Dickens on the subject of literary piracy, in which he advises authors "to treat on all occasions with some respectable American publishing house, and with such an establishment only." On the 5th of November it is stated that Dickens has been elected a member of the general committee of the Metropolitan Improvement Society; that "Boz" will open the year with a new novel; and that the author's former works have been translated into Turkish. On the 18th of November, 1843, in reviewing 'The Keepsake,' the Athenæum quotes a poem Literary piracy. Season.' by Dickens entitled 'A Word in Season,' which, 'A Word in "we should think, will startle a round hundred at least of aristocratic readers in their country houses": They have a superstition in the East, That ALLAH, written on a piece of paper, Accordingly they make a mighty fuss With every wretched tract and fierce oration, And hoard the leaves; for they are not like us, A highly civilized and thinking nation; And always stooping in the miry ways To look for matter of this earthy leaven, Where darkness sat upon the living waters, Were the hard portion of its sons and daughters; And rent The Book, in struggles for the binding. (They curse all other men, and curse each other,) "A Christmas even towards the uncharitable," A Christmas Carol.' Carol, in Prose; being a Ghost Story of Christmas,' is reviewed on the 23rd of December. "Evenings of a Working Man.' In noticing 'Evenings of a Working Man: being the Occupation of his Scanty Leisure,' by John Overs, "with a preface relative to the author by Charles Dickens," on the 3rd of August, 1844, the Athenæum states: "Mr. Dickens disdains all those sickly appeals to sympathy and' gentle construction' on the score of circumstance; he claims no prodigious merit for the prose and verse of Mr. Overs, though it is superior to much of its class-but he simply states, that 'the Working Man,' who is a carpenter, became known to him at the moment when he was relinquishing the editorship of a periodical-that since that period neither hammer nor plane nor chisel has been laid aside, for the more enticing service of the pen— that literary compositions have neither seduced John Overs into dreams nor lamentations which have damaged his peace of mind and that the present miscellany sees the light, in the hope of a small sum of money being thereby raised to meet the difficulties which ill-health has brought on the author." 'The Chimes: a Goblin Story of some Bells that Rang an Old Year out and a New Year in,' is the first book reviewed on the 21st of December: "The Old World cannot be so hard, and cold, and homeless as some desolate ones may be disposed to fancy, when such a gift, warm from the human heart, is put forth for the Year of Grace 1845." On the 27th of September, 1845, the Athenæum refers to the amateur performance, at Miss Kelly's Theatre on the previous Saturday, of Ben Jonson's 'Every Man in his Humour.' The following was the cast: "Kitely, Mr. Forster ; 'The Cricket on the Hearth: a Fairy Tale of Home,' is reviewed on the 20th of December. Newsvendors' The Newsvendors' Benevolent Institution held Benevolent Institution. its first dinner on Wednesday, the 21st of November, 1849, when Mr. Dickens took the chair. The Athenæum of the 24th says: "Mr. Dickens made a clever, earnest, and amusing speech on the occasion. His description of a newsvendor's boy was in his best style." Words. On Saturday, the 30th of March, 1850, the Household first number of Household Words was published, Mr. Wills being the assistant-editor. Mrs. Gaskell and Mr. George Augustus Sala were among the early contributors. "A new form of entertainment, which, should it become the fashion, will lead to odd sights and, perhaps, sounds," is referred to on the 7th Dickens reads his Carol.' of January, 1854: "Mr. C. Dickens has been reading aloud his Christmas Carol' and 'Christmas 'Cricket,' with great success, to large and cheerful audiences of the working and middle classes. Fancy a circulating library on this principle-Mr. Thackeray following suit' with his Hoggarty Diamond'......and Sir E. Lytton Bulwer with his ' Pilgrims of the Rhine." On the 22nd of December, 1855, it is announced that thirty-five thousand of the first | number of 'Little Dorrit' has been sold. On the 30th of April, 1859, the first number Little Dorrit.' Round. of All the Year Round appeared, and contained All the Year the commencement of a new story by Charles Dickens, 'A Tale of Two Cities.' This was followed by novels by Mr. Edmund Yates, Mr. Charles Lever, Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, Mr. Wilkie Collins, Mr. Reade, Lord Lytton, and others. Household Words was discontinued on the 28th of May, from which date it was merged in All the Year Round. Charles Dickens was out for the last time on Monday, the 6th of June, 1870, when he walked * Household Words was sold (by order of the Court of Chancery) by Mr. Hodgson on the 16th of May, 1859. The biddings commenced at 500l., but from 1,100. the biddings were between Mr. Dickens and Messrs. Bradbury & Evans. Ultimately the copyright was purchased by Mr. Dickens for the sum of 3,550%. VOL. II. 2 M Death. |