming tour, so as to leave me comparatively free when Mr. Dickens should arrive, were pleasantly spent in Boston, in constant meetings with such delightful men as Longfellow, Agassiz, Emerson, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Dr. Hayes, Donald Mitchell, Bret Harte, James T. Fields, Osgood, Howard Ticknor, and all the other representatives of the iirm. The time passed away in the most agreeable manner until the date announced for the first sale of tickets in Boston, which was fixed for Monday, November i8th, and two days before Mr. Dickens's expected arrival. Since my parting with Mr. Dickens, many letters were received from him, either by myself or Mr. Fields ; and in one of these, written before sailing, to Mr. Fields, he says, in reference to the banquet, already mentioned, and in connection with the various rumours afloat as to his intentions in revisiting the States : " You may have heard from Dolby that a gorgeous repast is to be given to me to-morrow, and that it is expected to be a notable demonstration ; I shall try, in what I say, to state my American case exactly. I have a strong hope and belief that within the compass of a couple of minutes or so I can put it with perfect truthfulness in the light that my American friends would be best pleased to see me place it in. Either so, or my instinct is at fault." CHAPTER VI. THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE AMERICAN TOUR. REAT as was the excitement, on the an- nouncement being made that Mr. Dickens would read in Boston, the fixing of the date for the first Reading, viz., Monday, December 2, 1867, seemed to increase that excitement tenfold ; and especially when it was known that the first sale of tickets would take place at the publishing house of Messrs. Ticknor and Fields, No. 12, Tremont Street, Boston, on Monday morning, November i8th, at nine o'clock. Vague rumours were in circulation, and fears were entertained, that in the great excitement the general public would get no chance of buying tickets, for that the speculators, not only of Boston, but of New York, were making their plans to purchase all the tickets they could get, in the hope of selling them at a premium. These rumours caused a considerable amount of pressure to be put upon every one connected with the enterprise, by friends and acquaintances who II 146 CHARLES DICKENS. wanted to have tickets beforehand, or at all events to have their places marked before the sale commenced ; and so great was the demand in this respect, that Mr. Fields had on his list, on the night prior to the sale, orders for nearly 250 tickets for each of the first four Readings, and every one else connected in the iirm was in a proportionately similar position. As such a course would have been obviously unfair to those persons who had no private influence with the "powers," I most distinctly declined to allow the sale to be con- ducted in any but a fair and straightforward manner, and decided that tickets for the course of the first four Readings only were to be sold the first day, and if any were left they were to be sold as required on the following days. In addition to the private demand for tickets, I was beset in every conceivable manner, not only through the post, but by personal application from people who were, or who pretended to be, afflicted in a variety of ways, by deafness, blindness, paralysis ; and all were anxious to avoid the trouble and annoyance of pur- chasing their tickets in the usual course. Strange to say, in consequence of their various afflictions they all wanted front seats, a demand it was impossible to comply with. I came to the conclusion that the afflicted ones formed a large proportion of the population of Boston. On the evening prior to the sale, I was sleeping on SUBJECT TO PAINS IN THE BACK. 147 the sofa in my room at the hotel, when a stranger suddenly burst in, and walking straight up to the sofa, proceeded to shake me violently. When I was thoroughly aroused, he commenced yelling, as if in the greatest pain. Then taking a chair, he consented to state his case, in the intervals of shouts and shrieks of the most horrible and painful description. He said that from childhood he had been subject to pains in his back, which rendered exposure to the cold air a danger- ous operation. Under these circumstances, he con- sidered it would be inhuman to expect him to take his place in the line in the morning, for the purpose of buying his ticket; and as he had a great desire to hear Mr. Dickens read, and as his family was large, it would be a great convenience to him and his family if he could have his tickets there and then. Suspecting that the pains in the back were only a pretence for something else, I inquired how many persons his family consisted of, and expressed the hope that they were not similarly afflicted; suggesting that perhaps one of his sons (if he had any) could save the parent the pain of exposure in an inclement atmo- sphere,, and so obtain the tickets for him. He had no sons he could depend upon, he informed me, for such a duty ; in fact his family were " mostly all " girls. " How many tickets do you want for each Reading?" I inquired. 148 CHARLES DICKENS. "Wall I guess I'll take a dozen for each Reading, or more, if you'll let me have them," he replied, "and pay- right away for them." On being informed that such a proceeding was im- possible, and would be unjust to the persons who were purchasing tickets in the ordinary course, in fact that his request could not be complied with at all — pains in the back or no pains — but that if he would leave his address the tickets should be sent to him after the sale had commenced on the following day, he rose to retire, a proceeding that brought the pains back again with the accompanying shrieks, which continued all along the corridor of the hotel. About an hour afterwards, the invalid was in perfect health at the bar of the hotel, and invited me to "take a drink" with him. The invitation being declined, he informed me that he had come all the way from New York to buy tickets, and under the circumstances he thought it "mean" not to have supplied him considering his infirmity (here the pains in the back returned). Some of my friends being at the bar at the time^ I joined them, cruelly leaving the sufferer to his pains and Bourbon whiskey. This beverage evidently had the effect of curing him, for at the sale of tickets on the following morning he was one of the earliest purchasers, and turned out to be one of the advance guard of the New York specu- lating brigade. A QUEUE HALF A MILE LONG. 149 A timely notice having been given that no private applications for tickets on the first day's sale would be attended to, a crowd assembled on the night pre- ceding the sale in Tremont Street, Boston, such as has never been seen before on an occasion of the kind. Intending purchasers sent their clerks, servants, and others to take their places outside the store of Messrs. Ticknor and Fields, as early as ten o'clock on the Sunday night, supplying each of them with a straw mattress, blankets, food, and in many cases with tobacco and creature comforts of an alcoholic descrip- tion. As all sales of tickets for places of amusement and for railways in America are conducted as in France {en queue), the proceedings were of a most orderly character. By eight o'clock in the morning the queue was nearly half a mile long, and about that time the em- ployers of the persons who had been standing in the streets all night began to arrive and take their places. Some idea of the extent of the sale may be formed when it is mentioned that the sale lasted over eleven hours, and until every ticket for the first course of four Readings was disposed of. The receipts amounted to $14,000 (or in English money, allowing for the de- preciation in greenbacks in converting them into gold, nearly ^2,000), and but for the fact that for these first Readings in America a great many tickets had to be given away to the representatives of newspapers, not ISO CHARLES DICKENS. only all over America, but over nearly the whole civi- lized world, the receipts would have been much larger. In the midst of the sale of tickets a telegram was placed in my hands from Halifax, announcing the arrival of the Cuba in that city, en route for Boston, with Mr. Dickens on board. When this telegram was read to the crowd, there was a terrific furore, and the news had the effect of considerably enhancing the value of the tickets that found their way into the hands of the speculators. As has been said, the price of the tickets was two dollars, but some of them that had fallen amongst the speculators, and represented good positions near the platform, were sold for as much as twenty-six dollars. As the Cuba was expected at her wharf early on the following day (Tuesday, November 19th), in order to save Mr. Dickens the inconvenience of a public re- ception on his landing, after the fatigues of a long voyage, I took advantage of the kindly offer of Judge . Russell and Captain Ddlliver to place the U. S. Customs steamer, the Hamblin, at my disposal that I might meet the Cuba in the bay, and land him at Long Wharf, where carriages would be in waiting to convey him to the Parker House; Hotel. Messrs. Fields, Ticknor, and Osgood were invited to join the party, and at about midday we started off on what may be called a winter's, yachting excursion. As there was considerable uncertainty as to the precise time that the THE PRESS IS IN DANGER OF STARVING. 151 Cuba, would appear, it was necessary to lay in some stores and creature comforts for the trip. The weather was terribly cold, the first herald of what proved an exceptionally hard winter. Hour after hour passed away and no sign of the Cuba was apparent, and after some hours of knocking and buffeting about in the sea in search of her, it was decided, whilst the daylight still lasted, to land at the signal station at Hull, in Boston Harbour, to see if, by the assistance of the powerful telescopes in use, at the station, we could discern the steamer. Having landed and struggled up the side of the high , hill on which the signal station is placed, we found ourselves in the presence of a large staff of newspaper men, who had been sent there to report the advent of the Cuba. These gentlemen were nearly frozen to death, and almost at starvation point, having been at their post since early morning with no house of entertainment within reasonable distance. Some one (it was Mr. Osgood, I think) suggested that in summer there was an hotel open about a mile away, and as the Cuba was nowhere to be seen, and as she could not under the most favourable circumstances (even if she appeared then) make the land where we were under an hour and a half, a pilgrimage to the hotel was decided on. Away we went, press-men and all, in search of the place, only to find on arrival there that the house was shut and deserted for the winter, the 153 CHARLES DICKENS. only sign of anything to eat being the brick kiln in which the " clams " were baked in the season. Our stock of eatables on the Hamblin had long been exhausted, and only some liqueurs remained ; two bottles of champagne had been reserved with which to drink Mr. Dickens's health on his arrival, and a little brandy remained. These with a few biscuits were all we had to give to the press gentlemen, and they very soon made short work of them, returning to their duties at the top of the hill. It was our time now to be starved, and after many conjectures as to what had become of the Ctiba, whether Captain Stone had lost his way in the Bay of Fundy (for we knew he had left Halifax the previous day), or whether the ship had got into trouble, and what not, with night closing in upon us, matters began to look a little serious. Mr. Osgood, always equal to an occasion, suggested that, as I was intimate with Captain Moodie (whose ship, the Java, was lying in the harbour, having gone into the stream to make room for the Ctiha), we should board his ship and ask for food and shelter until the Ctiha came up to Boston. This suggestion was acted on, and in coming alongside the good old ship we were received by a greeting on the part of the officers on duty which could not have been more hearty or more sincere had we been shipwrecked mariners instead of hungry and half-frozen landsmen. My first inquiry was, " Where is the captain ? " THE SKIPPER RESTORES US TO LIFE. 153 " In his room, aft, sir." A procession being formed, we marched thither to find one of the best and most genial of men taking his last glass of grog before setting sail for home the next day (although they may be bon vivants on shore, most of the Cunard captains and officers are strict temper- . ance men at sea). As all the party were personally known to Captain Moodie, it was only necessary to make our wants known to him for them to be instantly supplied ; and it has been a marvel to me to the present day how so sumptuous a meal could have been produced in so short a time. The saloon seemed to be lighted up,'and the stewards in their places, as if by magic ; indeed, we had scarcely time to finish a glass of grog with the skipper before supper was announced ; and when we got well to work at it, and had time to express our opinion about any- thing, we all came to the conclusion that there never had been and never would be such another supper again. The captain, with his dear old beaming face, of course took the head of the table, and seeing that we were enjoying ourselves so much, went in for a second supper himself. The cloth having been removed, and the kettle of boiling water, with glasses and toddy ' ladles, with a bottle of fine old Scotch whiskey (a rarity in the States), having been placed on the table, the party settled themselves down to await the arrival of the Cuba with a considerable degree of resignation. 154 CHARLES DICKENS. Scarcely had the first glass of toddy been disposed of, and a discussion commenced as to the advisability of tackling a second one (some of the party did not discuss the matter, but took it), when the look-out man reported the " Cuba in sight." A rush was made for the deck, and for the Hamblin, and after hasty " good-byes " and thanks to Moodie, we cast away and. steamed towards the Cuba. Moodie had made up his mind to be the first to salute his countryman Dickens on his arrival in America, and did so with a perfect shower of rockets as the Cuba passed his ship. Whether Captain Stone was in a hurry to make up for lost time in the only half-mile he had yet to run before getting to his wharf or not, I cannot say, but he disre- garded the signals of the Customs boat, and went along as if he were going to run Boston down. Away we went puf&ng after him, and making the harbour hideous by the shrieks of the Hamblin's steam whistle, all to no avail. The big ship looked like a floating village, with all her port-holes lighted up, and owing to her superior speed we had fears that we should not be able to board her after all, and so release Mr. Dickens before the Cuba got to her wharf. Fortune, however, favoured us, to the inconvenience of Captain Stone and his passen- gers, inasmuch as when he did slacken speed, and was within fifty yards of the wharf, the Cuba took a fancy to a mud-bank, and there she stuck for some hours ! the passengers having to remain on board all night, IT IS ALL RIGHT WITH THE CHIEF. 15s much to the discomfort of their friends on the wharf, who were really within hailing distance of them. As we came alongside the Cuba at last, I heard the oli familiar, voice calling me by name. Here was really my old Chief, who had an idea in his head, as he said afterwards, that " Dolby will pick me up from a pilot boat, or some other impossible place between Halifax and Boston." The Cuba was snorting, blowing off steam, backing and trying all she knew to get off the soft mud bed in which she was resting ; and in all the confusion, it seemed a lifetime before the plank was lowered, to enable me and our friends to get on board of her. At last all was right, and I had the unspeakable .delight of being once more face to face, after a hearty greeting, with the best and dearest friend man ever had. Nor was the greeting between Fields and Dickens less hearty, for they were old friends, and had a sin- cere love for one another. Then the party left the ship for the quiet wharf, where a carriage had been in wait- ing for some hours. There was an addition to our number in the person of a young friend of the late Lord Ijyiion (Mr. Lowndes), who had been re- commended to the care of Mr. Dickens by his noble friend. This gentleman only remained with us for a few days, having a diplomatic appointment which took him to British Columbia. Arrived at the Parker House Hotel, there was a per^ iS6 CHARLES DICKENS. feet ovation awaiting Mr. Dickens, for the news had spread to the city, and the disappointed ones on the wharf, having heard that Mr. Dickens had given them the slip, ran or drove to the Parker House, so as to catch a glimpse of him as he entered his hotel. Mr. Parker and Mr. Mills (the proprietors of the hotel) were there, as were also all the notabilities of Boston, besides the ordinary crowd to be found in a large American hotel in the evening. Through such a crowd as this, Mr. Dickens made his way, escorted by his friends, to his apaiiments, which, being in a quiet corner (high up) of the hotel, gave him immense satisfaction. Messrs. Parker and Mills had provided an excellent supper, which, albeit it was the second most of us had partaken of that evening, was enjoyed immensely ; and at an early hour our guests retired, leaving my Chief and myself alone to discuss matters over a tumbler of the old brew of punch and a cigar. Home matters and news of home took precedence of everything else, as it always did with him. His domesticity and mine were the first things to be dis- cussed ; then came his account of the voyage, from the time of leaving London to the time of our meeting, with any theatrical and musical news which he thought would be interesting to me up to that time. The voyage, but for the delay caused by head winds in the Bay of Fundy, between Halifax and Boston, would have been considered in those days a rapid one. THE PALLID CURATE. 157 Captain Stone and Mr. Dickens had become very friendly, a circumstance not to be wondered at but for the well-known reticence of the captain, who was known as " Silent Stone ; " and to such an extent had Mr. Dickens conquered him, that on the last day of the voyage he not only induced the captain to sing several songs after dinner in the saloon, but persuaded him to take part with himself in the duet "All's Well," and to make a speech. He recounted to me in a comical manner (if such a term can be used in connection with the subject) the circumstances under which Church Service was held on the only Sunday of the voyage (Sunday, November 17th). There was a very heavy sea, and the ship was rolling tremendously. It is usual for the captain or the doctor to read the service, unless there happens to be a clergy- man on board, in which case he is invited to officiate. On this occasion a pale young curate was amongst the passengers, and, being requested to perform the service, he amiably assented, without in the least calculating on his sea-going powers, or even his sea-legs, to carry out his good intention. When the time for service arrived, 11 a.m. (and a most impressive time 'it is at sea, Vvith the fore and aft bells going to call the pas- sengers together), the officiating clergyman was brought into the saloon by two stalwart stewards supporting him (to use Mr. Dickens's own words) as if they were "bringing him up to the scratch for a prize fight." IS8 CHARLES DICKENS. The congregation (passengers, and such of the officers and crew whose watch it was below) were all seated, so that there ought to have been plenty of room on the floor of the saloon for the reverend;. gentleman and his supporters. Such, however, proved not to be the case, for the mizen-mast was unfortunately in the way, rendering it necessary to watch very carefully the rolling of the ship before this could be cleared. An opportunity presenting itself, the stewards took ad- vantage of it to relieve themselves of their charge, and literally shot him between two tables to the reading-desk (consisting of some sofa cushions placed on the table). Then commenced fresh difficulties, for the clergyman found it hard to keep his legs (when standing up), added to which the reading-desk and the books kept moving about, and the congregation also began to roll off their seats, thus making what under ordinary cir- cumstances is a solemn and impressive occasion exceedingly funny. During the recounting of this episode in his voyage I could not but see that he was very depressed in spirits, which I ascribed to fatigue, and under ordinary conditi6ns I should have bid him "good-night," but I was anxious to have a talk with him about the coming enterprise, a subject I found him reluctant to discuss. He had. been annoyed at supper by the waiters leaving the door of the sitting-room partially operiy that the promenaders in the corridor of the hotel "THESE PEOPLE HAVE NOT CHANGED." 159 might take a peep at him, through the crack between the door and the doorpost, whilst he was sitting at table. This curiosity made an unpleasant impression in his mind, and caused him to regret that he had not adhered to his original determination never to visit America again ; for, he said, " These people have not in the least changed during the last five and twenty years — they are doing now exactly what they were doing then." But here I reminded him that he had not been three hours in the country, and that he had not seen the people or even a house in the daylight, and I begged him to withhold any criticism on the subject until he had had better opportunities of judging, when I felt sure his opinion would change. After this the prospects of the success of the enterprise were discussed, and although he had heard from the pilot, who had met the Cuba early in the morning, of the success of the first sale of tickets on the previous. day, he was totally unprepared for the figures I placed before him, and was more than amazed at the result of the sale. His pleasure, as he stated at the time, was not attributable to any feeling of avarice, but the compliment paid to him by the American people — ^for up to that time very few (and only those who had heard him read in Europe) had any idea what the Readings were like. Until Mr. Dickens read in America the public idea of a Reading was of a person reading from a book the work of some -author other than i6o CHARLES DICKENS. himself ; and it was only fair to suppose that when the author himself pourtrayed his own creations in his own way (and the favourite author of the American people too), the excitement would increase, and that, great as were the prospects in Boston, they would be equally as great, and if possible greater, in every city we visited on the tour. With this flattering hope we parted for the night, and so ended the day of arrival in America of Charles Dickens in 1867, a day memor- able not only to me, but to many dear friends he has left behind him there to mourn his loss. In arranging the plan for the American tour, provision was made to enable Mr. Dickens to become acclimatized and to recover from the effects of his voyage before commencing hard work. For this purpose ten days were allowed from the time of his arrival to the date of the first Reading in Boston. Some slight misappre- hension existed as to the reason why Boston was selected as the first Reading city in the States, in preference to New York. The reason was to be found in the fact that Mr. Dickens always regarded Boston as his American home, inasmuch as all his literary friends lived there, and he felt it to be only due to them that he should make that his starting-place, and especially so as it was on the earnest recommendation of his friends Messrs. Ticknor and Fields that he renewed and entertained the idea of reading in America. As results proved, the ten days allowed for rest were REUNIONS. i6i quite unnecessary, and instead of being a relief to Mr. Dickens was a cause of some mental irritation to him, for he felt he was losing time and was eager to com- mence reading. His friends in Boston vied with each other to make the days pass pleasantly, and had it been possible to go to three or four dinner parties a day and as many breakfasts, luncheons, and suppers, these hospitalities would have been forthcoming. He felt, however, that the purposes for which he was in America were all important, and with a view to saving himself for those purposes he made a point of declining most invitations, accepting only those given him by his friends Fields and Professor Longfellow. The day following his arrival, the latter called on him, as did also Messrs. Emerson and Agassiz and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, all of whom he met the following day at a dinner party at the house of Mr. Fields. With this exception, he accepted no invitations for great dinners, but passed his time in long walks with Fields (to Cambridge, one day, to call on Longfellow) •or in paying httle visits to his friends, merely par- taking of a luncheon with them, or joining them in a family tea. Two days after Mr. Dickens's arrival, I had to leave him for New York, where the first sale of tickets for the first four Readings there was announced for the following week (Friday and Saturday the 29th and 30th). 12 iC2 CHARLES DICKENS. On my arrival in New York, to make preparations for our first sale of tickets in that city, indications pointed to a still greater furon there than in Boston; and as a result of inquiry I ascertained that the specu- lating fraternity were making active arrangements for securing all the best seats in the house, when the ticket-office should be opened. I had engaged a ticket clerk in Boston (one Marshal P. Wild), and taking him and my English agent in advance with me, proceeded to make preparations for the sale, a matter of no small importance, when it is considered that the Steinway Hall (in which Mr. Dickens was to read) seated two thousand five? hundred persons. This hall, like every other hall and theatre in America, is perfect in its arrangements. Every seat in the house is numbered, and each seat is spacious and comfortable and provided with arms, so that it is not possible for two persons to take up the space of three, as in too many cases in England. The rows of seats are alphabetically arranged from A to Z, and then begin the double As, double Bs, and so on (the separate seats in each row being numerically defined). There are spacious passage-ways intersecting the hall, and the tickets are all marked R and L (for right and left), so that a ticket -holder knows exactly where to find his seat ; thus preventing scenes of confusion such as are frequently witnessed in places of entertainment in England. This system necessitates the printing and BOGUS TICKETS. 163 numbering of each seat separately, and for this particular occasion ten thousand tickets were so prepared, and had to be checked and arranged in rows for each of the four Readings announced ; in addition to this, each ticket had to be stamped with our own private stamp, as it had come to my knowledge that an enter- prising individual had become possessed of a "proof" of our tickets, and had actually got some printed with the intention of imposing on the public. This infor- mation was given to me by the largest speculator in New York, who also supphed me with the name and address of the printer employed to print the bogus ticket. This printer was a highly respectable man, and on my representing to him the case I ascertained that he had been duped by an unscrupulous person, representing himself as my agent, and he instantly in my presence "broke up" his type and destroyed all the tickets he had printed (some thousands), and, appealing to the police . authorities, made the unscru- pulous one pay largely for his folly. The arranging and stamping of our tickets became a matter of some days' labour for my little staff, but it was excellently done, and not a difficulty occurred from this cause at our first sale. After a run back to Boston (a little journey of nine hours) to arrange some matters of detail in connection with the first Reading there, and to see how my Chief was getting along, I returned to New York with Mr. i64 CHARLES DICKENS. Osgood, who had kindly undertaken the duties of treasurer to the enterprise, and thus left me free to go and do as I liked, without being trammelled by account keeping. The scene in Boston was as nothing compared with the scene in New York, for the line of purchasers exceeded half a mile in length. The line commenced to form at ten o'clock on the night prior to the sale, and here were to be seen the usual mattresses and blankets in the cold streets, and the owners of them vainly endeavouring to get some sleep — an impossibility under the circumstances; for, leaving the bitter cold out of the question, the singing of songs, the dancing of break- downs, with an occasional fight, made night hideous, not only to the peaceful watcher, but to the occupants of the houses in front of which the disorderly band had established itself. These ladies and gentlemen had my sincere sympa- thies ; for my hotel was within fifty yards of the scene of action, and the shouting, shrieking, and singing of the crowd suggested the night before an execution at the Old Bailey, when executions were still public. Under the circumstances it was not difficult to be up betimes in the morning, especially as all through the night I was receiving visits from the most prominent of the speculators, who were desirous to know what my plan of action was to be when the sale did commence : a subject I was not communicative upon (indeed, had TAKING STOCK OF THE SPECULATORS. 165 no fixed plan myself, as will be hereafter explained). The anxiety of these gentlemen on the subject, and a friendly chat over a glass of brandy-and-water, con- vinced me that the speculative element was more largely represented in that line of human beings, certainly amongst those nearest the ticket-office, than amongst the legitimate purchasers, and decided me in taking my friend, Mr. Palmer (whose experience in such matters was invaluable), into my counsels, to consider the best mode of baffling, if possibl.e, the speculators' designs, and giving the general public a fair chance of getting good seats. The sale was announced to commence at nine o'clock ; at eight I turned out with Mr. Palmer, Mr. Osgood, and Captain Garland (the police captain of the precinct), followed by such of our staff as could be spared, and the "boss'.' speculators, to walk along the line and to inspect the forces, in order to see who were speculators' agents and who were not. At this time merchants or their clerks began to arrive and take the places of those who had been keeping them warm (!) for them all through the night, thus changing the appearance of the force inspected from that of a rabble to that of a most respectable community. We ascertained, from observation during the inspec- tion, that certainly forty-five out of the first fifty men in the line were speculators' representatives, and a closer observation showed to us that nearly all these i66 CHARLES DICKENS. men wore caps. Here was an idea, suggested, I think, by Palmer. "Sell only at the first 'go off' six tickets for each Reading, to men in hats " (it may be men- tioned that, as at Boston, tickets were only sold on the first day for the course of four Readings then an- nounced), " and turn out those who come to the ticket- office in caps," a proceeding which seemed a little rough on the poor fellows who had been standing out in the cold the whole night; but at the same time necessary for tke carrying out of Mr. Dickens's desire and principle of giving the public a fair chance in all matters in which he was concerned. When the time for opening the ticket-office arrived, and the police passed the word along the line that " four tickets only for each Reading would be sold to each person, and those only to people in hats," the consternation amongst the speculators was great. They, however, were equal to the occasion, for in the lapse of a few moments they had collected all the hats they could fiom waiters and others in neighbouring restaurants and other places, and by means of changing a hat for a cap at the entrance-door to the ticket-office, the speculators contrived to get into their possession the greater portion of the first seven or eight rows of seats in the hail- By two o'clock in the afternoon of the first day, every ticket was sold, and the amount taken was something over $16,000 for the first four Readings. At the last THE TICKETS GO AT A PREMIUM. 167 moment I had suppressed nearly four hundred tiekets for each Reading ; for, although the Steinway Hall is a very fine one, and perfect in every respect for musical performances, I did not feel sure of it for the purposes of the Readings, as at the back of the first and second galleries there were large square recesses, each of them holding four, hundred per- sons; and my idea was, after Mr. Dickens had seen the hall, and had tested its acoustic qualities (in which operation he was an adept), that he would wish to have these recesses closed in, and by so doing improve the hall for speaking purposes, and also give it a more snug appearance from the platform. A suggestion to this effect was made by myself to Mr. Steinway, who, with characteristic liberality, at once entered into my ideas, and immediately gave an order for panelled shutters to be made, and to be in readiness for Mr. Dickens's arrival at the end of the following week. The suppression of these four hundred tickets assisted the speculators' trade immensely, and before the sale had progressed two hours the speculators were selling the best seats at enormous premiums. One man (one of the first purchasers), who wished to be present at the first Reading only, sold the remaining three tickets for the first Reading and two tickets for the second, third, and fourth, for fifty dollars and a brandy cock-tail (about ■£^ los.), a profit of ten dollars, i68 CHARLES DICKENS. not to mention the advantage of getting his ticket for the first Reading for nothing, with four tickets in hand for the other Readings. On the following night, I returned to my Chief in Boston, so as to be ready for the first Reading there on the following Monday (December 2nd); but not before I had discovered myself to be, as Dickens described me, " the best abused man in America." Despite my precautions, the sale of tickets in New York had given universal dissatisfaction, the public connecting me with the speculators' trade, and without in the least taking the trouble to " look at home ; " for the Wall Street brokers, merchants, lawyers, and private individuals became even greater speculators (with their surplus tickets) than the ordinary practitioners. Lead- ing articles of the most abusive kind were written about me, notably in the " New York Herald " and the "World," the latter paper remarking, "Surely it is time that the pudding-headed Dolby retired into the native gloom from which he has emerged ; " a sugges- tion which caused the greatest amusement to myself and Mr. Dickens, and gained for me afterwards (amongst our friends) the initials " P. H." The " Tribune," " Times," and other leading newspapers took no notice of the correspondence showered into their offices on this subject ; for Mr. Horace Greeley had detected, with his usual astuteness, that the letters and articles were instigated by the speculators them- "P. H." 169 selves, who, in view of a second sale of tickets about to take place after the first Reading in New York, for a second course of four Readings, would have been glad to get matters more into their own hands than they were able to do at the first sale ; and the success attending their first effort had made them eager for the second, in proof of which, during the early part of the first day's sale, they were offering " twenty dollars for anybody's place " on the line (an offer which in no instance was accepted). All kinds of suggestions were made as to the manner in which the future sales should be conducted, and amongst others was one that the tickets should be sold (in sets) by auction (with a reserve price of two dollars, a ticket) a proceeding which would have greatly benefited the enterprise, but would have been inconsistent with Mr. Dickens's principle, never to receive more than the advertised price for the tickets, and would also have laid him or myself open to the charge of collusion with the speculators. On my return to Boston, early on the morning of Sunday, December ist, I found Mr. Dickens had been passing his time wearily (for him), and was looking forward to the following evening to commence the cam- paign. This weariness would have been unbearable tc him but for the social intercourse with his friend Fields. The result of the sale of tickets in New York was an additional source of satisfaction to him, and he was immensely amused at the descriptions I gave him of I70 CHARLES DICKENS. the incidents of the sale, at the same time he had fears that the speculating mania would act prejudicially on the enterprise. At first he was greatly shocked and pained at the correspondence and the " leaders " in the newspapers ; but this feeling gave place to one of hilarity when I explained to him the source from which the articles emanated, and, like myself, he regarded them as so much gratuitous advertisement. A mass of correspondence was awaiting me, con- taining offers of engagement for Readings from Canada, Nova Scotia, and the outlying places in the far West, all of which had to be attended to and respectfully declined, for we had decided on not accepting any offer, no matter how brilliant. In addition to these, there were over two hundred letters, containing requests for Mr. Dickens's autograph. A quiet morn- ing was devoted to the despatch of such business as could be got through; and in the afternoon, at the request of Judge Russell, a visit was made to the school-ship, where, after the afternodn service, Mr, Dickens made his first speech, on this his second visit to America, to the boys who were in training there, giving them words of encouragement and counsel as to their future lives, such as he only could give — words equally encouraging and hopeful to the elder members of the congregation, and bringing tears to the eyes of many, both great and small. On his departure from the ship, the boys manned the yards,, and, notwithstand- THE FIRST NIGHT. 171 ing that it was Sunday, they gave him a ringing cheer as the little Hamblin puffed away from her larger sister. The day following was devoted to preparing for the evening's Reading, some hours being spent in the superintendence of the erection of the screen, gas arrangements, and the fixing of the little reading-table. The Tremont Temple had to be tested acoustically, a process that was always gone through in every new room in which he read. The process was very simple, and was conducted in the following manner. Mr. Dickens used to stand at his table, whilst I walked about from place to place in the hall or theatre, and a conversation in a low tone of voice was carried on between us during my perambu- lations. The hall having been pronounced perfect, a long walk was undertaken ; and after a four o'clock dinner (as in England) and a sleep of an hour or so, we went to the Tremont Temple for the great event of the day. The Readings selected were, the " Christmas Carol " and the "Trial from Pickwick." The audience was of the most brilliant description, being composed of all the notabilities in Boston, literary and artistic, added to which New York had supplied its contingent from the. same sources, and had further sent to Boston a staff of newspaper men to report, by telegraph, columns of description of the first Reading, so that 172 CHARLES DICKENS. on Tuesday, December 3rd, not only had all the Boston papers a full account, but so had also the New York papers — a compliment which was highly appreciated by Mr. Dickens. The reception accorded to Mr. Dickens, in making his appearance at the little table, had never been surpassed by the greetings he was in the habit of receiving in Edinburgh and Manchester, and was calculated to unnerve a man of even greater moral courage than he was possessed of. Those who were not applauding and waving handkerchiefs were seriously " taking in " the appearance of the man to whom they owed so much, which up to this time they knew only by the bad photographs in the shop windows. These, by the way, were so wonderfully unlike him, that, later on, I prevailed on him to sit to Mr. Ben Gurney in New York, who succeeded in pro- ducing the only good photograph of him in existence. It was to this artist only, and then only once, that he gave a sitting in America. When everything was quiet, and the deafening cheers which had greeted his appearance had sub- sided, a terrible silence prevailed, and it seemed a relief to his hearers when he at last commenced the Reading. The effect of the first few words (without any prefatory remark) : " A Christmas Carol in four staves. Stave one, Marley's Ghost. Marley is dead to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about AN "ASIDE." 173 thai. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it, and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to," placed the reader and his audience on good terms with one another, the audience settling itself down in rapt attention for what was to follow ; and by the time the first chapter was finished the success of the Readings, certainly so far as Boston was con- cerned, was an accomplished fact. During the progress of the Reading I was moving about in various parts of the hall and its galleries by the many entrance doors, watching the effect of the Reading on the audience, and gauging the acoustic properties of the Tremont Temple, reporting myself by arrangement at the side of the screen at the end of the second chapter, where a brief conversation, carried on in an " aside " during the applause, was held between the reader and myself : Mr. Dickens. Is it all right ? Myself. All right. Mr. Dickens. Hall good ? Myself. Excellent ; go a-head, sir. Mr. Dickens. I will, when they'll let me. Myself. First-rate audience. Mr. Dickens. I know it. Brief and hurried as was this " aside," it seemed to give him greater confidence in depicting the scenes 174 CHARLES DICKENS. in the third chapter, and in all my experiences with him, I never knew him to read the description of the Cratchit Christmas dinner with so much evident enjoyment to himself, and with so much relish to his audience. When at last the Reading of " The Carol " was finished, and the final words had been delivered, and " so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us every one," a dead silence seemed to prevail — a sort of public sigh as it were — only to be broken by cheers and calls, the most enthusiastic and uproarious, causing Mr. Dickens to break through his rule, and again presenting him- self before his audience, to bow his acknowledgments. No one but myself (and his servant Scott) was ever allowed (except on rare occasions) to go into his dressing-room during the interval between his first and second Reading, but on this evening Fields had been invited to do so. He, on entering the room, exclaimed, " You have given me a new lease of life, for I have been so looking forward to this occasion that I have had an idea all day that I should die at five minutes to eight to-night, and be deprived of a longing desire I have had to hear you read in my country for the last nineteen years." A hearty embrace and a glass of champagne con- vinced Fields that he was still in this life (would that he were so now ! ) ; and after a lapse of a few minutes (ten minutes only being allowed for the interval), Mr. Dickens returned to the table to make his audience THEY REVEL IN "PICKWICK." 175 shriek with laughter, and revel in the pourtrayal of the humorous characters in the far-famed Reading of the " Trial from Pickwick," which had been given by him so often in England, that he often strayed away from the actual text, and indulged in the habit of an occasional "gag." As nearly every line of " Pickwick " was as well known to the audience as to himself (for in Boston nearly every man, woman, and child, was a " Pickwickian," certainly so far as their knowledge of the book was concerned), these occasional liberties with the text were the more enjoyed, and, being invariably taken on the spur of the moment, were regarded more in the light of a new edition, direct from the author, than anything else. In this particular Reading, he had full scope for the impersonation of each of the characters he represented, and with his dramatic instincts he took advantage of the situation and gave himself up to the delineation of those characters, a circumstance which in one instance did not give entire satisfaction. During the progress of this Reading, I was engaged in conversation with one of my staff at the foot of the stairs leading to the hall, when my attention was drawn to a gentleman coming down the stairs in a most excited state. Imagining him to be ill and wanting assistance, I said, " What's the matter with you ? " From the accent of his reply, I concluded that he was a " reg'lar down Easter." 176 CHARLES DICKENS. " Say, who's that man on the platform reading ? " " Mr. Charles Dickens," I replied. " But that ain't the real Charles Dickens, the man as wrote all them books I've been reading all these years." " The same." After a moment's pause, as if for thought, he replied, " Wall, all I've got to say about it then is, that he knows no more about Sam Weller 'n a cow does of pleatin' a shirt, at all events that ain't my idea of Sam Weller, anyhow." After the delivery of this speech he clapped his hat on his head, and left the building in a state of high dudgeon. The Reading being concluded, and the most enthu- siastic signs of approval having been accorded to the Reader in the form of recall after recall, Mr. Dickens indulged in his usual " rub down," changing his dress- clothes for those he habitually wore when not en grande tenue, and a few of his most intimate friends were admitted into his dressing-room to offer their congratulations on the result of the evening's experi- ences, and great was their surprise to find themselves in the presence of a highly refined " Pegotty," rather than in that of the polished gentleman they had been listening to for the past two hours. After the fatigue and excitement of the Readings in America (although on this particular evening he BOSTON AT HIS FEET. ._ 177 declared he was as cool and collected as if he had been reading in Greenwich), it was his great pleasure to have a few friends to supper with him at the hotel, and on this occasion Mr. and Mrs. Fields, and some others joined our supper party — friends whose judgment could be relied upon — when all agreed that never before had anything in Boston called forth such enthusiasm as that night's Reading had done, an assurance that gave Mr. Dickens the greatest satis- faction. The following evening's Reading was, if possible, a greater success (" David Copperfield " and " Mr. Bob Sawyer's Party") than the Reading on the previous evening. Before the announcement of the Readings in Boston, an intimation had reached me that the " pirates " had decided in sending shorthand writers to the Readings to "take them down" as they pro- gressed, with a view to their reproduction and sale — an . intimation which was conveyed to Messrs. Ticknor and Fields; and they promptly anticipated such a pro- ceeding by at once issuing the Readings (taken from Mr. Dickens's own reading bo6ks) in small volumes, and selling them at their store at such a price as made it impossible for the " pirates " to get anything out of their publication. It is not necessary to go through in detail the features of the first four Readings in Boston. As in England^ only four Readings' were given in each week, viz., 13 1/8 CHARLES DICKENS. Mondays, Tuesdays,' Thursdays, and Fridays; leaving Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday for rest when no travelling had to be done. Later on in the tour, it not unfrequently happened we had to travel, as in England, on the day a -Reading had to be given, but this only when short journeys had to be undertaken (from three to four hours), towards the end of the tour. Letters containing offers of engagements kept pouring in, and the autograph nuisance became greater than ever. As each of the autograph hunters enclosed a postage stamp affixed to an addressed envelope for reply, it became absolutely necessary that some notice should be taken of the application. This difficulty was overcome by means of a printed circular, signed by myself and sent to the applicant, informing him (or her) that " compliance with the request contained in the letter received was not reason- ably possible." Before adopting this plan, I consulted a well-known and highly popular author in Boston as to what course Ae.ipursued under similar circumstances. He replied, " I invariably, when the writer of the letter is not known to me, throw the letter into my waste-paper basket, and use the stamp enclosed for my personal correspondence ; and it is surprising how. soon this fact becomes known, and how few letters of a similar kind I receive now." The success of the Readings in Boston, and the WE MODIFY OUR PLANS. 179 prospects of the same success repeating itself in New York, decided us in changing our plan of tour. A reference to the " Case in a Nutshell " will show that the original idea was to give eighty Readings in all in America, these to include Canada and Nova Scotia, Vi^hence it was intended to set sail for England, The early success, added to the prophecies of the " knowing ones " in matters of weather (notably, Dr. Hayes the Arctic explorer, who was one of our constant asso- ciates), that the winter would be one of unexampled severity; the facts that Mr. Dickens had caught a severe cold thus early in the proceedings, and that the discomfort in travelling was not calculated to improve his condition; — all these things decided him to limit our scene of action as much as possible, and not to go farther south than Washington, farther west than Chicago, or farther north than Portland, taking in the New England cities en route. This plan included Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and a pleasure trip to Niagara, and was designed to induce the public to come to Mr. Dickens rather than that he should go to them. The comparatively small number of Readings that had to be given, with the prospects of success, justified us in thus cutting down the tour list. CHAPTER VI L CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR IN THE STATES. |N Saturday, December 7th, we left our kind friends in Boston for our first rail- way journey to New York, and great was the crowd to say " good-bye " to the one they all loved so dearly. This journey was undertaken by the Shore Line Route, the most convenient as to the hours of departure in the morning, a matter to be thought of when it is considered that the distance from Boston to New York is about 240 miles, and the time Occupied in performing this journey (by express train) is nine hours. This time would be considerably re- duced if the train had not to cross two wide rivers, one at Stonnington and the other at New London, this, causing a delay of certainly one hour on the journey ; although everything is done to make the inconvenience as light as possible, by running the train on to the ferry boat (in which is an excellent restaurant), and NEW YORK. iSi conveying it across the river bodily, without -troubling the passengers to move from their seats, unless they wish to do so. New York was reached at six in the evening, Mr. Dickens being very tired, and his cold showing signs of taking an influenza turn. I had secured a suite of apartments for him at the Westminster Hotel, where he was hospitably received by iny friend Harry Palmer, and his partner, George Roberts ; .and an excellent dinner having been disposed of, we took a little turn round in the gas-lighted streets, just to refresh his memory, if possible, of New York, and to see if he could make out in what part of the city he was located; all to no avail, for in the twenty-five years which, had elapsed since his first visit there. Union. Square and Fourteenth ' Street scarcely existed. The mass of correspondence awaiting me, not to men- tion the preparations for anpther sale of tickets on the following Wednesday, suggested an " all night sitting " by myself in the hope of getting through some of the work before the morrow, when I knew I should have to be on duty with . my Chief the whole day. I found a hundred or more letters from the autograph collectors, which for the time being had to be put on one side, to make place for the enormous correspondence •consequent on sp gigantic an enterprise, [ And as Mr. Dickens, during his stay in America, made it a rule of never opening a letter addressed to himself (except his iS2 CHARLES DICKENS. European letters, and those addressed in the well- known handwriting of one of his friends;, my labours were at times a little perplexing; especially as, if at any time I referred any matter to him, he invariably met such reference with the remark, "Do as, you like," which did not in the least ease my mind.' After breakfast the following morning, the first thing to be done was an inspection of Steinway Hall, about which he had evinced the greatest curiosity and anxiety, not feeling at all sure that he would like it, from the description I had given of it. I had said nothing to him about the provision I had made for enclosing the recesses. The hall being reached, it did not in the least surprise me that he was very dissatisfied with it, declaring that it was next to impossible to produce any effect in so large a place, especially with those big open recesses at the back of the galleries, where all the sound would go and stop when it got there. The first feeling of disappointment and annoyance having passed off, we proceeded to test the acoustic properties of the hall in the usual way, and, to Mr. Dickens's amazement, it was found to be perfect ; and depressed as he was in spirits on first seeing the hall, his spirits rose immensely when I told him of the arrangements I had made for shutting in the objectionable recesses ; and but for the attack of influenza from which he was suffering, the prospect of success, in his imagination, would have THE "WESTMINSTER." 183 been as great in New York as it- had been in Boston. We spent a quiet day together in walking about the city and in driving in the Central Park, which was a source of great pleasure to him. He was very much struck with the alterations that had taken place, in the city since his first -visit there, and especially in the ex- tension of Broadway, pointing out to me that the spot where Wallack's Theatre (now the " Germania") stood was quite a suburb at the time. His delight in the Westminster Hotel was unbounded. Mr. Palmer, with thoughtful consideration, had hired specially a French waiter for our service, and had "told off " a boy to be in attendance outside the sitting-room door in -order to prevent intrusion on Mr. Dickens's privacy ; and, in addition, had arranged that he was to have the exclusive use of a private staircase leading from a private door, so that he could come in and go out without fear of molestation. No wonder then that the Westminster Hotel, in Irving Place, became our postal address for all our correspondence, and our domicile whilst in America. The apartments were furnished to suit Mr. Dickens's taste, and two writing- tables with lock-up drawers were placed side by side (one for Mr. Dickens and one for myself), so that we could work together without the inconvenience of run- ning from room to room, in the event of any question having to be referred. iS4 CHARLES DICKENS. The success of the Readipgs in New Yorjc far ex- ceeded Mr. Dickens's most sanguine expectations, and but for the extra exertion in reading in so large a hall as the Steinvvay, under the burden of an influenza cold, everything would have been in the highest degree satis- factoiy. He described the New York audience as being " far better than that at Boston," which was saying a great deal for them. On Wednesday, December nth, the second sale of tickets was held in New York for four more Readings announced for the following week, when the same features presented themselves as on the occasion of the first sale, only in a more exaggerated form, with the additional inconvenience to those who had to stand out in the streets all night to secure good places in the line. They were in position long before the Reading of Tuesday evening the loth was over. The thermometer had fallen to several degrees below zero (Reaumur), and signs were not wanting that a heavy fall of snow was imminent. The speculators were in greater force than ever, the , New York brigade being augmented by con- tingents from Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Jersey City, all of whom had taken temporary offices in New York, for the disposal of the tickets at handsome premiums. Sonie of these gentry had attired themselves in fancy costumes, one of them being made up like George Washington — wig, three-cornered hat, and all. He was a very old man, and would have looked the part well WE ARE SERVED WITH A SUMMONS. 185 had he been a little less stout and less like Mr. Pickwick. When the ticket-office opened, I changed my plan of action, and instead of commencing to s^ll the seats in the front rows, gave orders to the ticket clerks to com- mence selling at the tenth row, in the hope of getting the least good seats into the hands of the speculators, and after the first fifty or sixty purchasers in the line had been supplied, of commencing to sell the front rows to the general public. This, of course, again ^ve general dissatisfaction to the speculators, but was greatly approved of by those who got the seats nearest to the platforip. It unfortunately happened, that amongst the earliest purchasers were two clerks em- ployed in a commercial house in New York, and they having been supplied with tickets for seats far back in the hall, became greatly exasperated at my treatment of them, and would Hsten to no explanation, although I had offered to change their tickets for seats near the platform. This offer was accepted by one of the malcontents, but the other would listen to no reason, and imme- diately repaired to the police-office,, and took out a summons against Mr. Dickens for obtaining money under false pretences. At dinner that evening, Mr. Dickens was personally served with the summons by the Marshal, whose astpnishment was great, first to find himself in the presence pf Mr. Dickens, and i86 CHARLES DICKENS. secondly, at Mr. Dickens's polite invitation to join him in a glass of champagne in recognition of the gentle- manly manner in which he had performed a most un- pleasant duty. The Marshal was so overcome by this attention that he gulped down the wine in a great hurry. This led to a fit -of coughing and a hasty exit from the room. The summons was handed over to our legal advisers in New York, and the circumstance having been brought under the notice of the employers of the enterprising clerk, he was dismissed their service for speculating in tickets,' and had to Avithdraw his action, paying all the costs himself. When we heard of this I gave him better seats than those he had purchased, and Mr. Dickens personally waited on his employers and inter- ceded for him. The' result was that Jie was reinstated in his position, after promising that he would never again (whilst in that employ) speculate in tickets for places of amusement. Handsome as had been the abuse of me in all the smaller papers of New York on the occasion of the first sale of tickets, it literally paled before the attacks which were made now. Mr. Dickens described me as "the most unpopular man in'America (and for no reason that I can see except that he cannot get four thousand people into a room that holds two thousand), and so he is reviled in print every day. He takes it very coolly though, and does his best." A QUEUE OF THREE-QUARTERS OF A MILE. 187 The number of persons " in the line " on this par- ticular occasion exceeded three thousand, and the queue was over three-quarters of a mile in length. Long before noon all the tickets were disposed of, and many had to go away ticketless. The receipts exceeded the proceeds of the first day's sale. All the money taken was in paper (greenbacks), and necessitated a considerable labour in sorting and checking it, and making- it up into packets for the bank; and Mr. Dickens's amusement was great on my return to the hotel, when he saw me turn out of my pockets on the table what he called my " stuffing." " Dolby," he wrote, " has just come in from our ticket sales, and has put such an immense untidy heap of paper money on the table that it looks like a family wash." Amongst this "untidy heap" were greenbacks for all sorts of amounts, from 25 cents (about is.) up to $50 (£10). The climate of America is so even that those accus- tomed to it have no difficulty in predicting any change. The prophecy of a snowstorm turned out to be quite correct, for early in the evening the snow commenced to fall, and continued falling the whole night, the ground being covered on the following morning with a mantle eight inches deep, and, in places where it had drifted, considerably more, rendering the streets impas- sable. This continued all through the day, and it was only late in the afterntion of Thursday that the tram- lines were cleared sufficiently (by means of steam i88 CHARLES DICKENS.' snow-ploughs), to enable the traffic to be resumed. The snow by this, time had fallen to the extent of from sixteen to eighteen inches. Americans are always practical and equal to an occasion, and it was sur- prising to see with what rapidity every kind of convey- ance which only the day before had been running on wheels had suddenly become transformed into a sleigh. Not a wheel, except on the tramcars, was to be seen in ;the city after midday. Up to this time only the traffic was entirely suspended, and having to walk, "down town " in the blinding snow to our bankers' agents to send to England our first remittance of ^^3,000, with the " family wash " done up in a brown paper parcel, I felt a considerable security against being knocked down and robbed in the fact that from Union Square to Wall Street (a distance of three miles) I saw but three persons in Proadway. The walk was not an unpleasant one, except that from the feet to the knees I was wet through, and was an experience I would not have been without, if only to satisfy my mind that I should not make a good Arctic traveller. On my return to the hotel, I found my Chief in a state of despondency, standing at the window watching the still falling snow, literally streaming at the eyes and nose from the effects pf his influenza, and propounding a theory to, himself as to the utter futility of attempting to read that eyening, even if his influenza would enable him to do so, as he was ;under the impression that there "STICKING" THE SPECULATORS. 189 would be no one to listen to him in the immense hall in which he was advertised to read that night ; for- getting for the time that the tickets were all sold and the money banked, and that if there Were any loss at all it would devolve on the speculators who had so eagerly bought the tickets, and that they stood a chance on this occasion of being " stuck" The operations of the ticket speculators on the evening of any performance are carrried out on the pavement (or side-walk as it is called in America), in front of the theatre, circus, or hall in which the per- formance or lecture takes place. On this occasion they were in front bi Steinway Hall in full force, willing to sell at any price so as to "get out." The public, taking advantage, of the snowstorm and the resumption of the tramcar traffic, came in goodly numbers, fully bent on getting the best of the speculators for once in their lives. Long before the time for opening the doors most of the spectalators had " sold out " at considerable reductions, taking in some instances seventy-five cents and a dollar, or a dollar and a half for a ticket that had cost them two dollars, thereby incurring heavy losses. The more astute of them, however, seeing the Way things were going, " held their stocks " tintil a quarter of an hour before the time advertised- for the commence- ment of the Reading, in maiiy cases realizing handsome profits — :one speculator getting at the last moment as much as ten or twelve dollars for a' ticket, thus I90 CHARLES DICKENS. realizing as much, as if there had been no storm at all. I felt that as the speculators ran the risk, they were entitled to the profits the public were willing to pay, rather than, be put to the same inconvenience, and that as I could not give satisfaction to the aforesaid public I had no right to attempt to spoil the market of our chief supporters by giving them only the worst seats in the house, an opinion entirely endorsed by Mr. Dickens after the experience we had in the snowstorm. Mr. Dickens was amazed on going to the platform to find himself in the presence of an audience as brilliant in every respect as on the two previous occasions, and, as is frequently the case under similar circumstances, the effects of his influenza was not observable in the delivery of the Reading. The only person incon- venienced was himself, but he got through manfully, as he always did, to the immense delight of the audience. After having sold their tickets for the Reading on this evening, the principal speculating firms repaired to Boston, where a second sale of tickets was to he held on the following morning. Mr. Dickens being unwell, I had to remain in New York with him, but sent my ticket clerk and another member of the staff to Boston, to assist Messrs. Ticknor and Fields in the conduct of the sale. One of the New York speculators had telegraphed to Boston to have fifty men placed in the line, and to be in waiting for his arrival at six in the morning; but as the country was many inches A "BOSS" SPECULATOR. igi deep in snow the train was late. His advance agents had been equal to the occasion, however, and he arrived in Boston at about ten in the morning to find himself a purchaser of three hundred tickets for each of the two Christmas Readings announced for Monday, Decem- ber 23rd, and the following evening (Christmas Eve). He returned to New York to superintend the sale of his equally large stock of tickets for the four Readings to be given the following week. This enterprising individual made a point of staying in the same hotel with ourselves, so as to be able to move as we moved ; and he took the utmost pains to ascertain our movements in advance, that he might be ready for emergencies ; the only city where he did not " operate " being Washington, in which he had no faith. Mr. Dickens's cold and the inclemency of the weather kept him confined to the hotel, which he quitted only to go to the hall in the evening to read. The monotony of his life was greatly relieved by the timely arrival in New York of Mr. and Mrs. Fields, Mr. and Mrs. John Bigelow, and occasional visits from his friends Horace Greeley and WilHam Cullen Bryants Here were guests enough for a dinner party on the following Sunday, and a cheerful conclusion to a week of hard work, bad weather, and great anxiety. On this occasion, and in consideration of his state of health, the guests retired earlier than usual, in the hope that 192 CHARLES DICKENS. Mr. Dickens might enjoy a good night's rest, so as to strengthen him for another hard week's work. Their intention was good, but it was frustrated by a wholly unforeseen circumstance. Having parted with him for the night, at about eleven o'clock, and not being dis- posed for rest myself at that hour, I went down to. the bar of the hotel (fitted up more like a smoke-room of a club than an ordinary bar-room) to see if any friends were about. Walking straight up to the marble counter, and call- ing for the bar-keeper, I became aware of a brass helmet emerging from under the counter, and in an instant, instead of a bar-keeper, I found myself face to face with a fireman, looking very much perplexed. " What's the matter now ? " I inquired. "Well," said the landlord, "we didn't want you here at all to-night, for, to tell you the truth, the house is on fire, and we can't find out where the fire is ; and until we can do so we don't want Mr. Dickens to be disturbed." I inquired how long it was since the discovery had been made, to which the landlord replied that he "guessed about five or six hours." That the place, was on fire somewhere there was no doubt, for clouds of smoke now began to come out from between the wainscotting boards forming the wall of the bar; the, paint was beginning to blister, and the smoke to rise, through the staircase boards. " FIRE 1 » 193 As matters were now looking a little more serious and business-like, it occurred -to me that I would go and report to Mr. Dickens, whose apartments were at the farther end of the house, to prepare him for any emergency. I found him on the point of getting into bed. " What do you want ? " he inquired. " The hotel's on fire." " I know it," he said. " How do you know it ? " " I can smell it," he said. " What are you going to do about it ? " " I don't know," I replied. " Where is the fire ? " " Nobody knows ; but they guess it's somewhere at the other end of the building." " When do you suppose it will get here ? " " Well," I said, " at the pace it has been going for rthe last five or six hours, I should say some time before breakfast in the morning." Here a council of war was held as to the best thing -to do under the circumstances. To go to bed with a view to a night's rest was out of the question, not to mention that we had a lot of valuables about us, in the way of papers, jewellery, and money (there were over $5,000 in greenbacks in my writing-table drawer), all of which had to be taken care of. We decided on arousing Scott and George (the gas- 14 194 CHARLES DICKENS. man), the other men being in Boston. This being done, Scott had instructions to pack one suit, his master's dress clothes, and the reading-books, with his jewellery, in a small portmanteau, and to place it, with the despatch boxes, near the window in the sitting- room, from which he could easily escape in case of necessity, and then to proceed to pack up as many of Mr. Dickens's other matters as time would allow. George was told off to assist me in like operations, and as I was in evening dress, I had to make an entire change suitable to the exigencies of the climate and the situation. All these preliminaries having been disposed of, and the luggage having been piled up close to the window, I proceeded to " stuff" myself with the paper money, and to put my jewels and papers in my pockets ; then we went downstairs to see how the fire was getting on, Mr. Dickens, in his pea-jacket and blue sailor's trousers, with a thick muffler round his neck, looTcing more like a pilot than ever. By this time the smoke had left no doubt in the minds of the other guests as to what was going on, and the passages and staircases were one mass of confusion, ladies and children only half dressed rushing about in the wildest dismay, while the gentlemen were busy packing and hauling about their large American trunks. Mr. Dickens's entry into the burning bar was hailed by the landlord with delight, and he thereupon QUITE A "ONE-HORSE" FIRE, THOUGH. 195 insisted on our joining in " drinks round," to pass the time until the actual seat of the fire could be discovered. The firemen and hotel servants were chopping away at the floors, ripping up boards in every likely and unlikely place in the hope of finding out the fire, and for some time to no avail, until an idea struck one of the firemen that the cause of the smoke might be in a distant part of the house. He commenced his investigations in a sitting-room (the ladies' reception-room) close to our apartments, and there was the cause, sure enough. The wing of the hotel in which we lived had been but recently built, and under a new fireplace in the ladies' reception-room was a large wooden beam, which had become ignited. The smoke having no vent had travelled along under the first floor of the hotel, and had found an outlet in the bar. When once discovered, the mischief was easily remedied, and much of the night was passed in jovial congratulations all round, the whole entertain- ment winding up about two o'clock in the morning in Mr. Dickens' sitting-room. Two weeks in New York, without the inconvenience of travelling, had a most beneficial eifect on Mr. Dickens's influenza. The elegant carriage I had hired for him had been replaced by a most comfortable and equally elegant sleigh, and we used to take long rides in this every day, with an exhilaration of the spirits such as is not to be produced by any other means. 196 CHARLES DICKENS. Having a spare evening on Wednesday, December 18th, and the influenza being much better, Mr. Dickens accepted the invitation of Mr. Palmer to visit his theatre (Niblo's), where the great spectacle of the " Black Crook " was presented ; and as Mr. Dickens was little disposed to be the subject of popular enthu- siasm, as he would have been had he sat in the front of the house, Mr. Palmer had an armchair placed for him in the prompt entrance, a position from which everything could be seen on the stage, with the additional advan- tage that he was able to move about behind the scenes, and enjoy a friendly chat with the artists engaged. The " Black Crook " had been running for over six- teen months, and had netted to the proprietors, Messrs. Jarrett and Palmer, a considerable fortune. Not one of the actors or actresses engaged in the piece had even been able during all this time to discover what it all meant, and the only intelligible thing that could be said of the representation Mr. Dickens described in the following words : " The people who act in it have not the slightest idea of what it is about, and never had ; but after taxing my intellectual powers to the utmost, I fancy that I have discovered ' Black Crook ' to be a malignant hunchback leagued with the Powers of Darkness to separate two lovers, and that the Powers of Lightness coming (in no skirts whatever) to the rescue, he is defeated. I am quite serious in saying that I do not suppose there are two pages of ' All the THE SKIRT OF THE BALLET-DANCER. 197 Year Round ' in the whole piece (which act? all night) ; the whole of the rest of it being ballets of all sorts, perfectly unaccountable processions, and the Donkey out of last year's Covent Garden pantomime." The shortness of the ballet skirts was a source of considerable s'urprise to Mr. Dickens. He thus de- scribes them in a letter to his friend Mr. Macready : " Having some amiable talk with a neat little Spanish woman, who is the premiere danseuse, I asked her in joke to let me measure her skirt with my dress glove. Holding the glove by the tip of the forefinger, I found the skirt to be just three gloves long, and yet its length was much in excess of the skirts of two hundred other ladies whom the carpenters were at that moment getting into their places for a transformation scene on revolving columns, or wires and 'travellers' in wire cradles, up in the flies, down in the cellars, on every description of float that Wilmot, gone distracted, could imagine ! " Mr. Dickens's presence in America, and the success attending his Readings, naturally prompted the various theatrical managers, not only in New York, but all ' over the country, to reproduce adaptations of his books in the form of plays, and for the time being opera bouffe and the lighter pieces so popular in America were put on one side to make room for these productions — some good, some indifferent, and some bad. Mr. Dickens could not be prevailed upon to witness any of them, and with 198 CHARLES DICKENS. the exception of Niblo's Theatre and Lent's Circus- he did not visit any of the theatres in New York. We left New York on Saturday, Dec. 21st ; starting by a midday train in order that Mr. Dickens might not be hurried in the morning, and in the hope that he would obtain some relief from the effects of his cold, which at the time was causing him many sleepless nights. The railway line had been cleared of snow, and our train was but very little late in arriving at Boston, where a delightful surprise was awaiting us at the hotel, the result of the affectionate thoughtfulness of Mrs. Fields and of Captain Dolliver- — Mrs. Fields had deco- rated our rooms with flowers and English holly, " with real red berries," festoons of moss dependent from the looking-glasses and picture-frames ; and Captain Dolliver had sent to England for some enormous boughs of mistletoe (a great rarity in America), so that the rooms presented such a homely Christmas appearance that we were both deeply affected by it. Our Christmas letters from home were in waiting for us, and it must be confessed that at our late dinner on that evening we were less conversational and more thoughtful than even the depressing effects produced by the Chief's influenza had made us for some days past. After dinner we sat round the fire and talked of nothing but home and the dear ones there, until the early hours in the morning, when we went to bed thoroughly worn out. CHRISTMAS IN BOSTON. 199 Of the thoughtful kindness of our friends that day, Mr. Dickens wrote, " In such affectionate touches as this the New England people are especially amiable." By this time four Readings had been given in Boston, eight in New York, and all the tickets sold for the four Christmas Readings in Boston, and four more Readings in New York announced for December 26th and 27th and January 2nd and 3rd in the New Year ; giving a vacation of five days to enable New York to recover from the effects of keeping Christmas and the New Year, and also to give Mr. Dickens a little rest, in which to combat with the influenza which, in the severity of the climate and the discomfort of the travelling, was literally keeping him down. The successful issues of the Readings already given had proved to us that, in future operations, there was no necessity to take the smaller cities of America except for the purposes of breaking long journeys, and we also became convinced that when these smaller places were touched the holding capacity of each hall would be tested to the utmost. Mr. • Osgood, whose knowledge of the country and whose'connections in it were universal, undertook the formation of 'the plans for our new tour, making such alterations in • existing arrangements as would entail the least travelling and discomfort to Mr. Dickens. The only place to which we were actually bound was Philadelphia, for eight Readings (in four visits, of two 200 CHARLES DICKENS. Readings each), and in the new route Brooklyn, Balti- more, "Washington, Cincinnatti, Chicago, and St. Louis were included, also Providence (R.I.), Worcester, New Haven, and Springfield in the New England States, and Rochester, Buffalo {en route for Niagara for our pleasure trip), Syracuse, and Albany, in the State of New York. As Mr. Dickens was under the impression that the value of the Readings in New York and Boston would be greatly enhanced by not being over- done, we decided on closing up in New York in the middle of January, and not going there again except for five farewell Readings in. the month of April. Boston was to be treated in the same way, with the exception of one other visit in the last week in February, for four Readings only, and as circumstances afterwards proved, this decision was a very wise one. The Readings in Cincinnatti, St. Louis, and Chicago, were never given, much to the disappointment of the inhabitants of those places, and as much speculation existed in the public mind as to the cause which deter- mined Mr. Dickens not to read in Chicago, it may be as well here to state that his reasons were entirely of a 'private character with which the general public „have nothing whatever to do. That he fully intended reading there is shown by the fact that I twice started for Chicago, only to be recalled from Pittsburg; and on the third occasion I contrived to evade the telegram I felt sure would be awaiting me in Pittsburg, by THE PUDDING IS SENT FROM ENGLAND. 201 passing through that place without staying there, even for a night's rest, being as desirous myself that he should reap the harvest awaiting him in the West, as the Western people were that he should pay them a visit. A hard day's work in our own rooms at the Parker House, in re-arranging our route, with the valuable assistance of Mr. Osgood, was pleasantly relieved by a dinner party at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Fields. This was our Christmas dinner, for on Christmas Day we had to travel from Boston to New York. A most brilliant company had been invited to do honour to the occasion, and all the well-known features of an English Christmas dinner-table, in the shape of roast beef and turkey, were placed before us, even to the plum pudding, made in England, and sent over specially for this enter- tainment. All feeling of depression at being away from home at such a time was dissipated by the geniality of our host and hostess, and the guests invited to meet Mr. Dickens ; and there was universal regret when the hands of the clock pointed to the small hours in the morning, suggesting most painfully that the time for breaking-up had arrived. These Christmas Readings at Boston were, if possible, more brilliantly attended and more enthusiastically received than any of the previous ones had been, especially the reading of the " Christmas Carol " on Christmas Eve. The circumstances under which the 202 CHARLES DICKENS. Reading was given, and the subject itself, on such an occasion, producing a profound sensation. On Christmas Day we left our friends in Boston for New York ; Mr. Dickens suffering from the most acute depression, consequent, in a great measure, on the return of the influenza, and the necessity of having to leave Boston and to travel on such a day; At the station, early in the morning, were Mr. and Mrs. Fields, Longfellow, Agassiz, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ticknor, and a host of other friend's who, with the kindest of intentions, had come to say " good-bye," and to present their Christmas greetings. These were a signal failure, and the kindly wishes ended in a perfect break-down in heart and speech to him who had done so much to keep Christmas green in the hearts of Englishmen. Under these circumstances the journey to New York was anything but a pleasant one. . During the early part of , it not a word was spoken on either side. Nor was this feeling alleviated by an unlooked-for compli- ment which awaited us in the crossing of one of the rivers on the steam ferry. On this river is stationed one of the men-of-war belonging to . the United States Government, under the stern of which the ferry had to pass. The captain in command of this vessel had attended sonie of the Readings in Boston, and, knowing that Mr. Dickens would be in the ferry, he had deter- mined to give him a greeting. As the ferry-boat passed RATHER HOME-SICK. 203 the war vessel the band on board struck up " God save the Queen," and at the same time the British flag was unfurled on the mizen-mast, and a wreath of holly and evergreens "run up" immediately beneath it. Our fellow-passengers knew the meaning of this tasteful tribute, and set up a ringing cheer with '' three times three and a little one thrown in," which had the effect of rather increasing the depression from which we were both suffering. Never before or since had we experienced so gloomy a- journey, and we were delighted to find ourselves once more in New York. Very little was said about Christmas, the only reference to it being made by Mr. Dickens in proposing the health of all our dear ones at home, finishing with his favourite quotation from " Tiny Tim." It was with some sense of relief and pleasurable anticipation that we looked forward to the end of the Readings, which were announced for the two following nights, that Mr. Dickens might take a few days' rest, of which he stood so much in need. New Year's Day is strictly observed in New York, and as everybody is either paying calls or receiving visitors (as in Paris), it is considered, and is, a bad night for theatres and amusements of all kinds. The amount of self-denial the ladies especially display is surprising. At the time we were in America, it was the fashion for ladies to wear a very different kind of coiffure from the present style, and as first-class hairdriessers 204 CHARLES DICKENS. were very scarce, the few that did exist and had any clientele were greatly in request, having, in order to get through their commissions, to commence as early as eight o'clock in the evening on New Year's Eve, thus entailing on the customer the inconvenience of sitting bolt upright all through the night for fear of disturbing the work of the artist in hair before the time for receiving visits the following day. This process com- mences early in the morning, the ladies receiving guests, whilst the gentlemen are rushing frantically about from house to house, making calls ; the more wealthy of them using, carriages for this purpose (the rate of fares on this particular day being raised to an almost prohibitory price), the poorer ones being com- pelled to walk from house to house. As a slight thaw had set in on New Year's Day of 1868, the pedestrians spent a " good time " in the streets. In every reception-room in each house is a buffet, and the gentlemen are supposed to take a glass of something to wish the household prosperity and happi- ness on the coming year, a habit that is a little trying and inconvenient to men with a large circle of friends. Citizens who are teetotalers all the year round, yield to temptation on New Year's Day, and the effects of the Bourbon whiskey make themselves apparent early. Nobody is in the least shocked at these proceedings, and everything passes off with the utmost good-humour,, the only ill effects being swelled heads the following THE ENTIRE CITY TAKES A "B. AND S." 205 day, the whole city seeming to suffer from an un- quenchable thirst, allayed only by frequent potations of brandy -and- soda ; and as the ladies have to be recompensed for their labours of New Year's Day, the suffering cavaliers have to escort them to the theatres and other places of amusement ; the only persons benefiting by this arrangement being the managers and proprietors of the various houses of entertainment and the irrepressible ticket speculators. The few days' rest had a most beneficial effect on Mr. Dickens's cold, and the New Year's Readings passed off as successfully as the others. The tour list by this time being completed, I took advantage of the recess to perfect all my plans, as far as possible, for the execution of all matters of detail in connection with it; and as the checking and stamping of so vast a number of tickets formed no inconsiderable item in this respect, it became necessary to increase our staff of clerks. Some idea may be formed of their work, when it is stated that, in addition to the Readings announced for the first week in the New Year (in Boston and New York), I had to prepare for sale in the course of the next few weeks nine thousand tickets for Philadelphia, eight thousand for Brooklyn, eight thousand for Baltimore, and six thousand for Wash- ington. ' This work, in addition to the correspondence, looking after advertisements, account-keeping, travelling, and 2o6 CHARLES DICKENS. visiting, with many minor matters of detail (together with my anxieties about Mr. Dickens's health), gave me. but little rest, but it was a labour of love, and so it came comparatively easy. : . ■ On Monday, January 13th, the real- travelling of the tour commenced; and as the superintendence of the sale of tickets in each city visited became a matter requiring careful manipulation (in order to frustrate as much as. possible the designs of the ticket specu- lators), it was arranged that I should, as far as was consistent with my being occasionally -present at the Readings, take this department entirely under my own supervision. In order to enable me to do this, Mr. Osgood kindly undertook to " mount guard" over the chief, and to attend to the duties of a travelling, life. Accordingly, during the run of the two last 'Readings in Boston and New York, I went to Philadelphia and Brooklyn to sell the tickets for the Readings announced there ; and rough as had beein the crowd in New York, it was nothing in comparison with the crowds in these two places. ■ Arriving in Philadelphia on Sunday evening, January 5th, I went to one of the smaller and private hotels, for the New York speculators were in a body at the Continental Hotel, some twenty or thirty in number. The hotel I selected was an excellent inn, but a cir- cumstance occurred here which made me 'regret that I had not faced the band at the "Continental." A supper THE MANAGER TAKES POISON TWICE. 207 party with some friends was very enjoyable whilst it lasted, but the following morning's reflections were the reverse, for I became aware of the unpleasant fact that I had been poisoned : the symptoms being of a most unpleasant nature, a doctor was sent for, and in a comparatively short time I had sufficiently recovered to attend to my duties at the ticket-office at twelve the following day, having had to delay the sale of tickets for some hours. The cause of the poisoning was for some time a mystery, and would probably have remained so until now had not an American friend unravelled it. I had eaten some partridge at supper. The snow lying deep on the ground, the birds cannot get their usual food, and for the time being they subsist on some kind of berry which does not injure them, though the poison permeates their flesh, and harasses the persons who eat them. This discovery having been made only after I had been twice poisoned by partridge at supper, it is un- necessary to add that for the remainder of the winter in America a black line was drawn through the name of this delicate bird, whenever it was submited in a bill of fare. When I arrived at the Music Hall in Philadelphia to superintend the sale of the tickets, I found the usual line of speculators and purchasers. The weather was bitterly cold (the thermometer (Reaumur) being eighteen below zero) and the snow deep on the ground. 2o8 CHARLES DICKENS. The straw mattresses, blankets, and whiskey bottles were there as usual (" George Washington " and all), but I noticed an unusual number of police and detec- tives in plain clothes. The doors of the ticket-office having been opened, a rush took place to secure the front seats, followed by a scrimmage between the police and tlie would-be purchasers. The former, with their batons, most unceremoniously routed the latter, whilst the "plain-clothes men" took their places in the line and turned speculators! This caused the greatest dissatisfaction, with the usual abusive correspondence in the newspapers, reflecting unpleasantly on myself, and connecting me with the ruse that had been played on the purchasers, of which I was quite innocent. So great was the demand for the tickets that they were all sold off in about three hours, and I was only too pleased to return to New York, to nurse myself and to prepare for the sale of tickets at Brooklyn, announced for two days afterwards. There were no drawing-room cars in those days on the New York and Philadelphia line, and the travelling for an invalid was anything but pleasant, fifty or sixty persons being closely packed in an ordinary car, with a great stove at each end almost at red heat, and no ventilation. The windows were closed, but a rush of cold air, with gusts of snow, smoke, and cinders from the locomotive, was continu- ally forced into the car by the incessant opening and shutting of the doors at either end by baggage-men, MR. BEECHER LENDS US HIS CHURCH. 209 express-men, breakmen, and vendors of all sorts of articles, from sugar-candy to a newspaper, not to men- tion the passengers who are perpetually walking from one end of the train to the other, and seemingly taking a savage delight in banging the doors with all their force. In good health these drawbacks do not so much force themselves on the mind, but as I was ill the dis- comfort of that journey was indescribable, and so was the relief of finding myself again in the ferry-boat, plying from Jersey City to New York. The only available place for a Reading in Brooklyn was the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's church (Plymouth Church), and by the courtesy of the reverend gentle- man this was secured; but a difficulty presented itself as to the manner in which the tickets had to be dis- tributed, and many were the suggestions offered with a view of overcoming this difficulty. In an ordinary hall or theatre the matter was comparatively simple, and I used my own discretion as to how few or how many tickets I issued to each person, but in a church, which was arranged in pews, each , varying in its holding capacity, the difficulty seemed almost insurmountable. It was suggested that Mr. Beecher's systeip of disposing of the pews should be adopted, viz., to fix the price of each pew at the rate of two dollars a ticket (as a reserved price), and to sell the premium on each of the pews in the best posi- tions by auction. 15 2IO CHARLES DICKENS. This Mr. Dickens objected to as laying him open to grave charges in receiving more money for his tickets than the established rate. The only way then w^as to sell the pews entire at the rate of two dollars each seat. This plan evidently gave the greatest satisfaction to the speculators and the public, and on my arrival at Brooklyn to sell the tickets, I was greeted with hearty cheers and a great deal of "chaff" by the mob in waiting. " The noble army of speculators," as Mr. Dickens described them, were in greater force than ever. They had been in the line since ten the previous evening, and during the whole night had kept up an enormous bonfire in the street, sleeping around it in turns on their mattresses, and enjoying their suppers of bread-and-meat, with potations of Bourbon whiskey. Early in the morning, and just about daybreak, a body of police appeared on the scene, an idea having suddenly occurred to them that in a narrow street, composed entirely of wooden houses, a bonfire was a source of considerable danger to the whole of that part of the city. On my arrival there at eight o'clock in the morning, with my ticket clerks and the tickets packed in a small portmanteau, in Mr. Dickens's carriage, lent for the occasion,,! was greeted with "Holloa, Dolby!" "How's Charley this morning?" " Look alive, old man ! " " Let me carry the portman- teau for you." "So he's trusted you with the carriage, has he?" "We're frozen to death waiting for you. A FIGHT FOR TICKETS. 211 and will buy you right up, carriage, horses, and all if you like — anything to get away from this darned cold." At this time the police made a raid on the bonfire, the mattresses, and speculators, and a terrific combat ensued, in which the people farthest off in the line took the most prominent part, until they saw that those nearest the door were being routed, and then with broken heads and bleeding noses rushed into the good places, bringing with them their mattresses, and hang- ing on to the iron railings round the church to keep possession of the places they had so gallantly fought for. The New Yorkers got the worst of the fight, and the Brooklyn men got the best of the tickets. Many arrests were made, and amongst the arrested ones was poor old " George Washington," who, however, was "let off "on promising not to come to Brooklyn any more for ticket speculation, certainly in tickets for Readings in a church. The plan I had decided on adopting for the sale of the tickets in the church was a little more tedious than the plan adopted at other sales, and the pur- chasers would have been great sufferers from the cold, hvA. for their ardour in the matter. This sale in about four hours produced nearly $20,000, and I returned to New York to meet Mr. Dickens on his arrival from Boston, to give him an account of the morning's proceedings. Although appreciative of the humorous side of 212 CHARLES DICKENS. these transactions, he always entertained an opinion that the speculators' trade would eventually tell against the receipts of the Reading, and but for the precautions we had taken in the change of our route, " closing up," as it were, in. New York and Boston at the right time, and only revisiting those places for the farewell Read- ings, such would undoubtedly have been the case. The public would not protect themselves, as they could have done in refusing to pay the exorbitant demands of the speculators, and without taking the trouble to go to the root of the evil, abused the syst,em of selling tickets which I had adopted. Our arrangements did not give satisfaction to the public, and great were the complaints in the news- papers when the discovery was made that there were to be no more Readings in New York until the middle of April. The visit to Philadelphia was a successful one in every way, and although Mr. Dickens was again suffer- ing from the effects of a fresh attack of influenza, produced undoubtedly by standing with the breakman outside the cars in travelling, in the hope of getting rid of the noxious air inside the car, still everything was done by our friends in the city to make him forget the inconvenience from which he was suffering. Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams were staying at the Continental Hotel with their pretty little " child "daughter," who was a source of the greatest amusement to Mr. PROFITS OF THE FIRST COURSE, ;£io,ooo. 213 Dickens, and Mr. George William Childs, the pro- prietor of the "Philadelphia Ledger," and the American correspondent of the London " Times," was indefatig- able in endeavours to entertain him. It may truly be said that, notwithstanding the discomfort, the first Philadelphia visit was always regarded as amongst the pleasantest of our American experiences. Prior to our visit to Philadelphia, Mr. Osgood had prepared a statement of his accounts, up to and in- cluding the date of the last Reading given in New York, which completed a little over a quarter of the number intended to be given in America. After paying all the preliminary expenses of every kind, on my return to New York on January 15th, I had been able to remit to Messrs. Coutts's Bank in London, to the credit of Mr. Dickens, £10,000, and had over £1,000 in hand after doing this " to go on with." Although Mr. Dickens was totally devoid of avarice, he could not but be well pleased at the result of his labours thus far ; and this circumstance, together with the cheery news he had received from his friends, Wilkie Collins and Fechter, of the success of the dramatisation of his Christmas number (" No Tho- roughfare "), at the Adelphi Theatre, all had the effect of putting him into excellent spirits for the return to New York for the Brooklyn Readings. In writing to his friend Fields from Philadelphia before leaving 214 CHARLES DICKENS. there he says : " The col.d remains just as k was (beastly), and where it was (in my head). We have left off referring to the hateful subject, except in emphatic sniffs on my part, convulsive wheezes, and resounding sneezes. Philadelphia audiences ready and bright. I think they understood the ' Carol ' better than ' Copperfield,' but they were bright and responsive to both. Dolby is in Washington, and will return in the night. Osgood is * on guard.' He made a most brilliant appearance before the Philadelphia public and looked very hard at them. The mastery of his eye diverted their attention from his boots, charming in themselves, but (unfortunately) two left ones ! " There was a novelty in the Brooklyn Readings, inas- much as they were given in a church, and unusual means had to be resorted to in order to render the platform available for the purpose. The pulpit was in the way and had to be removed, and so had the rea-ding- desk — alterations which Mr. Beecher obligingly allowed to be made. Although an enormous building, and capable of holding over two thousand people, Mr. Dickens pronounced it to be perfection ; and although his influenza (by this time dignified with the title " American catarrh," which he always said he hoped, for the comfort of human nature, was peculiar to only one of the four quarters of the world) had taken such hold on him, he found it scarcely required an effort to speak in it. At one of the Readings Mr. Beecher him- MR. DICKENS MEETS MR. BEECHER. 215 self was present, and paid Mr. Dickens a visit in the vestry on its termination, much to Mr. Dickens' satisfaction; and to judge by the congratulations which were exchanged, the meeting was one of pleasure to both. Of course I have no idea what Mr. Beecher's sentiments with regard to Mr. Dickens may have been, but those of Mr. Dickens for Mr. Beecher were ex- pressed in the following words : " I found hira an unostentatious,, evidently able, straightforward, and agreeable man ; extremely well informed, and with a good knowledge of art." During our stay in New Ybrk for the Brooklyn Readings, Mr. Horace Greeley had accepted an invita- tion to dine with Mr. Dickens at the Westiriinster Hotel on Saturday, January i8th; arid in expressing his delight at the success of the Readings took occasion to question the advisability of Mr. Dickens reading in Washington, giving as his reasons that the political horizon was a little h^zy, and that " trouble " with the President (Andrew Johnson) might accrue at any moment, in addition to which the " rowdy " element was more largely represented than usual in the city at that moment, in view of the supposed difficulties with the President. It was his opinion also that the " rowdies " would make themselves obnoxious to Mr. Dickens. I had just returned from Washington, and had secured the only available hall there (the Carol Hall), which held . but . seven hundted and^ fifty or 2i6 CHARLES DICKENS. eight hundred people, and intended charging five dollars a ticket for the Washington Readings ; a pro- ceeding Mr. Dickens disapproved of at first, but to which he eventually yielded on my pointing out to him that there were more people in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn than there were in Wash- ington, and that these people on an average paid (thanks to the " noble army of speculators ") that price to hear him in those cities. As to the " rowdy " element, I thought nothing of that, for in my experience they ■were too much occupied in "bar-loafing" and "office- seeking " to part with such a sum as five dollars to gratify an imaginary wrong, even if they had ever heard of it, or, what was more improbable, if they had read the books to wjiich Horace Greeley referred. My argu- ments had their effect both with Mr. Dickens and Mr. Greeley, and nothing more would have been thought or said on the matter had not an influential friend and politician paid us a visit later on in the evening, who reiterated Horace Greeley's fears. It was arranged that I should go to Washington the following night, to judge (if possible) for myself as to the chances of any difficulty in the event of Mr. Dickens visiting Wash- ington, the matter being left entirely in my hands either to go on with the arrangements there or to give the place up entirely. On re-visiting Washington, I became convinced (thanks to the assistance I received in my inquiries from Mr. Franklin Philp, a gentleman WASHINGTON WILL DO. 217 whose knowledge of Washington was indisputable) that Mr. Greeley's fears were groundless, the only alteration in the original plan for that place being that I (under pressure) resolved in making the price of the tickets three dollars instead of five dollars, a result that I telegraphed to Mr. Dickens ; and took advantage of his absence to slip off to Chicago to make arrangements for that place (only to be re-called at Pittsburg), joining him again in Philadelphia, after calling at Baltimore to sell the tickets for four Readings an- nounced for that city. ' CHAPTER VIIL FUTHER' AMERICAN EXPERIENCES. |N my return to Philadelphia, I found Mr. Dickens still suffering so much, that he was compelled to decline all offers of hospitality tendered to him by his friends in Philadelphia ; feeling that if he took advantage of these offers, he would be totally unfit for the labour of the Readings. In his weak state of health, he was desirous of seeing me, to confer as to the advisability of taking so long a journey as that to Chicago, a distance of nearly fifteen hundred miles. He also had fears as to my staying power, or, as he expressed it in a letter to his son (Mr. Charles Dickens), " If Dolby holds out well to the last it will be a triumph, for he has to see everybody, to drink with everybody, sell all the tickets, take all the blame, and go beforehand to all the places on the list, I shall not see him after to-night for ten days or a fortnight, and he will be perpetually on 'the road during the interval." CHICAGO THREATENS TO GO INTO FITS. 219 What he underwent from the effects of his cold, it is impossible to describe. He could not sleep at night, and rarely, if ever, got up before twelve o'clock in the day. He had to abandon his breakfast, and dine at three, and could take no food until after the work of the evening was over, and then only something very light, in the shape of quail or a devilled bone. The champagne had to be given up during the Readings, and in its place I prepared an egg beaten up in sherry for him every night, to take between the parts ; this seemed to do him good, and to refresh him wonderfully. The abandonment of the Western journey caused the greatest disappointment and annoyance to the Chicago public, as indeed it did to all the friends of the great Western country, amongst them Mr. Childs, of Phila- delphia; who, in his desire to impress on Mr. Dickens the importance of visiting Chicago, said that if he did not read in that city " the people would go into fits," to which Mr. Dickens replied that he would rather they went into " fits " than that he did. The Baltimore sale of tickets took place in the same bitter cold weather as those of Brooklyn and Phila- delphia, but was a remarkably quiet one by reason of the absence of the New York speculators,, who had but little faith in the success of the enterprise in Baltimore. The results, however, proved that the New Yorkers were wrong. The hallT had taken was the Concordia Hall, which gave Mr. Dickens the. greatest pleasure, 220 CHARLES DICKENS. being built like a theatre. The public, too, were quite to his liking, being a bright, responsive people. Not only were Chicago and the West abandoned, but also the Readings in Canada and those in Nova Scotia, the latter in consequence of the withdrawal of the Halifax steamer from that port by the Cunard Com- pany. The tour list had again to be changed, and in view of Mr. Dickens's continued ill-health, the number of Readings had to be considerably reduced. An idea struck us (Mr. Osgood and myself), that a walking match between ourselves, to take place at the end of February, in Boston, would be a source of amusement to Mr. Dickens. He entered heartily into the scheme, volunteering to draw up the articles of agreement, to act as trainer, and to write a " sporting narrative " of the match after it had taken place. The match was fixed to take place in Boston, on Saturday, February 29th. " Beginning this design in joke," he writes, speaking of Osgood and myself, "they have become tremendously in earnest, and Dolby has actually sent home (much to his opponent's terror) for a pair of seam- less socks to walk in. Our people are hugely excited on the subject, and continually make bets on 'the men.' Fields and I are to walk out six miles, and ' the men ' are to turn and walk round us. Neither of them has the least idea what twelve miles at a pace is. Being requested by both to give them a breather yesterday, I gave them a stiff one of five miles over a bad road, in MANAGER AND ANOTHER GO INTO TRAINING. 221 the snow. I took them at a pace of four and a half miles an hour, and you never beheld such objects as they were when we got back — both smoking like factories, and both obliged to change everything before they could come to dinner. They have the absurdest ideas of what are tests of walking power, and continually get up in the maddest manner to see how high they can kick the wall — the wainscot here in one place is scored all over with their pencil marks. To see them doing this — Dolby a big man, and Osgood a very little one — is • ridiculous beyond description.' " If we had been professional pedestrians, instead of amateurs, Mr. Dickens could not have paid more attention to our " coaching" for the great event. During our stay at Baltimore, I received a visit from the Governor of the Maryland Penitentiary, who, know- ing the interest taken by Mr. Dickens in prison matters in England, was anxious to conduct him over the estab- lishment under his control ; an invitation which Mr. Dickens accepted with the greatest readiness, especially as the governor had given me to understand that this prison was regarded as the model prison of the States. Our reception by the governor and his officials was all that could be desired — the governor himself acting as guide — and as the prison happened to be more than usually full at the time of our visit, it became doubly interesting, as illustrating the system adopted in it. All the prisoners were allowed to work at their trade, not 223 CHARLES DICKENS. confined in separate cells as in England, but in comfort- able workshops provided for them, these workshops being warmed by large stoves and hot-water pipes. Some prisoners were brush-making, boot-making, tailoring, and mat-making, and in one large carpenter's workshop there were as many as fifty men (and amongst them half a dozen men convicted of murder), busily engaged making door-frames, panels for doors, window- frames, &c., having the free use of the usual carpenter's tools, and with no guard over them other than one warder (in plain clothes, and smoking cigars the whole time), perched up at a high desk with no other means of defence (in the event of an emeute) than a six- barrelled revolver. It must be explained that at the time of Mr. Dickens' second visit to America, there was a strong feeling against capital punishment for murder, as indeed there is at the present time; and that these murderers, although sentenced to be hanged, had by some peculiar vagary of the law been respited during the pleasure of the Government. On inquiry, we as- certained that the warder was not placed there so much for the purpose of preserving order, as to prevent the prisoners from making an improper use of the materials supplied them for their trade, notably those who had a talent in working in metals, making hinges, locks, &c.; for, as a result of experience, it had been discovered that these worthies applied such materials, "on the sly," to the manufacturing of skeleton keys, with which they A MODEL AMERICAN GAOL. 223 supplied their friends in the burglary trade " outside," on visiting days. A strict account was kept with each prisoner of the result of his labours, one-third of the proceeds going towards his own maintenance whilst in prison, a third for the support of his family during his "absence" from home, and the remaining third was safely banked as a reserve fund for his own use when the time arrived for his liberation. This arrangement, which at the time gave the greatest dissatisfaction to the legitimate trades- men in Baltimore, as the prison labour being untram- melled by rent or taxes, became a strong opposition and competitive agency with the honest and industrious shopkeeper or manufacturer; and as the winter was unusually severe, and in consequence work was very scarce, the extraordinary number of inmates in the house was fully accounted for, especially as the scale of dietary was most liberal. The "long term " prisoners and the murderers had a capital bill of fare (for a prison), — cocoa, coffee, or tea, with a choice of fish and bread- and-butter for breakfast; soup and meat for dinner; and cocoa, coffee, or tea, with bread-and-butter, for supper. The " short term" men were supposed not to re- quire so much, and their bill of fare was less sumptuous, although far more luxurious than the condition of affairs would seem to warrant, especially as the number of inmates of this class was far in excess of either workshop room or tool appliances, to enable them to earn anything. 224 CHARLES DICKENS. This struck us very much when we were conducted into a large room in which were over five hundred un- employed men, all seated on forms arranged like the seats in a lecture room, with a passage-way up the centre for the warders — cigar in mouth and revolver in belt — to promenade up and down. (Negroes on one side of the room and white folks on the other, the whites refusing to associate with the niggers.) The heat of this room was insufferable, and as the prisoners had no work to do they were not allowed to talk, but at intervals between meal times were allowed to sing, the whole presenting such a scene of depression and misery that it was a source of the greatest relief to us to be once more in the comfortable quarters of the governor, to smoke a cigar, and to have a talk with him about the lenient system he was introducing, in the hope of diminishing crime in the State of Maryland. Looking over some of the prison books, Mr. Dickens noticed the word " pardoned " against the name of every man, a few days, and in some cases weeks and months, before his term of sentence had expired. The governor explained, "If he had served his term out, the prisoner would have been disfranchised and the State would have lost the votes ! " The governor was desirous of knowing how his establishment compared with the prisons in England, and was surprised to find that nothing of the kind was in existence there. Mr. Dickens remarked at the same THE BALTIMORE HOTELS. 225 time that the Maryland Penitentiary was more like a " huge hydropathic establishment, without the privilege of going out for a walk," a tribute which gave the kind- hearted govetnor such an amount of satisfaction, that on our return to the hotel (after two hours' training for the walking match), we found handsome presents, the product of prison labour, awaiting us. Nothing has been said about the Baltimore hotels, neither would any reference to them be necessary except for the benefit of any one who has never visited Balti- more, and who might propose doing so. But for Mr. Dickens' state of health, he would undoubtedly have stayed at Barnum's Hotel, then, as now, the oldest and one of the best and most liberally conducted in the South ; but it was considered prudent to put up at a smaller and more private house. This hotel was " Guy's," where I found I could secure a sufficient number of rooms for our requirements, en suite, and be out of the way of the noise and turmoil of a larger hotel, and where I could get more care and attention in the preparation of delicacies with which to tempt Mr. Dickens's appetite — such delicacies as are not to be appreciated in any other city in the world, Baltimore being the home of the far-famed canvas-back duck, the terrapin, and the Blue Point oyster. These luxuries are to be found in other parts of Anjerica, but away from Baltimore (or perhaps Washington) they are not the same, and to the gourmet it is almost worth while i5 226 CHARLES DICKENS. to make a pilgrimage to this city, to indulge in these freaks of nature, either at Barnum's Hotel, or "Guy's," where there is an excellent restaurant. During the visit to Baltimore, I went to Washington (a journey of only about an hour and a quarter) to superintend the sale of the tickets for the Readings there, returning to Baltimore after transacting this business. There being no^ speculators here from New York, everything passed off quietly, and it was satis- factory to find no evidences of either " rowdyism " or discontent on the part of the public at the raised prices. My only regret was that I did not adhere to my original plan of charging five dollars a ticket instead of three dollars. The receipts in Washington did not come up to the average of other large cities in America, but there was full compensation in the associations of the place, which would have been greatly enhanced had" the climate of Washington been a little more genial, and had Mr. Dickens been less a suiferer than he was from the effects of his " American catarrh." His spirit and determination were of the most in- domitable character, and under the most trying cir- cumstances he would be the most cheerful. On many occasions in America, I had been fearful that he would not be able to give his Readings, and but for my know- ledge of him and his power of " coming up to time " when " time " was called, I should often have despaired of his physical capacity. It was only by a most careful THE CHIEF'S HEALTH ALARMS US. 2:7 observation that any one could form any idea of the extent of his sufferings, for he made it a rule, in the unselfishness of his nature, never to inflict his own inconveniences on any one else ; and as for the public, he held it as a maxim that " No man had a right to break an engagement with the public if he were able to be out of bed." As he had lost all appetite, took little or no food, and could not sleep for more than three or four hours out of « the twenty-four, I was greatly embarrassed to know what to do for the best with regard to an hotel in Washington. Willard's Hotel was closed, and even if it had not been, with its clientele of bar-loafers, swag- gerers, drunkards, and " axe grinders " (a class of politician peculiar to Washington hotels), it would not have been the place for Mr. Dickens in his state of health, which demanded that he should have peace and quietude, with the greatest amount of comfort attainable. All the other hotels were inconveniently situated, and presented the same undesirable features as "Willard's" did, so in my extremity I took my friend Franklin Philp into my counsels, as to the advisability of taking a furnished house for our whole staff, during our stay in Washington. It being High Session, this could not be satisfactorily arranged, and although invitations were not wanting, Mr. Dickens's rule of accepting no in- vitations to stay with friends precluded his acceptance of them, for he said, " I came for hard work, and I 228 CHARLES DICKENS. must try to fulfil the expectations of the American public." Mr. Philp was equal to this occasion, as indeed he was to almost any occasion, and after tendering the offer of his establishment to Mr. Dickens, Mr. Osgood and myself did the very best thing possible under the circumstances, by making an arrangement with Mr. Whelcker (a German), the proprietor of the best restaurant in the city, who re-furnished some of his private dirting-rooms to suit our requirements ; and as the house was a comparatively small one, and we had one wing entirely to ourselves, with excellent French waiters and a cuisine , that would have done credit to Champot or Vachette in Paris, or Delmonico in New York, I congratulated myself on the discovery, and was grateful to Franklin Philp for the interest he had taken in the matter. Mr. Dickens was highly pleased with the arrangement, and everything looked well for a pleasant week in Washington, during which I had no travelling, save for a couple of days, during which I had sales of tickets in Baltimore and Phila- delphia for the final farewell Readings there ; and with the exception of having to attend to the ordinary routine of our travelling life, had very little to do but .to avail myself of the goods the Washington gods provided, and to give my attention to training for the great " walking match," in which Mr. Dickens took so much interest. THERE IS NO REST FOR THE MANAGER. 229 I had one more journey to make before entering on this week's pleasure, viz., to New York, to attend to some business matters there. It was far from a pleasant experience, as there were considerable doubts as to the possibility of getting through, for another heavy snow - storm had occurred, and the road in some places was supposed to be " blocked ; " but beyond the inconvenience of arriving at my journey's end some hours late, no other annoyance was felt. Mr. Dickens-, always solicitous for my safety and comfort, writes on January 30th : " The com- munication with New York is not interrupted, so we consider the zealous Dolby all right. You may imagine what his work is, when you hear that he goes three times to every place we visit. Firstly, to look at the hall, arrange the numberings, and make five hundred acquaintances, whom he immediately calls, by their Christian names ; secondly, to sell the tickets- — a very nice business requiring great tact and temper; thirdly, with me. He will probably turn up at Washington next Sunday, but only for a little while ; for as soon as I am on the platform on Monday night, he will start away again, probably to be seen no more until we pass through New York in the middle of February." Mr. Dickens at the time of writing this had no idea of my intention of spending as much of the week with him as I could spare ; indeed he knew nothing of my 230 CHARLES DICKENS. intended movements at any time, giving me carte blanche to do as I liked, and never questioning any of my acts with regard to business matters. He never gave me an order to do anything in connection with our affairs, but always suggested his wishes by saying, " Don't you think we had better do," &c., and if on any occasion I consulted him in times of difficulty, his frequent reply was, " Do as you like, and don't bother me." As he conjectured, I returned to Washington by the Sunday night train from New York, to find him com- pletely prostrate with his cold, and on hearing of my decision to spend the greater portion of the week with him, he expressed his pleasure, especially as his birth- day would occur during the week, and he was anxious to have me with him for the occasion, so that our domesticity might not be entirely broken up, away from all he loved. Great were the preparations, in which Mr. Osgood vied with myself to make the coming February 7th a pleasurable day to him, with the slight drawback of having to appear before an audience on the evening of the day, instead of receiving his friends at our apartments at Whelcker's Restaurant — where, as in New York and Boston, everything was done by the proprietor in the hope of tickling his appetite by the preparation of some delicate dish, but all to no avail. I found on my arrival in "Washington, on talking MR. SECRETARY STAUNTON AND HIS MEMORY. 231 matters over at the breakfast table, that Mr. Dickens had been compelled to break his rule as laid down, and had accepted an invitation from Mr. Charles Sumner (an old friend of his), to dine with him on that Sunday evening, and had stipulated that there was to be no party. The only other persons present were Mr. Secretary Staunton (War Minister) and Mr. Sumner's private secretary ; and although Mr. Staunton had been previously unknown to him, Mr. Dickens was greatly interested in his new acquaintance, who was gifted with a remarkable memory, and famous for his knowledge of Mr. Dickens's works. The Chief being out for the evening, Mr. Osgood and I were left together to compare notes as to business matters that had transpired during my absence ; and Mr. Osgood's account of Mr. Dickens's health was such as to cause me the greatest anxiety, and make me feel glad that I had changed the plan of the tour, by giving up the idea of going West. On Mr. Dickens's return, he gave us a most interest- ing account of the way he had spent his evening at the house of his friend Mr. Sumner. He was specially pleased with his intercourse with Mr. Staunton, who on being started with a chapter from any of Mr. Dickens's books, could repeat the whole of the chapter from memory, and, as the author confessed, knew more about his works than he himself did. This was accounted for by the fact that during the war, when 232 CHARLES DICKENS. Mr. Staunton was Commander-in-Chief of the Northern forces, he never went to bed at night without first read- ing something from one of Mr. Dickens's books, a habit which engraved them on his memory. The Washington Readings were amongst the most brilliant of any given in America. At the first Read- ing every class of society was represented, the Presi- dent himself being present, with his family, and not only the English ambassador, but all the ambassadors representing other countries, and a large proportion of Congressmen, and those connected with the Legis- lative Assembly. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the Carol Hall presented a spectacle which would have been perfect, but for the badness of the gas. This caused Mr. Dickens to depart from his usual rule, by making a preliminary speech, in which he said that he must trust to the brightness of the faces before him for the illumination of his own. Expectation was on its tiptoe, whatever that might be, and Mr. Dickens had partially recovered from the effects of his cold, a change produced possibly by the geniality of the Washington climate on this particular day; although it must not be understood that the climate of Washington is always genial, for as a rule in the winter season, the four seasons are represented within the twenty-four hours, a fact which caused poor John Brougham to remark that, "in Washington, there was a Congress of climates, as well as a Congress of legislators." THE CONGRESSMAN WHO HAD DINED. ^33 Here, a slightly unpleasant incident occurred. A member of Congress, a military man of high dis- tinction, had partaken rather too freely of the good things of this life at dinner, before coming to the Reading, and this preliminary exhilaration had the effect of creating in him a bad attack of anglo- phobia. As was my habit, I was talking to Mr. Dickens behind the screen, the house being by this time quite full, and all the people in their seats, when our attention was attracted by an unseemly noise in the body of the hall. One of the assistants rushed round to me, requesting my presence in the front of the house (before Mr. Dickens made his appearance), and I was ushered into the presence of the military gentleman, who was indulging in language not usual in good society. Being personally known to a great many people in the hall, my presence was hailed with, " Quite right, Mr. Dolby, we are very glad to see you here ; this man is making use of language not fit for ears polite. If he is allowed to remain in his seat, the Reading will be spoilt." I remonstrated with the obnoxious person, and requested him to leave the hall. He pleaded that he meant no offence, offering the excuse for what he had said, that he had been dining with some friends, and scarcely knew what he was about, and he distinctly refused to leave his place, promising not to repeat the disturbance. I had taken the precaution to place two policemen in the hall, at 234 CHARLES DICKENS. the far end, with instructions to them to come to my assistance if necessary. As the military person refused to leave I had no other course left, but to call the policemen, and order them to remove him. The sight of the constables had the effect of subduing the dis- turber's ardour, and so, to ensure his good behaviour, I arranged that a policeman should sit on each side of him, with instructions that, if he moved hand or foot, or raised his voice, he was to be immediately ejected. Having done this, I went back to Mr. Dickens, and told him that all was quiet, and that he could com- mence his Reading. His reception was most enthusiastic, and as he afterwards said, " resembled more the receptions given him by Manchester shillings, instead of Washington half-sovereigns." The Reading was the " Christmas Carol," and after the pause at the end of the first chapter, the military gentleman seemed to have had enough of it, and looking on either side of him at his guardians, decided that, after all, Readings were not in his line, and rolling more like a ship at sea, than a human being leaving a hall of well-dressed people, he retired amidst the jeers and laughter of the assembly to their immense satisfaction. After this came the canine comedy which Mr. Dickens has himself described. By some means or another, a stray, comical-looking dog had contrived to force his way into the hall, unseen by the police and the ushers DOG. 235 in attendance. During the Reading of a comic portion of the " Carol," this dog suddenly made his appearance from under the front seat, and stared intently at Mr. Dickens. It v/as fortunate that this happened during a comic scene, or Mr. Dickens, with his lovo of humour, would have had his gravity considerably upset, feeling sure, as he did, that the dog would take advantage of any applause that might ensue, to set up a bark. The public being too intent on the reader, did not notice the dog ; but one of the ushers observing liim, took an early opportunity of having the dog removed, a process which was quietly effected; but a little later the, animal contrived to return to his former position, \yhere he indulged in a prolonged howl, as if in great pain. This had such a ridiculous effect on Mr. Dickens, that he could not help laughing. Everybod}' laughed, but the dog was most uncere- moniously ejected, receiving miscellaneous kicks and raps over the head from sticks and umbrellas. Strange to say, he returned the next night, but on his way into the hall, he indiscreetly knocked his head against Mr. Osgood's leg. That gentleman was too quick for the dog ; seizing him with both his hands, he threw him over his shoulder, and he was caught like a ball at a cricket match by the ushers, and passed on from one to another, until he found himself in the street. He was not, however, to be got rid of in this manner, for on the occasion of the third Reading he came again. 236 CHARLES DICKENS. accompanied by another dog ; but the staff were on the look-out for him, and he did not get in, much to his disappointment, for, as Mr. Dickens said, "he had evidently promised to pass the other dog free." Not the least pleasant episode connected with our sojourn at Washington, was a private audience given to "Mr. Dickens by the President (Mr. Andrew Johnson). He, with his family, had been present at all the Read- ings, and had twice requested Mr. Dickens's presence at the White House. On the first occasion this was rendered impossible by reason of a previous engage- ment ; but, on the second occasion, Mr. Dickens and myself had the honour of waiting on him. Our cards being sent in to the President by his secretary, we were kept waiting in the ante-room of his private audience- chamber but a very few moments, during which we were able to note the simplicity with which this, apartment was furnished, being greatly amused by a printed notice, stuck upon the walls of the chamber, requesting gentlemen to " kindly use the spittoons." We were most cordially received by the President,, who seemed to be impressed by the presence of his distinguished visitor, and for some moments sat looking at him, as if uncertain how to commence a conver- sation. He warmed up, however, in congratulatory expressions as to the effect the Readings had produced on him. This gave Mr. Dickens an opportunity of saying a few kindly words to his distinguished host. AN AUDIENCE OF THE PRESIDENT. 237 touching lightly on political matters, which just then were assuming rather a serious aspect, resulting eventually in the well-known impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Many bitter things had been said by the political enemies of the President as to his habits of life, especially his alleged intemperance, all of which, to judge by his appearance and frank manner, were unjust. In a letter to Mr. Fields, Mr. Dickens gave his opinion of Andrew Johnson : " I was very much surprised by the President's face and manner. It is, in its way, one of the most remarkable faces I have ever seen. Not imaginative, but very powerful in its firmness (or, perhaps, obsti- nacy), strength of will, and steadiness of purpose. There is a reticence in it, too, curiously at variance with that first unfortunate speech of his. A man not to be turned or trifled with. A man (I should say) who must be killed to be got out of the way. His manner is perfectly composed. We looked at one another pretty hard. There was an air of chronic anxiety upon him ; but not a crease or a ruffle in his dress, and his papers were as composed as himself." On leaving the President, after a most agreeable interview, Mr. Dickens was met by Sir Edward Thorn- ton, who had arrived in a State sleigh, to present his credentials as English Ambassador; and in the ante- room adjoining the President's audience-chamber was 238 CHARLES DICKENS. an old friend of Mr. Dickfens's awaiting an audience. This was General Blair, who so greatly distinguished himself during the war. This meeting was particularly- pleasant to Mr. Dickens, being the means of renewing an acquaintance formed twenty-five years previously, on the prairies. The day chosen for the interview with the President was Friday, February 7th, Mr. Dickens's birthday, which, at its commencement, did not bid fair to be a very happy one, for the " catarrh " was worse than ever, and but for the appointment at the White House, the day would undoubtedly have been spent by Mr. Dickens in his room. But his indomitable courage here again came to the fore, and he bestirred himself as usual to keep his engagement. The occasion was to have been kept a secret, but by some means the newspapers got wind of it, and so from early morning visitors were continually calling with letters of congratulation, cards, birthday presents, and baskets of the most exquisite flowers, with which our room was literally covered. Telegrams and letters, radiant with good wishes from far-off places all over the country kept pouring in, and amongst these was a cablegram to myself from Ross, in Herefordshire, announcing the birth of a son. Mr. Dickens declared that the christening of the youngster ought to be post- poned until after our return to England, that he might stand sponsor to him ; a wish that was gratefully appre- THE CHIEF'S BIRTHDAY. 239 dated as another proof of the affectionate regard he had for me and mine. In the afternoon, amongst other distinguished per- sons who called to offer their congratulations, was Mr. Charles Sumner, who, being an old friend, was admitted into Mr. Dickens's apartments, to find him covered with mustard poultices and apparently voiceless. Mr. Sumner, turning to me, said — " Surely, Mr. Dolby, you are not going to allow Mr. Dickens to read to-night ? " I assured him it was not a question of my " allowing" him to do so, but a question of Mr. Dickens's deter- mination to read if he were alive. " I have told Mr. Dickens," I said, " at least a dozen times to-day, that it will be impossible for him to read ; and but for my knowledge of him and of his wonderful po"wer of changing when he gets to the little table, I should be even more anxious about him than I am. I was right in my conjecture, for he had not faced his audience five , minutes . before, as usual, his powers returned to him, and he went through his evening's task as if he had been in the most robust health. The frequent experience of this return of power, whep called upon, was a source of the greatest consolation to Mr. Dickens, and saved him a great deal of anxiety ; and as his general health was not in the least affected by the " catarrh," it was very satisfactory to 240 CHARLES DICKENS. his friends that matters were no worse. The great fear for the time being was that his strength would give way, in which case he would have sunk altogether, especially as he had contracted the habit of taking little or no food, and suffered from sleepless nights. None of these drawbacks were perceptible to the general public, when Mr. Dickens made his appearance before them, and as audiences vary in their aspect, in the same way as does a landscape under the influence of sun or cloud, so was Mr. Dickens affected by the appearance of his audience, which on this occasion was worthy of the day they came to honour. Some unknown hands had gained possession of the hall during the day, and had decorated it, especially the little table, with costly flowers. Amongst the audience were the President's family. Ambassadors, Secretaries of State, Judges of the Supreme Court, the naval 'and military authorities in full uniform, and every notability in Washington, with a perfect bouquet of ladies, whose toilettes resembled those of a State ball or of a grand night at the opera. These circumstances all helped to distract Mr. Dickens's mind from his own immediate sufferings, and when the cheering had subsided, it was only to those who' knew him the best that there was any lack of voice even in the few first words he uttered. When the Reading was over, the whole audience stood and cheered, the ladies throwing their bouquets "GOOD-BYE!" 241 to him, and the gentlemen the " button-hole " flowers out of their coats, causing Mr. Dickens to return to the platform to make a little speech of grateful acknow- ledgment, which was highly appreciated by his audience. The following day (our last in Washington) was spent in the reception of friends who came to say "good-bye" to him they so loved and honoured; for it was well known that in his state of health he could not leave his apartments to call on them, even had the climate allowed him to do so. Mr. Osgood and myself, who, to use his own expression, were " always doing some ridiculous things to keep me in spirits," had been out in the snow settling accounts and making farewell calls. On our return we perceived Mr. Dickens standing at the sitting-room window of our apartments, and, being still some distance from the house, we put on a tremendous spurt, pretending we had been in training for the walking match, and, rushing madly up the staircase, and bursting into the sitting-room, where Mr. Dickens was apparently writing at his table, we sat down on the floor, gasping for breath, much to his amusement, whilst he adminis- tered to each of us a cool brandy-and-soda before we could be induced to give any account of ourselves or the Washington Readings just completed. Before leaving Washington I had received a friendly intimation from a gentleman in a high poeition in the 17 242 CHARLES DICKENS. Internal Revenue Department, that it was barely pos- sible that the "rowdy" element, although absent from Washington, might manifest itself in the western part of the State of New York, and as our tour included the cities of Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo, I was natu- rally anxious as to the form the rowdyism would take. My friend explained to me that the greater propor- tion of the collectors and the heads of departments in his bureau in this part of America consisted of Anglo- Americans and Irish-Americans, nearly all of whom suffered from anglophobia. At this time there was an Act of Congress which provided that all theatres and permanent places of amusement in the States should pay not only income tax to the Government (which was rated at five per cent, of the income), but in addition there was in each city a Mayor's license to be obtained and a city tax of two and a half per cent, on the gross receipts. But there was a clause in this Act of Congress to the effect that "occasional concerts and lectures were excepted ; " and as Mr. Dickens's Read- ings clearly came under the head of this exemption, my friend suggested that, in the event of any molesta- tion from the local authorities, it would be well to have an official authority for the non-payment of the charges in Mr. Dickens's case. He also proposed I should see the Chief Commissioner of Internal Revenue in Wash- ington, and get him to send instructions to the smaller places we were about to visit. A LUNCH AT WHELCKER'S. 243 There were other reasons for this precaution being taken, as the political atmosphere was daily becoming more murky, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson was regarded as a certainty. In that event the officials under his government would in all probability not be employed by any new government which might come into power — a prospect that would make the existing officials the more assiduous in the execution of their duty. At the suggestion of my friend I made an appointment with the Chief Commissioner to talk the matter over with him, and was received by him and his secretaries with the utmost courtesy — a courtesy that is always present in official dealings in America — and as the interview was a lengthy one, the conversation incident to it being interspersed with pleasant chat on other matters, the time passed on far into the luncheon hour. Finding this to be the case, I invited the general and his secretaries to lunch with me at Whelcker's — an invitation which was accepted as being the readiest means of disposing of the question without the loss of any more official time. During lunch the general suggested that I should supply him with my tour list, that he might communi- cate officially with each city. But, as it not unfrequently happens that in the very best regulated official depart- ments, accidents do sometimes happen, I proposed that as my tour list might be again changed, it would answer 244 CHARLES DICKENS. the same purpose if he gave me an official general order or travelling letter, containing his views in the matter, which, in case of necessity, might be shown to the local agents, and so save not only some trouble to them, but in all probability some inconvenience to Mr. Dickens or myself. After some little deliberation this was assented to, and within an hour of our separating I was the recipient of the much-desired order, which I found useful on an occasion which will be referred to later on, when the rowdy element did assert itself. A novelty in official routine presented itself to the notice of Mr. Dickens while he was confined to the house during his illness, in the shape of crowds of well-dressed ladies leaving the Treasury Department (a magnificent white marble structure nearly opposite) every afternoon at about half-past three, and a large crowd of well - dressed gentlemen in waiting for the ladies, conveying an impression to his mind that the men had not all the legislation to them- selves, and that in the Treasury Department there was a house of Congress for the ladies as well as the men. Having an invitation from Mr. Sumner to visit the various Government Offices, we were taken through this same Treasury Department, where, to our astonish- ment, we found that all the clerks employed for copying and official work were ladies. Mr. Sumner explained A MATRIMONIAL AGENCY. 245 to US that since the termination of the war, and, indeed, during the latter portion of the time of the war, the mothers, widows, and sisters of the officers, and of some of the men who were killed in battle, and on whom they were dependent for support, were employed to do such work as had previously been done by male clerks — an arrangement thoroughly in keeping with the thought- fulness and good-nature of the American character, and one which impressed itself strongly on Mr. Dickens's mind, at the same time persuading him that the Govern- ment were not only performing a kind and humane act, but that they were unconsciously " running " a matri- monial agency, for he had opportunities of watching the friendly greetings that took place every afternoon, and the little exchanges of love tokens, in the shape of flowers, gloves, and sweetmeats. On Sunday, the gth of February, we took our depar- ture from Washington, with many regrets at leaving so many kind friends and pleasant companionships behind us. It was my intention to proceed direct to the New England cities, viz.. New Haven, Hartford, Providence, and Worcester, to superintend the sale of tickets in these places for the Readings announced for the week commencing on the 17th, but Mr. Dickens being desirous I should remain with him for the farewell Readings in Baltimore and Philadelphia, I, contrary to my own feehng in the matter, consented to do so. I had my fears lest the " noble army of speculators " should make 246 CHARLES DICKENS. their appearance again in these cities, and should they do so, I felt sure (knowing the inhabitants of those places as I did) that their appearance would have a prejudicial effect on our receipts, and for this reason I was desirous of being on the spot myself to frustrate as much as possible their plans. Mr. Dickens attached no importance to my fears in this respect, and, insisting that I wanted rest, overpersuaded me to remain with him, arid allow my English ticket agent to sell the tickets in my stead. I had my misgivings that this arrangement would not act satisfactorily, and in carry- ing out my Chief's wishes in the matter telegraphed to my English agent in New York that I should not be with him until the end of the week. The morning after our arrival in Baltimore was devoted to making preparations for the evening's Reading. After these Mr. Dickens proposed that he should take Mr. Osgood and myself out for our daily " breather," as he used to call it — a walk of about twelve miles — for as the time drew nearer to the date of the match the training was more severe. The " breather," however, was not of the duration Mr. Dickens had intended, for the snow and ice, with a freezing atmosphere, made walking a great difficulty, and after many falls, our " trainer " decided he would take "his men" home. There a surprise of a most unpleasant kind was awaiting me in the Baltimore evening paper just published. RIOT AT NEW HAVEN. 247 My attention was first attracted on opening the paper with the following sensational lines : Riot at the Sale of Charles Dickens's Tickets AT New Haven ! Dickens's Agent and New York Speculators Arrested ! The Mayor Telegraphs to the Mayor of Hart- ford TO EXPOSE THE SWINDLE ! Great Excitement in New Haven : Indignation Meetings to be held ! When I drew Mr. Dickens's attention to these pleasing items, and regretted that I had been led away by his kindness in his desire that I should remain with him, he, after reading the paragraphs, simply remarked : " Well, what are you going to do about it ? " There was but one thing to do, in my opinion, and that was to go to the scene of trouble, and, if possible, make out for myself the real state of the case. It was an eighteen hours' journey — unpleasant at most times, but doubly so with eighteen inches of snow on the ground all over the country. Arriving in New York, and calling at the Westminster Hotel, I found a gentleman who had just come from New Haven, and who was a witness of the previous day's proceedings. From him I learned the facts, which were very simple. The New York speculators had accompanied my agent en masse 248 CHARLES DICKENS. » to New Haven, and by some means or another had prevailed on him to distribute amongst them the eight front rows of seats before commencing the sale to the public. Such an act of folly, not to say dishonesty, became apparent the moment the sale commenced, resulting in a free hand-to-hand fight in the street, the English agent making his escape as best he could, leaving a large proportion of the New York speculators, with poor old " George Washington" amongst them, in the cells of the police station. The case was of so unusual a character, as reported to me, that I resolved on returning to Baltimore, to consult with Mr. Dickens as to what was the best course to pursue. We decided that it would be better that I should return to New Haven, and if the case really was as it had been represented to me (and I had no reason to doubt it), then the New Haven Reading should be given up, and the money returned to the holders of tickets, no matter what the amount might be. Before proceeding on my journey back to Balti- more, I had telegraphed to a personal friend at Hartford to send me an account of the day's proceedings there, my agent not being aware that I was in possession of any information with regard to his own shortcomings. The information from Hartford being of a highly satis- factory character, and all the tickets in New Haven, in the meanwhile, having been sold at a bookseller's shop in the city, I journeyed thither more leisurely than THE GIFTED MAYOR OF NEW HAVEN. 249 otherwise I should have done, arriving on Wednesday- evening, the i2th of February. I reached the hotel about eight o'clock in the evening — a time when the American hotels are generally crowded. I found myself suddenly the object of much abuse. As an indignation meeting had been advertised to take place that same evening at nine o'clock in the large room of the hotel, I volunteered, with the kind permission of the promoters of the meeting, to form one of the indignant public, a suggestion which seemed to meet with general approval. The Mayor was in the chair, and I must confess that, in the whole of my experience, I never came across a man who was so unfit to be a chairman of any meeting, indignant or otherwise, leaving alone his apparent incapacity to hold such high office as Mayor of so important and thriving a city as New Haven. He stated the case as well as he could, premising his remarks with a statement that until then he had never heard of Mr. Charles Dickens in his life, consequently could have no personal feeling in the matter. He had, on general grounds, a great objection to all places of entertainment and recreation, and an utter abhorrence of anything in the shape of a swindle; and admitted, that although he knew nothing of the merits of the case then under discussion, he had felt it to be his duty not only to caution the Mayor of Hartford as to what ' might occur in his city, but to preside at the meeting then being held. 250 CHARLES DICKENS. Another orator intervened and took the matter ruth- lessly out of the Mayor's hands. Addressing myself, and not the meeting, he stated the case so clearly that I had only one course left me, and that was to act on the lines laid down in my last interview with Mr. Dickens, and great as was the indignation at the treat- ment the New Haven people considered they had received at the hands of the agent, it was small as compared with their frenzy when I informed them that I had determined not to allow Mr. Dickens to read in New Haven at all, and that at ten o'clock on the follow- ing morning I should be only too pleased to refund the money paid for the tickets at the advertised prices. Here a new difficulty presented itself, for some of the persons in the room had bought tickets from the specu- lators, for which they had paid large premiums. Others suddenly ■ became satisfied with the position of their seats in the hall, and felt it to be a hardship that they should be deprived of the pleasure of hearing Mr. Dickens read. As these gentlemen represented the larger proportion of those present, I was at a loss to understand for what reason they were all thus assembled. The Mayor could not understand either, and speedily vacated the chair to beat a hasty retreatj. and be seen no more until the following day, when I had enlisted his services to superintend the return of the money for the tickets already purchased. Finding me to be inexorable, the meeting became more indignant A NOVEL SENSATION. 251 than ever, leaving me so far the master of the situation, but with a loss of $2,600. After the meeting, and over a friendly cigar with some of the indignant ones, I became convinced that the New Haven public had a real grievance, and it was perhaps a " little steep on them " (as one of the gentlemen present expressed it) that the Reading should be given up, and particularly so on those who had bought of the speculators. At the same time, I had Mr. Dickens's feelings in the matter to consult, which to me were all-important, and I felt sure that when it came to his knowledge that one of our own people had been in the pay of the speculators in New Haven, the amount of money he would lose by not reading there would not trouble his mind. On the following morning I met my friends, and had the novel sensation of returning money in America instead of receiving it, and it was with the greatest reluctance that such of the public as kept the ap- pointment I had made at the meeting, or through the medium of the newspapers, consented to receive their money back. The Mayor was present, and, for having assailed me previous to my arrival in New Haven on a charge of false play in the selling of the tickets, he was profuse in his apologies for the part he had taken in the matter. He pro- posed that a deputation of the leading citizens should wait on me with a view to induce Mr. Dickens 252 CHARLES DICKENS. to give another date to New Haven, should I have one at disposal, that the town of New Haven might not be entirely left out in the cold. The Mayor's apologies were accepted, and a seeming friendship struck up between us (or, as Mr. Dickens afterwards expressed it, " Dolby and the Mayor of New Haven alternately embrace and exchange mortal defiances"). I promised him I would submit his re- commendation to the consideration of Mr. Dickens, and, if time allowed, would use my utmost endeavours to appoint another evening for the purpose he pro- posed. After waiting in New Haven nearly the whole day, while but few persons came to claim their money (less than six hundred dollars being returned in all), I took advantage of the circumstance of being in the neighbourhood to call on Mr. Donald Mitchell, perhaps better known by his nom de plume, " Ike Marvel," who was said to hold some tickets for the Reading in New Haven. Mr. Mitchell's house was situated at the top of a high and steep hill some miles from New Haven, and in my journeying thither I experienced the delight of a long sleigh ride, and its exhilarating effects, after the worry and anxiety of the past few days. During the previous night a furious gale of wind had lifted a large tree from the spot on which it grew, and deposited it immediately opposite the entrance door to the house, missing the porch (fortunately), by a few inches. "THOSE HORRID SPECULATORS." 253 The greeting given me by Mr. Mitchell took place across the tree, over which I had to scramble before I could enter the house. My course of action with re- gard to the abandonment of the Readings was highly approved by my host ; at the same time he expressed the hope that the efforts of the deputation to obtain another date would meet with success. After leaving New Haven, I journeyed to Phila- delphia to attend the farewell Reading in that city, where I found that the local speculators had been hold- ing out for such high prices that the public had held out also, and that at the last moment the former were glad to sell at hfilf the cost price, and even at this rate the public would not buy, being under the impression, as at Baltimore, that the announcement of " Final Fare- well Reading" was nothing but a coup de theatre on my part, and that later on there would be some more "farewells." They inquired of me on leaving the hall— " When will Mr. Dickens read here again ? " " Never," I answered. " What ! not come back again after such a business as you are doing ? " "No, sir," I replied; "Mr. Dickens's time is all filled up." " Well now that is too bad," joined in the ladies ; " and those horrid speculators got hold of all the tickets and some of our friends couldn't afford to buy any ; 2S4 CHARLES DICKENS. and there were several empty seats in the hall to- night ! " I explained that the loss was the speculators' in this respect, and that Mr. Dickens regretted that his time would not allow him to appear even " once more " (as an enthusiastic lady admirer had pleaded), to so de- lightful and appreciative an audience as that one in Philadelphia. On my way through New York, I had telegraphed to the erring ticket agent, who was then in Worcester (Mass.), to rejoin me in New York on Sunday morning, and not to go to Boston for the sale of tickets there as arranged. He was in ignorance of my movements during the past week, or that I knew anything of his New Haven escapade ; and meeting me, according to my instructions, was much surprised at the informa- tion I possessed on the subject. Finding that ex- cuses would avail him nothing, he explained that the .speculators had plied him with Bourbon whiskey, and that, not knowing what he was about, he had fallen into their net, and, as I afterwards proved to him, out of his situation, for he was instantly dismissed. His passage for England being secured for him by the following Wednesday's steamer, he left the shores of America a wiser and a sadder man. Mr. Dickens would frequently, on troublesome occa- sions, remark that he felt sure I should be bereft of my senses (as he would be bereft of his, if the situations THE PRINTER'S LITTLE JOKE. 255 were not sometimes so comically disagreeable), and he used frequently to point as a proof of this theory of his to a printer's error in one of the advertisements, which immensely delighted him. It ran thus: "The reading will be comprised within two minutes ; and the audience are earnestly entreated to be seated ten hours before its commencement." As will be seen, the printer had trans- posed the minutes and the hours, the mistake causing me to be chaffed on all sides, not only by Mr. Dickens and our friends, but in the newspapers also — the latter never being backward in taking advantage of any item that may come under their notice, especially in con- nection with the doings of any public man or woman in America. Mr. Osgood having returned to Boston to make arrangements for four more Readings there, I was left alone with Mr. Dickens to travel to Hartford, Provi- dence, and Worcester with him ; and as the New Haven Reading was given up, we had Monday, Feb- ruary 17th, on our hands. This was devoted to making up accounts, and the remitting of money to Coutts's, after which Mr. Dickens took me out for a " breather," or, as he termed this one, a "buster," our walk being from the Westminster Hotel along the Fifth Avenue, and round the Central Park (altogether about eight or nine miles) ; and as both Mr. Dickens and myself were well known in New York, and as the newspapers had frequent references to the walking match, the pace at 2S6 CHARLES DICKENS. which we went along the fashionable quarter of the city created some little amusement. The following morning we were much interested to find this para- graph in one of the daily newspapers : " Dickens and Dolby are in town, and had a walking match yesterday in the park. They were afterwards seen taking dinner at Delmonico's, and as Dolby paid for the dinner, we know who lost the match." As a matter of fact we did not dine at Delmonico's, but at our own hotel, for in the evening we travelled to Hartford, to be in readiness for the Reading on the following evening. Beyond referring to Hartford as a pleasant city, pleasantly situated, with a good hotel (the AUeyn House), and a delightful hall (the Alleyn Hall), in which all the gas jets are lighted by electricity, and where there are the most electrical of audiences, no incident worthy of record took place here. The Mayor of Hart- ford had taken no notice of the telegram sent him by the Mayor of New Haven, being himself an enlightened man, who felt assured that if the incidents had occurred in New Haven of which the Mayor of that city had complained, such occurrences were entirely without the knowledge or approbation of either Mr. Dickens or myself. The following day we travelled to Providence (Rhode Island), and were greatly surprised on our arrival there to find a crowd of some thousands of people awaiting A REMINDER OF BOW STREET. 257 Mr. Dickens at the railway station, just to get a peep at him. It was Mr. Dickens's habit, when the weather permitted, to walk to his hotel from the " depot " (as the railway stations in America are called), and with- out imagining that the crowd would accompany us as far as the hotel, we started off as usual, leaving our men behind to see after our baggage. On leaving the station the whole crowd followed us through the streets, some of its component parts occasionally dart- ing out in front of Mr. Dickens to have a good look at him, whilst others requested the honour of shaking him by the hand. Two policemen standing in the street saw that Mr. Dickens was being inconvenienced by this, and at once took charge of us, one walking by the side of Mr. Dickens, and the other by my side, until we reached the hotel, when the crowd filed on each side of the steps, up which we marched, Mr. Dickens re- marking to me : " This is very like going into the police van in Bow Street, isn't it ? " The crowd were very well behaved, and Mr. Dickens was more amused than annoyed at our unexpected reception. Providence being an isolated sort of place (reminding the traveller of some of the Dutch cities in appearance and construction), we did not anticipate a large house here, and I was greatly surprised to find the tickets all sold ; and at the Reading, Mr. Dickens was as delighted with his audience as he was with the receipts ($2,140). 18 258 CHARLES DICKENS. Our next city was Worcester (Mass.), a most pic- turesque city, and one of the oldest in the States. Its inhabitants turned out in grand style for the Reading, which was given under peculiar circumstances ; for in the basement of the City Hall (the hall in which the Reading was given being on the first floor), a Poultry Show was held, and as the birds connected the flaming gas lights necessary for their exhibition with the brightness of the morning sun, they kept up a constant crowing the whole evening, greatly disconcerting Mr. Dickens (until the exhibition closed at nine o'clock, when the birds were allowed to sleep), but evidently unheard by the audience, whose attention was as wrapt in Mr. Dickens and the Reading as if it had been given under the most auspicious of circumstances. We were curious to know how it would fare with Mr. McKean Buchanan (the tragedian), on the following evening, whose acquaintance we made before leaving, and who was announced to give a Shakespearian performance, but which report said had to be postponed, the birds being too much for the distinguished actor. The business of this week having been accomplished, with its daily travelling in the coldest of weather and deep snow on the ground, it was with the greatest delight that we returned on Saturday, February 22nd, to our Boston home, at the Parker House Hotel, and the society of pur Boston friends. That evening we dined with Mr. Fields, and a distinguished party was invited POLITICAL HUBBUB. 259 to join the company, amongst whom were some poli- ticians of high standing. Since our departure from Washington the threatening storm in the political horizon had burst, and the impeachment of the Presi- dent was all but certain. Everything in America has to give way to political matters, and I foresaw that in this excitement even the rage for Dickens in Boston was likely to abate for a time, for the sale of the tickets for the four Readings announced for the following week, although large, was not up to the standard of ■our previous Readings in Boston. This was fully accounted for by the friends of Mr. Fields, whom we met at dinner on the evening of our return to Boston, and who explained that the impeachment vote, which was to be taken at five in the afternoon of the following Monday, was all-absorbing to the public for the time being. It was our original intention to give eight Readings in all during this visit to Boston, four of which only were announced, and having in view the . political excitement, and Mr. Dickens' state of health, we decided (on our return home to the hotel) not to give the last four, but to devote the week to rest and recreation, feeling assured that by that time the im- peachment would have been a thing of the past (for no excitement lasts long in the States), and hoping that during the rest Mr. Dickens would have got rid of •his catarrh. As we had still three weeks more travel- ling to do in smaller cities, this was most desirable at 26o CHARLES DICKENS. any cost. The effect of the Presidential impeachment made itself felt not only at our Readings on the first night of our return to Boston, but at every place of entertainment in the city. The three large theatres, although up to that time playing a tremendous busi- ness, were stricken with paralysis. We suffered the least of any of them, but our long line of persons wait- ing nightly at half-past seven on the chance of some unsold seats (or to deal with the speculators) was conspicuous by its absence, although had they come we could easily have accommodated them, for my friends the speculators had caught the political fever, and had held aloof for a time ; consequently I was fairly well off for seats for the two first Readings of the week. When once the public became aware that the impeach- ment was to take place, and that March gth was the date fixed for the discussion of it in Washington, they returned to their old habits and haunts ; the theatres filled as of old, and our receipts for the remaining Readings of the week were up to their old standard (an average of three thousand dollars a Reading in Boston). As there was no business to be done — a deputation only from New Haven to be received, when I on behalf of Mr. Dickens appointed another evening for that city in the middle of March ; and Mr. Osgood being in the cities in the State of New York (Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany), superintending the sale of titkets TWO HATS A SIDE. 261 for those places, I was left corpparatively at my ease, with very little to do but to prepare for the walking match, which was to come off on the following Satur- day, February 29th. Mr. Dickens, according to his promise, had drawn up the articles of agreement, which had been sent to Boston to be printed, so as to be in readiness for sig- nature by " the men " against the time Mr. Osgood and myself should return there ; and he had arranged to give a state dinner party to commemorate the event. The articles of agreement were as follows : — The Great International Walking Match of February 29, i858. "Articles of Agreement entered into at Baltimore in the United States of America, this third day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, between George Dolby (British subject), alias the ' Man of Ross,' and James Ripley Osgood (American citizen), alias the ' Boston Bantam.' " Whereas some bounce having arisen between the above men in reference to feats of pedestrianism and agility, they have agreed to settle their differences and prove who is the better man by means of a walking match for two hats a side and the glory of their re- spective countries; and whereas they agree that the said 252 CHARLES DICKENS. match shall come off,, whatsoever the weather, on the Mill Dam Road, outside Boston, on Saturday, the 2gth of the present month, and whereas they agree that the personal attendants on themselves during the whole walk, and also the umpires and starters and declarers of victory in the match shall be James T. Fields of Boston, known in sporting circles as Massachusetts Jemmy, and Charles Dickens, of " Falstaff s," Gad's Hill, whose surprising performances (without the least variation), on that truly national instrument, the American Catarrh, have won for him the well-merited title of the Gad's Hill Gasper. Now these are to be the articles of the match : — " I. The men are to be started on the day appointed by Massachusetts Jemmy and the Gasper. " 2. Jemmy and the Gasper are, on some previous day, to walk out a't the rate of not less than four miles an hour by the Gasper's watch for one hour and a half. At the expiration of that one hour and a half they are to carefully note the place at which they halt. On the match coming off they are to station themselves in the middle of the road at that precise point, and the men (keeping clear of them and of each other) are to turn round them, right shoulder inward, and walk back to the starting-point. The man declared by them to pass the starting-point first is to be the victor and the winner of the match. " 3. No jostling or fouling allowed. THE GREAT WALKING MATCH. 263 " 4. All cautions and orders issued to the men by the umpires, starters, and declarers of victory to be considered final and admitting of no appeal. " 5. A sporting narrative of the match to be written by the Gasper within one week after its coming off, and the same to be duly printed (at the expense, of the subscribers to these articles) on a broadside. The said broadside to be framed and glazed, and one copy of the same to be carefully preserved by each of the sub- scribers to these articles. " 6. The men to show on the evening of the day of walking at six o'clock precisely at the Parker House, Boston, when and where a dinner will be given them by the Gasper, The Gasper to occupy the chair, faced by Massachusetts Jemmy. The latter promptly and formally to invite, as soon as may be after the date of these presents, the following guests to honour the said dinner with their presence, that is to say — " Mistress Annie Fields, Mr. Charles Eliot Norton and Mrs. Norton, Professor James Russell Lowell and Mrs. Lowell, and Miss Lowell, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes and Mrs. Holmes, Mr. Howard Malcolm Ticknor and Mrs. Ticknor, Mr. Aldrich and Mrs. Aldrich, Mr. Schlesinger, and an obscure poet named Long- fellow (if discoverable), and Miss Longfellow. " Now lastly. In token of their accepting the trusts and offices by these articles conferred upon them, these articles are solemnly and formally signed by Massa- chusetts Jemmy and by the Gad's Hill Gasper, as well as by the men themselves. 264 CHARLES DICKENS. " Signed by the Man of Ross, otherwise George Dolby, "Signed by the Boston Bantam, otherwise James R. Osgood. " Signed by Massachusetts J^emmy, otherwise James T. Fields. " Signed by the Ga^s Bill Gasper, otherwise Charles Dickens. " Witness to the signatures, William S. Anthony." In pursance of clause No. 2 Mr. Dickens Aid take Mr. Fields over the ground, and at such a pace that Fields (who was a good pedestrian) declared on his return he had " had enough of it," being surprised at Mr. Dickens's prowess in this respect.^ As all Boston was talking of the match it was deemed expedient to keep time and place a profound secret, or " half Boston " would have turned out to witness the match if the weather and the state of the roads had permitted. The roads were covered with snow and sheets and blocks of .ice, making it almost dangerous to walk at all. Neither Osgood nor myself had ever traversed the road before, and this made it the more difficult. On the day of the match an early start was made, so as to elude the movements of the general pubj.ic, who threatened to be on the look-out for us. Mr. Dickens's carriage and our men were in attendance to follow us ; the carriage to carry our great coats and wraps and ' At the turning-point at Newton Centre, Fields was so much exhausted that he was in want of refreshments, but as the village supplied nothing but ^./eixi oranges, these were purchased, and the pedestrians sat down on a doorstep to enjoy them ! SPORTING NARRATIVE. 265 some creature comforts for the inner man. But as the match is so graphically and humorously described by Mr. Dickens in the " Sporting Narrative," I will repro- duce it here. "THE SPORTING NARRATIVE. " The Men. " The Boston Bantam (alias Bright Chanticleer), is a young bird, though too old to be caught with chaff. He comes of a thorough game breed, and has a clear though modest crow. He pulls down the scale at ten stone and a half and add a pound or two. His previous performances in the pedestrian line have not been numerous. He once achieved a neat little match against time in two left boots at Philadelphia ; but this must be considered as a pedestrian eccentricity, and cannot be accepted by the rigid chronicler as high art. " The old mower- with the scythe and hour-glass has not yet laid his mawler heavily on the Bantam's frontispiece, but he has had a grip at the Bantam's top feathers, and in plucking out a handful was very near making him like the great Napoleon Buonaparte